Parks Metropolitan Airport (Cahokia)

Closed

Also known as Parks Air College; Walston Field

September 18, 1955, race drew 350 entries and 3,600 spectators

Raced: 1955-ca. 1968
State: Illinois
What's left: A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
On the site today: St. Louis Downtown-Parks Airport
Raced on: An airport runway
First race: September 4, 1955
Last race: 1966 or 1968
Location: North-south runway of Parks Airport, eastern edge of Cahokia
People: Belleville Gear Jammers, race sponsor (1955)
Sanction: NHRA
Elevation: 410 ft (125 m)
Coordinates: 38.57185, -90.15748

The Belleville Gear Jammers sponsored the first NHRA race at Parks Airport on September 4, 1955. Another big race on September 18 drew 350 entries and 3,600 spectators. News reports placed the races at Parks Air College near Belleville, but a January 1959 Hot Rod article with photos said they ran on the north-south runway of Parks Airport, now St. Louis Downtown-Parks Airport. Another paper said Walston Field, near Parks Airport. Parks Air College, based in East St. Louis, had a contract to use the airport on the eastern edge of Cahokia for flight training. A race on May 27, 1956, gave trophies in all classes and charged racers $1.50 and spectators 50 cents. Regular races were set for the second and fourth Sundays in 1956, and racing went on until at least 1966, possibly 1968.

Cars line the staging lanes at Walston Field. Photo published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 11, 1956

Advertisement in Drag Times, vol. 1, no. 1 (April 25, 1958), courtesy of Don Morin

Ken Merz (left) in his Buick-engined dragster races Speed Hopkins in his Edsel-engined dragster at Walston Field on June 29, 1958. Merz took the win in 12.9 at 103.7 mph. Photo published in Belleville Daily Advocate, June 30, 1958

Chevy Express truck converted into timing stand with club's Ford pickup parked behind

Parks Metropolitan Airport, also known as Walston Metropolitan Airport, 1959 USGS topo map

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