Black Hills Speedway (Rapid City, S.D.)—Photograph Collection

Content Description

The collection consists of over 4,600 slides, negatives, photographs and other materials concerning the Black Hills Speedway (Rapid City, S.D.) dating from 1971 to 1974. Also included are yearbooks, papers, programs, newspaper clipping and magazine articles. The photographs include images of the operations of the racetrack, extra promotional activities, the drivers and crews, the support staff and the races. The majority of the collection contains black and white negatives. Printed representative samples of these negatives are included in the collection. Slides were rarely used in the yearbooks or other promotional materials. Color negatives were mainly portraits and used for promotion, gifts, and prizes. A detailed spreadsheet of the images is included with the collection. The collection also contains transcripts of oral interviews and memoirs conducted in 2019, yearbooks from 1972 to 1974, and newspaper clippings pertaining to the history of the track. The Rapid Valley Race Track was in operation by the 1940s. George and Lois Davis purchased the track in 1968 and changed the name to the Black Hills Speedway. In 1978, George sold the speedway to Roger Mason, Al Croyle, and Morey Dunn. Roger Mason and Skip Rudge operated the track in 1979. In 1980, the track returned to George Davis and the name changed to George Davis’s Black Hills Speedway. In 1983, the track sold to William S. (Bill) Davies, and the corporate name was Black Hills Speedway of Rapid City, LTD. Floyd Weisz bought the track in 1984. Over the years, other names have been associated with the speedway, such as Bill Keester, Shane Liebig, and Ed Kirchoff. According to the Black Hills Speedway Hall of Fame, as stated in the Rapid City Journal in October 2018, the Weisz family owned or promoted the Speedway from 1985 through 1996. As of 2019, the last listed South Dakota registered owner is Cross Country Real Estate LLC out of Gillette, Wyoming. Black Mountain Photography, an independent business owned by Karen and Larry Bulman, and Michael Hahn, had authorization to operate at the speedway between 1971 and 1974. These photographers took photographs of the track, pits and the people involved with the Speedway. They then sold those pictures and yearbooks at a booth adjacent to the track’s concession stand.

Acquisition Type

Gift

Restrictions Apply

No