For decades, the Richmond Dragway ran around 75 situations for every year at its keep track of. (Courtesy of Richmond Dragway)
The spouse and children powering the longtime Richmond Dragway has cashed out its authentic estate, marking the final chapter of approximately 60 decades of racing on the jap Henrico web-site.
The quarter-mile dragstrip and its 72 acres at 1955 Portugee Road in Sandston sold in late December for $3.2 million. The buyer was an entity tied to Maryland-dependent financial investment organization Greenspring Realty Partners, county records display.
Johnny Davis
The seller was the Weis spouse and children, led by Johnny Davis, whose terrific-grandfather Pop Weis and great-uncle Dan Weis opened the observe in 1964.
Davis experienced been functioning the present in the latest several years, up right until its closure because of to the pandemic in late 2020.
Davis commenced functioning at the Dragway when he was 16 as the announcer. Following college he turned its general supervisor, then in 2008 he and his wife Allison purchased the business.
He reported the monitor generally ran up to 75 functions per calendar year, mainly on weekends. Friday nights ended up geared toward newcomers, even though Saturdays saw some larger speeds.
“It was people that had more invested in their vehicles and they had been trying to find purses and all that things. They have been racing for more substantial irons in the hearth than just bragging rights,” Davis claimed of the Saturday group. “They raced anything at all from a each day driver to a goal-constructed race motor vehicle.”
When the pandemic hit and Richmond Dragway was shut down, Davis stated he took some inventory of his lifestyle.
“Being compelled to close, I understood that I’ve completed about all I want to do, can do, and made all the sacrifices I was ready to make operating the racetrack,” he claimed.
“So I created the final decision along with some of my family that I was going to move again and not do this anymore. No one in my household required to consider over and do it as their occupation. That’s why we elected to promote.”
For Greenspring Realty Associates, the Dragway deal is its 2nd neighborhood acquisition in just a calendar year. In March 2021, an affiliate of the firm purchased 22 acres at 2401 Elliham Ave. in Chesterfield for $3 million.
The dragstrip is now owned by out-of-town traders. It’s unclear what their options for it are. (Mike Platania picture)
As of press time, no perform is underway on the Chesterfield plot and no designs have been submitted for the Dragway land, which most a short while ago was assessed at $1.2 million.
Numerous calls and e-mail sent to Greenspring principal Dan Flamholz went unreturned.
Providing the Dragway and formally closing the ebook on that period was bittersweet for Davis, as he recalled his family’s background in the nearby racing scene.
Ahead of opening the Dragway, Pop and Dan Weis operated racing venues in other localities like Tappahannock, Emporia and Petersburg. Davis explained his good-uncle also opened Lakeside Automobile, which had attained a track record as a pace store.
A photograph from Richmond Dragway’s early days in the 1960s. (Courtesy of Richmond Dragway)
“Lakeside was a hotbed for warm-rodders, men and women that appreciated to soup their autos up. (Dan and Pop) understood it’d be good to have a racetrack that they could go to,” Davis stated, noting that Lakeside Auto is continue to owned by his cousin Scott Weis.
These days the Davises perform in authentic estate and, with Richmond Dragway shut, Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie is the place most local drag racing is carried out. Davis mentioned he does not bring his 2012 Toyota Tundra out there – which is his each day driver – but mentioned his brother has a race auto that he however operates.
“I really like the activity, the men and women, the vehicles, all of that stuff. I actually was just ready for a diverse problem and some thing that would allow me to be current in my kids’ life additional,” he claimed.
“You do not comprehend what you are missing out on until finally you get a likelihood to slow down, and which is what COVID compelled us to do.”