William Ebben, associate professor of exercise science, has many hobbies in his life. He runs, bikes and teaches exercise science to students. While he enjoys all of these hobbies, his favorite hobby is racing stock cars in northern Wisconsin and Michigan.

He loves the challenge of racing and maintaining his two cars; a 1978 Chevrolet Impala and 1982 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Before coming to Lakeland, Ebben taught at Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin Parkside in the exercise field. At Parkside, Ebben had some downtime after school and he began to fiddle with cars and experimented with the “how’s” and “why’s” of an automobile’s anatomy.

“I like to build safety features into my cars,” said Ebben. “I want to be smart when I race.”

One safety feature he uses is special frames for the underside of his car. These frames are much safer than a normal frame of a car because the frames are specifically built for racing. If there were a crash, the frame would hold up better than a conventional auto frame.

Racing has always been a dream of his ever since he was little when his father brought him to the racetracks to watch the races. From there, Ebben always wanted to race, but as time went on, he set his racing dreams aside to become a teacher.

Ebben started racing at Eagle River Speedway and Tomahawk Speedway, both of which are located in Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula International Raceway in Escanaba, Mich. For a while, he raced on the ice of frozen lakes during the wintertime.

Last summer, Ebben had to take a leave of absence from racing because he rolled one of his cars over in a race and damaged the car. In order to fix it, he had to weld on the frame of his car. While welding, he began to get ill from welding in an unventilated garage. He suffered from fluoride poisoning, which affected his organs. The significant amount of fumes from the torch that he inhaled crippled his chances of racing in dirt track races. Ebben soon recovered, but the racing season was over for the year.

While teaching at Lakeland, Ebben has lost a lot of his down time to work on his cars. However, he hopes to get back on the track next summer and race the dirt tracks in the Sheboygan area.

Ebben is not the only racecar driver on campus. Tyler Kulow, senior computer science major, has been racing for eight years at many local racetracks in the area, including the Sheboygan County Fairgrounds, Chilton Speedway, Oshkosh Speedzone and Luxembourg Speedway. This past season, he has had eight wins.

“As a race car driver, it makes you a very competitive person on the track because you have that adrenaline rush that is like none other,” said Kulow. “It is a very emotional sport that comes with its highs and its lows.”

At school, Kulow and Ebben usually talk about racing during the day. Although they have yet to race together, they both love the friendships, challenges, fun and fans that come with racing.

“The track is a place to let all your worries go and to focus on putting a show on for the fans. People pay to come and watch you race and it is all about the fans,” said Kulow. “Racing is its own community and sticks together in times of sorrow, and we are always there to help each other.”

“I love the competition of racing,” said Ebben, “especially when racing with friends. It’s clean, fun and competitive. I also love the challenge racing gives me.”

The challenge will continue as Ebben’s goals for his future races include racing at as many stock car tracks as he can and finishing in the top five or better every time. Next summer, Ebben will be entering his sixth year as a dirt track racer and looks at the road ahead with high hopes.