Topeka Festival of Speed Heartland Park - Topeka Kansas

by Mark Murnahan

Topeka Festival of Speed at Heartland Park in Topeka Kansas will lead up to the last of the SCCA Runoffs at Heartland Park and is an attempt to promote racing in the Topeka community. The ideal result of the festival would be to show that Topeka cares about racing enough to deserve another money-making race coming to town.

I love Topeka, I love racing, and Heartland Park is my home track, but Topeka and road racing have not really mixed well. The way I see it is that Topeka only really enjoys racing when racing pays the bills. Racing is business, and it takes fans to fuel the business. Topeka as a community and Heartland Park have never really showed much initiative to filling the seats, until it is too late. If there is any closer witness to this, come forward now, because I am at every road racing event at Heartland Park.

News of the Festival of Speed event may still have time to spread, but with so little word in the right places, I wonder who is running this thing. Maybe they are being cautious about making big announcements in case it flops, instead of throwing caution to the wind and creating a success. That caution is why people keep asking me if I am "in" when Heartland Park tanks and is offered for 10 cents on the dollar. That question has been posed by more than just a couple of people. It usually comes along with the statement "Ray Irwin is not a business man" (sorry Ray, I am just the messenger).

Considering that I am a member of SCCA, involved in racing, media, a local Topekan, and said to have driven more laps at Heartland Park over the past three years than any living soul ... I should be able to tell you more than a couple of sketchy facts about the event. What I know is this:

- There may be entertainment at the Festival of Speed
- There may be a petting zoo at the Festival of Speed (Pet the drivers?)
- There may be a race at the Festival of Speed
- There may be a festival at the Festival of Speed

If it comes to pass that the Topeka Festival of Speed does indeed materialize, CopMagnet.com will be the first to tell you, and we will Webcast it at CopMagnet.com. In the meantime, we will not be holding our breath on giving specifics. It seems that until the right people are promoting it, it may be the best kept secret next to the presidential candidates' choice of VPs.