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DO IT FOR A LIVING

DO 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 week, 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 the next innovative product.
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Now displaying: March, 2018
Mar 26, 2018

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!

Mar 19, 2018

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.

Mar 12, 2018

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.

Mar 5, 2018

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.

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