Category: Business

The quest for reliable bumper-to-bumper auto repair services has led many drivers to consumer dead ends, or back to dealerships. Glen Yudman, the owner of Running Great Automotive on N. Nebraska Ave., just south of Skipper Rd., stakes his reputation on providing comprehensive, dealer-quality automotive repair and restoration services at neighborhood mechanic prices.

Yudman’s guiding principle is straightforward. “Staying honest,” he says. “Everybody will say that, but we truly are. My guys do not work on commission. They are on salary, so it’s not like the more repairs they do, the more they make.”

Whether your ride is a homemade swamp buggy or a late-model Mercedes Benz, Yudman and his crew of mechanics will do their best to keep you Running Great. The shop has 14,000-sq.-ft. of work space to provide services ranging from oil changes to complete overhauls of derelict and inoperable classic cars. That includes repairing and replacing transmissions, electrical systems, engines, brakes, air conditioning services and more.

“We do regular daily repairs and maintenance on any automobile and classic auto restoration,’’ Yudman says. “We have a full paint and body shop and collision center.”

As a National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA) auto care center, Yudman says repairs from Running Great carry a nationwide warranty.

Yudman’s mechanics have diverse specialties but one thing they share is lengthy experience in the auto repair trade. Many of them started working on cars before they were old enough to drive legally. Yudman found his life’s calling at age 13, working in his family’s New York City gas station.

“I pretty much have always been in this business,” says Yudman, who came to Florida and bought the existing Running Great Automotive repair shop in 1997.

Most of the mechanics have been employed at Running Great for 10 years or longer. Chris Bach is certified as a Master Mechanic by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and has been working there for 32 years, starting out when Nebraska Ave. was a two-lane road and the business was called Mad Hatter Mufflers, Brakes & Transmissions. He’s witnessed how the business has evolved over three decades and three owners.

“The cars are so advanced now, you can go a hundred thousand miles before you need a tune-up,” says Bach.

The technicians are seeing a lot of cars with six-figure mileage at Running Great. Bach says people are keeping their cars longer and that vehicle longevity actually depends as much upon routine maintenance as any other factor. “The key to driving the same car for a long time is lots of (on-time) fluid and filter changes,” he says.

Yudman concurs, with what could be considered a car owner’s mantra: “Change your oil, change your oil, change your oil.” He also recommends fixing leaks and investigating strange noises as soon as they start.

“The longer you wait, the more it will cost,” says Yudman.

Kay Prudente of Tampa Palms likes to drive Toyota 4 Runners and get the most mileage possible out of them. Her current vehicle is a member of the 100,000-mile club a few times over.

“My first Toyota 4 Runner, I got 300,000 miles out of it, thanks to Running Great taking such great care of it,” she says.

Prudente adds that she is on her second 4 Runner and expects to get just as much mileage out of it.

“I faithfully bring it in every 3,000 miles and they stay on top of preventive maintenance,” she says. “I will not take my car anywhere else. They’re upfront, honest and not going to pull a fast one on you.”

Besides long-time customers, Yudman says a lot of Running Great’s business comes from car owners who want to get another opinion on a recommended repair.

“We get people who come in to ask us to take a second look at things after they’ve been to the dealership,” Yudman says.

Running Great Automotive also has the facilities to perform post-accident repairs. The body and paint shop can restore a car’s appearance and the collision center is equipped with a frame rack that applies up to 11-1/2 tons of pressure to straighten anything that gets bent out of shape.

Often it’s Steve Theis, a mechanic with 40 years of experience, operating the rack. He says it takes knowledge, skill and an acute awareness to apply just the right amount of pressure for any collision repair.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll ruin a car,’’ Theis says. “The harder it is to pull, the more stoked I get.”

Theis also takes pride in the welding performed at Running Great. “When we do a weld, we do a solid weld,” he says.

With a humid, subtropical climate like Tampa’s, Theis and his body shop colleagues encounter a lot of rust damage.

“We try to eliminate any kind of rust we see,” he says. “We don’t paint over anything. We always take it back to clean metal.”

Keeping Classics Classy

Classic car restoration is another service at Running Great. The definition of “classic car” has evolved with time and can now include anything from a 1978 AMC Gremlin to a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado or 1922 Ford Model T Roadster. Eddie Lee Gant works on a lot of the restoration projects at Running Great, and says a common factor is that owners will start working on a car themselves and discover the task is bigger than they thought.

Gant, who has been working on cars since he was, “knee-high to a grasshopper,” says a classic car can be restored to reflect its original design and components or be updated with modern comforts and accessories like new air conditioning or sequential turn signals. To him, the reward is more than a paycheck.

“It’s great seeing the customer’s face when you’re done,” Gant says, adding that he appreciates the variety of projects that come through the garage door.  “It’s always something different. It’s never he same old routine here.”

When customers come into the shop, they’re usually greeted by Yudman himself or service manager John Persing, Sr., who says he started his own auto repair business almost six decades ago, when he was 13 years old. He emphasizes paying attention to what the customer says as the first step in resolving any car problem, and then following up as needed.

“I ask them what the car is doing and I write it down as they explain it,” Persing says. “If we find something else is wrong as we’re working on the car, I’ll tell them.”

While there’s a lot of experience employed at Running Great, another generation of mechanics is already at work as well.

David Amman, with about 10 years of automotive repair experience, works alongside Persing at the front counter. Like a lot of the other mechanics, he started out sweeping the floor and doing oil changes. His interest is in classic car restoration and he handles much of the detail work customers want done.

“I change out the carpets, headliners, clocks and a lot of weird stuff people bring in, like replacing the emblem on a car,” the Wesley Chapel High graduate says.

Yudman says Running Great truly is a family business, as he has the satisfaction of sons Robby and Danny working with him.

Robby Yudman is a graduate of Hillsborough Community College’s Automotive Repair & Technology program and handles brake and suspension tasks, among others. He says solving a mechanical problem is akin to being a detective and a successful repair brings a true sense of accomplishment.

“When you fix a car, you feel like you did something,” Robby says. “You get to see it leave better than when it came in.”

His brother Danny is a junior at the University of South Florida and is studying economics while still working six days a week at Running Great, where he does welding and classic car restoration. While he’s eager to apply both his financial knowledge and mechanical skills to the business, Danny says customer service is his top priority.

“It’s a family business and we treat the cars like they’re our own,” Danny says. “We’ve been around for as long as we have for a reason.”

Service at Running Great Automotive is on a first-come, first-serve basis according to Glen Yudman. Oil changes come with a free inspection and topping off of fluids.

 Running Great is located at 14513 N. Nebraska Ave. in Tampa, and is open Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday. For more info about all available services (all insurance plans are accepted), and a coupon for a discount on an oil change, please visit RunningGreatAuto.com. Or, call 971-0642 or see the ad on pg. 24 of this issue.