As I sit and reflect back on my 20 year involvement with the aircooled Volkswagen, there is but only a handful of names that come to me as truely iconic establishments, rooted firmly in this industry since the early pioneer days of ACVW high-performance. I entered the VW scene in the late 80's, but some of these companies/individuals had already been in the aftermarket VW business long before I was knee-high to a moon pie. Some have come, many have gone, but there are still a few who have held on over the years, still in the game, still building an even stronger name for themselves, still pumping the very blood of the industry into our lives by way of essential look-good and go-fast VW goodies. Without the efforts and accomplishments of these founders, it is quite possible that I would not be here writing this story to feature on an ACVW website for the benefit and entertainment of thousands of faithful ACVW enthusiasts. Without them, I wouldn't be "into" the scene, and neither would you...... because there would be no scene at all, no stories to write about, no website to feature them on, and no enthusiasts to read any of it. Nope, the scene, for what it was in the 1960's, would have long since dried up and become only a small blurb chapter in some insignificant paperback automotive racing history book authored by an irrelevent nobody. Without the efforts of these few, we might all be driving Hondas. (ok ok, take a deep breath.... that was only a rhetorical comment).
As we take a look way back into the infancy of VW drag racing, back into the days when even the mere mention of a Volkswagen on a dragstrip could have earned you a handy shellacking from any number of red-white-&-blue good ol' boys, there was a limited collection of dauntless souls bold enough to have a vision in a scene so heavily laden with American muscle. Now keep in mind, at this time, I wasn't yet a twinkle in my daddy's eye, and these fellas were out and about risking their reputations on what must have been an almost preposterous notion for the day-- that there may be a market for performance VW parts, that there might be a following just large enough to support such a shoulder-shrugging, nonsensical adventure. These guys saw something that just wasn't there in those days-- a performance future for the little German car and a solid place earned in racing lore.
And as it turns out, they were right.
Among the top ranks of those early VW visionaries was a man named Ed Fulton. In his beginning days dating back to 1968, Mr. Fulton saw an opportunity to capitalize on a niche market made possible with the popularity of Bruce Meyer's "Manx" buggies. Mr. Fulton realized that while the Manx was a very popular car, the availability of replacement parts was virtually non-existent. Complete buggies were available from Meyers, and Mr. Fulton saw the increasing need for replacement bumpers, headlight buckets, and so forth. Ed decided he could provide some products for this open market, so he set out to do just that. During his first year, Ed set up a small shop in his home garage and business was good. Later that same year, he opened his first official location in Santa Ana, Ca, and began to expand his products and services to include all models of VW. He named his newly-formed company "DEE Engineering", which eventually branched to include the world-known designation "BUGPACK"... a name that has since become synonymous with all things aircooled Volkswagen.
Growth of DEE Engineering continued strong and steady for the following 10 years as they offered more products and even began to develop some of their own. DEE Engineering incorporated in 1975 and moved to their current location in 1978, a larger facility built over the top of strawberry fields in Costa Mesa, Ca. 9 years later, in 1987, they opened a separate manufacturing facility in Ontario, Ca. In-house production of parts was a huge advantage for BUGPACK, they were no longer just a parts supplier but now also a parts manufacturer, with the vast majority of their proprietary products being built in the USA.
Dedicated to the high-performance end of the business and wanting to become even more involved in the VW racing scene, Mr. Fulton was wise with his decision to acquire a known commodity in the high-performance market, a company known as Tayco. In February 1985, a deal was made with then-Tayco-owner Bill Taylor to unite the two companies, and Bill came on staff as head of machining operations for BUGPACK. The addition of Tayco allowed BUGPACK to offer to the public a considerable line of high-performance merchandise such as chromoly pushrods, lifters, dual carb linkage, etc. This unity with Tayco also brought VW drag racing to center-stage at BUGPACK, as Bill Taylor is the founding father of the Pro Racing Association, the PRA.
ARPM, an aluminum casting company owned then by Ken Lowery with such products in their catalog as oil pumps, deep sumps, manifolds, and perhaps most notably, cylinder heads, was purchased by BUGPACK in April of 1988. This purchase really helped to concrete BUGPACK's presence in the high-performance VW industry as they were now a very large aftermarket parts company with full-line manufacturing and foundry capabilities. This new association made for a very commanding force in the ACVW racing community.
BUGPACK also purchased a polyurethane products company, BC Engineering, who manufactured a small line of VW and some Toyota truck parts. This marqee exists under the jurisdiction of BUGPACK and is now known as PROTHANE. Since being a part of BUGPACK, PROTHANE has expanded to produce a myriad of polyurethane products including many items commonplace in our VW community, such as front beam bushings, spring plate bushings, trans mounts, shift couplers, and beyond our industry, another 6,000+ automotive applications.
When asked about the goals and the future of BUGPACK, company Vice President Rick Sadler had this to say:
"Our goal is to keep improving our products to meet the quality demands of today. It sounds easy enough, but in a market that is also rather price sensitive, we have to make sure that the quality we provide can still be affordable. The aircooled market has evolved over the years-- what was once a "can you fill the need?" market in the 60’s and 70’s evolved into a "driven by price" market in the 80’s and 90’s, and has now evolved again into "can you fill my need but with quality products?" For example, we used to produce items such as shifters and oil sumps in-house. But as the demand for parts exceeded production, we sent these items overseas to be replicated. Now we are back building these items in-house once again. However, we have added today’s technology CNC machines, robotic welders, etc, and re-engineered these parts for today’s demands. I believe the ACVW high-performance/racing industry will continue to have a following for many years to come. The companies, and not just ours, that have the push and desire to keep building new and unique quality products continue to add longevity to the industry."
BUGPACK Vice President Rick Sadler is a very active member in our racing community, with a colorful history in the seat of his own VW drag car, and is making huge improvements to BUGPACK's product line and customer service. Rick realizes that although our industry is strong, its also quite small when compared to the V8 community, and as such, every dollar made by BUGPACK must be earned. Careful consideration of the customer is priority-one at BUGPACK, and Rick is committed to bringing top-quality, made-in-America, high-performance parts to his clientele and to continue the BUGPACK legacy.
To showcase their dedication to the ACVW drag racing community, BUGPACK has supported many racers over the years through both limited and major sponsorships. Some of those well-known early drivers and teams include Duncan and Nuss, Mike Smith, and Jimmy Larsen. Some current PRA ProMod sponsorships include Eric Calabrese, Pat McDermott, Hector Urias, and a newly-formed partnership with the Battle Born team of Jason Fuller and Jerry Matsko. In Super Street, BUGPACK helps out Roger Crawford as well as Ron Fleming (Hunsaker Racing). Also getting some assistance are drivers Lance Gregory, Jon Schweers, Rich Grise', and Steve Atkinson. As you can see, BUGPACK is no shadow operation looking to pilfer your pocketbooks from afar-- BUGPACK is very active and genuinely committed to this community, and they continue to prove it.
Mr. Ed Fulton retired from day-to-day activities in 2001 but remains as Chairman of the Board for DEE Engineering. Gary Fulton, Ed's brother, is now President of the company. Bill Taylor retired from BUGPACK in 2006.
Ever since their modest beginnings in Ed's garage back in 1968, at a time most of us consider to be the dawn of the VW high-performance age, BUGPACK has been committed to satisfying the needs of the ACVW aficionado. Whether its a Manx buggy, a show car, a hot street bug, or full-tilt drag racer, BUGPACK has been a constant fixture in our aircooled lives for over 40 years.... and will likely remain for at least another 40 more.
Eric Ormosen (ErikTheRed)
