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: Richmond
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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!