Berkeley Springs, WV @ Potomac Airport – When you check out the cars racing at Potomac Airport, you never know what you might find or might see. These cars have unique details you won’t find anywhere else. Oddly enough, the unique detail that attracted me to Kevin Tierpack’s Olds Cutlass was his hood ornament, “Captain Cutty.” Small, simple things like this let you know the driver behind this car is really enjoying himself and getting the most out of the racing experience. The guy behind the car is one Kevin Tierpack. Tierpack is originally from Connecticut but has called Virginia home for 15 years now.

Talking to Kevin, it doesn’t take too long to figure out he’s a genuine, 100% car guy. According to him, “I’ve had 130 cars since I was 15 and I’m 45 now. I forget what number this (pointing to the Cutlass) was, but I think it was back there around in the 60s maybe.” His wife would go on to add, “It’s wild because we have a picture of our daughter, when she was maybe two years old, standing next to it and she’s turning 21 in January.”

Here is where we have to mention the car hasn’t been in Tierpack’s possession for all those years. That’s where the story gets interesting. “I bought it in ‘01. It had a 455 Olds in it with a rod knock and I put that motor (pointing to the current engine) in shortly after getting the car. The engine was out of my uncle’s ‘67 Camaro. I got it off of him and put it in there. We cruised and raced a little on the street and then I traded it off.” Of course, with the car sitting here in front of us, we know that’s not where the story of Kevin and the Cutlass ends. It continues years later. “[The] same guy still had it and I see him put it up for sale on Marketplace. I’m like ‘what do you want for my car?’ and I went back to Connecticut and bought the car back for 1000 bucks. Still had the engine, the trans was blown, the floors were shot, it had sat outside up north for 18 years.”

We all know sitting around for 18 years, especially in the northern winters, plays havoc with a car. It goes without saying that serious work was needed to get the car into the racing shape we see it in today. This is where Tierpack’s automotive ‘MacGyver’ skills, coupled with his knack for buying, selling, and trading parts come into play. According to Kevin, “[I] built the trans, converted it to fuel injection, ended up doing a cam swap, had the heads off it a couple times, then added nitrous, which was all just used parts, I probably have up to about $4000 in the car.”

Can a $4000 car be fast? Durable? Fun to drive? Tierpack answers all of these questions with a big smile. “She’s running 7.24 or 7.30s, [I’m] hoping to go faster today, but it takes some stuff that needs addressed. Blew the rear up out here a few years back, [it had a] 7 ½ inch [differential] and now it’s got a ‘66 Chevelle 8.2 in it and it’s welded by me. [I’ve had] great luck so far in welding. She’s a lot of fun. You know it used to be real shiny and there wasn’t a crack in the dash. All that plastic was mint. When I went and got the car, it was just like, we touch it and it just crumbled. “That’s just how you know you’re getting old you. You can see something and ‘hey, I watched that decay!’

The journey of this particular car is so special, Tierpack went so far as to share the history and story with another previous owner. “The car was originally sold in Connecticut. I found the build sheet on top of the gas tank and I actually found the original guy who put the car together with the Olds motor. He did all the body work, he painted it, did the interior. He was the original overseer and creator of what it was. It had IROC wheels on it. I tracked him down and called him up just to tell him, ‘hey man, remember that Cutlass you had? I got it! Me and my kids are racing it!’ and I told him how I got it back and he was happier than anything, he was thrilled. I just sent him some videos and pics and it was real cool.”

It’s not too unusual for a car to have a history to it, but when you have a car AND an engine that have history and sentimental value to it, you know you have something really special. Tierpack related some of the engine’s sentimental value, “It’s a small block Chevy 355. He (Uncle Mike) had it in his 67 Camaro and I bought it off him. I called up Uncle Mike the day I brought it home, I said ‘I got the motor back!’ He was passing through on work and stopped by and I took him for a ride. It was supposed to be built for a supercharger, it’s balanced and blue printed, got a Dart 202 heads on it, and it’s got great oil pressure. [It] winds up like a clock, you can’t even feel it rev! It’s getting better all the time!”

Almost every car guy has a beginning. Kevin Tierpack is no different. As for how he caught the car bug, he says, “He [Uncle Mike] was the one who got me in all this stuff. I was 7 years old and we were putting a small block in an ‘86 Cutlass and that’s probably what got me hooked on the G bodies. At the very least I’ve had about 30-couple G bodies. He was an old gear head. He’d take us rides in that Camaro. It had one-wheel-peel on it, but you go for a mile just blowing the tire out there, and it was ratty, but it was cool, sounded good.”

It’s hard to imagine you’d find such a great story in a setting like this surrounded by other race cars. Kevin Tierpack proves there can be so much more to having a car than just buying it and racing it. If you get a chance, check out the street racing at Potomac Airport. You might get a chance to catch Tierpack and his Olds in action. Even if you don’t there’s always lots of other cars to admire. Check it out!

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