Oehler Understands Business Opportunities Abound At Racetrack
By Susan Wade
Ryan Oehler gets it.
The NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer from Bloomington, Ill., has had an outstanding work ethic since childhood. He has been around his father Brad’s businesses and inherited his dad’s entrepreneurial spirit.
And it isn’t lost on him that the dragstrip – any racetrack, for that matter – is a petri dish for entrepreneurship and innovation and business-building opportunities.
Yes, he’s a college graduate (Illinois State University, Industrial Technology). But he came to the conclusion simply by using his powers of observation.
“I love when someone says [of his Pro Stock Motorcycle racing], ‘That is one expensive hobby. I go, ‘Obviously, you’ve never seen how much money comes in the racetrack.’ There is so much money on the property and so many business opportunities that people just don’t understand if you’re not a business-minded person,” Oehler, 36 said.
For example, he said, “The guy who is going around here, semi-retired, polishing wheels on rigs leaves with $2,000 cash over a weekend because he came here and worked for 14 hours. Then you got the guy you bump into him up at the starting line [and he says], ‘Hey Ryan, I really like you. You’re from Illinois. Well, I got a warehouse in Joliet. I’d like you to put all new air conditioners on the roof for me.’ OK, well, there’s a couple hundred grand. That would be awesome.
“And that’s the kind of opportunities that you run into when you’re in this family,” Oehler said. “It’s a network, and it becomes this avenue to start building relationships with other businesses.”
B&K Cylinder Heads started the Oehler family’s success story.
“My Dad ran a cylinder-head company for his whole life, and we did mail order cylinder heads. We built engines, then we went into a high-performance shop. So now we run that, and now we run the heating and cooling company (AirTec, Inc.), and then we have some real-estate companies with properties that we manage and take care of,” Ryan Oehler said.
“Now we’re trying to build up our Flyin’ Ryan [racing program], and we’re trying to build that into a business that can make some money with T-shirts and swag and stuff. My wife, Laura, is a photographer and a graphic designer and a videographer. So we started High Performance Marketing. Now she’s out here doing videos for Steve Torrence’s team and Chris McGaha’s team and she’s working with Natalie Torrence.”
And Flyin’ Ryan Oehler will continue to seek business opportunities at the racetracks just as diligently as he is seeking more Wally trophies.
