Much to the delight of working me and women across the world, Friday has arrived, and once again, it’s time to go drag strip hunting. Most of our weekly trips thus far have remained primarily in the Eastern and Western portions of the country, but this time, we’re heading to the upper Midwest to the relatively small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. There, the Lake Geneva Raceway, a motocross, drag racing, demolition derby, off-road racing, stock car, and kart racing track once operated.

Billed as “Wisconsin’s Busiest Racetrack,” Lake Geneva’s claim to fame wasn’t drag racing and in fact, wasn’t even a part of half of the tracks more than four decade run,. It did however, open as a dragstrip in early 1960’s. The published reports of the opening date vary, although research narrows it down to Fourth of July weekend of 1962 or 1963. On opening day, just 600 fans came through the gate. After that first race, several of the contractors who had gone unpaid formed a collective group and took over operation of the Lake Geneva Dragstrip until it’s closing in 1977.

Image: purple66bu/Webshots

A 1/4 mile asphalt oval was constructed in 1966 after the drag racing didn’t take off nationally and was literally built within the dragstrip. Those who had the opportunity to compete on the Lake Geneva drag strip recall the interesting nature of racing down the track that went right through the middle of a paved oval, across both of the tracks corners. After drag racing had ceased in ’77, a banked 1/3 mile oval was built inside the of the 1/4 mile dragstrip and 1/4 mile oval, operating until the facilties’ closing in 2006.