B & D Automotive was founded by brothers Bob and Daryl Arend in 1964. Bob, fresh out of serving his county in the military, was interested in either pursuing a career building motors or establishing a gun shop. Following the advice of Bob’s wife Donna, who said people will always be driving cars, Bob joined up with Daryl to form the speed shop.
Daryl was always interested in anything mechanical as a boy. His interest in motors and motorsports grew as he got older. By the time Daryl was 15 or 16 year’s old, he was already a race car owner, with Lamont Wellendorf at the wheel. Their first race was at the Belmond, IA race track.
B & D Automotive gained a reputation for three things, being a premier machine shop, a race parts supply store and for fielding competitive race cars. The speed shop’s first driver in 1964 was Algona’s Les Wildin. With Wildin behind the wheel, B & D Automotive providing the power plants and Bob and Daryl providing the expertise, they were a potent combination. In 1964 and 1965, they won the Algona track championships with Wildin as the driver.
In 1996, Bob and Daryl decided to part ways and B & D Automotive was discontinued. Bob, however, kept on building race winning engines, establishing Custom Built Race Engines in the original B & D shop location. Today, Custom Built provides machine shop services, custom camshaft grinding, and builds engines that are used all over the United States.
Bob says that racers and great memories have come and gone over the years. Some of Bob’s favorite memories include building engines for Kevin Berte’s IMCA Stock Car title chase and IMCA Super National’s victory in 1991. Other highlights include building the power plant that Keith Schmitz used to win the 2002 Night of 1000 Stars at the Hancock County Speedway in Britt. Bob also was proud that Dave Nutt, Mark Noble, and many others used Custom Built engines to win races and track championships over the years.
Bob Arend retired from farming in 2007 to spend more time with the growing business at Custom Built. He gives a lot of credit to his wife Donna for her support and helping to manage the busy machine shop.
For Daryl, he never quit being a race car owner. He kept right on owning race cars, starting his car owner career with Lamont Wellendorf as a driver and ending (for now) with young sprint car driver Ian Madsen. In between, there have been more than 50 drivers piloting his racing machines. Daryl says that he considers himself fortunate in that he doesn’t have a bad word about any of the drivers that ran for him.
Throughout Daryl’s long career as a car owner, he has many lasting memories. He recalls that one of his first drivers, Les Wildin, was one of his best. He says they won a lot of races and championship both in Algona and when they traveled, primarily to the five tracks that Lamont Wellendorf promoted. When Daryl made the switch to running sprint cars at Knoxville, IA, he gave Wildin first chance to drive. Wildin, declined the ride, fearing that it would interfere with his farming operation.
Daryl Arend then put Jim Edgington in the seat. The success continued with Edgington, winning races and setting a new track record at the Minnesota State Fair Race in St. Paul, MN in approximately 1971.
In 1973, with the legendary Buzz Rose behind the wheel, they raced all over the country chasing the IMCA sprint car points. At season’s end, they finished tied for 5th place in points with Ray Lee Goodwin.
Two of Daryl’s best years were with a young, new driver named Terry McCarl. In 1985, with McCarl at the helm, the team won Rookie of the Year at Knoxville Raceway. Their best season together was the next year, 1986, when McCarl won three 410 sprint car features in a row at the famous half-mile speed plant in Knoxville .
In the late 1980’s, Daryl took a break from running a sprint car. In 1988 he fielded an IMCA modified with Dean Schroeder behind the wheel. Later in 1989-1990, he built motors and was the mechanic for car owner Joe Ringsdorf on an IMCA type modified, with Dennis Hovinga as the driver. This potent combination won numerous races and track championships.
In 1990, Daryl assisted promoter Daryl Brayton and the Kossuth County Fair Board in the reconfiguration of Algona Raceway to its present 4/10th mile size.
Today, Daryl Arend is retired, and still enjoys racing. He has sprint cars in his shop awaiting the right opportunity to hit the track again.
He is a 2006 Knoxville Raceway Hall of Fame inductee.