Remembering Holly Golembiewski

Holly Golembiewski - Facebook

Last week the NASCAR community lost a friend with the untimely death of Holly Golembiewski. Holly was a radio personality and writer for the site Drafting the Circuits. Several of our representatives had the fortune of knowing Holly, and by all accounts she was a truly amazing woman. Skirts and Scuffs intern Kaitlyn Kochanski was a student of Ms. Golembiewski and penned this tribute to her friend and teacher. Our condolences to the friends, students, colleagues and family of this talented and inspiring woman. 

This past week I lost a very inspirational person in my life. Some of you may know her as radio personality Kate Moss, but I knew her as Ms. Golembiewski. Ms. G was my child care teacher at Dallas High School, but I thought of her as a friend. Everyday I looked forward to her class and the conversations we would have. I signed up for two of her classes for my upcoming senior year and know it won’t be the same without her. 

On the last day of this past school year I went even though I could have stayed home. I went that day just to talk to her and help her clean out her room for the summer. When I first walked in she was listening to her prerecorded show for the country station Nash FM. Luke Bryan was on and we started talking about him. We both were going to his concert this summer. I told her that he was the only country singer I liked. After his song was over, she offered to change it for me even though it was her own show. I said she could leave it on. That day her parents also came to help clean. She had an interview with the President of Pocono Raceway, Brandon Igdalsky, that she wanted them to hear.

I always enjoyed talking to her because we were both huge NASCAR fans. We also liked some of the same drivers. There aren't many people in our school who like NASCAR, so it was nice having someone else to talk to about the sport. We would talk about NASCAR every chance we got. She shared her stories about the races she had covered and how incredible the media center was after the checkered flag. When I found out that I was going to Atlanta to meet my favorite driver, I could not wait to tell her. I think she was just as excited as I was. That’s just the kind of person she was. It was Ms. G who inspired me to write about my passion for NASCAR and recommended I contact Skirts and Scuffs to see if there were any openings.

On the Thursday before Pocono, I talked to her at the Luke Bryan concert. We talked about how the summer has flown by and how school would be starting soon. The last thing she told me was, “Enjoy the rest of your summer, if you ever need anything just email me and enjoy the concert.” I am very glad I stopped to talk to her that night.

Ms. G passed away August 4, 2015. When I heard the news I could not believe what had happened. I was in complete shock. I had just talked to her a few days before and she'd just been at Pocono covering the race.

As difficult as it was to write this article, it also reminded me of a lot of great times. I will always remember Ms. G as someone who encouraged me to express myself.

_________________

Skirts and Scuffs intern Kaitlyn Kochanski lives in Shavertown, Pennsylvania about 45 minutes way from Pocono Raceway. Her love of NASCAR has taken her to many races at Pocono and even to a couple at Atlanta Motor Speedway. She loves watching the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Kaitlyn's other interests include track and field, the New York Yankees, rock music and classic cars.