PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY AND DELL PURIFOY |
The racing landscape around Coastal Plains Dragway has experienced a number of transformations and shifts over the last half-century , ranging from facility upgrades to bracket racing largely transitioning to eighthmile competition from the time-honored staple of 1,320 feet . Eventually , big-tire cars with massive horsepower were the featured attractions , as various touring clubs brought their act to the coastal region of the Tar Heel state . Next came an explosion of interest in no-prep racing that has swept the
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country in recent years , energized by television shows such as Street Outlaws .
Through all the changes , though , one thing that ’ s remained the same is the steady leadership of the Humphrey family , who ’ s been at the helm of the Jacksonville , North Carolina , facility for the last 49 years .
“ Racing has ranged from our hobby to our career ,” explains Ronnie Humphrey , whose dad , Troy , entered into the first of several business partnerships of owning the track in 1972 . “ By the time I was 16 years of age , Dad owned the track solely , so I guess you could say that he and
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I have been on this journey together since that time . I ’ m 60 years old now and I ’ ve been walking these grounds since I was 10 . Dad just turned 80 and he ’ s doing good .”
The facility itself has changed quite a bit from when the Humpheys first took over , most notably with an extensive remodel in 1975 , which replaced the metal Armco guardrails with concrete barriers and widened the track to 60 feet . Prior to 1975 , the track operated as a split-lane dragstrip , featuring two independent lanes with a dirt section that separated them .
The following decades ushered in exciting heads-
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February 2021 |
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