Mike Campanelli

[Dave Welsh]

Mike Campanelli passed away on Saturday, Feb 20. Mike fought a courageous battle with cancer. He maintained a positive attitude throughout his treatments, while looking forward to beating it and spending time with his family.

Mike was a long time member of CFR (joining CFR in the mid 70's), very passionate about road racing, driving both open wheel cars and sports racers in competition. He also enjoyed sharing his passion of racing with others, be it getting others involved in the sport, instructing new drivers, and sharing his knowledge by coaching drivers.

Mike is survived by his 3 children, several grandchildren and his ex wife. Per Mike's wishes there will be no local service. Mike will be placed next to his parents and sister in Italy. Mike will be missed by all those who knew him.

The attached photo was taken in 2006 at VIR.

[Hartley]

Mike Campanelli passed away on Saturday, Feb 20. Mike fought a courageous battle with cancer. He maintained a positive attitude throughout his treatments, while looking forward to beating it and spending time with his family.

Mike was a long time member of CFR (joining CFR in the mid 70's), very passionate about road racing, driving both open wheel cars and sports racers in competition. He also enjoyed sharing his passion of racing with others, be it getting others involved in the sport, instructing new drivers, and sharing his knowledge by coaching drivers.

Mike is survived by his 3 children, several grandchildren and his ex wife. Per Mike's wishes there will be no local service. Mike will be placed next to his parents and sister in Italy. Mike will be missed by all those who knew him.

The attached photo was taken in 2006 at VIR.

Mike was a great man and helped me in so many ways as a mentor, occasional crew and great friend to Diane and me. We first met after racing each other vey hard in FFs 6 years ago at Homestead. We got out of our cars, and having never met before, embraced and giggled like school children at the sheer joy of what we had just done. 15 laps of very close wheel to wheel racing and not a scratch on either car. He won of course! Mike as a younger man raced pro Formula Atlantic against the likes of Michael Andretti. He was your stereotypical passionate Italian, if you handcuffed his hands he would not be able to communicate. His passion for racing was unmatched. He was very close with Diane and introduced us to our favorite Italian restaurant Annas in Daytona Beach. We looked forward to going there with Mike every summer while at the race track. Mike’s day job was a highly skilled Ferrari mechanic and dealer in Ocala. He worked on John Travolta’s Ferrari and Porsche. He knew a lot of the older F1 crowd especially the Italians and was involved in importing formula race cars from Europe for clients. He called me 3 weeks ago just to chat and tell me about his cancer diagnosis. He swore me to secrecy. I am so glad I had a chance to speak with him one last time. He went down hill very fast after that. I miss my great friend. RIP Mike!