Wing Side Up

ABOUT Wing Side Up

Wing Side Up Enterprises was born of a passion for supermodified racing and got it's start from Bob Gangwer's desire to contribute a weekly column about supermodified racing to Dick Beebe's Award Winning MARC Time Racing News.

Gangwer would find the name he needed for his new column by remembering a conversation he had with a friend and long time neighbor while getting this persons autograph during the intermission of a supermodified race at South Bend Motor Speedway.

"To my good friend and neighbor Bob,
Willie Stutzman #88"

Upon saying thank you and good luck to Willie, he replied to Gangwer-"Thanks, we'll try to 'Keep It Wing Side Up and Wheels to the Ground'

That simple encounter between a boy and his childhood hero not only gave rise to a successful weekly column about supermodified racing, but also became a mindset for Gangwer who would use his passion for the DIVISION to land by-lines in Area Auto Racing News, Short Track Racing Magazine, The San Jose Bee, as well as his local newspapers. Being a photographer in addition to writing gave Gangwer the creative outlook he longed for.

From an early age, Bobby G. as he would come to be called, longed to be a flagman or an announcer for supermodified racing. Staging 'big wheel' races on the long driveway of his parents Goshen, IN home, he would take cues from his favorite flagman-Larry Hotram When the flagging chores became boring, Gangwer would then time the 'drivers' and announce the action doing his best to imitate the man that would become a mentor, advisor, and friend, Kalamazoo Speedway's “Chubby Little Pronouncer”, Mick Schuler.

Even while devoting 10 years of his life to go BMX racing,
Gangwer's goal from those early years had always been to make it to the "Home of the Supermodifieds" Oswego Speedway. After seeing an article about Jimmy Shampine in Stock Car Racing Magazine, Gangwer knew that he had to make the trek to the Mecca of supermodified racing. Finally in 1985 after much pleading with his father, the two made their first trip ever to Upstate New York to witness the International Classic 200. Eventually, he would convince his 'good friend and neighbor' "Wild" Willie Stutzman to also make the drive to Upstate New York where Stutzman would become a fan favorite just like he was back in IN.

Along the way Bobby G. has helped promote a supermodified race @ M40 Speedway in Michigan, turned a lot of wrenches as a 'stooge' on supermodifieds down through the years, and has become "The Voice of the Supermodifieds" both figuratively and literally. Gangwer's travels have taken the Wing Side Up brand across the country as an announcer at gigs for Must See Racing, the International Supermodified Association, Midwest Supermodified Association, Madera Speedway, Supermodified Racing Association, and Oswego Speedway.

He also is a former board member of the United Supermodified Association at Oswego Speedway as well as the Supermodified Racing Association(SMRA) and co-Founder of the Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series-aka SUPRS which is an online simulated supermodified racing league formed in 2004 in order to give back to the supermodified family in times of need.

Gangwer launched "Wing Side Up on the World Wide Web" in May of 2001 as a way to bring his column and photography to a wider audience while also providing "News, Views, and Reviews" for all supermodified sanctions coast to coast.

In 2008 Gangwer, with the help of his marketing manager, Annamarie Malfitana-Strawhand, revamped Wing Side Up on the World Wide Web and relaunched the internet radio show "Wailing with Wing Side Up."

From those beginnings and a lot of help from his friends, Gangwer has continued to develop his passion for all things supermodified and has become known for his unwavering dedication to supermodified racing and the teams, drivers and fans.