Mike DiMascio is a comical, big-hearted Italian who loves his wife, racing and having fun, though not always in that order, and he currently has the job of his dreams. He manages the Engine Assembly Department for Triad Racing Technologies in High Point, NC.

DiMascio’s passion for racing has dictated the course of his life. Through all the ups and downs, he made the best of the situation and persevered until he succeeded in getting the job he always wanted.

His love for racing developed at a young age.

“My older brother raced cars and I hung out with him,” DiMascio said. “Stock car racing. Grassroots. Street stockers. Cheap. Kept me off the streets. That’s where I learned about how racing works, racing with my brother.”

Once racing got in his blood, DiMascio knew he wanted to be involved in any way that he could, but first he had to learn the necessary skills.

“I worked for McClelland Machines in Orrville, OH,” DiMascio said. “That’s where I honed my skills as a machinist, building engines, working on engines… Where I grew up, you did everything in a machine shop. You bring the motor in, you tear it apart, you clean it, qualify all the parts, you do the machine work to it, then you put it together and sometimes you take it to the customer and install it in their vehicle.”

Thirteen years ago, after getting sufficient experience at McClelland, marrying his high school sweetheart and having two daughters, DiMascio headed to North Carolina with hopes of joining a NASCAR team.

“I chose to come here when I decided I was going to try and make a living working on race cars as opposed to having a job and just spending all my money on race cars…
Mooresville, NC, someone told me about that so that’s where I was gonna go. (I) sold the house and the wife and kids went to go live with her mother and I came down here on a wing and a prayer.”

He lived in a Coleman tent at a local campground for two months while working odd jobs until he got his first chance at a NASCAR team; unfortunately, it was not a paying job but it gave him NASCAR experience and that is what he needed.

“(I) worked for free for some kid named Greg Clark who had a Busch (now Nationwide) car and my deal with him was that he’d take me to the race track if I worked on his cars. That’s where I met some people and I started getting some real jobs.”

Curtis Key of Key Motorsports was the first to offer DiMascio a paying position, which allowed him to finally bring his family to their new home in Mooresville. Over the years, DiMascio has gained experience through jobs at several organizations including a position working for Bobby Dotter and one assembling engines at T&L Engine Development.

“When you get down here (in North Carolina) and its professional racing, you had to specialize so I chose the assembly end of it. (I) went on the road for a short stint working on Cup teams, traveling for four years but I didn’t really dig that.”

Six years ago, DiMascio got the job he always wanted at Triad Racing Technologies. As the manager of the Engine Assembly Department, he ensures that engines for all three of NASCAR’s premier series get build correctly and on time. This job allows DiMascio, and every hardcore race fan, to directly enjoy the fruits of his labor.

“(It gives me) the satisfaction of knowing that my hard work, effort and attention to detail pay off on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons when I’m watching the cars race on TV.”

Another benefit to this job is that DiMascio can finally afford a race car of his own. It took him two years to build the nostalgia dragster of his dreams and he has been racing it for three years now.

“(The dragster is) something to entertain myself with and a lot of things apply from the home garage to the work place. You can learn a lot of things in your shop at home that apply and get different ideas from different aspects, different genres of racing if you will, that you can use. (Is that how I) justify it? Yeah. Yeah it’s a big ego boost and kind of a thrill ride.”

While talking about his “project”, DiMascio’s mischievous grin and the twinkle in his eye really shows his love for racing, while his sarcasm proves just how much he loves to have fun.

“This is just a hobby. This is just entertainment. We don’t race for money or anything we just go and hang out in the garage and work on it and entertain my buds and it gives us something to keep us off the streets. We’re too old to build hot rods and go down to Dairy Queen and lay rubber. We’re not really trying to impress chicks anymore.”

At 42-years-young, DiMascio is living out his dreams as an engine builder for a racing organization. Plus, he has a race car of his own. What more could he want? To make his dragster run as fast as it can, even though racing is just his “hobby”.

“The fastest that’s been recorded is a 5.44 in the eighth-mile at 130 miles an hour,” he said. Then he grinned and added “but I let off early.”

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