12 Questions with Corey Runia

Name: Corey Runia
Job Title: Mechanical Engineering Group Leader

Corey Runia has been involved with racing and engines for years, first as a racer and then as an engineer in the aftermarket high performance industry. At COMP Cams®, Runia puts his vast automotive experience to work coordinating and leading the group of engineers responsible for creating many of the company’s most popular and successful products.

Corey Runia

What is your background in the industry?

Actually, all of my professional working career has been in the automotive industry. During college, I worked for SuperFlow Engine Dynos for just under a year as an intern. At the time, Scooter Brothers and Ron Coleman owned them. So basically I started working for them already when I was in my junior year in college. When I graduated, I came here to COMP Cams®. And I’ve been here now for about six years. Prior to that, not official jobs, but I worked in machine shops growing up and in high school. I think that’s kind of where the spark came from for working on automotive stuff.


What do you like best about the job?

Every bit of it is cool. We’re dealing with horsepower and high performance day in and day out. You know, it’s all the stuff that as I kid I thought was super cool. So it’s making something for someone that you always dreamed of when you were a kid. You’re actually getting to design and manufacture the things that you always thought were cool when you were a kid.


What is your all-time favorite or dream car?

It’s maybe not my all time favorite dream car necessarily, but I think the coolest car right now, because it’s still American made, is the SSC Ultimate Aero. It’s basically an exotic that has a Lamborghini look to it, but it has like a GM LS engine in it. It holds, I think, the current top speed for production car of anything, beating all the fancy million dollar exotic sport cars. For just overall fashion, I really like the Saleen S7. For just styling, I think that’s cool.

One Of Corey's Racecars

Do you have past racing experience? If so what kind, and do you still race?

I used to race a lot. For about six years I raced everything from IMCA hobby stock, street stock, some modifieds and I even did figure eight racing on dirt. I find it very ironic that all my racing and stuff, I did prior to working in the aftermarket high performance industry. Now, I watch a fair amount of races, but I currently don’t race.

What is your proudest moment in racing or in the industry?

My church youth councilor is the one who actually got me into racing because he used to race. I used to always say, “Well, if I had a racecar, I’d be good and I could beat you.” He took that on as a challenge. So he drug out one of his old racecars from back in the weeds. I mean it was complete junk. He resurrected the thing and was going to let me go and run it in an enduro race, which was like a 250 lap or two hours, whatever comes first, type of race. This particular one had 99 cars in it on a half mile track. But he thought before he actually put me in that, we should go to some of the local tracks that ran a class that was like a bomber or hobby stock – every place called it something different. So he got this thing all ready. We worked on it, got out there and blew up the motor in like the first lap. So we were both pretty disappointed. Because I didn’t get to brag about how good I was going to be, I just had to give him a hard time about the junk he was letting me use. So we got another engine and blew it up. It didn’t even make it through hot laps or something. So this time he was like, “Okay, we have to give you something a little better just to give you some chance.” So the third time, the thing actually runs and I won. I didn’t ever let him live that down about how good I was.

He was always at least two or three classes higher than me, so I never got to race against him. Well, he was leading points at some track and had to go on vacation, so he asked me to drive for him. I drove it and ended up getting second in the heat race and fourth in the feature. At that track, it was so-so. He won there quite a bit, so I couldn’t brag about that. But then we took it to this half mile track that had really good competition, a lot of super fast cars. He had never finished in the top ten at that track. He told me there was no reason for me to take the car there and race it because he wasn’t leading points or doing anything good there. But he said that if I wanted to, I could go ahead and take it. So I took it and ended up getting second in the heat there and fourth in the feature. At that track, it was better than he had ever done. I would say that was my proudest moment. I highlighted the check that said fourth place and blew it up and hung it up on his door when he came back from vacation. My proudest moment was actually fourth, which also put me in the claim area. He never anticipated me being able to get into the claim area. So, I could have lost his motor for him as well.

Another One Of Corey's Racecars

Who is your favorite racer and why?

I’m a big Mark Martin fan. He’s old and he wins. That’s cool. He’s been doing it forever. All the way around he’s a good guy. He’s got good morals, he’s a good driver. I think he’s just a good role model.


What is the best career advice you ever received?

For me, it was get an education and do what you love.


What advice would you give a kid who wants to go grow up to be a racer or work in the industry?

I think it’s all about attitude. If he really wants to do it, he just has to have the attitude that he really wants to do it. He needs to go out and give 110 percent, even if it’s just starting out sweeping the shop floor. Basically get your foot in with anybody and learn as much as you possible can. It’s amazing how much you can learn just hanging around people who are knowledgeable. So my biggest thing is absorb as much as you can. Just be a sponge. Get in somewhere. Work as hard as you can. Be a sponge.

Corey Hard At Work

What are your hobbies outside of racing and the industry?

That one’s pretty simple. My hobbies have always been hunting, fishing and a lot of snowmobiling. But I’d say recently, snowmobiling is a little bit tough to do in the Memphis area. There’s just not a lot of snow. Now, a lot of it on top of those things is just doing stuff with my family. I’m going to have to say teaching my 2-year-old to drive. I got him one of those electric vehicles. He thinks he’s pretty cool. He’s got the accelerate part down, not so much the steering.

What is your favorite type of music to drive to?

Probably classic rock. It’s a tough one, because it’s a little of everything. But classic rock is a pretty common one. I was known to sing while driving the racecar.

In the next five years, what do you think will be the most important advancement in performance automotive technology?

Definitely, it’s got to be variable valve timing. With cam phasers and variable valve timing, I don’t think most people realize the benefit of it. Over the next five years people will realize it, and a lot of people will start using it. We’ve seen the benefits of it here. A lot of people want to get rid of these cam phasers and lock it so it’s at a given. But they’re giving up a ton of performance by doing that. I think once they start realizing what they are giving up, you’re going to see variable valve timing become a lot more popular. You’re going to see a lot better performance too.

What is the one thing you couldn’t live without?

Water. I don’t even like water. It’s just fundamental.