WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Richmond Dragway has one of the most impressive pedigrees of any race track in the country and has hosted drag racing events for 55 years.
The 130-acre International Hot Rod Ass’n sanctioned facility in Sandston, Va., featuring a 1/quarter-mile drag strip, was founded by Dan Weis in 1964. It remains a family operation with the track owned by Weis’ nephew Johnny Davis and his wife Allison.
Beyond their blood relatives, Weis sees those who support the track as an extended family.
“We have a great group of racers and the message resonates like probably every IHRA track where our racers are like family,” Davis said. “We would be nothing without them, and we love having an extended family of racers. We take a lot of pride in we feel like a family track where it’s safe to bring your kids.”
They’ve long been part of the IHRA family as well, and a huge supporter of the IHRA Summit SuperSeries, the largest and most prestigious championship in bracket racing. David Tanner (Top), Wendell Wilson (Mod) and Katie Hall (Junior) won track championships in 2018.
Chris Moren (Mod) also advanced to the IHRA Summit World Finals by winning an all-Richmond Dragway final over Jonathan Martin at the IHRA Division 1 team finals.
“We’ve been part of the Summit SuperSeries since it was created,” Davis said. “There is a high level of affinity with us and our racers for the SuperSeries. Last year, we not only sent our three track champs, but one of our racers won the Division 1 Summit Team Finals in Maryland.
“Four of our drivers went to Memphis to compete and I realized with that event, the way four drivers took a pretty good tow, the SuperSeries meant something to our racers and their families. Our drivers are among the best in the world and the way they find that out is competing against drivers in the Summit SuperSeries.”
Richmond Dragway features a full-service concession stand, a three-story timing and scoring tower. It utilizes a state-of-the-art Accutime Timing System along with large scoreboards and LED dial-in boards for drivers to verify their dial-ins.
They’ve earned a reputation of being good neighbors with other racing facilities, while hosting their own number of special events.
“We try to work with other local tracks and make sure we’re not hitting the same kind of events,” Davis said. “We try to balance our schedule with other tracks in the Richmond area.”