Dave Percario...Oct 2008 - celebrated his 71st birthday.

 

It is with great sadness that I have to wave the final  "checkered flag" on the loss of Dave Percario. Dave was a father, grandfather, uncle, mentor and friend. He was always there to lend a helping hand at the track and gave a lot of former and present drivers the opportunity to drive his cars. Fortunately, I was one of those guys.
Dave owned the # 2, # 3, and the # 10 cars. He also co-owned the # 1 car of Jack Duffy. Dave had names like Jack Duffy, Ernie Teed, Jr., Joey McKinney, Ted Durfee, Brandon Cagle, and myself drive his cars and win championships. He gave on and off the track and was truly a generous and great friend to so many.
Dave passed away suddenly on Dec. 1, 2008 in his hometown of Chatham, Va. He will be greatly missed and remembered forever.

 

Dave got his start back in 1954 in Somerville, N.J. when he met Jack Duffy. Dave worked on the cars and bought a gas station  where the cars were housed. Both a sprint car and a stock car were operated from Dave's gas station. In the summer of 1957, Dave opened a body shop in Sterling, N.J. and bought a stock car from Mr. Duffy. While Jack was racing the sprint car and midgets, Dave hired Johnny Bates to wheel his stock car.
Years later, Dave moved to Chatham, Va. and Mr. Duffy moved to Florida. The two would team up again with the T.Q. Midgets. Dave  purchased the famous black and gold # 3 T.Q. from Duffy and campaigned the car until 2008. The # 3 won championships in 2001 and  2002 with Duffy driving, and again in 2003 with Brandon Cagle at the wheel. In 2008, the car finished third in the points with Geoff Styner behind the wheel. Dave also bought a few other cars and ran them.  He was a car owner that every driver wanted to drive for. Dave always had good equipment, fast cars and the best attitude when it came to racing. The Florida TQ Midgets Series was very proud to have Dave and his cars with us. Although not always feeling his best, he traveled from Virginia twice a month (and in between for special races) from March through October for the last seven years to support our club.

 

Dave also bought an old Duffy stock car and restored it. The car was an old Reutimann coupe. This car had the straight axles and was run on dirt by Duffy in the 1970?s. The  # 3 was back in friendly hands.