Salem , Ohio ’ s Quaker City Motorsports Park is a perfect example . I first laid eyes on the place roughly 30 years ago while I was still in my early 20s , and working for IHRA photographer Bryan Epps . These were fond days that I ’ ve written about previously , but just for a glance back at how this all went down , Bryan hired me as an assistant to travel the country with him and shoot pictures for his thriving photography enterprise .

The business model in those days looked like this : We would collect orders from the drivers who wished to purchase an 8x10 picture package , and since this was roughly three decades ago , the first mainstream digital cameras were still a few years away , so Bryan and I were using time-honored 35mm film cameras . So basically , we would shoot pictures , then go home and have the film developed , make enlargements , then mail them C . O . D . to our customers . Looking back , it ’ s astonishing that this is how we did it , but again , this was all we knew !

These days , it ’ s a much easier process , as the photos are captured on digital cameras , downloaded , printed to the desired size , placed in a decorative frame , and delivered to the customer

literally within the hour , right at the track ! Bryan and I simply wouldn ’ t have believed what the future of the business looked like as we traversed the country in his Trans Am , chasing races in the early 1990s .

Nevertheless , because of the opportunity of being Bryan ’ s assistant , I got to see a lot of dragstrips , which brings my recollection to the first time we went to Quaker City . Back in those days , IHRA

held a divisional meet at Quaker , and I can remember the track was completely presentable , but nothing fancy .

Fast-forward a few decades – which is when I went to work for Drag Illustrated – and I began seeking out some of those vintage tracks that I saw with Bryan all those years ago . I must say , I was pretty astonished a few years back when I returned to Quaker City for the first time and saw the renovations

. Local businessman Norm Fox bought this fabled , 1950s-era dragstrip in 2010 and the place has been in a perpetual state of improvement ever since , with Norm ’ s son A . J . serving as track manager . A “ total makeover ” probably best describes what ’ s been done to this dragstrip .

It ’ s no secret that I thoroughly enjoy a good nostalgia race , and I ’ ve seen some of the best ones in my life at Quaker City in recent years ! I can remember A . J . telling me how disappointing it was back in 2020 when COVID disrupted the annual Night of Fire event , so when 2021 rolled around , he booked nine jets , along with the Great Lakes Nostalgia Funny Car Circuit , Nostalgia Notions , plus gassers , front-engine nitro dragsters ... and even had people walking around breathing fire for added entertainment ! That particular event was among the coolest I ’ ve been fortunate enough to see .

More recently , while in Norwalk for the PDRA race last month , I saw that Quaker City had a nostalgia race on the schedule , so I was able to make it a blockbuster weekend and attend both events . The “ Frantic Ford ” Funny Car and the Dustman Bros . slingshot dragster ( pictured in this month ’ s column ) were among the numerous entries for that race . Many of those “ thrill show ” classes still run on the full quarter mile at Quaker City , which is understandably entertaining !

More than anything , though , it ’ s really satisfying to return to a vintage track like Quaker City , and see how meticulously cared for and preserved it is for generations to come . DI