In Episode 326, Adam Arsenault gets comfortable being uncomfortable.

In this episode, Adam Arsenault shares his remarkable journey from humble beginnings in North Carolina to becoming a key figure in off-road motorsports. His path spans 20 years in Marine Special Operations, four combat deployments, and a thriving racing career.

Adam grew up in Asheville, NC; joined the Marine Corps at 18 and served 20 years, including intelligence work and combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He transitioned to Racing, discovering off-road culture in California; competing at King of the Hammers seven times and racing in the Baja 1000.

He now manages the operations director role for Polaris's factory race program, overseeing four Pro-R vehicles competing in SCORE series races and select US events. Adam’s personal philosophy emphasizes persistence through failure, finding purpose over paycheck, and valuing relationships over individual achievement.

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] - 

Whether you're crawling the red rocks of Moab or hauling your toys to the trail, Maxxis has the tires you can trust for performance and durability. Four wheels or two, Maxxis tires are the choice of champions because they know that whether for work or play, For fun or competition, Maxxis tires deliver. Choose Maxxis. Tread victoriously.

[00:01:13.300] - Big Rich Klein

From a humble beginning in the hills of North Carolina to joining the Marine Corps at 18, then moving into the intelligence department of the Corps, 4 combat tours, and then retirement after 20 years, life in off-road started in his third phase of life. With KOH Baja, and now as the manager of the Polaris Factory Race Program. My guest is Adam Arsenault. Good morning, Adam Arsenault. So good to have you on the podcast. We just talked about the pronunciation of your name, and I think I just screwed it up, but we can get into that. But good to have you on the podcast.

[00:01:53.830] - Adam Arsenault

Well, morning, Rich. Thanks so much for having me. I mean, I'm honored to to be invited as a guest. You must be getting pretty far down your list to give me a call. I'm not sure that I even hold a candle to half the guests you have on your show, but honored to be here and tell some stories.

[00:02:10.440] - Big Rich Klein

You know, it's all about having an impact in off-road and then having people either reach out to me and say, hey, you need to interview this person. And if you're already on my list, then you move right up the list. And that's what happened. You have a fan out there that reached out and said I needed to talk to you sooner than later. So here you are.

[00:02:31.960] - Adam Arsenault

Nice. No, that's good to hear.

[00:02:33.730] - Big Rich Klein

So let's, let's jump in at the beginning. Where were you born and raised?

[00:02:38.150] - Adam Arsenault

So that's actually a part answer because I was born in Spokane, Washington, which is kind of northeastern Washington State, close to the Idaho border, kind of this— I think it's the second largest city in Washington State next to Seattle. Um, but I only lived there, I think I was 3 or 4 years old when my dad got a transfer for work and took me, my mom, and my younger sister, and we moved to the East Coast to Charlotte, North Carolina. Oh wow. Yeah, we spent about a year in Charlotte, and my parents were just not having it, you know. They, they were both originally born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, so they were kind of used to mountains and trees and rivers and that kind of thing. And Charlotte didn't really have any of that, you know, pretty, pretty flat, pretty dry. And so after about a year in Charlotte, they moved us up to Asheville, North Carolina, which is up in the mountains, the western side of North Carolina, in the Appalachian Mountain range, the Great Smoky Mountains. And lived in Asheville for the rest of my youth up until I was 18.

[00:03:52.770] - Big Rich Klein

Wow. Okay. Asheville is really kind of a touristy little town from what I understand.

[00:04:00.930] - Adam Arsenault

It is. Yeah. It's, you know, I didn't understand this growing up. It's— they called it Little San Francisco at the time. And later on in my life, I would figure out why it was. It was very, very progressive. You know, like, like downtown Asheville, kind of the heart of the city. Um, a lot of, a lot of art and culture there. And then kind of in the surrounding communities were more traditional, um, kind of mountain towns. Um, so it was a very unique mix, I guess, of people and cultures. And so that was good to grow up because I got, um, um, like a good perspective, um, of, I think, you know, the rest of the United States and the rest of the world, really, in that, you know, cities and cultures aren't necessarily singular in identity. You know, there's a lot of mixing of ideas. And so that was good. It was a good, good place to grow up.

[00:05:00.170] - Big Rich Klein

I have read recently that, that there's a lot of crime going on there, that it's, that it's not so idyllic as it used to be, which if it mirrors San Francisco is, you know, it's par for the course.

[00:05:15.370] - Adam Arsenault

Yeah, I think that's true. I think a lot of those kind of progressive, uh, policies and ideologies can sometimes, um, you know, bring with it some, some negative ramifications. But I haven't— honestly, I haven't been back there in a really long time, um, after I, um, after I graduated, joined the Marine Corps, moved away, and, uh, and really haven't been back. Um, my parents have both since moved away, so no real, no real connection back to Asheville anymore.

[00:05:41.470] - Big Rich Klein

No reason to go. Got it. So what, uh, what was it like growing up in, in North Carolina? Obviously after high school you went and, and joined the Marine Corps, but what was that time like? Did you play sports? Did you get into play or music or anything like that? What was— what'd you do?

[00:06:06.590] - Adam Arsenault

Um, I didn't play any sports. Um, not necessarily because I didn't want to, but I just didn't really have the opportunity. So I was— I was in elementary school. We had to move to a neighborhood that didn't have the greatest, uh, education system. So my parents made the decision to pull me and my sister out of public school and they started homeschooling us from then on out, which I think really, you know, gave me a unique set of skills that I otherwise would not have obtained being homeschooled. And it really gave me the ability to kind of self-teach myself. You know, we had— it was like a mail-in curriculum program, so there was a set schedule of schoolwork, and we had to take annual state-certified testings, test programs and stuff to make sure that we weren't just, you know, not being educated. But it wasn't necessarily like, you know, my parents were standing up in front of us for 6 hours a day teaching lessons. So very much self-paced, very much gave me that skill to be able to research and teach myself new things. But because of that, I didn't have the opportunity for a lot of the, you know, the extracurricular type programs that would come with the public education, like sports.

[00:07:25.770] - Adam Arsenault

So never really got involved with sports. Um, what I did eventually get involved in was, um, was the Civil Air Patrol. You know, I was really interested in joining ROTC when I got into high school, didn't have that opportunity, but the Civil Air Patrol gave me that chance. Um, kind of a unique program. It's actually civilian auxiliary to the United States Air Force, so it's a legit program. They have civilian pilots that actually assist with, with search and rescue for, for civil aviation and, um, community, uh, programs and projects. And then they have a cadet program. Um, I think it's from 12 to 18 you can be in the cadet program. So that's what I did, um, through, through high school and, um, gave me a lot of unique, unique opportunities, skills, and experience that set me up, um, eventually for, for joining the Marine Corps. Um, outside of that Um, you know, when we were real young, we were, um, I wouldn't say poor, but, um, to say the least, we were hard-pressed. You know, we didn't have a lot of things. My parents made sure we never went hungry, but, um, at a certain point, I think I was about 10 or 11, we were on the verge of, um, of losing our house.

[00:08:41.210] - Adam Arsenault

And my parents made the choice to take a job as caretakers in this private community that was up top on this, this mountain just outside of Asheville. And it was a couple thousand acres. It had a private lake, and there was only about a dozen houses there. And most of the residents were seasonal. They would come in in the summertime from either Florida or New York. And, you know, looking back, that was one of the best things that ever could have happened to me as a kid. You know, there was a there was a private lake there that was stocked with, um, with fish. So we could literally walk out from the, from the cabin, the caretaker's cabin, go fishing, swimming. Um, you could spend hours, you know, exploring the woods and the hills around the, around the town. So that was a really good opportunity for me. Um, a lot of, uh, a lot of chores, you know. We heated exclusively with, uh, with wood in the cabin. So from age 12 to 18, you know, every summer was was collecting trees and, uh, and, and chopping, chopping wood and, uh, stocking it up for the wintertime.

[00:09:46.480] - Adam Arsenault

So, um, spent a lot of time, a lot of time outdoors. And, um, yeah, just kind of exploring and having fun in the woods.

[00:09:55.690] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. Sounds like a good childhood, um, was at least building you for the future to be able to be self-sufficient and self-motivating. And that's a, that's something that I think that society has failed, um, on a whole. Not every individual, but, you know, in the greater look of things, that, uh, you know, we don't, we don't have that. We don't have that with our youth today.

[00:10:29.420] - Adam Arsenault

Yeah, exactly. No, I'm super thankful for the— it definitely wasn't an easy childhood at times, but I'm super thankful, you know, it turned me into the, into the man I've become today and set me up with a good foundation. I just, um, you know, our parents always taught us to appreciate things. You know, we didn't have a lot, so whatever we had, we had to take care of. Um, so we learned to, uh, to respect and value the things we had and to take care of them and to, uh, to take care of each other.

[00:10:54.790] - Big Rich Klein

Cool, cool. So doing the Civil Air Patrol, what then gave you the idea to join the Marine Corps instead of the Air Force?

[00:11:06.400] - Adam Arsenault

Um, that's a funny story, Rich. Um, actually, I tried to join the Air Force first. Um, at the point in time that I decided that I was going to join the military, um, I actually went down to the, to the recruiting station, and, um, I went with all intentions of going to the Air Force office, and I showed up and they were actually closed for lunch. And the office right next door is the Marine Corps office and they were open. And, you know, I walked in and told them I was interested in joining. And honestly, they all thought I was crazy because anybody who knows recruiters, like, they're pretty much chasing kids around at school and trying to, trying to ambush them when they're at home and kind of dragging people into the office. So when I walked in and said I want to join, they all thought that you know, there had to be something wrong with me, right? Like I had some sort of like medical condition that was going to keep me out, or, you know, I'm a drug addict, or I've got criminal past or something. So escaping something, right? Yeah, yeah, they thought I was crazy.

[00:12:07.400] - Adam Arsenault

So once they, once they figured out that I was, you know, had a clean record and no drug history or anything like that, they, um, and I, I pretty much aced the ASVAB, and yeah, they, uh, they signed me up and, uh That's how I ended up in the Marine Corps, not the Air Force.

[00:12:24.340] - Big Rich Klein

So then what was, what was it like, um, going, you know, be in that boot?

[00:12:30.730] - Adam Arsenault

It was, uh, I think it goes without saying, it was definitely a life-changing experience, um, for a couple of reasons. And, and for me, mostly, you know, the obvious one is going through boot camp. That's obviously life-changing. But for me, it was the time um, period that I joined in. So I turned 18 the summer of 2001, and I was working for my father at the time in the family business. And for anybody who's worked in a family business before, they know that that's challenging at times. So my dad and I had gotten in an argument, and, um, you know, I was just kind of fed up with it. I'm like, you know what, I need a way out. I didn't have any money for college. And, um, I thought, well, I'm gonna join the military. So went down and signed up. I actually had to wait a week because I hadn't quite turned 18 yet. I was a week shy of my 18th birthday, and I knew my parents weren't gonna, weren't gonna sign off on that. So I waited a week, went down, signed up, came home, told my parents, and they were, they were pretty sad, you know.

[00:13:37.290] - Adam Arsenault

Obviously my mom didn't, didn't want me to leave, and my dad thought I was just gonna stick around and work in family business, and So they were pretty sad but I think they understood. I worked it out with my recruiters that I could get a delayed departure for boot camp for about 6 months just to help my dad with transitioning the business and to hire, you know, new employees and that was summer of 2001 and then 3 months later, 9/11 happened and that kind of changed everything, you know? Right! My departure date for boot camp was moved up and, you know, things got real, real quick. You know, my original intention was, hey, I'm gonna join for 4 or 5 years, get some skills experience, get some money for college and then move on to whatever my next career is and all of a sudden, I was thrust into the military in a wartime environment that, you know, hadn't happened for a while. So, didn't— really considered that as a possibility when I joined, but it became a reality really, really quick.

[00:14:46.230] - Big Rich Klein

And when you— how soon from the time you walked into that, you said you had one week until you turned 18, was it like right after that that you were like heading to boot camp?

[00:15:05.630] - Adam Arsenault

Um, no, I had a couple of months because I, um, my birthday was in June, so I had a couple months before September. And then as soon as 9/11 happened, you know, the recruiters were calling me up trying to get me on a bus as quick as possible. Um, so I think it was a month after that I left for boot camp. Uh, went through boot camp in Parris Island, South Carolina, um, 3 months of boot camp. And then after that went to my, uh, my follow-on schooling and by the time I actually got out to what we call the fleet, which is actually, you know, fleet Marine Force, you're out there in a deployable unit. It was mid-2002 and the Afghanistan, at least the first part of Afghanistan, the beginning of it had pretty much calmed down at that point. Taliban had pretty much been eliminated and that was the end of that but, you know, I got to the fleet just in time to start the buildup for Iraq. So it wasn't long after I got to my first duty station that the, the buildup in Kuwait had started, kind of at the end of 2002.

[00:16:10.410] - Adam Arsenault

So beginning of '03, I ended up in Kuwait and then, uh, crossed the border with the invasion force in March of '03.

[00:16:19.320] - Big Rich Klein

Wow, that's, uh, I guess that, that happened to a lot of a lot of youth at that time, those 18, 19-year-olds. Did you find that the case, that you were around a lot of guys your own age at that time?

[00:16:36.020] - Adam Arsenault

Oh yeah, absolutely. And even like, you know, mid-level leadership in the military at that time had, had no wartime experience. I mean, the closest thing was, you know, the Persian Gulf. Back in the early '90s. So, but you know, that didn't last very long. It was a pretty short, limited conflict. So there was some senior leadership that had a little bit of wartime experience, but otherwise, you know, even our, our mid-level NCOs and stuff had no wartime experience. So everybody was kind of figuring it out for the, for the first time together.

[00:17:14.440] - Big Rich Klein

And was there a lot of deployment, first, you know, boots on the ground type stuff?

[00:17:20.810] - Adam Arsenault

There was, yeah. It— I was stationed, my first duty station was in Quantico, Virginia, and I was actually at a staff unit. It was a non-deployable unit and I worked in intelligence. And for the invasion, you know, the beginning of '03 there, I got sent to Kuwait as an augment. So basically wasn't there with my home unit, just kind of augmenting other units that were either short on personnel or maybe didn't require some additional assistance. And so I showed up, got bounced around a couple of different units, and finally ended up at a— it was actually an engineering battalion. Our mission was to replace all the bridges across like the Tigris and Euphrates for the invasion force. There was an assumption that, you know, Saddam Hussein was going to blow up all the bridges to keep the invasion force from progressing north towards Baghdad. And so my battalion, this engineering battalion, we followed the invasion force north across the Kuwait border and it was crazy! Even though I was— I worked in intelligence, that was my trade training, you know, my military occupational specialty or my MOS was intelligence but, you know, for the invasion force, they kind of just needed, you know, whatever they needed is what you did.

[00:18:41.050] - Adam Arsenault

So, I showed up at this engineering battalion. They didn't have a big need for intelligence at that time. They were more concerned about getting all these bridges, these folding temporary bridges north and you know, they started asking around if anybody knew how to drive a truck because they were short on truck drivers. They had more bridges than they had trucks or truck drivers. So, they actually either they leased or stole, I don't know, these cab-over European spec like Mercedes tractor trailers. And so they had all these trucks but they didn't have enough truck drivers. So they started asking around basically who could drive a truck, who knew how to drive a 10-speed transmission. And working for my dad growing up in construction, like I had driven a lot of those trucks. So I raised my hand and they threw me in a truck and next thing I know, I'm driving a truck north through Iraq with the invasion force towing a bridge behind me.

[00:19:33.910] - Big Rich Klein

So from intelligence to a truck driver driving a bridge.

[00:19:40.300] - Adam Arsenault

Exactly. That's pretty wild. And I mean, honestly, that was a theme throughout my career. I think it's a mindset of the Marine Corps in general, right? The Marine Corps is the smallest branch of all the services, and the mindset they instill in you in boot camp is every Marine's a rifleman first. So regardless of what your specific job is, first and foremost, you're a rifleman and every Marine, regardless of what your job is going to be, goes through exactly the same boot camp. You know, for other services, depending on what your, your particular job is going to be, you may go through a different version. Um, if you're not going to be infantry, you'll go through a shortened version of boot camp, but not the Marine Corps. So everybody goes through the exact same process, um, the exact same training to earn that title to become Marine. And then from there, you'll split off into your, your specialty schools depending on what your actual job is. The military very much, you know, teaches you, particularly the Marine Corps, to be a generalist, to kind of figure it out and to do, you know, whatever is needed to get the mission accomplished.

[00:20:39.760] - Big Rich Klein

So basically just making stuff up as you go along.

[00:20:43.530] - Adam Arsenault

Exactly. It felt very natural. It suited my upbringing very well. And so how long did you—

[00:20:53.140] - Big Rich Klein

were you a truck driver?

[00:20:55.950] - Adam Arsenault

Just for honestly a couple weeks there. Once the invasion force had reached Baghdad and the need for truck driving kind of subdued a little bit, we did a couple of supply convoys back and forth between Kuwait and Iraq, and then after that kind of went back to my regular job as intelligence because, you know, the mission changed very quickly from invasion to really peacekeeping, almost policing. You know, there's a lot of, a lot of thoughts on, on how that was handled, you know, nation-building and that sort of thing, but the mission changed very, very quickly and, and really nobody in the military was, was properly trained or equipped for, for what would come next.

[00:21:40.530] - Big Rich Klein

And how long were you in the Marine Corps?

[00:21:44.520] - Adam Arsenault

20 years. I did my 20. That was, that was 100% not the plan. You know, my original plan when I, when I, uh, I quit my, my job working for my dad, I was just gonna, I was gonna do my 4 years and get my free college and then, um, you know, figure out life after that. Um, ended up doing 5 years originally, um, because in order to get the intelligence job field, they wanted me to sign up for an additional year just because there was a lot of additional schooling. So they want to make sure they got their money's worth out of me. So I did 5 years, ended up extending actually for a 6th so that I could complete my 3rd combat deployment. After that, I had a couple of good jobs lined up. This was mid-'06. Had a couple of good civilian jobs lined up, was planning to get out, finally use that college education and it was very lucrative at that time in the defense contracting world. I mean, honestly, it still is! But I could have walked into a really nice paying job. And at that time, the Marine Corps was standing up a new unit, um, and they were recruiting people with certain skills and experience to staff that unit.

[00:22:58.420] - Adam Arsenault

Um, like as a truck driver? It was not truck driving, no. It was actually— it was the new Marine Corps component to SOCOM, Special Operations Command. So, the Marine Corps had never until 2006 contributed to SOCOM in that all the other branches basically had assigned units like Special Forces from the Army, AFSOC from the Air Force, you know, Navy Special Warfare or the Navy SEALs from the Navy, but the Marine Corps never contributed their own component to So calm. Um, it was a couple different reasons. You know, like I already said, the Marine Corps was the smallest branch, um, so they didn't have a whole lot to give in the first place. Um, the other reason is that the Marine Corps didn't like the idea of being responsible for training and equipping Marines that didn't work for the Marine Corps, because all these, these other branches, you know, if you were a Navy SEAL, you still belong to the Navy. You know, your headcount came out of the Navy budget. The Navy was responsible for your training. The Navy was responsible for your equipment and your uniforms. But you work for SOCOM, you know, you belong to SOCOM, you are assigned to SOCOM missions.

[00:24:17.300] - Adam Arsenault

Um, so the Marine Corps didn't like that idea. Um, so they pushed back on it for a real long time. Finally, um, they they acquiesced and MARSOC was born, Marine Corps Special Operations Command. So it was the first time that the Marine Corps was standing up a unit that would, you know, entirely belong to SOCOM, to special operations. So they had a very short timeline to do this, so they didn't have a whole lot of time to kind of grow that force. So they were hand-selecting people from around the Marine Corps to go and be part of the initial standup of the unit. So that really intrigued me that it was kind of a new challenge. It leveraged, you know, in my time up to that point, I'd worked with a lot of Marine Corps reconnaissance units while I was deployed. So I was already kind of familiar with the job role and the requirements. And they gave me the one thing I probably wanted the most, which was they were going to move me out to California. Up until that time, my entire career, I was on the East Coast and I— even though I deployed quite a bit, I always felt like I joined the Marine Corps to see the world and they moved me from Asheville, North Carolina to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

[00:25:36.960] - Adam Arsenault

So, I— you know, going back to my childhood, I'd always wanted to get out to California. You know, that's especially with, you know, the off-road industry, the off-road world. I felt like when I was a kid, everything was in California, you know, in, in North Carolina, especially in Asheville, you know, there was no 4 Wheel Parts store or, you know, ORW or really anything, you know, everything, you know, you look through the off-road magazines and every address of every company that manufactured anything you wanted to put on your Jeep or truck was in California. You know, when I was, I was probably '99 or 2000, there was this guy that lived in our town and he had a competition rock buggy. It wasn't a full rock body, it was still, uh, full-bodied. Um, but I remember talking to him and he was going out to, you know, New Mexico and Farmington or somewhere for, for this rock crawling competition. I was just fascinated by that.

[00:26:34.020] - Big Rich Klein

Um, do you remember his name? I don't.

[00:26:37.710] - Adam Arsenault

For the life of me, I can't remember his name, but, um, he came, he came from North Carolina. I know that he came from Asheville. And he had this super cool Jeep and he was going out to a rock crawling competition, which I'm sure is, you know, one of the events you were probably, probably hosting. Even the, you know, Four Wheeler Magazine was putting on the Top Truck Challenge at that time and actually had another friend take his truck out there. Same thing, went out to California and, and did the Top Truck Challenge. So Robert Kelly was his name. He took a, he took an old military M37 out there and did the Top Truck Challenge. But, um, so the Marine Corps was willing to send me this super cool new unit, um, and they were willing to move me out to California. And so, you know, I re-enlisted again. That was my first re-enlistment for another 4 years. And, um, after that, just, just kind of kept doing it, you know, objects in motion stay in motion, and, um, continue to sign up. And, um, you know, felt a lot of responsibility to the, to the mission, to the cause.

[00:27:40.370] - Adam Arsenault

And then always felt like, you know, when I'd come home, you know, I was leaving my, my friends and coworkers behind. So, um, always kind of had a drive to, to get back and, um, and make sure that somebody was, was picking up the slack and nobody was left, uh, left hanging.

[00:27:56.290] - Big Rich Klein

So now finding yourself on the West Coast, still with, uh, the Special Forces, um, in the Marine Corps, every time you'd come home, that was when you got involved with, uh, deeper into off-road then?

[00:28:11.540] - Adam Arsenault

Growing up as a kid, we always had four-wheel drive vehicles. Everything was four-wheel drive, more out of necessity though than necessarily recreation. Um, you know, where we lived, you know, in the wintertime, you know, we didn't get a lot of snow in North Carolina, but it would snow a couple of times during the wintertime. And if you didn't have four-wheel drive, you just you weren't going to get home that night. So, 4-wheel drive was kind of a necessity. When my dad was working construction, you know, we'd end up on a muddy job site or having to take some debris to the landfill or something. And same thing, like you had work trucks that were 4-wheel drive. So, it was more out of necessity than necessarily recreation. And since we didn't really have the luxuries of having, you know, dedicated toys, We didn't really have our own, you know, play Jeeps or play trucks. We would still go out and do events and trail rides and things, but you kind of had to be smart because, you know, that truck that you were playing around with was the same one you had to drive to work on Monday.

[00:29:09.670] - Adam Arsenault

So, didn't really have any off-road play toys until I started getting old enough to drive. I think I was 14 or 15. Um, my dad was doing some work on a house, uh, it was this massive beach house down in Kiawah Island. It's just off the coast of Charleston. And we drove by this junkyard and there was this red CJ-7 there, had no top, um, and it was painted like a rebel flag. And I don't know if it was like redneck. Yeah, I don't know if it was like my affinity for Dukes of Hazzard as a kid or what, but I was just— I was drawn to this thing and I had to have it. And I think I paid like $400 or $500 for it. It was cheap, and honestly, it wasn't even worth that. This thing was a total rust bucket. I'm pretty sure it spent its entire life on the beach just driving in salt water. Um, but my dad agreed to it. We used my mom's Suburban, drove from Asheville, North Carolina down to Charleston, towed this thing home. Actually, ended up cooking the transmission in my mom's Suburban because my dad didn't know you can't, you can't tow an overdrive with a 700 R4.

[00:30:25.520] - Adam Arsenault

So, um, it probably ended up costing us a lot more than, than the $400 or $500. We got this thing home and, uh, it— the body was, was totally rotted out, the frame was rotted out. It was just, it was junk, honestly. But, but I was super excited and, you know, I had, I had grand ideas about how I was going to rebuild it and restore it. And I had been doing a ton of research on Jeeps, and I was fascinated by this one because it had the 304 V8 with the Turbo 400 and the Quadra-Trac chain drive, full-time, you know, all-wheel drive transfer case. And so I was super fascinated, you know, had the offset rear differential of the AMC-20. There weren't a whole lot of them made, so I just thought I found this little little diamond in the rough. Um, took the whole thing apart and it never went back together. Um, so on the surface, first-time projects, yeah, pretty typical, you know. On the surface it looks like my first failed project, but the reality was the— I'm a firm believer that the best way to figure out how something goes together is to take it apart.

[00:31:30.600] - Adam Arsenault

So it was a great education for me, um, to learn more about Jeeps, you know, figure out how things worked. My dad was mechanical, but most of the time what we were working on was once again out of necessity, not necessarily out of, out of recreation or building things for fun. But he did have a lot of cool projects that I was able to gain a lot of experience on too. He, he liked driving things that were kind of unique or odd. So his work truck for the longest time was It was a military pickup. I think it was a '67 M715, which is the military version of the Jeep J30 1-ton pickup truck. And, um, it had like this crappy inline-6. I think it was like the 230, um, 6-cylinder motor. And, um, he made his own adapter and put in a small block 350. Um, did a lot of the work on it, like you know, made his own wheels just because it had really weird— I think they were like 16-inch split rims or maybe 16.5, something weird. You couldn't find tires for it, so he made his own wheels. So my dad wasn't necessarily a fabricator, but definitely entrepreneurial, definitely an inventor, and, and liked building stuff.

[00:32:49.730] - Adam Arsenault

So, um, although he'll give me a hard time for this, but it wasn't until years later that I figured out you're not supposed to grind down every weld after you're finished welding. So wait a minute, you're telling me you're not supposed to grind your welds? Exactly. Um, but no, it was, it was a good education taking that Jeep apart. So I guess that would technically be my first car. Um, but I owned 3 C7s by the time I was 18. You know, I, um, As soon as I took that thing apart and realized it was never going to go back together, I started driving. My dad had an '83 K30. It was a single cab, 8-foot bed dually, had a flatbed on it, and it had a 454 big block with, with glass packs that dumped right behind the cab. And I love driving that thing. It was, it was a beast. And my parents always knew when I was coming home for dinner because they could they could hear me coming up the hill for about an hour before I got there. So that was a lot of fun to drive. Um, I, I think I was 16 or 17, I bought my second CJ-7.

[00:34:01.190] - Adam Arsenault

It, uh, was blue, lifted on 33s, um, had the 258 6-cylinder, and shortly after I bought it developed a rear main seal leak, and that was just more than I had time or money for at the time. So cleaned that up and sold it. Bought another CJ-7, had a 304 V8, and it was just chewing through cam gears. You know, those, those AMC V8s have that issue where, you know, the cam gears just don't always align if there's any, anywhere or anything in those distributor bearings. So it was chewing through cam gears. So I did a, did a 350 small block Chevy swap on it, eventually ended up with, with Rockwells under it. Um, did Rockwells and some, some big Michelin tires. Um, that was right before I joined the Marine Corps, so that project kind of went on ice for a couple years. Ended up, uh, dragging that thing out to, out to California with me and never finished it either. So it's just a lot of unfinished products in those days, but, but bounced around a lot of different vehicles, I guess, early, early in my youth. Um, all of them being four-wheel drive though, and fairly brand agnostic.

[00:35:16.820] - Adam Arsenault

I kind of latched on the Jeeps, but, you know, for the most part, kind of, kind of played with everything.

[00:35:23.370] - Big Rich Klein

So once in Southern California, did you, did you jump right into going to KOH or Baja? What— how was the timing there?

[00:35:35.920] - Adam Arsenault

I went to Well, KOH and Baja kind of at the same time. So I moved out to California in '07, drug that Rock Rail Jeep project out with me. Couldn't afford a house in California in 2007. This was right before the crash. So I had an apartment, had nowhere to work on that Jeep. So I actually bought another Jeep. I was, we were doing some training on Coronado with Naval Special Warfare. And was driving on base, and right inside the front gate there was this yellow YJ, and it had a for sale sign on it. And, um, I saw this thing, I'm like, that's, that's my ticket, you know, because I'm in California but I've got nothing to actually go out and do any, do any trail riding or wheeling or anything with because I had an unfinished project and nowhere to work on it. So, um, it was, it was a sailor who was going through the BUD/S training, the, the Navy SEAL version of boot camp essentially, and he was about to graduate BUD/S, had, um same thing, nowhere to store the Jeep, nowhere to work on it, so he was just selling it.

[00:36:41.460] - Adam Arsenault

And it was, it was an '87 YJ, um, it was lifted, it was super tall, it had a spring over, and it was on these Skyjacker mono leafs, you know, it was like this single leaf spring, which was, which is super weird, and I don't think ever really caught on. So it's super tall, it's got 37-inch boggers that are about bald It's got an AMC 360 with a carburetor, uh, Turbo 400, Dana 300 transfer case. And, uh, I just thought this thing was perfect, man. I'm like, hey, I can put a tune-up on this thing, I can be out wheeling next week. So I bought that, uh, took it to— it's called the Auto Hobby Shop, and it's basically like an auto shop on base for service members to work on their own personal vehicles. They have loaner tools and lifts and things like that. So I take it to the Auto Hobby Shop I'm putting a tune-up on this thing, and across the other side of the service bays, I see this Toyota pickup. And this thing has no top, no doors, it's got a roll cage, and it looks like a raisin. You know, there is not a single straight panel on this truck.

[00:37:50.440] - Adam Arsenault

It's got some 37-inch TSLs on it. And I'm like, that's the guy right there that I need to talk to because he knows where to go wheeling around here. So introduced myself, we got to talking, he starts telling me about Johnson Valley, right? And I had only read about Johnson Valley in the magazines, you know, um, had no idea where it was, how to get there, where the trails were. So he said, yeah, come up to Johnson Valley with me. So we go out a couple weekends later, and he's obviously running with the Toyota crew. So same thing, all their trucks are like raisins, they've all got like triple transfer cases and they're all 4-cylinders. And I've got this yellow YJ. I am, I am definitely the black sheep of this trail run because I'm the only Jeep. And I didn't even really know that there was a, you know, kind of a rule against that, right? Not necessarily a rule, but that like, hey, Jeep guys don't run with Toyota guys, right? Because on the East Coast, I was, like I said, brand agnostic and that wasn't important. So we go out on this trail ride and this Jeep had come from Florida, and so it was an East Coast build through and through.

[00:38:59.390] - Adam Arsenault

And I didn't really know the difference because it looked normal to me, because on the East Coast, you know, everything was about horsepower, wheel spin, uh, and momentum. And that's what this thing was built for. And we start going up, I think it was Sledgehammer, and we get on the Gatekeeper, and I don't even make it off the Gatekeeper obstacle. And I, I break the steering box, rip the steering box off the frame, twist up the front driveshaft, and I'm just I'm done right there. Didn't even make it onto the first trail at Johnson Valley. Uh, wife and I spent the rest of the day riding in the back of somebody's 4Runner. It was, it was super embarrassing. But, um, what I learned through that experience was how to actually rock crawl, you know, which I hadn't really done before growing up on the East Coast. You know, we went to the Teleco before it was closed down, but like I said, everything there was momentum, wheel speed, which eventually left you know, would lead to the rock bouncer genre of off-roading. It hadn't really become a thing yet, but—

[00:39:55.750] - Big Rich Klein

And who was this?

[00:39:57.060] - Adam Arsenault

Josh Simmons was his name. He taught me how to rock crawl, running around with the Toyota guys. I learned the trails there in Johnson Valley, took my Jeep home, put fuel injection on it, lowered it, actually lowered the leaf spring lift. I got some, some 37-inch BFG Red Label crawlers, so I had some nice sticky tires., and, um, and yeah, just, just kept wheeling Johnson Valley, and that eventually led to 2009. I was deployed in 2007, 2008, so I went to Afghanistan. This is my fourth combat deployment, and that's when, like, the first official King of the Hammers race happened. So kind of followed along on Pirate while I was deployed in Afghanistan. Got home, spent the rest of the year, you know, wheeling in, uh, in Johnson Valley. And then KOH 2009 came along, the second official KOH. Went up there with my friend Josh, just as spectators, you know. And these were the days when it was still, you know, people would line up along the start on either side. It was basically like a drag race. They were leaving the line side by side. There in the middle of the lake bed, and you could still like get down in the rock canyon, you know.

[00:41:14.150] - Adam Arsenault

If a car, if a car flipped over, you know, all the spectators would swarm it and, and put it back on its wheels. So very much in the early days, very much grassroots, um, and Josh and I looked ourselves and like, man, we can do this, you know. Like, like, we know these trails, we, we know this area like the back of our hand, man, we can, we can do this. So it's kind of then we decided that, hey, we need to maybe, maybe build a rig and come race, race KOH. Um, and then later that year, um, I'd always dreamed about getting down to Baja. I had, you know, watched off-road racing as a kid, but it was just on TV. You know, there's no desert racing obviously in North Carolina, so I was watching, you know, the Baja 1000 on the Speed Vision or like ABC, Wide World of Sports, something like that. And then, um, actually in '05, I'm walking through Blockbuster Video and on the shelf there is this DVD with this trophy truck on the front of it and it said Dust to Glory. And so I rented Dust to Glory from Blockbuster, took it home, watched it, and, um, I think everybody knows the story after that.

[00:42:25.630] - Adam Arsenault

Like, you know, I'm part of the Dust to Glory generation. It, uh, it hooked me. And after I watched that, I'm like, man, I got to figure out a way to get, get down to Baja and experience the Baja 1000. So fast forward, finally got to California, uh, this is 2009, and Lance Clifford throws a post up on Pirate 4x4 looking for volunteer chase crew members to come down and support the, the Pirate 4x4 Jeep Speed in, um, in Baja that year. So I talked to Josh, I'm like, hey man, you ever been in the 1000? He'd never been either. So we both, uh, we emailed Lance, he's like, yeah, you guys are in. We loaded up Josh's truck with all of our tools. He had this, um, it was like a late '80s K30, but he had put like this supercharged 502 big block in the thing. It was probably the worst chase truck ever. It had this, you know, big blower sticking up through the hood and And, um, so we loaded up all our tools, we head down to the Baja 1000, meet up with, um, Lance Camo. Jeff Knoll was there, uh, you know, one of the co-founders of King of the Hammers, uh, Mike Schaefer.

[00:43:40.400] - Adam Arsenault

And I think that's where we just first met. I think you and Shelly were there, um, as well. So I think that's where we met for the first time. Um, that was just an incredible experience, um, through and through. Um, Lance sent us out in the middle of nowhere. At the time, I had no idea where it was. He hands us a BFG Chasebook and says, hey, read these instructions. This is how to get to this race mile. And, you know, there was no GPS, there was no satellite internet, you know, no Starlink, nothing like that. So we, uh, we used this BFG Chasebook to navigate out in the middle of nowhere. Looking back now, I was up at, uh, at Melling Ranch. And, um, we get up there, it's like a little past halfway through the race is where we were. So it was like 4— race mile 400 or 500, something like that. And we sit there all night. You know, Lance had said like, hey, just sit there, listen to the radio. You know, if we need anything— tire, whatever— we'll let you guys know. So we sat there all night, didn't hear anything on the radio.

[00:44:43.110] - Adam Arsenault

We're like asking for updates on Weatherman, trying to figure out what they're— where they're at. Uh, sun comes up, there's not a lot of race traffic coming through anymore. And, you know, we didn't really know what to do, but hey, they told us to sit here, so we sat there. And then out of the middle of nowhere, we hear them squawking on the radio. They come up over the hill, they pull up and stop next to the truck, and the, the Jeep is trashed. It's— the, the transfer case is broken in half. The front output is like hanging below it by the chain.. And, um, I think they had a couple of dead tires in the rack, so we get them all fixed up and send them on their way. And we go up to back to Ensenada where the start finish line was at. And, you know, this is where the days when the start finish ramp was not metal, it was just dirt. Right. So there's this big mound of dirt that all the, all the cars, you know, drive across when they start to finish the race. And we were so far past the cutoff time that the front end loader was there.

[00:45:42.190] - Adam Arsenault

And it was about to like scoop up the dirt, you know, to like clean off the street. It's like 1 AM in the morning, right? And so they come around the corner, they drive up on top of the— on top of the dirt ramp. And, um, I mean, you remember it, it felt like we had won the race, right? We were way past the cutoff time. It was definitely a DNF, but it was so exciting to have experienced that and accomplished it, even if we took way longer than we were supposed to, to get that car across the finish line. And, uh, I remember Jeff and Lance were like, they didn't think that we were still going to be there, um, sitting on the side of the course waiting for him. And Josh and I look at each other and we're like, well, we were there because you guys told us to be there, you know. So, um, that was incredible experience. That was my first Baja 1000, um, as, um, as a chaser, as a volunteer, um, and my first KOH, both in Both in 2009. You're right.

[00:46:40.410] - Big Rich Klein

That's where we did first meet, was at that Baja 1000. It was pretty cool. And the rest is history.

[00:46:47.840] - Adam Arsenault

Oh gosh. I mean, after that, I was hooked, right? So I was trying to figure out anything and everything I could do to get back and experience that again. I went back down the next thousand. So I went back to Afghanistan for my— my 5th combat deployment, my 2nd one to Afghanistan, at the beginning of 2010. So I missed KOH 2010, um, got back that fall, and, um, Dave Cole was running his Ultra 4 car in Class 1, the Baja 1000. So, um, kind of same group of guys, and Mike Schaefer was, was driving the first leg. So went down and, uh, and chased for Dave Cole, the Class 1 Um, we called that the Baja 100 because, uh, they made it 100 miles and, uh, the hub came apart and that was the end of the race. But, um, yeah, that hub was miles down the course.

[00:47:44.350] - Big Rich Klein

Exactly. Yeah.

[00:47:45.860] - Adam Arsenault

Yeah. So that was unfortunate, but, um, still, still a good experience, you know, met a lot of cool people. Um, I met, uh, my good friend Scott Watkins at that race. He would later go on to build, uh, my Ultra 4 car for me. And has just been a good friend and mentor over the years. And we still, we still race together. He's navigated for me a couple, couple times. But that year was the year that I was able to get into King of the Hammers 2011. I had met Jeff Knoll, you know, in at the '09 1000. And at that time, like you had to meet the criteria in order to even get a chance to race King of the Hammers. You know, they had the last chance qualifier, so if you weren't already pre-qualified in some way, you had to show up a couple days before King of the Hammers and get in at the last chance qualifier. And, um, both Dave Cole and Jeff Knoll, you know, would reserve a couple of spots for what they call the wild card teams. So I was super interested in racing in Baja, but it felt so unapproachable.

[00:48:58.230] - Adam Arsenault

It just— I mean, the race had been going on for, you know, 50 years at that point. It just, it was incredibly expensive. Um, and but I was really interested in getting involved in off-road racing, so King of the Hammers at that time seemed really approachable. I was very familiar with the terrain, with the track, with the technology at that time that was being used in, in the race cars that were being built. Um, it was only in its third year. So I decided, hey, I want to get in the racing, I want to drive myself, and the best way to do that is to race King of the Hammers. So I sent Jeff Knoll an email, kind of told my story, and his dad was a Vietnam vet, a Marine Corps Vietnam vet. And so he's like, hey, I'm gonna give you one of our wildcard spots for King of the Hammers 2011. So it's like fall of 2010, right? And I had originally planned on racing regardless. I was just going to do the last chance qualifier, but now I've got a pre-qualified spot. So absolutely, I've got to race this thing. I had been building a buggy actually while I was in Afghanistan in 2010.

[00:50:13.180] - Adam Arsenault

I bought this, this half-finished chassis off a guy off the East Coast, had it shipped to my house. While I was deployed. Came back from Afghanistan, started working on this thing. Um, story of my life, uh, could not get the race buggy done in time for King of the Hammers, but I had that trail buggy, the one that I bought off of Coronado when I first got to California, this yellow full-bodied YJ. And I'm like, hey, I'm gonna race something, you know. I'm not gonna win, but I'm gonna show up to the start line. So, uh, me and a couple of my friends, we just put our heads down and, uh, really focused on just making sure this thing was— would pass tech, just, just the safety aspect, not even worrying about trying to, to win the race. Uh, and we did that. We, um, we got my full-bodied Jeep YJ on 37s through tech and contingency. We started 97th off the start line out of 100 cars. And it's probably a really good thing that we drew a pretty late starting position because this thing was just terribly slow through the desert. I think we made it to the second rock trail.

[00:51:24.690] - Adam Arsenault

We're going up Outer Limits and just got wedged in a squeeze and just started snapping axles. And that was, that was it. That was the end of our day. But really good experience. Made a lot of friends. A lot of new stories and just kind of, you know, once again fell in love with racing, um, got hooked. It's definitely a drug, and once you get that first taste, it's, it's hard to, um, it's hard to stop. So that was my first, uh, that was my competitive debut, I guess, as a driver, was, uh, was King of the Hammers 2011.

[00:51:59.340] - Big Rich Klein

So from that point forward, what was the rest of your racing like? Did you continue racing? I know you came out to dirt, dirt ride at that point, if I remember correctly.

[00:52:10.790] - Adam Arsenault

Um, well, I raced as much as I could. Um, I raced King of the Hammers, uh, 7 times. Um, went on to actually race in Baja, which was my ultimate goal, would drive— I drove, uh, Mike Schaefer's, uh, Class 7 car 3 times, and then I drove a Jeep Speed. Um, So really just trying to race as much as possible. And then, you know, fast forward, it was— I was coming up on the end of my Marine Corps career. I, I could have stuck around longer if I wanted to, um, but you're eligible for early retirement at the 20-year mark. So I knew if I didn't leave at 20, they were going to kick me out at 30. So I figured, you know, if I'm gonna reinvent myself and start my second career, better to do it sooner rather than later. So, um, as I was getting out of the Marine Corps, um, trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, and the only thing harder than getting into the military is getting out of it. And nobody really tells you, nobody really tells you that, you know. It— and the longer you stay in, the harder it is.

[00:53:17.470] - Adam Arsenault

Um, but you miss it. Um, I, I tried really hard to keep my own identity, but but the longer you're doing it, you just inevitably become indoctrinated and it's a very— it's a very closed system. It's a very closed network. So, you know, simple things like writing a resume. I never had to do that before. So, I joined the military when I was 18, never had a resume in my entire life and now I have to go out and get a civilian job. I was lucky enough to go through a really great program called the Honor Foundation and It's a 12-week program where they kind of assist you with transition from, from the military into, you know, the civilian world, and it's focused specifically on those, on special operations veterans. So it's a great opportunity. They pair you up with a civilian career coach and they focus really on the why, you know, what's, what's your purpose? Not necessarily the how. You know, the Marine Corps sends you through like this 3-day class on how to get a job when you get out and they teach you about interview prep and resumes and things like that but the first couple weeks of the Honor Foundation focuses entirely on the why.

[00:54:27.900] - Adam Arsenault

You know, why do you do what you do? Knowing that if you choose a role in an industry that you're passionate about, you're inevitably going to be successful versus just taking a job just because you know how to do the job and it pays enough money to cover your mortgage and and then you just end up, you know, clutching a paycheck and just paying bills until you die. So, great program! They kind of opened my eyes that, you know, the sky was the limit. I think if it wasn't for that, I would have ended up in defense contracting or security intelligence, something like that because that was the momentum I had. That's where my network was. I had a security clearance and it pays really, really well. So, a lot of that was drawing me in that direction but I wasn't excited about it. You know, I wanted a job, something that I was excited to get out of bed in the morning and go do. So I started looking at motorsports. I really wanted to— to my second career to be in motorsports because that was my passion, you know. While I was still active duty, in between every single deployment, I was finding a way to race on my own or go to races or support races.

[00:55:31.250] - Adam Arsenault

So I wanted to work in the motorsports industry. I did kind of a 6-month internship, uh, with Skip Barber Racing School while I was still towards the last part of my active duty service. And then as I was getting out, literally I went down and raced the 2021 Baja 1000. I drove for Mike Schaefer in Class 7. And after that race, you know, that was the— that was a month before my official retirement. And Andy McMillan had posted on Instagram, that he was hiring for his race team. There was really no other description other than that. It just said like anybody who has experience in, you know, aerospace or motorsports, really no details on the job title or anything. And just kind of casting a wide net. And a good friend of mine is the one who actually showed me the post, cause I didn't even follow Andy McMillan on, on Instagram. So I sent Andy McMillan an email with my resume and, uh, he called me up the next day and, um, I finished up my active duty service at the very end of 2022 and went to work— I'm sorry, 2021— went to work for Andy McMillan for the 2022 race season.

[00:56:45.950] - Adam Arsenault

So was Andy's team manager for his 2022 race season. At the end of that season, he decided to take a step back from racing, so he was kind of shutting down his program. And around this time, Polaris Polaris was looking to start up their own factory race team. So they had actually hired Andy's agent to help them find a team in Southern California that would be willing to take on their program, their factory race program, and manage it for them. And the timing just kind of worked out where Andy McMillan was shutting down his, his race shop and his team, and Polaris was looking for kind of a turnkey race program. They needed a building, chase trucks, trailers, staff, you know, kind of the whole nine yards. And so at the end of 2022, we changed the name on the front door of the building from Andy McMillan to Polaris Factory Racing. It was the birth of SCI Motorsports, which is kind of the, the, the third-party vendor. You know, we're, we're a private company, but we're exclusively contracted to Polaris for their factory desert race program. So I signed on as the operations director to handle all of the race operations, logistics, strategy, things like that.

[00:58:05.410] - Adam Arsenault

We've got 4 Pro-Rs that we run in 8 races a year. We run the entire SCORE series down in, down in Baja, and then we do select races in the US, mostly in the Southwest, Kinghammers, Mint 400, Vegas to Reno, things like that. So all of our drivers are paid employees of the team. We just went out and found talented drivers to drive. The cars are all built and engineered by Polaris, so it's a true factory effort. You know, the engineers at Polaris are the ones that design the cars, and we maintain them and prep them in between races. We support all the testing. And then we take them to and from the race, handle all the pits, chasing, things like that at the events. So, been doing that since the beginning of 2023, and it's been going really well. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of work. It's very, very busy. It's a tight race schedule. In addition to just wanting to go out and having more repeatable results from their race program, it was Polaris's desire to actually develop and design a car, a race car, that would be available to the general public, which is what happened at the beginning of last year.

[00:59:21.910] - Adam Arsenault

So February 2025, the exact same car that we go out and race is now available to the general public to order. So in addition to handling the factory race program, we also handle all of the distribution for the sales of that, of that factory race car to the to the general public. So it's been super busy, but I'm really enjoying it. Definitely found something that I'm excited to, to get out of bed in the morning and go do. Yeah.

[00:59:51.190] - Big Rich Klein

So you're working with one of my, my friends over there and Austin Fish Farner with the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame as well.

[01:00:00.590] - Adam Arsenault

Yes. Yeah. So Austin Fish Farner works for us now. He's our our sales manager. So he handles, you know, if you call up and you want to order a factory race car, you know, Austin's the one that's going to pick up the phone and he handles all the, the customer service and everything, um, after the fact as well.

[01:00:18.970] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, so at the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame, we're taking over Fish Farmer's golf tournament, and that's coming up June 27th, right after this, uh, this podcast is going to air. So we're really excited about that. And, uh, looking forward to taking over that golf tournament.

[01:00:36.070] - Adam Arsenault

Yeah, I heard about that. No, that's, that's super exciting. That's, um, that's a great event. I know he was sad to see it go, but, um, I think he's got, he's got quite a bit on his plate now, so he was looking to, to free up some bandwidth.

[01:00:47.910] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, he wanted to play in it instead of organize it.

[01:00:51.210] - Adam Arsenault

You gotta, gotta avoid that, gotta avoid that conflict of interest, right?

[01:00:56.820] - Big Rich Klein

Not sure about a conflict of interest, but, uh, Golfers are known to maybe stretch the truth a little bit. It's—

[01:01:06.290] - Adam Arsenault

yeah, no, it's— I'm super blessed. It's been a wild ride. Yeah, super, super thankful for all the people that have helped me get where I am today. You know, guys like Andy McMillan, Scott McMillan, for taking a chance on me and getting my foot in the door in the industry post-career. All the guys, you know, Mike Schaefer for letting me drive his race car in Baja and getting foot in the door as a driver. And, you know, Scott Watkins for building my first Ultra 4 chassis and getting the opportunity to get out there and race. And hopefully my story is just an inspiration to other people that, you know, you keep your head down and keep pushing forward and don't get frustrated by failures. You know, I've DNF'd a lot of King of the Hammers, and there were a lot of times that I was just ready to kind of hang it up. But you got to stick with it. It'll turn around for you and, and focus on, you know, the why, you know, what's, what's the purpose. And when I got involved with racing, it's because I wanted to be the guy standing on the roof at the finish line spraying champagne.

[01:02:11.340] - Adam Arsenault

And don't get me wrong, I still very much like that idea. But in between races, when I was deployed, I realized that it, it wasn't necessarily the driving that I missed most. It was the people that I got to go to the races with. That's what I, that's what I really missed, was, uh, the friends and family that come to the races and that you experience those challenges with together. That's what I miss. So that's, that's my goal now, is just to not only to continue to experience that on my own, but to hopefully help facilitate it for, for other people as well.

[01:02:40.710] - Big Rich Klein

And it's, it's good that you're getting out, and, uh, and I'm, I'm proud that you're you're really moving on.

[01:02:49.740] - Adam Arsenault

Well, thanks, Rich. I mean, you had a hand in that as well. You know, I cut my teeth after that first King of the Hammers race in 2011. You know, I realized that my Jeep was not an Ultra4 Jeep, but that's right when you were kicking off the Dirt Riot series and I raced the rest of that season with you in the Dirt Riot series. So thank you for putting on events like that and giving people like me, you know, the grassroots racer, an opportunity to experience the sport in an affordable way.

[01:03:16.160] - Big Rich Klein

And that's exactly why we built Dirt Riot, was to give everybody a training ground on how to complete races, how to race, how to do pits, all that kind of stuff. And you've taken it to the next level.

[01:03:28.810] - Adam Arsenault

Well, thanks, Rich. It was, it was an honor. And thank you for putting on this podcast and just capturing people's stories and sharing them. You know, that's— I think that's super important that at the end of our day, all we're going to have is our stories and experiences, regardless of where we were, what we did. So thank you for, for capturing that and sharing sharing that with the world.

[01:03:48.790] - Big Rich Klein

Being able to pivot in life is really important to, uh, to be successful. And taking the things that you've learned over the years and applying them to those pivots are very, very, very important. And I hope more people will take advantage of those kind of opportunities and take a look at what they're doing.

[01:04:08.980] - Adam Arsenault

Absolutely. You got to be, uh, you got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, you know. Nobody's, uh, You're not going to move forward if you're stuck in a rut. You're going to keep going the same direction. So don't be afraid to challenge yourself and try something new and take a chance.

[01:04:22.870] - Big Rich Klein

Well, maybe when we're in San Diego this coming weekend, we can stop by and get a tour of the race facility and look at what you're doing. It'd be fun to take a look and see where you've gone.

[01:04:35.160] - Adam Arsenault

Yeah, absolutely. I would love that. Stop by and we'll give you a tour.

[01:04:38.690] - Big Rich Klein

That's a deal. I'm going to make that happen for sure. Can't wait to see you again. Thanks, Rich. Bye. Well, I look forward to it, Adam. I want to say thank you so much for spending the time and being on the podcast, and I look forward to seeing you. Thank you. 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.