How much hands-on work do you do on engines at your shop?
Fulton: I do as much as anybody there. I have to; I mean, that’s the success of my business, the fact that I have been hands on. You can’t just let that stuff go, it ain’t going to take care of itself. I’ve always raced where I’m small, I’m small. I mean, I ain’t like Hendricks or any of those NASCAR guys and even some of the people in Pro Stock. They’ve got a lot of money in the pile taking care of things, but I’ve got to make the dollars take care of themselves, so it requires that I’m there doing it. It would have never got to where it is if I wasn’t there every day working hands on.
So anyone who buys a Fulton Competition engine can be assured that Gene Fulton personally had a hand in building it?
Fulton: Oh yeah, absolutely. The reason I dominated Pro Mod so much in the ‘90s and lately is because I am so hands on. It really gets down to repairs sometimes. These guys can tear up some pretty ugly stuff and my buddy Shannon Jenkins, he was the world’s worst. Most people think he’s God’s gift to tuning and he don’t tear up nothing and he tore up more stuff than the rest of them put together. Of course he had plenty of money and that’s really the reason he’s been at the top of Pro Mod, because he had the money to do whatever he needed.
But my success has been in being able to repair whatever they managed to tear up. They’d burn a hole through the side of a head and I’d put it all back together and make it look like it did originally. They’d tear something up on Sunday and I could have it repaired maybe Monday or Tuesday and they could go race the next week. Just doing that for all the racers has been a big plus. I mean, most of these engine builders, they can go buy parts and do a certain amount of machine work and put together a pretty good motor, but when it comes to fixing anything that tears up, whoa! When that sucker comes back with two seats burned out and the guides burned out and a hole in the ports, it’s ‘Oh God, where do I start? Who am I gonna’ get to fix this?’ Whereas I can take something like that and put it all back together and you can’t hardly tell anything happened.
Does it bother you when a longtime customer like Shannon jumps ship and goes to a different engine supplier (Reher-Morrison in this case), or is that just business?
Fulton: Well, that always hurts a little because they’re like my best friends. Shannon Jenkins was a bracket racer when he first came to me and I took him to the top of this stuff. I mean, Shannon was good and he had a natural instinct for parts of it, but I helped him a lot along the way. It really doesn’t surprise me, though, because it’s what always happens in racing.
Scotty Cannon was one of my best friends for years and I helped him, but all of a sudden when I got him to where he was the top dog he got such a big head that he didn’t need me no more. So on a personal basis it bothers me some, but you just got to get over it.
Now, Shannon and (his teammate) Mike (Castellana) they had the worst year this year since I don’t know when and I think I understand why. And it wasn’t about parts because yeah, sure, David Reher’s a good engine builder, he has the same sources I have. I mean, he’s done some ruthless stuff, he didn’t have the business he had so he wants to come steal somebody else’s customer, but that’s the way it’s always been for me. You take somebody to the top and somebody else wants to just give them the stuff if only they’ll come run out of their camp.
They give it to them! Well, I don’t really think I have to give Mike Castellana anything. Mike Castellana has a family business that grosses probably $500 million a year and out of that $500 million they probably clear just a little bit so why do I need to work for nothing? That’s been my business philosophy from the beginning. If I have to work for nothing, I’d just as soon not work.
You must have a very organized mind, I think, only because your office and your shop don’t seem to reflect that very much.
Fulton: Right, okay, when I was in high school I belonged to Future Farmers of America and they had thing called soil judging. So we would go out somewhere and each of these kids from all these schools, these future farmers, they’d come out and look at the land, look at the dirt, they’d have four of five holes dug around some farm and we’d all have these sheets to fill out about what this land is good for. One of the questions that I’ll never forget was ‘What is a good use; what is the best use; and what is the most intensive use?’ Well, you’ve got to apply that to your life. Is it going to be half-assed as it is, or where are you going to concentrate your efforts?
Well, you’re living a life and you’ve only got one life to live so you’ve got to live all facets of it. And you see me, I do. And I think I’ve got a big advantage over a lot of them in that I’ve never smoked, I’ve never drugged, I’ve never drank, and I don’t chase after women. I like looking at them, think about them as much as anybody, but I’m married to a wonderful woman that’s perfect for me. So I don’t let any of those things dominate my life, I concentrate on other things toward family, toward business, toward life.
You work on what really matters and it ain’t necessarily a clean floor or an organized shelf; you worry about what needs getting done and how it’s getting done. Is it getting done at the right rate? Is it getting done functionally correct? So I’m always working on what’s the most intensive use of my time, not worrying about all the side stuff.
You obviously work hard and play hard, but what do you do to relax?
Fulton: Oh, I can watch TV with the best of them. And I like country-and western and old rock, probably like all of us from the ‘60s.
Finally, it’s a traditional question: boxers or briefs?
Fulton: Briefs in the winter time; natural aeration in the summer time.