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The Milwaukee Mile (Steve Zautke) · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  Brake Fix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
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  by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
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  Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
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  Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
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  My name is Glenda Gephardt.
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  For those who don't know me, I'm the director of the center and
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  I'm going to kick off today's center conversation gathering and
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  at this time I'll introduce J.
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  C.
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  Argotsinger who will introduce our speaker.
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  Thanks.
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  Well thank you very much and thank you Glenda.
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  Those of you who don't know that's Glenda Gephardt who's been with the racing
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  center even before it was formed at least 16 years ago and she's the person who
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  makes the trains run on time and we're very grateful for everything she does.
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  We do have a wonderful speaker here today.
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  He bridges both the oval world and the road world, which are
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  coming closer and closer together.
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  As you know, we've had a number of oval track presentations in recent years,
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  and of course we always have been identified with road racing, but we do
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  cover all forms of racing in all parts of the country and around the world.
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  Well, our speaker today is an author.
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  He has just published a new book on Road America, which I just received
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  last night and stayed up late reading.
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  He is a native of Milwaukee, got involved with the Milwaukee
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  Mile at a very young age.
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  His father was a filmmaker and a fan and participated in the events there,
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  organizing them and helping out.
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  He had the same sort of influence that I had.
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  My father infected me with this racing bug and all of you in the
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  audience I know are racing fans.
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  It's something, once you've been bitten, you don't get it out of your system.
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  So, Steve Zotke has driven in with his wonderful wife, Susan,
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  who was the historian for a while at the Milwaukee Mile.
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  He also participates in this Henry Miller Club News, and he also is doing work for
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  the new SVRA magazine that has come out.
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  He's a wonderful writer and historian.
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  He's also a devotee of Road America.
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  So, without further ado, I'm going to introduce Steve Zotke.
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  Thank you, Glenda and JC, appreciate it.
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  The topic today is the Milwaukee Mile.
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  A lot of people have heard about it, obviously my favorite
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  track, next to Road America.
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  World's oldest continuously operating racetrack.
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  A lot of people say, well, I thought Indy was, or it was Milwaukee.
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  The operative word is continuously.
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  Indiana Fairgrounds actually held a race a couple of months before, and that's
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  the One Mile Oval in Indianapolis, which is their state fairgrounds.
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  And they held a race earlier in the year, however, they didn't hold
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  races regularly till after the war, so thus, Milwaukee is the oldest
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  continuously operating racetrack and it's more of a marketing thing.
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  Bill and I were just talking about some people, you know, Knoxville in
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  Iowa has been holding races since 1901, so, nationally sanctioned, you can go
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  round and round, it's like anything, you change numbers around and pretty
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  much debate something till all end.
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  Originally, the state fair rotated from the 1850s.
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  The state incorporated in 1848, and then they said, let's have
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  a state fair like all states do.
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  And it rotated around Madison.
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  Most state fairs are centered at the Capitol.
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  But Milwaukee was such a big city at that time, it was in
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  the top 15 up until the 1940s.
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  And also because it was on Lake Michigan.
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  Many of the people in the state and the government thought Milwaukee would be a
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  better place to showcase the state than Madison at that point, which was not as
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  big as it is now and not as well known.
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  It's been an ongoing thing where they were moving it, it moved to Janesville.
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  The Oshkosh, and a lot of people don't realize, also in the early 1970s,
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  there was talk of moving the fair from West Allis, which is a suburb
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  of Milwaukee, to Madison once again.
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  And so much so, that the promoters at the time, the Marchese brothers,
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  Carl and Tootie, were actually thinking and had looked at purchasing
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  land in southern Wisconsin, and were in talks of building a 1.
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  5 Super Speedway.
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  The first race was held at Milwaukee weekend of September 1903.
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  This is a photo of Barney Oldfield and Tom Cooper.
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  Those cars were owned by Henry Ford.
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  One was called the 999, which is the more famous car, and the other
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  one was called the Red Devil.
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  Tom Cooper is somebody that kind of is forgotten in history.
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  It's kind of an amusing story.
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  Not for Tom Cooper, though.
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  Henry Ford was a very devout religious man, as was his wife.
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  Tom Cooper is kind of known of a carouser, and Henry Ford's wife was hearing these
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  stories about Tom Cooper and what type of a person he was off the racetrack,
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  and she told Henry that maybe Tom Cooper needs to work somewhere else, so Tom
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  Cooper is kind of lost to history.
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  The first race was held, like I said, September 11th and 12th, 1903.
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  Unfortunately, the first fatality happened.
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  That's the Red Devil.
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  That's the other car.
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  You see models of the Ford 999, and the 999 is in the Henry Ford Museum.
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  Unfortunately, there was a crash and Frank Day lost his life in the North Turn.
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  That's located just at the, pretty much the apex of Turn 4 on September 12, 1903.
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  It was his first race.
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  He was from Columbus, Ohio, from a well to do family.
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  Racing back then is not anywhere how it was today.
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  Back then it was more barnstorming.
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  What they would do is have match races.
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  It was more of a spectacle.
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  People would come out because the automobile was so new.
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  And they would have one, two, three car races.
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  And they were only for maybe one or two laps around the fairgrounds.
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  And unfortunately he got pitched.
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  He got thrown into the ground causing head injuries.
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  Arnie Oldfield was not at the track that day because he had received
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  injuries earlier in the month.
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  Frank Day was filling in for him.
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  Al Krause was a long time historian at the Milwaukee Mile.
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  Spent many days with Al Krause.
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  Guess you could call him my mentor.
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  Was a neat fella and had been attending races at the fair
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  park since the early 30s.
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  Passed away about 10 years ago.
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  Milwaukee Mall programs are pretty much known, especially from
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  1961 on, mainly because of Al.
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  A lot of neat stuff, and they're very highly collectible.
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  Tom Marchese would tell, uh, Al, when putting together the programs,
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  he said, Al, I only want you to put in enough for the people to look
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  at a couple of the pages during talent downtimes or a caution flag.
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  Don't make the stories too involved.
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  So he would have a lot of these photos in the program such as this
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  one, where it says here's Barney Oldfield in this peerless green dragon.
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  There's a number of these cars built.
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  This is actually a shot of Barney at the Dallas Fairgrounds in 1905.
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  However, Barney did set a track record in this car at Milwaukee in 1905.
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  Barney also drove a lot of pretty iconic cars back in the day,
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  including this, the Blitzen Benz.
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  He also drove a Duroc, which was a French built car, the peerless
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  Green Dragon that we saw previously.
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  And then this is the Blitzen Benz that he drove at Milwaukee.
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  And you can see there, there's a different set of the fairgrounds.
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  The stands look a little bit different from the classic that
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  you would see in the 50s and 60s.
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  These were actually lost in a fire in 1914.
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  First 100 mile race wasn't held at Milwaukee until 1915, so
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  you had a lot of match racing.
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  So you can see if the automobile, maybe you'd see him driving down
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  a street at 20 some miles an hour.
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  A lot of the roads were dirt back then.
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  For if you were a kid in these stands and you saw these cars coming down
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  at you at 65, 75 miles an hour.
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  No mufflers on them.
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  It was quite the spectacle to see these cars with the smell and everything.
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  It was quite incredible.
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  Not much for pit safety back then.
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  Just kind of lean out over and then take a look.
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  That's the famous Golden Submarine.
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  That was one of the first race cars that was built by Harry Miller.
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  Racing against Ralph De Palma.
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  Oldfield actually won the race.
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  One of the more iconic photos at Milwaukee in 1917.
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  A lot of people know G.
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  I.
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  Case as a tractor company.
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  However, they're very involved in racing.
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  Before World War II.
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  Now here we got a little shot of Louis Disbro in the Case Special.
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  Finished 8th in 1913.
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  There's also a shot of the 1911 Indy 500 at the start.
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  You see these race cars that have mouths on them?
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  Those are also G.
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  I.
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  Case race cars.
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  And they were on the front row at Indianapolis in 1911.
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  But J.
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  I.
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  Case has a very significant race in history.
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  In fact, a friend of mine was doing some research and he decided to go over to J.
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  I.
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  Case, which is still based out of Racine.
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  And they still have quite the accumulation of memorabilia and research.
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  It's still there located at company headquarters in Racine.
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  In the 1920s, the mile kind of faded from the National View.
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  The reason for that was because of the board tracks.
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  Board tracks, you had Beverly Hills, Altoona, Kansas City.
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  Those were these huge, beautiful speed palaces.
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  So the fairgrounds were kind of forgotten.
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  You had dirt.
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  dust and whatnot, people would rather go to a board track and see these
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  beautiful 91 cubic inch millers and all the top drivers at a board track.
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  So Milwaukee pretty much had more of the homegrown drivers
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  were kind of the rural back then.
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  If you were a fan back then, these are the guys you would see at the
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  store driving down the street.
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  So there's more of a personal connection with these guys because
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  they lived in your hometown.
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  There's Carl Marchese, he was a driver, drove at Indianapolis in 1927
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  before he got hurt at Springfield.
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  Chet Barnacle, he later became an official.
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  And then Tootie Marchese, Ted Rosten, Stagnowicki, Louis Frank, Romy Sherwinski.
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  That's the Milwaukee way of saying that.
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  And then Porter Short.
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  And these were, uh, just guys that were, uh, quite the
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  speed demons back in the day.
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  Some of you heard the name Tony Wilman.
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  Tony Wilman was from South Milwaukee, located right off the Lake Michigan.
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  I think it was always said, who is the best driver?
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  You always said, I'm trying to remember who it was.
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  It was more of a obscure driver in the thirties, but Al Krause, the officer, the
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  historian that we spoke of about before Tony woman is the best driver ever.
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  So if you're able to talk to guys like Tony and Paul Russo,
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  highly respected driver.
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  Rex Mays Classic started in 1950.
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  Rex Mays was one of the more popular drivers prior to the war.
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  And then during the war, he flew bombers and fighters, ferrying them
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  from the United States to England.
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  The 100 mile race at Milwaukee in 1948, that's Duke Dismore on the track.
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  The number one is Ted Horn.
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  And then the car on the right, that's Rex Mays's car.
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  What we don't see is out of frame, Rex Mays is in the groove, waving
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  to the drivers, the steer clear of Duke Dismore saving his life.
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  Unfortunately, about a year and a half later at Delmore, California, Rex
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  Mays was involved in a similar crash where he got thrown from the car.
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  Unfortunately, he did not survive because he got hit by another car.
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  So in 1915, it was decided that the 100 mile race in June would
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  be called the Rex Mays Classic.
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  The State Fairgrounds wasn't just for racing.
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  Until it was a county stadium in Milwaukee, the Green Bay Packers
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  would play four games in Milwaukee.
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  To this day, it's what they call the gold package when they move all
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  the Green Bay games to Green Bay.
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  The reason for that, Green Bay obviously could not support a National
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  Football League team back then.
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  So what they did is they have four games in Milwaukee, and the 1939 World
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  Championship was held at State Fair Park.
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  The football field would be located towards the south turn, just
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  behind where the pit area would be.
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  And in that game, the Packers won the championship 27 to nothing.
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  You can see the football field on the left hand side.
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  And then also the quarter mile racetrack that they would have midget racing on.
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  This would be pre war.
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  They built this grandstand, was part of the WPA program back then.
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  That's when they built it and you can see only half of it is done at that point.
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  Midget car racing took the nation by storm after World War II.
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  People in racing, I don't think, can grasp how big midget
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  racing was after World War II.
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  Especially on the west coast, you hear stories like Gilmore Stadium and that.
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  One of my favorite stories that was told to me was, uh, Sam Hanks was
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  a very successful midget driver.
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  He would come to the bank because he had raced pretty much Thursday, Friday,
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  Saturday, Sunday night and sometimes would win all the feature races.
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  Well back then you literally got paid a cut of the gate.
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  So he would have dollar bills and five dollar bills and coins shoved in every
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  pocket and he would wear a sport coat.
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  So when he would go to the bank, he'd be pulling out dollar bills
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  and putting them on the counter, dropping them, and the teller would be
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  looking at him, What were you doing?
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  Here's a shot of Bob Wilkie of Leader Card Racers.
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  Before he started an IndyCar team, he was a distributor for Curtis Craft Midgets.
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  And that's a Ray Richards who was a driver from Chicago, drove his car.
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  That's at Milwaukee.
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  That's about 1940.
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  Guys should recognize that fella.
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  It's A.
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  J.
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  Foyt.
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  He's driving a Bob Hickman Midget at Milwaukee in 1957.
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  And that's the program cover.
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  That was the final one.
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  The final 100 mile race, USAC race, at Milwaukee for quite some time.
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  From the period of the late 40s up until 1961, that would be held usually
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  the day before the IndyCar race.
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  They got later into the late 50s, and unfortunately attendance
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  was dipping less and less.
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  Tom Marchese in 1961 says, if we don't make money on it, this
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  is going to be the final year.
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  Unfortunately, on that Saturday, they only drew probably about 5, 000 people,
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  and that wasn't enough for them.
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  So, after 1961, they stopped.
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  Having it.
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  They did have a standalone race in 1965.
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  It was sanctioned by Badger Midgets and Jiggers Roy, who some of you may
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  remember, for almost winning the poll in 1969 and Indianapolis won that race.
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  Well, one thing I know a lot of people there, I just was somewhere last week and
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  somebody was commenting about old photo.
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  Everybody's wearing a tie in the sport called, this is
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  one of my favorite shots too.
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  Pretty much everybody has a hat tie and a sport coat on a dirt car race.
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  This is before the, this is 1948 before the race was even paved.
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  And this is a shot from, of the Dean Van Lyne car on Jimmy Bryan on the pole.
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  And once again, full grandstands.
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  And in the back there, you see a little, almost looks like a big pizza hut.
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  That was the Coliseum.
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  During the winter, before World War II, they would hold
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  indoor midget races in there.
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  Very popular.
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  Unfortunately, not well ventilated.
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  I talked to a few gentlemen when I was a younger kid, and they said,
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  by the end of the night, you were getting a little dizzy in there.
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  1952, here's a shot, I mentioned this to J.
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  C.
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  earlier, we were talking about women not being allowed in
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  the pit areas, and that's S.
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  Paoli and Chuck Stevenson.
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  He won the championship and S.
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  Paoli was the car owner but was not allowed in the pits at Indianapolis.
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  Great answer to a trivia question, the track was paved in 1954,
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  so he won the last IndyCar race in 1953 on the dirt for J.
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  C.
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  Agajanian and then 1954 won the first race for him when the track was paved.
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  1960, this was the June race at Milwaukee, there were almost 60
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  cars entered for 22 starting spots.
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  So, on the pole there, that's Jim Packard.
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  Behind him was the winner of the 1960 Indy 500, Jim Rathman.
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  Also in this race were Jimmy Bryan and Troy Ruttman, previous Indy 500 winners.
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  Future national champion Roger McCluskey was in this race.
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  It's just a who's who of racing.
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  And this was a 20 lap race that was held before the 100 lap race.
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  And the top two went into the feature.
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  And no, Rathman, Bryan, and Ruttman did not make it.
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  This is the 1960 200 miler in August.
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  Roger Ward, you see on the pole.
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  What's interesting is that third car next to the 97.
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  It's an interesting story.
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  That's the Braun Plywood car.
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  That was a brand new Eperle.
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  Unfortunately, it came to Indianapolis too late and did not make the race.
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  That's Parnelli Jones in that car.
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  Qualified second.
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  Everybody was like, who the heck is this kid from California?
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  A few weeks later, he was at the Indianapolis Motor
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  Speedway doing a firestone test.
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  Car was not handling right, didn't feel right.
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  So Tony Bettenhausen came over to the car, Tony Bettenhausen Sr., and Parnelli goes,
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  this car isn't, just doesn't feel right.
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  Tony gets into the car and comes in after two laps and said, I can't believe
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  this kid kept the car off the wall.
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  They made some adjustments and hit about 148 miles an hour.
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  Tony went to his car owner, Lindsey Hopkins, at the
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  time and said, Buy that car.
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  If you buy that car, I can win the Indianapolis 500 next year.
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  So, he was the fastest car then in 1961.
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  Unfortunately, was test hopping a car for Paul Reuss and was killed.
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  People believe that Benton Housing could have won the 500 that year in 1961.
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  In an indirect way, it was because of Pernelli Jones.
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  Here we got a shot of Roger Ward winning a race in 1961 in the Sun City car.
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  Roger Ward was Mr.
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  Milwaukee Mile.
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  He's got the most wins for any IndyCar driver with seven and won a variety
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  of stock car races at the track too.
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  Loved the track.
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  Roger, uh, I did an interview with him about 15 years ago.
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  One of the first interviews I did, he said he was the first driver and
• 16:11
  it's funny how so many echo the same thing after, was the driver's track.
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  He said, what I loved about Milwaukee is it was flat.
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  And you could pick a line.
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  If your car wasn't handling, you could pick another line
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  and maybe make the car handle.
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  And with Milwaukee, a driver could carry the car, especially in those days,
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  more than you could at any other track.
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  So Milwaukee, the kind of the cream of the crop, rose to the top.
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  And Roger Waters certainly, when he teamed up with A.
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  J.
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  Watson and Bob Wilkie in 1959, that was the team to beat.
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  Here's another shot of Roger, that's actually Lloyd Ruby, who didn't
• 16:43
  have a ride that day, helping Roger get buckled in during practice.
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  And then J.
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  C.
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  Eggegenian with the cowboy hat.
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  It's amazing, there's a photo, J.
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  C.
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  Osborks himself did a photo somehow.
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  1962, one of the more incredible races back in history,
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  only because of Don Davis.
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  Don Davis was a driver from Phoenix and was driving a dirt car.
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  Everything was working well for Don.
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  Qualified in the top 10, passed A.
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  J.
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  Foyt.
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  A.
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  J.
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  Foyt was the Zen driver at that point.
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  Won Indy in 61.
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  Had problems in 62.
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  Was the defending two time at that point national champion.
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  Here comes Don Davis.
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  Passes A.
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  J.
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  Foyt to lead.
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  Incredible, and the crowd was going crazy.
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  Here's this guy in this Chevy powered dirt car, just taking
• 17:29
  it to the roadsters that day.
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  Don was literally dirt tracking it through the corners.
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  Unfortunately, the right rear tire blew, and he spun.
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  He already spun with AJ right behind him.
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  AJ went to take the lead, but everybody was booing AJ.
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  Because what they thought happened was AJ hit Don Davis.
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  So he went to win the race, and you can see the expression on his face.
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  And the reason why he has this impression, because he's being interviewed and the
• 17:53
  crowd is booing AJ, because they thought he booted Don Davis out of the race.
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  Milwaukee is also known for the first rear engine victory in IndyCar racing
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  with the iconic Lotus cars with Jim Clark on the left and Dan Gurney on the right.
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  They qualified on the front row that day.
• 18:09
  Clark and then Gurney was second.
• 18:11
  People who might not know, how come Dan Gurney didn't do as
• 18:14
  well as Jimmy Clark that day?
• 18:16
  The reason why was they only had one set of the correct carburetors.
• 18:20
  At that time they were running basically a stock block, fair
• 18:22
  lane block engine and they only had one set of the correct carbs.
• 18:27
  So unfortunately Dan had to use another set of carburetors and he
• 18:31
  told me when he would go through the corners the car would bog and cough
• 18:34
  and then would pick up on the exit.
• 18:36
  So unfortunately he was running about a half a second behind Clark's
• 18:39
  time but they were so far ahead of the roadsters that he was still
• 18:42
  able to qualify on the first row.
• 18:45
  Eventually, Gurney finished third with AJ passing him.
• 18:48
  And this is the reason everybody loved Jimmy Clark.
• 18:51
  They asked Jimmy Clark why he didn't lap AJ Foyt.
• 18:54
  He said, it's one thing to beat a man, but you don't want to rub it in his face.
• 18:58
  So that's why he didn't lap AJ Foyt that day.
• 19:00
  Jim Hurtubise, 1964, is one of the most popular drivers at Milwaukee.
• 19:05
  The 1964 Wrex Mays 100 was one of the more popular races just because A.
• 19:10
  J.
• 19:10
  Foyt and Roger Ward and Jim Hurtubise waged an epic battle, dicing back
• 19:15
  and forth and back and forth.
• 19:17
  Unfortunately, coming out of Turn 4, Roger Ward's gearbox locked up.
• 19:21
  A.
• 19:21
  J.
• 19:21
  Foyt was able to avoid him, but unfortunately Hurtubise
• 19:24
  went over the right rear tire.
• 19:26
  The car hit the wall, Hurtabees was knocked out of the car.
• 19:29
  Luckily for Hurtabees, it happened right in front of the pit area.
• 19:32
  Pit crewmen and firemen were able to pull him out and put the car out.
• 19:35
  He might not have survived if it was at any other place on the track.
• 19:39
  Foyt would go on to win the race.
• 19:41
  Later that year, 1964, Mario Andretti made his first start in the
• 19:45
  1964 Tony Bettenhausen, driving a lightweight Dean Van Lines Roadster.
• 19:49
  If you ever see A.
• 19:50
  J.
• 19:51
  and you don't know what to say, just bring up the dirt track race at Milwaukee.
• 19:54
  He'll start to smile.
• 19:55
  He'll soften up.
• 19:56
  A.
• 19:56
  J.
• 19:56
  figures this is probably his greatest drive.
• 19:59
  1965 in August, his Lotus IndyCar didn't show up, and they had raced
• 20:04
  the previous Saturday at Springfield.
• 20:06
  Without the Lotus, A.
• 20:07
  J.
• 20:07
  said, well, let's unload the dirt car, let's see what we can do.
• 20:10
  And he went out to qualify, and Steve Stapp, who was a famous spring car builder
• 20:14
  and driver, was crewing for him that day.
• 20:16
  He pulls in after qualifying.
• 20:18
  He asked Steve how you did.
• 20:19
  He goes, aj, I think you're on the pole.
• 20:21
  AJ being AJ goes, you dumb.
• 20:23
  SOB, you can't even use it.
• 20:24
  A stopwatch.
• 20:25
  And sure enough, AJ got on the pole, so AJ with a dirt car.
• 20:29
  There's Dan Gurney in a Lotus Ford next to him.
• 20:32
  Went on to finish second.
• 20:33
  Fortunately, he had to make a a fuel stop later and Gordon
• 20:36
  Johncock went on to win the race.
• 20:38
  If you ask aj, he'll say, Lloyd Ruby won the race, but we don't correct aj.
• 20:41
  AJ won the finish second, but many that day, it's funny, it's one of
• 20:45
  those things where there's probably 35, 000 people, but if you survey,
• 20:49
  uh, racing fans in Wisconsin, about 100, 000 say they were at that race.
• 20:54
  1954, when they repaved the racetrack, they commissioned a road course to be
• 20:58
  installed on the inside, and many SECA national races were held at the Milwaukee
• 21:02
  Mile in the 50s into the mid 1970s.
• 21:06
  If you ever talk to anybody who is involved in a professional
• 21:08
  level, especially with the racing, it's not because of the money.
• 21:11
  It's because of the people you meet in racing.
• 21:13
  There's a lot of people that you meet.
• 21:14
  And I think any of us who've been involved in race can definitely feel the same way.
• 21:18
  The Marchese is that's the Milwaukee pronunciation.
• 21:22
  It's actually Marchese.
• 21:23
  But people in Milwaukee say Marchese, and so instead of correcting them,
• 21:27
  they just went with Marchese.
• 21:28
  If any of you are Novi fans or fans of the Novi, the famous mechanic
• 21:33
  was Jean Marcenet, but when he got to Indy, he became Jean Marcenac.
• 21:37
  So it's one of those.
• 21:38
  Tom Marchese on the left.
• 21:40
  This is, uh, this, uh, This photo was taken about 1985 after he had retired
• 21:43
  from promoting, and that's John Cation at the right, who took over for the
• 21:46
  Marcheses and partnered with them in 1968.
• 21:49
  How that started was racing, there's a lot of unsavory people in racing in the
• 21:53
  30s, and especially on the promotion side, and him and his brother Carl
• 21:57
  promoted a midget race at the track in the late 1930s, and the fair board was
• 22:02
  so impressed how professionally they ran it, that they were businessmen.
• 22:05
  They were involved in food wholesaling in Milwaukee.
• 22:07
  And they were so impressed on how they handled themselves and handled the
• 22:10
  operation that the Fair Board went to them and presented them exclusive
• 22:14
  promotion rights to the track.
• 22:16
  So from that point on up until 1968, they had the exclusive
• 22:20
  promotional rights at the track.
• 22:21
  And then in 1968, they brought in John Cation to partner with them.
• 22:25
  They continued to promote at the track until 1983.
• 22:28
  Ed 20 Grand Steinbach.
• 22:31
  Not many people may recognize the name, but if you were, especially
• 22:34
  in the Midwest, in the 50s and 60s, you would recognize his voice.
• 22:38
  His full time job was race announcing, and he announced not only at Milwaukee,
• 22:42
  but he was from the Chicago area, and would announce Chicago area
• 22:46
  tracks, and also up at Road America.
• 22:48
  Road Racing fans may have heard there's a documentary made in the
• 22:51
  early 60s on the Scarabs, and 20 Grand is the one who's narrating it.
• 22:55
  The August races were held during the fair.
• 22:57
  So, when there weren't races, on those other days, there were, a
• 23:01
  fair park acts would come through.
• 23:02
  So it wasn't unusual for a lot of the acts to stick around for the race
• 23:06
  the next day and watch the races.
• 23:08
  Wisconsin Speedways Dinner.
• 23:10
  And this was a dinner that they would have before the Rex Maze.
• 23:13
  The weekend before the Rex Mays race, right after Indy, and a lot of the
• 23:17
  big shots of racing would show up.
• 23:18
  In the upper left, we have Augie Papps, and then we have Mel Kenyon,
• 23:22
  Kelly Arbor from the NASCAR world.
• 23:24
  That's Bill Johnson.
• 23:25
  He was a local modified driver and drove midgets.
• 23:27
  And then we have Don White, was a USAC stock car driver from Keokuk, Iowa.
• 23:31
  Of course, we have super techs, AJ Foyt, Andy Granatelli.
• 23:34
  If you're going to have a party, you've got to have Andy there.
• 23:35
  And then, of course, Tony Holman from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• 23:39
  1968, June 9th.
• 23:41
  Famous race, unfortunately, that was also the race that Ronnie
• 23:44
  Duman was killed at in 1968.
• 23:46
  Also the turban cars were there.
• 23:47
  Controversial to some people, but I actually brought racing to people.
• 23:51
  I brought it onto the sports pages.
• 23:53
  Lloyd Ruby that year, 1968, won both races.
• 23:56
  Won the June race in the 150 mile an hour and the Tibetan House
• 23:59
  in 200 driving for Gene White.
• 24:01
  That's Bob Harkey in 1970 running next to Al Unzer in
• 24:05
  the 1970 Tony Bettenhausen 200.
• 24:08
  That's the last dirt car to race in a national championship
• 24:11
  IndyCar race at Milwaukee.
• 24:13
  Stock car racing was huge at the Milwaukee Mile.
• 24:16
  This is a race from 1948.
• 24:17
  This is the first AAA sanctioned race that was held at Milwaukee.
• 24:21
  And it was truly the number one racetrack for the North on the USAC and AAA side.
• 24:27
  Yes, they did race Edsels.
• 24:28
  That's an Edsel on the left there.
• 24:29
  And that's Don White in the number three Seiko Lube car.
• 24:33
  There's a shot of Eddie Sachs and A.
• 24:34
  J.
• 24:34
  Foyt taken in 1962 or 63.
• 24:38
  What was populated with the USAC series.
• 24:41
  You kind of see what's happening now in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
• 24:45
  In the USAC Series, you would have a lot of the IndyCar
• 24:47
  drivers race at the bigger races.
• 24:49
  Here you see Eddie Sachs and A.
• 24:51
  J.
• 24:51
  Foyt racing at USAC Stock Car, known for IndyCar racing.
• 24:55
  Because the IndyCar racers would race in the Stock Car Series, NASCAR
• 24:58
  really never cultivated their base.
• 25:00
  The Don Whites, the Butch Hartman, and those drivers.
• 25:04
  This is a shot of Norm Nelson, who was one of those drivers.
• 25:06
  This is strictly a stock car driver.
• 25:08
  There's a shot of his transport rig.
• 25:10
  No tractor trailers in those days.
• 25:12
  And that's how they used to go to the races back then.
• 25:14
  That's a two car team.
• 25:15
  That's a factory back, Plymouth back team.
• 25:17
  That's Jim Hurtubise's car up on the top of the Norm's car from 1965.
• 25:22
  1968, the Miller 200.
• 25:24
  Many people think that this is actually the first corporate race sponsorship.
• 25:28
  In 1968, Miller, they sponsored a fire crew back in the day, and they had a
• 25:32
  lot of ties with the Milwaukee Mile.
• 25:34
  And they approached John Cation, who we saw with Tom Marchese.
• 25:38
  About sponsoring the race and what that did, it added a large
• 25:42
  purse for a stock car race.
• 25:44
  This is probably, this was the largest race on the USAC stock car side at
• 25:47
  the time, kind of catapulted the race and Milwaukee into the national scene.
• 25:52
  So here is a program from 1971 and in order to receive the accessory
• 25:57
  awards, you had to run a large Miller Hi Life sticker on your car.
• 26:01
  And Armin Krieger, a lot of his shots are used in here.
• 26:04
  He's in the National Spring Car Hall of Fame as a photographer shot from
• 26:08
  the late thirties up until 1993 was a family friend and was a neat guy.
• 26:12
  And as a good photographer, you see, he's probably already got the shot
• 26:15
  of Larry Berwanger hitting the wall.
• 26:17
  Now he's checking to see what else is happening.
• 26:19
  The Milwaukee Mile held more races with the Dodge Daytona on the left and
• 26:23
  the Plymouth Superbird than any other.
• 26:25
  People may think Daytona, Talladega, NASCAR restricted the cars in 1971
• 26:30
  by restricting their engine size.
• 26:32
  And then by 1972, they were outright banned.
• 26:34
  However, USAC did not ban the cars and 12 races were held.
• 26:38
  at the Milwaukee mile for each year between 1970 and 1972.
• 26:42
  And late 60s and early 70s was probably one of the biggest
• 26:46
  attendance years for the Milwaukee mile so much so they even added
• 26:49
  auxiliary bleachers outside turn two.
• 26:52
  That's Bobby Unzer's in Nichols engineering Plymouth Superbird 1972.
• 26:57
  This car held the track record at Milwaukee for many years.
• 27:00
  Trouble on the horizon, 1970, the USAC series decided to bring in pony cars.
• 27:05
  You could run a small block pony car, such as a Chevrolet Camaro, with a
• 27:09
  smaller engine size, but with lighter weight, next to the Hemi's that were
• 27:13
  being run like that one right there, with Paul Felder and a Dodge Magnum,
• 27:17
  which previously was a Dodge Charger.
• 27:19
  USAC stock car series was, for a while was, you know, hand in
• 27:22
  hand with the NASCAR series.
• 27:24
  However, by the early 70s, the evolution slowed down on the USAC side.
• 27:28
  Whereas a NASCAR was continuing engineering, cars were getting
• 27:31
  faster and whatnot, it was more stagnant on the USAC side.
• 27:34
  Here's a good example.
• 27:35
  This is Dave Watson winning a race in 1977.
• 27:38
  That car started in 1972 as a Chevy Nova.
• 27:41
  All they did was just re skin it, put a new body, a Buick Skylark
• 27:44
  body, and he was winning races.
• 27:46
  In 1978, another racing series challenged USAC at Milwaukee Mile, and that
• 27:51
  was the American Speed Association.
• 27:53
  That's Mark Martin as a 19 year old rookie.
• 27:55
  These were lighter cars, faster cars in the USAC series too.
• 27:59
  More and more drivers started to migrate from the USAC series to ASA.
• 28:05
  Here's Dick Trickle after winning the Miller 200.
• 28:08
  ASA, with Rex Robbins as the head of it, was really good with promoting races,
• 28:12
  and he would try different things.
• 28:14
  Here's a perfect example.
• 28:15
  Who else would have Dick Trickle and Alan Kowicki taking
• 28:18
  a boxing match before a race?
• 28:20
  NASCAR came to the Milwaukee Medal for the first time in 1984.
• 28:24
  Here's a shot of Alan Kowicki making his first NASCAR start at Milwaukee.
• 28:27
  The Grand National Series, as then it was called, was not the same
• 28:31
  Grand National Series you see today.
• 28:33
  It was definitely a lesser series, and did not draw the crowds.
• 28:36
  Pfft.
• 28:37
  Stock car races faded away after 85, USAC did.
• 28:40
  NASCAR left it in 1984 and 1985, returned in 1993, ran at the track until 2009,
• 28:47
  and then moved to Road America in 2010.
• 28:49
  I mentioned it earlier, the Quarter Mile Dirt Track.
• 28:51
  You saw it in that one aerial shot.
• 28:53
  That was the Quarter Mile Dirt Track.
• 28:55
  And on Thursday nights, they would race modifies at the track.
• 28:58
  And this was quite a popular series that ran.
• 29:01
  Some people may have heard of Slinger.
• 29:02
  The Slinger Raceway in Wisconsin, they would run on Sunday nights, and then
• 29:05
  they would also run at Hale's Corners, which also ran midgets, on Friday nights.
• 29:09
  So, these were very popular for kids growing up, and a
• 29:12
  lot of the heroes to this day.
• 29:13
  Billy Englehart, who is, who drove Indy cars, that was his
• 29:16
  hero right there, the mouse.
• 29:18
  Miles Mouse Milius.
• 29:19
  Many people point at the split in 1970 and 1979 with USAC and CART and everything.
• 29:25
  1971, USAC had a corporate sponsor, which was Marlboro.
• 29:29
  You can almost take a look at this.
• 29:30
  This might have been an early shot over the bulk, so to speak, or misstep by USAC.
• 29:36
  1971, Phillip Morris sponsored the whole series, put a lot
• 29:40
  of money into the series.
• 29:42
  The only caveat they wanted was they wanted to be the exclusive
• 29:46
  cigarette sponsor on the series.
• 29:47
  Viceroy was also sponsoring the cars for Parnelli Jones.
• 29:51
  USAC didn't want to offend or take that sponsorship away from Parnelli Jones,
• 29:56
  so they told Marlboro to walk basically.
• 29:59
  That same year, Winston also started to sponsor NASCAR.
• 30:02
  NASCAR did not have an issue with telling other teams who had another sponsor.
• 30:06
  You need to take a walk because he understood the growth that was
• 30:10
  possible with his corporate sponsorship sponsoring the whole series.
• 30:14
  Thus, after 1971, Barbara walked away from the sponsorship at USAC.
• 30:18
  A.
• 30:18
  J.
• 30:18
  Foyt, 1965, told you about how he finished second at Milwaukee in the dirt car.
• 30:23
  He also did the same thing in 1969, however, the cars were advancing
• 30:28
  that much more and did not have the success that he had in 1965, and I
• 30:32
  believe he finished ninth in that race.
• 30:35
  1972, once again, there's the viceroy car, Parnelli Jones, that was driven by
• 30:39
  Mario Andretti, the super team, there's Joe Leonard also, Mark Donahue, after
• 30:43
  1972 Indy 500 where he won, also, this was his only race at Milwaukee, at the
• 30:49
  1972 Wrex Mays 150, people say Mark Donahue wasn't an oval track driver, he
• 30:54
  did pretty well though, he finished second in his first and only race at Milwaukee.
• 30:58
  1974, Johnny Rutherford won his first race at Milwaukee driving the Team McLaren car.
• 31:03
  And that's Roger McCluskey who is defending national
• 31:06
  championship running alongside.
• 31:08
  There's Johnny in victory lane.
• 31:09
  And that's Jack Baker, he was a local radio announcer who was also the track
• 31:13
  announcer for many years at Milwaukee.
• 31:15
  Had the greatest leisure suits of anybody.
• 31:18
  There's Super Tex.
• 31:19
  That's A.
• 31:19
  J.
• 31:19
  Foyt in 1974.
• 31:20
  He won a race in 75 on his way to his sixth national championship in 75.
• 31:26
  And also won races in 1979.
• 31:28
  However, only won four races at Milwaukee.
• 31:30
  Only.
• 31:31
  And there's Bobby Unzer in the Dan Gurney, Jorgensen Steel Eagle.
• 31:35
  Had the track record at Milwaukee for many years.
• 31:37
  Not only in a stock car, but also an Indy car.
• 31:40
  Why a Tom Steeve in 1975 Indy 500 photo?
• 31:43
  As a young kid, after this race, they said Tom Steeve walked away and was not hurt.
• 31:47
  I was gonna kick out like, oh, he wasn't really hurt.
• 31:49
  Well, he had to skip the next race at Milwaukee because he wasn't hurt.
• 31:53
  In August of that year, he came to the track and I was walking
• 31:56
  down Pitt Road with my dad.
• 31:58
  There's Tom Sneva sitting on the wall.
• 31:59
  So we're talking to Tom Sneva and he pulls back his driver's suit, takes off his
• 32:04
  watch, and you can see the flash burns there that he received in that crash.
• 32:08
  He wasn't hurt, but he had a heck of a concussion.
• 32:10
  Rick Mears first race was at Milwaukee at the 1978 Wrex Mays 150.
• 32:15
  Al Unser, who had won the Indy 500 the week before, ran out
• 32:19
  of gas with a few laps to go.
• 32:20
  Rick Mears, as a rookie, takes the lead, and out of turn three, he ran out of gas.
• 32:25
  Crossed the finish line at about 50 miles an hour, probably even less, with
• 32:28
  Johnny Rutherford fast approaching.
• 32:30
  But Rick was able to win his first race.
• 32:33
  This is one of the most famous races, too, at Milwaukee.
• 32:36
  1981 Wrex Mays Classic.
• 32:38
  That's Mike Mosley and the Dan Gurney.
• 32:40
  John Ward designed Eagle.
• 32:42
  Chevy Stock Block.
• 32:43
  He was unable to qualify for the race.
• 32:45
  He blew an engine, and they had to replace the engine.
• 32:47
  Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, they got the car ready.
• 32:50
  They put the car at the back of the pack, and he went to win the race.
• 32:53
  The man on the refueling rig, that's Billy Vukovic, who had raced the previous
• 32:58
  week at Indy but did not have a ride.
• 32:59
  And that's Billy Vukovic refueling the car, and Stan Fox
• 33:02
  is changing the left front tire.
• 33:04
  I thought, that's a heck of a pit crew to have.
• 33:06
  He had two drivers in the Indy 500 the previous week, and
• 33:08
  they're working on a pit crew.
• 33:10
  Rocket Rick.
• 33:10
  There's Rick Mears after winning the race in 1990.
• 33:13
  Newman House Racing.
• 33:15
  Seven wins between 1985 and 2006, including five out of six wins between
• 33:20
  91 and 96 with a variety of drivers.
• 33:22
  There's a famous shot.
• 33:23
  There's a reason why I love this shot.
• 33:25
  That's the victory podium.
• 33:26
  Of course, Michael won the race.
• 33:27
  John Andretti finished second.
• 33:29
  And there's Mario in third.
• 33:30
  Mario's a competitor.
• 33:31
  Mario wants to be in that top podium.
• 33:33
  You can tell in that shot right there.
• 33:35
  No family pride at that moment.
• 33:36
  That came later.
• 33:37
  Nigel Mania, 1993.
• 33:39
  That year was my first year professionally working at Milwaukee as a videographer.
• 33:44
  And that was true Nigel Mania.
• 33:46
  Basically, they told me, just take photos, get video of Nigel.
• 33:49
  And it was a true zoo.
• 33:51
  Wherever he walked, there was a person.
• 33:53
  Crowd of people, they actually had to put two state troopers
• 33:56
  on them for the weekend.
• 33:57
  The media crush was that big.
• 33:58
  1992 Formula One champion.
• 34:00
  He wasn't able to come to contract terms with Williams and was able to
• 34:04
  come over to the United States, drive for Newman Haas, dominated this guy.
• 34:09
  Never drove an oval race before.
• 34:11
  Almost killed himself at Phoenix.
• 34:12
  Learned a valuable lesson there by not taking them too seriously.
• 34:16
  Learned, okay, you got to take these things seriously.
• 34:18
  And from that point on, just really took to the ovals.
• 34:22
  And, uh, one at Milwaukee, as well as Loudoun, and just dominated the year.
• 34:27
  Speaking of domination, Penske domination.
• 34:29
  Of course, everybody remembers in 1994, the Mercedes that dominated the race
• 34:33
  at Indianapolis with Allenser winning.
• 34:36
  The following week, they went to Milwaukee.
• 34:38
  With the normal engine that they were using on the cart series at that point.
• 34:41
  However, Penske dominated the race with Allens are winning the race.
• 34:45
  All Tracy and Emerson filled up all day filling out the podium as a light rain.
• 34:49
  You can tell it's wet there and it just started to rain with five laps
• 34:52
  of race and it called the race.
• 34:53
  The Milwaukee Mile today, it's sad, but I still get people who come up to me
• 34:59
  and go, what's happening at the mile?
• 35:00
  And I say, well, they, they still run an IndyCar race there.
• 35:03
  The eyes on, you know, IndyCar series runs there and there's a
• 35:06
  late model race that runs there.
• 35:08
  And then of course we have that Harry Miller meet, but the IndyCars, the
• 35:11
  attendance kept growing every year in the last few years since Michael Andretti's
• 35:14
  group has taken over the race in 2011.
• 35:17
  So it's growing.
• 35:18
  This year, Will Power won the race for Penske and went on to
• 35:21
  win the national championship.
• 35:23
  If you get a chance, if you're in the Midwest in July, the Harry Miller
• 35:26
  Club vintage IndyCar event is held.
• 35:29
  Usually it's the week after the 4th of July.
• 35:31
  That's the easiest way to remember.
• 35:32
  And we have anywhere between 50 and 60 vintage IndyCars from pretty
• 35:37
  much 1911 all the way up to 1965.
• 35:39
  It's all front engine Miller race cars.
• 35:41
  That's the primary focus dedicated to Harry Miller, who his car is dominated in
• 35:46
  the IndyCars in the 1920s and developed the four cylinder Miller engine, which
• 35:50
  became the Offenhauser engine, which was used in IndyCar race up until late
• 35:53
  seventies, and it was started by Dave Eline, Chuck Davis, and Bob Sutherland.
• 35:58
  Those three collectors and still runs today.
• 36:00
  And this year we had our 20th anniversary.
• 36:02
  Milwaukee Mount videos.
• 36:03
  The shots of that, my father Bill, unfortunately he was passed, but
• 36:07
  shot movies for the Marcheses.
• 36:09
  And how that came about is, my dad was shooting video and there was an
• 36:13
  accident and a fella came up to him and said, are you shooting for anybody?
• 36:17
  And it was Mike Billings, who was the number two guy in the fire crew.
• 36:21
  He goes, no.
• 36:21
  And he says, I'll tell you what, why don't you shoot videos or shoot
• 36:24
  movies of the cars and that, but also make sure when you shoot the,
• 36:27
  shoot us doing the cleanup on it.
• 36:28
  And they used it as training films.
• 36:30
  The safety crew at Milwaukee had a very good record for the track.
• 36:34
  And nobody could get to the scene quicker than the Milwaukee mile guys.
• 36:38
  And they were very proud of that for many years.
• 36:40
  So I got those videos are available, both stock car and the IndyCar one.
• 36:49
  Thanks to your brother guiding me.
• 36:51
  Who did one on Watkins Glen, along with Bill Green.
• 36:53
  I did one on Road America.
• 36:55
  It's funny, you know, the Milwaukee Mile guy doing a book on Road
• 36:58
  America, but that is my second home.
• 37:00
  I truly love the racetrack and everything that's involved around it too.
• 37:04
  It's, it's been a love affair and they say you can't serve two lovers, but
• 37:08
  with the Milwaukee Mile Road America, we're very blessed in Wisconsin to
• 37:11
  have two such high quality racetracks.
• 37:13
  Thank you very much.
• 37:14
  I appreciate it.
• 37:19
  Well, Steve, thank you.
• 37:20
  I think they would have kept me here all afternoon.
• 37:23
  Your depth of knowledge is just incredible.
• 37:26
  This man hides his light under a bushel.
• 37:28
  As the evening went on and the afternoon went on, we realized the
• 37:31
  depth and the variety of racing that Steve is very knowledgeable on, and
• 37:35
  we are thrilled that you came here to Watkins Glen, and we're going to make
• 37:38
  you a Watkins Glen Honorary Citizen.
• 37:40
  Thank you.
• 37:40
  So not only Milwaukee and Elkhart Lake, but Watkins Glen.
• 37:43
  Steve will be available for more questions and sign his book if you would
• 37:47
  like to buy one of his books and we can converse over in the center further.
• 37:50
  No, if you guys have any questions, feel free to bend my ear and
• 37:53
  then I got the videos too.
• 37:55
  Videos are a labor of love for me and they cover the both the
• 37:58
  stock cars and the Indy cars.
• 38:00
  I got 20 years of Indy car footage on there and then the stock cars is
• 38:04
  a variety of stock car videos too.
• 38:06
  Thanks again.
• 38:06
  Thank you.
• 38:07
  Appreciate it.
• 38:07
  Thanks guys.
• 38:13
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