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June 23, 2025 21 mins

Tim Horvath doesn't just design graphics for race cars - he creates brands, builds relationships, and offers sanctuary in a high-speed world. The founder of HD5 Designs opens up about his remarkable journey from a kid in the fourth turn at Berlin Raceway to a nationally recognized force in motorsports design.

"I'm full throttle, passionate, loving, caring, go-getter that just lives life by seconds at a time," Tim explains, perfectly capturing the energy that has propelled his Walker-based business to impressive heights. What started as Horvat Design evolved into HD5 when Tim realized the power of his growing team. Today, they specialize not just in motorsports graphics but in elevating brands to new levels of connection and recognition.

The secret to HD5's success lies in relationships. Whether creating a safe space for NASCAR drivers to unwind at Michigan International Speedway or efficiently wrapping every SRX car after a crash before Berlin Raceway's sold-out event, Tim's team builds loyalty through authenticity and excellence. Their motto—"do it right the first time, every time"—has earned them respect throughout the racing community, culminating in designing all three trophies for Rockingham Speedway's historic return to racing after 17 years.

As his business has grown, Tim's motivation has shifted from personal dreams to supporting his employees' goals and ambitions. "My dreams become their dreams and their dreams become my dreams," he shares, reflecting the collaborative spirit that drives HD5 forward. With plans to expand while keeping Walker as headquarters, Tim remains deeply committed to the West Michigan community that shaped him, contributing to local events and donating flag boxes throughout the city.

Follow HD5's journey on Instagram, where they showcase not just their work but the lifestyle they've created in the fast-paced world of motorsports branding. Connect with Tim and his team to discover how they can transform your brand into something truly remarkable.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Made in Walker, a podcast that connects
you to the people, the storiesand the ideas shaping our
community, from local innovatorsto everyday changemakers.
We're diving deep into whatmakes Walker a great place to
live, work and grow.
Here's your host, nicoleDiDonato.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
From NASCAR tracks to West Michigan streets.
Our next guest on this podcastknows how to bring big ideas to
life with color, speed andprecision.
We are talking to none otherthan Tim Horbath of HG5 Designs.
Thank you so much for joiningus on the Maiden Walker podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Oh, thank you so much .
It's such an honor to be hereand looking forward to letting
people know right here in Walkerthat we do some pretty
incredible things.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yes, and, of course, many people may know who you are
, but for some, who are justtuning in, learning about you
the first time, what, who is TimHorvath and what is HD5?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Well, that's an absolute loaded question.
And what is HD5?
Well that's an absolute loadedquestion.
You know, tim Horvath, I'm fullthrottle, passionate, loving,
caring, go-getter that justlives life by seconds at a time.
And HD5 is a company.

(01:22):
I always say that it's alifestyle.
It's not just a company, it isa company.
I always say that it's alifestyle.
It's not just a company, it's abrand.
We specialize in motorsportsdesign all over the country, but
we also do design forbusinesses.
So we take your brand and raiseit to the next level.
We aren't just a graphicscompany or a clothing company,

(01:43):
we are all about branding.
A graphics company or aclothing company, we are all
about branding.
So when I started, itoriginally started as Horvat
Design, which was me, and then,as I grew the team, I turned it
into HD5 because people go, well, horvat did this.
No, horvat didn't do it, it wasHorvat's team.
And so HD5 was born and thatwas all about helping brands

(02:06):
become relatable, because whenyou look at the Nike swoosh,
that's a brand.
That's not just a company,that's a brand, and that's what
I wanted to grow.
So that's where HD5 was born.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
And did NASCAR or motorsports?
Was that originally part of theplan, or how did you kind of
navigate to where you are now?

Speaker 3 (02:24):
So motorsports runs very deep in my family, so my
dad started racing when I wasborn.
I grew up in the fourth turn ofBerlin Raceway.
So anybody that knows BerlinRaceway and knows the rowdies in
turn four, that's where I grewup.
My mom and dad were down in thepits racing every single
weekend and dad were down in thepits racing every single

(02:48):
weekend.
I had a passion and love for itfor a long time, um, and then I
kind of as as I grew, I alwaysknew I wanted to own a company.
I just didn't know what.
Um, my creative side startedcoming out.
We started with autograph cardsand doing some stuff out at the
racetrack, out at berlin um,for drivers, and then that just
kind of evolved into doinggraphics for them and continued
to evolve into what it is now onon a whole stage.

(03:11):
So me, growing up, I wanted tobe a race car driver.
That was.
My dad was a race car driver.
That's what I wanted to be.
But when you start gettingolder and understanding what it
takes to be a race car driverand the financial standpoint of
it, I realized that I needed tolearn how to make a living in
the sport that I loved.

(03:32):
And that's how HD Horvat designwas born and then HD five
evolved.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
So and it's really cool.
You are based in Walker, up onthree miles.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yes, oh yeah, and this is, this is home to me.
It is one of those places.
Like I've traveled the country.
I lived in Florida.
I've lived outside of Michigan,but West Michigan is my home.
So when I came back and reallyput my head down, I was 21 and I
put my head down and said thisis what I wanted to do.

(04:03):
I set up shop here in WestMichigan.
Berlin Raceway is my home track, so it was really good to have
them on board and start doingwork for them, and it just
completely snowballed into whatit is today.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Of course, and everyone kind of has like a big
break or so where you kind ofyou know, break into NASCAR or
whatnot.
So how did that come for you?

Speaker 3 (04:25):
you kind of you know, break into NASCAR or whatnot.
So how did that come for you?
This question?
I read and this has beenweighing on me because I tried
to figure out what my big breakwas, and I use this analogy a
lot that we just continue tosnowball.
And when I say snowball, thereis a race down in Pensacola,
florida, we sponsor every singleyear.

(04:46):
We've been there 10 years now.
It's the Snowball Derby at FiveFlag Speedway.
Tim Bryant and the Bryantfamily fantastic race group down
there.
They called us up to do somewindshield banners for them and
we we got on board, startedsponsoring the race and that

(05:08):
that race I credit most of mysuccess to, because once we did
it 10 years ago, we continue tosnowball, continue to grow steam
.
The snowball derby is the firstweekend in december.
It's when the whole countryshut down for racing because
it's snowing or cold, and theChase Elliott's won it twice,

(05:29):
kyle Busch has won it twice,darrell Waltrip has raced it
like the who's, who inmotorsports, go to the Snowball
Derby the first weekend ofDecember, and that, to me, was
the one spot that I realizedthat you know, our growth is
there.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yes, yeah, and talk about, like the relationships to
finding yourself where you are.
I mean, of course, I'm sure, nomatter the size or the image of
the person, you have specialrelationships from everybody,
from behind the scenes to therace car driver.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
That is 100 percent.
Our business is 100% based onrelationships.
When we say we're a brandcompany, we live our brand at
our shop.
Everybody at the shop has aracing or motorsports background
, but I always say that thebigger that you get, the bigger

(06:23):
we get, because if you come tous for work, if I promote you
and do stuff for you, then thechances of you getting bigger
and needing more fleet graphicsor needing more clothing or
whatever it might be like for meit's all about that
relationship, that handshake,that fun.
We were just at MIS Speedwaythis weekend with one of our

(06:46):
clients uh, cold break, righthere in walker, um.
We took him to daytona, chris,from cold break and then we took
him over from um to michiganand they have a really cool
product that really works goodfor tailgating.
And we took them, uh, with usMIS, and he asked me he goes,
tim, how can we get more salesdirected towards you when you do

(07:09):
something like this for me?
And and I looked right at himand I go well, my inside of the
racetrack, my personality and myrelationship with the drivers
where they have a safe space togo.
We were just mentioned on KevinHarvick's podcast by our friend
Mamba.
He does all of the NASCARintros for all the drivers and

(07:32):
all the tracks and he's on KevinHarvick's podcast and we fed
him breakfast.
He had somewhere where he couldcome eat good food.
He's treated like family, canchange in the camper, can just
get ready to go do his job.
And that's huge for us becausethat safe space is worth more
money than anything could everbuy.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Wow, and you wouldn't think of that.
But knowing what they all haveto go through, you know the
constant kind of you know fastpaced lifestyle.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
no pun intended, but that's pretty important so yeah,
100% and the way like MIS is myhome track.
So when I go there, we set upour campers in a way so that you
, when they come there, they'reno, no regular race fans just
like oh, all of a sudden looksin and I mean there was one time
I think it was last year one ofmy employees new employee came

(08:23):
up and I was like, hey, whydidn't you come in the camper?
And he goes did you see who'sin the camper?
I figure you needed a pass andI think we had like six NASCAR
drivers and crew chiefs and likeeverybody.
Just we went there, we ate, wehad drinks, we had, they were
safe and they could just unwindand like that's the important

(08:44):
part of hd5 is being able to beyourself around us and us be
ourselves and create your brandto mimic what you are yeah, that
is incredible.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
You don't think about how important that is, but
you've got a secret sauce thereand as far as like some of your
designs are, you know, can youlook back at one or two of them
and or, you know, are you moreproud of one the other or they
each kind of equally have astory?

Speaker 3 (09:07):
well when it comes to our designs, like our design
crew continues to get larger.
It used to just be me, um, and,and I'm proud of what I built,
but I realized that if I wantedto grow, I couldn't do it myself
, and so as I built the company,I started getting surrounded
with talent and creative talent,and we've really put that

(09:29):
together for each other to makeamazing stuff.
So anytime that somebody comesto us like, we put our heart and
soul into it.
There's no cutting corners.
Our motto at the shop is do itright the first time, every time
, and that's like we stand by it.
But a couple of the fun like Iget asked and it's like every

(09:53):
time I think that I've gottenthe coolest thing I'll ever do.
Something else comes along, butbig ones that stand out.
Our SRX came to town for BerlinRaceway and we the the week
before they crashed every one oftheir cars and so they came and
they they hired us and two ofour installers to rewrap every

(10:17):
one of their vehicles and theywere like dead.
Like this is how you do stuff,this is how we want it, and I
had at least 20 people come upto me from that crew and say
like they've been in the sportfor a long time and they've
never seen a crew like ours andlike that was super big.
For me it was like man, thatmeans that I'm doing something

(10:38):
right.
So, from from us laying it downlike, and them getting the next
graphics kit out, uh, me andtwo of my installers, we were
literally done with the car andhe's like I've never had people
standing waiting for work.
Um, so that was super, superawesome to be a part of SRX in
Berlin complete sellout, somagical.

(10:58):
That was awesome.
And then this past year, acouple weeks ago, the return to
Rockingham Speedway.
So it's such a blessing in somany ways.
I got the phone call and we didall three trophies for the ARCA
Menards Series.
We did the NASCAR Truck Seriesand the Xfinity Series.

(11:20):
We did all three trophies forthe race weekend, as they
brought back Rockingham, whichhasn't been raced in 17 years,
and we were the people who gotto go to Victory Lane in all
three races.
And just fantastic, like, letme be creative, let me go do my
thing, and that's super specialto me.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Glad you have that outlet and, you know, for having
such a creative and you're onso much.
How do you unwind?
You know what is something thatyou can do to kind of.
You know, tune off if and whenyou need to.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Oh unwinding is difficult for me.
I always say, like when we'reat MIS and I go in my camper and
I shut the door and I just sitdown on the couch and I relax,
because once I step out of thosecamper doors I got to be this
larger than life character whichis me anyway.

(12:17):
I'm, I'm fun, I'm, I'mapproachable, um, but like I, I
tell people it's hard for me toget to a point where you see me
down or you see me bummed out,because I have so many people
that rely on me being the happyguy and the fun guy.
So, like, unwinding for me isgoing to.
I have a buddy with a go-karttrack in his backyard and I'll

(12:38):
go strap on the helmet and we'llgo race dirt track and go
around and laugh with each other.
I go ride dirt bikes withfriends.
I go do stuff that's stilladrenaline pumping, but it's
like me and myself and we weretalking before this but when I
get out on the road, I like totravel by vehicle on the road

(13:01):
because it's my windshieldtherapy and I get to unwind as I
cruise to the next location andjust get to be inside my head
and just chill out for a littlewhile.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
We were saying that you kind of started doing that
during the pandemic, doing theseFacebook Lives just kind of,
you know, make a drink, sit down, let's talk a little bit.
So where did that go?

Speaker 3 (13:21):
Well, and I tell you what the Facebook Lives and the
stuff that we're working onright now is so special to me
because I never realized howmany people like they see me at
the racetrack.
And then when I did thoseduring the pandemic, they seen
me as a, as a real, just normalperson in my home hanging out.

(13:42):
So for me, like when whenpeople see me I just had it at
Charlotte, I was standingoutside Cletus McFarland's car,
who we sponsor, and a kid cameup and he's, he goes, hd5,
you're HD5.
You're the guy and I go.
I am hey man and he goes, hegoesd5, you're hd5.
You're the guy and I, I go.
I I am hey man and he goes, hegoes.
I love you guys and I'm like welove you too.

(14:04):
And it's like when you have thatlike there's so many people
that will say I know who you areand I'm like, well, who am I?
And they, they'll tell methey're like you do this and you
do that, but when they relateto me, that I'm just a normal
guy that's just out there doingsomething really, really cool,
that's my blessing, like that'smy know people in the racing

(14:41):
world, the rap world and justlife in general that surround
myself with.
So that's important to me andthat's good people.
It's always good people.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Stay in tune to that.
We'll get back to that in asecond.
You know what is yourmotivation?
Kind of that gets you up everyday and such every day and such.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
You know, for the longest time my motivation was
my dreams, my goals.
As I continue to grow in thisindustry and then I start having
employees, a lot of mymotivation has turned from me
and what I have done to myemployees.
So getting to know my employeesand understanding what their

(15:19):
hopes and goals and dreams areand helping them achieve those
things, that is every day for me.
People ask me every single daylike your dream?
You know what's your dream andI always tell them like I've
lived them, like I don't.
I don't, I have dreams and Ihave goals that I set for myself

(15:40):
, but still to this day, my dadraced Daytona in 1999.
20 years to the day, my namewent around Daytona on a race
car as a graphics company.
20,.
You can't write that right andyou can't dream that Like.
For me, those dreams and goalshave continued to level up but

(16:05):
have been successful.
So now, going back and and mycrew at the shop, it's like my,
my dreams become their dreamsand their dreams become my
dreams, because I want to seethem successful and I want to
see them happy.
So, and on top of that, ourclients same deal.
I have very high end clientsthat have huge goals and I'm on

(16:28):
the edge of my seat every singleweekend cheering them on and
trying to trying to get them to,to get to their goals, yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
And then this kind of goes into the next question.
As far as you know, where doyou see yourself five, 10 years
or so down the road?
Where are you planning for, orare you just I got to go day by
day right now?

Speaker 3 (16:44):
So I ask whenever anybody comes to us and is in a
job interview, we ask them whattheir goals and hopes are what
do you see yourself in fiveyears?
And this is the first time Ithink somebody's ever asked me,
because I'm one of those peoplewho plan ahead.
My head thinks I'm verystrategic in a lot of things I
do, so I'm always like, ok, whatI do today is going to affect

(17:07):
me tomorrow, what I do next weekis going to affect me five
years from now.
So right now, my goals of HD5is continue to grow, continue to
be at a level that is unseen inthe industry, whether it's
business or motorsports.
But I'm hoping that we'll get acouple of things and get a

(17:28):
couple more locations around thenation, but our home base will
always be right here in WestMichigan.
This will always be theheadquarters of HD5.
And then from there hopefullyhave a couple little sub outlets
that people can come to andhave somebody right there to
help them.
So that's my five to ten yearplan of growth down the East

(17:52):
Coast and make HD5 a little bitbigger of a brand than it
already is.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
I love again, like the hometown kind of connection,
just small things that you'vedone for the community, giving
back.
You've kind of done some of ourflag boxes for the city of
Walker, also situated outside ofSobey Meats too.
That was wonderful.
That is something that's prettynear and dear to the hearts
here of Walker residents andWest Michigan too.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
Oh, I mean we've worked the touch of truck.
We brought Carson Hosovar andEric Jones's cars out there.
I know they're revamping thecity hall area and the police
department and all that stuff.
So Touch a Truck is a little onhold right now but when it

(18:36):
comes back, like getting out inthe community.
Teaching these young kids aboutmotorsports and racing is one
of my passions.
I love talking to the littlekids.
We were just bringing thetrophy out to Berlin and a
couple first-time little kidswere out there and us taking
photos with them, flag boxes,donating flag boxes, talking to

(18:58):
the VFW and how successfulthat's been because most people
don't know where to dispose oftheir older flags and having
those flag boxes outside SobeMeats and in City Hall have been
huge for the community.
But I'm all about West Michigan.
It's where I was born andraised.
It's where I tore up thestreets for a long time and it's

(19:19):
where I still live to this day.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
I love it.
I love it.
A lot of other stories I'm surewe can't go into right now, but
, um, if folks can follow youfor your updates, where can they
find you?

Speaker 3 (19:28):
You can find us on uh .
Instagram is our favorite dueto the fact that we do a lot of
cool things, so that's photo uhbase.
So Instagram, facebook or X orTwitter whatever way you go with
it Find us on there.
We're working on our websiteright now to post that.
We're always doing super funstuff.

(19:49):
Follow along, share it withyour friends.
If you see us out at an event,say hi.
We love seeing people you know.
Get on the social medias.
We're we're always doingsomething cool.
One of my favorite things aboutour social media is is you
won't see a lot of like ourproducts we do.
You'll see a lot of thelifestyle we live.

(20:09):
So you'll see a lot of us atthe racetracks on pit road.
You'll see a lot of us atbusinesses that we work with, a
lot of the events like Touch aTruck.
We try to blast that out onsocial media as much as we can.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Awesome, tim.
You're such a gem to thecommunity.
So fun to talk to Many morestories, I'm sure, but thank you
so much for being with us todayon the Maiden Walker podcast.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
No, thank you so much .
It's an honor and a privilegeto be a part of this community
and I look forward to seeingwhat's next we appreciate you,
thank you.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Thank you for tuning in.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Thank you for joining us for this episode of the
Maiden Walker podcast.
If you have comments orquestions about this podcast or
if you have suggestions forfuture episodes, we'd love to
hear from you.
Please drop us an email atpodcast at walkercity Ma in
Walker is the official podcastof the city of Walker, michigan.
You can find Made in Walkerwherever you get your podcasts.
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