Ski Hall of Famer, Glen Plake talks individuality in sports with Big Rich on Episode 335

Glen Plake joins Big Rich Klein for a wide-ranging conversation about skiing, off-road racing, rock crawling, and the unexpected opportunities that shaped his life.

A member of the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame, Glen reflects on growing up in South Lake Tahoe, learning to ski at age two, and finding inspiration in the hot-dogging revolution and early ski films. He discusses his iconic mohawk, resisting the pressure to conform, and the importance of individuality in sports.

Glen also shares how family, mechanics, water skiing, and Baja influenced his path. He recounts his unconventional introduction to off-road racing, including a race-saving repair during the Baja 500 and a decades-long relationship with Darren Skelton.

The conversation continues with Glen’s experience on Truck Night in America, his transition into rock crawling, Trail Hero, and building and wheeling a buggy with his wife, Kimberly. Throughout, Glen emphasizes staying active, embracing uncertainty, helping others, and walking through every door that opens.

His advice to the next generation is simple: believe you can—and never let anyone tell you otherwise.

Transcript

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[00:00:05.320] 

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 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 their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active in 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.

[00:00:46.700] 

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[00:01:13.290] - Big Rich Klein

On this week's episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I'll be talking with a guy who is in the US National Ski Hall of Fame. You might ask, what does that have to do with off-road? Well, he has raced rally cars, off-road racing in Baja, drives rock buggies, and he was one of 4 hosts on Truck Night in America. My guest is Glen Plake. Good morning, Glen Plake. It's so good to have you on the podcast. Actually, we go— we may have crossed paths in our youths, although I am 6 years 7 years older than you, so maybe I was out of the Squaw Valley area and all that before, and out of the, you know, out of skiing before, you know, you became recognizable. No, but I—

[00:02:07.910] - Glen Plake

we were always running around. And then obviously being, you know, having a lot of ties to El Dorado County too, we were always crossing paths of not seeing each other at some point. I know for a fact. Excellent. And I— yeah, we definitely walked and walked the same path at some point.

[00:02:22.160] - Big Rich Klein

Well, it's really good to have you on here, and I'm looking looking forward to this conversation.

[00:02:26.660] - Glen Plake

Yeah, you have me too.

[00:02:27.960] - Big Rich Klein

It's such a, a vast variety of things that— an interest in things that you've done, and this ought to be really great.

[00:02:36.090] - Glen Plake

Yeah, this is a great honor to be, uh, you know, asked to be a part of this. And yeah, I mean, my, my brother-cousin said I've lived fast and didn't die young, so here we are. Yep. Excellent.

[00:02:50.430] - Big Rich Klein

Yes. So first question I ask everybody is, where were you born and raised? Yeah.

[00:02:56.560] - Glen Plake

I was born in Livermore, California. Okay. My grandparents were based in that area, but I was actually raised in South Lake Tahoe. Okay. Or based in South Lake Tahoe during my youth. I'd bounce around back to the Central Valley a little bit to visit the grandparents, and so I always kind of had a little bit of a tie to the Central Valley there, the Tracy area. And then, and, but South Lake Tahoe was for the most part where I was raised. That's right.

[00:03:25.000] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And so that's where you, you spent your early years in school and stuff, is Southlake? Yes, absolutely. Yeah.

[00:03:32.920] - Glen Plake

Went to all my grammar school right there. I lived in El Tahoe, and, um, my mother and father were living there. My parents were divorced a pretty young age, but they both lived in Southlake Tahoe. My father went on to be, uh, chief of the fire department there, and my mom continued to live there for many, many, many, many years.

[00:03:50.110] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. So my first skiing foray was, I was probably, oh, probably about 6 years old, and my parents went up to visit some friends of the family in South Lake Tahoe, just down Ski Run Boulevard, or just off of it. And right, my dad rented me skis but did not get me a lift ticket. And so they sat at the bottom of the hill and watched me all day long hike up as far as I could, put skis on, come down. And I did this all day long, over and over and over and over again. And they thought, wow, he's not giving up, so I guess that's something we got to get him into. Cool. So Very cool. Let's talk about your early years. You're going to school up there and stuff. Let's, let's hit school first. School was good.

[00:04:55.060] - Glen Plake

School was, was a problem my entire life. Maybe it's because I started skiing when I was such a young age. My, my father was a football player and kind of, you know, typical, you know, whatever, leading the life. Kind of jock around my life and went to school and, you know, played ball and all this. My mom was a farmer's daughter, you know, like say Central Valley farmer's daughter. And my dad, I don't know who got me skiing, but they got me skiing when I was 2. There's pictures of me skiing when I first started, and I was 2. They were— I was up in Montana where they were going to school, and then we moved back to South Shore. We moved to South Shore and It was my mom, I think, that really kept me, or kept me engaged in it. She was the one that put me, you know, into the ski school, uh, as a young, young little, you know, very, very young child. She's the one that put me on the race team. My father went on to become a ski instructor at Sierra Ski Ranch, so there was an influence there, but I didn't ski a whole lot with my dad, you know, a couple times a year maybe.

[00:06:01.120] - Glen Plake

But in general, it was my mom that pushed my, my skiing just as an activity for, you know, a kid in a ski town. I mean, that's what you did, you know, you, you know, people ask all the time, you know, how do you end up skiing? I was like, well, we skied before we rode our bicycles. And, you know, that's what you did. Interesting to see that you kept hiking up and down that hill. And there's something very, very unique about skiing that I don't know Well, it's such a strange activity, to be honest. And like, over, over my life, I've tried to figure it out and seen people's first skiing experiences, but something clicks and away you go. And, and, um, um, uh, yeah, it's like you say, you didn't need a lift ticket to go skiing. You just needed to be a kid with a toy, basically, is all they were. Like I say, it was very similar to a bicycle, right? Um, whether it's skiing in your neighbor's yard or up and down the hill or in fact, going to the mountain. Anyways, one thing led to another, and, and, um, you know, you kind of bounce around on the competition scene because that's what you do next.

[00:07:03.970] - Glen Plake

That's what you do once you've learned how to ski. Um, and, uh, so I've kind of played that game a little bit. Uh, never really was serious at it, never really loved competition. Was good at it sometimes and then wouldn't go. I just, I don't know, it was just something off. I I had a lot of influences at that time. Tahoe in the '70s, I had the, you know, the hot dog revolution was taking place. Yeah, I was watching the world's greatest freestyle skiers win new cars, you know, you know, watch them get the keys to the new Chevrolet and watching all this craziness. And then living in town, you know, Southlake's pretty wild and crazy town with the, you know, with the casinos and the party lifestyle, etc., etc. That left a really strange influence on me, I think, looking back over the years. Um, and, uh, I don't know, there was just always something different about my, um, what I wanted to do with skiing, or what I— I knew I always wanted to ski. I knew it by probably 12, 13 years old that I was going to be a skier or something with skiing.

[00:08:12.690] - Glen Plake

I don't know, it— I mean, come on, I'm 12. But, um, Now, back to school. School was always a problem. School was always a problem. I never really did well in school ever. I did great, you know, let's say knowledge. There's some funny stories in high school when I was actually still trying to graduate where I, you know, cut a deal with the biology teacher that I would not miss one question on this final exam, but you've got to pass me, please. And did. I did the same thing to a history teacher. So yeah, I don't know. But school itself was a pain in the butt. Always, always. Even, even in my, you know, second, third, fourth, fifth grade, I never ever did well in school. Interesting. I just had other stuff going on. That's all.

[00:08:59.800] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I know that. That's completely understandable. You know, it's kind of that, that renegade, rebellious type of nature that, that somebody especially like yourself that's been into extreme sports becomes— it becomes part of them.

[00:09:20.640] - Glen Plake

So many people, you know, I mean, I hate to say it, you know, and yeah, okay, I was a Ritalin, you know, baby, whatever, ADHD, whatever the heck they call it. I just— I don't know, I think it's just, you know, energy is all that we all have. We all share. We have— and, and some people, especially if it's the— if it's physical energy, you know, then all of a sudden, oh, that guy's a problem child. You're like, no, I think he's just a child. It's just right. It just needs to figure out what's going on, you know.

[00:09:51.360] - Big Rich Klein

So did you, did you race for— when you started racing, were you racing there with— at Heavenly, part of the race team?

[00:09:59.040] - Glen Plake

Yeah, so I was a Heavenly Valley Blue Angel. Blue Angels, which was, uh, yeah, which was kind of a— yeah, I'm proud to, proud to say that I was a Blue Angel. Um, it's pretty cool.

[00:10:11.020] - Big Rich Klein

I always thought that was cool.

[00:10:12.770] - Glen Plake

Yeah, yeah.

[00:10:14.230] - Big Rich Klein

The, uh, I, I, I had the opportunity, or I wanted— I was asked, um, by the coach at Eldorado High School, which at that time was, um, a really, a really powerhouse ski school, put out a lot of good skiers. And yes, I was in 8th grade and had a— I was up at Sierra where they ran their practices and stuff, and I asked the coach if I could run their slalom course. And he goes, well, this is, you know, for the team and stuff. And I said, well, I do have my Far West race card, you know, I do, I have raced, but I wasn't affiliated with any teams or anything. And he said, okay, well, you can be like the last guy down the course. And I said, all right. So I, I got the chance. He asked me then afterwards, you know, he goes, where do you live? And I said, I live in San Bruno in the Bay Area. And he goes, oh man, I'd love to have you, you know, race for Eldorado High School. So I went, you know, told my dad, I said, hey, this, you know, the coach from Eldorado wants me to race with him.

[00:11:22.960] - Big Rich Klein

My grandparents lived in Placerville. Can I move up there during ski season at least? And go to school at El Dorado, kind of like half a year there and half a year down in the Bay Area. And my dad was like, no, you need to stay down here with us. And at that time, I was heartbroken. But I had the opportunity, and I don't remember what year it was, but I was still fairly young. It was like the first year after the first hot dog championships. Uh-huh. And I got to meet up at Mount Rose. I got to meet Airborne Eddie Ferguson and Wayne Moore. Yeah. There you go. And there was a whole bunch of other kids that were like, you know, oh my God, look at who's here, you know, because they had a demo bus or something that they were giving out, you know, doing the skis and stuff. And everybody wanted to ski with them. And they said, well, We're going to start our day right here and we'll make one run and whoever gets to the bottom with us can ski with us. Funny. I was the only one that made it to the bottom right behind them.

[00:12:36.550] - Big Rich Klein

Everybody else was spread all the way up the mountain and they said, come on. And they taught me, you know, how to do a helicopter. Right. I never tried a flip. But you know, back scratchers, all the basic stuff. But the helicopter was the one that I was really proud to land.

[00:12:55.000] - Glen Plake

Well, that era really, you know, like I say, huge influence on me. Here we are, little racer kids, you know, skiing for, you know, the interesting thing about growing up as a Blue Angel is I had all European coaches and I'm really proud of, my ability around the world. And not only from a business standpoint, you know, when I speak, you know, when I'm dealing with Europeans, but also from my skiing technique and my, my technical skills. Because I, I'm, I'm proud to say I am very, very technically strong, right? It's what's gotten me who I am, where I am. Um, but it goes back to, you know, being on that race team. And I, you know, at Heavenly, we had all Austrian coaches. We had Helmut, we had, you know, Fritz, we had Horst, we had, uh, you all these, all these, you know, Austrian, you know, expatriates that came over from the war or came over through whatever the heck. And poor little Helmut was our friggin main coach. And, you know, he'd be trying to teach us, you know, become good little Austrian ski racers. And all of a sudden the Hot Dog Tour would come to town.

[00:14:09.540] - Glen Plake

And, you know, and all of a sudden we're watching Airborne Eddie, we're watching Wayne Wong, we're watching John Clendenin, we're watching Bob Salerno. I mean, the list goes on and on of, you know, and, you know, Wild Bill O'Leary lived in town, and, and, and, and, uh, Clendenin was living in town. And after the hot dog contest, we're like, you know, we don't want to ski like you, Helmut, we want to ski like those guys, you know. And so he's trying to reel in all these, all these kids, uh, you know, that saw the hot dog tour. And that was a huge influence on me. And, and kind of disrupted our racing, certainly disrupted Helmut's racing program that he had designed for us. It was years later that I saw him, some 15 years after my career was kind of going, and, and ski. He was 80 years old, still coaching the junior ski team. And, and Helmut kind of gave us a head to toe like he was getting ready to bid on some cattle and looked at me and my friend Darren Johnson and said, Johnson and Blake. And we're kind of like, hey, Helmut, how are you, dude?

[00:15:11.090] - Glen Plake

Like, And he's like, it seems as though I taught you little brats how to ski after all. We were in our 30s when we saw that. That was his response. But it was that influence. And I think you can look at that in all the sport, whether it's— we can look at it in motorsports, which we'll probably talk about at some point. We can look at it in all these disciplines of sports. Gymnastics goes through it, all these different traditional sports that all of a sudden have these spinoffs. And these spinoffs are, you know, become opportunity for the next generation. You know, the rule changes, whatever you called it. And I know when I was inducted into the Ski Hall of Fame, I specifically refused my nomination because Airborne Eddie Ferguson was not in the Hall of Fame. Wow. John Clendenin was not in the Hall of Fame. I'm sitting here, Bob, you know, you know, Bob Burns was not in the Hall of Fame. Like, you guys, you've missed this entire generation of people that influenced me. No, I don't know. I won't go in until I hear about their names going in. This is ridiculous.

[00:16:24.360] - Glen Plake

And because that era of skiing now, at the same time, it was, you know, led right into the '80s. Here comes litigation. Here comes, you know, the wild and crazy, you know, you walking up and down the slope with no lift ticket becomes— I don't know. I don't like to beat on the hand that feeds, but I mean, skiing went down a screwed up road. It went up to this, you know, went from this crazy wild, you know, wow, you're a skier, you know, whoa, man, you know, the roughest environment in the world. And we're out here having fun and sliding around with these big stupid things on our feet and no brakes. And they're hauling asses. You know, is the idea. Um, and then all of a sudden it just kind of became this weird, like, cookie-cutter, you know, golf and ski came in, into play. No, wait a minute, it's supposed to be wild and crazy. And, uh, and then, you know, the— because of the litigation, you know, the freedom of the mountain, let's, you know, became quite, quite intense. Um, and by the time I was of age to compete in a in a hot-dogging contest.

[00:17:29.800] - Glen Plake

There was no hot-dogging contest. The Chevy Tour was gone. The Colgate Tour that the women were competing on was gone. And, and all of a sudden, uh, you go to the ski area and the sign said no jumping allowed. Um, you know, and, um, it was a bit, it was a bit strange. And I, I think that, let's say, turned me inside a little bit, and I I began to reach out beyond the slopes and beyond the organized form of what we were supposed to be doing. And from the competition side too, I began to resent the rules. I used to try to compete within the rules, but not really. And yet we had this huge influence of film. Growing up now, every sport has it, but skiing has always been synonymous to films. There has always been a film associated with an era of skiing.

[00:18:28.450] - Big Rich Klein

The first was like Warren Miller, right?

[00:18:31.080] - Glen Plake

Or even before Warren Miller, you can go back to Jean-Jacques, you can go back to a guy named Roger Brown who did these beautiful films in the '70s and '60s. Everybody thinks they're Warren Miller movies. They're not. They're— Warren Miller was honestly stole everybody's material. He just happened to have a better road show. It was Roger Brown and it was Dick Barrymore that was making the beautiful films. Roger— yeah, Warren Miller got a lot of credit for stuff he did not necessarily do, but that's another story. Um, but, um, you know, the, the, the iconic film Mobius Flip or, or, uh, Ski the Outer Limits by Roger Brown, those were the films that left a massive impact on me. Um, our— we had a— the one thing that did happen in school, I had a third grade ski teacher, or excuse me, a third grade teacher that would show ski films. You know how when you, you know, whatever Friday was movie day in school, and for whatever reason we had a copy of Mobius Flip and Ski the Outer Limits, and he would show that occasionally, and you know, at school. And then the pizza parlors would have films showing around town, so you'd stumble around the pizza parlors and watch it.

[00:19:40.790] - Glen Plake

Every bar had, every après-ski, I remember, obviously I wasn't old enough to drink, I was a little kid, but I'd sit in the bar and just stare at the ski movie and watch these images. So I had all this influence that happened from the generation before me, and all of a sudden I was stuck in the '80s of litigation and not necessarily run what you brung freedom of the hills. So we kind of went out a little bit and started pushing further out. Started climbing more. You know, you start skiing Mount Tallac instead of skiing the ski area, start skiing. You're out at Kirkwood skiing the cliffs and the cirques of Kirkwood and not necessarily skiing the slope of Kirkwood. And we're pushing those. We're using all these skills that we had from being ski racers, but blending it with the freestyle influence that, that, that I had from growing up watching the hot doggers.

[00:20:38.560] - Big Rich Klein

And that's right, skiing out of bounds.

[00:20:41.110] - Glen Plake

Skiing out of bounds in a, in a, in a simple word. It was a little more complex than that. But yeah, in general. And then I had a great partner, one of my skiing, you know, ski team friends, Darren Johnson, who I grew up with. You know, he kind of played along. And you know how it is. If you look back at everything, we can all look back at, you know, the peers that we hung out with and, you know, friends that kind of pushed each other or supported each other, didn't necessarily push each other, just supported each other's creativity. And then all of a sudden, you know, we're— so ski racing ended because when we're— when you're a— when you're a junior, it's okay. You're cruising along. There's junior ski programs. There's things when you're 16, when you're 17 years old. And if you haven't made it to the team— and this is in all sports— but if you haven't made it when you're 16 or 17, it's over. But the reality is your body's changing, your mind's changing. All these things are changing. And even though the programs are over, you know, me and Darren were both late bloomers.

[00:21:41.860] - Glen Plake

In fact, the prodigies that we used to ski against, they had quit skiing by the time we were in our 20s. And here we are, you know, going, you know, breaking ground in our 20s. So we were, you know, kind of late bloomers to that. And I feel— I wonder how many, how many people's opportunities got by because, you know, the— like I said, the juniors programs weren't really— don't support anything beyond your teens. So we started training with each other and then we heard about— at that time freestyle started growing up again a little bit. Now you see what you, you know, mogul skiing in the Olympics. We started skiing moguls. Funny, back to your story about the, you know, being able to ski down a ski course. It's funny, in organized skiing you have to be a part of, and mogul skiing and freestyle skiing, you didn't have to be a part of anything. We were not a part of a team. We were not, you know, we didn't, we just trained on the open slope, and yet we were able to go to the competitions and dominate. Right. As sport went on, more organization comes into play, the Olympics come into play.

[00:22:53.030] - Glen Plake

And now, unfortunately, you know, you're dealing with a very, very finite parameter. You have a great history of, you know, in the sport of rock crawling and, and, you know, in motorsports in general. And unfortunately, as these parameters come around, you know, the, the, the, you know, things get a little more complicated and, and, and the access to it, you know, so unless you're in a competition, nobody has— nobody really knows what it's like to drive a competition course versus just out making a fun trail run with your buddies and your camping gear on, right? And, and the same thing happened and happens in skiing. Nobody gets to go run a ski course unless you're part of a race team. And I never have been able to figure that out, especially in the modern day with all the parks and all the you know, the, the, you know, terrain manipulation that they're doing at ski areas now. It's all free. You ski in, you go through the little gate that says that you can break your back in here and you probably will, and down they go. And yet to go run a ski course, you still got to be a part of the race team, you know.

[00:23:59.900] - Glen Plake

To go run a modern mogul course now, well, you have to be a part of the freestyle team. And you're like, but why does this cost money when those that that activity over there doesn't. And, um, it's a bit of a little pet peeve that I have actually, that, that we've— that certain forms of my sport are still organized and nobody gets a chance to play with them because it's fun as heck to run a set of gates. I don't— you don't have to be a ski racer to enjoy a set of gates, you know? Right. And, um, anyways, I kind of got off topic, but the reality is we, we, we were playing this game of competition because we were supposed to, and it was kind of our only, like, way to continue our career. But at the same time, our real love was climbing and skiing and, and, and skiing the mountain, not the ski area. And, uh, even though it might be the ski area, but it was still in the mountain. Um, and, um, and then we, uh, all of a sudden, um we got a chance to be in our own ski film.

[00:25:03.550] - Glen Plake

Uh, some friends who I had been competing with, um, their brother, who all kind of lived a similar life, uh, began to make his own ski films, and his name was Greg Stump. And, uh, and some of the guys I was skiing moguls with for the competition said, uh, hey, um, We got to get Blake in this film. You should see this guy ski. He just skis a different way. You need to come out. And so they, they came out to California on a film trip and, and I put my skis in the way I ski on film for the first time. And, and, you know, kind of all those years of influence of the Hot Doggers, all those years of watching ski films, all those years of ski racing, and then the, the years of freestyle competition. I was able— and then all the years just skiing around, kind of enjoying the terrain, got to be, got to be shown on film. And, and people liked it, I guess. I don't know. And then I got to do another one.

[00:26:06.510] - Big Rich Klein

So, so when did— that's always good. You must— it must have been a great, a great show that you put on. I'm sure I saw it. I probably just don't remember it.

[00:26:19.200] - Glen Plake

It was, yeah, it was a film called Maltese Flamingo, and it was just this kind of goofball, you know, film that the magazine supported because we were kind of— we weren't the establishment. I mean, it's a cliché, but we were just a bunch of skiers. And I mean, Greg didn't even know how to use a frickin camera. Another friend of ours was fortunately a professional photographer, and he would be yelling out light meter readings because Greg had no idea what light meter readings were. And we just— it was just an opportunity to be able to express, let's say, our version of the sport. And I think it just lit up a bunch of fires that had been brewing of everybody that kind of had influence, maybe like yourself, you know, of those kind of earlier, simpler times. And then all of a sudden, I say, the whole golf and ski condominium, you know, it was no longer Sierra Ski Ranch, it's now the resort at Sierra Tahoe. And exactly, yeah. And You know, all that kind of stuff got kind of woke up, and every— and all of a sudden skiing and the, the people's pursuit to just go out and have fun, I think, is what was displayed in those films.

[00:27:29.970] - Glen Plake

And then ultimately, um, you know, those films— we ultimately went to Europe, and that exposed— that exposed me to Europe, um, and also exposed Europe to me. And all of a sudden, I was in an— I was in an environment that supported my sport. I mean, let's face it, America is batting balls, and skiing doesn't have much play. You know, every 4 years we think about it because of the Olympics, but other than that, that's about the only time. And so all of a sudden, for me, from a personal standpoint, all of a sudden I was actually in the environment and in a culture that supported the skiing that I was doing and could do. And that opened up a lot of opportunities for me too.

[00:28:13.660] - Big Rich Klein

So the, the Maltese Flamingo.

[00:28:17.000] - Glen Plake

Flamingo, yeah. Greg Stumps, Maltese Flamingo.

[00:28:20.320] - Big Rich Klein

So when did the, when did the colorful mohawk appear?

[00:28:26.150] - Glen Plake

Oh, I think that all just kind of came in, in together. Like, I was so— I was growing up, you know, growing up in South Shore, the music scene in Reno was quite powerful with some of the punk rock bands coming out of Reno. Um, a couple of my skiing partners ended up— stopped, you know, they weren't skiing as much and they started pursuing their music interests. Um, one of them became a drummer of one of the most famous punk rock bands. Another one was a guitar player for one of the bands. And so we kind of had this like weird inner winding culture of skiing, um, my friends that were, you know, playing music. And then at the same time, South Lake Tahoe, we had a really good skate culture, early skate culture. We had our— the ramp that we built in our, our neighborhood was, was quite popular, very active scene. So we were skating a lot, um, and, you know, skiing, and kind of all these things were mixing together for me. And I was living kind of, you know, I was supposed to be over in this prim and proper ski life, but that wasn't the life that I was living.

[00:29:36.350] - Glen Plake

I was, you know, skating and going to music and kind of doing my thing. And then at the time I had aspiration of being on the US ski team. So I had to turn like, say, prim and proper Ken Dahl, but that wasn't who I was at all, at all. And finally, one regionals, when I had kind of like said, the hell with it, I don't really care anymore. I skied, I showed up to regionals with, with my mohawk up and, and kind of basically, I don't— this is my last contest and I don't care.

[00:30:14.530] - Big Rich Klein

And, and no more button-down shirts, right? Yeah.

[00:30:19.650] - Glen Plake

I mean, it was just ridiculous how we had to put this face on and I'm proud to say that I think if I look back at my athletic career and who I've become and who I've been, and I hope— I, I don't consider myself a trailbreaker. I don't, because I'm just another link in the chain. I don't— whatever, you know what, every generation has its, has its, uh, you know, great, let's say, moments or characters or trends. Um, but I, I think I, I would like to look back and say that, you know, I've opened the door for people to be individuals and show themselves a little bit on the competition stage and not have to fit that box that they want to shove athletes into. I mean, you're an athlete. That person is probably, like I say, didn't do well in school or had massive trials and tribulations along the way because of injuries or because of you know, fighting to achieve some technique or, you know, whatever they were doing. And not to mention just the, you know, sheer, you know, mental freak show of competition itself, right? And yet then they get to the competition, they're, you know, they're not allowed to have hair sticking out of your helmet.

[00:31:35.000] - Glen Plake

Uh, you're not allowed to have— and I'm not saying we got to go become new Bohemians, but, you know, not allowed to have, uh, you know, like say colored hair or freaking earring in their nose or whatever the hell. Who gives a dang? It's them. It's— leave them alone. They don't have to be this stupid Ken doll. They don't have to, you know, it's just funny. I don't know. And I'm, I'm happy to see general athletics and, you know, okay, maybe we've gone maybe too far, but that's not for me to judge. But in general, it's okay to, um, show a little bit of your individual personality. Um, from underneath the helmet or through the goggles or from the cockpit or whatever you want to say. And I hope that I've had an influence on that. I think I had an influence on that because I was so out of the ordinary with my mohawk and skiing and all that. So cool. So, but that— it just kind of came about of just being who I was and, and, and finally just letting who I was show through, um, um, and not necessarily who they wanted me to be or who I was expected to be.

[00:32:41.240] - Big Rich Klein

Awesome. Now, as we move forward, when did the love of— I know that you got into water skiing and you did rally and Baja, of course, rock crawling, which was later on, I'm assuming. Yes. Yes. And then, you know, there's television shows and things like that. But what was that? What was that next step either during or after besides skating or skiing? Because those two are kind of— I see that the marriage of those two kind of like if you're in Southern California, it was the surfing and the skiing. Yeah. Yeah. Even though when I went to go surf the first time and they said, oh, you're a skier, it's just the same thing. You just go down the hill. Well, you know, I was taught or learned to ski with my shoulders always being down the hill in a straight line down the hill, and then the lower part of your body moved across the hill. Surfing is not quite the same because you don't go straight down the wave. I learned that the first, first couple of waves. It was like You do not go straight down the wave. Not at all. You cut across the wave.

[00:34:06.370] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. So what was that next step after, after skiing or during skiing that took you on to something different that wasn't, you know, frozen or liquid water?

[00:34:18.580] - Glen Plake

Well, yeah, as I say, the water skiing also being in, growing up in Tahoe and, and being Central Valley grandparents, water skiing has they're all of my baby pictures. I'm on the water, um, I'm in the boat, I'm bouncing around. We've always been a very, very aquatic family, uh, being on the California Delta or Lake Tahoe or out here at Lahontan or elsewhere. There's, there's doesn't— I don't think there's a family picture anywhere of, of us not being in around the boat or on a boat or learning how, you know, being water skiing. I started water skiing when I was 4 or 5 years old also. So that sport, simultaneous to my skiing, just something to do in the summertime. And I'm proud to say I've gone on to win national championships in my divisions. And, and, and much like skiing, I've done everything from slalom skiing to— I fortunately am proud to say I've done the Catalina water ski race several times. Wow. And, and, and, and did, did quite well in that. Form too. It's a, it's a real passion for me, and I, I think it's why I am skiing at the age that I'm skiing and, and being who I am.

[00:35:30.770] - Glen Plake

I cannot— I attribute it 99% to my water skiing and the health that water skiing gives me in the body that it helps me maintain in the summertime, that so that I can go into my winters and do what I do, right? Um, my— to answer your question on, let's say, the like some of my other distractions, I guess. There you go. Um, growing up, uh, in the summertime, spending time with my grandpa. My grandpa was a master mechanic, um, you know, you know, was a, you know, a rancher, farmer, um, constantly fixing things. Nothing was replaced, everything was repaired, uh, We still use R&R probably on a daily basis here around the house. And, you know, R&R does not remove— is not remove and replace. R&R means remove, repair, right? So I was taught at an early age that a starter should never be bought. A starter needs to be fixed. There's something wrong with the starter, so fix the freaking starter and put it back in the tractor. So, lost art. And, uh, and I I, you know, I kind of did that, you know, sweep the shop, you know, do just basic stupid stuff as a kid, you know, quit playing on the jack, you know.

[00:36:49.080] - Glen Plake

But it's got wheels. I have that jack, by the way. I used to love jack. It's an old school 5-ton friggin Blackhawk. And, and I used to jack myself up on it and then turn the knob and lower myself back down. But anyway, my, uh, yeah, and then Grandpa was a Depressionist, you know, so you, you know, you got by with whatever you had, you know, you found and fixed. And, and, um, um, I didn't realize what was going on at the time, but it was going on. At the same time, I learned how to drive a 1946 CJ when I was 6 years old. Nice, there you go. That 1946 CJ went on to do the Jeepers Jamboree 33 times in my uncle's hands. Wow. Yeah. That was the family, you know, that was Grandpa's Jeep. He, you know, he'd set us up on the irrigation roads and, you know, we'd steer and he'd put it in low and he'd walk along and he'd be setting the siphon pipes behind us and we'd have a trailer. And, you know, we're little kids steering the Jeep, you know, and it's driving itself. All we were doing was steering it kind of.

[00:38:05.540] - Glen Plake

But, you know, and then, and like I say, he'd be setting the siphons behind us at the same time. So, and I'd be looking at the dash plates of that on that Jeep. There was all these Jamboree finishers plates. I remember staring at them for hours and hours. So about the same time, the Jamboree would always end in Tahoe, of course. And my uncle and some second cousins were, were really, really big jamborees. They were, they were way into the jamboree every year. So every year they would come and, you know, after the jamboree, they'd come to the house and shower up and then head on out. And I'd hear all the stories about the Rubicon, you know, and the Rubicon, the Rubicon Jeepers Jamboree, this and that, this and that. So that was kind of instilled early on. My uncle was also a very, very talented mechanic. My great uncle was a mechanic. They're just a bunch of freaking farmers, and that's just the way it is. And I got to spend time around them. And, and if I didn't turn out to be the skier that I was— and it was only later in my grandpa's life that he really appreci— he really, really enjoyed my career.

[00:39:19.170] - Glen Plake

But during my younger years, it was Waste of time, waste of energy. Your mother's got to get your head screwed on. You got to quit that damn skiing. On and on and on and on and on. I fought it for years and years and years, you know, come down and work on the ranch, you know, blah, blah, blah, you know. And I do the same. I got a 17-year-old niece. I looked her right in the eyes this spring, said, what are you going to do with your life?

[00:39:40.220] - Big Rich Klein

You know, I bought into it. I quit skiing and went to college. Yeah. And I, and I, it I wouldn't change where I'm at today, but no, damn, you, you look back and you go, what would have happened? Sure, sure.

[00:39:57.530] - Glen Plake

So, you know, but those influences on me, um, I loved going to the stock car races. My other great uncle would take me to the drag races all— every time we were together, we'd go to the drag races or we'd go to the midget races, or, you know, Uncle Jumbo would always take me to the races. And so I always had this like weird mechanical influence in the background, uh, of my life, um, growing up in Tahoe when the, the guy down the street happened to have an old V-drive, you know, with a 427 side oiler in it, and would run down the street to help him put his boat in the water just to hear it start up and drive away, you know. And, and, um, um, so I always kind of had that, um, and then that influence of the Jamboree, I guess, is what the— what really got us, let's say, thinking about four-wheel drive stuff. And although we were too young, you know, it's too— you can't, you know, Jeepers Jamboree, Devil's Playground stuff. You don't take kids on that thing, right? So we all— it was always this like mystic thing of, well, wait a minute, what is— what's going on up there?

[00:41:01.170] - Glen Plake

I think I was about 13 or something. We hiked down into the springs one year during the jamboree and saw it. It was pretty funny, actually. Um, and, uh, yeah, we ran down because we were like, let's just go find out what's going on down there. And then, um, um, yeah, well, so my first cars were always a piece of crap. They always needed to be worked on. Nothing ever ran. Nothing was, you know, I never had nothing not new. Everything, whether it was an old Volkswagen or a Cadillac or freaking something, they're always spinning wrenches. My first car was a 1950s '59 Chevy pickup that I got from Grandpa. It was an irrigation deal, bought it, you know, at an auction from Santa Rita Prison, and, and I drove that forever. Still have it actually, which is a whole nother story. But yeah, just always spinning wrenches, always spinning wrenches. And, and then as we got older, being in the water and stuff and realizing at an early age that fast cars are going to get you in trouble, And I was already in enough trouble. I didn't need to be any more, any more police involvement in my life, let alone a fast dang car.

[00:42:13.590] - Glen Plake

So I started, you know, playing, playing with the boats. And because you could have a fast boat, you could have a mechanical boat. One, you got to water ski behind it. And two, you know, we got to spin some wrenches, right? And nobody gave you heck about being on the water, being fast. Who cares? Yeah, kind of like was my grandpa was not a hot rodder. He hated it when my grandpa, when my uncle put an F-head in the CJ. Grandpa was furious that he put that F-head in it. Absolutely. He ruined that Jeep, put that big motor in it. That's hilarious. Now it actually has a Dauntless. The Jeep is still in it. I still have the Jeep. It has a Dauntless in it now, which is— Grandpa would be rolling around. He'd probably accept it by now. But, um, um, yeah, I gotta step back. So later in life, my grandpa came to the ski area and I showed Grandpa Mammoth Mountain, and the first thing we did was walk into the Cat Bay and I showed Grandpa, you know, what 17 cats being serviced at night, you know, during the day was all about.

[00:43:22.610] - Glen Plake

I took him into the counterweight room of the, of the, of the gondola and showed him how a gondola works. I took him into the compressors or the snowmaking. I showed him all the snowmaking, and I basically introduced him to the ski area the way you would, you know, like a ranch. That's— there's a reason Sierra Ski Ranch was called that, because that's what it was. There's a reason Donner Ski Ranch was called that, because they were family farms, right? That's what they were, and they still are in a lot of places. We, we do our down-home tours you know, around the, you know, with our motorhome and just go ski mom-and-pop individual owns. And there's still, there's, they're nothing but family farms. And, and some years the blossoms get blown off the trees and it's not going to be a good year, and it's just the way it is. But you don't cut the trees down, it's just, just a bad year. Anyways, Grandpa saw a ski area with, through the eyes of a farmer, and he was like, this is really, really amazing. He was super cool and always big supporter of my, my career later on in life.

[00:44:24.160] - Glen Plake

But, um, I had to get that off my chest. Um, um, back to, um, yeah, spinning wrenches and being mechanical. Um, yeah, just kind of one thing led to another, and then just a bunch of dumb opportunities came the way. I was racing drag boats. Um, you know, my— I had some money to spend, and we started playing with some fast boats, and I got into quarter-mile boats and started going real fast and still am, actually. I'm still tuning with a friend of mine that, you know, occasionally I roll into the races. And I'm proud to say that after 7, 8 years off, I can go set his boat up and dial in a number and run it and dang near get to the finals after a 6-year break. Um, um, you know, we're very— not— I just— I'm proud of that internal knowledge that's in me. And then our local stock car track was very, very active. So we were playing with a roundy-round, whether it was a Bomber, and then we had a modified we played with a lot. But, you know, whatever, just being in and around it. And, and then my father, on the other hand, was a fisherman in his life.

[00:45:33.540] - Glen Plake

And he— my dad discovered Baja in the late '70s, fishing and fishing. And, and, and so he was going down, fireman in Tahoe. He'd get his 2 or 3 weeks off every year and he'd head to Mexico and he would fish and he would fish and fish. And lo and behold, over time he ended up renting some property in Bahía de Los Ángeles where he would go down to fish. I also discovered Baja during a broken leg. I had a I broke my femur, didn't really have much money, was dating a girl down in Southern California, and I discovered that I could, you know, take what little money that I was earning at the time and go, you know, 2, 3 weeks in Baja, get by, come back out. I had a disability check because I was working my butt off in the summertime building trusses, which is a whole nother story. But and I could take my disability, my $200 or— wow, I don't even remember, it wasn't much more than $200— and go live in Baja in the back of the truck for a couple of weeks. And then, and, you know, on the beach there and let my leg heal up.

[00:46:49.220] - Glen Plake

And so I also discovered Baja, but I wasn't necessarily down with my dad fishing, but I was down in Mexico. And anyways, we— one year I was down at dad's fishing and it happened to be the year that— or it happened to be the month that the 1000 was coming by, and, and, uh, we went out and watched race cars go by. We're gonna go watch the Baja 1000, and there it goes, you know. And then the next day I said, hey, let's go out and watch the, the feeder classes, you know. I love— I mean, I love fast and furious, but I personally love the rough and tumble aspect of Baja. I love that, always love that aspect of it. And anything, I mean, I want to see I want to see the losers. I want to see the last-place guys come there. To me, they're the ones that are always, you know, I mean, you go to Mammoth Mountain Motocross, there's 800 people here. Well, I want to see the guy that got like last in this, in the E-main. He has the best— why did you show up?

[00:47:48.160] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, but he has the best story. That's it. At the 1000 or any of those off-road races, the guy that wins, he doesn't have a good story. I didn't have any flats. I didn't have any problems. The race went just great.

[00:48:02.940] - Glen Plake

So with that said, we come to the end of our road and there's a dang car sitting there broke. And, and we kind of, hey, how's it going? And these guys were blowing bubbles, dude. It had been all night long. They are friggin cream puffs. They had been in silt beds out by us out there, out to the west. Now they're in Bay of LA. This is back in the old days. No radio communication, no chase teams come into Bay of LA because it's a pain in the ass. They got nothing. They're sitting there. I immediately go, Dad, go make some food for these guys. You guys hungry? I mean, they're literally blowing bubbles. You know how it is at the end of a full night of racing. And so Dad runs back to get them. I go, what do we got going here? And they're like, well, we don't know. We don't know. I can't get it to run. It's shut off. It shut off all along. Well, can we tow you? Can we help? Can we find— sure enough, it's a fuel relay that was turning off their, you know, wouldn't turn their pumps on.

[00:49:04.650] - Glen Plake

And then we kind of get them out and around and running. We had a fuel relay from a— it was a standard Chevy pickup truck fuel relay. We get the thing going. I mean, and Anyways, off they go. Hey, nice meeting you guys. Glad we could help. About 6 months later, I was at the Long Beach Grand Prix and saw this little car there. I'm like, that's that car we helped. So I asked around, hey, whose car is that? Is the guy that owns that car here? Yeah. And we had talked a little bit and we'd exchange, you know, hey, where are you from? I'm from California. Okay, blah, blah, blah. And lo and behold, he was a skier. His brother was a big skier. And he somehow in the back of his mind, I don't know if my dad said it at the time. Anyways, blah, blah, blah. There was, there was some skiing correlation opened up there. And anyways, I finally meet this guy. All right. So, yeah, he's right over there. It's Darren. And I meet Darren Skelton for the very first time. Okay. And Darren Skelton says, dude, it was so nice to meet you.

[00:50:08.690] - Glen Plake

We finished that race. And because we finished that race, I won the championship. We do media rides. We do, you know, you know, celebrity rides. Would you ever want to get into the race car? And I went, yeah, heck yeah, I'd love to get in the race car. I'd be super fun. And so I— he goes, well, the 500 is coming up. Well, we'll do something and we can throw you in for, you know, the first 100 miles. And then, you know, then we'll put the— my team in and away we go. Okay, cool. Sorry, I had a dang call coming in. Shoot, hope you can edit that out. Um, yes. Um, so I, uh, um, uh, yeah, he says, hey, we'll put you in the car and you do your thing. And I'm like, okay, cool. So I show up looking like Speed Racer, dude. We got freaking helmet. I'm going, I'm going off-road racing. Um, and it was the '90s, we think it's '95, it was probably the '95 500, and it started up in El Sazul that year. And 13 miles into the race, there's a big water crossing. Everybody's stuck, um, and I am holding my breath underwater to set the jack so that I can get the car— you know, just a standard, you know, jack up the car, put rocks underneath it trick.

[00:51:30.190] - Glen Plake

Um, That was my entry into off-road racing. It wasn't 13 miles, dude. I'm in the water with my freaking race suit on. I was Speed Racer a half hour ago. What the hell's going on here? You know, you're the— so anyways, that day went on to become a— later on, we realized that the reason we were stuck was because there was a broken output shaft. We realized that where was a— the list goes on and on. I end up taking the nuts out of the battery clamps and was able to reattach the front driveline that somebody had overtorqued. And that's why we were stuck in the river. When a friend of mine had a bunch of thousands, I said, give me advice for the 500. And he goes, have a lot of $1 bills. And I was like, okay, why? And he goes, if you ever get stuck, you can give out $1 bills and they'll push you out. I'm like, Well, that's a great idea. So I had a pocketful of $1 bills and I'm asking Darren like, so what's up? We're trying to limp this thing to checkpoint one. And oh, there's this big sandhill.

[00:52:36.400] - Glen Plake

We're never going to go up it just in front-wheel drive. And I'm leaving parts of the story out, but telling you the true part. And sure enough, we get to this hill. I'm like, let me out. And I jump out and I tell all these Mexicans, there's a car coming. Please, please, please push, push, push. And I started out handing out $1 bills and they pushed us up the sandhill. We finally got to Compadre Trail. I go, what happens now? He goes, I've made radio contact with the team. They're going to bring in another transfer case and we're going to play checkpoint chase all day long and hopefully we can make it. And I'm like, well, don't you got to pull the transfer? They're going to change the transfer case. He's like, yeah. I'm like, well, don't we got to pull it out? And he's like, yeah, probably should, I guess. I don't know. And so I grabbed the tool bag and crawled underneath this car that I'd never been underneath before, ever in my life. And yank— well, other than fixing the driveline, but that's another. And then anyways, I get the transfer case, get the transmission, everything all off it.

[00:53:36.850] - Glen Plake

And I see a truck pull up to me and I tell them to pull slowly on my feet. And I've got a transfer case sitting on my chest. So just pull slowly and it'll all come out together. And they pulled my feet and like I was laying on a creeper. They just drug me out and the transfer case was there. And, and basically I remember hearing one of the crew team because they thought it was just some celebrity ride, you know, guy, the frickin Mohawk and contingency. And all of a sudden one of the mechanics was like, who the fuck is this guy?

[00:54:14.830] - Big Rich Klein

Um, he's actually doing something. Yeah, yeah.

[00:54:19.030] - Glen Plake

I ended up racing with Darren Skelton forever, still to this day. I mean, I ran with Glickenhaus last year, still associated with Darren Skelton. I mean, it's still to that— going back to that, that morning in Baja, that, that one moment that, that, that, you know, two people running into met each other in a strange place has gone on to have a 30-plus-year relationship. And whether it was racing Jeep Speeds with Darren's dad or the contacts that I had made, you know, that— and then the opportunities to get actually get into the drivers, you know, I ran as a co-driver forever. We did Paris-Dakar, we did both SCORE Series and Best in the Desert Series back in those days. Kia was 100% supported by the factory. We were, you know, yeah, it was a funny little Kia, but I tell everybody it was the last, arguably the last, you know, professional off-road racing team, corporate, you know, company-backed off-road racing team. But it all goes back to just that one little moment, and that's what got my foot in the door to off-road racing. And I went on. Now I've done 20-plus thousands of— I don't even— I don't even know how I used to give Sal Fishheck, hey, dude, how come you get all these extreme athletes over here doing the race?

[00:55:46.230] - Glen Plake

Travis Pastrana or somebody. You never introduced me at the drivers meeting. And Sal used to say, well, there's nothing special about you being here. You're here every year. So I'm kind of proud of that. I've definitely kind of under the radar. I've had the pleasure of driving Class 8, Class 6, Class 3, Class Jeep Speed, Class 1 Trophy Truck. I mean, I've just kind of been everywhere. And it's kind of funny, it's like the people that know, know, and the other people go, why is Glen Plake down here in Mexico? What are you— what are you What are you doing down here?

[00:56:24.620] - Big Rich Klein

It's kind of funny because everybody thinks, oh, the skier. They don't understand that it's not just Glen Plake the skier.

[00:56:33.380] - Glen Plake

No, it's a bit more complicated than that. But anyways, I'm— yeah, whatever. Whether it was my skiing, you know, Dakar was really fun because I was able to take all my expertise and my high altitude expeditions and dealing with the harsh environments. And, you know, I was in charge of all the equipment, you know, for everybody prior to the race. So, you know, I did all of, you know, got everybody's clothing, got everybody's sleeping gear, got everybody, you know, everybody, everybody sorted out for that race. So it's just been always this kind of weird blend of, of one or another. I've been asleep. I was on a rest day at 18,000 feet in, in, in the Himalaya. It was a rest day. I'm sitting there having this kind of come-to-Jesus talk to myself going, why do I know how to rebuild a transmission? Why can I rebuild a Holley carburetor in the middle of the night? What a waste of time and energy. What have I done to myself? And about that same time, a friend, my partner, comes in and goes, Glenn. And I go, what? He goes, look at my ski. And his whole ski had been completely delaminated and and in a total mess.

[00:57:44.250] - Glen Plake

And literally, like, and I said, he's like, you can fix this, can't you? And I was like, yes, I can. I actually have resin with me. We broke up, we broke a spring in Nepal one year on a Jeep. We were transported, being transported in Jeeps up to base camp, and we broke a spring and I broke a U-bolt and they And this line of Jeeps parks and they start all chit-chatting and we're gonna, well, if the part can come and it'll probably be 2 days, maybe 3 days. And I said, for that, we're gonna wait 3 days for that? No, no, no, every Jeep here, I want everybody's tool, I want everybody's part, I want everything you think you got on the ground right now. And 2 hours later, I had stole a bolt from one, stole the U-bolt from the other, you know, did the kind of half of one bolt from the other, nut from the other, kind of codge 3 different Jeeps together and said, let's go. And we finally got to into Manong that night. And all I remember is all the drivers just chit-chatting in a circle pointing at me, you know.

[00:58:54.880] - Glen Plake

That's awesome. Yeah, just this random, like, okay, I guess it wasn't wasted energy or wasted knowledge after all. Um, just another awesome part of life, man. Part of life. Part of life.

[00:59:09.400] - Big Rich Klein

So how did you get into rock crawling besides that, that '46 CJ?

[00:59:16.730] - Glen Plake

So aside from the jamboree, aside from all my Tahoe buddies having Jeeps, aside from being a little kid in South Lake Tahoe— and there, you know, the Hilos were in South Shore. Yep. And all— I mean, if you're a little kid and you see this, look at that guy, he's cool. He's got a mustache. And look at this Jeep. He's a Hi-Lo. I didn't know what a Hi-Lo was. I just knew that every Jeep in town that had a Hi-Lo emblem on its door was the freaking coolest thing ever. I mean, absolutely beautiful Jeeps. You'd see them driving around town, right? And so, you know, that was, that was another rock crawling thing. In the '80s and late '90s when, when the, you know, the Pirates of the Caribbean or Pirates of the Rubicon was in full effect and all that, you know, a lot of my buddies were building Samurais and all this. I was busy racing it, you know, drag racing at the time. But I was, I was watching them do what they were doing and tripping out on that and kind of whatever, running around the stock car track. I, I got a random phone call from, again, Darren Skelton's wife, who was doing some casting, and said, 'Glenn, are you still doing the mechanical stuff?

[01:00:33.510] - Glen Plake

I know you're not racing with Darren right now, but you're still doing stuff, aren't you?' And I said, 'Yes.' She goes, 'There's a television show going on and they're looking for hosts, and you need to go to Los Angeles and do a, uh, a casting. I said, okay, fine. So I went down to Los Angeles. I sat— and I'd been in this situation before over the years— and I sat there and I was with this group of people and they're calling our names and we'd go in and we're sitting there talking. And they had this weird— they had an ex-J sitting up on this building and they'd call 2 or 3 people together and say, what do you think about that? And what do you think about this? And Who are you? And who's this guy? And back and forth. And, and, uh, um, at one point it was me, Bender, and Pistol Pete, uh, lined up, the three of us. And they said, what would you do with that XJ? Me being funny, they said, you have $10,000 to change that XJ, what would you do? And I said I'd save the money and I'd sell that piece of junk and go buy something cool and buy a real XJ.

[01:01:51.200] - Glen Plake

Why would I waste time on that one? And then they were like, no, you have to use this one. I said, okay, fine. I get a Sawzall, I'd cut the fenders out of it, I'd put any lift kit I could find on it, long, short, doesn't matter. Go buy some cheap tires, weld the diffs, and go have some fun. And And they looked at Rob at Bender and said, what would you do to that XJ? And, and he said, about the same thing Glen would do to it. And I was all, hell yeah. And then meanwhile, they looked at— they asked Pete, you know, and Pete was like, I just race desert shit. That's dog rock crawler donkey bullshit. Rock donkey shit. Yep. We're like, Yep, that's the answer you would always give. Well done. And so anyways, we kind of like blended together, um, that afternoon. And then later that afternoon, they, um, or a couple days later, they called us all back and said, uh, we would like you to be a part of this television show, um, along with another individual we've called from the East Coast. And, um, and, uh Okay, so what is this television show?

[01:03:02.410] - Glen Plake

What's going on? Well, we can't tell you. It's, you know, NDA stuff. Can you be in, you know, in Georgia on this day? This day? Yeah, sure. I called up Bender now, who were there again, you know, all these freaking parallel roads, dude. Like, you know, Dusty and Bender and all these guys were all skiers yourself. You know, I mean, we went to the freaking Donner Ski Ranch. I remember going to the Donner Ski Ranch rock call and going, 'Whoa, this is trippy.' I mean, Norm Saylor was a very, very good friend of mine. He, he would build us jumps so we could go do flips, and then he would open up the terrain so that they could have rock crawling competitions. And it was like, 'Now this is what a ski area should be doing. We don't need a golf club, we need a motocross track,' which is what Mammoth has, which is a whole nother thing. But anyways, um, um, the, uh, you know, all these parallel lines. So me and Bender were immediately became very close to each other. And I said, what are you gonna do about this thing, dude? They're not paying anybody.

[01:04:02.580] - Glen Plake

Um, should we do this? And he was like, yeah, what the hell, man? Maybe we'll go spend a month, and by the end of this thing, if we have a bunch of goofball memories and some laughs, then what the hell? What's the difference? And I went, you're right, let's go. I'll see you there. So we both, um, kind of signed this freaking document that basically signed our life away, I think, but, and ended up on the set of Truck Night in America.

[01:04:28.490] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, you guys, the four of you guys made it farther than I did. I only got the phone interview.

[01:04:34.130] - Glen Plake

Okay, there you go. I mean, they were calling everybody. Oh, yeah, they were. And, and lo and behold, they picked my dumb ass. And, and I'm proud to say that I was the winningest coach on the show. I was constantly, you know, working with my crew and, and this and that, and they were clueless. We can sit around and tell Truck Night stories all night long. They're so dumb. It was so funny. You know, I mean, they— yeah, they, they asked that we would— at the end of the day, they would say they'd send us these like questions, and they kept— one was to me was, how come Glenn asks everybody if they can lock their vehicles or not? When most of the vehicles on the show don't have doors. That's, that's who we were dealing with.

[01:05:22.500] - Big Rich Klein

They had no idea what they were talking about, right? Or what you guys were talking about.

[01:05:26.910] - Glen Plake

Benefit of the doubt. Yeah, I got an— I got the e-locker, I got it welded, I got it this, I got this other thing. You know, they got electric door locks. Anyways, um, anyways, um, the way it goes, we do this thing called Truck Night in America. We laugh our butts off. They wanted it to be like street outlaws. We did not fight each other. We giggled like schoolgirls. We thought it was the funniest thing ever. Um, we were completely just laughing at the irony of being in a television situation with these people that had no idea what they were doing as far as production standpoint, but also touching people's vehicles for the first time. And for me Um, like when Jeff Mellow got on the show, he was not happy that I picked him because here's this freaking, you know, long hair freaking hippie looking kid, you know, and all of a sudden I'm walking around like, hey man, what do you— what can I do for you? And he's like, you can not touch my Jeep. And I'm like, okay. And then He goes, actually, I need some zip ties. And I went, okay.

[01:06:40.590] - Glen Plake

So I gave him some zip ties. And with the zip ties, I gave him a set of flush cuts.

[01:06:46.420] - Big Rich Klein

And then he goes, he goes, what are these for?

[01:06:49.500] - Glen Plake

And I go, so you don't get hands like mine. Look at all these cuts on my hands from people cutting flush cut or cutting zip ties shitty. And he was like, huh? Like I saw him. And then I walked up to the front of his Jeep and I was like, 'You always run your power steering belt upside down like that?' And he went, 'No, what the hell?' I'm like, 'I don't know, looks like you got a pulley that went wacky right there and flipped that belt.' I mean, it's working, you know. Nope, I can't say I wouldn't run it that way. And then we ended up being pretty close friends after that. Also, he's like, 'Go back and check my shackles.' I'm like, 'They're loose.' 'Okay, tighten them.' 'Okay, cool.' And, um, Anyways, but it was that relationship with the competitors. I mean, there was this one kid, I know for a fact nobody had ever touched that truck until, you know. And so to get into somebody's engine— is it okay if I enter your engine compartment, you know? You know, can I help you? What can I do? And it was— that was, uh, something that I was always trying to— it was really a great opportunity to be around people because I think When it's all said and done, that's probably my best thing that I'm good— I'm best at is being around people, I guess, and trying to try to be with people.

[01:08:05.730] - Glen Plake

I don't know. I've had a— I— yeah, that when it's all said and done, that's what I think it comes down to. Anyway, so blah, blah, blah, season 1 goes through and then season 2 comes around. They're making some big changes and they got this guy named Rich Klein building the courses. This year, little Rich Klein, which, by the way, I joke, I go, you know, there wouldn't be a big Rich if there wasn't a little Rich. But that's my—

[01:08:33.550] - Big Rich Klein

that's true, though.

[01:08:37.450] - Glen Plake

You guys, you're both— yeah, what your, your guys's commitment over the years is mind-boggling. Both of you still to this day and what you've done and, and on and on. I mean, I know it's a two-way street, but still, you you're still— you're giving away a lot and sacrificing a lot and dedicating a lot to do what both of you guys have done and continue to do. Um, but I end up meeting Rich and, um, Little Rich, and I knew Little Rich. There again, these parallel lines, you know, Donner, you know, growing up at Donner, growing up at Sierra, you know, Placerville kid, uh, you know, whatever. Um, now all of a sudden, you know, it's like Wait a minute, so you're— you know, you know, it's— what is it, 6 degrees of separation, whatever that theory is? But— and it's true. I mean, all of a sudden you're talking about people going, now wait a minute, Eddie, you talking about Eddie? Yeah, that's the same Eddie, you know. Um, and, um, so we get to chit-chatting and we kind of hit it off and we're giggling because you had like the production side of television and then you have the, the rest of us and There's all sorts of inside jokes.

[01:09:44.900] - Glen Plake

And, um, and Rich goes, hey, I've got this, this event that I put on. You should come out there. You'd really, really— I think you'd enjoy it. And, and, um, and do it. And my Kimberly at the time had a TJ, little kind of lifted up TJ, um, that she was driving around. And, um, um, and, uh I said, yeah, yeah, we'll come down. And we'd watched Moab, and I'd watched Campbell's creations over the years. I mean, I wasn't involved in it, but I was certainly aware of all of it. Um, I watched Hammer starting to grow. I mean, you know, we only can do so much. And anyways, I ended up at Trail Hero 3, I think. Third, I think it was the third one. I think I missed the— I know I missed the first one. I may have missed the second one. Anyways, we, um, we had a great time. I got to see, you know, the, the— I got exposed to the, the, the highest end of rock crawling, not from a— not only the, the competitive side, but the, the social side. I saw extreme trails being ran, I saw extreme fabrication being done, I saw the creativity of of, of what it took to build and then manipulate the vehicles.

[01:11:06.140] - Glen Plake

And, and we're out banging around doing some trails. And lo and behold, my wife— I was thinking that it would be fun to buy like an old F toy. I just thought an old F toy would be fun, bouncing around. Can't hurt them. Pretty much bombproof, not too expensive. Do just about any trail you could ever find yourself on. And Kimberly didn't want to have anything to do with it. And she ended up hitchhiking herself into a pretty nice old-school 1-ton V8 buggy that was built very, very nicely. And throughout the day it was like, well, if my husband was going to buy something like this, I'd support it. But, you know, I'm like, that's a really nice buggy, hon. I'm talking F-Toy over here. And lo and behold, the F-Toy that I was looking at was the was this— the guy that she was taking a ride with, it was his son who had this F toy for sale. And, and Kimberly's like, no. And she's like talking like, my, my husband wants to buy that piece of shit. Like, that, that's my son's. Anyways, it's for sale. And, um, anyways, this, this, this family out of Utah, Kimberly left it with, if you ever sell this buggy you call me.

[01:12:23.990] - Glen Plake

Um, and, and, uh, I was like, wow, okay, whatever. And, uh, I, uh, anyways, about a month later he goes, it's going to be some time because we're gonna make sure we sell Colton's car, and then I'm gonna put this one up for sale, and then we're gonna get into some side-by-sides and blah blah blah. And, uh, out of nowhere this phone call comes in and says, hey, you said you were serious about that, and, uh, well "Hey, some things have come up and we're gonna put the buggy up for sale." Kimberly immediately is like, "All right, what do we gotta do?" I'm like, "We're leaving for Europe in 2 days. I've done one trail with this gentleman." And the deal is like, "Okay, here's the money. I'll send it to you. Can you store it at your house for 3 months? I'm leaving for Europe." I mean, classic drug deal gone bad deal, but it's true. And we all agreed upon that. And lo and behold, we ended up picking up the buggy that we call Emmy. It was just kind of a classic build, but very, very well done. And it was a great opportunity for Kimberly to kind of play in the driver's seat a little more.

[01:13:42.050] - Glen Plake

Gave me a chance to do what I love doing, and that's prepping and, and, uh, you know, playing from the mechanical side of it. And, um, and it's something we can do together, you know. I mean, me and my wife have been together since 1991, married since '91. Oh, I'm getting a dirty look. Apparently that has relevance to her age. But anyways, she was—

[01:14:08.460] - Big Rich Klein

you robbed the cradle cradle. Yeah, I—

[01:14:10.970] - Glen Plake

she was 12. I went down to Texas, asked her parents and everything. It was fine, it's no big deal. Um, and, um, anyways, uh, the, uh, yeah, so we have a lot of fun with that thing. And, and I'm proud to say that, uh, we took the driving skills and, and knowledge that we know, and then the goodness of the, uh, rock crawling community, um, took not only myself but her under her wing and put us on big trails in big stuff and immediately went, um, from a couple of ducks in a, in a TJ to, um, uh, and literally a bone stock TJ— not bone stock, but, you know, two, you know, two-inch freaking puck kit TJ— to, um, to the world of, uh, you know, four-linked buggy world, right?

[01:15:00.720] - Big Rich Klein

And with the, with the name Colton, was the, uh Was the dad named Michael?

[01:15:08.680] - Glen Plake

No, no, it wasn't. It was, um, it was Jerry and, um, what's called— what the— what's their last names? Ah, shoot, I just forgot the last name. No, it was Jerry and Colton. Okay, Cook, Cook out of, out of, uh, out of Utah. Um, Jerry, uh, Colton had a Pro Mod, um, that he was competing in all the time, and, uh, and Jerry had put together this, um It was a cool— but our car is really cool, you know. You know, there's always a car that— there's always a car, there's always a boat, there's always just something where it's just like, man, I don't know what happened, but that thing works. You know, there's always that car at the stock car track that just hauls ass no matter what happens. There's always that one chassis that just— I don't know, it just works. You can't rebuild it. And I'm proud to say Kimberly's car is that. It was a— it sat around unfinished for years as it was. So it was a factory tubular out of out of Salt Lake City.

[01:16:05.020] - Big Rich Klein

And you said it was Colton Cook. Colton Cook. So Coco.

[01:16:08.750] - Glen Plake

Jerry Cook. Yeah. Coco. Coco. Yep. So Jerry put that car together and ran it for like half a season and then we ended up with it. And then, and it's great because, you know, whenever you sell something, you're like, kind of like, I used to own that. Really? It was a lot nicer when you had it. And I'm proud to say that every time we see Jerry, we, um, he's like, okay, what'd you do? You know, and Kimberly, you know, we've done something new. We've— whether we, you know, whether it was, you know, we took the Detroit out and put an ARB in it, you know, or we— or, you know, she's got cutting brakes on all four corners now, or, you know, she— we're just constantly upgrading as we always do with all these things. I mean, they're never finished. Um, and, uh, and yeah, And I think he's really proud to see her as the driver and me too, playing around. And, you know, anytime we see him out on the trail, hey, how you doing?

[01:17:05.820] - Big Rich Klein

And Kimberly and you, you spotted for WE Rock. Didn't you come out to a WE Rock event?

[01:17:13.430] - Glen Plake

Yes, we did. And Kimberly realized that day that she has an amazing trail rig, not a comp rig.

[01:17:23.910] - Big Rich Klein

Very true.

[01:17:27.020] - Glen Plake

Very proud to say that we, uh, as much as, uh, I wanted her to compete and as much as she wanted to compete, um, we forfeited the second day and ended up breaking a trail there, um, uh, with, uh, with some of the, um, sketchy Oregon boys that, that following day. Um, and, uh, and, and, and it was a bit of a, like I said, bit of a reality check. I would love to get a comp car for her and do it. I think it's a wonderful activity. I love it. I'm completely, you know, I love spotting, I love helping, I love, you know, I think my role at Trail Hero, you know, has evolved from just going there to not only am I the voice of Trail Hero, I guess, but also you know, guiding the trails and spotting the people that I do. And, and it would be interesting to put her into a, into kind of a sport mod or something. And, and I think she could do— she's got a real good presence in the, in the driver's seat. Um, there's something about— I don't know, I don't know if— I don't want to say women lack, um, mechanical compassion, but maybe they don't understand it as much as we do.

[01:18:45.520] - Glen Plake

Right. And therefore they drive better maybe, or can drive better.

[01:18:50.520] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah. And one of the things that I've noticed with them typically, I've seen some that don't, but typically, you know, they listen well in the competition area when they are being spotted. Correct. You know, a guy will go, no, that's not where I want to be, or that's not what I want to do. And then try to drive it. I mean, I've seen some guys that cannot spot, and I've seen some guys that cannot take direction and be spotted and that are still competing today. But, you know, the, the, the women and the girls, that have been out there competing, that's one of the traits that they have is they're methodical. You know, they don't slam the exhaust, you know, the gas pedal down and try to hot rod it unless they're told to. You know, they— Nope, exactly. They don't go outside of the parameters of what they've been asked to do. And that's great.

[01:20:02.080] - Glen Plake

Without a doubt. And I think that's why you have some of the girls achieve what they do, is just that, like you say, that, you know, they're just a little bit softer in general. Yeah.

[01:20:11.380] - Big Rich Klein

So, um, what is it that's on your life list that you haven't accomplished yet that you want to do?

[01:20:19.650] - Glen Plake

I don't know, man. We're sitting here chit-chatting about all this and, and we haven't even, haven't even discussed the fact that I've I'm in the actual 508 Hall of Fame, known for, um, 500-mile solo, you know, bike rides, bike races, which is a whole nother can of worms. Um, I don't know, man. I just, I, I, I don't— I try not to force life in any way. I try to, you know, if the door's there, open it and walk on through. We'll figure out what's, what's in there later. I know I've never been a— I've never been— I don't wanna say I'm not goal-oriented, but I'm not like, okay, this is gonna lead to— I'm not stepping stone-oriented. It's like just kind of go do your thing and flow, I guess. There's too many instances that I've had in life where if you're truly trying to control your life, you're gonna find out who's in control. And, uh, and that's gonna— yeah, it's just— I've just— I've had too many experiences to, to believe that I can manipulate myself. I just kind of go with the flow, um, try not to get too frustrated if it's, um, you know, not what I thought it was going to be.

[01:21:38.380] - Glen Plake

Life might not be what you thought it was going to be. With that said, I don't know, I want to stay active, I want to stay healthy. I love being exposed to a lot of different things, and I find joy in things that are easy to quit, but not quit. Understood, understood. You know, I think that moment where you— it's like when you're doing the 500-mile bike races, it's like, okay, I'm at mile 250. I'm finally gotten here. It's taken me 250 miles to get here. Now things are going to get interesting, you know, right? Because I've gotten here. Look out, look what I've done to get here. And that— I, I find joy in that, whether it's a— I think that's why some of the— so much of the endurance stuff has probably been things that I really enjoyed. I mean, I love mogul skiing, because it's short blast, extreme force course. I mean, it's bam, now drag racing, go show up. You show up and not ready, you're going home in the first round. Boom, you know, right? Versus, um, versus, uh, you know, the endurance stuff where it can kind of come to you, and it's not until deep, deep, deep into the— into it that you realize, wow, I could quit right now.

[01:23:04.700] - Glen Plake

And be done, or we can dig and have something amazing at the end of this thing, you know, regardless of if it's— if this is not the race that we planned on racing, or maybe this is the race that we plan on racing. Everything is going absolutely perfect, and away we go, you know. Um, I— so what, what's the future hold? I don't know. I'm gonna just continue to— I've had a crazy card dealt to me, and I've been able to, you know, influence and inspire generations of people. Um, it would be— it is a huge responsibility for me to continue to live the life that they expect me to live and the life that they've— that they think I have lived. That to me is, um, important to to continue to do that. The people that have, you know, gave their respect to me over the years, whether it was took the time out of their life to go get an autograph signed or take the time out of their life nowadays to take a selfie or whatever the heck it is, or share a picture of me to one of their friends or hang the poster on the wall, you know, all this, that it's a— it's a— I've always considered it a two-way street.

[01:24:23.140] - Glen Plake

And if, you know, it's a responsibility to me to be who they think I am, I guess, and continue to inspire myself because that's all I've tried to do. I don't mean that in a selfish way, but as long as I'm inspiring myself, I feel that I can be inspiring to others. So have you—

[01:24:42.720] - Big Rich Klein

if somebody came to you, some random kid, say 10, 8, 9, 10, 11 years old and said, I want to be like you, what would you tell them?

[01:24:59.570] - Glen Plake

You can be. That's the simple answer. And then just, you know, it's a cliché, but don't let anybody tell you you can't be. There you go.

[01:25:09.960] - Big Rich Klein

Wow. That's awesome. Glenn, I want to say thank you so much. I know we covered a lot of ground and could have gotten a lot deeper into everything.

[01:25:19.930] - Glen Plake

Your listeners are gonna be like, what the hell, man? I wanted to hear about—

[01:25:23.610] - Big Rich Klein

yep, you know what, maybe we'll do another one. Um, but you know, or maybe they can ask you about those other things. Yeah, no, you know, like see you out at Trail Hero, or, you know, watch you on Trail Hero X when that, when that, you know, finally gets, uh, gets a lot of traction. And, uh, yeah, it's—

[01:25:43.250] - Glen Plake

I got— again, they're, again, opportunities, you know. I mean, I never thought I was gonna, you know, have any sort of play in the off-road, you know, four-wheel drive world. But there, there's just a— I, I hope what I say is, is easily seen through, let's— what I'm doing, you know. I'm gonna say, I, I go down to Trail Hero and, and, uh, we end up picking up a buggy, okay, so be it. But the next thing you know, I'm, I'm, uh, you know, announcing for, for Little Rich, and, and now we're helping with Trail Hero X, and, and it's just, uh, just amazing opportunities that I— you couldn't have— I don't have an outline that had any of that in my future at all, right? I hate to just say just go with the flow, but it is, you know. I mean, it's the old, you know, do you go through life as an artist or engineer and I probably definitely have gone through life as an artist, to be honest, but I, I have some engineering in the background. Barnyard engineering.

[01:26:41.160] - Big Rich Klein

There you go. There you go. You know, we have a lot of similarities, you know, the, the skiing, um, the drag racing, the water skiing, all that, um, now into off-road. I, I consider myself, even though I went to college, as you know, and got a degree in commercial photography, product advertising, worked in San Francisco at an ad agency. Um, interesting. I couldn't, I couldn't find— I mean, I burned out. I went through that whole, uh, early '80s, um, party scene in, in the large cities and realized that, uh, that I was not going to live very long if I did that. And, you know, found— and then found found rock crawling as the sport was just becoming a thing. And I thought, wow, I watched, I went and helped at a couple of events and went, I can do this. And so then I jumped in, you know, I just, I quit corporate America working for other people and, you know, receiving a paycheck and went to, jumped in and started doing my own thing. You know, started swimming.

[01:27:52.390] - Glen Plake

Yeah, that's it. Just did it.

[01:27:55.110] - Big Rich Klein

Never turn down an opportunity, you know, because you never know what that opportunity—

[01:27:58.790] - Glen Plake

opportunity— don't, don't ever not walk through that door. Goes back to that truck night. It was like, screw it, the door opened, let's go. Yep. And, uh, and then we just keep swimming. And I think that's when it's all said and done, it's in this new modern world or whatever. There's always been us, whether you're a musician or anybody's, let's say, gotten off the beaten path. I mean, you start swimming and then once you start swimming, you got to keep swimming or you're going to sink. And I think we all just go through life that way. Exactly. Definitely not doing it for the bank account.

[01:28:27.280] - Big Rich Klein

No, no. If it was about the money, you know, I would have stayed in corporate America. But it's about the lifestyle and the things like people I've gotten to meet, the people, the things I've gotten to do. You know, the one thing I can say that, you know, there's a lot of us that look at, you know, what's my legacy? What are people going to remember me for? And I think what people are going to remember me for is introducing them to other people.

[01:28:56.510] - Glen Plake

Not a bad thing, man. Not a bad thing.

[01:28:59.670] - Big Rich Klein

All right, Glenn, thank you so much for being a guest on Conversations.

[01:29:03.610] - Glen Plake

And, uh, oh, real— what a, what an amazing group to finally be a part of. I thank you and all the people that have been on your podcast before and thank them for everything that they've done and the influence they've left on everybody. And it's just a great opportunity to be a part of this group. I thank you for, let's say, exposing myself to some people that are like, who is this guy? What's that guy talking all the time on the microphone? And maybe they get to know me a little bit better. And we'll see everybody either— well, we'll see you on the trail, whether it's got snow on it or a couple of rocks in the way. We'll make it happen. And hopefully you're not broke, but if you are, we'll stop and help.

[01:29:40.510] - Big Rich Klein

Perfect. All right, thank you, Glenn, and, uh, enjoy the rest of your day.

[01:29:45.950] - Glen Plake

Okay, bye, Big Rich.

[01:29:47.160] - Big Rich Klein

All right, take care. 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 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.