JEFFERSON, S.D. – An offer he couldn’t say no to got Sioux City businessman Steve Kiraly back into motorsports.
The former driver and industry veteran Dennis Moore now co-promote The New Raceway Park in Jefferson S.D.
With IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods and Mach-1 Sport Compacts on regular weekly programs, they’ve seen car counts go up at every Sunday show since opening night on May 26.
“It was excellent that we got the IMCA sanction,” said Kiraly. “We’re bringing the fun back to racing at this track. We saw four-wide racing at our last show and the drivers had a blast. We had 63 cars on our first night, 68 cars on our second and 72 on our third.”
“We have a lot of IMCA drivers who live in this area,” he added, “and we’re going to work very hard at getting the drivers who stopped racing here to come back.”
Forty-six truckloads of black gumbo clay were added to the quarter-mile oval this spring as part of ambitious facility-wide improvements.
Kiraly and Moore also caught up on maintenance on the grandstand side of the track, notably with the concession area and restrooms.
“I’d raced for 15 years, in everything from a hobby stock to a modified. I hadn’t thought about promoting until some drivers asked me if I’d be interested,” Kiraly said. “One thing led to another before there was an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“Everything has been real positive,” he concluded. “We’ve gotten a lot of support from a lot of people.”
The former Interstate Speedway crowned its first IMCA champion in 1986; what later became Raceway Park was sanctioned for eight seasons, most recently last year.
Points earned at The New Raceway Park figure toward the Side Biter Chassis North Central Region for Modifieds, EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region for Stock Cars and Big Daddy Race Cars Northern Region for Hobby Stocks.