With the NMRA/NMCA West Coast Shootout being only weeks away (Jul 8th thru 10th at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, California), I've been thinking about how long I've been around Mustang drag racing, and all of the tracks that I've traveled to, to participate in events or just spectate.

I'm gonna guesstimate that I've honestly visited some 40 or so different facilities; most of the "majors" that you're probably familiar with (Atlanta Dragway, Route 66 Raceway, Texas Motorplex, Maple Grove Raceway, Indianapolis Raceway Park, etc), as well as smaller quarter-mile facilities (Milan, LACR, No Problem Raceway, Lebanon Valley, MIR, etc), and several Outlaw eighth-mile strips tucked deep in the country woods, where you'd never imagine a dragstrip would be (710 Dragway in North Carolina--where you "Race at Your Own Risk").

Of all the tracks I've gone to, there are two that always will be special. I'll tell you about them, after the jump...

 Having moved to Los Angeles from New York, Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, will always be considered my "home track." It's the first place I ever (legally) raced a Mustang, and despite the 1.5-hour trip from my house, it was my "hangout" spot for many years (I would go to the track on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays ALL the time). I credit RP for being the place where I learned to truly "drag race," not just run my car fast against another car.

Atco Raceway (Atco, New Jersey) is the other East Coast dragstrip I'll always be fond of. Once known as the "Hookin'est Track in the East (yes, the track broke one of my '84 'Stang's axles back in '96)," Atco is a place where I had some of my best races, and the first dragstrip where I ever won money in an organized race event.

I recently had a chance to get over to the East, and I paid both places a visit. With the drama that racers in Southern California are dealing with (battle between Auto Club Dragway and local residents over excessive noise), it was cool to see that my home tracks are still going strong (even though Raceway Park has been fighting the same noise battle for many years).