LIKE FATHERS, LIKE SON; Bobby East might be the next great American oval racer. Just don't ask his dad if it's true.(Motorsports)

Byline: CURT CAVIN

The story begins in the Los Angeles district known as Bellflower, north of Long Beach. Young Bob East, son of a truck driver, proves himself worthy of driving the family-owned sprint car by beating it with a rival's inferior machine.

But East does more than drive high-horsepower cars to victory lane; he understands what makes their engines sing and how to set up a sleek chassis dance. In Gary Stanton's California midget shop, East learns to craft cars that will become the closest thing to unbeatable in short-track racing.

In East-prepared cars Ron Shuman won the prestigious Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ascot Park four straight years (1979 to 1982), adding a fifth title in 1984 and a sixth in 1987. For East, the race to success was on.

When ESPN debuted its Thunder television series at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1988, East decided his opportunity was at hand. He moved his young family to central Indiana to start building midgets himself, ending his driving career when he realized he cared more about the work waiting for him at the shop. His Beast chassis took off from there. Russ Gamester won the USAC title in 1989, starting a run of 16 championships for East-built cars in the past 17 seasons, including the last eight.

Today a walk through East's tidy but crowded shop on Gasoline Alley south of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway shows the impact he has had on the sport. In one photograph is a kid-sized Jeff Gordon, who used the 1990 USAC midget title in an East car to vault to astronomical heights. In another photo is Tony Stewart, who did much the same with East quietly working behind the scenes during championship USAC midget seasons in 1994 and 1995.

East's drivers, most of whom officially competed under the banner of Steve Lewis Racing, are some of the best midget racing has ever seen: Stan Fox, Gordon, Stevie Reeves, Stewart, the late Kenny Irwin Jr., Jason Leffler, Kasey Kahne, Dave Darland and J.J. Yeley among them. East's shop produces 40 cars a year.