Schauer Family To Wave The Green Flag For The Howie Lettow 150

In 1981, a young driver by the name of Pat Schauer was racing for the ASA National Tour Rookie of the Year title. On October 4th of that year, running second in the final laps of the Winchester 400, Schauer hit a guard rail head-on and lost his life. A crew chief by the name of Howie Lettow was the first on the scene. He held Pat in his arms until the ambulance arrived. It was a memory that Howie never really talked about again.

Pat Schauer was the first driver that Howie Lettow had the honor of working with, so when Pat’s son, Dan Schauer, was approached to be the official starter of the Swiss Colony Howie Lettow Memorial 150 presented by RaceTeamGear.com, memories began to flood through Dan’s mind. “It was such an honor when I heard from Steve [Einhaus]. When he asked me, it really hit home. It was really cool,” said Dan.

Dan and his brothers are looking forward to the honor of waving the green flag as the cars thunder out of turn four at the Milwaukee Mile on June 12th for the ASA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment and Lester Buildings event. In fact, it will probably be an emotional moment for the three of them. “I think when the green flag waves a lot of memories of both Howie and our dad will be going through our minds,” said Schauer.

The relationship between the Schauer family and the Lettow family extended far beyond the race track. The families grew up in Watertown, WI and Dan and his brothers grew up playing together with the Lettow children for as long as Dan can remember. After Pat’s death, Lettow became like an uncle to the Schauer boys.

“We spent a lot of time with Howie and his family. He always made sure we made it down to the ASA National Tour banquet to present the Rookie of the Year award named after our dad and that really meant a lot to us,” said Schauer. Additionally, they cannot thank Howie’s wife Cheryl enough for allowing them to be a part of this event. “Cheryl means the world to our family.”

Howie and Pat had a pretty cool relationship that started before Pat was even in a race car. Pat would hang out at the shop for hours until one day the guys asked him if he would like to race. He never looked back. It was the memories of the relationship between the two that Dan cherishes the most.

“Howie was the most humble man I have ever met in my life. His heart was in ASA and short track racing. His family was the most important thing to him so he chose to stay in this area. That’s what most people loved about him,” Schauer said. “It was really hard when he passed,” he added.

“At the end, Howie had his eyes closed most of the time. I went over to see him shortly before he died. I sat down and thanked him for all that he did for my dad. He opened his eyes and looked me right in the eye and said, ‘your dad was really easy to work with.’” “That was a really special moment for me,” Dan said.

Do not miss the start or the finish of the Howie Lettow 150. You can purchase tickets as well as get complete details of the event by going to www.asarace.com

A limited number of VIP passes will be available for companies and fans. The VIP Pavilion presented by Budweiser package includes a special dinner, exclusive question and answer session with the night's stars and a special autograph session. There will also be a rare race memorabilia auction to benefit the MACC Fund.

For more information or to purchase VIP passes, contact the ASA Midwest Tour offices at 630-212-6022 or email steve@asamidwesttour.com.

Be sure to follow the ASA Midwest Tour on Facebook (asamidwesttour) and Twitter (@asamidwesttour).

To learn more about the American Speed Association® Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment and Lester Buildings, log on to asamidwesttour.com. For questions call the ASA Midwest Tour office at (630) 212-6022 or Tim Olson at (612) 327-5831 or e-mail Tim Olson at tim@asamidwesttour.com or Steve Einhaus at steve@asamidwesttour.com.