PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY |
Free Bird Dragway is the kind of place you can go and enjoy virtually unlimited amounts of runs on your car in a single day , while also spending an afternoon socializing with racing friends and family . Amazingly , fishing rods and camping gear also come in handy when visiting this unlikely combination of drag racing and outdoor adventure park . Among the best-kept secrets in eastern Ohio is Friendship Park , which is a scenic getaway with everything you ’ d expect along the lines of the great outdoors , and it ’ s also home to a unique dragstrip known as Free Bird . Each weekend , scores of race car haulers tow past multiple lakes , campsites and hiking trails in order to arrive and race at Free Bird Dragway , a cozy little eighthmile track nestled just outside the tiny village of
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Smithfield , and located inside Friendship Park .
Track owner Ed Glover has been a racer here since the track opened in 1994 . He bought the lease four years ago and puts special emphasis on running a family-oriented facility , with lots of opportunities to make as many runs as you please . “ I don ’ t care if you hot lap !” he smiles . “ We ’ re a small group that races here , and you can just about make as many passes as you want , including test runs between elimination rounds .”
George Cassidy is a racer who takes full advantage of the testing opportunities at Free Bird . Over the winter , he did extensive work to his beautiful 1968 Camaro and in June he came out to show off his new creation . “ I ’ ve owned this car for decades ,” Cassidy says . “ It was originally a street car that I bought off my sister . I performed a lot of updates on the car recently , so I was anxious to see how
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it ran . I love coming to Free Bird because I can literally make 30 passes a day here !”
Jeff Marlin is another veteran racer who ’ s been coming to Free Bird since the day it opened . Marlin retired from construction work this year and enjoys racing with his family each week at Free Bird . “ I started racing here with a 1966 Chevy II that my wife now drives ,” he says . Marlin replaced the Chevy II with a hard-hooking 2003 Camaro , which is a 5-second , tube chassis car that he races weekly .
Marlin ’ s son , Jeff Jr ., was the most recent member of the family to show a desire for drag racing , so they built him a great-running Chevy Vega . Marlin ’ s great-nephew , Cody Lish , wheels a gorgeous 1966 Chevelle SS , which is the fourth car campaigned by this one family . “ We ’ ve got four generations out here racing at Free Bird . I live three hours away and have raced at just about
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August 2021 |
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