Lions Drag Strip

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Lions Drag Strip was a raceway in the Wilmington district of Los Angeles adjacent to Long Beach, California that existed from 1955 to 1972. The track was named after its sponsors Lions Clubs International and featured many races that were sanctioned by the NHRA.

As the area surrounding the track increased in population, complaints regarding noise were made to government officials. Subsequently, efforts were made to deny the operators of track continued use of the facility. After the last races took place on December 2, 1972, the track was quickly torn down through the efforts of the Los Angeles Harbor Department to make space for overseas shipping cargo containers which exists to this day.

[edit] Trivia

  • The television series The Munsters filmed most of the episode "Hot Rod Herman" at Lions Drag Strip.
  • The common advertising slogan used for this raceway was "Drive the highways...race at Lions."
  • The track announcer for many races in the late 1960s and early 1970s was broadcast personality and motorsports announcer Larry Huffman,[1] whose frenetic announcing style was later spoofed by countless stand-up comedians.

Nothing personal, its just business, you understand? Other proposed revenue schemes for the land that Lions Drag Strip sat on out weighed what could be made by the drag strip operations and lease. The dragstrip operation could no longer make the kind of money the port district officials wanted to see and they had a sure fire scheme to replace it. Lions Drag Strip was not quickly torn down after it closed in December of 1972. The land and the track sat vacant for over ten years until the Port District actually found a use for it or found a developer for it. The purported noise issue was a straw man,the one that politicians and NIMBYs usually hide behind when a limited use lease is up for renewal and land grab is at hand.Any environmental concerns cited at the time for the closing of Lions Drag Strip were a complete sham. The area the track was located at was & still is surrounded by chemical plants and refineries and now the major container/shipping facility that sits on the land. In 1967 the nearest homes at the time were on the other side (North) of the freeway and other housing about 1 mile or more East of the track on the other side of a huge vacant open field on the left hand side ( return road) of the track.Aerial photos of the day and present day still reveal this.Still by and large an industrial area.

There is an article in an issue of Car Craft Magazine about 1982 or later vintage that shows pictures of the track at that time.This was prior to the 1983 demise of Orange County International Raceway. The demise of Lions was due more to back room political dealing than anything else. Most Southern California drag strips have eventually faded into oblivion for all the same reasons. The land that most of the tracks sat on was leased and not owned by the strip operators, when the value of the land and property taxes exceeded the the revenue the tracks could produce and still turn a profit they closed.To further compound their troubles urban encroachment by housing started generating all the usual "whiner" noise complaints. If a track is on a limited use permit that is granted by quasi government body it is always a battle at renewal time.More like a parole hearing! The Lions Clubs originally sponsored the strip to help curb illegal street racing. Now once again a problem in the Southern California area.The more things change the more they stay the same.

See:"The Last Drag Race" and the other links below for the complete and rich history of this fabled drag strip. http://www.northernthunder.com/lastrace.html

http://lionsvideo.com/index2.html

http://www.geocities.com/deandecibel/Lions.html also see :OCIR link http://silverstone.fortunecity.com/bonneville/218/ocir01/

[edit] References

  • Last Call for Lions, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, December 1, 1972.
  • Following "The Last Drag Race": Souvenir hunters attack Lions strip, Long Beach Independent/Press-Telegram, December 4, 1972.

[edit] Links

Copy of a Petersen publication from 1973 detailing the history of Lions [2]

Satellite photo of the former north entrance to Lions Drag Strip [3]