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.
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