My uncle John Zukowski was better known to the racing world as Johnny Zeke. Here is the story of my famous Godfather.
Johnny Zeke was a race car driver, promoter, starter, driving instructor, crew chief and a member of the Army
Air Corps during World War II.
Johnny "Zukowski" Zeke grew up across the street from the Castle Hill
Speedway in
He earned a bachelor's degree in banking and finance from NYU.
Even though he was racing, he continued to
work as a field rep and crew chief for Grumman Aircraft on
Johnny remained with Grumman until retiring in 1984.
While employed there, Johnny and his wife, Veronica, and daughter
(Christine) lived in Levittown until he was transferred by Grumman in 1972 to
One of Johnny's biggest racing fans was his very pretty wife, Veronica,
a former model
who was also a scorekeeper at Islip Speedway.
Johnny began his auto racing career driving midget racing cars
during the 1939 season at the Bronx Coliseum in
After the war, Johnny raced midgets with the Auto Racing
Association and the American Racing Drivers Club. He raced on dirt as well as asphalt tracks during his long career. During the 1948 season, while racing several nights a week and against the best drivers of the time
such as Bill Schindler, Bill Holmes, Tony Bonadies and
Len Duncan, Johnny Zeke won 13 main events and
then 20 main events in 1949. He was
crowned the Midget Racing Champion three years in a row 1949, 1950, and 1951 at
Freeport Stadium.
Johnny was among the first drivers to race stock cars in the
Northeast. Driving a modified 1937 Ford
Coupe, he won the indoor driving championship at the Kingsbridge Armory in the
Uncle Johnny presenting the winning trophy
During the late 1950's and early 1960's stock car racing took over as the top auto racing division and it was immensely popular with the fans. Midget racing made a comeback in the sixties and is still going on today at tracks all around the country.
a 1939 Ford Coupe with a souped-up flathead engine.
A bit of a showman, Zeke always wore white pants and
colorful shirts when racing.
His first win driving a midget came in a
1000-lap indoor championship event at the Kingsbridge Armory in
His most memorable stock car victory was a 200-lap race at Dexter Park.
He said, "That was a real slam-bang race but my car held together and I was fortunate enough to win."
That's an
understatement, to say the least, as Dexter Park's track was literally formed
around a baseball diamond. Just imagine
cars racing around home plate! Zeke
said, "Just for your car to stay in one piece for that many laps was very
rare in those days."
During the 1956 season at Islip Speedway, NASCAR conducted a racing driver's school with Johnny Zeke as the head instructor.
just to see how it would perform on a short track.
The car did so
well that Johnny won the last three main events of the season.
Uncle John not only competed in the sport of auto racing but in 1936, he made the finals on the Olympic team for high diving and was supposed to go to Germany along with the famed Jessie Owens. But just before it was time to go John suffered a serious ear injury and could not attend.
And that's just about all I know about my famous uncle Johnny Zeke.
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