Lessons
Learned
that very same crowd.
But after nearly two years in the dragstrip business,
Hughes can honestly say that “easy” is the farthest thing
from the truth when it comes to making a racetrack tick.
“The biggest misconception is, and that’s a tough one
because this all came about so quickly that I really didn’t
give it a lot of thought, but from the outside looking in, the
racers always think it’s easy,” Hughes said. “But there is so
much that goes on at a dragstrip. From ticketing, to parking,
spectators, concessions, the facility itself. It makes you really,
really appreciate racetracks like the Baders (Summit Motor-
sports Park) and the News (Firebird Raceway) up in Boise.
“You can tell the tracks that have a lot of pride in own-
ership. And now that I’ve got a track, I realize how much
work it takes to keep a place up.”
A legend in the sportsman ranks, Jim Hughes, of Phoe-
nix, is the owner-operator of Tucson Dragway. Hughes has
over 40 years of experience in the performance and racing
industry and even spent time behind the wheel. He started
racing in the 1970s and earned multiple victories across the
country, including four division titles. Most notably, he raced
to the NHRA Super Comp world championship title in 2002.
Located just south of Interstate 10 on the Pima County
Fair Grounds, Tucson Dragway is one of the nation’s most
active drag racing facilities. Formerly an IHRA track, Tucson
Dragway offered a full and dynamic schedule with nearly
100 events in 2016 as part of the NHRA Member Track
Network in Division 7.
So how did Hughes, an accomplished racer and name-
sake for Hughes Performance converters and transmission
for nearly four decades, get into the race track business at
nearly 60 years of age?
“Well, I came down to Tucson to actually buy a two-seater
dragster from IRG at the time. And while I was waiting
CompetitionPlus.com
Dr ag Illustr ated
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D r a g Il l u s t r a t e d . c o m
‘I
Decades of
experience
helps
Jim Hughes
redefine the
race track
operator-racer
dynamic
By Larry Crum
t’s so easy.”
For Jim Hughes, it is nearly
impossible to count the number
of times he has heard that said
about what it’s like to own and
operate a motorsports facility.
And, for many years, Hughes
could count himself amongst