Christopher and Vincent Fumo: drag racing for over 40 years Christopher - Athlete Christopher Fumo, a young drag racer debuting at the age of 9 in the "JR dragster" category until the age of 12. When he was a young man, a local policeman was fed up with giving him tickets for excessive speed while driving fast with his powerful 1969 Chevelle. This policeman, invited him to his home on a Su
nday morning to show where he could legally drive fast. The two made it to the Napierville drag strip and Vincent won on his first run in the Street class category. Following this first experience, Vincent gets the hang of drag racing and the funniest thing about the policeman's story is that they have remained friends and see each other at least once a year! Seeing that his son Christopher wanted to continue in drag racing, Vincent showed him the basics needed to prepare for a dragster, because for 4 years Christopher was a teammate on his father's team. By combining these 4 years of experience, his courses in auto mechanics and welding, Christopher was now ready to have his own dragster. Thus, for 4 years he raced with his own“Race Craft Dragster” equipped with a 565 cubic inch Chevrolet engine. In his first year, he finished 10th in the standings in addition to earning the rookie of the year title in the “Super Pro” category. This following year, he remained in the same category, but now runs on alcohol. Vincent's success Since his beginnings in 1975, Vincent has accumulated several successes throughout his tenure in drag racing. After having succeeding to finish in the top 5 racing in the category "Super Pro", he won the championship in 1987 with his Chevrolet Vega 1971. In 1989, he built his first dragster and competed in the category "Super comp" in Northeast Division and NHRA National Events and in 1991 he won in that category at the NHRA National Open for Devision 1. In order to be even more competitive, in 1992 he built a “dragster” from the Florida retailer “SunCoast Race Cars”. In 1993, Vincent was signed by a major sponsor Castrol and this alliance continued until 2015. For the years 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2005, he won the “Quick 16” championship with his Castrol GTX dragster. During the years 1999 to 2005, he found the time to work as an official for Division 1 during NHRA events. In addition, in order to promote drags in Quebec and his sponsor Castrol, he participated in many promotional events during the years 2007 to 2015. In 2016, he decided to end his participation in promotional events realizing that he would also lose his sponsor Castrol but he preferred to dedicate himself completely to the success of his son. Vincent's dragster built in 1992 is no longer in competition and he decides in 2017 to build a new one to do occasional "runs". Due to the many good memories with his old dragster, he decided to keep it, it will be returning to the track sometime in the future. With all his years of drag racing, Vincent would like to thank his team leader John Rouillard since 1989, his teammates over the years Doug Butfield, Brian Robinson, his son Christopher, brothers Nick and Joe, Mike Relecom, in addition to his wife Rosa and his daughter Cynthia for their moral support. Passion for "muscle cars" Today, Vincent owns a 1968 Pontiac Beaumont SD fitted with a large 468 cubic inch Chevrolet engine. His son Christopher bought his 1985 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS in 2016 and built a 509 cubic inch Chevrolet engine, and team leader John has a 1965 Chevrolet El Camino 327 4speed. If you come across Vincent and Christopher Fumo as well as John at a drag racing event, I invite you to say hello to this super friendly family. Written with excerpts from a story by Marie-Claude Durocher
