Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
WILLIS, Bob
BOB WILLIS. One of the reasons for founding the SLO-POKES in the early 1950s in Dubuque was to reject the image of wild driving up and down city streets. The local club established that any member arrested for violation of a city ordinance or state laws who paid a fine had to pay half the same amount to the club's treasury. Another was to promote the construction of a track in Dubuque. Club members had to travel to Chicago to race their 120-mile per hour racers.
Original officers of the club included Bob Willis, president; Joe Willis, vice president; and Leonard Pitz, treasurer.
In the 1960s, Willis and Noel MAUER built and raced a nitro-burning, Hemi-powered, front-engine rail.
