Des Moines dragway

i never knew this,being only 21 but Des moines had a drag strip from 67-77 its now a housing dev. but there was a small clip on the local news last night about it and even some old footage of a 60 ford gasser but but there is a web site that a guy is seting it up. he is lookin for more information or stories about the track, pics check it out http://www.desmoinesdragway.com/index.html

 

I knew there was a strip here, but nothing else. Thanks for the link!!!

 

There was also a very fine road racing course south of Des Moines in the 50'- 60'.
The track is still there but overgrown back in the 1990's when i still Road raced there was talk of trying to revive the track.

 

ya you can still see some of the track

 

I found out avout the track last fall. I went to a slide show night about the track then. Lou Bredesky showed the slides that night. There were also many pictures of the track and cars running there.

 

Now that I think of it, there was also a banked wooden oval somewhere in the Valley Junction area back in the late teens. I think the story was that in the first year, a couple of guys got killed while racing on it so they were forced to shut it down. The picture I remember seeing of it was pretty cool.

 

Wow, cool story. Always thought the dragstrip was on the southside near the SE14th drive in.

 

went too that road racing course with my brother in law gary zimmerman. three of us in his corvette. that was interesting.

riverrat

 

Some guys from the area are trying to organize a Des Moines Dragway Reunion Event at the Eddyville Race Park this summer. There are several guys who raced there who are now racing at Eddyville. I attended a few events at the Dragway in the early 60's and was there when a Jet-powered car blew the back fence down. In addition, I have an original copy of the Des Moines Dragger from Sept of 1957. It has coverage of the events and mentions several driver's still in the area. Larry Lathom from Des Moines is the guy heading up the Dragway website and has been on local TV with pictures and movies, which are now on the website.
In addition, Eddyville will have its 1st Annual Nostalgic Drags and Drag List Nationals on July 18 & 19. More info here: http://www.eddyvilleraceway.com/

 

I kinda remember there being a billboard or fence that had some scorch marks on it supposably from a jet car but I coulda sworn that it was up at NEITA (Cedar Falls) and it would have been in the late 70's maybe early 80's.

I'll put Eddyville down on my calendar and see if I can make it.

 

There's a similar track between Indianola and Liberty Center. It has been closed for years, and now the Army Corps of Engineers use the land for training. It's a shame, too, because it is a HUGE road course taking up from what I can tell about 60 acres.

 

Trying to link to a photo of the road course. Hope this works.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...3323,-93.496914&spn=0.01639,0.028925&t=h&z=15