Normally “Boxing Day” is far removed from racing season and a time to be visiting family and friends. But in 1981, Western Speedway chose to put on a two hundred lap race on that date for the track’s “Hit-to-Pass” class. One of the entrants was a rookie named Joe Liberatore who had the misfortune to have his racer’s radiator let go sending out huge clouds of steam which prompted track announcer Rocky Horne to say that, “Joe was done”. But Joe stayed on the track until his engine finally blew sending various-coloured plumes of smoke into the winter sky following which Rocky made a final comment that, “Smokin’ Joe was REALLY done!”.
Joe’s newly-acquired moniker would stick for the next twenty-six seasons at Western.
The following year Joe acquired a car that a friend was going to send for scrap which he turned into his next racecar and found himself a target for everyone on the track. But he had so much fun that he was now hooked. In 1989 he missed the first three race meets and still finished eleventh at the end of the season.
During Joe and his team’s first full season of 1990 they finished seventh at one meet but wanted to go faster so they swapped the motor and rearend out of Joe’s street car into the racer and at another point wishing to try a class other than Hit-to-Pass, Joe drove Thunder Cars for one year placing seventh in a one hundred lap race at Saratoga Speedway and eleventh at another one at Western. He also raced the dirt at Cassidy Speedway until it closed.
One year when the annual “Timmy’s Telethon” rolled around, Joe produced a donation jar which was circulated throughout the stands and pits, raising $400.00 which Joe was able to present on TV where he also put in a plug for Western Speedway.
At one point, his friends and sponsors made it possible to have an activity book produced filled with mazes, word finds, “connect the dots” and colouring pages for Joe to hand out to his young fans, or in Joe’s words, the “future racers”.
At another time Joe was approached by a teacher in the area who asked if he might bring his racecar to the school. Along with the car Joe also brought some racing safety equipment and a video. The theme was, “Finish School” and “Save racing cars for the track”.
Joe’s most memorable time was when a family asked him for a photo with their twenty year old son who was in a wheelchair. The young man had a fused back so with the help of friends, Joe put him into the racecar for the photos which was very emotional for everyone concerned.
In Joe’s twenty-six seasons of Hit-to-Pass competition he racked up an impressive record of twenty top five finishes and two championships which included winning more than one hundred and forty trophies with he and his team receiving honourable mention at the “Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame” induction ceremony in 1992. He and his team have given much back to the community, having been big supporters of “Cops for Cancer” for over twenty years raising close to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars with events including a comedy night, silent auctions and a couple of poker runs.
Joe is quick to acknowledge that all his years of racing could not have been possible without the support of his sponsors, giving thanks to the likes of “100.3 The “Q”, “VicNet”, “Victoria Frame”, “Pennzoil”, “EZ Lube”, “OZ Logo”, “Slabby” and “Key 2 Cuts”.