Andy Vitek’s passion for motorsports started when he was 5 years old living in Falls. That passion has kept him around the business for the past 25 years. His new endeavor, however, is keeping that passion strong.

Vitek will host the nationally syndicated radio show “Christian Car Guy” at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 12. The show will air on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s WITK 1550AM. Vitek’s connection with the Christian Car Guy, however, goes far beyond hosting radio spots.

This year, Christian Car Guy owner Robby Dilmore teamed up with Vitek’s auto parts store, www.autopartsnutz.com, to help give back. Jesus’ Labor of Love, an outreach ministry run by Christian Car Guy, helps people across the country in a vehicle crisis. Jesus’ Labor of Love finds service centers and gets parts donated from Vitek’s business to help people get their cars fixed at no cost.

The organization takes applications and choose people that need help. Auto Parts Nutz then donates parts to volunteer service centers throughout the company to help fix the cars at no cost.

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“What keeps us in the business is the passion for cars and the passion to doing the right thing,” Vitek said. “We get those people back on the road so they can support their families.”

Vitek has an extensive background in racing cars from the time he was living in the Greater Pittston area. Vitek’s go-to race car is a 1965 Datsun 1500. He’s raced in the Pittsburg Vintage Grand Prix for many years, along with the New Jersey Grand Prix each year.

He’s also raced at Watkins Glen, Pocono Raceway, New Jersey Motorsports Park and Virginia International Raceway. He said he started drag racing in high school and then road racing.

“I had 150-160 cars by the time I was 16,” he said. “I owned my first car when I was 7 and I’ve raced thousands of cars.”

Vitek, who is currently a financial advisor for Wells Fargo in the Philadelphia area, said it’s not about the money that keeps him in the motorsports business, but more about helping people.

“We probably lost money continuously for years,” he said of his auto parts business. “We’ve always been involved in helping individuals in different organizations. That’s what it’s all about.”

Vitek, a 1984 graduate of Wyoming Area and a 1988 graduate of Penn State, has appeared on many national radio shows in the last several years. For his most recent spot, he will be joined by Bobby Rahal, 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner and part owner of Rahal-Letterman Racing.

The Christian Car Guy offers podcasts of each show at www.christiancarguy.com. If interested in being a part of Jesus’ Labor of Love or to participate as a volunteer service center, visit the website. There is an application process that can be found there.

Falls native and Wyoming Area graduate Andy Vitek poses with one of his race cars.
http://www.psdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_AndyVItek.jpg.optimal.jpgFalls native and Wyoming Area graduate Andy Vitek poses with one of his race cars. Submitted photo

By Nick Wagner

nwagner@timesleader.com

Reach Nick Wagner at 570-991-6406 or on Twitter @Dispatch_Nick