A SPECIALPUBLICATION

OF THE

50 GOLDEN YEARS AT MARSHALLTOWN SPEEDWAY

past timesCentral Iowa’s monthly magazine dedicated to celebrating our history

JULY 2014Inside...Mike Donahey: Draft lottery.

Barb Scafferi:A citizen soldier.

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Interviews with a num-ber of D-Day participantslast month who had beendrafted into the militarybrought back memories ofthe tumultuous 1960s,and early 1970s, whenthe Selective Service Sys-tem was a flash-point fordebate, draft card burn-ing, and more.

Some men moved toCanada to escape a callto military service, know-ing their destination wouldbe Vietnam.

Others went to jail,rather than serve.

Another route was tojoin the National Guard.

Compare those atti-tudes to the D-Day sur-vivors, other World War IIand Korean War vets whowent willingly, clearlybelieving it was their patri-otic duty and the rightthing to do.

Historians, and the vet-erans themselves, claimthere was a clarity to

Publisher ..............................Mike SchlesingerManaging Editor ..........................Abigail PelzerPast Times Writer.......................Mike DonaheyPast Times Columnists ................Barb Scafferi

................Marshall County Historical Society

past times

Past Times is a monthly magazine publishedby the Times-Republican, Marshalltown, with

offices located at 135 W. Main St.,Marshalltown, Iowa 50158. Past Times is

inserted into the Times-Republican monthly.For more information, please call or write:

Past Timesc/o Times-Republican

135 W. Main St.P.O. Box 1300

Marshalltown, IA 50158641-753-6611

All articles and information contained herein arethe property of the Times-Republican. Permis-sion for use or reproduction must have prior

approval in writing from the publisher.

war and public sentimentabout it changed whenChina sent in thousandsof troops to fight on behalfof the North Koreans.

The Vietnam War,some claimed, lacked theclarity or previous con-flicts. There was no decla-ration of war by the VietCong or North Vietnamagainst the United States.The battle for Vietnam Itwas a civil war, someargued, and it made thedraft a lightning rod foropposition.

Detractors claimed thatthe draft was unfair tolower income whites,minorities and the power-less.

To avoid it, young menapplied in record numbersas conscientious objec-tors. Draft cards wereburned publicly. Largedemonstrations against itwere held in cities, towns

WWII (and to a lesserextent the Korean War)that made made menreadily comply with thedraft.

Germany, Italy andJapan — the Axis powers— had declared war uponthe United States immedi-ately after the attack onPearl Harbor, solidifyingthe clarity of good versusevil.

Add that Germany hadbeen at war with England,our ally, well before PearlHarbor helped unite oppo-sition to the Axis powers.

The late Edward R.Murrowʼs stirring CBSRadio reports of the Lon-don bombings by NaziGermany certainly influ-enced Americans intounderstanding that HItlerhad to be stopped.

In like manner, Japanhad brutally invadedChina and other countriesin southeast Asia severalyears before Pearl Har-

bor, and Italyʼs Mussoliniruled that country with aniron fist.

Conquering the worldwas the stated objectivesby the Axis powers, andfor a time they had thewill, military power,resources and strategy tomake their goal realistic.

After Pearl Harbor,Americaʼs industrial mightsoon geared up to fullstrength, helping over-whelm its enemies, andcombined with leadershipfrom President FranklinRoosevelt and Gen.Dwight Eisenhower,among others, saved theday for freedom with sub-stantial assistance fromour allies Canada, Eng-land, France and Russia.

The clarity so clearlydefined in World War IIfaded significantly when,for political reasons, ourinvolvement Korea waslabeled a “police action.”However, it was a real

in this issueMike Donahey

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Contact BarbScafferi at

905 Fifth Ave.N., Northwood,

Iowa 50459

DID YOU EVER KNOWHe was always a gen-

tle, kind boy who grew into a gentle, kind man. Hegraduated from highschool, got a job, wasgoing steady with a nice,pretty girl. Everythingseemed on track. Thencame December 7, 1941.This fine young man —like so many others —was called up “in the serv-ice of his country” —amidst posters demand-ing: “UNCLE SAMWANTS YOU!” Well, ... itseemed he wanted myUncle Vernon, too. Andthe quiet, gentle boy wastrained to be a soldier. Heleft Marshalltown on thetroop train — as did manyothers. We had no ideathat we would not see himagain for nearly fouryears. There were timesover those years that wewondered if we wouldever see him again. Mymom had a piece of sheetmusic titled “My Buddy” ...“nights are long ... sinceyou went away.” He washer baby brother as shewas 10 years of age whenhe was born. She wouldcry when she played themusic on the piano. Mygrandma and grandpa hada star in their front window... as folks did in thosedays when one had a fam-ily member in the military.The doorbell ringing lateat night nearly stopped mygrandmaʼs heart, as shefeared this would be “thattelegram” declaring herson “lost in action.”

I was only five and ahalf, but I wrote letters toUncle Vernon on red,white, and blue “V mail”stationery. He would writeback when he could.Sometimes letters wouldhave sentences blackedor cut out. “Loose LipsSink Ships” was the slo-gan. We would avidly fol-low all war-related news-paper stories. We onlyknew that he was “some-where in the Pacific.” Wenoted names like Okinawaand looked carefully at

any photos to see if wecould identify him. He hadsent some presents to mysister and I from HAWAII.After that, it was quitesome time before weheard from him again.

In March of 1945, hefinally got leave to comehome for a month or so.He and his girlfriend Mariewere married during thattime. And shortly after, thewar ended. He couldSTAY home! He got a jobat Fisher Governor, twodelightful children camealong — and ultimatelyfour grandchildren. Nowthere are six great-grand-children who are all justas adorable as their par-ents and grandparents.Life has had its chal-lenges, but Uncle Vernonhas stayed strong andproud and showed all ofus, by example, how lifeshould be lived. He turns95 this month and is muchloved. Oh ... by the way,Uncle Vernon ...”Did youever know that youʼre myhero ... andeverything Iwould like tobe .. .I canfly higherthan aneagle ...ʻcause youare the windbeneath my wings.”Happy Birthday to myUncle Vernon!

TO THE BARNWhen you are a child

growing up on the farm,where was your “get-a-way” place on a cold orrainy day? Mine was our

old red barn. If it was milk-ing time, the warmth ofthe stable where my dadmilked the cows was verycozy. Occasionally, dadwould squirt some milktoward the cats who hungout nearby. Another por-tion of the barn was oftenallocated to the corn cobs.This is where my sisterand I carted bushel bas-kets of cobs to the house(several stone-throwsaway) for mom to use tokeep the cookstove going.Another area of the barnwas open on the ends —with a roof over it — formachinery to be broughtin to repair or during badweather. My playgroundwas the haymow. I do notremember the hay asbeing scratchy or sticker-y. The bales of hay madefor fun jumping adven-tures. In the haymow, wemight find a new set of kit-tens! Or a hen mightchoose to lay her eggs ina spot in the haymowrather than in the henhouse where she wassupposed to lay them(apparently didnʼt get thememo). These were theWorld War II years. Whenwe would go to themovies, we would seeMovie Tone News orPathe News and visuallyknew what “the enemy”looked like. For YEARS, Ihad nightmares of Nazistorm troopers in ourbarn. I was terrified! How-ever, come daylight, thebad dreams would bebanished, and I wouldhead back to my haymowplayground. Again, I felt

safe, and could lapse into daydreams.

SOMEONEʼS AT THEDOOR

Our farm was along-side the Lincoln Highway— “Highway 30 coast-to-coast.” Between the actu-al roadway and our yardwas a wide graveled areawhere cars, trucks,hayracks, and tractorscould be parked. If neigh-bors came to call, theyalways came around tothe back door and thencein to the kitchen.Strangers, hoboes, andsalespeople came to thefront door. My motherwas not a makeup or per-fume person, so we onlysaw the Avon lady once ayear or so. A tube of lip-stick — one goes-with-everything color — wasall that was needed.PLUS a little “pot ofrouge” that lasted forever.The only thing used con-sistently was the “loosepowder.” But one con-tainer would usually last ayear. Mom only did thismuch makeup to go to LaMoille Church or StarryGrove Club or to twice amonth card club with hermother. More frequent“sales” callers were theJewel Tea, Watkins, andFuller Brush men.

The Jewel Tea manwas something else. I amsupposing he sold somesort of product and I

THINK those mixingbowls/dishes with theivory background and theorange and brown leafdesign must have been a“premium” for purchases.I hope some reader canenlighten me.

The Fuller Brush mancame occasionally — butmother preferred her owncleaning products ofhomemade soap, water,and vinegar. One has togive a certain FullerBrush man points fortenacity. Not getting any-one to come to the door,he headed toward theother side of the barnwhere Mother was hoeingthe sweet corn. She wastaking a bathroom breakbetween the stalks whenshe heard this cheeryvoice ring out: “FullerBrush Man!” I remembermy mother and grand-mother enjoyed a 1950movie with Lucille Ballentitled “The Fuller BrushGirl.”

In our home, the mostpopular door-to-doorsalesman was theWatkins man. To herdying day, my motherpreferred Watkins VanillaExtract and WatkinsLemon Extract to anyother brand. And her top-notch baking gave cre-dence to that. Dad feltjust as strongly aboutWatkins Healing Salveand the Watkins CoughSyrup.

My daughters remem-

ber Mrs. Landon (fromthe La Moille area) as ourAvon lady for seven oreight years. Then I start-ed selling it — and did sofor 27 years. The JewelTea did not seem to bearound then. The Watkinsmen did not seem to staylonger with the company— and it became so spo-radic that I simply boughtwhatever brand at thegrocery store. The FullerBrush Man was our mostenduring — both whenwe lived in the countryand when we moved totown. He was ReuelHenze and must havesold the product for manyyears. Many of the door-to-door products becamevictims of online buying,and folks choose whatthey want on their com-puter and it is shippeddirectly to the door.Wouldnʼt my grandfather(who sold somethingcalled McConnon Prod-ucts for a time) be sur-prised?

SCRAPBOOKS -REVISITED

Patti Ziegler, myfriend Abigail, and a fewothers wrote and calledregarding their scrap-books. Some filled theirscrapbooks with every-thing for a given year.Others had separateones for movie stars,event programs, vaca-

SCAFFERI | 6

do you remember?Barb Scafferi

Uncle Vernon

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By MIKE DONAHEY

TIMES-REPUBLICAN

Ma r s h a l l t o w nSpeedway trackhistorian Denny

Grabenbauer of Marshall-town likes to frame itshistory by generations.

“The baton has beenpassed from one gener-ation of drivers to anoth-er, and from one gener-ation of fans to another,and from owner toowner,” he said.

He knows, gleanedfrom dozens of nights asa driver, then toannouncer then to histo-rian.

From yellowed news-paper clippings to blackand white photos to col-ored inserts, all identifycentral Iowa racing fami-lies like Clement, Hes-mer and Vis.

The new Marshall-town Speedway debutedat the Central Iowa Fair-grounds Aug. 17, 1964.

The first two winnerson the first night of com-petition was Mike Niffen-erger from Kalona, whowas driving a blue andwhite coupe #144. Join-ing him was Ben Schroy-er of Laurel, in a pink #00. He won the hobbydivision.

Some critics were dis-appointed the track wasquarter-mile, comparedto the former MainStreet half-mile track,according to archives.

But by the end of thefirst night of racing,everyone was quick tochange their minds afterwitnessing the closecompetition and thebumper-to-bumper rac-ing on the smaller, butnew quarter-mile oval.

What everyone wastalking about was the18-degree. high bankedcorners.

Normally in the past,drivers would race onflat tracks with very little

banking, but the newtrack then, would havethe highest banks andcorners anywhere in thestate, and perhapsthroughout the midwest,according to racing afi-cionados.

Weekly racingdebuted in 1965.

Over the years, driv-ers like Bob Malechekformerly of Marshall-town, but now of Carroll-ton, Texas, and BillKnapp of Kellogg made

history.“Fast paced and

exciting entertainment”is how promoter TobyKruse of Kruse Motor-sports describes hisbusiness at Marshall-town Speedway. whichdraws almost 3,000 onFriday race nights.

Kruse has owned thetrack for nine years —more than enough timeto experience all thehighs and lows a busi-ness begets.

50 Golden Years at Marshalltown Speedway

50 Golden Years at Marshalltown Speedway

FIRST CALL

www.oreillyauto.com

John Ulveling Store Manager

710 South Third Avenue Marshalltown, IA 50158

(641) 754-0586 or (641) 754-9854

“For any business tosurvive after 50 years,and still be thriving, Ithink that says quite abit,” said Kruse. “And thefuture of the trackappears to be prettybright.”

Kruse picked up themotor-sport bug as achild, as he and siblingsand parents frequentlywent to the races.

Now, years later, he isthe owner of two tracks,the other is 141 Racewaynear Green Bay, Wis.

Stock car racing is aseasonal business, withthe local track offering 26or 27 dates.

Fittingly, the “frostbuster” kicks of racing inthe first weekend in Apriland continues everyweekend, weather per-mitting, into September.

This year the trackʼslast event is the WorldNational, with a $10,000purse. It runs Sept. 18-20.

Last year, 200 teams

from 12 states and Cana-da competed, Kruse said.

Kruse knows full wellthere is much competi-

tion for the entertainmentdollar. And the publicquickly indicates its pref-erences by attending, or

not. “We base everything

around racing,” Krusesaid. “But we try to have

other events going on aswell”

Kruse said the venueworks hard to be a “fami-

ly friendly,” with specialprograms like kidʼs bicy-cle races, and workinghard to run a nightʼs pro-gram is done at 10 p.m.

Additionally, the trackoffers discounts onadmission to military per-sonnel and seniors.

Kruse said the CentralIowa Fair Board is goodto work with, since it hasre-invested in the track,while he has made signif-icant expenditures in thegrandstands and else-where.

A priority is to replace10 rows of woodenbleachers with an alu-minum set in the future,he said.

Kruse said computersand related social mediaare the biggest changeshe has seen in racing.

“Social media can begood and it can be bad,”he said, candidly. “So wework hard to give ourfans a good experience.”

Noteworthy at the Mar-shalltown oval have beenwomen competitors.

Janae Gustin and Jen-nifer Hulin of Marshall-town, compete now andsuccessfully.

Lauren Vis of LeGrand once raced com-petitively too.

“It is neat to haveJanae, who is a trackrecord setter, and fre-quent winner in her class,joined by a mom, Jen-nifer Hulin, plus Jen-niferʼs son, Racer Hulin,all at MarshalltownSpeedway,” Kruse said.“The crowd loves it.”

———Contact Mike Donahey at 641-

753-6611 or mdonahey@timesre-publican.com

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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

From this circa 1965 photo is Bob Malachek formerly of Marshalltown in his renown car 70 at the track.Malachek was one of several highly successful drivers in the facilityʼs early years.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Lauren Vis in her car 20L, center, is shown in competition at the MarshalltownSpeedway. Vis, along with Janae Gustin and Jennifer Hulin are central Iowawomen who have competed past and present.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Three generations of the Clement family who havecompeted at Marshalltown Speedway are shown.From left are Sam Clement, Dan Clement and RodClement, all of Rhodes.

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Whatʼs In a Name? Sybil Householder was born in Mar-

shalltown, the daughter of Mildred andHarold Householder.

She grew up in the Willard Mansion,609 W. Main, with her parents and hergrandmother, Hazel Willard. Household-er graduated from Marshalltown HighSchool in 1937, and later, received adegree in home economics from Iowa

State University. During the 1950s and60s, she was a pioneer in the new andgrowing field of home economics inWashington state. Householder was firstassociated with the Utah-Idaho SugarCo., a large sugar beet processing com-pany.

Later she was employed by Washing-ton Natural Gas, and WNG television.She gained notoriety for appearing with

renowned chef Julia Child. During herecareer, Householder presented recipes,demonstrated new appliances, andshowed food techniques that werebecoming staples of the “modern” home,such as freezer ready foods, and elegantcanapéʼs — one of the hallmarks of anewer style of dinner parties. For exam-ple, she shared a recipe for Lunar LimePie, and demonstrated “the best way to

have your holiday treats to come out ʻjustʼright, with no crystals, or grains (ofsugar).” She is just one of several womenhonored in the new Womenʼs HistoryRoom at Historical Society of MarshallCountyʼs Museum, 202 E. Church St. Tolearn more about the women who helpedmake Marshall County great, stop by themuseum or telephone 641-752-6664 toschedule a tour.

NO MAP NEEDEDThere was no need to

worry about where I was

when I was a child. NoGPS back then. Highway30 east took us to Mar-shalltown — seven miles

away. Highway 30 westtook us to State Center —seven miles away. If wewent south on the Wicker-sham road, we met upwith Highway 64 (whichwe called “the diagonal”)we could travel to the bigcity of Des Moines. Justwest of us lived my cousinDoug West. The dirt roadjust west of them took usto the La Moille roadwhich took us north in toLa Moille where ourschool and church were. Ifwe went north for a littlebit, we would find theGoecke road and a littlefurther took us to the Hart-land road. It was not com-plicated. There was somecomfort in knowing that nomatter what part of theUnited States ... or theworld ... that we went to ...whether to be fighting forour country or traveling forpleasure ... eventually wecame back to the littleroads we knew. We camehome. God willing.

———If you would like to send a

response or comment to me viaemail, you may do so at doyoure-memberbarbara@hotmail.com.

tions, or activities. Thosescrapbooks can tell ourchildren and grandchil-dren a lot about us as ourpersonalities are revealedin our likes and dislikesand captions. I do hope itis not a “lost art.”

MEMORIES STIRREDNOT SHAKEN

Our hope each monthis to stir your memoryabout something youremember with nostalgicenjoyment ... or bringback something you hadforgotten. One long-timereader —Marlys Huff —shared the following: “Ialways get so turned onwhen Past Times comes.I canʼt believe youʼvenever “done” a Maypoledance! I first did it in gymclass — then at Y camp... Marie Case! She livedon Bromley Street in the1930s and was mybabysitter sometimes. Ilived at 310 Bromley St.She must have been

about 304 ... Scrapbooks- Iʼm sorting old photos (Ieven unglued some) so Ican put them in protectivealbums, the scrapbookswork when a photo albumdoesnʼt ... It has made merealize that the photostoday are all on a disk orin the camera phone andthen onto Facebook, etc... too bad ... When mykids were young, I did theMay basket thing —homemade, but gave it upwhen plastic cups came.As for baby chicks — wedid that too, (but withdogs and cats) only onehardy bantam rooster sur-vived and like yours, heruled the yard, dogs andall. He attacked anyonewho walked up the side-walk, and we had to clipoff his spurs — he wasdangerous. My aunt onthe farm tried to keep him,the hens ignored him, buther rooster cowered, sowe finally shot him andgave his beautiful feath-ers to our friend whomade fishing lures. So,ʻChuckyʼ was worth moredead than alive — ha! ... Isure do remember the old

frontage of DeaconessHospital and the StoddardHotel Nursing dorm.”

CONTINUED | FROM 3

Scafferi

from the historical societyHistorical Society of Marshall County

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Aaron Palmer 7th Grade circa 1943: Lester Talbot, Eugene Field, Jerry Harms,Duke Elliott, Bob Densmore, Farmer Matney, Dick Swanson and Chuck Pettingill.

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Toll Free 1-888-753-6691 22 E. Main St. • Marshalltown

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and on college campus-es. Magazines, such asthe now defunct Ram-parts and others, pub-lished classified adsadvising men on how to“legally” avoid the draftwithout going to theextremes of moving toCanada. One ruse usedreligion. A draft dodgersimply had to mail anapplication with a fee tobe designated a “minis-ter” in supporting oneʼsclaim for a deferral.

I knew of no one in myhome town of Clinton thatbought a ministerialappointment, burned theirdraft card, or went toCanada. My draft agefriends and I simply regis-tered when required. Istill remember going tothe draft office and takingcare of business. Itseemed like the rightthing to do.

As a high school stu-

dent, I was eligible for aschool deferment. Next, Iearned a second defer-ment as a full-time col-lege student. For this Ihad to prove I was a fulltime college studentwhile passing my cours-es, which I did.

There were stories inthe national media andtalk among male studentsof professors at other col-leges who would givepassing grades to failingstudents to keep themfrom losing their studentdeferment, of schools,again elsewhere, werepassing grades could bebought if oneʼs family cuta check to the college fortheir “building” fund.There were other storieswhere elected officials —of both major parties,having their staff callinglocal draft boards askingthem to “reconsider”deferment losses for cer-tain constituents.

The draft was eventu-ally scrapped andreplaced with a lottery

system. Additionally,President Nixon hadpromised “peace withhonor” in Vietnam andwould at least ostensibly,be ending the war atsome point.

The lottery systemworked this way: thosemen eligible were castinto a giant pool so tospeak, hoping their birthdates — oneʼs number —would not be called untilvery late in the game.

While I knew of sever-al fellow Clintonians whohad drawn high lotterynumbers, I donʼt recallany of them serving inthe military. Ironically,several years later, manyof us would considerenlisting in the armedforces as job outlookswere poor and militarypay and benefit packageshad increased significant-ly as part of a volunteerarmy concept.

———Contact Mike Donahey at 641-

753-6611 or mdonahey@timesre-publican.com

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Donahey

PEOPLE WHO READ NEWSPAPERS ARE

BETTER AND MORE EFFECTIVE PARENTS

It all starts with Newspapers

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