WIR and the BIRTH of the RED, WHITE and BLUE

Doug Strasburg
Mid American Stock Car Series
August 2006

As we prepare to close out the 34th running of the RED, WHITE and BLUE SERIES on August 19th at Wisconsin International Raceway, the Mid-American Stock Car Series will pass the Vercauteren Memorial Traveling Trophy on to the Blue Race feature winner. The following article was believed to have appeared sometime in the "80's and is priceless. It is entitled "W.I.R.-Joe's Challenge" and was written by former W.I.R. Public Relations person and founder of the Mid-American Stock Car Series, Gary Vercauteren. Gary passed away suddenly October 2005.

W.I.R. -- JOE'S CHALLENGE by Gary Vercauteren

Editor's Note: Gary Vercauteren handles the publicity for the Wisconsin International Raceway speed complex, handling both the oval track and drag strip activities. A race fan since his youth, Gary grew up across the street from the DePere (WI.) Fairgrounds. Vercauteren is the owner of Vercauteren Publishing in Chilton, WI.

It was a cold March evening in 1972. The snow had begun to melt, but winter was reluctantly losing its grip.

I rang the door bell and a 50-year-old man opened the door while talking on the telephone, stretching the cord to reach the door knob.

He looked at me quickly and said, "You must be Gary What's His Name."

His attention returned to the phone. "I'm not paying that ----- high rate and you know it. I got somebody in my office. If you've got a better price, call me back." With that, Joe Van Daalwyk hung up the phone, took a couple of puffs on his cigar and looked back at me.

"Take off your coat and sit down," he said. I knew he was in charge right off the bat. He quickly outlined the history of his race track -- Wisconsin International Raceway. Most of it was familiar to me. I had attended nearly every race at the track for the past several seasons and knew that Joe was trying to rebuild a financially troubled and later bankrupt KK Sports Arena.

Track manager Ted Schmalz arrived later and we discussed putting together a late model stock car series for Wisconsin drivers.

"Those USAC boys are just a big pain in the ---," Van Daalwyk said. "I think they'll dry up in a couple of years. That's why we've got to do something different."

Joe was right. The USAC stock car division is no more and his Red, White and Blue State Championship Series is thriving.

An idea became a reality that year in spite of the fact that dirt track racing was drawing big crowds at fairground speedways in Shawano, De Pere, Oshkosh and Seymour.

Dick Trickle, driving a 1970 Mustang, won the first race in the series on a perfect, sunny afternoon. He went to the outside of John Rank on the 26th lap and won by three car lengths. Trickle, of Wisconsin Rapids, went on to establish a national feature win record of 67 victories that year.

A crowd of 7,832 viewed the first race as some 52 cars competed on the half-mile paved oval. Madison's John Ziegler established a new one-lap track record of 21.74 during time trials.

And, Joe was pleased. He even smiled. After all it was his first profitable stock car race since taking over the track in 1971. Several USAC events were large financial losers.

Schmalz released a statement to the press the following week canceling a remaining USAC stock car event.

"We're dropping USAC in favor of our Red, White and Blue state championship," Schmalz said. "The fact that Dick Trickle was not in the lineup for our first USAC race this year cut our attendance in half."

"USAC doesn't have enough races on its schedule to allow any of the good drivers to make a living," he added.

Perhaps the most famous statement came when Schmalz said," You can't sell a $6.00 show when there's a better one down the street for $3.00."

Schmalz's statements were of course all carefully orchestrated by Van Daalwyk. Joe pulled the strings. He ran the race track. Smoking his cigars, he spent long hours in his office.

There were many long meetings. Hours and hours were spent discussing rules, payoffs and promotions. Joe was a successful businessman. His construction, real estate and restaurant firms were all making big money.

The raceway was perhaps his biggest challenge. It was dead and he revived it. He loved every minute of it, from screaming at radio station owners for running ads after the races had been run to watching his traditional booming fireworks at the start of every race.

The Red, White and Blue series was the start of the turnaround.

In 1975 Joe joined forces with the Fox River Racing Club to promote weekly races at Kaukauna. The drivers raced for 100 percent of the ticket sales for the first full season to get the thing rolling.

It wasn't easy.

At the first meeting, one of the car owners said,"100 percent of nothing is nothing. Ain't it?" Joe heard about the comment and fumed for a couple of days. "What does that son-of-a- ------ think. I've got a million bucks sunk in that place out there," he steamed.

A few days later he settled down and a deal was signed with the Fox River Racing Club.

Today the Kaukauna raceway is considered one of the most successful short tracks in the nation. It's unique design was Joe's idea. He wasn't one to copy someone else. His ideas were originals.

There were times when he'd talk to Hugh Deery, of the Rockford Speedway, over the phone. Most of the talk centered around selling popcorn, hot dogs and beer.

They both had something in common. They were both originals and will never be duplicated.

Joe passed away in 1984, but the sounds of racing engines roaring will continue at his track. He left the world having conquered his biggest challenge.