Drag Illustrated Issue 113, September 2016 | Page 88
Pizza
Chief
In racing or
restaurants,
Brian Corradi
recognizes
the right recipe
is required
By Nate
Van Wagnen
Dr ag Illustr ated
88
D r a g Il l u s t r a t e d . c o m
PHOTOS: JOE MCHUGH, NATE VAN WAGNEN
J
ust about every top-level NHRA
nitro racing crew chief has a hobby away
from the racetrack: Alan Johnson likes
to play golf, Jim Head flies classic airplanes, and David Grubnic often takes
his dirt bikes out for a ride through the
Montana wilderness. Then there’s Brian
Corradi, who, along with co-crew chief
Mark Oswald, tuned Antron Brown to the 2012 and 2015
NHRA Top Fuel world championships. And when Corradi is not at the race track he’s selling pizza. A lot of pizza.
Really good pizza.
Corradi entered pizza store ownership in 2011 as a backup plan to his drag racing career. His two son s, Nick and
Sean, also wanted to get into the restaurant industry and
since Corradi had prior experience in the pizza business
he started with one branch of Master Pizza, a successful
franchise located in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. Corradi’s
first location proved to be so rewarding that he went on to
add another three stores, with a fifth location set to open
at the end of this year.
“It’s a tough business. There are a lot of competitors out
there vying to get the same dollars out of these people,”
Corradi says. “So far, it’s been really good to us. My sons
enjoy it. My wife Jackie enjoys it. She retired from her job.
My particular situation at Don Schumacher Racing (DSR)
allows me to have some time to put the stores together. We
opened two stores this year, and one of those just recently
opened so I’ve been busy with that. Other than that, all
of my other time is devoted to what I have to do to win
races at DSR.”
It’s the Wednesday going into a race weekend and Corradi is working at the most recent Master Pizza location