July 30, 2025 • 21 mins
On today's Work Western Podcast, jKevin and Jed talk with The King of Rodeo in the Carolinas, J.R. Drake. We'll talk about his long history in the rodeo business, hot rods, monster trucks, and a whole lot more.
At 74 years old, J.R. Drake continues to be a driving force in the "Work Western" lifestyle, seamlessly blending his passions for rodeos, hot rods, and more. His entrepreneurial spirit, faith-based values, and relentless pursuit of excellence have made him a legend in the Carolinas and beyond. As he looks to the future, Drake's story serves as an inspiring example of how to turn one's diverse interests and talents into a fulfilling and impactful career.
Join us as we discuss:
- J.R. Drake's diverse career spanning rodeos, hot rods, monster trucks, and more
- The origins and evolution of his passion for the "work Western" lifestyle
- The unique family-friendly atmosphere and high-quality production of his rodeo events
- Drake's entrepreneurial spirit and unwavering belief in his ability to succeed in any endeavor
- Drake's unwavering commitment to providing a family-friendly, faith-based atmosphere at his rodeo events, even turning down lucrative beer sponsorships
- His pioneering role in the early days of the monster truck industry, helping to establish some of the most iconic vehicles and events
- The enduring appeal of classic hot rods and the unique stories behind Drake's prized collection
Look for our story on J.R. at www.carolinainourminds.com, coming this week!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Howdy, folks. Work Western podcast here, and we're talking about all those work Western lifestyle things that you love totalk about. And there's nothing more Western than a good rodeo. And we have the king of rodeos in the Carolinas, thisguy J. R. Drake. Many of you have seen his signs around all over the place, J. R.'s Pro Rodeo. And we're going to have J.R. Drake in the studio today. We're going to be talking to him, but not just about rodeo stuff, Jed. This is a unique fellow.We're going to talk about TV, we're going to talk about hot rods, and we're going to talk about monster trucks. We're goingto talk about any number of things that he has been instrumental in the creation of, the promotion of for years and yearsand years now.
(00:52):
And we're going to talk about radio. And we're going to talk about the Indianapolis 500. First time on this podcast, 1938.Yep. Yep. Awesome. So, yeah, man, we got J. R. Drake. J. R. Drake, man, how you doing, bro? I'm doing wonderful.Well, you look great. And we just came back from your shop and saw, if we pull up, there's these three really, really coolhot rods that you walk up on that are just awesome. He's going to give us a little bit of history on them. But then you walkinto the shop. Yep. And tell me about that thing. There's the hot rod, I'm going to let J. R. tell us about it because this isthe one, you said it's the most popular hot rod in the world?
(01:29):
Yes, yes. 1932 Ford Prison Bus, big block, 427, 1,500 horsepower, supercharged. It's probably one of the most popular hotrods in the world. And that's been on TV, correct? Been on Rebel Road. It's thousands and thousands of views on TikTokand all. It's one of the most popular deals you ever see. How did it come to be sitting in your shop? And we had no ideathat it was an old prison bus. And we started sanding it down, and I put some clear coating on it. And on the back door, itpulled out NC Prison Bus. And I thought, what does that mean? And we looked at it, and it said NC Prison Bus. And thatwas on the back door. And I went and cleared over it now.
(02:26):
And so that's on the back door of that bus. So it had a lot of stuff in it. And I'm thinking, a bus don't usually have this. So,you know, I chopped the top and all that at top's way down. Right. And windshield about five inches. But, anyhow, I tookit into a show some words, and the people just went nuts. I sell thousands and thousands of t-shirts off of it. I'm sure. Andyou've got, uh, it's got the original seats and that we looked at it earlier. It's got all that original stuff. Yeah. And you sayyou take it, you actually take it out on the road and get three miles to the gallon. You said, yeah, whenever they came inand did the, uh, uh, TV show, I got together with the guy; he said, uh, let's go to lunch.
(03:13):
All there was about eight of us. Yeah. I said, just hop in the bus. So we went to Iron Thunders in Hickory and ate lunch inthe bus. And they said, we ain't never done nothing like this. Oh man. You have a nine-person count me. I believe it was.And you could hit that thing, and it just rings you back in your seat. Holy cow. I, you know, I'm not, I'm not going to askyou how, how fast you've had that thing running before, but I imagine it will do a lot. Yeah. It's scary. But, uh, I've gotseveral cars and they, they're really, uh, than anybody else has. You know, I got the 1932 Roadster was built for Hot RodMagazine in 1980. Got it.
(04:01):
And in one of the slickest 40 sedan deliveries that you'll ever see. And then my Hudson, a 1938 Hudson, that we, it was the only time Hudson ever was invited to have a pace car was 1938 Hudson. That's the one. That's it. We took it to Indianapolis, and they were 355 pace cars there. This was a highlight of all. They wanted to buy it. They offered me a lot of money for it, but we didn't sell it. So how did you get into Hot Rods? Well, and when, uh, when I was like 14 years old,I was either building cars or riding bucket horses, building cars, riding boats. And I, it went on up in my life. Yeah. And so go ahead. Yeah.
(04:53):
And, uh, so I rode horses for a long time and I started messing with some bulls and got hurt real bad. And then when I was 26 years old, I'm thinking, what in the world am I going to do? You know, uh, got a broke neck. Legs been broke, arms been broke. What am I going to do? So I decided one day, I told my wife, I said, you know, I think I want to try todo a rodeo. And, uh, she's at a rodeo, and I said, yeah. And as a lot of people remember, JR's Western Wire store was inCatawba Mall in Hickory. And uh, I went in. Put the rodeo on, got the man's land, put the rodeo on, nice place. So how do you even? Do that.
(05:42):
I see what you do. I see what you do now with the rodeo, but obviously you, you, you're riding horses. You were riding bulls, which, you know, anybody, I know we used to have a guy that, that, that worked with us and he rode bulls for forever. And, you know, you gotta be, you're a little bit crazy. If you ever get on bull and go, go ride, you'd be kicked in the head a couple of times, but, but how do you, how do you just decide and go about starting? Hey, I'm going to do a rodeo. That's exactly the way I'd done it. Just like you just said, I'm going to do a rodeo. And so I went and did a rodeo.And Friday night, we had a packed house over in Vail, North Carolina, J.R.'s Ranch. And at that time, it was not JR Ranch; it was just a ground that I had rodeo on. We had so many people that I went to the gate. And at that time, the ticket was $10 a person, five for kids. And I said, 'How much money have I made?'They said, 'Well, look, we counted up; you got $2,700 here.' I said, 'Do what? All them people owe $2,700?' And I said, 'Where did all these people come from? Did they all pay?' She said, no, your wife, Edith, came up here and said she knows everybody. She just let them in. I said, whoa, that ain't the way it works. And so I went to her, and I'd been there on Saturday night.
(07:04):
You don't even go to the front gate. You stay in the barn or everywhere. You do not go to that front gate. And we had a packed house and went up there, and it was a very good hit. And so she learned real quick, stay away from the front gate.So that was my first rodeo. So I go to the guy that had the property, and I said, you'll sell this property? And he said, yeah.And he told me how much. And I said, I'll take it. And I bought it, and I built one of the nicest arenas around.And we had, if you ever remembered the Monster Trucks. Oh, yeah. I am the founder of Monster Trucks. Now, hold on a second.What do you mean you're the founder of Monster Trucks? I started a Monster Truck racing. Really? In 1982, Gary Porter and Dennis Anderson was the first side-by-side race ever put on in the USA. Really? Which, for the people listening, which two trucks were those? Gravedigger and Carolina Crusher. Okay. Two of the original ones. Everybody thinks of three. Those two and Bigfoot are the big three. Bigfoot was a guy who was showing how tall tires could be. He was not a racer. These guys were mudboggers. Gravedigger was a1953 Ford panel truck. And then after he got big, he went to the Chevrolet. I had a mud bog pit, and I said, them boys got big old tires on them trucks. I said, you know what would be fun? Go down the end of the track, put a couple old cars there, because they just started jumping a couple of humps.
(08:48):
And I went and got three old junk cars on each side, and on Saturday night, we done a runoff between Gravedigger and Carolina Crusher, which Gravedigger blew them out. Yeah. I'm going to tell you a little bit about Kevin's history. Yeah.went to school at a place where one day a year they set aside for mud bogging. He's about to get up and go, yeah, all right; he wants to go right now, yeah. But I had some... uh, I mean, I had some 1. 2 seconds and 125 feet-holy gosh! The pedal tires! Let me tell you, I've had it all, guys. This old man, we've done a lot in my life. Thank God. So were you doing that at the same time? Is this the same place you were doing the rodeo at?
(09:37):
I went out there and dug a hole in the middle of my arena. I'd done a rodeo. I'd done a mud bog. I'd done a tractor pull. I had the all-pro machine. It would come in there with the three engines on it, and it was bad to the bone. And this is what year is all this starting? 1979. And in 1982, I got pictured on my phone where me and Gary Porter and Dennis Anderson was sitting at my ranch. The first monster truck race ever put on the USA. I heard so many people say, oh, I started Monster Truck. I'd hate to bust their bubble, but this old man sitting right here, we're talking to the guy right here. Yep.
And you look at the videos and Gary, uh, Dennis Anderson, he said right here, the man put on one of the top shows. I won a lot of money from Jr., yeah. He said, he said he does some bad stuff. So you're doing monster truck, you're doing tractor pulls, you're doing rodeos. So all this is going on. How did you kind of evolve into being the pro rodeo guy? I mean, we're 45 years down the road, and you're putting on rodeos all over the place. How does that transition happen?Well, it's pretty tough. At one time, I was doing 27 shows a year. Goodness. Radio shows, monster trucks, and tractor pulls – and all over the country (10:20):
Tennessee, Asheville, Charlotte... uh, Metrolina motor speedway...
(11:16):
I've done them there; I did monster trucks there, and uh, I don't know. I just always had this go-get-it deal. And it's 74years old today. Of course, my voice sounds a little different right now – I got beat up over the weekend at Rodeo. So, you know, in all these years, I've been the best. I've been the best. And everybody that knows JR's Rodeo, I won MonsterTruck of the Year. I won Rodeo of the Year, Tractor Pull of the Year. I won it all. And because when I do it, I put my heart into it. One of the things that's most interesting to me about your rodeos, and we've talked before, you know, not on thea ir, is the family atmosphere. Oh, yeah. That's part of what keeps it going, right?
(12:08):
Oh, yeah. People like Harrison's. Yeah. It helped keep me going. What, have y'all been with me two years now? Yeah, a couple years. But great sponsors, but to get those great sponsors, you've got to do good things for those sponsors, because if you don't, you don't go back and get them, you know, but sponsors make the great rodeos. As you said a while ago, when you ride around any town that I do my radios in, 25, 30 mile range, you'll see JR's Radio. You listen to a lot of the radio. You listen to JR's Radio. I do Advertiser Radio. And we have the best of the best. Yeah, I've been able to come to one that we were sponsoring. And, of course, our team in our – well, several of our stores now have been a part of it.
(13:05):
But I was struck by that the first night of, man, this is a – Number one, you knew, okay, this is a legitimate. Big rodeo.You see some that pop up just out of the blue, and it's like three cousins and their friends, and they come out and ride horses. I mean, it's put on well. There's legitimate. We talk about wannabe cowboys and wannabe cowgirls, and they’re like real cowboys. You got the real deal there. They're out getting it done. But then it marries, which sometimes these things don't marry well. It marries very, very closely to the family atmosphere. You know, you've got the mutton busting, you know, the kids out there riding on the sheep and that kind of thing. And you've got, you see a lot of families there.
(13:55):
And, you know, it's a wholesome atmosphere. But it's a great time. I mean, when the action starts, it's not watered down.It's great action. How have you been able to marry those things together, which oftentimes don't marry, they don't end up married together? I guess my thing, what I'd say, I just have so much faith in what I do. I believe that I can do anything.Build hot rods. I can build houses. There's nothing I don't believe that I can't do. But I have a lot of faith and believe that I can do it, and that's reason in my life, in my career-74 years old, I can go down in history as the number one man. And so that's where I stand at my shows because we have family entertainment.
(14:54):
We ask the families to come. We take care of the kids. And we just, we do not serve alcohol in our rodeo. I had a lot of beer companies used to pay me a lot of money. And uh, it went like if you put your hand right here in the middle of each other and you sold beer, you'd be right here. But you didn't sell beer, you'd be right here. Yeah. And so you're talking 50%of verses of 85 to 90. And it's gotten now people don't ask, do you sell beer? No, we don't. Because we want you to bring your kids. And have a good time, clean time, and good food, and a good rodeo. Well, it has been – that is definitely something you see come to our rodeo is there's a bunch of kids walking around.
(15:47):
Nobody's worried about any kind of fights or stuff breaking out or any kind of the shenanigans that sometimes go along with some of the other stuff. And so it's been pretty cool to see that play out. So let's talk about the history of a couple of these hot rods that you've got. You were giving us a little bit of history of that. So if you could only pick one, and you hadn't. It's going to be hard. It'd be like getting rid of your kids. But if you could only keep one of your hot rods, which one would it be and why? Yeah, that's a hard question he's shaking his head over there, and Kevin, you ain't seen them all, yeah I got more but uh Wow. It would probably be the bus.
(16:32):
Because that bus has done that bus has put me up on top Michael Ballard at Full Throttle Saloon is trying to buy it now from me in Sturgis. Yeah. He wants to put it in his museum. And. I don't want to sell the bus to be out here for everybody.I want to buy it and own it and do this, do that. If I sold it to Michael, as I said, I'm 74. So if I sold it to Michael Ballard, it would be on display for years and years, and it wouldn't go nowhere. But let thousands and millions of people see it. But it would probably be the bus yet. I want to ask about that 40 Ford. Wildly popular, that one. That model in particular.
(17:22):
Tell us about some of the things that have been done to that ’40 Ford that make it so special. Well, it's been taking shape. I’ve done the frame on it, done the whole car. And, you know, it was off the frame. I built a frame for it. At first, I put air rods on it, and I didn't like the way they rode, so I came back in and put coil overs on it. And I got it where I want it now. Take it off today and hit California! Alligator, alligator... interior in places with full wood panels in the back. Yeah, it's a cool machine, and it's all steel, no fiberglass-it's all steel. And, uh, so that's, that's that. It would actually be between the bus and that 40.We're going to include some pictures in the show notes and the comments where you'll be able to see them. But, uh, imagine the best-looking beach wagon you've ever seen. And that's what that 40 looks like. It's awesome. Absolutely. You know, and I was surprised whenever he said, 'I need to clean them up a little bit.' And I was like, 'It's the clever.' I've never had a car that clean before. You can see yourself in the chrome already. Yeah. Wiping down a little bit, yes. So, like you said, you're 74 years old. You're still running. How many rodeos a year are you putting on? Twelve. Twelve rodeos a year you put on. You've got your hot rods. You've got all this stuff going on. So, what does the future look like for old JR?
(18:55):
Well, I'm just going to keep rodeoing. Keep rodeoing. Until my toes are turned up. Yep. God's got a plan. He has a plan for me, and I think one of his plans is that people come. I have so, so many people come, and they said, J. R., thank you for bringing God in this rodeo. Many times I get people come and say, J. R., you don't remember me, but I used to come to the monster truck shows at your ranch and say, 'this is my daughter or my son.' Can we get a picture with you? A thousand handicapped kids. Trust me, I got a heart for those. And, you know, we We work hard at our rodeos. I'm a one-man operation. I do it all.
(19:46):
And, uh, but, uh, I don't have much free time, but I just keep running. Well, you keep running and you're doing a, doing a great job at it. And we're, we're, we're happy to partner with you and just, just being a little piece of that. And we will inside the show notes, we'll put all your information and everything, how they can get in touch with you and, and where they can get tickets to the next several rodeos. Yeah. There's, there's several rodeos coming up. We've, um, you know, that we're, we're a part of, but we're going to, we're going to talk about, we're going to talk, talk more about that later. And, um, but we'll, we'll put all your information in there and hopefully be able to get some more people out to the rodeo and expect, because it's a, it's a legit deal and you do a great job with it.
(20:28):
And, um, and J. R., we just appreciate you coming on and, and on this work Western podcast. That's what we're trying to bring you is just some of these unique stories that, that, that are in that lifestyle that we all like to live, that where we’re working, but then we're out, we're out having a good time as well. So you can have a good time. So thank you for being here with us. And until next time, guys, keep that work Western lifestyle rolling.
Howdy, folks. Work Western podcast here, and we're talking about all those work Western lifestyle things that you love totalk about. And there's nothing more Western than a good rodeo. And we have the king of rodeos in the Carolinas, thisguy J. R. Drake. Many of you have seen his signs around all over the place, J. R.'s Pro Rodeo. And we're going to have J.R. Drake in the studio today. We're going to be talking to him, but not just about rodeo stuff, Jed. This is a unique fellow.We're going to talk about TV, we're going to talk about hot rods, and we're going to talk about monster trucks. We're goingto talk about any number of things that he has been instrumental in the creation of, the promotion of for years and yearsand years now.
(00:52):
And we're going to talk about radio. And we're going to talk about the Indianapolis 500. First time on this podcast, 1938.Yep. Yep. Awesome. So, yeah, man, we got J. R. Drake. J. R. Drake, man, how you doing, bro? I'm doing wonderful.Well, you look great. And we just came back from your shop and saw, if we pull up, there's these three really, really coolhot rods that you walk up on that are just awesome. He's going to give us a little bit of history on them. But then you walkinto the shop. Yep. And tell me about that thing. There's the hot rod, I'm going to let J. R. tell us about it because this isthe one, you said it's the most popular hot rod in the world?
(01:29):
Yes, yes. 1932 Ford Prison Bus, big block, 427, 1,500 horsepower, supercharged. It's probably one of the most popular hotrods in the world. And that's been on TV, correct? Been on Rebel Road. It's thousands and thousands of views on TikTokand all. It's one of the most popular deals you ever see. How did it come to be sitting in your shop? And we had no ideathat it was an old prison bus. And we started sanding it down, and I put some clear coating on it. And on the back door, itpulled out NC Prison Bus. And I thought, what does that mean? And we looked at it, and it said NC Prison Bus. And thatwas on the back door. And I went and cleared over it now.
(02:26):
And so that's on the back door of that bus. So it had a lot of stuff in it. And I'm thinking, a bus don't usually have this. So,you know, I chopped the top and all that at top's way down. Right. And windshield about five inches. But, anyhow, I tookit into a show some words, and the people just went nuts. I sell thousands and thousands of t-shirts off of it. I'm sure. Andyou've got, uh, it's got the original seats and that we looked at it earlier. It's got all that original stuff. Yeah. And you sayyou take it, you actually take it out on the road and get three miles to the gallon. You said, yeah, whenever they came inand did the, uh, uh, TV show, I got together with the guy; he said, uh, let's go to lunch.
(03:13):
All there was about eight of us. Yeah. I said, just hop in the bus. So we went to Iron Thunders in Hickory and ate lunch inthe bus. And they said, we ain't never done nothing like this. Oh man. You have a nine-person count me. I believe it was.And you could hit that thing, and it just rings you back in your seat. Holy cow. I, you know, I'm not, I'm not going to askyou how, how fast you've had that thing running before, but I imagine it will do a lot. Yeah. It's scary. But, uh, I've gotseveral cars and they, they're really, uh, than anybody else has. You know, I got the 1932 Roadster was built for Hot RodMagazine in 1980. Got it.
(04:01):
And in one of the slickest 40 sedan deliveries that you'll ever see. And then my Hudson, a 1938 Hudson, that we, it was the only time Hudson ever was invited to have a pace car was 1938 Hudson. That's the one. That's it. We took it to Indianapolis, and they were 355 pace cars there. This was a highlight of all. They wanted to buy it. They offered me a lot of money for it, but we didn't sell it. So how did you get into Hot Rods? Well, and when, uh, when I was like 14 years old,I was either building cars or riding bucket horses, building cars, riding boats. And I, it went on up in my life. Yeah. And so go ahead. Yeah.
(04:53):
And, uh, so I rode horses for a long time and I started messing with some bulls and got hurt real bad. And then when I was 26 years old, I'm thinking, what in the world am I going to do? You know, uh, got a broke neck. Legs been broke, arms been broke. What am I going to do? So I decided one day, I told my wife, I said, you know, I think I want to try todo a rodeo. And, uh, she's at a rodeo, and I said, yeah. And as a lot of people remember, JR's Western Wire store was inCatawba Mall in Hickory. And uh, I went in. Put the rodeo on, got the man's land, put the rodeo on, nice place. So how do you even? Do that.
(05:42):
I see what you do. I see what you do now with the rodeo, but obviously you, you, you're riding horses. You were riding bulls, which, you know, anybody, I know we used to have a guy that, that, that worked with us and he rode bulls for forever. And, you know, you gotta be, you're a little bit crazy. If you ever get on bull and go, go ride, you'd be kicked in the head a couple of times, but, but how do you, how do you just decide and go about starting? Hey, I'm going to do a rodeo. That's exactly the way I'd done it. Just like you just said, I'm going to do a rodeo. And so I went and did a rodeo.And Friday night, we had a packed house over in Vail, North Carolina, J.R.'s Ranch. And at that time, it was not JR Ranch; it was just a ground that I had rodeo on. We had so many people that I went to the gate. And at that time, the ticket was $10 a person, five for kids. And I said, 'How much money have I made?'They said, 'Well, look, we counted up; you got $2,700 here.' I said, 'Do what? All them people owe $2,700?' And I said, 'Where did all these people come from? Did they all pay?' She said, no, your wife, Edith, came up here and said she knows everybody. She just let them in. I said, whoa, that ain't the way it works. And so I went to her, and I'd been there on Saturday night.
(07:04):
You don't even go to the front gate. You stay in the barn or everywhere. You do not go to that front gate. And we had a packed house and went up there, and it was a very good hit. And so she learned real quick, stay away from the front gate.So that was my first rodeo. So I go to the guy that had the property, and I said, you'll sell this property? And he said, yeah.And he told me how much. And I said, I'll take it. And I bought it, and I built one of the nicest arenas around.And we had, if you ever remembered the Monster Trucks. Oh, yeah. I am the founder of Monster Trucks. Now, hold on a second.What do you mean you're the founder of Monster Trucks? I started a Monster Truck racing. Really? In 1982, Gary Porter and Dennis Anderson was the first side-by-side race ever put on in the USA. Really? Which, for the people listening, which two trucks were those? Gravedigger and Carolina Crusher. Okay. Two of the original ones. Everybody thinks of three. Those two and Bigfoot are the big three. Bigfoot was a guy who was showing how tall tires could be. He was not a racer. These guys were mudboggers. Gravedigger was a1953 Ford panel truck. And then after he got big, he went to the Chevrolet. I had a mud bog pit, and I said, them boys got big old tires on them trucks. I said, you know what would be fun? Go down the end of the track, put a couple old cars there, because they just started jumping a couple of humps.
(08:48):
And I went and got three old junk cars on each side, and on Saturday night, we done a runoff between Gravedigger and Carolina Crusher, which Gravedigger blew them out. Yeah. I'm going to tell you a little bit about Kevin's history. Yeah.went to school at a place where one day a year they set aside for mud bogging. He's about to get up and go, yeah, all right; he wants to go right now, yeah. But I had some... uh, I mean, I had some 1. 2 seconds and 125 feet-holy gosh! The pedal tires! Let me tell you, I've had it all, guys. This old man, we've done a lot in my life. Thank God. So were you doing that at the same time? Is this the same place you were doing the rodeo at?
(09:37):
I went out there and dug a hole in the middle of my arena. I'd done a rodeo. I'd done a mud bog. I'd done a tractor pull. I had the all-pro machine. It would come in there with the three engines on it, and it was bad to the bone. And this is what year is all this starting? 1979. And in 1982, I got pictured on my phone where me and Gary Porter and Dennis Anderson was sitting at my ranch. The first monster truck race ever put on the USA. I heard so many people say, oh, I started Monster Truck. I'd hate to bust their bubble, but this old man sitting right here, we're talking to the guy right here. Yep.
And you look at the videos and Gary, uh, Dennis Anderson, he said right here, the man put on one of the top shows. I won a lot of money from Jr., yeah. He said, he said he does some bad stuff. So you're doing monster truck, you're doing tractor pulls, you're doing rodeos. So all this is going on. How did you kind of evolve into being the pro rodeo guy? I mean, we're 45 years down the road, and you're putting on rodeos all over the place. How does that transition happen?Well, it's pretty tough. At one time, I was doing 27 shows a year. Goodness. Radio shows, monster trucks, and tractor pulls – and all over the country (10:20):
Tennessee, Asheville, Charlotte... uh, Metrolina motor speedway...
(11:16):
I've done them there; I did monster trucks there, and uh, I don't know. I just always had this go-get-it deal. And it's 74years old today. Of course, my voice sounds a little different right now – I got beat up over the weekend at Rodeo. So, you know, in all these years, I've been the best. I've been the best. And everybody that knows JR's Rodeo, I won MonsterTruck of the Year. I won Rodeo of the Year, Tractor Pull of the Year. I won it all. And because when I do it, I put my heart into it. One of the things that's most interesting to me about your rodeos, and we've talked before, you know, not on thea ir, is the family atmosphere. Oh, yeah. That's part of what keeps it going, right?
(12:08):
Oh, yeah. People like Harrison's. Yeah. It helped keep me going. What, have y'all been with me two years now? Yeah, a couple years. But great sponsors, but to get those great sponsors, you've got to do good things for those sponsors, because if you don't, you don't go back and get them, you know, but sponsors make the great rodeos. As you said a while ago, when you ride around any town that I do my radios in, 25, 30 mile range, you'll see JR's Radio. You listen to a lot of the radio. You listen to JR's Radio. I do Advertiser Radio. And we have the best of the best. Yeah, I've been able to come to one that we were sponsoring. And, of course, our team in our – well, several of our stores now have been a part of it.
(13:05):
But I was struck by that the first night of, man, this is a – Number one, you knew, okay, this is a legitimate. Big rodeo.You see some that pop up just out of the blue, and it's like three cousins and their friends, and they come out and ride horses. I mean, it's put on well. There's legitimate. We talk about wannabe cowboys and wannabe cowgirls, and they’re like real cowboys. You got the real deal there. They're out getting it done. But then it marries, which sometimes these things don't marry well. It marries very, very closely to the family atmosphere. You know, you've got the mutton busting, you know, the kids out there riding on the sheep and that kind of thing. And you've got, you see a lot of families there.
(13:55):
And, you know, it's a wholesome atmosphere. But it's a great time. I mean, when the action starts, it's not watered down.It's great action. How have you been able to marry those things together, which oftentimes don't marry, they don't end up married together? I guess my thing, what I'd say, I just have so much faith in what I do. I believe that I can do anything.Build hot rods. I can build houses. There's nothing I don't believe that I can't do. But I have a lot of faith and believe that I can do it, and that's reason in my life, in my career-74 years old, I can go down in history as the number one man. And so that's where I stand at my shows because we have family entertainment.
(14:54):
We ask the families to come. We take care of the kids. And we just, we do not serve alcohol in our rodeo. I had a lot of beer companies used to pay me a lot of money. And uh, it went like if you put your hand right here in the middle of each other and you sold beer, you'd be right here. But you didn't sell beer, you'd be right here. Yeah. And so you're talking 50%of verses of 85 to 90. And it's gotten now people don't ask, do you sell beer? No, we don't. Because we want you to bring your kids. And have a good time, clean time, and good food, and a good rodeo. Well, it has been – that is definitely something you see come to our rodeo is there's a bunch of kids walking around.
(15:47):
Nobody's worried about any kind of fights or stuff breaking out or any kind of the shenanigans that sometimes go along with some of the other stuff. And so it's been pretty cool to see that play out. So let's talk about the history of a couple of these hot rods that you've got. You were giving us a little bit of history of that. So if you could only pick one, and you hadn't. It's going to be hard. It'd be like getting rid of your kids. But if you could only keep one of your hot rods, which one would it be and why? Yeah, that's a hard question he's shaking his head over there, and Kevin, you ain't seen them all, yeah I got more but uh Wow. It would probably be the bus.
(16:32):
Because that bus has done that bus has put me up on top Michael Ballard at Full Throttle Saloon is trying to buy it now from me in Sturgis. Yeah. He wants to put it in his museum. And. I don't want to sell the bus to be out here for everybody.I want to buy it and own it and do this, do that. If I sold it to Michael, as I said, I'm 74. So if I sold it to Michael Ballard, it would be on display for years and years, and it wouldn't go nowhere. But let thousands and millions of people see it. But it would probably be the bus yet. I want to ask about that 40 Ford. Wildly popular, that one. That model in particular.
(17:22):
Tell us about some of the things that have been done to that ’40 Ford that make it so special. Well, it's been taking shape. I’ve done the frame on it, done the whole car. And, you know, it was off the frame. I built a frame for it. At first, I put air rods on it, and I didn't like the way they rode, so I came back in and put coil overs on it. And I got it where I want it now. Take it off today and hit California! Alligator, alligator... interior in places with full wood panels in the back. Yeah, it's a cool machine, and it's all steel, no fiberglass-it's all steel. And, uh, so that's, that's that. It would actually be between the bus and that 40.We're going to include some pictures in the show notes and the comments where you'll be able to see them. But, uh, imagine the best-looking beach wagon you've ever seen. And that's what that 40 looks like. It's awesome. Absolutely. You know, and I was surprised whenever he said, 'I need to clean them up a little bit.' And I was like, 'It's the clever.' I've never had a car that clean before. You can see yourself in the chrome already. Yeah. Wiping down a little bit, yes. So, like you said, you're 74 years old. You're still running. How many rodeos a year are you putting on? Twelve. Twelve rodeos a year you put on. You've got your hot rods. You've got all this stuff going on. So, what does the future look like for old JR?
(18:55):
Well, I'm just going to keep rodeoing. Keep rodeoing. Until my toes are turned up. Yep. God's got a plan. He has a plan for me, and I think one of his plans is that people come. I have so, so many people come, and they said, J. R., thank you for bringing God in this rodeo. Many times I get people come and say, J. R., you don't remember me, but I used to come to the monster truck shows at your ranch and say, 'this is my daughter or my son.' Can we get a picture with you? A thousand handicapped kids. Trust me, I got a heart for those. And, you know, we We work hard at our rodeos. I'm a one-man operation. I do it all.
(19:46):
And, uh, but, uh, I don't have much free time, but I just keep running. Well, you keep running and you're doing a, doing a great job at it. And we're, we're, we're happy to partner with you and just, just being a little piece of that. And we will inside the show notes, we'll put all your information and everything, how they can get in touch with you and, and where they can get tickets to the next several rodeos. Yeah. There's, there's several rodeos coming up. We've, um, you know, that we're, we're a part of, but we're going to, we're going to talk about, we're going to talk, talk more about that later. And, um, but we'll, we'll put all your information in there and hopefully be able to get some more people out to the rodeo and expect, because it's a, it's a legit deal and you do a great job with it.
(20:28):
And, um, and J. R., we just appreciate you coming on and, and on this work Western podcast. That's what we're trying to bring you is just some of these unique stories that, that, that are in that lifestyle that we all like to live, that where we’re working, but then we're out, we're out having a good time as well. So you can have a good time. So thank you for being here with us. And until next time, guys, keep that work Western lifestyle rolling.
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