Steele Airport
ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.
- Drew 700 cars and 2,000 people on March 4, 1956
- Raced
- 1955-56
- State
- Missouri
- What's left
- A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
- Raced on
- An airport runway
- First race
- about December 1955
- Last race
- spring 1956
- Surface
- Asphalt runway
- Location
- Steele municipal airport
- People
- Jim Littlejohn, promoter (1955-1956)
- Kiwanis Club, helped run races (1956)
- Elevation
- 257 ft (78 m)
- Coordinates
- 36.09895, -89.85919
Stock car drag races started on the municipal airport’s mile-long asphalt runway around December 1955, promoted by Jim Littlejohn. There were no entry fees and no prizes, and only unmodified family cars could run. Within a couple of months it was better organized. More than 100 cars raced on February 19, 1956, with Harold Cobb as flagman, and races ran every Sunday. On March 4, 700 cars from Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee drew 2,000 people. The city council debated stopping it but let it continue, and the CAA approved as long as at least one runway stayed open. A 50-cent admission began April 15, winners got banners on April 29, and the Kiwanis Club helped run the races. Racing seems to have ended just before summer 1956.
More in Missouri
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