About Us

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Both Robert and Nicole grew up in small towns. Robert in the beautiful town of Bishop. Nicole in the dense forest of Washington State at the closest residence to Mt. St. Helens.

Robert's first entrance to Bishop was aboard a Cessna at 3 months old, piloted by his father, David Hardin. The idea of Shorty's Speed Shop was born while he was attending Bishop High School, where Shorty spent a lot of his time in auto class and working on vehicles with friends and family. Fast forward to graduation, he made the leap and decided to attend Universal Technical Institute (UTI) in Phoenix, AZ. He graduated after a concentration on Ford, Electrical Theory, and Vehicle Diagnostics. After graduating from UTI, Robert worked for automotive dealerships, on busses for Mammoth Mountain and several school bus companies. Finally, in 2015 he started working with Daimler Trucks of North America, specifically for their subsidiary, Freightliner in Portland Oregon. Shorty has worked both within departments focused on Fuel Economy, and in Research and Development. He continues his education with ASE Seminars and in person training often.

Nicole is from Washington and grew up at the closest residence to Mt. St. Helens (post 1980 eruption), where her parents own and operate a campground and restaurant. From a young age, she was trained to work in Customer Service and Hospitality. Nicole has experience and training in Customer Service, Hospitality, Medical Billing and Coding, Worker's Compensation and Business Insurance, Photography, and Graphic Design. Nicole has a BA in Educational Studies with a Minor in Educational Psychology. While customer service comes naturally to Nicole, she will be working on understanding the ins and outs of service writing and is hoping to become an ASE Certified Service writer in the near future.

Shorty and Nicole feel beyond excited and fortunate to have the opportunity to continue business from Teri at TJ's Firing Line, as well as to be part of this beautiful community that means so much to both of us. Both Robert and Nicole have the desire and experience to help others and are excited to work with and be part of the Bishop and Owen's Valley Communities. 

A few more things about Shorty and Nicole:

  • Shorty's parents, Dave and Marilyn Hardin had moved to Bishop in 1969 when Dave started his teaching career at Home Street School. Dave taught in the Bishop School District for 33 years until retirement in 2002.  He taught thousands of students during his career. It’s always fun to hear stories from customers who had him as a teacher!

  • Shorty and Nicole also run a photography business called ShutterMeShort Photography (www.shuttermeshort.com).

  • Nicole has a design business called Deep Thought Design Co. (www.deepthoughtdesignco.com)

  • Shorty and Nicole were married in Bishop in 2016 and moved to Bishop permanently in 2020.