Joe Pirrone
* 2004 Inductee - East Coast Drag News Hall of Fame *
Joe
Pirrone Racing History
Joe Pirrone started
racing back in the early 1960’s. His first race car was a Studebaker powered
by a injected Buick. In 1964 he built a 1940 Willys coupe first powered by a
blown Olds than converted to a supercharged 392. In 1966 he started construction
on a 1933 Willys to do battle in the very competitive AA/GS class Joe acquired a
stock 33 Willys and proceeded to transform it into a state of the art show
quality drag car. He named the beauty after his racing transmission business,
Boss Hydro. When first built in 1966, the power came from a 392 Hemi. In 67 he
raced at the NHRA Nationals in
Indianapolis During the winter of
67 Joe chopped the top and installed a late model 426 Hemi and one of his
modified Torqueflite racing transmissions.
The new combination made
him one of the quickest AA/GS cars
on the east coast. Joe ran against the nations fastest gassers such as Big John
Mazmanian, Jr. Thompson and had numerous match races against K.S. Pittman. One
of Joe’s racing highlights was defeating K.S.’s 33 at a big Gasser meet at
Acto NJ, which was Joe’s home track. After the 1968 season, Joe sold the Boss
Hydro 33 to the Boyd Bros who campaigned the Willys under the name “Pure
Acid”.
In 1970 Joe moved
his business and family to southern Florida . There he teamed up with Paul Smith
and Dick Henniman to build the Climax Barracuda Nitro funny car. This was Paul
Smiths first funny car, and Joe was the crew chief. Paul went on to be one of
the top Nitro tuners in America. After retiring from racing in the early 70’s
Joe resumed his racing career when he and his son Rocky, repurchased the Boss
Hydro 33 Willys and started racing the Willys at some of the earliest
nostalgia races. In 1981 Joe ran a 8.55 at 156 m.p.h. to
claim low ET and Top m.p.h. at
the very first Old Time Drag Races held at Englishtown NJ. In 1985 Joe built a
beautiful 1940 Willys with a blown and injected Hemi on alky and ran with the
Wild Bunch, this group became the first Pro Mod’s. Joe retired from driving
and became the crew chief for his son Rocky
and his long line of supercharged race cars. Joe was not only a top notch racer,
he was one of the true pioneers in the development of racing automatic
transmissions. Joe was famous for his work with the four speed Hydra- Matic and
Torqueflite transmissions.
My
Dad was not only a racer, pioneer of racing transmissions and a craftsman, he
was a gentleman and outstanding father. He built numerous race cars in his 40
plus years of racing and his accomplishments are
many.
However, his biggest accomplishment might have been
how many friends he made along the way. My Dad was the type of person that
personified a drag racer in the early days. He would be the first to help out a
fellow racer. He spent as much time working on friends race cars as he did his
own. He was a willing teacher that was very generous with his knowledge and
time. As much as he loved racing, my Dad valued his family above all. He
introduced me to racing at a early age, and I owe my passion for the sport of
drag racing to him. In the presentation that I sent, you will find only a
sampling of the cars he helped build and drove.
Rocky Pironne
This shot is of the Boss Hydro in 1967 at Indy. My Dad built
this car in the winter of 1966. The chassis was a boxed 33 Willys frame the rear
was a 57 Olds. Power in 67 was a Chrysler 392, the transmission was one of my
Dad's .
(Monty Warner Photo)
Another shot from 67 (Photographer Unknown)
In 1968, my Dad switched to a 426 and chopped the top two and half inches. (Photographer Unknown)
Another shot of the "Boss Hydro" 1968 (Photographer Unknown)
Race at Vargo against K.S. Pittman - 1968 (Photographer Unknown)
Looks like Joe is out on K.S. Pittman at Atco (Photographer Unknown)
Here's the original Boss Hydro after me and my Dad brought it back in 1981. My Dad had sold the rights to the name so we named it after the shop I was running at the time, Action Transmissions. A fast note on this car, my Dad had run a best of 9.05 in early 68. When we purchased the car back it was in the same condition as he sold it. The only things we did were bolt on a set of Firestone tires and ran a 8.55 the first time out. My Dad would have LOVED to have set of them back in 68! (Photographer Unknown)
In 1983 the Boss 33, crashed after the parachute failed to deploy at very short drag strip. We took what was left and built the "Golden Oldie". Unfortunately, the car was crashed after its third pass, running a 7.98 it made a hard left was totally destroyed. (Photographer Unknown)
This was the last race car my Dad drove. He built this car in
1985. It was a steel body car and ran a best of 8.43 Rocky
(Photographer Unknown)
In 1987 my Dad helped me build a new 33 Willys. The car was named "Flashback" and is still being run today on the West coast. This car was multiple World of Wheels Car Show winner. It ran low eights Rocky (Photographer Unknown)
In 1990, my Dad and I built this 41 Willys. This was a more modern piece with a carbon fiber body and round tube chassis. This car also took home quite a few trophies on the car show circuit (Photographer Unknown)
Both me and my Dad were out of racing for a couple years. In 1996, he was diagnosed with cancer. Not wanting to sit around idle, we decided it was time to get back to the track. We had a problem though, the Time Machine's chassis would no longer pass NHRA's chassis cert, so we had to build a new chassis. We used the body from the Time Machine and built a modern tube frame that passed tech. The new car was called "Big Time Memories". Unfortunately, my dad passed away before we ever got her completed. Words can't describe how much I miss him (Photographer Unknown)
Rocky with the recreated "Boss Hydro" at the Thompson Gasser Reunion 2003 (Vic Cooke Photo)
Thanks to Rocky Pirrone for his help with this article. All Photos courtesy of Rocky Pirrone
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