Empire Raceway/Thunder Dome Dragway (Sioux Falls)
Nothing leftNothing left No longer racing, and nothing of the track remains.
- Advertised as the upper Midwest's only lighted drag strip
- Raced
- 1972-74, 1986-88
- State
- South Dakota
- What's left
- The site was never redeveloped, but every trace of the strip has been removed.
- Raced on
- Fairgrounds
- First race
- July 15, 1972
- Track
- 3,870 feet (1/8 mile racing from 1986)
- Location
- Sioux Empire Fairgrounds
- People
- Sioux Empire Fair Association, co-owner (1970-)
- Sioux Falls Stock Car Association, co-owner (1970-)
- Fred Buckmiller, construction supervisor (1970)
- Tom Cain, manager (1986)
- Sanction
- NHRA
- Elevation
- 1,415 ft (431 m)
- Coordinates
- 43.55137, -96.77186
Construction of the Empire Raceway drag strip at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds began in 1970, a joint venture of the Fair Association and the Sioux Falls Stock Car Association, with Fred Buckmiller supervising. It was due to be done in June 1970 but ran late. It was built for night racing, and ads called it the upper Midwest’s only lighted drag strip. A test session was set for mid-November 1970, but bad weather postponed it. The strip was 3,870 feet long and ran south to north, with the control tower right behind the starting line and steel bleachers for 4,500 on both sides of the line. The backers didn’t want to open until everything was finished, so it stayed closed in 1971. The grand opening came on July 15, 1972. After only two races that year it shut down to repair the staging area surface. The NHRA-sanctioned strip opened its 1973 season on April 28. On July 19, 1986, it reopened for eighth-mile racing as Thunder Dome Dragway, again under NHRA sanction, with Tom Cain as manager.
