Story by Terry Jensen // Photography Provided
Onyx Automotive is Nebraska’s premier luxury vehicle destination
ONYX Automotive technician John Prendergast saw the opportunity to join a crew of technicians at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last fall as an unparalleled adventure. Spending a week at the iconic race track with a select group of BMW experts from around the country gave Prendergast a new respect for the relevance of teamwork.
Prendergast’s fascination with automobiles developed at an early age. During his high school years, he worked in a Volkswagen repair shop rebuilding VW Beetles and Busses, but his first car was a Suzuki Samurai. He worked in a diesel repair shop while attending auto technician training at a local trade school at age 18. Prendergast’s first professional job was as a Ford mechanic in 2000, but he moved to servicing BMWs less than six months later. Prendergast’s been there since, largely because he enjoys the attention to detail that BMW commands. While he has done his share of oil changes and routine maintenance, it is the challenge of more complex diagnostics that he continues to find most rewarding. “As complicated as they can be, BMW does do a pretty decent job of getting us some good information,” Prendergast explained. For this technician, meaningful manufacturer support makes the difference.
His dream was always to own one of the older muscle cars, like a Chevrolet Chevelle SS. Lately though, his tastes are changing. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve really started to enjoy some of these GT cars, and some of their racing capabilities on the more course-type track,” Prendergast said. His passion for the BMW brand led him to accept an invitation to join the BimmerWorld BMW team at the Indianapolis Speedway in October 2021. It was a rare chance to experience a genuine Indianapolis-style competition.
He got the experience through a reward program for BMW technicians. Prendergast was nominated by his manager, Nick Appletoft, who submitted the application. He was chosen based on his years of service and his mentoring of the other technicians. Appletoft felt he was a great candidate based on his experience with the brand.
Prendergast had teamed up with maintenance crews for the annual SRO GT4 America Sprint X & Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis. The event, made up of a series of daily qualifying races, culminated in an eight-hour race at the week’s end. Designed originally as a strategy to recruit experts for the race team’s crew, technicians were rewarded for their brand loyalty and expertise with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Prendergast was one of only a handful of professionals selected to participate.
“That was a pretty long night,” Prendergast said, “to have that thing ready to go for racing in the morning.”
“BMW works directly with them and gives them engineers for the BMW motorsports vehicles,” Prendergast explained. Technicians are responsible for prepping the vehicles before the race and performing necessary repairs throughout the preliminary events. These repairs encompass everything from spring changes and minor adjustments to multiple brake repairs. For example, during this year’s preliminaries, it was necessary to tear down one of the engines completely to repair it for the next day’s competition. Semitrailers stocked with parts were kept on site to allow quick and easy access to critical components. Everything the technicians might need was kept close at hand.
“I’d say any of the techs that are able to go, I think that as hard work as it was, it was a very rewarding outcome,” Prendergast said.
Prendergast’s BimmerWorld team had two cars participating in the race, and each car had two drivers who alternated driving. Monitoring tire pressure in the pits, switching out spark plugs, coils, injectors, and alternators required a genuine team effort. Working with a group of eight technicians from around the region gave him the opportunity to connect with other professionals in the field. “I’m used to working with people, but at the same point, with this being a team aspect so much you have like eight hands in on the one thing…so it’s kind of trusting, trusting all eight hands that are going into this repair,” he said.
That teamwork paid off at the end of the week when the BimmerWorld car placed first for their class in the final race. The winning team earned the opportunity to “kiss the bricks” at Indy. The tradition of kissing the Yard of Bricks after winning a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of the most famous rituals in motor sports. The bricks in the final 36-inch strip of the Speedway were kept intact at the start/finish line when the track was modernized with asphalt. Now this is all that remains of the 3.2 million bricks that made up the original 2.5-mile oval. Prendergast found sharing the victory with their team a dream come true.
Back in Nebraska, Prendergast spends his free time cheering on his favorite home teams. Daughter Lillian is senior cheer captain at Fremont High School, and son Landen is a junior who plays hockey for the Fremont High Tigers. Prendergast also enjoys snowboarding and fly fishing, making annual trips to Big Sky, Montana. He plays guitar as well as teaches lessons, and enjoys listening to different styles of music. Prendergast also owns a new-to-him home in the Fremont Historic District and is making restoration plans.
“It was definitely hard work but a very rewarding experience,” Prendergast said of his trip to Indianapolis.
For more information about ONYX Automotive, visit onyxautomotive.com.
