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Vol. 2, Issue 34
Guy Caputo Biography
By Keith S. Kizer
Born July 26, 1956 in Toledo, Ohio, Gitano Giuseppe Caputo or Guy Joseph Caputo if you want the Americanized version was born at a time when the Detroit area was a rust belt and jobs were hard to find. The Korean conflict had just wrapped up and returning soldiers came home to a recession so Guy’s father grabbed his three kids and his pregnant wife and moved to California where the jobs were. Guy grew up in San Bernardino, California, which was known as the smog capital of the world at that time. Cars had no smog emission controls, gas was $0.26 a gallon and when you went to the gas station the attendant filled up the car, washed your windshield, checked your oil and put air in your tires. It was also a magical time to grow up in Southern California because Disneyland had just opened and Mrs. Knott’s chicken dinners at Knott’s Berry Farm was all the rage. Bringing what is really important into focus, Pomona Raceway Park was new and the birth of organized drag racing through Wally Parks and his NHRA was born. Saturday nights at Pomona was the place to be and there were no such thing as noise abatements.
Guy grew up camping in the Southern California deserts and surrounding San Gorgonio and San Bernardino Mountains. This is where Guy learned to ride motorcycles. He took part in the Barstow to Las Vegas run as rider, pit crew and rescue wagon follower, which he said was actually most fun and rewarding, helping those that got stranded in the middle of no where. This was back in the day when there were no GPS or cell phones. Teams and officials in those days depended on CB radios (tube type) with long 9’ steel whip antennae’s for communication.
Guy graduated to the Baja 1000 Ensenada to La Paz as a pit crew member of an off road truck team. Yellow streamers and bad maps were all you had to go by and God help you if you broke down (which most everyone did at one time or another). Guy said it was all worth it when you reached the end due to the great lobsters that were served on the beach to the guys who finished.
As Guy saw it, dragging knee caps were fast becoming the rage with the advent of the Honda 750 Super Sport and the many canyon roads that Southern California had to offer, but that just wasn’t his cup of tea. Tires weren’t what they are today and sliding off the side of the road was common practice for those who leaned just a tad too far. But his first real street machine was a 1979 Honda CB750F, the first year for the dual overhead cam.
Guy worked in the copier industry for Standard Office Systems, a Minolta Copier dealership from 1978 to 1992 where he went from shop apprentice to Director of Service before returning to Toledo in 1992 after his father passed away. He had many family members in the Toledo area, one being Pro Modified rider, builder and tuner, Mike Caputo. Mike got Guy started in the sport of drag racing and where he learned many techniques and met hundreds of some of the greatest people in this sport.
From an E.T. racer with IDBA to being given the privilege of being the Race Director in 1999 for the AMA/Prostar series Guy says he will never forget the honor of being involved in the sport to witness the greatest of the greats like Elmer Trett and witnessing McBride’s first 5-second runs. He also wrote articles for Motorcycle Performance Magazine, Dragbike.com and the old IDBA Magazine. Where has the time gone?
Had it not been for Guy’s cousin Mike, he would have never had such great experiences, never met such wonderful people, and never started his business, “Tiger Racing Products”. Mike was actually the inventor of the now famous “Tiger Tail” Inner Fender that has been sold to over 5,000 racers to date. Mike’s shop, Maximum Performance Cycles in Toledo, Ohio is where most all of Guy’s products were developed and prototypes produced over the years. Mike has been an inspiration to Guy in the development and promotion of his website and company now in its 9th year.
In 2003 Guy got involved in land speed racing through a famous TF Harley drag racer, Wayne Pollack. It was a great alternative to going a buck50 on the toll way on his new Hayabusa. Once Guy found out about being able to go really fast and do it legally, he was hooked. Maxton, NC is one of the few places where fast motorcycles can play and Guy wanted to be a part of that venue. With the help and guidance of his cousin Mike and the late Dave Owen, Mike built Guy a machine worthy of racing on the mile track (air strip.)
It took several years, but they finally captured the honor of being the Worlds Fastest Nitrous Injected Motorcycle at a speed of 215mph. They then set and raised that record 9 times to their fastest of 228.803 mph in the mile. Without the knowledge Mike’s Pro Modified drag racing Guy said they could not have tuned a bike to take 200hp of nitrous on top of a 200hp produced by the PM Hayabusa motor. And to boot, it had to run over 15 seconds and withstand the pressures of such a feat. They blew up many motors during their learning curve but Guy said it was Mike’s genius that allowed him to brag about it since 2005. To this day, no one has beaten the record in land speed racing in the mile, not Bonneville and not El Mirage. Guy not only thanks Mike, but also thanks his wife Dianna for her love and support of this hobby. Without her he says he would have given up long ago.
Other Areas of Interest
Spouse’s Name: Dianna
Children’s Names (ages): None
Occupation: CAD/CAM Robotics Engineer
Home track: Norwalk Raceway Park, Milan Dragway
Team Name: Tiger Racing
Crew Members: Dianna Caputo – Crew Chief, Mike Caputo – Builder - Tuner
Sponsors: Maximum Performance Cycles, Schnitz Racing, Orient Express, Wossner Pistons, WorldWide Bearings, OnCycles.com, MPS Racing, Ward Performance, MTC,Brocks Performance, AirTech, DynoJet, McIntosh, Web Cams
Accomplishments: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Worlds Fastest Nitrous Motorcycle; 2009 & 2010 Worlds Fastest Nitrous Motorcycle in the 1 mile
What year did you start racing or being involved in racing? 1978
Goals: To be racing well into my 60’s
Interest outside of racing:
Long Range Target Shooting (500yd+), Tactical Handgun Shooting, Reloading, Cigar Aficionado
Favorite foods: Italian (of course, with a name like Caputo?)
Favorite movie: God Father Part 1
Daily driver:2000 Monte Carlo SS
First motorcycle: Honda 50 trail
Hero: Dave Owen
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