12 Questions with Ron Turnpaugh

[CPG Marketing]

Name: Ron Turnpaugh
Job Title: Electrical Engineering Group Leader

Ron Turnpaugh is in charge of a talented group of electrical engineers who design and develop some of the industry’s most cutting edge components. Turnpaugh works in research and development to create the electronics, software, code and circuit boards that power state-of-the-art fuel injection systems, transmission control units and nitrous systems.

Ron Turnpaugh

What is your background in the industry?

In the industry, I’ve done everything from working with a contractor doing classified projects for the government to working with SuperFlow, where I helped design the dynos and acquisitions systems for those systems. In my current position in the COMP Performance Group™, I design all the electronic components and software for FAST™, TCI® and ZEX™ nitrous.


What do you like best about the job?

Two things: One, I like that I get to do something that I’m actually interested in. I could just design a computer or something, but that would be completely boring to me. I actually get to design automotive performance stuff that I race with and have in my own vehicles. I would be doing this on my own anyway.

The other thing is that it’s really gratifying to see things you design in the magazines and on TV. You go to races and see things you designed, and it’s in his car; he’s running it. That’s super rewarding. In most fields you would never see things that you do. You would just design things for cars, a lock or something, that who would care about? It’s very gratifying to see your stuff somewhere. That’s kind of cool.


What is your all-time favorite or dream car?

I don’t really have one. I don’t like a specific brand, like a Ferrari or even a new Corvette. My dream car would probably be a 10.5” drag radial car. Getting to race a 10.5” car that I actually owned. I like drag racing and that kind of stuff. For driving around, I’m not too crazy about anything. I like hot rods and choppers and stuff. I’m not much of an OEM type person.

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

Just drag racing. Not professionally or anything. Just hanging out, doing the test and tune with everybody and doing Index and Heads Up type racing pretty much all through the summer.

Ron & His Corvette Drag Car

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

Probably my coolest thing is just the huge success of the last product I was a big part of. The FAST™ EZ-EFI®. That product has, in less than a year, been a huge success. There are hundreds of units out on the streets all over the country. I have never directly been involved in such an instant product success. That’s a huge achievement for a new release. It’s an awesome system. It really does what it says. I’ve seen it in all the magazines. I’ve worked on magazine articles with guys – seeing them actually use it and say, "This really does do that.” It was pretty cool to see somebody that pleasantly surprised by a product I helped develop. And that it’s taken off in such a big way, that’s pretty cool. A lot of times you never get to a point where something is just a huge hit. That was cool.




Who is your favorite racer and why?

I don’t really have one. I don’t really follow the standard racing.


What is the best career advice you ever received? Who gave it to you?

The main thing is to do something that you actually like to do first, rather than do it for money first. If you’re weighing your options and this one pays a little more but that one is something you’ll actually find interesting. You’ll go farther in that. The job that just pays good, you’ll probably just plateau and be bored with it. I don’t know who told me that though. It’s been a long time since somebody told me that. It was just something I heard along the way.


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

Listen to what people tell you. Listen to people who are there already, that are older than you, that have been there. A lot of people get big headed, thinking, I’m already great. Then they find out this guy was already there twenty years ago. I didn’t even know people where making that kind of horsepower back then. Sometimes they don’t look like you would think they would look. It’s good to listen to people who tell you things. I’ve learned a lot from a lot of older people.

Ron Working Hard

What are your hobbies outside of racing and the industry?

Music. I’m a musician. I play pretty much every instrument. I’ve always played in bands all over a bunch of different states. That’s probably my second hobby besides electronics and racing.


What is your favorite type of music to drive to?

Blues and blues rock.


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

I think a thing called direct injection will be part of that. I’m already starting to hear more and more about it. Where instead of firing the fuel in the intake and letting it go through, you actually fire it inside the cylinder where all the actual pressure is. I think direct injection might be the next thing. It seems to be a little bit better, but it’s still being proven.


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

Probably music actually.