The school has been running now for almost five years growing and getting better all the time. Students range from 13 to 72. Parents come too and mentor the students, The school is run out of my dads old shop at my moms place. I hope one day to move to a larger shop and make the school a non-profit.
Here is a little of my history.I am a award winning automotive designer. I have had cars featured in magazines and TV. I have been building cars with my dad since I was 4 years old. Always with him. Building, Racing and Collecting. I have guess lectured at many collages including Notre Dame. I have made laps at Indy Motor Speedway and have a Wally from the Indy Nationals. I spent much of my childhood as a track rat. My play ground was tracks like martin 131 , US 30, and OC this was a every weekend thing. By the time I was 16 I was driving for Toyota Racing Development ..TRD for short. I was involved in the development of the fuel injected 22 r 4 cyc engine and the 5 speed transmission. I was in high school and got caught pulling a 60 foot long 6 foot high wheelie in front of the school. I was driving Virg Cates old 48 Anglia with a small block and a blower. Dam thing ran 9s. I was 17 and driving it to school. At 19 I had a BAD motorcycle accident and broke my neck plus lots more damage. I spent the next year in hospitals and in rehabilitation. Over the years I have raced gassers, super stock and more. I street raced in Chi Town in my big block 78 Camaro. I have consulted as a designer with toy companies like Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning. I long hauled in my 92 caprice 9c1 cop car on the Hotrod Power Tour. Woodward Mi to San Bernardino Ca. The car made Hot Rod magazine and Hot Rod TV. I won a dupla color "best use of color award". I have worked on great cars like the OHIO GEORGE MALCO GASSER 33 WILLYS now in the Henry Ford Museum. I raced the World Champion 33 Willys of Virg Cates .I have driven 200 mph in a AVANTI that belonged to Newman and Altman the owners of AVANTI. Anything from monster trucks to ride-on toys I am in. I am caretaker of Dads collection of Willys cars for my mom. Once a week I invite young and old to our shop and teach them about Hot Rod building. This as turned out to be a wonderful thing .I have been running this free program for five years.I truly enjoy the classes.
.My Dad Robert (Bob) Masters was an old time drag racer .He raced a 64 Catalina in j stock and beat the likes of Royal Pontiac on a weekly basis.. Just to piss dad off they would put a claimer on dad and he would have to tear down his engine to prove it was legal every week .They knew he drove his car the hour drive to the track and knew he would have to put it back together to get home.
Dad had a deal with the banks around here in the day .People would buy new Hemi cars run the shit out of them and blow them up .The bank would end up repoing a blown up hemi car .Dad would change them to reg motors and get the hemis as part of the deal .He made the engines available to other racers on good deals .
Dad had seen Ohio George run his stock bodied 33 willys coupe in the late fifties and fell in love . He had to have one .His Grandpa found him one in 1957-8 . They brought it home in parts in the back of a pickup. Dad ran this coupe with a hemi in the late sixties. After that dad quite racing and started his family .His love for willys never stopped .Buying 33-36 willys when he found them . His 33 delivery the OVERLAND EXPRESS made all the mags in the day so did his 33 Willys pickup.In the late 70s. Dads love of Willys took him down under where he brought back 33-36 Willys by the shipping crate. Dads collection has more then a dozen 1933-36 Willys. Around 10 years ago Dad got brain cancer followed by Alzheimer's. Dad is now living with Alzheimer's. I took over as caretaker his car collection . Issue #51 and #52 of Rod and Kulture has two part story with my dad Robert Masters collection and the 33 Willys known as the Malco Gasser!

make sure to read part two of the story below! When I was a kid my grand parents had the "gas station/what you need" store in a town of 200. CENTERVILLE MO. The black river ran right though the town. On the other side of the river was some folks had summer getaway homes. One of these places belonged to Bob Chandler. His big foot #1 was his driver when he came to town. As he ran around the black river it grew. The ford slowly became a monster truck running in and around the river. His next door neighbor was the guy with bear foot monster truck. I used to pump gas and get rides in both of them. The black river became the spot to come run your buggy's and trucks. Then sadly one night running the trails and jumps. A family set up their campsite. Not knowing they were at the bottom of a jump. The trucks made the jump and wiped out the campsite. A few people lost their life and the trucks were banded from the area of the river. Bob and the guy that owned bear foot were NOT involved in this horrible accident. But we are we affected one way or another.. my dads company was the first company to make fiberglass truck caps he made the factory chevy caps too..Our shop VAN VINYL you will see them in all the old van magazines. Mom invented he high back bucket seat for dodge cars. Dad and mom help design the little red wagons by dodge and the spirit of 76 trucks by chevy. My mother did the interior design in the first mini vans made by dodge, My mom and dad did all the harley side car interiors for years for harley plus lots more cool stuff.pick up any truckin magazine form that era and you will see some story are another about our shop or some truck we built.. We were the first ones to take a brand new van and convert them in elkhart indiana. My mother designed the high back seat for Chrysler and worked with other to designers on interior of the first mini van made by dodge. Mom and dad also had input on the spirit of 76 chevy pickups and the little red express truck by Dodge. Van Vinyl the elkhart motor car co. and you IF do not believe that then my own history will leave you shaking your head, This is a link to my free hot rod school i run today. the story is in 3 parts. I spent a day after World Champion Virgils Cates death going though his many buildings. Like an old store with the roof partly caved in .It was filled with Ford Edsels, Camaros, and stacks of small block chevys .Virgil thought with the gas crunch they would quite making them and they would sky rocket in value .
I went though his work shop with his Opel and dads Willys still no 33 willys cates world champ car .We dug all though the old speed shop still no Willys .Finely I asked "ok where is it?" they said "you walked by it a bunch of times today."they took me to a door in the wall and there she sat.We found in the World Champion 33 Willys of Virgil Cates in the basement of cates speed shop .I put another engine in and raced it in the late 80s .This is a great car that I do miss. Now in the collection of Ron M . 
Virgil Cates 1965 World Champion 1933 Willys after 37 years of being in climate controlled storage. This beautifully preserved car is the only known unrestored, all original World Champion Willys in existence and is as it was last run in 1970.
This 33 Willys is the only drag car to ever set national records in 2 different NHRA classes in one day. Virgil Cates was solely responsible for causing the NHRA to change the rules, limiting cars to competing in a single class at any given event. The history of the "Flying Junkman" Virgil Cates and his '33 Willys is legendary.The car is recognized by the NHRA as being one of the most significant, historical drag cars in the world. The car was displayed at the 40th U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, where the I received the coveted "Wally Award" for the preservation of drag racing history. The award was presented by Wally Parks himself. Then in the year 2004 the car was displayed at the 50th running of the U.S. Nationals as one of the "Golden 50" most historical drag cars of all time. The legendary '33 Willys was also presented on "Inside Drag Racing" on ESPN, by Big Daddy Don Garlits, who stated "This is big time, big name, this is what drag racing history is all about." Big Daddy was amazed at the preservation of the car and described it as, "unbelievable".
Dad seen Ohio George run his Willys in 1959 and told his Granda pa I want one of those! Dads grandpa found a coupe for dad after dad seen OG run that light blue Willys in the late fifties . Dad bought the coupe in 58 his grandpap found it for him in pieces in the Ozarks. Dad took it home in the back of a pickup truck 500 miles. Dad built it and ran it with hemi as a gasser mid late sixties .Dad traded the coupe for Virgils dads 35 Willys Pickup shop truck. (We still have it today!) .The Willys coupe sat untouched from 1971-2 till early eighties .Virg farmed all the work out to make it a 9.90 car with the best stuff he could. The night he was killed he was working on this car. Dad bought back after Virgils untimly death. We think of it like this..sat for a wile .We then let Virgil build it for us a we got it back..sorry Virgle was killed before Virgil could really enjoy the car
Dad had a chance to buy the car that started it all 
The 33 Willys MALCO GASSER .We owned this car longer then George did.lol When George sold it had been stripped of all its goodies .Dad put the 1933 Willys back together. Unknow to Dad, George had set up to buy the car back. But he kept screwing the guy who had around .Telling him he was coming and then not show up. His name was lance ferry out of Chi-town. After George did not show one day. Lance called dad. Dad had tried to buy the car but Lance would never sell it to him. He told Dad if you can get here asap with cash he would sell it to dad. Two hours later on what should have been a three hour drive dad was handing him the cash and loading the car up. I guess George must have passed dad on his way home .Cause he got there just in time to miss getting his car back. When dad received the 33 Willys the Malco Gasser and started the replacing of all the org parts . The car had been stripped by George at the urging of Ford .The Willys was to loved by the people and had to be removed from the equation to make sure the Mustang was the center of attention. The Willys was parted all over the country as not to be EVER put back as it once was. Dad found all the org pieces as last run. 20 plus years later he finely sold it back to George.,Before selling it back to George. George could not believe that dad had put it back together.Dad ended up with alot of extra parts from the Malco Gasser .My job as a kid was to keep the wheels shinny. It was a suck ass job to have. my dad built his office around the car. later when he sold it back to George he had to cut a hole in the wall.