Two years shy of one half century that included surviving several Riley Creek floods, Dwain Leiber, who turns 78 in June, decided it was time.

The 1957 Bluffton High School graduate and owner of Leiber Garage since 1969 used a racing term to describe his decision to sell his business.

“The wheels started turning,” he said.

“They started turning when Tom Dotson approached me to buy the garage,” Dwain laughed.

And, Dwain knows more about wheels than anyone reading this story.

His vehicle maintenance career started right out of high school. On May 18, 1957, he was hired as a mechanic at the former Bob Williams Chevrolet dealership on Main Street (Grove’s Bear building).

Then, from 1960 to 1969, he worked at White Chevrolet in Lima.

“I bought Frank Steiner’s welding and repair building on Vance Street in 1969,” he said. And he’s been there ever since, which have included several building additions.

Along with his own mechanical experience he’s had training at General Motors Training Center, Cincinnati, and took several seminars for Corvettes.

Always with a sense of humor, Dwain said that he keeps customers until they die. “That’s why you need to pick up new customers – the old ones die.”

His memory is as good has his mechanical knowledge.

Q: Who was your first customer?
A: Rolly Moser brought in his 1965 Chevy pickup.

“When I started in 1969 my first employee was Mike Amstutz. My second was Terry Agner,” said Dwain.

Then, veering off on a story, Dwain recalls, “ Terry resigned by writing on a sticky note that said, ‘Sorry, I got another job,’ and he put the note in my mailbox.

Dwain’s interest in things with wheels includes a lifetime love of racing.

He started go-cart racing in 1959. Then got into twin-engine go-carts and was the national champ in 1970, 1972 and 1973.

He then moved to Sprint car racing, where he raced for 31 years. He won the El Dora championship in 1982 and 1983 and was the National Racing Alliance champion in 2003. He retired from racing in 2011.

Growing up on a 140-acre farm outside Bluffton, Dwain’s first experience in driving was in a 1941 Ford that he drove around the farm before he was old enough to get a license.

“My first car was a 1938 Ford that I bought when I was in high school,” he said. “It probably had 80,000 miles on it, and it was really worn out in the end.”

Here’s a rough list of businesses on Vance Street when Dwain first opened his shop:

“See across the street,” he pointed. “That was N.P. Steiner’s livestock barn. Mr. Hersey had a business over there (pointing in another direction) and the two Crawfis brothers repaired tractors. Frank Steiner moved out of here with his radiator and general repair shop.

"The first building on this side of the street was by the Mericle brothers. Then came Urich’s IGA. Mine was third."

When we left the interview, Dwain's wheel's were still turning.

A footnote to this story: We ran into Dwain's high school classmate and Bill Herr, chaplain at the Mennonite Memorial Home. When informed about Dwain's decision to sell, Bill said, "That can't be. He told me that he'd wouldn't retire until I did."

Attached are several photos of Dwain during his racing era.