S3, E57 - AMSOIL Championship Off-Road Nationals

Welcome back to the Podshed.

I'm Holman, your host of the Truck Show podcast,

and I feel like I've been on the road forever.

I'm sure you probably do too.

I am excited to get back

and start knocking out some new podcasts for you.

And as you know, I was on the road

to pick up my new Wrangler 392 from Michigan

and bring it back home to California.

But what you might not have known

is the same day I left for Detroit,

I actually spent the day,

I took the red eye out of LAX,

spent the day in San Bernardino.

I was actually hanging out with our friends at Amsoil

where I was invited to attend with VIP access, might add.

The last Amsoil championship off-road race

weekend of the season.

So I hadn't been to short course racing in a while

and man, I forgot how much I loved it.

It was so much fun.

I wish I could have stayed there all weekend

if I didn't have to travel and taken in all the races

because the action was so good.

And since I got all access,

I was able to connect with a couple of Amsoil drivers.

An off-roading legend.

You guys, if you know off-road,

you're gonna dig that interview.

And then even the president

of the championship off-road racing series.

So I'll bring all that to you in this episode.

And one takeaway from the weekend

is that short course racing is not only alive and well,

but there's huge enthusiasm behind it.

And I can't wait to get out to another race.

So anyway, thank you Amsoil for the invite.

And you guys know how I feel about Amsoil products.

They're the best.

And if you want the best, head over to amsoil.com.

And of course, if you wanna know more

about championship off-road,

you can visit their website at champoffroad.com

and see when they'll be coming through

to a town nearby you for some awesome racing action.

And otherwise, just digging out from being gone,

I've been playing around with a 25 Jeep Gladiator,

which came courtesy of the Jeep brand,

Mopar and Jeep Performance parts.

So more to come on that one,

but it arrived with a two inch lift and 35s.

I'm gonna be bolting on a bunch of different products

on it, reviewing them for OVR and the podcast

and kind of going through their catalog

and so we'll talk about that.

And it'll also take you along for a ride

in the upcoming episode and let you know what it's like

living with a lifted Gladiator as a daily driver.

So that truck review is in our future as well.

But before we get into it,

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The Truck Show

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The Truck Show

the Truck Show

It's the Truck Show with your host, Holman.

Man, I gotta tell you, I miss the studio.

It's fun to be back in it and making the show again.

And I've been just been on the road so much

and with SEMA coming up, man, we got lots more to come

and a lot more travel.

So I'm gonna try and keep a pretty regular cadence

but keep in mind there's a bunch of stuff happening

but we will get caught up on episodes.

So let's get into this episode of my day at Amsoil

at the racetrack with Champ Off Road.

Just soak it in for a second.

The sound of a pro-4 racetrack.

Where am I?

Well, I'm at the Glendale Off Road National here in San Bernardino, California

the Glendale Raceway

that's part of the Amsoil Championship Off Road series

and the truck you hear behind me is Colt Maver, number 35

try and get an interview with him in a little bit

and we'll check in with some more President Amsoil

and appreciate being able to come out to the race course

and soak in a day of racing.

So it should be pretty fun but for now

we'll just listen to the soothing sounds

and pull a Maver's race truck.

Who doesn't love that?

Alright, I'm gonna go walk around. Let's see if we can fight.

So I'm standing in the pits with racer Colt Maver

and number 35 in front of this pro-4 race truck

and I love pro-4 because I've always been a four-wheel drive guy

and to see people be successful on the track and four-wheel drive

I just think it's like way more fun

and tell me about your race truck.

Yeah, I love it.

So this is one of our chassis that we built in the shop ourselves

it's actually the first ever truck chassis

I've fully built, 100% in-house.

So it's got an RY45 motor platform

makes about 900 horsepower, a six-speed X-track sequential gearbox

all on air paddle shifts.

Oh, that's sick.

And it's racked because then you're not gonna reach up

and grab the shift or keep your hands on the wheel.

X-track makes a great box.

Oh, it's insane.

So and then we have a X-track front differential as well.

So same thing that they run in like the trophy trucks

they ain't there's three of us out here

they're running that style front diff package as well.

Is it open or is there any like limited slip or anything in the front?

So as soon as you let off the gas it disengages the front

as soon as it fills the acceleration it engages both front wheels.

Got it.

So each wheel is on a different gear

so they do spin slightly at some different speeds

so that you do have some differentiation for turning and things like that.

Yeah, so like if a tire gets light right

obviously it's gonna spike up that a little bit faster

but we try to monitor them to make sure that they're both the same door

the truck's trying to draw them off the corners as hard as it possibly can.

So and then the cool part about like Pro 4

it's hard with like a Pro 2, right?

What I judge is you have a spec chassis.

You can only do so much.

You have frame rails.

Pro 4, it's bring what you've rung and hope you brought it up.

Like it's full tube chassis.

That was like the trophy truck equivalent from Baja.

100%

100% and what's rad is we use the same parts

the trophy truck guys just

we make them lighter, lower and strong

and try to make them just as strong

and we're hitting jumps

you know 200, 250 feet some places

four-storeys high

It's so awesome to watch these things air out

and just land like they're on marshmallows.

100%

So even like here at Glen Helen

we have a sand section that's pretty rowdy, right?

Like so we're getting the occasional whoop kick

and stuff we're not used to.

It's good to be back, right?

So that's what's cool is all the

chassis is 100% in-house with us.

I do all the welding, all the fabrication

all the tube notching, all the drawing

is 100% done by me.

So you're not busy at all?

Yeah, no, no, no.

In the driving

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Plus organizing the circus.

We can only blame yourself if you're like

something you don't like about chassis.

That is 90% the problem.

It's always my fault.

So that and then we have a bunch of other stuff too

with all our client's trucks.

But yeah, Pro4 is rad.

Well, I like to call Pro4 the F1 of off-road.

Nice.

Because we're constantly trying to evolve

of changing air flow.

Trying to make sure how the air funnel

is throughout the cab.

Trying to get pressure to the read

or trying to pressure the water system.

There's so much that involves

and a Pro4 that I think it makes it

the closest off-road vehicle to F1, in my opinion.

So what's up with the lack of body work on it right now?

So we went through race yesterday

with Ruffin Kill Switch

and I wasn't happy with some of the rear shock stuff.

So we called John Hoffman in

and threw a whole new spring

valve package at the rear shocks

to try to get it through there.

Like within the last five hours.

I noticed you run Bilstein, good friends of ours,

and this truck has what,

16 inches of travel in the front?

Yep, 16 in the front, 20 in the rear.

The rule book allows this thing right now

is about 15 and 18.

So yeah, Bilstein's been a long time

partners for us.

We've been with them for quite 19 years now.

And good friends of mine

and they make a great product,

both racing and on-road as well.

So how about the engine you're running

a 430 cubic inch right now?

V8?

So it's a RY45.

It's Ford's old NASCAR base.

Oh, got it.

It's rad.

So we originally had like a D3 motor in it

and then we hurt that at the beginning of the year.

So we switched over to an RY package

because we were able to accumulate two of them

to possibly run for championship next year.

So we would need to have two motors.

So this motor will actually come out after this weekend

and it'll go back to Roush

and get the power band and everything that we want

because we just had Jack Rath's

junior on the podcast a few weeks ago.

So that's going to all go back there.

My boys are going to start handling business

on that side of it.

And it'll be good.

I'm super excited.

We have awesome partners that are making this thing

all function right.

I guess I'm kind of the young guy in the group

out of the Pro 4 class that's doing it all himself.

And I like to think of the old great Kyle Leduc

that did it all himself as well.

And hopefully we could be half as good as he is

or a quarter.

Yeah.

Or even Scott Douglas,

what he's growing up in.

Another legend.

It's hoping I can create our own legacy

and go do what they've done.

Right on it.

So you are SoCal native.

So you grew up SoCal Deserts and Glamis

and all the stuff that I got to grow up doing.

But short course racing takes you to the Midwest a lot,

Wisconsin, other places.

What do you like about the Glen Helen track

versus some of the Midwest tracks?

Or is there one that's your favorite

or something unique about this one that's kind of gnarly?

What's cool about Glen Helen is it's home, right?

I started out with the Old West Coast series racing

and we left here for about five or six years

and I never got to bring the Pro 4 here.

So we went to Pro 4 whenever we were racing

in the Midwest a lot and it feels good to be home.

I live in Wisconsin for five months out of the year.

It's six months out of the year at times

and it feels good to always come home

and I have family here that hasn't been able

to see me race in five or six years.

That's awesome.

They haven't been able to see the whole operation.

Whenever we left California to go race in the Midwest,

we had an enclosed trailer with a little awning off it.

We didn't have an 18-wheeler or a racer.

This is like a legit pit that you would see

at any race or any major team.

There's another truck sitting here next to us.

That's not yours because you also do service

for other racers as well.

Yeah, so we help and maintain about three to four trucks

on the regular outside of my own.

So it's cool, right?

My family that hasn't been able to see this

in five or six years has got to come here

this weekend and see what we've grown, right?

See what I'm doing in Wisconsin.

It feels good, right?

The whole family is super proud

and without their support we wouldn't be

where we are at at all.

So it's rad to see

and short course racing and SoCal is so back.

Friday was supposed to be a dead night.

Those grandstands were absolutely packed.

So I'm excited to see where that is going.

Tonight is already record sales,

free-sell tickets compared to what last night was.

Be even better.

I'm excited to be back in front of the hometown

and go put it on the show for these guys.

I love it.

So one of your sponsors is Amsoil who invited us here.

So maybe you should talk about Amsoil product

in your vehicle and then you also use it.

The family business is in agriculture

and you actually use Amsoil in those machinery

or in that machinery as well.

I mean, hey, before we even partnered with Amsoil

I was buying it.

I asked my engine builders

what do you guys prefer?

Because I'm a big person, right?

If I'm going to go build a motor with somebody,

I'm going to go build a platform with somebody,

I want to use what they suggest.

Well, I've had two or three different engine builders

in the last three years and they all tell me Amsoil.

They see that it's the best.

So I'm like, okay, obviously that's what we're going to run.

We run companies extract.

They're saying Amsoil, run it and it's the best.

So we want to translate what we use in our race cars

because obviously we want the best for our race cars

but we need the machines back at home to make money too.

So you've got to spend the money on the Amsoil.

So we do a lot of that with all of our farm tractors,

all of our equipment, the 18-wheeler, the semi,

all of our four dually trucks.

Everything's on Amsoil.

Anything from the brake cleaner to the glass cleaner,

it's used in here 24-7.

Mud slinger like it.

Mud slinger is awesome and the glass cleaner is awesome

with the foam.

I use that all the time.

Well, it's night race, right?

So it's dirt, heavy sticks, sand.

But the mud slinger, the guys had minimal cleaning today.

It was pretty simple.

So I'm glad to be finally a part of the Amsoil family.

And do you put mud slinger on your helmet visor?

No, I haven't tried that one yet.

I might have to try that later.

I hope we don't really get too much rust.

It gets you right to the front.

Oh, you're going to be in front of it.

We should be flinging at you anyway.

Exactly.

But no, we've used it for years now.

And excited that this partnership has finally come about.

I mean, heck, I've been a wholesale dealer for a long time.

And just getting it really for the race cars.

Yeah.

So we've used it in so many different aspects

from that side to the shop.

We have five race trucks in the shop almost at all times,

plus all of our side-by-side work and everything that we do.

So they just deliver like 55-gallon drums to you, right?

Yeah, yeah.

We get a pallet.

So that's cool.

I mean, even all of our clients side-by-sides,

because we can do a lot of work for the guys that go down

to Mexico and pre-running stuff.

And they have all suggested it as well.

So it's been a good deal as a whole for the shop.

And I don't have to worry about a quality standard,

because their quality standards weigh higher than anybody else's.

Oh, dude, it's crazy.

I've been to the factory.

It's nuts what they go through.

So what are you feeling about for today's race?

Are you stoked?

Your truck feels good?

You feel good?

Yeah, I'm feeling good.

I'm excited to get out for practice here in a minute

and go see what these changes did to these rebuilt-in trucks

and go see what we can do.

So it should be a good deal all the way around.

I'm excited to go racing in front of my hometown

on the biggest night, the biggest weekend.

So hopefully in the season on a high note,

if not a win-or-wad situation.

So we'll see what we can do.

And we already have the new one in the works.

So this is this one's last race.

Can we just drop a little bit of a news bomb for next year?

I think there might be a news bomb for next year.

I think we're going to have to connect with you for next season then.

Yep.

All right, brother, we'll appreciate your time

and thanks for inviting us into the pits.

Awesome, thank you guys.

Here we are on the side of the race course

in the Amzo VIP area.

And this is just practice right now,

but I just wanted you guys to hear

the awesomeness of the vehicles go by.

I

mean, who doesn't love this?

So we're standing right past the finish line,

the start finish line.

And there's a shark.

Love that turn, a couple of jumps,

another couple of jumps and then another tight turn.

So they're coming off the throttle,

sliding sideways, powering through the jumps.

It's so awesome.

All right, so now I'm with President Carl Shabitsky.

And so you own this racing series.

Yeah, yeah, that's correct.

I figured you were important because you had like

a secret service like microphones in your ear.

That's the guy we got to talk to.

Yeah, yeah, no.

I just like to keep communication here,

what's going on out there and stuff like that.

But yeah, I mean, obviously I've been working

for the company for 16 years and I just recently

acquired it for about a year now.

Wow, yeah, so it's wild.

That's a pretty awesome trajectory, right?

Did you ever think you'd be the owner someday?

No, not at all.

And I have honestly no intention to,

but the previous owner, John Daniels,

is like a father to me.

Like he's just been amazing all through,

while I've worked for him,

he's been just a mentor and everything like that.

So at the end of the day,

he's just like, well, you know,

exit strategy and stuff like that.

And he still comes arraised.

Honestly, he's here this weekend.

Excited and we drove home last night

and just talked like two just fan boys,

talking about the racing.

Like we both obviously huge racing fans

and talked about what happened

and everything like that.

So I have all the credit to him.

So short course racing

has kind of had a

interesting history because

it started out sort of as a Midwest

thing or regional thing.

Kind of grew into a couple pretty big series

over the years. A couple big

race organizations came out of that.

Then there was some contraction as some of

those bigger race organizations

folded. Some people came in,

some people came out and I feel like we're

at a point now where short course started

to take off again. So I feel like

you're poised, you're kind of like right in the right spot

to be, to take advantage of

the re-emergence

of short course. Yeah, I mean, I hope so.

I hope you're right because obviously that's

our intention and

like you said, when we first stepped into it

we were very, very nervous.

It's no secret. It's been like 28 years

and 10 different owners. I mean, the longevity

of an ownership was

maybe max three years and

now we're going into our sixth year. But the biggest thing

that I did was

I just wanted to do is try to

stabilize it, you know, be

consistency, consistency

and then also don't overextend.

I know a lot of the previous owners

they wanted to jump in the deep end

and sometimes it works.

Obviously it's very

lucrative to be in big markets,

big expansions, big footprints,

big television packages and things like that

and hope that sponsors and partners come.

But we've kind of like just slowly

built so

started with a good foundation, slowly built it

and again, I'm very excited

because like you alluded to, I feel

the same way

like I feel like we're just kind of getting

going and things are going really

good and positive. And you guys are sold

out for today's race, right? Yeah. And last night

we were standing remotely when people thought, oh, it's just

the Friday night.

But no, it was packed here. Yeah, even

I thought Friday night's going to be a little

bit weaker but way better than expected

and that's the same for tonight.

So again, the move, like obviously

you're nervous about the new event,

new market but at the same time

the reason why we're here

is because the sport grew up here.

You know, a lot of our racers grew up racing

out here and I love the Midwest

I'm obviously from the Midwest, I'm a Midwest boy

but at the same time, like

it needs, short course needs to be out here

just that's the reality of it

because there's a lot of families and a lot of

like obviously a lot of fans and just

the environment out here, it's cool.

The motocross is huge and when you

take and combine the elements of motocross

and the elements of desert racing

into one thing that kind of honors

both of them, you know you're going to have a fan base

for that because people love to see

that kind of stuff. Yeah, for sure and I honestly

last night the track was great so it was really

action packed and again

of course it took a lot of work

and a lot of time to get up to this point and I'm just

happy to see it come to fruition and

see people happy and excited and

you know like a lot of the teams and the

racers and the fans are happy

it's back and so I'm happy as well.

So what's the

next step, I mean, when you

look at your schedule, are you looking

to expand to more

regions, are you looking to expand more

races, how

where do you go from here? No, for sure

I mean you're always like looking

long term picture, what options

are available and quite honestly the last

like month I've looked at a few different

venues across the United States

but also again back to the consistency

and back to doing the right

way, you know

with expansion you got to make sure the

racers can handle it as well.

You don't want to go away from the people

who are participating. Yeah, we're all in this

boat together so I mean from a partner

standpoint, from the racer standpoint, from the

team standpoint, from our standpoint

you just got to take all those things

that will come so like do I see us

expanding in the future? Absolutely but at the

same time, is it maybe going to happen

next year? I mean when we first started we had

five events, they were all like

within a small area and now we're

up to eight, you know, California

and Missouri were big

additions so

yeah, I mean we are looking and

exploring but at the same time, I don't want

to just hurt the racers

too, it costs them a lot of money to come on here.

It's not like a baseball team when you put in an airplane

and you show up, there's tractor

trailers and there's mechanics and

there's marketing and there's racers

and there's fabric, I mean it's all the

parts, all the fuel, tires

it's a pretty big

logistical lift to get people to

locations. Correct, so I feel like, okay

well, fortunately

for us, we had one in California

and everybody made the trek for the most part

a lot of great racers out here so

you know, it's too much at this

point in time but then again, back to

we are in a new market and things

are going really well, if we can get

some more partners and help out the racers

you know, that all plays

into a factor, so yeah, I mean

we're always, like I said, just two weeks

ago I was at a location looking at it

for maybe 2026, maybe

2027, so I mean that's the

plan is to keep

riding this and keep building it

and you know, helping not only

us but the racers as well. How hard is it

to get corporate sponsors

for a racing series at this size

and level because I know

you're probably grinding

you know you have a great product, you have

some great names, great fan base

but like

media and entertainment

you have to get the eyeballs and you have to grow

and to attract that and obviously

I'm here because Anzoil is

you know, your title but

talk about like, what's that like

it's always interesting for me from a business standpoint

it's not, being a

race promoter or a series owner is a really

hard job.

I think

it's extremely difficult

and anybody who tells you that is lying

or has never done it, especially

in this, the world and the landscape

you know, like there was a big buzz

with influencers and things like that and

there still is a big part of that but

again, like I'm just seeing in

traditional speaking motorsports

from the 80s, 90s

to 2000s is far different than even now

and getting corporate dollars and things

like that because there's just so many things that are available

so many different

and I'm not talking just even

motorsports just, okay how do

I capture an audience attendance

or kids attention

you know, today compared to

even 10 years ago so

it is hard but at the same time

you know, like we have

an agency of record

and called the family

they've been a huge addition for us

but at the same time, like at the end of the day

you just try to create a good product

and for the most part what I've seen is

yeah, you can reach out to

a million different Fortune 500 companies

but if you're creating something

then they reach out to you and they're the ones that are involved

it's a hard sell

to open up somebody's mind

in marketing that's never been to an event

or never, you know, like oh this is the coolest thing ever

but if you get them out to an event

or even, you know, some of the

just keep putting good product out there

you know, hopefully they catch wind

or catch attention and you just keep growing that way

and they want to be part of it

nobody can self-profess cool, right?

but if your fans say you're cool

then the marketers and advertisers

they want to be cool too and they want to be a part of it

so they come along on the journey

and fortunately for us in 15 years

with both our series, I mean

we work for the likes of, of course, AMSO

US Air Force, Ram Trucks, Polaris

Can-Am, Yokohama

just a bunch of big corporate

corporate companies

and again, like it's all that balancing act

of like, okay well, what are their needs

can we accomplish their needs

what are the needs of the racers and what are the needs of the fans too

so again, like, back to your point

it's extremely difficult

like, I mean, again

it's not an easy job

it's not an easy sell

but at the same time, it's really cool

that the relationships that you do build from them

like in AMSO that's been with us for so long

they're like family

so again, like, it all pays off

in the end, it's just, it's hard

it's not an easy, not an easy job

you said something and I brought this up

on the podcast before, AMSO

was one of our sponsors, but Scott Bird's

all a friend of mine, Brad Lovell's a friend of mine

we talked to Cole Maymer, we talked to

everybody says the same thing, family

AMSO is about family, like, we all know they make a great product

but it's so refreshing to

have a corporate partner that

also treats you like a person

and actually cares about what you're doing

isn't just writing a check to get their name out there

but there's actually invested in the process

for sure, and I think that stems from why

I love racing from the very beginning

because I grew up with

my family racing every single weekend

and that's what you see across

all platforms with most series

is like, it might seem big from the outside

but at the end of the day, if you get within the circle

it is family

and like, one of the

one of the greatest, you know

very wise man, very wealthy

very thing, he's like, well I can go

racing with my kid and my kid thinks I'm cool

he's like, you know, like, if I go play

basketball or do something else with them

it's just a different

type of connection that he has

and so he's grateful for racing and you do

you see it day in and day out

just walk through the pits, it's all family

so it's cool. So if people want to find out more

how to go see a race, how to watch a race

or just follow your content

like, where do they go?

Champoproad.com is the best

it's obviously our website

but of course we air on

FS1 or FS2

we live stream with Flow Sports

and, you know, the events are on

the website, the calendar will be

announcing I think November 1st

the 2026 schedule

so obviously we want people to come out and enjoy

the events but that's the best

place to go check out everything

and learn more about, you know, what we do

and what we provide. If there's somebody out there

who thinks that they can

get into racing

and they're like, I'm all in, I don't know how to

start, how would you start the process

of becoming a driver?

So we do it really

I feel at school, obviously I'm biased

because we created it but

if you've never raced before

everything's free the first year

memberships, entry fees, everything

so you can come, try it out

see if it's for you

obviously it catches, hope you get addicted

and you love it and stay for

many, many years. The first hit's free

but after that!

But honestly it's done extremely well

like this year

I think we got 30 plus

people

to take part in that program

but then of course

on the website

we try to make it as simplistic as possible

okay this is what you need to do

this is the first step, this is the next step

and again it seems overwhelming

at the beginning but it's very

very simplistic and at the end of the day

if you want to try it you got to get a membership

and you got to get an entry and then you come here

sign the waiver, get the insurance

but you're racing

and we'll guide you, obviously our staff

is on site to help with any tech questions

any race director questions and things like that

but it is fun and if you've never

been to an event

I feel like it's so much better

a person as we saw last night

like it's just electric, the crowd

the sound, the smell

I feel like there's not that many things

football stadium might have 100,000

people, so this is much more intimate

than that type of sport and I feel like

the crowd is, you're so

in tune with everybody next

to you and it's sort of, I don't know

it just, going back to it feels electric

yeah, yeah, yeah, it's closed, it's loud

it's exciting and I mean

for the most part it's always action packed

so yeah it is, it's a cool experience

like it's different and

we try to do a bunch of different

other things to appeal to family

you know like 12 and under is free

and activities on site because again

it's, you know, our focus is that pro show

three and a half hours but we want families to come

and enjoy it so like today we have

autograph sessions, freestyle shows, things like that

that are always appealing

again just trying to get people

to see what Sherpas Off-Road is

well I hear that

if you're a new person and you're getting into

it everybody's super nice to you

until you get on the course

well until you start meeting them

that's where it ends

and the best thing you can do is just

don't race that individual through a different class

because yeah like obviously

it's all fair game

until your competition, you know, yeah for sure

well awesome, well thanks for walking us through

and spending some time with us Carl

and get out to the course and watch some trucks jump

no I appreciate it and of course

like if you haven't checked it out

champoffroad.com

we're always open arms and I hope

you know I hope your listeners do come

check it out because we'd love to have them

and we just want to be involved

well hopefully we can do some more stuff with you in the future

for sure

okay so I'm wandering around

the pits came across the amzoil booth

so I'm looking at

tons and tons of product

actually there's so much stuff here

and I can't fit into my truck for the way home

so now I'm trying to figure out

what I can take here

oh I got some amzoil

some amzoil chapstick

got some severe gear

one of my favorites I use that on everything

lots of racing oil here

oh man I could go crazy in here

but the man standing in front of me

won't let me and that's a legendary

off-road racer Scott Douglas

and if you know off-road racing

you know Scott and I actually pulled up

his highlights because

I can't remember everything that you've done

but almost a hundred career victories

eight desert championships

in SCORE, HDRA, best in the desert

mini-metal, two short course championships

two time board order cup champion

2010 inaugural winner

of the amzoil cup

3 Baja 1000 class wins

1993 SCORE San Felipe

250 overall winner

with a class 7

Herzog ranger was

a beast back in his day and I was a class 7

7s ranger guy as a kid

so I used to watch all you guys

and that was my favorite so way ahead of its time

anyway that was a really long

intro to say hi to Scott

yeah well thanks a lot

that's flattering and

you forgot the Hall of Fame part

but that's one of my

that's one of my favorite ones as well

but you know I've had a blessed

career and I've worked for a lot of great people

I mean I started racing

in the 70s on motorcycles

and then my brother... you were a two-wheel guy

earlier on and then you went into

regular two-wheel drive

racetracks but you also race four-wheel drive

racetracks as well right? oh yeah yeah

but the first thing I did is the Baja

580 my brother and I

my brother was... I was 19

he was five years older than I was

he bought this truck off a used car a lot of racetrack

and financed it on top of that

which I do not recommend for anybody

financing a racetrack that's new

yeah so we ran the Baja

500 and we both shared the driving

we were pitting for Jim Connors

before that and for the Goodyear team

and there was a lot we did and so then we

took in and we decided we're going to race

so he got this truck

it was an F100

it was a 1974

yeah 74 F100

twin I-beam truck pretty much stock

had a little 33's on it

and had like a stock 302

with some headers on it

that would have been a dent side truck

and one of my favorite body styles

as a matter of fact

and anyway the way the cage was built

at that time they thought that the frames

needed to flex because they were made out of certain material

so they tried to make

some people made the cages rigid

some people made the cages

with a suspension piece in there

that the actual cage in the rear would slide

well make a long story short halfway through the race

the frame broken out

so I go well I've never been a quitter in my life

and I wasn't going to start at 19

I haven't finished now

age I'm at now so anyway

but the bottom line is we cut the spare tire

amount apart I got a stick welder

we got it all back together and we finished the race

and we got 5th out of

in class 8 out of like 28 trucks

and we were on top of the world because we thought

we're racing against Walker Evans

and Scoop Vessels

and Ivan Stewart at the time

those are legends but

did you ever think at 19

racing against those guys that you would ever be

up in that echelon of racer because you are there

well I really appreciate that

and I wasn't sure at that point

I knew that how I was taught

how I was raised is if you

if you put your all into something

go all in or don't do it at all

and my dad told me

when we decided to go full time racing

or not full time but when we decided to go racing

I still had construction jobs so did my brother

after this one race

we broke the frame we decided to build another truck

well we're just doing it on our own budget

no sponsors at the time

and he says hey both of you guys can move back home

free of charge the whole thing

but you're going to go in

and you're going to do this

100% in

and if you're not 100% in

if you go out and you're going to party

or you're going to go do this

if you're going to have other hobbies I'm out

you're going to kick you both out

but if you want to do this and you want to make it

you better make it 100%

and so with my brother's help I was able to

I was able to get my career going pretty good

was that the best advice you could have gotten

at that age

when you look back do you think

if he hadn't said that to me

maybe it would have been a different path

or it wouldn't have been as committed

absolutely you know but my dad

I grew up in the back of a jeep

and when friends of mine

when I was 13, 14 years old

some friends of mine would go hey let's go over to someone's house

we're going to have a pool party over here

this weekend or whatever

I go no my dad's going jeep and he's part of a jeep club

and I was the guy who packed the

we had a little tent trailer and I was the little guy

that went in there and packed it perfectly because we only had so much room

so at an early age

I got to witness

and be part of off-roading

in general not just racing but the off-road world

the kids that grow up in the off-road world

nobody has any idea

they go out to the desert for Thanksgiving

and have the big dinners and everything

everybody thinks it's a big party out there

well some of it is a big party

but a lot of it isn't a lot of it is families

and they're growing together

and you learn that family bond

with your siblings

and your parents

and it was the coolest thing ever

in the jeep run

we'd go out jeeping or whatever

and my dad had a

he had a 74 cj5 at the time

had a 304 v8

and my dad was the coolest guy ever

in the jeep club

well we'd get there we'd set up camp

and he'd throw me the

he'd take the mufflers off and had open type cutouts

he'd throw me the wrenches in the cutouts

he says okay son go ahead and put these on

and I was like king of the world

I'm taking to putting these open exhausts

we're going to have this loud open exhaust

for when we're out on the trails and everything

and he taught me a lot

about learning and focusing

and we would go on these jeep runs

and we were at Johnson Valley before

Johnson Valley was a big thing

and so we'd be on some of these trails

with these jeeps that had

33s and some of these rock trails

and there would be 30 people in these rooms

like horses and wheel travel

so they'd all try and make it up these

these hills and everything and some of them

would roll over and some of them wouldn't make it

and my dad would wait till the very last

and then he'd tell my brother he said get in boys

because he had studied every one of them

and nine times out of ten he'd go up it

like it was nothing and I learned

that knowledge is power

especially off-roading I mean even whether it's

racing or trail riding

understanding how to reach terrain in the line

is probably the most important thing next to

maybe you know throttle application

and steering but you have to know

what the trail is going to allow

you to do or what the race course is going to allow

you to do so that you can stay on four wheels

and get through it absolutely and you

got to have that focus and

I was fortunate enough that early

on my career you know we went into 7S

and that's where I started having some real

good success winning some races

winning a couple championships

all of a sudden I get recognized by Walker Evans

he gives me a call and I'm a shy

legend yes I'm a shy kid

I don't talk to anybody at this point right now

I talk to everybody you know I love

telling stories and everything but back then

I'm a shy kid Walker was one of my heroes

it was actually my mom's favorite

driver which is crazy he calls

my parents house looking for me

and on Christmas

you know it was like two days before Christmas

it wasn't quite Christmas Eve and says hey

I need to talk to Scott my mom's

like you know and I happen to be there

she goes Walker Evans is on the phone

and anyway

so I took the call

and my dad listened in

and he offered me a job

for 1990 to drive one of his trucks

he says you and Rob McCackeren

are

winning all the races and you are

you are just dog and Rob all the time

and so

you know the best thing to do is to hire

you to get you off Rob's butt

and to put you in a truck

on our team

and I was like well it didn't quite go that way

but I was like I was just flattered

and this is my dream this is what I wanted

and my parents knew this this is my dream

we have been working hard for about seven years

in construction

and racing to try and build to this

well

anyway he says well what do you think

he laid it all out and I said well

I think I'm going to have to turn you down

Walker and he

was shocked I think there's not too many people

that turn you down absolutely

and he goes why do you think you got to do that

and I says well I have an obligation

I had a small

at that time I had some small sponsorships

I had a little small one from Ford

and B.F. Goodrich was being good to me

started giving me tires then started giving me a little budget

and I had a deal that I just signed

with B.F. Goodrich

and so

he goes okay well he says why don't you think about it

and call me back and I says I'll do that

so I hang up the phone

my parents were eavesdropping obviously

and my dad goes well what was that all about

and he says

and I said and he knew

but I said well Walker offered to hire me

for a job and he goes well

isn't that what you want to do isn't that your dream

I said absolutely that's my dream

he says that's what I dreamt

back when I raced motorcycles

is to race for a living is to be competitive

and he goes well what did you tell him

and he knew that I told him no

and he says well I told him no and he says

well why did you do that son

and he says well he said

I told him I said you know dad

I says you told me

that your word is the only thing you got in life

and I said I gave B.F. Goodrich

my word that I would race

for them next year and I signed a contract

and I said I don't want to go about my back

against my word and my dad looked up at me

and he goes maybe I left something out

and he says I tell

you what son he says you call

Walker back up and he says

and you go and set up face to face meeting

and you

if you're going to turn him down you turn him down to his

face you don't turn him down over the phone

and you do what's best for you that's all I've got

to say about this so I went there I brought

my brother and

Walker I and at that point I had a week

before the meeting so now I'm starting

to think I get in this little big big head

I'm going okay I want this I want and I'm thinking

maybe not to get greedy but I want to be

well they start laying out what I'm going to

get I'm going to you know I'm going to go down

to Dodge and pick out any kind of car you want

or three driving through three helmets

I mean I was like you have to be kidding me

this is a dream come true and that was

back in the time when Dodge was competitive

absolutely they were

they were in Dodge and Jeep

and so then he goes well he goes

why exactly did you turn me down I says well

I had a contract with B.F. Goodrich and he says

well Frank D'Angelo and I said yeah

I said you're a good guy

I says how do you know Frank he goes

oh no we all know each other and he says

he says I tell you what Scott he says

just to ease your mind and everything

he says why don't we call Frank up

and this is before cell phones

and everything I says well he's not going

to be in the office this is a Saturday he

saw I got his home number he calls up

Frank got his home number I go I don't even have

Frank's home number and here you're with a

good year guy but he's Walker Evans so

anyhow he calls him up puts him on

speakerphone and he goes I got

Scott here whatever Frank goes you know

what this is a career opportunity

for you Scott I'd be more than happy

to let you out of your contract and that's

how Frank is yep absolutely amazing

amazing guy so that's how my professional

careers I took a two-year leave of absence

for my construction job figuring out

I'll do this for two years and I'll be back

and I've never had to look back

and here I am in the Amzo booth

still supporting Amzo and still supporting

the sport and loving every minute of

it alright so you're here at the race

you do actually kind of a lot of different

things for Amzo you wear the Amzo shirt

so explain that to me I show up in the

Amzo booth legend

Scott Douglas is sitting right in front of me

well thank you yeah well I mean obviously

I raced for Amzo

the Amzo Pro 4 for about

16 years and we had great

success won a lot of races a lot of big

races a lot you know and so

when I was

time for me to retire because father

time catches up to you and you're just not as

marketable as you used to be

you know they were really gracious they came to me

and they said hey you've been with us

a long time we want you a part

of our brand because you know our brand

you believe in our brand which I did

I totally

engulfed and believe in everything Amzo

does from the engineering department

to the marketing department if you've

never been to Amzo I suggest

you go to it's the largest under

roof building in all of the state of Wisconsin

we did a walkthrough two part series

talking about how Amzo is made

we did everything from the trains that

come in and to where they mix

everything to the marketing side to the

bottling I mean I saw it firsthand and

you know there's some other Amzo

athletes that are good friends of mine

Scott Bertzol and

just

you know

from our standpoint

as I talk to people I know that are in the

Amzo sphere and everybody says the exact same

thing and that's Amzo

is a great company that makes great product

but it treats you like family and that's been

our experience as well and

it's been a great relationship

and my takeaway is when I walk into that

building and I see those big vats and those

big tanks I not only

see professionalism I see everybody

in that building that has pride in what

they do and you cannot

you can't you can't buy that

you have to you have to have it

and everybody in that building from like

said the marketing department down to the

mixers to the engineers have it

so that's why I'm so prideful

to be a part of Amzo well they told me

they go well we want you to be an Amzo

ambassador and I said well what does that

actually entail and they go well we want you

to do events and be at events and I

was doing a display program before we want

you to continue that and I said okay well

I'm kind of a glorified Cardi then right

and they go no no you're

a lot more than that obviously

and so I've really enjoyed it the last

four or five years I've been doing just

the display program but look at me I get

to do what I'm I get to come to these off-road

races or now I'm into the car show

network too and we do a lot of car shows

I've got four hot rods I get to bring my hot

rods put them on display drive them around

all arena when we do hot August nights

I get to go to just

all kinds of different events Jeep Beach

and I've got a big Jeep that's all done up

you know and so I get to do

all the different pair of pants right

absolutely today you know I'm the luckiest

guy in the world because I get to do all the things I love to

do with all the people that I grew up

with yeah and was around all my life

and I get paid to do it so

Amzo treats me wonderful let me ask you

this how many younger

racers know that you're here

come by for advice and races

there's quite a few of them and just walking

especially in California here because I'm

a California native walking around

I can't go down one of these roads without

two or three people talking

you know they either one advice or they want to

hear one of my stories and sometimes I think

my stories get a little long and they get a little much

but for some reason they never get tired

well it's wonderful but

I was really proud because

Jimmy Hendricks is one of the people that Amzo

supports he won pro four last night

and I go over there and he'll just

ask me off the wall questions and I know

he's fishing for different things he has questions

in his head but I let him ask and I tell

him my opinion which things have changed

as I got out of a pro four

some things have changed but some things stay the same

your mindset your focus

you know how the track changes

all that stuff stays the same the cars

have changed drastically sometimes

the speed has changed how you throw

them in sometimes but

he picks my brain for different things

and it's an honor to be able to do that

and then to see the success he had last night

so let's talk about the course that we're at right now

which is Glen Helen and this is kind of a

famous SoCal course

or motocross and short track and things

like that and as all these

race courses have been you know

closed all around Glen Helen still has some

staying power what's unique about this

particular venue well

what is really unique

about Glen Helen is they take some of the motocross

heritage which is deep here

like you said it's been here since I was a

kid which is a long time ago

and they transfer it over into the off-road

track and what I mean by that

is this track is busy

even the front straightaway has four jumps

on it the back straightaway has a rhythm

section that's bigger than any other section

they have a sand section and

the track here is not

all clay it's sandy

loomy so it ruts up and so

it's true off-road racing

that's on a short course so the two

things I love most is I love short

tracks because everybody can run wide

open down a straightaway and

focus into these big wide corners that some

of these tracks have but not everybody

can run jump after jump where

your mindset is

constant you're thinking of if you mess

a jump up you'll mess

up like three more or you'll

mess up a couple corners it's almost like they took

desert racing and distilled it into a short course

absolutely and the racing

last night was phenomenal they made the

track a little more aggressive which I love that

because there again you have to use your head

you have to figure out like

even Jimmy said last night he goes I figured out

you can over jump those rhythms

and he says it was all I had a moment

you know and I go

yeah and he says but that's good because now

everybody's having to think how far

can we push it or how far we can't so

sometimes some guys push it a little farther

get some ahead it creates great

competition and the fans love it

they don't want to see off-road trucks

go around a track that look like rally

cars they want them flying through the air

they want to look like their truck that they drove in on

right they want to be able to see themselves

in it or have it relatable

and they love that

and we listen I love

NASCAR as much as NASCAR but when you

add NASCAR type experience

and then dirt and jumping and flying

fender to fender rubbing and all the stuff

that short course off-road racing adds

it's such a different level that is

so awesome to watch absolutely

and and and champ off-road

does such a good job of what they do

and they've taken they what this

is is this is this is outdoor

motocross for trucks yeah and

anybody that knows outdoor motocross knows

that you get a lot of the same excitement you do

with a stadium motocross it's obviously

out in open environment but you get

speed you get different

train you get ruts you get all these things

and you get endurance I mean

these guys are they're only running out here for

about 20 minutes on one of

these races but I tell you what if you if

you're not in shape you don't have your breathing

right you I tell everybody when when

they're new I say they go hey what you know

guy goes out there for the first time what can

you teach me what's the biggest thing you can teach me all these

tracks I go don't forget to breathe

I says put a note on the dash even because

I said a lot of these guys I've seen them when they're young

and I'm an older guy back when I

raced I was you know when I quit I was still

pretty old guy I get out the truck and yeah I'm

sweating but I'm just breathing normal

and they're about passed out and here they're

they're nineteen twenty years old and

they're just I says well because once you

forget to breathe you use you know you

just your focus you kind of along for the

rather than driving the the bus right

like you're just along and letting it out

yeah letting the race kind of act on you

rather than you yeah you have to have your

body function

you have to be athlete absolutely

and even though I'm maybe you know don't

look like I mean I can't go run a marathon

but my body is tuned for off-road

racing if it's desert racing or short

course racing and and you have to have

your your mindset to where your body

will take and you are breathing

characteristics and those things will come naturally

so your entire hundred percent focus

can be what's a hundred yards in front

of you awesome the track dude so

they this is amazing I love the

storytelling thank you Scott for spending the time

with us and walking us through and throwing

in a little bit of your history that's

been awesome absolutely anytime I'd love to

get back together with you to appreciate it

okay so wandering around the pits

came across the amsoil booth so I'm

looking at

tons and tons of product actually

there's so much stuff here and I can't

fit into my truck for the way home so

now I'm trying to figure out if

what I can take here

I got some amsoil

some amsoil chapstick

got some severe gear one of my favorites

I use that on everything lots of racing

oil here in mud slinger

oh man I can go crazy in here but

the man standing in front of me won't let me

and that's a legendary off-road racer

Scott Douglas and if you

know off-road racing

you know Scott and I actually pulled up his

highlights because I can't remember

everything that you've done but

almost a hundred career victories

eight desert championships in score, HDRA

best in the desert, mini-metal

two short course championships

two time board order cup champion

2010 inaugural winner

of the amsoil cup

three Baja 1000 class wins

1993

score San Felipe

250 overall winner

with a class 7 which

Herzog Ranger was

a beast back in his day and I was a

class 7S ranger guy

as a kid so I used to watch all you guys

and that was my favorite so way ahead of

his time anyway that was a really

long intro to say hi to Scott

well thanks a lot that's flattering

and you forgot the Hall of Fame

part

Hall of Famer

that's one of my favorite

ones as well

but you know I've had a blessed career

and I've worked for a lot of great people

I mean I started racing in the 70s

on motorcycles and then my brother

you were a two wheel guy earlier on

and then you went into

regular two wheel drive racetracks

but you also raced four wheel drive racetracks as well right

oh yeah yeah but the first thing I did

is the Baja 51980

my brother and I

my brother was I was 19

he was five years older and I was

he bought this truck off a used car a lot

and financed it on top of that

which I do not recommend for anybody

financing a racetrack that's new

so we ran the Baja 500

and we both shared the

driving we were pitting for Jim Connors

before that and for the Goodyear team

and there was a lot we did and so then

we took and we decided

we were going to race so he got this truck

what was it? it was an F100

it was a 1974

yeah, 74 F100

twin I-beam truck pretty

pretty much stock had little 33's

on it and had like a stock 302

with some headers on it

that would have been a dent side truck

and one of my favorite body styles

as a matter of fact

and anyway the way the cage

was built at that time

they thought that the frames needed to flex

because they were made out of certain material

so they tried to make some people made the cages

rigid some people made the cages

with a suspension piece

in there that the actual cage and the rear

would slide well make a long story short

halfway through the race the frame broken out

oh no! yeah so I go well

I've never been a quitter in my life

and I wasn't going to start at 19

I haven't finished now

so anyway but the bottom line

is we cut the spare tire mount apart

I got a stick welder we got it all back together

and we finished the race and we got fifth out of

in class 8 out of like 28

trucks and we were on top of the world

because we thought well here

we're racing against Walker Evans

and Scoop Vessels and Ivan Stewart at the time

and to get fifth place

those are legends but did you ever think

at 19 racing against those guys

that you would ever be up in that echelon

of racer because you are there

well I really appreciate that

and I wasn't sure at that point

I knew that how I was taught

how I was raised is if you

put your all into something

go all in or don't do it at all

and my dad told me

when we decided to go full time racing

or not full time but when we decided to go racing

I still had construction jobs so did my brother

he after this one race

we broke the frame we decided to build another truck

well we're just doing it on our own budget

no sponsors at the time

and he says hey both of you guys can move back home

free of charge the whole thing

but you're going to go in

and you're going to do this

100% in

and if you're not 100% in

if you go out and you're going to party

or you're going to go do this

if you're going to have other hobbies I'm out

you're going to kick you both out

but if you want to do this and you want to make it

you better make it 100%

so with my brother's help I was able to

get my career going pretty good

was that the best advice you could have gotten

at that age

when you look back do you think

if he hadn't said that to me

maybe it would have been a different path

or it wouldn't have been as committed

absolutely you know but my dad

I grew up in the back of a jeep

and when friends of mine

when I was 13, 14 years old

some friends of mine would go hey let's go over to

we're going to have a pool party over here

this weekend or whatever

I go no my dad's going jeep and he's part of a jeep club

and I was the guy who packed

we had a little tent trailer and I was the little guy

that went in there and packed it perfectly

because we only had so much room so

at an early age I got to witness

and be part of off-roading

in general not just racing but the off-road world

the kids that grow up in the off-road world

nobody has any idea

they go out to the desert for Thanksgiving

and have the big dinners and everything

everybody thinks it's a big party out there

well some of it is a big party

but a lot of it isn't a lot of it is families

and they're growing together

and you learn that family bond

with your siblings

and your parents

it was the coolest thing ever

in the jeep run

we'd go out jeeping or whatever

and my dad had a

he had a 74 cj5 at the time

had a 304 v8

and my dad was the coolest guy ever

in the jeep club

well we'd get there we'd set up camp

and he'd throw me the

he'd take the mufflers off and had open type cutouts

he'd throw me the wrenches in the cutouts

he says okay son go ahead and put these on

and I was like king of the world

I'm taking to putting these open exhausts

because we're going to have this loud open exhaust

for when we're out on the trails and everything

and he was

he taught me a lot about

learning and focusing

and we would go on these jeep runs

and we were at Johnson Valley before Johnson Valley

was a big thing

and so we'd be on some of these trails

with these jeeps that had 33's

and some of these rock trails

and there would be 30 people in these rooms

like horses and wheel travel

absolutely so they'd all try and make it up

these hills and everything

and some of them would roll over and some of them wouldn't make it

and my dad would wait till the very last

and then he'd tell my brother he said get in boys

because he had studied every one of them

and 9 times out of 10

he'd go up it like it was nothing

and I learned that knowledge is power

especially off-roading

even whether it's racing or trail riding

understanding how to reach terrain in the line

is probably the most important thing

next to maybe throttle application

and steering but you have to know

what the trail is going to allow you to do

or what the race course is going to allow you to do

so that you can stay on four wheels

and get through it

absolutely and you've got to have that focus

and I was fortunate enough

that early on my career

we went into 7S and that's where I started

having some real good success

winning some races

winning a couple championships

all of a sudden I get recognized by Walker Evans

he gives me a call and I'm a shy kid

and I'm a shy kid

I don't talk to anybody at this point

now I talk to everybody

I love telling stories and everything

but back then I'm a shy kid

Walker was one of my heroes

it was actually my mom's favorite driver

which was crazy

he calls my parents house

looking for me

and on Christmas

it was like two days before Christmas

it wasn't quite Christmas Eve

and says hey

I need to talk to Scott

my mom's like

and I happen to be there

she goes Walker Evans is on the phone

anyway

so I took the call

and my dad listened in

and he offered me a job for 1990

to drive one of his trucks

he says you and Rob McCackeren

are winning all the races

and you are

you are just dog and rob all the time

and so

best thing to do is to hire you

to get you off Rob's butt

and to put you in a truck

on our team

and I was like

well it didn't quite go that way

but I was just flattered

and this is my dream

this is what I wanted

and my parents knew this

this is my dream

we've been working hard

for about seven years

in construction

and racing

to try and build to this

well

anyway

he says well what do you think

he laid it all out

and I said well

I think I'm going to have to turn you down Walker

oh wow

and he was shocked

I think there's not too many people

that turn you down

absolutely

and he goes why do you think

you've got to do that

and I says well I have an obligation

I had a small

and at that time

I had some small sponsorships

I had a little small one from Ford

and BF Goodrich was being good to me

started giving me tires

then started giving me a little budget

and I had a deal that I just signed

with BF Goodrich

and so

he goes

he goes okay well

he says why don't you think about it

and call me back

and I says I'll do that

so I hang up the phone

my parents were

eavesdropping obviously

and my dad goes

well what was that all about

and he says

and I said

and he knew

but I said well

Walker offered to hire me

you know for a job

and he goes well

isn't that what you want to do

isn't that your dream

I said absolutely

that's my dream

he says that's

I said that's what I've dreamt

you know back when I race motorcycles

is to race for a living

is to be competitive

and he goes well what'd you tell him

and he knew that I told him no

and I says well I told him no

and he says well why did you do that son

and he says

he says well

he said

I told him

I says you know dad

I says

you told me that

your word is the only thing

you've got in life

and I said

I gave BF Goodrich my word

that I would race for them next year

and I signed a contract

and I says

I don't want to go about my

back against my word

and my dad looked up at me

and he goes

maybe I left something out

and he says

I tell you what son

he says

you call Walker back up

and he says

and you go and set up

face to face meeting

and you

if you're going to turn him down

you turn him down to his face

you don't turn him down

over the phone

and you do what's best for you

that's all I've got to say about this

so I went there

I brought my brother

and we

Walker

and at that point

I had a week before the meeting

so now I'm starting to think

I get in this little big

big head

I'm going okay

I want this

I'm thinking maybe

not to get greedy

but I want to be

well they start laying out

what I'm going to get

I'm going to go down to Dodge

and pick out any kind of car

you want

we'll order

three driving

there's three helmets

I was like

you have to be kidding me

this is a dream come true

and that was

back in the time

when Dodge was competitive

absolutely

they were in it

Dodge and Jeep

and so then he goes

well he goes

he goes

why exactly did you turn me down

I said well I had a contract

with B.F. Goodrich

and he says

well Frank D'Angelo

and I said yeah

you're a good guy

you're a good year guy

I says how do you know Frank

he goes oh no

we all know each other

and he says

I tell you what Scott

he says just ease your mind

and everything

he says

why don't we call Frank up

and this is before cell phones

and everything

I says well

he's not going to be in the office

this is a Saturday

he saw I got his home number

he calls up Frank

got his home number

I go I don't even have Frank's home number

and here you're with a good year guy

but he's Walker Evans

of course

anyhow

he calls him up

puts him on speakerphone

and he goes

I got Scott here

whatever

and Frank goes

you know what

this is a career opportunity

for you Scott

I'd be more than happy

to let you out of your contract

and that's how Frank is

yep absolutely

I mean

amazing

amazing guy

so that's how my professional career is

I took a two year leave of absence

for my construction job

figuring out

I'll do this for two years

and I'll be back

and I've never had to look back since

and here I am

in the Amzol booth

still supporting Amzol

and still supporting the sport

and loving every minute of it

alright so

you're here at the race

you do

actually kind of a lot of different things

for Amzol

you're wearing the Amzol shirt

so explain that to me

I show up in the Amzol booth

legend

Scott Douglass is sitting here right in front of me

well thank you

yeah well I mean

obviously I raced for Amzol

the Amzol Pro 4

for about 16 years

and we had great success

won a lot of races

a lot of big races

yeah

you know

and so

when I

it was time for me to retire

because father time

catches up to you

and you're just not as marketable

as you used to be

you know

they were really gracious

they came to me

and they said

hey

you've been with us a long time

we want you a part of our brand

because you know our brand

you believe in our brand

which I did

I totally

engulfed

and believe in everything

Amzol does

from the engineering department

to the marketing department

if you've never been to Amzol

I suggest you go to

it's the largest

under roof building

in all of the state of Wisconsin

we did a

walkthrough

two part series

talking about how Amzol

is made

we did everything from

the trains that come in

and to

where they mix everything

to the marketing side

to the bottling

I mean I saw it firsthand

and you know

there's some other

Amzol athletes

that are good friends of mine

Scott Bertzol

and

just

you know

from our standpoint

is I talk to people

I know that are in the

Amzol sphere

and everybody says

the exact same thing

and that's Amzol

is a great company

that makes great product

but it treats you like family

and that's been

our experience as well

and it's

been a great

relationship

and my take away

is when I walk into

that big building

and I see those big

vats and those big tanks

I not only see

professionalism

I see everybody

in that building

that has pride

in what they do

and you cannot

you can't

you can't buy that

you have to

you have to have it

get to earn it

and everybody in that building

from like said

the marketing department

down to the mixers

to the engineers

have it

so that's why I

so prideful

to be a part of Amzol

well they told me

they go

well we want you to be

an Amzol ambassador

and I said

well what does that

actually entail

and they go

we want you to do

events

and be at events

and I was doing

a display program

before

we want you to continue

that

and I said okay

well

I'm kind of a glorified

Cardi then right

and they go

no no

you're a lot more than that

obviously

and so I've really

enjoyed it

the last four or five years

I've been doing

just the display program

but look at me

I get to do

what I'm

I get to come to these

off-road races

or now I'm into the

car show network too

and we do a lot of

car shows

I've got four hot rods

I get to bring my hot rods

put them on display

drive them around

all arena

when we do hot

August nights

I get to go to

to

just all kinds of

different events

Jeep Beach

and I've got a big Jeep

that's all done up

and so

I get to do

all the fun side of

different pair of fans

absolutely

I'm the luckiest guy

in the world

because I get to do

all the things

I love to do

with all the people

that I grew up with

and was around

all my life

and I get paid

to do it

so

Amso treats me wonderful

let me ask you this

how many younger

racers

know that you're here

and come by for advice

and races

there's quite a few

of them

and just walking

especially in California

here

because I'm a California native

walking around

I can't go down

one of these rows

without two or three

people talking

you know

they either

want advice

or they want to hear

one of my stories

and sometimes

I think

my stories

get a little long

and they get a little much

but for some reason

they never get tired

well

it's wonderful

but I was really proud

because

Jimmy Hendricks

is one of the people

that Amso supports

he won pro 4

last night

and I go over there

and he'll just ask me

off the wall

questions

and I know he's fishing

for different things

he has questions in his head

but I let him ask

and I tell him my opinion

which things have changed

since I got out of a pro 4

some things have changed

but some things stay the same

your mindset

your focus

you know

how the track changes

all that stuff

stays the same

the cars have changed

drastically

sometimes the speed

has changed

how you throw them in

sometimes

but

he picks my brain

for different things

and it's an honor

to be able to do that

and then to see the success

he had last night

so let's talk about

the course that we're at right now

which is Glen Helen

and this is kind of a famous

SoCal course

or motocross

and short track

and things like that

and as all these race courses

have been

you know

closed all around

Glen Helen

still has some staying power

what's unique about

this particular venue

well

what is really unique

about Glen Helen

is they take some

of the motocross heritage

which is deep here

like you said

it's been here

since I was a kid

which is a long time ago

and they transferred over

into the off-road track

and what I mean by that

is this track is busy

even the front straightaway

has four jumps on it

the back straightaway

has a rhythm section

that's bigger than any other

section

they have a sand section

and the track here

is not all clay

it's sandy loomy

so it ruts up

and so it's true

off-road racing

that's on a short course

so the two things I love most

is I love short tracks

because everybody can run

wide open down a straightaway

and focus into these big

wide corners

that some of these tracks have

but not everybody can run

jump after jump

where your mindset

is constant

you're thinking of

if you mess a jump up

you'll mess up like

three more

or you'll mess up

a couple corners

it's almost like they took

desert racing

and distilled it into a

short course

absolutely

and the racing last night

was phenomenal

they made the track

a little more aggressive

which I love that

because there again

you have to use your head

you have to figure out

like even Jimmy said last night

he goes I figured out

you can over jump those rhythms

and he says it was all

I had a moment

and I go yeah

and he says but that's good

because now

everybody's having to think

how far can we push it

or how far we can't

so sometimes

some guys push it a little farther

it gets them ahead

it creates great competition

and the fans love it

they don't want to see

off-road trucks

go around a track

that look like rally cars

they want them flying through the air

they want to look like

their truck that they drove in on

they want to be able

to see themselves in it

or have it relatable

and they love that

and we listen

I love NASCAR

as much as NASCAR

but when you add

NASCAR type experience

and then dirt

and jumping and flying

fender to fender rubbing

and all the stuff

that short course

off-road racing adds

it's such a different level

that is so awesome to watch

absolutely

and champ off-road

does such a good job

of what they do

and they've taken

what this is

is this is

this is outdoor motocross

for trucks

and anybody

that knows outdoor motocross

knows that

you get a lot of the same

excitement you do

with a stadium motocross

it's obviously

out in an open environment

but you get speed

you get different train

you get ruts

you get all these things

and you get endurance

I mean these guys

they're only running out here

for about 20 minutes

on one of these races

but I tell you what

if you're not in shape

you don't have your breathing

right

I tell everybody

when they're new

they go

hey what you know

guy goes out there

for the first time

what can you teach me

what's the biggest thing

you can teach me

about these tracks

I go

don't forget to breathe

I says put a note

on the dash even

because I said

a lot of these guys

I've seen them when they're young

and I'm an older guy

back when I raced

I was

you know

when I quit

I was still

pretty old guy

I get out of the truck

and yeah

I'm sweating

but I'm just breathing

the normal air

and they're about passed out

and here they're

they're 19, 20 years old

and they're just

I says well because

once you forget to breathe

you just

you know you just

your focus

you're kind of a lung for the rocker

rather than driving

the bus right

absolutely

letting it

letting the race kind of

act on you rather than you

yeah

you have to have

your body functions

come naturally

you have to be an athlete

absolutely

and even though

I'm maybe

don't look like

I mean I can't go

run a marathon

but my body is tuned

for off-road racing

if it's desert racing

or short course racing

and

and you have to have

your mindset

to where

your body will take

and your breathing characteristics

and those things

will come naturally

so your entire

100% focus

can be what's 100

yards in front of you

it's awesome

the track

dude so

this is amazing

I love the storytelling

thank you Scott

for spending the time

with us

and

and throwing in

a little

bit of your history

that's been awesome

absolutely any time

I'd love to get back together

with you too

I appreciate it

okay so I've been

invited into the pits

of number 44

driver

Amsoil

champ driver

Jimmy Henderson

and I was just watching

your practice lapse

out there

dude you were rushing it

on the course

yeah

we weren't even

going to practice today

and

woke up this morning

started

driving to the track

and

the crew chief was like

hey I got an ideal

shot

so I had a few little

complaints during the race

yeah

you mean the race

that you won last night

the race we won last night

yeah

I had minor complaints

he takes that stuff

to heart

and I was like

you know yeah

it's great

but this was happening

this was happening

literally walking

the trailer

and he's like

get your suit on

he's like

I made a change

and it's a big one

you gotta check it out

how do you feel about it

it's great

I mean

me and him

have a thing

where we like sit down

we talk about

so we made that change

but he like

literally showed me

what we were doing

and we talked about it

yeah

I think that's the right move

and

we went out there

we ran one lap

and that was the plan

because the truck

was fully race prepped

so we were like

okay I'm going to

do a little hot lap

and then I'm going to

burn one lap

and then we're going to come in

and

man the truck was dialed

dude I watched it

so I was sitting

at the end of the track

by the start

finish line

where you go around the big corner

and have the two sets of doubles

and then the big

the next big sweeper

dude

you were

you're clearing the first jump

or you're doing the jump

clearing the first second

landing perfectly

and then clearing the second double

on the next one

then setting yourself up

right for that sweeper

yeah

I mean it's just like

it was like

if

if trucks could be like music

man I was just watching

an orchestra right there

and it's so funny on these trucks

I mean

you're watching

the pro fours

with four wheel drive

like they just stick to the ground

there

you're coming in after that big

jump after the start finish

and I'm watching

kind of those little

saw

seesaw movements of the wheel

as you're

steering around the corner

and unlike a pro two

where it's all rear

you know

swing

you're just kind of sliding through

and it's a lot more graceful

I just love that about

the four wheel drive stuff

yeah

and it's a lot about the confidence

in the truck

I mean

you really have to back them in

and you have to commit

but in that

you have to commit to the throttle

and your steering

has to be on point

which means your brakes

you know

your braking point

sets the nose

right

and then the throttle

has to go with that

because if you set the nose

you get rotation

you got to pick the throttle up

pick up too much

you're going to go too far

and you're going to be

looking at the banners

on the inside

you don't pick it up enough

you're going to hook a rut

or the cushion

and go over

so it's just like

this confidence

and all the things

going on inside the truck

actually

my pastor

from Atlanta

is here

this weekend

so he made the trip from

California

nice

just see us race

and I was telling him last night

he's like

yeah he's like

I see you turn

and I was like

okay this is really how it goes

100 feet

before you actually

see the truck turn

the mechanics inside

you know inside

you are

setting the brakes

flicking the truck

setting the throttle

and then

you visually

see the truck turn

like all this happens

before that

and

you know

I've only been in it

five years

and it's been a

huge learning curve

coming from asphalt

and

so much respect

for the guys

that have raced

these things

asphalt's a lot of foam

but there's a whole other

level and element

to truck racing

short course

and especially this track

right because

this isn't just clay

this is like

somebody took the desert

and put it on a short course

because you got

all sorts of different surfaces

you've got the way

that they broom this track

the way that they put in the jumps

it's the melting

like motocross

and

desert racing together

so you're busy

the whole time

there's no

like chilling out

during this race

yeah there's

so

you know there's

14 jumps

and there's five turns

it's very busy inside

how long's the course?

just over

five eighths of a month

okay

so it is a

lot of jumps

that's a lot of stuff

and it's like that rhythm

you know just like

doing a super

cross track

or a good

motocross

tight motocross track

just rhythm

and if you

get out of that rhythm

so it's more important

to hit your rhythm

than to try to

push in full speed

yeah

it's just be smooth

be smooth

and let the speed

come to you

you know

every time like

qualifying your style

try to push

just that last lap

like oh we can get

a little bit more

and it just blew

the lap to pieces

it's almost like

if you can stay within

your rhythm

and you know you're fast

you'll kind of get ahead

through attrition

right because people can

over drive their cars

and you're going to be

able to

drive your race

and stay out in front

and

I mean

what I saw out there

at practice with

how much faster

you were

that was

I mean that was

pretty awesome to see

Chuck's quick

and I feel good in it

and we

you know

we have a really

good mechanical

machine

like the parts

are really good

we know we have a good

machine

and we just had to

make it do

what I wanted to do

you know we needed

it predictable

needs to turn

when I want to turn

the brakes need that

the way I wanted it to

I need the throttle

to come in

the way I want it to

and once we got

that

like my chemistry

with the truck

with Trad

and with Luke

Luke's our tuner

right over there

with the king hat

once we got us all

like in the same

chemistry

where we're talking

the same language

and they trust me

you know because

I say weird stuff

like that

you know I want

the truck to like

rotate better

right here

and they're like

well nobody's rotating good

and I'm like

that's my point

yeah

I want

I want mine to do this

yes if we

change this

that's two tenths

yeah

and that's

just that trust

and that

yeah

relationship where

you know that's

we need two tenths

right there

this one spot

will do it

do you enjoy

a track like this

more than like

a clay track

like a Crandon

is this

more fun for you

or is it

a challenge that

you know

you have to meet

the challenge

it's a challenge

it's my first time

on a track like this

I've done rally cars

but the jumps

were so mild

they were kind of bumps

not jumps

so

first time like this

I'm loving it

and I enjoy it

but

some of the tracks

like the high speed tracks

like there's

there's

great about that too

yeah

everybody's like

oh you're just

wide open

yeah no you're not

you know

like I mean

we go through Oregon

you're like

40% throttle

and you're doing like

maybe what

80 85

and on this track

you're probably

what low 70

something like that

108

wow

turn one

jeez

um

bark river

we're in the 90s

somewhere going into

the graveyard

so

here

we might be

doing 75

80

haven't actually

looked at

GPS yet

but

you know

it's just

that different

it's just something different

yeah

it's hard to

it's hard to say I love this

more than that

because I love both of them

you know

I don't like tracks where

they're choked up

and not flowy

yeah

so there are some

you know

tracks where it's just like

man if we could just

get out here

and like

just change some flow

yeah

do better

and give you passing lanes

like this is a very hard

track to pass on

I will say that

it's tight

um

it's tight

um

but

we also have tracks that

don't really like

super flow

but then you got

tracks like

ERA

TRAN

and you know

Barker

they're just

everything

we're very well laid out

like this

you know

the artist did a good job

laying the dirt out right

sure

and they've done a good

job here

this track

when we first came here

and tested

I was like

this is a mess

this place is a mess

but they

modified it

even last night

there were complaints

about the track

and the lighting

like not enough light towers

complaints about things

on the track

and they took it to heart

and they fixed it

and they

didn't give us

you know everybody wants

an easy track

they didn't give us

what we wanted

but they gave us

hey you don't like that

we'll give you something else

so it takes that

the series

and the drivers

have to all

listen to each other

but yeah

I love this track

it's pretty awesome

so far

can you tell us a little bit

about your truck

how it's set up

shocks

engine

trans

all that kind of stuff

I could

but I'd have to kill you

oh

right Jerry

I don't know

I mean you know

obviously you have

the winning formula so

really

the 30,000 foot view

yeah so it's a Toyota

power plant

and it's built by

Golden Shamrock

one of the

subcontractors

of TRD racing

and

so we got

Toyota power plant

we have an

extract transmission

and it's actually

not sequential

it's a paddle shift

oh interesting

so we have an

Indycar style

steering wheel

that was made by

Beyond Redline

fully custom

and it's got

paddle shift in it

we ran the

sequential shifter

for a while

and it's fine

but I like the

paddle shift

and we were able to do it

they made it legal

so

we tried

decided to try it

and we've had

the hiccups with it

but we've been able to

work through them

as the year went on

and stuff

so we have a front diff

which is also made

by extract

and it kind of

unlocks and locks

like a C cell

it unlocks

and then when you're

on the accelerator

it locks back

and then just

standard

locker rear end

solid rear end

is there

anything

you know

how much payload

does this truck

haul more than ass

or is it just

haul ass

and that's it

it just hauls that

she's a heavy girl though

she's 4300 pounds

oh they're that heavy

wow

yeah with me in it

it's about 4300

so

she's big

you can get them down

to 4100

but you don't take you out

that's like me

yeah

so

you're getting ready

for the race tonight

it sounds like

you feel really confident

in the truck

you're ready to go

I'd love to

get you back on the podcast

after the race

when you're not as busy

and I know you guys

have you and your wife

have a business

and tell me

can you talk about

Amso a little bit

because I know you use it

in your construction

or your JV steel business

right

yeah cranes

and you kind of found it

on your own

this wasn't like

oh I'm going to use

Amso to race

this was like

this keeps my machinery

alive right

it's like

a necessity

for you

for your

livelihood

yeah it really is

so we kind of

found Amso

we were burning up

race car motors

and burning the

piston rings

and the rings out of it

and bearings

so

we were trying to

find something

that worked

and

we ended up with Amso

we tried it

we ran the motor

our standard

and the

you know the engine builder

pulled the motor

apart and was like

man this thing looks brand new

we were like perfect

so we had the same issues

on welding machines

we run gasoline

welding machines

we leave them out

on job site

all day

just running

same thing cranes

on job sites

they don't get

serviced when they need to

and that's just how

construction

sometimes you can't take

a piece of equipment

out of service right

yeah that part is

is they cost the fortune

yeah

every one of them

big small

they seem to cost

more than what you think

they would

but then you can never

service them properly

so when we had the issue

with the race car

and we were like

oh man

you know

now

we're going way

farther with the motors

than we used to be able to

just by changing

oil

well that concept

rolled right over

we're never changing

the oil in the crane

when we need to

well let's stop

buying this cheap

oil

let's put good

oil in it

because the

welder costs

10 grand

the crane costs

a million dollars

why are we worried

about

you know

$3 difference

in a quart of

oil

like I know

that you have to sit down

and do the math

but the machine

costs a lot more

than all

changes you're

putting in it

certainly when now

our machines

are going to

8000 hours

you know as far as

machines are not

having issues

with the motors

and we're not

having issues

with hydraulics

we've actually changed

all our hydraulic fluids

and then in our

machine shop

which is actually

a big

industrial fab shop

we have big

saws and stuff

so we're like

trying to change

everything over to it

just because

you know

we're able to send

these analysis

on two

amps

and amps

will analyze the oil

well

the very first time

we did it

we're pulling old

oil out

we're seeing like

breakdown

and they're seeing

metal and stuff in there

we change the oil

we do it

you know go through

about two cycles

and they're like yeah

it looks great

it's the exact same motor

we didn't go in

and rebuild the motor

we just changed the

oil and once it

cycled through

now we're seeing

better results

well that's proof

so I'm like

well if I can keep

this crane

five more years

that's a lot of money

in my return right

so yeah

it's

and those been

a huge part of our success

on the track

off the track

in our company

you know to the point

to where now it's

not even a question

well that's awesome

I'd love to

get you back on

and post-race

and maybe talk about

you know your weekend

and what it was like

in the driver's seat

and all that

and like to

dig down on your

on the family business

a little bit too

and obviously

you probably have a lot of

trucks in your fleet

and you probably have

a pretty good idea

of what lasts

and what doesn't

so I think that'd be

a pretty cool conversation

to have too

42 diesel trucks

yeah

35 years

that run around

we'll add that to our

conversation

after the race

but I would love to

pick your brain on that

awesome

appreciate your time

good luck today

thank you

congratulations

to racer Jimmy Henderson

who once again

took the top spot

on the podium

shortly after our interview

sweeping the weekend's

races

and of course

we'll take all the credit

for that

since truck show podcast

is nothing

if not good luck

for anyone who

appears on it

oh man

I hope you guys

enjoyed our day

at the raceway

with amsoil

and champ off-road

and I just want to say

thank you to our friends

over there

for inviting us out

giving us the VIP treatment

I seriously cannot

wait to do it again

and I'm glad to

have been able to share

it with you

alright

I am

I'm not

I'm not too ashamed

to beg

if you haven't

done it yet

please follow us

on social

at truck show

podcast

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Sean P. Holman

for the latest

Going Zons

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that going zons

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but I said it anyway

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S3, E57 - AMSOIL Championship Off-Road Nationals

About this episode

Jeep Wrangler 392

Jeep Gladiator

Jeep Brand

Jeep Performance parts

Mopar

35s

lifted

Amsoil Championship Off Road series

pro-4 race truck

four-wheel drive

RY45 motor platform

six-speed X-track sequential gearbox

front differential

limited-slip differential

differentiation

spec chassis

tube chassis

trophy truck

rear shock

Bilstein

V8

NASCAR

off-road racing

HDRA

best in the desert

SCORE

short course championships

Baja 1000

Ford Ranger

Baja 500

Ford F100

Jeep CJ5

class 8

Honda Element

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