The Nodak Speedway was organized for its first full season in 1953. They raced on a track on North Hill, now where the Bowling Alley sits. They didn't have a grandstand, so fans watched on the hoods of their cars. To grow the club the Nodak Race Club struck a deal with the Fair Grounds. Horse racing went away from the fairgrounds and track was then changed to two separate tracks for auto racing. T
hey had a quarter mile track for regular shows, and a half mile track for large race events, such as the popular races during the State Fair. The State Fair was not designated the North Dakota State Fair until 1965. To this day the Nodak Speedway is still located at the fairgrounds. The club started off racing Class A and a Class B division in the early years. The A class being the large 8 cylinder motors, and the Class B being 8 cylinder flat heads or 6 cylinder motors. They then adapted to Super Modifieds and the Hobby Class as their two classes of cars. The club making the jump to open wheel race cars as one of the divisions was the largest changes to date for the Nodak Speedway. The Hobby Class consisted of 1950 model cars, and the Super Modified was what looked like a sprint car without wings. These classes remained steady until 1969, when a Super Sprint category was added to the show. In 1971, the club went to a new generation of car bodies changing the Hobby Stocks to a Modified Stock class. Since that 1971 season, many more classes of race cars have come and gone to what the club runs now. A Late Model division appeared in 1972, which were cars that had been produced in the 60’s and 70’s. In 1978 the club made another huge change by changing to just one track, a 3/8 of a mile track that at the time was advertised as the “fastest track in America.” Since the 70s a lot of different types of classes have ran at the track, including Street Stocks, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Thunder Trucks, and the debut of the open wheel Modifieds in 1985. The club ran a Wissota Modified and Dakota Modified division, and currently run IMCA Modifieds, Sport-Mods, Stock Cars, and Hobby Stocks. To this day many drivers will still say that the Nodak Speedway still boasts the best competition level of all tracks in the state. Because of that it is one of the hardest places to win a championship at, or even one feature race.
