Tom DiMaggio, known throughout the racing community by his nickname Sid, is a native of Waterford, CT, and has been around the short tracks of southern New England his whole life. In 2005, he spearheaded a detailed research of the Waterford Speedbowl’s statistical history. All of his research is available online at www.speedbowlhistory.com. His efforts preserving racing history were recognized in 2007 as the recipient of the Fan of the Year Award, presented by NASCAR broadcaster Dick Berggren at that year’s Speedway Expo event in MA. He remains the track’s active historian.
DiMaggio earned his degree in TV Video & Radio Production from the New England Institute of Technology. In October 2008, he formed Vault Productions and filmed the season-ending Finale Weekend event at Waterford. The film was later shown in a non-competitive category at the Silk City Film Festival in 2009. It was the first of many video projects he’s created w/ his crew ever since, including: Sid’s View, The Speedbowl Doc Series, The On-Board Series, The Show, A Day at the Races, NLARO On the Road and Inside the Vault… with several more still in development.
DiMaggio strives to maintain a diverse group of talented people on his crew. He is the executive-producer & editor for all Vault Production video projects and the star (via his grandstand commentary) of the Sid’s View series.
Jesse Gleason was an experienced videographer and a competitor at Thompson Speedway when he first teamed up with DiMaggio in 2008. Jesse began his racing career in the late 1990’s in the Waterford Speedbowl’s Strictly Stock division before moving on to Thompson Speedway in the early 2000’s. Jesse still races occasionally there in the Limited Sportsman division. In 2012, he was a National finalist for NASCAR’s Division III Whelen All-American Series.
Off the track, Jesse graduated from UConn in 2006 with a degree in Film Studies and then from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 2007. In 2008, he answered an ad from Sid asking for help with the video production of the SK Modified Finale project and the two have been working together on various projects ever since. In addition to his video work with Sid, Jesse was an associate producer & assistant editor on the 2011 independent film Busking the System, which profiled subway musicians in New York City, and The Killers of Comedy featuring personalities from The Howard Stern Show such as Reverend Bob Ley, Sal Governale, Richard Christy & Jim Florentine.
Jesse is the longest-tenured member of the Vault Crew. He’s also been a co-producer of Sid’s View & The Speedbowl Doc Series and has worked on The Show & A Day at the Races. Jesse also co-hosts the Making Laps Podcast with his brother Brent. Jesse’s day job kept him away from the Vault Crew in 2022, but we hope to have him back behind the lens sometime in the near future.
Brent Gleason is Jesse’s younger brother and has also been with Vault Productions from the beginning. Brent’s also a racer, first in the Mini Stock division and later in the Limited Sportsman – both at Thompson Speedway. Off the track, he’s a versatile part of the crew as a guy who can record the racing action with a camera on a tripod just as well as he can install an in-car camera on a racecar in the pits.
Brent has worked on a variety of different series: Sid’s View, The Speedbowl Doc Series, The On-Board Series, A Day at the Races and The Show. He is also the host of the Making Laps Podcast.
Bonssa Tufa came to the local racing scene in the summer of 2019 and has quickly become a master of producing content. He directs the Friday night broadcasts of Stafford Speedway’s events for Flo-racing and produces endless content both on race day and during the off-season for the legendary 1/2 mile track. He also produced an amazing documentary on Ted Christopher for SMS’s YouTube channel.
With such a busy schedule, we’re fortunate that Bonssa has collaborated with us when he’s available. He has been a cameraman for the Vault Crew for both their Sid’s View episodes as well as their single camera coverage of Speedbowl events since 2020.
Nicole LaRose has been around racing her entire life. The daughter of long-time competitor Ernie LaRose, Nicole began making calendars with photos she took around all the race tracks she visited throughout the 2017 season. Proceeds from her “nlarophoto” calendars help fund an annual sponsorship that she gives out via a live raffle on Facebook every year since 2018. She is also a pit reporter on Friday nights at Stafford Speedway.
Nicole joined the Vault Crew in 2019 and is now a regular on the #SidsView team, doing everything from capturing the action, managing all the on board cameras or providing commentary with Sid in the stands. She’s also contributed to The Show, A Day at the Races, The On Board Series and Remembering Whip City Speedway. She was also the star & co-producer of her vlog series NLARO On The Road the 2021 season.
Shawn Waddell is the owner of Waddell Communications and the leading Racing Electronics dealer in the country. Shawn teamed up with the Vault Crew as a sponsor for Sid’s View & Speedbowl Doc Series in 2016.
In 2018, Waddell and Sid teamed up to produce The On-Board Series at Stafford Speedway with Sid handling the video and Waddell taking care of the audio. They still produce this series occasionally at various short tracks.
Waddell was also part of the production team for The Show. He remains a primary sponsor who supports almost all the different series the Vault Crew produces for their Sid’s View YouTube channel. Shawn continually helps expand our audio capabilities while on location at the tracks.
Phil Jacques joined the Vault Crew as an in-car camera specialist in the middle of the 2012 season. Having a second guy in the pits with Brent really helped Sid’s View expand it’s coverage from 2-4 in-car cameras to consistently using over a dozen during the 2013 season.
Phil is also a racer, competing for several years in Thompson Speedway’s Limited Sportsman division. He is also a musician and our resident audio expert. In addition to Sid’s View, he’s also worked on The On Board Series and The Show. Phil relocated to Florida in 2020. He still races on the short tracks down south, and captures footage for us down there every now and then as well. He remains a frequent co-host on the Making Laps Podcast.
Sid’s View has become such an elaborate production once it returned in the 2020’s that our crew expands by a few with each passing season. Others who’ve contributed to capturing footage for our flagship series include Heather McGrath, Phil DeCosta, Remy Michelle, Sean Foster, Nick Teto, Eric Webster, Tom Capuano and the Speedbowl Wrecker Crew. Other who’ve also helped behind the scenes include Tiesha DiMaggio, Bob Lucas and Kenny Stuart.
WATCH OUR VIDEO RETROSPECTIVE
Celebrating our humble beginnings in 2008 through to the 200th video on our YouTube channel in May 2013, this retrospective looks behind the scenes filming Sid’s View with Tom DiMaggio, Jesse Gleason, Brent Gleason, Phil Jacques, Tiesha DiMaggio, Eric Webster and Ryan Cochrane.
In February 2014, the Vault Productions crew, primarily for their work on Sid’s View, was the winner of a fan vote for Best Social Media in 2013 via a nationwide poll conducted by Speed51.com
The theme used for “Sid’s View” since season 4 (2012) is the original song “Traveling Home” written & performed by John Fries (pronounced “freeze”), a local recording artist who resides in Waterford, CT. He also provided the instrumental bass groove theme used in season 1 and 2 (2010-2011). For more info on John’s music, visit his website www.johnfriesmusic.com. You can also find John Fries on iTunes and Spotify.