Reprinted with permission of the Door County Advocate
Rekindling memories of earlier racing
Written by
Jon Gast, Door County Advocate
American Motorcycle Association flat-track racing has a rich
history on dirt tracks throughout the upper Midwest. It returns to the Door
County Fair Saturday night. “That
old rickety grandstand was packed, and people lined the track,” remembers John
Schiesser of Sturgeon Bay. Schiesser
was one of the most accomplished homegrown riders, getting his start at the
fair in 1960 at the tender age of 14. A year later he was a state champion.
The
fair circuit was just the beginning of a professional career that had him
running tracks from Ohio to St. Louis, Chicago to Daytona. It was a career that
would tragically end with the death of his teammate and his own career-ending
broken neck within a week of each other in 1969.
Even
after what racing has done to him, Schiesser isn’t planning on missing Saturday
night’s motorcycle racing at the fair. “I’m
going to take my grandkids and show them just how foolish I was,” said
Schiesser with a chuckle. But,
even after all these years, the passion seemingly drips from his recollection
of a professional career that at one time included an amazing 42 wins in a span
of 47 races.
After
being rained out last year, the return of motorcycle racing rekindles memories
for some of when the races were the hottest ticket at the fair. Schiesser was
part of a pack of Sturgeon Bay riders whose talent was matched by the type of
fearless daring that would make most mothers cringe. Guys like brothers Phil
and Joe Peterson, and Johnny Wiesner. “They
made me sit in the back of the pickup truck,” remembers Schiesser. “I was on a
Triumph and they were Harley guys.” But
that pickup went to lots of other fairs and “we barely had room for all the
trophies on the ride home,” he said.
The
Door County Fair was no exception. Schiesser
remembers one night “when I won on the last lap and looking up and thinking,
‘Boy, there are a lot of people here!’” Schiesser
was particularly fond of the short-track racing at the fair, racing so tightly bunched
that he still remembers the tire rubber on his racing leathers and the gnarly
knuckles he said still remain from tangling with too many handle bars from
other bikes.
Scrambles also proved to be popular with riders and fans alike.
A precursor to today’s motocross, Schiesser said they normally included a jump.
But they also incorporated speed — reaching 90 mph on some tracks.
Because
the Door County Fair was a lot like other tracks on the fair circuit, which
were primarily horse tracks, the kind of speed these cycles were producing
created a recipe for danger. “Our
bikes back then had no brakes and shocks,” said Schiesser. “It was just a frame
and a big engine.”
But
Schiesser had the
derring-do this type of racing required, and it took him to bigger cities and
bigger fields. Still, Schiesser said the popularity of the fair races shouldn’t
be underestimated as it regularly brought in some of the country’s top riders.
Saturday
provides a rare opportunity to see a sport that at one time was a regular on Door
County’s summer schedule. Today stock car racing continues to fill that
motorsport void and Schiesser is glad it does. “I
was just there a couple weeks ago, and there were families cheering on their
favorite driver,” he said.
It
doesn’t matter if it’s done on two wheels or four.
