Kahoka , MO had a drag strip up untill 1969 when the new Highway 136 was built. the new highway runs east -west across the shut down lanes of the old (north-south) strip. the pavement is still there, as is the ticket booth. both are now used as an entry way to the Clark County Fair Grounds. my dad, Ronnie Redding, ran at the strip through the mid sixties with his partner Gary Trump in number of tri-5 chevys most of which ran hopped up 265s. he went on to "run" the place until new highway came through. gotta love "progress" . thats really about all i know about the place, other than i wish it was still open. i lived in Kahoka for the 1st 22 years of my live and untill this past weekend had never seen 1 picture. i managed to get a little history and a couple pics from Gary and as soon as i get them scanned i will post it here. If anyone has any info about the place, please share. any stories or pics, would be great.
i know 2 things about it rp..one, big daddy ran there...two, our 08 show will be there... o yeah, the micigan madman ran there as well as arnie the farmer...get more info when dale gets home...
Hey P. I'll have to ask my Dad if he had any pics from the day. I know he talked about the strip and if I remember right, he said something about his brother having some pics. Good luck on finding more info.
My uncle from Chicago owned a share in a car back in the 60s. I don't know the name of the team. He ran there also. Seemed the track brought teams in from quite a distance. There has to be lots of old photos stuffed away in shoe boxes and photo albums. I'd also be interested if any would surface.
I'm pretty sure Tommy McCray mentioned running his Henry J there too. He spent most of his time at M.A.R. in Wentzville though, which has also been closed thanks to "developement"....
I grew up in Memphis, Missouri, and used to take the 24 mile trip with friends to watch the drags. I was there when Art Arfons' Green Monster made a p***. It set fire to the gate behind the starting line and scorched a couple of cars behind the gate.
you wouldnt happen to have any pics or a nice 2 page story about the place would ya???were goin to do a book about it and any help would be great!!!!!thanks...todd
It seems that dragstrips in Missouri are just about all gone. These are the ones I can think of. Rogersville Sikeston KCIR Gateway MoKan There have been rumors that someone is looking into building a strip around Kingdom City and plans are in the works for a new Super Strip in Wheatland thanks to Lucus Oil. If you have not seen the dirt track that the Lucus family built in Wheatland you owe it to yourself to check it out. Talk about state of the art. Even the bathroom in the pits has a creamic tile floor. It also has a body shop, parts store ect ect. s
thats my lotto dream right there!!that with a drive in next to it!!!!but i dont even have a shop yet, so im a wayz away from that dream!
Don't forget Benton and Osborn Mo. It could be worse we could be looking for info on our currently open strips. It's just like I tell my nas**** so called "fan" friends, if ya wanna see racing it aint on t.v. Get your lazy *** to the track or their won't be any drivers to develop. Pool.
lol..no kiddin...we have almost a page worth so far!!!everyone who was invovlved with it has either p***ed away or moved away! imma run another ad in the local papers and see what we come up with!
I can't really help you but I have raced at tracks all over this country and my favorite track is U.S. 36 in Osborne,Mo. The $ spent to build this track is certainly not huge but the Franks family and the everyday racers are the best anywhere period!!
I was a student at Parsons College from 1963 to 1966 and remember the ole Kahoka drags very well. We saw plenty of famous racers there, Arnie Beswick and the "Grocery Getter" Poncho wagon, Ed Brugghe and the "Possum Chaser" Crosley, "Mr. Chevrolet" Doug Marion and C/MSP Vet national record holder and also his beautiful 62 Impala S/S 409 (which he still owns), Leo Payne and his record setting top fuel "Turnip Eater" Harley, which now resides in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, to name a few. You can Goole those names and there is plenty of info to be found. We had plenty of good times at that drag strip. Sad that those days had to end. I ran some of my toys there, but I never became famous, although one time the spectators got a few laughs watching me run my Matchless 500 cc flat tracker. My buddy, Joe, had suggested dropping the air pressure in my rear tire to help get a better bite off the line. So, sure enough, when I got up to the line, cranked up the old 500 single, and dropped the clutch, she bit hard and the front wheel jumped high into the air and I was left standing at the starting line as I watched the riderless bike go down the strip. Luckily the carb came back to idle, and so I tried to catch up with the bike on foot. She was yawing from side to side, as reiderless bikes want to do, and just as I was about close enough to reach out for the handlebars, she made a final flop over into the ditch that ran along the left side of the track. Luckily there was no damage to bike or rider, other than a wicked bruised ego. Hopefully anyone watching that day gott a good chuckle.
i ran at kahoka once, the 1964 AHRA divisionals as i think it was called, would have to check the trophy i still have. i only remember one car, a yellow g***er named "wild hare". we stayed in a old run down hotel in town, very hot as i remember. the only thing i remember about the strip [it was 1/8 mile] was the shut off area, it went thru a shallow ditch surrounded by tall corn fields which had been flooded recently and dust swirled so badly you could,'t see anything for 150 feet or so.
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