Derek Trent, owner of Trent Fab on Episode 224

Derek Trent, master fabricator and owner of Trent Fab joins us on Episode 224. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

9:11 – a couple of times I got in some trouble with the law and was told to push my motorcycle home 

16:16– I was 21 years old and I hit a point where I had to make a “What am I going to do?” decision             

24:31 – out of the box, a YJ was pretty damn tough

31:49 – Jason Berger was driving my car and eneded up breaking the TH400 case, I was really disappointed because all I was looking at was all the things that went wrong, that I didn’t do right 

38:18 – I was working a job after college and woke up one day and realized that if I didn’t get out then, that was all I was going to do with the rest of my life.

49:03 – I got the invitation to go the very first King of the Hammers, but I really wanted to take my new car and it wasn’t ready. So I missed the very first one, it would have been 14 instead of OG13

58:25 – that’s when the Top Shelf chassis was born

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

Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

All Automotive with Matt Clawson
Automotive related topics. Anything from owning an repair facility to racing. Anything...

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Chapters

• 22:39 [Ad] All Automotive with Matt Clawson
• 23:19 (Cont.) Derek Trent, owner of Trent Fab on Episode 224

Transcript

[00:00:01.000] - 

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.

[00:00:46.560] - 

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. Tread victoriously.

[00:01:13.030] - 

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.

[00:01:39.730] – Big Rich Klein

On this episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I'll be talking with a guy that has been doing it his own way. Self-taught, tinkering early in life, from coaster carts and go-karts to race cars. That's right. Derek Trent with TrentFab. Good morning, Derek Trent. This is Take 2, you might say. Another one of those embarrassing moments when the interviewer does not hit the record button. So, Derek, thank you for taking the time and doing this conversation over again this morning. It's good to talk to you. How have you been?

[00:02:20.340] - Derek Trent

Been really well. Things are going great. It's my favorite time of year. I really love summer and getting out and doing stuff. But great to hear from you, Rich.

[00:02:34.900] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, most excellent. So just let everybody know, I'm sitting in Montana in an RV park with lousy cell service, but luckily, Starlink saves the day. Thank you, Elon Musk. And so here we are, second take. Derek, let's talk about where you were born and raised.

[00:02:55.870] - Derek Trent

Okay, sure. I was born back east in the Greater Washington DC area. My dad was politically involved and was out there working for, I believe, the Nixon administration at the time. And Anyway, shortly after that, we moved out West. My dad got a job on the Stanford campus working for the Hoover Institution. So we moved to the South San Francisco Bay Area, and we lived in Portola Valley.

[00:03:34.010] - Big Rich Klein

Which is a very nice area to grow up in, the wide open spaces.

[00:03:41.240] - Derek Trent

Yeah, I think everybody had at least a couple of acres and rolling hills and horse trails. It was a great place to be, great climate. Definitely a lot different than it is these days. Like I said, back then, it was pretty much just horse country.

[00:04:02.190] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And now it's been taken over by all those in the tech industry.

[00:04:10.110] - Derek Trent

Yeah, pretty much. It's a real busy place. I don't spend much time down there anymore. It's just you feel like all you're doing is spending your time sitting in stop lights and stuff like that.

[00:04:23.860] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I grew up in the little farther north on the peninsula, San Bruno, California, and spent a lot of time between Pacifica and San Bruno. And I go back now, I go down to San Jose, Santa Clara for the 49er games, and then try to skirt the whole Bay Area as much as possible because of the traffic and the congestion. It's just not the same as it was when I was growing up, and it's not a pleasure to be down there so much.

[00:04:56.490] - Derek Trent

Yeah. Like I said, I really only go down if I have to, and I don't have a lot of reasons to need to go down there. I guess you could say I'm fortunate in that regard.

[00:05:10.720] - Big Rich Klein

You went to school there We did talk about you going back for first and second grade back east and being in an all Catholic boys school and the cold. The memories there was just the cold, basically?

[00:05:30.400] - Derek Trent

Well, I was really young. It was first grade and half a second grade. And 1980s, my dad was working for Ronald Reagan. And I remember Reagan getting shot. And I remember really cold winters and having to wear a tie to school. And just was a lot different than being a kid that was used to living in the Bay Area wearing shorts and sweatshirts all winter long.

[00:06:04.340] - Big Rich Klein

So then you moved back to the Bay Area with your mom and back to the Portola Valley area?

[00:06:11.790] - Derek Trent

Right.

[00:06:13.470] - Big Rich Klein

And then school, good student, bad student, indifferent?

[00:06:21.460] - Derek Trent

Average student. Right when we moved back to the Bay Area, it was actually discovered that I was dyslexic. And that was explaining a lot of the problems that I was having in school and stuff like that. And I was in a public school and I had a really good teacher who taught me how to deal with it and let me realize that it can be an advantage and that a lot of dyslexic people are above average intelligence and very creative. So I think I got the creative side. And I just always explored that. And basically, I like building things and stuff like that. I learned that early on.

[00:07:20.350] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, when we talked earlier, you said that your mom just let you loose in the garage with tools. Yeah. What things were you building?

[00:07:33.120] - Derek Trent

Mostly, coaster cars and stuff like that. We had a pretty good supply of old things that had wheels on them and plywood and two by fours and screws and nails. And we had a lot of junk for me to pick through and build things. And we lived on top of a big hill. So early on, I remember building a lot of coaster cars and stuff like that. And just anything I could do to make something that would go fast on a big hill.

[00:08:05.390] - Big Rich Klein

And any big wrecks?

[00:08:08.590] - Derek Trent

Oh, yeah. I remember as a kid always having skinny and bruises and scabs and stuff like that. Not many broken bones or anything like that. But I just always remember being banged up.

[00:08:26.940] - Big Rich Klein

From coaster cars.

[00:08:28.000] - Derek Trent

Yeah Yeah, stuff like that.

[00:08:31.400] - Big Rich Klein

And you got into riding motorcycles early?

[00:08:36.350] - Derek Trent

Yeah, I think I got my first motorcycle when I was seven, and we lived in a place where there's a lot of open space and a lot of horse trails and things like that. I can remember riding my motorcycle all the way to the ocean, which is probably about 40 miles on horse trails and backroads and things like that. It was just a really good time, a great place to grow up.

[00:09:05.580] - Big Rich Klein

Did you ever have any altercations with the horsey people?

[00:09:11.290] - Derek Trent

Yeah. No, it was funny. Usually, just pull over and stop and let them yell at you for a little while. And most of the time, that was about it. And a couple of times, I was Got in some trouble with the law and was told to push my motorcycle home, which was in a pretty hilly area and stuff like that. So but no serious trouble.

[00:09:44.700] - Big Rich Klein

Did you ever really push your motorcycle all the way home or just till out of sight? Pushed it.

[00:09:49.670] - Derek Trent

Yeah, well, I pushed it until I was pretty sure they were gone.

[00:09:53.240] - Big Rich Klein

There you go. Okay, good. I didn't want to see you'd be a total anarchist, but I didn't want to see you be complacent either.

[00:10:03.580] - Derek Trent

Yeah, after 20 minutes, half an hour, or something like that, you're like, I don't think he's coming back. And it's a really big hill.

[00:10:14.910] - Big Rich Klein

Then just rip it up. Okay, cool. When did you get into skiing?

[00:10:19.730] - Derek Trent

Really young. I started skiing when I was three. Three? Wow. My father took me up and got me in between his legs. He said, After a couple of hours of that, he just let me go. I don't know, he was funny. He said I was so little that I just slide in between all the moguls and stuff like that.

[00:10:46.700] - Big Rich Klein

When I learned to ski, I was a little bit older, but it was up in Daily City. Well, the first time I went skiing, we were at heavenly, and my parents wouldn't… I wanted to try it. They didn't buy me a ticket. They got me some rental gear, and I just would walk up the hill and then ski down, walk up, ski down, walk up, ski down. And after doing that all day long, they said, okay, obviously he likes doing this. So there used to be an artificial hill in Daily City that was carpeted, and then they'd blows shaved ice onto it. And so in the evenings, we'd go take ski lessons in Daily City, California. And then eventually, they changed it to a plastic AstroTurf-type composite stuff. But that's where I first learned to ski. And then, of course, it was Sierra Tahoe and heavenly and all the Tahoe areas. So yeah, I get it.

[00:11:51.330] - Derek Trent

Fun stuff. I'm pretty sure at Squaw Valley, I think it was Kids Under 6 or 7, skied for free back in those days. And we had a motor home, and we would just drive up and park it right in front of the ticket office and just spend the whole weekend there. It was pretty cool back then. You could do that.

[00:12:17.640] - Big Rich Klein

I like Squaw. Although, what is it now? Pacific or Palisades?

[00:12:23.600] - Derek Trent

Yeah, Palisades. Definitely not sad. Definitely not sad. Yeah, if you could call it that.

[00:12:36.280] - Big Rich Klein

So then, growing up high school, what electives did you take? What was the... Besides the reading math and the basics.

[00:12:53.670] - Derek Trent

So the only thing my high school really offered was woodshop and metal shop, and it was one semester each. So basically- That was it? Yeah, half a school year in woodshop, which I did my freshman year because I was so excited to be able to take something like that. And then the second half of the year was metal shop. So I think I made a candy dish, a cutting board, a coat rack. Why, I don't even know. I trivet. One of those things with tile that you put something hot on. And then Metal Shop, we made a toolbox. We made a fence latch, which is actually fun, heating up square stock and twisting it and stuff like that. Nustpan.

[00:13:52.190] - Big Rich Klein

So question, how much of that stuff is still around? Does mom have it all?

[00:13:57.400] - Derek Trent

No, I think it's I think it's all gone. Honestly, I don't have a whole lot left. Over the years, there's been times where I had to travel light for a little while, and A lot of the stuff that people hang on to for a lifetime, I don't really have anymore. I guess I just learned that it's all just stuff.

[00:14:28.920] - Big Rich Klein

That's true. The only thing... My mom's got some of the stuff that I built in woodshop and artwork and stuff from back in grade school, that stuff. It is embarrassing. And then there's some of the photos. When I was in college, I went to school as a commercial photographer and had a lot of photos that I gave out during Christmas time to family members. Because I was spending all my money in college, drinking and partying and trying to stay in college, not going to go buy present. So I'd do nice scenic photography and that stuff, and give them to the parents and the others. So some of those things are coming back around. But the thing that I missed that I wish I had were your books from high school, and I don't know why. Don't know why. Do you communicate with anybody from back then?

[00:15:33.500] - Derek Trent

Not really. I went my own way. I don't think I really had a lot in common with a lot of the people that I grew up with. I think a lot of them stayed down there, probably went into the tech industry and stuff like that. I was always more mechanical and more blue collar, I guess you could say. Right away when I was young, I realized I really like the Tahoe area, especially the North Lake Tahoe area. I knew that that's where I wanted to be.

[00:16:11.700] - Big Rich Klein

Then after high school, you did some college?

[00:16:16.240] - Derek Trent

Yeah, I did. I went to University of Oregon, and I did two years there, and I got my AA, and it came time to pick a major, and I had to do some real soul searching, and I realized I just wanted to pursue cars. And the weird thing was at that age, I really didn't know very much about cars. I think people assume because of what I did that I grew up with a dad who wanted to shop and he taught me everything I know. And I just grew up doing this stuff. But I think I was about 21 years old and I hit a point where I had to make a What am I going to do? Am I going to major in business? Am I going to major in sociology like my counselor keeps telling me I should do because it's very manageable? I don't want to just get a worthless college degree. I want to learn how to do something. So I made the choice to go to automotive school. And I got my two year degree and my ASC certification. And I had a certificate that said I was qualified to work on cars.

[00:17:31.730] - Derek Trent

I really knew nothing, but I at least had a start and small toolbox. I was decent at taking stuff apart and putting it back together And earlier in our conversation, for the previous conversation that I didn't record, you said that while you were in college is when you started making trips back down to Tahoe in summertime and got into wheeling.

[00:18:04.350] - Big Rich Klein

But let's preface that by your first vehicles. What was your first vehicle?

[00:18:13.480] - Derek Trent

So my first vehicle was a Bullseye in Chiracco. Okay.

[00:18:18.470] - Big Rich Klein

And how much modifications did you do to that?

[00:18:22.050] - Derek Trent

Like I said, I didn't really know a lot about cars. I just knew that I liked cars. I really didn't do a whole lot. I put a stereo in it and figured that out. I mean, I was pretty good with woodworking from the coaster cars and stuff like that. And I had the garage a load of woodworking tools. So I built speaker boxes and stuff like that. And then I actually started a business detailing cars. And so it basically wasn't a very big investment. Just really had to buy all the waxes and stuff like that. And back then, you couldn't just watch a YouTube to figure out how to do it. You just had to figure it out. But figured it out on my own car. One day, one of my mother's friends saw me washing my own car and my mom's car in the driveway. I asked if I could do hers. So next thing you know, all my afternoon and weekends, we're spent detailing all my mom's friend's cars. So that was a cool deal and some good side money, neighbors and stuff like that, too.

[00:19:40.070] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Stuff that you didn't have to report.

[00:19:42.750] - Derek Trent

Yeah.

[00:19:44.020] - Big Rich Klein

Especially as a kid. We're going to preface that so that the IRS doesn't try to come back on you.

[00:19:49.060] - Derek Trent

No. Yeah. So I remember, I think I get like 40 bucks a car for a wash and wax, and that was pretty big money back then.

[00:19:59.860] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, not bad at all. Then from car detailing and your Cirocco, your next vehicle was a- It would be a '91 Jeep Wrangler.

[00:20:15.620] - Derek Trent

That was the first year of the high output four liter.

[00:20:22.960] - Big Rich Klein

Which was what? Like an extra 20 horsepower?

[00:20:26.810] - Derek Trent

I think it was like 190 horsepower. Right. And with stock tires on it and stuff like that. It was pretty impressive. Then, of course, you put 33s on it. It's a pig, and you don't understand why. You got to start figuring out gearing and all that stuff. And it was a real learning curve. Lots of fun.

[00:20:54.210] - Big Rich Klein

And what things did you learn? What adaptations did you make to that '91 Wrangler?

[00:20:59.960] - Derek Trent

So the Dana 35, of course, gave me problems. The sea-clipped rear axel was just a real pain. So I ended up doing some research, and I came across a Jeep Comanche metric one ton rear parcel, and it was a Model 20, and it had thick tubes and pretty beefy, I believe there were 31 spine shafts. And so I basically learned how to cut leaf spring perches off and weld new ones on and get all that stuff in and figured out, and actually made a Well, nowadays it'd probably be pretty embarrassing to look back and see what it looked like, but did a truss on it and stuff like that. So ended up doing a reverse shackling conversion on it, and I think that was about it.

[00:22:04.180] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And how long did you have that one?

[00:22:09.200] - Derek Trent

I had that one for about five years, and And honestly, I had it the whole time I was up in Oregon, and I did so much mud wheeling in that thing, and I wasn't very good about cleaning back then and going straight to the power washer. So by the time I was done with my Oregon days, I pretty much had to sell it before it fell apart.

[00:22:40.420] - Big Rich Klein

The frame all full of everything.

[00:22:43.530] - Derek Trent

Just mud everywhere. Every hole in that frame was a spot for mud to get in there. And I think those frame rails had to have just been full of mud. When I got back to California, I did the best I could, and washed every bit of evidence I could off, and And I did the cryon paint job all over the frames and springs, and shined it up really good, and put it down there on El Camino with a for sale sign on it.

[00:23:14.060] - Big Rich Klein

And somebody bought it?

[00:23:16.380] - Derek Trent

Yeah, it actually- It sold in like two days. Wow. So yeah. And then I reinvested my money into a '97 Wrangler and was all excited excited about the coil springs and stuff like that and the link suspension. And then I think the very first time I took it in the Rubicon, I ripped one of the lower links off the axial, one of the link bounce off the axial. And it was definitely not as... It was a step backwards. I actually regret it. I think just going with a spring over on a YJ is way better, especially back then, than going with the TJ.

[00:24:05.770] - Big Rich Klein

Just because it was... Most of the people I know that went to the early TJ's loved them for the fact that they they performed? They felt they performed better. Are you saying it was because of the maintenance and everything just- The short links, the link amounts were all just 10 and stuff like that.

[00:24:31.540] - Derek Trent

It was out of the box. It just wasn't really something you could wheel. Whereas out of the box, a YJ was pretty damn tough. And just a simple springover and the thing was really ready to go.

[00:24:48.240] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Okay. And so then, how long did you have that '97 Wrangler?

[00:24:56.400] - Derek Trent

I kept it for years. I After I started my shop, I basically backhaffed it, and then I took it to Cal Rocks. That was my first event ever, which you were running. You and Bob Roggy4 were running that event, and I did terrible. But I think I finished one course, and I was so proud of myself for that. After that, I took the thing back to the shop and I just completely cut it up. Got almost completely rid of the body except for the cowl and the hood. And other than that, I completely cut the frame away and just basically turned it into a buggy. And the tube map is pretty much identical to a lot of the buggies that I built up until the I think about 2008 was when I finally went away from that particular tube map.

[00:26:06.500] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And what was that first event? Was that Donner or Moon Rocks?

[00:26:13.840] - Derek Trent

No, it would have been, I'm sorry, down in Johnson Valley. What do they call that place out there in Johnson Valley?

[00:26:24.200] - Big Rich Klein

Cougar Buttes?

[00:26:25.660] - Derek Trent

Cougar Buttes. That's it. Okay.

[00:26:28.490] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, that was But there were some good event sites we had down there in Cougar Buttes.

[00:26:33.790] - Derek Trent

Yeah, it was pretty cool. I think that was Dustin, the Red Bull driver, Dustin Webster. I think that was his first event in the S10 car that he got from Walker. So Bob Rogie had just back half it and shortened it.

[00:26:57.450] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. Okay.

[00:26:59.310] - Derek Trent

Yeah. Cool.

[00:27:00.570] - Big Rich Klein

What else do you remember from that event?

[00:27:03.520] - Derek Trent

Oh, just doing terrible and just getting my ass handed to me. I mean, I think I still had the How was I running for a rear accel? I think I had a Scout Dana 44 in the rear, and I had a high pinion Dana 30 in the front. And I showed up and was in the same class with Dustin, I think.

[00:27:30.610] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Taking a pocket knife to a gunfight, yeah.

[00:27:42.520] - Derek Trent

Yeah, but man, it really inspired me. Inspired me to really start building. And I did after that. I completely cut the car up after that.

[00:27:59.630] - Big Rich Klein

And when did you... Were you ready for the next event? What was your next event?

[00:28:05.070] - Derek Trent

Oh, man. I don't even remember. My next event, boy, I think my next event was Rocking for the Kids down in Placerville. And it was the first event I ever won. And it was a rock race, and that was More of what I wanted to do anyway. I didn't really have the patience for rock crawling. But I don't know if you remember, but they had like 100 yards of just boulders, and it was just an all-out drag race. And I think it came down to me in that purple buggy with the Volvo portal axles. And I beat him in the... I think I remember exactly if they did it timed or if they had elimination rounds. I think they had elimination rounds. But I remember it coming down to just him and myself and winning that. And I remember it was actually decent cash. I think I won the 2000 Rocks.

[00:29:16.500] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[00:29:17.830] - Derek Trent

Yeah, so pretty cool for back in the day. After that, I think it was Donner events. Right after that, I think that was around the time you were starting We Rock and Glenn Bonner, may rest in peace. Curtis took over the Cal Rocks thing. Right. I started doing a lot of that. But a side note about Glenn Bonner, that was a real rough day yesterday and a real big loss.

[00:29:58.720] - Big Rich Klein

I agree. I'm still speechless on it. I don't have the words.

[00:30:06.160] - Derek Trent

I spent all afternoon, evening thinking about it. It's a tough loss. We just had the ultra force stampede about a month ago, and it was pretty cool on the Thursday before the race. They had go kart racing. And for all the competitors, anyone was signed up, got free stuff. But John Goodview was cool enough to give Glenn Bonner and I free passes so we could go go kart race with all the racers and stuff. And I got to go on the last round of that. And I think Glenn had been three times and he grabbed me and he said, come over here. He's like, we got to get in front of all these young guys. We got to be able to get out there and get these carts first, otherwise we'll get stuck behind them. And it was pretty cool. He was having a great day. And like I said, I think he'd done the go carts three times and he was all jazzed on them. But that was the last real time I hung out with Glenn and talked to him and stuff. I'll definitely really miss the guy.

[00:31:24.090] - Big Rich Klein

Amen. Yeah, I agree. Then we're back at it. I know that there was a big rollover in one of your cars, and I talked to, I think it was Jason Berger about it, and I don't remember if it was Berger was driving your car or you were driving your car.

[00:31:49.650] - Derek Trent

So that was my car, and Jason Berger was driving it. Okay. And just was So it was at a point, Jason had been doing pretty well in We Rock, and I think he had an FTM buggy, which was one of the earlier manufactured buggies on portals and stuff like that. And he just sold it and he was in between cars, and he had a really good spotter he was working well with and had a lot of momentum. And he took the car and filled the tires with the shot and took the thing out to Moonrocks and was able to get a B7, which for those of you who remember the the only comp that ever really happened back at Moonrocks, that was the hardest line there. And he managed to get it in my car. So I let him use the car to compete in Weerock. And on the first obstacle, there was a real bad roll. And it's actually when I found a lot of the early flaws in the car, some tubes that were missing out of the structure that probably needed to be in there. And it was a real learning experience.

[00:33:16.400] - Derek Trent

Ended up breaking the TH400 case and a couple of other things. But anyway, he was okay and actually got a lot of press off that And a lot of people were just impressed how well the car held up. I was really disappointed because all I was looking at was all the things that went wrong that I didn't do right. But after that, I actually got a couple of chassis orders almost immediately.

[00:33:51.550] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[00:33:52.900] - Derek Trent

Yeah, yeah. And at that time, Trent Fabrication was called Trent Fabrication and Auto Repair because I basically had just gotten a bigger building and hired some auto mechanics. And it was trying to... Well, I don't know. Auto repair was pretty lucrative back then and a pretty good way to go. Pay them bills. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[00:34:25.110] - Big Rich Klein

And auto repair is not part of the equation nowadays?

[00:34:29.360] - Derek Trent

No No, not at all. Let's see. In 2008, I bought the building down here in Sparks and moved the fabrication into the building or of the business down here. And the plan was for my wife Lisa to run the auto repair shop up in Tahoe City. I was just going to move the fabrication in down here. She She could be up there with the kids and all that stuff. But I bought it a really bad time. 2008 was a really bad year. It became so, didn't it? It hit Tahoe City really hard. Basically, before 2008, there was a lot of full-time residents in Tahoe City, and they all had a Subaru and a Superduty or something similar. Most the full-time residents were contractors, and most of their wives drove Subarus and stuff like that. So we did a lot of maintenance on Subarus and Superduties and stuff like that. And it really was a pretty good way to go. It was so good that we were able to think about expanding the business. But somewhere in 2008, 2009, my clientele up there just slowed down so much. And what was going on was all the full-time residents in Tahoe City were selling their places and cashing out and buying houses for half the price in Truckee.

[00:36:13.350] - Derek Trent

And, you know It's just a couple of miles away, so not that big of a deal. But had I started my shop in Truckee, it probably would have been a completely different deal. Right. So anyway, I moved everything down here, which was good because I was just paying absolutely ridiculous rent in Tahoe City. So I was down here, and then I believe in 2012, I was when we finally decided to go all buggy. Up until then, we were still doing springovers and working on people's Toyotas or whatever, just full service four-wheel drive shop. And Finally, in 2012, we got so busy with buggies that we were able to go buggy only, and not just buggy only, but Trent that buggy only.

[00:37:13.230] - Big Rich Klein

Right. How many chassis have you produced, do you think?

[00:37:19.400] - Derek Trent

We're over 200. In the mid 200 somewhere. I think one thing that a lot of people don't realize is that I'm the only one who's ever built a Trent FAB chassis, and I still do. That's basically my role here at the shop is I do chassies and exhaust systems, and I've got guys that at this point now do pretty much everything else.

[00:37:46.980] - Big Rich Klein

That's a step up from the stick welding.

[00:37:50.660] - Derek Trent

Yeah, no kidding.

[00:37:54.900] - Big Rich Klein

When you went from college and got your degrees and your certifications, you went back to San Jose, you worked at a computer company, did the whole night shift thing, and then that's when you decided that that wasn't your gig and you went to How did that go?

[00:38:18.680] - Derek Trent

Basically, after school, I graduated and I went back down to the Bay, and that was where I was from, and still had some friends down there and things like that. I I got a job at a computer company in San Jose, and we were building circuit board testers. And I got on the night shift because it paid a little bit more and commuting was a little bit easier. And even back in the '90s, the Bay Area traffic was still really crazy. And so night shift, it wasn't as bad. And after about a year, I just realized that all I was really doing working. I'd work as much over time as they'd give me. And all I really cared about was whatever projects we were working on and possibly being able to get a promotion and move up the ladder and get more money. And I just woke up one day and I realized that if I didn't get out then, that that was all I was going to do with the rest of my life. And I just wanted do something more fun. So, yeah, pretty much tore the bandaid off and moved up to Tahoe and found a place to live and found a job and just decided that that was where I was going to be.

[00:39:45.930] - Derek Trent

And I'm glad I made the decision.

[00:39:49.760] - Big Rich Klein

And that job up there, you'd mentioned it was a body shop?

[00:39:55.190] - Derek Trent

Yeah. So I just looked around and that was the the first thing that popped up. And like I said, I was still pretty green. I had my ASE degree, but no real experience and not really too much of a mechanical background growing up. But I was pretty good at taking things apart and putting them back together. So I got really good at taking fenders on and off and stuff like that. And Putting... Like I said, I could... Anything I could take apart, I could put it back together. So it was a pretty good deal. So it worked out pretty well, but pretty short-lived. And I ended up then working structural steel at a place in the neighborhood, more pay. And I was really fascinated with welding and wire feed welding, and just learned how to operate all those pieces of equipment and stuff they had at the fabrication shop.

[00:41:06.430] - Big Rich Klein

And that's where you got certified in other forms of welding?

[00:41:11.700] - Derek Trent

Yeah, wire feed, and that's pretty much all we did there. We just had big machines running 0.045 flux core all day long.

[00:41:23.240] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And what fabrication was it? Was it for the The ski resorts up there?

[00:41:32.420] - Derek Trent

No, we were building moment frames for Lakefronts, basically. So all just really big houses and stuff. Cool.

[00:41:42.960] - Big Rich Klein

And then from the fabrication shop, doing prefab stuff for houses and stuff, how did you get into the shop?

[00:41:57.260] - Derek Trent

So basically, I really like doing the structural steel welding. It was a lot of fun. We moved around. We got to do some on-site work and stuff. It was pretty cool, exciting. But the shop came up for rent in the same neighborhood as where the big shop I was working was. And so myself and one of the guys I worked with, we decided to split it and have it as a hobby shop. And once we signed a lease and everything like that, and we were about in the neighborhood that that's what we were doing, my boss let us both go. He basically said that he thought that be too much of a conflict if we worked for him. And we had our own business in the same neighborhood. I tried to explain to him that it was just a hobby shop. And I think it was $1,200 a month. So $600 a month to have a nice shop to be able to work on your toys and it seemed pretty cool. But he didn't see it that way, so he let us go. And basically, all of a sudden, had to figure out how to pay the bills.

[00:43:12.790] - Derek Trent

So started building lumber racks and trailers and just got known around Tahoe City that we could weld and fabricate, and we're willing to take on odd jobs. So I did a lot of weird stuff. I I rebuilt this hand-built tractor that was built, especially for building mountain bike single track trails. And the thing was completely built by hand. And so he wanted the thing rebuilt because it was like 30 years old. And so I completely rebuilt the thing, and that was one of my one of my weird side jobs I can remember. I remember getting the worst case of poison oak I've ever had my whole life from from taking this machine apart because it had been driven through so many batches of poison oak, I guess.

[00:44:06.650] - Big Rich Klein

So the contact of the poison oak oils on the equipment got you the poison oak, Wow.

[00:44:16.340] - Derek Trent

Yeah, and it's funny because there's no poison oak in Tahoe. So I guess this thing must have been down in the Bay Area somewhere, cutting a single track.

[00:44:26.470] - Big Rich Klein

Interesting. And how wide was this tractor? I mean, it must have been only three or four foot?

[00:44:31.610] - Derek Trent

No, 24 inches wide.

[00:44:33.400] - Big Rich Klein

Twenty-four? Wow.

[00:44:34.780] - Derek Trent

It was the weirdest hand-built machine, and it was all just electric overhydraulic and all built out of simple stuff. You get from, I don't know, a Granger or something like that.

[00:44:52.080] - Big Rich Klein

Interesting. So then that's when things became What was the shop called at that point?

[00:45:05.610] - Derek Trent

So originally the shop was called Outback Innovations, and I started out with my business partner, Steve Springborn. And he was someone that I grew up with down in the Bay Area. And he was a guy who turned me on to four wheel drives and jeep in and things like that. And we started the business together. And within a year, the partnership fell apart and I was on my own. And I just hustled. I think for a good four years, I don't think I did anything fun. It was just work, work, work, pay the bills and buy more equipment. You take on a job because you knew it would pay for a piece of equipment that you'd always wanted. And Anyway, it worked out pretty well, though, in the long run.

[00:46:05.150] - Big Rich Klein

So one of the things that I noticed about most fab shops, and I hate to throw our industry under the bus, but a lot of the small fab shops have a hard time pricing and making any money. Was that the case for you early, or did you have that part of it solved early?

[00:46:27.180] - Derek Trent

Well, when you go from making $12 an hour, and all of a sudden you can start bidding stuff out based on more like a $65 an hour. I mean, it, I guess it seemed like big money. It really wasn't. But you bid out a roll cage at 10 hours and it takes you 25. And it's just one of those things, live and learn. But I guess the way I looked at it early on was, if I can make enough money to pay all my bills, buy some equipment, and still be left over with 12 or $15 an hour, I guess I'm doing good. Okay. Yeah. So that was my way. But no, it was real difficult back then. It's crazy what fab shops are charging these days.

[00:47:30.040] - Big Rich Klein

It is, but the amount of time that you put into a project, you may think in your mind, okay, like you said, this cage is going to be 10 hours, and then it takes you 20. You expand that to a complete chassis or a complete car, and a lot of people don't understand the amount of money that goes, the amount of time that goes into getting things right.

[00:48:03.430] - Derek Trent

Yeah.

[00:48:04.630] - Big Rich Klein

And that's why there's different price structures out there, the guys that do things right, which you're one of them. And then there's the guys that don't do things right, that undercut everybody else, and everybody goes, well, see, that's more honest right there. But then they get their stuff back, and what are they doing? They're going back having to complain on the Internet about the work that was already done, and they end up coming full circle eventually.

[00:48:35.490] - Derek Trent

Yeah. It's like they say, what do they say about a good, fast, cheap job? Pick any two.

[00:48:42.880] - Big Rich Klein

Right. You're not going to get all three.

[00:48:46.500] - Derek Trent

Yeah.

[00:48:48.630] - Big Rich Klein

So then you go from doing the rock crawling and building more trail rigs to going full buggy. And a lot of that was a especially because of KOH?

[00:49:03.840] - Derek Trent

Yeah. So let's see. I had my first buggy that I built out of my TJ, and I was competing in that. And then I built my very first from scratch buggy, which was one of the very first Trent fabrication buggies built with the Land Cruiser hood and all that stuff. And so I I had both cars, but I was just having all kinds of problems with the new car. First time I'd ever used an LS motor, first time I'd ever used a stand-alone computer and wiring harness and all that stuff. And it's just The car ran, it moved, it worked, but it was just terrible. And I got the invitation to go to the very first, King of the Hammers. And I could have gone in my old car, but I was just so frustrated that I didn't want to. I really wanted to take my new car, but I didn't want to show up with it not running right and everything like that. So I missed the very first one. Otherwise it would have been 14 instead of the OG 13. And I would say that's probably one of my bigger regrets was that I just didn't just put the old buggy on the trailer and go down there because the thing probably would have finished the race.

[00:50:26.800] - Derek Trent

It was a really reliable car and had all the bugs worked out and everything. But anyway, it's one of those hindsight is 2020 things.

[00:50:37.900] - Big Rich Klein

Right. I have some of those regrets.

[00:50:40.660] - Derek Trent

I think we all do. Yeah. It was just like Yeah, okay, whatever. He's having whatever, some race, whatever. I just figured it was a... I'd been down to Johnson Valley and been wheeling with people and stuff like that. I guess nobody ever really thought it would take off like it did. It's pretty awesome that it did. Right.

[00:51:01.280] - Big Rich Klein

Absolutely. And so then the first car or the second car that you built, the new car, you were able to campaign that at the next year?

[00:51:13.120] - Derek Trent

Yeah, I took it to the next year. I can't remember what starting position I drew, but it was pretty far back. And we had a great start. We were just passing cars right away. I think there was what 49 or 50 cars, and they were just falling like left and right. I mean, just every mile you'd pass a car or two, it seemed like. And we were just doing great in all the rock trails and everything like that. Got a flat, changed it, and got down to, I think, the bottom of a wrecking ball, which was where we were supposed to meet our pit crew and stuff like that and get fuel. And And let's see, I remember that the morning before, or that morning, I told my pit crew, I'm like, all I need out of you guys is this spare tire and this gas can. Bring it here, fill me up, put the spare tire on the back because my back is going to be flat. Well, I guess I wasn't clear enough because they took the gas can. But when I got back to camp after the race, the tire was exactly where it was.

[00:52:28.120] - Derek Trent

Anyway, got down on the bottom wrecking ball. They didn't have the flat tire or they didn't have the spare tire. And I just remember thinking that was it. I was like, oh, man, there's just no way. We'll be able to finish this race. Okay, whatever. So gas me up, which I remember feeling like it took forever, trying to fill with with motorcycle cans and stuff like that. And we just started heading up wrecking call. And I think, let's see, there's a place where you can go left or you can go right. And there was one line I just run a bunch of times, and I knew it exactly how I wanted to run it. And I hit it the first time, and the car didn't do what I thought it would do. And I hit it the second time, and the car slipped over, and I broke the pinion yoke off my rear parcel. And I remember looking down and both my air lockers were off. I was just like, oh, man, I got rattled from the tire thing, and I I guess, just wasn't thinking clearly and inexperienced and all that. So anyway, that was my I was doing so good until I didn't story for the first official KOH in a way.

[00:53:44.970] - Big Rich Klein

Well, at least you didn't say you were in first place. I mean, because I hear that as a race promoter. Man, I was doing so good. I was in first place until... And it's like, I have the official scoring here. You weren't quite in first place. You might have had a fast lap there and passed a couple of people. But, yeah.

[00:54:06.210] - Derek Trent

No, I wasn't in first. I'd worked my way up into the top 10, and I can't even remember how many people finished that year. But I should have just... All you had to do was finish that year. But anyway, it was such a fun experience. And I just remember just being so hooked. And that's when it That's when it started. That's when, okay, we're coming back next year with, and we're going to do it right. And been doing it ever since.

[00:54:40.750] - Big Rich Klein

And did you race that car a second year, or did you go back to the shop and immediately start on a new car?

[00:54:47.350] - Derek Trent

I raced that car several times, and then started doing a lot of serious rock hauling in it. That's when That's when we did the... That's when Cal Rock started the Supermod class. And was it the Dustin Emick and I started battling it off. And we did, and I think we battled really hard for three seasons. And I think I beat him twice, and he got me once. But it was a lot of fun doing all the Cal Rock stuff back then.

[00:55:30.130] - Big Rich Klein

And that was with Bonner and with Curtis? Yes. In the Cal Rocks, right?

[00:55:41.620] - Derek Trent

Yeah. So then- Yeah.

[00:55:48.600] - Big Rich Klein

Sorry, go ahead. No, the whole Trent FAB buggy thing, I know we talked about 200 plus chassis. How many of those were built built for strictly as race cars, knowing that when they got finished, they were going to go take a starting flag?

[00:56:09.490] - Derek Trent

That probably started in Probably like 2009, 2010, I would say, is when people started building, specifically, race cars. And I mean, back then there wasn't really much difference between a race car and a in a trail buggy. I think the first time I ran hammers, I didn't even have a window net, so I just ran arm restraints because that was legal back then. And it was something you put on your elbows and you'd fasten them into your lap belt.

[00:56:47.920] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Now, I remember those early years of of a K-O-H, because we were doing the... I was doing the tech. We were all sanctioned it for tech and helping with the insurance and that stuff for those guys to get started. And I remember the conversation was, we want to make people as safe as possible, but we don't want to disqualify any cars. Those are almost completely two different things. I remember we had one Mexican team show up with the gas tank, ratchet strapped into the bed of the truck. It was like a Bronco or a Blazer or something like that. And where the vent was supposed to be, they just had a bolt loosely in there so that it would hold down. And it was like, Guys, you can't do this. This thing just gets off camber a little bit, and it's just leaking fuel everywhere. And that was, I think, the end of that whole reasoning. We don't want to disqualify anybody. Just try to make it as... You know, them... You know, make everybody safe as possible. So the rules changed, which was a good thing.

[00:58:11.650] - Derek Trent

Yeah.

[00:58:13.270] - Big Rich Klein

So What... Your cars have stayed pretty much the same in the chassis look, is that correct?

[00:58:25.190] - Derek Trent

So the early cars, which we basically, you know, We called those the 100 proofs, and that was all the Tahoe design. Then we moved down to the Reno shop in 2008. We started changing things a little bit, but still most of the cars, they all either had Land Cruiser hoods or Jeep hoods or something like that. And then it wasn't until, let's see, probably around 2011, something like that. I'm going to be wrong on this. But a while after Dave Schneider had started working for me, and he wanted me to build a car for him and wanted me to change it up. And so that's when the Top Shelf was born. And it was a collaboration between the two of us. And then we had another guy who worked for me at the time. It was a big help in it. And that was Taylor Tracy. And he worked here for a long time, really changed the way we do things around here, changed our welding style or fabrication style, really helped out with making a lot of changes. But after a lot of arguments and knock down, drag out fights and stuff like that, between the three of us, we finally came up with the top And then what I didn't like about it was the first one had some splices in it because just how things evolved and stuff like that for the car to be born, it basically had to have some tube splices in it.

[01:00:17.150] - Derek Trent

And that's just something I can't stand. I never, ever wanted to put out work to a customer or anything like that with tube splices in a car or a structure. Maybe if it was wrecked and being repaired, that would be an acceptable time to do a splice, but not when something was brand new. But anyway, after that car was finished, I was able to go in and go through all my notes and figure out where all the changes needed to be made to be able to do it all with Benz and no splices. And that's how the Top Shelf Chassis was born. And we've been producing that car up until about two years ago. And at that point, we shortened the nose of the car, which I didn't actually shorten the nose of the car. It's just an easy way to explain it to people. But actually what I did was I moved the whole cab of the car forward, and that effectively made the nose of the car shorter. But we call those the snub nose top shelf, and that's our current production vehicle.

[01:01:29.740] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, and what's the percentage of racers to trail rigs, do you think?

[01:01:40.010] - Derek Trent

I'd say about 75 % of the cars we build are probably race cars. Nice. Yeah. And it's funny. Over the years, we've done a number of four-seat cars, and I think five or six of them have been cut and turned into two seaters because people who said they never wanted to race, eventually decided they really wanted to race. So nothing breaks my heart more than taking a four seat car and cutting it up and turning it into a two seater. And it's funny when people call me now and they say they want a four seater, it's a, Are you absolutely sure? You want a four seater? Do you have kids? There's a a whole list of questions that they need to answer to prove to me that they really do need a four-seater because they're a lot more difficult to build than a 2C car.

[01:02:44.720] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And why is that? Is it just because of the length of it?

[01:02:50.950] - Derek Trent

If you just made the car longer and you just made a really, really long wheelbase car, let's say you went with like 130-inch a race car, it would be pretty easy. But it would probably be ugly, and it probably wouldn't wheel that well. But if you want to make something that still looks good and still can wheel well, It's a lot of work. So it's just really tough packaging all that stuff. I mean, I tell people these days that it's almost going to... It's probably going to end up costing the same amount of money as building two simple two-seat cars as it will to build one really nice four-seater. Wow.

[01:03:37.340] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[01:03:38.500] - Derek Trent

For a lot of people, probably a lot more fun to have two two-seat cars.

[01:03:44.910] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Somebody to wheel with instead of just being with.

[01:03:48.990] - Derek Trent

Yeah. It's like you want a four-seat car because you got two kids and a wife. It's like, well, if you had two two-seat cars, you each take one and you get a wheel and you can self-recover if there's problems. You don't have to organize going with other people and stuff like that. It's a pretty cool way to go. The two-car trailer can get a little bit difficult, but everything has its problems. Right.

[01:04:18.680] - Big Rich Klein

Absolutely. So let's talk family a little bit. You've got a couple of kids?

[01:04:25.350] - Derek Trent

Yeah, four.

[01:04:27.300] - Big Rich Klein

That's a little more than a couple. That's a couple-couple. Yeah.

[01:04:31.960] - Derek Trent

Well, when I met Lisa, she had two kids. And so Jill and the oldest was seven at the time, and Woody was five. And they just pretty much became my kids, and really awesome kids. I've always treated them as if they were my own. And Lisa asked me if I wanted to have my own kids, and I just said, why? We already have kids. I don't really see why we go out of our way to have more. And so we didn't really plan on it. And we were having a really good time traveling all over the country, rock crawling, racing, pretty much doing whatever we wanted. And then Lisa got pregnant with a twin in 2008, right when we had purchased the shop down in Reno. Perfect timing. Yeah. Plus the economy sucked at that time. The economy sucked. It was a real tough time. Lisa still likes to tease me and say that My hands went on my head and they didn't come off for two months. Just so stressed out about it. And then I goes, it's okay. We're having a kid. No big deal with us. It's like twins. Wow, that's a big commitment.

[01:06:03.870] - Derek Trent

And I remember one of the guys who worked for me at the time, he said, maybe it'll be a boy and a girl. If you knock it all out in one shot. And he ended up being right and had boy/girl twins, and they were born healthy and happy. I just remember being so stressed out about that. Like It was one thing when I had kids that were Lisa's, but they're already happy and healthy, and there was nothing to worry about. But then all of a sudden, I guess I can just stress out about just about anything, but it was just like, Oh, man, what if they're not okay? What if something happens? Anyway, they came out happy and healthy, and that's just made me just as happy as could be.

[01:06:59.070] - Big Rich Klein

And you've got some that are racing now?

[01:07:03.600] - Derek Trent

So both the boys raced. Actually, the first kid in the family to race was the oldest, Jailin. And when she was 12, she started racing BMX. And she raced up until she was 15. She was nationally ranked. She was on the Olympic development team. And at 15 years old, all of a sudden, she just decided that she wanted to be a good student and she wanted to go to college. And she quit racing, and she went straight to basically getting a 4.0 or I don't know how you get better than a 4.0, but she always managed to And she's just been a really dedicated student and she's just about to get out of a chiropractic school and she'll be a chiropractor at 26.

[01:07:58.730] - Big Rich Klein

Very good.

[01:08:00.120] - Derek Trent

Yeah, so that's pretty awesome. And then Woody started working for me right out of high school, and he's now 23, and been working here every day since he's 18. And he started... Dave Schneider, who was working for me, gave him the opportunity to race his car about, let me say, four years ago. And Woody just turned out to be a wheelman. He just had a real knack for it. I think he put the car on the podium the first time he ever raced in a Norcal. And I did everything I could to put together a car for him. So we actually, we built a car for Cameron Steel that he raced at Hammers. Let's see, that would be '21, I think. So Woody and I hustled really hard and basically built that car together. Other guys at the shop helped, too. Aaron did all the wiring, everything like that. But that was the first real aluminum work that Woody had ever done, first dash he'd ever built and stuff like that. And I just really pushed him to build a car with me. And then Cameron raced at the one race, and Woody's raced it ever since, and just done a phenomenal job.

[01:09:31.260] - Big Rich Klein

Excellent.

[01:09:32.890] - Derek Trent

Yeah. And then little brother Dylan, he was six, is when John Goodby announced that he was going to start doing the the 170 side-by-side racing. So it's pretty cool deal. We went out to the Polaris dealership and signed on the dotted line, and I thought it'd be really fun to just throw my kid in this off-the-shelf a Polaris car and let them go race. And little that I know that I was going to have to learn everything about building a Polaris 170 because those things, they can hardly turn three or four laps without the chain falling off just straight off the showroom floor.

[01:10:19.690] - Big Rich Klein

Interesting.

[01:10:25.320] - Derek Trent

Anyway, I ended up, I don't know how many seasons we did the one 174 until he aged out, basically. But it's so funny. The 170 racing is just the most competitive form of racing I think I've ever been involved in. The parents They're just crazy. Nobody will tell you anything. Everything's a big secret. Figuring out how to build that thing was definitely a chore, but ended up building him a pretty cool car. I think he won a couple of And then he's now racing the Youth 1000 RS1 class. He moved up to that when he was twelve. He's been doing that for a couple of seasons. And then this year, he raced the first King of the Hammers Youth Race, and he was able to win that. So we were really, really stoked on that. That was an awesome high point of King of the Hammers this year. And then And then for Willy to get second, that was another big high point. Definitely my best King of the Hammers ever. When you can have two kids on the podium, it's pretty cool. Absolutely. And then Dylan just won the ultra force stampede also in the youth class.

[01:11:50.100] - Derek Trent

So it's been pretty exciting. Actually, way more gratifying watching your kids race than it is racing yourself.

[01:12:01.470] - Big Rich Klein

Right. I remember when Little Rich ran KOH and when he was competing with Cal Rocks, when him and Josh England went over there in his buggy. It was always good to see them out there doing it instead of working on the sidelines at our events. It was good to see them getting out there and being able to do it.

[01:12:28.080] - Derek Trent

That's pretty cool. Yeah.

[01:12:29.920] - Big Rich Klein

So what's in the future for Derek Trent and Lisa Trent and the... And you know, TrentFab works?

[01:12:41.430] - Derek Trent

Well, we're busy at Trent FAB. I've been real fortunate. I've still got plenty of work and plenty of people still want to build cars, regardless of all the scary stuff that's going on politically these days. It amazes me that people still want to build cars, but I'm really thankful that they do. And it's been great. So like I said, Woody's been working with me for the last five years and plan is pretty much for him to take the shop over. Dylan is, he also comes in with me pretty much every day in the summer and just pretty much does whatever we ask him to. And he also preps his own car and everything like that here. But I think in the in the future, it's going to be passing the torch to my kids. What he's already said, that's what he wants to do. If my son Dylan wants to also, then they can be partners. But if he doesn't want to, no pressure.

[01:13:47.670] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. What would your words of wisdom or advice be to somebody that wanted to get into the industry themselves? Maybe somebody that's just a youngster that's been on the trail a couple of times, or somebody even that's a little older that says, Instead of just being a trail wheeler, I want to build or I want to race. What would be your words of wisdom?

[01:14:16.530] - Derek Trent

It just has to be something that you're passionate about. I really feel like everyone in this industry is passionate about it, and we do it because we love it. We don't do it because we're trying to get rich. If I wasn't doing this work, I would be working another job so I could go home and do this stuff in my off time So I guess for me personally, I just chose to do this because I enjoy it and it's what I like doing. I don't necessarily do it for the money. I do it for for the gratification of seeing the stuff I do, that I've built work. There's nothing better than going to races and seeing cars out on the track and cars go by why people say, wow, do you hear the way the exhaust sounds on my car? Nothing makes me feel better than when somebody says that about one of my cars. It makes me really happy.

[01:15:25.700] - Big Rich Klein

Being that you're the one putting the exhaust together.

[01:15:28.100] - Derek Trent

Yeah. Our cars have a really unique sound compared to most of the other cars, and more of a high-pitched F1 type sound. And it's something that I strive to create.

[01:15:44.050] - Big Rich Klein

Is that because of the eight to one?

[01:15:47.180] - Derek Trent

Yeah, I do a unique eight into one. I still use two four into one collectors, but I do a unique merge, and it just creates a really great sound. When you put a bigger cube motor in or higher compression motor in or something like that, it might change the sound a little bit. But even the stock LS motors just sound awesome with our exhaust on them.

[01:16:20.240] - Big Rich Klein

Cool. Excellent. Well, Derek, I want to say thank you so much for spending the time this morning and having this conversation about your life and what you've gone through to get where you're at and knowing about what your future is going to be. I appreciate it. Thank you.

[01:16:37.040] - Derek Trent

All right. Hey, thank you very much, Rich.

[01:16:39.070] - Big Rich Klein

All right. And you know what? Good luck in the future. And I hope everything goes your way.

[01:16:46.610] - Derek Trent

All right. Same to you. Thank you very much, Rich. All right.

[01:16:49.100] - Big Rich Klein

Take care. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye. 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.