BY MIKE CARROLL
OF THE PLAINSMAN
HURON — The 2026 racing season at Dakota State Fair Speedway is set to begin Saturday with a Car Show and Test and Tune at the track.
The car show is slated to begin at noon and last until 3 p.m., with the test and tune to follow at 4 p.m.
The event was originally scheduled for April 11, but inclement weather conditions forced a postponement, which unfortunately aligns with test and tune events at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen and I-90 Speedway in Hartford. “It was supposed to be last Saturday, and we were tracking for 100s of cars, said Jordan Sterrett, who, along with his brother, Josh, has taken over the promoting duties at DSFS this season. “We really just needed track time, and this is our only time to get in since our first race is May 2.”
The four classes racing on a weekly basis this season at the Huron track will be WISSOTA street stocks, Midwest modifieds, super stocks, and late models. They will be joined during special events during the season by the Tri-State Late Model Series and the Midwest Sprint Touring Series. “We plan to see everything that we run and then we did put out a call to anyone who has a race car of any kind to bring it on out.,” Sterrett said. “I know there’s some legends cars up north in the Watertown area, where we’re hoping we can get some of those, something that maybe the people going to the races don’t see all that often or even a retro race car or really any sort of race car that we can get.
“We’d love to have it out there to showcase and to be able to kind of, give information on what else is being run outside just our normal ones,” he said. Fans will be able to check out the cars and meet the drivers during the car show in front of the grandstands noon to 3 p.m.
The test and tune will follow at 4 p.m., however, the grandstands will not be open for the event. “It’s mainly for us to get some cars out on the track to see if our scoring systems and other equipment works, because they haven’t been used in a year,” Sterrett said. “It gives the corner guys some time out on the track and it gives the timing people some time out there.
“Then there’s a a new tech from WISSOTA, too, and it gives him time to come down and check out the cars,” he said. “It kind of allows them to do a little bit of work with that before the season starts, so he’s not overwhelmed.” After the season opener on May 2, weekly racing events are slated for May 16, May 23 and May 30. The Tri-State Late Model Series will be at the Huron track for events on June 4 and 6 in conjunction with Wheel Jam on the South Dakota State Fairgrounds. Joining the late models will be the WISSOTA street stocks and Midwest modifieds. Weekly events will be held Jan. 13 and June 20, wit the Midwest Sprint Touring Series to make an appearance at DSFS on June 27. Joining the 410 sprint cars will me the WISSOTA street stocks and Midwest modifieds. Weekly events will be held July 4, July 18 and Aug. 8, before the season finale on Aug. 15. Each race night the grandstands will open at 6 p.m., with racing slated to begin at 7 p.m.
While the Sterretts are new to the promoting business, they have been involved with the racing scene for numerous year in one way or another. They will also have the assistance of longtime DSFS track promoter Orville Chenoweth throughout the process. “Orville has made himself an answer point from Day 1. We talked to him before we did this, and this was something we kind of worked with him on,” Sterrett said. “If he was going to continue doing it, we weren’t interested in taking it from him. It was just once he decided he was done and they started talking about getting rid of the track if no one wanted to use it, that’s when we knew we had to jump in and make sure that it continued.”
Information regarding advanced tickets and season passes can be found on the Dakota State Fair Speedway page on Facebook.
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