By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
American history. Great Bend history. Drag racing history. Everything is coming together this weekend at the SRCA Dragstrip west of Great Bend with the inaugural Great American Hot Rod Classic NHRA Heritage series event. SRCA Dragstrip Operator Hank Denning called it a one-of-a-kind event that begins Friday and wraps up on Independence Day.
“The gates open at noon on Friday,” he told 1590 KVGB/95.5 FM’s Steve Webster. “We’ll start with an open test session, then the nostalgia groups from Colorado, they have their own series inside themselves. We’re going to run it as an old-time drag race. It will be all pre-1974 - no computers. These are all the cool cars you’ve seen in the past, from years gone by. This is basically what this event is, strictly nostalgia.”
Heritage Top Fuel races begin at 2 p.m. Friday, and the various classes of cars will continue racing into the evening as the city of Great Bend’s Fireworks Display begins at 9:45 p.m. Action continues Saturday with opening ceremonies at 1 p.m., followed by Heritage Top Fuel racing. The NHRA Cacklefest Blown Nitro-Methane and Methanol event will take place early Saturday evening. Denning said the response to the inaugural Great Bend event has been promising.
“People are really excited about this event,” he said. “They want to be a part of it. The trophies are going to be one-of-a-kind. Even the trophies for the series going on through 2026 for the NHRA series, they’re all one-of-a-kind Diamond trophies. Racers are going after that unique Wally because you will never be able to get one again.”
The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series is a premier nostalgia drag racing series organized by the NHRA. Denning hopes some of the vehicles that run under 7.99 seconds will stick around for next week’s NHRA Lucas Oil Division races slated for July 9-12.
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