Let’s talk history with Ben Hanks in Episode 304

Old-school rock crawler and Utah native Ben Hanks joins Rich to trace his journey from growing up feral in a small, mountain-side town to becoming one of the OG competitors in competitive rock crawling. 

From first comps in the late ’90s and the rowdy hotel-party era of rock crawling to Farmington’s SuperCrawls raw energy and the milestone SEMA SuperCrawl. Ben got to crawl with all the big names, but like many, Ben pivoted during the ’08 downturn, inventing and patenting an HVAC efficiency system (up to 45% gains), plus marine accessories. If you’re ready for a trip down memory lane, don’t miss this one! 

Transcript

[00:00:05.100] 

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.

[00:00:46.460] 

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.

[00:01:12.480] - Big Rich Klein

My next guest is an old-time rock Crawler, one of the OG competitors. He's a guy that grew up in rural Utah, what used to be rural Utah, American Fork, grew up like most kids, soccer, baseball, and then found automobiles. The love of automobiles runs deep in my next guest, and that is Benjamin Hanks, otherwise known as Ben Hanks. Good morning, Benjamin Hanks. How are you doing?

[00:01:44.340] - Ben Hanks

I'm fantastic. How are you, Rich?

[00:01:46.100] - Big Rich Klein

Great. So do you like going by Ben or Benjamin?

[00:01:50.360] - Ben Hanks

You know, I've been called a lot of things in my life. Ben's usually how I'm called.

[00:01:58.200] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. That's how I've I've always known you. But I saw on social on Facebook, and it must be official that you go by Benjamin. Might be easier to find you that way. I have no idea. I think there's a couple of other Ben Hanks across the United States.

[00:02:13.900] - Ben Hanks

I'm sure there is.

[00:02:15.360] - Big Rich Klein

So let's get started on this interview. Get you to answer this easiest question. Where were you born and raised?

[00:02:24.380] - Ben Hanks

I was born in American Fork, Utah, and that's just south of Salt Lake City. And I was raised here in a little tiny town. Now it's not little at all, but it was pretty small when I was a kid.

[00:02:39.460] - Big Rich Klein

What was it like growing up there being that it was small then?

[00:02:44.020] - Ben Hanks

It was awesome. I mean, realistically, small town. I grew up basically on a farm. Had a lot of friends that owned large farms and family. We just grew up literally living across the street from a mountain. Every day, got to go outdoors.

[00:03:04.580] - Big Rich Klein

Growing up on a farm, does that mean you had farm chores?

[00:03:10.300] - Ben Hanks

I personally didn't have a farm. Our family didn't have a farm, but all of our neighbors around us did. But yes, we all had chores. We all had things we had to do to make it work.

[00:03:23.900] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Come from a big family?

[00:03:27.920] - Ben Hanks

Yes, sir. I come from a big family. I have four brothers and two sisters, and I'm the youngest of all the brothers. Then I have a little sister that's 13 years younger than I am.

[00:03:41.420] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, wow. Okay. When you were growing up, did the family do a lot of outdoor things, or were you guys left feral and been able to go do your own thing?

[00:03:58.060] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, you took the word out of my mouth. It's feral. We pretty much got in a lot of trouble. We're pretty rowdy kids, honestly. I don't know how my mom handled it. How about that?

[00:04:11.080] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. So growing up in the farming area, did you do cow-tipping or something?

[00:04:18.020] - Ben Hanks

No, we got in a lot more trouble than that. But we do all sorts of fun stuff. We build giant tree forts and build dabs, and we go shooting and hiking the mountains. There's just everything under the sun, ride four-wheelers and horses and everything like that.

[00:04:40.720] - Big Rich Klein

How larger of a group did you hang out with your friends at that young age, say, up till high school?

[00:04:49.980] - Ben Hanks

Actually, it was interesting. I had two of my best friends lived two doors down and one door up. I mean, it was really close. And to this day, I'm still very, very good friends with them. And we hung out every single day. It was a constant thing. So all the way through high school until current, even.

[00:05:13.460] - Big Rich Klein

All right. Cool. Looking back, would you say that you were a good student, or were you one of those that was always looking out the window waiting to get out?

[00:05:27.200] - Ben Hanks

I was actually a terrible student. I actually I ended with a great GPA, but I hated school. Two of my boys are the same way. This school's tough. It's hard to trap a kid in a class all day, every day. So it was tough. I hated school. Enjoyed my friends there, but I didn't like school.

[00:05:50.260] - Big Rich Klein

So the only part of school that you enjoyed was your friends?

[00:05:53.560] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, my friends, recess.

[00:05:56.680] - Big Rich Klein

Did you play sports at that? It as a kid?

[00:06:01.540] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, I actually did. I played soccer. Soccer was really big in my family. I played soccer up to Triple A. And then I got really interested in baseball, and I started playing baseball. Really enjoyed and loved baseball, but played a pretty decent ball. Then as I got older, I got more interested in other stuff.

[00:06:27.860] - Big Rich Klein

Like they say, the fumes?

[00:06:30.290] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, that's exactly it.

[00:06:32.360] - Big Rich Klein

The perfumes and the carfumes?

[00:06:34.800] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, the carfumes and perfumes, almost the exact same time.

[00:06:37.750] - Big Rich Klein

It's amazing how that happens, isn't it?

[00:06:41.320] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, it is.

[00:06:45.240] - Big Rich Klein

Can you share some of the bad, let's just say, the trouble that you got into? Any wild stories that you can tell?

[00:07:01.540] - Ben Hanks

I got lots of hilarious stories. There are a lot of stories in life, from busted mailboxes to stealing old cars. The list goes on and on. We had a lot of fun, but some of my friends took the hard way, and they spent a lot of time in prison because of it. It gets It gets out of control pretty fast. Luckily, honestly, the four-wheel drive industry is what saved me from all that. It was getting a girlfriend in a Jeep at the same time pretty much stopped me from having any discretionary income.

[00:07:49.680] - Big Rich Klein

No discretionary income. All the time. My goal has always been not to have a mug shot.

[00:08:00.600] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. Never be in handcuffs. That's how it's good. Yes.

[00:08:07.040] - Big Rich Klein

Were you successful in that?

[00:08:09.740] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, for the most part. I mean, as every little rebellious teenager, I had a lot of crazy stories, but mostly I tried to keep myself out of really bad trouble. I enjoyed my freedom too much. My father actually was pretty strict, so you didn't to make him mad. He was a Vietnam veteran, an airborne medic, and he didn't handle that too well when you got out of line. We avoid it, even though that's inevitable. You're a boy, you're going to get in trouble.

[00:08:46.660] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Yeah. You try not to, but you step over the line occasionally. Yeah.

[00:08:55.780] - Ben Hanks

I'll tell you, in junior high, We got a whole bunch of the stink bombs, and they were the glass breakable ones. Me and my friends planned to go around the entire school at lunchtime and break them. It was so bad that they had to evacuate the school.

[00:09:15.560] - Big Rich Klein

Wow.

[00:09:16.760] - Ben Hanks

To clear it out because it was so bad. It filled the whole school.

[00:09:20.600] - Big Rich Klein

And they caught you how?

[00:09:22.900] - Ben Hanks

No, they never caught me.

[00:09:24.380] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, they didn't catch you. Okay.

[00:09:25.920] - Ben Hanks

They didn't catch you anyway. But that was pretty funny, too. But I got in trouble for fighting a couple of times. But I really like more of the fun side of things rather than the fighting. It didn't really entertain me too much.

[00:09:42.900] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Okay. Some people, they like it.

[00:09:48.340] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. I had two brothers that love to do nothing but fight. I was always in a quarrel in one way or the other.

[00:09:58.240] - Big Rich Klein

What did you What was your first job?

[00:10:02.340] - Ben Hanks

Well, as a lot of kids are, my first job was construction. I did hardware floors and tile for quite a while. Then I ended up doing just basically I worked in construction in general with my brother, had a company, and I started working for him doing general contractor for a little bit. Then I got a job at a machine shop, at an engine building machine shop. We would actually specialize in restoring antique motors. Basically, very rare Duesenbergs, Cadillacs. We would take apart the motors and redo them. It was pretty cool. That's pretty much where I really learned how to take apart motors and learned a lot about that trade in the machining industry. It was pretty cool.

[00:10:54.080] - Big Rich Klein

How did you stumble into that?

[00:10:58.060] - Ben Hanks

Back in the day, you're just looking through newspapers, and I saw this job opening for an apprentice machinist, and I said, I could do that. Great old guy, taught me a lot. At that point, I said, All right, I got another opportunity. I loved that job, but then I had an opportunity to work for somebody in the off-road industry that pretty much everyone might know by now, Dennis Wood.

[00:11:24.420] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, yeah.

[00:11:25.920] - Ben Hanks

Dennis, I met him four-wheeling in Moab one year, and we hit it off. He said, Why don't you come work for me and be a mechanic? Then I moved down. Let's see, it was in Midvale. I was a mechanic for him for quite a few years. I was building Jeeps and building my very first buggy. The first competition I ever did was when I worked for him back in, Jesus God, it'd been 1999. I think it was a Yurok or an Arca then. I can't remember.

[00:12:03.780] - Big Rich Klein

Arca would have been '99. Yurok would have been closer to 2000, 2001.

[00:12:09.380] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, I think that's what it was. But anyway, so then that was fantastic. We were actually crossed the street from Mepco and Teraflex at the time.

[00:12:18.440] - Big Rich Klein

That's how everybody ended up there.

[00:12:21.800] - Ben Hanks

Yes, that's pretty much how it ended. Then I did a bunch of work for all the guys that worked and I got to know them. Then I had one of them come over and offer me a job there. I said, Okay, yeah, I'll jump ship. I did that. I somewhat enjoyed that experience. I liked it. Then we merged. We actually merged with Dennis's four-wheel drive automotive mechanic business. Then everybody was in one house. Then they fell under the same umbrella instead of It was pretty much all TeraFlex at that time. I worked there for quite a few years. It was good. It was good. They gave me a lot of great sponsorships over the years. A lot of great parts, a lot of great help. They were a great team.

[00:13:16.700] - Big Rich Klein

Talk about those early years of rock crawling.

[00:13:21.300] - Ben Hanks

Oh, man. They were wild. It was a lot of fun. I would say the early days, you'd look at the obstacles now and say they weren't super hard, but for our vehicles, they were extremely hard. A lot of learning, a lot of people I looked up to, a lot of the old great names, Walker. He was definitely one. His father, Kevin Hawkins, he came pretty good buddies with him. A lot of those guys I really looked up to because it was like, wow. Shannon, came good friends with him. Just these guys that came in and you said, wow, these guys are building some cool cars at the time. The early days were fun. They were really rowdy. I mean, it wasn't like now. Now you go to an event. I still go to a lot of events. Go to an event, everyone goes back to the trailer or bus, and that's it. But back in the day, that wasn't pretty much allowed. Everybody was staying in one hotel, and it was one giant party every night.

[00:14:18.640] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And if they happen to be a local nightclub in the area?

[00:14:23.100] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, then all of us would go there. And then we'd have some fun in those clubs, too.

[00:14:29.120] - Big Rich Klein

I remember one time in Vernal.

[00:14:32.060] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, Vernal was fun. Vernal was a hole in the wall. It still is. But man, that was a fun time. It really was. That was enjoyable. I've actually been involved, let's see, in the rock crawling industry from then all the way. I stopped actively competing in 2010, I think, but I still do it. I'm still involved in every event, pretty much. I do that through the young, up and coming kid, Brett Dickey. His dad and me are best of buds, and We get along like family. We're pretty close, so we do everything together. It's pretty fun. I help with their pit cruise, strategies, help drive, and we have a lot of fun together.

[00:15:32.780] - Big Rich Klein

Dickey has got some skills. It's like he feels the car real well.

[00:15:41.020] - Ben Hanks

He does, and it started way back in the way I built his dad a buggy when I had my shop in Salt Lake. He would strap Brett in the seat. I can remember taking him and my son out wheeling at three years old, and we'd strap him in the seat, and they would scream, and they'd yell, and they'd just be scared, and we'd just, You're fine. They'd been in it since they could walk, basically. It was a lot of fun to see him advance to where he's at now. He's a better driver than me, guaranteed. I mean, that kid just... He embarrasses us out on the trail. It's pretty fun.

[00:16:21.240] - Big Rich Klein

He embarrasses a lot of people at competitions, too.

[00:16:24.900] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. If he doesn't win, it's usually because he breaks the rules.

[00:16:28.480] - Big Rich Klein

Right. True.

[00:16:30.860] - Ben Hanks

It'll be good. It'll be good times.

[00:16:33.020] - Big Rich Klein

Those early days of rock crawling, yes, it was wild, but you stuck around for a while and you saw some of the evolution. Where do you think the biggest change happened or how it happened?

[00:16:58.260] - Ben Hanks

Well, I would say the The biggest, well, there's a lot of changes, but the biggest change for the four-wheel drive industry is really when the big sponsors started coming aboard. That was the very early days of We Rock, We Rock, where you saw BF Goodrich step up and Maxis and Pro Comp, and some of these guys that don't do anything anymore. But you see these big companies coming and putting a big purse in. As soon as I saw that purse and I could get contingency, at one time, I probably had 30 sponsors. Even if I podiumed, I knew I was taking home a fairly decent check. That's when I noticed people Really. I mean, there were times, remember, we would have 50 plus cars and you'd go, Holy crap. Are you kidding me? There's contenders and pretenders there, too. But it was awesome. That's when I really noticed. I really saw people really fine-tune their driving skills, like Dean Bullock. Love the guy. He's still a pretty darn good driver, even as he's getting older. He's a great driver. Those people, Brad Lovell. Brad showed me up more times than anyone in the whole world.

[00:18:23.150] - Ben Hanks

I mean, I swear, that guy, he's a wheelman. I think he's racing the car right now or something.

[00:18:30.000] - Big Rich Klein

They're over there.

[00:18:30.920] - Ben Hanks

Anyway, so yeah, that's why I would say the largest change for me was seeing major sponsors come in and allow people to travel more and have bigger events. That's when I noticed a big change.

[00:18:46.700] - Big Rich Klein

Looking back on all the events, was there one event that stood out as something you knew would be historical or it was just so much than any other?

[00:19:01.900] - Ben Hanks

Oh, man, I don't know if I could put a finger on the funnest events. Farmington Super Crawl, I mean, that was something because it was new, it was wild. You could still be close to the rigs. I thought that was cool. But I would say the Seema Super Crawl was pretty amazing. I think that was pretty big for us. I thought that was pretty big. I like the Salt Lake Super Crawls and Manmade courses, but boy, they tore up parts hard, though. I mean, you rolled, you felt it.

[00:19:39.020] - Big Rich Klein

Who was your spotter back in those days?

[00:19:42.960] - Ben Hanks

I've had a couple, but my spotter was Joey Candelaria. Joey passed away a few years ago from a heart attack.

[00:19:52.240] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, wow.

[00:19:53.520] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. His son, Cole, is actually competing in a Jimmy's 4x4 single-seat car here and there. He hasn't picked up full-time, but it's a pretty cool little car that Randy built. It's pretty cool.

[00:20:08.640] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. He's competing rock- crawling-wise?

[00:20:12.700] - Ben Hanks

Yeah.

[00:20:13.220] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Cool.

[00:20:14.800] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, he competes. Then I had my brother Chris. I know you met him a bunch, but my brother Chris spotted for me after his accident. He had a harder time spotting for me because he was still recovering. But yeah, he spotted for me for a while, a few years.

[00:20:35.060] - Big Rich Klein

You said his accident?

[00:20:38.140] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. He was actually hit training for a triathlon on his bike by a Hummer. A lady cut off traffic to miss a light and hit him. Broke every bone from his waist up.

[00:20:55.280] - Big Rich Klein

Jesus.

[00:20:57.200] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, pretty crazy. He recovered. He's still crazy. He's still not. But, yeah, he owns a trucking company, but yeah, he's still crazy. But he doesn't rock, he does have an FJ40, but he doesn't really rock, crawl anything anymore.

[00:21:17.720] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And, I mean, you have to be crazy to do a triathlon anyway.

[00:21:24.540] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, I agree. I agree. I'm like, no, it's all you, not me.

[00:21:27.580] - Big Rich Klein

I mean, that's why the gas-powered engine was invented.

[00:21:32.300] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, exactly.

[00:21:35.840] - Big Rich Klein

So what things drove you to compete? Not me in the vehicle, but I mean, what was it about it?

[00:21:51.260] - Ben Hanks

I just think I'm competitive naturally. I had another good friend of mine that grew up around the corner from me, Chris Hawley. He's an old old-school, Rob Crawler. He was competing, and we'd wheel with him every chance we got in Moab and everywhere else. We went everywhere together. Started a little four-wheel drive club. It was pretty funny. We called ourselves bitching four-wheelers Just a bunch of dorks with the crappy old cars. But he said, Hey, you should come compete. And I said, Oh, that sounds cool. I mean, I guess. And at the time, I had a Jeep, so it revolves back to this. My sister had a CJ5. My dad bought her for her 16th birthday. It was an 82 CJ5, and it was just a piece of crap because they are. No power steering, no power breaks. It was just a trap. As soon as she got a job and got a real income because it was so unreliable, she just gave it to me. She said, You can have it. That's what started me down this terrible path. I started building it. Just little by little by little. In high school, actually, I was in charge of the whole shop.

[00:23:09.630] - Ben Hanks

My shop teacher couldn't weld, so he would say, Hanks, get out there and teach these guys how to weld, and I'll give you an A. I'm like, All right, that's not a problem. He gave me the keys to the shop, and I would go in after hours and work on my own Jeep. It was pretty cool. That's where it really started. While I was building that and I built it, and I had Dana 60 front and a 14 bolt rear and Swam for 34, well, 39-inch boggers, and I stretched it 16 inches, and I said, All right, maybe I'll try to compete in that thing. But I didn't do so well in it because it was such a dump, but it got my feet wet. It was pretty fun.

[00:23:52.160] - Big Rich Klein

Interesting. Is there any car over the years that you thought was Just like the coolest car?

[00:24:05.540] - Ben Hanks

There's been a bunch. You mean ones I built?

[00:24:10.180] - Big Rich Klein

Say, yes, sure. Ones you've built. Talk about them.

[00:24:15.460] - Ben Hanks

Well, let's see. All the way back in the day, I would say one of the coolest cars I ever saw was Curry's Fire Ant. That was up there. I thought that was really neat. Mount Logan built the Liberty Buggy. They had a Liberty Buggy that was really That was ahead of its time. Then Jason Pauli, another awesome guy, he started building cars, and I was blown away at how far ahead he was with everybody else. He built Obviously, Tracy Jordan's car and on and on and on. Those are a couple of cars that I would say were killer back in the rock crawling days. Of course, then you have Brad Lovell built his famous Ranger that kicked everybody's butt for years. That was another really cool build. I really, really liked. I wasn't ever a fan of Moon Buggies. I still not. I really like that sportsman, pro-mod, whatever class you want to call it now, where it look like something, where it actually looks like a vehicle.

[00:25:20.480] - Big Rich Klein

I agree.

[00:25:22.300] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, I think that's the best. Now, as far as cars I personally built that I think are awesome, jeez, I built a lot A lot of cars in my shop, but I would say it would be my last comp car was that little green two-seat Colorado Buggy. It's probably my favorite little car. For what it was, it was pretty far ahead of its time. I mean, pretty much what everyone's running now. I had a Supercharged V6, turbo 400, and an Atlas. It's a 104-inch wheelbase, and it weighed 3,000 pounds. I mean, it was two-seater. I mean, it had pretty much everything other than portals and what everyone's running now. I enjoyed that car a lot. It's still kicking around. I see it around here and there, but it's changed quite a bit since I had it.

[00:26:15.020] - Big Rich Klein

Do you still have a shop nowadays?

[00:26:18.360] - Ben Hanks

No, I don't. I had my shop and I wound down in the recession of '08. I kept going and I kept going until about I would say. And I said, I'm sick of this. I'm sick of just not making enough money because the economy was so slow and crappy then, I just said, I'm done. I think I'll just go back to construction. That's what I started doing. There's a whole other field I did in between there. But that's when I left the four-wheel drive industry and I started down at entrepreneur/inventions down that path.

[00:27:01.040] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, talk about that.

[00:27:04.020] - Ben Hanks

Well, I've built quite a few things and invented quite a few things and patented some. One of the things I built was a winch that goes on your boat for a wakeboard or surfing, goes to your wakeboard tower. It's pretty cool. Then I built a A wedge that goes on the back of your boat increases your wake and a couple of other products around that. They didn't go a lot. They didn't go a lot of places. They were super underfunded. They didn't take off like I thought they would. I didn't be able to promote them properly. Then I started down this road of building a air conditioning cooling system that increases your efficiency on your unit by up to 45%. I did I built that patent, and I'm currently in the middle of licensing the rights to it to a couple of corporations. It's pretty cool. Awesome. That's a new one.

[00:28:12.020] - Big Rich Klein

That's a good one. Increase efficiency? Wow.

[00:28:15.580] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. I have several patents around that product that are really cool. That'll be launching here pretty soon. I've been doing that for a while, so that's a good product.

[00:28:30.000] - Big Rich Klein

So that's the construction you're doing, or are you still doing it?

[00:28:32.940] - Ben Hanks

No, I still do construction. Me and my brother have the construction industry, I mean, a business that we do. We just finished a couple of remodels, so we still do that. But the real bread is the HVAC product that's coming.

[00:28:50.100] - Big Rich Klein

Awesome. So then you'll be flying around in Learjets and stuff like that?

[00:28:55.580] - Ben Hanks

No, but I'll be that mean where you say, you'll know win the lottery, there'll be signs. It'll be me. But I'm pretty conservative. I don't like blowing money, but really. But yeah, I don't think I'll ever really race like King of Hammers or anything anymore. Just getting too old for it. I know a lot of people still say in it with these young kids. I mean, Brett's really humbled me. How about that, Dick? He's really humbled me. You go, Man, I guess you just don't have that edge anymore. I don't feel like falling 30 feet off a or rolling at 100 anymore. It's just not quite the same.

[00:29:35.460] - Big Rich Klein

The body takes a lot longer to recover.

[00:29:39.880] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, it does.

[00:29:41.660] - Big Rich Klein

I used to laugh at the commercials. Help, I've fallen, I can't get... I used to laugh at those. I don't laugh any longer.

[00:29:52.360] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, exactly. I have a good friend that says, I fall, I don't bounce anymore. I just fall.

[00:29:59.640] - Big Rich Klein

Exactly. Exactly.

[00:30:02.440] - Ben Hanks

But no, I'd say I don't see myself doing King of the Hammers or anything like that anymore, but we're going. I mean, we go every year and have a great time and go run some crazy trails down there. But yeah, I don't see myself doing that.

[00:30:20.480] - Big Rich Klein

How many kids do you have? You mentioned one son.

[00:30:25.920] - Ben Hanks

Actually, I have two sons and a daughter. My daughter is 18, and she's studying to be a vegetarian. My son is 16. He's almost 16. He thinks he's 18. He's just living, teenage He's spoiled life. Then I got my youngest son, Ryker. He's pretty much a mini me. He goes with me everywhere because he's addicted to gas. So he loves it.

[00:31:00.000] - Big Rich Klein

He caught the fumes.

[00:31:01.600] - Ben Hanks

He did. He's bad. He's really bad. Then, of course, most people in the industry know my beautiful wife, Caesia. I've met her in high school, actually. We've known each other a long time.

[00:31:17.260] - Big Rich Klein

Congratulations on that.

[00:31:19.300] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, we've been married 27 years, almost, coming up.

[00:31:23.020] - Big Rich Klein

Wow, that's great.

[00:31:24.820] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. Long time.

[00:31:31.880] - Big Rich Klein

Do you guys like, vacation? Do you get together? Do you... Things you guys like to do as a family or have that?

[00:31:43.040] - Ben Hanks

Well, we usually vacate quite a lot around the four-wheel drive stuff. But yeah, we get out a lot. We like to go to St. George. I'm likely moving there this summer, so I'll be in San Paulo here soon. But we do like to vacation. We get out quite a bit. Usually, at least somewhere fun once or twice a year. But me and my wife like the islands, so we spend a lot of time when we can going on different tropical vacations.

[00:32:18.960] - Big Rich Klein

So any islands or are there specific ones?

[00:32:21.880] - Ben Hanks

Well, there are specific ones. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag of the best ones. But down in the Southern Caribbean, There's quite a lot of islands. There's St. Kitts and St. Martin. They're pretty beautiful. There's a little island called Anguilla, the most beautiful beach in the world. That place is pretty rad. But yeah, I love that place. I like Florida, too. Florida is wonderful. Beautiful place.

[00:32:50.940] - Big Rich Klein

You don't mind humidity? Doing what? You don't mind the humidity?

[00:32:57.700] - Ben Hanks

I don't mind it at all. It takes a If you go out east, we go out east for almost a month in the summer and compete out there, me and Matt and the boys, and we take our families. It takes about a week for our desert lizardness to get out there and get used to it. The first week is miserable. You're just sweating those bullets out there. But then it gets better. Once I'm used to it, I don't mind it. It feels better on my skin, I can tell you that.

[00:33:28.120] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, your skin doesn't feel crackled.

[00:33:31.620] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, if you had to live, if you had to work in Florida, like actually construction, you would despise the heat. But I mean, when you go there on vacation, it's a different story.

[00:33:42.200] - Big Rich Klein

Right. So do you snorkel or anything like that? Or do you guys boat while you're out there?

[00:33:48.720] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, we love to do that. Love snorkeling, love cruising, all sorts of tours. History, that's pretty fun. So We're waiting until we get older to go to Europe and visit all the older places.

[00:34:04.860] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Val Douglas asked the other day on Facebook, what's on your... She said bucket list. I like life list. Okay. I like the term life list. And I said, mine is visiting all the lands. Any country with the word land in it or close to it, that I can go around and say I visited all the lands.

[00:34:32.580] - Ben Hanks

That would be cool. I would love to do that. Actually, one of my dream places would be Bora, Bora, Tahiti. That would be fun to go there somewhere in South Pacific. That'd be cool. I'd like to go see Patagonia. That'd be cool. That'd be really cool. I'd like to do that. That'd be fun, but that's a big trip.

[00:34:57.720] - Big Rich Klein

It sounds like you like the water. You need that water.

[00:35:01.600] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, we do. We like the water. We like Lake Powell, like San Paulo. As long as you don't get swimmers itch in San Paulo, you're fine.

[00:35:09.340] - Big Rich Klein

That's the only lake I hear people get that at.

[00:35:12.740] - Ben Hanks

There's a couple of others. You just can't be on the beach. If you're playing in the mud on the beach, you Coast. But everywhere else, you're okay. But yeah, like the beach, like the water. I like spending time with my kids and my family. I spend a lot time with them. I spent a lot of time in cars, a lot of time playing with cars. That's pretty much built my whole life around it, honestly. It's been fun. It's been a lot It's a lot of fun.

[00:35:46.330] - Big Rich Klein

Do you have a... Say you were to go out and you won the lottery, $100 million in the lottery. Is there a car that you've always wanted that would be one of those telltale signs that you won the lottery?

[00:36:03.180] - Ben Hanks

You know what? I'm a guy that has probably 200 cars that I would buy just because I love cars. Right off the date, I would say a '59' Nilderado, Britz. That's convertible. That's probably what I would... A catty. That's probably what I'd buy right off the top.

[00:36:21.380] - Big Rich Klein

Fur jacket.

[00:36:23.740] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, for a big pimp hat. I have a 63 Cadillac. It's a sloward. It's a pretty cool little car. It's a big car, sorry. Big car. But I've had a lot of cars. I had a '59 Pontiac, Starfire. I had a lot of stuff. I like cars. I like hot rods a lot. That's another passion of mine. I've built several. Built several really cool cars, and I would have several. I'd have to categorize it. I'd have to say, in what category are you talking about? Are you talking about an exotic? Are you talking about old cars? Are you talking I mean, I like a lot of cars. Right.

[00:37:03.080] - Big Rich Klein

Right start. I'd probably be doing the same thing. I actually have a running list of cars that I would like to own one day. And now it's almost '68. I don't think I'll own very many of them. But if the lottery ever did hit- What would you do?

[00:37:20.580] - Ben Hanks

What would you get if you got... Well, let's hear Rich's.

[00:37:23.850] - Big Rich Klein

The first thing I would do is go out and buy a Raptor R And then take my raptor, my 12, and it would go to Geiser Brothers and become a pre-runner.

[00:37:39.880] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, I've hadn't seen it. It's the car I own.

[00:37:41.890] - Big Rich Klein

A luxury pre-runner. Then The next car that would be bought would be an Audi R8.

[00:37:51.320] - Ben Hanks

Yeah.

[00:37:51.840] - Big Rich Klein

Quattro, the four-wheel. And then I would like to own or find my 54 Volkswagen Bug. That was my first car. I sold it to a guy when I was living in Cedar City, so I could afford to move back to California. And I would love to have that car again. He promised me he wasn't going to cut it. He was going to restore it. And so I'm sure there's a 54 Bug running around somewhere that might have been mine. That's cool. I'd love to have a I'd love to take a 914 and drop an LS in it and make it a corners car, something to do roads.

[00:38:42.240] - Ben Hanks

That'd be pretty rowdy.

[00:38:43.660] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah. But they're so low profile and squatty. Just a 5'3 in a car like that with about 500 horsepower would just be You'd terrorize the canyons.

[00:39:02.860] - Ben Hanks

I knew you would. Yeah, they're going up in value quite a bit, actually. 914 is going to be quite desirable car. I know where two of them are up here when you're interested.

[00:39:12.880] - Big Rich Klein

Really? Okay.

[00:39:13.920] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. I mean, yeah, like I said, that's another hobby of mine that is the hot, rotted car world. I love them. I don't miss a good car show. Anything else on your list?

[00:39:28.520] - Big Rich Klein

I I would love to. I'd love to have an FJ45. A friend of mine had one back in the '90s. It was just a gorgeous truck. And I would like to do the same thing he did. And redo the wood inside the bed. I mean, it was show quality. And I would love to have another first-gen Dodge 12-Valve Cummins, but with the club cab. So you had more room in the cab area because those early dodges, there was no room in those things.

[00:40:11.860] - Ben Hanks

No.

[00:40:12.360] - Big Rich Klein

And I would like to do that and take it out until just before you blow the head off of it. But I would love to have One of the old coyotes, single seat, center, McLaren, the old McLaren-looking car, but there was one called a coyote.

[00:40:44.860] - Ben Hanks

There was one in Aurum not that long ago.

[00:40:47.180] - Big Rich Klein

No kidding.

[00:40:48.520] - Ben Hanks

Yeah. Yeah, I stopped and looked at it, and it was a friend's Hot Rod shop.

[00:40:52.760] - Big Rich Klein

Wow. I was driving along the Coast of Northern California, and I'm in I had this old van, old surf van. And I look out the rear of your mirror and I see this white thing on the horizon behind me coming up. And the road's out there twisty and up and down. And all of a sudden this car goes by me and it was a coyote and just flat getting it. And I thought, How in the hell is that guy driving that thing on the road?

[00:41:31.540] - Ben Hanks

You know what car I'd really like to build? I've always thought this as a Pantera.

[00:41:35.960] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, yes.

[00:41:37.520] - Ben Hanks

There was a couple of Seema last year, two years ago. They were just beautiful cars, and that would be a really cool car, too. But my brother has a Shelby Dayton Replica that's pretty rad, but I always thought a GT40 would be cooler. That's another car I'd like to own. The original GT40, so And then for a European, I'd like a Ferrari BB 512. Yeah, that's a pretty car.

[00:42:10.600] - Big Rich Klein

Those are the top of the lines. There's a lot of other things I would just like to have to say I had them.

[00:42:18.300] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, yeah. I have a whole... Yeah, again, I could probably spend half a million dollars easily on cars and not feel bad, but I don't think my old lady would like that. But She'd kill me. I think I can handle about a 15 or 20 car collection and then just rotate through them. The ones I don't drive or didn't like that much in the end, I just sold. I actually had the chance to drive a '69 Steinger A with a big block in it. I always wanted one. Just love the car. I always thought, This is the car. I drove it and I was so unimpressed with it. It just shot my dreams out. I said, This thing's a piece of crap. Just drove like not even as nice as a Camaro. I thought, I don't think I want to spend money on one of those anymore. But that idea of drive one going, I don't really like that car after all. Go get a different one. That's what I would do.

[00:43:20.000] - Big Rich Klein

I had a friend that had, back in the '70s, it had a '69 vet big block with a blower, and it was a mid to low nine-second car back then, and it was a handful.

[00:43:41.860] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, a lot to handle?

[00:43:43.460] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah. I don't know what those cars weigh, but they're not very much. It was more motor than car.

[00:43:53.200] - Ben Hanks

Well, I'll tell you, the car I would like to own now would be the new Corvette Stinger X, their ZR 1X. That would be a car that I wouldn't mind owning. I know several people that have them, a couple, but they're cool cars. They're really cool cars. They're a fun car.

[00:44:17.040] - Big Rich Klein

Every time I see one, it's like, What is that? Is that a Ferrari? Is that a Lambo? What is it? And then realize it's a Corvette. They They've really stepped over that line to where they look like the high-end European cars.

[00:44:37.060] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, they really do. They're pretty awesome.

[00:44:41.100] - Big Rich Klein

So what do you do nowadays? What's the thing that you look forward to doing the most besides island hopping?

[00:44:51.600] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, that would be wonderful. I could do that full-time. The most, I still enjoy just wheeling, just going out with a smaller group of good old boys. I still like hanging out with friends after and having a beverage. I mean, that's one of the funnest times ever. I really enjoy that. I like hanging out. I like to take my kids camping. I mean, just get away from the cell phone. That's pretty fun. I actually just sold my bus, so I'm looking for something different this summer. But yeah, I really enjoy that stuff. Four wheeling is a lot of fun. It's interesting because the stuff we do now, not many people enjoy, honestly. When you start getting above the 12 rated trails that aren't even rated, a lot of people shy away from it, but we still really enjoy it.

[00:45:53.140] - Big Rich Klein

I'm a seeding wheeler.

[00:45:56.080] - Ben Hanks

Yeah, I got into that. I just sold my JK But I got into it because there's a million places in Moab I had never been. I mean, I've been going for 30 years and I've never seen half these places. I said, I'm going to buy this JK and we're going to just go down and go look at these places. That was quite enjoyable, actually, surprisingly. You couldn't catch me dead in a buggy on any of that stuff. That would be a nightmare. But I can roll a window turn on the AC, it wasn't that bad at all. It's fun.

[00:46:28.000] - Big Rich Klein

There's something to be said for AC.

[00:46:31.140] - Ben Hanks

Ac and heat. Jeez, it's nice.

[00:46:33.400] - Big Rich Klein

Yes.

[00:46:34.920] - Ben Hanks

I enjoy it a lot.

[00:46:36.720] - Big Rich Klein

Well, cool. Any aspirations on a place to go, to go wheeling that you've never wheeled?

[00:46:48.880] - Ben Hanks

Let's see. I've wheeled a lot of places. I think I've about wheeled everywhere in America, almost. Let's think. I I would like to go to Japan. I mean, obviously been offered anytime I'd want, I can go out and hang out out there. But I think Japan would be fun. I know it's not hard to do. It'd be fun just for the experience. I think that would be fun to do. I also think, let's see, where else would be fun? I don't know. Some parts of Mexico I heard are pretty cool, but it's hairy. Mexico would be pretty fun. I never competed in Mexico. But been down to the Baja 1000 and stuff, but I've never competed in a rock Crawler down there. That would be fun, too. But that's probably it. I guess I've been everywhere. I love wheeling. Out east is fantastic. Up in West Virginia, gorgeous. Love wheeling there. That was wonderful. I like Tennessee. Tennessee is great. It's just a different experience because we're used to traction out here, and out there, it's just grease. Everything's grease. In the middle of the dry season, it still sucks. It's fun, but it's hard on your cars.

[00:48:03.380] - Ben Hanks

It's really hard. It's a lot of fun.

[00:48:07.220] - Big Rich Klein

Then you understand why Chris Durham drives like he does?

[00:48:11.180] - Ben Hanks

Oh, yeah. It made perfect sense. I didn't know that. I don't think I went to a competition out there until 2004, and I didn't understand. You just don't understand how when people say it's greasy, it's right foot or you're not making it. There's no crawling. That is fun. It is a different fun, but we tear up our cars pretty bad. They end up just getting hammered with the mud and water. That part's not fun, but it is different wheeling. That Good Evening Ranch is a lot of fun. We broke some cool little obstacles last time we were there. That was pretty fun, too.

[00:48:57.960] - Big Rich Klein

That's a place I have not been to yet. I know that Jake has got it on the schedule every year now. So one of these days, I hope to make it out there.

[00:49:08.060] - Ben Hanks

It's beautiful. We got to know the owners, and it's a lot of fun. They took us in the backwoods, and This old guy, Bobby, that one of the owners maintains a park, he took us out. He came really good friends with us, took us out. He's got a little '45 flatty, and he bombed me through the woods. And we're in these $200,000 cars. He's just bopping this little willies through the trail. It's funny. He's like, Go try and drive up that. All right, we'll try that. It's a lot of fun. You'll have to go. It's an amazing place.

[00:49:41.820] - Big Rich Klein

Well, cool. Well, Ben, I want to say thank you so much for spending the time this morning on this beautiful Saturday morning. At least it is here in Northern California. Sun is shining and no wind, and it's probably about 55 degrees. Not sure how it's at where you're at there in It's pretty much the same.

[00:50:02.100] - Ben Hanks

It's actually we got a crazy winter without any snow. We're the same. It's wild, but I appreciate you taking the time. It's good to catch up again. I haven't seen you since we were in Texas, so it was good.

[00:50:14.380] - Big Rich Klein

Absolutely. All right. Well, you take care. Say hello to the family for me, and hopefully to see you at one of the events this year.

[00:50:22.360] - Ben Hanks

I will. Thanks. All right.

[00:50:23.760] - Big Rich Klein

Take care. Take care.

[00:50:24.580] - Ben Hanks

Bye-bye. See you next.

[00:50:26.520] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's another episode of Conversations with Big Rich. I'd 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 and live life with all the gusto you can. Thank you.