Csaba "Chubba" Szekelyhidi passed earlier this year, after a stay in a nursing home, after suffering a massive stroke outside his hi-performance car shop in the Chicago south suburbs.
Csaba and I had some epic battles, on and off the track, but I had nothing but the highest level of respect
for his abilities in slot racing, especially for his knack to think outside the box.
In his Pro racing heyday I was always envious of his ability to operate at a very high level, with very little sleep.
In the middle of the week, he could stay up all night, hand cutting steel center sections, and building beautiful chassis, get 2 hours of sleep, and jump on the train to work at his job, in Downtown Chicago, as an architect.
He was a tireless promoter for Jerry Kulich and Grand Raceway, and highly instrumental in the design
and construction of the World class King tracks there.
Always a good friend of famous track builder Hasse Nilsson, Csaba convinced Hasse to get away from
double deck track construction, designing the single deck construction, with easily adjustable triangular legs, that is the standard today.
Anyone who has ever moved a large slot car track, can thank Csaba that it's not an even more back-breaking job than it already is.
Csaba, also known as Zeke, was a long time member of Team Camen, and wore the purple with pride.
He was the 1984 USRA Group 7 Champion and a two-time Group 7 King track single lap world record holder.
Like other great racers of his day, his accolades in slot racing were only cut short by drifting into other forms of motorsports racing.
Csaba's became a 1/1 racer, with his specialty being the modification of Fieros.
May Casba rest in peace.
