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In what amounts to a half-century ride in auto racing, car owner
Stanley "Skip" Matczak has made a lot of stops. There can be little
doubt that the pinnacle was three straight (1994-96) Oswego Speedway
championships (plus the '96 International Classic). It was just
dessert for the many years he and his late wife Lois dedicated to
the sport going back to his association with a Buddy Krebs-driven
Modified in the 1960s.
It was, however, open-cockpit cars that captured the Connecticut
native. He insists it began when, as a young child, he saw a Kurtis
Midget. The Crown 7 sprinter, with Gene Bergin aboard, was his
introduction to the open cockpit cars. Soon Skip and Lois were
towing sprint cars to USAC and URC shows around the northeast. A
host of top names drove the Matczak sprinter including Bentley
Warren, a URC winner at Pocono in 1969. The Supermodifieds beckoned
and the travel increased and in time the lightning-quick Oswego oval
become home, the Ellington, CT-based Skip and Lois towing past a
number of tracks every weekend. Didero gave the Matczaks their
first Oswego win in 1987.
When Didero returned in '94, the wins came with regularity. A
successful businessman, the Matczaks moved on to USAC Silver Crown
competition in 1999, the likes of J.J. Yeley and Johnny Heydenreich
doing the driving in one of the most competitive divisions in the
country. Ironically following Lois' death in 2008, Matczak returned
to Midgets last summer fielding two Quad 4s at Whip City, one for
champion Joe Krawiec and the other for Hall of Famer Denny
Zimmerman. |