PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY AND CHRIS KNEECE |
Carolina Dragway kicked off its 68th season in 2025 with a robust schedule of events that featured many different attractions. Located in Aiken, South Carolina, this legendary NHRAsanctioned, quarter-mile facility opened in 1957 and has been a staple in the community ever since. All that was needed for this to be a race season to remember was good weather, but unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’ t get the memo. Track manager
|
Chris Kneece was eager to see the track’ s planned events become a reality, but he soon realized that the weather was going to negatively affect the race season more than usual, and that’ s putting it mildly.
“ We’ ve had 27 rainouts this year!” says Kneece, who took over managing the track in 2024. Among the hardest hit this year was the track’ s Thursday night test-and-tune and grudge racing program, which typically draws huge crowds.“ We lost two months of Thursday nights this year,” says
|
Kneece, adding,“ And many of those rainouts were on days that started out beautiful, and then a rainstorm would seemingly come out of nowhere!”
This region typically enjoys mild winters, so test-and-tune events are scheduled as early as February, along with NHRA chassis certification. February is also a popular time to begin no-prep races, while March ushers in the first bracket race, although the rain did play a major spoiler with that as well.
Grudge race promoter Mike Hill also brings his
|
November / December 2025 |
DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 77 |