Late car builder remembered

Harry Woerner brought a future Hall of Famer to the finish in grand style. Woerner, a one-time resident of Slinger, helped build the fast cars Miles “The Mouse” Melius drove to victory lane week after week in the early 1960s as Melius wrapped up his eventual Hall of Fame career.
In 1961, Melius and Woerner became a team and won all 16 modified feature races at Beaver Dam Raceway. A bounty was put on Melius, where if a driver won a race, he’d get a monetary bonus. It never happened.
The two went on to win countless races, too many to count or even remember, until 1964. In their first year together, they won more than 50 races.
“They were very good years,” Melius recalled Wednesday. “We did a lot of winning.”
Unfortunately, Woerner later lost his long battle with diabetes. He died Monday. He was 76.
“I've known him for about 10 years,” said John Surges, president of the Vintage Modified Stock Car group and a board member for the Southeastern Wisconsin Short Track Hall of Fame.
“I couldn’t have met a nicer person,” Surges added. “He’d joke around and screw around with you. He had a real sense of humor. He was a really nice guy.”
Woerner was among the historic class of 2007 for the Hall of Fame, which is located in Hartford. He was one of 20 former drivers, promoters, owners and mechanics to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the inaugural class. The class included Melius.
Earlier this month, Jack “At The Track” Biddison, a 2010 Hall of Fame inductee, passed away.
“Everybody’s really sad,” said Surges of the two deaths this month. “It is kind of a shock.”
Woerner’s biggest contribution to the local short tracks was his connection to Melius’ success.
“Just the fact that he was a car builder for Miles Melius,” Surges said when asked what made Woerner’s impact important enough to be included in the inaugural class. “It was just a tribute to the way he built cars.”
Melius, 88, also helped Woerner.
Melius’ daughter, Jean, went on to marry Woerner. They were married for more than 40 years.
“He was a big and handsome guy,” Melius said.
One of Woerner’s most enjoyable seasons with Melius behind the wheel came in 1963. Melius drove a 1933 Pontiac sedan to two second-place finishes in area points in 1963 and 1964. Following the 1964 season, Woerner retired and the car was sold. Pedro Roehl, a 2010 Hall of Fame inductee, took the car and drove it to a second-place finish in 1965, and Neil Sederberg drove the car to second place in points in 1968, and then the overall points championship in 1969.
“It was good,” Melius recalled about their time together at the race track. “We had our ups and downs. ... He was there for me all the time. He was a good son-in-law.”
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Racing at Slinger Superspeedway was canceled Sunday because of weather, leaving just two weeks left in the season.
On Sunday, Russ Darrow of West Bend presents the 2012 Labor Day Fireworks Special, which includes a full race program and a 100-lap super late model feature. The rain date is Monday.
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After struggling for weeks to get to victory lane, Jeremy Christians has now won two races in a row in the modified division Saturday at Beaver Dam Raceway.
Christians, the defending division champion, has seven second-place finishes this season, including five in six weeks. Christians leads Don Scheffler by 37 points with four weeks remaining.
Thomas Moore (grand national), Kevin Tillema (sport modified), Brandon Riedner (street stock) and Brandon Schmitt (legends) also won their respective “A” main features.
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Tim Thompson (grand national) and Turk Letzia (late model) each won their first “A” main features Saturday at the Plymouth Dirt Track.
Meanwhile, Danny Schlafer won his second sprint car feature of the season. Travis Arenz won his sixth feature of the season in the outlaw compacts division. Arenz has won three of the past four features in the division.
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Dalton Zehr, who finished fourth in last season's opener at Slinger Superspeedway, won the fourth round of the Toyota Tundra Challenge at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells.
James Swan finished second, followed by Rich Bickle, Dennis Prunty and Ken Reiser.
Prunty was the night’s fast qualifier. His brother, Dale Prunty, was second quickest in qualifying.
Slinger’s Mike Egan took eighth. Dale Prunty was 12th. West Bend’s Mark Kissinger was 19th in the 20-car feature.