George’s Story

Learning about Life, Family and Business

Little did George Grob know when he came to Eagle Ranch that a project with his housedad would help shape his future career. The following interview explores Eagle Ranch’s impact on George’s life, family and business.

Tell us a little about you and your business.

I’m George Grob, owner of BMG Automotive Performance. We specialize in the impossible. We do the performance work and race builds that others are afraid to do. I’ve been working with drift teams for about 7 years. Monster Energy drift team from England runs their program out of my shop in the U.S.

What got you interested in cars?

I started working on cars it was with my dad. I was probably about 5 or 6, I was in the driveway working with my dad on trucks. When I went to Eagle Ranch that’s when the performance side of it sparked up. My housedad, Steve Finn, was passionate about building a drag car and he wanted all the boys in the home to build this drag car. Everybody in the home was kind of interested in doing it but I was really the only one out there putting in the wrenching hours and working on the motor with him. So that really got me interested In performance work.

What led you to Eagle Ranch?

My parents split up and it put a lot of negativity in me. A lot of that showed in my actions toward my mother. When my parents split, I moved in with my mother and there was a lot of negativity in me. They split up when I was 9, and for about 2 years, I was ok. We got a house, and then It all went downhill. I was just really mean. My mom would describe me as incredibly disrespectful. She heard about Eagle Ranch though a friend of hers.

When my parents split up, my relationship with my dad ceased to exist. He was more focused on my brother – my brother lived with him. I didn’t see him very often. That played a pretty huge role in my life, obviously, not having the father figure there. I didn’t see him very much when they split up, for about 4 or 5 years. But we’re good now. He’s my business partner and I see him every day. We’re good now.

How was life at Eagle Ranch?

When I came to the Ranch, I came in the summer, ready to start 8th grade, and left in middle of my sophomore year. I was incredibly nervous when I first came to the Ranch. I was a resident of the Joy Home.  It’s beautiful there and you have a lot of opportunity to do a lot of really fun, cool things. What’s interesting, is the day I got dropped off there was a flag football game, there was a big field in front of our house, so I saw a lot of sports. We had a pool, we had a gym, we worked out and that was exciting for me.

Everybody was warm and welcoming, and after about 6 months it felt like home. I saw my houseparents, Steve and Dawn, as father and mother figures and it was great to have the stability. They had  a little boy and a little girl, and it was great to be around that stability every day where I wake up  and there’s 2 parents, and I think a lot of that played a role in adding structure to my life and helping me focus on what I needed to do.

How did the Ranch help your family?

Me being there helped the family a lot because I wasn’t very close to my dad, and I got to really hear from my parents – both sides. What’s great, is they really involve the whole family.

It brought my parents closer together, as far as, my parents weren’t talking at the time, and now we interact, and they talk. The negativity between them caused a lot of my anger, and the counseling definitely helped with that. The whole program/process in general brought us a lot closer.

How will you use what you learned with your own family?

Communication is key. If you don’t communicate with your parents, if you don’t communicate with your child, you’re not going to get anywhere. You just keep going around in circles.

I want to be the best dad that I can possibly be to my son. I’ve learned what to do and what not to do just from how I lived my life, and I feel like nobody’s perfect. I want to be very involved.

What did you learn that will help your business and life?

I learned a lot from the program. I learned about how to deal with my anger. I’ve learned accountability and how to work through my problems. I’ve learned to work with others and deal with people when they are upset.

Community was also important. I loved the fact that we did a lot of team building stuff. We would do so much stuff in the house as a team. I learned how to work with other people. I think that the biggest thing that my housedad, Steve, taught me was how to work with  other people’s strengths. We would do team projects, and each kid there had a special talent or a special skill, and I learned how to do team management. And that’s how it is with businesses, you’re working with people. It’s very rare that you work by yourself, in any industry, so you’ve got to learn to work with other people, use their strengths and their abilities.

Any final thoughts?

When I went home from the Ranch, I was happy with life and who I was. I knew how to handle my anger. I felt fortunate to be home. I  saw it as a new journey. It’s almost like I had a second chance at starting life again.