Who was Antone Addesso and the Pig Pen Funny Car?

By Dale Smith

Antone Addesso had one of the tallest blower-injector combos in 
funny car history. Photo by Tom Massarella

When I moved to New Canaan, CT, I was a junior in high school. I met Antone Addesso at this time in 1981, and I started to help out. Antone had a Ken Cox funny car, just like the ol' Veney's Vega -- same style chassis and body. Antone never used a Rodeck, always a 392, and then Donovan 417 motors. 

The induction system you see was a funny deal. With the Ken Cox chassis, it was a laydown deal, and with the "high rise" intake manifolds that were popular with blown alky Donovans, Antone found that he could not see around the blower and bird catcher. So he fabricated a box spacer to fit between the blower and injector hat. He figured he could see between the two. I remember well when we finished this deal up; he was soooo happy that he could see ahead! Antone was strictly a sometime match racer. He was never a real hitter, but his car was always sanitary, always ran, and did bitchin' burnouts. 

By the way, when Al Hofmann bought his first fuel funny car from Radici & Wise, he had no clue as to what he was doing. He knew Antone, and it was the big Italian who was Hofmann's biggest savior in the beginning of his career. This is also how I met Al and started to help him, but that is a whole 'nuther story in the adventures in dysfunctional human behavior.

Coyote Dale
tafc273@aol.com