Chris Forsyth; WCBR Southwest Showdown

Let's go, whoop, whoop, we're getting more and more west.

Kind of building the show, building the following a little bit.

And I think it's perfect timing to bring him on, you know, and it's cool

because we started this thing in the middle of the kind of home stretch

of NHRA class racing.

And so we started out on the NHRA side of things and haven't been able

to talk a ton of bracket racing really overall.

And so it's cool to be getting into the season and kicking it off out

here on the West Coast with the race that, you know, in Tucson that has

become a favorite for a lot of people and a promotion that has really

set the gold standard, I think, out here on the West Coast.

So super, super stoked for that.

Hey, Troy, before we get too deep into things, I don't know if you're aware,

but today is a very special day.

It is my mom's birthday today.

So we just want to wish Grandma Kerry a happy 25th birthday today.

Happiest of birthdays.

Don't look a day over 24.

Absolutely not.

Which is crazy because now I'm older than my mom.

I don't.

It's kind of a weird deal that works, huh?

Not bracket racing related.

But but we have talked a little bit about a few times about, you know,

drag racing is bigger than ever, I think.

But we talk about it being fragmented.

And this weekend, the D.I.

Winner Series, U.S. Nationals.

I don't know if you watched much of that.

I think it's so cool what the Winner Series has been able to do to to bring

everybody together from the pro-mod side of things and to see a qualifying

sheet with 32 guys in the fifties.

That's all 32 of them, man.

It was a pretty wild show this weekend.

And of course, that shatter.

Getting the win, Stevie Jackson.

But a lot of drama over the weekend.

A lot of fun watching watching the Street Nationals.

So not bracket racing related, but then boys had some bracket cars.

I mean, those guys were cranking off serious, serious runs lap after lap.

But a lot of fun to watch this weekend.

And great way to just kind of kick off the year, I think, and get the blood flowing.

Oh, yeah.

We also had a junior race down in Bakersfield.

I didn't get the results on those, but congrats to all the junior

dragster winners down there for Division Seven.

I've seen a lot of pictures with the new NHA 75th anniversary.

Wally, which is pretty cool.

It might be the first ones to get passed out in the country.

It's quite possible.

That's pretty cool, man.

Wallies are cool, but you know what else is cool is big checks.

So checks.

Why don't we bring our guest on tonight, Mr.

Chris Forsythe. Let's do it.

Seven fellas.

Hey, Chris.

How are we doing?

Good. I got, I got to say, happy birthday to Kerry, too.

I, I got to see her with the holidays when I was up there for

Daryl Negra's 80th, got to see how the rich and famous up there in St.

George. I got to say, I was pretty envious.

I like it up there, but happy birthday to her.

It's not too bad up here.

We, we enjoy it.

And when we get Daryl going, it's, it's quite a party.

Get him going. He usually don't stop.

Well, we're excited to have you on tonight.

Talk a little bit about the Southwest showdown and all the

exciting news that has to follow it.

Are you ready?

What do you got left to plan?

Or are you already getting stressed out with all the last

minute times you got to work on?

Hey, 11 years in, it still just goes right here on a

college row pad, but I mean, we'll get to it.

Um, no, I mean, a lot of, uh, obviously the, the important

preliminary details have already been announced.

Uh, and even those as always are, you know, subject to change,

which will be some of the things that will get posted and

discussed later on this week.

And maybe even a few tonight.

Who knows?

We'll see how loose lip they get with you guys.

But, um, yeah, we're, we're ready.

We're excited.

Um, I was mentioning to you guys just a little earlier, uh,

that I'm not so sure, uh, that on this side of the country or

at least this coast, um, that racer racers have had a shot at

quote, unquote, big money, racer racing back to back.

And with us being the week prior to the, uh, fling million

of Vegas, um, I think it's, uh, uh, it's a, it's a huge

undertaking, obviously for, for time away and, and, and

maybe even the pocket book, but it's also one of the

probably the biggest opportunities West Coast racers have had.

And of course racers abroad are finding it pretty,

uh, uh, good looking as well.

Because from a traveling standpoint, this would be

the first time they get to travel to Vegas with a shot

and maybe get in two for one.

So that part of it's pretty exciting for us.

If, uh, if you guys have to, uh, take time off with

your boss, now's the time to tell them you're going

to be gone for two weeks straight.

It's going to be, uh, tell them, tell them

Parker Theobald said you should do it.

Yeah.

I mean, it would be convenient to get sick for two

weeks that time of year, but, uh, I'm not, I'm

not quite a doctor yet.

I heard COVID's on the rise again.

Yeah, you know, this back to back thing, I think

it's a, it's something that people have murmured

about here and there and it just never, um, they

never lined up that way.

And, and I think, um, you know, I won't be

either probably, but, but still from a distance,

once I saw that that's how it was going to

line up, my immediate thought was what a huge

opportunity and I hope they got enough parking

spots in Tucson because I think you said your

record is around 350.

I think you're going to well eclipse that, uh, this

year because I think a lot of people are going

to take advantage of the opportunity to do a

two-for-one, like you said, on the travel and

kick off their season in a big way.

Well, uh, you know, and you mentioned twos on

Dragway and that's obviously probably one of

the biggest playing components that came

into this event, you know, in 2017 and I

decided to do it, you know, me and Jim Hughes,

who has the least to the track out there, um,

we've been really good friends and really

close for a long time.

I had the privilege of even racing with Jim,

towards the latter part of his years at Hughes

Performance and, um, you know, we've just,

we've always seen eye to eye on, um, you know,

having a passion for driving the sport

into an area where, um, maybe isn't quite

as exposed as it should be, um, but also

exploiting the simplicity of it, which is

ultimately customer service, right?

I mean, a lot of people, ourselves included,

we load our stuff up, we spend a lot of time

with and without our families to go do what

we love to do, and we go spend a lot of money

to do it.

And doing that also requires taking time

away, like I mentioned.

So a lot of the things that come into play

when Jim and I have a conversation,

and I tell people this all the time,

because it's 100% genuine,

Jim's response to me is,

well, will the racers like it?

Yep, let's do it.

No questions asked.

He comes to me and I say,

well, do you think that's good for the

racers?

Yep.

Well, then let's do it.

I mean, what's the worst that can happen,

right?

You got to try.

There's not too much you can complicate

when you're setting two cars down

and one comes back, right?

So you got to, you got to create

what that experience is in that

atmosphere to make it to where

everybody feels they're being a part

of something that they paid to be

a part of in one direction or

another.

You know, we're going to have,

over the course of the weekend,

we'll have, what, seven,

seven big checks handed out.

That potentially means only seven

people are probably going home

really, really, really happy, right?

So the best thing you can do is just

try to create the atmosphere

and the trust with the

the parity and the transparency

of what we're trying to accomplish

at the end of the day before somebody

collects one of those checks.

So as far as the stress,

everything comes into goes into play.

I have a great relationship with

Tucson Dragway.

And that's a huge weight off your

back is a promoter.

When you're working with a track,

let alone a track manager

owner whose drive is in the same

direction as yours,

but it makes life really easy.

Yes, I'm sure there's other promoters

that across country that get a test.

You when you when you're working with

a facility that sees it the way you

do and they're willing to help you

get to that,

you can't beat that can't beat that.

So like you said,

this event's taking place in Tucson,

Arizona, Tucson, Dragway.

Do you want to run through

kind of the payout kind of

some of the shootout stuff that

you've got planned?

Let's I'll just let you take it from

here for a minute.

Yeah.

So I mean, and you know,

another thing you'll notice with

the stuff we've done over the last

11 years is we're we're fairly

consistent.

We we don't we don't try to drive

or change a lot of things or try

to become the you know,

the the next million dollar raise.

Just a little history to where

this even started.

You know, my idea was when

when Peter and Kyle brought the

fling to Vegas

and I had already been to the

fling in Bristol and got to

experience what that was like.

And I've been to the million back

in Montgomery and just to have

that opportunity to see that

presentation on this side of

the country, right?

I thought, well,

you know, I think everybody

sees this as a good idea,

but we all know that on the

West Coast, there wasn't a lot

of opportunity to work

towards a platform like that to

feel as though you're

prepared for something like that.

So my thought was, well,

every Super Bowl's got to have

an NFC and an AFC championship

game.

So if I can build a platform

that's comparable to that

concept for the racers over here

to feel the confidence

and the desire to go race

these type of races,

that's exactly what I want to do.

So over the course of 11 years,

a lot of things have grown,

but they've kind of,

I wouldn't say the word plateau,

but they've kind of found

their fit, right?

We try to keep the entry fees,

you know, under 500,

try to make it a more

schedule accommodating

weekend to where it's not

starting so early

because we don't get the car

to some of these other races

do, but make it to where,

you know, you don't feel left out

if you show up Thursday night

in other words, you know.

But anyways, as far as this year's

showdown is concerned,

Tucson-Dragway, March 26th

through the 29th,

you'll see entry fees have stayed

the same this year from last,

480 and Super Pro,

Pros 345,

Super Pros going to be racing

for 10, 15 and 10,

and Pros going to be racing for

5, 7,500 and 5.

This is the official,

this was the initial flyer,

this is not the official flyer.

So a couple of little details

we'll catch on to,

we'll probably get noticed

on what we should be releasing

tomorrow.

I'm just waiting on a couple

more confirmations,

but we'll also be bringing back

some of our sponsors

that we've had from day one,

which Kid Performance,

Mark and Raze,

they'll be assuming Friday again.

These guys have been with me

and stood behind me from day one

from both events that we had,

Saturday, Hughes Performance,

another ongoing sponsor,

and then RB Components

who stepped in last year

to assume the role that we had

from a previous sponsor,

they're going to be back again

for 2026,

and they had been involved

a lot of the time

as product sponsors,

gift certificate sponsors

and stuff the years prior,

but we'll be bringing them back on.

We're going to have our

Pro 32 shootout,

$5,000 deal,

and then our WCBR $20,000

shootout Saturday night.

Now these are separate

entry bonus races,

they're bonus races,

and entries will be taken

and collected at the event.

So we went through those

four, five, six years

where we did online registration.

I did drawings,

and what it turned out to be,

unfortunately,

as you get to the event

and you had 128 people

wanting to get in for 64 spots,

you got to the event,

you went in the first round

and you were hollering

for three or four racers

to get in because you were short.

So instead of putting

that kind of pressure on myself,

we're just going to have

everybody show up.

If you want to raise

Saturday night for $500,

just make sure you

spare $500 in your pocket.

You can come down,

you'll see my wife,

Megan,

or my mother-in-law,

you'll sign up.

We'll announce as far

as when we're going to be

taking entries

for those throughout the weekend.

And you'll get yourself in.

We did something.

Go ahead.

That's a cash entry,

correct?

Yes.

Yeah.

Both the Pro 32

and the

$20,000 Saturday night

are cash

and provided that

we don't have any

certain federal agencies

listening in.

We pay you that cash.

We just pay that one out cash.

I'm not afraid to admit it.

So, yeah,

those will be taken

handled at the event.

There will be,

here's another slight detail

that will change.

The Pro 32,

some may see this

as a negative,

some may not.

We are actually going to

move that to Thursday night.

And I'll explain why

for Friday later on.

But that Pro 32 shootout

will actually be Thursday

evening.

After everybody gets

plenty of time

and shot to run

test and tune

if they choose to.

They'll get an official

time run,

probably around 4.30

and then we'll go

right in the first round.

So,

but

same format for the most part.

Friday,

everybody will get a time run.

Saturday,

Sunday will be new entries,

new car,

new drivers.

They'll get a time run

prior to the first round

and we go right into

eliminations.

One thing that

we are going to change

and I'll elaborate this

when I go live

on Wednesday

as far as the event

as whole is concerned

but we're going to change

our double entry format.

The way we've done it

for the past few years

we felt as though

the system worked

for our car count.

But last year with

kind of exceeding

that 250 mark

or almost exceeding

that 250 mark

in Super Pro

with quite a few doubles.

Somewhat complicating

so we're going to take a

we're going to take

the model that

as far as I'm aware of

TV promotions is using it

where the double entries

just run separate

after all the single entries.

So it'll be slightly different

than we've done in the past

but we think it'll create

a little bit more parity

and for the guys

that are double entered

it'll also give them

a little bit better

time window

as far as making sure

they get back in the lane.

So we're going to make

that adjustment this year

and see how it goes.

I like it.

Nick Chris

I want to zoom out

just a little bit.

You talked a little bit

about you know

kind of recognizing

and owning

you know the identity

not only of this race

but but as a promotion

you've kind of found

that sweet spot

which I know is difficult

especially early on

it's something we're

we're struggling with

and in a good way

but up here

as we develop

a couple big money events

in the Northwest

but you've kind of found

that sweet spot finally

and you obviously

provide great value

for the racers

you're providing

great value for your partners

because they continue

to come back

maybe talk a little bit

about you know

the the growing pains

and and how you got to

where you're at now

is as you tried to

develop the event

and like I said

kind of find that identity

and then lean into that

and like hey

this is what we are

this is what we do

and this is what it is

yeah so

you know like I said

you won't see a ton of

irregular differences

at least as far as

a consistency pattern

over the course

of the last two three years

we we experimented

with a few things

we had a couple years

where we were in the

50 grand or shootouts

at Tucson and stuff

we expanded the fields

we shortened the fields

a big part of the

bonus race idea for me

was because I don't like

the idea of pre-entry

and and that's just my opinion

I I don't like the idea

of asking somebody

to front money for a product

that I've yet to prove to them

or that they were willing

to drive out the driveway

for you

if you leave your driveway

with your wallet

and you're heading to Tucson

in March

I I've got your trust

now let me show you

what you're going to get

for your money

right I don't want to

take your money

and then say

oh trust me trust me

when you get there

it'll be great

you never know

what's going to happen

right

so the the bonus race

thing was

probably one of the

first footprints I did

for me as far as confidence goes

you know you put those

feelers out there

just to see

where are you drawing

the racers from

where is the interest

coming from

is it a local crowd

is it a distance crowd

is it a bracket crowd

is it a quote

unquote n-h-r-a crowd

try try to find

where you know you use

those different little

niches to to figure out

who who are you really

enticing here

who are you advertising to

so because those are

the people you want to

follow up with right

and then on the flip side

if you see a bunch of names

on there and you're like

where the hell is Dan Lafferty

or where where where

where somebody you know

I gotta call him

I gotta find out what the deal is

you know and

more often than not

it's a scheduling conflict

it's a it's a

a different goal for the year

you know

going in a different direction

completely understandable

and and in a very rare case

it's uh

you know well

I can go run

three of my local track races

that uh

you know three different weekends

for that cost

so I'm just I'm going to

stick to home this year

you know and

and those are the times

where I think okay

how do I

how do I find the median

you know I gotta make sure

that people that are

going to come from abroad

which we have a

very very large portion

of our racers

for Tucson at least

are coming from

further than six to eight

hours away

I mean it's crazy

but and and the crazy thing

about that also is

that the Tucson area

based

racer group

is is getting bigger

by the day

I mean they

their hangover race

they just had 370 entries

or something at the hangovers

which is just awesome

I mean Bill and those guys

do a great great job

putting that event on

but you know

we're we're starting to see

that whereas

you know the west coast classic

between Bakersfield

and Fontana

it just

that race did plateau

we never saw any spikes

one way or the other

there was just almost like

an average median right

and what it turned out

to be at least from

what I was presented

it was a lot of the time

that just traveling racers

don't want to come into

California

I mean that's

that's uh

that's not even a race

bias thing

right that's just a

probably a more

political money type

thing than anything

but

they didn't want to make

that job

but then you present

something in Tucson

where the first year

we had 177 entries

and every year

we're growing 10 to 25

percent

I mean it's

it's helped us define

what we really

need to focus on

and you feel as though

where we're at right now

at least with what this

flyer presents

where we're keeping

the entries below the 500

we feel as though

the buyback is fair

at between $100

and $80 for pro

so it's $100 or less

and you know

we're paying back

32 cars

at this point

we we just feel as though

if we're continuing

to get more people in

then we must be doing

we're setting a president

for something right

some people would say

well why don't you

expand here

why don't you expand here

well

I mean I look at other races

like

if you guys

I'm sure you've heard of

the 10 tuck series

back in Bowling Green

I mean

that was a cookie cut

format

for how many years

and it was successful

I mean they'd have

tons of racers

every weekend

they had one of those events

so to

to define

who and what we are

I think that

what you see on the flyer

is exactly what we are

we're a comparable

schedule friendly race

to where if you want to

make a long trip out of it

you can be there

on Tuesday if you want to park

you don't have to be there

Tuesday to park

now this year

you may get mad

if you're there

or Thursday

and you weren't there Tuesday

depending on the number of cars

but

but the point being

is that you're not going to

miss out on anything

that early in the week

so if you're a working guy

like I am

and you can't

you can't

leave on a Monday

or Tuesday to drive that

eight, ten,

twelve hours of Tucson

I'm going to work till

noon on Thursday

and then I'm just going

to make the drive

I know I'll be tired

but I get a time run

Friday morning

first round buyback

I at least got three shots

to get it figured out

and if I'm

I'm lucky enough

to at least turn the

green light on the third time

oh then I guess I can

get on a roll and get rolling

but

it's it's just a matter of

making sure you're

you're trying to adapt to

you know

the the

the blue collar guys

I mean that's

that's all there is to it

you know a lot of these

racers are

are fortunate

they're lucky

a lot of them have

their own businesses

they work for themselves

but they're

there's still a lot of

responsibility that comes

that just because

I say I work for myself

doesn't mean I get all the

amenities and the world

handed to me as far as

when I can leave

when my phone won't ring

how much money I can spend

you know

I can take my family

I can pull

all four of my kids

out of school

and just say

oh let's go

there's a lot of things

that got to come

into consideration

so

we're we're just trying

to accommodate

ultimately

I'm being selfish

and just building

the race

that I would love to go to

well

that's a great segue

my next question

and you kind of led

into this

a little bit

you know

as you

as you talk about

you know

recognizing

what your market is

what they want

where they're coming from

maybe ask you

to articulate

like what

what is the mission

and vision

of west coast

west coast bracket races

and is it something

that you're still trying

to achieve

or is it one of those things

where

you continue to hit a mark

and then move the

goalposts on yourself

I think it's probably

a little bit of both

you know

I didn't really

when I started this

years ago

and I actually started

this with Brad Plurd

I mean him

actually put on the

first two years together

the idea again was

obviously at that point

I didn't think I'd be sitting here

11 years later

still talking to you

about doing this

but we caught on to something

and again

I think for me

as far as a mission

I would love to see

the opportunity to expand

obviously I've

had the west coast classic

for

the last so many years

this will be the first year

where again

that we do not

the only other time

we did it was

when Fontana shut down

and COVID

right

and we moved to Bakersfield

but we won't be going

back down that road

and then

you know when

Tucson

when the opportunity

arose with Jim

and this kind of came

together

the idea from

here on out

probably is

there's a couple

other opportunities

actually for as early as

2026

one in the fall

and one in the later fall

and hopefully

by the time we get to

Tucson

if those are going to come

to be

we're going to be able to

unleash those opportunities

to everybody as well

but I

it's hard for me to say

you know I'd love to have

four or five or six

these years

and I get a lot of people

asking you know

man if we could just

have four or five or six

these years

and run a point series

this and that

well

I would love for that

but unfortunately

I run a business

I have a lot of people

that I'm responsible to

I have

a tremendous

and a very fortunate

client base

you know

helps pay for my

living every day

you know I don't look at this

as an opportunity to

pay for my living

or this and that

I'd be lying to you

if I said

we don't aim to try to

make money

because

who would run a business

that wouldn't want to

make money

right

but this doesn't

this doesn't pay for my

my kids to eat

or go to school

so to try to divide

my time

into really working at

a new event

or a new opportunity

is tough

right

so

at this point right now

for me to

I guess to answer your question is

we're really focused on

making the Southwest showdown

is

premiere of an event

next to the flame million

or or aside from it

as we can't possible

if we have these opportunities

that could take us

you know later into 2026

to see how they go

I actually think they

both be home runs

from what I understand

at least one of them win

I definitely want to do that

because I feel as though

this is catching on

like you said

you guys are putting on a couple of events

up there in woodburn

obviously you have night fire

which it has a ton of history

but it

it would be nice to have

a series of events

throughout the year

that would

you know

circle around the ones

that we can provide

flame

you guys up in woodburn

night fire

and be able to say

you know

we've come a long ways

from nothing

because I mean

I look back on

you know early 2000s

when

you know Danny Sons

and

George

we're putting on races

the B&M series

and the and the drag race

result series down in Tucson and Vegas

and I mean you're talking about George Howard

you know the guy who started the million

you're talking about Danny Sons

you're talking about guys who

are are known

like they lived

as race promoters

and they had a hard time

over on this side of the country

so to be

to be able to have a conversation

11 years later

and say

you know

whether I

could define what we're doing

or I can't

just to be in the conversation

and be able to have

the opportunity to

give the racers over here

a shot of what we do

is enough for me to just

feel as though it's an accomplishment

if everything fell apart right after Tucson

and Jim told me to go F off

and we ain't doing this no more

I still would look at it as a complete success over the last 11 years

and that's

I'm good with that

so

whether or not that answers it

I'm not sure but

the objective obviously

is to try to figure out other ways

to give the West Coast Racers

some

more opportunity

but also not saturate the schedule

the way we seem to have it as of late

yeah no I love it

and I'll let you get in here now Parker

but I just love

you know

it seems like on the West Coast

we're starting to turn the corner

from

from putting on the races

and having the races like

there's some events now

you've got your events

like you said

you got Night Fire at Firebird

you got Night of Fire at Woodburn

you got the 20k

that's part of that

we're putting on the summer showdown

there

Bremerton's starting to have a series

that was pretty successful

and we've

started to turn the corner

I feel like on the West Coast

from building the races

to now building the culture

and I love it man

I love what you guys are doing

and what you bring to it

and you know

you set the standard

I think for all of us out here so

before you were talking about how

you and Jim Hughes were talking about

what's best for the racer

and it seems like

you as a promoter

have done that

I'm just curious

what you're looking forward to

the most in 2026

in your event

what excites you

what are you ready for

see what excites me

you know

I guess there's a little bit of like

old school business in me

in the sense that

I love seeing people

that have been coming for years return

that that makes me happy

because that

that says a lot for what you've done

not necessarily what you're doing

before what you've done right

and and that

is usually

I could sit here

in and go on these podcasts

and go live every night

and just

try to beat the hell out of

West Coast Bragg races

into your head right

this is the greatest thing ever

but

until you hear it from somebody

who's been there

spent their money

and done that

that's

that's where your marketing tools lie right

so it just falls back onto

the whole thing I told you were

you know our primary focus is always

transparency

and and making sure that

we're setting a fair

and safe playing field for everybody

coming through the gate

and giving them the experience

from a customer service standpoint

that says

we got no reason to believe

that four cycle

at least make the best effort

to make the right decision

for the outcome of this race

should it come down to that

and there's times where you know

I would be lying if I said

I didn't feel as though

looking back we failed on certain

decisions maybe nothing that

affected the outcome of the race

so to speak but

just certain situations you know

there's always

there's always a learning curve with this

because

not only are you doing

you're only dealing with two cars

going down the track at one time

but you're dealing with as many

personalities as you can imagine

coming through the gate right

and everybody has different perspectives

and everybody has different

expectations

so you have to kind of draw a line

in the sand to say

like Troy was asking like

here's what you're getting

here's what we said

if you want to bring something

that's going to fall into the

middle of the road here

let's have a discussion about it

I may not like how it turns out

you may not like how it turns out

but going forward

we're going to set a precedent

for that going forward

whether it ever happens again

you just you find ways to do that

so what am I excited for

probably the things I shouldn't be

which is all the stress

over the course of the five days

the cars coming through the gate

and and just the questions

that can come up

the things to make sure you've

you've evaluated you know

you know every run

making sure you check in with

you know we check in with Jim and

you know make sure timing systems

looking good

and the track surface is good

and rollouts right

double check for all that stuff

when we get there

and following up on our

gate and registration procedures

so every every little piece

of the puzzle

is is multiplied a hundred times

for me

until we actually start

getting cars through the gate

and then the second we start

running cars

you know I let Sean

Munson

and all my crew take over

because that's why I bring them in

you guys handle putting the cars

down the track

and I'm going to go

I'm going to deal with bullshit right

that's what I'm being paid to do

so I handle that part

and then we take different angles

to try to make sure we can improve

and you know I'm fortunate

I've got a lot of really good friends

and a lot of really good friends

that help me out with these

and and I'd like to think

I pay them pretty good too

but they they take care of a lot

and having a guy like Sean Langdon

who's just Rain Man

when it comes to the clocks

and the numbers and the timers

it it makes your life a lot easier

when you have as much going on

in your head as I do

have somebody bring you a time set

and you want to give them the focus

you can but

wait a second

you know

whereas typically if I was just racing

everybody go yeah well that's wrong

that's wrong that's wrong

he just sits here and he calls me and says

okay this guy's probably going to come

ask you about this

but there was no issue

because this isn't this slide enough

so it shouldn't be a problem

probably had an issue in the delay box

or he accepted the dial-in on the wrong side

whatever the case may be but

but so the exciting part for me

is actually the challenges

you know the outcome of how many cars we get

that stresses me out until then obviously

because obviously I have a number

I see in my mind

you know we have

we spend a lot of money

at front to get these events

off their off the ground

but you start you start falling

into that as we can go

but the second I'm on the ground

it's like you know

it is what it is right

if they're coming they're coming

if they're not well

maybe next time you know

it's not screw them

we got to give whoever comes through that gate

is going to get what we offered

and that's all that's all you can do

so the the excitement for me is

is the challenge

the ongoing challenge

and it doesn't stop

even to you know two three days

after you get home it doesn't stop

because then you're you're falling

back in and you're recoiling

and rewinding all these different

scenarios and

making sure that everybody got paid

and run into the mailbox

make sure somebody didn't

stop by to get their payout

and get the paychecks in

or whatever so

there's uh

I'm

I'm just a glutton for punishment

in that way

you know I drag race

I play golf and I promote

so what worst things can you do

between the six inches of your ears

you know what I mean

it's it's just mind

mind-dreaming so

the challenge

I enjoy the challenge with everything

I like that answer

one of the things that I'm most excited for

and it's something that I look forward to

every time I show up at a west coast

bracket races

event is

I feel like if you double enter

you just make lap after lap after lap

and uh

I know you call it the AFC NFC championship

game to the Super Bowl

which is the fling but

I go to the fling

and don't get me wrong

I love the fling

but it turns into a national event

type type of race for me

where you make one run

then you sit around till four o'clock

and then you go

hope you win second round

so you can get on a roll

if you if you show up to west coast bracket race

you can get on a roll

really fast

and uh

just putting a lot of laps down

heck

I think last year at the

the Bakersfield race

I mean 35 runs

in in three days

it's like

you don't get that

everywhere

especially at

nationals and divisionals

forget about it

Tanner and I have already put

a lot of runs on our

bracket car

I say this year

this last couple months

and we're talking

you may get 150 runs total

if you won every single national

individual in a full series

you may get 150

you show up to west coast bracket races

there's no telling how many runs

you could get 40, 50

and that's

a third of the

the NHRA season

so

yeah just a lot of

racing

and that's what we signed up to do

right

so uh

I'm excited to do a lot of racing

well I think uh

I think that

that still falls into

I guess that's a good idea

for concept

to my

my comparison to the

you know Super Bowl

NSC AFC championship

I want you to come there

and get as much exposure

and experience as you can

to this crowd

because

as you can attest

the talent pool

that shows up to Tucson

keeps getting deeper

and deeper and deeper

not to mention

the local racers

getting better

now we're talking about

who we're drawing in

because those local racers

are starting to make a lot of noise

so now guys are starting to say

hey

I want a piece of that dude

right

so

it's um

it all kind of falls into suit

you go to the fling

you come to my events

you go to the million

you know what you're getting into

because we've all been exposed

to them one way or the other

right

and and to a certain extent

you know

drag racers to a

you know

kind of sort of

we're athletes

you've got to condition yourself

and your program

to to fit

what you're going to be doing

so

it's uh

it's

it's a good

opportunity

to get your mind right

and and get a chance

to work on your car

if you make a lot of laps

to get ready to go to a race

like

you know

if you got a lot of data

the weekend before

I'd say you're feeling

pretty good

going into Tucson

or I'm sorry

going into

or I mean

I think people are going to

take full advantage of it too

and um

I'm a live stream junkie

I will sit

if if my kids are

taking care of

or they're off

of doing things

especially

if I've got the time

I will sit in my recliner

and watch

on my phone

I'll watch eight hours

a big money bracket racing

I love it

and the

the

Tucson race

the

the Southwest showdown

has become

probably my favorite event

of the year to watch

I think part of it's

because of the pace

because of the quick action

but especially

this last three

four years

the level of competition

that you're bringing in

the people that are

making the trip out

you know people are

flying in

and hopping in people's cars

to to do this thing

it's been incredible

and it's me still

I mentioned Tim all more

in the

in the pre-show

when we were backstage

and

one of the reasons

he sticks out to me

still to this day

the

the most impressive

single day performance

I've ever seen

from anybody

was a few years ago

when Tim had to go up against

Chris Whitfield

Bo Gack

Peter Biondo

and maybe Marco

or some

somebody else

back to back to back to back

and he slayed them all

and it was the most

it was

yeah yeah

it was

the most insane thing

I've ever seen

and Tim oh more

is forever my hero

because

all the big dogs came

you know

David and Goliath

and

he was in

not

I think he was in that old

dragster

and

and he just

slayed them all

and it was

it was the coolest thing man

and

and to me

that just was like man

this is a special

special event

well you're in luck

because we got

we got

big Chad Reynolds

coming back

my boy

with Bang Shift

so he'll be

he'll be tearing it up

all weekend

that the show down

to give him this year

and he

there's another guy who just

has the same drive

but it's so fun

on Sunday nights

when we're done

we usually go over to the

beer garden

and then him and Jim

you know Chad Reynolds

at all

he has a story for

everything right

there was nothing better

than watching him

and Kyle Seipel talk

because it just went back

and forth

back and forth

mini van this

toilet or coral of that

it was awesome but

Chad Reynolds is

another one of those

big-time drag racing

passion guys

right

any realm of the sport

he wants to be involved

but he

he I'd be

I'd be lying if I didn't

tell you that

he's told me

that a hundred times

he goes man

he goes just make

sure you bring me back

if you've got room

for one of us here

because he goes

I will love coming

to this race

and he does a good job

with it

so he works his ass

off at

at any event

but

but it's evident

obviously at the show down

he puts in the work

and bust his tail

all weekend

and it shows

yes he does

one of the things

that I want to touch back on

he said

there's some new sponsors

joining the southwest showdown

one of those sponsors

is near and dear to my heart

and that's fuel factory

it's kind of cool this year

they're going to have

a fuel pre-sale

and the details

aren't quite finalized yet

but if you do

purchase the pre-sale

option you're going to get a

free fuel factory hat

as well as 10% off of retail

you want to dive a little

deeper into that Chris

yeah so

after going back and forth

with Mark Wessler

a few times

over the course of the last year

actually

it was just before

PRI he reached out to me

and asked if I was going to be at the show

and I told him no

I wouldn't be

so he said all right

well let's circle back

and talk about this

in the next week or two

and I'd say it's been

probably a week ago

we went back and forth

a couple times through the holidays

and for the first time

West Coast Bracket Racers

has an official fuel sponsor

so yeah

these details

you're mentioning Parker

I'm going to turn those loose

on Wednesday

with what we're going to do

but there will be a

pre-sale opportunity

to order your fuel

to Tucson Dragway

matter of fact

I know that

they've already also had a

conversation with Jim

so the behind the scene

details are getting worked out

as well

hopefully I'll have all those

by Wednesday night

but yeah

fuel factory is on board

10% off your pre-orders

for the event

and you'll

you'll get a hat

to keep the sun out of your eyes

for the weekend as well

that's pretty sweet man

we talked about

you know the history

you've been building the history

you're attracting a lot of racers

the local talent is insane

the talent from out of town

people traveling from a long ways

and just a quick aside

you know

I haven't given you yet the opportunity

to make your impression on me

as a racer

but everybody I know up here

Tucson's far man

everybody I know

that's been to your race

it's not even a question

whether they're going to make

that trip every year

and the word of mouth up here

is active

and it's nothing but

it's nothing but love

and nothing but praise

for that event

and as far as it is

the folks from here

that are going to that race

it's not even a question

for them

but but that brings me to

after all these years

after all these events

after all the talent

you've seen on track

who's the west coast

bracket racing goat

well we've had a couple of

pretty good examples

if I was going to go strictly

on our events

yep that's what I'm talking about

there's obviously a couple

that could stick out

I would say at Fontana

and I want to say was 2018

Ryan McClanahan showed up

and put on a clinic

absolute clinic

I think he was 32 and one

for the weekend

he won everything

Dustin Wurz in the same respect

I believe the following year

just annihilated everybody

and ran himself in the final

race kid has pulled off that

feet

Andy Schmall

he kind of alternates

years showing up

so you catch him on the off

here you know you got a shot

on the bottom bulb if not

probably just get ready to

throw check his way

we've had a ton of really good

racers

C.W. Hoferstitz out of my mind

I mean you talk about a guy who

just is is just fearless

right I mean just drives

doesn't matter who he's racing

how fast they are

in what class just drives

absolutely fearless

and as confident and as

aggressive as you can

in what we we joke around and

call you know a butter knife

at a gunfight

but he's he dominated

Hughes performance Saturday

at three events at one point

he had one he had one checks

from Hughes performance

at three consecutive races

in pro

I mean Justin Lam's one

I look back at the first year

when we had the kid performance

he was actually

mark sponsored the

first shootout we had

and it was for

oh no that was for

can't remember exactly what

that one was for

because it was 15 and 16

kind of kind of blur

between the two shootouts but

I remember Mark

he had raised with a

Huntsville engine

yeah so and that was

your Brendan Harrom won

in a Camaro

next to mark in the dragster

the Ryan Harroms dad won

that first year

Brad Pierce won the overall

points that first year

when we had a race pack

sponsor the uh overall

points for the weekend

I mean we've had

guys like Chris Whitfield

has been to Tucson

and dominated on a couple

different times

and then it's really hard

to have this conversation

and not mention

Peter Biondo and Marco

Parapolaris because

there was a time where

and even even when Kyle

was racing with them

it was

Marco and Pete were

were always standing

there looking at me like

I sure hope this guy

knows how to have a talk

about the split

because they're both right

there right

so it's uh

it's hard to say

we've had so many good

so many good performances

from from my standpoint

there's been a couple

Tim Omore sticks out

is always going to stick

out too for the same

reasons that you said

Troy because it was

it was uh every round

there was an assumption

like okay what's this

guy still doing here

but he just he just

kept growing

just kept growing

he thought it was

the end of the line

every round

yeah

it wasn't man

it was yeah

incredible

and we and we get a lot

like you said

we get a lot of racers

from up in your neck

of the woods

I mean uh Andy Morrison

Dustin Hench is

who both wanted Tucson

you know and I love seeing

JR and his his boys

come down and race now

and and they're usually

in the mix you know

deep in in every afternoon

I can't I can't forget

about your uh

co-producer here either

his brothers you know

Travis one year

now this is

this is a race

that will probably

stick out in my mind

for a long time

but he was in the final

on uh Saturday

with Zach Mazziere

and we had to rerun

the final

because there was a

there we had a

timing glitch

and there was no

love losses

for whatever reason

at that point

there was not a lot

of love loss

between the two of them

and it was a

winner take all

it was winner take all

and that that was

the part that I

always remembered

because

Sasha Hofer in a 50 grander

I mean Sasha

no different than her husband

if not probably

I mean I'd hate to

say it if he's listening

but he'd probably agree

sometimes even better

when she gets on a roll

you don't want nothing

to do with her

and you call it

erotic because she's

gets hot

yeah yeah

she's so quiet about it

but yeah her and

Val racing for $50,000

in a final at Tucson

so um

yeah I mean

I we can go on and on

all night

and if I really want to get

to this group

I think that's

what the point though man

is that like

the west coast

just because

of quantity I think

right

I think

some of the names don't

the voices don't

quite get out there

the recognition

doesn't quite get out there

but

but there's some serious

racers out here

who who put on

some serious performances

and I gotta imagine

a real sense of pride

for you

and and probably

gratitude to

to have been a part

of that

of those moments

right to facilitate

the stage

provide the stage

and the platform

that produces

all those stories

you're talking about

that's gotta feel good

yeah and and

just to circle back

because I just thought

about one

and it was one that

that that I'll never

forget either

Tom Bayer at Tucson

I love the story

he's gotta race

I forget who

we had to race in the

final work

work within the final

or was it the semi

though that was the semi

okay so Bayer broke

one of his cars

in in the round of five

and I believe that's

correct

so then he had to come around

where it was parked

not too far of them

and of course

you know the sportsman

that they are

they said hey

take as much time as

Chris will give you

we'll help

we'll do whatever

well it turned out

he wasn't gonna be able

to fix a car

and of course the rule

for us is that

you can get in

another car

that has not been

down the track

we've been in competition

so of course

Tom Bayer having

a bunch of

class cars

and probably the one weekend

he's glad he didn't

have them all booked

rolled the car

out of the trailer

I think he was down

515 if I'm not mistaken

come around

what was he

he was triple zero

or uh

005 dead zero

then he comes back

around in the final

and he's 001 dead

five or something

and wins race

two laps on the car

he had one car

get him there

had to do a little

work

and then he had

what I called a show car

but I mean it just

things like that

yeah it's a

in the moment

sometimes I don't get to

embrace them

but then I also

don't get this question

that's a lot

so like stories like that

actually kind of

make the air on my arm

rise a little bit

because it is cool

to think that

like you gave

like you gave them

that opportunity

to do something that

was you know

in our sport

kind of extraordinary

you know

yeah man

that's how legends

are made

and and those are stories

that people will

tell forever and ever

and and they won't

be able to do

without talking about

west coast bracket races

so that's pretty good

pretty cool

Mr. Jared Pennington

on the

live tonight

attending a race

promoted by

Mr. Six Minute Abs

is on his bucket list

I'll tell you what

I can't wait to see

Big Jim

show up through the

gate whether

I mean he will get

the red carpet

treatment

that is fitting

for the cars

that he owns

but

you talk about an

incredible human being

that dude

from the day I met him

in

Montgomery, Alabama

I'll never

forget it

just stand up

classy dude

and always had my

back on everything

but he always likes to

embarrass me

makes me feel good

about myself

you know

it's been a long time

since I've seen those

abs

but I'm glad he still

visualizes them

somewhere in that world

well if you only

need six minutes

Jed needs 12

well uh

you got park

I uh

I'm running out of

questions related to

the southwest showdown

is there anything

that you want to add

in there

before we

put a bow on

that topic

no no I

I think we've got a chance

to really explore a lot of

what I'm going to be talking

about later this week

like I said

we had our initial

flyer

but we have the official

event flyer

that's going to hopefully

be posted

by no later than

Wednesday morning

before I go

live Wednesday night

but

now I appreciate the

opportunity to talk about

what we're going to be

doing this year

and

hopefully looking forward

to seeing a lot of

people that may or may

not be listening to this

showing up

awesome

well we're not quite

done with you yet

Troy did you have

any other questions

about that

not necessarily

about the showdown

and you know we've

we've

all my questions

kind of build on

on themselves

and on things

we've talked about

but

but you mentioned

the the the loyalty

the loyalty

that you've been

able to build

and that you're

obviously grateful for

what do you think

makes west coast

bracket races

unique

other than

than

you know

that there's not a lot

of big money

bracket racing

on the west coast

what do you think

makes it unique

from other promotions

and what do you

really credit

for being able to build

that faithful following

you know that you've

been able to build

for the brand

again I don't

I don't like to do

or run any

comparison to what

other people do

because everybody's

got different goals

in this game right

I mean we're

we're all ultimately

going to send

two cars down the

track one comes back

the end of the day

we're going to ride

a cool check

out to somebody

and hopefully

give them a trophy

but as far as

what like I said

and I touched on

this earlier is

the transparency

and the trust

and

just

being

you know

being

confident

in what

we have to tell

the racer

that we can

either implement it

execute it

and we have answers

to any potential problems

you know we don't

we don't just

put a flyer together

and I bounce these

things off

Sean all the time

you know

where's the negative here

sounds all good

but there's got to

be a negative somewhere

there's got to be

and then if there is

how do we circumvent

that into a positive

or how do we find

a way to

to redirect it

to where we can fix that

so it doesn't become an issue

so it's just a matter

transparency

and trust for us

you know I don't

I don't want to

I'll never look a racer

in the eye

and tell him a lie

unless I'm racing

against him possibly

but I'm not going to do it

as a promoter

yeah unless you tell him

you're down honest

yeah well

honesty is the best policy

like big jen would say

you can't break

but you can't lose

if you're not breaking out

that's right

well you got part

I uh

so for those who don't

want who don't know

you kind of started out

as not necessarily a racer

but as a tech guy

is that correct

that's correct

can you uh

show us how you

kind of got into the sport

and then

and then how you got into

to the racing

so okay so uh

February 1996

my senior year

high school

just aged myself

a little bit

my father's company

got invited to come out

to phoenix

for the then

checker showed

scraggen nationals

to do some on-site

fuel testing for them

for the

natural aspirating classes

that are you know

have fuel check

pro stock

comp

stock super stock

and at the time

my dance company

had a couple of

mobile laboratories

that carried gas

gas chromatography

equipment

so that we can

we could run

and see spikes

and you know

oxygenates

and all that stuff in the fuel

so we were

my dad was

trying to help

pioneer them

through the

course of

eliminating

some of the

complications

people were creating

as far as fuel

additives and stuff

were were concerned

back in the day

so

my first race

like I said

was in phoenix

that year

and I had no

responsibility

except to show up

and figure out

what this drag race

thing was

never been to one

didn't didn't know who

John force was

didn't know who

Kenny Bernstein was

I grew up

playing stick and ball

sports

and going to the beach

that's how I grew up

so

I get to phoenix

and it's just

like

like this

I just

I couldn't take it all in

right

I couldn't take it all in

I start cruising around

I'm looking at cars

checking out all these

trailers

I mean everywhere you look

there's just people

spending money

got these cool ass cars

you go down

and back when they had a

midway

the midway was

I thought the need is

saying for somebody who

knew nothing about

drag racing

because

I could walk through

I could check out parts

there were some things

I knew about

some things I didn't

I got to see tire

manufacturers

I got to see

racers given autographs

it was an easy way

to kind of break the ice

and

hey what class do you run

you know I was

I was basically

a fanboy for

for a weekend right

so when I got home

from that race that

weekend

I asked my dad

I said so

how many other races

are you working this year

and of course

I was still in my

senior high school

so I couldn't really go to

Andy

but then he had Sonoma

he had

Indy

he had

I want to say

St. Louis

and I said okay well

when we get the summertime

can I go

and he goes

yeah you can go

I'll send you with

with one of

you know

one of the chemists

so we would fly in

rent a motor home

and we had

we would transport

equipment with us

so

we'd get there

we'd go get settled in

at the track

nobody's supposed to know

we're even there

except NHRA

and

from there on out

through the weekend

I was just basically

the gopher

I would run out

I'd collect the fuel samples

from fuel check

and run it back in the

motor home

so our chemist

could take care of his job

well in the meantime

um

Danny Grasio

was a national tech director

I mean just

the level of knowledge

and experience at that time

was just

just crazy

and they were so welcoming

to an 18-year-old punk kid

yeah

18 at the time

so they let me start

helping out with

fuel check

and the scales

and then they let me

start watching

and observing

stock super stock tear down

which I got to see at

Indy

which was the most

gnarliest thing

I've ever seen in my life

right

and then

at the end of the year

they said hey

would you want to come

work a divisional race

and maybe help out

with fuel check

and the scales and stuff

heck yeah

so in 97

I rode with Harold Owens

out the speed world

and worked my first divisional

and I did fuel check

and help with the scales

and Bob Blackwell

was retiring that year

as the division 7

tech director

and there was a party

that came with that

I'm not going to

disclose any details on that

but it was good

it was real good

and if Harold was still alive

Harold would tell you

everything about it

which is probably a good thing

he can't tell you about that

so they at the time

Glenn Cromwell

you know

the now president of any trade

he was

he was the division 7 director

so they were kind of

back and forth

as far as what they were

going to do

they started taking me

to national events

constantly

divisional events

anything is good

so at the end of the year

they hadn't really come up

with a candidate

for they felt

was going to want to

move the Southern California

to be the tech director

so Glenn and Danny

came to me and said

look

we're going to take the next six

months

and we're going to try to groom you

into

being the next tech director

for division 7

and of course I mean

I'm like

okay I really want this

but I don't know

that I'm ready for it right

you know

20 year old kid

asking Bob Lambert

to pull the hood off

so I can tell him what he's

like it wasn't

it wasn't something

you know it was going to be

totally comfortable with

but

I got to go to a race every

weekend for that first six

months

and then at the end of that

year I had already kind of

assumed the responsibility

but at the end of the year

they announced me as a division

7 tech director

so it just shy of 21 years old

and I miss being the youngest

tech director ever

hired by like two months

to Chuck Nelson

who used to be the division

4 tech director

and he was a tech director

forever

I was hired

and I held that position

worked a lot of national

I think I worked like

35 races a year

between the division 7 stuff

ET finals

I usually went up to

1v6 race with Jerry Valentine

and then I worked national

events from there on out

and I got to be on

you know I used to do

body measurements

and chassis search

for all the pro cars

boring stroke

on all the national records

I got to be hands on

with just about everything

right and I was eager

so they're like

well if the kid wants to

do it

let's take the kid with us

we'll supervise but the kid

will do it

and and I learned a lot

I mean you talk about

just like I said

a absolute gold

mind of knowledge

as far as what

tech required

and was expected

of the race cars

back at that time

and I just

I got to feed off of

all their

all their knowledge

and it was great

so 2001

I kind of fell into my own

I started to recognize

people that were

my own age

at the races

you know

and one of them

being Robert

neighbor

and you know

he could talk the pope

into eating a melt

to catch a popsicle

for some reason

but he told me said

hey let's get you a

license you never race

nothing let's get you a license

so he let me drive

his dragster at the hangover

nationals at Palmdale

that year

and I just

I remember the first full pass

I made

I'll never forget

I was

at the time

it was a 500

or a 400 tree

we're running our pro tree

I was 420 on the tree

and we're 856

at like 161

and I come back

and my dad was

he was there with me

and he goes

he goes well how was that

I said

yeah I'm

probably gonna end up quitting

I'm gonna come back

to work for you

and I'm gonna I want to go race

and

I

went and ordered a car

from victory

race cars

which is where Robert

had a really good relationship

with Ron Williams

I ordered a car

and

Robert and his dad

Darrell helping

piece this whole thing

together for the next

four or five months

and then

I told NHRA I said

look I don't

I would love to still work

for you

but I want to race

I want to be a part

of that side too

and they said

well

you can't really hold a position

and and race to

and I said

well what if I just race

when I'm not working

and you can't do that

okay well then

I'm going back to work

for my dad

and you know

wish you guys

best of luck

so I started racing

in 02

and

been doing that

ever since

but then in 05

my predecessor

was

left the company

as D7 director

and he was also

doing all the local

chassis search

until in California

and they didn't

they didn't

or they weren't

funding the

educational program

that they had been

when I was there

so they weren't

really grooming

anybody else

into the chassis

inspection program

part of it

so they called me and said

hey would you be interested

in coming back

sort of like cars

and it was Danny grassy

and me and Danny

were very good friends

and and

I miss that guy a lot

because he was a wealth

of knowledge too

but I said

if all I gotta do

is answer to you

and I don't have to

walk into that building

I'm in

and for that's

for the last 21 years

I'm still chassis inspector

so it's

it's workout good

it keeps me

it keeps me in the loop

with

a lot of racers

locally

gives me a chance to

you know

get away from these four

walls every now and then

and go check out race cars

and

talk shop with all these guys

and see where they're all at

with the sport

and a lot of them

I've got to see

you know a lot of them

they've owned cars

since I

I first started

so I

I know it's

ever inspected

their cars

so it's been kind of cool

that's pretty cool

you gotta have abs

like brutal mass

so if you want to do both

yeah exactly

you mentioned

that Robert

kind of helped you

get started

he told me to ask you

who you raced

your first

two national events

David Rampe

yeah so we were at

sac

my first divisional race

I

left the company

in April

at Bakersfield

and in May

we used to race

at Sacramento

Raceway

and we went up to

Sacramento

and the plan was

to go to Sacramento

come home for two days

and we're going to go to

Topeka in Chicago

well I got into

Topeka

I couldn't get into

Chicago

and

the divisional

up at

Sacramento

it was a hundred and

five

I mean it was just

it was absolutely

miserable right

well

I

get up the first round

but I drove the car up

and at the time

you know all these people

were towing stuff

nobody knew how to

cool anything

myself included

so the thing was

overheating

so I had to run the

water pump

and the fan

in the staging

and so I go to

fire that thing

up to roll into

the water box

no dives

push your ass off

so I go back to the

pits

and now I have to

have a round of

eliminations

so I get to

Topeka

make a couple of

what I remember

being decent time runs

you know

just really

kind of absorbing

the

I'm one of the last

cars up

and

sure as shit

here comes

David Rampey

and the Winnebago car

and I had known David

from when I

you know

I'd check cop cars

and I'd

you know

I'd known David

and Barry

just through

through working tech

but I'd be

I get just walled

I mean I just

I sat back

with my foot on

the gas

and just said

that is really

cool how

you're supposed to

do this

like

this is really cool

like

I don't know

what he's doing

but he makes it

look and sound

really cool

so then

the next national event

oh the matter

I don't think

I got into another one

until

no that's not true

so it wasn't the first

two nationals

you know

it was

because David was traveling

we come back around

the Sonoma

and

he was there

and I didn't go up last

but I'll be damaged

if David didn't try

I asked him later

I said dude

you don't need to

follow a guy

like me up

right

I'm too early

in this view

so yeah

David

David Rampey

is

historically famous

and stuff as he is

I'll always have to remember him

as a guy that just

he just educated me

two very interesting times

at two different parts of the

country

so the record stands

at 0 and 2

yep and it doesn't look like

it's going to get any better

and I'm okay with that

I love David

he's

he's a legend in this sport

and

getting to watch

and see what he was able to do

over the course of his career

he's one of those guys that

like it

it was

almost a privilege

to have a guy like that

and play next year

that early in your career

you know

yeah first round

or final round

no shame in dropping

one to Rampey

that's for sure

no

not at all

so it sounds like you did

your fair share

of traveling

the first couple of years

anyway

did you ever

make it up to

to Medford Oregon

and have your

your tire slashed

is that one here

that's pretty brave

of him to bring that story

yet

so

we

we went up there

me and Robert went up there

I actually went up there

the year prior

started racing

and I think that was when

that might have been

the race stand

Lear camp put on up there

if I'm not mistaken

I think it was Stan

he put on a race up at Medford

and the first year we went

I just went up

and actually just

crude for Robert

like we just went up there

and

I'll be honest

I drank beer

and watch him race

and he didn't do so good

so we both drank beer

right

so the following year

we went back up

we had a lot of fun

the next year

we went back up

and

I was racing

and

we

had another

not so fun time

on the track

but a pretty good time

drinking beer

and Robert

I feel like I'm a

pretty social guy

like I could talk my way

into just about anything

if I really wanted to

Robert just gets bored

and tries to talk himself

into anything

you can

right

so we end up

having these people

that come by

oh your cars are cool

blah blah blah blah

and you know

supposedly they worked for

Budweiser

and all this other stuff

so they invited us

you know

to come over

and drink beer and party

well

we did

and

it turns out

you know

we had a couple other friends

with I think it was

I can't think it was

Brian or Justin

it turns out

that some of the company

we were in

had not disclosed that

there were

significant others

that probably shouldn't have

known that they were

hanging out with us

so

needless to say

we come to find out

that we had

I think he was all six

or at least three

somebody had slashed

our tires that night

and luckily

the one of the guys

who's

who's place we're at

he said he worked

at a golf course

so he could get us

a real good deal

on some car tires

oh man that's a

that's never a good recipe

no I know

it was a lot of fun though

I'm not gonna lie

well the tradition

at Medford continues

the third bracket race

I ever went to

which wasn't that long ago

I didn't start actually

race in 2022

was at Medford

and I had one of the

best times in my life

and it had nothing to do

with anything that

happened on the racetrack

so oh yeah I got a

I got a

you want to

you want to hear

a pretty good

Medford story

let's hear it

all right so

me and

this was in 2010

I went all the way up

to Medford

for stands race

and

Kyle and Eric Reyes

were racing

Markham's grandpa stuff

Dilbert stuff

at the time

so Kyle goes

are you going to Medford?

I said yeah

and he goes all right

me and stickman

will be up there tonight

we'll catch up

so I get to the track

I get park

I went cruising around

because it was still

pretty early

and ran into Stefan Condolay

and I stand there

talking to him his dad

and

I was sitting

on my scooter actually

and I was drinking beer

talking to him and his dad

and Stefan comes over

and we were

BSing about some stuff

I said oh

I didn't mean to be rude

but I said

you want a beer

and he goes

no I don't drink beer

I drink chocolate milk

when I'm racing bud

I'll drink beer

when I'm done

beating all you guys

something along those lines

right I'm like

I don't know

wait dude

just get out of here

with all that right

so anyways

we end our conversation

I end up packing up a trailer

going into town

Kyle and Eric

want to meet up for dinner

and then we go to

there's a place in college town

right there

where you walk into a bar

but if you walk out the back

it's like a patio

and they all dump out

in the same place

so we met at this

outdoor bar

or patio bar

whatever you want to call them

I had made the mistake

of telling Kyle

about this

you know

conversation with Condolay

right

Kyle gets a few

vodka

or vodka

crayons in him

and he starts

you know

that's it

we're gonna

look Condolay's ass

says we

we're gonna look his ass

make him drink beer

and this was the conversation

all night right

this is what we premised

our whole fun

off doing

so the next day

next day

first race

we're

Kyle's still running

his mouth right

all right

we're gonna

roll into him son

we're gonna roll into him

we're gonna roll him

right out of here

second round

I'm late getting to Lanes

I'll give you one guess

who was later

Steph and Condolay

you start to see a pattern

when I get to Lanes

so

Condolay rolls up

he's in another lane

I threw down a decent lap

it was a quarter mile race

he's tripped zip

dead two

and if he wasn't three

four cars in front of me

to get there

when he just stopped

I don't know

I couldn't tell you right

Jesus Christ

I said okay well

I have to go back to the

trailer now I got

now I'm more concerned

about facing Kyle

about this whole thing

right

let the team down

Kyle he's no joke

but chocolate melts

the way to go

I'm gonna go give me

something right now

he goes that's right

son we'll get him

we'll get him

next round

Kyle didn't

wouldn't try to get him

Kyle got him

same deal

Stephens 001

did something

and just

just floored Kyle

so now

so now me and Kyle

we have no idea

what to think

about this whole thing

right

we're going to snack bar

we want M&M's hotdog

and chocolate milk

they ain't got no

chocolate melts

now we're never gonna win

right

so we go okay

let's

we gotta watch this guy

but let's go

let's go check this out

following round

triple zero

so he's been

101 and 100

in three consecutive rounds

and this is going early

we're just going

what is this guy doing

right

he comes around on the

buy it

either three or five

and he had been dialed

775 all day

he put 785 on the board

and me and Kyle are just

whatever you know

let's go

he's 100 on the buy run

that's this guy doing it

he goes down

and I mean

he looked like

the dirt bike

doing an endo

just stops it

boom

785 won

he ended up cleaning

house

he won the final

and you'd be wrong

to ever think

that if the first thing

me and Kyle didn't do

was run in there

and give him high five

in his

in his winter

sort of after

talking shit

the whole last day

high five and tell him

hey bud

we gotta be honest

we were totally wrong

about you

we need to know

where's the nonsense

farm at mud

because we need some

chocolate milk

right now

there's another guy

that was an

incredibly talented

racer too

is Stefan Connelly

it's making everybody

look silly

I might try that

man

I'm gonna give me

some chocolate milk

next time I go

maybe I find

you got a semis

he was

that was impressive

that's awesome

man

so besides

talking about

the past

and the glory days

what do we gotta do

to get

foresight

back on the track

more

in the

coming future

you know

well you guys

saw me

I mean

I showed up

at Thanksgiving

I was at Bakersfield

I even made a

brief stand at Pomona

you know I was

one of those

gluts for punishment

for the rain

but to be honest

and I

talked to my wife

about this all the time

I said you know

for a long time

after 2021

I just

I don't necessarily

think I lost interest

I just lost

a little bit of drive

we got four kids now

business is really good

but it's also very

it's very strenuous

on my time

so

it's like

if I

if I can go

and

you know

develop a program

here

to where

my time away

can be

a little bit more

to myself

then trust me

you're gonna see

a lot more of me

maybe more than you want

but

my goal this year

and me and her talk

like

we need you to get back

to the racetrack

we love it

my kids

absolutely love it

my oldest west

and he

he's just

dying

for me to get him

in the junior

the problem is

is

he's too big for it now

so

now I gotta figure out

what to do

or I gotta

I'm gonna have to

break a leg or something

but

it's

it's definitely

on the radar

very heavy this year

I mean

I finally get to go

racing the way I want

you know

we got a

we got a nice motor home

I bought myself a new trailer

I got the newest

2006 under cover chassis

anybody's ever seen

I redid that

the whole time

I was off

so

and to be honest

with you

you know

coming back

this you know

this past year

everything was kind of

timed right

I got to

I got to dabble

in a little bit

of super comp racing

which I hadn't done

that in five years

and that since

2020

at a

Fontana race

which was the last

weekend they raced there

and

and then

got to do some

eight mile

bracket racing

and I had a ton

I mean

just an absolute

ton of fun in

in Vegas

and I started to feel

a little bit of that

you know

that drive we all have

where it's kind of like

well I don't think

I'm just here to have fun

anymore

I think I really

want what this do

that's

and then you run into

guys like

Greg Higgs

or Chad Axard

like I did

on three of

four days

and they

they just

they're not going

to tolerate

shit like that

for me

that they

they got to throw them

what

10 or better

and just

come and go back

to promote

but

yeah I

I realized how much

I missed it

and I

I got a

I got a little chip

on my shoulder

get back out there

and go race with you guys

Megan

I was asking her

for some pictures

and some stories

and she said

that

she's only been in

two winner circle

pictures

and

that sounds like

a crime

for Mr.

Forsythe

yeah

the one that

you're showing

on the screens one

the other one

has a

somewhat funny

story to it

I won't

get into that

but

I don't know

if she told you

any of that

but she did

yeah

I'll just go ahead

and say it

I mean

another like

take your

winner circle picture

I mean

because

I mean

I met my wife

through Bobby

Die

like their families

are

just tied together

their dads

Bobby senior

and Tim

they both

race together

forever

so

I've known

Megan

since she was really

young

and I'm not going to

sit here and tell you

how young

because I've already

told you how old

I am

but

nothing like

having a

when I won the

SoCal Association

the Supercom

Championship

everybody in the picture

that day

and I was

married

just not to Megan

at the time

and yet

Megan

was in the picture

at the other end

of the deal

so

I run a

shit like that

you know

it's kind of

funny

if she told you

about it

then she was

probably okay

with me

telling you

the story

so I get a

buckle out of that

just curious as

now I was

going to present it

but

yeah I

I

trust me

I do

and

you know

probably one of

the neatest

ones I have to date

no matter

what I've been

fortunate enough

to stand at the end

of the end of the day

with but that one

where she was pregnant

with Grayson

that was pretty cool

Weston

was with

my father-in-law

I think of

that day

and

decided not to come to the

track

or they decided not to come

so he didn't get a chance

to be in it

but

yeah I mean

obviously the goal

would be

for me to have

all my hellions

in there

because

the three little ones

I

we'd never get them

out of winter circle

I mean

they'd find a way

to either

grab a beer

or grab a bottle of

champagne

and go crazy

with it

so it'd be fun

how about them boys

are

in junior dragsters

oh yeah

I mean anything

anything Weston does

they all want to do

but

but Grayson

definitely he's

going to be six

in a couple weeks

so he has

made it very clear to me

that

you know

dad

I am going to be six

and I probably

could have drove a dragster

this year

because you're allowed

to drive them at five

so

yeah

but yeah

you know

as a dad

it's

hard

you know when

not so much to just

go racing with them

but

I mean

all four of my kids

my boys

they're

they're all athletes

right

so

for me

I

you know drag racing

is always going to be

a big part of their life

but

I think that

you know

it doesn't need to be

the only part

I think when you have

opportunities

to

develop in

team sports and stuff

also

I think that's important

because that's

you know

that's how I grew up

and stuff

but

if they ever just come to me

and say dad

I just want to drag race

and play golf

and I'm going to be like

you know what

you're

you're the perfect kid

we're good to go

let's roll

well

I need them to convince my kids

that I almost had them

I almost had them man

and then

they got into competitive cheer

and now basketball

and

so now we support that

and

you know

my old

I think she made the right

decision

she's

she's on the cusp of her

fourth consecutive state

championship so

oh wow

you know

I gotta support that

but

man I always show them

every

every time there's a car

for sale

a junior for sale

I'm always like hey

check that out

maybe I'll get them back

one of these days

yeah

they're just as happy though

to say

hey we pitch to us

or when you go shoot hoops

I mean they

and I mean

it's crazy

the times

when I was a kid

you know

you

you strived to play

three sports

but you had

six

four six weeks

off in between them

my

my five-year-old

going to be six-year-old

is playing baseball

now two days

or three days a week

he's got basketball

on Saturdays

and then he's going to play

six on six

flag football

in the spring

because he's been doing that

for the last two years

so it's like okay

we need to let these kids

get a license earlier

or we're going to start

having to do like

uber kid

or something like that

where you can get all these

kids

taking where they got to be

it don't stop man

the way they've got the

sports stacked up these days

I mean it's

it's uh

it starts in the summer

and ends in the summer

and goes all the way through

it's crazy man

it starts at five

and ends at 18

but that's what I'm looking

at it

I know it

well I have

you got anything else

I have some more questions

but uh

I think we'll let them

slide this time

after that

turn in red and bite in your

lip

you're making me nervous

about where this could go

well let's just say

Langdon had some questions

to present

but uh

oh boy

I think we'll uh

we'll skip those after some

wholesome family content

we just had

Jay Lam's wondering about

Paxton's insight on

on dragsters

oh yeah

yeah

doesn't like having a guy

you know

that owns a bunch of door

cards

teach your kids

and uh

I

I get

I didn't even realize this

we're at the river

we go to

Parker every year

and

lambs are there

at the vetters

and actually

your brother was there

this past year too

and uh

Paxton is

he's four

and he has

zero filter

right zero

Grayson will say it

but he kind of like

beats around it

and then

and once you

once he realized

he's not in trouble

he'll say it again

Paxton just comes to me

and says

daddy you know

dragsters are for gays

I said what

Justin told me

all right

now you gotta be

careful of California

talking like that

oh you didn't

gotta be careful

you just gotta be

honest

like I said

honesty

that's policy

they don't like

that's beautiful

they don't like it

they don't even listen

I'm glad I caught

that uh

that comment from

from jl

in the chat

man in clothes

two things

I gotta get me one of

those hats

I get one

and number two

you know

obviously we appreciate

you making time

here

and uh

you know

just want you to know

I'm sure you know

already man

but but your influence

in your contributions

to what we do out here

on the west coast

extend far beyond

the races that

that you promote

and uh

there's a whole lot of

us out here

whether we

go to your races

or not

or have been to them

or not

who really appreciate

what you do

what you bring to the table

and the way you do it

so

thank you for

for what you do

for for racing

out here on the west coast

really really appreciate

you man

yeah I

appreciate that

you know obviously

like I said before

I mean

this isn't just about me

I mean like I said

I bring a team

of great people

in to do this

you know

Sean

Munson

his brother Chad

I mean

you can't you can't park

cars without Sally

martini

I mean just

it's funny

you can go to a national event

17 guys

can piss you off before you can

get parked

I can send

one gal out to the gate

named Sally martini

and she can keep all 400

of you happy

it's amazing

isn't it

but

you know

Dale and

and Ron Mortimer

and then

we got Marissa

and

Matt Fishley

and

and uh

you know

people that contribute

up in the tower

when we go to all these

things I mean

I've I've just been

lucky to be able to

surround myself

like anybody

you know

it's not

it's not cliche to say it

it's it's genuine

I mean I've been able

to surround myself with

good people

and whether they

and you got to remember

none of these people

came to me and said

hey I'm a race director

hey I'm like this

the only one I knew

had to do anything

was Sally

right

she's the only one I knew

she she knew how to

work in straight cars

she knew how to coordinate

events

so she was the first

person I called

and of course I called

Pete and Kyle first said

hey I'm gonna

I'm not gonna steal her

from you

but I'm gonna

borrow her from you

and um

you just

you bring the right

people in that

have an understanding

of what

maybe my goal is

or what my objective is

and I'm

I'm just very fortunate

to have the team I do

I mean my wife

and my mother-in-law

bend over backwards

every day

making sure

everything's accounted for

making sure the

merchandise is right

making sure that

you know

racers are happy

making sure they're

available for the

buybacks

making sure questions

are answered

making sure if they

got to track me down

so

it it takes

it takes an army

to do what we do

I'm just

the beneficiary

of the compliments

but trust me

I'll make sure

I transcend those

in the right direction

because it means a lot to

me that

that people see that

100 percent

we

you know

hit kind of the core

foundation

of this year's race

Wednesday night

right

you're going to go live

you got some big announcements

and exciting stuff

to drop for people

so

Wednesday night

make sure you tune in

to Chris

you have any idea

what time abouts

you're going to go live

for everyone

um

I would say probably

between

it's either going to be

seven or seven

30 Pacific time on Wednesday

I don't think it's

both on the West Coast

Bracket Races page

right on

Parker what else

you got

close this thing

I just want to say

if you're not following

the West Coast

Bracket Races

do it now

so you don't forget

and get those updates

um

thanks again

Chris for having

letting us have you

and

and thanks to your family

as well

for

for giving you the time

to

to come hang out with us

we sure enjoy

having you on

and uh

look forward to seeing you

in in

late March

yeah

absolutely

fellas it's been

it's been a fun hour

in 21 minutes

it goes by fast

when all you guys do

is let me run my mouth

so I appreciate it

you're good at it man

thank you so much

it's been a great

it's been a great time

a pleasure to have you

really appreciate it Chris

yep

no problem

anytime

all right man

we'll see you

man

Mr West Coast

Bracket Races

himself man

that was uh

that was a great

conversation

and uh

you know

one that's overdue

for us

uh

super super stoked

to get Chris

on here

a lot of fun

yeah I

I love talking to Chris

he's got a lot of

good insights

and uh

especially from a

promoter

point of view

um

it's

it's good to have him on

I talked about it

on the show

how much fun these

West Coast Bracket Races are

and uh

I I hope that

he's right

or I

I hope that it's true

um

it comes to fruition

that uh

some events in the fall

happen

I would be super

yeah man

that's a

that's kind of an

exciting tease man

it'll be interesting

to see what

uh

what he's able to

put together

and what makes sense

and you know

there's certainly room

out here obviously

in general

and certainly if it's coming

from that brand

you know

if he can find a situation

that makes sense

I know people would support it

you know

and he

like you say

he brings that perspective

he's been on all sides

of this thing

right

and when you can incorporate

that experience

being in tech

being a racer

being a promoter

and you can roll all that

into one

the relationships

you've built

the things you've learned

it's no surprise

that he's been able to build

a brand

the way he has

that we all know and love out here

and to anybody who's

who doesn't know Chris

yet

or or

hasn't given him the opportunity

to make an impression on you

at the track

don't think twice man

this is a great year

for it

come out

throw down some laps in Tucson

get you a big check

roll on over to vegas

and hit the fling

the best two weeks

anybody's gonna have all year

I think are

are gonna be those two weeks

so

a lot of great opportunities

out here for sure

all uh

I'll go ahead and

and go out on a limb here

and say that uh

if you do pretty well

at the west coast bracket

races

will probably get you on

on this show

oh yeah

you're gonna get an invite

for sure

you're gonna get an invite

for sure

so

I don't know what we got

next week

we'll we'll talk about that

and you know

we've talked to folks before

if you got some people

you want to hear from

some stories

that maybe you've heard

but everybody else

hasn't heard

that you think need to be

told drop us a line

let us know

you know

that's what this is all about

giving the people

from the west coast

whether they're racers

promoters

whatever the case may be

providing a platform

to tell the stories

and to get the word out

about what's popping out

here on the west coast

so if you got something

you want to share with us

drop us a line

and and we'll put in the work

and get those folks on

we did forget to mention

well

I forgot to mention last week

we're now on spotify

and we're now on apple podcast

so big time

if you don't catch it live

go follow along there

you can listen to it

anytime you want

I'll make sure to get this

uploaded

as soon as we get done here

we sound even more handsome

because you don't

got to look at our faces

so

hey man

speak for yourself

brother I got my hair cut

this week

and

I cut this hair for

Brian Whitworth

and Tebow man

and then

and then snowpocalypse

rolled in and I had to cancel

my flights to Kentucky

so it was super bummed

about that but

you know

I guess

the west coast can be

the beneficiary

the fresh lineup

you know

love it

well uh

we'll see you guys

all next week

look forward to another

good show

and uh

pretty much wraps us up

yep

y'all have good week

thanks park

always a pleasure

brother talk to you soon

see you

later

Chris Forsyth; WCBR Southwest Showdown

About this episode

Pontiac Firebird

Night of Fire

Bremerton

dragster

Chevrolet Camaro

race pack

water pump

fan

super comp racing

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