Image credit: adrl.us

Last week, we highlighted the the historic race to the four second that took place during the early part of the 1988 season, ultimately captured by veteran Gene Snow at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas during the IHRA Texas Nationals. While that monumental achievement goes down as not just the single greatest feat in the history of Billy Meyer’s supertrack but in pure drag racing annals, it is but one of a long and decorated list of notable moments at the facility just outside of Dallas.

Built in 1986, the Texas Motorplex was the first all-concrete quarter mile in the world and has been the site of world record performances and milestones literally since the gates were opened. And on July 30, 1986, before nitromethane ever filled the air around the Motorplex, cameras were rolling as the supertrack took its first baby steps with an invitational night race to put the track through its paces and lay down some rubber. Racers with some relatively high-powered machines did their best to get down the fresh, snow white racing surface that didn’t even have the majority of the lines painted on yet, and one unlucky racer had the misfortune of putting the very first impact marks on both guardrails.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3PlnyKw68A

The track officially opened for business just three days after this rare footage was captured, and a couple weeks later, Meyer booked in Eddie Hill, Dan Pastorini, Mike Dunn, Warren Johnson, and Bruce Allen in a best of three match race witnessed by more than 22,000 fans.

The following month, the Motorplex hosted its first national event, the NHRA Chief Nationals on September 25-28, and history took no time in being made, as Darrell Gwynn christened the new track on the very first nitro pass down the quarter mile, blazing to the first pass in the 5.20’s and over 275 MPH ever in Top Fuel with a 5.280 at a scorching 278.29 MPH. That same weekend, Kenny Bernstein also become the first Funny Car driver to dip into the 5.40’s with a 5.25, and Mark Oswald shattered the class speed record by nearly four miles per hour with his 268.09 MPH blast.

Image courtesy: texasmotorplex.com

Following a rain delay on Sunday evening, Darrell Gwynn and Don Garlits staged one of the most epic Top Fuel finals in history under the lights at the Motorplex. Garlits came into the money round as the clear underdog but overcame all odds by strapping a huge .456 to .615 holeshot on “The Kid” and was never headed on his way to his 34th career win before a huge crowd of 41,000 NHRA fans.

After a quarter century of magical moments on that quarter mile down in Ennis, it’s hard to picture the place before the greats graced its surface and transformed it into the hallowed ground that its become. Fortunately, thanks to the power of technology, we don’t have to just imagine it.