The Vault
TAVERNS, BEER AND CASINOS
Posted on: Thursday July 6, 2023
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(The following is a chapter titled “Taverns, Beer and Casinos from the 2021 release “5-10-32 McBride, Parker & Anvelink”)
Sponsorship.
It makes the racing world go around.
At some point during the respective careers of M.J., Pete and Terry all three had supporters that stood by their race cars – some for many seasons.
When it came to M.J. as a kid I always remember Dick and Seiko’s bar on his cars over the years. McBride’s crew member Tom Postl’s parents ran that tavern. McBride, who was well known in Shawano and surrounding communities, had little problem throughout much of his career obtaining financial support for his winning operation.
Pabst Blue Ribbon was one of many beers M.J. McBride sported on his race cars over the decades. (Todd Otto photo)
In fact, for many years McBride enjoyed a beer sponsor – which in 2021 as this book is being penned is pretty much non-existent. Over the years some of the beer sponsors that have been on McBride’s cars included, but were not limited to: Pabst, Red Dog, Miller and Miller Genuine Draft. “We always had a really strong core of local businesses who were willing to sponsor us,” Marilyn McBride recalled. “Towards the end of M.J.s career though when the economy went sour the sponsors got harder to get. They just didn’t have that kind of money to throw around anymore.”
With that said McBride had to start doing something he never had to do before in his career. “He started writing letters asking businesses for their support,” Marilyn explained. “We never had to do that before. We’d include where we would be racing and where the business’ name would be on the car. Stuff like that.”
Towards the end of McBride’s career Dick and Seiko’s sold as did another longtime sponsor of McBride’s Paul’s Seldom Inn. For decades McBride always seemed to have a local watering hole (or two or three) on his race car. “I remember one year we didn’t have one tavern for a sponsor,” Marilyn recalled. “Lois (Flaig) and I were lost!”
For Parker, his own business Reliable Welding was on his car for many years. He also had Ken’s Sports for a year when he was still racing on dirt and pavement, along with Reimer Meats.
It was in the early 2000s when Parker came into a windfall of sorts with Forest County Potawatomi.
Parker tells the story of how it all came about:
“I was in Florida racing one February and the tribe had opened up a casino down in Milwaukee. A guy by the name of Eugene Shawano Sr. was the tribal representative who had an office down there. When I got back from Florida my wife Bobbie said, ‘this guy named Eugene keeps calling for you on behalf of Potawatomi and they want to sponsor you.’ I honestly sort of blew it off initially. He called again a week later, and I finally did call him back. He was a very quiet, laid-back guy. He said he needed some sort of proposal to submit to them, so I called Bob Schafer and he put one together for me.
Pete Parker enjoyed a lucrative sponsorship from Forest County Potawatomi for several seasons. (Bob Bergeron photo)
Up until I talked to Eugene, they had sponsored Johnny Greaves heavily with the off -road stuff along with the Kincaid’s, too. But to my knowledge they hadn’t really done a lot with oval track racing. When I went down to meet him, I found out he was sort of my super fan. He had been somewhere watching me race – either Antigo or Shawano and was there one night when I wrecked a motor, and we put in a new motor and kept racing that night. That must have impressed him, I guess.
When I met him, it basically started with a handshake deal, and it really took off over the years. They demanded virtually nothing of me the exception being a 4th of July parade in Crandon. We pulled the car in that parade. They gave me bags of candy to give out to the kids and stuff like that.
Each year the money Parker got continued to mushroom. Although Parker declined to reveal just how much support he had received Parker did say ‘When Potawatomi became involved, I got better equipment with their support. It enabled me to win a couple of WISSOTA championships. They were great people but sometimes their organizational skills were limited. It seemed like they had more money to throw at drivers than they knew what to do with. At one point it seemed like they would sponsor darn near anyone who would ask them for money. At one time their budget for the dirt cars was over one million dollars. When the economy tanked, and they got out of it I want to say they were sponsoring 15 drivers. It was like half the field at one point was sponsored by Potawatomi. And just like that one year we all got downsized significantly and then shortly after that it was all gone. Not just Potawatomi but the other casinos as well.”
One of Anvelink’s long time sponsors – Walt’s Bar – was family. It was run by his parents Walt and Josie Anvelink. Anvelink also sported a couple of beer sponsors himself over the years – Stroh’s and Pabst. His crew member Donny Paiser also painted his cars and as such, Paiser’s Auto Body was on the car often as well.
Anvelink raced on his own dime for many seasons. Terry’s parents Josie and Walt were supportive of Anvelink’s racing efforts. “They sponsored me every year,” Anvelink said. “The first year I remember they bought me a set of tires and wheels. I think back then that cost maybe $400. We got the beer sponsors through my parent’s relationship with the local beer distributors, too. Back then the beer sponsors were $500 cash, and they’d throw us a few cases of beer, too. Back then $500 was a pretty decent amount of sponsorship money..”
When the cost to go dirt late model racing continued to soar towards the tail end of the ‘90s Anvelink found himself low on funds leading into the 2000 season. “I had built my car in the spring, but I was broke,” Anvelink said. “I remember in 1999, I had met Mike Seubert. (Seubert is a calf rancher from Dorchester in west central Wisconsin.) Mike had sponsored Kerry Hansen, who came over this way and raced with us at Shawano a few times. So, I called Mike up and asked him if he wanted to buy me some tires and wheels so I could make the opening night race. Otherwise, the car was going to sit on jack stands until I could afford to run it. Mike said, ‘Let me think about it.’ The next day, he called me back and said, ‘“How’d you like a new (chassis), a motor, and a new hauler complete ready to go?’”
Having raced out of his own pocket his entire career Anvelink jumped at the opportunity. “Before Seubert came around, if I had a total of $2,000 in sponsor money with all of them thrown together, that was a lot of money,” admitted Anvelink, who was able to finally park his trusty open trailer he’d been using.
As it turned out, Seubert was there to provide resources for Anvelink he’d never had at his disposal before. “It was crazy,” Anvelink said. “Mike (Seubert) would tell us, ‘You didn’t spend enough of my money. You must not be wrecking any shit!’ I told Mike, ‘I’ve been driving on my own dime all these years. Old habits are hard to break!”