Most boys growing up love sports and some really get into auto racing. I was such a child growing up.
I don’t know where I acquired the love of motorsports, but it might have started with a gentleman by the name of Roy Speece, who lived two houses from my family home, would rev his Chevy’s engine to get the maximum out of it.
Roy, who passed away some years ago, was a drag racer back in a day, and during the summer, he’d get that dragster out of the garage and tune it up for the next race.
I believe he raced at the Pocono Speed Lodge back in a day.
There was something about the roar of the engine and the sound that would resonate deep in your chest and it would be deafening at times.
The smell of gasoline was intoxicating to a 10-years-old as the exhaust system would emit fumes that covered the sky.
His neighbors, Kevin and Ned Smith were very much into the racing scene and to this day, Kevin is seen at many car shows with a series of Corvettes he’s owned over the years.
My neighbor down the street, Joe Cefalo, also had a love affair with Corvettes that just struck my eye each and every time he drove past my house.
Joe was a junior high football coach of mine at the time I was in 7th and 8th grade and I could recall one time I missed the bus after practice and Joe was kind enough to give me a ride home.
I could hardly hide my emotions getting into the Corvette for my ride home. I relished every minute of the ride.
Needless to say, that’s when I acquired my own love affair with the Chevrolet Corvette.
Over the years, I would gravitate towards open-wheeled racing, specifically Indy Car racing with such drivers as A.J. Foyt, Al and Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford, and Mario Andretti early on.
Auto racing was not something you could watch on TV with regularity back then so I would catch a race whenever it was on.
My favorite race was the Indy 500 held at Indianapolis, Indiana at Memorial Day weekend.
ABC Sports always covered the race and back then it wasn’t covered live. As a matter of fact, they would tape delay the race until either later that night or on Memorial Day itself.
You would have to avoid any kind of sports reporting to spoil who the winner was until you got to watch it for yourself.
To this day, I will block out any of my time just to watch the Indy 500. After all, it is touted as the “Greatest Spectacle in Motor Racing.”
I will sit in front of my TV set with the hopes that no one will disturb me with a phone call or what have you, but inevitably that’s just what happens.
In addition to perching myself in front of the TV, I will have my laptop on next to me and listen in to live driver-to-pits radio. Well, it’s supposed to be broadcast live, but there is a few seconds to a minute delay in the broadcast so I would see a racing incident before I hear it from the driver or his pit crew.
Call me crazy, but it’s my one of my only over the top things I do a year regarding auto racing.
Today, I do still follow the Indy Car series and I half pay attention to the Formula 1 series, but the interest is still there, but that’s about to change.
Sixteen-year-old Michael Costello, son of dentist Dr. John Costello, and grandson of legendary Pittston Area track coach Joe Costello is currently racing Formula 4 race cars. He’s on a fast track to getting to the coveted Indy 500 in a matter of four or five years, according to his manager Anton Stipinovich.
Stipinovich is no stranger to open-wheeled racing as he has 40-years experience in Formula 1 racing, 22-years of them working for such teams as Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Blue, who currently is dominating F1 with driver Max Verstappen.
I had a chance to sit down and talk with Anton for a 30-minute interview on his new prospect, Michael Costello.
During our talk, he pulled out a photo of himself with the all-time Formula 1 great Michael Schumacher.
He also mentioned working one-on-one with several other drivers and team that really opened my eyes knowing he was in the big leagues for a very long time.
With his new management team headed by founder current F1 driver and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso, you can Costello is not in just good hands but great hands.
It was fun being at the NJMP last weekend and seeing Michael and is family soaking up the atmosphere and seeing him win one of the three races that weekend.
Michael does have a bright future in motorsports and he’s very lucky he has great parents like his father and mother John and Nichol.
Good luck and great racing, Michael.
Thought of the Week
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.”
— Robert F. Kennedy
Quote of the Week
“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”
— Anais Nin
Bumper Sticker
“Do not waste time on things you cannot change or influence.”
— Robert Greene
