Nunzio Dunn

Nunzio Dunn (born March 3, 1953 in New York City, USA) is an American racing driver. Despite also holding Italian citizenship, Dunn has always run ander an American license throughout his racing career.

Life

Born in Brooklyn to an Irish-American father, Maxwell Dunn, and to Sicilian immigrant Tea Lighieri, Nunzio Dunn was the third and last child of the couple. Sadly, tragedy would soon befall the young family: the elder Dunn, a small business owner with significant links in the local community, died of a sudden stroke while swimming in the ocean on a family vacation in Florida. Some speculated that the heavy scuba fins Maxwell was wearing at the moment of his stroke may have been pivotal in his untimely passing; ultimately, Tea was left to fend off by herself with Nunzio and his older sisters Mary and Nettie.

Despite all difficulties, Tea was able to continue the growth of her late husband's business, thus paving the way for Nunzio to grow up a respected young man. After graduating from high school, Dunn was able to attend college, where he majored in accounting. During his time at university, Nunzio's talent as a leader and boss started to emerge on campus, where he was able to gather up a small gang of friends. Together, thanks to a loan by family friend Herschel Meyer and his mother's Italian links, they started a successful import-export business bringing Italian supercars to wealthy American customers.

Racing career

Wanting to explore his Italian heritage, Nunzio took it to himself to manage the Italian operations of his company and moved to Italy in 1977, where he set shop in Milan. His work-fueled interest for cars soon became a passion, and he started to race at local amateur meetings. È cosa mia, "It's my thing", he told an associate after his first win in a touring car race.

While on a trip to Sicily, he landed at the Pergusa track during the first round of the 1979 Dywa Grand Prix Series season. Despite his relative lack of open-wheel experience, Dunn started approaching teams offering his services as a replacement rider. The talent shown at the wheel of the Dywa in a private test after the Pergusa round and the sponsorship money by his own company were an offer the Order of Racing team ultimately could not refuse, as they signed him as a replacement for the underwhelming Barry McKockiner.