Westhampton Drag Strip, Yesterday & Today

Billy Stein and Ed Talerine

in my '50 Merc at the entrance to

Westhampton Drag Strip, in 1961.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, anyone with a

hot rod or custom car on Long Island

headed to a drag strip at Westhampton

most Sundays.

This was a 1/4 mile track where cars raced

in classes outlined by the

type and weight of the car, size of engine,

and extent of modifications overall.
Two cars at a time started from a

standing stop and those with the

lowest elapsed time won each "run".
By a process of elimination, one car in

each class would emerge the final winner.

I shot the following photos

during the early to mid 1960s.
(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

The Dodge above ran with a

471 cubic inch engine and
turned 112 M.P.H. during its run

for "Street Eliminator" trophy.

The white '59 Chevy was a

constant winner at 'Hampton
as evidenced by the numerous

"kill" decals on the rear quarter glass.

'47 Ford convert (above)

had a late model Buick OHV 8 engine;
belonged to one of my friends

from the 116th Street garages.

1955 Ford from another of the guys

at 116th Street,
photographed on Sunrise Highway

along the way to the strip.

I recently ventured back to the site of the

Westhampton Drag Strip on a rainy weekday

and found that Timber Ridge Homes has

built a housing development on the site.


A gated community portal replaces

the old entrance to the drag strip.

The homes on the left are

about where the pit area and stands used to be;

the street in the middle is

about where the drag strip once was.

The area on the left being cleared

for more homes is about where the

spectators' parking lot and stands once stood;

the new road is about where the

drivers once returned after a race
on the "return road."

(Any comments on the old drag strip?
...Or its replacement?)