Pete Fiandaca, a New England Racing Hall of Famer known as the Travelin’ Man, passed away Sunday.
Fiandaca was 73 years old.
Fiandaca, a native of Fitchburg, Mass., amassed a massive list of victories and track championships over a 40 year career. He was inducted into the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.
Fiandaca earned his Travelin’ Man moniker for his reputation to race just about anywhere, oftentimes at multiple tracks on the same day.
According to the New England Racing Hall of Fame archives, Fiandaca had 320 feature victories in Modifieds, Pro Stocks, Late Models and other various divisions.
He also had 16 track championships, with seven of them coming at Hudson (N.H.) Speedway. He also had titles at Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H. Thompson Speedway and the defunct Westboro (Mass.) Speedway.
NEAR Hall of Fame Page – Pete Fiandaca
Rest in Peace Pete… Enjoyed racing with you and watching you race all over new England. Pete was especially strong at Hudson & Star …boy the Traveling Man could really run the outside on those Tracks,, He knew exactly when to make His move and take a little line away from you so you couldn’t get up to the preferred groove , He would hold you down a little and within a few laps you were watching Him pull away …He used to sit around the tire Truck and see what tires were discarded when new tires were mounted. I saw Him with His tape measure and He would look over the tire carefully for any damage or cuts.. He would take your old tires and remount them on His Car … then go out and pass you on your OLD TIRES… Boy if that didn’t happen 100 times…Steve Bird was incredibly Sharp Crew Chief… He had every trick you could ever imagine in His Toolkit , took what worked and tossed what didn’t out… Took His speed secrets down South and Won on the Big Stage in NASCAR….They made a Great Combination … Nice post Bones …young kid made it big also Writing about Racers and Races and
writing books of Richie, Bugsy and many more…
Great local legend sorry to hear news. Another old school racer. People hate when you mention old day racing but racers like Pete Wade Cole Gomer Taylor they a vet important part of the show.
RIP #135 Your one best driver even watch Hudson and star speedway PRAYER family many fans
thanks for a kind, thoughtful piece, Bones. Pete Fiandaca was larger than life, one of my favorite drivers. Godspeed, Travelin’ Man.
Condolences to the Fiandaca family. Remember watching Pete at Stafford in the he sportsman cars. Will always remember the maxwell house air cleaner.
Legend. We have that top left pic in our photo album. 8×10 color looks as bad ass as any other in the collection. Might have been a Clint Lawton photo down the Big T backstretch, ‘78? We always rooted for the 135, how could you not? True racer through and through. RIP Travelin’ Man!
Pete raced hard and earned everything he got… (go maxwell house)
My condolences to his family and many friends