Billy Prisco, Slick like Crisco

By Kevin Boucher

Growing up in a family that is not into racing is tough for any youngster that just wants to get to the speedway. This was Bill Prisco’s dilemma growing up. He watched the races on the weekend, and knew about Seekonk Speedway, but had no way to get here. No one in his family were racing fans. That was until he got his license. Then he couldn’t get enough. But he wanted to do more than just watch. The problem was, he did not know anyone who was involved. Not even his friends. That was until Big Al came into his work, and they started talking. Al King had worked on a couple of pit crews, and the two became fast friends.

“Al came in and he started talking about the races at Seekonk.” Bill mentioned with a smile. “That was my way to get involved, for me to get into get into the pits. I never thought I could help anyone. I always thought that you had to be hand picked to work on the race cars.” He would learn it wasn’t all that difficult to jump in and help out. But it would be a few years before he had the opportunity.

While out with Al one day, Bill noticed a tackle box in the backseat. Thinking it was fishing equipment, he thought nothing of it, until the box was opened. Inside was a collection of Slot Cars. From there it was off to Darlington Hobbies in Pawtucket, where Bill met up with Dan Delude and several other racing enthusiasts. It was when he moved into R/C racing where he met more racers.

“I’m racing with Rick Martin, Fred Astle, Rob Murray and more. It was a lot of fun, but I really wanted to work on the real cars.” Bill remembers back. “I thought some of these guys didn’t need help because they were running so well on Saturday nights. So I went over to Ed Pacheco and asked him if I could be on his crew. I knew he needed help.”

That was just the beginning. After working with Ed for a couple of seasons, Ed stepped away. Looking for someone to latch onto, he went over to Mike Cavallaro, who was racing in the Pro Stock division. Working with Mike helped him learn that it takes a lot of hard work to race the right way. “Mike was struggling to keep up with the guys spending a lot of money. Mike didn’t have that, but he would always make sure the car was 100% legal. He wanted to run up front, but didn’t want to do it by cheating. I think he still races that way.”

He jumped over to Rob Murray and his then Sportsman ride. He learned how to set up the car, and his education went to the next level. He helped out Paul Guimond at Thompson in the Mini Stock division, and the bug finally bit him. In the last race of the year, Al King had put together a Strictly Stock for Thompson’s season ending event. He went out and finished 15th in a field of over 35 cars. Over the winter, he built his first Mini Stock, and decided to race at Thompson. In 1996, the black and blue Dodge Charge took to the high banks and he sat in Victory Lane in his very first race that year. He rode that to the 1995 Mini Stock Championship. He followed that up with a second consecutive title in 96.

Over the winter, he received a call from Bruce Manuel, who had fielded cars for Kevin Casper in the Seekonk Formula Fours. Kevin was moving up to the Seekonk Sport Trucks, and Bruce had a brand new car that he was building. Bill sold his Mini Stock, and moved over to Seekonk. In his very first race, he finished second.

“I told Bruce, that red #21 was going to be the car to beat that day.” Bill remembered. “They thought I was crazy. My car was faster, but he was smooth.” Second on opening day was not a bad start, seeing there were over 40 cars in the Formula Four pits in those days. His first Seekonk title was to come that season. Bruce and Bill were a formidable combination, as they followed up with another Formula Four Championship in 1998. Not bad, four years of racing, and four championships at two different speedways.

It would be a few more years before Bill got back behind the wheel. “I decided to take some time off. I just didn’t think it would be so long.” It was 2004, Ray Correiro came calling. “Dawn had been driving the #94 truck, but had gotten pregnant. Ray was talking to Kevin Casper, and Bill was the first name that popped up.  “It was Easter Sunday when I got the call. I was apprehensive at first, as I watched them struggle for the past couple of seasons. Once I talked to them and looked at the truck, I knew we could win”

It took several weeks to get the bugs out, and get the truck competitive. But once they got it right, they were a contender to win each week. Too many times they were close, but were unable to seal the deal. But they did garner Rookie if the year while finishing 3rd in points. It took until 2005 to sit in victory lane, and they contended for the championship, but came up short. In 2006, they again contended for the title, but fell to third over the final couple of weeks. They parted ways over the winter.

“My wife Stacey and I wanted to do something a little different. Our girls Julia, 7 and Ashley, 13 were getting older, and we wanted to spend some time away from racing.” and that they did. “I remember Stacey and I riding our motorcycles up to Maine last year, watching the sun go down, and thinking ‘What do you think would be happening right now if we were at the track?’ We laughed at it, because we had spent so many years there on Saturdays. The last thing on my mind was getting back into it”

Enter Eric DeSouza. He had been helping out Kevin Casper over the last season, and wanted to become an owner. There was only one driver he wanted. At first, Bill resisted. He wasn’t interested in getting back behind the wheel. But Eric made a convincing argument. It came down to Bill being able to put together his own team. Once the cast was set, off to Dan Perry went Bill. “I told him we were going racing. I always watched how his team worked together, and ran competitively. Whether it was Dan or Ken Morisette driving. They always had a lot of fun. That’s what I wanted.” With Dan in place, they went out and got Herb Gowdy to help with the power plant, and John Tyler to work on the chassis. Good friend Mike Drumm jumped in to help out also. Also involved are Chris and Alyssa, from NE Tech as part of the pit crew club at the accredited school. They made their debut at the 2007 DAV race.

Over the winter, they completely rebuild the truck. Truck owner Eric DeSouza stopped by the Prisco shop to check things out, and found the front and rear of the truck had been completely cut off. He had doubts at that time on when he had gotten himself into. But once the season started, his doubts were erased. So far this season, they have 2 wins, and currently sit second in points.

While racing is more than a hobby, Bill has always been somewhat of a thrill seeker. Over the years he has run with the bulls in Spain, driven the Autobahn, and has always had a passion for things that go fast. He went to the Indianapolis 500 back in the early 80’s as part of a radio station promotion. When the Providence Civic Center had their annual car shows, a local radio station had a promotion for an all expense paid trip to Indy. The promotion was you had to guess the make and year of a car that had been crushed into a cube. The car? One of Don Dionne’s crushed Pro Stock from D’Agostino’s Auto Salvage. That is another story to be told….