The following an excerpt from : "How the Hill was Constructed" by Dick Ristau

It all began with the formation of the Greater Des Moines SoapBox Derby Association, a group of Derby enthusiasra dedicated to constructing a hill. From there it moved to the City Council which directed the Parks Board to find a site. The board already had a site in mind, the Southwest corner of Ewing Park. So with the spot picked, the project went to the drawing boards. A local architect, James Paxton, A.I.A. and civil engineer Richard Moore, drew up plans for the hill. Veenstra and Kimm surveyed and staked out the area and before long, McAninch Corporation's heavy equipment, fueled by the Home Oil Company, started moving over 9,000 cubic yards of dirt and grading the access road to the top of the hill.

The bottom of the hill was in for its share of activity, too. Kocian-Machia was installing the large culverts from the Levine Company. By this time, it started to rain, and rain, and rain, but they finally got the go ahead from Patizig Laboratories to lay the asphalt, made possible by the Gendler Stone Co., Sargent Quarries and Concrete Materials. The aggregate was hauled to Des Moines Asphalt Company by the Local Teamsters No. 90 and then the Des Moines Asphalt went to work laying the surface on the track.

Meanwhile other projects were underway. Economy Forms furnished the bridge over the finish line. Concrete for the bridge footings and the surface slab at the top of the hill came from Target Ready-Mix. Knudsen Construction laid the bridge footings and installed the bridge while Stan Gullion installed the concrete pit slab at the top of the hill. The paint for the bridge was courtesy of Iowa Paint Company. The track's sideboards were furnished by Mid-West Lumber and installed by Ringland, Johnson and Crowley.

When the track was built in 1970, Des Moines was the twelfth city in the world to have its own permanent track, since then a track has been built in Kansas City and Omaha.