By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Great Bend Building Official Matt Schafer said engineers and officials are in the home stretch of the design phase for the reconstruction of the SRCA Dragstrip. The plan is to send the design to the Great Bend City Council for approval on July 21. Following the design, Schafer noted he will be involved with the inspection of the construction.
"I'm fortunate that the inspector we hired, Gary Lewis, he comes from a vast KDOT (Kansas Department of Transportation) background," said Schafer. "He is very, well versed in the concrete world. I'm going to be leaning on him for that project."
The dragstrip was reconstructed in 2021 but several issues followed the completion of the project making the surface unsafe. Along with “track guys” from the SRCA, engineers are gleaning advice from subject matter experts.
"These are smart people," said Schafer. "They know what they're doing. They do these all over the country. This is a very specific project that we want to get done right. We're going to lean on the experts for that."
Schafer is hopeful demolition of the current dragstrip will begin soon with new pavement installed by the end of September. The goal is to have the reconstruction finished by March 2026, in time for next season’s races.