Thu, 13 Oct 2011, 11:02 PM A Lesson Learned

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2011 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Steven Dziorny

As we grow up there are a lot of life's lessons to be learned. Among them are little tidbits like life's not always fair, good guys don't always finish first and no matter how hard you try sometimes things just don't work out the way you had hoped or expected. And then there is the hardest and most painful lesson of all and that is that all of us will, eventually, pass away. As we grow and mature we learn to accept these things and we realize that all of us will face frustrations, setbacks and road blocks during our life. We also come to accept the fact that some of those who are closest to us will not be with us forever. That little fact of life is the hardest to accept and it's especially hard for the younger members of our families. At an early age they aren't prepared to lose someone close to them and they often don't know how to handle it or how to control their emotions. That's the case with sixteen year old Steven Dziorny who recently lost his grandmother, and while Steven's name may not be familiar to you, his grandmother's will be.

Judy McCormack

Judy McCormack passed away in August at the age of 68. Judy was the matriarch of a great family that included three children and nine grandchildren. Her obituary listed her hobbies as "spending time with her grandchildren, gardening and drag racing." Two of those three are pretty standard for a grandmother, but there aren't a lot of them who list drag racing as a hobby. And truth be known, drag racing was more than just a casual pastime for Judy because she spent a lot of time at the races and racing on the track. Among her accomplishments were several class titles including a couple at the U.S. Nationals. She did most of her racing in the last decade in a Dodge Dakota truck, one that competed in the fuel-injected class when it was new and later switched to run in K/SA. In the more recent years she also spent time watching two of her children, Jennifer and Jason, racing their vehicles, Jennifer in her own truck, a 1996 Dakota pickup and Jason in his unique and very impressive A/S Hemi Plymouth. She also got to combine two of her favorite things when her grandson, Steven, started racing. "I come from a family that loves drag racing," Steven said. "When I was only a couple of weeks old my mom took me to the races and I've been going ever since." And while he can't actually remember that first trip to the races he does remember travelling all over with his family. "I went to the Mopar Mile High Nationals when I was very young, I know that, and we went to a lot of other races together."

Dziorny vs. Adam Davis in Stock final at SportsNationals.

With a family steeped in the racing tradition it should come as no surprise that Steven would eventually become a driver. "I started racing when I was nine," he said. "I did a lot of racing in the Jr. Dragster cars and I won a couple of races." From there it was a logical progression to the big cars, and in the early part of 2011 he started driving the truck that his grandmother had driven for so many years. "It's a 2003 Dodge Dakota pickup with a 360 cubic inch engine and an automatic transmission. My grandmother gave me some advice about driving it," he said. "She told me to use the brakes as much as the gas at the end of the track. Once you get off the throttle in this truck it really doesn't pick up speed again very quickly." Grandmother was a good teacher and it appears that Steven was a good student, since a few races into his rookie season he went the distance and won the Jegs Sportsnationals at National Trail Raceway. "It was pretty cool and I had a great time at the race. And to be driving the truck that my grandmother drove made it very emotional. I won the race exactly one month after she passed away." Steven was very close with his grandmother and he says that they used to see each other every day. "It was tough to see her sick, especially those last two weeks, and to drive her truck was special and hard at the same time."

Steven Dziorny

Steven is currently a senior at Oxford High School in Michigan, and in addition to the usual classes that a sixteen year old takes, he also has a class in automotive technology. "I really enjoy cars and I love the mechanical aspect of them. It helps me in racing, too." Following his graduation next year Steven will go to WyoTech in Pennsylvania. "They have the best automotive program around, and it's not too far from home so I'll still be able to race." With that in mind he says that his family is going to get a "stacker" trailer so that it's more economical to go racing. "In a perfect world I'll be able to go to school during the week and race on the weekend." Of course in a perfect world his grandmother would still be there to watch him grow, graduate and race some more.

Jason McCormack

With the NHRA season winding down, especially division and national events in the Division 3 area where he races, Steven will try to get a few weeks of racing behind the wheel of the truck before the cold weather sets in. "As we're talking I'm pulling into Milan Dragway for a bracket race," he said on the phone. "I've never done any bracket racing so it should be interesting. I just enjoy racing, and the fact that I get to race my grandmother's truck just makes every race special. I only ran five races this year including the Sportsnationals and I'd like to do more next year." And when asked if he would like to take a spin in Uncle Jason's 426 Hemi-powered Belvedere he didn't hesitate. "Sure I would, but I don't think it will happen because he's pretty protective of that car."

At sixteen Steven seems to be handling a difficult situation very well, and as he grows and matures he'll discover that as much as we try, things don't always go our way. But with the support of his mom, uncle Jason and the rest of the family he'll do very well on and off the track and that would make his grandmother very proud.