Written by Mary Lendzion
Photos by Moto Lenz Photos

When Gene Lampshire met Bill Bader Sr. more than four decades ago, he knew it was the start or something special.

They became friends, and before long, they considered each other family.

Through the years, Gene grew close to the rest of the Bader family, including Deb, Bill Jr., Jayme, Evan, Kelli, Garret, Bobbie, Nathan and others, and he has spent a lot of time with them at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

Inspired by a unbreakable bond, Gene, who races in Edelbrock Super Pro, asked Mike Davis of Moto Lenz Photos to help him design a wrap for his dragster that would show his regard for the family.

“The Bader family is about integrity and honesty, and I wanted to honor them, and that became even more important to me after Bill Sr.’s passing last June,” said Lampshire. “When I reached out to Mike about it, he had a lot of ideas, and a lot of pictures he could use to design and make the wrap. During the process, my brother, George passed away, and Mike was able to incorporate him into the design of the wrap as well.”

Gene debuted the wonderful wrap on his dragster at the 42nd Annual Spring Warmup, April 15, 2023 at Summit Motorsports Park, and it was warmly well-received by his fellow racers, race fans and the Bader family.

“Mike did an amazing job of taking my idea and making it reality, and I’m proud of this,” said Gene, whose son, Dave, races his Firebird in Edelbrock Super Pro and serves as Operations Manager at Gene’s business, TFC Transportation. “You know, when I race at another track and tell people I’m a Summit Motorsports Park racer, they always say they want to race there one day, too, if they haven’t already.”

Racers and race fans can see Gene’s tribute dragster at the first Edelbrock Super Series race of the year, April 22, 2023 at Summit Motorsports Park.

“The fact that Gene asked me to help him with this meant a lot to me,” said Mike, who went through thousands of photos from 2007-2022 for the project. “To make a tribute to the Bader family, you really have to step up to the plate and throw it out of the park, and that is what I was hoping to do.”