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Ellsworth Air Force Base

ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.

Raced
1953-54
State
South Dakota
What's left
A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
Raced on
A military airfield
First race
September 1953
Track
8,000-foot runway (raced 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile and 1 mile)
Surface
Runway
Location
Runway at Ellsworth Air Force Base
People
  • 28th Wheel Club, sponsor (1953-54)
Elevation
3,229 ft (984 m)
Coordinates
44.14784, -103.10751

The base’s 28th Wheel Club sponsored drag races on a runway 600 feet wide and 8,000 feet long. They were first set for July 26, 1953, but the base’s operational commitments pushed them to September. Cars made solo timed runs over a quarter-mile, half-mile and mile, and the fastest speed won. Calvin Olsen took first at all three distances in his 1952 Olds before more than 500 people, as Hot Rod reported in May 1954. At a race on September 11, 1954, Bob White set a stock class quarter-mile track record of 16.7 seconds before 600 spectators.

This photo shows racing action at Ellsworth Air Force Base on April 17, 1954. Bob Pattalochi (left) won the event in his 1954 Buick. He is shown here outpacing Bob Cammeron's '53 Lincoln. Photo published in Rapid City Journal, Apr. 24, 1954.
This photo shows racing action at Ellsworth Air Force Base on April 17, 1954. Bob Pattalochi (left) won the event in his 1954 Buick. He is shown here outpacing Bob Cammeron's '53 Lincoln. Photo published in Rapid City Journal, Apr. 24, 1954.