Our Founders

Dirk with Norm Buvick Sponsor 1986

Mettec was founded in 1995 when the father-son team of Bud and Dirk VanCott decided to combine their love for all things having a motor and racing with their collective aeronautical and mechanical engineering backgrounds to make high quality, lightweight parts specifically designed for Sprint Cars.

With his dad as crew chief, Dirk's racing career began at age 15 in 250cc Micro Midgets. At age 18 he transitioned to 410 Sprint Cars in 1983, winning NARC Rookie of The Year for the Northern California region in 1983. Dirk then moved on to 140mph 250cc Super Karts to gain road racing experience, winning the IKF West Coast Championship in his second season. By 1987 Dirk turned his focus to racing USAC Midgets and SCCA Formula Mazda while completing his Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Maintenance Management and obtaining both his FAA Airframe & Power Plant (A&P) and private pilot licenses. At that time everyone in the Sprint Car racing industry was using surplus aircraft bolts and modifying them to fit race cars. With their 21 years of wrenching on all types of motors and chassis, Dirk and Bud knew they could make something better suited to the racers' needs. So, after Dirk graduated from college and Bud retired from his successful mechanical engineering career servicing nuclear power plants, they developed a business plan to start manufacturing purpose-built titanium fasteners for automotive and motorcycle applications.

The learning curve for how to make aerospace quality fasteners was demanding. By 2004 Dirk and Bud had moved the business to Carson City, Nevada and were running a full-scale machine shop complete with Hot Forging Presses, Centerless Grinders, Threads Rollers, and CNC Mill and Lathes plus support equipment. Over the years Mettec has expanded into many disciplines. Motorsports still makes up a substantial portion of our capacity, but our reputation for producing high quality parts has enabled us to expand into making titanium fasteners for motorcycles, bicycle, marine, medical, and aeronautical applications.