Broc Porter on Beech Bend — a family legacy, a racetrack, and a summer playground
Broc Porter grew up at the track, and you can hear what that means in the way he talks about the place — not just as a job, but as home. The grandson of longtime owner Dallas Jones, Broc runs the dragstrip at Beech Bend Raceway Park the way someone looks after a family homestead: with patience, stubbornness, and a stubborn love that makes the hard stuff bearable.
Walk the property and it’s obvious why Broc — or any kid who grew up visiting the place — would be hooked. Beech Bend is not a lone strip of asphalt in a field; it’s an amusement park, a waterpark, an oval and a dragstrip, a campground with hundreds of sites, and a river that both frames the land and occasionally reminds everyone who owns it who’s really in charge. That mix — rides and roller coasters one minute, tire smoke and timing lights the next — is rare. It makes Beech Bend a destination where families can make a weekend of it: Dad goes racing, the kids ride the coaster, and everyone camps overnight.
If you want a signature ride to prove the point, look no further than the Kentucky Rumbler — a wooden twister coaster that towered into the park’s identity when it opened. It’s the sort of attraction that changes a day-at-the-track into a vacation memory for a whole family; park and strip feed each other in a way you won’t find at most standalone racetracks.
But loving it doesn’t make the job easy. Broc and Beech Bend have to fight battles many tracks do not. “This year we were under water twice, one time over 8 feet,” he says. Floods have become more frequent, and the recovery work is brutal: wait for the river to drop, then re-wash every inch of the property, pull out timing sensors, rent water trucks, and put crews on long, dirty days to get the place back to race-ready. Tracks across the region felt the same pinch during the recent midwestern flooding; Beech Bend was among the facilities hit hard and has been working through cleanups and equipment recovery with the rest of the NHRA community. Rain cost them 9 straight weekends this year.
Those challenges are why Broc’s advice to other tracks is simple and blunt: don’t be scared to make a decision, be consistent, and treat racers like family. “Racers want a fair shake at a fair race,” he says. That’s the operating principle — not always popular on a case-by-case call, but if you hold the line with consistency, respect follows. Treat people like customers and like family, and you build a return crowd. And, he adds with a laugh that’s half warning, “you have to enjoy it — otherwise it becomes a burden.” Those practical rules are why Beech Bend still gets big draws and national series on the calendar despite the weather and rising operating costs
Costs are rising everywhere: labor, electronics, track prep materials, glue — expenses that add up fast. Broc says they fight not to pass that whole burden to racers because affordability keeps people coming back. Still, upgrades happen when they can — new LED track lighting went in this year, and plans are in the books for pit improvements, a better PA system, and more paved parking. Flooding set some of those plans back, but the intent is to steadily chip away at facility improvements while keeping the weekend entry fee reasonable. That balancing act is familiar to every track manager trying to preserve a racing scene while holding the line on value. (On the Beech Bend schedule you can see the mix of local test-and-tune nights, bracket shows, and national events that rely on that careful balance.)
For racers who come back year after year, the attraction is more than the timing tower or the payout. Beech Bend folds the everyday pleasures of the region into the motorsports experience: a day at the strip can include concession stands, carnival rides for the kids, a splash in the waterpark, and an evening around the camper with friends. That’s not just convenience — it’s culture. It’s how kids learn the rules of the pits, how friendships form in the bleachers, and how generations of racers come to feel like they belong. Broc sees it as both a duty and a joy: run the races fair, keep the schedule consistent, and make sure the experience is entertaining. When those things line up, families and racers plan their summers around you.
There’s a broader lesson tucked into that: few places offer the package that Beech Bend does. You can find great independent dragstrips, and you can find great amusement parks, but a riverfront complex that pairs a nationally recognized dragstrip with a family amusement destination and a large campground is uncommon. That combination creates a weekend economy — racers spending at the gate and families buying funnel cake — that helps the track weather bad seasons and build a calendar that feels like a festival rather than a single event. Broc wants to keep building on that advantage, but he also knows the work is constant: schedule early, coordinate with other tracks so racers can plan, and don’t let short-term fear stop long-term investment.
So what’s his pitch to new track managers or promoters? Be decisive. Be consistent. Treat racers like customers and family. Enjoy the work, because if you don’t the job will own you instead of the other way around. For Broc, the answer is clear: He does not just run a raceway; but protects a legacy.
