127: Tim Palazzolo of GAP Racing earned his reputation as a world-class builder by paying attention to the little details
Description
Tim was practically born into working on cars. His dad worked at an automotive repair business and Tim immediately took a liking to cars. When he turned 14, he got a compact truck and began modifying it for the mini-truck scene. He built the car all by himself and was happy to show it off at high school. He got his associates degree and got a job at O’Reilly Auto Parts as a delivery driver. Over the years, Tim worked his way up through the ranks, managed his own store, and even worked at the corporate office.
Tim’s dad, George, eventually went out on his own and opened up George’s Automotive Performance which was a mix of general repair and simple performance mods. Tim decided to make a career switch and go work with him. They began doing more and more restorations and performance upgrades for muscle cars. After a few years, Tim decided he wanted to compete for the Riddler Award and spent 4 years working on a Mustang which ended up making it to the Great 8 at the show.
Eventually, Tim bought the business from his dad and named it GAP Racing. He now rents a 4,000 square foot building and has 5 employees. He has added modern muscle cars to his work load but still focuses on a couple really large muscle car projects each year for special customers and SEMA. He already has plans for a much larger building and just needs to find the space and coordinate with the city to get it going.