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The Talent Tank
The Talent Tank
EP 47 Amber Turner
A play on the triumph and losses in performance and life. The Talent Tank podcast will navigate the inner workings of lifestyle, lives, family, teams, careers, programs, and technology in and around the offroad motorsports industry. What breeds success with your Talent Tank on full, failures when its on empty. From the journey to the Starting Line to take that Green Flag, on to exploring trials and tribulations on and off the track in pursuit of victorious achievement and the Checkered Flag.
That girl in the Samurai! The amazing talented Amber Turner @daburrs slides into The Talent Tank on this, another, don't miss episode. She is the driver of the #468 in ULTRA4 Racing's Stock Class, an up and coming personality making waves. From her years growing up outdoor recreating, to her contagious enthusiasm that motivates all of those around her. Amber is the kind of person you can't help but measure up to, and know you are going to fall short on all counts. Her deep driven approach to philanthropy and volunteerism, like racing the EMC, then volunteering to work the 4400 race the next day sets a high bar. As an active member of Friends of Moonrocks, and Friends of the Rubicon, you can find her wheeling, challenging herself, and working with diligence to increase the conservation of our environment. It should be mentioned she's a roll model for young women in the trades, as a welder and fabricator she looked up to Jessi Combs the way the next generation is looking up to her. Having just started writing the next chapter in her life, she is the newest fabricator at Bomber Fabrication alongside current reigning King of the Hammers Champion Randy Slawson. This woman is someone you're going to be hearing good things about for years to come, so you better start here, and now.
Headshot provided by Alan Johnson @thedustygnome
After the Checkered Flag-
The Rubicon Trail Foundation is a federally recognized, non-profit organization dedicated to the future health of the Rubicon Trail.
Prior to 2000, the trail was cleaned occasionally but large maintenance projects were rarely done. In 2000, the trail was threatened with possible closure on the Tahoe side. This threat spawned the current Friends of the Rubicon, which mobilized over 200 volunteers to keep the trail open.
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Let's drop the green flag on this episode of the talent tank podcast with your host Wyatt Pemberton bringing you the best, fastest, most knowledgeable personalities and Ultra4 and off road racing.
Wyatt Pemberton:Alright, alright. Alright. Welcome back everybody the talent tank back in session. Oh my gosh, you guys are informed today. This is a this is our she's our it's amber Turner. She's a she is by far the funniest, most bubbly person I've ever interacted with on the show right off the bat. Just super excited about this. This is Amber, how many times have we talked?
Unknown:Twice? This is the second phone call that I've ever had with you. And we've never met in person.
Wyatt Pemberton:That's right. That's right. So you guys here first amber Turner. She drives the number 468. So 4600 samurai, she drives the samurai. She's been racing with us for a while. Amber, welcome to the party.
Unknown:At why I'm excited to be here.
Wyatt Pemberton:You're an exciting individual. I'm cautiously nervous, you know, like and I'm optimistic about being nervous. Like I'm, I love meeting new people and getting new people on here. And hearing stories about racers I don't know anything about our people are involved in the motor sport that I know a little bit a little inkling of. And so many people have said so many great things about you. And I've seen good coverage from you. And I've seen your magazine covers with you. You are your hot commodity. Ah, okay. That's it. That's the humble reaction,
Unknown:I just drive a sigh, right.
Wyatt Pemberton:But you drive a samurai and you're competitive in it, and you're having fun in it. And it's, you've got your whole family involved and all your friends involved. And you've even gotten some of my friends involved. And in your just from what I see just just, you know, right up front, bubbly, nice person, it is no, no shock, no surprise why people are willing to help you because you look like a person that is gladly and genuinely happy to be doing what you're doing and in affecting everyone around you with your personality.
Amber Turner:Well, gee, if that's all it takes,
Unknown:I hope that I can give back to the people that want to help me in the same way. So if that makes any sense. We got lots
Wyatt Pemberton:of stories about that. Lots of stories about about those folks. So right off the bat, some really interesting stuff happened to you in the past week. Right? What is this big news that happened in last week with you?
Unknown:So I started working at bomber fab on Tuesday was officially my first day. But so I came by to drop off my toolbox on Monday and I wasn't even supposed to be working. And then that's when you know, I show up at the shop and I'm going to drop off my toolbox and just like, drop it and leave and Randy's like, No, we need to have this car ready. By the end of the week. We're gonna go Redfin really bad. I'm like, all right, what do you need me to do? I just needed help.
Wyatt Pemberton:Trial by Fire right in the mix. So you you've closed out your first week working mama fab for Randy slawson. What's that like you off the cuff? This is your first time Don't say anything, they'll get you fired.
Unknown:I mean, it's a lot different from coming from what I call an adult job in air quotes. It's really different because Randy has this whole like good old boy attitude and like way of doing things. And it's kind of refreshing to see that he can still maintain that. And he also had an and like, part of the reason why I was really excited to go to work for Randy in the first place was because I knew that he had a background in teaching welding. So I knew that I could learn from him because he knew how to teach literally, like there was one point where I was sitting at my bench doing a couple well, but he can't comes by and like, takes a sharpie out and draws a couple things on my desk. And he's like, do it this way. And I was like flashing back to when I was in community college, like learning how to weld and I was like, this is gonna work. I'm gonna learn so much here. So there's that and yeah, and like, I know, he's, he's the master and that's what I want to learn from.
Wyatt Pemberton:So I think you're spot on. Yeah, Randy taught at the fab school for quite a while before. Then he went skiing the hammers that his first time and then he finally is able to punch out of California. He gets out of there moves over the Reno area, and then he wins cailleach again, and then he's just one of the guineas the current, you know, reigning king.
Unknown:Yeah, working for three times King is pretty cool. Like literally every day I think I'm in the shop and I have like an epiphany at some point or another in the day and I'm like, I really get to do this for a job now. This is my nine to five.
Wyatt Pemberton:Well, the one thing that I think's fun about Randy and Randy, Randy and I this is the easter egg for the future everybody Randy will be on the season. This is a this is a given. We've had the conversation. It just and we have it scheduled. Let's just go
Amber Turner:in the shop. I've seen it.
Wyatt Pemberton:That is and then we were supposed to use it and then it didn't. We didn't get the handoff because, Randy, are you headed to San fleabay? Yeah, well, we'll get there. We'll figure it out. What I want to see I'm excited about for you, is the insight into Randy's way of fabrication and design, mostly the design. Randy likes to take things and simplify them down. When you look at a bomber car. They are bare bones, minimum racecars?
Unknown:I think that's where I think I'd really identify with his way of doing things is just the simplification. And just like going with things that you know, it's like, the way I like to put it is like I'm still on Samara axles, because I know Samurai axles, you know, I know how they work. I know how they break and all that crap. But I think Randy is the same kind of way, obviously, our larger, more durable scale, but, but learning from that design standpoint, and just learning how to use the parts that you have. And that you know, is kind of a lost art almost, because everyone's all gung ho about you know, I need this bigger upgrade or that bigger upgrade to do this and that it's like that you don't you just just wheel it. You know,
Wyatt Pemberton:I found it interesting. A few weeks ago, Josh was telling me that Randy actually detuned he actually dropped down horsepower for K wage so that you'd make things live, live a lot longer, lasts a little longer. And we'll obviously it was a good it worked out well for him.
Unknown:I don't want to give too much away because I know Randy's gonna probably go over what happened this year in his episode, but just the dumbing down of things is is basically how he assumes that he was able to win, because I guess he likes to push his car so hard the big break. So having a car that doesn't go as hard as it can. kept him back and he was able to preserve the car. But yeah, no, no spoiler alerts here.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, no, but that's a good that's a good lead in I mean, so congratulations on making the move to to work for Randy at our fab. We're gonna have to touch base in a year and see what you think if, if it's all what it's cracked up to be? Or you're like, Oh my God, I hate Randy now, or Yep. Oh my god, I absolutely love Randy has been the best boss I've ever had. I've grown so much. I'm hoping for the latter not the former for you, obviously, for obvious reasons. But this is exciting. So you're there for a week so far in cash. We have a lot of distance covering some fun stories. But so you've been there week so far. You worked on the 4800 car. That's going to Sam fleabay it's already it's already left, right.
Unknown:Yeah, literally we put it in the trailer last night. I think he got a CD of Motorsports. It's like 11 o'clock this morning.
Wyatt Pemberton:again to see Josh West, we just say he's getting dropped twice already. There you go. And then you leave for sampling in the morning. you're headed down that way to correct. Now who's who's this car for?
Amber Turner:4800.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, Randy's driving it. Oh, Randy is driving. Okay. I didn't Yeah. So from my side, my purse I Randy doesn't ever race series races. Yeah, he's like a cailleach. Only guy. So I just assumed he was going to support a new build.
Unknown:Yeah. So this is all speculation. But I think he was meaning to build the 48 card just to race EMC next year, you know, to get that little edge on the actual 4400 raise. But I guess you had the opportunity to go down to Mexico, and he took it. And so the Friday, like two Fridays ago, him and the other guy that works there, Allen, we're sitting down at lunch and they were like, you want to go to Mexico? Oh, why not? Let's go to Mexico. So yeah, now there's a car and a trailer if it should be tuned by now. And they're probably in Mexico by now too. So
Wyatt Pemberton:this is exciting to hear Rainey is going to raise a series right? So as everyone listens to this, you're going back? Well, Wyatt, that was over the weekend that that tells you if that dates the episode, we are recording this right in front of St. fleabay. And simply they will happen when everyone hears this. So Randy, congratulations on your win.
Amber Turner:Good call.
Wyatt Pemberton:Right. There we go. Well, you know, let you know the story isn't about Randy. It's not about Bob Murphy. This is about amber Turner and who she is and how she came to be and what she's up to. So I mentioned you know your 4600 class racer, you drive the 468 the little gray Samurai k awaits this year. You were definitely a fan favorite. And we've had fan favorites over the years. Like the little Toyota that could and you know there's various like Cody Addington before he and Red Dragon. Everyone pulling for Cody like oh my gosh, this guy this stalker. There's just been so gathered. I mean, there's just like Boston Kyle, this year in the AV. The whole world is calling for Boston Kyle because one is the first Evie It was awesome. And then we saw Boston Kyle what he did Sam fleabay with his 30,000 or $35,000. car and he goes out and he I mean, he went
Amber Turner:Lordstown.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah. Look, the town crew with their million dollar budget to prove out there.
Unknown:Man. That was such a fun one to follow.
Wyatt Pemberton:No, gosh, it really was like, and I know people in the, you know, not in the racing world, but in my professional world that were absolutely following because they just wanted to see where this Evie world goes. Because it has a big impact on the energy world. And oh, no, it was disappointing. But they were still following my LinkedIn stuff. Because I was putting really good on Boston, Kyle's really cool stuff, like how he transported the batteries from trailer to doing the swap and some cool stuff along those lines. But anyway, I digress on that. So tell us about your little samurai, and kfh this year, and then we're going to talk about Moab and then we're going to go back and talk about you as a kid and growing up. But k which this year in a Sammy.
Unknown:So cailleach this year in a samurai was especially hard, much harder than I would say 2020, which was the first year I raised, you know, just because they had the desert classes in the first part of the week, and they just totally ate up the forest. I'm sure everybody's heard about that. But each year, it's been a learning experience. And that's kind of what I chalk it up to because I rock crawling is my bread and butter. Like I know I can do the rock trails, no problem I can get through this. It's just the desert section. That beats me up mentally and physically cuz I'm not super familiar with it. And it's just something that I have to learn and hump that I have to get over. I'm tuned my car for though. That terrible, which of these are intact?
Wyatt Pemberton:We'll base on the Sammy 80 inches at Oh man, I was like 100 almost two feet off. No, the coolest story I heard from this year, and it came out of the tribe. So tribe four by four tribes, 16 guys out of Dallas Fort Worth, Adam shear and his whole crew, they pit it for you for the MC right. And then the story I heard and I'm sure other people heard the story because I probably even told it before because I thought it was the it's really the, for me, it's the epitome of ultra for it's the epitome of the offer of genre that we like in the family. And the stories we tell is that you bent a leaf spring on the Sami during the race, they put out the call for who if anyone has a stock leaf spring or something to the effect, and somebody on the lake bed, pulled the leaf spring off their daily driver, whatever it is, and he delivers it over to your pit and they swap it. So tell that story.
Unknown:If you want to hear the whole racist or because there's a little bit more of that, that's one of the stories. So the night before the race. I've been meaning to get to this engine tuner all week to try to get my carb tune. And I finally make it to this guy's camp Thursday night because we raced on Friday. And he's like, screwed with my car. But I'm telling him his problems. And he's like, Yeah, we got to pull this whole thing apart and rebuild it. You know, we don't have the time or the space for it. And so we're in his pit. And this other guy that's camped right next to them comes over and he's like, Hey, I'm gonna Weber carb on my Samurai Outback, you can just borrow it. So we literally pulled the carb off of his Samurai and put it on mine and I ran that car for the reason that I had to pull it back off and send it to him when I got home. So that's the first thing that happened. Yeah, and then come race day. And this is like a stupid dumb mistake. But I still kick myself for like we leave start finish it like
8:30am very first started the race come over the first jump. And I absolutely nosedive because I didn't realize how steep that jump was on the other side. I've been both front leaf springs. And so we're coming into the wash going into the back door. And I'm like something's wrong. You know, something's off I can feel this thing. You know, just rubbing it everywhere. And it felt Okay, like the suspension was still working kind of how it should but I knew something was off and we pull into the the first pit and I like yeah, both apparently springs are bent and I'm just like, I was so pissed. I was just going off and I was like, You know what, screw it. I'm just gonna run them as long as I can until they break. You know, we make it back around. And then we come into main pit and I'm literally going to just bypass main pit hammertone and go straight to the rock section. And everybody at tribe is outside in the front and they're like motioning me and like yelling at me, I'm like, okay, go so good. And I get in and they swapped my leaf springs out for there was this dude that was actually kicked right next to us. And he had this sweet little Samurai with a little bit of lift that I'd been meaning to like, go up and talk to this guy all week. You know, that's my thing. I'm like, Hey, you had a nice time, right? You know. But so this guy comes over and he's got similarly springs to mind their spring under with a three inch lift. And they had his Samurai parked in the back, took the front springs out and throw them on mine. And like 15 minutes, I was off, and away you go. Yeah. And so I ran the, you know, to basically the bottom of Outer Limits where I timed out with those leaf springs. But it was just like the fact that between the first kit and main kit, you know, come around the second or the first lap, somebody found this guy and made the connection. He was like, Hey, you can borrow my lease?
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, absolutely. Then the story I heard was when he came to get them back. He comes over and he was like, they're like, yo, can we help you? And he goes, Oh, yeah, I was just here to get my lease brings me to drive home.
Amber Turner:And they're like, basically.
Wyatt Pemberton:Oh, awesome. Yeah. Thank you. You're the guy. Okay. in Sydney, in Sydney, Sydney about is waiting on his path. But yeah, saved your race. But you guys timed out.
Unknown:Yeah, we printed out at the bottom about our limits, or is that traffic jam there and I just decided to call it but by going back to the dude that I probably springs from like, he just kind of walked into the pit that night. It was after the race we'd pulled in and everything. It was super late. All the tribe guys gonna do a recovery. So me and my co driver swapped the leaf springs right there and put him back on his rig so he could drive home and like lift my Samurai back to camp.
Wyatt Pemberton:You did it though. Right? I mean, on your terms?
Unknown:Yeah. Okay. And it was a great donation, if you will, you know, they race car parts. Now.
Wyatt Pemberton:I know that guys live in high on karma.
Amber Turner:For sure.
Wyatt Pemberton:So okay, so you female racer, guys, you know, have an advantage here. They were, you know, they've got a catheter situation, you know, it's a roll on deal. From the female perspective, they exist, do you run a catheter while racing? Okay,
Unknown:this is probably one of the greatest inventions.
Wyatt Pemberton:Okay, let's hear it. Let's hear it.
Unknown:So diving straight into it. This is the first year that I used a catheter because think rugged, seldom are female
Wyatt Pemberton:founder what's the what are they called? Are they called like she weaves or something, I've seen those.
Unknown:I think they're just female catheters, it's basically like the the little medical baggie, and then they put their own, like, extra long hose in there. And that's their female catheter, you know, sales thing, you know, just extra stuff added to the bag. But you can buy them if they're, you know, the trailer that they have that they bring your racing stuff. Solo picked one up during kale age and kind of nervous about it. But it worked. And it was actually really funny, because I don't know, there's probably other racers out there that have this turned into like, Yeah, I heard like, you're not a real racer racer until you have a catheter story. Well, here's mine because I only have one. We get probably two mile like 50 and I'm like, I really have to pee. And I think I couldn't go into the like mile 70 like I just tried and try it. You know, cuz something in your head like, this isn't right. This isn't gonna work. And eventually, it's just like, Oh, this is great.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, you're still reading terrain. you're checking up on brakes, you know, you're getting your mat in the gas and you're just learning to fly.
Unknown:Yeah. And it's great to because I there's holes in my floorboard so I just stick the hose there goes well,
Wyatt Pemberton:I think you missed it a little bit in the in the Seine. I think the scene is you're not a pro or something along those lines until you have a catheter fail story. It they are absolutely the best. You know, they're they're the best. They are the greatest one of the greatest inventions for offroad racing. But invariably, you will have a failure either that haec will come off or you'll kink the hose or something. I personally like like guys like Cody Addington. I love Cody the second time we're going to talk about Cody. Cody is one of the guys he prefers to leave his on even after the race. And if you know that which now now Cody is going to punch me next on my scene because just after race, look at him and if you see a little hose hanging out the bottom just go over and stand next to him maybe stand on top of it.
Amber Turner:Oh my god
Wyatt Pemberton:or anybody else. That's the April Fool's joke. Now I'm somewhat joking, but I'm not
Amber Turner:wanting bad karma.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, that's, that's it. I won't see Cody until national so I have a little bit of time to, to avoiding he's gonna get me but that's that's exactly what you can see. And then the other thing is, you they give you extra length. And it seems like the mistake everyone makes is they cut it while they're Like they, like they sit down, or they're standing up when they cut it. That's always they you're standing up, and you see how long it is and then you cut it and then you sit then when you sit down, it sucks up into your, your fire suit. And then it's like six inches from the bottom of your pant calf. And then you invariably, if you do pee, it's gonna fill your shoe. That's the other failure that I've definitely seen.
Unknown:Easy failures if you have like one small failure, because we pulled it in a main pit, and I think right before that I had accidentally like pulled the hose up through the floorboard. So I didn't want to pee all over my floorboard. So we're in main pit, they're changing out my leaf springs, and my sister standing over to the side. I'm like, hey, Sarah, you want to do something gross? Can you pull my catheter through the floorboard? She's like, Yeah, sure.
Wyatt Pemberton:Well, yeah, we've read the stories about the pit guy runs over in there doing the the fluid checks. And that bolt checking, though, we'll see the fluid running out because either the driver or the CO driver can't, you know, release their bladder while they're going right, while the vehicles going, they need to be stopped. And which day like you just said, that's an interesting feeling to do it while you're moving. And especially driving. It's because you're strapped in the seat and all that it's a little it's a little awkward.
Unknown:It's totally unnatural, but you get used to it when you actually enjoy it. sounds weird, but that's how it is.
Wyatt Pemberton:I'm glad we're having this conversation because I've tried to describe the style of people. Not that I'm weird or curious about it. But I know that it's a very different experience for the equipment that the women have.
Unknown:Yeah, and that's one of the things that I've it comes up a lot. Not for me personally, like I've heard the question asked of other female racers before it's like, you know, what do you do if you have to pee while you're racing? And I haven't heard a catheter as a viable resource very often. So hey, ladies, if you want to raise us a catheter, PSA, you
Wyatt Pemberton:can go get go over to the rugged trailer and get them where I'm on right? Yeah.
Unknown:Oh,
Wyatt Pemberton:so let's jump back. So right now today, today you you live in Reno today you're working at bomber fabric. You're a Californian, right? from California,
Unknown:California. Yep. Born and raised. So I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Hayward pretty much raised in San Ramon, which is like the next town over from Danville where Jason Scheer lives and moved to Reno two years ago to get out of California obviously, and you know, be closer to Rubicon be closer to four days all the wheel and trails, cheaper for everything. So,
Wyatt Pemberton:yes. So looking at your Facebook Live your social media presence, looking at your question, your are your questions to me, or you're questioning to me, you and your family. You are just outside people you guys recreate every weekend, you're somewhere outside doing something?
Unknown:Pretty much yeah, I mean, like, we're definitely not home bodies. We definitely don't like sit at home watching TV or anything like that. But growing up, we spent a lot of weekends at a lake out in Calaveras County, you know, Gold Country and California. Spent a lot of time there because I grew up around jet skis like that's how my parents met was racing, get skis. And so racing is
Wyatt Pemberton:in your blood. Pretty much.
Unknown:Yeah, like even my grandparents raised my my mom's parents both raised even, you know, my grandpa and grandma Actually, I've learnt her rate right now with a little jet skier on it. But yeah, so my grandparents raised, both my parents raised. And then jet skis kind of fell out of fashion, I guess, in the late 80s, early 90s. And the last time that my family was on circuit was 1983 of the year I was born. And after that they just kind of fell away from it.
Wyatt Pemberton:So really the stand up skis. Yeah, okay. Yeah. And that's it manufacturers just kind of stopped making like, because they went for all the sit down skis, right.
Unknown:Yeah, that's the easier one to rent to people who've never done it before. You know, that's the market but now I see jet skis coming back in force. Like that's a cool thing to have this summer, you know, tow a jet ski behind your y j, your, your volume
Wyatt Pemberton:will just keep growing up as well. And, like the one that we had a wave blaster, a Yamaha wave blaster. What I wouldn't give to have one of those today. I would even have one back.
Unknown:Yeah, I think we may still have I think my brother has my grandma's old ski still her old standard. But as far as like all the old equipment we used to have, we still have, do you know what a jet made is? No, it's I know it's a jetski engine. And it's a little fiberglass hole with like five seats in it. And it's like totally gutless. And we only ever use the thing for Like, towing tubes and like broken skis off the lake. But my parents still have that. And that was my mom's request for Mother's Day, this past weekend was for my dad to get that thing running so she could tow it to the lake and have a light day on it. So that's what we got going for us.
Wyatt Pemberton:Is it like a precursor to the mini jet boats?
Unknown:Yeah, but slower. A lot slower. Right? Yeah. lafleur is cool little boats. I don't even know why they made them the way they did. But that's what we've got just one of those oddball little things. We'll talk
Wyatt Pemberton:to you about your parents, right. They they are heavily involved in your program, and not just your program heavily involved in K wage in general. They volunteer. Your mom's kind of a famous volunteer.
Unknown:Yeah, kinda. Yeah, so this off roading, and outdoorsy stuff has always kind of been a family thing for us. And so like if one of us is into it, I mean, all of us are into it. Not even just one of us is into it. But we started college in 2014. And it was kind of just on a whim, we went down on like a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday deal. And my mom was like, Well, how can we fully immerse ourselves in this? How can we get like the best seats in the House, and I was volunteering. So we've been volunteering since 2014, every year, and this year, actually, on a whim. Right after I had finished racing on Thursday was the volunteer raffle, which is kind of a big deal. If you know about it, you know, all the manufacturers throw in a bunch of really cool prizes. And that's like, you know, you had the big volunteer meeting beforehand. And then you have the raffle, and everybody shows up for it. And on a whim, my mom ran Matt this year. Awesome.
Amber Turner:Totally cool.
Wyatt Pemberton:Dave, suckered me in 2010. I just happen to be like walking by the big tent just before that, and he pulled me in and I got a I did the raffle that year. I had no idea I was in the wrong place at the right time, I think was the way that went. But it really opened my eyes to one how many volunteers there were in? This is 11 years ago. I mean, k which was it was big in Adam Woodley would say it's that it's that damn big No, it's like, five times that six times that today, it's completely a different animal. But how many volunteers are were and just how grateful I was for what they were doing and why they're like, you couldn't get me to go out to the middle of nowhere and sit in my jeep. I'm just not like, I can't do it. And work winch recovery on, let's say, outer limits or somewhere. I'm not built for that. Well, I wasn't a very good Wheeler to begin with. I'm a good racer, not a good Wheeler. And maybe that's the patient's thing, but just the volunteerism and all the people that throwing their hat in the ring to help is just it's it's really cool to watch.
Unknown:Oh, yeah, for sure. And I mean, I guess it must take a special person but like I actually really enjoy volunteering and helping a racers and like be spectators even like my favorite position. Volunteering isn't was doing the road crossing at backdoor back when you could go across and like sit up in the, you know, the other side of the KTM there. So that was the very first I guess, position that I held. That was the first time that I volunteered with I did that. And I actually went back every year after to try to get the same one I would just like show up the back door on Friday and be like, Hey, you guys need some extra help. But you know, Reading Recovery is super fun just helping up the racers. Everybody's like super thankful for the help. And for all the volunteers being out there and even sitting in the middle of nowhere is kind of cool because we did a road crop like a remote road crossing on lap one one year, and the PSC buggy broke down like right in front of us. So this guy's got out. I called it in and then we made him burgers. Oh, fun. They just hang out.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah. One fun. And then your your mom. If I understand, right? she tends to like she likes to do checkpoints.
Unknown:Yes. The last couple of years when they were doing sticker checkpoints. That was the funnel idea for sure. Alright, so she is checkpoint Dolly. checkpoint Dolly.
Wyatt Pemberton:So that's your Dolly like Dolly Parton. Dolly? What's your dad's name? Eric, and he's fully immersed too. He's fully into it as well, right?
Unknown:Oh, yeah. He goes where we go.
Wyatt Pemberton:And then you have some siblings that are all but one of your siblings is just heavily involved with you as well as there's like, I think you're the oldest. I think there's four of you.
Unknown:Correct? Yeah, I'm the oldest. I have three siblings, two brothers. One sister. My youngest brother is also involved in it. He has his own four runner. He built it to the Hill, you know, tore it down rebuilt that again. He's got a two year old daughter who loves coming along with us. She's adorable. Oh, it's cute. And then my My youngest sister, youngest sibling, my sister, also has a samurai that I helped her build. And she doesn't feel it that often. But she always comes with us to Kaylee, she she always has a great time. We even have like a cowboy a sister plus, like, she's not a biological sibling. But she's been around the family forever. And she lived in my parents for a while. And even she has a samurai and she comes wheeling with us. So
Wyatt Pemberton:they're kind of like a motorcycle gang. But like smaller
Unknown:Yeah, we all live in the same house at one point or another.
Wyatt Pemberton:Like the symrise are smaller than the motorcycles. motors, your related sister if I saw right in I'll talk about this. So you know, she her job, you know, you fabricate, she runs a pump truck, the concrete pump truck, a boom, yeah. Do you know, you know what, how many meter boom she runs? Or do they rotator on the different trucks? Or does she have specifically she's assigned the 27 meter, the 30 meter?
Unknown:I, you know, that is a that is a number that I should know. And I don't I know, it's one of the bigger trucks she has her own. I know, it's one of the bigger trips, like I just said, but I don't know the size of it. I know she has her class A and all that crap.
Wyatt Pemberton:I was super impressed when you shared that with me. And then I'm looking through some pictures, I see her you know, that's basically like playing. That's a really hard video game. But you're basically playing a video game all day, you know, you're on your feet. One the setup of the break down. I don't know how she does it, like I've seen you. Because I'm involved in concrete as well, on a business and the work that those pump truck guys they've got, they've got to be the first one on the job. So they're they're three in the morning. That means they're leaving their house at 1am driving to get in the truck and getting on the truck and getting to the job site. And getting set up before first concrete rolls at 334 or 430 in the morning. And one of they put the outriggers out on the on the pump truck, then they're sliding, you know, all the cribbing all the wood that goes underneath, making sure those things don't sink and just slim those things around. Or, I mean they weigh 100 and 150 pounds, no problem easy. So you guys set those up. And then after they've sat there all day, most of the time in mud in my world, then you got to pull them out now they got extra 50 pounds of mud on them. You got click clean up the street. So they're shoveling the concrete out of the hopper that fallen out on the street. I mean, like all the stuff and then they got to drive back and wash the truck and make sure that things clean. So the concrete been set up in it. That is a that's a hard damn job.
Unknown:Yeah. And she followed my dad's footsteps for that one cuz he's been doing it since we were kids, because he started at this company as a mechanic and worked his way up to the pump operator. And then a couple years ago, my sister had some downtime. So she started going to work with my dad. And now she's pumping concrete to she's got her own pump and her my dad kind of switch off, you know, taking days off, you know, if he's going to be gone, she's gonna work. Oh, we're gonna be gone. He's gonna work. So yeah.
Wyatt Pemberton:It's basically like, hydraulically painting a picture, right? You're using hydraulics on this boom. So they've got the controller hangs around their neck, and they can kind of walk all over the jobsite. But then the joysticks they're running the speed of the pump, and then they're running it left right up down in there making sure if they swing it a little too fast. They're gonna hurt somebody. Like there's that the hose that's hanging out without I mean, it's like a I guess it's like a fire hose you know? Like you see a fire hose gets too much pressure and goes flying around and Yeah, exactly. It's exactly like that only shooting concrete
Amber Turner:kind of heavy.
Wyatt Pemberton:I don't know your sister but she's already a hero of mine. Like I just the where with all that you have to have. I looked at those guys. Like I see him. I'm just like, man, they they're just the ones that they just absolutely take the beating. Just absolutely take a beating. And there's like no break. There's like no break for him. Like if they got to go the bathroom. It's like if they get they are the one guy on the job that if they have to take the break. The whole job takes a break.
Unknown:Oh, yeah, no, my dad was a catheter on his job site. down
Wyatt Pemberton:now, now your sister's gonna be like okay, can you swing by ragged at the next race and pick me up a case. And then your, your brother Stuart, what's what's Stewart do he say he's got a four wheeler four runner and he's in a wheeling
Unknown:that. So he was actually a mechanic at the same company that my dad my sister were working out for a while. It was really funny for a while there like, I was the only sibling that didn't work at that company. So he kind of started as the mechanic there. And when COVID hit, they laid him off. So he went to work for his father in law doing odd jobs here and there. And right now he's unemployed is working on his trip. So I actually sent my I have a little Bailey driver, Chevy Cavalier. So I sent that down for him to work on a couple of weeks ago.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, threw him some work and also your car taken care of. Right?
Amber Turner:Yeah, exactly.
Wyatt Pemberton:In high school, did you think you were playing? or What was your What was your, as a high schooler looking forward to being an adult? You're using air quotes? You know, I think being adults, very, very loose term and thrown around way too much these days. But uh, adulting. As you look forward to it, did you? What was your kind of career goals based on career path? Is your career path, you end up going to community college to learn to weld? Well, at what point did that start kind of becoming what you wanted to do? Or decided to do? And what kind of were some of the factors that maybe other young women would look towards and say, you know, that's something that would interest me, that's something that I would like to do.
Unknown:Yeah, so going all the way back, if I'm dancing, when I was in high school, and looking forward, I thought, you know, the whole thing was drilled into my head, like you have to go to college be successful, make any money. So that's was kind of the path that I took. I was, you know, I didn't have the grades to try to apply to a four year school. So I went straight into community college thinking I'd take my Gen Ed's there and then transfer. And initially, I wanted to be a large animal that I wanted to go into, like a horse veterinary program. So that's what I was doing for the first two, I think two years at community college was I was just working towards my gen ed to transfer into that program. And then at the same time, I was doing like volunteer work with horses. Basically, I was going back and forth to a barn taking care of people's horses when I was working for a trainer for a while. And at some point, I realized, like, I didn't really want to do this. So there was a hiatus period, almost where I didn't know what I was doing wasn't very long. But I took a welding class in community college just so that I can build a set of rock sliders for my samurai, like it was, how do I put this in the way that I want to put it, all I wanted to do was build this set of rock sliders in this class. So I took the one naked class. And I never finished the rock sliders, but I ended up taking all the welding classes that the community college offered. And even going all the way back to like, in my very first welding class, I was we had a you know, there's a lab period, and a in class period, lab and lecture. So I'm sitting in the lecture period, and we're watching a video from American Welding Society, and Jessi combs is in the video. And so I'm sitting in the back, like back in the class, like, I just want to build this set of rock sliders that I see Jesse in the video. I'm like, if you can do it, I can do it. Why don't I just become a welder? It snowballed.
Wyatt Pemberton:And here you are. Well, I was I was curious about that. Before we close that, were you. Were you in art? Were you a creative minded individual to begin with?
Unknown:I think it was it was it was definitely muted. Coming from in middle school, I did a lot of stuff with like, Photoshop and things like that. But it was never really a skill that was cultivated for me. So the artistic side never really came out. It was you know, going into school and going into community college, it was always like, what kind of a job can I get to make money and make a living? And so when I got to that point where I needed to pick what I wanted to do, I was kind of looking at it like, well, I want to be in automotive, and who makes the most money in a basically custom automotive shop? And my answer was the fabricator. That's what I went with.
Wyatt Pemberton:I like it. I mean, I like it. So advice you would give for other young women that are looking to get into into a trade, yummy there, or just just dumb luck or
Unknown:not even dumb luck, like just my advice, and it's really broad is just do it. Don't worry about what other people are gonna think or imprint on you. If it is something that you want to do, you can just dive into it, and make your own path. Go for it. You know,
Wyatt Pemberton:that's exactly what I would say that I would give that advice to anybody. But I think that's especially true of females in a male dominated genre. I mean, we're out of shortage for welders in this country to begin with, it pays well. And now I see on Instagram, you know, I see regular welders on a daily basis. That are now you know, you're penetrating into the pipeline fields into the job shop fields, and they're executing there and they're executing on the inspection side, there is absolutely the barriers that I think existed even just five years ago. And then 10 years ago and 20 years ago for females to participate in those fields are completely broke down. And, and some of it is, Jesse, Jesse did a she was just a champion for females in the workforce. And God bless her for I know, today. You were you're involved with Jesse Helms foundation. Correct. And I yeah, I don't think anyone has to ask question about maybe, you know, supporting that organization, I, you know, it's really sad that we lost Jesse, because I know today, she'd still be carrying that torch hard and heavy. But there's a lot of other people that in the, I guess the vacuum of her not being there, have picked up and carried that that torch as well. And it's really cool to see all the ladies, the young ladies that have come out of that organization, or I shouldn't say come out of that organization, but that that organization has had the opportunity to support and help them foster their skill sets, and then help them chase their dreams.
Unknown:Yeah, and that's, that's the whole, the whole point of the organization is to cultivate the next generation of female Trail Blazers, because it's not easy being different. Basically, what, that's what it boils down to. So to bring up a whole Sisterhood of women that are breaking barriers in the way that they are, and to be a part of that is really humbling, and super special to me, because I know, because obviously Jesse was a big influence on me. And so if I can show someone else, that they can do it, too, that's something that would make me really happy.
Wyatt Pemberton:Well, you just said something that just strikes a chord with me, you know, about being different. We watch the like Hollywood and Hollywood movies or TV shows, and we really celebrate being different on TV shows. But in practice in real world, we don't we we ostracize different.
Unknown:Yeah. And, and it kind of works out in Hollywood, you when you're putting it that way. Cuz putting our differences out there is probably one of the best ways to overcome them. just laying it out on the table, and just normalizing it. Right, basic? Absolutely.
Amber Turner:If that makes any sense.
Wyatt Pemberton:Well, there'll be this will probably come across as a dig, you know, it's like, if we normalize short coursing, then we can then normalize it in the rulebook to wear short courses is not acceptable.
Unknown:Going back to current events.
Wyatt Pemberton:I've had so many conversations in the last couple, in the last week or whatever around the new rulebook and people, you know, just texting or calling or Facebook Messenger, and you know, like, what's your take on these? And I'm like, Well, I don't like I really, I really thought that we had gotten to a place where, after my lab, and after rush that there was rules that were in place, and then they run forced, I find it unfortunate that people that, you know, broke the rules, or were found to be in violation of the rules for short courses, or going backwards, on course, that they were actually on the same team, I don't think there was any ill will or coordination or intent to do that. They just have to happen to be the ones that were there. But then I really thought we were going, I don't know, just I digress. I feel like we were in the right place going the right direction, as far as rules and transparency. And then just felt like this week. And I'm not the only one. I'm not driver. I have no dog in the game. But a lot of the other drivers that I've heard from felt like the rug got pulled out from underneath that transparency. What's your take on that?
Unknown:I'm not in 44 100. So I have never understood. But,
Wyatt Pemberton:but they'll say those same rules apply to your class.
Unknown:Yeah, the same rules apply, but we're a lot slower. So it's a lot easier for us in that short course. I guess.
Wyatt Pemberton:I don't know. I
Unknown:kind of been keeping the whole conversation at arm's length because I like I said I don't really have any rule speak. But I do keep up with like the new rules and obviously current events.
Wyatt Pemberton:Oh, and it makes forget internet drama to like, like the internet is eating that up. I mean, people get off on drama. Me included. I love a good roast.
Amber Turner:Grab the popcorn.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah. Or a train wreck whatever you want to call it. I know it's really bad, but I can't look away. Yeah, I
Unknown:think that was that was probably the highlight of my whole drive home from Moab. just reading the comments from the talented insiders group.
Wyatt Pemberton:It has been your it really has been great. Well, no, I will get off that. Yeah, I'd really do appreciate your insight on, on how you ended up in the world of putting a technical trade and learning to trade and now taking the steps to hone your trade and make career changes to take it to the next level. And yeah, Jesse was a good you know, good fabric, a great fabricator. Even if he was a dude, it doesn't matter. But in the off road world, we've had a yo Jessica Johnson. I think a lot of people look up to her. I think she's done a very good job. But then she's kind of fallen. She was with Miller Motorsports for a long time. And then now I think she got a job in a job shop while in a shop I haven't seen her around ultra for but I think it's so freakin cool to have you how you're chasing it, if that makes sense.
Unknown:Even from like a like how I'm kind of merging my professional world? And yeah, yes, this hobby. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's kind of how I dove into it to begin with, because, you know, obviously, from the very beginning, I wanted to be an automotive I never, ever expected it to get this far. But I always kind of try to go into things with zero expectation. So I'm always pleasantly surprised when something cool does happen. So just full immersion is how I like to do things. So
Wyatt Pemberton:you did the volunteerism like so you volunteer to K wage, and now you're racing k wage, you took a welding class, and then you took everything in the every welding class they had. And then now that's your job. You know, now you're doing that as a career. And now you're racing, as well. I just, I don't know, if I'm sure you can see it, but from my standpoint, and why you're sitting in front of me is because of these two trajectories. And the you're a champion for the organization, and you're a champion for basically the ultra for family. And then over here, you're also a champion for women in the workplace doing technical jobs. Oh, thank you.
Unknown:Yeah, it's, it obviously verges together because now I you know, I'm a racer, and I work on race cars every day, which blows me away every single day but that's what I do every day now. It's really cool.
Wyatt Pemberton:So you have some really cool rock crawling stories that I want to jump back into the they started you know, certainly when you're growing up and then later on in life and then now where we are today, but your mom and dad wheeling the Rubicon you grew up in a place where you could go the Rubicon on a regular basis which I'm envious because there's a lot of guys that have been on the show they're like oh yeah go the Rubicon on a regular basis like like like good be we were there every weekend. Or Jason shear like how often they're up there on ways is like all of pirates have you know a pirate four by four did they just like hang out on the Rubicon yet? Apparently they did. They like they really did. They even built a forum around it. But now we hang out all in Johnson Valley one time a year random races or, you know, around the country. But so your dad has a has a rig that we should all think that's noticeable? recognizable? What's that?
Unknown:Yep, that was easy. It was super clapped out for a runner at this point. Two years ago, he rolled it on its lid and smashed it completely. And so he cut the top off and I put this really haggard cage on it. But he's got a Papa John's pizza sign on top of it. So anybody who's listening, if you ever see a clap that Toyota with a Papa John's pizza sign on top asked for pizza. You will not be disappointed.
Wyatt Pemberton:So I've met your dad. And I've actually asked that but had no idea that there was I didn't know you and I didn't know who he was. It was just he had we really honestly thought he was like the on like bed delivery guy. Like, that would make sense. Right? And we were so wrong. Like we couldn't have been we couldn't have been wrong about that.
Unknown:You know, I get that story all the time. Like when I tell people my dad's got the four letter with the top jobs be beside they're like, Oh, yeah, I met that guy. And she gave me pizza was
Wyatt Pemberton:super cool. I love it. You know, you've got a couple CMEs in the group, your dad's got a Yoda. And then I know at some point in life, you end up involved with Justin Reese in his program. And in his Yoda, right. I met Justin Hall. Justin hall that
Unknown:Samurai? Yeah, yes, yes. So I've known Justin for a couple years now. And 2019 I helped with his pit crew. That was kind of one of the baby steps that I took to racing was like I volunteered for a while that I'd gotten myself out of pit crews. I'd seen that part of racing. And then the very next year was when I raised but while I was paying for Justin Hall, we'd all come back to main pit from the remote pit. We were waiting for Justin to come in. He came in third that year. And the car that came in right before him was Justin Reese in his little Toyota. Okay, and so it was like a huge Deal. He came in first in stock class and he had the drone on him like a whole time coming in. And he comes across the podium and everyone likes dope out of their minds. And I'm looking up there and I'm, you know, I see this Toyota and in my mind, I'm thinking, you know, my dad has a similar truck, and I go everywhere that that thing goes and my Samurai so if Justin's Samurai can do it, or Justin's Toyota can do it then. So can my samurai. So that was like a huge lightbulb moment for me.
Wyatt Pemberton:And then you never looked back, right?
Unknown:Pretty much.
Wyatt Pemberton:What did you do? What do you got? When you got back from that? Did you look at your Sammy and be like, I'm sorry, baby, but I'm gonna cut you up and make your race car. How did you make that determination? Like, what was the steps to go? I'm gonna race qH, you've been bit you've been there since 2014. Volunteering. Now you're to the point, you're like, Okay, I'm gonna be a racer.
Unknown:I don't think I ever actually said those words to myself. But I was just like, I want to try, you know, I want a shot at the world's hardest one day off road race. And initially, I was like, I don't really want to raise my samurai. It's gonna be super uncomfortable. I love my little rig. I don't want to screw it up. I'll build something else to raise qH. And what ended up happening was Jesse passed away. And that day, I was on the phone with my brother. And we were both kind of reminiscing about it. And at the time, my brother was helping to build a 4500 car 45 or 48. And so he was gonna co drive or drive. I can't remember a driver coder for that car. But he comes back to me, and we're talking about Jesse and he's like, why don't you race? And I'm like, Oh, snap. Why don't I race? You didn't
Wyatt Pemberton:have a good excuse for you.
Unknown:I didn't have a good excuse, cuz I wanted to. And from what I've found, you know, Jesse influenced a lot of people to make big jumps like that. And unfortunately, her passing, I guess, since a lot of us over the edge to make big leaps. And that was my big leap, was diving straight into racing a samurai on 30 ones and kayo Ah, so
Wyatt Pemberton:now you have 2k wages under your belt.
Unknown:Yeah, ish. No finishes yet, but I'll get there.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, you need us. We asked a for an easier course or you need to get more wheelbase. So well, I'm going somewhere with this. I mean, basically, you've looked out there. And I think there's other other opportunities of guys to look, look towards what they've done out there for pushing the limits. And, you know, a couple of you actually noted it in your notes. But you know, my notes. I mean, I'm super fan of these guys, the guys that took the U TVs, and registered them in 4400.
Unknown:Oh, yeah. It's Cody Miller, right.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah. Yep.
Unknown:That's what I'm looking for. Yep. That was another thing was, I think I was sitting around and 29 was it 2019? Good. He raised that one bill. It was 2020 that he raised. Yeah. So it was the day after I had raised and I was volunteering. And I came back to do like crowd control or something it chocolate thunder. And so I'm sitting at chocolate Thunder watching the jumbotron. And I see Cody Miller curve across the finish line, and it friggin UTV on 32 inch tall tires in like, 15th place. I'm like, if he can do it, I can do it. You know, it was another one of those moments. And going back, like I know, now that he's a professional racer, and all that stuff, and he has what it takes. but on the same token,
Wyatt Pemberton:so do you.
Unknown:Anyone could do it? Yeah. You know, why not?
Wyatt Pemberton:I love the gauntlet that you just threw down. You just threw down a bar that I've not heard in so long. And I don't know, I definitely haven't heard on this show. But you said I raced. And then the day after I race. I went and volunteered to be out on court a course workers. So not only you raced, you had your race and then that was in the MC the next day you go work the 4400 course as a volunteer.
Unknown:Yeah, I don't know. That was probably the last time I'm going to do that. Because that was exhausting. But it was cool, because my race car was still moving under its own power. So I actually chased a couple cars down on course that so that was pretty efficient. And it was, it's always a lot of fun to volunteer for 44.
Wyatt Pemberton:I mean, that puts you I mean, in my book if you'd like you had some cool points, but you just set it up like, okay, you think you're that involved. Look, I raced yesterday, and look, I'm still here, and I'm gonna go out there and volunteer for this. I love that.
Unknown:Yeah, well, I
Wyatt Pemberton:might as well use it as somebody to scoop you up and throw you on their pit crew on race day for the four different race and that's the case. Probably gonna be Randy. That this is true. You've worked your way well into that. My next question along those lines is can you see yourself use continue racing your class continue to do what you do continue to push the limits there. Can you see yourself In a right seat and a 4400 car,
Unknown:you mean the wrong seat?
Wyatt Pemberton:That one, you can still be the same in that seat or the driver's seat, as it turns out.
Unknown:When you put it that way, I've actually never thought along those lines, but I have my yes kind of person. If someone gives me an opportunity like that, I'm not going to pass it up.
Wyatt Pemberton:Don't say no,
Unknown:yeah, it's definitely something that like I kind of try to prep myself or mentally to, it's just being a co driver, because I haven't done it, I guess officially yet. but on the same token, like I'm waiting for someone to ask me to. So I hopefully I'm good at it.
Wyatt Pemberton:We got to mount a low Rance in your car to your Cavalier to drive to and from work with your lower aunt. So you can do that. Yeah, that was how I learned how to use the Lorenz I mounted it in my daily driver, Duramax truck and I plotted my drive. And yeah, and you did that for, you know, more than a year and you start figuring out what every little thing does, you're sitting in traffic, you're bumper to bumper. Next thing you know, you're filling out, why is it spinning? Okay, what do I need to do to kill man overboard, I hit the man overboard, you know, like what they do, or you'd see something, and you'd mark it, and then try to make the notes while you're driving like little stuff. And next thing you know, after enough time, I felt like I was really comfortable with it. today. I know technology has continued to progress with lead mabin all the other apps, I haven't kept up. So I'd be totally worthless back using the 12 year old tech.
Unknown:But that's actually really great advice is just to use that kind of tech on like a day to day basis. And the one that I personally use is called the Gaya. And it's just a GPS mapping app. I've used it for a couple years now just to map like the trails that I go wheeling on every weekend. And so I'm super familiar with it. And I'm trying to get my brother, my dad familiar with it, too. And my, my other co driver Jason from this year is super familiar with it. And it's you know, we just stick with what we know. And it's super easy.
Wyatt Pemberton:I think that's cool. So what is guyatt? g? I
Unknown:YA, it's GA.
Wyatt Pemberton:Okay,
Unknown:yeah. So and it's just a super simple app that you can download on your phone or your tablet or whatever. And you can drop waypoints and make notes. And you can use it offline and chose the maps and like I just download the GPS file from PCI and download it straight into the app. And I work so.
Wyatt Pemberton:Oh, very cool. Okay, let's see. That's, that's that's a great little nugget that you could throw onto your phone. Yeah, cuz I, that's been my Achilles heel, running around, you know, Johnson Valley on your race week or whatever, how the prerunner out and the cooler and the chairs and basically dicking off a cage, which is what I absolutely love to do. And not having the Course Map I know about what the Korea like, I will look at the Course Map. And so I have a pretty good idea where everything is but at the same time being exactly on it or off it or whatever. If you can throw it on your cell phone. So gi AI
Unknown:ga I I got that one. Yeah, so it's I don't think it'd be super easy for just a regular spectator to download the course maps, I think probably the best way for a spectator to do it is I know Carter tracks. last couple years, I think on next off road picked it up this year. But yeah, just sticking with what you know. And I've used the same app for tracking regular trails and easy peasy.
Wyatt Pemberton:So let's carry that over to when you're not wheeling. But you're still recreating outside. What are your What are your go twos? kayaking, paddleboarding? Are you a jogger, because I'm looking at your list and you've listed all those things. And I'm like, awesome.
Unknown:Yeah, I guess my I mean, I'm super into full immersion with this whole operating thing. So mostly what I do is off roading and racing and working on my Samurai or fabricating or anything like that. But if I've got downtime, I'm probably camping. Or if I have downtime, like after work some days I'll go paddleboarding here take my dog out hiking or stuff like outdoorsy stuff, you know
Wyatt Pemberton:picking up trash at moon rocks,
Unknown:yeah, picking up trash and Buddha actually given back that's a that's actually a really big one. I'm glad you brought that up. Because, you know, I know it's hard to sacrifice a weekend to volunteering but it is so worth it and it makes me so happy to go out and do that kind of stuff. Like all of you. My friend Harry Wagner is
Wyatt Pemberton:oh Harry situations
Unknown:yes Harry situation. He's actually been really good. and organize this friends and moon rocks page and organize a couple different trash bucket, trash pickups after big weekends out there. And those are super fun to help. volunteer at because the place just gets like trash, obviously. But there's that. And then I tried to volunteer with Rubicon trail foundation every year and do maintenance out at their property or out on the Rubicon trail. Obviously volunteering at kayo H is a big one. Just like you know, I try to go out of my out of my way to give back to the community and give back to these places that where we recreate, if we don't take care of them, they're going to get taken away from us. So keeping them up to date is is really big for me.
Wyatt Pemberton:Your philanthropy is off the charts. I feel like a lesser human at this point in the conversation about how much of your life you're dedicating on an annualized basis to to all of this? Well, I try. Oh, man,
Unknown:it's kind of a big deal to be just because I know, at least out here on the west coast, I've been following. Have you ever heard of Pismo Beach?
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, and the closures?
Unknown:Yeah. And so I've been following that for the last couple years. And it's like it breaks my heart to see these places close to pismo is actually one of the first places where I actually got to go out and experience for woodland and stuff like that. So to see that close makes an impact on me to want to keep these places open and accessible for recreation for all of us. Even the assholes that want to litter. but on the same token, educating people to pick up the trash, and don't leave white flowers, stuff like that is really big for me. So I try to push that as much as I can. And I wish I could do more. But there was more time today.
Wyatt Pemberton:What is the current situation on pismo and what's in Do you know, like the current situation because I don't know if the head on Oceana dunes like that. I know that in California, they're trying to shut everything down and close everything down. I thought initially, it had to do with like dust like that there was the dunes were kicking off dust. But then we had COVID and the dunes were closed. And the dust actually went up.
Unknown:I guess what I thought
Wyatt Pemberton:I thought there was more dust while the park was closed than when it was open. And so it was a huge feather in the environment in you know, I guess the recreation sides cap and saying it wasn't it wasn't the US creating the dust the dust is going to exist. If we're there, we're not there off those dunes. When we weren't there, the dust was actually monitored to be higher. Or at least that's how I read it. mombi I'd love to hear your take on that.
Unknown:Pretty much. So take my reporting with a grain of salt. But from what I understand what you were saying is correct. The I guess particle count during the closures was higher than if a park was open. And that was a huge feather in the fees cap. But from what I understand the air board that is in charge of San Luis Obispo County or whatever. And the board the trend is shut down. Oceana dunes in pismo is still pushing for it. And a lot of it is the community that surrounds Oceana to you because they just they don't like the wheelers. You know, it's kind of the same situation Moab where you know, they have the utvs on the street making a bunch of noise. So they put put in those noise ordinances and can't dragging TVs on the street and that kind of thing anymore. And there's a bunch of people that live around pismo these days that just don't want the four wheelers in town and they don't want to bring in the money in. So So the last thing I heard was that the air board is looking to shut down the dunes in two years. That's so awful. That's super simple. It sucks. And it's especially because that's the only place you can drive a vehicle on the beach in California. That's the only part of the coast that you can drive on. legally.
Wyatt Pemberton:So you need to move to Texas.
Unknown:No, I'm in Nevada.
Wyatt Pemberton:Well, no. Yeah, you did escape California. But yeah, in Texas windriver. Pretty much the entire beach. There's parts that are close, but by and large. So my family we're we're 45 minutes from the beach. There's, I don't know three stop signs between my house and the beach. It's mostly highway Hey, but yeah, we'll load it. We'll load up the truck with cooler chairs pop up, you know, boogie boards, and then yeah, you just back up to the water. And that's all the cooler out. You take the shovel and you dig a hole for each corner of your pop up to put the legs in and then you bury it you know, like six inches down so then the wind doesn't you know, take your pop up and throw it you know, across the lake bed like we're all familiar with. But yeah, and then that you stayed on there, two, three hours, let the kids rip it in our waters. Not beautiful. Like your water, we're west of the mouth of the Mississippi. So our waters brown here. It's pretty grody. Um, somebody should get clean, you know, fairly blue. It's mostly Brown, but it's still warm and waves and tide and my kids don't know any better.
Unknown:Yeah, laid out here. I mean, obviously not out here in Nevada but out in California, Northern California, the waters pretty cold and it's kind of dark too, so you're not missing out on much.
Wyatt Pemberton:Hot and cold water. Nope. Not me at all. Not me at all.
Unknown:But I'm here in Nevada. We've got beaches, you know, we've got beaches on the lakes. And that's super nice to do. Like going back to what I like doing on weekdays when I've got time, taking my paddleboard out and just getting out on the water. Like I used to have a boat and it was too expensive. So paddleboarding is my less expensive option to getting out on the lake because you know, growing up around jetski kind of the thing that I have to do is be out on the water, you know, go fishing, paddleboarding, kayaking, floating, whatever.
Wyatt Pemberton:Then how are the lake levels right now? Are they all just super low? super low? Yeah, that's Yeah, dude. Be it said like Folsom Lake was like, it wasn't a lake. It was a puddle.
Unknown:Yeah, the one that I usually go to down here. Like Washoe. It's actually like a built in cow pasture. I think it's probably like 10 feet at the deepest. Oh, that's terrible. But yeah, we had a crappy rainfall this year.
Wyatt Pemberton:Oh, now that your racer? What's the coolest thing that has happened there? Trent transformed or translated in your life? Now that you are you strap on the helmet and you take the green flag? Oh, you're quiet, long pregnant pause thinking about this one. That many
Unknown:options. That's really good. So the first thing that popped into my head was just all the people that I've met from racing, and especially from being involved with the Jessi combs Foundation, getting to meet all of her friends and hearing their personal stories of Jesse because I never had a personal relationship with her hearing. Her friends stories about her makes me closer to her and her purpose and all that stuff. So yeah, meeting people is a big one for me. And then the other big one is also just realizing my driving ability, because, hey, I know I'm a good driver. I don't like to toot my own horn. But I know I can rock crawl. And then a big turning point for me was actually Moab where we went and pre ran. And I turn to my co driver afterwards. And I was like, I was going about, you know, 25 50% on that. And He kind of looks back at me. He's like, Yeah, right, that's as fast as you can go, whatever. And so the whole time, you know, we pre run, and we timed it. And we figured we could do one lap. That was all we could get to do. And I freakin sent it it Moab and like, scared. Well, I don't know if I'm pretty sure I scared my co driver. But I impressed myself because what I thought was going like 25 to 50%. I mean, I probably doubled or tripled my effort, just in the first lap, like learning how to drive my car that fast learning how much abuse it can actually take. And then how much I can put it through was pretty cool.
Wyatt Pemberton:I love seeing your emotion around that, like your elation about what you're able to do, what you're able to accomplish and what you're able to pull off in that regard. Now, you rolled the new dean roll on a ledge,
Unknown:very pre ready. I didn't tip it. Oh, that's actually kind of a funny story. Because we were pre reading with Anthony had Saul, who has the other Samurai that reaches 4600. So and he he's faster than me. But he was further up on course we come up on him and he's tipped over. And so we help recover him and he's righted. And then we're like backing out to take another line. And at this point, I'm like it's getting late in the day. And we're just trying to get back to camp and be done with prewriting. And I started backing down this ledge and like feeling it go back and back. And then the front end starts lifting and I'm like I can keep going back. Nope. tip it over. Right? It's natural habitat. terrible happens.
Wyatt Pemberton:What happened in that race? You guys got it was a three lap race. You guys got you. You made two laps, though. You said oh, I think in time you thought you're gonna get one. And you got to.
Unknown:I got two whole laps. And I was super stoked about it. But in the end, we did tie it out. And I was how do I put this. So we had three laps to do and on the third lap we were supposed to do or lower helldorado. So that was kind of the factor that was pushing me to go faster and faster because that was my favorite section. I really, really wanted to do it because in pre running, we did it and I was like, because he told me and everyone else had said beforehand, like this course is built for a samurai and I didn't lower helldorado and I was like this course is built for a samurai. So the whole time I was like I really hope I get to make it to the third lab and dealer hell Rado. And I really hope there's a drone on me the whole time because I want to see it when it's over with. But I just pushed as hard as I could, and made the two laps. And we were just stoked about the two laps. So expecting to just do one. It was awesome.
Wyatt Pemberton:Well, yeah, right. I mean, you exceeded expectations. But yeah, I mean, in in the same breath, you fell short of finish. But as we looked at this year, your next your next plan was going to be nationals. Right? And then blah.
Unknown:Yeah. So I don't know, if everyone kind of figured out what happened to Wild West.
Wyatt Pemberton:So I, I knew a little bit, but actually, you knew more than I did. So I'd like to Yeah, if you want to walk through because your information is way better than I've heard as a complete story.
Unknown:Yeah, cuz wild west put up that post on their Facebook group. But basically, they were closing their doors and never really explained why. So I have a buddy that knows the owners and I asked him, so he basically told me that the construction company that park their equipment, and down to the bottom, Q and D construction, bought the property. And they're planning on, unfortunately, tearing out the park for their new asphalt plant. So is the end to wild west and sucks. And every time I tell the story, I have to go back and forth with whoever I'm telling it to reminiscing about how it was the best course for spectators and it was such a fun of it. Yeah, it sucks.
Wyatt Pemberton:I think that's what everyone thinks. And I think everyone's very, you know, melancholy about word nationals, you know, and there's the shift is changing. It's gonna be an Oklahoma. No, you're wrong. Oklahoma is a driver's course. Like it is the closest thing to kayo h outside of km h and it's in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. With not good spectating. Not good hope. Now in hotels aren't close. There's a casino, but it's not really great. Yeah, it's just so optimal. But hey, we're excited. I mean, it's still gonna be this we get a race versus last year. There's so many races that were, you know, canceled.
Unknown:Yeah, amen to that.
Wyatt Pemberton:Oh, good, Lord. Good, Lord. Okay, so So what's next for you? You've got a rock crawl coming up, I think is what, uh, what I heard out of you.
Unknown:Yep. So the very next event that I'm planning on doing is the old school rock crawl Delta classic these days, it's called. So back in the day, it was called the old school rock crawl, they did it for 10 years, that way that it changed ownership. Now it's run by we rock. And it's called the Delta classic. And it's out in delta Utah, on this manmade course out in the middle of frickin nowhere, but it's just a huge party. And I love it. I go every year, and that was actually the second competition that I ever entered in. And I took first place in stock class. Oh, yeah. And, and I doubled second place. So I took negative 161 points. And second place was negative 82 points.
Wyatt Pemberton:That's solid, right?
Unknown:That was kind of like kicked my button, like getting serious about competing. I was like, well, crap, I guess I'm kind of get it this. Let's see how far I can take it.
Wyatt Pemberton:Don't run from something you're good at. Ever embrace it, run towards it.
Unknown:Baptism by fire.
Wyatt Pemberton:So I think that's a huge I love using this word to a good segue into you know, that you won. And we've talked about like marketing. Outside of this interview, we really haven't, you know, hit on this. But we talked about, like, you know, some things you and I talked about, like marketing yourself, and how to put yourself out there and get the most out things. And, and one thing that you brought up was podium, your podium speech, how to get the most out of your podium speech and ensure you get all your people in so you don't have any podiums and ultra for, but you've obviously had time to think about what your first one is going to be. So I'd love to hear what are your thoughts?
Unknown:Yeah, so I, I haven't had like an official podium speech yet. but on the same token, like when I came, this is a really good example. When I came into main pit this year, Ian Johnson came over and said, Hi, and I was like, Oh, my God, is he a Johnson? But miles came over with his, you know, rich microphone. Yeah. And he was talking to me. And so moments like that, the same kind of thing goes through my head where I'm like, how do I take my sponsors properly? How do I work them into this? And one of the really cool things that I've picked up I don't even know where I got this from, was to write all my sponsors and partners on my rollcage right there where I can see it, like the most driver's side view, I just have all of my partners written down so I don't forget any of them logs into the car. That was a good piece of Nice for me, but it's probably a podium speech.
Wyatt Pemberton:I think that was a little nugget right there is a genius level cheat sheet. How good is that? Yeah.
Unknown:I think I got that from Chris Raya.
Wyatt Pemberton:Oh yeah,
Unknown:I gotta say, yeah, I think I think he was a little bit told me that but yeah, great little nugget of advice, either that or like write it on your hand. And then another one good, really good one that I bought, actually, is to take a piece of like electrical tape or painters tape and put it on the dash and then write down weatherman channel and your team's channel and ultra for ops. Yeah,
Wyatt Pemberton:yeah, I definitely have those in Sharpie in multiple places. And then you do it long enough. You remember them? Yeah. At some point. I also like along those along the same vein of a question is, and I got this, I got this from Wayne israelson. When gets his left's and rights confused. So what you do is on the GPS on the upper left corner, it says left in the lower left corner, it says left, and on the right, the upper right corner, it says right, lower right corner. So there's multiple places on that side of the navigation navigator seat that it's the right, and then it's the left. And then also some corresponding ones you'd like to have on the dash to your labels, if possible, if you a little label maker, but Sharpie also gets. So when you're yelling out, go, right, like because it's like your head just sees it says right right next to it, you know, it's right versus Hey, go, right. No, I'm at your other left, you know,
Unknown:right. Yeah, that's funny that you bring that up, because I thought I was the only person in the world but I can't tell my left or my right either. Like even dragger passengers, sometimes I get super screwed up. And it's super frustrating because me and my co driver will just like, get at each other's throats for it like no other driver. Other No. Other other other driver. Oh, yeah, that's a good piece of advice to you though. Having a little visual reminder definitely helps.
Wyatt Pemberton:It's like learning how to backup a trailer with your dad standing out the back, and he's just straight. All the way.
Unknown:All right. Well, actually, the first, the first year, we raised me and my brother didn't have intercom. So we worked it out pretty well, where he would just motion and point if I had to go in one direction or the other direction. Or like upshift downshift, he point up point down, so I guess Simon wood works.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, right. Well, I mean, I think we, you know, most of us if you haven't experienced it, Your time's coming is when your comms die in the car for whatever reason, some reason, and then you start use you start working out the hand signal like the old JT ninja chop, you know, the the knife hand, that's, that's the direction and keep it going as fast as possible. Then you start making fists, like slow down in that direction. Figure it out, you know?
Unknown:Absolutely.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah. What whatever works. So you did you did another podcast A while back with the and I always do it backwards. Whiskey, no wheeling wine and whiskey. We got it wheeling. It leaves it when I was a whiskey wine in Wheeling because I feel like that's the wrong order. Right? Because no, it's not the wrong in my head is not the wrong order. But it's whiskey wine and we lean means the wheeling, it's the longer word it goes at the back it flows like as you write off, okay, off your tongue, but that's so mentally that's how I remember it, but it's not it's wheeling wine and whiskey. Chris and Jason over there podcast, they cover a lot of off road stuff. Those guys are animals man, they they just chug through some some content I wear out like, I guess made us the difference between having someone to bounce stuff off of and so you talked about Ian, Ian Johnson actually talked to me it came out to me two years ago, and was just like, he's a stud. Right? I mean, he is a media mogul on my book in the in the in the off road genre. He's got shows. He's got a network he's got. He's everything. Yeah, I mean, Ian's kind of the total package on when it comes to that. And he says to me, he says why you are absolutely doing it the hardest way possible, and you're killing it. And that's just a single one on one interviews. I'm like, huh? Well, I just don't know any better. Right? If you don't know any better freaking
Unknown:killin it.
Wyatt Pemberton:Chris and Jason over at wheeling wine and whiskey. Those guys. They get to bounce stuff off of each other and they have a great dialogue back and forth. So I listen to them with some regularity. I don't catch all there's just like I'm sure they don't catch all of my neither which. But there are certain people that as I see them come up. I don't listen to theirs because I intend to interview or hope to interview them in the future. So you were on there. And in Randy Sloss Randy was on there. Remi was obviously Randy was cute here. Randy calls me as like, Hey, man. I know, I know, like, we have this, you know, we have this plan. But I was like, No, Randy, you absolutely should do that one. And there's a reason why because it's marketing. It's free marketing for you. And it's again, pushing your message out there carrying your story and keeping your name out in the relevancy. There is no reason any driver any way you should. If someone asks you, you say yes, and I know that's kind of your rule. You just say yes to everything. And then you figure it out, right? You're not getting paid enough. And so, you know, Chris and Jason interview and I was like, Okay, well, that's one I can't listen to this week. So you know, because invariably begin the season I write down like, like, 20 people that I'm like, okay, being on timing, I work my way down, and I got to you and you have a shot earlier and, and then Randy, his his was out there with those guys. I was like, man, Chris and Jason are beat meet everybody.
Unknown:do their audit. I know Jason loves doing what he does. And Chris loves doing it, too. And it's just fun watching those guys do their thing. It's fun following along with them.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, and I think that's what you know, Randy, thought I was, you know, be a thing. I'm like, Listen, no, you can do, you can do Kimmel, and you can do Fallon. You could have done Letterman. And then you could do Leno. Like, you can drink Coca Cola. And you can also drink Dr. Pepper. It's you can do you can do both. In actual fact, you should do both. Absolutely. You should do both. So anyone if you're looking for another like off road podcast, that these guys dabble in 4400 Ultra for every now and then is Chris and Jason over at the wheeling wine and whiskey podcast. You can find them all the same places that you find me and and crank them out. They are good stuff. You had a drum? Do me this question. Are they was your question to me? Why have I not been on their podcast? Because I have agreed. I have agreed. I don't know how you guys do it. Like I don't know, like, like, putting yourself in the vulnerable spot to be interviewed. I'm not very good about that. Honestly, I'm kind of it's kind of a chickenshit thing to say I'm kind of scared about it. Like I can talk. I can talk to you about all of your life and interject in intermixing some little details. I can handle that. I don't know. I
Unknown:like listening to all the talent take episodes, we kind of get tidbits of like who why it is. And so like my whole thought process was like Hey, why don't we just get one podcast and get the whole story out? And I think Jason be great person do the interview today. He's He's just super fun to interview with. And you sit there and you feel like you're just talking to someone else, you know, you're just telling your story.
Wyatt Pemberton:So this was I have agreed, and actually I canceled on them. And I canceled on them last December whenever Adam shear and Matt how whenever there episode was, I had a recording issue. And so what I did that day, I got in a car and I drove to Fort Worth five hours to interview those two guys to fix it. Like that was I didn't want to skip not having an episode. So that's what I did. I drove up there and I call the I called Jason, or my message him I was like, I have to bail on you. Sorry, I definitely apologize. And so I drove to Fort Worth, I recorded those guys. And it was a total disaster, the audio was even worse. So we threw it away. It was a total trip. And I made it up with him and did both of them separately. And we got it all worked out. But that was the day that I canceled on the wheeling wine and whiskey event. You know, now we're a year and a half past that. So I should probably now I've talked to him and we keep talking about I just haven't I just really haven't had the time for it. And you know, when we finish the season, then Yeah, that'll happen. So thanks for putting me on the spot. Amber. Yeah, I mean. All right. Have we talked about everything you wanted to talk about?
Unknown:Thanks. So we're gonna look back to my notes really fast. I really appreciate that you brought up the whole me volunteering and the whole pismo dunes and all that kind of stuff thing because, like I said, it's something that's really close to me and anytime I can get someone else as hyped about volunteering and giving back to the community, and education and all that kind of stuff, it really that's kind of a big driving factor for me. So
Wyatt Pemberton:I'll throw that if there are two peas I think in life for me is passion and perspective. And if you have passion for something, you're going to pursue it to the nth degree if you have passion in in your relationships with your spouse or boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever if you have passion in your job being see if you have passion in race your passion and your hobby, you're going to give it your 110% if you don't have passion for it, you're gonna, you're gonna phone it in. And then within that you need perspective. And for me perspective, I lose perspective with some regularity. You know, you get your burned out like this show I do I actually get burned out, you know, when you have a full time job plus kids and plus these things, like, see, you know, you're like, Oh, I mean, is it? You know, what am I you know, what am I accomplishing? You know, I've taken what was a hobby, and it still is a hobby, I've absolutely hobby and made it something of a job. And I we're all guilty of doing that, like every one of us, everyone that's every single person listens is guilty of taking something that was fun and making it not fun.
Unknown:Right, yeah. And then that's kind of where it was with fabrication when I got the shot with Randy was that I had hit a wall and I wasn't learning anymore. And so I knew that I wanted to get back into off roading and the automotive industry and all that stuff. And so when I had the opportunity to get into a shop that worked on ultra powered cars, like all my worlds combined and stuff just worked out. So hopefully I don't burn myself out on this one. But I am definitely rekindling my enthusiasm for fabrication with this new job.
Wyatt Pemberton:Do you see cutting your teeth on this whole thing by maybe extending your learning into building your own bomber? Car?
Unknown:That's definitely something that's come up. Like, so what are we gonna see a bomber with the samurai head? And my answer is, I don't know. Because like I said, I like to go into things with zero expectations. So I guess cutting my teeth right now and the whole starting point is just to learn as much as I can and take baby steps. I like it. It'd be really cool to get into a bomber. I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna drive on yet. I haven't even driven the trail bomber yet. Which is kind of sad, but I have made ready. Roll it. Oh, wait, I didn't drive the trail bomber. Nevermind, I take that back. But you know, keep it in the back your mind.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, there you go. I can see you saying hey, Randy. I need to take that this weekend out to moon rocks for marketing. Right You need to get the name out there. You need that? Yeah, exactly.
Unknown:Like little flash my eyelashes. I'm doing a little eye flutter. Please. Please let me take the daughter out.
Wyatt Pemberton:Yeah, exactly. And so well I found that to be really cool out of Randy that you know he is building a car for Krista. You know, that was a that's that's a funny conversation
Unknown:the other day she said she's been waiting 20 years for that sucker.
Wyatt Pemberton:We'll get the story out of Randy in the future. All right. So as we're as we're wrapping up, we're coming to a close top three songs that are amber Turner right now, this day, this slice of life right now, how three songs go.
Unknown:I couldn't think of two more songs. But the one song that I always come back to, especially when it comes to racing and everyone's gonna get a kick out of this is a loser by Beck movie. Kill me Yeah, that one. I love playing that song. Like if I do have a piano in my car, but if I could play that song over the PA when I leave, start finish take my whole life. Like I said, Go into it with zero expectations.
Wyatt Pemberton:Oh, well, I mean, there you go that that leaves you can only impress yourself. sky's the limit there. So no, you don't have to more like that's it. You're just you're gonna limit yourself to one.
Unknown:I you know what I tried. I went through my playlist and like everything I have in my playlist is super lame. So Steiner, right,
Wyatt Pemberton:stop saying no to your playlist say yes. All right, well, Amber. Wow. I'm super impressed with you as a human. I'm super impressed with you is someone who was just challenging the norms. You know, just taking a samurai and going and racing Kayla H. Most people would say you need your head examined. I see a method to your madness. But man, I'm so grateful that you came on I'm so grateful that you were you know this, this episode 46 and I look forward to what this next year has in store for you at a bomber fab.
Unknown:Okay, thank you. I'm looking forward to everything in the future. Honestly, I never ever thought that any of this would get taken this far. But here we are. And I want to come and take
Wyatt Pemberton:you just don't say no, that's it. That's that. I think that's been a continuing theme in almost every decision we talked about of yours throughout this is you just didn't say no. You just pushed for it and said go and people got on board behind you.
Unknown:Yeah, that's That's powerful. Yes. Thank you.
Wyatt Pemberton:Well, Amber, thank you for coming on. And on that note, we're out.
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