DRIVER NOBILE DISCUSSES BEING LEFT WITHOUT A PRO STOCK RIDE

by Tracy Renck    Fri, 2018-11-16 15:42

 

This has been a week of shock for veteran NHRA Pro Stock driver Vincent Nobile.

On the afternoon of Nov. 14, Nobile was informed by his Pro Stock team owner Nick Mitsos that he was parking his team immediately. Mitsos, the boss of Mountain View Tire, sponsored Nobile’s Camaro.

“In Vegas (at the NHRA national event Oct. 26-28), me, my dad (John) and a few of the other guys on the team were under the assumption per Nick (Mitsos) we were going to do 15 races next year,” said Vincent, who turned 27 years old on Nov. 6. “I was under the assumption we were going to be doing a part-time schedule. Honestly, I didn’t find out until (Wednesday afternoon) what Nick was going to do. It was a little bit of a surprise. I knew Nick mentioned doing a part-time schedule, but he never said he was going to park the team or anything like that.”

Nobile drove Mitsos’ Mountain View Tire & Auto Center Pro Stock car for the past eight years. This past season he finished sixth in the points and he captured three wins. In his career, Nobile has competed in 188 NHRA Pro Stock national events and has 13 wins.

“I thank the Mitsos family and the Mountain View gang for giving me the opportunity I had,” Nobile said. “It’s a tough class, but I thought we did pretty good for being a leasing customer. It’s tough to be in a sport and lease engines from people.”

It was reported recently by CompetitionPlus.com that Ryan Priddy, an all-purpose crewman on the Mountain View Tire & Auto Center NHRA Pro Stock team, was going to do some driving of his own during the 2019 season in NHRA’s Factory Stock Showdown class.

The plan is for Priddy to be behind the wheel for all eight Factory Stock Showdown races next season. He will be campaigning a 2018 Chevy Camaro owned and sponsored by Mitsos. The team is based out of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

As for Nobile, his racing future is completely uncertain.

“I have no plans,” he said. “If something comes my way, I will certainly entertain it, that’s for sure.”

Nobile and his father John run three businesses in Long Island, N.Y., when they are not racing. The businesses consist of a trucking company, a contracting business and flavor distribution business.

“Racing is basically a hobby for me, it is not my livelihood,” Vincent said. “Pro Stock is my passion and it's what I love to do and what my father loves to do. My dad has raced my entire life and his entire life basically. We raced prior to Nick and the Mountain View gang and I’m sure we will race again. This is all so new. Maybe if we would have known sooner we could have worked on other plans and what not and maybe try and line something up for next year, but as of right now nothing is planned. I definitely would like to race again, but as of right now, we don’t know what we are going to do. We don’t have the money to race Pro Stock out of our pocket, we would need sponsors to do all that and that doesn’t happen overnight. Nobody’s calling and saying, ‘Here’s a $1 million to go race Pro Stock.’”

Nobile said he would possibly entertain doing some bracket racing.

“Racing is in my blood and I’m not going to fall off the face of the Earth,” Nobile said. “My dad has raced his whole life and I’m sure we are just going to continue racing one way or another.”


 

 

 

 

 
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