Drag Illustrated Issue 149, October 2019 | Page 55

DIALED IN Carrying the Torch Mike McCracken trades race car for racetrack at Beaver Springs Dragway  By Van Abernethy P ennsylvania’s Beaver Springs Dragway is a picturesque quarter-mile drag strip that remains a treasured fa- cility since its inception in 1971, when it was built by “Beaver Bob” McCardle, who would own and operate the track for the first 46 years of its existence. Upon his retirement at the conclusion of the 2017 season, McCardle felt certain his successor should be longtime racer Mike McCracken, although it took a while to convince McCracken he should be the next owner of Beaver Springs Dragway. October 2019 McCracken admittedly believed his days of tak- ing on huge endeavors like this were behind him, and he told McCardle as much, but “Beaver Bob” was persistent and finally convinced McCracken he should buy and operate the track upon his retirement. “I told Bob that I owned a farm as an investment, and if I was able to sell it I’d buy the track,” says McCracken. What happened next was an act of fate by all accounts. “I was thinking it would take forever to sell the farm, so I went home and listed it and in probably three hours it was sold! The town- ship actually wanted it and I had no idea, so they put a rush on the sale and it was unbelievable how quickly it all worked out, so I bought Bea- ver Springs Dragway midway through the 2017 race season.” McCracken encouraged McCardle to go ahead and delay his retirement long enough to finish out the season, holding the traditional awards banquet and crowning of points champions. “Ba- sically, Bob turned the lights off on the track in 2017 and I turned them back on in 2018,” says McCracken, which is exactly how he envisioned DragIllustrated.com | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 55