111: Tim Suddard of Grassroots Motorsports explains how the magazine got started and how it has changed over the years

09/25/17 • 63 min

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.

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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.

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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.