Clarkton, North Carolina\u2019s Rico Drag Strip has seen steady improvements and a lot of love poured into this vintage outlaw track located in the southeast region of the Tar Heel state. From humble roots of decades past, this eighth-mile facility once sported a split-lane racing surface and a crudely constructed deer stand for a tower, but those days have long-since past.\u00a0<\/p>\n
[Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #190, the State of Drag Issue, in September\/ October of 2024.]<\/em><\/p>\n Track owner Lonzell McKenzie began to really ramp up the updates a few years back, and has been steadily improving this folksy facility that features a ton of history. By the time racers showed up for the 2024 season, they were greeted with a brand-new and sprawling timing tower, as well as a brand-new construction known as the \u201cChicken Coop,\u201d which is how Rico identifies their concession stand \u2013 and for good reason, since the fried chicken is legendary at this track. It\u2019s the signature food offering that\u2019s been a fan-favorite for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another recent addition to Rico was when McKenzie hired Chris Moore for the role of track organizer. Moore is something of a \u201cSwiss Army Knife\u201d around the dragstrip, providing a litany of functions related to racing operations, in addition to being a racer himself. He\u2019s also a guy who can locate things. Early on, McKenzie needed a flat drag, a tractor, and some nice aluminum bleachers, so Moore produced the items in short order.\u00a0<\/p>\n And since that all worked out so well, McKenzie also thought it would be cool to book a jet car on Father\u2019s Day weekend, since a jet hadn\u2019t gone down Rico\u2019s eighth mile since the mid-1980s! Moore made some calls and indeed made arrangements for Larry Aldrich and his \u201cThunderbolt\u201d jet dragster to thrill the fans at Rico. His quickest pass came on Saturday night, demolishing the track record to the tune of 4.09 seconds at 189 MPH. \u201cThe last time a jet car came to Rico was back in 1984. It caught the woods on fire, and this latest one blew down a fence! Lonzell wanted that fence gone anyway, so it all worked out,\u201d laughs Moore.\u00a0<\/p>\n McKenzie also relies on Moore to oversee the racing schedule as a whole, and for the next special attraction, Moore is working on bringing Pro Mods to Rico. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to get those guys to travel this far into eastern North Carolina and there\u2019s not a whole lot of them that\u2019s local to this area, so we\u2019ll probably do a four-car show and pay them $10,000,\u201d says Moore.\u00a0<\/p>\n The track location, while rural and sometimes unhandy for certain kinds of events, does provide a near year-round opportunity for racing by virtue of its proximity to the ocean. \u201cYou can be at Wrightsville Beach in probably 45 minutes after leaving the track,\u201d says Moore.\u00a0<\/p>\n As far as the events schedule goes, this is Moore\u2019s first full year at booking events, and it\u2019s currently about three months out, but he hopes to provide a lengthier outlook for the entire season in 2025. One thing that\u2019s sharply on the upswing at Rico is their bracket racing program, and it\u2019s experienced greater participation this year than in recent history. They\u2019re currently holding one or two bracket events per month at Rico, with about 11 of them part of their points series.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the hottest parts of the summer, they\u2019re on a limited schedule with Saturday test-and-tune sessions before returning to a more robust lineup of events, including lots of grudge and no-time events after the sweltering summer heat subsides.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLooking ahead to 2025, we\u2019d love to branch out and host all kinds of different events, such as the Gear Jammers organization, and also Donnie Gibbs\u2019 4.70 Outlaws,\u201d says Moore.\u00a0<\/p>\n More facility improvements are also likely in 2025, including resurfacing of the track, as well as scoreboards for the bracket racers. \u201cLonzell has even talked about seeking IHRA sanction after those improvements are completed, which would definitely be a first in this track\u2019s history. We\u2019re convinced that if we be consistent in what we do, we believe that Rico will continue to grow and prosper,\u201d concludes Moore.<\/p>\n This story was originally published on October 15, 2024. <\/p>\n The post DIALED IN: Lonzell McKenzie, Chris Moore want more for Rico Drag Strip<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Clarkton, North Carolina\u2019s Rico Drag Strip has seen steady improvements and a lot of love poured into this vintage outlaw track located in the southeast region of the Tar Heel state. From humble roots of decades past, this eighth-mile facility once sported a split-lane racing surface and a crudely constructed deer stand for a tower, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}