From the Racetrack to Your Driveway

Fast. Efficient. Calculated. Three words that describe the energy of a racing pitstop. Everything is done with intension and to the highest level of service which ultimately yields a top performing machine on track. These are all factors that were the basis for Mobile Pitstop’s inception in 2018.

Mobile Pitstop owners and racers, Gabby Chaves and Juan Piedrahita sat down together following their 2018 race season in search of something that went beyond the racetrack. With the mindset of bringing their racing influence and knowledge to people’s every day lives, Chaves and Piedrahita created Mobile Pitstop.

“Racing had been our lives since we were both very young and we wanted to have something beyond the racing life and start a business,” said Chaves. “We talked about many ideas and it all came back to being involved with cars – that’s our passion and where it all started.”

First running the business out of their garage, Chaves and Piedrahita serviced the Indianapolis area. They spent the initial stages of Mobile Pitstop researching and learning everything about the business. But one thing they knew was for sure, they wanted to take what they valued from the racetrack and allow customers to experience that first hand.

Chaves knows what it takes to be successful in racing, having clinched the 2014 Indy Lights Championship following four wins and seven podium finishes that season. Chaves went on to compete full-time in the NTT INDYCAR series the following year, and raced in nearly 40 INDYCAR events up until 2018. Most recently Chaves went on the sweep the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Driver, Team and Manufacturer Championships in 2020.

“The culture that we aspire to have stems from our racing background and to perform at the highest level at everything that we do,” explained Chaves. “In racing, you can see what teams achieve the highest level of performance and results based on the way they treat their employees, based on the way that they provide the best level of resources – even when it comes to the mechanics, engineers and drivers.”

Colombian racer Piedrahita began his racing career Stateside in 2010 competing in the Star Mazda Championship. Between 2010 and 2013 Piedrahita raced to seven podium finishes before making the jump to the Indy Lights Championship in 2014. In addition to his success in open wheel competition Piedrahita competed in the top Prototype categories in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

“We are goal oriented and very competitive, we set goals as a team and work together to accomplish them, so in a way is like being involved in racing,” said Piedrahita.

Mobile Pitstop has grown significantly in the last three years of business. With a total of six employees and six vans cruising the Circle City, Mobile Pitstop owners are now hoping to see even more growth in years to come.

“We’ve been able to accomplish great things because we have been able to be honest with ourselves and with everything that we’ve done,” said Chaves. “We just really try to do the best job that we can and that’s the culture we want for our employees. We always put our customers first and we are seeing lots of returning customers because of that.”

“We went from running one service van out of Gabby’s house garage to having six vans today,” explained Piedrahita. “We can’t believe how much we grew over the last year and we both continue to want to be the biggest mobile automotive service in the Mid-West.”