Johnny, a 2024 Drag Illustrated 30 Under 30 alum, had been searching for the Nova for quite some time. He eventually found the car on Facebook Marketplace in his dad\u2019s hometown of Wyckoff, New Jersey, and asked a friend to help make a connection with the seller. As it turned out, that connection wasn\u2019t even necessary.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThe guy we bought the car from knew Dad because of his gas station. He knew of Joey and knew the whole past and everything,\u201d Johnny says. \u201cHe actually turned everybody else down because he wanted to make sure we ended up with the car.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Nova was soon loaded onto a transporter bound for Florida. During the week of John\u2019s birthday, Johnny, his fianc\u00e9e, Paige Coughlin, and their families orchestrated the surprise reveal, leaving John in disbelief.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exactly the same,\u201d John says. \u201cIt\u2019s a really nice car; it looked like it just came out of the showroom. Our cars back then were fast, but they weren\u2019t real showpieces. We weren\u2019t into \u2018show\u2019 as much as we were into \u2018go\u2019 and setting records.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the surprise, John had already built a racing legacy that began decades earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n He started racing at 17, evolving from late night street matchups into highly competitive NHRA national events throughout the \u201870s and \u201880s. His son Joey, who shared the same love for the sport, was always by his side as they traveled to racetracks across the tri-state area.\u00a0<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take long for John to earn his first national record, driving his 1969 Corvette in Super Stock J Automatic. Although tech officials later revoked the record over a minor valve technicality, John took it in stride, as he always does.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018I don\u2019t give a shit, I\u2019ll reset it\u2019,\u201d he recalls with a laugh. \u201cI went to Maple Grove, and I reset the record. Then, I did it again in New Hampshire. It was originally 11.24, and I reset it to 11.02.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the years, John set 10 more national records across various categories, including Comp Eliminator and Super Stock. By 1977, he had won the SS\/IA class at the NHRA Sportnationals. Standing proudly beside him in the winner\u2019s circle was his son Joey, holding the Wally with a big smile.<\/p>\n After years of traveling and learning from his dad, Joey finally got his own chance behind the wheel of the Nova on his 18th birthday. At his first points race in Englishtown, he managed to win five rounds in an impressive debut. \u201cHe would come home and hand Dad a stack of tickets when he won,\u201d Johnny recalls. \u201cHe\u2019d say \u2018Look how fast I went\u2019,\u201d John adds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Joey often raced alongside his best friend, Scott Geoffrion, who started out in Super Gas with an engine John had built, while Joey pursued the Super Stock route.<\/p>\n In 1984, Joey drove his SS\/LA Chevy II Nova to the final round of the Molson Grandnationals at Sanair Raceway in Quebec, Canada. He runnered up against Larry Morgan after defeating heavy hitters Mark Osterbye and Charlie Graff along the way. That same day, John won Comp Eliminator, marking a historic father-son appearance in two classes at an NHRA national event. \u201cHe would have been a really good racer. He was addicted,\u201d John says, reflecting on his son\u2019s natural talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before Joey\u2019s unexpected passing in 1985, the father-son team had planned to compete together in Comp Eliminator. Joey, just 20 years old at the time, had been in the process of obtaining his Comp license, and John was coming off his best year of racing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen my son died, I sold my business and quit racing. My escape was not to work or race. I went to the golf course every day,\u201d John explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n Losing Joey left a void that racing couldn\u2019t fill, so John relocated to Lake Worth, Florida, in 1987. By 1992, he decided to continue the plan he had started with Joey by opening his own business: J&J Balancing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat was going to be J&J originally. I sold my \u201972 Corvette to buy the first crank grinder. I was balancing about 40 cranks a month and grinding about 40. It was a pretty good business,\u201d John says.\u00a0<\/p>\n After another move to Jupiter, Florida, John began frequenting Moroso Motorsports Park, where he eventually returned to racing just before his second son, Johnny, was born. Over the years, John won dozens of races, mainly in Quick 16 Dragster, before stepping away to help Johnny with his own Jr. Dragster.<\/p>\n It quickly became clear that the same raw racing talent Joey had also lived in Johnny. At just 29 years old, Johnny has already won five track championships and a world title in Jr. Dragsters, followed by five more track championships, including victories in three categories \u2013 Box, No Box, and Quick 16 Dragster \u2013 all within the same season. Over the years, Johnny has earned dozens of wins across multiple classes. \u201cI spent my time helping him race the Jr., training him like an athlete,\u201d John says.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now at 80 years old, John still builds a variety of motors and balances cranks while Johnny handles their shop\u2019s CNC block machining services for LS motors, late model Hemis, big-block Chevys, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n As they begin to plan for John to get back behind the wheel of the near-replica of his late son\u2019s Nova, his goal is to extend his 40-year spread of national records at the next divisional race in Super Stock with the same combination Joey once ran. \u201cIt\u2019d be nice to go to the first points race and set the record. I got 10 national records \u2013 I need more,\u201d John says with a smirk.\u00a0<\/p>\n While drag racing has a way of keeping people connected, it also keeps the memories of loved ones alive. The Nova may have returned to John\u2019s life as a birthday surprise, but it now stands as a symbol of the Tolisano family\u2019s enduring legacy \u2013 linking Johnny, John, and Joey, who, in spirit, never stopped racing together.\u00a0<\/p>\n The post More Than Metal: How One Nova Bridges Decades of Racing, Loss & Legacy For The Tolisano Family<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Johnny Tolisano surprised his father, John, with a 1966 Chevy II Nova, it was more than just a birthday gift. It represented a lasting memory of John\u2019s late son, Joey Tolisano, who passed away in 1985 from a motorcycle accident.\u00a0 Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #198, the Photo Annual, in January\/February […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Tolisano-and-Coughlin-Family-with-Nova.jpg\")
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