US 60 Dragway (Hardinsburg)

History

This eighth-mile strip is two miles southeast of Hardinsburg on the south side of U.S. 60, near Harned. Keenan O’Connell of Hardinsburg, later named to the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame, opened it as US 60 Raceway on July 31, 1964, and it marked its 50th anniversary in 2014. A friend had taken O’Connell to the old Owensboro strip, and as he watched the cars and crowds pour in from the hilltop, he saw a chance to make money and bring drag racing to Breckinridge County. He already owned a go-kart track, bought from the Ditto family, and chose that spot, though he didn’t yet know where the financing would come from.

On opening day, cars waiting to get in lined U.S. 60 in both directions as far as he could see. Fans pushed down the farm fencing before the racing started and stood right beside the track, so chain-link went up quickly. Visiting stars included Bob Glidden, Herb McCandless, Dale Funk, Gordon Collett, Joe Williamson, funny car drivers Randy Walls, Bruce Larsen and Kelly Chadwick, and Bill ‘Maverick’ Golden in the Little Red Wagon wheelstander. The first eighth-mile Nationals were held there, with cars from 37 states.

O’Connell remembered the lights going out as two dragsters crossed the finish line. They bumped in the dark, but both drivers stopped safely. Jerry Basham’s A Street Roadster and Doug Greenfield’s A Gas Henry J once ran two dead heats before Greenfield won the third runoff. Match races between Ed Payne’s Golden Angel, driven by Henry Putman, and Greenfield’s Roadrunner Henry J were crowd favorites.

O’Connell ran the track until 1974, then leased it to Dallas Jones, who later owned Beech Bend Raceway. Other operators over the years included Noel Davis, Kevin Brown, Harvey Davis, Eddie and Bruce Lampton, and J.D. and Judy Snead. The Sneads eventually bought it and still run it. O’Connell said the track brought plenty of joy and heartache, and he drove a race car until he was 73.