Promoter, publisher, driver, team owner, mail-order monarch

He was for a generation of kids the Pied Piper of American motorsports. During the 1960s and ‘70s, young car enthusiasts all across America raced to newsstands to get his latest Auto World catalog and place their orders for model cars and slot cars. To further promote the hobby, Koveleski began Car Model Magazine and organized a nationally televised slot car race on the Ed Sullivan Show. One of the sport’s great funnymen, Koveleski, Brad Niemcek and Tony Adamowicz, started the Polish Racing Drivers of America (PRDA) and contested Brock Yates’ Cannonball Baker Dash in a faux ambulance. Koveleski was also an SCCA national champion and mainstay of the first-generation Can-Am, capturing the A Sports Racing title in 1970 and finishing runner-up three times (1967, ’71, ’76). He later served on the sanctioning body’s Board of Governors and was inducted into its Hall of Fame (2015). More recently, Koveleski founded KidRacers, engaging a new generation of fans. It’s hard to imagine anyone who introduced more youngsters to the sport.