Bill Prietzel
Updated 12/26/11
Bill was born in Plymouth, Wisconsin on September 8th. He went to the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in the late 50's and early 60's to watch the likes of Carl Kulow and Ken Marquardt. After moving to the Milwaukee area in the middle 60's he went to the Hales Corners Speedway and continued his love for racing. He married his wife Jan in 1971 and had one child, Tony with another on the way when he decided he wanted to race himself. He started at the Hales Corners Speedway on the day Jan was due with their second child. He won his first race. Jeni was born in July of 73 and Bill has continued racing ever since. He now has six grandchildren, Elizabeth, Jake, Mackenzie, Carson, Austyn and Joshua.
He raced in the sportsman division from 1973 until 1980, earning one championship in 1977. In 1980 he turned to late models and raced at Hales Corners Speedway, Marshfield, Shawano, Seymour and throughout the southern states until 1993. Although always in the top of the standings, the championship always eluded him. In 1993 a new series started on the asphalt called the Mid American Stock Car Series. He decided to build a car for that series and has been there ever since. In 1997 the same series started the Mid American Super Trucks and he just had to race in that division. The first year with the trucks he missed the championship by a mere 8 points. Bill received his first championship on asphalt in the Mid Am Cars in 2000 the second in 2003 and his third in 2005. Other highlights in his career was buying an old ASA car. He has turned it into a SCCA road racer. So far he has had tremendous luck racing it. He has been to Daytona International, Road America and Mid Ohio winning at all 3 places. How many racers can say they won at Daytona International Speedway?
Bill will be starting his 40th season of racing in 2012. He has had a
very successful career and has no plans for quitting although it may take other
turns in the years to come.
Last year Bill found himself racing in the Trans Am division with the season
starting in March at Sebring. During a practice session, he crashed hard
into a wall with both the front and rear end receiving major damage.
Although he was not sure he could fix it enough to at least get it back into the
trailer, he ended up having enough help from our crew, Mark Silber, Mark
Melichori and Dick Karth to get it back on the track for qualifying. Not
only did our crew do a great job but other competitors were there offering a
hand. He qualified well and ended up finishing 2nd in the race. It
was his first trip to the podium and we were all thrilled after the long hours
of repair.
Bill also raced the Mid American car and had just dropped to second in points
when we decided to take another trip to race the Trans Am Car. He had to
give up a Mid Am event to do this race. This time we went to Mosport,
Ontario Canada. Another podium finish, again in 2nd place. Now he's
hooked. Not only does he love road racing, but he is finishing well.
The only time that Bill had finished out of the top five in either division was
our last two events. The Trans Am event at Road Atlanta was a DNF do to
parts failure and LaCrosse with the Mid Am car due to engine failure.
Otherwise Bill was in the top five in all other races.
In the Mid Am Series, Bill had 2 wins, 3 seconds, 1 third and one DNF.
He missed 3 scheduled events and finished 13th overall. In Trans Am Bill
had 2 seconds, 1 third, 2 fourths, 1 fifth and 1 DNF. He missed 2
scheduled events and finished 2nd in the series.
The Trans Am series took us to four new tracks. The first one was Sebring
and twice we went to Canada, once to Mosport in Ontario and once to Trois
Rivieres` in Quebec. Although the Mid Am Series took us to Brainerd back
in the 90's, the Trans Am series raced on a new configuration. The other
tracks we had been to already at least once.
Mid Am was the same tracks that we have been to in the last 5 or 6 years.
The only new track this year was Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis and that was
a non points event.
Next year will be our 20th year with Mid Am. We have seen many changes
throughout the years. Some good and some not. We would like to see
it expand and go to other facilities that they have not been to yet.
The schedule is not yet out but I'm sure the first race will be Rockford in
April 2012. We will keep you posted which tracks we will be going to.
Bill heard that the Trans Am Series is working on going to New York and New
Jersey this year with New York being a street race. We are hoping to be
able to go to at least one of those tracks. Both would be interesting to
see and I hope we can find it in our budget to go.