DO IT FOR A LIVING
Todd Earsley & Kevin Dubois interview the big players in motorsports and pr
Last episode 4 months agoDO IT FOR A LIVING is a podcast where YOU, the performance racing industry enthusiast and shop owner can hear from the best minds in the performance racing industry talking about business and tech. We discuss new products and services and the best resources used by the big dogs. You can listen on your way to work or in the shop. With new episodes coming out every Monday, you'll find interesting topics and valuable information you can use to build your performance business. Now take this information and use it to build the next record-breaking car or innovative product.
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Episodes (186)
130: Scott Molitor of MoFab takes us through the process of acquiring a performance shop to grow his business
Scott grew up in Minnesota and enjoyed tinkering and making stuff as a kid. He played with dirt bikes and 3 wheelers anything else he could get his hands on. His dad got transferred for work and ended up in Colorado. After high school, he enrolled in an automotive program while working at a construction job. After graduating with his Associates Degree, he went hunting for a job. He had bought a Mitsubishi Galant VR4 and fell in love with imports and turbos. During this time, he meets Nick who's dad ran the performance shop in Denver and they were going to get the first AWD dyno in Colorado. Scott spent the next few years working at another shop and begin honing his fabrication skills. He built a turbo Eclipse and took it to Mac's for tuning. They were really impressed with Scott's work and offered him a job. After working there for a few years, Scott decided he wanted to go it alone and started MoFab. He would do any fabrication work he could get his hands on. He moved the shop a couple times as the work increased and was making a good business at it! But, he was still sending customers to Mac for tuning. Scott really wanted to grow the business so went through the process to get a loan for a dyno and look for a bigger space. At this same time, Nick said he wanted to join Scott in this new venture. When Nick told his dad about this, Bill offered up to sell him Mac's equipment. Through a few rounds of negotiation, they decided the best and easiest option was to have Scott just acquire Mac's and run it as MoFab. He moved into Mac's space and kept all of they guys. They changed the name over to MoFab and pointed the phone, Facebook, and website to his business. After overcoming a few growing pains, the business is thriving and growing!
129: Dennis Overholser, co-founder of Painless Performance Products, takes us through the ups and downs of growing his wiring and accessories company
Dennis grew up on a farm in Indiana and went to Nashville Auto Diesel College before getting drafted to the Air Force during Vietnam. He took a position as a mechanic for their vehicle maintenance division and spent his time repairing equipment. When he got back to Indiana, he met a girl whose family lived in Ft Worth. During one of their visits to her family, he realized there were a lot of jobs in Ft Worth and made up his mind that is where they wanted to move. He got a job as a tractor dealer as a mechanic and worked his way up the ladder for the next 20 years. In 1989, he met Jim who was building wiring harnesses for the conversion van market. Jim wanted to expand the business and start making a harness for hot rods and Dennis was perfect for the job! They built a universal wiring harness that could be used for any hot rod. During their first swap meet, they sold out immediately and knew that had a great product! A year later, Dennis quite his job at the tractor company to build wiring harnesses full time. They got their big break when an editor of Hot Rod Mechanics was building a roadster and needed a wiring harness. The title of the ad was Painless Wiring and this is how they got their name! Over the years, the began making other products to compliment the wiring harnesses and changed the name to be Painless Performance. Now, they are in a 43,000 square foot facility and have around 55 employees. They do all of their manufacturing, assembly, engineering, and tech support in house. Even though they started with hot rods, the off-road truck market has become their biggest seller. And the C10 truck market is quickly growing.
128: The Bondurant Racing School just celebrated its 50th year in business! Tune in to hear what Pat and Bob are doing to make it thrive for another 50 years.
Bob has been racing his entire life. He got started in small Morgans and Triumphs in California and was jealous of the loud and fast American race cars. He stepped up to Corvettes and started winning immediately. He caught the eye of Carol Shelby who was trying to get Bob to race in the Shelby Cobra. After Bob had to race against a Cobra, he was convinced it was superior and went over to Carol's team to drive. He won a bunch of races that year and then they took the Cobra to Europe with Dan Gurney to dominate there as well. This led to a stent with Enzo Ferrari racing and testing in Formula 1. Then Peter Revson of the Revlon Company lured Bob back to the US to race in CanAm Series. During one of the races, there was a mechanical failure which sent Bob into the wall and crushed both his feet. The doctors said he would never walk, much less race, again. From this tragedy came the opportunity to create the Bondurant Racing School. He has been at a few locations over the years. But he fell in love with Arizona because of the very predictable weather patterns. This means that he has the best chance to get people out on the track and teach them how to drive. Their programs range from 1-day short courses to a full 4-day open wheel racing school. They have teamed up with Dodge to offer driving schools for anybody who purchase an SRT vehicle and even have a new Demon school where they teach you how to drag race. And yes, Bob was able to heal from the crash and still drives on the track. Even at 85 years young!
127: Tim Palazzolo of GAP Racing earned his reputation as a world-class builder by paying attention to the little details
Tim was practically born into working on cars. His dad worked at an automotive repair business and Tim immediately took a liking to cars. When he turned 14, he got a compact truck and began modifying it for the mini-truck scene. He built the car all by himself and was happy to show it off at high school. He got his associates degree and got a job at O'Reilly Auto Parts as a delivery driver. Over the years, Tim worked his way up through the ranks, managed his own store, and even worked at the corporate office. Tim's dad, George, eventually went out on his own and opened up George's Automotive Performance which was a mix of general repair and simple performance mods. Tim decided to make a career switch and go work with him. They began doing more and more restorations and performance upgrades for muscle cars. After a few years, Tim decided he wanted to compete for the Riddler Award and spent 4 years working on a Mustang which ended up making it to the Great 8 at the show. Eventually, Tim bought the business from his dad and named it GAP Racing. He now rents a 4,000 square foot building and has 5 employees. He has added modern muscle cars to his work load but still focuses on a couple really large muscle car projects each year for special customers and SEMA. He already has plans for a much larger building and just needs to find the space and coordinate with the city to get it going.
126: Trevor and Travis Hill of TWOth Autosport want to take novices and turn them into professional racing drivers
As kids, Trevor and Travis saved up their money and spent it on go carts. With a matching contribution from their dad, they were able to get pretty serious and eventually toured around the US and Canada to race go carts. They both ended up going to college but continued to race. Their goal the whole time was to be professional race car drivers and they thought of school as their backup plan. Travis ended up working at the race track in Calabogie as a driving coach and began developing a business plan to educate drivers at various skill levels. He was also racing with a Porsche team. The track ended up buying several Mustangs to use as learning vehicles and they needed a mechanic to take care of all of them. Since Trevor had a background in working on cars, Travis invited him up to work together! When the R34 GTR came out, Trevor and Travis worked with Switzer Performance in the US to import engines and upgrade GTR's in Canada. This was the beginning of TWOth Autosport. They worked closely with Switzer to develop and test parts and kits geared toward road racing. When Chump Car (now Champ Car) got started, the brothers saw an opportunity to really push their driver development plans. So, they built a Honda Civic for the series and began selling seats and training their drivers. They have expanded the business over the years and now build and manage several cars and go to lots of races each year. They are finalizing a new path to take a novice driver who has never been on track and train them to be a professional endurance racer over a few years.
125: Dirk Starksen from Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT) tells how he got started and how he continues to innovate
Dirk has always been a builder and tinkerer. He started working for a clutch company called Kennedy Engineered Products that built engine adapters and clutches for VW's. He was working as a clutch assembler and was in college for a Mechanical Engineering degree. He worked his way up the ranks at KEP. In 1994, Dirk was working on a project for the Japanese import vehicles and asked his boss if he could take the idea and run with it. In 1996, he started Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT) and started branding the pressure plates himself. He has steadily grown the business over the past couple decades and sees no end in sight. He currently rents a 22,000 manufacturing facility and has 40 employees. They have been a strong proponent of having a strict pricing policy. This was a tough decision in the beginning, but it has turned out to be the right choice. It has allowed shops and sellers to make a good margin on the parts and keep the industry going.
124: Doug and Brad DeBerti build crazy vehicles, race trucks, and have a new show on Discovery called Twin Turbos
Description: Doug and Brad DeBerti, the father and son duo, have a new Discovery Channel show called Twin Turbos. Doug was born and raised in Montana and moved down to Bakersfield, CA when he was 18. In the late 80's, Doug got a new truck and began making custom parts for it. He wiggled his way into a building lease and took out 4 credit cards to raise capital for the new business. In an ingenious move to project inventory, he would buy empty boxes from manufacturers and weighted them down! He would just purchase the actual products when the customer would buy them. He sold off that business and started an accessories business that was very successful. During this time, he and his son started DeBerti Designs with the purpose of building custom show vehicles. They would build vehicles, show them at tradeshows, and then sell them to fund the next project. They switched gears and bought a truck to race off road. Very soon, they began defeating the odds and winning races. They leveraged their story and success to pitch a TV show idea to The Discovery Channel. They have a 10,000 square foot shop with about 6 fabricators that help them make anything they can imagine. They are building super cool custom vehicles and continue to go racing. You can check out more information about there show Twin Turbos and catch the first episode on Feb 28th at 10pm ET/PT.
123: Glen Reid of Futura Trailers brought his innovative idea of a lowering trailer to reality
Glen is from New Zealand and his dad actually used to own a trailer company. His dad sold the company in the mid-eighties and it was a couple decades before Glen got back into trailers. After high school, Glen got into construction and went off to create his own construction company. Glen then moved to Dubai and did construction there as well. Over the next decade, he built a very large business with around 700 employees. His next adventure went down a completely different path. He took his wife and two small children to the United States. They bought an RV and toured the US for 6 months to take a break from it all. After the adventure, they moved back to New Zealand and Glen decided to get back into building trailers. He had bought a race car and struggled with loading and unloading it. So, he decided to fix the problem himself! He started with a motorcycle trailer that lowered to the ground to make it easier to load. The next phase was building a single-axle trailer that was capable of carrying a small car. Eventually, he created a tandem-axle trailer that could carry a full-size vehicle. At one point, they were making 50 different trailers and things were getting more and more complicated. After a trip to SEMA, he realized that they needed to streamline operations and focus on their core products. They shed 48 of their 50 different trailers to do this. Now, they only focus on the products that provide the most value.
122: David Schardt of Forgeline Motorsports continues to push the envelope with their carbon+forged wheels
David was born and raised in Ohio and has been there his entire life. Growing up, he was very active in outdoor activities and his dad was racing. By the time he was 18, he had his SCCA license and was racing pretty regularly. When he went to college, he started off in Accounting but changed it to HR and Psychology. During school, he wrote a business plan to distribute wheels in the Midwest. His dad owned Dayton Wire Wheels and he noticed there was a void in the market of distributing wheels. After working in a wheel & tire store after college, he decided to make his business plan a reality and begin distributing wheels. Steve (David's twin brother) and their dad originally had the idea for a custom welded 2-piece wheel that they could cater to the needs of their customers. This business also took off quickly and Steve brought David in as a partner to help manage the business. They now use their own skill sets to work together to continue to grow the company. David had to shut down the distribution business in 2007 because they couldn't compete with the Chinese manufacturers who were selling wheels for much cheaper and consigning wheels to their customers. It was just not financially viable to continue to compete in that space so they closed the business to focus on the manufacturing wheels. Recently, they have begun using a carbon fiber barrel and their machined center section to make an extremely lightweight wheel. It drops about 10lb from their lightest wheel previously offered. These wheels are very enticing for electric car customers looking to change the look and performance of their vehicle.
121: Bob Boileau discusses how he became President of Pikes Peak International Raceway and how they have outlasted the previous owners
Bob grew up in Colorado and has been around racing his whole life. His dad raced with SCCA and then became the chief driving instructor in Colorado. His dad brought the family to a race and they met another family of racers. It was at this time that Bob would meet his future wife (she was 11 and he was 13). Bob went to college for a business degree and ended up in California after graduating to become a stunt driver. He ended up moving back to Colorado when he and his wife got married. Back in Colorado, he managed one of the Acura dealerships and created a racing program. A group of investors came to Colorado Springs looking to purchase the abandoned Pikes Peak International Raceway and were looking to have a local person manage it. Bob was then chosen to come on as the General Manager. He has become an investor and is now the President of the track. Over the years, Bob has vastly expanded the offerings and revenue sources for the track. Typically, it is easy to fill up the weekends with enthusiast events. But, he has pushed to get other activities during the week to rent out the track. He went after OEM's, military contractors, and research programs to fill up the week day spots. This has helped them be successful in keeping the track open and expanding the offerings!
120: Paul "Scooter" Brothers shares his experience at Comp Performance Group, the SEMA board, and how they look for companies to acquire
Scooter grew up as a mechanic and got his first job right out of high school. He was drafted to the Navy during the Vietnam War where he served as an aircraft mechanic. When he came back home, he got a job at Racing Head Service around 1972. They were having trouble finding good camshafts for their market so they started Cam Dynamics (now Comp Cams) to fill the need. Over the past few decades, Scooter and the team have built Comp Performance Group into a juggernaut in the aftermarket powertrain industry! Now, Scooter looks for possible acquisitions to expand their reach and offer superior products. They also recently underwent a large logistical overhaul of their company and implemented a new software system to help manage it all. Scooter has also been very involved with SEMA. He spent 6 years on the Board of Directors and served 2 of those years as the Chief Executive Officer. He has helped the SEMA organization push the RPM Act in an effort to combat some detrimental EPA language that prohibits street cars be turned into race cars.
119: Larry Chen works every single day to capture stunning automotive pictures from all over the globe
Larry scraped and saved up $1000 to purchase his first Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera back in 2004. He had been taking pictures with a simple point-and-shoot but wanted to step up his professionalism. He had his own business fixing & building computers but also took pictures as a paparazzi. These jobs were a means to an end that allowed him to take automotive pictures. Over the last 13 years, he has traveled all over the world and been to hundreds of events to pursue his passion. As a testament to his dedication, Larry funded many of his photography trips by justifying them as investments. He would take a chance to travel to an event with the intent of selling his pictures, but it was never a guarantee. This drive and passion resonated with the owners and drivers of the cars and Larry became a world-renowned automotive photographer and editor. Michelin has sent Larry to Austria to do a shoot with a Ford GT, Ken Block and the Hoonigan crew hired Larry to take pictures during Climbkhana, he took aerial pictures during the Baja 1000 for Monster Energy, and he is the official photographer for the GridLife series. Needless to say, Larry isn't joking when he claims to take an average of 750 pictures each day!
118: Chris Stewart took his knowledge of marketing & design and combined it with his love of music & racing to create the GridLife festivals
Chris went to college at an art school in Michigan and focused on graphic design. After graduating, he worked at several design firms and worked his way up the corporate ladder. He was also running a forum called EFHonda to pursue his passion of the EF Honda chassis. He even started his own parking lot meet up called the EF Honda Meet to hang out with fellow enthusiasts. In 2004, they stepped it up and rented Gingerman Raceway on a Monday and took their cars out on to the track. They called it Westminster Honda Meet 4 (for 2004). As the years went by, the Honda Meet grew and turned into a tight-nit community where people would look forward to the meet every year. Chris focused on making it a very professional event and created new designs and marketing material for each event. But cars weren't the only thing he was interested in. Chris had been attending a lot of music festivals and was meeting a lot of artists all over the country. So, he decided to blend the two hobbies and create GridLife. Taking what he learned from Honda Meet, he wanted to create an event that appealed to more than just the car culture. To do this, he devised an experience-oriented track weekend that also included live music. He encouraged people to camp at the event, grill out, and watch the racing. He also incorporated a car show segment and drifting to make it even more appealing to all the different car segments.
117: John Whalen of Whalen Speed R&D details how he has built up his business over the years
John bought his first Eagle Talon when he was in high school and upgraded to a turbo Eclipse when he got to college. He did quite a few mods and ran it a lot at the drag strip. Then, John and some buddies got together and rented a small shop to modify their cars and others for customers. After a few years, John separated off and took his fabrication equipment to work at another shop. That second shop began to shift to more domestic cars so John decided to go out on his own. He bought an 8500 sqft building to house a few lifts, the dyno, engine assembly room, and an area for his fabrication. He has grown to having 4 employees and working on several different import cars. He has been focusing on only working on stuff that makes him money and has grown the business steadily over the years.
116: Trevor Doelling of Texas Speed quit installing parts to focus on online sales. Now, they are machining and manufacturing their own parts.
Trevor raced cars all through high school and he progressed over the years with more powerful and faster cars. When he turned 21, he bought a Trans Am that came with the new LS V8. At that same time, his now business partner Jason Mangum also had a Trans Am and they raced against each other any chance they got! Trevor graduated college in 2000 and moved to Dallas, TX to look for a job. It was at this time that Trevor and Jason really considered starting a real business. When they pulled the trigger, Trevor moved back home to Lubbock, TX to open up Texas Speed. Their main focus was parts sales and they were early adopters to sell parts on a website. They also installed parts on cars but eventually stopped that to focus on selling parts. In July of 2014, they relocated to Georgetown, a suburb north of Austin, TX to get access to more employees. Since the move, Texas Speed has grown to almost 50 employees and has transitioned to manufacturing parts as well as selling them online. They now machine and assemble all of their engines, port their cylinder heads, and grind camshafts all in house.
115: Howard Anderson of AR Fabrication and Darton East believes that slow and steady growth is the best way to ensure success
Howard began his focus in the sport compact performance market building roll cages and engines for customers. He bought his first CNC machine way back in 2005 because he wasn't able to reliably get sleeved blocks. Things were going good until the economic downturn in 2008 when they had to sell off all the assets to stay out of bankruptcy. In 2010, he started Howard's Hot Rods with his wife. This was kind of a side business and Howard went to work for another machine shop. As time went on, Howard decided to build a building on his property to handle his Howard's Hot Rods business. In 2013, he decided to get back into the machining business and bought another CNC machine. He took things he learned over the years and implemented processes to ensure that everything is done correctly the first time. This organization also allows them to know exactly how many of each machining process they complete to better determine ways to save money or attract more customers in the future.
114: Three friends - Jeremy, Ben, and John - teamed up with different skill sets to start Fathouse Fabrications
Jeremy and John met during high school and shared their love for turbocharged 4-cylinder cars. Jeremy (aka Fathouse) and John worked behind John's parent's house wrenching on their cars and other peoples' cars. They met Ben at a car meet and struck up a lasting friendship. After a few years of doing car stuff on the side, they decided to have a go at creating a real performance shop. They all brought a different aspect to the table: Jeremy was an industrial welder and had been fabricating parts for Evo's and other cars for years, John was an excellent mechanic and had worked for racing teams, and Ben had a formal business education and worked alongside his dad at his business for many years. Together, they made a great team to run and operate a performance shop. They jumped in feet first and purchased a set of buildings on a good size plot of land. It came with 2 buildings and a house which Jeremy actually lives in. They design and build products needed for their customer cars and then manufacture those products to sell on their website. They have expanded their offerings from Evo's and STI's to include Ford V8's as well. They invested in a car and then began making products for it. To promote their products, they recently hired a part-time videographer to create content and spread brand awareness.
113: Jason Whitfield of Whitfield Fab has built his business by doing everything he can in house, including manufacturing weld-ready cages for drag racing
Jason has been hustling to make money ever since he was a kid! He started by mowing lawns, washing cars, putting grip tape on skateboards, and painting other kid's bicycles. When he was 14, he bought a VW bug and immediately began working on it and modifying it. Then he bought a Mazda mini truck slammed it with hydraulics and did other modifications to it. During high school, he teamed up with an older friend to start working on other people's cars and trucks. After a brief stint in college, Jason realized that wasn't for him. So, he got a full-time job but still did the side hustle of running his shop. He opened his own shop, employed 1 tech, and quickly expanded this side business to a larger location. As things got more and more busy, Jason decided to take the leap and run Rage Performance (now Whitfield Fab) for a living! He downsized his life to help prop up the business during this transition. After he started working full time, the retail parts sales really took off. While this was great money, it took Jason away from what he loved – racing and making cool stuff. So, he pivoted his business model and focused his efforts to manufacturing parts, doing engine swaps, and building roll cages. Now, he is working hard to make roll cage kits for every car possible.
112: Chris Stephens, the co-host of Discovery Channel's Garage Rehab, helps shops improve operations and turn a profit
Chris Stephens started his automotive journey modifying and fixing Volkswagens. His family was big into cars and his brother set out to open up a shop called while Chris was in college. He joined the business and they began working on import cars. As time went on, the business continued to grow and their focus shifted to becoming an efficient service shop. Fast forward to 2016 and Chris saw a casting call on Facebook looking for a host for a garage rehabilitation show. Both him and his brother applied, but Chris was ultimately chosen to host Garage Rehab on the Discovery Channel. This is a joint-venture spearheaded by Richard Rawlings of Fast & Loud. The show airs each Wednesday night and can even be watched online. Chris' main focus is to go in, clean up the physical shop, figure out what they are good at (and not good at), and advise them on how to improve their operation. This comes from focusing on services that make the most money. While the show does do a makeover for the shop space, Chris wants to ensure that the shops will be more successful for years to come.
111: Tim Suddard of Grassroots Motorsports explains how the magazine got started and how it has changed over the years
Tim grew up in Massachusetts and got interested in cars early on as a teenager. He moved to Florida to go to college and find some better weather. After graduating, he worked at an ad agency and handled a lot of the automotive stuff. He bought a Datsun 240Z and began hosting SCCA Autocross events. He was hungry for automotive information, but all of the magazines were focused on new car specs and data, not modifying cars in your garage to go faster. So, he told his wife they were going to start their own magazine and appeal to the weekend racer. He wanted to provide coverage of races and install guides for people for people who owned smaller and import sports cars. They got a bank loan to purchase a computer and begin assembling the magazine. Tim took his knowledge from his ad agency job to drum up advertisers and content. Then they were off to the printer! He has stayed ahead of the technology curve over the years. He was the second company in the area to purchase a desktop publishing system which sped up the process to get the magazine printed. Their March 1989 issue was created completely digital and they have been doing it that way ever since. Their latest shift has been towards digital content. They created their website blog back in 1998. In 1999, they started the $1999 challenge (now the $20XX challenge) and their forum took off with information about this event. This forum following quickly transferred to their website information and then their social media accounts. They have done their best to provide unique content to both audiences as their viewing tendencies change. They have even started doing a Facebook live video every Wednesday night.
110: Ian Baker of World Time Attack set out to create the ultimate time attack racing spectacle and continues to improve his event
Ian Baker got his racing career going first as a race car fabricator. He was on the forefront of turbo charger installations in Australia. In 2007, he worked with a shop that took a car to the Tsukuba Circuit in Japan to race and wondered why they didn't have anything like that in Australia. Over the years, he has built up World Time Attack to be the premier unlimited time attack race in the world. Even though Ian wasn't the first to host a Time Attack event, he has worked to make it the bucket list event for a lot of racers. Last year, they sold 33,000 spectator tickets and that number grows every year. Ian's goal is to allow everybody to have a fun time, see all the cars and drivers up close, and watch a really cool race! It's a little different than most races where you have to pay extra to get down and see the cool stuff. They have recently added a car show and drifting events to supply even more entertainment for the fans. And their live stream of the event continues to expand their reach.
109: Eric Hazen explains how he and Paul Lucas use their engineering knowledge to design products at Verus Engineering
Eric Hazen met Paul Lucas while at college at Purdue and shared their enthusiasm of cars and engineering. During college, they both had engineering jobs at top level racing companies. After graduating, Eric continued his design engineering position at C&R and Paul started working there as well. During their lunch breaks, they imaging running their own performance business. With their knowledge of CFD modeling and air flow models, they decided to pursue designing and manufacturing aerodynamic components in their free time. Eventually, Eric moved to Phoenix and worked from home for C&R while Paul moved on to work as a design engineer at AMS Performance. In late 2013, they decided to start making products and developed the front splitter for the FRS/BRZ. They decided to go at it full time in early 2016 and have been growing ever since! They continue to develop new aerodynamic components and are branching off into different products such as manifolds and clutch forks.
108: Mike Lewin of Professional Awesome shares how they are transforming their racing hobby into a real business
Mike Lewin grew up in an environmentally friendly community and then went to Purdue for Engineering. During college, he met Dan O'Donnel through the car club and they became roommates. Dan introduced Mike to Redline Time Attack and they began working on Dan's Evo 7 to make it faster and faster for each event. While they were building the car, Dan introduced Grant to the team to help build the Evo 7. At this point, they decided to begin calling themselves the Professional Awesome. After graduation, everybody got real jobs and worked for other companies. But they continued to develop and improve Dan's Evo 7. Sadly, the car was totaled at Road Atlanta in 2013 and they were unable to salvage any of it. In the true spirit of motorsports, Doug Wind and Tony Szirka donated their winnings to the Professional Awesome. Then, multiple companies stepped up and offered to help them build another car. The team hadn't really considered giving it another shot, but the encouragement and donations from friends led them to purchase an Evo 8 and start fresh. While building this car, they took it much more seriously and tried to design and build as many aspects of the car as possible. This has morphed their business into offering engineering support and design for other racers. They have developed several aerodynamic components and help other teams setup their suspension.
107: Victor Alvarez took his love for Supras and turned it into a business with Induction Performance
Victor Alvarez grew up in Long Island, NY and used to spend a lot of time working at his dad's and uncle's automotive shop. Victor was around cars since a very early age but he really fell in love with them when his dad bought a Supra. His family decided to move south to Florida to take advantage of the nicer weather when Victor was 15. When they got there, his dad started another automotive shop and Victor jumped right in to work there as well. He had plans to go to college, but he had gotten so involved with and passionate about modifying cars that he decided that career path was for him. As time went on, he continued to work on Supras and eventually met Alpha. Alpha was tuning lots of different cars and Victor's customers would request Alpha to tune them. Victor and Alpha struck up a friendship based on their aligned business expertise and formed Induction Performance. Fast forward 5 years, and Induction Performance is about to move into a larger building to better suit their customers. Victor also organizes FL2K every October in Florida. It is a sister event to TX2K and Victor works closely with Peter Blach (Episode 50) with the goal of bringing shops and fast cars together to drag race and roll race. It is located at Bradenton Motorsports Park on Oct 6-8, 2017.
106: Rory Connell has leveraged his network to become more successful and recently became Chairman of the SEMA YEN Select Committee
Rory has spent most of his life working at various automotive businesses. He grew up working on and racing go carts in California. Then went to Wyotech for a formal automotive education in Pennsylvania. He then moved back to California to work for a boat shop, a hot rod shop, and a shop which recorded the Wrecks to Riches tv show. His next job was as a fabricated at West Coast Customs where he got to work on all sorts of cool projects. He transitioned into the parts department there before moving on to Callaway Cars. This is when he really got involved with SEMA. He had been to the show many times with West Coast Customs, but decided to volunteer for the Select Committee once he got to Callaway. He was featured in SEMA's 35 under 35 award which helped him get his next job at Body Armor 4X4. Rory then moved on to become the VP of Sales at Gibson Exhaust. His latest venture is as a sales director at Advanced Accessory Concepts where he is developing and selling a new product that he helped design. Rory recently transitioned into the Chairman of the YEN Select Committee. His main goal is to give young people more opportunities to get together, make connections, and improve their situation at work. YEN hosts the Launch Pad Competition this year at SEMA and various networking events across the country