The short-lived Kansas City Board Track was not the only auto racing venue in Kansas City

The legendary Barney Oldfield was the first person to drive a car at “a mile a minute” on an oval race track. His accomplishments led to the expression, “Who do you think you are… Barney Oldfield?” On October 13, 1918, Oldfield staged a competitive event at the Independence Fair Grounds. Local favorite, Ray Lampkin, in his Duesenberg, the “Sun Ray Roamer,” participated in a best of three series against Oldfield’s Miller streamliner, the “Golden Submarine.” More a choreographed speed demonstration than a race, Oldfield’s down-to-the-wire victory was predetermined. It would be Oldfield’s final racing appearance.

Olympic Stadium started operations in 1935 as the base of the highly-competitive Kansas City Midget Auto Racing Association. Many stars of stock car and open-wheel racing got their start with midget cars. Olympic Stadium began as a 1/5-mile bullring and was expanded to a quarter-mile in 1952. The KCMARA ceased in 1963. Olympic Stadium closed in 1974.

Lakeside Speedway is a 3/8 mile, slightly banked, dirt oval located in Kansas City, Kansas. It features Factory Stock, B-Modified, Grand National, and Modified categories. Originally at 92nd and Leavenworth Road, the track opened for just a year in 1955, and reopened in 1961. In 1988 the track moved to its present location at 5615 Wolcott Drive. The new Lakeside Speedway operated as a half-mile asphalt track until 2000, when it was converted to a slightly-banked 3/8th mile dirt track

Kansas City International Raceway was a drag strip at 82nd and Noland Road in Kansas City, Missouri. Built and owned by Bill Roberts and partners in 1967, it featured two asphalt lanes and seating for over a thousand people. In the 1970s, it was a site for National Hot Rod Association competitions. Evil Knievel jumped 10 Mack trucks on his motorcycle there in 1974. Despite a 100-person protest outside city hall, the track hosted its last race on November 27, 2011. The raceway has since been turned into a city park.

In 1969, Bill Roberts also built the I-70 Speedway, just east of Odessa, Missouri. Regarded as one of the fastest, toughest, most significant venues in the Midwest, the I-70 was a 5/8 mile, asphalt, tri-oval with steep, 28-degree banked turns. The greatest short track drivers of the day – Dick Trickle, Larry Phillips, Mark Martin, Terry Bivens, and Bobby Allison – frequented those high-banks. In addition to a weekly NASCAR-sanctioned showing, several national touring series made I-70 a stop, including ASA, ARCA, and the American Indycar Series.

When the Craftsman Truck Series came to the I-70, Ram pickup driver Tony Raines brought Dodge its first NASCAR victory in nearly 20 years. Adam Petty’s 1998 ASA victory at the I-70 made him the first fourth-generation athlete to win a professional sports event. The track closed in 2008.

Today’s premier local racing venue is the Kansas Speedway, a 1.5 mile tri-oval race track in Kansas City, Kansas. Construction of the speedway was completed in early 2001. The speedway is home to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 400 and Hollywood Casino 400, the NASCAR Nationwide Series Kansas Lottery 300, and the Camping World Truck Series SFP 250. Kansas Speedway also hosts the SFP Grand Prix (Grand-Am Road Racing). From 2001 to 2010 the track was the site of the IndyCar Series, RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300.

1st (Top Left):
The last speed event for Barney Oldfield and his “Golden Submarine” was at Independence Fair Grounds in 1918.

2nd (Clockwise):
High Plains Drifter driven by Jim McMurray at Kansas City International Raceway, May, 1977. KCIR opened in 1967 and closed in 2011.

3rd (Clockwise):
“Doc” Waters captures the checkered flag at Riverside Stadium in his car sponsored by Town Topic Hamburgers, 1955.

4th (Clockwise):
Dick Trickle #99 passes Mark Martin #2 during the 1980 World Cup 400. Trickle won the race. Martin won a 3rd straight ACA Championship.

5th (Clockwise):
1974 photo of Larry Phillips, a frequent winner at I-70 Speedway. One of the fastest, toughest, most significant Midwest venues, the track opened in 1969 and closed in 2008.

6th (Clockwise):
Bill Chennault won three KCMARA titles (1953, 1956, 1957) in his hall of fame career.

7th (Clockwise):
Don Oldenberg takes a victory lap at Lakeside Speedway, September 18, 1955

8th (Clockwise):
1953 photo of Olympic Stadium, where many stock and open-wheel racing stars got their start. Olympic operated from 1935 to 1974.

9th (Clockwise):
I-70 Speedway, about 45 miles east of Kansas City, operated from 1969 to 2008.

10th (Clockwise):
The Kansas City International Raceway, a premier quarter-mile drag strip, opened in 1967, and closed in 2011.

11th (Clockwise):
In 2010, KCK native Jennifer Jo Cobb became the highest female points finisher in NASCAR history.

12th (Clockwise):
In 1990, while filming the movie, “Mr. & Mrs. Bridge”, in Kansas City, actor and race car driver Paul Newman rented the I-70 Speedway for a private practice session.

13th (Clockwise):
A.J. Foyt’s first professional victory came at age 22 in an Olympic Stadium USAC midget car race on 5/12/57.