Larry Lombardo continues to make a major impact in motorsports, even decades after he climbed out of the driver’s seat of a successful career as a driver in the NHRA’s Pro Stock division.

Lombardo, in Bowling Green on Thursday to serve as the 2018 grand marshal of the 16th annual Holley National Hot Rod Reunion at Beech Bend Raceway Park, established Larry Lombardo Race Engines shortly after abruptly ending his driving career and has built a loyal clientele ranging from drag racers to dirt-track enthusiasts.

But this weekend at Beech Bend, Lombardo was happy to be recognized for his dazzling career as a driver in the sport.

“It’s really cool to be recognized later on for what you’ve done,” said Lombardo, who headlined the honorees for a Friday reception at the National Corvette Museum. “When you’re (a) racing professional, it’s so constant on the run, on the run, on the run. I’d win a national event, I’d throw the (trophy) in the sleeper and then I’d move on to another national event.

“ … You don’t really comprehend what’s going on until later on. And now I look back and it’s like, ‘That was pretty good.’ I won four national events in a row, two world championships, 14 national titles and had like 300 track records.”

Lombardo, who lives in Bernville, Pa., burst onto the drag racing scene as a 19-year-old by winning the Stock eliminator title at the 1968 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

Soon, Lombardo went to work for legendary owner/driver Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins, first as a crew member and eventually as the team’s primary driver.

Lombardo won the first Pro Stock race he ever entered at the 1974 Summernational at Madison Township Raceway in New Jersey. He was the full-time driver for Jenkins by 1976 and won the Pro Stock world championship that season.

More victories and championships followed, but Lombardo’s time with Jenkins ended abruptly after the finals of the 1979 NHRA Nationals, when a red light against rival Bob Glidden led to finger-pointing among Jenkins’ team following the loss.

After exploring his options as an independent team owner, Lombardo shifted his focus full time to his engine-building operation in 1981.

While he gained fame driving for Jenkins, Lombardo admits he didn’t make much money during his driving days. But the experience and opportunities he got working in the shop and on the cars set Lombardo up for his long and successful post-racing career.

“Put it this way – I made him give me one paycheck a month to make it look like something,” Lombardo said of Jenkins, who died in 2012 at age 81. “I called it my college years and what I learned through him and Chevrolet, you could never go to college to learn. I went from that to my engine building business I started in ‘79 to present. I have a very successful engine building business. I don’t race anymore, but I do everything 100 percent.”

Lombardo attributes the success he had as a racer and after as an engine builder to a singular focus on his work.

“When I raced, I raced – never did anything else but race,” Lombardo said. “I never drank, never smoked, never did any drugs. I just worked.”{&end}