John A. “Farmer John” Konitzer, 72, Abrams, died Saturday, July 09, 2011 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Green Bay following complications from atrial fibrillation which happened at home four days earlier. The 2nd of 15 children, he was born October 2, 1938 in Oconto Falls to George and Irene (Van Haren) Konitzer. John grew up on the family farm in rural Oconto Falls where he attended St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School and graduated from Oconto Falls High School with the class of 1957.

Do you remember the Mickey Thompson stadium off road racing series that travelled across the nation bringing short course off road racing to thousands of fans? The late 80’s and early 90’s brought us new technology in suspension design that shocked the world. Take a look at the former Ivan Stewart driven Toyota off road race truck built by Cal Wells and the crew at PPI.

For years, I had heard about Dirt: The Movie, but had never seen it. Now, we have the ablility to view the whole movie on You Tube. Follow Clarke Gordon as he travels across the states to learn more about this thing called off roading. Desert racing, sand drags, swamp buggies, hill climbs, Pikes Peak…this video has it all! It is a great collection of vintage off road racing!

Here is a great vintage photo from the midwest short course racing vault. I have heard comments that it is Rod Attig’s buggy in the front with his brother Sid’s off road race buggy in the back. Also, it may have been taken in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Can anyone confirm this or provide more information?

Do you remember the Cal Wells prepared Toyota factory off road race trucks in the Mickey Thompson MTEG stadium races? We are looking for more photos of the trucks. Ivan Stewart, Robby Gordon, Butch Acerio and others. Can you help us?

Do you remember Glen Harris and the Black Gold-Team Mazda off road racing team? They raced some desert races, but mostly the Mickey Thompson MTEG stadium races. They were a force to be reckoned with!

Talk about a great collection of photos! Some of these photos were taken from the Old Shortcourse Photos thread on Race Dezert, while I have collected others from around the net. Enjoy!

A recent post on Race Dezert.com brought back a ton of memories for midwest off road racers. The post is filled with photos from the 70’s and 80’s.

A new Canadian Off Road Racing website is gaining a lot of new members! Make sure to check out the photos as there is a ton of vintage off road racing photos from both BC and Ontario. Check out the new network on Ning.com