to read an article about the Ghost Rods and its history.

www.timesvillager.com
759-2000
Vol. 128 No. 47 – Sat., Feb. 21, 2009
Serving our neighbors since 1880
16 pages 50¢
Ghost Rod car club changed the image of hot rods in Kaukauna
By Tom Collins
For the Times-Villager
In 1958, Danny and the Juniors
were singing “At the Hop” and such
memorable songs as “Little Star” by
the Elegants, “Get a Job” by the
Silhouettes, “Sweet Little Sixteen”
by Chuck Berry and “Poor Little
Fool” by Ricky Nelson were on the
radio. Elvis was a private in the
U. S. Army.
In Kaukauna, one student wasn’t
allowed to have a leather jacket
because his mother considered it a
sign of gangs and delinquents.
Conformity was the norm and any
type of rebellion was seriously
frowned upon.
Some parents were nervous about
the growing and flashy 1950s car culture that included swapped engines,
bright paint colors and racing.
It was part of a legacy that had
spread across the country from
California, spread by returning soldiers who had learned about dry
lakes-style racing and the speciallyprepped older cars.
Unfortunately, a minority who
drove hot rods decided to choose
street racing, a dangerous practice
that soon made headlines in many
cities. It also influenced sensationalized movies about the cars, the
races and the serious accidents they
produced.
Many parents lumped the street
racers and their cars with antisocial gangs, delinquents, the Hells
Angels motorcycle gangs and others
to be avoided.
One person who’d begun racing
cars at the Muroc Dry Lakes in the
1920s wanted to fight negative
stereotypes about hot rods and the
car culture in general was Wally
Parks.
He partnered with a new Peterson
publication called Hot Rod to show
off the style and technique of building fast cars and insisted readers
adhere to rules that would earn
respect. The National Hot Rod
Association (NHRA) was born.
Returning from a rained out event
at the Union Grove drag strip in a
1956 Chevy station wagon in the
summer of 1958, Jerry Bauer, Lee
Jo Jacob, Ted Schmalz and Dave
Lindemuth decided to create a car
club of their own in Kaukauna.
Their vision was much like those
they had seen in Hot Rod and heard
about via the NHRA. They wanted
to promote car appearance and performance but with safety in mind.
The “Ghost Rod” car club was
born, complete with 25 cents-perweek dues, club-issued white jackets with a unique logo and membership cards. Members also got a
plaque that was mounted on their
cars. Today, such an item is a popular collectible.
“They drove their rods up and
down the roads with their emblems
in back,” recalled Mark Bachhuber.
“You could recognize their cars from
a distance.”
Bachhuber recalls some non-
The distinctive Ghost Rod car club logo was seen on member jackets
and the courtesy cards they left when they assisted local motorists.
Primary pares candidates for April election
Tuesday’s primary trimmed the
candidates on the ballot for the
spring election, to be held April 7.
There were two locally contested
elections.
In Kaukauna, one candidate
was trimmed from the school
board race.
Advancing to the spring election
are Giovanna Feller (648), Cindy
Fallona (461), Philip Kohne (429)
and William Hastie (246). Richie
Magnuson (227) was eliminated
from the race.
Combined Locks voters eliminated two candidates from the
ballot.
Advancing to the April election
are Ruth Wulgaert (140 votes),
Richard Strick (127), Justin
Krueger (83), Dave Casper (83),
Joseph Regenfus (53) and James
Ponto (82). Eliminated were Mike
Wilson (28) and Art Hopfens-
perger (24).
In the lone statewide primary,
two candidates with largely opposing viewpoints advanced to the
April election for state superintendent of public instruction.
Tony Evers, the deputy superintendent of public instruction, was
the leading vote-getter with 35
percent. Rose Fernandez, the former president of the Wisconsin
Coalition of Virtual School
Families, was second with 31 percent.
Evers had the backing of the
Wisconsin Education Association
Council and is seen as the establishment candidate.
Fernandez, a former nurse, was
the only one of the five candidates
without any professional education experience. She hopes to
reform the state education department.
members who rebelled from the club
with its carefully selected membership. The Ghost Rod members were
a group that others looked up to.
“These guys tried to have nicer
cars,” said Bachhuber. “They made
them look nicer. They were looked
upon as an elite group.”
“You couldn’t be a rebel,” later
member Don Welhouse recalls. “You
needed to be introduced by another
member.”
Club members, all male in that
era, had to know something about
cars and have their driver’s licenses.
They had to refrain from “unreasonable driving,” the use of alcohol and
had to pass frequent car inspections. They were out to make a positive impression and often did.
Ghost Rod founder Lindemuth
and his hot rod were featured in a
late 1950s story. Then a student
at the Milwaukee School of
Engineering, Lindemuth had begun
working on his car at about the
same time as the club began, in
August 1958.
He paid $75 for a Model A Ford
coupe body, used a hacksaw to drop the
top three inches, channeled the frame
eight inches to lower the car’s height
and installed a 1956 Chevy V-8.
Lindemuth, who still builds such
cars, as does his son, Chris, put a
truck gas tank in the trunk, used a
’38 Ford transmission and a ’48
Mercury rear end. He and fellow
members of the Ghost Rod club
spent more than 600 hours and
$800 on their hot rod.
One early list of members from
about 1960 included Schmalz as
club president, Jacob as vice president and Bauer serving as secretary. Other members included
Ronald and Robert Merbach, Ted
Blahnik, Dave Yokeum, Gordy
Diederich, Dan Lamers, David
Hartjes Jr., Jim Panke, Bill
Grimmer and Dan Koller.
“This club is being formed to
promote safety on the highway,
to encourage courtesy among
motorists, to improve the appearance of our cars, to prove performance can be made acceptable and to
impress upon people the true meaning of hot-rodding,” said the charter
they signed.
All were in line with the NHRA
goals for its members and the
Ghost Rod club soon got an official
NHRA charter of its own to cement
that bond. They met regularly and
they returned to the “Great Lakes
Drag-A-Way” at Union Grove and
the races at Road America in
Locks mill lays
off 63 workers
Appleton Coated LLC will lay off
63 workers, nearly 10 percent of its
workforce.
A drop in the demand for its
coated paper was cited as the reason for the cutbacks. The company
hopes economic conditions improve
so they can bring the workers back.
The company already has had
four temporary shutdowns since
Thanksgiving. Today, another
shutdown is expected, and it will
last for days.
Headquartered in Kimberly’s
business park, the Appleton Coated
mill is located in Combined Locks.
Tom Collins photo
Dave Lindemuth works on a 2009 project in his garage. The sole
remaining founder of the Ghost Rod club continues to keep the spirit
of the group alive in his many car-related endeavors.
Elkhart Lake.
Club members began to reach into
the community as well. In addition
to assisting with efforts by the
Jaycees and Red Cross, club members became “knights of the road.”
When they saw a motorist or a
stranger’s car in need of help, members of the Ghost Rod club went into
action. Letters praising club members began to be read throughout
the community.
“Sunday afternoon my family and
I were all set for a Sunday drive
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when ... our car suddenly developed
a flat tire,” read one letter to the editor. “Before I could get the jack
under the car, two young gentlemen
drove up and offered assistance.
They refused [payment] ... and
handed me a card. These two men
were courteous, well-dressed and
polite.”
The Ghost Rod members left calling cards that helped underline
their positive image. Other area car
clubs did the same.
See Club, page 8
Page 8
Times-Villager
www.timesvillager.com • Sat., Feb. 21, 2009
Club
continued from page 1
Tom Collins photos
Dave Lindemuth poses next to his latest creation, a black 1932 Ford “Deuce Coupe.” You might see it at an
area car show or cruise night in the summer.
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“You have been assisted by a
member of the Ghost Rods,” read
one card, “formed for the betterment of hot rodding.”
Others wrote to thank them for
assisting in such projects as Alice in
Dairyland, helping travelers from
another state with directions or putting a convertible top up for a car
parked on a rainy day.
They networked with other area
clubs like the Creepers and
Untouchables in Wisconsin Rapids,
the Rebels in Medford, the
Dundragons in Clintonville, the
Sultans from Merrill, the Jesters
from Stevens Point and the Road
Deacons, Shifters and Dragos from
Appleton.
One effort that drew attention
and participation was their first
road run, held in the summer of
1961. Drivers and navigators followed carefully pre-determined
directions and prescribed safe
speeds to get them from Kaukauna
to De Pere and back.
Bachhuber and his navigator,
Jerry Schaefer, placed third in the
competition. Many thought he
would be tempted to ignore the competition’s speed restrictions. His
car, a 1958 Mercury Montclair, normally driven by his mother, was
something of a factory hot rod.
Underneath its middle class exterior was a potent V-8. His father, a
doctor, had prescribed an add-on
four-barrel carburetor for smoother,
better performance.
“It was an extensive ride. It took
about an hour and five minutes.
The winner’s came closest to the
safest time,” he recalls. Bachhuber
still has his third place trophy.
“We all decided to model ourselves
after [Ghost Rod club members],” he
adds. “They were the guys who were
not in trouble. Our parents knew
they had a good image.”
The Ghost Rod club, which had
met originally at Lindemuth’s
house, gathered at Kaukauna’s D-X
station by 1960, at the old brewery
building by 1961 and then at a clubhouse at KK and Highway 55 beginning in the fall of 1964.
Early on, Lindemuth, other Ghost
Rod members and other clubs
dreamed about a drag strip in the
area.
That dream seemed far away in
1958 but within a decade, the
dream became a reality. Members
worked to get what became the KK
Sports Arena, now Wisconsin
International Raceway, in shape for
its August 1966 grand opening.
The hometown’s facility became
a focus for the later Ghost Rod
members.
“I was the flag man before they
had lights,” noted Welhouse.
By that time, club members could
walk into a local auto dealership
and buy powerful cars. Welhouse
remembers cars like Ron Jonen’s
Dodge station wagon with a 426-cid
V-8 and four speed or Gordy
Diederich’s 421-cid Pontiac with a
four-speed transmission.
“Everyone had a good, muscular
car,” Welhouse recalls. “Gas was 18
cents a gallon.”
In addition to making their presence felt locally, the Ghost Rod club
became a presence throughout the
state joining clubs from central
Wisconsin and the Madison area to
form the Wisconsin Timing
Association “...to promote hot rodding in a safe and sane manner.”
And women began getting
involved in club events. One young
competitor even became a trophy
winner and wrote about her clubsponsored race on snowy Lake
Winnebago in third person.
“The big Mopar engine was really
giving it all she had. The finish line
whizzed past in a flurry of snow,”
wrote Kathy Brantmeier. “She
downshifted quickly and turned her
head, finally able to look back in the
other lane. ‘Come on Mopar,’ she
whispered. ‘Let’s go get our trophy.’”
Nearly 50 years later, some of the
original members have died.
Lindemuth still is involved with WIR
and with the car hobby in general.
His influence includes his work
with automotive electronics, his
Lindy’s Louvers press for making
distinctive vents in custom hoods
and his work as a paint rep traveling the area part-time for
Automotive Supply. A yellow Chevy
Nomad he owned even graced a
magazine cover and made into a toy
collectable.
If you look carefully on a summer
afternoon or listen on a summer
night, you might see Lindemuth
working on his cars or driving one of
his latest creations through town.
His wife, Dianne, is often at his
side. His son, Chris, continues to
build modern street rods at his
Lindy’s Hot Rod Shop just south of
Kaukauna. Daughters Kelly and
Kim also were involved.
Lindemuth and his friends helped
change the image of hot rodding in
the area with their special cars and
their memorable club.
The Ghost Rod car club of
Kaukauna left an indelible impression on everyone who became a
member and everyone they touched
in their work and events. Now, one
more event is on the agenda.
“We are planning a Ghost Rod
reunion some time in 2009,”
Lindemuth added.
Interested people should contact
him at 766-3820.
Like a friendly ghost, the spirit of
the club lives on.
Editor’s note: Watch for a story in
Wednesday’s paper about the club’s
involvement in the race track.
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The Ghost Rod touch earned some national fame when Dave
Lindemuth’s 1955 Chevy Nomad wagon was on the cover of “Hot
Rod” and was made into a pocket collectible car.
Page 2
Times-Villager
www.timesvillager.com • Wed., Feb. 25, 2009
Ghost Rod Club members dreamed of Kaukauna drag strip
By Tom Collins
For the Times-Villager
In the 1960s, Kaukauna became
linked with a widely popular form of
racing, the dream of many in the
area.
Special cars had raced regionally
in Southern California, going back
to the 1920s. Often built from old
Model A and Model T roadsters and
coupes, these racing cars were powered by salvaged engines, and were
called hot rods.
The legendary founder of the
National Hot Rod Association,
Wally Parks, was the connecting
force between the primitive races
held at the Muroc Dry Lakes in
Southern California and the postWorld War II boom in cars and drag
racing.
Early on at Muroc, the young
Parks had seen cars racing long distances four and sometimes five
abreast, vying for trophies under
the auspices of the Southern
California Timing Association.
Changes eventually were made in
the style and length of the races and
after World War II, especially when
vacated air strips became magnets
for car racing. Parks jumped on the
bandwagon, promoting safe and
competitive racing off of city streets.
And through the pages of magazines like Hot Rod, Parks and his
NHRA promoted safe, organized
racing and traveled in a caravan
across the country, like a preacher
in a tent crusade, espousing the controlled competitions.
First soldiers returning from
World War II, then the generation
that became teenagers in the 1950s
found the Parks and NHRA-sponsored drag racing — and other
groups, like the American Hot Rod
Association — appealing.
Movies, television and magazines
all combined to support the car culture and far corners of North
America sprouted drag strips.
In Kaukauna, four young men
whose trip to Wisconsin’s popular
drag strip at Union Grove was canceled decided to form the Ghost Rod
car club and work on cars.
Promoting safety. Of course.
Offering a positive impression of hot
rodding. Yes. Proof of performance.
Undoubtedly.
Improving
the
appearance of club members’ cars.
Certainly.
But one of the underlying dreams
from 1958 on was a bringing a drag
strip closer to home.
When his own hot rod was profiled
in a late 1950s article, Dave
Lindemuth publically expressed his
hope for a drag strip in the area.
And when the Ghost Rod club
from Kaukauna helped form the
Wisconsin Timing Association, one
of the expressed ideals of the group,
which included six car clubs from
around the state, was “...to have a
drag strip in the central part of
Wisconsin and be its manager.”
“Our very distant project is to
explain and some day prove to the
citizens of this area just how much a
drag strip would help their business
and prosperity as the Great Lakes
Drag-A-Way has,” said club member Dave Hartjes Jr. in the early
1960s.
In 1964, the dream came closer
and very close to home for the Ghost
Rod club. A quarter mile dirt track
opened on the former 100-acre
Dave Lindemuth Collection
A 1939 Ford V-8 two-door sedan was on display at the early KK Sports
Arena in this 1964 photo. Ghost Rod members showed their cars to
promote a drag strip at the facility. It was added by 1966.
Clarence “Connie” De Leeuw farm
southeast of Kaukauna, adjacent to
Highway KK.
De Leeuw partnered with
“Smiling Clyde” Schumacher and
eventually the dirt track was paved
and the single oval was expanded.
Included was a figure eight track
and a drag strip as well as a ski hill.
The latter was 250 feet wide at its
base and narrowed to 70 feet at the
top.
Snowmaking machines and a skiing lodge also were planned but all
that was secondary to Ghost Rod
club members.
“We worked at the drag strip,”
recalls Ghost Rod member Don
Welhouse. “We even helped cut the
woods down.”
The Ghost Rod club had a clubhouse for several years near the corner of Highway 55 and KK. Now,
just down the road was a place
they’d dreamed about. Even nonmembers enjoyed the drag strip.
“I raced my brother’s ’65 Mustang
convertible,” recalled 1961 club road
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trophy
winner
Mark
Bachhuber. “I broke 102 mph in the
quarter mile.”
“It was usually local people then,”
noted Welhouse who also said better-known drag racers began to
come as well. “They raced at US 30
[near Chicago] and Union Grove
and they came up here.”
On Aug. 20 and 21, 1966, the KK
Sports Arena opened with a flare.
The Canadian Daredevils entertained crowds with their auto thrill
show on Saturday night and the
Bonneville Avenger jet dragster,
driven by Freddie “Airplane” Sibley
of Elkhart, Ind., headlined the
Sunday card of drag racing.
(Readers may still see Sibley, his
son and their jet dragsters perform
each year at popular the “Eve of
Destruction.”)
One other driver made it a
favorite destination. It was Ghost
Rod founder Lindemuth behind the
wheel of his 1957 Chevy, entered in
the C gas category.
Lindemuth fulfilled his dream of
racing at the track after serving in
the Air Force in South Dakota,
where he’d driven 175 miles one
way from Rapid City to Pierre each
week to drag race his 1955
Chevrolet, often towing a friend’s
car behind.
Back in Kaukauna, on a drag strip
near his hometown, he raced his
Chevy for a few seasons before taking time off to raise his family.
Lindemuth competed into 1969,
then began doing tech work at the
race track in 1974. He became drag
racing manager, retired briefly in
1980, then filled in for the track
announcer and never left again. He
has served there longer than anyone, appropriately.
The next time you hear the roar of
the drag racers on a warm summer
night, you might say it’s music to
the ears of the Ghost Rod members
past and present, a dream of speed
that came true right in their own
back yard.
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