{"id":300495,"date":"2026-06-08T21:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T21:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/300495\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T21:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T21:41:14","slug":"smoke-em-new-callahan-drag-strip-inaugurated-with-burnouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/300495\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoke ’em: New Callahan drag strip inaugurated with burnouts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A baptism of smoke and squealing rubber wreathed hundreds of fans Sunday as the Hicken Power Dragstrip<\/a> christened its Callahan track with an afternoon of hot rods, pickup trucks and even motorcycles doing the first burnouts<\/a> on a brand new concrete staging area.<\/p>\n

By July 4th, the \u215b-mile drag strip at Callahan Speedway, just north of town, hopes to open for full-time drag races.<\/p>\n

Northeast Florida\u2019s first drag strip since 2017<\/a> has been built next to a 14-year-old go-kart track complex at 543455 U.S. 1. As drivers bathed the track in tire smoke Sunday, owner and Callahan businessman David Hicken said he felt good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd and everybody seems to love it,\u201d\u00a0 Hicken said. \u201cI am excited about that. I am glad that we got it going, and it\u2019s going good. It\u2019s kind of what I expected. Today\u2019s a little bit overwhelming, though, but I am very excited about the future of what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Sever, whose 2002 Pontiac Trans Am Firebird \u2014 with about 500 horsepower \u2014 was the first to spin its tires on Sunday\u2019s Burnout Day. Later, as other cars squealed tires on the track nearby, he said it was a privilege to be the first to run there after a rain delay a week earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nice and an honor to do it because we have been waiting for this for years following him on Facebook and everything he has gone through to get to this point,\u201d the Fernandina Beach man said. \u201cLast weekend was a little letdown with the rain, and I am just glad that it worked out this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Mark Sever was the first driver to burn rubber at Hicken Power Dragstrip in this 2002 Pontiac Trans Am Firebird. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n

There have been no drag strips or race tracks in the Jacksonville area for years.<\/p>\n

Green Cove Dragway was open from 2013 to early 2017, sanctioned by the International Hot Rod Association. The \u215b-mile drag strip was built on an old runway at Reynolds Industrial Park.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville also had a \u215b-mile drag strip on Pecan Park Road. Jax Raceways opened in 1969, then shut its drag strip and oval dirt track permanently in 2004 to make way for development.<\/p>\n

Until now, the closest place to drag race was the National Hot Rod Association\u2019s 55-year-old Gainesville Raceway, a quarter-mile drag strip that is 74 miles from Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, there are two proposals for motorsports parks in Northeast Florida, but neither indicates that drag strips are part of the plans.<\/p>\n

NASCAR and Trans-Am racing driver Scott Lagasse Jr. and his father, Scott Lagasse Sr., plan a\u00a0440-acre facility<\/a> next to Palatka Municipal Airport. Then a 600-acre North Florida Motorsports Park<\/a> has been announced in Nassau County on land along County Road 108 west of Interstate 95.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hicken is a former drag racer himself, having competed on motorcycles all over the country. He has operated Callahan Speedway, a \u2155-mile track for go-karts, motorcycles and radio-controlled racers, since 2010 when he opened it with James Wofford across U.S. 1 from the Northeast Florida Fairgrounds.<\/p>\n

Hicken said the idea to add the asphalt and concrete drag strip to his facility arose about five years ago. It has taken that long to get the major permits to begin construction, plus approval from Nassau County as well as the St. Johns River Water Management District. Then the track location had to be moved to its current site due to wetlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been hurdle after hurdle, to be honest with you,\u201d Hicken admitted just before Sunday\u2019s burnout session started. \u201cWe are still hurdling. We still have a lot we have to finish up. We have a lot of work to do, with me and my friends doing it. We just have to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is a 60-foot-long concrete burnout and staging area, then paved pair of asphalt drag strips framed by dozens of heavy concrete Jersey Barriers. A set of grandstands is joined by parking on the east side of the track. A freshly-paved exit road leads from the tracks\u2019 end back to the staging area for racers.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hicken Power Dragstrip owner David Hicken greets fans and drivers as the first phase of his track was opened on Sunday, June 7, 2026, for a burnout test. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n

Cargo containers are planted behind the \u201cburnout pad,\u201d where those who drag race can warm up their tires to be as sticky as possible for a good launch. One container stacked atop others has been converted into the timing tower, where Hicken greeted hundreds of fans and drivers Sunday for their first event, making sure everybody knew that they allowed burnouts only on the concrete, and no speed runs down the asphalt tracks.<\/p>\n

As he spoke, long lines of vehicles were still stacked at the track entrance, paying $10 to get in and $25 to do as many burnouts as their vehicles could stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday will be the first of many days after five years of trying. I thank you for coming out,\u201d he told the crowd.<\/p>\n

When the burnout session started at 2 p.m., Jon Conwell rolled up multiple times in his 1988 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck, its tweaked V-8 putting out about 450 horsepower. Each time he hit the drag strip, he smoked his rear tires \u2014 a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt amazing,\u201d the Fernandina Beach resident said. \u201cGlad to be here, and glad its open. You see the car community around here \u2014 we have been needing a place to go and do stuff like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Robert Hogan\u2019s 1953 GMC pickup truck makes one of many tire-smoking runs on Sunday, June 7, 2026. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n

Robert Hogan\u2019s 1953 GMC pickup flew a huge Jolly Roger flag with a skeleton. With an engine tweaked to put out 400 horsepower, he sent billowing tire smoke into the air as crowds cheered each run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new thing for me. I\u2019ve never done with this vehicle on a drag strip,\u201d said Hogan, of Folkston, Georgia. \u201cI just love doing burnouts. I am just here having a good time and enjoying myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The track also includes a shutdown area at the end of the twin drag strips and a 500-foot dirt area for emergency stopping. But more needs to be done before the entire track officially opens for drag racing. Start-line timing lights known as the Christmas Tree must be wired up, and barriers and striping lanes must be painted on the staging area.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fans lined the drag strip to watch dozens of vehicles, including this classic Ford pickup, burn rubber on the track\u2019s first day of operation. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today<\/p>\n

As he looked at the brand new track, Hicken made sure to thank friends for making the suggestions to do a burnout day to start the ball rolling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a person say, can they burn their old tires?,\u201d Hicken said. \u201cI had another, then I had a third one say there would be a lot of people who would love to do that, and he told me to charge some money and see how it goes. I made my first penny today after five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time it is all done, Hicken said, the track will cost \u201cclose to a couple million,\u201d paid for by him, sponsors and other sources.<\/p>\n

The track is not near many homes, but all race cars will have to have mufflers to keep noise levels down, Hicken said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A baptism of smoke and squealing rubber wreathed hundreds of fans Sunday as the Hicken Power Dragstrip christened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[558,16125,43323,116,118,117,99028,3898,115,110],"class_list":["post-300495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-business","tag-callahan","tag-distribute","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jaxtdy1","tag-nassau-county","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}