Joseph Safina | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 8, 1967 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupations | Racing driver, businessman, author |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Notable work | 24 Hours of Daytona, Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series, IMSA GT, 12 Hours of Sebring |
Joseph Safina (born December 8, 1967) [1] is an American race car driver and businessman. He began his racing career in 1997 [2] and he has since competed prestigious races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and Dubai 24 Hour. [3] Notable achievements include being the on the VICI Racing team as they were the first to race a Lamborghini GTR at the 12 Hours of Sebring, [4] as well as driving the Florida Marlins sponsored Porsche in the 2008 IMSA SportsCar Championship. [5]
Safina began his investment banking career in 1988 by joining Gruntal & Co. where he was later named Senior Vice President.[ citation needed ] After leaving Gruntal & Co. in 1993 he founded Nichols, Safina, Lerner & Co. Inc. (NSL), where he served as CEO. [6] Under his leadership, NSL grew into a 200 employee multi-location business that was involved in around a billion dollars in financing. [7] His work with NSL was featured in R.J. Shook's book The Winner's Circle II. [8] In 1997, he sold his interests in the company and became the CEO of Safina Asset Management now Safina Capital, a private equity investment firm. Most notably involved in bringing Financial Carrier Services (FCS) into the Inc 5000 [9] where Joseph worked as a founding partner of FCS with Derek Skea. [10] Joseph was also notably involved in the founding of Loud Records helping the company to sell stock to Universal Music Group. [11] [12] He later became Vice Chairman of Trimedia Entertainment Group Inc., [13] and a major investor in Secured Health and Life. [14] In 2013, he sold Secured Health and Life to Health Insurance Innovations. [14] He has written three books. [15]
Joseph began racing cars professionally in 1997, first racing a 5.8L V8 Ford Mustang Cobra R in the IMSA Speedvision Cup. [16] He has raced for 6 different manufacturers, those being Porsche, BMW, Saleen, Ferrari, Ford, and Lola. [17] [18] [2] Joseph has had an illustrious racing career, with many achievements, such as being the first to race a Lamborghini GTR at the 12 Hours of Sebring. [4] Racing the Miami Marlins sponsored GT3 in 2008. [19] Going top-ten three years in a row at the 24 Hours of Daytona. [19] But most notably Joseph was able to get a win in his Ferrari 360 Challenge in 2001 at Homestead–Miami Speedway. [18]
Josephs love for cars extends beyond the track. He owns a body shop called Safina Performance where he and his team work on many high end cars, such as a 2011 Ford F-450 4x4 King Ranch that was modified into an all black fully loaded beast. [20] Joseph also worked with prominent auto shop Mobsteel to create a resto-modded 1964 Lincoln Continental, with a 427ci CobraJet V8, forged 22-inch alloy wheels, 12inch disk brakes, and a beautiful custom interior and exterior. [21]
Safina is the author of three books: