Ever wondered what it's like to conquer one of the world's toughest off-road races? Join George Hammel and me, Bella Birchard, as we pull back the curtain on the King of Hammers event, revealing the strategies, challenges, and triumphal moments experienced by legends like Kyle Chaney. Our guests, including Saydie Gray and Michael McFayden, aren't just racers; they're storytellers, bringing you heartfelt and gritty tales from the front lines of off-road racing, where every turn is a test of wills and every finish line a potential victory.
Feel the heat of the race and the weight of accountability in our candid conversations about the high stakes of off-road competition. We discuss the emotional rollercoaster of race penalties with Christopher Polvoorde and dive into the meticulous preparation that defines the sport. From co-driving in the Nora Rally to sharing the unique perspective of racing intertwined with personal aspirations, we celebrate the relentless spirit and growth of individuals who make racing not just a sport but a way of life.
Wrap up with us as we chat about the life lessons learned from racing, the motivations driving our guests to set goals beyond the track, and the bonds formed with race cars that are more than just machines. You'll hear firsthand how racing shapes character and fosters community, all wrapped up with a touch of humor and an eye on the future. So, if you're ready for a journey into the heart of off-road racing, buckle up and tune in to this episode of The Dirt Life Show.
DM us anytime. Let us know what you want to hear. Join in the convo!
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Ever wondered what it's like to conquer one of the world's toughest off-road races? Join George Hammel and me, Bella Birchard, as we pull back the curtain on the King of Hammers event, revealing the strategies, challenges, and triumphal moments experienced by legends like Kyle Chaney. Our guests, including Saydie Gray and Michael McFayden, aren't just racers; they're storytellers, bringing you heartfelt and gritty tales from the front lines of off-road racing, where every turn is a test of wills and every finish line a potential victory.
Feel the heat of the race and the weight of accountability in our candid conversations about the high stakes of off-road competition. We discuss the emotional rollercoaster of race penalties with Christopher Polvoorde and dive into the meticulous preparation that defines the sport. From co-driving in the Nora Rally to sharing the unique perspective of racing intertwined with personal aspirations, we celebrate the relentless spirit and growth of individuals who make racing not just a sport but a way of life.
Wrap up with us as we chat about the life lessons learned from racing, the motivations driving our guests to set goals beyond the track, and the bonds formed with race cars that are more than just machines. You'll hear firsthand how racing shapes character and fosters community, all wrapped up with a touch of humor and an eye on the future. So, if you're ready for a journey into the heart of off-road racing, buckle up and tune in to this episode of The Dirt Life Show.
DM us anytime. Let us know what you want to hear. Join in the convo!
Hang with us on Social
Instagram - @thedirtlifeshow
Facebook - The Dirt Life Show
YouTube - The Dirt Life Show
Welcome to the Dirt Life Show with your host, George Hamill.
Speaker 2:Welcome back everybody. We skipped January, but we're coming strong in February. Welcome to the Dirt Life Show, Bella's Corner, Episode 5. I am Bella Richard, your host. This is my co-host, George Hamill.
Speaker 3:Hi guys, yep, we're going to see you guys after.
Speaker 2:KOH, that was a rough three weeks.
Speaker 3:It was. Koh has the Modos, they have the UTVs, they have the Rock Race, desert Race. There's so much to unpack. We're just going to give you a little bit of a rundown of what happened. We got some awesome guests right, bill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got a great lineup. Before we get into it, we should probably think our sponsors.
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's give them a rundown of what's happened on the show tonight. First then we'll thank the sponsors.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. So we got Kyle Chaney, sadie Gray, christopher Pavordi and Michael McFadden.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so some awesome guests and all have different, all took part in different disciplines, right, but there was some very, very just, I think, massive as far as the off-road world goes performances that will probably go down in history like changing the way that people see rock racing and desert racing. So it'll be cool to talk to guys like Kyle Chaney and everybody else about it too. Everybody requesting to join. So let's go through the sponsors super fast and then we'll get going. All right why don't you go first.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so we want to thank KMC Wheels, motul and Evolution Power Sports.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and thanks to the guys at Maxis too. They were a really, really huge help. Over there at KOH man, we had such a great time talking to those guys. A lot of those guys out there were running rockzillas Sweet tire to be running out there. Thanks to the guys over at Shock Therapy, you can use the discount code. Dirtlife Get yourself some stuff off their website. Thanks to the guys at JL Audio, bringing you all the heat whenever you want to impress everybody with some music. Thanks to the guys at Zollinger Racing Products. We really appreciate them as well. And, like Bella said, everybody else All right, belle, do you want me to get Kyle on right now for you? Yes, all right.
Speaker 3:Let's get going here A little bit of background. Bella had to come home because she obviously has some stuff to do, but I was out there at KOH doing so much stuff with everybody and to be out there just watching Kyle achieve all the greatness that he did was pretty cool. So, Belle, give Kyle a good intro.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Kyle Chaney is a factory driver for Ken Am from Ohio. He has many experience in many different tracks and off-road vehicles, but had an insane run at the 2024 King of Hammers UTV race, so we should probably dive into that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, welcome Kyle Chaney to the show. Kyle, I don't know if you know, but Bella has her own segment on the show, so she's going to do most of the talking today for you.
Speaker 1:That's great Perfect. She probably knows more than I do.
Speaker 2:Nice to meet you, Kyle. Yeah, you too.
Speaker 3:Dude KOH like wild is the only word I can think of.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Koh is always wild I mean anytime KOH is brought up in anything. You just think of craziness. If you haven't been there, it's like somewhere that anybody that's interested in offering it all needs to go to KOH.
Speaker 3:Dude, yeah, totally, and there's so much to unpack too, right, but maybe tell us like, give us, just give us a background, like what classes did you race, and then we're going to unpack some stuff after that.
Speaker 1:So you know I mainly go to KOH for the Rock Race, the 4900 UTV race, and while we're there, we just started racing the 4400 race, which is where they race the big trucks, and this year we decided to do the Desert Race Ball. So we've done it the last couple of years, but I didn't have to put the great showing in that we ended up hitting a bush and flipping over.
Speaker 1:But it actually ended up being a blessing, because we broke some parts. Doing that we needed to like kind of see for the Rock Race Like we wouldn't have changed them if we wouldn't have broke them in that race, and it definitely took us out of the Rock Race.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that was the most important thing, for you was obviously focusing on the Rock Race. And then so, just so everybody knows, kyle was victorious in the 4900 class, which was an insane. I mean, that by itself was a huge battle, before we even talked about the 4400 stuff. Yeah, so we, yeah so we decided to race the new Maverick R this year and you know we didn't really know much about it.
Speaker 1:I know Phil and a couple other guys, the guys at the Ball hog, they had good luck with it, but you know we didn't know much about it. So we went out and did some testing earlier this year and I was like man, this could be a really good car for here and Tana Amagreen. And then they we kind of had to like force them in the lead in the race. They didn't know for sure if the transmission would be good in the Rocks and after we drove in the Rocks, man, this thing's awesome. Like we definitely want to race this. Definitely better in the desert than the next three. You know, in the Rocks it's definitely harder to drive. But you know I knew that. You know the advantage we would have in the desert would definitely help us get to the Rocks early.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's kind of crazy to see the evolution of the side by sides too. I mean, like we did see some people driving the older car and then you chose to drive the newer car. It was kind of like I don't want to say a toss up, but it was different.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was definitely like staying on the safe side of your race, the X3, because you know that's three.
Speaker 1:You know shoot. It's been out for seven years. We know exactly whatever issues that it's had or it's been resolved. You know this is our new platform and you know I definitely didn't want to lose a crown because of it. You know like I was definitely on the defensive for a while. You know winning three in a row and definitely wanting four hammers championships in a row?
Speaker 3:I definitely was weighing heavy in the back of my mind. Dude, four championships. Can you believe that I was just?
Speaker 2:going to say yeah, you have experience from winning the last three years, so jumping into a new car and trying it for the first time and when you have that fourth win on the line is a pretty big deal, but it turned out pretty solid for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely paid off. But you know, not everybody's out there wanting the crown and you know I knew my trust in the can and in that R and you know I knew we could get to the finish line at first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:Bella, do you think there's more pressure if you were in a position like him going for a four-peat, or do you think it's like, just like, ok, I'm just going to go do my thing?
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't know. I think it's different for everyone. For me it's more pressure, for sure.
Speaker 3:Well, I've talked to Kyle a bunch and I know Kyle actually really thrives under the pressure. Was it pretty? I don't know like, how did you deal with all of that, kyle? I know Bella is a pretty big proponent of understanding how people deal with their emotions and how they adjust for race environments. How do you?
Speaker 1:So it definitely was this year. Like I usually have time to like prepare for the other races, I had no time. Like literally all my time was spent on the R and trying to win that 4900 race. Like I totally neglected the 4400 race. I didn't pre-run lap three of 4400 one time. I didn't even get in my 4400 car to drive it until I drove it up to qualifying, you know so it's like, and I didn't see Terry, my co-pilot. He didn't get in the car until the day of the race. Like it was, you know, we spent all our efforts on that R and trying to win 4900.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a lot of focus though, especially, like you said, because he was out there for so long.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, there was other stuff to focus on. So I mean I'm glad that your 4900 race went well, but I mean I think we got a lot to talk about with the 4400 race too Sure.
Speaker 3:Well, actually, before we talk about the 4400 race, did you have any standout moments of the whole couple weeks while we were out there that were, I don't want to say not in the 4400 race, but that were minus the because dude, that race, we could talk about that for years.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like did you have any standout moments that you think were personally good? I don't know.
Speaker 1:Again, the UTV race.
Speaker 3:I just think over the whole weeks that you were out there because there was a lot of shit going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And then a lot went on. It was mainly man. We just put in our work and we just kept driving and testing that R and figuring out just little problems that you know that could take us out of the race and we would just fix all of them. So it's not like we knew every little bug before we got out there. I mean, the R is definitely a superior machine and you know the issues that it had were very minor. But you know, when it comes to winning KOH you can have no issues.
Speaker 3:That's a really good point to bring up. And so did the race end up going pretty smooth for the 4900?.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we had one flat, we had two flat tires, but you know that was self-inflicted. I did that to myself and you know we got out and changed the one and then I ended up getting another flat and I knew we could run it to the end. We had a tire spine in there and I knew we could run it to the end and yeah, it was totally gone by the end of the race. But I figured by time we stopped and got it changed and I wanted to get to outer limits and spooners really before the rain started coming down hard. So that played into it too. The weather definitely played into me not stopping and getting a tire.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally forgot about the weather out there.
Speaker 3:Oh dude, it was slippery for all those things. The weather rocks just super slick if you had to go through them.
Speaker 1:when after I felt really bad for some of the guys that had to do any of the off-camber trails after it rained. I can only imagine how bad they were, Dude the timing on that was like impeccable.
Speaker 3:Hey, did you see the comment that just came in for Kyle? Somebody said can we just talk about hunting?
Speaker 2:Can we just talk about hunting?
Speaker 1:I could talk about hunting for hours.
Speaker 3:Wasn't, it Didn't you have some questions about hunting?
Speaker 2:I did, we were. Before I got onto the show. I was talking to my dad like, oh, we're going to interview Kyle and the first thing he brought up was, oh, hunting. Yeah, honey, you should ask him about that.
Speaker 1:A lot of people want to know my hunting secrets.
Speaker 2:What deer Mule or whitetail?
Speaker 3:Whitetail oh gosh. There you go. Yeah, I'll let him know. Have you already scheduled your next hunting trip?
Speaker 1:Oh, I'd nonstop been thinking about hunting. So like right when I got home, like I'm going to start doing some shed hunting. You know the antlers, some of the deer fall off or whatever. So we'll go around and look for their antlers and see which ones made it through the year and put a plan together for next season.
Speaker 3:Dude that's a whole process. Your dad liked hunting, though, oh he loves it, you guys will get along very well.
Speaker 3:You see, you probably missed hunting while you were spending all your time out in the Johnson Valley desert Dude. All right, so let's just let's try to unpack some of this 4,400 grace, because I think all of us were on our seats. I want to first, you know, thank the KOH guys for putting on such a great broadcast. It was really, really cool to be able to follow along and to watch you guys during that whole event and being able to see I guess you call it the storylines and everything happened up to the way that you crossed the finish line. Some of it was given to you by other people breaking. Some of it was just flat out, just killing it.
Speaker 3:Some of it was just straight talent, and some of it was also taken away from you too. There wasn't anything that was left on the table. It was just an insane event. So give us your I don't know debrief or background on what it felt like from the driver's seat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, really from the driver's seat. Like I said, I didn't put any work into that race that's usually not like me to not put in my homework and my time Like so we were so focused and like, really, from when the sun came up to the sun went down, and afterwards we were just focused on that R, like making sure that thing finished and we won the 4900 race. Like so we didn't get, I didn't get to pre run any lap, three trails for 4400. Like, I totally neglected 4400 and you know I definitely won't do that again.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so we, we just didn't know the trails, you know, I mean there's no, you know no excuses, but you know, in 4900 we missed that uptown trail also, which was, you know, a three minute penalty, and people think that that was like some rock trail.
Speaker 1:It wasn't. It was literally just like 150 yards of a trail that Dave put in off the main trail and we didn't even know we were missing it because, like, the line was right next to it and it was actually longer to stay on the main trail. We didn't even know we were off the trail and then I missed it and it was only, you know the I guess it was 21 seconds faster to stay on the main trail like we did, and that's why we got a three minute and 30 minute penalty, or three minute and 30 second penalties, because it was 21 seconds. The advantage to take the trail that we took was 21 seconds. So, and it's not like it was a hard rock trail, like you never, would never even need to go into low gear, it was just a wash, like there was nothing in it. So you know, a lot of people were thinking I, you know, we took it for an advantage. There was no advantage, like I would definitely rather have my three minutes and 30 seconds back.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was just we didn't know. And in the 4400 race, after the first lap, when we missed it because we'd have to do it again on lap three, they said they were going to disqualify me if we missed that trail. And we didn't know where the freaking trail was and they told us the mile marker. So literally Terry's watching the mile markers as we're doing lap three and we missed it again and I ended up like stopping and turning down into the trail just to get it. So we didn't go backwards on the trail but we missed the entrance, turned down, you know, to end up driving up it, but we had no idea where this trail was. It's not like we were trying to miss this trail. I mean, like I said, I'd rather have my three minutes and 30 seconds back.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you don't really even need like. I mean, terry knows that place like the back of his hand, so like if anybody was going to find it it would be him anyway. So I could totally see the yeah.
Speaker 1:And it was like a trail like you wouldn't even think to do, Like literally the line was right next to it, the main trail. Dave just took us off the main trail at a corner. So when your GPS, when you're going around this corner, it looks like you're staying on the main trail, but Dave has it going off and like you couldn't see another trail going off. So that's why most of us all missed it. I think like third of the UTVs missed it, Like half of the 4400s missed it.
Speaker 3:Like it was when we were going through the logs. They called penalty logs or whatever it was. Like dude, it was just littered with people and I was like so it was like a trick, trick or another thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it wasn't like something like we tried to do to make an advantage or anything. Now in the 4400 where I got the 49 minute penalty was people think we missed the whole trail? There too we didn't like usack wasn't even going to penalize me because I was within the rules, like we never went more than 50 foot off the line. We hit the VCP, we just went around this, the rock pinch, which you know. In the driver's meeting this is my fault too Dave said all the bypasses were open. So I was under the under the I was under the impression that all the bypasses were open. Well, apparently, after the driver's meeting was over, there was a question asked about a rock pinch and check me out, and Dave said you have to stay between the rocks and you know I this is my fault I should have been closer and paid attention but I didn't. So I literally thought all the rocks were open. Plus, I didn't even know where this rock pinch was. I didn't even know we were in check me out. Like I didn't do any rock three trails.
Speaker 1:So it's not like I was trying to cheat or do anything, I was just I drove up there and the main trail was to go around the thing and, like I said, I didn't know it was that rock pinch. So once after the race they told me I'm like, okay, you know. And then they showed me, you know, the day's video where he said and they're like you know, we're you stack wasn't going to file anything against me because I was within the rules. But the only way for them to file a penalty was if somebody else filed a red card and then the red card. Then they could go back to Dave's meeting and say well, dave, dave said to stay in between it, even though it's not in the actual rules of hammer King. You know I was still within all the rules of hammer King.
Speaker 3:Besides what Dave said, so you know and it's things that I think we should we should talk to Bella about here is because, like a lot of the younger kids, when they hear stuff like this, they don't really grasp the accountability portion of it and I want to make a big point of this, bella is that him, as a racer, is he's being very accountable for his mistakes. Right Like this is a massive thing that anybody can learn about. Professional racing. Here is Kyle is taking accountability for the things that he thinks that he is a fall for, so that he can fix them going forward. Anybody can learn from this, whether it's racing or whatever. This is a really really good personality trait to have, because he's not blaming it on anybody else. He didn't say Dave was wrong. He didn't say anything like that. He's making sure that, no matter what happens, he's just going to do better next year for himself and for all of his sponsors. Yeah, yeah, sure.
Speaker 2:Not only that but it makes you a better driver too, if you're open minded to learning more and taking accountability for your mistakes.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate that and everybody makes mistakes, and you know I said I just didn't know. So after the race, I mean, when they said that you know I was going to have a penalty, you know, and they showed me what happened, and you know I'm like, yeah, I did, I went around that rock pinch. And you know they showed me the video where Dave said you had to stay in between I'm like, yeah, I was wrong. I'm like, whatever penalty you'll give me, I will take it. And so the reason I got such a huge penalty was one of the guys flipped in there. So it's 10 times the amount of gain, which was usually the guys, the top guys, that made it through. So what they do is they take like the five guys that are around you. So it was like curry and you know, whatever the other top guys were around me, they took the average of those guys going through and then they times it by 10.
Speaker 1:Most of them made it through within a minute or two, so like it should have been like one or two minutes times 10. But what happened was a guy flipped in there and was there for 24 minutes.
Speaker 3:Oh, was that one of the top guys? Was that where he?
Speaker 1:flipped.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah because he was stuck there for a while.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 24 minutes. So they took his time and added it into the overall time and it ended up being like four minutes and sometimes 10.
Speaker 3:So that's done a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I get it, but that's a kick in the nuts, I mean that's the way I guess the rule states, and it is what it is. I mean, they needed 30 minutes to get me off the podium and that 49 minute penalty was enough. But you know what? I didn't want a podium anyway. I didn't put in the work for this race.
Speaker 4:Do you want to?
Speaker 1:win. I want to win and I don't want to battle. I don't want to just win because these dudes are breaking. I want to go out there. I didn't have my car set up right. We were not on pace to win that race. If I win that race next year, I want it to be because we won. We deserved it, we battled with the best and we won, not because all the top guys broke.
Speaker 3:Well, dude, I get it, but as from a bystander just watching, I tell you, man, it looked like you guys were working your ass off to get up there. I mean the competition that you had was no slouches. I mean those guys did have incidents and they had stuff happen to them, but that was their own doing as well. We're talking about accountability here, right? All those racers would say the same thing, like damn it, I gave it up because I did this.
Speaker 3:Like Curry would say the same thing, like all of these different things and for us as an excitement thing, like watching the race, there was a very, very big crowd that was going no effin' way Like Kyle could actually do this, because there was a lot of times when we were like, eh, I don't know, the big trucks got him the big truck and then all of a sudden it just starts creeping in and then we're like, wait a second, like Kyle's got it. So seeing that from the outside perspective is different than yours. I'd like to know when did it dawn on you and Terry that you actually had a chance?
Speaker 1:When we came through pit two on lap three and Curry was in there and right before that we just passed one of the Gomez's, flipped over on Upper Big Johnson and I'm like, and my guy said, curry's in the pit and he's not coming out. He's like you guys keep going, you're winning this thing. And by then my front shocks were completely blown and he really ends up catching us coming down out of limits and he honks and I just pull over Like I wasn't trying to get in his way or anything, and I'm like well, healy just won this race and we ended up coming to the top of the hill. My shock blows, we're heading back to town and there's Healy off to the side of the track. I'm like, oh my god, like we're physically leading this race, like I didn't know what was happening behind me, but like we need to get this thing to the finish line.
Speaker 1:And that's when I knew, like when we passed Lauren and my shocks up past my head and I'm like resolution is going to be pretty freaking tough. Like we just can't throw it away Like this. We're definitely doing something pretty cool. And I was just happy to be back to Hammer Town once we got down to resolution. Like I was just so happy to be back, like I said, we missed that one rock pinch. I mean we still did 230, not six miles of the nastiest rocks like God put on this earth and no one can take that away from me and Terry. But like I said, when I win this race I want it to be because we were the best.
Speaker 3:Yeah, dude, that's exactly spoken like a true racer, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:It's definitely the whole mindset change during the middle of the race that props to you for being able to do that, because not a lot of people know how to do that.
Speaker 3:Maybe we should ask Kyle, too, what it was like listening to Terry too, because Terry was part of the conversation and he was in the car too. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So anytime that I'm in the car with Terry, like I just have way more confidence, especially when we get to the rocks. Like I know that I can do whatever I want in the rocks Because if I mess up, Terry could get me out of it. Like the guy's just so good outside the car, Like he makes me a better driver when we're in the rocks for sure. Like there's nothing I can't do.
Speaker 3:JP actually just mentioned it. Right now too, Bella, what did you say?
Speaker 2:He said how about that?
Speaker 3:Sheer and Cade.
Speaker 2:Sheer and Cade pass. Kyle squeezed through like a mouth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, and that's a place of outer limits. You would never even think of going down Like I've looked at that for years and like, oh, that's not possible. But when Terry was out of the car and they were both parked there, it didn't even cross my mind. Terry's like you'll fit right through there, and it never nothing in my mind said that's not possible.
Speaker 3:That's some serious confidence in your Kodak, or your Winchman, as they call him sometimes. That's super cool to see, though, like having him over there. You're just like, yeah, we got it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really definitely a confidence booster having him over there, especially in the rocks, yeah, all right, but we got seven minutes.
Speaker 3:Is there certain specific things that you want to talk about, like maybe mindset stuff, to get information from Kyle so that you can pass it on to some of the younger generation?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. I did have one question. Sometimes we can lose motivation, even with the sport that we love the most, like racing. What do you do to regain your strength after a race if it didn't go as the way you planned? It Kind of like this one.
Speaker 1:Well, to tell you the truth, I gain way more from my losses than I would, or than I do any win, like when I lose, or when you're down on yourself and you're driving home and you're like man, I just I wouldn't have done this or I wouldn't have done this. It makes you think. Well then, what are you going to do to change that for next race? Don't let it happen twice. If it happens once, shame on you. Shame on it happens twice, shame on you.
Speaker 1:Just don't let your mistakes keep happening, and I see a lot of racers do that. They have the same mistake over and over again. It's like you need to go back to the drawing board and whether it's different parts you need, or if you've got to spend more time studying or whatever needs to happen, you can't give up on it. And to win races, everything has to go as planned. You can't have one little issue. So if you keep having these little issues, even though they're not big issues, it'll take you out of races and I think just keep pushing and don't let it get you down, because not everybody can win. There's only one winner and everybody wants that spot. So what are you going to do different than that person to get it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so remember when we talked about progress, Bella and always moving forward. That's exactly what he's talking about there, because he's not thinking about the past, he's thinking about fixing the mistakes and moving forward. That's pretty cool, man. I think that that's some really good advice, especially for the youngsters out there. Hey, what did you guys eat when you were on the lake bed? Because there wasn't. Like all the dude, I ate tacos the whole time, which was good, but still I wish that I had something else.
Speaker 1:The taco stands there. Some of them are really good, but no, we had Brian Fulcher, the guy that runs the team momentum that I'm on. He is like an amazing chef and he had us dinner every night. I mean, we ate freaking steaks and pork chops, and dinner was not something that we ate, just macaroni and cheese and hamburger. It's like we had really good food. He definitely took care of us out there.
Speaker 4:But that's huge too.
Speaker 1:Just being someone feeding you out. There is huge.
Speaker 3:Yep, I agree, dude, especially because, well, you are so focused, like stuff can fall aside. You can miss dinner, miss lunch, whatever it is. Hey, I wanted to say thanks to Blake too for supplying all those photos. He just chimed in too and said that. And then somebody else said Laboufadora. Yep, laboufadora too. Man, I am so impressed, kyle. I left KOH thinking to myself that this year, even though your goal was not achieved, it was a mark in I don't know history sounds so dramatic, right, I feel like I'm on the Discovery Channel when I say it, but it really was a mark in the books to be able to say the sport is changing because of the professionalism of drivers and the level of the vehicles that they can drive now, and I think that you, as the driver that achieved that, can understand what I'm saying with those words.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely. I mean there's a lot of guys that are fast out there. A lot of people are fast. It's just not a whole lot of people are good because they break. I mean a lot of people can go fast, qualify good, do all this stuff, but to finish a race and keep your car together and know the limits of your machine, that's a different story. But these machines now are more capable than they used to be, so it's definitely changing, like you said.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think it's going to be like no matter what, people get upset, right, they don't like change, they don't like progress, all this stuff. To me, that is 110%. The best part about off-road racing is that we can see all this shit happen right in front of us and we can look at all the different changes. I don't know if you agree, bella, but that is so exciting for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jp Perez said the golf cart game is on the rise because of Kyle.
Speaker 3:It's because a lot of people, but we got Kyle on the show, so he did a great job at KOH man. Hey, you got anything else you want to say? We only got a couple of minutes left.
Speaker 1:No, not really. I just, you know, it's still kind of crazy to me. You know, all the people that were there, and even like people that didn't know, like, what my penalties really were, like still standing behind me, like, and people literally saying that I missed all these trails and all these VCPs and stuff, like I don't even think I missed any VCPs, like it was just I just missed that uptown trail, which wasn't even really a trail. But you know, I still had people backing me, even though they didn't know, like, like.
Speaker 3:It's because you're doing it the right way, man. Like you're accountable.
Speaker 6:That means you're honest.
Speaker 3:That means you're forthcoming, like all of that stuff makes a massive difference and that means that when you, when you do win the race, it's going to mean that much more to all those fans that are sticking behind you.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, saul them and all you guys for watching, and you know everybody that you know, believes that a golf cart can can do this.
Speaker 3:Can do it, hey. So on the way home, how many times did you kick yourself and be like, oh, I could have done better there. I could have done better there, cause it was a long drive home?
Speaker 1:Never, not once. No, because I didn't put in the work. Man, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a man of putting in the work and I didn't deserve to win that race.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well what about next year? What are your plans for next year?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's already started, but that's already be gone.
Speaker 3:You know what he's doing, right? If you ever ask him again, he's going to say I'm there to win.
Speaker 2:I'm there to win. Hey, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3:dude, we really appreciate it. Do you want to thank anybody else while you're here?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just thanks, annie, I'm not my whole team. I mean it takes a whole freaking crew to, you know, to get through KOH. You know there's a lot of mixed feelings and opinions and all kinds of stuff that goes on out there, you know, between mechanics and you know, just just to everybody else, just so much that goes on and it takes a whole team, and you know a whole team, to be strong and stick together. So thanks to them.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much. We really appreciate it, dude.
Speaker 1:Thank you Can't wait to see you at the races next time, guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, see you later, later, bye.
Speaker 3:Well did your machine? Just beep or no.
Speaker 2:Yep, that was me.
Speaker 3:Do you need to take a break or are you good?
Speaker 2:No, we're good.
Speaker 3:Dude. The amount to unpack there was like just so cool. And one of the one of the main things that I like and I said it while we were talking to Kyle was the accountability portion of it.
Speaker 3:When you're accountable for anything that you do, accountable for the things that you eat that are healthy or not healthy for you. If you're accountable for those things, that means that you can always make it better, and that's why he's in a human being that excels at whether it's hunting, whether it's racing, whether it's business because of that personality trait. So I strongly recommend that anybody that was listening and unpacking all that information sticks to those morals too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it also like helps build a lot of respect from outside people too, because when someone looks at someone like, oh, you can take accountability for your. You know your actions or your mistakes. Like you, you gain a lot of respect from a lot of different people yeah, 100%, all right, who's next? We got Chris.
Speaker 3:Pivori on. All right, you want to talk to Chris? Let's see, did he already actually request us here? Let's see. Oh no, let's see if we can get Chris on here.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Chris Pivori is 23 years old from Hemet, California, and recently just took his first trophy truck win at the King of Hammers Desert Challenge.
Speaker 3:Dude, he was ripping.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely ripping.
Speaker 3:And we all see, is he on here? Not yet. We got to see him live too, because he had the Starscream kit. Oh, so we got to see him live and actually kick him butt out. There was super cool to be able to see that.
Speaker 5:Yes, see me.
Speaker 3:No, I can't see you, I can only hear you. We can hear you.
Speaker 5:Oh shoot Technology.
Speaker 3:Are you good? Did I invite you wrong or?
Speaker 5:No, it's showing me.
Speaker 3:So will you jump off and then jump back on? Yeah, one second. Ok, cool, we can hear him.
Speaker 2:We can't see him.
Speaker 3:Could you see him, Zach? Oh, you could. We just couldn't see him on our end. I wonder if something was wrong with the app. I hope we don't have to restart this thing.
Speaker 2:Everybody else is. I can see him, I can see him.
Speaker 3:Yeah, everybody else is. They can see him, so I don't know what the deal is.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:I don't know, maybe our app is glitching out or something. I don't see Chris even requesting to join on our end. There he is. All right. Let's see if this bad boy works. Now Fingers crossed that Instagram works. If we can't see him, maybe we should just talk to him. What do you think? Yeah, if everybody else can. Yeah, so Chris, are you there? Still nothing, man. What the heck is going on with Instagram right now? All right, yeah, so Christopher. Christopher's been racing off road trucks for a long time. It's pretty cool to see him actually like step up to the top level and pull up, take home a win, right, because he beat some, some really good guys out there. Let's try it again.
Speaker 2:Now for sure, I think he had a really good battle.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, he really was battling Christopher For what he joined. Ok, there he is Now. Oh, what's up?
Speaker 5:What up? Sorry I apparently can't use technology. I think you do.
Speaker 3:I think you do pretty good tech with technology. We were just telling people we got to watch you with the the Starscream kit. We got to see you just ripping out there. That was pretty rad to be inside the truck with you and watching as you take home a victory. No, it's cool.
Speaker 5:It's kind of cool to bring people along, show them. You know, there's always a little bit of chaos out there and you're just like talking, you're like dude, you should have seen it now. But, thanks to Mr man George, we're seeing it. It was.
Speaker 3:It was really cool to see, but Well, actually I'll let you take over, bill. You already have a bunch of stuff to talk about.
Speaker 2:I definitely do want to start with a KOH recap, because what you accomplished these last few weeks was pretty cool. So I know you just had your first win in your four-wheel drive. Mason, give us a quick, quick little run down on the whole race. Yeah, beginning to end, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5:So just got a Mason all-wheel drive brand new to me. Well, brand new, brand new. But yeah, first Trophy Truck race in my own Trophy Truck went out, qualified first, and then on race day I knew I just had to kind of cruise and get a. You know, stay ahead of them and go. The first lap, about halfway through, is going super smooth. Came through the remote pit and was just like, okay, yeah, this is perfect, got some time splits and then of course I got myself a flat, which made it a little interesting.
Speaker 5:Tim Herbs got by me and so then it made a little interesting, kind of the chase was on. I chased down Tim and then we were able to pass him in the pits. We got right to his bumper. My crew guys had to. I Thought I was like, okay, no mistakes, just cruise, and you know, use the, the dust to your vantage. So I kind of just cruise there and the second lap, the Course, I mean the trophy trucks were the T1s were just destroying it. So it was fun though it was really cool and I was just happy for my team and I was like there's a lot of pressure that we were gonna win because we're in the all-wheel drive, and so it's like if I screw this up, I'm gonna be a little, a little bummed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, that sounds like a good solid run.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, no, besides, I mean for a brand new truck. I was very happy. My guys had a very long week prior Like we only had a little tiny bit of test time and we had a lot of fun little issues we were chasing.
Speaker 6:So and how many hours did you have on that motor?
Speaker 5:who, I Don't know, only a couple. We had about a hundred miles about two half days, which a hundred miles in like a trophy truck, just like zoomed by. So yeah, yeah, it was like super Overall we're. We were a little nervous, I'm not gonna lie, especially the week prior. We had a lot of little things. We were chasing my guys and drove back and forth to Hemet I think, like four or five times the week of the race. We barely it got there right before qualifying and went out. So you know how to keep it interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. Um, I find it very inspiring how you managed to conquer and bounce so many different things in your life.
Speaker 5:What are your?
Speaker 2:racing plans for the future.
Speaker 5:Um, for me I'm just gonna start chasing these trophy truck guys. It's been kind of a life goal of mine. Do you know I you know in off-road that the trophy trucks are the, the big boys, so I never thought I'd be here. So now it's time to you know you really take advantage of what I've been. You know I've been very fortunate to be in this position. So now it's kind of just head down and Mainly racing score down south in Mexico. That's where you know the top teams are playing. But I would like to start racing the state some more. But for me just content creation and racing scores, my, my future.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you just went Um shock testing right not too long ago for for score.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, no. So literally I got home from Hammers on Sunday at like six o'clock in the afternoon and left at four in the morning to go to San Felipe a Two full days down there, and now we're I'm back Back in California for a day and then going back to Utah. So yeah, the day prep is on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 6:So when you talk about racing in the States and racing in Baja, like what kind of differences are you guys like thinking through and Processing as a team to to prep for that race? Because obviously you just came through one of the hardest, biggest you know US based races and there's a few others out there on them on the schedule. But you know, when you talk about prep and and barely making it to the race with your, with your truck, and I mean barely making it in the States is one thing but barely making it in Baja's a whole different ball of wax. Like how do you guys approach that?
Speaker 5:Yeah, no, the logistics and the planning for Baja's. Like I, jumping into racing down there, I thought it's like all right, yeah, this should be fun, easy, it is a whole another ball game. You're, you're down south very hard to get resources, you got a cross borders, you got a, and just so. It's a lot more planning and that's why we dove into Kingdom Hammers with our first race. We knew we could, we could have a couple stumbles, but now going down there, we're knowing we have to, we've ever a game on, and I think just the big differences.
Speaker 5:You know the train we're seeing a lot more. A lot of them are racing in the States. We see kind of a similar train throughout the whole race down in Mexico or on the beaches, then we're in the desert, then we're in the mountains and they have us. I mean last year's sandflip, but they had a rock crawling which we never thought we'd be doing in trophy trucks. So yeah, that. And then I think just the team effort, this pit strategy down there is a lot different. We're allowed to pit anywhere, which then for me, being a competitive person, yeah, I could just have one pit set up, but I want to have 15 pits that up, just in case. So that's. It's like, yeah, they open it up, so it allows for a lot more yeah, a lot more Opportunities, which sometimes, in like man state racing, sounds so nice.
Speaker 6:Yeah but stretching your team out across the Baja race is a whole different. Like it not only costs more, but just you don't have that many specialized people to spread out across across the country For a race program. Right, like you got to really get selective and make some smart decisions there.
Speaker 5:Yep, no, you have to learn your guys and I'm very fortunate I have a lot of really good uh team members, volunteers, and you know I have some, but I have my two lead guys who are really my A guys, who know the race truck. So it's where do we put them? Um strategically, and that's where it comes down to pre-running and then just learning the terrain and Um spending a lot of time down there. That's what I I literally spent three months a year in Mexico now the past couple years just trying to catch up to these guys like Bryce and Luke, because they've been spending their whole lives down there, right.
Speaker 2:You just mentioned, um, how you know you're going to be in California for one day and then going back to Utah. I know you recently made a move to Utah. How is that different with, like practicing and, you know, rearranging your whole schedule to be able to fit in?
Speaker 6:racing.
Speaker 2:Compared to not very smart in all reality.
Speaker 5:Uh, in hem. Um, you know, if I need something, I'm down at car tech or off-road warehouse within minutes. Um, now being in Utah, a lot more planning, um, and yeah, just testing and stuff, that's uh I, you know, I know From heaven. I was like, where do we want to go? Within an hour or two hours, we have four different locations. Now being in Utah, um, we don't know anything. I haven't we tested down in gene and with all the drive for the first time and I was lost at the whole time, pretty much Uh, so just learning that, um, but yeah, utah is, it's a huge stretch. That's. It's uh 10 hours from door to door from our existing shop, which we're half in right now in our new shop. So, yeah, it's uh, it's been, uh, it's been a fun one, but I'm excited my new shop's almost done and that should be a lot more helpful.
Speaker 6:Yeah, for sure, that is a big, big difference when you guys talk about testing and taking these trucks out into the desert and trying to get some seat time and trying to Uh put some some uh knowledge you know into the brain bucket for for how the car's in a handle and do all of that Um does the mentality when you have to be more strategic and purposeful with what you're doing on your testing, like, instead of just going out on a weekend and and ripping out in the desert like how does your, how do you approach testing differently? Um, when you have to do it in such a strategic Um, yeah, a lot more planning.
Speaker 5:Like you wouldn't think just for one day or something, you, we would be having meeting after meeting. Um, just trying to get you know, we go there with a plan. Um, usually you know several different components we're gonna focus on and you know, go with a baseline and then kind of just, you know what, what do we want to accomplish out of this? So, whether it be shocks, drive, train, um, or just driver right now, with me jumping into the all-wheel drive half the time, I'm in there just going, what's going on? They, I pull into the thing and they're like what do you think? And I'm like, uh, can I go do another lap? So, uh, but yeah, definitely a lot more just strategy and, um, not just winging it anymore. Um, when we go testing, usually it's you know five, six, sometimes 10 people. So definitely having a game plan and just staying focused and the trophy trucks, the per mile to run, is Ridiculous, so you got to make sure everyone, every mile, kind of counts, um, when you're trying to run a team kind of budget.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure. You said even test, like going and testing with sometimes five, 10 people. Well, does that really help? You see, like different perspectives for like shock tuning or just you know things that you didn't realize? Good, work better this way or that way.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, no, that's, uh, I'm, uh, I think one thing I've learned is just being a sponge in racing and, um, if someone wants to offer something, um, definitely take advantage of it, even if you already know the answer. Um, I love to bring people out testing and just see what their thoughts are and whether I use it or if I just you know I already knew that or. But whatever, you can't have that mentality, um, especially with such a new truck. Um, if someone has input, I'm, I'm in to listen, because every day is a new challenge and, Uh, just trying to figure out how to go faster, because these top teams are just it's, it's ridiculous how fast and precise they are, I guess.
Speaker 6:When you made the conversion over to all-wheel drive, what was like the first takeaway that really changed your perspective on how to drive these things differently than, uh, than the two-wheel trucks, um?
Speaker 5:The you've really got to be a lot more patient, which a lot of people are like. You're going to a lot faster, but, um, the patient's going in there a lot heavier. Um, they don't really like to like be leaning on the ruts and stuff.
Speaker 6:So really just calming myself down, um and uh At hammers this year the commentators were talking about some of the drivers were saying some of the pickers were saying we're driving a lot faster than we thought we were going to and they had to actually like rain things back a little bit Just to save the truck and the team for the extended amount of the race. Because they got out there the rain had come in, got everything cleaned up, dust was down and guys were going way faster than they thought they were going to Was. Was that something you experienced?
Speaker 5:Yeah, no, I uh the the overall speed. You know I was guessing like 55 to 60 and I know we were well over that. Um, yeah, it was definitely fast. It was just like with all the rocks out there, when you start just going faster and faster and faster. All of a sudden you got to realize, hey, the trucks doing it, but when do I hit my limit? I start just hitting rocks and stuff. So I definitely experienced that and um, with the new trucks, it's just, it's crazy how fast everything's getting. Um, it's kind of scary to process in your mind.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. Even just trying to keep that stamina up through the whole thing because I know I mean Me personally racing a utv probably couldn't even compare to a trophy truck and how like Draining it could get after a while.
Speaker 5:Yeah it's, it's a little different, um, but I mean the utvs are definitely nothing to. You guys are out there, you know giving it and you guys are experienced a lot more than bumps. We're cheating. I always said, uh, they're definitely. I mean they look a lot smoother and to some points they are, but at the same time they're pretty violent and the only advantage with the trophy truck is like it's over quicker.
Speaker 2:That's true, that is very true. But yeah, I heard from somebody that you have your pilot's license and I was really really curious on why and what that encouraged.
Speaker 5:Um, I love to fly. Both my growing up, both my parents were pilots, but now I'll neither of them fly really, and so I grew up in small planes and then it was it's kind of my obsession, the guy racing and that's kind of like my job. I guess you could say, but, uh, the, the flying is my obsession, that's all I watch on youtube and stuff. So, um, and with my lifestyle, with racing and stuff, normally I'm flying around. I use it down in mexico a ton um for jumping back and forth across the border, and then, yeah it's, I always claim it's for work and stuff but it's really.
Speaker 6:Are you smuggling like axles and like stuff across? The border with your, with your plane, and like dropping them out?
Speaker 5:of course, it's not, of course not no, I Uh no, it's not. No, yeah, it's absolutely. It's a great tool. I pile a lot of stuff in there, um, probably more than I should sometimes, but uh yeah, no, flying's cool. I, I recommend it. It's, it's, it's a, but it's another terrible habit. Yeah, if you guys ever want to fly, I'm always looking for excuses to fly.
Speaker 2:Well then I know, cool yeah. So do you have anything else you want to say?
Speaker 6:Uh well, you talked about flying right like that takes um a lot of very Specific focus and knowing what you're doing and being very attentive to details and Understanding what all of the data is doing. Right, like your, your cockpits giving you a lot of data. Um, in the trophy trucks, like, how does that? Is it similar Like you have a lot of data coming at you, or is it just balls the wall? Go as fast as you can and and hope that you come out the other end.
Speaker 5:No, I think, uh, I think it definitely is very relatable and I think they both help each other Um a ton, because in the trophy truck now, with all the mo, tex and stuff, it's just so much more data that we can and like live stuff that we're able to look at and use our advantage. Um, it's, it's pretty cool. I mean, we have 1400 data points on our new trophy truck. That's how many pieces that is picking up essentially at every every time it started. We're looking at 1400 different things.
Speaker 5:Um, so you being able to put that onto a screen that then I can look at and you know my co-writer, mike Kim, and we can process has been super awesome. And, um, no, I think they definitely. Uh, they, they, they teach you both, both them teach you to be calm and, uh, kind of in chaotic moments, even when it's all going crazy, um it there's always an answer and a solution, and so, just going down that checklist so the uh, the comment section is asking if you're flying over the the racetrack to get a different perspective and one up on the competition.
Speaker 6:I cannot, you know. I can not confirm or deny. I cannot confirm.
Speaker 5:But uh, I will say there is in mexico. It's uh one of those things having a little birdie in the sky. Um, you see them everywhere. There's people pre-running it with them all the time and stuff. So, um, I've learned to hide from them really well. When I'm out on my lines and I hear a helicopter, that's like your worst nightmare. You're out sneaking a line because down in mexico we're able to kind of sneak, you know, make some shortcuts. When you're on a shortcut and you hear a helicopter that's pre-running, you're, you're running to hide in the bushes.
Speaker 2:Well, now I know that for tips this year when we go down to boho. So but yeah, is there anyone you'd like to thank? You know, friends, family, pit crew, sponsors that helped you, you know, have so much success these last few weeks.
Speaker 5:Yeah, everyone might, I think. The biggest hats off to my team, though. Um, it's been a long, long couple weeks on the road and and working, but, uh, all my sponsors Um, big hats off to op in the batteries and ford Formants steal it. Yeah, there's so many that really make this happen. Uh, it's, uh, it's been a dream come true to race this trophy truck so, and it's really not possible without them and my whole family and everyone supports me and people like you guys who Let me come up here and rant and show uh, um, you know there's more to racing.
Speaker 6:Um, yeah, not to the heli pilots out getting the shots of you guys, because you were on the tv for a solid like minute there at the end and, uh, you were ripping hard and they were getting the shots for you. Oh, the heli pilots this year were nuts.
Speaker 5:I mean, at one point we were doing like a hundred and fifteen across the up the uh, up the military base and all of a sudden I looked over to my right and the helicopter was literally the same height as I was.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I'm like, oh, what's up, man, it's nuts.
Speaker 5:Uh, we just gotta get them to start dropping tacos into the, into the truck for you, I'm 100% being. I'm always hungry, yeah, but thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 2:We really appreciate it and just getting to know you, the driver, and you know the inner perspective. So, yeah, thanks for For having me and it's awesome doing keep it up, thank you, thank you so much, lady Christopher.
Speaker 3:Thanks, zach, you guys yeah.
Speaker 5:That was pretty cool.
Speaker 3:Is that got to fill in for me? I know, all right, who's next man.
Speaker 2:Who is next is Sadie Gray so I'm really excited for this question.
Speaker 3:Is she already trying to get on here? No, not yet. We'll wait for her to come on, and it's like Every single person has such a different story, don't you think? Like when they talk? About their racing or how many people helped, or like all of these different things. I love hearing it so much. It's all crazy different.
Speaker 2:Just seeing how everybody else kind of does their thing All right, sadie, just request to join real quick and then we'll get you on.
Speaker 3:I don't want to Send the request from this side because it didn't work last time with with Christopher. Oh, there you go, okay, so.
Speaker 2:So Sadie Gray is 16 years old, from Barstow, california. She's been in the racing industry for a while now, but started her career when she was just 13.
Speaker 3:Dude 13? That's so young, Hi Sadie.
Speaker 4:Hi guys, how are you doing? I'm good. I'm good. How are you guys? We are pretty good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, awesome, talking about all this racing. No, we both know that you love racing, so, like you probably even been watching the show hearing everybody talk about it. It's just exciting, isn't it?
Speaker 4:Absolutely, absolutely. I love every bit of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. So not too long ago I know I DM'd you about all of this, but you mentioned to me that Nora was one of your bigger events that you co-drove in, so I want to kind of mention that, like how was that experience? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4:It was crazy. Luckily, my dad had ties with Sarah and we got connected and it was like a spur of the moment thing. It was crazy. And when we like going throughout the racing, I was like, okay, this is so much fun, Like racing is usually pretty stressful and it wasn't stressful really at all. I mean, you were in the moment, for sure, but it was such a fun experience and the views and like the as the days went on, like everything just got better and better. It was crazy and the, and as soon as we finished, I was like she was like yeah, I think we won, and I was like no way, Like the whole experience, I don't know, it was just insane.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's almost surreal. Like you almost like feel like, because you're doing it and you get so used to like doing racing and Nora is a multi-day event Like you're kind of in your zone, right, and then all of a sudden everything stops and then, like the adrenaline kind of slows down, the fast pace kind of slows down. You're like, oh, wow, like okay, I get to get back to real life. But then you figure out like you won and then you're like whoa, it was crazy, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4:I remember every single day after we would finish, I would be like we'd get back to camp and stuff and I'd be like we're in like this beautiful place, Like usually after a race, like you get to wind down. But then it's like you wind down for a little bit and then it's like okay, we got to back to race. No, okay, I got to race tomorrow. I got to be prepared, I got to wake up, I got to. You know, it's like a crazy cycle that you go through there. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 3:I think we should give a little background on Sadie, though, too, because when she said Sarah, she just didn't say her last name. So Sarah Price is who she drove with, who is an accomplished racer herself and her dad has. I mean, he's got so many championships and stuff right. Like Jeremy Gray has been a co-dog for God knows how many people, but he's also a racer in himself, so like they've got real racing in their blood.
Speaker 2:Lots of experience, for sure.
Speaker 4:That's absolutely my dad. He's accomplished so much in this time that he's been here especially my whole life just grew up in like learning from him and all the people that he's raced with. It's just been crazy. I mean so much that he's accomplished and so much he's taught me and I could. I'm so grateful for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but don't forget about mom. No, no, no, no, no, no, like holding everybody together over here.
Speaker 4:And mom is the one that actually keeps it all together. My dad's the one that teaches me how to taught me, like, how to drive in the desert. Mom taught me how to drive on the road. Dad wasn't patient.
Speaker 3:No, don't do it that way. I'm going to let your mom teach you I can't do this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, being an off-road racer, I know how much I rely on my co-driver, you know, with like knowledge for the race car, you know the everything that's going on the GPS, the track, but not only that, like the racer's personal health and like, yeah, I feel like a co-driver can tell like, hey, you need to drink water. Hey, you know you're getting tired, pick your head up. But what do you kind of do to like prepare for that, Like prepare for that huge responsibility?
Speaker 4:I think it seems a lot like there's so much to being a co-driver, but I think if you have a driver that you connect with and you guys both work well together, it's so much easier Like you, when you know that person, it's almost like like second nature, like oh, I know what, that they need this boom, boom, like it's so much easier. I mean again, my dad taught me a lot of it. He's the one that's like always like was why people shields and doing stuff for them. That I was always like what? Like why do you need to be that? Until I was in that position and I was like, oh, I get it now. Like these people, like preparing for that it's not, it's not hard. It's especially when you're with driving with somebody that's like that you know it's like have you guys ever heard what the word intuitive, or you know what that word means?
Speaker 3:Kind of so intuitive is kind of like being like I don't know, like you're almost like Intune yeah, well in tune for sure.
Speaker 3:But it's also being like like telling the future, or like you can kind of sense things that are going on around you. And it's very rare that people have that skill set these days, because everybody is so reactive and they just like see something and then they react to it like social media or whatever it is. And so, like what you and Sadie are talking about is being intuitive, so you kind of can forecast and you can see the future before it even happens, right. So when you're talking about that, like the co driver for you, bella, or like when Sadie said, like she can already know what's happening before it even happens, and that's the reason she's good at it, because she has to know where they're going, she has to know how the driver feels, she has to know what's happening with the car, like all of these crazy things. So that's a good quality to have and you'll find that you use it a lot more than you think in your life.
Speaker 4:Sure, I will. That's actually really a lot really good advice. It makes so much sense yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, just think about it. It'd be like, instead of asking mom and dad, hey, where do you want to go eat, be like hey, I already know where you guys want to go eat. We're getting tacos.
Speaker 2:True, I think that works for even like outside of the car, to like not just having a part inside of the car but even outside. You know, this is my job in the pit, this is my job for food, this is my job for like.
Speaker 4:Everyone kind of plays their role or has their like little niche, their thing that they do contribute Definitely, especially in like high tense situations where you're trying to get a car fixed or something like those situations you really have to be, have good communication and be in tune, like, okay, I know I need to do this for this person and okay, they could do that for me while I'm fixing this. It's just all everything with racing. I think why I like it so much is because everybody, when you have a good team, everybody is so like in tune with each other and you communicate and then after you guys all feel so like like good about it.
Speaker 4:You're like okay, awesome yeah.
Speaker 3:Have you ever had the adverse of that, where it was like just like all like a loose program and it was just all you know crap everywhere, all over the place and you don't have to name names, but like it was just like something that was totally out of your comfort zone? You're like, hey, you know what I'm going to learn from this and I'm never doing this again.
Speaker 4:Definitely, definitely. We've had a couple situations like that. But, man, you definitely learn from it. You definitely take, like, what you gain from those. Like, even if it's a bad situation, you always learn something, you always gain something. And then you look out for that in another team or other people and you can be more aware. Like as soon as something happens like that, you're definitely more aware, like, okay, yeah, I didn't like that, this person did that. So if this team does that, it's kind of red flag, you know.
Speaker 3:Totally, bella. Have you ever heard somebody say it's better to know what you don't want than what you do want? No, like. So if somebody like, does you dirty or like I don't know I mean it could even be something simple as like breaking up with a boyfriend or something and then you learn from that and you say I'm never doing that again because I don't want that. Yeah, and then it makes you change and it has a hard impact on you that you always go forward without having that in your life and you don't look back.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. I think even having like certain people in your pit that are like very motivated and truly love this sport makes a difference too, because people aren't going to put a hundred percent effort If it's not a hundred percent what they love. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Definitely definitely, especially the pits. I mean I've we've been in the pits, me and my mom, and, of course, other people with different teams that we've been with and those people are the core people. Those people are the ones that that when you're sitting there, you're having a tough day and you're just like like dead or you're like okay, like everything's going wrong. Those are the people that keep you going, like no, we got to finish, we got to do it, come on. Like the people that keep you motivated are definitely so important. Yeah, for sure, I agree.
Speaker 3:Yeah because you need those support mechanisms, especially in high stress situations like that. Yeah, how many times have you been in it, bella? Like you're near support mechanism. You come into the pits and you're like oh my gosh, my race is toast, I just made a huge mistake. And they're like no, bella, take a deep breath, focus, let's go and like. And then they get you back on the horse and you're just like you know what. They're right, I'm going to kill it now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and even, like Kyle was talking about that having confidence like because of your co-driver or because you know, like I can't tell you the world of a difference it makes when I have my co-driver and versus when I'm alone in the car, because my confidence just goes straight up, not even because he's telling me like you're doing great, you're doing great, but also like, oh yeah, you can hit that. Oh yeah, like I don't know why you're letting off, you're totally fine.
Speaker 4:Yeah, definitely, definitely. I I've looked, I've been lucky enough to be with people that usually they're more of the type of people you say, oh, we got to slow down on that one. Not, you got it, you got it. Yeah, it's either way. But I've definitely been with people where it's like no, come on, yeah, keep going, keep going, you got it.
Speaker 2:And that confirmation, no, either either, or just helps so much, especially for the drivers, definitely reassuring Like, okay, now I know next time, next lap, I can do this, and it makes time go faster. Yeah, the next thing you know you're in a good position because it's a teamwork.
Speaker 3:I have. I have two questions for Sadie. I want to know, like because you've been in the pits and then you've also been in the car, do you have like a favorite moment of any of those?
Speaker 4:like that, like way outweighs the other one Okay, in a car was and a car was probably when I raced with my dad. That was definitely like me and him we pull into the pits and we had people there that even if it wasn't really that high tense of it like a situation. But we had people like the McFadden's and are the best guy ever, gilbert in our pits and they were just like I was like stressed out, my hands were hurting, everything was going wrong. In my head, my dad's sitting there trying to calm me down and then, as soon as I see all those people with the big grin on their face, that was just amazing. And then probably favorite moment as being in the pits was probably recently, when I think when oh, yeah, definitely, well, I don't know if you can count, that is, I wrote in a helicopter and got to chase the boys around. My dad just mentioned that big Helly girl.
Speaker 4:That's awesome. That was awesome. I think that was probably one of the top moments or when everybody was changing it flat and it was like so quick and we did it so fast and like the. It was that feeling after, like that I mentioned before, where everybody was just like pumped on the situation and we were like, oh my gosh, we got them out so fast. That was crazy. And everybody, and of course the guys, are like, yeah, good pit guys. And we're like, okay, yeah, we got that confirmation. That's, that type of stuff is just the best.
Speaker 3:I'd like she just explained it and all I could think about in my head was that Ricky Bobby scene, where it was like yeah. But, like, that's what I was going to ask as a follow up to, is because we were talking about progress with Kyle Cheney and I was looking forward to doing all of these different things Like does that mean that you want to look forward to actually holding onto the steering wheel and driving more?
Speaker 4:I. I'm the type that it doesn't matter if I'm in the car or see or driving. I love both. And if there's any opportunities to either, I'm down. Like doesn't matter any opportunity to be racing going fast, I'm down.
Speaker 2:That's a true. Like Jenny win love for the sport, you're down. If I could just be part of it, if I can watch it, I'm down.
Speaker 3:Well, you can probably feel it like inside you right now.
Speaker 2:Getting excited like talking about it, yeah totally yeah but that's how you know.
Speaker 3:You're meant for it and your blood experience is like that too, bella.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do, I too many to count, honestly, but it's I feel like every year that you race you just have countless and more and more experiences.
Speaker 3:So I can't even like you and Sadie have a lot in common because you guys are so in tune with going around you and the people and stuff.
Speaker 2:No, I think racing definitely plays a huge part, Like especially like I don't know, compare a person that doesn't really do the sport. That is our age and then us. I feel like it brings a lot of good characteristics and like kind of just teaches you how to be a good human.
Speaker 4:Definitely, especially when you're surrounded by people that love it as much as you and that you learn so much from them, and then you can grow and love the sport and love like, just like that love that family, like I don't know what to, how to, but that family like it's a common relationship that everybody has together.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that bond is. It makes you a better person, makes you want to be there, and you can carry that on into the rest of your life and treat people in your workplace like that, or, yeah, anything like that. You can carry it on.
Speaker 2:And I'd say we have an advantage for sure, just growing up a part of it and being a part of it Definitely.
Speaker 3:Is there any?
Speaker 2:disadvantage. There are some sacrifices you have to make, Like I think you getting you know the high school experience or prom or things oh sorry, I can't go after go to a dance, or yeah, I have to go to the car for hours, like yeah, get dressed up and all pretty, just like things like that. But overall I think it's it's worth it to me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, do you get? Do you miss that, sadie?
Speaker 4:No.
Speaker 3:I was the same way to, because I never got like. When I went to high school, I only went for two or three days a week and I was always on the road. Yeah and I only went for maybe an hour a day. Yeah, I was like almost like homeschool. So I missed all of that, like literally everything. I didn't even like go to my graduation Like I just had my diploma mailed.
Speaker 3:Yeah like because it was so crazy, but like I don't regret any of that. So I like I was just wondering if you guys did.
Speaker 4:No, not definitely so much more fun than going to school or a dance that won't matter later where you can make memories at a race or with people, meet new people where you wouldn't do that at a dance, where you're just dancing and then it's like OK, I'm done.
Speaker 3:Well, the dance might matter. Like if somebody slips and falls down, you get to laugh at them and you're like oh, dude, that's a core moment, yeah.
Speaker 2:I do agree though.
Speaker 2:Like it just depends on what's worth it to you or not. Because I mean, I did my first two years of high school like in actual school, every day, five days a week, and you know I kind of had to make like the decision hey, like is racing really important? I'm about to go home school that I'm about to put my all into it. I need to decide right now and you know I chose to stick with racing. It's taught me way more, I feel like in my life and really school has absolutely, and I do appreciate school.
Speaker 2:I think it's very important to be educated and everything for sure, but just for me personally, it definitely works In here, save me.
Speaker 4:I've learned so much more being homeschooled, just in general, except going to the races than I ever have in school at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure, I 100% agree.
Speaker 3:I want to know what her favorite subject is. I know.
Speaker 4:I would probably say math yeah.
Speaker 3:Dude, that's definitely opposite of Bella Bella doesn't want math.
Speaker 2:You should have heard the question he asked me before. Press this live button.
Speaker 3:Yeah, how many seconds is three minutes.
Speaker 2:I said 98.
Speaker 4:How many seconds is three minutes? Yeah, 120.
Speaker 3:Ah, close, 180.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:There, you go.
Speaker 4:Oh, I, better than me, nailed it. It's in a minute.
Speaker 3:It's in 60 seconds. Yep Six times. I was about half oh that's okay, yeah if you had said, if you had said 6.9, we would have had a really, really bad trend 0.9.
Speaker 4:That's cool, though Math will actually take you pretty far yeah definitely I wouldn't say it's like I mean, if I didn't have to do school, I would not be doing school, but yeah, but that's very true. Out of all of them, I think it's mainly just my teacher. He's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, austin said lunch was his favorite.
Speaker 2:Yep Recess for me.
Speaker 3:Gym class, so you can just get all swole.
Speaker 2:Yep, both seasons, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:What's your favorite part about being at the races? Is it the camaraderie, or is it actually like just enjoying the speed in the car? Like what's your favorite? Because I know a lot of people say all kinds of different answers about this.
Speaker 4:My favorite part about racing or being at the races. I think it has to be the people, honestly, because people are what make it fun. If we just had racing, like think, if you just watch racing on TV by yourself, say, you're just watching Supercross on TV by yourself, it's not as fun if you're actually there and you're like, oh my gosh, this is awesome, but everybody's cheering. It's just a different experience. I think it's the people. For me, yeah.
Speaker 3:Alright, since you just talked about Supercross, we should have people send in comments right now who's going to be at Phoenix Supercross so they can hang out with us and the eBirds.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Didn't you just recently?
Speaker 4:go to Supercross? Yes, I did, I went to A1 and A2. Okay, okay.
Speaker 3:Oh, huge Supercross. I thought she was going to say one. She already went to two yeah.
Speaker 2:I do got one more question. I've been planning to ask what model or mindset has stuck to you that's helped motivate you throughout your racing or co-racing career.
Speaker 4:Mom, stop Sorry.
Speaker 3:I want to hear what she said.
Speaker 4:Your mom beats you.
Speaker 3:That's hilarious.
Speaker 4:Definitely not that. I think it's just that every day is an opportunity, is a new opportunity, and every time that you have, every time you wake up, there's chances for something new to happen in your life, and you've got to just keep pushing forward and trying to find the next thing and keep going with your life. I think that's really it, honestly.
Speaker 3:That's exactly what we've been talking about, for, like what the last two episodes that progress and that like. Thing that you're always looking for something Like there's so many people that don't have that in this life.
Speaker 3:They just sit around and they're just with their thumb on their butt the whole time and they don't have anything to look forward to. Like, I consider us as much hard work as you guys put in to this. I consider all of us very lucky that we have the opportunity to be able to go out and have goals and have progress and have something to look forward to, because that keeps you a way better human being.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and we all get the opportunity to do it. You know, we all get the opportunity to wake up and have a different mindset. Some people are dealt different cards but at the end of the day, like it's really you, you are in control of what you do with your life. You can't and the same with accountability. You can't, you know, wake up and say, oh, this happened, so I can't accomplish this. Like you know, you take accountability for what happened and you move forward.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, absolutely, I think. As long as you're, as long as you're making progress, you're doing 10 times better than a lot of people nowadays. A lot of people just kind of settle for what they have. Yeah, to me that's really really sad.
Speaker 3:Yeah, hey, so we're talking about what people have. Both of you guys have fantastic hair, by the way, but everybody always comments on how beautiful Sadie's hair was, oh, my gosh. We already got people that were chiming in before and I just got two text messages on it Like dude, so like you guys can have girl talk about it. But I just wanted to mention it because I got a couple of texts about it.
Speaker 2:Oh, dude, I love your hair I love your hair.
Speaker 4:I love your hair, thank you. I'm like finding almost like what is more product that she use. I know.
Speaker 3:Also, we go from racing to talking about products, hair products.
Speaker 2:We're just girls.
Speaker 3:It's okay. It's okay because it's Bella's corner.
Speaker 2:My mom said she's beautiful.
Speaker 4:I agree.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, yeah, but.
Speaker 3:I wanted to ask one more thing.
Speaker 4:Go ahead.
Speaker 3:What is your goal in five years?
Speaker 4:Five years. I'm going to think how old I'll be.
Speaker 3:You're still going to be young, it doesn't really matter, yeah.
Speaker 4:I want to definitely be an ultrasound tech, so I'm trying to get into probably do trace school for that. So hopefully, starting that right after I'm done with high school. Yeah, I'm going to graduate. That's not, that's not a. That's not like a maybe. That's a. It's going to happen. It's going to happen, yeah, and I want to be happy, no matter what I'm doing. I want to be happy and I want to be able to do the things that I love and be successful at the same time. And whatever I decide to do, yeah.
Speaker 2:That goes a long way, yeah, a long ways.
Speaker 3:And since you guys are talking so mature now, like, how do you guys achieve those goals? Do you guys actually like right down milestones? Do you have like a to do list that you go through? Like, do you have goals for the year? Like, how do you usually do it?
Speaker 4:Well, shout out to Sarah Price and my mom, of course, but Sarah Price is the one that made me write down all of my goals in a journal and send it to her, so that I got it all written down and every time I accomplish something new I write, I check it off. Every time that I'm struggling with something, I find solutions in that notebook or I ask people that could help me and just again make that progression and keep moving forward with my life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so just as fact that she has that. But you want to know what I always tell everybody? I've told Kate and Danbury this a bunch of times Anytime you write something down, you actually hand write it it's I forgot what it's like 83% more app to be successful. Yeah, if you just like think about it and you don't write it down, it's probably going to fall by the wayside. Yeah, just write it. Just writing it down makes that much of a difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely yeah. And even being like determined and motivated for sure, like I think most parents teach their kids You're like a lot of parents teacher kids that, but not really like much these days Like, just like, like, if you want something, you chase after it. If you want something, you put the work in for it, yeah, Really, oh look, yeah, sassy, yeah.
Speaker 3:So the hand to heart when you write it down, yeah, that's crazy, I didn't even think about it, that's it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes, that makes total sense. That's it.
Speaker 3:You're kicking butt, you're doing awesome, thank you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much for coming on. Is there anyone that you'd like to thank friends? Family picture. Well, she has to thank mom and dad that right next to her.
Speaker 4:Yes, that's true. You definitely have to thank my parents. They're the only reason that I'm here on this earth and I've gotten so far, and I mean friends and family, the people that keep me going as well Anybody and all the people that I've met throughout racing, and all the people that support me and comment and stuff and message me. They're all awesome. So that's and you guys, oh my gosh, the guys.
Speaker 3:You should thank yourself to yes.
Speaker 4:You thank myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much for coming on. It was really great getting to know you, getting to meet you actually, yes, but yeah, I really appreciate everything. I relate to you with everything for sure, and I hope, hope that we can have another countermeant talk again.
Speaker 4:Okay, awesome. Thanks guys for letting me on and yeah, guys later. Bye.
Speaker 3:See you guys later. It's cool to see you'll see her at the race with a guarantee that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, she said good luck to me before when we were pulling in, for we're at KOH.
Speaker 3:Oh, is that KOH yeah, oh, cool, yeah. Did she already know she was going to be on the show?
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's sucking up to you, she's totally sucking up to you.
Speaker 3:Do we have anybody else left?
Speaker 2:We do, michael McFayden. I switched them on accident, so yeah, way to go bro. Yeah, that was a. I was a rookie mistake. I'll do that next time.
Speaker 3:But hey, when you talk to people that are going to be guests, you like give them instructions like how to join and stuff like that, or they already know.
Speaker 2:No, I don't, but maybe I should huh.
Speaker 3:I don't know. I'm just wondering if it because, like all of your friends have been like super, or all of the people that you are, all of your guests, have been super easy to get on the show because, like most of them are already on point going to get it done, so Maybe they're excited. Yeah, it's pretty bad.
Speaker 2:Hello, hi Michael.
Speaker 7:Hey, how's it going.
Speaker 2:It's going. How about you?
Speaker 7:Doing great. I've just been watching the live since it's gone.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry I switched you guys. I didn't realize I did it until I looked at paper.
Speaker 7:I was like oh gosh, no, it's all right.
Speaker 2:No worries, you got an intro for, yes, I do have an intro for you.
Speaker 3:Oh sweet.
Speaker 2:Michael McFayden is 17 years old, from Southern California, and just a couple of just a couple of years of racing. He has already hardware under his belt and a bunch of wins. Koh was a solid weekend for him, so we'll get a race recap of all your accomplishments.
Speaker 3:Yeah, young, fast guy I know.
Speaker 2:So just this last month he landed second place spot the King and Hammers Desert Challenge and sixth overall. Give us a race recap. Green flag to checkered.
Speaker 7:KOH is an awesome race. My favorite part is definitely the fans there. It's awesome getting to the start line and seeing everybody out there and knowing that there's the live streams out there, like the star stream system that we had going and it was from the start. We just knew we had to set a good pace and run a clean race. Since we pre ran it we saw it was a rough course, but we knew it was going to be a fast pace because there was a lot of fast guys out there, yeah. So I mean we started and we just followed our notes, set a good pace. We had a really clean day, zero issues the whole day. I think we ran pretty conservatively, but that was my goal because I previously had bad luck at this race. Like the first time I really should actually crash that mile one.
Speaker 7:Oh, I'm saying I really wanted to get to the finish this time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and you accomplish that, so Thank you Progress.
Speaker 3:Yeah there you go, more progress.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I was actually pretty impressed too, because I was like we got to obviously see him, but I was like man, he's really hauling the mail. Like he's got a, like I don't know what it was called, like vengeance was the first word that came to mind. I was like, but he's like his got a heavy right foot today.
Speaker 7:Yeah, that course it was rough, it was fast and our car was working well the whole time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's always a plus.
Speaker 3:Yeah, massive plus.
Speaker 2:King and Hammer's very hard on every vehicle.
Speaker 3:You know what? Actually, one question I was thinking about asking you to like and I was going to ask you this off the air was like where did you learn to work on the car? And like it gets such a I don't know a close bond with your car, because it always seems like you do have a good working car.
Speaker 7:Yeah, so Currently we're racing our second race car and this car we I worked hard to get it put together. We worked with Mitchell also and I went up to their shop to do all the fit and finish with him and I mean I wired the car and I was there when we did everything. So I know the car inside and out. I do all the prep work and our my buddy, sean, he taught me how to prep a race car and you know we just checked everything off the list and make sure it's good to go.
Speaker 3:Did you know Michael, before he ever raced?
Speaker 2:No, I will actually. Yes, I did. I went to elementary school with you. Oh yeah, that's cool. I didn't realize that until until I was talking to my mom and I was like, yeah, he, I'm having him come on the show, and she was like wait what he's from here.
Speaker 3:Did you guys ever have a yearbook?
Speaker 2:No, I that would have been so epic.
Speaker 7:Yeah, have my yearbook somewhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah that would have been so funny. We should post a picture on the dirt life of you guys.
Speaker 2:No, I'm going to go home. Are you a junior this year or senior? This Okay so you're a year older than me, which means if I was, if we were in elementary school together, you would have always been a year older, so now I know where to look. Yeah.
Speaker 6:Yeah, okay, wait to see this picture.
Speaker 2:Being a part of the racing world in so many aspects like with, like you know, just being a part of a racing team and having to race in a car and stuff like that what would you say is your favorite, your favorite overall highlight of this whole sport?
Speaker 7:My favorite part about this sport is the camaraderie, all the people being able to get together and everybody be you know like minded. Everyone want to help each other and it's great going to the races knowing that if you have an issue, that there is someone out there that would be willing to help you. Our team, we're always willing to help everybody. We always try to give back as much as we can. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I actually saw it at the. Was it the Parker 400, the last race? We're out in the pits and then this one kid came through and he was like he didn't have any pits or anybody there and he need to get gas and like, look at his car and his team went up. Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Speaker 7:Give him a couple of gallons. Made sure he got through the race.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's. That's really rad and greatly appreciated upon, like the entire everybody sees that, and especially if you're doing it like not oh, I'm doing it because someone's looking at me or something you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're not doing it for the kudos, you're just doing it to help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's genuine yes for sure.
Speaker 7:Our pit crew is awesome, like no matter what. If someone needs help, it doesn't matter. If you're in a can, am, a Polaris, it doesn't matter. We're ready to help and that's what we want to do.
Speaker 3:Hey, who's the funniest guy in your pit crew? Because everybody has the funny guy, the jokester.
Speaker 7:Oh, dang, it's probably Sean Sean, he's funny.
Speaker 3:He's always mess with people who's who is it on your crew?
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 3:I mean other than Cruz.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, other than Cruz.
Speaker 3:Cruz is always mess with everybody.
Speaker 2:Probably Richard. I think Richard is the home the mechanic. Yeah, probably the funniest.
Speaker 3:He cracks out a joke every five minutes really lightens the mood, like a dad joke or like a really funny joke any joke, any, any joke it could be insulting. It could be anything like he comes out of you with all kinds oh yeah, oh yeah, but it's all jokes.
Speaker 2:We love Richard. Yeah, um, we all know it's pretty hard to have gourmet meals on race day. What was your favorite snack in between meals for KOH?
Speaker 7:Probably gushers. Gushers are on race weekends, but my grandparents? They come to every race and they're kind enough to support us and the pit crew with. I mean, we have steak dinner the race before the day before the race and provide sandwiches for lunch during race and everything. Who's the cook? My grandmother, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean we already? We just talked about the jokester in the pits and then, like, we got the cook in the pits who usually sets up your guys meals.
Speaker 2:Oh, we got Joe the taco guy. Oh, he was he was cooking up some tacos in the middle of the pit at King Hammers.
Speaker 3:Dude after we broke apparently I was hanging on the wrong spot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I feel you on the gushers. That's my, that's my low snack in the race car.
Speaker 3:Well, and we got some tips from Kyle Cheney, who obviously you know, michael and you both would have to look up to because you could want to be as fast as Kyle, but, like he was saying, it's very important to make sure that you're eating right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, eating Neat water. Yeah, it goes a long way taking care of yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, you know what about, like on race day, do you guys put certain things in the car like I don't know, do you over hydrate, do you have electrolytes like stuff like that.
Speaker 7:The day before the race. I'll make sure to drink a lot of water so I'm really hydrated, and I'll eat a big dinner, like my grandma. She makes steak dinners and we have mashed potatoes and everything, and yeah, definitely. And then we'll pack some snacks and we'll load our water bags so we need any water that we have everything we need in the car.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, preparing.
Speaker 3:Well, you got it. You always prepared when you go.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, gotta be, though, but I'm also foodie, so I can't go too long without food.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I kind of feel like right now I'm really want sushi, but I kind of feel like sushi would not be the move the day before the race.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no definitely not. You like sushi?
Speaker 7:depends everyone's friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what did you do to celebrate such a successful day after King?
Speaker 7:Yeah, I celebrated by getting ready to prep for the next one.
Speaker 2:Yep, that's how it goes.
Speaker 7:Spoken like a true racer true cycle. Yeah, we had a great race. It was a solid run, for sure. Getting second place in class in the sixth overall was really really awesome and no issues all day. It was a great race and next time I'm going to try to get the first place is what I'm always going for and we're going to work towards that.
Speaker 3:Sadie just says Michael, like Sunny D, is that your weakness?
Speaker 5:I don't like son Maybe.
Speaker 3:That is kind of hilarious, though. Remember we were talking about being intuitive. She just threw us for a loop. Try to trick us. She tricked you guys.
Speaker 2:It called reverse your first psychology.
Speaker 3:Yep, that's what they're going to say to you Thanks for tricking us. So now if, like I, ever believe anything that she says, I don't know, maybe not gonna have to reverse it yeah.
Speaker 3:So was there anything that, like I want to go back to that whole racer mentality right like, is there anything that you would have done to actually make it like when you got done and you were like, oh okay, I've crossed the finish line in second place, I'm proud of that, but I really wanted to have first place, what could I have done better? Do you go like debrief with the team? Do you hold accountability for yourself, like, what do you do better?
Speaker 7:I think I just need to figure out where I can be faster. And I always go out. We do Practice sessions where we'll just go out testing and get seat time in the car. That's the biggest thing learning how the car is going to work, learning where we could be faster and that race I just we had a really good day. I just wasn't driving hard enough. Could you have gone harder? I Lost most of my time in the prologue. I didn't expect the guys to Be all out the whole 30 something miles. I had a pretty conservative pace that day.
Speaker 2:Has an advantage too, because a lot of people were going out there and breaking, you know, the first five miles and stuff. So keeping a conservative mindset really helps, especially in desert racing, because it's not, you know, pedal to the floor the whole time. The cars can be temperamental, so yeah, that does help.
Speaker 7:Yeah, especially with it being the prologue, we ruin our race when it wasn't the race right.
Speaker 2:Right. Yeah, some people do look at it differently though. People look at a prologue like, oh, this is my time to Completely crush it, and some people are like, well, it's not race day, so yeah.
Speaker 3:So how do you put yourself in that, in that mindset or in that position? Do you just talk with your team and be like, alright, what's the plan? And then you guys just all like come together and figure it out?
Speaker 7:Yeah, our, our team. We work together really closely so we're always working to make the car better so we go faster. And we knew that we were lacking a little bit during the prologue. So after we actually were staying at Wayne Wayne's place with all tech motorsports, and after the prologue, we went and did shocktuning so that our car can work better for race day. So we're always trying to improve to make sure that we are Getting better, getting faster, so we could always compete with the fastest guys there are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that sounds like he's learning a lot along the way to yeah, some gnarly preparation for sure.
Speaker 7:Yeah. Yeah the last 10% takes 90% of the time.
Speaker 3:Yeah that's a really good way to look at it. That's the first time ever heard that you just have to get to that last 10%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, do you got anything else for Michael?
Speaker 3:No, I just think he's doing such a great job. I know some of the behind-the-scenes stuff and I really hope that Whatever works out for him is just keeps him pushing forward, because I know there's a lot of good stuff coming for Michael yeah thank you for sure, I'm rooting for you. Hey, keep kicking butt too and keep that whole family vibe. Dude, I like it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. Is there anyone that you'd like to thank? Sponsors, family, friends, pit crew.
Speaker 7:I want to thank my family, my mom and my dad. They're they're the reason I'm doing this my grandparents, procraf, construction, my sponsors, like KWI, we were at the race and we were having clutching issues and they helped us out right away. They they got us all the parts that we needed in Raceline wheels. But Procraft is a big help. They are the title sponsor of our race team and we couldn't do it out that yeah.
Speaker 3:Hey, do you have a favorite, like victory, or favorite moment that you've experienced so far?
Speaker 7:Uh, I have a couple. So last year we we were able to race the Baja 1000 with Murray racing and we were able to take home the wind in the Turbo forced induction class.
Speaker 2:I think, big moment for us.
Speaker 7:I was.
Speaker 3:What car was that in?
Speaker 7:it was in Murray racing's can MX 3. Yep.
Speaker 3:They build a. They build a solid platform too. Yeah that's cool man. That must have felt really good.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I was awesome to go out there and have the the Murray's trust me to run a 300 mile section during the Baja 1000 and it was. It was really good experience. I don't want to thank them for that too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, not just that though, but like you're putting yourself in a position where you're not used to your regular program, you're not used to regular diet, like everything changes when you're in a program like that. So was it easy for you to adapt the?
Speaker 7:cars. The UTV's are pretty similar. The their car drove a little bit different, but we just got in and like we hadn't driven it until we were already down in Loretto, and I mean, we got in, we knew, we figured the car out and we hopped in and just raced our race and made sure we got it to the Third driver because there was still 600 miles left of the race.
Speaker 3:Did you have to drive in that rain section?
Speaker 7:We drove Not on the rain section. We got in at 350 and drove to 600 and it was a night section, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 2:Would you drive the Baja 1000? You'll have to see in the future.
Speaker 3:Look at you with the secrets. Thanks, michael.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 7:Yeah, thank you guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, later bud Bye.
Speaker 3:All right, want to sign us off? Yeah, I think you did a great job today, by the way, bella.
Speaker 2:Oh, I think, I think, I'm trying you held down your first.
Speaker 3:We'll call it race recap show. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I know this was the first race recap, and with one of my favorite races, so yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah lots of stuff to unpack, like we talked about before.
Speaker 2:Let's think, some sponsors All right thanks to everybody from KMC wheels.
Speaker 3:We really appreciate everybody. Maxis tires Like I said, those guys have been helping out so much and they're giving back to the off-road community. So whenever you guys have a chance, if you guys need new tires or anything for your utv, please visit them or go down to your dealership and ask if they have some maxis tires. They have two different ones. The razor works really really well. If you're doing trail riding, that's what I use because I don't do the rocks very much, and then for the rocks you can use the Rockzilla. That was just a super good tire at koH. Thanks a motel, thanks to shock therapy, jail, audio, evolution, power sports and Zollinger racing products.
Speaker 2:All right, we signed in all yeah, let's do it. We'll see you guys at Bella's, at Bella's corner.
Speaker 3:episode four no, this is episode five, so we got episode six.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh hey remember what we said.
Speaker 3:Episode seven is when you really made it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, boss, so Hopefully we'll get there.
Speaker 3:Thank you guys very much for tuning in. The koH recap was awesome. See you guys.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the dirt life show. See you next week you.