GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) – Life after high school goes by fast – especially for Evan Shotko.
Like most 19-year-olds, Evan still doesn’t have a place of his own. But he has his own business.
“I always knew this was what I wanted to do, this is all I’m good at,” he said.
He is the owner of Shotko Motorsports, which fine-tunes the customers’ cars for race day, including his own.
“I really started working on people’s cars to pay for racing, so I did it during school because racing is expensive. Now that I’ve graduated, I’ve been able to take it to the next level and do it for a living, ”Shotko said.
He only has a part time employee but he gets a lot of help from the drivers who taught him everything.
“My father ran; my grandfather ran. Racing family. So, I was able to learn a lot there, but both of my parents are also entrepreneurs, so I learn from them both ways.
Racing isn’t the only thing in Evan’s blood: his father, three-time track champion Billly Shotko, says entrepreneurship is too.
“He’s always been a bit of an entrepreneur, my wife and I are both, and he wanted to be on his own, his boss. We are proud of him. “
With the help of his family, business is booming. But it’s going almost too well.
“From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed it’s on the phone, I’m here, ordering parts, doing something with racing, my car or the company. She is running from sunrise to sunset.
But he couldn’t do it any other way.
“There are many days when I hate my job. But there are days where I can sit and watch and it’s pretty cool. It’s pretty much anyone’s dream to do what I’m doing. “
There is no finish for Shotko Motorsports: Evan is enjoying the ride.
“As long as my business grows and I can support my family and hope that one day my children can compete with their stuff, I can be happy.”
And that’s all his group of loved ones in the pits want for him.
“I’ve been running for a long time, 20 years, and everyone asks me ‘do you miss him?’ I think I would miss him, but be with him and do these things? I enjoy it so much, if not more “.