Bimmer Haus

Bios

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  Bob Tunnell

  President & General Manager

  Bob manages the day-to-day business operations of the Bimmer Haus Performance Group (Bimmer Haus 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 numerous road racing track records in Showroom Stock and Touring class cars. Bob also serves as the Managing Director of Sozo International, a humanitarian aid NGO serving critically poor and disadvantaged people in Afghanistan. In recent years Bob has made 12 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 seven times with him. They both have plans to go back again in 2014. 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. And then maybe a little more golf. Although he denies being a "collector," Bob currently owns eight BMWs: a 1995 M3, 2001 740iL (daily driver), 1996 740iL, 1995 525i, 2003 330Ci, 2005 325Xi, another 2005 325Xi, 1994 325i, and has built the 1995 M3 into an E-Modified autocrossing monster into which the guys are dropping an LS3 V8 this spring. In the past he has also owned a 2002 M3, a 1994 325i, 1994 325is, 1997 M3 sedan, 1998 328iC, 1991 318is, two 1989 325ix's, 1988 525i, and a 1990 M3.

  Education:

  Link: Bob Tunnell

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  Jim Leithauser

  Senior Technician and Race Car Fabricator

  Jim serves as our 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 another Z4 3.0 Coupe that he's built into a competitive T3 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.

  Education:

  Certifications:

  Link: Jim Leithauser

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  Pat Pallotto

  Service Writer & Bimmer Haus Baseball Team Captain

  Pat is no longer the newest member of the Bimmer Haus crew... but he's just so darn much fun to heckle we're gonna let the "freshman hazing" go on for a while longer. Pat is the voice that greets you on the phone and the smiling face at the front desk whenver he's not sweeping, taking out the trash, processing invoices, fixing our lunch, shining our shoes, or doing any of the other 1,324 duties we've put on his job description. But Pat was a member of the National Honor Society in college so I'm sure he's smart enough to get it all done. Speaking of college, Pat was also the starting pitcher on their baseball team, but please don't tell the Rockies because he could probably make their starting rotation and I don't want to lose him! Automotively his daily driver is a really sweet 1999 Honda Civic (I think I just threw up a little bit on my keyboard), but he also owns a super clean 2008 MazdaSpeed 3 and 2004 Yamaha R6 sport bike. He says he's always wanted an E30 M3. (And he told us that after he got the job, so I don't think he was just suckin' up.) He also loves classic cars and says on weekends you can probably find him at a local car show. In his spare time Pat volunteers with a local fire department, coaches a Little League baseball team, and delivers meals to the elderly. He's a really sharp guy and -- despite the fact that he's making the rest of us look bad -- we're lucky to have him as part of the Bimmer Haus team!

  Link: Pat Pallotto

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  Chris Doyle

  Technician & Race Prep

  When Chris joined the Bimmer Haus crew in 2012, he brought many years and an abundance of experience in the racing industry both behind the wall and behind the wheel. When I asked Chris to give me a few tidbits about his background for his bio he handed me a two-page, single-spaced list of achievements. When I reminded him I only wanted the highlights, he said that's exactly what he gave me. At 37 years of age, Chris has been active in professional and amateur motorsports for 22 years as a mechanic, crew chief, and driver in IMSA, Grand-Am, and SCCA and his list of achievements is intimidating... championships in open wheel and prototype cars... multiple podiums at Daytona, Sebring, and all over the country... and I haven't even gotten to page 2 yet. When he's not driving or wrenching on race cars Chris serves on the Colorado Region SCCA Board of Directors and helps plan race events and driving schools at tracks all over our region. You can tell the guy is committed to the sport when he races exotic sports cars, but his daily driver is the team's tow vehicle... a Ford 350 one-ton dually. A man after my own heart. ;) Right now Chris is only working for us part time, but even so he's become our resident MINI expert. (don't go there ;) When he's not working at Bimmer Haus Chris is taking care of his many clients at Surface Exploration, Ltd. But he's very generous with his time so far and we're gonna take advantage of as many hours of his expertise as we can get. Oh... and I apologize for Chris's bio photo above, but someone threw out the phone books.

  Link: Chris Doyle

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  Patty Tunnell

  Front Desk, Bookkeeper, Controller

  Patty has been co-owner with husband, Bob, since Bimmer Haus opened its doors in 2001. Until recently she has remained behind the scenes quietly handling marketing and customer satisfaction duties in her spare time while managing a successful dental practice in Boulder. Since her former boss retired last November, Patty has been filling in at the BHP front desk a couple days a week while Pat is taking classes. Although Patty is a new face to the Bimmer Haus office, she is no stranger to the motorsports world. Patty is a 17-time National Champion in SCCA Solo and ProSolo competition and has been awarded the prestigious SCCA Solo Driver of Eminence and Spirit of the Sport Awards and is the only driver, male or female, in SCCA Solo history to win National Championships in 5 different racing categories. For the record, I taught Patty how to drive when she was 15 so she couldn't have done it without me! (That's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;) Seriously... Patty brings a lifetime of experience not only in motorsports but also in the business world having achieved success as one of the nation's top skip tracer/collectors for a major Fortune 500 company and coordinated world-wide travel and film and television distribution for a top independent filmmaker. In recent years Patty has made seven trips to Afghanistan with husband Bob to provide emergency aid and long term developmental support in a refugee camp called Barek Aub north of Kabul and has plans to go back again in 2014. She also actively serves at Flatirons Church and supports several local non-profit organizations. In those rare moments when not working, racing, or traveling, Patty is a highly competitive racquetball player. She will tell you that she's not "competitive," but the guys at the racquet club will tell you otherwise. She also enjoys hiking in the foothills all around Boulder with her girlfriends. Patty brings a new level of customer service to the BHP front desk with a smile and spiritied attitude that's second to none. (Yes, I'm biased... but it's still true.)

  Link: Patty Tunnell

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  Kaycee Jorenby

  Technician & Race Prep

  aycee is the newest member of the Bimmer Haus Performance Team. He grew up on a ranch in Wyoming and has been working on trucks and farm equipment since he was a whippersnapper. (I've been dying to use that word for years. ;) He received formal training at Lincoln Tech (DADC) and is TIA Certified. There is no truth to the rumor that we brought him in because of his experience with small block Chevy V8's. Or that he bought one of our old E36 loaner cars from us to grease the employment path either. Well... ok... there's a little bit of truth to both of those rumors... but that's all I'm gonna say about that for now. ;) Projects in the home garage include a heavily modified and lifted 1996 Ford F350 diesel 4X4, a 1982 Jeep CJ5 project rock crawler, and a 2001 Camaro Z28 into which he's dropping a blown LS1. (I'm serious... that had nothing to do with getting a job here. ;) For his daily driver Kaycee bought and restored a 1994 325is that we retired from our loaner fleet and came to The Dark Side about a year ago. So although he was a pony car guy for years, he's a total Bimmerhead now. When he's not working on BMW's for Bimmer Haus or something in his own fleet, he loves fishing, hiking, or playing video games with his high school sweetheart and wife of 8 years (yes, it's the same woman) and two boys, ages 6 and 1 month! If you want to meet Kaycee in person, you can come by the shop first thing in the morning... he's always here early. Or you can come by toward the end of the day... he's always one of the last to leave, too. The guy is a seriously HARD worker.

  Certifications:

  Link: Kaycee Jorenby