Hundreds of fans watched dozens of cars, truck and motorcycles do the first test at Callahan's Hicken Power Dragstrip on Sunday, June 7, 2026. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on June 8, 2026 at 3:32 pm
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A baptism of smoke and squealing rubber wreathed hundreds of fans Sunday as the Hicken Power Dragstrip christened its Callahan track with an afternoon of hot rods, pickup trucks and even motorcycles doing the first burnouts on a brand new concrete staging area.
By July 4th, the ⅛-mile drag strip at Callahan Speedway, just north of town, hopes to open for full-time drag races.
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Northeast Florida’s first drag strip since 2017 has been built next to a 14-year-old go-kart track complex at 543455 U.S. 1. As drivers bathed the track in tire smoke Sunday, owner and Callahan businessman David Hicken said he felt good.
“The crowd and everybody seems to love it,” Hicken said. “I am excited about that. I am glad that we got it going, and it’s going good. It’s kind of what I expected. Today’s a little bit overwhelming, though, but I am very excited about the future of what we are doing.”
Mark Sever, whose 2002 Pontiac Trans Am Firebird — with about 500 horsepower — was the first to spin its tires on Sunday’s Burnout Day. Later, as other cars squealed tires on the track nearby, he said it was a privilege to be the first to run there after a rain delay a week earlier.
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“It was nice and an honor to do it because we have been waiting for this for years following him on Facebook and everything he has gone through to get to this point,” the Fernandina Beach man said. “Last weekend was a little letdown with the rain, and I am just glad that it worked out this weekend.”
There have been no drag strips or race tracks in the Jacksonville area for years.
Green Cove Dragway was open from 2013 to early 2017, sanctioned by the International Hot Rod Association. The ⅛-mile drag strip was built on an old runway at Reynolds Industrial Park.
Jacksonville also had a ⅛-mile drag strip on Pecan Park Road. Jax Raceways opened in 1969, then shut its drag strip and oval dirt track permanently in 2004 to make way for development.
Until now, the closest place to drag race was the National Hot Rod Association’s 55-year-old Gainesville Raceway, a quarter-mile drag strip that is 74 miles from Jacksonville.
Closer to home, there are two proposals for motorsports parks in Northeast Florida, but neither indicates that drag strips are part of the plans.
NASCAR and Trans-Am racing driver Scott Lagasse Jr. and his father, Scott Lagasse Sr., plan a 440-acre facility next to Palatka Municipal Airport. Then a 600-acre North Florida Motorsports Park has been announced in Nassau County on land along County Road 108 west of Interstate 95.
Hicken is a former drag racer himself, having competed on motorcycles all over the country. He has operated Callahan Speedway, a ⅕-mile track for go-karts, motorcycles and radio-controlled racers, since 2010 when he opened it with James Wofford across U.S. 1 from the Northeast Florida Fairgrounds.
Hicken said the idea to add the asphalt and concrete drag strip to his facility arose about five years ago. It has taken that long to get the major permits to begin construction, plus approval from Nassau County as well as the St. Johns River Water Management District. Then the track location had to be moved to its current site due to wetlands.
“It has been hurdle after hurdle, to be honest with you,” Hicken admitted just before Sunday’s burnout session started. “We are still hurdling. We still have a lot we have to finish up. We have a lot of work to do, with me and my friends doing it. We just have to get it done.”
The result is a 60-foot-long concrete burnout and staging area, then paved pair of asphalt drag strips framed by dozens of heavy concrete Jersey Barriers. A set of grandstands is joined by parking on the east side of the track. A freshly-paved exit road leads from the tracks’ end back to the staging area for racers.
Cargo containers are planted behind the “burnout pad,” where those who drag race can warm up their tires to be as sticky as possible for a good launch. One container stacked atop others has been converted into the timing tower, where Hicken greeted hundreds of fans and drivers Sunday for their first event, making sure everybody knew that they allowed burnouts only on the concrete, and no speed runs down the asphalt tracks.
As he spoke, long lines of vehicles were still stacked at the track entrance, paying $10 to get in and $25 to do as many burnouts as their vehicles could stand.
“Today will be the first of many days after five years of trying. I thank you for coming out,” he told the crowd.
When the burnout session started at 2 p.m., Jon Conwell rolled up multiple times in his 1988 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck, its tweaked V-8 putting out about 450 horsepower. Each time he hit the drag strip, he smoked his rear tires — a lot.
“It felt amazing,” the Fernandina Beach resident said. “Glad to be here, and glad its open. You see the car community around here — we have been needing a place to go and do stuff like this.”
Robert Hogan’s 1953 GMC pickup flew a huge Jolly Roger flag with a skeleton. With an engine tweaked to put out 400 horsepower, he sent billowing tire smoke into the air as crowds cheered each run.
“It’s a new thing for me. I’ve never done with this vehicle on a drag strip,” said Hogan, of Folkston, Georgia. “I just love doing burnouts. I am just here having a good time and enjoying myself.”
The track also includes a shutdown area at the end of the twin drag strips and a 500-foot dirt area for emergency stopping. But more needs to be done before the entire track officially opens for drag racing. Start-line timing lights known as the Christmas Tree must be wired up, and barriers and striping lanes must be painted on the staging area.
As he looked at the brand new track, Hicken made sure to thank friends for making the suggestions to do a burnout day to start the ball rolling.
“I had a person say, can they burn their old tires?,” Hicken said. “I had another, then I had a third one say there would be a lot of people who would love to do that, and he told me to charge some money and see how it goes. I made my first penny today after five years.”
By the time it is all done, Hicken said, the track will cost “close to a couple million,” paid for by him, sponsors and other sources.
The track is not near many homes, but all race cars will have to have mufflers to keep noise levels down, Hicken said.
