The Show Begins!

On June 18 1961, our beloved Niagara opened its gates for the first time ever. Led by Niagara's first manager, Jerry Hamam and a bunch of last-minute volunteers, including Bill Nojaim, Jim Zakia, Wady Hamam, the late Carl Hamam, Pat Johnson, Frank Penque and many, many more making final preparations. Niagara swung open it's gates to a mind-boggling array of cars. From memory, Jimmy Zakia's '55, Willy Gray's 55, Don McArthur in the Satan's car from Chippewa Ontario are just a few who were there on this day.
Continued below.


I can remember that the paving hadn't been completed and there were drops of tar all over everything. Niagara Dragstrip Pioneer, Del Clark Jr has graciously provided this poster and I can only wonder what other treasures he might have. "The Rug's" name is misspelled and some of the lettering is slightly askew, but that's the way it was. To those who were there, I have posted a thread in the forums titled June 18 1961, so please post your comments there.