Jake Welk with LeMay - America's Car Museum

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the public affair show ofyour favorite iHeartRadio station right here in Seattle,
Limeley Callahan and one of our favoritelocal museums is doing some great work.
Besides showing off all the core vetsthat are down there, I've got
Jake Welk, marketing director for leMay America's Car Museum in Tacoma. Haylee,

(00:20):
how you doing. I'm really good. You know what I love about
you guys, besides what a beautifulmuseum that is and how cool it is
just even driving by, I mean, it's just remarkable. Is Yeah.
What how invested you guys are inyour local community. Yeah, you know,
we we spend a lot of time, you know, especially around the

(00:40):
holiday season and throughout the rest ofthe year too, just trying to focus
our efforts on supporting the local communityand being more than just a museum really,
and so we're looking for any opportunitieswe can to partner with other organizations
and look for ways that we can, you know, pitch in and help.
And so we are doing that withtwo different organizations this holiday season specifically.

(01:03):
Yeah, and being a Navy bratt, I really appreciate that you're helping
out the families at JBLM because enlistedpeople don't make a lot of dough and
this is very very important to getpresents into the hands of kids for parents
who just can't afford it. Sowhat you're doing is asking folks to come
down to the museum bring I'm assuminga brand new present in its package,

(01:30):
and that's going to go to Santa'sCastle at JBLM. Tell us more about
that, yeah, exactly. Sobasically you're right, it doesn't have to
be wrapped, but we are lookingfor for your support if you come down
to the museum and bring a donateditem in the form of a toy,
a book, a game, ora stocking stuffer. We have a promotion

(01:55):
going on right now that helps supportSanta's Castle out at JBLM, and we
call that Toys for the Troops.And as you mentioned, Lee, you
know, the holiday season can betough, especially for military families that are
facing financial hardships, especially in thiseconomy, as we all know, is
tough, and so all of thesedonations end up going to JBLM and they

(02:15):
distribute those two families to have themunder the tree, the Christmas tree before
Christmas for the kids, which isgreat. So you get two dollars off
your admission or fifteen percent off ofmembership by by supporting that and bringing down
a donation for JBLM. Yep,And that is helpful in so many ways.
So the people come into the doorwith the presents. It's fun to

(02:36):
shop for kids. So if youdon't have any kids, ego shopping.
And then when you get to thedoor and you're bringing all your relatives around
over the holidays to do something withthe you know, with your family,
you take them down to the LeMayMuseum. Just what you do, yes,
exactly. Then you get two dollarsoff everybody's membership. Who brings a
president. That's very cool. Anotherthing I want to say about military folks

(03:00):
is that they're moving all the time. You know, like every year year
and a half, they get theyget moved around the country. It's the
old thing that they've been doing inthe military forever. And what some folks
don't realize is that they may bemoving from parts of the country or the
world where it's less expensive, andthen they move up here to the greater

(03:20):
Seattle Tacoma area and everything costs somuch, and then they're right right Yep,
they're hit once again. That's ashock, you know, for sure.
Yeah, and that is one thingtoo about the military specifically at the
museum. Outside of this promotion thatwe do during this time of the year,
we do offer daily discounts on membershipand museum admission for the military as

(03:46):
well. And you mentioned people aremoving here all the time, and you
know, the museum is a greatplace for families and for those that are
stationed. You know, you canget a discount on a membership and have
a nice place to spend time withyour family while you're stationed here. You
know, hey, before I talkabout the Corvette experience happening down there,
it looks quite beautiful. Is therestuff for kids to do while they're at

(04:06):
the museum? Can they go overand draw or learn or do you have
little places set up for them?Yeah? Yeah, we have a whole
kid center family zone down on thelower level of the museum. There is
drawing, there's a pinewood derby cartrack, there's some other cool kind of
touch touch points chassis and engine andstuff like that, which is great and

(04:29):
it's fun. You know, thekids really enjoy it. We have a
speed zone we call it as wellwith a slot car track and simulator racing
simulators so you can actually get behindthe wheel and race like virtually like on
a real track, you know.So yeah, we've got a lot of
great like family and kid oriented activitiesfor sure. Oh my god, that's
beautiful. What a fun day fora whole family, especially you know,

(04:53):
military kids and now all kinds ofkids in their family. So remember if
you're going to go down there,grab a present for a kid, the
stocking stuffer book and come on down. Get two dollars off everybody's admission.
Who gives I've got Jake Welk,marketing director for le Maay America's Car Museum
in Tacoma. Now, the LeMayfamily, is it related to the le

(05:15):
May family still? Yeah? Correct, Nancy LeMay, who's Harold's wife,
she's still on our board of directorsas well as Doug LeMay and they're heavily
involved. So yeah, we're veryappreciative of them and long time involved in
helping out the community down around Tacomafor a long time. Very cool,
yes, absolutely, yeah, hugehuge family ties in this community for sure,

(05:38):
for a long time. Yeah.So LeMay America's Car Museum. Jake
Welk is on the phone, andyou also are doing a food drive.
Is it the same principle, bringit, bring down? Correct? Okay,
I'm gonna let you go. Yep, same principle. Yeah. Very
similar to the Toys for the Troopswith Santas Castle, this one is with

(05:58):
Northwest Harvest and they're looking at,you know, supporting basically the entire state
for those who are in need ofa food source, especially around the holiday
season when that can be tough attimes. And so again like Toys for
the Troops, you get two dollarsoff your mission are fifteen percent off of
a membership if you bring down anon perishable food item that you're willing to

(06:18):
donate to Northwest Harvest and for thetoys and the food, you just simply
walk in the main lobby welcome hallarea and we have a vehicle set up
in the in the lobby where we'recollecting the donations at and our guest services
team right there in the front canhelp you out. So it's great.
Are you ready to talk about carsnow? I'm ready. That's what I

(06:41):
love doing that. Do you justlove cars? I mean? Is that?
What is that? What made youhead over there in the first place.
I know you're a marketing guy,but you're like, I'm going to
marketone. I'm gonna market cars,you know it is. I feel very
lucky that I get the opportunity tobe in marketing in field, specifically within
the automotive industry. I think it'sreally special. It's a special community,

(07:04):
and you know, like you said, it's really exciting, and you know,
being involved every day with the vehiclesis really a cool thing. So
yeah, it's great. I mean, I would say that I think that
I've always always been a car guy, but I think it definitely came out
more and me being here. Youknow, it's grown, the passion has
grown over time. So that's cool. Now do you guys, are you

(07:28):
like a regular museum where you likeswitch around your your exhibits and stuff that
it's not like it stays the sameold cars all the time. No.
Yeah, we we switch things aroundall the time, and we have major
exhibit changeovers several times a year.And actually, when it comes down to
like specific cars, we're changing thingsup almost on a near daily basis as

(07:48):
far as where things are positioned located. We're changing stuff around the museum all
the time. And we actually justbrought an exhibit in in October, our
newest, big, big exhibit,And you had mentioned it earlier that the
Corvette. Yeah, and that's goingto be here till March. So that's
kind of an example of like abig change. You know, who makes

(08:09):
the Corvette Chevrolet? Okay, Iknew that. I just got confused all
of a sudden because I looked atthe Corvette and they don't have a Chevy
emblem on it. Yeah, veryspecially. Yeah, they've kind of got
their own the iconic kind of Chevylogo, you know. Yeah, or
excuse me, the Corvette thing,you know, go and the stingray.
Yeah, you know, anyway,the Corvette, it's been around a long
time. Any interesting facts, butyou know about the birth of the Corvette,

(08:33):
what Chevy was thinking? Yeah,sure, So you know, this
year is actually the seventieth anniversary ofCorvette, so we're celebrating kind of a
milestone of the birth of what hasreally become kind of an iconic symbol of
the sports car in America. Youknow, it's it's kind of been around
and consistent for a long time andbeen a staple. You know in the

(08:56):
world of you know, sports carsand roadsters. So yeah, you know,
I would say that this exhibit reallyjust kind of pays homage to the
history and progression, and we're kindof the twist on the exhibit is sort
of the creativity and the canvas aspectof it, in the sense that you
know, throughout seventy years there's beenso many different modifications and corvettes that have

(09:18):
raced and you know, the ownersthat have done wacky things with them.
So we have some really pretty,you know, spectacular cars in that exhibit,
you know, kind of one offs, and you know, we've got
a nineteen sixty Corvette from the SeattleWorld Fair. They showed off, you
know, when when Corvette was stillkind of getting going and you know,

(09:41):
they were competing with Ford and someof these other companies that were creating you
know, these sports cars, andso you know, showing it off at
the at the World Fair was kindof this big moment where they're like,
hey, look at us. Youknow, look what we've created. So
wow, that's great. Okay,are you ready for a non car person
question. Let's do it, Likehow big is that engine? Are these

(10:01):
V eights? I mean, howfast are these things? So are you
talking specifically with the Corvette. Yeah, yeah, So the Corvette, there's
there's V six is n V eight. You know, the V eight has
kind of been a staple for along time, but the V six now
that the cars are becoming more oflike a mid engine they call them,
they're getting a little bit smaller,but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're less

(10:24):
powerful. So it's kind of justthe way that they've positioned the engine in
the car. Yeah. I alwaysfind it amazing when a smaller car is
a V eight. It's like,how does it even stay on it?
Yeah? Yeah, it's a lotof power for a small car, you
know, and the and the enginein the Corvettes evolve over time obviously,
you know, seventy years worth oftechnology. That's a lot of changes that

(10:46):
they've made and progressed. So youknow, there's a Yeah, so they
exhibit in general, there's a lotof great things to see, you know,
for sure. Jake Welk, marketingdirector for le May America's Car Museum
in Tacoma. I'm gonna talk rightnow to the listening audience. Jake,
get down there over the holidays andbring either a toy for JBLM kids or

(11:09):
a book or for Northwest harvest.Bring some food products and what's the best
thing to bring if you're coming downthere, Like, are you looking for
canned foods? What's the best thing? Yeah, I mean anything like that
that's kind of a non parishpool andfood boxed food, you know, any
pasta or any kind of stuff likethat is really great for sure, And

(11:31):
you'll get two dollars off your entryfeef. I guess for everyone who brings
an item, is that right correct? Okay? And so bring your family
who have not seen LeMay America's Museum. It's a spectacular place right down in
beloved Tacoma. I want to thankyou Jake so much for coming on talking
cars with a non car person,but talking about stuff I love, like

(11:52):
helping out our local military and ourneighbors in need, and you know,
La May America's Car Museum is doingjust that. I appreciate it. Yeah,
thank you, Lee. It wasreally a pleasure talking to you,
and I appreciate the opportunity to beon there with you today. You bet