Shop Tour - Hardcore Drag Racing

  The Lucas Oil division 1 meet was a hot one, It was 86 degrees and sunny. It was held at Maple Grove Raceway in the heart of God's country, Mohnton, PA.   The turn out was out standing, the pits were packed and people filled the stands. This shows that people are still interested in the sport. The Pro mod class had 32 cars show up for 16 spots, I haven't seen that since the late 1980's  when Englishtown had 32 funny cars.                                                                                   The staging lanes during the last qualifying session on Saturday .                                   ...

        Richard Bays has spent a lifetime in motorsports, and he is widely known as being part of the Drag Racing Fuel duo of  Bays & Rupert. Richard’s thirst for racing came in 1966 when he was running a foreign car repair shop.   He was in his early 20’s at the time and worked mainly on Volkswagen's and was one of the pioneers of VW performance. At night he was street racing his own home built Hot Rod and gained quite a reputation in the tuning department.     What started out as his daily driver soon turned into a Drag Strip terror. Richard started with a 1958 Fiat 600 that needed an engine. He made adapters and installed a Porsche engine.  Why not, his shop was full of go-fast parts. He said he chose that combination because it was different. Richard won so many street races with it, that the spectators would make side bets and would frequently win betting on him.   He called the car a street-sleeper and a Corvette killer...