__NOTOC__ Firebird Raceway is a motorsport racing venue in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, near

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, in the

Boise metropolitan area The Boise, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (commonly known as the Boise Metropolitan Area or the Treasure Valley) is an area that encompasses Ada County, Idaho, Ada, Boise County, Idaho, Boise, Canyon County, Idaho, Canyon, Gem County, ...

. The raceway opened in 1968 under management of racing enthusiasts Bill and Ellanor New, and it has remained under ownership of the New family. A longstanding member track of the

National Hot Rod Association The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsport sanction ...

(NHRA), the raceway has been named NHRA Track of the Year three times. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2018, the first dragstrip to be included on the register.The NRHP nomination form had not been digitized as of April 2019. A copy is on file at Idaho State Archives. With Just west of Highway 16 between

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

and

Emmett Emmett may refer to: Places ;In the United States * Emmett, Idaho * Emmett, Kansas * Emmett, Michigan, a village in St. Clair County * Emmett Charter Township, Michigan in Calhoun County * Emmett Township, St. Clair County, Michigan * Emmett, Misso ...

, the

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

History

Firebird Raceway was incorporated on May 11, 1968, by Ronald Ashley, J.S. Chapman, and J.W. Korn. Bob Riggle and his

Hurst Hemi Under Glass Hurst Hemi Under Glass is the name given to a series of exhibition drag racing cars campaigned by Hurst Performance between 1965 and 1970 across North America and ended with the '68 model year. Each wheelstander was based on the current Plymouth ...

were featured on opening day, July 28, 1968. In 1969, the raceway hosted one of six Northwest Regional World Championship drag meets. Later that year the raceway hosted the first annual Nitromethane Invitational Championship, a

Top Fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.641 second ...

event. The annual NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor competition began in 1971, and the Pepsi Nightfire Nationals began in 1972. Director Don Almeido's documentary, ''Firebird Raceway 35th Annual Pepsi Nightfire Nationals'', was released in 2007.

References

External links

*
Firebird Raceway
official website

History

References

External links

Further reading