By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A World War II bomber base with concrete runways, open skies, and lots of wind. That’s how the Sunflower Rod and Custom Association (SRCA) Dragstrip west of Great Bend was described in a promotional video during the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) West Central Div. 5 High & Mighty Hall of Fame Induction ceremony on Jan. 24 in Kansas City.
Tuesday night, the Great Bend City Council recognized the SCRA’s recent induction. The SRCA was formed on Jan. 19, 1954, as a club named for its home state and driven by volunteers, hot rods, and a belief in the new sport of drag racing.
“A year later, they made a decision that would change the sport of drag racing forever,” the narrator said. “Working through the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce, the club reached out to a man named Wally Parks with a simple but bold invitation: come to Kansas, bring the NHRA with you, and let Great Bend host the first NHRA National Championship Drag Races. Wally Parks said yes, and the rest is drag racing history.”
The first Nationals featured more than 200 cars and 15,000 spectators. A new speed record for American drag racing was set at 151 miles per hour.
“Those races, on that former bomber strip, established the first official NHRA acceleration records from a standing start over 1,320 feet,” the video said. “So Sunflower Custom and Rod Association didn’t just hold a race, they helped define what a national event was, and what it would be.”
Over the next several decades, SRCA continued to carry the torch for drag racing in Central Kansas with a museum, and by hosting events like Hot Rod Magazine Drag Week and Rocky Mountain Race Week. The SRCA ultimately disbanded before reforming in 1993. Most recently, the club survived a shutdown of the track, which is currently being rebuilt with plans to reopen for the 2026 race season.
“Tonight,” said the narrator, “we honor the club that turned a bomber base into a dragstrip, a dusty runway into a national stage, and a local club into a cornerstone of NHRA history.”