KentNewsNet.com

Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: News

Carl Picelle, owner of Franklin Square Deli sits at one of the tables in his restaurant. Picelle said, "I think my approach to my restaurant business assisted me in the racing endeavor as well: preparedness, being thorough, look deeper into the future, find the best assistants (and) don't give up." Daniel R. Doherty | Daily Kent Stater

Carl Picelle sits in his car and tries to forget about everything but the strategy he has developed for over a week. Ready to race, he waits for the pace lap. ¶ He sees a green flag. The race has just begun. ¶ A few weekends a year, Picelle drives his red 1985 Porsche 944 around race car circuits. Every day, however, the owner of Franklin Square Deli drives his Jeep Wrangler "like a grandpa" around town, he says.

Picelle was a child when he became an avid spectator of sports car racing. During his first trip to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the roar, the smells and the excitement instantly captivated him. But observing drivers from the stands was not enough for him. Picelle, 51, became an amateur race car driver when he earned his competition license through The Porsche Club of America eight years ago. Picelle then founded CARVAL Motorsports Team and began competing in the National Auto Sport Association GTS-2 category.

He believes the Carl who drives the Jeep helped the Carl who drives the Porsche succeed in his racing career.

"I think my approach to my restaurant business assisted me in the racing endeavor as well: preparedness, being thorough, look deeper into the future, find the best assistants (and) don't give up."

Picelle says he originally thought he would use the race track as a means to get away from his restaurant, but in reality, he says, it became another business itself.

"In a restaurant environment and other small businesses, you are constantly dealing with stress. Restaurant work is so multifaceted. Many, many details have to be perfect. (They) have to come together at exactly the right moment."

To jump start his racing career, Picelle bought a used Porsche and transformed it into what it is now: a highly modified race car that could never be driven on the streets again. Depending on the road racing circuit he is competing at, Picelle's car can reach 135 miles per hour.

Contrary to NASCAR races, which take place in oval tracks, road racing competitions happen in two- to four-mile tracks that incorporate long straights, right and left turns, hills and dips.

"If your attention is a $1 bill, at the race track, 90 cents of that dollar is being spent on meeting security requirements. Whereupon at the deli, it would look more like 20 cents is making sure staff was tasking properly, 20 cents in making sure the environment was as it should be, 20 cents in making my customers feel appreciated, 20 cents into product inspection and 20 cents into keeping yourself happy, friendly and outgoing."

Franklin Square Deli, located at the corner of Main and Water streets, is decorated with racing paraphernalia. Checkered racing flags outlined on the glass doors invite customers in, while newspaper clips that mention Picelle's achievements hang on the white and black ceramic tiles that cover the walls.

The man with a welcoming smile and big, brown eyes has climbed up on the podium more than 50 times, 26 of them at the top. However, Picelle finished winless last season.

"There are drivers that carry good luck objects or have a special superstitious way of getting into their race car or something like that… I do not have any good luck charms, but I do like when my wife, Valerie, reaches through the window netting and shakes my hand before I get on the track to wish me well, good luck, race well and tell me she loves me."

To offset the high costs of racing, Picelle says he decided to operate his car as a business by selling advertisements on it for local companies. But during tough economic times - like any other business - Picelle's racing team also struggles, and he has been forced to stay off the road for several races this season.

"I make my living from the restaurant. There is no monetary return from the racing endeavor … Finding and attaining sponsorship for an amateur road racing effort is extremely difficult in good economic times. Bad economic times will harshly affect what we could generate in cash needed to operate."

Since he was a child and built small model cars, Picelle has admired professional race car driver Mario Andretti because he says they both share similar stories.

"Mario watched the road racers of his youth era in Italy, fell in love with it as I did, and when his family moved to the U.S., he pursued racing here. He has grown to be an admired statesman of the sport, and (he) is still revered for his accomplishments."

Contact academics reporter Regina Garcia Cano at rgarcia1@kent.edu.

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