John Saccameno - Vintage Race Car Driver & Owner of Sport & Specialty

John is a life long car guy. All of his favorite toys had wheels.
Growing up on the north side of Chicago, two of his favorite
early memories includes drives down Lake Shore Dr. in an MGA with
the top down, (which really started his love of British Sports
Cars) and when the orange pedal car was brought downstairs for a
sidewalk drive. That was officially his first car. His second was
a fairly ratty, but still loved red 1960 TR3. There were a
variety of cars in the early days, foreign and domestic. A 1969
Road Runner, a 1973 Grand Am with a four speed, and a 1972 MGB
were among a few early cars. Later came a long string of
practical and sporty BMW 3 and 5 Series cars. Somewhere in the
late 80 and early nineties was a 944 Turbo.


In 1996 John bought a 1963 Austin Healey BJ7 3000. He met his
long-time friend Mark Baker when Sport and Specialty did some
much-needed maintenance on the car. Re-bitten by the British Car
bug, and deciding it was “now or never” John found a 1960 Bugeye
race car and brought it back to racing duty. Next, he joined
North Suburban Sports Car Club and went to his first driving
school in 1998, and received his Novice Competition License. He
has held a competition and instructors license since 1998. He
also holds a Chief and Operating Steward’s license from
Midwestern Council and serves as the Vintage / Historic Racing
Chair and Vintage Motorsport Council delegate. He campaigns his
lovely yellow 1969 Alfa Romeo GTV and BMW 2002 with MCSCC and the
Vintage Sports Car Drivers Association (VSCDA) in general vintage
races and the B Sedan Trans Am series. He also runs his track and
street ready1983 Caterham Super Seven when the occasion arises.


After a long and successful career in sales and marketing and
general management, John knew it was time to do something he
truly loved. After the passing of his friend Mark, the business
that he knew so well through his friendship with Mark was in
danger of shutting down. The business had a talented and
dedicated crew and good business basics in place, so after
helping the family operate the business in 2012, he began
discussing some purchase options to keep the business alive and
growing. At the end of 2012, he purchased the business and hasn’t
looked back. He couldn’t be happier, he works with a
talented crew, gets to go racing when he can, and has
successfully turned his passion into his livelihood! What could
be better?