Richland Bypass Highway

The Desert Knights car club got permission to run quarter-mile drag races on a closed-off section of the Richland Bypass Highway at the south end of Richland. The first, on November 6, 1955, was supervised by Richland police and run by members of the Inland Empire Timing Association and the Western Washington Timing Association. About 1,500 spectators watched racers from Seattle to Spokane compete in thirteen classes, with trophies for class winners, and John Uceny of Yakima was fastest at 93.68 MPH in D Gas. Admission was fifty cents to cover insurance, but only about forty percent of the crowd paid. After that success the club was offered two tracts of land for a strip, as well as the old Finley airport, whose tarmac was very rough and needed resurfacing. The main obstacle was the roughly $2,500 cost of paving, and the club hoped a civic group would help. The last race on the highway was May 6, 1956.