2010 seemed to be a year of many losses for the hot rod and racing world, and 2011 hasn’t started off great either. We have just received word that Joe Mondello died this morning. Joe was admitted to the hospital for an intestinal blockage and has been in ICU after surgery for several days. According to our sources he has been steadily going down hill since. Our sincere thoughts and prayers go out to Mary and the entire Mondello family. Oldsmobile performance would never have been the same with Joe and Mondello Performance. He will be missed.
Update: We were at Westech Performance Group yesterday after writing this announcement, and at some point mentioned Joe’s passing to Steve Brule who manages Westech. He almost had to take a seat. He had been on the phone with Joe in the last couple of weeks, when Joe had called to ask Steve some questions about some sensors for the dyno. Steve was visibly shaken. I didn’t know that he and Joe even knew each other, but the impact was real. For me, the only way to look at this is with the Rose colored glasses on. If Joe was doing what he loved only a couple weeks ago, he didn’t suffer long and was living the hot rodders dream.
God Speed Dude…
Until then, here is a bio of sorts from the Mondello Performance Website.
About Joe Mondello
& Mondello Performance Products
Joe Mondello and Racing are synonymous with
each other. In 1951, Joe was racing at airports and drag strips throughout
Southern California. Those were the days when you started a race with a
flag man starter, not a Christmas tree. In the early 1950’s, before Joe
was 17 years old, he had already ported & relieved more than 50 Ford
flat head blocks for the finest engine builders of that era.
Joe’s first car was a ’40
Ford coupe with a 303 c.i.d. flat head Ford along with 4 Stromberg Carbs,
Edelbrock heads & manifold and of course, an Engle camshaft. In the
1960’s, Joe also worked part time for Carroll Shelby building the
performance heads and engines that won the Le Mans Grand Prix. Those
Shelby Ford Cobras, 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th places respectively. Traco
Engineering, known at the time for extremely fast Indy cars and various
sprint cars, utilized Mondello heads exclusively. In those days, the
shop’s clientele read like a “Who’s Who” of drag racing greats.
Today, Chevrolet
performance cylinder heads still utilize the identical combustion chamber,
which Joe designed in the early 1960’s known as the “Posi-Flow”
chamber. Joe Mondello designed open chamber big and small block Chevy
cylinder heads and pistons long before Chevy did.
The famed
Mondello-Matsubara Blown Fuel Altered won two National Events in the
1960’s. In the 60’s & 70’s, this was the fastest wedge-head Chevrolet,
running a 7.24 E.T. @ 213 mph at the 1969 Indy U.S. Nationals. All of the
great drag race cars ran with Mondello. The first 7,6 & 5 second Top
Fuel runs and the first 200 mph runs in Top Gas, Top Fuel, Injected Fuel,
Fuel Altered were all accomplished using Mondello cylinder heads and Don
Garlits set most of these records, making Mondello the most notable,
historically recognized heads.
Joe Mondello has set
national records and won events over the years with both cars and boats.
Bernard Mondello, Joe’s son, grew up surrounded by the richest heritage in
drag racing history. During the early 70’s, this winning father-son
combination went to work at the Parker Dam 9 hour enduro, winning the Jet
Boat class with an Olds 455 in 1972 and in 1975 & 1976, back to back
wins with a 500 c.i.d. dual-quad big block Chevrolet. The Mondello’s
showed they could excel on the water as well as the dragstrip. Joe’s
worldwide clientele bears this axiom out; using Mondello heads &
engines, they have set every type of record imaginable.
Joe Mondello began doing
research & development work for Oldsmobile in 1968 and his ongoing
commitment and dedication has merited him the name of “Dr.
Oldsmobile”. Joe is celebrating over 38 years in the high
performance manufacturing industry. He has given 44 years of technology
& “hands on” experience to the sport of drag racing. Joe
Mondello will be around for many more years, designing, building and
providing you all of the best high performance products money can buy.
Always remember, at
Mondello’s you get what you pay for: “Horsepower, not promises”.
