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Frank Righetti

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aeronca65t

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
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Many folks here on the east coast will know who Frank Righetti was.

He has passed.

He was a dedicated vintage racer (Bugeye, Turner, Volvo, etc) mostly with VSCCA.

Frank was still racing in his mid 80s (up to a few years ago).

Here's a video that Autoweek did about his garage in 2011 (slide to about 2:00 to skip the intro stuff).


 
Five years ago, my first day "in training" to become a corner worker, stationed under the bridge at Lime Rock. Among the cars coming "balls to the wall" around West Bend was the orange Sprite driven by Frank Rigetti, probably age 85. If he could do it, I could do it! So I said "to h--l with this corner worker stuff! I want to be out there."

Frank soon retired the Sprite and started to show up in the Volvo P544 sedan, but did a few laps in a few events and that was about it.

At last year's VSCCA Christmas party Frank was in a wheel chair - but seems in good spirits. As the event wound down, he wheeled over and spent a long time regaling my wife and I with his life's stories - a bit unusual since I only knew Frank to nod hello.

As we left the party, I told my wife: "Frank came over to say 'good-bye'. He knows it's his last Christmas."

I guess it was. I hope he went out peacefully.
 
I road raced SCCA , EMRA ,also autocrossed with Frank from the early 70's .I saw him at Lime Rock about 8 years ago & couldn't beleive he was still at it ,flat out ! Good for you Frank !
 
Thank you for posting this. Frank and I (and my Dad), were as close as you could be without being relatives. We met him just about 30 yrs ago when we started looking for AH 100 to start vintage racing. Together we had many, many adventures, from the early days with his Turner and Jabro, to helping him restore a Lotus 7, then the old SCCA bugeye he converted for use in the VSCCA, to the Volvo when it became to hard to get in and out of a smaller car. This was a man who was still winning races, and big ones, like the Fall Festival at LRP, well into his 80's. He was a WW2 vet (coast guard), came home, started racing 1/4 midgits in NYC armories, then multiple SCCA northeast champ, then vintage racing, driving instructor, the guy you contacted when you needed a permanent number in the VSCCA. Frank was a man who did not have a bucket list, he lived his life and made sure he did what he wanted to do while he could. Today I attended his wake, and tomorrow will go along for his final ride and checker, RIP my friend, I will always love and miss you...... Until we meet again.......
Ed Preusser,
VSCCA #09
AH 100 LeMans
 
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