The Avants Podcast
Avants
Updated 6 days agoJoin hosts Dan Putnam and Nick Bergeron as they get to know industry leading guests beyond just what they drive. The Avants Podcast is never scripted and never predictable, but it’s always a good time and full of surprises. You won’t find any boring reviews that sound like reading off a pre-planned info sheet, ”history of” shows that are reworded Wikipedia articles, or advertisements for the next new foam mattress here! The Avants Podcast focuses on making sure guests are always authentic, just like your hosts.
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Episodes (447)
Kiki Wolfkill Is Even Cooler Than Her Name
Where do you really even start when trying to sum up someone like Kiki Wolfkill? She’s the Studio Head for 343, the studio producing arguably the greatest First Person Shooter of all time, one of the directors of Halo: Nightfall, a former professional race car driver, and as it turns out a ton of fun to talk to! Basically she’s one of the most authentically cool people we’ve ever met and you’re going to love this episode.
Will Diefenbach: Chief Concours Judge, Racer, Sailor, and More!
I don’t think Will was trying to win the title of most interesting man in the world, but he’s definitely a contender. We like all our guests, it’s sort of a requirement to be on the show, but even with people we know it’s amazing how much we learn when we do an interview. Will is a shining example of why we started Rain City Supercars. From working in tech to racing, sailing, judging Ferraris, and being an all around awesome guy, Will definitely has lived a life and has so many great stories. You’re going to love Episode 71!
Surprise! It’s Bonus Time!
Dan is back and so we did a bonus episode! We discuss driving in Ireland, the Geneva show, and our Manager/Producer/Little Sister has a special announcement! Listen in to a fun update and don’t worry, there’s a whole new episode coming tomorrow as usual!
Dan’s Still Gone And Everyone Is Off Their Meds
This editing nightmare brought to you by what I’m guessing was a lot of Rainier and maybe some Basil Hayden. It sounds like no one had any fun at all recording this episode. Enjoy the chaos!
Celebrating Women’s Day The Proper Way With Shay Hoelscher
She races cars, she owns her own company, and she makes things happen! We’ve been looking forward to interviewing Shay for a really long time for many good reasons that you’ll hear on this weeks episode. Shay talks about getting in Porsches, her collection, and her driving experience.
McLaren Bellevue Brand Manager Emily Owen
Buying a supercar isn’t like buying a Honda or a Ford. The expectation for knowledge and service has a MUCH higher bar. Luckily, you have Emily who eats and breathes McLaren. Working in service and now in sales, Emily has the in depth knowledge you want when looking for a car like a McLaren. It’s no secret your hosts are McLaren fans, but we’re not in the same league as Emily. Listen in to Episode 67 as we talk McLarens. Again.
The Many Stories of Dominic Dobson
Our friend Dominic Dobson has one of the most diverse racing careers around; something you just can’t do today. From Baja to Pikes to the Indy 500, he’s done at all and has some absolutely amazing stories to share. A racing fan or not, we know you’ll enjoy the stories he shared on this week’s episode!
SNOWPOCALYPSE!
SNOWPOCALYPSE STRIKES SEATTLE! Actually, that’s not too far off. The city shutdown for most of us for about a week. We brought back Branden Ben Powell with Avants Off Road and King County Search and Rescue to give us some stories and talk about the work S&R has been doing, which isn’t necessarily what you might think.
Jeff Evans Tells Us How To Rally A Prius
To answer your first question, no this isn’t a joke and we have the pics to prove it! Jeff Evans of Throttle Grotto tells us about RallyCross in the PNW and how he started doing it with a Prius. More importantly, he was competitive! Just goes to show, you really can race anything.
More Wankers in Scottsdale
In this episode we recap the fun, the work, and the Wankers we met in Scottsdale. This was another adventure to remember with great people and we’re already looking forward to next year. If you think these stories are good, you should hear the ones we couldn’t record! We have to put out a HUGE thanks to Seth Thomas of APC Auto Spa and Davis Mock who volunteered there time to help with our event. Most importantly, this was our official one year friendiversary with our manager and practically little sister, Amanda from Drivers Club! We wouldn’t have made it this far without her.
Beyond Cars Yeah With Mark Greene!
We talk to our friend and fellow Podcaster Mark Greene of Cars Yeah about how he got started and what made him the host of one of the biggest automotive Podcasts going today. To date, Mark has produced over 1,200 episodes with all sorts of world famous automotive guests. Our Podcasts have a a pretty different format and we’ve got to hand it to him and his success. Mark is a good friend and we had a lot of fun getting to know him beyond the voice on his show. Listen in and check out the story behind Cars Yeah!
Where’s Wingnut? He’s On Our Podcast!
On this episode we have the local, the legendary, WINGNUT! You’ll probably recognize his voice from his real job as the afternoon DJ on 100.7! Wingnut is a huge car and motorcycle guy and tracks both his GTR and his Ducati Panigale 1199R. It’s such a small world in the car world. Enjoy this episode while Dan tries to keep up and stay on topic while Nick’s and Wingnut’s ADD runs wild. Get to know your local DJ beyond the radio on this fun episode.
Master Collector Peter Gleeson - Part 2
Did you wonder what the title “Master Collector” actually meant? Listen to the follow up episode with Master Collector Peter Gleeson and you will quickly understand exactly why they call him “Master Collector.” The BMW fans are especially going to love this episode, but we’ve got something here for just about everyone. You might even be able to strike up a conversation with that art history major barista you’ve been flirting with after this one. *Art history majors can send their hate mail to [email protected] and put “For Dan” in the subject line.
Master Collector Peter Gleeson - Part 1
Peter Gleeson is one of those rare people you hope just keeps talking. His car collection is more than a collection of nice cars he bought because they were good investments or eye catching; each car has a story - like being involved in a bank robbery. We’re already looking forward to having Peter back on in the future and we’re sure you will too. In part one of this two part episode, Peter talks to us about his life and his move to the states and how his love for cars and taste in them was formed.
The Great Christmas Episode!
Did we say great? We may have been overselling it a little, but it was fun! We asked our friend and crowd favorite previous guest Jason Bourriague to come into Drivers Club and join us for a fun episode sharing stories and recapping what a fun year we’ve had. Photographer Karl Noakes even had us dress up extra nice for the photos. Jason made sure to make us look bad, but we digress.
Scott and Katrina, The Car Show Experts
Our guests this week are Scott Ingebretson and Katrina Couch who organize Jet Center Events in Scottsdale, AZ and do the marketing for Concorso Italiano in Monterey during car week. If you’re looking for how the big time shows run, these are the ones to talk to.
Doug Perry Defines Drivers Club
The most common question we get asked when people ask about Drivers Club is “What is Drivers Club?” Well, we could spin that question 100 different ways, but Doug Perry is here to tell you himself.
Ben Abrams Tells Us His Story of Creating Stories
We love stories. It’s actually why we do this - we meet a lot of great people with great stories we think the people will want to hear. When eGarage does this they turn it into fine art on the screen. As fans of eGarage we were really excited to have Ben Abrams on our show to hear more about his creative vision, his life, his cars, and the future of eGarage. Ben was kind enough to open up and tell us his story about the vision behind the lens of his eGarage projects including his latest amazing video for Driver’s Club.
Transportation Redecoration With The Byers
Continuing in our trend of talking to awesome couples with a love for cars, we talk to Matt and Allison Byers about buying and building cars their way from the very beginning. Being together since before they could drive, they talk car adventures, car shows, and car builds together. Get to know them and say hello next time you see them at one of the MANY car shows you’ll find them at.
Rain(ier) City Supercars, More McLarens, and More Road Trips
We’ve got some exciting news about the progression of Rain City Supercars (with more to come!), Dan talks about meeting Derek Bell, we discuss McLarens and other Hypercars, and talk about upcoming road trips you can be a part of! We took this episode to just be car guys and talk car stuff.
DAS MULE!
We’ve got Joe and Dana, the founders of one of our favorite shops, MULE Expedition Outfitters. Mule is who we turn everyone to if they need advice on how to do a build right. We are huge offroad fans and Mule is a game changer for the PNW offering more than just fancy parts for sale. We first found out about Mule when they were offering free tech sessions on everything to do with offroad. We love a company that earns their customers and Mule is the standard for customer service in the off road/overlanding world. To top it all off, they’re now an Avants Partner so Avants members get a discount!
Authentic Conversation with Shannon Low
We talk to Shannon Low of Authentic Motorcars in Redmond. If you’ve spent anytime in the car scene in the PNW your probably know Shannon as a staple in the car community here. Shannon is a specialist in just about every car brand, but especially the obscure and unique. Unlike us, he’s a jack of all cars and a master of most. Tune in and hear about LaForza, Spkyer, Saab, and more!
We Got There And Enjoyed The Drive
WE MADE IT TO EPISODE 50! It’s been quite a ride and we decided to take this episode to recap some of our favorite moments, guests, and a few of our blunders over the last year. We tried to narrow it down to our favorite episodes since the start and it wasn’t easy, but we felt like these were some milestones we personally enjoyed. If you haven’t heard us before or you’re new to the podcast, give these a shot!
Coming Up On Rain City Supercars...
Just so you know, this is more like episode 49.5. Nick and Dan were both REALLY sick this week, but we wanted to do a quick episode letting everyone know what’s coming up on RCS as well as introduce our new sponsor, Hagerty! This has always been a labor of love for us, so we’ve been intentionally slow to grab sponsors as we want to only represent brands we personally believe in. We joke a lot, but putting our names on anything is something we actually do take seriously and we are really proud and honored to be associated with Hagerty who has always treated us and their customers well. We should know, Nick has been one before this Podcast ever started.
It’s Ladies Night!
Amanda, Ashley, and Kristen take over the mics for episode 48, which is not 49 like we mentioned in the podcast! The episode is mostly all about the women in the industry who are putting together a driver's group specifically for women enthusiasts that enjoy track time, group drives, and more than just standing next to their cars for attention. The group is officially organized and led by Amanda with Driver's Club so you know it's going to be good.