DIALED IN
By Van Abernethy
B
eacon Dragway has experienced
an interesting history throughout its
existence, although this sprawling
property located in Paducah, Kentucky,
hasn’t always operated as a drag strip. In fact, its
airport operations lasted much longer than the
race track originally did. First constructed in 1968
as a quarter-mile NHRA facility, the track (known
then as McCracken County Drag Strip) lasted
close to a decade before being shut down
and completely converted to an airport in
1977, remaining as such for almost the next
40 years. The rebirth of the drag strip happened fairly recently after local business
man and racer, Keith Murt, bought the
property in 2012 and reopened the drag
strip the following year after an extensive
12-month-long remodeling period.
A lot had changed in motorsports during the time that racing was sidelined at
Beacon, most notably was the evolution
of horse power, which resulted in much
higher top speeds than were previously
exhibited, therefore, a decision was made
to operate the track as an eighth-mile facility moving forward .
“There just wasn’t any feasible way we could
reopen the track as a quarter-mile facility with
the speeds of today’s race cars,” says Kevin Gass,
who took over managing the facility along with
wife, Kim, in 2016. The total length of the track
is 2,950 feet, which they feel is perfect for an
eighth-mile track, but would pose an obvious
problem for heavy, high-speed race cars running
on the full quarter-mile.
In preparation for the grand reopening a few
years ago, pretty much everything at Beacon was
redone to ensure that the facility was in top-notch
shape to celebrate the return of drag racing in Paducah. Ironically, the large airplane hangers that
were left on site proved quite useful to the reborn
drag strip and much of the space gets rented to
racers, who enjoy the convenience of housing
their race cars at the track through the week,
instead of towing them home after each race.
Hanrahan Performance Products occupies
another hangar and not only sells parts on site,
but also VP Race Fuels. Yet another hanger was
converted into a restaurant called the Horsepower
Cafe, which features a large menu of tasty items
that may be enjoyed in a comfortable, climatecontrolled environment. “The Horsepower Cafe
is a great place for racers to hangout after they
get beat, so they can talk about what they did
wrong,” declares Gass.
Additional conveniences that are planned for
the near future include a pair of automotive lifts
that are already in place in the large tech building on site. “We’re getting ready to get those lifts
operational, so if a racer experiences a problem
that would require a lift in order to fix his car, we
can provide that,” says Gass.
The racers in western Kentucky are enjoying
the vastly improved Beacon Dragway, which
opened this season for test and tune and swap
meet in March, with bracket points that began
in April. There’s an exciting calendar of special
events on tap for 2016, including the West
Kentucky Streetcar Madness events.
“Beacon held several of those events last
year after the normal bracket race had concluded and the response was overwhelming, with cars lined up at the gate for quite
a long ways,” remembers Gass. Another
event Gass is excited about is the annual
Pro Mod event, which features an eight-car
eliminator that pays $5,000-to-win and
$500 to qualify with no entry fee. Local
star, Billy Harper, won the event in 2015.
A diverse array of events are scheduled
this reason, ranging from big buck bracket
races to the appearances of television personalities, Tina Pierce, Kye Kelly, Daddy
Dave and others. Additional offerings include
motorcycle events, Night of Fire, and a huge Jr.
Dragster race in September.
“We’ve got a lot going on this year,” says Gass.
Expansion plans are being discussed as well, including additional updates to the facility, which
include the development of pit parking on the
other side of the track. “We even have a dream of
someday including a motocross track and also ofDI DI DI
fering truck and tractor pulling here at Beacon.”
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PHOTOS: VAN ABERNETHY
The Story Behind Beacon Dragway