A lifelong passion:
According to Joe’s mom and dad, from the moment Joe could talk he expressed a love of drag racing. From riding in his dad’s 59 Corvette as a toddler, helping work on the family stock eliminator car, driving his go cart, to standing at the fence to watch the nitro cars at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in New Jersey; Joe was all about racing. When his dad had to sell the race car in order to make ends meet, Joe knew that he would find a way to get back into drag racing somehow in the future.
When Joe was 15, he bought a 1969 Camaro as a project car. Working at a gas station generated the funds needed to upgrade the 10 bolt differential to a 12 bolt posi-traction rear, add disc brakes up front, beef up the turbo 350 transmission, as well as new springs and shocks. Joe did all the work himself. When the opportunity to buy a 1970 Chevelle with a 383 stroker engine and a 4 speed came along, Joe new it was time to put the Camaro project on hold. The Chevelle was the first car that he took down the venerable strip at Raceway Park. Opening day in 1988, at Joe’s first ever drag race he went all the way to the final round in the Street Eliminator class and ended up as runner up in a double break out race. His best reaction time was a stellar .005 light. From that day on, Joe knew he was destined for success on the drag strip.
A musical interlude:
While Joe inherited the “Nitro Gene” from his father, his love of music was certainly passed down from his mother. A talented singer and guitar player herself, Joe’s mother encouraged and instructed his early musical endeavors. By the time Joe graduated high school, his band had begun playing several rock clubs across New Jersey. The success of the band attracted the attention of his fellow musicians and led to numerous invitations to join additional bands. At one point, Joe was in 5 cover bands simultaneously while also working as a “hired gun” doing recording sessions for numerous local artists. Although his time pursuing a career in music did not result in a multi-platinum recording contract the experience in “show business” was a valuable teacher. Joe learned how to be comfortable in front of large crowds, connecting with an audience, and building a fan base. Building business relationships with band mates, club owners, recording engineers, and producers created a solid foundation for his goal to become a professional drag racer.
Love walks in:
“And then you sense a change, nothing feels the same, all your dreams are strange, love comes walking in…” Just like the lyrics from the Van Halen song, Joe knew life would never be the same after he began dating his soon to be wife Jen. Joe decided he wanted to have a more stable source of income than music could provide so he started a landscape contracting business. Between 1995 and 2000, Joe and Jen were married and had their first 2 children. Never one to do something halfhearted; Joe took business classes, studies landscape architecture, and learned about horticultural management. While he enjoyed the creative aspects of landscape construction, he soon discovered that business building and marketing were more exciting to pursue.
Back on the track:
Even when Joe spent time away from racing, he would still go to NHRA national events as a spectator. While he had hoped that somehow he could return to competition, it seemed like it was impossible. With a young family, the responsibility of growing a business, making payroll, saving to buy a house, drag racing seemed like it was just not part of the equation. When the opportunity came to buy a beat up 1970 Nova from his brother in law, Joe jumped in anyway. Like many restoration projects, what began as a mild street build quickly became a long term project with the intention of racing in local brackets and Super Gas with a 9 second door car. With a limited budget, the project was taking a very long time to complete. Even though the car was far from being finished, Joe went to Doug Foley’s drag racing school on September 10th and 11th, 2001.
Terrible and wonderful Tuesday:
September 11, 2001 began with excitement and anticipation for Joe. Beautiful blue skies as far as his eyes could see over Atco Raceway provided the perfect weather for a lifelong goal of earning his NHRA competition license. The wonderful feeling changed immediately when track owner Joe Sway rode over to Foley’s class and shouted, “Turn on the TV in your motorhome! Someone flew a plane into the World Trade Center!” The class (including NHRA pro stock motorcycle rider Chip Ellis) watched in horror as the second plane hit, and eventually both towers fell. Wondering about the fate of family and friends, Joe thought about postponing his final runs. His next thought was, I am going to get this done. Today. After 3 more successful trips down the quarter mile, Joe earned his first NHRA license. Since that day, nothing has been able to distract Joe once the car is fired up and he begins his driving routine.
A door opens to drive a fast car without doors:
Over the next few years, Joe rented Doug Foley’s door car to enter several bracket races to gain more seat time. He also went to Jim Harrington’s drag race school to earn his dragster license. While his Nova was nearing completion Joe received an offer he could not refuse. Former top fuel racer Mike Gillespie (a friend of Joe’s father) had just purchased a Fiat bodied nostalgia altered and needed a driver. The new team brought the car to Atco Raceway on October 31, 2006 and made several test runs with the help and guidance of Jim Harrington. By the end of the day, Joe had reset his career best Elapsed times 4 times ending up with a best run of 7.64 seconds at 182 MPH. The team felt confident that their 2007 season would be fun, and planned to run with the nostalgia racing club called the North East Timing Organization.
Over the winter it was discovered that Mike Gillespie’s cancer had returned, and Joe’s dad Chuck had been diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).