O'Reily Spring Nationals: Team Zizzo - A Personal Story

My good friends Greg and Louise invited me and my lovely girlfriend, Lana, to the drag races.  I have never been a big race car fan and I have been known to pose the query: 'Are drivers athletes or not?'  We arrived at Houston Raceway Park on a balmy April day.  Greg had secured a camping spot for his large pull behind trailer near the track area.  Greg is not one to half ass anything so we had access to 2 golf cart type transports, cases of Miller Lite and mounds of beef fajitas and riblets.  The name 'riblets' kills me.

"John Force, Bernstein, Kallitta, Cory Mac?  I guess I had some familiarity with the names. "

We arrived on Friday without the benefit of our significant others.  The hilarious Steve, Greg's brother in law, completed the dynamic trio.  After setting up camp Greg suggested we check out the races.  Tickets during 'happy hour' on Friday are only $17 rather than the minimum $47 per day necessary to enter for the remainder of the weekend.  We paid, grabbed a beer, and watched a few races.  After a time of watching the top fuel dragsters Greg, who was the veteran of attending the races, suggested that we walk around pit row.  So the three of us moseyed over to the pit row named 'Nitro Alley' - or at least that is what the sign said.

We toured the spoils of high dollar sponsorship quantified in the form of brightly and intricately painted tractor trailers, buses, and pit areas emblazoned with names of which I had heard in passing and others whose names had become famous enough to have wafted into the notice of a non-fan such as myself.  John Force, Bernstein, Kallitta, Cory Mac?  I guess I had some familiarity with the names.  We were on our 4th Miller Lite by the time we happened upon Team Zizzo out of Chicago, Illinois.   Fate is a sometimes stern and sometimes a rewarding task mistress.  Greg, Steve and I were reading the names on the poster at the entrance to the Zizzo pit area when a saucy Sicilian woman approached the tether separating us fans from the pro team members.  It may be my acting confidence, although I believe fate had a hand in my hailing Media Relations expert, Cathie Gallo, with a "Hey you are the chick in the picture" comment.

"Passion is her driving force and her Sicilian nature is the ire by which she conquers unshakeable odds."

With her characteristic beaming smile she said "Yes I am, and who are you?"  That was the beginning of the most surreal experience of my life.  Cathie and I hit it off.  She is quite possibly the most charismatic personality I have ever met.  Passion is her driving force and her Sicilian nature is the ire by which she conquers unshakeable odds.

Within a few moments she drew me behind the pit barriers and brought me into the presence of a man whose penetrating gaze would be intimidating if it weren't for his engaging demeanor.  TJ Zizzo, driver and son of team owner Tony Zizzo shook my hand and extended to me a cautious welcome.  I informed him that I was a film actor and would be interested in chronicling his team with my HD camera.  He vouchsafed that he would be open to it although I detected the reservations of a vetted pro who had heard every one-liner uttered by a desperate fan yearning for a moment in the sunlight of a Top Fuel Dragster driver at the pro level.  I admitted to him that I wished I had not been 4 beers into it when we had met but assured him I would return bright and early the next morning garbed in God's own sobriety.  He paused to look me over then said: "I look forward to it."

The next morning, with hangover headache, I arrived camera in hand.  Cathie's face exploded into a broad grin as she spied me arriving.  The next few hours were filled with owner, driver and crew interviews and 'B roll' footage to buffer each.  What struck me immediately was the chemistry which was a consistent thread binding the entire team.  Every member had a personal relationship story leading to their joining the team.  Tony Zizzo, team owner and charismatic leader, was the manifest persona reflected in the motley make up of this Chicago-based crew.  Over two days in the pit I never heard more than a half dozen words between Zizzo and individual crew members, but his will; his philosophy of winning; his strength of experience was omnipresent in each team member.

"Ask the man a question and one never knows the angle of attack he will take. "

Tony was a reluctant on camera contributor but rather accepted his role and performed his acting duties with glib humor and reluctant poise and charm.  Between interviews and peppered throughout the shoot was the loquacious Cathie, filling in the blanks with key facts and important details about each team member.  Ryan Ramos (engine bottom man)  had the penetrating insight of a veteran twice his age, but with boyish charm, he described his duties in a dismissive manner which decried the danger and urgency of his duties.  Tony Smith (clutch specialist) should be on ESPN the way he tallied the summary of track to tire to clutch to engine ratio.  Rick Messmore (car chief) was mixing Nitro and Methane as he spoke to me about his work with the team.  His knowledge was a testament to his faith in crew chief Mike Kern's decisions about setting up of the car race to race.  Ricky Dale (cylinder head specialist) was the quintessential upper midwestern sage personality, per my experience as a dyed in the wool Texan.  He spoke with a smile and an apparent strength of conviction which, I have to assume, is born of a winning spirit germane to his team. Chris Schneider should be in film with his demeanor.  Ask the man a question and one never knows the angle of attack he will take.  I asked him what he thought about the Saturday morning rain storm which unexpectedly descended on the event.  He continued to blow compressed air on a part seeming not to have heard.  Unexpectedly, he said, "Everyone here has the rain to deal with.  They do what we do...take the conditions and work with it."  Mike Adams (utility and tires) came on at the same time that Chris joined team Zizzo.  He busied himself picking up the slack  and helping out everywhere he could when his duties didn't require his attention.  He is a man  who is never idle.  His hawkish gaze is always searching for that gap to fill.  My toughest interview was with Joe Cluts (cylinder heads and frame).  He was very technical and focused.  During our talk he kept the car and crew in sight in case he was needed.  Apparently I had not earned the attention from him, but his team members assured me he was the quick wit and practical joker of the crew.  I am unsure whether I desire his favor or not.

All crew members had several things in common: they were volunteers and they held down full time jobs at home.  Truer dedication cannot be expressed than a man who sacrifices the precious commodity of work and family to support a mutual cause.

"Part super hero, part philanthropist, he is powered by nothing less than a diesel electro-generator for a soul. "

 

TJ Zizzo: now he is a study in human nature.  Part super hero, part philanthropist, he is powered by nothing less than a diesel electro-generator for a soul.  At age 16 he was considered the fastest teen alive.  18 years later at 34 he counts himself the most fortunate man on planet Earth.  What is most remarkable about him is not the fact that he allows himself to be strapped into an explosive device which pulls over 4 g's and who's every moving part is a health hazard.  Rather, his allure is the casual way he approaches his craft. 

I donned a Peak/Zizzo crew shirt in order to join the team on the race track area.  In the staging area, there was TJ texting his Mom, Wife and whomever else, as if he were getting ready to check out a book in a public library.  On cue, he began his ritual of checking the car - laying hands upon it tenderly.  Make no mistake, he may air casual interest in his surroundings but from the moment he begins his pre-race dogma the man visually enters an area of mental and physical intensity which bonds him to his machine as surely as if the crew had composited him into the very mechanisms which drive it.

"Tony sees in his son those things which makes him a great driver."

Dad, Tony Zizzo garbs him and secures him in the cockpit in a dance they share before every race.  It occurs to me that the skills which make a driver are deep within the man and recognizable only to another of the same ilk.  I say this because of the way Tony oversees TJ's preparations to enter the car.  His gaze loiters on a number of details to which I would never pay attention.  I can't pinpoint the source of this attention because I am not a driver, but suffice it to say Tony sees in his son those things which makes him a great driver.

TJ and team made it to Sunday's quarter finals but was defeated by a combination of the nature of the machine and legendary competitor Cory "Mac" McClenathan.  I was unsure how the team would take the defeat and, as most of my assumptions about the team, I was wrong.  Tony , TJ and various crewmen assured me that they were upbeat about the weekend.  Tony said, "Most of these drivers have more than 50 passes under their belt by this weekend where this is our first weekend to run the car this season.  We made it to Sunday with an untested car.  This is a good sign of what we are capable of doing this season."

"Team Zizzo is probably one of the most feared small teams on the circuit because of their success in spite of under-funding."

Team Zizzo is probably one of the most feared small teams on the circuit because of their success in spite of under-funding.  The entire team attributes their respect among their well sponsored competitors to the unpredictable nature of a well run committed team.  Their attention to detail and singularity of purpose in keeping one of the oldest cars on the circuit in contention event after event.

Keep up with Team Zizzo by subscribing to their monthly newsletter.  Their web site is http://zizzoracing.com/Joliet, Ill. where the United Association Route 66 NHRA Nationals are being hosted at Route 66 Raceway. .  My next event with them is the weekend of June 4th at their home track in Jolliet, IL.