The complex was built on a 621-acre site at 7530 SW Topeka Blvd and combined several distinct venues. The centrepiece was a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) asphalt road course running counterclockwise with 14 turns and multiple possible configurations — the full 2.5-mile Grand Prix layout, a 2.1-mile East Circuit, a 2.0-mile West Circuit, and a 1.8-mile short circuit — yielding different corner speeds and technical challenges depending on whether the Fast or Slow variants of Turns 2 and 8 were in use. From 2020 the circuit naming system was formalised, with variants denoted by their "Slow" or "Fast" corner designations and Turn 0 renamed Turn Alpha. The road course shared a main straight that ran parallel to the facility's quarter-mile NHRA-sanctioned drag strip, a layout that created handling challenges in wet conditions due to rubber buildup from drag racing. The complex also included a three-eighths-mile clay oval, an off-road course, and a 22-acre autocross and drift pad.
Ground was broken on the $30 million project in May 1988, and the facility opened on 12–13 August 1989 with an IMSA Camel GTP Championships event. Geoff Brabham won the main race in the Nissan ZX-T prototype before an estimated crowd of 25,000 on the Sunday. IMSA was confirmed for further visits, and the drag strip quickly became the busiest part of the facility as a regular stop on the NHRA tour.
In 1995 the road course joined the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series calendar with the O'Reilly Auto Parts 275. Ron Hornaday won the inaugural race, which was also notable as the first road course event on the Trucks' schedule. The race returned annually through 1999. Trans-Am and SCCA World Challenge also visited during the track's early years, and the AMA Superbike Championship made appearances in 1989–1991 and 2009.
Despite the headline events, the track struggled financially. Major series gradually departed. The road course-drag strip shared straight was cited as a particular issue: rubber deposited by drag cars created grip problems for road course events in wet weather. By the early 2000s the facility had deteriorated significantly and faced closure.
In March 2003, Raymond Irwin — who had owned Blackhawk Farms Raceway from 1986 to 2007 — purchased the track and undertook immediate improvements including resealing of staging lanes, drainage upgrades, and new concrete and asphalt in pedestrian areas. A more fundamental change followed for 2004: the road course was fully separated from the drag strip by rerouting the start/finish straight along the line of the original pit lane, removing the track's most significant design compromise and allowing independent scheduling of both facilities.
In 2005 Irwin secured a three-year contract to host the SCCA National Championship Runoffs starting in 2006, bringing the USA's premier amateur single-make championship to Topeka from its previous homes at Road Atlanta and Mid-Ohio. A $15 million renovation funded in part by Topeka City Council STAR bonds followed, adding a new south paddock with 22 acres, 33 permanent garages, and a two-storey timing tower. Further track modifications in 2008 opened Turns 1 and 2 into an elongated S-bend and revised Turn 8 to accommodate car and motorcycle variants.
In December 2015, Chris Payne and Todd Crossley of Shelby Development, LLC purchased the facility. Payne became sole owner in January 2017 and renamed it Heartland Motorsports Park in 2018. The full 2.5-mile road course and pit road were repaved with polymer-enhanced asphalt in autumn 2016. Under this ownership the venue grew to more than 200 event days per year across all circuits and facilities.
In 2018 Payne also acquired Kansas City International Raceway and I-70 Speedway as sister facilities. The NHRA remained the anchor national series, staging its annual Heartland Nationals at the drag strip through this period.
By the early 2020s a prolonged tax dispute between Shelby Development and Shawnee County had become critical. The property tax assessments, which Payne argued were excessive relative to a motorsports venue's revenue potential, ultimately grew to exceed the original purchase price of the entire facility. On 28 July 2023 it was announced that the NHRA Nationals scheduled for 11–13 August 2023 would be the final drag racing event. On 19 September 2023 the track announced it was shutting down completely. Final events were held in October 2023.
The property was sold to Topeka 77, LLC, a Kansas City-based land developer with no plans to preserve the racing infrastructure. As of mid-2025 the main racing facilities remained physically intact, though eventual commercial and industrial redevelopment was anticipated.
On 30 December 2025 the International Hot Rod Association announced it had acquired Heartland Motorsports Park and intended to reopen it in 2026.
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