Van Daalwyk took a puff of his cigar, scratched his head and and told Grode “O.K. I’d go in his office, throw the figures and calculations on his desk and say “here’s what I think we can do.” He’d always say “SPELL IT OUT! SPELL IT OUT!” He wasn’t too bad to deal with if you knew what you what you were talking about. Because I was secretary in the winter of 1974, I’d negotiate a lot of stuff with Joe. “We had approached Joe (Van Daalwyk) about getting this going again. Then Joe (Van Daalwyk) got it back again.” “Guys like Clyde Schumacher tried it when the half-mile was dirt. “People thought we were crazy to try and resurrect a Thursday night racing program at WIR because some other guys had gone belly up trying to do it,” explained Grode. The Thursday night program consisted of late models on the half mile, a “sportsman class” on the inner quarter mile which even included coupes driven by drivers like Bryce Spoehr, and many Apple Creek and Shiocton drivers who were stuck without a track to race at. The track was still called the KK Sports Arena prior to that.” “The first year it was myself as secretary, Ronnie Van Roy was the vice president, Ray Dietzen was the treasurer and Bob Seehawer was president. “It was just Red, White and Blue races there for a while.” “In some spots there was grass growing through the track,” said Grode. Prior to 1975 KK Sports Arena was not hosting weekly racing. It actually wasn’t anything intentional.” “So I just went along with Fox River Racing Club after the Fox Valley Stock Car club basically ceased after Apple Creek closed. Just how did the name Fox River Racing Club come to fruition? “At the time there already was the Wolf River Racing Club which disbanded after the track in Shiocton closed in 1973,” explained Grode. Dave was a Dodge guy like myself.” With Thompson as the driver the team ran up until 1974 and also at Leo’s Speedway in Oshkosh and took occasional trips to the half-miles at Shawano Speedway and even the Brown County Fairgrounds in De Pere.Īfter the 1974 season Grode sold his half of his ownership in the car and took a new challenge – helping form the Fox River Racing Club. (Grode was confined to a wheelchair after that) After that myself and Dave Thompson built a Dodge Dart. I had a car fall on me at the wrecking yard and I broke my back. “That was after I got out of the hospital that year. “I build the motor for (Cork) Surprise in the 1971,” said Grode, explaining how he got involved in the racing scene decades ago. In short, the consignment-type tire deal with the dirt boys worked. I never once got hung with a set of tires.” I’d go to the guys who were running around here during the week and buy some from them at their shops too and take them to the dirt tracks. I’d go to the Red White and Blue races and buy the used ones from the bigger teams. “I bought more damned tires than Richard Petty Enterprises,” joked Grode. If they decided to stick with it, they’d simply pay Grode back what he bought the runoffs for. It they didn’t like running the tar they’d simply give the runoff tires back. The deal was Grode would buy the runoffs (used asphalt tires) and give them to the dirt track drivers. They would always say they didn’t have money to buy the asphalt tires.” I’d tell them “I’ll make you guys a deal. I’d go to Oshkosh on Tuesdays, Shawano on Saturdays and Seymour and De Pere on Sundays. As many of those tires as I could stuff into the backseat and trunk of my car I would. “I’d buy these runoff asphalt tires from the teams that were running. “I would make deals with guys like Gary Roehborn or Cliff Ebben and that who were on the fence at the time about trying it out on the tar,” recalled Grode. But with WIR reopening Grode and its club officers were in a constant effort to lure drivers from neighboring dirt tracks, Grode was constantly beating the bushes, attending races several nights a week to try and get drivers to the pavement on Thursday nights. Grode was involved as one of the founding fathers of the FRRC, and was involved with the club promoting the Thursday night races as a secretary and president. Hortonville, Wisconsin native Rene Grode is a former Fox River Racing Club president and 2020 inductee into the ‘Circle of Fame’ at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wisconsin.Īlthough his title read Fox River Racing Club “president” most of the time Rene Grode felt like a “college recruiter” in the mid to late 1970’s.
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