View from the turn one grandstand. Eagle Raceway is a one-third mile dirt track located two miles (3 km) east of

Eagle, Nebraska Eagle is a village in southwest Cass County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 1,065. History Eagle was platted in 1886 when the Missouri Pacific Railroad was extended to that point. An early variant na ...

on U.S. Highway 34 in

Cass County, Nebraska Cass County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 26,598. Its county seat and largest city is Plattsmouth. The county was formed in 1855, and was named for General Lewis Cass, an Ame ...

, often referred to by some as the "World's Fastest Third Mile" because of its speed. The track is located approximately fifteen miles east of

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

. A regular weekly show at the track (Saturday nights from April to September) generally consists o
IMCA
Sanctioned 305 Sprint Cars, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks, and SportMods.

Track History

In 1963, Eagle, Nebraska, residents Dale Halvorsen and Harvey Kropp constructed the racetrack out of farm ground owned by Halvorsen. Kropp served as promoter of the races. The unique terrain allowed for a high-banked bowl-shaped racetrack to be carved out of surrounding hills. The hills provided an easy location for above-track grandstands. Kropp and Halvorsen promoted primarily

open wheel racing An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, Sports car racing, sports cars, Stock car racing, stock cars, and Touring car racing, touring car ...

events throughout the 1960s and 1970s, ending their promotion of racing after an abbreviated 1976 season in which the only death at the speedway occurred after Jim Golden flipped in turn one after releasing his seatbelts shortly after winning his preliminary heat race. The track remained dormant until 1978 when Paul Saenz leased the track from Halvorsen and race
Late Model Stock Cars
weekly. In 1984, the track was purchased by John Beecham, his wife Laura and John's brother Marty. The Beechams began a major renovation project, razing the decaying original scorer's tower and concession stands and constructing a new, two level concession stand and scorer's / VIP area. The old seats were replaced with seating for approximately 5000 fans. The race program consisted of a Friday night winged sprint cars program and a Saturday night

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

-sanctioned weekly stock car program. For the 1985 season, the days of the stock car and sprint car program were reversed and

IMCA Modifieds IMCA Modified is the top Modified car racing, modified division sanctioned by the International Motor Contest Association.IMC ...

were added to the Sprint Car show on Saturdays. The 1987 season saw the introduction of the USAC Midget Series in the Midsummer Midget Classic, which brought future

Sprint Cup stars to the track. Winners of the annual race include

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

1990
and

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...

1994
. In 1997, the Beecham Family sold the track to Craig Cormack and racing partner Dean Orth operating as Eagle Entertainment, LLC. Cormack took full control of the racetrack in 1999 and continued the weekly program with stock cars on Friday and Sprint Cars & Modifieds on Saturday. As part of the new ownership, the wooden bleachers were replaced with concrete and aluminum stadium seating, with an additional two sections of seats were added in 2000 including a high section of aluminum grandstand and a smaller section of 750-seat wood bleachers, increasing the

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

to 7500. The track focused on the entertainment model put forth by such groups as

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

, emphasizing activity in the stands as well as the track, and a 100,000-watt sound system was added in 1997. Notable was the inclusion of track announcer Rick Allen Schwieger, who is the current

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

motorsport play-by-play announcer (he does not use his surname on stage). In 2001, blaming poor attendance and participation by race teams, Cormac
ended the Friday night stock car program
After the 2005 season, again citing poor attendance, increased criticism on Internet Forums and lack of profit during his ownership, Cormack closed the racetrack an
put it up for sale
Former Late Model driver Roger Hadan entered
lease agreement with Cormack
to operate the racetrack in 2006, and continued the relationship through 2007. Hadan added IMCA Hobby Stocks and Sport Compacts to the Saturday Night program. Hadan also gained notoriety for promotion of school bus races and other novelty acts for fans. In 2007 he added a

JumboTron A jumbotron, sometimes referred to as jumbovision, is a video display using large-screen television technology (video wall). The original technology was developed in the early 1980s by Mitsubishi Electric and Sony, which coined JumboTron as a ...

. Since 2023 the High Limit Sprint Car Series has come to Eagle Raceway yearly.

External links

Official Site
{{USAC National Sprint Car Series race venues Buildings and structures in Cass County, Nebraska Dirt oval race tracks in the United States Motorsport venues in Nebraska Tourist attractions in Cass County, Nebraska