36 - Joe Fascio - New Orleans LA

Owner - Curt Coleman of Gulfport, MS

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 Curt Coleman. 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. 68 cars started the race with Joe finishing 29th. The Average Speed of the race was 98.04 MPH. Joe also raced at Darlington and Atlanta GA this same year in NASCAR races.

Many thanks to Joe Fascio Jr for the picture. Also a big thank you to Jack Walker for the NASCAR information and to Ken Coleman for help with identifing the people in the photo.

Picture donated by Joe Fascio Jr