Race Towards success.advance.progress.success.
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HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1935, Joe Lunati began drag racing with the Memphis Rodders in the early '60s. At the time, Lunati worked as a production engine rebuilder in Memphis. Late in the evenings, he began using the shop’s cam grinder to experiment with different lobe designs. It was there that Lunati ground his first camshafts. His racing career took off when he captured the AM/SP Street Eliminator title at the 1964 NHRA Nationals and won again in 1966. Early on, Lunati learned that the secret to making power in any race engine was found in the cylinder heads, induction system, and camshaft. Matching each of these critical components was essential, but he was particularly intrigued with camshafts and trying different lobe profiles to gain an advantage.
Lunati worked closely with Harvey Crane (Crane Cams), who sent him different cams to test in his race car. Joe would run a new cam on Sunday and call Harvey with the results on Monday, good or bad. The symbiotic arrangement helped Lunati win races and Crane to sell more cams.
In 1967, he campaigned a 1967 Camaro called the Dixie Devil in the still-emerging Funny Car ranks. Southern tracks were hungry for match racers, and he saw the opportunity. The money they offered made it possible to build and run a Funny Car on a weekend racer’s budget. Lunati made a name for himself with the floppers, finishing runner-up to Dough Thorley at Indy that year. Not long after, the Camaro was destroyed in a crash in LaPlace, Louisiana. With a wife and family at home and rising costs to remain competitive, Lunati made the decision to step out of Funny Car racing.
Joe Lunati ended his racing career as a five-time NHRA national champion title holder in AM/SP, held nine class records, and won the U.S. Nationals twice. He was inducted into the National Drag Racing Hall of Fame, the Hot Rod 50th Anniversary Hall of Fame, and the Don Garlits Hall of Fame. He was even awarded the World Karting Association Mechanic of the Year.
PURPOSE BUILT SHOP
After the Funny Car crash, Joe decided it was safer to head in a different direction, turning his attention to racing products. In 1968, Lunati made the leap, opening his own cam shop specializing in “cheater stock” cams for Stock Eliminator racers. From the beginning, Joe insisted on producing the best quality products with personal, friendly service for everyone, and customers responded quickly.
By 1970, Lunati Cams created its niche in the racing cam market, catering primarily to weekend sportsman drag racers and local Memphis area circle track racers. As business boomed, he added crankshafts, rods, pistons, piston rings, and complete engine rotating assemblies to the product line, ready for assembly into the customer's prepared block.
During its first twenty years, growth was strong and steady, anchored by the one-on-one, personal service and advice that were a Lunati trademark. That prized service and expert advice were intangible assets that helped Lunati grow from a small "mom-and-pop" company to a successful entity in the performance and racing aftermarket.
CASHING OUT
By the mid-1990s, Lunati Cams had grown into a sizeable, profitable operation with a shop filled with high-quality machinery and a stable, highly skilled workforce. Holley Carburetors was looking to expand and made Lunati an offer he couldn't refuse. However, as the market turned in the mid-2000s, Holley investors decided to divest some of their holdings and put the cam company up for sale.
COMP Performance Group saw the opportunity to bring a Memphis company back home, purchasing it from Holley in 2007. To minimize confusion with its flagship brand, COMP Cams, Lunati was run as a separate entity until it was announced as Edelbrock Group's sixth power brand in 2023.
LUNATI POWER TODAY
Lunati Power and its Distribution Center is headquartered in Olive Branch, Mississippi, along with the Edelbrock Group family of brands that include Edelbrock LLC, COMP Cams, FAST - Fuel Air Spark Technology, and Russell Performance. Lunati Cams are made at the COMP Cams manufacturing facility on Democrat Road in Memphis, Tennessee. In the future, Edelbrock Group plans to emphasize Lunati’s rotating assembly offerings while phasing out some of the less popular camshaft grinds to streamline the business.
