As a seasoned veteran of the sport, Jim Greenheck grew up in a different era.

“The first time I ever went down a drag strip was in 1969,” says Greenheck. “I had been hooked on road racing but that form was beginning to fall apart at the time and drag racing was what was affordable to me. I was a big Can-Am fan and that sort of devoured itself. Drag racing was just something I could get into. I didn’t have the money or resources to do much of anything else, so it’s where I began.”

With no real “car-type” experience in his background, Greenheck began working in the family’s manufacturing business which has given him knowledge that has helped him today as the founder of CTech Manufacturing, a builder of various cabinetry for all types of industries.

“Actually,” he says, “my father disliked cars and I wasn’t allowed to own one, so I had to hide my car all throughout college. But I eventually purchased a wrecked ’67 Camaro and began rebuilding it, teaching myself welding, building engines and the like, all because I couldn’t afford to pay someone else to do that, which is how a lot of us did it at the time.”

Those experiences taught him well and he began racing the car, somewhat hooked on what was Modified Eliminator back in his early days. Several other race cars followed which included building a ground-up racer starting with what were popular then, an Alston chassis kit.

With three other siblings, it was only Jim who was involved in cars, or as he put it, “I was the trout trying to swim upstream.” Today, one of his brothers is a car collector of sorts but Jim is the only one as heavily involved in racing as he is. 

In the early ‘90s, along with some creative differences in his family’s business, Greenheck saw a need for custom cabinets in the exploding enclosed trailer market. “The only way to get cabinets for the interior of your trailer was to have the trailer manufacturer build them for you,” he said. “I built a couple of cabinets for some people and saw a niche for that type of business. It has just grown from there. While racing was where it began, today that market accounts for only about ten-percent of our business, but it’s racing that drives our business.

“What I had noticed,” he adds, “was that most of the cabinets used at the time were not designed for the dynamic environment of racing; a place where a guy goes back to the toolbox with a handful of tools but the drawers require two hands to open. That’s more of a static environment, one where I designed a drawer and door handle that allowed for one hand opening, yet still stay closed and locked when not in use. I guess it started when a customer mentioned to me that he had tools in one hand and beer in the other and he didn’t want to set either one down just to open his tool drawers. That’s sort of where it started. All because we just listen to our customers.”

Greenheck is still as hooked on the sport as he was in his early days, enjoying it maybe even more. “I love the technology,” he says, “but it’s also the competition along with the friendships made along the way which keep me coming back each year. Like a lot of us, it’s becoming increasing harder to get to the track, but it sure is fun when you’re there. Drag racing is just my release from the everyday world, and I enjoy it immensely.”

And it’s been good for our business as well. “Some of the connections we’ve made through racing, have suited us well,” Greenheck says. “Those connections have furthered our business in that we now build a lot of pit carts for other industries as far reaching as in the medical and even tactical trades, as well as for NASCAR and even the NFL. 

Competing with a Jerry Bickel-built Camaro in Competition Eliminator, he’s been fairly successful at winning races which includes a U.S. Nationals trophy this past year.

Along with the support he receives from his associates at CTech, Greenheck brought fellow Wisconsin native Brandon Frank back home to serve as crew chief. “Brandon has worked with a number of teams around the country, so he’s got a relationship with a lot of people in racing. Together, we’re able to do a lot of the work on the car by ourselves in addition to working with a number of companies. I’m not sure I would be racing if not for him. Brandon is extremely bright and even is the head of our R&D department at CTech.”

Married to his wife Debbie with no children, the two met at the races. “Both of our spouses had passed away and we sort of gravitated towards one another,” says Greenheck. “Her husband was a racer and that’s how we’d known each other. She probably likes the racing more than I do. We’ve been married now seven years and racing is what brought us together.”

Business, drag racing and even marriage; it’s all come together for Jim Greenheck, and he’s thankful for it all.