Houston Raceway Park, Baytown

If you're not paying attention at Royal Purple Raceway, you might miss the race. That's because the venue features a quarter-mile drag strip where racers accelerate from 0 to 300 mph in four seconds. Built in 1988, the straightaway now attracts national NHRA drag races and shares the spotlight with a newer quarter-mile dirt track. Although the raceway attracts national events, including the annual Super Chevy auto show, its owners and operators, the Angel family, hail from Texas and instinctively support and preserve the local culture.