Moler Raceway Park

A couple of summers ago, we made it out to Lawrenceburg Speedway for its annual «Night of Destruction,» what with school-​bus races, a lawnmower derby, and the like. Naturally enough, this prompted a positive Unilocal review. I compared Lawrenceburg Speedway to an attractive old minor-​league ballpark and encouraged city highbrows to come out for a night of good cheap fun.
While we were out at Lawrenceburg, our friend Larry advised us that the speedway there was «advanced» or highfalutin in comparison to Moler Raceway out in Clermont County. He was right. Lawrenceburg is slick, polished, and thoroughly mainsteam, exurban middle-​class. It was pretty much inevitable that we were going to have to check out Moler. So last summer, we penetrated deep into the wilds of Clermont in the most appropriate way possible, in Larry’s massive crew-​cab Dodge pickup.
We recently went back.
If Lawrenceburg is a nice Double-​A ballpark, Moler Raceway is a a straight-​up knothole, gravel-​strewn, all-​dirt sandlot. (Or for those many Unilocalers who like to call any restaurant or bar or other going concern a «dive» if it looks older than the 1990s and if less than 85 percent of the crowd falls below median U.S. income or education levels, they’re going to have to come up with a whole new down-​and-​out term for Moler Raceway.) Moler is flat-​out country. It’s hidden back in a clearing in the Clermont woods, and when you finally arrive in Moler’s overgrown grassy parking area, you might think you’ve stumbled upon an old-​time backwoods tent revival meeting. Aside from the race cars and the dusty track, there are a couple of low-​slung cinder-​block buildings, some old wooden bleachers that have seen better days, and a shabby pressbox. (Unfortunately, there are only Port-​a-​Lets rather than actual bathrooms.) The seats are separated from the dirt track by a tall chain-​link fence that looks patched together.
In other words, it’s just about perfect.
A couple of weeks ago we went back for a night of racing: late models, modifieds, Chevettes, and compacts. The first two types of cars produce the most speed and power and thunder, sliding around the tight turns and kicking up big clouds of dust. (You might want to get your beer in a can rather than asking for a draft.) But it was all pretty entertaining. As I said in my Lawrenceburg review, I couldn’t really care less about following motorsports or watching them on television, but as a now-​and-​then $ 13 entertainment value Moler is hard to beat.