ARIZONA REGION – Victor Malchesky claims status as a native Arizonan. Truth be told, he was born in Massachusetts. But the family moved here when he was two. Close enough! He did elementary school in Marana, junior high & high school in Mesa, and college at Arizona State University, leading to a bachelor's degree in Business Processes Management.
Victor attributes his love of cars to his father, who raced cars (notably MGs), built race motors for guys on the east cost, and took him to race events. He even has some video that his father took at PIR in the 1970s. During high school, he went to an autocross at Tempe Diablo Stadium to watch some of his mother's co-workers field their Porsche 914. He was driving a 1970 Pontiac LeMans at the time, and wanted to take it out on course, but didn't have the chance.
Shortly after that he got a 1980 RX7 and learned to drive a manual transmission while his father provided some pointers about racing. But he wasn't competing yet. In 1992 he bought his 1986 CRX. Victor stayed away from what was considered cool – loud stereos, cut springs, ground effects – and installed performance parts from a company called Lightspeed. He was inspired by Bob Endicott's development of his CSP CRX.
Victor finally autocrossed in 1994, taking third in that summer series.
It was then that he met Neil Kuhns, a national champion in his CSP CRX.
He ran with Neil in CSP for a while, but now competes in SM2.
He's taken numerous trophies.
And he's kept them all, from that third place trophy in 1994 to a first in SM2
in the Spring 2006 series, on a trophy wall in his den.
He's done a few divisionals in Arizona and California, but has yet to satisfy
the itch to go to Topeka for Nationals.
Victor spent something over a year doing course design with Neil Kuhns, and also served some time as our equipment manager. He returned to doing course design when we relocated to Firebird, and is currently our Chief Course Designer.
As the saga continues, his CRX continues to play a central role. It was, after all, featured in the the November 2001 and June 2002 issues of Sport Compact Car magazine. And now in the November 2006 issue of the Pylon Press. Wow!
Victor speaks happily of the welcome he's had from Arizona Region autocrossers, making special mention of Neil Kuhns and Dan & Nancy Maloney. And of his wife Heather's support of his automotive interests.
Hobbies aside from autocrossing include pistol target shooting (which he used to do competively with his father), riding his Harley, and playing video games. He works as the Arizona State Safety Coordinator for Swift Transportation which, he notes, is the largest truck carrier in the United States.