"We went to the Ford Motorsport Nationals at Maple Grove, Pennsylvania, in 1992 and 1993," Joe says, "and we met a lot of great guys, like Brian Wolf, Stormin' Norman Gray, and Gene Deputy. Wolf was really responsible for getting us more involved with the Mustang racing. We went to Milan Dragway after that and were hooked."
The little red coupe eventually became a major player in the Pro 5.0 class, running in Fun Ford and even MM&FF events. Its manual transmission, big juice hit and Joe's ultra-friendly attitude made him a hit with everyone.
"He was a mainstay of the circuit for a long time," says MM&FF Editorial Director Jim Campisano. "Joe and his brother were big supporters of the magazine, coming to our Rumble races. It was a high-profile car, and people loved it. I think the fact that it was a notchback struck a chord."
The coupe kept getting faster, and Joe's next moves were adding mini-tubs and a ladder-bar rear suspension. A Jerico four-speed transmission and another stage of nitrous oxide propelled the Pony into the mid-8-second range with a best lap of 8.41 at 176 mph.
"It still had the stock seats and looked stock on the outside," Joe says, "but it ran 8.4s consistently. We won a bunch of Stormin' Norman match races, the Showdown in Vegas, and we won against Buicks in Englishtown."
Eventually, the car's suspension was on the verge of being outdated. This was the impetus to retire the car, so Joe and Paul built a full back-halved '87 hatchback Mustang for the Pro class. Before long, the yellow LX that Paul raced became about as famous as the red coupe, and as the notchback kept improving on the track, the brothers often found themselves facing off against each other. "We ran the two-car team and would run identical 8.40s," Joe says.
The DaSilva racing team eventually ran its course, with Paul focusing more on his engine building than racing. The brothers retired both cars, while Joe went ahead with a '98 Mustang project. This ride was a full tube-chassis setup that used a pair of turbochargers for motivating its electronically fuel-injected small-block engine. Motivate it did-to the time of 6.39 seconds at a somewhat controversial 231 mph.
Turbochargers and EFI were a far cry from the carburetor and nitrous that Joe started out with, but the technology and aftermarket had finally caught up, not to mention this wasn't the first time Joe had raced a turbocharged ride. That previously mentioned Dodge product was an '86 2.2 Shelby Charger, and Joe told us he used to whip up on Mustangs all the time with it, including the red '86 coupe.
Having been retired, the Mustang was but a garage ornament-one that Joe didn't have room to keep. But he was able to sell it to a customer with the caveat that if he were to get rid of it, Joe had first crack at it. Three years later, Joe got a call, and he didn't even ask about the price. The once-proud notch had fallen into disrepair over those years, however, and a two-year, off-and-on restoration got it back into fine shape. The now defunct Coventry Lane in Scarborough, Ontario, did the bodywork and laid on the '05 Torch Red clearcoat paint.
"I bought the red car back with the intention of giving it to my son Matt for his 16th birthday," Joe says. "He's always been a good kid, always working with me at the track. He put up with a lot of traveling and never complained."