June 22, 2025 • 32 mins
Do you love wrenching, road rally racing, carburetors and general Maker Shop Talk?
If so, join Tamara Robertson (Mythbusters, Seekers of Science) as she revs up the fun in this all new mini-season dedicated to the Hemming's Great Race and the amazing team of Trailblazing Creators assembled by Riley's Rebuilds!
As a shout-out to Race Sponsor Edelbrock and the team behind the car at Riley Rebuild's, this episode kicks off with a Tech Talk about carburetors before Tamara sits down with Carburetor Queen, Trailblazer and Maker Extraordinaire Riley from Riley Rebuilds!
Topics they cover include (but are surely not limited to):
- 1957 Chevy Nomad
- Carburetors
- Signing Autographs at SEMA
- Shoutout to Edelbrock
- Our Great Race WHY
- Riley's 1st Car
- Riley's Origin Story
- The importance of mentorship
- Shoutout to Theresa Contreras & Real Deal Revolution
- 73' Bronco
- Rev'ving in Jessi's Footsteps in The Great Race
- Shoutout to the Jessi Comb's Foundation
- Being a SEMA SBN JCF Rising Star Recipient
- What is a trailblazer?
- Shoutout to Wayne Carini
- Dane the Dad-ager's Origin Story
- Jurassic Park Jeep
- Shout out to Bogi from All Girls Garage
- Pre-race issues with the 66' Fairlane
- Founding Riley's Rebuild
- From Viral to In Business
- Shoutout to Audrey from Riley's Rebuilds
- Riley's pointers for people starting out
- Being a "Yes and" person
- Shoutout to Caroline Richey
- The power of the Community
... and so much more
As we dig into Season 3's First Episode with the 24th episode of Tinkering Belles you're surely not going to want to miss it!
So join in on Tamara's adventure as a Maker as she works to amplify the BAMF Females Behind the Builds one interview at a time!
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If you enjoyed the show join in on the Maker adventure with Tamara and her guests on the Tinkering Belles Instagram page.
You can follow Riley's adventures here, here, and here:
Linktree - https://linktr.ee/rileysrebuilds
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rileysrebuilds/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RileysRebuilds/
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@rileysrebuilds
Shopify - https://rileysrebuilds.myshopify.com/
LinkedIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/riley-schlick-2105a6260/
Music for this Episode was provided by Bill Trowell Music. Visit BillTrowellMusic.com to hear more and to subscribe to Bill's Patreon, where he covers favorite showtunes, movie themes, classic rock and jazz, as well as requests from Patron's.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tamara Robertson (00:00):
Greetings,Oh shopmates, and welcome to
Tinkering Bells, a show aboutDIY, design, and all things
hands-on.
The sky's the limit as we talkprops, metalwork, cosplay,
woodwork, leather, electronics,and so much more.
I'm Tamara Robertson, yourhost, so strap on your tool
belts because we're about to getinto some Skillshare on y'all.
(00:26):
Today, I'm going to be joined bya maker who launched her first
motor sports business at 14.
Now, I don't want to give awaytoo much, but this maker is
leading the way and connectingthe dots to other inspiring
trailblazers.
So if that doesn't make youwant to stick around and hear
more, then you might be at thewrong podcast.
(00:50):
But first, let's go ahead andhave our tech talk of the day.
So we're going to be talkingall about the Hemings Great Race
and all of the incrediblepeople and sponsors that made
our vintage Ford Fairlane raceready, including our lead racer
and her build team at Riley'sRebuilds, who handled the entire
vehicle build out.
Not once, but twice.
(01:12):
And sponsor Edelbrock, whogifted so many parts, including
Riley's favorite, thecarburetor.
So let's back it up.
Where did the carburetor getits start?
The first working carburetorwas developed in 1876 by Carl
(01:34):
Benz.
Yep.
that bends as a way to mix airand fuel before ignition in
early gas engines.
Now, carburetors became thestandard fuel delivery system in
vehicles for over a century,evolving from a simple updraft
type to the more complexfour-barrel monsters of American
muscle cars in the 1960s and70s.
(01:56):
They work on a very simple butpowerful principle, the Venturi
effect, where fast-moving aircreates a vacuum that pulls in
fuel and atomizes it, essentialfor power throttle response and
smooth running.
Now, legendary names likeEdelbrock led the performance
revolution in carb design,especially in racing.
(02:19):
Founded in 1938, Edelbrock setthe standard for their tuned
intake maniforms andhigh-performance carbs, trusted
by hot rodders, racers, andengine builders for decades.
Today, Edelbrock's AVS2carburetors bring together
old-school tuning capabilitywith modern reliability, making
(02:40):
them a go-to for restorers andracers alike, including Riley,
who launched her first companyat 14, rebuilding classic carbs
and empowering the nextgeneration of wrenchers with
Riley Rebuild.
Well, that's it for your TechTalk.
As always, you can join in onthe conversation with my maker
friends and me on the TinkeringBells Instagram and X pages.
(03:01):
Just search for BellsTinkering, hit follow, and share
your DIY adventures togetherwith us.
Have a tool you want to learnabout?
Let me know, and it may befeatured in a future episode.
Tell us what you liked, whatyou hated, or possibly even what
we missed.
So now we're going to be gettinginto the main event.
(03:21):
And I am so excited tointroduce you to our next maker.
So drum roll, please.
Presenting Riley.
Riley, thanks for joining me.
How are y ou?
Riley (03:29):
Good.
How are you?
Tamara Robertson (03:31):
I am doing well.
So I'd like to start off byletting people know where they
should go to find you, followyou, and what they might expect
when they go to those locations
Riley (03:43):
Yeah, so where you can follow me is Riley's Rebuilds on
every platform.
And what to expect is I have myown company.
It's a carburetor rebuildingservice.
And we have hired five girlhigh schoolers and three boys
who work on carburetors.
And we started to do carbuilds.
So it's a lot of old classicbuilds.
(04:03):
We're right now working on a 66Ford Fairlane.
I have a 95 Jeep, a 94, 350.
So we have a bunch of differentlittle car projects and then
obviously the little ones areslowly getting their projects.
So we're going to startexpanding onto that.
Tamara Robertson (04:20):
I love this.
You and I actually met in 2023at SEMA.
For those of you that don'tknow, that's the aftermarket
show that happens in Vegas everyyear.
Riley and I were actually doingautograph sessions with our
fans in the She Shed booth,which was this cool assembly of
trailblazing ladies from theJesse Combs Foundation, the Real
(04:42):
Deal Revolution, and all GirlGangs Garage.
But as a superhero scientist,one of the things I really love
to learn is people's originstories.
And I don't know that I'veactually got to hear from you
what your gearhead origin storywas.
Like, what got you started tobegin with?
Riley (05:02):
Oh that's so funny.
And first off, let me saysigning autographs next to you
at that year was like mindblowing.
Okay.
That was insane.
That was so much fun.
And yeah, so, but the originstory kind of started before I
was born.
We can start there.
So my dad's always been agearhead and he bought a car
(05:25):
about 21 years ago.
It was a 1957 Chevy Nomad.
And so that's what has beenalways in my garage.
My dad was also a stay-at-homedad.
I actually kind of grew up withmy crib in the garage.
Whenever my mom was gone, he'dbe wrenching there and that
(05:45):
Nomad was what he was wrenching.
I grew up very tomboy.
He also was a wrestling coach.
So I grew up with a bunch ofhigh school boys in the house
all the time.
So it was definitely a bigtomboy household.
And I knew growing up that Iwanted to be able to know what
was under the hood.
If I broke down, I didn't haveto call anybody.
(06:07):
I didn't need no man, you know,be really independent as a
woman.
And it stuck at a young age.
I started renting with myfather And then about 14, I
said, hey, dad, when are yougoing to buy me a car?
What car is it going to be?
I would like to wrench on itand work with it.
And then he said, whoa, me buyyou a car.
(06:31):
You have to buy your own car.
And in Florida, the age ofgetting a job is 14.
I was like 13 at the time.
And it's minimum wage, whichwas like $8.
So I was like, okay, this isn'tgoing to work for my price
point, for what I want, etcetera, et cetera.
And he told me to go into thegarage, find something to flip,
(06:52):
and there was an Edelbrockcarburetor.
He explained what it was to me,and he kind of showed me the
basics and was like, wait, thisis really easy.
Like, you would really likethis.
And we took it apart, and weput it back together, and we
sold it in like 30 minutes.
And ever since then, I washooked.
And what's really fun is I didtravel competitive soccer.
(07:14):
So we traveled all overFlorida, all over the states.
And we ended up, every time wewere traveling going on Facebook
Marketplace and finding theseold carburetors and I ended up
pretty much selling out all ofFlorida I bought all the
carburetors off FacebookMarketplace in Florida after
doing this for like two-ishyears I got my car I started
(07:35):
wrenching on that it was a 95 YJJurassic Park Jeep and then
about I would say, what, four orfive years ago?
It gets older and older andolder every time I tell it.
Five years ago, I went viral onsocial media because I was
asking for parts and carburetorsbecause I'd pretty much bought
out all of Florida, and thatwent viral on Facebook, and we
(07:58):
ended up having 300 carburetorsin the next two weeks on our
doorsteps for free.
We got a bunch of sponsorshipsthat reached out, and Dane and
my mom are marketers, andthey're business people, and
they saw that I could dosomething with this and make a
career out of it and we reallyjumped on it and I ended up
hiring my four girl best friendsthey joined me in the garage
(08:22):
they quit their part-time jobsand they joined me and ever
since then we've been going toSEMA we've been going to PRI
we've been doing builds we'vebeen just saying yes to
everything and anything that wecan and Now we're actually
starting to find groups andbring women together and start
leading certain things now.
So I'm really excited for that.
Tamara Robertson (08:44):
I love that.
And there's so many gems inthat.
There's the fact that you justauthentically grew up in it.
There's the fact that you justare currently saying yes to
everything.
There's the asking for helpwhen you needed it from the
community and now building thecommunity yourself.
And it's funny because my nextquestion was actually going to
(09:08):
be why carburetors, but itsounds like we know the why.
So I started this episode withthe history history of
carburetors, but how about ifyou could walk the audience
through a Mickey Mouse versionof like, what is a carburetor
and why should they care if itworks or doesn't work in their
vehicle?
Riley (09:28):
Okay, so the carburetor is genuinely the heart of your
car.
Anything pre-80s has acarburetor.
Boats have carburetors.
Bikes have carburetors.
There's a lot of carburetorseverywhere.
And it's the heart.
So basically, and what's fun, Ilike to tell this to kids, and
kids are like, what?
Is when you step on the gaspedal, you're actually putting
air into your car.
(09:49):
So a carburetor takes gas andair and mixes it to make the
right mixture for your car tomake it run.
Like right now, we're havingmajor carburetor problems.
We have enough air coming intoour carburetors.
We have two carburetors on ourcar.
We don't have enough gas.
It's just too lean.
So your carburetor, you caneither run rich or you can run
(10:10):
light.
And that's when tuning comes inand making sure that your
carburetor is healthy and clean.
That is normally the number oneproblem of everybody's problems
when you start a classic carproject or just an older
project.
Tamara Robertson (10:26):
That's really cool to know.
What we're talking about inthis mini series is the great
race.
And I love to say that you arethe one that assembled all of
us.
We are your car Avengers.
And so I have to ask, beforeyou got invited to the great
race, were you aware of therace?
Did you have ambitions to be init?
What were your initialthoughts?
Riley (10:49):
Initially, no.
I didn't know much about theGreat Race.
I had known it's been, like, ahuge bucket list on a bunch of
car people's, like, list.
And I know Jesse did it, andit's here, but here, there.
But we were at SEMA, and Cokerand Hemmings had come to us
being like, hey, this could besomething you're interested in
doing.
It wasn't something huge on ourlist.
(11:11):
But after they brought it toour attention and they showed us
photos, we were like, uh...
Yes, that is so cool.
We're obviously going to dothat.
Tamara Robertson (11:22):
love that.
And so we are, as you noted,going to be following the
notable footsteps of JessiCombs, who did an episode of The
List, which is, you know, theraces and events that car people
should do before they die.
So with that, I would love ifyou would share with the
audience your Jessi Connect andyour Jessi story.
Riley (11:43):
So I actually personally didn't know Jessi before she
passed away.
I first learned of her throughthe documentary.
My dad, Dane, came to mesaying, you need to watch this.
It just came out.
It's something beautiful.
They did such a well jobpicturing her.
(12:03):
And if you're going to be inthe industry, you need to know
her.
And so I watched that, and Icried my eyes out.
And it was the most amazingdocumentary ever.
And I slowly had people tellingme stories about her.
And through that, I started togain a really good image of her.
And I felt like I was connectedto her in so many different
(12:24):
ways.
Every person that she met madea mark on them.
And every person that talked tome about her said that they
were her best friend.
Or she was their best friend.
And she was just such a ray ofsunshine.
And she was an amazing woman.
And...
My first year of SEMA, when Icame with my best friends, we
were all girls and Dane and Isaid, okay, we're going to say
(12:47):
yes and everything and try andget in as many seminars and as
many like women owned and womenthings that we can to really see
how I could be involved in thisindustry.
And we met the Jessi CombsFoundation.
And I just started talking toeverybody and all the women and
(13:08):
it was, really painted such abeautiful picture of jessi and
in 2023 i ended up winning therising star award for the jessi
combs foundation and that reallysignified like where i was like
i knew that this was a group ofladies i wanted to be involved
with i absolutely loved thefoundation i love what she
(13:31):
stands for and how she's made amark in the industry and um I
could never live up to her, butone day, hopefully, I would love
to be like her.
Tamara Robertson (13:43):
One of the things that I've heard Jessi say
at events is that youshouldn't, you shouldn't want
to, you shouldn't want to beJessi.
You should want to be you andjust know that she is empowering
you in any way that she canalong the way.
She always just really toldevery young person, young and
old, honestly, anyone that shemet that like they each had
(14:05):
something unique and beautifulto bring to the world and that
they shouldn't want to be her,that they shouldn't want to be
who they're meant to be.
And okay, so you got to knowthose pounds because of the
rising star award and then we'reobviously going to be following
in jessi's footsteps jessi wasthe grand marshal in 2016
obviously she did the other halfof the country than we're doing
but what what is it meant toyou to be having this race
(14:30):
specifically be in partnershipwith the jessi combs foundation
and what does that look like
Riley (14:36):
yeah so this First off is such an honor being able to
like race and drive with Jessi'sname Our car is Jessi's colors
and we have the beautiful Jessicombs vinyl be like the logo
We're gonna have all the womensigning the back of the trunk.
It's on there and We have likeI have cute little ladybugs
(14:57):
everywhere like little red andred and white polka dots
everywhere for everybody to findit's Definitely wonderful.
And I'm really glad it camealong to that.
We were going to do a Pinto carand I couldn't, I couldn't wish
for a better paint color and itlooks so cool.
So I'm really excited for theladies to be representing the
(15:19):
tribute and representing Jessithrough that drive.
Tamara Robertson (15:24):
I love it.
And I know the foundation isgoing to be sending some
bandanas so that we can likerock the dots.
And you know, the one thingthat, We always tell the
audience and audience, I justwant you to know if you see red
and white dots, go and say hi,because anyone that's connected
to the foundation, we believethat the bandana is actually
introducing people that Jessiwould like to have meet in
(15:47):
person.
And it's really beenlife-changing some of the people
that I've met just by beinglike, hey, I love your dots.
Can you tell me about how yougot them?
And the number of them that...
have either met Jessi in personor have gone through a Real
Deal Revolution workshop or beenat an event that the
foundation's at.
It's just truly impactful, youknow, that community as it grows
(16:07):
one dot at a time.
Yeah,
Riley (16:09):
I love that the bandana represents, because I wear mine
wherever I go on my wrist, but Ilove how also each woman
accessorizes it in their ownway.
So I've seen women do uppershoulder, upper arm, leg, hair,
neck, like, and it's...
such a versatile thing andwhat's actually really funny is
(16:30):
we were driving and we hadsomebody who knew jessi pull up
to us next in the rv we're likei love your car i knew her and i
was like that's so cute that'sso sweet like that that's just
jessi you know like that's hername like and that's her her
image and her vision like comingto life like this is like this
(16:52):
is what she wanted
Tamara Robertson (16:53):
You know, and that's one of the things that I
love the most.
Like, I remember the first timeI saw our iconography that's
got the gold J and C, and Ididn't at the time realize that
the emblem literally was JessiCombs.
And so it's been one of thosethings that, like, the number of
people that do or don'trecognize it, like, Either way,
(17:16):
it brings them together.
And I really think that alongthe race, we're going to hear so
many Jessi's stories.
It's going to be reallyincredible.
being on the board of thefoundation, you know, and
meeting you both at SEMA.
And then since then seeing whatyou're doing to not only rise
your, your, your on your ownmerits, but also to bring other
(17:36):
young women along with you isjust such a beautiful thing.
And so I have to ask, as youwere hurting the kittens and
assembling the team, was there,was there a criteria when you
did that call out to all of thewomen that are joining us on
this race?
Like what, what in your mindwas the one, one, thing you
hoped each person could bring?
Riley (17:58):
I knew that I wanted to bring anybody that I'd ever come
across that was a woman in theindustry.
That's why the initial groupchat was so big, was I think I
went through my entire followingand just added every woman that
I had in there.
I just knew I wanted somereally rad ladies who knew what
(18:22):
they wanted and knew that theywere powerful and knew that they
could wrench and really get toit and wanted to get to it.
And that was really the onlycriteria.
Tamara Robertson (18:34):
I love it.
And, you know, I've beentalking with so many other road
rally racers, like I know thatit's going to be a unique thing
having a group of all youngladies, but also young ladies
that know what they're doing.
Every single one of us is thereal deal.
We're going to be able to workon the vehicle.
And so, you know, there's thisword that the foundation uses a
(18:54):
lot, and that's the wordtrailblazer.
And it's something thatdescribed Jesse, and it's
something that really describesyou and everything that you've
been doing since you were very,very young.
Is that something, you know,what does trailblazer in your
mind mean when you're out in theworld and trying to embody
that?
Riley (19:14):
First off, thank you for the compliment.
You're going to make me cryover here, okay?
So...
I would say Trailblazer issomebody who leads with
confidence and doesn't care whatothers say or mean or think.
They're somebody who is doingit first and they're bringing
(19:38):
along everybody behind them.
I like to think of it kind ofas like a wheat farm and you
have a torch and you're goingthrough and you have to like
burn through everything, but itslowly starts to flame out
behind you and really opens upthe world.
to everybody else.
And that's what I want to do isI want to come in here and
(19:58):
really knock down doors.
And I know there's been amazingwomen before me that have done
such beautiful things in theindustry for women and for us
and have done that.
But I also know that everywoman that comes into the
industry is being a trailblazerand they're knocking down doors
no matter what.
Tamara Robertson (20:16):
I love that.
And you know, it's Part of whatI've really enjoyed watching as
you've been evolving in yourcareer and you're standing at
everything since two years agoto now and beyond is the fact
that you so genuinely do bringothers along.
And I think that that'ssomething that while you're
(20:37):
leading this group oftrailblazing women and passing
that torch, you're not justdoing it to a younger generation
of women.
Like you have, you have womenlike me, you have women like
Teresa from real dealrevolution, Dana from the
justice foundation.
You have this older generationof women too, that are getting
to see this beautiful light ofwhat it looks like.
to lift the veil.
(21:00):
You have opened the door to allof your sponsors, to all of the
young women on the groups.
You invite us on every singlecall, which is a lot of trust.
There's people I've known foryears that have worked at the
same company as me that havebeen like, maybe you shouldn't
be on the call.
So you have been just so givingand trusting to this entire
group of women.
(21:20):
And I think that that style ofleadership is something that
both young and old can learnfrom and can really start to
integrate in.
to how they're working eachday.
And so what does it mean to youas we get out there and we're
about to start this race to knowthat like, not only are you
(21:40):
like, you got all these ladies,right?
But like, you're also going outthere cause you wanna win,
right?
You're going out there to lead.
So like, what's fresh in yourmind?
Like what are things that we asa group can help you to achieve
during this race?
Riley (21:56):
I just want everybody to have a great time.
I mean, we're wrenching to thelast minute.
Right now, the car is havingsome problems.
For anybody who's not followingalong, I'll explain a little
bit of what's happening to ourcar.
I had a 390 big block.
It was my original Fairlanethat I bought a couple years
(22:18):
ago.
We wrenched it to pieces.
It was a shell, and we got itgoing, and then...
We got it running and there wasno oil pressure and we looked
and the motor just ate itself.
And so like four days before wegot on the road, we bought a
new Fairlane in South Carolina.
We went to the Real DealCaroline shop and we've been
(22:41):
wrenching on that car for twodays.
We did a whole paint job.
We've done literally everythingin that car and we're having
now intake problems we thoughtit was going to be the
distributor and we thought maybea master cylinder problem and a
couple other things and we gota new distributor in and now
ironically We think it'scarburetor problems and that we
(23:03):
need new springs because we have100 CFM, I mean 1,000 CFM
coming into the carbs, but wehave no gas and we're getting
lean pops.
So what's also ironic is we'vebeen working with a shop in
Minnesota.
It's a father-son team, Dan andPat, who we send all our
carburetors we don't do to them.
And they live 20 minutes fromthe race and they have all the
(23:26):
springs and the seats and theneedles and everything we think
we need.
And we're like, which you canneither things you can't
normally find in just like autoshops there's something you have
to like order and it's going totake a while and we have
millions of them back in ourshop but we hopefully that's
what we think it is and we'vegone to multiple mechanics
(23:48):
through our stops and we've beenwrenching on everything and so
hopefully that's what it is thatthat's why i say i hope all the
ladies just have fun they makecontent like we will make this
work no matter what We have anew intake just in case.
We've done it before in anhour.
We can do it again.
And especially with all theladies coming in, if we're a day
(24:09):
late and we just get all theseladies hands-on, And everybody
just has fun.
That's all I hope for.
Everybody makes great content,has such great stories and
memories, and just really enjoysthemselves.
And I'm excited for everybodyto connect and actually see each
other's faces.
And it's like all my world'sconnecting at once.
(24:30):
So I'm really excited for that.
Tamara Robertson (24:33):
I'm so stoked.
And what I love about this isthe beauty of the community
piece.
Like it really speaks to thiscommunity that you've been able
to build, not just, you know,for this event, but over the
years all coming together.
And, you know, I love that withRiley's rebuild, you're helping
lift and teach that nextgeneration and getting them
(24:54):
hands-on.
And so this has all just beenlike a really cool thing to
watch come together.
And so I have to ask for Riley,Those that are new, you know,
as you call them the littles, ifthey're looking to try to
figure out like where they fitin motorsport and automotive and
kind of this world, do you havesome pointers for them on where
(25:16):
to get started, where to findresources?
Riley (25:20):
Yeah, so I always say go to your local shop.
No shop is going to turn away alittle person who wants to, I
say little, high schooler thatwants to learn or who wants to
know.
YouTube is always a great starttoo.
Getting just a project carthat's under $5,000.
There are thousands of videosbeing like, this is what your
(25:41):
first project car should be.
This is what you need to lookfor.
This is what you don't want.
This is how you wrench on it.
YouTube, university, Amazing.
That's how we, I feel likeeverybody starts if there is no
mechanical interest in family orin friends.
Shops are a great option, andthere's always going to be some
(26:03):
old dude a couple neighborhoodsdown from you or a couple houses
down with a really rad classiccar that's always wrenching,
that has always wanted somebodyto come in and just, like,
learn.
And you have to be a sponge,especially at a young age.
You can't say no.
You have to say yes toeverything.
We have a girl, Audrey, she'sin the back.
(26:23):
She's going to be racing withus.
She is amazing.
such a sponge she's a yes andperson and like to the fullest
extent i've like she just wantsto know everything she sits and
just absorbs it all and sheloves this and like it makes it
so easy and so nice and sowonderful to have someone like
that that just wants all thisknowledge to take in you just
(26:46):
want to give more and more andmore to that person because like
they're expecting nothing butjust what you know and that
that's a really great connectionand that's also a great way to
find mentors.
You definitely as a youngperson want a mentor in this
industry because they have theirconnections.
They can help you out wheneverthey can give you different
(27:09):
mentor connections.
So I've had like, I've had bothlike, my dad was my mentor who
introduced me to all girlsgarage, which then I found
bogey.
And then bogey introduced me toWayne Carini and then Wayne
Carini has introduced me to somany other people.
And so mentor after mentor,after mentor, after just putting
yourself out there is such a,like I could not stress it
(27:32):
enough to anybody who's tryingto get into the industry.
Tamara Robertson (27:35):
Yeah.
I would say the same thing.
Mentorship has been such a,pivotal like game changer in my
career always having both amentor and a mentee and then I
also love to get like a peermentor that's like about the
same age that's or not even sameage but same same place in
their career um which I don'tknow if you've experienced this
(27:59):
but like as a trailblazeroftentimes when you're at the
front of the race it's hard tofind people that are are in the
exact industry you are doing thesame thing, but you can often
find other trailblazers that areblazing the trail somewhere
else that may be at that samestage of like, okay, now I'm to
a place where I went viral orI'm to a place where I'm getting
(28:19):
asked to be a spokesperson or akeynote.
So each of those stages,finding someone that's been
there, even if it's in adifferent industry, they can
share valuable insight.
Riley (28:30):
Yes, exactly.
Tamara Robertson (28:32):
Yeah.
So there's one question I loveto ask everyone that comes on
the show.
And that is, if you had asuperpower, what would it be and
why?
Riley (28:43):
I would really love to read people's minds.
But only in a positive way.
Okay.
Tamara Robertson (28:52):
I was like, sometimes I don't need to know
what people think about me.
Riley (28:54):
Yeah, I don't want to know the negative.
I don't want to know anythingbad.
But I think I would love thatbecause then it could be like,
oh, I'm really hungry andthirsty right now.
And then it'd be like, food?
You know, or just like, I wouldreally like that personal
connection of just being able tokind of view into somebody
(29:14):
else's world too.
I think a lot of us sometimesget into our own heads.
We make our own worlds.
And we don't, we don't seeother people.
We don't see other lives untilwe step out of our own.
And I think that would bereally, really cool to be able
to see somebody else's life.
Tamara Robertson (29:30):
I think that's really interesting too, because
like back to that, that talkabout mentorship, it kind of can
help you to see a possibilitywhere someone may just like have
this inkling, but have no ideawhere to start.
And you'd be like, Hey, I seethat you like automotive.
Like why not come over here?
Riley (29:46):
A lot of people are very nervous to ask.
but once you put it out there,they'll instantly grab onto
Tamara Robertson (29:54):
They really will.
And I mean, it's one of thosethings that when you're looking
at developing a mentee, forinstance, it's always easy to
have someone tag along with youto wherever you're going next.
And the amount of education andknowledge that they're gonna
gain in that moment that for youis just like every day is kind
(30:15):
of incredible.
So- Going into the race, whatis like the one vehicle you hope
you see?
Because this is like a vintagecar show.
So going into the race, what'sone you hope you see out there?
What's your dream spot?
Riley (30:34):
That's a good one.
I don't even know.
Tamara Robertson (30:40):
Like I would have loved to have seen the
Bugatti that Jessi got to drive.
that would have been a coolvehicle to see, right?
Riley (30:45):
That would have been so cool.
actually, like, there's acouple of them that take the
race, so I think we might seeone or two.
I, Dan, and all of us have beenjoking about, like, a predated
RV making the race.
Do you know how cool that wouldbe to see, like, something
older than 70s, like, in an RV?
(31:05):
That's a hard one to do.
I also, I really like theBroncos.
That's, like, my dream car, soI think anything, like, 73,
like, Bronco would be really,really cool.
Any Mustangs too.
I feel like any of those reallyare up my alley for sure.
Tamara Robertson (31:26):
like it.
I like it.
Teresa is going to very muchapprove of the Bronco message.
Riley (31:31):
I saw she's cutting up one like actively right now.
Tamara Robertson (31:35):
yeah.
I think she's hoping to go KingHammers bound with a Bronco
this coming year.
So I'm definitely watching allof her gramming to see any sneak
peeks.
Well, amazing.
This has been incredible.
The Hemings Creek Race kicksoff June 21st in St.
Paul, Minnesota, and we'll runall the way until we hit the
(31:56):
finish line in Moorpark, Irmo,South Carolina.
So follow all of us onInstagram to stay up to date
with all things Creator Race aswe tackle this iconic vintage
rally road race one mile at atime.
That's it for Tinkering Bells.
This episode is assembled andready for delivery.
Riley, this has beenincredible.
Riley (32:15):
Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you so much.
This has been really awesome.
Tamara Robertson (32:19):
I want to thank you for choosing Tinkering
Bells as your user's manual forall things Maker on a bi-weekly
basis.
If you want to continue to hearmore, don't forget to rate and
review the show on yourpodcasting app of choice, as
well as sharing it with yourfriends.
I look forward to seeing younext time.
Until then, don't forget tokeep making.
Greetings,Oh shopmates, and welcome to
Tinkering Bells, a show aboutDIY, design, and all things
hands-on.
The sky's the limit as we talkprops, metalwork, cosplay,
woodwork, leather, electronics,and so much more.
I'm Tamara Robertson, yourhost, so strap on your tool
belts because we're about to getinto some Skillshare on y'all.
(00:26):
Today, I'm going to be joined bya maker who launched her first
motor sports business at 14.
Now, I don't want to give awaytoo much, but this maker is
leading the way and connectingthe dots to other inspiring
trailblazers.
So if that doesn't make youwant to stick around and hear
more, then you might be at thewrong podcast.
(00:50):
But first, let's go ahead andhave our tech talk of the day.
So we're going to be talkingall about the Hemings Great Race
and all of the incrediblepeople and sponsors that made
our vintage Ford Fairlane raceready, including our lead racer
and her build team at Riley'sRebuilds, who handled the entire
vehicle build out.
Not once, but twice.
(01:12):
And sponsor Edelbrock, whogifted so many parts, including
Riley's favorite, thecarburetor.
So let's back it up.
Where did the carburetor getits start?
The first working carburetorwas developed in 1876 by Carl
(01:34):
Benz.
Yep.
that bends as a way to mix airand fuel before ignition in
early gas engines.
Now, carburetors became thestandard fuel delivery system in
vehicles for over a century,evolving from a simple updraft
type to the more complexfour-barrel monsters of American
muscle cars in the 1960s and70s.
(01:56):
They work on a very simple butpowerful principle, the Venturi
effect, where fast-moving aircreates a vacuum that pulls in
fuel and atomizes it, essentialfor power throttle response and
smooth running.
Now, legendary names likeEdelbrock led the performance
revolution in carb design,especially in racing.
(02:19):
Founded in 1938, Edelbrock setthe standard for their tuned
intake maniforms andhigh-performance carbs, trusted
by hot rodders, racers, andengine builders for decades.
Today, Edelbrock's AVS2carburetors bring together
old-school tuning capabilitywith modern reliability, making
(02:40):
them a go-to for restorers andracers alike, including Riley,
who launched her first companyat 14, rebuilding classic carbs
and empowering the nextgeneration of wrenchers with
Riley Rebuild.
Well, that's it for your TechTalk.
As always, you can join in onthe conversation with my maker
friends and me on the TinkeringBells Instagram and X pages.
(03:01):
Just search for BellsTinkering, hit follow, and share
your DIY adventures togetherwith us.
Have a tool you want to learnabout?
Let me know, and it may befeatured in a future episode.
Tell us what you liked, whatyou hated, or possibly even what
we missed.
So now we're going to be gettinginto the main event.
(03:21):
And I am so excited tointroduce you to our next maker.
So drum roll, please.
Presenting Riley.
Riley, thanks for joining me.
How are y ou?
Riley (03:29):
Good.
How are you?
Tamara Robertson (03:31):
I am doing well.
So I'd like to start off byletting people know where they
should go to find you, followyou, and what they might expect
when they go to those locations
Riley (03:43):
Yeah, so where you can follow me is Riley's Rebuilds on
every platform.
And what to expect is I have myown company.
It's a carburetor rebuildingservice.
And we have hired five girlhigh schoolers and three boys
who work on carburetors.
And we started to do carbuilds.
So it's a lot of old classicbuilds.
(04:03):
We're right now working on a 66Ford Fairlane.
I have a 95 Jeep, a 94, 350.
So we have a bunch of differentlittle car projects and then
obviously the little ones areslowly getting their projects.
So we're going to startexpanding onto that.
Tamara Robertson (04:20):
I love this.
You and I actually met in 2023at SEMA.
For those of you that don'tknow, that's the aftermarket
show that happens in Vegas everyyear.
Riley and I were actually doingautograph sessions with our
fans in the She Shed booth,which was this cool assembly of
trailblazing ladies from theJesse Combs Foundation, the Real
(04:42):
Deal Revolution, and all GirlGangs Garage.
But as a superhero scientist,one of the things I really love
to learn is people's originstories.
And I don't know that I'veactually got to hear from you
what your gearhead origin storywas.
Like, what got you started tobegin with?
Riley (05:02):
Oh that's so funny.
And first off, let me saysigning autographs next to you
at that year was like mindblowing.
Okay.
That was insane.
That was so much fun.
And yeah, so, but the originstory kind of started before I
was born.
We can start there.
So my dad's always been agearhead and he bought a car
(05:25):
about 21 years ago.
It was a 1957 Chevy Nomad.
And so that's what has beenalways in my garage.
My dad was also a stay-at-homedad.
I actually kind of grew up withmy crib in the garage.
Whenever my mom was gone, he'dbe wrenching there and that
(05:45):
Nomad was what he was wrenching.
I grew up very tomboy.
He also was a wrestling coach.
So I grew up with a bunch ofhigh school boys in the house
all the time.
So it was definitely a bigtomboy household.
And I knew growing up that Iwanted to be able to know what
was under the hood.
If I broke down, I didn't haveto call anybody.
(06:07):
I didn't need no man, you know,be really independent as a
woman.
And it stuck at a young age.
I started renting with myfather And then about 14, I
said, hey, dad, when are yougoing to buy me a car?
What car is it going to be?
I would like to wrench on itand work with it.
And then he said, whoa, me buyyou a car.
(06:31):
You have to buy your own car.
And in Florida, the age ofgetting a job is 14.
I was like 13 at the time.
And it's minimum wage, whichwas like $8.
So I was like, okay, this isn'tgoing to work for my price
point, for what I want, etcetera, et cetera.
And he told me to go into thegarage, find something to flip,
(06:52):
and there was an Edelbrockcarburetor.
He explained what it was to me,and he kind of showed me the
basics and was like, wait, thisis really easy.
Like, you would really likethis.
And we took it apart, and weput it back together, and we
sold it in like 30 minutes.
And ever since then, I washooked.
And what's really fun is I didtravel competitive soccer.
(07:14):
So we traveled all overFlorida, all over the states.
And we ended up, every time wewere traveling going on Facebook
Marketplace and finding theseold carburetors and I ended up
pretty much selling out all ofFlorida I bought all the
carburetors off FacebookMarketplace in Florida after
doing this for like two-ishyears I got my car I started
(07:35):
wrenching on that it was a 95 YJJurassic Park Jeep and then
about I would say, what, four orfive years ago?
It gets older and older andolder every time I tell it.
Five years ago, I went viral onsocial media because I was
asking for parts and carburetorsbecause I'd pretty much bought
out all of Florida, and thatwent viral on Facebook, and we
(07:58):
ended up having 300 carburetorsin the next two weeks on our
doorsteps for free.
We got a bunch of sponsorshipsthat reached out, and Dane and
my mom are marketers, andthey're business people, and
they saw that I could dosomething with this and make a
career out of it and we reallyjumped on it and I ended up
hiring my four girl best friendsthey joined me in the garage
(08:22):
they quit their part-time jobsand they joined me and ever
since then we've been going toSEMA we've been going to PRI
we've been doing builds we'vebeen just saying yes to
everything and anything that wecan and Now we're actually
starting to find groups andbring women together and start
leading certain things now.
So I'm really excited for that.
Tamara Robertson (08:44):
I love that.
And there's so many gems inthat.
There's the fact that you justauthentically grew up in it.
There's the fact that you justare currently saying yes to
everything.
There's the asking for helpwhen you needed it from the
community and now building thecommunity yourself.
And it's funny because my nextquestion was actually going to
(09:08):
be why carburetors, but itsounds like we know the why.
So I started this episode withthe history history of
carburetors, but how about ifyou could walk the audience
through a Mickey Mouse versionof like, what is a carburetor
and why should they care if itworks or doesn't work in their
vehicle?
Riley (09:28):
Okay, so the carburetor is genuinely the heart of your
car.
Anything pre-80s has acarburetor.
Boats have carburetors.
Bikes have carburetors.
There's a lot of carburetorseverywhere.
And it's the heart.
So basically, and what's fun, Ilike to tell this to kids, and
kids are like, what?
Is when you step on the gaspedal, you're actually putting
air into your car.
(09:49):
So a carburetor takes gas andair and mixes it to make the
right mixture for your car tomake it run.
Like right now, we're havingmajor carburetor problems.
We have enough air coming intoour carburetors.
We have two carburetors on ourcar.
We don't have enough gas.
It's just too lean.
So your carburetor, you caneither run rich or you can run
(10:10):
light.
And that's when tuning comes inand making sure that your
carburetor is healthy and clean.
That is normally the number oneproblem of everybody's problems
when you start a classic carproject or just an older
project.
Tamara Robertson (10:26):
That's really cool to know.
What we're talking about inthis mini series is the great
race.
And I love to say that you arethe one that assembled all of
us.
We are your car Avengers.
And so I have to ask, beforeyou got invited to the great
race, were you aware of therace?
Did you have ambitions to be init?
What were your initialthoughts?
Riley (10:49):
Initially, no.
I didn't know much about theGreat Race.
I had known it's been, like, ahuge bucket list on a bunch of
car people's, like, list.
And I know Jesse did it, andit's here, but here, there.
But we were at SEMA, and Cokerand Hemmings had come to us
being like, hey, this could besomething you're interested in
doing.
It wasn't something huge on ourlist.
(11:11):
But after they brought it toour attention and they showed us
photos, we were like, uh...
Yes, that is so cool.
We're obviously going to dothat.
Tamara Robertson (11:22):
love that.
And so we are, as you noted,going to be following the
notable footsteps of JessiCombs, who did an episode of The
List, which is, you know, theraces and events that car people
should do before they die.
So with that, I would love ifyou would share with the
audience your Jessi Connect andyour Jessi story.
Riley (11:43):
So I actually personally didn't know Jessi before she
passed away.
I first learned of her throughthe documentary.
My dad, Dane, came to mesaying, you need to watch this.
It just came out.
It's something beautiful.
They did such a well jobpicturing her.
(12:03):
And if you're going to be inthe industry, you need to know
her.
And so I watched that, and Icried my eyes out.
And it was the most amazingdocumentary ever.
And I slowly had people tellingme stories about her.
And through that, I started togain a really good image of her.
And I felt like I was connectedto her in so many different
(12:24):
ways.
Every person that she met madea mark on them.
And every person that talked tome about her said that they
were her best friend.
Or she was their best friend.
And she was just such a ray ofsunshine.
And she was an amazing woman.
And...
My first year of SEMA, when Icame with my best friends, we
were all girls and Dane and Isaid, okay, we're going to say
(12:47):
yes and everything and try andget in as many seminars and as
many like women owned and womenthings that we can to really see
how I could be involved in thisindustry.
And we met the Jessi CombsFoundation.
And I just started talking toeverybody and all the women and
(13:08):
it was, really painted such abeautiful picture of jessi and
in 2023 i ended up winning therising star award for the jessi
combs foundation and that reallysignified like where i was like
i knew that this was a group ofladies i wanted to be involved
with i absolutely loved thefoundation i love what she
(13:31):
stands for and how she's made amark in the industry and um I
could never live up to her, butone day, hopefully, I would love
to be like her.
Tamara Robertson (13:43):
One of the things that I've heard Jessi say
at events is that youshouldn't, you shouldn't want
to, you shouldn't want to beJessi.
You should want to be you andjust know that she is empowering
you in any way that she canalong the way.
She always just really toldevery young person, young and
old, honestly, anyone that shemet that like they each had
(14:05):
something unique and beautifulto bring to the world and that
they shouldn't want to be her,that they shouldn't want to be
who they're meant to be.
And okay, so you got to knowthose pounds because of the
rising star award and then we'reobviously going to be following
in jessi's footsteps jessi wasthe grand marshal in 2016
obviously she did the other halfof the country than we're doing
but what what is it meant toyou to be having this race
(14:30):
specifically be in partnershipwith the jessi combs foundation
and what does that look like
Riley (14:36):
yeah so this First off is such an honor being able to
like race and drive with Jessi'sname Our car is Jessi's colors
and we have the beautiful Jessicombs vinyl be like the logo
We're gonna have all the womensigning the back of the trunk.
It's on there and We have likeI have cute little ladybugs
(14:57):
everywhere like little red andred and white polka dots
everywhere for everybody to findit's Definitely wonderful.
And I'm really glad it camealong to that.
We were going to do a Pinto carand I couldn't, I couldn't wish
for a better paint color and itlooks so cool.
So I'm really excited for theladies to be representing the
(15:19):
tribute and representing Jessithrough that drive.
Tamara Robertson (15:24):
I love it.
And I know the foundation isgoing to be sending some
bandanas so that we can likerock the dots.
And you know, the one thingthat, We always tell the
audience and audience, I justwant you to know if you see red
and white dots, go and say hi,because anyone that's connected
to the foundation, we believethat the bandana is actually
introducing people that Jessiwould like to have meet in
(15:47):
person.
And it's really beenlife-changing some of the people
that I've met just by beinglike, hey, I love your dots.
Can you tell me about how yougot them?
And the number of them that...
have either met Jessi in personor have gone through a Real
Deal Revolution workshop or beenat an event that the
foundation's at.
It's just truly impactful, youknow, that community as it grows
(16:07):
one dot at a time.
Yeah,
Riley (16:09):
I love that the bandana represents, because I wear mine
wherever I go on my wrist, but Ilove how also each woman
accessorizes it in their ownway.
So I've seen women do uppershoulder, upper arm, leg, hair,
neck, like, and it's...
such a versatile thing andwhat's actually really funny is
(16:30):
we were driving and we hadsomebody who knew jessi pull up
to us next in the rv we're likei love your car i knew her and i
was like that's so cute that'sso sweet like that that's just
jessi you know like that's hername like and that's her her
image and her vision like comingto life like this is like this
(16:52):
is what she wanted
Tamara Robertson (16:53):
You know, and that's one of the things that I
love the most.
Like, I remember the first timeI saw our iconography that's
got the gold J and C, and Ididn't at the time realize that
the emblem literally was JessiCombs.
And so it's been one of thosethings that, like, the number of
people that do or don'trecognize it, like, Either way,
(17:16):
it brings them together.
And I really think that alongthe race, we're going to hear so
many Jessi's stories.
It's going to be reallyincredible.
being on the board of thefoundation, you know, and
meeting you both at SEMA.
And then since then seeing whatyou're doing to not only rise
your, your, your on your ownmerits, but also to bring other
(17:36):
young women along with you isjust such a beautiful thing.
And so I have to ask, as youwere hurting the kittens and
assembling the team, was there,was there a criteria when you
did that call out to all of thewomen that are joining us on
this race?
Like what, what in your mindwas the one, one, thing you
hoped each person could bring?
Riley (17:58):
I knew that I wanted to bring anybody that I'd ever come
across that was a woman in theindustry.
That's why the initial groupchat was so big, was I think I
went through my entire followingand just added every woman that
I had in there.
I just knew I wanted somereally rad ladies who knew what
(18:22):
they wanted and knew that theywere powerful and knew that they
could wrench and really get toit and wanted to get to it.
And that was really the onlycriteria.
Tamara Robertson (18:34):
I love it.
And, you know, I've beentalking with so many other road
rally racers, like I know thatit's going to be a unique thing
having a group of all youngladies, but also young ladies
that know what they're doing.
Every single one of us is thereal deal.
We're going to be able to workon the vehicle.
And so, you know, there's thisword that the foundation uses a
(18:54):
lot, and that's the wordtrailblazer.
And it's something thatdescribed Jesse, and it's
something that really describesyou and everything that you've
been doing since you were very,very young.
Is that something, you know,what does trailblazer in your
mind mean when you're out in theworld and trying to embody
that?
Riley (19:14):
First off, thank you for the compliment.
You're going to make me cryover here, okay?
So...
I would say Trailblazer issomebody who leads with
confidence and doesn't care whatothers say or mean or think.
They're somebody who is doingit first and they're bringing
(19:38):
along everybody behind them.
I like to think of it kind ofas like a wheat farm and you
have a torch and you're goingthrough and you have to like
burn through everything, but itslowly starts to flame out
behind you and really opens upthe world.
to everybody else.
And that's what I want to do isI want to come in here and
(19:58):
really knock down doors.
And I know there's been amazingwomen before me that have done
such beautiful things in theindustry for women and for us
and have done that.
But I also know that everywoman that comes into the
industry is being a trailblazerand they're knocking down doors
no matter what.
Tamara Robertson (20:16):
I love that.
And you know, it's Part of whatI've really enjoyed watching as
you've been evolving in yourcareer and you're standing at
everything since two years agoto now and beyond is the fact
that you so genuinely do bringothers along.
And I think that that'ssomething that while you're
(20:37):
leading this group oftrailblazing women and passing
that torch, you're not justdoing it to a younger generation
of women.
Like you have, you have womenlike me, you have women like
Teresa from real dealrevolution, Dana from the
justice foundation.
You have this older generationof women too, that are getting
to see this beautiful light ofwhat it looks like.
to lift the veil.
(21:00):
You have opened the door to allof your sponsors, to all of the
young women on the groups.
You invite us on every singlecall, which is a lot of trust.
There's people I've known foryears that have worked at the
same company as me that havebeen like, maybe you shouldn't
be on the call.
So you have been just so givingand trusting to this entire
group of women.
(21:20):
And I think that that style ofleadership is something that
both young and old can learnfrom and can really start to
integrate in.
to how they're working eachday.
And so what does it mean to youas we get out there and we're
about to start this race to knowthat like, not only are you
(21:40):
like, you got all these ladies,right?
But like, you're also going outthere cause you wanna win,
right?
You're going out there to lead.
So like, what's fresh in yourmind?
Like what are things that we asa group can help you to achieve
during this race?
Riley (21:56):
I just want everybody to have a great time.
I mean, we're wrenching to thelast minute.
Right now, the car is havingsome problems.
For anybody who's not followingalong, I'll explain a little
bit of what's happening to ourcar.
I had a 390 big block.
It was my original Fairlanethat I bought a couple years
(22:18):
ago.
We wrenched it to pieces.
It was a shell, and we got itgoing, and then...
We got it running and there wasno oil pressure and we looked
and the motor just ate itself.
And so like four days before wegot on the road, we bought a
new Fairlane in South Carolina.
We went to the Real DealCaroline shop and we've been
(22:41):
wrenching on that car for twodays.
We did a whole paint job.
We've done literally everythingin that car and we're having
now intake problems we thoughtit was going to be the
distributor and we thought maybea master cylinder problem and a
couple other things and we gota new distributor in and now
ironically We think it'scarburetor problems and that we
(23:03):
need new springs because we have100 CFM, I mean 1,000 CFM
coming into the carbs, but wehave no gas and we're getting
lean pops.
So what's also ironic is we'vebeen working with a shop in
Minnesota.
It's a father-son team, Dan andPat, who we send all our
carburetors we don't do to them.
And they live 20 minutes fromthe race and they have all the
(23:26):
springs and the seats and theneedles and everything we think
we need.
And we're like, which you canneither things you can't
normally find in just like autoshops there's something you have
to like order and it's going totake a while and we have
millions of them back in ourshop but we hopefully that's
what we think it is and we'vegone to multiple mechanics
(23:48):
through our stops and we've beenwrenching on everything and so
hopefully that's what it is thatthat's why i say i hope all the
ladies just have fun they makecontent like we will make this
work no matter what We have anew intake just in case.
We've done it before in anhour.
We can do it again.
And especially with all theladies coming in, if we're a day
(24:09):
late and we just get all theseladies hands-on, And everybody
just has fun.
That's all I hope for.
Everybody makes great content,has such great stories and
memories, and just really enjoysthemselves.
And I'm excited for everybodyto connect and actually see each
other's faces.
And it's like all my world'sconnecting at once.
(24:30):
So I'm really excited for that.
Tamara Robertson (24:33):
I'm so stoked.
And what I love about this isthe beauty of the community
piece.
Like it really speaks to thiscommunity that you've been able
to build, not just, you know,for this event, but over the
years all coming together.
And, you know, I love that withRiley's rebuild, you're helping
lift and teach that nextgeneration and getting them
(24:54):
hands-on.
And so this has all just beenlike a really cool thing to
watch come together.
And so I have to ask for Riley,Those that are new, you know,
as you call them the littles, ifthey're looking to try to
figure out like where they fitin motorsport and automotive and
kind of this world, do you havesome pointers for them on where
(25:16):
to get started, where to findresources?
Riley (25:20):
Yeah, so I always say go to your local shop.
No shop is going to turn away alittle person who wants to, I
say little, high schooler thatwants to learn or who wants to
know.
YouTube is always a great starttoo.
Getting just a project carthat's under $5,000.
There are thousands of videosbeing like, this is what your
(25:41):
first project car should be.
This is what you need to lookfor.
This is what you don't want.
This is how you wrench on it.
YouTube, university, Amazing.
That's how we, I feel likeeverybody starts if there is no
mechanical interest in family orin friends.
Shops are a great option, andthere's always going to be some
(26:03):
old dude a couple neighborhoodsdown from you or a couple houses
down with a really rad classiccar that's always wrenching,
that has always wanted somebodyto come in and just, like,
learn.
And you have to be a sponge,especially at a young age.
You can't say no.
You have to say yes toeverything.
We have a girl, Audrey, she'sin the back.
(26:23):
She's going to be racing withus.
She is amazing.
such a sponge she's a yes andperson and like to the fullest
extent i've like she just wantsto know everything she sits and
just absorbs it all and sheloves this and like it makes it
so easy and so nice and sowonderful to have someone like
that that just wants all thisknowledge to take in you just
(26:46):
want to give more and more andmore to that person because like
they're expecting nothing butjust what you know and that
that's a really great connectionand that's also a great way to
find mentors.
You definitely as a youngperson want a mentor in this
industry because they have theirconnections.
They can help you out wheneverthey can give you different
(27:09):
mentor connections.
So I've had like, I've had bothlike, my dad was my mentor who
introduced me to all girlsgarage, which then I found
bogey.
And then bogey introduced me toWayne Carini and then Wayne
Carini has introduced me to somany other people.
And so mentor after mentor,after mentor, after just putting
yourself out there is such a,like I could not stress it
(27:32):
enough to anybody who's tryingto get into the industry.
Tamara Robertson (27:35):
Yeah.
I would say the same thing.
Mentorship has been such a,pivotal like game changer in my
career always having both amentor and a mentee and then I
also love to get like a peermentor that's like about the
same age that's or not even sameage but same same place in
their career um which I don'tknow if you've experienced this
(27:59):
but like as a trailblazeroftentimes when you're at the
front of the race it's hard tofind people that are are in the
exact industry you are doing thesame thing, but you can often
find other trailblazers that areblazing the trail somewhere
else that may be at that samestage of like, okay, now I'm to
a place where I went viral orI'm to a place where I'm getting
(28:19):
asked to be a spokesperson or akeynote.
So each of those stages,finding someone that's been
there, even if it's in adifferent industry, they can
share valuable insight.
Riley (28:30):
Yes, exactly.
Tamara Robertson (28:32):
Yeah.
So there's one question I loveto ask everyone that comes on
the show.
And that is, if you had asuperpower, what would it be and
why?
Riley (28:43):
I would really love to read people's minds.
But only in a positive way.
Okay.
Tamara Robertson (28:52):
I was like, sometimes I don't need to know
what people think about me.
Riley (28:54):
Yeah, I don't want to know the negative.
I don't want to know anythingbad.
But I think I would love thatbecause then it could be like,
oh, I'm really hungry andthirsty right now.
And then it'd be like, food?
You know, or just like, I wouldreally like that personal
connection of just being able tokind of view into somebody
(29:14):
else's world too.
I think a lot of us sometimesget into our own heads.
We make our own worlds.
And we don't, we don't seeother people.
We don't see other lives untilwe step out of our own.
And I think that would bereally, really cool to be able
to see somebody else's life.
Tamara Robertson (29:30):
I think that's really interesting too, because
like back to that, that talkabout mentorship, it kind of can
help you to see a possibilitywhere someone may just like have
this inkling, but have no ideawhere to start.
And you'd be like, Hey, I seethat you like automotive.
Like why not come over here?
Riley (29:46):
A lot of people are very nervous to ask.
but once you put it out there,they'll instantly grab onto
Tamara Robertson (29:54):
They really will.
And I mean, it's one of thosethings that when you're looking
at developing a mentee, forinstance, it's always easy to
have someone tag along with youto wherever you're going next.
And the amount of education andknowledge that they're gonna
gain in that moment that for youis just like every day is kind
(30:15):
of incredible.
So- Going into the race, whatis like the one vehicle you hope
you see?
Because this is like a vintagecar show.
So going into the race, what'sone you hope you see out there?
What's your dream spot?
Riley (30:34):
That's a good one.
I don't even know.
Tamara Robertson (30:40):
Like I would have loved to have seen the
Bugatti that Jessi got to drive.
that would have been a coolvehicle to see, right?
Riley (30:45):
That would have been so cool.
actually, like, there's acouple of them that take the
race, so I think we might seeone or two.
I, Dan, and all of us have beenjoking about, like, a predated
RV making the race.
Do you know how cool that wouldbe to see, like, something
older than 70s, like, in an RV?
(31:05):
That's a hard one to do.
I also, I really like theBroncos.
That's, like, my dream car, soI think anything, like, 73,
like, Bronco would be really,really cool.
Any Mustangs too.
I feel like any of those reallyare up my alley for sure.
Tamara Robertson (31:26):
like it.
I like it.
Teresa is going to very muchapprove of the Bronco message.
Riley (31:31):
I saw she's cutting up one like actively right now.
Tamara Robertson (31:35):
yeah.
I think she's hoping to go KingHammers bound with a Bronco
this coming year.
So I'm definitely watching allof her gramming to see any sneak
peeks.
Well, amazing.
This has been incredible.
The Hemings Creek Race kicksoff June 21st in St.
Paul, Minnesota, and we'll runall the way until we hit the
(31:56):
finish line in Moorpark, Irmo,South Carolina.
So follow all of us onInstagram to stay up to date
with all things Creator Race aswe tackle this iconic vintage
rally road race one mile at atime.
That's it for Tinkering Bells.
This episode is assembled andready for delivery.
Riley, this has beenincredible.
Riley (32:15):
Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you so much.
This has been really awesome.
Tamara Robertson (32:19):
I want to thank you for choosing Tinkering
Bells as your user's manual forall things Maker on a bi-weekly
basis.
If you want to continue to hearmore, don't forget to rate and
review the show on yourpodcasting app of choice, as
well as sharing it with yourfriends.
I look forward to seeing younext time.
Until then, don't forget tokeep making.
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