Jeff T. Kobylski's Eulogy

[John Brown]

Jeff's Funeral was today which ended and closed the story of a life that was too short. I gave the eulogy last night and wanted to share it for those of you in the Racing Community who could not make the funeral...


Jeff T. Kobylski, innovator, engine builder, cylinder head porter, engineer, and successful business owner of Modern Cylinder Head passed from us on Sunday. He was a rare talent that grew up as a normal kid in the Detroit area with a passion for cars and how to make them go faster. Jeff and his brother Bob grew up down the street from us and met my sons in middle school. Since they lost their father at an early age, he and his brother Bob would often come over the house with their posse of friends to hang with my son Brian. They loved to come to the track with my sons and their love of racing grew with every outing. I guess that hanging around my house sparked the passion for racing and kept Jeff and Bob out of trouble. They would come over to the house to talk about fast cars and whatever else high school teenagers would talk about for hours on end and many times I would give them fatherly advice on various subjects. They would also come to see how Brian’s 440 Six Pack Challenger project was coming along and eventually used some of the knowledge they gained to make Bob’s car (a black ’78 Chrysler Córdoba) go faster. That car did not last that long because it got rear ended by an old granny on the way to high school one day.

Jeff was always very interested in engine technology and we all talked about that subject for many hours on end which naturally included drag racing. He always took a keen interest of the inner workings of engines always asking many questions about the relationship certain parts and how each one contributed to making power. After they all graduated from Sterling Heights High they all started pursuing their careers. Jeff went to college while at the same time working at Tile distributor, he actually tiled bathrooms! Then Jeff got his break working with what he really loved to do, working in a Racing cylinder head porting shop where he started learning his craft. He made enough money to buy his first real high performance car that he got to tune up, a ‘88 5.0L Mustang GT and he proceeded to beat that car into submission constantly improving its performance until the whole uni-body started coming apart. Jeff quit his job after a while at cylinder head shop and started porting cylinder heads in his friends two car garage. After gaining more experience on his own Jeff opened a small facility in Clinton Township where he and Bob started machining and porting cylinder heads, this was the birth of Modern Cylinder Head.

Jeff honed his craft for many years gaining notoriety in the high performance business first porting heads for the fast street/strip cars and eventually to NHRA and IHRA class racing cars. His business grew and He and Bob moved into a much larger facility so they could perform many more machining operations themselves. Jeff and Bob became accomplished machinists, fabricators, and welders. Jeff and Bob never stopped improving their techniques to gain more power out of these high performance engines and eventually acquired CNC machinery to computerize and port large quantities of high performance heads.

Jeff’s passion for racing peaked when he took on the task of competing in NHRA’s SS/AH Super Stock class where he had a following of Hemi Racers that wanted the parts and pieces that he and Bob developed and sold. Jeff was runner up at the 2011 Dutch Classic Hemi Shootout and won the SS/AH class eliminations this past September at the Columbus Sports Nationals. Jeff was a heck of a great driver too, just ask some of the racers about his reaction times when they went up against him at the track.

He and Bob are responsible for making thousands of racing and high performance enthusiasts from around the world go fast.

Not bad at all for two kids down the block!

[FINESPLINE]

Thanks for the insight on Jeff,s life. may God rest his soul.

[jaythorne]

Thank you John..........rip Jeff

[Nitro Joe Jackson]

really nice job, RIP Jeff, hate to see some of the good guys in the sport leave us so young

[SSDA Hemi]

Very nice Eulogy John.

You will be greatly missed. Rest in peace Jeff...

[M&M Motorsports]

Thanks for sharing John. RIP Jeff, Thanks for everything.

[Lynn A McCarty]

I love Jeff and Bob. They remind me of Stacy and I. I spent a lot of time in Detroit working for GM, Ford, & Chrysler as a consultant & strolled into their shop one day. They were such great people and serious hard workers. Godbless you Jeff! Bob you can go racing with us anytime! I consider it a pleasure to have known them both.

Very nice eulogy John, thank you for sharing and thank you for stepping in when those boys needed you. It is what this country and its people are all about.

I called Jeff in the middle of a design phase for my cylinder heads and he had an OEM set in his shop from George Delorean. He was happy to give me his opinion & it was spot on. Truely a gentleman. He also warned me of a possible quality issue that I addressed imediately and avoided. Top notch fellow(s).

[Rob Petrie E395]

I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person but did talk to him on the phone. I bought a set of heads from another racer that he did. I called to see if they needed anything and any details he could give me. Ended up being on the phone with him for a long time and he was very generous with info and helping me with my project. He did not care that I had not got them directly from him he just wanted to help. Super nice guy in my book and definitely a loss to our sport.