Race for Huset’s Canceled Due to Lack of Interest; Brennan “Lowers” Price, Offers to Finance at 7%

Another big idea from Chuck Brennan has failed. According to a message posted to his Huset’s Speedway website yesterday, the payday loan magnate failed to convince eighteen racecar drivers to ante up $200,000 each to enter an August 13 race in which top prize would have been the track itself.

NASCAR is losing fans and sponsors. Short-track racing is in serious decline. Car-racing interest in our area appears to remain strong enough to maintain one track at Hartford, but that competition is killing the track at Worthington. Drivers probably know full well that the local market can’t support another track in Brandon.

But Chuck Brennan has another hustle. He says he’s implementing a “substantial price reduction” to $7.45 million:

That’s funny: Brennan’s first asking price was $9.45 million, but then in 2018 the Vegas loan shark lowered his price to $6.3 million… which local racing aficionados (since affirmed by the market) said was still too high:

“The price tag is way too high,” Rod Pattison, Huset’s Speedway chairman hall of fame, said. “Legitimately, you can make the thing work in a business venture for about three and a half to four million dollars being an optimist. Realistically probably about two and a half to three million. It’s going to have to be somebody investing in the sport and not in a business venture” [Jill Langland, “CEO of Badlands Motor Speedway Defends Price Tag,” KSFY, 2018.10.03].

Whatever the price, Brennan is offering to finance half of the purchase price at 7% or lease the place for $60K a month:

The current owner group is willing to finance up to 50% of the purchase price for a new owner group at an approximate APR of 7%. There is also a finance group that will purchase the track from us if they find a suitable leasing partner. The lease amount would be approximately $60,000 per month with a substantial down payment and security deposit [Husets.com, retrieved 2019.08.06].

I’m not sure I’d want any business deal connecting me with Brennan for longer than it takes to sign the papers and get out of the room. But I am surprised that the payday lender is able to count down to single digits on an interest. He did say “approximate,” though—better check the fine print!

This time, if Brennan gets no takers, he says he’ll auction everything off on May 7, 2020:

…if the facility does not find a new home, we will be hosting a fully integrated online and live auction on Thursday, May 7th at 1pm in Brandon, South Dakota at Huset’s Speedway. This will not be to auction off the land, track and business. This will be to auction off the hundreds of assets at the track. Literally everything from the bleachers to the buildings, vehicles, concession equipment, billboard system, elevators, furnishings, Musco lighting systems, sound, lights, electronics, down to the dirt from the track if someone wants to buy it. It will ALL go and then the facility will finally be decommissioned. Please CLICK HERE for an example list of what will be sold and how the detail will look for the May 7, 2020 Auction [Husets.com, retrieved 2019.08.06].

Car racing appears to be a losing investment. No one wants to buy an entire track, so splitting the assets at auction may be the only way for Brennan to recoup any cash on this last remaining symbol of his ego-fueled folly in South Dakota.

In other Brennan news, a couple of eager readers have noted that Brennan’s Dollar Loan Center appears to have posted a Help Wanted ad on Indeed.com a couple days ago seeking an HR Assistant/Recruiter in Sioux Falls. The South Dakota Division of Banking shut Dollar Loan Center down two years ago for trying to sneak around the 36% interest rate cap, so it’s hard to say what jobs an HR assistant would be recruiting Sioux Fallsians for.