Fri, 5 Nov 2004, 11:07 AM “We Build Things So Other Guys Can Beat Us.”

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2004 Auto Imagery, Inc.

Jim Hughes

Jim Hughes is a very successful businessman and a tremendously successful racer. In the business field he is best known for running Hughes Performance Converters and Transmissions, a company that is based in Phoenix, Arizona. In the racing arena he is best known for winning the Lucas Oil Super Comp national championship in 2002 and he has also earned a pretty good reputation as a Super Gas racer. Jim is so good at the 9.90 class that he will go to the Division 7 race at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend as one of a very few drivers who still have a shot at winning the national championship. “I really don’t know what I have to do,” Jim said between test runs today at the Strip. “I’ll just go out, try to win rounds and then read National Dragster to see how I did.” Of course in this new age of communications I think Jim will know how he did even before the race is over. His comments do, however, reflect his true attitude toward this weekend. Jim Hughes will go out and race and he’ll try to win, but more importantly he will go there to service the customers of Hughes Performance. “The track really is like my office and I’ll be there from sunrise to sunset in an effort to help the racers and promote my business.” That has pretty much been Jim’s philosophy since he began racing back in 1977 and it seems to have been a very good one since both his business and his racing careers are doing very well.

Like many racers, Jim began racing many years ago at a much more modest level than what he is doing today. “I had a 1965 Chevelle and in 1977 I began racing it at the tracks around home. I raced at a lot of the bracket races and competed in the Championship Bracket Racing Association races and did fairly well,” he said. Then, as most racers do, he gradually moved up the ladder, starting with Super Street and Super Gas and finally into the Super Comp class. And, in the future, you’ll probably see Jim Hughes racing in Stock and Super Stock eliminator on a regular basis. But whatever class he’s in the goal will be the same, to use the track as a laboratory to test the company’s products and to make them better. “My dad started the business back around 1969 and it was primarily a company that made O.E.M. converters. When I started racing in ’77 I told him that I thought there was a real opportunity for us to make better transmissions and converters than were out there in the racing arena. I guess I convinced him.” I guess he did, and after the initial foray into the converter field Jim also convinced dad that racing transmissions could be a nice niche for the business and they were added to the product line in the early ‘80’s. Today the company has about fifty full time employees and is one of the most well recognized names in the performance industry. “I’m very fortunate to have my brother, Jeff, and my sister, Jan, involved with the business,” Jim said. “I couldn’t do it without them. Jeff used to bracket race and he was very good at it and he puts a lot of that knowledge to work in the company. He basically handles the research and development part of the operation as well as running the shop. Jan runs the office and keeps everything going smoothly.” Racers also know that one of the big parts of Jim’s operation is Kevin Kleineweber, who works with Jim and races, too. “Kevin is such a big part of the business and I couldn’t do what I do at the track without him,” Jim said. “And Ryan Symington comes with us to the track and he’s also a great asset to the team.”

Hughes compound.

For anyone who has been to a national event recently it’s easy to spot Jim Hughes and the Hughes Performance operation. “We are major sponsors with both NHRA and IHRA but we don’t set up in the midway. If a racer needs us he knows where to find us. We’ll be in the pits and we’re usually up before most of the racers and we’re still going late in the day. The track is my office. It’s where I do my work.” And that work consists of running his cars in order to promote the products that he sells. But more than that, Jim is there to help his fellow racers. It’s not unusual to find him helping the guy whom he might be racing in the next round or a guy who may be racing for the same championship that he is. “I like to go through the pits and if I see a guy with his car on jacks or if it looks like he’s having trouble I’ll stop by and ask if he needs help. If I can help him, I will even if he’s racing the same class that I am. I’m there to build and sell products that other guys will use to beat me,” he said. Interesting philosophy, isn’t it? Yet Jim will put that philosophy to the test this weekend in Las Vegas. “Ross Laris is running for the championship, too, and he uses our stuff and if he needs anything this weekend he knows we’ ll be there to help him. And the same goes for any other racer, too.” Craig Anderson, for example, who is also in Las Vegas for this weekend’s race and who is chasing Kevin Kleineweber for a spot in the top ten in Super Comp, was having trouble with his car backing out of the beams on the starting line, so Jim took the spare transmission that was to be used for Kevin’s car and put it in Craig’s car. He then shipped Craig’s back to the shop in Phoenix for repairs and had it returned to the track. Trouble is, Craig really liked the new unit and he doesn’t want to give it back. “We have that problem a lot, but it’s a good problem,” Jim said. “Once the guys try our stuff they usually like it and stay with it. We are at the track to service the racer and to do whatever we can to help them, even if it’s to beat us, because we know that will help us in the long run.”

Hughes celebrates a win.

As Jim heads into this final points race of the season, I’m pretty sure that he knows what he has to do to take the lead from Tom Stalba, the current leader, but I also believe it is not the first thing on his mind. “I have won a championship and that was a great feeling and I think everyone should be able to experience that. I’d like to win but that certainly wasn’t my goal at the start of the season. In fact, after I won in Tucson I skipped the next three races so I wouldn’t get caught up in that championship fever again. My two boys, Jake and Joey are playing Pop Warner football and I wanted to watch them, but after I won in Sonoma the boys said that I should go for the championship. I told them that I would but that I’d keep the points and they would split any money that I won.” Seems to be a good arrangement that’s working out for everyone. His daughter, Amanda, is a senior in high school and already has her Super Comp license and is looking toward a career in marketing. Just what the other racers need, huh, another Hughes family member in the 8.90 class?

Whether Jim Hughes wins the championship this year or not isn’t the big story for this forty-five year old businessman / racer. His company is doing well, he’s getting to spend time with his children and he thoroughly enjoys everything about his life. “I enjoy going to the “Racers For Christ” services at the track and being part of that community and I truly enjoy helping the other racers, but mainly I enjoy the interaction with the racers, servicing them and building good products.” Yeah, Jim, products that the other guys can use to beat you.”

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