ATP Racing Engines CLOSED

[Balaz_73*00]

Saw this on another forum:

As of Monday 2/22/10 ATP Racing Engines has closed its doors due to circumstances beyond our control. We have been doing this since 2004 and have enjoyed working with everyone. This is something that was completely unexpected and we sincerely regret having to close. We have made many friends along the way and wish everyone the best in the future. We sincerely apologize to all of our riders and customers. This is the hardest thing we have ever had to do. There will be many rumors and lots of speculation, but we are not closing due to lack of business. This is a personal matter. Please feel free to contact Mike or I with any questions and we will answer them to the best of our ability while maintaining as much privacy as possible. The shop phones and email will be on for a couple more weeks while we finish up. However, we will not be answering calls, only returning messages, so please leave one if you call.

[ZSNOW]

i saw this also. wow this is out of the blue. i wish i had known BEFORE i called them to plan out my motor!:rolleyes:

[derekhonda]

Something about that message just doesn't add up to me. In this day and age, you don't shut your doors EXCEPT for financial difficulties.

[derekhonda]

And if the books are strong, why wouldn't you sell the company as opposed to dissolving it? hmmmm

[kfx400rider03]

what are you guys doing with the 3rd gear sets for the ltr's?
and yeah did not see this coming at all:eek2:

[ZBlaster]

Wow. ATP has been the only company I have trusted my engine with the past 2 years, guess I should just hope it holds up all season.

[bbender85]

Originally posted by derekhonda
Something about that message just doesn't add up to me. In this day and age, you don't shut your doors EXCEPT for financial difficulties.


well that is a quote from the horses mouth on said other site.. too bad, 'cuz in my short time in LTR-land so far they seem to be -the- company to deal with.

Divorce?

[derekhonda]

Originally posted by Nova
Divorce?

Could be, but I'd have to really hate a woman to shut down the company vs. buying out her half, or selling it and splitting the proceeds.

[protraxrptr17]

I was going to send them a tranny to fix. Already collected money from my customer. I got busy and forgot to get it shipped out yesterday. I guess I'm gonna have to learn to recut them myself.

[elementryder]

oh wow, well they have alot of my parts down there right now

[kyleschonert]

If you have any parts down there, you will get them back, I talked to them earlier this morning and they are in the process of that right now. So don't be concerned about that.

It really sucks to see them go, not sure what I'm going to do about the next seasons to come as I planned on being with them for a while, but things happen in racing.

Lets not start ANY rumors about what happened, because no body knows, so don't go around throwing things out there when you have no clue what you are talking about.

[derekhonda]

Yeah sorry that is my bad, I'm not trying to start any conspiracy theories or what not, I just can't imagine shutting the doors on a healthy business. Not in these times it doesn't make sense.

[kyleschonert]

My post was more directed to the person referring to a possible divorce..

In time I think we will eventually find out what happened.

But right now we just know that it really sucks. They were a great company, and without them, I wouldn't have had the season I did last year, especially at the final round...

I'm not starting any rumors I was just wondering. He said it's for personal reasons so that's about the only reason I could possibly think of to close a business. Don't like it, to bad. :ermm:

[ATPRacing36]

Hello everyone,
Just to keep the rumors seperate from fact,

The reason for this happening so quickly is that we had every penny that we had stolen from our accounts. We had no choice but to close the business for now to try and take care of my family.
We will be back in the future and please forward all your questions to atpracing36@yahoo.com

There are many things that we will still be capable of doing and the prices will be alot cheaper, lol

Thanks for all your your support and stay intouch!

Mike Walker
ATP Racing Engines Inc.

[kyleschonert]

Thanks for clearing things up Mike.

Very sorry to hear about that though! :( Said to see that **** like that really happens in today's world.

Hope to see you guys still in the industry though, as long as you continue as a business in some aspect, you guys know I'll continue to come to you with my business.

Kyle.

[NED441SUZ]

Mike, feel free to come join(free) our website and post parts and services if you like.
www.sequad.com
By the way I know what its like to have your own business and get blindsided by something like this. We talked on the phone several times about building automotive race engines. Good luck!

Man that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. Hope the best of luck to you all. Do you guys know exactly how it happened or are you guys investigating?

[Lehr 110]

sorry to hear that mike, you guys def make the best motors ive ever rode.

[elementryder]

Originally posted by Lehr 110
sorry to hear that mike, you guys def make the best motors ive ever rode.

only if you knew how to ride hahaha :devil:

[ATPRacing36]

To everyone on this site, my sincerest gratitude!

We are going to have to go through some SERIOUS changes over the next few weeks.

Don't count us out yet, we have always been very upfront with our customers and tried to treat you all like one of the family, so when this problem blindsided us, we had no choice but to shut down.

HOWEVER, I HAVE A PLAN IN MIND!

When we can get ourselves back together, how does the engine services at ohh lets say 40%to 50% cheaper labor sound.............. and we will see just how low we can get the parts.


We have worked to hard for to many years to fall off the planet yet!

Mike Walker

ATP Racing Engines

[jcv400ex]

ummm, if you've lost every penny....then why shut down the thing that brings in money??? And then say you'll come back for half the price????

I don't know you and it's really not fair for me to judge.....but something just isn't adding up here....:ermm:

[lonnie1977]

If he was leasing his machining equipment and building and came up on a money problem it could happen. I hope the best for ya and get back on your feet.

[Ichoptop]

who are all of you to second guess what Mike is saying. He has always been a straight up guy so lets just hope he gets things back together and continues with the work at hand. I'll need a new supermoto motor built soon and will be having Mike do the work if he is ready.

[protraxrptr17]

I'm glad to hear that you are going to reopen. Do you know a time frame? Days or weeks? Just trying to decide what to do for my customer. We should have better punishment for theives. Maybe it would stop some of this. Sorry for what happened to you.

[blholtz]

I would like to know who they are getting their third gears from? Called Monday and talked to a lady there she "implied" to me that they had to call out and order the gears to fill my order.

This leads me to believe they do not make these gears "in house"

It would be kind of one sided to leave anyone hanging needing these gears, but what do I know.

[protraxrptr17]

They probably designed, engineered and, tested the gears. Another machine shop or shops probably make the gears for them. Nothing wrong with that. Just wait until they open back up.

[kyleschonert]

I am pretty sure the gears were built over seas. Yes though, Mike and Melissa designed, engineered, and tested the gears though.

[blholtz]

No I can understand that. Just not liking the idea of prepaying for parts and not knowing when I would see them.

Anyway, I almost put in an order for the gears Monday the 22nd and under the current circumstances I am glad that I didn't.

And don't get me wrong I hate the Idea of paying for parts in advance and then waiting god knows how long to receive the parts. If they have them in stock and I prepay before they ship is one thing, but to give them the money so they can have the capital to get things from their suppliers winds me up.

Not talking about ATP alone, talking about alot of these aftermarket companies

[jcv400ex]

Originally posted by blholtz
And don't get me wrong I hate the Idea of paying for parts in advance and then waiting god knows how long to receive the parts. If they have them in stock and I prepay before they ship is one thing, but to give them the money so they can have the capital to get things from their suppliers winds me up.

Not talking about ATP alone, talking about alot of these aftermarket companies

Are you serious? You've never ran a business then....Why should they stock high end, high priced items? They're paying for the product and putting it on their shelf and waiting for a sale....no small company can carry a large inventory. They have a hard enough time paying and carrying small items like oil, filters, spark plugs, brakes, etc. I use to carry an average of $15,000 in parts at my old shop and it didn't amount to much!

[blholtz]

Originally posted by jcv400ex
Are you serious? You've never ran a business then....Why should they stock high end, high priced items? They're paying for the product and putting it on their shelf and waiting for a sale....no small company can carry a large inventory. They have a hard enough time paying and carrying small items like oil, filters, spark plugs, brakes, etc. I use to carry an average of $15,000 in parts at my old shop and it didn't amount to much!


Actually I am serious, and I do have and run my own business (successfully I might add). But I do not carry an inventory.

What I am saying is why should you or I finance the front money to get parts built? The reason they are in business is to make a profit. I am fine with that. That is what make the world turn, I do not expect them to be their and not make a profit.

Not saying a small company should carry a large inventory, but you would think that a company that is selling their own product would have that product in stock or at least be able to give you an accurate date of when you will have the parts.

Not picking on just one company I have had, and heard of, this same problem with more that just a few of the companies.

As for engineering the gears. You think they did anything more that take a stock third gear from a suzuki and copy it using different material. Any machinist could do the same if they were to take the time.

As for the rest of their work I believe there is alot of R&D in ATP's head work and their cam shafts. Matter of a fact I use their cam shaft in my LTR and I like the performance gains I got from using it.

I do hope to see them come back around.

Bash away but you know in your head I am right.

[atveric132]

Originally posted by ATPRacing36
To everyone on this site, my sincerest gratitude!

We are going to have to go through some SERIOUS changes over the next few weeks.

Don't count us out yet, we have always been very upfront with our customers and tried to treat you all like one of the family, so when this problem blindsided us, we had no choice but to shut down.

HOWEVER, I HAVE A PLAN IN MIND!

When we can get ourselves back together, how does the engine services at ohh lets say 40%to 50% cheaper labor sound.............. and we will see just how low we can get the parts.


We have worked to hard for to many years to fall off the planet yet!

Mike Walker

ATP Racing Engines That would be awesome. You and melissa are great people and it sucks that you have to go through this. hope this happens

[protraxrptr17]

Originally posted by blholtz
Actually I am serious, and I do have and run my own business (successfully I might add). But I do not carry an inventory.

What I am saying is why should you or I finance the front money to get parts built? The reason they are in business is to make a profit. I am fine with that. That is what make the world turn, I do not expect them to be their and not make a profit.

Not saying a small company should carry a large inventory, but you would think that a company that is selling their own product would have that product in stock or at least be able to give you an accurate date of when you will have the parts.

Not picking on just one company I have had, and heard of, this same problem with more that just a few of the companies.

As for engineering the gears. You think they did anything more that take a stock third gear from a suzuki and copy it using different material. Any machinist could do the same if they were to take the time.

As for the rest of their work I believe there is alot of R&D in ATP's head work and their cam shafts. Matter of a fact I use their cam shaft in my LTR and I like the performance gains I got from using it.

I do hope to see them come back around.

Bash away but you know in your head I am right.

There is MUCH more to it than just making the same gear out of different material. You first have to design something you THINK will work as far as materials and sizing. They probably change the cut some too. Then you have to pay big bucks to get the machine shop to make just a few parts for testing. You then have to do many hours of testing to make sure it's gonna fix the problem without making more problems elsewhere. Which means many times of removing the engine and splitting the cases to see how its holding up. If you get lucky and nail it on the first try, then its time to go into production which takes a sizeable investment because you have to order enough to get the cost down so the price will be reasonable enough for your customers to buy them and make a profit. Then if you get lucky enough to sell out your first order, you have to come up with the money to order some more. If you are out of stock when somebody calls to order a set, its a good idea to make them at least put up a deposit so they will have a reason to actually accept the parts when they come in. I have ordered a few things for people that never came back to get them. Most of the time I can eventually sell the stuff to somebody else but I may have to sit on it a while, which sucks if you need the money for something else such as paying the light bill or groceries. I have my own business too, and it is a nightmare sometime trying to juggle money around to make it all work. I feel their pain.

[blholtz]

Every small business is a headache to run, juggling things around is the name of the game. I have to do it on a daily basis.

The point I am getting at is simple. Had I put that order in Monday and they had taken a card number from me and then all this went down I would have been out the money and the part for who knows how long.

The profit you make in your business is your reward for the chances you take. I am not opposed to some one asking for a deposit on a part, but it still comes down to when am I going to recieve the product from you and will it be in a timely manner. If you are going to take my money for a part and then ignore your customer you are no better than the jerk that put in an order and then failed to purchase the order or part. The only difference is you still have the parts that you can sell to someone else down the road. You may not see instant gratification on the profit you made, but the possibility of that profit in the future is real.

Again, I am not knocking on only one company. It seems to be the thought process of the entire after market community. I will tend to do business with a company I can trust to do what they say, instead of a company I have to keep calling and asking for an update on when I will be receiving my parts that I put my hard earned money up front for. My time is worth it.

Customer satisfaction, anyone heard of it?

Anyway nuff said. Hope You pull through this ATP and are better for having gone through it. Remember what does not kill you will make you stronger.

[mxpimp2000]

this was wierd to see since on their myspace they were just gettin a new facility built and i dont think it was even complete yet the last pics that were uploaded were just gettin some things moved in, maybe he can pull it thru.

[extremeblastr]

Originally posted by blholtz
Every small business is a headache to run, juggling things around is the name of the game. I have to do it on a daily basis.

The point I am getting at is simple. Had I put that order in Monday and they had taken a card number from me and then all this went down I would have been out the money and the part for who knows how long.

The profit you make in your business is your reward for the chances you take. I am not opposed to some one asking for a deposit on a part, but it still comes down to when am I going to recieve the product from you and will it be in a timely manner. If you are going to take my money for a part and then ignore your customer you are no better than the jerk that put in an order and then failed to purchase the order or part. The only difference is you still have the parts that you can sell to someone else down the road. You may not see instant gratification on the profit you made, but the possibility of that profit in the future is real.

Again, I am not knocking on only one company. It seems to be the thought process of the entire after market community. I will tend to do business with a company I can trust to do what they say, instead of a company I have to keep calling and asking for an update on when I will be receiving my parts that I put my hard earned money up front for. My time is worth it.

Customer satisfaction, anyone heard of it?

Anyway nuff said. Hope You pull through this ATP and are better for having gone through it. Remember what does not kill you will make you stronger.

what your asking is unreasonable for many companies in the atv community because this sport just does not have the following necessary to make a small business do it even if they want to.

[diangelo#67]

yeah all I can say is good luck in the future mike. There is alot of work ahead but anybody that knows ya knows hard work is your thing man :devil:

[RadekPL]

You've got nothing to worry about guys who have parts at ATP's. I've just talked to Mike. They are moving to another facility. They are carrying away pretty much everything from their shop if I understood correct. I think that no one has more parts there than me, lol. They've got my 6 or 7 grand, huh. However, after I've talked to him I'm not scared anymore. He seems to be stand up guy. Hopefully they'll make it happened. Also, they haven't got any access to computer right now, so please call Mike at 407-718-1624. That's his cell. He said that he is as much busy that he didn't even have time to change phone number on his site. Please be patient.

[quadmom110]

RadekPL
I'm calling you out on this! I just heard from someone that just got srewed by Mike at ATP. Mike took the guys money and did not do the work he was paid to do. Now the guy is getting his heads back the way they were sent to ATP, STOCK!!!! If you did not get your things back, I would say you got screwed too.Mike or Melissa if you read this post then please respond to this post. Your not answering your cell phone, so it isn't looking good for your future to start up again when you owe people. You have my cell phone # you can call me. If you don't have my # pm me and I will send it to you.
Thanks
Chuck Lehr
Randy's dad


Originally posted by RadekPL
You've got nothing to worry about guys who have parts at ATP's. I've just talked to Mike. They are moving to another facility. They are carrying away pretty much everything from their shop if I understood correct. I think that no one has more parts there than me, lol. They've got my 6 or 7 grand, huh. However, after I've talked to him I'm not scared anymore. He seems to be stand up guy. Hopefully they'll make it happened. Also, they haven't got any access to computer right now, so please call Mike at 407-718-1624. That's his cell. He said that he is as much busy that he didn't even have time to change phone number on his site. Please be patient.

[atveric132]

Originally posted by quadmom110
RadekPL
I'm calling you out on this! I just heard from someone that just got srewed by Mike at ATP. Mike took the guys money and did not do the work he was paid to do. Now the guy is getting his heads back the way they were sent to ATP, STOCK!!!! If you did not get your things back, I would say you got screwed too.Mike or Melissa if you read this post then please respond to this post. Your not answering your cell phone, so it isn't looking good for your future to start up again when you owe people. You have my cell phone # you can call me. If you don't have my # pm me and I will send it to you.
Thanks
Chuck Lehr
Randy's dad

I am one of Mike's A-class riders. I have personally talked to him a couple times. Give him a few weeks so he can get his stuff together. you have to understand that he took a big blow and it will take him a melissa a little time to get things together. he is going everything out of his personal garage until he can get the company up and going again. Anyone's parts that he has they will be done or your money will be returned along with your parts.

[quadmom110]

Okay, you said you talked to him then tell him to call me. I want to know why he doesn't answer his phone. If he wants to keep his customers happy then he should answer the messages when they are left. Got a call from Don saying that everything is a BIG mess and Don is trying to straighten things out ????? So what is really going on. Somebody is not telling the truth here, and some people are going to get screwed. Did you get your things back yet?
Chuck



Originally posted by atveric132
I am one of Mike's A-class riders. I have personally talked to him a couple times. Give him a few weeks so he can get his stuff together. you have to understand that he took a big blow and it will take him a melissa a little time to get things together. he is going everything out of his personal garage until he can get the company up and going again. Anyone's parts that he has they will be done or your money will be returned along with your parts.

[ATPRacing36]

Hello All,
I can assure everyone, that no one is getting screwed over here. I have to be very carful what I can say in public, but this is what I can tell you.

ATP has two attournies working on the issue at hand. We were unlawfully locked out of our building by the landlord and unfortunatly, after trying to do everything in my power to keep my customers from being involved, we are now awaiting a court to order the building opened to me to retrive our tools, equipment, inventory and customer work.

Any of you that have had ANY items returned to you, this was also done unlawfully. No one has the authority to act as an officer of ATP Racing Engines Inc. except for Mike or Melissa Walker.

We have had no way to contact our customers because of the fact that our office computer with all of our business contacts and legal paper work belonging to ATP Racing Engines Inc. has also been locked in the building. Also, we have just now gained internet access again.

If anyone has called, I have done my best to answer or return all calls. ANYONE, that needs to get intouch with me, give me a call at 407-718-1624. I am not avoiding any calls, nor will anyone loose a dime that has been spent. We were delt a very low blow to the business at a time that ATP was doing very well.
If you call, please leave a message and I WILL return your call.

For those of you who were caught up in this mess, we will work something out with you in the future to make up for it.

The reasons for my public absense in the last couple of weeks is due to the fact that my wife, my two kids and myself were put out at the flip of a dime and have had to relocate the family and find a place to live again.

Please continue to be patient with us and we will make it up to you all as soon as we can.

Sincerly,
Mike Walker

[OzLinc]

Originally posted by quadmom110
RadekPL
I'm calling you out on this! I just heard from someone that just got srewed by Mike at ATP. Mike took the guys money and did not do the work he was paid to do. Now the guy is getting his heads back the way they were sent to ATP, STOCK!!!! If you did not get your things back, I would say you got screwed too.Mike or Melissa if you read this post then please respond to this post. Your not answering your cell phone, so it isn't looking good for your future to start up again when you owe people. You have my cell phone # you can call me. If you don't have my # pm me and I will send it to you.
Thanks
Chuck Lehr
Randy's dad

You have made ATP to be a bunch of a-holes and they have acted honorably........you have not.

Chineese wispers and inuendo is all you are armed with.

This whole saga seems have happened 2 weeks ago. From the sounds of it they are taking care of business.

In 2 more weeks we will know if ATP are good for their word.

[atveric132]

Originally posted by ATPRacing36
Hello All,
I can assure everyone, that no one is getting screwed over here. I have to be very carful what I can say in public, but this is what I can tell you.

ATP has two attournies working on the issue at hand. We were unlawfully locked out of our building by the landlord and unfortunatly, after trying to do everything in my power to keep my customers from being involved, we are now awaiting a court to order the building opened to me to retrive our tools, equipment, inventory and customer work.

Any of you that have had ANY items returned to you, this was also done unlawfully. No one has the authority to act as an officer of ATP Racing Engines Inc. except for Mike or Melissa Walker.

We have had no way to contact our customers because of the fact that our office computer with all of our business contacts and legal paper work belonging to ATP Racing Engines Inc. has also been locked in the building. Also, we have just now gained internet access again.

If anyone has called, I have done my best to answer or return all calls. ANYONE, that needs to get intouch with me, give me a call at 407-718-1624. I am not avoiding any calls, nor will anyone loose a dime that has been spent. We were delt a very low blow to the business at a time that ATP was doing very well.
If you call, please leave a message and I WILL return your call.

For those of you who were caught up in this mess, we will work something out with you in the future to make up for it.

The reasons for my public absense in the last couple of weeks is due to the fact that my wife, my two kids and myself were put out at the flip of a dime and have had to relocate the family and find a place to live again.

Please continue to be patient with us and we will make it up to you all as soon as we can.

Sincerly,
Mike Walker

There you go quadmom110

[motomadman]

In Mike's defense I own a business and due to a unreasonable piece of crap landlord I was forced to leave my leased location and find another in less than a week. We had a terrible storm last summer and an tree fell on the outside ac unit. After 6 weeks with no air I complained, ITS HOT and this has taken too long. He said if you don't like it get the hell out!! Mind you this guy is also a "pastor?". He used to be a assitant city attorney and has connections which he started to use to push us out just for complaining. It almost put us out of business. There are unreasonable, weird and just downright bad people and suprisingly alot of them are commercial landlords. I am just sayin stuff happens sometimes that is completely out of someones control. Although I have never done business with ATP but I have seen him on other forums like LTR HQ late into the night answering questions, so I believe he is a straight shooter and will bust his *** to make a comeback. Good luck Mike, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[quadmom110]

Mike,
Thank you for answering back. If you would have answered your phone i would not have put this post up, there were messages left with no return call backs. I feel bad for your sittuation. But when the call was made to send parts back with out being done by Don I was pissed. What was i supposed to think. I hope you can get everything worked out. I like your work and would like to do more buiseness with you. If I could help you out in any way I would just let me know.
Thank you
Chuck

OzLinc,
I was waiting for a reply. I get up at 2:30 in the morning so I had to get some sleep. Are you okay with this. because of people like you is why i don't post on this site very often.



Originally posted by OzLinc
You have made ATP to be a bunch of a-holes and they have acted honorably........you have not.

Chineese wispers and inuendo is all you are armed with.

This whole saga seems have happened 2 weeks ago. From the sounds of it they are taking care of business.

In 2 more weeks we will know if ATP are good for their word.

[Warnerade]

Originally posted by diangelo#67
yeah all I can say is good luck in the future mike. There is alot of work ahead but anybody that knows ya knows hard work is your thing man :devil: what the hell...didnt I ban you?