The Smithville Dragstrip operated from 1962 to 1970, and was located off Miller Road where Earl Avenue is today. Swallowed by a residential area and largely forgotten, the Review sat down with some of the original participants to flesh out what really went on at the strip.

Charles “Chile Bean” Cantrell, who was there at the track’s genesis, said that like many things in DeKalb County in the 60s the whole affair began at the Sunrise Grill.

“It all started at the Sunrise Grill when I was a senior in high school,” Cantrell said. “It was 1961, and a lot of boys hung out at the Grill. Everybody had a car or truck, and we would see who could lay the most rubber going up the street by the restaurant.”

Cantrell said that the group decided a real drag strip was in order.

“We decided we needed a drag strip, so about 25 or 30 of us met, I think at the Dairy Bell up by the shirt factory, in the back room,” he said. “We elected the president, and got a lawyer, but we needed some land. We got with Earl Evins and talked him into going to a drag strip in Harriman. He had never heard of a drag strip.”

Billy Joe Cripps, who was also involved from the beginning, said Evins was not too keen on the idea at first.

“We talked to Earl Evins, and he didn’t want to have anything to do with it,” Cripps said. “We convinced him to go to a drag strip, though, and he changed his tune when he saw how much money they were making.”

Cantrell agreed.

“We headed off down Highway 70, at that time there was no interstate,” Cantrell said. “He didn’t much like the idea until he saw how much money was coming in at the gate. Then he was ready to build a dragstrip. We built the strip ourselves. We worked day and night. The county let us use their equipment. We got it open in April 1962. I remember it snowed that day, but it didn’t stick. I don’t know how long it stayed open, I was in the service from September 66 to September 68. I think it was open for two or three more years.”

Jackie Young told the Review that his first experience at the strip was fruitful, but it was his last when his mother found out.

“I had a 62 Impala,” Young said. “I was still in high school, and wasn’t supposed to be drag racing. It had a Corvette engine, and they scraped the intake and found out it was aluminum. The said it wasn’t stock, and put me in Modified D. Shorty Cantrell came in, and unhooked his tow car, a Nomad wagon, and it was running in the same class. I went running back and changed to Modified C so I wouldn’t have to run him.”

He had to face the Nomad anyway, however.

“I made it all the way through, and ended up having to race him in the finals anyway. He beat me, and second place paid six dollars or a trophy. I took the trophy, but they were out of big trophies, so I had to pick it up, the next week. Somebody saw my mom on Monday, and made a remark about how fast my car would run. That was the end of my racing career. She at least let me go back and get the trophy. I still have it.”

Even though the track was sometimes a dangerous place, the guys didn’t allow a little personal injury to get in the way of a good time.

“I got hit with a piece of a clutch once,” Cantrell shared. I was standing off to the side with Boxie Foutch when this guy grabbed second gear and his clutch exploded. Parts went everywhere. It got Boxie on the arm pretty bad, and got me on the elbow.”

A few stitches did not stop the show, however.

“We went over to Knowles Hospital and they sewed us up, then we came back and finished watching the races,” Cantrell said. “From then on everybody had to have a blow-proof bellhousing.”

Some of the action at the strip began in town, according to Willie Moser.

“Wayne Vanderpool had an old 55 Chevy truck,” Moser said. “It was ragged, but it had a Corvette engine in it with two four barrels, and it would fly. I was working at Ross Gear at the time, and this guy I worked with had a Mustang that he thought was bad. He came to town on night looking for a race. He buzzed up and down in front of the service station Wayne ran a few times, and pulled in.

The man in the Mustang was soon suckered into a race he couldn’t win.

“He was running his mouth, but Wayne told him we didn’t like to get our good Chevrolets dirty racing Fords,” Moser shared. “He said he might drag that old rusty farm truck out and run him, but that was the best he could do for him. That ‘rusty old farm truck’ was the fastest thing there. I don’t know how they got into the drag strip. Wayne might have had a key. They went to the drag strip and that old truck wore that Mustang out. I mean blew him away. He turned his little Mustang around and headed back to Lebanon. He didn’t know I knew what had happened, and he didn’t want anybody else to know. I told everybody in that plant.”

Cantrell said that progress eventually overcame the little home-built strip.

“Earl eventually closed it down and built houses alongside it,” he said. “It’s called Earl Avenue now, but it was a great time while it lasted, and it kept a lot of boys from racing on the street.