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Terry Voeltz: Racing was his thing, and he was grateful for family and friends

EAU CLAIRE, WI (August 8) - The WISSOTA racing community lost a longtime member and leader - and I lost an old friend - this past week when Terry Voeltz died on Tuesday, August 5. Terry and I were friends for decades; we spent a lot of time together at WISSOTA meetings, traveling to tracks, working together at PRI Shows in Orlando and Indy, and doing all we could to present a positive and professional image of the organization.

Terry was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer the summer of 2023. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know anything about it until November that year. You know how things get busy, and sometimes you don’t keep up as well as you should with friends who live seven hours away?

Anyway, I was sitting in the WISSOTA annual meeting that November and texted him, “You should be here.”

He replied that he wished he was, instead of doing what he was doing - which was lying in a hospital bed getting a chemo treatment. So that’s when he shared the news about his cancer with me. “I should have told you but kept it in the family and a small circle here,” he explained.

He added, “Prognosis is not the best unfortunately. Mayo said I will see Christmas 2023 but after that it is a 50/50 crapshoot. Trying to keep a positive attitude.”

“I’m thankful for the many things I got to do in my life and very grateful for my family and friends - really what else is there.”

Indeed, Terry.

We carried on a lengthy conversation that day as we talked about his treatments, the fact that he had not lost his hair during chemo (which made me a little jealous), and that the chemo had caused insomnia, so he tried hard to sleep a little on treatment days at the cancer center.

Well, Terry got to see Christmas 2023 - and then Christmas 2024 as well. He beat the odds for quite some time.

And he put that time to good use. He continued working at the track (Brown County Speedway) right up to the week before he died, and that’s exactly what I would have expected of him.

You see, racing was Terry’s thing.

As he used to explain to people, he didn’t fish, he didn’t drink, he didn’t play sports - all he did was racing. When he said that, I could tell it was very much a point of pride for him, but it was tinged with just a little regret as well, because he recognized there was a lot to experience outside of racing. Maybe some things he had passed up.

His career in racing started back in the late 1970s and early ’80s, as a driver. He also spent some time in the flagstand and eventually took over as the promoter at Jamestown Speedway. Fast-forward a decade or so, and along with his wife, Jane, and daughter, Chandra, he relocated back to his native South Dakota to take over operations at Brown County Speedway in Aberdeen. Jane and Chandra were always there, too, integral parts of the BCS racing family.

That’s when I started to get to know Terry a little bit better - in the late ’90s. I made regular trips to Aberdeen when Terry and his crew hosted the WISSOTA Western 100 and I drove out for some of his Rumble events as well. Terry was a showman and he enjoyed being the face of Brown County Speedway. He was active in Aberdeen, knew just about everyone in the business community, and was a big supporter of the basketball program at Northern State University in Aberdeen. He would light up when he told me about the team and when a new hotshot was recruited to go there to play. My kids played basketball, so we had a common interest there in addition to racing.

Terry had a big personality and strong opinions. He often worked the crowd during events, carrying a wireless mic and entertaining people as he bantered back and forth with his announcer.

That ability to speak to a crowd came in handy when Terry joined the WISSOTA board of directors and eventually became the president. I was also a member of the board so we spent a lot of time together - often on opposite ends of discussions. I played devil’s advocate a lot in our meetings and it sometimes drove Terry a little crazy. I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed that. Over time, he came to enjoy and expect it - and I think that’s why we became friends.

He appreciated that I gave him my actual opinion rather than just half-heartedly agreeing to go along and get along. We had some pretty heated debates over the years but never walked away from them mad about it. I think I won my fair share.

Terry ran the WISSOTA annual meetings for many years and sometimes he ruffled some feathers. He made sure you knew where he stood on issues within WISSOTA and he wasn’t afraid to push his point, to argue with you, or attempt to persuade you. He was very direct, which some people appreciated and others did not.

He also always wanted the thermostat in the meeting room turned down, which some people appreciated and some people did not. I did not!

Terry was a Viking fan. I chose to not hold that against him. He really enjoyed the days when the Packers laid and egg and he could point that out to me.

We made several memorable trips together over the years in addition to the Orlando and Indy work weeks. We went to Gillette, WY along with Randy Queensland from Deer Creek Speedway (who was also on the WISSOTA board) to meet with western promoters and drivers. We turned the other direction and went north of Antigo, WI for the Langlade County Speedway banquet one year. It was an uneventful drive to the banquet, but when we walked out afterward, it was into a raging snowstorm. Hell of a ride back. I’m still not sure how we made it in one piece. I never saw the road, he never slowed down.

I guess that’s kind of how it went with Terry and racing, in the end. He didn’t want to slow down. It was his thing.

I’m glad our paths crossed and we took the time to figure each other out over the years. Terry helped me to widen the lens through which I saw our industry and our world, and he put up with it when I bragged to him about how good my kids were at basketball, and how much better the Packers were than the Vikings.

My deepest condolences to Jane and Chandra, as well as Terry’s daughter Chantel and son Travis.