Famoso Dragstrip’s place in American hot rod history was secured long before modern sanctioning bodies defined drag racing, but the annual March Meet turned the Bakersfield facility into one of the sport’s most enduring landmarks.
When the track opened in 1954 on a converted POSO airstrip, it became a proving ground for hot rodders eager to test ingenuity and claim bragging rights. Few could have predicted that five years later it would host one of drag racing’s most storied events.
The inaugural Smokers March Meet was contested in 1959, beginning a legacy that has spanned nearly seven decades and touched nearly every significant racer and crew chief in drag racing history…