Dubbed 304 Motorsports Park, racing family has big plans for facility

BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

LENORE, W.Va. — The transfer of the ownership of the Twin Branch Drag Strip property from the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority (MCRA) to a longtime drag racer and businessman Doug Kirk and a couple of close family members is now complete.

Kirk’s son Justin Kirk and Justin’s uncle Ronnie Herald are co-owners of the drag strip that has sat idle for several years due to various reasons.

The decision to sell the hilltop property to Doug Kirk, owner of Kirk Trucking of Lenore, came during the June meeting of the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority.

“We are very excited and anxious to get the track going. It’s been a long time coming for a community and county that deserves this and so much more,” Justin Kirk said. “We are hoping to bring some fast cars to this area that people from here have never got to see or experience. We have more plans than just a drag strip; it will be a great motorsports complex. It will just take time to get it there.”

The Kirk family has racing in their blood.

“Yes, actually my grandfather raced way back when, then my dad and my uncle (who actually built his own cars and engines and still builds the engines for us today), and now me and my son are involved in drag racing,” Kirk added. “It’s more than just racing to us. It’s more of an addiction at this point, if it’s OK to put it that way. We live and breathe it.”

Kirk said he, his dad and uncle hope to get things going sooner rather than later.

“Short-term plans are to get the drag strip up and running, to get some of the facilities built that are needed to host a drag race,” Kirk stressed. “Next year we hope to host some big money bracket races and some quick 8 races, and also have a carnival and such. The track will be named 304 Motorsports Park.”

An enthusiastic Kirk added, “This year we tentatively are planning to have a few of the ‘no prep’ or ‘arm-drop’ races. We have some concrete work to do to the racing surface and some asphalt work. So as long as everything can kind of bend and work around that, we will have a few events this year.”

Kirk feels blessed and is thankful for the opportunity.

“It’s going to be a work in progress, but I think the community will like what they see,” he said. “I want people to come and see what it’s about, and then the next time they come, I want them to be able to say, ‘Well they’ve added this, or built that, or painted that.’ We want this for the county and the state.”

Kirk believes the facility will attract racers from all around.

“Logan County is going to benefit from this too, with them having the hotels, so we are hoping to see support from there from both sides of the county line,” he commented.

“We sure wish Papaw Kirk was here to do this with us. This was his dream, so we are going to live it for him and let him watch from the grandstands above.”

The drag strip has been a thorn in the side of the MCRA and the Mingo County Commission for several years because of stipulations and rules by the state of West Virginia on the access road and due to ongoing mining operations near the property.

Up until just recently, the state held a $1 million encumbrance on the property. This resulted from a 2008 West Virginia Economic Development Authority (EDA) loan taken out by the county that the MCRA later assumed to get the necessary infrastructure to the site.

The encumbrance hindered both a sale and lease agreement with interested parties.

Executive Director Leasha Johnson said the state’s forgiveness of the $1 million encumbrance in May, along with the MCRA’s re-advertisement of the property both locally and nationally that immediately followed, ultimately paved the way for the sale to the Kirks and Herald at a price of $200,000.

Many local race enthusiasts have been attending both MCRA and County Commission meetings to try to get the facility open or sold to someone who could run the operation.

One event was held a couple of years ago and it drew a huge crowd.

With their racing background, the Kirk family should make this a successful drag strip and business. And southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky will benefit from the facility.