Which Kansas city hosted the first NHRA Nationals in 1955?

Great Bend, Kansas, hosted the first NHRA Nationals in 1955.

The event was staged at Great Bend Municipal Airport, a former World War II airfield whose long runway could accommodate the era’s rapidly accelerating dragsters. Officially known as the 1955 National Championship Drags, it was NHRA’s first national event and drew more than 200 competitors from across the United States.

Calvin Rice won the Top Eliminator title, becoming the first national champion in NHRA event history. The meeting helped establish a model for large-scale drag racing, combining technical classes, national competition, organized timing, and safety procedures.

Great Bend was not the event’s permanent home. The Nationals moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1956, then to Oklahoma City for 1957 and 1958, and to Detroit for 1959 and 1960. It settled at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1961, where the prestigious U.S. Nationals has remained associated with the Indianapolis area.