SEVEN YEARS ago , Alec Bledsoe was a 21-yearold kid living with his parents , “ broke as crap ” and trying to figure out how he was going to pay rent at the two-bay shop where he started his Late Model Performance of Maryland tuning business . He had just spent half of his life savings – which was supposed to go towards a home down payment – to put electric in the building . But Bledsoe knew he had the knowledge and skills to make his business successful , so he put his head down and went to work .

Since then , Bledsoe moved into one half of a much bigger shop , expanded to take up the other half of the shop , and eventually bought the building outright . His equipment now includes a Dynojet roller dyno to tune 400-500-horsepower street cars , as well as a Mainline hub dyno capable of dynoing race cars making up to 6,000 horsepower . He has five people on his payroll , and the business is finally profitable . Most recently , he ’ s added a fabrication department that produces parts for Late Model Performance ’ s online store .

“ We specialize in all these new cars like the Z06 Corvettes and the ZL1 Camaros and things like that ,” says Bledsoe , 28 . “ They ’ re all factory supercharged cars , and we sell intakes , heat exchangers , and other bolt-ons . Our online sales have been going crazy this year .”

Bledsoe started the business after getting into tuning software in high school . He spent the summer working as a life guard to save up to buy a ’ 99 Trans Am , and when he called a handful of local shops about getting it tuned , no one called him back . He decided to learn how to do it himself , and by the time he was a senior , he was running low 10s .

While building his business , Bledsoe has continued to race his own car , now a ’ 20 ZL1 Camaro . It ’ s controlled by a stock ECM , features a stock-style , 10-speed automatic transmission built in-house at LMP , and powered by an LTR engine Bledsoe put together with the help of one of his mentors , Gene Fulton . Last year , he broke the LT4 OEM blower record with an 8.43 at 160 MPH . He came back out this year and lowered the record yet again with an 8.26 at 161 MPH during the Haltech World Cup Finals at Maryland International Raceway .

“ We all kind of go back and forth in the street car game ,” Bledsoe says . “ It ’ s a pretty big deal , just like Pro Nitrous , how competitive that is . Last year , we were all going back and forth with 8.80s and 8.70s , so I really jumped the gun when I ran the 8.43 . It ’ s like when Jimmy Halsey went 3.59 [ in his nitrous Pro Mod ] and no one ’ s been

November / December 2023 able to catch him since . That ’ s how far ahead I am with that right now .”

Street cars are Bledsoe ’ s bread and butter at LMP , but he also works with multiple fullfledged race cars . Working with fellow young gun Jalen Burbage of Menscer Motorsports , Bledsoe tunes Joe McDevitt ’ s Johnny Haislip-driven , single-turbo , small-block Mustang in Warriors Outlaw , where Haislip qualified No . 1 and lost on a holeshot in the finals at the Yellowbullet Nationals this year . Bledsoe also helps Jack and Derek Ford tune their nitrous Pro Mod in NEOP- MA and PDRA competition .

Bledsoe points out that he doesn ’ t do all of this alone . He credits the Fords , who he worked for before he started his own business , as well as industry veterans like Gene Fulton and Mark Menscer for their pointers and guidance . He also thanked his parents , Larry and Melissa .

“ My parents pushed me to have a really good work ethic growing up ,” Bledsoe says . “ They ran a tight ship . I think that helped me out a lot because I played sports growing up and I always wanted to be the best . I always wanted to be the leading guy that made tackles in high school or whatever it might be . My dad always pushed me and I think that really helped me in life .” – NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

DragIllustrated . com | Drag Illustrated | 149