Dallas County deputies under investigation for impromptu match race at Yello Belly Drag Strip
The Fun Police at the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office (DSCO) have opened an investigation into… well, the real police. They want to know why two of its deputies drag-raced squad cars at Yello Belly Drag Strip in Grand Prairie, Texas’ longest-running strip. During last Thursday’s test-and-tune, two Dodge Charger police cars with their light bars glowing lined up at the most infamous Christmas tree in the Lone Star State and ran the quarter-mile in what DSCO is calling an “unsanctioned” stunt.
Though its popularity has ebbed and flowed over the years, the saloon-lined main street has served as the (legal) venue of choice for speed freaks’ duels. With 65 years’ worth of history on its two-lane blacktop, Yello Belly Drag Strip is one of Texas’ most storied tracks. Today, it remains one of the last unsanctioned drag strips in the United States, serving only locals and cross-country rivals at the expense of hosting big events like a round of the NHRA’s nitromethane-infused carnival of speed. Essentially, Yello Belly is the drag-strip equivalent of a well-worn dive bar.
Yello Belly sits in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and, though the family-run institution has certainly had its brighter moments, it trails a complex history of racial tension in its wake. The facility was a melting pot for those of all incomes, backgrounds, and ethnicities in the area, and tensions—including those during the civil rights era—often spread into Yello Belly, sometimes erupting into pit lane violence. However, the family business never closed its doors to anyone and its managers worked tirelessly to keep the track open to racers despite social upheaval.
Several spectators of last Thursday’s squad-car match up told local news outlet WFAA that,“in the eyes of the public, we saw it as a sign on positivity, based on [what] we have going on in this country.” As of now, however, official word from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office is that the officers’ race was not officially sanctioned. We’re hoping the cops don’t get in too much trouble. They’re just doing what they tell everyone else to do: take it off the streets and onto the track. And for a brief moment, they weren’t cops — they were racers, just like everyone else.
