Even before the Estevan Motor Speedway held its first program in the summer of 2000, it was clear that the track was going to be a hit.
The track held a practice sessions a couple of weeks before that opening day program. More than 1,000 fans turned out to watch the drivers get acquainted with the three-eighths mile dirt track southeast of Estevan.
It reflected how much fans wanted to have live auto racing back in the community. Estevan had been without the sport for a number of years, as the previous track had been dug up by the coal mining company of the day.
Reg Stephen, who was the first president of the speedway, recalls the excitement of when racing returned to Estevan.
“We wanted some race cars out to run on the race track, and see what it would be like,” Stephen said. “We had no concession building or anything.
“My late wife Karen brought her motorhome out, and we thought we’d maybe sell some pop and things like that out of her motorhome. We thought we’d have some people there, some race cars, and as I recall we had 1,000 or 1,400 people show up to practices. We were absolutely overwhelmed, to say the least.
“We had no idea that it was going be that kind of turnout, or that many people just come out and see what we had done, and what we were going to do in the future.”
At that point, they knew how badly fans wanted to see racing back in Estevan. And they still love watching the races.
“It’s always easy, in any kind of business that has a little bit of demand, that the honeymoon period, when you first open, everyone is going to come and see, and I think the biggest challenge going forward is to keep the people, keep them interested and keep them coming back.”
A great crew of volunteers, workers and board members during the past 20 years kept that interest going, he said.
“It’s a great facility for the community, it brings a lot of people from out of town in to see our community, and the economic spinoff of it is there,” he said.
But the process of bringing racing back to Estevan started well before the year 2000. There were meetings to resurrect some form of local racing.
“I believe we were moving dirt in the spring, or late in the fall we started, and I recall it happened reasonably fast, and then it snowballed into a great big group of volunteers who wanted to help with donating the grandstand,” said Stephen.
So many people supported the contraction of the speedway.
Stephen pointed out it was Dean Seemann who approached local drivers and enthusiasts about relaunching the club. From there, the meetings started; Stephen became involved because he was a racing enthusiast.
The mines came through with the needed land for the track.
James Gustafson was among those who played a key role in the construction of the speedway. An avid racing fan, he and his wife Gayle used to travel to Minot, N.D., to watch races.
He was invited to attend a meeting about the establishment of a track in Estevan.
“Prior to that, I went down to the location (of the track), and I saw Mr. (Lawrence) Lafrentz moving dirt every which way, and I said ‘This is going to turn out good,’” said Gustafson.
He agreed to help out with the fencing, and also volunteered to help out with the lighting.
Gustafson would eventually serve a term as the track’s president, and has been inducted into the Speedway’s Wall of Fame for his efforts to build the track.
“We had a great team of volunteers, and every chance we got, we’d go out there, because we felt that this was going to be a real benefit for the Estevan area and our racers and our fans,” he said.
Gustafson said there were so many people who were instrumental in making the track happen.
“In a lot of cases, because we had such limited funds in the beginning, we took donations and gifts in kind,” said Gustafson. “People would give us a load of pipe or something in return for some recognition.”
Whoever co-ordinated all of the work had to really be on top of it.
The speedway opened in the summer of 2000. While it was a limited schedule, they still ran enough races to crown track champions. Randy Stovin took the hobby stock crown, while Monte Lundy was the modified champion.
Gustafson is still involved with the speedway, even though he is no longer on the board. He and his wife still sell 50-50 tickets.
He has a hard time believing that the speedway is entering its 20th season. He believes it’s a testament to the efforts of so many people that the track is still going strong.
“There’s a lot more avid fans than myself. There are some people who have put unlimited time in there.”
He recalls that when the track opened, if someone couldn’t make it for their volunteer shift, they had to find a replacement. Now they have a roster of dedicated volunteers to draw from to ensure there are enough volunteers to make the program happen.
“There’s the people who work at the gates, and they have to be there early, especially the pit gates, because the races like to come in early, get their cars unloaded, do a little tuning, and hot laps are always before the race,” said Gustafson.
