Growing up in his father’s restoration shop in Central Florida, Tim has been fascinated in the building and customization of cars since day 1. Being heavily involved with the creation of high level 6-figure classic Resto-mods growing up, It’s safe to say cars, specifically the business of making them look good and perform even better, is his life-long passion. Tim considers himself as hardcore of a car guy as it gets, owning multiple project cars including 3 Nissan 240s, one of which is a 700whp KA-T daily drift car, to his beautiful mostly original 1986 300zx. With a background in high quality restorations, restomods, drag racing and most recently drifting cars, heavily influenced by a love for 90s Japanese classics, Tim prides himself on achieving the highest quality “OEM+” look and feel on his projects. Tim is a big fan of unique and “road less traveled” style’s of builds, I.E. taking a platform/engine that most people don’t usually look twice at and making it perform. Safe to say when Tim discovered National Speed browsing social media, he made it his goal to be a part of the team!
Category: Our-People
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Michael Bruno: Performance Technician
Michael’s gravitation to the performance industry started at a young age, stemming from growing up around circle track racing. Shortly after he got his first car, a DB7 Integra, he dove into modifying the car and teaching himself along the way. After a short stint in the construction field, he decided to pursue his dream of being a performance technician. Starting in a small Subaru shop in Maine, he learned from those around him and has since built several 500+hp STI’s, and a 600+hp FA20 WRX beast. His passion for the performance industry continues to grow and show in his work, day in and day out.
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Jerzy Zapolski: Performance Technician
Born in Michigan originally, Jerzy left Michigan to attend a high-performance automotive-oriented college in Ohio and then moved to Georgia to start working with a race team. After a few years at the track, he found himself looking for more and found National Speed. He relocated to Richmond, VA, and is doing some pretty incredible builds in the shop with a great team.
When not at the shop, he enjoys drives through the mountains, camping, and slowly building his S13 coupe.
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Chris Fleet: Performance Technician
Chris is just a simple man that enjoys the simple things in life. He has been in the automotive industry for nine years and is always striving to learn more. For as long as he can remember, Chris has always had a passion for understanding and improving anything with wheels and an engine. In his personal time, Chris likes to hunt, fish, shoot, and just about anything that involves being in the outdoors. At the moment he is building a 78′ K5 Blazer that he has lifted, 1 ton swapped, and is currently piecing together the parts to put a turbo LS.
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Kevin Thackston: General Manager
Kevin joined the National Speed team with over 10 years of experience of not only building a wide variety of high-performance cars but also tuning them! This combination of mechanical and tuning experience gives Kevin a unique perspective to confidently handle whatever project is in front of him. From installing a supercharger on a Shelby GT350 to wiring a Toyota Supra for a stand-alone ECU, Kevin’s got the knowledge and experience to confidently deliver. A testament to his high-performance (and turbocharged) addiction, Kevin’s personal fleet includes a modified 2016 Ford Focus ST, and a J32 V6 swapped and turbocharged 1995 Honda Civic.
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Vlad Yevtushenko: Performance Calibrator
No matter the quality of hardware that goes into a high-performance build, it’s nothing without a proper calibration, and that’s where Vlad comes into play at National Speed. Vlad joined the National Speed team armed with work experience with Texas big-power speed shops, certifications from EFI University, a Bachelors in Automotive Engineering Technology from Ferris State University, and a ton of industry experience building and tuning high horsepower street performers.
With the specialized know-how, systems, and tools, Vlad ensures that our customer’s vehicles achieve the best performance and efficiency possible. Whether it’s a nasty all motor Chevrolet Camaro SS on HP Tuners, or a big single-turbo Toyota Supra on AEM Infinity, or a bolt-on Subaru WRX STi on COBB Tuning’s AccessPORT, Vlad’s got it under control. Channeling his expertise in making reliable horsepower (and a lot of it), Vlad built his ultimate daily driver, his 1,400whp Quicksilver 1998 Toyota Supra 6-speed.
On the weekends you will find him at one of our great local tracks like Coastal Plains Raceway, Fayetteville Drag Strip, or Rockingham Dragway.
Update: Vlad has finished up the 10 point cage and parachute setup, installed his Tillett B5 seat, and dialed in the suspension just in time to make one of the last local events of the year. Still getting the car dialed in, he managed a new personal best of 8.49@170 right off the trailer. As a reminder 3.0 liter, OEM 6 speed trans and a Garrett GTX4508r.
TX2K Coverage
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Jack MacLeod: Project Manager
Jack grew up in Woodbridge VA and came to Wilmington to work with National Speed. With more than 10 years in the automotive field and an associate’s degree in automotive technology from NVCC (Northern Virginia Community College), he has a passion for the industry. He is also an SCCA Chief Instructor at Dominion Raceway and spends free time:
Instructing/driving various HPDE/TT/Road Race events
- Playing guitar
- Sleeping in
- Racing on Forza
- Snowboarding when it’s cold enough
He is a lifelong car guy and currently drives a high compression, E85 powered turbo Miata on track.
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Alex Elmore: Lead Performance Technician
Alex joined the National Speed Wilmington team as a Performance Technician with a diverse background of both repair and performance across European and Domestic platforms.
For the last 5 years leading up to his current role with National Speed, Alex worked as a Senior Technician at a local Ford dealership executing diagnostics and major powertrain repair, and 5 years before that doing the same across a wide variety of makes and models at an independent repair and performance shop in New York. In his spare time, Alex has been involved in many insanely-cool builds ranging from fully-built air-cooled Porsche 911 Turbo track cars, turbocharged VR6 builds, a variety of fully-built 1.8T Audi builds, supercharged E36 M3s, and Ford Mustangs alike. With his professional experience and background with high-performance builds, it goes without saying that Alex is an incredible fit as a National Speed Performance Technician! In his spare time, Alex enjoys working on his M52-swapped E36, and building rifles, and testing them out at the shooting range.
