Brain Lohnes
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00:00:00 the
00:00:07 everybody welcome to this episode of the hot rod pod where it all began i'm
00:00:11 brian loans lead broadcaster for the entry on fox in one of the two co-hosts
00:00:14 and potentially sometimes three co-hosts
00:00:16 of is now award-winning internet smashing podcast
00:00:20 of course i'm joined by john mcginney ever hot rod magazine
00:00:23 jeff lots baby that's this episode
00:00:25 uh... and a much anticipated one of my part uh... jeff is a well-known you guys
00:00:31 know him uh... way before me starting with the drag we guess uh...
00:00:35 his experience a drag week
00:00:36 i actually met jeff in twenty seventeen when i was a car craft and we put his
00:00:41 the fifty seven on the cover of the magazine and did
00:00:44 uh... what i thought was a pretty cool video
00:00:47 for our budget at the time
00:00:48 uh...
00:00:49 and but i i spent a week with him in pennsylvania to shop of watching them
00:00:53 finalize that car get it ready for the uh... try five nationals of bowling green
00:00:58 that's where the car debuted
00:00:59 that was a blast
00:01:01 uh... just a super cool dude and all lots of great stories to tell
00:01:05 does a great stories to tell he's been a traditional drag racer the n_f_c_a_
00:01:08 winning a pro-mod championship
00:01:09 he of course went on to drag week it had some of the greatest knockdown drag out
00:01:13 battles of larry larson at the world is ever seen before
00:01:16 during or sense
00:01:17 and he's gone on to great stardom as part of the street outlaws franchise of
00:01:21 drag racing in the no prep king series we're gonna talk to him about all those
00:01:25 different things about all the side projects he's worked on
00:01:27 and really where his life is gone because this is a guy who started as a
00:01:30 bricklayer
00:01:32 a bricklayer
00:01:33 uh... yeah doing construction and uh... he said he got tired of doing it while
00:01:37 the housing market crashed in two thousand eight
00:01:40 and uh...
00:01:41 started building cars
00:01:43 uh... full-time professionally he'd always been working on cars like prior
00:01:46 to that but uh... there's a really cool story how you you
00:01:48 do something that's like
00:01:50 totally different yes and then go on to be like
00:01:53 internet and t_v_ sensation
00:01:55 will peel back the curtain on what it's like to raise the no prep king series
00:01:58 will talk about what it was like to go drag racing a drag weekend to gain
00:02:01 real fame and really tell to put not only that event on a different plane of
00:02:05 competition
00:02:06 but also to put himself in a higher plane of competition as a racer
00:02:09 he's got loads of funny stories and loads of insight on some of your
00:02:12 favorite drag racers as well
00:02:13 you'll have clay millican you get to get some good insight there as well as others
00:02:16 that he knows in the n_h_r_a_ tour
00:02:18 fryer was jumping in on this one as well it was made it seem a twenty twenty
00:02:22 three and you will love every word we are here at the scene a show now to give
00:02:26 you context
00:02:27 it is the last day of the scene a show
00:02:29 so not a single person you'll see or hear has a soul
00:02:32 left in the
00:02:33 it's over it's gone
00:02:36 i'm brian loans david fryer burgers here
00:02:38 the other part rod john mcgannis here in our guest today
00:02:41 mister jeff lots so
00:02:43 where it all began as a premise of the show
00:02:45 but before you start yet we're gonna tell everybody jeff let's isn't why we
00:02:48 need to care about talking to all man
00:02:51 it's a long and drawn out is that i think that we can start let's let's go
00:02:54 back to like the earth cool yeah i thought i thought i was a day i think
00:03:00 everybody knows you from street outlaws i don't think everybody knows that you
00:03:03 started as a a mason or a bricklayer bricklayer yeah yes and you were doing a
00:03:09 car building shop at the same time right yes i always built cars out of my little
00:03:13 shop at home
00:03:15 and i'd build a big shop for the masonry company and
00:03:18 man when the housing market was crash in junior was graduating high school and
00:03:23 he was a labor for me
00:03:25 when i was laying brick absolutely must have been ten now he was young he was
00:03:29 a very cheap that was the most important part
00:03:32 child labor laws coming in so uh...
00:03:35 when the housing market was crashing and i noticed that the generation of kids
00:03:39 that were coming up
00:03:40 man the people just didn't want to work and it was it was getting harder and
00:03:44 harder and
00:03:45 you know what we've
00:03:47 cleared out the shop
00:03:48 made it the race car shop never look back
00:03:51 so what year was that
00:03:54 i don't know i can't remember early two thousand twenty twenty years ago so yeah it was
00:03:58 that well i've been with precision turbo i thought about the other day when i was
00:04:01 there
00:04:02 i've been with them for eighteen years ago okay so yeah it's been a while and so
00:04:05 that goes back to i think in hot rod magazine claim to fame run and drag week
00:04:10 ended up on an episode of roadkill and of course everything that's gone on since
00:04:14 then with just
00:04:15 rocketing you over the moon in popularity
00:04:17 the guys from hot rod dot com were telling me that
00:04:19 they do stories on you
00:04:22 top five every single time net and
00:04:25 when i'm
00:04:26 famous from street outlaws but you would be amazed how many people bring the hot
00:04:30 rod magazines up and get them signed you know and
00:04:33 a lot of my fans are older
00:04:35 and it it makes me feel good when i'm
00:04:38 in a line with uh... ryan and sean
00:04:40 and these people go man
00:04:41 i knew you way before the show because of hot rod and and
00:04:46 and drag week and it's just been uh... it's been a dream come true remind me
00:04:50 did your drag week days come before yeah would have been before we did the monza
00:04:54 leaf blower episode of roadkill yes muncie indiana
00:04:57 was my very first drag week
00:04:59 doesn't that track have grass right down the middle of it? yeah that was the first six
00:05:03 second run too
00:05:04 yes he went uh... larson went a six ninety four or something like that up there
00:05:07 that was the first ever six second run at drag week
00:05:10 it was like two thousand eight
00:05:12 yeah because it was the one year i wasn't there yes and and a lot of people
00:05:16 don't know sean and chief were there
00:05:18 i thought sean was
00:05:19 i remember sean showing up once i've got photos of him in the water box but i
00:05:22 think that's as far as he made it and then it was high tech home they were shooting
00:05:26 mufflers off that damn thing when he got out of the car i went holy sh...
00:05:30 how did he get in the car they were huge
00:05:35 but yeah muncie indiana that that's where it all started and that's
00:05:38 man it's just been
00:05:40 it's been awesome and some of the most epic battles of drag week ever with you
00:05:44 and larry larson the most i mean really they were
00:05:48 in that that was the really to me the heyday of that particular class and before
00:05:53 stuff just went totally out the window as far as people's sanity
00:05:58 the back and forth you guys had for like a what three four year stretch was
00:06:00 freaking awesome it was it was great and i uh...
00:06:04 he got mad at me because i said you know i know you've been coasting all
00:06:08 these years i thought i made you run your stuff you know what i mean
00:06:12 'cause uh...
00:06:13 he he got mad at me but you know what that was a great rivalry really what it
00:06:16 was uh... i think that's
00:06:18 that was the fun of it you know i mean that was the garlits and surely of its
00:06:22 era yeah you can pick
00:06:24 yeah it was it was in a microcosm it was it was of the the epic days of the n_m_c_a_
00:06:29 it was the mucie christian thing absolutely that's what it really was to
00:06:32 me yep and and i think it took drag week to a different level because
00:06:36 we don't necessarily don't have
00:06:37 we look at right we now differently in that
00:06:39 we've really look at individual performance like we haven't had one of
00:06:42 those great big personality
00:06:45 the at the cars themselves are awesome
00:06:47 that rivalry style thing is gone
00:06:49 it is a strategy i started as it is anywhere yet now it's a big family
00:06:52 affair yeah yeah yeah there was some fun and having you guys sort of at each
00:06:56 other's throat i was great and i loved it you know and before drag week
00:07:00 you know on sunday night
00:07:02 we'd be all out to dinner and stuff yeah monday
00:07:04 it was like this is all i do business yeah the moment was when it was it
00:07:08 memphis
00:07:09 now it was a process yes it was memphis when it came down to the very very and
00:07:15 you're right remember that i don't know and the f_b_i_ was it was great it was
00:07:18 what
00:07:19 two hundredths by two years yeah i pulled up
00:07:22 i broke he pulled up he broke and it was it was just uh... it was it was a good
00:07:26 time i don't know if you're aware that you still hold the all-time record
00:07:29 yet lowest e_t_ i think it's six nineteen lowest average e_t_ we can still
00:07:33 got i think that must have been that max or a lot of lower that to both of our
00:07:37 great that would be cool yeah nobody's done all five second right we can't get
00:07:41 at any of these and that
00:07:42 yeah imagine that i did not
00:07:44 so you kick that all off with uh... the fifty seven
00:07:47 yes that you had the evil twin
00:07:49 and then i don't
00:07:50 then you had the uh...
00:07:52 that back that back to sixty nine tomorrow pro-mod car
00:07:55 yet and uh... you've never had the g_t_o_ or anything like that i think that
00:07:58 i've ever heard that that
00:08:00 yet the last one was i think two thousand sixteen and
00:08:04 you know the show took off and yes
00:08:06 yet i want to do it
00:08:07 and not been all the fans ask me all the time you don't i said uh... you never
00:08:11 know i know we've talked about it every once in a while over the years you're
00:08:14 like you know hey man yeah and i'm like man can i just show up right now i mean
00:08:18 i don't want anybody to know i'm going to say you know i got the bill
00:08:21 but uh...
00:08:23 you know jeffrey i talked about it and i asked him if he'd ride along he said
00:08:26 absolutely yeah that's not a lot of
00:08:29 and i think that's not a lot of and people talk about riding in your car
00:08:35 about the rain and everything and it was bad ten miles an hour the breakdown lane
00:08:39 and i'll never forget it and that was uh... that was some cool stuff kyle from
00:08:43 thirteen twenty-year-old young man he he get i'd
00:08:46 each other's faces eyes were bright red because i don't know how you do it yeah
00:08:50 i was right with my head out the window it was brutal so i think it what i want
00:08:55 to talk about this will this will come to lead through the story but
00:08:59 like drag racing to break out of obscurity drag racing is really tough
00:09:03 because so many people do it in so many different places sports fractured
00:09:06 thousand different directions
00:09:07 you're one of the few guys that have broken out of the obscurity of drag
00:09:10 racing right so a handful of people
00:09:12 and so
00:09:13 i want to know that that moment when you you really start concentrating on the
00:09:17 street a lot of stuff that franchise starts to kind of gain steam
00:09:20 when did you wake up a roll into a racetrack and look around and go
00:09:24 oh yeah
00:09:25 well as soon as he was on roadkill
00:09:27 yes
00:09:28 that was a way different ocean
00:09:29 i think i've ruined everything i've worked my whole life for
00:09:32 that was that but this is no when you when you first got an inkling that man
00:09:36 this thing is this thing is rolling
00:09:37 it uh...
00:09:38 man it was at saint louis
00:09:40 we rolled into uh...
00:09:43 the hotel parking lot where
00:09:45 they used to
00:09:45 put us in hotels
00:09:48 and people found out where we were and i was like oh my god
00:09:51 then we went to uh...
00:09:54 uh...
00:09:55 thunder valley uh... over in bristol
00:09:59 i remember that bristol race sold the place out
00:10:01 eleven miles each way in the highway they
00:10:04 the fire marshal come in shut it down they had
00:10:06 one
00:10:07 place to eat
00:10:08 and one set of bathrooms open and we filled that place
00:10:12 and that's how no prep kings was born right there were you full time on the
00:10:16 show from day one i thought you sort of did a few episodes and built up to it
00:10:19 it was
00:10:20 i was
00:10:21 i think it was after season two
00:10:23 i ended up full time and
00:10:25 i didn't really want to race on it you know to me because i was doing everybody
00:10:29 stuff
00:10:30 yeah you're building cars helping those guys out yeah then we did the evil twin we
00:10:33 dino'd it on the show
00:10:35 and i sold that car then i did the yellow one and then that's when they
00:10:39 said oh we gotta get that on the show
00:10:41 yeah you know because
00:10:42 i'm known for the fifty seven and that's that's what they wanted and they
00:10:45 still want it today so
00:10:47 uh... it's just
00:10:49 it just uh...
00:10:50 it's just been crazy
00:10:51 doesn't life become weird
00:10:53 people start recognizing you in the grocery store
00:10:56 you're like this isn't me you've all been to my shop
00:10:59 and i bought the property next to my shop across the creek
00:11:03 and the road runs along it i have cinder blocks
00:11:06 the whole way lining the property
00:11:08 so people will not pull over and watch me mow grass
00:11:11 oh man
00:11:13 honest to god
00:11:14 i have a gate up now because when i'm there working i shut the gate
00:11:18 i'll tell finnegan to stop that
00:11:25 but yeah it's uh... it's it's just crazy walking around here everybody
00:11:30 yelling at you you know guys know
00:11:34 to be a drag racer and car guy and to do what i love every day is just
00:11:40 and i met some of my best friends we're totally lucky to do what we do
00:11:44 it's just crazy
00:11:46 we share a mutual really good friend clay i don't know how you guys met
00:11:49 in memphis yeah clay millican top fuel driver NHRA i'm sitting in my toter home
00:11:53 oh of course it was memphis he knocks on the door
00:11:57 he come in we sat down we were like old friends and that's uh...
00:12:00 that's how the dentley project was born and you know i was like man
00:12:04 i love the story
00:12:05 you know and i feel for him and to lose your son
00:12:09 and you know you know i do everything with my son and i said absolutely
00:12:13 yes they built that car that dalton had the truck yeah yeah and it was cool and
00:12:18 we've been best friends ever since you know and he uh...
00:12:21 he knows everybody
00:12:22 yeah you know what i mean yeah because he knocks on everyone's door
00:12:26 every youtuber i don't even know half of them he knows them all he's like you
00:12:30 don't know this guy well not really no he definitely plays that it's smart
00:12:33 i remember meeting him at memphis also for uh... pump gas drag yes yes
00:12:38 yeah that was probably two thousand
00:12:40 five yeah that sounds right yeah first year i did it i did it two thousand five
00:12:44 two thousand six
00:12:47 that was a fun weekend we can tell us for later i guess i remember getting
00:12:50 just
00:12:51 annihilated drunk one night
00:12:54 uh... before we went to dinner and then we sat down and uh... scooter brothers
00:12:57 who like owns comp cam sat down next to me and i thought i can't even feel my
00:13:01 food that i was doing
00:13:03 this is like a kingpin of the aftermarket here
00:13:06 it was a great night perfect
00:13:08 oddly you have so many stories along those same lines
00:13:11 tell more
00:13:15 so
00:13:16 no prep drag racing is is something that started out
00:13:20 as this kind of little thing right i look at i look at uh... shannon down in
00:13:23 texas
00:13:25 to me she was the the progenitor of this whole thing she was they really started that
00:13:29 uh... her series is where a lot of people started showing up to race
00:13:33 and then obviously the street outlaws franchise is kind of born from that
00:13:36 at least somebody saw that sam i guess saw that
00:13:39 and realize that there was something really special happen there
00:13:43 in a hundred years of drag racing would you have ever thought that no prep drag
00:13:46 racing was going to be the thing that sent you to the moon no it uh... it just
00:13:51 everybody asked you like the street better or the track i love the track
00:13:55 and that's where i come from
00:13:57 the no prep thing i started second guessing that because i crashed in
00:14:00 memphis with the yellow car on the no prep i mean
00:14:03 when they said it was no prep we were unprepping them you know they were
00:14:07 they were scraping them and and
00:14:10 thank god finally they stopped doing that but
00:14:12 yeah it just i'm looking around i'm like it's the outlaw
00:14:17 aspect of it that gets the fans in the stands
00:14:21 that guy might crash that car that's why that guy's sitting there they want to
00:14:24 see you know and it's just
00:14:27 man i've seen a lot of bad cars a whole string of events that popped up were
00:14:32 really
00:14:33 the more out of control the cars were the more they filled the grandstands
00:14:37 you remember when they were started doing like a two thirty five radial race
00:14:40 and then they went to people with the eight inch slicks
00:14:43 it's like just keep going until somebody's into the wall
00:14:46 yeah oh yeah orlando world street nationals they used to run that heavy
00:14:50 street
00:14:52 saturday night
00:14:53 in the staging lanes it's two o'clock in the morning there was still a hundred
00:14:56 and fifty small tire cars
00:14:58 to get ready to go down the track
00:14:59 because they were hitting everything they were smacking everything under the sun
00:15:04 so that was uh...
00:15:06 if a fan thinks that that's going to happen
00:15:09 they're going to come and watch e.j. potter said it the best he said people
00:15:12 used to buy a ticket to watch me kill myself and when i didn't kill myself they
00:15:15 bought a ticket the next year to watch me do it to them too
00:15:17 yeah that's right and it's the same thing it's that that element of danger which
00:15:21 you know that's oh people love the crashes well the crashes remind us that
00:15:24 this that this stuff
00:15:25 this stuff gets out of hand and can happen quick and that's ultimately what keeps
00:15:28 people sitting there and the highlight reels are amazing evil can evil
00:15:32 yep yeah
00:15:34 yeah so you know so
00:15:36 the no prep thing again we go back to it like there was all like the traditional
00:15:39 drag racer guys like oh this is bs like this is garbage who the hell would want to do this
00:15:44 it's stupid
00:15:45 the insurance companies are going to cancel it they're going to close these tracks down
00:15:48 and then a couple years later these are the same guys that are
00:15:50 calling you to have cars built and they can't get in the gate fast enough
00:15:55 you know when it when it came to light for me is was here
00:15:59 I don't know six seven years ago
00:16:01 I think you were announcing probably
00:16:04 and I come up and Clay invited me to come watch and oh you were at the start line right
00:16:08 yes yes you remember that yeah I do remember this yeah and I'm looking around and uh...
00:16:13 all the drivers knew who I was and I'm like wow that's cool they're fans you know
00:16:18 so maybe I thought wow this is
00:16:20 freaking awesome but most of them just
00:16:22 they love it and
00:16:24 you know NHRA got involved
00:16:26 with the license thing back early
00:16:28 and I heard you say fourteen million views when I posted my thing when they were going to try to take my license
00:16:32 yeah I forgot about that
00:16:34 yeah right through the roof I remember that too
00:16:36 there was an idiot that worked for the company at that point yes and this guy
00:16:41 had come from the NFL or some function of the NFL
00:16:44 and
00:16:45 I'm not going to say his name because I'll probably get fired but we don't have to but they
00:16:49 started to go down that road and I remember getting an email about it and I
00:16:53 responded like it did a reply all I said this is suicidal yes like what you're
00:16:57 about to do here
00:16:58 is
00:17:00 going to damage us for a long time
00:17:02 and they went right ahead and did it and you know what happened I mean it was a nuclear
00:17:05 disaster oh my to the point where
00:17:07 they begged Chief to come to the US Nationals oh I remember that it was such it was so f'd up
00:17:13 the only thing they could think to do the guy who they tried to revoke his license
00:17:17 please
00:17:18 please come
00:17:19 try to qualify your Pontiac
00:17:21 Pro Mod against Stevie Fast Jackson
00:17:23 and he didn't even have a license
00:17:26 right he didn't even have a license
00:17:28 yeah they called me and said hey this is what we're going to do and they like
00:17:32 you would choose your license over the show or the show over your license I said
00:17:36 you're not going to tell me what to do
00:17:37 hell yeah
00:17:38 I said you can have it
00:17:40 I said but send that five hundred dollars
00:17:41 right
00:17:42 yeah which one comes with the bigger check
00:17:45 but they've been great ever since so you know
00:17:48 we can all coexist and what they do is amazing and obviously what we do the fans love so
00:17:55 it has to be about the racetracks and so nothing exists without the racetracks so it's like
00:18:00 if people are buying a ticket to sit at ABC Drag Strip that keeps the place open
00:18:04 absolutely and the NHRA fans I see they come watch us too because I sign shirts and you
00:18:11 know it's been cool
00:18:14 and is it correct that even the cars that you're racing on the street they fully pass
00:18:18 NHRA tech
00:18:19 absolutely
00:18:20 you guys have every lick of safety equipment
00:18:22 our safety guys when we were doing the street stuff it had to be certified you know and
00:18:29 yeah all the rules all the safety stuff they used to laugh at me because I wore a 20 suit
00:18:35 but
00:18:36 paid off for you though
00:18:37 absolutely and in the end they all everybody got up to snuff you know some guys were doing
00:18:41 it without gloves and we're like man it's on TV you can't be doing that you know and
00:18:46 everybody just played along and the rules got better and you know the safety stuff you
00:18:51 know me I'm all about safety I've crashed many cars and it's saved my life every time
00:18:56 so
00:18:57 yep
00:18:58 your relationship with Farm Truck and Asian is great and to me the way you've navigated
00:19:03 the way you've navigated your kind of the street outlaws career that you haven't continued
00:19:07 to have
00:19:08 yep
00:19:09 I mean I think that's a good thing because you haven't pigeonholed yourself into one
00:19:10 thing you haven't pigeonholed yourself as to I'm the badass guy who's gonna be angry
00:19:14 every episode
00:19:15 this that and the other thing
00:19:16 yep
00:19:17 you're a racer capable of winning you're a guy with a great personality and oh by the
00:19:21 way you can also fall in with those two clowns and you know the show you guys had where you
00:19:25 built all the wild stuff the self-propelled trailer all that stuff was freaking genius
00:19:29 that that in itself was so much fun because we got this big warehouse loaded it with tools
00:19:37 and lifts and I got to do whatever I wanted you know and the builds that we did there
00:19:43 was one the farm boat
00:19:45 oh yeah
00:19:46 we we butted heads we butted heads on that and that was during COVID so we got stuck
00:19:51 in COVID Jeffrey and I went to FuelTech to dyno the GTO and the world shut down so Farm
00:19:58 Truck bought a boat while I was gone and we come back and here it's a just a regular ski
00:20:04 boat I'm like man we need a pontoon boat he goes what do you know about boats I said I
00:20:10 know a couple things I mean I got a 350 supercharged pontoon boat I said I know a little about
00:20:15 boats yeah we argued and argued and he finally he finally listened and the farm boat was born
00:20:20 and man what a hit that was
00:20:22 it's ridiculous yeah yeah the trailer was all time yeah that was awesome yeah they we
00:20:27 videoed we should explain what this is for the poor people who don't understand it's
00:20:32 a I think it's a 74 Chevy van short Chevy van and we put a camper top on it and it looks
00:20:39 like it's running and driving camper that
00:20:42 like a travel trailer yes it could be towed behind a pickup truck
00:20:45 yeah with an a-frame on the front of it
00:20:47 yeah so we did we did this skit and the truck turned and the camper kept going you should
00:20:54 have seen the people clearing out of the way
00:20:59 but we couldn't show that on TV because it's too dangerous oh my god it was amazing
00:21:04 on roadkill we don't have those rules
00:21:07 well Discovery they oh yeah you can't do that so
00:21:10 whose whose idea was that who's
00:21:13 that was totally farm trucks idea that one was he bought this old camper and he goes
00:21:17 I want to put this on there I'm like
00:21:21 it was all wood and rotted I said just let me rebuild the skin out of aluminum and he's
00:21:27 got that guy that can patina anything oh yeah so we did that super light and man it just
00:21:34 it was crazy and it looks hilarious going down the track his attention to detail is
00:21:40 absolutely amazing you know he loves that older stuff like that I'm not that's not me
00:21:45 but you know it it turned out really cool and the golden knights Zamborghini yes that
00:21:51 was cool I enjoyed I built every inch of that by hand of the frame the whole thing and it
00:21:56 was just so cool we had the the president of the golden knights came and spoke on Monday
00:22:01 to the track national track operators meeting and the guy is fat he's fantastic yep totally
00:22:06 gets it a hundred percent I actually talked to him about that thing I said hey man you
00:22:11 know it would he was getting ready to set up I'm like talk to these guys about this
00:22:13 Zamborghini project I said because it's a car thing if you lose them on one aspect they'll
00:22:18 get them on that yep and it's so great that team is that team is so good at marketing
00:22:22 themselves and kind of selling the whole Vegas thing it's perfect yeah I went another skit
00:22:27 we did we I I was inside driving it farm truck and Asian were on top when we brought it to
00:22:32 the Vegas Knights deal and they got off of it and I act I kept driving it and people
00:22:38 just started running Wayne Wayne Newton was there he had no idea why he was there but
00:22:46 he was there I looked up I'm like who's a dude in a Newton shirt he turned around like
00:22:56 oh my god but it was cool it's been doing all those builds and that's what I love to
00:23:03 do and I did it with Jeffrey and man it was just it was crazy so you know we've got things
00:23:09 coming like I told you we made we may do something at the shop so it'll be awesome talk about
00:23:15 Jeffrey to your son who's just been in lockstep with you the entire time you guys met Jeffrey
00:23:21 I mean it was 12 oh my god yeah I don't think he was driving bricks out right yeah he was
00:23:27 cutting he was cutting pavers in front of the guy I'll never forget the year we went
00:23:31 through Tulsa with drag week we it was raining and crazy Bob was with us and oh crazy oh
00:23:40 my god God rest his soul what a good man yeah I remember we were on the turnpike in Tulsa
00:23:48 hellacious rain hellacious rain Rick crashed yeah for Sparrow remember that was quite came
00:23:53 up oh yeah everything in the middle of highway and it finally got so bad we needed to pull
00:23:57 over and of course we passed the last rest area on the turnpike and we didn't stop so
00:24:03 I got off an exit and we seen this old gas station roof and I'm like Bob I'm just gonna
00:24:08 pull over there I can't go anymore and that night I looked over and I'm looking at Jeffrey
00:24:15 the electronics was all on the passenger side he's curled up I'm freezing it's raining thunder
00:24:20 lightning and I look over and I look at Bob and it's lightning and I see him stood up
00:24:25 he's going like yes I'm like what the hell so later that morning I said Bob what the
00:24:31 hell was you doing last night he goes was the ground moving under your car too I'm like
00:24:36 what yeah but that night I looked at Jeffrey and I thought I paid to do this to my kid
00:24:45 and I just thought that would never end you know yeah what a good time that was good stuff
00:24:50 and what happened to the Civic still have it yeah yeah and you know Jeffrey he he's
00:24:57 so he's my tuner he's my crew chief you know I fly him in fly him out because we've got
00:25:03 a grandson his son it's it's uh he has no time for it yeah and we got to put it on the
00:25:09 show I drove it for the small tower stuff and he changed it all up put a big single
00:25:14 turbo on it it'll never be street driven again but yeah this thing by the way is like what
00:25:18 is it 89 Civic Honda yeah yeah wheelbase right right stock wheelbase and I think it's a conventional
00:25:24 small block it is 23 degree headed small block big single turbo he put it on alcohol and
00:25:30 man it's fast yeah it's really fast it's cool I always dug the thing yep and I built that
00:25:36 for him before he got out of high school I said man that car is cool I said that'd be
00:25:41 cool drag car for you he goes yeah I sold it I said oh man you sold it yeah he goes
00:25:47 I just sold it the other day I was like oh no kidding I said we'll get another one I'll
00:25:51 we'll build one up and he bought another one right away so one of the things we kind of
00:25:56 glossed over that I want you to talk about is that you had a successful career as a traditional
00:26:00 ProMod racer too in NMCA right yes yeah I've got a hint I think I've got four or five Wall-E's
00:26:06 from that when they teamed up with the NMCA I can't remember what it was yeah NMCA partnered
00:26:12 with NHRA to give Wall-E's away yeah and I won the championship that year I've got a
00:26:17 big Wall-E and yeah I love doing the ProMod stuff I'm a quarter mile racer this eighth
00:26:23 mile stuff drives me nuts but we were here in Vegas I can't remember what year it was
00:26:30 Friday night and I could not get that car to spool up and I was at Super Street Car
00:26:34 Nationals and all the NHRA ProMod guys were there and it come Friday night we finally
00:26:40 got the spool up here I had a bad turbo we go up I'm the last one down the track that
00:26:45 night never even I haven't even made it in the show I've been there two days trying to
00:26:50 spool this car up we go 578 at 254 broke the NHRA ProMod record and they're all just like
00:26:58 just looking around like what the hell was that yeah I can verify the truth of this story
00:27:02 because my stupid ass was standing on top of a camper swinging a camera oh we used to
00:27:07 live stream that event I had a dumb like Clark Griswold hat on it was like two degrees out
00:27:12 and it was like it was insane yeah everyone peaks Brian yeah that was 13 years old for
00:27:18 me but no that that was and I loved it because it was like it was the drag week I don't know
00:27:27 I just loved the moment because it was like it was a mic drop moment to turn around and
00:27:31 be like this is who I am like I'm here now yeah it was super cool and it just I've always
00:27:37 loved ProMod racing that's all I've ever owned was ProMods and I just man I've had a pretty
00:27:43 good pretty good run with it and I plan on running with it again generally speaking is
00:27:47 your no prep car quicker to the eighth mile than your ProMod car oh my these guys are
00:27:51 in trouble when I go quarter mile racing because what I've learned in the eighth mile oh yeah
00:27:55 wow I mean that GTO right now it's a bracket car at a 960 60-foot turbo car yeah I I know
00:28:04 for a fact every time I'm at the racetrack they're like man we just don't see turbo cars
00:28:08 do that kind of 60-foot and it man when I get mad max back out it's gonna be epic gonna
00:28:14 be wicked how come you how come you've never changed power adder some of these guys change
00:28:17 power adders every season so always those big block Chevys that I bought I bought them
00:28:23 man probably 20 years ago those TFS blocks you've had since time began still hey oh yeah
00:28:29 what yes yes I bought 11 of them yeah and I still got all of them but one wow just explain
00:28:36 to people why that's so weird before we let him go ahead well trick flow specialties only
00:28:40 made these big block Chevy aluminum blocks for like a year or two 1989 89 so they're
00:28:46 all standard bore space stuff nothing trick about them standard lifter bores did they
00:28:51 come with a pair of parachute pants no but they do have the fuel pump boss still molded
00:28:57 in the side like if you drilled and tapped it you could bolt a fuel pump on it yeah so
00:29:01 basically it's an oe block replica made in aluminum yes all right so you got 11 of these
00:29:06 things and they are the strongest block I've ever seen wow you can hang a rod out of it
00:29:11 I did it at drag week hang a rod out of it I cleaned the sleeve up stuck another one
00:29:15 in way you go I mean it's insane they I had a company cut one of those blocks up the one
00:29:22 Jeffrey destroyed in the original 57 they cut it up and they found out why it's so strong
00:29:28 it's just super thick yeah and but it still has enough water for the street clearly absolutely
00:29:32 yeah they and the reason they sold them all they they in the back corner of the block
00:29:37 they circled and they put blocked on it they said the water passage was blocked it wasn't
00:29:42 yeah I bought them all huh so but I've got more into head studs than what I paid for
00:29:48 them blocks yeah so but you asked why I still run them because it'll still make 4,000 horsepower
00:29:55 I can go out I can run with the the big billet Hemis and you know I mean reliability probably
00:30:01 not as reliable but you know Sonny Leonard told me the only difference between cast and
00:30:07 billet billet welds way nicer okay you know so he said cast is just as strong if you get
00:30:13 a good one yeah he's been right I mean it you know everybody says the aluminum block
00:30:17 moves around so much and I would think that old aftermarket one would be that way but
00:30:21 man I you know I they make some noise when you bust the caps loose but I they they just
00:30:28 been a strong piece of our program and I know them so well it brings up the point also you're
00:30:34 building this stuff absolutely absolutely well since no pep kings I have Westside machine
00:30:41 in Idaho those guys are awesome oh they're amazing oh my you went there I do a race every
00:30:46 year in Boise and I always swing by and see unbelievable so they they really helped my
00:30:51 program because we had a valve train issue for years and man I got to them they came
00:30:56 to the race a couple years ago and said hey and I met Justin through clay and he works
00:31:02 there and he said if you ever have any trouble come over well I stayed that week I went over
00:31:08 they fixed it and man I haven't broke a lifter or rocker arm in two years are you running
00:31:12 like a 24 20 degree head or something exotic 12 degree profiler okay big chief head yeah
00:31:17 same thing I've always run I had an Edelbrock set on the original car and man I dropped
00:31:23 the valve one year and ruined that head so yeah I bought these profiler heads and man
00:31:29 we'd never look back it just the horsepower is insane so I mean we can go we've been we've
00:31:36 been 370s in the eighth with that car we went to Australia honest to God we unloaded that
00:31:43 car I was the only one everybody got this memo are you gonna drain all the fluids and
00:31:49 all this I'm like I like take the battery out put it in the bag meanwhile meanwhile
00:31:54 your car is sailing by a ship with burning electric cars in it you monster you left the
00:32:01 oil in the oil pan so they're filming us I love EBS burning in ships we open it's inevitable
00:32:13 David it's happening all over I know as long as no one gets hurt I love it that's right
00:32:18 so we opened the container uncovered a car took the blocks out behind the wheels pulled
00:32:23 the power on I drove it right out of the container and they're all I bet everybody I mean these
00:32:28 guys show up they got the oil drained out of their generator I'm like you guys are nuts
00:32:31 yeah who checks that so we're in Perth the first hit and I think goes 378 at 203 right
00:32:42 out of the container I looked at Jeffrey I'm like yeah it was just it but those motors
00:32:49 are just amazing and I love them I'll probably never own anything but the new 57 I did get
00:32:55 these billet small blocks 496 cubic inch nicest stuff I've ever seen it's not CFE who's who's
00:33:02 doing those VD okay yeah I bought them off Woody from Mark Woodruff so yeah we're gonna
00:33:08 try that Avenue so over the course of a typical like a no prep like no prep Kings event right
00:33:15 how much does the track come around or how much does it come to you is it and is it consistent
00:33:19 is it do you know if you're in the third round you can you can give the car X versus absolutely
00:33:23 so like when we show up they stop stripping them and yeah you know we had guys take making
00:33:30 compound to get the glue out of the rubber and just it was stupid so now we show up they
00:33:36 don't touch it you know they broom it off and away we go so normally I'll go up there
00:33:40 and test it 200 on the starting line 60 foot you may have 250 and just to explain what
00:33:47 he's talking about he'll go up there with a drag race or a meter right so the bigger
00:33:51 the number is the more tight the racetrack is yes 200 not tight not tight wheel speed
00:33:56 so you get seven or eight pairs go down you go back out there you're looking at 350 oh
00:34:04 it's that quick it starts instantly because it's just rubber yeah and and I don't know
00:34:10 you know when they spray it that don't help because when you get all that rubber on there
00:34:14 you know it's not good so when it's just rubber and then the night air comes oh my it's it's
00:34:21 good stuff you know I've seen 400 wow yeah yeah it gets real good and to run the speeds
00:34:26 we are yeah you mean it's got to get good you know so it's uh it I love that part of
00:34:32 it now you know because before man when they were stripping them and stuff that was just
00:34:38 not good for anybody and if you were in race your way in they used to send you down first
00:34:43 oh you the guinea pig oh yeah yeah so it was like oh my goodness but hey it's a job and
00:34:48 it's what I love to do you know and it's just been it's crazy I still I pinch myself every
00:34:55 day yeah I I'm impressed and I you know just watching the whole thing evolve is very impressive
00:35:00 to me and it's like anything else it it professionalizes itself to a degree and you guys have done a
00:35:05 really great job I think with the storytelling in that it hasn't overly professionalized
00:35:10 itself but the quality of equipment from 10 years ago to now yeah it's like and you go
00:35:16 back and watch those old shows and it's like it's like watching the early days of pro mod
00:35:19 there is not near enough chassis for everything that's in the front of that race car that's
00:35:24 right and it's it's obviously over time you guys you move motors around and all the other
00:35:27 stuff but it's like it's a totally different world than even when you first started on
00:35:31 that show it's a totally different world absolutely you know Jerry Bickle figured it out early
00:35:35 moved the motor back you know with Mad Max I had him build that car best car ever you
00:35:41 know and then I heard people start they're measuring them trying to figure it out and
00:35:46 you know Bickle's secret was out and they they just work and you know that involved
00:35:50 into No Prep Kings now you look at the cars now they're just man they're state of the
00:35:54 art yeah it's just it's insane and you know you've been so hardcore for so long I don't
00:36:00 know what you did before that I mean did you ever start with a 12 second Camaro or something
00:36:04 so I it was 88 I'm gonna show my age my wife and I got married I bought an 85 Iroc Z in
00:36:15 88 owned it for a year and I cut it up uh-huh and my wife drove it to work with big tires
00:36:22 ratchet shifter high heels drove it to work you know and then I painted it yellow bought
00:36:29 or something else and the yellow just stuck and I pulled the small block out I kept it
00:36:36 tune port because I couldn't afford all that yeah put a big block in it I blew it up found
00:36:41 a blower with a couple carburetors let the button go and I was going 880s you know it
00:36:46 was it was insane my first car that I ever built and it just then I built a Firebird
00:36:52 uh 92 Firebird and man that was in every magazine and what inspired you to do that
00:36:58 first car were you like an NHRA fan or no no I I was a Hot Rod magazine fan okay and
00:37:05 I can't remember what year it was it had the SS Monte Carlo on the front it was red tub
00:37:11 oh yeah oh my god I love that car it was like a paint and body cover yes it was it was amazing
00:37:15 what is wrong with my brain function that I recall that like you do but it was it was
00:37:20 an iconic car it was yeah and I think I don't know what year it was but he did it so fast
00:37:26 that car wasn't that old and he had it cut up yeah it was like a new car it was beautiful
00:37:31 prostrating a modern car you're like I can ruin new cars that lit me up and I I just
00:37:36 could not believe and then you know Project X when I was a kid the yellow that was my
00:37:41 inspiration and you know when I went to paint that 85 IROC Z I walked into the Napa Auto
00:37:49 Parts and they not Napa I can't remember what name was but they had the Pennzoil pro-stock
00:37:54 car maybe it was parts plus but they had the Pennzoil pro-stock car up on oh sure I said
00:38:03 I want that yellow and that started it all that's killer yeah but that that's what inspired
00:38:08 me the Hot Rod magazine the Monte Carlo the red one yeah he's gonna find it yeah I'm looking
00:38:13 on the Motor Trend app that has every page of Hot Rod scanned and I'm trying to find
00:38:17 it was it was early man it had to be 80 maybe early 90s I was looking at 87 well I'm not
00:38:25 gonna find it real quick but man I know exactly what yeah you remember it so and and I thought
00:38:31 it I like I said I can't remember the year but man that car couldn't have been a year
00:38:35 old or two years old and he had it cut up lowered and I thought man that is just cool
00:38:41 so where where was your home track then was it because I'm Keystone Raceway Park yeah
00:38:47 yeah that's where it all started my brother come home from the war he wanted me to go
00:38:52 look at a car with him I went it was a 70 Camaro SS and I said wow that's nice it's
00:38:59 blue it was a four-speed and the guy built dune buggies or something for a living so
00:39:03 it was a 400 Borda and my brother can't drive a stick to save his ass the guy goes yeah
00:39:09 go ahead and take it for a ride man I dumped a clutch in that thing and I was talked we
00:39:14 were at Keystone the next day took third gear out of it speaking of no stick driving tell
00:39:21 the Christine Pinto story oh oh my god we were kids I she didn't even have she was on
00:39:27 it wife by my wife Christine I've been with her damn near all my life she was on her learner's
00:39:34 permit and we never drank when we were kids like when we had kids we never drank so we're
00:39:40 sitting there we left the party and I was drunk and it didn't take much get me drunk
00:39:45 so I had a 1980 Pinto that my mom and dad gave me I rebuilt the four-cylinder first
00:39:50 motor I ever rebuilt then it had a little five-speed in it and we're sitting at the
00:39:54 bottom of this hill oh god and she's shifting trying to get up the hill and we're sitting
00:39:59 at this light and the cop was behind us and every time she shift you know she can't drive
00:40:05 she can't drive so we're on the bottom of this hill and she tried so many times the
00:40:09 cop finally turned the lights on she's bawling I'm like just relax just relax and the cop
00:40:15 come up and he goes can I see your license and she goes I'm on my permit it was after
00:40:20 midnight back then I don't know how it is now but and he goes why you driving and he
00:40:27 looked over at me why is she driving I said I had too much a drink and you're 17 yeah
00:40:33 and he said man that's the best thing I heard all night huh he pulled her out of the car
00:40:37 he gave her the whole deal and man that she she still can't drive a stick but yeah that
00:40:45 goes back we were we were really young she was 17 I think I was 18 how do you fit all
00:40:50 those dogs in the back of a Pinto
00:40:54 we only have one dog now all the great Danes are gone they just we got a golden doodle
00:41:00 he's famous everybody knows him he's maxie yeah the fans love him he's he crowd surfs
00:41:04 all the time you know he's uh but yeah she's we've been married uh 30 34 years going on
00:41:11 35 wow yeah yeah and that's and that's a story in and unto itself because obviously you know
00:41:18 racing will take its toll on everything right drag racing is famous for longevity in marriages
00:41:23 oh yeah no that's the whole thing financial stable bill that's you know it's that's the
00:41:29 old saying right erasing gasoline is uh is the greatest solvent of all time it'll dissolve
00:41:34 marriages bank accounts friendships it'll dissolve everything but she uh she's my rock
00:41:40 you know she I had a dream you know to do this for a living and it just man she's been
00:41:47 there the whole time she when we when we went through hard times she worked full time you
00:41:53 know and I would watch kids or vice versa and man when it we finally hit it big per
00:42:00 se you know I said just I needed her at the racetrack it was like babe you got to quit
00:42:05 your job you know and that was a big step for us I bet but you know we've owned our
00:42:09 house since I was 18 okay we paid that off a long time ago you know so it was uh we were
00:42:15 in the right position we had our kids early and to be able to do it it was just everything
00:42:20 just man it just fell right in the line and I couldn't have done it without her yeah it's
00:42:25 been it's been crazy and my daughter she was she was into it early but you know she moved
00:42:31 moved away and got her husband and they bought a house and but Jeffrey unfortunately he's
00:42:37 stuck with me yeah so it's uh it's been it's been just one crazy dream from you know when
00:42:47 we did roadkill with the Monza you know we did drag week and to where I'm at now and
00:42:52 you know sitting here with you guys it's just it's just been uh it's been a dream come true
00:42:58 that's amazing yeah that's great to hear it's great and and one of the drag week stories
00:43:01 we chatted about it before we sat down but I really want to go through it because it's
00:43:04 probably my single favorite day experience in drag week that that day at Thunder Road
00:43:10 I remember and it was like it was this great day because you and Larry were in the in the
00:43:14 throes of it going back and forth each day and Impound was set up right by the starting
00:43:18 line it was elevated so the Impound area is up here starting lines down here you go out
00:43:23 and we first rolled up there and you looked at me when we got there in the morning you
00:43:26 said I think this is the narrowest groove in the history of drag I'll never forget that
00:43:30 yeah I said this I said it's not bad it's just about six inches too narrow for these
00:43:33 cars right but you go out there and make this freaking hero lap somewhere in the sixes somewhere
00:43:41 and it's like the parachutes come out it's like all right I can breathe again and you
00:43:44 go up there in your park and all of a sudden Larry comes up the car won't spool he can't
00:43:48 get it off the starting line and he's now he's never in this spot he's there now he's
00:43:52 trying to make four or five laps it won't go down the racetrack and you're starting to
00:43:55 pack your stuff up and there was just this visual of your car up there you're getting
00:43:59 ready to go and he just cannot get his his together yep and it's like wow I mean it was
00:44:03 very dramatic and cool and and I'll never forget your announcing of that because you
00:44:08 said something like you you announced me coming you said something like wicked is on its way
00:44:13 or something it was just super cool something wicked this way yeah and I'll never forget
00:44:17 you go you go man what do you think it out man that looks narrow but let's give her hell
00:44:22 it was definitely uh it was definitely the narrowest track I've ever been down
00:44:28 but and memorable to this day oh yeah fear sticks with you yeah you and I had that interaction
00:44:34 with the guy along we drove past the drag strip on the route that year and we were like we got to
00:44:40 go check this place out so it was uh something river raceway or red creek raceway or something
00:44:44 like that in Texas so this is where it was Texas yeah we were traveling between Dallas and Thunder
00:44:50 Road all right we were Houston at Thunder Road that's where we're going that day we drove past
00:44:54 this place and uh we pull up and there's this guy like straight out of central casting like this old
00:44:58 weathered guy with his wacko hair and his big beard and he was troweling concrete into potholes
00:45:05 and a wooden in the dirt driveway I'm like all right he turns around says hey yeah can we look
00:45:09 at your drag strip and I think he had I think he had like a 45 yeah and it's like he's like yeah
00:45:14 go inside he's like don't mind the dogs remember that yeah German shepherds and everything everywhere
00:45:19 but that was cool we got to hang out at that place yeah let's go back to roadkill manza yes so we've
00:45:25 mentioned this a couple times throughout this episode what we did is me and Mike Finnegan went
00:45:29 to his place in Pennsylvania and we had this 75 manza that we had bought and it was a 305 and a
00:45:36 four-speed actually pretty radical spider little car spider it was and so we go over to your chassis
00:45:42 dyno we start running this thing didn't we frag the 305 and it was job yeah swapped in one of your
00:45:48 buddies 350s but then the punch line is we start supercharging this thing with leaf blowers they
00:45:53 were gas-powered leaf blowers we ended up with five in the back and we're on your dyno and
00:45:58 remember when it worked yeah we're just like no way this actually worked yeah I'll never forget
00:46:04 a fun time I'll never forget cutting the hole in the firewall for the tube to go through yeah and
00:46:10 your camera goes oh wow that's a fire right he was so excited that the car was on fire yeah oh yeah
00:46:17 we love that that's a highlight reel but um people ask me about the car all the time I know and it
00:46:25 went on it was in another episode of roadkill where we did what's called the boost caboose we
00:46:28 put a trailer behind it put a small block chevy on it the small block chevy was running a paxton
00:46:33 supercharger and we had a hose going up over the roof into the engine and after that we shipped
00:46:39 the car back to Lutz and he still has it untouched I have never touched it I told junior to take it
00:46:45 across the property and put it in the upstairs of the trailer I can't remember how many years
00:46:49 ago that was and that wasn't I never want to see it again moment that was just it is what it is
00:46:53 I get it the hell out of the garage but you took it to a couple car shows I did I did in Canada
00:46:58 because you guys because Canada oh my god yeah they huge in Canada roadkill is huge in Canada
00:47:04 and I just because every time I was up there they go oh where's the manza and I'm like well here's
00:47:10 mad max yeah you know 50 miles an hour yeah so the next year I brought the manza and everybody
00:47:16 loved it yeah so we did that we did that for a couple car shows and then we just stuck it in
00:47:21 there and I I don't even know what it looks like right now we planned recently to go dig it back
00:47:25 out and do something with it you were talking like off camera yeah I don't remember why it fell apart
00:47:30 you guys were driving I think you were driving to the next track but the rain or something
00:47:34 canceled one track and that screwed up the whole timeline so wasn't it the West Virginia deal or
00:47:39 no wasn't that going to be the thing different something else but don't forget about the manza
00:47:43 your total performance validation at the standing mile yes oh man yeah we went to Ohio to the
00:47:48 standing mile which Brian was involved in actually running at the time Wilmington yes Wilmington
00:47:54 Ohio right and it it was a mile not a mile and a half correct no it's Maine that was a mile and a
00:47:58 half it's so it's a really really good runway out there it was like an old FedEx runway I think yep
00:48:04 and uh Yumi and Finnegan all ran that thing down I don't remember what it went 127 or something
00:48:08 like yeah I think it I think it cracked the 125 barrier yeah yeah I'll never forget at the end of
00:48:14 that you're going you want that thing I'm like yeah yeah I guess you're like no but and there
00:48:22 was a kid with us I said you're driving that home oh that's right drove it the whole way
00:48:27 yes yeah he got in it and drove it so it uh it's been cool I love it it's a piece of history you
00:48:33 know that's like 10 years ago that was a long time ago yeah yeah good times that man I wouldn't trade
00:48:39 him for the world it's like you know in it watching you guys you with your voice you know and
00:48:47 me with my stupidity everything that you do with the flip-flops and you know I was sitting there
00:48:52 this morning before I left the hotel I was watching watching roadkill you know it's just it's been
00:48:57 crazy and to see everybody's success I mean I've you guys are like family and I just it's it's
00:49:04 insane I the one thing that I keep coming back to when I think about your career and your your kind
00:49:08 of spot in drag racing is just there are very few people that have been able to do different things
00:49:13 while maintaining exactly who they are yeah yeah right you've not you've not sold yourself into
00:49:18 some being some character actor no and you know like we we look at racers as like well this is
00:49:23 the guy that drives this car in this series and does this thing that's not you no and you've not
00:49:28 deluded yourself I think it's great I and and the fans I I get I make time for the fans because
00:49:34 without the fans we're nobody you know I always say they're my customer absolutely and and without
00:49:40 them in the in the stands or coming to the shows I give them the time you know what I mean yeah
00:49:46 and they're go they they man you're normal I'm like I'm no different than you I just lucked out
00:49:51 I drive the same thing you know yeah and sometimes it wears you down end of the day there's a few in
00:49:56 your face but you always gotta you know for the one idiot there's a hundred great people yeah my
00:50:02 wife will say hey check yourself right because you get like the hardest thing for me is I don't have
00:50:08 a big crew it's me Jeffrey and Chris and at the end of NPK you know I was out there all day signing
00:50:15 autographs I can't even tear down without you know right so exactly my latest thing is I say okay
00:50:21 when you see me all done here you can wait I'll sign everything you got nine times out of ten
00:50:27 they're gone yeah you know yesterday I was on the phone with a producer minor drama going on I
00:50:32 walked way away from people and some guy comes up while I'm on the phone puts his arm around me and
00:50:36 takes a selfie and you know there's no personal barriers anymore and but nonetheless you've got a
00:50:42 you know yep they some of them can handle it some can't you know and I get the same thing it's just
00:50:48 it tests you every day but there again they're your customers absolutely got nothing otherwise
00:50:55 if you if that guy walks away from you say man that fry burger's an ass you know then you lost
00:51:00 that guy yeah well we happen to be in the and along those lines you remember being in
00:51:04 real kill nights a couple years ago you me and Leah were out and that one guy started shooting
00:51:08 his mouth off oh yeah we were at some bar at like three in the morning so yeah so we so we're in
00:51:17 Detroit uh that wasn't drag week no that was roadkill nights roadkill nights okay and they
00:51:21 used to bring the fuel cars they weren't do burnouts right so Lee is in town and you and I are
00:51:26 at the hotel whatever and it was like all right well I guess that's the end of the night and we
00:51:29 get a tax and then we get in some uber go to god knows where yeah and we're in this bar and it's
00:51:33 just like the three of us and a couple other patrons and all of a sudden this guy like four
00:51:36 or five seats down is like and you gave him a minute or two talk to him and then he ends up
00:51:43 and so I'm kind of sitting between them and so now all of a sudden the guy starts like calling you
00:51:47 an a-hole and doing all the stuff and it's just it's like yeah you can only give people so much
00:51:53 but that is few and far between overall I think your fans our fans they're super super cool yeah
00:51:59 and and your personal space is behind closed doors you know what I mean it is because where we're at
00:52:05 in our careers I mean your your life's out there you know and again said something to me one time
00:52:12 is like you know the problem is you're once you're famous you're always famous that's right is like
00:52:16 we're going to be dealing with this one or 70 and you know what I don't want to sound like I'm
00:52:19 complaining about this we are very very fortunate for the jobs that we have yep and uh and most
00:52:25 people are incredibly cool and I'm happy to do it and I was at a car show over the winter and
00:52:31 my wife and I went to eat and Tom Walpach I don't know that one Duke's hazard oh whoa Pat well
00:52:38 whatever whatever I don't even know his name one of the Duke boys I looked over at him and I
00:52:44 realized oh my god he's an old man yeah you know and have you seen us yeah yeah we're not old
00:52:51 but I thought oh my god he's still doing it yeah you know and and that's just what I thought oh
00:52:57 man but he come in and he yelled at the bartender because there was no seat and I thought oh my that's
00:53:04 not the way I said to my wife I said if I ever act like that you got permission yeah yeah hit me
00:53:10 with a two by four yeah get out of here he come in and said where am I supposed to sit so your
00:53:14 career's not over what's coming next um we got a lot of stuff coming uh NPK is still going um I know
00:53:21 we got another season of that Jeffrey and I've been doing the YouTube stuff pretty good we worked
00:53:26 at it all winter long and man we was growing it really hard so we made some money on that and I
00:53:32 think that's the future yeah and we've got some talks with some producers about uh maybe doing
00:53:38 our own show Jeffrey and I build show that'd be great you know something like roadkill yeah you
00:53:42 know just doing less crazy stuff maybe a little less I like the hack part man that's I I'm not a
00:53:50 big fit and finish guy but Jeffrey is so and how about your CRC program with the GTO that you did
00:53:56 this year that that's been amazing so the CRC thing started with uh which is the manufacturer
00:54:02 like brake brake clean everybody knows brake clean so uh that started with Clay's Son's Project and
00:54:07 they wanted to do another build so we did this GTO and it all the proceeds will go to scholarships
00:54:16 for 10 kids they'll auction it yes it will go to Mecham auction in May so whatever it brings
00:54:22 which you can see on Motor Trend yes yes um and that money will go to 10 scholarships for kids
00:54:29 through a tech school because they want to get the kids back into working with your hands
00:54:34 shop class the whole thing so and look it's an effective effectively a street going version of
00:54:38 your car right yellow late model GTO absolutely got a nice little blower on it makes I think we
00:54:43 saw what six seven hundred horse yeah he's uh Clay's gonna take it to Edelbrock they're gonna
00:54:47 put it on their dyno and get it get it to make a good bit so it crushed me a little bit because
00:54:52 that car was so clean when you got it that's 1,300 miles or something right it's like a 2005
00:54:58 or something six six yep and we kept everything we kept all the original stuff and that's a wrap
00:55:04 believe it or not yeah so oh wow yeah so it's got the original paint I mean that the exhaust even
00:55:09 had the stickers on it yeah you know and I'm like this is too nice to take apart yeah but so we kept
00:55:16 everything and whoever gets it it's going to be a great thing they can put it back to original if
00:55:21 they want or leave it the way it is so they came to us on Monday and said we want to do this another
00:55:28 minimum of four or five years yeah so we're going to do one every year which is great because the
00:55:34 the uh the cause is you know because the kids today that are staying at home playing video
00:55:41 games or whatever we need more people working with their hands you know so uh and somebody
00:55:46 got to put those fires out in the electric cars did you ever think um t-shirts would be a big
00:55:54 part of the income of your life t-shirt sales you guys I mean that has been one of the things that
00:55:59 no prep kings and and that whole scene has just changed the game on right I it it scares me to
00:56:05 leave with how much money you make in t-shirts oh wow and it just uh if you would have told me that
00:56:12 you have the capability of making 20 30 grand in a weekend on t-shirts I'd say in the game
00:56:18 in the cotton game yeah yeah so um and I hate it because I hate hauling them but man the fans and
00:56:27 do you know what else I cannot keep in is the cars the matchbox yeah unbelievable life oh I sell
00:56:34 hundreds hundreds every weekend wow so it's uh yeah the the t-shirt game is good that that helps
00:56:42 I mean that puts fuel in the tank you know and and when you win hey that's big money too it really is
00:56:48 a lot of people don't know but back when before the no prep kings was called no prep kings we
00:56:54 runnered up in Bristol and we split two hundred thousand dollars wow yeah that was the first
00:56:59 like you said that that birth that entire series yes that that one-off race started that whole
00:57:04 series yes so you know the fans came and of course we didn't have shirts yeah you know nobody knew it
00:57:10 was going to be that big and then that's when the shirt thing started that's just I still can't
00:57:15 believe it all this income you're still hauling your own junk all over the country yeah and my
00:57:20 they say I've got the nicest rig and no prep kings and and I've I've always wanted one all my life
00:57:28 and I built my first one and I just traded up and Bristol changed my life because I bought
00:57:34 the trailer I have was actually Kurt's oh okay I found it in Winniewood it was for sale right after
00:57:40 I won that money I drove straight from Tennessee to Winniewood and bought the trailer huh and I
00:57:46 stole the trailer and I just I upgraded every year I take it to renegade get things fixed up on it and
00:57:53 it's my pride and joy and I could not trust anybody to drive it Jeffrey can drive it but you
00:57:58 know my wife and I and my dog we travel in it I love it I love it you know and still that's a lot
00:58:05 of hours that you're not you know maybe it's a little bit of a mental break for you though it is
00:58:10 like right now it's sitting in Tulsa we flew out of Tulsa and we fly back to Tulsa to get in it to
00:58:17 drive to Ennis Texas so yeah it uh I just love doing it I don't mind driving but the older I get
00:58:25 the slower I get and you know people always say man don't you get tired of driving and why do you
00:58:33 leave so early I leave so early because I'm old yeah and if something happens I got time to fix
00:58:39 it and I fix my own rig you know I'll change the tires grease the wheel bearings you know fix
00:58:44 whatever happens and I drive the speed limit yeah believe it or not I drive the speed limit Sean
00:58:50 he's always on side of the road with blown tires and stuff I said because 87 miles an hour I said
00:58:54 because the speed limit says 85 you don't have to go that right and he actually he's right today
00:59:02 going to pick his rig up it blew up on the way to Vegas that bill is huge it blew up blew up killed
00:59:09 the motor killed the motor big old Pete I don't know what motor it is but yeah he just rods hanging
00:59:15 out of it yeah so Ennis Texas is your season finale correct yes yes yeah where are you in the
00:59:21 points right now um I think I'm 11 okay yeah we we had some highs had some lows we've had a lot of
00:59:28 hiccups and you know how Jerry Brayson goes but uh we tested last week in Tulsa and it hauled
00:59:36 out um I fly back tomorrow we'll test Monday Tuesday and I know what I need to go and I'm
00:59:43 not leaving Tulsa until I go that so um we just and hit it big how do you focus at the track I mean
00:59:51 I'm no pro racer but I get race face like when we're at Bonneville or something I'm focused yep
00:59:57 I don't know how you drive a car that fast with all the people in your face I zone them out I just
01:00:02 you know I have a thing we set up the t-shirt booth at the end of the trailer and in the pit
01:00:09 I won't sign autographs I won't talk to people I'm in the pit work on a car I tell everybody
01:00:14 when I'm back there I'll sign everything you have to for your own safety absolutely absolutely and
01:00:20 you know Jeffrey has a checklist that he goes through you know and Chris will shut the t-shirts
01:00:26 down and come and do her part of it and we just we we have a program and I don't like anybody to
01:00:32 intervene with that program so you know like you said at that speed it could kill you so we we just
01:00:39 focus on it and I zone everybody out but when I come back they're there to cheer you on and that's
01:00:44 when I give them the time yeah you know what I mean so you got to separate it because it can get
01:00:49 the best of you and you know you do have a fan here or there that might want to come by and piss
01:00:54 you off so it's uh it's yeah I just man I zone them out and I just do my job because it's a job
01:01:04 and I come back and I have fun with them yeah and I can banter with them you know we always have fun
01:01:08 and the fans when you can get them to laugh and make fun of them or they're making fun of you
01:01:14 then man they're just having a good time and they walk away and just with a smile on their face you
01:01:19 know you know we're getting down to the end of our chat here but one of my favorite places to go and
01:01:23 I've gone there now the last three years to do with their record the Nightfire Nationals you guys
01:01:26 go there Boise Idaho. I love it. Killer. Love it. Killer. Love it. I was talking to Brad New yesterday. Yep. Yep.
01:01:32 Yep. Yeah I talked to Brad too that what a great family they are and when you go to that racetrack
01:01:38 they they want to make sure you're happy and that very few racetracks do that and they I show up
01:01:45 early like I said I always leave early and if I don't have any problems I'll call him and say hey
01:01:50 do you have a place I can park? Absolutely. You know and we'll go eat and I just end up my engine
01:01:56 builder ends up being there so it works out great. Tim Wallace and the boys at Westside Machine
01:02:02 they have turned my program around with the valve train so I love Boise Idaho. It's just a killer
01:02:08 place. I love it. It's a gem. It's an actual gem. We went there on a roadkill and the thing that impressed me most
01:02:13 they know every racer's name. Absolutely. And they get them in a winner's circle even if they want a
01:02:18 Wednesday night bracket race they get those guys in the winner's circle they treat them like kings.
01:02:22 They do and that racetrack is the only racetrack in the world that is in the historical registry.
01:02:31 It's a national register of historic places. That's it. Yep. So it'll always be a racetrack which is amazing.
01:02:36 Yeah they were brilliant at doing that and just they're recognizing that the city and they still
01:02:40 do have a good amount of room around them but there's all kinds of development and so that now
01:02:45 that they're on the historic register they're there. Yeah. And you can't throw me out. But can
01:02:50 you drive cars down it forever? I believe. Yeah. Listen they wouldn't have gone through it took
01:02:54 them three years and a lot of lawyers and a lot of work and I think they did as much as
01:02:59 they could to account for that. Yeah. That's great. Man the houses are just getting so close.
01:03:05 I think in four or five years that we've been going there it's amazing how much that place
01:03:11 has grown. It is. It's insane. Well man thank you. No thank you. This has been fantastic and it's like I
01:03:17 just love we've done a few of these this week and it's like we just get to talking and the stories
01:03:21 and the memories and I think the one thing I hope people get out of this and I think they did was
01:03:25 like a real good look at kind of who you are where you came from and everything you got going. I
01:03:30 appreciate that. Yeah I'm just a working Joe like everybody else man. I you know I put my clothes
01:03:35 on the same way everybody else does but it just happens to be that we're in everybody's eyes you
01:03:40 know and it's great. I love them all. Well David's still going to go be looking for the cover of that
01:03:45 Hot Rod magazine that inspired Jeff's Camaro build. We'll dive back on his phone here any minute but
01:03:50 what a great conversation with Jeff. Just a fantastic chat. This is a guy who went from
01:03:54 a bricklayer to one of the most well-known figures in the sport of drag racing and honestly a good
01:03:58 dude as well. Thank you for tuning in listening or watching to this episode of the Hot Rod Pod
01:04:03 Where It All Began. I'm Brian, John, David. He's Jeff and we'll be back soon with the next episode.
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