Steve: Alex, an RDF Media producer, called Aftershock Motorsports based on some internet research. Randy Clack and I were asked if we would like to be experts on the show. Randy was a part owner of Aftershock at that time. Alex also asked if I had heard of Walker Evans and if I thought he would make a good judge. I told him Walker was a legend in the off road community.
J: At the start of the day, you each had a definite idea of what to build to win the sand race. As time wore on, you actually ended up switching ideas. Was that preplanned or did you realize that was happening?
S: No. The Hogs found the snowmobile. In past episodes
where team A had a major component needed by team B. Team B would have
to wait until Team A threw it back out. So we could have waited until the
Hogs found a bike to
use. However, looking over the wall, I saw they
had cut the wiring harness and pulled it apart. I did not want to spend
half the build getting it running again so we used the bike when we found
it. It was easier to make a three wheeler from a bike than something with
four wheels. The Hogs design was not that similar to my original design
other than having four wheels. It had no suspension which was ultimately
it's downfall.
J: Speaking of downfalls, were you concerned with the reliability of your junkyard racer?
S: I inspected the quality of pieces that were found. About my only worry was how close the carburetor jetting would be. If too lean, the motor could seize. We would not have time to rejet or any extra jets.
J: Any other challenges to had to overcome?
S: We had the rear sprocket for the bike, but no way to mount it to a shaft. We had a generic type sprocket and hub on a short chunk of shaft, but it was not for the same size chain. We drilled holes in the generic sprocket and bolted the bike sprocket to it. We knew chains to be potential problems. We were careful to get the chain lined up and installed a chain guide to insure it would not come off.
J: How was the final test day?
S: The rear fenders made it difficult to kick the motor over properly and it was difficult to start. The back of my leg was bloody and my boot toe torn open from the foot peg. I was told that is was OK to go out of bounds on the outside, but not the inside. I put the machine on two wheels to avoid hitting the inner cones, but they changed the rules on me for the outside cones anyway.
J: At the end of it all, were you pleased with the show when it aired?
S: The amount of actual footage that makes it into the final edit is limited. It probably about as good as was possible with the constraints RDF has. It would be really cool if long edit versions were available for sale.
J: What do you do at your company, Aftershock Motorsports?
S: My latest focus has been to design aftermarket parts for certain off road cars then get the parts produced. The most complicated item so far has been a long travel suspension kit for one machine that takes it from 4" of suspension travel to 12.5". We also just purchased the design and frame jigs for the Genesis superlite race cars that were popular several years ago. We hope to start our own line of off road cars building on top of that design.
J: Sounds like some cool offroading stuff. Would you go on the show again?
S: Yes, I would. I even applied to be a team member for the following season. However, that is when the format was changed to using the same people every week. I watched a couple episodes of that format and have not since.
J: Thanks for your time Steve. Thanks also for
posting some cool behind-the-scenes stuff at your website. We've got a
link to them in our Links section.