Drag Illustrated Issue 149, October 2019 | Page 30

Dirt to be interested in starting anew as an entrepreneur, Bryce remains cautiously optimistic that Star Power will carry on for decades to come. In relatively short order, Star made the transition from full- on race shop to a consumer-oriented operation primarily building horsepower for Harley-Davidson owners who want a little more oomph on the streets and the capability to lay down a decent number at the drag strip. “My plan right now is to keep doing what I’m doing and keep learning what I’m learning. The clientele that I have today are delightful. They want what I’ve got and what I know, and they don’t want to fight me about it. And what a difference that is,” Bryce declares with obvious relief. “It’s so different from when I was in professional drag racing. It was dog eat dog. Like, if one guy got money, then there were six shops lined up trying to get some, too. It was so hateful. I didn’t like it. It was such a terrible way to live, but boy, what an education.” Bryce also reveals that within a few months his shop will become debt-free for the first time in history. And while obviously a welcome development, he adds it makes him look at things a little differently and feels it may even help with the inevitable transfer to a new owner, whenever that may come. “You know, I have a team of people that I rely on and they rely on me, so for now at least I’m not going anywhere. I have to do what’s best for them, too,” he says. “And maybe that guy – or girl – that we’re looking for, maybe he or she has already worked here. “See, when we were running Star Racing, guys would come in and work for me, work with me for one, two, maybe three seasons, and they would learn a lot about how I did things, but I never let them know everything. It goes back to that jealous guarding of information because I didn’t want them to know everything and then be able to turn it against me. I really think that’s the mistake Warren (Johnson) made when he trained Greg Anderson. He created his own worst competition.” Bryce claims he’s a lot more comfortable now, a lot more relaxed than when he was racing full time. He says he lost the desire “to prove how smart I was” that somewhat defined his en- tire career. “I really thought that God put me on earth to show everybody how to do it. Little did I know how much of a gift it was. I was blessed with a gift of focus; I was given the gift of drive and deter- mination; and Jackie Bryce, she was my precious gift from heaven,” he says. “She kept me despite everything that went wrong sometimes. And we’re really close right now. I’m also so thankful for my baby girl, Julie, because she showed me real life is different than racing. That’s been incredible. She actually helped me appreciate racing more than I ever did.” So the search for a successor goes on for Bryce. No doubt a difficult challenge, but one he now feels better prepared for than when he was chas- ing race wins and championships. “I know there is a guy or a girl out there that could fill my shoes,” he says. “I just have to find them.” DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI DI 30 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 149 GEORGE BRYCE