John Saccameno - Vintage Race Car Driver & Owner of Sport & Specialty
John is a life long car guy. All of his favorite toys had wheels. Growing up on the north side of Chicago, two of his favorite early memories includes drives down Lake Shore Dr. in an MGA with the top down, (which really started his love of British Sports Cars) and when the orange pedal car was brought downstairs for a sidewalk drive. That was officially his first car. His second was a fairly ratty, but still loved red 1960 TR3. There were a variety of cars in the early days, foreign and domestic. A 1969 Road Runner, a 1973 Grand Am with a four speed, and a 1972 MGB were among a few early cars. Later came a long string of practical and sporty BMW 3 and 5 Series cars. Somewhere in the late 80 and early nineties was a 944 Turbo.
In 1996 John bought a 1963 Austin Healey BJ7 3000. He met his long-time friend Mark Baker when Sport and Specialty did some much-needed maintenance on the car. Re-bitten by the British Car bug, and deciding it was “now or never” John found a 1960 Bugeye race car and brought it back to racing duty. Next, he joined North Suburban Sports Car Club and went to his first driving school in 1998, and received his Novice Competition License. He has held a competition and instructors license since 1998. He also holds a Chief and Operating Steward’s license from Midwestern Council and serves as the Vintage / Historic Racing Chair and Vintage Motorsport Council delegate. He campaigns his lovely yellow 1969 Alfa Romeo GTV and BMW 2002 with MCSCC and the Vintage Sports Car Drivers Association (VSCDA) in general vintage races and the B Sedan Trans Am series. He also runs his track and street ready1983 Caterham Super Seven when the occasion arises.
After a long and successful career in sales and marketing and general management, John knew it was time to do something he truly loved. After the passing of his friend Mark, the business that he knew so well through his friendship with Mark was in danger of shutting down. The business had a talented and dedicated crew and good business basics in place, so after helping the family operate the business in 2012, he began discussing some purchase options to keep the business alive and growing. At the end of 2012, he purchased the business and hasn’t looked back. He couldn’t be happier, he works with a talented crew, gets to go racing when he can, and has successfully turned his passion into his livelihood! What could be better?
