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ABOUT RPM ENGINES
A History of the Company, its Owner & More
The late 80's the story started. Keefer Engines - John Keefer saw potential in the young Rick Paya and brought him on board as his first engine assistant. Keefer encouraged and educated Rick on many aspects of the racing and engine industry and promoted Rick throughout the business. Keefer and Rick established a bond that would bring him to where he is today.
In the early 90's Rick Paya took his passion for speed and cars and began working on his new business. While working full time as a contracted mechanic for Kevin’s Automotive in Milton Vermont, Rick worked feverishly for many hours after the doors closed building his power houses under the name of Tricky Racing Engines.
In the mid 90’s Rick left Kevin’s Automotive and was hired to run the Busch North Racing Team of Lamell Lumber – number #98 driven by Keith Lamell. As the crew chief and car manager Rick became a master in fabrication and car handling. With this new knowledge along with his engine program... Rick started a competitive combination.
With Rick's racing exposure, the demand for racing engines and knowledge consume majority of his spare time. In the late 90's Rick took his part time love of building engines into a full time endeavor.
On a residential circle in Georgia Vermont, Rick opened his doors to a full time facility where several of his power plants were sent home with some of the biggest names in the New England racing series. With this, Rick’s time became even more valuable and teams across New England traveled hours to gain some of his knowledge and to purchase a dominant engine. With this success Rick realized the need for a larger and better facility to house his growing business. In 1997 Rick began his search for the new home of Tricky Racing Engines.
In 1998 this search brought him to the construction of his new shop located on 331 Carpenter Hill Road. With this new home, Rick needed to bring his endeavor to a new level and renamed his enterprise "RPM - Rick's Performance & Machining".
In 2000 RPM – Rick’s Performance & Machining was named one of the most successful machine shops in New England quoted by Circle Track. RPM has become one of the leading sources in the high performance industry, with a complete machine shop and the only facility in New England that houses an engine and chassis dyno.
Throughout the years Rick continues to bring new innovated products and services to his one of a kind business, with this he brought in new challenges and joined back with the #32 ACT Late Model team of Jean Paul Cyr as acting Crew Chief. This has allowed Rick to continue his research and development process on current products for the benefit of his customers. In addition, Rick has added several state of the art machines to execute these new techniques.
With the ever changing racing challenges, Rick began looking at other ways to bring his racing and business to a new level. In the closing of the 2006 racing season, Rick purchased the race team from Jean-Paul Cyr and established RPM Motorsports. With this new responsibility, Rick became even more eager to bring new ideas and concepts to RPM Motorsports and RPM Engines. In the fall of 2006 Rick broke ground at his current establishment for the new RPM Motorsports shop. By spring of 2007, the 2,800 square foot shop of RPM Motorsports was completed and in full operation.
In 2007 the RPM Motorsports team - #32 Jean-Paul Cyr took their fifth consecutive ACT championship with a total of 7 ACT Championships overall. This has placed Jean-Paul Cyr and RPM Motorsports in the record books as the only driver/team to beat Robbie Crouch's all time record in the American Canadian Tour series. RPM Motorsports Page.htm
RPM – Rick’s Performance & Machining and RPM Motorsports has now become an established and successful business by the hard work and dedication by Rick Paya. Rick continues to look for other avenues to bring his business to the next level.
Along with building his business Rick feels strongly about giving back to the community by sponsoring baseball teams and donations to the local non profit organization. Rick also works closely with the Chittenden and Franklin County School systems by offering workshops to high school students and tours of his facility.
Rick is now mentoring his youngest son Tyler Paya in the racing industry. Tyler began racing go-karts at age 7 with his father by his side being crew chief and kart mechanic. In 2006 Tyler became a 5 time champion in the karting series. To see more on Tyler’s racing career check out RPM Motorsports. Tyler Paya Page.htm
In the past 20 years the RPM establishment as taken on many new shapes and avenues, but one key element has stayed the same. John Keefer believed in Rick Paya from the start and continues to be a valued mentor in where the business is and will be in the next 20 years. Although, "Keefer" is retired from the business world he continues his engine passion by working for Rick. Ironic how life comes full circle.
If you would like more information on RPM / RPM Motorsports please visit our site again as we will update information periodically. If you are ever in the area, stop by… Rick would love to give you a tour.
