While other drag strips are closing we seem to be holding are own. Couple more tracks making a come back. I believe we have 7 now.
New life for dragstrip
$2 million upgrade for Mayfield track, property
BY PHIL FOLEY
810-452-2616 • [email protected]
Earlier this year Bill Jennings bought Lapeer International Dragway from track founder Ed Vakula. He plans to upgrade and expand the half-century old facility. Photo by Phil FoleyMAYFIELD TWP. — The Fourth of July will mark 50 years to the day that Lapeer International Dragway opened its gates for the first time. And if Bill Jennings has his way the track will be open for racing again Wednesday.
Jennings bought the track from its founder, Ed Vakula, in April and closed it the following month to begin massive renovations to the property — including ripping up the half-century old asphalt drag strip and replacing it with six inches of polished concrete the full length of the quarter-mile track. He said he’s sinking $260,000 just in the track itself and plans on spending $2 million in improvements to the 60-acre site.
He can afford it. Last year a federal court in Detroit slashed a $36.6 million judgement against the Genesee County Sheriff’s Dept. for a 2010 jail beating down to $11 million, but that still leaves him with a lot to spend. In 2016 following a 12-week trial, a federal jury awarded Jennings, 44, who has since moved from Flint Township to Oakland County, $36.6 million after a Genesee County Jail guard severely beat him following a drunken driving arrest.
Bill Jennings wants to put new windows and doors in Lapeer International Dragway’s iconic control towers, but beyond a fresh coat of paint and new stairs, he wants to maintain its original character. Photos by Phil FoleyA racing fan, Jennings said he had thought about building his own test track someplace earlier this year when he heard Vakula was thinking of selling the race track he built on the family farm on Roods Lake Road. “I raced in Flint when I was a kid,” he said. “My uncles did and a lot of my friends did.” He added, “I love racing.”
Lapeer International Dragway has been a fixture of Lapeer County weekends for a half century. Oakland County’s Bill Jennings is sinking more than $2 million into bringing it back.In 1968, Vakula and his brother, Mike, were partners in a group of family meat markets founded by his grandfather in Lapeer. Vakula said the drag strip was actually the brainchild of Ron Starking, an employee at the market.
Starking wrote on WaterWinterWonderland.com in 2011, “I graduated in ‘64 and soon began working for the Vakula Bros., meat market store, in the mid-60s. It was my idea for them to put a drag strip on their farm land. They did and I worked on the starting line for two years once it opened. I was tall and skinny then and wore a white pit helmet.”
Starking, whose brother Steve owns Lapeer Gold and Diamond, added, “I had just gotten married, in 1967, and my wife worked in the concession stand.”
Now retired from the construction trades, Starking recalled the Vakula brothers as “great bosses.”
Vakula’s grandfather moved the family from Detroit to Lapeer in 1927, trading a house in Detroit for 240 acres on Roods Lake Road. He said his grandfather had been a farmer in Russia before coming to America in 1912 and had dreamed of becoming a farmer again.
He said the family started selling meat at the farmer’s market in Flint and that kept them from losing the farm during the Depression. Vakula said the family eventually opened a meat market in Lapeer and that grew to eight stores before the last one closed in 2001.
But in 1968, Vakula figured he could make more money in one day with a dragstrip than he could having the 80 acres planted in corn for the whole season. On opening day 3,200 people, half again Mayfield Township’s population at the time, showed up for races. The County Press devoted its entire front page to the event that week, observing that $2,500 in prize money had been awarded.
In its heyday Lapeer International Dragway attracted the likes of Art Arfons and his jet-powered Green Monster, E.J. Potter (The Michigan Mad Man) and Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame (MMSHOF) inductee Della Woods.
In the 1960s and 70s there were as many as 25 dragstrips around the state, but that number has shrunk to a half dozen or so. In 2012, MMSHOF recognized the Vakula’s efforts to keep the sport of drag racing alive in Michigan by inducting them into the hall of fame.
While Lapeer International Dragway was a money-making operation, “We were always family oriented.” He added, “We had all the big names out there, but we ran it for the racers not the big shows.”
Jennings wants to continue in that tradition.
“I wish him a lot of luck. I hope he makes a pile of money,” Vakula said.
Vakula and his wife, Juliann, are exploring northern Michigan in their Mercedes-powered Winnebago motorhome. “For 50 years I never had a weekend off,” he said.
Jennings has big dreams for the facility. He’s already purchased an additional 83 acres to the south and has his eyes on more. Along with repaving the track, he’s in the process of upgrading the electrical service, repairing the bleachers and fixing the restrooms and concession stand.
Jennings plans to replace all of the asphalt on the property, which is just south of Vernor Road.
“It’s always been a family atmosphere out here and I want to keep it that way,” he said. After spending years getting up at 4 a.m. to go to a skilled trades job, Jennings said he won’t be doing any night racing mid-week. “You’ve got to be respectful,” he said.
But, he added, he also envisions the property as a motorsports park with a BMX track, a campground as well as a restaurant and possibility other racing opportunities such as mudbogging.
“I’m happy and excited,” said Ryan Hartsuck, who’s worked at the track for the past decade. “Even if I did not work here, I’d be out here. I was raised in this,” he said.
The track currently employs about six people, but Jennings can see his staff growing substantially in the next few years.
New life for dragstrip
$2 million upgrade for Mayfield track, property
BY PHIL FOLEY
810-452-2616 • [email protected]
Earlier this year Bill Jennings bought Lapeer International Dragway from track founder Ed Vakula. He plans to upgrade and expand the half-century old facility. Photo by Phil FoleyMAYFIELD TWP. — The Fourth of July will mark 50 years to the day that Lapeer International Dragway opened its gates for the first time. And if Bill Jennings has his way the track will be open for racing again Wednesday.Jennings bought the track from its founder, Ed Vakula, in April and closed it the following month to begin massive renovations to the property — including ripping up the half-century old asphalt drag strip and replacing it with six inches of polished concrete the full length of the quarter-mile track. He said he’s sinking $260,000 just in the track itself and plans on spending $2 million in improvements to the 60-acre site.
He can afford it. Last year a federal court in Detroit slashed a $36.6 million judgement against the Genesee County Sheriff’s Dept. for a 2010 jail beating down to $11 million, but that still leaves him with a lot to spend. In 2016 following a 12-week trial, a federal jury awarded Jennings, 44, who has since moved from Flint Township to Oakland County, $36.6 million after a Genesee County Jail guard severely beat him following a drunken driving arrest.
Bill Jennings wants to put new windows and doors in Lapeer International Dragway’s iconic control towers, but beyond a fresh coat of paint and new stairs, he wants to maintain its original character. Photos by Phil FoleyA racing fan, Jennings said he had thought about building his own test track someplace earlier this year when he heard Vakula was thinking of selling the race track he built on the family farm on Roods Lake Road. “I raced in Flint when I was a kid,” he said. “My uncles did and a lot of my friends did.” He added, “I love racing.”
Lapeer International Dragway has been a fixture of Lapeer County weekends for a half century. Oakland County’s Bill Jennings is sinking more than $2 million into bringing it back.In 1968, Vakula and his brother, Mike, were partners in a group of family meat markets founded by his grandfather in Lapeer. Vakula said the drag strip was actually the brainchild of Ron Starking, an employee at the market.Starking wrote on WaterWinterWonderland.com in 2011, “I graduated in ‘64 and soon began working for the Vakula Bros., meat market store, in the mid-60s. It was my idea for them to put a drag strip on their farm land. They did and I worked on the starting line for two years once it opened. I was tall and skinny then and wore a white pit helmet.”
Starking, whose brother Steve owns Lapeer Gold and Diamond, added, “I had just gotten married, in 1967, and my wife worked in the concession stand.”
Now retired from the construction trades, Starking recalled the Vakula brothers as “great bosses.”
Vakula’s grandfather moved the family from Detroit to Lapeer in 1927, trading a house in Detroit for 240 acres on Roods Lake Road. He said his grandfather had been a farmer in Russia before coming to America in 1912 and had dreamed of becoming a farmer again.
He said the family started selling meat at the farmer’s market in Flint and that kept them from losing the farm during the Depression. Vakula said the family eventually opened a meat market in Lapeer and that grew to eight stores before the last one closed in 2001.
But in 1968, Vakula figured he could make more money in one day with a dragstrip than he could having the 80 acres planted in corn for the whole season. On opening day 3,200 people, half again Mayfield Township’s population at the time, showed up for races. The County Press devoted its entire front page to the event that week, observing that $2,500 in prize money had been awarded.
In its heyday Lapeer International Dragway attracted the likes of Art Arfons and his jet-powered Green Monster, E.J. Potter (The Michigan Mad Man) and Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame (MMSHOF) inductee Della Woods.
In the 1960s and 70s there were as many as 25 dragstrips around the state, but that number has shrunk to a half dozen or so. In 2012, MMSHOF recognized the Vakula’s efforts to keep the sport of drag racing alive in Michigan by inducting them into the hall of fame.
While Lapeer International Dragway was a money-making operation, “We were always family oriented.” He added, “We had all the big names out there, but we ran it for the racers not the big shows.”
Jennings wants to continue in that tradition.
“I wish him a lot of luck. I hope he makes a pile of money,” Vakula said.
Vakula and his wife, Juliann, are exploring northern Michigan in their Mercedes-powered Winnebago motorhome. “For 50 years I never had a weekend off,” he said.
Jennings has big dreams for the facility. He’s already purchased an additional 83 acres to the south and has his eyes on more. Along with repaving the track, he’s in the process of upgrading the electrical service, repairing the bleachers and fixing the restrooms and concession stand.
Jennings plans to replace all of the asphalt on the property, which is just south of Vernor Road.
“It’s always been a family atmosphere out here and I want to keep it that way,” he said. After spending years getting up at 4 a.m. to go to a skilled trades job, Jennings said he won’t be doing any night racing mid-week. “You’ve got to be respectful,” he said.
But, he added, he also envisions the property as a motorsports park with a BMX track, a campground as well as a restaurant and possibility other racing opportunities such as mudbogging.
“I’m happy and excited,” said Ryan Hartsuck, who’s worked at the track for the past decade. “Even if I did not work here, I’d be out here. I was raised in this,” he said.
The track currently employs about six people, but Jennings can see his staff growing substantially in the next few years.
