2nd Annual Model Car Show March 27-29; Koveleski Speaks about Auto World on March 28 The International Motor Racing Research Center  is hosting its 2nd Annual Model Car Show Friday through Sunday, March 27-29. Oscar Koveleski, co-creator of Auto World, the beacon for model car hobbyists of all ages in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, will speak at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. Admission to the show and to the talk is free. Show hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Upwards of 30 exhibitors are expected, with some exhibits changing each day. A new feature this year is People's Choice Awards, organized by Keystone Cards of Sayre, Pa. Owner Rich Chernosky is moving the awards and his annual Model Car Concours d'Elegance from the September Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival to the Racing Research Center's spring show. Koveleski's Saturday talk will focus on Auto World, the mail order company he co-founded in 1958, after growing up in his father's Scranton, Pa., hobby shop and model manufacturing business. Koveleski says the first catalogs, in 1959, were produced by him and his wife, Elaine, on their kitchen table and an ironing board. The annual Auto World catalogs are vividly and fondly remembered by subscribers. "They were filled from cover to cover with slot cars and go-fast parts, as well as model cars, supplies, and full-length articles on everything from tuning slot cars to detailing plastic models," Kurt Ernst wrote for Hemmings Daily last year. "The 30th edition of the catalog, issued in 1978, featured stories on how to build an HO-scale replica of Watkins Glen and how to craft HO-scale car bodies out of heavy-duty aluminum foil, ideal for those seeking added rubbing-is-racing realism." Until the last catalog was published in 1991, Koveleski was the go-to guy on slot cars, model cars and radio-controlled cars as he promoted events all over the United States and internationally. That is, when he wasn't earning victories in racing series such as Can-Am. Koveleski's talk is presented as part of the Racing Research Center's Center Conversations series. To read an interview with Koveleski about Auto World, click here.  Oscar Koveleski was devoted to promoting the model car hobby, especially through model-building contests. This magazine ad from March 1971 announces a contest to build a Can-Am car and win a day in the pits with race champion Koveleski.
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