Savage Words: It was only a matter of time before it got gobbled up

I knew it was coming. 

With Branon growing so rapidly to the west, and Sioux Falls continuing its urban growth to the east, it was only a matter of time before both communities swallowed it up.

Still, it was a gut punch when I drove by the old Soo Speedway motorsports track last week only to see construction vehicles beginning to dismantle the oval covered in weeds.

Soo is nestled on the west side of Six Mile Road just north of Arrowhead Parkway. It’s sat idle since 1973, but it was always there, untouched, throughout my childhood and adult life.

Over the years, any time I went to Brandon, I always drove by the quiet oval. I often stopped, looked at it, imagined what it was like when huge crowds gathered on Sunday night to watch local daredevils conquer its corners.

Soo Speedway opened exactly one week after Huset’s in May of 1954. At the time, it was far superior to Huset’s. Soo had grandstands, restrooms, and a Public Address system. It had all the amenities of a racing facility in 1954.

Meanwhile, Huset’s was simply a banked oval in the ground. Nothing else. No bleachers, restrooms, concessions, sound system. Nothing.

Soo Speedway thrived, and I only know this because of the stories my father told me over the years. He was at the first race at Huset’s on May 23, 1954. He was also at the first one at Soo on May 30, 1954.

Soo closed after the 1958 season because of a dispute between drivers and ownership. Imagine that.

It reopened once for a sprint car race in 1973, and that was it. A few years after that final race, my dad took me to look at the old remnants of the track. I recall running around on the wooden planks that served as bleachers. It looked overgrown with weeds, but it was definitely still identifiable as a race track.

And it’s stayed that way, surprisingly, over the last five decades. Up until a few years ago, the crash wall around the outside of the track was still intact. It looked very similar to Huset’s, both in size and with the concrete wall around it.

Again, my mind raced with what went on there every time I stopped to look around.

One time in 2004 when I worked for IndyCar, I was back in Sioux Falls to visit family. I specifically drove to Soo, just to look at it again, to see if the ghosts of racing years gone by might show.

I climbed through some of the barb wire fencing, and tried to recreate that day when my dad and I stood on the bleachers. Those wooden planks were gone when I went back, but it was obvious they once stood there as concrete stairs and pathways could still be found.

I also encountered the owner of the property, and he was none too pleased that I was there. He made it very, very clear that he didn’t want me there, and dropped curse words my way.

Needless to say, I never went back inside the fencing, but still stopped along Six Mile Road and gazed over the place.

I’ve always had a fascination with old, abandoned race tracks. When I lived in Indiana, I spent many weekends driving through the Hoosier state, hunting them down, and wondering what went on there, just like things did at Soo.

When I lived in Los Angeles, I told my boss, the legendary Jerry West of the Lakers, that I was going to take an extra-long lunch break on one particular day.

He asked if everything was OK, if I needed some extra time, and what I was doing.

I told him I was headed to Gardena, located in southern LA County.

“Why,” he asked.

I told him I was headed to Ascot Park, a legendary race track that closed in 1990.

“Gardena,” he asked again. “You sure you want to go down there?”

And then, after thinking about it again, he said, “You’re going to look at an old race track?”

He shook his head, and told me to take my time. Clearly, it was the off-season.

So I did, and it was a magical afternoon I’ll never forget. So many famous race car drivers and teams competed at Ascot Park. It was indeed in a bit of a sketchy area, but it was worth the risk. The famous race track was now home to garbage, tumbleweeds, and construction vehicles all under the shadow of Freeway 405 as city commuters raced by without knowing what was below them.

Soo may not have the history that Ascot Park had, but it’s always been a special place for me to reflect.

I’m sad to see that it’s going away. But I get it. It was only a matter of time.