1974 – today
Spokane Raceway Park History
From a quarter-mile on the West Plains in 1974 to three tracks, the AHRA World Finals and beyond.
Timeline
- 1974
The drag strip opens
About 500 limited partners put roughly $2.5 million into a racing complex on the West Plains near Airway Heights. In May 1974 the American Hot Rod Association ran the first drag race on the new quarter-mile.
- 1975
The first World Finals
In September 1975 the track hosted its first AHRA World Finals, with Top Fuel dragsters and nitro Funny Cars. It became the biggest weekend of the year in Spokane racing.
- 1978
The oval opens
The half-mile oval opened in June 1978, later billed as the "World's Fastest ½ Mile Oval." A go-kart track followed in 1980.
- 1987
Garlits flips at 270
At the August 1987 AHRA World Finals, "Big Daddy" Don Garlits's fuel dragster flipped at about 270 MPH. He walked away without serious injury.
- 1990s
The road course
In the mid-1990s a road course of roughly 2.5 miles opened, using the drag strip as part of its long straightaway. Now all three tracks were in place.
- 1999
spokaneracewaypark.com goes live
The first website, built by racer Dale Hornby and Alex Renner, announced "Home of the AHRA 1999 World Finals." It added points standings, photo albums and racer pages over the next several seasons.
World Finals crowd at the starting line, about 2000. From the track's original website. - 2002
Street racing and 307 MPH
Friday Night Street Racing started in April. At the 40th annual World Finals that August the track record fell more than once: 5.833 seconds at 240.82 MPH, then a jet car at 307 MPH. Ken Kraus of Great Falls won Pro Alcohol Funny Car.
Header flames under the lights, 2002. From the track's original website. - 2003
Craig Smith's 5.06
Odessa's Craig Smith qualified first in Top Fuel at the World Finals and won it with a 5.069 at 288.69 MPH. Qualifying fourth was Chris "The Greek" Karamesines, who had won the AHRA Nationals in 1959 and was still racing nitro in Spokane 44 years later.
A burnout at the line, 2003. From the track's original website. - 2004–05
Top gear
Super Pro, Pro Eliminator, NW Modifieds, F4s, the Fox Hunt, the Lilac Funny Car Championships, the F.A.T.T. road-course days and the Mike Sullivan motorcycle school all ran here. The 43rd annual World Finals followed in 2005.
AHRA World Finals, 2004. From the track's original website. - 2005–08
End of an era
From 2005 the track was tied up in lawsuits, receivership and bankruptcy, and the longtime operator was let go in 2006. The property sat empty until Spokane County bought it on April 10, 2008.
- 2008–21
Spokane County Raceway
Under county ownership the track came back as Spokane County Raceway, running NHRA and IHRA drags, NASCAR K&N Pro Series West races, and vintage events like the Spokane Festival of Speed.
Military Appreciation Night at Spokane County Raceway, June 15, 2012. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Ryan Zeski (public domain). - 2021
Qlispé Raceway Park
The Kalispel Tribe of Indians bought the facility for $6.1 million. It runs today as Qlispé Raceway Park, so the engines haven't stopped.
By the numbers
Figures as they were posted on the track's own website at the time.
Jet car track speed record, AHRA World Finals, August 2002
Craig Smith, Top Fuel winner, 2003 World Finals (288.69 MPH)
Elevation of the half-mile oval. 500-ft longest straight, 15° turns
The office number every racer in the Inland Northwest knew by heart
2003 AHRA World Finals: winners
The official results as posted by the track in 2003.
| Class | Winner | Hometown | E.T. | MPH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top Fuel Dragster | Craig Smith | Odessa, WA | 5.069 | 288.69 |
| Top Fuel Funny Car | Stephen Neese | Bakersfield, CA | 6.926 | 236.86 |
| Pro Alcohol Dragster | Bill Edwards | Sumas, WA | 5.891 | 244.29 |
| Pro Alcohol Funny Car | Ron Sellers | Priest River, ID | 6.326 | 206.57 |
| Pro Mod | Ross Hogenson | Lethbridge, AB | 6.857 | 204.48 |
| Jet Car | Neil Hansen | Spokane, WA | 6.838 | 274.64 |
| Top Comp | Justin Juel | Spokane, WA | 10.836 | 149.58 |
| Super Street | Mark Bell, B & G Racing | Spokane, WA | 11.187 | 119.30 |
| ET Stock | Jason Metz | Spokane Valley, WA | 12.845 | 107.41 |
| Jr. Drags | Kneight Johnson | Spokane, WA | 11.205 | 56.25 |
Why the AHRA mattered
The American Hot Rod Association held its first Nationals in Great Bend, Kansas, in 1956. When NHRA banned nitromethane in 1957, the AHRA kept running fuel, which made it the early home of Top Fuel. In 1965 its Winternationals brought out the altered-wheelbase factory cars that became known as Funny Cars. In 1968 it ran heads-up Super Stock, the class that turned into Pro Stock. Don Garlits served as the group's president in 1958, and Chris Karamesines won its Nationals in 1959 in his fuel dragster "Chizler."
The original AHRA held its last national event in 1984. The name and the World Finals carried on in Spokane, where for a generation of Northwest racers it was the biggest weekend of the year. Some of the early names never left: Karamesines was in the Top Fuel field at Spokane's 2003 World Finals.
Read the full 20-page AHRA history from the old site on the Wayback Machine →
