Colorful local racing icon BeDell dies
Funeral services will be held this week for Green Bay racing legend Red BeDell, 80.
Colorful local racing icon BeDell dies Funeral services will be held this week for Green Bay racing legend Red BeDell, 80. Check out this story on greenbaypressgazette.com: http://gbpg.net/2denkFp
For USA TODAY NEWTWORK-Wisconsin Published 3:26 p.m. CT Sept. 26, 2016
Green Bay's Red Bedell, shown with his pit crew at Shawano Speedway in 1973, died over the weekend. He was 80.(Photo: Courtesy of Pete Vercauteren)
Funeral services will be held this week for Green Bay racing legend Red BeDell, who died over the weekend after a lengthy illness. BeDell was 80 years old.
BeDell was one of the most flamboyant figures in local racing throughout the late 1960s and into the 1970s. While he didn't secure many wins or championships, BeDell raced colorful, eye-catching Ford convertibles that were often decked out in our country's red, white and blue colors.
BeDell was a member of the 101st Airborne division of the Army — he was drafted right after he graduated from Green Bay West High School.
His car was towed by a flatbed hauler that flew a Confederate flag in times long before political correctness.
"I basically did that to honor the birth of stock car racing, which essentially came from the southern states," BeDell said in a 2015 interview for the book "Life In The Past Lane." "Back then it didn't offend anyone and people understood why I flew it."
"Beyond his red hair, Red was a colorful character and a dedicated racer," said De Pere's Pete Vercauteren, a former racing columnist for Midwest Racing News. Covering the weekly races at the Brown County Fairgrounds in De Pere was part of Vercauteren's racing beat in the '70s. "One of the biggest impacts he had was with the racing fans. He came into the racing business when late model racing began to explode locally. He set himself apart. He was very gracious with the fans. When it came to good guys and bad guys amongst the drivers, he was definitely one of the good guys."
BeDell was often very opinionated. "Red knew his stuff and enjoyed a good discussion," said Vercauteren. "I thought he was on target with his opinions. He was never one to complain and he had a very dedicated pit crew that helped him. He was a P.R. guy as much as he was a driver. The fans loved him. Back then racing got done early with only one division, so fans would all head to the pits afterwards to meet him. (Red) relished that part of it."
BeDell's colorful car and hauler also were fan favorites off the track.
"Before Highway 29 went to four lanes, the highway went through Bonduel," said Vercauteren. "On his way to the races at Shawano on Saturdays, there would be a long line of kids standing on the side of the road waiting for his hauler to roll through town. They would all be waving flags and he'd honk the horn and wave at them. This went on every Saturday afternoon. Red was a great ambassador to the sport locally along with the Regeths, JJ Smith, McBrides and Roger Pauls of the world. He lived life to the max. There aren't any Red BeDells around in racing locally anymore."
New London's "The Flying Farmer" Roger Paul raced against BeDell at Shawano, De Pere and Seymour in the early to mid 1970s.
"Red was a super guy — he didn't bother you on the track either," said Paul. "He was always an innovator trying new things. His cars always looked good and at the end of the night, he was always jolly with the fans. It didn't matter if he had a good or bad night on the track. Great guy."
In 1976, BeDell took a stab at promoting the weekly races at De Pere. His business plan included switching from Sunday nights to Wednesday nights. The year prior, Seymour promoter Paul Kaczrowski and De Pere promoter Jack Peters had a heated feud and raced Sunday nights against each other, splitting up the cars and the fans. BeDell tried to change that.
BeDell faced an uphill battle with county leaders as well as the Village of Allouez as noise complaints began to mount. BeDell was one of the first area promoters to require drivers to use a muffler on their race cars to quiet them down.
Bob Schampers of 1st Choice Auto in Green Bay helped build this replica of Red BeDell's legendary Ford convertibles. BeDell died over the weekend at the age of 80. (Photo: Courtesy of Bob Schampers)
"Red was a pioneer in that area with Brown County and the noise issues," said Vercauteren. "He came in with a real optimistic business plan. If he would have come in with that business plan 10 or 15 years earlier, it would have worked. But ultimately I think the feud prior to that between those two promoters had already done plenty of damage."
BeDell's tenure as the De Pere promoter lasted only one season. After '76 BeDell got involved in promoting some powerboat races at the fairgrounds and became an avid sprint car fan, chasing sprint car races across the country.
"I think behind the scenes what Red did was help out a lot of drivers get their start in their racing careers," said longtime BeDell crew member and friend John Zilles. "Red was always there to lend a helping hand. For most anyone."
It was not uncommon for BeDell to loan young racers just getting a start everything from small parts like spark plugs to complete engines or money to get their racing teams up and running.
"When we were out there racing we had fun, plain and simple," said BeDell crew member and friend Tom Erler. "At every track Red went to, he made a point in handing out those decals to the kids and it was always a mob scene. Our whole operation was an eye-catcher. When the final race was done we'd have to hustle to load the car, strap it down and put all the tools away because the kids would come running. And Red loved it because he was great with the kids. The Confederate flag actually served as a marking point of sorts for the fans. The pits were so full of haulers, ours was easy to find."