Episode 256 with Visionary Aaron Armstrong

An off-road enthusiast turned competitor, Aaron Armstrong is the man responsible for the WE Rock event site in Bagdad, Arizona. A man with a vision. Join WE Rock March 1 and 2, 2025 at the best cul de sac in AZ.  Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.

6:48 – I was always trying to find dirt in California to make jumps on 

11:13– my first car was a 1987 Toyota 4-runner, since then I’ve had five 4-runners             

19:53 – I went down the wrong path, got wrapped up into drugs and alcohol and quickly found myself homeless and out of a job hanging out with the wrong kids – something in my head said, “This is not your life.”

29:56 – One night we were talking, and I was like, “you know what? I Think we should move back home to Arizona.”

39:29 – We went to the Put Up or Shut Up in Congress in 2007, stood out in the rain all day and could not take my eyes off what those vehicles were doing! 

56:49 –I hit up the General Manager at the mine, and said, Have you ever seen a rockcrawl? No, what’s that, so I took him out and showed him my vision.

1:09:11 – One of the things that I believe in and that the mine believes in is continuous improvement. That’s what we’re doing to the event site.

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

[00:00:05.280] - 

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.

[00:00:46.470] - 

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.

[00:01:13.020] - 

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.

[00:01:40.260] - Big Rich Klein

On this week's episode of Conversations with Big Rich is an Arizona guy who loves off Road, lives in the mining town of Bagdad, Arizona, and who happens to be the guy that makes our We Rock event in Bagdad work. That's Aaron Armstrong. Aaron, how are you doing today?

[00:01:57.310] - Aaron Armstrong

Good. How about yourself, Big?

[00:01:58.770] - Big Rich Klein

I am doing phenomenal. I just got parked up there, which you saw, I guess. And yeah, I'm pretty much ready. As soon as Shelley shows up this week, it flies in and we'll be heading that way.

[00:02:12.760] - Aaron Armstrong

Perfect. Well, we're ready for this year's We Rock competition, and I'm super stoked about it.

[00:02:19.860] - Big Rich Klein

Let's talk about your life, and that'll lead us into how you got into off-road. Where are you born and I was born in Prescott, Arizona, and I lived in Prescott for a couple of years of my life.

[00:02:40.350] - Aaron Armstrong

But then my family, my dad got a job out in Southern California, and he moved us out to Laguna Nogal, California, where I grew up and went to school and found my love for off-road.

[00:02:59.600] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. You found it in California, in SoCal?

[00:03:02.960] - Aaron Armstrong

Yes. Okay. Yes.

[00:03:05.070] - Big Rich Klein

How old were you when they moved out there?

[00:03:08.790] - Aaron Armstrong

So I was in the second grade when we moved out there, and I went to grade school through high school there, and always had a dotted line to Prescott, Arizona, because my grandparents had moved there in the '70s. And We'd go out to Prescott, Arizona for vacations and see family and stuff like that. I always loved Arizona because I'm more of an outdoors guy, and I always love to be out in the hills and exploring and looking for old ruins and mines and stuff that. So I always had a love for Arizona.

[00:04:05.260] - Big Rich Klein

And so going to school there in Laguna Nagal. I'm not sure where exactly that is. I don't know if... I'm sure I've been through it. There's not much of Southern California I haven't driven through, at least. Where's that located?

[00:04:23.240] - Aaron Armstrong

So Laguna Nagal is located over the hill from Laguna Beach. We're about 7 miles away from Laguna Beach inland, and about, I want to say 10 miles north of Dana Point.

[00:04:39.860] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, that makes sense. And did you... Were you That's more of the rolling hills then?

[00:04:48.290] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah. I mean, everything used to be rolling hills. Yeah.

[00:04:53.380] - Big Rich Klein

Not anymore.

[00:04:54.420] - Aaron Armstrong

Now it's rolling houses. But yeah, When we moved there in '19, I want to say it was '88 or '89 that we moved there. It was the '70s houses and a beachy vibe. But that's where my parents wanted to go, so I obviously had to follow them when I was in second grade.

[00:05:27.960] - Big Rich Klein

Were they chasing Was your dad or mom chasing a job at that point?

[00:05:33.900] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah, my dad's been in road construction all his life. He started as an operating engineer and worked on the 5 Freeway and the widening project down by San Juan Capistrano. He actually built or helped build the 241 and the 133 that we know as the toll roads today that take you from Riverside over to the Beach cities. He's been involved in road construction his whole life, and his job has changed a little bit. They started doing fire cleanup for the state of California, and so he's been doing that. And we all know that that's a pretty plentiful job nowadays.

[00:06:28.490] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, job security there.

[00:06:30.760] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:06:32.100] - Big Rich Klein

So then what was it like... I mean, you were pretty young, you were seven or so when you went, maybe eight, when you moved to SoCal. What was it like uprooting, and do you remember?

[00:06:48.730] - Aaron Armstrong

I was really broken apart because I had friends in Arizona and family in Arizona, and I didn't want to leave. Arizona guy at heart. But I quickly became accustomed to everything in Southern California, and we'd like to go on to the beach and playing around and It was fun for me growing up in Southern California. I learned how to skateboard, and I was always into BMX bike riding. And we'd find those little pieces of dirt and make jumps on them and stuff like that. So I always had that Arizona heart, and trying to find dirt in California when everything builds up is a little hard, but we managed to do it. Right.

[00:07:56.220] - Big Rich Klein

And so what things did the family do together, like when work wasn't a priority, weekends or vacations?

[00:08:09.340] - Aaron Armstrong

I can remember we would always vacation at Lake Powell and Lake Mead, and we'd always be going out and doing boat stuff. But then when I was in third grade, I remember that we had met up with some friends, my mom and dad's long friends that they grew up in high school in Prescott with. We went out to Glamis and got to ride Quads and dirt bikes and stuff like that. That was always one of my good times of the year, right around Thanksgiving. We'd go out to Glamis because it was only three and a half hours from us, four hours from us. It was the middle point of meeting up with my parents' friends.

[00:09:06.150] - Big Rich Klein

All right, that's cool. And the... Going to school there, was there Do you have any interest in... Were you a good student or were you one of those that always looked out the window?

[00:09:24.900] - Aaron Armstrong

I've always been an ADHD kid, right? I can't stand Still. Maybe that's why I'm so good at doing my job right now as an electrical supervisor for the mine. But yeah, I was a decent student. I was always really good at math and science, but reading and doing essays and stuff like that, I really bit the dust on. I needed a lot of help in that. So I guess it was half and half, I guess, a good student and bad student.

[00:10:09.060] - Big Rich Klein

And so your favorite were more of the sciences and math?

[00:10:14.440] - Aaron Armstrong

Yes. Okay.

[00:10:16.090] - Big Rich Klein

Did they have automotive programs?

[00:10:19.010] - Aaron Armstrong

When I got to high school, that's the first thing I set out to look for was we had an automotive program They had a couple of car lifts and some old cars in the yard and stuff. I really took a hold to the automotive program. I was vice president of the Auto Club, in high school. And yeah, really, really... That was the only thing I was interested in high school, that and girls, but we'll talk about that later.

[00:10:59.220] - Big Rich Klein

We'll be careful there.

[00:11:01.060] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:11:02.720] - Big Rich Klein

So what was the first car that you were, I guess, legal to drive?

[00:11:13.830] - Aaron Armstrong

So my first vehicle was a 1987 Toyota 4-runner. Oh, wow. And since then, I've had five 4-runners. My last one that I bought is a fifth gen, but I've I've had three first gens, a second gen, and a fifth gen.

[00:11:36.980] - Big Rich Klein

Wow. Okay. Toyota guy through and through, huh?

[00:11:41.210] - Aaron Armstrong

Oh, yeah.

[00:11:42.520] - Big Rich Klein

That's a shame. No, I'm kidding. Yeah. So then you stuck with Toyotas. How long did you have that first one? That first gen?

[00:11:56.480] - Aaron Armstrong

I had that until I was 18 18 years old. My life took a little bit of a turn when I was 18 years old. It was all hormones, and I didn't want to listen to anyone and normal teenager stuff, I guess. I just did my own thing for a little bit, which, looking back, I try to tell my kids, Hey, the grass isn't greener on the other side. But shortly after I turned 18, I rolled my first vehicle. It was a stupid mistake on my part. I shouldn't have been where I was, but you live by your mistakes. At least I do.

[00:12:55.650] - Big Rich Klein

Was it pavement or dirt?

[00:12:59.180] - Aaron Armstrong

It was in Okay.

[00:13:02.740] - Big Rich Klein

Do you want to expand on that or not?

[00:13:07.220] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah. I mean, growing up in Southern California, me and my friends were always into the pre-runner scene. Ford Rangers with big old extended eye beams and coilovers and deavers and whatnot. Growing up in pretty much pavement We'd always try to find those little off-road trails and any dirt that we could get our wheels on. That's where we were. We did a lot of A lot of off-roading in Trabuco Canyon. There was a place called Holy Jim Canyon that we would... We'd just speed down that dirt road as fast as we could because we thought we were Robbie Gordon and Baja racers and stuff, being teenagers in high school. We always tore stuff up. That was how we learned how to wrench on our own vehicles, and we'd take our broken vehicles to auto shop, and we'd go to Pep Boys right down the street, and we'd buy little parts and fix the stuff that we broke. We always, as a friend group, I still am friends with my high school buddies today, and we're always constantly wrenching on stuff. And yeah, constantly modifying, constantly wrenching on stuff. And I guess that makes sense in the off-road world.

[00:14:53.490] - Big Rich Klein

Right. So did you total that one?

[00:14:58.750] - Aaron Armstrong

I did total it. However, I didn't think I totaled it because I had ended up smashing the cab in pretty good. We took it, come along to it and put it on the car lift and come along the hood straight. I couldn't fit a windshield in there anymore, but who needs a windshield when you're 18 years old? But apparently, Southern California frowns on not having a windshield in your vehicle.

[00:15:29.360] - Big Rich Klein

You put your helmet on and goggles.

[00:15:32.420] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah, it was one of those things. That was late '90s. We'd go down to Mexico and watch the start of the Baja 1,000, stuff like that. I always wanted to be in the off-road world, and that was a dream of mine ever since I could remember.

[00:15:58.650] - Big Rich Klein

So when you were young, did you work? And if you did, what work did you do? Like going through high school.

[00:16:09.540] - Aaron Armstrong

Going through high school, I worked at the Elisa Viejo 21 theaters, and I was a concession stand guy, and then moved to checking tickets and stuff like that. Then I got a job after going through auto shop for a couple of months, I got a job at Big O Tires, and I was doing tires and looking at brakes and just doing inspections on the vehicles and whatnot. But I got really good at doing tires after working at Big O.

[00:16:51.760] - Big Rich Klein

I thought you were going to go down the road of, Yeah, I got a job at a burger place. You know what I'm like at Fast Times at Ridgemont High?

[00:17:00.430] - Aaron Armstrong

No. The food service industry was not my deal. I actually applied for in and out one time, and I got denied because I had too much automotive experience working at Big O. I soon started working at a place that was a full-service gas station. It was the only one in Southern California. They had a little automotive shop section, and I did brakes and oil changes and little jobs that the owner felt comfortable with high school students doing that. Right.

[00:17:44.710] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. What were your aspirations when you were going to school? What you thought your career would be or what you wanted to be?

[00:17:54.650] - Aaron Armstrong

I wanted to be a welder. I struck my first My first arc with a welder in auto shop. We had a little tombstone AC, buzz box welder. I struck my first arc and learned how to lay a bee down, and I was mentally turned on with that, and I was all about it. I probably did in my junior year of high school, I I probably did 15 exhaust jobs for my buddies. It was cutting off the exhaust right after the cat and straight-piping this and that and putting glass packs on vehicles and a little trashcan exhaust on my buddy's rice rockets and whatnot. It was one of those things that I always liked doing. However, I wasn't too good at it at that time. The big the glob, the better the job thing. The glob, the better the job. Everything works, but there's exhaust lease everywhere. I was a junior in high school. I didn't know better. So we just did what we could do.

[00:19:19.800] - Big Rich Klein

I take things that need to be melted together. I take it to professionals because I cannot weld to save in my life. Of course, I haven't spent much time doing it, but going through that process of trying to learn. To me, it'd be like playing golf. It's just going to take too long to get to where I want to be, so it's just better to take it to somebody.

[00:19:46.770] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah, exactly.

[00:19:48.740] - Big Rich Klein

So you were welding. You wanted to be a welder, but that didn't happen?

[00:19:53.960] - Aaron Armstrong

No. My parents thought I was a little too wild for my brothers. I have two brothers. One was five years younger than me, and then my youngest brother is 10 years younger than me. And I'm being Full of hormones and being an ADHD kid. I was off the chain and my parents couldn't really, I guess, don't control me anymore. I actually moved back to Arizona and lived with my grandparents after high school and went down the wrong path, got wrapped up into drugs and alcohol, and quickly found myself homeless and out of a job and hanging out with the wrong kids. I I found myself down in Phoenix selling drugs and quickly did that for about a year. I looked at myself one day in the mirror and something in my head, I don't know if it was a Guardian Angel or God or what, but something in my head said, This is not your life. I called my parents and I ended up making a deal with them that I would get clean and sober, and I moved back to Southern California. I was in Phoenix to go to UTI and work on vehicles, but I got wrapped up in the methamphetamine game, and that just wasn't the life for me.

[00:21:57.580] - Aaron Armstrong

I moved back to Southern California and lived out there for a while.

[00:22:06.840] - Big Rich Klein

Moving to your grandparents just gave you a place temporarily for shelter, but they weren't able to help control you then.

[00:22:16.990] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah, exactly.

[00:22:17.890] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. That makes sense. I understand. There's a lot of us that have gone through periods like that. So then you get back to California and make the deal with your parents. And how did all that work? What did you do after that?

[00:22:40.960] - Aaron Armstrong

So after I moved back from Arizona, back to When I was in California, I had to sleep because I hadn't slept in a year. Was that part of the deal with your parents?

[00:22:56.190] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, I need like a month to sleep.

[00:22:58.350] - Aaron Armstrong

Pretty much. After I got clean and sober, I started hanging out with my friends again that I went to high school with. They're a bunch of motor heads. My buddy Eric, he had a 1967 Volkswagen bug that was all California street bugged out. We'd go to hot V-Dub nights and stuff like that, and got wrapped up into the car scene. But living with my parents, I needed I wanted to find a job, so I ended up getting a job at a place called Performance Motorsports in San Juan Capistrano. It was a Honda Suzuki Bombardier dealership. I was a parts guy at Performance Motorsports for about five and a half years. After I left Performance Motorsports, I went Irvine, California, and I worked at Bert's Mega Mall. Actually, I worked at Spectrum Motorsports in Irvine, California. Then I found myself in Covina, California, and I started working for Bert's Mega Mall after that. I was always in the off-road industry, but it was two-wheeled, motor cycles and I rode street bikes. I I can chat. So being a parts sales guy was in my realm of expertise, I guess, if you want to say. So I did that for quite a while.

[00:24:46.940] - Big Rich Klein

And so five and a half years at performance, but how long did spend in the power sports market?

[00:25:04.080] - Aaron Armstrong

In the power sports industry, I spent about seven years in the power sports industry until I met a girl at the shop, and we hit it off, and she had mutual friends with me. I pretty much worked in the power sports industry until I got the a phone call that, Hey, I'm pregnant. After that, I had to find a career that I could actually raise a family to. My friend that was an electrician, he actually turned me on to a company that was hiring Because I've always been techy and good with my hands and stuff like that. I'm like, You know what? Let me try this electrical thing out. I started with roping houses, doing residential work, and quickly moved into commercial work. I ended up going to school to be I'm an electrician. I went to a place called National Institute of Technology. It was in Long Beach, and it was a technical school. I was able to get my tech certification and graduate with honors out of the school, and I'm just like, You know what? I'm actually pretty good at this. That was in 2003 that I graduated, and in I have my first son, and I've been an electrician ever since.

[00:27:07.300] - Big Rich Klein

And this girl's name that you have your first son with?

[00:27:12.780] - Aaron Armstrong

Her name is Amanda, and she's my wife, and we've been together ever since. She's pretty awesome. She is fantastic.

[00:27:21.720] - Big Rich Klein

I think you outkicked your coverage.

[00:27:25.340] - Aaron Armstrong

Probably. I classed up on that one for sure.

[00:27:30.170] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, you did. Oh, God. So you got your... You graduated with your electrical certificates and degree or whatever they give you. And was it like union or was... What electrical work were you doing?

[00:27:57.190] - Aaron Armstrong

So I worked for I'm actually one of my ex-girlfriend's dads for a little while. He had a private company and he did a lot of really high-end houses in Newport Beach and all over Southern California, where we were doing computer-controlled panels. This is back in early 2000s. We were the cutting edge guys when it came to installations and bridging the gap between technology and what could be in your house. So we did We did a lot of houses out there. We actually did a house in Newport Beach, and it was the owner of what's called Chefs USA, and they created the Hot Pocket. We called it the Hot Pocket house, and that house was amazing. It was just purely amazing. We did that. When Amanda was pregnant. We were struggling in Southern California. Being an electrician, I made great money, and I still couldn't afford rent for house. I did not want to raise my kid in an apartment complex with a little landing outside of the apartment, a little balcony or whatever for him to get outside and play. Because I grew up outside all the time, and I wanted the same for my kid.

[00:29:56.340] - Aaron Armstrong

It just happened to be that my My wife, or my girlfriend at the time, a fiancée, she was born in Paradise Valley down in Phoenix. I seemed to happen to find an Arizona girl in Southern California. One night we were talking when she was pregnant, and I'm like, You know what? I think we should move back home when we have my son His name is Gavin. When we have Gavin, and she looked at me and she said, I think that's a great idea. So we moved back to Arizona.

[00:30:40.030] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Question I have is, how did Amanda end up in California if she was an Arizona girl? Did same thing, her parents moved out there?

[00:30:50.550] - Aaron Armstrong

Yep. Her dad worked for Cox Communications, and he moved out to Southern California because that's what their dream was Living in Arizona, they'd always take trips to the beach and stuff. She moved out when she was in middle school. Then she grew up there all the way through high school. When she went to college, I ruined that college career for her for a little bit of time. But we put her through school, and she ended up getting her bachelor's degree Yeah.

[00:31:33.980] - Big Rich Klein

How did you come up with the name Gavin? Was it a family name on one side or the other?

[00:31:40.720] - Aaron Armstrong

No, I just thought it was a really freaking cool name. Not a lot of kids had that name that I knew of. All my names that I wanted to name the boy was shot down, but But I try to think of funky names for my kids and stuff. Like stretch? Yeah, exactly. We ended up coming to an agreement with Gavin. It's been his name ever since he was born.

[00:32:23.970] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's good. I'm glad you didn't change it.

[00:32:26.630] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah.

[00:32:27.180] - Big Rich Klein

And he's on his in Southern California now, is that correct?

[00:32:33.750] - Aaron Armstrong

Yes. He lives with my parents. Kind of the same thing. Well, not really the same thing that happened to me, but he came to us one day and said, Hey, I talked to... He calls her Mimi, my mom. He was like, Hey, I talked to Mimi, and I want to live out there first for a little bit and see what Southern California is all about. I'm like, Why in the hell do you want to do that? He's lived there since last October, and he likes it. He likes walking on the beach and going and working out and the whole nine yards. He's absolutely been a blessing for us since he was born. Super mellow, smiley kid, always a really good kid. One thing you can always want as a father is for your kids to be better than you. I think I hit the nail on the head with my two kids.

[00:33:48.980] - Big Rich Klein

And your second son, his name is?

[00:33:52.550] - Aaron Armstrong

My second son's name is Cameron. He's 18 years old as of yesterday, the 23rd of February. He's a senior in high school, and he's going to be valet Victorian of the high school here in Bagdad. He's an amazing student. He's got Amanda's brain, my wife's brain, that's for sure.

[00:34:20.190] - Big Rich Klein

Well, I saw pictures of... It looked like maybe senior prom or something. I think he's got her looks, too, which he's lucky.

[00:34:30.120] - Aaron Armstrong

Oh, yeah. Yep.

[00:34:35.600] - Big Rich Klein

That's awesome. So then you guys moved back to Arizona, and where did you move to in Arizona?

[00:34:47.460] - Aaron Armstrong

So I moved to Prescott, Arizona. We call them Prescott.

[00:34:51.720] - Big Rich Klein

Prescott is the local pronunciation. Yeah.

[00:34:56.100] - Aaron Armstrong

We moved back to Prescott because that's my hometown. I always love Presket. It's not too hot, not too cold. It's pretty much perfect weather all the time. I lived there for a little bit. This was 2006 when we moved to Presket. I worked in Presket as an electrician for a little bit, and My aunt, she worked for Phelps Dodge, corporate headquarters, and she said that, Hey, there's a mine called Bagdad. It's about an hour, hour and a half away from Presket, and they're hiring electricians. You should apply. I quickly got on the interwebs and applied for an electrician position. I got hired October second, 2006. I've been gainfully employed here in Baghdad, working for the mine since then.

[00:36:08.930] - Big Rich Klein

You've gone up through the ranks?

[00:36:11.740] - Aaron Armstrong

Yes. I started as an electrician, moved to diagnostic electrician. Then my superintendent at the time, he really liked the way I communicated and the way I could have people follow in different jobs and stuff like that. They asked me after a couple of years of being here in Baghdad if I would like to be a supervisor. And I said, Sure, I'll give it a try. And so I took that job in 2008, and I've been doing it ever since.

[00:36:54.230] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. And what was it like for the family? Well, I would imagine, like Amanda, okay, going to Bagdad. Because Bagdad, for people that have never been to Bagdad, I always make the joke, all roads lead to Bagdad, Arizona. There is one road, paved road to Bagdad, Arizona. It's probably one of the second largest cul-de-sac. I don't know what Morrisey's like.

[00:37:22.490] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah. We like to call it the biggest cul-de-sac on the Northwest part of Arizona. There you Moving to Bagdad, I actually moved out here first until I could get a house. Bagdad is a company-owned town. All the houses here in Bagdad are company-owned. We pay a little bit of rent, and we were able to get a house. When I started here, the rent was 275 a month for a three bedroom, two bath house with a two car carport. With stuff being more expensive and whatnot, the rent's gone up 200 bucks in the 18 years I've been employed here. So I'm okay with that. That's a pretty good deal. I'm paying 475 a month. Yeah, paying 475 a month for two bedroom, two bath house is un heard of these days. I've been a good employee and I've worked my butt off here, and I just love the town and love the people. It's a family atmosphere here in Bagdad, and we help each other out. It's like a family, so everyone knows your business. It's It's one of those things. It's okay, though. It took a little bit of getting used to when I first got here because I was right out of Southern California, barely came to Arizona.

[00:39:14.240] - Aaron Armstrong

I had probably six months back in Arizona, and I was going a little stir crazy for a little bit, but I quickly found some hobbies that I was interested in.

[00:39:27.440] - Big Rich Klein

What were those?

[00:39:29.940] - Aaron Armstrong

Working in the power sports industry, I had motorcycles and whatnot, so I really liked riding motorcycles. I got hired in 2006 here, and then I saw a flyer at the post office, and it was for a We Rock competition. It was called Put Up or Shut Up. It was in 2007 at Thompson's Ranch in Congress, Arizona. I'm like, You know what? We should go check this out. Let's see what it's all about. Because I had only known about going fast stuff and motorcycles and whatnot. I never really... I heard of Tracy Jordan because my buddy Chris, he's been a big Jeep guy forever. His dad had a poster of Tracy when he was sponsored by BFG, all flexed out on the Rock. I knew what it was, but never been to a competition in my life. We went to shut up in Congress in 2007. That year, it had just been downpouring rain. I saw all the competitors out there, and I stood out in the rain all day long, and I could not take my eyes off of what these vehicles were doing. It just turned my mind upside down and made me really start computing in my mind, How am I going to get into this?

[00:41:20.900] - Aaron Armstrong

How am I going to tell the wife that I need to get into this? At that time, we had just had our second son, Cameron, and he was, I want to say, barely a month old when we went to that competition. My wife was completely thrilled that she got to sit in the car with the babies while I was out in the rain watching this craziness go on.

[00:41:59.100] - Big Rich Klein

Completely thrilled. Yeah. He says, right. And so that started you down the rabbit hole.

[00:42:11.260] - Aaron Armstrong

Yup.

[00:42:13.380] - Big Rich Klein

What was your first move after that to transition to going slow?

[00:42:20.760] - Aaron Armstrong

So I still have my motorcycles and stuff, and I would go out on rides and ride with buddies and whatnot. But I'm not the guy to go slow and take it easy. I was always full throttle or nothing. If I saw a jump, I It didn't matter how big it was, I was going to hit that thing. I had crashed my motorcycle, I had broken my clavicle, shattered my shoulder and sent bone fragments into my rotator cuff. That was pretty much the end of my motorcycle career. But after I saw that first put up or shut up in Congress, I had been looking at Craigslist at the time and on the classified ads in the newspaper and whatnot and trying to find some vehicle that was four-wheel drive that I could do work on. My uncle actually had a 1969 Jeep Wagoneer in his side yard, and it was driven from Mexico City, Mexico, up to Prescott, Arizona, in part. This thing had no floorboards in it because it was rusted out, and everything was rusted completely It was completely out in it. I'm just like, I know exactly what to do with this thing.

[00:44:04.910] - Aaron Armstrong

I chopped the body completely off of it except the firewall, and I was going to make my first rock hauler with it. It had data 44s and it had a T18 transfer case in it, and I was going to make something out of it. Excuse me. I quickly found out how expensive off-road parts were. Raising two kids, I had two newborns, pretty much. Kevin was a year and a half, and Cameron was a newborn. That dream quickly went to the wayside. I ended up taking that Jeep Wagoneer, and I sold the axles out of it, the Dana 44s out of it. I sold the transmission engine transfer case, and I had chopped up the frame because I didn't have a title for it. I chopped up the frame in 50-foot sections because the scrap yard wouldn't take it whole. I ended up making quite a bit of money off just selling parts. My next step was I was going to buy something else and see if I could make that off-roader, a rock hauler or whatnot. I ended up buying an '83 Toyota pickup truck that had a blown motor from my neighbor and put a motor in it and then quickly found out that I could sell it for more.

[00:45:48.740] - Aaron Armstrong

So I sold that. And over the course of a few years, I had bought and sold so many vehicles to try to make this, what I like to call the Buggy Fund, try to make this Buggy Fund or realization in my life. I ended up buying and selling and trading this and that, and I had enough money. I actually ended up buying a motorcycle instead. Then I saw on Craigslist, some guy wanted... He had a 1984 Toyota 4-runner that was lifted, had bigger tires on it and stuff. It was bobbed in the bed, and it didn't have a cage in it, but it had the stock roll bar, and it looked a little beat up and stuff. I'm like, Look at this rock This is amazing. I ended up trading my motorcycle for that 4-runner, and that was the kickoff of my first competitive rock Crawler.

[00:47:17.610] - Big Rich Klein

Was Amanda glad that you got off the motorcycle and then that you brought home a 4-runner?

[00:47:25.680] - Aaron Armstrong

Yes, because I had heard from one of my buddies out here that in Bagdad, we have this close-knit racing competing group. I have Levi Rockhill. He races Class Open Desert Cars. He raced in Best of the Desert, and now they raced in Snore. Then Matthew Machesky, he has raced in Dirt Rides before here in Bagdad when we had one. He actually races Class I, Open Desert cars. We got this close-knit buddy group that likes to hang out and do off stuff. But yeah, they always told me, with age comes a cage. I'm like, you know what? That makes sense now that my shoulders pinned together and stuff like that. So, yeah, she was super stoked that I got rid of the motorcycles. That's for sure.

[00:48:36.750] - Big Rich Klein

And so that's the vehicle that you started on down the right path, I guess?

[00:48:47.220] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah, the right path for sure. And you got that one. Yeah, so the 84 Toyota 4-runner, we get quarterly bonuses here at the at the mine. The quarterly bonuses, my wife and I made a deal, and all my hourly wages and my salary and stuff like that would be a household fund. Then whatever I got for bonuses would be my buggy fund or my off-road fund. That's been working out for us for a long I started modifying the 4-runner and looking at pirate 4x4, going on the Toyota Bible and reading every single thing that everyone was doing. It really gave me a lot of drive to go after that stuff. Plus, I've always liked the Toyotas. They're a great vehicle and you can't kill them. If you do, you're pretty much running them out of oil or whatnot. I started modifying the 4-runner, and then after I got a cage in it. I met a guy here at the mine that was avid off-roader, and we called him MacGyver. He had a 5 by 10 plasma table in his garage, and I thought that was cool. It was the coolest thing ever. I'm just like, Hey, man, do you want to help me build a cage and modify this Toyota?

[00:50:38.840] - Aaron Armstrong

I apprenticed under him because I didn't know how to weld. I'm an electrician. So he took me through and he taught me how to weld. He taught me how to MIG weld. He taught me how to effectively ARC weld, and he taught me how to TIG weld. And in the year that we were modifying the Toyota because I had saved up a bunch of money from buying and selling stuff, and we ended up being in the cage for the Toyota. And doing the normal rear up fronts and in the rear springs up front on the Toyota and then 63-inch Chevy's in the rear. He had a plasma table, and I'm just like, Dude, I got the best idea. And he's like, What's that? And I'm just like, I want shackles on the back that look like brass knuckles. We ended up cutting a set out and put them on the 4-runner. And man, those shackles have been on Race Desert. They've been on all sorts of Instagram pages and stuff. Everyone's like, Hey, look at this 909 bro guy. I'm like, Okay. I knew that I was going to get my balls busted over that one, but it is what it is.

[00:52:13.640] - Big Rich Klein

But you owned it, yeah.

[00:52:14.820] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah, I thought it was cool. Plus, it's a good recovery point. We cut them out a three-eights plate, and man, those things are still around today.

[00:52:28.330] - Big Rich Klein

Did you ever make any anybody else?

[00:52:31.640] - Aaron Armstrong

No.

[00:52:32.170] - Big Rich Klein

No? Okay.

[00:52:32.960] - Aaron Armstrong

Those are the only set, I think, ever.

[00:52:39.120] - Big Rich Klein

Then you were at the first... Well, not the first, but at that put up or shut up at Thompson's. You continued coming to our events that we did down there?

[00:52:51.950] - Aaron Armstrong

Yes, I came every single year after 2007. Then when We Rock moved across the street to Pingatoris. Yeah, whatever the guy's name was, was out those- What a joke that guy is, anyway. Yeah. Then That ended up being four ultra-four nationals. I got involved in going and spectating at King of the Hammers. I started going in 2009. Man, that race just My mind started bending again. I'm just like, Oh, my gosh, these guys are hauling ass through the Rock, so this is awesome. In 2009, 2010, that was probably the most chaotic race that I've ever seen. Well, number one, it was sketchy because all the spectators were like, right there in the Cameran Canyon. Right in the canyons, yeah. Oh, yeah. I was the guy like, right there taking photos and stuff like that. And I'm just like, That's just so awesome. And so I love the hammers. It's getting a little crazier nowadays, but it is what it is. We've been going for years and years, and I love Johnson Valley. It's amazing.

[00:54:23.610] - Big Rich Klein

I love Johnson Valley. I can't say that if I ever go back to that race, it'll be too soon.

[00:54:32.270] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah.

[00:54:32.390] - Big Rich Klein

I love the racers. I love the race itself, but there's just too many aspects of it that have gotten just totally out of control that I just can't handle. Maybe it's because I'm old and I'm the guy that if I had a lawn, I'd be yelling at people to stay off of it. Shelley says, I'm the wake police when we're on our boat. I sit there and yell at people as they go by in their fishing boats that are... It's always the guys with the little fishing boats that leave the biggest wakes. Oh, yeah. The 80 footers come in and they don't leave a wake at all. They can go a lot faster through the no wake zone without leaving a wake. But those little bay boats, my God, they leave a huge wake.

[00:55:21.100] - Aaron Armstrong

Coming from a jet boat owner, flat bottom jet boat at the Colorado River, we go all the time. Yeah, When you see the big boats coming, you're like, Where's the beach? I need to get on the beach because it gets a little choppy, that's for sure.

[00:55:39.710] - Big Rich Klein

Absolutely. Then we We Rock, of course, we couldn't do Thomson's after the matriarch of the family passed away. You helped us move into after Pingatoorys, you suggested that we come up to Baghdad, or that that might be a possibility. And you made all that work. And we really appreciate that.

[00:56:15.810] - Aaron Armstrong

So I saw on Facebook that you were reaching out to see if anyone had any possible comp sites available. And I've been in a lover of the sport. I ended up in 2014, I did my first Dirt Riot race in one third place because there was only three people in my class.

[00:56:42.990] - Big Rich Klein

You're not supposed to say that.

[00:56:45.390] - Aaron Armstrong

Won third place. That's right.

[00:56:47.700] - Big Rich Klein

Nobody knows until you tell them.

[00:56:49.190] - Aaron Armstrong

We really like doing that. Me and my best friend Chris. We liked doing that. We In '15, we ended up wheeling in We Rock competition and beat a couple of people out for third place. I'm just like, You know what? This is a lot better than going fast. That's for sure. That turned me into the rock Crawler guy. When I saw you guys reaching out for a possible event site and whatnot, I was in a supervisor training at the time, and we had just got a new general manager. After the supervisor training, I hemmed up the general manager, and I'm like, Hey, man, have you ever seen a rock-crawl competition? And he's like, No. What's that? I explained it to him, and I'm just like, I've been looking at this spot here in Bagdad, and I was wondering if we might want to have a rock-crawl competition here. And he quickly said, Hey, show me what that looks like. I took him out to the spot, which is the rock crawl spot here in Bagdad. It was nothing but mesquite, cat's claw, cactus, and shrubo, and some trees. But I saw these rock formations that were just amazing.

[00:58:40.270] - Aaron Armstrong

I took him out there and I'm like, I want to clear all this land right here, and I want to use these rocks as a competition area. He's like, Okay, well, make it happen. I can just tell you that you're not getting any help from the company on this. We will let you guys use the land, but it's all got to be eyes dotted, T's crossed, the whole nine yards. That's when I reached out to you guys, Rich and Cheli, and I'm just like, Hey, come check this out. You were able to come down and look see my vision.

[00:59:32.270] - Big Rich Klein

The potential.

[00:59:33.960] - Aaron Armstrong

The potential. You're like, This is awesome. That year, this was 2017, going into '18. That year, I had pretty much begged a bunch of contractors. I begged my uncle to come down and help me clear land. He had a backhoe up in Presket. He has a backhoe business. He came down with his backhoe. Then another contractor that works here, he had a loader. We'd spent a good three months just clearing land. It was every single day after work, every single weekend we'd spend out there. It was cutting brush and pulling cactus. Man, I lived with cactus in myself for four months. But I had the vision and I had the drive, and I wanted it to happen, not only because I We lost Thompson's Ranch, but I also wanted something for the town because we don't have a lot of events here in town, and people get really bored, and they We'd hang out and party, but having something cool in town to take the kids and the family to and whatnot was a big driver for me as well. We made it happen that year. We were able to clear off a little sliver of dirt so we could have spectators there.

[01:01:24.290] - Aaron Armstrong

There wasn't any camping available at that time, so we ended up camping behind the Country Bar and Grill. That first year was amazing. We had a ton of people come out, and that competition, I thought, went off really good. So didn't Justin...

[01:01:45.890] - Big Rich Klein

He was the general manager. Didn't he come out and see that event?

[01:01:50.570] - Aaron Armstrong

Or was it the next year? So Justin Cross, he was the general manager at the time in Bagdad, and he was was going down to Tucson to visit some family and stuff. And he got a call from one of the employees here in Bagdad and said, Hey, if you guys see something on ESPN that's the Bagdad, Arizona rock craals or whatnot. He's like, That's probably going to happen. And Justin's like, What in the heck? So he quickly turned around and came out to We in Bagdad, and he was completely blown away. He had never seen anything like that before, and he was on our side from right then. He was just like, Oh, my gosh, this is amazing.

[01:02:47.020] - Big Rich Klein

He was really happy with the way we ran the event, too. Absolutely. We did all the things right.

[01:02:55.500] - Aaron Armstrong

That was awesome. We did the '18 event here, we did the '19 event here, and every single year, we kept on clearing brush, clearing more land, clearing more comp spots, clearing what I saw in the Rocks as potential courses. I'm like, Hey, guys, I have a crew of people that have been helping me out ever since the first one. I'm like, Hey, guys, this year we're going to go after this section of rocks. We'd go out there and hang out and we'd clear a bunch of land and have fires and burn off the stuff that we'd cut. We got really good feedback and support from our fire department here. They're just like, Yeah, absolutely. Just make sure the piles are five by five. We're just like, okay.

[01:04:04.780] - Big Rich Klein

I remember that we didn't know if they were five foot or five yards.

[01:04:09.160] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah, exactly. Or five meters. We were just like, okay, five by five. We'd pile a bunch of brush and stuff, and I'm like, Yeah, looks like five by five to me, and we'd light it on fire. But they were always super cool and made really good friends with the fire chief and we've gotten nothing but great support from them. The whole town of Bagdad has adopted We Rock as a thing to do, and everyone in town has nothing but great things to say about the event and about how it's run and about the wild stuff that happens on the rocks and We're extremely safety sensitive culture here in Bagdad. Oh, yeah.

[01:05:06.670] - Big Rich Klein

All of your trucks, you guys got flags on them and you got to get out and block your tires and all the stuff that... All your We Rocks have backup alarms. And yeah, you guys are way safety conscious.

[01:05:20.700] - Aaron Armstrong

So I wanted to bring that to We Rock as well. And at the event site, it's such a good site because the spectator areas is like stadium seating almost. You can see all eight courses at once going off. It makes for a great spectating area and it makes for really good wheeling. Having the support of the company and the support of the town is always a good thing because I don't have to beg every year to have another event. Then we had the competition in 2020. That one was a really big one, and we had a great time. Then the world went to hell with COVID and stuff. We weren't able to have the event for a couple of years. I think the first event back was in '22 or '23?

[01:06:41.460] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I think we skipped only '21. I think we were able to do it in '22.

[01:06:47.300] - Aaron Armstrong

So the first year back, we had a bunch of rework to do on the rocks because- Shit always grows back.

[01:06:57.580] - Big Rich Klein

My God.

[01:06:58.840] - Aaron Armstrong

Oh, yeah. The cat's claw. We have these trees out here, bushes out here. We call them cat's claws because they look like they have little cat's claws on them. Or we call them two-step because if you get caught up in one, you can't take more than two steps without ripping yourself open. Correct. But yeah. So did a bunch of land clearing and stuff, and then we ended up having the comp and everyone is super stoked about it. I don't foresee it going anywhere as long as we keep the incidents down. We Rock is an inherently dangerous sport. I mean, any motor sports event is. But that's why we maintain the banner line all the way up to comp course to keep the spectators and the vehicles separated and potential rocks falling off course and stuff like that will impact the spectators. Yeah, it's going to be a great one this year, and I can't wait.

[01:08:22.180] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, the parking lot, the parking area and the spectator area is just phenomenal what you guys have done this year. Yeah. And it's expanded, got a lot more room now. And you guys have opened up some new rocks. You opened up new rocks last year and then cleared deeper in and stuff. So it's looking really great. I'm excited about it. Every year we keep growing out there and you guys keep providing more room. And the mine, they don't mind us anymore. We send our paperwork in and it's pretty much a slam dunk on the on the permit from them. And as long as the insurance and everything is there and the county, as long as the food vendors have their permits, everything's copacetic.

[01:09:11.400] - Aaron Armstrong

It works out. Yeah. Yeah. One of the things that I believe in and that the mind believes in is continuous improvement. If I could bring a little bit of that continuous improvement out to the spot, that's where we're going. It's just going to get bigger. I have a section of rocks that I've been looking at for next year that I'd like to walk you and Jake Good down on and see if that's something that you guys want to do. I almost opened it up this year, but with going to the Hammers this year and working on my vehicles and working on friends' vehicles to try to get them ready for comp. It just wasn't in the cards. However, next year, I think we're going to open up some wild new rocks, and it's going to be amazing.

[01:10:15.920] - Big Rich Klein

That'd be great. I'm sure Jake and Caleb would love that. I'm not doing too much walking on the rocks anymore these days because of my knees. Just can't deal with it. But whatever you guys want to do is fine with me.

[01:10:31.860] - Aaron Armstrong

Right on. Well, we'll make it happen. Perfect.

[01:10:34.860] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. So what's in the future for Aaron and the family? You're going to be coming up here shortly, probably within the next six months, you're going to be like a two bedroom house with just you and Amanda, maybe.

[01:10:52.720] - Aaron Armstrong

Yeah. So we're going to be empty nesters at the graduation year. In May, my youngest graduates, and he is going to be going to NAU up in Flagstaff. He got a full ride scholarship to NAU, and he's going to be He's going to study mechanical engineering, and he's going to be designing my next for link. Nice. For myself and Amanda, we spent our 20s and 30s and into our 40s raising kids. It's time for us to go do our thing. I'm going to still be working on… When COVID happened, I ended up self-distancing myself in the garage, and I built a custom buggy full-tube chassis from ground up. I couldn't have done it without Jeremy Hammer from Flying High and Louis Gomez from Presket Tire Pros. Man, those guys supported me all the way through this. Not to mention my wife was very involved. She does procurement for parts for the mine, so she was very involved in the parts buying and making sure I was on budget and getting everything on time and stuff like that. The biggest thing about building a buggy from the ground up is parts on the ground. You got to foresee what the next step is and make sure that you have the parts and you're not waiting because it'll take you 10 years to build a buggy if you're waiting for parts.

[01:13:00.080] - Aaron Armstrong

That was a big learning curve for me. But the future, I'm going to modify the buggy a little bit. We have a race team called a Little Off Racing because we're all just a little off. We keep on expanding our teammates, and we like to involve people in all facets of the off-road industry to our team. We got teammates in Southern California, in Utah, and in Arizona. I just want to continue this a little off-racing into a race team and do multiple races. I got a guy that's here now, and he's building a ultra four car. Oh, nice. Yeah, it's one of those things. You put a bug in people's ear and spend their money for them. Hey, you could do this. Hey, you can do that. It's that continuous improvement that we're looking forward to. I got guys that race rally cars that are part of the low-off racing. We're just going to expand the race team to include all different parts of off-road, and we'll see what the future brings. I would love to be in a moon buggy one day. We'll see. I just love being around people with the same interests as I do and involving new people into what I love as a sport.

[01:15:09.750] - Big Rich Klein

Well, I can tell you that as far as I'm concerned, and I think Jake is in agreement, that Bagdad will always be on the schedule as long as you guys will have us.

[01:15:19.810] - Aaron Armstrong

Heck, yeah. And I'll keep clearing land as long as you guys come back. Perfect.

[01:15:25.520] - Big Rich Klein

So, Aaron, I want to say thank you so much, not only for just for doing the the podcast today. And we're coming up this weekend. This will air this Thursday morning, so guys can listen to it on the drive out. But I want to say thank you for everything that you've done over the years to accommodate We Rock, not only in Bagdad, but you guys coming down and helping clear brush at Thomson's and what you've done with out at Pingatorys and everything else that you've done for us. It's Without that support, none of this stuff can happen. You can't put on a race series with just two people. That's for sure. Even though we try.

[01:16:12.020] - Aaron Armstrong

I appreciate that. I appreciate that. I'll I'll still support you guys no matter what. If there's a new comp site that you guys want to check out, give me a call and I'll come with my crew and we'll be a little bushwhacking. There you go.

[01:16:31.710] - Big Rich Klein

I don't see us going anywhere else. I think Bagdad's our home. So like I said, we'll stay as long as the mind will have us.

[01:16:43.600] - Aaron Armstrong

Well, awesome.

[01:16:44.790] - Big Rich Klein

So thank you so much. You go enjoy the evening with your family, and we'll see you. I'll be back up there on Friday, and Shelle and I will be up there with our bells and whistles, and we'll be ready to rock and roll.

[01:17:01.330] - Aaron Armstrong

Absolutely. We will see you here. All right.

[01:17:04.330] - Big Rich Klein

You take care, and again, thank you.

[01:17:07.060] - Aaron Armstrong

You too. Thanks. All right. Bye. Bye.

[01:17:11.140] - 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 would 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.