Mike Beam lives by a different credo these days.
“If you can drag it in here, we’ll work on it,” Beam told RACER.
The ‘here’ is Statesville, North Carolina, where GMS Fabrication is buzzing and thriving. However, this time a year ago, the operation was a few days away from being included in an announcement that GMS Racing and its fabrication shop would be closing its doors at the end of the season. Beam, the president of the operation, was looking at retirement.
But that didn’t last long.
GMS Racing did shutter its three-truck operation, which ended one of the most successful organizations in the Craftsman Truck Series. Maury Gallaher, the team founder, was putting all resources into his Cup Series operation. The company was undergoing continued changes to elevate its program, and 2024 was bringing a switch to Toyota.
By October, as things began winding down, Beam and Gallagher had another conversation. Gallagher admitted he didn’t want to see his longtime partner walk away from the sport.
“He said, ‘If you want to continue the fab shop, you definitely need to look into it because I know how much you enjoy that,’” Beam said.
Beam thought it over. He knew he was past traveling to the racetrack but wasn’t cut out to be at home all the time. Nancy, Beam’s wife of 46 years, likely wasn’t ready for that either.
Keeping the fabrication shop was the best of both worlds, as Beam stayed connected to racing without the grind. The customer base also gave Beam a positive response when he began discussing remaining in business, and some even began ordering more chassis right on the sport.
And so today, Beam and his crew are still filling orders. Beam reduced the workforce since they no longer built as many truck chassis as they did when they operated their own team. Those who stayed had been with the company for years, were trusted by Beam, or were willing to adapt to what was going to be the next chapter.
The shop, located next door to Legacy Motor Club, does build chassis for Truck Series teams – CR7, the team Grant Enfinger drives for, is a customer, as is Rackley W.A.R. for Ty Dillon and Bret Holmes Racing.
McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, located on the other side of the GMS fabrication shop, is another customer. The truck that Christian Eckes led every lap in and won driving at Nashville Superspeedway was a new build from the GMS Fabrication shop. Furthermore, four of the top six drivers from the Nashville event were driving trucks that came from Beam and his team (Eckes, Daniel Dye, Tyler Ankrum, Enfinger).
Some ARCA Menards cars have come out of GMS Fabrication, and work has been done with Xfinity Series cars for Sam Hunt Racing and Our Motorsports. A Trans-Am car was on the premises as well.
However, the reason for needing employees to adapt is that it’s not all racing, which is also why Beam says if someone can drag it into the shop, he and his group will work on it. In addition to remaining in the NASCAR business, GMS Fabrication, in its newest chapter, has branched out into restoring vintage cars.
A walk through the shop reveals chassis in various states of the process – a Lowe’s Chevrolet from the 2000s now owned and used outside of NASCAR, and the ‘Gray Ghost’ Oldsmobile once driven by Buddy Baker. Among them are vintage cars such as a ’69 Camaro and a ’58 Chevrolet truck.
“Oh, hell, we’ve welded up tractors,” Beam said. “Hay balers. We’ve done everything here. Like I said, if you can drag it in here, we’ll work on it. The world we live in now that’s just what you have to do. The vintage car stuff, we like to build that because there are really no templates. We can make it look cool and build stuff how it really should look without any rules.
“It’s amazing; the guys really enjoy diversifying. They might be building a [NASCAR] chassis one day and the next day working on a tractor. Every day is something different; I enjoy that.”
Beam was at first concerned about GMS Fabrication taking on additional projects. Would it even be enjoyable for the employees and himself? Part of the problem was that some get set in their ways when it comes to what they work on or what their job entails. But when NASCAR moved to Next Gen, a spec car, that put a lot of fabricators on the job market. Some still weren’t willing to change their ways, but those working with Beam are old-school racers who understand what the company is trying to do.
“They know it’s important to survive in this world, in this market,” Beam said. “You have to adapt.”
The racing aspect of the job still places above all else. Eckes has been one of the dominant drivers in the Craftsman Truck Series this season, with three wins and the regular-season championship. Dye, another McAnally driver, continues to improve in the series and qualified for the postseason. Enfinger also earned a berth in the postseason with small team CR7.
When a customer succeeds, a sense of pride sweeps through GMS Fabrication. There may no longer be trucks coming out of GMS Racing, but Beam and his team know they are a part of the accomplishment.
“I worried how people would [feel] when you don’t have your own team,” Beam said. “But I made it very clear, you are a part of that. They all watch, and on Mondays, we compare notes. Bill [McAnally] and his group have been very nice to include us in stuff; he had an ice cream truck (recently), and they have lunches. Honestly, it’s a lot of fun to see that.
“I get just as mad when they lose a race when we had our trucks. That’ll never change.”
The legacy of GMS Racing will not be forgotten. Not only because the fabrication shop lives on but also because Beam works to ensure it’s displayed.
The organization won two Craftsman Truck Series championships, three ARCA championships, and 68 races in nine years. On the walls at GMS Fabrication are the banners from those accomplishments. As the tools buzz away on the shop floor working on the next chassis or car restoration, the building is undergoing renovations to further show off its mementos (banners, trophies, and more) from the GMS Racing shop migrated to the fabrication shop upon its closure.
Beam joined the organization in December of 2014 when three banners were hanging. When all was said and done, and the shop doors closed after the final race of 2023, there were 91 banners to rehome. Plus, the first win truck (Sept. 2015), the last win truck (Aug. 2023), and the first and only Xfinity Series win car (April 2018).
“I don’t know if it means anything to anybody,” Beam said about all things GMS, “but it does to me.”