INTRODUCTION

At thirty-five years old, Ray Lochhead (not Lockhead, not Lochlead, and not Locheed) is one of the youngest rotary entrepreneurs I have visited. He is also one of the most visible on the "big" RX-7 list--not because he posts a lot (which he doesn't) but because he is an active drag racer who is "out there" representing the rotary community in high-profile events. He also seems to be one of those people with solutions for problems. For instance, a couple of years ago, when there seemed to be a never-ending search for 3rd gen clutches that could handle the abuse of repeated drag strip launches, Ray recommended and sold those made by ACT, which seemed to do the trick. More recently Ray became the west coast distributor for the Apex'i Power FC, a new plug- in engine management module available for 3rd gens which quickly became popular. Comments on the net have spotlighted the amount of personal attention he takes with his customers. There has also been an occasional grumble about his pricing, or his business philosophy.

My first real awareness of Ray came during an informal conversation with some people in the San Francisco Bay area RX-7 club. It must have been four or five years ago. At the time, Ray was campaigning a very fast, red 1st gen drag car. In the usual "where should I take my car for service" discussion, I mentioned Ray's place (Shane Racing at the time). The response was a simple one:

"Ray? He's crazy!"

Obviously something has changed since then.

To find out, I arranged a visit during my yearly work-related stop in San Francisco. Ray was kind enough to take time to talk with me on a Saturday. Joe Ramos helped arrange the visit and he also drove me out to the shop. Any time spent with Joe is golden.

Thanks, guy.

THE SHOP

San Francisco is a large metroplex with Oakland on the North side and San Jose (silicon valley) to the South. Beyond Oakland is Concord (where Mostly Mazda is located), and beyond that is Brentwood, a small town of about nine thousand. Brentwood was mostly apple orchards and farm land when Ray moved there about nine years ago. The population has tripled since then, due to the "affordable" housing developments going up. I am sure Ray hopes the relative isolation of his home resists encroachment by urban sprawl, but even though it is zoned for light industry, I would be skeptical. From the looks of things the Bay Area Rapid Transit system is running a spur out there--not a good sign.

SR Motorsports is located on the same two acres as Ray's home. It is the kind of place we all dream about having some day--a nice clean, well lit, five-car shop of 1590 square feet, with a "Red Rotary" brand electric lift in the center. Between the shop and the house is a small suite of offices. Ray keeps a couple of his products there for show, but he has decided against the usual formal display case. Absent also are the usual stacks of promotional materials from manufacturers. This is clearly not a business designed for drop-in traffic. Behind the shop is a forty-five foot trailer, filled with used and salvaged parts. These come in handy from time to time, but are not a focus of the business. There is a warehouse in town (all of about a mile a away) where most of the inventory is kept.

THE PERSON

Ray's last name is Scottish. Just like the stereotype, Ray is a tall, slender fellow, with medium-short cropped red hair. He is easy with words, and comfortable with people. He likes to tell stories, and is pleasant company. His standard mode of transportation for travel (greater than a quarter mile in a straight line) is a big red Ford (F350 diesel) "dually" pick-up truck--the one with which he hauls the race car. While not a typical "ride" for most race car drivers, there is something fitting about it. Ray tends to look for the most practical solutions he can find and the truck is a symbol of that--straight forward, and "in your face" honest.

Asked about his background, Ray told me he grew up in Pleasant Hills California. His Dad was captain of a fire company for most of his career. Before starting his business, Ray was a paramedic in an emergency room. His first exposure to rotary engines came when he was a teenager. His Mother innocently bought an orange, automatic, '73 RX-3, which had the usual engine problems. Later, it became Ray's first car. In 1982, he bought a second 1973 RX-3--this one red--into which he transplanted the motor and transmission from a 1980 RX-7.

Another of his favorite cars was a Meyer's Manx dune buggy. These were kits, built from a chopped VW beetle frame. Ray put a '91 T-II engine in this one, as well as a Tech II Electromotive system, and took it to the drag races at Sears Point. He says it spun its wheels all the way down the track, and it kept breaking pieces, but it ran in the 12's. That was followed with a brown '85 1st gen he bought for $200.00. This one ended up painted red (Ray likes red, if you haven't figured that out yet). His best time with the car was 10.30 with old, hard, street tires and with the stock rear. Properly sticky tires and a Jerico transmission brought the times down to 9.26, but the drive train required a lot of beefing up to handle the additional traction. I recall a post where he wrote about trashing a Ford 9" diff on that car.

This proclivity for breaking things--standard procedure when pushing the envelope with a drag machine--is actually what got Ray into business. Ray is not opposed to experimentation to solve problems--regarding failures as just another step toward a solution. Efforts to find stronger alternatives put Ray in contact with a number of aftermarket suppliers, some of which became his sponsors. Further, Ray's success in the sport, and his experience in solving problems, gave him the kind of "expert status" that drew people to him for advice and solutions. Since he already had a relationship with his sponsors, it was a logical step to become a dealer for their parts.

Ray's drag racing activities were done under the name of Shane Racing. I asked about that--figuring there was someone named Shane in his life, but it was nothing that romantic. He just kinda liked the name-- reminded him of the old movie about a gunslinger. So, when he needed a name for the business, that one had a comfortable ring to it. Later, as Shane Racing started branching out to selling aftermarket parts, the name was not descriptive enough (sounded too much like strictly a "ma and pa" racing effort), so he changed it to SR Motorsports.

Eventually, his racing and business activities started taking up more and more time. He dropped his hours in emergency medicine until he was only working two days a week, then quit altogether to concentrate on the business.

THE BUSINESS

Currently, SR Motorsports is about 50% parts and 50% shop work. This is not the kind of place you would bring your 3rd gen for a tie-wrap job or a stock engine replacement. I had to grin when Ray told me he hates doing that stuff. In truth, Ray had never tried to categorize what kind of shop he was running. Eventually, with the help of Brad Barber I believe, he decided that SR Motorsports, besides being involved with aftermarket parts, was a "Contract-only Race Shop." My translation of this is that Ray specializes in what most other shops don't want to have anything to do with: Namely Project Cars.

I have been told by a number of vendors how difficult it is to stay in business doing project cars. They are usually much more costly than the customer thinks they will be, and they usually take longer to complete. This means that Ray has to be "up front" with potential customers, and the customers have to be flexible with him before their "dream car to be" first gets put on that nice lift in the middle of Ray's shop. However, once there, Ray can pretty much concentrate on it full time (pending the health of the race car), so I have a feeling he gets the work done more quickly than some larger shops which have to keep the "bread and butter" work flowing through in order to make ends meet. He says most take four to six weeks, but I would guess this doesn't include fancy paint and body work.

Ray concentrates on power and performance modifications, as is fitting with his experience. He likes to build high performance engines, and his catalog of products highlight options that can build a 13B-REW into the 600 bhp range. Although the web site highlights second and third gen RX-7s, he works on whatever you bring him. Current projects include a '79 RHD RX-7 that has received a '94 Cosmo (single turbo) motor; a T-II being upgraded with a larger turbo, intercooler, and TEC-II system; a '77 RX-3 destined to become a drag car; and a third gen getting engine/turbo upgrades. Ray works with several manufacturers, and creates his own products when he can't find a ready-made solution for his needs. He routinely does single turbo upgrades on 3rd gens, using kits from other manufacturers, or his own "kit" based on a large KKK turbo. I won't go into the range of his offerings since that information is easily accessible on his web site.

PHILOSOPHIES

One of Ray's core philosophies is that everything is a learning experience. I believe he would like to work in harmony with other specialty businesses. But, as any business owner can tell you, this is not possible 100% of the time. I also believe he would always like to be available to anyone who needs help with anything Ray sells--SR Motorsports customer or not. But, as anyone who sells expensive toys can tell you, eventually you run out of time and energy, making it necessary to preserve your best efforts for those who buy from you.

It is Ray's philosophy to stock as much of what he sells as he can. It is a costly way to do business in this internet age, but a sound one if you have the capital to buy from the manufacturer in quantity. It is also the only way to do things if you are going to avoid exposing your customers to those nasty situations where back orders from the manufacturer combined with "rush shipping" can suddenly turn a routine transaction into a nightmare. Ray has some old fashioned thoughts about keeping commitments, so this philosophy is a good fit for him. The downside is that the cost of doing business instantly increases when you include warehousing costs, or the cost when products sit on the shelf. Most of his customers find the blend of parts and service to be a good value. Customers who buy from whomever offers the lowest price, can find other vendors whose businesses are set up to work that way.

Another form of added value comes from custom work, be it something unusual for a project car, or from individualized tuning of a product. Typical has been Ray's experience with the Apex'i Power FC (PFC). Some insist you can simply plug a "virgin" PFC into a mildly modified 3rd gen, and it will do its stuff. Others say it needs to be tuned. To understand more, I asked Ray what percentage of units he tuned before selling. He surprised me when he said, "100%." I asked why. He said that every unit he sells is first installed in his car to be sure it is not defective out of the box (he has caught a problem or two that way). Then each unit is set up according to the needs of the customer--based on Ray's best experience of what will work. We all know the kind of judgment calls that have to be made. Rear wheel horsepower is not the only goal. Ray says he would rather help a customer understand the trade-off between safety and performance than to have to answer questions about why the engine didn't last.

All of this is very time consuming, which brings us back to those offices next to the shop.

THE FUTURE

When a one-man business is just starting out, there is more time available than there are customers. This was true for Ray when he started the business in 1991. The first stress of growth occurs when the head honcho runs out of hours in the day to give advice over the phone, work on project cars, ship parts, keep track of inventory, and still have time for the family and the racing.

In other words, something has got to give.

Thus, Ray's wife is quitting her "day job" to join the business--doing typical support functions that make a business run well. She will also triage phone calls, and do whatever else she can to free Ray's time. This will make Ray a little less accessible, but he assures me he will be there for his customers in the same way as before. Ray has also hired a second full-time person (Greg) to help lighten the load for routine work. This brings the staff of SR Motorsports to four--three full time and one part time.

Ray also says he has branched out a little, carrying product lines that can be used to advantage by non-Mazda marques. I've heard rumors that people are actually trying to drag race front wheel drive cars these days.

Imagine that. An entire quarter mile in reverse!

I think SR Motorsports will have continued success. Ray is quick to get beyond mistakes, and equally quick to recognize and get behind a Good Thing. He is, by nature, a problem solver, analyzer, experimenter, tinkerer, inventor, and (thank heavens) a car nut.

And those qualities should get him where he wants to go.

You can take a closer look at SR Motorsports at their web site:
http://www.srx7.com/