He wandered among the cars, sticking close to his father Louis’ side. He was just five years old, but Joe Castello clearly remembers that day at the Miami-area dealership when they arrived in the family’s trusty Pontiac Grand Prix and $7,000 or so later left in a brand-new 1978 Pontiac Trans Am.

“When we drove it home, I was upset,” the WFO Radio host and NHRA announcer recalled. “I was like, ‘What about our other car? What’s happening with our car? We’re just leaving it? Like, [it’s] my friend. That’s the only car I’ve known in my life, and now we’re just leaving it somewhere. What do you mean?’ I remember being upset. I was a little bit distraught at leaving our Pontiac Grand Prix.”

But the Trans Am – this same one that carried him to kindergarten, gave his dad years of pleasure on the dragstrip, brought Joe three track championships in the 1990s, and took the two of them to the 1988 Gatornationals, then sat dormant for the better part of two and a half decades – has become one of his most treasured possessions.

Despite never acquiring a fond nickname, just referred to simply as “the car,” the Trans Am deepened its sentimental value this March with the completion of Project Pontiac and its trips down the Orlando Speed World Dragway and Gainesville Raceway quarter-mile strips. Joe Castello moved from behind the microphone to the Super Street race-car driver being interviewed, as he qualified No. 1 and reached the quarterfinals of the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series’ Southeast Division opener, then the following week started 14th and exited in the opening round at the “Baby Gators.”

Photo By Division 2 Photographer Rhonda McCole

“The initial thing was it’s a demonstration of how you can race in the NHRA, how to take an old bracket car that hadn’t been run and retrofit it to run in the Lucas Oil Series,” Castello said.

It ended up being that and so much more.

It became a tribute to the hard-working U.S. Marine Corps Drill Instructor-turned-concrete company owner and devoted father who instilled in his son his love for drag racing and commitment to responsibility and persistence. Through failing health, Louis Castello followed Project Pontiac but passed away on August 6, 2024.

“That’s the rub, the downside,” Joe Castello said. “This was really me racing against time to complete the car so that he could see it. And unfortunately, he did not get to see it. He knew that it was happening, and he knew that we were making progress and that it was going to happen. But he did not get to see the car completed. He did not get to see the car on track. But I think that he saw it wherever he is.

“On the flip side of it, when he passed, that kicked me in the ass to work extremely hard to get the car done,” he said. “I worked every day, all day for months, kind of in a tribute to him to finish the car. And my friends, everybody that is close to this project – a lot of people, man, I couldn’t even begin to tell you the whole list, but my personal friends who knew my dad – fast-tracked it. A lot of work had to be done. And we did it – we made it and we got there. We got to the track, and all of that was pretty much tribute to my dad.”

With his schedule jammed from March through November, if he hadn’t entered those races, he knows he would have missed a massive opportunity.

But he reached his goal, thanks to a veritable Who’s Who of industry specialists – Edelbrock, Straub Technologies / Rottler Manufacturing, camshaft expert Billy Goldbold / Comp Cams, Keith Wilson of Wilson Manifolds, former Pro Stock racer and Pontiac authority John Gaydosh, Gary Stinnett and Steve Williams of Foggit, Michael Scott of Right Trailers, Harry Heads, Keith Jones of fit Project Pontiac with Total Seal Rings, and Summit Racing Equipment. John Callies, the Pontiac Racing manager during the 1980s when Castello was a 12-year-old fan in the grandstands with his father, even phoned to help with Morel Lifters.

“After all those people did what they did,” Castello said, “the engine showed up at South Florida, and then my close friends from drag racing for many years and I [assumed] the responsibility to run the final mile and put the engine in the car, make sure everything fits, do all the plumbing, all the hoses, wiring, all the electronics. We had to do that final mile, and it was a very significant amount of work, and we did it. There was no guarantee we were going to make Orlando. It was like, oh my God, so much work. Are we going to be able to do it? And we did it, which is really the big deal of it all.”

Photo Provided By Ron Lewis Photos

Moreover, it solidified with the sportsman racers that Castello is one of them. He always has been a fixture in the Lucas Oil Series pits, visiting with racers, learning and sharing their stories, and championing their commitment to drag racing. But with Project Pontiac, he officially was one of them.

“That’s absolutely what it is. I am one of them, and I’ve always been one of them,” the former Miami-Hollywood Speedway and 1995 Moroso Motorsports Park Super Pro track champion said. “And I’ve always felt like one of them on the inside, but just my car was not ready to race.

“I always have been impressed by what they do, but so much of my announcer brand, if you will, is hopefully recognized as is respect for the Lucas Oil racer,” Castello said. “Whether it be going out into the pits and videoing cool cars and searching for characters or whether it be interviewing them at the conclusion of the race, all of those things were pretty much done with the idea to highlight what they do in addition to what happens in the Mission Foods Series. I don’t know all the people. I try and spend a lot of time out there working on that every race: making connections, talking to people. That’s my job: to meet people, to know people, to network, to know their stories, as many as I possibly can. And I give countless people my personal number, and I love when they text me a note or something, but it’s a huge, huge part of the job.”

What overwhelmed Castello was the way his fellow racers appreciated “seeing that I was willing to go through all of the things that it takes to get out there. I could never have predicted it would have resonated so much with the racers. I could never have predicted it would have been received as well as it was by the racers. It was tenfold what I would’ve expected. My phone exploded. Everybody was reaching out to me, my fellow announcers, Stock and Super Stock racers, people all around were just like, ‘Wow. Not only did you do the car, but you’re out there winning rounds.’ Now, a driver will be discussing something, and they’ll be like, ‘Well, you know, you raced.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I do know.’ And that’s why I’m blown away.”

Now Castello can share the drama, the intensity these tour regulars experience at every outing.

He said, “It’s a very, very challenging style of racing, where you’re running pro tree, you’re running an index, you’ve got to be smart, you’ve got to be sharp, and you’ve got to perform under pressure every time.” He said each racer has to respect the fact the driver in the opposite lane “has spent considerable effort and resources to be next to you on the track. And they’re trying to extend their day. So, it’s cutthroat out there.”

Photo By Division 2 Photographer Rhonda McCole

Even for Castello, who is licensed in three classes (Top Dragster, Super Comp, Super Gas) and educated about these sometimes-complicated classes, the two Project Pontiac appearances were eye-opening.

He said his passion kicked into high gear: “Oh man, I don’t want to go home. I didn’t come all this way to get dispatched by some guy. I got to win. I have to freaking win. There’s intensity here.”

A twist of logistics at Orlando pitted Castello against one of his best friends, ratcheting up the rush of emotions: “Oh my God, it’s him or me. Somebody’s going home. This Project Pontiac thing could end right here at the hand of my friend. And I was like, ‘Well, that ain’t happenin’. And we ended up having a great race, and I ended up winning the race. But I felt this adrenaline rush, like an intensity of like, ‘Whoa! I got to deliver here.’ And I did. I lived up to expectations. I had a really good reaction time. I had a really good run. So, we were both great. But I felt it. And that’s what these guys get, and that’s why they’re there.”

Photo Provided By Ron Lewis Photos

Castello said he hasn’t been tempted to ditch the announcing to become a racer: “Absolutely not. It’s been so good for the announcing. The announcing has the ‘in-car experience.’ Those classes are very misunderstood, and unfortunately, they just don’t get the attention and respect that’s commensurate with what goes on behind the wheel.”

In all, Castello said,  he was “thrilled” throughout the journey. “There were many, many moments where I was overcome with emotion,” he said. And then it all goes back. It all goes back to I wish my dad could see this. He wouldn’t believe it. He wouldn’t believe it. Just so many incredible moments coming out of this. It was so worthwhile.”

Ahh, but Louis Castello surely has been watching, knowing his son Joe slogged through sleepless nights, worked with his band of brothers to see their mission through to success, and ultimately became a true racer, showing the enemy no quarter. Surely he was there in spirit, seeing Joe sitting at the starting line strapped into their beloved Trans Am, adrenaline pumping, teeth gritted, vowing not to let the opponent win . . . and whispering in the wind, “Semper Fi.”