From a small business started to help cover the costs of an expensive hobby, Kile Motorsports is moving into event promotion – specifically dirt track racing promotion at the West Liberty Raceway.
Bud Kile, owner of Kile Motorsports Racing Supplies, began his business in 1997 when he wanted to find a way to cover some of the expense of having his sons race at area dirt tracks. With his love of racing, business experience, and hope to bring the West Liberty Raceway back to life, he made the decision to try his hand at promoting.
Located at the Muscatine County Fairgrounds, the West Liberty Raceway has a rich history. For years, weekly shows featuring several classes of cars every Saturday night were held at the track during the racing season, which spans from April to September.
With changes in the economy, the sport, and the audience, the track quit having weekly shows at the end of the 2017 season when the promoter at the time retired. Bud Kile decided to try his hand at promoting for the second time the following summer. His first try was in mid-2000s with a successful one-night show featuring Late Models and Sprint Cars over the Fourth of July holiday.
The race night Kile promoted in 2018 featured classes familiar with the track – Late Models, Modified, and Stock Cars to name a few. This event was heavily promoted. Race teams and fans turned out in abundance for this event in a show of support for the track and Kile’s efforts.
A few races have been held during the summers that followed 2018, but no more than a few a year. After the promoter who had most recently brought races to the West Liberty track decided to retire, Kile took another opportunity and promoted a partial season at the half-mile dirt and clay landmark.
With Kile Motorsports, Bud Kile has put together a seven-event race season beginning with the Spring Fling on Saturday, April 16. These events will feature Late Models, Modifieds, Sport Modifieds, Stock Cars, Hobby Stocks, and Sport Compact (4-cylinder) race cars. The Saturday, May 7, show will have the American Iron Racing Series in place of Late Models, which is a series made up of vintage (1979 or older) American-made hot rods. The Muscatine County Fair will have their traditional race night on Wednesday, July 20, which will be promoted by the Muscatine County Fair Board.
The final event of the season will be held Saturday, Aug. 20, and will feature the Malvern Bank Super Late Models series (MBSLM) with Modifieds and Sport Modifieds running as well. The MBSLM is an economical Super Late Model racing series headquartered in Eastern Nebraska that was created to keep Super Late Model racing alive in the Central U.S. Drivers including Brian and Andrew Kosiski, Jesse Sobbing, World Dirt Race League point champion Kyle Berck, former West Liberty Raceway regulars Chad Holladay, Spencer Dierks, Dave Eckrich, and the 2021 MBSLM-East point champion Justin Kay have competed in this series and are expected to follow it this season.
When asked what obstacles he may face promoting this season, Kile says the weather, the cars, and the fans. “Of course, we need to have good weather for racing. Early season is hard because of the cold and rain, but we just have to hope for good, warm sunshine… I think we’ll do all right with getting cars to show up. I hope so. I tried to build a good payout because those guys put on a good show, and they should get paid for it.”
And about the fans, “We just need them to show up and buy a ticket. We can count on the drivers’ families, but we need more than that. We need to get a new fan base, get people excited about the sport again. It’s an exciting sport and these will be exciting shows.”
He encouraged those interested to attend at least twice and “pick out a few teams to follow.”
“Racers need fans, tracks need racers. That’s how we keep the sport alive,” Kile stated.
The new promoter has a helping hand when it comes to event operations. Kile solicited Larry Richardson of Muscatine in the position of race manager. Richardson has been the race promoter of the CJ Speedway in Columbus Junction, Iowa running Friday nights for several years. This season, Richardson will be at the CJ Speedway on Friday nights and at West Liberty Saturday nights. Richardson is also bringing staff to work in the scoring tower and infield as track officials.
It's a family affair too, as Bud’s wife and daughter are helping. His wife Sue will be helping during the events with various tasks and filling in where needed. His daughter, Katie, has taken on the task of handling social media and recruiting advertisers to provide a financial safety net.
“Going out and talking to business owners made me nervous, but I have been happily overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from local businesses. Without their help, we could end up in some hot water, so we really appreciate how they’ve come through for us. We cannot thank them enough, Katie Woods said.
“Having the races back will bring traveler’s through [West Liberty] on a regular basis again, which is good for the businesses in town. We hope to get a few more customers into the restaurants we have, the shops, the convenience stores, and maybe they’ll see the [New Strand] theater and think ‘Hey, that’s a neat place – let’s go to a movie there next week,’” she said.
Katie also says that the Muscatine County Fair should benefit as well since Kile Motorsports will be paying rent to use the facilities on a regular basis.
Each race night, the Lil’ Racer Car Club will be there for kids to sign up for prizes and activities. The Lil' Racer Car Club provides is a non-profit organization headed up by Mitch Swinton which provides recreational, educational, and entertainment choices to young dirt racetrack fans 14 years of age and younger. Mitch and his group will be organizing race car ride-a-longs for kids, a Chuck-a-Duck night for adults, and will be instrumental in Back-to-School Night on Aug. 6 as there will be several drawings held for kids to win school supplies, fun prizes, and bicycles.
Admission is free for youngsters and pit passes for access to the inner and outer pit areas throughout the shows are available More details and updates can be found on the Kile Motorsports Racing Events Facebook page www.facebook.com/kilemotorsportsracing.