{"id":93865,"date":"2025-12-23T16:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T16:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/93865\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T16:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T16:50:09","slug":"groundbreaking-on-new-drag-strip-in-callahan-gives-new-option-for-jacksonville-street-racers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/93865\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaking on new drag strip in Callahan gives new option for Jacksonville street racers"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALLAHAN, Fla. \u2013 As the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office cracked down hard in recent years on street racing<\/a>, countless drivers shared with the News4JAX I-TEAM their frustrations about having nowhere in the area to race legally.<\/p>\n

After many delays, that will soon change.<\/p>\n

Owner David Hicken will finally break ground Tuesday on the new eighth-mile Hicken Power Dragstrip<\/a> — the area\u2019s first drag strip since 2017.<\/p>\n

The aim is to be open for racing by spring or summer of 2026, according to News4JAX news partner Jax Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy contractors tell me we will probably be up and running by May or June,\u201d Hicken told Jax Today. <\/p>\n

Hicken currently operates the Callahan Speedway, a complex where go-karts race on a 1\/5-mile red clay track. The oval track near the Northeast Florida Fairgrounds off U.S. 1 includes grandstands, track facilities and a large parking area to the south.<\/p>\n

In February 2024, he got the OK from Nassau County to build a drag strip in a field adjacent to the track. But it has taken nearly two years to get all the major permits to begin construction, Hicken told Jax Today<\/a>, and the original planned site for the track had to be moved due to wetlands. It will now be parallel to the go-kart track\u2019s front straight.<\/p>\n

Now, the new \u215b-mile, two-lane track will join a smaller motorcycle racing course and one for radio-controlled car racing.<\/p>\n

Hicken told Jax Today that the track will cost an estimated $1.7 million, paid for by his family, sponsors and other sources. He said that the track will run along the west side of the property near the existing tree line. The whole two-lane track will be a \u00bd-mile long.<\/p>\n

That will include a 60-foot-long concrete burnout and staging area for the cars, then the \u215b-mile asphalt track for racing, with a shutdown area and a dirt area of about 600 feet for emergency stopping. Concrete barriers will flank the track for safety, with side roads so racers can return to the starting line.<\/p>\n

While the track is not near many homes, all race cars will have to have mufflers to keep noise levels down, Hicken told Jax Today.<\/p>\n

Hicken said once the facility opens, he envisions hot rod and classic car clubs in Northeast Florida rumbling in for the racing and more.<\/p>\n

Street racing alternative<\/p>\n

Hicken previously told News4JAX that he also hopes the new dragstrip can serve as an alternative to street racing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do a burnout somewhere, you get a ticket. If you speed, you get a ticket. And the only thing people have to do is sneak around and race their cars,\u201d Hicken said when the permit was approved in February 2024. \u201cIf you think about it, there is nowhere this day and time with the popularity of muscle cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

There had been a drag strip locally in Green Cove Springs, but that closed a few years back when the site was taken over to store cars.<\/p>\n

According to Jax Today<\/a>, 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 the former Lee Field Naval Air Station, a World War II aviation training facility at what is now the Reynolds Industrial Park. <\/p>\n

The closest drag strip in this region right now is in Gainesville, the National Hot Rod Association<\/a>\u2018s 54-year-old Gainesville Raceway<\/a>, a quarter-mile track that is 74 miles from Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Jax Raceways, which opened in 1969, shut its drag strip and oval dirt track permanently in 2004 to make way for development on Pecan Park Road.<\/p>\n

Other tracks on the way<\/p>\n

Along with the Callahan project, two other proposals for motorsports parks, with curving tracks designed for racing, have been announced, Jax Today reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A 440-acre facility<\/a> spearheaded by NASCAR and Trans-Am racing driver Scott Lagasse Jr. and his father, Scott Lagasse Sr., would be next to Palatka Municipal Airport.<\/p>\n

The plan is for a multiturn racetrack for cars and a smaller one for go-karts, along with meeting facilities and even a hotel.<\/p>\n

Groundbreaking on the first phase should be in the first quarter of next year. The total cost is estimated at about $200 million over 10 years.<\/p>\n

Also in Nassau County, the 600-acre North Florida Motorsports Park<\/a> has been announced. It would be built on undeveloped land along County Road 108 west of I-95. Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, who has a home in Ponte Vedra Beach, is a business partner and would design the track. <\/p>\n

Jax Today reporter Dan Scanlan contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALLAHAN, Fla. \u2013 As the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office cracked down hard in recent years on street racing, countless…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[16125,50075,116,118,117,3898,36454],"class_list":{"0":"post-93865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-callahan","9":"tag-drag-strip","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","12":"tag-jacksonville-news","13":"tag-nassau-county","14":"tag-street-racing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93865","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=93865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}