Another ORMHOF OG, Brian Chuchua, class of 1978 on Episode 171

ORMHOF inductee Brian Chuchua, Class of 1978, drops some cherry bombs on us as he tells the Jeep history from the beginning. From paying $5,000 for a Jeep franchise to participating in year 2 of Jeep Jamboree to racing the first Mexican 1000 and founding SEMA. So grateful to interview long-time history-makers in the industry. Congratulations to Brian Chuchua, a 1978 inductee into ORMHOF, Brian is why we say; legends live at ORMHOF.org.  Be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.

5:09 – education today is not career-advancing, for sure

10:59 – I was drag racing my Jeep with the V8 at all the local drag strips                                

14:28 – I made the cover of Popular Mechanics 

17:24 – the Pan American highway existed, but the bridges did not, so you had to ford all these rivers

25:15 – I drove my Jeep up the steps of the Sydney Opera House

30:09 – we built the first Blazer and sold the name to Chevrolet

36:54 – the original SEMA was to fight the legislation on wheels

Special thanks to ORMHOF.org for support and sponsorship of this podcast.

Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

[00:00:00.820] 

Welcome to Conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview style podcast. Those interviewed are all involved in the offroad industry. Being involved, like all of my guests are, is a lifestyle, not just a job. I talk to past, present, and future legends, as well as business owners, employees, media, and land use warriors. Men and women who have found their way into this exciting and addictive lifestyle we call offroad. We discuss their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active in offroad. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world that we live and love and call offroad.

[00:00:46.120] 

This episode of Conversations with Big Rich is brought to you by the Offroad Motorsports Hall of Fame. The mission of the Hall of Fame is to educate and inspire present and future generations of the offroad community by celebrating the achievements of those who came before. We invite you to help fulfill the mission of the Offroad Motorsports Hall of Fame. Join, partner, or donate today. Legends live at ormhof.org.

[00:01:14.010] - Big Rich Klein

On today's episode of Conversations with Big Rich, it is my honor to talk with Brian Chuchua. Brian is a 1978 inductee into the Offroad Motorsports Hall of Fame. His first race was in 1954, just a year or two after getting his Jeep, and the same year that he graduated high school. He was on the Jeep Jamboree in 1954 on the Rubicon. In 1960, he drove his Jeep to the Panama Canal. He opened a dealership in 1963 in Fullerton, California. He's one of the founding fathers of SEMA in 1964... Or '63, excuse me. That's just the beginning. Brian, thank you so much for spending the time and talking today about your history.

[00:02:02.520] - Brian Chuchua

You're very welcome.

[00:02:04.880] - Big Rich Klein

Let's start off right at the very beginning. Where are you born and raised?

[00:02:11.670] - Brian Chuchua

Born in Belle, California.

[00:02:14.400] - Big Rich Klein

Belle, California, Southern.

[00:02:16.340] - Brian Chuchua

Yes. I went to State Street Elementary School in Hymanston Park. Then from there, we moved Southgate, and I went to Stanford Avenue School. Then from there, I went to South Gate Junior High School, which I graduated from. Then my folks moved to Lehabra Heights. I had to transfer to Fulton High School. I graduated from Fulton High School in '54. I went on to Fulton in junior college, graduated '56. That's my...

[00:03:10.320] - Big Rich Klein

Your schooling background?

[00:03:12.150] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah.

[00:03:13.080] - Big Rich Klein

How were you as a student? Were you a good student or were you preoccupied with things outside of the school?

[00:03:22.070] - Brian Chuchua

I'd say it right in the middle on the corner in a school. And then the off-roading was part of it for me because every weekend I'd head for the desert. When I was in high school, I would spend the weekends camping. And with my Jeep. And then I made accessories for my Jeep. And people said, Well, gee, I want one of those. So that's where I got started at making the roll bars and tow bars. I sold roll bars to Chevrolet for their Corvettes. I did obviously roll bars for Jeeps. That was where I manufactured. My father owned a steel warehouse in Compton, and I did a lot of my working there.

[00:04:29.280] - Big Rich Klein

Is that where you learned to weld as well?

[00:04:34.020] - Brian Chuchua

I learned to weld in really high school. Fullerton high school, I had a welding class, sheet metal class, tape class, and all the automotive stuff, which doesn't exist today. I took every class they had.

[00:04:54.390] - Big Rich Klein

Great. I wish that was one of the things that we still offered instead of some of the other social education that the kids are getting nowadays.

[00:05:09.070] - Brian Chuchua

Now, the education today is not career advancing, for sure.

[00:05:14.290] - Big Rich Klein

Correct. And so you really liked the shop classes, I would imagine?

[00:05:21.420] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, that was one of my favorite classes. I got my best grades, English or history or something at mediocre grades. But anything to do with shops, I just chill. Top of the class.

[00:05:37.870] - Big Rich Klein

That's excellent. And your dad helped you get your first Jeep?

[00:05:46.270] - Brian Chuchua

Yes. We had an Avocados orchard in Lahabra Heights. And he bought a Jeep from... I remember where we bought it. It was at 48 CG2A.

[00:06:04.900] - Big Rich Klein

One of the old flat fenders, right?

[00:06:06.770] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, that's correct.

[00:06:10.990] - Big Rich Klein

Did you run that pretty much stock or did you fix it up before you're getting your driver's license?

[00:06:19.560] - Brian Chuchua

I fixed it up. I showed the heads for Hickey. He made it. He showed the heads for the 460 or so in their shape. I bought it. His dual wheel adaptor had dual wheels on the back. Then in 1955, I bought a Plymouth V8 and installed that in the Jeep. That was the first of my conversions. Then with Willi Garber, who made adaptors for all kinds of cars, I was selling his Jeep versions all over the world. That's how I got started.

[00:07:24.840] - Big Rich Klein

Early there, right after high school, I take it that you went on the Rubicon for the first time in 1954?

[00:07:34.690] - Brian Chuchua

That'd be probably correct on the date. Also, the Hemet Jeep Cavalcade was big in those days. And then I think what else?

[00:07:50.250] - Big Rich Klein

I think Jeeper's Jamboree, or the runs on the Rubicon started in 1953. So you were one of the very first ones Do you remember what that experience was like?

[00:08:02.900] - Brian Chuchua

Well, it was a truth and a lie. I'm a teatotaler, so I was shocked at the amount of alcohol that's consumed on one of these trips. But that it was interesting because I had my Jeep with the V8 Plymouth in it, and I was just amazed that the way in which you can do it with the rocks on the steep trail in the Rubicon. It was very interesting. I couldn't wait to go again. Then I later became a owner of a 1/16 share of the Rubicon. I still have that share.

[00:09:01.560] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, really? And that's of the Rubicon Springs?

[00:09:05.080] - Brian Chuchua

Yes.

[00:09:06.250] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[00:09:07.350] - Brian Chuchua

An opportunity came up and a bunch of us from Jeep Corporation and each one of us share when they were available.

[00:09:27.220] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's awesome. When was the the last time that you were on the Rubicon?

[00:09:35.050] - Brian Chuchua

Probably at least 10 years ago.

[00:09:38.920] - Big Rich Klein

I.

[00:09:41.500] - Brian Chuchua

Was on the board of directors for a long time. I went to the Board of Directors meetings, but they were held at a hotel and not in the rough.

[00:09:57.020] - Big Rich Klein

From there in the '50s, you started racing as well. Do you want to talk about that first time racing the Jeep?

[00:10:09.860] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, that was at Borrego Springs Resort. And they had Enzo's Jeep races. I saw their ad in the Automobile Club, up front of California, magazine that had... I saw the ad in front of event, so I entered it and I won the class, won the event. But there was a serious injury at the event. One of the Jeeps crashed into a concrete abutment. From then, they canceled any future events. So that was the end of that series.

[00:10:57.480] - Big Rich Klein

But it got you hooked on racing?

[00:10:59.900] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, it got me. I was drag racing my Jeep with the V8 in it at all the local drag strips. I was very active with racing the Jeep on a drag strip. It was Orange County. I remember where all the tracks were now, Irvine with my age now,.

[00:11:35.360] - Big Rich Klein

T yet. Right. No, that's okay. We don't need all the specific details, but what you can remember is great. Was that a shortened wheel? Was that still the short wheelbase, or did you extend the wheelbase.

[00:11:47.870] - Brian Chuchua

To drive the racing? I just took the original wheelbase on the CJ2A

[00:11:54.060] - Big Rich Klein

Do you remember the speeds that you were going?

[00:11:59.860] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, always 99 miles an hour. I think it was 15 seconds. But it was always strange. I could never get past that 99 figure.

[00:12:16.860] - Big Rich Klein

Well, in a wheelbase, it's only 82 to 84 inches. That's scooting along pretty good in a short wheelbase.

[00:12:25.740] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, it was fun. And then I bought a '57 Corvette and started drag racing and running El Mirage and tried to take the med set in Utah with that, Bonneville

[00:12:54.190] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, really?

[00:12:55.410] - Brian Chuchua

Okay. At one time with the Corvettes, I had all the records that were available for all the different kinds of racing. That was for a short period of time.

[00:13:14.990] - Big Rich Klein

Wow, that's incredible.

[00:13:18.060] - Brian Chuchua

I ran Bonneville with my Corvette. This time I had a '58 Corvette and a Potman super charger. Went 178 miles per hour is what they accomplished at Bonneville then, which is nothing today. That's real. The speeds today are phenomenal. They're really good with all kinds of racing.

[00:13:58.190] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, but it's all it's all a perspective. The technology back then was not the technology that it is now. The speed rated tires and all that thing, and just the safety standards alone anymore are a vast difference. A 178 in a 1958 Corvette is something to be really proud of.

[00:14:28.620] - Brian Chuchua

I made the cover of Popular Mechanics. They had a picture of that.

[00:14:37.780] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[00:14:38.280] - Brian Chuchua

That's a Corvette.

[00:14:40.870] - Big Rich Klein

And then as you got into the s, into the 60s, you were considered a very experienced offroad driver and racer. And especially with the Jeeps. And you got a dealership. You you entered a Jeep dealership, is that correct?

[00:15:03.070] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah. They came by and offered me a dealership, and it's hard to pass up. The requirements for a Jeep dealership then was $5,000 worth of parts purchase and a bank flooring plan for nine vehicles. And that's all cost to get a dealership. Today, you're talking a million dollars. Then I borrowed $5,000 from my father, and I bought the tools. My father co signed for me with Bank of America, which got me the flooring planner for nine vehicles. And I leased a building in Buckenthaler in Fulton, which was the old packing house for the sisters. And I made that into the dealership and it was there at the corner of the Harbor and the 91 Freeway. Very good. And then there I bought a piece of land in the Pelicentra and built it to move the dealership there in the old new facility. At that time, I had one of the nicest facilities around for a Jeep, and a Jeep used by its facility and lots of commercials.

[00:16:52.740] - Big Rich Klein

Very good. How long did you have that Jeep dealership?

[00:16:59.670] - Brian Chuchua

Oh, about 55 years.

[00:17:02.650] - Big Rich Klein

Wow, okay. Very good. You did a trip to Panama, the Panama Canal in your Jeep. Was this the V8 Jeep?

[00:17:24.330] - Brian Chuchua

I was a C J 2A Jeep. This time I had a fuel injection Corvette V8. I drove that to Panama, but I did roll it over in a river in Costa Rica. The Pan American highway existed, but the bridges didn't exist. So you had to forde all these rivers. I got the one that was a little bit too fast and it rolled me. But we got the Jeep out of the water and I continued on to Panama just with a few bruises to the vehicle that was weren't there when I started.

[00:18:17.130] - Big Rich Klein

But rolled it over in a river. Wow, that's incredible. And did you do that trip alone or was there a group of you?

[00:18:26.050] - Brian Chuchua

No, I started off with a fellow named Alan Desitoff. And as we arranged the trip, he got his draft notice.

[00:18:39.420] - Big Rich Klein

So.

[00:18:40.640] - Brian Chuchua

He went as far as Mexico City with me, and then he had some reports in the military. I got my draft notice, and I went with my class for Fullerton to Los Angeles with our toothbrushes i reported for the draft, but then they 4F'd me with flat feet, believe it or not. Really? Yeah. That flat foot thing existed. I didn't have to go, but Allen and all my high school friends all went.

[00:19:28.900] - Big Rich Klein

So do you think that flat foot helped with your gas pedal foot?

[00:19:36.610] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, it probably helped. I would not slip off the pedal as often.

[00:19:41.660] - Big Rich Klein

There you go. That's awesome. Okay. And with the dealership, you ended up being... You sponsored quite a few drivers, and it was a dealership of Jeep and you did Corvettes as well?

[00:20:03.750] - Brian Chuchua

Yes. I raced the Corvettes as well as the Jeep. I raced with the Corvette. Well, even the Jeep I raced. The last little lot of places I raced it. A lot of places I raced the Jeep to Corvette, it's the same place.

[00:20:19.440] - Big Rich Klein

And most of that was drag racing?

[00:20:22.210] - Brian Chuchua

Well, drag racing and the El Mirage and the dry Lakes and then Waterville.

[00:20:28.580] - Big Rich Klein

And then you became the... The National Hot Rod Association asked you to captain the US drag racing team for a trip to England. Is that correct?

[00:20:39.870] - Brian Chuchua

That's correct. Because I was captain of the US drag racing team.

[00:20:45.620] - Big Rich Klein

And what was that trip like?

[00:20:49.210] - Brian Chuchua

It was good. I had went previously with Dean Moon, and he had challenged Allen Allen allard in a drag race event in England. I went as a crew member with Dean Moon. And so we just attended several different trips around England demonstrating the drag race between Allen and Dean Moon's Moon eyes. And the interesting thing about England, I went over as a crew member, and as a crew member, I was not allowed to attend any events because in England, they were class conscious, and a crew member was not thought highly of. The lead motor, who was the owner of the vehicle, went to all these fancy meetings. But it was interesting. We don't have that experience here. But I'll never forget that I was just low class on the totempole.

[00:22:14.930] - Big Rich Klein

Little did they know.

[00:22:19.390] - Brian Chuchua

But I made friends with Allen. Allen came over as his son, Allen. He came over and spent some time with us at the Jeep dealership.

[00:22:32.200] - Big Rich Klein

And he was able to attend everything you guys did here in the States, right?

[00:22:36.790] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, absolutely. And then more. So it was a very rich, a very rich experience. But then I was reading an advertisement, I believe in the LA Times, saying there was a rally being put on from London to Mexico City. And so I replied to that ad. I paid my dues and joined and went on that rally. That was my first state outside the United States under the Panama event.

[00:23:25.820] - Big Rich Klein

And what was that like, London to Mexico?

[00:23:29.600] - Brian Chuchua

It was good. I got time barred in Brazil, and I was excluded from the event after that, and I followed along with it. But I had lost a rear axle, a rear axle, Jeep had a problem. They forgot to put grease and axles of a group of vehicles. Then I was fortunate enough to get one and have grease. So we had a spare actual. I replaced it, but we didn't do it. Our lot in time and we're time barred. The rally since then, that time bar is they went away. But I then went from the London, Mexico, I went I did the London, Munich.

[00:24:23.900] - Big Rich Klein

To Australia?

[00:24:25.630] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, the Australia from London to Sydney.

[00:24:31.630] - Big Rich Klein

That's quite the trip there.

[00:24:34.670] - Brian Chuchua

The rallies then were different than today. Then whoever was in the car had to stay in the car for the whole event. We ran a week nonstop. They were going to go stopping for night for rest. So the beds were continuous.

[00:25:02.830] - Big Rich Klein

From London to Sydney, you guys went through the Middle East into India, then to Singapore, and then across to Australia?

[00:25:10.890] - Brian Chuchua

That's correct.

[00:25:13.510] - Big Rich Klein

That's incredible.

[00:25:15.280] - Brian Chuchua

It was wild. It was a good experience. Then London to Sydney, we won our class and that was... We ended up at the Sydney Opera House. I drove my jeep up the steps of the Opera House, something no one else has done.

[00:25:45.610] - Big Rich Klein

Probably still hasn't done.

[00:25:47.880] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, obviously going to jail for you guys to catch.

[00:25:50.630] - Big Rich Klein

It today. Yeah, I would imagine so.

[00:25:52.910] - Brian Chuchua

The Opera House is very sacred.

[00:25:57.800] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, it's a gorgeous building.

[00:25:59.930] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah. But that was where the rally ended.

[00:26:05.570] - Big Rich Klein

That's incredible. And then you also had a race across the African continent?

[00:26:11.340] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah. They led the London Munich went to South as far south as South as Keto Nigeria. And we did that. But on the way back, I believe it was five vehicles remaining in the rally, and the rest of it had all of it ceased by attrition. And we were in Turkey and we crashed into a flock of sheep and hit it in some more trees and totaled the car and put me in the hospital. So at that point, that was the end of the road in Munich. I ended up with a ruptured intestinal from the seat belt.

[00:27:08.970] - Big Rich Klein

And you were in a hospital in Turkey?

[00:27:11.990] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, in Turkey for 13 days. As the cost of the hospital and the doctor system was rather extraordinary. I ended up paying $73.

[00:27:28.320] - Big Rich Klein

Seventy three dollars. That's a little bit different than nowadays.

[00:27:33.840] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, big difference. But that was an interesting experience.

[00:27:39.350] - Big Rich Klein

I would imagine because I can't imagine what a hospital in Turkey back then was like, even compared to the United States then or now.

[00:27:51.910] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah. Well, I can compare it there since it was USA 1930.

[00:27:59.190] - Big Rich Klein

Wow.

[00:27:59.860] - Brian Chuchua

That's the thing.

[00:28:01.810] - Big Rich Klein

It's a good thing that you survived that.

[00:28:08.980] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah. We were crashed close to the hospital. So there that was to be it. So I spent 13 days in the hospital.

[00:28:27.460] - Big Rich Klein

And then after that, you were able to fly home?

[00:28:32.170] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, I flew home. Doug Ford was one of my co drivers.

[00:28:42.870] - Big Rich Klein

He.

[00:28:43.230] - Brian Chuchua

Ended up with a broken ankle, I got it. But he went home immediately.

[00:28:50.860] - Big Rich Klein

But if you had a perforated intestinal, you weren't leaving right away.

[00:28:56.400] - Brian Chuchua

That's right. Yes, I had a rupture in the small intestinal, so the seat, the safety of the seat belt.

[00:29:06.050] - Big Rich Klein

And what racing did you do after that? Was that into Baja then?

[00:29:12.740] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah. Well, Baja I ended the first events with... Yeah, we could. Baja, that was Ed Perlman's put those events on. I ran a group of sparkling roofer vehicles in the first Baja race.

[00:29:37.020] - Big Rich Klein

That first event that you know that Perlman did that was at 65 that or 67, excuse me, 1967 Mexican 1,000. What drivers did you sponsor?

[00:29:52.040] - Brian Chuchua

Rod Hall is one.

[00:29:57.830] - Big Rich Klein

But in that race also was Bill Stroppe, Larry Miner?

[00:30:02.470] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, Steve McQueen.

[00:30:05.470] - Big Rich Klein

And Dick Cepak and Vik Hickey, maybe?

[00:30:09.830] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, well, Hickey, that's an interesting story came, because he made it. And trying to find out, Hickey went to school with my brother. Oh, really? Southgate and Tiger Park High School. Hyde Park High School got wiped out during the earthquake and they transferred to Southgate because that school was not damaged. So I knew I hickey. I would spend a lot of time around his garage. That was where I spent my spare time with him and his vehicles. With Hickey and a group of five other people, we built the Chevrolet Blazer, the first Blazer. And we sold the name Blazer to Chevrolet, so we got some income. And the Blazer had a Corvair engine and was fiberglass. It was an interesting vehicle.

[00:31:26.390] - Big Rich Klein

So it wasn't a production vehicle then?

[00:31:28.990] - Brian Chuchua

No. But the name Blazer came from us. We had gotten an emblem off of a wood stove that said Blazer. It was named the stove. That was the Insignia we used.

[00:31:50.900] - Big Rich Klein

That's a great story right there. Do you remember how that Blazer did?

[00:31:57.060] - Brian Chuchua

Well, they made a lot of magazines for Vail made a model of it. It was very popular. I ended up down the road with the ownership of the Blazer. Hickey and everybody else sold their shares and I ended up with a wall. And then Einoff Shopee from Fluid Master had bought the Blazer from Hickey and I bought it from Fluid Master. The mistake I made is I sold it back to Hickey, which was the right place for the car to go. But I sold it for, I think, $800. And I'm sure that car today is well worth over a million dollars.

[00:32:55.710] - Big Rich Klein

I would imagine that's a piece of history there.

[00:32:59.180] - Brian Chuchua

That's a terrific one.

[00:33:01.960] - Big Rich Klein

Getting voted into the Offroad Motorsports Hall of Fame, you were in that first class of 1978. That was Ed Pearl man had put that together. Did you guys have an understanding of what that meant, or what it might mean?

[00:33:27.820] - Brian Chuchua

We didn't know where it was going to go, but it was George Elliott sponsored me in that event to the Off Road Hall of Fame. He was my sponsor. It struggled a lot for a while. It was a good event, but it really didn't come alive until Rod Hall bought Proven up. Then the Rod Hall got the thing with the right people, got it moving. And then it has gone to where it's gone today. Slowly to get there where they got it now is the same.

[00:34:21.880] - Big Rich Klein

The hall of fame now is... There's over 130 inductees now?

[00:34:30.280] - Brian Chuchua

That's a big number. I don't obviously know the numbers.

[00:34:35.030] - Big Rich Klein

But you were in that first class.

[00:34:37.270] - Brian Chuchua

The very first class, yeah. That was thanks to George Elliott. George Elliott was the editor of what was the, Petersen's 4 wheel drive books.

[00:34:52.250] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And you said earlier before we started recording that it's been a while since you've been to the Hall of Fame. Is that correct?

[00:35:04.760] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, it's probably been well, with the COVID virus and that's two years away, and it's probably been maybe five years since I've been to an event.

[00:35:19.100] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. So you were able to go to the Vegas events then, at least?

[00:35:23.980] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, I've been to several. Lots of Vegas events. I've been upstairs for Uffroad Hall of Fame.

[00:35:34.750] - Big Rich Klein

Let's talk about SEMA and the special equipment manufacturers association and how that came about. You were one of the founding members of that, is that correct?

[00:35:48.300] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, with Dean Boone. My shop, Dean Boone was the lead of the first and second president.

[00:35:56.530] - Big Rich Klein

For SEMA?

[00:35:58.170] - Brian Chuchua

For SEMA. It was a Willie Gardener. I try to think of who all was. There was about eight or nine of us that we would meet at the restaurant there off of the 5 Freeway in Norwalk. And if we ran at all the original meetings. I think today I'm probably the sole survivor of the living survivor of the original SEMA people.

[00:36:31.830] - Big Rich Klein

What was the force behind that that made you guys go ahead and create that? Was it starting of government regulations or was it just a way of bringing all the equipment manufacturers together?

[00:36:54.410] - Brian Chuchua

The original state it was put there to fight the legislation on wheels because all these special wheels that people were coming out with. It was Bell Auto and Willard Gardner. They formed this group to get legislation established on wheels. That's where it got started. And it was speed equipment manufacturing association, not specialty. It was speed.

[00:37:36.770] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, that makes sense. And then how long were you involved with SEMA? Quite a few years?

[00:37:49.740] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, I don't know. It was a long time, but I can't try. I got a lot of faith. I can't try without looking up somewhere.

[00:37:59.330] - Big Rich Klein

No worries. And when was the last time you were in Vegas for one of the SEMA shows?

[00:38:07.260] - Brian Chuchua

I went to all the SEMA shows up until the virus hit.

[00:38:13.970] - Big Rich Klein

Oh.

[00:38:14.640] - Brian Chuchua

Wow. So I always went to SEMA. In the early days, I actually had a display. I would just display my offroad accessories at SEMA. But in the later years, I just always went on SEMA just to see what was happening.

[00:38:39.460] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And it's an amazing show.

[00:38:44.170] - Brian Chuchua

Absolutely. It was unbelievable. But now the main vehicle of the SEMA show now is four wheel drives. It's just got away from the dragsters and that group of people. It's just a switch.

[00:39:08.130] - Big Rich Klein

Right. The off road is a huge part of that show.

[00:39:14.230] - Brian Chuchua

That's the big part, yeah. Let's just been maybe five years since I've been to a SEMA show.

[00:39:22.400] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. About the same for the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.

[00:39:26.680] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah.

[00:39:28.320] - Big Rich Klein

Do you have any plans on trying to get to the Off Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Gala again?

[00:39:36.340] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah. I bought tickets last time to go, but my health didn't let me go. I didn't actually get real. I suppose they were giving out free tickets, but I bought my ticket, which was fine. I had no problem with that. It went to a good source. But I look forward to got my invitation in the mail, I guess, last week for September, which is based from November to September. I changed the venue.

[00:40:14.020] - Big Rich Klein

That's unfortunate that we had to change the dates, but next year we'll be back there in the November date.

[00:40:22.870] - Brian Chuchua

Oh, we will? Okay, I didn't know that.

[00:40:24.740] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, it was just a one year mishap, you might say.

[00:40:28.940] - Brian Chuchua

Okay. I have the entry, so I'll submit it to the health, preventing or preventing me from attending.

[00:40:41.320] - Big Rich Klein

Who was your biggest influence for you in your racing or off road career?

[00:40:50.090] - Brian Chuchua

It would have been Dick Hickey, I would guess. The biggest supporter of all the events that most events I went on was Dean Boone of Boone Equipment. He and I, he helped travel the world with a different off road events.

[00:41:10.270] - Big Rich Klein

That's a pretty good company.

[00:41:12.170] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah.

[00:41:14.720] - Big Rich Klein

Do you still have in your possession any of those old race Jeeps?

[00:41:22.150] - Brian Chuchua

No.

[00:41:24.270] - Big Rich Klein

Or the Corvettes?

[00:41:25.800] - Brian Chuchua

No.

[00:41:26.630] - Big Rich Klein

I.

[00:41:28.770] - Brian Chuchua

Still have all those cars. I sold off what I had for $800, $1,000. That was a big number, I'll make Corvettes. And all of the cars, if I had them today, they're all in the different museums around the world. And I'm sure few of them are valued around a million dollars. But I didn't feel wasn't able to be smart enough to save those vehicles and capitalize on that.

[00:42:07.230] - Big Rich Klein

Well, it's a good thing that those vehicles, most of them have survived for history. That's a great thing.

[00:42:18.870] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah, that is still a big plus.

[00:42:24.830] - Big Rich Klein

If we knew that we were creating history while we were doing it, we may have done things a little differently, right?

[00:42:33.290] - Brian Chuchua

Big time now because the amount of dollars involved. I could build a fix up Jeep. One of my Jeep stuff to go to go to a 1,000 or something, I would have spent maybe $2,000 to get it ready to go. Today, a Baja vehicle, had hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's unbelievable.

[00:43:05.270] - Big Rich Klein

Right. $2,000 wouldn't even buy the tires nowadays.

[00:43:08.610] - Brian Chuchua

That's right. But in those days, we did get the tires for free. That was a plus.

[00:43:17.160] - Big Rich Klein

I would imagine there's still some people getting tires for free, but not a whole lot of them.

[00:43:23.170] - Brian Chuchua

I got a chance to utilize a sparkling and invited Dean Moon and I to go to the Indianapolis 500. So we went there. We spent a whole month working up that race. It was all the different meetings and parties and stuff. It was 1963. It was a big thing for Moon and I to attend.

[00:43:58.620] - Big Rich Klein

That was the 500 in 1963?

[00:44:02.410] - Brian Chuchua

That's correct.

[00:44:03.450] - Big Rich Klein

Wow.

[00:44:05.300] - Brian Chuchua

I had a silver badge and Moon had a silver badge. That silver badge gave you access to anywhere in the event during the event. It was a very, very honorable thing to do.

[00:44:24.990] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's pretty cool. What other things like that stand out in your life that became wow moments, maybe? Something where you look back on it and wonder how it all came about I.

[00:44:46.530] - Brian Chuchua

Guess my trip to Panama and my dumping my Jeep in the river was probably the most memorable thing for me as a time. Since then, all the long distance rallies that I ran were very reputable.

[00:45:12.210] - Big Rich Klein

In a time where you could do that, nowadays, I don't know if some of those areas are areas people would want to travel in.

[00:45:21.020] - Brian Chuchua

It wouldn't be very wise to travel or we went on the, that's for sure. Because Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan was an experience. I went to the Khaimur pass. Wow. Two o'clock in the morning in a flash flood that event. So that was the Khaimur pass, the place you wouldn't go to go today.

[00:45:56.480] - Big Rich Klein

No. And you did it at night in a flood.

[00:46:00.080] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah. So that was a very interesting event. My memory is with my age, I'm 86 now, so my memory is not what it used to be.

[00:46:17.870] - Big Rich Klein

We understand. I'm 21 years behind you, and my memory is not so good either.

[00:46:26.260] - Brian Chuchua

I.

[00:46:27.740] - Big Rich Klein

Call it beers and years, but it's more the years than the beers.

[00:46:36.700] - Brian Chuchua

The beers I miss because I was a teetotaler. I never smoked, I never drank in my entire life. But it was my choice. I figured my father drank my share. He would drink up just a Scotch a day. I never got involved with that. My problem was all this racing and stuff. That took all my time.

[00:47:13.060] - Big Rich Klein

Took all your time and money?

[00:47:14.910] - Brian Chuchua

Yeah.

[00:47:16.630] - Big Rich Klein

But it gave you memories in a history that's just in life experiences that most people nowadays will never have a chance of fulfilling the same thing?

[00:47:28.500] - Brian Chuchua

No, that's just the people that I met and became friends with from all around the world. That was the interesting part because it was not people from Orange County or California. It was friends with people from probably hundreds of countries. It was a big experience, big life experience.

[00:47:57.600] - Big Rich Klein

From a guy from a small town in Southern California? That's right.

[00:48:02.530] - Brian Chuchua

I went to high school, to Fulton Junior College. I did go to SC part time, but I didn't graduate from SC. I just had it and tended to work some classes.

[00:48:19.290] - Big Rich Klein

Well, I would like to say thank you so much for sharing your stories and your history with us. It's been phenomenal listening to everything that you've done. You're quite accomplished with the traveling and different places that you've been able to race and see. I really hope that things work out and you're able to be at the Ormhoff induction dinner in September because I'd like to say hello to you in person.

[00:48:55.280] - Brian Chuchua

It's a real pleasure. It's been a great pleasure.

[00:49:00.900] - Big Rich Klein

And, Brian, thank you so much. And you have a great remainder of the day.

[00:49:06.030] - Brian Chuchua

Thank you. Thanks for the call. Sorry, my memory is not quick like it used to be.

[00:49:11.750] - Big Rich Klein

That's quite all right. We just want to get the history while we can. So we appreciate it. Thank you.

[00:49:18.360] - Brian Chuchua

Thank you. Have a good day.

[00:49:20.510] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, you too. And I'll be talking to you later.

[00:49:23.500] - Brian Chuchua

Bye.

[00:49:27.060] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's another episode of Conversations with Big Rich. I'd like to thank you all for listening. If you could do us a favor and leave us a review on any podcast service that you happen to be listening on, or send us an email or text message or a Facebook message, and let me know any ideas that you have or if there's anybody that you have that you would think would be a great guest, please forward the contact information to me so that we can try to get them on. And always remember, live life to the fullest. Enjoying life is a must. Follow your dreams and live life with all the Gusto you can. Thank you.