As clear as day, Chas Lang remembers when he started paying attention to cars as a toddler.

He would go to the track to watch his father, Ron Lang, race his 1979 Malibu, and as the lights on the tree dropped, he would start running in front of the grandstands to get a head start on the cars.

When Bob Motz would bring his jet engine-powered truck to the track, Chas wanted to be front and center to see it, hear it and feel it as it rocketed down track with flames flying from the back.

As soon as he was old enough, Chas began racing a junior dragster, and stayed with it until he was fifteen, when he and his father picked out a 1981 Malibu for them to work on together.

At first, Chas was handing tools to his father, but eventually, his father was handing tools to him, and they were turning wrenches together to create a race car.

As soon as he got his learner’s permit, Chas began racing it in Edelbrock Sportsman Delivered on Time by TFC Transportation at Summit Motorsports Park, and it came naturally to him.

While he drove a dragster for a little while after that, he came back to his Malibu, and has been successful ever since. In fact, he earned his first championship in Edelbrock Sportsman Delivered on Time by TFC Transportation in 2009.

When Chas isn’t inspiring people in his race car, he’s inspiring them in his classroom, as he’s a first-grade teacher at Edison Elementary in Milan, Ohio. His students think it’s cool that their teacher races, and they frequently ask him if he did a wheelie, if he went fast and if he won over the weekend. And, they always want to see pictures. Chas, who has two children, Vincent and Addie, with his husband, Jeremy Perez, uses the opportunity to talk about sportsmanship, success and staying humble while also aiming high.

He did just that in 2021, and it paid off, as he was celebrated as the 2021 Edelbrock Sportsman Delivered on Time by TFC Transportation at the 48th Annual Edelbrock Performance Banquet of Champions presented by Lincoln Electric, January 29, 2022 at Kalahari Resorts and Conventions in Sandusky, Ohio. - Mary Lendzion