Bill Wiltse

Bill Wiltse began racing at Berlin when the track opened in 1951 and raced here through 1959, racing jalopies, stock cars and Super Modifieds. Bill won the 1952 mid-season championship and the 1959 Michigan state championship race.
  source. . . johnnybenson.com

Bill Wiltse Jr. hardly is short on stories when it comes to his late father, who is a true local legend when it comes to auto racing.
Ask Wiltse how his dad got the nickname "Wild Bill," though, and he is a little fuzzy. "I don't know the exact answer, except that he was a wild individual," Wiltse said. "He was a great driver, and right about 1950 The Grand Rapids Press called him 'Wild Bill Wiltse' for the first time, and the name just stuck.
"It was pretty much for what he did on the track, but he did live hard. That's why I have a stepmother."

Wiltse, 63, grew up in Wyoming but now lives in Johnsburg, Ill., where he operates a real estate company. He still has plenty of relatives living in the Grand Rapids area, and he returned to West Michigan Monday. I had a chance to meet with him while putting together today's article in The Press' sports section on the Vintage Racing Organization of America.

Wild Bill's racing days were over before I was born, but his name occasionally pops up in local racing circles, especially among longtime fans. As a member of the Berlin Raceway Hall of Fame committee, I have seen his name on the ballot. The elder Wiltse, who died in 1993, enjoyed a racing career that spanned 1942-62. His son told me that his dad won more than 500 career races at such tracks as Berlin, Grand Rapids Speedrome, Whiskey Ridge near Muskegon, Flat Rock in Detroit and Dixie Motor Speedway in Birch Run. He raced throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Canada, too.

"My dad raced Midgets, Sprint Cars, Roadsters, Coupes and Coaches," Wiltse said. "In the early days, we would go to the Speedrome, and they would race on Sunday afternoons and the crowds were enormous. You would have 8,000 or 9,000 people there, and my dad was extremely popular. He raced against Gordon Johncock, Nolan Johncock and John Benson Sr., and the racing was great. He enjoyed the thrill of the speed and competition. He was good at it. He enjoyed the competition and had a tendency to travel throughout the U.S. He gave up a lot of track championships because of it. I don't remember it, but he won the state championship at the Speedrome in 1951. I was 7 years old, and my picture ran the next day in The Grand Rapids Press with my mom and dad." The younger Wiltse never raced himself, although he served as a chief mechanic on his father's car. He later worked for such drivers as Jack Lindhout. And he continues to be a big fan of the sport.
  ...By Steve Kaminski