They’re lonely no more.
In fact, some 40,000 NASCAR fans have made their way to the middle of Iowa in the middle of the United States — specifically, the city of Newton (pop. 15,000, give or take), and Iowa Speedway, host to Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350.
You may not be familiar with Newton, but damn near every family in America, through one generation or another, is quite familiar with its favorite though fictional son: The Maytag Repairman.
You heard me.
Meet Frederick Maytag, the man who cleaned your clothes
Newton was the childhood and lifelong home of Frederick Louis Maytag, a Midwesterner by birth, German by heritage and, it turns out, the type of mechanical industrialist befitting that mix of ancestry.
That’s right, he was the Maytag of household appliance fame, beginning with the washing machine. His machines went from hand-cranked to gas-powered to the electric staples that helped revolutionize what it meant to be a middle-class American through the bulk of the 20th Century.
Maytag’s reputation for durability was cemented by one of the truly iconic commercial spokesmen of all time: “Ol’ Lonely,” the famed Maytag Repairman, whose phone never rang and doorway was never darkened due to the dependability of the company’s wares.
Say cheese! Maytag lives on today, even inside your fridge
Maytag was bought by Whirlpool 20 years ago but the name and recognizable badge still adorn a wide range of household items.
Through all of the mechanical evolution, the Maytags remained true to their farming roots. Today, you can still buy the famed Maytag Blue Cheese, which has been around since 1941, when two of Frederick Maytag’s grandsons started producing it at the family farm in Newton, where it still serves as company headquarters.
Today in Newton, you can visit Maytag Park, where you might stumble upon a concert at the Maytag Bowl, a bandshell that serves as the town’s entertainment hub. In the park, you’ll also find an appropriate tribute in statue form — the famed Maytag Repairman, napping peacefully on a park bench located between the park entrance and the public swimming pool.
Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR, Iowa and Newton’s Maytag Repairman? Let’s connect the dots
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
