ACKLEY, Iowa – Toby Kruse is a very busy man.
The well-respected promoter, flagman, announcer and race director admits to not doing well when he has free time.
So, he makes certain there is not much free time on his schedule.
One tradition he has with his Marshalltown Speedway is an extremely efficiently run program.
“Several years back I was watching different races and I came up with a theory,” Krause said. “If a show is done right, for every 50 cars that should take an hour and fifteen minutes, so if you have 100 cars that should be a two-and-a-half hour show.”
Last Friday Marshalltown had 120 cars and ran the show in 2 hours, 52 minutes. Using the Kruse formula, 120 cars would be three hours, so he beat the clock by 8 minutes.
As to watching streaming racing, Kruse notes that, “It’s hard for me to sit there and watch that if they don’t run the show right. I don’t have the attention span to watch all the dead air.”
Kruse got started with racing when his family went to Boone and started working as an assistant flagman at age 18 at the track. After fulfilling that task at Boone, Des Moines and Jefferson, he got his first job as a regular flagman at Buena Vista Raceway in Alta, Iowa, at age 19.
The following year the announcer at Boone was moving on and somebody said to promoter Robert Lawton that Krause could do it and he should be given a chance.
Lawton promoted Marshalltown at the time and Kruse started a 20-year career announcing at Boone. During this time he also worked in a body shop, writing estimates, ordering parts, etc. He was very bust as he was announcing or flagging about 130 races a year.
When Lawton told Kruse that he was in his last five years of running Marshalltown, Kruse started saving all the money he could to bid on the contract when the time came. He got Marshalltown in 2006 and states he will be done in 2026 at the end of his current contract.
Kruse stated the plan right now is to leave Marshalltown after those 21 years, but not to leave racing.
He notes that, “I like to do special events and help out other race tracks, like an advisory position for example, I’d love to do something like that at other race tracks instead of being locked down at one.”
The most important things in promoting?
“Track prep. That’s your product,” Kruse said. “You have to spend whatever time, effort, and money to make sure you have a good surface. Consistency on the calls is important, the racers know how we’re going to run the show. Treating the drivers with respect is also important. Everyone has to work together to reach a goal.”
Marshalltown has been streamed weekly for years, does not lower the crowd, and brings attention to Marshalltown. Kruse commented that recently modified driver Collen Winebarger from Oregon was at his track, stating he watched the stream and that put the track on his bucket list.
As to streaming costing tracks fans, Kruse says, “There are people who want to be there, they want to feel it, smell it, they want to hear it, and I don’t think the broadcast effects your audience at all. It’s been proven that less than 1 percent who are watching a stream are within a 60 mile radius of the track.”
Kruse also owns Toby’s Hideaway in Boone, a place his family always enjoyed and not far from his home. The previous owners quit doing food and let it go downhill. He saw potential and bought it in 2010 and it has been successful, something he credits to the employees.
As to his business success, Kruse says, “I give all the credit to my parents. They were very blue collar, hard working, they gave me work ethic. I’ve never been afraid to work hard.”
Krues also bought an event center in Boone in 2015 at the urging of friends. It was a bit of a quick decision, not in his normal manner, and now it is the site of weddings, concerts, graduations, plays, and a little bit of everything. There is a big motorcycle rally also.
Speed Shift TV came about in 2013 after conversations with Darren Shanley and Chet Christner over the course of a year. To start, Kruse said, “We literally went to any race track we could to broadcast an event and we went from begging to broadcast to six years later doing over 300 races per year, literally all over the country and Australia.”
Kruse recently sold Speed Shift to FloRacing and he mentioned that “the longest part of the negotiations was making certain the employees were well taken care of.”
Kruse is also part owner of 141 Speedway near Maribel, Wis. The track was asphalt for years then the promoters but dirt on it. After a few years Kruse was told he should go to 141.
“I went there as a fan for two or three years,” recalled Kruse. “The current owner said I ought to buy this place. I now own 50 percent of it along with Scott and Dan Ratajczak, purchased in 2013. In 2019 we averaged 159 cars per night. Last night we had 151 cars, started at 6 pm and were finished at 9:20. It’s an absolute mirror of Marshalltown.”
Days off? Not for Kruse. He notes that is something happening every day.
“There are times when I think, man, I need a day or two off,” Kruse said. “Then I have two hours of idle time and I start going crazy, I think that’s just the way I’m wired.”
Making the seven-hour drive from Boone to 141 Speedway and back each racing weekend should help fill him time.
Unfortunately, 24 hours after this interview was done as Kruse drove back from 141, winds measured at 99 mph hit Marshalltown Speedway. Damage was severe and the future of this season is in doubt.