D.I. COLUMNIST
On the Road
with Van Abernethy
A
s I travel the country
on an almost weekly basis, I see drag strips of all
shapes, sizes and conditions. Some are quite large and
sprawling and others quaintly modest. Some are corporate owned with
huge financial backing, while others
are the pride and joy of a family’s
life-long dream, often representing a small town legacy of sorts.
It’s troubling on a deeply personal
level whenever I hear of a drag strip
(of any distinction) that has closed
down indefinitely, especially if it’s a
facility that I never had the opportunity to visit while in operation. To
prolong the disappointment, it’s also
been my experience that the longer
a drag strip sits desolate, the less
chance there is of someone showing
up to save it from falling down into
a heap of irreversible disarray.
Thankfully though, I sometimes
hear of a different tale; one that has
a much more refreshing outcome
that almost always involves an energetic new owner who decided to
bring the track back to life. Such
is the case concerning a vintage
quarter-mile facility located in the
southwest tip of Indiana in a town
called Chandler. Amazingly, the
track had previously operated for
50 years under the ownership and
steady guidance of Harold Baker,
who once he turned 89-years old
faced the daunting reality that he
simply didn’t have the energy to
operate the track anymore.
The drag strip sat idle for roughly a year before Kevin Baesel approached Mr. Baker about buying
the facility and the timing couldn’t
have been any more fatefully on
cue. Instead of watching his halfcentury labor of love collapse into a
proverbial heap of weeds, Mr. Baker
encouraged Kevin (a man nearly 50
years his junior) to take the ball and
run with it. Baesel agreed to buy the
track in the summer of 2015 and
thus breathed new life into its continued operation.
Kevin had many things he
wanted to transition, including a
name change that would help signify the track had been reopened.
He decided upon “Greater Evansville Dragway” and began spreading the word that something great
was on the horizon. Of
course many things had
to be accomplished before
Kevin could swing open
the gates on a brand-new
chapter of this drag strip’s
storied life, and while he
could have picked any
number of areas in which
to begin the restoration process, he
felt it would best be served to begin
with the renovation of the track’s
racing surface.
“We ground it down all the way
to the quarter-mile mark and
made it very smooth,” he says. By
all accounts, the track has plenty
of bite, as evidenced by Jeremy Lucas (pictured) as he launches hard
from the starting line. Next came
a brand-new timing system, followed by a massive upgrade to the
Evansville Dragway now
operates thrice weekly,
beginning with a Friday
test and tune. The hours
of operation on Friday are
somewhat different that
you might expect, though.
“We open at 6 p.m. on
Friday and encourage
people to come out and stay with
us late,” Baesel says. And when he
says “late” he’s talking upwards of
4 a.m. the next morning! Friday’s
amusement features open test and
tune, grudge racing, fellowshipping
and all around good eats at the concession stand, which remains open
until the wee hours. In fact, you can
stuff your car with as many friends
as you can possibly fit and pay $10
for the entire car load, with intentions of making yourselves at home
track’s lighting. Once the very costly
main objectives had been addressed,
Kevin and his team began slapping
paint everywhere that paint may be
applied in an effort to simply make
the place look vibrant again.
Finally, after many months of
watching the track’s condition
steadily improve, Greater Evansville
held its grand opening in this June.
The Outlaw Street Car Association,
as well as Street Outlaws television
star Tina Pierce, was on hand to
kick off the festivities in front of a
robust crowd of spectators intent
on celebrating the track’s rebirth.
On a regular basis, Greater
for the next 10 hours if desired. “We
close the admission gates at 1 a.m.,
but we certainly encourage everyone
to just stay with us late and enjoy
the facility,” he repeats.
On Saturdays the track is open all
day for test and tune and a bracket
motorcycle race. Sunday’s are reserved for the weekly points bracket
race which features Super Pro, Pro,
Sportsman and Junior Dragster.
Baesel has strong opinions concerning the necessity of getting
young people interested in motorsports again. “I’m not sure where
the disconnect happened, but I look
out into the pits and it seems like
we skipped a couple generations.
I see lots of older racers, but very
few young ones. It’s like video games
have taken over and nobody’s working on cars anymore!”
Kevin stresses he wants that to
change. He fondly spoke of a time
when his track was well known for
its vigorous Junior Dragster program. He feels that revisiting those
days is well within the track’s reach.
In his view, much of what goes on
inside motorsports can be attributed
to various “trends” and he sees it
changing all the time. For example,
most events at Greater Evansville
are now contested on the eighth
mile, which is just one more area
that Kevin feels has been affected
by a trend. “I wouldn’t be a bit
surprised if drag racing someday
trends back to the quarter mile,” he
predicts.
While his assessment of the drag
racing landscape is shaped by a lifelong involvement, his early impressions of owning a drag strip were
formed in just the last 12 months.
“It’s more work than I ever imagined,” he admits, laughing but with
no regrets. “I commend anyone who
owns (a track)—especially if they’ve
owned it for a long time—because
this has been the most stressful time
of my life!”
And though the track is currently
in the most superb condition of its
fabled history, Bae sel feels the continued key to success is to never stop
dreaming about making the facility
better for racers. His track personnel agree wholeheartedly. Jason
Lancaster, a longtime friend has
been appointed track manager and
promoter. A host of other dedicated
staff gathers each weekend with a
universal goal of making the track
better with each passing weekend.
“The most important message I’m
trying to communicate right now
is that we’re here, the track is open
again, and it’s in new condition,”
Kevin adds.
So, to all the dreamers like Kevin
Baesel who’ve unshackled a padlocked drag strip, we salute you.
Grateful are the racers, fans and, of
course, yours truly, whose unending
desire is to continue exploring drag
strip gems tucked away in towns all
across this great land.
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58 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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Issue 112