11 May Faculty Profile

Getting to know VTEC Academy’s co-founder and video editor.

By Aaron Gaghagen

Brian (Gillespie) is the full-time Honda engine swap guru and part-time roll cage tester, and Aaron (Bonk) is the walking, talking encyclopedia of Honda tuning knowledge who’s written all sorts of books about Hondas and contributed to pretty much every import magazine ever. They’re people who I knew of for years before having the privilege of meeting them.

So who am I? I’m the lucky dude who gets to combine his professional acumen with his love of all things Honda. I’ve been a video editor for almost 15 years and a Honda enthusiast for a couple more than that. I’ve owned seven Hondas, which isn’t a lot, but I’ve enjoyed working on all of them in my garage with friends. (Well, with the exception of that 2003 Civic LX. That car was so boring. Automatic?!) Days spent swapping engines using random websites and Haynes manuals as references were long but never wasted. It wasn’t until the end of 2010 that a friend and I hooked up with a guy off of a local Honda tuner forum who wanted to make Honda videos. That guy was Brian, and Nacho Speed Garage was born.

Gaghagen, a professional video editor for nearly 15 years and longtime Honda enthusiast, is co-founder of VTEC Academy.

Nacho Speed Garage took everything to the next level. Instead of reading magazines, cruising forums, and wrenching in my garage, I was going to events and seeing Hondas that I’d previously only read about. We’ve shot everything from hard-parkers to track whores from a bunch of different places. I’ve met so many cool people that I wouldn’t have met if I just stuck to my own tiny circle of car friends. Showcasing Honda drivers, tuners, builders, owners, events, and information that could help fellow Honda heads is what it’s all about. Now I want to apply those same concepts but on a higher level, here at VTEC Academy.

Last year we lost the greatest magazine of all time, Honda Tuning. HT was a monthly must-read, a Honda magazine put together by Honda enthusiasts. There was a difference. Sure, it lives online now as part of a larger network but without the staff that it previously had. VTEC Academy will spiritually carry the Honda torch forward in the vein of that once great magazine because we’re still here, we deserve to be heard, and people are still building badass Hondas.