About Gale Banks Engineering
To call Gale Banks an engineer would be an understatement, scientist would be a more accurate term. For those who have seen him work his magic with internal combustion and technology, a mad scientist might even be more appropriate. As president of Gale Banks Engineering, an automotive aftermarket and performance equipment manufacturer, Gale Banks has spent more than half a century improving internal combustion technology in the development of modern motor vehicle engines. As a teenager growing up near Los Angeles in the 50s, blessed with a talent for things mechanical, Gale Banks was naturally drawn to the Southern California Hot Rodders, the do-it-yourselfers who would race their machines in the desert, the dry lakes, and the salt flats. It was all about power and speed, two characteristics that would define Gale Banks his whole life.
Banks sold his first engine in 1958, as a 16-year old. He opened a speed shop so he could pay his tuition to California Polytechnic University. His education was with equal parts in the classrooms and in the garage. He counts among his many mentors PhDs, government research scientists, even Nobel prize winners, plus a whole host of grease monkeys and car enthusiasts.