Some personalities just transcend the airways; Chris Bolger is one of those. Always a storyteller at heart. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
7:26 – when I say I was a nerd, I mean mathlete, academic decathlon, and all the nerd stuff you could possibly do
10:12 – I never really got into breaking stuff off-road until I got in the army
16:05 – legal drinking age is four foot six, as long as you can see over the top of the bar
21:00 – George was a genius, he figured he couldn’t get enough tires from all the manufacturers, so he would just make his own
31:36 – you had two larger-than-life personalities trying to make something awesome happen
38:33 – the best thing about my time with KOH was the friends I developed
43:50 – I tried to quit the industry, Rich, I really did
49:14 – I’m 20 whatever years old, doing bikini model fittings because I can sew.
54:54 – My daughter is scary, she’s 12 years old, running her own business, and she goes with me to midget wrestling matches
Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
Some personalities just transcend the airways; Chris Bolger is one of those. Always a storyteller at heart. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
7:26 – when I say I was a nerd, I mean mathlete, academic decathlon, and all the nerd stuff you could possibly do
10:12 – I never really got into breaking stuff off-road until I got in the army
16:05 – legal drinking age is four foot six, as long as you can see over the top of the bar
21:00 – George was a genius, he figured he couldn’t get enough tires from all the manufacturers, so he would just make his own
31:36 – you had two larger-than-life personalities trying to make something awesome happen
38:33 – the best thing about my time with KOH was the friends I developed
43:50 – I tried to quit the industry, Rich, I really did
49:14 – I’m 20 whatever years old, doing bikini model fittings because I can sew.
54:54 – My daughter is scary, she’s 12 years old, running her own business, and she goes with me to midget wrestling matches
Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
[00:00:01.040] -
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.
[00:00:46.150] -
Whether you're crawling the Red Rocks or 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.
[00:01:13.000] -
Have you seen 4-Low magazine yet? 4-low 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 today.
[00:01:39.430] - Big Rich Klein
On this episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I'll be talking with longtime industry insider, Chris Bolger. I met Chris in the early 2000s. He was with ProComp Tire. Chris has worked with many of the early rock crawling teams, including being one of our marketing partners with Calrocs Rock crawling. Chris, it's really great to have you on board. I know that besides ProComp, you've worked for a number of different companies, and we'll get into all that. Thank you for coming on board and spending some time with us.
[00:02:12.050] - Chris Bolger
That's great to have a good conversation with you, Rich. It's been too long.
[00:02:15.950] - Big Rich Klein
Yes, it has. Let's jump right in, and we'll do the easiest question of all time for some. Where were you born and raised?
[00:02:26.810] - Chris Bolger
I was born in Fun, Tucky, California. I'm born in California, and raised in Rialto, California, just right in the heart of the Inland Empire.
[00:02:35.650] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, so you meant Fontana?
[00:02:40.400] - Chris Bolger
Yes.
[00:02:43.670] - Big Rich Klein
That's awesome. So what was it like back then? And let's see, with your age, that's probably sometime in the 60s?
[00:02:53.260] - Chris Bolger
I was born in '71.
[00:02:55.030] - Big Rich Klein
'71, okay.
[00:02:56.670] - Chris Bolger
Yeah. So I can't remember that far back, but mid-70s.
[00:03:00.570] - Big Rich Klein
Come on, you can't remember being in diapers?
[00:03:04.940] - Chris Bolger
Thank God, no. I can only remember the more recent shitting myself episodes.
[00:03:12.780] - Big Rich Klein
Perfect.
[00:03:14.350] - Chris Bolger
But back then it was all grape vines and Orange Groves and Kaiser Steel, and that was all that was out there.
[00:03:22.940] - Big Rich Klein
Well, that's amazing, because it's not like that now.
[00:03:26.120] - Chris Bolger
Oh, no, it's all subdivisions and big buildings and Amazon distribution centers.
[00:03:35.450] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, that's what I noticed down in that area along the freeways is it just seems like that all there are is warehouses. Just lovely.
[00:03:47.330] - Chris Bolger
Back then the biggest thing out there was Ontario Speedway. That's long gone.
[00:03:53.290] - Big Rich Klein
And that's a shame.
[00:03:54.560] - Chris Bolger
Those were the early good days. Now it's been replaced with Fontana Speedway, which is a far cry from what Ontario was.
[00:04:04.220] - Big Rich Klein
Absolutely. I've been to Fontana. In fact, they were looking to build a four wheel drive training facility slash rock-crawling site, because they were hooked up with Falcon Tire at the time, and I'm not sure if they are now or not, but we were going to build a tire testing center for them, and then put rock crawling in down on what would be the number one and number two corners on the outside, not on the inside, but in the parking lot area. But that all fell through.
[00:04:38.350] - Chris Bolger
That would have been amazing.
[00:04:39.460] - Big Rich Klein
That would have been awesome. But it's typical with some of that stuff. We were hoping to try to get into NASCAR tracks, and it's never really... It's never happened.
[00:04:49.660] - Chris Bolger
I remember interviewing for a job with Andrew Hoyd at Falkan Tire and looking out the window of the Falkan building and seeing the big slag heap for Kaiser Steel and just it all comes together at some point in our lives.
[00:05:06.730] - Big Rich Klein
It does, doesn't it?
[00:05:08.180] - Chris Bolger
Because Kaiser Steel was where I was going to work growing up. It was a family tradition. Uncle, grandpa worked there both, and that was what I was going to do. Then they went out of business and I had to find something else to do with my life.
[00:05:22.940] - Big Rich Klein
And we'll get to that. But the early years, school, what was school like for you? Were you a good student or were you indifferent?
[00:05:33.180] - Chris Bolger
I was a nerd up until about ninth grade, and then I discovered the wrong group of friends to fall into, and girls, and that led to cars, and then I barely got out of high school. It was a quick downfall.
[00:05:53.990] - Big Rich Klein
That's a path that it seems like many of us have followed.
[00:05:59.050] - Chris Bolger
I think I have fallen into every cliché path out there. After high school, I went into the army, was there for about eight years, and then I did the typical GI path out of that. I got out, bought a Jeep because that's what you do when you get out of the army, and tried to go to college and failed at that miserable.
[00:06:25.910] - Big Rich Klein
Failed at college or buying the Jeep?
[00:06:28.140] - Chris Bolger
Well, both. I mean, it was an '84 CJ-7, so that was a big failure right there, and college didn't go so well, so I ended up at Four wheel parts.
[00:06:39.230] - Big Rich Klein
And that hasn't turned out all that bad?
[00:06:43.160] - Chris Bolger
No, that was a beautiful place. I got George Adler, the founder, overruled the sales manager who didn't want to hire me, and George personally hired me, so I always had that to hold over my boss's head.
[00:06:59.020] - Big Rich Klein
That boss wasn't one of the other Adlers, was it?
[00:07:04.680] - Chris Bolger
No, it was a guy by the name of Ben, who I have lost track of over the years.
[00:07:11.760] - Big Rich Klein
So back in the army, let's go back into high school, or even before that, when you were your nerd years. Did you play sports or what activities were you into?
[00:07:26.310] - Chris Bolger
No, Rich, when I say nerd, I mean mathlete. I was on the academic decathlon team and all of the math club and all the nerd stuff you could possibly be into, Dungeons & Dragons.
[00:07:43.990] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah. Soso bad. You had a big fall from Grace then. Yes. From academic decathlon to party time, and almost not getting through school. That must have made parents happy.
[00:07:59.950] - Chris Bolger
Especially when my dad was a biology professor at the local junior college.
[00:08:04.490] - Big Rich Klein
Oh, Jeez.
[00:08:05.860] - Chris Bolger
So yeah, it was a real hit with the family.
[00:08:09.790] - Big Rich Klein
And what activities did the family enjoy then? Did you guys go camping or hunting or fishing or anything?
[00:08:18.910] - Chris Bolger
A lot of beach camping down the Southern California beaches. We had a cabin up near Big Bear, so that was a lot of time up there. Skiing was still the thing to do. It was way before snowboarding, so winners were up in the mountains, skiing, and time at the beach. Back in the good old days, you could get to the mountains in 30 minutes from Rialto, and you could get to the beach in 45.
[00:08:47.960] - Big Rich Klein
You can't even get out of Rialto that fast now.
[00:08:52.360] - Chris Bolger
Back in those days, you could take a dirt biker, a three-wheeler out into the desert five minutes from the house and be riding. Now you've got to drive two hours. Damn, people. It's ridiculous.
[00:09:05.760] - Big Rich Klein
So then with that beach camping, big bear camping, skiing, all of that, did that continue even after your fall from Grace?
[00:09:17.810] - Chris Bolger
Oh, yeah. It was always family. That was family time together.
[00:09:23.090] - Big Rich Klein
And did you get a chance to drive early?
[00:09:27.880] - Chris Bolger
I didn't get... My first car was a '65 Mustang that I built with my grandpa in his front yard in Rialto, and that was the end of the end for me. So once I started driving, it was all over from that.
[00:09:47.340] - Big Rich Klein
Every.
[00:09:49.030] - Chris Bolger
Dollar I earned working at the lawnmower shop or birthday money went into that car. That's where I got oil in my veins.
[00:10:03.280] - Big Rich Klein
Did. So no offroading early life? Maybe- No, not really. No motorcycles or anything like that?
[00:10:12.080] - Chris Bolger
No. A couple of trips out with my uncle. This was when three wheelers were a big thing, so there was a few trips out bat and back on motorcycles with other family members, but yeah, not a whole lot. I never really got into breaking stuff off road until I got in the army.
[00:10:34.380] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, so high school, your fall from grace. You got your car, you're putting all the money you can into your car to get it the way you want or to keep it running, which was my case. I spent more money keeping the car running than modifying it.
[00:10:54.390] - Chris Bolger
I wasn't the best driver, so I spent a lot of money on body work.
[00:10:58.780] - Big Rich Klein
Oh, okay. So more like a demolition or you just clip things?
[00:11:10.080] - Chris Bolger
Well, you've seen in movies when somebody hits a fire hydrant.
[00:11:14.300] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:11:15.380] - Chris Bolger
That's a really good depiction of what actually happens. The bolts shear off and the car fills with water.
[00:11:22.700] - Big Rich Klein
Oh, Lord. In Rialto? In Rialto. So now we know why we don't have green grass in Northern California.
[00:11:31.690] - Chris Bolger
Now we know why I don't have water. Right.
[00:11:36.480] - Big Rich Klein
So then high school, you did graduate?
[00:11:40.420] - Chris Bolger
I did graduate. I actually graduated a semester early, towards the end, decided I didn't really want to be there anymore, so found out that if you took college classes, you got double credit. So dad got me into the local junior college for a couple of classes, and I was able to graduate a semester early and got out when I was turned 17.
[00:12:03.940] - Big Rich Klein
And how long until from that point did you join the army?
[00:12:08.760] - Chris Bolger
I joined the army before I graduated. I think I was 20 days after I turned 17. My mom signed the paperwork that said I could join before I turned 18, and I was gone two months after I graduated high school.
[00:12:27.400] - Big Rich Klein
Wow. Okay.
[00:12:29.110] - Chris Bolger
I was 17 and what, two or three months. Birthdays in December, and I was gone in March.
[00:12:37.120] - Big Rich Klein
So that wasn't court-ordered or anything, right?
[00:12:39.410] - Chris Bolger
No.
[00:12:42.220] - Big Rich Klein
And your dad was cool with it?
[00:12:44.750] - Chris Bolger
Yeah. So my dad's my stepdad, but it was my mom. They just knew it wasn't... College wasn't in the cards for me right away. I needed to get out of the inland Empire for a little while and see what the rest of the world looked like. So Fair enough.
[00:13:01.310] - Chris Bolger
That was it.
[00:13:02.170] - Big Rich Klein
And what part of the world did you get to see?
[00:13:06.510] - Chris Bolger
I got to see every part of the world that I never would have got to see if I hadn't joined. I was all over the States for basic training and advanced training in schools in North Carolina, Georgia, New Jersey. Do not recommend New Jersey in the winter. And then I shipped out to Germany, went to Spain for manoeuvers, went to Iraq for that little skirmish we had back then, and was stationed in Northern California for a while. So everywhere got to travel as a tourist while I was in Europe. It was awesome.
[00:13:49.330] - Big Rich Klein
And what was your... What do they call it? What was your assignments? What did you do while you were in the army?
[00:13:59.280] - Chris Bolger
Well, fortunately, I tested well, so I hadn't lost my intelligence completely, so I tested pretty high on all the placement tests, so I ended up as part of the Army Intelligence Corps.
[00:14:12.990] - Big Rich Klein
Well, that explains a lot now. Just having fun there, Chris.
[00:14:22.200] - Chris Bolger
No, I get it. It's the biggest oxymoron ever, believe me. I heard every joke possible from my grandpa.
[00:14:29.250] - Big Rich Klein
Was your grandfather an army vet?
[00:14:34.470] - Chris Bolger
He was an Army Air Corps back in World War II. Every prediction that he made came true, and every piece of advice he gave me that I ignored came to fruition. He said, Never volunteer for anything. I volunteered to jump out of airplanes and go to stupid schools that I never should have gone to. He said, As soon as you join, they'll be wars, because we hadn't had a war in so long, so I figured I was going to be safe. As I get in, Grenada in Iraq, right on schedule for his timeline for me.
[00:15:07.590] - Big Rich Klein
There's a lot of wisdom in our grandparents.
[00:15:11.090] - Chris Bolger
Yep. If we would just be smart enough to listen to them, we would save ourselves a lot of heartache.
[00:15:15.880] - Big Rich Klein
Exactly. Exactly.
[00:15:18.380] - Chris Bolger
But that never happens.
[00:15:21.040] - Big Rich Klein
So with being in army intelligence, you- I.
[00:15:27.530] - Chris Bolger
Got lucky enough to get stationed with the 10th Special Forces group over in Germany, got to do stupid stuff with those guys, training with the local German military, NATO exercises. It was awesome.
[00:15:48.110] - Big Rich Klein
That's pretty cool.
[00:15:50.090] - Chris Bolger
Yeah.
[00:15:51.750] - Big Rich Klein
And what was your favorite part of all that, or your favorite area?
[00:15:59.060] - Chris Bolger
Oktoberfest, sure.
[00:16:03.490] - Big Rich Klein
Spoken like a good GI.
[00:16:05.980] - Chris Bolger
Legal drinking age is four foot six, as long as you can see over the top of the bar, you can drink in Germany. They have mandatory service for their male children over there, so going out and being able to hit the town in some place you've never been with the German military guys, Whitewater River training where you end up at an old monastery that's been converted into a brewery. Yeah.
[00:16:40.300] - Big Rich Klein
So everything finished with beer.
[00:16:43.790] - Chris Bolger
Pretty much, yeah.
[00:16:47.830] - Big Rich Klein
Pretty sweet. And when you got to be a tourist in Europe, what were some of the places that you visited besides Germany?
[00:16:55.000] - Chris Bolger
I went to a bunch of music festivals in Belgium. Took a bus across the channel to England. Skiing was still cool, still pre-snowboard times, and ended up spending any time I had off in the winter in Austria.
[00:17:13.370] - Big Rich Klein
Not too bad. How come you only spend eight years?
[00:17:17.990] - Chris Bolger
I've always been a guy who wanted to settle down, and I wanted my own garage, and when you're in the army, you don't have a garage, you don't have a place to work on your own stuff. That was my thing. Okay. I wanted to put some roots down, and it was time to get back home to the family.
[00:17:35.290] - Big Rich Klein
At that point when you got out, did you still have the Mustang?
[00:17:39.580] - Chris Bolger
I did. It was in my parents' garage until I got back. I would send parts home, and they would stack them on top of the car or in the car. But when I got back, it was still there.
[00:17:51.850] - Big Rich Klein
And ready to be worked on?
[00:17:55.330] - Chris Bolger
Yep, ready to start up right where I left.
[00:17:58.630] - Big Rich Klein
Great. When you got out of the army, what was your first employment? Was it right into four wheel parts?
[00:18:11.280] - Chris Bolger
No, I started working for a company that screws up the grocery stores in the middle of the night for you.
[00:18:17.850] - Big Rich Klein
You were stocking them?
[00:18:20.530] - Chris Bolger
I was resetting them. You know what, you go in on your typical day, and then you go in the next time, and nothing is where you thought it was before.
[00:18:29.670] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, I hate that.
[00:18:31.030] - Chris Bolger
I was that guy.
[00:18:32.550] - Big Rich Klein
I know why they do it, but I hate it.
[00:18:35.000] - Chris Bolger
They.
[00:18:35.910] - Big Rich Klein
Want you to shop and keep looking so that you find other things to buy.
[00:18:41.210] - Chris Bolger
Well, the companies that would employ us would decide they wanted to do something on a higher shelf, so they would pay more for that real estate in the higher shelf. We'd go in and change every Ralphs or Vons in Southern California.
[00:18:58.010] - Big Rich Klein
Nice. That gave you the days then to-.
[00:19:02.550] - Chris Bolger
To try college again.
[00:19:04.090] - Big Rich Klein
To try college again. Did you have a course study that you were looking for?
[00:19:08.840] - Chris Bolger
I was going to follow in my dad's footsteps, and he was a biology professor, and that ended up being pretty good for him. I thought that was a good enough career path for me.
[00:19:21.430] - Big Rich Klein
And what convinced you otherwise?
[00:19:25.370] - Chris Bolger
Somehow I bought that Jeep and I ended up needing parts and Four Wheel parts was the same as they are now, woefully understaffed. So I made some flippant comment and they said, Freaking. Well, why don't you have an interview and see if you can work here? And that was the next one of those path-changing life moments. We'll pay you to sell parts. You know the parts pretty well. You get a hefty employee discount. You're spending all your money here anyway, and it seemed like a good idea.
[00:19:59.600] - Big Rich Klein
I would imagine that was the mid to going into the latter 90s? Oh, God.
[00:20:09.020] - Chris Bolger
They're making me do math again.
[00:20:10.960] - Big Rich Klein
Well, you were born in '71.
[00:20:13.980] - Chris Bolger
Somewhere around there, yeah. Yeah.
[00:20:17.100] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, and you were just a regular salesman for them to begin with, or did you jump right off into pro comp?
[00:20:29.680] - Chris Bolger
No, I started at the retail counter at the corporate headquarters in GARDENA back then, and just did the front counter, then went over to mail order, came back to manage the front counter, back to mail order, mail order manager, and then about that time, they decided they were going to start the tire company, and got tapped to go over to be a part of that.
[00:20:58.860] - Big Rich Klein
Nice.
[00:21:00.190] - Chris Bolger
George was a genius. He figured, hell, he couldn't get enough tires from all the manufacturers, so he would just make his own. Cut out the middle man.
[00:21:10.930] - Big Rich Klein
Right. They basically private labeled everything pretty much from Cooper at that point, didn't they?
[00:21:17.560] - Chris Bolger
Yep.
[00:21:18.770] - Big Rich Klein
Had a.
[00:21:19.120] - Chris Bolger
Great relationship with Cooper. They came in, sketched out some tires on napkins up in Big Bear, and Cooper made it happen. Great partnerships over there with Jet Edmunds and some other guys over there.
[00:21:35.570] - Big Rich Klein
Let's talk about the guy you used to work with in the tire business over there.
[00:21:41.120] - Chris Bolger
Scottie?
[00:21:41.690] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, Scottie Ward. He's a.
[00:21:46.170] - Chris Bolger
Great guy, complete visionary. George gave him that ball to run, and he just took off and never looked back with it. Everything for him, back in those days, it wasn't spreadsheets making decisions. It was all gut instinct, and his instincts were great.
[00:22:04.830] - Big Rich Klein
You guys pretty early in the rock crawling section, got hooked up with Dustin Webster?
[00:22:13.990] - Chris Bolger
Dustin and Becca, Red Bull rock are the greatest people I've ever had the privilege to be associated with. Just salt of the earth guys.
[00:22:23.720] - Big Rich Klein
Right. Dustin was the first North American Red Bull athlete, and before they even had North American Red Bull, he was still under contract with the Europeans, but that was a pretty good, I mean, that had to help pro comp sales being tied in with Red Bull.
[00:22:44.950] - Chris Bolger
100 %. Everywhere you looked, it's no secret. Dustin didn't win a whole lot of competitions, but he got more air time, more press, more publicity than everybody who was winning everything.
[00:23:01.410] - Big Rich Klein
Very true. I think there was a lot of guys that didn't appreciate that. But Dustin had that, If you can't win the show, be the show.
[00:23:14.440] - Chris Bolger
Exactly.
[00:23:16.140] - Big Rich Klein
And then he was also always out there drumming up the media. He would get the writers, the local newspaper writers to come out. He would get the local news stations to come out and cover what they were doing. He would create events on his own or get-togethers to show people, offer the local reporter on the news station, Hey, come out and ride with us and see what this is like, for a lifestyle story. He was a.
[00:23:52.360] - Chris Bolger
Customer at Shellman.
[00:23:53.620] - Big Rich Klein
Yes.
[00:23:54.800] - Chris Bolger
The PT Barnum of the day, and exactly, if there wasn't something going on, he would make something go on. And it wasn't just for him. What's the saying? A rising tide raises all ships.
[00:24:08.810] - Big Rich Klein
Yes.
[00:24:11.240] - Chris Bolger
He had no problem with the publicity he was bringing, being passed along to everybody, and it was a great thing. And he was a constant advocate for his partners, for us especially. Best thing that could have ever happened to ProCompTires.
[00:24:31.110] - Big Rich Klein
And with rock crawling in general, even though some people probably don't appreciate it or don't understand it, but he got us onto broader than a national stage, an international stage with his tie in with Red Bull and all the media that he would bring in from all over the world. I mean, it was just amazing.
[00:24:55.270] - Chris Bolger
Yeah. And then when Becca decided she wanted to start driving, it just increased.
[00:24:59.920] - Big Rich Klein
True.
[00:25:00.170] - Chris Bolger
I can say that the whole, when you look at connections throughout everything, so many people that have gone to so many great things started with Dustin, really. Jody Everding went from Dustin Spotter to winning it all in stock class. Nicole Johnson, who, Frank, her husband was Dustin Spotter, and now she's doing great things. He was a monster, jam, driver, he was going all over the world driving cars and living the best life. Dustin helped a lot of people come along.
[00:25:41.110] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, even his crew chief, Dallas, 100%. He may not be that deep into the automotive industry, except for his parts business, that he still has. But I think some of that relationship helped propel him to the things that he's been doing. I would like to think so.
[00:26:04.870] - Chris Bolger
I think Dallas was young when he started with Dustin, and I think Dustin gave him a lot of that drive. Dallas always had the drive, but Dustin gave him the ability.
[00:26:17.720] - Big Rich Klein
To- Focus.
[00:26:18.390] - Chris Bolger
Focus, it's a good word, focus it and make his decisions and do what he wanted to do with his life. Just a great story all the way through, from back all those years ago to now, and it's great to see them all still doing their stuff.
[00:26:35.540] - Big Rich Klein
So I know that you guys had a relationship with Jody Everding as well, being a driver. What was it like dealing with Jody? He was just on, I just, you know, he was... His episode aired just a few weeks ago, so.
[00:26:54.610] - Chris Bolger
Never a dull moment with Jody from the tattoos to the infamous piercing to the... Yeah.
[00:27:05.750] - Big Rich Klein
We didn't even, well, I'm not going to touch on that. But we did not even go into that on his podcast. Yeah.
[00:27:16.670] - Chris Bolger
But he was a character, but he was honestly outside appearance and the persona he put out to the public, he was a professional. He always wanted to do the best for us, and he always came through.
[00:27:34.750] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:27:35.050] - Chris Bolger
When Jack was spotting for him, those two were just a great team. Now that you mentioned him, I have lost touch with him, but every so often I'll get a call or a text out of the blue, and just always bring a smile to my face.
[00:27:53.910] - Big Rich Klein
Right. I know Scottie had some health issues, is-.
[00:28:00.240] - Chris Bolger
He's still up in Santa Clarita, but he had a, as far as I know, another one I lost touch with. Same here. He had a stroke, whenever that was, and healed up pretty well, but never quite was the same, retired from four wheel parts, and just he and Alana were going to live their lives for a while and just have a good time.
[00:28:26.100] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:28:26.960] - Chris Bolger
Good.
[00:28:28.530] - Big Rich Klein
Glad to hear that. Okay, so then your time at four wheel parts, what were some of the job duties that you had?
[00:28:37.610] - Chris Bolger
After all the retail stuff, and then basically with Scotty doing tires and wheels, I was his operations and marketing guy because from the outside, the whole company looked huge, but it was always just a few guys making everything happen and running ragged and working 16, 18 hour days and sacrificing everything just because George brought that out in people. You never wanted to disappoint the guy. And it wasn't that he drove you hard or anything like that, but you knew what was expected and you wanted to make it happen. And then when he left and it was Greg, the core crew at Four Wheel Parts stayed the same, and it was always just a family. It was really a great place to work back in the day. Right. I handled all the advertising buys, the sponsorships. I've had the privilege of having really great jobs. They never really seemed like work. When you can hang out with your friends and go to cool places and do fun things, it's not work.
[00:29:48.070] - Big Rich Klein
And still get paid for it.
[00:29:49.610] - Chris Bolger
Exactly.
[00:29:51.710] - Big Rich Klein
Not bad.
[00:29:53.260] - Chris Bolger
Not a bad way to earn a living.
[00:29:55.880] - Big Rich Klein
So then after the pro comp stint, you still stayed in-house, but you changed roles, didn't you?
[00:30:07.470] - Chris Bolger
No, after pro comp, and after Scottie had his stroke, they did a whole lot of reorganization over there. That was about the time the what was it? The 2008, 2009 recession happened, I was part of the reduction in force there because Scottie really couldn't do what he was doing anymore, so they combined all the house brands under one team, and that wasn't Scottie's team. So all the redundant team members got let go, and I was redundant at that point. I was out on the streets.
[00:30:42.100] - Big Rich Klein
What did you do at that point?
[00:30:44.620] - Chris Bolger
I relaxed a little bit finally after 15, 16 years that I had been at Four Whale Parts, running ragged. After that, I ended up working for Dave Cole, and Jeff Knoll, when they started culture for racing, King of the Hammers. Thinking about, I could be wrong on this, but I know Charlene was their first employee, but she was a contractor. I think I'm the first full-time employee of Ultra Four racing.
[00:31:19.230] - Big Rich Klein
Interesting.
[00:31:20.320] - Chris Bolger
I think I hold that distinction.
[00:31:23.490] - Big Rich Klein
And what were those early years at K-O-H like?
[00:31:28.010] - Chris Bolger
Chaos. Yeah.
[00:31:32.530] - Big Rich Klein
I remember.
[00:31:36.760] - Chris Bolger
You had two larger than life personalities working together, trying to make something awesome happen, and somehow it always happened, but up until about six minutes before it happened, I was always scared it wasn't going to happen.
[00:31:57.860] - Big Rich Klein
And you were their marketing... What was your job title over there? What were your duties?
[00:32:05.240] - Chris Bolger
Sales and operations. I was calling all my old friends that I had made from my years at Four Wheel Parts going, Hey, you should come out and take a look at this. It's cool. Be a vendor, be a sponsor. We started the national series while I was there, and so getting people to come out to that, just spreading the word.
[00:32:31.480] - Big Rich Klein
And what was the one thing, if you can pin it down, where you had that might have been like an aha moment with K-O-H and where you knew this thing was just going to be unbelievable?
[00:32:55.730] - Chris Bolger
Just that year after year after year, it kept getting bigger. Dave was always able to come up with these... He's going to hear this and it's not stupid ideas that he would be able to pull off, sell both the racers, the sponsors, and the fans, and they would keep coming. I don't know. It was- It.
[00:33:24.970] - Big Rich Klein
Was like he was able to reinvent. Keep the core, but reinvent.
[00:33:30.280] - Chris Bolger
Yeah, and just come up with new things every time just to make it fresh.
[00:33:35.440] - Big Rich Klein
The thing that impressed me with Dave is that I always thought that he got the right people in the right positions at the right time, but also he was willing to risk.
[00:33:48.440] - Chris Bolger
Oh, he would go all in. Yeah, and it would pay off. I don't even remember where the start of the international came from, but the next thing I know, two weeks after we're done with K-O-H, I'm on a plane with Dave and JT going to Europe to talk to guys in Portugal and Morocco and Croatia about taking Ultra Four across the pond.
[00:34:17.320] - Big Rich Klein
I've talked to JT a little bit off the air about some of those trips. What do you remember... What do you remember of those international trips?
[00:34:34.010] - Chris Bolger
So JT and I have a similar background. We were both in the military during the Cold War, and I don't think either one of us ever thought we would be in Eastern Europe without an armed column behind us.
[00:34:46.500] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:34:48.570] - Chris Bolger
So here we are, landing in Croatia, and former Czechoslovakian secret police agent, Yigur, is picking us up at the airport. It was surreal. Riding through the streets, seeing things that you never thought you'd see, and Yagur telling us that the S-10 Blazer that we're riding in was brought over to him by the CIA, and it's incredible.
[00:35:21.410] - Big Rich Klein
And the people, not so much the Yagurs and and the and the officials that you guys had to deal with, but just the people themselves. Was that surprising the way that they... I haven't been to Europe or especially Eastern Europe, but going into Japan, going to Australia, going to Baha, those places were the people were really friendly.
[00:35:57.090] - Chris Bolger
What, where is that? And with J. T. Tell you this story, but we're in Croatia. We're in a town that probably five Americans have ever been to before ever. And JT and Dave go to this bar, and JT is where in a shirt with his race car on it. And the bartender at the bar sees the shirt and instantly recognizes it and recognizes who JT is and where it's from. And it's just incredible in this day and age how far what you do thousands and thousands of miles away gets to the far corners of the world and you're recognized and greeted like an old friend. Amazing. But it's just like Baha when you go down there and you're racing and it's all family. I don't care if you've never met anybody. There's laughing and there's hay, and you've got a common passion that transcends everything else.
[00:37:10.530] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:37:12.140] - Chris Bolger
It's a beautiful thing.
[00:37:15.550] - Big Rich Klein
And the organizations that you guys established over there, how easy was that? Especially getting past the red tape in some of these countries.
[00:37:29.000] - Chris Bolger
Fortunately, everybody that Dave ended up hooking up with to make this happen already had laid the groundwork from Simon Chisholm's dad in England. The guy's name escapes me from Portugal. You know it, and I know it, neither one of us can probably remember it.
[00:37:50.370] - Big Rich Klein
Correct. I'm just so bad with names.
[00:37:53.010] - Chris Bolger
But this was a guy who came over, sold us on going to Portugal, and then came over and volunteered every year at K-O-H. Again, Dave put the team together that needed to be there to make everything work. I may not have seen everything, but it seemed like it would just amazingly clicked together almost easily. Like, why isn't everyone doing this? It's so easy.
[00:38:22.600] - Big Rich Klein
And what was the thing that you're the most proud of during your time with K-O-H?
[00:38:33.960] - Chris Bolger
I don't know about proud, just pulling it off every year, I'm very proud of that. But the best thing about my time with K-O-H was the friends I developed, Simon, Dave, Shawn Wilson, who I miss every day.
[00:38:54.830] - Big Rich Klein
Yes.
[00:38:57.970] - Chris Bolger
A lifelong relationship that I'll never forget. I always had a relationship with Danny, and that just got better and then strained with K-O-H. But its always he was always a friend.
[00:39:17.190] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:39:18.050] - Chris Bolger
That was the best part, just being able to meet new people. Meeting Ignore, a guy who's freaking from a former country that I was supposed to be at war with, who's now just a great story I get to tell and talk to every so often, but the friendships.
[00:39:39.130] - Big Rich Klein
Nice. After your stint with K-O-H, where did you land?
[00:39:48.510] - Chris Bolger
I went back to four-wheel parts because just like a bad relationship, you always forget the bad parts and think, Hey, we can make it work this time. Okay.
[00:40:01.040] - Big Rich Klein
Was that something you were working on while you were still at K-O-H? Or did that relationship come to an end and then you just went back to them?
[00:40:14.780] - Chris Bolger
Yout know, at K-O-H, they became my biggest customer. Instead of me being their employee, they were always a big sponsor, a big supporter. I'm not going to say I didn't have any hard feelings about being let go, but I always kept my friendships there. So when it just came time to get out of Ultra Four, the door was always open for me to come back.
[00:40:44.470] - Big Rich Klein
Right. At that point, both Greg and Kevin were racing too.
[00:40:51.450] - Chris Bolger
Yeah.
[00:40:53.350] - Big Rich Klein
You had that relationship as well. Besides just working with the company, you'd see them all the time out there as well. That helps, I guess.
[00:41:05.250] - Chris Bolger
It does. Like I said, it was always a family, and we always just could always call each other or whatever if I needed something. Brent Goegebur was racing too, and he was their marketing guy. It was always just the same group of people doing different things.
[00:41:24.150] - Big Rich Klein
That second stint at Four Whale Parts, what was your job title then?
[00:41:30.970] - Chris Bolger
I was just doing events for them. I was making sure that CMO went well for the house brands. Not really the retail part of it, but the manufacturing side of it. All the events that we would go to, Jeep Beach, Moab, BGS, K-O-H. Basically, I just would hop back and forth on the velvet rope. Either I was the guy letting people into the velvet rope, or I was the guy being let in. It never really changed. It just changed who was signing my paycheck.
[00:42:07.930] - Big Rich Klein
And how long did you stay the second stint?
[00:42:12.360] - Chris Bolger
Probably another four years, I think, somewhere around there. And then they got bought out by Polaris, Greg sold it. And as typically happens when investment companies come in, they'll reorganize everything. So after that, I went out to a Turner at Daystar out in Phoenix. I slowed my life down a little bit, went out there to be his warehouse manager and worked with him and Jim Chick out there for a couple of years. I used to commute an hour and a half to work because that's just what it took, and went out to Phoenix and went to a 10 minute commute and my life was just awesome.
[00:42:58.170] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:42:58.900] - Chris Bolger
I could wake up and be in a guy, I could throw on a shirt and pants and be at work a half hour after I woke up.
[00:43:10.610] - Big Rich Klein
The time at Daystar, how long were you there?
[00:43:14.850] - Chris Bolger
Two.
[00:43:15.030] - Big Rich Klein
Years. Two years. And you were working... Jim was in charge of marketing, wasn't he? Or did you take over that position?
[00:43:25.870] - Chris Bolger
Nope, I was the warehouse manager. I really got real simple when I got out there. Jim was handling marketing and sales. Mark was at his beginning of gobbling up companies and bringing them into the fold. So itit was an exciting time at Daystar.
[00:43:47.310] - Big Rich Klein
After Daystar?
[00:43:50.930] - Chris Bolger
I tried to quit the industry, Rich. I really did.
[00:43:54.410] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:43:56.680] - Chris Bolger
My time at Daystar ended about the time the COVID pandemic came through. I ended up in the hospital for three months with tubes down my throat and flatlined one night when I decided I needed to get out of bed and take a piss and didn't realize that I couldn't do that anymore.
[00:44:19.050] - Big Rich Klein
It was COVID?
[00:44:20.480] - Chris Bolger
It was COVID.
[00:44:21.960] - Big Rich Klein
Wow. You're one of the ones that got kicked in the nut, you might say.
[00:44:27.560] - Chris Bolger
Exactly. I thought I had a sinus infection, went into the hospital, ER one night thinking, I'll go in, they'll give me antibiotics, I'll be fine. Doctor came by, asked for it, told me to get a chest X-ray, and three months later, I was getting out of the hospital, but it was a freaking gut punch. I want to say I lost 30 or 40 pounds, came out weak as a baby, and it was just awful. I re-evaluated my life after that. It was time to be with family and do a lot less travel, a lot less work. I took about a year off and just relaxed and exhaled, got my strength back, became a human being again.
[00:45:19.610] - Big Rich Klein
But that.
[00:45:20.900] - Chris Bolger
Never lasts.
[00:45:22.710] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:45:25.010] - Chris Bolger
I was cruising, linked in, as I would do when I started thinking about working again, and Steve on Seger was looking for somebody to come down and do events for Billstein. And I called and said, How about me, Steve? And he's like, Really? With everything you've done, this is an entry level position. I'm all perfect because that's all I really wanted. I wanted that sunset job. And now I'm the event and sponsorship coordinator for Billstein Shock Absorbers, and it's back to what I love, going to cool places and hanging out with cool people.
[00:46:09.290] - Big Rich Klein
There you go. So you're attending races and everything?
[00:46:13.510] - Chris Bolger
I go to the races for a short course, when we're getting back into score racing with UTV, class seven, class eleven, so I get to hang out with those guys, Cima, EJS, all the usual haunts.
[00:46:34.700] - Big Rich Klein
You just can't get away. I've always said that people in the offroad industry don't change careers, they just change business cards.
[00:46:47.510] - Chris Bolger
Exactly.
[00:46:50.310] - Big Rich Klein
It's something about it.
[00:46:53.710] - Chris Bolger
It's not easy, but it's easy. It's the same old people. We all know each other and know what everybody's about. Even the bad guys aren't bad guys, they're good guys. It just depends on what your situation is at the time with them. Are they your customer or are you their customer or.
[00:47:13.250] - Big Rich Klein
Whatever it is? Or a competitor?
[00:47:15.780] - Chris Bolger
Yeah.
[00:47:17.120] - Big Rich Klein
It's amazing. I've seen guys go from working with one and then being a competitor against that one, and feathers get ruffled and then back to working with them or changed positions, and now back to being buddies. And as an event promoter, just sitting back the whole time watching all this stuff happen, always amazed me. But then again, the event promoters didn't always get along as well either. We always had our head budding, you might say. But luckily, I've gottenI've gotten over that with everybody, and it's still pretty good friends with everybody.
[00:48:05.390] - Chris Bolger
It's amazing because I think we're all trying to get to the same place, and we all just have different ways to get there, but all the roads converge at the same place. Sometimes you're trying to take people with you and they don't want to go, so you have to go a different way, but you end up coming back together later on.
[00:48:25.950] - Big Rich Klein
Very true. So you have an interesting hobby that I actually got to call you about one time, and that's you quilt.
[00:48:41.700] - Chris Bolger
Midgets? Oh, I'm sorry.
[00:48:42.740] - Big Rich Klein
Yes. No, we'll get to the midget wrestling here shortly.
[00:48:47.940] - Chris Bolger
Yeah. So growing up in the Inland Empire, my mom was a single mom, so I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house. My grandpa taught me how to work on cars, and my grandma taught me how to sew. So they've both stuck with me for 50 years.
[00:49:08.260] - Big Rich Klein
And there's nothing wrong with having that a skill.
[00:49:14.180] - Chris Bolger
No, and it's come in very handy at times. Thank God this is not a G-rated show. When I was working at Four Wheel Parts, one of the Budweiser ring girls from Fight Night at the forum came in, and I don't know how the conversation got turned around to this, but she needed her ring attire modified, and somebody let her know that I sewed. I'm 20, whatever, years old, doing bikini model fittings because I can sew. Not awful.
[00:49:56.690] - Big Rich Klein
Not an awful job. So I can remember, Shelly and I were cruising across the country, as we did for quite a few years, and we ended up in Paduca, Kentucky. Anybody that knows quilting or Paduca understands that it is like the US Capitol for quilting. They have a big show and just lots of stuff happens in Paduca for quilting. Well, Shelly decided she wanted to go visit some of these places there. It ended up being during the, I want to say it was some international expo for quilting.
[00:50:48.300] - Chris Bolger
International Quilt Festival.
[00:50:49.770] - Big Rich Klein
Yes. I'm walking around with Shelly through all these exhibits at the fairgrounds and different fair buildings. It's like Off Road Expo, but just with material and little old ladies for the most part. Yes, there were some in there middle-aged, a few younger, but most of them were female and older. I'm not a spring chicken. When I say older, I mean older. I remember going, You know what? I wonder if Kris is here. So I called you, and I'm walking around through this building, and all of a sudden, this little old lady gets in my face. I mean, she comes up below chest level to me, and she has got her finger in my chest, and she's looking up at me, and she is mad, as mad as I have ever seen any, L-O-L, little old lady. I'm on the phone with you, and I'm like, What is going on here? This lady is so upset because she thought I had my phone out taking pictures of all the artists' work that they had on display. She was telling me I had to put my phone away, and I'm saying, I'm just talking to a friend.
[00:52:16.710] - Big Rich Klein
She just would not... I mean, she was like a Bulldog. She would not let go. I finally said, Okay, Chris, I got to go, hung up, and I put my phone away. She followed me around for an hour out there. It was the craziest thing. She was not intimidated by my size at all.
[00:52:37.870] - Chris Bolger
Oh, no, they are tough. You mentioned Offroad Expo. My glory days were working Offroad Expo when the quilt show would be in building seven the same weekend. I would work the pro comp tire booth and then take a break and go over and do my quilt shopping next door.
[00:53:01.390] - Big Rich Klein
Nice.
[00:53:02.630] - Chris Bolger
It was beautiful.
[00:53:05.690] - Big Rich Klein
I didn't even know that was going on.
[00:53:10.070] - Chris Bolger
But yeah, talk about sticking out like a sore thumb. I would always take my mother with me to quilt shows, so the little ladys would be, Oh, how nice you're here with your mother. She was my camouflage, so I could do my quilt shopping.
[00:53:27.010] - Big Rich Klein
It was interesting when I was there. One of the things that I noticed is that there weren't a whole lot of men, first of all, but the ones that were there were typically carrying their partner's purse, and they had the look of like they had just... They were just beaten in life, is the best way for me to put it. They didn't really want to be there. Your mom carried her own purse. Did she have that look on her face?
[00:54:05.240] - Chris Bolger
No, she was a crafter, too, not as into it as I am, but she would just she would play along and she would laugh and have a good time with it.
[00:54:18.120] - Big Rich Klein
Good. Good. So then- I always- Go ahead.
[00:54:22.000] - Chris Bolger
I always wear boots when I go to those things because those little ladies and rascals will ram right up into your ankles because as a man, you're an interloper and just somebody to get around.
[00:54:34.970] - Big Rich Klein
They're mobility carts.
[00:54:37.310] - Chris Bolger
Yes.
[00:54:38.580] - Big Rich Klein
They're rubber bumpers. Oh, yeah, that's funny. So let's talk a little bit more about your personal life. You're a family man?
[00:54:54.590] - Chris Bolger
I am, yeah. It's been a while. I've got a 12 year old daughter who is just everything to me and something I never thought would be in my life, and she's just awesome. She's a crafter. She has a resin business where she makes things with resin, like soap dishes and art and sells at craft fairs with her mom, and it's wonderful to watch. She's scary. My daughter is scary. She's 12 years old, she's running her own business, and she goes with me to Midget wrestling matches.
[00:55:37.350] - Big Rich Klein
What a great segue. Let's talk about the Midget wrestling. How did that get started? Not that you're wrestling Midgets. Might want to explain what we're doing.
[00:55:48.890] - Chris Bolger
The security will keep you away from the ring.
[00:55:52.060] - Big Rich Klein
Do you know that personally?
[00:55:54.370] - Chris Bolger
I saw it last night at the Midget wrestling match that I was at. I don't know how it happened or how it started, but I've always just had a fascination with really short people. I worked with Shannon Welch for a while, and she played right into that for me. Roxy. Somehow in my life, I don't go more than three or four days without a little person walking past me or just being adjacent to me. I don't know. It's a thing. So whenever Micromania, the Midget wrestling federation- Micromania.
[00:56:44.880] - Chris Bolger
-comes, because Midget Lives Matter. Right. They come to Lake Elsonora and they wrestle at the baseball stadium we have here, and we go every time.
[00:56:59.760] - Big Rich Klein
Nice.
[00:57:00.250] - Chris Bolger
I make sure I get tickets early so we can sit ringside and my daughter talks trash and I laugh and take pictures and love it.
[00:57:12.710] - Big Rich Klein
And she's heckling the wrestlers?
[00:57:14.850] - Chris Bolger
Oh, yeah.
[00:57:15.280] - Big Rich Klein
And how tall is she for a 12 year old?
[00:57:20.540] - Chris Bolger
She's 5'2.
[00:57:21.430] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:57:22.910] - Chris Bolger
She.
[00:57:24.770] - Big Rich Klein
Can hold her own.
[00:57:26.350] - Chris Bolger
She's 6 or 8 inches taller than most of the wrestlers.
[00:57:29.420] - Big Rich Klein
Nice. Okay.
[00:57:31.720] - Chris Bolger
Yeah, it's a family tradition.
[00:57:35.550] - Big Rich Klein
It's awesome. Just awesome. You're living down in that Lake Elson or area then?
[00:57:42.560] - Chris Bolger
California? Yeah, I live in Canyon Lake. It's a little private community with a water ski lake, and I just decided I wanted a place where I could have my daughter and where all of her friends would want to come instead of having to worry about where she's going to be. My ulterior motive to be a protective dad.
[00:58:05.020] - Big Rich Klein
Right. That's awesome.
[00:58:07.630] - Chris Bolger
Yeah.
[00:58:09.240] - Big Rich Klein
So what is the future hold for Chris?
[00:58:15.050] - Chris Bolger
More of the same. I'm finally getting my commercial driver's license so I can legally drive trucks again, be out on the road and just-.
[00:58:28.440] - Big Rich Klein
So you can legally drive them again?
[00:58:30.980] - Chris Bolger
Yeah. I've got probably a million miles of towing 40-foot trailers across the country for Dave at Ultra Four and for Four wheel parts, and never had a license to drive that size truck or that size vehicle. Now I'm actually finally going to school to get my CDL, and I'll have that here in a couple of weeks. I don't see myself stopping that now. Awesome.
[00:59:01.610] - Big Rich Klein
And things are going good at Billstein?
[00:59:04.210] - Chris Bolger
They're good. We're just breaking back into the UTV market. The short course guys are doing great. Just hoping to get a little more desert racing going and it's good.
[00:59:19.560] - Big Rich Klein
Awesome.
[00:59:21.420] - Chris Bolger
I'm loading it up with former Fourville Parts employees, so I've got my people coming back to me and it's great.
[00:59:29.880] - Big Rich Klein
Perfect. That's always good. I mean, like I said, it's just changing business cards.
[00:59:37.830] - Chris Bolger
Yeah. You go to Cima and the heads all stay the same and the shirts change.
[00:59:41.960] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, there you go. Just don't wear the crocs. The yellow Crocs. I love the LineX company, and I love the people. I have quite a few friends that have line X businesses. In fact, I almost became an owner of a LineX business, but I could not wear the yellow Crocs. Sorry.
[01:00:06.630] - Chris Bolger
Yeah, that was some corporate decision by some consulting marketing group.
[01:00:13.130] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, you know it. Did anything ever like that happen at Four Wheel Parts that you could remember where you just said, No, I don't want to do this?
[01:00:26.500] - Chris Bolger
Scottie was an art major from somewhere in his previous lives, and so he would play with colors as far as these are complementary colors, and he decided that Pro comp's color would be purple, and I was never a big fan of that. I was the macho guy coming out of the military and all that. Purple just did not play into my palette.
[01:00:55.320] - Big Rich Klein
Right. So you didn't want to wear purple Crocs?
[01:01:01.230] - Chris Bolger
I didn't want to wear the purple racing shirt style that was so popular back then.
[01:01:07.650] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[01:01:08.550] - Chris Bolger
With the 3,000 stitches of embroider on the back that never moved because it was so damn stiff.
[01:01:14.770] - Big Rich Klein
Like a piece of plywood on your back.
[01:01:17.910] - Chris Bolger
Exactly.
[01:01:20.990] - Big Rich Klein
Oh, great. Hey, Chris, I want to say thank you for coming on and spending an hour and talking and just reminising and talking about your past. I really appreciate it. It's been a great conversation.
[01:01:36.250] - Chris Bolger
Thanks for having me, Rich. I appreciate it. I look forward to seeing your son next week out at.
[01:01:40.580] - Big Rich Klein
Trail Hero. There you go. All right, you take care and I'll let you know when this airs. Again, thank you for always being a friend.
[01:01:48.260] - Chris Bolger
Thank you, buddy. You and Shelley have always been there for me. I still remember the first time we met, so you've made an impression on me. I'm not.
[01:01:58.250] - Big Rich Klein
Going to ask what impression that was, but thank you.
[01:02:01.830] - Chris Bolger
It was my first event ever, pulling in. And where were we? Out at Cougar Buttes or out at that Lion's-.
[01:02:09.790] - Big Rich Klein
Lion's Pride Park. Yes.
[01:02:11.700] - Chris Bolger
Yeah. And I had no idea what the hell I was doing, and you made me feel comfortable and took care of me, and you haven't.
[01:02:22.150] - Big Rich Klein
Stopped yet. Here's the secret. I didn't know what the hell was going on either. That was only my second event of ever.
[01:02:32.370] - Chris Bolger
Wow. I would have never known that.
[01:02:34.710] - Big Rich Klein
And that was quite the learning curve back then. So, yeah.
[01:02:41.910] - Chris Bolger
Well, thank you for letting me come along on the journey with you.
[01:02:45.270] - Big Rich Klein
I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, you take care.
[01:02:48.670] - Chris Bolger
Love to tell you. Have a good one.
[01:02:49.880] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, we'll do. 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 guts that you can. Thank you.