PHOTOS provided by Becky Leiber

By Marlena Ballinger

A cumulative 51-year racing career has earned a retired Bluffton business owner a place in the Fremont Speedway Hall of Fame. On June 6, Dwain Leiber, former owner of Leiber's Garage, was inducted into the Fremont, Ohio, hall of fame.

Leiber started his racing career in 1959, racing go-karts. In 1978, he switched to racing sprint cars.

According to the write-up in the induction ceremony program, Dwain recorded two career wins at Fremont Speedway, one after driving a car owned by the Hall of Fame owners, Don and Harold Nickles. The Fremont track is a semi-banked 1/3 mile clay oval at the Sandusky County Fairgrounds, Fremont, Ohio.

Dwain got his start in racing through go-karts in 1959. He was the 1970, 1972, 1973 and 1975 national go-kart champion in the twin-engine class. He got his start in sprint cars in 1978, when his friend Ed Amstutz bought a car and let Dwain hotlap it. Dwain retired from racing in 2010.

Duane retired from Leiber Garage located on Vance Street in 2017 after owning it for 48 years.