As storm clouds rolled overhead, thunder roared inside a shop in Providence Township, where the Kosanka family fine-tunes its long-standing passion for lightning-fast cars.

For decades, the family's lifestyle has been turbocharged, and when Bob Kosanka, son Don, and grandson A.J. hear an engine growling with power, they savor every chest-thumping rumble.

"To us, it's the greatest sound there is," said 24-year-old A.J., a Perrysburg resident and 2004 Anthony Wayne High School graduate.

His grandfather, who lives in Oak Harbor, is quick with a quip. "It gets your earwax loose," he said after Don's rear-engine dragster calmed down and the earth stopped shaking. Don, who grew up in Oak Harbor, lives near Whitehouse.

When the trio talk about the family's drag-racing history, fingers point to Don, who introduced racing to the Kosanka clan in 1974.

His midnight blue '69 Camaro ignited interest, and when he started to win races at a drag strip in Norwalk, "We got hooked," Don said.

Soon he and his sister Tracie were both racing yellow '69 Camaros in the sportsman class in Norwalk, and in 1976, Tracie finished fifth in points and Don finished fourth.

Their father, Bob, a mechanic for a Chevrolet dealer at the time, started to tag along on race days. Then he too was hooked.

"I was racing my pickup truck. Carol, my wife, didn't know I was racing with it," Bob said, a grin going 45 mph or so across his face.

Just how did she not know?

Blame the drag strip's

"code of silence," Don said. In other words, those who were racing their family vehicles in secret weren't about to blab about others.

Bob later parked his pickup truck and raced his daughter's yellow Camaro. "It looked prettier," Bob said, triggering some eye-rolling from grandson A.J., who has been racing since he climbed for the first time into a junior dragster in 1995.

"Speed feels good," A.J. said matter-of-factly. "I have gone different speeds. When I was 9 and hit 50, it felt like 300. When I was older and hit 170, it felt like 50 miles per hour. Everything just disappears when you go that fast."

No question he was born to race. "I grew up at the track. Saturdays at the race track are normal to me."

In his first year competing with a junior dragster, he won the championship at Norwalk. "I won a championship before Dad ever did," A.J. said.

Last year was the best year ever for Don Kosanka, who is the reigning 2009 Super Pro Class points champion at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk.

"It was a great year," Don said. "I had been trying to win a track championship since 1974. I had finished second, fourth, and fifth before, but had never finished first."

This year, he's not in position to repeat the championship. He's busy tweaking a new engine. "If you do not improve, everybody will catch you," Don said.

This week, the Kosanka crew will race in Stanton, Mich. It's an adrenaline-pumping event with a $50,000 prize.

A drag race is an acceleration contest, on a track, or drag strip, that begins from a standing start between two vehicles over a measured distance.

A drag racing event consists of a series of such two-vehicle, tournament-style eliminations. Losing racers are eliminated, and winning racers progress until one remains.

Both A.J. and his father compete in their rear-engine dragsters, and Bob races a '63 Chevy Nova, a car he first put on the track in 1997. He had raced a Camaro that had a big engine and was decorated with dollar signs, but it didn't have a big bank account behind it. Thus its name, "Tight Budget."

All three race in events sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association or International Hot Rod Association.

A.J., a product engineer with Faurecia Emissions Control Technologies in Toledo, and Don, 54, a senior product manager with Owens Corning, have their own racing business, Kosanka Motorsports. It's a part-time hobby, Don said, but a full-time passion.

Each Kosanka driver brings something specific to the sport. A.J. explores newer technology; Don is the go-to guy for technical assistance and expertise.

"Dad knows how to take apart anything and put it all back together," A.J. said. "Grandpa watches all the time." And Bob listens closely. He doesn't miss a thing.

Bob is called Gramps or Grandpa by many drivers and their relatives at Milan Dragway in Milan, Mich., or at the Summit Motorsports Park where the Kosankas race. Bob, at age 72, had his first big win in 2008 at the Super Pro Class at Milan, and he nearly won two weeks ago at Norwalk, he said.

Drag racing has been a good thing all these years, said Bob, a mechanic and plumber for the Ohio Turnpike for many years. "I don't like boats. I don't like the water."

But boy, oh boy, he does like his shop, where he spends 75 percent of every day - unless he's racing, of course. His wife visits him in the shop. "She brings me coffee and cookies."

The Kosanka men spend "their entire winter in the shop. That's how they feed their passion," said Don's daughter Hali who handles the duties of cheerleader and videographer on race day. "Racing is one of my favorite things about my family. I think a lot of families do not have this tight of a bond."

She finds comfort in the noise and smells of the race tracks. "It feels like home," she said, recalling race days when she was 3, playing with Barbies under the stands. She raced once, when she was 10.

"I think I scared the living daylights out of A.J.," she said.

Yep. "It was my car and she wasn't very good," he said.

The Kosanka drivers are fiercely competitive. They won't race against each other, but everyone else … watch out.

Don's $50,000 rear-engine dragster, a methanol-gulping machine, is the family's fastest, running at 180 mph, A.J.'s dragster is a close second at 175 mph, and Bob tops out at 155 mph in his "II Nice" Nova.

Speed, they say, is mighty relaxing.

"Racing is my way to get away from the everyday grind, " A.J. said.

His father nods knowingly. "This is my way to get away and flush my mind and I get to play and spend time with these guys," Don said.

Season after season, racing is about much more, than first-place finishes.

"It's always been about father and grandfather and son, all spending time together," Don said. And that, he said, is priceless.

First Published August 4, 2010, 1:09 a.m.