Lee County Dragway (Keokuk)
ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.
- Annual Spring Festival of Drag Racing every May from 1970
- Timing tower's upper floor was said to be a refurbished chicken coop
- Raced
- 1969-88
- State
- Iowa
- What's left
- You can still spot it in aerial photos, or broken pieces of the track surface remain.
- Raced on
- Built as a drag strip
- First race
- August 23, 1969
- Track
- 1/8 mile
- Location
- Site of the old Sportsman's Park Drag Strip, Keokuk
- People
- Ron Saar, builder and owner (1969-)
- Jerry Saar, owner
- Gayle Saar, owner
- Sanction
- AHRA, NHRA
- Elevation
- 656 ft (200 m)
- Coordinates
- 40.40882, -91.43435
Ron Saar built this eighth-mile strip on the site of the old Sportsman Park Drag Strip, and it opened on August 23, 1969. Ron, Jerry and Gayle Saar owned a speed shop in Keokuk. In 1970 the track started its Spring Festival of Drag Racing, held every May after that, and at the first one Jerry Smeltzly set a track record of 5.15 seconds in a funny car final against Arnie Beswick. AHRA sanctioned it first, and at times it also ran under NHRA. Ron’s brother Jerry raced his funny car there regularly. The upper floor of the timing tower was said to be a refurbished chicken coop.
Video
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