Friendship, Hot Rods and the Need for Speed

Growing up in Michigan, David Rhoten was geographically immersed in the automotive industry and was drawn to it. He fundamentally felt the need for speed and gained an aptitude for working on cars during shop class in high school; describing the class as “second to none.” Rhoten met older neighbors involved in racing, which unknowingly put him on the road to future success for himself, as he helped them work on their race cars and continued to develop his own automotive artisan skill set. He notes that while watching the men work on their race cars, he questioned how he was ever going to grasp everything. “I have a passion for building race cars. I spent all morning working on a ’53 Ford. The skill set is still coming,” he says.

Road to So-Cal Speed Shop Waco

Rhoten’s professional journey includes work in real estate in Florida, and he tells how summers were spent traveling to drag races out of state and of formally becoming a part of the racing community and culture, since Palm Beach is a seasonal community and people leave after Easter. He moved to Waco at the request of Allen Samuels and worked for the car dealership for several years, and he’s owned a number of local businesses; however, he continued to pursue his passion to customize classic cars and race. “I built a 6,000-square-foot building in Hewitt 13 years ago. I was pretty serious about playing with my cars,” he added.

In 2021, he took one of his cars to the SEMA Show in Las Vegas and spent his days buying parts from the So-Cal Speed Shop, working on his car in the So-Cal parking lot, prepping the car to race each night. Hot Rod enthusiasts know the brand that was launched in Burbank, California in 1946 and Rhoten’s wife wanted to purchase some items from the Vegas location. One of the Vegas co-owners, Lenny Ribaudo, Sr., overheard Rhoten’s wife encourage him to explore opening a Waco location. Rhoten tells that, “Lenny came over and said, ‘Here is the guy’s card. Call him. I already told him you were going to.’” Rhoten continues, “We just talked on the phone and made a solid connection and they started sending me stuff and I found this place.”

Rhoten realized that he was on the right track when he showed up at a Texas race and introduced himself to top-fuel race car driver, Jeff Diehle, who is friends with the So-Cal guys, who responded, “They told me you were coming. You are going to do that.” And Diehle pointed to a project on the car. Rhoten elaborated, “We did this every week, every two weeks. And it’s like you are HERE. You ARE good enough. You are IN. These are masters, and they trust that I know how to do it. Just do it. No more questions. Boom!”

Rhoten relives the moment that he moved past “giving the business a try.” He recalls that he was in Pomona, California with Jeff Diehle and a real grassroots racing team, and people were bringing them water and food, while they worked on the car. One gentleman approached Rhoten and introduced himself as Pete and began “helping” on the car without him realizing that he was being helped. Pete invited Rhoten to sit in the stands with him to watch the other races and they walked up to a special section in the stands, where car-building legends Chip Foose and Jimmy Shine, as well as drag racing champion driver John Force were sitting, and he was being introduced to them as the owner of the new So-Cal Speed Shop in Waco. In the presence of these legends, Rhoten confirmed to himself that, “This is what I gotta do. It becomes part of your identity. We built a couple of cars that are pretty cool and went out West, so it’s worked out.”

Building a Community

When asked if opening So-Cal Speed Shop Waco prompted business, Rhoten responded that, “Everyone started coming with these super cool projects. And they were coming directly to the Hewitt workshop, which is where we do the work on the cars. What is funny is that many people here don’t know anything about this brand.” Rhoten views this as an opportunity, “They are getting introduced to the brand. That is where we teach them.”

Rhoten credits his long-standing relationships in the community with the influx of projects. “The Waco community is tight. You have to work with the community to be part of the community.”

Speaking on the artisan community, he says that he sees a strong art grouping in Waco and an abundance of talented craftsman. He recalls a day when his social media curator drove in from Colorado with his own race car and needed some parts. They spent the day visiting specialty shops and purchasing parts and fabricating custom parts, and “At the end of the day we had all of this stuff, made perfectly that day, and he says to me, ‘This is weird, dude. It would take me a month to get all this stuff. And you get it all in one day based on relationships.’ It is the people in this community. They can do these things and these relationships make it happen,” says Rhoten.

At the workshop, Rhoten customizes cars with his friends who are local businessmen, by day, with an automotive acumen. “They are all super talented.”

Rhoten further engages with the community through car shows on the second Saturday of each month, which draws enthusiasts and car owners alike. At one car show this spring more than 200 cars registered. When asked where they parked, he responded, “Everywhere. There were cars up and down the street.”

Rhoten values the relationships he’s built with many of the neighbor businesses and believes that working together, they can continue to attract more visitors and evolve into more of a destination by thinking out of the box. “We’ve got so much cool stuff here in Waco. Through more collaborative efforts, we could generate bigger crowds of visitors that stay longer and come back,” he says. “The longer they stay, the more stories they have to tell. And the better the stories are.”

One collaboration Rhoten is working on is a revival of the Waco Mini-Nat event, to be held in September, which has the potential to bring more than 1,500 cars and will close a portion of Austin Avenue.

Traffic

So-Cal Speed Shop Waco is full of branded apparel, hot rod parts and chassis, as well as collectibles and vintage vinyl records. The retail shop is located within a block of the Magnolia Market and sees a variety of patrons. When asked about his target audience for marketing purposes, Rhoten responds, “Everybody. In a day, a giant trailer will pull up with a top fuel car on it and the guy needs some oil, while two ladies from the Silos are purchasing shirts for their family members, and Baylor students wander in and rifle through the records with a couple of hippies who are getting stickers for their cars. And local hot rod rats. It is a neat little deal. We do a little bit of everything.”

Talent

It is from these visitors that Rhoten finds his help. “They walk through the door. They just want to hang out,” he responds. Rhoten recognizes talent in visitors that express interest in working with him. He jokes about the young people that come in and are willing to sweep the floor; however, instead, they hover over his shoulder to see what he is working on. Rhoten has a couple of young people currently helping him by providing finance and IT support. “It is always a thought of mine that I need these kids. I had a single mom and the guys in the neighborhood mentored me. It is important to pay it forward,” he remarks. “I also have retired guys that bring me coffee and others that bring me lunch at my shop and in the evenings, there is a whole new crew that is there and building a sense of community, while I am building the cars.”

Rhoten appreciates the help from his friends and the hot rod community when he is racing at the historic track, Little River Dragway. “When I go racing, I need the help. I don’t want to undo the straps myself,” he says. He brings his family to the racetrack and notes that, “The place is great. My kids come and they ride bikes and play with other kids, and no one is on their phones.” He admits that his full attention is on the race before each run; however, he appreciates the atmosphere and sense of community at the track. Race, repair, repeat.

Future

“The store is a great match of rock and roll and hot rod stuff. It seems like a neat concept, and it works,” Rhoten says about the combination of apparel, memorabilia, collectibles, hot rod parts, and albums. His shop’s set-up is the first of its kind for the So-Cal Speed Shop brand. “I am the little brother to the locations in Las Vegas, Nevada, Surrey, British Columbia and the new headquarters in San Dimas, California.”

So-Cal Speed Shop Waco has been open for a year and a half. When asked what was next, Rhoten says, “Another one that has lots of visitors every day. I would like to have a space big enough to house the retail and workshop and add a café. Things are going great!”

The So-Cal Speed Shop Waco story is one that follows the tenets of the original So-Cal Speed Shop in 1946, “Friendship, hot rods and the need for speed.”

So-Cal Speed Shop Waco
321 S 6th St
Waco, TX 76701
socalspeed.shop
(254) 300-5305