Rocky Mountain Race Week, now in its eighth year, returns to the Sunflower Rod and Custom Association Drag Strip on Saturday, but early birds were in Jack Kilby Square on Friday evening for a welcoming event.
Matt Frost of Platteville, Colorado, creator of Rocky Mountain Race Week, describes the event as “the ultimate test of drag racers.” It’s a drive and drag tour with 300 cars competing on quarter-mile strips in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.
They are scheduled to race Saturday, June 18, at Great Bend's SRCA Drag Strip, then head to Kearney, Nebraska, Morrison, Colorado and Pueblo, Colorado, before returning to Great Bend on Friday, June 24. Once they hit the road for this seven-day tour, competitors must drive their cars between tracks without the help of support vehicles.
With two passengers per car, that’s 600 people who come to Great Bend in Race Week Cars. On top of that, there are another 60 cars, each with two or more people, participating in “Road Week,” a more casual option that includes everything except the racing.