Todd Epp reports that Chuck Brennan has found three suckers—er, drivers—to pony up $200,000 deposits for a chance to race for ownership of his failed Badlands Speedway:
Three racers say they’ll participate in the winner takes the race track race (or a purse of $3.6 million) August 13 at Husets–formerly Badlands Speedway–near Brandon.
…They are:
- #26, Rudeen Racing, Driver: Cory Ellison; Crew Chief: Tyler Tessemaker
- #87, Boughman Reutzel Motorsports, Driver: Aaron Reutzel; Crew Chief: Gran Boyum
- #83, Roth Motorsports, Driver: Daryn Pittman; Crew Cheif: Brent Ventura
The entry fee, according to the rules, is a $200,000 non-refundable deposit. The rules say there must be a minimum of 18 cars but no more than 36 [Todd Epp, “Three Cars So Far in Brennan’s Winner Takes the Track Race at Huset’s Speedway,” KELO Radio, 2019.07.08].
The Attorney General warns us not to fall for Facebook scams promising free money, but we should trust payday lender Chuck Brennan with personal information and $200,000? Get real!
Brennan promises that he’ll return those $200K deposits “in the unlikely circumstance” that eighteen racers don’t sign up. He also promises the first twelve registrants a “VIP suite” with tickets, food and beverages for twenty guests worth $20,000.
Brennan tells RacingNews.co that he had “been to closing 6 times with various groups”… which tells me race tracks are such a bad deal that the sale has blown up six times. Brennan is considering tearing the track down and taking a tax write-off, but apparently he has nothing to lose with one more wild idea. With Trumpian blather, Brennan promises, “This will be the biggest attended sporting event in the history of South Dakota.”
Speaking of tax write-offs, racers and their sponsors should consider the tax implications of acquiring a race track for “free.” I suppose a million-dollar tax liability plus $200K lost to Brennan is still cheaper than the full $6.3-million purchase price Brennan thought he could get… but $200,000 just to enter? $200,000 will buy four high-end motors, or a nice sprint-car trailer, or any number of real things that you can actually use rather than just a chance to win a huge chunk of real estate that will lose you money every year as surely as it lost Chuck Brennan’s money.
But hey, if you have nothing better to do with $200,000 and a Tuesday night, the rules and registration are here at Husets.com.
Just go away, Chuck.
It seems the motor sports in South Dakota are in the same corrupt condition as horse racing. Black HIlls Speedway has a long history of failed financing and legal issues. Muddy and wreckless big business magnates seem to occupy more space in our culture than they deserve.
I will guarantee that if this race ever happens that the winner of this track will not ever lose money.
Okay, this doesn’t fit in any of today’s posts, but it fits you, Cory, so here you go!
https://juanitajean.com/great-grins/#comments
You’re welcome. 😆😆😆
Stock car racing really took off in SD in the 1950s-60s. Many towns had tracks including Miller, Winner, Pierre, Mitchell, Watertown, Aberdeen, Madison, Huron and probably others. Some tracks were short lived, all were dirt. Length ranged from 1/4 mile to 1/2, with 3/8 being very popular for some time.
I started going to races when I was about 5 years old, took my family along. My father began building race cars in 1962 and his brother drove them.
In the mid 60s those tracks really flourished. Racing was relatively cheap and fans had enough disposable income they could afford the modest admission price. There were weeks when Miller had more than 70 race cars in attendance, likewise for other tracks.
The state fair always had a race car event at the grandstand and it was one of the biggest days of the fair. The stands were packed and well over 100 race cars participated.
One year, about 1983, I partnered with a boyfriend in building a race car. I drove it. It was great fun that I highly recommend! 😁😁😁
SF always had a race track, so it’s too bad that this one might bite the dust. Is RC the only other track?
The demise of racing in SD is due to the same factors as other economic travails. Lack of disposable income and rising expenses of racing.
WasserStadt still has racing at Casino Speedway on Lake Kampeska. The memories are fresh in my mind of summer Sunday nights. Here’s your 2019 schedule, ladies and gents.
https://www.casinospeedway.com/schedule.html
Thanks Porter. I see Casino is still running circles on that quarter mile track. Argh!
Miller still has a track too. It was defunct for several years, but from the website it looks like it reopened in refurbished 1/2 mile form, from 3/8, in 1981.
It looks like the race track in Huron ran last year, but not this one. I couldn’t find a current website and the latest results were for 2018. It was called Dakota State Fair Speedway.
In those early days of racing safety was an afterthought for racers and tracks. I saw 2 drivers die as a result. Both were at an old track in Huron that was just thrown together. It was called Northwest Speedway because it was northwest of town.
One man died because he’d built his roll cage from rusty old sewer pipe. His car rolled, the pipe collapsed and crushed him.
The other man didn’t have the proper 5 point safety harness, just a stock lap belt. When his car rolled violently he slid under the belt till it had him by the armpits. Meanwhile, his torso hung out the window getting smashed with every roll.
The third death was in the 80s when safety was much advanced. Every gas tank was required to have a rubber bladder inside that actually held the fuel. Fuel pumps were external, usually near the engine, so if anything happened to the line the fuel wouldn’t flow. In the event of damage to the tank, the bladder was self-sealing.
This team was trying to skimp on $, so skipped the bladder. Yeah. He got hit on the rear end, fuel poured out of the tank, feeding the fire. He lived for about one, horrific month.
When boyfriend Brian and I raced he wanted to skip a few safety features. Nope. I told him we’d spend whatever it took for adequate safety, then the rest could go towards Go Fast. I would accept no arguments.
Huset’s will eventually collapse into a dimensionless singularity of debt like the house at the end of Poltergeist
Hello everyone, just found this sight on a search, as I am off the grid and just got on the web to do some “searching”.
Great racing sentimental comments by “Debbo”, I can relate. I quit going to the track back in the mid 80’s, as the culture had changed so much, imo.
Went a few times here and there after that, but that was it.
My dad, “Chuck FEE” was finally inducted into this years HOF at Huset’s Speedway.
I spent 25 years trying to get him and my uncle “John” inducted with no success or even replies from the old committee, whomever “they” were. At that time, I know it was Mark Tassler of kxrb and his “buddy system” running the show. Dad told me over 15 years ago to forget about it and let it go, so I did. However, both dad and his younger brother “John” RIP, have record’s that I don’t believe that have been beat yet to this day, as far as I know anyway? Now, I see “Tom Savage” is apparently head of this program, but it does not list who’s all on the committee?
I’ve known Tom forever and he currently has a nice website with great pictures of my favorite era’s and people, like Debbo mentions above, like the “friends and family” era.
Special thanks to “Gary Zitterich” for putting dad’s name up this year. Gary goes way back with us. The person in charge of my dad’s estate was not involved in his racing, like I was, but due to their being relation and in control, they represented him and unfortunately, put up some misinformation, but nothing too major. When “Chuck Brennan” first came back to town and started out with his idea’s, dad, my uncle Patrick (RIP) and I discussed it and we were interested in sharing some thoughts with Mr. Brennan, but I was not able to contact him via three attempts through his staff and some hangers on, before he really got ambitious with the track. I recently read where he seems to have changed his attitude about the track being disassembled, etc. And wants it to go into someone hands that will bring it back to some working form and his renaming it back to Huset’s Speedway, so that was nice to hear.
Any comments on that current statement released by him and future actions, etc?
Or is it over for the track?
This drivers race “winner to own”, while being a more positive direction in his idea’s to sell the track, I still don’t see this happening either. Also, someone mentioned that Miller, S.D. reopened an old 1/2 mile track, is this correct? If so, could you provide a link to it?
Having rode around in the back of a pickup for years as a kid to just about every track in the tri-state area, of which most are closed now or are pasture, etc, I still like to look at pictures and see what’s going on with these tracks. There used to be a small track in Niobrara, Nebraska too, if anyone remembers?
Thank You!
These names ring a bell– Jim Matthews and Doug Wolfgang. I enjoyed reading your comment and I googled Tom Savage and Husetts for more. Several links came up so that was fun.
My dad and uncle built and raced modifieds. After my uncle retired from driving dad built engines for stock cars. We never raced in Sioux Falls so I’m aware of Husetts and Hartford but not familiar.
Congratulations on your dad becoming a member of the HoF. Jackson still has a track, right? Fairmont too?
This is the FB page for Miller Central Speedway:
https://m.facebook.com/millercentralspeedway/
Thanks for the history, Mr. Fee!
As of this morning, the race website continues to show only three entered drivers.
Thank you kindly for the link and kind comments. I am very interested in 1/2 mile tracks, depending on the type soil and banking degrees and so forth. I grew up around all those drivers, the last time I spoke with Doug was in the mid to early 90’s while working out at the YMCA. Doug used to run 25 miles a day when he was top dog as an outlaw. That’s dedication! Hartford is up and running, but they have always been plagued with track issues in the past, as far back as I can remember.
I’ll have to get out there yet this year. Trying to get to Knoxville too, but may not make it this year.
I contacted Tom Savage with a thank you and some comments and questions, so I hope to learn more soon. Another track that I haven’t visited in play is a track that didnt get much action due to its location is Black Hills. Personally, I think if the right management came along that some these seasonal tracks could prosper at the right times. Like I mentioned before, so much culture has changed over the last thirty years or so in this state, that it’s a head scratcher for sure. In addition, I would like to see dirt bike hill climbing make a strong comeback amongst our people here. The state hill climb used to be down by Newton Hills south of Canton and myself and other friends participated in that due to living in the area at the time. I went to Mankato MN hill climb a few years ago and its even been reduced to a cult following, but I still had a great time. These were some really great memories for me from my youth. S.D. needs to start sanctioning positive things in our state. Starting with high school baseball and little league. When former Gov Dougaard sanctioned mma aka cage fighting, I was astounded at this idiotic move on his part. I even sent him a letter about it. I’ve known him or his family as my grandparents, who were deaf on my mother’s side, played cards with his parents since I was a kid. My uncle on moms side is Ben Soukup, my mom interpreted for CSD for years and her own mother since she was a child, being the only hearing child in her family. We can sanction cage fighting in S.D. , but we can’t even sanction little league baseball, so poor and wealthy kids alike get a chance on an even field? Let’s eliminate these private high profile pay to play teams that prey on the wealthy and lets level the field. Cage fighting is nothing more than fighting for sport and is as far from true martial arts as you can get. What message are we sending to our youth? You wouldn’t believe the monopoly on little league baseball that’s been going on in sioux falls with so many different leagues, teams and it’s all about money. If we want to keep young people here or produce winners from this state we need to start investing in our own kids at state level, so everyone gets a chance, whether your from a poor single parent home or a home with plenty of money, etc. In the big leagues they play the best, here its pay to play or go back to your x box in the basement. Even in high school, you have to have around a 4.0 to play on the A team from the previous year. That’s just ridiculous expectations for all kids. They wonder why theres a meth problem and gangs and theft on the rise. I grew up working my butt off for my dad, machine shop, race cars, farmers, walking beans throwing square bales, wrestling, football traditional martial arts and you name it. Sorry, if I got a little off topic in other sports areas, but we need some old school leaders out there, because fundamentals dont change, people just get away from them.
Thanks for the opportunity to share some thoughts here.
Kindest Regards
Oh, sorry, Yes, Jackson is still running, as dad ran his last modified race there at the age of 74 and passed away in February at 75. Jackson has always been a fast track to run on.
I’m not sure about Fairmont, but is still there, because I stopped by there in 2017 on my way back from the Mayo clinic, but I dont know if they are open?
M.Fee, I live in Northfield and I only hear about Elko and Jackson, just by chance, here and there.
I’m near Jefferson and they have two small tracks, for locals, but nothing to hold my interest. Well, if this drivers race doesn’t pan out, I would definitely like to share some ideas with Brennan, should I ever bump into him. Especially, if he wants to put it back to work, etc. Nice visiting with you folks and will share more if I learn more. Its been a long time since it was standing room only at Til’s bar after the races and him giving me free pickled polish sausages and Turkey gizzards, probably because no one else would eat them, lol!
Kindest Regards