An Ontario GTA native racer cements his reputation as Canada’s premier fast Street Car racing threat….
Needless to say – the past 2020 season was a weird one. But with soul searching and self reflection aside — Toronto Ontario’s Nick Agostino, like many other drag racers, did make the best of the strange and unprecidented situation.
Agostino, who has been mixing it up with fast street car scene racing on both sides of the 49th parallel for many seasons, did out of necessity (because of the USA/Canada border closure) keep this racing activities close to home – running exclusively at Southern Ontario drag strips only.

With maybe what was a calmer meticulous focus during 2020 – Canadian fast street car proponent Nick Agostino is now well poised for the future with his versatile Chevy Camaro.
While doing that he admits taking an even deeper dive into some experimental apsects and the end results obtained were pretty remarkable any way you can measure it. Racing his spectacular turbocharged ’69 Camaro — Nick’s team were, in the end, really in a class of their own last summer within Canada. They in fact went undefeated for their season in both Canada Heads Up and Ontario Grudge Wars circuit racing – while earning both points titles.

Despite even a mid-season bounty – Nick Agostino was untouchable in Canadian Fast Street car circuit racing last year.
“Like everyone else I was forced to step back,” Nick reflected. “But we decided to make the best of a situation. I have always loved racing and supporting things locally when I could — so we combined that with seizing on the opportunity to have more time to work with the car. Because we were not as rushed due to any racing travel scheduling – we tried to turn that into positives.”
Nick also revealed that to fit the local rule set (at Cayuga Dragway and St. Thomas Dragway) he did have to modify his race program by putting smaller 88mm turbos and adding 250 lbs to be legal for that competition.
“We were able to look at things more closely than we’ve ever done before. The extra time did allow us to slow down the process and now in reflection — that really helps. Going into 2021 — I think overall I’ve never been in a more comfortable point with our car and engine tune up – which holds well for the future.”
With a pretty much proven race car chassis under his belt, the Agostino Motorsports primary task in 2020 was with their very creative engine program. That is a 488 CID twin turbo application that produced a jaw-dropping 4000+ HP during a HUB dyno session.
“This engine is a second configuration with the same stroke but now it has a bigger bore size,” he elaborated. “For some classes we try to run in — we have to stay under 500 CID to be legal. We did introduce (with David Visner) some new lift geometry. It took a year to sort out some things. We’ve spun it up to run 9000 RPM and now don’t have any issues with the valve train and I’m very happy about the steps we made increasing the power and reliability.”
Nick’s Camaro is a very versatile and multi purpose creation. It was originally owned and built for “Lil Ricky” Carlos but Nick acquired it from Canadian Pro Mod class racer Jay Santos – two years ago.
It can be raced (depending on event circuit entered) in a variety of classes including Super Street, Outlaw 10.5, Pro 275 and even Radial Vs World competition. During testing and competition last summer (all 1/8th mile) Nick carved out a best run of 3.80 secs at 211 mph.
“Right now the car is all sorted out for Pro 275 class racing – which is our primary target,” he added. “We are able to make the weight minimums easier and use big turbos – both of which makes us more competitive.”
Agostino who’s involvement and great success within fast street car racing now dates back about two decades, does look forward to returning to more frequent and high profile racing – once that new reality norm becomes clearer.

Prior to his present day ’69 Camaro – Agostino Racing campaigned this record smashing and successful 2000 model Camaro
“Right now it’s hard to predict – where and when,” Nick speculated. “As soon as we can cross (the border) we’ll get going. Unfortunately (for us) most of the bigger Pro 275 races occur in the U.S. Southeast early in the year – so that may be a hard fit again. We will just have take things as they come — but I look forward to supporting some local Super Street back in Canada again too.”
For more information and updates on Nick Agostino and Agostino Motorsports – visit his team FB Page: HERE

Fun Food Fact: The Agostino Motorsports moniker “Cannoli Express” now has an entrenched reputation. About 5 years ago the team began bringing freshly prepared cannolis to the infamous Yellow Bullet event (held at Cecil County MD). That tradition has continued and expanded over time to include other events. The new Camaro was officially dubbed “Cannoli Express” during the US Street Nationals (at Bradenton FL) by Florida-based drag race photographer Courtney Marie Paulshock after the team distributed free cannolis to various racers and friends — becoming a big hit. Courtney created some appropriate decals for the car naming legend. During 2020, fresh cannoli (expertly made up by team member Brian Sannino), during Canada Heads Up series races was a popular event side attraction.
Post and photos by Bruce Biegler