Engine Builder magazine has announced the three winners of its 2021 America’s Best Engine Shops contest, sponsored by Autolite. The three winners, Moran Motorsports (Race), LinCo Diesel Performance (Diesel) and Workshop 5001 (Vintage), accepted their awards during Engine Builder’s PRI Party, sponsored by Autolite, at Tin Roof in Indianapolis on December 8.

Engine Builder magazine has always made it a priority to recognize the hard work and amazing talents of engine builders. In fact, over the past nine years, the magazine has placed the spotlight on dozens of successful engine builders who exemplify the key attributes of a well-run business. During Engine Builder’s PRI Party, sponsored by Autolite, guests were treated to live music from Pom Teddy, food and drink, goodie bags, and Autolite Annie pint glasses – but the big winners were the 2021 class of America’s Best Engine Shops.

As always, the America’s Best Engine Shops contest aimed to find the best engine shops out there operating in three different categories – Race, Vintage and Diesel. The contest, which is judged by members of Engine Builder magazine, look for shops that: celebrate creativity and innovation; encourage training and education; emphasize marketing, merchandising and promotion; maintain professional standards and conduct; take pride in appearance, business management, community involvement, business growth, achievement, and victories.

To give engine builders some well-deserved credit, people were asked to nominate worthy shops for the award or shops could nominate themselves.

After more than 200 engine shop nominations, it was Moran Motorsports, owned by Mike Moran in Taylor, MI, that won the Race category; LinCo Diesel Performance, owned by Jeff McCord in Troy, MO, that won the Diesel category; and Workshop 5001, owned by Marlon Goldberg in Los Angeles, that won the Vintage category. Each of these shops proved to be among the elite in their respective categories.

“It’s an honor to get it, and I want to make sure that we uphold those reasons we won,” Mike Moran of Moran Motorsports says. “We’re going to strive to get better every year and not just stay the same. This is something I won’t soon forget – I really appreciate this vote of confidence and I’ll try to make folks proud in whatever we do.”

“When you get an award from the industry, not from people hitting the like button, but from the industry, especially from Engine Builder magazine, you realize you’re up at the forefront of the industry and you’re actually getting noticed and doing some good,” says Jeff McCord of LinCo Diesel Performance. “It definitely makes you feel good and it’s something to be proud of.”

“It’s a huge honor to receive an award like this,” Marlon Goldberg of Workshop 5001 says. “Engine building is obviously something I take very seriously. This honor is validation that I did the right thing and that I went and I learned from the right people and made the right contacts. It’s one of those things where you feel hard work pays off. It’s a big deal to know that you took the right path to figure it out and become good at something like this.”

More information can be found on these shops in Engine Builder’s December 2021 issue.