"Rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air," is part of the national anthem, but it had a different connotation for racing at Lernerville Speedway over the weekend.

A Rocket Chassis took the feature on each of the three nights of World of Outlaws Late Model racing, with fireworks and flames anointing the victories of Josh Richards, Tim McCreadie and Shane Clanton.

Who's behind Rocket Chassis? Steve Baker and Mark Richards are the founders of this business. While attending West Virginia University, Baker worked part time at Melvin's Transmission, and, after graduation, it became his full-time profession.

Richards worked with Late Model driver Rodney Combs building WRC Chassis, which stood for White, Richards, and Combs. In 1992. Richards and Baker decided to take a risk, leaving their respective jobs to follow a dream of creating their own chassis business.

Rocket Chassis was developed in Shinnston, W.Va. A little rocket was placed on the roof of the building.

I remember Baker saying, "I'm a little nervous about this. I don't know if I've done the right thing."

Eighteen years later, Rocket has become the premier chassis of winning Late Model drivers. Richards' son, Josh, won the 2009 World of Outlaws Late Model Championship and the second leg of Lernerville's Firecracker Late Model Invitational over weekend.

Baker's son, Frankie, was Josh's crew chief before heading to the Air Force Academy. He recently graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering and is now attending flight school in Mississippi.

In other racing news:

• The sons of E-Mod driver Jeff Taylor will be well prepared if they decided to enter the racing scene. Evan Taylor just graduated from Kent State with a degree in aeronautics and is teaching at the Kent State flight school while Jonathan, who also attends Kent, will become a technical education teacher next season. Both can use their education for speed secrets.

• While many professional teams now have engineers to assess the aerodynamics on a race car, things were a little different when former Challenger Raceway promoter Jack Lentz drove a Sprint car.

To measure the proper positioning of the wing, Lentz would put the car on a trailer, strap a guy on both sides of the Sprint and speed down the highway with the rig.

"The guys on the trailer would both raise, lower and tilt the wing until they the greatest power was felt," Lentz said.

• Hats off to Late Model driver Ken Schaltenbrand, who always does the max with the minimum amount of financing. He came from the last row on one of the B-Mains Friday to finish third, but he fell one position short of making the race.

• A welcome home party was held for Donny Roenigk Saturday, who had been stationed with the Marines in Afghanistan and Okinawa. Donny took time to reunite with family and many of his Lernerville racing friends. He will report to Camp Lejeune, N.C., in July.

• Mercer Raceway Park announced that Sprint car drivers now would be competing for a region-high $9,100 purse, with $225 to start. The Mini-Stocks now pay $100 to win, with a full-feature payoff down to $25.

Carol Gamble is the racing columnist for the Butler Eagle.