SALEM – Drag racing legends Art and Walt Arfons, Otis “Otie” Smith, and “Akron” Arlen Vanke, all from Akron, will be part of an Ohio historical marker dedication on June 19 at the Akron Fulton Airport.

It will honor their contributions and innovations in the drag racing industry and the plaque will rest at the spot where the four drag racers first began their careers in the early 1950s, according to Randy Lipscomb, who organized the effort.

At that time, Fulton Airport runway was the first National Hot Rod Association sanctioned drag race track east of the Mississippi.

It was also big reason why Quaker City Drag Strip was built by Dick and Vivian Mossey just north of Salem.

Dick Mossey said he got tired of making the drive to Akron to race and realized there was enough interest and enthusiasm in Salem and its surrounding area to financially support a quarter-mile drag strip.

With enough people getting hooked on drag racing after traveling to Akron, the Mosseys heard the clamor and opened the track in 1957.

Two of the biggest local names who scored NHRA national victories were Don Stratton and Frances “Krutch” Crider.

Both won multiple NHRA national and divisional titles while Stratton was the NHRA Competition Eliminator World Champion in 2001.

Crider, who raced in an earlier era than Stratton, is a five-time national event winner as a driver and car owner. If there were awards for innovation then, Crider would have a box full. Instead the NHRA “outlawed” his ideas.

Both Stratton and Crider’s names stand atop the list when Quaker City greats are mentioned. It wasn’t just them, though, the track was a hotspot on the match-racing circuit and evolution of the cars.

In the mid-1960s when the A/FX (Class A/factory experimental) cars – the first funny cars (a term used concurrently at the Indy 500 as rear-engined cars took over in the mid-60s) – started tearing up drag strips, Quaker City hosted top names across the board including the Ramchargers, Bill Flynn’s “Yankee Peddler,” Sox and Martin, Malcolm Durham, Dave Strickler, John Mazmanian, and later, in 1975, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme squared off in a funny car match race against Canton’s Stan Bowman (known as the “Flyin’ Dutchman) in a car sponsored by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Lipscomb said Don Getz of Salem, who painted racing car scenes for years, was the second flagman at the Akron airport race track.

The Akron historical marker is the first dedicated to racing of any kind in Ohio, and comes thanks to the efforts of the group Akron Race Legends, Randy Lipscomb, with further assistance from Paul Suloff, Bob Jones, John Stevenson and Ken Andrus.

“This is the spot where these local heroes became drag racing innovators back in the 50s and 60s,” said Lipscomb, “and we believe that honoring these racing pioneers is long overdue.”

In addition to the ceremony, the group will also be hosting a car show, which begins at 4 p.m. There will be food, entertainment, and dozens of classic cars from all around Ohio in attendance.

The dedication will begin at 5 p.m., and features Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor as the keynote speaker.

In addition, several relatives of the former hot-rodders will be in attendance: Tim Arfons (son of Art Arfons), Terry Arfons (son of Walt Arfons), Billy Smith (son of Otis Smith), and Craig Vanke (son of Arlen Vanke).

Both of the Arfons, who are half-brothers, were early pioneers of fast vehicles. In 1964, a car designed by Walt Arfons and driven by Tom Green, called the Wingfoot Express, set the world land speed record of 413 miles per hour.

Otis “Otie” Smith was another hot rodding hero to come from Akron. An early supporter of the National Hot Rod Association, Smith was running the regional NHRA races in his hometown before the nationals were even established, and he raced all over the Midwest, as well as Florida, Maine, and California.

For more information, questions, or comments, please visit akronracelegends on Facebook, or contact Randy Lipscomb at Handyrandy2@yahoo.com, or call 330-608-8029.

lshields@salemnews.net