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NEWS UPDATES

We will try to keep the updates as current as possible.

Thank you for following our racing adventures

February 15th, 2010

Bill and I had a party this past Saturday for the old crew members that got us to where we are today.  Back in our day of sportsman cars at the Hales Corners Speedway we had 3 exceptional guys that came to the races with us every Saturday night.  Ken Czubkowski was the first to join us in 1974 and he stills helps Bill at home preparing the car as much as possible.  Then we had Ernie Olson and David Young come along around 1975.  Between Bill and the 3 guys they could look at each other and know what needed to be done.  All four of them worked at the same dealership in West Allis and started with us in our little garage in South Milwaukee.  The place was so small there was barely room to walk around the race car.  Throughout the years we had a few changes.  Ernie left when he got married and found other things to do with his time.  Ken and David were joined by Kens brother Al, and again they were the four amigos.  Then Al got married and his kids took most of his time.  In 1980 we picked up a new sponsor and switched to Late Models with Concrete Raising Corp.  With Concrete Raising came Jim Maher who crewed with us for close to 10 years.  Concrete Raising left us and Duane Bower hooked up with us and became a partner with the team.  I can't stress enough that we wouldn't be where we are today without each and every one of them.  Thank you all for all the work you did to get us where we are today.  We are extremely happy that we can still call them good friends today.  
I will be putting some pictures on the new pic page even if they are old pics. 
On Feb. 27th we will be going to Washington County Fair Grounds for a racers swap meet.   

January 18th, 2010

We had an enjoyable weekend at the Dells.  We enjoyed our free room which Bill won at the Dells racetrack and offered by The Wintergreen Resort where the banquet was held.  The speeches from Mel Kenyon and Fr Grubba were very interesting.  They both have many years of racing behind them and it was great listening to them.  
I was told that there was 20 drivers at the banquet to celebrate.  I have posted 2 pictures, one of the little car that the Melchiori's gave to the top 10 drivers, and one of the top ten drivers.  Both Mark and his son Matt made these little cars.  This was a unexpected gift that we both love.  Thanks Mark and Matt.  
I have also posted a picture of the wedge car.  Bill has been working on it this winter and has started to fit the body.  Only another couple of years before it is race ready.  He does have a motor for it.  Now all he needs is the rest of the car.  

January 15th, 2010

We spent this past weekend at the racers auction in Madison.  We attended a meeting for the ASA Sportsman with Steve Einhaus.  There was quite a few people there with lots of interest.  We stayed for the next meeting for the Mid Am series and not much new info was presented.  
This weekend  we will be at the Wintergreen Resort in the WI Dells.  Our banquet is being held there.  There was a drawing at our last WI Dells race in September for a free room for our banquet.  Bill was the lucky recipient of the free room.  We have always enjoyed the facilities at the Wintergreen Resort.  
Bill is trying to make arrangements for going to Florida at the end of February.  He wants to race at Palm Beach and Sebring.  They are both road courses and run with SCCA.  Not sure we can manage that expedition right now but are trying to make plans.  I will try to keep you posted.

December 28th, 2009

Hope your Christmas was merry.  Ours was.  We had the family over and even dug out some old pictures.  I have one special one to add (picture) to the web site.  See if you can name the 2 people in the picture.  Hint...one is very dear to us and she is a keeper.  The other is, well lets just say, an old time racer that Bill had the pleasure of racing with a few times.

December 22nd, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!!  Hope all of you will enjoy the holidays with your family and friends.  Bill and I will have our family at our home and we are really looking forward to having everyone together.  
Some really exciting news in the world of racing.  The Nationwide series will be going to Road America this summer.  A June 19th weekend will be the date.  The support series will include SCCA Pro Racing Trans Am, Playboy Mazda MX-5 and the Mid Am Cars.  Bill has been trying to get the Mid Am series drivers to go to Road America but can't seem to get them enthused enough to go.  We usually have around 10 or 15 drivers that end up attending the race and it's hard to make a competitive show with that few cars.  But with the other series coming, the Mid Am cars will be coming from everywhere to be a part of this.  It is one of the highlights of the series.  We have been to many tracks and this is one of the best in the country. This is a world class facility and the management and workers are the finest around.  We only have to wait 6 months for the event.  
I have a quote from Mark Melchiori.  "The Mid American Stock Car Series will race at Road America this June supported by the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Trans Am" .  I like the thought of that.
Enjoy your families at Christmas.  Remember the reason for the season.

December 8th, 2009

Wow, it's December already.  Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one.  Ours was.  It was our daughters first Holiday in her new home.  She had the family over and everything turned out great.  
Bill has been working on the dirt wedge car that he is rebuilding.  If you remember I had mentioned that he bought a chassis and planned on rebuilding it for show.  He figured it would take about 10 years to do.  It's been 2 already so he better get moving.  It will be fun taking that to a dirt track.  We still have the body that he ran in 1985.  The body still has some Hales Corners dirt on it.
Other than that not much has been happening around here.  I had surgery on my foot and am moving a little slow on crutches so Bill gets to help me around the house.. He also gets to clean up all the snow that we are going to get.  
There will be an auction in Madison that we will be going to on January 8th and 9th.  Bill has a few things to get rid of and he wants to buy a few things.  
As for racing next year.....we are still discussing it.  He is trying to pick out a couple of road courses to go to and he received an e-mail about going to Pikes Peak Hill Climb.  That sounds interesting.  (until you watch a video and realize there are no guard rails on the road)
Hope you have a great Christmas.

October 11th, 2009

The season is over and it didn't finish exactly the way we would have liked it to.  Bill went to La Crosse with a 21 point lead and left with a 20 point deficit.  He did have fast time and brought home the "faster than a speeding bullet" award.  The feature wasn't so kind to us.  With some poor calls and a flat tire, Bill went down a lap when the track went green as he tried to make it out on lead lap.  Bill finished 13th one lap down.  I really need to thank the people that tried to get us back on the track.  Kevin from Lyle Nowak's group along with Don Lundsford and one other guy from Brian Backs crew, I wish I knew your name, but thanks for all that you guys did.  I never would have been able to get him back out by myself.  I would have thought that the series and the track officials would have made a little more effort to decide the championship on the track.  We like pitting in the upper pits at LaCrosse because we have more room, but it is not conducive to having a quick repair for an incident on the track.  
The season is over and I will let you know what next year's plans will be.  Right now we have to reflect on the past year to see if we want to keep going in this direction.  Every year we talk about this but this year is a little tougher. The economy (both at work and at the track), family health issues and the direction the series is going will all have an effect.  It will take a little time.  Comments are always welcome.  Email to prietzel@att.net
We will make occasional updates during the off season.
Congratulations to Paul Neisius on the 2009 championship.

October 5th, 2009

After the Friday and Saturday races at Rockford this weekend were rained out, I could only imagine what our Sunday show was going to be like.  But I have to give Rockford Speedway an atta boy for getting the shows in.  We had to park outside the pits right next to the fence by the pit shack.  It actually turned out to be a good spot because after our race was over we were able to leave when we wanted to.
Bill's practice sessions were not as comfortable as he would have liked them to be.  The track was green and had no rubber on it.  He felt it would come around and luckily it did.  Bill qualified 3rd and was very happy with that.  No heat races for the day due to time or lack there of.  Bill started the feature in the 5 row outside.  After numerous yellows and restarting inside and outside, Bill worked himself up to 3rd for the finish.  With a 3rd in qualifying and a 3rd in the feature that put him back into the point lead.  Our Madison race on August 29th and the Dells race in early September were both DNF's for various reasons.  Paul Neisus caught and passed us for the point lead.  Unfortunately Paul did not have a very good day at Rockford.  He crashed pretty hard and had a DNF himself.  Bad luck gave him the lead and bad luck took it away.  So it is down to the wire at LaCrosse.  It's been a while since there has been a fight to the finish.  We will be racing on Saturday night.  I will let you know who comes out on top next Monday.  Thanks for reading.

Sept. 28th, 2009

Nothing...That's what we did racing this weekend.  We got up early on Saturday for the ride to Madison.  The weather did not look very good at 6:30 in the morning.  Then again nothing looks good at 6:30 in the morning.  As I was getting ready Bill looked on the internet and found a blurp that said they were cancelled.  We thought it was a little early to cancel for the entire weekend, but they did.  And of course it turned out to be a great weekend for racing.  I do know that the Madison area got about 3 inches of rain during the week and that may have attributed to some of the their decision.  
The next race on our schedule will be at Rockford on Sunday, October 4th.  Hope to see you there.

Sept 22nd, 2009

The trip to Watkins Glen was the trip of a lifetime.  We left on Thursday evening around 8 PM and made a stop for fuel in Oak Creek.  Bill didn't know if he wanted to go on the toll way or to take 41 thru downtown Chicago.  I said he should take 41 to save us around $30 or $40 in tolls.  I don't think he will ever listen to me again.  I think it was our fist or second stop sign on 41 that suddenly changed to red and we did not have enough time to stop.  So Bill went through it.  Big brother was watching and we got our picture taken.  I am expecting to get a letter of gratuity in the mail asking for a donation to the Sheriffs Department.  (And I don't mean to the Policeman's Ball)  Of course it was in a construction zone so fines double.  I saw a sign that fines start at $375.00  I will let you know.  
Other than that one incident we had a great trip.  We made a stop in Cleveland and went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Bill stocked up on some 45's for our Juke Box.  It was a very interesting tour.  It took us almost 5 hours to go through it and we didn't have time to see each exhibit.  
Headed to New York around 6 Friday night and with some rest was up and finished the ride Saturday morning.  Those of you who rely on Map Quest for directions should think twice and find another direction giver.  They were pretty much out to lunch on their directions.  Had to stop and ask how to find the track when we were sent to a dirt road.  We didn't figure the Nascar guys went that way with their rigs.  One of the guys Bill was talking to said he was on his way to the track, so we followed him.  We found out that our hauler can pull up a really steep hill.  Motor was crying and the brakes were smokin', but we made it.  What a gorgeous facility.  The countryside is beautiful and the weather was gorgeous.  
Bill practiced on old tires on Saturday morning and he was a little intimidated.  He was lucky enough to get 13th in time overall against about 42 entries.  His race was in the afternoon and had his new tires on for that.  He liked them much better.  No slipping and sliding.  He held his own and finished in 8th overall and 3rd in class.  Again there was 42 cars on the track, so that's not too bad.  
After the races and awards presentation (Bill got a mug for finishing 3rd), there was a pig roast.  The food was some of the best that we have had since our own pig roast from "Daniels Catering".  After everyone was as full as can be there was still enough food left over for half an army.  
Again on Sunday the weather was better than anyone could ask for.  Sunny and around 70.  Bill was a little more comfortable in the car and he went out to practice.  Some of the drivers went home but the heavy hitters were still there.  Bill was racing against some high financed Porches and Corvettes.  He turned 6th in time overall and 3rd in class.  The race again was in the afternoon.  This time he could keep up with the hot dogs and was running 4th for most of the race.  The past champion passed Bill with about 5 laps to go and then on the last lap he was past by another Corvette with unlimited dollars under the hood.  Bill finished 6th overall and again 3rd in class.  He picked up another mug as a trophy and was extremely happy he could drive it in the trailer.  
Other than the first two hours of our trip we had a great time.  Made some new friends and had a great experience.  I have many pictures and will post a couple of them a little later.
This Saturday we will be at Madison with the Mid Am car.  It's an evening show.  

Sept 14th, 2009

So sorry I didn't keep you informed.  I haven't been to work since Wed and forgot to tell you of our progress with our motor.  
Well we made it.  Kinda sorta.  I was supposed to meet Bill at the Dells on Friday for a practice day.  (I had been in Madison since Thursday)  Bill arrived there early after noon and I was there shortly after.  He took about 2 or 3 laps and the car started smoking.  We figured after the big blow up at Madison there might just be a little oil that was burning off.  They black flagged him and he came in and checked it over and went back out.  More smoke.  More checking.  Still more smoke.  One more check and found a bad rear main seal.  Back home we went and pulled the motor again and found a bad rear main.  Dan Scholl, who works at the shop that builds our motors, came over to help Bill.  He put in another rear main and still had the same problem.  We fought with it for about 4 hours.  Bill was ready to put in our spare when he thought of calling Danny Delcamp.  Danny gave us the number of 
George from Motor Masters.  George said there was a big problem with those seals and gave us one to try.  IT WORKED.  A great big THANKS to you George.  The motor went back in and back to the Dells we went at 2am.  Practice went well.  Bill qualified 6th and he was happy with that.  It looks like the motor is back to it's old self.  
They had a special race at the Dells called the Dells Duel.  They took the top 7 averaged finishes from the previous Dells races, along with a wild card car and raced for 10 laps.  The winner received extra money along with a room from Wintergreen Resort for the awards party.  Then they gave away 2 more rooms for the awards party with a drawing.  I read on line today that we were one of those along with Mike Beyer.  The winner of that race was Brian Back and Bill got third.
On to the Feature event.  Everyone has heard of a full moon night.  Well we had a 3 full moon night.  Not quite sure who was watching what, but there sure was a lot of bad racing going on.  Right from the start of warming the tires up for the feature, cars were bouncing off of each other.  There was a couple of  incidents Bill was involved in and the final one brought him back into the pits with overheating and half the front clip torn off.  As usual some teams came to help Bill, but the damage was to severe to continue.  Another DNF.  In the heat of the battle Saturday night, we thought we may end our season early.  We have decided not to do that and we will finish the season.    
Before we head to Madison on Sept 26th, we are going to take a side detour to Watkins Glen.  The SCCA car is ready and waiting and so is the driver.  Bill is really looking forward to that trip.  We will be leaving on Thursday and return Monday.  I will let you know how things turned out on Tuesday.

August 31st, 2009

Saturday turned out to be a cool and cloudy day and night for our trip to Madison.  From the start of the day at the track, Bill had a misfire in the motor and worked on it most of the day.  Now those of you who know us, know that Bill works as little as possible at the track.   Not Saturday.  He changed most of the electrical components that he could.  When it came time for the first feature to roll out the rains came.  I figured it would only rain for a short time but again I was wrong.  They rolled the track in and just as they were going to start the show the rains came again.  This time they cancelled the night and brought us back on Sunday.  Home we went and back again on early Sunday morning.  Bill was not confident that the ignition was repaired but had to accept what he had.  
Forgot to mention Bill's terrible qualifying time.  He ended up 12th in time.  He was pretty disappointed with that but then we checked other peoples times and some of the other top runners.  Bobby Gutknecht ended up 15th in time and Lyle Nowak and Paul Neisius who are 4th and 2nd in points respectively, had to run the last chance to make the show.  I guess Bill's 12th place wasn't so bad after all.   
Feature time came on Sunday and Bill started in his second row inside starting spot.  The green flag flew and by lap 4 or 5 he was leading.  He seemed to have his problem fixed........ or so I thought.  On lap 10  I was feeling pretty confident that the car was going to be fine.  Then he let the smoke out.  One big rule in our racing is never let the smoke out of the engine.  He coasted around one more lap and off the track.  There wasn't enough time to change the engine so we had our 1st DNF of the season.  
We left the race track shortly after watching the second 25 lap feature for the Mid Am's.  We were home by 4:30 and started to pull the engine.  It is already by our engine builders and hopefully will be ready before our next race at the Dells on September 12th.
One big thank you goes out to Travis Rodewald.  He offered his car to us for the second feature knowing he was starting in the front row. Mid American officials wouldn't allow for this.  Thanks Travis, for the offer.  It means a lot to us.  
Our next race hopefully will be the Dells on Sept 12th if everything goes well.  I will keep you informed.

August 25th, 2009

As usual we had a great time at the Milwaukee Mile with SCCA.  Bill does love his road courses.  This week end we had a double regional race.  Saturday he qualified 1st over all and 1st in class.  On Sunday he was 2nd in time and 2nd in class.  His tires gave out on him on Sunday and he had a very ill handling race car.   If Bill had new tires maybe he  could have stayed out front.  The cords on the left rear tire were showing.  He must have run them a little too long.  Momma's got to buy the car some new tires I guess.  It still was a great weekend with some great weather.  Even the officials had smiles on their faces after a good weekend.  I will post a picture on the New Pic page.
Our next race will be Madison on Saturday Aug 29th.  Looking forward to the Split 50 race format.  Something a little different for the fans.  See you there.  

August 20th, 2009

I have neglected the updates here and would like to catch up a little.  
The modifieds did not go to Kaukauna as planned last Thursday.  We did go to Slinger last Sunday and Bill was 5th in time, 4th in the dash and 4th in the feature.  This weekend we will be spending the entire weekend at the Milwaukee Mile.  The SCCA will be having a race there and you all know how much Bill likes road racing.  We will take the car there Friday night and race it both Sat and Sun.  
Our next Mid Am race will be at Madison on Aug 29th.  They are having a split 50 feature race.  Sounds interesting.  We will let you know how things turn out.  Or better yet come on out and watch.
We have just been informed that our modified racing days are over at Slinger for this year.  Wayne Erickson has notified us that if we want to race there we can race for free.  At this time we have chosen not to do that.  Unfortunately, the recession has hurt both car counts and fan counts.  

August 10th, 2009

I forgot to thank the Mid Am and track officials for distributing some water on the last yellow.  It was a courteous and welcome gesture.  Thanks again.  If the race had been 50 or more laps Bill would have been OK.  The yellow laps are what brought all the heat in the car.  Hot brakes, hot motors and hot sun is what contributed to the heat in the cars.  

August 9th, 2009

Hot! Hot! Hot! Did I mention it was hot!  Not only the weather was hot but so was Bill.  Bill had a qualifying lap that was 3rd over all and that placed him 12th in the field of the feature.  He started 6th row outside and no matter where he ran he passed cars.  It took him until a little past half way before he took the lead and when he did nobody could catch him.  He pulled away with a 7 or 8 car length lead and crossed the finish line first.  
Let me back up a little bit and let you know what kind of day it was.  We got to the track around midnight Friday night.  Shortly after we parked the rains came.  Not to bad but just enough to make things muggy.  When we got up the sky was black and we thought for sure we would be staying until Sunday for the scheduled rain date.  After a brief rain shower the sky did clear and the heat came.  We were told to expect over a hundred degree heat index for the day and boy were they right.  After Bill qualified we had about a half hour of leisure time and then they lined up the heat races.  Bill was in the last heat race.  When he came in he was pretty warm.  Within 15 minutes they wanted us lined up for the 40 lap feature.  He still hadn't cooled down from the heat race yet.  After changing tires and fueling up ( and a little tweaking) he was ready for the feature.  Now if the feature would have run green to checker it wouldn't have been so bad.  Over and done with in 20 minutes.  I believe there was 5 or 6 yellows in the event and they were very long yellows.  I believe that 3 drivers came in due to heat exhaustion.  Bill could hardly get out of the car when the race was over.  This was one of the toughest races he ran. 
From what I heard, Matt Pyburn had a rough day.  Hauler broke down on the way to the track.  Borrowed hauler ran out of gas.  Lost a wheel on the way home.  Humgh.  Not a good day.
Next......... Modified at Kaukauna Thursday night.  Not sure if that is going to work out.  That is still in the planning stage.  Slinger with the modified on Sunday the 16th.  The next time the Mid Am car is going is August 29th at Madison.  They are talking about a 50 lap race on the half mile.  Oh Boy.

August 3rd, 2009

There we were. Saturday night and nothing to do.  The Mid Am car is ready, the modified is ready for Slinger on Sunday and in the trailer and Bill has nothing to do.  So what does he do?????????  Turns on some disco on the TV.  That's right I said DISCO.  Not that I had to sit there and listen to it, although I did.  It wasn't so bad, at least I had something to laugh with him about.
Sunday finally came and we got to go to Slinger.  Practice was pretty good and Bill was second fastest of the modifieds.  It was time for qualifying and Bill could only manage a 5th place in time.  That started him on the pole for the dash and Bill finished 3rd.  Feature time came and again he started on the pole.  (Boy I wish his car was just a little better.)  He just couldn't manage to stay up front and slipped further back lap after lap.  He did finish a respectable 5th.  So 5th in time 3rd in the dash and 5th in the feature.  That's really not too bad.
This Saturday night we will be racing our rain date at Cedar Rapids, Iowa's Hawkeye Downs with the Mid Am car.  It is a Saturday afternoon show.  Hope the weather holds out for this show.  Hope to see some of you there.

July 27th, 2009

When we have a large group of people come to a race track to watch, we usually have a bad night.  We had both of our kids and most of their families come out along  with some old friends, and it didn't turn out too bad.  Bill was not practicing anywhere near what I thought he should have been at.  When it came time to qualify he turned a 14.777.  That was a great lap for him that night.  Too bad 10 other cars were faster than him.  He ended up 11 and in jeopardy of starting in the rear of the feature.  We always have a roll of the dice for the line up of the feature.  At most tracks we have a 10, 12 or 14 car invert depending on the roll of the dice.  The roll was 12 so Bill started on the front row outside.  Couldn't have asked for a better starting position.  The green flag flew and Bill lead the first lap but couldn't manage to stay in front and battled with Bret Widdis who retook the lead for a couple of laps.  He managed to finally get past him and the yellow flag came out on lap 4 reverting him back to second.  They restarted the race and Bill managed to get past Bret again only to find the yellow flag come out again on lap 6.  Reverting back to second again.  The next restart came and Bill now had to battle both Widdis and Mark Pluer.  Pluer restarted on the outside of Bill and managed to pass both Bill and Bret and took over the lead.  Bill did manage to pass Pluer with 11 laps to go and yup, you guessed it... the yellow came  out.  Again in the second position for the restart.  Bill could not manage another pass and settled for 2nd.  All in all Bill was satisfied with the second place finish.  
We had fought the weather all night with a couple of rain delays.  The Dells did a great job getting the show in so we didn't have to make another trip there for a rain date.  Hats off to them.  
This Sunday (Aug 2nd) we will be at Slinger again for the Modified race.  Our next Mid Am race will be At Cedar Rapids (Hawkeye Downs) on Aug 8th for the rain date.  See ya all at Slinger.

July 20th, 2009

Sunday at Slinger was not the best night of racing although it wasn't the worst night Bill has had.  During practice Bill had a rocker arm stud break and he had to repair that.  Qualifying found Bill missing the dash by one car.  Only the feature was left.  Bill started 3rd row outside and was running side by side with Bill Tandezke for a few laps before he lost a little ground on him.  He managed to catch back up to him,  but got a little too close and had a valve stem rip off the tire.  I think he was trying to take his car owner out.  He ended up getting tagged from the rear and spinning around in fashion before exiting the track and finishing last.  Glad that night is over.  Since there is no heat races at Slinger it tends to be an early night when we go there.  I was home by 8:15, although we are only 10 minutes away.  
We went to the Hales Corners reunion at Manitowoc on Friday night.  What a great deal that turned out to be.  They usually have it at Plymouth, but decided to have it in Manitowoc this year.  This is the first year we have been able to go because we are usually at Kaukauna for the white race on that weekend.  It was a cool night and with dark clouds hanging over our heads all night.  The track fought the rain all evening but did a great job keeping the racing going.  It misted most of the night and I bet if it would have been a better night there would have been standing room only.  We had the pleasure of seeing many of the old timers (what does that say about us) that Bill raced with in the 70's, 80's and 90's.  Frank Smith, Mark and Wes Eckert, Scott Schuman, Ted Dolhun and Pete Parker to name a few.  Some more that come to mind are Jeff and Rich Jasinski  and Lee Voss.  (Even I raced against Lee).  We also saw a few officials like Joe Buch and Frank Shuster, even Mike Randerson was there.  It seemed like every 20 feet we walked, there was someone yelling out "Hi Bill" from the crowd.  It was great to see all the people.  Now we have Pete Parkers kid Paul, Ted Dolhun's kids TJ and Jacob racing and Terry Anvelinks kid.  Boy we are getting old, wait a minute, I mean boy is Bill getting old.  I'm waiting for the grandkids to start racin', not mine of course.  
We both really enjoyed the show.  There was some good racing but a few too many yellows.  The officials kept the show going and really did a great job.  It's hard to beat Mother Nature.  We have always said that the dirt shows are really exciting to watch.  Bill has over 20 years experience on the dirt.  I just never liked cleaning up the next day.  
Thanks Manitowoc for the great night.
We will be at the Wisconsin Dells this coming Saturday night.  It's been a month since the Mid Am cars have raced.  I think they are all itching to race.  
Our schedule has changed a little.  The scheduled race at The Milwaukee Mile is cancelled and we will be at Madison that night.  The Milwaukee Mile is going through some transitions and we hope they can work it out for next year.
Again I forgot my camera at home.  I have some great pictures of the Manitowoc show.  I will get them on asap.
SEE YOU AT THE DELLS

July 9th, 2009

I added a picture from Rockford with Bill's new trophy along with a few of the modified drivers.  
I also forgot to congratulate Mark Kissinger for his first feature win at Slinger.  It was a good race and he held on for the win.  Way to go Mark.

July, 7th, 2009

Another decent race weekend is gone.  Bill has been racing the modified for Bill Tandenzke at Slinger every other weekend.  This past weekend we went to Rockford for the Instant Jungle Independence Celebration.  Bill was 2nd in qualifying 2nd in the dash, 2nd in the heat and he won the feature.  He was very excited to get his first trophy for a modified win.   The Rockford Speedway always gives out one of the best trophies that I have seen.  I do have pictures but forgot my camera today and I will have to wait until Thursday or Friday to get them on the web site.  
We headed for our long ride to Slinger (about 9 miles) on Sunday.  Bill qualified 5th and that gave him pole position for the fast dash.  The green flag flew and Bill took off.  He didn't have anyone challenge him until the very last lap but hung on for the win.  
He thought he would change it just a little for the feature.  Again he started on the pole.  This time the green flag flew and Bill proceeded to go backwards for the first 15 laps.  He had a late race comeback and finished 5th.  The car just did not handle for him.  He was still happy with the weekend.  Two wins and only 4 times in the car.  Not bad.
Our next race, should we choose to go, will be Slinger again.  July 19th with the modified.  We do plan on going as spectators to Manitowoc on July 17th.  They are having a Hales Corners reunion and we always miss it.  We are usually at Kaukauna.  This year we get to go and I am looking forward to it.  See you there.

June 28th, 2009

So glad the weekend went as smooth as two small tracks could possibly go.  Friday we had a nice ride up to da yooper land.  Upper Michigan was beautiful.  The Norway track was very welcoming to us and we enjoyed going there.  Practice was a learning experience.  Bill seemed to grasp the track well.  The first lap of qualifying was good for fast time at the time.  His second lap was better until he ran out of talent and tried to knock the flag man out of the flag stand.  Our flag man, Dave Sankey was holding onto anything that was solid and luckily he did not end up on the track.  He did mostly cosmetic damage to the car.  After a few crew members came over to help us readjust the body so it stayed on the car Bill went out for his heat.  He wanted to make sure nothing fell off or broke before the feature.  He started 4th row outside in the feature (4th in qualifying).  He started to move up but the front three cars took off and were about a half a straight away lead over the rest of the field.  Bill got into 4th place and had to run them down.  By the time he got to them a yellow came out.  On the restart, Bill went into 3rd behind the two leaders. Bill passed for second now behind Lyle Nowak, who had lead from the start.  Lyle was running a great race and he knew Bill was behind him.  Bill tried just about everything he could to pass him but couldn't get the job done.  He had to settle for second.  After the start of the night I was happy with second.  
We left for Francis Creek on Saturday after changing the car over.  It was such a nice day we decided to have our windows open for a change.  I had had enough of the wind and pressed the button for the window to go up.  Nothing.  It was a long windy drive to the Creek. I was hoping that wasn't the start of a bad day.  Well I was wrong.  We figured it would be a tough show to make because the local drivers also had a point night and they were running with us.  We were fighting mother nature all night long.  The track changed a lot from practice to qualifying and again in the feature.  Bill qualified 8th and we were happy to make the show.  Only a handful of the travelers made it into the show on qualifying.  There was a couple more that made it through last chance efforts.  Only 11 travelers out of a 21 car field made it into the feature.  
Bill started 3rd row inside and stayed on the bottom until the caution flag on lap 6.  He restarted the race on the outside and got around a couple of cars before going back to the bottom in third.  The car was running hot after an incident of nose to tail bumper tag, so Bill didn't want to be as close as usual to the car in front of him.  He didn't have much of an opportunity to make anymore headway and he settled for 3rd.  Again another good spot for such a night.  The skies were black and we were fighting rain all night.  I'm just glad we didn't rain out and have to go back another night.  
All in all it was a good weekend.  We had a couple of lumps and bumps but that comes with short track racing.  
We both wanted to thank all the teams that came over to help us at the Norway race.  Without such camaraderie in our series it would have made for a really long night.  Thanks to all that came over.  On a second thank you.  We never would have believed that we would have gotten the whole show in at the Creek.  Right after driver introductions it rained for at least a half hour or so.  The track officials stuck it out and dried the track for us and did a great job.  Extra thanks to all the other divisions that helped dry the track.  Thanks again.
Our next racing adventure will be this Friday night when we head to Rockford with the modified, and then again on Sunday for a Slinger run.  Hope to see you all there.
I added a couple of pictures at the bottom of the New Pic page.

June 22nd, 2009

We had a long weekend from watching indoor football on Friday night, watching the Nationwide race on Saturday night, Fathers Day picnic Sunday noon and racing at Slinger Sunday night with Bill Tandenzke's modified.  (It was great to get back to work Monday morning so we could relax.)  Bill and Bill T worked hard this past week to make the modified better than the first time Bill drove it.  That night sucked.  This past Sunday, Bill got 4th in time and made the dash, finishing 2nd in it.  The feature found Bill on the front row outside for the start.  He held his own for a few laps and then got passed by a couple of cars.  I think he was in the 6th place when a couple of cars dropped out including Bill T who thought he had a flat tire.  Bill ended up finishing 4th and was very pleased.  He still wants to tweak the car some more.  He may have a tenth or two in it yet.  I have posted a picture on the New Picture page of the Diamond Fleet.  Bill drives the 1P, Bill Tandetzke drives the 1 and Tim Bell drives the 5.  We will all be at Rockford on July 3rd and Slinger on July 5th.
We will be leaving either Thursday night or Friday morning for Norway MI for a Friday night race.  Bill is looking forward to this weekend.  Fri night Norway and Saturday night Francis Creek, one of his favorite tracks.  Hope to see you there.  

June 18, 2009

I have neglected the web site for a couple of weeks.  I will try to catch up by telling you about another win by Mother Nature.  June 7th we were going to be at Slinger with the Modified.  The morning called for lots of rain for the afternoon.  But, as usual, the storms never materialized and the races were called early.  Bill has been working on both the Mid Am car and the Modified to get them both ready.  This Sunday (June 21st) we will be at Slinger and the weatherman is calling for sunshine and warm.  The Mid Am car will be going to Norway, MI on June 26th.  This is one track we have never been to.  The Mid Am cars were there in 1993 but for some reason we did not go.  On our way home we will stop at Francis Creek for a 141 race.  This will be a long race weekend but interesting.  
On another note....There was an article on the official Mid Am web site that stated some information about one car.  That one car has been given the OK to run a fabricated metric chassis.  The article states that the drivers overwhelmingly supported the decision.  Not only did we not agree, as some others, but we thought this was the wrong direction that the Mid Am series could be heading.  If this car becomes legal then we believe it will make all of our cars obsolete. Only manufacturers will be building these cars in the future, leaving the little guy out.  As we have stated many times before, we really like racing with the Mid Am series but we still believe this is the wrong direction for the series.  This was supposed to be an affordable division and a fabricated metric chassis ups the ante, along with structural advantages.  Hopefully this will be a long, long, long way down the road.  Your opinion is always welcome.  Our e-mail is prietzel@att.net

June 1st, 2009

We had our day at the Dells this past Saturday.  Bill started his practice sessions and the times were not all that good.  Quite a few other cars were faster and it had me a little worried.  Qualifying came and Bill turned a 14.546.  That gave him fast time for a while.  About six or seven cars later Brian Back came out and took fast time away and Bill settled for 2nd.  We were happy with that.  Bill started the feature 7th row inside.  He was making time passing a few cars.  By the 11th or 12th lap Bill was running 6th.  Bill past Matt Pyburn on the inside and dove into turn 4.  Somehow both Bill and Matt got together and took a wild ride through the infield in turn one.   Bill restarted the race in the rear and tried valiantly to get back to the front.  He made lots of good moves on the outside but a car in front of him was overheating and left the track slippery.  Bill settled for 12th.  
We have a month off and our next race will be at Norway, MI on June 26th.  Bill will be taking Bill Tandetzke's modified to Slinger again this Sunday if you want to join us.  

May 26th, 2009

Plover was one of the best racing that the Mid American Series has had in a very long time.  It went green to checker.  Bill turned a lap that got him 7th in time.  He started 3rd row outside and I knew he wanted to get to the bottom as soon as possible.  I was somewhat wrong.  Most of the passing is on the bottom at Plover but Bill managed to pull off a pass or two on the top.  Bill was running 5th around lap 5 and was looking to pass Brian Back.  It took him a few laps to make the move on the high side and managed to pull into 4th around lap 15.  Now he was looking at Lyle Nowak.  Another few laps went by and Bill found his chance to pass Lyle on the inside.  Now Bill was running in 3rd and was reeling in Tim Schmidt.  With 7 laps to go he managed to pass Tim for 2nd.  By this time the leader, Paul Neisius, was quite a few lengths in front of Bill.  Bill was catching him but ran out of laps and had to settle for second.  
Bill also had more adventures this weekend.  On Sunday he went to Slinger to run one of Bill Tandetzke's modifieds.  It took a good part of the day getting the car ready for the asphalt as it was a dirt car.  Bill made it just before the last practice session and only got a couple of laps of practice in.  He was not comfortable just yet and had to make some changes in the car.  It was time to qualify and Bill turned 8th in time.  Bill made some more changes before the feature and he was a little more comfortable in the car.  Somewhere in the middle of the feature his right hub broke and that was the end of his night.  
If he plans on trying it again in a couple of weeks he will have to do some more homework to make it more driveable.  I have a couple of pictures I will try to post today.
Next Saturday we will be at the Dells.  

May 20th, 2009

I haven't had much to update this year because we haven't raced yet.  Our last adventure was at Lynch Dealerships in Burlington.  We spent a day there showing off our race car and T Bucket.  I didn't remember my camera, so I can't show off our T Bucket.  The day started off rainy and I was sure we were going to be sitting in the rain all day, but it turned out to be a decent day.  Cool and windy but dry.  
This Friday we will be going to Plover which will end up being our opener (if it doesn't rain).  After the race we will head to Wausau to spend a quiet Saturday at the Nowak's house.  On Sunday Bill and I will head to Slinger for a new adventure.  He will be driving Bill Tandetzke's modified.  The modifieds have a low car count and Bill T said that he had a car that he could drive.  I'm not expecting too much out of the race but we will see what he can do with it.  Big horsepower, big tires, what more can a guy ask for.  
If we don't see you a Plover we will see you at Slinger.

May 4th, 2009

Well we had a great day for the Drive the Mile event in Milwaukee on Sunday.  There were about 10 or so Mid American cars taking advantage of the day.  One of the officials was surprised at how many street cars were there.  Some of them didn't even get a chance to get on the track.  This was a charity event with proceeds going to the Hunger Task Force.  I posted a picture on our New Pic page.  Bill took Dick Karths car out for a couple of laps.  That is an old Dick Trickle Cup car that Dick Karth runs with SCCA.  Bill really enjoyed driving something with lots of horsepower once again.
Next weekend we will head to Burlington for a car show at Lynch Superstores.  They have a show there for race cars old and new.  This year they are going to extend it to other types like street rods.  Bill will be taking the green machine and our T Bucket.  I will post pictures hopefully next Monday.

April 27th, 2009

I think we put 1000 miles on our hauler this year so far between the Dells practice day, Rockford 2 weeks ago, Cedar Rapids this weekend and Rockford on Sunday for the rain date, and we still haven't put on one competitive lap yet.  Like everyone else, all we saw all weekend was rain.  But we still had to go.  Maybe Bill should build an ark and try to race that.  
This Sunday we will be at the Milwaukee Mile for the Drive the Mile and the Hunger Task Force event.  For a $15.00 fee and 2 non perishable food items anyone can drive on the famous Milwaukee Mile for three laps.  It may be the only chance you get.  It is a great experience.  

April 21st, 2009

I added a couple of pictures that I just acquired from Mark Melchiori.  He must have been 12 years old when he took these pictures at Hales Corners Speedway in 83 and 86.  

April 20th, 2009    

I thought I would have our first racing report today, but Mother Nature changed my plans.  We left for the track around 7:30 am Saturday morning.  Saturday was a beautiful day with the highs in the upper 60's or lower 70's.  Bill practiced great Saturday morning.  The car was flawless.  Then Sunday morning came.  It started raining around 8:30 in the morning and the show was cancelled right after our racers meeting.  Our rain date is next Sunday afternoon which also happens to be the rain date for Cedar Rapids.  We will be leaving for Cedar Rapids on Friday night for a Saturday show.  Hopefully it will be a beautiful day.  Then we rush back to Rockford for the Sunday show.  Hope it all works out OK.

April 17th, 2009

Hopefully we will have our first racing report posted on Monday.  The weather does not look good for our Sunday race, but we will be there Saturday for practice and Sunday for the race.  
I put a couple of pictures on the web site of Bill driving down Greenfield Ave and with Jim Tretow at the radio show.  Take a minute to check them out.  
SEE YOU AT ROCKFORD FOR THE START OF THE 09 RACING SEASON.

April 13th, 2009

Hope you all had a Hoppy Easter.  Bill got his first taste of the 2009 season with a practice session at the Dells.  He seemed happy with the way the car worked.  I know the crew needs a little work.  I had to change some tires and it darned near took my breath away.  Bill tried some new things and they all seemed to be working as they should.  Thanks to Danny Delcamp and Motor Masters for some test equipment.  Don't know if we learned anything, but it was interesting.  
See ya all tonight at Paulies for the Racing Roundup show.  Air time 7-8:30 on 540AM.  

April 10th, 2009

Just a quick correction.  Bill and I will be headed north to the Dells for practice on Saturday instead of south to Rockford.  They have a little more time allowed for practice and the time to travel there is the same.  
Have a Happy Easter and stay away from the bunnies. (Unless they are chocolate.)
See you at the radio show Monday night.

April 7th, 2009

Bill is looking forward to this weekend when we will be going to Rockford for a day of practice.  So far it doesn't look like there will be a blizzard but you never know.  The car is ready and so is the driver.  Now if we could only  get the crew in shape.  
On Monday Bill will have the car at the radio show, Racing Roundup, at Pauleys on Greenfield Ave in West Allis.  Air time is 7 pm to 8:30 pm on channel 540 AM.  Our sponsor Central Services has the evening and it is always a great time.  
The following weekend will be our opener at Rockford.  We've had great weather, rainy weather, cold weather or hot weather.  We never know what we will get at Rockford.  Come on out and enjoy it with us.

March 16th, 2009

Well tomorrow is St Patricks Day and I don't think we have ever been ready for racin' before St Patty's Day in our 37 years of racing.  Except for this year.  Bill's getting the itch and looking for some openers somewhere.  Click on the thumbnail to see it.  Personally I think it looks great.  Hope it stays that way, at least long enough to get pictures taken with all of our decals.  We haven't put on the logo for Central Services yet.  
On our last update I told you we were going to the WI Racing Expo at the Washington County Fair Grounds.  Bill was invited to take part in the Legends Table.  He had a great time with all the other guys that were there.  A lot of history sitting at that table.  I have a picture of everyone there on the new pic page also.  
Time to get back to work, if we want to go racing that is.    

March 3rd, 2009

Bill and I went to the Custom Car Show at the Fair Park on February 14th, that's right on Valentines Day.  It was actually my idea and we had a great time.  We got to see many old time friends that we haven't seen since Hales Corners days.  
Some other really exciting news....Bill has been contacted by Intersection Masterpiece Replicas.  They are a company that makes replicas of old race cars.  Back in the 80's Bill raced down south with a wedge car.  You can find a picture of it on our Old Photo Gallery.  The company wants to made a replica of the car that he ran at the World 100 in Eldora in 1983.  We also sent them pictures of the Red Wedge that Bill got his clean sweep with at Hales Corners Speedway in 1986.  They plan on making a replica of that one in their series 5.  If you go to www.imrdirtcars.com you can find out what they are all about.  They call them Mud Fleas and they are about match box size.   There are some pictures on their site.  Once you get to the site, go to product forum and then go to Mud Fleas.  There is also a picture on their old photo archive.  Check it out.
This coming up Saturday, March 7th, we will be at the Wisconsin Racing Expo Show at the Washington County Fair Grounds.  The show is from 8am to 5pm.  They have asked Bill along with Scott Biertzer, Steve Sinclair, David Prunty, Ed Cluka and Jiggs Lindhorst, to be at what they call the "Legends of the Round Table" for a discussion group.  The group will gather around one in the afternoon.  Should be a fun day.  
The car is at the shop in West Allis for some flames and numbers as we speak.  Billy Hoffman is doing his usual artistic impressions on the car.  He always says "Don't worry.  It will look great."  And it usually does.  Can't wait for Rockford.  OH, NO, what am I saying?????????????

February 17th, 2009

I forgot to let you all know about the SCCA Banquet that we went to 2 weeks ago.  The banquet was at the Auto Museum in Hartford.  That was the first time that we have been there and it was very interesting.  Many of the older drivers that Bill raced against throughout the years were inducted into the museum.  I guess that makes Bill a youngster.  
They gave out many awards to not only the drivers but to the workers as well.  They had a great group of people at the banquet.  You have to remember that most road course workers are there for the fun of it.  They don't get paid.   
The car is coming along well with the help of his new hoist.  I figured that having the hoist would get the car done sooner so he could spend some more quality time with me, but I was wrong.  Now he has more time to work on other projects like rebuilding the wedge.  (It has a long way to go.)

January 29th, 2009

Just wanted to pass along some more sad news.  John Fischers mother passed away this week.  She had a very long bout with cancer.  We used to see her occasionally at Lake Geneva when we raced there.  Our condolences to the Fischer family.  
On another note......... Bill got most of the body panels painted this past week.  The car is going to look sharp.  We brought in a new color to go with the green and purple.  69 Camaro hugger orange.  I won't be able to miss that on the track.  And maybe neither will the other guys who hit Bill this year. Yuk yuk!  He still has a long way to go on reassembly and suspension changes.  Hopefully it will be ready for Rockford in the spring.  

January 18th, 2009

Bill and I went to our annual Mid Am banquet yesterday at the Wintergreen Resort in WI Dells.  There was quite a showing of drivers and sponsors.  Doug and Julie did a great job on the preparation for the event.  The top 10 were awarded monies and trophies.  We even got to cut a rug (for you younger folks that means dance - check out the link).  We had a great time.  Door prizes were unusually good this year.  Boring Bob Tours gave another trip to Bristol.  That was won by Kyle Shear.  There were a couple of welders, a tool box and of course those great Diamond Wheels.  But I think Bill got one of the best door prizes there.  A Five Star Body.  As of right now he hopes to get the new S2 Sportsmans body.  
We would like to congratulate Mark Kissinger on his rookie of the year award, Bobby Gutknecht along with Lyle Nowak who were tied in votes for the Sportsmanship award.  Congrats also to James Swan for his championship.  I will add some pictures to the web when I get them uploaded. 

January 5th, 2009

We had some sad news this weekend.  Dan Ryan (father of Jake Ryan) passed away on Friday.  Dan and Jake's race team were competitors with the Mid Am Series a couple of years ago.  Dan enjoyed all types of racing and was a competitor years ago.  Bill and Dan used to have lots of talks at the race track.  The racing world has lost a good competitor and a better friend.  
We had a birthday party for our granddaughter yesterday.  I can't believe she is 15 years old.  Seems like yesterday we were going to Rockford auction and bragging about our new granddaughter.  Of course we had an ice storm on Saturday night and our driveway was a sheet of solid ice.  (and we live on a hill)  Going down was fun but there is no getting back up.  
We plan on going to Rockford on Friday afternoon.  Lefthander has some functions that we want to attend.  We will head to the auction on Saturday for some more fun (ye ha).  I'm sure I can find a shopping center somewhere.  

January 2nd, 2009

Happy New Year to you all.  Bill and I spent a boring night at home as usual.  
We will be headed to Rockford for the auction next Saturday Jan 10th.  Mid Am will have a rules meeting to finalize the rule book.  I usually find a shopping center to invade.  

December 21st, 2008

Bill volunteered to do the snow this morning and I had no objections.  I think it was around 8 below this morning and I had no intentions of going outside.  Bill received his Christmas present this past week.  Santa gave him a car hoist for his race car shop.  The older he gets the more he appreciates this kind of equipment.  Bill has been working on the snow more than his race car this year.  Hopefully it will stop snowing long enough for him to spend some time on the race car.  Seems like everyday we have more snow to remove.  
Mark Silber, who helps us on the race car as often as he can, had a Christmas party at his bar this past Saturday.  Bill and I went for a couple of hours and had a great time.  
Our plans are to have our children, grandchildren and a couple of other relatives over to our house for Christmas day.  It is a special time of the year for us as I am sure it is for you too.  We both hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your families.

December 8th, 2008

Enjoyed our time at the Green Bay auction.  Unfortunately, Bill was a little disappointed at the Mid Am meeting.  The rules seem to be slowly straying from the intent of what the Mid American Stock Car Series was started as.  Bill hasn't decided yet if he will make the necessary changes to try and pick up the pace and run all the races or just run a few select events and do more road racing.  On a good note, the series is working on a two tire rule.  If they do it right, it will save us all a bunch of money.  The final rules decisions will be posted at the Rockford auction in January.  
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and to all those hunters out there, I hope there are a few less Bambi's to run in front of my truck! 

December 3rd, 2008

Just a quick update.  Bill spent a quiet weekend at the Dave Daytons Thanksgiving Day auction in Indy this past weekend.  He got to see a lot of old friends that he hasn't seen in a while.  He also surprised me with a purchase.  He bought a "fire breathing" motor.  That's what he called it anyways.  It will be the motor for the "Wedge Car" that he is restoring.  He figured ten years for the project and he is over a year into it.  At least now he has a motor to power it.
We will be at the Green Bay auction this weekend.  Always a good time with old friends.

November 6th, 2008

On an extremely sad note we have lost a great friend of more than 25 years.  Eldon Heiser of Heiser Trailer Sales passed away Tuesday night.  Bill was involved with Eldon from 1985 until the present with racing.  We took many trips south to Tennessee, Mississippi , Florida etc. for racing  adventures with both Eldon and his wife Delama who passed away in 2003.  Eldon was passionate about racing and helped and sponsored many people over the years. He contributed more to our racing and life than we can express. Rest In Peace Eldon our friend. 

Left to right: Eldon Mark Silber Randy Holmes and Bill.  This picture was taken at Cedar Lake, WI in 1999.

October 27th, 2008

As we got up Saturday at 4 AM for our last race date of the year, we couldn't decide if it was raining or snowing outside.  As it turned out it was just a drizzle and as the day progressed it became almost tolerable.  The sun didn't show up until later in the day.  The track personnel worked overtime trying to dry the 4 mile road race course off.  Bill had invited a couple of friends out to play a little on the track and the only one that braved the cold was Bill Tandetzke of Diamond Wheels.  He took a couple of extra laps, you know those real quick ones like in a circle when you least expect it.  I think Bill T enjoyed himself.  
After the practice sessions were done, the Cancer run/walk started.  This year we decided not to join them in the walk but still managed to donate some money for the Cancer Society.  We decided to stay back and help out with the pot luck lunch that was going on.  We had many more people this year and they all wiped us clean of the food that everyone brought.  Thanks to everyone who brought all the great food.
We had our race in the afternoon just like last year.  The Mid American Cars started in the front rows with all the other type of cars following us.  There was some Vintage Cars, a couple of Craftsman Trucks, and even some late models.  The Mid Am drivers pulled numbers to line up and Bill decided to start the race from the rear of the Mid Am cars.  He figured the track was 4 miles long with a lot of places to pass if he was lucky enough to get up front.  All the other cars started behind them.  There was even a SCCA Road Race car there.  I know that car personally.  It has won just about everywhere it has gone.  Not this time, they had the wrong driver in it.  Me.  I got to start right behind Bill.  
Now for the start of the race.  If anyone remembers last years start, it turned out to be the same thing this year.  Bill ended up in the sand in turn one.  I turned my radio on and said "Not Again".  He muttered something that really isn't repeatable.  No, it wasn't me that put him there.   I kept on going when I saw a full course yellow come out.  Both Bill and the other car were sitting in a very precarious spot.  Bill was pulled out and never lost a lap but he did have to start at the back of all the cars.  As soon as the green flag came out he started passing cars.  He closed in fast on the field and showed how much he loved road racing.  About 2 or 3 laps after the green came out, as I was going into the carousel,  I had a little mishap.  I missed a shift and broke the tires loose.  Our daughter said that I was taking a mini vacation sitting in the sand for the rest of the race.  Ha! Ha!  The only good thing is that I was in the sand trap backwards and got to watch the race.  I saw Jim Thorson let the smoke out of his engine and both Mark Pluer and Mike Mulchay who were leading the race spin in the carousel.  They both recovered.  With a couple of yellows and some good luck Bill was catching the front of the field.  On the 9th lap Mike Mulchay came around the carousel first and the 10th lap Bill was there first.  Bill ended up winning not only the Mid Am race but he was also the overall winner.  
Once again the staff and all the volunteers at Road America out did themselves.  Thanks to all of them that made our day great.  I'm not so sure I would like to stand out in the cold like they do.  
I also wanted to thank Boring Bob's Tour for his support of the Cancer Society.  
Our next event will be the Green Bay Auction in December.  I will let you know how things go there.

October 14th, 2008

Bill has been working on both the road race car and the Mid Am car to get them ready for the Road America race on Oct 25th.  It's a lot of work to change the cars over but as you well know Bill loves road racing and is really looking forward to this event.  Last year we walked the 4 mile course for their "Fight for a Cure" Cancer walk.  We are asking for donations again this year and have received some from Dan Mech and Dick Jones.  Two old time racers.  If you are interested, stop by the shop at 7502 W Becher St West Allis.  We would be happy to take your donations to Road America.
If you would like to donate on line you can go to www.main.acsevents.org/MW_roadamerica. Go to join team.  Under team name type in mid-american marauders.  This is the team Julie Strasburg started for the Mid Am members and friends.  
Thanks for your interest and I will update more later.
We are taking both cars again this year.  If Bill doesn't rent the road race car out, I may run it again.  I only put one (big) scratch on it last year.  

Oct 6th, 2008

One cold weekend at La Crosse.  I'm not sure how cold it was but I would say in the upper 30's at race time.  
Bill only practiced in one session.  When qualifying time came, he turned two of his worst laps of the year and qualified 24th.  He knew he would be in the feature because he had his provisional he could have used.  They took the first two finishers in the first heat race and put them to the back of the field in the feature.  Luckily he was starting the heat on the front row with Lyle Nowak (who also missed the show) on the outside.  The two finished first and second and transferred to the feature.  Of course they both started way in the back and had a long way to go.  Green flag flew and the racing began.  The race showed a lot of aggressive driving.  I'm surprised there weren't more yellows then the two that happened.  Bill benefited from the first yellow and moved up several positions on the restart.  The second yellow came out with 8 laps to go and they started single file.  Bill advanced to 9th by now and the white flag appeared.  I was pretty happy to see a top 10 finish.  Coming around turn 4 on the last lap two cars got together and Bill had to dodge a melee of stuff on the track.  He ended up finishing 8th. 
I'm pretty happy to see the point racing end for the season.  Bill had a terrible start at Rockford in the spring.  In the middle of the season it seemed he could do no wrong and lead the points for much of the season.  By Madison everything went downhill.  With 3 DNF's, 2 failed to qualify on time and finishing one race a lap down, I guess we were pretty lucky to finish 3rd in points.  
The season is not over with though.  We still have Road America on Oct 25th.  This is the cancer run/walk that we did last year and had lots of fun.  Drivers and crews get to run around the track and I even raced with the Mid Am cars.  I will have more on this later.
Congrats to James Swan and Adam Berge on their championship.  

Oct 2nd 2008

No we didn't forget about updating the site.  Our server has been down for over a week.  It has been very frustrating.
We were at Rockford this past weekend and either it's kind to you or it's not.  It hasn't been kind to us for quite a while and that includes this past weekend.
Practice was so so. Nothing fast but not out to lunch either.  Qualifying came and Bill was first out of the shoot.  His lap looked good and he said it felt fair but when his time was announced it was a 14.4  He was worried it wouldn't make the show.  And he was right.  It didn't.  They took 15 from qualifying and Bill was 16th.  I'm not sure how long it's been since Bill has missed a show but I would guess it was somewhere around 2002.  Lake Geneva if I'm not mistaken.  
For this event they took the winner from the first two heat races and put them in the feature.  Bill never tries hard in a heat race because normally they only get 5 points to start the race and that is it.  This one he had to race hard.  Bill started second row outside.  He knew he had to race to the front to make the show.  As they were coming to the first green flag the three cars that were in front of him got together and the yellow was displayed.  On the restart Bill made sure he was alongside the inside car so it was a good start.  He took the lead on the backstretch and led to the checker.  
Now for the start of the feature.  Bill started in row 300 or so it seemed.  It was actually the 8th row outside.  Might just have well been the 300th row.  The first yellow was for a flat tire by Bobby Gutknecht on lap 2 and from there it went down hill.  The next yellow came out on lap 13.  I was going to tell Bill on the radio that the yellow was out but he already knew that because HE was the yellow along with Scott Null and Troy Shear.   There is no way that I can remember all the spins, bumps and bruises that came out of the 75 lap race.  It seemed to take hours to run.  Actually it did take an hour.  I was never so happy to see the white flag finally appear and Bill was in the top 5.  I should have closed my eyes for the last lap because Bill crossed the finish line in 10th.  We think it was ignition failure.  At least the race was over.  Jeremy Spoonmore, who started on the pole, was the survivor of the fittest and won the race.
Bill has dropped to 3rd in points with one more race to go.  This Saturday we will be at  La Crosse for their fall classis.  Bill say's "One more chance to have a DNF".  He can't wait.
Congrats to James Swan.  I looks like he will be the 2008 champ.  We would have to get a clean sweep and he would have to stay home for Bill to be Champ.  Kyle is currently second and he could have a chance also, but as with us Pigs would have to fly.  You never know until the checkered flag waves.  See you at La Crosse.
We also have one last event after La Crosse.  It will be at Road America and Bill is really looking forward to that.  It is the cancer run/walk.  More on this with my next update on Monday.  (Server permitting)

September 22nd, 2008

It was a great night at Madison International Speedway..................for Lyle Nowak, but not for us.  Lyle won the feature with a very good run.  Congrats Lyle.  
Bill's practice session was good although he was not the fastest car at the track.  He was still happy with what the car felt like.  Right after the late models were done practicing, it was the Mid Am's turn to qualify.  At the end of their session one of the late models dumped most of his fluids on the track and there was a lot of clean up needed.  The track was very slippery.  At this moment Bill wished he had gone out last for qualifying but as it turned out he was close to the front.  Bill's first lap was a 19.448.  He continued with his second lap and  was coming out of turn 4, going sideways and all crossed up, when suddenly he comes on the radio saying something like........son of a something or other.  I can't believe he had time to hit the talk button and deliver his comment before he straightened it out.  He finished that lap with a 20 something and ended up 4th in time.  He said he would have cut off a few tenths on the second lap.  I thought he was just showing the next guy how slippery it was.  
Feature time.  Bill started in the 6th row for the feature.  Right from the drop of the green I thought he would end up somewhere up front.  He made his way to 5th by one of the cautions and hadn't used up the car yet.  Bill traded paint with Jake Finney in turn four somewhere around lap 24 and the next lap there was smoke coming out of the back of the car.  I couldn't tell what the smoke was from and thought it might be tire rub.  The smoke got worse and worse and eventually he was black flagged.  The officials smelled oil and wanted him off the track.  I was grateful that he was black flagged.  He would have never made the last 14 laps with all his pistons where they belong.  Financially speaking it was a good thing.  
The thing that bothered us the most was the poor sportsmanship that came out of one of the teams when that happened.  I know that Bill would rather beat the guys on the track racing and not over a misfortune by a mechanical mishap.  Apparently that isn't true with all competitors. 

Oh! Oh! Forgot to mention....poked a hole in the oil pan.  That's what the smoke was all about.  
Rockford coming up this Sunday.  Race dates are winding down, after Rockford is LaCrosse (final points night) and the final race date will be Road American, one of Bill's favorite tracks.  

September 16th, 2008

Anyone who stuck their nose out of a window Saturday night would have seen that there wasn't much racing this weekend.  We left Friday night for Marshfield to get a head start.  Bill wanted to be there by 9 or 10 am Saturday morning and it is at least a 3 hour ride.  We didn't have much rain on the way up, but as soon as we woke up in the morning it was misting and it never stopped.  We did make it into the pits but never even unloaded the car.  This was a quality time together moment.  Three hours up, three hours back and a half a tank of diesel.  (50 gallons)  What could be more fun.
Actually I had fun on the way home.  We stopped at an Antique dealer near Blenker, then we stopped at another set of antique dealers.  I did enjoy the ride home.  I'm not so sure Bill did.
Our next race will be this Saturday at Madison.  So far the weather is supposed to great.  See you there.

September 8th, 2008

What a great weekend we had.  We left Thursday night for Ohio and it drizzled all the way there.  We arrived late Friday night and it was still raining.  Bill had the car inspected and put it away for the night.  
I need to back up here for a minute.  On Wed night I got a phone call from one of the people at SCCA registration.  They told me that they have a drawing for a garage at the track and Bill was the lucky recipient of the free garage.  Since it was raining I was very thankful for the use of that garage. 
Our  qualifying / practice was Saturday morning and it was still wet.  Bill had bought a set of rain tires just in case and he actually used them.  He ended up qualifying 8th and started his race in the forth row.  There was about 35 cars in the race although they were not all in his division.  By this time the track had dried out and he had his slicks back on.  Remembering that this is a road course and I really can't see much of what is going on, I'm not sure how he passed the cars but he did.  He would come around and he would be a few more cars forward than the lap before.  Then he got into lapped traffic and I wasn't sure what position he was in.  He ended up finishing first in his class and 2nd over all.
Day 2 came and he went to qualify in the morning and just before he went on the track the sky opened up.  It rained for a good fifteen minutes.  This time Bill decided to leave his slicks on and went out to qualify.  He ended up with a 2nd place, which put him on the front row of the race.  By the time the green flag flew Bill was in the lead and never gave it up.  On lap 11 of the 13 lap race a full course yellow came out for a flip somewhere on the track and the checker came out 2 laps later.  This was his first overall win in the road race car that he had.  He was pretty excited.  
I've run out of time today and will have to finish this tomorrow.  I also have pictures to post.
 CONTINUED.................
I've posted some new pictures of Mid Ohio Sports Car Course and Bill's garage that he got to use.  
We will be going to Marshfield this Saturday for a Mid Am race.  After this weekend there are only 3 more Mid Am events.  The season is winding down.  I will let you know what happened on Monday.  

September 4th, 2008

Sorry about the last entry.  Milwaukee was not all that bad.  Bill had some issues with the decisions of the officials and thought it better not to say anything.  We were waiting for some official ruling but that never happened.  So we will keep it at that.
On to more exciting news.  We had many visitors in the Milwaukee area this past weekend. Tens of thousands of Harleys were here.  Now we don't have a Harley but we do have a T bucket.  Bill and I took a ride down to the lake front where a lot of them gathered.  What an awesome sight.  They were parked up and down Lake Drive three deep.  Even the median strip was parked full of Harleys.  Stupid me forgot the camera.  You wouldn't have believed the amount of bikes there.  They were as far as you could see.
We will be leaving tonight for the Mid Ohio Road Course.  Bill always looks forward to a road course.  I think it's going to be a wet weekend and they still race in the rain.  Bill is looking forward to the challenge.  We will let you know how the weekend turned out.  Stay tuned. 

August 25th, 2008

Qualified 4th, finished 7th. 

August 18, 2008

Kaukauna started off pretty good.  Bill qualified 3rd with Bobby Gutknecht having fast time and NEARLY breaking our track record.  Bill had a good start for the feature, starting on the outside of row 4.  He seemed to have a good run and passed a few cars.  On lap 10 the first caution came out for an altercation by a couple of drivers.  I believe Bill was running fourth or fifth at that time.  When the green flag came out the group started a hard charge for the front.  Bill and Lyle Nowak were running 3 and 4 and Bobby G was right behind the lead group.  You probably couldn't have gotten a fly between that group of cars.  Going into turn one, Lyle and Bill touched and sent Bill hard into the wall.  Bobby tried to avoid and ended up backing hard into Lyle.  Here we are.... the best of friends..... and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  All three of them wrecked together.  These guys just don't do that.  I know what it was.  The dreaded full moon was out.  
After further review of the damage, Bill's car is not as bad as it could have been.  He hit the soft wall in turn two and it looked like it was snowing from all the debris.  Bill's car had so much styrofoam in it and in places you wouldn't believe.  It may be called a soft wall but Bill said it wasn't all that soft.  (I'm sure it saved the car from even more damage.)   We will be at the Milwaukee Mile hopefully on Friday for the practice session but if we don't make that we will be there for the race on Saturday.  A few trips to Five Star Bodies and a few more to Behling Racing Equipment and a lot of hours in the garage and I think we will be ready.   I think my car knows the way to these places all by itself.  
See you at our biggest show...The MIlwaukee MIle.  Be there.

July 28th, 2008

The Dells Duel was not too bad.  Going into the event I was a little bit skeptical about the way the show was going to turn out.  Bill was looking forward to the evening because it was going to be different from the way we usually run.  The officials had everything set up so there would be no questions about ties.  As it turned out they needed those rules because there were ties.
Bill practiced well and was happy with the set up he was going to run.  He went out to qualify and turned in 4th in time.  Kyle Shear broke his own track record from last year.  The roll of the dice was not kind to the faster of the qualifiers.  It was a 14. which is the highest that it normally can be.  
Bill started the first feature 6th row inside.  The inside row is more preferable and it proved to be that way Saturday night.  He moved up slowly in the field and by lap 8 he was running third.  The first caution flag came out and he had to restart second row outside.  Bill couldn't manage to pass the eventual winner of the first feature, Ken Joosten.  After a couple of more cautions Bill managed to pass Jeremy Spoonmore for the second spot and luckily hung on to the checkered flag.  
Another roll of the dice for the second race, you guessed it, a 15 showed up on the dice.  (I think they took the roll of the dice and added 9 to it).  This put Bill in the 7th row.  Mikie Breiner rolled himself to the pole but decided that he wasn't comfortable enough to start up front.  He choose to start in the rear of the field.  Hats off to him.  You don't need 19 guys breathing down your neck if your car isn't comfortable.  
Bill was stuck in the middle of the field with a lot of fast cars.  He couldn't manage to pull off much in the way of passing.   There were a few yellows in the race and a few questionable calls but in the end Bill finished 7th in that race. with Tim Schmitt winning from the pole.  When you combine the two races Bill ended up 3rd over all.  Not a bad night all in all.  Ken Joosten was the overall winner for the two races.  Congrats Ken.
According to the press release there is an overall winner between the Dells Duel Part 1 and the Dells Dual Part 2.  
After Lyle Nowak had bad luck in both features he ended his night early and stated "I've had enough fun for one night."  I think he was awarded the 20th position out of, yup, 20.
We have a 2 week break before our next race.  We will be going back to the final race this year at Kaukauna on Aug 16th.  
We may have some exciting plans for a weekend in September.  Bill wants to take the road race car to Mid Ohio Sports Car Coarse for a SCCA race.  We are both hoping this will work out.  I will keep you informed.
See you all at Kaukauna.

July 21st, 2008

Another good day for race reports.  We were at Kaukauna for the white race this past Saturday.  The gray clouds were with us all day and night.  The track officials hurried the races along as much as possible.  We were supposed to get hit with rain around 7 but that never materialized.  
Bill was comfortable right away with the car.  He was the second car out to qualify and turned a 20.829 which we believe is a brand new track record.  The old one was set by Rick Corso in 2000.  
Bill started the race in the 5th row outside and moved up slowly in the feature.  He started to have handling problems and was passed by James Swan on lap 14.  I thought that this wasn't going to be a very good night.  After a few laps Bill got the car back in form again and raced down James.  He tried to pass him on the high side and raced side by side for a long time.  He ended up passing him for 4th place and then went to work on Lyle Nowak who was running 3rd.  Bill got up to him but couldn't manage to pull off a pass and ended up 4th.  
The win went to Kyle Shear who started in the second row.  
Our next race will be at the Dells this Saturday.  It is the Hankscraft Dells Dual Part 2.  This will be a different race for us.  There will be two 35 lap features with an overall winner.  See you there.

July 14th, 2008

We had a great day yesterday for our test and tune day at the Milwaukee Mile.  Bill tried a few new things (not sure if they were any better).  The weather was great with the temps in the 70's and sun most of the day.  There was a few Mid Am guys there like Bobby and Ryan Gutknecht, Jim Thorson, the Shear boys, Travis Rodewald and Louie Goss.  Doug even got to drive our road race car that Bill brought out.  It was a relaxing day for testing.
This Saturday night we will be at Kaukauna again for the White race.  Always like going to Kaukauna.  See you there.

July 7th, 2008

Well we are back to having good Mondays again.  
We did make it to Marshfield this past Saturday with time to spare.  Bill's practice sessions were just OK.  The heat race found Bill racing to the rear as usual.  Bill wasn't quite sure the car was going to go to the front of the feature this week.  He started 6th row inside in the feature after pulling off a 2nd position in qualifying.  It seemed like Bill could go were ever he wanted to on the track to pass cars.  He did most of his passing on the high side and by lap 10 he was running 3rd and working on Darren Woelke who was 2nd.  He got by him and was reeling in Bobby Gutknecht who was in the lead by now.  Bill could feel his car getting a little loose but was still making headway.  He got behind Bobby and managed to pass him on the inside on lap 24.  Bill had a 4 or 5 car advantage for a very short time.  A few laps later Lyle Nowak began to make some headway and was on the back of Bill's bumper.  Then Brian Back came into the picture.  I wasn't sure if Bill could hold both of them off.  We had some lapped cars in the picture and I was hoping Bill would choose the right lane.  We did make it through the lapped cars OK!  Lyle got caught up in them and went back to 3rd but Back was right there on Bill's tail.  I sure wished the race was only 39 laps.  Brian Back pulled along side Bill easily on the back stretch and passed him for the lead in turn four going for the checker.  Bill finished 2nd and Lyle was 3rd.  
After the race Bill said he couldn't figure out where everyone was.  His car got looser and looser, he was thinking about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Quote from the movie. "Where are those guys?"  (Now if he was thinking about Butch and Sundance he had waaayyyy too much time on his hands.)
It still was a good night, 2nd in time and 2nd in the feature.  Bill was happy with second, just disappointed he didn't win.  This time we just got beat by a better car, and or driver.
Our next time on the track will be this Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile.  There is a test and tune day and Bill wants to try something new.  I'll let you if it works or if it's back to the drawing board.
I have a couple of pictures of Bill Herr and Bill.  He was at Marshfield this past Saturday and they used to race late models on the dirt at Marshfield a couple of years (decades) ago.  I will post them asap.
Thanks for coming to our web site.  

July 3rd, 2008

Bill is coming along just fine on the car.  He got the frame pulled back and now all the jewelry is going on.  It sure is time consuming.  At this point I think we will make the Marshfield race on Saturday.  The weather is supposed to be great.  
I hear there is going to be a bike race at the track.  Lucky Bill, I just bought a bike.  We plan on throwing in $20.00 to the winner of the race if the owners of Marshfield don't mind.  I personally think they should have to wear their helmets.  Bill thinks that would be an extra burden which would make a better show.  I think the old guy needs more protection.  I also think that anyone with an AARP card should be given a handicap.  Like maybe a half a lap advantage....  And maybe they should have oxygen at the finish line.  Hey, is nitrous allowed in the tires?

June 30th, 2008

This Monday I could do without.  Let me start out by saying that yes, I still do like Francis Creek.  This was one of those weeks that the Creek wasn't good to Bill.  
Qualifying went OK!   He was 6th in time.  That qualifying time gave him a 5th row inside starting position in the feature.  At the drop of the green I knew it was going to be a long night.  Although I didn't know at the time how long.  It seemed like every lane he took it was the wrong one.  I wished I had had a remote control up in the stands to help him out like the NASCAR commercial for Toyota on TV.  
He went outside and lost a few positions.  He went inside and lost more positions.  He told me that he was racing really hard to the rear.  He said he never really got a chance to get going because he was always stuck behind someone.  Then on lap 21 two cars touched sending one into a spin and facing the wrong direction on the track.  Bill had no place to go and hit him hard in the right side door.  Everyone talked about how loud the bang from the impact was.  Bill was a little sore on Sunday and the car is really sad.  Everything in the front end needs to be replaced.  Sunday he worked until 10:30 at night straightening the frame.  I think it's going to be OK!  At first we didn't think we would make to Marshfield this Saturday, but if everything goes well we may make it.  We do have all day on the July 4th to work on it.  
Hope to see you at Marshfield on Sat, July 5th.
Congratulations to Crystal Wood for being the first female to win a Mid American Series feature.  She and her husband, Don Wood, started in the front row.  Don led the first lap and Crystal took over after that and went on to win.  

June 16th, 2008

Another good Monday.  Bill started the night out with one set of practice laps.  When he brought it in he said we were done until qualifying.  The car was that good.  He was the first one to qualify and set the pace with a 21.052.  No one topped that so Bill kept his fast time.  
The roll of the dice gave Bill a 6th row starting spot.  As cars were warming up for the feature, a couple of cars had motor problems and couldn't restart in their position. 
Bill slowly passed cars and by lap 12 or so was in the second position with James Swan following close behind.  Bill tried to make his move on Jake Finney, who was leading by now, but just couldn't get a clean run on him.  They played follow the leader for a number of laps.  Swan managed to get past Bill and now Bill was playing catch up to Swan.  The last yellow came out on lap 25 with Bill behind Swan.  Bill managed to pass James around lap 30 of a 35 lap race and set out to get Finney.  But the laps wound down and Bill just couldn't pull off a pass.  Bill had to settle for second.  Fast time and second in the feature is a great day no matter how you look at it.   
Now we are looking forward to Francis Creek in two weeks.  That is our mini Bristol.  Bill has always liked the track.  It hasn't always been good to him but he likes it.
See you there!

June 2nd, 2008

Mondays are always better when the weekend went great, and that's what happened this weekend.  As usual, Bill wasn't happy with practice.  He did a little tweaking before qualifying and ended up with 4th in time.  He was a little surprised with that.  
With a ten pm curfew hovering over our head, our feature started at 10:20 pm.  We were told our race would be 40 laps or 20 minutes, whichever came first.  Bill started the feature in the 5th row on the inside.  By lap 8 he was running 3rd.  Not only was his car great but the spots just opened up for him.  He was running behind the leaders Scott Null and Jeremy Spoonmore who were running side by side for a couple of laps.  On lap 11 the first caution came out for an exploded radiator hose on Tim Sehr's car.  Bill had to restart on the outside this time.  Right in the groove where all that water was.  He pulled past Null on the restart and then the yellow came out for another incident.  Again he started in the outside lane and got past Null for the lead and yup, the yellow came out.  Third time was the charm when the green came out this time.  He got past Null and stayed there for a couple of laps when another caution came out.  We were told that the next caution would be the end of the race. The final yellow came on lap 18 when a group of cars spun in turn one.  This time we got the yellow and checker at the same time.  Another great win for Bill.  This is his first win at the Dells.
Our next event will be at Kaukauna on June 14th for the Red race.  Hope to see you there.  

May 17th, 2008

This is one weekend I'm glad is over.  We arrived at LaCrosse at 3pm when the pits opened.  We knew before we got there that we had to unload our trailer and put it outside of the pits.  Our trailer and motorhome are too tall and LaCrosse has a restriction on height, so that all the fans can see the race.
Bill got his first practice session in and wanted to try something else in his set up, so he brought the car back to the pits.  He made his changes and was going back to the track when the car stalled.  He tried all sorts of things to get fuel pressure, but nothing worked.  He missed the rest of practice to deal with his ornery car.  With about ten minutes before qualifying he fired it up and it stayed running.  He got in line for qualifying and when his turn came to qualify he turned a great lap.  Unfortunately the clock didn't trip and his lap didn't count.  He did get another lap only to have engine troubles during that lap but still managed to pull off 4th in time running on 7 cylinders.  
So now he had to not only worry about his fuel problem that he had earlier in the night, he also had to worry about the engine not running on all 8 cylinders.  Bill worked on the car almost constantly from 5:30 to close to 9 trying to find the problems.  We were lucky to have Mark there with us this weekend.  He did a lot of the grunt work.  
Bill started the feature in either the 5th or 6th row on the inside.  His car was finally behaving and managed to make some passes that surprised even me.  By lap 16 he was in second place and was hunting down the leader Darren Wolke who started on the pole and had quite a lead on the rest of the field.  It might have taken Bill a hundred or so laps to catch Darren but time was running out.  A caution came out on lap 28 of our 40 lap race for a spin.  Bill restarted on the inside of row two.  Of course by now the rain gods did a little dance upstairs and started some rains drops that turned into a small shower.  The officials did restart the race and Bill got around Darren in turn 3.  Rains came harder and the caution came out again.  All we needed was one more lap (how many times do you hear that?).  They reverted to the last completed lap and that gave the win to Darren Wolke which is the way it should have been.  Darn.  
Second place was OK!  Especially after the night that we had.  Those of you that know us, know that Bill hardly ever works on the car at the track.  We usually have everything prepared and ready to go.  
I do want to thank all the people that helped us unload the trailer and then reload it again in the rain.  It would have taken 10 times as long without your help.  Special thanks to the Thorson group, the Zumbach group and the Gutknechts for many parts and tools and to anyone that I failed to mention.  
All in all it wasn't a bad night.  Bill just had to work at the track for it for a change.
Our next race event will be at the Dells in two weeks.  Check our schedule page for more info.  I have now linked it to the Mid American site so I wouldn't forget to change it.
Thanks for viewing our site.

May 13th, 2008

Saturday at Lynch GM Superstores was a great time for all.  We met many old friends that came by to say hi.  
This weekend we will be at LaCrosse Friday night.  
I changed our schedule page to link right to the Mid American site.  That way you will be able to see their site and return to ours when you're done.  
See you all at La Crosse.

May 6th, 2008

We survived the Milwaukee Mile.  It was a good day and the weather was great.  We only took the Mid Am car.  
This Saturday we will be at the Lynch Motorsports Jamboree in Burlington, WI.    

April 28th, 2008

Mother Nature 1, racing at Golden Sands, 0.  Races were cancelled on Saturday for Sundays race.  Rain, cold, wind and even snow was supposed to be the order of the day.  I can't imagine that too many people would have been in the stands.  
Our next adventure will be "Drive the Mile" at the Milwaukee Mile on Sunday May 4th.  This is a charity event for The Hunger Task Force.  You can bring any vehicle you want and take a lap or two around the famed Milwaukee Mile.  What an experience.  Admission for "Drive the Mile" is $15.00 and two non-perishable food items.  Hope to see you there.
We will be there with at least the Mid Am Car.  May even bring the Road Course car.

April 25th, 2008

I forgot to mention that we will be at Plover on Sunday.  As long as the snow and rain stay away.  I hope you will venture out and join us.

April 14th, 2008

The season opened at Rockford this past weekend.  It wasn't the best conditions for racing, especially on Saturday for practice.  It rained all morning.  By 1:30 or so the track was dry enough to practice.  Bill was happy with his car and he even was lucky enough to practice with Bobby Gutknecht's car for a few laps.  Bob had been on a vacation the week before and wasn't back until late Saturday night.  
Sunday was just a little better than Sat. No rain and some sun, but plenty cold.  As Bill was weighing in before qualifying we had a snow shower.  Bill took fast time away from James Swan.  Bill turned a 14.174 and James was 14.189.  
Bill put a new body on the car with a new paint job.  I asked him to put the old hood back on the car for Rockford and he did.  Let's just say I'm glad I took a couple of pictures before the race on Sunday.
Bill started in the 7th row on the outside.  He was picking off a few cars and around lap 12 Bill was going to pass James Swan on the inside.  Bill was going to make a quick pass as James was stuck on the high side.  James never saw Bill and turned into his right side.  That caused the first yellow flag with Bill having to come into the pits to have his right front fender taped back on.  I thought he made it back out on lead lap but as it turned out he was one lap down.  (So much for his pit crew)  He ended up avoiding at least two more wrecks and was happy when the race was over.  Lyle Nowak ended up with the first win of the season.  Congratulations.
I wanted to thank Bobby Gutknechts crew and Butch Mierendorf for coming over to help me with Bill's crash.  Without them he would have been 25 laps down.  Thanks guys!
The old hood was fine but the new right front fender needs to be replaced.  

April 7th, 2008

We weren't sure we were going to be ready for the season opener next weekend at Rockford.  Bill put in a few all nighters to try to make practice this past Saturday at Rockford and we made it.  If anything could go wrong it did.  I'm glad he got most of the bugs worked out of it before the opener.  (hopefully)  We didn't make it out of our garage until 1 pm and practice was from 12 to 4.  It was a two hour ride for one practice season.  Another quality time together trip.  
I did get a couple of pictures of the car with our new sponsor Central Services.  Check out the new pictures page and scroll to the bottom.

March 18th, 2008

Just a quick little update from this past weekend.  
This was the weekend of our trip to Bristol with Boring Bob's TOURS.  This was the trip that Bill won at the Mid Am Banquet.  That was probably one of the most enjoyable trips we have been on in a long time.  At first we weren't sure we could go but we managed the four days off.  We left Friday morning and got back on Mon evening.  It was a little wet on Saturday for the Nationwide race but Sunday was pretty nice.  We had a few clouds but the sun did peek out every now and again. 
Everything ran so smoothly and we met a few nice people on the bus.   I would recommend Boring Bob's TOURS to anyone.  He has everything very well planned.  Good motor coach, good hotel, good seats.  What more could you ask for?  (except for no rain)
Bill's still a long way from getting the car done after another weekend lost at Bristol.  He'll have to work really hard to get it done for Rockford.  

March 3rd, 2008

Wow!  March already.  Bill has been working on his car almost every weekend and some nights during the week.  He still isn't sure it will be done by opening weekend at Rockford.  I think he say's that every year and it always manages to be race worthy.  The car will be getting a partially new body this year and a new paint job.  It was in desperate need of a face lift.  Bill also checked over the rest of the car.  He reminded me that the car is five years old already.  Seems like yesterday it was built.  Then again it seems like yesterday we were headed to Hales Corners Speedway with a tow bar and that was 36 years ago.
We are also planning on going to the Wisconsin Fair Park for the Racing expo this Saturday. (March 8th)  This is an event sponsored by Behling Racing Equipment and Diamond Racing Wheels.  
 I have updated the schedule page so you can keep track of where we will be, starting with Rockford on April 13th.  We are looking forward to the race season to begin.  

January 21st, 2008

Happy New Year everyone.  
We were at the Mid American Banquet this past Saturday.  It is held at "The Wintergreen Resort" in Wisconsin Dells.  Bill received his second place trophy along with some contingencies from Lynch Dealerships and Tisler Auto Salvage and a point fund check from Mid American.  He also received other contingencies from M&R Racing Equipment, Race Driver Cards, Schaeffer Lubricants and Hoosier.
Bill was also the lucky recipient of a trip to Bristol TN in March for the Spring NASCAR race weekend.  Boring Bob's TOURs provided the trip. Hopefully we will be able to make arrangements to go.  We have wanted to go on one of his tours for a long time.   

December 28th, 2007

Just a little update as to what has been going on at the Franklin Flyer garage.  
We spent a great weekend with our friends Lyle and Marcy Nowak.  They came into town on Dec 15th and we went to the Pabst Mansion.  I have lived my whole life in the Milw area and have never been there.  We all really enjoyed ourselves.  That night we called Bobby Gutknecht and went out to dinner with him and his other half, Julie, at Wegners in Franklin.  That is a sports (mostly racing) bar / restaurant.  The following day the Nowaks and us went to Sprechers Brewery for a tour and sat on Santa's lap.  Poor Santa.  
We also wanted to announce our new sponsor for the next race season.  We are happy to announce that Central Services will be behind us for 2008.  They have sponsored many cars throughout the years and we are very happy they decided to come to our pit spot this year.  Gary and Melody Bohrer run their landscaping and snow removal business out of New Berlin, WI.  Check them out at www.centralservicescompany.com. 
We will be going to the Rockford auction on Jan 5th to find all the new trick stuff for next year.  It's a winter gathering place.
Hope your Christmas was good and have a Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nov. 27th, 2007

Bill, Mark and I wanted to send a special Christmas wish to all of you from us.  We thought this an appropriate Christmas greeting.  Please click on link: www.elfyourself.com/?id=9615780286

Oct. 29th, 2007

You would all be proud of Bill and I as we walked the entire 4 miles for the cancer run/walk at Road America this past weekend.  It was a great day for the walk.  We didn't raise my expected $500.00 but came close with $423.08.  We wanted to personally thank the following people for their donations.  Ron Politoski, Tom Spitzer, John Spitzer, Steve Silber, Beth Bartelt, Boring Bob TOURs, John Fischer and Jerry Rogahn.  Thanks for all of your support.
On to the racing portion of the weekend.  We took both of our cars to the track.  Bill took out the Mid American car first just to make sure nothing was wrong with it. Bill asked a friend of ours Dan Mech, who drove sportsman's and modified at Hales Corners Speedway for many years, if he would like to take a lap or two.  Dan showed up shortly before we took out the cars.  He took a few laps and really enjoyed himself.  
And then it was my turn.  First I took out the Mid Am car for a couple of laps.  It was quite an experience.  I wanted to be careful with the car because that was the one Bill was going to race later in the day.  Although I never expected to go fast enough to hurt too much, I did manage to bring it back in one piece. 
After our morning practice session we did our walk and it was amazing what you see when you walk around that track.  You can see all the black skid marks that head directly for the wall and you know that can't be good.  Luckily none of those marks were ours.
After our walk we feasted on the great food that was brought by drivers, crews and wives.  Bobby Gutknecht deep fried a turkey and cooked a ham.  I guess it proves that some racers, wives and girlfriends really do know how to cook.  Thanks for all the great food.
On to our racing for the day.  Bill gave me a choice to drive either race car and I chose the faster of the two, the ASA touring car.  I was hoping to stay on lead lap with that one.  Bill had some mechanical problems with the Mid Am car and only got one lap of qualifying in.  He ended up with third in time and started the race right in front of Ken Smart.  The car that started in front of Bill had a first turn spin and Bill thought it best to spin to avoid rather than crashing into the car.  I started the race at the rear of the field because I wasn't sure of myself.  I passed Bill going into turn one.  (That was fun)  He did get going after he was cleared by all of the cars on the track and passed me back like I was standing still.  (Not fun)  We could talk to each other on our radios, but I was too busy trying to keep my car straight.  Bill was pretty far behind the leaders after his unfortunate start.  I'm not sure how he did it but he ended up third, a half an inch behind second place Ken Smart.  James Swan won.  I was told I finished right behind Bill.  Well, not right behind him.  He was not in sight and at least one lap in front of me.  I was not scored because it was a Mid Am race and my car is not a Mid Am car.  I did finish the race in front of Hank Tews, whom I passed twice.  The first time he got back in front of me when I did a little off road excursion.  Hank finished the race in fourth place.  Bill instilled into my head.....Black (the asphalt) is good, green (the grass) is bad.  Bill, James and Ken did lap me and I told Bill that I went as fast as I thought my  wallet could go.  
Thanks for reading our notes on the race season.  I have enjoyed writing them.  
I do have some pictures that I will try to post on Tuesday along with some other news.  I just ran out of time today.

Oct. 25th, 2007

Only a couple more days to our American Cancer Society walk/run race.  Bill and I wanted to thank everyone that donated.  It looks to be a great day for walking and we are looking forward to it.  If you haven't donated yet there is still time.  www.roadamerica.com and follow the links to our team.  Thanks again.  
Bill has both cars just about ready.  We will be taking turns racing each car.  This is a great opportunity to end the year and just have fun.  I hear Bobby Gutknecht will be cooking and every one will be bringing food to pass around.  I guess we will find our what kind of cooks we all are.  Should be a great time at a great track.  The great part of the price of the admission ticket is that it gets you complete access to the pit and paddock area.  You can get up front and personal with all the drivers and cars.  Just remember, cars have the right of way.  See you all there.

Oct 8th, 2007

We have just finished our 35th season of racing.  Seems impossible to have raced all these years.  We have met many wonderful friends through out the years.  We don't know how many more years we have left but plan on continuing as long as it is enjoyable.  .
This past weekend at La Crosse was the warmest that I can remember.  Most years you at least need a jacket.  Some years you needed many jackets.  It was in the upper 80's with lots of humidity and very uncomfortable.  We had to unload our trailer and pull it out of the pits because we are to tall.  We sat in the second turn under our EZ up (which should be called a not so EZ up) that shaded us somewhat.  Bill started practice around 8:30 and wasn't so happy with the car.  He chased a brake problem for most of his practice sessions.  He qualified 5th and was extremely happy with that due to the fact that he didn't think he would make the feature on time.  There was a field of around 35 cars and most of them were faster than us in practice.  
He finally found his brake problem and had it repaired by his heat race.  Bill put in a few hard laps in the heat but decided to back out.  He didn't want any problems because all of our spare parts were out in our trailer.  
It was the final point night for us and Bill had a mathematical chance of getting another championship.  He would have to win the feature and James Swan would have to have problems early and finish towards the end of the field.  Bill started in the fourth row on the outside and did a good job getting around a slower car that started in front of him.  He dodged a couple of cars that spun and a couple of yellow flags benefited him.  Even James Swan had a tangle with another car that had mechanical problems and Bill missed the slowing cars on the backstretch.  Bill finished 6th across the line but was given 5th after the winner could not pass post race inspections.  James Swan finished 7th which gave him the championship.  James did a great job this year but had many unfortunate finishes.  He still came out on top of the points when it counted.  Congratulations to James and his crew for a job well done.  Bill finished the year in second place with Spoonmore third, Bobby Gutknecht fourth and Lyle Nowak fifth.  
We still have one more race.  On October 27th we will be at Road America for a non points race.  Bill loves road racing and this should be a fun weekend.  Bill plans on taking both of our cars and maybe we both will do a little racing.  We will be doing a 4 mile walk for cancer research before the race.  If anyone would like to contribute to that event please go to www.roadamerica.com and click on the Mid American article where it says American Cancer Society walk/run event.  Donations are tax deductible and 100% of the donations go to the American Cancer Society.  You can urge Bill and me on with a small donation for a good cause.  
See you all at Road America.

Oct 1st, 2007

Whew! Rockford is over.  It was a great day for racing.  It was a great day for anything.  Bill tried something new in the race car this week and guess what?  He will be going back to the old set up for next weekend.  His practice times were just OK!  Qualifying time came and his laps were not what he hoped for.  I kept counting the cars who were faster than him as they took their turn for qualifying.  In the end he was 8th in time.  After the roll of the dice and one car deciding to start in the rear, Bill started in the second row outside.  Rockford has two grooves but the outside is the preferred lane.  I was pretty happy to see his starting position but after a few laps in the feature the first yellow came out.  The restart found Bill on the inside row and on the restart, Bill fell back 2 positions.  It seemed like every yellow Bill had to start on the inside.  He fell back to 7th place and had to work his way back up.  He had a small scuffle with the wall when he went too high and gave it a blow.  I thought for sure he would need two right side tires after that.  He didn't miss a beat and never lost a position.  His brand new right side wheels are good for the scrap heap though.  
Bill had a very ill handling race car and could see James Swan coming up to him.  He waved him by and settled in behind him.  In the end James finished 4 and Bill was very lucky to finish 5th.  Back to the drawing board.
Next weekend we have our last point night of the season at La Crosse.  Our show will be on Saturday.  Then we will have a couple of weeks off and return to Road America for the cancer run/walk.  Bill and I will be doing the 4 mile walk and we are looking for sponsors.  100% of the money donated will be given directly to American Cancer society.  Please stop in the shop and sign up or give us an e-mail or phone call 414-543-4220.  Thanks for all your help and see you at La Crosse.

Sept 24th, 2007

We had a great day for racing this past Saturday.  Bill was practicing in the 20.4's and 20.5's most of his practice sessions.  When qualifying came I was hoping he would have a little extra so he would make the show.  His first lap was a 19.50 and the second lap was a 19.53.  That gave him fast time and only James Swan came close with a 19.60.  It looked liked the night was getting off to a good start.  
Bill started in the 6th row outside in the feature.  This was the first time the Mid Am cars were at Marshfield and I didn't know if the inside or outside was the preferred lane.  On the green flag lap I could tell the inside lane was going to move forward as a car that started in the front just couldn't make it work.  That held up the outside line and Bill went straight to the back.  I thought this was going to be a long night.  There were a few cautions in our 40 lap race.  On lap 20 the yellow came out and Bill seemed to get moving.  He passed a few cars and ended up in the 5th position behind Lyle Nowak.  Bill tried passing Lyle on the outside for quite a few laps.  He almost got passed him when the yellow came out with four laps to go.  We got 2 more laps in when another yellow came out.  Bill couldn't get by Lyle in the last 2 remaining laps and ended up 5th.  James Swan went on to win.  The car came home in one piece and we will be going to Rockford next Sunday.  Only 2 point nights remaining in our series, Rockford and LaCrosse.  At the end of October there is a scheduled race at Road America.  Bill enjoys the road courses and is looking forward to that.
See ya all at Rockford!

Sept 20th, 2007

We are headed to Marshfield this Saturday night for a Mid Am race.  Bill is looking forward to this event.  He has enjoyed racing there in the past but it has been a while since we have been there.  
The season is winding down and this is our third last point night.  The final event on our Mid Am schedule will be at Road America but will not be a points show.

Sept 7th, 2007

It was a tough night at the "Creek" this past Saturday night.  Bill thought it was going to be ugly and I thought he would have a good night there.  He was right.  
Bill qualified 2nd and the roll of the dice started him 5th row inside.  This was a good place to start as the outside row couldn't seem to go forward.  By lap 2 the first caution came out for a spin by Don Wood.  Bill restarted on the inside lane and proceeded to move forward.  By lap 7 Bill was passing Bobby Gutknecht when Bobby pulled in behind Bill and didn't quite clear the guy behind him.  Bobby spun coming out of turn 4 which brought out the second yellow of the night.  Bill was again on the inside row on the restart and finally made it to 3rd behind James Swan.  Bill tried to get around James but found nothing on the outside lane.  
The 3rd yellow came out on lap 17 for a roll over by Travis Rodewald.  He was unhurt but the car couldn't say the same thing.  This time Bill started on the outside of James and tried to pass him but again there was nothing on the outside.  Bill had to settle back in line again in the third place and was right on James bumper.  The 4th yellow came out on lap 22 for a spin which involved Bobby Gutknecht and Mike Oswald.  Bill started again in the second row outside next to James.  Again he tried to pass him but couldn't manage to pull it off.  Another yellow on lap 31 for a spin by Jeff Tisler and Mike Oswald and again Bill had to start on the outside of row 2.  By this time the fast qualifier, Jimbo Schleis, had pulled up to Bill and was challenging him for the third position.  He had been involved in an earlier mishap and part of his door pulled away from his car.  Both Jimbo and Bill were racing hard for that third spot when Jimbo's body panel made contact with Bill's wheel and cut the valve stem on the tire.  (This is what we assumed by the color of paint on the inside of the wheel.)  This sent Bill into a spin and finally came to rest in the front stretch wall.  That was the final yellow (lap 39) of the night and the race was called complete due to time restrictions.  Bill was towed off the track and expected to put the car away.  The tech inspectors came up to Bill and asked him to remove his intake.  Bill couldn't understand this until they told him they were going to revert to the last completed lap which would have given him a third place finish.  We both questioned them.  They said that was how Milwaukee was scored with the last lap crash and that was how they were going to score Saturday night.  We questioned them again and then we removed our intake.  Before we left the track, Bill talked with James Swan, Lyle Nowak, Garland Spoonmore, Mike and Matt Panure and Ron Blood.  Bobby Gutknecht came and told Bill what he thought but was in no mood to converse.  On our way home we talked about how long it would take for the officials to change the decision.  It took four days.  That was way too long.  Bill got calls on Monday afternoon and most of Tuesday morning from various drivers who couldn't understand what was going on.  On Wednesday morning Bill returned Doug's late Tuesday night phone call to be informed of the final decision about Francis Creek but Milwaukee will not be changed.  
There has been some controversy on this subject but if the correct call had been made at Milwaukee we wouldn't be talking about it now.  It was just compounded at Francis Creek.
We both love racing with the Mid American series, but they have some issues that need to be solved.  Hopefully before next season they really are solved.  We would all like to be on a level playing field.  
One final note............If you have questions on policies and procedures contact the series.  Then they will understand you are concerned.  
Our next race will be in a couple of weeks, September 22nd, at Marshfield.  We are looking forward to returning to a very friendly race track.  The truck series has been there but this will be the first time our Mid Am cars will be there.  Many, many, many years ago, Bill won there with a dirt Late Model.  Did I mention many years ago?

Sept. 4th, 2007

Finally got some pictures from the Milwaukee Mile on our picture page, but I don't have time to let you know about the "creek" yet.  I will let you know later in the week.  After spending too much time on the picture page, I ran out of time for my updates   I need to catch up on my "real work" after our 4 day weekend.  

Aug 27th, 2007

We had a beautiful weekend for racing.  Friday was dry until our practice session was over and on Saturday the sun was out all day long.
Bill was happy with all of his practice sessions on both Friday and Saturday morning.  Qualifying went well with Bill ending up 2nd with a 32.134 and James Swan taking fast time honors with a 32.048.  
The feature race was lined up with an 18 car invert.  Bill started 9th row inside.  We had a few caution flags fly.  On lap 6 Tim Schmitt had an axle break causing a blown right rear tire.  That in itself was scary but it happened right in front of Bill.  I thought our day was going to be done.  Bill missed him completely.  Bill was still somewhere in the middle and trying hard to move forward.  He did make it up to the front pack but the car was just not right.  On lap 36 of our 40 lap race the leaders got together with Kyle Shear spinning and Danny Powell being sent to the rear.  Bobby Gutknecht inherited the lead with Lyle Nowak behind him.  On the restart, Max Schultz blew his engine and collected a group of cars that crashed in turn one.  Once again the yellow came out.  After some thought on our officials part they finally threw the checkered flag.  Bill ended up seventh with Bobby Gutknecht winning and Lyle 2nd.  
On a sad note.  We lost a very dear friend this past week.  Ron Fryer had been a friend of ours for many years.  He had just lost his wife late last year to cancer.  He will be sorely missed.  Bill just said he missed the Monday phone call that Ron would have made today.  He would have asked how the "senior citizen" did at the race this weekend.  I will miss his "How's Granny Janny" comment.  
Our next race will be at Francis Creek on Saturday.  A fun little race track.  See you there.  

August 20th, 2007

Mother Nature won this weekend.  We got the call just as we were warming up the motor home to leave our driveway.  Great timing.  There will be no make up date for this race.  
Our next race date will be at Milwaukee this weekend.  If the rain lets up, we will have some practice sessions on Friday.  Our race will be held on Saturday afternoon. You can get the complete schedule at www.milwaukeemile.com. 

August 17th, 2007

Just thought I would keep you up to date.  We will be going to Kaukauna this Saturday for the Blue race.  The points for the Mid American Series has been really tight most of the year.  Bill is tied with James Swan for second with Bobby Gutknecht point leader.  There is only 88 points separating the top 5.  It has been a fun year battling back and forth.  After the Kaukauna race, Bill will be getting the car ready for the Milwaukee Mile which is the next race we will be going to.  That is if there is anything left after Kaukauna.  The season is winding down and we only have a few races left.  Our last race of the season will be at Elkhart Lake at the end of October.  Bill is looking forward to that.  
See you at Kaukauna Saturday night.

 July 24th, 2007

We had one of our biggest car counts this year at Kaukauna this past weekend.  Thirty-two cars qualified with Bill being the first car out and keeping fast time honors.  I was a little nervous when James Swan qualified after the late models due to mechanical problems.  I thought he would pull off fast time but wasn't quite there and Bill held onto it.  In the past years the Mid American series has allowed a driver who has mechanical problems during practice to qualify after the late models are done.  They must be ready by the time qualifying is over.  It has benefited most of us at one time or another.  In 2001 when Bill was point leader going into the night, he broke the transmission as he was going out to qualify.  He put it in the trailer (we have a hoist) and we had a lot of help changing the trans.  Most of the help came from other competitors like Bobby Gutknechts crew and Peter Hernandez.  When he was done he went out to qualify after the late models and pulled off fast time.  Some people thought this was not fair but in the long run it is done for everyone.  
The roll of the dice put Bill in the 6th row outside for the start of the feature.  Right from the start, the outside row had the advantage and started to slowly move up.  On lap ten we had two cautions, one for a spin and on the restart Ryan Manthei and Kyle Shear tangled with Ryan going airborne.  Luckily the forth turn wall is a soft wall.  No one was hurt except for the car.  
With another restart Bill slowly moved up to the 4th position and getting ready to pass on the high side when something failed.  Bill thinks it was the ignition switch and it came back to life after he wiggled it.  He had fallen back about 5 car lengths or so.  
By this time Bobby Gutknecht was leading with Jake Finney 2nd, James Swan third and Bill in 4th.  Another yellow came out for a crash in turn four with 6 laps to go.  Bill battled with Swan back and forth for the 3rd position but could not manage to pull it off.  James took the high side and Bill worked the inside.  James made one last effort and managed to take away 2nd from Finney and Bill ended up 4th.  It was an exciting race.  It has been three years since Bobby G. won a feature and he was pretty happy with the outcome.  
We have a few weeks off.  Our next race will be back to Kaukauna for our last race of the year there.  The week after Kaukauna will be the Milwaukee Mile ( Aug 24th and 25th).
  

July 16th, 2007

This past Saturday we were at the Dells for the first time with the Mid Am cars.  Our truck series went there in 1997 and again in 2006.  The facility is a great place to race although passing on the outside is a bit hard.  
Bill qualified 5th and did his usual in the heat race.  (Just a practice session for him)  
Bill started 3rd row outside in the feature and I had hopes he would drive by them all on the outside.  Nope. No such luck.  He proceeded to go backwards.  Finally he found an opening on the inside but he had lost a lot of ground.  He was now in 11th place. The only caution of the race came out on lap 11.  Bill restarted the race in the inside lane this time and  started to work his way up through the field.  With about 10 laps to go he was in 5th place.  He was right behind Lyle Nowak who was running along side Bob Gutknecht in the 3rd and 4th position.  Bill made a last lap effort coming out of turn four to pass both of them on the inside but couldn't manage the move.  Lyle finished 3rd Bob got fourth and we ended up 5th.  
Kyle Shear won his first feature event and ran a very good race.  Congratulations Kyle!
Next Saturday we will be at Kaukauna for the second time this year.  Hope to see you there!!!!!

July 9th, 2007

Our last race was at Madison on July 7th.  Lucky 7-7-07.  Well it was for some drivers.  Bill tried a new set up and it wasn't as good as he would have liked it.  Bill was happy with his 2nd place in qualifying.  He tried a few different things for the heat race and he ended up third.  We thought he may over heat as it was in the 90's all day.  
Bill started in the 6th row inside for the feature with James Swan right next to him.  The green flag came out and Swan took off.  Bill could not find an opening anywhere.  It was side by side racing in front of him for most of the race.  Once he did break out of the pack he moved up a few spots.  A yellow came out on lap 25 for a James Swan crash in turn three.  James lost his motor and ended sliding into the wall.  It was a tough break for him.  He was leading and would have had a clean sweep if the car would have stayed together.
After the restart Bill was slowed down by a lapped car.  He eventually cleared that car but his ill handling car just did not want to co-operate.  Bill did finish 7th, which was pretty good considering how bad he looked.  
The winner was Jeremy Spoonmore.  One more apology to Dave Obermeyer.  Bill's spotter (that's me) called him clear and he wasn't.  Luckily Dave held on when they hit.  Nice save Dave.
Our next race is at the Dells this Saturday.  If everything turns out right we will be there.   

June 19th 2007

Another great weekend of racing at Road America.  Bill just loves the road courses, and it shows.  He qualified on Saturday morning and was fastest in his class.  We had to wait until almost 5:30 at night to race.  He ended up winning his class and placing 4th overall.  There were some pretty fast cars in our session on Sunday.  He qualified 1st in class again and 4th overall.  I will have a picture of Sundays line up with Bill starting up front with some really fast cars.  The car on the pole (orange) was almost 15 seconds per lap faster during Saturdays race.  Bill won his class again and was 5th overall.  
Our next racing date will be July 7th at Madison with the Mid American Stock Car Series.  

June 12th, 2007

Another great day for racing, and when the day goes as great as it did, it makes it all that much better.  Bill was the second car out to qualify and held onto fast time until Ryan Manthei came out.  Bill ended up with 4th in time behind Manthei, Gutknechect, and Swan.  He tried a little something different in the heat race and I always figured he should leave it alone.  I always figured he would take himself right out of the ball park.  Not this time.  His little tweaking was just fine.  He started in the 10th position and worked his way up in the field.  Lyle Nowak, who started near the front, had an early lead and I thought he was going to check out and run away with the race.  A few laps later a ton of smoke poured out of his car and he pulled off.  By lap 15 or so it was Jeremy Spoonmore, James Swan, Bill and Bobby Gutknechect all right there.  Bill got past James Swan and then Swan passed Bill.  I thought we were going to settle for third but Bill passed Swan again and held onto it.  Bill passed Jeremy Spoonmore on the outside for the lead and held onto it.  One last caution on lap 32 came out but no one could catch him and he won.  This was the first race his dad was at that he won.  
A quick thank you to Dave Valentyne from the track and Julie and Doug Strasburg for the use of their golf carts.  It made it easier to get Bills dad to the stands and back so he could see the races.  
We will be going to Road America this weekend with the touring car for a SCCA event.  Bill is really looking forward to that.
See you at the track.

June 5th, 2007

As long as the rain gods stay away we will be at Kaukauna this Saturday night.  Bill has the car all ready.  
The following weekend we plan on going to Road America with the SCCA Touring car.  Last year we went and it was his first race with the car and his first win.  I hope his luck is with him this weekend also.  
See ya at the track.

May 15th, 2007

I am a little behind updating.  We haven't been racing but we have been to some car shows recently.  Two weeks ago we went to the Milwaukee Mile for their annual Drive the Mile event.  Anyone donating $15.00 to a food bank could take three laps on the track behind a pace car.  There was also a car show and a couple of our friends were there with their classic cars.  Dan Hirsch had his Coronet, Bob Dierkes had his blue 57 T Bird and Randy Holmes had his Cobra.
There were 8 to 10 Mid American cars there and we were allowed to go on the track.  Bill didn't want to take the car out on the track so I volunteered for him.  I stalled on the pit road a couple of times but managed to catch up to the back of the field.  We were only going around 70 or 80 but I really enjoyed the experience.
This past Saturday we were at Lynch Dealerships for their annual car show.  Lots of cars there from vintage modifieds to the Mid Americans.  We had great weather for both events.  
The next race event that we will be going to is Kaukauna on June 9th.
I will put a couple of pictures on the site in the next couple of days so check out the New Picture page a little later.

April 30th, 2007

We couldn't have asked for a better day for racing.  The weather was perfect with lots of sun and warm temperatures.  
As usual Bill wasn't happy with practice and tried a few things to make it better.  By the time qualifying came around he was right there with the rest of them.  He turned second quick with James Swan having fast time.  
Feature time came and he started 5th row inside.  He steadily moved forward picking off a car or so a lap.  He followed Lyle Nowak, who started second row inside, past the final couple of cars and then raced behind Lyle for a while.  With a few laps to go, Bill tried to pass Lyle on the outside but just couldn't pull it off.  Bill ended up 2nd with Lyle Nowak winning.  It was nice to see Lyle win as his wife Marcy's birthday was this weekend.  Happy Birthday Marcy.
We will be going to the Milwaukee Mile Sunday May 6th for an exhibit.  They say the show will be run rain or shine, but if it rains we will not be there.  You can go to www.milwaukeemile.com to see what it is all about.  Our next schedule race is May 26th at Grundy.  We have decided not to go to that race but will be at Wisconsin International Raceway on June 9th.  

April 17th, 2007

I will be updating on Tuesday for a while.  That is the first day of the week that I am at the shop.
Rockford started off pretty good.  Bill turned fast time.  Even he was surprised with his time.  
The heat race was a good practice session.  He ended up 4th and didn't wreck anything.
The feature was quick.  One half lap.  Yup! Just one half lap and that was the end for us.  Someone in the front of the pack got out of shape and the whole field slowed down.  The cars at the back of the field couldn't see what was going on and it happened so fast I couldn't let him know fast enough. He hit Bobby Gutknechet full throttle and took out the radiator along with some support bars.  Bobby hit the guy in front of him for the same reason.  Bill was not able to return to the track after the accident.  That was the "wreckford" syndrome.  
If Bill gets the car back in shape our next race is Plover on April 29th.   
We wanted to congratulate Dave Obermeyer on his first Mid American win.  He drove a great race and we were cheering for him.

April, 10th, 2007

Just a quick note to let you know we will be going to Rockford.  Bill will be leaving on Friday for practice and I will be coming down with dad on Saturday.  See you there and bring your snuggies. Burrrrrrrr!

April 3rd, 2007

Hello Spring!  We are looking forward to the Rockford opener on April 14th.  We are planning on going.  Bill still has a lot of work to do on the car before it goes.  When it comes time to go he will be ready.  Whether it is fast or not will be a different story.  He hasn't spent much time on the cars this past winter.  
Only Bill would drive 1000 miles on April fools day to buy a dirt late model.  Yes he did.  He plans on rebuilding it to one of his former late models.  This will be a ten year project.  I will keep pictures of it and keep them posted as the progress goes on.  I guess Bill needed another project after he sold the truck.
See you all at Rockford.