Vic Edelbrock

The frequent stops to replace parts that shook loose on the region's dirt roads made Vic an expert in impromptu repair work.

[6] Vic also picked up extra cash running moonshine for local bootleggers[7] In 1931, the Great Depression hit Kansas, and Edelbrock decided to follow his two older brothers and emigrate to California.

In order to earn some extra money to open his own repair shop, Vic took an evening job in downtown Los Angeles parking cars at a large apartment complex.

It was a chance encounter at this parking complex where Vic bumped into a 19-year-old Irish girl named Katherine (Katie) Collins, who was working as a day maid.

[9] During the war, Vic's machinist skills were put to work welding in the Long Beach shipyards and hand fabricating aircraft parts.

Rodger Ward used Edelbrock's V8-60 "shaker" midget car on August 10, 1950 to break the Offenhauser-equipped winning streak at the legendary Gilmore Stadium using his secret blend of nitromethane.