The Milwaukee Modified Era

Book excerpt: In the late 1950s and throughout the '60s the greatest short track auto racing in Wisconsin was to be found in the Milwaukee area on quarter-mile dirt bullrings. Drivers like Miles “the Mouse†Melius, Kenny “Tweety Bird†Tlougan, Billy “the Cat†Johnson, Jr., Aaron “Snagglepuss†Solsrud, Etchie “The Flying Grandpa†Biertzer, Don “The Duck†Schuppel, and Fuzzy “the Hound†Fassbender matched wits throughout the summer at Hales Corners, Cedarburg, Slinger, Beaver Dam, and State Fair Park.Father Dale Grubba, who resides in Princeton, Wisconsin, has covered Wisconsin racing as fan, writer, photographer and spiritual advisor since 1963. He began his career with The Checkered Flag Racing News and Stock Car Racing Magazine. Father Grubba has covered short track racing in central Wisconsin with such books as Dream Chasing, Wisconsin's Finest, and The Golden Age of Wisconsin Auto Racing. His biography, Alan Kulwicki NASCAR Champion: Against All Odds won the Motorsports Book of the Year Award. Now he has branched out into another area of Wisconsin Short Track racing with his latest, The Milwaukee Modified Era 1959-1973. In this book he has chronicled the era of Milwaukee modified racing and the Milwaukee Stock Car Club at its peak.