More to Life
More to Life is made for the listener that enjoys learning new things, and seeing how they can improve their life. With a diverse list of guests, there is much to be learned about personal development and looking at ideas through a new lens.
More to Life
#014- Braden Beauchamp- The Mindset of a World Champ
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Welcome back everyone. Today's episode features one of my good friends, Braden Beauchamp. Braden has been a competitive off-road racer and recently attained professional status. In this episode, he shares with us the mindset that goes into racing, the feeling of winning, and the value of a good support system. I hope you enjoy listening as we had a lot of fun recording. (Side note: apologies for the poor video quality as I navigate different podcasting recording platforms, and the break in the middle of the episode due to time constraints.)
Braden's instagram will be mentioned below as well as an inquiry email for this podcast. That's all, love ya<3
Braden's Insta: braden.beauchamp, bradenbeauchampmotorsports
Email: moretolifepod@gmail.com
Um I leave town tomorrow. We have a a family birthday party downstate, but we got back from Minnesota um on Monday from a race weekend. And then we head downstate and then I gotta head to another race weekend the week following. So Okay. Kind of a busy stretch in the summer, but we're making it work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was gonna say, so does your is this technically are you in season right now?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like in the in the full heat of it. We just crossed over halfway in um in the season. So we start in the end of May and we go till September. Well, now October, because we have a race in California at the end of the year. But usually the season goes from from May to September.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Is that is that the farthest you're gonna go? Is California?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, it's San Bernardino, California, about as far away as we can get from here.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say, dude. That's uh yeah. And obviously, like you're you're not gonna fly because you have a car.
SPEAKER_01No, I've probably I'm probably gonna have to because I'll be back at school. Oh so I'm gonna have to like go to classes for a little bit and then hop on a flight and get to California to race and then fly back. We were gonna work it out with another race team to haul our vehicle with theirs. Because then they'll have all the parts and we'll just be able to kind of help help each other when we get there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I gotta imagine that's that's tough to do, like, especially like you said, the end of race season is like the beginning of school. So like like how do you like how like is that just like managing your time like like elite level time management? Or like what is like what goes into that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I try my best. Fortunately, uh my dad is still a big big helper in the program, and then I have crew guys that'll come over to the race shop when I'm gone. So, you know, I trust them, I guess with my life technically, but to fully, fully prep over the race truck and then have it, have it ready to go. Uh, last year, I've been having to do this since I started college because I've been racing all the way through. And after, or sorry, Crandon is always on Labor Day weekend and school's already started up. So I'll always go move in, get settled, and then have to drive to Crandon, and the truck will be just sitting there ready to go. I pull my vehicle in uh and then hop in my racetruck and like head to the track. It's a pretty tight, tight flip around. So being able to kind of flip the light switch in your brain, you know, from school and academics, then to to go out and and perform on the racetrack.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um I mean, I I can tell just from you know knowing you in high school and like right now, um, I I know that a lot of time goes into this um out like outside of the actual racing. And like I was I I was wondering just kind of the feeling that you get when you actually go out there, you race, and you put everything, like all of the time that you just spent working and testing stuff and running diagnostics and replacing parts. Like, is there like a big payoff moment, or do you always feel like you're just looking forward to the next thing?
SPEAKER_01No, it's I think I think if there wasn't that big payoff moment, I wouldn't be racing. You know, it's it's such like a adrenaline dump, and you're so so stoked to win every race. It could be you could win by a mile or you could win by um half a truck length. And no matter what, it's like a a big payoff moment. And the part that you gotta like keep your head level about is there's still a full season ahead of you. You know, we race for uh for wins, but also points championship, which tallies up points throughout the season to the end of the year. So you have to celebrate the wins, but keep your keep your brain focused headed forward.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Is it something that's like you almost expect things to like need to be replaced after every race, or is it like a yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01It depends. It depends. Now now I'm racing two trucks. So we have a super stock truck and a pro spec, both in the garage. And they're at the bones, they're pretty much the same, like they they're doing the same things, but one is really designed to do what it's meant to do. The pro spec is a fully fabricated chassis from the ground up, it's designed to do off-road racing, where the super sock truck is uh a regular pickup truck converted with a full roll cage and everything to race off-road. So those parts are a lot more consumable, you know, a lot a lot more time goes into reinforcing all of that so you don't have a failure on the track. And then after every time it touches the track, the whole both trucks get torn right back down to their bones and uh get fully inspected. And if parts need replacing, you know, that's that's the time to do it.
SPEAKER_00Right. Um, so I mean, I I can imagine, and especially since you took on the second division, like how important is it, you know, to have that like support system around you? Like I know, I know coming from like your dad and like your whole family, it's it seems like it's a family affair with with like what you guys do with racing, and it seems like it's a very like it takes a village kind of thing. Um like how how like how important is that to have that group of people around you?
SPEAKER_01You need it. It's it's a it's a I would call it a necessity. You know, I I can't do everything as much as I try, but especially that's that's even the story with one with one race vehicle. You know, there's there's only so many things that I can do, and I need to be able to lean on other people, need to be able to lean on trustworthy people to uh make sure that other jobs get completed. Um, you know, there's more to racing than just the racing. There's there's logistics with travel, logistics with sponsorship, uh social media, you know, it's it's all encompassing, and uh you can get you can get drowned down in it pretty fast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I imagine that it it kind of all ties into each other as well. Like like the social media ties into the sponsorships and the sponsorships tie into the logistics and the logistics tie into the performance and stuff like that. So I I I can imagine it's it's not only about having you know that group of people around you, but that they're all willing to work and communicate with one another.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, most definitely. You know, they they all rely on each other, like you said, so one can't uh fall lower in the importance level than the other. They all have to be, you know, kept kept to the same regard.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um is there like a different sort of like technique or way that you approach a race depending on which division it is?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And that's something we just started racing pro spec this season. So that's something I'm like having to pick up on really fast. The uh the ProSpec is a manual transmission. So I'm actively trying to keep this truck on the track practically the whole race. And uh the superstock, you jump back in and it's uh it's still a manual transmission, but there's no clutch, it's uh automatic uh transmission with a manual valve body. So you still shift gears, but not to the extent you're shifting shifting the other truck. So that cobbled on to the fact that, like I said, the Pro Spec is a is a design truck to do what it's doing. You know, it turns a lot better, it it handles through jumps and and moguls and whatever, um just better in general, where the superstock takes a little bit more finesse to get that uh to be fast on the track. So being able to like switch mindsets in between both is uh a trait I'm I have to pick up pretty quickly, but I think we've done well so far.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I can imagine. Do you have a do you think the the pro spec is has taken over the place for your favorite, or do you think you still have like like what would you say after you know after going into it this year, being able to do both?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've probably been asked this question like 50 times just at the racetrack with people walking by, and I still don't have a straight answer for them. Sometimes I'll tell them one th one truck, and sometimes I'll tell them the other truck. It's like a 50-50 chance. People think it's like which one was nicer to you that day or not, but it it's really track dependent. The superstock, I can hop in, and we've been racing it for six years at this point. You know, the truck is very dialed in. You know, we don't have to do a whole lot to it, and it'll be fast. And uh, we're just expected to go race up in the front or drive up to the front and go race for podiums and wins where the spec, we're still kind of on the underdog train. You know, podiums are a lot harder to come by. The class is just so um equal with one another. That's what makes it a spec racing class. And dude, in the spec, every spec class, everybody's trying to kill each other. It's it's crazy. It's like a borderline demolition derby out there. Body panels are flying, everybody's flying into everybody. It's gnarly. So that class is like just trying to survive. Yeah, it's hilarious.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Dang, and I mean, with a pro spec, it is that something where it's like the performance is like across the board, just like better, like you have a lower margin of error, or is it just different entirely? Like, can you compare them?
SPEAKER_01Uh, you can compare them. Uh, the spec, because everybody has to run the same engine platform, um, same tire size, same rear end ratio. Everybody does the same speed. So a little mistake here and there will just cost you the whole race because every, like I said, everybody is so equal. It's really hard to drive harder than the next guy. You know, you just have to be fast all the time. Where the superstock, the rules are a little bit more lax. You know, they still still restrict us pretty tightly, but you can you can find speed in some places versus others. There's just a lot of adjustment that can happen. So that class is a little bit easier to miss your marks and still be able to drive up to the front. But the spec, you have to be on your marks every single lap in order to have a shot at the win.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um so I mean, obviously, you've been in superstock for you know what you said, six years.
SPEAKER_01Six years, I think we're going on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And then uh Pro Spec, you said this is like your first official year fully with it. Okay. Yep. Um are is it a lot of the same people that like drive both, or is it like completely different types?
SPEAKER_01We're we're it's a completely different field. So that's I would I would chalk that up to a good percentage of racing in general, is you have to know who you're racing against, right? Know where they're gonna where they're gonna drive and how they're gonna drive you back. And um, you know, in SuperSock, I've I've kind of got that all figured out. You know, you can you can drive up to the back of somebody and you know which way they're gonna go and what what mistakes they can make on a certain corner and the spec, you know, I'm still still figuring all that stuff out. You gotta you have to be able to compete, but you also have to know how your competitors race as well. So that's like a the not so seen side of of racing is you've got to be able to race against the people in front of you.
SPEAKER_00I will definitely say that until you said that I hadn't really thought about it as like a not only do you have to you know race your best race, but you have to play according to your opponent's weaknesses and you have to be able to predict what they're gonna do. Um I feel like that's a lot like with everything, but I also feel that whenever I watch racing or whenever it's just like on, it it looks very concrete. And like you you see these dudes racing, and you know, you just expect that it's just like the fastest person wins, obviously. You know, but then like you go into driving techniques and like obviously there's there's skills to be learned, like how to take corners, how to you know get ground when you can, but I guess I I never really realized that you know these people they're you know they're also driving solid pieces of metal through the same track. Like you've got to be able to navigate that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. There's um it happens a lot more, I think, in in uh circle track or or NASCAR levels of racing where you just get stuck in traffic. And it sounds like something that would happen on the on the freeway, but it happens in racing too. You know, you guys are all racing for the same racing line, and that's the fastest way around the track on any given day. And when there's a truck occupying that place, you know, unless you get really physical and move them out of the way, you know, there's not not a real way through. And uh that happened to us when we were just in Minnesota in the super sock truck, you know, it just happens. You get you get caught in traffic, and uh you kind of lose the pace of the pack in the front of the field, and then you just fall off a little bit. So we won the first day in the super sock, and then the second day we took fifth, you know, and it just it just saw the the cookie crumbles.
SPEAKER_00And then another thing I was gonna ask you relating to racing two different divisions and just like being from from an outsider perspective, like I see podium shots that you post and stuff, and it looks like you are one of the few people that are like your age doing this kind of thing. Um, it is that true, or is that just kind of like something that I'm that I'm taking out of context?
SPEAKER_01No, it's true in the superstock. In superstock class, it's a I'm I'm vastly younger than the rest of my competition. But in the pro spec now, I'm like dead smack in the middle. There's kids much younger than me now that are fast, and I'm having to like keep up with, and it now I'm starting to feel like what people in SuperSock would have felt when I'd started up, right? It's that it's that feeling where I I'm getting older and it sucks. And uh so that I have people younger than me in the class, as well as still people older than me. Like I said, I think I fall somewhere in the middle of that age range. So that's that was like a uh weird feeling when I first got in. I was like, man, I should like I should be able to go like beat everybody. And uh no, I got a kid younger than me still in front of me that I haven't gotten around yet.
SPEAKER_00And he's still in front of you, and you're reading and you're reading his sponsorship on his tailgate, and um, but yeah, no, I mean I I can imagine that's kind of like a full circle moment, you know. You you come onto the scene at what like 16, 17 racing in this division, and from the podium shots, like it like I see people that are in their 30s, 40s, or older that like have probably been doing this for a lot longer than you, but I mean obviously you've been making it work, you know, you're you know decently successful like throughout and like only getting better and still competing. So um I was just gonna I was just wondering like how did you navigate you know coming onto the scene and like was that ever a like a mental struggle for you, like being that much younger?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think so. The first race I ever went to, I had my learner's permit. So I had to ride, I drove the vehicle or racetruck there with my uncle in the passenger seat because I wasn't old enough to drive past 10 p.m. So we got to the first race, and uh then I was racing against people that were vastly older than me. My my dad used to race in super sock truck years and years ago, and there are still people in the class from when he was racing that I'm racing against now. So that was like a big full circle moment, and uh it took a while for me to get my bearings. I moved from a a kid's class, which had very, very little horsepower and you know, in all honesty, wasn't really that fast, to a full-sized racetruck that had all the speed I could ever want. So it took a little bit to get my get my bearings, but then when I was racing door to door with people that my dad had raced years back, that was uh a pretty surreal feeling.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah. Uh I I mean I'm just trying to put myself in your situation, and I just feel like I would get this like great sense of imposter syndrome.
SPEAKER_01Dude, it's a lot of work.
SPEAKER_00You can try.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's sometimes it sucks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so kind of like zooming out a little bit, how how did you first get interested in racing? I mean, I know obviously your dad was racing while you were growing up, but like what kind of what kind of sold the deal for you?
SPEAKER_01I've been on a motorized vehicle since I think I was three years old, two and a half years old. So I hate to say that I didn't have any other option because I definitely did, but that was just what that was just what interested me. You know, I started with a little dirt bike and then, or a little four-wheeler, then a little dirt bike, and then once I was old enough, uh my parents got me this uh miniature off-road truck that we could go race on the same tracks my dad was racing. I think we got it was like um that class had just formed. Otherwise I would have started, you know, earlier. I think I had the fifth cart off of the production line. So started as soon as I could and then race that until I aged out. I won a world championship in that class when I was a kid, and then uh we just started started building the super stock truck.
SPEAKER_00So I need to grasp the weight of the last sentence you just spoke. Uh I won a world championship in that when I was a kid. What does hearing the words world champion mean to you when you're that age? Like, can you even comprehend it?
SPEAKER_01No, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00Even now, can you even still comprehend? Like, like that is a like that is that's the W word. Like that's bigger than your state or your country. Like, dude, yeah, like I I I don't even know how I would I'm thinking about the things that I was thinking about when I was how old were you? I was in eighth grade. Yeah, yeah. So like when I was 13, dude.
SPEAKER_01Or seventh grade or eighth grade, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Like the thoughts I was having were nowhere near like deep conversation level, like, you know, thinking about what was actually happening. But dude, like that's insane.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I still don't know how I pulled it off, really. Um so then then once I once I pivoted to Super Sock Truck, I started racing that in it was 2020. We raced a partial season because the truck wasn't ready until midway through the race that for that season. And then 2021, we're still still trying to get fast. And then 2022, we really started catching wind, and then that's when I won my second world championship, and that was in Super Stock Truck.
SPEAKER_00Um so I was just wondering how how does your like mental attitude change like before, during, and after a race? Because I I know there's a lot of anticipation that goes into it. And like you said, racing's a very high stress situation. So is there anything you kind of like what are the kind of emotions that go through you through something like that?
SPEAKER_01It's it's a lot of stress and anxiety. I get I get uh like pretty jittery when I'm in the truck, but that's just up until staging. So you get to staging, which is where you like get ready before the race, and then as soon as the vehicles fire up, you know, it's kind of everything just goes quiet for the most part, you know, all of that stress from before, and the stress really stems from the vehicle, you know, making sure all of your prep was correct, all your maintenance was uh was adequate enough to go out and to go out and run fast again. And then if you made any any modifications to the performance, that that's gonna actually work for you. But once you get on track, you know, there's nothing you can do to stop it. So, you know, that's when you just have to be as calm as possible, you know. A fine line in between being too calm that your reaction time slows and being too amped up that you don't your brain isn't thinking slowly enough to make good decisions on the track. So it's it's like walking a tightrope where you need to keep your heart rate down, but at the same time elevated enough to make fast reactive decisions.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's that's something I experience. Um it's actually very relevant to powerlifting. Oh, I'm sure. Yeah. And we call it like the optimal arousal. Uh because you look at like like everything. It's like about it's like a bell curve. So, you know, you have the left side where it's climbing up. I know you think the world arousal is funny. Um the the bell curve where it's climbing up, right? You have you have that lower end, like you said, where you're you're almost thinking too slowly and you're you're too relaxed, like you need to get amped up. Uh, you've been working, you know, 16, 20 weeks or more for this competition, and you have nine minutes on the platform all day. That's all you get. So it's like you need to you need to be amped, and like most people don't struggle with that. But what I do see a lot is you know the right side of that bell curve where it's like you're too amped up. There's people screaming, hitting themselves, like for real. I've seen someone slap himself in the face like multiple times, and then you get up to that bar and you're like so overloaded that you know you forget your technique that you've been practicing three, four times a week for the last four months. Yeah, it's like you're always going to revert to what your body knows the most. And it's like in that moment, if your prep hasn't been dialed in, if your technique and everything hasn't been dialed in, like you are going to crumble under those moments. So it's I I definitely see what you mean in the fact that you know you got to get ready because it is go time, like the race is gonna happen whether you want it to or not, and whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen. But if you're not prepared, like you could definitely miss an opportunity to be successful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 1000%. And I think I think the longer I've done this, the better I've gotten at it. You know, when I was racing as a kid, I was a nervous wreck every time. I was like like stomach cramps and and so jittery I could barely sit still. And then the race would start and you know we'd we'd go out and do good. But now, you know, with the two trucks and just that I've been doing it for a long time, then the nerves have settled, which is is kind of alarming. There's a when we go to race at Crandon, we do a thing called the land rush start, where all the trucks start side by side in a in a straight line, and there is a little bit over a thousand feet to the first corner. It's like almost a quarter mile to the first corner, and a flagman goes up in this tower and he flips a board from red to yellow and then waves a green flag.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um I want you to try to pick up wherever you were.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay, we're back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we're we we were talking about okay. So yeah. The when I was racing in, it was called Short Course Cart, was the the name of the first class I started in. My nerves were off the charts, you know, all the time. It was like jittery and couldn't couldn't sit still. And then once I moved to SuperSock, kind of the same deal, you know, there was times where I was absolutely freaking out before a race. And then, you know, we'd go out and and do okay. But the nerves at the beginning were always getting to me. And then once I just spent more time doing it, you know, those nerves kind of subsided, which I don't know if that's something I just got used to where I just don't notice it anymore, if it actually got better. But like for instance at Crandon, which is where we go to twice a year, we do a land rush start where all the trucks line up side by side in a big line, and the flagman climbs up into tower, changes the board from red to yellow, and then green, and then we all take off at the same time, and you drag race like a quarter mile to the first corner. Well, plenty of people have gotten in some gnarly accidents in that first corner because ten trucks wide, three rows deep are fighting for you know track space that's just not there for everybody. So plenty of people have gotten gotten bottled up, uh, decent amount of ambulance rides or or airlifts. And now I sit on that line and it's just kind of another day. You know, it's not it's not super doesn't sound super gnarly in my head, and I'm able to kind of pull up to the line and and just know that it's it's time to go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um were there anything what like was there anything that anybody told you, you know, whether it be like a parent or a friend or a mentor that kind of like stuck with you to get you through that?
SPEAKER_01My dad, he spots for me every race, so every every vehicle on the track has a spotter that sits up in a tower and talks to you throughout the whole race, as much or as little as you as you want them to. But before the race, my dad's always he gets up in the tower. Sometimes I think he's more nervous than I am. You know, he he you can see him shaking like when he gives me a fist bump before he heads up to the tower. And uh, I'm like, dad, like we got this. We're we're gonna be fine. Yeah, but then I get the helmet on, I get the helmet on, and I can hear him talking, and the you'll see like events start to wind up where we're about ready to go. And he'll just kind of chime in the mic, he'll be like, make sure your belts are tight, take a deep breath. You know, we got this, just let the race come to you. And it happens before every race. And uh, I think it it helps me kind of settle down. I listen, I'll take a take a deep breath, and I'll give my seatbelts another another pull to make sure they're nice and tight, and uh and we go out and just do business.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's kind of how I feel uh with power lifting. It and like very similarly, my dad, like every competition that I've had in recent memory, um he'll text me like the day of or like the day before, and he'll just be like, just like remember, just you know, just have fun. And I I don't know what like clicked in my brain, but when I did Collegiate Nationals last year, this was on the biggest platform I've ever been on. Like, there's cameras, there's lights, there's like usually when you have a local meet, there's a front judge yelling commands at you, but at nationals they have microphones because there's too much like noise going on. And there's yeah, there's four platforms of people lifting at the same time. You know, there's thousands of people that are competing over a couple of days, and it's like I I was really in my head about it, apart from just like having kind of a bad prep. Like I went through a back injury and just like weights weren't really feeling the same all the way up until the competition, so I really had like no expectations. And um, it was just like he sent me this text, and there was a bunch of other stuff, but I'm paraphrasing, paraphrasing, but basically he just said, you know, just go have fun, like this is what you worked for, and like whatever the outcome is, I'm proud of you. And that like those three words, just have fun, like did something to me in that moment, and it was almost just like this full realization of like all this time and work I put in is gonna be nothing if I like don't enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, you have to enjoy the process and the the events to come, right? If I was sitting here actually miserable, you know, we we wouldn't be racing. You know, I think that's they're on the the same side of the coin.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But yeah, no, I I think that's that's super important to have um to have somebody that's like willing to, you know, even if like you said, how your dad is you he gets very nervous even when you race, like even having someone that's nervous for you kind of kind of helps alleviate some of that pressure because it's like at least I know that like I'm not the only one involved in this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Especially, you know, like we talked about earlier, it's a big family endeavor, right? It's it takes uh it takes a village, and you know, when you can feel the same kind of feeling that you are during that time, it makes it easier to stomach, I think. Right? You know you're not out on a limb by yourself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um so kind of jumping bases a little bit. I was wondering, because I've seen this for um certain like racing things. Do you do any like specialized exercise for racing?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a lot of neck training.
SPEAKER_00That's what I that was gonna be my follow-up question.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. We you have to wear a helmet. I just got a carbon fiber one this year, so it's a lot lighter, which is nicer on my neck, but you know, I'm 22 years old, and sometimes I'm moving around like I'm pushing 50. You know, we we take some hard landings. I think that's a little bit more specific to off-road, is just how beat up you get in the vehicle. Like when we this last race weekend wasn't too bad as far as on the on the body, but the weekend prior, you know, I I didn't move the same for like a week. You know, my body was was really beat up. So on top of neck training, it's uh trying to get cardio in when you can. You know, with with racing two classes, it makes it difficult. We we just raced in 100-degree weather, and you're in a race vehicle where the temperatures can get up to 120, 130 inside the race vehicle, and you gotta do that twice in a day for two days in a row.
SPEAKER_00That can I I definitely can see where uh, you know, like from an exercise science standpoint, which is what I'm studying, it's like you know, you you look about like the body's responses to heat, and like almost immediately your body starts to obviously you're sweating, so like your blood volume is getting your blood gets more viscous and thick, and then it's like your heart has to pump more because there's not as much blood. Because like you know, you're losing blood volume within the like the sweat and the minerals and stuff that you're losing. So it's like they call it cardiovascular drift, where it's like even if you're at the same, you know, the same temperature, the same intensity, like the longer you go just from that fluid loss, like your heart rate is gonna be climbing and climbing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I can understand. Yeah, so I'm I mean, like when you said like you try to get cardio training in, like, that helps because cardio training actually lowers your resting heart rate and your heart's like ability to stretch and then pump blood, so you're getting more blood into your you know, circulating per pump. So it has to you, it's it works less if you actually train it more. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, I I see how that can be really important. Um the the the next stuff is like super interesting to me because you know you look at a sport like racing, and it's like, okay, it's not inherently a physical sport, but like there are some things that you need to take care of so that the driver can race. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's not it's not just the truck.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I mean, we're and we push you the brakes, our brake system has no like ABS or no assist, so full full leg movement has to happen, full contraction to get 100% brake pressure. Um, we're in a fire suit, which doesn't help the whole body temperature thing. You know, I wear I wear a two-layer fire suit with fireproof undergarments underneath. So call it a three-layer suit. I'm wearing long johns in like a snow jacket and bibs in the summer, yeah. In a race vehicle that gets 120, 130 degrees on the inside. So does being able to survive that temperature, I think, is a is a feat in itself. But along with the braking, the neck, um funnily enough, I've noticed in the spec now when I have to I'm shifting, I'm shifting like there's no tomorrow in that truck. And as tight as you can get the seat belts, you always have a little bit of movement. And I've noticed I'm using the shifter to brace my body in some of the harder technical spots. So I've like woken up the next day and my whole arm shoulder is just on fire from I'm guessing I'd lock, I'd lock up. Yeah. Coming into uh coming into a corner or a tricky section. So it doesn't, it's not inherently physical to an extent, but you do get beat up in there. You know, you're you're still working.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I guess that's something that I didn't even realize too. You know, obviously you see videos and I mean I'm sure you've experienced it, but like people crash and like people get hurt and people have injuries from racing, but also just like the person that crosses the finish line isn't scot-free, you know. Like you said, they've been absolutely like you know, clenching every muscle for the past 10-15 minutes straight, like keeping completely sound mind and like making you know hundreds of decisions in a split second like this. And it's like that person is definitely like there is some fatigue generated from that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and you can have like really extenuating circumstances happen. Um, I had a crazy story from Crandon last year where my fire bottle inside the race vehicle deployed while I was racing, and we have nozzles inside of the driver's compartment, inside the engine bay, and a couple other places. Well, I had a a 10-pound bottle of uh fire extinguisher release during the race, and uh I didn't I didn't know about it until I could hear it when I shut the racetruck down. So I I hop out of the truck. I I didn't think I was on fire, but like I didn't know what was happening. There was gas hissing out, so I jump out of the truck and then I had to go to the podium interview, and the whole time up on the podium, I couldn't gather my thoughts. I was like slurring my words almost, and then uh had to take a quick ambulance visit after that just to make sure I uh I checked out fine. But that exhaust or the extinguisher gas was pulling all the oxygen out of the driver's compartment. Oh just having to uh endure that stuff, and then when you wreck, you know, you're taking the super sock, our super sock weighs close to 4,000 pounds. So you take that truck and you you tumble it through the air, you're gonna leave in uh in pretty rough shape. A couple concussions from the super sock. And uh I bottled my leg up pretty hard in a bad rack. So as soon as as soon as the vehicle stops doing what you meant it to do, you can get hurt in there pretty fast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I mean, like you said, obviously, you know, there the regulations is like you have to have a roll cage, you have to have working brakes, you have to have all these like safety measures, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're safe. Like no, I just lost brakes at ERX in Minnesota.
SPEAKER_01You know, yeah, crazy stuff happens. It just it just is what it is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um so you know, going back through I I feel like we're talking about a lot of like the the bad things that can come out of racing, but you know, we it it it it's kind of like out of my mind that the feeling of like the good moments. So I kind of wanted to bring it back to you, and it's like with all of this kind of stuff in mind that we've been talking about for the last 20 minutes, uh, you know, like injuries and wrecks and like navigating stress and stuff. Is is there any feeling that you can like relate to crossing the finish line in a race, especially in first place?
SPEAKER_01Winning the lottery? Dude, I don't know. It's it's sweet, it's the best feeling that I've ever found. Yeah, and uh I mentioned it earlier. If it wasn't like that, you know, I probably wouldn't be doing it because there's a lot like we just talked about, there's a lot of negatives, but the positives are so high that it that it makes it worth it. Yeah, I don't I don't know. It's I would have I would imagine there's gotta be a similar feeling like going nine for nine in in power lifting, um, but it's you're just on top of the world.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um is this is this something that I mean, I don't want to say that you're trying to make a career out of, but like obviously you're at the professional level, like you're racing at the professional level. Um, is this something that you're like trying to make your livelihood or like like what is where is the next step from like where do you see yourself in 10 years?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's the dream. You know, if you can if you have enough sponsorship money from from your partners that you can you can make that work. People have before, I won't say it's easy, but we're we're moving in the right direction to make that happen. Um that's that's for sure the goal. Otherwise, you know, I'm I'm studying at tech for mechanical engineering, and um, you know, if this if my personal racing doesn't work out the way I hope it does, then I go work for a racing company that uh that I can help make make race teams faster. You know, I've I've kind of I've taken a decent amount of internships in the time that I've been in school, and those have all been, you know, working through manufacturing or or general engineering jobs, and I really don't think I could do that for the rest of my life. I think I have to do something in racing, and that's like a realization I've come to relatively recently, where you know, if I'm not doing something in racing, I'm probably gonna go stir crazy.
SPEAKER_00Sure. Yeah, that that's what I was kind of gonna ask is next, is that kind of why you chose to call go to college for engineering, or is is that just kind of like a byproduct of lived experiences since you started college?
SPEAKER_01I think I don't think when I decided to go to tech that that was the dream in mind. I think that was a just a byproduct of the environment that I was like kind of raised around, was you know, do engineering or do do something technical because you're clearly good at it and it's working. Um and now that I've I'm getting I graduate in December, now it's time to figure it out. And uh I think that's that's just where where my brain has kind of led me to is you know that's that what that's what makes the most sense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I can imagine, because I mean engineering is there's a lot different you can do with that. But like you said, at as you know, as vast and as vague engineering, even mechanical engineering is like there there are jobs, there are people that you know have to work on these race cars, and like they need people that are engineering parts and like fixing things and you know figuring out how to make things better and like advance the sport of racing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, there's there's always technological advancements to be made. You know, technology gets greater and greater every day. Um you know, you can you can look at working for a race team from the perspective of actually traveling with a racing team and and working on the car, making improvements that way, or working for a racing company and designing parts for the general public, right? You can you can design air filters or you can design wheels or or whatever whatever picks your fancy that you you find a a knack with. You know, there's there's plenty of ways to go about it. And engineering is just so broad, you could take a subcategory and make it a bunch of different categories, even still.
SPEAKER_00Sure. Um, I can I can kind of relate to that as well. Like going into uh physical therapy is my goal. I'm applying to school right now, so it's like you know, you have the when you say the words physical therapy, you know, you usually think of uh like musculoskeletal physical therapy, like you know, exercises to strengthen a muscle or you know, heal a tendon or something. Um, but then you you can also go into like the neurological side of things like diagnosing and rehabbing patients that had a stroke or you know, people that have um things like multiple sclerosis and um and there's You know, there's pediatrics, there's geriatrics, there's inpatient, outpatient. Um, but like even within that, like there are literally people who make a career just treating, you know, post-surgical knee replacement people, and that's like that's all that they see. So it's like as vast of a career as it is, you know, you go to school for three full years, and it's like in your doctoral program, you know, you learn about the knee for maybe a month of that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like it's it's just crazy how you can make a career out of like such a very like minuscule, seemingly minuscule part of like, you know, the bigger picture. But it's like you you gotta choose somewhere to go. And I think for for some people, like it's the best thing that just kind of fits them.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah. That's yeah. I never I guess you you all the all the words you've or all the different lines of study you mentioned, you know, I've heard of just in passing, but when you rope them all under the same thing, that makes it makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um so I guess kind of just like bringing it all back, like just you know, on our way to wrapping things up. I don't have anything else prepared for you, but um, I was just gonna ask you, like, kind of what's next. Like what is your plan moving forward? Um I I know obviously you're in season, but what are your plans after this season and moving forward?
SPEAKER_01The plans after this season are to finish school, and then after that's done, I uh gotta figure out which way which way I want to go for um whether that's racing or working in racing. And uh I'm gonna try my absolute hardest to make that the the first of those two options, you know, until you know I can I could live this this dream for a while, but it could just be a dream, right? And making the realistic decision when that's when it's time to you know focus on a on a career. There's racing's always going to be around, you know. Maybe that's not the denomination of racing that I'm doing currently. You know, I'll be able to get behind the wheel of something down the road. So I know if I take a little bit of time off, that's not not the end of the world, and I can always jump back into the same thing or something else. But uh at the moment, just try to make what I got going work. The um we transition into spec or pro spec because, or well, now rather I'll uh I'll lose my eligibility to race in superstock truck. I have one transition year to move from that class to pro spec. So after this season, it would be strictly pro spec and uh would make me a full-time professional driver if uh if I choose to continue on that path. So a decent amount of viable options in the future. Hopefully we can we can make one stick.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, I mean, good luck to you. Um I know you said you got a lot of you know decisions on your mind in the next couple coming years, but I mean I hope everything works out for you. Um thank you for your time, obviously.
SPEAKER_01And uh no problem.
SPEAKER_00And uh, you know, take as as much time as you want to kind of you know plug your socials or like whatever you got going on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I'm on I'm on Instagram and Facebook at Brainboche on Motorsports. Uh, you can check us out. We we pick up a lot during the during the race season posting you know race results and behind the scenes and trying to trying to keep social media fun. And uh you know, we don't we don't take it too seriously where it where it bogs us down uh from making progress on the race vehicles, but we like to keep keep everybody in the loop and and know where all the events are and uh all of that fun stuff.
SPEAKER_00All right, man. Well, I will uh I will let you go. This was a lot of fun. Thank you again. Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, all right. Well we will uh we'll keep in touch and I'll send you an invite link when it's uploaded. Sounds good, dude. All right, see you later. See ya.