People are always asking us how we got started with BangShift.com. And the truth is both sadder and more romantic than you would expect when talking about the startup of a company. What sometimes gets quickly scanned over in the story is the fact that we were able to do this because we had guys like Bret Voelkel, Steve Matuzek, and Toddy Ryden in our corner. Bret runs Ridetech, Steve Aeromotive, and Todd was with MSD. They were the first three companies to support us here. And they didn’t even have anything to look at when they said “Count us in!” After we turned the lights on here at BangShift for the first time, we started adding more companies, and as we’ve grown some of them have actually started calling us instead of us calling them. As we continue to grow we are getting more and more new sponsors, and whether they’ve been around since the start over 5 years ago, or are new to the fold, we appreciate their support and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship.

What made the early days special was the fact that Steve and Bret and Todd weren’t signing up with “BangShift”, but rather with me and Brian. They were backing us, regardless of what our hair brained scheme was. And for that, we thank them. Seriously thank them. Not the “Hey I gotta thank you ’cause your my sponsors” thank you, but “Thank you for supporting us when we decided to punt. Thank you for having faith in us. Thank you for kicking us in the ass when we weren’t seeing another opportunity. Thank you for the advice. We appreciate it.”

You know how much we pimp our sponsors around here, and when you watch one of our live broadcasts you hear me talking about them and their products and their support. Our site is free, our broadcasts are free, everything here is free except the shirts and hats. That’s because we have the greatest companies in the aftermarket behind us. They support us so you don’t have to pay. That’s the truth. They also support us with content, information, and products that give us more stuff to write about.

And a lot of our sponsors have become our friends, like “Mad” Matt Graves at American Powertrain, and “Big” Bill Tichenor at Holley who for some reason think we’re fun to hang out with.

The point is, that without all of our BangShift.com Sponsor’s support, we couldn’t do it. And since they run ads so all you people can read them, and you read the site because they have sponsored us so that we can, you two are kinda working together here. So thanks for doing that. We appreciate it.

Now go out there and thank our Sponsors today! They all deserve it, and their all listed below.

On behalf of myself and Brian, along with all the BangShifters out their reading the site each day, we Thank You.

Oh, and you guys should be thankful as well, becauset A. I did this today instead of tomorrow when I’ll be half swacked on Egg Nog, and B. That you aren’t close enough for me to thank in person while half swacked cause I just might lick your face like a dog.

And that would just be weird. You don’t even want to think about what Brian would do. YUCK!

Thank You To:
Aeromotive
Ridetech
MSD
American Powertrain
Holley
Lucas Oil
AFCO
AutoMeter
Comp Cams
RHS
FAST
TCI
Jet Hot
Chris Alston’s Chassisworks
Crane Cams
Powermaster
Hedman
Hotchkis
Rick’s Tanks
Prolong
And a bunch of new guys that are coming on board for 2014 that we’ll tell you about soon.