Image: EngineLabs.com

A pioneer in the world of performance engine building, Larry Ofria the founder of Valley Head Service in Northridge, California, has passed at the age of 88. Born in July of 1936 to Sicilian immigrant parents, Ofria began porting cylinder heads out of a chicken coop on his father’s Canoga Park property. Before opening Valley Head Service in 1965, Ofria made a name for himself producing work for Carroll Shelby and other mainstays of the Southern California hot rod and racing scene.

Ofria’s Valley Head Service was one of the first 98 companies exhibiting at the first SEMA Show, held at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium in 1967. During those early years, ingenuity reined over budget, causing Ofria to develop his own flowbench, predating SuperFlow by four years. By 1978, Valley Head Service outgrew its original location, requiring Ofria to move VHS to a 10,000 square foot building in Northridge. Providing a full range of machining, engine combinations and more, VHS quickly became a hot rod mainstay.

2010 ANRA Summer Nationals at Bakersfield’s Famoso Raceway. This is the Valley Head Services 57 Chevrolet, driven by Andy Hiemstra. 2010, the year this photo was taken, was a particularly good year for the VHS Racing Team, headed by Larry Ofria, as they took out the ANRA A/G Championship that season.

And Ofria wasn’t one to sit back and let others have all the fun, ether; Ofria campaigned an A/GS ’57 Chevy powered by a 6-71 supercharged 388 small block for decades, and remained active in the nostalgia drag racing community until his passing. Among his collection, Ofria retained his first ever new car, a white 1957 Chevy Bel Air hardtop with a 270-horsepower dual-quad 283, the inspiration for the aforementioned NHRA A/GS ’57 that his son Gino took over tuning duties for a while back.

Ofria was in and out of the hospital over the past year before succumbing on Tuesday, August 13th. Larry Ofria is remembered by his wife, Kim, his sons Frank, Gino and Vince, and daughter, Tina; as well as the thousands that came to know Larry Ofria through Valley Head Service and his involvement in drag racing and the hot rodding/performance aftermarket community.