Letzroll OffRoad Founder, Andrew McLaughlin, on Episode 311

This episode dives into the life and legacy of Andrew McLaughlin—builder, racer, event host, and founder of Let’s Roll Off-Road. From a cross-country upbringing to ASU and into the Arizona off-road scene, Andrew shares how a love for the outdoors turned into a lifestyle and multi-faceted career.

From the early years of skiing, boating, and bikes to his first Jeep Wrangler; Andrew always jumps in with both feet. He’s built a business empire with Letz Roll Off-Road at the lead, adding Let’s Roll Venture Rentals, LM1—Letz Roll Metalworks (manufacturing) and many more. Partnerships over sponsorships and team-first culture that matters in off-road. Listen in as Andrew shares the good stuff.

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.

[00:00:46.400] 

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[00:01:12.500] - Big Rich Klein

So my guest on Conversations with Big Rich this week is a guy that was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, moved to New England in his early years, and then in his high school years or so, moved to the South Bay of San Francisco in the San Jose area, went through high school, and then off to college in Arizona at ASU. Then he got into off-road and has made a life in off-road, from racing to manufacturing, putting on events. My guest is none other than Andrew McLaughlin from Let's Roll Off-Road. Hello, Andrew McLaughlin. It's so good to have you on the podcast. I've been thinking about you for quite a while. You were a staple in my life there a while with Dirt Riot and all the things related to off-road. So it's good to have you on the podcast.

[00:02:07.040] - Andrew McLaughlin

Hey, Rich. Thanks. Or we should call you Big. Only your mom probably calls you Rich.

[00:02:13.720] - Big Rich Klein

Yes. Pretty much that. So let's start off at the beginning. And where were you born and raised?

[00:02:23.700] - Andrew McLaughlin

Born, Toronto, Ontario. Raised is a fun It's a trick question. I didn't live in Toronto very long. I don't think quite a year. My dad was an American. My mom was a Canadian. My dad was from the northeast, Boston area, like that, Northern Massachusetts. So I spent about my first half of my adolescence in that zone, we'll call it. Like a lot of families, parents got divorced, got remarried, and that took me different directions, Mom married a guy, stepdad Al. He was in high tech, so that brought us to California. So I did from third grade through high school in the Bay Area, South San Jose, while dad gets remarried Married, stayed in the New England area for a number of years, but then ended up going down to South Florida, Boca Raton, just north of Fort Lauderdale. So I'd spend summers with my dad, Christmas break with my dad, and the spring breaks and stuff that kids have with my dad, and then I'd go to school with my mom. So I'm from three different locations in the United States, so it's neat to have that background and that experience for sure. I I love it.

[00:03:45.220] - Andrew McLaughlin

I grew up fantastic.

[00:03:46.700] - Big Rich Klein

Cool. Cool. That's excellent. And growing up, I guess the early years, the Boston, Massachusetts area, I always have a hard time saying that state. Boston, Mass, the northeast, Greater New England, I guess you could call it. I love the town of Boston.

[00:04:10.360] - Andrew McLaughlin

Did you- It's probably the coolest city in the country, and it still today is, which is nice.

[00:04:14.810] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I really enjoyed it. We did the fourth of July there a few years ago, flew in, watched the fireworks display and Boston pops doing the thing. We were across the Bay over on the Harvard side, and they close the highways down, and you can watch all the stuff going on across there, and they pump the music in and stuff. You get to walk on the causeway and the highway there. And then that was really cool to be able to spend a fourth of July in Boston.

[00:04:48.620] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, no, absolutely. I spent a lot of time in that city younger. For a point, we lived in Cambridge, which is right on the other side of the river. My dad actually lived in downtown Boston for a while. Nobody We didn't live in the city-city growing up, as I got a little older. But yeah, you can walk everywhere. The food's fantastic. If you have... Boston people are usually pretty nice. They're tough people, though. I mean, they've grown up in some tough environment. The history is just fantastic in that part of the country. We gravitated into New Hampshire, but that's why I say New England, right? So it's a very... There's small states out there. So we had some family property up on a big lake up there, running around the woods, and then got to experience the city as needed. So no, it's a beautiful part of the country.

[00:05:34.680] - Big Rich Klein

So then you said half of your adolescence was spent there. So the early days of school, what was that like for you?

[00:05:44.800] - Andrew McLaughlin

I don't remember much of those years. I think I hit my head too many times. I was one of those knucklehead kids, but riding bikes around the city, like I said, going up in New Hampshire. I grew up with boats, fishing, which I hate fishing, by the way. Maybe did too much of it as a kid, but hiking, just all the boy stuff. I had a bunch of cousins, and we're in the WWF or whatever they called it at the time. So we were just a bunch of knuckleheads, ripping around the woods and riding bikes and just typical boy stuff.

[00:06:16.140] - Big Rich Klein

Were you a good student, or were you always looking out the window waiting to get out of school?

[00:06:22.060] - Andrew McLaughlin

A little bit of both. I wasn't a troublemaker by any means, but I did enough to get by. I did enough to get grades. If there was something I was interested in, I typically succumbled in sciences and things like that. I'm sure we'll talk about high school later, but I was pretty good at chasing the girls around in sports. I was good enough, and I enjoyed school. I didn't hate it, but I was ready to get out when that bell rang, that's for sure.

[00:06:48.600] - Big Rich Klein

What things did the family do at a young age for entertainment?

[00:06:56.420] - Andrew McLaughlin

We were big, so wintertime in that part of the world, it's cold, especially back in the '80s. So a lot of skiing. I've been snow skiing since... I mean, I can remember probably when I could walk. And then boating, right? Like a ton of boating. That's what my dad and my uncle was into. And the typical house projects, when you own property in that part of the world, again, it's just the weather's horrible. So you're constantly remodeling things or tearing walls out or decks off. And as the families grew, we had to make all this family property bigger and things like that. So I was banging nails at a young age and running saws and that thing. Okay.

[00:07:37.760] - Big Rich Klein

So high school, you spent in the South Bay of California?

[00:07:48.540] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, South San Jose. Okay. Yeah, South San Jose, which again, back then, I know San Francisco gets a bad rap, and I've been there for I don't know how many years now, but that was a neat place to grow up. Yeah, I grew up in the Bay area. You have that California Yeah, you did. Yeah, so you're super familiar. So I was down Alma Den. Alma Den down. Yeah.

[00:08:05.860] - Big Rich Klein

I get down there during football season all the time because of the Niner tickets. Yeah.

[00:08:11.020] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yes, sir.

[00:08:12.150] - Big Rich Klein

So what was... You know Is that where you went to high school then?

[00:08:18.000] - Andrew McLaughlin

So I went to high school. Yes. Leland High, South San Jose. Back then, I was really big into sports. I played football, I wrestled. I was I've always enjoyed working out in that gym thing. So I'd be at the gym quite a bit. Same deal, riding bikes outside all the time. I mean, I swear I've spent probably 90 % of my life outdoors in the good weather, the bad weather. Anything outdoors, I did it.

[00:08:47.820] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And in high school, you said you played football and wrestled. What weight did you wrestle at? And what position did you play in football?

[00:08:58.920] - Andrew McLaughlin

So I was a defensive end. I love just crushing people. It was fun. I was one of those kids I just loved running into walls. I played a little O-line, but you quickly outgrow that in the later high school years. I I had varsity from my freshman year on. So I was a pretty good start and the end the whole time. I was never going to be big enough to play past that. So I was done with that big team sport thing and got more into individual sports or smaller team sports towards my later years. And in high school, wrestling, I was, what was it, 189 just because I was lazy and never wanted to drop weight. So I was never one of those guys to put the plastic bags on and run around. It was just, throw me in there, coach, and I was going to beat somebody up.

[00:09:46.700] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And how were you as a student in high school?

[00:09:53.460] - Andrew McLaughlin

I was good in high school. I loved high school. Again, if the classes were of interest, then I did great. If they weren't or you didn't have a good teacher, I did horrible. I was super into history. I love the sciences, couldn't stand math, couldn't stand English, even though I had some good teachers. Believe it or not, it took me four years to do my two years of required Spanish, and then I'm almost fluent now. I wouldn't say fluent, but definitely conversational. So ironically, if I could meet my Spanish teacher again in high school and talk to her, she'd probably be like, What the heck? But no, it was good. Like I said, I had a ton of friends. I was into sports So you had to keep your grades good enough. But in other classes, that's when my love of this off-road developed at those ages, even before I was driving. And I used to read the four-wheel drive magazines. English teacher would lead me along, so at least I was reading something, things like that. But no, like I said, I liked school. It wasn't a bad experience at all.

[00:10:48.960] - Big Rich Klein

So how were you exposed to four-wheel drive and it became an interest?

[00:10:54.960] - Andrew McLaughlin

I don't know. When I was young, young, back east, we had a scout I believe it was an '80. So I remember just driving around in that thing and just mesmerized by what that vehicle could do. But I didn't grow up turning wrenches at all, so I didn't know. And I just somehow got into this Jeep lifestyle. I think it just drew the outdoors was my thing. And it's like, cool, now I can drive something through the outdoors. So I have 13, 14. Again, I was a kid that got the four-wheel drive magazine. All of them, read them cover to cover over and over again. It started there. My first vehicle I bought, I beg and pleaded with my parents, I got a Jeep Wrangler, and it never stopped. And the love is still there today.

[00:11:43.660] - Big Rich Klein

You don't still have that same Jeep Wrangler, do you?

[00:11:46.520] - Andrew McLaughlin

I don't own it. I sold it to one of my guys years ago, but over the years, I got best car in high school with that thing, our senior year, and I took it to college. And meanwhile, I started building it and bashing it even harder. I turned it into more of a buggy, and it's still around. It's a famous classic rig, that's for sure. You've seen it. I used to do some We Rock with it back in the day. It's still around, though.

[00:12:13.400] - Big Rich Klein

You talked a little bit You mentioned college. So after high school, how much college time did you get and where'd you go?

[00:12:22.300] - Andrew McLaughlin

I moved to Arizona, sight unseen, to go to ASU. And again, it sounds stupid, but this is what I read about in the magazines. The four-wheel drive rags always talked about Arizona and seeing all these pictures. Little that I know, some of these guys I used to look at in these magazines would become my friends over the years. So at the end of high school, I applied to a couple of colleges. I wasn't I'm not sure what I was going to do. Applied to a couple. A couple said yes, most said no. Asu sent me a letter that said, We're sorry, you don't have a requirement. And it was a semester of science. I went to a private Catholic school my freshman year before I transferred over to the high school I ended up at. But they did half science, half religion, and they were structured different. I said, Well, I'm going to take that as a challenge. So I went to the principal and I said, I need to be in a freshman science class for the last two months of the year. And he's like, you're out of your mind. So I was that jockey big senior in a freshman class.

[00:13:26.100] - Andrew McLaughlin

Teacher left me alone, got a good enough grade and went back to ASU. I said, well, take me now. And they said, sure, we'll take you. I mean, they pretty much take anybody. So I flew out to Arizona, met my dad here, went to NAU, Northern Arizona, to check it out. Went to talk to the football coach there. I was thinking about playing football there. And I was just ready to give up that game. And honestly, the girls were pretty down at ASU. I just remember walking around and my neck hurt. I got whiplashed. My dad looked at me. He's like, well, I know where you're going to school. And about a month later, packed Picked up everything I had, moved out, got a little apartment. So I was too late to get in the dorms, and I had a great time. I actually did very well in college after you get through the drudge and cat classes. College is one of those things. You get what you put in. So now I ended up with a four-year bachelor's degree in business management, communications, and I have a minor in criminal justice, just because I took a lot of those classes as electives.

[00:14:25.380] - Andrew McLaughlin

They just interest me. So I had a great four years experience. It was awesome. And Arizona became my home.

[00:14:31.420] - Big Rich Klein

And you said you had an apartment there. Was it real close to ASU? Was it there in Mesa? Or not Mesa. It's Tempty. It's in Tempty.

[00:14:46.170] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, it's in Tampi. Yeah, I was walking distance to the school. Had a roommate, Super Stone, our typical freshman roommate, on the same program as me. I remember I was, I don't know if spoiled is the right word. But my mom took good care of me. And I remember my parents left, and I'm sitting there all by myself. And about a week goes by, and I'm like, Man, I got no clean clothes. How does this work? So I ended up walking over to a little laundry place in the community. And I've done laundry before, but let's face it, mom did my laundry and looked through in my room and I'd get to fold it and hang it up. But I saw two good-looking girls at the pool and said, Hey, girls, you need a friend to lift heavy things? And I need a friend to do some laundry. And these two girls became just good friends, right? I mean, I honestly never dated them or anything, but I'd carry the kegs and the groceries and help fix stuff for them. And they took care of me and laundry, and we cook together. And then that started this other big friend group, right?

[00:15:47.920] - Andrew McLaughlin

Guys, girls, all nine yards. Some of them I'm great friends with today. But no, it was fun. I used to ride my bike to school and walk to school. It was a cool experience. Asu is a neat town, or Tempe is a neat town down by that campus. Right.

[00:16:03.460] - Big Rich Klein

And did you take your Wrangler with you on that?

[00:16:06.880] - Andrew McLaughlin

I did. I brought it out my second semester. So I flew back to California for Christmas, drove it out, and And that's when I started getting involved with the local four wheel drive clubs. That's how it used to be. You go meet at a restaurant. I was a bigger dude back then, so I'd caught the old guys in buying me beers and things like that. I'm 18, 19 years old, sitting in restaurants, doing that. So, yeah, I had the Jeep, got involved in the local four wheeling clubs, and, yeah, had a great time. That was my weekend fun.

[00:16:38.960] - Big Rich Klein

So who was the... You talk about the magazine, reading all the magazines and stuff. Who was the first magazine person that you came across? Do you remember?

[00:16:53.400] - Andrew McLaughlin

I don't. I remember I was in a magazine. They did a run out here. I believe it was a Petersons or something like that. And they had an editor out, and I remember being featured in that. And that was the highlight of... I mean, it's still one of those things. I have the magazine still. It's just a picture of me just flexing through a little trail. It wasn't a full write-up on the vehicle. Just one of those, Hey, we're out here at this event or this run. I got my little claim to Fame there. I don't remember the name, though, unfortunately, but I believe it was a Peterson's magazine back then.

[00:17:26.380] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. Did Did you work while you were in college?

[00:17:32.860] - Andrew McLaughlin

I did. I odd-jobbed a little bit. What did I do? I worked at a gym. You get a free gym membership, so I'd throw a couple of nights a week there. I worked for the school and did security at the stadium. Again, you get to go to all the free games and be down on the field. And then I actually... One of the coolest jobs I've ever had, I worked as a valet, like three nights a week. It was great. The weeknights were nice and slow, so I can study.

[00:18:02.280] - Big Rich Klein

Tell me it was one of the strip cobs.

[00:18:04.760] - Andrew McLaughlin

No, no, no, no, no. I wish. We did some contract work for them here and there, but no, it was a restaurant down on Mill. But that was cool because you get to know you're in the industry now. You know all the bartenders and the cooks, and they're running in late, throwing you their keys, and then the next thing you know, they're bringing you down food. That was a ton of fun. All cash, right? You know how that works. You get to drive some cool stuff. That was a Super fun job. Yeah.

[00:18:33.600] - Big Rich Klein

And you didn't play any sports at ASU?

[00:18:36.680] - Andrew McLaughlin

No.

[00:18:37.320] - Big Rich Klein

Except for chasing girls and carrying beercakes?

[00:18:42.040] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, that's about it. I mean, I got into rock climbing a little through the school, but never anything organized. School for me was fun, right? A little bit of party, a little bit of learning, a little bit of growing up, things like that.

[00:18:57.280] - Big Rich Klein

And what about About what age were you in college when you met Becky?

[00:19:05.860] - Andrew McLaughlin

No. I met her after college. Okay.

[00:19:09.880] - Big Rich Klein

So then we'll get to that later then. You go through college Four years down at ASU. What was the next step?

[00:19:22.780] - Andrew McLaughlin

Well, good story, bad story. I was actually in ROTC with the army, then SM impede with the National Guard, so I was in their field artillery unit. And my trajectory at that time was to be an officer in the military. I mean, I had a big interest in high school. I ended up getting in a little bit of trouble when I was 18 niche. I think it was my first summer back visiting. It was probably the only summer I think I ever went home, but I got in some trouble. I was a little bit of a fighter back then. I used to like that stuff. I hated bullies. So I don't know. I just I got myself in some trouble in California. That stuck around. I went through four years of military while I was in school. Almost got deployed. Our unit, when 9/11, fired off, took off. But because because of my legal issues. And then I got stuck with this, Okay, you're done with all this, but you have to do another year of school for us to get you back in the program, blah, blah, blah. And the army treated me good over those years.

[00:20:30.700] - Andrew McLaughlin

They paid me, and we just chalked it up, and they ended up GI billing a lot of the money over. And I shook hands with them and went a different way. So that was a derailing in what I thought a career of mine was going to be. But it all worked out, right? I got the experience. I got to meet a lot of cool people. That was also a very interesting time in the world. So maybe it was a good thing I didn't go. I was a hard charger back then, and who knows how I'd be today, if I'd be today, if I did, because I was going pretty hard, combat arms type stuff back then. So who knows? So a blessing and a curse, I suppose.

[00:21:09.020] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, absolutely. And so you get out of college, you do what then?

[00:21:18.400] - Andrew McLaughlin

I got an internship in college. Part of my degree, we could get an internship. So I interned out of all places with Target, the retail stores, and I knew nothing about it. I just knew my girlfriend, I had a girlfriend in most of college, and my mom and those type of people would like those stores. And I met them at a career fair, and I had a nice mentor of mine, a lady, say, Hey, we could use you in our management program. And that was my degree. And I said, Well, I'll give it a shot. So I put on khy pants and a red shirt, and I was an intern for them. And so I graduated in what, 2003? And the economy was a little iffy, and I was seeing a lot of friends not getting jobs out of school. And they came to me towards the end and said, Hey, We'd like to offer you a full-time position. It was ridiculous. Thirty-six thousand dollars a year and a $1,500 signing bonus because you were our intern. I was like, Oh, my God, I got a job. This is fantastic. So I started working with them, and it was cool.

[00:22:15.240] - Andrew McLaughlin

I worked a little bit in the store, like system store manager type positions. Their training is fantastic. Their leadership training is pretty. I mean, it's wild. And then I got into a lot of their logistics. I wanted to get into their property management development side, and that was about the 2008-ish crash. And I saw what my future was, right? That's what I grew up doing. That's what my family was into, and working with contractors, things like that. So I would have been the liaison with Target, build new buildings. And then who would have been my boss came to me and said, Sorry, bud, but it's not happening. So I was working nights a lot, things like that. I'm like, I got to get out of here. So I I gave it up, but I'm sure we'll talk about that in a little bit. But no, I got a job right out of school. And you want me to keep rambling or you got more questions? No, you're doing great. So move on. So my girlfriend at the time was a year or so older than me, so she graduated early. She worked for DeWalt, the power tool company.

[00:23:21.220] - Andrew McLaughlin

They moved her to Michigan, where she was from. So I chased her to Michigan, bought a house. We had the dogs, and fresh out of school, both of us for the most part, new young adults, our life was starting to change. She liked sex in the city life, the fancy dinners, the Things like that. I was starting to look at it like, I like the outdoors. I want to maybe have a family one day. So we ended up breaking up. Meanwhile, I met who is my wife today working at Target. She worked there, too, in Michigan. She was HR. And I'm sure from a little bit of history already, I was sometimes an HR problem. So I'd be in her office. We became friends. She was in a relationship, et cetera. I'll fast forward a little bit. I called my old boss that actually got me started in that company, and I said, Hey, I'm ready to come back to Arizona. Actually, she's like, Hey, when are you coming back? I said, Well, that's why I'm calling. She's like, Let me call you back. I got the district manager coming in. I'm going to see what's going She called me right back.

[00:24:31.190] - Andrew McLaughlin

She said, We got a position for you in logistics. When do you want to come? So split the sheets with the old girl and move back to Arizona happily. Worked nights at the time. And I don't know, six months later, so I got a call. My manager, one of my night managers, gets on the PA system. We're unloading trucks and running freight. The whole 200 people are working. And Andrew, I got a girl on the phone for you, blah, blah, blah, blah, Oh, my God. Everybody's looking at me like, Oh, we can't wait to hear this. And Becky actually calls me. So she calls and said, Hey, what are you doing? I'm like, Nothing. Why are you calling? She's like, I don't know. I just thought of you. I'm like, Cool. And that's what kicked off our relationship. So she broke up with who she was with, and she was single for a little bit. She chased me down and found me. And we did the long distance thing for a while, and she finally moved to Arizona.

[00:25:28.500] - Big Rich Klein

Awesome.

[00:25:29.480] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, it was cool.

[00:25:31.060] - Big Rich Klein

You both were working for Target in Arizona?

[00:25:36.240] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah. She was able to do the same deal. Just such a big company and has a lot of reach. She said, Hey, I want to transfer. And her district manager said, We don't want to lose you. And she said, Well, you're going to. So get me out there. And yeah, she moved out and running the ranks in that company. Actually well exceeded my levels, right? And then I lost my trajectory in the company with the '08 crash. And It was forcing me out. When you're in parallel positions, you're fine. A lot of people get married in big companies like that, relationships, et cetera. But once she started really climbing that ladder, they were looking at me like, Hey, bud, you might want to get out of the way. So I started what- Don't be that anchor. Exactly. So I started what is Let's Roll in 2008, mainly online a little bit of side work for friends, things like that, but mainly parts. I huck so many parts on pirate four by four. I'm sure most people listen and will know what that is. I just built the network there and pretended I was I think I wasn't with some companies to get some buying power.

[00:26:48.910] - Andrew McLaughlin

And that turned into a job. It started becoming busy, and it was good timing. My wife's now accelerating in her career. And when we got pregnant, and first daughter was born in 2010, and she looked at me, she's like, you either do it now or don't do it, being, Quit your job, quit your day job, go full-time, and let's roll. So Let's roll went full-time in 2010, and I've been on the gas ever since.

[00:27:19.300] - Big Rich Klein

So let's talk about the name Let's Roll, since you brought that up. It's the name of your business. I always thought it was fitting. In your early days of racing dirt riot with us. But let's talk about that.

[00:27:36.140] - Andrew McLaughlin

I mean, my generation, in college, getting that... Actually, I woke up and I got a call from one of my sergeants at the time said, Do not wear your uniform today. And I said, Why? He said, Turn on the TV. They weren't sure what was happening. They didn't want just military people walking around because we used to have to wear them, uniforms a lot. And I got to see the live I got to see the planes hit the towers. So that was very impactful for me. That whole plane that went down in Pennsylvania, and that story was... I've always thought of myself as a bully destroyer. There's no more bullying than storming a plane and wrecking it to save some people. So I've always thought of myself as that. I just bullies. I've always driven me nuts my entire life. I was always big enough and strong enough and smart enough to deal with them. So I'd get my friends out of trouble or I just never stood for it. So that was impactful for me. And then, as you know, you know me in those years, I kept my foot on the gas and wasn't afraid of stuff, and I flipped over a lot.

[00:28:43.370] - Andrew McLaughlin

So it was very suited with my driving style as well.

[00:28:48.520] - Big Rich Klein

How did that transition go from becoming a business owner for working for Target and Becky saying, Hey, Now's the time to go for it. Go for it if you're going to do this. What was that transition like?

[00:29:07.760] - Andrew McLaughlin

I jumped right into it, right? So I mean, when you run your own business, you are your own boss. You live and die by your own sword. In the corporate world, you're very told what to do, right? This is how we do it. This is how you're supposed to do it. I never looked at anything, including life that way. This is how it works. This is how I'm going to make it work and succeed. So I excelled on that portion of business, making decisions, being financially accountable, building a company, right? So I knew I'd do good there, but I did it my way. The challenging part was starting a business like this out of your house and being successful is very, very, very taxing on your family. When your buddies are over there and you're drinking beers till 10: 00 at night in your garage, and your wife's got a kid inside saying, Get your ass inside, or you're working on the kitchen counter, and the dishes need to be done, things like that. When you start a business out of your house that's very dirty, noisy. Of that That stuff. That was very, very taxing.

[00:30:16.830] - Andrew McLaughlin

But it was a necessity, and we realized it, and we were luckily able to make it long enough to where I could make the transition from home to a building outside of the house. Meanwhile, I got employees now. We had a good customer base. We're doing cool things in the industry. We're wheelers, so we get what people are doing. We know how to build vehicles that are going to last in our environment. And I started getting a real good reputation for that. So the growth of the business was easy-ish. I mean, you're grinding every day, all day, but you just be a good person, give people a good price, and do good work, and things usually fall into line. But back then, I was setting gears. I was welding things together. I was turning wrenches and trying to do paperwork on the kitchen counter. And now, my biggest tool is my cell phone and my computer. My guys take tools out of my hands when they see me with them, like, Get out of here. You're just in our way. So it's been an interesting journey so far.

[00:31:23.300] - Big Rich Klein

How did you make the determination besides life was tough at a home business, working out of the garage. I remember those days. I came over to the neighborhood there. The first time, I was like, holy shit, this is your shop?

[00:31:39.170] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:31:40.220] - Big Rich Klein

The garage, the driveway, the backyard.

[00:31:43.260] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, yeah. That's it.

[00:31:44.720] - Big Rich Klein

The side yard. Yeah. What was the determining factor where you finally said, okay, I need to get a shop. How am I going to make this work?

[00:31:56.840] - Andrew McLaughlin

A combination of both, right? I mean, a combination of a lot of things, I So being financially able to do it, right? Understanding you're going to have additional expenses and planning for that, right? You move out of your house and you got to purchase new things and grow it. I was fortunate to have a great friend of mine, friends to this day, family friends from back in the four-wheel drive club community when I was 18, 19 years old, that I did a lot of work for on their fleet vehicles, and they were off-road related Fleet vehicles. They did a lot of mountaintop radio communication stuff. So I was building Dodges, Jeeps, Toyotas to climb up and down mountains all day. And the city's up your ass the whole time. Your neighbors are frustrated with you. And the guy I did this work for said, Hey, man, I got a little warehouse, maybe a little office room. Would you like to rent it? And the price was right. And I said, Yeah, I guess. Let's try. Again, just like the first time, it's now or never. Jump in. Fast forward that, about four years, they were ramping down their company, right?

[00:33:10.070] - Andrew McLaughlin

The technologies have changed over the years. Didn't want the headache. The father retired. The son wanted to make some changes, and they ended up offering me the property to purchase, which I did. We worked together as roommates for a while in the building, but eventually they moved completely out. Now I got a lot A lot of land and a lot of building to take care of. Right. Big nut to turn. But it offers me growth. Right. Big nut to turn. Yeah, it offers me growth, so that's good.

[00:33:37.460] - Big Rich Klein

And about how many employees do you have now?

[00:33:40.660] - Andrew McLaughlin

Let's roll. Employees, 16 Thirteen full-time, and I got a couple of part-timers. Let's Roll Venture Rentals is two or three. Lm1, so our new brand, Let's Roll Metalworks, but we've branded it LM1. That's our manufacturing side. We don't have any employees. We have a couple owners. There's four of us in that. I am a investor, partner in Nacho. Non-operational for the most part, but there's another 15 or 20 over there. Which company, which direction? I have an event that we run down to Mexico. That's mainly contract employees. 1099 type stuff. So, yeah, I got my hands in a lot of different cookie jars right now.

[00:34:36.160] - Big Rich Klein

I understand that. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you can keep columnized. What's neat is it- What's neat is it- Columnized, you know?

[00:34:42.780] - Andrew McLaughlin

Exactly. And that's the neat part, is it all revolves around this off-road, right? Which is, I mean, I'm blessed, I'm honored, I'm proud to be able to do this for a living. That's for sure.

[00:34:55.960] - Big Rich Klein

So let's backtrack a little bit and tell me about, if you can, the Four Wheel Drive Club that you're part of, and how did that come about, if you can.

[00:35:09.520] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, no. The club was Arizona Dust Devils. And then that was based out of a Motorola. It was like, Motorola four wheeling club, right? We're big, narrow, spacy here. So Motorola is big here. And that was in my late teens, early 20s, college years. It's It's not around, it's around. I was that young kid that would... When it's time to talk about new equipment and mod, I'm sitting there like, I'm going to chop my frame in half. And these guys are talking about changing cup holders and adding lights and things like that. So I was the young blood. But it was a great way to learn. I made a tremendous amount of friends that were significantly older than me that taught me how to do a lot of things, whether it was welding or working on vehicles. These old timers really, really helped out. Then as my four-wheel drive and rock-crawling passion, and I don't know, call it a career, I guess, started growing, I got involved with the more hard core scene, and you're well aware, which is the Arizona Ondertakers. That spun up in the early 2000s, so I was one of the O.

[00:36:23.880] - Andrew McLaughlin

G. Guys on that. And that's the more secretive club Trail Ninjas. Trail Ninjas, yeah. A lot of that crazy stuff you're seeing on the Internet are our guys. We're flying vehicles out with helicopters.

[00:36:39.000] - Big Rich Klein

We're going to get to that.

[00:36:40.640] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, I bet. The idea around that, The reason for the secrecy, and I don't know if anybody has ever explained it to you because you know a little bit about it. But it was because back in those 2005-ish, 2015, Arizona was having a really hard time fighting land use. Not fighting, but working with land use, we'd say. It was challenging. So you mix that with... So we're trying to develop new trails. These guys are trying to shut them down, so we had to keep it on the underground. Meanwhile, the sport is now developing and growing. The four-door wrangler really changed the game when somebody could drive their kids to school, go to the grocery store, and then take it on a trail on the weekends. But that brought a lot of new blood, very little experience to the game. So now all of a sudden, these sacred trails of ours are getting stacked, destroyed, bypassed, things like that. So again, we would be super protective of our trails just because we didn't want to lose them or get them damaged, right? Right. What we ended up learning was everything's working with people in education. So we were able to get the right people to talk to the right people.

[00:37:56.950] - Andrew McLaughlin

So land use started smoothing out. I was always big on education. So meanwhile, my buddy, undertaker brother is like, Well, these guys, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, well, let's just talk to him, man. Walk over, Hey, don't throw your shit on the ground. Throw it away. Oh, you broke something Clean it up. Hey, don't stack those rocks, or if you have to, remove them. Yeah, so it's just education, teaching people what they don't know. A lot of these people weren't trying to be assholes. They just had no idea. So what happens? The vehicles develop and change, so we grow with it. And that club is still somewhat secretive. We've settled down a little bit, but we still have to protect special places, our unicorn lands. Right. So Meanwhile, I started getting involved in all the clubs, business-based, working with clubs, clubs coming to me. Hey, Andrew, help us with this. Can we do an event? New trail runs, this and that, to where now I basically have started my own clubs. And they're very educational-based. They're very consumer-driven, taking people on new trails, teaching them how to use their vehicles, things like that. So I encompass all of the community, whether it's You know, jeep in, new guys jeep in to full-blown, reverse your car is doing wild stuff, and then you mix in all the racing and all the other stuff in between that.

[00:39:23.920] - Andrew McLaughlin

I feel that I have a very good pulse on the entire dirt sport world right now, which is cool.

[00:39:30.260] - Big Rich Klein

Your business, Let's Roll, the work that you do?

[00:39:35.480] - Andrew McLaughlin

Everything, wild to mild. I get that question a lot. Even my family, when I started, they didn't understand what I did. I'm like the drug dealer of Jeep parts. If you need something, you come see me. If you need something fixed, we can do it. If you need something unique, we can do it. There's nothing we can't do in the four by four world. We stay out of the side by side stuff. It's just not my specialty. We're more into the Jeep, Buggy, Toyota, Bronco, full size truck world. Anything, lift kits, full blown fabrication, and accessories, maintenance, a tremendous amount of maintenance. If you can dream it, we can do it, and everything in between.

[00:40:22.600] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And you're racing. I remember the first time I talked to you was a phone call, and you called me about coming to Tucson for our We Rock event.

[00:40:42.620] - Andrew McLaughlin

And you were going to- You're Ryan.

[00:40:44.260] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah. No, It was first the Rock Crawl.

[00:40:46.940] - Andrew McLaughlin

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's when we did it on the Manmade course.

[00:40:49.570] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, out there in Tucson. And I hadn't met you. You called me and said, yeah, I'm with this club, and we got some guys that want to come out and compete. But we don't want to be on the easy stuff. And I said, well, none of it's really easy, but have you competed before? Well, no, but we're the hardest core club out there and stuff. And I'm like, okay, well, I'll tell you what. You come out and we'll put you on the easier stuff for the mod stocks and stuff and the sportsmen classes. And then we'll see after the first day what you want to do. And then we can move you up into the unlimited courses or something, where all the buggies were at. And you were beating your chest and stuff. And I was just sitting there going, okay, here's another one of these hardcore club guys that thinks he's all that. So you didn't show up, but Uriel and Jeremy Hammer did. And Uriel did really well. So after the first day, I said, Hey, do you want to jump into the unlimited courses? And he was like, No, that's okay. I'll stick right here because those courses down there are freaking brutal.

[00:42:06.580] - Big Rich Klein

Being concrete, nothing moves. It's like when you hit a cage against something or you frame out on something, it's like dropping on to steel I-beam because nothing, there's no shock absorption through that concrete the way it was done at all. And I can remember Some are getting stuck in just about every hole there was. But it started something, we ended up doing Dirt riot, and then you came out and ran Dirtriate.

[00:42:41.320] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, so I remember that now. It's Yeah. So I remember that now. For me, the only any competition I've ever seen was out in Woodpecker Canyon. So it was a lot more natural, first off. To your point, that manmade stuff was wild. And the rules involved in the cones, I guess I picture it more like, get to there. Okay, man, I'll get there. That's not a problem. But yeah, you start throwing the dynamic of going through these cones, it's a spulled vehicles front and rear, and trail with stuff. And I was like, Holy smoke. I did your We Rock in Congress once with my Red Buggy, and I retired after that one. That was my one and done. I was like, This is not for me. I ended up, like you said, breaking upside down, all sorts of stuff. And I was like, No, too many rules for me. Too structured. Too structured. I'm Irish-Ukrainian, like the first generation, and rules are simply suggestions for those cultures. So I couldn't do it. But then, like you said, dirt ride was spinning up. Meanwhile, an old friend of mine, Rock Crawl and Buddy, Chad Hummer was his name.

[00:43:51.500] - Andrew McLaughlin

Him and I started racing a Jeep speed together. Why? We know Jeeps, and he's like, You want to race a Jeep speed? I'm like, What the hell is that? He brings it over. I'm like, This thing's cool. Let's go. He's like, Yeah. So we started racing. We started doing some fun races, just goofing off with the guys. And that's where crew chief came from who's still with us to this day, all these things. So we're racing this Jeep around big races, getting our ass kicked and learning a lot. And one day, he's like, I'm done with this. You want to buy it? I'm like, That's when ultra four and the dirt ride stuff was really kicking off. And I was like, Man, I think I want to do this. He's like, Good. I'm going to go short course racing. So he went short course racing. I I went ultra four. So I built my first ultra four car in 10. And that's when I called you again in Tucson and asked if I needed to run a hood. And you said yes. And I said, well, shit, I don't have one. I'm coming anyway. Put me in.

[00:44:42.140] - Andrew McLaughlin

And I ended up rolling a couple of times and things like that. So it was when I first built in a car. So Dirtriate was fantastic. I mean, it was my style. Go there as fast as you can, as hard as you can. I don't care how you get there, but if you get to this wall, figure it out. Get to the top of it. I was like, Oh, I can do this. No cones. No cones, yeah. Because if you- The rules were- Especially if you followed Jeremy because he ran all the cones over. Yeah, no kidding. I raced that series for a number of years and had a fantastic time. Learned a lot about racing, running my own race program, really helped develop my partnerships with companies in the industry and outside the industry to put... I hate using the word sponsorship, but partnership to do this with other companies. I learned all that in there. They built ourselves a neat little team. We had three or four cars running at one point under the let's roll flag. One, actually, at the time was over in Europe. We I met the guy out over there.

[00:45:45.740] - Andrew McLaughlin

Actually, we had a rock Crawler on the south haul for a little bit that we ran under the flag just to be super involved with all aspects of this up and coming sport. But, yeah, man, me and you, I traveled all over with you. We were Midwest and all over, every place but California, thank God. But, yeah, that was fantastic. It got me into my first King of the hammers, right? I think I ended up third place in the nationals, and you had some spots you could give away. And I think the other two guys ahead of me already had them, and that was my first K-A-O-H, and that I didn't have to go in LCQ4, which is a huge relief. And yeah, it was fun. It was a great, great experience. Met some good people, raced against some serious talent. Then I built the IFS car, and I always felt deep down. That's when I retired out of dirt ride. Deep down, I didn't want to bring that vehicle to those tracks. Not bragging or being cocky, but I felt it was too much of a car for the people that were racing there, and I didn't want to just take people's lunch money.

[00:46:53.200] - Andrew McLaughlin

Again, I wanted there to be a safe place for people to learn racing like I did and to grow their program and grow their vehicles. And coming in with now, I don't know, three, four, five years of experience and a bazooka of a car, I just felt it was never... I shouldn't do it. So I backed out around that.

[00:47:10.820] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And that's what Dirtriat was designed for. At first, Dave Cole couldn't understand why I was doing what I was doing. He thought I was trying to run him out of business. And that wasn't it at all. I wanted to I just saw what was happening at KOH, guys would come out, race once, and then not show back up again unless they were fully-sponsored teams. Or had enough money where they could keep throwing it at it, or refinance their house for the fourth time, that thing. And I was like, we got to teach. There needs to be a place to teach these guys how to race, not necessarily maybe how to make a corner, although that helps. But what it takes to put on a race, pit crews and the spare parts and fixing things in the dirt after qualifying and before the race, that stuff, all That's one of the things that come about when you're racing. Because there was no starter program. It was K-O-H. That was it.

[00:48:24.600] - Andrew McLaughlin

Now, that was really before ultra four, really, started going.

[00:48:27.920] - Big Rich Klein

It was much before ultra four. Yeah.

[00:48:30.000] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah. Yeah, because when he started that, I offered to run the Ultra 4 series for him, considering we were already doing it.

[00:48:38.630] - Big Rich Klein

We could just retitle it.

[00:48:40.900] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, that was fantastic. Yeah, We all know Dave. No, you hit the nail on the head. It was exactly what... It was one of the greatest racing experiences of my life were racing your races back then. It was fantastic. It just learning and the aid on the track and with our team and the travel and the locations we went to. Racing changed for me a lot after that happened.

[00:49:12.420] - Big Rich Klein

Cool. I like to hear that. That was the whole idea. So then you progress and move to KOH, and start racing Ultra 4. Well, then it was just KOH, but eventually became Ultra 4. What was the What was that like for you?

[00:49:31.980] - Andrew McLaughlin

It was fun. I love King of the Hammers. Still to this day, I love that event. I love the racing. I love the terrain. It's definitely my style. Enough go fast, enough rock crawling. I got involved with my original car and some ultra force stuff because now ultra force is coming up. And it was similar, obviously a lot more competitive. Not saying in a bad way, but I was fighting against whether it's more people or bigger teams or things like that. So I had to to step up my game, hence got into the IFS car for a while. And there were a lot of more short coursey tracks and various things like that that we were getting into. In the early years of Ultra 4 and King of the Hammers was great. It was a ton of fun. Same deal, traveling with your team. I had a couple of bucks behind me. I mean, you never get rich racing, or at least I never will. But I had enough to make that machine go around. And I really I started losing the love for it in 2018, '19 range, mainly because of the workload. It was a tremendous amount of work.

[00:50:42.500] - Andrew McLaughlin

It was a lot of strain financially and time. And meanwhile, my family's growing. So now I have two daughters. They're getting involved in sports, and I'm not into babies. So I told my wife, Baby, world's yours. After that, I get real involved or I planned on I took care of my kids when they were young, but now I'm playing with them or taking them places, really trying to raise my family. And racing was taking a lot of that away. So I had to make another decision, which was a good one, where I didn't get out. I changed my racing. I parted ways with some big financial help I had on great terms. It was like, Hey, we've done this. Let's I do it. I felt obligated to them. I'm a hard worker. I believe that for every dollar they gave me, I have to work twice as hard for that buck. So that was a huge relief. I kept a lot of great partners that looked at me and said, Do what you do. We love it. You're into all this other stuff. You're in the industry. You're a good person, you're a great team.

[00:51:50.320] - Andrew McLaughlin

And we were always known for having that very special team, the helpful people, things like that. So all the partners that stuck with me through that were great. And we started racing for fun and cherry-picked racing. So instead of signing up for full series, it's like, Well, we love Mexico. Let's go race the Nora 1000. Boom. That's fun. We're having a good time. Our little marketing content machine is working, right? And we're building and driving content for who? Our partners, for ourselves, for memory, for the fans. And then boom, let's do KOH. Oh, there's a race over here. That sounds fun. Let's do that. So the past, probably six years of my racing has been more for us, right? We're picking things we want to do and making the most of it. And it's been very successful for us as a team, for partners I work with, because we're not just doing the normal stuff. We're doing things that other people aren't doing. Last year, I won San Felipe A250 in class. Ha, ha, ha. There's only a couple of cars there, but that's a pretty cool experience. Nobody knows that. They started me dead last.

[00:53:00.430] - Big Rich Klein

Nobody knows that unless you tell them.

[00:53:03.380] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, I know that, but I know it deep down, right? I mean, I'm one of those racers that I wanted to be known for being consistent and being a good person and a good team and a talented driver. I didn't care if I won. I didn't care if I got second place. I didn't care if I... I have goals in my head, typically. But for me, winning was not what I wanted Let's Roll Racing to be about. I wanted to be known for something that could be be a different legacy.

[00:53:32.420] - Big Rich Klein

More like a lifestyle.

[00:53:33.920] - Andrew McLaughlin

A lifestyle, right? I want to be known. Andrew McGloughlin, let's roll off road racing. I want to be known as a very good race car driver. I don't care how many races I've won. I want to be known as a good person. I want my team to be represented well, and I want our partners to be proud to work with us, and it works. Now, I've won a lot of races. I've won a lot of competitive races. But to me, it was never about the winning and losing. I didn't wake up. I more woke up and became a race car driver. It wasn't something I dreamed about. Quite frankly, I don't like driving fast. I don't even have a speeding ticket in my life. I'm not a crazy adrenaline go fast guy. I like the journey, the travel, the experience, the food, That's what racing was always about for me. But my guy always says, We can't do without you. You can't do without us. So let's keep doing it. We all like it. Unfortunately, you got to be the guy to get in the car. People don't know this. Every morning, race morning, whether it's KOH, whether it's Dirtriate, whether it was Noah, San Felipe, whatever, I am sick.

[00:54:37.260] - Andrew McLaughlin

I am sick to death. I'm puking trying to brush my teeth. The nerves get me, the responsibility. I've never been able to shake it, ever. Once the green flag goes, I settle in. But I know a lot of people have that anxiety, too, and I don't consider myself being high anxiety by any means. But there's something about race morning, even the night before, I can't eat. But it's always been you get out of that car and it's like, Man, that was fantastic. So, yeah, it's been a lot of fun. It's taking me a lot of places, a tremendous amount of people, and lifelong memories, that's for sure.

[00:55:14.780] - Big Rich Klein

What do you like to do as a family for entertainment away from off-road?

[00:55:22.380] - Andrew McLaughlin

My kids are big into sports. My eldest daughter is a pretty stunned soccer player. I'm hopping on a plane with her this afternoon. We're going to Salt Lake for some games this weekend. She's in high school now. She just started driving a couple of weeks ago.

[00:55:37.900] - Big Rich Klein

High school?

[00:55:39.460] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, that's a while.

[00:55:40.860] - Big Rich Klein

Thank you for making me feel really old.

[00:55:45.840] - Andrew McLaughlin

I know. I'm sorry. No, Lex is driving. She got her last couple of weeks ago.

[00:55:52.060] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, my God. Amazing.

[00:55:54.980] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah. Rye dropped out of the soccer thing. She was a stud goalie. I mean, she was a keeper that she wanted to stick with it, but she's big into swimming. She's been a fish her whole life, and I didn't see her being a competitive swimmer, but she loves it. And she's getting into a lot of the The School plays and things like that. She's in a huge production, and she's my wild child. She's the one that's going to give me the anxiety or the heart attack one day for sure.

[00:56:27.120] - Big Rich Klein

Second child, yes.

[00:56:29.200] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah. She's in seventh grade now. So a lot of our stuff outside of off-road is family-orientated with that because we have family all over the country. We're constantly traveling, visiting with them. I still go back to New Hampshire every year for our family property out there. The kids spend the summer out there. What else do we do? We're big into skiing, pick back up on skiing again when my kids were young. So we do that a lot. But spring break, we're going to rip around Baja in the Jeeps next week. So they're still into dirt sports. My girls know how to go to the bathroom outside, and they know how to drive off road and things like that. So, yeah, travel People, food, adventure. I definitely live the adventure lifestyle, that's for sure. That's been bred into my family.

[00:57:23.700] - Big Rich Klein

What is on the horizon for Andrew, for Let's Roll, for the family?

[00:57:32.140] - Andrew McLaughlin

Family-wise, I just want to raise my kids, set them up for success, teach them something, because a couple of years, they're going to be out doing their thing, and give them a good foundation. People always give me trouble, You got two girls. Ha, ha, ha. And I'm like, no, it's not like that. I'm raising my girls to be tough, smart, strong, right? And that should weed out all the shitty guys. That's what I put in anyway. I'll let you know if it works. But I want to see them succeed, and I'm excited to meet whoever they're with one day and things like that. I'm definitely a guy's guy. So I always said if I had a son, he'd hate me. I'd be too hard on him, but I'm a guy's guy. The girls keep me grounded. Business-wise, let's roll. My goal is that my employees own this company one day. That is truly my goal. I got guys that work for me since they were 15 years old that are killing it in life right now. And I hope I can teach them enough and slowly transitioning the business to them because I doubt my daughters are going to get into it.

[00:58:34.920] - Andrew McLaughlin

That's my dream, that these boys that are turning into young men and men now and starting families and buying houses and things like that. We were just up at one of my guys' weddings this weekend, right? To watch one of these kids that you knew in high school grow up and get married and things is special for me. This is my little family. Meanwhile, I've started other businesses that I'd like to see grow and become successful, especially LM1, so Let's Roll Metalworks. Build cool products, bring cool products to the industry, things people want, need, quality, things that are lacking today in our world. We're spoon-fed subpar products a lot, and I'm trying to change that, and I'm changing it my way. So I'm going to build it. If you don't make something that's good, I'm going to build something that's good. I want to offer great value. So I want everybody to have their dream vehicle and to be able to experience this off-road lifestyle that's done so much for me. So these other businesses and things, watching them grow and develop, and hopefully be able to retire one day. Racing-wise, I was saying we're doing our thing.

[00:59:51.240] - Andrew McLaughlin

We're going to be racing Moab here coming up, and I got some other neat things on the schedule, but I got a niche for a new car, which is fun. I haven't had niche for a new car for a while. So we'll see. I'm experimenting with what I want to do. I like desert racing, but I still like the four-wheel drive aspect and rock crawling. So I don't know, maybe go back to an IFAS. We can talk about the future of King of the Hammers until we go blue. But am I going to try to build a Hammers killer car? I'm not sure. Yeah, so that's it. Just enjoy my life. I'm in my mid-forties now, and I'm healthy, and Just having fun.

[01:00:30.870] - Big Rich Klein

Excellent.

[01:00:32.460] - Andrew McLaughlin

I'm just having a great, great time and couldn't be happier with my life and watching the people around me do good.

[01:00:39.320] - Big Rich Klein

So if somebody walked up to you today, some kid, 18, 19 years old, and says, Hey, I want to get into off road. What do I need to do? What would you say?

[01:00:54.880] - Andrew McLaughlin

Just jump in, man. Both feet. Jump in, both feet, get involved You get what you put out, just like life, whatever you're going to put into this. I have kids like that come in here all the time, ask them for jobs. Listen, I try to bring them in. Get involved with the community, get involved with the clubs, get involved with whatever. If you think you want to raise, get involved with a team. Just tell them you want to be part of it. It's not like we don't need help, especially young blood help. Our backs aren't as good as they used to be. So having a young man around is a good thing to lift some heavy stuff for us.

[01:01:28.800] - Big Rich Klein

But I'd like to say thank you so much for spending the last hour talking about your life and your goals and your dreams and what you got going on in life. And I really appreciate getting that information out to people that want to know more about Andrew.

[01:01:47.500] - Andrew McLaughlin

Yeah, I know. I appreciate the opportunity to catch up with an old friend for a minute and tell my story.

[01:01:53.500] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, it was great. I hope to get down there and see you guys sometime. I'm a little busy busy lately with everything I got going on. I say I'm retired, but I'm not really.

[01:02:08.420] - Andrew McLaughlin

You're never going to be retired.

[01:02:10.220] - Big Rich Klein

You know that? No, not at all. I just took this new job down in Texas with the Texas Motorized Trails Coalition. So I'm running a few quirks as the executive director and working on the grant processes and all that stuff. So, yeah, I'm drinking water through a fire hose right now, trying to learn everything. That they've got going on so I can help grow their side of the sport, too.

[01:02:36.100] - Andrew McLaughlin

Definitely got the right guy for the job. That's for sure. So good for you, man. Thank you.

[01:02:40.340] - Big Rich Klein

Anyway, I want to say thank you so much for always being a friend, and go out there and kill it, dude.

[01:02:47.500] - Andrew McLaughlin

I appreciate it, man. Anything you need, you know where to find me.

[01:02:50.380] - Big Rich Klein

All right. Talk to you later. Thank you.

[01:02:52.370] - Andrew McLaughlin

Thanks, Big. See you. Bye.

[01:02:54.660] - Big Rich Klein

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