With the encouragement of their mother, the Justice Brothers very quickly got involved in cars and mechanics. This was rural Kansas in the 1930’s and hot rodding had yet to catch on. Still, the brothers got hold of an old Whippet and proceeded to strip it down: removing the fenders and doing some elementary channeling. A near collision with the mayor of the town put their dreams on hold. Instead, they were persuaded to open a bicycle repair shop.
At the approach of WWII, Ed and his brother Zeke set out in a ’36 sedan to find employment in California. Soon Ed was working at Douglas building the B-19 bomber.
Ed and Zeke also had a small speed shop on the side and soon built up a fearsome reputation as mechanics. Zeke found a job working for Thorn engineering were he met the legendary Frank Kurtis.
Zeke and Kurtis built the first Indy car as well as the famous Kurtis Kraft midget (of which they ended up building 500). Soon Zeke and Ed were working around the clock fixing the wrecked midgets that had come back from the track. That was at night. During the day they were building the Kurtis midgets to sell to all the hot rodders back from the war.
As Kurtis’ reputation grew along with his involvement with Indy, so too did the Justice brothers. In 1950 they won Indy with Johnny Parsons and crewed for Kurtis on Jim Rathman and Andy Granatelli cars.
Through their contacts in the racing world as well as their vast knowledge of engineering, the Justice brothers began experimenting and eventually selling fuel additives and high perfomance oil. From brewing homemade concoctions in their garage in the 50’s, Justice brothers has now become a worldwide leader in car care products.
With the encouragement of their mother, the Justice Brothers very quickly got involved in cars and mechanics. This was rural Kansas in the 1930’s and hot rodding had yet to catch on. Still, the brothers got hold of an old Whippet and proceeded to strip it down: removing the fenders and doing some elementary channeling. A near collision with the mayor of the town put their dreams on hold. Instead they were persuaded to open a bicycle repair shop.
At the approach of WWII, Ed and his brother Zeke set out in a ’36 sedan to find employment in California. Soon Ed was working at Douglas building the B-19 bomber.
Ed and Zeke also had a small speed shop on the side and soon built up a fearsome reputation as mechanics. Zeke found a job working for Thorn engineering were he met the legendary Frank Kurtis.
Zeke and Kurtis built the first Indy car as well as the famous Kurtis Kraft midget (of which they ended up building 500). Soon Zeke and Ed were working around the clock fixing the wrecked midgets that had come back from the track. That was at night. During the day they were building the Kurtis midgets to sell to all the hot rodders back from the war.
As Kurtis’ reputation grew along with his involvement with Indy, so too did the Justice brothers. In 1950 they won Indy with Johnny Parsons and crewed for Kurtis on Jim Rathman and Andy Granatelli cars.
Through their contacts in the racing world as well as their vast knowledge of engineering, the Justice brothers began experimenting and eventually selling fuel additives and high perfomance oil. From brewing homemade concoctions in their garage in the 50’s, Justice brothers has now become a worldwide leader in car care products.
The Justice Brothers Family from left, Gus, Ed’s wife Maureen, Ed Senior in car and Zeke. The V8-60 powered midget the brothers built was sold to Bay Area racer Jack London and financed their trip to Florida and the Wynn’s Friction Proofing Distributorship that put them on the map for real.
©AHRF/Justice Family Collection
Otto Ryssman
Don Montgomery
Fred Lobello
Bill Hines
