John joins the National Speed Richmond team as Calibrations Assistant, equipped with a strong combination of passion for high-performance cars and professional racing & dyno experience! While studying at Nashville Auto Diesel College, he accumulated a broad variety of experience including working on Megan Meyer’s Top Alcohol Dragster for Randy Meyer Racing, various automotive technician jobs, and also gained customer-facing experience as a parts consultant for multiple companies. In addition to this experience, he also spent quite a bit of time using chassis dynamometers and familiarizing himself with their operation. In his personal time, John kept himself busy working on a variety of projects ranging from classic carbureted engines to LSx engines. His current personal project is an ’88 Oldsmobile Cutlass which he is currently fitting with a fully built 403cid engine, with the intention of building a solid street/strip performer. With a highly technical background with both classic and late-model performance engines, along with dynamometer experience, John has been a great addition to the National Speed Richmond team operating the dyno!
Category: Events
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Dylan Dupee: Performance Technician
Dylan’s first encounter with National Speed was with the Wilmington shop while he was stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC from 2010-2014, and to quote him, “I was a customer to the Wilmington shop many years ago, and since then, it has been a goal of mine to work for National Speed.” After getting out of the Marine Corps, Dylan moved to Maine where he got several years as an automotive technician under his belt, before joining up with Baxley’s Speed Shop as Shop Foreman/Lead Technician, where he became an IAG Gold installer, and built a reputation for himself in the Maine high-performance community. During this time, Dylan built a multitude of high-performance cars for customers, along his own personal projects including an RB25DET swapped S13, ’05 Subaru WRX, ’06 350Z, leading up to his current weapon of choice, his built STi 6-speed swapped ’05 Subaru Outback XT. Needless to say, after years of hard work and refining his craft, Dylan finally achieved his goal of joining National Speed!
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TJ Payne: Performance Technician
A lifelong gearhead, TJ knew at an early age that he wanted a career working on cars, with an end goal of full-time high-performance work. As a result, he wasted no time and went straight to NTI out of high school, and then went on to pursue his career as an automotive technician. From there, he would go on to work as Team Lead & Technician for Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, an independent European automotive shop, and in addition to experience as a dealership technician, also gained fabrication skills along the way. During this time, TJ did performance work on the side, building a broad variety of cars ranging from an E55 AMG to a Mazda RX-7. In addition, he also built various personal projects including his all-motor ED8 Honda CR-X, ’90 S10 with a 350cid SBC swap, ’89 Camaro that underwent various transformations, leading up to his current project, his ’97 Nissan Hardbody that he’s in the process of LSx swapping. With a strong combination of both professional technician experience and high-performance automotive knowledge, TJ is an incredible addition to the National Speed team!
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National Speed Richmond – Grand Opening Dyno Day
Thank you to everyone who came out to our Grand Opening Event this past Saturday. We were completely humbled by the turnout and could not be more excited to be part of the Richmond, VA community!
And what a day it was… such an awesome, diverse set of cars inside on the Dyno and outside in the parking lot (GT-Rs, Corvettes, WRXs, CTS-Vs, EVOs, Camaros, Supras, Chargers & Challengers, AMGs, Mustangs, and so much more). We had a blast and look forward to all of what’s to come in Richmond and beyond!
Whether you made it out or not on Saturday, please come by either of our Shops anytime to talk projects or just enjoy the company…
We look forward to seeing you again soon!
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Cape Fear Corvettes 5th Annual Car Show
On Sunday, September 16th, we will be joining the Cape Fear Corvettes car club for their 5th annual car show at Jeff Gordon Chevrolet.
The show will be running from 10AM – 3PM and is located at 228 South College Road.
Cape Fear Corvettes will also be hosting the “Tip the Scales on a Corvette” Food Drive at the show which is AARP’s Drive to End Hunger.Find more information on their website.
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Barracks Bash – Camp Lejune, Jacksonville NC
On August 22nd, National Speed will be attending the Barracks Bash as a title sponsor.
The Barracks Bash is an event organized to bring marines together and allow them to relax, have fun and have a good time. We are in full support of our military and will be out there in our shop cars.
This event is not open to the public.
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National Speed Cruise-In
Join us Sunday, September 2nd for the National Speed Cruise-in!
Time: 12pm-4pm!
The event will be taking place at the Hooters on Western Boulevard in Jacksonville, NC!
There will be a Car Show, raffles, custom prizes and hooters girls, so do yourself a favor and come on out!
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Crave Dyno Day May 5th
National Speed Events are aimed to support and promote the automotive lifestyle. Our Dyno-Days, Cruise-Ins, Club Meets, and Track Days are designed to pull together the diversity of the car scene and its culture. If you want to get involved and host an event at National Speed, or If you know of an event that should be posted on this page, then just contact us. We are always looking for new ways to connect with the community, and provide a “hot-spot” for the car scene. The event starts at 10am
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3rd Anniversary Dyno Event & Drag Day
On Saturday March 5th, National Speed hosted our 3rd Anniversary Customer Appreciation and Dyno Day event. As always, everyone had a blast but unfortunately the weather wasn’t so great towards the end of the event.
The video below is the Track Day portion of the event:
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UNCW Car Club Dyno Event
This year was another success for the UNCW Car Club and National Speed for the Dyno Day Event. Amazing weather, great cars, great friends, and a few cars on the dyno lead to another fun day. Thanks to all the UNCW club members who came out to support National Speed, UNCW and the car community. We look forward to another event next year.