From novice to NASCAR: David Wilson, TRD, and the power of a team

Racing, by its very nature, has almost no security. The green flag drops at 1:00 on Sunday, regardless of whether you're ready or not. I made one of the dumbest decisions in my career, which was to go with my heart. My name's David Wilson. I'm the president of TRD USA. I have been with TRD for the past 35 years. TRD at the time was not much more than a Southern California speed shop for Toyotas. 35 years later, a world class motorsports engineering company. As a young cadet in the cor, the first thing they teach you is the power of a team. I just consider myself so incredibly fortunate to be on this team. Have a lot of people here are super passionate about racing. They want to be here. They strive to be here. Fun fact of this job is that no todays are the same. Sometimes it's programming, sometimes it's doing electrical design. Sometimes it's hands on mechanical work. Across the NASCAR garage, there are several alumni from Virginia Tech. And while we're competing against each other, you know, we always give each other the nod, right? It's like we're part of that inner circle. Virginia Tech was part of the hybroelectric vehicle team, and I credit that with a lot of my career success. My experience in the forma SAE, just being exposed to that project and the team members at the time was quite interesting because those team members are actually in the industry today. It's about the formative experience that we all have and the shared love that we have for Blacksburg. The Virginia Tech family. I'm so proud to be an alumni of Virginia Tech. My experience was definitely shaped along the pillar of the Corps of Cadets and the pillar of the College of Engineering. I struggled with balancing those two demands. I failed some classes. My peers, who are also going into the service and started in engineering, a lot of them bailed. I took my VW to Virginia Tech with me. I remember. Getting a little too aggressive. I blew the engine up. And then the next summer, I built my first engine. I never looked back. Upon graduation, one of the toughest decisions I had to make as a young man was to resign my commission and try and realize that dream of being an engineer. Coming out of the service, I was recruited by corporate America. Every bit of rationalization, objectivity would have suggested I just sit tight. About 18 months into that, I got a phone call. My younger brother, he calls me out of the blue and says, Dave, you need to come out to California and interview because we need some engineering help. Just so incredibly fortunate that something inside pulled me in that direction over the course of a day, I was made an offer to come on board as an engineer. That's where I started 35 years ago. I had to relocate my entire existence, almost no qualifications, other than I loved cars. And yes, I had an engineering degree. What's really important in life in defining success is how you deal with obstacles. We would not be here if it had not been for those obstacles. Follow your heart. Don't take the easiest path.