Kil-Kare Raceway to reopen soon

Facility closed last fall; full season is now scheduled.

Kil-Kare Raceway is set to reopen with a few changes after closing abruptly last October.

The drag strip, at 1166 Dayton Xenia Road, will open again to the public with cheaper prices on April 11, according to William Tharpe, general manager and competition director.

The Friday night race programs at the speedway are not returning this year.

Tharpe said the shutdown last season was necessary to address some problems and the weather wasn’t cooperating at the time.

The local racing destination has been operating since the mid-1950s, Tharpe said.

A full season is scheduled for the drag strip, but Kil-Kare has “stepped away from NASCAR,” Tharpe said.

“We kind of felt it was better to take a couple steps back, address ... what we needed to do internally to get the company pointed in the right direction and kind of move forward and have a great future ahead of us,” Tharpe said.

The speedway has struggled with car counts and smaller crowds in recent seasons. The drag strip underwent a major renovation after the 2012 season that included safety upgrades and constructing the quarter-mile entirely out of concrete. Most grassroots drag strip surfaces are asphalt or a combination of concrete and asphalt, making KilKare’s concrete strip a popular draw for local and regional racing enthusiasts.