Meet the Family Making Hotrod Dreams Come True

Interview by Tess aka Mrs QuickTrick

Finish Line Speed Shop is a family run hotrod restoration business that has over 30 years of experience working in the industry. We, at QuickTrick, have worked with Lyon and his family for about 10 years now. The Finish Line team has sent amazing builds to SEMA for 9+ years. Most of the builds are tied to raising money for various charities. They are the salt of the earth, good people, with amazing talent.
So, let’s get into it!

Lyon & Jen,

Thank you for spending some time with us. We know you have a crunch time for the upcoming SEMA Conference, and we appreciate your sharing.

What brought you to start your business?

Jen: Oh boy is this a loaded question…. After Lyon retired from racing, he opened a repair shop. While he was definitely successful with his business, I had always felt like his cup just wasn’t being filled within his work life. About 12 years ago, he had come home pretty grumpy… AGAIN. After a long talk about the risks involved, and then an even longer talk about his true lifelong love and passion with HotRods; we decided to give it our all by giving up repair, moving to our private shop on our residential property and working exclusively with building HotRods.

How challenging/rewarding is it to work with family?

Lyon & Jen:

Both: It is absolutely a balance with both. Coming from generations of entrepreneurs, we all have a lot of experience with several Fridays that we quit, and several Mondays that we showed back up for work 😉
By the same token, I don’t quite think there enough words to describe what its like to watch your daughter learn small business from her mother or fill her shoes while she is out of the office. Same can be said while teaching your sons the trade. Or what it means to learn how to be part of a team from such young ages. Our kids know work ethic, they know loyalty, they know what it means to show up for their coworkers, for their bosses, for our customers. They learned this by growing up in family business. These traits aren’t something they can teach in school or college. We do not take this for granted and neither does our family.
Now, working side by side with your spouse, let’s just say after 12 years last year we finally got our OWN offices, this was something to be CELEBRATED for sure lol….

What is your favorite part of the business?

Hard question…. I think this changes by the day for each of us. But if it had to be the most consistent answer, it would probably always circle back to as cheesy as it sounds, making someone’s dream come true by building it.

Do you have a favorite build? And why is it your favorite?

Lyon: I think I have two, we built a 1975 red & white C10 almost a decade ago. It was the first truck I really felt helped put us on the map within the C-10 world. It pole vaulted all of us into the love of and addiction to the truck world.

The second would be our 1967 Custom GMC Dually. When our team first set out to build this truck, I don’t think any of us had a clue as to just how much heart and sweat was going to go into this build. I mean as builders we always “know”, but this one, it just brought out the best of all of us. Its just a wickedly built truck.

What is your greatest challenge in reaching your goals?

Jen: oooof. This one. I’d say figuring out our greatest challenge has now become our greatest asset in reaching our goals. Lyon and I never stop communicating our “why” with each other. Our goals are always connected to our why. Which can sometimes be a bit of a challenge for sure. But doing this, helps us stay committed. That and neither of us know how to quit lol…..

What advice would you give someone interested in starting a custom shop?

Lyon & Jen: RUN!!
No really, do your research. Talk with as many different types of people in the business as you can. We both learn and share that knowledge with each other every single day.
And most importantly, STAY HUMBLE.

Was there something that prompted the charity efforts tied to the builds?

To be honest, we had NO idea what or how we were going to make it all work together when we first started. We just heard a story about a Veteran and his grandma’s ol’ car and just wanted to really make it happen for him. With a lot of late-night pillow talk, we created “The Dream Dart” Project and then just grew it from there. From DAY one of these builds, not only have we been blessed to have the most INCREDIBLY talented people in the industry join the team for each build, but also, the HotRod community has never ceased to amaze us with connecting to these causes and these builds. Grateful? Couldn’t even come close to describing it.

Does attending SEMA help the business?

Jen: I think so. For several reasons. We have built some incredible relationships with our vendors because of SEMA. Some have become like family. Lyon and I look forward to spending some pretty good quality time with them as well as their families each year that we go.
Then there is the credibility it gives our company. When a client knows that we have been invited to take builds to SEMA several years in a row, it definitely helps during the build planning process/conversation.
But, most importantly, the amount of teamwork that goes into these builds within our own shop. It brings everyone so much closer. I mean, Lyon and I do divorce every SEMA lol… but the guys, their dedication to each other and the builds, its insurmountable 😉 And then (as long as SEMA allows it) we bring our whole shop with us to SEMA. They put in the work; they get to feel the reward. It closes the year on a really good note. Its hard, really hard, but really worth it.

Can you share a little about your current SEMA build?

Jen: We are bringing two this year. (Lyon’s divorce this year will be an expensive one lol) I should say we are hoping to. I always use the word hope, as to not jinx the SEMA crunch. Its so scary having the pressure.
We have a 1963 Falcon with a Super Charged Coyote Motor under the hood. Todays goal was to get the hood to close. Who does this this close to SEMA? A man who understands that the partners on the build know he has the (you know whats) to install parts at the SEMA SHOW parking lot if he absolutely has to. That’s who.
And we also have a 1968 Jeepster that is a full custom ground up build mounted on a custom chassis with every creature comfort inside we could pack into.

What is it like the last month before getting a build to SEMA?

Jen: SCARY. We have vendors that still do not have their manufacturing done yet for the parts that need to be on these rigs!
Lyon: It’s a blast. The adrenaline is FANTASTIC.

How about a lesson you learned the hard way that others may be able to avoid?

Jen: I don’t know about one specific lesson, I think when in business, there are so many hard lessons, and everyone responds to each of them so differently. But I do striongly believe that everyone can benefit from staying humble. No matter how much you think you know, you need to know more.

Both: There is a business & development class meant for those already in or wanting to be in this Industry that is put on by Roger from Ironworks Speed & Custom, and Troy from BBT Fabrications, do what you have to do to take this class.

Thank you for sharing yourselves. What can QuickTrick family, and others, do to help and support you?

I think just like everyone else, sharing and supporting us like you do is so awesome! We love our QuickTrick family! And are extremely honored by this request!

Tess & Gary – Mr & Mrs QuickTrick:

We are truly proud to be one of your supporters.  Thank you all so much for sharing and best of luck at the SEMA Show this year.

We hope this interview will bring more builds for the future.

Check out more of the Family work at the links below and support the family!

Website:  FinishLineSpeedShop.com
Instagram: @FinishLineSpeedShop
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FinishLineSpeedShop