Bryan Rash Has Built A Family With Cars

Bryan Rash has had his hands in every aspect of the car hobby — from racing to running a car club to managing a performance center. And he still enjoys getting under the hood.

Sometimes, Letting Go Is the Right Choice

Bryan Rash built a masterpiece, then sold it for the greatest prize of all

By Frank Adkins

Photos by Joe Grace

To many high-performance car enthusiasts in northern Delaware, Bryan Rash needs no introduction. He has raced often at Cecil County Dragway for decades, and he has presided over two local car clubs, Blue Diamond Classic Chevys and Cruisers for Christ Christian Car Club. In addition, he managed the NuCar Chevrolet Performance Center from its beginning in 1991 until 2006, and he has owned and managed his own auto repair shop, Peak Performance Automotive in Newark since 2009. In addition to his automotive endeavors, he is a devoted husband and family man.

Under his leadership, the Cruisers for Christ Christian Car Club hosted car shows at local churches in Delaware, but it also repaired and donated cars to families in need. “This was one of the most rewarding times in my life,” said Rash.

Rash attended the Automotive Training Center in Exton from 1981 until 1983. While enrolled there, he met his wife, Heather, who was still in high school. After graduation, they traveled to Arizona together to visit her mother. “We got engaged at the Philadelphia airport,” he said. Arizona agreed with the young couple, and the decided to relocate there. “We stayed with her mom for a month. Then, within a week, we got married, found an apartment, I found a job, and she got signed up for college.”

At the time, Rash was 20 and Heather was 19. “We got married on my lunch hour. Since I had just started a new job, I didn’t feel right asking for time off. “

Eventually, the couple moved back to Delaware. “I started working at NuCar Chevrolet in 1988. In 1991, the NuCar Performance Center opened, and I managed it for the next 15 years.”

He also worked on the pit crew of dealership owner Dave Greytak’s blown, nitro-burning ’38 Chevy coupe. During this time, Rash always had a project or two going in his shop at home, and his work at the Performance Center kept him well connected with other local car owners, builders, and racers. One day he met with a customer who had a ’67 Chevy II project car. The two struck up a deal, and the Chevy II moved to Rash’s possession in exchange for his ’63 Corvette convertible project car. The Chevy II had a solid body, good interior, and nice paint, but it was sold without an engine or rear axle.

Heather was on board with this latest build. “She grew up around cars. Her father owned Shadetree Automotive.” Located in Marshallton, Shadetree Automotive has specialized in imports for more than 40 years. Heather has also owned a few fast cars of her own, including a Torch Red ’96 Z-28 with a six-speed manual transmission.

Rash built the Chevy II to his liking. He installed a 12-bolt rear axle, which eventually housed 4.56 gears. Inside, he added an eight-point roll bar and fivepoint safety harnesses for the front seat occupants. It already had a Muncie four-speed transmission. For motivation, he started with a 350 block and had its cylinders bored 0.030-inch oversize. Then he filled it with good internals including Keith Black hypereutectic pistons, LT1 powdered rods with ARP bolts, a forged steel crankshaft, and a .595/.596 lift hydraulic roller camshaft.

Ultimately, the Chevy II posted quarter mile times of 11.60 seconds at 119 miles per hour.

“I launched it at 5200 RPM and shifted at 7,000,” he said. “But the best thing about it was that you could jump in it at any time and take it for a ride. My wife and I drove it to both the spring and fall cruises in Ocean City, Md. for about three years. It drove well on the street.”

Meanwhile, the Rashes wanted to start a family. Working through an adoption agency, they assembled a portfolio intended to provide prospective birth mothers with some insight about who they were.

“For one mother, it finally came down to another couple and us. But when she looked at the pictures we had provided, she chose us.”

Those pictures were of Bryan and Heather standing in front of the Chevy II, which was still under construction. “When she saw the car, she knew she wanted us to raise her son.”

As the pregnancy progressed, the Rashes remained involved. “Heather went to the doctor’s appointments with the birth mother. When Ryan was born, we were there, and we brought him home from the hospital.”

Rash added another harness to the rear seat of the Chevy II which secured Ryan’s car seat. “He loved riding in the car as long as we were moving. Whenever we stopped at a traffic light, he would cry. But when the light turned green and we started moving again, he would laugh.”

Six years later, they adopted a two-year old girl named Amy.

“A woman in our church had a sister who had been involved in a serious car accident and was in a coma,” he said. “She asked for help from the church members. We agreed to babysit Amy for an extended time, which eventually led to our adopting her. It took four years for the adoption to be finalized.

“Adoption is expensive, especially if you work through an adoption agency,” Rash said. “The Chevy II helped us to adopt our son, but it also helped us to adopt our daughter. I sold it in order to raise the money we needed to pay for the adoption. So really, the car helped us to adopt both kids and to create our family.”

Today, Ryan and Amy are 22 and 17 respectively. “Ryan enjoys sports, and he plays football and basketball,” Rash said. “Although he doesn’t enjoy getting his hands greasy, he has a need for speed, just like I do. His first car was a Murray Dip Side pedal car, which came as an unpainted, disassembled kit.”

Father and son built it and had it painted by the NuCar Chevrolet body shop. “It was professionally painted to match Dave Greytak’s racecar—white with flames, and Viper Red inside.

“Amy is hell on wheels, whether she’s on an ATV or anything else! She used to ride on the back of my Harley from the time she was eight years old, and she was really upset when I sold it. Nowadays she loves going to Cecil County Dragway, either with us or with her friends.”

Today, the Rash family is still building cars. Currently, Bryan is building a ’64 Nova resto-mod for a customer in his shop at home, and he has a ’99 Jeep of his own waiting for his attention. In the meantime, he and Amy are building a ’95 Jeep for her.

“She replaced the fuel tank, installed the lift kit, and coated the inside with liquid bed liner. She is chomping at the bit for me to turn it over to her.”

Although the Rashes’ Chevy II is gone, the role it played in their family cannot be overstated. Consequently, it will long hold its place in their hearts.

Delaware’s Bryan Rash is still building cars while managing Peak Performance Automotive.