Sharing our most recent trip with my awesome Dad, Bo Laws! We traveled to Indiana and Illinois visiting a few industry friends last month.

After arriving in Indy we traveled up to Bonfield Illinois to visit Bob at Book Racing. We were very impressed with their large state-of-the-art facility, including a SuperFlow dyno for product and engine testing. Bob was very gracious in providing a tour. From carburetor building, to machining, through engine re-builds and producing total custom engines, Bob maintains a quality business. But, as Bob professes, he could not continue his success without his wife Suzanne’s hard work keeping the business end running efficiently. Bo was very impressed with the quality of the facility and how dedicated Bob and his wife Suzanne are in striving to maintain a high level of quality and craftsmanship.

Next, we were off to visit Chad Mullins at Mullins Race Engines in Mount Olive Illinois. We first came upon Mullins Salvage yard, then just down the road Mullins Auto Parts and a little further was Mullins Race Engines. Chad was very gracious and took the time to show us around his large facility. From in-house machining, to SuperFlow dyno testing, and on to a large engine building business, Bo was quite impressed with the high level of quality and effort put forth by Chad and his employees.

Not long after leaving Mullins location we were able to stop and take a photo of Bo along one of the many Route 66 photo op locations, he was happy!

Our next stop was at Performance Motorsports in Greenville Illinois. Walking in Lumpy’s shop was like going back in time. It brought back memories of Bo Laws Automotive from back in the 1970’s. Lumpy and Bo go way back in the racing industry. The facility was both a race shop and auto parts store. Bo enjoyed reminiscing about the good old days of racing!

Further down the road, deep in farm country, we visited Ken Jones Performance. First thing you see walking into Ken’s shop is an early model Camaro and dragster that Ken and his son race in their prospective divisions. Whether you need transmission work, new or rebuilt carburetors, or fuel system parts, on or off the track, Ken produces quality parts and services. In fact, Ken’s motto is “I believe in customer service before and after the sale”. Ken’s rebuild expertise expands in many areas including and definitely not limited to quadrajet and Carter carburetors.

On down the road we visited Willy’s Carb and Dyno facilities. Willy’s shops are located in downtown Mt. Carmel Illinois. We were enlightened with the realization that Willy has become quite the celebrity in this old time friendly town. Everyone waves, regardless of whether they know you or not. In fact, when we drove up Willy had a huge rotating smoker sitting in the parking lot with enough ribs to feed an army, and all this for Bo! I will have to say, although my Dad makes some of the best ribs I have ever had, Willy may have a slight edge! Not sure though, I may have to have another taste test with both Willy’s and Dad’s ribs side by side again to make sure, lol! In one of the buildings Willy has 2 Dynojet chassis dyno’s and are used on a daily basis by all types of race teams across the Country. Great Clips sprint car team happened to be on the dyno the day we were there, quite exciting. Every carburetor built or rebuilt is tested on a Superflow SF-902 before going out the door! Willy does a good amount of R&D at his facility and is producing successful new products.

Our last stop was Schmidt Automotive in Indianapolis Indiana. Bo has known Steve for many years and was amazed at the expansiveness of the facility, but also with the fact that any automotive service could be done on location. Whether the vehicle was American, foreign, street or race car, Schmidt can do it all! Steve has a few shop cats that showed up one day and now are a part of the Schmidt Automotive family. One in particular, will go looking for Steve if he cannot see him and once he knows he is okay, will mosey on back to Steve’s desk. Even the dyno noise doesn’t seem to affect the cats. Most of Steve’s employees have been with him for 15+years and continue in helping further the Company’s success!