About Us

This passion for drag racing carried through to high school when Dan took a job at the local drag strip, Fontana Drag City. At first, he paid his dues by picking up trash; however, he quickly climbed the ladder to become a tech inspector and eventually secured a spot as a starter. It was during this time that Dan met Kathy Bouch, his future wife who at the age of 16, was the first woman to be licensed by the NHRA. A fellow racing enthusiast, Dan and Kathy spent their time racing at every track they could find in Southern California.

While their passion for racing never ceased, a close call involving a ’55 Chevy rolling into Kathy’s lane encouraged the pair to get off the tracks and into the engines. Dan quickly began working at a local header shop. He gained experience in every aspect of the business, from bending pipe to designing headers; Dan loved the opportunity to work behind-the-scenes and expand his skillset. A wedding and two kids later, Dan and Kathy moved out of the big city and into the San Luis Obispo County in California. After trying his hand at a few different jobs – carpenter, cowboy, and fireman to name a few – fate brought Dan back to the world of headers.

A friend in town was building a ’37 Plymouth coupe with a blown Hemi. Knowing about Dan’s experience building headers, the friend asked if Dan could lend a hand. Well, one fun side-project turned into two which turned into three, eventually urging Dan to put an ad out in the National Dragsters classified section to showcase his custom header work.

One night, Dan received a call from a guy in Georgia who had a ’68 Camaro with a blown big block looking for a 2 ½” header. At the time, Dan had never built a header this big and informed his first potential customer that there was no way he’d fit a 2 ½” tube inside that size of chassis. Nevertheless, the guy was adamant about the size, urging Dan to borrow a ’68 Camaro from his friend to build the headers. Fit to size, he shipped the custom headers to Georgia and received a rave review from his first, real customer. “Man, you should sell these!” was all Dan needed to hear to create his first jig and run more ads. In that first week, Dan received 10 orders for custom Camaro headers from drag racers around the country. The race was on!

Today, Lemons Headers has hundreds of customized header applications, a team of loyal and talented employees, and a community of racing enthusiasts. Together, these create the backbone of Lemons Headers, built upon the bravery, tenacity, and passion of Dan Lemons. A family business first and foremost, the Lemons kids and grandkids have become essential to the business. With the help of Dan and their dedicated staff, the legacy of Lemons Headers continues to grow.

At Lemons Headers, we create top-shelf, high quality headers that ship worldwide. Built right here in California, our headers are still meticulously handmade, with quality craftsmanship and customer service being top priority. We are so grateful to our clients for allowing us the opportunity to do what we love: build a product and reputation that is proud to bear the Lemons name.