The car culture of Southern California was in full swing by the mid-fifties and Roger Bursch and Doug Robinson were at the epicenter. Roger, a talented Porsche mechanic, and racer set up shop in sunny Pasadena California and quickly became a fixture in the community. Doug, a dry lake racer and consummate hot-rodder had a knack for squeezing horsepower from anything with an engine. Noted writer and photographer Randy Wells describes the Porsche scene of the day in his article, Speedster Wars.

To fully understand the times, it’s helpful to consider the California Speedster Wars drivers. There were the professionals like Dan Gurney, Skip Hudson, Roger Bursch, George Folmer, Ronnie Bucknum, Scooter Patrick, Davey Jordan, Alan Johnson, Bob Kirby, Walt Maas, Denny Harrison, Dale Hersh, Don Wester, and Wyn Robertson. Bruce Jennings and Milt Minter drove the Carrera GT Speedsters. Jennings (a.k.a. King Carrera) went on to win three national SCCA championships in his “giant killer” Porsche.

The 1970’s and 80’s brought new models to the Porsche line up and Bursch quickly expanded with popular offerings for the 914 and 924 among others. It was during this time Doug Robinson took over from Roger. Roger focused on his thriving Porsche speed and repair shop while Doug continued the Bursch tradition and continued the development of their aftermarket exhausts. Today, nearly sixty years after the incarnation of the Bursch Exhaust we continue Roger and Doug’s legacy exactly as they would have expected. Affordable, American-made exhausts designed with quality and performance in mind.