A Tribute To Jeff Krosnoff
From Two Hearts
By Debbie Charvat and Sue Harmer
of Scorpion Sports Marketing

©1996 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.

For knowing someone for such a short time, it is amazing the loss that we feel. Jeff was one of those few guys that when you met him, he instantly became your friend. Never once at the track was he too busy to stop and say "Hi" to the people he knew. Most of the time, he would even go out of his way to do it.

We really talked to him at length for the first time at the U.S. 500. He spoke at the Winners' Circle Meeting along with Bobby Rahal. So far, this has been the most entertaining meeting this year. He was so funny, making wise-cracks most of the time, before becoming serious with an answer to a question. He even made the comment that he didn't realize how old Bobby Rahal was, and then began to refer to him as Mr. Rahal for the rest of the time they were up there together.

After the meeting we went to find Jeff because he was someone we knew that we wanted to get to know. We told him how funny he was at the meeting and he said that he didn't know what had gotten into him, but he felt stupid after it was all over with. We assured him that he should not feel stupid - we thought he was hilarious. And so started a friendship that grew with every meeting.

In Milwaukee, we gave Jeff a picture that we had taken in Miami - one of our favorites as he was caught squatting down on the pitwall concentrating on something or someone. We blew the picture up and gave it to him in Milwaukee. He kept saying that the picture itself was good, but the subject sure looked stupid - typical for Jeff.

We first saw him in Toronto as he was going to qualifying. He was on his scooter with his wife Tracy behind him. When he saw us, he swerved over and asked us where we had been and to come over during the afternoon and try to catch him between meetings. Unfortunately, we never caught him but, he said to come over after the race if we did not see him on Saturday.

Obviously, that was not to be.

We did see him on the parade lap and that is the last picture we will ever take of him. He looked up and as we were standing along the fence, he pointed at us and waved.

Goodbye, Jeff.

Many people have said they didn't know much about his background. His racing began in 1983 with the Jim Russell Racing School for Formula Fords. That year he won the Gilles Villeneuve Rookie Award.

From 1984 through 1986, he raced in the Mazda Series winning four poles and three races. He won the series "Star of Tomorrow Award" in 1986.

In 1987, Jeff ran in the Atlantic Championship series finishing sixth after racing in only six of twelve events.

1988 brought him to race for the Nissan-factory SCCA Racetruck team placing second in points. He was unanimously voted as the Racetruck Rookie of the Year.

In 1989, Jeff made a move to Japan to run in the Japanese Formula 3000. He raced in this series through 1995.

In 1990, he won the "America's Choice Award".

In 1991, he began to add other racing series to his career:

• TWR-Jaguar in Japanese Group C
• LeMans, Group C class at Daytona 24 Hours
• Japanese Group C Championship with NISMO team
• World SportsCar Championship TWR-Jaguar in Japanese Group C

I can also say that he was very excited to be a part of the PPG IndyCar World Series. Every race he finished in the new Toyota program was an unbelievable accomplishment in his mind.

From the first time we watched him drive, we knew he was going to be something special - and we were right. He was and will always be someone special in our lives, we are honored to have known him at all, let alone to call him a friend.

Jeff - you will be missed more than you will ever know - your humor and your boyishness touched our hearts forever.