Tony Parella – A Love Affair With Racing

Mark Twain once said, “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” This is good advice, and Tony Parella, the CEO of the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA), takes it to heart.

If you spend a few minutes talking to Tony, you will know how much he enjoys life, racing, and SVRA. What follows is an adaptation of our hour-long interview.

The questions ranged from racing to business philosophies and the exciting digital future of SVRA. We’re breaking the interview questions into a series of articles for you to enjoy. First up, let’s find out about his love affair with racing.

A Love Of Racing Early On

ROD WORLEY, Editor – Tony, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today about the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA).

TONY PARELLA, Owner of SVRA – No worries Rod, anybody who is involved with Corvettes or writing about Corvettes, we got to make time for them.

ROD WORLEY, Editor – What many people probably don’t know is that you cut your teeth racing on 3/8 mile dirt tracks in Weedsport, New York. What was that like, and has racing been a lifelong passion?

TONY PARELLA, Owner of SVRA – Well, I was a car nut from as far back as I could remember. My neighbor across the street was a couple of years older than me. I remember he had started building an amateur stock car to race at the local dirt track.

At the time, I was fifteen years old and didn’t have a driver’s license yet in New York State. I would take the family vehicle out behind my parent’s house and teach myself to drive.

Long story short, I bought a 1970 Camaro. One day, my father came home from work, and he saw me out there in the garage with acetylene torches, trying to weld in a rollbar.

One thing eventually led to another, and my Father was kind enough to tow the car to the Weedsport dirt track. He signed off on me going racing even though I didn’t have a driver’s license.

I ran my first dirt track race when I was fifteen.

I just fell in love with racing as a young kid. Later, he took me to Watkins Glen to see my first Trans-Am race in 1969. From then on, “the seed was planted,” as they say.

I’ve raced at Canandaigua Speedway, Rolling Wheels Speedway, and Weedsport Speedway – all dirt tracks in upstate New York. I started in the amateur class and then moved up to late-model racing.

And then, you know, life got in the way of racing. I got married, and we had babies—all of a sudden, we had to buy end tables and curtains instead of carburetors and tires.

I had to go to work, but I never lost my passion for racing. As things changed over the years, I would do some drag racing for a while just to be involved with cars.

Later in my career, when I sold my last business, I bought a 1958 Corvette and learned road racing. I was in my early 50s. So, I’ve had a passion for racing my whole life.

From Dirt Track To Road Course

ROD WORLEY, Editor – So we tracked down a 2016 photo of you racing a 1958 Corvette roadster at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), in Austin, Texas. Clearly, racing is still in your blood.

Did the dirt track racing help you on the road course? Do you still find time to get on the track with your vintage Corvette race car?

TONY PARELLA, Owner of SVRA – The beautiful part about dirt racing is that you learn car control and how to get a feel for a car. To be fast on dirt, you have to have a natural feeling of what the car’s doing.

You have to know how to adjust the car with the throttle and not the brakes.

When you go road racing or other forms of racing, that natural feeling, I think, gives you an advantage. It lets you take the car as far as you can without losing control.

If it does get a little out of shape, you can correct it

Unfortunately, as SVRA and Trans-Am have become more and more successful, the downside is that my racing has become limited.

You know, you have to focus on running the business and taking care of the customers. But I still have the passion. I still love it. And whenever I get the chance, I get my 58′ Corvette out on the track.

It’s tough to dedicate time to car prep, focus on the racing elements, and run the business at the same time. However, I still have a passion for getting behind the wheel of my Corvette and getting on the track.

Passion For the Racing Experience

The passion Tony Parella has for racing was a touchstone throughout the interview. Since he bought SVRA in 2012, the platform has experienced unparalleled growth both in sponsorship and attendance.

This incredible transformation was fueled by Tony’s passion to share the racing experience with fans, drivers, and sponsors.

As you will see in this interview series, there is a lot going on behind the scenes to bring this experience to fans across the country. At the heart of it all is a love of racing.