Conversations with Big Rich

Send us Fan Mail Early Life & Background Kim and Nathaniel grew up in rural Kentucky, meeting in high school with lockers across the hall from each other. They worked together at a local Winn-Dixie grocery store before college, where Nathaniel pursued psychology and Kim studied occupational therapy. Both eventually moved to the Lexington area after graduating. Rise in Rock Crawling The couple...

Send us Fan Mail Dan Whittington, founder of Venom Aire, shares his journey from mechanics work to pioneering air intake technology. Born in Santa Rosa, California and raised in Salt Lake City's Cottonwood Heights, Dan developed a lifelong passion for off-roading through family camping trips and motorcycle adventures. After high school, Dan worked at a service station, became a stonemason, an...

Send us Fan Mail Paul's journey spans car audio, home theater systems, e-commerce, and high-end audio installations during the housing boom. He transitioned to off-road work after joining a Raptor community in 2010, turning hobby expertise into business ventures. Paul started by rebuilding Raptor shocks when demand exceeded Fox's turnaround time. Developed an exchange system, expanded to...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Conversations with Big Rich, we dive into the inventive world of fabricator and racer Jonas Burnett. From humble beginnings on a Texas ranch wrenching on a Honda Fat Cat to building engines at 16, Jonas charted a path through the School of Automotive Machinists and into AJ Foyt’s IndyCar program—handling front-end setups, meticulous wiring, and pit crew duties. After...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Big Rich chats with Adam Leidy, Off-Highway Vehicle and Over-Snow Program Manager on the Inyo National Forest. Adam’s NorCal roots run deep—raised by a forestry biologist, he grew up camping, chasing garter snakes, and logging time in an Isuzu Trooper before wrenching on a K5 Blazer and falling hard for Land Cruisers. After 9/11, Adam joined the Marine Corps as a motor...

Send us Fan Mail Tempe-raised fabricator and spotter Mike Dieu shares a life built on grit, ingenuity, and community. From paper routes and roofing a family home at 15 to becoming an all-state football standout, Mike’s hands-on roots led him into automotive school and early work converting fleets to natural gas. That tech savvy set the stage for a pivotal chapter: wiring fuel injection for the Cam...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Rich sits down with Arizona native and RPM Steering founder, Don Rycroft, for a candid, high-horsepower story of resilience, faith, and community in off-road. From BMX racing and desert motos to early marriage, entrepreneurship, and a life-reset at 50, Don shares how setbacks forged a family-run brand that’s now a national name in steering and suspension. Don’s story is...

Send us Fan Mail This episode dives into the life and legacy of Andrew McLaughlin—builder, racer, event host, and founder of Let’s Roll Off-Road. From a cross-country upbringing to ASU and into the Arizona off-road scene, Andrew shares how a love for the outdoors turned into a lifestyle and multi-faceted career. From the early years of skiing, boating, and bikes to his first Jeep Wrangler; Andrew...

Send us Fan Mail Conversations with Big Rich welcomes fabricator, racer, and shop owner Cameron Chin—an off-road lifer who broke stereotypes to build a career around cars. Born and raised in Houston, Cameron cut his teeth on a rough ’67 Mustang, studied studio art at UT Austin, and dove headfirst into off-roading by co-founding the Longhorn Off-Road Club. After early shop experience and the dot-co...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Conversations with Big Rich, Josh Hall shares a lifetime of off-road stories shaped by growing up in the iconic Hall family. From pumping gas at his dad’s ARCO stations in Hemet to riding shotgun with the legendary, Bill Stroppe, Josh recounts early Jeep and Bronco days, Riverside memories, and an unforgettable Baja 1000 chase van run to La Paz before the paveme...

Send us Fan Mail Big Rich sits down with Tucson native and lifelong off-roader Jeff Furrier—board member of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF), racer, entrepreneur, and preservationist of vintage race machinery. From a childhood in a tire-shop family to building UPR into a go-to racing safety and equipment supplier, Jeff shares the journey, lessons, and stories that shaped his life in...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Big Rich sits down with Todd Ockert—a 26-year U.S. Navy veteran turned oil-and-gas professional, land-use leader, NAMRAC facilitator, and indie author. From small-town Michigan to Top Gun-era Miramar, Todd shares how vocational electronics led him into Naval aviation, working on EA-6B Prowlers, a rough stint in recruiting, and later a long chapter at Lemoore before tran...

Send us Fan Mail Mark shares growing up at his family’s Union 76 service station, early Jeeping and Baja Bug adventures, club rides every Sunday, and a childhood shaped by mud, mountains, and motors. State Senator Maynard has a storied history in off-road, including wrenching at NHRA, Gravelrama memories and fighting for expanding OHV opportunities. Fighting the good fight in the state of West Vir...

Send us Fan Mail Off-road legend and 2021 Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee Steve Kelley joins Big Rich to trace a lifetime in the dirt—racing, rules-making, giving back, and globe-trotting. From his first Baja 1000 in 1969 that hooked him on racing to helping build a Class 11-style VW and taking it 200+ miles before limping it back home. Steve ironmanned a Class 1 from Ensenada to La Paz...

Send us Fan Mail Old-school rock crawler and Utah native Ben Hanks joins Rich to trace his journey from growing up feral in a small, mountain-side town to becoming one of the OG competitors in competitive rock crawling.  From first comps in the late ’90s and the rowdy hotel-party era of rock crawling to Farmington’s SuperCrawls raw energy and the milestone SEMA SuperCrawl. Ben got to crawl with al...

Send us Fan Mail Off-road icon, Casey Currie, joins Big Rich to trace a life lived on dirt – from a family compound of builders and racers to Dakar glory and beyond.  Casey shares how a tight-knit Currie clan shaped his love for muscle cars, Jeeps and racing. From early JeepSpeed wins and a college-born moto business to full-time short course with Monster Energy. From hard lessons at Dakar 2019 to...

Send us Fan Mail Big Rich sits down with lifelong off-roader and adventure seeker Dave Simpson to trace a journey that began as a 10-year-old pitting for Malcolm Smith at the 1970 Baja 1000 to now a board member of the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. ·       Pouring fuel for Malcolm Smith ·       Debuting his own race program at the 1977 Baja 500 ·       Class 30 SCORE points champion on a KX50...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Big Rich sits down with WE Rock announcer, longtime off-road advocate and friend, Tacoma White. From small-town New York to Utah’s vast public lands, Tacoma shares how punk rock, skate culture, and a love of tinkering led him into four-wheel drives, land-use battles, and a front-row seat to competitive rock crawling. A candid, funny, and passionate look at community, ac...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Rich sits down with Rubicon Trail Foundation board member and Rubicon property owner, John Arenz. From high-adventure Scouting and early days as an EMT/paramedic in Oakland to a 30-year fire service career in Emeryville, John shares how the Rubicon became his lifelong anchor—every summer since 1983. Along with his personal history, John Arenz shares the Rubicon Trail Fo...

Send us Fan Mail Big Rich sits down with ORMHOF inductee Dan VandenHeuvel—aka the Flying Dutchman—for a life-in-off-road masterclass spanning 40+ years of racing, building, promoting, and giving back. Listen in for the these highlights: ·       First Crandon experience and the DIY beginnings ·       The legendary first race ·       Evolution of safety and tech ·       The rise and reshuffling of M...

Send us Fan Mail Big Rich sits down with Brian Busby, the SoCal gearhead who turned a love of speed into a life in racing—and became “the fuel guy” for some of off-road’s biggest events. From San Clemente surf breaks near Nixon’s Western White House to wrenching through ROP, Brian shares how a 16-year-old with a Baja Bug ended up racing everything from Class 8 to Trophy Truck and Class 1 (includin...

Send us Fan Mail In the finale of Joel Randall’s audiography, Joel and Rich revisit the explosive early-2000s growth of competitive rock crawling and the community that fueled it. Joel shares heartfelt stories of competing with his daughter Kristin in the first Women’s National Rock Crawling Championship, the legendary Vernal controversy with Walker Evans, and the game-changing arrival of sticky t...

Send us Fan Mail From Nebraska farm fields to the forefront of early rock crawling, Joel Randall picks up his story with Big Rich. After a turbulent childhood, Joel lands in Nebraska, builds a ’74 International 4x4, and falls hard for fabrication and off-road life. He dives into mud drags and promoting Midwest mud events, then recounts wild tales—like hauling a 60-foot houseboat across Nebraska an...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Big Rich sits down with Joel Randall, whose path to becoming an OG R-Gang rock crawler started far from ordinary. Pulled from school after third grade, Joel grew up on the move—living in an Airstream behind a 4x4 International Travel-All, camping in Baja and the Tonto, reloading shells by age seven, and learning survival skills during his family’s doomsday-prep phase. ...

Send us Fan Mail Big Rich sits down with Jagged X Off-Road founder Bill Schueler to trace the journey from a Phoenix garage to the front lines of UTV racing and aftermarket innovation. Bill shares how his sons Justin and Brandon turned a high school hobby into Jagged X, the early Rhino craze, and the fateful call from Polaris that put them on the map—leading to the first-ever desert race for the P...