Driver: Dave Ekern Driver: Dan Jensen Car Builder: Loren Fick Driver: Marlon Jones Driver: Jim Krueger

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Karin Cobb
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1 2017 Driver: Dave Ekern Driver: Dan Jensen Car Builder: Loren Fick Driver: Marlon Jones Driver: Jim Krueger DAVE EKERN - Driver Growing up in Flandreau, South Dakota, Dave Ekern loved anything with wheels; go carts, mini bikes, you name it. It was in high school where Ekern got interested in motorcycles. The rush from the speed and wheelies was his so-called drug of choice. Ekern graduated from Flandreau High School in 1974 and then attended South Dakota State University to acquire his mechanical engineering degree. The family business was a plumbing and HVAC shop in Flandreau started Ekern s Grandfather and Great Uncle. His plan was to someday take over the family business and today, Ekern owns that shop, and one in Brookings is when Ekern discovered racing, and his life would never be the same. He started going to races and pitting for the No. 14 Sprint Car owned by Harold Krull (Huset s Hall of Fame 2000). At the end of the 1978 season, Ekern found himself actually driving the No. 14 Street Stock at Huset s a few times. As the case of any young racer, Ekern had no money but plenty of enthusiasm. In 1979, Ekern won a feature and finished second in points in the Street Stock class at Huset s. He also broke an axle at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds that season and cart-wheeled the car and got quite the headache. In the early 80 s, the late Jimmy Schmidt helped with the cars as he was getting out of late models. With Schmidt s help, Ekern won the Street Stock championships at Huset s in 1980 and This team also won races at Hartford, Huron and Madison. Ekern was quite the busy racer in 1981 as he bought a Weinkauf Super Modified from Craig Waxdahl and raced it along with his Street Stock in Ekern had thoughts of moving up to Sprint Cars in 1982, but didn t know how he would be able to pull that off. Re-enter Greg and Harold Krull, as they were looking for a driver at the time. Ekern drove at the Clay County Fair in Spencer, Iowa for the first time. Following that run, Ekern was hired for the next year driving a Nance Sprint Car and Ekern recalls, That thing was FAST! Ekern sometimes wondered why the Krull s kept him in their car. Ekern wrecked the car seven times and blew up the engine seven times between Huset s, Jackson, and other tracks. Following one of those accidents, veteran driver Jerry Richert Sr. gave Ekern some much needed advice. Slow down kid and you ll go faster! He was right. In 1983, tracks like Huset s Speedway added the 410 Sprint Cars. Ekern ended up third in points at Jackson and won a feature and finished fifth in points at Huset s. The Krull/Ekern team raced together until ownership decided to go a different direction. In 1983 and again in 1985, two amazing daughters, Samantha and Pamala, came into the world and after that, Ekern went on his own buying a car and engine from Marlon Jones

2 (Huset s Hall of Fame 2017). Not long after that, family health issues forced Ekern to sell the racing equipment to Mike Ellingson and the motor to Rick Ferkel to take care of the family. Ekern then decided to start helping longtime Huset s Speedway driver, Doug Martens. Since Martens was on the road with the World of Outlaws at that time, Ekern drove the Martens car on occasion. He rented a 410 engine from Bob Wilson and won a feature at Huset s with it. Ekern then teamed up with Tom Wilson, and he won a feature at Huset s while he was behind the wheel. The Wilson/Ekern team had some great times, did a lot of racing and traveled the country doing so. Dick Trondson was the engine builder and helped in other ways too. The team then decided to hire drivers such as Dennis Moore Jr. and Terry Reilly. Those two drivers helped the Wilson/Ekern team win features in both the 410 and 360 Sprint Car classes at Huset s. When Ekern and his brother, Mark, bought their second business location in Brookings in 1999, he stepped away from racing to concentrate on getting the business up and running. Ekern got re-married to Val Ingalls during this time when he was taking care of business and not racing. Several years later, Scott VanMaanen was racing in Madison and needed a driver for a night. Ekern jumped right in and ended up sixth. A week later, Ekern drove Donnie Latham s car and won. He was hooked again. Since then, VanMaanen and Ekern have teamed up and each has feature wins including both winning the Master s Classic at Hartford. Once Huset s was sold in 2015, the team decided to support the track by adding a car in the 410 Sprint Car class. Without a steady driver, different drivers have piloted the car, including Eric Lutz, Dusty Ballenger, Gregg Bakker and Joe Riedel, as they run a very limited schedule. Ekern admits it s been hard at times to not let his passion for racing become an obsession. Racing opened a life that only a racer would understand. He ll also be the first to tell you that he couldn t have done any of this without the help of friends and family. There have been so many people that have influenced his racing career, some good and some not so good, and it is almost impossible to name them all. He has hundreds of stories to tell which his family has heard hundreds of times, but he still loves to tell them. There were a lot of time and money spent along the way, but he wouldn t trade it for anything. DAN JENSEN - Driver Dan Jensen, or as most race fans know him as, The Ironman, is originally from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. In 1967 when Jensen was just eight years old, he and his family moved to the United States. Jensen was just 11 years old in 1970, and it was then he knew he was a car guy. It was a 1970 Superbird he spotted at an automotive dealership, and after walking in circles around that car, he s been hooked. Jensen s first job as a teenager was at Pumpkin Center Body Shop where he learned the sanding and taping techniques from Oliver Fokken. Soon he was rebuilding motors and muscle cars and painting them on his own. It didn t take long to get into one of those muscle cars himself. His racing career began. Jensen caught the racing fever at Thunder Valley Drag Ways in Marion, South Dakota in In his first ever race on the quarter mile, he won the Trophy Class with his 1975 Camaro. He continued to drag race his various muscle cars on occasion for many years.

3 When the Demolition Derby came around, he began participating in those as well, winning his last at the Turner County Fair in Parker, South Dakota. Jensen s next progression was the 100 lap Enduro Race at Huset s Speedway in He was leading the race until 10 laps to go when the transmission failed. He had an awesome time and from then on, racing on the dirt was his calling. From that point on, Jensen was destined for Street Stocks. Sunday nights at Huset s Speedway became a way of life for over 30 years, witnessing so many great drivers, making so many friends and making so many memories. Jensen s life became all about racing. His father-in-law Glenn Anderson, Sr. (Huset s Hall of Fame 2000) was his mentor and the originator of the famed blue and white No. 98 Street Stock. Tragically, Glenn passed away and was laid to rest on September 8, 1998, an ironic date Jensen takes great pride in having the No. 98 as his car number in honor of Anderson. Jensen and his wife, Jodi, started the next generation of No. 98 racers in 1984 when their son, Matthew, was born. While Matthew was in High School, he raced in the Hobby Stock class and had immediate success. In the summer of 2002, Matthew went to Madison to race while Jensen went to Park Jefferson. While we were all worried about how Matthew was doing on his own up north, Jensen was involved in a horrific crash. While passing for the lead, a wheel came off the car at full speed. He was transported to a Sioux City hospital and suffered a severe concussion and bruising. Had it not been for his new helmet, doctors said Jensen s outlook would not have been good. After a weeklong stay in Sioux City, he checked himself out to get back home and back to racing. Jensen wanted to stay in the top 10 in points, so Howard Baartman (Huset s Hall of Fame 2014) let him borrow one of his cars for a night. While racing Baartman s car, Jensen won the "A" Feature and Baartman finished second. In 2014 Matthew then began racing Street Stocks for Jensen. Since he had shoulder surgery and was sidelined, Jensen would pit for Matthew, even while wearing a sling. With roles reversed, Matthew s first year of racing Street Stocks was a success, as he won an A Feature at Hartford, a very proud moment in the Jensen family. Under Jensen s tutelage, Matthew also received Rookie of the Year at both Huset s Speedway and Hartford in Jensen has always given 100% in everything he does. For many years, Jensen would take his car to shows held at Lewis Drug Stores in Sioux Falls. This was an opportunity for children to sign their names on the hood. It was all part of the D.A.R.E program to educate kids on how to say no to drugs, a program sponsored by the Sioux Falls Police Department. Jensen also hauled his car to The South Dakota State Fair in Huron, South Dakota, where he handed out D.A.R.E. stickers to the children. After a couple seasons of hood signings, there were thousands of children s names on the D.A.R.E. hoods, which are still proudly displayed at long time sponsor Garrey Hardware s shop. Jensen also raced a WISSOTA Late Model for Jay Sanner from Parker, South Dakota. He finished second in points in the Late Model class with three feature wins. After a two-year period, the WISSOTA Late Model class was eliminated at all the local tracks. Jensen has raced at many different tracks throughout his racing career, including Huron, Madison, Wagner, Park Jefferson, Rock Rapids, IA, Hartford, Alta, IA, Aberdeen and Zanesville, OH, but has always considered Huset s to be his home track.

4 The Ironman and his crew finished in the Top 10 in points over 50 times at area tracks, most of those were Top 5 with three track championships. The 1999 Huset s Speedway Track Champion title is still his proudest accomplishment. He was never the kind of guy to count wins, but if he had to take a guess, probably around 50 feature wins in his career. Jensen and his wife Jodi have one son, Matthew, and make their home in Humboldt. They also have owned N-Rich Plant Food in Humboldt for over 40 years. Loren Fick Car Builder For over 50 years, Loren Fick has seen it all. From being a car builder, car owner, mechanic, crew chief, track official or just a fan, racing has been a part of Fick's life since his early 20s. Fick started his racing career in Renowned as being able to literally build or fix anything, Fick built cars in the sportsman's, modified and Sprint Car classes. He took pleasure in building his own race cars and parts. Especially during a time when race cars were changing fast and teams had to turn to their own resources for a competitive edge. Fick's No. 54 car enjoyed a successful nine-year run with driver Lyle DeVries (Huset's Hall of Fame 2007) at Minnesota tracks, such as Jackson and Fairmont, along with Huset's Speedway. The DeVries biography stated that his most successful years in racing came after teaming with Foick. When DeVries retired, Fick asked Don Reiners to drive. They built their first Sprint Car frame in 1978, and went on to build a series of competitive Sprint Cars that had highly successful results. The Fick/Reiners team won their share of races and championships in the late 70s and early 80s, including a 7th place finish at the prestigious Knoxville Nationals in 1981, as well as winning the Jackson Nationals in An article written by Tom Savage (Huset's Hall of Fame 2008) in Open Wheel magazine's August 1983 edition, featured the early beginnings of the roll cage Sprint Cars and the successful partnership between Fick and Reiners. Fick was praised for building or fixing anything, being a wizard mechanic and pulling all-nighters to get a wrecked car back on the track during a three-day racing weekend. In 1984, Fick joined forces as crew chief and mechanic with owner John Baumann. The team enjoyed five years of racing at Huset's, Jackson and Sioux City. The No. 66 "Carney Mobile" had much success with Marlon Jones (Huset's Hall of Fame 2017) behind the wheel. This powerhouse team won two track championships, transferring from the B Feature to the A Feature at the Knoxville Nationals, then capped off the 1986 season by winning the annual Huset's Speedway Cheater's Day event at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds. Fick also spent nearly 20 years as a tech official at Huset's. He also performed those same duties at Rapid Speedway and Lake County Speedway. It was Fick s job to check race cars to be sure they were safe and legal to compete. He kept up on all the changes each season and was known to be strict with the rules. He would give racers an opportunity to address the situation or be ineligible to race that night. He fixed many fences after wrecks, scrapped mud off walls, broke up fights and enjoyed the races from the pits. Fick knew how to build, fix and set up race cars and make them successful. He worked with over 20 different drivers over his illustrious career and earned nicknames such as "Doc" or "Mr. Fix It." Now as one of the most knowledgeable spectators in the stands, Fick enjoys attending any racing event he can locally or in Arizona.

5 Today Fick and his wife, Shirley, are semi-retired from their farming business. They enjoy their winters in Arizona and summers in Minnesota closer to their four daughters and their families. MARLON JONES Driver Marlon Jones developed a love for automobile racing at an early age while going to races with his family. His father, Marlo and Uncle Don Jones (Huset's Hall of Fame 2010), both drove race cars, with help from his uncle Doug. Catching the racing bug was inevitable. Jones mother, Marge, along with both Aunts Betty and Georgia, definitely had their hands full with that crew. On top of those duties, they had to make sure his cousins Scott, Mike and Donna Jones, Vicky, Gary and Brian Richardson as well as Marlon in check. Jones started his racing career in go karts and raced those for one year. One night at the Turner County Fair in Parker, South Dakota, the fence was tested by Jones, and the fence won! So he began driving in the Super Modified class at Huset s Speedway in His first night in the car, he won the "B" Feature. During his third night in the car, a steering component broke and he hit the fence, breaking his leg and ankle. These injuries forced him to sit out the rest of the '77 season. His sophomore year in 1978 proved to be a success, as he would consistently run in the top five each night. Following the 1978 season, Jones then graduated to Sprint Cars. Jones' race career really began to come together in With a new power plant under the hood from Loren Woodke (Huset's Hall of Fame 2010), Jones won his qualifying night at the Jackson Nationals in Jackson, Minnesota. Starting on the front row for the Saturday night A Feature, Jones led the first 28 of the 30 lap event until he made just one brief mistake. That's all Don Reiners Jr. would need and passed him late and stole a sure win away from Jones. Later that season, Jones and his Uncle Don both won features at The South Dakota State Fair. In 1983, Jones won the first of his four Black Hills National s events and midway through the 1984 season Jones received a call from Max and Shirley Rogers. They asked him to drive the Scotch Grove #49 car and in 1985, Loren Fick (Huset's Hall of Fame 2017) came calling and asked Jones to drive the potent Baumann No. 66 car. One of Jones most cherished highlights was in the midst of that 1985 season. During the Saturday night of The Knoxville Nationals, the team had one of the greatest performances in Nationals history. The Fick/Jones team transferred from the D Main to the C Main, proceeded to qualify from the "C" to the B Main and capped off the improbable run to qualify for the A Main, where they ended up finishing 17th overall. During the off season leading up to the 1986 campaign, the team built a new car in Fick s shop, nicknamed The Carney Mobile. The team started the season in Florida with several Top 5 runs against some of the top drivers in the country. During that season, they earned a point title at Park Jefferson, South Dakota. They ended the year with 17 feature wins as well as the team s first Cheaters Day win at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds. The 1988 season was one to remember. Jones drove the Lusk No. 9 machine, sponsored by Jay Egge (Huset's Hall of Fame 2001), Myrl and Roy's Paving and Schnee Chassis, to the Sprint Car championship at Huset s Speedway and Jackson Speedway in Jackson, Minnesota. The team enjoyed their most successful year of Jones career. It started with a win at Volusia County Speedway in Florida and they capped the year off with a win at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Arizona. They ended with a total of 21 Main Event wins that season alone.

6 Jones took over the driving duties in the No. D1 Sonic Car from Kansas from 1993 until During that run, the team won multiple feature events, including winning the 1996 Cheaters Day Event along with the 1997 North Dakota Nationals. In 2004, Jones drove for a season in the No. 5 for Monte Lutz and his son, Eric. With a potent Ken Mader engine under the hood, Jones won the prestigious Jay Egge All Star Memorial Race at Huset s Speedway. That win marked Jones 21st career win at Huset s Speedway in the 410 class. Ironically, the engine used that night was a 360 engine. Finally in 2005, Jones teamed up for next five years with Mike Wendt in the Empire Auto No. 9 car, winning a main event at Hartford Speedway. The team had several top 5 finishes their first year together. Between the years the team enjoyed much success. In 2011, after a very successful 32-year driving career, Jones retired from racing, finishing his career with nearly 150 main event wins. JIM KRUEGER Driver Jim Krueger wanted to be a racer. So, when he finally got into a car, he thought he was pretty good. After finishing last in his first ever heat, he asked Bob Hall, What do you think? Hall s response, Are you afraid of the wall? Get UP there, the car will drive easier! The advice didn t work nearly as well as they had hoped. The next thing I remember, Krueger said, I was looking at the George Boom sign, upside down in the car. It was junk! When Krueger asked his uncle Billy if they were going to get another car, he just looked at him, took a puff off his smoke and just shook his head. Krueger s career had begun. There was a lot of carnage on the track in those early years for Krueger, but he didn t give up. Racing against the top competition Huset s had to offer and advice from veteran drivers like Donny Jones (Huset s Hall of Fame 2010) and Bill Leesch (Huset s Hall of Fame 2003), his aggressive driving style subsided and improvement began to emerge. Starting in the rear made me better and it made some work of it, but it was always fun, Krueger said of his early years in racing. When Krueger bought the No. 1 car from Leesch, things really started to turn around. So much so, Krueger picked up the Huset s Speedway championship in the 6-Cylinder class in During that era at the track, when you won a championship, you had to move up a class, so Krueger tried his hand at the Super Modifieds. In 1978, Krueger bought a car from Gerald Bruggeman (Huset s Hall of Fame 2000) and after a championship season the previous year, things did not go as planned and the success was not what he was expecting. Then in 1979, Krueger bought a Sprint Car. This was an even greater education for Krueger as he tipped a car over and was on fire. Then, after repairing the car, he proceeded to take it to the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds where he crashed hard. That was the end of the Super Modified and Sprint Car period for Krueger.

7 For the 1980 season, Krueger decided to go back to his roots and he built a new 6-Cylinder car. It turned out to be a good decision for his career as he picked up his second championship that year. In 1981, the 6-Cylinder class and the V8 Sprint Cars ran together and on the 4 th of July weekend at Madison, Krueger crashed on consecutive nights and that put an end to his open wheel career. Krueger briefly tried his hand in a Street Stock for Bargain Barn a handful of times for Marty Barber (Huset s Hall of Fame 2009) and Leland Goehring. After destroying Barber's car at Rock Rapids, Krueger hung up the helmet. During his career, Krueger was victorious 27 times at Huset's Speedway. Years later, Krueger decided to become a car owner. He bought a Sprint Car from Rod Henderson and had his son Tim drive for a period of time, then Krueger s other son, Cory, took over until he was done racing. Since then, Krueger has ran a few old timers races and some 360 shows and had a lot of fun! Through all the long nights, struggles, crashes, wins and championships, Krueger made a lot of friends and memories that will last a lifetime. At times, those friends weren t the closest friends he had, but at the end of the night you always knew what was right and wrong. Krueger s fondest memories include he and his brother Paul switching championships back and forth during the seasons, the 1981 Jackson 6-Cylinder Championship, a feature win at Hartford in his only appearance there, driving for Soo Sports during his 6-cylinder days, three runner-up finishes in a row in his Super Modified including one at Huset s and two at the Sioux Empire Fair.

"It's an honor for sure," he said. "I need to thank everyone possible. I got a heck of a lot of help getting here."

It's an honor for sure, he said. I need to thank everyone possible. I got a heck of a lot of help getting here. 2014 Driver: Howard Baartman Driver: Robin Dump Media Personality: Kevin Kjergaard Owner Ben Nothdurft Driver: Gary Zitterich HOWARD BAARTMAN Howard Baartman didn't start racing until he was 39 years old,