It just goes to figure that some of those projected dollars might have been spent at Heartland Park races and in the Topeka area instead of in Kansas City, Heartland Park president Bill Kentling said. Kentling said Heartland Park is going to have to be both aggressive and inventive in how it markets itself if the Kansas City facility opens. He said that might mean working out coinciding, collaborative races at each track during the same weekends. This is what recently happened with the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis. Kentling said Heartland Park also has to take care of what it has, most notably its drag strip, which is widely regarded as one of the fastest in the world.
Drivers know that when they come to Topeka, Kan., they are going to cook.
We've got to figure out the best way to keep this the baddest drag strip in the universe. Topeka City Councilman Vince Cook doesn't have such complaints. Cook has been one of Heartland Park's most vocal supporters. This track has become the crown jewel of Topeka's entertainment calendar. When you look at more than 90,000 people coming to our community on a given weekend to go the races, the economic impact of that kind of turnout simply cannot be overlooked or underestimated.