{"id":4069,"date":"2026-04-24T13:10:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/?p=4069"},"modified":"2026-04-24T13:10:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T13:10:40","slug":"emerald-coast-dragway-era-officially-comes-to-an-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/?p=4069","title":{"rendered":"Emerald Coast Dragway Era Officially Comes To An End"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Holt, FL \u2014 It\u2019s official \u2014 Emerald Coast Dragway is gone. The tower has been torn down, the facility leveled, and another grassroots racetrack has fallen. What was once a hub of Gulf Coast horsepower is now just dirt and memories.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0481.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4060\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><\/p>\n<p>Originally opened in 1998 as Holt Dragway, the eighth-mile facility became a staple for bracket racers, heads-up competitors, and test-and-tune nights. Founded by Chip Kooser, it grew into more than just a racetrack \u2014 it was a community built on competition and camaraderie.<\/p>\n<p>After closing in 2011, the track was revived in 2016, bringing racing back to the property and giving local racers a place to call home once again. It later saw time under lease to radial standout Ryan Millikan, but momentum eventually slowed as the facility was listed for sale again.<\/p>\n<p>Sources tell us the property was sold to Insurance Auto Auctions for approximately $4.7 million, signaling the likely end of racing operations. Any hopes of a comeback faded after years of uncertainty and setbacks \u2014 including a major break-in in 2022 where key equipment was stolen.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with demolition underway, Emerald Coast Dragway joins the growing list of lost tracks across the country \u2014 but the memories made there will live on forever.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0488.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4064\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0487.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4061\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0486.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4062\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0485.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4065\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0484.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4063\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0483.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4068\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0482.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4067\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0480.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4066\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1125\"><\/p>\n<p>Photos by Chip Kooser<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Holt, FL \u2014 It\u2019s official \u2014 Emerald Coast Dragway is gone. The tower has been torn down, the facility leveled, and another grassroots racetrack has fallen. What was once a hub of Gulf Coast horsepower is now just dirt and memories. Originally opened in 1998 as Holt Dragway, the eighth-mile facility became a staple for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[61],"class_list":{"0":"post-4069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0481-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/img_0481-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"DC Media","author_link":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/author\/auteejay"},"authors":[{"term_id":61,"user_id":5,"is_guest":0,"slug":"auteejay","display_name":"DC Media","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d51765f05e753046aaf69cf0314e9a0f5c5945d8d9ed498ce027408f7d38abf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","first_name":"DC","last_name":"Media","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4069"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=4069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}