Randy Shambro’s love affair with cars began at a young age. Shambro recalls gazing longingly at the Dodge Darts in the showroom window when he walked by Mr. Norm’s Grand-Spaulding Dodge on the west side of Chicago. At the time, it was the biggest high-performance Dodge dealership in the country. Co-owner Norm Kraus rose to prominence by squeezing big-block V-8 engines into the Dart (something Chrysler said was impossible), inspiring Chrysler to produce the 383 Dart GTS and the memorable M-Code 440 Dart GTS. Kraus remains a legendary figure among Dodge/Mopar performance enthusiasts (see sidebar for more).
Growing up in the golden age of muscle cars – near the epicenter of the Dodge/Mopar performance world at the time – was a formative experience for Shambro.
“I’ve always liked cars, even when I was a kid,” Shambro recalls. “I used to look out the window of my house and I could tell what kind of car was going by. Now you can hardly tell. But back in the day, you could tell by the front end and the bumpers.”
Shambro, the 2023 Counter Professional of the Year sponsored by WIX Filters, has parlayed his love of muscle/pony cars into a fulfilling career in the automotive aftermarket that has spanned more than 40 years. Today, he is the assistant manager at O’Reilly Auto Parts store 3381 in Chicago.
Shambro’s story begins in 1977, when he purchased a 1965 Plymouth Barracuda (which he still owns today). Obsessed with his beloved Barracuda, he made so many trips to Sunnyside Parts Warehouse for replacement parts that the manager eventually asked him if he’d like to work there. Shambro took him up on the offer.
“I was pretty much an order picker at first,” Shambro recalls. “I was filling orders from dealerships, pulling fenders, tracking down crash parts.”
The employee discount wasn’t the only part of the job that appealed to him, though. “I liked the job a lot,” Shambro says. “There was a lot of camaraderie with the guys I was working with. It was a lot of fun.”
A few years later, Shambro landed a job as a counterman in the parts department of a local Chrysler dealership. Shambro saw it as a great opportunity to leverage his experience with Chrysler parts. Plus, before working in the aftermarket, he’d been able to enroll in some classes at a Chrysler technician-training center, thanks to a shop owner who had worked on his Barracuda.
In the early 1980s, Shambro worked at a mom-and-pop shop called Almor Auto Parts.
“I was cutting drums and rotors, pressing bearings and U-joints and cutting flywheels,” he recalls.
Shambro bounced around for a bit, working at independent and franchised parts stores. In some cases, the store closed or couldn’t afford to keep him on the payroll. For several years, when his wife, Ellie, lost her job, Shambro was working two jobs to support his family.
Through it all, he never questioned his choice of career.
“I wanted to do parts. That was always my main thing,” he says. “I enjoyed it. Back in the day, I had part numbers memorized, so I could pick them up right off the shelf without looking anything up.”
Starting in the early 1990s, Shambro spent 15 years selling aftermarket accessories and custom parts. The timing turned out to be fortuitous: When the first “Fast & Furious” movie hit U.S. theaters in 2001, it inspired a new generation of car enthusiasts – and sales of aftermarket accessories exploded.
“We made a lot of money when ‘Fast & Furious’ came out,” Shambro recalls. “I was selling nitrous kits, body graphics, spoiler kits, spoiler packages. I used to sell LED [exhaust] tips, but those didn’t last long in Chicago because of the salt.”
O’Reilly: A Great Fit
Shambro’s career has shifted into high gear since joining O’Reilly Auto Parts in 2009.
As a member of Team O’Reilly, Shambro has been able to showcase his deep parts knowledge, customer-first sales mentality and roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic. It’s been a great fit. Since he joined O’Reilly, Shambro has progressed from the role of parts specialist to retail service specialist to his current position of assistant store manager.
O’Reilly has recognized Shambro on multiple occasions for his sales achievements, and he is quick to credit O’Reilly for fostering a supportive culture that has allowed him to thrive. “They take care of you,” Shambro says of O’Reilly. “If there’s anything you need – any questions, any problems – they’re there for you. They always work with me on my schedule. And they have a great culture. We all work together, and we have each other’s back.”
That support system starts with his district Manager, Fred Perez, who accompanied Shambro to AAPEX in Las Vegas, where Babcox Media (publisher of AMN/Counterman) and WIX Filters formally presented the 2023 Counter Professional of the Year award to Shambro.
Red the full profile on Randy Shambro on Counterman.com by clicking below.
