Bonnie Fiore
Sophia Fiore
Enzo Fiore
The Fiore Four: Enzo, Sophia, Portia and Bonnie hit the drag strip. Bonnie, Sophia and Enzo have all obtained their National Hot Road Association licences
BY MIKE WILT John Fiore is four-years-old and living in the Bronx, New York. While he can’t read yet, his mom – a librarian at Fordham University – buys him car magazines because he loves looking at the pictures and studying the diagrams. It’s 1959 and a certified gearhead is born. After American Airlines transferred its maintenance facility to Tulsa, the Fiores found their way to Oklahoma to be closer to family members who worked for AA. John found his way to Miami, OK and the campus of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO). Soon after, he was recruited by Phillips Petroleum Co. where he worked as a mechanic in the maintenance division of the research center. His career progressed from pump and pipe maintenance to process equipment inspection. In 1991, company employees experienced some very painful layoffs and Fiore was one of the casualties. But he
took the knowledge and skills he learned and started his own business - Fiore Technical Services. “I ended up legally changing the name to FTS because when I handed people my business card and they saw that I was the president they immediately assumed I was a small-time operation that couldn’t handle the work,” Fiore laughs. Fiore would eventually laugh all the way to the bank. He grew his start-up business into a company that employed 350 and generated $35 million in global revenue. In 2007, he sold the company (known now as SGS) and eventually retired in 2010. Deciding what to do next at the ripe old age of 55 might have been a challenge, but not for Fiore. He pursued his two passions - his children and cars. He considers himself very fortunate that his two loves have wondrously become intertwined. “Several years ago, my oldest daughter, Bonnie, went to the drag races with a neighbor,” Fiore recalls. “She came back
enthusiastic.” Within a week, Fiore purchased a junior dragster and had Bonnie and younger sister, Sophia, strapped in. “It took a bit of coaxing to get them to take their first run down the strip,” Fiore smiles. “Each of them wanted the other to go first. By the end of the night, they were fighting about who would go next! All it took was one time down the track and they were both hooked.” Two more gearheads were born. At 17-years-old, Bonnie is the oldest of the Fiore Four and, in truth, has been a gearhead since she was very young. “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been hanging out with my dad in his shop while he worked on his cars,” Bonnie says fondly. “I’ve loved every minute of it.” For the past year or so, Bonnie and 16-year-old Sophia have been racing competitively. Ironically, 14-year-old Portia (POR-shuh) has not caught the racing bug, but loves being around the cars and her family. MAY 2014 | Bartlesville Monthly
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