Stout Army Air Field (Indianapolis)

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Also known as Stout Field

First race drew 3,000 spectators
Art Arfons set a 150.75 mph strip record in the Green Monster in 1957
Held a two-day midwest championship in October 1956

Raced: 1955-59
State: Indiana
What's left: The site was redeveloped, but the strip or its layout lives on in whatever replaced it.
Raced on: A military airfield
First race: July 24, 1955
Last race: 1959
Track: 1/4 mile
Location: Northeast-southwest runway at Stout Field, near Indianapolis
People: Cluster Busters Hot Rod Club, race organizer (1955)
Indianapolis Timing Association, race organizer (1957)
Sanction: NHRA
Elevation: 703 ft (214 m)
Coordinates: 39.73673, -86.23304

Three thousand people watched the first quarter-mile drag race at Stout Field, near Indianapolis, on July 24, 1955. It was NHRA-sanctioned and run by the Cluster Busters Hot Rod Club on the northeast-southwest runway. Lawrence Miller of Dayton, Ohio, had top speed of the meet at 104.89 mph on his motorcycle. A second race followed on August 28, and at the 1955 finale on September 25 that year’s Miss Indiana handed out the trophies. In 1956 races ran on about every second Sunday in good weather, plus a two-day midwest championship on October 13-14. The Indianapolis Timing Association ran regular races in 1957, sometimes with as many as 400 entries. Art Arfons set a strip record of 150.75 mph in his “Green Monster” on July 7, 1957, and Willy Snyder beat it on September 28, 1958, with 153.84 mph in his Allison-powered dragster. The State Adjutant General’s Office ruled that no drag races could be held at Stout Field after 1959.

Flagman Dave Vachet starts two racers at Stout Field. Photo published in Indianapolis Star, Aug. 25, 1957

Spectators line the fence at Stout Field. Photo published in Indianapolis Star, Aug. 25, 1957

In the first race at Stout Field on July 24, 1955, they raced on the northeast to southwest runway, marked in red. It was nearly a mile long.

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