Merriam-Webster announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year but at Tucson Dragway we feel that the word was “Adapt”. During 2020 Tucson Dragway has really Adapted to survive, provided a safe facility and a variety of events and activities for their customers throughout 2020!
We started the year by ringing in 2020 with our Annual Race The Hangover Nationals; followed by Fan favorites Import Face-Off and Roadkill Zip-Tie Drags! Import Face-Off had plenty of action for its fans both on Track and In the Pits with a massive car show, Stereo Contest and even the Low Rider Limbo! Just a couple weekends later Roadkill Zip-Tie Drags brought in the Stars of Roadkill, Freiburger and Finnegan, along with Burnout Pit, the $3K Hooptie Challenge, A Jet Car, The Little Red Fire Truck AND Nitro Funny Car Driver Alexia DeJoria! Fans were able to race F&F and show off some of their rides!
Bracket Racing was kicked off with The Summit Series Team Races and Club Days that always prove to bring the best in the Southwest to race!
Street Outlaws Star Daddy Dave & Chuck 55 came to race a Cancer Benefit Race for the My Mallory May Foundation, although there team didn’t fare so well a group of Arizona Racers took home the win and split the large purse with the Foundation as a donation! Street Car Takeover didn’t disappoint with racers coming from as far as Texas to show off and compete!
Tucson Dragway hosted its first of many to come 5K Fun Runs in 2020. This one, The Terrain Race, which allowed participants to climb large walls, swing on monkey bars and crawl through the mud under cargo nets!
The Pacific Division Season Opener for the Divisional was next in 2020 to bring racers from all over Division 7 to compete right here at Tucson Dragway. They competed in what is now called Arizona Speed Week; A Test and Tune followed by National Open and Divisional!
March brought us more Summit Series Team Racing where we watched racers of all ages compete in every category from Big Wheels to Super Pro! Racers brought their best out the next weekend for some No Prep racing as Arizona No Prep hosted a No Prep Surface Race along with a Beyond 1320 Race!
Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School brought their Super Comp and Super Gas Competition License Class to Tucson Dragway at the end of March. This great class allowed for 12 Students to get a refresher course in Super Comp and Super Gas racing along with Licensing new students as well!
Shortly after that Tucson Dragway made a shift in activities we were allowed to host. Pima County put measures in place to help protect its residents and our community. We began to host Digital Happy Hours where we used Zoom to have racers, staff and fans virtually get together and hangout and chat! Coloring Page Contests designed by Kenny Youngblood, Scavenger Hunts, Virtual Bingo, Wear your Helmet To Work Day and plenty of giveaways!
We were able to host plenty of Private Test Sessions for our Local Racers, Johnny West, Erica Enders and Nitro Funny Cars… just to name a few!
Scaled Down Tucson Dragway was a huge success as The Voice of The NHRA Alan Reinhardt hosted Hot Wheels Races that went viral with over 1.4 Million Views on the first race! That led to plenty of Match Races like Speed Sport Roadster and Don Schumacher's Wonder Wagon, The Roadkill Cars, The Hemi Underglass and featured all kinds of racing themes from Nostalgia Funny Cars to Throwback Prostock cars!
Pima County stated the Pima County Ready For You campaign Tucson Dragway was selected as a safe facility to host events. Soon we would host Drive-In Movies such as Cars, Snake & Mongoose, Toy Story and Aladdin then Drive-In Concerts from Garth Brooks, Blake Shelton, Metallica and Kane Brown. It was great to see the Tucson community come to the track to watch these great performances and movies and enjoy socially distancing along with the classic drive-in movie feel!
We got the great honor to host Drive-Thru Graduations for all of the Vail School Districts High Schools! The Students got to dress up in their caps and gowns, decorate their parents cars, then were driven right down the dragstrip as their names were called over the PA for their parents and families to watch from the safety of three cars!
Steve Huff Motorsports was the first Fully Electric Dragster to go 200MPH and he did it right here at Tucson Dragway!!
Tucson Dragway Lit up in many colors this year in honor and tribute to our Front Line Workers (Blue), Live Entertainment Workers (Red) and for our dear friend Clay Forrester (Beyond 1320).
On September 11th our Tucson Dragway Family took a moment to remember those who lost their lives on 9/11/2001. #NeverForget
Halloween, along with everything was different this year and Tucson Dragway hosted a Drive-Thru Trick or Treat for the Tucson Community! Tucson Dragway along with some of its Marketing Partners pre-packaged candy and decorated the entire dragstrip and property for halloween night, along with Inflatables, a grave yard and a light tunnel to drive thru!
We finished The Summit Series Team Race Season with the following 2020 Season Champs!
2020 Super Pro Champion: Dylan Smith
2020 Pro Champion: Luis Ortiz
2020 Sportsman Champion: Brad Hawk
2020 Motorcycle Champion: John Coburn
2020 High School Champion: Ryan Edwards
2020 Junior Street Champion: Becca Bopp
2020 6 - 12 Junior Dragster Champion: Sarah Kidd
2020 13 - 17 Junior Dragster Champion: Dylan Moody
Tucson Dragway was happy to host for the first time ever The Wienermobile and held the first ever WienieRoast at Tucson Dragway when a Jet Car raced the world famous Wienermobile! The Fans and Racers at the track during that Friday Night Drags were excited to get to see the Wienermobile Race and see it up close and personal!
We event had a Monolith show up at Tucson Dragway.
Tucson Dragway Ended out the year with a Food Drive to benefit The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. Our incredible Marketing Partners were able to put collection boxes at all of their locations and collected non perishable foods for those that need it in Southern Arizona!
We were excited to share with out Racers and Fans a very unique reading of 'Twas The Night Before Christmas by our Friends David Freiburger from Roadkill, Alan Reinhart from NHRA, Brian Lohnes from NHRA, Amanda Busick from NHRA, Frank Hawley from Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, Mike Rice from the NHRA Pacific Division and Molly Swindall from The Wienermobile! We are so thankful to call all of them our friends and family!
Tucson Dragway is excited for 2021 and we are so thankful for our Racers, Fans and Staff that has supported us throughout this crazy year! We want to wish all of you a Happy and Safe New Year! See you at the track!
