Frederick DeSarro was born on the 3rd July 1937 in Connecticut. He grew up with a love of racing, starting a youngster racing bikes and later moving on to racing boats but when he reached the age of sixteen he turned to stock cars.

Fred DeSarro

He started his career in stock car racing at the New London/Waterford Speedbowl and once he had established himself he moved to the Norwood Arena. He made a name for himself in the 1970’s NASCAR Modified ranks by driving to win. It was in 1970 that Fred took the NASCAR National Modified Championship title, driving the "Woodchopper" special #15 which was owned by Sonny Kozella. In the dash for the championship Fred finished an amazing 808 points ahead of Jerry Cook, he did this by gaining twenty five victories and fifty four Top Fives in seventy eight starts. Fred finished in the Top Ten in the National Championship for five consecutive years, from 1968 through to 1972 and finished second in the points race twice, in 1968 and 1971.

The following year, in 1971 Fred and his good friend, Bugs Stevens made headlines off the track when Fred swapped to Len Boehler’s #3 from Sonny Kozella’s #15 and Bugs Stevens changed to the "Woodchopper" #15 from the "Ole Blue" coupe #3. This became known as the "infamous ride swap".

In 1972 whilst piloting Len Boehler’s #3 coupe, DeSarro won the inaugural Spring Sizzler, the only Sizzler to ever be won driving a coupe. DeSarro went on to win the Stafford Motor Speedway Championship that year, and he became a repeat champion at Stafford Motor Speedway in 1976.

Starting in 1974 Fred won four consecutive Modified Division track championship by claiming fourteen feature victories on the 5/8 mile track at Thompson Speedway. He was track champion there again in 1974, 1976 and 1977. 1974 also saw Fred take the Race of Champions at Trenton, New Jersey. His life was sadly cut short following an accident when he was critically injured during practice at the Thompson International Speedway on the 8th of October 1978. He succumbed to his injuries several weeks later on the 1st of November 1978. He was just 50 years old. Phil Smith, racing columnist summed up Fred’s career by saying, “Whatever he did, he did with class. He did it clean, and he did it with class. Smith remembers DeSarro as a "fierce competitor" very, very intense. Fred’s father, Alfred "Fred, Sr." DeSarro, was involved throughout Fred’s career, as was his wife, Linda. His good friend, Bugs Stevens spoke with warmth about Fred and the times that they had by saying, "He [DeSarro] was a good buddy of mine," Stevens said. "I had the best of times with Freddy. Everybody thought we were big competitors. After I got out of the car everybody thought we hated each other, but we had a hell of a time with each other." "He was an excellent driver, one of the best," Stevens said. "He could have driven anywhere." Fred DeSarro was an inductee in the first class New England Antique Racers Hall of Fame in 1998 and was named to the "NASCAR Modified All-Time Top 10" list.

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