Hawkeye Downs Speedway (Cedar Rapids)

In 1959 big-time stock car racing tried to cash in on drag racing’s popularity by adding drag races to some major stock car events. On May 16, night drag races under the lights ran alongside the Hawkeye 300, using 440 feet of the straightaway. Electronic timers measured to 1/100 second, and trophies went to 20 class winners, from stock to gassers, altereds and roadsters. It went well enough that another drag race followed the Sunday afternoon stock car races on July 5. One racer who ran his truck a few times at what he called the Iowa Speedway remembered the top end as hairy, with hard braking and a fast left turn. He thought that short shutdown, along with managers who didn’t care to work with drag racers, finished it, and said it lasted only two seasons as interest died quickly. His best was 89 mph on bias-ply tires, sliding all over the place, and he called it a blast while it lasted.