Eddyville Raceway Park

During the mid ‘60s eighth-mile drag strips started flourishing all around the Mississippi River valley. Since Tri State Dragway at Kahoka, MO, and Pleasant Grove at Springfield, IL, were the first two 660-foot strips in the area, we always thought the expansion was a huge complement to our efforts.

One 660-foot track was established between Ottumwa and Oskaloosa, Iowa, near the Des Moines River. It was named for the small village nearby, Eddyville. I was there in the mid-60s when it opened. It seemed remote from the main Highway and in a rather poor location. Still they continued to operate and now 52 years later, the new alignment of the main highway (an Iowa Freeway) goes right past the entrance to Eddyville Dragway.

History: Opened in 1965, owned by John Rempe until 1993 when it was sold to Carl Moyer from Ankeny who totally rebuilt the facility with a much larger pit area, and modern amenities. The track was purchased in 2006 by Scott Gardner (then owner of Cordova Dragway in Illinois) and Gerald Kramer from Pella, Iowa. In 2014 Scott sold his part ownership to Gerald. 2015 marked the 50th anniversary of the track.

Of course Ottumwa, Iowa’s famous drag racing son has gone on to nationwide acclaim, winning both Top Fuel and Funny Car titles at NHRA ‘Big Show’ events. He finished second in the 2016 NHRA National standings driving the ‘Make A Wish’ F/C for Terry Chandler!

We could not locate an original photo of the Eddyville final in 1976, but this is the car and position from that race. I remember several local racers taking us to Oskaloosa after the race for pizza. We then drove all night to NEITA Raceway near Cedar Falls, IA, for Sunday.

Ten years later, the Tommy Johnson family ran a match race at their ‘home’ track which is just north of Ottumwa, Iowa; the original location of Tommy Senior’s mail order performance parts business. Neither Tom could tell us -- who won?