48 GEARS July 2006

Visiting Denver this year was a milestone for me. Not that I hadn’t visited shops in the

area; I’ve been to Denver many times before. But this was the first techni-cal seminar I presented in three years. Managing ATRA has kept me away from the technical aspects of this busi-ness, which is probably the one thing I regret. And if you think the transmis-sion industry changes quickly when you’re doing it every day, just try get-ting away from the tech for a couple years and see what happens!

About a year ago I decided to make a concerted effort to ease my way back into the technical end of the business. The next logical step was to present technical seminars, develop technical material, and even take a few tech calls. So my perspective during these shop visits was a bit different… I saw it more from a tech’s perspective than from management.

My first stop was Shift Masters in Littleton, owned by Dave and Rhonda Dunbar. Dave Dunbar is vice president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, so he and I have gotten to know one another fairly well. Yet in all the times I’ve been to Denver I’ve never once visited his shop. And wouldn’t you know it: I finally made it there, and Dave was away. Turns out he was spending a couple days on vacation on his annual dirt bike venture. You know the routine: All work and no play… Anyway, I got the tour from his wife Rhonda, and one thing I noticed right off the bat was this place was clean!

Dave opened Shift Masters in 1990. By most standards it’s a pretty typical five-bay shop. It was well orga-nized and looked like a place custom-ers would be comfortable leaving their cars. Their builder, Archie, was in the

Denver, ColoradoDenver, Coloradoby Dennis Madden

TRENCH REPORTS

Shift Masters Transmission Center (from left to right): Rhonda Dunbar, Archie Medina, Micah Montgomery

Archie Medina, building an AW50-42LE. The background gives you an idea of how clean this shop is.

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The 4T65-E Shift Correction Package helps to eliminate the following problems:

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50 GEARS July 2006

Trench Report: Denver, Colorado

middle of a 50-42LE Volvo, so you know they’re not afraid to work on anything.

My next stop was US Transmission and Torque Converter, also in Littleton. I was greeted by Tony, the shop owner. I didn’t know before getting there that Tony is a huge race fan: Drag racing that is. His office is adorned by what must be a couple hundred dragster and funny car models.

Tony opened the shop in 1989, and his love of racing guided the direction his business would go. This is your typi-cal success story: Tony’s hobby of drag racing led him to providing services to his fellow drag racing enthusiasts. Today, Tony offers custom racing torque converters and manufactures the Quick Drive Torque Converter Drive Unit, which allows you to add a torque con-verter to the popular Lenco and B&J planetary transmissions. There’s noth-ing like mixing business with pleasure, and Tony seems to have worked out just the right mix. Between his retail busi-ness and the racing end, Tony’s shop was packed.

US Transmission & Torque Converter (from left to right): Trevor Jones, Scott Berge, Tony Eben, Danny Rice

Here’s one version of the Quick Drive Tony developed and is now manufacturing.

Is there any question that Tony’s a race fan? There’s another wall just like this in front of him.

There’s nothing like mixing business with pleasure, and Tony seems to have worked out just the right mix. Between his retail business

and the racing end, Tony’s shop was packed.

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GEARS July 2006 51

My final visit was B&M Transmission & Gears in Englewood. Unfortunately I showed up at lunch time, but the manager, Jeff, was kind enough to give me the grand tour. B&M was opened 35 years ago by two guys: Barry and Max. James Mulhern bought the business from Barry and Max back in 1993, and now has three shops.

It happened that today was James’ golf day — business was good! Jeff explained they had seen a significant increase in business across the board compared to last year: retail, wholesale and carryout.

And this visit in particular illus-trates why I like getting into the shops and meeting the people that make this industry work. The following day I rec-ognized Jeff at the seminar right away, and he shared some additional informa-tion with me on the Torqshift section of

the seminar. A week later he called and touched on a few other items. The great part about this is I now have a face to put with the voice, and when we speak, it’s just two guys talking tech. This is the essence of what ATRA is about: People in the industry sharing their

problems and offering solutions. And it’s what we plan on doing more of as we expand our Chapters throughout the US and Canada.

I had a great time in Denver; the seminar was fun. I met some new peo-ple and made some new friends.

B & M Transmission and Gear (from left to right): Jeff Vik, Darrin Hebner, Tulio Rascon

Every lift was full, and the cars were piling up.

B&M was opened 35 years ago by two guys: Barry and Max. James Mulhern bought the business from Barry

and Max back in 1993, and now has three shops.

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www.atraonline.com/events/seminars

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