Who Is Max Krommenhoek? From Race Shop to Advantage Tools
My name is Max Krommenhoek, I was born and raised in Barstow, California, a desert town where you spend most of your time outside—riding bikes, working on things, and figuring things out as you go.
I grew up working on my own BMX bikes and motorcycles, in a family that was always building or fixing something. My dad was a general contractor, my mom was in real estate, and from a very young age I was helping maintain rental properties and flipping houses. It wasn’t metal fabrication, but I learned early how to use tools and how to solve problems with what was in front of me.
Growing up in Barstow, it was inevitable that I’d be introduced to off-road racing. I spent a lot of afternoons in the late ’90s watching race teams test their trucks out in the desert. The highlight of every year was sitting in the bed of a pickup truck watching the SCORE Fireworks 250.
Those machines were incredible. That was it—I was hooked. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be involved in racing, and that pursuit shaped my path for the next several decades.
Getting Into Racing
After high school, I moved to San Diego—the epicenter of Baja desert racing—and began studying mechanical engineering at San Diego State University with the goal of becoming a race car engineer.
After a couple of years bouncing between part-time jobs, I eventually landed an entry-level role at McMillin Racing—washing cars, running errands, and doing whatever needed to be done. It was exactly the opportunity I was hoping for while working through my engineering degree.
In those early days, most of what I learned didn’t come from a classroom. It came from time in the shop—watching, asking questions, and doing the work. I was all in.
Over time, I worked my way through different roles, eventually managing chase operations and becoming more involved in race logistics and vehicle systems.
Understanding the Whole System
In 2017, after earning my master’s degree in engineering, I was asked to take on the role of Crew Chief and Lead Engineer for the Trophy Truck program at McMillin Racing.
At that time, although the team had been successful in buggy classes, we hadn’t yet won a race in the top Trophy Truck class.
I was a bit overwhelmed at first. Up to that point, my role had been more focused on logistics. But I stepped into the position with a simple approach: understand everything.
If something failed, I didn’t want to chalk it up to bad luck—I wanted to know exactly why it failed. If we made a change that made the truck faster or more reliable, I wanted to understand why it worked.
That mindset—understanding instead of guessing—became the foundation for everything we did moving forward.
Breaking Through
That shift in approach took time to show results, but early on we started to see progress. The trucks were becoming more reliable, finishing races consistently. It was just a matter of time.
The first major breakthrough came in 2019 with a win at King of Hammers, going up against all of the top teams. That proved the system was working.
From there, results continued to build—consistent podiums, multiple race wins, including several Baja 1000 victories, and championship seasons across both 2WD and AWD programs.
None of it came from one big change. It came from a mindset of constant refinement, testing, and attention to detail. Nothing can be overlooked.
Solving Problems in the Shop
Through all of this, one of the things I enjoyed most was solving problems in the shop.
A lot of those problems weren’t about the race truck itself—they were about how we worked on it.
The Zip-Tie Mag-Caddy is one example. Before that, guys were holding zip ties in their mouths, stuffing them in pockets, or constantly asking for one. So I built something better.
That wasn’t unusual. Over the years, I’ve built a lot of small tools to make specific jobs easier, faster, and more repeatable. None of those started as products—they started as solutions.
From Race Shop to Advantage Tools
At this point, racing is still a big part of what I do. I’ll always be involved in helping McMillin Racing continue to win races.
But over the years, one thing I kept coming back to in the shop was solving problems.
A lot of those solutions turned into tools—things we built to make jobs faster, easier, or more consistent. Most of them started as quick fixes, then evolved as we kept using them.
Eventually, it got to a point where it made sense to take some of those ideas further.
That’s where Advantage Tools came from.
It wasn’t a big shift or a new direction—it was just an extension of the same work I’d already been doing for years.
The difference now is that those tools aren’t just staying in our shop—they’re being developed into real products that other people can use in their own work.
Why It Matters
Racing sets a very high standard.
- Failure isn’t an option
- Designs have to be proven before race day
- Small details make a big difference
- Reliability matters more than anything
That same mindset goes into every tool I design.
If something doesn’t hold up in a race shop, it doesn’t get released. If it doesn’t make the job better, it doesn’t get built.
The goal isn’t to make more tools—it’s to make better ones.
Tools that work, hold up, and actually improve how the job gets done.
That’s it.
