It takes a village to compete as a race team!

One of the most important components of the race car is the power plant. Butler's Gary Henry (Henry's Racing Engines) has been an essential part of building engines for racers in Western Pennsylvania and is celebrating 50 years this season.

Henry started racing as a driver in 1969 at Butler Speedway driving a coupe, then moved to the Semi-Lates and eventually the Late Model class, competing until 1985. He always built his own engines. He quit when his son Jeff joined the Navy.

Born and raised in Connoquenessing, Gary was a neighbor of Harry Hein. As a young kid, he went to Hein's garage and watched, then later worked on his car. He went to the speedways with him and you might say that Hein was his mentor.

Henry built his first engine in his late teens. He was self-taught. Since he didn't have a teacher, trial and error was how he learned.

Henry joined the National Guard in 1960. There he met Dunc Pacdozi, who eventually became Bob Wearing Sr's (Mr. Invitational) engine builder. Wearing and Pacdozi won numerous features and championships.

While in the service, Henry and Pacdozi became good friends. They were a part of the mechanical crew. Any convoy truck that broke down, they were in charge of patching it back together. Later, Henry would go to Pacdozi's Machine Shop and would trade labor for machine work.

His son Jeff raced from 1992 to 2008. He competed in the Semi-Lates and later the Late Models division. Jeff's first memory of racing was watching his dad at Butler Speedway and like most “kids playing with his matchbox cars behind the flagman's stand.”

After college. he got a job in a power plant in Virginia. He bought a Semi-Late and raced at Saluda and Potomac Speedway. His dad would close his engine shop on Friday and drive to the racetrack to help Jeff every weekend. Together they used trial and error for set ups.

Jeff said,” Sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't!” Jeff won 25 features and later a championship at Marion Center when he moved back to Butler. Time, money and family made Jeff retire from competition, but he goes to the track every Friday!

Presently, Gary and his son work together in the Butler engine shop. Jeff and Jimmy Turner break the engine down and clean parts and Jeff also does machine work. Jim Elder hones the engine blocks and Gary is the assembly person.

A month or so is a good framework for a completion of a motor. The bottleneck is obtaining parts, especially pistons and crankshafts. When an engine is completed, it is tested before it is ready for delivery.

Henry Engines have helped to win numerous features and championships. The engines have been a part of Late Model teams of Mike Norris, Gary Lyle, Joe Corrado with Alex Ferree, and Tommy Beck. The V-8 Modified teams that have Henry Motors are Rick Regalski, Steve Feder, Shawn Kozar and Mike Miller. Pro Stock chauffeur Gregg Beach has their engines, also.

The Henry's have been with Norris for 11 years. Recently NASCAR driver Clint Boyer, who also has two Lucas Oil dirt Late Model teams, noticed the talented Sarver driver. Boyer's driver, Don O'Neal, injured his knee and will be out of racing for a couple of months and he chose Norris to be his temporary replacement.

The question of whether to have Crate engines vs. current Super Late Model engines is often discussed. Jeff's answer is “Crate engines are good for entry level divisions. I would say that Steel block engines or a cubic inch limit is the in-between to settle on.”

Butler’s Dunc Pacdozi still builds an engine for Modified pilot Dave Murdick. Rex King Jr. tops the Lernerville Modified points chart, but Murdick is only 36 digits behind.George Matus, another local engine builder, has helped Late Model driver Tony Burke and John Brunner. His son, Scott Matus, a Knoch graduate and former Lernerville Sprint car driver, graduated from Penn State with an Engineering degree.He now designs engines for Raush-Yates in North Carolina. They build 1,000 engines that are at 98 events for 29 race teams in 3 countries.Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle