Car with racing power stays in the family
When it came to high-revvin' Chevy performance in the 1960s, Joe Koski was clued in. The teen was not only a die-hard gear head who followed the news but was working in a local hotbed of hot cars. During the summers of 1968 and 1969, Joe worked at Brigance Chevrolet, under Chicago Chevrolet icon, Mr. Ed Schoenthaler.
“I'd come to work on Monday and the lot would be jammed with big horsepower cars that had gone to the track on Sunday and already needed repair and tuning,” recalled Koski. With his finger on the pulse of power, he wanted something sporty to zip around in. His heart was set on a 1967 L79 V-8 Chevelle and just as he was all set to place the order, a local bud went and got the same exact car, right down to the color. Koski went back to the drawing board, moving his auto affections to the terrific track star, the Camaro Z-28. A salesman pal hooked him up and on Memorial Day of 1968, his freshly built example arrived.
While the clued-in crew at Brigance knew the mystic of the motor, few others did.
“On the drive home, I stopped at a local station to refuel,” Koski said. “The attendant came out, looked the car over and finally asked, 'What's a Z-2-B?'” Joe kept driving after that humorous incident, using the car regularly and racing, too.
“I competed in E Pure Stock. You'd remove the hub caps, trim rings and using street tires, off you went,” he said.
When he wasn't racing, he was cruising, motoring to local drive-in legends like Topp's and Skip's, grabbing a burger or two and checking out the local scenes.
In 1972, Joe began his teaching career, working as a math teacher at Thomas Middle School in Arlington Heights. The enthusiast educator commuted one year in the Camaro before realizing the numbers didn't add up to be using it year-round. “With the stock tires and the engine's power, I'd spin on frost,” recalls Koski, who bought a '57 Chevy wagon for $150 to use more regularly. In 1976, Joe got married and with the focus on the new family (and avoiding the winter woes), started driving the Z less. While it sat parked, as far back as from Day 1, he never dreamed of getting rid of it.
“My friends would go from fast car to fast car, one after another,” recalled Koski. “Even as a single guy racing, I always said I'd have the car long enough for my kids to be driving it. Sure enough, today, they are.”
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