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The Era of the
Oswego Dragway 
Every time I make a pass in the car I feel that I am endangering my life. - Mike Sorokin, 1965
Email:
jaysspeedshop@gmail.com
Mission Statement
The ERA, an on-going documentary project, was designed to record, research, document and preserve the personal histories of the enthusiastic old people who were the energetic young people from the greater Fox Valley and Midwest who played a vital role in merging land speed racing and hot rodding creating modern drag racing.
The ERA simultaneously tries to note some of the many positive benefits that accrued to the lives, enterprises, citizenship, military service, and avocations of these young people by the very nature of their activities, involvement and labors at the track whether as individuals, as racing teams, in car clubs or even as spectators.
From my observations over time I have the impression if you don't give young people something positive to do they'll find something else to do. But if they get to pick the activity you don't know how good or bad it's going to be. Ironically the impetus behind the Oswego drag strip was a few individuals who wanted to drag race some place locally in the Fox Valley area. These individuals were members of the Aurora Autocrats, a car club whose name Bob Louden thought up one day while driving.
Phew! - Jay Thompson
This documentary details the activities
of the young men and women from the Fox Valley in the 1950's and their
role in the evolution of hot rods & land speed racing into modern drag
racing. And it was that same innovative automotive technology that Detroit automakers' came to
embrace in marketing muscle-cars.
The Oswego Dragway was one
of the very first, if not the first, purpose-built, drag strips in the US.
James Dean was killed in
his race car in September of 1955, the same month and year the Oswego Dragway started
as a dirt track. Dean's fascination with racing reflected that
of many movie producers evidenced in teen movies starring hot rod romance, music
on the beach
and on the road starring young people from all across the US in the fifties.
