MidwestWeekends.com — Your Travel Guide to the Upper Midwest

Home of horsepower

In Wisconsin, see where race cars, snowmobiles, outboards and motorcycles were born.

Harry Miller's 1917 Golden Submarine race car.

© Beth Gauper

Harry Miller's 1917 Golden Submarine race car is worth $1.5 million.

In Wisconsin, boys like to go fast.

That's why they invented the outboard motor (Cambridge), the Harley-Davidson motorcycle (Milwaukee), the race car (Menomonie) and the snowmobile (Sayner).

Here's where to go to pay homage to your favorite machine.

Menomonie, the race car. This western Wisconsin town was the home of Harry Miller, whose pioneering cars won the Indy 500 12 times; cars with his engines won another 29 times. The Rassbach Heritage Museum is showing the Golden Submarine, a race car Miller built for driver Barney Oldfield in 1917 for $15,000, the equivalent of $282,488 today. It's part of the exhibit "Harry Miller: Automotive Genius,'' running through Oct. 26.

Sayner, the snowmobile. In the northeast Wisconsin town of Sayner, the Vilas County Historical Society Museum exhibits the 1924 "motor toboggan'' built by Carl Eliason and his models through 1953. In nearby St. Germain, the Snowmobile Hall of Fame shows famous models after Polaris began manufacturing them in 1955.

Cambridge, the outboard motor. Half an hour east of Madison, Norwegian immigrant Ole Evinrude built the first outboard motor in 1906, testing it on Lake Ripley. The Cambridge Historic Museum contains displays about Ole and his engines, and spring-fed Lake Ripley still draws boaters and tourists.

Milwaukee, the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Arthur Davidson and Bill Harley were childhood friends of Ole Evinrude and credit him for parts used on Harley's first engine in 1905.

Their motorcycle has achieved cult status and now is celebrated at the new Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

Last updated on August 28, 2008

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