WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (Feb. 10, 2015) – Tony Vickio has spent great deal of time on track as a race-car driver. He’s also spent hours as a pace-car driver. He’s a track sign painter, and he’s a promoter of the sport. On top of all that, Vickio is a community leader, concerned about his neighbors in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Vickio will speak about growing up in Watkins Glen and his diverse career in motorsports at the International Motor Racing Research Center on Feb. 21. The talk, sponsored in part by the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, is part of the 2015 Center Conversations series. It will be at 1 p.m. and is free and open to all. The Center is located at 610 S. Decatur St., Watkins Glen.

In November, Vickio launched his memoirs, “Shifting Gears, Tales of pistons, paint cans & personalities,” with a party at the Racing Research Center. The book is published by Preston Woods Publishing. “This book started because I was always telling everyone about the exciting, funny and unbelievable tales I’ve experienced,” Vickio says. “I don’t know of many other people who have jumped into two careers at the same time, with hardly any training in either one, and went full throttle with both. Is that determination? Stupidity? I’m not sure, but it worked. Through auto racing and through sign painting, I have quite a unique tale to tell.”

Vickio was a regional stock-car racer and is a pace-car driver for Watkins Glen International. His work as a racing sign painter has taken him to tracks across the country, including Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. In the local community, Vickio is committed to the well-being of his neighbors as a founder and president of Spirit of Schuyler, an organization dedicated to helping improve the quality of life in Schuyler County.

Upcoming Center Conversations include Martin Rudow speaking on April 18 about racing in the Pacific Northwest. He is author of “Long Straights and Hairpin Turns, The History of Northwest Sports Car Racing” and publisher of Vintage Drift magazine for SOVREN, the Pacific Northwest’s largest and most active vintage racing club.

On Sept. 12, Oscar Koveleski and Jack Deren will headline a program celebrating Can-Am racing. Deren was chief mechanic for Koveleski’s Team Auto World McLaren.

The popular Center Conversations program has long been a cornerstone of the Racing Research Center’s educational outreach and oral history initiative. Noted authors, race historians, drivers, team owners and track officials have taken listeners behind the scenes of every race series over the years. Speakers have included Donald Davidson, historian at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; Doug Nye, writer and historian; David Donohue, racer and son of the late famed driver Mark Donohue; Bobby Rahal, driver and team owner;
and the late John Fitch and Bill Milliken, both legendary figures in road racing.

The Racing Research Center is an archival library dedicated to the preservation and sharing of the history of motorsports, of all series and all venues, through its collections of books, periodicals, films, photographs, fine art and other materials.

For more information about the Center’s work and its programs, visit www.racingarchives.org or call (607) 535-9044. The Center also is on Facebook at “International Motor Racing Research Center” and on Twitter at “@IMRRCatWG.”