Joy Ching races French-built 1926 Bugatti Type 37A Grand Prix in the 1949 Silverstone Circuit (photo by Guy Griffiths).

“I’ve found that people communicate much better when they are doing something with their hands, which is one reason I love inviting my IGNITE students to help with my car restoration projects.”

The racing car featured above has a noteworthy history that spans the globe from France to Japan to Britain. It has been owned by the likes of Sir Malcolm Campbell and now finds a home with Ignite Industry Mentor Ed Godshalk. Godshalk procured the car years ago and has spent the past seven years working a complete restoration – stem to stern – to bring this little gem back to its original beauty. Godshalk invited his Ignite student, David Johnson, up to his shop to help with the final adjustments in preparation for the Marysville Loops Climb. Johnson assisted with the reinstallation of body panels, tuning the carburetor for optimal performance, and reinstalling the exhaust system.

Godshalk uses the time working with his Ignite students as a natural segue into conversations that will help his students succeed in the workplace and in life. As they work together, Godshalk creates a safe space to learn and to ask questions. “I make it clear that it’s a virtue to admit what you don’t know and to ask for help.” As they are making progress, they talk about how it’s good to be open about what you don’t know and when you need help. “I told David, ‘It’s okay to ask for help. We don’t break things on these cars because it’s too expensive.'”

“Ask for help. Be comfortable admitting what you don’t know.”

Godshalk reflects on his own path to a successful career and notes that relationships were a large part of his success. At Maxim he ran his group like a small company and stressed to his employees that it was essential to treat co-workers as valuable customers in order to stay in business, which was highly effective resulting in no layoffs in 22 years. Also, he learned that being willing to take on challenging problems is necessary for growth in a high-tech company. “I try to mentor in humility while maintaining a healthy self-confidence that allows one to take on challenging tasks, often with some risk, that must be managed. Working on these historic cars is a great way of presenting the students with problem-solving, often with little information available, while becoming comfortable admitting they don’t know things – it’s often hard for engineers to do that when they’re young. I try to help my mentees gain awareness that being confident without excessive pride is a delicate balance. After being in industry for 40 years, my most significant lesson was the importance of maintaining healthy relationships and respect for my fellow employees.”

After a successful 40-year career, Ed Godshalk now serves as George Fox Engineer in Residence. For 22 years, Godshalk ran a research group at Maxim Integrated (now owned by Analog Devices), a world leader in semiconductors, and was elevated to the grade of IEEE Fellow in 2020 for significant advances in microwave measurements. He enjoys skiing, hiking, bouldering with his daughter, and restoring antique racing cars.