About Us

Joe Giusti, my father

Where do I start?  At the beginning?  Okay.

My father, Joe Giusti, was born to Primo and Theodora Giusti May 7, 1918 on Elizabeth Street in San Francisco.  Now, everything on this page is from my memory of the stories as dad and relatives have told them to me, so bear with me.

The third of ten children, I understand that he was quite the terror as a boy.  In 1928, just after he started the sixth grade, his father died from complications of whooping cough and dad was forced to quit school and go to work (along with his two older siblings) to support the family.  I don't believe that I ever heard him speak negatively about that.  He did say that he knew George Bignotti as a young man, but that's a story for Liar's Corner.

Sometime in the late twenties he started riding motorcycles and ended up racing for Hap Jones out of San Francisco.  He also became involved with the "Flying Skulls" around 1932 which, as I understand it, evolved into the "Hells Angels".  By 1941 he grew weary of this and decided to join the U.S. Navy on a four year hitch to get away from this group.  He did, however, carry the tattoo of the Flying Skulls on his left arm until his death in 1995.

In the Navy he achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer in spite of authority issues, only to be 'busted' to Petty Officer Second Class for insubordination near the end of the war.  He was stationed in the South China Sea at the time that Pearl was bombed.  He said that they (his ship) had to hide by day and sail by night until they reached Australia to regroup.  The copy of his service record shows that he served 56 consecutive months of sea duty before and during W.W.II - Wow!

After the war he turned to racing Roadsters.  He ran these until the hardtops became popular in the Central Valley of California and had great success in these.    In1958 and 1959 he was track champion at Stockton's 99 Speedway and was also 1959 State Champion, CARF (California Auto Racing Fans) driver of the year and received their 'Honor' award and a stop-watch in 1962.  Also during the decade of the '50's he, at one point, had 8 cars in his stable and would take promising young drivers under his wing to mentor, the mentoring continued into the seventies even after he no longer had a stable of cars.  Included in that group are:  Gary Patterson, Leroy Van Conett, Jack McCoy, Johnny Blackwell, Del Sutton, Mike Andreetta, Johnny Anderson and many others.  During the sixties he drove such cars as "The Stretched Midget" in which he set the unofficial track record of 12.5 seconds at the famed West Capitol Raceway before it was stretched (and subsequently broke his neck in it at Clovis Raceway) and the Travel-On Trailer sprinter in USAC (in which he was photographed being t-boned at Winchester for the "Great Crashes" book -- does anyone have that book?).

By the end of the sixties he had returned to driving Supermodifieds at Stockton's 99 Speedway, West Capitol Raceway, Roseville Speedway and a host of other Northern California tracks.  This was the downside of his career, but he still had the fire and won quite a few races - even up 'till 1974 when he retired and handed the reins to me.  His last race was in 1989 at Delta Raceway in Stockton, Ca in a modified midget - he finished sixth as I recall.  He was outclassed by the equipment and age of the other drivers, but drove a hell of a race anyway!  The desire and love he had of racing never died in him, it followed him to the grave.

In 1993 he had quadruple by-pass surgery, but the damage to his heart was severe and he never really recovered.  He died in July, 1995 at the age of 78.  As per his wishes we did not have a funeral, but instead held an open air memorial in his honor.    Among those who spoke there were Leroy Van Conett and Ted Harrison.

I know that this is a very condensed version of dad's life, but it's the best I can do right now.  Besides, I had to leave some material for Liar's Corner... right?

You can click the image to enlarge it

Me - Primo A. Giusti

I was born March 5, 1959 and have been married to my wife, Erin, since 1989.  Between us (second marriage for both of us) we have four great children... okay, are the kids reading this?   Really!  We have been blessed in that none of the kids have been in any real trouble - yet.  Anyway, how 'bout some introductions:

I remember dad being my hero from the very beginning.  He was an incredible man, though very hard and direct.  The thing I respected the most about him was that you always knew where you stood with him.

Both my mother and father are dead now - mom in '85 and dad in '95.  You could say that within ten years I not only lost a father and  mother, but also my mentors and best friends as well.

I drove in the early to mid-seventies at the old "West Capitol Raceway" in Sacramento, California.  I was 15 when I started and full of myself; girls and everything else you can imagine, so I didn't fare as well as I could have.   My worst night was  a "full-throttle" assault on the turn one wall... the wall won!  We had just added disc brakes and never did get a hard pedal, and then the throttle stuck wide-open.  As you can imagine, the car had to be cradled off the track by two tow trucks.  The Good Lord saw fit to let me walk away from that one with only a chipped vertebra and a lesson "hard learned".

From about 1977 - 1986 I, for the most part, pitted for whomever needed help on any given night.  Gary Patterson, being an old friend of my father's from way back to the 50's was a regular while he drove for Walt Ross.  Johnny Pearson, Bob Rickman and Charlie Correia were a few of the 'old "Cap" drivers with whom I worked.  I spent a little time around Mike Andreetta when he drove for Tognotti/Starr, but mostly to be with dad as Mike always had a large following.  Ted Harrison was a favorite!   The Harrison family (well the whole Stockton, CA group) had been friends of mine and dad's for as long as I can remember.

I didn't drive much again until '90 when I ran a few mini stocks at Delta Raceway in Stockton, CA.  Not exactly the top of the food chain, but I had some fun and won a few races.  I think the most fun I had that year was building the Porsche 914 that myself and two "other" ding-bats ran that season.   Me, Jim Walters and Alan Victor were determined to make the rules work for the car!  Heck, we had it; it was cheap; and it had the perfect weight distribution for dirt (not to mention torsion bars front and rear).  Well, somehow we pushed that one past the promoter... with a displacement disadvantage.  I think we each ended up with at least one main each to our credit that season, and I drove a little Opel Cadet on my off weeks from the Porsche.

The Opel was an adventure in the extreme!  The car always had trouble, and the owner was not a wealthy man, so...  I made the cover of "Racing Wheels" magazine in that one - on my head!

Other than a couple of PCA stints, that was it.   In '91 I started an Outlaw Hardtop (Dwarf Car) project, again pushing the rules envelope.  In the end the owner and I parted ways and, for all intents and purposes, my racing career ended with that parting.  I would never have been the great driver that dad was, but I had fun while it lasted!  *I am interested in returning to the sport I love in a replica of an old Hardtop or a restored early 1970's West Capital supermodified to run on the "vintage" circuit  -- money and God willing.  Anybody know where I can find a few pieces to start with??

Copyright © 1996 - 2008, Primo A. Giusti. All Rights Reserved.