Promoter Terry Voeltz, best known for his time as WISSOTA’s executive director, passed away on August 5 after a two-year battle with cancer.
“Terry was ahead of his time in promoting techniques,” said driver Buzzy Adams, of Cameron, Wisconsin. “His no-bullshit attitude may have caused some racers to butt heads with him, but a lot of us respected the heck out of him.”
WISSOTA general manager Nikki Cook witnessed how Voeltz worked with racers.
“He was always there for the drivers — listening and talking with them,” Cook, of Princeton, Minnesota, said. “He had the ability to see a subject from both angles and rationally talk about it.”
Voeltz started out as a racer before taking over the promotional reins at Jamestown Speedway. In 1996, he started promoting his hometown’s Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Then, in 2009, he hit the national scene as WISSOTA’s executive director.
“He was an excellent leader,” said Adams. “He helped put WISSOTA in the mainstream of racing. Everyone was focused on IMCA, UMP, NASCAR, and other organizations. WISSOTA became nationally recognized because of Terry.”
Under Voeltz’s leadership the sanction’s signature event, the WISSOTA 100, grew, drawing huge fields of cars as well as sponsorships.
“Terry was really good at communicating,” Adams said. “His strength was dealing with businesses and getting sponsorship for WISSOTA and its events. When he landed Speedway Motors as the series sponsor it was a game changer.”
Voeltz stepped away from WISSOTA leadership in 2016. In 2020, he and friends Kent Arment, Eldon Swingler, Derek Handrail, and Alan Neitzel formed Motor Sports LLC and took over the operation at Brown County Speedway.
“It was magical,” said Arment, of Aberdeen, South Dakota. “Terry got the headline sponsors back. The town officials jumped on board when they heard Terry was promoting the track. Terry was a local hero. He breathed a lot of good things into the speedway and the community around it.”
Voeltz saw the big picture when it came to racetrack promotion. However, that often involved paying attention to the details.
“When he ran the show, everything had to be the best,” Arment said. “The best food, the best purses, the best excitement. Be the best and strive was the way he operated.”
The award banquets Voeltz put on reflected that mentality.
“He ran the classiest awards banquets,” said Arment. “Racers dressed up to attend what they called a ‘Terry Voeltz banquet’ or businessmen knew they had to be prepared to go into a ‘Terry Voeltz meeting,’ reflecting that whenever Terry was involved, it would be a professional and classy event.”
On August 1, four days before he passed away, Terry Voeltz sat in a Brown County Speedway pickup truck. He had his headset on, watching the program from the infield.
“Kent got me out of the pit — Terry wanted to see me,” Adams said. “He greeted me and explained he hadn’t eaten in 30 days. Chemo had taken a toll on him. He told me he didn’t have much time. It was hard to hear. His mind was so sharp he was talking about bringing back the Winternationals, telling me jokes, and saying how exciting the Dakota Rumble was two weeks earlier.”
Terry Voeltz died on August 5 at age 78. Per his wishes, no service will be held. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to his wife, Jane Voeltz, at 2421 Bobbie Dr, Aberdeen, SD 57401.
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
