Austin Flemming’s passion for cars began long before he could drive one. Growing up near St. Louis, Missouri, he was surrounded by horsepower. His parents and grandparents owned muscle cars and race cars that filled his childhood with the sights, sounds, and smells of the shop. What first caught his attention was how the cars looked, but what truly hooked him was how they worked.
Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #197, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in November/December 2025.
That curiosity turned into creativity. Throughout elementary and high school, Flemming spent hours sketching muscle cars and race cars with pencils and markers, dreaming about the day he could build one himself. That dream started to take shape the moment his father asked him to hop into the driver’s seat of his Corvette and crank the engine while he poured gas into the carburetor. From that day forward, Flemming vowed that one day he’d have a car of his own to wrench on.
When he turned 16, he made good on that promise. His first vehicle, a slick S10 pickup, received a few mild mods before he graduated to what he calls his first “real project”: a 1987 Chevrolet Silverado.
“I was just 18 at the time, but I lowered it, built my first small-block engine for it, and put a Muncie four-speed transmission in it,” he recalls. “I added a dually bed with fat wheels and tires. It was my pride and joy.”
At the time, Flemming was working at a grocery store, cleaning restrooms to make ends meet. Every Thursday night, he’d drive his Silverado to the local Sonic drive-in, where the truck drew plenty of attention – and admiration. Those moments cemented his dream of working with cars, even if he didn’t yet know how to make that dream a reality.
After trying an office job for a year, Flemming decided to pursue a more hands-on path. At 23, he enrolled at Ranken Technical College in St. Louis, entering the Advanced Manufacturing program with a focus on CNC Machining. “I figured that degree could tie directly into making car parts,” he says. “I wanted to learn how to create the kind of components that made cars perform.”
As graduation approached, Flemming was completing an internship at a local machine shop when a friend called with a lead – a laser cutting position at Jerry Bickel Race Cars in Moscow Mills, Missouri. “I didn’t have laser experience, but the job fit perfectly with what I’d learned about software and part design,” he says. “I interviewed quietly – didn’t even tell anyone – and got the job.”
That moment, Flemming says, was the true turning point in his life. “Getting hired at Jerry Bickel Race Cars changed everything for me,” he explains. “It was when I realized I could turn my passion into a career. I started out running the laser, then moved into fabricating, part design, welding, building driveshafts, and even helping with social media. Five years later, I can honestly say this is my dream job. Designing parts for some of the fastest cars in the world and seeing our customers succeed – it’s surreal. To go from cleaning restrooms to working at Jerry Bickel Race Cars…it’s hard to put into words.”
Flemming also keeps his hands busy with his own passion project, a 1956 Chevrolet pickup truck he bought for just $275 about seven years ago.
“I parked it at the farm for a few years, buying parts when I could,” he says. “Then two years ago, my friend Kyle Weintraut and I started laying out a chassis with help from Steve Klosterhoff. It’s finally starting to take shape – a full-tube chassis modeled after a Jerry Bickel Pro Mod, powered by a roots-blown LS and a stick-shift transmission. It’s being built for drag-and-drive events, and I’ve learned everything I need to build it right here at work.”
Looking back, Flemming hopes his journey inspires others to chase what they love. “A lot of people helped me get to where I am – my family, friends, and everyone here at Bickel,” he says. “My path to Jerry Bickel Race Cars means the world to me. I want others to feel the same pride and fulfillment I do when they find their own passion.”
The post DI 30 Under 30 2025: Austin Flemming first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
