Bill Blummer at age 10 with a Super Modified car from Kaukauna
Bill Blumer Jr.
As a kid I had a great opportunity to enjoy many different forms of racing. Through about fourth grade, the mid-70's, I grew up in Wisconsin’s Fox River Valley. Likely one of the first races I went to was at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna for a USAC stock car race. I don’t remember much, other than falling asleep on a blanket. We still have in our photo collection that beautiful blue Deppe car with Dave Marcis next to it and one of a red number 70, as I recall, of Jerry (Medina) Smith. I think these two shots were from that race, circa 1971.
I have more vivid memories of the Golden Age of Wisconsin stock car racing at KK, where I cheered the likes of Trickle, Shear and Detjens as they battled on warm, sunny afternoons for the Red, White and Blue crown.
The dirt tracks at Seymour and Shawano and their late model shows were my favorites of the day. To me, JJ Smith was the sheriff to Roger Regeth’s villain. How cool it was when fellow hall of famers to the Big Bear, Willie Goedon and Wally Jors would wander up? It was always exciting to see Tom Stueding come poaching from Indian Head Country. And how about seeing the "Flyin’ Farmer" Roger Paul, Pete Parker or MJ McBride, plus about 50 other competitors in the pits for a night of racing?
Road America is sometimes a forgotten gem among us short track fans I fear. Back in that same 70's era, just past Can-Am’s prime, I enjoyed the Trans-Am and Formula 5000 days at Elkhart. Here I could be found chasing Gordon Johncock, Mario Andretti and the rest of the Indy 500 cast for autographs, as we could, back then as now, wander the pits pretty freely as fans.
My teens found me in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin where I still live some 30 years later. Home to Angell Park Speedway and the only weekly midget show in the world, I had never seen a midget race until I moved here. I take nothing away from my heros who run with doors on, but wow, you have to have some guts to run a midget. For those of you that have never been to a midget race, come just once. Watch how far they fly and how hard they land when they make a miscue and catch each other’s wheels. And then watch them get back out there ASAP, only to bang wheels some more. But then consider how often and how close they do run to each other and marvel at how often they don’t get upside down.
Those teen years also found me and 10,000 or more other race fans at the ASA events on the Milwaukee Mile. I’m still mad at Mark Martin, the 18 year old sensation at the time, on his first visit to Wisconsin. I had him in the pool. There must have been about ten bucks in it and that was a lot of money for me in those days. As I recall, he was leading under caution, parading around as there were some sprinkles in the air and he spun! Leading the field, behind the pace car and he spun. There went my baseball card money. I was sure, right then, he’d never amount to much.
Today I call myself, to paraphrase a crass teenage phrase, "A fan with privileges." It all started with a chance meeting at Angell Park about five years ago. Justin Zoch, the editor for "FlatOut Magazine," was sitting behind me. I recognized him from the Chili Bowl. I told him liked his publication and one thing led to another. I sent him a photo (late) of a local driver he agreed to do a one page story on. From there he accepted more of my photos for his open wheel publication and then asked if I’d like to help him out with a short snippet on Billy Wease. I’ve been a contributor of stories ever since.
As for "Racing Online," I plan to provide stories from the Badger Kart Club in Dousman. I am their media guy. Further, I’ll provide racing reports from Angell Park, where I hold no title but do provide the race reports for their website and the local paper. Lastly, I’d like to keep you updated on the efforts of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, where I serve as its secretary.
I look forward to supporting Kevin’s effort with this site. For the Wisconsin race fan, young or old, I know of no better.
Bruce Nuttleman
I grew up in suburban Bangor, Wisconsin and attended races at LaCrosse and the Dells (among other tracks) in my youth. I've been doing the weekly pre-race radio show from the Lacrosse Fairgrounds Speedway since 1993. As long as my wife lets me, I will travel from my home in Minneapolis, MN to LaCrosse or many of the other short tracks in the midwest.
I have been fortunate enough to contribute stories and pictures to other broadcasts and publications over the past several years.
What I really enjoy about local racing are the assortment of characters that assemble each week. I am thankful that there are so many drivers and teams dedicated to putting on races each week, despite the long grind of a racing season. I believe that most every spectator that goes to a race would love to race at that track, but only a few actually put together cars and make it happen. And many of them come back year after year to put on a show for the fans. Some of them are very successful, and some are not, but they all want to race.
I hope that never changes.
Kevin Ramsell
Whenever you ask Kevin Ramsell about his first visit to a race track, he will tell you that it was horrifying. “My parents took the whole family to Jefferson Speedway for the Mid-Season Championship in 1981,” Ramsell recalled. “I remember being scared that something bad happened to the drivers every time I saw a wreck. But, I got over that after my third visit and got a ride in Terry Grossen’s street stock.”
Since that first visit, Ramsell was hooked on auto racing. His family would make regular visits to Jefferson Speedway and then, Capital Super Speedway. “I think my first visit, to what is now Madison International Speedway (MIS) was in 1982,” Ramsell stated. “It was a 100-lap feature where Tom Jones (not the singer) held off Dick Trickle for the win.”
