![Top Fuel defending champion and current points leader Steve Torrence will race at Heartland Motorsports Park this weekend in the Menards NHRA Nationals. [Photo by NHRA]](/images/aa-images/SteveTorrence.jpg)
Three-time defending Top Fuel champion and current points leader Steve Torrence will race at Heartland Motorsports Park this weekend in the Menards NHRA Nationals. [Photo by NHRA]
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Chris Payne is the first to admit that it's a gradual, sometimes slow process, but Heartland Motorsports Park is starting to look like what he envisioned when he took over the financially troubled multi-faceted facility prior to the 2016 racing season.
Heartland Motorsports Park, which opened in 1989, will host Topeka's biggest sports event, the Menards NHRA Nationals, Friday through Sunday at its nationally-renowned dragstrip, but HMP is well on its way to be known for more than just a race track, which has always been Payne's goal.
Chris Payne
"My intention for the facility was always to take it out of its box that it's been in for decades,'' Payne told TopSports.news "Obviously, that box didn't work financially for the facility.''
While the national NHRA drag racing event, which Topeka has hosted since HMP opened in '89, continues to be a staple event for the city, but Heartland Motorsports Park got a huge boost when Payne brought the wildly-popular Country Stampede country music festival to Topeka in 2019 and HMP has also continued to boost the number of smaller, community-style events it hosts.
"Over the past six years there's been a lot of events that were non-racing that the general public just didn't notice, but they paid the bills -- different community events out there that were small, but they all add up. There's 100s of small events out there,'' Payne said. "I think having the Country Stampede there, with 100,000 people in four days, made people really realize, "Hey, this facility might actually be beyond something on the race track.'
"I've known it since Day 1, but I think some of the public -- not all of the public, but some of them -- are just now catching on to it. I see people looking at Heartland differently and not just as a race track, but they see it as a festival ground. Some of them don't even know it's a race track. Of the 100,000 people came over the four days (one or more days) to the Stampede I'd bet 99 percent of them had never been there before (attending the Stampede), which is telling. That's what we want.''
And Payne sees the potential for the facility to reach higher heights.
"It is gradual, and as unfortunate or frustrating as that can be, it is gradual and it doesn't happen overnight,'' Payne said. "Different events bring in different sponsorships and other different events.
"We've been approached by other organizations, other promoters other than racing more often now. We've already had a circus out there this year. We've had a carnival out there on the grounds. The property itself is more like an event space and that's how I look at it. Yes, it's a premier dragstrip and there's different tracks there, but we also want it to be a premier outdoor event space.''
MENARDS NHRA NATIONALS SCHEDULE
At Heartland Motorsports Park
FRIDAY
9:30 a.m. -- Sportsman qualifying.
1 p.m. -- Midway open/suggested time of arrival.
3:15 p.m. -- Top Alcohol qualifying session.
4:15 p.m. -- Sportsman qualifying.
6 p.m. -- Top Alcohol qualifying session.
7 p.m. -- Top Fuel Harley qualifying session.
7:15 p.m. -- Factory Stock Showdown qualifying session.
7:30 p.m. -- Pro Stock Car qualifying session.
8 p.m. -- Nitro qualifying session (Funny Car and Top Fuel).
SATURDAY
8 a.m. -- Sportsman eliminations.
11 a.m. -- Midway open/suggested time of arrival.
1 p.m. -- Top Alcohol qualifying session.
2 p.m. -- Top Fuel Harley qualifying session.
2:15 p.m. -- Factory Stock Showdown qualifying session.
2:30 p.m. -- Pro Stock Car qualifying session.
3 p.m. -- Nitro qualifying session (Funny Car and Top Fuel).
4 p.m. -- Top Alcohol eliminations Round 1.
5 p.m. -- Top Fuel Harley qualifying session.
5:15 p.m. -- Factory Stock Showdown qualifying session.
5:30 p.m. -- Pro Stock Car qualifying session.
6 p.m. -- Nitro qualifying session (Funny Car and Top Fuel).
7 p.m. -- Sportsman eliminations.
SUNDAY
8:30 a.m. -- Sportsman eliminations.
9 a.m. -- Midway open/suggested time of arrival.
9:15 a.m. -- Top Alcohol eliminations Round 2.
11 a.m. -- Nitro eliminations (Funny Car and Top Fuel).
12 p.m. -- Pro Stock Car eliminations Round 1.
12:20 p.m. -- Factory Stock Showdown Round 1.
12:30 p.m. -- Top Fuel Harley eliminations Round 1.
12:40 p.m. -- Top Alcohol eliminations Semifinals.
1 p.m. -- Nitro eliminations Round 2 (Funny Car and Top Fuel).
1:30 p.m. -- Pro Stock Car eliminations Round 2.
1:40 p.m. -- Factory Stock Showdown eliminations Round 2.
1:45 p.m. -- Top Fuel Harley eliminations Semifinals.
1:50 p.m. -- Sportsman eliminations Semifinals.
2:30 p.m. -- Nitro eliminations Semifinals (Funny Car and Top Fuel).
2:45 p.m. -- Pro Stock Car Semifinals.
2:50 p.m. -- Factory Stock Showdown Semifinals.
2:55 p.m. -- Sportsman eliminations Finals.
3:05 p.m. -- Top Alcohol eliminations Finals.
3:15 p.m. -- Top Fuel Harley eliminations Finals.
3:40 p.m. -- Factory Stock Showdown eliminations Finals.
3:45 p.m. -- Pro Stock Car eliminations Finals.
3:50 p.m. -- Nitro eliminations Finals (Funny Car and Top Fuel).
