36 - Joe Fascio - New Orleans LA

NASCAR Modified - Daytona Beach Road Course - 1955

This is a photo of Joe Fascio's Daytona car. Notice over the driver's door where the driver's name would usually go, spelled out in Italian is "The Flying Italian". Pictured here are (from left to right) Jake Howard owner of Jake's Speed Shop in New Orleans and builder of the motor. In the middle is Joe Fascio the driver and on the right is the car owner who is unknown at this time. This car raced at Daytona on February 26th 1955 in the Modified race. The race was scheduled for 125 miles but was stopped on lap 19 after a very serious accident on lap 17. Al Briggs died the next day from burns received in that accident. It's unsure how many cars started the race. The numbers range from 79 to 86 and official records only record the top 20 finishers. The Average Speed of the race was 98.04 MPH. Joe also raced at Darlington and Atlanta GA this same year in NASCAR races.

Currently there are no official NASCAR records that indicate that Joe Fascio ever raced in NASCAR. We know different and would like to change that. Please contact me if you have any information, newspaper clippings or racing articles about early NASCAR Races. Much of the information listed above came from The Ultimate Racing History website.

Picture donated by Joe Fascio JR