Willowrun Raceway/89er Raceway/Frontier International Raceway/Oklahoma City International Raceway Park

When the State Fairgrounds strip closed in 1963, Oklahoma City racers were left without a track, and two rivals opened in 1966: Willowrun under NHRA and San Valley Raceway under AHRA. Larry Gulihur, R. F. Williams and Raymond Burger incorporated Willowrun Raceway on March 10, 1966. It sat at the southwest corner of I-40 and Choctaw Road, southeast of Oklahoma City, about an eighth-mile west of Choctaw Road, running southeast to northwest. It opened on August 7-8, 1966, reportedly the same date as San Valley, with Eddie Hill, Fred Rowsey, John Griffith and Mike Sorokin with the Surfers among the top fuel entries. Jimmy Nix won top fuel at 7.40 and 202.70 mph after a 208.36 in qualifying, and six NHRA national records fell. It was reportedly the first drag strip in the country lit for night racing with mercury vapor lights.

Dean Dillingham bought it in late July 1967 and renamed it 89er Raceway under AHRA. On Saturday night, August 19, 1967, an AHRA world record meet set new marks in sixteen classes before 9,433 fans. 89er ran only that season, and the track sat idle in 1968. In February 1969 Bob Drake asked the Oklahoma County planning commission to rezone the land for racing and was turned down, but by July 1969 Frontier International Raceways, Inc., run by Drake and thirteen others, was selling stock to fund a larger racing complex. Actor James Garner, raised in Norman, was on the board and was due at the March 29, 1970 opener, which weather postponed. Kenny Bernstein ran his Engine Masters Cougar funny car on April 26.

The track, with grandstands and a dirt pit area, hosted the AHRA Grand American Nationals in mid-May 1970. Stock racer Roy Pogue lost a semifinal on a breakout, protested the timing, and when that got nowhere, drove his car through the Christmas Tree, down the strip, out the pit gate and onto the highway. AHRA president Jim Tice banned him for life, and NHRA soon did too. With no Tree, the Funny Car and Top Fuel finals were flag started, reportedly the last flag start at a national event. Gene Snow was disqualified for leaving before the flag, giving Don Prudhomme the Funny Car win. Jim King won top fuel and Ronnie Sox pro stock.

Frontier ran only in 1970. Poor attendance and rainouts dogged it, and Doug Waggoner said the end came when the promoter ran off with the gate receipts from an NHRA Division 4 points race. In 1984 Waggoner fought the city for permits and spent over $200,000 to reopen it, lining up an NHRA WWCS race, a Super Chevy Sunday and Coors backing for a funny car series, with the owners pledging up to $1 million. After a big showcase race they agreed, then backed out in 1985, which Waggoner blamed on the ownership group’s greed. A housing development now covers the site, and the developer tore up the old pavement.