The Year Mercury Marine Took Over Nascar

Mercury Marine is the creation of Karl Kiekheafer, a brilliant farm kid/engineer who guided the the company to major success. The company's signature black outboard motors are known the world over. They are the prefered engine of pleasure boaters, speed mavens, and Malay pirates. In 1955, Kiekheafer, flushed with success from the outboard motor business and carrying basket loads of cash decided to go south and dominate Nascar for awhile. In true Wisconsin/German fashion, he brought something new and unheard of to the sport - a highly organized, disciplined team and a sports marketing concept, all of which was new to NASCAR. Veteran drivers who were used to driving their cars to the track and were usually assisted by a hodgepodge pit crews were shocked by what they saw. Kiekhaefers team arrived at Daytona with car transports, matching uniforms, a team filled with groups of specialists and most important - highly detailed corporate sponsorship painted on the cars.
With Tim Flock at the wheel,The team entered 38 events. They scored 18 wins, 18 poles, 32 Top-10 finishes and won the first of two NASCAR championships. A year later, Kiekhaefer had six drivers win a combined 22 wins, 47 Top-10s, and 23 poles in their 64 races. The domination was so complete that other competitors began to accuse the Wisconsin team of cheating. It was all too easy for the Wisconsinites. One pit crew member was overheard to say, "(winning races)is like shooting goldfish in a paper cup".
"Kiekhaefer quit NASCAR in January of 1957 after battling Bill France, over accusations of cheating by the other competitors (though no rules infractions were found under NASCAR's close scrutiny), NASCAR changed the rules to Kiekhaefer's disadvantage, and he didn't want a backlash to affect Mercury sales after fans booed the team."
Here's a short list of "firsts" and other accomplishments -
The team was the first to use dry paper air filters, which are now standard equipment in today's cars.
Set a record lap of 140 mph at the Daytona Beach Road Course.
First major national sponsor to NASCAR (excluding automotive-related companies)
First to do scientific testing of the oil in his race car motors to see what was affecting the performance of his motors via contamination.
First professional team - The cars were professionally painted and detailed. Team members wore uniforms. At a time when most drivers drove their cars to the track, Kiekhaefer used the Mercury Marine box or "van" style trucks with the race cars sticking out the back due to their length. Kiekhaefer and his team came to Nascar, took it over,modernized it, then walked away. Veni, Vidi, Vici, indeed.
Pictured above are Team Kiekhaefer drivers on the white sands of Daytona.

Segways in De Pere

A December 28, 1900 cartoon from The Brown County Democrat, a daily newspaper from De Pere. 1900 was a great year for predicting what the 20th century would bring. This is the "Footomobile".
The image is from the book Yesterday's Future: The Twentieth Century Begins (Voices from Wisconsin's past.)

Blow up courtesy of Paleo Future.

When Actors Play Wisconsinites #3...Johnny Depp meets Orson Welles

Johnny Depp, dressed in drag and playing the title role of Ed Wood in the film of the same name, runs into his hero - the world's greatest director,Orson Welles - sitting in a back booth at Musso and Franks Restaurant in Hollywood. Depp's earnest portrayal of the notorious (and in my opinion, brilliant)filmmaker was right on the mark. Unfortunately, Wood was wrongly tagged by many as the "world's worst filmmaker". Little do they know that the worlds greatest worst filmmaker lives and works in...where else?...Wisconsin. I'll have more on our very own errant genius and his many big screen releases in a later post. Orson is played by Vincent D'Onofrio in
the above clip.

We Need A New Flag

Our State Flag is one big nothingburger. It's right up there with the State Quarter - a design rerouted by our governor from a far more compelling voyageur theme to a standard issue cow/milk/cheese/silo scene. It was easily the most underwhelming quarter in the 50 state collection. Had it not been for a minting error that made some of the early issue coins collectible, it would have deservedly vanished from memory long ago. It does, however, bring to mind some of problems that our flag has...
1 - It's not an original design. It follows the Maine, Delaware, New Hampshire, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Nebraska, Utah mold. The Wisconsin flag is too much like other flags, so much so that in 1979... "Wisconsin lawmakers found that their flag was difficult to distinguish from others. To remedy this, the words "Wisconsin" and "1848" were added to the flag". . This addition, or patch job, or whatever you want to call it increased our flag's lameness factor by 100.
2 - The flag's centerpiece depiction of miner,a great lakes sailor and a badge of industry is too small - there's too much information in that small space to make any kind of impression. A good flag is simple,bold and makes an immediate impact upon the viewer - just think of England and Japan...those are flags!
3 - Texas has a cool flag, Arizona has a cool flag, Hawaii has a cool flag...I'm sick of other states having the cool flag. On the bright side, Colorado has the ugliest flag I've ever seen.
4 - Our flag is so lame that most out of state people consider this to be our state flag....
I've written nearly 400 posts on the out of proportion number of extraordinary, world changing ideas and people who, for better or worse - but always with major impact - have come from Wisconsin. I would like to think that such a profound impact could be represented in a boldly designed flag. Is that too much to ask? One more thing.... at it's best, this state doesn't follow, it leads. Always. Forward.

Speed Demons #2 .....Harry Arminius Miller

"Harry Arminius Miller single-handedly established the course and credibility of American automobile racing."
Harry Miller made cars, boats and airplanes go faster. He created the first ever "built to race" engines - all with parts built from new light alloy metals that he developed. In 1917, his engines powered one of the most famous race car/driver combinations ever witnessed...The Miller Golden Submarine, driven by Barney Oldfield. He was born and raised in Menominee, Wisconsin. At age 19, he struck out for Los Angeles and immediately made his mark on the automobile industry with a seemingly endless supply of fresh, innovative ideas. He modernized the auto engine with new, lightweight parts and was soon manufacturing engines under his own name.
From 1920 to 1940 the world of auto racing was dominated by Miller race cars and the engines of Miller and his employees Leo Goosen and Fred Offenhauser. These cars had a modern look and feel that influenced generations of industrial designers around the world to push the envelope in their respective fields. Miller, in effect, made time go faster. By 1929, most professional race cars were Miller cars and his name was universally synonymous with any kind of forward motion.
The good times and financial highs of the 20's ended with the arrival of the great depression. In 1931, Harry hit the wall and lost everything. In spite of this, he continued to create a dizzying array of innovations that would change the world of auto racing far into the future. In the cash starved world of the 30's, he worked with the Ford Motor Company and briefly teamed with fellow eccentric genius Preston Tucker to create one of the most beautiful race cars ever to hit the track at the Indianapolis 500. For Miller, the process of creation continued right up to his death in 1943. Harry Arminius Miller, a man who was once described by an employee as being
"...in a perpetual state of thought", died from a heart attack.

Miller's cars won the Indianapolis 500 a total of 10 times and machines powered by Miller or Miller-based Offenhauser engines won the big race another 29, including 43 national championships. At one time or another, almost every major speed and distance record was held by a Miller product. It is a record unequaled by any other manufacturer before or since. Harry Miller made it all happen.

Pictured above is Miller's quantum leap in design and thought, The Golden Submarine - the car that changed the world. Thanks to Cousin Steve from Menominee.

Wisconsin Bands #9.....Big dreams and record deals in NYC

Musicians Cory Chisel and Adriel Harris of Appleton walk down the streets of New York City after a showcase perfomance for record distributors. Chisel's band, The Wandering Sons was in the city this spring to record their upcoming debut on the RCA label. They were signed to the label by old school recording industry legend Clive Davis. The last Appleton band to record for RCA was Matrix, a mid 70's "jazz fusion"(ugliest two word combination in the English language) band. Photo courtesy the Appleton Post Crescent - here's a link to the entire story, many thanks to Darlene S.

Buried Treasure #1...assorted tales, assault with a crowbar and washed up coins

French explorers are said to have buried a large bag of gold Indian artifacts, found on an Indian mound, at the East and Black Fork junction of the Black River, by Hatfield Village in Jackson County. Wisconsin is the burial/effigy mound capital of North America. There was a time when they were everywhere and in plain site. The larger conical mounds would tempt any would be grave robbers. Hatfield is an unincorporated community founded by Norbert St. Germaine in 1836 and is best known as the home of Mitchell Redcloud, Jr. - Ho Chunk warrior and Korean War Medal of Honor recipient.

A wagon of gold, worth $200,000, is supposedly buried in a swampy area south of Balsam Lake. It lies seven miles northeast of St. Croix Falls. It belonged to miners returning from Montana. Their treasure laden wagon sank in quicksand-like soil due to heavy rains. Huh??? I know of sphagnum bogs in this area, but quicksand? Here's a possible related news item from Balsam Lake...
A Polk County Sheriff's Deputy had to fire a shot at a Balsam Lake man he says was trying to hit him with a crowbar. It started last Tuesday when deputies say Martin Chapman was trying to pay for gas with silver coins and was causing problems at the gas station. When the officer tried to pull him over, he fled. Investigators say he stopped at a house, got a crowbar and refused to drop it. The officer tasered and pepper-sprayed Chapman, but says he didn't stop and threatened the deputy with the crowbar until the deputy fired a shot.The sheriff says Chapman wasn't hit but pretended to be. He's facing attempted battery to an officer.
The sheriff says Chapman considers himself a sovereign citizen and tried to pay his $35,000 cash bond with 30 silver pieces.

On the lake front of the city of Superior, old gold gold coins have been found. They come from the sunken ship, Benjamin Noble, which was carrying over $100.000 in gold coins at the time of it's sinking. The ship, recklessly overloaded with iron rails, went down in a blinding snowstorm off the Duluth/Superior shore in 1914.

Portage -In 1953, a boy swimming in the Wisconsin River, found three ten pound gold bars on the east river bank half a mile south of Portage. The source of this wealth was a riverboat that sank in 1870 with $100,000 in gold on board.

One mile south of De Soto, artifacts and coins are found washed up along the shore of the Mississippi River. A sunken paddlewheel steamer, the remains of which are sometimes visible at low tide, is the source of the treasure.

Sam "Samoots" Amatuna,one of the many presidents of the Unione Siciliana and a frequent Wisconsin visitor is said to have buried $50,000 in paper currency wrapped in a canvas bundle just north of Pell Lake. He didn't live long enough to collect his stash. He was shot while sitting in a barbers chair in Chicago. Amatuna is also the supposed source of a hidden trove of buried silver coins in the same area.

Jerry Cole...The session man

His real name was Jerald Edward Kolbrak and he was born and raised in Green Bay. He was 19 years old when he moved to Los Angeles. It was 1959, the peak year of the short-lived guitar instrumental craze and Jerry immediately got a job playing lead guitar with The Champs, a band that was riding the top of the charts with their recently released hit, Tequila. The Champs were unique, every member of the band would become a major session player in LA's exploding recording scene, and Cole was no exception. As a session guitarist he worked with every major name in the music business - The Byrds, The Beach Boys (he's all over Pet Sounds), Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Rick Nelson,Blood, Sweat and Tears, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Roger Miller, Bobby Darin, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lewis, Sonny and Cher and Elvis, just to name a few. He recorded dozens of surf instrumentals as Jerry Cole and his Spacemen and numerous other monikers. His television and film soundtrack work ranged from Hannah Barbera cartoons to Elvis movies. He was the official band leader for Shindig and the Sonny and Cher Show and was part of the studio orchestra on The Andy Williams Show, Carol Burnette Show, The Flip Wilson Show, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Joey Heatherton Specials (It's the least of his credits, but I had to put that in) and The Smothers Brothers. As a session player, he was on Phil Spector's A-list. Henry Mancini and Nelson Riddle always used Jerry. Besides playing guitar, he could write, arrange, conduct, sing and produce. Best of all, he played my personal favorite version of the Munsters Theme. Every minute of everyday, a song that Cole has played on is playing somewhere in the world. The sight and sound of Jerry in a sharkskin stage suit playing instrumentals on his white Fender Jazzmaster is priceless. Jerry Cole passed away this week, he was 68 years old.

Shipwrecks #2...The sinking of the Wisconsin

Just after 1 am on the morning of October 29, 1929, the package-freight steamer, Wisconsin, was adrift four miles off the Kenosha shoreline. It's Captain, Dougal Morrison, had made the decision earlier in the day to leave the port of Chicago in the midst of a building gale. The 48 year old Milwaukee bound ship had plowed uneasily through twenty foot seas. Now water was flooding its firehold and firemen were working up to their knees in rising water trying to keep the boiler stoked. The old boat was being violently shaken by every wave - It's tied down cargo becoming loose and slamming from side to side within the ship. At 1:30 A.M., Captain Morrison ordered radio man Kenneth Carlson to flash the first message to shore, his initial hope was that the steamer Illinois, soon to be en route to Chicago from Milwaukee, could render assistance...
"We are four miles off Kenosha. Fireholds all flooded. In immediate danger. Please stay with us. May need your help soon. [Signed] "Wisconsin"
1:40 "Please get captain of steamer Illinois. Tell him we need help."
1:43 On shore, Operator Webster relayed message to Captain Delletre of the Illinois, in harbor at Milwaukee.
1:50 "My chain has parted. Tug Butter field trying to turn me around. Will come soon.
[Signed] "Capt. Delletre"
1:52 Operator Webster relayed Delletre's message to the Wisconsin, adding, "Am sending you Racine and Kenosha Coast Guards."
2:15 "Due to sink any time now. For God's sake send help."
2:17 "Hold on, help on way." [Signed] "Webster
2:35 "Fires out. No steam. Rush boats for tow before it is too late. We may save her.
[Signed] "Captain Morrison"
2:50 Captain Morrison repeated message.
3:00 SOS SOS SOS
3:30 "Am drifting in toward Kenosha”
3:40 "Can stay up half hour longer, is help coming?"
3:50 "Can see Coast Guard coming to us. They are about halfway out from Kenosha."
4:00 "Kenosha Coast Guard here. Have attached two of their lines."
4:05 "Coast Guard can do nothing. Is standing by to take off our crew. Are larger boats coming?"
4:08 "Tugboats and other Coast Guard on way. We'll make it yet." [Signed] "Webster"
4:30 "We have received SOS. We are just outside Milwaukee. It will take us two hours to get there. We are starting now. [Signed] "Pere Marquette car ferry"
4:31 "Rush it. [Signed] "Webster"
4:32 "Abandoning ship. Leaving boat now. Can't stay longer. Thanks. Won't forget you.
[Signed] "Wisconsin"
4:34 "Not enough boats for us all.”
[Signed] "Wisconsin"
The Wisconsin went down in the pitch dark, heavy seas of Lake Michigan. Sixteen lives were lost, including Captain Morrison.
The photos show the Wisconsin and below, a diver's shot of a car, still tied down in it's freight hold.

Carl Laemmle Sr. and Universal Studios

The recent destructive fire on the back lot of Universal Studios had me thinking about "Uncle" Carl Laemmle, it's founder and one time Wisconsin resident. From 1901 to 1906, Carl Laemmle managed the Continental Clothing Company in Oshkosh. While there, he ended up marrying his boss’s daughter,Recha Stern. In search of new business opportunities, the couple moved to Milwaukee. On an investment of $4,000 Laemmle started two nickelodeon movie houses. In 1909 he started the Independent Moving Pictures Company which would later become, after moving to California, Universal Studios. He kept close ties with his former hometown. In 1912 he made a promotional film for the City of Oshkosh - a copy of which still exits.
"The film presents a rare and unique glimpse of Oshkosh and its residents. Horse-drawn steam pumpers, Main Street shoppers, private residences, civic buildings, Paine Lumber employees, and children playing are all captured in time. These images are even more exceptional because they are not frozen in time, but are in motion."
Laemmle is remembered as an eternal optimist - a kind, avuncular man who once provided a way out for hundreds of Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Germany by employing them at his studio (in the midst of the depression!). He is pictured above on the lot with his son, Carl jr., the producer of The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, The Mummy and Frankenstein - all massive, timeless hits.
At the same time that Universal Studios was starting up, two brothers from Waukesha were building Hollywood's largest, and ultimately, it's most influential studio....click here.

A Wartime Portrait..The Van Susteren Wedding

United States Marine, Joseph R McCarthy is the best man at the wedding of his best friend, the future Judge Urban Van Susteren of Appleton. The two men became friends at Marquette law school. Van Susteren would later manage Joe McCarthy's successful 1946 campaign against two term incumbent Robert LaFollette, jr. (Many of Wisconsin's biggest names were rumoured to be in the running during that pivotal year, among the names being tossed around were Orson Welles and Douglas MacArthur.) Van Susteren was a good friend to the troubled politician and like another close McCarthy friend, Robert F. Kennedy - he stuck with him through the bad times. Van Susteren's daughters are Fox news personality Greta Van Susteren and 2006 Democratic candidate for US Senate from Maryland, Lise Van Susteren - both Appleton girls. McCarthy's name elicits an instant reaction from most people, mostly bad. I get it from both sides just for mentioning his name. Few from either side have ever bothered to read any of the many in-depth books that cover the man and his era. As an article in The New Yorker pointed out, "(McCarthy's actions) ...are buried in myth."

Israel's Iron Lady from Milwaukee....Golda Meir

Golda Meir was a founder of, and later, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel during one of the most turbulent periods of it's short history. She was born in Kiev,Ukraine and raised in Milwaukee. She went to school at the Fourth Street School (Golda Meir School) and graduated from North Division High School in 1915. She soaked up the progressive socialist political atmosphere of Milwaukee, lived briefly in Denver (where she became fully politicized and met her future husband) and returned to become an active member of the Labor Zionist youth movement. With the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine in 1917, she began to plan her immigration. She became a teacher, taught a few years in public schools and in 1921, with her new husband Morris Myerson and her sister, she moved to Israel. The picture above shows Golda as a teenager in Milwaukee.

More Supper Clubs...Marty's Showboat

Marty's Showboat Supper Club was part of the Northernaire Resort in Three Lakes. Built right after World War II, it was designed by former pro baseball player and local yokel, Cy Williams. "Marty" was the last name of owners, Carl and Bob Marty. The 3,000 acre resort incuded a hotel, four villas and a golf course. The Showboat is still with us - it's the clubhouse for the Big Stone Lake Golf Course, however, the hotel and several lesser outbuildings are gone.

Senator Orson Welles...The Junior Senator from Wisconsin

"I too had political ambitions, particularly back in the FDR days. I used to help him with speeches and I like to think I was useful to him. I know he thought I should have a serious go at politics some day. Well, some day came. They wanted me to run for the Senate in my home state of Wisconsin, against Joe McCarthy. I could never win because I was an actor—hence, frivolous. And divorced—hence, immoral. And now Ronnie Reagan, who is both, is president."
Orson Welles, 1982

Joseph Bailey's Dam...Northwoods ingenuity

In the spring of 1864, a Union Army and an accompanying flotilla of gunboats and transports under the command of Admiral David Porter pushed it's way west deep into rebel territory along the banks great Red River. The campaign came to a sudden stop when the army was beaten at the Battle of Mansfield. They were now in full retreat and Porter had orders to turn his fleet around and get back to the Mississippi River. However, it had been a dry year and the water levels were low. The Union fleet was stranded in place - at the falls above Alexandria, Louisiana. The rebel army was closing in. They wanted the fleet and were now certain of it's eventual capture or destruction.
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey was a seasoned Wisconsin lumberman and civil engineer before the war and with him were the 23rd and 29th Wisconsin - regiments that were packed with lumberjacks, river rats and northwoods regulars. Bailey now proposed a daring plan to Union commanders - using techniques he had learned on Wisconsin's rivers he would dam the Red River and thus raise the water to a level that would allow the vessels, when the dam was broken, to ride over the falls. Porter thought "(Bailey's) proposition was madness…", but he had no choice. The fleet and an entire army were at stake. Under Lieutenant Bailey’s direction and led by the Wisconsin regiments, the Union soldiers worked day and night over a two week stretch to dam the river. When the water level soon rose to a sufficient height, a breach was made in the dam, and the resulting great rush of water carried the flotilla, one by one, over the falls and down river to the eventual safety of the Mississippi River. In the midst of a failed campaign, Bailey had saved the day. The news electrified the nation and Bailey became the celebrity hero of the moment. Congress gave Bailey a gold medal and thanked him for saving them $2,000,000 worth of hardware and men. Admiral Porter gave him a gold sword and wrote him letters of gushing praise, a group naval officers gave him a silver punch bowl valued at $2,000 and Bailey finished the war as a full Brigadier General.
Two years later he was dead...
"On March 21, 1867, Sheriff Joseph Bailey, of Vernon County, Missouri, was murdered by two prisoners he was taking to jail. Joseph Bailey is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, at Fort Scott, Kansas."

"Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Bailey's Dam was the toil expended by the Union soldiers.... Through the hot days and chilly nights they labored diligently despite harassment from the enemy; the depression and fatigue of a long, failed campaign. . . . In many respects, their efforts offer some basis for Porter's claim that Bailey's Dam was "without doubt the greatest engineering feat ever performed."

The remains of Bailey's dam, his "imperishable monument of American energy, ingenuity, and skill", remained intact for decades and can still be seen.

The Apollo 13 Guys....again

Great Picture. I'm still obsessed with these guys. The Apollo 13 crew boarding the command module on the day of their fateful flight. Mission Commander, Milwaukee's Jim Lovell gives us a wave and a self assured smile. NASA Crew Chief, Sparta's Deke Slayton (dressed in civies), brings up the rear. Slayton was one of the original Mercury seven astronauts and the only one not to go into space. From 1963 on, he was responsible for Astronaut selection and subsequently chose all the crews for the Apollo program. In this capacity he was ultimately responsible for determining who the first man on the moon would be. Deke would finally made it in to space on the final Apollo mission.

Wisconsin Graves #1....Captain Hendrick Aupaumut, Revolutionary War Hero.

You'll never find this grave. Wisconsin is one giant Native American cemetery and many of us unknowingly mow our lawns and tend to our gardens mere feet above the decaying shards and remnants of their bones. Here we have the case of a late arrival - Aupaumut's Stockbridge (Mohican) tribe resettled along the Fox River on land "purchased" from the Menominee in the 1830's. I would like to note that in Wisconsin, the native tribes, the French/Indian Metis and the mostly seasonal white traders of the time fought with the British against the Americans in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Hendrick Aupaumut was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. enlisted in the American Army at age 18 in 1775. He served as a private in Captain William Goodrich's Company of Indians during the siege of Boston. In 1777 he became lieutenant of Indian Scouts. The next year, he survived the massacre of Stockbridge Indians in the Bronx, New York. He soon took command of the Indian Company on the death of his captain and In 1779 General George Washington promoted him to the temporary rank of captain. He re-enlisted during the War of 1812 and served under General William Henry Harrison. He died in September, 1829. He was buried in the Stockbridge Indian Cemetery that later became part of the long vanished Frank Thelen farm. His final resting place is now somewhere beneath the streets of a residential area in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. A historical marker put up in 1976 is said to be near the site of the one time early 19th century Indian Cemetery that was his supposed final resting place, but no one is certain about it's exact location.
Apaumut was an avid Christian and in stark contrast to the great Indian leader Tecumseh and most midwestern tribes, he believed that his tribe's best chance for survival depended on accepting the rapidly advancing Yankee/American culture rather than resisting it.

Gustav Stickley...Out in front

Gustav Stickley created the first truly American furniture and was the leader of the Arts & Crafts Movement in America. His influence on Frank Lloyd Wright was profound.
He was born into a German furniture making family in Osceola, Wisconsin in 1858.

Team Blatz #5....Don Ameche

He was born Dominic Felix Amici in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1908. He attended both Marquette University and The University of Wisconsin. While in Madison, he joined a stock stage company and began a career that would lead him to the very top in Film, Radio and Broadway. For a short time in the 30's and early 40's, Don's portrayal of Alexander Graham Bell was so ingrained in the public mind that "Ameche" became slang for "telephone'. He is remembered today for his role in Ron Howard's sentimental 1993 sci- fi film, Cocoon. In the ad above, Don reminds us that he lived in Milwaukee and "he ought to know..."
Don Ameche is Wisconsin and NFL football legend Alan Ameche's cousin, we first met Alan here.