JLR Racing is a Professional and Sportsman racing team based in Mechanicsville, MD. For the 2021 season JLR Racing will be campaigning their gorgeous 997 Turbo named “Glitch” and the 72 Super Beetle Kafer Cup style car named “BumbleBee”. The team will be racing the VW Heritage Series and select events (see schedule).
BackDraft has now been retired from JLR Racing and sold as of August 2021. JLR Racing will no longer campaign this car. The car is all VW powered with a type 1 VW transaxle. The engine is the smallest engine in the class powered by a carbureted draw through turbo 2165cc (2.1 Liter) air cooled Type 1 VW engine. JLR Racing won the A/Gas Series Championships in 2015, 2016 and 2017 (see accomplishments). We hope the new owner enjoys it as much as we did!
Among the stable of vehicles is a NEW build affectionately known as “Bumblebee”! This is a 1972 German Look VW that is purpose built for Autocross and Road Race events! Plans are to attend a few SCCA events in 2021 in an attempt to delve into a different type of racing for the JLR team. The power plant is a 2254cc Air Cooled Engine with 48IDF carbs and cooled with a Porsche Fan Shroud. Stay Tuned for Schedule info and feel free to check out the gallery for many pictures of the build!
JLR Racing also campaigns a Street Legal 2007 Porsche 911 Twin Turbo the team calls “Glitch” (The Fastest Stock Automatic 997.1 series 911 in the country – see accomplishments) on the Midnight Madness series at MDIR (MD International Raceway).
Jerry’s drag racing career didn’t start until the late 90’s. He was married to his beautiful wife Michelle and their daughter Rachel was growing up fast starting elementary school. Jerry started his Roofing business (Jerry Lewis Roofing, Inc.) in 1996 and has relentlessly built it into the successful company it is today.
Jerry loves to “tinker” and has never been one to sit idle. His passion for VW’s actually started with his wife Michelle. Jerry had grown up around VW’s having watched his Uncle’s customize them over the years into many different variations. His Uncle Robert Green mostly did the “mad scientist” work on the VW’s transforming them into trikes, Baja Bugs, Trucks and whatever else he could think of. It wasn’t until the late 90’s though that Jerry’s wife wanted a VW to use as a play car. So Jerry found their first VW, a rusty 74 Beetle. It wasn’t long after that they found another 73 Super Beetle that was in much better shape and purchased it.
It was 1997 when Jerry and Michelle decided to go to their first “BugOut” drag race in Manassas, VA. Jerry was floored by these little VW’s accelerating to over 100 mph in the 1/8th mile! He was “bitten by the Bug”! Shortly after that he had upgraded the engine and JLR Racing was born! Jerry raced the 73 Super Beetle for a short time and runner’d up in a few events. He had Sean Dowdle of Peek Performance (currently Dowco Enterprises) build him a 2275cc Aspirated engine and was running high 12’s in the 1⁄4 mile. Wanting to go faster Jerry learned about turbocharging air cooled engines and decided to go turbo! In the meantime, Jerry’s wife Michelle was none to happy about her beloved car becoming Jerry’s Street Rod so she demanded she have her own Bug. Jerry found her a partially restored 1972 Super Beetle and finished the restoration for her! When it was time to paint the car she told him she wanted it Pink so his ass would never drive it! 20 years later she still owns the same Bug and Jerry doesn’t drive it, LOL! Back to turbo charging. Jerry installed a smaller engine in the Super Beetle and gave it to his Brother N Law as a thank you token for his many years of military service. He then purchased a 1968 Beetle and proceeded to make it into what it’s famously known as now as “The Headhunter” Street Legal Turbo charged air cooled Bug (there are many pics of the transformation in the pics section). Jerry campaigned this car from 2001 to 2013 having won many events and achieved many accomplishments (see accomplishments section).
It was around 2007 Jerry was affectionately nick named Jerry “The King” Lewis. The name stuck and his friends jokingly and lovingly call him “King” for short. After many years of racing this car Jerry wanted to take the next step in the VW world to what is called Pro Mod and in 2013 he purchased “Backdraft” from the original builder of the car Brannon Young. He then upgraded everything in the car while leaving the paint intact as he loved the design and scheme.
The Headhunter and Backdraft were simultaneously campaigned in 2013 and Jerry retired and sold The Headhunter in 2014. After achieving many accomplishments along with owning the accolade of the “Fastest Draw thru Air Cooled VW in country” Jerry started missing his local Midnight Madness Street nights. Having raced it for many years he wanted to get back to the grass roots of racing…street legal nights! He thought about building another VW Air Cooled to race but being the somewhat “non conformist” that he has always been he started reading about guys drag racing the cousin of the VW, the Porsche! Of course, no one thinks of Porsche when you think drag racing but then again VW’s aren’t much thought of either. So always being up for a challenge Jerry purchased a 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S. Jerry then started to work on and customize the 911 along with the air cooled VW. It wasn’t long until Jerry decided to trade the normally aspirated stick shift Carrera and purchase a 2007 911 twin turbo automatic. He currently works on, customizes and campaigns the 911 along with the VW! To this day what started as a fun hobby has transformed into a racing organization that is still growing and evolving into what is called JLR Racing!
Jerry has developed many one off products over the years for these cars and has also met many good people in both the VW and Porsche industries. These products along with apparel will be available soon to purchase on his online store! Jerry would like to thank the many people, businesses and family that have supported him throughout the years in his racing endeavors. It would take pages of names and businesses to list! These people know who they are and it goes without saying that they are ALL appreciated and loved for their help over the years past and many more to come!
