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Blazing a Trail From a Reservation Into Ownership 

Curt Styres sat in the grandstand here at Ohsweken Speedway talking above the roar of a tractor grooming the dirt track. He recalled a night this May when he had been driving the tractor, as he usually does before stock car races.

And how afterward he put on a suit and boarded a flight for Chicago, where he was to be approved as the newest American Hockey League owner. . . .

In 1991, he co-founded Grand River Enterprises, a tobacco operation. Its success led to the Dreamcatcher Fund, which helps First Nations people across Canada pay for education and athletics.

In 2002, Styres bought a stake in the Six Nations Arrows Express, a junior lacrosse team. He built the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, a 2,600-seat facility in Ohsweken, then hired trainers, nutritionists and tutors for the teenage players.

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