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Episode 044: Lucas English says the reality of getting your car sponsored is not cheap
Lucas English of English Racing currently has built the fastest Evo X in the world. They have also been a key player in pushing the GTR to the limits at the drag strip. He has grown from humble beginnings in the DSM scene to a world-renowned shop for fast imports. English Racing is located next to Lucas’ house in a rural area outside of Vancouver, WA (just north of Portland, OR). He has struggled with land usage permits, neighbor complaints, and unrealistic expectations from customers. But his story shows that hard work and determination can make you successful. Software:...
Episode 040: Kevin Dubois from My Shop Assist discusses the importance of accurately tracking your builds
Kevin Dubois is the co-founder of My Shop Assist, a project management system designed specifically for aftermarket automotive shops. He took his experience (and mistakes) as the owner of Evolution Dynamics to create a tool to help owners run their shop more efficiently. After a tremendous crash at Pikes Peak in 2012, he decided it was time to buckle down and get serious about turning his performance shop from a hobby to a real business. Action items for this week: Create a list of things where you can improve and make a plan to slowly address those areas. Software:...
Episode 037: John Veloso is the founder of K-Tuned, and like most entrepreneurs, he wasn’t handed his success, he had to work for it
John Veloso owns and operates K-Tuned, a product manufacturing company that is hyper-focused on the Honda K-series engine. They make high-quality, functional engine parts focused entirely on the K-series. John and I discuss his background, and his view on the world. He tells the story of his upbringing and how it all came to be. We discussed his business, and business in general. John’s business is customer focused and he makes a point to not take a customer’s money until he has the product to fulfill the order. He puts the responsibility on himself and his team to make...
Episode 034: Bottle and Nero Deliwala from Titan Motorsports talk racing, business systems, and lessons learned
“Bottle” and Nero Deliwala are the owners of Titan Motorsports, one of the founding internet e-commerce businesses in the performance automotive world. They were involved back in the days when NOPI was a big player and the OEM’s were sponsoring import drag racing. In this episode we talk about how racing fuels their distribution business and how their business has grown and changed over the years. From a college dorm room to a multi-million dollar business, Titan Motorsports has taught these guys a thing or two about business and they share some lessons in this episode.
Episode 032: John Shepherd the legend from Shep Transmissions shares his goals, his daily grind and what it takes to be the man
John Shepherd is a legend in the import drag racing world. First with DSM’s and now with GTR’s. But did you know that throughout the 90’s Shep worked as a tech at a dealership? Then one day the dealership went out of business and he was jobless. Not long after, Shep got some encouragement from a friend and started out on his own. Now, over a decade later he’s world-renowned for his attention to detail when building super high-performance transmissions. In this episode Shep and I talk about all the little details that go into building a business including...