The Vault
‘RACIN’ IN THE 906 WITH GENE COLEMAN
Posted on: Wednesday January 20, 2021
Gene Coleman shows off one of his original team jackets dating back several decades.
Menominee, Michigan’s Gene Coleman took a ride around a dirt track at the age of 10 and was hooked from that point forward on stock car racing. The 2008 Michigan Motorsports Hall of Famer went on to build a successful business Coleman Machine and Coleman Racing Parts. Gene’s story was detailed in the 2019 release “Racing In The 906.” This is Gene’s chapter. This book is available for purchase at joeverdegan.com. Enjoy!
A car ride around a dirt track as a 10-year-old was all it took for Gene Coleman to get bitten by the racing bug.
“There was this little dirt track called Knapp’s Corner down in Peshtigo, Wisconsin,” the Menominee native said. “I got a ride around the track from my father’s friend in a race car. It was the noise and excitement that got me excited as a little kid. And eventually I got hooked.”
Coleman graduated from Menominee high school in 1961. It was then he built his first race car – a ‘55 Dodge. “I took it the fair race at Escanaba and struggled with it,” Coleman admitted. “A year later I put together a ‘55 Ford. I just took the fenders off and made it into a race car.”
Coleman took his lumps early on – rolling his mount over at Escanaba. “I wasn’t very good in the beginning at all,” Coleman confessed. “Everything we did was trial and error then. There were no rules. It was basically run what you brung. The only rule I remember in the early days was no dual wheel tires. Racing was very affordable. All the tracks were dirt and we’d run the same tires for two years. Everybody wanted a lot of horsepower back then.”
In attempt to quench his thirst to learn, Coleman took the long drive on Saturday nights to Hales Corners Speedway in Milwaukee in the mid ‘60’s. Not to race – but to go in the grandstands and learn. “Back then you could not even get into the pit area unless you were associated with a team,” Coleman recalled. “In fact, they didn’t even have any bathrooms in the pits. Guys just took a leak wherever. That was one of the reasons women weren’t allowed in the pits back then.”
After the races were done at Hales Corners Coleman would wander into the pit area, checking out what the fast guys were doing. “Miles Melius was awful tough back then and the strongest runner,” Coleman said. “I struck up a friendship with Gene Schwister from Schwister Ford. One night during the off season, Gene invited me down to his shop in Milwaukee one cold winter night.”
Equipped with a bulky flashbulb camera and a notebook, Coleman took dozens of pictures of Schwister’s car, trying to document as many speed secrets as he could. “I could not afford to buy a modified back then so I had to build my own,” Coleman confessed. “My green number 40 modified was built very similar to what Schwister was running then.”
When Coleman built his modified that open-wheel division was beginning to take off in the U.P. The Iverson’s from the Escanaba/Hyde area and the Richer’s from Schaffer were the top threats to win weekly. Young and in love, Coleman married his wife Donna at the courthouse on a Wednesday. “I didn’t have any money but I could make a couple hundred bucks racing at Norway Friday or Escanaba Saturday,” Coleman said.
In addition to Norway and Escanaba Coleman and crew chief Terry O’Brien would go north of the border and race at Heyden Raceway in Canada’s Soo on Sundays. “Back then they didn’t yet have radar for cops up that way,” Coleman said. “We’d take the backroads up on the way there to get there quicker. After the races we’d stop at a truck stop in St. Ignace to grab a good meal. Then we’d beat it back home 80 miles an hour. Mind you we had a two-tire trailer with no trailer brakes. That’s with our toolbox and everything in the back. You couldn’t even get a radio station to come in that time of night. We’d just lookout for deer. We’d put on 1,000 miles a week.”
As if the three night a week grind wasn’t enough, Coleman’s would even tow south to Cedarburg Raceway (north of Milwaukee) on Wednesday nights.
Still with all the racing he was doing Coleman still battled getting his machine to victory lane. “One night, Bobby (Iverson) and I were at a car wash in Escanaba after the races drinking a beer,” Coleman said. “I had spun Bobby out that night. He leaned over and said, “you’re getting squirrely at the end of the straight away aren’t you?” I replied “yup.” Bobby looked down and said, “you’ve got negative caster in your setup.” I didn’t even know what caster was! Bobby told me what adjustments to make. After that I had a bunch of fast times. Bobby helped me out greatly when I was starting out. We had a mutual respect and I always appreciated that. And the Richer’s were some colorful characters that could pound a couple of pieces of metal together, use a sledgehammer, chisel and cutting torch and they were always fast. Very tough.”
Coleman would win one feature over the years during his modified career. “Both Herb and Kenny (Iverson) were tough too along with Jimmy Peterson in the modifieds,” Coleman said. “We’d have 40 modifieds a night. They ran the 18 fastest cars in the feature with a full invert. The next fastest 24 ran a semi-feature. If there were any cars left over they often didn’t run. Back then a lot of times only the top three feature finishers got paid. So, the Iverson’s and Richer’s took home most of the money!
“When the modifieds started to die off down in the Milwaukee area the Escanaba clan that controlled things up here went in the same direction. “After that I got my first late model in 1975,” Coleman said. With a new division to race in came a new number for Coleman. He ran 40 in the modifieds as drivers were assigned numbers based upon where they finished in points the previous season. Coleman chose 74 for the late model – “G” is the 7th letter in the alphabet and “D” is the 4th letter of the alphabet. “G” for Gene and “D” for Gene’s wife Donna.”
Coleman raced the same car on both dirt tracks at Norway and in Eagle River, De Pere and Shawano in Wisconsin and on the pavement at Sands in Marquette and Escanaba. Coleman also raced Thursday nights at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna. Coleman never missed a race on Thursday nights at WIR for 15 years straight and received an award for that fete from the Fox River Racing Club, the organization that promoted the weekly, Thursday night show. “I had never won a feature at WIR as there were some very tough fields there over the years,” Coleman explained. “I tore up a couple of cars down there along the way, too.”
At this point in his life Gene’s business, Coleman Machine, had began to grow as the technology grew in racing and Gene and his staff, and later son Dickie would become true “innovators” in the sport. They would be the first to create several new products for the sport, including aluminum driveshafts and directional veins into brake rotors. “The brake deal was a huge hit with the NASCAR teams back then and sort of helped put me on the map for awhile,” Coleman said.
However, it was an incident at Dells Motor Speedway in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin with fellow U.P. racer Bruce White that led to the development of the quick release steering hub. “We went to Dells to watch from the grandstands and Bruce White was racing,” Coleman said. “Bruce ended up crashing and flipping over onto his roof. There was a little oil fire under the hood. Bruce was not getting out of the car. It took him a really long time to climb out of the cockpit. We were all a little worried.
“After the races were over with, we went into the pits. I asked Bruce “What took you so long to get out of the car?” Bruce said when he was upside down, after he unhooked his safety belts he basically fell into the steering wheel. He was stuck and had had this hot oil pouring down his back. That prompted us to develop the quick release steering hub. Just push in one button and the steering wheel pops off.”
Coleman’s continued to race around the country – as far east at Oxford, Maine, as far west as Phoenix, Arizona and down to Florida in February during Speedweeks. “That did help grow the business a bit,” Coleman admitted. “We’d meet guys and they’d see our ads in the racing publications and we’d get a call in a week or two and they’d start ordering parts from us.”
In 1980 Coleman decided to take a stab at the USAC stock car series. He bought a car from Larry Phillips, a hotshoe from Missouri. “I bought the car and honestly didn’t have a lot of knowledge in that environment,” Coleman admitted.
USAC stock cars raced the same machines on dirt and asphalt. The tracks ranged in size from three-eighths of a mile to a mile in length. “I remember running a 250-lap race on the half-mile paved track at Illiana Motor Speedway in Indiana,” Coleman said. “I did not have any neck supports or anything for my chin. As the race wore on I could not keep my head up. I honestly think we would have had a chance to win that one had we been better equipped in the cockpit.”
As a country boy from Michigan’s U.P. the USAC regulars didn’t expect Coleman to be much of a threat at all. After a third-place finish at the Milwaukee Mile that year Coleman drew the attention of USAC frontrunner Bay Darnell. “I think he was offended that a Yooper like myself could run up front with those guys,” Coleman said. “I got a hold of some aluminum wheels that were the hot ticket at Milwaukee. After that race Bay grabbed me by the shoulder and said, “keep buying those aluminum wheels and I’m gonna find you a dirt track somewhere to run!” He was a good guy, but you could tell it got under his skin a bit.”
That season Coleman and his crew missed a couple of the shows on the schedule. “Myself and my crew couldn’t keep taking off for work for races down in Texas and there was another one I know we missed,” Coleman said. “It was too tough, but it was a great experience.”
It was in 1985 that Coleman’s then-14-year-old son Dickie would get his first chance behind the wheel of a late model. “My first time behind the wheel of a race car was unplanned,” Dickie Coleman explained. “I was pitting for Gene one night at Norway. He had his red Rander Car he had some success with at Norway and WIR. We were getting ready to hot lap it. Gene asked me if I wanted to hot lap it. We grabbed a couple of pillows and stuffed them in the seat. Back then you couldn’t drive late model until you were 16 with a valid driver’s license. We just didn’t tell anyone and went ahead and did it.”
Later that summer Gene and Dickie would sneak over to Escanaba to race. “We would pull up to the gate at the fairgrounds and we’d switch drivers so it would give the appearance I was driving it,” Dickie said. “Paul Smith ran the track back then – he really didn’t care! I was more a field filler than anything.”
The Coleman’s would both race the same car on the same night. “Gene would run it in the fast dash and the A feature and I’d run car in slow heat and B and Gene would run it in the dash and A feature,”Dickie said. “They were ok with it.”
Dickie would race for 25 years with his racing schedule becoming shorter and shorter in the waning years. “Towards the end it was hit and miss and near the end I’d run just five or six nights a year,” Dickie said.
Dickie would eventually become a consistent front runner, nearly winning a track championship one year. “My first feature win turned out to be a pretty big deal to me anyways,” Dickie said. “Kevin Cywinski was driving for our team car and was undefeated at Norway. Mike (Lumpy) Lemke put a $200 bounty to anyone who could beat Cywinski. It was a 60-lap feature and I started on the pole with Fred Gignac alongside of me. I led every lap, but Fred was right there. This was before power steering. I kept thinking “Man Fred is older than me and I thought he’d wear out but he was right there.
“Meanwhile towards the back of the field Kevin (Cywinski) and Mike Kelly were racing hard. They tangled and both got put to the rear. Kevin caught me towards the end. But I held him off. I took Lumpy’s $200 and bought my pit crew steak dinners that night!”
Eventually the growth of Coleman machine, combined with being a father to his kids forced Dickie out of the cockpit. “We had also started our new business then Stateline Apparel and it was time step aside and support Dalton Zehr in our house car.”
By the time Dickie had got out of racing Coleman had fielded a few different drivers in his 119 ride. Mosinee, Wisconsin’s Kevin Cywinski and Antigo, Wisconsin Troy Nelson both won multiple features and titles not only at Norway but Cywinski was a consistent front runner in the ARTGO Challenge Series for years. “I could afford to field a car for usually three years for those guys until I had to take a year off and recoup financially,” Gene Coleman said, who also had drivers like Travis Sauter and Steve Holzhausen wheel his cars over the years. “We own a house across the street from Coleman Machine and we’d hire those guys full time. They’d live there rent free and got to work on the race cars all day. But it got to be very costly as I was footing the bill year after year.
“I first met Dalton Zehr down at my house in Florida. He lived three blocks away from me down there and was racing some sort of champ car locally. I struck up a conversation with his Dad who said “you should put my kid in one of your cars.” I thought about it for awhile and later that winter I decided to pull one of my late models down for Dalton to race in Florida.”
That following spring when Coleman towed his racer back home, he took the teenage Zehr with him. “At Norway Dalton was kicking everybody’s butt as a teenager and that didn’t go over very well at all with the locals,” Coleman said.
Zehr continued his hot streak for several years to come, winning titles at Norway and boasting an incredible 75 percent winning average everytime he’d enter the races. “We don’t race nearly as much as we did years ago with Cywinski,” Coleman said. “I remember that one year we ran something like 50 nights. It’s simply too costly for me as a car owner to do anymore that frequently.”
Coleman was a 2008 inductee into the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame, joining Bob Iverson as the only other U.P. driver inducted. Iverson received his induction in 2000.
Coleman was also an initial partner in buying Sands Speedway in Marquette in 2012 and was also was a one-third owner in the management team running Kinross Speedway when it opened in 1995.
“Overall Dickie and I are pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished more so on the business end of what we’ve done at Coleman Machine for racers,” Gene Coleman said. “We take pride when we take a minute to look at the product line we’ve developed over the years.”