The Fast and the Curious: Best-ever moments in Huset's Speedway history Tom Savage For the Argus Leader Huset’s Speedway was built in 1954 by farmer and Brandon business owner Til Huset, who turned his soybean field just south of Brandon into a racey 3/8-mile dirt oval race track. He hosted racing at the venue in 1954 and 1955 before shutting everything down for the 1956 and 1957 seasons. After the track sat empty for two years, it had a resurgence in 1958. Races ran continuously from July of 1958 until its closing in May of 2017. There have been many memorable moments at the dirt track over the last 64 years with four different owners, thousands of participants and tens of thousands of fans. With the track’s future in doubt, the time seems right to embrace its past by highlighting the top 10 moments in Huset's Speedway history. 10. Opening Day After Huset completed carving out the ⅜-mile high-banked oval track in the spring of 1954, he hosted his first race on May 23 of the same year. The facility was nothing like it is today, and the races were run during the day because there was no lighting system. There were also no grandstands, no concessions stands, no public address system, no restrooms, no crash walls, no fences. It was simply a dirt oval, in the middle of a field, and fans sat on blankets on the hill where the current permanent grandstands and suites are located. Twenty-eight cars were in attendance on that first Sunday afternoon, with Paul Stogsdill of Wagner winning the first feature event in the track’s history. Since that opening day, 690 different drivers have won a feature race at the track. Exactly one week later on May 30, 1954, Soo Speedway, just six miles west of Huset’s, held its first race, and a rivalry between the two tracks was born. Although Stogsdill won the first event at Huset’s, longtime track fan favorite Jim Matthews orchestrated an upside-down flip in the first turn and landed on his roof where the current road sits next to the Turn 1 suites. 9. Barber retires in victory lane The battles between Brandon’s Marty Barber and Minnesota’s David Kruger were legendary in the 1980s and 1990s in the street stock division. The duo's duels were the highlight almost every week, with grandstand allegiance split evenly as rowdy fans cheered on the rivalry. Prior to the start of the 2000 season, as Barber closed in on 50 career victories at the track, he told longtime racing historian and trackside PA announcer Tom Savage that he’d retire once he got his 50th. Savage told him that when he did it, he’d meet him in victory lane. On July 16, 2000, Barber got that 50th victory. After the checkered flag, Barber brought his car to victory lane on the front stretch, like he’d done several times before. He climbed from the car, where Savage met him. Once out of the car, Barber took off his flame-retardant fire suit in front of thousands of fans, handed it to Savage and said he wouldn’t need it any longer. Barber did, however, come out of retirement for a short time and won two sprint car features at the track, completing his career with 52 total wins. 8. From Indianapolis to Huset’s Over the speedway’s long history, two different drivers have made the trek from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, the Indianapolis 500, to Huset’s in the same season. The first was Steve Kinser, who did it in 1997. Kinser was a longtime dirt track ace who eventually went on to win the World of Outlaws championship a record 20 times. Among his stops in the summer of 1997 was a run at the Indy 500, where he qualified in the middle of the seventh row in 20th position. He finished 14th after crashing with 15 laps remaining. Just two months later on July 3, Kinser made it to Huset’s for a World of Outlaws event. Mark Kinser won the race. More recently, Bryan Clauson did it in 2016 (he also did it in 2015) when he qualified for the 100th running of the Indy 500. He qualified 28th and finished 23rd, completing 198 of the 200 scheduled laps. Ironically, Clauson led lap 100 of the 100th running of the 500. Two months later, Clauson won an ASCS national sprint car event at Huset’s (Badlands Motor Speedway) on July 31. It would be his final sprint car victory before being fatally injured in a United States Automobile Club (USAC) midget event a week later in Belleville, Kan. 7. Pair of firsts in one night July 30, 1996 was a special night at Huset’s for a couple of reasons. The USAC National Midget series made its way from Indianapolis to the track for the first time. The national midget touring series raced at Hartford Speedway just west of Sioux Falls a decade earlier, but the 1996 visit to Huset’s was a history-making night. Indianapolis native Kenny Irwin won the midget feature. One year later, he made his NASCAR Cup debut and raced in three coveted Daytona 500 races before being fatally injured during a NASCAR practice in 2000 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The win at Huset’s was his last victory on dirt. The support series that preceded the USAC midget race at Huset’s was the IMCA Hobby Stock division, made up of several local drivers from around the region. Laura Mulder of Sioux Center, Iowa became the first female winner in the track’s history when she claimed the feature event. With USAC in town, massive crowds came to the speedway, and Mulder was greeted with a huge roar as she pulled into victory lane. “For us to even be there was amazing. But to win at Huset’s Speedway – we were dumbfounded,” Mulder said. “I was stunned when I got out of the car. It really hit me that I won at Huset’s. It was surreal.” 6. Sprint cars come to Huset’s By the end of the 1979 season, Huset’s had become a hot spot for automobile racing. The track featured weekly racing of Super Modifieds and other forms of bodied cars. Hartford Speedway made the switch to sprint cars in 1976, and longtime Huset’s promoter Fred Buckmiller was feeling the pressure to make the switch as well. Sprint car racing was growing in popularity around the country, and some local drivers such as Bill Mellenberndt, Dave Engebretson and Harry Torgerson, among others, were racing sprint cars weekly at Hartford. Buckmiller wanted to keep the cost of racing down and fought the public’s urge to start racing sprint cars at Huset’s. But in 1980, he finally gave in, and the popular sport made its debut at the track. Sioux Falls’ Jim Lindberg won the first sprint car race in Huset’s history on May 18, 1980. He also won the second. Marv DeWall of Jackson, Minn., went on to win the first sprint car season championship in the track’s history. Sprint cars have raced every year since, until the track’s closing last year. Since that first sprint car race in 1980 won by Lindberg, 17 different drivers have claimed track championships in the top sprint car division, led by Terry McCarl’s eight titles. 5. New owners take the reins The Sioux Falls Stock Car Association was formed in 1958, and that group owned the track for 31 years. But in 1988, a new ownership group took over and helped bring Huset's into the modern era. Clarence Rubin, along with sons Greg and Steve, purchased the track from the association, and the first race under the new owners was May 8, 1988. Marlon Jones won the feature event but was penalized for jumping a restart, and Glenn Berkner was awarded the victory. The association did its job of keeping the track alive during the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, but the Rubin family spent the next 28 years improving the facility. The enhancements included building a higher crash wall around the entire track, installing more catch-fencing, widening the pit gate on the back stretch, and constructing the suite building in turn No. 1. The track wasn’t originally for sale by the association, but a sealed proposal by the Rubins was eventually accepted, and the family took over until the sale to current owner Chuck Brennan in 2015. 4. With sprint car racing finally coming to Huset’s in 1980, track owner Steve Rubin went after the sport’s top sanctioning body, and he got it. The famed World of Outlaws, which formed in 1978, made its first trip to the track for a two-day show on April 29-30, 1983. The Outlaws had raced in Knoxville, Iowa, earlier in the week. But the trek to Huset’s got off to a wet start, and the opening day in Brandon was rained out. However, the second night on April 30 was a thriller with 34 cars in attendance. Canadian Tim Gee was the fastest qualifier with a time of 12.549 seconds. Tom Winters of Canton was the only local driver that made some noise that night, winning a heat race earlier in the evening. Tennessee’s Sammy Swindell went on to win the feature race, passing Arizona’s Ron Shuman in the final turn on the final lap.