After a devastating flood last year, Rapid Speedway reopened last Friday, thanks to overwhelming community support.
Darrin and Michelle Korthals took over the promotional reins of the Rock Rapids, Iowa, dirt oval in 2023. Then the Rock River overflowed last June.
(For more on the Korthals, read “Rapid Speedway: New Promoters Debut.”)
“[The floodwaters] came in faster than we have ever seen before,” Darrin said. “It was a kick in the shorts for sure — we never saw this coming.”
The flood wreaked havoc throughout the facility.
“There was a ton of damage,” Darrin said. “It looked like the aftermath of a glacier. The grandstand, all of the concrete was undermined and moved. Turns 3 and 4 were filled with sand. More than 900 feet of perimeter fencing was washed away. The billboards were gone and a building near the entrance had collapsed.”
Volunteers came to the aid Rapid Speedway, which sits on the Lyon County fairgrounds.
“The fair board gave us the go-ahead to fix it,” said Darrin. “Lots of volunteers came with equipment and helped us with many man-hours during the cleanup. It still took up until a few weeks ago.”
Just this spring, they demoed a 30-foot by 50-foot building. And then came the concrete.
“All of the concrete work was completed this spring,” Darrin said. “It was very expensive. New concrete walls and the whole midway, from the VIP booths to the concessions, is surrounded by concrete. There is all-new fencing and new doors on the buildings that survived. One nice benefit, was we were able to put in a drainage system — something the track needed.”
When Rapids Speedway reopened on Friday, 94 cars competed and fans filled the grandstands.
“It was so nice and reassuring to see all of those people here,” said Darrin. “The community and the Lyon County Fair were so very supportive. Let’s hope for a problem-free season.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
