Desi Allazetta on Sports, Baseball Nephew, Car Sketches & Copperstate Plans
Hard Parking with Jhae Pfenning
Desi Allazetta on Sports, Baseball Nephew, Car Sketches & Copperstate Plans
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Concept
Copper State 1000
The Copper State 1000 is a big off-road driving event in Arizona. People drive specially prepped cars and trucks across rough desert routes and follow a set plan with checkpoints.
Company
Sparkforge
Sparkforge is a service that helps businesses manage their online stuff. The ad says it can help with things like your website, customer reviews, and social media so you don’t have to juggle it all.
Car
Porsche 996
The “996” is a generation of the Porsche 911. It’s basically a specific model era (late 1990s to early 2000s).
Car
F-150 Raptor
The Ford F-150 is a large pickup truck used for everyday driving and hauling. The podcast mentions it because the speaker needed something different from their Raptor, including a manual option. It comes up as a practical truck they considered for daily use.
Concept
EV
EV stands for electric vehicle—cars powered primarily by an electric motor and rechargeable battery. In this segment, EVs are being evaluated for suitability to commuting and family practicality, not just performance or novelty.
Car
ID buzz
The ID. Buzz is an electric van from Volkswagen. People like it for everyday driving because it has space for a family, not just for commuting alone.
Car
Audi S6
The Audi S6 is a performance-oriented version of the A6 sedan, typically powered by a higher-output engine than the standard model. The speaker says their bug for cars “planted itself” after getting an Audi S6 in 2017, implying it was a formative ownership experience.
Company
Arizona Audi group
This is a local enthusiast club for Audi owners, organized through Facebook. The speaker uses it to explain how they found their way into the car community and started attending drives.
Concept
car shows
Car shows are organized events where owners display vehicles to the public and often compete for awards. They’re also a major networking hub for enthusiasts and can be a gateway into rally participation.
Concept
road rally
A road rally is a planned driving event. Instead of racing on a track, you follow a route and hit checkpoints or do tasks along the way.
Term
disc brakes
Disc brakes stop the car using pads squeezing a spinning metal disc. They usually work better than drum brakes when you brake a lot, like in traffic or on hills.
Term
drum
Drum brakes use shoes that press against the inside of a drum to slow the car. They can get less effective when they get hot.
Term
engine swap
An engine swap means putting a different engine into the car than what it originally came with. Some events don’t allow it because it can turn the car into something totally different.
Brand
Golden Knights
The “Golden Knights” are a big local hockey team in Las Vegas. The speaker’s saying you’ll often see their logo on cars around town.
Concept
bandwagoners
“Bandwagoners” is a sports term for fans who jump on a team when it’s winning. The host contrasts that with rooting for a team through good and bad seasons, which is a mindset many car enthusiasts also relate to when talking about trends and fandom.
Concept
March Madness
March Madness is a big college basketball tournament in the U.S. People fill out a bracket and sometimes bet on games based on who they think will win.
Concept
bracket
A bracket is your prediction sheet for the tournament. You pick who you think will win each game, and your picks get judged as the tournament goes on.
Concept
16 game parlay
A parlay is a bet that combines several picks together. If any one pick loses, the whole bet loses—so a 16-game parlay is especially risky.
Concept
NIT
NIT is a postseason college basketball tournament. It’s not the main NCAA tournament, but winning it still means your team did something impressive.
Concept
Zion
Zion is a national park with amazing scenery in Utah. The speaker says it was their first time driving through and wished they had a convertible to enjoy the views more.
Concept
convertible
A convertible is a car where the roof can open. The speaker wished they had one because it would make it easier to look around and enjoy the scenery.
Concept
no speed limit
They’re talking about letting cars go as fast as they want on certain stretches of road. The worry is that some drivers will push it too far and cause problems.
Brand
BMW
BMW is a German luxury car brand. The speaker is basically saying they don’t want to buy one because of how they feel about the brand’s image.
Term
winter tires
Winter tires are made to work better in cold weather. They grip snow and ice much better than regular tires.
Concept
depreciate
Depreciation is how quickly a car loses value after you buy it. The faster it depreciates, the more money you lose when you sell or trade it.
Concept
depreciation
They’re saying depreciation can be a tool. If a car has already dropped in price, you can buy it for a better deal.
Concept
towing
Towing means pulling something behind your vehicle, like a trailer. If you don’t plan to tow, you can focus on comfort and fun instead of towing capacity.
Car
Audi RS Q8
The Audi RS Q8 is a powerful, sporty SUV from Audi. It’s meant to be quick and fun while still being usable every day.
Term
air suspension
Air suspension lets a car raise or lower itself using air springs. People use it to get a super-low, stylish stance.
Term
engine-out service
“Engine-out” means the mechanic has to take the engine out to do the work. That usually makes repairs more expensive and takes longer.
LIVE
I'm ready, we'll get some beers right now.
My name, we need lunch.
This is Hard Park and brought to you by Ray Hunden, Ray Toledo, out of Scottsdale, Arizona.
I am your host, Joe Finney, recording for my home studio here in Gilbert, Arizona.
Coming up on today's episode, Desi Alizetta.
I went over to the warehouse, we sat down and we talked about the upcoming Copper State 1000
cruise, which will be happening here in April. I can't believe it's almost been an entire year
since we've been on the podcast together, but you get to learn a little bit more about him,
where he's from, how long he's been in the cars. I think you're going to be very interested to know
exactly what he says, all that and more coming up after this word from Sparkforge.
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forward slash heart parking to get started. I love sports dude, I'm the sports guy.
You know what, it's so funny, I grew up playing basketball and soccer my entire life. As far as
I can go back, I remember playing soccer, I played club soccer, played club basketball, traveled.
Even when I was into the sports and playing the sports, I never got into watching them as much
as my peers did. My nephew, who is 14, I guess kind of a little baseball all-star guy, plays on
some big club teams and travels. He actually played on the USA national team at 12-year-olds.
Oh, that's pretty amazing. So really good and it's just like he's
baseball. And that was never a sport I was even into or followed. So he's seen his love for that,
kind of just, it's so different than what I was. Even with basketball, everyone knew Kobe,
everyone knew Shaq. And growing up in Vegas, you didn't have a pro basketball, you didn't have
pro teams. So I mean, gravitated towards the Lakers are closest, you know. But even then,
it wasn't like I was wanting to go get anyone's jersey and whatnot. I was never that into it.
If my choice was skateboarding or a basketball game, I'm probably going to watch some skateboarding.
Well, officially welcome back to the pod. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me again.
Yeah, we're just touching on, as we got started, just some of your growing up and the sports that
you played in. And I have to wonder, maybe it's competitiveness, like you wanted maybe something
to do, but would you consider yourself like a diehard competitor? Yes, and no. Because you
had to have wanted something out of it. It's still girls. Maybe, maybe it was girls. Not necessarily
successful in that regard until later in life. And that was blind date that I got set up for my wife.
And so thank you there. But that's basically when you want to peak though. You don't want to peak
thought it would be, you know, for me, I think if you asked me at 10 years old, what I wanted to do,
I think my answer then was probably play in the NBA, a little delusional, high aspirations there.
So not an astronaut or fireman, doctor or lawyer? No, NBA. Funny story that all that somehow sticks
to me is I remember one time at the pediatrician's office and and she asked me like, Oh, what do
you want to be when you're older? I'm like an NBA in the NBA, but I don't think it's that likely is
what I said. And so I was older, probably like early teens. She was, Oh, I think you could do it.
And she thought I was saying NBA and you wanted to get my master's of business administration.
So no, she was right. I probably could have done that, but I didn't. So even with the NBA,
you know, I think we tell people that you can be anything you want to be, you can do anything
you want to do. And not to be negative with the reality is no, but you can definitely aspire to
be. And through that, you can grow. It's like, not everybody can be an astronaut and everybody
can be a professional football player. You just, you can, you can tout, you know, pretty early on,
you know, what people are going to not necessarily do, but what they are capable of.
And then sometimes the noodle, you know, generates faster and then great things happen, but
physicality is the physicality of it. Let's reset this. You are the chair this year of
state 1000. Last time we sat together, you were the co-chair last year. Yes, sir. So we're coming
up on that events. Yep. So we're coming up on our 36th annual. So fun fact that I think maybe
I'll get corrected on this at some point, but I am the first chair that is younger than the event.
I'm 34 years old. So this event's been around longer than me, which is kind of cool. A lot of
pressure to make it a good event. But yeah, so this is a 36th annual coming up in
second week of April. And we'll be taking off from Tempe Diablo Stadium, April 12th.
April 12th. And the drivers are leaving earlier this year?
Leaving earlier this year. So last year, the left at 10, we'll be leaving at nine this year.
I got a longer first day of travel out to Laughlin. Should be a fun little stop there,
a little bit of gambling, cheaper tables, hopefully, than other places. But yeah,
so leaving a little early. So get there earlier. Car show starts around 7.30. We'll have some
vendors. We'll be good time. And just to set this up, we are sitting at the warehouse. So you may
hear noise coming from the background. It's a big Porsche exhibit that's going to be tomorrow.
Tomorrow. At the time of this recording. Yep. All GTs, right? Oh, I believe so. I don't have a
Porsche, so I just show up to the events. You just observe. But you just bought a Porsche,
did you not? I did. I just got a 996 not too long ago in October. I haven't put as many miles as I'd
like to on it since I got it, but it's been, the miles have been fun. Jim Carr or what came
about that? Because I know you like Porsches. I like Porsches. It's my first step into one. I
actually, when I was hunting in the market for one right now, or a few months ago. That was a
the 996. So the one I got is a .1 with factory arrow kit on it. So it has,
and it has like the GT3 wheels from that era. We didn't get the .1 GT3 in America. We got the .2
GT3. So it looks good. I like the headlights. A lot of people don't. And it's all white,
or does it have the yellow? It's white, isn't it? Mine's all clear. Doesn't have that yellow
yolk. Not the egg yolk. Not the total egg yolk there, thankfully. So I mean, spec-wise, I like
to think mine's a pretty good spec and will hold its value if not go up. It's only got 55,000 miles
on it for an .1. So pretty low there. I don't think it's going up like next year, but maybe next few
years. I don't think, I'm hoping not lose money at the time I come to sell it. That's really all I
want. Why the 996? Price point, mostly. Yeah. Price point for what I was looking for. Sure.
I wanted a driver's car, something that was manual. Since I have a Gen 1 Raptor, which is the daily,
so I needed to get something that was opposite. I was looking at this, like that E46 M3s. Sure.
When I was showing them to my wife, like, which one do you think's better? She's like,
I see you in the Porsche more than the BMW. So she made a little bit of a deciding factor there.
I want to make sure she thinks I'm cool. So now you have to go opposite of what they say?
Sometimes. She enjoys cars, thankfully. So I take her opinion on a lot of few things. Sometimes,
not so much. Like, I really like the ID buzz. I think those things look cool. I want to get
one and slam it. She hates anything that's electric. You know, let's talk about EV. We'll
talk about little EVs later because I think they cancel that thing, right? I think it got a name
change. Oh, I think it's a name change. Everybody's canceling their EV plans now because we can't
support it. The great just doesn't support it. Not that people don't want to buy them, but the
great just doesn't support it. Actually, let's jump into that right now. What about you? Any plans
for you? Do you like EVs? Are you more of a hybrid person? You just don't really care.
So I think I've told you this before, but I think cars, I look at them as you need certain
situations. And I don't think an EV is what's going to replace everything, at least for myself.
But I think for most people, one in EV is probably the best car that you could get. I mean, someone
that is, I'll take my mom, for example, she commutes probably 100 miles a day, if that,
and they don't really go on road trips. They fly usually. So I'm like, give me EV. Why not?
For myself, I think they're great for a daily commuter. I don't want one of my road trip car,
but that means it would have to be like my fifth car. I mean, so it has a spot and I would love
certain ones, but I mostly, I tend to gravitate towards cars based on the style of them versus the
functionality, I guess. What EV would you or are you looking at that you'd like?
Oh, I'd do the ID buzz, if anything. Yeah. I mean, other than that one.
At this point, I would do that. Other than that, there's not, maybe like an e-tron,
but again, it doesn't fit the mold of an electric vehicle in which I would want to use
a car, which is the daily driver commuter car. And I think the ID buzz, it's a van,
it's functional. I can throw the kids in it and all that stuff pretty easily.
I like the Rivian. The Rivian is cool. I think those are cool. I would look at one of those.
Those are pricey. They're very pricey. I mean, not that an e-tron or tie can isn't pricey, but
comparatively speaking to just a normal commuter car like a daily. So you haven't been in the cars
that long. I think we talked about that a little bit offline. No, I haven't. It's been a journey to
figure out how much of my personality is cars. Probably started a lot with fast and furious.
You know, I think a lot of us are my age when it came out, which was like 2001-ish.
2000 or 2001-ish, yeah. Somewhere around there, I was coming up on 10 years old.
So I always loved Hot Wheels and cars. I was into action sports. One thing I've noticed a lot
in the last few years is there's a lot of crossover with action sports people and cars.
I don't know why that is, but I mean, there is, I guess you could say, you know, got rally racing
and stuff. So maybe that crossover there that people tend to like modifying cars, maybe that
skateboard too. I feel like there's a big crossover there. But yeah, it's probably been within the
last seven or eight years that the bug has really planted itself in me. And it started with an Audi
S6 that I got in 2017. And that opened the door to me. Was that here? That was here.
That was here is after I moved here from Vegas. And it was actually, I got it delivered the
week after the whole country shut down. So there's nothing going on. I got the car,
put out a little note on the Arizona Audi group on Facebook. And one other buddy,
a good friend of mine now, he commented, he goes, I don't think the group's doing anything
because they're they're a national group that couldn't host anything. He's like, but we have a
group that wants to go on a drive. And that was really my first time doing anything of the sort.
So I mean, I was doing this that, you know, that was seven years ago or so, or no, six years ago,
2020. That was like my first time of really getting into the car scene. And then I started
going to car shows. I'm learning that this is a whole community. It's funny to see what my dad
says about it, because he's not a car guy. And I've brought him around stuff. I've hosted a
couple of little rallies and car shows. And he's like, I didn't know this existed. And actually,
he'll be my passenger for Copper State. So he's going to come with me and it'll be his first
experience of a road rally in any regard. So I'm actually kind of excited to see
what he, how he thinks of it, because it's just something now to me, it's natural. I know what
these are, these are like, but for him to be an outsider looking in, it'll be interesting to see
his point of view. So it'll be your passenger. And so what will you be driving? Do you have to
drive a support vehicle or do you get to drive one of the, because of the chair? Does the chair
get to drive a specific vehicle? No, chair doesn't get to drive a specific vehicle, but I'm going
to drive the Porsche by 996. Last year, I took a Raptor, which was very comfortable and practical.
I'll probably in hindsight, I probably say, huh, should we drive the Raptor? I actually just pre-ran
the route a couple of weeks ago in the truck. So got to drive it in the truck and that will be,
it's definitely more comfortable. But it, so I'll be driving the Porsche. But other previous chairs
have driven a Bronco, like a newer Bronco, just what they have. We're a men's group called the
Men's Art Council. And that's who we are who put on the event. And it's all, all the proceeds go
to the Phoenix Art Museum. So it's a big, large group of guys that has had a rotating chair for
the last 36 years. And then, so you can drive what you need to drive, but the actual participants
are 1973 and older? Correct. Yep. So, you know, I got a little leeway, I'm in charge. But yeah,
to be a participant in a qualifying vehicle, it's a 1973 or older, no replicas, no
no crazy mods or crazy mods. Some mods are okay. Like if you, you know, went to disc brakes from
drum and some upgraded suspension parts, like, you know, we're not going to be too crazy on that.
But if you have like an engine swap, it's probably a no go. No LS, whatever. No LS 50s and a
no, no. Neil Porsche, about 914 or whatever. Right. So you're a big sports guy, aren't you?
I enjoy them. I like watching football, some basketball, you know, a little bit of hockey.
You know what? Hockey is, hockey, in my opinion, is the only sports that you could watch, not know
anything about the teams and be into the game. 100%. Vegas got the first, their first pro team
ever was 2017. It was right when I moved here and didn't know shit about hockey. I think I've been
the one game prior to that. And it was the best thing that could have happened for that team.
It was a new expansion team, if you aren't familiar with it. So the Vegas Golden Knights,
they got to pick players that were already in the league and form a team. They happened to be
really good the first year and made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Oh, that's right. Going to
that game, those games were so fun. I went to a couple games that first year, including one of the
Stanley Cup games. It was awesome. And I learned a lot in that year. I mean, I like to, one time I
was at a bar watching the games and I was just saying the incorrect terms kind of like I said,
it was an icy and a puck off, you know, just pissing off some guys next to me who were rooting for
the other team. And everyone thought, oh, you're a Golden Knights fan. You don't really like hockey,
which, you know, true. You're a bandwagoner because they're really good. I'm like, yeah,
I'm a bandwagoner because my hometown finally got a team and then they were good, which was the
best thing that could have happened to them. And it couldn't have happened with any other sport
because everyone that lives in Vegas, you still have a favorite football team, a favorite basketball
team, baseball team, you know, those big three sports, you have one, but you don't have a favorite
hockey team. If you grew up in Vegas, you don't follow hockey. So now you go drive through Vegas,
every car has a Golden Knights sticker on it for the most part. It's kind of cool. It's been fun.
You know, I'll say this about bandwagoners because I think the term is, I think it's okay to
not really pay attention. And then whenever your local team is doing good, also when you pay
attention, also you like them. I think the difference is if they suck the next year,
you cannot just stop liking them. You stop to like be there because I grew up in Texas and in
Dallas and Dallas is a pro city. You know, yeah, they have the Cotton Bowl there and Texas Long
Warns play there and teach, you know, they're an awesome, but they play the Cotton Bowl every year.
And then you have SMU and TCU and all that kind of stuff. I think it was shit about college sports.
It wasn't until I moved away to Michigan and it was like, I'm watching TV. I'm like, well,
that's home. But it just happened to be the year that the Texas Long Warns started doing really
good. And that's when I first saw Ben Jung guy and then I'm a diehard. Everyone knows me now.
I'm a diehard Longhorn fan and I've been with them ever since and they suck for a long time
after that. You know, so someone could have called me a bandwagon person at the time,
but I'm sure it's not a bandwagon personnel. You're not a bandwagon person. I will always root for
my home teams. That's me. If I moved to Denver today, I would start rooting for the Nuggets.
I want to root for the team that's close to home. Not wrong with that. Growing up, again,
no pro team. So going to a UNLV Rebels basketball game was, it was kind of funny. You'd go to these
college games and you'd have all these girls done up. Like they were at a pro game sitting on the
floor of a college game and it looked like a pro. You had some who's who of Las Vegas there.
Unfortunately, they haven't ever really been good. It's been a long time since I was born,
which sucks, but I'm still a fan. I still root them on, but now I'm in Arizona and I'm going to
root on. I cheer for ASU. I'll cheer for U of A. I actually asked my wife probably a couple years
ago, all right, obviously we're planning roots here in Phoenix. Are we U of A or ASU people?
And we decided we're U of A people. Why? Why are you U of A people?
She knew more people that went there. I almost went there. I actually had a dorm selected there
and then decided to go to the small D3 school in California. So that's probably more so it.
And then looking to the future, unless my kid has a crazy good scholarship to ASU, I really
will push for him to go to either U of A or NAU or further. I don't want them close to home. I
want them to experience life on their own. Good for you. I don't want my kid to go to ASU or GCU
unless they're getting a great scholarship. ASU is a party school, man. I think
I think nationally U of A is more recognized as being a little more prestigious. Yeah,
I would agree with that. Yeah, I mean, some ASU people could disagree with me, but I'm sure,
because I'm not natively from here either. We've been here for 12 years,
and I want to root for the local teams. I just can't.
And I would say it's probably easier for me because I came from a market that we may have
teams. I mean, my team was UNLV. And if UNLV is playing ASU, I'm going to root for UNLV even
though they're going to get there. I don't root against the local teams. We'll put it that way.
But March Madness, obviously, you have U of A. Who else you got? U of A.
If you're feeling on your bracket, you just put your money on your heart and put your money on
your gut. As a U of A fan, I can't root for Duke. Oh, yeah, that's true. Other than that, I mean...
Can your money root for Duke? I'm a horrible sports batter. Because you bet from the heart?
I bet with heart. Or I bet with stupidity. It's one of the two. And my stupidity, I mean,
I'll probably put like a 16 game parlay on the first day and hope for the best. Put a dollar on
it and hopefully win a couple of thousand. Yeah. Nice. But now, again, back to the hometown.
I'll end up rooting for any team that's closer to home. So any of the West Coast types of teams,
I'm going to root for them over any of the East Coast teams pretty much 9 out of 10 times. Unless
it's a team that I don't like. I don't like some of the Mountain West teams because of U and LV.
The New Mexico Lobos, I don't think any... I think like one team from Mountain West is going to make
it. But nonetheless, there's a couple of West Coast-ish teams that I would probably root against.
Are they still doing the NIT? I always call that the not internment.
Jim Romo, I used to listen to him all the time. He used to call the not internment as well.
I was a question dawned on me yesterday watching some of the conference games and I was like,
do you think they'd rather win the NIT or make it to the NCAA and lose first round?
That's a damn good question. Is there a money difference?
To the school? Yeah. Does the school get paid anything for that?
To the school, I don't know. But to the player, I would imagine no. And I was wondering,
I'm thinking from a player's standpoint, what would you rather be?
I think I'd rather win the NIT.
Because in that way, I'd be like, yeah, we did that. My team, we did that together.
But then you could also, I mean, when you're 35 and reliving the glory days talking at a
networking event, you'd be like, I played at the NCAA tournament. Everyone knows that. Not everyone
knows NIT. That's a good question. I don't know. So it sounds like you're trending toward losing at
the tournament. I would say losing and then see. And another question I had watching the Olympics
is would you rather win third place or lose and get second place for hockey? Because hockey,
you're getting the silver medal by losing your last game. I don't think anybody remembers the
bronze teams. No. I mean, I guess you only remember who won. You only remember who won.
And you only remember who lost because you remember they got beat by who won.
So I mean, you're not going to remember the bronze team, but at least you're like,
you're not going out on a low. Did you see speaking of hockey again,
but when the USA hockey team won their first gold medals since like 1980, since the miracle,
did you see the story on the guy who hit the winning shot? I'm going to say Jack Hughes.
Jack Hughes. I didn't see the story. No. So the funny thing about this is,
so the kid who hit the winning shot is Jack Hughes. The last guy cut from the 1980 team
is also named Jack Hughes. Oh really? That's hilarious. Obviously two different Jack Hughes,
but come on. That's hilarious. That's crazy. On the anniversary of, you know, miracle. So that's
a super weird, we're living in a simulation hockey thing. Yeah. Weird. So tell me about growing up.
You got any anecdotes about being a little kid in Vegas, void of cars? I mean, doing the sports?
No, grew up. Just, I feel like I had a pretty normal life. I had two older sisters.
What's normal?
Lives in suburbs in Las Vegas. One, two.
Were you like Henderson or?
Summerlin, so West. Henderson is the only one I know of, so.
It's towards Red Rock. Okay. I know where Red Rock is.
Always grew up there. It's a very kind of people like, oh, what's it like growing up in Vegas?
And when you were younger, you'd always like, you'd be on like a family vacation,
you meet another kid. Oh, do you live in a hotel? You're like, no.
No, I live in a casino. What do you talk about?
And so it was very kind of boring. And I think that is because the town of Las Vegas doesn't
do things for the younger crowd. There are everything that event that goes on is a 21 plus
event. And when there happens to be an 18 plus event, which by that time I was away at school,
they're, you know, junky ass 18 plus events. You went to a couple of them once I was back that
were like some concert shows that I wanted to see an artist. And you're just like, at 22,
you felt old because it's like the first thing an 18 year old can go do is these 18 plus events
are excited. It's all 18 years. Moving out here is when I realized how much like there's so much
more to do on a day to day basis. I live pretty close to old town. So I mean, you know, old town
right now is packed, you know, spring training. I've already seen three bats or at parties just
driving here. It's, it's crazy. And you just don't get that at least where people live in Las Vegas.
I mean, if you go down the strip, I'm sure you're going to see tons of bats or at parties,
bats or parties, but it's, you know, I didn't want to go to the strip and that's it. I didn't
want to go to the strip. You have this strip, you got downtown Vegas, which that was old, old,
old Fremont Street as I once I graduated college and I moved back there for a few years. That was
if we were to go downtown or to the strip or anything, it was always to Fremont Street,
Old Vegas. They're more our scene of the, you know, I wouldn't say dive bar, but it's more of a bar
than a club. Right. And those clubs are just not my thing. It wasn't, it was a little pretentious.
I remember one time I bought a girl a, I'm like, what do you want? She had a vodka rebel. I was
like, all right, two vodka rebels and it's $54. I was like, this is absurd. You know, that was
like absolute or something. Yeah, it was, yeah, it was crap. Pop off. Yeah. Some pop off. Plastic
bottle. Did you guys ever go to, I mean, I would assume you've been here, but sometimes when you
grew up somewhere, you don't go to the places that are literally in your backyard, but you guys ever
gone to Valley of Fire? You know what? I have not. I have not, and I hear it's a great drive to go
through. It's short, but it's awesome. Yes. Driven past the exit for it. Sure. Countless times going
snowboarding in Utah and, but no, I have not actually driven through it. Hurts great though.
I only know about it because we did an NSX event there back in 2017, actually.
2015, 16, and 17, or maybe it was 16, 17, 18, whatever the case. And that was one of the most
amazing things I'd ever driven through. Really? Last year on Copper State, we drove through
Zion. I heard that was, I didn't see that. That was my first time driving through there too,
and I'm like, wow. It was awesome. It was awesome. It was the one time I wish I was in a convertible
and could look up a little bit more, but I mean, it was, that was gorgeous landscapes.
The first time I ever did a rally was 2021, I think. And I had signed up for this rally,
and I told my wife, hey, I'm going on this. It's Denver to Vegas. What rally was it?
Crown rally? There's like a handful of them. They're decent size. They were, when I signed up
for them, this was the second time they did a West one. They do like a North and a South,
so they do like the South and they do kind of the Midwest area. The one that we did had 150
cars on it. Wow. I had the Audi and it was definitely on the lower end of cars and definitely
was more of a, I was probably most comfortable though, because there was a lot of R8s and
Huracans and some Ferrari's and whatnot. Couple RS7s, so I was like, we kind of hung out with them.
But I told my wife, we're going to, I'm going on this. Do you want to come with me?
Or do you want me to bring a friend? I'm like, probably going to be driving a little aggressively
and taking some turns pretty hard. She goes, well, I want to see the scenery. I'm like,
understandable. And to the point of driving through Zion and Valley of Fires, the roads in
Colorado, when we were driving those, you're just, I think when you're out here in the desert,
you get so used to the desert's desert. And now all I want to go do is drive through
canyons and trees and all of that. It's just gorgeous with the windows down, especially if
those trees is fresh air. It can't be beat. You know, it's amazing you say that because I can,
I agree with you a thousand percent. You know, when people come here, they're like, oh, wow,
this is so cool. You have, you have all the cactuses. I go here, there's cacti. But okay,
we have the cacti everywhere and they're just so amazed. And this is what we see every day.
And you know, we moved here from West Michigan. So you got the trees, you got the water.
And so every time I go somewhere and you're, and I'm driving, it's like, wow, this is amazing.
Honey, look, look at all the greenery. Look at that river. Look at that little nook. You know,
she's just like, uh-huh. Yeah, that's cool. Oh yeah, that's nice. Okay. But we're just,
as car people and people who just obviously love scenery, it's just so mind-blowing to us.
I mean, we were just, I was in Flagstaff last weekend and we came down. And usually when we
drive, I like to go the more scenic route and go through like Payson and Lake Merritt Road.
And we're coming back down the B line. And with the rain that we had a few weeks ago,
it was very green out there. And it was just, I'm like, all right, looking off in this one spot
after a turn, you kind of opens up, you see a little bit of valley there and the mountains
and the greenery and the cactuses. You're like, all right, this is what people, when they're
coming from out of town, if they see this, they'd be like, wow. And to us, I'm like, this is,
it's beautiful for the desert, but it's still, to me, I'm like, it's the desert. It just feels
dusty. Do you ever take the, is it the Bush Highway cutoff? I've taken it. Yeah. Yeah,
I've taken it a couple times. It's great when you're coming in here, when you're leaving,
going out, it's nothing. But when you're coming in, you come over that, you know, and you have the
Swarrow Lake on the left and you get the big thing in front of you. It's just, it's pretty
amazing. But then, but then you're just stuck in traffic. Yeah, slow, all the boats. Yeah. And then
you take usury pass road and it's kind of up, down, swooping around. Yeah. Yeah. And driving
on all the grass. At least take the old car out there, like early in the morning sometimes.
You know, have you gone up to Canyon Lake at all? There's Canyon Lake.
Tortilla Flats. Oh yes, yes. Yeah. Yep. Did that. That was actually the first drive I did in the
996. Okay. I did it the Monday before Thanksgiving. Me and a buddy, I was like, all right, hey,
I need someone to go with me and let's go on Monday. It'll be slow and I want to be out there.
There's still some slow people out there, but it was good. I went and grabbed some lunch and
that was really the first. Did you go to the end or did you stop at Tortilla Flats?
We stopped at Tortilla Flats. But it was only like, there was actually
rain or something that had happened. And so right after Tortilla Flats, there was that
wash and it was probably not that we couldn't have gotten through, but it was probably a couple
inches of water going through there. And you never know. Yeah. Honestly, it could be a couple
inches. There could be a huge pile you can't see. Right. You just have to wait for it to be dry.
And then you can go. It's another, I think two or three miles up to the very top of the end of
the pavement. Great for photos. Yep. The first time I ever actually did that was I had a grand
Cherokee and we came from the dam. Did you go that way? Yeah, we came the other way. Roosevelt Lake.
Yeah. And we're like, oh, we take this and driving is pretty much flat dirt path and climb up towards
the end and saw a Mustang on there. I was like, this is weird. And then we got to it. I was like,
oh, this is a cool road. Man, I tell you what, I took that road twice. It beats the shit out of
your suspension. Does it? Yeah. I don't know. I don't even know if it's open right now or if
they're going to, I think they should pave it. That way you can go from Tortilla Flats over to
Roosevelt Dam. But I haven't touched that road in, I don't know, 11 years. I don't even know if it's
open. I haven't been all the way through. It'd be a cool suit. It'd be a nice fun road if they
did. I mean, probably a lot of boats and traffic, but if you're up early enough or late enough or
something, you'd get a good road. You see that legislation that has been proposed of no speed
limit on the eighth? Yes. I talked about it, I don't know how many episodes ago. It's like select
spots. Yeah. Spots. And I think they talk about it with the eight because it is the eight to Yuma,
which is the only reason that stuck. You could go like 140 there in a modern car. Maybe one,
I mean, I don't think, like, what do you think would happen if they passed that?
I think initially there's going to be some issues, right? Dumbasses. Yeah. I think if it was,
and I think if they passed it, I think initially there's going to be some dumbasses that would
end up making it reverse pretty quickly. That would be my Arizona Autobahn. Yeah.
Or people coming in and doing stupid shit. Oh, from somewhere else. That too. I didn't think
about that. I think people would be like, let's go hit this shirt. Yeah. I think there's a place,
maybe it's Denver. I mean, maybe it's Colorado. It could be Utah. But when I worked, it's weird
because I think I was working in New Jersey and someone I was talking to was talking about it.
There's a stretch and there's an event they do every year in one of those states where they
lop off the highway and you can just go ham. The one that I know, I think there's one in Idaho.
Could be that. I think there's one in Idaho that has like, it's like you set a speed record or
something. And it's like a normal highway. Yeah, it's a normal highway. People set up and watch and
the cops or the highway patrols like on opposite sides and people just, you could take your
Bugatti there because everybody has Bugatti, right? Yeah. They're all in Montana.
And just, yeah, they're all in Montana. I saw something about California cracking out on those
Montana plates recently. Yeah, I'm not surprised. Yeah. In fact, I was offered, when I bought my
NSX Type S, a local friend of mine said, hey, for, I don't know, five or $6,000, you can talk to my
buddy in this local car group and he can get you a Montana plate. And it would have saved me, I think
I paid almost $20,000 of sales tax for my car. But, you know, I'm always thinking like, I don't
know, man. Yeah. You know, driving, that just doesn't seem legal. And even though it is, it
seems like a legal loophole. And what happens if I crash my car, you know, when it comes to clean?
So I just, I haven't done that. But I'm surprised it took this long for that. And I think more
states are probably going to jump on that. Yeah. I don't know if Arizona is going to be one that
jumps on it that quick. Yeah, Montana plates on your Porsche? No, it wouldn't save me much.
The taxes on that weren't much. You always wanted a Porsche then? I mean, I know you...
I don't even know why I've gravitated towards those. Do they look cool? Maybe it's the vibe
around them and the style. I've liked them for whatever reason. And say with my wife, I mean,
when I, you know, talk about Porsches, it's the one brand that she's always liked to and, or thought
looked good. Yeah. Maybe it's other people that have driven them in my life that I, or other
people have driven other cars. I always knew some people with BMWs back in the day that I always
thought were kind of douchey. And so in my head, I don't want to be a BMW because it's not me. So
I liked Audi's. Then I've had a Mercedes. Mercedes just seems older. Audi always, I gravitated
towards an Audi because I think they were a sponsor of X games at one point. And I'm like,
oh, the Quattro system is great for snowboarding. And it's been, it was great. Took that thing
through Blizzards and Mammoth one time and it was... We had an Audi when we lived in Michigan.
An Audi B6 Audi, so it was a 2000 and I think seven or eight or whatever it was. And we had
Blizzax on there, the Quattro. And so we had the winter tires and that thing was, that thing could
go through anything. Yeah. And it saved our life a few times. I'm sure. In those Blizzards, you see
cars stranded on 996, which is kind of the stretch between like Chicago and West Michigan.
And so once you get off the main and they're not out there plowing it, you'll just see cars
broken down. And I'm with those fucking Blizzax, man, on that Audi. So to this day, my wife,
we have an MDX right now, but she's like, one day I'm going to get back into an Audi
because they have two and she loves them. I love them. I know they got a bad rap for
reliability. Everything heads back for reliability. I mean, everything in nowadays is nothing's made
like it used to be. At least it's not a Range Rover. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of Range Rovers,
they like two or three of their models. I had a recent thing that was like the top 15 worst SUVs
you could buy on like two or three of them. Really? The top two or three were like Range Rovers.
It's pretty crazy. That's so bad. I always am wondering, well, I guess the people that buy
them knew at least you got a warranty. That's what they do. They dump them right after the lease.
But after that, you got, but you're taking such a huge financial hit on those. Those cars depreciate
like a rock. Like 63% in three years. That's what lead, send them to the top of the list,
pretty much. Maybe the only thing worse might be like an Aston Martin or Bentley.
And Alpha, Stivia? Is that the name of their SUV? Yeah. That was on the list. Was it?
Yeah. Just from depreciation, if nothing else. You know, that's not that it's a
shit car. In fact, everybody I know that has one. I love depreciation because I use that as
like the way to get into the cars I want. But I also want to find the ones that are depreciated
and are still kind of reliable, which brings you to something like the Audi's and the Porsches
and stuff. If you had to add two cars to your collection, what would they be?
So I say collection loosely because I know you have your daily. I got the gem one right now
and the 996. If I added two cars, it would probably be an RS Q8, which I like more than
an RS. I'm probably the odd one out there. I like the shape of it and it looks more practical.
I would, the hard thing is if the other car I'd want to add is probably like a GT3 of some level.
Well, here's the deal. Money's not an object, but practicality matters.
Right. So it's like, well, I would get a McLaren F1. Sure, you would. We all would.
But are you going to drive it? My silos are like, I want like a fun truck.
Now that I've been in the truck and now I've done some family trips with the truck,
having a bed is, I don't, I'm not towing anything. I don't really care. I don't have any
future plans unless I were to maybe get a side-by-side at some point. But that's so far down the line
that towing's on in my mindset. So just the fact of having that space in the cab or in the bed
makes a trip for family four with a bunch of shit so much easier. I mean, you got pack-and-play
and strollers and stuff. It's a game changer. So I'd like to keep a truck that's still fun. So
some sort of like raptor. RS Q8 kind of daily, a GT3 997 would be ideal. And then I'd like to go.
Then after that, it's kind of more the fun classics like a 964 and an NSX would be
two older cars I'd want and fully build. But then as I'm cruising down the street,
I see like an old Benz that's on some air and styled out. And I'm like,
that'd be a cool cruiser too. So I mean, again, it's, I could have one for every day of the week.
I'm glad I'm not rich. My wife's probably happy we don't have space.
Yeah, it's either you're the run out of money or space. I don't have money either, but I don't
have space either. So now I'm like, can we get a golf cart though? Because around the old town,
I can drive that. Which is funny, you certainly could. I mean, there's a ton of cars and I'm
the same way I see something like, oh, that'd be kind of fun to have for like a week or two,
just like a long run. Yeah, I do have a 360 sounds fun to me. Like I love those.
Sound great. They sound great. 355. 355 though, then you're running in the reliability,
can't service it without an engine out based on the 360. The one reason the 360 in particular
for me is my uncle has a 360 that he's had since you. It's a Spyder and it's a factory gated.
I think he maybe has 10,000 miles on it. So it's very low miles, but he never drives it,
never let anybody drive it. So now with the prices that they have pretty much come down to,
I just want to get one of them and go drive it to him and be like, hey, I got one too now.
You're not special. 700,000 miles too. I've been driving it every day here, right? Yeah. Yeah,
there's there's something. I mean, I understand low mileage, but then I don't understand low
mileage, you know, because I want to drive a car like I, I don't have the most miles on my NSX
typist, but I probably have one of the highest top three or four in the country for a car that's
350 in the world. But I mean, I just, I can't help it. I don't even think I drive it that much.
I mean, I have a lot of miles on it. It's they're meant to be driven. They're
I'm not here to collect a car. If I can not lose money on it, that's ideal. I'm not anywhere near
and I think a lot of people don't approach it correctly in that regard and think, oh,
I'm buying this car because I can it's going to go up in value. And, you know, a lot of cars have,
especially during COVID for sure, you couldn't lose money on a car. But now it's like, I mean,
for you to get to the point of buying a car for an investment purpose, you got to be at a,
you're in a different ball field than you. Yeah, you need to be. Then
you know, most people that are talking about, oh, I'm going to buy this as an investment.
I mean, you have a nice car and it's not going to lose a lot of money, but
you're it's not an investment, at least not for another 20 years.
You know, I'm thinking as you talk about investments in cars and it takes me back to the
Copper State, because right now it's 73 and older cars. Does that bump up every year? Is it kind of
a hard line? It has not. It's been a hard line for a while. I don't recall what it started
at, but it has been a hard line for a while because I've, I'm more on the side of bumping it up,
or at least maybe getting a little bit more vague and saying vintage car rally and let people submit
something. Because I mean, I know a lot of people argue that the 80s maybe didn't have the best
for automotive if you bump it up, but whatever. You're a 73, you got seven. Yeah, I mean, yeah.
But if you got up to the 80s, they're like, all right, what do you get out of it? But you have a
Countach that comes into play. And the minute you get something like that on a rally, the road
presence of the rally itself starts to market for itself. And I think it'd be cool to see some of
those. Now, you have events like the Colorado Grand and California Miele that are great and
successful events. And they have even, I think, a stricter rules on years of cars. I could be
wrong, but I think it was something like 56 or something like that, which is weird. That's a
number that popped in my head too. Yeah. And so, and my thought process is, is when you come to our
event, the cars are awesome. And the people there are great. And these people have a lot of them have
a collection of cars. And this is what they've done. They have investment beast collection cars.
But then you're running into the fact that these guys are old. They're aging out. We do actually,
I feel like this year have a good base of some younger participants, which is awesome. I was just
thinking that. Yeah. Really cool to see. But I think we're running into me. I look at a vintage car
as the early 90s. Right. That's what I want. I want that. I'm born in the early 90s. I want
964 and NSX, the R33. Those are the cars that I look at. And as like, if I become a very successful
business owner, that is one guy sent an email yesterday or the other day, like, hey, we're
doing a few rallies this year. I'm getting a little confused. I'm like, damn, you're doing
he's doing six rallies. I'm like, damn, goals. And I'm like, if I get to that point where I have
the money and I'm buying a car or something, I'm buying those cars. I'm not buying like for me to
go buy a car that's older in 1973 would be a lot. But really, when I look at the cars out there,
personally, the one car that I would really want that would qualify is like a 356.
One of the old super old coupe style like old rally racing
vibes to those. Those are kind of cool.
They're a big round white number on the side, a white circle.
We had one guy driving one last year and it caught on fire about 400 yards from the parking lot of
a hotel. Was it completely destroyed? No, no, he got he just had to rebuild the engine a little bit.
Ultimately fine. But yeah, but it was just like 400 feet to the end of the day.
That's wild, man. Well, hey, again, what are the dates?
April 12th is when it's open to public. That is going to be at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
The West lot. So if you're pulling in off of I think Alameda is the street, it's going to be the
first parking lot right before the main stadium. That is going to be the public
parking or public show. If you're not showing a car, then there's a different parking spot for you
guys. At the car show, there will be some vendors and then be sure to go inside, go up the stairs,
can check out the the participant cars that are on the field. Another cool thing that we
did last year and are doing again this year is we have 20 student artists that are going to be on
the field and they're painting 20 cars that we pick and tell them to paint. It's actually a
little competition for them. They get paid and winner will make about 500 bucks. These are high
school students. I remember that last year. That was awesome. Yeah, it was pretty cool. One of them
was absolutely insane. His sketch of the car was great, but they're all really cool and some of
them have different styles. So you get some abstractness to it. It's really cool to see what
they're thinking and these cars are not easy shapes to depict. That's for sure. Especially
with, I don't know, with all the people around and painting versus. Yeah, I am. I would be.
But thanks again, man. Thanks for having me. Yeah, of course. We'll see you at the Copper
State. And we're going to get some beers soon, right? Absolutely. Hell, I'm ready. We'll get
some beers right now. I mean, we need lunch. You know, in that episode, I had mentioned
this list of like the 15 worst SUVs you can buy. And I was looking at that back before we bought
our or at least our MDX. I meant to bring it up on some prior episode of the podcast and I never
really did. And I don't think I'm gonna bring it up now. I already told you that some of the
worst ones on the list and it's based on three year depreciation. But let me go ahead and get this
episode wrapped up. One of the great Honda and right Toyota Spark Forge AI from Marcus Foundry,
AutoCannon, Officially Licensed Honda and Acura Gear. Jumped to our Patreon business supporters,
Cuy Automotive out of Warner Garden, Florida, Automotive Specialty Tool. I've always
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Traverse City, Michigan. Oh my God. That's what I get for trying to memorize it. The lucky breaks
out of sports break. Oh my God, the lucky break sports breakers out of Caledonia, Michigan.
And of course, Shaving Success, Treasure Valley out of Boys Yaddo. Make sure you catch myself in
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Hooker brother up.
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About this episode
Desi Allazetta swings between sports talk and car culture, starting with his childhood in Vegas, his nephew’s baseball success, and why hockey is the easiest sport to get into. The conversation then pivots hard to his Porsche 996 (manual, low miles, factory aero) and his growing involvement in Arizona’s car community. They also lay out plans for the Copper State 1000 cruise—April 12 from Tempe Diablo Stadium—with rules for qualifying vehicles and a student art-car sketch program. EVs, sports betting, and scenic drives round it out.
Original notes
Desi Allazetta on Sports, Baseball Nephew, Car Sketches & Copperstate Plans (starts at 1:52:06)
In this easygoing Hard Parking episode, Jhae Pfenning chats with Desi Allazetta (@dez0019) about growing up playing basketball and club soccer, why he never became a huge spectator, and the joy of watching his talented 14-year-old nephew crush it in baseball — including time on the USA national 12U team. They also dive into creative car sketches from high school students and look ahead to grabbing beers at the Copperstate 1000.
Timestamps:
- 1:52:06 — "I love sports, dude. I'm the sports guy" + childhood basketball & soccer stories
- 1:58:00 — Never watching sports like his peers
- 2:00:30 — Nephew's baseball all-star journey & USA national team
- 2:06:00 — Baseball never clicked for Desi as a kid
- 2:11:45 — High school students' cool (and abstract) car sketches
- 2:17:30 — Challenges of drawing complex car shapes
- 2:20:15 — Wrapping up & Copperstate 1000 plans
Links:
Desi Allazetta on Instagram (car-focused): https://www.instagram.com/dez0019/
Copperstate 1000 Car Show & Rally: https://cs1000.gorallying.com/
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.hardparking.com
Patreon: patreon.com/hardparkingpodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hardparkingpod/
YouTube: youtube.com/@HardParking
Hard Parking with Jhae Pfenning
Jhae Pfenning
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