Iowa Mourns: Stock car races, miniature golf and a son’s memories of his father

Don Wachal loved stock car racing. But there was one rule the long-time owner of Davenport’s Filling Station had to follow.

It was the kind of rule that bound a father and a son.

“My mom (Sharon Wachal) said he could go watch the races, but he had to take me with him. I think one of my earliest memories of my dad is getting in the car and going to watch the stock cars,” said Don’s son, Cory Wachal. “We’d go to Cedar Rapids and the Hawkeye Speedway, which was out on 61 on the way to Muscatine. Of course, we went to the races at fairgrounds in Davenport.

“Dad loved those races.”

The man many knew as simply “Donny” died April 15 due to complications from COVID-19 at the age of 74. He ran the Filling Station restaurant for 50 years.

Around the neighborhood Donny was the man who encouraged games. Baseball. Backyard touch football. Driveway basketball.

“That’s my other memory, so clear,” Cory said. “My house was the place where all the kids gathered to play sports — and my dad was always there, right along with us. He really encouraged kids to play.

“After he died and my friends contacted me to express their sympathy, that was the first thing they mentioned — my dad out there with us, encouraging everyone to play. My friends loved him for it.”

Donny was loved by employees at the Filling Station. They were stunned by the loss of the man who expected the best of them.

“Donny was just Donny, and if you knew him, you would understand what that means,”said Jill Soenke, a 24-year member of the Filling Station staff. “He had his ways and he wanted things done right — as he should — but he also trusted you enough to do things right. What a wonderful man, a kind man, who would do anything in the world for you.”

Donny Wachal began his service industry career working at the Col Ballroom for his parents, Don and Evelyn Wachal, who for years ran the famous Davenport-based entertainment venue.

In 1971, he opened the Filling Station, just off Brady and 35th streets in Davenport. Resembling an old filling station, the restaurant/bar — with its petroleum signs and gas station memorabilia — combined great food and fantastic service to maintain a business stronghold for five decades.

Soenke said employees lost a friend and mentor. And the circumstances of his death made it even harder.

“He knew we all cared and loved him, but not saying goodbye to someone that has had such a wonderful influence on your life is exceptionally difficult,” she said. “You want one last time to tell him how special he was.”

The Wachals still grapple with Donny’s death.

“My mom has really struggled,” Cory said. “She and my dad were very social people. Now he’s gone and she’s locked up because of COVID. It’s been very hard.”

Cory said his father’s death left a singular scar.

“He was a healthy, normal guy,” Cory said. “And then he gets sick and he’s gone. I think I could deal with it if it was cancer or a heart attack, or something we knew was coming. There were no pre-existing conditions. He was a normal 74-year-old guy.

“And then he wasn’t.”

These days Cory thinks a lot about those rides out to the stock car races.

“The truth is, I never got into the races the way he did,” Cory said. “But by the time I was 9 or 10 I figured out that if he wanted to go, he had to take me. So I made a rule: If we went to the races, we had to stop for miniature golf.

“My dad just loved it. He knew I had that leverage, but he loved it.”