The Need for Speed at Central Missouri Speedway 

This article is presented in partnership with Visit Warrensburg.

For more than twenty-five years, Central Missouri Speedway (CMS) has hosted some of the biggest special events in the local race scene, and that tradition continues in 2021. A three-eighths-mile, high-banked, oval dirt track located just north of Warrensburg off of Route 13, CMS joins the ranks of NASCAR-sanctioned tracks this year, the only track with this distinction in Missouri. The season launches in April with twenty-three nights of racing planned through Labor Day. 

Since 1994, Earl and Susan Walls have kept the lights on at the speedway. Earl used to be a racecar driver, and his track design is based on what he liked and didn’t like about the tracks he raced. He runs a tight ship. Races start on time, and the fans and drivers appreciate his attention to detail, fair rules, payouts, and structure.

The 2021 season highlights include the A-Mod Memorial Day and Labor Day thirty-five-lap special events and the Second Annual Big Bad B-Mod Blowout, along with the return of the Tom Wilson Memorial on Independence Day Weekend. These three larger events will draw fans and drivers from up to seven of Missouri’s surrounding states. While the other race weekends of the season are smaller events, they feature weekly race programs in all four racing classes, and the action is just as fast.

On an average night, up to two thousand people fill the speedway between fans and pit crews. For the summer holidays special events, it can grow to three thousand. As far as track action goes, there can be up to 130 cars at one of the holiday weekend events. On average, about ninety-five cars hit the track for weekly races. Racing classes will include two stock classes (think full-fendered cars) and two modified classes (A-mod and B-mod). Modifieds are as souped up as you might expect fitted with the latest racing technology and open front wheels, and … they’re fast.  

Before things start getting fast, though, fans can grab a bite to eat at Brew Pub 13, a new on-site sports bar and brew pub Earl upscaled last year from the former concession stand, with a grand opening set for late spring. Once the cars take the track, fans fill the stands for the excitement and entertainment a night at the race track brings, and you’ll always know who’s in the lead if you watch the scoreboard and the checkered flag.

For more about Central Missouri Speedway, visit CentralMissouriSpeedway.net, or VisitWarrensburg.com for more events and destinations in the area.