February 16, 2024

 QLISPE RACEWAY 2024 DRAG SCHEDULE RELEASED

AIRWAY HEIGHTS — The former Spokane Raceway Park — now Qlispe Raceway owned by the Kalispel Tribe — has announced its 2024 schedule for a milestone season.

Thirty drag racing dates are on a schedule that marks the 50th anniversary of the motorsports complex in Airway Heights. The road course schedule has not yet been released and the oval track remains closed while awaiting possible updates.

Spokane Raceway Park officially opened on Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26 in 1974 when it staged the American Hot Rod Association Spring Nationals where the top titles were won by Don Prudhomme in funny car and top fuel by Gary Beck.

While those days are history and will not return, Qlispe’s 2024 schedule has a handful of events featuring both nitro and blown alcohol cars in June, July and August.

June 21-23 is Nitro Jam that also features jet cars and fuel altereds. A month later (July 19-21) is Thunder Night with more alcohol-fueled cars.

And on what used to be one of the traditional AHRA World Finals dates — Aug. 9-10 — the program headlined by West Coast Pro-Mods, also features more alcohol cars, too.

The bread and butter of the track’s operation are the sportsman or bracket racers who compete in a variety of classes. Eight points races are scattered through the season that stretches from April through September.

Qlispe offers 10 different sportsman classes for all kinds of vehicles ranging from motorcycles and snowmobiles to dragsters.

While these “bracket classes” are effectively able to compete against one another with a handicapped start, they do run according to similar elapsed times (ET’s) and speeds. For instance if one car travels the quarter-mile in 14 seconds and another in 16, the slower driver is given a 2-second head start.

Another handful of races are termed “no-prep” which refers to the fact that the race surface is not prepared ahead of time with traction compound. No-prep track resembles an actual street.

Following a chassis certification on April 20, Quispe’s first race event is the following Friday, April 26 with No-prep Street racing. Several no-prep nights follow.

A notable change over the off-season was the hiring of Ben Zimmerman as the track’s operations manager. Zimmerman has been readily available since his hiring to answer questions.

That “no-prep” track will be much improved in 2024 following an extensive grinding and resurfacing project that took place in the final few weeks of 2023.

“We hired TVC to come and surface grind the drag strip,” Zimmerman wrote in a Facebook message. “They are taking out the bumps and low spots so the track is as smooth as it can be. Just one of the many upgrades this facility needs.”

Spokane County purchased the track in 2008 and renamed it Spokane County Raceway, selling it to the Kalispel’s in 2021. It sat idle for 2022 and opened to a full racing program in 2023.

NORTHERN QUEST TO HOST DAYTONA 500 WATCH PARTY

Join us at Epic inside Northern Quest Resort and Casino to watch the Daytona 500 Sunday February 18th at 11a.m.

Epic will have food and drink specials and there will be prizes and giveaways throughout the race day from Stateline Speedway such as season passes, VIP suites, concert tickets and more.