Our Services

The inception of the fab shop, under the Morgan Lucas Racing blanket, was during the 2013 season with Morgan driving full time. While there were several options available for cars and components, we felt we could better suit our needs by designing and building our own chassis in-house. Chassis #MLR-001 was completed during the 2013 season and was unveiled in the fall at the Charlotte, North Carolina race, which Morgan qualified #1 and then went on to win the race. Soon thereafter, we started receiving inquiries to build and sell the MLR chassis and corresponding components to our competitors. Our customer base now has extended to teams and drivers that make up almost half of the Top Fuel field in the NHRA Drag Racing Series. Some of those key customers include Steve and Billy Torrence, Mike Salinas, Bob and Dom Lagana, Kelly Betts, and Peter Xiberas. The “MLR Top Fuel Chassis” quickly became the staple for our 2000 square foot operation, which eventually grew to consume over 20,000 square feet of shop space.

The following highlights race wins and championships on MLR chassis':

  • Steve and Billy Torrence have collectively won 38 NHRA national events and NHRA World Championships in 2018 and 2019, and a win in 2017 at the prestigous US Nationals in Indianapolis
  • Richie Crampton - 7 NHRA wins including a US Nationals event win in 2014, his rookie year
  • Morgan Lucas clenched 4 NHRA wins and a US Nationals event win in 2015, while running part-time before retiring from racing
  • Blake Alexander - 2 NHRA national event wins
  • Kelly Betts - Australian National Drag Racing (ANDRA) Top Fuel Champion 2018
  • Peter Xiberas - 2 ANDRA event wins
  • Mike Salinas - 2 NHRA national event wins

At the conclusion of the 2016 race season, Morgan made a decision to retire from racing to pursue a fulltime roll as VP of Sales with Lucas Oil and he, with the blessing of his parents Forrest and Charlotte, decided to move forward growing the fab shop as customer interest and sales were steadily increasing. Over the next couple of years, the demand for chassis and machine work was increasing. We have worked on vehicles in many different forms of motorsports, including professional drag racing, rallycross, circle track, and street / strip to name a few.

In addition to the almost 20 top fuel dragsters we’ve built, past projects also include a 37’ Plymouth streetrod build for Lucas Oil founder Forrest Lucas, the famed Dragweek 57’ Chevy Wagon belonging to Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton, and a 56’ Chevy owned by well-known hobby racer Joe Barry.

We quickly realized that strictly building race cars would not sustain us as the racing industry fluctuates. While we continue to build cars and components for racing, the decision was made to expand our wheelhouse to more industrial and commercial platforms. With this growth, the acquisition of more equipment was evident. With the addition of 2 waterjet machines, 2 CNC machining centers, presses and shears, and various welding equipment over the last couple of years, our capabilities have grown exponentially.

At Lucas Oil Fabrication, we provide our customers with our shop standard "if it isn't perfect, it's wrong". We take pride in our welding and fabrication services completing each project in a timely manner giving a quality finished product every time with our outstanding work ethic. With our team and equipment, Lucas Oil Fabrication can provide the highest quality metal fabrication and welding in the industry.

Meet Our Team

  • Jason Rush

    Jason Rush - "Squig"


    Age: 47

    Marital Status: Wife - Julie

    Kids: Daughter - Madison

    Hometown: Avon, IN

    Hobbies: Hotrods, motorcycles, boating, and general fabrication.

    Background: “Squig” worked as a crew member in drag racing for nearly 20 years and joined MLR in 2012 as a crew member on Morgan’s team car with Brandon Bernstein driving. Once Morgan stepped down and went part-time, Jason continued working in the fab shop alongside Richie and went to the races part-time with Morgan. He brings over 20 years of fabrication and welding experience. His role is overseeing the day to day function of the fab shop and project management.

  • Rod Centorbi

    Rod Centorbi - "Rodzilla"


    Age: 50

    Marital Status: Wife - Chris

    Hometown: North Royalton, OH

    Hobbies: Spending money on cars.

    Background: “Rodzilla” started with Morgan’s race team in 2012, serving as Assistant Crew Chief for Morgan, then onto Richie’s car once Morgan went part-time driving. Rod has been involved in drag racing for nearly 30 years and is self-taught on how to run the waterjets and CNC machines. Rod handles our production parts and orders from day to day.

  • Drew Edwards

    Drew Edwards - "Peanut"


    Age: 31

    Marital Status: In a relationship

    Kids: Daughter – Viola, Dog - Mia, Cat - Reese

    Hometown: Elida, OH

    Hobbies: Boating, building hotrods, relaxing, pastry baking.

    Background: “Peanut” came to work 6 years ago for us. He brings a background of welding and fabrication with experience in the railroad industry and drag racing. Drew is the comedian of the group, and helps keep the mood light. He is a talented welder and is currently working on designing his own golf clubs.

  • Travis Orr

    Travis Orr - "Hank"


    Age: 36

    Marital Status: Wife - Stephanie

    Kids: Son - Lex

    Hometown: Brownsburg, IN

    Hobbies: Going to sprint car races, bowling, bingo, badmitten.

    Background: “Hank” joined our team 4+ years ago and has been a great balance for the group. He brings years of chassis and fabrication experience as he has worked for some of the leading car builders in drag racing and sprint car racing. Travis does much of the chassis welding and rollcage installations at the shop.

  • Adam Shipman

    Adam Shipman - "Haus"


    Age: 23

    Marital Status: Engaged to fiancée Courtney

    Hometown: Pittsboro, IN

    Hobbies: Building hotrods, collecting Disney figurines.

    Background: 4+ yrs. with Lucas. “Haus” is the newest to the group, joining us a year ago out of high school. Adam left the family business of metal sales, and decided to pursue a career in race car building and fabrication. When not honing his welding skills, Adam assists Rod with order fulfillment of truck and fleet production parts.

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  • Brayden Mahan

    Brayden Mahan


    Age: 23

    Hobbies: College and pro football fan, motorsports of all kinds, music and playing guitar

    Background: 3 yrs. with Lucas. Brayden graduated from Lincoln College of Technology and is honing his skills on CAD and CNC machining. He has experience in the medical, aerospace, and motorsports fields. His day to day duties include CAD design work as well as all of the machining projects at the Fab Shop. In addition to his responsibilities at work, Brayden attends all of the Indianapolis Colts home games and leads the team onto the field each game riding the Colts motorcycle.

  • Dan Hix

    Dan Hix


    Age: 47

    Marital Status: Wife – Karen

    Kids: Donovan and Blaine

    Hobbies: Drag racing, nostalgia drag racing, circle track racing, hotrods

    Background: 1 yr. with Lucas. Dan and his family relocated to Indy from Medford, Oregon to be closer to the hub of drag racing in Brownsburg, IN in the fall of 2022. Dan and his family enjoy racing dwarf cars, sprint cars, and their fuel altered and nitro funny car. Dan has raced and fabricated with his family his entire life and has been a great addition to the team. Dan is one of the lead fabricators and handles duties from Top Fuel builds to door car projects, as well as misc. fabrication jobs that come into the shop.

Customer Testimonials

Steve Torrence
2018 / 2019 NHRA Top Fuel Champion

TThe craftsmanship and quality from the team at Lucas Oil Fabrication is unparalleled. They have brought another level of expertise and detail to our Top Fuel chassis that has equated into nearly 40 race wins in 3 seasons for our team. For Torrence Racing, Lucas Oil Fabrication is the only choice.

Frank Manzo
17-Time NHRA Champion

Frank Manzo and Al Anabi Performance relies on Lucas Oil Fabrication for their expertise in the racing industry. We have been a Lucas Oil customer since 2009 and with our great success will continue to use and recommend Lucas Oil Products and fabrication services.

Joe Barlam
NHRA Crew Chief

Lucas Oil Fabrication provides our team with the finest chassis and components available in our industry. Their highly experienced staff working with state of the art equipment produce the quality parts we need when we need them.

Dom & Bob Lagana
Lagana Racing

The Lucas Oil Fabrication Top Fuel chassis’ are built to be racer friendly. They have many years of experience not only building them, but actually racing them as well. We believe that's one of the many reasons that they are such a successful chassis builder.

Carly Lawrence
Indy Metal Finishing Inc.

For the past few years I have worked with the Lucas Oil Fab Shop. They have assisted us in manufacturing chiller plates for my company. They worked hand in hand with us and were able to expedite the delivery for us due to break downs. Their patience and professionalism are truly appreciated. They have also made modifications for me on my dragster. They took the time to listen to the changes I wanted and offered advice on changes that should be made. I really appreciated the attention to detail that was provided and will definitely be back.

Ron Douglas
Bob Vandergriff Racing

After more than 25 years in this sport, I know quality when I see it. Lucas Oil Fabrication delivers quality components every time. Built not just to perform, but also to last.

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