The Vault
LARRY SCHULER – “I’M NOT SURE EXACTLY HOW WE PULLED IT OFF BACK THEN”
Posted on: Sunday November 7, 2021
(For a three year span in the mid 1970’s Larry Schuler made the 8 hour round trip commute from suburban Chicagoland north to race on Thursday nights at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna.
The following is an excerpt from the 2016 release “Wisconsin International Raceway – Where The Big Ones Run.” Its from a chapter titled “Long Haulers.” You can purchase this book at this website in the “books” tab. Enjoy!)
“The Junkyard Dog” Larry Schuler made the eight hour plus round trip commute from Illinois to Kaukauna, Wisconsin Thursday nights in the mid 1970’s to battle at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wisconsin. (Vercauteren family photo)
“THE JUNKYARD DOG”
Larry Schuler admits “I’m not sure exactly how we pulled it off back then.”
Schuler, 63 from Minooka Illinois, made the grueling 4 hour and 15 minute trek north one way on highway 41 to Kaukauna on Thursday nights from 1975 to 1977, not missing a Thursday night. Schuler worked as a linemen for Illinois Bell as he says “climbing poles and digging holes.” When he’d clock out early on Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. at his worksite – wherever that might be in suburban Chicagoland – Schuler hopped in his rig and went north on highway 41 – which back then was only two lane for much of the stretch. “Dad (Lee Schuler) and my brother (Tracy Schuler) would leave ahead of time to tow the car up there and I’d usually get in there barely in time to time trial,” said Schuler. “I would almost never have time to practice the car at all. Just hop in and go.”
In ’75 the FRRC had started up the Thursday night weekly program and was in desperate need of cars. Despite being well over four hours away, the Schuler family was happy to oblige. “We were always treated very well by the people up there,” said Schuler, who won the 1976 late model title. “The folks up there were always very professional. When you’re from out of town sometimes you’re not always as welcome as you think you should be. We had nothing but a great experience up there – we were treated like gold.
“I guess we got caught up in the enthusiasm for the place. It was unique, too. All the corners of the track were different. It was fun to race.”
With such a long commute for three seasons, traffic jams were common. So were mechanical failures. Schuler said, “I remember one time we were four or five miles down the road on highway 55. I was coming up from work. I saw my Dad was pulled over on the side of the road. They had a rusty fuel tank in the hauler so the truck quit running. So they backed the car off the trailer and drove the car right to the track on highway 55 right through town. They got some real funny looks. We were about 5 miles away.
I drove the car. I took the helmet and borrowed an air gauge and a jack and went out and qualified. The guys at the gate gave me a hard time. But we made it to the track, and barely on time.”
Lee Schuler had a solid friendship with George Appleton of Appleton Rack and Pinion, a race car parts supplier in Chicagoland. “George was buddies with Lynn Blanchard up in the Kaukauna area and they got along great,” said Schuler. “That was another reason we came up was Lynn. He was a great motor man. Back in ‘70’s I was working on two different cars. It made it tough because Friday nights we’d run Grundy (County Speedway in Morris, Illinois – his home track). It was a busy time in our lives.”
The nickname “JUNKYARD DOG” came from the fact that several of the parts on Schuler’s racers came straight from the junkyard. “Everybody was tough at WIR,” recalled Schuler. I remember going wheel-to-wheel with guys like Pete Parker, Willie Goeden, Roger Regeth and JJ Smith. Rich Somers was a champion one year. Wally Jors was a Howe chassis dealer up there. He was a good man who died way too young. Those guys were great to race with.”
Schuler also got to be friends with Kiel’s Dale Koehler – who raced late model and had run some USAC stock cars races over the years. “Dale had a bar and grill in Kiel and we’d stop there on the way home to get a quick sandwich for the road,” said Schuler. “He’d manage to get back ahead of us somehow. We got fed and got out of there. He wasn’t somebody I ran up against every week but he was a great guy to talk to. We’d stop on his way home and have a sandwich. I’d still go to work Friday mornings. Sometimes on only two hours of sleep. You wound up learning how to sleep fast. Some nights a couple of hours of sleep seemed fast. We didn’t stay around drinking much or anything. We had to get loaded up and got home. We had a good 4 hour and 15 minute trip. The Port Washington police stopped me a couple of times. They weren’t too happy with me speeding home sometimes.”
In 1976 Schuler pulled off an amazing feat – winning late model titles in three states all in the same year. Thursday nights at WIR in Kaukauna, Friday nights at Grundy County (Illinois) and Saturday nights at Illiana Motor Speedway in Schereville, Indiana. During Schuler’s dominating years in the ‘70’s it was nothing for him to beat the likes of the legendary Dick Trickle, Larry Detjens or Tom Reffner. “I learned so much racing against those guys, and in fact when I first raced with them was down in New Smyrna for Speedweeks down in Florida. What I learned the most from those guys was that you didn’t have to beat and bang your way to get to the front. And that’s the way you should race.”
After 1977 Schuler and his crew decided to pare their schedule back. “We loved running at WIR on Thursday nights but we started to wear our crew out,” said Schuler. “And the gas prices started going up then, too. I mean one year we ran something like 80 shows. It was too much. We still went up for the Red, White & Blue shows for awhile. We’ve been up there since because I help out Ricky Baker on the ARCA Midwest Tour. We were there for the Dixieland race (2015) and I ran into some of the same people. They are still very nice. The crowds seemed decent and they seemed full of energy.”
Schuler’s never kept track of his total feature wins but he’s still “got it.” In 2015 Schuler won three late model features at Grundy. His car is owned by Rod Baker Ford. “When I hot lapped it for them I thought I was just warming up the seat for Ricky (Baker) and come to find out they roll out a new car for me one day. As long as I have a ride I’ll keep racing. I cannot afford this on my own. It’s more fun for me now just running basically one night a week.”