The cars don't use just any engines, they are powered by VTEC high performance engines.

The Washington State Patrol says the lure of that big money turned a Tacoma auto shop into an illegal "chop shop" where they stole cars just for the VTEC engines and then put those engines in racers' cars.

Troopers moved in on T&T Auto Body and Collision and arrested owner Quy Tran and two customers who drove their cars into the shop during the raid.

One customer was driving a white Honda with a stolen VTEC engine under the hood.

Kevin Kemph, 18, was arrested on the spot. But in court Thursday he told KOMO 4 News that he just bought the engine from Tran and had no idea it was stolen.

"I just pulled in there because I have another car that was getting body work done," he explained. "Then they (undercover detectives) asked me to pop the hood. I don't know what was going on."

The workers at the auto shop next door say they were suspicious of all the late night work.

It's a "chop shop. They're all over," said Chris Melvin who works at the auto shop next door.

"Actually they just pulled two more out of the back end... and a transmission," said Dan Carmack, the operator of the auto shop next door. "Because they run about $5,000 a piece. They're big money."

Detectives got a tip from another business owner about suspicious activity at T & T Auto Body. They conducted surveillance on the place for two months before moving in.

During the raid troopers seized two stolen VTEC engines and three cars with stolen engines under the hood.

Another auto shop worker next door, Eric Elkins, said "It's not right. It makes bad business for us or any other repair shop. It makes bad business for any of them."

As word of the raid and arrests spread troopers say they're getting calls from customers of T&T Auto Body who fear they too are driving with a stolen engine.