Episode 222 features Logan Backus, ProTrail competitor at WE Rock.

Diesel mechanic – because he had to be – Logan Backus shares life in the trenches, the rockcrawling trenches, with all of us. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

4:48 – We were known for the kids in the neighborhood to build the biggest, baddest jumps out there. 

14:43 – my dad’s like, “I don’t know why you want a truck like that? They’re expensive and they break.”             

25:47 – this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done – but the owner took me under his wing and showed me the ins and outs of all things diesel

31:38 – my first trip to Moab, you either have to go far right and get really sketchy or take the big undercuts – I’m sitting there thinking what did I get myself into? 

41:46 – that YJ progressed me so much in wheeling that it scared the sh*t out of me

49:20 – why would I spend money to go beat the crap our of my own vehicle – why does that sound like it’s not that fun?

1:01:38 – I hate Cedar City, it’s like 30 minutes from where I live, but I have this vendetta with Cedar

Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.

Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

Transcript

[00:00:01.080] - 

Welcome to Conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview-style podcast. Those interviewed are all involved in the off-road industry. Being involved, like all of my guests are, is a lifestyle, not just a job. I talk to past, present, and future legends, as well as business owners, employees, media, and land use warriors, men and women who have found their way into this exciting and addictive lifestyle we call off-road. We discuss their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active and off-road. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world that we live and love and call off-road.

[00:00:45.280] - 

Whether you're crawling the Red Rocks of Moab or hauling your toys to the trail, Maxxis has the tires you can trust for performance and durability. Four wheels or two, Maxxis tires are the choice of champions because they know that whether for work or play, for fun or competition, Maxxis tires deliver. Choose Maxxis. Dread victoriously.

[00:01:13.020] - 

Have you seen 4Low magazine yet? 4Low magazine is a high-quality, well-written, four-wheel drive-focused magazine for the enthusiast market. If you still love the idea of a printed magazine, something to save and read at any time, 4LOW is the magazine for you. 4LOW cannot be found in stores, but you can have it delivered to your home or place of business. Visit 4lOWmagazine.com to order your subscription today.

[00:01:39.640] - Big Rich Klein

On today's episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I'll be interviewing Logan Backus, a current We Rock rock crawling competitor in the Pro Trail class. Logan Backus, it's really good to have you on the interview, so let's find out how you're doing.

[00:01:56.970] - Logan Backus

Yeah, glad to be here. I've been Kind of excited to do this for a little while now. Been listening to the podcast for, actually, the last couple of weeks, quite a bit, actually.

[00:02:08.880] - Big Rich Klein

Good. So what was the last podcast that you listened to of the podcast that you've recently listened to? Which one did you like best?

[00:02:19.530] - Logan Backus

Honestly, I went back and listened to Jesse's when Jesse, when you were talking to him. So I had to drive to Salt Lake last Sunday. So I was like, perfect timing. Let's just throw the podcast on and listen to it. And I went to... I listened to Jessie's, and then I listened to Woody's, and just skipped all around, just hit shuffle on it. Perfect. But I think the very last one I listened to was Woody's, actually.

[00:02:41.320] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Excellent. I'm going to suggest that you listen to even people that you don't know who they are. One of the very interesting ones I just did was Cal Wells, who was... I mean, the guy has been in off-road racing, NASCAR, Indy, F1, back to NASCAR, but he's in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, and he's only two years older than I am. When I interviewed him after we got done, I was like, Man, I have really wasted my life.

[00:03:22.910] - Logan Backus

It's a good thing I'm still young. It's a long ways to go.

[00:03:25.840] - Big Rich Klein

There you go. There you go. So let's start off with the first basic easiest question, typically, and that's, where were you born and raised?

[00:03:36.670] - Logan Backus

So born in Orem, Utah. So pretty much dead center of Utah. Not anywhere where I would expect to be rock crawling around or anything. So I mean, as a kid, pretty much my parents house was like 10 minutes from Utah Lake. You could see it off the back porch. So pretty much I lived there my entire life. I mean, didn't really move very far from there until I got to here, which we'll get to that later on. But I mean, just living there. I mean, we lived in the way to say of Central Orem area, in a way to call it. And I was pretty much... Our family wasn't... We didn't go to church or anything like that. We went to the Sand Dunes every single weekend. That's my childhood We went to Little Sahara. We weren't really big into water sports at all, but I always used to go to Utah Lake and go fishing a lot, cat fishing and stuff like that. I had a lot of fun doing that.

[00:04:46.320] - Big Rich Klein

But you guys were outdoorsy?

[00:04:48.820] - Logan Backus

Yeah, pretty much all we did was outdoorsy stuff, but no rock crawling yet. Just pretty much sand dunes. So sandrails, four scooters, pedal bikes. I mean, I would come home from school and just finish my homework or told my mom I finished my homework and would just jump on my pedal bike. We would build jumps. We were known for the kids in the neighborhood to build the biggest, baddest jumps out there. Because my parents house was like, it was literally we were at the end of the street and it was filled. Just fields and fields for days. So that's all we did was pedal bikes and big jumps. If you got hurt, you got hurt and you just jumped back up and you went for it again. That's the lifestyle of being young. But I was the youngest of four in our family. So two older brothers above me and then my older sister. And it was Hey, you're the youngest. You should do this.

[00:06:05.440] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, yeah. You were the guinea pig.

[00:06:07.320] - Logan Backus

Yeah. You should go do this. Why don't we let you go off the jump first? We just built it. None of us has hit it yet. But how about you go for the jump? Okay, I'm the young, dumb one. Why not? Let's go for it. No broken bones. So that was the good part about it.

[00:06:27.840] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:06:29.190] - Logan Backus

So But I think that escalated in my daringness of growing older and getting on a four-wheeler and stuff. And my dad's rule was always, If you can start it, you can ride it.

[00:06:44.860] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, nice.

[00:06:45.540] - Logan Backus

Which when you're six, seven years old and you can start the fastest bike that's there, it turned into, okay, hold on a minute. I guess you should have someone that rides with you. You probably shouldn't be the one that just gets on it and I was. So I mean, pretty much that's all I remember my entire life of being a kid was every single weekend, if not every other weekend, was was little Sahara sand dunes. Right. And riding forward. It was just if you pretty much all the sand cars would go out there, and you got me, my brother, and a couple of our friends back then at that time. If you couldn't keep up with the sandrails that were out there doing the dunes, you probably just shouldn't have rode with us at all. And I remember one time, I think we were up in Idaho, is where it was, is we were about to go for a ride, and I can't remember who it was, but one of the groups was like, are they? I was asking my dad, Are you sure that they can keep up with us. We're going out here in the sand cars.

[00:08:03.660] - Logan Backus

We're not going to be going slow. And my dad's like, Oh, yeah, they're fine. They'll be fine. They've been riding since four years old, really young. And we got all the way out to the end Dune called Devil's Dune. And the guy was like, Yeah, I guess I'll never ask that question again. The whole time, we were ride on their bus. We'd get bored because we would pretty much catch up to him so easily that we were playing like NASCAR, three bikes wide, going through the bowls. And you know how it is. If one guy screws up, all the other ones have- Everybody's down. Yeah, everyone's got to react quickly. So I would say we got pretty good at riding and everything else. To the point where it scared the crap out of my dad every time we would go riding, because he would be like, All right, enough's enough. I don't to watch you die.

[00:09:00.870] - Big Rich Klein

Just stop. Who's going to come back with a broken collarbone or a broken neck or something?

[00:09:06.310] - Logan Backus

Something like that. Yeah. So this is when I was older. I was probably 16, 17 at this time now, and we're out I'd go to the Idaho Sand dunes again. And if you ever look up the hill called Chope Cherry out there, a really steep, long hill. And I love doing wheelies. That's pretty much where I was known for doing wheelies. I would wheelie everywhere on my. And one time I was like, I don't know how cool it would be to wheelie from the very top of this all the way to the bottom. And my dad's like, Don't do it. Don't do it. And I'm like, I'm sitting there and nobody's paying attention. And I was like, I'm just going to go get on my bike and mozey over here for a minute. And I was like, he's not paying attention. From the very top all the way to the bottom through the wheels, I held the wheelie all the way down it. I turn around, come back up, and I stop, and he walks over and turns the bike off, and he's like, You're done. No more. I'm like, What? It's fine. And he's like, No more.

[00:10:18.370] - Logan Backus

You're not doing that again. Okay. All right. I guess that was it for the weekend. I guess I won't do that again. But, yeah.

[00:10:31.280] - Big Rich Klein

Right. So what was school like? Did you enjoy school or were you one of those that just looked out the window hoping that the day would get over so you could get outside?

[00:10:43.450] - Logan Backus

I absolutely hated school. I would go to school every day, and I wanted to go home. I wanted to go play outside. I wanted to be like, nothing to do with school. Like, yeah, I got good grades in my past school. I didn't feel anything, especially into my junior high school, when you start meeting all the friends and they have just a little bit older than you, and they all have cars. And you're like, man, I don't really want to be here anymore. So I'm not really skip school, but right at the end of school, they pick you up and you go out and just hang out with all your buddies outside and do stuff. High school got to the point where I graduated early because I I was like, all right, I'm going to take all the classes that I need to because I don't want to be in school anymore. I hated doing tests. I mean, all of that. So I pretty much took a ton of like auto-shop and welding shop and welding shop, a ton. And pretty much my last senior year was I had one class that I had to take in order to graduate halfway through the year early.

[00:11:57.050] - Logan Backus

And the rest of it was just like, what do you want to do? I was like, well, just fill the rest of schedule up with auto shop and welding. And they're like, are you sure? You just want to do that's all you want to do? I'm like, yeah, what else am I going to do for the rest of the day? And then I pretty much got a job and just quit going to school because I was like, I'm already graduated. I don't really need to go to school anymore. I might as well just start working. If I want anything cool in life, I got to make money somewhere So I was like, All right, let's just work.

[00:12:33.510] - Big Rich Klein

And what did you do for work?

[00:12:37.530] - Logan Backus

When I first started, I did landscaping for a little bit. Okay. Decided that he did using a shovel I didn't want to use a shovel. I did work part-time with my dad every Saturday. He owns a mechanic shop up there. And I hated going there on Saturdays because it was like All right, we work from 8:00 to 2:00. And you're like, man, that's the whole Saturday. What are you going to do the rest of the day? I was like, I never want to work a Saturday in my life. So I decided to try and do eating and air conditioning, big commercial stuff. And I did part of UVU, the new half of where it's over by the baseball field, I think is where it is. It's part of the university right there, because it was right next to my parents house. And I got convinced to like, hey, yeah, you should come do heating and air. It's really cool, and you make a ton of money, and you only work four days a week. And I was like, oh, heck, yeah. Let's do it. Yeah, I think that last just a month. And I decided that that wasn't for me anymore.

[00:13:46.310] - Logan Backus

I was like, No, I'm done. So it made my dad mad, but I took a job working at Big O Tires in University Mall. Because a mechanic shop, you feel it's competitor. He owns a shop in Springville, and then I'm working for Big O now, and university mall. And he's like, I wish you wouldn't work there. I'm like, man, I'm doing tires. Like, come on. It's not like I'm working on cars or doing other stuff and all that. But pretty much what the deal was, is I had bought... I guess before I worked at Big I was working actually pumping gas. You remember back in the day where you pull up in the olden days and you have somebody that comes out and just starts pumping the gas for you and everything? Oh, yeah.

[00:14:38.460] - Big Rich Klein

Full service. You check the oil, you do the... Watch the windshield. Yeah.

[00:14:43.940] - Logan Backus

Yeah. I worked for a place, I think for four years actually doing that. I was pumping gas and propane. And that was my full-time job. And that's how I bought my first Jeep. And then I bought The owner of the gas station had a truck that he was selling, and I really wanted it. My dad's like, I don't know why you want a truck like that. I'm like, to tow my Jeep around. Why do you want to own a Dermax? And they're expensive, and they break. And I'm like, well, yeah, I'm a young kid. Of course, stuff is going to break. But I really wanted it. And I finally, I wouldn't say my mom cosigned on it with me, but I finally was able to get the loan, I think by myself, because I had saved up enough money and everything to do it. And I bought the truck. And that was about the time that I said, I think I did HVAC for a little bit. And I hated that job when I quit, and I started working at Big O. But my dad told me, I'm not making the payment on that truck.

[00:15:54.140] - Logan Backus

If I make the payment on it, I'm selling it, because I already own a truck. And I was like, deal. You're not going to tell me So I made sure that every month, no matter what I did, I had enough money to make that truck payment to prove a point that I can do this. Because being the youngest out of four, of course, the older siblings and all that stuff, I felt like I got the easy end of it, but I also got the hard end of it because the disciplining of the top three kids, and then it got to a point where it was like, well, you're the only one in the household now. And all right, we don't care, just don't get in trouble. Come home every night and work and don't go to jail. And it'll be fine. Okay. Yeah, no problem. But I guess that's where I really, for my dad being a mechanic for his entire life, that's what I was learned. And so when I started working at Big O and doing tires and everything else, and then moved up to the oil change guy, which, once again, I hated doing.

[00:17:08.310] - Logan Backus

Oil change is probably the worst thing in my life, but I hate doing them. And that's what I did every single day 8:00 AM till 6:00 PM. And especially working there, right next to the... It was the mall at that point. People just dropped their car off and like, I'm going shopping for an hour and I'll be back to pick my car up for an oil change. So it was like one after another of oil changes. And it got to the point where I was like, I really hate doing this. I don't know why I decided this was a good thing to do. And about that time, I thought that it was cool to turn my truck up, really make a lot of power out of it because that age of 17 years old of not really caring anymore. You just want to fast.

[00:18:00.790] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:18:01.950] - Logan Backus

So I blew the truck up. It was we came down here for winter four by four.

[00:18:11.510] - Big Rich Klein

I think that's what it was. And come down here, you mean Southern Utah, St. George, York?

[00:18:15.750] - Logan Backus

Yes, Southern Utah, where I'm with them now. And I thought that it was a good idea to just leave it on the biggest tune and just not lift out of it. And I blew the head gaskets in it. And it was like, wow, that was the dumbest idea I've ever had, because that was my main vehicle that I drove to get back and forth to work. And it was like, oh, I shouldn't have done that. So at that point, I had to fix it myself because a young kid with not much money at that point. So I had to take another loan out against the truck to pay for half the parts on it to fix it. And so I borrowed my dad's truck. He has an old '91 or '93 Chevy pickup truck that I was driving while I fixed mine. And he's like, This is what I told you. You and your kid, don't hot rod it. Now look what you did. You hot rodded it. Now you blew it up.

[00:19:25.920] - Big Rich Klein

And I'm like- Don't you hate that?

[00:19:29.110] - Logan Backus

Yeah. Which is funny is this whole time of life, like young kid to, don't hot rod it, don't hot rod it, don't hot rod it. You're going to blow it up. You're going to blow it up. And of course, I've blown that truck up six times now. I still own it. So I've owned that truck 17 or 18 years old. I still own that truck, and I'm 32 years old now. And I won't ever get rid of that truck. But So I pretty much fixed the truck myself. And at that point, I decided I really wanted to work on diesel pickup trucks. So I went and found a job that that's what they did, this diesel stuff. So I started working there, and it stuck, and that's pretty much what I do for a living now, owning my own business in Loverick in Utah, working on those trucks.

[00:20:29.850] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. So when you were a kid and in school, it didn't sound like you probably participated in sports or any other school activities, or did you?

[00:20:39.950] - Logan Backus

No, I hated sports. I didn't want to... No baseball. During elementary school, I used to play soccer at lunchtime because that was about all you could really do is play soccer or swing on the swings. So I played soccer because at least to get some exercise run around. But I didn't really want to do anything sports-wise because after school, I didn't want to practice or stuff like that. I wanted to go ride my bike when I got out of school. So there wasn't really a point to do any activities like that.

[00:21:18.760] - Big Rich Klein

How about school dances or anything? Or did you just blow all those off as well?

[00:21:26.460] - Logan Backus

I went to one in my entire junior high, high school. I went to one, and that was it. And it was actually not even my school. I didn't even go to the dance for my school. When I was working at the gas station, one of the older girls that I was working with, her daughter was the same age as me. And she was like, Hey, will you take my daughter to the school dance? She thinks you're cute and she wants to go. And I was like, Yeah, sure. Why not? I don't really care. So I took her to the school dance, and then I was like, This isn't my thing. I don't really like this stuff. So I think we were in the dance for like 45 minutes or something like that. And then I took her back home. And I was like, Yeah, here you go. We dance for a minute, and that was it. And got pictures, and that was about it. And I don't I don't think we talked after that either.

[00:22:32.600] - Big Rich Klein

Probably crushed the poor girl.

[00:22:34.950] - Logan Backus

Yeah. I warned the mom, and I said, I don't do school dances. I don't. I just don't see the point of it. I don't like it. So I would say that was the last time I got asked to do that, and about the last one I ever went to. It's not worth it.

[00:22:59.360] - Big Rich Klein

So So you said that you're working on on trucks. Was it a truck shop, or was it big trucks, or just pickups?

[00:23:10.320] - Logan Backus

No, it was light duty pickup truck. Okay. You know, your everyday Chevy and Fords and Dodges and normal cars. We did normal cars and stuff, too. A lot of the work that I did there was removing and installing transmissions and motors and diagnosing, like driveability issues and stuff like that. At that time, how I found the job was, is I rented a house from an old friend that used to live in my parents neighborhood. And he owned the shop. And I was paying him rent one day. And I was like, hey, you guys hire? And he's like, actually, we are. And so I was like, okay. And so I went over there and interviewed and he's like, do you know how to work on diesel trucks and stuff like that? And I start up and answer, no, I don't. I just work on my own stuff. I've been working for Big O for four years now, I think is what it was. But I was like, this is all I do there. But I work on my own truck and this is what I've done to it. And back then, I built the whole entire motor.

[00:24:27.410] - Logan Backus

And then I want to say I sat on Google for a week trying to figure out how to do a compound turbo set up on it. And I think I googled and searched for a week of how to do it, and what do you do, and what pipe goes where, and how do you get oil for this and that. And so my brother does auto body work on the side because he does auto body. And so he had a little shop in Pleasant Grove, where I had built the motor the first time. And So I took it there. And in a month, I built the whole piping kit and turbo set up to compound turbo it. And I pretty much told them that and they were like, okay, I think I was 21, 22 at that time. 21. They're like, okay, I guess he knows what he's doing. And when I first started there, I felt like I was the dumbest kid block. I have no idea what I'm doing here. Why did I why did I decide to change professions? I should have stuck doing oil changes. I think the first week there, I Definitely felt like I shouldn't have done this.

[00:25:47.410] - Logan Backus

This is the dumbest thing I've ever decided to do. But I feel like anyone that changes job professions, that's how they feel for the first little while, because the owner there really taught a lot. He helped me out. He took me under his wing and said, I'm going to show you how to learn the ins and outs of all this stuff, because both of them worked for the Chevy dealers ship and then left and started that place. And they were young, too. I want to say when I started, when I was in my 20s, they were mid-30s when they owned it. So back then, everyone was young, still working on it, but they taught me a lot. And I'm super glad about it because that's what helped me out buying my business and owning the business that I own now down here in Southern Utah. Plus, with my dad and everything, always making sure I had something to work on because, sand cars, four-wheelers, and I'm dumb enough to just blow everything up that I own, and I can't leave anything stock, like anything stock. It's always, always have to change something and always have to make something faster.

[00:27:05.020] - Logan Backus

And my first wife, I drove her crazy because I always like, we should do this to something. And she's like, we don't have money for that. I'm like, I'll figure it out. It's fine.

[00:27:18.890] - Big Rich Klein

So you mentioned the Jeep that you bought your first Jeep. What made you decide to go with a Jeep?

[00:27:29.290] - Logan Backus

So Do you know Bart Jacobs? Yes. Was it U-Rock back in the day when he competed? Yeah. So his son, I went to high school with him. I worked with him also when we worked at the gas station, pumping gas. And so everyone's taking out and he's like, Hey, man, you should come out and we're going to go wheeling out at 5 Mile and do rattlesnake. And I was like, I don't even know what this thing is that you're calling wheeling. I'm thinking we're going to go through some mud puddles or dirt roads, that stuff. And I was like, I don't know what the heck you're talking about, but this sounds like a good time to me because growing up doing sand dunes and stuff was like, why not? The first time we went out there and we went and did Rattle snake in my camp, he showed me what rock crawling was. I was hooked. I was like, wow. And so he's like, hey, do you want buy the Jeep from me. I'm going to sell it. Because he was going to college and at that age, driving a Jeep with 33s on it and lift it and work in a gas station job, it barely paid the bills for gas anyways.

[00:28:46.530] - Logan Backus

And so I was like, I'll buy it from you. And so that was the very first Jeep that I had ever bought was a '99 Jeep Cherokee, ' lifted 33s with just a Dana 44 in the rear of the locker and a stock Dana 30 up front. And short arm kit, everything. That was it. Four and a half inch lift. And I thought that it was the coolest thing ever I thought- You were styling. Yeah, you can take this thing anywhere. This is the best rock collar in the world. We're going everywhere with this thing. And I got myself into trouble. I I think I blew the front end up in that thing 20 times. Drive shafts, axial shafts. I just kept my foot in it. I didn't care. We were going somewhere. We shoved that thing in some mud puddles that we're like, wow, I don't think we should have drove through that. I think I had to do two or three radiators in it, a couple of alternators. It was bad. My dad's like, it's why you don't go off roading and stuff. They're not meant to do that. You shouldn't do that.

[00:30:16.290] - Logan Backus

Like, No, it's fine.

[00:30:17.370] - Big Rich Klein

That's exactly what they're meant to do.

[00:30:20.090] - Logan Backus

I started building that thing because I wanted to do more stuff in it. I think Going to Moab, I just had graduated. So 2010, when I graduated, and me and a kid in my neighborhood, his dad used to take him to Moab all the time. And he's like, Dude, you should come. You should come. I'm like, I don't know. I've never been there. I've never been there. He's like, dude, we'll just put it in behind my truck. From where we lived in Aurum to Moab was only three hours, three and a half hours. And so we woke up Saturday morning at 5:00 AM, drove to my lab, and then did very... We pull in, I'm like, this is the coolest freaking town I've ever seen in my life. Back then, how small it was, because it was 2010, 2011. Yeah, right there, 2011. Small town, hasn't really expanded quite yet. And we roll up, and back then, I was dating a girl where her family went to Moab a lot. And they're like, Hey, meet us here. So we met them at one of the hotels in the middle of town. They're like, All right, we're going to go do Behind the Rocks.

[00:31:38.900] - Logan Backus

And I was like, Awesome. Sounds good to me. I didn't do any researching before we went there at all. And we go to do Behind the rocks, and I'm in a Cherokee with 33s and one locker and open front diff. And the first obstacle we up to, we were behind a group, and it's that really steep wall. The gatekeeper wall.

[00:32:05.410] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah.

[00:32:06.620] - Logan Backus

You either have to go far right and get really sketchy to get a smoother route up it or the big undercuts get up it. And we watch a guy roll off of it, and I'm sitting there, I'm like, what did I just get myself into? Why are we here? Because back home, we wheeled Rattle snake, American Port Canyon. All that stuff out there is like boulders, like rock.

[00:32:35.340] - Big Rich Klein

More flat. Yeah.

[00:32:37.510] - Logan Backus

Yeah. You don't really have big steep obstacles that you're trying to go up and off cambered or anything. And I literally was like, what are we doing? Why are we out here? And so I got nervous when we were pulling up to it. So I had decided, okay, well, I'm not going to the big wall because it's a Jeep and the black bumper is just going to dig into the ground and just hang up. So we went to the right, and I just went really, really slow and got all out of the top. And I was like, Okay, my confidence is a little bit higher now. We drove the entire trail, and we got all the way to the end, which I don't think we did it the right way, and I still am not convinced that we did the actual Braille. Unless I'm wrong. But do you go all the way out? Is it Wipeout? The very end where you have that steep downhill?

[00:33:37.740] - Big Rich Klein

No, it's not Wipeout, it's White Knuckle.

[00:33:40.900] - Logan Backus

White Knuckle, yeah. You're out in the middle of nowhere at that point. And I'm trusting that they know where they're going at that point, because they talked like they had been out here millions and millions of times. And so we get all the way to there, and then I'm like, you're telling me we have to drive down that? Like down White Knuckle? They're like, yeah, that's how you get out of here. And I'm like, no way. Oh, man. I was scared. So we had a strap on the back. And you watch all the videos of the dumbest ways to die. Don't do that. There's six guys on the back of this strap to drive the Jeep down this hill because I'm like, I'm not doing this. This is, no, not doing this. I don't know why I decided rock crawling was the coolest thing in the world to do. But, yeah, we drive down that and then they're like, all right, I think you go left to get out of here. And I was like, did you just say you think? They're like, Yeah, it's been a really, really, really, really long time since we've been out here.

[00:34:41.180] - Logan Backus

And at this point, I think it was eight o'clock at night And I was like, We've been on this trail all day long, and you have no idea where we're getting out of this place. And you just followed the road, and we ended up getting out. And we drove back home that night. I think we got back home at one or two in the morning. And after that, I was like, all right, Moab was actually really cool. I really want to go back. So I decided to build the Jeep more because a 44 in the rear and a 30 in the front was like, I'm going to break that every time I go out. So I got on KSL on Marketplace, going through. And I found a Jeep that somebody was parting out or selling a whole That was just absolutely just demolished. But it had a Dana 44, Ford front Axle, and then a Dana 60 in the rear. And I was like, that's what I want. I'm going to take those axels, I'm going to put them underneath my Jeep, and I already got tires and wheels for it that already come with it.

[00:35:50.340] - Logan Backus

Done. I'm upset, no problem at all. So we pull it in my cousin's garage and try and do the axel swap in one weekend thinking like, this is going to quick and easy bolt up. I bought the barns four-wheel drive coil bucket brackets for the front to weld on. We're just going to cut the I-bean piece off the front, the control arm piece off the forward axel off the front. We have a torch, we have a welder, we can do anything. We'll fabricate it. Halfway through doing that, we found out that it was a cast knuckle piece. How they slid it on, it's all cast where the diamond piece is, where the control arm bolts on. And I was like, oh, no. I was like, this isn't going to work. I don't understand what I just did. I don't know what to do anymore. So it was like first time fabricating stuff like that. And I was like, oh, and so the one kid that was helping me was like, oh, no, we'll just customize the bracket. We'll just cut it out. I was like, okay, whatever you say. So we pretty much did that, just cut the brackets up and welded it all on there, and then got it all underneath there and got it all done.

[00:37:09.320] - Logan Backus

And I decided the tires that were on it, they were an old a dry rock tire that was just dry rotted to crap and didn't work. So I took the tires off of my truck and put them on there to go wheeling for a weekend. And I was like, yeah, this will be I'm awesome with you. And we went and ran rattlesnake again. And I just figured out that I was not a good fabricator at that time, and that nothing was the right way to do it. The coil spring kept falling out of the front because it would flex so far out because it had no limit straps and the shocks were too long in the front. So every time we pull up on the obstacle, somebody had to watch the one coil spring to make sure it didn't fall out of the front. And I was like, man, I don't know what I'm doing here. And so we finally put limit straps on it. And then I went and wheeled Hanging tree. Have you ever been to that trail? No. It's out in.

[00:38:23.740] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:38:25.030] - Logan Backus

And it's like the old trail is like a river is what it is. Sometimes the year it's water running down, sometimes the year it's not. And we get there and there's two or three of us that are out there wheeling it. Three of us have Cherokees and all that. And then out of nowhere, this guy shows up in this freaking awesome YJ that's all not fully done up, but like leapsprung and all that stuff. And we're going through the trail and I'm like, That thing's freaking awesome. That seems like that just rock-crawls sweet. And it ended up being Tyler Harper that I met there. That was the first week when I met him. And I blew a tire halfway through the trail. And back then it had 35s on it. And we were trying the good old dry shampoo, hairspray, trying to get the beat to seat back on. And And I couldn't get it on. I was like, all right, screw this. And Tyler's like, well, you can put my bald, Prunelle Jones 38 on there. And I was like, 35, 38? Yeah, they're close enough. That's fine. So we just bolt that bad boy on and finished the trail out.

[00:39:55.710] - Logan Backus

And after that weekend, I was like, I think it's time to get rid of this crumpled can of a frame and just actually get into something that's like an actual frame, not anything that's like a tin can. Because I think I had already half-ripped the steering box off the front of the Cherokee, broke the rear bumper off of it because we'd gotten stuck in the mud so bad that trying to get it out, we ripped the back bumper off of it. It just sheared the bolts straight out of it. That thing got put through the Ringer. We'll just say that. Oh, yeah. That Cherokee lived its life of just beating the crap out of it. Beating the crap out of it. Where we go deer hunting up in strawberries, there's back in the day, before they fixed the road, it was just all ruts and like, 'Whoops'. And I was like, I bet I could get to the end of the road doing 50 miles an hour. ' And my brother's like, no way. ' Because they don't do any off-roading or anything like that. Nothing like we did. And we, I think, 45 miles an hour is how fast we were going through these ruts and whoops in that thing.

[00:41:25.990] - Logan Backus

And mind you, it's down pouring rain and one quick little slip of the rear and something, and that thing probably could have started barrel rolling down the road. But we didn't care. When I'm that young, I was like, I can drive anything and do anything.

[00:41:44.630] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Indestructible.

[00:41:46.620] - Logan Backus

Yeah, exactly. I mean, that Cherokee definitely lived a life of feet. But that's when I started trying to find a Wrangler. And I think when I bought my old green Jeep, that's the Ranglet of the YJ that I had. That thing progressed me so much of wheeling that it scared the shit out of me in a way of saying. But I searched on KSL for a long time. And Tyler, that's when me and Tyler started to become really good friends, is he sent me the link to that and And he said, hey, because I've been talking about his YJ, and it's like, it's pretty cool. Love to build. He's like, hey, I found this one. You should go buy this one. And I was like, okay. And It came with Dana 60 front, Dana 60 rear, had a Dana 300 transfer case already. And the trans wasn't in it. The guy said, here, you need this. This is the trans that I bought to put in it because it used to be a manual and he was doing an automatic swap in it. And I was like, okay, I think he was asking seven grand for it.

[00:43:09.360] - Logan Backus

And it had been on there for a really, really long time. I was trying to wheel and deal with him because I only have four grand saved up. And I was like, I'll give you four for it. And he's like, no. And I was like, okay, how about five grand and a 30 pack of beer? Because when we looked at it, the guy was drinking a beer and I was like, how about And he's like, okay, deal. And I was like, okay, now I got to come up with $1,000 and I got to find someone that's old enough to buy beer, because I wasn't old enough yet. And I was like, what do I do? And so I took one of the kids that I was working with that was 24 at the time. I was like, all right, we're driving to Salt Lake City, the far end of Salt Lake. And when we get here, here's 25 bucks. You have to go in and buy a 30 pack of beer. He's like, you're not an old enough to drink. And I was like, I know. It's not for me. It's the guy that I'm buying the Jeep from.

[00:44:10.850] - Logan Backus

And he's like, oh, that makes sense. So I swindled the deal for that. And he gave me spare, it's like Cro-Molly shafts for the rear, a spool, all this stuff. And at that point, I had started fabricating a lot more and understood the how to make things work point. But that's where built the YJ and did a lot more moab trips and get more comfortable in it and see time in a way of saying, as us rock call it now.

[00:44:55.020] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:44:56.950] - Logan Backus

And that's where I really fell in love with it, of rock crawling more, of to be able to go out the middle of anywhere and just how beautiful it was of scenery you're going to see. Crawl up through this canyon, and you pop out on top, and you're looking over this entire valley, and all that stuff. That's where I decided from there on out, I was going to have a rock hauler or something to do this, because I just love to be able to see the sceneries and stuff like that.

[00:45:35.060] - Big Rich Klein

So did you take the built YJ? Did you take it out on behind the rocks?

[00:45:43.010] - Logan Backus

Yeah, actually did one time. Almost front flipped it off of... What was it? You got to be nuts or not. You got to be nuts. Oh, high dive? Going down high dive. Yeah, we almost front flipped it off of that once. We So I was driving, and my fiance at the time was in the passenger seat, and our buddy was in the back seat, and his Jeep had broken. And so he was just in the back seat drinking and everything. I thought that he was putting all his beer cans in the trash bag in the back, but he was just putting them by his feet. So when we go down that, all of a sudden, all the beer cans from the back seat right into the front seat. And of course, one's underneath the break pedal in your legs. So you're trying I'm going to smash the break and smash in a can at the same time. And I'm like, I swear to God, I'm not drunk. That's not me. I was not drinking. I was like, oh, God. So then at the bottom of it, after we almost roll and everything, clean all the beer hands up and put them in the bag.

[00:46:47.160] - Logan Backus

It's like, oh, man, that could have been bad.

[00:46:51.980] - Big Rich Klein

How was the YJ driving off of white knuckle?

[00:46:55.580] - Logan Backus

Not bad. I was still a little nervous. I hated driving down stuff. I loved going up stuff, but I hated going down stuff.

[00:47:03.650] - Big Rich Klein

I'm the same way. I'd rather drive up and down. I hate it.

[00:47:06.920] - Logan Backus

Well, now that I own my buggy, I don't care. I'll drive down, up and down anything. I think that's all because of you and competing.

[00:47:17.780] - Big Rich Klein

I've never driven a buggy.

[00:47:21.000] - Logan Backus

Really?

[00:47:21.710] - Big Rich Klein

No.

[00:47:23.090] - Logan Backus

I thought you would have or have.

[00:47:26.650] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, most people do. They wonder, how can you set courses if you've never driven it? It's just years of watching and understanding the vehicle dynamics.

[00:47:37.960] - Logan Backus

Yeah, put a cone there and put a cone there, and it'll screw with your brain more than you think it will.

[00:47:44.850] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:47:46.290] - Logan Backus

It's like, that's crazy.

[00:47:49.720] - Big Rich Klein

But it's knowing how most of the vehicles will react, where a torque lift here or a a little side slip, what tires have a tendency to roll like a sidewall.

[00:48:09.760] - Logan Backus

Yeah, scuff sideways.

[00:48:10.690] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And you may know that in your own vehicle driving, that, Oh, hey, when I get into this, this is what's going to happen. But I've never driven, but I know what's going to happen just from so many years of watching.

[00:48:27.400] - Logan Backus

Yeah. I mean, it took me quite a while to learn which way... If you got to go through the cones this way, if you turn a loop this way to go through it to help the suspension, the tire roll, and all that aspect of things. You're game planning it. Yeah, it took me years to figure that out. I'm not saying that I know it for sure, but it took me a while because I was like, Oh, you go from this gate straight to that gate.

[00:48:58.210] - Big Rich Klein

Most people make that a steak to begin with. Yeah. And it's fun to watch.

[00:49:05.040] - Logan Backus

Yeah. The first time I ever competed, Tyler convinced me to go out to Old-school rock crawl is what it was called back then in Delta.

[00:49:18.460] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, with Craig Stump. Yeah.

[00:49:20.280] - Logan Backus

Yeah. He's like, It's so fun. If you love rock crawling, you'll love this. And I was like, Why would I spend money I should go beat the crap out of my own vehicle. Why does that sound like it's not that fun? And he's like, Trust me, just come spot for me. I'll spot for you. We'll have a good time. I'm like, okay. And I had no idea what the rules were. We showed up and was just like, what do I do? And he's like, you just drive through the cone. That's literally all he told me. You just drive through the cone. So I had never read the rule book. I had never read anything about of what to do or anything. He's just like, I'll just make it so I can go first and then we'll go next. And I was like, okay. He's like, just spot me and don't let me hit a cone. And I'm like, all right, that seems easy to do. I don't understand why you need me to tell you where not to hit a cone. Because I was like, it's rock-roll, man. Just go for it. Boy, was I wrong?

[00:50:29.560] - Logan Backus

He I mean, Tyler's just an amazing driver, especially back then. He'd already been wheeling way more than I had. And so we went, I think it was 2013 at that point when I went out with him and competed. And I learned so much that weekend because he's like, I want to go this way to do this and that way to do that. I was like, okay, and went through it all. I think he won that weekend. And I took second to last because I didn't understand the time limit part of it because I just take my time, go through everything. So I timed out a ton, hit a bunch of cones, broke both, twisted the rear drive shaft in half, broke two stab shafts. We went into the teeter totter with front wheel drive only. Because I was like, well, you got to get through the courses to make points, right? And Tyler's like, yeah. And I was like, back then, that's when they let you do the spotter ride. And Tyler jumps in the past in your seat. And I'm like, are you ready? Are you ready for this? And he's like, yeah, sure.

[00:51:49.900] - Logan Backus

We start going up it and it's just front wheel drive. So of course, it just spins up the metal ramp halfway. And he's like, you don't have your air drive line, do you? And I'm like, no, we're just in front drive only. He's like, oh, God. We back up and we just get a run at that thing. If you fall off of it, where are you going? It can't be that bad. I mean, they have the crane of shame out here. Like, So we get over the teeter totter and it bings down really hard. And we get over there on the row of rocks right there on the other side of the tube, and we're bouncing around. And back then, in And the rules, then it was you only had to get two tires through the cone. So you could just put the passenger side tires through the cone or the driver side tires through the cone. None of this three tires. So I hadn't really figured that part out yet. So I just started going through two tires and stuff, and we're bouncing through, and we snap the other short side stab shaft on it.

[00:52:51.920] - Logan Backus

So we're one wheel drive, and we get through it, and we end. And he looks at me and he's like, what are How are you doing? We're here to have fun, right? I thought that's what we came out here for. So the very first time I competed, I destroyed everything. But I was hooked after that. I was in love with doing it. And so I went home and bought Chrome Mollet 35-splein shafts for the front of it, and moved the seat down to Because I felt like I was really tall when I sat on that thing. So I moved the seat down more. Thought it was a good idea to put a cutting break on it in the rear only with a stool. So it works. It's still to this day that Jeep has that set up, the same cutting break set up in it, because it's like, it does help when you're in front, front wheel drive only. When you need to turn, you can walk the rear, but it's technically not the right way to do it, but it still works.

[00:54:06.700] - Big Rich Klein

So what was your first We Rock event?

[00:54:10.590] - Logan Backus

Cedar City. Okay. Is when you guys did it in Cedar City. And I think I almost tried to kill you with a rock. A big ass boulder, I think. Me and Tyler were stuck on it, and I was in the Jeep, and I was going back and forth, and you had put the cone right on the other side of it, and it was between a big rock that would move and a big boulder that would And I think you were standing down on the bottom outside the course, over it. And I just kept back and forth, just beating on it. And you're looking at me like, what are you doing? I'm competing my second time. I don't know what I'm doing. Just drive through the cones. And I think I had gotten the rock to move, which then made it easier for everyone throughout the whole day. And you're looking at me like, now I got to move this. Now you I'm trying to make this, get the plastic tube out, paint the rocks again. It had pretty much changed the whole entire course on that side. But I don't think I broke anything that time, but I still didn't do very I think I still, out of 20 cars, I think I got 14.

[00:55:22.160] - Logan Backus

So I still sucked really bad. It took years to get actually up to the podium because- But you didn't quit? No. In my mentality, it was like, you have 10 minutes. You got to get through four gates, and you can only hit, in my brain, only hit three cones, and you're okay. And so I was foot to the floor everywhere, didn't care. That's how I thought you were supposed to compete to get through stuff. And I learned that that was the It was a long way to do it. Badly, badly. So I mean, I competed in that Jeep for all the way up until 2019. 2019 is the last time I competed in it. And it was Goldendale. Goldendale was the last place I come to that Jeep. Because that was the year that me and Tyler did the entire series. We did Donner because it was Donner the last year you guys went to 2019?

[00:56:36.030] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, probably. Yeah.

[00:56:38.810] - Logan Backus

Yeah, because that was the year that we did the whole series.

[00:56:41.550] - Big Rich Klein

So you got to wheel Donner. That's awesome.

[00:56:44.490] - Logan Backus

I did. I love that place. Absolutely loved it. I'm hoping one of these days to go back there, but I doubt it just with everything.

[00:56:52.800] - Big Rich Klein

It's so difficult. The property owner has priced it out of our Out of our range for us to be able to do the event there. But hopefully, someday he'll change his mind.

[00:57:09.300] - Logan Backus

Yeah. The one place I wish that I would have got to, which to go to, was Congress. The one year, I think Tyler went, I wasn't able to go. And he's like, Man, you should have came. And just seeing pictures of that place, it was like, I really wish I was able to go down there to Will Congress, but I never got to do that one at all. I was bummed about it, because I think the next year is when you guys switch to Baghdad.

[00:57:40.450] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Well, Congress is one of those that we may have a chance to get back into.

[00:57:48.890] - Logan Backus

If you do, I'm definitely going. I'm definitely going.

[00:57:51.330] - Big Rich Klein

But I may do it more like a put up or shut up type competition, not a regular We Rock event, if we do it. Because for the regular series event, the the Bagdad site is pretty phenomenal, especially since they keep expanding it and opening it up and doing more. But for a for like a 20 or 25 car invitational like they do in Texas or like Little Rich does with Trail Hero, Trailbreaker, something like that would be pretty phenomenal.

[00:58:27.290] - Logan Backus

Oh, yeah. I would love to do that. I remember the first time going to Baghdad, and we slept right behind the bar. My trailer was the back window of the bar. And I was like, this is such a cool event site. I like how it's set up in a little bowl and all the rocks are on the one face, and you can see everything, especially how we camped up there this last year. You could sit on the back of the trailer and just watch the or watch the stock class or all that stuff. It was awesome.

[00:59:06.770] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I like event sites like that. Dayton, Tennessee is that way, the big face there with the grass in front of it and everything that we do a night event in Dayton. It's awesome.

[00:59:18.260] - Logan Backus

The one place that I wish they still would have done it is Saint Paulo, but then they turned it into that venue right there, the golf course.

[00:59:26.280] - Big Rich Klein

The rest of the Rocks there, there wasn't There's enough variety or enough there to put on a We Rock style rock crawling. We had a difficult time there with the two times that we did it there before they turned it into the musical arena area, just trying to pick out other lines that weren't always the same.

[00:59:56.420] - Logan Backus

Yeah, because what, two or three times you guys did it there?

[00:59:59.180] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I think two.

[01:00:01.320] - Logan Backus

Yeah. Two. Yeah. Because me and Tyler both competed there both times. You guys did it. And it was fun. It was cool because the same thing. You sit in the grass and you can 360 all the way around. You could see everything. But yeah, it's just not a lot of real estate to change it up so much.

[01:00:19.030] - Big Rich Klein

Right. That's why it worked for Rich when he did the Super Crawl, where it was more of a rock race, one, two course type thing.

[01:00:29.860] - Logan Backus

Yeah, especially on that other side that they did it on. There was some cool stuff over there, but same thing. I think if they tried to do it again over there, you only have so much space to change things up. The two-day event that they did there, not to say a lot of it was the same, but it intertwined with each other, where some stuff was close to what you did the day before. Instead of going across cross the face from left to right, you went from right all the way to the left, which it made it different, yeah. But at the same time, it was like the cones were close to about the same area. Right. But still fun. I love wheeling that because you're like, all right, we're done wheeling. Who wants to go to dinner at the resort? She walked her off the parking lot.

[01:01:24.660] - Big Rich Klein

Exactly. That was nice. Especially with the condos. And if you I had one of the condos, being able to use the pools and stuff like that. It was pretty good.

[01:01:36.210] - Logan Backus

It was really good. I like that.

[01:01:38.370] - Big Rich Klein

So out of the event sites that you've wheeled, which is the one that you hate the most? And then the site that you like the most.

[01:01:49.490] - Logan Backus

I hate Cedar City. I know I live like 30 minutes from it, but I have this vendetta with Cedar City where I cannot get past third place, no matter what I do.

[01:02:03.800] - Big Rich Klein

Or what area we use.

[01:02:05.950] - Logan Backus

No matter what, it's third place. When I did Super Crawl, I think I took fourth there. And every single We Rock, I have taken third there. I love that place a lot, and all that, because that's...

[01:02:27.740] - Big Rich Klein

I It's a classic rock crawling site.

[01:02:33.580] - Logan Backus

Yeah, it is. And I would say my top favorite, I have a couple of favorites, but my very top favorite, it was Texas. When we went down to Texas last year- To Mason, yes. Oh, yeah. I was in love. The rocks there was amazing. And that's the first place I combed my buggy at. And I I fell in love. I want to go back so bad. And I was supposed to go to the shootout, talking to shootout last year, but just with everything that happened last year, I didn't get a chance to, and all that. But we're definitely going to make a trip back there, for sure. It's going to happen, even if I just go wheel for a week or something there. I'll make it back. And then I love Burnel. Burnel is like something about that place I loved there. Just the rocks remind me of Cedar City, but it also has the same effect of like Sanhola. They have a mix of both to me is how they seem. I love that place. I love competing there.

[01:03:49.070] - Big Rich Klein

Vernal is one of those... It's a love-hate relationship for me.

[01:03:53.860] - Logan Backus

Yeah?

[01:03:54.380] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I like the rock formations, but getting the the event site prepared and dealing with the state trust lands and their requirements and the permitting and everything that you have to do. And then they'd say, Oh, you can't grade the road. You can't change the grade. It's like, And how the hell are we supposed to get all these vehicles in here? So may fudge a little bit here and there. And it's just, they don't make it easy. But that's from the promoter side. The drivers don't know that stuff.

[01:04:35.650] - Logan Backus

I would say I hated the road to get up there. I think with my new fifth wheel, I don't think I would pull it up that road. It's not that bad of a road, but it was It's like you're already rock crawling.

[01:04:48.960] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, you really have to pay attention and pull. If it's really a low trailer, you're going to be in trouble because there's just enough erosion and areas where you have to, you have to pick your way up. You just can't drive straight up.

[01:05:04.850] - Logan Backus

Yeah. Like Cedar City, you can just pull right in all the way up the graded road and pop off the side. And the same thing with Rangely. That road wasn't bad at all to get up all the way up in there. So, yeah, I would say only downfall would be, or Bernal would be the road. But I just like the rocks out there.

[01:05:26.260] - Big Rich Klein

It's cool stuff. And Rangeley, they haven't let us use the good stuff We're always on that. They put us on that little shitty side because of the archeological studies that they had going on. Even though we're on the rock, not down on the soft soils, but somebody found an arrowhead or something, so everybody freaked out.

[01:05:50.600] - Logan Backus

I remember that, though. Right before the last time that you guys were there, right before we had gotten there, and it was like, Oh, the event site It had changed. We're moving over here now. And it was like, oh, shit. Because I remember you saying that you almost canceled it. You're like, it's almost not worth it. And I'm glad you still put it on, because it was actually a really fun event. That event was really, really fun.

[01:06:18.940] - Big Rich Klein

But I was so disgusted when I got there and they said, oh, no, you can only use up to this point.

[01:06:26.800] - Logan Backus

I didn't drive that time. I was actually just spotting.

[01:06:31.270] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[01:06:32.420] - Logan Backus

Both times we've been there, I've actually never wheeled. I've actually just spotted for both cars, both times I've been there. I don't really know how the rocks are there.

[01:06:44.850] - Big Rich Klein

To me, we have to be really creative to make things difficult. It's more about course layout than it is than the terrain itself. I like when you have difficult terrain and you don't have to use the hardest stuff there and then try to figure out how to make it actually hard. That's the thing with Rangely is that the The train isn't difficult unless the cone placement is just right.

[01:07:21.150] - Logan Backus

Yeah. In Jesse's podcast, I remember him saying, in some of the cones, it was like, you just drive from this cone to that cone, and it's super easy. But once you got on the terrain, it started the cars would slump, a bulge, unloading, something weird. And so it's like, when we walked the courses, it was like, This is nothing. This doesn't look bad at all. We should be able to come out of this everyone tied in the first place when we get to the end of the day. And then halfway through the day, it was like, oh, my God, What are we doing? This didn't work. Why is the car doing that? Holy crap. This is more technical than we thought it was going to be. And you always have your first plan, then you have your second plan, then you throw everything out of the window, and you just chuck everything in the sink, and something happens, and it all unfolds okay. That's what I've learned of how to compete. That's how my plans go. Walking courses, Okay, I want to do this, and I want to put the tire here, and I want to do this.

[01:08:36.120] - Logan Backus

If that doesn't work, then this is plan B. And then at that point, plan three is, tell me where to go where I won't run you over, and I won't run a cone over, and we'll be okay. I want to say Texas, one of the courses there. We looked at it, and then Unlimited run through it and everything, and then we started I'm going through it in Pro Trail. And I was like, nothing looks the same. Rocks are all moved. Just nothing where you thought you were going to go is there in the same place. And I was like, Uh-oh. And they're like, do you want to walk the course? I was like, no. They're like, are you sure? I was like, let's just go, because if I make a plan, it's not going to stay because all the rocks move. So I'd rather just get the car on it and see how it feels. And and go from there.

[01:09:32.590] - Big Rich Klein

Like, adjust from there.

[01:09:34.570] - Logan Backus

Yeah, it ended up working okay because we made it through the course with no problems. But it was still like, wow, nothing stays the same.

[01:09:44.010] - Big Rich Klein

So what's in the future for you, Logan?

[01:09:51.290] - Logan Backus

So for me, I want to... With my old marriage and stuff, and divorce, and then now my new fiance and stuff, she has two kids already and everything. The oldest one is 11. He's just barely started driving the car. We went out yesterday And he got in the driver's seat of it and is going to start learning how to drive that car. I'm going to build a new car. Got on the list. I've already talked to James Tracy about a car and everything. So he's going to be building me a chassis probably end of the year. And I'm going to build that one, try and do me compete in Pro Trail and get him to be in Pretty much- Sportsman? The sportsman's class for now. But keep that car around. I really like that car. When I built it, it's the very first Jesse Haynes Trail Chassis. And it just amazes me how stable that car is and how well it works. And I didn't build that car to compete in, whatsoever. So after I had drove for Nanzumi Suda in the orange car for Supercrawl and everything, after that year, I didn't really want to compete anymore.

[01:11:33.650] - Logan Backus

I was like, I don't want to do this. Yeah, it's fine, but I felt like I got burned out on doing it. And so I was like, I don't want to compete at all. I just want to I want to go wheel the car like a buggy, and I want to go wheel with all the top guys, McKinley, and Caliph, and Nate, Chr. I just want to go do all that cool stuff. That's what I I want to do. And living in Southern Utah, we get to get all that cool stuff. So I didn't want to compete the car at all. And then I built it, and that seems like all I've ever done in that car now. But I fell back in love with doing it and seeing all the kids compete. It made me want to push him to like, Hey, he's asked me a ton of times, Can I drive the car? He's really good friends with Coulter, Brasmini. He lives down the street from him when he got his dad's house. And so I was like, hey, I'll build me a new car and you can drive this one. So, yeah, I think In the future, I'm going to have two cars to run and just keep pushing and have fun while doing it.

[01:12:57.340] - Logan Backus

It's pretty much all I want to do is have family around that loves doing it. My fiancee Leah, she loves going wheeling and everything. And her two kids like doing it. So I'm like, okay, how about I build him a car or build me a car, the two boys can drive that one and you can ride with me, with our baby. And when he gets old enough to be where she doesn't have to get out and walk with him, it's like, whichever one I don't extremely love the most, I'll it and build a three-seat car so that then the baby can chill in the back and we can just go wheeling and all that. So that's the future for us and try and just have fun while doing it. Excellent. Excellent.

[01:13:50.080] - Big Rich Klein

And your business is doing good?

[01:13:53.100] - Logan Backus

Yeah, we're super busy. This year, I wanted to do a lot more trips and get out to the East Coast a little bit. But with how busy we've been, I just haven't had the time to actually go anywhere. And that's where I was like, a couple of the sponsors that jumped on this year, I told them, I was like, I'm going to hit all the close ones and do all those ones. And we're in LCQ this year for Trail Hero, so we're going to try and get them to Trailbreaker again and just do that. But just focus on my business and grow it more. So it's to the point where I can leave for a week and not have to worry about, are the guys Have work? Is the shop running okay? Is everything taken care of? Because for me, it's like I really focus on all that stuff because it's not just my livelihood that I have to worry about. I got four guys here or three guys here that- That depend on it. They have families. Yeah, they have families to feed. They have plans that they want to do fun stuff. So I have to look at the big picture of all that and everything.

[01:15:13.660] - Logan Backus

Last year, It opened me up a lot to be able to see that stuff. You can't take anything for granted. And you got to be there for family and everything but also make sure how you make a living is also taken care of as well.

[01:15:38.030] - Big Rich Klein

So any words of wisdom for somebody listening to this that that wants to follow the path?

[01:15:46.110] - Logan Backus

I would say find something cheap to buy it first and get out and have fun in doing it and just follow your gut and Just have fun while doing it. Don't get mad. If you're going to go and compete, don't get mad. It's not worth it. You're just there to have fun. If something doesn't go your way, it doesn't go your way. There's no sense of yelling at people, or judges, or any of that, because you're there to have fun, and that's all that matters. If you're not having fun- Don't do it. Don't do it at all And that's where I've learned that over the few years of- Of watching others? Yeah. I enjoy doing this. I think, honestly, that's where when That year because I did double duty. I spotted for W-Rock, and I drove for Super Crawl. It was just the... That was the year I was going through my divorce, and I was angry at that time. And so I would always yell at my and come to find out that's not really how it's supposed to work. If you're nice to them, they're nice to you. You put it that way.

[01:17:08.800] - Big Rich Klein

You really are in their hands. The spotter can make or break you.

[01:17:17.530] - Logan Backus

I've learned that a lot, competing in the pro side of everything, because you could be completely on your side doing something, and it's all in their hands of where to tell you, because they'll start to notice a car unloading before you do. Like, yeah, you can feel it in the seat, but they'll be able to watch the car start to move a little bit before you feel it and be able to tell you what's going to happen On a good spotter, be able to look at the car and say, that's going to drive underneath yourself or that's going to get white. And so you definitely have your life in their hands. Hey, don't do that. You're going to roll off of that. Like, Oops.

[01:18:05.230] - Big Rich Klein

Exactly.

[01:18:06.730] - Logan Backus

Do you remember Cedar City, We Rock? I had drove the Sudas car, and you had We had to put the cones. We had to come down and turn sharp right and drop down the hills. And I front flipped off of that. I made it, but I front flipped off of it. And I give props to my spotter that time. He said, If you can get the car to rock, I think you can get it to fall into the hole and be able to drive out of it. And so that's what the plan we were doing. But it ended up like the whole ass of the car just, boop. And then I was like, Oh, gosh, and just stood in the throttle, which then, and then landed on all four, and then we drove out. I was like, that rung my bell a little bit, but we took fifth that weekend because once again, I can't get above that third place position.

[01:19:05.120] - Big Rich Klein

It's Cedar City.

[01:19:06.710] - Logan Backus

Yeah, it's Cedar City.

[01:19:09.230] - Big Rich Klein

Well, Logan, I want to say thank you so much for doing the interview and spending this time and letting us know more about you and what makes you tick. Really appreciate it. Yeah.

[01:19:23.560] - Logan Backus

No, I really appreciate it, too. I have a lot of fun doing it.

[01:19:27.790] - Big Rich Klein

And we'll see you, hopefully, by the end of the year, I don't get to all the events anymore. Taking care of my parents has been an experience, and it's taking up a lot of that time. But luckily, Jake and Caleb are doing a great job running We Rock so that it affords us the time to be able to take care of the parents.

[01:19:56.840] - Logan Backus

Oh, yeah. They do an amazing job. Are you going to be to make it to Nationals.

[01:20:01.820] - Big Rich Klein

That's the plan, but we have to wait to see how things are health-wise.

[01:20:07.260] - Logan Backus

Yeah, we'll be at Nationals. Great. I'll never miss that one. That one's a fun one to go to.

[01:20:14.570] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah That stuff there in New Mexico is big.

[01:20:19.640] - Logan Backus

Yeah, I think we learned that last year.

[01:20:24.000] - Big Rich Klein

All right. I appreciate it, and you have a great rest of your day.

[01:20:29.240] - Logan Backus

You too. Thank you.

[01:20:30.230] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Bye-bye.

[01:20:32.400] - Logan Backus

Right.

[01:20:33.500] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's another episode of Conversations with Big Rich. I'd like to thank you all for listening. If you could do us a favor and leave us a review on any podcast service that you happen to be listening on, or send us an email or a text message or a Facebook message, and let me know any ideas that you have, or if there's anybody that you have that you think would be a great guest, please forward the contact information to me so that we can try to get them on. And always remember, live life to the fullest. Enjoying life is a must. Follow your dreams and live life with all the gusto you can. Thank you.