Junior Brunick

When Til Huset finished carving out his ⅜ mile oval outside of Brandon in 1954, he hosted his first race on May 23. Paul Stogsdill went on to win the inaugural event, but Vermillion’s Junior Brunick was in the mix throughout the entire season.

Brunick was behind the wheel of a potent car in that first season. He began his career with a car purchased from Dale Swanson, a Harlan, Iowa native who was notorious for building competitive race cars in the 1950s.

He built cars for the likes of NASCAR veterans Johnny Beauchamp and Tiny Lund. Beauchamp went on to race in 23 NASCAR events and finished second in the 1959 Daytona 500. Lund raced more than 300 NASCAR races with five career wins including the 1963 Daytona 500.

Brunick’s first car was one of the cars used by Beauchamp and Lund. As he continued to hone his racing craft over the years, Brunick was also offered a ride in the 1957 Daytona 500. However, he passed on the offer so he could continue to run the family service station in Vermillion. The service station is still in operation and is run by Brunick’s son, Dave.

Brunick was an outlaw driver before outlaw driving became a commonly-used term in the racing world. Making the trek from Vermillion each week, Brunick regularly visited Huset’s, Soo Speedway in Sioux Falls, Riverside Speedway in Sioux City, Mitchell, S.D. Speedway, Riviera Raceway in Norfolk, Nebraska, Raceway Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa and the Crawford County Fairgrounds Dennison, Iowa.

He finished with one career win at Huset’s and retired from racing after the 1972 season. He raced a super modified in his final campaign, racing strictly at Raceway Park in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Brunick passed away in 2018 at the age of 89.