Each time I drive through the fairgrounds along the north side of what was the north curve of the former race track, I think of the thrilling times that the dirt track racing was offered to fairgoers and even off-season dates. When I came to town, the fair offered two nights of racing including “sprint car” racing and stock car racing. The “sprint cars”, which had open cockpits reached speeds of over 100 miles per hour on the straightaways. The stocks consisted of regular passenger cars adapted for high-speed racing. As I recall, Glen Anderson and Carl Souvie local favorites who raced the sprint cars. Dave Noble of Blooming Prairie was a fan favorite in the stock cars, however there were many more local drivers of stock racing.

The races filled the grandstand each year. Local auto dealers and auto service companies supplied tow trucks to be used in the center field and for towing cars that became disabled on the track.

The Steele County racetrack was one of the few half-mile tracks around. As the years went by, the sprint cars became less and less in numbers. Stock car drivers preferred the quarter-mile track which involved less change in transmissions and engines. Eventually only stock car racing was held at the fair and due to the half-mile track the numbers of cars entered became less and less. Eventually the fair board made the decision to eliminate stock car racing from the grandstand calendar and after years of discussion, decided to take out the track with exception of the straightway in front of the grandstand which is now used for the demo-derby and other grandstand music shows.

The year 1941 was a tragic one for auto race fans at the fair. Two race car drivers were killed in two separate races on Thursday and Sunday of the fair. Killed were Boots Phearson of Ames, Iowa and Lewis Larpentur of Minneapolis. Larpentur’s car left the track and hit a threshing machine and a pickup on display. The photo of that fatal wreck, although a bit grainy, is shown with this column. Ironically the threshing machine survived and Ron Janning, who heads up the antique farm equipment display, brought the machine back to our fair in 2000. Ron thinks the machine still exists and is owned by someone north of Faribault.

In 1947 another fatal accident happened during the sprint car races. The north curve was also the site of the accident when Bill Frame, who had been racing since 1933. He had chosen Owatonna as his ‘home office’ living with an old acquaintance Bill Rushe of Owatonna. Bill loved working on engines and was often seen around the track assisting Frame with his car. In fact, Rushe assisted Frame in building his own powerful race car, the ‘Frame Special’. The engine was a Ford block and the car was perfectly capable of reaching 135 mph on the straightaway.

The first time Bob Frame came to Owatonna was in 1938, coming here as a mechanic for his father, Fred Frame, who drove in auto racing events in Owatonna that year. Bob moved to Owatonna from Los Angeles in April of 1946. A week before the SCFF race that took his life, Bob Frame was involved in an accident in Cedar Rapids. He injured his hand and had since been driving with a single hand. The lack of full control was believed by race officials was believed to have contributed to the accident that took his life. Bob’s funeral was held at the DeGroat Funeral Home in Owatonna, officiated by Rev. Bill Robertson. He is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery.

There’s more to Frame’s story

There’s an interesting sidelight to Frame’s story. He was engaged to Owatonna’s Dorothy Reiter, who worked for many years in the fair office. Dorothy had kept a number of photos and stories about Frame which she shared with her cousin, Joan Reiter Mosher, who subsequently brought them to the fair office where some further information on Frame was found in the fair museum files. Somehow, due to the internet, it was revealed that Frame had divorced his wife, with whom they had a daughter. The daughter was found and had no information about her father until she was sent an information packet by Joan. It was a happy ending to a fair story that began over 80 years ago.

The Exchange Club of Owatonna in cooperation with the Quilts of Valor Foundation will be awarded the homemade quilts on September 15 at the VFW Club in Owatonna. Quilts of Valor are awarded to active service members or living veterans who have been touched by war. The Exchange Club is seeking your nomination for recipients of a Quilt of Valor. These comforting quilts say “Thank you for your service and sacrifice” and “Welcome home.” Deadline for nominations is July 29. For more information or to receive a nomination form, please contact April at 507-475-0817 or at apaxton@mohshomes.com.

This year marks the 50th year that the Holy Trinity Catholic Church brings you the Litomysl Summer Festival. The date is Sunday, July 31, at the Litomysl Church grounds south of Owatonna. The day will begin with a Polka Mass at 10 a.m., and festivities will begin at 11 a.m. There will be food outside and games for children and adults. The famous prune, poppyseed and apricot

buchty will be sold. Live music by the Dan Stursa Band and the Klecker Band, which has played for the event all 50 years.

The mission of the festival is the same today as it was 50 years ago. Financial support for the school and church was needed. At that time, Father Cook, encouraged the church ladies to start making the filled biscuits in an assembly line in the church basement so they would not have to make them at home and bring to the festival to sell.

For many years we featured the Klecker Band on radio broadcasts at the fair. People loved their authentic Czech sound. Their music was stirring and brought back memories for many of the early times both here and in the ‘old country’. Back in 1994 Regina Klecker told me, “When the band first started it played at lots of dances. There were dance halls all over the county. They were also a regular feature at the CSA Lodge at the auditorium hall on North Cedar. Back in those early days, the band consisted mostly of members of the Klecker family. If you were a Klecker and played an instrument, you were expected to play in the band. Eventually others joined the band. Even though you weren’t a Klecker, if you played in the band, you automatically became one! A number of Steele County musicians directed the band including Lloyd Grandprey, Henry Spatenka,Ted Hill, Rufus Sanders and Ladd Rypka. Eddie Skalicky, well known banker in town, played the bass drum.

A reminder that if you want to participate with your neighbors in the annual ‘Night to Unite’, sponsored by the Owatonna Police Department, contact the police department at 774-7200 for a registration form. The Owatonna Night to Unite will be held on Tuesday evening, August 2. Next week in Central Park

The Owatonna Community Band will be playing in Central Park next Thursday at 7:00.

The CDC recommends you wear a face mask over your eyes when pumping gas to prevent heart attacks.

Data included is taken from the Minnesota Department of Health Daily reports. Because all data is preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths.

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