Latonia

[SPRINTCAR]

Didn't they race at Latonia Horse track under the track name of Kentucky International. Ross Smith, Patrick and the whole gang?

[fishburger]

SPRINTCAR said:

Didn't they race at Latonia Horse track under the track name of Kentucky International. Ross Smith, Patrick and the whole gang?

Yep, they surely did. Watched several races there in late 60's or early 70's as I recall. Seems like Jay Wyatt was wheeling the ZERO at that time. Gene Crittenden in a red #63 was strong there. I seem to remember seeing an ARCA race there also. They had a 4 lap sprint car demo once also. Never had a sprint car event though. Probably too dangerous. Some or all of this may be in error given my increasingly less reliable memory.

[mod21cook]

Kentucky International was located close to the White Castel on 42. Ross Smith and Lou Klug was the promotors. The arca race was won by Benny Parsons. My dad told me that if you raced at KIR on Friday, you wern't allowed to race at Norther Kentucky on Saturday.

Dave Cook

[QueenCityMotorsports.com]

thanks for chiming in Marv & Dave,
I don't have a listing for the Kentucky International yet. In Allan Brown's book is under Kentucky International Raceway it says to see the "Latonia Horse Track, but I think these were two different race tracks. I have head that Kentucky International Raceway was in Florence, south of the Mall, somewhere near where Dave is speaking of on route 42, not to far from I-75 I think
The book states under the Latonia Horse Track listing that it was aka Kentucky International Raceway and that Latonia ran as a 5/8 mile track in 1967 - 1972??
I'm pretty Sure the Old Latonia track closed well before the 1960's
They have to be two Different tracks??

[mod21cook]

Keith is right. If you are driving down 75, right before you get to the Mt Zion exit there is a apartment complex on the right hand side, that is where KIR was located.

[sprintcar]

I remember going there and seeing the white horse track railing around the outside of the track. That right there makes me think horsetrack. I was young then and don't exactly know where we were at but I think we took some side roads to get there, being Latonia. I have heard stories about cars going though the outside rail and people wondering how someone was'nt killed by the flying pieces of wood. Even if the horse track hadn't run for years, they could have run some races there. I remember it looking pretty run down. I'll have to ask around.

[QueenCityMotorsports.com]

Maybe the Latonia Horse Track track was also known as KIR at one time, but the KIR that was in Florence could not be the same track, they are just to far apart.

Here is a link to the Google map for the location of the Latonia Horse Track: (Winston & 38th St)
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Winston+%26+38th+St+Covington+Ky&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=39.048486,-84.502716&spn=0.013931,0.0424&om=1&iwloc=addr

Here is the approximate location of the KIR track near Florence
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Mt+Zion+Rd+Florence+Ky&ie=UTF8&z=13&ll=38.973557,-84.636097&spn=0.055785,0.169601&om=1&iwloc=addr

eventually we'll find out more about these two Tracks including exact location of the KIR (Florence) and the years of operation of these two tracks. I think Lou Klug is still alive and he would probably know more on KIR, as Dave stated he was the promoter of the track.

[mod21cook]

KIR was a horse track, a 5/8 of a mile. Most of my information has came from my dad.

I rember going to Fl in the late 70's and my dad pointing out the grandstand that was visable from 75. They were just past the Lions Club after the Florence/ Union exit.

[imzie]

Yes the KIR promoted by Lou Klug had been a horse track. Ross Smith put a latemodel thru the fence and into the old horse barn. There was a lake in the infield shaped like the state of KY. I worked for Lou in the pits.

[sprintcar]

I had a few beers with Pat Patrick while watching the twin races at Daytona and he said that KIR was in Florence. There was and actually have been three Latonia horse tracks with Turfway still being run. He talked about Karl Kiser driving the Zero car and Ross Smith driving a Holman Moody car for some guy from Kentucky. Smitty did drive though the rail on the outside of the track and ran into some of the old stables. Ha, those were the days.............

[davfro]

WOW. Seeing Karl Kiser`s name really brought back memories. He was a great rival to a friend driver named Frankie Mack, He drove for several championships at Lawrenceburg and won races all over the greater Cincy area, and he was one of the 4 guys working in the telephone industry that inherited a car and I was one of the 4 OWNERS. Those were great racing days all around the area with great big car racing at the Dayton,Ohio speedway, where we lost our car in a nascar modified race.

[big al]

Was this track the sight of the first World 100 ?