Brian Finke sends us his series Drag Racing. Presidio, TX. He presents it as follows.
Located between larger and more well-known border cities El Paso and Eagle Pass, Texas, both at the heart of the migrant debate, Presidio is a much smaller and lesser-known West Texas border town with big-time culture, small-town drama, significant history, and captivating personalities. It is also home to the Presidio International Dragstrip.
Established in 1683, Presidio is one of the oldest towns in the United States. In the heart of the Chihuahuan Desert, it’s known as “the meeting of two rivers” because of its proximation to the merging of the Rio Grande and the Rio Conchos rivers—the same could be said about the merging of the two cultures, as locals from both sides of the border come back and forth over the Presidio–Ojinaga, Mexico, International Bridge, sometimes off-and-on on a daily basis to visit family, go to work, or attend school.
Since 2013, the Presidio International Dragstrip has hosted a monthly bracket race, welcoming hundreds of enthusiasts and hot rod lovers. Held on Saturday evenings, the races have become a destination and positive gathering of people from both sides of the border to compete and share in a lively multicultural environment.
It is not unique to find whole families spending an afternoon on the track, fading into dusk, then moonlight out over the dusty Chihuahuan, supporting their fathers, sons, daughters, and boyfriends—or collaborating at the garage, as the mechanical task is a social one if anything. Unique characters with storied faces and fashion with a tale cull from the remote Presidio and bordering Ojinaga—or OJ as the locals call it. The setting is gorgeous—a colorful, run-down track in a valley overlooking the foothills and the mountains of Mexico. And the cars found in this story are characters of their own. With an international scope, local basketball coach and high school teacher Robert Romero—who also moonlights as president of Presidio Drag Racing—sums it up: “You wouldn’t think that there are fast and powerful cars here, but we have them.”
Brian Finke
