Drag Illustrated Issue 152, January 2020 | Page 47

DIALED IN
Deep
Roots
NHRA’s first ever national event
track has no plans of slowing down
By Van Abernethy
I
f ever there was a drag strip that
was operated by virtue of “labor of love”
SRCA Dragstrip would certainly qualify.
The volunteer army that makes certain
this historic quarter-mile track in Great
Bend, Kansas, remains open are members of
the Sunflower Rod and Custom Association
(SRCA), from which the track gets its name.
Amazingly, the board of directors of the car
Ja n u a r y 2 0 2 0
club labor long hours week after week to oper-
ate this iconic drag strip, and do so completely
free of charge. “We’re a non-profit organization,
we’re all volunteers,” says Hank Denning, the club
president. Much of the track staff (including Den-
ning) burn through their vacation time at their
respective day jobs, just so they can come to the
drag strip and work like dogs for free.
The SRCA leases the entire property from the
city of Great Bend, and any revenue the track
generates gets put directly back into the track.
Reportedly, the military won’t allow the city to sell
the land because of its wartime roots dating back
to World War II, as this facility was originally an
air strip, on which they landed massive planes in
the 1940s. “Off in the distance you can still see
the barracks where the soldiers lived onsite dur-
ing war time,” Denning explains. “They’re falling
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