Local Family Opens High Performance Shop- CT Performance

Taylor, Shane, Tracy, & Tori Carey showing off the family business, CT Performance.

by Tracy Carey and Judy Williams

For the past two years, the attendees of the Gregory 4th of July parade have been amazed to see several beautiful, high-performance cars among the entries. Since the parade’s beginning 44 years ago, the crowd has been accustomed to seeing antique cars and tractors, but not the high-performance cars. Even more amazing is hearing the emcee announce that these cars are built in Gregory. Who are the owners of this business in Gregory?

The new shop, CT Performance, has its roots in the passion and dreams of a 13-year-old boy from Kentucky.
When Shane Carey was growing up, he often helped his father work on the family vehicles. The time spent with his father, Glenn Carey, and the encouragement from his mother, Linda Carey, helped turn cars into a lifelong interest for Shane. This pursuit ultimately led to the creation of CT Performance in Gregory.
“CT” stands for Carey-Taylor, representing the families behind this new business—Shane and his wife, Tracy (maiden name Taylor), and daughters Taylor and Tori Carey.
“We wanted to keep the name of our new business simple and to the point. Our shop caters to maximizing the performance of high-end vehicles,” said owner Shane Carey.
Shane Carey has a long history of modifying cars, starting at the age of 13. His first car was a 1968 Camaro RS/SS, which he bought at age 14. Since that time over the past 30 years, he has owned and worked on a variety of vehicles including Fox Body Mustangs, a Nova, Monte Carlos, CTSV Cadillacs, ZR1 Corvettes, an F Body WS6 Trans Am, a 2006 GTO and more. But his work hasn’t been limited to his own vehicles. Friends with the same passion for cars started bringing their vehicles to Shane — to troubleshoot issues and have him help with their projects. He primarily worked on GM products, specializing in CTVS/ZL1/ZR1/GTO/G8/C7 Z06.
Because of the great success of these projects and with a big push from his family, especially his wife, Tracy, and friends, Shane ultimately decided to create CT Performance. The business offers his services and expertise beyond family and friends and allows him to share his craftsmanship, attention to detail and quality work.
Shane certainly has the proper credentials for this type of work. He went to Motech Education Center to study automotive technologies. He completed this two-year school in just over 13 months. He graduated with honors and became a Michigan Master Certified Mechanic.
He started his career in Ford dealerships as a service technician. Shane eventually left the automotive services industry to work the past 20-plus years in the liquid packaging industry, where he manages and leads a multimillion-dollar organization.
But his true interest and passion was in the automotive world. He took a leap of faith and with hard work, trademark attention to detail and long hours in his spare time, created his family business, CT Performance.
As a Master Certified Mechanic, Shane uses his extensive knowledge and experience in fine-tuning high-performance vehicles for customers, his friends and his own collection of vehicles. To date, his work comes through word of mouth and recommendations from customers.
“We haven’t had to advertise for business at all. I feel very fortunate,” Shane said.” With each completed project — whether it’s making a car faster or making tuning adjustments — car enthusiasts notice the high-quality work and seek out CT Performance to work on their cars.”
One of the most fascinating and rare vehicles Shane worked on was a 1953 Cunningham. A friend brought it to him after it had been worked on by a few different shops.
“That came to me with a lot of issues. I didn’t have experience with that particular vehicle, so it was a fun challenge to research and work on,” said Shane. “It was in pieces when I first got it. To put it back together, find parts and ultimately make such a rare vehicle run again was one of the greatest accomplishments.”
Other vehicles he recently worked on include his own 2010 ZR1 Corvette, a 2011 CTSV Cadillac and a full-blown race car, a 2002 TransAm.
But better proof of the success of this new business is at the Battle Creek Speed Fest. Over the last several years, there were many references to Shane Carey and CT Performance, including the debut of 16-year-old daughter Taylor Carey’s first racing experience this past July. She raced the family’s 2011 Cadillac CTSV and won Fastest Female Driver with a top speed of 155 mph. Daughter Tori’s involvement comes from a different angle, putting to good use her expertise in the social media arena to promote the business through its Facebook and Instagram accounts (search CT Performance). And of course, notes Shane, “my wife Tracy keeps everything going, especially with all the late nights, early mornings, last-minute requests and long weekends that are so typical of this type of family business.”
“None of this would be possible without the support of my family and friends,” he said. “We’ve spent so many long hours into the early morning working on vehicles and troubleshooting issues that unavoidably come up during the work.
“Actually, that’s the fun part for me, to figure things out, especially when someone tells me it can’t be done. Sometimes it means I need to create a new part, or think outside the norm to come up with a solution,” said Shane. And he always does have a solution.
Find out more about CT Performance on Instagram (CT_Performance) or Facebook (CT Performance). Or email Shane at shane.ctperformance@gmail.com.

Shane Carey working on a customer’s auto.

The Carey family at the Battle Creek Speedfest. Daughter, 16 year old Taylor won the “Fastest Female Driver award for a speed of 155 mph.”