Performance Tech Mourns Loss of Longtime Crew Chief Parzych

DEERFIELD BEACH, Florida (Aug. 7, 2018) - Performance Tech Motorsports said goodbye to beloved crew chief and friend Frankie Parzych after his sudden passing Monday, Aug. 6 from a heart attack. Parzych was 58.

Parzych was embedded into Performance Tech Motorsports as crew chief and mechanic since the team’s beginning. He joined friend and Team Principal Brent O’Neill in the early 1990s as a Performance Tech customer but stayed on as help for the race shop that became an IMSA sports car racing mainstay. He was working as a landscape architect but looking for an excuse to keep his passion for racing alive. Now the team boasts 33 years of success that include winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen.

“Frankie was my best friend and my brother,” O’Neill said. “Performance Tech is a family. Losing Frankie is a loss to everyone who has ever been a part of this family, regardless of job or title. He will be missed by everyone. This team would not have had the success it had without his genuine care and hard work.

“He always had a smile on his face, and he made everyone else smile, too. He was a hard worker; he’d do anything for anybody. We’ve supported a lot of kids and people over the years, every charity event you can think of he was there to support them. He was always there for us, no matter what the situation. 

“This was so sudden. We’re all going to be numb for a while. I’m so proud of my daughter Danielle for rushing him to the hospital. She’s a strong girl, and he loved her like she was his daughter. Knowing she was there for him at that moment is something I’ll have comfort in through this time.”

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Parzych began building his legacy, quite literally, in New York City at age 18 as a construction worker. He left his fingerprints on notable buildings such as the Marriott Marquis in Times Square and the Ted Weiss Federal Building. He also discovered the African burial site that would later become the African Burial Ground National Monument in lower Manhattan.

Parzych is survived by his mother, Gail; sisters, Kim and Georgia; brothers, Chris and John; and girlfriend, Mary Lou. Parzych has extended family that goes beyond blood, as he also leaves behind a racing community that has known his legend for years and will remember it for years to come.

Condolences can be sent to 3000 SW 15 St., Suite D Deerfield Beach, FL 33442. Details for the funeral and memorial will be released on a later date.