October 21, 2024 • 26 mins
Get in Touch with Dan by Texting Now
What if your path to success wasn't what everyone expected? We sit down with Theo Ribbs, professional sporting clay shooter and son of the legendary race car driver Willie T. Ribbs. Theo shares how his father's off-season hobby turned into his full-time passion. Through personal stories of his high school escapades with a Jeep Grand Cherokee and his decision to step away from the racing legacy, Theo provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of competitive shooting.
Mastering the art of sporting clays requires more than just steady hands—it demands mental grit. Theo breaks down the intricacies of events like FITASC, explaining the strategies and mental preparation that underpin his sport. He reveals how winning the North American FITASC Championship was not just a prestigious achievement but a pivotal life moment that led to meeting his girlfriend. Whether you're a shooting enthusiast or new to the sport, Theo's insights into the discipline and focus required will leave you with a deeper appreciation for the competitive drive.
Beyond the shooting range, Theo dreams of adventure and reflection, sharing his bucket list goals of visiting Machu Picchu and skydiving. He also takes us on a whimsical mental journey with a dream road trip alongside boxing legend Muhammad Ali. We wrap up with how you can follow Theo's journey on social media, where he remains approachable and engaging, offering fans a chance to stay connected with his sport and more. Join us for an episode filled with personal stories, professional insights, and a touch of the extraordinary.
Be sure to follow Theo on social media at TheoRibbs. He has a new website coming soon at https://theoribbs.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Dan, thank you for having me on.
For the listeners who don'tknow who I am, I'm Theo Ribs.
I'm the son of the famous racecar driver, Willie T Ribs, and
I'm a professional sporting clayshooter.
I've been in that industry forabout 18 years on the
competitive side.
I'm looking forward to talkingabout me and how I got involved
(00:22):
in shooting and how I gotinvolved in shooting.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah well, that's what I want my listeners to know
You're my first competitiveshooter.
I guess I've had on this littleshow after about 59 episodes.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, man, I appreciate you reaching out to
me.
Obviously I think it's an easyfit, since you've already done a
podcast with my dad in the past.
How I got introduced intoshooting was my dad grew up
hunting with his grandfather, sonaturally he wanted something
to do.
And then in his off season,when he wasn't racing, he never
(00:53):
liked golfing, even though welived on a golf course as a kid.
When I was a kid growing up, hewas always into shooting.
My uncle started shootingsporting plays back in the
mid-90s.
He just kind of invited my dadout one day and I just went out.
At that point I was maybe five,six years old, so I was kind of
just watching him.
That was kind of my first introinto shooting.
(01:15):
As I got older and stronger andwas able to hold the gun and
move the gun, I'd say about nineyears old, that's when I
started kind of just doing itoff and on.
At that point I was stillplaying other sports wrestling
and baseball and soccer.
Once my dad retired in 2001, hewanted something to do, you know
(01:36):
, to keep himself busy, so hestarted competing.
That got me competing as well.
And back in 2001, it was stillreally early on, I was really
young and I was just going outto the gun club here and there
with them.
But when I turned about 14years old which would have been
maybe 2005 or 2006, I startedcompeting myself with them and I
(01:58):
noticed that it helped mygrades get better and it just
helped me do a lot of things inmore of a focused way, just
obviously.
Overall life started heading ina better direction for me.
In 06 we moved out to texas.
My dad bought a ranch and hebuilt me my own practice
facility right there on theranch.
(02:18):
So all I had to do was go inthe backyard and practice and
and get ready for my tournamentsright there.
And so pretty much yeah, sopretty much since 2006, 2007,
I've been pretty much doing thisfull time.
Never really had a real jobother than like working at
Tractor Supply or working at arestaurant for about six months.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And yeah, man, well, we'll do a little more deep dive
into that in a little bit andyou can tell my listeners,
because I don't know if any ofthem know about competitive
shooting.
So we'll, we'll educate them alittle bit as we go along.
But, as you know, this is Danthe road trip guy and I love to
know what people's first car was.
So you are the son of a racecar driver, so I'm really
(03:06):
curious to know what that firstcar was oh, it's nothing
impressive or exciting.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So the actual first car that I bought myself, I was
18 years old, I was a senior inhigh school and it was a jeep,
grand cherokee.
Okay, yeah, I mean it was likean older one so it had no
traction control.
It's kind of driving the caroff a feeling away, right.
So I have a funny story aboutthis vehicle.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, I was hoping for a good story.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So when my dad used to go out of town back then I
was just a senior in high school, just getting out of high
school I would have partiesright.
Naturally, being a kid, I'dbring all my boys and girls all
over to the house and we'd bedrinking beer Obviously, we're
not supposed to Drinking beerand shooting rabbits or whatever
(03:56):
we could find at night and thenwe'd hop in the Jeep and go off
into some trails that ourneighbors had and we'd just be
rally car in the damn jeep allover the place.
Yeah, it was a a lot of fun anda lot of memories in that
vehicle yeah, were you still?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
were you in texas?
At that point you said you,yeah, oh yeah, we were.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
yeah, we were in texas, okay at that point, so
that was probably 2010 or 11,right?
So we moved to Texas in 06, endof 06.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, so plenty of open space for that Jeep
Cherokee.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Oh yeah, man.
I mean, we lived on 15 acresand then our neighbors had 300
and 400 acres around us, right?
So it's kind of like you're inyour own little world and you
can kind of do whatever the hellyou want, which was great for
me as a kid, being able to havefun.
Thank god, nothing crazyhappened and nobody got hurt or
anything, but uh, yeah for sure,yeah, it was good, good times
(04:51):
were you going to races?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
was your dad still racing when you were young?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
a little bit like he was doing a little trans am like
1999, 2000, and then he racedCraftsman Truck Series in NASCAR
.
Okay.
So I remember going to thoseraces but obviously when he
qualified for Indy the firsttime I hadn't even been born yet
(05:16):
.
Right, it was a couple monthsprior to me being born.
So yeah, I mean, obviously Ihear all the stories about how
great a driver he was and thingslike that, but I got to see him
towards the end of his career.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Sure, I have to ask you, of course you didn't.
You didn't go down that racecar path.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Uh, no, I mean, yeah, it had gotten me go-karts and
stuff like that, but he neverreally pushed me into it.
Obviously, the expense of it isridiculous.
Yes, I think part of it.
He had a sour taste in hismouth of how he was treated in
the industry and he didn't wantme to have to deal with the same
(05:57):
things that he went through.
Sure, yeah, he never pushed meinto it and he pushed me into
clay shooting.
That was his hobby.
His mindset behind that was youhave a lot more control of the
outcome with that gun than youdo with what happens with that
race car, right?
As you know, racing so much isdependent on the team and and
(06:19):
how good that car is.
You know, engineered and built,you can have all the talent in
the world, but if that car isnot a fast car you're built, you
can have all the talent in theworld, but if that car is not a
fast car, you're not going to gofast.
That's absolutely right.
With shooting, you can get thegun dialed in.
You know.
The rest is kind of left to you.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah, tell me you ever been onany?
I used to call them epic roadtrips.
You just been on any road tripsthat stand out in your mind?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I would say, if I had to pick a trip that stands out
in my mind would be when me andmy dad went to England in 2016
for a shoot of mine, but itactually ended up being part of
filming for uppity.
You know his his racingdocumentary.
(07:06):
Yeah for sure, and so kind ofcool story.
Adam Krola is the one whoproduced the doc and they happen
to be over in England at thesame time for Goodwood.
Okay, so my dad tells NateAdams, who's you know works,
works with Adam Krola and doesall the the filming and gets
(07:26):
everything set up for hisdocumentaries.
He tells him, hey, I think wecould get Bernie Ecclestone to
do the doc.
Nate goes.
I doubt it.
Come on, willie, you messingwith me.
Come on, he goes.
No, he goes.
I'll reach out to him and seewhat his schedule looks like and
see if we can get him naileddown and see if we can get in
his office and do some filmingfor the documentary.
(07:48):
Nate's kind of like.
We'll see.
Very, very doubtful.
My dad reaches out to him,reaches out to Bernie, doesn't
hear anything back initially.
This is maybe the morning.
We get to the next day and he aan email back from bernie's
secretary and she says bernie'sgoing to be in the office
(08:10):
tomorrow from I believe it waslike 10 30 to 12, 30, right from
10 30 to noon.
Uh, just a little afternoon.
He has time for you guys, ifyou guys can make that time slot
.
So my dad reaches back out tonate, he goes hey, we got bernie
and nate goes.
No effing way.
We get in the car.
(08:30):
The next day we head down downto chelsea, which obviously is a
very posh area of england, goto the prince's gate section, we
go to this amazing likebuilding office there and yeah,
it was just crazy to obviouslymeet Bernie Ecclestone and
understand who he is and whatpretty much he's done, performed
(08:54):
the one today.
Right, right, he's the one whokind of built it to what it is
and to Liberty Media, took itover and now it's into the
stratosphere.
So, just watching him at thatpoint he's in his mid-80s and
he's just running up and downthe stairs and just extremely
active and extremely sharp itjust was amazing to me.
(09:14):
Wow, look at this guy, all he'sdone, billionaire, and this
guy's still hustling like he'snot made a dime.
And so I just was just amazedby the work ethic, especially at
that age.
Sure, and so, yeah, it was, uh,that was one of the coolest
experiences.
Obviously, it was justsomething that was kind of spur
of the moment and it all kind ofcame together.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You can get to do it with your dad, and that's just a
yeah, exactly.
Right, exactly, great memorySwitch gears.
We'll jump into this uh careerI guess we call it a career that
you've taken on as acompetitive shooter.
You talked a little bit abouthow you got into that, but you
know, just tell my listeners alittle bit more about
particularly what a weekendlooks like and how you prepare
(09:57):
yourself for a tournament and Iknow you told me you were, you
were at one just this pastweekend at one just this past
weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
How tournaments work is?
There's usually there's themain event, which is a 200 bird
main event, and however manytargets you hit, it doesn't
matter if you destroy the birdor if you take a little chip off
, it all counts the same.
And however many birds you killout of that 200 is your score
at the end okay.
There's also some side eventscalled fetas, uh, that I shoot.
Typically, depending on thetournament size, it's usually a
(10:33):
hunter bird event or a 200 birdevent, and the same same type of
it works the same way.
If you hit the bird, you hit itif you don't.
You know that's.
Fetas is a little moredifferent.
It's more to simulate actualbird hunting.
So on your shooting vestthey'll have a line that's
typically it lines up right withyour nipple and that's where
(10:53):
you have to hold the gun, okay.
And when you call pull, youcan't move that gun until you
visibly see the bird right.
And so they'll have a couple,you know, four to five, what
they call singles, where you gettwo shots at each single, and
then from those singles thatyou've shot, you'll have pairs
(11:14):
and it'll, you know, be onreport, which means when you
call pull and you pull thetrigger on the first bird, from
the the sound of the gun, thetrapper or referee will throw
the second bird.
Okay, right.
Or they'll have a true pairwhere you call pull and both
birds are released at the sametime.
Okay, to get to the 100 birds.
(11:36):
In that event you'll shoot 25targets on each of these, what
they call parkour, right.
So you shoot 25 birds andusually it's over four layouts
for 100 birds, okay.
Or it'll be over eight layoutsfor 200 birds so do you shoot
like 25 or so and then anothershooter and then yeah, no, so
(11:58):
what you do is you're in a whatthey call a squad of five or six
guys, okay, and you all rotate,and so what happens is you'll
shoot the singles first.
Okay, whoever's up, whatevername is up first you'll shoot
the singles, and then the guybehind you rotates, so on and so
forth, and once everyonerotates to the singles, then
(12:19):
they go to the doubles.
Once everybody shoots thedoubles, then you go to the next
.
What they a peg.
Right, there's typically threepegs per parkour and you
typically shoot anywhere fromeight to nine birds per peg okay
you know, shoot 25 birds.
Once you're done, you move on tothe next parkour and you'll do
(12:41):
the same exact thing in normalsporting clays.
You'll have what they call astation and typically you'll
have anywhere from 12 to 14 or17 stations and you'll shoot
usually three to four pairs perstation and it's whatever
presentation they have set right.
(13:02):
So it could be a report pair orit could be a true pair, but
it's always pairs, there's nosingles, and so however many
birds you break out of those 100targets you've shot on that 14
station course or 17 stationcourse, whatever it is, is your
score at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Good to know.
Wow.
And then Do you, is there anykind of?
Uh, you got any kind of mentalpreparation you go through
before you start an event?
You know you hear race cardrivers and there's always I put
my left glove on, then I put myright glove on.
Is there anything that you gothrough as a, as a?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
shooter, okay, and but I'm not.
I don't believe insuperstitions.
Yeah, you know, I believe thisoutcome is already played out
and who's going to win is goingto win, okay, However you shoot,
that day is how you shoot.
Yeah, I think when you startputting all these things in your
(13:56):
brain, it's just another thingto think about and another thing
to distract you.
You know what I mean.
Like you know what.
What if you mess up on yourlittle superstition?
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
What if you mess up on your little superstition Is
it going to throw you off therest of the day, right?
Yeah, I never quite understoodthat?
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me.
Never ask your dad if he hadany, I can guarantee you he
didn't.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Oh well, good to know .
I just know how he rolls, he'snot like that.
Yeah, he reminded me I'mgetting in the car and I'm going
.
Okay, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
At the end of the day , you've put the time in before
you've gotten there, right?
If you're prepared, you'reprepared.
You're not going to be preparedonce you get to the shoot.
It's too late by that point,right?
All the preparation, all thehard work has been done weeks
and months prior.
You just believe in yourpreparation and believe in
yourself, and if you have agreat week or a great weekend
(14:49):
and put it all together, thenit's your time to win.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You're a champion shooter.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Is there one event or two events that just really
stand out in your mind.
As you know, great memoriesthat you look back on Probably
say.
One was this year at atournament called the North
American FITAS ChampionshipChampionship of North America.
Okay, it was an event that Iwas lucky enough to win.
It's an event that I ended upactually meeting my girlfriend
at now, and so this event was inJune of this year and I didn't
(15:23):
have a great start to the event.
June of this year I didn't havea great start to the event.
I was down seven after thefirst day and I had to shoot 99
out of 100 to win the event.
The last two days I did thatand, yeah, it was a great memory
when the pressure was on and Iknew I really couldn't mess
around anymore and I had to lockon.
That's what I did.
(15:43):
I got the tournament done andended up winning by one target,
also meeting the girl I'm withall at the same time.
So it was just a crazy weekend.
You know it was a really goodmemory looking back on it?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Was she a shooter or a spectator?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
No, she was a spectator.
A friend of mine, who she workswith as a nurse, was there
competing and she came up to theevent to watch her compete.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Oh, wow.
Well that's great Win atournament and you got a
girlfriend.
Hey man.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Sometimes luck is on your side, man.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
You have traveled the world shooting, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, I've been all over the world.
I've been to Hungary, I've beento Greece, I've been to Italy a
couple, yeah, yeah, I've beenall over the world, been to
hungary, I've been to greece,I've been to italy a couple
times.
I've been to england, been todubai, so yeah, and then
obviously all over the us,mexico, so yeah, I've been been
all over.
you know, not all over the world, but quite a few countries
around it and then you also doinstructing you know when I'm
(16:43):
home and got some time, like toschedule lessons with you know
people that are trying toimprove their game and group
lessons, whether that's you know, corporate groups or if I you
know individual people that aretrying to get better, that come
to the tournaments that I'm at.
So a good way to, you know,make extra money, but also to
(17:04):
make extra money but also stayinvolved in the sport, help the
sport in terms of growth andfuture with kids I work with a
lot of kids.
From that standpoint it'sreally good and it also keeps
you fresh in terms of makingsure you're staying on top of
(17:25):
the fundamentals, just as you'retrying to help this person get
better with theirs.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
We'll keep at it and we'll keep following you to see
how your career progresses.
I knew nothing about shooting,so thank you, and I'm sure a lot
of our listeners are going toenjoy that Well.
So tell me this We'll changegears again.
You're a young guy.
Still Anything on your bucketlist that you want to accomplish
(17:49):
in your life besides winningtournaments?
Speaker 1 (17:52):
For me, I'd say one is go to Machu Picchu.
I'm a big ancient history,ancient civilizations guy.
That really intrigues me.
That's one one area I alwayswanted to check out and I think
I'm gonna probably do that nextyear.
And then another one wasskydiving man.
I don't know, I have like this.
(18:13):
I don't like itch adrenalineissue or something, but I've
always wanted to like jump outof a plane and just to do at
least once.
It's not something I want to,you know, make a hobby or
anything, but if I could do thatat least once, I think it'd be
a lot of fun.
Well, I hope you get to do thatfor sure.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I mean I'll do it if I got the time.
It's all about just, I guess,growing some balls, huh.
Well it would be for me,because I'm not particularly
fond of heights.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
So there, if you could take a road trip with
anybody living or deceased uh,who would it be?
Where would you go?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
what would you drive and, uh, what would you talk
about?
Probably have to be muhammadali.
Wow, we would drive a mercedesmaybach and we'd be going to
vegas.
Okay, the conversations wouldbe about one mindset in terms of
his mindset and approach tobeing a champion, not just,
obviously, as a boxer, but inlife.
So I'd like to deep dive intothat with him and really get a
(19:14):
deep understanding of him fromthat point of view.
Also, I would like to talk tohim about how he was able to be
so comfortable around so manypeople and be so charismatic,
able to be himself at all times,and you really felt like you're
getting an authentic person.
(19:35):
You know whether or not youagreed with his views or whatnot
.
You can understand him as a man, the position and the way he
stood on, what, what he stoodfor, and I have a lot of respect
for that.
So I'd just like to talk to himabout things like that and
really get a deep dive into themental side and what really
(19:56):
makes him him.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
That would be a that would be a fun drive and
obviously and obviously Vegas.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
right, I mean, vegas is Vegas.
Doing it with Muhammad Aliwould be crazy.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
That would be absolutely Growing up, as I'm
older than you and growing upwhen I did, when his matches
would come on, we only got twochannels.
Where I grew up and boy, Iwould wait until that they would
announce that they're going toshow it on either.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I think we had CBS and NBC and they would show his
matches and I just thoroughlyenjoyed uh watching yeah, dude,
was was amazing to watch justthe way he would move around the
ring and, being as big as hewas, obviously a heavyweight to
move with that much grace andhave the timing and I'm a huge
boxing fan.
(20:42):
So, uh, yeah, yeah, very, verybig into boxing.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Well, here's the funny thing about your answer,
and I'm guessing you probablydidn't listen to my conversation
with your dad.
No I didn't Guess who he took aroad trip with.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Well, I know he took a road trip.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Of course I know who he took a road trip and how
close he was with Muhammad Ali.
Yeah, that was just funny whenyou said that.
It was like it kind of took meback to that conversation with
him and that was fun.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yeah, I mean, and the stories he would tell me about
their time together were justlike crazy and really really
cool.
I mean it's just like wow thethings my dad got to do and the
people he got to be around.
The dude really does pullrabbits out of hats.
It's kind of mind blowingsometimes.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
I've enjoyed this little virtual road trip.
Love to ask you if you couldleave some advice for my
listeners.
I love to leave them with alittle nugget of something from
my guest, and so if you could dothat, I would really appreciate
it.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, of course I would say for me this year I've
probably had the most successfulyear of my shooting life, and
why I say that is because I'llbe representing Team USA at the
World Championships next year ascaptain or be captain or one of
the four open class guys thatwill be representing our country
.
That leads me to say that whatI've changed more than just
(22:09):
preparation in my life is justmindset and really digging into
mindset and what that means anda real focus.
And when you have something toreally focus on and put all your
heart into, you know reallyturns into something that you
know you never think and I'mgetting emotional just because
(22:33):
of the amount of time and effortI put into it.
Just a change of mindset hasreally changed my life.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Well, thanks for sharing that and that people do
that, you know.
Know you'd be amazed at whatyou can accomplish, right no
doubt well, theo, I know wedon't know each other, but I
appreciate you taking just alittle bit of time to ride
around with me and tell mylisteners who you are and and
what you're about, and hopefullythey will, uh, follow a little
(23:03):
bit of competitive shooting now.
That's my hope anyway.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, Dan.
Thank you for having me on, Dan, and I hope your listeners take
a lot out of this.
I had a great time, you know,giving my stories and my advice.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
That's helped me become who I am.
Leave my listeners, though,with how do they follow you to
keep up with you on yourcomparison?
Yeah, on social media.
Yeah it social media, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
It's easy.
It's just TheoRibs on Instagramor Facebook.
I keep it real simple.
Okay, you can just type inTheoRibs on the search bar and I
should come right up.
You can follow all my anticsand, hopefully, future success
and all those things.
Man, do you have a website also?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
or no?
Oh yeah, theo theoremscom.
Okay, I'm gonna make a plan tobe in columbus next year, just
so I can meet you for number oneawesome man yeah, awesome.
Hey, Dan, thank you for having me on.
For the listeners who don'tknow who I am, I'm Theo Ribs.
I'm the son of the famous racecar driver, Willie T Ribs, and
I'm a professional sporting clayshooter.
I've been in that industry forabout 18 years on the
competitive side.
I'm looking forward to talkingabout me and how I got involved
(00:22):
in shooting and how I gotinvolved in shooting.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah well, that's what I want my listeners to know
You're my first competitiveshooter.
I guess I've had on this littleshow after about 59 episodes.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Well, man, I appreciate you reaching out to
me.
Obviously I think it's an easyfit, since you've already done a
podcast with my dad in the past.
How I got introduced intoshooting was my dad grew up
hunting with his grandfather, sonaturally he wanted something
to do.
And then in his off season,when he wasn't racing, he never
(00:53):
liked golfing, even though welived on a golf course as a kid.
When I was a kid growing up, hewas always into shooting.
My uncle started shootingsporting plays back in the
mid-90s.
He just kind of invited my dadout one day and I just went out.
At that point I was maybe five,six years old, so I was kind of
just watching him.
That was kind of my first introinto shooting.
(01:15):
As I got older and stronger andwas able to hold the gun and
move the gun, I'd say about nineyears old, that's when I
started kind of just doing itoff and on.
At that point I was stillplaying other sports wrestling
and baseball and soccer.
Once my dad retired in 2001, hewanted something to do, you know
(01:36):
, to keep himself busy, so hestarted competing.
That got me competing as well.
And back in 2001, it was stillreally early on, I was really
young and I was just going outto the gun club here and there
with them.
But when I turned about 14years old which would have been
maybe 2005 or 2006, I startedcompeting myself with them and I
(01:58):
noticed that it helped mygrades get better and it just
helped me do a lot of things inmore of a focused way, just
obviously.
Overall life started heading ina better direction for me.
In 06 we moved out to texas.
My dad bought a ranch and hebuilt me my own practice
facility right there on theranch.
(02:18):
So all I had to do was go inthe backyard and practice and
and get ready for my tournamentsright there.
And so pretty much yeah, sopretty much since 2006, 2007,
I've been pretty much doing thisfull time.
Never really had a real jobother than like working at
Tractor Supply or working at arestaurant for about six months.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
And yeah, man, well, we'll do a little more deep dive
into that in a little bit andyou can tell my listeners,
because I don't know if any ofthem know about competitive
shooting.
So we'll, we'll educate them alittle bit as we go along.
But, as you know, this is Danthe road trip guy and I love to
know what people's first car was.
So you are the son of a racecar driver, so I'm really
(03:06):
curious to know what that firstcar was oh, it's nothing
impressive or exciting.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So the actual first car that I bought myself, I was
18 years old, I was a senior inhigh school and it was a jeep,
grand cherokee.
Okay, yeah, I mean it was likean older one so it had no
traction control.
It's kind of driving the caroff a feeling away, right.
So I have a funny story aboutthis vehicle.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, I was hoping for a good story.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So when my dad used to go out of town back then I
was just a senior in high school, just getting out of high
school I would have partiesright.
Naturally, being a kid, I'dbring all my boys and girls all
over to the house and we'd bedrinking beer Obviously, we're
not supposed to Drinking beerand shooting rabbits or whatever
(03:56):
we could find at night and thenwe'd hop in the Jeep and go off
into some trails that ourneighbors had and we'd just be
rally car in the damn jeep allover the place.
Yeah, it was a a lot of fun anda lot of memories in that
vehicle yeah, were you still?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
were you in texas?
At that point you said you,yeah, oh yeah, we were.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
yeah, we were in texas, okay at that point, so
that was probably 2010 or 11,right?
So we moved to Texas in 06, endof 06.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, so plenty of open space for that Jeep
Cherokee.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Oh yeah, man.
I mean, we lived on 15 acresand then our neighbors had 300
and 400 acres around us, right?
So it's kind of like you're inyour own little world and you
can kind of do whatever the hellyou want, which was great for
me as a kid, being able to havefun.
Thank god, nothing crazyhappened and nobody got hurt or
anything, but uh, yeah for sure,yeah, it was good, good times
(04:51):
were you going to races?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
was your dad still racing when you were young?
Speaker 1 (04:55):
a little bit like he was doing a little trans am like
1999, 2000, and then he racedCraftsman Truck Series in NASCAR
.
Okay.
So I remember going to thoseraces but obviously when he
qualified for Indy the firsttime I hadn't even been born yet
(05:16):
.
Right, it was a couple monthsprior to me being born.
So yeah, I mean, obviously Ihear all the stories about how
great a driver he was and thingslike that, but I got to see him
towards the end of his career.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Sure, I have to ask you, of course you didn't.
You didn't go down that racecar path.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Uh, no, I mean, yeah, it had gotten me go-karts and
stuff like that, but he neverreally pushed me into it.
Obviously, the expense of it isridiculous.
Yes, I think part of it.
He had a sour taste in hismouth of how he was treated in
the industry and he didn't wantme to have to deal with the same
(05:57):
things that he went through.
Sure, yeah, he never pushed meinto it and he pushed me into
clay shooting.
That was his hobby.
His mindset behind that was youhave a lot more control of the
outcome with that gun than youdo with what happens with that
race car, right?
As you know, racing so much isdependent on the team and and
(06:19):
how good that car is.
You know, engineered and built,you can have all the talent in
the world, but if that car isnot a fast car you're built, you
can have all the talent in theworld, but if that car is not a
fast car, you're not going to gofast.
That's absolutely right.
With shooting, you can get thegun dialed in.
You know.
The rest is kind of left to you.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Thanks for sharing that.
Yeah, tell me you ever been onany?
I used to call them epic roadtrips.
You just been on any road tripsthat stand out in your mind?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I would say, if I had to pick a trip that stands out
in my mind would be when me andmy dad went to England in 2016
for a shoot of mine, but itactually ended up being part of
filming for uppity.
You know his his racingdocumentary.
(07:06):
Yeah for sure, and so kind ofcool story.
Adam Krola is the one whoproduced the doc and they happen
to be over in England at thesame time for Goodwood.
Okay, so my dad tells NateAdams, who's you know works,
works with Adam Krola and doesall the the filming and gets
(07:26):
everything set up for hisdocumentaries.
He tells him, hey, I think wecould get Bernie Ecclestone to
do the doc.
Nate goes.
I doubt it.
Come on, willie, you messingwith me.
Come on, he goes.
No, he goes.
I'll reach out to him and seewhat his schedule looks like and
see if we can get him naileddown and see if we can get in
his office and do some filmingfor the documentary.
(07:48):
Nate's kind of like.
We'll see.
Very, very doubtful.
My dad reaches out to him,reaches out to Bernie, doesn't
hear anything back initially.
This is maybe the morning.
We get to the next day and he aan email back from bernie's
secretary and she says bernie'sgoing to be in the office
(08:10):
tomorrow from I believe it waslike 10 30 to 12, 30, right from
10 30 to noon.
Uh, just a little afternoon.
He has time for you guys, ifyou guys can make that time slot
.
So my dad reaches back out tonate, he goes hey, we got bernie
and nate goes.
No effing way.
We get in the car.
(08:30):
The next day we head down downto chelsea, which obviously is a
very posh area of england, goto the prince's gate section, we
go to this amazing likebuilding office there and yeah,
it was just crazy to obviouslymeet Bernie Ecclestone and
understand who he is and whatpretty much he's done, performed
(08:54):
the one today.
Right, right, he's the one whokind of built it to what it is
and to Liberty Media, took itover and now it's into the
stratosphere.
So, just watching him at thatpoint he's in his mid-80s and
he's just running up and downthe stairs and just extremely
active and extremely sharp itjust was amazing to me.
(09:14):
Wow, look at this guy, all he'sdone, billionaire, and this
guy's still hustling like he'snot made a dime.
And so I just was just amazedby the work ethic, especially at
that age.
Sure, and so, yeah, it was, uh,that was one of the coolest
experiences.
Obviously, it was justsomething that was kind of spur
of the moment and it all kind ofcame together.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You can get to do it with your dad, and that's just a
yeah, exactly.
Right, exactly, great memorySwitch gears.
We'll jump into this uh careerI guess we call it a career that
you've taken on as acompetitive shooter.
You talked a little bit abouthow you got into that, but you
know, just tell my listeners alittle bit more about
particularly what a weekendlooks like and how you prepare
(09:57):
yourself for a tournament and Iknow you told me you were, you
were at one just this pastweekend at one just this past
weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
How tournaments work is?
There's usually there's themain event, which is a 200 bird
main event, and however manytargets you hit, it doesn't
matter if you destroy the birdor if you take a little chip off
, it all counts the same.
And however many birds you killout of that 200 is your score
at the end okay.
There's also some side eventscalled fetas, uh, that I shoot.
Typically, depending on thetournament size, it's usually a
(10:33):
hunter bird event or a 200 birdevent, and the same same type of
it works the same way.
If you hit the bird, you hit itif you don't.
You know that's.
Fetas is a little moredifferent.
It's more to simulate actualbird hunting.
So on your shooting vestthey'll have a line that's
typically it lines up right withyour nipple and that's where
(10:53):
you have to hold the gun, okay.
And when you call pull, youcan't move that gun until you
visibly see the bird right.
And so they'll have a couple,you know, four to five, what
they call singles, where you gettwo shots at each single, and
then from those singles thatyou've shot, you'll have pairs
(11:14):
and it'll, you know, be onreport, which means when you
call pull and you pull thetrigger on the first bird, from
the the sound of the gun, thetrapper or referee will throw
the second bird.
Okay, right.
Or they'll have a true pairwhere you call pull and both
birds are released at the sametime.
Okay, to get to the 100 birds.
(11:36):
In that event you'll shoot 25targets on each of these, what
they call parkour, right.
So you shoot 25 birds andusually it's over four layouts
for 100 birds, okay.
Or it'll be over eight layoutsfor 200 birds so do you shoot
like 25 or so and then anothershooter and then yeah, no, so
(11:58):
what you do is you're in a whatthey call a squad of five or six
guys, okay, and you all rotate,and so what happens is you'll
shoot the singles first.
Okay, whoever's up, whatevername is up first you'll shoot
the singles, and then the guybehind you rotates, so on and so
forth, and once everyonerotates to the singles, then
(12:19):
they go to the doubles.
Once everybody shoots thedoubles, then you go to the next
.
What they a peg.
Right, there's typically threepegs per parkour and you
typically shoot anywhere fromeight to nine birds per peg okay
you know, shoot 25 birds.
Once you're done, you move on tothe next parkour and you'll do
(12:41):
the same exact thing in normalsporting clays.
You'll have what they call astation and typically you'll
have anywhere from 12 to 14 or17 stations and you'll shoot
usually three to four pairs perstation and it's whatever
presentation they have set right.
(13:02):
So it could be a report pair orit could be a true pair, but
it's always pairs, there's nosingles, and so however many
birds you break out of those 100targets you've shot on that 14
station course or 17 stationcourse, whatever it is, is your
score at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Good to know.
Wow.
And then Do you, is there anykind of?
Uh, you got any kind of mentalpreparation you go through
before you start an event?
You know you hear race cardrivers and there's always I put
my left glove on, then I put myright glove on.
Is there anything that you gothrough as a, as a?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
shooter, okay, and but I'm not.
I don't believe insuperstitions.
Yeah, you know, I believe thisoutcome is already played out
and who's going to win is goingto win, okay, However you shoot,
that day is how you shoot.
Yeah, I think when you startputting all these things in your
(13:56):
brain, it's just another thingto think about and another thing
to distract you.
You know what I mean.
Like you know what.
What if you mess up on yourlittle superstition?
You know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
What if you mess up on your little superstition Is
it going to throw you off therest of the day, right?
Yeah, I never quite understoodthat?
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me.
Never ask your dad if he hadany, I can guarantee you he
didn't.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Oh well, good to know .
I just know how he rolls, he'snot like that.
Yeah, he reminded me I'mgetting in the car and I'm going
.
Okay, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
At the end of the day , you've put the time in before
you've gotten there, right?
If you're prepared, you'reprepared.
You're not going to be preparedonce you get to the shoot.
It's too late by that point,right?
All the preparation, all thehard work has been done weeks
and months prior.
You just believe in yourpreparation and believe in
yourself, and if you have agreat week or a great weekend
(14:49):
and put it all together, thenit's your time to win.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You're a champion shooter.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Is there one event or two events that just really
stand out in your mind.
As you know, great memoriesthat you look back on Probably
say.
One was this year at atournament called the North
American FITAS ChampionshipChampionship of North America.
Okay, it was an event that Iwas lucky enough to win.
It's an event that I ended upactually meeting my girlfriend
at now, and so this event was inJune of this year and I didn't
(15:23):
have a great start to the event.
June of this year I didn't havea great start to the event.
I was down seven after thefirst day and I had to shoot 99
out of 100 to win the event.
The last two days I did thatand, yeah, it was a great memory
when the pressure was on and Iknew I really couldn't mess
around anymore and I had to lockon.
That's what I did.
(15:43):
I got the tournament done andended up winning by one target,
also meeting the girl I'm withall at the same time.
So it was just a crazy weekend.
You know it was a really goodmemory looking back on it?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Was she a shooter or a spectator?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
No, she was a spectator.
A friend of mine, who she workswith as a nurse, was there
competing and she came up to theevent to watch her compete.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Oh, wow.
Well that's great Win atournament and you got a
girlfriend.
Hey man.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Sometimes luck is on your side, man.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
You have traveled the world shooting, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yeah, I've been all over the world.
I've been to Hungary, I've beento Greece, I've been to Italy a
couple, yeah, yeah, I've beenall over the world, been to
hungary, I've been to greece,I've been to italy a couple
times.
I've been to england, been todubai, so yeah, and then
obviously all over the us,mexico, so yeah, I've been been
all over.
you know, not all over the world, but quite a few countries
around it and then you also doinstructing you know when I'm
(16:43):
home and got some time, like toschedule lessons with you know
people that are trying toimprove their game and group
lessons, whether that's you know, corporate groups or if I you
know individual people that aretrying to get better, that come
to the tournaments that I'm at.
So a good way to, you know,make extra money, but also to
(17:04):
make extra money but also stayinvolved in the sport, help the
sport in terms of growth andfuture with kids I work with a
lot of kids.
From that standpoint it'sreally good and it also keeps
you fresh in terms of makingsure you're staying on top of
(17:25):
the fundamentals, just as you'retrying to help this person get
better with theirs.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
We'll keep at it and we'll keep following you to see
how your career progresses.
I knew nothing about shooting,so thank you, and I'm sure a lot
of our listeners are going toenjoy that Well.
So tell me this We'll changegears again.
You're a young guy.
Still Anything on your bucketlist that you want to accomplish
(17:49):
in your life besides winningtournaments?
Speaker 1 (17:52):
For me, I'd say one is go to Machu Picchu.
I'm a big ancient history,ancient civilizations guy.
That really intrigues me.
That's one one area I alwayswanted to check out and I think
I'm gonna probably do that nextyear.
And then another one wasskydiving man.
I don't know, I have like this.
(18:13):
I don't like itch adrenalineissue or something, but I've
always wanted to like jump outof a plane and just to do at
least once.
It's not something I want to,you know, make a hobby or
anything, but if I could do thatat least once, I think it'd be
a lot of fun.
Well, I hope you get to do thatfor sure.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
I mean I'll do it if I got the time.
It's all about just, I guess,growing some balls, huh.
Well it would be for me,because I'm not particularly
fond of heights.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
So there, if you could take a road trip with
anybody living or deceased uh,who would it be?
Where would you go?
Speaker 1 (18:50):
what would you drive and, uh, what would you talk
about?
Probably have to be muhammadali.
Wow, we would drive a mercedesmaybach and we'd be going to
vegas.
Okay, the conversations wouldbe about one mindset in terms of
his mindset and approach tobeing a champion, not just,
obviously, as a boxer, but inlife.
So I'd like to deep dive intothat with him and really get a
(19:14):
deep understanding of him fromthat point of view.
Also, I would like to talk tohim about how he was able to be
so comfortable around so manypeople and be so charismatic,
able to be himself at all times,and you really felt like you're
getting an authentic person.
(19:35):
You know whether or not youagreed with his views or whatnot
.
You can understand him as a man, the position and the way he
stood on, what, what he stoodfor, and I have a lot of respect
for that.
So I'd just like to talk to himabout things like that and
really get a deep dive into themental side and what really
(19:56):
makes him him.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
That would be a that would be a fun drive and
obviously and obviously Vegas.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
right, I mean, vegas is Vegas.
Doing it with Muhammad Aliwould be crazy.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
That would be absolutely Growing up, as I'm
older than you and growing upwhen I did, when his matches
would come on, we only got twochannels.
Where I grew up and boy, Iwould wait until that they would
announce that they're going toshow it on either.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I think we had CBS and NBC and they would show his
matches and I just thoroughlyenjoyed uh watching yeah, dude,
was was amazing to watch justthe way he would move around the
ring and, being as big as hewas, obviously a heavyweight to
move with that much grace andhave the timing and I'm a huge
boxing fan.
(20:42):
So, uh, yeah, yeah, very, verybig into boxing.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Well, here's the funny thing about your answer,
and I'm guessing you probablydidn't listen to my conversation
with your dad.
No I didn't Guess who he took aroad trip with.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Well, I know he took a road trip.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Of course I know who he took a road trip and how
close he was with Muhammad Ali.
Yeah, that was just funny whenyou said that.
It was like it kind of took meback to that conversation with
him and that was fun.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yeah, I mean, and the stories he would tell me about
their time together were justlike crazy and really really
cool.
I mean it's just like wow thethings my dad got to do and the
people he got to be around.
The dude really does pullrabbits out of hats.
It's kind of mind blowingsometimes.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
I've enjoyed this little virtual road trip.
Love to ask you if you couldleave some advice for my
listeners.
I love to leave them with alittle nugget of something from
my guest, and so if you could dothat, I would really appreciate
it.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Yeah, of course I would say for me this year I've
probably had the most successfulyear of my shooting life, and
why I say that is because I'llbe representing Team USA at the
World Championships next year ascaptain or be captain or one of
the four open class guys thatwill be representing our country
.
That leads me to say that whatI've changed more than just
(22:09):
preparation in my life is justmindset and really digging into
mindset and what that means anda real focus.
And when you have something toreally focus on and put all your
heart into, you know reallyturns into something that you
know you never think and I'mgetting emotional just because
(22:33):
of the amount of time and effortI put into it.
Just a change of mindset hasreally changed my life.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Well, thanks for sharing that and that people do
that, you know.
Know you'd be amazed at whatyou can accomplish, right no
doubt well, theo, I know wedon't know each other, but I
appreciate you taking just alittle bit of time to ride
around with me and tell mylisteners who you are and and
what you're about, and hopefullythey will, uh, follow a little
(23:03):
bit of competitive shooting now.
That's my hope anyway.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, Dan.
Thank you for having me on, Dan, and I hope your listeners take
a lot out of this.
I had a great time, you know,giving my stories and my advice.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
That's helped me become who I am.
Leave my listeners, though,with how do they follow you to
keep up with you on yourcomparison?
Yeah, on social media.
Yeah it social media, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
It's easy.
It's just TheoRibs on Instagramor Facebook.
I keep it real simple.
Okay, you can just type inTheoRibs on the search bar and I
should come right up.
You can follow all my anticsand, hopefully, future success
and all those things.
Man, do you have a website also?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
or no?
Oh yeah, theo theoremscom.
Okay, I'm gonna make a plan tobe in columbus next year, just
so I can meet you for number oneawesome man yeah, awesome.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.