You might have to watch the speedometer on the six-mile straightaway through the cornfields west of Litchfield, but there is a stretch where speeds can -- legally -- reach 140 mph.
It's just off U.S. Highway 12, a few car lengths to the south and two miles short of Grove City.
The Grove Creek Raceway is one of only three drag strips in the state and the only one with lights, according to owner/operator Rick Austin of Dayton.
Austin said this past Labor Day weekend was the biggest weekend of the summer and Sunday night drew the most cars, upwards of 200. Eleven years ago the start-up 1/8-mile blacktop behind the stock car oval, now closed, might draw a rag-tag collection of 100 hot rods on a good day.
Now, the cars, trucks, motorcycles and snowmobiles are polished with fancy paint jobs and spilling over with chrome. Drivers pay an entry fee depending on class, plus $10 for camping.
ADVERTISEMENT
The new "Night Drags" draw the biggest crowds and are popular with drivers, Austin said. E.T. (elapsed time) Bracket racing allows dragsters of varying power to race head-to-head by handicapping the faster car with a delayed start. Two records were set Monday next to Highway 12: Mike Mroz of Blaine, in the motorcycle class, broke his own record going over 146 mph and Jeff Hendrickson of St. Paul topped 148 in his Alcohol Fuel Dragster. The 2007 drag racing season at Grove Creek runs through October.
-- Story and photos by Rand Middleton
