Wheatley Airport Drag Strip (Moore)

Wheatley Airport, also known as Barkhurst Field, was a general aviation airport in Moore on the south side of Oklahoma City, set up sometime between 1938 and 1945. An oval track was also built there in the 1950s. Drag racing was going by 1954, if not earlier. The clay runway was paved before the May 29, 1955 race. Chester Biggs of Moore was fastest on May 1, 1955, and Truman Young ran 94.73 mph in a ‘51 Pontiac in GC class on July 17. Bill Flinchum hit 107.81 mph in the Heard-Mercury Special on August 14, and two weeks later had the meet’s top speed, 112.50 mph, in the Flinchum-McGinnis Special. Races ran every Sunday in 1956. Don Pruitt, racing out of Kansas, had top speed of 113.92 mph on April 8, Buddy Jackson ran 126.97 mph on his motorcycle on May 13, and Flinchum set a car record of 124.22 mph in his Pontiac-engined dragster on June 10. 1956 seems to have been the last season. The Daily Oklahoman of March 23, 1958, advertised the drag strip for sale as a sure money maker, timing equipment and loudspeakers included. Industrial buildings now cover the site, and nothing of the airport remains.