“The problems have gone away,” said Marshall Foiles, Kil-Kare director of operations. “We are changing it to a family atmosphere.”
Foiles said the group wanted to respond to criticisms of the raceway that were raised in earlier trustee meetings in a public forum.
Buckminn’s D & D Harley-Davidson owner Dave Coterel bought the majority of the Greene County facility’s shares from the Chrysler family about nine months ago. The Chryslers began operating the track in the mid-70s.
Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer said things at the raceway have improved. Fischer’s office provides a off-duty security detail for the facility.
“They are trying to clean things up,” he said. “They are working with us.”
Fischer said criminal activity has dropped under the new management. Fischer’s office responded to 43 calls in 2010, 34 calls in 2011 and 20 this year through Wednesday when a Kil-Kare employee was robbed of her purse at knife point. The racing season is nearly complete, he said.
Township trustees said Thursday they were surprised at the turnout and are not opposed to Kil-Kare.
“We want to keep businesses in the county,” Trustee Amy Lewis said at Thursday night’s trustee board meeting. “We don’t want to run it out.”
Trustee Board Chairman Jim Reed said the raceway is welcome in the township.
He said he was baffled about why so many people attended Thursday’s meeting because trustees had no plan to take any action concerning Kil-Kare.
Still, the racetrack has had some issues in the past.
Several arrests were made in April after a video showing a fight in the raceway’s staging lanes was posted on YouTube.com. One man involved in the brawl told investigators the man struck was responsible for his cousin’s death.
And last year, Xenia and Beavercreek townships filed court injunctions as part of an effort to stop Kil-Kare from hosting Cruisefest Nationals.
At the previous Cruisefest Nationals, four adults were arrested and a teen was cited for an alcohol related offense. The Ohio Department of Public Safety issued five violations to the track mostly related to selling alcohol to people younger than 21. The Ohio Highway Patrol’s Xenia Post arrested 11 people near the track on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
The track’s new owners say they will not host the event again.
There also have been zoning questions as the raceway has looked to expand its business. The Xenia Twp. Board of Zoning Appeals voted in March in favor of a conditional use that allows Kil-Kare to hold concerts, festivals and outdoor activities such as haunted trails.
Last month, two residents complained about the race track at a trustees meeting. At an earlier board of zoning appeals meeting related to the race track’s application for similar activities on an additional 15 acres, about 50 residents voiced concern.
In June, Kil-Karewithdrew its request for those activities.
Based on concerns from nearby residents, Reed said trustees extended the area residents who live near Kil-Kare would have to be notified about conditional use applications from 500 feet to 1,000 feet. The township plans to purchase a decibel sound reader and review regulations on noise, lighting and similar issues as they relate to the uses for the site. He said noise reading would not be related to racing, a grandfathered use.
Reed said trustees have to balance the needs of residents and the race track.
“You want to see a business be successful, but you don’t want them to bully the neighbors,” he said.
Semi-professional driver Dean Vaughn of Sardinia said the race track began operating long before the residents who complained built there houses.
Kil-Kare opened as a a dirt track in 1951.
Before storming out of Thursday’s meeting, Kil-Kare owner David Coterel questioned Reed’s motives.
“He’ll tell you that racing isn’t under fire,” Coterel said. “We are still under fire.”
Brother and sister Brittney and Nick Gilmore, 14 and 12, race at the track as part of programming for children.
“We basically grew up there,” Brittney said. “It is fun and you meet a lot of people.”
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