The Team
OUR TEAM
Who We Are
Tony Brown
Aaron didn’t go far to find a talented finance and business manager for the shop – he recruited his son, Tony. After living abroad in several European countries before the age of 18, Tony received an education in international relations way before starting business school. His expertise has helped The Garage Shop successfully work with international clients, allowing him to achieve his dream of growing the company with his father.
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Life dream: Travel to Antarctica (and hug a penguin)
Mike "Gunny" Goodman
Mike brings a unique background to The Garage Shop having served as an Operations Chief in the United States Marine Corps for 20 years. During his military service, "Gunny" learned to skillfully achieve any task presented. During his time serving our country, he lived in Japan, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia. He has since worked with VET Motorsports and he continues the mission of making The Garage Shop the best in the business with his dedication.
Hometown: Cecilia, KY
Life Dream: Travel to South Africa and Australia
Spencer Brown
When building a shop which fabricates high-end race cars, it certainly helps having a son with a Masters Degree in Electromechanical Engineering and Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Aaron brought on his son, Spencer, to help create the cars which lead the team's initiatives. Spencer proved his expert mechanical abilities early on winning first place in a national university competition by building a high-tech exoskeleton Variable Cadence Orthopedic leg. This was done in conjunction with Atrium Health and the US Army. This same ingenuity was used on the Roush Racing No. 6 Cup car, which resulted in multiple Land Speed records.
Hometown: Catawba, NC
Life Dream: Go to Space
Max Sigle
Max began his career working on street cars, but a need for something faster accelerated his journey toward the race track. Quickly become adept on suspension and brakes led to a very successful career in NASCAR which included celebrating with drivers Dale Jarrett and Carl Edwards in Victory Lane. His ambition at The Garage Shop is to continue creating champion-level cars, while fixing up his own ’63 Chevrolet Nova for drag racing.
Hometown: Kansas City, MO
Life Dream: Take off for a month and stay at an all-inclusive Mexican resort
Tim Clements
When you've spent almost 50 years working on cars, trucks and race cars; safe to say you’ve reached a level of expertise. Tim’s mechanical and bodywork talents are important to The Garage Shop, and they are magnified by his pure love for the job. He also works on Harleys, has traveled around the country in an RV, and uses his pilot license to view the world from above. He honors his late wife, Wendy, by participating in the Rose Parade and continuing her love of floristry.
Hometown: Greenfield, WI
Life Dream: Visit Hawaii and go BASE jumping
Derek Kearns
Hometown: Seagrove, NC
Life Dream: To one day run my Late Model in the famed Snowball Derby
At the age of three, Derek started attending races at Caraway (NC) Speedway with his grandfather as his first exposure to racing. His first jobs working in the sport was volunteering for crews, then started helping drivers on their Pro Cup Cars. From there, he moved up the ranks pitting for ARCA teams before becoming a Crew and Car Chief in the NASCAR Truck Series. Derek then started pitting for Xfinity and Cup teams. Now, he's with us at The Garage Shop as Shop Fabrication Manager. His main joy working here is the ability to work with a great group of teammates on unique cars that go fast; and having fun while doing son.
Bobby Yost
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Bobby Yost had his first exposure to racing attending events at the former Heidelberg (PA) Raceway. From there, he learned to build race cars becoming a Chassis Specialist for PPI Racing, Evernham Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Fury Race Cars and is now part of The Garage Shop. His favorite part about TGS is the fact there are so many talented people here with no egos involved. Also, Bobby enjoys building really cool race cars, that go really fast.
Life Dream: Own a cabin in the woods next to a Trout stream
Steve Hoag
As a young man, Steve had no idea that his hobby of racing Go-carts would turn into a 36-year racing career. His three years of learning electronics in the US Air Force gave him the skill set needed to dive into wiring cars for NASCAR only a few years later. He went on to be the manager of a large show car company which put rare vintage cars on display around the United States. His favorite moments include wiring the 1967 Can-Am car, working on the TK Racing Legends car and showing a Civil Air Patrol car with Oshkosh. Now, he is utilizing his decades of experience to create innovative wiring solutions in our unique and exceptional race cars.
Hometown: Binghamton, NY
Life Dream: Continue creating incredible cars with The Garage Shop
Drew Patey
As a man based near Daytona, Florida, Drew not only enjoys a beachside lifestyle, he enjoys a life centered around his true passion: racing. For over 30 years, he has coordinated successful motorsports programs in NASCAR and managed the environmental program for Safety-Kleen, helping him to develop strong relationships at all 65 major race tracks in North America and with more than 250 race teams including NASCAR, Indy Car, Sports Car racing, Supercross and the NHRA. He currently assists The Garage Shop with the coordination of partnership programs to race land speed race cars at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Hometown: Smithfield, RI
Life Dream: Smile and find something to be grateful for every day
Dylan Godinez
Dylan is the newest addition to our growing Engineering Department and graduated May 2022 from the PA College of Technology with a degree in Engineering Design Technology. His interest in racing started as a youth with he and his dad watching NASCAR races. Dylan collects NASCAR Memorabilia such as die cast and race-used sheet metal. He specializes in engineering of components to build for our various race cars. In his off time, his hobbies are travel and being an outdoorsman.
Hometown: Reading, PA
Life Dream: To be a professional race car driver
Mike Sweet
Mike Sweet is a long-time veteran of Motorsports on multiple levels. He drove Dirt Late Models at tracks such as McKean County (PA) Fair Raceway, Genesee County (NY) Speedway and Wyoming County (NY) International Speedway. After hanging up the helmet, he moved to NC to work in NASCAR at Bahari Racing, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Robert Yates Racing, Fisher Engineering and Chip Ganassi Racing as a Fab Shop Manager and then a Senior Operations Manager. Mike has made multiple trips to NASCAR Victory Lanes with a Daytona 500 and Brickyard and Coca-Cola 600 in 2010. He's also been part of three championships.
Hometown: Belfast, NY
Life Dream: Drag Race a
Funny Car
