After being temporarily shut down for the majority of the 2015 season, the new owners of Heartland Park Topeka purchased the multi-purpose motorsports facility at the beginning of the year and have made multiple upgrades to the landscaping, buildings, track surface, as well as adding a new motocross track to the 650-acre property.
The following Topeka companies have teamed up to support the New Heartland Park Topeka: Strathman Sales Anheuser-Busch distributor, CoreFirst Bank, Unifirst Supplies, Quality Home Solutions, TFM Communications, Golden Corral, Green Touch Landscaping, Ferrellgas, Subway, United Rentals, Victor L Phillips and Murphy Tractor.
In addition, Grasshopper, which is nationally headquartered in Kansas and has distributors located in Topeka, has joined forces to help bring back the Midwest’s favorite track. Grasshopper is also a supporter of other NHRA national event tracks throughout the U.S.
Matt Strathman, owner of Strathman Sales in Topeka, has been a supporter of the Heartland Park as a sponsor and racer participant from the time the facility first opened in 1989, until present.
“I know Heartland Park as well as anyone from attending a lot of events out there over the years. I was so thankful to hear about the new ownership group stepping up to secure its future. Having a facility like that host weekly, regional, and national events is great for Topeka and entire Northeast Kansas area. We are excited to see the investment being made to bring it up to the caliber of other national event facilities and looking forward to a full season of events in 2016," Strathman said.
The new Heartland Park Topeka ramps up its 2016 racing schedule with this weekend’s NHRA National Open, followed by the NHRA Kansas Nationals. This will be the 28th annual Kansas Nationals held at the New Heartland Park Topeka.
“When racers have the opportunity to participate in two consecutive major event weekends at the same facility it helps them chose to come to an event like ours. With the National Open being the week before the Kansas Nationals, they have the chance to race on back-to-back weekends without having to change locations, and we expect to have one of the largest car counts because of this,” said Scott Gardner, president and general manager of Heartland Park Topeka. The New Heartland Park Topeka is a multi-purpose motorsports and outdoor events facility located in Topeka, Kansas. The facility opened in 1989 and features a championship NHRA sanctioned ¼ mile drag strip, a road course with four different configurations, a 3/8-mile clay oval and motocross track. Owners of the facility are Chris Payne and Todd Crossley of Shelby Development, LLC who purchased the facility in January of 2016. Weekly race programs began in April with the NHRA Kansas Nationals scheduled for May 20-22 and the Manufacturers Series on October 21-23.