Koteles keeps up family’s racing success

By JEFF OLIVER

MVI Sports

Cody Koteles called his rookie season as a stock car racer a success.

And that’s probably an understatement since he took three first-place finishes racing in the Hobby Stocks division this summer at popular Pittsburgh Motor Speedway.

Koteles, 21, of Stockdale finished strong with victories in his last two races before racing at the track finished for the season a few weeks ago.

“I thought we had a fantastic season,” said Koteles. “I mean, when you race, you always race to win. That’s why you are in it … to win. But in my rookie season, to win three times is pretty good. We had our ups and downs over the course of the season and with the pandemic I wasn’t even sure if we would finish the season. So, yeah, I thought it was a great year.”

Koteles actually made his debut sporadically a year ago in Hobby Stocks with his converted 1985 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. But success managed to come fairly fast in his first full season.

Koteles gets his love for stock car racing naturally. 

After all, his father, grandfather and uncle spent many years in the sport and he pretty much grew up around the race track and garage.

His grandfather, Drew Koteles, began racing in the 1980s at Motordrome in Smithton.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I was around racing,” Koteles said with a smile. “I got bitten by the bug early. I couldn’t wait to race.”

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