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You Have Been Targeted...
You pull up to the beams to stage in the final round of Stock at the U.S. Nationals. You have been driving great, the car has been deadly consistent, and you are so comfortable in the race car you know that nothing can go wrong. You are surely going to win the biggest drag race of them all. You finish staging, the tree falls, and you start powering down the Indianapolis Raceway Park quarter-mile. About halfway down, you look back and see the silver 1969 Chevy Camaro of Peter Biondo hike the wheels and start chasing you down. Less than ten seconds later, you both cross the finish line, and you are left to ask yourself one question: Arnold Schwarzanegger who?
Schwarzenegger might have been called the Terminator first, but Biondo has defined it with his driving prowess and unbridled success. “People told me I was built like Arnold Schwarzanegger,” Biondo joked when asked where he moniker came from. “Actually, it came when I was racing at Englishtown and Louis Bloom (NHRA announcer) gave me the nickname after I won a few races in a row. It just stuck.”
Before long, older brother Sal started racing, and Peter continued to watch and benefit from the many lessons being given to him by his father and brother. By the time Peter was old enough to sit behind the wheel of the Biondo family grocery getter, he had a degree in racing and the education of a racer well beyond his years. “Being around their success has given me the advantage of speeding up my learning curve,” Biondo said. “They have helped both in the big picture and with round-by-round advice. You can’t put words or a price on the value of having them to learn from. Having good people around you is so important in anything you do in life.”
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Biondo learned his lessons well, putting them to use right from the first day of his career. After racing locally for a few years and winning his share of track championships, Biondo’s domination of the drag racing world seemed to go hand in hand with his talent and versatility as a driver. He tackled the NHRA tour a few years after his first trip down the track, and won his first division championship in Super Street in 1993. After another Super Street division title in ‘94, he won the Super Stock world title in 1996. That was just the beginning of his rise to supremacy in the sportsman ranks, where he has won a national or divisional championship in Super Stock, Stock, or Super Comp every year except for 2004. He has also racked up numerous bracket racing titles, two Jeg’s All Stars wins, a Moroso 5-Day overall title, and multiple Driver of the Year awards. Biondo attributes his current success to his first few years racing. “When I first learned how to race, I did so in some cars that were not the most consistent cars you could drive,” he said. “I even raced the tow vehicle/grocery getter station wagon for a few years. I believe driving these cars early in my career forced me to be a driver at both ends of the track. I also believe, like anything else in life, the will to win and dig deep when the chips are on the table is important.”
“I like to do both for different reasons,” Biondo explained when asked what format of racing he likes better, local bracket racing or competing in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. “I do a lot of national and divisional racing because it gives me the opportunity to race off of the bottom bulb and to compete for national championships. But I would have to say I enjoy bracket racing more. It is all done in one day, and there is some big money out there these days which makes it exciting. Our family business, Biondo Racing Products, also sells a lot of delay boxes to the bracket racing world. It gives me the opportunity to meet customers and get a good feel for that market.” a
d v e r t i s e m e n t So if Peter Biondo defines the nickname “Terminator,” what is it that defined the pinnacle of his career? “My most defining moment would have had to be when I was going for my first world championship,” he said. “I had a few tough rounds late in the season that I had to win to win the championship. I performed well and that gave me a lot of confidence. My most memorable moment was without a doubt winning the national event at Englishtown in 2002 (in Stock). My father won the event in Super Stock right in front of me and my good pal, Donny Sabin, won in Super Street right behind me. It was very special.” “Overall, I wouldn’t change much,” Biondo reflected. “If anything I would have raced a little bit less and experienced other things in life a little bit more in my early years. I was fortunate to play some sports and finish college and I am thankful for that. Poor choices and mistakes you make along the way are inevitable. You just have to learn from them and try not to make the same mistakes twice.” Either way, Biondo will be out in full force defending his title in 2006. With a lot of years ahead of him and a lot of wins and career accomplishments already behind him, one thing in Biondo’s future is certain: he’ll be back.
Got a comment? Drop us a line at comppluseditor@aol.com.
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For many racers in Stock and Super Stock, the feeling of being terminated by Peter “The Terminator” Biondo comes with an unsettling amount of regularity. Biondo, a multi-time national and divisional champion in numerous categories, showed once again how true his nickname is when he racked up a near-perfect 792 points on his way to winning the 2005 Stock Eliminator World Championship. With his points total, the highest amount earned by a sportsman racer in the history of the NHRA, he probably made Arnold glad he is the governor of California and not a fellow drag racer.
For Peter, drag racing came early, thanks to his father Sam, who is also the founder of the family business, Biondo Racing Products. “Pretty much when I was old enough to comprehend what was going on I was interested in drag racing,” he said. “My brother (Sal) and I grew up watching my father race at local tracks such as Englishtown, National Speedway, and Atco.” Peter followed along with Sam, watching him win and learning the fine art of drag racing. “Some people don’t realize just how much talent he had because most of his success was on a local level,” Peter said of his father. “I remember being ten years old and watching him using the footbrake and hitting four .510 lights in a row to the thousandth while winning 36 rounds in a row in Super Pro. Back then, the technology and (the) cars weren’t what they are now. When I look at that, it’s pretty amazing.”
With his 2005 Stock title being his fourth national title, Biondo will have to make a little bit more room for it in his trophy case. But considering his future plans to keep on racing, he might need a full room before he is done. “It’s impossible to predict what the future holds and what opportunities will come your way,” Biondo commented. “I do not have any plans to make any big changes as long as I continue to be successful at what I am doing and enjoy it.”
© Competitionplus 2005
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