Ok can anyone help me out with this old Saginaw rumor?

[mrcheerful]

Back in 1978 Reed Draper, owner of Draper Chevorlet dealership, closed the Tri-City Dragway. Now from what I remember at the time of the closing was a young man was doing burn outs in the area leading to the burn out area, lost control and went into the stands injuring a number of drag fans. The way the Saginaw news put it was Draper closed the track because of insurance problems. Now I hear a new rumor, Which I also remember, 1978 was a rainy year and the track had a few weekends in a roll that were rained out. The NHRA drivers had pre-paid to race on those weekends and asked the owner/manager for a refund. Draper refused to give the refund so the NHRA boycotted the dragway, but by the end of the summer of 1978 the boycot had ended, but Draper never reopened the drag strip after the summer was over. I'm not sure which story is true, or even if any of them are. I remember that other rumors was that the MBS air port closed the dragway etc etc. Help, as all I can find about Draper is he owned a car dealership and put out a fishing book.

[5thGenDemocrat]

1. Here's what I found out

I didn't find anything about a dragster getting loose into the crowd, but bad management (including those no-refund rainouts) apparently had the most to do with Tri-City's closing.
My dad used to race out there just about every weekend, running my mom's V-stock 1967 Mustang -- which consistently ran within one-tenth of a second of the national record for its class. Finally, in frustration at failing to get that last fraction of a second, dad decided to drop a little nitro into the engine to see what would happen.
What happened was he scorched the cylinder heads (IIRC), ruining the engine and leading my mom to file for divorce (it was the last of many straws). Being quite magnanimous under the circumstances, she let him keep what was left of the car.
Anyhow, I was in the Army by the time the track closed and, thus, was out of the loop as to any other details of Tri-Citys closing.
Hope I was of some help.
John
I know the Draper family quite well -- they own property right across the road from our forty acres NW of Lovells. And the old dealership, long since moved, used to be two blocks from our house.
I hope you can make it to FUNDAY on June 16, mrcheerful. Be great to meet you. Ask for details on that FUNDAY thread here in the Michigan forum.

[mrcheerful]

2. I'm no longer in the Saginaw area, I moved down to Grand Rapids almost 2 years ago

June will be my 3rd year down here. What with gas prices as high as they are and having a 1978 Ford Econo van with a 351 4 bbl carb in it, well lets just say that I don't drive anymore then I have to. I do know there were alot of stories going around at the time because Reed Draper never made any comments to the news on why he was shutting it down. I also heard a number of rumors going around in the 80's that they were going to open it up again, but insurance costs kept popping up in those rumors.

I was going to run a 63 Merc out there, but it blew a brake line on the way out to the track and I had to crimp the line leaving me with back brakes and the drivers side front brake. I was running a 390CI engine with Eldelbrock high raise manifold with a Holly 850 double pump carb, .30 over high dome pistons, with over sized valves. I forget what the lift and duration was on the cam, but when it idled it sound like it was going to stall all of the time. With posi track you had to idle around corners as putting any pressure on the gas pedal meant you would end up doing a 360. You also had to be careful at stop lights, if you sat to long you'd either be up on the curb or taking both lanes before the light changed. I also had a 11" stall converter but should have used the 10" because wet or graval roads the back tires wanted to spin.

Believe it or not but one summer I drove it up to Tawas and back with a blown water pump, just made a lot of gas station stops on the way. A friend of mine thought I had sprung a leak in the radiator so we poured a family sized can of pepper in it before taking off, felt sorry for the gas attendent in Standish, he wouldn't let me take the cap off and got a face full of steam, I hurt myself trying not to laugh.

[5thGenDemocrat]

3. I was once the proud owner of a 1963 Mercury Monterey

Thing weighed 4400 pounds and got 11 mpg on the HIGHWAY.
John
I have friends from GR coming on up for the party. We can probably catch you a ride in something more economical. Think about it, anyhow.

[noonwitch]

5. Is the Berlin Raceway still in Marne, near GR?

My dad used to take us to the midget races there. It was a fun place.

[sarcasmo]

4. Went to school with his Daughter, he is a piece of Work.

Swan Valley High School (86) here, I don't put anything past the Draper family when it comes to making money.