RIP Oscar Koveleski

I just received word that Oscar Koveleski has passed away. He will not make major news on his passing, but those of us who raced slot cars in the 1960's and beyond remember his AutoWorld Catalog. I ordered from his place many times, and even drove there in the early 1970's to get a roll bar for our 240Z. He, Brad Niemcek, and Tony Adamowicz founded the Polish Racing Drivers of America. I proudly had my PRDA patch sewn on the shoulder of my winter coat during college as I was a class 4 member (Non-Polish, Non Racing Driver). Oscar drove his McLaren in many Can Am events over the years. He was known to have the artwork showing slot cars racing on his car, and for a period sprouted a wing atop his helmet for downforce. I have a number of photos I have taken of him, some at Lime Rock, and more from Pocono including his presenting the "Pole" position trophy at the Schaefer 500. I proudly have an autographed poster of Oscar and his McLaren in my slot car room.

I will miss knowing that he may appear at an event. He made many things much more fun.

Sad news, Dave. The photo of him with his balaclava up over his eyes as he put on his racing gloves is etched into my brain. PRDA Founding Father.

When I recently repainted a toolbox, I didn't have the heart to scrape off an AutoWorld sticker, so masked it off. A much better preserved one is on the inside lid of my big toolbox:

I ordered many model kits from AW,& spent countless hours
thumbing thru the annual catalogs.
In 1979,we made a trip to the East Coast,& stopped by Auto Word
& bought a driving light relay (still have it,& still haven't used it).While
there,I met Oscar just as he was leaving for lunch.He said (to his employee)
"Take car of my friend from California".
I have a couple of interviews bookmarked on my computer.For some
reason I can't bear to delete them.

Interesting reading -

http://oscarsautoworld.com

I have a few of my old AutoWorld Catalogs on the shelves. It makes me quite nostalgic to page through them once and a while. A good history of the PRDA is online too.

Watched Oscar in his "Super Cooper" absolutely dominate the Pennsylvnia Hillclimb Series in the 60's....always getting FTD, he drove the wheels off that 327ci Chevrolet powered Group 7 race car. What a guy.

I never knew him but I knew of him. One of the sportscar pioneers here in the East. RIP.

Here's Oscar in his "Super Cooper" at the Hershey Hillclimb (2:25)...yeah, it's a grainy and obviously non-professional video...but cool none the less.

3798j said:

Here's Oscar in his "Super Cooper" at the Hershey Hillclimb (2:25)...yeah, it's a grainy and obviously non-professional video...but cool none the less.

Click to expand...

These Hershey Hill Climb videos are great (you can see more of them once you click on this one). Love to see Cobras, Vettes, Healeys and E-Types being driven hard Some of the early films show Falcons, Ramblers, Saabs, Volvos and even a Gullwing on the hill. I think the word is "evocative".

I remember Autoworld and Roger, though I hadn't heard the name in a long time, makes me remember my the old days of slot car racing and watching CanAm in its heyday.