“We’ve always been an outlaw heads-up track since my grandpa bought it in the 1980s,” track operator Seth Buff said. “We started working on a bracket program a couple of years ago and it’s exponentially grown. I liked the attitude coming out of IHRA and we had a lot of racers behind the scenes who wanted to see us IHRA. That meant a lot to me.”
Many of the racers had either participated in the IHRA Summit SuperSeries program, the most prestigious program in bracket racing, at other tracks or had heard about it from their friends. It tells you a lot about the Buff family how they listen to the racers’ wants.
And don’t let the track’s former independent status fool you.
Located on a 73-acre property, the Buff family has worked hard over the years to provide a great facility. It features an 1/8-mile drag strip with 2,000 feet of shutdown, concrete barrier walls down the track and an Accutime timing system. Over the years, the track has been widened from 28 feet to 40 feet to now an impressive 51 feet.
It features primitive camping, while there is a full-service campground off property just two miles from the track.
“We get a lot of compliments about the track,” Buff said. “The track was built in the 1950s. My grandpa bought it in the 80s and we had the big 10.5 Outlaw races.”
In a hotbed of motorsports in the Charlotte area, there are plenty of tracks where racers can compete. Shadyside’s management does it best to work with other area tracks to not schedule big events against each other. With so many tracks, scheduling conflicts are sometimes inevitable. Still, Shadyside holds its own with good car counts.
“We’re fortunate to get so many great racers from this area. You look at the Pro Modified days and you had IHRA World Champions Tommy Mauney and Scott Cannon. Those guys will still come and hang out here,” Buff said. “Tommy is here about every time the gate is open. We have a lot of tracks around here, but that’s a good thing for the area. It creates more racers and gives us a chance to share.”
With the new sanctioning agreement, the Shadyside contingent will also get to share in the fun of the IHRA Summit Team Finals. The racers and Buff himself have been excited thinking about the opportunity to go and participate in the Team Finals as much as the opportunity for IHRA-member track champions to compete in the Summit SuperSeries World Finals.
“We’ve got some great racers, some tough racers down here who are serious contenders,” Buff said. “For them to get the opportunity to race on that stage, it’s a big deal. The guys like to get together and have the competition, but we’re also looking forward to the camaraderie.”
The IHRA welcomes Shadyside Dragway as its newest member track. Click here to check out the track’s official website.
