Sacramento Bee: Local Auto Legend Guns Down Wife & Self
Bill Daly
By Ralph Montaño and Mark Glover
Bee Staff Writers
(Published Dec. 22, 2000)
Don Tognotti, whose name was synonymous with car customizing and auto-event
promotions in the Sacramento area, was found dead inside his Fair Oaks home Thursday
morning after authorities said he shot his ailing wife and then killed himself.
Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. James Lewis said Tognotti, 60, called a friend
shortly before the murder-suicide to say that he and his wife, Paula Diane Tognotti,
"were going to a better place."
When told of the 7:30 a.m. call, deputies went to check on the Tognottis at their
expansive home in the 5100 block of Oak Canyon Lane, Lewis said. The deputies found
the couple in the master bedroom.
No suicide note was found, but Lewis said family friends have told investigators that
the shootings were motivated by his wife's health problems and his own financial
difficulties. Paula Diane Tognotti, 58, who was known as "Diane" by friends, suffered
for years from a painful and chronic medical condition that kept her bedridden for
the last few years, according to neighbors.
"He was very much in love with her," neighbor W.G. "Bill" Chathum said. "He used to
talk about her all the time and he used to walk with her when she was still able. He
was a very devoted person."
From spacious quarters at 2509 Fulton Ave., Tognotti operated Tognotti's Auto-Truck
World, selling car parts and accessories of every stripe. The Tognottis' son, Dean,
and a daughter, Denee, work at the store. Another daughter, Dena, recently moved to
the Bay Area.
Since 1977, the business has ranked as a must-visit destination for local car
enthusiasts and hobbyists who retool, remake and restore vintage cars or who work on
their own recently purchased, late-model wheels.
But more than that, Don Tognotti's reach extended into the whole regional culture of
hot rods, car customizers, motor vehicle restorers and auto racers.
Tognotti promoted scores of auto shows and races in and around Sacramento for
decades. He was a partner in the West Capital Raceway and promoted races there until
it closed in 1980.
Last year, the West Capital Raceway Alumni Association inducted Tognotti into its
Hall of Fame. The association is made up of key figures from the track that was the
site of races from 1947 to 1980, under the Interstate 80 overpass on West Capitol
Avenue.
In one of his most high-profile local efforts, Tognotti acquired the Sacramento
Autorama show in 1991. The annual February event -- held for the 50th time last year
at Cal Expo -- features a large display of custom cars and meticulously restored
vintage motor vehicles.
On Feb. 8, 1991, Autorama founder Harold A. Bagdasarian announced that he had sold
his 50 percent interest in the Show Promotions organization to fellow Sacramentan
Tognotti, his partner for the previous five years.
Bagdasarian described Tognotti as a level-headed man who never let on that he was
troubled.
Like her husband, Diane Tognotti put on a strong public face.
"If you saw her, you'd have never thought she had a bad day in her life," Bagdasarian
said.
She loved to spend summers at the couple's ocean-side home in Monterey, but had been
unable to because of her health problems.
Bagdasarian and neighbors said Diane Tognotti suffered from a chronic inflammatory
bowel disease.
Under Tognotti's direction, Autorama featured not only the work of craftsmen known
nationwide, but also that of local restorers and mechanics who typically put hundreds
of work hours into a single vehicle.
Tognotti was always pushing new business deals, Bagdasarian said. It wasn't until
recently that Bagdasarian learned of the "mountain of debt" that he was trying to
outrun.
"He was robbing Peter to pay Paul and it was all catching up to him. There was no way
out. It was going to bury him and he knew it," Bagdasarian said. "He sold the
Autorama because he couldn't get anyone to loan him $10."
Tognotti sold the Autorama event in 1999 to Dan Cyr of Portland, Ore. At the same
time, Tognotti sold the Grand National Roadster Show to Cyr, but Tognotti continued
to be involved in assorted auto-related events throughout the region.
Tognotti opened his first automotive shop in 1964 in a 1,100-square-foot store at
16th and T streets in Sacramento. Two years later, he moved into a 10,000-square-foot
building at 19th and T streets and at about the same time opened a tire store at 16th
and W streets.
A local auto customizer who worked with Tognotti at various Autoramas, said Thursday
that he was "trembling right now. I am in shock. I cannot believe what I am hearing.
What a tragedy.
"This was just a great guy to work with ... a guy who really loved cars and car
people. It's just a real loss. You can't believe how much this guy loved to be around
car people."
The store was busy with Christmas shoppers on Thursday afternoon.
There was no formal statement from the business, but Sales Manager Dan Trabue said
employees were trying to carry on with business as usual because, "Don would have
wanted it that way.
"Everybody's completely devastated," he said.
News of the tragedy brought Ken Pierson, 56, of Elk Grove to the store. He said he
started buying parts for his race car from Tognotti's in 1970.
"I'd come in once a month to pay my bill and he would be joking and laughing with
me," said Pierson. "Don always had a lot of irons in the fire, but I never thought he
could do something like this. I had no idea."
Bill Hall, a Sacramento businessman who restored several cars with Tognotti's help,
has known Tognotti since their college days.
"I've known Don for nearly 50 years and I don't know anyone I've regarded any higher
than him," said Hall, who said he last talked to Tognotti on Wednesday night. "He was
a man of high integrity."
Robert Frenchu
>Local auto legend kills wife, self
>By Ralph Montaño and Mark Glover
>Bee Staff Writers
>(Published Dec. 22, 2000)
>Don Tognotti, whose name was synonymous with car customizing and auto-event
>promotions in the Sacramento area, was found dead inside his Fair Oaks home Thursday
>morning after authorities said he shot his ailing wife and then killed himself.
>Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. James Lewis said Tognotti, 60, called a friend
>shortly before the murder-suicide to say that he and his wife, Paula Diane Tognotti,
>"were going to a better place."
I hear this is legal in Holland now.
--
If my "assault rifle" makes me a criminal
And my encryption program makes me a terrorist
Does Dianne Feinstein's vagina make her a prostitute?
Zepp, Weasel Sea Shells by the Sea Shore
groups?
On Sat, 23 Dec 2000 09:10:21 -0800, Bill Daly <bi...@motionnet.com>
wrote:
**********************************
"I believe the death penalty saves lives"
-- President Alleged GW Bush, leaving everyone to wonder if he
understands that the death penalty kills people.
Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia,
resign, you crooks!
28 USC Sec. 455 01/05/99
Faith is personal.
Religion is social.
Theology is idiocy.
For commentary on all things liberal/leftist: http://www.snowcrest.net/zepp/zeppol.htm
Links to hundreds of left wing areas: http://www.snowcrest.net/zepp/lynx.htm
Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to.
Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal!
****************************************
Randy Sweeney
Zepp, Weasel Sea Shells by the Sea Shore wrote in message ...
>A strange and sad story, I agree, but what's it doing in the political
>groups?
Your side (Sarah) put it in as an example of "gun violence":