Ford dealer Bob Bruncati loved to race as a young man. But when he became a business owner, life in the fast lane came to a screeching halt.
And when he returned to racing years later, it was as a NASCAR team owner. Now, he says, there's nothing like seeing a car go up to 170 mph with the name of his dealership emblazoned on its sides.
Bruncati's Sunrise Ford Racing Team fields two NASCAR K&N Pro Series West teams, each with two cars.
"I got hooked at a NASCAR race in Phoenix and got to spend time in the pits seeing how hard it is and what a good time they had," he says.
Bruncati, 73, is semiretired. During race season he spends weekends on the road with his drivers and crews vying for championships in the regional NASCAR series. Since 2007, his Sunrise Ford Racing has won two K&N Pro Series West championships, taken second place four times, and third three times.
Team ownership is no joyride, he says. "The work that goes on at a racetrack starts early in the morning and we go to 10 or 11 at night. It is hard work and costly work. If you don't love racing you won't be good at it."
Winning doesn't come cheap. Bruncati figures he spends about $350,000 per team annually. But he shrugs that off, saying his teams give up-and-coming drivers experience and a chance to later compete in the big leagues -- NASCAR Cup races. Five of his drivers have been named Sunoco Rookie of the Year.
He said becoming a champion in this series is the best way for a talented driver to be seen by the NASCAR Cup team owners.
Bruncati, born in 1943 in New York City, was 12 when his father died. He worked various jobs to save for his first hot rod -- a red 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible with gold flames that he named Goldilocks.
After he got married in 1965, Bruncati returned from his honeymoon ready to work as a factory representative for Chevrolet in Detroit. But his job had to wait -- the big stack of unread mail had a draft notice. Bruncati went to Korea for two years.
After the Army, the couple packed their belongings and drove to California where Bruncati went to work as a salesman at a Ford dealership. He joined the local Mustang owners club and began driving in slaloms and rallies.
He modified a car few people had heard of -- a 1960 Turner roadster -- to compete in Sports Car Club of America events. He says the British car "looked like an AC Cobra and I modified the motor and did a lot of the work myself."
Bruncati won many trophies as an amateur racer but had another goal in mind.
"While working, I was trying to put a deal together to buy a dealership," he says.
He became the owner of a Ford dealership in Los Angeles' Tujunga neighborhood in 1981 and by the early 1990s was running two Ford dealerships -- Sunrise Ford of Fontana, Calif., and Sunrise Ford of North Hollywood. It left no time or resources for zipping around tracks.
Bruncati gave up SCCA racing but wanted his two youngest sons, Tony and James, to get a feel for the sport. Father and sons competed from 1990-99 in the International Karting Federation's national and regional events.
In 2000, the sons raced in the NASCAR Super Late Model division at Irwindale Speedway in California for their newly created Sunrise Ford Racing Team. They raced for the family team until 2005, and like their father, ditched racing to make money. The two former racers and their older brother now run the two California dealerships.
But Bruncati wasn't ready to walk away from NASCAR.
"The years we karted and raced, I saw so many talented drivers who couldn't get to the next level," he says. "And I also saw the next level to merchandise my stores in racing."
The decision made business sense, even though Bruncati would be footing the bill.
"There were a lot of people involved and 3,000 to 6,000 people in the stands," he says. "I saw the opportunity to get the name of my business out and get local customers."
