Oahe Speedway

Information may not be reliable

There is still time to RSVP for the 2010 Oahe Speedway Awards Banquet.
The 6th annual year-end celebration will be held at the Ramkota Convention Centre,
on Saturday, November 6, 2010

Social hour starts at 5pm, with dinner following at 6pm, and the 2010 awards presentation at 7pm.

Ryan Peterson, of Tolstoy, set a new C/S Unlimited 2700# and Heavier class
national record at the Slant Six Nationals, contested at Kearney Raceway Park, in August.
Peterson pushed his Valiant to a record 10.91 seconds at 124.87 MPH. The Valiant, powered by a 225 CI Slant Six, has run as quick as 10.74 at 129 MPH at Oahe Speedway. Peterson has seen 500HP dyno pulls on the slant six, claiming that there is still more to be found.

Thanks to Ryan and Ron Plender for sharing their success stories. Proof positive that
Oahe Speedway and its racers are forces to be reckoned with, in NHRA's Division 5, and beyond.

Ron Plender, of Box Elder has informed Oahe Speedway that his 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup has been certified as a C/Gas record holder by Inliner's International. Inliner's International is an organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of performance, in line powered vehicles. Plender set the record during the running of Oahe Speedway's first annual "Old Skool Drags" this past August. Powered by an inline six cylinder 292 Chevy, producing 450 horsepower, Plender's truck lowered the C/Gas ET record to 11.602 seconds in the quarter mile. Plender also captured the MPH record, at 114.91.

A side note: Oahe Speedway is an altitude adjusted NHRA sanctioned drag strip. At the corrected altitude of 1700', Plender's record would be pushed down to 11.458 seconds.

Arrangements have been finalized for the 2010 Oahe Speedway Awards Ceremony and Volunteer Appreciation Banquet at the Ramkota Convention Centre in Pierre, on Saturday, November 6, 2010. The evening gets underway at 5pm with a social hour, dinner at 6pm and awards at 7pm. This year's banquet will feature a Dinner Buffet of Roast Sirloin of Beef and Pork Loin. Cost for the banquet will be $28 for adults and $10 for kids 12 and under.
The Ramkota has limited rooms available at this time. Please call them as soon as possible for room reservations at 605 224 6877.

Saturday morning's showers, while brief, still caused a two hour delay in the start of the final races of the 2010 season, at Oahe Speedway. As the clouds disappeared, some of the best racing of the season ensued. 168 racers signed in the back gate, to compete in the Becky Hopf Memorial Race, a race organized to remember Becky Hopf, who lost her life in an automobile accident in mid July.

Box Shootout finals paired Greg Thompson, of Bruce and Dustin Long, of Mitchell.
Thompson utilized a wicked quick .005 reaction time to outrun Long for the title. Number one qualifier, Rick Meier, of Rapid City, broke out in the first round against Thompson. Long recorded the fastest speed of eliminations, 183.59, against Thompson, in the finals. Of special note, Dale Garber, of Pierre, turned up the wick, in test and tune, clocking a 7.061 run, at 191.48 MPH, easily the quickest run of the weekend.

No Box Shootout winner, Brandon Dunachek, of Mission Hill, defeated Paul Berger, of Pierre, in the finals. Both drivers had survived six rounds of competition, prior to meeting in the finals. Round one began with 67 cars making the first call. Number one qualifier, Travis Falcon ran right on his 12.09 dial in during his first round bye. Falcon would go on to lose in the third round.

Doug Percy, of Winner, took the Trophy Shootout title, over Jerrad Hopper, of Huron. Percy, with the better reaction time, took the win at the stripe when Hopper broke out.
Number one qualifier, Jamie Durham, of Watertown, finished his day in the third round, losing to Hopper.

Carly Ellingson, of Rapid City, defeated number one qualifier, Austin Mohr, of Mitchell, in the final. Ellingson, capitalizing on a better reaction time, drove around Mohr, for the win.

The third annual Gator's 100 MPH Challenge, was won by Brian Brady, of Pierre. The class is made up of competitors from Sportsman, Bike, Street Trophy, and High School classes. Each entrant must have run at least 100 MPH during selected qualifying days, throughout the 2010 season. A total of 72 drivers qualified for the 2010 runoff. Brady, a Sportsman class driver, squared off with Alan Vetter, Street Trophy competitor, of Gettysburg, with Brady taking the win when Vetter broke out.

The Final race of the day, the Becky Hopf Memorial Challenge, matched up Box Winner, Greg Thompson, and No Box Champ, Brandon Dunachek. Thompson broke out by .002 seconds at the finish line, giving Dunachek the final win of the day.

The entire Hopf family and Oahe Speedway thank all the racers and fans who gathered to honor Becky.

Oahe Speedway's 2010 season closed out on a warm, sunny fall day on Sunday. In the five previous closing weekends, the speedway has never had two nicer closing days.

Number one and two finishers in the 2010 Coca Cola Super Pro points race met in the season's Fall Finale, with David Rae, of Gillette, WY, getting the best of Curt Humann, of Pierre. Humann, the 2010 champion, red lit his chances away, in the final. Justin Roetman, of Vermillion, qualified number one, and lasted until round two, meeting up with Gary Buer, of Lake Preston. Buer got the best of Roetman, advancing to the semifinals before losing to Humann. Garber, once again, posted the fastest speed of eliminations, 182.70 MPH. No to be outdone, Joe Wolf of
Pierre, made the final test and tune pass of the day a good one. Driving his newly acquired, former Dustin Long RED, Wolf pushed the top speed of the day to 183.48 MPH. Long won the Super Comp title at the NHRA O'Reilly Auto Parts
Nationals at Topeka, KS, earlier this summer, in this car. Wolf downplayed the feat, saying "it didn't feel much different than my old car", but with a grin pondered, "wonder how fast it will go with a little nitrous". Time will tell.

In another huge field, 43 Pro cars made first call, and after 5 rounds, Randy Compson, of Valley City, ND, and Carl Stickney, of Watertown, paired off for the final. Compson watched Stickney's '72 Maverick draw the red bulb, at the starting line.
Completing a trifecta in the 2010 season, Compson won three races at Oahe Speedway in three different Mopars. He started the month of September , with a win in his immaculate '68 Barracuda, followed up three weeks later, winning with his '68 Dodge Dart, and closing out the trifecta with a win in another Mopar from the Compson stable, a '73 Plymouth Duster. In all, four Compson family members competed over the weekend. Randy's cousins, Marty, of Pierre, Greg and Chris, of Sioux, all driving Mopars, were at the track. Number one qualifier, with a perfect light, Chris Huse, of Onida, lost to Mike Verba, of Sioux Falls, in round three.

Bike class finals paired Brian Wilkening, of Buffalo, WY, and Don Gurnon, of Huron, with Wilkening emerging victorious. Gurnon fouled away his chance at the win on the staring line. Rodney Hopf, of Ramona, aboard a newly acquired '08 Yamaha drag bike, qualified number one. Hopf would lose to Troy Behlings, of Volga, on a break at the finish line. Behlings went red in the semis, advancing Gurnon to the final.

Sportsman winner, Doug Percy, of Winner, doubled up on the weekend, defeating James Morris, of Pierre, In the final. Morris, 2010 Coca Cola BankWest Junior Dragster champion, driving brother Carl's, 2010 Sportsman Class Championship winning '71 Cheyenne, was unable to hold off the hard charging Percy. Morris has completed his Junior Dragster career, with four championships in class.

Brandon Campbell, of Pierre, defeated Jeff Otto, of Watertown, in the Street Trophy final. Otto, driving a Wieand blower driven, small block '68 Pontiac GTO, broke out by .003 seconds at the finish line. Campbell had qualified number one.

Austin Mohr, avenged his Saturday loss to Carly Ellingson, in the Junior Dragster final. Ellingson pushed just a bit too hard, in an attempt to catch Mohr, breaking out by just .003 seconds at the finish line. Number one qualifier, Stacey Hopf, of Madison, lost to Ellingson, in round one.

Oahe Speedway Half Track Attack, an 1/8th mile competition, was won by Dallas Woertink, of Watertown. Woertink defeated David Gloe, of Strandburg, SD, in the final.

Fort Pierre Junior Dragster Minor class racers, Cody Ryckman and Kimberlee Geuther, ran off the final, with Ryckman running closer to her dial in, to take the win.
Geuther qualified number one in class.

On a beautiful, sunny autumn day, Oahe Speedway closed out its sixth year of operation. As we look forward to the 2011 season, track owner, Milton Morris, and the entire Oahe Speedway staff thank all the racers and fans for a safe and competitive season at the "Dam Fast Track" . The speedway hosted racers from South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and the Canadian Provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Les Feist, of Clearwater, MN, pushed our
Top Speed to 203.02 MPH, in July. Our first annual "Junior Jam" and our "Old Skool Drags" were a success, and we look forward to planning the 2011 season.
Stay tuned, it's gonna be big!!