Peoria Pundit

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Local: Any info out there about a Peoria drag strip?

From my inbox:

I was wondering where I could find any information and/or pictures of the old Peoria area dragstrip called the Boondocks? Over on centralstreetscene.org, a local automotive enthusiast forum, we are having a discussion about it. It seems interesting. Thanks

7 Responses to “Local: Any info out there about a Peoria drag strip?”

  1.   Neal Says:

    Yes it is/was off Smithville road in Peoria County past Limestone Walters grade school a couple of miles. There used to be a sign at the turnoff. The road was very non-descript and i remember exactly where it is

  2.   PeoriaIllinoisan Says:

    What years did it exist? Any remnants still there?

  3.   mortonmalaise Says:

    From what Neal describes, it sounds like a pretty unofficial thing. Like a poorly patrolled stretch of straight, level road in the middle of nowhere that was used for drag racing until someone died and the fuzz shut it down.

  4.   emtronics Says:

    No it was a legal operating strip. I forget who owned it but I remember going there years ago.

  5.   emtronics Says:

    I seemed to remember ads for it on the old WIRL 1290 AM radio

  6.   peoriacountypolitics.blogspot.com/ Says:

    if you go to google earth and travel to LAT N 40.670407
    Lon W -89.756071 you will see what is left a long stretch of land with trees along the old strip

  7.   Ed Sanders Says:

    I was there about five or six times in the mid sixties – 64 and 65 – then I was away in the Army. I was there twice in 69 and I believe and it closed after that maybe in 70 or 71. It was called Peoria Draqaway. (I know I typed a “q” instead of the correct letter but I am in Internet Explorer and sometimes when I type the corrct letter it redirects me to “_oo_le” – why does this happen?? It doesn’t with Firefox?)