How a Queens Milkman Built an Empire, Lost Everything, and Built It Back
BY George "Kook" Kryssing Jr.
On Sale June 20, 2026
THE BOOK
Scarred Hands. No Diploma. No Plan. Just a Refusal to Quit.
George "Kook" Kryssing Sr. delivered milk at three in the morning and welded exhaust headers in his garage during the day. From a cramped Long Island garage, he built Kook's Headers into a name that dominated drag strips and stock car circuits coast to coast.
Then came the feds. The indictments. A heart attack in Italy that nearly killed him. He lost the shop. The cars. The cash.
So he went back to the garage and started over.
LAUNCH PARTY
You are Invited:
Milk Money Book Launch Party
Signed Copies • Live Conversation • The Kryssing Family in the Room
SATURDAY
JUNE 20
10:00AM
The Villas at Fashion Island
Newport Beach, CALIFORNIA
Hosted By:
Stefan Andreas Junaeus
Editor-In-Chief
RSVP TO SAVE YOUR SEAT
KOOK’S HEADERS
STARTED 1962 · STILL RUNNING TODAY
Kook's Headers started in a one-bay garage on Long Island. Today it's one of the most respected names in American performance exhaust — hand-welded headers and exhaust systems for street cars, race teams, and restoration shops across the country.
The company George Sr. started with nothing is now run by his son. Every header that leaves the shop carries the same name. Milk Money is the story of how it began.
THE FUND
CARRYING HIS NAME FORWARD:
THE PAPA KOOK FUND
Before he was a businessman, Papa Kook was a man who showed up. Quietly. Consistently. For his kids, his employees, his neighborhood.
The Papa Kook Fund — in partnership with the Make An Impact Foundation — carries that same spirit into the lives of children who need it most. Kids in poverty. Kids with learning needs. Kids no one else is showing up for.
Every donation in his name puts another set of scarred hands to work for someone who can't pay them back.
GALLERY
THE PHOTOS THAT DIDN’T MAKE THE BOOK.
Family albums. Garage walls. Cars under build. Birthdays. Race weekends. Sixty years of moments — most never printed before.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"I grew up in the shop. I learned to weld before I learned to drive. My father taught me that you finish what you start, you pay your bills, and you keep your word — even when no one's watching. I wrote this book because the world should know who he was. Not the headlines. Not the courtroom. The man."
— G E O R G E " K O O K " K R Y S S I N G J R .
