Badlands Motor Speedway

[TUTY]

Formally Husets Speedway closed there doors yesterday after the State of SD voted NO to high interest rates on Payday loans which is the owner of the speedways business. He dumped $10,000,000 in the speedway last year and want $9,750,000. Anyone interested?

[W2Racing09]

Formally Husets Speedway closed there doors yesterday after the State of SD voted NO to high interest rates on Payday loans which is the owner of the speedways business. He dumped $10,000,000 in the speedway last year and want $9,750,000. Anyone interested?

Sucks for Husets and the fans but... its very rare that I ever consider racing to be better off when a track closes. That guy was an ass and he was trying to do his best to destroy weekly 410 racing in that region. Competing with Knoxville for cars (when Husets always ran on Sunday before he switched it to Saturday to compete), paying out a ton of money that no track trying to break even or make a profit could ever match. He was trying to put Jackson and Knoxville out of business. He got into arguments with the Outlaws, and the NSL (to the point of the Outlaws dropping him off the schedule just a few weeks before his biggest race of the season). People like this hurt racing, I hope someone else buys it but that 9m price tag shows just how much he really cares about the racing at that track. Nobody is going to pay that kind of cash for a dirt track, I doubt Stewart paid that much for ELDORA.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[TUTY]

Couldn't agree more!

[non driving fool]

I would like to see what 10 million got in improvements, seems like that kind of money could build a nice place from scratch!

[Senroc-Systems]

W2 is spot on with the goings on at Badlands. I have a friend who lives in Sioux Falls and races a B Mod there. He told me back in July that the owner was trying to put Knoxville out of business, by paying unbelievable money. He also said the amount of money the guy was spending on the track was also unbelievable. I asked him what he thought was the average weekly spectator count, and he said " oh, about 6000 or so"! I thought he was crazy, but he said " it's unreal" people coming from miles around every time he opened the gate. I told him I was gonna come see him as soon as time and money would allow a trip like that, just to see it with my own eyes. Looks like I needn't be in a hurry. He did show me on the web site where he was going to pay $250,000 to win for the 410's. It on the website, or was. The place looked unbelievable to be out there in the middle of nowhere. Still seem odd to me. I'll try to get ahold of my guy tomorrow, and report back.

[Senroc-Systems]

Oh yeah.......There's all kinds of stuff on the internet about it. The awesome website I looked at in July is gone, replaced with the details about the reason he is closing now and putting it up for sale. Over 9000 seats for the racing and up to 20,000 seats for concerts etc. etc. Says the courts ruled and gave the 5 days to comply. He flatly stated that the micro loan business " is what we do", and hundreds of jobs will be lost. Along with the state of the art facility there is over 80 acres of land to accommodate a variety of business opportunitys. Just Google Badlands Speedway.

[CIRF]

I don't know much about the situation up there except for what I've been reading here in this thread and that there was a pretty big show cancelled shortly in advance of the race date.

What I do know for sure is anyone who has idea's of putting Knoxville out of business had better pack a lunch and bring a mountain of money!

[Senroc-Systems]

Is $100,000,000 considered a mountain? That's the kind of number this guy is taking about.

www.badlandsmotorspeedway.com

[CIRF]

$100,000,000 or not, he didn't get the job done and it's a safe bet that he wouldn't have even if his loan shark enterprise hadn't been voted out of existence.

There is 55 years of history behind the Knoxville Nationals and the Nationals is widely regarded as the biggest, most prestigious and revered of any annual event of any kind contested on dirt. Even $100,000,000 might not be able to erase and eliminate that legacy.

No one will ever know for sure if the job of putting Knoxville out of business would have become reality but a bet against it would have been as safe one.

[TUTY]

The facility is in tip top shape and maybe to nice $$$. 2 very large video screens on the back stretch, around 10,000 seats that were bought from Daytona. I think 3 VIP Towers that seat a lot of people with full bar and waitress's. Great place but who can make money with a $9,750,000 investment?

[vande077]

W2 is spot on with the goings on at Badlands. I have a friend who lives in Sioux Falls and races a B Mod there. He told me back in July that the owner was trying to put Knoxville out of business, by paying unbelievable money. He also said the amount of money the guy was spending on the track was also unbelievable. I asked him what he thought was the average weekly spectator count, and he said " oh, about 6000 or so"! I thought he was crazy, but he said " it's unreal" people coming from miles around every time he opened the gate. I told him I was gonna come see him as soon as time and money would allow a trip like that, just to see it with my own eyes. Looks like I needn't be in a hurry. He did show me on the web site where he was going to pay $250,000 to win for the 410's. It on the website, or was. The place looked unbelievable to be out there in the middle of nowhere. Still seem odd to me. I'll try to get ahold of my guy tomorrow, and report back.

Personally didn't go up there at all this season but did talk to local fans and drivers that go there weekly. From what they told me (during the season) was that crowds were pathetic most of the season except on nights where it was free admission and specials (and even those were down compared to the year prior).

Personally, I think the biggest issue was he has/had ZERO history with racing (in the area or anywhere) and was bombastic and told everyone how great everything was and how it was better than everything else and failed to deliver on his promises. I've always been told the best way to make people happy is to under-promise and over-deliver and he appeared to do the exact opposite of that.

I hope someone will take it over but that price tag on the facility is going to make it tough for anyone to ever turn a profit as a racetrack or outdoor concert venue.

[zach51]

It was never going to pay $250k to win for a single winged 410 race. He did have a winged and non wing 410 race a few months back that paid 50K each and got pathetic car counts for that money. He is dumb if he ever thought he would put Knoxville out of business. Knoxville barely noticed the difference. Knoxville is not privately owned either.

[TUTY]

Yes there were about 2500 fans on Saturdays and 2000 fans on Sunday's. They ran 410's on Saturday $5000 to win and 360's on Sunday for $2500 to win. The Gold Cup was 3 nights 250,000 purse with $50,000 to win winged and wingless A-Main. Extra $25,000 if u could win both. He started out with $160 3 day pass and lowered it to $100. The crazy thing is yes Chuck didn't know much about races but he hired guys that were Husets people and had in put. Crazy, crazy decisions.

[chupp n bloomer fan]

Wow, a loan shark and very full of himself.