Nick Dioguardi (October 12, 1932 – May 11, 2015) was a racing driver born in Alia, Italy, based in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

. Throughout his career Dioguardi made a single

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

start in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Racing career

Dioguardi first appeared on the national racing series at the 1965

SCCA National Championship Runoffs The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the end-of-year championship race meeting for Sports Car Club of America Club Racing competitors. Divisional champions and other top drivers from the SCCA's 116 regions are invited to participate at the ...

. At

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...

Dioguardi ran a

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

in the

Formula SCCA Formula SCCA or Formula Enterprises is a class of open wheel race car sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America. A spec racing class, all chassis are produced by SCCA Enterprises in association with Van Diemen and include a sealed Mazda M ...

race. Dioguardi started 21st but failed to finish the race running in ninth place. The following year, at

Riverside International Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Riverside ...

, he finished in first place beating Phil Groggins. In 1969 Dioguardi, at the Riverside Grand Prix, his Lotus Formula C struck a photographer. The photographer survived the impact suffering a broken leg. As of 1968 Dioguardi also ran in

Formula A Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars tha ...

. Both times, in 1968 and 1969, he failed to finish the race. Dioguardi first ran a World Racing Enterprises

Shadow A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, o ...

in 1968 and a

Surtees The Surtees Racing Organisation was a race team that spent nine seasons (1970 to 1978) as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2, and Formula 5000. History The team was formed by John Surtees, a four-time 500cc motorcycle champion and the ...

TS5 the following year. In 1969 Dioguardi also entered the Continental 49'er at

Sears Point Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern S ...

. He finished in fifteenth place in the fourth round of the 1969 SCCA Continental Championship. In 1971 Dioguardi ran the complete season in the Surtees. Sponsored by Delta Tire Dioguardi scored a single point. At the Mid-Ohio Grand Prix he finished in tenth place. Dioguardi made two appearances in

. In 1969 he was entered by

Arciero Racing PPI Motorsports was a race team which competed in CART, NASCAR and various off-road racing circuits. The team had one of the few remaining single car operations in NASCAR. Early years PPI stood for Precision Preparation, Inc., a company founded ...

in an Eisert 64. The car built to Formula A specifications failed to qualify at Riverside. The following year Dioguardi returned, at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

. He qualified 24th, and last. After 28 of the Phoenix 150 Dioguardi crashed. He later made appearances in

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an Sports Car Club of America, SCCA/Canadian Auto Sport Clubs, CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two r ...

. In

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

Dioguardi ran at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca may refer to: * Laguna Seca Formation, a geologic formation in California * Laguna Seca (Mexico), see Convention of London * Laguna Seca (Santa Clara County), a seasonal lake in California * Laguna Seca, Texas, United States * Rancho La ...

and Riverside. He ran a

Titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

Ti22. The car was revolutionary when it was introduced in 1969 but disappointed earlier at the hands of

Jackie Oliver Keith Jack "Jackie" Oliver (born 14 August 1942 in Chadwell Heath, Essex) is a British former Formula One driver and team-owner from England. He became known as the founder of the Arrows team as well as a racing driver, although during his dr ...

and David Hobbs. Dioguardi's best result was 13th at Riverside.

Personal

Dioguardi was born October 12, 1932 in Alia, Sicily. Together with his parents and two brothers the family moved to Los Angeles in 1949. In 1953 the family settled in

in 1953. The three brothers ran Dio Brothers Automotive. On May 11, 2015, Dioguardi died in his native Alia.

Car collection

Dioguardi was an avid car collector. The Dioguardi Collectioned was auctioned after he died. The March 86C, chassis number 86C-24, was raced by

Josele Garza Josele GarzaBiography
(born March 15, 1962 in

in the

1986 Indianapolis 500 The 70th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Saturday, May 31, 1986. After being rained out on May 25–26, the race was rescheduled for the following weekend. Bobby Rahal was the winner, becoming ...

. The car was later raced by

Chip Ganassi Floyd Ganassi Jr. (born May 24, 1958) better known as Chip Ganassi, is a US businessman, former racing driver, current team owner and member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He has been involved with the North American auto racing scen ...

Motorsports results

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American Open-Wheel racing results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest race lap)

USAC National Championship

SCCA Grand Prix Championship

Can-Am results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dioguardi, Nick 1932 births Italian emigrants to the United States Racing drivers from California SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners Champ Car drivers Can Am drivers 2015 deaths