For years, The Dalles Airport has had a disabled runway. The local auto enthusiast community has used this unused area for a variety of things. The drag races associated with the Neon Nights Classic Car Show and Concerts used to be held there, and we’ve done race car testing and shake downs there, as well.
There is a worldwide university level engineering program / competition called Formula SAE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_SAE. Engineering students design and build race cars which are then used in competition. Many of the students continue on to careers in automotive related technologies.
A while back, one of those students was Eric Urness from The Dalles. One thing lead to another, and The Dalles Airport began its life as an informal testing ground for SAE cars from Northwest schools.
Here are some photos I took in November of 2011 – I think this is really cool stuff.
