Reher-Morrison History

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Dear Racer,

Drag racing has been my passion since grade school. I used to have Hot Rod magazines tucked inside my textbooks. Buddy Morrison and I started our engine building business in the back of an auto parts store in Mansfield, Texas in 1971. We scoured the junkyards for blocks, cranks, and cylinder heads. When Buddy and I started our business, we had big dreams but very little money, so we learned how to make the most of our limited funds, selecting components and developing combinations carefully to get the best yield for our investment. The nature of the sport has changed dramatically since the company first opened for business. Interest in heads-up Super-type eliminators, fast brackets, Top Sportsman, and Quick 32 races has burgeoned. Reher-Morrison kept up with the times by developing a line of Super Series engines and components specifically for Sportsman racers. Sportsman racing is the foundation of the business. Reher-Morrison has always been closely involved in Sportsman racing because that is our roots.

In the early days, Buddy and I raced against Lee Shepherd at the hole-in-the-wall tracks from Arkansas to Oklahoma. When we needed a driver, we knew where to look. Lee, Buddy, and I won Modified Eliminator at the ’74 Winternationals with a Chevy-powered Maverick, and we were on our way. In 1976, we took the giant step to Pro Stock with a Monza. We had a pretty rough initiation to professional racing. Lee crashed in Englishtown, and we couldn’t get the trick cylinder head castings we needed to be competitive. It wasn’t until we built a long-wheelbase Camaro that we started to win consistently. In ten NHRA national events in 1980, that red, white, and blue Z28 racked up six wins and three runners-up.

The following season, we developed a small-displacement big block that won six more times and powered Lee to his first of four straight NHRA championships. In the five years from 1980 to 1984, a Reher-Morrison car reached the finals in 44 out of 56 NHRA national events. In 1983 and 1984, Lee swept the NHRA and IHRA Pro Stock titles. He won every race on the NHRA tour at least once, and compiled a 173-47 win-loss record.

Bruce Allen joined our team after Lee’s death in a testing accident in 1985. Lee was a great man and racer and is still sorely missed. Bruce continued the record of success at Reher-Morrison Racing Engines, capturing another IHRA championship and winning 16 NHRA races in 38 final round appearances. He finished third in the NHRA standings three consecutive seasons, was runner-up to Bob Glidden in the 1989 NHRA championship, and went to the final round of the Pro-Stock Challenge six times. In 1998, Buddy died of cancer, but his amazing generosity, intelligence, and humor are still with us. Racing was his passion, and we have continued to honor him by passionately working every day to help our customers succeed.

The racing world has changed dramatically since Buddy and I bolted together our first small block at Mansfield Auto Supply. What hasn’t changed is the importance of doing the job right: selecting the best parts, preparing them properly, and assembling them correctly. That’s still what we work to do today for both our Pro and Sportsman engines.

Our priorities are quality, performance, and service. We have a highly qualified and experienced staff, and we have the in-house resources for every phase of developing, building, testing, and maintaining race engines. Our goal is to provide exceptional customer service and support along with the knowledge to help every customer get what they really need. We hope to do exactly that for you.

Sincerely,
David Reher