Every racer in the National Hot Rod Association’s premier Mello Yello Drag Racing Series is aware of the dire situation facing Heartland Park Topeka and realizes this could be the final visit to a track that has produced some of the biggest accomplishments in the sport’s history.
HPT has been closed through the early portion of the 2015 season and after a proposed deal for the city of Topeka to purchase the track recently fell through, the facility could be headed for permanent closure after this weekend’s Kansas Nationals, which are being run by the NHRA.
To a driver, the NHRA stars enter this weekend hoping against hope that there is a future for the facility, which hosts its 32nd national event this Friday through Sunday.
“No. 1, I love racing,” said drag racing legend John Force, who has a track-record nine Funny Car victories at HPT. “I would race every weekend if I could. It’s just what I do. I love it and I hate the thought of ever losing Topeka. I believe that somebody will put (a deal) together. It’s too valuable of an entertainment spot and it’s right in the middle of the country.
“We can’t lose a key marketplace like Topeka. Somebody’s got to go to work and they’ve got to fix this thing.”
Force, the winningest driver in NHRA history, said some people may not realize how valuable HPT is to the community and the city’s economy.
“We’re coming in there and we’ll rock and roll in the town and we’ll bring money into the city,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about, to put on a show for the fans and entertain them, but also to bring revenue back into that marketplace — to the hotels, to the eateries. It’s a loss for everybody if we lose it and I just can’t believe that we will.”
Funny Car veteran Ron Capps, who has won three times in Topeka, echoed Force’s thoughts.
“It would be a travesty,” Capps said. “I tell some of these guys who came into the sport later on that when that place was built and we held two races there, every national record, every speed and ET (elapsed time) record was broken and re-broken every time we showed up there. That’s how good that track is and how much history there is there.”
Capps added that Topeka has always been one of his favorite stops on the Mello Yello circuit because of the way the series was treated by fans, restaurants, hotels etc.
“When we come to town it’s always felt like there was a Super Bowl going on and I’ve always loved that about that place,” Capps said. “Every time I read about what’s been going on it breaks my heart so I’m hoping that somehow, some way they can figure it out. I hope somehow it gets resolved.”
Three-time world Top Fuel champion and two-time Topeka winner Larry Dixon recalls the first time he visited the track.
“I’m probably showing my age, but the first time we rolled in there you have all this flat ground that you’ve been driving miles and miles and miles of and then you roll up on this track and the facility is beautiful,” Dixon said. “There’s a lot of great memories for me going there and not just as a competitor, because we’ve won there a few times, but as a fan of the sport.
“I’ve seen a lot of racetracks go and you hate to see them close up because the chances of re-opening, it makes it more difficult as time goes on. You hope it doesn’t happen. You hope somebody comes in that has a business plan and a model to make it make sense for somebody to take it over. It’s a great facility, it just needs to be used. It can’t sit and hopefully (a deal) will happen and we’ll keep coming back. If it doesn’t I definitely have some great memories from there.”
Four-time world Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson, a four-time winner at HPT, has been coming to the track since it opened in 1989, first as a crew member/crew chief for Warren Johnson and then as a driver.
“We’ve had a lot of great times at that racetrack and a lot of fun at that racetrack,” Anderson said. “I remember when it first opened up it was the coolest place I had seen. It’s a great Midwestern track. I grew up in the Midwest (Duluth, Minn.) and it was right up my alley.
“I’ve liked going to that track ever since we’ve had it and have had a lot of great memories there and I hate for it to end.”
In fact, Anderson is convinced there is a future for HPT.
“I personally believe something’s going to happen,” Anderson said. “Everything you think about and hear about and talk about seems gloomy towards the future, but you know what, we keep banging back. We keep bouncing back and things happen and things don’t seem to die.
“I’m not giving up. I believe we’re going to be back there going as strong as ever.”
