He is interested in automobile racing and raced for 11 years, including occasional forays into international racing, such as the FIA GT Championship, and in 2002 he was a test driver of Minardi.
During the September 11 attacks, Pitino lost Bill Minardi, his brother-in-law, who was working on the 105th floor of the North Tower for Cantor Fitzgerald on the morning of the attacks.
Webber's vacated seat at Minardi was filled by Justin Wilson, who had won the International Formula 3000 title in 2001.
With March Engineering folding, he moved to Minardi for 1993, designing their successful M193 chassis, before another switch, to Ferrari's Research & Development department, eventually returning to Minardi as chief designer in 1997 to help new technical director, Gabriele Tredozi, and became the technical director in 1999.
At the 2007 Grand Prix of Houston, Ford got to ride the Minardi F1 two-seater race car, driven by Zsolt Baumgartner.
It was initially driven by the experienced Jean Alesi, who was in his second year with the team, and Gastón Mazzacane, who brought valuable PSN sponsorship from Minardi after almost all the sponsors are gone, including title sponsor Gauloises, putting the team into serious financial problems.
Both were especially hard-hit by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as Joanne's brother and Rick's closest friend, Billy Minardi, was working as a bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 105th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center when it was struck by American Airlines Flight 11.