“We lost two of our longtime RRDC members this week: Oscar Koveleski and John Paul Jr.
“John Paul Jr. succumbed to Huntingdon’s disease, which he’d been battling for a number of years. His spirits were always high and so many of his friends surrounded him with love and support right up to the end.
“John was an outstanding race-car driver whose talent and attitude always shone above the cloud of his father’s dark past. He will always be remembered as an enthusiastic, fun and strong competitor whether he was racing at the Indy 500 or at an SCCA National race. His goal was always to do his best, and that’s what he did.”
Here’s a link to today’s RACER story: https://racer.com/2020/12/30/sports-car-and-indycar-racer-john-paul-jr-dies-at-60/
“Oscar Koveleski was a treasure. His outspokenness and passionate demeanor in trying to convince you of the importance of his latest project were the essence of his personality. Never quitting, always promoting, in such a charismatic way that one just couldn’t say no.
“As a race-car driver he was one of the best in an era where competing against the likes of Mark Donohue, Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme was a challenge he was happy and willing to take to help promote his
Auto World business and the KidRacer brand he created.”
This week RRDC member John Dinkel wrote a humorous and compelling story about our friend Oscar: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/therell-never-another-oscar-john-dinkel/.
“We will miss them both.”
Bobby Rahal
President, RRDC
About the RRDC:
The Road Racing Drivers Club was formed in 1952 as a way to give champion drivers a say in their sport, particularly in the areas of safety, and has evolved to serve the future of road racing by mentoring new drivers on both amateur and professional levels. The Club’s membership includes leading industry professionals, race officials and motorsports journalists, in addition to prominent racing names.
In 2011, the FIA launched SAFEisFAST.com, a free online training program offered by the Mark Donohue Foundation. More than 100 video tutorials taught by more than 200 RRDC members and championship drivers from Formula 1, IndyCar, the WEC and IMSA, teach driving techniques, physical preparation, mental acuity, driver safety, car setup and racing sponsorship. New videos are released eight-10 times annually with top drivers regularly answering readers’ questions through “Ask a Pro.”
In 2017 The Mark Donohue Foundation, a 501(C)(3) organization, was formed to support the SAFEisFAST.com program and to help ensure its operations. http://www.rrdc.org/mark-donohue-foundation/
Bobby Rahal is President, John Fergus is Vice President/Treasurer, and Tom Davey is Secretary.
The RRDC presents three annual awards: the Phil Hill Award, the Mark Donohue Award, and the Bob Akin Award, and supports the Team USA Scholarship (teamusascholarship.org), which has been assisting young Americans in the early stages of their careers since 1990. The RRDC also honors icons of the sport at its annual dinner at the Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix. Honorees have been Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Roger Penske, Jim Hall, Brian Redman, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, George Follmer, Emerson Fittipaldi, Johnny Rutherford and David Hobbs.
Membership in the RRDC is by invitation only. For more information, visit www.rrdc.org.
