MICHAEL SFORZA

Racer / Mechanic / Draster & Rod builder / Fabricator

  • From the time he got his drivers license at age sixteen he has always had the urge to 'floorboard' the gas pedal on every car he owned to see how fast it would run.
  • Back in the 40's and 50's most of the cars he drove were six cylinders. His first V8 powered automobile was a 1935 Ford and it was fast compared to the six cylinders. While on lunch break from work one day he passed a gas station and saw a crowd of guys looking under the hood of a 1941 Ford. he stopped to look too and was excited by what he saw. The car had high compression heads, dual carbs, a DSM coil and numerous other goodies. He asked the car owner if the items made the car run faster. After receiving the answer of 'yes' Mike was hooked and became a steady customer at Frank Delroy's Speed Shop in New York. The speed shop owner also sold Mike on the e of buying a 1951 Hemi engine and installing it in his present car, a 1936 Ford.
  • 1948 - first year he began drag racing.
  • Competed in B/A and AAF Dragster classes.
  • Owned his own cars which consisted of a 1932 Ford five window coupe, a 1936 Ford three window coupe, and 1961, 1966 and 1969 AAF dragsters.
  • 1955 - competed at an event in Great Bend, Kansas.. While attending the event and competing he saw all the top cars and names in drag racing from all over the country. He knew that once he returned home he was going to build himself a dragster. Mike loved competing against other racers and it made him work even harder. He made a lot of his own equipment himself and during the course of his career built four AAF dragsters. He ran the dragsters from 1961 to 1971.
  • 1955 - featured on the cover of Speed Mechanics magazine.
  • Custom Rodder magazine featured a photo spread of his dragster entitled 'Mike's Masterpiece'. He handcrafted the immaculate dragster from the chassis to the body by himself.
  • Rodding and Re-styling magazine featured his 1932 Ford coupe on the cover and carried a story inside entitled 'Pride of the East', stating that 'there was no compromise with perfection in the much-admired 1932 Ford coupe.'
  • Teamed up with Dick Yarkin and became co-proprietors of Henny's Welding in Jamaica, NY. The two men bought a 1932 Ford coupe that was ready for the junkyard for $25.00. after two years, countless hours of work and a good deal of cash later the car was worth thousands. Their car became one of the most envied and imitated on the Easter seaboard but they never stopped working to make it even better.
  • 1971 - discounted drag racing and began building street rods. One of his creations was a 1934 Ford three-window coupe.
  • Presently Mike and his wife Pat live in New York. They are still very active in Street Rod sports and enjoy traveling around the country in their 1934 Ford three window coupe.
* as documented @ East Coast Drag Times Hall of FameEast Coast Hall of Fame 2007 inductees