Shocking news trickled into the Snow Goer offices this week about the passing of a soft spoken giant in the snowmobile and powersports performance world.
Jim Czekala, the well-respected and popular man behind the dynamometer at DynoTech Research in Batavia, New York, died Monday, September 23, after a brief illness. He was 75.
Dozens of posts on social media and message boards have appeared since word of Czekala’s passing has spread. Virtually every one of them mentioned how respected Czekala’s dyno reports were, and how much he meant to the performance community.
Czekala’s DynoTech Research printed newsletter that gave dyno reports, tuning tips and other information were a lifeline to many within the racing and high-performance community through the 1990s and beyond. Especially in the Northeast, his shop in Batavia was the place where many racers and engine builders would go to check the output of their creations, and then tune to its powerband on the dyno. In fact, many would come from across the country to test and tune at his shop.
His son, sports announcer Marty Czekala, told us in an online exchange, “Dad loved his family, his friends that were like brothers to him and he loved racing,” Marty Czekala said, “but he loved snowmobiles the most, from dyno testing to make them faster to attending snowmobile events like the snocross race in Salamanca to the Snodeo at Old Forge.”
Snowmobile Hall of Famer Tim Bender first told us about the passing of his good friend Czekala. In an online post, Bender wrote about how he met Czekala at a grass drag race in 1984, and shortly thereafter Czekala designed a dyno to test a snowmobile engine without removing the powerplant from the chassis.
“From then on, we were at the dyno with sleds like a 56 HP Phazer to the 190 HP F3 Vmax 4 engine to the four-cylinder 350 HP Four Play drag sled to the 172 HP Hentges Open snocross sleds,” Bender wrote. “Jim’s hand was in every sled that I build since 1985.”
Bender continued, “One of Jim’s biggest contributions to the industry was he kept the whole industry honest with DynoTech. The snowmobile world lost one of the good ones today! I am proud to say he was a good friend of mine and just an all around good guy.” The full post from Bender is posted below.
Czekala Was Loved And Respected
Others in the snowmobile racing community also shared their thoughts.
Chris Riley, the man behind the popular Super Sled Online Facebook group and online radio program, said, “Jim was a good friend to us here for many years, as well as a mentor when it came to discussing anything dyno related,” Riley wrote. “The guy was a genius, and his loss will be felt by many.”
In his Facebook post, Karl Crowell of Pennsylvania-based Crowell Machine shared a story of Czekala’s kindness and then wrote, “”I am glad to have crossed his path in life, and am sorry to hear of his passing. He was a fantastic influence on hundreds of gearheads.”
Here at Snow Goer, we worked with Czekala for a few years after the now departed American Snowmobiler publication stepped away from the Old Forge Shootout and we became the media partner for the event for a couple of years. We found his friendliness and integrity both exceeded even all of the great things we had heard about him.
Editor’s Note: Every Snow Goer issue includes in-depth sled reports and comparisons, aftermarket gear and accessories reviews, riding destination articles, do-it-yourself repair information, snowmobile technology and more. Subscribe to Snow Goer now to receive print and/or digital issues.
