PARTY IN THE PITS
80 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
LETTING
LOOSE
Be it icy alcoholic
slushies or piping
hot Italian food, rac-
ers from all walks
of racing life have
a secret to getting
the most enjoyment
out of a weekend at
the racetrack. Tom-
my DeLago (center)
prefers a Jack and
Coke, while Dina
Parise (bottom)
likes pineapple-in-
fused vodka - with
a side of lasagna.
tons and tons of meat
and steaks and other cra-
zy shit, and I even have
three cabinets dedicated
just to spices – probably
more than you’ve got at
your house!” boasted the
boisterous racer with his
infectious enthusiasm.
“When you come to my
pit, you come to eat, and
you come to drink.”
One particular party
got a little out of hand,
as Guadagno was living
it up at Old Bridge Town-
ship Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey,
one night. “We got the car put away and the music
was blasting, and all of a sudden there’s like, a
hundred people, and tons of golf carts parked
everywhere. It was nuts. We stayed up all night
until the cops came and asked us to quiet down,”
laughed Guadagno, who obliged the officers only
to turn the dial back up to eleven once they had
left.
Having a good culinary spread at the track is
almost as important as having a good car. Fuel is
crucial, both for the machine and for the driver.
Dina Parise, former Ice
Capades figure skater,
2015 IHRA Pro Mod
champion and driver of
her supercharged Pro
Mod Cadillac CTS-V
known as “Stella,” knows
first-hand the impor-
tance of eating well.
For Parise and her
husband, Andrew, par-
tying is more about food
than anything else. “I al-
ways bring Italian food…
lasagna, eggplant parmi-
giana, spaghetti or ravioli
with bolognaise… and we always find stragglers
hanging around our pits trying to score a bite!”
joked the petite firecracker of a woman. Parise
takes her racing operation seriously, so she shies
away from liquor until all the real work is done.
“We’re fuddy-duddy that way. No cocktailing when
the car is out or when fans are around – we try
to keep it professional.”
Pranks and other shenanigans are definitely
fair game in the Parise pits, though. “There was
one time that Andrew locked crew man Butch
Branzelle inside a Porta Potty because he had
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does so with a full-blown bar tucked neatly into
his race rig.
“When life ceases being fun, you need to be on
the couch at home getting old and fat,” said the
wise man with some sage advice. “Part of being
competitive is that you also have to have fun. Race
hard, play hard – that’s how we do it.”
And play hard, he does. Stanley takes quite a
bit of pride in having drag racing’s best bar which
he keeps stocked with almost every type of booze
imaginable, from vodka to whiskey, moonshine
and more. The only thing missing from his setup
is a blender, because “we don’t believe in slushies,
those are for kids. Real people drink margari-
tas on the rocks.” To the naysayers who falsely
believe they don’t enjoy tequila or margaritas,
Stanley simply says “try mine.” He’s never had
an unhappy customer.
Similarly, wild man “Scotty G.” Guadagno takes
the game to a whole oth-
er level and is known for
his passionate love for
all things Captain Mor-
gan. His Outlaw Drag
Radial, nitrous-huffing
’02 Camaro, known as
“Ol’ Blue,” even carries a
tribute to the brand on
its rear window. Gua-
dagno has a reputation
for being the life of the
party wherever he goes,
and that title is one he
works hard to keep.
“When it’s race time,
car time, whatever, we
don’t play games,” said
Guadagno in a rare
moment of seriousness.
“We’re always having fun
and joking around, but when we’re not in party
mode, we’re in ‘get shit done’ mode, and I will
only drink once I’m done driving.” All the head-
aches of hurting parts and struggling to find a
few extra hundredths of a second somewhere in
the car’s run really adds up, and Guadagno knows
no better way to relax than with a red Solo cup in
his hand. He lives by the philosophy that life is
short, so you’ve got to make time to enjoy yourself.
When Guadagno and his crazy crew pull into
the track, they waste no time getting the party
poppin’. For the YellowBullet.com Nationals race
at Cecil County Dragway, he busts out the big
guns. “We set up a whole DJ deal, and our pit
transforms into a dance floor with disco lights,
giant speakers, you name it. We go all night until
we get shut down, and there are just tons of peo-
ple hanging out having a good time,” he excitedly
explained of the wild atmosphere.
To further add to the club-like atmosphere,
Guadagno’s got designated liquor cabinets – yes,
plural – inside his trailer, with a special, separate
area just for his beloved Captain. A Ninja blend-
er is kept close at hand for margarita making
(which Stanley would not approve of ), and he’s
even got a muddler to make fresh mojitos. “On
the other side, because we love to eat, we’ll have