Alton Dragway

Alton Dragway was built on the former Stanley Castle Farm on Fosterburg Road, a mile north of the Route 140 junction. The two-lane asphalt strip had twenty feet of concrete at the starting line and was half a mile long, leaving a quarter mile for racing and not much margin for safety. Rain washed out the July 5-6, 1958, opening, so a trial race was set for July 13 to work out the bugs. Almost 2,000 people watched 200 entries, and Gene Hoekel of St. Louis won at 98.90 mph. Dust was a problem the operators promised to fix. Rain struck again on July 19-20, and the grand opening, run by the Road Knights and the Headers of Rosewood Heights, finally happened on July 26-27, 1958. The County Auto Parts 1950 Ford Anglia A/A won top eliminator at 111.10 mph.

On June 22, 1959, the Road Knights voted to end their ties with the strip. Newspapers gave no reason, though it may have involved their push for tighter safety inspections. Bob Sullivan’s Pandemonium fueler and Chris Karamesines tied for top speed at 173 mph at the 2nd annual Midwest Championships on October 17-18, 1959. On April 24, 1960, Karamesines was timed at 204 mph, said to be the first run over 200 and still disputed today. The track advertised itself as the “World’s fastest drag strip” anyway, and in September 1961 Walt Arfons ran a world record 230.170 mph there in his “Green Monster 16” jet car.

In May 1962 Wayne Brown sued the strip for $10,000 over injuries from two years earlier, when a dragster veered off the track into the pit area. He claimed Harry Nordquist was forced into the pits because the track negligently let crowds onto the racing area. The strip is now Wonderland Drive, the entrance road to a trailer park, and its center median is still there.