“I guess I always wanted to have my own shop.”
Those are the words of Tom Hahn, but little did he know 25 years ago that his shop — the Tracy Service Center — would consist of two buildings in Tracy.
Hahn, orignally from Walnut Grove, worked at Lockwood Motors in Marshall and a couple other shops before opening his Tracy shop in 2001. The small building at the time was owned by Dale Johnson II.
“He put it up for sale and I bought it thinking that’s my chance to get closer to home,” he said. “I was in my 30s, so I was a little scared about it. I outgrew it in probably about a year.”
As it turns out, that’s just half of Hahn’s story.
Because business was good, 12 years later, he took another big leap when he hired Karl Campbell Construction to build his much larger shed behind his building along the highway.
TOM HAHN IS SETTING DOWN HIS TOOLS — at least professionally. Hahn, owner of the Tracy Service Center, has closed his shop on the highway after decades of serving Tracy and area residents. Photo / Per Peterson
“It was interesting,” he said about adding a second building. “I was very nervous, but it turned out well. Got a lot of good customers and brought some in from Walnut Grove and surrounding towns.”
Hahn’s business kept growing when he hired Ryan Lange, who helped bring in even more customers — not enough to warrant a third building, but enough to allow him to continue to be an important Tracy staple.
“We did pretty well together,” said Hahn. “I’ve had a number of employees, but he’s the one that stuck around the longest.”
Hahn, who went to college at Canby Vocational School, started tinkering under the hood on the farm when he was 12. And he’s proud of his longevity in the imdustry, and in Tracy. Over the years, he’s been able to build relationships with many people; owning a business in a small town has that effect.
“In a small town, I think you can service people a lot better,” he said. “Getting to know your customers is really nice. I’ve had a lot of them come by in the last couple weeks congratulating me and stuff like that.”
Retiring was a big decision for Hahn, but he said doing it for 40 years has taken a bit of a toll on his body.
“It was time,” he said. “As I’m getting a little older … my knees are getting sore,” he said. “It wears on you a little bit.”
Working on autos for so long, Hahn has had to adapt to numerous changes, technology in particular. Like all other mechanics these days, Hahn does any research he may need online.
“I got a couple programs that I can get any information from — I’d have to have another building just for books like in the old days,” he said. “It’s really hard for an independent shop to keep up with all that. And expensive for sure.”
One memory that stands out for Hahn is a time when he actaully had a Ferrari in his shop. Sure, he favors the classics, but having an exotic sports car at his disposal is nothing to sneeze at.
“That was pretty cool,” he said. “I didn’t really do much to it, but I took it for a spin! But I think the old cars got a little bit more personality than the newer ones.
Hahn, who lives about 10 miles north of Tracy, has no grandiose plans for retirement, other than helping his brother on the farm.
