Fans race to save speedway
By:
Jamie Hult, Staff writer
Justin Henderson (on left) and Shannon Dyce won Cheaters Day at Huset’s Speedway in 2005. Submitted photo.
LeRoy Dyce (second from left) raced car #51 at Huset’s Speedway, which opened in 1954. Submitted photo.
Huset's Facebook group rallies to buy Badlands
The news that the former Huset’s Speedway might be demolished has led to a local fundraising effort to save the site of 65 years of racing history.
Fans and supporters took stock in Badlands Motor Speedway owner Chuck Brennan’s Oct. 1 threat to tear down the 74-acre property should it not sell by Dec. 28, and now they’re buying stock in the track themselves to keep the bulldozers at bay.
As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, $131,809 had been raised in the two weeks since Shannon Dyce started the campaign on Facebook @HusetsSpeedwayTimeline.
A lifelong sprint car racer whose family has deep roots in the dirt track south of Brandon, Dyce was already considering starting a community charge to buy Badlands when his son showed him Brennan’s Oct. 1 post on badlandsmotorspeedway.com.
“That was actually the thing that triggered it. I guess I just needed him to kick me in the butt and say, ‘Now’s the time,’” Dyce said. “It just seemed like such a short-term demand Mr. Brennan had given. I just thought, ‘We’ve got to do something right now.’”
He and his son sat down then and there and wrote the letter on the Facebook page urging its 4,000-some followers to commit $1,000 to be shareholders or make free will donations.
Leandra Ryan, whose son, Taylor, is in the racing circuit, soon contacted Dyce to help lead the charge to raise $3.15 million – the minimum reserve price in last month’s auction of Badlands, which generated no bidders.
As the contribution amount rises over the next two months, they’re hoping a third party will take notice and chip in.
“I think once we hit $1 million, we’ll get a push. I kind of hope that someone else in the racing community that maybe was interested in purchasing it at one point would come forward, and they would become the majority shareholder in what we have, and we can work together,” Dyce said. “I can also see a scenario where there’s a corporation in the community, in Brandon or Sioux Falls, and they want to step forward and contribute to a multi-year sponsorship of the track.”
He’s not interested in managing the track; just in saving it ¬– 3,150 shares at a time. People who commit to giving $1,000 but don’t want to be shareholders also have the option of season tickets or pit passes, in addition to free will donations.
Dyce and Ryan settled on the goal amount to match the minimum price Brennan was willing to sell Badlands Speedway in the Sept. 15 auction – despite the fact that the owner upped the price to $6.29 million in his Oct. 1 website post.
“Our theory is – there weren’t any bidders at $3.15 million – it’s unusual to raise a price after it wasn’t bid – so we think once he sees we have the capital raised and offer him a reasonable bid, then he’ll come to negotiations,” Dyce said.
Even in these first few weeks of fundraising, Dyce and Ryan are reaching out to people in the community and looking for sponsors.
“I want to motivate the fans, the corporate sponsors, the small businesses in Brandon and Sioux Falls. Huset’s has been here 65 years, contributing to the economy of Brandon and Sioux Falls,” Dyce said. “I want to encourage everybody to get involved. It’s definitely a grass roots movement, and I am open to any ideas.”
He’s frustrated by negative chatter about Brennan; he’d rather focus on how he took the racetrack to a new level.
“He really made one of the premiere track facilities in the country. It’s really nice for a dirt track,” Dyce said.
And he would know. He’s been going to Huset’s since he was six months old, his mother tells him, and every year since, as a fan, a driver, a crew member, a photographer or media liaison.
His uncle, LeRoy Dyce, was the first in the family to race at Huset’s, and Dyce carried on his legacy and car number, 51, competing until 1994. He’s worked pit crew for drivers the past 26 years and toured the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series three times as a mechanic, including this past season.
Recently, at a class reunion, some joked they didn’t recognize Dyce because he wasn’t in a sprint car shirt.
“It’s in my family; it’s in my blood,” he said. “I have that passion.”
He started Facebook @ Huset’s Speedway Timeline a few years back – around the same time he began his book.
“Honestly, my goal is just to preserve that history,” said Dyce, who’s also on the Huset’s Hall of Fame committee. “There are so many old pictures and so many old stories and so many old videos.”
The life of Tillman Huset alone is worthy of a documentary, he said.
Huset raced from the 1920s until founding Huset’s Speedway in 1954. He won the first track championship at West Sioux Falls Speedway, too.
“He lived through the Great Depression and prohibition. He ran moonshine. His story about the prohibition is, like, out of a movie. He got caught up with the law, there were shoot-outs,” Dyce said. “I’ve now found the results of every race at Huset’s, so that’s kind of handy, too.”
His goal is to release the book on Mother’s Day 2019 – historically, the start date of the Huset’s racing season.
To contribute to the fundraising campaign for Badlands Speedway or learn more about it, visit Facebook.com/HusetsSpeedwayTimeline/
