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Building A 20 Million Auto Repair Brand! · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:04
  Don Armstrong: And here's the award-winning NWTime car talk show just ahead, founder of Mango Automotive.
• 0:11
  Don Armstrong: And we're going to talk about car repairs and the business of car repairs.
• 0:17
  Don Armstrong: And this is quite the success story, and I think that you're going to enjoy this.
• 0:20
  Don Armstrong: Later, Jeff has the racing calendar, and Mr.
• 0:23
  Don Armstrong: Mars has this week in auto history.
• 0:25
  Don Armstrong: And of course, as always, I'll have the stories making automotive news headlines this week.
• 0:28
  Don Armstrong: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, Mars in Studio 2.
• 0:34
  Don Armstrong: We always need more Jeff Zeke.
• 0:36
  Don Armstrong: I'm Don Armstrong.
• 0:37
  Don Armstrong: David Ainsley, by the way.
• 0:38
  Don Armstrong: We spoke with him earlier today.
• 0:39
  Don Armstrong: Yes, he's alive and well.
• 0:41
  Don Armstrong: Uh with the cat Larry.
• 0:43
  Don Armstrong: He was having coffee.
• 0:44
  Don Armstrong: I was having coffee with Larry.
• 0:47
  Don Armstrong: So thank you very much for joining us.
• 0:49
  Don Armstrong: We really appreciate this for our live Memorial Day weekend show.
• 0:54
  Don Armstrong: And if you're listening on a podcast, thank you very much for picking us.
• 0:58
  Don Armstrong: We appreciate it.
• 0:59
  Don Armstrong: All right.
• 0:59
  Don Armstrong: Let's go over to a very special person, and I say that because we don't really know this person.
• 1:08
  Don Armstrong: Jesse Jackson is with us and uh very successful.
• 1:12
  Don Armstrong: I was just kind of uh running through Mango Automotive, and Jesse, congratulations.
• 1:17
  Don Armstrong: You you took a uh uh so-so repart repair place, bought some other shops, and now uh you you're killing it.
• 1:26
  Don Armstrong: She's a mogul.
• 1:27
  Don Armstrong: A mogul, that's it.
• 1:28
  Don Armstrong: So have you been called a mogul before?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I have not.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take that compliment.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take any compliment I can get.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have seven kids, so uh thankfulness and compliments are hard to come by.
• 1:40
  Don Armstrong: Oh my god, she's got seven kids.
• 1:44
  Don Armstrong: Honey, you're not old enough to have seven kids.
• 1:47
  Don Armstrong: Oh, thank you.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: There was a cute moment where I had seven kids and seven automotive repair shops, but never to repeat, be repeated, because now I've got eight shops and I'm not having an eighth kid.
• 1:59
  Jeff Dziekan: Okay, well, we'll just go with that.
• 2:01
  Jeff Dziekan: Mike is actually up for adoption.
• 2:02
  Don Armstrong: We've got Mike Up for Adoption if you want to take it.
• 2:04
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, there's that.
• 2:05
  Don Armstrong: All right, so let's talk about you for a second.
• 2:08
  Don Armstrong: And how did you get into the automotive repair business to begin with?
• 2:12
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, I mean, did dad work at an auto repair shop or what?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, my one of my grandfathers owned an aviation repair shop in LA, and my other grandfather owned a hitch repair shop, but or a hitch shop.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of distance between them and me.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: I got my degree in environmental engineering and then I got into software product, and I happened to stumble into ownership of an automotive piece of software.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew a ton about the industry.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: We were in the paintless dent repair space, but when I started understanding the troves of owners in the brick and mortar space that were looking to retire and spend time with their families, I saw an opportunity there.
• 2:57
  Don Armstrong: And so and so you acquired the, but you started at one place, right?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but we gotta do one first.
• 3:04
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 3:04
  Don Armstrong: So you you actually bought a shop, is that correct?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I bought a shop when I knew nothing about it.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily, my third call was to another shop owner who was interested in what I was doing, and he became my business partner.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know how badly I needed a COO, but I was very lucky to find him.
• 3:26
  Don Armstrong: Well, that that's that's kudos to you for uh including them in this because uh let me tell you something.
• 3:33
  Don Armstrong: Uh I worked at a car dealership one time that had a huge service department, it was a Chevrolet dealership, huge service department.
• 3:39
  Don Armstrong: And uh this is back in the day, and uh they turned a lot of cars there.
• 3:44
  Don Armstrong: Uh they sold a bunch, a bunch of cars, they had the right location, and um I guess they priced it right.
• 3:50
  Don Armstrong: And so I worked in the new car make ready department.
• 3:53
  Don Armstrong: And let me tell you something, that that in itself was an education.
• 3:57
  Don Armstrong: I had no clue uh what goes into new car make ready.
• 4:01
  Don Armstrong: Anyway, uh with that in mind, I can only imagine.
• 4:05
  Don Armstrong: Of course, you're a very smart lady, obviously, with a degree and everything, and and so you you learn quickly, and I guess you learned it had a few mistakes had to have along the way, especially in those for that first shop that you had.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean our first shop when we acquired it was doing 750k.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's doing almost three million.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we had just two techs in the back, and we hired a service advisor.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: My business partner was doing all of the you know, covering for lunch, um, all of that fun stuff.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we've certainly had to learn to have systems and processes.
• 4:48
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 4:48
  Don Armstrong: So obviously, quite successful in turning it around.
• 4:52
  Don Armstrong: What was the secret in turning around that first uh car up here, place?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of automotive repair shops right now are run by owners who have built this from scratch over the last 30 or 40 years and they don't want to grow, they're just happy with where they are.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I I think there's no secret, Sauce.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: We elevated the customer experience and we marketed and we hired the right people.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the the people that help you get from a one to two million dollar shop are not the same people that can help you get from a two to three million dollar shop.
• 5:32
  Don Armstrong: Well, obviously, because you know, you've got to grow with the marketing company, and the marketing company has to be able to handle uh the volume that you do.
• 5:43
  Don Armstrong: And to grow that business, you got to get more customers.
• 5:47
  Don Armstrong: Well, how do you do that?
• 5:48
  Don Armstrong: You got to be innovative, uh, you know, you got to have an education, you got to have some experience and all of that.
• 5:53
  Don Armstrong: I just uh I'm amazed that you've been able to acquire these other dealerships and grow yours in a very short period of time.
• 6:00
  Don Armstrong: Three and a half years.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's old data.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're almost four and a half years, four years in change, and yeah, we've gone zero to twenty million in that time.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you've got to grow the employees.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think we hate hit eight figures, so that was a big moment that I was excited for.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 6:19
  Don Armstrong: Well, I mean, you gotta be proud.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's hard, you know.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a standard entrepreneur, so I just up as soon as we hit a goal, I've got another goal in mind.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: My business partner and I are classically terrible at celebrating, you know, hitting a goalpost.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're just always egging for the next goalpost.
• 6:40
  Don Armstrong: What was the biggest thing that you overcame early on in these dealerships of repair facilities?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, for me, it was all about talking to the owners and finding the automotive repair shops to start with.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a um a struggle that we have as humans where we want to see ourselves as we want to see continuity in ourselves.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So when I went from software to saying I was gonna buy all of these brick and mortar automotive repair shops, one of my previous business partners just kept saying to me, Jesse, I just can't see you doing this.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And by proclaiming that I was going to build an eight-figure automotive repair empire, I was saying that I was going to do something that I had never done before.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So by all measures, the previous Jesse 1.0 didn't have all the tools she needed to, you know, run a$20 million enterprise.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to build myself into Jesse 8.0.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a little bit of cognitive dissonance that exists there.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: And even just the very early steps of calling shop owners, I had a policy that I would eat the frog every morning and do the hard work every morning, and I would call three automotive repair shops on a bad day and five on a good day, which isn't that many, but it adds up if you do it every day.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And for the first six weeks, I cried every day after because I was uncomfortable making cold calls.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you know, my secret has been just no matter how I feel about doing the thing, I just do the thing anyway.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people spend much time analyzing, thinking about whether they should do the thing, how they're gonna do the thing, and they never actually get to the doing.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of space to make mistakes and not do it perfectly so long as you're actually doing it, moving toward your goal.
• 8:37
  Mike Marrs: Because if you don't do it, you absolutely won't make a mistake, but you won't ever get it done either.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's right.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Safe.
• 8:44
  Don Armstrong: Um, obviously, you've built these businesses with people, so you obviously have a knack in choosing the right people to help you.
• 8:52
  Don Armstrong: Because you there's no way that one person could do all of this on their own, I don't think, and do it so quickly.
• 8:59
  Don Armstrong: Uh, it would take years and years and years because you could you it's only one person, you can only do so much in one day.
• 9:06
  Don Armstrong: But uh, you had to have some help along the way, and obviously, you're a great motivator.
• 9:12
  Don Armstrong: We want to come work for you right now, as a matter of fact.
• 9:15
  Don Armstrong: So um uh, but I think that that there's a lot to be said about the people that you've chosen.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is, I I yeah, definitely people are key.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: My business partner, as I mentioned earlier, was just the best early decision that I ever made.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And he and I essentially we have our in-shops crew, which of course super thankful to have them on board.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: But in terms of the corporate team, he and I did everything up until we had five shops.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we were HR, we were finance, we were accounts payable, we were accounts receivable, we were, you know, recruiting, we were marketing, and then we just literally broke.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: I looked at him in the back office of our fifth shop the day that we acquired it, and I saw on his face that he was collapsing.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so at that time we made a decision to hire finance, human resources, and a district manager, which we could barely afford at the time.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: But as we were hiring those roles, we we kept one thing in mind, which was we wanted to hire people that were better than us.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that we have accomplished that successfully.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like we often look at our district manager and think he's a better representation of the culture we want to build than we are, and so we sort of see that across the board and all of our corporate roles for sure.
• 10:33
  Don Armstrong: Did you hire any old guys?
• 10:34
  Don Armstrong: Did you hire guys with lots of experience and maybe a little bit of attitude?
• 10:38
  Don Armstrong: Shut up, Mars.
• 10:39
  Don Armstrong: I see you already set up for adoption.
• 10:41
  Don Armstrong: So let him go.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: We we definitely have uh a few key members and management roles inside our shops.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And um, one of them I'll I'll call out in particular, Frank of our Cottonwood shop.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he had had his own shop and retired and decided to come back.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we were lucky enough to find him and hire him at Cottonwood.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that man, we send new team members to him and he just turns them into winners, and we spread them across our Albuquerque shops.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: But anyone who comes into their shops has the incredible opportunity to learn from him.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he's built, you know, one of our other incredible managers, Tara, came straight from him as a service advisor.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's amazing at building team members.
• 11:27
  Don Armstrong: So are you using the same brick and mortar buildings that you acquired, or have you had to tear them down or re-revamp them?
• 11:34
  Don Armstrong: How's that all worked for you?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're the same, but our our branding is very much.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think a traditional automotive repair shop, they're sort of known for there's a pot of burnt coffee on the stove, and you don't want to sit down because the couches have oil on them, and there's a five-year-old sports illustrated sitting on the coffee table.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: So our shops are definitely feel clean and modern, and someplace you actually want to hang out.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, there's there's something that happens when we bring a new customer to a shop.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: They'll call, make an appointment, walk into the door, look around, absolute look of confusion on their face.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we just let them at this point walk back out of the front door, look up at the sign, and assure themselves that they're in an automotive repair shop, and then come back in the door.
• 12:23
  Don Armstrong: Well, that sounds like it's got your fingerprints all over it.
• 12:26
  Don Armstrong: Because I mean you I mean, because you got eight kids, so you got to have something going on all the time.
• 12:31
  Don Armstrong: The new toys on the block, so to speak.
• 12:34
  Don Armstrong: It's got to be clean, it's got to be organized, and you got to have a place to do all of this stuff.
• 12:38
  Don Armstrong: So apparently you've done some work inside those uh repair changes.
• 12:42
  Don Armstrong: That's right.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: We call that the uh pink wall effect, and my business partner and I have revamped every one of them with our own two hands.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why we do it, but even our eighth shop we just acquired.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was in there with a sledgehammer tearing down a wall.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: My daughter was painting the walls, we were getting it done.
• 13:00
  Don Armstrong: I I love it.
• 13:01
  Don Armstrong: I you know, go ahead, Mike.
• 13:03
  Don Armstrong: Sorry.
• 13:03
  Mike Marrs: I was gonna say, you mentioned earlier that you know, some of the older guys that you some of the shops you've acquired and stuff, the guys built the business.
• 13:11
  Mike Marrs: And and you're describing exactly in my mind what I was visualizing.
• 13:15
  Mike Marrs: Here's this guy, he's built this business up, he's comfortable with it the way it is.
• 13:20
  Mike Marrs: That's the way he's done it for the last 40 years, so he keeps doing it that way.
• 13:24
  Mike Marrs: And you come in with some refreshed eyes, you update everything, and people notice that and they can see that, and it sounds very you're very energetic, and it sounds like that bleeds over into it.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Look, not everyone loves the things you do.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: We have we have a pink wall in all of our shops.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: We had a customer come into our downtown shop and see the pink wall, and this guy was mad.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: He was mad that we had spent our money to paint that pink wall, and he didn't like it, and he was telling our manager, who was the same as the manager under the previous owner, and then he turned around and mumbled under his breath, but I'm still gonna come here because my tech's here.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do things even a little different, even if you think you're making them better, I mean, when people get mad at us, we're like, all publicity is great.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 14:16
  Mike Marrs: They noticed, they noticed, so it worked.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's with our branding to Mango Automotive.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, every our competitors hated the name, my mother-in-law hated it, everyone hated the name Mango Automotive.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I was like, but you never forget it.
• 14:30
  Mike Marrs: It's different, it is definitely different.
• 14:32
  Don Armstrong: You know, it's funny when when Mike said that we were going to interview, I thought, Mango Automotive.
• 14:37
  Don Armstrong: You know, I'd buy something there.
• 14:39
  Don Armstrong: I don't know what it would be.
• 14:42
  Don Armstrong: Now okay, so let's talk about the service department for a minute.
• 14:46
  Don Armstrong: What what what do you service?
• 14:48
  Don Armstrong: All vehicles, uh trucks, cars, everything?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: We yeah, basically everything.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we don't service vintage vehicles um or something we can't afford to if it gets a scratch on it, then we can't afford to fix it.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So super high-end vehicles, but we do we service everything, uh of course, primarily you know, ice vehicles.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: We also we do service EVs and hybrids as well.
• 15:18
  Don Armstrong: Well, um, so uh AVs and hybrids, so you obviously have uh invested in quite a bit of equipment, uh diagnostic equipment, trying to figure out what in the world is going on with this car.
• 15:30
  Don Armstrong: They bring it in and it's not running the way it's supposed to run.
• 15:33
  Don Armstrong: And so that takes a huge investment in itself.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would say the investment in EVs is not as huge as as you might anticipate.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: We got our local university when we were just Albuquerque based to spin up a course for our technicians.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, look at our techs are geniuses.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what they do on an you know, a traditional vehicle.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: An EV vehicle is by yes, it's got the computer, but your modern day vehicles do as well.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's by all intents and purposes less complicated than a traditional vehicle.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you take someone who's a genius already, right?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: A master tech, our shop foreman, and train them in in working on an electric vehicle, and it's not that big of a leap for them as much as you would expect.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: There is the diagnostic tools, and you know, we have to keep a few safety tools on hand, but that's about it.
• 16:28
  Don Armstrong: How is it trying to get help?
• 16:31
  Don Armstrong: Because I understand that there's a huge need for actual mechanics themselves.
• 16:36
  Don Armstrong: Has that been a problem for you?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: There, I would say there is not enough mechanics to go around for all the owners that want them.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of owners who don't do the right things to attract those mechanics.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, my business partner, we we never yell, we pay well, we're closed on weekends, and people hear about us and they want to work for us.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Part of our culture is having fun, which seems silly, but we spend so much of our lives at work, and we like to hire people who can have fun working.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And we develop uh like in Albuquerque, where we started and we currently have four shops, we've developed a reputation in the city, and people call us and they want to work for us, so we don't really feel that shortage of technicians uh as much as perhaps some of the industry does.
• 17:33
  Don Armstrong: Have you ever heard of Bucky's?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: A Bucky's, the gas station?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I used to live in Texas.
• 17:38
  Don Armstrong: Okay, well, then you know how he grew his business and started off as nothing more than a glorified 7-Eleven store down in Angleton, Texas.
• 17:47
  Don Armstrong: And look where he's gone.
• 17:48
  Don Armstrong: I'm seeing you taking Mango Automotive National and maybe building shops right next door to Bucky's.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna explore the Bucky's founder.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have, of course, you have to love those gas stations.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's lovely when you're driving through nowhere, Texas, to have a shot, a stop at a Bucky's.
• 18:10
  Don Armstrong: There's no doubt about it.
• 18:11
  Don Armstrong: It's an absolute pleasure to talk to you.
• 18:14
  Don Armstrong: We are very thrilled to get to know you.
• 18:16
  Don Armstrong: And uh, we see great things happening for Mango Automotive.
• 18:19
  Don Armstrong: Is there some place that we can go online to learn more about your business?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, of course, you can go to MangoAutomotive.com.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: That'll be a good one.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you know, if there's any shop owners out there that are interested in retiring, you can sh shoot me an email, J E S-E at Mangoautomotive.com.
• 18:41
  Don Armstrong: Wonderful.
• 18:42
  Don Armstrong: Jesse, it is an honor, it's a pleasure.
• 18:44
  Don Armstrong: Thank you so much.
• 18:45
  Don Armstrong: This is a woman with eight children, and she's taken out the time to talk to us this week.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get that confused.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Seven kids in eight shots.
• 18:53
  Jeff Dziekan: Oh, we got it backwards there.
• 18:55
  Jeff Dziekan: Mike's gonna send you his resume.
• 18:57
  Jeff Dziekan: Send him your resume, Mike.
• 18:58
  Mike Marrs: We kind of balance the load a little bit.
• 19:00
  Mike Marrs: That's it.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Lovely chatting to you all.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 19:03
  Don Armstrong: Thank you, and uh, have a great Memorial Day weekend.
• 19:06
  Don Armstrong: We appreciate you.
• 19:07
  Don Armstrong: All right.
• 19:08
  Don Armstrong: Uh you're invited to join us again next week for our live show, 10 to noon Central Time.
• 19:12
  Don Armstrong: Listen, watch on InWheeltime.com, Facebook, and YouTube.
• 19:15
  Don Armstrong: If you miss it, you can uh connect through a podcast from your favorite podcast channel anytime.
• 19:20
  Don Armstrong: We're back at the racing calendar and auto history right after this break on In Wheel Time.
• 19:24
  Don Armstrong: Stay with us.
• 19:32
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• 20:32
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• 20:42
  Don Armstrong: This once-a-year rolling car collection takes place June 12th through the 14th.
• 20:46
  Don Armstrong: Check out hundreds of classic street rods, vendors, giveaways, awards, and family fun.
• 20:51
  Don Armstrong: Best of all, spectator admission is absolutely free.
• 20:54
  Don Armstrong: In real time, we'll be live from Granbury Saturday, June 13th, 9 to noon.
• 20:59
  Don Armstrong: Get all the deets at LSSRA.com.
• 21:12
  Don Armstrong: Kaboom! And the rain.
• 21:14
  Don Armstrong: I walked out in the front yard this morning and I'm thinking, is it fall?
• 21:18
  Don Armstrong: There's so many leaves.
• 21:20
  Don Armstrong: New leaves out on the yeah.
• 21:21
  Don Armstrong: So I had to get the blower out this morning, get the leaves off the sidewalk.
• 21:24
  Don Armstrong: We have guests coming today.
• 21:26
  Don Armstrong: All right, time now for the racing calendar.
• 21:28
  Don Armstrong: Jeffrey has sponsored by Texas Muscle Car Club check.
• 21:31
  Jeff Dziekan: Thank you for that.
• 21:32
  Jeff Dziekan: I appreciate it.
• 21:33
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, uh the news is all over the uh the NASCAR uh uh uh series that uh Kyle Bush has passed away.
• 21:39
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh still no uh the main details on his passing, but I'm sure they'll be coming out as they the family allows them to come out.
• 21:46
  Jeff Dziekan: So we had the truck race last night, it got rained, delayed, ran very late last night.
• 21:50
  Jeff Dziekan: I don't know who uh won the race, but I do have it recorded.
• 21:54
  Jeff Dziekan: Today you've got the uh O'Reilly, they're in Nashville.
• 21:57
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh they're all in Nashville, and then of course you got the cup tomorrow.
• 22:00
  Jeff Dziekan: In Nashville.
• 22:01
  Jeff Dziekan: You got Formula One is tomorrow.
• 22:05
  Jeff Dziekan: They're up in Canada, so it's the Canadian Grand Prix.
• 22:08
  Don Armstrong: Oh yeah.
• 22:08
  Don Armstrong: Oh yeah.
• 22:09
  Jeff Dziekan: And then you got NHRA on the 29th to the 31st, so they're about another week away.
• 22:14
  Jeff Dziekan: And of course, the big one coming tomorrow is Indy, uh Indy 500.
• 22:18
  Jeff Dziekan: That's going to be on Fox Proper.
• 22:20
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh Alex Pelot's on the poll.
• 22:22
  Jeff Dziekan: Alexander Rossi's number two.
• 22:24
  Jeff Dziekan: I've got the whole list here.
• 22:25
  Jeff Dziekan: You can check it out online if you'd like.
• 22:27
  Jeff Dziekan: And then they had the uh Wiener 500 yesterday.
• 22:30
  Don Armstrong: Oh, by the way, there was yeah, the the announcers apparently did a fantastic backup job.
• 22:35
  Jeff Dziekan: Exactly.
• 22:36
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh some of the things, well, first of all, the the Wiener mobile weighs 14,000 pounds.
• 22:40
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh it was invented by Carl uh Meyer uh in 1936 and the whistle was invented in 1952.
• 22:47
  Jeff Dziekan: But some of the things that these announcers said that the Wiener girth is uh just as important as the length of the Wiener, so we all knew that.
• 22:54
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh and to to call that race, they just relished it across the uh street.
• 23:01
  Jeff Dziekan: The it was cloudy, kind of misty, kind of rainy, so they had uh the wiener mobile had soggy buns, but they were on the track uh three wide, three wide bun to bun, and then they were also uh wiener tip to tip uh in in the passing lane.
• 23:15
  Jeff Dziekan: And you can't spell Oscar Meyer without the word car.
• 23:19
  Jeff Dziekan: So there you go.
• 23:20
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh Wieners are hard to handle in that type of situation.
• 23:23
  Jeff Dziekan: And uh Wiener on Wiener action when they cross the finish line.
• 23:27
  Jeff Dziekan: So there you go.
• 23:30
  Jeff Dziekan: That is the racing calendar.
• 23:31
  Jeff Dziekan: But Indies Tomorrow, I'm gonna love it.
• 23:33
  Jeff Dziekan: It's gonna be great.
• 23:34
  Jeff Dziekan: Looking forward to have all the TVs on the house.
• 23:36
  Jeff Dziekan: It's gonna be wonderful.
• 23:37
  Jeff Dziekan: Great.
• 23:38
  Don Armstrong: Time now for this week at Auto History, and Mr.
• 23:41
  Don Armstrong: Mars has that.
• 23:43
  Mike Marrs: Yes, sir.
• 23:44
  Mike Marrs: I kind of used I saw Jeff's idea about the one of his segments coming up and the Wiener Mobiles and stuff, so I looked at the pace cars, historic pace cars for the ED 500.
• 23:55
  Mike Marrs: Yeah, those two.
• 23:56
  Mike Marrs: So in 1911, Stoddard Dayton was the very first Indianapolis 500, and Indy Speedway founder, Carl Fisher, was actually driving this car and he led the field.
• 24:08
  Mike Marrs: Now, he also started the rolling start because he thought 40 cars from a standing start was too dangerous.
• 24:14
  Mike Marrs: So this kind of not only the pace car but the rolling start kind of rolled into the indie from this point on.
• 24:21
  Mike Marrs: Now, in 1941, the Chrysler Newport Phaeton was the 29th Indianapolis 500 uh pace car.
• 24:29
  Mike Marrs: It was a dual cal engine.
• 24:31
  Mike Marrs: It was actually considered the final great pre-war American luxury automobile.
• 24:36
  Mike Marrs: There wasn't a whole lot of them made, so if you've got any of them out there, hang on to it because it's considered one of the most beautiful and sophisticated pace cars that ever hit the field.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, cool.
• 24:45
  Mike Marrs: And the one on the right, the red one, is is uh I love that car.
• 24:50
  Mike Marrs: So 1964, the uh 48th Indianapolis 500, the Ford Mustang.
• 24:56
  Mike Marrs: Now, this we've talked about this before, but this was part of that rollout package for the Ford Mustang where they had uh the World's Fair was involved, they had all the dealerships across the nation.
• 25:06
  Mike Marrs: Everybody did everything at one time, and that's really part of what kicked off the pony car world and really made the Mustang so popular.
• 25:13
  Mike Marrs: Then uh the 49th Indianapolis 500 in 1965, a Plymouth Sport Fury.
• 25:20
  Mike Marrs: Now, this was a 426-inch engine under this car, and they didn't make very many of them, and there's not very many left.
• 25:27
  Mike Marrs: They made a few replicas to put out the dealerships, but because the Sport Fury just wasn't considered a real big race car, but it had a big motor in it and it worked out fine.
• 25:37
  Mike Marrs: So 1967, Chevrolet Camaro SS.
• 25:42
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is the 51st Indianapolis 500.
• 25:46
  Mike Marrs: And this is kind of where uh Camaro kind of again they used this to debut the car and bring it out against the competitor or against the Mustang, and it was powered by a 396 V8, and it creates the Camaro as a serious sports car, and the race winner, AJ Foyt, declined the car because it didn't have air conditioning.
• 26:06
  Mike Marrs: So the race winners get a car, a copy of the pace car, no air conditioner, he didn't want it.
• 26:12
  Mike Marrs: So rolling on to 1969, and you're gonna see a pattern here with a lot of Chevrolets, but a Chevrolet Camaro Z11.
• 26:19
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is the 5030 Indianapolis 500, and it's really considered the most famous pace car replica because the orange and white striping, the convertible, everybody wants them because Chevrolet built thousands of replicas of this car that really sold really well.
• 26:37
  Mike Marrs: And if you get one that's real, a Z11 Pace Car Edition, if you got one of them, it's the most collectible first generation Camaro that they've still got out there.
• 26:46
  Mike Marrs: 1971, the Dodge Challenger convertible, the 55th Indianapolis 500.
• 26:51
  Mike Marrs: Again, a very special car.
• 26:53
  Mike Marrs: It was built, they built a lot of replicas for it.
• 26:55
  Mike Marrs: It became a very collectible favorite and uh of that generation as the muscle cars were fading out about that time.
• 27:03
  Mike Marrs: 1978, Chevrolet Corvette, 62nd Indianapolis 500.
• 27:08
  Mike Marrs: Now, this has got uh Pace Car written all of it.
• 27:12
  Mike Marrs: Everybody knows you talk about a Corvette pace car, this is what everybody thinks about.
• 27:16
  Mike Marrs: And then in 1991, they slipped a Dodge Viper RT-10 in for the 75th Indianapolis 500.
• 27:25
  Mike Marrs: Now, uh it was originally selected uh the uh Japanese-built stealth was supposed to be there, but the UAW and everybody else got all weirded out over having a Japanese-built car in here, and so they replaced it with the Dodge Viper.
• 27:40
  Mike Marrs: And uh it was driven by Carol Shelby, it was a V10-powered roaster.
• 27:45
  Mike Marrs: And then in 2020, the Chevrolet Corvette Steam Race back for the 104th Indianapolis 500.
• 27:52
  Mike Marrs: Now, this is very special because this is the first rear engine, had the engine was behind the the driver to really make the Corvette change, make that change into being an exotic style supercar.
• 28:03
  Mike Marrs: And but it's still a Corvette, and that was the first year that that was to be the pace car.
• 28:08
  Mike Marrs: So that's just a few of the historical pace cars for the Indianapolis 500 that's going on, and we'll see who's out there today.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_03: It'd be a mid-engine, wouldn't it?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: What's that?
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_03: The Corvette, the mid engine rather than rear engine.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well is it mid-engine?
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, mid-engine.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: And the Corvette's this year, too, isn't it?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: Is it Corvette pace car this year?
• 28:26
  Mike Marrs: I don't know.
• 28:26
  Mike Marrs: I was cleaved in that for a surprise.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, sorry.
• 28:29
  Don Armstrong: You know, the it's interesting you bring that up because I think a lot of people call it uh rear engine, but the engine, I believe, is actually in front of the rear wheels.
• 28:39
  Don Armstrong: So a true rear engine would be behind the rear wheels.
• 28:43
  Mike Marrs: Okay, right, like a Corvair or a Volkswagen Beetle old school.
• 28:47
  Mike Marrs: You're right.
• 28:48
  Mike Marrs: So it doesn't matter.
• 28:48
  Don Armstrong: Do we have to bring up the Corvair?
• 28:50
  Don Armstrong: Do we have to bring that up?
• 28:51
  Don Armstrong: Oh well, this is going to be uh next year's pace car.
• 28:54
  Don Armstrong: Oh God.
• 28:55
  Don Armstrong: Hey, we'd love to hear from you.
• 28:57
  Don Armstrong: We'd love to hear from you.
• 28:58
  Don Armstrong: Shoot us an email.
• 28:59
  Don Armstrong: The address is info at inwheeltime.com, and we're back after this quick break.
• 29:03
  Don Armstrong: Stay with us.
• 29:05
  Don Armstrong: Your car is a direct reflection of you, so don't be satisfied with color fade or a dingy dull appearance.
• 29:11
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• 29:14
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• 29:17
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• 29:34
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• 29:41
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• 29:44
  Don Armstrong: He's your guy to have your ride looking its best and protected too.
• 29:48
  Don Armstrong: See the state-of-the-art shop yourself, free tours anytime.
• 29:51
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is easy to get to, located just south of the Southwest Freeway on the Sam Houston Parkway.
• 29:57
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield, full service luxury car care today and online at gcautoshield.com.
• 30:04
  Don Armstrong: Gift giving should be meaningful, and we have an idea.
• 30:07
  Don Armstrong: A hand-painted custom illustration of your car from one of the nation's leading artists.
• 30:12
  Don Armstrong: Now you can get one or a car show poster customized for you, a friend, or a loved one.
• 30:17
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• 30:20
  Don Armstrong: No matter what the day, birthday, anniversary, or any day, an autographics custom illustration adds an extra touch of class to any home.
• 30:27
  Don Armstrong: Call Bill today, 832-922-0963.
• 30:31
  Don Armstrong: That's 832-922-0963.
• 30:37
  Don Armstrong: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 30:40
  Don Armstrong: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our InWheelTime.com website.
• 30:50
  Don Armstrong: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartPodcast, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, Pandora, and Amazon Music.
• 30:59
  Don Armstrong: Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.