Sonny Koszela

Car Owner
CLASS OF 2002

John “Sonny” Koszela Jr remembers watching race cars being flat-towed to the Kingston Fairgrounds in the 1950s, and realized that he needed to visit the track. By the late ’50s, Sonny had built his first car, which was driven by Freddie Crockett at Keene, NH.

September 6, 1959 was a big day in Sonny’s life, both in terms of his racing career and his personal life. Ernie Gahan drove Koszela’s car to his 1st victory, on the dirt at the Stafford Speedway. The day was especially memorable for Sonny because his daughter Julie was born the same day. He teamed up with Fred DeSarro for the 1970 season and they won the track championship at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY and the NASCAR Modified Championship.

Koszela has put many notable drivers behind the wheel of the popular #15 car, most notably Bugsy Stevens in the 1970’s. The team won the 1974 Spring Sizzler, two Ferrara 100‘s (1973, 1977) and two Modified Championships (1971, 1974) at Stafford Speedway. They also won a 500 lapper at the 1971 Thompson World Series, and the 1977 Cardinal Classic & three Dogwood Classics (1972, 1974, 1975) at Martinsville Speedway.

Sonny teamed up with his son-in-law Mike Stefanik in 1985 and began competing on the NASCAR Modified Tour. From 1986-1992, they won 25 races and the 1989 and 1991 Tour Championships. They won two Spring Sizzlers (1989-1990) and two Fall Finals (1990, 1992) at Stafford plus back-to-back Thompson 300 wins (1988-1989). They also won the 2nd NASCAR Modified Tour race ever held at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in April of 1991.

Other drivers who piloted Koszela’s cars include Roland LaPierre, Leo Cleary and Ken Bouchard. The cars were designed & built by Dave Tourigny and powered by Zip Zeller. Modifieds were nicknamed “Woodchopper Special” and late model cars were known as “The Log Roller”.

“We just missed a couple of other National Championships”, recalls Sonny. “Bugsy had one that came down to the final race, but Jerry Cook walked away with it. Still, it’s been a lot of fun, especially in the old days. We’d run Stafford Friday, Malta Saturday, Sunday out to Utica, and sometimes an All-Star race on Wednesday. We’d wreck it, work all night and all day fixing it, and race somewhere that night.”

John Koszela Jr passed away peacefully on August 24, 2023 at the age of 89. He was married to his wife Henriette for 65 years.