DIALED IN
Magnolia Dragway
A rural Ohio racers ’ playground
By Van Abernethy
PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNATHY
Tucked away in the tiny village of Magnolia , Ohio , you ’ ll find one of the oldest still-active dragstrips within the Buckeye state , with a construction tag that dates back to 1957 . This scenic and unsanctioned eighth-miler known as “ Tad and Jim ’ s Dragway of Magnolia ” is a reflection of current owners Tad Reis and Jim Rankl , who were business partners in the car business for decades before eventually adding “ dragstrip ownership ” to their list of collaborations .
“ Honestly , it all started right here at the track . That ’ s where Tad and I met many years ago ,” says Rankl , who ’ s the senior of the two . Rankl first made his way to Magnolia Dragway shortly after it opened , back when he was still in high school
January 2021 and first raced here sometime around 1961 .
As Rankl recalls , Reis was probably in his 20s in the early 1990s when Rankl first met him and realized immediately that Reis was a really good racer who also possessed great people skills . “ As it turns out we were needing a finance manager at the car dealership I worked for , so I ended up hiring Tad ,” Rankl says .
Eventually , the two decided to strike out on their own , opening a high-end used car dealership and were quite successful at it for decades to come . Fast-forward to the winter of 2011 when Rankl ’ s phone first rang from then-track owner Dixie McCreary , with an offer to sell the fabled northeast Ohio dragstrip .
Rankl initially wasn ’ t the least bit interested
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