BEAN BLOSSOM — In 1993, Sandy Fields had an opportunity to purchase the Brown County Dragway. Always the entrepreneur, she said yes.

She was a faithful keeper of the grounds and a memorable personality at the track up until her passing last month.

Now, Sandy’s legacy will continue, carried on by her son and daughter, Billy Fields and Bandy Russell. Events start the weekend of April 24.

Billy’s history is deep at the track also. He rode his bike up there as a child, and when he worked there, he’d get paid in hot dogs.

“There’s so many people you could talk to that have been raised at the track,” Bandy said. “I have. Billy has. Kids can start out at the junior dragstrip at 6 years old, racing their own car, then move up to big classes.”

The mid-1990s were the heyday of the racing industry, Billy said. It’s been down the last 10 years or so, but it’s still a way of life for many fans and participants.

Sandy was able to to operate the dragway with low overhead, a feat which not many tracks have been able to do, Billy said. “There were times I saw her open it when the best option would not have been to. But she cared for her employees.”

Their mother loved everyone at the track.

“It may have started out as a track, but everyone there was family,” Bandy said. “Everyone had some respect for all she was able to do on her own.”

Sandy had an entrepreneurial spirit, selling her ceramics in town, writing articles for “Coonhound Magazine,” and trading and selling mules and horses.

She purchased the dragway from their uncle, who’d reopened it in the 1980s after it had sat dormant for a few years.

Carl Brummet built Brown County Dragway in 1963, five years after the oldest drag strip in the state opened in 1958. The Indianapolis Raceway Park began around 1962 or 1963, Bandy said.

“(Brown County Dragway) is a pretty historic track,” she said, “and likely one of the longest operated businesses in Brown County.”

Sandy loved the property. Bandy called her the “mowing queen” of Brown County because she’d owned half a dozen Dixie Choppers.

“It would take about 10 hours to mow the property with two mowers,” she said.

In 2012, she became the owner of the land where the dragway sits after renting it for nearly 20 years.

“Even leasing it, she always took care of it like it was her own,” Billy said. “She was very proud of her property. There was a lot of stuff we found trivial, but she had pride in the business.”

Billy and Bandy are now giving it “their best shot,” knowing it’s what Sandy would’ve wanted, while also juggling their own lives.

Bandy works for Indiana University now, helping high school students get college credit for classes. She also worked at the track growing up, doing odds and ends, ticket sales, working in the tower. She also learned how to race.

Billy said it will be a challenge running the place, both of them having their own families and careers. Billy does auto paint and body restoration and custom painting as his daytime job, with bikes on the side at his home. He also designs stock cars.

Bandy said her brother could be considered the inspiration for their mother getting into the track. He’d been involved with the industry since his childhood and has since built tracks all over the Midwest. Bandy said he has a reputation of being the master of making the track surface the best possible for racing.

“My passion for the industry runs very deep, almost to a fault,” he said.

The 2021 event calendar has already been posted to the Brown County Dragway Facebook page. Billy said it’s a bit more compact than usual, mainly for them to also be able to maintain their normal life routines.

“We know we can give 110 percent to what we’ve got now,” he said. “If we spread it all out over the summer, I don’t think we’d give it the attention it deserves. We’ve got a couple of big races I’m looking forward to.”

“War in the Woods” is the fall invitational and Sandy’s favorite race, Bandy said. They’re also planning a celebration for Sandy in the process.

Sandy enjoyed events like their Mother’s Day and Father’s Day races because she was able to get to know people, Bandy said.

Since Sandy’s passing, Billy said that the outpouring of love and support from people across the nation has been “awe-inspiring.” An editor for Drag Illustrated Magazine wrote a heartfelt message about her.

“Seeing stories like that, people that had been there once or twice, people from as far away as California, that was 30 years of stuff,” Billy said. “To know when it came out at how far-reaching this little track in Indiana reached way beyond its boundaries.”

“Mom’s been involved for over 30 years, that’s well over a generation,” Bandy said. “That’s the heart of the track: the family atmosphere.”

Bandy said that she sees opportunities for more community involvement from the dragway, perhaps in teaching kids how to drive there and getting county officers involved for coaching.

“A flat parking lot is one thing,” she said, “but here you’ve got a hill and some curves. The door in my mind is open to see how we can help the community there.”

Billy said that he wants to stay focused and make sure that what they’ve got can be the best it can be.

They said their mother was private with a lot of the business aspect of things, so they are stepping into something “while the wheels are turning,” Billy said.

“Looking forward, I want it to continue to be successful,” he said. “That in itself will be the best way to remember mom with it, is that we didn’t fail.”