Guido Daccò (merged)

On Saturday 29 July 2006, 64 y.o. Guido Daccò passed away.

Great gentleman who loved racing, beloved by racing community: we remember him driving F.3, F.2 and F.3000, World Sportscar Championship, Indycar, IMSA, Le Mans, ETCC. Now he was the general manager of Team AB, that entered a Porsche 996 GT3 in FIA Gt Championship

RIP

I'm sorry to hear that; he was, as you say Nanni, very popular and a real gent.

You can also add ARS/Indy Lights to the impressive list of cars he raced.

Sad news....a real enthusiasth who worked very hard to carry on racing

He seemed to be an 'ever present' in F2, sad news indeed.

Well, I'm stunned.
He seemed quite well & active - indeed he was still driving competitively until quite recently.

Nanni, may I ask if you have any information about where he died?


RIP.

Ha was already 64? Unbelievable... I saw him racing in Indycars around 1989/90. That means he was almost 50 at that time... R.I.P. Guido.

He was a good journeymen driver. I met him a few times at Long Beach. Imagine if he was 30 instead of 47-48 when he raced indycars.....And, he probably was the first driver in car racing to have a wild paint job.

R.I.P. Guido.

I am shocked to hear of his passing. I only recall he drove for F3000 in 1986 so it felt like it is not that long ago.

As I am a young lad so I haven't got much memories of him and I only seen one piece of footage of Guido Dacco at the Osterreichring for the F3000 race in 1986. He was appealling to the marshals to bump start his car after spinning off at high speed.



A scan from Autosport of Guido Dacco going close into the armco during a practice session at the Birmingham Superprix in 1986.

R.I.P Guido

Februari 1983

The Merzario team presentation with the new Merzario M28 / F2 (Circuit Fiorano).
From left, Fulvio Maria Ballabio, Aturo Merzario, Guido Dacco .




With kind regards,

Henk A. Hazelaar

A real gentleman driver, Guido Daccò started his racing career when he was over 35, at the age of retirement for a lot of professional driver. He loved racing all over the world, he drove single-seaters like F.3, F.2 and F.3000, and also raced Indycar, 23 starts in the early 90s.

Daccò had his racing debut in the Italian F.3 in the late 70s, then in 1980 he passed to F.2 driving the Merzario M1-BMW, built by his close friend Arturo Merzario. He partecipated again the European F.2 Championship in 1981 and 1982 for Team Minardi, and also raced the World Sportscar Championship, sharing a Lancia Beta Montecarlo turbo with Mark Thatcher and Gianni Giudici, 7th overall in the 1982 Monza 1000 Kms.

The following year he drove in F.2 for Team Sanremo, scoring 4 points with a 6th place at Vallelunga and a 4th place at Misano, then at the end of the season he was involved in the Alba AR2-Giannini project for Team Jolly Club. Daccò drove this Gr.C Junior sportscar in the W.S.C. until 1985, obtaining his best result in the 1984 Mosport 1000 Kms in Canada, an incredible 3rd place overall with co-driver Almo Coppelli, behind two works Porsche 956! In 1984 he was 5th overall at Misano F.2 driving the March 832-BMW for Team Sanremo, then in 1985 he passed to F.3000 and was 13th in the final classification, with 6 points: two 5th, Spa and Dijon-Prenois, and two 6th places, Pergusa and Zandvoort.

In 1986 Guido Daccò emigrated to the United States to race the American Racing Series (Indy Lights), obtaining a podium in 1988. The following season he had his debut in Indycar, driving for Dale Coyne Racing. Then he drove for Team Bettenhausen, Burns, Genoa Racing, Euromotorsport, he had 23 starts and 4 points in the category, until 1992.

In 1992 he came back to Europe and raced a Eufra 390-Opel in the German F.3 Championship, before definitely retiring. In the following years he occasionally raced again historic and sportscar, and became the team manager of Team AB, that entered a Porsche 996 GT3 in the FIA GT Championships.

P.S. Richie, sorry I don't know where he died. He died after a long illness, probably at hospital (in Milan?). He was born in Limbiate, Milan, Italy 10 September 1942.

Saw him race several times in CART.

1990 Road America


1991 Detroit


Always liked the design on his helmet.
R.I.P. Guido

RIP Guido

Guido Dacco Was Born at Limbiate, near Milan, in the September 10th, 1942.

Dacco was a truly passionate gentleman driver, that loved racing everywhere. In spite of that, he only started racing in motorcycles in 1969 and in single seaters late seventies, with 35 years old.

He debuted at the Italian F3 Championship and started racing F2 in 1980, alongside his friend Arturo Merzario in his team. In 1980, also drove one race of British F1 Series. The Next two years, kept racing in F2 at Minardi Team. In 1982, he also raced the Monza 1000 Kms with a Lancia Beta Montecarlo, shared with mark thatcher and Gianni Giudici, finishing 7th overall.

In 1983 Dacco remained at F2, now with Sanremo Team, scoring 4 points. At the end of the year, Dacco started working with Jolly Club in the Alba AR2-Giannini project. Till 1985, he drove this Group C2 car, with some good results, like an outstanding 3rd place at 1984 Mosport 100 Kms, only behind two official Porsches.
At single-seaters, Dacco stood with Team Sanremo for 1984, scoring 2 points; and, next year in the new F3000 Series, scoring 6 points.

But Dacco's passion gave him "wings" to fly over the Atlantic Ocean and, in 1986, we find Guido Dacco racing at Indy Lights, at those times called American Racing Series. Despite his 43 years old, he gathered some good results, including a podium, till 1988. Next year, dacco promoted himself to CART Series, racing for Dale Coyne Racing. Till 1992, Dacco remained at USA, racing for other teams like Team Bettenhausen, Euromotorsport, Burns and Genoa Racing. He wasn't too succeed, with only 4 points among 23 starts, and failing to qualify for Indy 500 in 1990 and 1991, his only attempts.

In 1992, he came back to Europe to race a Eufra 390- opel on two races of the German F3 Championship and retired at the end of the season. During his career, Dacco also raced at IMSA and ETCC.

In the Following Years, he kept racing occasionally in historic and sportscar series, becoming team manager of the FIA-GT Team AB the last years.

Guido Dacco died with 64 years old; after a long, unidentified illness at Saturday 29th of July, 2006.



Ballabio, Merzario and Dacco at the presentaion of the new Merzario's F2 race car at Fiorano in 1982


Dacco at Road America - 1990


Dacco at Detroit - 1991



Dacco cards from CART 1990

* Acknowledgement:

- Nanni Dietrich, that started a thread about Dacco when he died and provided most of this infos and the base text.
- All other members who answered this thread.
- Wikipedia

I remember Daccò, and was a fan of him.

He just raced (and raced well) anywhere, with anything, in spite of age and conventions about "career paths".

A personal inspiration, his passing away saddened me truly.

If you have more info and photos, it would be very good. I edited the post.

8W Dacco's article