D.I. COLUMNIST
On the Road
with Van Abernethy
I
’ve now visited over 140 drag
strips in my travels and yet
there’s still so many places I’m
eager to explore. Near the top of
the list was the iconic Great Lakes
Dragaway and I finally had the op-
portunity to make the trip in late
May.
Tucked away in the southeast
region of Wisconsin roughly 40
minutes south of Milwaukee,
there’s actually two neighboring
towns that readily claim the track –
Union Grove, from whence the mail
is delivered, and Paris, where the
track is actually located. One thing
they can both agree on, however, is
that this track is the nation’s oldest
purpose-built drag strip
in existence, and has been
in continuous operation
since it opened in 1955.
The name “Draga-
way” is also the source of
confusion for some, but
that’s how track founder
Marge Bennett wanted
the place described, as
she told people how she
and her husband, Lynn,
were building a drag strip
so folks could just “drag
away.” The name stuck.
Just as the track came
under construction, a man
named Robert Metzler,
better known as “Broad-
way Bob” entered the pic-
ture. Sometimes referred
to as “the P.T. Barnum of
race promoting,” Metzler’s
ownership in the track
spanned 40 years, and
included every imaginable
act, including a 1973 appearance by
Evel Knievel, who jumped several
buses and a long line of cars. Among
the most memorable pictures ever
snapped at Great Lakes was a fa-
mous shot of Broadway Bob sitting
on the nose of the “Green Mamba”
jet car as it spewed fire, while Bob
waved to the crowd.
Current co-owners Randy Hen-
ning and Marcel Kuper bought the
track from Metzler in 1994, and
have ran it for the last 25 years. “I
don’t own the track; the track owns
me!” laughs Henning. “I’m 70 years
old now and I figure maybe I’ll run
it for another 10-15 years. After that,
I’d like to sell the track
to someone who’ll let me
come here every single
day for free. That’s the
arrangement I had with
Bob until he died. In fact,
that will be a require-
ment or I won’t sell it!”
Broadway Bob operated
a little store here at the track, selling
autographed photos and memora-
bilia for nearly two decades after he
sold the track.
I’m constantly reminded that
this sport we love represents far
more than just something we do
in our spare time, and for many it
completely shapes our futures and ran back down the alley
and eagerly handed the
coin to Garlits, who in
return gave him an au-
tographed picture.
He saw Garlits again
in 1980 and had him sign
the photo once more. Far
into the unimaginable
future when Henning bought the
track, one of the first people he
booked in for a show was Garlits,
and Henning reminded him of the
picture he bought for a quarter 34
years earlier and had him sign it yet
again. Then, in 2005 during the
50th anniversary of Great Lakes
Dragaway, Henning once again
begins directing our steps from a
young age. Such was the case for
Henning when he met Don Garlits
58 years ago. “Garlits was chang-
ing the oil in his dragster behind
a gas station at the end of an alley
by my house. I knew who he was
from reading magazines,” Henning
remembers. He asked Garlits for a
photo, to which “Big Daddy” replied,
“It’ll cost you a quarter.” It was 1960
and Henning was 12 years old, so it’s
no surprise he didn’t have a quarter
readily available, so he ran home
and pleaded with his mother, prom-
ising to do an obscene amount of
chores in exchange for 25 cents. He booked Garlits as a special guest,
and of course, the picture was once
again autographed. “I’ve had that
picture for 59 years; had it signed
four times and do you know what
it’s worth? Absolutely nothing...to
anyone except me!” he chuckles.
As time marches on, this vintage
quarter-mile strip nestled near
Lake Michigan is among the most
documented tracks in history, and
even though I’ve referenced You-
Tube.com a lot in my columns lately,
here’s another perfect opportunity
to point out some truly amazing
drag racing footage. If you’ll type
in “Asphalt Digout” you can view
an incredible five-part series that
contains footage dating back to circa
1956, which captures footage of cars
running four-wide on just two lanes!
Another worthwhile archive on
YouTube is called “Great Lakes
Dragaway 1977,” which features
Shirley Muldowney, Dyno Don
Nicholson, Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins,
Chris Karamesines, Don Prudhom-
me, Brad Anderson, Don Garlits and
many more. The track hosted na-
tional events during the mid-1970s
with the running of the IHRA Sum-
mer Nationals.
There are so many memorable
moments that have gone down here,
Henning couldn’t possibly pick a
favorite. “It was pretty cool
when John Force clocked
306 mph in 1995,” he says.
Naturally, an autographed
picture from that event
hangs on the wall. More
recently, Leah Pritchett
came here last year to film
a promotional video dur-
ing a private track rental,
and while driving a turbo
Dodge Demon she clocked
a world record of 8.77 at
161 mph.
It was Memorial Day
weekend when I stopped
by in May, which brought
out an awesome array of
cars, including the great-
looking Plymouth in this
month’s column photo.
Amazingly, Great Lakes
Dragaway is open Tuesday
through Sunday. “We only
close on Mondays,” says
Henning, who still comes
to the track even when its closed to
tinker on engines and build stuff.
“We’re open on a regular basis until
the first snowfall.” During a par-
ticularly warm winter, they were
still racing until December 18. In
January, they often gather to race
pinewood derby-type cars. Some-
times they’ll even invite a jet car to
come out in the dead of winter to
do burner pops, even if there’s snow
on the track – they just like the way
it sounds!
For those closest to this track and
its operation, it’s obvious they just
can’t get enough of the place, and
honestly, who could blame them?
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