Skip Matczak

Car Owner
CLASS OF 2011

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 1996 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 & 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 super modifieds beckoned and the travel increased and in time the lightning-quick Oswego oval become home, the Ellington, CT-based Skip & 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.

Following his wife Lois’ death in 2008, Matczak returned to sprint cars, fielding cars at Whip City Speedway during that track’s final seasons.

Skip is a longtime NEAR member who was recognized for his contributions to New England auto racing in 2021 as recipient of the Frank Maratta Award.