Ex-Hoopster John Zych Jr. Seeks First NEMA Victory
Brockton, MA — Northeastern Midget Association driver John Zych Jr. is not the kind of guy to turn away from a challenge. Right now, it’s getting that elusive first victory.
Although he “hopes to get some practice time” before NEMA returns to action at Monadnock Speedway on May 29, he is “very optimistic” about the coming season. “We have learned a lot and our equipment (a Mazda/Hawk) is as good as ever,” he says.
He is part of NEMA’s Mazda group, joining Russ Stoehr and rookie Jesse State.
Zych came to racing from basketball. After playing at Blackstone-Millville Regional High in Massachusetts, he made the team at Lemoyne College in Syracuse, NY as a walk on (non scholarship player).
Earning varsity status as a walk on is very difficult. “I was the only walk on my junior and senior years,” he recalls, who earned a letter both seasons.
Zych followed his father John Sr. to Lemoyne, the latter, a Syracuse native, a standout in both baseball and basketball. Racing was something else. “All we knew is what we saw at the track,” he says.
Still, ‘driving was something I always wanted to do,” and “after convincing my dad it was the right thing ” Zych was driving at Whip City Speedway. Two years later they came to NEMA in a car purchased from Russ Stoehr.
“Basketball and racing are similar in that they are both competition,” Zych, 26, explains. “You want to be better, you want to be successful and it demands a lot of focus, a lot of time and work.”
He is “very happy” for Chris Leonard who scored his first win at the season-opening Waterford Speedbowl Blast Off. “I know how hard it is to get it,” he says.
Zych has a career best fourth at Monadnock last year, actually leading a fair share of the feature before a series of cautions. He also had a sixth at Monadnock.
Confronted with late-season problems, he and his car owner Dad wound up 10th in 2009 points.
Sources: Pete Zanardi/NEMA PR