James Tabata was garage owner, race car mechanic

Stock car racing fans may remember him as part of the record-setting team behind car No. 85 at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds racetrack. Others knew him as the hardworking owner of Auto-Truck Service Co. in northeast Minneapolis, one of the largest independent garages in Minneapolis.

But James Tabata, who died March 18 at 84, was known to his family as a loving father, husband and grandfather who, in private life, overcame hardship as a teenager when he and his Japanese-American relatives were sent to internment camps during World War II.

He never complained about it in later life, said his son, Bryan Tabata, though it meant that his family lost most of their belongings.

"His self-discipline was just unbelievable," he said.

Tabata was born in 1927 and raised in San Jose, Calif., several years after his parents emigrated from Japan. Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the family was forced to give up its home.

"They were given one week to liquidate their assets," said his daughter Kathryn Klis. What they didn't sell, they lost.

The family first was moved to Salinas, Calif., then to the Poston II War Relocation Center in Yuma County, Ariz., and then to Heart Mountain War Relocation Center near Cody, Wyo.

When the camps closed, the men were let out first to find homes for their families. Tabata traveled to California to help his relatives settle there, then set out for Chicago, where he had friends.

He stopped in Minneapolis along the way and, according to family lore, stayed to find work after he lost what little money he had in a poker game.

He worked for the now-shuttered Downtown Chevrolet along Washington Avenue. After he met his future wife, Judy, he began attending night school at Dunwoody Institute for certification as an auto mechanic. He then worked for the Tankard gas station along Olson Memorial Highway, eventually buying the station.

He opened the Grant Street Service garage in downtown Minneapolis in 1951 near the present-day site of Ichiban. He relocated to Nicollet Avenue some years later, then to northeast Minneapolis in 1970, renaming his garage Auto-Truck Service Co.

He landed an important contract in one of his first years at his new location, servicing and repairing vehicles for the Minneapolis Police Department. That work continues today under the direction of Bryan Tabata.

"He was honest; he was hardworking; he loved children, especially my two nephews, his grandchildren," said Kathryn. "Work, racing and family, in any given order, on any given day, they were the only things he really cared about."

Tabata's wife, Judy Kazue Tabata, died in 2006. In addition to his son, Bryan, and his daughter Kathryn, he is survived by another daughter, Jeanne Schultz; a sister, Eva Tabata, and two grandsons.

A private memorial service has been held.