It’s the typical story of American ingenuity. Two buddies get together, get an idea to build something and before you know it, they’ve come up with a one-of-a-kind item. And of course there’s an engine involved.
“We just started throwing parts at it,” said Russ Freeman, one of the inventors of the unique MotorHead Grill. Freeman’s good friend, Jay Thurman, had come into his garage and said he wanted to build a functional grill out of an engine block for his dad.
The West Jones High School grads tried this and tried that. Eventually they had what looked like what they were trying to build. They had an engine stand fabricated and hid their “engine-grill” .
The duo knew they had something, but weren’t sure where to go from there. They decided they needed to patent this thing, but that would cost money — something neither had a lot of.
Thurman had done some real estate and “flipped” a few houses. He knew of a house that was coming up on foreclosure. A mutual friend loaned them $10,000. Freeman’s wife wasn’t so sure.
“She said ‘You can’t buy a house for $10,000’,” said Freeman. They were able to purchase the house for $9,900 on the courthouse steps. They used the money to get the patent. But of course it wasn’t that easy.
Just days before they expected their patent to be approved, someone told them there was a similar engine-grill built by a guy in Ohio. Freeman was stunned.
“I’m the one that panics,” said Freeman.
Freeman was told the patent attorney they were using was on vacation for a couple of weeks. After an exasperated phone conversation that included the guy on the other line saying his grandma was from Laurel, Freeman was finally told the patent had been approved.
That in itself is an accomplishment.
“Only one-tenth of one percent of patents are published,” said Thurman.
Now the pair had to find a way to manufacture the product. They brought in a third partner, Chris Moss — “the bean counter” — another good friend of Freeman’s. The two played high school ball together at West Jones.
The trio wanted to build the grill in the U.S., but costs soon proved too much to do so. After another loan from a friend, Thurman and Freeman soon found themselves on a plane headed to China to negotiate building the grill near the South China Sea. The 18-hour flight was Freeman’s first on any airplane.
“I didn’t sleep at all,” said Freeman.
Through interpreters and trial and error, the first MotorHead Grill rolled off the assembly line in 2008. And after five years, the grill made its debut at Texas Motor Speedway a year ago.
It has been quite a ride for the friends through this process and all three agree it has been meant to be. Through it all, they feel blessed and give the credit to God. They also pay it forward with their success.
They auctioned off an autographed MotorHead Grill that included the signatures of NASCAR drivers Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace, Kelly Bires and others. It raised over $1,500 for Speedway Children’s Charities. They’ve also donated a MotorHead Grill for the Laurel Leader-Call to sell raffle tickets with the proceeds going to Relay for Life. Tickets are available at the LL-C office for $2 a piece or three for $5. The drawing will be held the night of the Jones County Relay for Life on Friday, May 1st at the Laurel Sportsplex.
“It’s all about giving something back,” said Freeman. “God has certainly blessed us.”
Look for more on the MotorHead Grill in the May issue of Oak Street magazine.
Local News
Related Photos
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Photo/Rob Sigler - Business partners and long-time friends Chris Moss, Russ Freeman and Jay Thurman have developed the MotorHead Grill, a functioning gas grill that appears to be a racing engine.
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