Lone Wolf Riders will honor Ken Vetrovec with a plaque

When Ken Vetrovec died in July, he was riding his beloved red Indian Chief motorcycle, on the homeward leg of a cross-country trip that brought him from Racine to California on legendary Route 66.

Tomorrow, the national club of Indian Chief enthusiasts -- the Lone Wolf Riders -- will honor Vetrovec, a former chairman of the Racine County Board with a memorial plaque at his favorite Racine watering hole, the Redline Tavern, 1200 North Wisconsin St., at 11 a.m.

"Indian Dave" of Ohio, former president of the Lone Wolf Riders, said Vetrovec had attended all but one of the club's annual pow wows, since the Indian motorcycle -- which began in 1901, predating Harleys -- was revived in 1999 after a 46-year hiatus. In the early part of the last century, Indian was the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer. (It has since died and been reborn yet again.)

Vetrovec spent some time in Oklahoma with fellow Lone Wolf Riders before his fatal accident near Ely, Nevada, on July 6.

Indian Dave remembers Vetrovec -- "Walking Eagle" was his club nickname -- as "a stand-up guy, very involved in the Boy Scouts, the community and as a family member. That's what we promote."