It’s been anything but smooth for the folks of the SRCA Dragstrip,
the City of Great Bend and the contractor responsible for reconstructing the
historic dragstrip at the fairgrounds, west of town.
The city received funding through the Kansas Department of Transportation Cost
Share program to help with the reconstruction of the dragstrip and Suchy
Construction was awarded the bid for $1.6 million.
In July, SRCA board members
told city administration there were several high spots and imperfections on the
track’s surface. Total Venue Concepts (TVC) was hired to professionally polish the surface for
roughly $72,000.
Great Bend City Councilmember Jolene Biggs said the city was told the track was
within specifications of the bid, but that turned out to not be the case. More
work and expenses are needed as TVC and Southeast Grinding and Grooving will
come to the drag strip in January.
"There was an indication at one time, the dragstrip met the level that it needed to be and it was released," said Biggs. "At that point, SRCA invested monies to do some things. Without saying a lot, it ended up that level of work was not at what everybody thought that it was."
The city council moved to wave SRCA’s $10,000 lease fee this year to help
offset some of the extra expenses from this project.
The council also found out Hank Denning will step down as SRCA board president
at the end of the year. The board is expected to vote on Denning’s replacement
in January.
"In my tenure with the dragstrip and the club, I've had the privilege to work with three different mayors, three different city administrators and a lot of new faces on the council," said Denning.
Confusion and some frustration has surfaced when determining whose responsibility it is for the track not meeting specs, causing extra expenses.