If the ace of spades of all lengths has been the quarter-mile and the king of hearts, the eighth-mile, then the joker of the deck had to be the short-lived half-mile drags that took place at Riverside Raceway in Southern California between roughly 1959 and 1965.

Can you imagine what a modern Top Fueler would run in the half-mile given that 330.23 is the top speed? Considering that Winston Top Fuel champ Tony Schumacher would be burned to a cinder from the engine explosion, the mind veritably boggles at what an all-out race car like his would run if everything held together. And to a degree, that was kind of the thinking for why half-mile drag racing came into being.

Hot Rod magazine Senior Editor Gray Baskerville, who's been going to the races since 1951 and attended one of the half-mile races, said, "I think it was just a question of how fast could a dragster or whatever go with an extra quarter-mile tacked on. Would be there be a big increase in speed?"

In the early days of the sport, there had been instances where drag race cars ran distances longer than a quarter-mile, but they were very few and far between. Probably, the best known example occurred in January 1958 at March Field (Calif.) airbase when 1955 NHRA Nationals Top Eliminator winner Calvin Rice set a new International De'l Automobile (FIA) speed mark.

Rice wheeled Mel Dodds and Doug Hartelt's carburated Chrysler-powered dragster to a 123.556 average speed for one kilometer from a standing start. (One kilometer is a little over 6/10 of a mile.) However, March Field's length was infinite compared to your conventional dragstrip and Rice's feat just barely qualified as drag racing as he was racing the clocks and not another driver.

It wouldn't be until a year later that drag cars ran extra length drag races (over a quarter-mile) and this would occur through the Southern California Timing Association's (SCTA) efforts and Riverside Raceway personnel. They came up with an idea for half-mile drags at the plant.

In 1959, the average strong-running Top Fueler of the late 1950s was running right around 180-185 mph and certainly if the track length was doubled, the much ballyhooed 200-mph barrier would be in jeopardy.

The only race track in the country (or certainly one of the few) that had the length and the race car population to support this kind of venture was the late lamented, multi-purpose Riverside Raceway.

Riverside periodically held drag races on its lengthy back straightaway coming out of turn 9 beginning in the late 1950s, and it figured that half-mile competition could be run on it. Certainly, the altereds, the modified roadsters and later the A/FXers and their projected 140-150 mph speeds could be handled. The fuel cars would be more of a wait and see proposition, but the first event showed that they could be contained, too. As it turned out, 200 mph wasn't even approached at the first event.

On April 12, 1959 the first half-mile drag race (at least as far as the author recalls) was hosted by the SCTA, an organization more associated with salt flats racing than drag racing. The turnout was equal parts drag cars and salt cars (modified slightly for asphalt) with a meager turnout of fans dotting the Riverside grandstands. That day, the Hedrich & McClune Chrysler-powered roadster won Top Fuel, clocking a 16.14/185.38. No disasters were reported.

It is not known how many times after that date that the half-mile outings were hosted per annum, but suffice to say they were run mostly during the months of December through March. The reason for that was since there were so few half-mile outings it made no sense to come up with the right gearing and engine modifications to make a serious shot at the half-mile. Quarter-mile and eighth-mile tracks were the standard length and commanded the attention of drag racers, and the half-mile distance was treated strictly as a novelty.

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