Mario ‘Fats’ Caruso

Competitor
CLASS OF 2000

Mario “Fats” Caruso began racing in 1949, with his brothers Tony & Funzie, and close friends Al Mattress & Vince Abdella. The team’s first car was a Class B Ford sedan. After cutting his racing teeth with this car, Frank White offered Caruso a ride in his Circle 2, a cut down, which he drove to many feature wins, and eventually the NEARA championship.

Fats had made a name for himself locally, at tracks like Seekonk, Thompson, Westboro, and Norwood. When he got the ride in the #69 coupe, sponsored by Worcester Sand and Gravel, his career really started to take off. He began competing at tracks like Old Bridge & Trenton speedways in New Jersey, Utica-Rome & Oswego in New York and Dover & Hudson in New Hampshire. Caruso was a consistent top five finisher, and a regular threat to win wherever he competed. Fats was the 1961 Modified Champion at Norwood Arena. He also won the inaugural Trenton 200 in 1963.

Fats was involved in a serious accident at Thompson Speedway on June 30, 1968 with Bill Slater that saw both cars go up in flames. Caruso suffered 2 broken legs and numerous internal injuries, yet with a week began to show improvements. He eventually recovered and returned to racing.

In the later stages of his career, Fats competed in the family’s modified at the Thompson and Stafford Speedways. It was in the Bill Ross owned modified that Caruso took down his last feature win, in the 1984 Thompson 300. Although he retired at the end of the 1984 season, Fats was persuaded to come back to compete against his son, David, in the 1989-91 World Series races at Thompson.

Mario “Fats” Caruso passed away in October of 1993, after a battle with cancer.