March 22, 2024 • 31 mins
Man Day Kansas is an epic convergence around weapons and sweet rolls. Jason Klassen raises money for missions to Niger by organizing a best-ever afternoon of blowing stuff up and shooting guns. Christian brothers test their marksmanship, play with explosives, race and wreck cars all for a noble cause: To provide clean water in Africa.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jason (00:00):
We have some people who they don't get to own firearms
(00:03):
for whatever reason and they cancome borrow one of ours and
shoot it at the range, and theyjust, it's a lot of fun for
them.
They, it's just something theynever get to do.
That's part of it for some
Joe (00:14):
reason.
So this is a special event forfelons.
Jason (00:19):
I mean, maybe their wife won't let them own a gun.
Joe (00:21):
Oh, the anti Valentine's Day.
This is perfect.
Heather (00:27):
Evel Knievel inspired millions of us with this courage
and perseverance.
We're building a museum so youcan relive those memories and be
reinvigorated with that spiritof bravery.
Evel Knievel (00:39):
My name is Evel Knievel I'm a professional
daredevil.
Heather (00:44):
Along the way we meet people involved in the life, the
times, and the legacy of theKing of Daredevils.
Here with their stories is yourhost, Joe Friday.
Joe (00:55):
Welcome to The Thrill Show from the Evel Knievel Museum.
I'm Joe.
This is Jason.
Hello.
As you know, the Thrill Show isbuilt around action,
inspiration.
And Evel Knievel was all aboutthat, and Jason is all about
that action and inspiration fora good cause.
If you like to blow stuff up,race cars and shoot guns, this
(01:18):
is the event, but this is it.
This is, yeah.
So Jason, can you tell us aboutMan Day Kansas and what's going
to happen here
Jason (01:23):
in April?
Sure.
In 2007 I had a college friend,and he was living in Oklahoma
and, in the country outside ofEnid.
And this was kind of an antiValentine's Day thing that he
got together.
Some, just some college friendsfor the purpose of shooting
(01:44):
guns, eating meat kind of beingstupid.
You know, just having a goodtime and they made this creed
and they, you know, it was allabout this anti Valentine's Day
thing.
Is it in February?
I can't remember if the originalone was, I think it was a
certain number of weeks after orsomething like that.
I mean, honestly, even though wewant to be all manly about it,
(02:05):
it was like when he could getthe house away from his wife.
Right.
Because we, he'd invite theseguys over and kick his, he has
three daughters and a wife.
And you know, he was kickingthem out and it's like, we're
going to be men this weekend,nobody around.
And so it was all tongue incheek, you know.
Man Day, hahaha kind of thing.
And.
(02:26):
So the rule, like he startedwith 6, 7, 10 guys or something
like that.
And they wrote up thisDeclaration of Man, and it was
all pretty funny.
But basically it was just havinga good time doing stupid stuff.
The rule was that if you hadbeen to Man Day, you could
invite somebody else to Man Daynext time.
He was a farmer, and ran anirrigation company which will be
(02:48):
important as we talk a littlefurther.
He had meat and all this stuffand it was kind of like a, well,
if it's here you can have itkind of day.
I mean, it was super generous onhis part and really fun.
So I think the first twohappened, and then I got invited
along the way from somebody Iknew who had been there.
And so I got to go to my firstone.
And so that was like 2007.
(03:10):
So the church that he was goingto at the time in Enid started
getting involved with someministry that was happening in
Niger with a I'll call itHosanna Niger.
It's called officially HosannaInstitute of the Sahel.
Okay.
Hosanna Niger yes.
Um, The main thrust of thisthing, drilling water wells.
(03:33):
And so, my friend Brent who soldpivot sprinkler systems, knew
how to drill water wells andsome other people in the church
also knew how to do that.
And so, through the church andthese guys' knowledge of how to
do this, they ended up breakingdown and shipping a water well
drilling rig to Niger The waterwells cost about two grand to
(03:55):
put in.
Along the way, and I thinkaround about 2013 He was like,
well, what do we, so those of uswho had been coming for a few
years, he was like, what do youthink if we charged admission to
this, do you think people wouldshow up?
And we're like, yeah, I thinkso.
And so that's how the two thingsended up merging.
So I love the organic nature ofit.
(04:18):
It was like this stupid day ofjust being dorks and, kind of
like even being unsafe aboutthings and the different things,
the different events that weended up doing as a kind of a
mainstay of Man Day, allformulated during this time.
You know, and so anyway that'show it started.
But back to your originalquestion, what is Man Day?
(04:40):
It is like this day where abunch of dudes can come out to
property that not many of ushave that, especially live in
the city and all this stuff anddo kind of stupid stuff.
I mean, it's safe, stupid, youknow, but I mean, we kind of
whitewash it a little bit.
It's not like we're all riskingdeath or anything like that.
It looks
Joe (05:00):
dangerous with automatic guns and explosions.
And does anybody
Jason (05:04):
ever get hurt?
We have.
Okay, so I'm not definitively,positively sure, but I think
three people have gotten hurt.
One year before we had itcombined into the fundraising, a
guy was riding a four-wheeler inthe pasture enrolled it, so that
was the most serious one.
(05:26):
But every other one has beensomebody getting scoped on the
50 caliber.
Where the gun recoils back andthey don't have it firmly under
their shoulder and the scopewill cut their eyelid and that's
it.
It's crazy how little injurythere's ever been at this thing.
Yeah.
That is great.
(05:46):
Yep.
It's awesome.
Joe (05:48):
So do you go, do you travel to Niger then?
Jason (05:50):
I have not been.
we had a trip planned and I hada ticket bought for a couple
years ago.
And we were about six weeks out,and then Niger experienced a
covid outbreak and they werethey were requiring any foreign
travelers to isolate for sevendays.
So we had to cancel.
I hope to go at some pointbecause there's some interesting
(06:13):
things that are starting tohappen over there again.
With everything that we're apart of that's happening over
there with the HosannaInstitute.
So,
Joe (06:20):
yeah.
So the well digger stays overthere, right?
It's shipped
Jason (06:23):
once.
It doesn't, it's over there.
Yeah.
It's over there because it'slike I don't know, a five ton
truck is got the diggingequipment on it.
And then there's another fiveton truck that's the support
truck with all the water.
because you go out to a placewhere there is no water and you
need water to drill a well.
So, there's two trucks.
It's an impressive thing.
(06:43):
And I only know it from picturesand videos and eyewitness
accounts that have happened, butwe hope to go one of these days
okay.
So do the locals
Joe (06:50):
use the truck when you're not there or do other churches
go in and do
Jason (06:53):
the digging?
Yeah, I mean, it takes sometraining to run the truck, so,
no.
Our water well efforts have beena little bit on pause because we
haven't had an in-country, thein-country talent there right
now to go and do that.
But we have somebody who isgetting ready to go into country
and he will start the water welldrilling up again and it's
(07:15):
hopefully going to be positionedas a kind of a business- as-
mission philosophy where thenthe wells can be
self-supporting.
So yeah, that'd be so great.
It's pretty cool.
Joe (07:25):
Well, I was wondering if Man Day was a recruiting effort
to bring young, adventurous menthat can, that are willing to
travel to Niger.
Jason (07:35):
Has that happened?
I'll go into this a little bit,but one of the things we do
every year is we kick off the,our opening event is we get a
humongous teddy bear and we fillit with explosives and we shoot
it, and it blows up.
And the teddy bear goes away.
I mean, it literally turns intofluff in the air.
There's nothing really left.
(07:56):
Because we're also trying to besafe, we put this thing out
about 200 yards and we needsomebody to shoot it.
So, there was a guy who was inEnid and his dad would come out
to Man Day, and I think heprobably started coming.
He started coming younger thanwe like kids to come.
But his hobby was distanceshooting and he spent hours in
(08:19):
his own pasture shooting.
You know, so he had, like, Iremember seeing his primary
weapon and he had all of thesemath formulas on his stock about
trajectory and windage and allthis stuff that he would click
in so he could hit it first shotevery time.
His name is Virgil Irwin.
And that's important becauseVirgil grew up coming to Man
(08:43):
Day.
And he is going to be our nextnew missionary over there.
And his thing is called M.A.
Global Mission.
And Virgil got married to a galnamed Mackenzie, and she and him
are moving over there this nextyear.
But the cool part about Virgilis his training here now that
he's grown up is he's anairframe power plant mechanic
(09:05):
and a pilot, and he flies a bushplane So, I don't know if you're
familiar with this.
It's a slow takeoff and landingthing.
His main plane that he has flownmost of the time that he's been
training for all of this willstall at about 30 miles an hour.
So in Kansas and in Oklahoma,you can get a headwind more than
(09:26):
that, meaning that you can justkind of drop it down on the
line.
I mean, you don't have to have arunway almost.
Man Day, Niger and Virgil haveall formed up into this cohesive
thing where Virgil and Mackenzieare headed to Niger.
He has built a six placedairplane and is going there.
(09:48):
They're going to build a runwayand a hangar.
In a green zone, which isimportant for Niger because
there's some hostility there.
Like one of the things we werelooking at when we were going is
getting armed escorts if we weregoing to go out of the capitol
city.
because it can be dangerous forkidnappings of westerners and
that kind of thing.
Anyway the green zone land isimportant because it's kind of
(10:10):
exempt from the politicalpressures of Niger so he should
be able to maintain this for alonger period of time.
And the goal is to fly aroundthe country, medical supplies
people, resources and stuff.
And then he's also going to pickup the well drilling thing and
start that really going again.
Along the way though, we'vesupported the well drilling,
(10:30):
we've supported a clinic.
We've supported, you know,Hosanna Institute in general.
It's just really kind of thisorganic thing
Joe (10:38):
Is that his plane on the logo?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That is a cool looking plane andwhat a great mission that is.
Jason (10:44):
Yep.
It'll pretty be pretty
Joe (10:46):
neat.
In Niger, are they all Muslim orthey haven't heard about Jesus
or what does it look like
Jason (10:54):
there culturally?
It's not very Christian.
So, the effort behind the waterwell drilling was drill a well,
plant a church.
That's what it was.
Yeah.
But the poorest country in thewhole wide world.
Yes.
Yeah.
People were walking hours andhours to an open well, where
there'd be manure and filth allin the water and these wells are
(11:15):
sanitary.
They're a manual pump, sothey're sealed, but you and you
have to pump the pump, but youget clean water out of them.
And so yeah, just like the olddays.
Yep.
Just like the old days.
But they're pretty maintenancefree.
That is
Joe (11:27):
cool.
Yep.
So how much do you raise forthose missions at Man Day
Kansas?
Jason (11:33):
Well, last year was our biggest year.
We had to cut off ticket salesat a thousand and I think we
raised about$215,000 that day.
Did
Joe (11:42):
you sell out at 1000?
You going to sell out or you
Jason (11:45):
putting a limit on it this year?
Getting a limit on it this year,again, at a thousand.
We're not there yet, but we'reexpecting to.
Joe (11:52):
Yeah.
And not that I want to focus onthe money, but is most of it
through donations or ticketsales or the auction?
Jason (12:00):
The breakdown is interesting.
So we collect funds from ticketsales.
We have promotional items thatwe sell there, you know, shirts,
t-shirts, caps, whatever.
We sell ammunition.
So, We get ammunition.
We sell it for people to shootat the range.
We have some people that comeout of a little town called
Meno, Oklahoma.
(12:21):
They're called Hoyle CreekFirearms, and they are the full
auto guys.
So we sell opportunity to shootfull auto automatic weapons.
And we we sell opportunities toshoot the 50 caliber.
Then we also auction race carsfor the Great Pond race, which
is this, oh, it's kind of thishalf demo derby, half race, all
(12:46):
tongue in cheek fun fest that wecreate a track around, sometimes
a pond, sometimes a drydepression in the field.
But you just go out there andrun these ragged cars until they
don't run anymore.
And then we blow some of themup.
We light some of them on fire.
I mean, it's just ridiculous.
You know, a couple years ago,one of the guys lost forward
(13:08):
gears, so he whips his cararound and he's driving in
reverse.
It was so good.
Oh, man.
You know, again, we make thistrack, we plow it up, we wet it
down.
We try to keep is slow.
But well,
Joe (13:20):
You try to keep it slow?
Jason (13:22):
You know, 40, I mean,
Joe (13:23):
you say it's all for fun and it's all for charity.
But dude, I'm going to buy acar.
Have you ever bought a car?
Jason (13:28):
Oh yeah.
Joe (13:28):
How much do these cars go for?
Jason (13:30):
Oh, the first one, like, first choice will bring three to
four grand.
Joe (13:35):
What did you get?
Jason (13:37):
Oh, I've done it two ways.
So, like, the best way topossibly do it, because most of
us
Joe (13:41):
Good.
I need some pointers.
I'm going to win this race.
Jason (13:44):
Most of us, you know.
If you have the ability to dropthree grand on a car, great.
Come and buy a car.
Most of us don't have theability to drop three or four
grand on a junk car that we'regoing to go race for a couple
hours.
So the best way to do it is getfour or five friends.
All of you chip in two, 300bucks and toward like, we'll
(14:04):
sell cars.
Like last year, I think we gotsome that were selling for
around a grand.
Okay.
So, do you sell out of cars?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then you can also, if youwant to be reassured that you're
going to get a car
Joe P (14:16):
Yes
Jason (14:16):
You can bring your own.
Now your own car costs$650 atthe gate.
We're losing the opportunity tosell you a car, but you're
bringing in a sure thing.
So bring your car, pay us 650bucks, but you gotta leave it.
And so we want you to leave itall out there, man.
We get another two, we getanother$250 from scrapping that
(14:39):
car from a salvage guy that hasgiven us a fixed price.
Joe P (14:42):
Oh, that's really great.
So it's an, that's
Jason (14:45):
the car auction raises a lot of money for us.
And, but dude, it is so much funtearing around a pasture.
How do you figure out if you getfour buddies to go in?
Who gets in?
Do we all ride?
Yeah, you all ride, you all getin it and you all ride and then
you take turns driving becausewe'll have, we do heats.
So you go for a few laps andthen everybody comes in and then
(15:06):
we'll start the next heat.
And you trade drivers duringthat.
Okay.
I
Joe (15:10):
was trying to figure out what I'm looking forward to
most.
I got four tickets.
Okay.
And the race really sounds fun.
Jason (15:16):
The race is a blast.
Joe (15:16):
Do I win anything?
Jason (15:17):
No.
You win.
You win the get out of the carand take it home like, can you
believe I did that?
You know, that kind of stuff.
Bring your own trophy.
Joe (15:27):
Bring your own trophy, man.
Yeah.
Stand on the car.
Yep.
Pour your own champagne overyourself.
Jason (15:32):
No, I can tell you what the trophy.
Oh, no.
Champagne.
Here's the trophy.
Get your car, rag it out, andthen tear off the steering wheel
or something and be like yes.
Yep.
Joe (15:42):
Do you paint your car or do you
Jason (15:43):
have time to paint your car?
Yep.
Like we have cans of paint andstuff out there.
You can paint your car if youbring your own car, bring it.
Like people show up.
Like last year, two years ago,somebody showed up with a, their
Cadillac old CTS painted up likean a 10 warthog airplane.
They had the, you know, theWorld War ii, you know, You
know, on the front of it and Ohyeah.
(16:05):
Right on.
Yeah.
They painted it all silver anddid fake rivets and stuff.
It was hilarious.
Well, we've
Joe (16:11):
got Evel Knievel's old crash car.
So Evel Knievel was inspired bya guy from Kansas.
His name was Joey Chitwood.
Joey Chitwood had a travelingcircus kind of rodeo with rodeo
clowns.
Jason (16:20):
I had a chitwood Mr.
Pib, when I was growing up thelittle Ertel toy.
You did?
I did, yeah.
Yeah,
Joe (16:26):
so, so that was Evel Knievel's inspiration.
Okay.
He was so inspired by this kindof entertainment atmosphere that
he had George Baris, who alsobuilt the Batmobile, build a
crash car.
Its purpose was Evel Knievelwould get in it, drive it into
the wall, and the doors in thehood would fly off.
So, If I hadn't already
Jason (16:47):
restored it.
Well, you and you wouldn't wantto leave.
You wouldn't want to leave thatto the wills of the scrapper at
Man Day either.
True now, you know.
But
Joe (16:56):
yeah, when we got it, or when the collector bought it, it
was in a scrapyard and it hadscrap written on the side of it.
And a couple guys went in andsaved it.
Nice.
Thank goodness.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's worth more than$250.
Jason (17:10):
Yeah, it sure is.
How many cars?
I think last year we auctionedlike 13 and then there was
another five or six seven thatpeople brought.
Well,
Joe (17:20):
sounds like a huge waste of money because they're just going
to
Jason (17:22):
lose to me.
Oh, that would be awesome.
I mean, you can create your winhowever you want, but it's good
stuff.
You mean I could stage it?
Oh yeah.
Why not?
And you know, I mean like we'vehad people like the cars that
they bring and have time tomodify.
They'll rig up the windshieldwasher pump.
They'll fill it with thin outtransmission fluid and then put
(17:43):
it into the intake so they cansquirt oil into the engine that
makes a smoke screen behindthem.
I mean, we've had people show upwith cop light bars on the top.
All yeah, all sorts of stuff.
It's awesome.
That's so great.
Yeah.
The car thing has been one ofthe funnest things, and I tell
ya, it was just like Man Dayitself.
(18:03):
I think we were, I had gone oneyear and we spent a lot of time
riding four-wheelers around thispond that our organizer had in
his field.
And I was like, dude, we havegot to get a car out here next
year.
Yeah.
And so, we did, we got a car.
It was the biggest piece ofjunk.
It gave up its last bit of lifeon the drive from Enid to his
(18:25):
farm.
And we never got to drive it inthe field.
So we drug it out there to thefield with another vehicle and
just shot it up with all, youknow, we, you know, shot it full
of holes and we had a guy inthose, we had a guy in those
original years bring out abowling ball cannon that he made
out of oil field, like six.
(18:46):
I mean, the bowling ball wouldjust fit into the bore perfectly
and that thing would shoot.
12, 1300 yards.
It was unbelievable.
And so we loaded that bowlingball cannon up in the trunk of
the car and then shot it pointblank into the trunk lid just to
see what would happen.
Yeah, I mean, we were doingstuff like that.
And that's how the Great PondRace was born and the next year
(19:06):
we had four cars and we werejust ripping them through there.
And then the next year we hadmore and we made an event out of
it.
And then we started charging for them and it was, oh
man, it's that's one of thecooler things.
Joe (19:19):
So that's my championship.
That's my first championshiptrophy, yeah.
Of the
Jason (19:22):
day.
What's your second,
Joe (19:24):
Pumpkin chucking?
Is the bowling ball cannon onein the same as the pumpkin
Jason (19:28):
chucker?
No.
So the guys that did the bowlingball cannon were out of Enid.
And this is a little bit too farfor them.
The pumpkin cannon, thePumpkinator sometimes makes an
appearance and sometimesdoesn't.
It's kind of a fickle machine.
Oh, okay.
But it is essentially ahumongous, oversized, potato gun
built on a firetruck chassis.
Joe (19:50):
When you say oversized, how big you think that
Jason (19:53):
is?
Well, you can fit a pumpkin downthe bore and the barrel is 20
feet long.
It really shoots it pretty far.
It's pretty fun.
Right.
Is
Joe (20:00):
it just watching it or is it also like a clay pigeon?
Jason (20:03):
No, that's a watching it.
That's a watching it thing.
Yeah.
You know, we've got some, wehave to kind of organize the day
with some transitions built into herd all these guys around
and stuff.
And pumpkin chunking is one ofthe transition things.
Joe (20:16):
Okay.
You asked about what my secondribbon is.
Yeah.
Sounds like I don't get one forfurthest pumpkin.
No.
But might get one formarksmanship.
Is there any marksmanship at allwith an automatic
Jason (20:27):
weapon?
No not that we give awards for.
We did do this thing last yearfor the first time where we have
an AR modified to shoot a golfball, and so you buy your golf
ball and then we have a tee or aa green built out into the
shooting range, and we give aprize to the person who gets the
closest to the tee with their AR15 modified.
(20:50):
Golf ball shooter.
Okay.
So cool for you're golf fan.
That could be number two if youwere not much into golf, but
yeah, I mean you could also gofor like the most meat or the
most honey buns eaten the mostDr.
Peppers drank, you know?
So is there meat on a honey bun?
Oh yeah.
Joe (21:07):
There's meat on a honey bun.
Jason (21:08):
Sure.
Yeah.
Like we'll do bacon again thisyear.
The bacon honey bun sandwich isa true culinary experience.
What else is on the menu?
Lunch will probably be, it'susually some sort of a pork
burger.
John Yoder that used to ownYoder Meats does it for us.
So around here, you may not knowYoder Meats, but Yoder Meats is
(21:29):
kind of a big name in the wholemeat world.
I don't know.
I know Yoder smokers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, Yoder smokers is notrelated.
Yoder's also a town out byHutchinson.
So, anyway we do some porkburgers.
There's usually baked beans.
I think this year we were eithergoing to do slaw or potato salad
again.
There's usually.
All day honey buns.
(21:49):
So like we, we buy a pallet ofhoney buns.
There's Dr.
Pepper and Mountain Dew is whatwe have to drink.
There's the diet drink for theday Is the water, so Yes.
Yeah.
Good.
Yeah.
That just diet.
That's diet.
Yeah.
It's diet enough.
Yep.
I mean it's What time does thisthing start in the morning?
Gates open at ten first honeybun at ten first.
Honey bun at 10.
Honey bun sandwich at noon.
(22:11):
No.
Honey bun sandwich before thebacon disappear.
Because, I don't know how manypounds of bacon we did last
year.
I think maybe like a hundred orsomething like that.
If you don't get your baconsandwich early in the day it
goes away.
I'm pretty sure we've got linedup.
The guys who do the Pronto Pupsat the state fair.
he came out last year, set uphis wagon and served us all
(22:33):
Pronto Pups in the afternoon.
Dude, those are the best.
They're corn dogs at the statefair.
Yeah, they're awesome.
And then we also had a softserve of ice cream machine
going, so supper was pronto pupsand ice cream.
Yeah, there's the vegetable islike potatoes I think in
Joe (22:47):
the, I've got another award to win then before sundown.
Yep.
And that's clay shooting.
Oh yeah.
Bring
Jason (22:53):
your own shotgun.
Yep.
Oh, you bring your own shotgun.
We've got shells to buy there ifyou need them.
You can bring your own too.
But yeah, we've got some, we'llhave a nice trap set.
There's five throwers, sixthrowers, I think, something
like that.
And yeah there's a lot of guysthat spend the whole day out
there doing that.
It's a lot of fun.
Like a person thrower or amechanical thrower?
Mechanical throwers,
Joe (23:11):
Uhhuh.
So you stomp on it and
Jason (23:12):
it goes uhhuh.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we've got volunteers thathelp keep those things running
and filled wow.
Joe (23:17):
I can't imagine.
How many volunteers does it taketo put on Man Day Kansas?
Jason (23:21):
It's a lot.
We'll have 50 ish.
Yep.
So cool.
Yeah, it's pretty neat.
So I, and
Joe (23:30):
I'm the champion race car driver.
And probably not so much atgolf.
I'll let you have, take thatone.
Okay.
You a golfer?
Jason (23:36):
No, not really.
Yeah.
Joe (23:37):
Then I'll take the skeet shooting and whatever.
I don't know how we're going tocount the competition for the
automatic weapons, just mostbodies?
Yeah.
I mean, most teddy bears,
Jason (23:48):
A good one for the full auto would be how long you can
keep the trigger pulled withoutletting off The record is 250
rounds.
Joe (24:03):
How long does that take?
Not very long.
Wow, man.
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you gotta
Jason (24:09):
work out your shoulder or get, or you gotta work out it
get, it gets hot and you gottakeep the barrel down.
It's something.
Wow.
Yep.
Cannot wait.
Yep.
And then the guys fromManhattan, Kansas called Man
Hatchet, bring out their hatchetthrowing portable stuff and set
up four or five lanes of hatchetthrowing.
That's been pretty popular overthe years.
(24:30):
People just, you know, havingfun doing that.
We'll have a place set up withpicnic tables.
I mean, honestly, it's nice toget away from the noise and
stuff a little bit and just sitand chat with your dudes that
you brought out, meet some newpeople or whatever.
Yeah, that would be
Joe (24:42):
nice.
Are there any bands?
Jason (24:44):
Nope.
We play music.
It's canned.
Huh.
Joe (24:46):
Yep.
But there is a PA system.
Yeah.
Even though there's so muchnoise
Jason (24:49):
already.
Yeah.
because I mean, like I said wehave got range masters and
people out on the range that canshut the thing down right now,
so yep.
Joe (25:01):
What if it rains?
Jason (25:03):
Bring a poncho.
Okay.
That's it.
We're having it.
I mean, we've never we've nevernot had it because of weather.
And the one time that we maybeshould have canceled it because
of weather, we didn't.
And it was the most fun ever.
It was snow.
We had a foot and a half ofsnow.
(25:24):
Wow.
And it was a blast.
Yes.
Yeah.
Joe (25:28):
Awesome.
So thanks for putting up with myquestion about what if it rains.
I saw it in the, on the FAQ.
I would encourage everybody toread the FAQ on Facebook.
Yep.
Facebook is like the only outletfor
Jason (25:39):
Man Day that I have found.
That's it.
That's the only one we run
Joe (25:43):
yet.
People ask.
Everything's in the FAQ it's apretty entertaining FAQ.
It's very filled withtestosterone.
Yep.
One of the questions people askis,"Sounds like a very patriotic
event.
Why are you sending your moneyout of the country?"
Yeah,
Jason (25:59):
Like I mentioned earlier, the organic nature of Man Day
has been one of the coolestthings about it.
There are so many goodnot-for-profits that do so much
good around the country.
I mean, pick one, right?
And this one's ours.
We'd be open to talking tosomebody if they want to throw a
Man Day event in their town tocome out and help them do it for
(26:20):
their thing.
Man Day isn't exclusive tofundraising for Hosanna Niger.
It is for our Man Day.
But you know, well, people
Joe (26:28):
need the gospel outside Kansas too, so,
Jason (26:32):
yeah.
I mean, maybe, I don't know.
From what I've seen in New YorkCity, I think the best way, the
best reason that we can come upwith, for why Hosanna Niger
versus any number of otherthings is because we made it so
we get to pick.
Yeah, that's right.
Right
Joe (26:48):
on.
Yep.
Right on.
Well, good luck at Man Day.
I'll see you there.
What should I wear?
Jason (26:54):
Whatever.
Okay, well I got some EvelKnievel leathers.
Yeah.
I mean helmet, cape...
depends on what it's like.
I mean, there's like last year'skind of hot, so I mean long
pants or shorts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But come out man, I mean, we ManDay Kansas on Facebook.
You follow the links.
We're doing a service this yearthat'll help, that helps us sell
the tickets and gets the waiverand everything done for you
(27:16):
ahead of time.
We should just be able to scanyour phone walking in the door
this year, so that's kind of newfor us and should help us.
I love that.
Yeah,
Joe (27:25):
I love that.
I saw that you can register youcan still buy your tickets even
without having a name on it.
I don't know who I'm taking yet.
Jason (27:31):
Yeah.
In terms of Man Day this year wejust need people to show up.
You know, that's what we'restill looking for.
We're still wanting to get it tothe thousand and shut it down
like we did last year.
What do I gotta
Joe (27:41):
do to convince you to come to Man Kansas?
Jason (27:45):
I mean, it's funny because shooting guns and stuff
like that is, I like to do it,but it's not like a humongous
hobby for me.
My biggest joy of that day iswatching everybody else have the
time of their lives doing crapthat they don't ever get to do.
Like the first time I drove acar in the pasture I was like,
(28:06):
oh my goodness, I cannot believeI'm wasting this Acura out here.
You know, like I'm born and bredlike this Midwest, Kansas boy
who doesn't leave their platefull at the table.
Right?
And I'm out here wasting thisAcura Integra.
It was like, I am ripping thisthing apart in the field and who
cares?
And it it was so awesome.
(28:27):
So the car thing for me is fun.
I don't always get to do itbecause it's a lot of work for
me that day, but it's worth it.
You know, we have some peoplewho they don't get to own
firearms for whatever reason orwhatever, and they can come
borrow one of ours and shoot itat the range, and they just, you
know, it's a lot of fun forthem.
(28:48):
They, it's just something theynever get to do.
That's part of it for some
Joe (28:51):
reason.
So this is a special event forfelons.
Jason (28:58):
Maybe I don't, I'll leave that, or whoever can't.
I'll just leave that there.
Okay.
I mean, maybe their wife won'tlet them own a gun.
Joe (29:06):
Oh, the anti Valentine's Day.
This is perfect.
This is great.
I cannot wait.
Yep.
How so we've brought this toyour ear holes.
Now you know about Man Day,Kansas.
I don't think there's anythingwe left out.
Jason (29:20):
I don't think so.
So here's
Joe (29:21):
How you can get signed up for Man Day right
Jason (29:24):
now.
Facebook, Man Day Kansas.
Find the link, click it.
Put your information in yourcredit card.
You're in.
So easy.
Yeah.
Oh, well, one other thing aboutthat.
It gets you into the gate.
It gets you a t-shirt.
It says Man Day on it.
(29:45):
It gets you one ticket into theAR 15 raffle.
It gets you two meals and allthe honey buns and Dr.
Pepper you can drink.
Bring your cash for the cars,the bullets, and the swag you
want to take home.
Oh my
Joe (30:01):
gosh.
I can't even imagine how muchcash I'm going to need to bring
to buy all these awards andtrophies.
Jason (30:06):
Yep.
Yep.
So we need to break$215,000 thisyear.
Let's do it.
Whoa.
Joe (30:13):
Yeah.
Perfect.
It's great to have goals.
You're going to hit every singleone of those goals.
Hope so.
And I want to thank you forspending time with us today.
This is again, Jason with ManDay and good luck with your
event.
Happy Landings.
I will see you there, Cape on!
Jason (30:28):
Sweet.
I appreciate the opportunity alot.
All right, brother.
Heather (30:34):
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe.
It's our mission to preserve andpresent the legacy of Evel
Knievel.
So if you have an idea for anepisode or a guest or have a
suggestion to improve our show,just drop us a joe@thrill.show
like,
Evel Knievel (30:52):
I just think the Evel Knievel way
Heather (30:57):
We leave you with the encouraging words from the Book
of Deuteronomy.
"Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid or terrifiedfor the Lord your God goes with
you.
He will never leave you orforsake you." Until next time,
happy landings.
Joe Friday (31:18):
If you like to fly by the seat of your your pants,
this where you belong.
We have some people who they don't get to own firearms
(00:03):
for whatever reason and they cancome borrow one of ours and
shoot it at the range, and theyjust, it's a lot of fun for
them.
They, it's just something theynever get to do.
That's part of it for some
Joe (00:14):
reason.
So this is a special event forfelons.
Jason (00:19):
I mean, maybe their wife won't let them own a gun.
Joe (00:21):
Oh, the anti Valentine's Day.
This is perfect.
Heather (00:27):
Evel Knievel inspired millions of us with this courage
and perseverance.
We're building a museum so youcan relive those memories and be
reinvigorated with that spiritof bravery.
Evel Knievel (00:39):
My name is Evel Knievel I'm a professional
daredevil.
Heather (00:44):
Along the way we meet people involved in the life, the
times, and the legacy of theKing of Daredevils.
Here with their stories is yourhost, Joe Friday.
Joe (00:55):
Welcome to The Thrill Show from the Evel Knievel Museum.
I'm Joe.
This is Jason.
Hello.
As you know, the Thrill Show isbuilt around action,
inspiration.
And Evel Knievel was all aboutthat, and Jason is all about
that action and inspiration fora good cause.
If you like to blow stuff up,race cars and shoot guns, this
(01:18):
is the event, but this is it.
This is, yeah.
So Jason, can you tell us aboutMan Day Kansas and what's going
to happen here
Jason (01:23):
in April?
Sure.
In 2007 I had a college friend,and he was living in Oklahoma
and, in the country outside ofEnid.
And this was kind of an antiValentine's Day thing that he
got together.
Some, just some college friendsfor the purpose of shooting
(01:44):
guns, eating meat kind of beingstupid.
You know, just having a goodtime and they made this creed
and they, you know, it was allabout this anti Valentine's Day
thing.
Is it in February?
I can't remember if the originalone was, I think it was a
certain number of weeks after orsomething like that.
I mean, honestly, even though wewant to be all manly about it,
(02:05):
it was like when he could getthe house away from his wife.
Right.
Because we, he'd invite theseguys over and kick his, he has
three daughters and a wife.
And you know, he was kickingthem out and it's like, we're
going to be men this weekend,nobody around.
And so it was all tongue incheek, you know.
Man Day, hahaha kind of thing.
And.
(02:26):
So the rule, like he startedwith 6, 7, 10 guys or something
like that.
And they wrote up thisDeclaration of Man, and it was
all pretty funny.
But basically it was just havinga good time doing stupid stuff.
The rule was that if you hadbeen to Man Day, you could
invite somebody else to Man Daynext time.
He was a farmer, and ran anirrigation company which will be
(02:48):
important as we talk a littlefurther.
He had meat and all this stuffand it was kind of like a, well,
if it's here you can have itkind of day.
I mean, it was super generous onhis part and really fun.
So I think the first twohappened, and then I got invited
along the way from somebody Iknew who had been there.
And so I got to go to my firstone.
And so that was like 2007.
(03:10):
So the church that he was goingto at the time in Enid started
getting involved with someministry that was happening in
Niger with a I'll call itHosanna Niger.
It's called officially HosannaInstitute of the Sahel.
Okay.
Hosanna Niger yes.
Um, The main thrust of thisthing, drilling water wells.
(03:33):
And so, my friend Brent who soldpivot sprinkler systems, knew
how to drill water wells andsome other people in the church
also knew how to do that.
And so, through the church andthese guys' knowledge of how to
do this, they ended up breakingdown and shipping a water well
drilling rig to Niger The waterwells cost about two grand to
(03:55):
put in.
Along the way, and I thinkaround about 2013 He was like,
well, what do we, so those of uswho had been coming for a few
years, he was like, what do youthink if we charged admission to
this, do you think people wouldshow up?
And we're like, yeah, I thinkso.
And so that's how the two thingsended up merging.
So I love the organic nature ofit.
(04:18):
It was like this stupid day ofjust being dorks and, kind of
like even being unsafe aboutthings and the different things,
the different events that weended up doing as a kind of a
mainstay of Man Day, allformulated during this time.
You know, and so anyway that'show it started.
But back to your originalquestion, what is Man Day?
(04:40):
It is like this day where abunch of dudes can come out to
property that not many of ushave that, especially live in
the city and all this stuff anddo kind of stupid stuff.
I mean, it's safe, stupid, youknow, but I mean, we kind of
whitewash it a little bit.
It's not like we're all riskingdeath or anything like that.
It looks
Joe (05:00):
dangerous with automatic guns and explosions.
And does anybody
Jason (05:04):
ever get hurt?
We have.
Okay, so I'm not definitively,positively sure, but I think
three people have gotten hurt.
One year before we had itcombined into the fundraising, a
guy was riding a four-wheeler inthe pasture enrolled it, so that
was the most serious one.
(05:26):
But every other one has beensomebody getting scoped on the
50 caliber.
Where the gun recoils back andthey don't have it firmly under
their shoulder and the scopewill cut their eyelid and that's
it.
It's crazy how little injurythere's ever been at this thing.
Yeah.
That is great.
(05:46):
Yep.
It's awesome.
Joe (05:48):
So do you go, do you travel to Niger then?
Jason (05:50):
I have not been.
we had a trip planned and I hada ticket bought for a couple
years ago.
And we were about six weeks out,and then Niger experienced a
covid outbreak and they werethey were requiring any foreign
travelers to isolate for sevendays.
So we had to cancel.
I hope to go at some pointbecause there's some interesting
(06:13):
things that are starting tohappen over there again.
With everything that we're apart of that's happening over
there with the HosannaInstitute.
So,
Joe (06:20):
yeah.
So the well digger stays overthere, right?
It's shipped
Jason (06:23):
once.
It doesn't, it's over there.
Yeah.
It's over there because it'slike I don't know, a five ton
truck is got the diggingequipment on it.
And then there's another fiveton truck that's the support
truck with all the water.
because you go out to a placewhere there is no water and you
need water to drill a well.
So, there's two trucks.
It's an impressive thing.
(06:43):
And I only know it from picturesand videos and eyewitness
accounts that have happened, butwe hope to go one of these days
okay.
So do the locals
Joe (06:50):
use the truck when you're not there or do other churches
go in and do
Jason (06:53):
the digging?
Yeah, I mean, it takes sometraining to run the truck, so,
no.
Our water well efforts have beena little bit on pause because we
haven't had an in-country, thein-country talent there right
now to go and do that.
But we have somebody who isgetting ready to go into country
and he will start the water welldrilling up again and it's
(07:15):
hopefully going to be positionedas a kind of a business- as-
mission philosophy where thenthe wells can be
self-supporting.
So yeah, that'd be so great.
It's pretty cool.
Joe (07:25):
Well, I was wondering if Man Day was a recruiting effort
to bring young, adventurous menthat can, that are willing to
travel to Niger.
Jason (07:35):
Has that happened?
I'll go into this a little bit,but one of the things we do
every year is we kick off the,our opening event is we get a
humongous teddy bear and we fillit with explosives and we shoot
it, and it blows up.
And the teddy bear goes away.
I mean, it literally turns intofluff in the air.
There's nothing really left.
(07:56):
Because we're also trying to besafe, we put this thing out
about 200 yards and we needsomebody to shoot it.
So, there was a guy who was inEnid and his dad would come out
to Man Day, and I think heprobably started coming.
He started coming younger thanwe like kids to come.
But his hobby was distanceshooting and he spent hours in
(08:19):
his own pasture shooting.
You know, so he had, like, Iremember seeing his primary
weapon and he had all of thesemath formulas on his stock about
trajectory and windage and allthis stuff that he would click
in so he could hit it first shotevery time.
His name is Virgil Irwin.
And that's important becauseVirgil grew up coming to Man
(08:43):
Day.
And he is going to be our nextnew missionary over there.
And his thing is called M.A.
Global Mission.
And Virgil got married to a galnamed Mackenzie, and she and him
are moving over there this nextyear.
But the cool part about Virgilis his training here now that
he's grown up is he's anairframe power plant mechanic
(09:05):
and a pilot, and he flies a bushplane So, I don't know if you're
familiar with this.
It's a slow takeoff and landingthing.
His main plane that he has flownmost of the time that he's been
training for all of this willstall at about 30 miles an hour.
So in Kansas and in Oklahoma,you can get a headwind more than
(09:26):
that, meaning that you can justkind of drop it down on the
line.
I mean, you don't have to have arunway almost.
Man Day, Niger and Virgil haveall formed up into this cohesive
thing where Virgil and Mackenzieare headed to Niger.
He has built a six placedairplane and is going there.
(09:48):
They're going to build a runwayand a hangar.
In a green zone, which isimportant for Niger because
there's some hostility there.
Like one of the things we werelooking at when we were going is
getting armed escorts if we weregoing to go out of the capitol
city.
because it can be dangerous forkidnappings of westerners and
that kind of thing.
Anyway the green zone land isimportant because it's kind of
(10:10):
exempt from the politicalpressures of Niger so he should
be able to maintain this for alonger period of time.
And the goal is to fly aroundthe country, medical supplies
people, resources and stuff.
And then he's also going to pickup the well drilling thing and
start that really going again.
Along the way though, we'vesupported the well drilling,
(10:30):
we've supported a clinic.
We've supported, you know,Hosanna Institute in general.
It's just really kind of thisorganic thing
Joe (10:38):
Is that his plane on the logo?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That is a cool looking plane andwhat a great mission that is.
Jason (10:44):
Yep.
It'll pretty be pretty
Joe (10:46):
neat.
In Niger, are they all Muslim orthey haven't heard about Jesus
or what does it look like
Jason (10:54):
there culturally?
It's not very Christian.
So, the effort behind the waterwell drilling was drill a well,
plant a church.
That's what it was.
Yeah.
But the poorest country in thewhole wide world.
Yes.
Yeah.
People were walking hours andhours to an open well, where
there'd be manure and filth allin the water and these wells are
(11:15):
sanitary.
They're a manual pump, sothey're sealed, but you and you
have to pump the pump, but youget clean water out of them.
And so yeah, just like the olddays.
Yep.
Just like the old days.
But they're pretty maintenancefree.
That is
Joe (11:27):
cool.
Yep.
So how much do you raise forthose missions at Man Day
Kansas?
Jason (11:33):
Well, last year was our biggest year.
We had to cut off ticket salesat a thousand and I think we
raised about$215,000 that day.
Did
Joe (11:42):
you sell out at 1000?
You going to sell out or you
Jason (11:45):
putting a limit on it this year?
Getting a limit on it this year,again, at a thousand.
We're not there yet, but we'reexpecting to.
Joe (11:52):
Yeah.
And not that I want to focus onthe money, but is most of it
through donations or ticketsales or the auction?
Jason (12:00):
The breakdown is interesting.
So we collect funds from ticketsales.
We have promotional items thatwe sell there, you know, shirts,
t-shirts, caps, whatever.
We sell ammunition.
So, We get ammunition.
We sell it for people to shootat the range.
We have some people that comeout of a little town called
Meno, Oklahoma.
(12:21):
They're called Hoyle CreekFirearms, and they are the full
auto guys.
So we sell opportunity to shootfull auto automatic weapons.
And we we sell opportunities toshoot the 50 caliber.
Then we also auction race carsfor the Great Pond race, which
is this, oh, it's kind of thishalf demo derby, half race, all
(12:46):
tongue in cheek fun fest that wecreate a track around, sometimes
a pond, sometimes a drydepression in the field.
But you just go out there andrun these ragged cars until they
don't run anymore.
And then we blow some of themup.
We light some of them on fire.
I mean, it's just ridiculous.
You know, a couple years ago,one of the guys lost forward
(13:08):
gears, so he whips his cararound and he's driving in
reverse.
It was so good.
Oh, man.
You know, again, we make thistrack, we plow it up, we wet it
down.
We try to keep is slow.
But well,
Joe (13:20):
You try to keep it slow?
Jason (13:22):
You know, 40, I mean,
Joe (13:23):
you say it's all for fun and it's all for charity.
But dude, I'm going to buy acar.
Have you ever bought a car?
Jason (13:28):
Oh yeah.
Joe (13:28):
How much do these cars go for?
Jason (13:30):
Oh, the first one, like, first choice will bring three to
four grand.
Joe (13:35):
What did you get?
Jason (13:37):
Oh, I've done it two ways.
So, like, the best way topossibly do it, because most of
us
Joe (13:41):
Good.
I need some pointers.
I'm going to win this race.
Jason (13:44):
Most of us, you know.
If you have the ability to dropthree grand on a car, great.
Come and buy a car.
Most of us don't have theability to drop three or four
grand on a junk car that we'regoing to go race for a couple
hours.
So the best way to do it is getfour or five friends.
All of you chip in two, 300bucks and toward like, we'll
(14:04):
sell cars.
Like last year, I think we gotsome that were selling for
around a grand.
Okay.
So, do you sell out of cars?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then you can also, if youwant to be reassured that you're
going to get a car
Joe P (14:16):
Yes
Jason (14:16):
You can bring your own.
Now your own car costs$650 atthe gate.
We're losing the opportunity tosell you a car, but you're
bringing in a sure thing.
So bring your car, pay us 650bucks, but you gotta leave it.
And so we want you to leave itall out there, man.
We get another two, we getanother$250 from scrapping that
(14:39):
car from a salvage guy that hasgiven us a fixed price.
Joe P (14:42):
Oh, that's really great.
So it's an, that's
Jason (14:45):
the car auction raises a lot of money for us.
And, but dude, it is so much funtearing around a pasture.
How do you figure out if you getfour buddies to go in?
Who gets in?
Do we all ride?
Yeah, you all ride, you all getin it and you all ride and then
you take turns driving becausewe'll have, we do heats.
So you go for a few laps andthen everybody comes in and then
(15:06):
we'll start the next heat.
And you trade drivers duringthat.
Okay.
I
Joe (15:10):
was trying to figure out what I'm looking forward to
most.
I got four tickets.
Okay.
And the race really sounds fun.
Jason (15:16):
The race is a blast.
Joe (15:16):
Do I win anything?
Jason (15:17):
No.
You win.
You win the get out of the carand take it home like, can you
believe I did that?
You know, that kind of stuff.
Bring your own trophy.
Joe (15:27):
Bring your own trophy, man.
Yeah.
Stand on the car.
Yep.
Pour your own champagne overyourself.
Jason (15:32):
No, I can tell you what the trophy.
Oh, no.
Champagne.
Here's the trophy.
Get your car, rag it out, andthen tear off the steering wheel
or something and be like yes.
Yep.
Joe (15:42):
Do you paint your car or do you
Jason (15:43):
have time to paint your car?
Yep.
Like we have cans of paint andstuff out there.
You can paint your car if youbring your own car, bring it.
Like people show up.
Like last year, two years ago,somebody showed up with a, their
Cadillac old CTS painted up likean a 10 warthog airplane.
They had the, you know, theWorld War ii, you know, You
know, on the front of it and Ohyeah.
(16:05):
Right on.
Yeah.
They painted it all silver anddid fake rivets and stuff.
It was hilarious.
Well, we've
Joe (16:11):
got Evel Knievel's old crash car.
So Evel Knievel was inspired bya guy from Kansas.
His name was Joey Chitwood.
Joey Chitwood had a travelingcircus kind of rodeo with rodeo
clowns.
Jason (16:20):
I had a chitwood Mr.
Pib, when I was growing up thelittle Ertel toy.
You did?
I did, yeah.
Yeah,
Joe (16:26):
so, so that was Evel Knievel's inspiration.
Okay.
He was so inspired by this kindof entertainment atmosphere that
he had George Baris, who alsobuilt the Batmobile, build a
crash car.
Its purpose was Evel Knievelwould get in it, drive it into
the wall, and the doors in thehood would fly off.
So, If I hadn't already
Jason (16:47):
restored it.
Well, you and you wouldn't wantto leave.
You wouldn't want to leave thatto the wills of the scrapper at
Man Day either.
True now, you know.
But
Joe (16:56):
yeah, when we got it, or when the collector bought it, it
was in a scrapyard and it hadscrap written on the side of it.
And a couple guys went in andsaved it.
Nice.
Thank goodness.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's worth more than$250.
Jason (17:10):
Yeah, it sure is.
How many cars?
I think last year we auctionedlike 13 and then there was
another five or six seven thatpeople brought.
Well,
Joe (17:20):
sounds like a huge waste of money because they're just going
to
Jason (17:22):
lose to me.
Oh, that would be awesome.
I mean, you can create your winhowever you want, but it's good
stuff.
You mean I could stage it?
Oh yeah.
Why not?
And you know, I mean like we'vehad people like the cars that
they bring and have time tomodify.
They'll rig up the windshieldwasher pump.
They'll fill it with thin outtransmission fluid and then put
(17:43):
it into the intake so they cansquirt oil into the engine that
makes a smoke screen behindthem.
I mean, we've had people show upwith cop light bars on the top.
All yeah, all sorts of stuff.
It's awesome.
That's so great.
Yeah.
The car thing has been one ofthe funnest things, and I tell
ya, it was just like Man Dayitself.
(18:03):
I think we were, I had gone oneyear and we spent a lot of time
riding four-wheelers around thispond that our organizer had in
his field.
And I was like, dude, we havegot to get a car out here next
year.
Yeah.
And so, we did, we got a car.
It was the biggest piece ofjunk.
It gave up its last bit of lifeon the drive from Enid to his
(18:25):
farm.
And we never got to drive it inthe field.
So we drug it out there to thefield with another vehicle and
just shot it up with all, youknow, we, you know, shot it full
of holes and we had a guy inthose, we had a guy in those
original years bring out abowling ball cannon that he made
out of oil field, like six.
(18:46):
I mean, the bowling ball wouldjust fit into the bore perfectly
and that thing would shoot.
12, 1300 yards.
It was unbelievable.
And so we loaded that bowlingball cannon up in the trunk of
the car and then shot it pointblank into the trunk lid just to
see what would happen.
Yeah, I mean, we were doingstuff like that.
And that's how the Great PondRace was born and the next year
(19:06):
we had four cars and we werejust ripping them through there.
And then the next year we hadmore and we made an event out of
it.
And then we started charging for them and it was, oh
man, it's that's one of thecooler things.
Joe (19:19):
So that's my championship.
That's my first championshiptrophy, yeah.
Of the
Jason (19:22):
day.
What's your second,
Joe (19:24):
Pumpkin chucking?
Is the bowling ball cannon onein the same as the pumpkin
Jason (19:28):
chucker?
No.
So the guys that did the bowlingball cannon were out of Enid.
And this is a little bit too farfor them.
The pumpkin cannon, thePumpkinator sometimes makes an
appearance and sometimesdoesn't.
It's kind of a fickle machine.
Oh, okay.
But it is essentially ahumongous, oversized, potato gun
built on a firetruck chassis.
Joe (19:50):
When you say oversized, how big you think that
Jason (19:53):
is?
Well, you can fit a pumpkin downthe bore and the barrel is 20
feet long.
It really shoots it pretty far.
It's pretty fun.
Right.
Is
Joe (20:00):
it just watching it or is it also like a clay pigeon?
Jason (20:03):
No, that's a watching it.
That's a watching it thing.
Yeah.
You know, we've got some, wehave to kind of organize the day
with some transitions built into herd all these guys around
and stuff.
And pumpkin chunking is one ofthe transition things.
Joe (20:16):
Okay.
You asked about what my secondribbon is.
Yeah.
Sounds like I don't get one forfurthest pumpkin.
No.
But might get one formarksmanship.
Is there any marksmanship at allwith an automatic
Jason (20:27):
weapon?
No not that we give awards for.
We did do this thing last yearfor the first time where we have
an AR modified to shoot a golfball, and so you buy your golf
ball and then we have a tee or aa green built out into the
shooting range, and we give aprize to the person who gets the
closest to the tee with their AR15 modified.
(20:50):
Golf ball shooter.
Okay.
So cool for you're golf fan.
That could be number two if youwere not much into golf, but
yeah, I mean you could also gofor like the most meat or the
most honey buns eaten the mostDr.
Peppers drank, you know?
So is there meat on a honey bun?
Oh yeah.
Joe (21:07):
There's meat on a honey bun.
Jason (21:08):
Sure.
Yeah.
Like we'll do bacon again thisyear.
The bacon honey bun sandwich isa true culinary experience.
What else is on the menu?
Lunch will probably be, it'susually some sort of a pork
burger.
John Yoder that used to ownYoder Meats does it for us.
So around here, you may not knowYoder Meats, but Yoder Meats is
(21:29):
kind of a big name in the wholemeat world.
I don't know.
I know Yoder smokers.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, Yoder smokers is notrelated.
Yoder's also a town out byHutchinson.
So, anyway we do some porkburgers.
There's usually baked beans.
I think this year we were eithergoing to do slaw or potato salad
again.
There's usually.
All day honey buns.
(21:49):
So like we, we buy a pallet ofhoney buns.
There's Dr.
Pepper and Mountain Dew is whatwe have to drink.
There's the diet drink for theday Is the water, so Yes.
Yeah.
Good.
Yeah.
That just diet.
That's diet.
Yeah.
It's diet enough.
Yep.
I mean it's What time does thisthing start in the morning?
Gates open at ten first honeybun at ten first.
Honey bun at 10.
Honey bun sandwich at noon.
(22:11):
No.
Honey bun sandwich before thebacon disappear.
Because, I don't know how manypounds of bacon we did last
year.
I think maybe like a hundred orsomething like that.
If you don't get your baconsandwich early in the day it
goes away.
I'm pretty sure we've got linedup.
The guys who do the Pronto Pupsat the state fair.
he came out last year, set uphis wagon and served us all
(22:33):
Pronto Pups in the afternoon.
Dude, those are the best.
They're corn dogs at the statefair.
Yeah, they're awesome.
And then we also had a softserve of ice cream machine
going, so supper was pronto pupsand ice cream.
Yeah, there's the vegetable islike potatoes I think in
Joe (22:47):
the, I've got another award to win then before sundown.
Yep.
And that's clay shooting.
Oh yeah.
Bring
Jason (22:53):
your own shotgun.
Yep.
Oh, you bring your own shotgun.
We've got shells to buy there ifyou need them.
You can bring your own too.
But yeah, we've got some, we'llhave a nice trap set.
There's five throwers, sixthrowers, I think, something
like that.
And yeah there's a lot of guysthat spend the whole day out
there doing that.
It's a lot of fun.
Like a person thrower or amechanical thrower?
Mechanical throwers,
Joe (23:11):
Uhhuh.
So you stomp on it and
Jason (23:12):
it goes uhhuh.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we've got volunteers thathelp keep those things running
and filled wow.
Joe (23:17):
I can't imagine.
How many volunteers does it taketo put on Man Day Kansas?
Jason (23:21):
It's a lot.
We'll have 50 ish.
Yep.
So cool.
Yeah, it's pretty neat.
So I, and
Joe (23:30):
I'm the champion race car driver.
And probably not so much atgolf.
I'll let you have, take thatone.
Okay.
You a golfer?
Jason (23:36):
No, not really.
Yeah.
Joe (23:37):
Then I'll take the skeet shooting and whatever.
I don't know how we're going tocount the competition for the
automatic weapons, just mostbodies?
Yeah.
I mean, most teddy bears,
Jason (23:48):
A good one for the full auto would be how long you can
keep the trigger pulled withoutletting off The record is 250
rounds.
Joe (24:03):
How long does that take?
Not very long.
Wow, man.
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you gotta
Jason (24:09):
work out your shoulder or get, or you gotta work out it
get, it gets hot and you gottakeep the barrel down.
It's something.
Wow.
Yep.
Cannot wait.
Yep.
And then the guys fromManhattan, Kansas called Man
Hatchet, bring out their hatchetthrowing portable stuff and set
up four or five lanes of hatchetthrowing.
That's been pretty popular overthe years.
(24:30):
People just, you know, havingfun doing that.
We'll have a place set up withpicnic tables.
I mean, honestly, it's nice toget away from the noise and
stuff a little bit and just sitand chat with your dudes that
you brought out, meet some newpeople or whatever.
Yeah, that would be
Joe (24:42):
nice.
Are there any bands?
Jason (24:44):
Nope.
We play music.
It's canned.
Huh.
Joe (24:46):
Yep.
But there is a PA system.
Yeah.
Even though there's so muchnoise
Jason (24:49):
already.
Yeah.
because I mean, like I said wehave got range masters and
people out on the range that canshut the thing down right now,
so yep.
Joe (25:01):
What if it rains?
Jason (25:03):
Bring a poncho.
Okay.
That's it.
We're having it.
I mean, we've never we've nevernot had it because of weather.
And the one time that we maybeshould have canceled it because
of weather, we didn't.
And it was the most fun ever.
It was snow.
We had a foot and a half ofsnow.
(25:24):
Wow.
And it was a blast.
Yes.
Yeah.
Joe (25:28):
Awesome.
So thanks for putting up with myquestion about what if it rains.
I saw it in the, on the FAQ.
I would encourage everybody toread the FAQ on Facebook.
Yep.
Facebook is like the only outletfor
Jason (25:39):
Man Day that I have found.
That's it.
That's the only one we run
Joe (25:43):
yet.
People ask.
Everything's in the FAQ it's apretty entertaining FAQ.
It's very filled withtestosterone.
Yep.
One of the questions people askis,"Sounds like a very patriotic
event.
Why are you sending your moneyout of the country?"
Yeah,
Jason (25:59):
Like I mentioned earlier, the organic nature of Man Day
has been one of the coolestthings about it.
There are so many goodnot-for-profits that do so much
good around the country.
I mean, pick one, right?
And this one's ours.
We'd be open to talking tosomebody if they want to throw a
Man Day event in their town tocome out and help them do it for
(26:20):
their thing.
Man Day isn't exclusive tofundraising for Hosanna Niger.
It is for our Man Day.
But you know, well, people
Joe (26:28):
need the gospel outside Kansas too, so,
Jason (26:32):
yeah.
I mean, maybe, I don't know.
From what I've seen in New YorkCity, I think the best way, the
best reason that we can come upwith, for why Hosanna Niger
versus any number of otherthings is because we made it so
we get to pick.
Yeah, that's right.
Right
Joe (26:48):
on.
Yep.
Right on.
Well, good luck at Man Day.
I'll see you there.
What should I wear?
Jason (26:54):
Whatever.
Okay, well I got some EvelKnievel leathers.
Yeah.
I mean helmet, cape...
depends on what it's like.
I mean, there's like last year'skind of hot, so I mean long
pants or shorts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But come out man, I mean, we ManDay Kansas on Facebook.
You follow the links.
We're doing a service this yearthat'll help, that helps us sell
the tickets and gets the waiverand everything done for you
(27:16):
ahead of time.
We should just be able to scanyour phone walking in the door
this year, so that's kind of newfor us and should help us.
I love that.
Yeah,
Joe (27:25):
I love that.
I saw that you can register youcan still buy your tickets even
without having a name on it.
I don't know who I'm taking yet.
Jason (27:31):
Yeah.
In terms of Man Day this year wejust need people to show up.
You know, that's what we'restill looking for.
We're still wanting to get it tothe thousand and shut it down
like we did last year.
What do I gotta
Joe (27:41):
do to convince you to come to Man Kansas?
Jason (27:45):
I mean, it's funny because shooting guns and stuff
like that is, I like to do it,but it's not like a humongous
hobby for me.
My biggest joy of that day iswatching everybody else have the
time of their lives doing crapthat they don't ever get to do.
Like the first time I drove acar in the pasture I was like,
(28:06):
oh my goodness, I cannot believeI'm wasting this Acura out here.
You know, like I'm born and bredlike this Midwest, Kansas boy
who doesn't leave their platefull at the table.
Right?
And I'm out here wasting thisAcura Integra.
It was like, I am ripping thisthing apart in the field and who
cares?
And it it was so awesome.
(28:27):
So the car thing for me is fun.
I don't always get to do itbecause it's a lot of work for
me that day, but it's worth it.
You know, we have some peoplewho they don't get to own
firearms for whatever reason orwhatever, and they can come
borrow one of ours and shoot itat the range, and they just, you
know, it's a lot of fun forthem.
(28:48):
They, it's just something theynever get to do.
That's part of it for some
Joe (28:51):
reason.
So this is a special event forfelons.
Jason (28:58):
Maybe I don't, I'll leave that, or whoever can't.
I'll just leave that there.
Okay.
I mean, maybe their wife won'tlet them own a gun.
Joe (29:06):
Oh, the anti Valentine's Day.
This is perfect.
This is great.
I cannot wait.
Yep.
How so we've brought this toyour ear holes.
Now you know about Man Day,Kansas.
I don't think there's anythingwe left out.
Jason (29:20):
I don't think so.
So here's
Joe (29:21):
How you can get signed up for Man Day right
Jason (29:24):
now.
Facebook, Man Day Kansas.
Find the link, click it.
Put your information in yourcredit card.
You're in.
So easy.
Yeah.
Oh, well, one other thing aboutthat.
It gets you into the gate.
It gets you a t-shirt.
It says Man Day on it.
(29:45):
It gets you one ticket into theAR 15 raffle.
It gets you two meals and allthe honey buns and Dr.
Pepper you can drink.
Bring your cash for the cars,the bullets, and the swag you
want to take home.
Oh my
Joe (30:01):
gosh.
I can't even imagine how muchcash I'm going to need to bring
to buy all these awards andtrophies.
Jason (30:06):
Yep.
Yep.
So we need to break$215,000 thisyear.
Let's do it.
Whoa.
Joe (30:13):
Yeah.
Perfect.
It's great to have goals.
You're going to hit every singleone of those goals.
Hope so.
And I want to thank you forspending time with us today.
This is again, Jason with ManDay and good luck with your
event.
Happy Landings.
I will see you there, Cape on!
Jason (30:28):
Sweet.
I appreciate the opportunity alot.
All right, brother.
Heather (30:34):
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe.
It's our mission to preserve andpresent the legacy of Evel
Knievel.
So if you have an idea for anepisode or a guest or have a
suggestion to improve our show,just drop us a joe@thrill.show
like,
Evel Knievel (30:52):
I just think the Evel Knievel way
Heather (30:57):
We leave you with the encouraging words from the Book
of Deuteronomy.
"Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid or terrifiedfor the Lord your God goes with
you.
He will never leave you orforsake you." Until next time,
happy landings.
Joe Friday (31:18):
If you like to fly by the seat of your your pants,
this where you belong.
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