K-K Sports Arena/Wisconsin International Raceway (Kaukauna)

History

A quarter-mile paved oval and a half-mile dirt oval were built in 1964 on 200 acres three miles south of Kaukauna in the town of Buchanan, and work on a quarter-mile drag strip started the same year. Joe Van Daalwyk, Connie De Leeuw and Clyde Schumacher were the main builders. The strip was due to be done in late July 1965, and its first race was probably that July or August. The 1966 season opened in early June. Races were timed over 1,000 feet, with quarter-mile speeds projected from a calibration table said to be accurate within two percent. On Sunday, August 7, 1966, Thomas Broas was killed when he lost control at high speed at the end of a time trial run. In 1967 Ron Leek, a former traveling announcer for the United Drag Racers Association, became general manager and publicity director, and that September KK hosted a UDRA national championship, apparently timed over the full quarter mile by then. On May 5, 1968, Al Fontannini of Highland, Illinois, won funny car in his ‘68 Hemi Charger over Don Miller of Manchester, Missouri, and Del Fisher of Milwaukee won top fuel at 7.72 seconds and 197.10 MPH. The track went bankrupt in 1970 and sold all its assets after the season, but it was back in 1971 as Wisconsin International Raceway under AHRA sanction, switching that summer from Sunday racing to Saturday nights. Its UDRA ties lasted through 1976. It still runs under IHRA sanction, with its popular Real Street Drags and regular feature racing. In 2015 Scott Holdridge set a jet dragster track record of 304.28 MPH.