Super spotter turned competitor Jody Everding brings concrete advice to Episode 181

Warning:  For mature audiences only. To say Jody Everding has a storied past is an understatement.  Jody tells it like it was and it’s a great listen, be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.

5:26 – I played a little flag football with the after-school kids, but I was always the last kid picked

15:34 – being a punk, skinny little kid, they used to call me Wormy              

22:40 – “how are you going to buy parts? Offroading is expensive!” – I’m gonna be famous! 

30:57 – I hauled my stuff up there and I had intended to compete but I just petered out

40:09 – nobody talks to the new spotter guy, you’re like a second class citizen, low level flunky

48:14 – it was an unfair advantage for me

56:15 – it was a little of what I’d learned from Dustin about looking like a million bucks!

Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.

Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

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Automotive related topics. Anything from owning an repair facility to racing. Anything...

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Transcript

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[00:00:05.290] - 

Welcome to conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview style podcast. Those interviewed are all involved in the off road 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 off road. We discuss their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active and off road. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world that we live and love and call off road.

[00:00:46.350] - 

Whether you're crawling the red rocks of Moab or hauling your toys to the trail, Maxxis has the tires you can trust for performance and durability. Four wheels or two? Maxxis tires are the choice of champions because they know that whether for work or play, for fun or competition, Maxxis tires deliver. Choose Maxxis. Tread victoriously.

[00:01:12.860] - 

Have you seen 4 Low Magazine yet? 4low Magazine is a high quality, well written, four wheel drive focused magazine for the enthusiast market. If you still love the idea of a printed magazine, something to save and read at any time, 4Low is the magazine for you. 4Low cannot be found in stores, but you can have it delivered to your home or place of business. Visit 4lowmagazine.com to order your subscription.

[00:01:38.330] - Big Rich Klein

Today on this episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I will be talking with Jody Everding. Jody was an early rock crawling competitor. He spotted and drove in all of the classes of We Rock. Jody's been a friend for a long time. We've had a few arguments about things, and that's going to happen between promoters and spotters, especially protecting their drivers. Think Kyle Bruso. Okay. Think Jody Everding. That happens. So anyway, Jody, thank you so much for coming on board and being part of Conversations with Big Rich and talking about your history.

[00:02:14.930] - Jody Everding

My pleasure. I'm honored to be here.

[00:02:18.080] - Big Rich Klein

Well, we'll see how that goes after this.

[00:02:20.980] - Jody Everding

Yeah.

[00:02:21.350] - Big Rich Klein

I probably should make a statement that this may be for a mature audience.

[00:02:28.200] - Jody Everding

No maybe required. No maybe.

[00:02:30.610] - Big Rich Klein

No maybe. It will be okay. So anybody that's got their kids listening, time to put the kids out of the room anyway.

[00:02:39.500] - Jody Everding

There may be an F bomb or two. I'm sure they'll split that's all right.

[00:02:43.430] - Big Rich Klein

It happens. So, Jody, the first easy question. Where were you born and raised?

[00:02:50.860] - Jody Everding

I was born and raised in National City. National City is a subsidiary of San Diego. I grew up there.  single, mom. Right. So I grew up there, but I grew up in some other places. I jumped around from family to family a little, know, I stayed with an aunt and uncle, know, moved around a little bit as a kid. But generally I did elementary school in National City, junior high school in Chula vista and into high school. And then I dropped out and went to work pouring concrete at about, I think I was 15, 14/15 years old in the summertime. One of my punk rock buddies that I was rolling around with as a punk rocker kid said, what are you doing this summer? And I thought I was going to hang out and smoke a bunch of weed. And I said, just hang out and smoke weed. And he's like, well, why don't you come work on our concrete crew with us? And my dad and I'm like, well, let's check it out. So I went over there and I got hired over a couple of other yahoos and it was like $5 an hour cash or some shit.

[00:04:09.610] - Jody Everding

And that's what I did all summer. And then come summertime was over, go back to school. There were some issues with my mom and the welfare check and school clothes or something, and so I just went back to work and I stayed at work doing that for a number of years until the next recession come along or something. And then I went off gallivanting and doing some other bullshit.

[00:04:40.000] - Big Rich Klein

While you were in school, what kind of student were you?

[00:04:44.400] - Jody Everding

Terrible student. Terrible student. I started smoking weed in grade school and all through junior high school I was the stoner kid, hanging out in the middle of the field, poor grades, riding my bike to and from school, never doing my homework, shit like that.

[00:05:15.500] - Big Rich Klein

Understood, understood. Were there any interests that you had besides getting stoned and punk rock?

[00:05:26.160] - Jody Everding

Girls. Girls, yeah. I never played any sports or football. I played a little flag football on the field with the after school kids, the rec center for a little while, but I was always the last kid picked. My neighborhood was all Asians and Samoans and black kids and stuff and they were all really much better at football than I was. But kind of one of the reasons why I never got into it. I didn't really fit in over there.

[00:06:07.630] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Did you have any outside interests besides riding your bike? I mean, was it BMX?

[00:06:20.400] - Jody Everding

Yeah, it was a BMX bike.

[00:06:24.560] - Big Rich Klein

In.

[00:06:24.900] - Jody Everding

The early my first BMX bike was like a Royce Union. I don't even heard of those, but put on layaway gemco.

[00:06:33.860] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:06:35.620] - Jody Everding

Finally got it and it was some weird color and I rattle can, sprayed it another weird color and I don't know, metal flack, gold polish or something.

[00:06:53.640] - Big Rich Klein

I guess there's not a whole lot we can pull out of school. Did you end up spending a lot of time in detention? Were you like one of the Breakfast Club?

[00:07:06.940] - Jody Everding

As a matter of fact, we call it Opportunity Class.

[00:07:10.800] - Big Rich Klein

Opportunity Class, there you go, is where.

[00:07:14.640] - Jody Everding

You got there at regular times and you stayed in. You didn't get to go out for the breaks with the rest of the kids or students. You stayed in your room. It was just a couple of doors down from the nurse's office and the counselor's office and shit. And then you got out early. They dropped you like 30 minutes after lunch break or something. They sent you home because they just omitted all the break time and shit like that. And I was in trouble there, too. It didn't last long. We got booted, me and my punk rock buddy who I call my brother now, Jim Bob. We went to a school dance or something and they put on some punk rock music and we called him a slam pit back then before mosh was the thing. And we started a little pit with a couple of other Mexican punk rocker guys and I don't know, somebody got popped in the nose or something, and we all got suspended and that was the last hura for school. We all stayed on the job after that and went to real punk rock shows with our $200 that we got paid on Friday.

[00:08:38.220] - Jody Everding

We were paid on Friday, went and hopped on the trolley downtown to the punk rock shows and broke on Saturday night. Beer and punk rock stuff. Yeah, there's quite a bit of drugs in my story back then running around a 15 year old kid running around downtown and stomping around a punk rock boots with a mohawk and shit.

[00:09:11.700] - Big Rich Klein

Is that when the tattoo started?

[00:09:15.320] - Jody Everding

Yeah, I think I got my first tattoo at 17 years old in Orange County. I was in a VW bus with my girlfriend at the time and four of her friends. It's actually when I learned how to drive a stick shift. We jumped in Alicia's bus and headed for San Francisco.

[00:09:43.680] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:09:45.520] - Jody Everding

And we caught Scabies on the way. We came back after, I don't know, we were hustling. We went to San Francisco, we saw some of the sites, we ran into some people, some other punk rock familiar type people that got their car impounded somewhere around Chinatown where it was like a hot spot to go check out with some punk rock stores and shit like that. Then they needed some help and they were robbing Vaughns and shit, grocery stores and returning, like, bottles of Tylenol to get money to raise duckets to get their car out or some malarkey, crazy kid stuff.

[00:10:35.600] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Did you ever make it to San Francisco?

[00:10:38.490] - Jody Everding

Yeah. Okay. Never had the money to go to Alcatraz or anything, but we bummed it around downtown and went to a punk rock show or some shit and got some more drugs.

[00:10:54.680] - Big Rich Klein

Not in San Francisco, I grew up I grew up just south of there. I spent a lot of time in San Francisco.

[00:11:05.320] - Jody Everding

Yeah, it's really not that great of a place. I mean, it might be if you're a baller and you can go to all the fancy stuff, but being broke, being in San Francisco, we went to the wharf and walked around down there and saw some of the popular sites and shit like that, but it was mostly just a kid adventure trying to get out. You don't know what we were running from. We were just off doing shit. We didn't have cell phones, we didn't have cameras. Were like a little box thing.

[00:11:42.260] - Big Rich Klein

110 instamatics.

[00:11:43.950] - Jody Everding

Yeah. Some crazy. I think there might even been a Polaroid involved.

[00:11:50.360] - Big Rich Klein

Polaroids are pretty cool.

[00:11:54.200] - Jody Everding

Yeah. You take the picture and it pops out and develops itself. It's kind of cool.

[00:12:03.610] - Big Rich Klein

So you pretty much worked concrete most of your life then, right?

[00:12:09.040] - Jody Everding

I still work concrete, yes. Most of my life. That's pretty much what it's all been. Lots of ups and downs from there. Construction workers aren't exactly the cream of the crop either. It's mostly where the derelicts end up. The guys that have broken home or broken opportunity or starting over can't find anything better. They got to work hard. Their money, right? Yeah.

[00:12:48.220] - Big Rich Klein

You said that. The recession, I would imagine that kind of put a hamper on the construction activity. What did you do during that time?

[00:13:05.040] - Jody Everding

Just caused a lot of trouble. I freeloaded. I couch hopped a few times. I was moving around, basically just hustling on the street to make a buck or doing a little something here and there, pick up little odd jobs in between. I wasn't much of a recycler like a lot of folks did. We were just running around, hustling, squeaking by, broke, work a little here, work a little there. Not that I saved my money very well, but make enough, quick enough to have a little bit in my pocket for a while.

[00:13:52.400] - Big Rich Klein

So what was the first car that you owned?

[00:13:57.280] - Jody Everding

My very first car was a 1963 Plymouth Valiant.

[00:14:03.850] - Big Rich Klein

There you go.

[00:14:04.970] - Jody Everding

With a slant six and a push button automatic.

[00:14:08.480] - Big Rich Klein

That's a real styling car right there. That's a total chick getter there.

[00:14:15.240] - Jody Everding

No, it was not. But at my age, it was freedom. I didn't have my driver's license yet, but we piled in all my Cronies and went and cruised around. And I soon lost that car and got a couple of tickets. Got my license suspended until I was 18.

[00:14:44.400] - Big Rich Klein

Knowing you, that probably didn't slow you down, though.

[00:14:47.520] - Jody Everding

No, not really. I had a girlfriend that had a Volkswagen Bug, and I drove her car all over the place without a license forever. I drove the work truck. We had a 64 Ford pickup manual trans flatbed. That was the work truck that hauled all the material and carried the tools and shit. And I drove that just out of necessity. No license. You don't fit the profile in your work truck kind of right.

[00:15:23.500] - Big Rich Klein

Except on Friday evenings at about six or 07:00 when they set up the DUI checkpoints.

[00:15:31.110] - Jody Everding

Yeah.

[00:15:31.700] - Big Rich Klein

You got a rack on your truck?

[00:15:34.640] - Jody Everding

Yeah, it was a flatbed with a welded on rack. But being a punk, skinny little kid, which they used to call me Wormy back then.

[00:15:47.320] - Big Rich Klein

Wormy?

[00:15:48.250] - Jody Everding

Yeah. Because they thought I had worms because I'd eat everything on the planet and still weighed a buck 40.

[00:15:57.000] - Big Rich Klein

Wormy. I could just see Jody Everding as wormy.

[00:16:04.120] - Jody Everding

That was my Uncle Tom gave me that coined me that.

[00:16:09.180] - Big Rich Klein

That's awesome. Next time I see you, buddy.

[00:16:12.310] - Jody Everding

Yeah, there you go.

[00:16:15.900] - Big Rich Klein

So then you work in concrete. You're just making ends meet. Was there a time when things started to turn around for you?

[00:16:30.340] - Jody Everding

Yeah, let's see. We're jamming forward probably ten years from 16 1718, 1920 was derelict, punk rocker, hustling. A few years after that, 24, 25, 26, I did some time in county jail, in jail a little bit. Drugs were getting the better of me. When I kind around 25, 26, the county got involved and said, hey, look, Mr. Well, the judge told me he's all, you're going to do this drug program and get cleaned up or I'm going to send you to the penitentiary for your priors for your charges. And I'm like, oh, man, I've seen a lot of guys in my neighborhood end up in the penitentiary and end up with that state number that they couldn't get out of. They'd get out of the prison and get on parole, but within a year's time they'd violate somehow and end up back in and violation for those like a year. And then they'd get wrapped up in that whole system and you wouldn't see them anymore. So I was trying to avoid getting that state number, so I complied with what the judge told me. I went to some programs and started getting sober and learning how to do that, going to some AA and NA and kicking the drugs, kicking the alcohol and shit like that.

[00:18:17.930] - Jody Everding

And that was about the time I met my first wife Sarah, right before I got into trouble and when I started going to jail and shit like that and then kind of got cleaned up and got straight. And then when I got out of one particular program, sarah had finished some stuff at home and moved out and got a place for me to come out of the program too. We had a house together and I went back to working, was picking up. I was working full blast. Had a new young girl, she was working full blast. And we started working together as a team and my head had kind of popped out of my ass as opposed to being a drug addict, derelict and just starting to take off and get more aligned with life. And we moved from our place in North Park down to a place in Imperial Beach where I had a backyard and a driveway and a little garage, a little single car garage. And around there, after a while I went when I got my first off road or sarah's folks were big into off road. They were in a south bay.

[00:19:50.470] - Jody Everding

Four x fours. Sarah grew up around off road. Her dad and her uncles were offroaders. They had some random wheelers. Like, her dad had a CJ Seven and a Ford F 150. Short bed, some big tires on it, and some other folks around all had random four wheel drives and shit, and they had a little club going. So she grew up doing that stuff, and I had seen some of it, and my old man, or who I call my old man, which is really my buddy's dad, Joe, I call him Pops. He's been into drag racing since he was a kid. So he's a big gearhead. He can fix anything, essentially. He rebuilds motors, small motors, motorcycles, boats, anything, really, that has nuts and bolts on it, he can pretty much do. And in the time when I was not working, recessions and whatnot time off, we redone a few trucks and rear end swapping gear changes. I drip a drive line out of the work truck or two out of necessity. And just being a young kid hanging around with a bunch of guys that are gearheads, you pick up on doing shit, you're helping, you're pulling a drive line, you're changing tires, you're washing and waxing, you're just around car motorcycle boats.

[00:21:40.060] - Jody Everding

You go fishing, take the boat out, which we're in San Diego. I own a couple of boats, and we've tuned a fish and blue fin and lobster catching and done quite a bit of fishing on the ocean. You kind of learn how to work on trailers. You work, know, pumps and hoses, plumbing systems. You learn a lot of crap right. From hanging out with.

[00:22:09.520] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:22:10.410] - Jody Everding

So that's we moved into that place in Imperial Beach, and I was looking for an opportunity to get into the desert, and I found my first CJ in around 1999, 2000 somewhere, and it was a salvage titled CJ Seven. You've seen it, I competed in it.

[00:22:39.180] - Big Rich Klein

Okay?

[00:22:40.060] - Jody Everding

I bought that of the wrecking yard for $2,800. And when I drove it home and pulled it up in the front yard, sarah cried when I pulled up in front of the house. She just cried. She's like, oh, my God. I spent our savings, $2,800, on a CJ that had a bent frame, and it was a junker, but it had a Dana 300 in it, t five. It was on 33. It's perfect. It's kind of red with orange stripes on it and renegade, and that's kind of where that whole thing started. And she looked at me, she was like, how are you going to buy parts? Offroading is expensive. I says, I'm going to become famous. I'm going to get some sponsors to pay for it. I'm going to compete in this thing. And it was just a quick response to try and calm her down and keep her from crying. I was just going to figure it out as we went along.

[00:23:55.280] - Big Rich Klein

Suck when women cry. Yeah, that's our weak spot. Or at least it is for me.

[00:24:02.420] - Jody Everding

It is for me also that went on for a little bit and her whole man shot me down. Some basics about not wheeling alone got to have a jack which I savvied all that shit. The my old man's got property in Montana and when I first started pouring concrete he took me up, do some bow hunting as a bonus to the ranch in you know, when you hunt, he's got a pickup truck that has Detroit lockers. In know you got to lock the hubs. It's got a locker in the front. It's got manual transfer case, compound, low granny gear for crawling and shit. So there was some exposure to forestry roads and ruts and hill climbs in the four wheel drive at the time. So it's kind of like something that I kind of dug just kind of like gravitated towards and same with when I got that CJ I just started driving it everywhere I could.

[00:25:28.000] - Big Rich Klein

When you bought it did you know about rock crawling competitions at that time? Were you exposed to that?

[00:25:36.080] - Jody Everding

No, not really. So I wasn't exposed to rock crawling competitions or really much other than trail wheeling like jeeping and offroading with not just exclusive jeeps like jeepers, do they? Jeep club. But that's where my father in law at the time is. Like, you should get into a four wheel drive club because you're going to find more like minded peeps. So we started going to obviously Tierra del Sol is the biggest club in you know they have know we went to those kind of events and stuff but I ran into they were gray hairs at the time, right a lot of old timers and I was looking for a little bit younger crowd. I found that in the San Diego four wheelers and that's kind of where I made my home as far as offroading goes. So here comes the ripple effect. I jumped into that jeep thinking oh this is going to be cheap, it's going to be my one project. Well to have a jeep to go to the desert there's either a pickup truck to drag it you can drive to the desert ten camp, if that's what your boat was that you wanted to flow.

[00:26:59.190] - Jody Everding

But along came the first camper, back of the truck, a trailer, and then into a motorhome, a shower and all that ripple effect. You spend $30,000 supporting your $2,800 jeep.

[00:27:22.560] - Big Rich Klein

And in the meantime Sarah is still crying because there's no savings.

[00:27:30.180] - Jody Everding

Well the money got better for a know the money got better at work and life was getting better. Shit was getting more credit cards and more flexibility with going to the desert and a newfound passion. Kind of new fun in that club. That's where all the spotting came from. We'd go out to our local OHV out here is Corral Canyon and there's a few trails up there. We'd take a bunch of stock jeeps through new folks in the club. You'd get all kinds of weird new people around and you'd spot all these stalkers through stuff that you don't want to drive in the stock trail all the time you want to get them. You drive a little something that's a little bit more aligned with your skill set. Or if you're wanting to grow you want a little bit of a challenge. So you're kind of pressing that envelope all the time. But you always got the one stalker guy that shows up, the new guy, and you drag them through and you get them through and they'll go, all right, they had the time of their life. And you're like, Man, I'm gucci we got that thing through there.

[00:28:49.440] - Jody Everding

Can't believe it, but that's where my spotting stuff come. I was trail boss for a while. I'd take 30 rigs through some of those trails and Sarah would move the Jeep up and started doing that and then I don't know, through that club I met Ed. Know, that club. Ed Webster is Becca's dad and Dustin's father in law. There's an off road shop in El Cajon. Jeff shekel off road JSA where we'd get a lot of our parts. He did a lot of builds in the East County and through him I met Dustin and Becca and Dustin was building the Red Bull Jeep. And I'd probably been wheeling I'd been wheeling two years maybe with the club and getting into building my own CJ and had ambitions of competing that because by the time I started wheeling regular I got exposed to the rock crawling events. A little bit of know, you'd see the pictures in the magazines and stuff and somehow I ended up helping Dustin build that CJ in know, I'd spend a few nights at the shop putting that thing together and working on it for a big crunch and he had a competition somewhere.

[00:30:41.580] - Jody Everding

I can't remember where it was. I think I didn't go to the first one maybe or maybe I went to the first one but the first one I actually went to was one of your events. I think it was at Lions Pride.

[00:30:55.680] - Big Rich Klein

Lions pride in Lucerne Valley.

[00:30:57.540] - Jody Everding

Yes, sir. That was my very first rock crawling event. I saw Chris Durham there, which was a big deal for me. He was bombing hit that Jeep of his with the aluminum tub through the J ten. Yeah. And broke it. And that was my first exposure to a competition there. I don't even think I participated. I think I drugged my Jeep up there and never even unloaded it because I was helping Dustin do his stuff and I had intentions of competing in it but I just petered out. I never got there. And so there was that was my first event. And then I think I can't remember what happened after that. I don't even remember if I spotted Dustin then in that event. I don't recall who his spotter was.

[00:32:02.780] - Big Rich Klein

Then I don't either. I don't remember who his spotter was. I was wondering if it was possibly you, but I don't remember.

[00:32:11.520] - Jody Everding

It was possibly me, but I don't remember. It's been a long time ago.

[00:32:19.620] - Big Rich Klein

Yes.

[00:32:21.940] - Jody Everding

And I think through that channel, that's how I ended up spotting for dustin, just showing up and working on the car and being there and ended up spotting for him. But he had some other irons in the fire at the time, so it wasn't really settled all the way, but it eventually round into that, and it worked out kind of all right for a while. I mean, who wouldn't be seduced by the red bull brand?

[00:32:58.640] - Big Rich Klein

Especially back then. For sure.

[00:33:00.510] - Jody Everding

Yeah. Back then, it was a huge deal. And that those at the time, it wasn't aqualoo. JP off road was the manufacturer, the supplier of them aluminum tubs, which was some guy named dave knight.

[00:33:16.560] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah.

[00:33:17.760] - Jody Everding

Remember that guy?

[00:33:18.690] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, I remember Dave. Dave was one of my first. In fact, he was probably my first true sponsor.

[00:33:25.720] - Jody Everding

Wowzer. Yeah.

[00:33:29.080] - Big Rich Klein

There's a whole bunch of people like to find him.

[00:33:33.480] - Jody Everding

Right. Well, I got my first tub from him.

[00:33:36.700] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:33:37.580] - Jody Everding

Yeah. And I think I got some slash price somehow. I don't remember. Some sort of a deal I got on it. I was stoked to have it. But I was still running my z frame on my CJ at the time, which had, like, a two inch kink or inch kink just in front of the rear spring mounts, like, where the motor frame rails come out just in front of the front springs. It had a little kink over and then a bunch of booger wells holding it together. And somewhere around there, I did a frame off and put a new or a different frame underneath of it, plated it all up, new modes and mounts, and moved the motor to the YJ side diff, and went from a built 30 to a dana 60 somewhere in there in my own rig.

[00:34:40.360] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:34:42.000] - Jody Everding

Because I think it was because the 44 and the red bull jeep was breaking all the time, blowing up those hubs like crazy.

[00:34:52.260] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, the whole hub and hub fuses.

[00:34:56.180] - Jody Everding

Yeah, it was a lot of axle breaking in. The 44 and the CTMS were there. That's how I met up with jack, was through jack was at TDs and was rendezvous with the red bull crew. And some of us and dustin had to go off and network, we'll call it network with the red bull thing. And I ended up on the trail with jack and got in a ditch somewhere. Somebody got stuck, and jack and I were underneath the truck shoveling out a bunch of sand. You know how muddy it is at TBS.

[00:35:44.940] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:35:45.940] - Jody Everding

And that was our first interaction together. I met jack on that trip, and then I was not bashful. I've never been too bashful. How about some of them ujoints for my dana 30.

[00:36:02.630] - Big Rich Klein

Working that sponsorship?

[00:36:04.450] - Jody Everding

You bet. Always. And he's like, yeah, I can get you a pair. And he got me a pair of and then, you know, just a lot of spotting. We ran a lot of events we did with Dustin. I spotted quite a bit all the We Rock events where he was doing a Pro Rock series. Did all of those spotting there. It wasn't long trying to remember it's. Just kind of sorry for the jumping around. No, I've dug all this old stuff up. I only spotted for the Jeep for a little. It seemed short lived and he was jumping around with different spotters or whatnot. But then when he got the Walker Evans truck, that's when I came on, I think, full time. Or became his spotter at that point.

[00:37:13.840] - Big Rich Klein

Was that the S Ten or was that the Blazer?

[00:37:16.520] - Jody Everding

Yeah, it was the S ten. Rear steered pro class or unlimited class truck? It was one of the ones from Dark Blue. He called it the Red Bull rocket.

[00:37:39.720] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:37:40.570] - Jody Everding

And it was a Walker's truck. I still have a bunch I had a bunch of those components from Walker Evans components on my CJ because I bought up a bunch of that shit, swapped out sponsorship stuff. He got some Rock Crusher sponsorship or something and swapped out a bunch of parts on his front end. And I gobbled up those takeoff parts and put them on. That's when I met Bob Roge, I believe, with the Rock or the Rocket came into the picture. And Bob was helping develop he was helping Dustin develop the team or managing or I don't know what. He was offering some advice to Dustin on the phone or I don't know what. They had some deal. Dustin broke an ankle or something and sent Bob as the driver and me off to a location I can't remember the name of in Cedar City. It was the first location. Not Cedar City in St. George, Utah.

[00:38:56.580] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:38:57.600] - Jody Everding

It was that one off to the.

[00:38:59.650] - Big Rich Klein

Where the airport is now, I think.

[00:39:02.400] - Jody Everding

Yeah, I don't it was the airport is on the south side of the freeway, isn't it?

[00:39:08.770] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Yeah.

[00:39:10.180] - Jody Everding

We were on the north side of the freeway up behind the car dealer.

[00:39:14.200] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:39:15.220] - Jody Everding

There was some location on, like, that Snow Canyon area. Yeah, the big bluff. Like, we were all the base of it. And there was a big bluff and a bunch of obstacles on the bluff and up above, I think. So me and Bob met up over there, stayed in a hotel room together. And then Bob crammed himself in that tiny little truck, which I was offset because I wanted to be the driver. I was a spotter. Why didn't you just put me in there? But I stayed on the spotter thing and Bob drove, and we did all right until we broke something at the end. Lots of competitions.

[00:39:57.300] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:39:58.280] - Jody Everding

Bob was great. Love the. Death out of Bob Roge. He did a lot of work for you for a long time.

[00:40:05.580] - Big Rich Klein

Yes, he did. He was the original course designers.

[00:40:09.040] - Jody Everding

Yeah. Over cougar buttes. I might have met him over there, but when I was a spotter with Dustin, I didn't get to socialize. Nobody talks to the new spotter guy. You're like, second class citizen, low level flunky kind of guy.

[00:40:35.360] - Big Rich Klein

The life of the spotter.

[00:40:37.220] - Jody Everding

Yeah.

[00:40:38.240] - Big Rich Klein

Always to blame if something goes wrong. Nobody talks to you.

[00:40:43.080] - Jody Everding

Nobody talks to you. Nobody remembers your name. They cheer you a little bit. When you pick up a heavy boulder, that's all you get.

[00:40:54.840] - Big Rich Klein

So when was the first time that.

[00:40:56.540] - Jody Everding

You drove your Jeep in competition was at a Pro Rock event?

[00:41:02.620] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:41:04.520] - Jody Everding

Dustin schedule, this is probably 2004, the beginning of the 2004 season. He was doing we were doing the Udoc traveling quite a bit, and he was kind of growing in momentum with the team, with her and him crawling together, and we were traveling a little bit more. I was getting flown in more often. And then he dropped Bob's event, and it left a little because it was staggered in between your event and the uroc events and whatnot, and it just opened up an opportunity for me to go drive my rig in schedule wise.

[00:42:07.640] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:42:08.940] - Jody Everding

And so I grabbed a guy, a budy of mine, Rick, from the club, to spot for me, and we went and did some events, did Cougar Buttes, and we were finishing last for almost the entire season. I think it was three events I competed in. I had Leaf Springs on it, and I was replacing the Leaf Springs every event because the Dana 60 in the front was just bending the shit out of them, and they were Pro Comp leaf Springs. I've had a relationship with Pro Comp for forever. That was again through Jeff. Shekel JSA off road. So it ended up being a shyster. Anyway.

[00:43:10.640] - Big Rich Klein

I wasn't going to say that.

[00:43:11.780] - Jody Everding

Out loud, but know, he's still my friend. He calls me on the regular.

[00:43:17.620] - Big Rich Klein

I get a call from him, like, once every five years.

[00:43:20.550] - Jody Everding

Yeah, he's a great guy, unless you're getting some work done on your Jeep and you want to get it back. He has some issues for a little while, but all that's behind him now.

[00:43:33.240] - Big Rich Klein

That's good to hear.

[00:43:37.420] - Jody Everding

I'm sorry. Where was I?

[00:43:39.340] - Big Rich Klein

You were competing. Bending springs.

[00:43:41.860] - Jody Everding

Yeah. I had had enough relationship with Bob that around my third competition of losing, I mean, finishing like, fifth to last at Pro Rock. Bob linked my Jeep for me at his old shop in placerville behind the muffler shop. I drug it up there to Bob's. I had some Air Fox air shocks, the early models, the skinny ones, the two inch, and he three linked it front and rear. And I took it out to the fourth competition at Cougar Buttes for Pro Rock and went from fifth to first place once we linked the Jeep. And then I brought it back and said, I don't like the three link in the rear. I want a four link. And Bob was giving me a bunch of grief. Oh, first place isn't good enough for Jody. He wants a four link in the rear, so he made it a four link. And we did some trails up there on the Rubicon for some of my exposure to the Rubicon. I think it might have been snowing something. But my adventures up in the Sack area in Northern Cal started with those trips up to visit with Bob because we'd work on the Bug or on the CJ for a bit and then go wheel know, Bob would be in a rental or something.

[00:45:37.630] - Jody Everding

Go up and do some trail and you learn the golden rules of the Rubicon. And that is a case of beer per man, per day. Never trusts a fart. And you don't lose your old lady, you just lose your turn.

[00:45:59.560] - Big Rich Klein

Yes, those rules still kind of apply, except most of the beers drunk in camp now.

[00:46:05.160] - Jody Everding

Sure, there was quite a few. I drank out of the Maniac's boot. I'd done a winter run or two of them. First one, I thought I was going to die from exposure. I slept in a borrowed, you know, full carhartt suit, a borrowed one next to the fire in the snow, freezing my fucking ass off. It was crazy. Bob and I rolled up in a borrowed Buggy to the first winter run, and we showed up to the Pirates event and it was crazy. Everybody gathered around the car and you could look around to all the familiar faces. Hey, what's up? Everybody's hugging you. Hey, what's up? High five and shaking hands and shit. And there was a six pack of gallon tequila bottles and you could see them being passed along above everybody's head, coming towards where the cab of the Buggy as we're climbing out of the car. There was just booze, chainsaws, giant logs in the fire. It's a good time.

[00:47:26.180] - Big Rich Klein

That tequila is the antifreeze.

[00:47:28.680] - Jody Everding

I was still sober then. So you see all this drinking and all that going on, you're just like, what the fuck crazy.

[00:47:38.510] - Big Rich Klein

That's why you froze. You didn't have any of the antifreeze in you.

[00:47:42.410] - Jody Everding

Yeah, I didn't have any antifreeze. It wasn't until somewhere around 2005 when I started drinking again. But the influences were there, right?

[00:47:59.760] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's what the competitions seemed to be, was you compete real hard during the day, party at night, and then compete the next morning trying to shake the cobwebs.

[00:48:14.800] - Jody Everding

Yeah, well, before it was an unfair advantage for me. And me being adult know, I took it to advantage because I would always show up to the comps. Once I started competing against Dan and Bob, I made a rule to bring a ball of rum, a gallon of rum and a gallon of tequila with me to every comp site, and I'd run in there, and they'd be there all early. I'd pull in and like, hey, bro, what's up? What's up? And I'd dump two gallons of booze on Dan and Bob. And Dan is still pissed off at me about this. I think. Dan doesn't love me anymore. I don't think he likes me. Every time I see him, he's real quiet. He just don't like me no more, I guess. But, yeah, I would drop some booze on them boys, and it was serious because they were good, right?

[00:49:17.350] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah.

[00:49:18.280] - Jody Everding

And that little bit of a hangover helps me know buckets were closer to the level.

[00:49:31.580] - Big Rich Klein

That's some funny stuff.

[00:49:33.420] - Jody Everding

Jeff mello was pissed off because right around that time where I got the Buggy linked, I started drinking. And Mello was like, man, you were worse. You got better. You started drinking. You can rock crawl. Always. He always correlated that with being drunk. You were worse before. When you were sober, you sucked. It was a thing for a minute.

[00:50:05.460] - Big Rich Klein

So then how long did you I remember you built a buggy. Did you have Christine?

[00:50:16.700] - Jody Everding

Yes.

[00:50:17.900] - Big Rich Klein

The killer car.

[00:50:19.980] - Jody Everding

Yeah. So when we're leaving out a lot of insight there. So in that time, from the end of four to five, I came into We Rock. I don't know what happened with Dustin, but I started winning. And around that time, I don't remember if that's when I left, but I left Dustin. Spotting wise, I gathered enough momentum through I PRP was kind of a local company. I met him at a swap meet in El Cajon at a drive in that's no longer there. I met Aaron Wettekein over there, and I approached him for some seats, and he has some other guys that he gave some seats to prior recently, but said he didn't really see anything from them, but he could do me some seats for cost. And I think I paid him like $240 or something for some seats. And we made them real loud. We made them orange and leopard skin.

[00:51:30.800] - Big Rich Klein

I remember those.

[00:51:32.390] - Jody Everding

Yeah. And then I competed at CRCA, which was Jeff Knoll first rock race kind of thing, at the Wooden Nickel in Menafee. And there was a rock mound with some couple of climbs up in it, up and around, and a U turn and back over and a big drop or something in the fastest time. And I drove my CJ in that. And I didn't win by any means, but in the end I won because the photographer or the reporter for the local paper was there when I'm doing that drop off and snapped a picture of my CJ with the new seats and the big PRP in the hood, which just so happened to be Aaron's local. Know I do that, didn't I? Didn't even know about the picture. I did that event we didn't do very well, but it was an event that we did. And a few days later, I get this envelope in the mail with the front page of the newspaper of a manila envelope and my check back for the seats that I bought. So that was kind of like the start of my PRP gig.

[00:53:15.390] - Big Rich Klein

I know you were really pushing PRP seats there for a long time.

[00:53:20.260] - Jody Everding

Well, he was giving me all them free seats and helped me out huge. He was my first kind of monetary sponsor. I mean, ProComp was helping me with tires and entrance fees, and Jack was on the car for get axles and U joints and PRP with seats and helped me out with some hotel, I think he was paying me in five was a big changer for me. We went from last place in four where we were finishing fifth and 6th way in the back. And then in Five was the year I got the championship in the Western Series. Win for you, I think it was.

[00:54:31.290] - Big Rich Klein

And who was spotting for you then?

[00:54:35.740] - Jody Everding

Rick. Didn't last long. I got Jack to spot for me. Jack from CTM was my spotter. Rick. I fired Rick unjustly. When I got Jack as a spotter, jack said he would do it, and I just dumped Rick like a cold turd, just like that, which is kind of unfair of me, but Jack was a better spotter and I was aiming for the top, and that just happened.

[00:55:10.040] - Big Rich Klein

Jack had moved some rock.

[00:55:11.710] - Jody Everding

He's strong, the big boy. Yeah. And he was easy to work with. He see things your way or he wouldn't see things your way. And he was decisive, and that was a good thing.

[00:55:25.360] - Big Rich Klein

Right. I remember when he tried to get me drunk on margaritas after an event up in Goldendale.

[00:55:37.120] - Jody Everding

Nice.

[00:55:37.650] - Big Rich Klein

And that didn't work so well for him.

[00:55:40.260] - Jody Everding

He got drunk.

[00:55:41.390] - Big Rich Klein

Yes.

[00:55:42.420] - Jody Everding

Perfect.

[00:55:44.900] - Big Rich Klein

He was trying to match me drink for drink.

[00:55:48.100] - Jody Everding

And he drank him under the table.

[00:55:50.660] - Big Rich Klein

Yes. That time.

[00:55:52.500] - Jody Everding

That's good. See, five was an amazing year for us. We had our biggest spurts of growth. We had the biggest amount of momentum. The CJ got an aluminum tub. It got the bass boat orange, which was it brought a lot of attention.

[00:56:14.130] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:56:15.980] - Jody Everding

It was a little bit of what I'd learned from the time with Dustin about looking like a million bucks. You can get a million bucks, you know what I mean? Good presentation, a little bit more smoothing, knowing how to talk to some folks, knowing the value. I spent a lot of time on the phone with a lot of competitors off time. We'd be middle of the week. We'd be talking about what we're working on and shit and sharing our sponsorship deals, trying to create not necessarily, cody I didn't spend much time talking to on the phone, but jeff Mello. I spent a lot of time on the phone with and a few other guys and trying to create a standard like an estimated amount of product or monetary assistance for a four x twelve bumper sticker on the side of the Jeep.

[00:57:15.110] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:57:17.280] - Jody Everding

Trying to have some kind of standard. Because the stock mod class was the one that sold all the Jeep parts, but it wasn't really the one that was carrying the most sponsors.

[00:57:29.310] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:57:32.100] - Jody Everding

It seemed like the unlimited class always that was the show. The unlimited class was the show and the pro modders looked more like of a show. And the sock modders were just kind of the other ones running over there on the baby rocks, right? Yeah. So it's kind of like a little bit of a battle to get your momentum, get your wings and grow up over there and then move in. And then that's when PRP helped me buy Christine the bubblegum hood car.

[00:58:08.340] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:58:08.850] - Jody Everding

I don't want to talk about that era. That was nightmare. That was a cool car. It had been cooler if it was rear steer, because then it might have just ran off and done circles instead.

[00:58:26.750] - Big Rich Klein

Of just run off.

[00:58:28.230] - Jody Everding

Instead of just run off. Were you at that uroc event when.

[00:58:33.260] - Big Rich Klein

It took off and got into that's the one that got into.

[00:58:41.660] - Jody Everding

Crash into the back of his trailer? I think I paid him $500 or something for the chrome flashing that went over that lift tube.

[00:58:54.380] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:58:55.760] - Jody Everding

Yeah. I miss creighton. It's too bad about him.

[00:59:01.860] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, it is. I just was at his service and it was amazing to see how many people showed up.

[00:59:12.420] - Jody Everding

That's great.

[00:59:13.350] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah.

[00:59:14.500] - Jody Everding

Sorry I wasn't there, but wasn't in the stars for me.

[00:59:20.250] - Big Rich Klein

Right. So, Christine, where did that car come from?

[00:59:28.360] - Jody Everding

Triple X traction car. Toby something or another. Toby. I can't remember the last guy's last name. Toby. Yeah, it's slipping me. I'm sorry, it's been a long time, but Triple X Traction was the branding for that guy's shop, I think, up in Gig Harbor somewhere where those guys were at. Remember those guys? Oh, yeah, those guys off road. Yeah, it was up by them. And winchline, I think, was up in that neighborhood, too. Winchline.com. Can't remember that fella's name either. They were some of the first synthetic rope dudes, right? Yeah. Which turned out to be an awesome deal. I love the winch line. Synthetic winchline now, all of it, ever since replaced that cable, it was just something still makes me smile. Revolutionized the sport.

[01:00:34.820] - Big Rich Klein

Yes. So then Christine was quite the car. It had its own anybody that has never seen the movie Christine, it's about a kid that gets his car and he builds it up and the car comes to life and kind of an extension of his mental capacity to extract revenge on people that have harassed him. But Christine took it to a different level.

[01:01:14.590] - Jody Everding

It was like evil entity demon in the car that manifested anger of the owner onto people around it and ran them over and smashed them horrific way and then miraculously rebuilt itself so the car looks sparkly new after every murder, right? You may have to watch that movie again. Just reminisce. Unfortunately, the Rock car didn't miraculously fix itself. No, it didn't crash. That was a great idea with that car, other than even straddling the transmission. So it was a single seater, small cab. As soon as we bought it, jack and I struck a deal with them guys on, like, a Thursday. PRP cut me a check Friday afternoon for half of it. I think we were buying that car for close to 20. Or maybe they gave I can't remember. Maybe Aaron gave me five grand and he cut me a check for it. Jack and I hopped in my Dodge with the flatbed trailer and hauled ass from San Diego all the way up to Gig Harbor in a day. We loaded that car, we test drove it in some abandoned field somewhere up there in Washington, and then we drug it home. I think we might have stopped in Portland and stayed the night and then drove the rest of the way in, picked it up the next morning, brought it back home in a weekend.

[01:03:07.120] - Jody Everding

And then there was the three inch headroom rule. We left out the whole helmet conversation that you and I had.

[01:03:18.650] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, we're going to get into that.

[01:03:20.040] - Jody Everding

Okay. There was a three inch headspace rule. And so we welded jack and I did an experiment. We added some room to the roof. But when we did that on that car, we took some pipes together and we MiG welded it. We stick welded it. And then we tig welded these three joints and we smashed them in a press. And I think the MiG, weld held the best. So we MiG welded an added halo in that car to buy me more headroom. I remember doing that at a shop. We did some work on that halo, and then we took off and we started running that car. And it had some fuel. It had a rear radiator, it had heating issues. It was a Vortex V six to a Power Glide, which I sold that Power Glide for a wonderful amount of money. I delivered it to a fella in Choke Cherry and sold him that trans. It was built by Rusty Bray. That transmission mark, right? I sold it to Carl. The name is slipping my mind. He's a competitor. We rock not Hilda brand. No. Gosh darn. I can't remember. Nice fella from back east a little bit.

[01:04:53.140] - Jody Everding

He had a car. When I was running with Justin Kyleman, and we were in Choke Cherry, and I got a call right before I left the house about, can you stop in Phoenix to pick up a transmission from Hughes? And they told me what kind of transmission was, and I was going to have to have like a layover, like a ten hour layover or something in Phoenix waiting on this transmission. I said, Well, I got one in the back.

[01:05:23.690] - Big Rich Klein

It's carl shortridge.

[01:05:25.460] - Jody Everding

That's it. Carl Shortridge.

[01:05:27.140] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[01:05:29.740] - Jody Everding

And so I pulled that transmission out from underneath the bench, and it's a good tranny. And I brought it with me, and I sold it to him at that event. He put it in, he ran it, competed, and then paid me. It was good. It was christine lives in Charles Rustridge's car now.

[01:05:51.140] - Big Rich Klein

So from you having Christine, who did it go to after you?

[01:05:58.680] - Jody Everding

Well, after. So we competed in that car a little while, and it was a learning curve, and I wasn't doing that well, but I did nail some really good stuff. So we had that car at SEMA for the outdoor rock crawling event. I don't think it was the first one, but it was one of the earlier ones. We had the big Mattahorn wall climb and stuff, and it was right there, right out front in the parking lot where they so the picture was taken. I was competing. We were competing at nighttime. I flopped it onto its side. It was a square door panel bunk, and it laid down on its side on top of, like this rise on a hump, and I had to put it in reverse to get it to go forward. So it flopped over, bumped and laid down, and Jack just kind of panicked. And I look at Jack, and he's 10ft out in front of me and 5ft behind him is that galvanized rail that they divide the crowd with the barrier there. And behind that is Chip Fouss. I'm laying there on the side at nighttime, looking at Jack and stepping the gas, and it won't go forward.

[01:07:25.040] - Jody Everding

And then look, and there's Chip Foos looking at me. He's got a big smile on his face, and there's a photographer standing next to him. And I really didn't pay no mind, the photographer, and so I put it in reverse. And the reverse, the way the car was on its side, the reverse actually made the tire go forward, and it drove me forward out of that mess and rided the car. And so I didn't get a back, but I was able to drive through in reverse. The way the tires were just the traction side was on the opposite side and made the car go forward, and it rolled out. Well, after that competition, the SEMA started or whatever, and I'm there to meet up with Aaron Weddicking again, and we're walking around, and by that time I have a little bit more notoriety. Pro Comp had come in a little bit more with me. I'd been badgering them about banners and stuff, and there were some big banners inside of, you know, my picture on them with the procom tire, my Buggy, some stuff. Remember, we competed in was it Firebird Raceway in Phoenix?

[01:08:33.010] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:08:33.770] - Jody Everding

We had some manmade courses over there, and I had a photographer take some pictures out there. And I ended up in a couple of ads with that buggy. And I walk in the door. I meet up with Aaron walking into the main thing, going to the booth or something, and he hands me the SEMA Daily, which is a newspaper they put out at the SEMA Show with the goings on and the meetings and the parties and the whatnot and a bunch of advertisements and stuff. And on the front page was my dumb ass, my face, my bubblegum hood, christine, the fancy pro comp wheels, the tires, the PRP seats across the front page again. So Aaron was know PRP seats, front page of the SEMA Show daily paper magazine thing. So I ended up with like it was a good year. I had ten or twelve of those and I brought them home and I had the whole magazine framed in some fancy frames and I give them to all the major contributors of the team. And so that was a good feather in our hat. Plus, Sarah and I did a Rocks Racing connection paper for a while.

[01:10:01.050] - Jody Everding

Every two events we would write a couple of page letter of what has been going on with us, whether it be a trail ride or a competition. Every couple of weekends we'd put out a little letter and it would go out on a Sunday. So when their partners would come in on Monday morning, they'd have an email with a story and a bunch of pictures. And that got us a lot putting in that extra time. People are like, oh, I wonder whatever happened to that sponsor money I gave Jody Everdang? And then bam. Two weeks later on a Monday, bam is a paper with this is what we did last two weeks. That was a huge help for us sponsor wise. I got a lot of feedback on that. Man, I love the stories. They just love that connection keeping them.

[01:10:51.880] - Big Rich Klein

Absolutely.

[01:10:54.180] - Jody Everding

They want to know where their money is going, but they also want to feel like they're a part of. Right. So as much as you can bring them in, I think it helps a bunch. It helps the personable side of it.

[01:11:07.260] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:11:07.900] - Jody Everding

The friend just the bringing them in in the inner circle, it helps a it's tremendous help for.

[01:11:22.460] - Big Rich Klein

Car. That car lived on and went on.

[01:11:25.470] - Jody Everding

After you went to yeah. So Christine, stay focused on that again. I'm sorry, guys.

[01:11:31.640] - Big Rich Klein

No, it's all no, no, it's all.

[01:11:37.460] - Jody Everding

Know the man made courses were becoming popular for a yes. Um, so we were at a U Rock event in Rocky Mountain Raceway. Salt Lake City. I competed there before. Christine didn't like them wall climbs either. Them real high wall climbs. She was a low belly single seater with the axles pushed out far out in front of the motor and same in the rear. It was kind of a long car, but low. Right. Similar to I don't know if you looked at it, Justin Kyleman's car kind of, but a little narrower.

[01:12:16.100] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:12:16.720] - Jody Everding

But it seemed low and well, she didn't she didn't hill climb very good. She didn't go up them walls very good at. I dropped neutral dropped that thing, and I just couldn't get it over the top of them hills. But we were manmade course, rocky Mountain Raceway. I flopped it over on its side. There was a bunch of folks helping us get it right. She was kind of leaning on the side of a hill. It had no neutral safety switch. And I moved the shifter. What looked like it was in neutral, started the car, and the throttle was pinned from when she rolled over. It bent a bracket on something, an arm on top of that Vortex V six to where the throttle was stuck, and it neutral dropped out from inside this group, bounced off a bunch of man made obstacles and turned right. It went down and hit a K rail. It jumped over the first K rail past some I think it was on the drag strip by that time. It went through these two bleachers. And I remember I was chasing that car over the K rail. I'm running behind it because I knew there was a kill switch on it.

[01:13:38.300] - Jody Everding

And I was after the kill switch, hoping that it would stop on something long enough for me to catch it and kill it. And as it went over the first K rail between these two sets of bleachers that were, like, on the edge of the drag strip, there's, like, this four year old, five year old little blonde girl sitting on the corner of these bleachers that the car had just ripped through. And here I am at a full sprint, running after the car, and I look over onto the corner that it missed this little girl by, like, 6ft, ripping through the middle of the bleachers and then hitting another K rail on the other side of the drag strip and then kind of veering off to the right. We had the passenger side or driver's side tire was over the K rail, and it kind of slid along the K rail about 6ft and then hooked the passenger side tire into Creighton trailer and was sitting there burning the tires. And I caught it, like, was right behind it and killed the switch and stopped it from running. Out of breath.

[01:14:48.580] - Big Rich Klein

Right?

[01:14:50.580] - Jody Everding

Scared to death. Scared to death. I'm getting chills just thinking about those memories again. It was at that point I hated that car. I dismantled that car. That's what happened to that car, okay? It got completely torn apart. It turned into the car that Jack ran at Koh OG 13, okay, was 40%. That car. All the power steering system, the brakes, the axle width wasn't right, but most of the shit that was on the steering knuckles, a lot of those components all went to Jack. And we tore it all down and he chopped up the chassis. I got the motor. I give the motor. I think Ed Webster had the motor. I give it to him. The short ridge has the transmission. I think I have a water pump from that. But yeah, that was a disaster. I quit Rock Holland at that point for a few years or maybe until I got my next car. After that was the twisted customs car, which is, I think, somewhere in 2007. So there was probably nine months maybe with no car.

[01:16:22.800] - Big Rich Klein

The twisted car. You had a big motor in it?

[01:16:25.730] - Jody Everding

Yes, sir. It was a 406 Chevy. It was a dart block built by I'm not even going to mention their name because they were assholes. But it was 17 grand in that motor build with a fast fuel injection, some fancy race car parts in there. And it was set up as the old Chevy style, which was kind of a mistake on my part because the LS was out. And they do some bigger motors, too. But it was right around the time where the production fuel injection was getting good and the aftermarket support was there. So it kind of was in the beginning. I don't want to take the credit for being the first guy, but some guys are putting big 454s in their stuff. But this is a big aluminum, high horsepower, small block, so it was pretty good. It was a lot of power and it put it down to the ground.

[01:17:39.420] - Big Rich Klein

I remember the smoke show that you did in Goldendale, Washington and I was standing on a rock right above mean my feet were almost equal the top of your cage and it was in one of those big crevasses between the big boulders up there. And there was a guy that had been out scouting locations for NASCAR when they wanted to put a NASCAR track up in the Pacific Northwest. And he came out to the event and he's standing on the rock with me and you are just hammering that motor and trying to gain some traction and you're kind of bouncing around in there and just tire smoke the roar of that big motor. And the guy looks at me and goes, he was just so excited, like he was just totally on crank or something and he was just like spinning out of control and he goes, oh my God, this is insane that you can do this kind of stuff and be so close to it. And he goes, if we get a track up here, can we build a man made course? Can we do this? And I'm like, we sure can. Of course they never built a track that didn't go through, but that guy was so spun up.

[01:18:56.230] - Jody Everding

Sold.

[01:18:57.360] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, he was totally sold on the.

[01:18:59.060] - Jody Everding

Sport when then v eight, you get close enough to them and they rattle your chest. Yes, that's one of the. Miraculous thing. You go to the drag races or any high revving sport, that pressure that it creates in your chest is so I don't know, for some of us, it is. For other people, I guess it instills spear. But that V eight rumbling feeling in your bones is something hard to deny.

[01:19:30.380] - Big Rich Klein

Very true. Very true. So let's go back to the helmet thing.

[01:19:38.320] - Jody Everding

All right. Okay. So Cougar Buttes, somewhere in 2002, I'm going to guess, big Rich comes out with a freaking helmet law and said, we got a spotters now. Have to wear helmets. And I was adamant against that. I was, fuck that's stupid, that's bullshit. And it got dropped on me last minute. I didn't know about it until we're at the event site. So out of this from underneath the bench in the trailer or whatever, dustin's Bend, he pulls out this dorkiest freaking helmet I've ever seen in my know, I look like an alien mushroom head or something. I don't know what it was, but it was this monstrosity helmet.

[01:20:30.820] - Big Rich Klein

You were so mad before that event started that you had to wear a helmet.

[01:20:34.680] - Jody Everding

Oh, my God. I was angry as hell. I was on the verge of quitting. Like, fuck it, I'm not doing this no more. But I was there. I put that helmet on and went on about the day, and I don't know, it must have been the second or third course after being so pissed off about the helmet, dustin got hung up in something. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. I slipped and fell and I shit you not, I fell backwards on, like an 18 inch ledge and pit my fucking head right on the ledge. Right on the ledge. I mean, if I wasn't wearing that helmet that day at that time, I could have been killed or severely injured from falling and hitting my head on that, which I didn't fall a lot. It wasn't something that was common ground where I'd consider a helmet on my own. But I slipped and fell and hit my head and it changed my entire outlook on helmets.

[01:21:45.170] - Big Rich Klein

I remember you coming to me right after that and saying thank you. And I was like, for know, because you were just pissing and moaning about all morning long.

[01:21:58.300] - Jody Everding

Yeah, I was angry, and I'm sorry. But that's Jody Everding way right there, raising fucking hell, being a dumb ass, and then instantly, bam. Learn a fucking lesson. No, you're wrong. Dumbass helmet. I still don't like wearing one when I wheel, but I have one that I wear when I wheel.

[01:22:29.540] - Big Rich Klein

That's good to hear.

[01:22:33.160] - Jody Everding

I have a giant headspace in my current crawler, but I wear a protec. Kind of like the spotter helmet inside the car.

[01:22:45.350] - Big Rich Klein

Right. What are you doing nowadays?

[01:22:53.420] - Jody Everding

A little as possible nowadays. You know what I do for the most amount of fun is I'm back on a bicycle.

[01:23:02.480] - Big Rich Klein

A bicycle. Not a motorcycle.

[01:23:04.390] - Jody Everding

A bicycle? Yeah. Yeah. Up until a few months ago. I left town. I went out of town and went up to the ranch in Montana for a few months over the summertime. But prior six months to that, I was riding my bike every day. Not every day, about three days a week. Four days a week? About 20 to 25 to 30 miles a day.

[01:23:30.140] - Big Rich Klein

So you're in shape.

[01:23:31.880] - Jody Everding

Well, if you want to call this shape, yes.

[01:23:37.000] - Big Rich Klein

Round is a shape. Round is that's what I've always told everybody. I'm in shape.

[01:23:42.440] - Jody Everding

I'm round my upper body. I go to the gym pretty regularly. I go to the gym three, four days a week sometimes. I train with this guy that owns a gym, boulevard Fitness, down in San Diego. It was last year or the year before last, it was the number one gay gym in San Diego. But the owner is a friend of mine and I get to go to the gym. So I go to that gym and I work out with my buddy. So, yeah, I'm putting a little bit more time into self. I just turned 55. I don't know, I still eat shitty sometimes and stuff, but I'm trying to do better for myself as I get older. And staying mobile is part of it because pouring concrete forever. You crawl the bed and it takes you a couple of minutes to warm up, to stand up straight. That ain't no good. So I'm working on my mobility, working on my strength and occupying my time. My new wife is in tech. She works for a popular website who's a software developer. And so that allows me to not have to take every job that comes my way.

[01:25:07.400] - Jody Everding

I can pick and choose a little bit better and it allows me a little bit more time off because it's not dire that I have to earn, because the household is not going to fail if I stop working. Right.

[01:25:21.550] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:25:22.540] - Jody Everding

It gives me a little bit more freedom. I bought the CJ back from Brian Crofts maybe ten years ago.

[01:25:35.790] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[01:25:37.040] - Jody Everding

And I put 40s on it. Wait, maybe it's closer to twelve years ago because ten years ago I was spotting or 15. I did some work with Justin Common.

[01:25:52.630] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:25:53.370] - Jody Everding

In 2015. So it's 2024. Yeah. I'm spying away, Rich. As we get older, man, it seems like it's gaining momentum.

[01:26:03.570] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, yeah. It goes by much quicker.

[01:26:05.490] - Jody Everding

Much quicker. So when I was competing with Justin Kyleman in 15, which Dustin referred me to Justin justin called me randomly and asked me if I'd be interested in spotting for him because I had spotted a rear steer car quite a bit. With Dustin. I almost got first place internationally driving a rear steer car in Australia in 2005, was it?

[01:26:37.000] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:26:37.960] - Jody Everding

A big year, 2006. I raced with Pirate Four X Four.com in the Baja 1000. Remember that? With mike Schaefer bob eric Lance. Lance. I was supposed to go down as the driver of record in that. Lance knows it. I believe he went down as driver of record. That's why you got all that awesome BFG shit all over his stuff. We were in his house up in the what is that little neighborhood he used to live in up there between the Rubicon and Georgetown Quintet. We lived up there. We were at that house. We drew out of a hat. We chopped up the names and put them in a hat. I drew it once, pulled it out. It said I was the driver of record. They threw it oh no, that can't be. They're never going to go for this. That's not going to work out. They put it back in the hat. I drew another number and got driver of record. And I was supposed to be driver of record. But apparently what they told, the bullshit story they told me is that they wouldn't go for it because I was a procom driver. That was the story.

[01:27:44.280] - Jody Everding

I think they just boned me out of it. Knowing these guys as well as I do now surely just found know. But that Baja experience was fantastic too. That was a mind blower. When I was driving on my way to or from an event, sarah was in the truck with me. They called up and it was lance and Camo were on the phone together talking to me and asked me if I would drive with them in the Baja 1000 in Schaefer's jeep speed. And I was blown away. I was blown away that they had called up and asked me. It was a big so we did. And I picked Jeff Mello as my spotter co dog driver. Co driver. And I'm going to tell this funny story. He couldn't pee in his catheter condom from we got in the car.

[01:28:56.720] - Big Rich Klein

He couldn't relax, huh?

[01:28:58.400] - Jody Everding

He couldn't relax enough to pee. We got in the car in San Ignacio and took off at dark and ripped through the morning all the way he held it until Laredo. We come across this mountain and there's a valley in there, it's just goose egg boulders everywhere. It's just vibrating. And all the while he couldn't pee. I'm a man. Just let it go. Just let it go. And he couldn't do it. He's like, oh, this is killing know. His bladder is just in there bouncing around, just burning. And we crest this hill into Laredo. And he sees all that water looking over the bay of Laredo. I don't know what you call it. He sees all that water and he's like, oh my God, I think I can let it go. He finally peed with the ocean there and that was 3 hours, 4 hours into the ride. I guess it was pretty tough for him. He also gave me a great compliment at that time that he wanted to get in the driver's seat real bad. And he was waiting for driver's fade is what he called it. He's all, you didn't fade at all.

[01:30:20.160] - Jody Everding

You were as sharp now as you were when you got in the seat. Well, thanks.

[01:30:25.260] - Big Rich Klein

That's awesome.

[01:30:26.430] - Jody Everding

Good times. Good times.

[01:30:29.330] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah.

[01:30:30.190] - Jody Everding

I love that guy. I don't think he loves me, but I love that guy. I hold him on a high standard anyway, baja 1000, Australia. I got second internationally in Australia because of your boy there, little Rich. Some cockamamie call breaking the plane, some malarkey, I don't know, I don't buy it. I lost to Becca. Becca got first internationally by like three points in a drag axle with no rear steer. I had that car they built for me down there, those Aussie boys toys. That's right, yeah. They built a V Eight similar to Christine vehicle. I didn't have to straddle the transmission as much. Rear steer long. It caught on fire like on the first course. And Rich sprayed that fire extinguisher in the face. It's amazing how much air those fire extinguishers take out of your lungs. Oh, yeah, it's hard to breathe. Fire went out. Apparently there was a spot in the back of the motor with oil leaking out of it or something. But those guys, I had a full pit crew. I was a rock star down there. It was fantastic. At that event, they had that same photo from FEMA in the bubble Gum and Christine, they had that picture on the newspaper and the local paper down there.

[01:32:19.030] - Jody Everding

Some gal come up to me and goes, hey, is this you? And shows me the local paper. And there I was, the SEMA Show picture in the local newspaper in Australia.

[01:32:29.840] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[01:32:30.760] - Jody Everding

I was like, yeah, that is me. I took that paper from her. I was showing a bunch of heads. I'm all look at here. It was pretty cool. That was a good time in Australia. You were down there, right?

[01:32:44.390] - Big Rich Klein

No, I backed out and didn't go down at the last minute.

[01:32:48.700] - Jody Everding

I almost didn't get to go. I was trying to get a visa and I put in for a business visa, which was a mistake because I thought, I'm going down there. I had a bunch of shit sent down there. I did a business visa like hours, days before I was supposed to fly out. The lady told me, Well, Mr. Everton, we're sorry. After gathering up all this information and stuff, my FBI background know all kinds of crazy shit, and I turned it all into the embassy in Washington. And they told me, no, we're going to deny you. I was at work that day talking to them on my phone, and I said, no, that's a bunch of bullshit. I said, It's a crying shame. I'm going to have to tell my sponsors that have spent thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars to get me down there to drive a vehicle. Because I was honest with you folks about a business because I was going down there as a driver instead of a private or just a regular Visa. I could have just lied, oh, yeah, I'm just going for a vacation and never said a word.

[01:34:04.980] - Jody Everding

And I had my visa weeks ago. And yet at the last minute you're going to cancel me just because you don't think I'm passing the character test. And then it goes, Well, Mr. Everything, we're going to let you go now. They gave me my Visa and shipped it to me. And it came in like, the day before I left for Australia.

[01:34:24.030] - Big Rich Klein

Wow.

[01:34:25.000] - Jody Everding

Which is a 14 hours flight. You fly for seven and a half hours and you look out the window and there's just water. Maybe a boat.

[01:34:35.980] - Big Rich Klein

If you're lucky, there's a boat, maybe a boat.

[01:34:39.080] - Jody Everding

And you're like, well, if we go down now, we're fucked. We're drowning for a whatever. So it was crazy, but it was a good time. Real good time down there. Jack went, Sarah went with us. We stayed in some fancy hotel in town and went up to the rock crawling site. They got us our own house up in the I think it was the Blue Mountains in Think. I don't know. Good times, though. Car was cool. I just saw some pictures on the Internet of it not that long ago. Rear steer car. So I had a penalty back right for rear steer and still lost to Becca by three points because of breaking the plane with the top of the tire over the cone. Call. You couldn't even prove it with a replay or nothing.

[01:35:45.300] - Big Rich Klein

Nope. Because we don't allow the photographs or video. Nope.

[01:35:52.190] - Jody Everding

Yeah.

[01:35:52.760] - Big Rich Klein

The call is the call.

[01:35:54.200] - Jody Everding

The call is the call.

[01:35:57.000] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I'm sure little Rich just wanted Becca to win.

[01:36:02.030] - Jody Everding

Yeah, I'm sure that's what it was. He was in their pocket. Back know, everybody wanted Red Bull to win. It was good for the sport when those big names brought home big trophies. Anyway. Good times, though.

[01:36:19.970] - Big Rich Klein

So you're still wheeling?

[01:36:21.420] - Jody Everding

Very much. Yeah.

[01:36:24.480] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, good.

[01:36:27.200] - Jody Everding

I got some championship spotting with Dustin. I got championship driving my own car in five. I got to go to Australia second internationally. I got to race in the Baja 1000 with Pirate four, X four.com and all those big hoohahs over there. I have a first place trophy, a Baja 1000 trophy in my living room.

[01:36:53.660] - Big Rich Klein

That's awesome.

[01:36:54.780] - Jody Everding

It is. Somewhere around I got the twisted custom car after that, and that was pretty good for a while. But my marriage and my life started dwindling. Some of my old bullshit started coming back and I kind of threw all the good stuff away, it seemed like. Yeah. And that was kind of the end of it. Around 2007, 2008, struggling with the King of the Hammers, trying to make a go slow car go fast. I was pissed off for a while at Jeff knowle, because he turned the competitor which in my era was the guy that got everything for free from the sponsors. We got a lot of good free shit tires and axles and transfer cases and fire extinguishers and winch rope and everything we needed to rock were the competitors had it pretty good. They were getting a lot of good product, even starting to get some monetary assistance. And then along comes Dave Cole and Jeff Knowl, throwing us into the ring with all the desert racers. And now we got to start buying radios and Parker pumps and fire suits and helmets and more stuff for our cars. And trying to switch the twisted car from a rock crawler with a five gallon tank to a desert car with a 30 gallon tank between a rock crawl and then now we're going to go fast and then go back to the rock crawl.

[01:38:41.780] - Jody Everding

It was kind of burning the candle at both ends for me.

[01:38:44.800] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:38:46.620] - Jody Everding

And I couldn't keep up with between pouring concrete full blast, working on the car full blast, which I didn't have like a pit crew. I didn't have a crew that come to my house. I didn't have a rage fourth, I didn't have a team, right. Had some help a little bit, but not usually at the last minute, jam out some stuff. There's been times where we'd worked on the car in the pits to get it ready for the races and that was tough. That just broke my car all up. Maybe racing against the clock for me wasn't a good match.

[01:39:32.700] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[01:39:33.740] - Jody Everding

That happened to a lot. I get race mode and I get to and I can preserve the car some, but apparently I couldn't do it real well because I had two, maybe three DNFs at Koh from that. And then the breaking point for me with that was we came home from, I think 2009 was my last race. Sarah was my copilot. We had a pretty good run. We were running out and back and we were just about ready to head it back to Hammertown. This is before like a remote pit came above, I think, and we were somewhere out in aftershock heading northbound, I think, in it. And I pulled out, I ripped out a drive line and wired it back in, but somewhere and we wired it back in and we got back into camp. But after further inspection, the drive line spit because I'd cracked the bell housing on the tranny, which was a thing for those twisted cars. They cracked bell housings, I'd heard. And so I had to be the TDs, I think it was like the following weekend, sponsorship commitment, plus being at the big events is part of our circus show, right.

[01:41:15.230] - Jody Everding

We'd compete and we'd go to these large events and have the vehicle there park it in a booth and stand around the hoop and haul or talk our asses off and drink a bunch of beer or whatever it was part of the gig. So I said, all right. No problem. I'll pull the transfer case and tranny and I'll put a super bell on it. I should be able to fix this, no problem, because TCI was sponsoring me transmission. TCI. They're in any Jag or summit. They're a pretty big transmission company and they were sponsoring me. So I got the SUPERBELL put on there behind that dart block. And on the SUPERBELL, the lip of the bell housing around the outside is probably three times the thickness of what a standard turbo 350 is. The lip is just quarter inch with some flared out for the bolts to go through or whatnot. On the back of the dart block, there's some threaded ports where freeze plugs would normally be on the back of a Chevy 350 with some little, like, half inch oil lines. Well, the threaded in plug wasn't flush mounted. It protruded out of the back of the motor, beyond the milling of the back of the motor.

[01:42:38.530] - Jody Everding

So it protruded out just enough for the fatter bell housing lip on the SUPERBELL. And I know you're not supposed to do this, you're not supposed to crank that together with the bolts, but I cranked it together with the bolt because it was just that one spot where it wasn't pushing in. So I sucked it together. And when I sucked it together, it broke the threaded plug in the back of the aluminum block, which was in an oil journal, there's some sort of little oil pressure spring pin that controls the amount of oil that goes into the cylinder heads there and slapped it back together. And when I started it up to put it on the trailer the night before TDs, she just pumped all that oil right all over the floor underneath the lift, and I was done. I had a session there where I was just flabbergasted with the work I had just cranked out over the three days, all for not just to break that one bolt and spew a giant puddle of oil on the ground. And I didn't touch the car for I cleaned up the oil. I didn't touch the car for probably a month.

[01:44:01.300] - Jody Everding

I was just broke. It was like the straw that broke the camel's back. There's a million other issues going on in my life, and that one was fighting me the hardest. And that broke it for a while. And I pulled the motor in and it stayed out for a long time after that. And that was somewhere in 2007, right as the 2008 recession hit. And that's when I started having troubles with my wife, ex wife now. And it all just kind of went in the toilet from there. And that was the end of my rock crawling driving career after that.

[01:44:55.700] - Big Rich Klein

That recession was hard on a lot of people.

[01:44:58.280] - Jody Everding

It was we had enclosed trailer rhino to run around from the pit, pit car it was like a little chase truck toolbox in the back of it. Coolers radios, uniforms. We were pretty on fire for a little while, and then it's kind of faded, broken mental issue, I guess.

[01:45:30.590] - Big Rich Klein

I don't know it all.

[01:45:35.340] - Jody Everding

Then. So that was pretty much it for a while. Sarah and I got a divorce. She took the twisted car. I kept the motor and the transmission. She sold the Twisted car, which has some really cool parts on it. It had the very first spider tracks, knuckle, the fabricated knuckle and seas on it. They were stamped one wow on them. And it was the first of the production models. They've changed them since then. But uni bearings, the fabricated spider tracks. I bent the housings. I still have some. I bent them at the Rubicon that year. They rolled it on Ice House Road doing something or another at speed and ended up, I don't know, story for another time, I guess. Bent those housings and they helped me out, gave me some new housings. And they're supposed to be the thick tube, but they like to give out the thin tubes over there. And then Sarah sold that car to Tim Florian.

[01:47:03.580] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, okay.

[01:47:05.260] - Jody Everding

And Tim florian had that car. He raced it at, um once, I think. And I don't know if he competed it in any rock on events or not, but his future was limited. Also, right after that. He rests in peace.

[01:47:26.940] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, he had some.

[01:47:33.380] - Jody Everding

Think. I tried to buy that car back. I went up there and looked at it and talked to Tim's wife at the time, but their number was high. I don't know what Sarah got for it. I think she got, like, 19,000 or something for it at the time. And I don't know what Tim paid for it, but they were trying to get twelve or 13 out of it when I looked at it. And when I looked at it, it was tore up. It was just a big pile of parts. A lot of broken tube. Still had those good axles underneath there, though, that I was trying to get back. But I think it ended up I don't know for sure, but I think that car belongs to Jack from CTM and my ex wife, who are now right. Yeah. So I think they bought it. I think got it back.

[01:48:28.410] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[01:48:29.190] - Jody Everding

Sarah competed in a woman's competition, and her jack spotted I had a broken leg, a broken ankle from partying up in Sacramento at fucking Hollywood's House. I picked up oh, fuck, what was that guy's name? I don't know. I picked up some guy I was fighting with, arguing with something. Billy.

[01:48:56.480] - Big Rich Klein

Billy Bob.

[01:48:57.880] - Jody Everding

Billy Bob. Yeah.

[01:49:00.370] - Big Rich Klein

Whitaker?

[01:49:01.760] - Jody Everding

Yeah. Yeah. We were in slanted. Big party at Hollywood. Billy Bob was talking know I'm an honorary Pirate of the Rubicon. Me. Dale Schaefer and Schaefer and Chris Durham, I think, are the only four honoring pirates Anyway, we were at a pirate party. We were fighting. I was arguing with Billy Bob, and I threw him over my shoulder, and I was standing there on that slanted driveway at Hollywood and rolled my ankle in the driveway and broke it. And I flew home in a wheelchair. Drunken party. Jack spotted for Sarah. She drove the twisted car and got third place. You could have got first if they'd have listened to me. They didn't, but they got third. So maybe that's their romantic time car or whatever. Now they own that car. I think now good for them.

[01:50:27.100] - Big Rich Klein

So over time, are you back sober now?

[01:50:34.800] - Jody Everding

Yes.

[01:50:35.650] - Big Rich Klein

And you're riding bike, getting back into shape and working when you want to?

[01:50:43.620] - Jody Everding

Yeah.

[01:50:44.720] - Big Rich Klein

Perfect. So it sounds like you got your proverbial shit together.

[01:50:52.260] - Jody Everding

Well, yes, as an older Jody, my shit is better together than it was in the past. I mean, there's been some good times. There's been some burning the candles at both ends. But I'm only burning at one end now.

[01:51:07.920] - Big Rich Klein

There you go.

[01:51:08.860] - Jody Everding

I like going a little bit slower, not making such quick decisions. I'm not randomly deciding to pick up my homeboy in Mexico and loading an airplane on the trailer and dragging it home.

[01:51:22.720] - Big Rich Klein

I had forgotten that it had skipped my mind. I remember oh, God, what a trip that was when you and I and I was driving and Camo was in the truck and we were coming back from downtown, going out to wherever we were camped out. And the light kept staying on in the truck. And we got pulled over by the local San Felipe police for eye pollution. And we were in that Nissan pickup, and I was trying to get that there was a rope holding the running board on, and I couldn't get the door closed. So the tailgate light was on. And you were asking the cops, how much do we have to pay to get out of this? And I just kept trying to slam the door. Finally, I slammed the door hard enough to where the light went out, and I said, okay, no more eye pollution. Just jumped in, and we drove off. And the cops were standing there like, what the hell just happened? That was a trip for the ages. I interview Camo tomorrow.

[01:52:44.610] - Jody Everding

Oh, fantastic. I think he still has contact with those people, with the airplane?

[01:52:50.820] - Big Rich Klein

I believe so.

[01:52:53.260] - Jody Everding

That was a good one. Remember?

[01:52:54.940] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, yeah.

[01:52:55.890] - Jody Everding

Did all that know? I go down there under the pretense of putting Bob's XJ on my trailer and bringing it back across the border, and I pull into Pete's Camp where you guys were all at, drinking there at Pete's Camp, San Felipe. I show up after five hour drive, and I'm like, okay, what's going like you're all sitting around the table. Here comes some shots my way. And they're like, How'd you feel about rescuing an airplane? And I look around, like, at Camo and you and Bob, and there's that couple there looking at us, big puppy dog eyes. And I'm like, yeah, what the hell? Let's do it. Sounds like a challenge accepted to me right when it was, what a fiasco that was. Trailering an airplane out of that over.

[01:53:51.680] - Big Rich Klein

The border and through customs. I don't think it's ever been done before.

[01:53:57.310] - Jody Everding

And then all the way back to their place, close to where I live now, I live in Valley Center, which is close to Fallbrook or wherever it was those folks lived. And then the funniest part was we get in there, and we're at their house. We've dropped off the airplane at the hangar. We've unloaded it. We're back at their house, a few miles from the airfield where they store their plane. And all over the house on the back door is all these Sierra Club fucking stickers.

[01:54:27.360] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah.

[01:54:28.050] - Jody Everding

And we're out back smoking, and they come back in. I'm, are you a member of the Sierra Club? And they bow their heads and say, yes. And I'm like, wow, what a trip. I guess all offroaders aren't that bad after all, are we?

[01:54:46.430] - Big Rich Klein

No, they agreed to that beforehand.

[01:54:48.940] - Jody Everding

Even I remember I was kind of getting that idea about them when they were in the back of my truck coming across the border, but it was crazy. That was pretty big feather in our hat that time.

[01:55:04.140] - Big Rich Klein

Yep. Well, Jody, I want to say thank you so much for spending the morning and talking with me, know, exploring your history and some of your wild times, and I really appreciate it.

[01:55:22.220] - Jody Everding

Well, I appreciate the opportunity to share some story with you, Rich. Make me look good, budy.

[01:55:28.240] - Big Rich Klein

Absolutely.

[01:55:30.380] - Jody Everding

I appreciate the times.

[01:55:31.770] - Big Rich Klein

All right, budy.

[01:55:32.530] - Jody Everding

You take care. All right.

[01:55:34.370] - Big Rich Klein

Bye. 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 a 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.