Bronco Dan of Venom Aire joins Rich on Episode 317

Dan Whittington, founder of Venom Aire, shares his journey from mechanics work to pioneering air intake technology. Born in Santa Rosa, California and raised in Salt Lake City's Cottonwood Heights, Dan developed a lifelong passion for off-roading through family camping trips and motorcycle adventures.

After high school, Dan worked at a service station, became a stonemason, and held roles in insurance and automotive retail before joining Hinkley Dodge and Larry Miller as a technician. A knee injury forced a career pivot, leading him to pursue his longtime passion: fine art at Salt Lake Community College. He later worked in video game development for Sculpture Software, contributing to the successful WWF War Zone title before the studio closed.

Today, Dan is known as "Bronco Dan" for his high-end early Bronco builds and his work with Venom Aire—an innovative ducted fan system designed to improve fuel efficiency. Testing shows 10–25% fuel mileage improvements across various vehicles, plus horsepower gains up to 40 HP in mid-range. The system features affordability, simple installation, EPA-friendly emissions reduction, and no required remapping.

Partnered with ProForm, Venom Aire is pursuing CARB certification for broader market access. Dan emphasizes product quality, welcomes critical testing, and encourages interested customers to contact him directly or visit www.venomaire.com for details and testimonials.

Transcript

[00:00:05.320] 

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 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 their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active in 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.

[00:00:46.600] 

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[00:01:13.220] - Big Rich Klein

This week's guest has been an off-road enthusiast for most of his life. Life has taken him on many employment journeys. My guest, known as Bronco Dan, is Dan Whittington of Venom Air. Hello, Dan Whittington. It's so good to have you on the podcast. We talked, I think we first met at Danny Grimes during Easter Jeep Safari.

[00:01:40.170] - Dan Whittington

Wow.

[00:01:40.430] - Big Rich Klein

Quite a few years ago. And I was always intrigued with your products and want to talk about that eventually. But just wanted to say thank you for coming on to the podcast and talking about your life.

[00:01:52.070] - Dan Whittington

Well, thank you. Appreciate the opportunity.

[00:01:54.810] - Big Rich Klein

So let's start at the very beginning where everybody starts. Where were you born and raised?

[00:02:02.330] - Dan Whittington

Born in Santa Rosa, California.

[00:02:04.340] - Big Rich Klein

Oh wow, my, my area.

[00:02:06.810] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, love that area. It's so pretty up there. Petaluma, Sonoma County, wine country. I mean, it's just, it's gorgeous up there, right? Uh, when I was too young and couldn't resist, my parents brought me to Salt Lake area. So I pretty much grew up in the Cottonwood Heights area in Salt Lake area.

[00:02:24.310] - Big Rich Klein

And, uh, at what age did they move you?

[00:02:28.880] - Dan Whittington

I think I was about 1.5, 2 years or something like that.

[00:02:32.160] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, very young.

[00:02:33.920] - Dan Whittington

So yeah, yeah, like I said, too young, I couldn't resist.

[00:02:40.570] - Big Rich Klein

And so, uh, what was it like growing up in the Cottonwood area?

[00:02:46.810] - Dan Whittington

Well, I remember it was really nice. It was the edge of town. I mean, nowadays, you know, I don't know how many millions of people are in the Salt Lake Valley, but, you know, 70th South was the edge of town, and there were a lot of open fields and gravel pits and places we could play and run around and ride our bikes. And it was kind of semi-country, I guess, semi-rural, if you want to look at it that way. Okay. It was awesome. I mean, I had a great time growing up.

[00:03:18.710] - Big Rich Klein

Excellent. In those early years, you said that, you know, you're— it was edge of town. You got gravel pits and all that kind of stuff and outdoor activities. What did you— what did the family do for entertainment? You know, camping, fishing, anything like that, or vacations.

[00:03:42.270] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, yeah. I specifically remember a lot of camping adventures. I mean, that was one of the main things that kind of sticks out of my life with my family. I mean, going out to the sand dunes, Little Sahara Sand Dunes out here, uh, go out there with some dune buggies. My dad had a '72 Bronco. That was where I kind of got my first taste of the early Broncos and started liking them way back when, uh, you know, we do a lot of ghost towns, run around. So the Utah area, there's lots of old ghost towns and stuff that you could used to get to, um, you know, just exploring and ride motorcycles. And I mean, those are some of my fondest memories that I remember growing up.

[00:04:28.380] - Big Rich Klein

And what was school like? Was, was the school that you attended large or small?

[00:04:34.060] - Dan Whittington

Uh, it was, I guess it was to be considered a large school, was Brighton High School. I'm not sure how many was in my graduating class. I know the 50-year reunion is coming up here in a couple weeks, so it would be interesting to see how many of us made it that far.

[00:04:50.230] - Big Rich Klein

So you're a grad of '76 as well?

[00:04:53.730] - Dan Whittington

Yes, sir. Okay, I am bicentennial.

[00:04:56.640] - Big Rich Klein

Yep, my same here. So then we're probably the same age, like 68.

[00:05:03.870] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, 68. Yep.

[00:05:06.340] - Big Rich Klein

Interesting.

[00:05:06.840] - Dan Whittington

Okay.

[00:05:08.530] - Big Rich Klein

And when— okay, let's talk about that. Are you looking forward to your 50th graduation date there?

[00:05:18.230] - Dan Whittington

Well, yeah, it's a loaded question, right? Because, you know, Of course, you know, am I really that old? Yeah. But I'd love to reconnect with some of the people. I did go to my 40th year reunion, and it was kind of difficult because some of my best friends had died from high school, and I wasn't prepared for that. I remember looking around the room going, "Boy, these people look old.

[00:05:46.670] - Big Rich Klein

Do I look that old?" Yeah, I think I did my 20th, was the only one that I've been to, but I already got my tickets for this, for the 50th. And, uh, I would say one of my two best friends from like kindergarten just passed away, so that was tough. And I've lost a lot of friends though that I had through scouting and, and high school and stuff, and it, it's It's, it's, yeah, you know, it, it's, it's tough to face that reality, you know, especially as we get older. The ones that, you know, passed away early from accidents or, you know, whatever it is, um, you know, that, that's a little bit more of a, okay, well, that, those things happen. But as you get older, you know, yes, age happens, but it's, it hits more because then you start thinking about your own longevity.

[00:06:44.310] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, well, mortality. I mean, friends that I've had that are younger, some of them consider younger, dying for various reasons. I mean, my younger brother just passed away last summer, and that was really difficult. And, you know, it just kind of just makes you ponder your morality or your, you know, how, how does that work out? You know, what's my timeline look like? And you don't know.

[00:07:08.900] - Big Rich Klein

True, very true. So going through school, were you a good student or were you one of those that always looked out the window wanting to go do something else?

[00:07:25.610] - Dan Whittington

Yes and yes.

[00:07:27.800] - Big Rich Klein

Okay.

[00:07:28.570] - Dan Whittington

I, I was considered more along the lines of the— I don't know, you say gifted or more intelligent. Students in elementary school. They actually put me in a class for the more gifted students, I guess. Junior high was just kind of, you know, I kind of just kind of made it through that, maintained about a 3.0 or better grade point average. Got to high school, um, it's funny because I always loved art and loved airplanes. I mean, I learned how to fly airplanes before I learned how to drive. And so I took— I remember I took an art class there and I was so bored with it, and I ended up almost failing that dang class. And now I teach at the college as an art instructor and have been a professional artist for years as one of my gigs. Um, got my pilot's licenses. I've Got a rotary helicopter license, commercially rated. I mean, fixed wing. I mean, you name it, I've been all up and down that. Just absolutely love those careers and the opportunities that I've had with those. Um, got out of high school, uh, kind of drifted around, went to the University of Utah.

[00:08:50.380] - Dan Whittington

Uh, and I remember, remember back in those days when you could go to college, pay your own tuition. And I think it was something like $200 plus your books, which was another— excuse me— another $40 or something like that, and walk out of there with no, no debt.

[00:09:09.090] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:09:09.870] - Dan Whittington

And, you know, and I look at my poor students nowadays, and I'm just like, oh my gosh, how do you guys do this? You know. But I remember I saw a sign in a shop I happened to be driving by one day and I said, help wanted. It was an old Phillips 66 over here on 90th South— or excuse me, on 70th South and about 7th East. And went in there and asked them, you know, if they were— could use some— use me for their help. And they were like, yeah, come on in. And I remember that was a— one of the easiest jobs I ever got. And the guy just took a chance on me, you know, some goofball off the street here, and got in there and just started doing tune-ups and things like I'd been doing in my own Jeeps and stuff that I had at home, and got really good at it. And I remember just spending hours and hours. And I remember that Hillcrest High School was just, uh, not even a mile up from the road from where we were at. And I'd sit there because the door faced 7th Eastern, and, you know, all these cute girls would walk by, you know, and just It was, it was awesome.

[00:10:20.690] - Big Rich Klein

And what kind of vehicle did you drive back then? What was the first vehicle you drove?

[00:10:27.120] - Dan Whittington

The first vehicle I ever drove was my dad's '72 Bronco. Okay. And that's where I learned to drive on the old 3-on-the-tree off-roading, which is something I've just— I guess it's just where I happened to teeth my— or learn how to teeth on. And they— so later when I was looking for a car, I was working with a guy, he had a '48 Willys CJ-2A that he wanted to sell me. And I was like, all right. So I remember it was $400. I still have the receipt around somewhere. And I think I paid him— yeah, I think I paid him $20 a month or something for that old Jeep. Um, and it burned oil. I mean, it was check the oil and put gas in it, you know. And I would go— I remember one time I was at my dad's house and I fired it up and I went around the block and the air was perfectly still that day and went clear around the block and came back around. It was like a contrail from a jet that you could see that smoke going all the way up the street and it followed me all the way back to my dad's house.

[00:11:34.670] - Dan Whittington

So I learned, I mean, I learned a lot from my little Jeep. I mean, my dad would help me occasionally, but pretty much it was my responsibility to get brakes on and get the hubs apart. Uh, I remember one summer I decided to paint that thing, and I mean, hours and hours on that garage sanding and trying to figure out what the heck I was doing out there. And, uh, finally, finally got it painted. And then an old Jeep truck came up for sale. It was a '68, uh, Gladiator with the Gladiator nose on it. Yep, I think we called it J10 or something like that. Anyway, uh, went and looked at it and this guy was trying to sell it to us and he goes, you know, he says, I spent hours on this truck. He says, you listen, there's no rattles in this truck. And I'm like, yeah, he's right. And he said, I pulled the door panels off there and I went through every linkage in here and made sure there was no rattles. And I was like, well, that's impressive. And so Ended up buying that, that truck and ran around, uh, high school with that and, uh, would take it off-roading and stuff like that.

[00:12:35.720] - Dan Whittington

And in the meantime, I'd sold my '48. And then, uh, just got out of high school and heard this, uh, '68 Bronco was up for sale. And I said, okay, my brother found it for me. It was a— his name was Jerry. I don't remember his last name, but I know he was a mailman. He was known as Jerry. And this Bronco was immaculate. I mean, he took really good care of it. It was a turquoise color, um, and it seemed that everybody knew that Bronco that Jerry had because they'd come over and look for Jerry if they saw that Bronco in the parking lot. And they're like, no, that's not Jerry's Bronco, that's my Bronco. And, uh, I had a lot of fun in that Bronco. Um, I regret regret selling that old Jeep truck. At the time I was like, oh, these are just, you know, they're just old lumpy trucks, and they weren't what I would consider a real truck, you know, like a Ford Highboy or Chevy Boxer, you know, box truck or anything like that. You know, they just looked like a Jeep truck, but they're pretty innovative in their time as I look back at it.

[00:13:38.550] - Dan Whittington

Um, yeah, and so about the '68, had it for a lot of years. I repainted it red and a few Look at all my cars now, for some reason they're all red. I, I think I like red.

[00:13:51.320] - Big Rich Klein

It sounds like it.

[00:13:52.520] - Dan Whittington

And, uh, uh, pretty much restored that. I learned to do a lot of bodywork. I've always enjoyed fixing up cars, whether it's bodywork or rebuilding them or putting things together and understanding, you know, all about engines and motors and transmissions and transfer cases and, you know, differentials. I mean, how does all this stuff work together and you know, how do you, how do you make something, you know, perform well? And in my particular case, how do you make it perform well, you know, in the dirt and the rocks, right? Um, I know my brother bought home a '68 GTO with, with a 400 in it, and those things are already really fast stock. And oh my gosh, he got, he got so much trouble in that car, and, and that thing was fast. And I never really was into the fast car drag racing things. Um, I did have a little race car and did some circle track for a little while, but my heart was always in off-roading and the Jeep world and, and doing fun stuff like that. I mean, it's something you do slow and steady and, and just do something a lot of people don't necessarily like to do.

[00:15:03.290] - Dan Whittington

And then you can always take your friends out and scare the crap out of them, right? Which I I did more than once.

[00:15:10.260] - Big Rich Klein

As you were working your way up through these vehicles, you said you worked at the service station, but what— how long did that last? And what did you do after that?

[00:15:21.520] - Dan Whittington

Well, it lasted, I think, about 3 or 4 years. And as I got better at what I was doing, I kind of was like, I don't know what I really want to be when I grow up. You know, this was just something I was good at.

[00:15:35.970] - Big Rich Klein

And so I still have that problem.

[00:15:39.020] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, what am I going to be when I grow up? I'm kind of there.

[00:15:42.710] - Big Rich Klein

Exactly.

[00:15:44.700] - Dan Whittington

So then I went to work, um, as a stonemason for a company called State Stone here, and I really enjoyed that work as well. Unfortunately, me and the owner kind of butted heads. He was a very staunch Marine, you know, crew cut kind of guy, and here I was, long-haired, you know, '70s kid that just, you know, kind of had a different values perspective. And so we didn't get along. And so I don't know if he fired me or I left. I think he fired me.

[00:16:14.330] - Big Rich Klein

I had a guy tell me he fired me and I told him, no, I quit. And we— and I think there's a movie like that or a show, and we argued for like 5 minutes on which came first.

[00:16:28.140] - Dan Whittington

You can't fire me, I quit.

[00:16:29.690] - Big Rich Klein

Exactly.

[00:16:31.460] - Dan Whittington

So then I, uh, I went back to— let's see here, I think I went back— oh yeah, my dad's friend had a shop and I went to work for him for a little while too, uh, turning wrenches. Um, he was a little more heavy duty. We— he had me doing clutches on my back. I mean, we didn't have a hoist. I was literally on a creeper under some floor jacks under these cars pulling transmissions and putting clutches in, you know, doing engine overhauls and and we were doing medium to heavy-duty trucks. So I got experience with some of those big, bigger rigs. Um, and then, uh, I don't know what happened to me, but my dad was an insurance salesman. He talked me into going to work for Allstate, which I did. Um, I like the insurance business. I just didn't like the politics that were going on at the time when I was there. Um, I had a hard time with some of the things they were asking me to do. Which were considered either— were considered illegal, basically. And I basically told them to take a flying leap and, and never kept my insurance license current.

[00:17:36.780] - Dan Whittington

So I left there, um, and then I went back to work for Reuben for a little while, the— this other guy, doing the same thing, and met some great people, made a lot of money. He was giving me 50% of the labor and 50% of the net intake of all the parts. And so I learned how to do retail that way and learn how to mark up the prices, how to fill out invoices, how to deal with, you know, customers and all this other stuff. It kind of helped me kind of fine-tune my, my profession, uh, that, you know, along that career line. Um, I then ended up in a big nasty stinky divorce, um This, uh, gal broke my heart, literally. And I, I needed a change. I needed something a little bit different. And so I'd always resisted going to work for the dealerships, you know, because I always figured they were like, uh, you know, the same thing, same thing, same thing. But a buddy of mine was working there, and we decided that, you know, I'd give that a try. And so it just kind of shocked my system, you know, and kind of get away and thinking about my problems all the time.

[00:18:43.850] - Dan Whittington

I went to work for Hinkley Dodge. And, uh, I mean, just a quick side story, I, I, my first 2 weeks there, I remember I did an overhaul on a Dodge truck on a— and I don't remember how old the truck was or anything, but I, I took that truck into my stall, pulled it out, uh, basically it needed just kind of a mild overhaul. I honed the cylinders put new bearings in the rods and the pistons, stuffed it back together. And I had that thing done in, what, a day and a half. And these guys in the shop were like, what the heck, Whittington, what are you doing there? You know, blah, blah, blah, give me a hard time. Well, I'm like, hey, this is about where it should be. You know, you should need to get these things in and get them done, get them fast. That's how you make money. Well, anyway, about 3 weeks later, that thing came in on a hook, and I'm looking at it as they're pulling it to my stall, and there's oil dripping out the bottom. I'm like, Uh-oh, what did I do? So got it in, got it apart.

[00:19:45.060] - Dan Whittington

Uh, the motor wasn't trashed, it had spun one of the bearings in one of the rods. And as I was pulling the rod caps off, I realized I'd forgot to tighten the rod caps. I'm like, oh crap. So anyway, uh, a year and a half later, I was still working there, and I, I always thought about that. I thought, you know, why didn't he ever fire me for that? And so I went into his office and I was talking to him and I said, Jerry, I said, how come, how come you didn't fire me that first week or so when I was in there? He said, Dan, he says, he says, what I knew was I knew you were good at what you did and that you wouldn't sit there and make all these excuses about the warranty times and that you would show these guys that yes, you can make money on warranty and that they need, you know, 'He didn't complain all the time.' And I said, 'Oh,' he says, he says, 'And you know what?' He says, 'It worked.' And I was like, 'Oh, well, that's a, that's a huge compliment.' And so, uh, I was making— it's funny because I was making more than anybody in the shop there, and, and those guys weren't happy with me.

[00:20:48.810] - Dan Whittington

Um, so I left there. Uh, I can't— there was, yeah, there was another incident with some another guy there that decided to be the boss there, and he thought he could boss me around, and that doesn't to you. But, um, you know, if you just kind of let me go, I'm fine. But you get on top of me and start riding me and telling me how to do things, then we start having problems. And that's what happened with this fellow. Uh, ended up at Larry Miller for another 3 or 4 years, I can't remember. But, um, same thing there. I was making way more money than anybody else, and, and, you know, all those guys were jealous and bashing me all the time. And that's fine. I don't, you know, I don't care. Go ahead. I'm, I'm taking the biggest check home here, so, you know, Go ahead and stand at your toolbox and complain about how well I'm doing. You know, it's fine with me. Um, so then, uh, had a little accident, was horsing around with a fellow there and ripped my knee out. Uh, basically they went in and took all the, uh, cartilage and meniscus disk outta my left knee.

[00:21:46.440] - Dan Whittington

Told me never to lift anything over 50 pounds. Don't run, blah, blah, blah, blah, this and that and the other. So I recovered for, for nearly a year. Um, and couldn't return back to work doing what I was doing. And so the state of Utah offered to rehab me, and I said, okay, great. And so I wanted to either go into business or be an artist, and I thought, you know what, I always wanted to be an artist, and it's something I'm good at, and I really want to learn that. So when I got my degree at Salt Lake Community College And from there, uh, ended up in a game company called Sculpture Software making video games.

[00:22:28.570] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[00:22:28.910] - Dan Whittington

And this is, this is before the 3D video games were out. And, uh, again, I got a little bit, uh, probably out of line with one of the people there and got kicked off one of the projects. And they decided to put me on another project called WWF War Zone. And by this time I was sick of wrestling, but the pitch was, is, hey, this is the first 3D video game that is being put out there on the Sony PlayStation and the Mars and Nintendo. And I was like, oh no, I— that's interesting. Now I could get into that. Uh, got with John Lund, who was the other— he was the main programmer who had contracted with Sculpture Software. To get this going. And together we created about 90% of the work that went into that video game. And the game did really, really well. Um, one of the funnest jobs I've ever had working in a video game company. I mean, just, you know, one of the things is, you know, you guys need to research these other video games and, you know, so we can compare ourselves to them. I'm like, oh, I can do that.

[00:23:37.820] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[00:23:38.380] - Dan Whittington

So hours and hours of Duke Nukem and all of these fun games and stuff like that. And, and then on top of that, they were paying me a really good royalty, uh, for the, the video game. It was number one for 18 months.

[00:23:52.670] - Big Rich Klein

Nice.

[00:23:53.220] - Dan Whittington

And it was, it was fantastic. Then all of the other bigger companies decided that, you know, there was a lot of money in the video game business because there was basically you know, like the rodeo there. There was no rules. And Acclaim Studios came in, bought the studio, fired a bunch of people, took money out of the— they put money into the company and then turned around taking a big loan on it, which basically bankrupted the company.

[00:24:20.920] - Big Rich Klein

Typical.

[00:24:21.560] - Dan Whittington

And yeah, and then they had to close the company down. A lot of people lost their job, really, really great people, and it was hard to watch that. And so I ended up starting another studio in American Fork with some friends, and that ran for about 3 or 4 more years. And then the greed started, and everybody was underbidding and undercutting everybody. And, you know, pretty soon we're a studio trying to make money and keep the lights on, and now you've got, you know, people that don't have the experience trying to make these video games and undercutting us to the point where we ended up closing our doors down. Um, and then I contracted for several years after that, but then, uh, oddly enough, I started painting apartments. And then from there I started doing cabinetry work and countertops and finish work. And I mean, it was great work, it just got to be really hard on my back, so I ended up trying to figure out what I wanted to do after that. And this opportunity kind of surfaced where people were asking to start, you know, work, start building this and doing that on their car.

[00:25:33.130] - Dan Whittington

And, and so I got online and asked a couple people if I could do some Coyote builds for them for their Broncos. And one thing or another, then, you know, this all the Bronco, uh, world came around, and now I'm building these very high-end early Broncos. And it's kind of a hobby that I kind of do on the side. I've been working on the Venom Air stuff for about 10 years now, trying to get, you know, things off the ground there. So that's, you know, that's kind of parallel to the Bronco story.

[00:26:05.830] - Big Rich Klein

So, and is it with the— at this time with the Broncos that you, uh, you got the nickname as Bronco Dan?

[00:26:14.670] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, pretty much. When I— yeah, it did. Everybody sees me and I don't know, they just like, uh, they would call me Bronco Dan and they pick up the phone, you know, it's Bronco Dan. Even when I talk to them about air, uh, my Venom Air stuff, you know, hi Bronco Dan. It's gonna kind of stuck with me and I'm fine with that. Um, I got— when I was in aviation, they called me Dangerous Dan.

[00:26:38.110] - Big Rich Klein

I don't know if that's good or not, because I've heard that there's bold pilots and there's old pilots, but there's no old bold pilots.

[00:26:50.130] - Dan Whittington

Exactly. A friend of mine that we had flown together with, and we're working on our certificates together, he says, you know, he says, I've flown with you, Dan. He says, I don't know why they call you Dangerous Dan. You're one of the safest pilots I know. Okay. I said, well, thank you.

[00:27:04.980] - Big Rich Klein

All right. Maybe you were just a lady killer or something.

[00:27:07.420] - Dan Whittington

I don't know. I guess. But, you know, I think it just rhymed with Dan, but it was a lot of fun. But, um, interestingly enough, so, uh, during that time I was flying a lot of RC aircraft. I was competing in IMAC, which is International Miniature Aerobatic Association, I believe, and you would do these maneuvers to a certain scale or whatever. And I was actually rated number 1 in the world at one time and didn't realize it. Of course, the, the IMEC was pretty small at that time, and so, you know, it was easy to be number 1. But, you know, if I tell that story again, that's not how I'm going to repeat it. And so I was watching these ducted fans fly around. They were starting to come out with these brushless fans and brushless just ducted fans and those turbine jets and stuff like that. And I knew a lot about turbochargers, um, when I was working at Larry Miller. I'd buy a lot of turbocharged cars and I'd buy and sell them. I, I noticed consistently that the same two identical cars, one without a turbocharger, one with a turbocharger, the turbocharger would consistently get better gas mileage.

[00:28:24.770] - Dan Whittington

So the normally aspirated was anywhere from 17, 18, sometimes it dropped to 15, but the norm but the turbos were always 21, 22, 21, 22. And the fortunate thing for me was, is they actually put a little gage on those cars so you could see what the boost was. And I noticed that most of the time when you're driving normally around the freeways and around town, when you're not accelerating, the boost is, you know, under 0.5 pounds. And I got to thinking one day, wait a minute here, If turbocharging can increase gas mileage, it's only boosting minimal airflow, and a ducted fan can push air at, you know, quantities of 2,500 CFM or more depending on how you hook it up. Why wouldn't that work for better gas mileage? And Gas at that time was $4.80 a gallon. And I thought, well, what would, how would that work? I mean, if I could make something for $600, $700, $800, would people be willing to buy that to save, you know, 10% on a tank of gas? So I literally took a ducted fan on my '72 Bronco, Bronco before I had fuel injection. I hogged it into the top of the carburetor.

[00:29:55.010] - Dan Whittington

I hooked the fan up to a receiver, got my radio in my left hand inside while I was driving, and I would accelerate that fan and emulate it with the gas pedal. So the more gas pedal I pushed, the more air I pushed. When I'd let off, I'd pull off of the throttle on— or pull off the than RPMs, kind of mimicking what I thought a turbo would do. And I'd go and get gas at the same place, try to get there at the same time, the same pump, just to eliminate as many variables as I possibly could. So this went on for several months, and I realized a 10.5% increase in fuel mileage. I thought, Okay. That's sellable, you know, but unfortunately most cars now are becoming fuel injected. Now, how do I get to a fuel injected car? You know, so I had a '07 Dodge Ram truck with a V10 in it. That thing was a— that thing passed everything but a gas station. And so me and another friend of mine from the game business, Scott Pugh, got together one day and I kind of told him what I wanted to do and, you know, how could we go about doing it and how could we intercept a signal from the computer to mimic what I'd been doing with the carburetor.

[00:31:21.600] - Dan Whittington

And, uh, so he put something on a breadboard and we stuck it on the old truck and I finally got that thing working. And all of a sudden I'm getting Instead of 11 miles per gallon, I'm getting like 12.5, which is just a little over, I believe, 20%. And I'm like, holy crap, so if this works on that gas guzzler, you know, how many other kinds of cars would it affect? Or, you know, what are the restrictions, limitations? You know, what will it not work on? And so pretty soon I've got one on the wife's car. You know, she's getting 18% better gas mileage. My neighbor next door, that poor guy. I said, can I use your truck? And he's like, sure. And I told him what I was doing. He says, oh hell yeah. So pretty soon he's got one on his car, then pretty soon my brother has one on his truck, and then, you know, it just snowballed. I mean, as many people that would let me, I was putting them on. And always, always I was getting better gas mileage. Um, not to say that I didn't have problems with those first systems, because that's where you learn, is, you know, by your mistakes.

[00:32:30.000] - Dan Whittington

Met up with some other people I knew in businesses and stuff like that. Had a fellow put one on his motorhome, and I said, I don't know, Joe, I just don't know what this will do for your, your motorhome, but let's try it and see. And so sure enough, he was getting about 15% better gas mileage on his motorhome. And I'm like, well, right on. So then he says, what about one for my diesel truck? And I said, I don't know. I've never put one on a diesel truck. So, uh, he put one on his Dodge Ram truck. It was 2500, and at that time I think those were 6.6 liters if I remember right. Anyway, he comes back, he says, you know what, Danny, I got 40% better gas mileage on my Dodge truck. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Yeah. I'm like, no way. He's like, yeah. So I documented that. He bought another new truck, we did the same thing. He said, yeah, 40% better. And I'm like, What? You know, that's unheard of.

[00:33:24.140] - Big Rich Klein

That's insane.

[00:33:25.200] - Dan Whittington

Uh, yeah. So another buddy of mine had a, uh, Chevy truck. What the heck was it? Duramax. And that thing had chips and all kinds of, you know, upgrades to it. And so we wanted to try it on there and just to see, you know, what maybe Joe was seeing. So he comes over and I wanted to try some different setups. So just for fun, we hooked it up We took one of the batteries out of the system and put our fan into 24 volts using, uh, not parallel but inline or whatever, so we could kick the battery system up to 24 volts for this fan test. And prior to this thing, this thing was smoking. I mean, back in the day before you could have smoke, just belching out smoke. So we got in, got in the truck and we left my house and I, and I floored it. And he says, stop, stop. He said, do that again. I said, what do you mean? I want to watch. And I said, okay. So I floored it again, and I said, what, what did you see? And he said, well, that's what I didn't see, which was interesting.

[00:34:24.110] - Dan Whittington

He says, there wasn't any black smoke out of the back of that. And I'm like, are you kidding me? He's like, yeah. He says, so we related that— the fact that black smoke is unburned fuel out of a diesel. And so, I mean, that thing scooted. I mean, there was like, like hardly— I'd like to say there was no lag, but the trouble is there was still lag, but you didn't feel it because now you were powering air through the turbo, which is where the lag comes from. So we were able to get a feeling of no lag in that thing. And it was interesting because it was just like driving a normally aspirated truck, only with a turbo, you know. And back in those days, you know, turbo lag was 7 and 8 seconds, and it was like ridiculously bad. And that was the same thing that Joe was saying about his two trucks too. He says that the turbo lag is gone. I'm like, well, that's, you know, the ramifications of that cannot be overstated. So then now I'm eyeballing the big trucks, you know, it's like, those things are all turbo, you know, what would that do for me there?

[00:35:21.020] - Dan Whittington

And so there's a huge market there that, you know, I know I need to get to, um, but, you know, I had to get myself patented and protected and try to get things, you know, in order that way. So went through all of that. In the meantime, I'm starting to sell these things I'm advancing them and trying to get different ways of getting them better, faster, you know, more efficient without getting into the turbocharger territory, which I know I could do, but I'm not wanting to do that at this, at this point. So I met a company in SEMA, and the problem I'd had up to this point was I was trying to manufacture these these things and give, you know, a lifetime warranty on them, or at least a 3-year. And I was selling a bunch of them in Utah, you know, California, Utah. And as soon as I started selling them back east in the New York area and Virginia stuff, like, all of a sudden they're coming back within 2, 3 months. And I'm like, what is going on here? So I started opening them up and saw moisture inside of these boxes that I was printing on my computer here.

[00:36:32.840] - Dan Whittington

And realized that nothing was waterproof and it was getting into the electronics and destroying things. I'm like, I don't know what to do. So I tried everything I could think of to fit these water problems and couldn't figure it out and was kind of at my wit's end with them and didn't know what to do. So a couple years ago at SEMA, I met a company called ProForm. Those guys investigated me, vetted me, and they vetted the product um, we're really impressed with it, really excited about it. So, uh, I've got an exclusive contract with those guys that now produces these units for me. Uh, they've been testing for over 2 years now. They've checked it against the moisture, the wear. They've been, um, documenting everything that they've been doing. Um, they tested on a Jeep Turbo back there. Uh, they're getting outrageous you know, fuel mileage back there. I finally got one to test on my Ford truck. I bought a Ford truck specifically so I could test. It's a 2011 Ford EcoBoost. I've seen as much as 25% improvement on that thing. I mean, it's, it's really cool because you get used to it.

[00:37:45.580] - Dan Whittington

I mean, all of a sudden you're used to— if that thing quits working for some reason, I mean, all of a sudden you're like pushing on the gas pedal going, what, what, what the heck is going on here? Did I my truck die or what, you know?

[00:37:57.380] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:37:58.820] - Dan Whittington

Um, it's just, it's just a performance upgrade that's crazy. Uh, one of the things I haven't talked about so far is, uh, a lot of these guys are like saying, oh, you know, they're thinking turbo, oh, can I get better horsepower, more horsepower with these things? But I'm like, I don't know, it sure feels like I do. You know, you think with better volumetric efficiency that there would be more horsepower. And so pretty soon we're on the dyno. Um, Heath Besner, if you look at Actual Leisure, did a dyno run on a Jeep test for Darren Kinder. And in the, uh, video he expresses about a 40, uh, 40 horsepower gain. Wow. On that Jeep in the mid-range. Um, and about a 20% horsepower improvement on top end. And that's always been my thing, is, you know, I'm right in that area of the 2,500 RPM range, which is where your volumetric efficiency is, is the best for horsepower and not the best for mileage, but it's right there where the— where engines like to run about 2,500 RPMs. And so I had met my goal there. That's where I wanted to be, is better fuel mileage a bit better horsepower, like when you're driving, accelerating, stuff like that.

[00:39:20.710] - Dan Whittington

Uh, I had gotten it to a point where it was in a price range of about $1,500 that you could afford to put on there. It wasn't a turbocharger, it wasn't a supercharger, uh, it wasn't a chip that you just plugged into your, your dash by any means. It had benefits that you can't get from a chip or any of those other things. And it was something simple that a person could install. I mean, I wanted, you know, basic skills. Somebody could get under there with a screwdriver and a wrench and install these things in the intake. So I met that goal. As I'm going along, I'm sitting there looking at all this data and stuff like that. And I'm going, you know what, if you're reducing fuel consumption, you're automatically reducing emissions. So got on the EPA's website. They have a calculator there, ran some calculations, and, you know, it's roughly about 24% improvement on emissions. And I'm thinking, hmm, you know, I— there's no downside to this thing, you know. Uh, it's not like you can— the EPA can come back and say, oh, it makes more pollution, therefore you can't put it on cars.

[00:40:31.970] - Dan Whittington

I mean, it's just the opposite.

[00:40:34.120] - Big Rich Klein

So, I mean, and if you had to pull it off to smog, you still could, because like in California, I mean, anything you add, they just— if it doesn't have that CARB sticker, they, you know, exactly, they kick it out the door.

[00:40:49.030] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, we're, we're actually, we're actually, uh, headed to CARB, um, I believe right now to get this thing through the CARB process. I forget how many states are now using the CARB as their benchmark, but that's, that's the next big hurdle. It has to be— so basically CARB says they don't care about gas mileage except for it cannot make it any worse than, right? So you have to stay with the manufacturer's gas mileage. Also, if the thing fails, that it doesn't increase pollution. And so if this thing fails, it doesn't affect the car at all, which is my other goal now. It's like, okay, so I've met all of those expectations. I think we're pretty much good to go. The EPA was very interested in this. You know, you could basically sell it as a pollution control device as well. And so, I mean, the downside, there's just basically no downsides. Side of this thing. And so, um, when ProForm stepped up and, and got excited about it, I mean, I got excited about it. And it's just like, I just like, where do I go from here now, you know?

[00:42:05.700] - Big Rich Klein

Right, that sounds pretty good. And it sounds like it, like if you boost, if you're doing a boost, turbo or supercharger, you're you're putting, you're putting a lot more pressure on the, on the, the rods and bearings and everything. With forced air, just this in this style, you're not— are you, are you creating more force?

[00:42:33.360] - Dan Whittington

Well, you know, sure, you're creating more boost. I mean, it's about 0.5, but that's not something that I can put in my patent because that's a turbocharger, supercharger. So at about 4— I think they said about 3 to 5 pounds, your fuel mapping cannot handle a turbocharger. So then you have to go and get it remapped or retuned, or however you want to look at it. Um, so staying under that value gets me in the door where people don't have to have any additional tuning. Um, of course, with turbo— the— I think it's Ferrari. I read an article on Ferrari. They said the main reason— two reasons they don't have turbochargers. One is the turbochargers are unpredictable. You don't know where you are when you step on your gas, where that turbocharger is. It's all mechanically controlled, it's all passive. The other reason is gas mileage. You have a turbocharger, your foot gets real heavy. And I know because I love driving my Ford truck around. I can be an asshole in my Ford truck with this system on. I mean, it just— very few cars get around me, you know. I don't want them to get and so that's, that was one of their, their reasons for not using turbochargers.

[00:43:45.480] - Dan Whittington

And I get it, you know. So there's, you know, been other inventions. There's a, like, what they call electric turbocharger. People often get me confused with that. It's basically an electric assist turbocharger. That's not what I can call this, that's not really what it is. It's more of what I call a power air intake. We're just increasing the airflow, the volumetric efficiency, getting rid of all of the restrictions inside the intakes. I mean, if you look at it, you gotta go past the throttle body butterflies, you gotta go through all of the little chambers in there. When you open your gas pedal, you create a big vacuum in there. And so you get this kind of this throttle delay or whatever. With this in it, I mean, it's auto, it's immediate response. It's like, uh, just, just, it's like a big old tune-up. It's like, man, my car drives so much better, you know. And the nice thing about the Jeeps that I do, and even with my truck, is the, the transmissions don't hunt. I mean, it'll find a gear and it's happy with it, you know. It's not going up and down and up and down trying to find that gear.

[00:45:00.500] - Dan Whittington

Uh, so it's a nice solid. And when you downshift too, it's just a nice pleasant downshift, you know. It's not this big old trying to get to a lower gear. It's just an overall improvement in everything. And, and to me, it's kind of like, this is the way a car should run, but nobody has ever approached the intake side of a car in a way that I have. It's always, you know, pollution devices on the exhaust, you know, pollution devices out here to control the exhaust, you know, control the intake and stuff like that, and pulling the throttle back and all this other stuff. Well, if you can get something active inside the intake area, for me that was always a mystery why nobody ever did that other than supercharging and turbocharging, which are both passive. I mean, you don't have control over either one of those. And so with our system, the way I've got it rigged up is that you actually plug into the OBD2 port. It gathers a couple of signals from that there. It's real smart. It starts tuning the electronics to the car. The car also are very, very smart with their fuel trims, and they'll start to adjust to the extra air.

[00:46:10.820] - Dan Whittington

and the gas mileage will actually start to stabilize, and you'll get better gas mileage, uh, as you start— as the car starts to develop the new mapping, so to speak. Um, and so once the performance there— I mean, you get, you get used to it really, really fast. And even when my truck— I ended up doing some tests so I could blow a fuse on it to see, you know, what that fuse limit is. And I could like, what? All of a sudden I'm like, what is wrong with my car? I'd step on the accelerator and be on the turbocharger. I'd get this, you know, what? Where's my gas pedal at? Did I hit it? You know? And then I was like, oh, I look, I look down, there's a little indicator light on that lets you know if it's running or not. And I look down and the light's off and I'm like, oh, you know, it's, it's a noticeable improvement. It really is. And boy, when they're gone, people just, they're calling me up, you know, hey, I need a new one. I need to get one now. I can't stand driving my car now.

[00:47:05.950] - Dan Whittington

Well, that, that's, that's a really good compliment for me.

[00:47:09.900] - Big Rich Klein

So do you have applications for like just about everything then? Is it a different fan, um, well, for different, for different vehicles and sizes?

[00:47:21.340] - Dan Whittington

Well, the new, well, the ones we have now are in the 80mm size. Um, I can detune them for some of the smaller engines. I basically have one program that I I developed for each and every car. As long as you can figure out a way to get an intake, it will work. I have never tested on a supercharged car. I don't know what that would do for a supercharged car, but definitely the turbochargers, anything from the 2.5 Jeep Litters, I put them on those. As long as you have an OBD2 port, it will work. As long as you have, you know, some way to fit it inside your intake, it will work. Um, some of the newer, like the Godzilla motors and stuff like that, I haven't test— tested on 800 horsepower. My 5.0 Coyote in my Bronco— I've got an early Bronco, of course it has to have a 5.0 Coyote in it. Um, I mean, the shift points on that are improved, uh, the gas mileage is better. I'm now getting some numbers back on it. And we'll see what those end up being. So I know up to about 400 horsepower it, it helps.

[00:48:32.290] - Dan Whittington

I'm pretty certain even on an 800 horsepower motor you probably have a little bit of a stumble on the bottom end that you don't know until you put this on. Now at that kind of horsepower— horsepower is a factor of air and fuel, and I don't know what the air draw is on that. I don't know if we'd cause a restriction or not, so I can't say for certain that would work on something that big, right? Uh, the newer diesels have, you know, 5-inch air intakes in them, 5 and 6. I, you know, I think this would be too small for those. Um, and so that's my only limits right now is, you know, the configuration. It will work on any normally aspirated or turbocharged motor. The kits I have will work on those as long as you can getting under those kind of those specifications. The goal is to get the bigger ones for the diesel trucks, and I've been talking with ProForm, and we are definitely looking at, you know, your Cummins diesels and your new Ford diesel trucks and the heavy-duty and light-duty trucks as well. I'm looking for fleets, somebody that has a fleet that they want to try these on.

[00:49:45.920] - Dan Whittington

I mean, imagine the savings for a fleet if they only got a small percentage of their fuel back. They'd be ecstatic. I literally had a conversation with UPS a few years back, and the comment that he made to me after I talked to him, he says, you know, he says, Dan, he says, if you save us 1%, just 1% in our fuel, He said, that's millions of dollars a day. And I was like, oh, I had never looked at it that way. And so I'm looking for, you know, any fleets that want to step up and try this out with the newer systems. They're very easy to install, and I'm more than happy to, you know, stand by somebody and show them how to install it. And so, you know, imagine the savings for these fleets. I mean, The ROI on this, I mean, for, you know, $800 or $900 per vehicle, you know, they're going to get the return inside of a year. And for those guys, that's a, that's a pretty big thing, right? And so we are, you know, always looking for those fleet guys. Uh, you know, it's easier to sell, it's easier to sell 10 of them to one guy, as you know, as it is one guy for one sale.

[00:51:01.610] - Dan Whittington

And I'm not trying to downgrade that or anything, but you know, that's just a business thing. Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm a money whore right now, you know. So sell, sell, sell. We are in a limited run right now, um, and so we're trying to, uh, get people interested in this product Um, if I can get enough people, you know, interested, then, you know, ProForm is more likely to, you know, do a larger run. And so that's where I'm at with her right now. And so I've got pretty much everything I've got sold. I've got another shipment coming hopefully this next week or the two. I'd be willing to make some, you know, pretty decent deals on these next few that are coming in. There should be about another 20, 25 of them, um, just to get people you know, trying them out, testing them, talking about them, uh, and seeing if there's any, you know, what that, what that interest looks like. And, you know, trying to get the, uh, get this thing off the ground, this project off the ground.

[00:52:07.130] - Big Rich Klein

And, and how does somebody get in touch with you and, uh, if they're interested in, in doing this product?

[00:52:16.560] - Dan Whittington

So, I mean, you can either call me at my personal phone, which is, uh, 801-835-9087. Um, I do have a website, www.benomare.com. That's B-E-N-O-M-A-I-R-E. Um, you can sign up for the newsletter. Uh, I'm getting ready to start punching out some deals and offers on that. And so if you're on that, that list, I can email, I can email you that way. You can buy one there as well, but it'd be better if I gave you a code that gets you a little bit of a discount. And so that would be the easy way. There's a lot of information on that website. There's several people in there that have installed it and several testimonies. I mean, Cameron Harris with Genrite, he's a good one to talk to. You know, there's the At Your Leisure videos, I believe, with Heath Besner, with Premier Performance here in Salt Lake, a very well-established, well-known tuner shop. There's just tons of information there. I get really frustrated when somebody comes back and says, oh, that's snake oil. Oh, I've seen those on eBay for $20. And I'm like, you know what, I've had this thing tested by some of the top tuners in the world.

[00:53:41.530] - Dan Whittington

And you go talk to them and see if they say the same thing as what you're telling me, not because you won't get that answer from them. So you'll get a good response from them, a very favorable result response. So, um, you know, I, I kind of enjoy the, the naysayers and stuff like that because it's just, you know, I just got to chuckle because a lot of times they just don't know what they're talking about. I invite anybody that doesn't think this will work to give it a try. I'll give you your money back, you know, it's no skin off my neck. I got lots of people that love this system, um, and nobody's ever come back and said, no, I don't like it. So, you know, I'm all in.

[00:54:24.360] - Big Rich Klein

I mean, that's the way to do it. If somebody doesn't like it and they want to return it, you know, Yep, perfect.

[00:54:30.470] - Dan Whittington

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it may not be for their application, for whatever they're doing, I don't know. But it's just, it's been great. I mean, it's so nice when you get a smile on somebody's face and, and say something nice about it, because I've worked so hard on this thing. And I don't mind people, you know, coming back with comments or rude remarks and stuff like that, because I learn from everybody. And I guess the— it's what I tell some people. I've learned 1,000 ways not to do this.

[00:55:07.290] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Well, I remember— I remember seeing the product. God, it was— it's probably been 7 or 8 years ago at Danny's during, during Easter Jeep. And then what you showed me just, you know, a week and a half ago, um, was a vast improvement to me, at least in, in what the product appeared to be.

[00:55:33.320] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, it's, it's more compact, uses less amp draw. The installation is, is very simple. Um, and it used to be, you know, I had a big, big old control box, 7 inches by 5 inches by 4 inches that you had to install. It had wires everywhere, and it was, you know, very specific installation. It was still simple enough for the average Joe to do it, but this new one is by far way simpler. It took me, what, half an hour to do my truck. I mean, I just cut a little section out on my truck, stuffed it in there with some hoses, ran the wires, and I mean, wham bam thank you ma'am, and you're done. I mean, you tidy up some wires and you're good to go, and it's so easy. It's just, it's like a dream come true for me. It was like what I envisioned this product to be 10 years ago when I started doing it.

[00:56:25.340] - Big Rich Klein

So does this drop in before or after the MAF sensor?

[00:56:30.450] - Dan Whittington

So you got them— yeah, the MAF airflow, you want to be behind the MAF airflow. The fortunate part is most MAF airflows are in the air box, so if you can get it just behind the air box, that's the perfect location for it.

[00:56:42.280] - Big Rich Klein

Okay, excellent.

[00:56:45.020] - Dan Whittington

Yeah, yeah, you don't want to disturb that math airflow. He's, he's very sensitive. Yes, very, very.

[00:56:54.900] - Big Rich Klein

Well, Dan, I want to say thank you for spending the time and talking about your life and your product. I think it's, I think you got a, a good, a good thing going here. And so anybody that's interested, um, in getting better fuel performance and better vehicle performance, check out Venom Air, and that's venomaire.com, and your email address is dan@, and again, the phone number is 801-835-9087. So, Dan, thank you so much, and, uh, I, I hope you sell a million of these things.

[00:57:42.480] - Dan Whittington

Me too.

[00:57:43.750] - Big Rich Klein

All right, well, I hope I get to see you before Easter Jeep next year, but, uh, if not, then, uh, I'll see you at Danny's next year.

[00:57:56.040] - Dan Whittington

Perfect. Thank you so much.

[00:57:57.260] - Big Rich Klein

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