Fountain, Florida’s Powerhouse Dragway fell silent in 2021, and it looked like racers in the region would have one less place to race. That changed when Kevin and Cody McDaniel stepped in to purchase the facility. Where some saw a failed drag strip, the brothers saw a lot of potential and decided to invest heavily into the track after renaming it the North Florida Motorplex.

Kevin has long been a drag racing fan and bracket raced regularly during the 1990s and 2000s. Powerhouse Dragway was local to Kevin, so he had raced there many times. Charlie Johnson purchased the track in 2016 after it had been closed for four years. Johnson resurrected the track and put money into it so it could be a functional facility again. Hurricane Michael came and nearly destroyed the track, but Johnson once again brought the track back to life so racers could enjoy it.

Johnson decided he wanted to get out of the racetrack business and that’s where Kevin and his brother saw an opportunity. The brothers are in the grocery business and own a chain of stores in the region. Kevin explains how they decided to use their business experience to help the track.

“I started to do research on different sponsorship avenues for the track. The more I dug into it, the more I found there was some interest from the food side of our grocery business to be a sponsor at the track. When we got ready to set up our concession stand we got sponsorships from a few companies to get that done. We have a great relationship with Coke, and they got us hooked up with Monster Energy. Monster stepped up to provide the funds for our bracket points series worth $60,000 that will run twice a month during the summer.”

The McDaniel family wants the North Florida Motorplex to be an outstanding place to race. To make that happen, a large list of improvements have been made to the facility since they took ownership in August. A new concession stand and tower have been built, new LED lights have been added to the track and pits, and a new Accutime timing system has been installed. The track itself also got some attention thanks to a fresh grind job from Kurt Johnson at TVC. Concrete walls now line both sides of the track from the burnout box to the top end, too.

The fan experience is another thing that the McDaniel family wanted to address during the improvements at the North Florida Motorplex. New bleachers were purchased from NASCAR that came from Daytona, Miami, and Rockingham to replace what the track used to have. According to Kevin, the bleachers were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to creating a great place for people to watch racing.

“When you’re at an event all day in the sun and there’s a lot of downtime, it will make you want to leave a lot quicker, especially here in the south. That’s one thing that hurts drag racing, so we wanted to do something different. We have VIP decks that are out of the sun and are open-air where people can come to sit down. There are TVs in these areas and a bar, but they can still watch all the racing. It’s a great way for fans to still watch the racing, and keep the family entertained if needed. We are trying to think of ways to give our spectators a reason to come to the track, even when they have family members that aren’t into racing.”

The revamped schedule at the North Florida Motorplex is going to feature more than just bracket racing; the track will host an SNRA Pro Mod event later this year. The All-Harley Drag Racing Association is coming to the track during the Thunder Beach bike rally at Panama City Beach. There will be several nitro-powered vehicles making appearances at the North Florida Motorplex in 2022, and it will also play host to a JJ’s Arm Drop event, along with “Street Outlaw” stars Reaper, Chuck Seitsinger, and Daddy Dave.

“We’ve been in the grocery business for over 30 years and understand how to deal with the public. Rule one for us has always been the customer is always right, and rule number two says to refer back to rule number one. We’re going to bring that philosophy to this track,” Kevin says.