I’m Ralph Thorne of Ralph Thorne Racing. Like my father and grandfather, I am a racer. As far back as I can remember I wanted to race and be around cars.

  When I was very young my father would take my brother and me with him to his shop and the race shops of his friends. When I went with him I was able to climb behind the wheel of some pretty nice cars and dream of what it would be like to be at Indy in Al Unser Jr.’s Indy car or at Daytona in Mark Martin’s cup car. As the years flew by I had been to most of the major tracks in the southeast and have had the honor of meeting drivers the likes of  Earnhardt, Wallace, Allison and drag race legends including “The Greek”.

  At age 18 I bought my first real race car. I found on Ebay a 320i BMW that had been professionally built to road race in the SCCA. Although it had a ventilated block, a couple of bent fenders and had been sitting outside for over a year, it still had all the right parts. Over the next 2 years as money permitted, my Dad and I stripped and rebuilt the car from the ground up. Long time road racer and BMW expert Olin Gayle of Columbia , SC was always there to help when we needed advice or that hard to find part. I can’t thank Olin enough. While I’m at it I also need to thank Bob Lee at Bob’s Speed Products in Ft. Lauderdale . Bob let me travel with his team and help crew at places like Daytona and Charlotte, even though I was very young. Bob also provided the car I got my competition license in.

  Today I race the 320 in SCCA competition. On the street I drive a “slightly modified” 325is.

  In 2007 I started Ralph Thorne Racing. My goal is to provide quality products for slot car racers and track around the country!