I have been involved with cars for over 45 years and in the automotive industry for almost 40 years. My interest started by building models at the age of 7, running HO slot cars at friends’ houses and running gas powered cars on tethered line. As I grew older my brother would take me to the local hobby shops to race 1/8 scale slot cars. I spent most of my weekends helping my dad in the garage whenever he would work on our own vehicles, be it a brake job, tune up or major repair, from removing the cylinder heads for a valve job to complete engine removal and installation.

 At age 14 my dad started a VW repair business in south San Jose where I learned vehicle service, how to rebuild engines and completely restore cars.

 I ended up getting a job at Wright Way Machine Shop in 1976 at age 19 where I took a VW case in for a .060 over align bore and thrust cut. I was asked at the time if I wanted a job, after a VW/Porsche engine identification test and interview I was hired a week later.

  At this 8600 sq ft shop we had, (to go along with machine work), full automotive service, 11 employees and complete parts counter. This is where my many hours on the Stuska Dyno, long nights working on our house sponsored race cars, engine research and development, hard work ethic, technical classes and seminars and fast growing knowledge on all types of vehicles gave me a management position that grew into a partnership in 1985 with a new name change, "Foreign Engine Exchange", eventually evolving to a single owner buyout in 1987.

 With the remanufactured engine exchange program rapidly declining in the San Jose area, due to the increasing demand for used Japanese engines being shipped in by the container full I changed the name to an abbreviated, "FEX Performance". By then I had tooled up for most foreign/domestic vehicle engines along with Harley Davidson, ATV's, Street Bikes, Dirt Bikes, Jet Skis and industrial engine machine work.

 In 1991 we sold our house in San Jose and moved to this ranch in the Livermore Valley where I started an ongoing relationship with local business in the Tri Valley. I would pick up machine work in the morning or evening and give them quality service with one to two day turn around.

 I have continued to build and machine VW and Porsche engines for many of the specialized shops and privateers in the Bay Area along with many of the other local repair shops specializing in European and Domestic auto repair for 18 plus years since moving my business to Livermore, mainly to be closer to my wife and boys while growing up but also its a much slower pace over here and I got out of a long tiring commute.

 I have raced as well as my three sons, with my youngest still running 125cc non shifter TAG and LO206 Briggs karts also getting a co drive in the desert now and then. I have built and still build championship race engines with multiple class wins and championships in VORRA, Mickey Thompson Championship Gran Prix, (Ultra Stock & Buggy), Fremont Raceway MSRA & RURA,  Altamont Raceway, (Street Stock and Late Models), Antioch Dirt Modifieds and Street Stocks,  VW Drag Racing championship, Best In The Desert Vegas to Reno, HDRA, MORE, MDR & SCORE 1/2-1600, class 12, and class 10, Sprint Cars, Wingless Sprints, Midgets, Micro Midgets, 1/4 Midgets, Mini Cup cars, Super Moto, Hill Climb, SCCA Road Race Cars and Bikes, the list goes on and on but as you can see racing has always been my passion   Most weekends you can catch me at the track with my boys racing or chasing FEX powered race cars in the desert .

 

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