“Tell us more Dad,” the children would inquire. They would be intoxicated again and again by the high octave fumes that would fill the air while their fathers Gino and Leno would tell them racing stories that echoed from the past into their imaginations.
Gino will sign off on admitting his school marks might have been higher if his passion for racing wasn't stronger than his homework. While others might be diligently preparing for school, Gino was diligently preparing his car for
Saturday’s annual slot car racing. Adjusting and oiling his car just right, perhaps a few test runs, and his school marks would slide down a bit. Gino reasoned that his passion for racing would lead him into some exciting moments, moments that would far exceed what an extra mark or two would accomplish in class. Brother Leno and graphic artist extraordinaire Giuseppe could walk and chew gum at the same time and would hold diplomas in their chosen professions while still possessing a rabid passion for racing. So maybe it was fitting that Gino would hold the prize for the ultimate moment as a race fan, a moment that still fills his mind as he tosses and turns on a sleepless night.
Together these three fervent race fans would go on racing adventures seeing heart stimulating things that mere couch potatoes would never see. Sure, along with such adventures came an accident and a bust! Things like this are to be expected when you are a pursuing all the action racing can provide.
Yes, the accident. The accident would never had occurred if the three hadn't bought an Italian Birel go-kart to race at Whitby’s Goodwood race track. With excitement feeding their veins, their dreams of glory literally crashed during one glorious day of mayhem. Giuseppe, going full throttle, ran off the track and then managed to bring it back onto the track to t-bone Paul Tracy. Yes, that Paul Tracy, who would go on to become Canada’s hope of racing glory. Tracy’s Dad was not too appreciative of Giuseppe’s magnificent maneuvering to get the kart stable and back on the track. Perhaps what really set Paul’s Dad off was the fact the Giuseppe was running last and Paul had the lead!
Soon the passion for racing would move beyond slot and kart racing and progress to watching live professional racing. But when you’re young and full of passion, just sitting in the stands is best left to other race fans. No, the racing event must be made an adventure and that’s where graphic artist extraordinaire Giuseppe would practice his talents one weekend that would lead into an accomplished career. Being an avid photographer he had a small town newspaper “hire” him to “cover the race”. Having a media pass was better than an ounce of gold, allowing holders to areas of the track that ordinary ticket holders could not go.
So began another adventure! Gino, Leno, Giuseppe and three of their friends arrived one weekend in Detroit for the 1982 inaugural Formula One Grand Prix. The six of them ran into problems when there was confusion with the hotel that Giuseppe had booked a room. Finding themselves with no lodging for the weekend, they headed to the Bull Market restaurant to figure a way out of the dilemma and needle Giuseppe merciless on his hotel foul up. Numerous times the restaurant manger arrived at their table to tell the boys to calm down as they were disturbing patrons at other tables. Eventually, he acquired what all the fuss was about and after learning their predicament left the table for a few minutes and came back to tell them he had found lodging for them!
The boys were awestruck when they arrived at the famed Book Cadillac Hotel to claim their room in the Presidential Suite .The hotel was frequented by many famous guests, from Presidents to Hollywood celebrities, and was the lodging that Martin Luther King had stayed at shortly before his assassination. After unpacking the five of them quickly got down to business; they had five artistic masterpieces to produce from the pass that Giuseppe had secured. An assembly line was arranged with Giuseppe as the supervisor and doing the final touch ups. Each one painstakingly copied a different part of the pass from the original and passed it on for the next guy to do his part. All the while Gino slept on the couch and snored his way into the night.
When morning came, the six rushed to the track holding their butterflies at bay and hoping the previous night’s creative endeavor would secure them to an all access pass to the weekend’s events. Smiles and winks were passed around amongst the six after they were let through the gates! Oh, what a sting! Each could tell stories of meeting drivers or having conversations with various team personal as they would walk through the paddocks and pits. What a weekend! And at the Detroit Gran Prix! Cars rounding corners at neck breaking speeds, squealing brakes and mufflers backfiring!
Gino would have his own story to tell on the last day just before the race
begun....fondly shared years later as ‘The Bust’. An astute security guard noticed a tiny variation of some kind on his media pass as Gino tried to enter the paddock area one last time. But instead of relishing a final visit to the paddocks he was ushered promptly to the track’s police trailer. With beads of sweat breaking down his face as he listened to officers grill fraudulent ticket owners over and over again, Gino had visions of a lifetime banned from racing events! When Gino’s turn came to be interrogated for his media pass, the police believed for a moment they had uncovered a major league counterfeiting ring. But as their persistent investigation came to an end, they determined they had just stumbled upon an enthused racing devotee. They told him that he had one of the best forgeries they had ever seen, but for one thing: his pass had a slight “ink run” due to exposure to the heat and sun! To this day he doesn’t know if his pass was intentionally not coated with hairspray to protect it from smearing as pay back for sleeping while the assembly line was hard at work. All have pled ignorance to the foul up to this day.
The three would go onto many more racing events with various other invited friends to hear the screaming, heart pounding and thundering engines of Indy and Formula One cars. Stories would be swapped and exhaled for weeks and years after. Tales of being to a team party or sacrificing one of their friends to run through a pit gate so the others could rush through, while security personnel were busy chasing the friend they sacrificed.
One of their favorite adventures was the annual Formula One race at Watkins Glen. A star studded end of season race with epic drivers: from Gilles Villeneuve, Mario Andretti and Nelson Piquet. Long ago drivers that are still recognized by race fans who were yet to be born when they raced. Because it was the last race of the season mechanics would sell off their uniforms and the three amigos could not give up a chance to own an authentic piece of racing paraphernalia. They would purchase three uniforms that day from team Brabham. Written boldly across the uniform was the team’s major sponsor: Parlamat. Little did they know that this purchase would propel Gino into the distinguished history of Formula One racing at Watkins Glen the following year.
In 1979 the trio made their annual pilgrimage to Watkins Glen again. Stashed away in their travel luggage was the team coveralls they had purchased the year previous. Gino would never had dreamt what the day would have in store for him. At the track Gino announced to his brother and friends that he would be walking into the pit area with the Parlamat uniform on, masquerading as a mechanic for team Brabham. When Gino walked to the pit entrance with his Parmalat overalls on, security parted way for him as he walked through the gate with an air of importance. Once inside he strutted around and made it to the starting grid, examining the various race cars that were minutes away from
roaring to life. Curiously enough no team approached him wondering why a mechanic from another team was examining a competitor’s car!
Soon enough the horn sounded for all to leave the starting grid except for drivers and team members. Gino stood at the other side of the wall separating people from the starting grid. His heart was thumping, as one by one
mechanics started the cars that would soon be compelling their driver’s to accelerate to speeds at the edge of life. Gino was standing there looking at the mechanics getting ready to start a Brabham’s team car, when one of the mechanics noticed Gino standing there with their team’s overalls on. The mechanic smiled and motioned for him to come over the wall. Gino leaped over the wall and joined the Brabham’s team mechanics behind Nelson Piquet’s car! In a deep English accent the mechanic instructed Gino to hold the air cylinder, while the hose that carries the air to the car that torques the engine to life, was connected by another mechanic. Looking quickly into the driver’s mirror, Gino noticed that the eyes of Nelson Piquet’s had a humorous and bewildered look to them as he watched Gino hold the cylinder! But nobody was more surprised than Leno and Giuseppe. They were perched high in the pit grandstand watching excitedly as Gino snag the ultimate race fan adventure...starting a Formula One car...on the grid...at race time!
Little did they know that while telling the testosterone fueling stories of their boyhood escapades the seeds of racing passion for the next generation was being germinated. Of Gino’s five children it would be son Paul and daughter Melina who would continue their father’s addiction to overpowered engines and speed. Paul would find fuel for his veins in his special Edition Mustang GT and then his new 425 horsepower Camero SS Redbadge. Maleina’s son Dante is racing go-karts and is finding his way onto the podium.
Leno’s sons Victor and Michael would also eagerly grab the racing torch
from their father. Michael would go on to represent Canada in Australia at the World Transplant Games in bike racing while incredibly battling Cystic Fibrosis. Victor would enroll in Automotive Engine and Race Technology at university and is presently pursing his interests in racing.
Gino will sign off on admitting his school marks might have been higher if his passion for racing wasn't stronger than his homework. While others might be diligently preparing for school, Gino was diligently preparing his car for
 |
| Saturday's annual slot car race |
Together these three fervent race fans would go on racing adventures seeing heart stimulating things that mere couch potatoes would never see. Sure, along with such adventures came an accident and a bust! Things like this are to be expected when you are a pursuing all the action racing can provide.
 |
| Let's race!! |
Yes, the accident. The accident would never had occurred if the three hadn't bought an Italian Birel go-kart to race at Whitby’s Goodwood race track. With excitement feeding their veins, their dreams of glory literally crashed during one glorious day of mayhem. Giuseppe, going full throttle, ran off the track and then managed to bring it back onto the track to t-bone Paul Tracy. Yes, that Paul Tracy, who would go on to become Canada’s hope of racing glory. Tracy’s Dad was not too appreciative of Giuseppe’s magnificent maneuvering to get the kart stable and back on the track. Perhaps what really set Paul’s Dad off was the fact the Giuseppe was running last and Paul had the lead!
Soon the passion for racing would move beyond slot and kart racing and progress to watching live professional racing. But when you’re young and full of passion, just sitting in the stands is best left to other race fans. No, the racing event must be made an adventure and that’s where graphic artist extraordinaire Giuseppe would practice his talents one weekend that would lead into an accomplished career. Being an avid photographer he had a small town newspaper “hire” him to “cover the race”. Having a media pass was better than an ounce of gold, allowing holders to areas of the track that ordinary ticket holders could not go.
 |
| Detroit's famed Book Cadillac Hotel |
The boys were awestruck when they arrived at the famed Book Cadillac Hotel to claim their room in the Presidential Suite .The hotel was frequented by many famous guests, from Presidents to Hollywood celebrities, and was the lodging that Martin Luther King had stayed at shortly before his assassination. After unpacking the five of them quickly got down to business; they had five artistic masterpieces to produce from the pass that Giuseppe had secured. An assembly line was arranged with Giuseppe as the supervisor and doing the final touch ups. Each one painstakingly copied a different part of the pass from the original and passed it on for the next guy to do his part. All the while Gino slept on the couch and snored his way into the night.
When morning came, the six rushed to the track holding their butterflies at bay and hoping the previous night’s creative endeavor would secure them to an all access pass to the weekend’s events. Smiles and winks were passed around amongst the six after they were let through the gates! Oh, what a sting! Each could tell stories of meeting drivers or having conversations with various team personal as they would walk through the paddocks and pits. What a weekend! And at the Detroit Gran Prix! Cars rounding corners at neck breaking speeds, squealing brakes and mufflers backfiring!
Gino would have his own story to tell on the last day just before the race
 |
| 1982 inaugural Detroit F1 Grand Prix |
The three would go onto many more racing events with various other invited friends to hear the screaming, heart pounding and thundering engines of Indy and Formula One cars. Stories would be swapped and exhaled for weeks and years after. Tales of being to a team party or sacrificing one of their friends to run through a pit gate so the others could rush through, while security personnel were busy chasing the friend they sacrificed.
One of their favorite adventures was the annual Formula One race at Watkins Glen. A star studded end of season race with epic drivers: from Gilles Villeneuve, Mario Andretti and Nelson Piquet. Long ago drivers that are still recognized by race fans who were yet to be born when they raced. Because it was the last race of the season mechanics would sell off their uniforms and the three amigos could not give up a chance to own an authentic piece of racing paraphernalia. They would purchase three uniforms that day from team Brabham. Written boldly across the uniform was the team’s major sponsor: Parlamat. Little did they know that this purchase would propel Gino into the distinguished history of Formula One racing at Watkins Glen the following year.
In 1979 the trio made their annual pilgrimage to Watkins Glen again. Stashed away in their travel luggage was the team coveralls they had purchased the year previous. Gino would never had dreamt what the day would have in store for him. At the track Gino announced to his brother and friends that he would be walking into the pit area with the Parlamat uniform on, masquerading as a mechanic for team Brabham. When Gino walked to the pit entrance with his Parmalat overalls on, security parted way for him as he walked through the gate with an air of importance. Once inside he strutted around and made it to the starting grid, examining the various race cars that were minutes away from
Soon enough the horn sounded for all to leave the starting grid except for drivers and team members. Gino stood at the other side of the wall separating people from the starting grid. His heart was thumping, as one by one
 |
| "The Mechanic" examining Gilles Villeneuve car |
 |
| Dante and Grandpa Gino |
Little did they know that while telling the testosterone fueling stories of their boyhood escapades the seeds of racing passion for the next generation was being germinated. Of Gino’s five children it would be son Paul and daughter Melina who would continue their father’s addiction to overpowered engines and speed. Paul would find fuel for his veins in his special Edition Mustang GT and then his new 425 horsepower Camero SS Redbadge. Maleina’s son Dante is racing go-karts and is finding his way onto the podium.
Leno’s sons Victor and Michael would also eagerly grab the racing torch
 |
| Micheal |
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