If Joe Lepone Jr’s drag racing career was defined by one thing, it was the willingness to do what it took to be successful in the sport. His time working as a crewman with Grumpy Jenkins led Lepone into the seat of a couple Grumpy creations even though his early dreams in the sport centered around funny cars. He fielded his own efforts for a while, trained drivers, tuned cars for others, and quite literally traveled the world to make people or things go faster. Throat cancer is what ultimately got Lepone but the man had one hell of a run before his health declined being one of the first people to break into the bustling Arabain drag racing scene. He would spend months at a time overseas working with various car owners and drivers to get them on the right path. The number of people that Lepone educated and where he did it sets him apart from most.

Lepone’s driving talents did wonders to reestablish Bill Jenkins’ name in the pro stock horsepower building wars. The Camaro he helped build that came out in the early 1980s with Jenkins as engine builder and owner was as fine and fast a car was there way in the category at that point. It was  match race killer and nearly tasted NHRA national event success as well making it into the late rounds at races like the NHRA Southern Nationals in 1983.

As mentioned, the most recent direction that Leopone’s career took was into the world of pro modified. He loved the cars and the competition. Like most racers, he hated the rules differences between the series but managed to find himself competing with the ADRL, NHRA, WCOPM, and any number of races like the Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas each year. He was a nitrous guy until the end and we think that was rooted in his pro stock sensibilities. Something about big cubic inches, volumetric efficiency, and going damned fast had his attention and nitrous was the preferred method of doing it.

Lots will be written about Joe Lepone’s career by people smarter than I. He was far too young and the drag racing world lost a great guy with his passing. Being that he was an east coaster and a Pennsylvanian, we always rooted for Joe when he was running his own pro stockers in the 1990s. While he does not have the room full of trophies that other racers have accumulated he did pass with the knowledge that he taught, trained, and molded lots of damed good drivers over years.

Rest well, Joe Lepone Jr. say hello to the Grump for us.