WALTON, Ky. — Fans have returned to racing in Northern Kentucky. 

What You Need To Know


  • Florence Speedway opens to fans

  • Speedway allowed to open because of restraining order against some of Beshear's executive orders

  • Owner says their reopening plan was rejected, could not receive answer on why

Earlier this week, a Boone County judge issued a temporary restraining order against several of Gov. Andy Beshear's (D) executive orders, allowing Florence Speedway to increase its capacity. 

“We went racing yesterday,” said Josh King, who oversees the Florence Speedway in Walton. “And now it’s pretty much a reorganize our entire season and try to figure out what we can do in the meantime.”

King recalls the moment in the Boone County Court on Wednesday when the decision temporarily fell in his favor. 

“Sitting in that courtroom it was very nerve-wracking as far as I didn’t know if I’d be racing the next day or not,” King said.

Racing took place Thursday with more planned for the Fourth of July holiday.

But King says initially he was left wondering why his racetrack wasn’t able to reopen in the first place.

“In May, the Governor announced in his daily briefing said that June 1st auto-racing could reopen and we’d submitted our plans as we were told and we requested actually 25 percent in June and 50 percent in July and it was zero,” King said. “And that was part of the problem; we couldn’t get an answer from the state as to why we were being treated differently.” 

Like many other businesses, King needs the fans so he can continue operating.

“This has been a rough year and I know in the grand scheme of things our problems are very minuscule, I mean, but to us they are big problems. We’re definitely looking at bankruptcy. We’ve ate through our reserves and we were operating on our presale tickets,” King said.

To continue with the guidelines, King has closed off every other row, has sectioned seating, and markings at concessions and restrooms.

“Nobody wants to see anybody get hurt, get sick, get killed, I mean that’s the most important and we think, right now, where we’re sitting right now we have the ability to keep people safe. If that changes and things get worse, I mean obviously we have to do what’s right,” King said.

King said there's another hearing scheduled July 16 for the state to respond. He’s hoping to continue his season until early fall based on that outcome. 

Spectrum News 1 did reach out for a comment to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and is waiting to hear back.

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