John J. "Jack" Deren, 92, of Carbondale, PA, died Friday, November 6, 2026.

Born in Hazleton, PA, in 1934, he was the only child of the late John J. and Josephine "Feenie" (Prossic/Praszek) Deren. He attended parochial school in Hazleton, and graduated from Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia in 1952, after his parents moved to the city during W.W. II to find work. He was awarded a two-year full scholarship to study machine design at Spring Garden Institute of Technology. This led him to jobs with Burroughs Research Center, Yale & Towne, and Philco. In the 1950s, he spent eight years with the Navy Air Reserve, VP933/936 out of Willow Grove NAS.

After his family moved to Norristown, and while still working full time, Jack became involved in the sports-car scene, "hanging around" Otto Linton's Speedcraft and Leroy Gane's Updraught Enterprises in the late 1950s. He was lucky to be part of the early days of road racing in the United States: towing a Porsche (on an open trailer!) to California for Bob Holbert, lending a hand in the building of Roger Penske's controversial Zerex Special, occasionally helping out the Penske crew at events such as Nassau Speed Week, Watkins Glen, and the Giants Despair Hill Climb.

Rather than join the Penske team full time after Roger retired from driving, Jack decided he'd rather work for himself, and in 1965 joined Scranton businessman/racer Oscar Koveleski at Auto World Enterprises as his mechanic. In September 1969, his shop on Keyser Avenue in Scranton was destroyed in a natural gas explosion; Jack spent 10 weeks in the hospital, burned over 75% of his body. Auto World employee Evelynn "Terri" Thompson came to see him daily—two years later they were married, and she was his partner in life and racing until her death in 2010. Everyone from Stirling Moss on down knew Jack and Terri.

Until late 1971, Oscar and Jack were fixtures in U.S. road racing, most notably with Oscar's #54 Can-Am McLaren. After Oscar retired from racing, Jack went on to prepare cars for other racers, like the Miller brothers in Trans-Am, then for David Cowart and Kenper Miller in IMSA—their Red Lobster-sponsored BMW M1 was IMSA's GTO class champion in 1981, and Jack was named IMSA's "Mechanic of the Year." He left professional racing in the mid-1980s, and concentrated on preparing, maintaining, and restoring cars in his shop in Carbondale for the newly popular vintage racing events. Jack was asked by BMW NA to prepare nine of their vintage race cars for BMW Motorsports' 20th anniversary event in 1992. He continued going as a spectator to Laguna Seca, Elkhart Lake, Watkins Glen, and especially the Amelia Island Concours, where he knew he'd meet his old racing friends.

Jack is survived by his dearest friend and companion, Sarah Carr, of Tunkhannock, PA; cousins and other relatives; and many friends in Carbondale and in the racing world.

A viewing will be held Wednesday, November 11, 2026 from 5-7 p.m. at Carmine J. & Louis C. Parise Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc., 89 Farview Street, Carbondale, PA.

A memorial gathering will be scheduled at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC), 610 S. Decatur St., Watkins Glen, NY 14891.