Tri-State was one of the first drag strips in Ohio to employ the Christmas tree-style starting system, said track co-owner Bob Louden.
One thing the track can lay claim to is the origination of buybacks in drag racing. Buybacks — now a worldwide practice where an early-round loser can pay a fee to get back into the competition — first originated at Tri-State.
“I’m pretty sure it happened in 1985,” Louden said. “We ran a nine-race schedule that year, with three races over the Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends. I had a guaranteed purse for each race weekend. Well, because of threatening weather in the area, we didn’t have enough cars entered for me to cover the purse.”
Louden went to the drivers to tell them of his predicament, and two drivers from Maryland — Royce Miller and Jerry Sinke — proposed the idea of buybacks. Miller is now the president of Maryland International Raceway.
“The irony of this story is that it was racers helping out a good track operator, and not the idea of a track operator (doing something) to help with his purses,” Miller said. “Now that I am a track operator and re-entry is part of our weekly program, I am thankful for that day at every race here at MIR. Re-entry and buybacks have become a standard in our sport pretty much nationwide.”
Many of drag racing’s superstars cut their teeth at Tri-State Dragway.
Cincinnati’s Mark Oswald began racing at Tri-State and other area tracks. He went on to become the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Funny Car champion in 1984 in the famous Candies & Hughes machine. Oswald now serves as co-crew chief for Don Schumacher Racing’s Matco Tools top fuel dragster driven by Antron Brown.
Five-time world NHRA Pro Stock champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. raced at Tri-State, along with his older brother John. Jeg’s Automotive Inc. now sponsors a junior dragster event and series that is held at Tri-State and other tracks across the country.
“The late Ronnie Sox used to race here. He’d bring his famous ‘Sox & Martin’ Plymouth here and would hold grudge races against Bill ‘Grumpy’ Jenkins’ Chevys,” said Dave Louden, son of owners Bob and Pat Louden and the track’s designated historian. “One year, Ronnie and a number of Chrysler drivers boycotted the early rounds of the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. So Ronnie rented out Tri-State, and they held their own national championship race here. Only the class winners then went to Indy to compete.”
Tri-State remains one of the few tracks around the country to have a grass median running the entire distance between the lanes of the drag strip. A slip of a wheel off the pavement, and the grass could potentially send a car flipping end over end.
“Some guys hate it, and I don’t think that anybody truly loves it. But if it didn’t cost so much (to pave over the grass), I’m sure we would eliminate it,” Dave Louden said.
Tri-State isn’t the fanciest track in the region, and the big money races that once frequented the facility have gone to other more modernized venues. In anticipation of the sweltering heat that usually comes along in August, the facility is offering Saturday Test & Tune dates throughout the month.
Racing will return to the track Aug. 29 when a full program of Super Pro Division, Pro, Street and Junior Dragster racing, plus a special Doorslammer Challenge event, will take place at the track.
Aside from the mandatory additions of concrete barriers a few years ago to meet safety standards for the junior dragster division, some timing and safety improvements and a few more lights, not much has changed through the years.
But the innovations, along with the many now-famous drivers who raced there, have helped shape drag racing over the years.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2851 or jbombatch@coxohio.com.
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