With a storied history behind itself, today the facility known as 81 Speedway, located in Park City, KS, readies itself for its 59th year of hosting weekly dirt track auto racing events.
Built in 1954 on the outskirts of Wichita, KS, the facility opened as Robbins Speedway and was a half-mile dirt oval. The speedway operated on Sunday nights for only four years before it was sold to Wichita businessman, O.L. Douglas in 1958, who changed the name to its present 81 Speedway.
Douglas kept the half-mile oval operating on Sunday nights for five years, then sold the speedway to Bill Hall of Newton, KS.
Hall's first move was to make the race track more manageable for weekly race programs. Hall did this by shortening the track from the half-mile down to a quarter mile. The speedway continued to run on Sunday nights only through 1965.
With the start of the '65 season, Hall moved to a two-night-a-week schedule with the speedway running Stock Cars on Saturday nights and the popular Super Modified on Sunday nights. During this time, the track was undergoing a transition from the quarter mile Hall had turned it into when he purchased the facility to a larger 3/8ths oval which is what it is today.
In 1971, Bill Hall turned the daily operation of the speedway over to his son Charles Ray Hall, known to most people as C. Ray. The 2012 season will begin his 41st year as the head man in charge of daily operations.
After taking over daily operations from his father Bill, C. Ray continued to operate the speedway on its two-day-a-week schedule through 1978. With the start of the '79 season, Hall found it no longer feasible to operate the two-night-a-week schedule and dropped the Sunday night program.
In 1995, Hall formed a division that became nationally known as the Cruiser Cars. This two person team, with the driver operating the steering and brake while the passenger works the throttle, needed a night to compete on besides the regular Saturday night race program. "Thursty Thursday" became the night of choice through the sponsorship of the local Miller Beer Dist. and a local rock station. After a 17 year run as a regular division at the speedway, the Cruisers will be sidelined in 2012 to make way for the new entry level Hobby Stock division.
In 1995, Hall purchased the new Musco Sports Lighting System for the speedway. With its new and innovative way of lighting the legendary 3/8ths oval, the Musco Sports Lighting System is television compatible, allowing the speedway to host live and tape delayed telecasts to date with ESPN, Speed Network, TNN, Fox and the Outdoor Channel.
Over the years, 81 Speedway has played host to virtually every traveling series that runs on dirt. From Monster Trucks to the Late Model sanctioning bodies of NDRA, NCRA, MARS, CLMA, MLRA, to the open wheel World of Outlaws, USAC, NCRA, All Star Circuit of Champions, CRA, MARA and others, the Park City facility continues to lead the way with the best of weekly dirt track racing entertainment and the nations most popular special event programs.
Attorney Bryson Mills, of Wichita, a racing enthusiast and historian on the track, approached speedway officials with the idea of forming a Hall of Fame. Nominees for induction could be presented to the speedway by friends and family members of individuals who have impacted the speedway during their career. Mills would form a private committee (with no influence from speedway officials) who would then vote each year to induct a minimum of (5) individuals into the 81 Speedway Hall of Fame. The first class was inducted in 2000.