Pedal to the metalFox Valley construction industry leader hones competitiveness on the racetrackStory by Gina ManganLADIES AND GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES. Pedal to the metal all the way to the finish, and don’t let the competition close that gap. We’ve got a job to do, a race to win. Booyah! Board room or race track? It’s hard to tell when Denny Lamers is at the helm. The CEO and president of the McMahon Group in Neenah is as passionate about winning a road race with his Lamers Motor Racing team as he is about remaining at the top of game in the engineering and architectural services industry. Whether in business or recreation, a win’s a win. A win that relies on building a quality team, operational efficiency, vision and strategy. “You could say I like to win. I’m competitive,” said the 60-year-old Lamers. That, says his son and Lamers Motor Racing driver, TJ, might be an understatement. “Competitive? Yeah, that’s for sure,” said 21-year-old TJ with a chuckle, who last year began driving stock cars for his father’s racing team. “He works hard and deserves everything he’s worked for.” Lamers is well recognized throughout the Fox Cities through his professional leadership at McMahon Group, which this year is celebrating its 100th year in business. The company began in 1909 as a civil engineering firm. The McMahon Group is now comprised of four firms that provide engineering, architectural, design/build and operational services. Lamers was promoted from vice president to CEO and president in 1985. Since then, he’s grown the company from a staff of 30 to about 160 employees with a presence in three states. When the tie comes off THAT’S HIS DAY JOB. As a weekend warrior, Lamers has been making a name for himself on the racing circuits, first as owner of the Lamers Motor Racing team, and now as a driver himself. Lamers Motor Racing has won more races than most other teams this side of Chicago and can claim several national championships, Lamers said. He and his team drivers race regularly at the Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna and Road America in Elkhart Lake, as well as other venues across the country. “I don’t keep count, but I can say we’ve won hundreds of races and have done very well wherever we go,” he said. Most recently, Lamers drove his pro Trans-Am Ford Mustang in his first professional race at the Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am Series at Road Atlanta in March. He finished the race in 11th place. Also representing his team at the series was Appleton driver Cliff Ebben, who raced a new Ford Mustang owned by Lamers, finishing in 14th place. North Carolina driver Tony Ave raced a third Mustang owned by Lamers, finishing in 13th place. Lamers has only been driving race cars since 2000, but his love of the sport goes back to childhood, when he attended as many races as he could as a spectator. “I would go out to the local dirt tracks and watch those cars go as fast as they could go, and I thought they were all the Indy 500,” he said. “I didn’t have any perspective at the time. It was just the coolest thing I could imagine.” He and his family lacked the financial resources required to become involved in racing, so Lamers poured his competitive energies into high school football and other athletics. After a stint in the military, Lamers attended college and received his degree in engineering. He started raising his family and began building his career at McMahon. “When I was building my career here, I was going wide open with it. When I get focused on something, I really put my energies into it,” he said. “So as a family we would go to Road America once in a while, but it didn’t get serious until about 1993.”
Breaking into racing AT THAT POINT IN 1993, Lamers sponsored a midget car, then formed Lamers Motor Racing Ltd. and went on to own midgets, which are small, open-wheel racecars with high power-to-weight ratios. They typically weigh about 950 pounds and run on up to 350 horsepower. “They’re angry little things, very light, very quick and very entertaining,” he said. The Lamers Motor Racing midget team traveled throughout the country, won a Badger Midget Championship, and raced with the likes of Nascar superstars Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne. Lamers Racing then moved on to sprint cars, a larger open-wheel car powered by up to 850 horsepower. At that point, the team raced in as many as 50 races a year throughout the nation and won the 1998 and 2000 USAC Sprint Car Championship with driver Tony Elliott behind the wheel. The team now races amateur GT-1 and pro Trans-Am cars in local and national races. A Lamers Motor Racing car driven by Cliff Ebben of Appleton won a GT-1 National Championship. “I met Cliff at Road America, where he did really well in a car that wasn’t in the greatest shape. We built him a car in our shop, and he went out to Road America and won six June Sprints in a row and a national championship,” he said. Ebben, who has raced in a variety of cars and venues since 1971, said he and Lamers share a passion for racing. Ebben works on and drives a car that Lamers owns. “He’s good, real good to work with,” said Ebben, who said winning the June Sprints is one of the highlights of his racing career.
Behind the wheel AT ABOUT THE TIME EBBEN came on board, Lamers began trying his own hand at driving. He began by driving street Corvettes around Road America and attending Sport Car Club of America driving schools. “I thought I might try to bend up my cars myself instead of having everyone else do it for me,” he joked. “At around age 51 I decided racing was something I could do. I had always played sports, but I had problems with my knees and at some point that physical ability goes away. But racing replaced sports and allowed me to use my competitive instincts.” It is, however, a bit faster and more furious, he said. Much to the chagrin of his wife, Jan, and children, TJ and 19-year-old daughter, Jamie. Speeds at the Wisconsin International Raceway reach about 115 miles per hour, but Road America speeds can hit as high as 180 mph, Lamers said. Up until this year, Lamers said he himself drove only two to three times a year, but he plans to bump that up to six or seven races with his debut in the pro trans-am series and the acquisition of two new 810 horsepower trans-am Mustangs. While Lamers has been in a racing wreck, he nor the other drivers have had any serious injuries. “It’s hard to race like this and not run into stuff every once in a while,” he said. “It’s so much harder than it looks when you’re sitting in the stands drinking a beer.” Fortunately, he said, his family has been supportive of his mildly risky hobby. Not only has TJ taken a spot on the team as a driver, but his daughter has also become an avid race fan and likes to hang out in the pit. “There’s just something about the smell of burning fuel, brakes and rubber,” he said. Like his father, TJ said his competitive instincts drew him to the sport. He had never raced anything other than go-karts before getting behind the wheel of one of his father’s race cars. A few crashes and one car fire later, the younger Lamers is still raring to go. “We’ve got a really good team and a great crew,” he said. That team also includes local drivers Jim Duchow and Tanner Bohlen, as well as crew chief Greg Bosch and several other top notch mechanics – most of whom offer their services on a volunteer basis.
Building a winning team LAMERS ATTRIBUTES MUCH OF HIS TEAM’S SUCCESS to the quality of its members. Building a team of people who work well together and striving for quality while streamlining operational costs is a key to success, whether it be in business or racing, Lamers said. “We build our own cars, and we find new ways of getting faster and better without spending more money,” he said. “I think it’s something I’ve been able to do in the office, too. I couldn’t be more proud of the people I have in the McMahon Group. We have some of the best, and our turnover is virtually zero.” Several of his company employees, along with other executives and business owners in the community, will participate this May in the annual Lamers’ Racing Driving Experience at Road America. Attendees drive their sports cars on the track, as well as some of Lamers’ cars. No racing allowed. Admission is being collected in the form of donations, which will be turned over to the Theda Clark Medical Foundation for the P.A.R.T.Y. at the PAC program. The program is designed to encourage high school students to make good choices, particularly as they relate to driving their own cars. Activities like this explain, in part, why firms like Appleton-based Les Stumpf Ford Inc. or Schmalz Landscaping of Appleton decided years ago to sponsor Lamers Motor Racing. Lamers is the only motor sports participant sponsored by Les Stumpf Ford, said Corey Stumpf, the auto dealer’s vice president and a racing fan. “We sponsor him because of the person he is – a good business operator and a good person for our community,” Stumpf said. “He runs an exceptional business. The same standards apply in his play time.”
Gina Mangan is a freelance writer based in Oshkosh and is raising three children. Readers can email her at gmanganschmitz@new.rr.com.
“Out of the Office” is a feature in New North B2B highlighting the more unique, out-of-ordinary hobbies, thrill-seeking activities or avocations engaged in by members of our business community. It’s intended to show readers a side of our neighbors we might not witness from a strictly professional relationship. |