D.I. COLUMNIST
On the Road
with Van Abernethy
I
thoroughly enjoy when my
On the Road gig unearths a gem
of American history as I trek
across the country. Last month, I
struck presidential gold as my trav-
els landed me in Charleston, Illinois,
and while the bulk of this column
will, of course, be devoted to my
first-ever visit to Charleston’s own
Coles County Dragway, I wanted to
briefly touch on a significant event
that took place exactly 108 years
before they broke ground on this
NHRA-sanctioned eighth-miler.
A few miles from the drag strip
you’ll find the Co