The Vault
REMEMBERING BILL ROHR AND THE BROWN COUNTY/KEWAUNEE COUNTY FEUDS
Posted on: Tuesday January 30, 2024
Bill Rohr (64) chases Tiny Vandermoss (99) during coupe action at the Brown County Fairgrounds in De Pere in the 1960’s. (Bob Bergeron photo)
(THIS IS A CHAPTER FROM THE 2015 RELEASE “LIFE IN THE PAST LANE.” YOU CAN ORDER THIS BOOK BY CLICKING ON THE ‘BOOKS’ TAB ON THIS WEBSITE)
Kewaunee’s Bill Rohr was one of the true “hot dogs” during the heyday of the coupe days at Luxemburg Speedway in the 1960’s.
“Ken Zuege got me into racing,” he said. “He was a driver and we worked together at Swintoski’s Auto right in Kewaunee. I was maybe 20. I started racing in 1961. The car was a ‘39 Plymouth Coupe. After that I bought a ’37 Ford.”
Rohr, who later would race with his brother Mike Rohr, recalled huge car counts and the bleachers always filled to capacity. “It was a deal where if you didn’t get a seat there most nights by 5:30 you were out of luck,” he said. “We’d time trial and that was a big part of the show in itself.”
The Kewaunee county vs. Brown county drivers rivalries were heated, and Rohr was right in the mix of it. Drivers from either camp were often quick to file protests, which often prompted track officials to do “tear downs” (inspections) of the respective drivers cars. “We had some tear downs in the Quonset hut and boy did it ever get heated a lot of times,” recalled Rohr. One year three of us got barred for having illegal parts. They sent me a telegram saying I was barred from racing at both Luxemburg and at the asphalt track at De Pere. John (Marquis), who promoted both tracks didn’t even have the guts to tell me to my face.”
Later the three suspensions were uplifted by Marquis and the trio was allowed to race.
One of the drivers Rohr had a heated rivalry with was Bobby Marquis of De Pere. “I remember one night somebody drove Bobby off into the infield. When the race was done he drove off the track and just blasted somebody. When they squared off when they got out of their cars he simply said “you hit me so I hit you.”
A story. Drivers and fans were getting pretty upset at Marquis for his over aggressive driving on the track at Luxemburg in the 1960’s. Marquis had rubbed fenders and traded paint with Kewaunee County finest at Luxemburg one night. Things got so heated Marquis’ crew drove the hauler out of the pit area onto main street in Luxemburg. Once the final checkered flag flew during the feature race Marquis sped through the pit area onto Main street in Luxemburg where he and the crew quickly loaded their car and boogied back to De Pere, in order to avoid a potential mob lynching.
Bill Rohr (far right) poses with friends during an interview session for author Joe Verdegan’s 2015 release “Life In The Past Lane – a history of stock car racing in northeastern Wisconsin from 1950-1980.’
Rohr remembers getting into a scrap with Green Bay’s Jim Krouse one night. “Jim took my brother Mike out so I went after Jim in the pits,” he said. “The cops got me that night. I told Krouse I was going to take him out the following week as retaliation, and I did.”
Rohr scrapped with the likes of De Pere’s Ted Peters, and Green Bay drivers Jerry Muenster and Earl Ness. “I’d run on the dirt with them at Luxemburg and then we’d mix it up on the asphalt track at De Pere,” he recalled. “Those guys were pretty good eggs. After awhile we’d shake hands and were cordial with one another. It took a couple of years though.”
Other top runners at Luxemburg in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s were Corby Van Lornyn and Jim Kralovetz. Ettien was beginning to make a name for himself at that time as well.
Rohr had a birdseye view to a tragedy at Luxemburg Speedway in the early 1960’s. Green Bay driver AD Van Straten had spun his coupe and began getting out of his car just off of turn four. “Laurel Junio had a tie rod break on his car and he shot straight into AD as he was climbing out of his car. There really wasn’t anywhere for him to go. It was a real bad deal. I remember that was the second heat and I was lined up in the chute ready to race in the third heat.”
Rohr was a regular at Luxemburg until he hung up his helmet following the 1977 season. “My last car was a ’69 Camaro,” he recalled. “One of the things I always took pride in my career was I always built my own motors, every season. No one else ever touched my motors. I built them all.”
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