The land was purchased by Alfred and Edna Stauffer in 1923 for a logging business; as parcels were cleared, Alfred began developing the property. A Brecknock Speedway half-mile dirt oval operated on the site in the 1930s, featuring sprint car racing, before closing in the 1940s. In 1957, the Friendship Motorcycle Club received permission to run eighth-mile drag races on the property; to reduce stones kicked up by motorcycles, Stauffer paved the starting line with concrete — an early use of concrete at a drag strip. In 1960, a group of local racers including George Weiler, Carl Ruth, Bob Eveland, and Lee Crupi approached the Stauffers about converting the land into a formal dragstrip. Maple Grove Drag-O-Way opened in August 1962 as a nationally recognised racetrack. The surface was a fifth of a mile long and thirty feet wide. It was widened by ten feet in 1963, then extended to 4,000 feet long and 60 feet wide in 1964, enabling full quarter-mile racing.
Bob Eveland leased Maple Grove Dragway in 1966 and enrolled it in the NHRA divisional programme; the track briefly left NHRA for NASCAR sanction in 1967 before returning in 1969, when it received one of five Northeast Division World Championship Series events. The first Pennsylvania Dutch Classic and Money Trail season-series also ran in 1971.
The NHRA awarded Maple Grove its first national event in 1984 for the following season. The inaugural NHRA Nationals ran in 1985; Don Garlits won Top Fuel, Tim Grose took Funny Car, and Bruce Allen claimed Pro Stock. From that point the Keystone Nationals — as the event became known — became an annual fixture through the 2024 season before NHRA announced the event would move to U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan for 2026 after the IHRA acquired Maple Grove Raceway in December 2025.
Significant national milestones recorded at the track include: Cory McClenathan becoming the first Top Fuel driver to complete a run in the 4.7-second range at the 1992 Nationals; Mike Dunn and Blaine Johnson making the first side-by-side Top Fuel pass in which both drivers exceeded 300 mph in 1994; and Angelle Sampey setting a Pro Stock Motorcycle national record of 7.373 seconds in the category's first appearance at the Nationals in 1996. In 2010, Matt Hagan set a Funny Car national record of 4.011 seconds. In 2011, Del Worsham posted a 3.735-second Top Fuel elapsed-time record alongside Jason Line's Pro Stock mark of 6.477. In 2012, Antron Brown ran a 3.701-second Top Fuel pass and Jack Beckman set Funny Car records of 3.986 seconds and 320.58 mph.
Maple Grove underwent successive improvements throughout its history. Electronic scoreboards were installed in 1981. VIP and grandstand facilities were built in 1983. A 3,200-foot concrete guardwall was completed in 1991. In 2009 the track was extended to 4,075 feet, placing it among the ten longest dragstrips in the nation; 300 feet of pavement was added along with a 250-foot sand trap. In 2010, a resurfacing project extended the concrete launch pad to 820 feet. In 2015, ownership replaced the remaining 550 feet of asphalt with concrete, making Maple Grove one of the few fully concrete quarter-mile tracks in the eastern United States.
The Alfred Stauffer Memorial Walk of Fame and Victory Lane were constructed behind the pitside grandstands as part of an ongoing effort to honour the facility's founders.
Maple Grove's Money Trail season-series — crowning champions in Super, Pro, Street, and Top Bike eliminators — produced thirteen Summit Racing Series Northeast Division ET Finals championships, the most of any track in the nation. The Junior Drag Racing League programme for racers aged eight through seventeen has yielded four NHRA Eastern Conference championships.
In 2019, Maple Grove Raceway was listed for sale at eight million dollars. A sale to Motorsports Developers of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, was agreed upon but fell through in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on scheduling and operations. In April 2022, the Kenny Koretsky family became the new owners. In December 2025, the IHRA announced it would acquire Maple Grove Raceway, with plans to rename the facility Darana Raceway — Mohnton/Reading PA to align with other IHRA-owned track names. NHRA confirmed simultaneously that the Keystone Nationals would relocate to Michigan beginning in 2026.
Maple Grove Raceway's record of hosting NHRA national events for roughly four decades, its succession of performance milestones, and its dominance of the Northeast Division ET Finals team championship make it one of the most consequential drag strips in the history of the sport's northeastern region. Its transition from a community-driven gravel lot to a fully concrete quarter-mile with VIP facilities mirrors the broader professionalisation of NHRA drag racing across the same period.