Click on any name to learn more about our staff members...
| Bob Tunnell - President & General Manager |
| Jim Leithauser - Sr. Technician & Fabricator |
| Matt Raymond - Parts Manager & Advisor |
Bob Tunnell - President & General Manager
Bob manages the day-to-day business operations of the Bimmer Haus Performance Group 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 16 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 his spare time (those rare weekends not spent racing) Bob enjoys outdoor activities like scuba diving, heli-skiing, and hiking with his wife of 29 years, Patty.
Bob got his start in racing in an SSB Miata, but currently autocrosses a 1995 BMW M3 in the SCCA ProSolo Series and road races a 2002 BMW M3 in SCCA Touring 2 in SCCA National events.
Jim Leithauser -- Senior Technician & Fabricator
Jim is our most experienced technician and fabricator. 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 20 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.
After leaving the SCCA Jim resumed his racing career and won the SSB National Points Championship in the SCCA'S Rocky Mountain Division in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 before winning the SCCA Runoffs at Mid-Ohio, the pinacle of amatuer road racing in the U.S.
Jim currently owns a 1988 BMW 325ix and a Spec Miata race car. He's also got another race car project in the works, but he made me swear not to tell anyone about it yet. But if you're an SSC driver... look out!!! <g>
Matt Raymond --
Service Writer & Shop Manager
Matt is the new friendly face sitting at the front desk where he serves as our Service Writer and Shop Manager.
I first met Matt during his tenure as Service Manager at a local BMW dealership. I needed some rather complicated ECU diagnosis on a race car we were building and Matt handled the task with ease and, much to my surprise, enthusiasm!
Because of his love of race cars he later came to sit in the stands and watch one of our road races at Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway, but ended up working on our pit crew -- when our 2002 M3 malfunctioned Matt dove in and swapped out the harmonic balancer and adjusted the throttle bodies so that I could make the race. Good thing he was there, too, because later that day his efforts allowed me to score the first win for an E46 M3 at an SCCA National road race anywhere in the country!
And when he wouldn't accept any payment for his efforts, I knew right then and there Matt was Bimmer Haus material. <g>
Although a young whippersnapper compared to some of us Old Farts at the shop, Matt is probably the most "decorated" member of the staff. He's a certified BMW Master Technician and has served as a BMW Shop Foreman and Service Manager. And he was ranked in the top 1% of Technicians and Service Managers nationwide and won awards for his performance in 2002, 2003, and 2004 while at the dealership.
I gotta admit to feeling just a little bit vindicated by hiring Matt. I have always taken great pride in having technicians on staff who are truly considered only the "cream of the crop." And after having 4 technicians in 4 years snatched away from us by local dealers, I finally found someone at a dealership with the experience, knowledge, character, maturity, and self motivation that are required to work for Bimmer Haus. Now he's one of "us"!
Matt admits to having owned a total of 8 BMWs: 3 different 2002's (including his current 1974 "project" car <g>), an 1987 325e, 1991 325ix, 1977 320i, 1990 525i, and a 2004 330ciPP.