As a young boy growing up during a Western New York summertime I can recall hearing those iconic “Sunday, Sunday Niagara” radio advertisements promoting the upcoming drag racing events at the legendary and now defunct Niagara (NY) Drag Strip.
Whether you were a racing fan or not everyone recognized those unique radio ads.
The Niagara Dragstrip, which was located near Niagara Falls, NY, originally opened in 1961 as the Niagara Falls Airport Drag Strip attracted fans and competitors from a wide ranging population until its permanent closure in 1974 due to noise complaints from nearby residents.
In 1967 NASCAR ran their Summer Nationals at Niagara. Racers from the West Coast, Southern Florida, Canada and other locations flocked to Niagara to compete in many events there over the years.
To this day there are individuals and groups dedicated to keeping the memories of Niagara Drag Strip alive.
On May 10, 2025 the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen NY, (IMRRC) will be hosting a “Conversation Series” event entitled “Straight Line Speed-The History of Niagara Drag Strip”.
Speakers that day at the 1 p.m. free to the public event will be former Niagara promoter Dean Johnson as well as retired NHRA and IHRA Hall of Fame driver/car builder/car owner Jim Oddy.
On display at the IMRRC that day will be the 1963 AA/Top Fuel dragster built by “TV” Tommy Ivo.
IMRRC Coordinator of Visitor Services/Outreach is Kip Zeiter. While the IMRRC has held many “Conversation Series” events over the years, highlighting various forms of motorsports, this year’s May 10 event is the first time the IMRRC has devoted one of these events to the discipline of drag racing.
“The reason we are doing this event on May 10 on drag racing is due to Dean Johnson,” Zeiter said. “Within the last year to two years Dean has given us a ton of information such as auto books, albums, a three ring binder of cancelled checks for people that he paid in that era to do match racing.
“So we have this great collection of drag racing photos and memories sitting here and it seemed about time that we do something on drag racing. The IMRRC has been here for 27 years now and for the most part we have focused on road racing and oval track racing and any number of other disciplines but this will be the first time we’ve ever dealt with straight line speed.
“Quite frankly it’s probably about time that we do that. It’s all due to the generosity of Mr. Johnson in giving us a lot of stuff from his collection.”
Zeiter also pointed out that he feels it will be a real treat when those attending the May 10 event will get to see the restored “TV” Tommy Ivo built dragster on display.
“We’ve got this extremely cool AA/Top Fuel dragster on the display floor here,” Zeiter said. “It is totally emblematic of what drag racing was like in that era. It’s a front engine drag racer that was common before Don Garlits had his accident and the clutch blew and blew off half of his foot.
“That’s when it was decided that it would be a little bit safer maybe if he stuck the engine behind his head instead of in front of his face. This is a terrifically restored and wonderful example of that era of Top Fuel dragsters.”
Johnson, 86, is excited to share his memories with those who will be attending the IMRRC event. Although Niagara Drag Strip opened in 1961, Johnson did not become the track’s promoter until 1964. From there he promoted the facility to its demise in 1974.
“The track was originally called Niagara Airport Drag Strip because we were parallel to the big long runway at Niagara Falls (NY) Airport,” Johnson explained. “The owner and the people that were running the track at that time were looking for someone else to run it in 1964 so they ask me if I was interested and that’s how I came aboard there as promoter.
“My background in the sport until that time was strictly that I was a street racer.”
Johnson made Niagara Drag Strip successful.
“For the most part we drew a lot of cars to our races to compete,” Johnson proclaimed. “There were a couple of races where we drew over 600 cars. Our match races were big. We brought in Don Garlits, Don Schumacher, Shirley Muldowney, “TV” Tommy Ivo, and pretty much anybody else who was touring we booked them.
“As far as our attendance went we drew for a bigger race over 21,000 but that was exceptional. Normally we wouldn’t get anywhere near that many. We ran the NASCAR Summer Nationals in 1967 and that was big.”
When ask about the highlights of his years spent at Niagara, Johnson had a very interesting response. It revolves around people and memories.
“As far as the Niagara Drag Strip is concerned, the memorabilia end of it has become very big,” Johnson stressed. “What’s happened is I have gotten to meet all of the people I knew from before and I’ve gotten in recent years to meet them all over again. So really that has been the best part.
“I gave the IMRRC almost all of my memorabilia. What they represent is all motorsports, not just round and round racing. I was there with another fellow who was giving them a bunch of material and I thought the IMRRC is a good place for me to give my material to.
“I don’t have to worry about it when I die. I don’t want all my material to get thrown away. It was too important to me and it’s important to a lot of other people. I was afraid that when I died it would get thrown away.”
Johnson still enjoys the company of those who were so much a part of the yesteryears of Niagara.
“Now there is a group of about 20 people more or less that on any given Thursday where the drag racers sit down and we tell lies and have breakfast,” Johnson said. “I got a call a few days ago and found out that there’s another big luncheon down in Wellsville (NY). There will be some people that are still drag racing. They are as old as me and I’m 86! So they’re still racing believe it or not!
Oddy enjoyed a stellar drag racing career of which the early years were spent at Niagara Drag Strip. He was an important part of the fabric of drag racing for decades.
“I wore all the hats back then from car builder to car owner to driver,” Oddy said. “I had to pay all my own racing bills. The whole deal was mine. When I started out in the early 1960’s we were going to abandoned airports like Dunkirk (NY) and Presque Isle Dragway, which was in Erie, Pa.
“When Dean Johnson operated Niagara that kind of changed the whole scope of what we were doing and kind of really brought drag racing to the forefront especially in the Buffalo (NY) area.”
Oddy has many fond memories of Niagara. Many may not realize that Oddy is a NASCAR winner although it was not in the oval track stock car form of competition. Back many years ago, NASCAR also sanctioned drag racing albeit for a very brief time.
“Niagara was the most professional drag racing that we had in our area,” Oddy proclaimed. “Dean had all the big stars at the race track. So when you went there you were racing with Connie Kalitta, “Jungle” Jim Liberman, Don Prudomme and other greats of the sport there at least once a month.
“Dean actually had a NASCAR drag race nationals and that was so cool because NASCAR had just basically got into the drag racing deal. They weren’t in it very long but I won that race and set the NASCAR AA/Super Gas quarter mile record so that was definitely a special day for us.”
It was a very sad day for Oddy and the drag racing community that was involved at Niagara when they learned that Niagara would be closing for good in 1974.
“We were absolutely heartbroken,” Oddy said. “We couldn’t believe it. We were there every Saturday and Sunday and the news of the closing surely took the wind out of our sails. We then had to go look for race tracks that we could race at and the majority weren’t nearly as good as what we had at Niagara right in our own backyard.”
It’s the good times spent at Niagara that resonates with Oddy now.
“After racing every Sunday we would go and party after the races,” Oddy recalled. “We would all get together and go over to Kenny Bainbridge’s shop and he would have a cold keg of beer and we would play volleyball and party until you couldn’t party any longer.
“It’s just something that we rarely missed and when it closed we really didn’t know what we had. Basically I still miss it to this day.”