Frederick Stout Jr
“Fred H Stout of Oakville, MO assumed room temperature on February 17th, 2024. His death, after a short illness, was caused when his heart stopped beating; his brain had been dead for a long time.
Stout was reared in Webster Groves and graduated from Washington University in 1957 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, a fairly worthless parchment in retrospect. After graduation, Stout served in the US Navy in a variety of positions as an officer on an obsolete itty-bitty sea-going tug boat. He hated it. To offset his extreme boredom, he passed the time by reading the dictionary, enhancing his vocabulary to make him seem intelligent. A farce.
Stout had a decent career as a commercial artist that allowed him to afford to drive road racing cars. He loved auto racing and as an amateur racer, won 79 races, broke 10 lap records and 6 bones. He also portrayed historic racing events on canvas and sold thousands of paintings and prints on 3 continents.
Fred has now found out what exists after death: whether or not he’s shoveling coal, holding hands with Jesus, debating with Krishna if he’ll return as a noble lion or a cockroach, coining sagacious aphorisms with Moses, or basking in an oasis with 72 virgins (and wondering what on earth he’d do with them).
Upon hearing of his death, all his friends gathered in a phone booth and chugged a beer in his memory. He is survived by his kidlet, Elizabeth. In lieu of donating money to a popular cause, send a 6-pack of beer to his son-in-law Jeff Streif.”
This was written by my dad decades ago, and sent to my sister and I for use “hopefully much later.” He got his wish. Dad lived a full and fascinating life, and lived each moment to the fullest. His heart was broken twice, with the loss of his eldest daughter Catherine, and then his loving wife Shirley. He spent his last days joking with the nurses at the wonderful de Greeffe Hospice House, his body failing him way before his sense of humor. If you would like to make a charitable donation in his memory, he was a strong supporter of the Missouri Civil War Museum and Helping Strays of Monroe County IL.
Beth,
Reading this brought tears to my eyes. I started laughing at the beginning and the more I read that more I starting crying. What an awesome man he must have been. I wish I would have known him! I am so sorry for your loss.
This was beautiful I only knew one other person that wrote his own obituary.
The legacy of a wonderful sense of humor. Priceless.
Prayers for you all during this time.
Beth, he was an unforgettable character. Hopefully he is now enjoying peace and happiness…. Prayers to all.
Beth I am sure Fred was reaching for
Shirley in his last moments.
He was unique. We had so much fun
over the years.
Bless you.
Racing cars like he did, it looks like he did not expect to grow old. But I am glad for you, he did. So sorry for your loss! Looks like you did not get your humor from a stranger. Nice obituary! One of a kind, like him!
hugs!
I am happy to say that I did know him. And I agree he was very unique, a true one of a kind person. That being said, I am truly sad that he is gone from this planet. SCCA has lost a great man, full of all the things that make amateur racing fun. That’s how I met him and that’s always where I saw him, driving his open top Lotus or Jag or whatever he had currently and wearing his leather racing hat and goggles on the open road or interstate, gathering many incredulous glances from other drivers. He will be truly missed by many.
What a cool guy Fred was! A great neighbor for many years, we miss him.
Jeannie and Jim Meyer
Beth with tears in my eyes from laughing. Remembering some of thing he would say an do while I was cleaning. He was such a good man to me. Will miss him saying let the next one do it . So sorry for your loss.
Fred will be missed from our by-monthly Geezer club which he attended at the bread company. We were always glad to see him as he always had something good to say about how our government was run! Our son, Ryan Meyer purchased several paintings from Fred. Love you 💕 Fred.
My most vivid memory of Fred was a day he was driving a Dodge Colt Showroom car at MAR. He rolled it over on its side in turn 1 and he just sat in the car reving the engine. I was working 1 that day and as we ran to the car, he was yelling at us to roll the car back on its wheels. It took us a couple times rocking the car back and forth but it eventually landed back on its wheels. As soon as the tires hit the pavement, he had the car in gear and was roaring down towards turn 2. For several laps, he ignored the black flag until Control started rolling the pace car out on the track to force him to slow down and answer the black flag. He never knew when to quit. RIP, Fred. I’m sure you’ll find some car to race wherever you are.
Fred was at our home once, he decided he wanted a cat, it would be easier than taking care of another dog.
We had a nice visit and he was a fun guy… he had my husband laughing so hard.
I learned from Beth, he was never boring, never had been boring and he LOVED to race FAST.
When he passed in Hospice, the day after Beth dropped him off in a snowstorm I realized Fred did everything FAST.
I am glad I got to meet him, he was one of a kind.
Beth, So sorry for your loss. I have to tell you by the end of the first sentence I knew Fred wrote it, and just what I would have expected.
I knew your dad for the better part of my life, hell he was one of my two sponsors you had to have to join SCCA back in the day. Way too many racing stories and memories for here , but needless to say I considered him a true friend, real racer, and to not mention one hell of an interesting guy. I still have one of his painting I my house today. May he RIP!
I had and needed to join SCCA back in the day.
Beth,
Your dad’s eccentricity way out did mine!
Laughed all the way through his own obit and cried reading your part.
Nothing ever got in Fred’s way, either in life or on the racetrack.
I miss him.
Didn’t know the guy but this beautiful composition was read by my sister and forwarded to me for my entertainment, after reading, I surely wish I had known him 🙏❤️
All the good ones assume room temperature, it’s the bad ones that spontaneously combust and take the house with them. It might be due the ice water that runs in a racer’s veins. Theories vary.
Beth,
He seems like he was an awesome man. I pray you find peace in your memories.
Hi Beth,
I think we all should write our own obituaries, especially if your life was as interesting as your father’s. I did hear that he taught you how to drive.
My prayers are with you during your time of loss.
I was honored to be a part of the great DeBrecht Datsun racing team with Fred. Every conversation with Fred was memorable, every driver coaching tip he gave me was invaluable, I was deeply flattered when he would offer an encouraging word – because Fred was the ultimate race car driver.
Beth, thank you for arranging Fred’s attendance at the MAR Reunion. It was great to see him drive his Jaguar around the track.
Fred will be missed.
A true story.
I don’t have any pictures to go with this story… but I wish I did.
Sometime in the summer of 1977 I put on my dark green tech inspector shirt, borrowed my mother’s Datsun 710 and headed for Wentzville for what would be a very rainy day at the sports car races.
Sometime around noon that day a call came over the public address system seeking the owner of a blue Datsun 710 parked near the false grid. As requested I reported to timing and scoring where I was introduced to Fred Stout. At the time he was driving a Datsun 710 in showroom stock C and the tires on the race car were all but shot. With the rain looking like an all day sucker he went on the hunt for rain tires around the paddock. Now one could argue that Fred was a man of star-crossed luck. But on this day he found just the right tires, on just the right car, driven by an impressionable if not naive 17 year old. (That would be me.)
If you know the man at all, you know Stout can shovel it pretty good and in no time he talked me into “lending” him my mother’s tires, rims and all. In a downpour he won the race lofting his trademark American flag high as he crossed the line. I carried the checkered for him on the victory lap waving at my confused older brother working the turn 4 flag station. Later he was not amused and threatened to out me when we got home. (He never did.)
About ten years later, after a day of racing my 77 MARCH at St. Louis International (the drag strip turned road course in Madison, IL) a group of us were sitting around having a few beers and shooting the breeze. It wasn’t uncommon for the conversation to turn towards the old days at MAR and as evening fell I told my Stout story. Someone in the group became wide eyed, stood up saying, “Don’t go anywhere…” and ran off. A short time later she came back with Fred on her arm pointing at me declaring, “That’s the guy!” Apparently Stout had been telling that war story from the other side for many years. We had a lot of laughs that night getting reacquainted.
I guess I just miss those days.
A great man who made all that knew him smile. A wonderful race driver and amazing artist. he was my SCCA driving instructor in a FV at the old Gateway track.. he showed up driving his Aston Martin wearing a full on riding habit complete with jodhpurs and a whip. Knew I was in for a treat. After the first day, we did a debrief and he told me there were a few places that I could pick up a few tenths…
“… But I’ll be damned if I will tell ya where they are…” We stayed in touch for many years and watched his nephew Brad go onto many national Championships.
One of my favorite Fred stories.. first time I raced the FV in the rain… went to him and asked for any pointers,.., he simply said..”If its shiny, don’t go there…” I did, he was right as usual and found him laughing hard as I was pulled out of the gravel trap… He was a fine man and will always be loved by both my son Chris and I… God Speed old friend, see ya in the braking zone.