Joey Guinta

For many NASA members, racing begins as a family affair. A relative brought them to the track at a young age and they were hooked for life. Others join after a seeing a friend do well in HPDE, or cross over from a competitive spirit in another form of competition, be it bicycles or target shooting.

For NASA Northeast member Joey Guinta, there was no family member involved with racing or another competitive discipline. Instead, the journey from casual automotive enthusiast to active NASA member and a winning GTS4 racer was always about the need to go faster.

Other than his first car, a 1986 BMW 325 SE, he has always owned and raced a Porsche. Joey’s love for everything Dr. Porsche created evolved from modifying his daily driver 993 with exhaust and wheels to his current racecar a Cayman S PDK. His switch from auto enthusiast to hardcore racer began at Watkins Glen in 2004. A few laps on a track day convinced Joey that it was time to upgrade the car and the driver. He purchased a 2004 GT3 and joined NASA Northeast.

Over the next three years, Joey participated in NASA events and also local PCA events. In 2007, he earned his competition license through NASA Northeast, and with his new Cayman PDK, he has topped the podium this year in the highly competitive GTS4 class. A native New Yorker, Guinta’s decision to join the nearby New Jersey Motorsports Park as a member was an easy choice. A part of his membership at NJMP gave him access to the track. He quickly organized track days at NJMP as a way of building local performance car drivers’ interest in NASA and participation in an HPDE class. The open track days have morphed into a second business working with Pro Racer Aaron Povoledo and VAC Motorsports.

With daily responsibilities of managing his family’s third-generation roofing and contracting business, he strives to keep the balance of what he hopes will be a second career in motorsports after his planned retirement in five years. Watching Joey as he moves from a busy day job running his business, to organizing track days, playing host to epic after-race pasta get-togethers and his podium-topping driving, and you would assume that “Joey G” is the perfect blend of business executive, racer and chef. But not from Joey’s perspective. They all exist separately.

He finds no comparison within the three disciplines. Instead he finds racing to require an altogether different level of focus than the business world and when it comes to his after-track cooking efforts, he humbly shrugs and sees it as just a great part of the camaraderie of NASA. Due to business matters, he missed the NASA National Championships at Mid Ohio this year. But he is already making plans for the trek to Utah and the 2013 NASA National Championships at Miller Motorsports Park.

Joey is quick to thank his wife of 25 years, Janet, and daughters Sami and Alexa for supporting him in going to the track more than 24 times a year. He may view his business, racing and after-race feasts as separate items, but to us it looks like Joey G has found the perfect blend of business, racing and friendship.