About the ECTA

Before Bonneville became the preeminent land speed racing venue it is today, Daytona Beach was the Land Speed Mecca.  Sir Malcolm Campbell ran there, and many of the high speed records of the twenties and thirties were set on that eastern beach. Forty years ago you could still run cars and bikes on the hard sand around Daytona and Ormand Beach.  In fact, Hot Rod Magazine ran a project Plymouth there back in the early 60s.  Bonneville had several advantages to the beach.  There were no tides to contend with, and it had a longer running surface.  With all the California hot rodders looking for a place to race after World War II, and after the loss of Muroc to the Army, Bonneville was a wonderful alternative and became, with increased competition, the new Land Speed Mecca.

In the years hence, eastern racers couldn’t easily participate in speed trials without a 2,300 mile trip to Utah, and had to settle for circle track and drag racing.  Daytona had grown up and had too many tourists to allow for free use of the beach, and there aren’t any dry lakes in the East to use as a substitute.

The East Coast Timing Association was formed by two Bonneville racers, with the idea of providing its members with a place to run speed trials in the eastern half of the United States.   We wanted to model it after the El Mirage dry lakes events, as this was closer to what might be possible back East. With dry lakes being non-existent east of the Mississippi, we began to look for an alternative.  After an exhaustive search, a seldom-used World War II air base runway was located in Maxton, North Carolina.  It now provides the race course for our events.  The race course length, at one mile, is only slightly less than El Mirage. It has a hard concrete surface with considerably greater traction than the slippery salt of Bonneville, and with the elevation of 210 feet above sea level it produces similar speeds to El Mirage.  With that, speed trials were reintroduced to the East.

Land speed racing is not just a long drag race. The rules for land speed racing are quite different and very liberal in comparison to other forms of motor sports.  Safety is of primary concern, and the ECTA hosts some of the safest racing around.

If you are a racer, hot rodder, or maybe you have had a fondness for Bonneville ever since you were a kid, and the idea of going flat out for a whole mile gets your blood pumping, then land speed racing at Maxton is the place for you. Come join the fun.

MAXTON, NC

Laurinburg/Maxton Army Airbase was built in 1942 as a training base for gliders.  The plan then was to silently send troops past enemy lines during the invasion at Normandy.  Tucked away in the Carolina pines was an isolated location perfect for such training during World War II.

There are three original runways at Maxton (short for Laurinburg/Maxton).  Two are still in use by the airport.  The third, however, was abandoned in the 1960s, as three runways were more than the community needed.  While unused for 35 years, it fell into a state of disrepair with grass, bushes and even trees growing up around and through the concrete.  When we first looked at this unused and forgotten runway, we could see immediately the potential for speed trials.  With the use of the taxiways on either end of the main runway, we had almost 1.9 miles of total length.  Hard and flat, we could run a full mile and still have 0.8 to 0.9 tenths of a mile of shut down area, perfect for speeds that would be over 200 MPH, with some eventually reaching 260 MPH.

In spite of the promise, this place needed a tremendous amount of work to make it usable.  After removal of approximately 200 tons of dirt and debris from the 150 foot wide runway, we were able to pick a 30 to 50 foot section that would be the new course.  After many weeks of jack hammering and concrete pouring, we had a surface we could run on.  It’s not as perfect as the dry lakes or salt flats prepared by Mother Nature, but we are constantly improving it.

The pit area at Maxton is located across from the finish line.  This affords a great view of all the high speed action.  The pits are old airplane tie downs that give us a concrete surface to park our vehicles on.  There is also a taxiway that runs the length of the race course, which provides easy access from the pits to the start line and from the shut down back to the pits.

Maxton has given Land Speed Racing another chance to grow into its own on the East coast. We may not be the quickest, but we can boast some of the fastest vehicles on the eastern side of the Rockies.