This week’s episode of The MuscleCar Place Podcast is out!

Click the Play button below to listen to the show here, or click here to listen in iTunes!

[audio:http://www.themusclecarplace.com/podpress_trac/web/2868/0/the_musclecar_place_podcast_episode77_03222011.mp3]

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Chris Douglas is one of those go-getter guys that you’re a little envious of, but at the same time you want to learn from. He’s not yet 35 years old, but he’s already made his way into the position of Vice President of Marketing for all of the brand families in the COMP Performance Group.

To top it off, he’s done it the right way by working hard and earning it, not by stepping on the “little people” on his way up the ladder. He loves cars, loves the culture, and loves racing and performance. In fact, before his days at COMP he dreamed of being the next Jeff Gordon!

His love of racing was literally “in his blood” from day one as he came from a family of oval track racers. At the age of 9, he started his own racing career in karts which eventually led to a World Karting Association National Championship! From that point forward he raced on a professional level with career starts in NASCAR, ARCA, and ASA.

Shortly after graduating from the University of North Alabama with a BA in Marketing he decided to step away from professional racing and enter the business side of the industry. He then spent several years as the operating partner of the Race-On Driving school. That may seem like the dream job to end all jobs, but when the opportunity presented it to join COMP Cams as a marketing coordinator he grabbed it and never looked back.

In our interview, we discussed several of the great products in the COMP Performance Group, but also the culture of working at COMP. It’s a tight environment of gearheads, and it’s not uncommon to find someone that’s been working there since the 1970′s, a rare thing in today’s business society.

He tells the story of a cleaning lady that accidentally “cleaned” Dale Earnhardt’s signature off of a NASCAR hood in the lobby of their building, and also spoke of the one person at COMP Cams that ground every cam the Intimidator used in Cup Competition (a person who is still at COMP today).

Thanks for the interview Chris. We’re glad to know that you’re a racer at heart!