For nearly his entire life, there has been one constant for Donnie Couch – racing.

When Couch was in high school, he started going to races and working as a crew member for professional teams.

“My grandfather raced in the 1930s and 40s and my dad raced in the 50s, 60s and 70s,” the 53-year-old Couch said. “Then toward the end, my dad was working with Don Prudhomme as a mechanic. All through high school, if I got good grades and didn’t get in trouble, I got to go all summer with Prudhomme and Tom McEwen. I basically worked on McEwen’s car for 10 years, from the time I was a freshman in high school.”

Now, 40 years later, Couch has found another niche in the sport, his West Coast Funny Car Factory in Whittier, Calif., just south of Los Angeles which specializes in Nostalgia Funny Cars.

For nearly his entire life, there has been one constant for Donnie Couch – racing.

When Couch was in high school, he started going to races and working as a crew member for professional teams.

“My grandfather raced in the 1930s and 40s and my dad raced in the 50s, 60s and 70s,” the 53-year-old Couch said. “Then toward the end, my dad was working with Don Prudhomme as a mechanic. All through high school, if I got good grades and didn’t get in trouble, I got to go all summer with Prudhomme and Tom McEwen. I basically worked on McEwen’s car for 10 years, from the time I was a freshman in high school.”

Now, 40 years later, Couch has found another niche in the sport, his West Coast Funny Car Factory in Whittier, Calif., just south of Los Angeles which specializes in Nostalgia Funny Cars.

“Here’s what we do,” Couch said. “We don’t actually build the car. We don’t do the framework or mount the bodies. People bring us a car with a body and wheels and tires and we put together the whole car. We do the engine and clutch combinations, we set up the chassis. We do the complete thing. So, if you have a bare chassis and a body we will put you out there and guarantee you a five-second run. We have a network out here in Whittier. We have one family that does all the welding and modifications and I oversee everything. I build the engines and I have a crew that has been with me for like six or seven years. We can do about any aspect of the Funny Car, except for building the chassis. We have a couple of people we recommend (who build chassises) and then we finish off the job.”

Once Couch and the West Coast Funny Car Factory assembles a car, their work isn’t done.

“We can go run your car or we can teach you how to do it so you can run it yourself,” Couch said. “We also will get your driver a license; we have done quite a bit of that. I taught Jerry Toliver how to drive from boat racing, and I taught Eddie Hill how to drive when he came from boat racing. I taught Dan Pastorini how to drive when he came over from football.  I have a lot of history teaching drivers.”

Couch has an impressive list of Funny Cars he has outfitted from scratch, including  Gary Turner’s Nostalgia car, Steve Romanazzi’s car, the Bomb Squad car, the Future Flash and Cruz Pedregon’s “Joe Pisano” tribute car.

Presently, Couch is fixing up Shawn and Scott Bowen’s “Violator” and he’s also preparing Gary Messenger’s Charger to run with Mendy Fry handling the driving duties.

“We’re going to run Mendy’s car on the West Coast and we’re going to run Shawn and Scott Bowen’s car through the Midwest and maybe try to bring the Bowen’s car out here (in California) for the March meet,” Couch said. “They (the Bowens) have a car and everything, and they’re just switching over to my motor combination.”

The nostalgia racers have a home in NHRA on the Hot Rod Heritage Series. The NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series has a nine-race schedule, beginning March 5-7 at Famosa Raceway in Bakersfield and concluding at the California Hot Rod Reunion Oct. 15-17 at Famosa.

Couch, meanwhile, has plenty of racing experience to draw from when Nostalgia drivers get in touch with him.

 

“I have worked for Billy Meyer, Kenny Bernstein, Eddie Hill and Dan Pastorini and there are a host of other cars that I’ve had my hands on,” Couch said. “I worked on Jerry Toliver’s car and Phil Burkhart’s car, but I got away from racing to start a family. I got married and settled down and had two kids. I was too miserable and my wife told me to go racing again.”

Still, Couch didn’t get in the Nostalgia Funny Car business immediately.

“We did a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” Couch said. “We were successful in drag boat racing and I ran an alcohol Funny Car for Terry Mullins and we won a Division 2 championship in 1995 and we  just kept progressing up with things.”

According to Couch, constant prodding from fellow drag racers is what finally got him in the Nostalgia Funny Car arena.

“People kept bugging me about the Nostalgia deal and I got involved with Gary Turner and the Pedaler car,” Couch said. “We won every event we went to and we won the championship, and I got him in the 5-second club. Then I got hired to work with Steve Romanazzi’s car, and he won in the first race that I was working full time for him. Then, I built the Bomb Squad and the Future Flash, and we’ve kind of gone full circle. I kind of cut back a little bit last year because I had some health issues, but I got back into and I got hooked up with Cruz (Pedregon) and we built that car in 22 days.”

These days, Couch plans on going full speed ahead with his West Coast Funny Car Factory.

“The future for me is going to be in Nostalgia because I can manage my own life and this racing,” Couch said. “It’s a growing sport and I’ve been promoting races. I’ve worked with sponsors and teams to try and promote this deal (Nostalgia racing) and get everybody on the same page. It’s fun deal. We get to see our old friends. It’s like a family reunion every time we have a race.”

Couch says he is also going to do weekly reports on Nostalgia racing this season on Speed Scene Live, an on-line TV show.

Despite his new career path, Couch was happy to share some of his fondest racing memories.

“One of my best memories was when I was like 21 years old in 1979. I was hired to be the crew chief for Billy Meyer, and we beat the Blue Max to win the race at Bandimere (Speedway in Denver),” Couch said. “Then, taking Dan Pastorini from football, and then like in his first race he won at Atlanta. I also spent a lot of time with Shirley Muldowney’s team last year for those six events that she did, and that was special. I’ve had offers to go back out there and be a crew chief, but it’s such a grind. They want you to live back in Indy and I was born and raised in Southern California. I’ve seen it all, done it all and I did it when it was fun. I did it when there was a lot of camaraderie and friends and I don’t see that now. I see it as a grind.”