Yeah I agree with everyone's posts so far. Heavy Duty is still very stable and decent paying. Stability can be very important, especially as you get older. Any high-performance industry is purely a niche market and is highly subjected to micro booms and busts in the economy as people's free spending money fluctuates so much. The impact can be even higher in this industry with a faltering economy than it can be with maintenance mechanics.
The proposed idea of working on the side doing installs for performance parts is an excellent suggestion. It's a great way to build a reputation and clientele, and after a few years if it goes well you might be able to set up your own operation.

Funnily enough I had intentions of going the same route after high school....ended up doing engineering instead though.

 

You should move to Lubbock... I hear there's lots of cool stuff there.. hehe just kidding babe

 

hmm lubbock does sound kinda good anybody know of any high performance jobs in lbk. or any kind of mechanic job around there.

 

Ive been working in the heavy duty truck industry for the last 5 years. Graduated from a 2 year tech school. It dont pay much from where im from, but if you could get on at like a Peterbilt or KW i bet you could make some money. Funny thing i went to school for HD trucks and i just got a new job at a JD dealership working on Combines, and setting up equipment. I start in a week. I kinda figured Farming around here isnt going anywhere, but all the truck shops are going up in smoke. Figure i would try to get some AG experience. Good luck to you.

PS. i do HP stuff on the side, its kinda the best thing for me to do.

 

Wyotech dosnt do diesel performance. In my opinion that place is a waste of money if you know anything about cars going in

 

There are no entry level jobs in "Diesel performance". To get into the "industry", either get very good doing regular work on Diesels and build up enough of a reputation for people to trust you doing high performance stuff, or put a lot of money into your own performance stuff and start beating other people to collect sponsor dollars.

The EPA is never going to shut it down, or else they would've shut down gasoline drag racing a long time ago.

 

boy after youve worked a while open your own shop and do both main line and high performance two of my friends in california are both rich now and there own boss