Bad News: Ohio’s Historic Kil-Kare Raceway Closes Abruptly – Track Claims “Restructuring” For 2015 Season


Bad News: Ohio’s Historic Kil-Kare Raceway Closes Abruptly – Track Claims “Restructuring” For 2015 Season

Talk about a month of highs and lows for the racers of Kil-Kare Raceway in Xenia, Ohio. Back in September, the Kil-Kare team won its 6th NHRA bracket finals championship for division three and then early the next month, the track doors are literally closed and locked without warning or signs that things were heading in the wrong direction for the historic facility. The closure was so abrupt, 10 drag racing events and more than a dozen races that were scheduled for the circle track simply won’t happen at all. The facility is still planning on holding racer championship banquets and all this winter but we have to believe that the ownership is in tough straits or something significant with the property is coming because to just throw the gates shut like that with zero prior warning is pretty scary for racing fans and competitors.

Kil-Kare raceway opened as a circle track in 1952 and famously held one race before complaints about the dust kicked up at the dirt track closed it for a while until the track could be paved. Hoping to take advantage of the growing drag racing craze across the country, track owners the Marshall brothers constructed a quarter mile drag strip on the property in 1959. That proved to be a great move and the track boomed through the 1960s and into the early 1970s before drag racing hit a slump and lots of tracks met their end due to lots of factors. In recent years, the entire quarter mile was replaced and it is a full pull concrete surface. We know guys who have raced there and said it is one of the smoothest places they have ever turned a tire. Traction is good on a regular basis as well, according to many.

Now here’s where the story gets interesting. Back in 2012 Dave Coterel Jr. bought the track from the Marshalls. Outside of the facility Coterel Jr. has a Harley-Davidson business and he also has hundreds of millions in personal wealth. You read that right. In 2007 Coterel Jr.hit an Ohio lottery jackpot for more than $300,000,000. Cash flow for the track owner is not a problem but cash flow for the track may be. Is it possible that Kil-Kare is bleeding enough money to put a scare into the business minded Coterel? What would force a facility owner to literally slam the doors shut at the tail end of a season with only a few weeks of racing left? Something drastic, that’s what we think.

Here’s the statement from the Kil-Kare website –

Kil-Kare Raceway Cancels All remaining 2014 Events.

October 3, 2014 –Kil-Kare is being shutdown today. The racing activities for the rest of the season are cancelled. This includes all Test and Tunes, as well as Saturday points chase racing. The points chase stops where it is at. There will be no other racing events. the racers banquets will proceed as planned. Kil-Kare would like to thank all racing participants as well as spectators for your patronage and support. Kil-Kare would also like to thank everyone who has been on board as staff members for all of their hard work and dedication.

  Kil-Kare Raceway is in the process of restructuring for the 2015 season.  Due to unforeseen circumstances we are now forced to regroup to more efficiently run the business and better serve our racing community.   We are currently working on plans for the 2015 season.  We will release the details for the upcoming season when plans are finalized.

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE A NEWS REPORT ABOUT THE TRACK’S ABRUPT CLOSURE FOR THE REMAINDER OF 2014

kilkare raceway


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

3 thoughts on “Bad News: Ohio’s Historic Kil-Kare Raceway Closes Abruptly – Track Claims “Restructuring” For 2015 Season

  1. 86 AHB

    My uncle used to run there every weekend..and I finally went there this summer to watch an event. I had hoped to get my car out there for tune and test, but with this..who knows what’ll happen.

  2. Jamie Hensley

    You would think they news reporter would do a little more research on Dave Jr. Before publishing false statements about the guy!! I know his family and he is not in fact the one who won the lotto. It was his father so maybe they need to be more clear on their facts.

  3. Kevin

    “You read that right. In 2007 Coterel Jr.hit an Ohio lottery jackpot for more than $300,000,000. ”

    Well………almost right. Coterel Jr, his father and his sister hit the Powerball lottery big prize which was $314 million but they took the cash award of something in the vicinity of $150 million before taxes. So, each won $50 million still at lot of money of course.

Comments are closed.