| ........Bob Tunnell - President & General Manager |
| .......Jim Leithauser - Chief Technician & Race Prep |
| .......Dan Goodman - Service Technician & Race Prep |
| ........(click on any name to learn more about them) |
Bob Tunnell - President & General Manager
Bob manages the day-to-day business operations of the Bimmer Haus Performance Group (Bimmer Haus, Stuttgart MBZ, and Apex Hyperformance) and serves as a consultant on all racecar prep and development.
Bob's first foray into professional motorsports was as General Manager of Seattle International Raceway in the early 1980's overseeing all facility operations and promoting NHRA and AMA events.
He continued to promote Indy Car, IMSA, and NASCAR races in the Seattle and Portland markets before joining Warren Miller Films as Associate Producer on 10 feature-length films and Executive Producer of more than 50 nationally syndicated television shows (including 5 about auto racing). Bob also served as General Manager of Warren Miller Entertainment overseeing all day-to-day operations prior to the company's acquisition by Times-Mirror Magazines and ultimately AOL.
Over the years Bob has performed stunt and high-performance driving sequences for feature films and television shows and appeared in several national and regional television and newspaper automotive ad campaigns. He has also taught high performance driving, vehicle evaluation, and corporate motivational programs for nearly a dozen European, Asian, and North American automotive manufacturers.
As a competitor, Bob has won 12 Solo II and ProSolo National Championships. (His wife, Patty, has also won 17 National Championships!) He is a graduate of the Jim Russell and SCCA Competition Driving Schools and holds road racing track records in Showroom Stock and Touring class cars.
In recent years Bob has made four trips to Afghanistan to provide emergency aid and long term developmental support in a refugee camp called Barek Aub north of Kabul. Bob's wife, Patty, is also involved in the work in Barek Aub and has traveled there twice with him. They both have plans to go back again in 2010.
In his spare time (those rare weekends not spent racing or traveling) Bob enjoys outdoor activities like golf, scuba diving, golf, heli-skiing, more golf, and hiking with Patty.
Although he denies being a "collector," Bob currently owns six BMWs: a 1995 M3, 1995 740i, 1997 M3 sedan, 1998 328iC, 1994 325is, 1994 325i, and has built the 1995 M3 into an E-Modified autocrossing monster with a Eurosport Twin Screw supercharger putting out well over 500hp. In the past he has also owned a 2002 M3, a 1994 325i, 1991 318is, two 1989 325ix's, 1988 525i, and a 1990 M3.
Jim Leithauser -- Senior Technician and Race Car
Fabricator
Jim serves as opr Chief Technician performing general service and repairs, and also oversees all of our high performance projects and race car fabrication and prep work.
After majoring in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky, Jim began his automotive career at an independent BMW/Porsche/Audi repair facility more than 25 years ago. Certified as an ASE Master Technician, Jim soon opened a repair and restoration facility of his own specializing in BMW and Porsche automobiles.
He was recruited in the early 90's to become the new Technical Manager for the SCCA'S Club Racing program where he helped develop the rules package for the conversion of Showroom Stock racing to the current Touring rules structure.
Jim left the SCCA in early 2000 to take over as Sales Manager for the joint venture startup between TC Kline Racing and Tri-Point Engineering, ProPartsUSA. He also served as Manager of the Koni Rebuild Center, one of only three factory authorized Koni shock and strut rebuild centers in the country.
Jim's competitive career began in the mid 70's where he won 9 trophies at the Solo II and ProSolo National Championships, but he had to put driving on hold when he went to work for the SCCA in 1993. But he didn't have to put his vehicle development skills on hold and he continued to design and prepare winning race cars culminating in Bob Endicott's win -- in Jim's ITA car -- at the American Road Race of Champions at Road Atlanta in 1999.
Since leaving the SCCA Jim has continued his racing career and won the SSB National Points Championship in the SCCA'S Rocky Mountain Division in 2001, 2002, and 2003 as well as winning a Club Racing National Championship at the 2004 SCCA Runoffs in SSB in a BMW Z4.
When asked what he likes to do in his spare time, Jim replied: "Work!" ....(I guess it beats getting trounced by his daughter at the go-kart track. <g>)
Jim's daily driver is a gorgeous 2007 Z4 3.0 Coupe and he also currently owns a 1998 M3 sedan that he's built into a competitive SpecM3 racecar. In the past his stable held a 1988 325ix, 1998 Z3, 1999 M3, 1998 M3 sedan, and a gorgeous 2003 Z4 2.5 that he built into that National Championship-winning track racer.
Dan Goodman -
Service Technician & Race Prep, a.k.a. "Flounder"
After a couple years of recruiting, we've finally snagged Dan to be a Technician and Race Prep Specialist here at Bimmer Haus!
Many of you already know Dan as past Chairman of the Rocky Mtn. Chapter's Autocross program, as an instructor at RMC and SCCA Driving Schools, or as the current President of the Rocky Mtn. Chapter! But he's also a very experienced Technician -- he comes to us after serving as a Technician at Co's BMW Center in Loveland following nearly a decade of work on other fine European cars in Boulder. And the guy knows high performance... he has helped develop many of the top BMW track and autocross cars in the region.
Dan, like Jim, holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering (from UCSB... I hate him) and has been working on cars for more than 20 years.
When he's not working on cars, racing, or teaching, Dan says he likes to go snowboarding or play hockey.
He admits to currently owning a '95 325i, a '99 M3, and recently snagged a 1997 M3 that he's built into a SpecM3 racecar which just happened to win the 2009 NASA GTS2 National Championship with Flounder behind the wheel! You'd think that would keep him satisfied, but for some reason he keeps eyeing my '95 M3 autocross car and mumbling "V8...V8...V8..." under his breath. Not sure what that means, but it can't be good.
Dan also says he hopes you'll come on by to meet him personally some time soon. And don't worry... he's made it very clear that customers will not have to refer to him as "Mr. President," "Herr Direktor," or "Sir" as the rest of us do. He said "Mr. Goodman" is acceptable. What a guy!