Hit the Brakes!!

00:00:08:11 - 00:00:28:18
Ken Bjonnes
Hey. What's up? Ken from Palm Beach Dyno here. Welcome to the latest episode of the Hit the Brakes podcast, where we sit down with industry leaders and racers and have long conversations. Our next guest is the go to guy if you need to activate traction on your street car. Also known as Mr. Dragy. Today we sit down with Kelly Aiken.

00:00:28:19 - 00:00:35:16
Ken Bjonnes
All right Kelly, welcome to Hit the Brakes podcast. You're in town for a couple special occasions. Why don't we start right there? What are you doing here?

00:00:36:08 - 00:00:55:01
Kelly Aiken
so, as you know, I've been wanting to get a hellcat for a while. The time was right. They're not making them anymore. So I, found one last minute. They had a wide body up here at the dealership right down the road. So I booked a flight. that was a whole different experience. Silver airways. And,

00:00:55:04 - 00:01:06:10
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. So I picked that up, and then my buddy John at Celsius was like, hey, man, I'm going to pick up my, Lamborghini today. So we were only a couple miles apart buying cars, and and that's all she wrote. And I'm still here.

00:01:06:11 - 00:01:10:21
Ken Bjonnes
Well, he doesn't exactly just work at Celsius. He's the CEO of Celsius.

00:01:10:22 - 00:01:12:11
Ken Bjonnes
So. Yeah, very cool guy.

00:01:12:11 - 00:01:22:13
Ken Bjonnes
I got to meet him, and, we did some, YouTube stuff with those guys, which is awesome. so what did you think about the whole F1 scene? It's what happened today. It was obviously.

00:01:22:15 - 00:01:40:23
Kelly Aiken
So today was like, like a warm up. You know, people, if you get certain tickets, I guess you get to go look at the cars and, you know, it's whatever. So, all the boosts are open. Everything's going. They're just not actually doing, like, I guess, the real racing. So there's,

00:01:41:01 - 00:01:42:12
Ken Bjonnes
So there was no cars running.

00:01:42:14 - 00:01:43:04
Kelly Aiken
There was.

00:01:43:04 - 00:01:45:04
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, there was just like a practice type thing.

00:01:45:05 - 00:01:59:01
Kelly Aiken
But, yeah, a lot of Porsche cars. John and the, the, the. So Celsius, sponsors. Ferrari. so they're a big sponsor for Ferrari. And, in doing so, they got to do the hot laps.

00:01:59:06 - 00:01:59:13
Ken Bjonnes
so they.

00:01:59:13 - 00:02:03:23
Kelly Aiken
Got to do the Ferrari, like, track around the track and stuff. So, and, for the.

00:02:04:00 - 00:02:04:14
Ken Bjonnes
Passenger or.

00:02:04:14 - 00:02:05:14
Kelly Aiken
Driving, passenger.

00:02:05:14 - 00:02:06:02
Ken Bjonnes
Okay, that sort.

00:02:06:02 - 00:02:10:06
Kelly Aiken
Of thing. But they were going like 180 and stuff. So, I mean, that's a cool experience.

00:02:10:06 - 00:02:11:18
Ken Bjonnes
Like I don't want them doing that.

00:02:11:18 - 00:02:16:15
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. No, no, especially John, trust me, I ever had to ride with him there and back in the Lambo today.

00:02:16:16 - 00:02:18:06
Ken Bjonnes
That's pretty like.

00:02:18:13 - 00:02:31:10
Kelly Aiken
that's crazy. So, but yeah, it was, it was a it was a good time. That's a whole different world. You know, we have our heads buried in the streets, have and like, all this stuff, and it's just a whole different. Yeah, a whole different world.

00:02:31:10 - 00:03:06:04
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. I mean, there's. That's the cool thing about the car world is there's just so many levels to it, right? I mean, that does attract more of money than car people, maybe. Yeah. but there's still a lot of real car people there, obviously, or else the cars wouldn't function the way they do. So, anyway, so, you know, what we'd like to do on this podcast is bring up people's histories, especially in your case, because you've been in this business so long and, you know, there's so many people coming in and out of this hobby that, I believe is sometimes that gets missed, right?

00:03:06:05 - 00:03:23:18
Ken Bjonnes
Right now you are Kelly from Cal track. but 5 or 10 years ago, you were Kelly from BMR to everybody. And before that, you did other things. So let's start with how you got into this business. what were you doing when you started messing with cars or how when did you start this?

00:03:23:18 - 00:03:48:11
Kelly Aiken
So yeah, I'll give you a quick history. my, my brother in law, back in the late 90s. So I grew up in Texas and, LRG Motorsports, most people, you know, who told me, okay, so we didn't live too far from them. I didn't know much about cars back then. I was your typical magazine, you know, or a Viper or a Lamborghini or whatever.

00:03:48:13 - 00:04:09:23
Kelly Aiken
And, he pulls up in a Camaro, 96 or 7. So this shows when this was it was a new car that he had bought, and he shipped it to LG. So it's kind of like some of your customers. Right? Right. And this was back then and, I mean, at the time, I think it made 6 or 700 rear wheel horsepower.

00:04:09:23 - 00:04:19:05
Kelly Aiken
It had harnesses in it had the ground effects, the G2 stickers, the top, you know, the cam supercharger. I think it was like a no V 2200 or 2000, whatever they were.

00:04:19:07 - 00:04:20:11
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Those are hot back then.

00:04:20:11 - 00:04:39:21
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. So, I rode in it and I was addicted. Period. Yeah. And had Meadows on the back. I think that's when I first started doing there, like in five, five, five or whatever. 315. So on a 17, like fixie wheel, you know, and that was it. I mean, literally I was addicted. What.

00:04:39:23 - 00:04:42:08
Ken Bjonnes
What time frame was this year? Or like, oh.

00:04:42:09 - 00:05:08:19
Kelly Aiken
That was the, like 1998 ish. Okay. Yeah. And I was, 16, so just started timing and I was addicted, like, I would the guy would go to his house and, you know, it was my, my sister and him, and they lived, you know, 30 minutes away. And, he's probably going to watch this. And he can attest, I was like, I would go, I would I would ask my parents, hey, you know, I'm going to go spend the night with Jim.

00:05:08:21 - 00:05:26:09
Kelly Aiken
And I would make like, okay, if I buy a 95 Cobra here is going to be my whole build sheet. and then I'm not going to keep on going. But every car, it was like, if I buy this car it's going to have these heads, this cam. I mean, I'm 16, right? I was reading five magazines. So and this is leading into, how it really started.

00:05:26:09 - 00:05:43:06
Kelly Aiken
But, you know, so I knew that Evan Smith's and the all these names in the Mustang world back then in the magazines and the editors, because you're young, you know, you're reading it, and then, what really what really hit, though, is, I had Camaros, I had Mustang Cobras. I think I had like, 11 cars before I got out of high school.

00:05:43:08 - 00:05:51:20
Kelly Aiken
So I was even hot rod in, like, a Lincoln market. Remember those with the beheaded four six? Yeah. And I had, like, a slow master and a tuna converter and mean whatever.

00:05:51:20 - 00:05:54:15
Ken Bjonnes
The Lincoln was the first mod motor, right? I'm pretty sure.

00:05:54:15 - 00:06:23:22
Kelly Aiken
Right. So. I went to the military and, I ended up making the mistake of buying a two valve. and I was. And it was game over. I was, I was stationed in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and I was researching what cold air intake was best, and I found Modular Depot, and it was ask Bill and I said, how good is a dense charger cold air intake compared to a whatever it was at the time, and it wasn't a glt, you know, it was a, a name brand.

00:06:24:00 - 00:06:25:15
Kelly Aiken
And and Bill answered as.

00:06:25:19 - 00:06:26:03
Ken Bjonnes
I was.

00:06:26:04 - 00:06:26:15
Kelly Aiken
Charging, it.

00:06:26:15 - 00:06:29:05
Ken Bjonnes
Was like PVC. That was I was like then.

00:06:29:08 - 00:06:32:14
Ken Bjonnes
That was like the predecessor to the JLT, like JLT came in, but.

00:06:32:14 - 00:06:34:02
Ken Bjonnes
They put it in the fenders and at.

00:06:34:04 - 00:06:43:04
Kelly Aiken
The 90 in front. Yeah. So all the tuners were like, don't put this on the card. There's a 90 in front of the mass airflow. Right, right. And then that's when I started learning and you know, but.

00:06:43:04 - 00:06:44:06
Ken Bjonnes
It was like.

00:06:44:07 - 00:06:58:23
Ken Bjonnes
This, I like to keep everything accurate. Bill, is Bill Putnam. You was at UPR and is still at UPR. Yes. Whatever. 20 years later, 20 plus years later. So yeah, obviously a huge asset to this.

00:06:59:01 - 00:07:00:20
Kelly Aiken
Game a long time. Had a bunch of cars.

00:07:00:23 - 00:07:16:20
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. He was a huge, part of me getting into this. I don't talk to Bill that much anymore for no reason. Just because, you know, when you get old, that's how we lose touch. But, you know, he was a huge part of me getting into this business because he did the ask Bill section on Major Depot, which was my website.

00:07:16:20 - 00:07:21:15
Ken Bjonnes
But back then, I didn't know that much. And I was just like, hey, man, everybody wants to ask.

00:07:21:15 - 00:07:24:13
Kelly Aiken
People said, yeah, seriously, you know. Yeah.

00:07:24:15 - 00:07:24:22
Ken Bjonnes
Right.

00:07:24:22 - 00:07:47:03
Ken Bjonnes
Well, because and, you know, that's a great segue. Real quick, we'll go on a little tangent because that's the whole point of this we got all the time in the world is and why I want to give your history in the history of other people I have on my podcast is it's super easy to, portray a certain level of expertise on the internet when you don't have it.

00:07:47:08 - 00:07:53:18
Ken Bjonnes
Know, and I don't feel like I was trying to do that, but I own the website. I was, you have a car time.

00:07:53:18 - 00:07:54:13
Kelly Aiken
That was popular.

00:07:54:13 - 00:07:55:03
Ken Bjonnes
I had a podcast.

00:07:55:07 - 00:08:09:06
Kelly Aiken
And people knew like, oh man, you know that you're in a magazine with a car that's setting records and you're, a flagship of, like, this platform. I have people that say, like, back in the day, I was into two hours because Ken was right.

00:08:09:11 - 00:08:30:17
Ken Bjonnes
I mean, a perfect example of that's perfect example is to the good and bad of this. The way everything works is because I had somebody, multiple people behind me supporting me in a way that there's no way I could have done anything I did at all like that back. People say that all the time, but I mean, legitimately, I knew nothing at all about cars.

00:08:30:17 - 00:08:49:19
Ken Bjonnes
I knew everything about computers. And I can learn things really fast. And I did learn things really fast. But, you know, Brandon also had to help me put the cams in that car. He was probably supposed to be the faster one. And then right before the mod shootout, he his car broke and my car didn't. And I've never been a drag race in my frigging life and went to the finals.

00:08:49:19 - 00:09:02:13
Ken Bjonnes
And you know, some as simple as that made me, a mini, internet, you know, celebrity and was like, oh, I want I need Ken's help. It's like, yeah, I don't think I would.

00:09:02:13 - 00:09:13:10
Kelly Aiken
Ask for you on the forums. Yeah. And people, people would on Modular Depot forums and the tech section, people would try to call you out like, Ken, why aren't you ever around here or whatever? And people would go.

00:09:13:10 - 00:09:15:00
Ken Bjonnes
Ask Bill, you know. Yeah.

00:09:15:00 - 00:09:21:07
Kelly Aiken
And it was k a lot of cams. That's when I remember VTI, VTi stage two or I don't remember the name.

00:09:22:01 - 00:09:23:10
Ken Bjonnes
Todd. No. what.

00:09:23:10 - 00:09:30:06
Ken Bjonnes
Was their name? Jim. And now Jim. Jim. It was two brothers, Jim and, Scott.

00:09:30:11 - 00:09:30:23
Kelly Aiken
Yes.

00:09:31:02 - 00:09:48:18
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, they were Canadian engines. Yeah. There can a lot of people, they were building the engines for Kona sake back then. Isn't that crazy? It's crazy to think of where Kona settings come. Now. Back then, they were not what they are now. They were getting there. But, you know, engines guys on modular depot.com were building engines from back.

00:09:48:18 - 00:09:51:08
Ken Bjonnes
I was yeah it's like it's funny.

00:09:51:10 - 00:10:02:14
Ken Bjonnes
Anyway back to back to. Yeah your deal. So you know obviously you found Mojo Depot and that's pretty much how we met. And it wasn't the best meeting right.

00:10:02:16 - 00:10:04:09
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. But the beginning you know.

00:10:04:09 - 00:10:08:12
Kelly Aiken
You probably don't remember that I've had I you probably don't remember that I'm sure. Yeah.

00:10:08:12 - 00:10:21:05
Ken Bjonnes
I mean you've told me I didn't. I would have never if you asked me five, ten years ago whenever we became real friends, how did we meet? I'd be like, I don't, I don't know, but obviously you do. So why don't you talk?

00:10:21:06 - 00:10:45:07
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. So that's a funny story. I've always had a entrepreneur style, like hustle. So at that time, back then, I was like, I'm going to draw up mustang shirt designs. And I had a Stang Stang shop net back in the day. I mean, I was young man, I didn't think I could legally drink. And I'm starting up these, like, online websites.

00:10:45:09 - 00:10:54:14
Kelly Aiken
And, it started taking off. And Ford, I think, at Ford, sent me a cease and desist because I was using all these Ford Racing logos. I was just, you know, I was making.

00:10:54:16 - 00:10:58:18
Ken Bjonnes
You know, well, that's good news. You got their attention because there's lots of people that do that and never hear from Ford.

00:10:58:19 - 00:11:13:23
Kelly Aiken
I had like Zazzle stores. I was just like, I was just doing what I can. So anyways, once I said that, I started kind of like fading out of that, I'm like, this is too much, it's not enough return. And then I started getting real big on the forums or what I was doing as I was making forum shirts.

00:11:14:00 - 00:11:21:08
Kelly Aiken
I was like, I'm just going to design shirts for forums, and I'm young man, I'm like early 20s or whatever. I'm like.

00:11:21:10 - 00:11:21:22
Ken Bjonnes
I'm just going to.

00:11:21:22 - 00:11:38:18
Kelly Aiken
Go, I'm going to copy all these logos and I'm going to take all the names and put. So I still have mine from back then. My username on the forum, you know, why did yours and people start buying them? All kinds of people, like, the guy that races the Maverick now, you know.

00:11:38:19 - 00:11:44:17
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, James, the guy from Texas, Mike. Oh, Mike. Boing, boing.

00:11:44:18 - 00:11:54:13
Kelly Aiken
The blue balloon on all the big names back then. I think Randy cone may have bought one. Yeah, but these people were buying them, and you got wind of it.

00:11:54:15 - 00:11:55:23
Ken Bjonnes
And you sent me a VM, and I.

00:11:55:23 - 00:11:56:04
Kelly Aiken
Like.

00:11:56:04 - 00:11:57:22
Ken Bjonnes
Cried because, I.

00:11:57:22 - 00:12:09:19
Kelly Aiken
Mean, you were you at that time, you were kind of you were like a celebrity. I mean, in that segment, you were so far above and beyond everything you were doing. People were copy.

00:12:09:21 - 00:12:10:12
Ken Bjonnes
Right?

00:12:10:14 - 00:12:16:06
Kelly Aiken
Because it wasn't like we had all the different outlets. It was like people copied what you did.

00:12:16:09 - 00:12:37:23
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. People nowadays don't understand the forum days. Yeah. You know, it was it's the same. It's the same thing is like, TV now, right back in the day there was like NBC, CBS and, you know, whatever. And you had just a few outlets and forums were it. And there's a lot of them, but not now. Now everybody's talking on Instagram and Snapchat.

00:12:38:00 - 00:13:00:03
Ken Bjonnes
And for an 8 million groups on Facebook. So, the positives back then were a lot of the information was put together and organized and easily organized because of the way a forum works. And, you know, you can lock it to the top and you can do that on some Facebook stuff, but it it just the Facebook groups never.

00:13:00:05 - 00:13:12:01
Kelly Aiken
They don't they're not the same. It's just diffuse experience. Both like when I built my first fox body back in the day, like literally like, right. everything I was finding was on corralled on it. Yeah. I could find everything. I was like.

00:13:12:03 - 00:13:32:18
Ken Bjonnes
You know. Yeah. And, you know, the problem with that is Facebook just was never able to harness the same concepts. Yeah. And I think it's because, I mean, I used my real name on the forum can be which, you know, people must.

00:13:33:00 - 00:13:35:04
Kelly Aiken
Still like kind of screen name them.

00:13:35:04 - 00:13:35:13
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah.

00:13:35:13 - 00:13:52:05
Ken Bjonnes
And it added a little bit of extra, coolness to it. Actually, it may sound cheesy to some people now. whereas, you know, now it's just everybody's name. Yeah, there's no mystery. There's no like, you know, boom, instant click on a person's name and go look at their profile. See, every their.

00:13:52:05 - 00:13:54:18
Kelly Aiken
History is either a family and everything. You know.

00:13:54:19 - 00:14:06:03
Ken Bjonnes
That could be a positive or a negative, right. Like there's been tons of people that I never even saw a picture of, you know, because, you know, on a forum you didn't. Yeah. Just go. You would say yourself.

00:14:06:03 - 00:14:09:08
Ken Bjonnes
You're, you're four seven stroker. Like, yeah.

00:14:09:10 - 00:14:12:03
Kelly Aiken
You and I still do that. you know, like like,

00:14:12:07 - 00:14:15:13
Ken Bjonnes
It was a more like, like spy.

00:14:15:13 - 00:14:18:05
Ken Bjonnes
Like spy feel. It was kind of like avatar.

00:14:18:05 - 00:14:19:03
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Exactly.

00:14:19:03 - 00:14:26:00
Kelly Aiken
Right. Like an avatar. Like we're. And we're we're in a generator. Well, we're in a time where, like, that's kind of. That's a thing for, like, young kids.

00:14:26:00 - 00:14:47:06
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, I have actually that funny story about the whole form name. we had stag bangers in Ohio, and, you know, everybody had screen names. and then I had a guy on my Facebook that would recently, well, after sending bangers, replying all the time, you know, a lot of people were part of my stuff, and I don't know who they are.

00:14:47:06 - 00:15:06:01
Ken Bjonnes
Right. And then he says one day like, hey, man, I'm going to be in fire. I'm going to stop by. And I'm like, okay, you know, I didn't think much about it. And he showed up and he's like, hey, man, you know what's up, blah, blah. And I'm just like, he's talking to me like he knows me. And normally I have a bad I know, I remember faces and I didn't recognize them.

00:15:06:01 - 00:15:17:20
Ken Bjonnes
So normally in this case I might just kind of play along to kind of figure it out. But for the one time I go, do I know you? He got upset. He was like, dude.

00:15:17:22 - 00:15:27:23
Ken Bjonnes
What dark horse? 99? And I'm like, Jason, Jason, holy crap, you know what I mean? Like, because I, I always interacted.

00:15:28:01 - 00:15:29:00
Ken Bjonnes
Dark horse 90.

00:15:29:00 - 00:15:29:09
Ken Bjonnes
Nine.

00:15:29:13 - 00:15:34:17
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And then he's replying to my stuff under Jason. Yeah. date.

00:15:34:17 - 00:15:37:20
Kelly Aiken
States. Yeah. So I used to race with him in Colorado.

00:15:37:20 - 00:15:51:16
Ken Bjonnes
So when Jason Deeds is replying to me on Facebook, I'm not like, hey, that's Dark Horse 99. Yeah. So for years Jason Deeds is replying. He says he's coming to see me. I act like I don't know him and it's like, and you know, it's been 20 years. He's been he's he's has a beer. Yeah. You know so.

00:15:51:16 - 00:15:52:15
Ken Bjonnes
That's kind of.

00:15:52:18 - 00:16:03:15
Kelly Aiken
Pretty funny. I got a funny story about him but yeah that's. Yeah. No that's it. So real quick you PMD me. Yeah. And you said every cuss word made, you know.

00:16:03:17 - 00:16:08:07
Ken Bjonnes
You were like, you, you're stealing. You're you you can't be making.

00:16:08:07 - 00:16:16:05
Kelly Aiken
One penny off of my design. You were right, though. You can't just take things and put them on shirts. I mean, think about that now, right?

00:16:16:07 - 00:16:16:19
Ken Bjonnes
You'd be getting.

00:16:16:19 - 00:16:18:07
Kelly Aiken
Lawsuits and stuff. Yeah. No, I.

00:16:18:07 - 00:16:42:00
Ken Bjonnes
Didn't me no back then I yeah I'm a little bit older than you, but I was still pretty young. And, you know, you get you over. You take everything in life. Isn't that serious, right. It's a forum. How much money am I really going to make off that logo? So you handle things kind of like how you think they should be handled, when in reality it should have been like, hey man, thanks for making those shirts, is promoting my website and all that.

00:16:42:00 - 00:16:43:03
Ken Bjonnes
But I'm just like, how?

00:16:43:04 - 00:16:47:14
Ken Bjonnes
What are you doing? You know? So no, you were like, you better not make a penny.

00:16:47:14 - 00:17:01:03
Kelly Aiken
And so then I reply, and you never answered. I said something along the lines of I enjoyed doing this so much and it was catching on. A lot of people were hitting me up and ordering them for 11 bucks, whatever it was back then. And I think it was make it three bucks or something.

00:17:01:05 - 00:17:03:10
Ken Bjonnes
And, and make money. Yeah. I mean, I.

00:17:03:10 - 00:17:18:05
Kelly Aiken
Was like, I and I, and I posted, I said, I'm actually not making much on it. I'm losing it. I'm actually losing money. If you really want to be honest with the time it took. And I said, but if it makes you happy, I'll sell them for this. And it was worth it. And I and I think I even sent like uploaded an image.

00:17:18:08 - 00:17:19:00
Ken Bjonnes
Thing.

00:17:19:02 - 00:17:21:03
Kelly Aiken
Right? I mean, I reply like a cost.

00:17:21:05 - 00:17:21:10
Ken Bjonnes
Right?

00:17:21:10 - 00:17:27:18
Kelly Aiken
And you never replied, but I was like, I wasn't crying, but I told my wife, I said,

00:17:27:20 - 00:17:36:00
Ken Bjonnes
You'll never believe. Like I liked this guy online. He was so cool. And he sent me this and she's like, oh man, he's an asshole.

00:17:36:02 - 00:17:36:23
Ken Bjonnes
That's so funny.

00:17:37:01 - 00:17:37:20
Ken Bjonnes
Like,

00:17:37:22 - 00:17:43:10
Ken Bjonnes
I mean, I definitely, you know, retrospect, I was definitely, a little bit of a jerk back. I mean, it.

00:17:43:10 - 00:17:47:18
Kelly Aiken
Was actually like, aggressive, too. It wasn't like, hey, man, I appreciate it. You don't do that.

00:17:47:18 - 00:17:52:19
Ken Bjonnes
Like, you were like, you better not be making a fucking penny. You know? I'm like, damn.

00:17:53:03 - 00:18:03:12
Ken Bjonnes
growing up in New York kind of changes it a little different. but anyway, so what was like your. You said you had a two valve. Yeah. Yeah, that.

00:18:03:14 - 00:18:21:05
Kelly Aiken
So, that was a bolt on cars. I started street racing that in the in the middle of nowhere that, believe it or not, the street racing up in that Colorado, in the mountain areas up there was really good. You could go to find this road out in the middle of nowhere kind of, you know, weren't really prepping like pimp juice back then.

00:18:21:05 - 00:18:23:10
Kelly Aiken
But you're doing your burnout in your water and everything, but.

00:18:23:10 - 00:18:25:05
Ken Bjonnes
It's the same spot. You're kind of off.

00:18:25:06 - 00:18:55:08
Kelly Aiken
Every weekend, and it's like, you know, you're racing the next guy and it's like, I gotta put an intake so I can walk him up top. Like, you know, you're competing every weekend and it's like, I'm going to beat you this weekend. Yeah. So that was the thing. And then I actually got really good at like dig racing with a stick with a T 45 two valve GT on like a street tire, like just, you know, to this day, I've never, I haven't lost that ability to make a car leave.

00:18:55:08 - 00:19:11:17
Kelly Aiken
Good. I may not shift as fast as a young kid, but I always I just taught myself to really just finesse it. And that's what I learned on, like, king cobra clutches, you know? Right. and then that's when it just it really took off because then people kind of like, knew my car and that's a two valve.

00:19:11:19 - 00:19:18:12
Kelly Aiken
I'm racing like heads, cams, bodies and stuff like that. And then that's when I met. Speaking of Dark Horse 99, he lived in.

00:19:18:12 - 00:19:21:23
Ken Bjonnes
That's weird that I brought that up because I had no idea. Yeah, you knew him? That well. Yeah.

00:19:22:00 - 00:19:46:03
Kelly Aiken
So. So I was in the Air Force up there, and, he was in, Bill Putnam is about to come into conversation. So we were at, Phil Wong's off our day. It was a. Yeah, it was a Ford event. Right. And I would go race the Mad Motor shootout class, and, he was there, and he broke I a upper part and, like launching, you know, because back then we had to launch high, you know what I mean?

00:19:46:05 - 00:20:01:02
Kelly Aiken
You didn't have power, right? he had a convertible car back then, and, you know, it was all about race. And, man, we're all greasy, and it just. That's all you cared about. And we're young kids. Yeah. And, And he was in the pits, and I walked up to him. I'm like, hey, man, what's wrong? And he's on.

00:20:01:22 - 00:20:05:20
Kelly Aiken
I think cell phones were like, just like, really taken off at that point. And I'm like, man.

00:20:05:20 - 00:20:09:13
Ken Bjonnes
This guy guy's cellphone, he's like, he's like, I got you.

00:20:09:15 - 00:20:12:06
Kelly Aiken
Calling me back. And I'm like, wow, you're big.

00:20:12:06 - 00:20:14:18
Ken Bjonnes
Like, really? Because Bill Putnam. And it was.

00:20:14:19 - 00:20:28:07
Kelly Aiken
And if Bill watches this and he remembers that basically, he had broken a upper part and upper Bill was saying he was going to try to ship a part out or something like that. But this goes back, you know, we're talking 20 years, you know, 20.

00:20:28:07 - 00:20:29:23
Ken Bjonnes
Years ago, Bill, back then.

00:20:29:23 - 00:20:40:03
Kelly Aiken
So, but yeah, so that's I met Jason and then, when I got out of the military, the very first time I could afford boost, I moved to Florida and invite.

00:20:40:03 - 00:20:41:22
Ken Bjonnes
You to Florida, by the way, I don't know.

00:20:42:00 - 00:21:05:07
Kelly Aiken
So two things. I transferred to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, to the for Florida Air National Guard. And then also, it was a little strategic because I couldn't stand the snow in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And I'm a car guy, and I'm trying to get to work. And the car won't move in the ice, and and, and then also Shauna's family, had moved to Florida when.

00:21:05:09 - 00:21:06:06
Kelly Aiken
So when.

00:21:06:06 - 00:21:07:07
Ken Bjonnes
Did you meet Shauna.

00:21:07:09 - 00:21:24:02
Kelly Aiken
In Texas? Oh, okay. So when we when we took off, you know, we married and all that stuff, our families took off. They didn't want to live in Texas anymore. And the Florida. Oh, okay. So it just her parents were in Florida while we were there, so that's why we we came. It just made sense. Yeah. Everything aligned.

00:21:24:02 - 00:21:25:11
Kelly Aiken
And I'm. It's the best move I ever made.

00:21:25:15 - 00:21:28:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Florida makes sense for most people. I think so.

00:21:28:02 - 00:21:49:13
Kelly Aiken
But, but yeah. So, you know, I got to I got to race up there and, I started getting the bug and it was a bolt on car. So I was doing like the trick flow plenum and then the dense charger. But then that sucked. So I modified it. You know, you learn, right? And then I started porting the plenum, and then you get into the headers and I did BBQ shorties, my first headers on that car.

00:21:49:15 - 00:22:06:06
Kelly Aiken
And then of course I learned. And then, you know, you do this, you break a clutch, you do that, and then it's just, it's the same thing that every year all the young guys are going through now when they, when they do the same stuff. So, long story short, I moved to Florida and, and it just escalated.

00:22:06:07 - 00:22:17:11
Kelly Aiken
I bought a supercharger from Jason. Okay. So I could barely afford the apartment we were in. Right. And I told my wife, I'm like, I gotta make payments on this Sentra. And back then, we didn't have apps, right?

00:22:17:12 - 00:22:17:17
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

00:22:17:18 - 00:22:23:13
Kelly Aiken
So I think I was sending him, like, money orders. I mean, because you trusted people, I guess. Yeah, he was a forum guy, right?

00:22:23:13 - 00:22:25:01
Ken Bjonnes
Right. I'm sending him, like, a.

00:22:25:01 - 00:22:26:02
Kelly Aiken
Thousand dollars and just.

00:22:26:02 - 00:22:26:23
Ken Bjonnes
Went on a 12.

00:22:27:00 - 00:22:39:19
Kelly Aiken
Yes. It was a vortex with a 3.33 poly, 12 pounds of boost, non-linear, cooled, just a vortex and then a FM power pipe. You know, that's all the same stuff, you know? But, yeah. So that car made they.

00:22:39:19 - 00:22:43:19
Ken Bjonnes
Actually ordered a tune from us last week. Anderson. Yeah. I was like, what?

00:22:43:19 - 00:22:50:12
Ken Bjonnes
That. Oh my gosh. Yeah. What? Nobody's going to know that now. That's right. Yeah. They were huge back in 41.

00:22:50:13 - 00:22:51:12
Kelly Aiken
Brian. and then.

00:22:51:12 - 00:22:57:13
Ken Bjonnes
Brian Kessler Eric who was a big time AFM guy, he works at UPI now. Did you know that.

00:22:57:14 - 00:22:58:14
Kelly Aiken
I did not yeah, I moved.

00:22:58:14 - 00:22:59:16
Ken Bjonnes
Here like in the last year.

00:22:59:18 - 00:23:07:08
Kelly Aiken
Oh okay. Yeah. I mean, it's so, you know, all of these names have been around and it's funny because literally you brought up UPR and Bill.

00:23:07:10 - 00:23:07:22
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

00:23:08:00 - 00:23:18:00
Kelly Aiken
Modular Depot. And then Jason came up and then I mean, I'm, I'm really affiliated with these people. And then Jason allowed me to like layaway. Yeah. Used to be a thing. That's what I did for that, that blower.

00:23:18:04 - 00:23:19:20
Ken Bjonnes
But he didn't give you the blower till after.

00:23:19:20 - 00:23:36:02
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. Right. Till after he sent me a bunch of boxes and then he helped me, like, you know, it was. It was cool, like, I was, I was green, you know, and then, before I did that, I had a nitrous express kit, 52, 33 I still remember the jets and all that. So we were doing the, the micro record stuff.

00:23:36:02 - 00:23:43:21
Kelly Aiken
Even back then. You know, I think Bill Putnam was the first camp to be able to go 11th. I'm pretty sure, I was trying to be the first both on to that.

00:23:43:21 - 00:23:46:04
Ken Bjonnes
I think he had a set because.

00:23:46:06 - 00:23:46:21
Kelly Aiken
Once.

00:23:46:22 - 00:23:52:12
Ken Bjonnes
I had, I had the first set of billet camshafts, but I think he had reground camshafts, which is.

00:23:52:12 - 00:23:58:01
Kelly Aiken
Well, he went 1190s and everybody left. Well, lost their mind because it was a cam only I think like just the cam two valve.

00:23:58:02 - 00:24:10:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. That was back in the day. Like they would grind a stock cam. And then you had to put spacers in them and everything and all that stuff. I remember that when comp came out with the cams were like, oh my God, I can't believe somebody make them cams.

00:24:10:14 - 00:24:13:06
Kelly Aiken
I remember that now. That's funny that you're saying that I remember that.

00:24:13:07 - 00:24:14:01
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah.

00:24:14:06 - 00:24:19:09
Kelly Aiken
So but yeah, that's. Yeah, I mean there's a whole lot in between there. But I mean that's, that's the basics.

00:24:19:09 - 00:24:25:04
Ken Bjonnes
So then obviously you went from just getting your feet wet and performance to, you know, now.

00:24:25:04 - 00:24:26:08
Kelly Aiken
You started a business.

00:24:26:08 - 00:24:33:04
Ken Bjonnes
Now you live performance. So yeah. What did that where was your first step. I mean you were doing the shirts and things like that.

00:24:33:04 - 00:24:43:08
Kelly Aiken
But I started a business called Modular Speed because I got so enamored, you know, I got so into it that I was, I was ed up, I mean, and I think.

00:24:43:08 - 00:24:45:02
Ken Bjonnes
We still in the service at this point, you know.

00:24:45:02 - 00:25:04:06
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, I was doing I was in the Air National Guard, but then I got into where I was doing it like the weekend type, like the reserves type of thing. And then I started working for a family, you know, my wife's family moved here, started businesses and stuff. So I worked for them a little bit. I actually, I was working, like, multiple jobs, so I was detailing cars, you know, and I kind of finding what I could do.

00:25:04:06 - 00:25:04:23
Ken Bjonnes
Finding your way.

00:25:05:00 - 00:25:22:04
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. And, I started my job. Really? So that was where I just found this, like, void. I'm like, you know, somebody's, like, needs to be on the forums. I was on the all the forums. I was a sponsor. You know, I would have company semi parts, you know, hey, put this on your car or whatever. On three.

00:25:22:08 - 00:25:25:08
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. yeah. I was just slinging parts.

00:25:25:10 - 00:25:37:15
Kelly Aiken
You know, who knows where that would have been? I mean, because, you know, I got to a point where I was actually too overwhelming and I shut it down. I gave up, right? I was in my early 20s, and it was overwhelming. You know.

00:25:37:17 - 00:25:56:11
Ken Bjonnes
People don't understand how crazy the parts business can be. I mean, that's how I got into this, because Major Depot started out as a, you know, I was just throwing a website up just to throw a website up. Right? Because I'm a computer guy now because I was a car guy. And then I got Bill involved, he to ask me to do the following.

00:25:56:12 - 00:26:11:23
Ken Bjonnes
He's like, you should do a forum. And I'm like, well, everybody has forums. We don't. And why would they come here? And then it blew up and then it was like, oh wow, look, I can get, you know, after I got my first set of comp cams, I'm like, wait, I could buy these for this amount. I don't remember the numbers.

00:26:11:23 - 00:26:13:12
Ken Bjonnes
And I can sell them for this amount.

00:26:13:12 - 00:26:15:17
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. I'm going to be rich.

00:26:15:20 - 00:26:21:16
Ken Bjonnes
You know, because, you know, you don't. When you're young, you don't think about overhead and advertising and everything.

00:26:21:16 - 00:26:22:18
Kelly Aiken
It costs as much.

00:26:22:18 - 00:26:26:21
Ken Bjonnes
So as much I don't get anything. And I made $50. Holy shit.

00:26:26:21 - 00:26:34:12
Ken Bjonnes
You know. So, you know, and, the parts business, even to this day, is just, like, cut throat and super, super duper.

00:26:34:18 - 00:26:41:12
Kelly Aiken
It was back there. Well, so what I thought back then was, I've always wanted to do things other people don't do.

00:26:41:14 - 00:26:42:10
Ken Bjonnes

00:26:42:12 - 00:27:02:21
Kelly Aiken
I it's just me. It's weird. It's like. So even when I was doing the part stuff, I was like, how can I be different? So, you know, I was doing I was porting takes back in the short, you know, you did a short runner for six and take out. So there's a bunch of people that bought modular speed portrait intakes, you know, and then, you know, and then I got to cut them open and then I hired a guy in the woods.

00:27:02:21 - 00:27:22:07
Kelly Aiken
Literally, this guy had a fab job. I'd poured them all, change the runners around a little bit. Kind of guesswork, but kind of, you know, using some knowledge to write. Right? And then I'd have paid him 50 bucks to weld the head back on, put a little serial number on it, and then ship it out. And then I got to where, like, it was, it was a lot of work, you know, one person show.

00:27:22:09 - 00:27:38:18
Kelly Aiken
And then I was working my other jobs, and then, something happened. So I built that website with like, Dreamweaver or my, my, my mother taught me how to do all that at a young age, like, make my own website. And, I've had a PayPal account since back then. It's the same one I use now, my business account.

00:27:38:18 - 00:28:04:09
Kelly Aiken
So, you know, what I'm getting at, though, is, I started kind of getting bullied, like MMR. Yep. And I would, like, come out with something like, this sounds super cheesy, but I kind of like, got, like, the cooling mods. Really popular. Like, people would know back then. Like a modular speed coolant crossover, delete, you know, membrane on the four valves or they had the big one.

00:28:04:11 - 00:28:23:04
Kelly Aiken
So I was making like billet fittings with hoses for for supercharger clearance and stuff. Right. Then I started selling them. And then you know, I helped on three. You know, to this day the picture on the on three website might be my picture. I don't know, I had to work, but so I got into doing that stuff. Well, here comes Mark Lamarr.

00:28:23:06 - 00:28:24:09
Ken Bjonnes
Who deletes and.

00:28:24:09 - 00:28:34:11
Kelly Aiken
Stuff. And I'm like, man, and I'm young. So I got like, is this how this industry is going to be? You know, and and and it. So then he ended up buying my website. I've told you that.

00:28:34:16 - 00:28:35:23
Ken Bjonnes
No, I didn't know about your website.

00:28:35:23 - 00:28:50:21
Kelly Aiken
So I'm young I'm busy and I just I'm all over the place where my mother used to take care of me. You know, she I was young and I guess she didn't renew my website. Oh, boom. Goes to Mars website.

00:28:50:21 - 00:28:51:10
Ken Bjonnes
So he was.

00:28:51:10 - 00:28:52:19
Kelly Aiken
He bought it somehow on it.

00:28:52:19 - 00:28:54:15
Ken Bjonnes
And as soon as he bought it.

00:28:54:15 - 00:29:03:20
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. And then that drove me out. Yeah. I cried. Yeah. I'm young. I was like, man, I built all this up like that was my site. Like, that was my site.

00:29:03:20 - 00:29:04:23
Ken Bjonnes
That's pretty dirty.

00:29:05:00 - 00:29:12:17
Kelly Aiken
And he owned it up until like a year or two ago. So as you go now, it'll say it's for sale or something. Yeah, but up until a couple years ago, it went to his website.

00:29:12:17 - 00:29:13:01
Ken Bjonnes
Right.

00:29:13:04 - 00:29:13:23
Kelly Aiken
That's that's.

00:29:14:02 - 00:29:15:05
Ken Bjonnes
Him. That's crazy.

00:29:15:05 - 00:29:27:07
Kelly Aiken
I respect Mark for his hustle. You know, and going back to that, I was a customer of his. There used to be a guy named Chris that worked at MMR that I used to order parts from all the time I was putting MMR engines in cars.

00:29:27:10 - 00:29:28:14
Ken Bjonnes

00:29:28:16 - 00:29:36:13
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. I was a customer for a little bit when I started trying to get away from that, you know, and that's how I got in with whatever toy, which I actually worked for for a little while.

00:29:36:18 - 00:29:43:01
Ken Bjonnes
So that was technically your first, performance job for a living that you were hustling. Yes. But, like just a regular.

00:29:43:01 - 00:29:57:05
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. Job. Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, I got to. I got to meet those guys Dan was racing back then, so I was super impressed. Here I am, this young, motivated like, car industry guy. And Dan's running like threes I think back then.

00:29:57:10 - 00:29:58:16
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah 80 RL.

00:29:58:17 - 00:30:01:01
Ken Bjonnes
80 RL was three second. Sure.

00:30:01:02 - 00:30:04:12
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. And I mean some long time ago it's impressive though.

00:30:04:14 - 00:30:05:16
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Yeah I mean.

00:30:05:16 - 00:30:09:03
Kelly Aiken
Now we're freaking out over three years too. You know I know it's a different I know it's still.

00:30:09:07 - 00:30:19:13
Ken Bjonnes
Different to go three is back then is totally different than now. Now it's the it's not easy right. It is if you have a shit ton of money it's easy. If you just go get a pro mod or something like that. But you don't want.

00:30:19:13 - 00:30:38:03
Kelly Aiken
To insult somebody program. But right back then though, I mean he it was so impressive back then. I think, I don't want to misspeak here, but whoever in Qatar, wherever I whatever. But like his whole program. Right. And like had him tune it so they could race it over there I think or something.

00:30:38:03 - 00:30:39:07
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Yeah, that sounds similar.

00:30:39:08 - 00:30:40:15
Kelly Aiken
So he sold it to them though.

00:30:40:15 - 00:30:41:21
Ken Bjonnes
And you worked remotely for them.

00:30:41:23 - 00:30:59:06
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. So I was doing like sales on the forums, you know, and it was honestly, it was tough because they run a lot the tight ship. I mean, they have quotas and stuff, you know. Right. I'm not going to talk about everything, but. Right. You know, and Dan and Tom, to this day, I mean, I love those guys.

00:30:59:06 - 00:31:09:00
Kelly Aiken
I don't talk to Dan that much. I talk to Tom. but, that's how I met Rick Labonte. Yeah. And, I mean, those guys have been there forever. and that was a thing.

00:31:09:00 - 00:31:10:08
Ken Bjonnes
I forgot that Rick worked there. Yeah.

00:31:10:09 - 00:31:11:15
Ken Bjonnes
I mean, yeah.

00:31:11:17 - 00:31:18:02
Kelly Aiken
That's who I hung out with when I got there. Yeah. So we're friends. He's. He's hooked me up with Ford connection type stuff. Yeah.

00:31:18:02 - 00:31:19:20
Ken Bjonnes
He's really deep in it now. Yeah.

00:31:19:20 - 00:31:37:13
Kelly Aiken
He is so good for him. He's got a he's got a good set up. But Yeah. So I worked for them for a little bit and, learn a lot because here I am slinging parts and thinking like. Yeah. And, but but that's how I met when I had modular speed. That business. That's how I met Justin Starkey.

00:31:37:15 - 00:31:48:23
Kelly Aiken
So I sound like modular speed, custom tunes. And I just order tunes from like, vmp, you know? And I asked x2 maybe back then probably. And, it'd be like, hey, man, just add a little bit of timing.

00:31:48:23 - 00:31:51:02
Ken Bjonnes
To it, like, or whatever, you know? Right.

00:31:51:02 - 00:32:12:10
Kelly Aiken
And just hustling, man. Just getting in the industry, meeting people and, but yeah, I worked for a living. And then, that's when it didn't really work out because, you know, not saying I, you know, I've always been motivated and stuff, but, like, I just don't think at that time an outside sales rep that's kind of a big move.

00:32:12:11 - 00:32:14:18
Kelly Aiken
That's for a speed chop. Like.

00:32:14:20 - 00:32:18:20
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And I think I think remote work in general, I'm not a huge fan. I mean.

00:32:18:20 - 00:32:19:14
Ken Bjonnes
It did good.

00:32:19:17 - 00:32:37:14
Kelly Aiken
Like I had months that were really good, but they had these quotas. I'm not gonna talk about numbers, but it was pretty big numbers. Like they, they they want their guys to sell engines and everything, you know, high ticket items. And I might have hit the quota a few times maybe. Right. But it was like it just didn't align with what they wanted to do.

00:32:37:18 - 00:32:49:01
Kelly Aiken
There was no hard feelings. There was none of that. It was just, you know, hey, it's not really. So then I stopped and and I kind of knew that was coming. And then that's what led me to getting my job at BMR.

00:32:49:03 - 00:32:58:23
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Which, you know, for anybody that's been around more than a few years, that's probably where they probably most likely. Yeah, that's what.

00:32:59:00 - 00:33:01:05
Kelly Aiken
I dealt with. There's minds staggering.

00:33:01:05 - 00:33:01:14
Ken Bjonnes
Right.

00:33:01:14 - 00:33:04:05
Kelly Aiken
It's not even it's so hard to fathom.

00:33:04:05 - 00:33:26:08
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah I mean I believe, you know, I, I didn't really pay attention to the other markets that, they were in, but you had to be the most active BMR employee by a large margin, you know, more active than their marketing guy. Yeah. Which is doesn't make a lot of sense. Right? The marketing guy should be the one that's out there constantly interacting with people.

00:33:26:08 - 00:33:29:14
Ken Bjonnes
But like, you, you almost acted as if you were like, well.

00:33:29:15 - 00:33:30:08
Kelly Aiken
I worked for hock.

00:33:30:12 - 00:33:31:04
Ken Bjonnes
Part owner.

00:33:31:04 - 00:33:32:11
Kelly Aiken
Honestly, I worked on the clock.

00:33:32:11 - 00:33:41:19
Ken Bjonnes
You treated BMR as if it was your company, which is always a good thing for an employee to do. Yeah. And I, you know, I was really lucky there. So,

00:33:41:21 - 00:33:59:07
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, I mean, I worked at, you know, during those times, it was tough on me. Yeah. I had, like, young kids. I had a y. You know, I you. Yeah. And I got a split. It's like I was so, like, motivated and stuff, and my wife's a saint, but it was like, okay, the family's done. And they're going to that I'm working again.

00:33:59:07 - 00:34:07:12
Kelly Aiken
That's that was for ten years. It was like 10 p.m. to 1 or 2 a.m.. I'm working and going to school, you know, like.

00:34:07:14 - 00:34:16:23
Ken Bjonnes
And I think there's a good lesson in your BMR thing and, I didn't talk to you too much in the beginning at BMR. I don't think it wasn't until the S550 stuff.

00:34:17:00 - 00:34:17:20
Kelly Aiken
2014.

00:34:17:20 - 00:34:18:20
Ken Bjonnes
Reconnected us.

00:34:18:20 - 00:34:36:14
Kelly Aiken
With the track. And you were old. You jokingly said, how's your car running? Because you knew it wasn't running and you were working on Evo's car. I think you guys are under the hood of a centrifugal blower car. It had to be evolution because they were the only. I mean, remember, there was only like three of us at the time, and I was the only one that didn't have a running one.

00:34:36:16 - 00:34:37:20
Ken Bjonnes
Either that or was it.

00:34:38:07 - 00:34:39:18
Kelly Aiken
it was red or orange or something.

00:34:39:20 - 00:34:42:17
Ken Bjonnes
Okay. Yeah, I have a really bad.

00:34:42:17 - 00:34:44:04
Kelly Aiken
You guys are at the amp.

00:34:44:06 - 00:34:47:16
Ken Bjonnes
APM and you looked up and you're like, hey, Ellie, how's your car running? Yeah.

00:34:47:18 - 00:34:54:06
Kelly Aiken
And I was like, whatever, dude. And then you go, we can figure it out. And I said, no, you can't. And you go, no, we can. And then you turn back around.

00:34:54:06 - 00:34:56:20
Ken Bjonnes
And work and I'm like, and you were like, maybe they.

00:34:56:20 - 00:35:00:06
Ken Bjonnes
Can. And you were like, Verna had three people talking people in.

00:35:00:06 - 00:35:01:16
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah. And I'm like.

00:35:01:18 - 00:35:03:20
Ken Bjonnes
All I got to do is bring it to me. Yeah. You know.

00:35:03:20 - 00:35:05:01
Kelly Aiken
So and it was. And it worked.

00:35:05:03 - 00:35:06:19
Ken Bjonnes
Yep. Yep. It worked out.

00:35:06:19 - 00:35:25:20
Kelly Aiken
What I mean, I, you know, I have zero regrets on that whole thing. I don't it was that was actually a really fun time. And you know I talk to people because we're so jaded now. People buy these cars and they tear them apart. Whistle and diesel or whatever. I still don't know really who that is, but I know because today I was hanging out with Ferrari.

00:35:25:22 - 00:35:27:07
Ken Bjonnes
Did you see the Mustang?

00:35:27:11 - 00:35:28:09
Kelly Aiken
I don't know.

00:35:28:15 - 00:35:30:01
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, he just came out with the.

00:35:30:03 - 00:35:31:03
Kelly Aiken
Topic, came up today.

00:35:31:06 - 00:35:31:15
Ken Bjonnes
Oh yeah.

00:35:31:15 - 00:35:36:07
Kelly Aiken
He did that make them mad? Because that was a hot topic. That was a that was a weird topic and.

00:35:36:07 - 00:35:38:11
Ken Bjonnes
Really mad about everything. Yeah.

00:35:38:16 - 00:35:39:16
Kelly Aiken
He cut stuff off.

00:35:39:16 - 00:35:42:16
Ken Bjonnes
I heard dude, he friggin it.

00:35:42:18 - 00:35:51:20
Ken Bjonnes
I don't really like the guy. I don't hate him though. And I do watch his videos because he literally does just shit. You're like.

00:35:51:22 - 00:35:52:10
Ken Bjonnes
Like, just.

00:35:52:10 - 00:35:53:00
Kelly Aiken
Doesn't care.

00:35:53:00 - 00:35:55:08
Ken Bjonnes
Like really crazy shit. Like, you know.

00:35:55:08 - 00:35:56:12
Kelly Aiken
For him, like, you know.

00:35:56:18 - 00:36:07:21
Ken Bjonnes
He had the Ferrari and, I forget exactly what. What I'll do is they'll just, like, run cars, like, just run them into things. And like, he was like.

00:36:07:23 - 00:36:08:23
Kelly Aiken
I forget, I guess.

00:36:09:00 - 00:36:24:22
Ken Bjonnes
Right, I forget exact. Oh, it must, it probably was the, it was either the exhaust or the brakes. But then he had the Ferrari and he was doing something with it, and it was like super, super hot. And then he goes through this field and it catches on fire because of the brush was dry and the whole thing burned down.

00:36:24:22 - 00:36:27:13
Ken Bjonnes
Like he I don't think he really intended to burn it down.

00:36:27:13 - 00:36:28:16
Kelly Aiken
I didn't even know that. Yeah.

00:36:28:16 - 00:36:51:10
Ken Bjonnes
Oh there's so many things he's done. And then he just bought a mustang. Okay. He had a mustang, whatever, like S550. And was trying to, like you just does stupid shit with it, you know, constantly. But. But the point I wanted to bring up was on your BMR journey. I think there's a lot to be learned there for a lot of people as far as making the best of an opportunity, right?

00:36:51:11 - 00:37:07:09
Ken Bjonnes
Right. Like I'm assuming when you got hired there, you didn't have some resumé. You know, you worked at Liver Noite. That was your only other job before that. So it wasn't like you were some like great find or at least they didn't know you were a great find. And what, you just got hired as a sales guy, right?

00:37:07:09 - 00:37:10:04
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. Assistant for a mustang tech.

00:37:10:04 - 00:37:38:07
Ken Bjonnes
And Mustang tech, right? Like every. There's been tons of those people. You've never even known their name that work there. They last weeks, months, things like that. So you were the same guy as that. And then throughout your career, there, you really, from being, insane company to helping design parts or designing. Absolutely. Yeah. To, even helping to launch whole new segments.

00:37:38:07 - 00:37:44:08
Ken Bjonnes
Right? Yes. you know, when you started there, when did you start there? What what year was it?

00:37:46:06 - 00:37:50:09
Kelly Aiken
it was, 2010, we'll call it right before.

00:37:50:14 - 00:37:52:00
Ken Bjonnes
Before coyote. Right? Yeah.

00:37:52:01 - 00:37:56:22
Kelly Aiken
It was it was kind of like the thing it was almost think that,

00:37:57:00 - 00:38:00:11
Ken Bjonnes
That's interesting. I didn't realize that that's the same exact year I'm of the Florida, so.

00:38:00:12 - 00:38:08:18
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. Yeah. So it was almost as if, al. Which, you know, I have the utmost respect, you know, are like, yeah, you're still.

00:38:08:21 - 00:38:09:04
Ken Bjonnes
A great.

00:38:09:04 - 00:38:24:11
Kelly Aiken
Business guy. He's runs a tight ship. Everybody has their own opinions of people. It's rare that you work for somebody for a long time and you love them. But you know, I'm not. I don't love him. But we get along and we have the same alignment with a lot of things. And then some things. I think he's crazy, right?

00:38:24:11 - 00:38:42:17
Kelly Aiken
But he makes he makes the right decisions most of the time. But anyway, so what I was going to say is, around that time, they had just it's ironic because they got he got his 2011 coyote Mustang. and I was hired within the, you know, it was in within six months. It was all kind of at the same kind of time.

00:38:42:18 - 00:38:45:15
Kelly Aiken
And I think he had a plan to build the Ford segment, is what I'm saying.

00:38:45:15 - 00:38:48:06
Ken Bjonnes
But before then, they weren't they weren't doing any Ford or.

00:38:48:07 - 00:38:49:05
Ken Bjonnes
No, no no no.

00:38:49:06 - 00:39:07:05
Kelly Aiken
No, they made a splash. So the way that BMR got on the Ford map was when the three valves came out. Okay. They had like turbo cars before anybody else. You can look it up. I mean, they were so early on they built they had a eight second radial tire car in oh five.

00:39:07:06 - 00:39:09:23
Ken Bjonnes
Oh wow. So I think I remember that old.

00:39:09:23 - 00:39:10:14
Ken Bjonnes
School.

00:39:11:06 - 00:39:14:09
Kelly Aiken
Donald long ended up getting it and put raced it and stuff.

00:39:14:10 - 00:39:17:23
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, that that was a BMR car to put in car the blue. I.

00:39:17:23 - 00:39:28:13
Kelly Aiken
Think it was that one or I don't remember the history, but the BMR 100%. You can look it up. They went ETS on a radio back in oh five. Oh. But you know.

00:39:28:15 - 00:39:29:15
Ken Bjonnes
Simon's over here.

00:39:29:17 - 00:39:32:03
Ken Bjonnes
And I love that dog. it's so.

00:39:32:03 - 00:39:35:07
Kelly Aiken
Cool, but, so, so so that,

00:39:35:09 - 00:39:46:19
Ken Bjonnes
So so how did that work? Did you feel like you had to kind of push your way into, like, getting more and more responsibility, or do you think it was kind of like, organic, like al saw potential in you?

00:39:46:19 - 00:40:08:14
Kelly Aiken
And I can tell you exactly why. So what happened is I'm a numbers guy. I'm not a money guy. I'm a numbers guy. That's why I do all my testing, you know? So it's like, I just love to see results. they hired me. There's two. There's two primary things. He wanted to grow his Ford segment. He took me out to lunch on my interview, and he said, I want to grow the Ford segment.

00:40:08:16 - 00:40:25:19
Kelly Aiken
And they didn't have a guy. I think somebody left who was a Ford guy there, whatever. It was the Ford Tech. And he said, but some of the guys at the magazines said that you're really good with 79 204 stuff. So this at this time I was still messing with cobras.

00:40:26:15 - 00:40:30:00
Ken Bjonnes
I hated the three of cars. I was like, never.

00:40:30:02 - 00:40:54:11
Kelly Aiken
So I had zero four Cobras, 98 Cobras, turbo cars for our 70. All the, you know, the whole recipes. And that's why he really brought me on board. He wanted me to help develop, promote, develop, sell whatever 7904 stuff. the problem is I got him and we just took off on this 197 dude, it was like the timing with the coyote.

00:40:54:11 - 00:41:17:18
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, I had all this forum presence, and I'm not going to brag, but I will tell you that back then, like, I dominated all the forums for BMR, right? I was everywhere SVT performance, nobody was to be found right? Nothing against theta, right? They weren't even a thing on social media until the s550 came, right? That to be honest, they probably don't even understand how big we were.

00:41:17:18 - 00:41:25:14
Kelly Aiken
And that's 197. I don't think anybody does. The numbers are staggering. I mean, we you could probably remember there was a time where it was like BMR.

00:41:25:18 - 00:41:33:19
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, I remember when I really started first hearing about you guys. And in my mind, and this may not be an accurate, but I was like, oh, these GM guys are getting into.

00:41:33:20 - 00:41:34:14
Kelly Aiken
Everybody's like that.

00:41:34:14 - 00:41:42:16
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Like that's what I saw. Like, you know, back then, PR probably was the most popular for.

00:41:42:21 - 00:41:45:20
Kelly Aiken
The upper seat. You know, it's been a Ford name.

00:41:45:23 - 00:41:53:01
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. But from suspension specifically, like everybody, at least in my circles, ran like you PR warmed up.

00:41:53:03 - 00:41:58:20
Kelly Aiken
I've always sponsored racers and just been there and they were up there. I mean, how they've been at races for years.

00:41:58:21 - 00:42:07:22
Ken Bjonnes
And then BMR popped up and I'm like, who are these GM guys? Wow, that looks like pretty nice stuff, you know. And then it just started. Yeah. Escalating from there. I was.

00:42:07:22 - 00:42:28:20
Kelly Aiken
Super impressed when I started at BMR. I just want to on the for the record, when I saw the amount of effort that went into doing this stuff, like BMR has become so big now that I crack up because I see comments all the time about they're just knockoffs. People say that, but it well, all the time, because they're so big.

00:42:28:22 - 00:42:54:11
Kelly Aiken
There's such a well-known name and there's all these, there's these little things that have happened. But when I started there, keep in mind I was a part slinging guy and building my cars. I used the PA racing there. Yeah. You know, I used all these parts on my own cars. And then when I started at BMR and I saw that they were developing everything from scratch, I was like, companies really do that, because back in the day, man also came in with raw copies of every.

00:42:54:12 - 00:42:55:05
Ken Bjonnes
You know.

00:42:55:05 - 00:42:57:14
Kelly Aiken
I mean, it was like one company would make them and they all copied.

00:42:57:19 - 00:43:26:07
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And that's something that's super important to me. I've never actually been to BMR, but I'm familiar with it. I've seen pictures and videos from there. And, and I'm not throwing shade at anybody that does private labeling or just other people manufacture. Right. because I do that. Do you do that? yeah, absolutely. so not everybody can have a 20, 30, 40,000, 50,000 square foot facility, but that's a mission of all of these rallies.

00:43:26:09 - 00:43:51:10
Ken Bjonnes
But the BMR does that. Yeah. And, you know, long term, that's the best possible strategy, I think, for a company like that, because you're building something that like, you know, if you're Xyzzy suspension and like some random welder is welding your shit and he gets a better job and goes, hey, I can't do your shit anymore. It's like, yeah.

00:43:51:10 - 00:44:05:22
Ken Bjonnes
What? You know, because you so, you know, and, you know, companies deal with that all the time. But you know, al, I know and I know he's outsourced some parts of the things, but he continues to in source. Right. Yeah. Like Disney buy a laser company.

00:44:05:22 - 00:44:07:14
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. He bought Tampa Bay laser.

00:44:07:16 - 00:44:10:07
Ken Bjonnes
Right. We were such a big customer of theirs.

00:44:10:09 - 00:44:11:21
Kelly Aiken
Why don't I buy you, you know.

00:44:11:21 - 00:44:12:16
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, exactly.

00:44:12:17 - 00:44:32:22
Kelly Aiken
That CNC he's added the laser cutting. what's funny is, is BMR has always been really picky with the powder coat. Right. And so, like when I say further earlier when I said for the record, like there's a lot of things that that are so impressive and I haven't been there in a long time, but so here's an example.

00:44:33:00 - 00:44:49:14
Kelly Aiken
BMR theory is to have function and form. Some of their parts are very pretty. Like you look at them, you're like, wow, that designer Brett is good, you know? Right. But the other thing is, and you've you've opened a bunch of BMR parts, they never have like slag.

00:44:49:16 - 00:44:51:06
Ken Bjonnes
Know they're super clean.

00:44:51:07 - 00:45:14:13
Kelly Aiken
The welds look like robotic. What they do is they make all these parts and they have different segments where they go through. They have the sandblasting, then they go through the chipping. So anything that's rough on the part, they chip it manually. Oh and it goes back through and then they treat it and then they coat it. But they've been doing that before every before up to any of these other companies.

00:45:14:13 - 00:45:25:04
Kelly Aiken
They weren't even powder coating in parts because I used to use that against. I'd be like, we got the best coating, period. You're not going to have those rust problems, you know? And to this day, I see some of those brands with rusty parts online, people complaining.

00:45:25:04 - 00:45:39:07
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah. And you may not know the answer to this, but I don't. That's why I'm asking you. You had a better chance at knowing like, so, I know seed is a very big company. Do they. Yeah. How do they handle. Do you have any idea how they handle their manufacturing? Do they have a facility like BMR?

00:45:39:10 - 00:45:39:15
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

00:45:39:15 - 00:45:55:04
Kelly Aiken
So they, you know, and I'm sure somebody from state or Scott will watch this. they've got a pretty large facility in Georgia. For a while, they were running out of Pompano or down here somewhere. They just.

00:45:55:04 - 00:45:55:13
Ken Bjonnes
Closed it.

00:45:55:13 - 00:46:16:07
Kelly Aiken
And they were there. But that is primarily their manufacturing up there. What I will tell you is there's a lot of empty space, but I think they were building for the future. I mean, it's a big, big place. Yeah, yeah. you know, I'm gonna I'm going to shoot from the hip here because I don't know exactly, but, I'll just give you an example.

00:46:16:07 - 00:46:39:03
Kelly Aiken
When you go into BMR, there's probably two linear welding stations with 20 people welding nonstop. Right. I would say it still, you know, there's only 3 or 4 remaining here. I would say that's and again, I could be way off, but I like any, anything I've ever seen from there. I mean, there's only a handful, but Stella does a lot of machining.

00:46:39:05 - 00:47:01:04
Kelly Aiken
So a lot of times I'll give you a good example of people watching can relate to the vertical link kind of s550 that connects like the top of the knuckle to the lower control arm. The link, BMR offers like a $80 steel powder coated one with poly bushings and, you know, and they do have billet two but still has the billet, you know.

00:47:01:04 - 00:47:03:08
Ken Bjonnes
So they trend towards more.

00:47:03:10 - 00:47:04:03
Kelly Aiken
Female.

00:47:04:04 - 00:47:04:19
Ken Bjonnes
And machine.

00:47:04:19 - 00:47:35:11
Kelly Aiken
Events. And BMR is a true the first name of BMR was BMR fabrication incorporated BMR fabrication. And then around the time I was there, that's when I was really trying to transition everything to suspension. You know, the new website came and all that stuff. So, but, back to the BMR thing is, you know, they, they, they, they really like, thrive on like that whole like experience of the customer getting the part and saying, wow, this is actually a really nice part, right?

00:47:35:14 - 00:47:48:13
Kelly Aiken
You know, and I see a lot of companies parts online and I'm like and it can be deceiving though I'm not saying that means it's a better part, but when you get a part that has that much thought and attention to detail, then it's typically a really good parts.

00:47:48:15 - 00:48:02:05
Ken Bjonnes
Well, I think that's very important. You can compare that to like the electronics business, right? You can get a piece of electronics that's in a white box that's like wrapped in newspaper. And at the end of the day it's the same piece of electronics. But when it comes in a nice.

00:48:02:05 - 00:48:04:03
Kelly Aiken
Box custom that.

00:48:04:05 - 00:48:30:05
Ken Bjonnes
Up and it looks a certain way, it shows you that the company cares like about the whole experience. So it's kind of the same thing. We're talking about the part in BMW's case that the part itself is just visually good looking, like somebody else might be able to make a part that's functionally exactly the same. But if it's not coated the same quality and the weld aren't the same quality and just little things aren't exactly the same, it makes a difference.

00:48:30:05 - 00:48:55:12
Ken Bjonnes
Because even if you don't need to do that, the fact that BMR does it shows you like, man, these guys are like really trying here. They're not just folding it in. So yes. I think one of your biggest, assets is you're being detail oriented and it's not on everything in your life, but real specifically, when we're talking about performance.

00:48:55:12 - 00:49:20:21
Ken Bjonnes
So like, you know, fast forwarding a little bit, obviously we're going to get to Cal track and spend a lot of time on that. But like, you know, you started this new YouTube channel called Mr. Draghi. Right, right. And people I think that what you do on that channel is a good look inside, what it takes to be successful, that top 5%, I guess I'd say.

00:49:20:21 - 00:49:38:12
Ken Bjonnes
Right. So a good example is like coyote stock. You take a bunch of coyote engines and give them to 20 different people and some of them are going to be a second faster than the other with the same motor and tune. How the hell does that happen? Well, with that's how you operate. You would be one of the faster guys, right?

00:49:38:12 - 00:49:58:16
Ken Bjonnes
You're looking at every little detail, right? Because you're talking about thousandths of a second. So like the littlest thing that you may not understand, I mean, a good example is your Viper. You know, I think you are powershift in it and then realized by actually a speed shift in it or you were, whatever, whatever terminology you want to use right now.

00:49:58:20 - 00:50:06:10
Kelly Aiken
So see, the problem with that one as I is, is I wasn't timing the shift on a concrete patch, and it was haze on the tires and I was losing 2/10.

00:50:06:10 - 00:50:07:02
Ken Bjonnes
Right. Yeah.

00:50:07:04 - 00:50:16:04
Kelly Aiken
Things like normal people. So what was happening is people would judge me online because I posted, remember I couldn't get into the fives. Yeah. So I posted my six oh.

00:50:16:05 - 00:50:17:22
Ken Bjonnes
Oh oh Acapulco six hours.

00:50:18:00 - 00:50:18:23
Kelly Aiken
And everybody's.

00:50:18:23 - 00:50:20:03
Ken Bjonnes
Like, because your shift.

00:50:20:03 - 00:50:42:13
Kelly Aiken
Sucks. I don't have time to go. Well, actually, when I shift a good, it would haze the tires and that I don't have time. Right. But the sorry the channel shows that right. It actually shows it. So then I got to where it took a while because that car has real long years. Yeah. And I was timing the shift right on the concrete and then boom, just a just a power speed power shift speed shift whatever.

00:50:42:15 - 00:50:57:22
Kelly Aiken
No lift shift. That's what they call it now. Yeah, yeah. Just a boom. And it took a couple and even then it took a couple times because that rev limiter is at 7000 and you're like again it's time the detail. You're like third time's a charm. And I hit it right before that. You know I, I rev it you.

00:50:57:22 - 00:51:16:00
Kelly Aiken
So here's the thing. When I talk to you and we've talked a lot over the years, you'll understand exactly what I'm saying. When I've been out logging at 10 p.m. and I'm like, I'm going to do this. And you're like, well, how are you going to do that? Because you always ask me when I say, I'm going to do something right, and I'm like, I'm just going to I'm going to try to get it to shift to like 200 more RPM.

00:51:16:01 - 00:51:17:19
Ken Bjonnes
That's a huge difference.

00:51:17:19 - 00:51:32:15
Ken Bjonnes
Right. Well, and the Viper's Na and that's a good time to bring it up is I think that's what breeds that type of mentality. I mean, you have to be that kind of person to begin with. But that's where that mentality really comes to power.

00:51:32:16 - 00:51:33:18
Kelly Aiken
Because you, you know, you.

00:51:33:18 - 00:51:53:13
Ken Bjonnes
Know, I have that same type of personality, although I don't feel like I take advantage of it as much as I used to. because I'm a hardcore big, big power guy now. And to me, and this is bad. I'm not saying it's good to me. I'm just like, oh, I just add a pound of boost, or I just do this or I'll do that.

00:51:53:13 - 00:51:54:17
Ken Bjonnes
It's like, yeah, I've seen.

00:51:54:17 - 00:51:57:05
Kelly Aiken
You get more that way over the years.

00:51:57:05 - 00:52:20:11
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Because, you know, it's easy. Yeah. Right. But but I, I value the time I did spend in na racing and trying to make Na stuff fast because I can always pull on that experience and going like, you know, what exactly is going on here and look at the really super fine details. And, and you know, you're doing a good job when people don't believe you, right?

00:52:20:11 - 00:52:32:06
Ken Bjonnes
Right. Like because, oh, there's no way you did that. There's no way, you know, like this, like everything that's kind of going on with the s650 and like people just not believing things. And it's like, here it is.

00:52:32:06 - 00:52:37:22
Kelly Aiken
We're in a weird world, too, where, like, people are, are more apt to not believe it than to believe it.

00:52:38:00 - 00:52:38:06
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

00:52:38:06 - 00:52:54:00
Kelly Aiken
And even when it's people that are proven like, you know, like, I would like to talk if we get a few minutes about when I pushed the s550 early on and then you were like, give it a rest. You met your goal. I remember you probably don't remember that, but I was all in cloud nine because I was chasing that eight.

00:52:54:00 - 00:52:59:21
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. And you were like, you did it. So just, you know, regroup now because remember, I was going to the track constantly.

00:52:59:21 - 00:53:05:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Well let's talk about that right now. Like, so you got the S650 and I remember 550.

00:53:05:13 - 00:53:06:11
Kelly Aiken
Are we talking about.

00:53:06:13 - 00:53:13:21
Ken Bjonnes
5553, boss. and at that time we were not it wasn't we weren't friends. We just didn't talk.

00:53:13:22 - 00:53:14:05
Ken Bjonnes
No.

00:53:14:06 - 00:53:18:17
Ken Bjonnes
You know, and I remember, you posting and like. Yeah, posting pictures.

00:53:19:00 - 00:53:23:19
Ken Bjonnes
or racing and I'm to be the fastest and I'm.

00:53:23:21 - 00:53:41:09
Ken Bjonnes
Making all these claims ahead of time and I'm, I was paying attention to that because I'm like, let's see. Yeah. You know, let's see how this works out. And, you know, you had some tuning. Everybody had tuning issues. For those of you guys don't know, when the S650 came out, they changed a shit ton of sensors, you know, like, the throttle.

00:53:41:09 - 00:53:42:02
Kelly Aiken
Was 550.

00:53:42:08 - 00:53:43:07
Ken Bjonnes
Keep saying.

00:53:43:09 - 00:53:45:02
Kelly Aiken
Well, yeah, because it's all about this.

00:53:45:04 - 00:53:51:00
Ken Bjonnes
50 2015 Mustang. everything was different. The IoT sensor tables.

00:53:51:00 - 00:53:53:22
Kelly Aiken
Were, like, larger, like. Right? They had more tables and.

00:53:53:22 - 00:54:03:18
Ken Bjonnes
Everything was way more complex. The throttle was the big, big, big issue. That's what you ran into, you know? that was a vmp blower they were using at the time.

00:54:03:20 - 00:54:06:23
Kelly Aiken
Gt500 style, throttle body with, yeah.

00:54:06:23 - 00:54:28:12
Ken Bjonnes
So at that point, every there is no Gt500. Yeah. Right. So there's no 2015 Gt-r on the throttle body. So we're trying to use an 11 or 14 Gt500 throttle body or anything from 11 to 14. And it wouldn't work. And it was like for the entire life of electronic throttle bodies and Ford, at that point, they always used the same exact shit.

00:54:28:14 - 00:54:55:09
Ken Bjonnes
The electronics were the same. So it was you could just switch between whatever you want it. So now all of a sudden it's like, why? We didn't know why it wasn't working, but it wasn't working. Right. And then because none of the tables that were needed to address that were even defined in the software because, you know, if you've got if you have 2000 parameters in, shit, we probably weren't even using HP tuners back then, I'm guessing I can't remember.

00:54:55:09 - 00:55:18:01
Ken Bjonnes
It's probably asked, you know, you got 2000 parameters defined. There's actually 20,000. So, like, why would they put in the slope of a throttle position sensor when you never have to change that? They're not gonna. So then you go in, tune it. You know, when we were working through all that, I remember talking to another tuner and I was like, well, what do you use in the tuner?

00:55:18:01 - 00:55:44:05
Ken Bjonnes
And they're like asked, you know, I'm like, it's never going to work because, you know, you're working within a closed environment, so you're only seeing what it wants you to see. You have to be able to get to that background stuff. Yeah. When something new comes out and that's why when you were having the problems, I was like, just bring it to me because I knew we had the advantage of being able to dig way deeper, and I didn't know exactly what other people knew, because you don't want to ask everybody because you don't want them to know that there's something that.

00:55:44:05 - 00:55:45:13
Ken Bjonnes
They don't know. Yeah.

00:55:45:15 - 00:55:48:18
Ken Bjonnes
And it's it's it's weird how competitive things can be.

00:55:48:19 - 00:56:03:17
Kelly Aiken
It's very competitive because I remember we had kind of like not rekindled or whatever, but like that's when we started talking a lot. And I remember you messaging me because we were still like we weren't like, hey buddy.

00:56:03:17 - 00:56:04:23
Ken Bjonnes
It was like.

00:56:05:00 - 00:56:09:07
Kelly Aiken
Kind of business, right? And you were like, if anybody plugs.

00:56:09:07 - 00:56:19:02
Ken Bjonnes
Into that car, you're like, you'll probably die. It's that serious. Like you were like, really? Like, yeah. And I was like, same Ken. Yeah. From 2004 or 3, whatever.

00:56:19:04 - 00:56:42:13
Ken Bjonnes
Well, and to be clear, people, you know, partially that's just probably my personality. But, you know, I always try to tip my hat to who's really in charge of all this, and that's Jerry, right? Our very that's why he was the very first person in this podcast. And that's because did can figure out how to tune your car somewhat, but not without Jerry's help.

00:56:42:15 - 00:56:56:21
Ken Bjonnes
Without Jerry's help, I probably could have figured it out, but not as quickly as I figured it out. I think we were making Donald polls within a week, and then I went to the track. I was at Disney. I think I went to the track with it. Yeah, just take to the track 10 or 10 or something like that.

00:56:56:21 - 00:56:58:16
Ken Bjonnes
And that was fast. Obviously I was really.

00:56:58:18 - 00:57:01:03
Kelly Aiken
Like holding my daughter, like on a.

00:57:01:03 - 00:57:07:14
Ken Bjonnes
Ride at Disney and I'm like, oh, I was like, yeah, that's it, babe, look at this. Yeah, I mean, it was.

00:57:07:14 - 00:57:19:03
Kelly Aiken
Like the best feeling because like, I remember when I posted the dino video and people lost their minds, they're like a PD blower is actually going wide open throttle. Yeah. Because they were just going into limp mode like nobody.

00:57:19:09 - 00:57:20:15
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. I mean it was my I'm pretty.

00:57:20:15 - 00:57:23:15
Kelly Aiken
Sure like, you guys used my car. I mean I remember taking the.

00:57:23:15 - 00:57:24:05
Ken Bjonnes
Car, it.

00:57:24:05 - 00:57:26:13
Kelly Aiken
Was Jim Braun and I went over there.

00:57:26:15 - 00:57:28:12
Ken Bjonnes
Oh I didn't I didn't realize he took me.

00:57:28:12 - 00:57:46:17
Kelly Aiken
I unloaded it and it had like all these bad ass parts on it, and, I can't use it. And we unloaded it and, Yeah, I mean, it was like. It was like it was a big thing. Like when you guys teased that dino picture, it made like 757 or something, I don't remember. Yeah. And it was like, everybody's like, oh my God, it's figure it out.

00:57:46:19 - 00:58:02:06
Kelly Aiken
I'm not saying. Or maybe, maybe, maybe it is. Maybe you guys used that car. But I remember taking the car and I said, guys, don't message me until you make a pass with it, because I didn't even want it until I didn't want that car back until I knew I could go out and bid on it. Yeah, I didn't want it.

00:58:02:08 - 00:58:04:19
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, no, we figured it out.

00:58:04:19 - 00:58:07:17
Ken Bjonnes
Well, I know the others. Whatever.

00:58:07:17 - 00:58:32:21
Ken Bjonnes
That was the car. We figured it out with that we had our hands on. Yeah, but I was working with Jerry and Jerry. I probably was helping Kenny Bell. He was super tight with Kenny Bell, so he was probably trying to get help Kenny Bell figure out the same exact issue, you know. So that's kind of. But as far as, you know, car that I had my hands on, it was your car that we were using because you were the first one to really have one built up like that, you know.

00:58:32:21 - 00:58:48:16
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. Back to my comment. A little bit ago, I was saying it's 2024 and we were talking about Whistlin diesel. Yeah, but back in 14 there wasn't a lot of people doing what I was doing. And that's that was what I was getting that right. I was that idiot. Yeah. They bought a brand new car that nobody knew about and I'm calling aerospace.

00:58:48:16 - 00:59:06:06
Kelly Aiken
Hey, work with me on brakes, Chad Masters. Hey, work was every part on that car when you got it was me working with them, like billet specialties. They didn't even have a wheel for two years for it because I used. I'm not bragging. I'm saying like, but those are the experiences. But that's the same reason why now I'll get a blower before somebody.

00:59:06:07 - 00:59:08:01
Ken Bjonnes
Right. You know, so.

00:59:08:03 - 00:59:24:02
Ken Bjonnes
That's kind of, you know, and I work, super close with Whipple and. Right. and, and that's people always I hate when I hear people go like, why are you getting that? Why? It's like, dude, for 20 years I've been helping these people, and now they're helping me.

00:59:24:02 - 00:59:25:04
Kelly Aiken
But people don't understand.

00:59:25:04 - 00:59:26:02
Ken Bjonnes
That, you know, people.

00:59:26:02 - 00:59:51:14
Kelly Aiken
Have no idea. We could talk about, like, the blue car, right? And. But nobody even knows, because, you know, you do these things and you work through them, and then you then you build and you grow and you get into another car. if I went out there right now and I told the world on forums like, yeah, I had the first eight second supercharged s550, you know, it's like people would be like, oh, yeah, like the people that are still in it know.

00:59:51:16 - 00:59:55:06
Kelly Aiken
But I'm saying, like, that was a lot of work. Remember how much work that was?

00:59:55:06 - 00:59:58:08
Ken Bjonnes
That was a car to shifter. I hate everything, Sandy.

00:59:58:10 - 01:00:14:06
Ken Bjonnes
And the problem is, is, you know, you just become a byproduct of progress, right? Like. Yes. Because it's like we're the first eight seconds, 550. It's like, that's not that fast. Yeah, well, not now it's not. But in 2015.

01:00:14:06 - 01:00:14:14
Ken Bjonnes
A big.

01:00:14:14 - 01:00:21:09
Kelly Aiken
Deal that I drove to the track. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. When I did that, I had magazines and stuff.

01:00:21:11 - 01:00:22:04
Ken Bjonnes
You drove from.

01:00:22:04 - 01:00:25:16
Kelly Aiken
Your house in Tampa to Bradenton and ran an eight and drove home. Yeah.

01:00:25:18 - 01:00:26:18
Ken Bjonnes
You know, and back then we.

01:00:26:18 - 01:00:27:23
Kelly Aiken
Now it's like we.

01:00:27:23 - 01:00:28:06
Ken Bjonnes
Didn't have.

01:00:28:06 - 01:00:28:22
Kelly Aiken
Not we.

01:00:28:22 - 01:00:41:05
Ken Bjonnes
Didn't have the resources. We had the beyond the car being new. We didn't have as advanced data. It was possible back then, but we weren't doing as finite logging of every.

01:00:41:05 - 01:00:42:18
Kelly Aiken
Not as much as figure it out.

01:00:42:18 - 01:01:01:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Like back then when we were tuning something, I'd be more like, oh, I don't know. Like, let's try this, let's try that. Now, for the most part, you know, these guys can me hey, this car is doing this or that. Oh, okay. You know, it's done. You know, like, I know exactly how it works. Now I know exactly what the law.

01:01:01:14 - 01:01:30:17
Ken Bjonnes
I know how to fix almost every single problem. Troubleshooting. Yeah, but back then, it's like I could know what's wrong with it, but I don't know how to fix it. I don't even know the right shit to log back. Then. You know, it was way more. I mean, every generation was like that, you know, like obviously. And then the problem is, is when every new thing comes out, like the rules change a little bit, you know, like 11 or 14 is very, very different than S550 because of all the new shit they added.

01:01:30:22 - 01:01:50:04
Ken Bjonnes
They moved a lot, the cams and all kinds of stuff. so it to look back on that and it, it would be like going an eight that quickly with that car would be like, going sevens right now with the S650. Nobody's doing that. Yeah. You know, well, let's.

01:01:50:04 - 01:02:06:17
Kelly Aiken
Talk about since you're talking about the advancements in 11 to 14, this is a really cool topic. So because I was one of the few people pushing them at that time, we had RPM advantage, remember. so remember how big the blower drama where all the TVs.

01:02:06:17 - 01:02:10:16
Ken Bjonnes
So yeah. Trying to be the first of the eight. Yeah. Nick Boley you know. Yeah.

01:02:10:16 - 01:02:19:05
Kelly Aiken
And here I am coming along and I'm like, I got a two, three TVs, but I can spin it to what were we shift in 83 probably. Yeah that was before patches.

01:02:19:05 - 01:02:20:02
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:02:20:04 - 01:02:32:23
Kelly Aiken
So here I come. And all these guys have S1 ninety-sevenths. Yeah. And I'm like, hey, I got the same combo. I'm a little heavier, but I could spend 80, 300. Yeah. And they're stuck to 74. No.

01:02:33:05 - 01:02:40:19
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Like the back then. Well the problem was it wasn't really like a limiter. It was more it would vary car to car. Yes.

01:02:40:19 - 01:02:45:21
Kelly Aiken
It was like inconsistent with just one would be 77. One would be like 74. Yeah. Like my B not my.

01:02:45:21 - 01:02:46:05
Ken Bjonnes
20.

01:02:46:05 - 01:02:48:06
Kelly Aiken
11. Nobody could go eight plus though at all.

01:02:48:06 - 01:02:50:09
Ken Bjonnes
No, not even close like 76.

01:02:50:09 - 01:03:05:06
Kelly Aiken
That's what I'm saying. So here I am, almost a thousand rpm. Yeah. So that's what your comment about the nitrous earlier. Yeah. People or people not believe in you. Yeah. Everybody. You're spraying nitrous. Well I had nitrous on the car, remember. Yeah. It just didn't work out. Right, right. So then I just did a 63 upper 15 lower.

01:03:05:06 - 01:03:07:08
Kelly Aiken
And then I kept on begging you for timing and stuff.

01:03:07:09 - 01:03:07:16
Ken Bjonnes
Right.

01:03:07:17 - 01:03:11:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. You know, I'm like, kid, come on. We kept going nine O's.

01:03:11:14 - 01:03:34:22
Kelly Aiken
So you know, but I got threat, dude. Like, when I, we posted that video, everybody you're spraying. And it was so hard to get people to believe you because I did spray at Kentucky when I broke the diff and all that. I remember that I had spray on the car going mid nines. Yeah, but I was on a big upper and stuff because I was my theory was it was stock converter and it was going to 60ft better because I didn't know because we didn't spin it so hard.

01:03:35:01 - 01:04:02:18
Ken Bjonnes
Well, and it just shows you how times haven't change because people are like, if you're if I can't do it, then you must be cheating. Yeah, that's the mentality of right, a small minded person at least, like it's like, well, how about maybe you just look closer at what I'm doing and maybe see between the lines and like how we're getting there and look at the time slip and you know, you know, I love when people call you out on shit like that and they don't even know how to read a time.

01:04:02:18 - 01:04:04:15
Ken Bjonnes
So yeah, it's like, well.

01:04:04:17 - 01:04:05:12
Kelly Aiken
I have no idea.

01:04:05:13 - 01:04:15:15
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. What do you where do you see anything in this time? Something indicator has nitrous on it. Do you know what. How much power does it take for that time slip. How much power did I say? You know.

01:04:15:15 - 01:04:16:00
Kelly Aiken
People don't.

01:04:16:00 - 01:04:16:09
Ken Bjonnes
Know.

01:04:16:09 - 01:04:17:02
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, they don't know.

01:04:17:06 - 01:04:19:01
Kelly Aiken
We can we can rattle it out. Yeah.

01:04:19:01 - 01:04:19:09
Ken Bjonnes
Like.

01:04:19:12 - 01:04:21:05
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. It's like it all adds up to now.

01:04:21:05 - 01:04:22:12
Kelly Aiken
We're at this way to go the speed.

01:04:22:16 - 01:04:22:22
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:04:22:23 - 01:04:24:14
Kelly Aiken
154 boom. You know.

01:04:24:14 - 01:04:30:15
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Exactly. And you know and this was well before your trans was priced was a stock.

01:04:30:15 - 01:04:31:14
Kelly Aiken
Converter and trans.

01:04:31:16 - 01:04:32:15
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Stock. And people.

01:04:32:15 - 01:04:34:22
Kelly Aiken
Still don't believe that to this day the old you.

01:04:34:23 - 01:04:37:01
Ken Bjonnes
Guys. Yeah. Exactly like you posted it.

01:04:37:01 - 01:04:39:21
Kelly Aiken
You had a converter but I never used it. Remember I had that pink one, you know.

01:04:39:21 - 01:04:45:02
Ken Bjonnes
Don't put that in. Yeah. It was a pipe like that. Like you wouldn't even let me put it on. Yeah, yeah. And I tell.

01:04:45:02 - 01:05:02:18
Kelly Aiken
People that they're like, oh sure. Because I made that mistake of posting it. People think I have it. Just like I had nitrous on the car. Well, you went eight to do it. And then it's like, why I did it and I oh, I'm so transparent. That's why I did the Mr. Draggy channel. So now I have a journal because I've done all these things and I can't go back to it now.

01:05:03:00 - 01:05:03:14
Kelly Aiken
It sucks.

01:05:03:14 - 01:05:21:09
Ken Bjonnes
That's the best thing about YouTube to me. I mean, people ask me about it all the time and like, it's a lot of time and effort. I'm like, it is. But beyond promoting my business, I like it for a journal. Like, hey, what did Coffee Man's car run back in the day? Yeah, I don't even remember. Booboo.

01:05:21:10 - 01:05:26:04
Ken Bjonnes
Get on YouTube. It's not on my YouTube channel, but get on YouTube, find it and go, wow.

01:05:26:08 - 01:05:31:02
Ken Bjonnes
What, eight six with that thing? Yeah. I can't believe that car. Wait. Yes.

01:05:31:04 - 01:05:53:19
Ken Bjonnes
You know, and I had a pro charger, a nitrous on top, but, so it's it's a good it's a good, like this podcast, right. Like, you know, I hope people enjoying it now, but in another 5 or 10 years from now when things keep getting bigger and better, hopefully with the performance world, we can look back on this stuff and go, yeah, hey, remember when you know we don't have that for we.

01:05:53:19 - 01:05:54:11
Ken Bjonnes
Didn't know this.

01:05:54:11 - 01:05:55:22
Kelly Aiken
When we were talking about that or whatever.

01:05:56:02 - 01:06:04:08
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. So so, you know, you had the S6, the S5 5028. Yeah.

01:06:04:10 - 01:06:09:10
Kelly Aiken
Then I did the build that I drove over here, and I remember the.

01:06:09:12 - 01:06:10:14
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, yeah,

01:06:10:16 - 01:06:11:21
Kelly Aiken
Big fancy engine.

01:06:12:11 - 01:06:12:20
Ken Bjonnes
yeah.

01:06:12:22 - 01:06:15:10
Kelly Aiken
And then I had converted from a TV to Whipple.

01:06:15:10 - 01:06:16:03
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Kind of. When I was.

01:06:16:03 - 01:06:27:15
Kelly Aiken
Going to go Set the World on fire. And this is actually a good topic. You always make the comment that I'm not the type of person that can handle, like breaking and fixing and break, and you're right.

01:06:27:16 - 01:06:28:06
Ken Bjonnes
Right.

01:06:28:08 - 01:06:59:19
Kelly Aiken
Because of my whole, like, I opportunity cost outlook in the business and because, you know, that's a really good topic actually like Anthony Ballard and when he was trying to push the 60 you know, I'm not going to bring up personal stuff. But I'll just say this, like when I look at somebody that that is so obsessed with, like setting a goal or doing that, and they spend like so much money to do it and so much time, I can't do it.

01:07:00:01 - 01:07:20:15
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, I could, I could have in the past I did that stuff. But these days, like even back then, like, like when that engine that was my I listened to everybody. I spent the most on the headers that I had to modify to fit. I did that, I did the best this, I did this, I did all these parts, and I had this perfect vision and it failed within five manifold.

01:07:20:19 - 01:07:39:08
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, yeah. And I was just there. I was crying in my home. Yeah. I put my life into like that. That build for me was my first sleep. And if you think about it like that build was before a lot of these builds. Remember I did a sleeved five two block. Yeah. Billet mains. Yeah. CNC heads I mean it was the biggest can like.

01:07:39:13 - 01:08:00:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And I think that and I think that's a good way to point out like differences in personalities and how they fit in because the reason you were so let down is because you put so much time and effort into the planning and all like thinking through it. So your goal is to bring here, Donna McMillian horsepower.

01:08:00:01 - 01:08:01:18
Ken Bjonnes
Go run up time and woo.

01:08:01:22 - 01:08:25:04
Ken Bjonnes
And it's like, I don't do that right. Like I'm not that person. Probably because I'm more of a wing it type of personality. And then like instead of like if I have to clean this room, right, like my wife will go and clean every square inch of the room and work her way through it meticulously until it's clean.

01:08:25:06 - 01:08:34:05
Ken Bjonnes
I'll clean it three times. I'm a revisionist, I call it right. Like, get all the big shit out. Yeah. Okay. Now I'm gonna go back again.

01:08:34:05 - 01:08:35:03
Kelly Aiken
Do on. Make sense.

01:08:35:04 - 01:08:45:00
Ken Bjonnes
Clean all the tabletops, and then I'm going to go back. And then instead, she's, you know, stepping through it meticulously like you were. I'm more of a let's just get close, see what I'm.

01:08:45:02 - 01:08:45:11
Ken Bjonnes
In her.

01:08:45:11 - 01:08:59:06
Ken Bjonnes
And then dial it in. So like and I think that's probably partly why we don't always see eye to eye on sticking with something, because I almost approach it as if I know that's going to happen. Yeah, because.

01:08:59:06 - 01:09:04:06
Kelly Aiken
Because it's because I approach it like it's not supposed to happen. Because my plan didn't say it was exactly.

01:09:04:09 - 01:09:16:05
Ken Bjonnes
You know, and both ways are neither ways right or wrong. Right your way, if it works out, is way cheaper and faster because you're only doing it once and you're doing it right and it's done, whereas,

01:09:16:06 - 01:09:17:14
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, right. Yeah.

01:09:17:16 - 01:09:35:20
Ken Bjonnes
Whereas I'm like, I don't think this is going to work, but at least I'll see what we get and then I'll make some changes from there. So, you know, for most people, I guess the difference is, is since I do this for a business and you do too, but since not.

01:09:35:22 - 01:09:37:02
Kelly Aiken
But that part's not.

01:09:37:04 - 01:09:51:11
Ken Bjonnes
Not that same type of business. Whereas, I can justify wasting money on multiple revisions so my customer can just. Here's what you need. You need these 12 parts, put them on your car. I'll give you a turn.

01:09:51:11 - 01:09:54:00
Kelly Aiken
It, you know, good trials and tribulations.

01:09:54:00 - 01:10:00:06
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah. So obviously and then so at that point, you got rid of that car.

01:10:00:06 - 01:10:01:05
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. So there's a road.

01:10:01:05 - 01:10:19:22
Ken Bjonnes
Well, let's back up a little bit because we didn't really even talk about suspension on that car. Yeah. So was that car use because you know, you're talking about the first IRS Mustang. I remember when that car came out, actually. And, just the same thing that happened in 2011 when we had a high compression coyote with like, well, game over.

01:10:19:22 - 01:10:20:07
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:10:20:08 - 01:10:23:04
Ken Bjonnes
Can't lose all that. So this.

01:10:23:06 - 01:10:23:13
Kelly Aiken
So.

01:10:23:13 - 01:10:24:10
Ken Bjonnes
Now all of a sudden it's like.

01:10:24:10 - 01:10:31:14
Ken Bjonnes
Come on, suck it. Drag racing for ruined. who wants that shit? Yeah. So, like, I remember the launch, there was a oh for Cobra.

01:10:31:14 - 01:10:39:12
Kelly Aiken
That was pretty fast. And I'm like, what are you guys talking about? Like, I was out there going, no, this car is going to be awesome. Yeah. Just like now I'm, I'm saying that with an S650. Yeah, but.

01:10:39:12 - 01:10:50:15
Ken Bjonnes
So, so, how important was that car or super to development of parts for BMR, BMR and my knowledge long term. Your knowledge?

01:10:50:17 - 01:11:21:18
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. It was super important. That's when I, So I had been using Viking on some rear shock stuff well before that car, but some old Viking ads have my Cobra, you know, just little things. so, you know, I've always been a big suspension guy and trying to learn and, like, make it work the best it can and all this stuff while I think that tire technology is a big thing, too, because that's when those radios started getting popular and stuff, and they're like the first time I went one, two, nine, four or something 60ft.

01:11:21:18 - 01:11:39:08
Kelly Aiken
The car just had like BMR springs on the front and back with prototype parts, with Viking shocks and, you know, the alignment. But now I have experience with IRS stuff a lot before that car. So I came out of the gate with alignment recommendations for everybody.

01:11:39:08 - 01:11:40:21
Ken Bjonnes
And this was from the Cobra or.

01:11:41:00 - 01:11:45:11
Kelly Aiken
yeah, from the Cobra. yeah. And just then BMR GM yeah, I was, you know.

01:11:45:11 - 01:11:46:13
Ken Bjonnes
Oh yeah, the.

01:11:46:15 - 01:12:00:19
Kelly Aiken
IRS, they were doing IRS first. So I, and I was helping GM customers when I was there too. I wasn't just doing you know, because but my point is, is like I learned a lot on that car. I did different alignments. I would change my alignment myself and then I would test and then do all this stuff.

01:12:00:19 - 01:12:18:23
Kelly Aiken
But, the moment that I started going like one, two years, I was like, I'm not even putting effort into this thing. I mean, it had a lot of development parts, but that's when I was learning about, like when we went to when I took the car all the way up to Boeing Green and broke the diff when when power by the hour help me swap it out and all that.

01:12:18:23 - 01:12:21:08
Kelly Aiken
That was just a miracle. The cars were still new.

01:12:21:09 - 01:12:23:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, we found a diff. Yeah.

01:12:23:00 - 01:12:46:04
Kelly Aiken
London chassis dyno I think had one. But, my point is, is, you know, that car was paramount because I'll give you an example. We actually decided to not release those diff inserts because when I got back, I called a meeting with our and I said, I think our part caused my diff ears to snap off. And he's like, what?

01:12:46:06 - 01:12:57:04
Kelly Aiken
And I'm like, I don't know, man. I got this. Like so we started living things up and we were looking over and doing this and doing that. And sure enough, we delayed our diff bushing insert, you know, the little pucks that people.

01:12:57:04 - 01:12:58:10
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:12:58:20 - 01:13:08:11
Kelly Aiken
but I figured that I was this guy right there. Guinea pig. I'm using prototype parts and brake and parts and I'm how many 1500 miles away or whatever you know. And I'm like.

01:13:08:13 - 01:13:29:07
Ken Bjonnes
Now I remember. And I think people don't realize how a, how critical that type of work is. Yeah. And how obvious it is when somebody is not putting that work in. Right. Because companies like a good example is, the white car, the, the white, turbo car, Jimmie's car that we were the first in the 77 one.

01:13:29:07 - 01:13:30:07
Kelly Aiken
The six already shoot out.

01:13:30:07 - 01:13:46:20
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And that car, was successful. and a big part to you because you, you know, the people ask me all the time what's not so much accent. I don't know, as Kelly like. Well, don't you race? Yeah, I asked Kelly. Yeah. You know, and that car you.

01:13:46:22 - 01:13:48:23
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. You guys just said it partially.

01:13:48:23 - 01:13:49:20
Ken Bjonnes
Because of what.

01:13:49:22 - 01:13:51:16
Kelly Aiken
He got. Yeah. And it was like.

01:13:51:18 - 01:13:52:16
Ken Bjonnes
We like, just do this to.

01:13:52:16 - 01:13:54:21
Ken Bjonnes
Say hello one twos. And I say before.

01:13:54:21 - 01:14:03:17
Ken Bjonnes
And I never touched it. Like literally people are like where are the shocks at? Wherever we set them when we built the car. That's what Kelly tells start. And it's never spun. Yeah, ever I remember.

01:14:03:21 - 01:14:04:21
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, you told me.

01:14:05:00 - 01:14:14:22
Kelly Aiken
After Martin that you won or something and you were like that. I just thought about it. This car is never spun a tire. Yeah, but. But that was pretty early on, too. I mean, that that wasn't too. I mean, that was. Yeah.

01:14:14:22 - 01:14:19:16
Ken Bjonnes
I'm bad with the years. I think that was like 2018 maybe. Yeah. 20 1718.

01:14:19:16 - 01:14:20:12
Kelly Aiken
18. Yeah. Yeah.

01:14:20:12 - 01:14:22:05
Ken Bjonnes
So so you know.

01:14:22:07 - 01:14:40:09
Kelly Aiken
But the car is proven to work really good. Drag racing. Yeah. Yes. It's a strength thing to get into it. The weakness of that there's two things going on. So one thing is on that car on a mediocre track you got a yeah. You can't plant the tire right. You can't separate it.

01:14:40:11 - 01:14:40:17
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:14:40:17 - 01:14:41:17
Ken Bjonnes
So I mean.

01:14:41:19 - 01:14:46:01
Ken Bjonnes
Let's just say it ultimately a straight axle should do.

01:14:46:01 - 01:14:48:18
Kelly Aiken
Better. Yeah. If you're going to like if you want to race, if.

01:14:48:18 - 01:14:49:06
Ken Bjonnes
You're a race.

01:14:49:06 - 01:14:56:06
Kelly Aiken
Car, not a micro record, not a test in tune if you want to race. Yeah, it's kind of a no brainer, honestly. Anybody that swap will tell you that. Yeah.

01:14:56:06 - 01:15:04:17
Ken Bjonnes
Well, like, I'm. Tune in. Christina's car remotely. he's at an MRI this weekend, and he, did the rear end swap. Yeah, he has.

01:15:04:17 - 01:15:05:02
Kelly Aiken
A solid.

01:15:05:02 - 01:15:08:12
Ken Bjonnes
Axle. He has a solid axle now. Plus, you can run much cooler wheels.

01:15:08:14 - 01:15:09:19
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

01:15:09:19 - 01:15:12:18
Ken Bjonnes
His car looks so. Does it looks good? Yeah.

01:15:13:08 - 01:15:22:04
Ken Bjonnes
you know, but people ask, like, why would you do that? By the long nose? It's like there's a big difference between being a test and tuner, which I'm a testing tuner a lot of the time I'm.

01:15:22:04 - 01:15:22:20
Kelly Aiken
A test container.

01:15:22:21 - 01:15:36:03
Ken Bjonnes
And the I test and tuner and going out and going, everything worked perfectly. Way just prepped the track and I just went a 119 60ft. Yeah to showing up to some bullshit track with friggin 180. Now, what was that.

01:15:36:03 - 01:15:41:20
Kelly Aiken
Track up in the Midwest that when the sun was out, it never hooked it? Was it, Chicago or,

01:15:42:12 - 01:15:44:06
Ken Bjonnes
Joliet. Joliet, yeah.

01:15:44:08 - 01:15:46:17
Kelly Aiken
When the sun was over the top of that, it was greasy.

01:15:46:17 - 01:16:13:14
Ken Bjonnes
Never hooked. Yeah. So, you know, that's what people don't get. And that's what bothers me is the internet guys that just repeat things that are like, it's not it's not the rule. It's it's the exception. Right. Like I just saw some guy posted a billet, a fully billet MMR motor with everything, blah blah blah, blah, blah, brand new, never on $50,000.

01:16:13:14 - 01:16:19:15
Ken Bjonnes
Right? And some guy responds like, oh, that's the easy button for sixes. And some guy's like.

01:16:19:17 - 01:16:23:09
Ken Bjonnes
You don't need a build block to go sixes. You don't even need a build block to go.

01:16:23:09 - 01:16:35:15
Ken Bjonnes
Six 20s because one guy has done it. Right, right. Like that's the rule. Like all of a sudden it's easy to run six 20s, right? And well, where is everybody doing it? Yeah, Brett.

01:16:35:17 - 01:16:36:12
Kelly Aiken
Is a time.

01:16:36:12 - 01:16:57:04
Ken Bjonnes
And probably a similar personality of yours where he's super obsessed with the details and understanding. Like no matter how good he does, he looks at and go, oh, I got a little bit here, a little bit there, right there. But it's like it's it's not like, you know. Yeah. The state it's not a recipe. Yeah. The statement of not being the recipe for easy success is the 100% true.

01:16:57:06 - 01:17:18:10
Ken Bjonnes
Right. And not the not the sixes are never easy. They become much easier. Yeah, but, you know, as far as the engine goes, that should definitely get you in the sixes. If you get the rest of the car. Right. If you try that with a stock back, maybe works, maybe it does it maybe only 40 builds your engine or handles your engine in a certain, you know, so that's my biggest problem with the internet nowadays.

01:17:18:10 - 01:17:36:05
Ken Bjonnes
People take these little, anomalies I call them. And now all of a sudden that becomes the new standard. And it's like you have no idea how difficult any of this stuff is. You know, people just think the minute one person does it, then everybody can do it. And that's, well, that's just not the case.

01:17:36:05 - 01:17:48:01
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. And I have that. So two things that I deal with to this day daily and I'm not exaggerating, would be people compare their cars to like Cody Rogers.

01:17:48:03 - 01:17:51:00
Ken Bjonnes
Hey man can I go 113.

01:17:51:02 - 01:17:53:00
Kelly Aiken
It's been done. I'm not going to say you can.

01:17:53:00 - 01:17:54:02
Ken Bjonnes
Do it right with.

01:17:54:02 - 01:17:55:19
Kelly Aiken
The first gear. Leave six already, right?

01:17:55:23 - 01:17:57:07
Ken Bjonnes
I don't really don't want to do the.

01:17:57:07 - 01:18:13:05
Kelly Aiken
Hub and all that stuff. Right. And I'm and I tell him I'm like, it can be done. Or like when, you were tuning, well, you've tuned a couple cars that I've made really fast that were simple combos, but the orange Gt500 people were blow me up.

01:18:13:06 - 01:18:15:10
Ken Bjonnes
Man, I got I got two.

01:18:15:10 - 01:18:33:18
Kelly Aiken
More mods than you have, and I haven't been as fast as you're going, but I don't. I hate it because then it's it's like it's a weird conversation, you know, because, you know, it's like, well, I didn't want to I can talk about it, I don't care. But like, like my tune sometimes in some scenarios are going to be more aggressive.

01:18:33:20 - 01:18:43:04
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. You gotta admit it. Like, or I'll be the guy that runs, you know, pulls up on a tune. I shouldn't because I want to go fast, like.

01:18:43:06 - 01:19:01:08
Ken Bjonnes
But that's you gotta be, you gotta have the right personality for that. Right? Because it happens to me all the time, right? I get a lot of F150 guys. I got one truck. I like to bring up names, but, it's it's fast truck. It runs. It runs a lot of, like, no time. Kind of, some street race and things like that.

01:19:01:08 - 01:19:21:10
Ken Bjonnes
And it does. Well, but, you know, I got beat. It sends me a video. Man is on a 3 to 5 pulley. 21 plus F-150. Hey, man, I need to change the pulley. I go, well, I wouldn't do that if I were you. it's a good chance to blow the motor. All right, well, I'm on a 3 to 5.

01:19:21:10 - 01:19:23:13
Ken Bjonnes
We'll pull you running. Can I got a three?

01:19:23:13 - 01:19:29:22
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, they're like, well, if you got a three. Oh, I know, man, I don't. Dude if I give has to do that. If I give you the.

01:19:30:01 - 01:19:35:01
Ken Bjonnes
Advice to do what I do then that's reckless because I know I'm being reckless.

01:19:35:01 - 01:19:39:20
Kelly Aiken
And you may as well start your own business and cater to the customers, because you're going to start figuring it out.

01:19:39:20 - 01:19:53:13
Ken Bjonnes
And I go, dude, if you're not ready to build that engine, then don't do it because you and I make it to the end of the track, like, well, you've been running it for three months. I don't, I have been, but now every pass, I feel like.

01:19:53:15 - 01:19:54:09
Kelly Aiken
You tell me the.

01:19:54:09 - 01:19:55:05
Ken Bjonnes
Notes are almost.

01:19:55:05 - 01:19:58:13
Ken Bjonnes
Gone with that. Yeah. Like, at any time now. Yeah.

01:19:58:14 - 01:20:06:18
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. I mean, the diff was friggin. They had to cut the diff out of it the other day. You know, people go like, do I need a diff. Yeah. Do you have a diff? Nope.

01:20:06:18 - 01:20:08:18
Ken Bjonnes
I know I.

01:20:08:20 - 01:20:12:05
Ken Bjonnes
And I proved that you do need one because it's, it was bad. It was.

01:20:12:09 - 01:20:14:23
Kelly Aiken
Even when I was doing the new stuff everybody's.

01:20:14:23 - 01:20:16:09
Ken Bjonnes
Like did you put a driveshaft on it.

01:20:16:09 - 01:20:20:00
Kelly Aiken
No. So that's probably going to be the next because we've talked about it. It's like that thing's putting.

01:20:20:00 - 01:20:21:05
Ken Bjonnes
Up with all kinds of abuse.

01:20:21:05 - 01:20:27:21
Ken Bjonnes
We did put a driveshaft, so you got to get, carbon driveshaft. Good. You can't diff in it. but I still.

01:20:27:22 - 01:20:28:06
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:20:28:10 - 01:20:29:16
Kelly Aiken
I mean, up until now.

01:20:29:19 - 01:20:30:01
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:20:30:06 - 01:20:30:18
Kelly Aiken
With my.

01:20:30:18 - 01:20:33:21
Ken Bjonnes
500 draggy factory stuff, back.

01:20:33:21 - 01:20:57:19
Ken Bjonnes
Room manifolds, you know, all that stuff. So. Yeah, you know, and and I think that's another problem with the internet, right. Like, if I don't have that conversation with the customer, they're like, well, can't run the three. Oh, I'm gonna run three. Oh yeah. And it's like, do you got to really think about what you're doing, what your vehicle like, it's it's it's all great until it's not great.

01:20:57:23 - 01:21:18:00
Ken Bjonnes
Right. When you blow up shit. Yeah. And and you know, whether you're financially able to fix it or not, nobody wants to go, oh, God. The engine just to come out. Yeah. And I agree the block's got a hole in it and it's like a major catastrophe because they can be rich. It's still a pain in the ass to deal with.

01:21:18:11 - 01:21:44:05
Ken Bjonnes
so, you know, I think that's where people really come up short in this hobby. They treat it like a video game, right? Until it goes bad. And now they're like, oh, why didn't anybody tell me? And it's like, bro, you should have thought about it before you did it, you know? So, anyway, so, you know, obviously, like we said on the 2015 that led to a lot of development on, for the, for BMR.

01:21:44:06 - 01:21:59:09
Ken Bjonnes
Right. but at some point, obviously, if BMR. What made you decide to make that leap away from BMR to now? Cal track today, you know, you had a good relationship with the owner. You were treated.

01:21:59:09 - 01:22:05:21
Kelly Aiken
Me. Really? You buy me a car, remember? Dark horse? Yeah. I mean, not me. That car, you know, he just says.

01:22:05:23 - 01:22:08:07
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Do you think it was just a boredom thing, like, you.

01:22:08:09 - 01:22:31:06
Kelly Aiken
Know, I'll tell you what, it was so, I got home one year from, Let's see, it would have been 2018. My son's. So my son's birthday was always pre weekend. Well, if anybody's going to be at PRI for BMR, who's it going to be? Right. So I got home and he was like complaining about I've never been there for his birthday or whatever.

01:22:31:12 - 01:22:45:07
Kelly Aiken
And you know, you can it's easy to judge people. But he's a he was a little kid and it was always like, let's celebrate your birthday when I get back. And it wasn't really an issue. Yeah. You know, major five year old like they don't they don't know those.

01:22:45:07 - 01:22:46:12
Ken Bjonnes
My birthday.

01:22:46:14 - 01:22:51:18
Kelly Aiken
Then they start getting a little older and it's like, oh shit. He knows. Yeah. And then that, that hurt me.

01:22:51:19 - 01:22:56:09
Ken Bjonnes
And y'all know how I remember it. At that point. I was like, long term.

01:22:56:11 - 01:23:17:05
Kelly Aiken
And then I had to do some reflecting. Like I went into Al's office and I said, I got to take some time off. I got to modify my schedule. I think he even gave me a day off. Or he did something and he he was very accommodating. And I was like, okay, maybe I can change it. The main problem is, is I just got burned out on so many customers, man.

01:23:17:05 - 01:23:41:17
Kelly Aiken
It was like, but so here's my problem. And I just had the CEO of Celsius. I mean, there's a $15 billion market cap company now. I mean, we had this topic today on the way home and I and I said, like, can you ever turn off. No. You know, and that was my thing is like, I couldn't turn off, but I couldn't turn off for Allen Miller of BMR.

01:23:41:18 - 01:23:42:11
Ken Bjonnes
Right? Yeah.

01:23:42:11 - 01:23:42:23
Kelly Aiken
It was like.

01:23:42:23 - 01:23:43:21
Ken Bjonnes
I didn't have any skin in the.

01:23:43:21 - 01:24:05:21
Kelly Aiken
Game. No, I didn't have equity. I didn't have ownership. I didn't have any of that, which there's a bunch of theories there. You know, I've talked to other companies. I mean, and I will say towards the end, I had other companies like, offer me like money, you know, real good money. Right. And, and so did he, you know, whatever going to be expected.

01:24:05:21 - 01:24:20:12
Kelly Aiken
But I was just done. So I was like, what if I go to work corporate America and, like, run a region? and that's what I did. And, and, and but then the weird thing is, is that was the opposite. I made all this money. I was making great money. Dream job.

01:24:20:14 - 01:24:21:02
Ken Bjonnes

01:24:21:04 - 01:24:25:12
Kelly Aiken
Wasn't happy because I didn't have to do anything. I was, like, working on my cars, remember?

01:24:25:14 - 01:24:27:18
Ken Bjonnes
Like, yeah, you're like, dude, you don't work.

01:24:27:20 - 01:24:28:14
Kelly Aiken
Well, you know.

01:24:28:14 - 01:24:29:02
Ken Bjonnes
I got this, right?

01:24:29:02 - 01:24:49:09
Ken Bjonnes
Well, the problem is, is you're the type of personality that is, creator. Whether it's t shirt form, t shirts or whatever, you're trying to figure things out. And when you work in that type of corporate job, which, you know, it's only about the money because you don't care about what you're selling, right? You don't care about.

01:24:49:11 - 01:24:53:07
Kelly Aiken
Automotive equipment, that's all. Because they have all kinds of stuff. You know, I didn't care about.

01:24:53:09 - 01:24:53:19
Ken Bjonnes
Like.

01:24:53:21 - 01:25:02:15
Ken Bjonnes
And you weren't doing out of anything except selling it. Yeah. Or supporting it. Supporting it. It wasn't like, oh, I got this designed for anxiety.

01:25:02:15 - 01:25:05:19
Kelly Aiken
And Jim wasn't even excited. Maybe we'd have a corporate meeting. Yeah.

01:25:05:21 - 01:25:07:02
Ken Bjonnes
Hey, look at this.

01:25:07:04 - 01:25:14:12
Kelly Aiken
And I'd be like, okay. Yeah, we're with, like at BMR. I'll just use that because that's the only experience I have with a really cool, like, design.

01:25:14:12 - 01:25:17:14
Ken Bjonnes
Come in like we're going to come out with this, right. And I was like.

01:25:17:16 - 01:25:35:20
Kelly Aiken
Because, I mean, I would tell you, I've text you a million times in our chats or wherever. I'm like, look at this cool part. You know, I still I that is so exciting to me. Yeah. I can't I'm coming out with this new valve Ingram coming out this new design. And that's so exciting to me. So yes I just there's no it was all about the money.

01:25:35:22 - 01:25:45:13
Kelly Aiken
And you know me well enough to know money's not really everything to me I mean yeah it's good but I'm just I'm a numbers guy. Yeah. And I want to be excited that.

01:25:45:13 - 01:26:06:13
Ken Bjonnes
Well, when you follow your passion for money follows. Usually not for everybody. Sure. but, you know, you you you you you did everything right, you know, like, you didn't I didn't I don't know you forever, but you never really, like, crazily overspend. You're not, like, the type of person that's constantly in the hole. No matter how much you make.

01:26:06:18 - 01:26:18:12
Ken Bjonnes
You're a planner. Just the same way. You're planning your builds, you're planning your life, you know? And that's an important thing. And that's where we differ. Again, you know, I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy.

01:26:18:13 - 01:26:38:02
Kelly Aiken
Well, I change, we don't. Because I instantly was like, I want to do things that that my parents didn't do. Honestly, I wanted to have my kids. My kids futures are paid for now. Yeah. You know, so I and again, I'm not saying that for any other reason but to say if I didn't have kids, like, I mean, my wife would probably have divorced me.

01:26:38:04 - 01:26:51:08
Kelly Aiken
I mean, I'm, you know, I like well, you know, the feeling is what I'm about to say is like, I am like, ed up with cars, man. That's like, I that's my love. I don't, I don't really nothing really gets me going other than cars.

01:26:51:08 - 01:26:56:10
Ken Bjonnes
And I yeah, I don't spend the type of time that I used to, although I do, but not the same way.

01:26:56:12 - 01:26:57:15
Kelly Aiken
Some of the different capacity. When I had.

01:26:57:16 - 01:27:03:10
Ken Bjonnes
Larger depot, I was like, you were like, oh, you're going to bed sweet. Now I can.

01:27:03:12 - 01:27:04:22
Ken Bjonnes
Work till three in the morning.

01:27:04:22 - 01:27:08:08
Kelly Aiken
Or figure something out. Yeah, or have some free time to think about a new cam.

01:27:08:08 - 01:27:08:21
Ken Bjonnes
Right. Cool.

01:27:08:22 - 01:27:10:17
Ken Bjonnes
I'm gonna work on the website, you know? Whatever.

01:27:10:17 - 01:27:11:02
Kelly Aiken
Yeah.

01:27:11:17 - 01:27:16:02
Ken Bjonnes
so, so so you did the corporate thing for that. That didn't last very long.

01:27:16:02 - 01:27:17:08
Ken Bjonnes
Two years like that?

01:27:17:10 - 01:27:24:09
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And then I kind of recall you coming up with the idea for Cal Track. Although I don't know that you put a name on it right away.

01:27:24:10 - 01:27:25:17
Kelly Aiken
No, I was just side hustling.

01:27:25:17 - 01:27:28:04
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah. And we're just like, I think I'm going to do this.

01:27:28:06 - 01:27:43:08
Kelly Aiken
It was like right out of the gate, you know, doing. And I don't mind talking about this because I really don't care, but I mean, out of the gate, not even trying. I was doing like 20 or 30,000 a month in sales. and it didn't dawn on me.

01:27:43:10 - 01:27:47:09
Ken Bjonnes
At that point. It's pretty much just like custom Viking stuff.

01:27:47:09 - 01:28:02:21
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. Like, yeah. Like just doing changes. Yeah. We'll just say that it wasn't like I was like, oh, I could do this, or I could do that, or I was doing some revolving. I was, I was doing anything that I could per se. So I would reval some stuff or I would do this or I would work with Viking.

01:28:03:02 - 01:28:17:19
Kelly Aiken
That was when I came out with, I call it my, extr. So if you know what you're doing with something, you can make small changes that make a big difference, but then you may look at it and say, that's not that much different. Do you know what I'm saying?

01:28:17:19 - 01:28:27:15
Ken Bjonnes
No, 100%. Because I run into that all the time in tuning. Oh, I'll be helping somebody and they'll compare two values and like that's not that different. That's like.

01:28:27:17 - 01:28:28:09
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, that.

01:28:28:09 - 01:28:30:11
Ken Bjonnes
The number may not be that different but.

01:28:30:12 - 01:28:32:18
Ken Bjonnes
It's very different. Yeah. You know so so.

01:28:32:18 - 01:28:36:04
Kelly Aiken
But then I thought why not make money for being smart.

01:28:36:07 - 01:28:36:15
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:28:36:16 - 01:28:59:19
Kelly Aiken
Again, I'm not being arrogant when I say I'm smart. I'm saying I figured this out. So I'll just tip. I'll tell you. All right. When people have the coilover kits, that's all I say. When people ran coilovers, oftentimes that was around the time when people start making really big power pretty easily. and the issue was travel, just like you had on your Gt500, you got to figure out how to get more travel.

01:28:59:21 - 01:29:21:00
Kelly Aiken
Well, my well, my way to do it was to use a different strut body with an S 550. Right. That's it. so my extreme has not the whole lot more, much more travel than another, from somebody else online. But it's position to where it puts the majority of the shaft in the whole. it's literally that simple.

01:29:21:03 - 01:29:49:10
Kelly Aiken
It's just a different part. It's not the same strut that that Viking themselves use or, an online reseller. It's a specific Strat for me. Right. You know, and then the Valve Income's and the valve thing stuff goes back to breathless. Our we we had a lot of issues finding out of housing that would work on a like a steep geared car, like a 6080 because the way it wanted, the way it moves is, I don't know, something with the load maybe not being a lot, but it has a lot of gear.

01:29:49:10 - 01:30:00:10
Kelly Aiken
It's like this weird in between. Yeah. And and, you know, I mean, you know, years ago, Viking even made a post. We worked with BMR Kelley at BMR umbrella.

01:30:00:10 - 01:30:02:03
Ken Bjonnes
Sally's right.

01:30:02:05 - 01:30:12:19
Kelly Aiken
It's just that little stuff, just a little different involving and stuff like that. So, but yeah, that's that's what happened. I was just doing things. I always try to make it a point to not sell something that everybody else has.

01:30:12:23 - 01:30:13:19
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. That's it.

01:30:13:22 - 01:30:17:08
Kelly Aiken
Well, so I try to make little changes that are for the better.

01:30:17:10 - 01:30:27:00
Ken Bjonnes
And aside from, products, I've heard you say this yourself is you're a service business at the same time as you are a parts business.

01:30:27:00 - 01:30:29:10
Kelly Aiken
More of a boutique experience, I guess you could say. Right?

01:30:29:10 - 01:31:00:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Like, you know, it's just like buying a tune off some random website and that's your tune. Whereas where we'll look like, when we're done here, you're going to party with the Miami crowd on F1, and I'm going to be, in my RV, remote tuning three vehicles in South Texas, you know, because that's I like, like like I almost I did some inventory last week about this because there's a few cars down there that I'm really excited about.

01:31:00:02 - 01:31:07:00
Ken Bjonnes
And they hit me up early Friday last week and like, tracks closed. Something's wrong with it.

01:31:07:01 - 01:31:14:08
Ken Bjonnes
And I was like, what? What are you talking about? That's what I was to my front yard. I'm like, and then I thought about looking forward to and I'm like.

01:31:14:14 - 01:31:33:20
Ken Bjonnes
Why am I so damn excited about remote tuning these cars? You know, because to me, it's a combo that I'm doing really good with and we're really making progress on. And I'm like, oh my. And it ruin my week almost because. And then it got moved from Friday to Sunday and then Sunday I get a message and that's still not work.

01:31:33:20 - 01:31:50:09
Ken Bjonnes
I'm like, you guys are messing with me now. Like, you know, and I'm just like, you know, so at the end of the day, that's what I like to do is help people. And I think you're in the same position like you get, you're not money driven. You're not like, I sold X amount of struts this week.

01:31:50:09 - 01:32:05:04
Ken Bjonnes
It's like, dude, check this video out. Look at this car leaving on the street or there's no prep car. Look how title it's got. You know, like it's the. Yeah, it's the result, not the money. The money comes with it. I guess sometimes. but,

01:32:05:06 - 01:32:21:20
Kelly Aiken
And I could, you know, since we're on that topic and you, you've mentioned it, but like, I've kind of built up a an ability and a name and a brand and a reputation now to where I probably could start up something and, like, be more cookie cutter and I might.

01:32:22:17 - 01:32:23:10
Ken Bjonnes
Well, I think I.

01:32:23:10 - 01:32:45:16
Ken Bjonnes
Gave you that advice or not advice, but yeah, my opinion of things, I'm like, you know, you're it's sort of like, again, I hate comparing it to my business, but, you know, yeah, I, I really enjoy this, like, you know, the car I'm talking about in South Texas, it's like a nitro in a car. I love those, I've been doing it.

01:32:45:16 - 01:33:03:00
Ken Bjonnes
I just did one today on a dyno in North Carolina. I'm doing a ton of those now, and I really enjoy it just because it's like it's cool and it's messing with people like, dude, exactly. I was doing a oh, doing it for Ballard, right? And tuning the remote, tuning in for Ballard. And he's never messed with that stuff.

01:33:03:00 - 01:33:05:14
Ken Bjonnes
And after the first article, he was like.

01:33:05:16 - 01:33:09:23
Ken Bjonnes
Is that right? Like, didn't I think I really like yeah, yeah. No. Yeah.

01:33:10:00 - 01:33:16:00
Ken Bjonnes
I'm like, yeah. And I go, that's kind of on the lower side. That's genuine. you know. Right. We can make a lot more than that.

01:33:16:00 - 01:33:16:20
Ken Bjonnes
Right?

01:33:16:22 - 01:33:18:18
Ken Bjonnes
So, you know, that's.

01:33:18:18 - 01:33:30:11
Kelly Aiken
Cool though, because it's cool. Who doesn't like a high powered, cool car that takes to hot and yeah, you know. Yeah. And that's I mean, I realize it's not the easy button like a Gen two plus car with twins or something or blow.

01:33:30:12 - 01:33:46:06
Ken Bjonnes
Right. But I constantly say to myself, well, my business like, yeah, I love doing all this stuff. I love making 1500, 14, 1300 horsepower. But like, we're not selling enough EcoBoost tunes, you know, like, that's the cookie cutter example. Nothing against EcoBoost people. But just like non.

01:33:46:06 - 01:33:48:05
Kelly Aiken
That's higher maintenance.

01:33:48:05 - 01:34:11:03
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And I and I give that very little effort as far as marketing or trying to get more of that business. We do I just tuned 2019 like Guy brought us the 2019 F-150. you know, 3.5l and 112,000 miles. And, somehow it came here for some silly little suspension.

01:34:11:06 - 01:34:12:12
Ken Bjonnes
And then all of a sudden.

01:34:12:14 - 01:34:21:06
Ken Bjonnes
I see them installed a de pump on it. I go, what do you what what is that? What are you doing? Oh, he decided he want to run E85. I'm like, okay.

01:34:21:08 - 01:34:22:07
Ken Bjonnes
Okay, well whatever.

01:34:22:12 - 01:34:42:10
Ken Bjonnes
And then like, you know, it made like, with almost no parts, like we put it on the dyno, it wound up having a messed up catalytic converter, and it was like misfire. All kinds of problems put some kind of downpipes on it, and it almost made five wheel horsepower, on E85. And it's a 2019. those turbos are a little smaller than, like it was on a Raptor.

01:34:42:10 - 01:34:53:03
Ken Bjonnes
And I was just like, this is cool shit. Like, like you can build a whole business around this. Yeah, and I'm not doing enough of it. And that's not necessarily cookie cutter because it's eco. It's.

01:34:53:03 - 01:34:57:07
Kelly Aiken
But that segment. But that mostly is. Yeah. Get a tune and you're good.

01:34:57:09 - 01:35:06:23
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And I'm just like Kelly, for every guy that you're dealing with directly on a very like a Cody Rogers or me or any, any other Gt500.

01:35:07:01 - 01:35:07:12
Kelly Aiken
Yeah.

01:35:07:14 - 01:35:15:18
Ken Bjonnes
There's like a 500 guys that literally you don't need to talk to. They just want to kill, track, strut or whatever.

01:35:15:20 - 01:35:17:15
Kelly Aiken
Not adjustable, just just ride height.

01:35:17:15 - 01:35:26:03
Ken Bjonnes
And it's not that you're like selling out. It's going to be a good product. Yeah. It just doesn't need advice. It doesn't need that special touch.

01:35:26:03 - 01:35:28:22
Kelly Aiken
But then it loses the coolness to me. Going back to.

01:35:28:22 - 01:35:31:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, I guess I, I don't know, I.

01:35:31:00 - 01:35:32:12
Ken Bjonnes
You know, I guess a little bit, you.

01:35:32:12 - 01:35:36:20
Kelly Aiken
Know, John told me today, he said, you should just have both.

01:35:37:17 - 01:35:38:17
Ken Bjonnes
and it's like.

01:35:39:09 - 01:35:46:15
Kelly Aiken
but then it, I feel like at that point I'm not super, man. Yeah. I can't make both. Awesome. You know what I mean? I don't know.

01:35:46:20 - 01:36:12:10
Ken Bjonnes
I think one of your, One of the reasons you're that way is because you're so focused and detailed that I think you would have a hard time. I mean, you did hire your first employee recently. Yeah, but he's doing more like, assembly. Assembly. And just like, you know, work. Work. Yes. Not any kind of development or, right, new product type stuff.

01:36:12:12 - 01:36:30:20
Ken Bjonnes
But, you know, if you were to find the right guy to help you with that, you agreed with. Yeah, it would change your life. Yeah. You know, like a good example is, you know, Doug at Motion Race Works, right? He's done a great job building that business, and he's very clear about it. I have five engineers on staff.

01:36:31:01 - 01:36:35:14
Ken Bjonnes
You know, where here me and you are doing shit and, like, trying to do everything ourselves.

01:36:35:14 - 01:36:36:06
Ken Bjonnes
Exactly.

01:36:36:07 - 01:36:39:15
Ken Bjonnes
Doug has spent the money to find the right people.

01:36:39:18 - 01:36:46:02
Kelly Aiken
I've got five engineers. I've got five racers. You've got, you know, I've got, what it takes to build.

01:36:46:04 - 01:36:56:19
Ken Bjonnes
And that's that's key to taking that next step. I like John at Celsius. Right. He took over Celsius. How much? How much? revenue did they have? $5 million. I mean.

01:36:56:19 - 01:36:59:06
Ken Bjonnes
It was it was so, yeah, it was like way low. Yeah. You're right.

01:36:59:07 - 01:37:05:03
Ken Bjonnes
And then now they're one of the largest, fastest growing companies out there, right?

01:37:05:03 - 01:37:25:01
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. And he told, he told me, recently that they're actually one of the best performing companies on the stock market in terms of, like, employee count versus like, you know, earnings and profits. They're sitting on a bunch of cash now, which is rare. Yep. And then but that but the exact number actually is, is staggering.

01:37:25:01 - 01:37:25:15
Ken Bjonnes
He sent out a bunch.

01:37:25:15 - 01:37:28:13
Kelly Aiken
Of 5 million. Celsius is like, as a company.

01:37:28:14 - 01:37:31:15
Ken Bjonnes
Hit the brakes now sponsored by Celsius.

01:37:31:17 - 01:37:33:18
Ken Bjonnes
You know, so it's it's funny.

01:37:33:18 - 01:37:49:12
Kelly Aiken
Because we talk about some of these things, and I just like, whoa. Because the numbers just don't make sense anymore to me because they're so big. Yeah. But, I think the exact numbers are he took it from a 5 million market cap to. I don't know what they are right now. Probably 17 billion.

01:37:49:14 - 01:37:50:05
Ken Bjonnes
Right.

01:37:50:07 - 01:37:51:12
Kelly Aiken
But we're talking a market.

01:37:51:12 - 01:37:51:20
Ken Bjonnes
Cap and.

01:37:51:22 - 01:38:00:00
Ken Bjonnes
5 million. He was super important to that. Oh yeah. But I guarantee he could probably name. Yeah a large number of people that were key hires.

01:38:00:00 - 01:38:00:09
Kelly Aiken
Oh yeah.

01:38:00:12 - 01:38:03:10
Ken Bjonnes
To get to that point. And that's but that's that's.

01:38:03:10 - 01:38:04:20
Kelly Aiken
His strength though. He's good at that.

01:38:04:20 - 01:38:20:05
Ken Bjonnes
That doesn't mean you have to go that route. But that's what's going on. That's when track goes from this service based like I'm going to get all the racers fast. I who everybody is going to buy a kill track like just Coney or.

01:38:20:06 - 01:38:34:18
Kelly Aiken
And I think that going back to that BMR comment and I think that's why I fit in so good there and stuff with the outlook of that company is if I did that, I would do those two words I mentioned earlier, function and form. you know, yeah, we talk about that all the time.

01:38:34:19 - 01:38:36:02
Ken Bjonnes
You're like, hey, look at this goal.

01:38:36:02 - 01:38:39:03
Kelly Aiken
This 115. I'm like, wonder if I put Gold Springs on.

01:38:39:05 - 01:38:40:22
Ken Bjonnes
Coilovers and everybody loves them?

01:38:40:22 - 01:38:50:11
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, it's just something a little bit different. But my point is, is like if I did it, I'd be like, hey, Ken, does this look cool? And you'd be like, oh, make that gray a little darker because there's a lot to that.

01:38:50:13 - 01:38:51:02
Ken Bjonnes
And that, that.

01:38:51:02 - 01:38:53:21
Kelly Aiken
Beautiful looking part like these intakes.

01:38:53:23 - 01:38:54:07
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, that's.

01:38:54:07 - 01:38:56:00
Kelly Aiken
People like good looking stuff.

01:38:56:00 - 01:38:56:20
Ken Bjonnes
That stuff matters.

01:38:56:23 - 01:39:03:17
Kelly Aiken
What I think I could do a good thing. It would be a good quality part because it's got a good base behind it. Yeah. But then make it look cool too.

01:39:03:21 - 01:39:18:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah. And like you said though, you're only one person and you're staying super busy and like. Yeah, you know, you even asked me about, you were coming here to pick the car up, and then John asked you about going to the F1 race. Yeah, I think I should go because you're so focused on the business and trying to get you.

01:39:18:00 - 01:39:20:16
Kelly Aiken
I didn't really want to go. Yeah, my wife is like.

01:39:20:22 - 01:39:23:05
Ken Bjonnes
You never do stuff. People ask you to do.

01:39:23:05 - 01:39:27:07
Kelly Aiken
Stuff because people ask me a lot to do things. And I'm like, no, I can't.

01:39:27:12 - 01:39:35:01
Ken Bjonnes
But it's it's hard to keep perspective there. Yeah. You know, it's like that possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity. I mean, you're friends with Jeremy.

01:39:35:02 - 01:39:36:20
Kelly Aiken
My ticket was like $35,000.

01:39:36:20 - 01:39:42:22
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, it's crazy right? And you would never spend that to go to F1 because you don't even care that much about F1. So here is.

01:39:42:22 - 01:39:45:09
Kelly Aiken
But it's an experience that I'll never probably have again.

01:39:45:09 - 01:39:52:11
Ken Bjonnes
And it's not just F1, it's you're going there with the CEO of Celsius. So who also you're getting to meet at that time. And we'll kind of, you know, I.

01:39:52:11 - 01:40:01:09
Kelly Aiken
Got to sit next to billionaires that were 35 today. Two different ones. Yeah. And I'm looking at I'm going see what is it like. I mean they have full time driver.

01:40:01:11 - 01:40:04:04
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Yeah. Like it's just a totally different world.

01:40:04:04 - 01:40:12:21
Kelly Aiken
So it's cool because I usually don't get to sit there and like talk jokes and cuss and just be yourself around billionaires. I mean, you know, it's kind of cool.

01:40:12:21 - 01:40:35:21
Ken Bjonnes
But the interesting thing about that is, is I bet you that they may I could be wrong. Maybe. Maybe I'm being a little whatever, but they do. They have something in their life that's more than money, you know what I mean? Like you were saying, you know, when you went corporate and are making good money, but I don't really care about what I'm doing, like I have, if these guys gotten to the point where I'm like, I'm a billionaire, but now what do I do?

01:40:35:23 - 01:40:49:17
Ken Bjonnes
You know, like, I don't really have anything interesting except I know how to make a lot of frigging money. Yeah. So, you know, just because, yeah, it looks cool doesn't mean it actually is cool, right? I guess the goal will be let's be billionaires and.

01:40:49:17 - 01:40:50:03
Kelly Aiken
And.

01:40:50:03 - 01:40:51:00
Ken Bjonnes
Have.

01:40:51:01 - 01:41:06:00
Kelly Aiken
And if I can if I can build this up to do that it would be amazing. But then it becomes a thing where it's like the market that I cater to right now, it only has so much runway, you know. Right. Everybody knows that. I mean, you know what I'm saying? Like, I could never trick people that see what I do now.

01:41:06:02 - 01:41:12:02
Kelly Aiken
Nobody's going back. Oh, that guy's doing 20 million a year. Yeah. Okay. Well, you know what I mean. So it's like you can only do so much. Yeah.

01:41:12:02 - 01:41:30:03
Ken Bjonnes
And I tell people that all the time, like, when it comes to performance, you know, I'm like, people will ask, like, whether it's me hiring a tuner or whatever. And I'm like, you, you don't understand this business. Because while you can make good money in the automotive world. Performance on.

01:41:30:03 - 01:41:30:21
Ken Bjonnes
Performance.

01:41:31:12 - 01:41:33:08
Kelly Aiken
performance aftermarket, you're not.

01:41:33:10 - 01:41:59:21
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Most people that are really smart can make way more doing something else. So the only people that you find in this business are people like me and you who are loving it. And we go, I think I can make good money doing it. We're not, you know what I mean? Like, if me and you sat down and said, screw cars, we're going to brainstorm for the next 2 or 3 months, and we're going to try to make millions of dollars like within the next few years.

01:41:59:21 - 01:42:01:04
Kelly Aiken
Products or something.

01:42:01:04 - 01:42:11:06
Ken Bjonnes
Like, getting certain products and selling them on Amazon or whatever, all kinds of hustles that we would care nothing about other than we're making money on it. I guarantee we could do.

01:42:11:08 - 01:42:12:14
Kelly Aiken
Then it's just a job, maybe.

01:42:12:14 - 01:42:13:18
Ken Bjonnes
Better than we do now.

01:42:13:18 - 01:42:15:04
Kelly Aiken
But 100%.

01:42:15:06 - 01:42:26:21
Ken Bjonnes
But we don't want to do that. And, you know, thankfully, there's people like us in this business because otherwise you're going to wind up with, you know, mid-grade shit across the board.

01:42:26:21 - 01:42:28:04
Kelly Aiken
Two brothers mufflers.

01:42:28:09 - 01:42:33:08
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Two brothers. Dire love for the GT 500. so.

01:42:33:23 - 01:42:35:11
Ken Bjonnes
that's so funny.

01:42:35:13 - 01:42:54:20
Ken Bjonnes
So, you know, back at Cal track, so obviously in the beginning, and you dealt with, a lot of people that operate like you, like all, you know, it's just a Viking starter. It's just a Viking shock right there. Now, fast forward you you're still doing that. You're still doing new things with Viking, but you also have some of your own.

01:42:54:20 - 01:42:57:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, 100% your own product. Yeah. Right.

01:42:57:18 - 01:43:20:02
Kelly Aiken
So I've even got my own springs now that are on the way. Right. So like and that's it, I get it. I and you're never going to be like I could never envision just everybody loving me or my business and everybody accepting me. And then you have the CDNs out there of the industry, the the, you know, the people that talk to drama and all that stuff, like, I get it.

01:43:20:07 - 01:43:42:06
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, but but I am so passionate about it that it does bother me when people make the comment because, well, here's why it's not wrong per se. And some applications that Viking lets me do a certain part like, and I thank them all time for it. We've talked about that. They've allowed me to work with their products in a way.

01:43:42:07 - 01:44:02:06
Kelly Aiken
It's just awesome, right? And so that being said, it's like, it's not like I'm taking a Viking product for the most part and like redoing it totally. I've got my spackling, which I'm working on a new one, by the way. That's about the the new strut. Yep. I can post this. Like that's the thing. Like I post about it, I tag the owners of Viking.

01:44:02:08 - 01:44:02:21
Ken Bjonnes

01:44:02:23 - 01:44:25:04
Kelly Aiken
Why wouldn't I? All right. How much work, how much business I'm doing with them. Like. But the people that like, say that maliciously, it's like. But I also have my, my IRS positive like, I mean, you know, it's not that's what I don't understand. Like, it's like maliciously it's like haters or something, I guess. And I don't like to use that word like I told you the other day, but I just you know, it's it's a passion thing.

01:44:25:04 - 01:44:27:08
Kelly Aiken
It's like, I don't know why people.

01:44:27:11 - 01:44:27:20
Ken Bjonnes
Well.

01:44:27:20 - 01:44:29:14
Kelly Aiken
I didn't make the time to say it.

01:44:29:18 - 01:44:50:00
Ken Bjonnes
I think people just love to hate on the internet. And, I, I, I haven't I don't pull any punches when people are that way. I just made a shitty comment to somebody on one of our, company posts. Because no matter what you post about, no matter what, it's something negative, like it was. Jeff Smock one.

01:44:50:02 - 01:45:10:13
Ken Bjonnes
So Jeff DeMarco comes here with his mark on, did undisclosed modifications to the vehicle, but I still wanted to do a video on it. So we're doing 93 and 85. I said, hey can I post some of your numbers? Just like, yeah, but let's just post 93 and not to 85. And I go and then I won't even talk about exactly what you did because, yeah, he likes to race and wants to get, you know.

01:45:10:15 - 01:45:15:06
Ken Bjonnes
So I made a post about it and you know.

01:45:15:07 - 01:45:16:11
Ken Bjonnes
You should be.

01:45:16:13 - 01:45:23:07
Ken Bjonnes
You know, sharing all the information and this and this is useless, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, and it's like.

01:45:23:09 - 01:45:26:01
Ken Bjonnes
Well, why listen, you know, like.

01:45:26:03 - 01:45:43:11
Ken Bjonnes
I could just not even have posted the car. Yeah. So somebody some people in here obviously are happy I posted a car. Right. I want to see what it made. You know what power's possible. And we know we're on 93, but it's cool on the internet to just be a dick and you win because you're a dick, you know, or whatever.

01:45:43:11 - 01:45:47:18
Ken Bjonnes
I said to him, I can't remember what I said, and I just. I can't get with that mentality.

01:45:48:00 - 01:45:50:06
Kelly Aiken
It's like so weird and it's so common now.

01:45:50:07 - 01:46:07:04
Ken Bjonnes
It's like, if you want to tear somebody down, tear the guy down, that guy down. Yeah, the guy that's doing nothing and just running his friggin mouth, constantly talking about shit he doesn't know anything about, talking about things he hasn't touched, talking about things based on other people's experiences. Just a.

01:46:07:04 - 01:46:09:09
Ken Bjonnes
Mouth going on and on and on.

01:46:09:12 - 01:46:30:23
Kelly Aiken
Me. And it's like, oh, and a funny thing is, is like, and I had to bring this up. It's like, I mean, I'm, I'm on like my eighth or ninth Mustangs since 2016. Right? And I touch them all. It's not like I just drive them right. And then look at all the stuff you've had and it's like, but then those same mouthpieces are, you know, they're going to talk degrading to us.

01:46:30:23 - 01:46:32:21
Kelly Aiken
And I'm not going to say we're awesome.

01:46:32:21 - 01:46:33:16
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:46:33:18 - 01:46:41:09
Kelly Aiken
But it were people in the industry that are figuring things out for other people. Yeah. That's there's no appreciation there. It's like.

01:46:41:11 - 01:46:42:18
Ken Bjonnes
Well like I don't.

01:46:42:18 - 01:46:58:04
Ken Bjonnes
Get it. And the latest, you know, issue with the negativity, the big one is the s650. Right. Oh it's not it's crap, but you can't tune and it's worse than the year prior and all that stuff. And then obviously Anna, you did good with yours. Nah.

01:46:58:05 - 01:47:00:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. My car is fast. Yes.

01:47:00:05 - 01:47:13:09
Ken Bjonnes
And then, we download the lethal car and made the 800 horsepower and everybody called bullshit. And it's like, fine. You want to call bullshit? Call bullshit. That's the first one you saw. Maybe it's in and there's another one. There's no. Yeah. There's no.

01:47:13:11 - 01:47:14:00
Kelly Aiken
Here's Kelly's.

01:47:14:00 - 01:47:14:13
Ken Bjonnes
Car. Yeah.

01:47:14:13 - 01:47:17:10
Kelly Aiken
Here's literally exactly what it made. On what? Fuel.

01:47:17:11 - 01:47:38:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. So we did the little stick car. We did Igor's dark horse. We did Street speeds GT we did your GT, we did lethal dark horse. So five cars at least. my dyno. And they all made the same power. Yeah. Or at least like, based on different pulleys, like. Yeah, it all made sense. Yeah. There was no, like.

01:47:38:13 - 01:47:40:05
Ken Bjonnes
Smoking gun. I knew it.

01:47:40:05 - 01:47:47:04
Ken Bjonnes
You were bullshitting that car only made 700 and you're like, no, this one made 745. Yeah, this one made, you know, whatever.

01:47:47:20 - 01:47:51:00
Kelly Aiken
and then that. Did you see the Dark Horse recently that just went 9/9?

01:47:51:11 - 01:47:51:22
Ken Bjonnes
cam.

01:47:51:22 - 01:47:52:17
Kelly Aiken
Cam son or.

01:47:52:17 - 01:47:54:00
Ken Bjonnes
Whatever. Yeah, yeah.

01:47:54:02 - 01:47:55:02
Kelly Aiken
He's not a shop.

01:47:55:02 - 01:47:56:11
Ken Bjonnes
He's just a guy. That was.

01:47:56:11 - 01:47:58:03
Kelly Aiken
It was a stock car with a Whipple.

01:47:58:03 - 01:47:59:00
Ken Bjonnes
He said one and done.

01:47:59:00 - 01:48:02:01
Kelly Aiken
So I saw it was already some pass 142 or not.

01:48:02:02 - 01:48:04:09
Ken Bjonnes
One 4140 yep.

01:48:04:12 - 01:48:07:23
Kelly Aiken
For that car's got to be 4,200 pounds on A10.

01:48:08:00 - 01:48:14:05
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And I think it if I had to guess looking at the times of it probably had, something going on in the middle.

01:48:14:07 - 01:48:15:11
Kelly Aiken
In the 60ft wasn't very.

01:48:15:11 - 01:48:23:09
Ken Bjonnes
Good. Yeah. Because the 60ft wasn't good and you still want A900. And then Beefcake went nines with his, you know, he's a big dude. I mean, that car's the heaviest six foot. I mean, he's.

01:48:23:11 - 01:48:28:03
Kelly Aiken
To make sense, like you just said. Yeah. There's nothing that doesn't like, you know.

01:48:28:03 - 01:48:36:04
Ken Bjonnes
And so people are calling bullshit to me. And it's like a first off, don't give me a hard time. I'm not tuning it. I'm just dialing.

01:48:36:06 - 01:48:37:07
Ken Bjonnes
Messenger. Yeah.

01:48:37:09 - 01:48:48:17
Ken Bjonnes
And I'm just delivering information, and you're you're you're taking the opinion of other people that don't haven't even seen one of these yet or touched one of them, or you download one or driven.

01:48:48:17 - 01:48:49:04
Ken Bjonnes
One, right?

01:48:49:07 - 01:49:09:18
Kelly Aiken
I mean, I hate having the car. And then like recently, I've seen some posts, I don't reply to them, I don't do anything. And I'll see people like not talking shit, but just saying these weird comments and it's like, and I'm looking at it going, not only does he not have it s650, but he doesn't even have probably an s550 and he doesn't have a Whipple like I have it.

01:49:09:20 - 01:49:14:00
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, I'm out beating on it. I'm showing you what it's doing and like on my videos.

01:49:14:00 - 01:49:14:14
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, these people.

01:49:14:14 - 01:49:16:02
Kelly Aiken
Want, I don't know. What else do you want?

01:49:16:02 - 01:49:36:21
Ken Bjonnes
They're arguing series based off of other people's opinions that don't even really know what they're talking about. I don't, you know, it's frustrating to me. It's one of probably the most frustrating things. And it's like, it's not like I expect people to just take everything I have as gospel, right? But if you're going to come back at me, come back at me with, like, that's my point, buddy.

01:49:36:23 - 01:49:42:22
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Right here has this car and he's calling me 700 can explain why or but that I would entertain that.

01:49:42:22 - 01:49:45:01
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, sure. Yeah. Let's figure it.

01:49:45:01 - 01:49:52:01
Kelly Aiken
Out. Yeah. You might. Hey, buddy. You might have an issue. Yeah, because that's probably what it would be. You know, a sensor or a intercooler pump.

01:49:52:04 - 01:49:59:00
Ken Bjonnes
So we had that issue, right. street speeds car. It had a, intercooler pump wiring.

01:49:59:00 - 01:49:59:20
Kelly Aiken
It wasn't working.

01:49:59:20 - 01:50:14:04
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And, you know, I'm not logged in. Sometimes I log those cars, but they're hard to lock. Yeah. So I wasn't logging, and we did Donald Poll, and me and Jared looked at each other like. And this was, you know, when all the controversy was.

01:50:14:06 - 01:50:15:10
Ken Bjonnes
All right, you're like, what the.

01:50:15:10 - 01:50:35:19
Ken Bjonnes
Heck? Oh, man, there is low. Like, this is like going to be bad because it's like proving some people right. Maybe like, maybe they're not all going to make that power. Yeah. And then we're like trying to figure out what we're going to do. And then, you know, those run the intercooler pump would just keep on. So let's cool it off, hit the bar and I'll stand there talking.

01:50:35:19 - 01:50:38:00
Ken Bjonnes
And then we look at the intercooler reservoir.

01:50:38:03 - 01:50:39:09
Ken Bjonnes
You're like it's not moving.

01:50:39:10 - 01:50:44:09
Ken Bjonnes
I'm like Jared's like dude I don't think the intercooler pumps are working. So we fix that.

01:50:44:09 - 01:50:48:15
Ken Bjonnes
And boom, 50 horsepower like oh yeah, you know.

01:50:48:19 - 01:50:58:17
Ken Bjonnes
So you know, there's definitely situations where things aren't going to work out perfectly. You know, like, Jared took his stick shift car to the track and had issues with it, right? And everybody's like.

01:50:58:17 - 01:51:00:03
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, no.

01:51:00:05 - 01:51:01:01
Ken Bjonnes
It's like, no, dude.

01:51:01:03 - 01:51:04:04
Ken Bjonnes
It's I remember once car going down the track, since we're.

01:51:04:04 - 01:51:10:10
Kelly Aiken
Talking about that, remember you asked me, what do you think it ran. Yep. And I nailed it.

01:51:10:12 - 01:51:13:04
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Because you knew you literally were like.

01:51:13:06 - 01:51:27:15
Kelly Aiken
That's exactly what he ran. And I'm like, I because I kind of figured there was going to be some clutch protect. I mean, yeah, I was bitch racing. I was like, well, it should go probably like A98 at 143. You know, I'm bench racing and then I'm like, but it's got some decent drivers but it's going to bog.

01:51:27:17 - 01:51:30:07
Kelly Aiken
Yeah it's going to clutch protect I've been there, I've been there.

01:51:30:10 - 01:51:31:16
Ken Bjonnes
There's going to be all sorts of.

01:51:31:17 - 01:51:32:17
Kelly Aiken
I been there that's.

01:51:32:17 - 01:51:33:20
Ken Bjonnes
Why. Yeah that's.

01:51:33:20 - 01:51:45:08
Kelly Aiken
That's all it takes right there. I've been there. So I knew it was going to happen and you were like, wow. And it's like, Ken, don't forget I had a Whipple made it to 2020 that we had tuning issues on, remember? Yeah. Jerry was at the track with us that one time. Yeah.

01:51:45:09 - 01:51:46:13
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, it was.

01:51:46:15 - 01:51:48:02
Kelly Aiken
Making timing and stuff, remember?

01:51:48:02 - 01:52:03:10
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. People don't get like, how complicated this stuff is. It's complicated. Period. Now you've got a brand new platform and that is not being custom tuned. It's being tuned by an engineer. I don't know where that guy is. Michigan. I'm not sure we're even.

01:52:03:10 - 01:52:05:15
Ken Bjonnes
Live Hawaii and he's.

01:52:05:17 - 01:52:20:11
Ken Bjonnes
Very, very smart and knows what he's doing. But he's not like track tuning cars all the time. So for it to do what they're doing, just as an off the shelf Whipple tune, especially the ten speed cars, I mean, look at those things.

01:52:20:11 - 01:52:21:05
Kelly Aiken
I agree.

01:52:21:05 - 01:52:22:03
Ken Bjonnes
It's it's a mess.

01:52:22:04 - 01:52:23:16
Kelly Aiken
The ones I thought were going to have all the issues.

01:52:23:18 - 01:52:44:11
Ken Bjonnes
There's three now, right. Three in the night, cam Beefcake and Vmp. Yeah. And then Jared should be there soon. Yeah. but you know, I was really that's when it really all became clear to me after we did, because the first car we did was Jared's the car. Then we did Igor's ten speed and it Donald exactly what we expected.

01:52:44:11 - 01:53:00:00
Ken Bjonnes
And I didn't know Igor at all, but he's a cool dude. And, he's like, I'll go take it for a run. And and, Dustin's like, yeah, I want you to drive it because I want your opinion. And he kind of set me up for thinking it was going to suck, you know, like, you know, see how it's just,

01:53:00:02 - 01:53:01:14
Ken Bjonnes
And I freaking hit it out here, and I.

01:53:01:14 - 01:53:03:08
Ken Bjonnes
Was like, these are pretty.

01:53:03:10 - 01:53:05:15
Ken Bjonnes
I thought this was my two. And I'd be like, whoa!

01:53:05:19 - 01:53:06:15
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Nailed it.

01:53:06:19 - 01:53:09:02
Ken Bjonnes
So. And this is just, you know, you.

01:53:09:02 - 01:53:09:18
Kelly Aiken
Told me that.

01:53:09:18 - 01:53:11:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. I was like, damn.

01:53:11:00 - 01:53:12:04
Ken Bjonnes
So there you go. Yeah.

01:53:12:04 - 01:53:13:12
Ken Bjonnes
I was like, dude, this is really good.

01:53:13:12 - 01:53:16:07
Kelly Aiken
You know, instead of talking shit about it, right?

01:53:16:08 - 01:53:18:16
Ken Bjonnes
You're like like, this is really good.

01:53:18:18 - 01:53:25:13
Ken Bjonnes
Have you seen, the s650 go down the track and whip one and nail a rev limiter?

01:53:25:19 - 01:53:26:17
Ken Bjonnes
exactly. Shit.

01:53:26:17 - 01:53:45:05
Ken Bjonnes
That happens when we tune them when they're new. Nope. They got it right. you know, it's it's it's badass. So, you know, I don't really. I guess the biggest way to handle that is just to keep on going. Keep on going. Ignore the haters. And, you know, one of my favorite sayings is time tells the true story.

01:53:45:09 - 01:53:53:22
Ken Bjonnes
And it's like, okay, if I'm lying, six months from now, come back, right, point your finger in my face and be like, I told you, you're not going to do that because I'm not lying. You know.

01:53:53:22 - 01:53:54:14
Ken Bjonnes
Exactly.

01:53:54:16 - 01:54:02:02
Kelly Aiken
And that's that. That's a good saying that that you just said. Because it proves a lot of things. You know who's in the industry pushing things though.

01:54:02:07 - 01:54:02:19
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

01:54:02:21 - 01:54:08:08
Kelly Aiken
Who who hasn't. Who, who do you not hear about anymore. Yeah. Who, who, who gets tagged a lot and who doesn't or.

01:54:08:08 - 01:54:09:18
Ken Bjonnes
Who you know.

01:54:09:20 - 01:54:13:14
Kelly Aiken
They're. That's exactly right. You know, time tells that your story. You know.

01:54:13:14 - 01:54:23:16
Ken Bjonnes
I've dealt with a lot of hate through all my entire career, and partially that's my own fault because I'm type person. I put myself out there. Yeah, I got a YouTube channel. I'm active on social media.

01:54:23:16 - 01:54:36:15
Kelly Aiken
You share when a screen knocks you in the back of the head or, rack falls. Not many, I will tell you. Not many people do that though, right? Like you actually share your mistakes or your your embarrassing moments.

01:54:36:17 - 01:54:37:06
Ken Bjonnes
Do you know how many.

01:54:37:06 - 01:54:38:11
Kelly Aiken
Not many people do that.

01:54:38:11 - 01:55:04:22
Ken Bjonnes
You know how many YouTube videos I've put out. Am I getting ten messages, bro, what are you doing? What do you mean? Why did you put that in the video? It. You went slower or made less power. Like if I'm doing a Dyna video or this not. And I'm like, for those ten of you that are telling me what am I doing, I get a 100 fold of people going, man, thank you for being honest on your YouTube channel.

01:55:05:00 - 01:55:24:16
Ken Bjonnes
Thank you for showing us that everything is in all perfect and like boom, boom, boom, boom. I made 100 million horsepower. It's like, no, we gotta experiment. We got to see, and I think by the same token, it's I'm being selfish by sharing everything. Because if I share everything. Yeah, I don't have to remember what I didn't tell you.

01:55:24:19 - 01:55:43:16
Ken Bjonnes
I don't have to blow it. Exactly. Oh, well, that's going to come out that I put Octane Booster in it. But I didn't tell you I put octane, right? Yeah, there's Octane Booster in it. This one's without octane. This. This is with octane. This, you know, so the minute you don't play it, the minute you refuse to play those sorts of games is the minute you're free.

01:55:43:18 - 01:55:44:04
Kelly Aiken
Yeah.

01:55:44:05 - 01:55:45:06
Ken Bjonnes
Because you're not.

01:55:45:07 - 01:55:45:20
Kelly Aiken
It's all out.

01:55:45:20 - 01:55:48:08
Ken Bjonnes
There. You're not a slave to.

01:55:48:10 - 01:55:49:05
Kelly Aiken
This, this that's.

01:55:49:05 - 01:56:10:06
Ken Bjonnes
Going to come out. Yeah. You know those sorts of things. So yeah that's true I think that's what motivates me. It's almost like a from a selfish place because the more honest I am, the less you could come back at me at, you know, and, and, and on top of it, you know, I do think being overly sharing you, nobody could ever complain.

01:56:10:09 - 01:56:31:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Like all you didn't tell me that. You didn't show that in your video. Now, I showed you that. Look right here. My frigging car hit the number ten fucking times before I can make that pass happen or whatever, you know, especially through the Gt500. That was my probably my most detailed, extensive projects that I've done. You know, I would like to do that.

01:56:31:14 - 01:56:32:06
Ken Bjonnes
Everything.

01:56:32:06 - 01:56:33:00
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. It's hard.

01:56:33:02 - 01:56:53:06
Ken Bjonnes
It's just hard with time. but, you know, that's why I did that with the Gt500 stuff, because I knew, and I had that conversation multiple times, like when Francis was here doing video and stuff, and he's like, should I put that in the video? Yeah, put everything in the video because I don't want anybody to say, yeah, I don't want to sell somebody $20,000 worth of parts.

01:56:53:06 - 01:57:09:05
Ken Bjonnes
And they have the same problem. I have. And then afterwards I have to go, well, you know, I had that problem. And then I go, oh, I didn't know that I was going to have problems. Nope. Watch my videos. You're going to have all these fucking problems. But when it all comes together, here's how it's going to go.

01:57:09:05 - 01:57:33:10
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah. So, I wanted to, talk a little bit about I like to talk about things outside of cars on this with people. So, you know, obviously we know you have a family, two children, you're still happily married. What kind of hobbies do you enjoy outside of cars? I know there's not a lot, I'm guessing.

01:57:33:12 - 01:57:34:10
Ken Bjonnes
But there is there.

01:57:34:10 - 01:57:39:12
Kelly Aiken
No no no no no. So, my true passion is fishing, and I.

01:57:39:12 - 01:57:40:18
Ken Bjonnes
Didn't even know that, honestly.

01:57:40:18 - 01:57:53:15
Kelly Aiken
But I have the reason why. When you talked about attention to detail and all that stuff, that's why I don't race. Because I would just be too obsessed with it. Because I would.

01:57:53:17 - 01:57:55:11
Ken Bjonnes
That's why I don't gamble.

01:57:55:13 - 01:58:23:17
Kelly Aiken
That sounds like I'm all or nothing. Like I can't just dabble, right? I can't, I can't, I can't do it. You know, before I had kids and stuff, I had a bass boat. I had these badass guns. I was I mean, I was doing everything, fishing everything. And, it really got to a point where, you know, I like fishing, but I've slowed down because I get obsessed with it.

01:58:23:19 - 01:58:27:02
Ken Bjonnes
I got to have the best reel. Oh, this stuff's outdated.

01:58:27:05 - 01:58:43:15
Kelly Aiken
Let me start from scratch, and then I'm just going to fish. And then it's like, oh, I got cars. I forgot that that's me. That's. Yeah. So, I'll dabble in a little, a little bit of things, but I've learned to dabble in things that are enjoying that I won't go crazy on. So like, I, we like to travel.

01:58:44:10 - 01:59:07:04
Kelly Aiken
so that's actually, I guess you could say that's a hobby. I mean, I we travel a lot. and then, investing, I try to stay away and then I'm like, but I know this is going to happen, and then I'll get in this, like, one week funk, but then it screws everything up because I can't answer people because I'm focusing like, all right, it's really like I'm really like routine.

01:59:07:04 - 01:59:11:23
Kelly Aiken
That's my problem. So the car stuff is just embedded. So.

01:59:13:14 - 01:59:17:08
Ken Bjonnes
I know you'd know. I was just going to say food and bourbon and things like that.

01:59:17:08 - 01:59:35:08
Kelly Aiken
So I like bourbon. sipping. I hate getting, like, drunk. And when I do, I just regret it so bad. So. But I like to sip and taste different, you know, I have, like, cool bottles of whiskey, and I've had them for months, and they'll be maybe half because I'm sharing them with some neighbors and stuff. But, so I like bourbon.

01:59:35:08 - 01:59:54:03
Kelly Aiken
I just really that started because, I used to be a big beer guy. You probably you might remember that I was into IPAs and also. But, you know, as you get older, you know, we. So then I'm like, okay, I'll just have, like, little sips of bourbon. So I like bourbon, I like fishing. I'm not even going to say I like hunting.

01:59:54:03 - 02:00:04:04
Kelly Aiken
I like, you know, I grew up in Texas and stuff. And, when I moved here, I did some hunting and stuff, but, you know, that's that's really just it. I don't have a lot of time.

02:00:04:09 - 02:00:23:13
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Well, and that's, that's really the story of most people that are at the head of a company and, and all that. So traveling is like probably one of those things that fits well with that because it's very compartmentalized. It's not like animals involved. I can travel constantly. Right? You can only travel so much. So that's a good a good hobby.

02:00:23:17 - 02:00:26:00
Ken Bjonnes
Where have you been recently that you really enjoy?

02:00:26:10 - 02:00:29:10
Kelly Aiken
well, we don't go, like, extravagant, did you.

02:00:29:11 - 02:00:30:02
Ken Bjonnes
Go camping.

02:00:30:02 - 02:00:42:07
Kelly Aiken
A while back or, like, to the Bahamas? And then, we do a lot of weekend stuff. So, like, a week ago, we were in Marco Island. you know, I don't even know if I'm shared that with you guys. I don't know.

02:00:42:16 - 02:00:46:13
Ken Bjonnes
I didn't know you were there. You said, like, you posted. Oh, yeah.

02:00:46:14 - 02:01:10:10
Kelly Aiken
We posted a picture or something. Yeah, yeah. So. So we do that, we do I Captiva, we do the cabins in Georgia. we have, like, certain Hiltons that we stay at. So we do like the, the lazy river stuff. We do a lot of that. We don't do the beauty as we live in Florida, man. So I can go to a cabins up in North Carolina or Georgia within 8 to 10 hours or something like that.

02:01:10:12 - 02:01:14:14
Kelly Aiken
I can go over to the ocean here. not the Gulf.

02:01:14:14 - 02:01:15:03
Ken Bjonnes
You know, I.

02:01:15:03 - 02:01:26:21
Kelly Aiken
Can actually see waves and like, you know, enjoy that stuff. We can go to Cocoa Beach, we can boogie board or whatever you call it. And then, the keys, we went there a while back, and, you know, we do a lot of the local stuff.

02:01:27:00 - 02:01:27:19
Ken Bjonnes
Do you see yourself.

02:01:27:19 - 02:01:29:03
Kelly Aiken
Saint Augustine recently.

02:01:29:03 - 02:01:38:07
Ken Bjonnes
Having, like, other properties, like in different parts of the country? Are you pretty much Florida all the way?

02:01:38:09 - 02:01:41:13
Kelly Aiken
I don't know, man, I can't, I I'm obsessed with Florida.

02:01:41:18 - 02:01:43:14
Ken Bjonnes
I sometimes I hear.

02:01:43:14 - 02:01:43:22
Kelly Aiken
So.

02:01:43:22 - 02:01:48:20
Ken Bjonnes
I do too. Sometimes I kind of dream about like maybe having a cabin. I could.

02:01:48:20 - 02:01:49:08
Kelly Aiken
Get away.

02:01:49:08 - 02:01:50:04
Ken Bjonnes
In Tennessee.

02:01:50:09 - 02:01:51:17
Ken Bjonnes
Yes.

02:01:51:19 - 02:01:52:17
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. So we were looking.

02:01:52:17 - 02:02:18:05
Kelly Aiken
Recently, we were looking at a house on the water, but. But not what you would expect. Like John's house like that. Like. Yeah, like Homosassa or like Cedar Key. Like historic old Florida. Yeah. Like, I hate to say swamp, but, like the grass and the like the rivers that go out the tributaries or whatever. They go out to the Gulf, something like there.

02:02:18:05 - 02:02:26:14
Kelly Aiken
That's relaxing, like old Florida, like the manatee years. And like we we did some of that recently. Then it led to, okay, these are too expensive.

02:02:26:16 - 02:02:28:10
Ken Bjonnes
So let's look at some cabins.

02:02:28:12 - 02:02:43:10
Kelly Aiken
And then you were the one that had said, like the Airbnb market was kind of hurting. And and you can tell like when you look at all the people that got into that in the cabins in Georgia, that's a huge thing. They're all like way they're like half the price. Like people are trying to get out of them now because it's like oversaturated.

02:02:43:10 - 02:02:52:20
Kelly Aiken
But I would love to have one, though. I think a cabin and a place you can truly relax. Yeah, I, I am as I get older, I think that's a good.

02:02:53:02 - 02:03:12:15
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. I, you know, I, I grew up in New York so I'm a city person and that's why, you know, when I moved down here, I've always lived within like a mont. Well, when I first moved down here, I lived with a friend. And we did live out west a little bit about 15 minutes from I-95. and I hated it.

02:03:12:18 - 02:03:33:13
Ken Bjonnes
You know, I'm like, I got to be, like, right in the middle of it all. But as I get older, you know, I feel like my tastes are changing. So, I love my, my house, where I live, the location. but definitely something is attractive to, like, you know, having, like, a bunch of acreage with, like, a house on it.

02:03:33:13 - 02:03:36:20
Ken Bjonnes
And there's, like, you're in your house and there's nobody can see you or.

02:03:37:00 - 02:03:38:16
Ken Bjonnes
Or tell you what to do.

02:03:38:18 - 02:03:39:13
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, exactly.

02:03:39:15 - 02:03:55:04
Kelly Aiken
I mean, I got fined the other day for the basketball goal. I our neighborhood, you can't have things showing. So I've been keeping a basketball goal beside my house. We have this little cutout, since 2018, five years. And I just got, like, all in trouble for it or whatever, you know, and it's like, yeah.

02:03:55:06 - 02:04:14:13
Ken Bjonnes
Well, and that's one of the things that I really paid attention to when I bought my house. I live one mile. Simon, what are you doing, buddy? I, I live like, one mile from I-95, but I was able to find a neighborhood that's unincorporated. I don't have HOA. I don't have city. I don't have any of that.

02:04:14:13 - 02:04:31:00
Ken Bjonnes
I got a deal with the county, and that's it, right? so I kind of like, already live that life a little bit where I don't have as many rules, but I would like to have a lot more room. So, when it comes to family, do you, like. You know, I know your son. How old? Your son?

02:04:31:13 - 02:04:35:04
Kelly Aiken
so. So he's 13. so he's got.

02:04:35:04 - 02:04:36:21
Ken Bjonnes
A while before he drives.

02:04:36:23 - 02:04:37:22
Kelly Aiken
Yeah.

02:04:38:00 - 02:04:40:15
Ken Bjonnes
Do you see him getting into the car thing or.

02:04:40:17 - 02:04:55:12
Kelly Aiken
He's. He's at that age where, And the reason I kind of went like this is like, he's kind of like. Like, did I show you that text he sent me the other day of a Viper?

02:04:55:14 - 02:04:57:20
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah. He was like, this is special.

02:04:57:20 - 02:04:58:17
Kelly Aiken
You know, he.

02:04:58:18 - 02:05:00:03
Ken Bjonnes
He is curious.

02:05:00:05 - 02:05:07:22
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. He has like, like these. He has like a little razor scooter that we have at 72 volt. It goes like 60 miles an hour. It's like one of those little ones.

02:05:07:22 - 02:05:09:12
Ken Bjonnes
Like like kids. Yeah.

02:05:09:14 - 02:05:26:06
Kelly Aiken
And he'll ride that up to the Hooters and stuff out in front of our neighborhood, and he'll, he'll just, like, sit and just wait for cool cars. Right? So he's. I kind of remember being there where you. It was a big deal to see a car like I remember in the oh 3 or 4 Cobra came out and I would see one.

02:05:26:21 - 02:05:42:18
Kelly Aiken
back then I was like, wow, that's awesome. Car. Yeah. So in the Vipers, of course, I'm just saying, like, I think he's at that stage where it's like he he likes them because I guess maybe I do. but I think he's actually starting to appreciate like he sees it and.

02:05:42:18 - 02:05:45:00
Ken Bjonnes
He's like, understanding. That's a weird car. Yeah.

02:05:45:00 - 02:06:04:12
Kelly Aiken
Because that's what he asked me on that Viper. He saw a Viper and he said, what is this? Is it rare? Right. So that shows that, you know, he's I don't know, I it's hard to say with him. He likes the fish. Yeah. He likes all the same things I did when I was a kid. You know, he likes the fish he likes, but he jumps around a lot.

02:06:04:14 - 02:06:22:05
Kelly Aiken
Where? When I was a kid, I was very focused on what I was doing like. And that's why I was a good athlete, because I was, like, pitching, like, all the time, figuring out how to do it, the science behind it. fishing. I figured it out. I spent all the summers fishing. He just kind of like hops.

02:06:22:07 - 02:06:24:23
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, I think that's popular these days where you just want to do everything.

02:06:25:00 - 02:06:25:09
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, and.

02:06:25:09 - 02:06:32:08
Ken Bjonnes
It's a good way to, like, find your find your way. I mean, like, I wasn't a car guy at all. Yeah.

02:06:32:09 - 02:06:36:05
Kelly Aiken
Until you were into, like, planes and tech and stuff.

02:06:36:05 - 02:06:48:20
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, I was, like, more into tech and video. you know, I was really into video and doing things like that. I didn't even get into cars till after I bought a mustang just because I wanted a mustang, but not because I was going to race it. Yeah, like I didn't. I didn't grow.

02:06:48:20 - 02:06:51:03
Kelly Aiken
Up. Now we buy cars. What we want to modify.

02:06:51:04 - 02:06:57:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. It's like, oh, well, they're like, why are you buying that? Because I could triple the horsepower. Yeah. You know, like.

02:06:57:01 - 02:06:58:04
Ken Bjonnes
And the sales guys are like.

02:06:58:04 - 02:07:07:01
Ken Bjonnes
Well, speaking of that, I got a message some somebody wants to send me some turbos for my Bronco. Raptor? Really? Yeah. I'm like,

02:07:07:03 - 02:07:12:01
Ken Bjonnes
I mean, maybe, an engine that's not even tuned.

02:07:12:13 - 02:07:22:09
Ken Bjonnes
so, anyway, so the circle back to Cal track, real quick before we close things out. So, how long you into this? A couple of years now.

02:07:22:09 - 02:07:25:11
Kelly Aiken
So March 2021 is when I started.

02:07:25:13 - 02:07:27:10
Ken Bjonnes
So it's official Years Corporation.

02:07:27:10 - 02:07:27:16
Kelly Aiken
Yeah.

02:07:27:17 - 02:07:37:16
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. So obviously you've made huge, huge progress with it. You just recently, in the last six months, moved into your own shop. Yeah.

02:07:37:19 - 02:07:43:14
Kelly Aiken
Have you had it for almost a year? Yeah. But you just. I was so busy in the corner of my garage.

02:07:43:16 - 02:08:01:06
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, I think I poked you a little bit about that. I'm like, get the hell out of your garage. Like a car back in there. Yeah. and then you got your first employee, like we mentioned earlier. Yeah. So seeing the trajectory you're on, where do you see the company or yourself in 5 to 10 years? Like what?

02:08:01:06 - 02:08:03:09
Ken Bjonnes
What what would you like to see happen?

02:08:03:09 - 02:08:34:22
Kelly Aiken
So one thing I can say is that I've thought long and hard about where I fit. Like the void I'm filling. And I think that I've truly gotten to a point in the Mustang world to where I just don't know if there's a lot left because, I think for somebody like me to be in a market that big but so small, like, you know what I mean?

02:08:34:22 - 02:08:52:20
Kelly Aiken
Like like somebody that owns a mustang with both horns and stuff typically isn't buying something for me as much as they're buying BMR springs with a state of pro action or whatever they call. Right. That's that's the bread and that's the big next, I guess you could say, like, if you want a little bit more than that, you want to drag race.

02:08:52:20 - 02:08:55:17
Kelly Aiken
Like you go to Cal Track and Hills, but not even that people.

02:08:55:23 - 02:08:59:19
Ken Bjonnes
You're dealing with like kind of like the cream of the crop or people that want to be.

02:08:59:21 - 02:09:13:23
Kelly Aiken
Exactly. Yeah. So I've thought long and hard about it. And I told my I asked myself this. I said, what if I could impact five markets like I do just Mustang, but five?

02:09:14:00 - 02:09:16:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

02:09:16:14 - 02:09:36:10
Kelly Aiken
Then I'm like, whoa, that could be I mean, that would be legitimate. I mean, that would be like a high volume. I mean, so you know what I mean? That starts to become like, it's almost like, is it possible to even do that? I mean, you know, it's like like Mr. Motorsports, but for street cars.

02:09:36:12 - 02:09:43:17
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Well, and that's why, you know, in my opinion, you know, I'd like to see you do more like.

02:09:43:17 - 02:09:44:08
Kelly Aiken
Regular.

02:09:44:08 - 02:10:01:02
Ken Bjonnes
Regular stuff, you know, and only because, obviously most people relate whatever to themselves. And the way I look at it is it's like I could be out there building just race cars, right? Right. Like that's what I actually.

02:10:01:04 - 02:10:01:14
Kelly Aiken
You like.

02:10:01:16 - 02:10:22:01
Ken Bjonnes
Originally tried to do and wanted to do. And then I looked at the market. And what I do now is really the best fit for me. The average guy still doesn't come to me, maybe with tuning, but not our shop because our shop is a little higher end, it's a little bit more expensive and we're doing mostly just big packages.

02:10:22:01 - 02:10:24:02
Ken Bjonnes
We're not right. Somebody doesn't call here and.

02:10:24:05 - 02:10:25:14
Kelly Aiken
Just ahead or install.

02:10:25:15 - 02:10:28:19
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, yeah. Headers maybe. But like nobody's like, oh I.

02:10:28:19 - 02:10:30:07
Kelly Aiken
Like a water. Take away my.

02:10:30:07 - 02:10:39:14
Ken Bjonnes
Car. Yeah okay. You know, like just the guy that's at the oh I can lower my car. Like that's not my guy. Okay. Like he's. Yeah. He's going somewhere else for that.

02:10:39:16 - 02:10:41:21
Kelly Aiken
But that's the most popular person I know.

02:10:42:02 - 02:10:42:18
Ken Bjonnes
And a.

02:10:42:18 - 02:10:43:17
Kelly Aiken
Car would just springs.

02:10:43:17 - 02:10:44:16
Ken Bjonnes
Is like, yeah, the.

02:10:44:16 - 02:10:45:10
Kelly Aiken
Most popular.

02:10:45:10 - 02:11:19:08
Ken Bjonnes
Right. So I'm kind of like in the middle. I'm not like race car, but I'm also not ever. I'm not every every guy's guy. Right. I'm in the middle somewhere. So, you know, that's personally what I'd like to see you do is like embrace like right now. Like the race cars are maybe 10% of the market. Yeah. And then the bottom 50% is just the everyday guy who may not have a lot of Mustang friends, and he just buys all the stuff just based off of the very commercialized type of stuff, which some it might have or Jags might have.

02:11:19:09 - 02:11:30:13
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, things like that. And then there's that other 40% in the middle that, you know, when you say you feel like you're saturated, maybe you're saturated with what you want to do, right?

02:11:30:15 - 02:11:31:01
Kelly Aiken
Right.

02:11:31:06 - 02:11:48:02
Ken Bjonnes
Not necessarily with what you're capable of doing. So and that's like a good, interesting topic that we're not going to really go into today. because people say the same thing to me. You know, the Kobe just the other day, his body just bought a demon. 170.

02:11:48:02 - 02:11:49:15
Kelly Aiken
Right?

02:11:49:17 - 02:12:05:18
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, man. You know, I wish, I wish, I wish we could do more of those. I, I don't, and he's like, why I go? Because there's way more Fords I content right? Way more Fords. And, you know, I try to go down that path. In fact, when I had Major Depot, we did do.

02:12:06:00 - 02:12:07:09
Ken Bjonnes
I remember that, I remember.

02:12:07:09 - 02:12:25:00
Ken Bjonnes
That and we had Model Depot, I had DC depot, yeah. and we we did a lot of that. And then when I moved to Florida, I went back to mostly Ford. Only now have I in Hellcats. Yeah, yeah. After. And maybe in the last seven, eight years I've turned seven. Right. That's maybe.

02:12:25:12 - 02:12:36:22
Kelly Aiken
but if you're trying to perfect that Hellcat tune and what the what the viewers might not understand is that's that's more time taken away from perfecting that ten hour 80 tuning. And stuff.

02:12:37:04 - 02:12:38:00
Ken Bjonnes
Exactly.

02:12:38:00 - 02:12:59:09
Kelly Aiken
And that's what, you know, I see people all the time right now. I was talking about man Ken right in my car, my ten. And I'm not saying it was from X, y, Z tuning. I'm saying in general people are like raving about your 810 tuning, but it's because you you had to spend time doing that and you're going to take away from that perfection by doing something that's just all over.

02:12:59:13 - 02:13:03:22
Ken Bjonnes
And that's never done, in my opinion. Just like you. You said you're working on new valve thing.

02:13:03:23 - 02:13:04:06
Kelly Aiken
Yeah.

02:13:04:12 - 02:13:06:20
Ken Bjonnes
Well, what's your what's wrong with the car valve?

02:13:06:20 - 02:13:08:02
Kelly Aiken
Exactly, exactly.

02:13:08:04 - 02:13:18:22
Ken Bjonnes
Making it better. And if you decided, now and I guess valve thing kind of go across brand somewhat correct. but you know, the but.

02:13:19:07 - 02:13:37:22
Kelly Aiken
but IRS lockout for an S550 won't know. So that's it. And, you know, to be honest, if I could go back, I'm conflicted on that because I don't sell as many as I thought I was going to, but I'd sell enough to where it helps with brand building. So it's like, those are the things I'm fighting, right?

02:13:37:23 - 02:14:03:16
Kelly Aiken
Because, like, if I, I just got a Hellcat, right? And I'm like, I should do the same exact recipe that what has gotten me to where I am in the Mustang world. That's my mentality, right? Copy it. Do IRS positive act for that car. Do this shop. Do this, do that, do the same recipe. But then I start thinking and it's like, okay, well, if I only sell 62 of those kits a year and I make 1500 bucks in a year, right.

02:14:03:18 - 02:14:07:10
Ken Bjonnes
And it took me a month to design it and a month to test it. Right.

02:14:07:12 - 02:14:10:11
Kelly Aiken
That's a bad return on investment, man.

02:14:10:11 - 02:14:11:06
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. But, you know.

02:14:11:18 - 02:14:12:22
Kelly Aiken
opportunity cost and there's.

02:14:12:22 - 02:14:34:10
Ken Bjonnes
Definitely value in doing that because it supports your other parts. It helps diversify the whole picture, even though you literally wouldn't miss the money if it stopped coming from that part, it's still important to the overall picture. Things like, you know, we came out with a heat exchanger for the Gt500, right? It's not selling as good as I thought it would, but guess what?

02:14:34:11 - 02:15:07:07
Ken Bjonnes
It's still the best one out there, right? I never Gt500 that comes in here gets one and we're not struggling. Before that we were struggling with supply. All right A they weren't good. As good as I would like to see the performance wise. Plus I don't have any. It's going to be 21 months or whatever. And it's like so even though like I didn't have to come up with a heat exchanger, now that I have my own heat exchanger and I have 30 of them or something like that, I'm not stressing about, like, how am I going to solve this problem?

02:15:07:07 - 02:15:11:19
Ken Bjonnes
Where am I going to get it from? So and so. And I think that's a valuable enough.

02:15:11:19 - 02:15:13:02
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, that's true to do it.

02:15:13:06 - 02:15:29:07
Ken Bjonnes
And because it's done the way you want it, right. If you didn't have that you'd have to solve that problem another way. Yeah. And it probably wouldn't be solved exactly how you want to solve it. And then you would compromise. So you can't look at everything based on that. You have to look at the big picture. So, you know.

02:15:30:06 - 02:15:53:19
Kelly Aiken
but as I build the company forward for me right now before because remember going back to Doug Cook. being that I'm the main, you know and I'm not I don't want to take anything away from Derek, you know because he's the reason I can do that now. Right. But you know ever since he started though I've been releasing new products and stuff because I got too busy to where I couldn't do that.

02:15:53:21 - 02:16:15:11
Kelly Aiken
My point is, is I think once the business gets to a certain point where I can say, hey, John or whoever, and like, maybe I'll get that young engineer that's hungry and wants to help, you know, be how I was at BMR. And then I think, like, you know, coming out with that stuff quicker because it would just take me I take a long time to do everything right.

02:16:15:12 - 02:16:23:09
Kelly Aiken
So that's where my mentality is. It's like, I want to do that, but it's like, man, I could probably work on getting into another market or I could do another coilover.

02:16:23:11 - 02:16:39:02
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, I think any larger successful company is almost entire. Like once you get to a certain point, like right now, 100% of track is because of Kelly. not enough not taking anything away from Derek.

02:16:39:02 - 02:16:40:20
Ken Bjonnes
But, you know, you're right.

02:16:40:20 - 02:16:56:10
Ken Bjonnes
You're pretty much you could do what you're doing right now without Derek. It just makes it easier. It helps you go further. But right now. Exactly. It's all Kelly. But any company that's gone beyond that, if you don't have the right team around you. Yeah, it's never going to happen.

02:16:56:10 - 02:16:57:21
Kelly Aiken
And that's what I'm scared of.

02:16:57:23 - 02:17:26:18
Ken Bjonnes
Right. And you know, I'm in this Palm Beach channel like eight years. And it's only now, this last year, I feel like I finally have my team, right? Like I'm super happy with every single person that works here. And, and the attitude and the culture here is through the roof, right? Like, every single person here acts like they have a piece of this, and maybe they will someday.

02:17:26:19 - 02:17:47:12
Ken Bjonnes
You know, as we continue to grow and right and be bigger, you know, profit sharing maybe parts of the company get gets divided out. Yeah. Because that's, I'm not in this to, you know, be 80 years old and have $80 million, which wouldn't happen. You guys, what I do. Okay. But, you know, to me, the values in the people.

02:17:47:13 - 02:18:07:19
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. You know, like Kobe, you know, he's the head turner under me. And I couldn't do this without him or Bobby or Mike or Pierre or Jeremy or Adam or Kobe or anybody here to leave anybody out. Nice. oh. Brandy. You know, and, you know, like, that's a perfect example. My wife. Right. She's not a car person at all.

02:18:07:21 - 02:18:36:12
Ken Bjonnes
But she handles all the finances, right? Right. That's something I really hate. I don't she handles all of our personal finances because I am not that guy, right? I am not that guy at all. And, And I'm also not the guy to order parts. Kobe handles all that. The other Kobe, you know, and I and and you have to remind yourself every day how valuable that is because you know, Kobe might piss me off and I'll be like, Kobe, this package got delivered yesterday.

02:18:36:12 - 02:18:56:11
Ken Bjonnes
You didn't check it out. And I'm all mad about that. And I'm like, yeah, but what about every single day? I don't even have to consider if parts were ordered right. The minute the order comes in on the website or shop, you know, in person, it's like it just happens because he's doing such a good job. I don't even I only notice the one or.

02:18:56:11 - 02:18:58:01
Ken Bjonnes
Two little bad things.

02:18:58:01 - 02:19:16:20
Ken Bjonnes
But you have to, you know, you don't want to be that dick of a boss that's like, you know, grinding away at somebody over every little detail. Right? And the only way you could do that is to have the culture to where Kobe isn't doing things because he doesn't want to get yelled at. He's doing things because he wants to do it.

02:19:16:21 - 02:19:31:19
Ken Bjonnes
Exactly. You know, and that's how things are around here. But that's really hard to do. Eight years into it, you know, there's been a lot of people that have come and gone through here, whether fired or quit or whatever, that they're not bad people, but they just.

02:19:31:19 - 02:19:32:07
Ken Bjonnes
Didn't.

02:19:32:08 - 02:19:32:23
Kelly Aiken
Didn't fit.

02:19:32:23 - 02:19:34:00
Ken Bjonnes
Didn't fit. Yeah.

02:19:34:00 - 02:19:53:08
Ken Bjonnes
You know, and I've been that guy before. When I was a Diablo sport, I was you know, I consider myself a pretty smart guy. I understand how things need to go and all that. But looking back at it, I handled I was a little bit toxic, I guess, because I was constantly like, this is stupid, this is stupid.

02:19:53:08 - 02:19:58:15
Ken Bjonnes
Why are we doing this? Why are we doing that? And like, and I was doing it for the right reasons, but pushing.

02:19:58:17 - 02:19:59:22
Kelly Aiken
It because you were like, this isn't.

02:19:59:22 - 02:20:02:11
Ken Bjonnes
Right. Yeah, but I was wrong.

02:20:02:11 - 02:20:02:20
Kelly Aiken
Yeah.

02:20:02:21 - 02:20:32:13
Ken Bjonnes
And I was approaching it like I was perfect. Right. And you know, and everybody's doing shit wrong. And that's why shit's messed up. And it's like, well, guess what? You're doing shit wrong too. It's, it's it's you have to get to a level playing field, whether it's an employee or a partner or whatever, to where, you know, you can't nitpick at every little detail or else people stay a year or two and you're like, why am I here?

02:20:32:13 - 02:20:32:22
Kelly Aiken
Why am I?

02:20:32:23 - 02:20:44:23
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, it doesn't matter what you pay them. Yeah. Because, you know, I remember one, I when I got my first job out of college, I say I was making, I don't know, $40,000. I'm like, whoa.

02:20:45:00 - 02:20:45:23
Ken Bjonnes
40,000.

02:20:45:23 - 02:21:03:20
Ken Bjonnes
Dollars, you know. Yeah. And then after a while, it doesn't matter if it's $400,000, you get used to it, your lifestyle gets used to it. And there has to be another reason to stay there. And if you're the owner of the business, you got to be passionate about the business. And if you're not the owner of the business, you have to just enjoy your job, you know?

02:21:03:20 - 02:21:23:04
Ken Bjonnes
And I think that's the problem that most people have in their jobs is like a lot of companies are just run 100% as like a spreadsheet or like a bottom line thing. And it's like, you know, we've gone through some times here where things have been super slow, and the right thing probably would have been to lay some people off.

02:21:23:06 - 02:21:45:06
Ken Bjonnes
But I didn't want to do that because I did. People here and I liked the situation here. So, you know, we work through it. And then March was our best month in the history of the company. In April was pretty close, you know, and that's only because we finally have gotten to the point that this place is like clicking, like super, super good.

02:21:45:20 - 02:22:14:16
Ken Bjonnes
so, you know, so I guess what I'm trying to say is if you want to get to that next level, whether it's multiple brands or just blowing up the Ford brand is the hardest part is ahead of you, which is finding the Kelly akin to work for you that al got to work for being BMR. Yeah, you need to find your younger version of you.

02:22:14:21 - 02:22:33:20
Ken Bjonnes
That's going to come in and go look at all this potential. Yeah, not to look negatively at you, but just like, here's all the shit I can add and here's what I can do. And like, you know, you did all that at BMR. Not because al came to you and said, if you do this, this and this, you're going to make this much money.

02:22:34:10 - 02:22:36:20
Ken Bjonnes
Right. That never happened. You just did it.

02:22:36:22 - 02:22:37:20
Kelly Aiken
And then he rewarded.

02:22:37:20 - 02:22:49:18
Ken Bjonnes
And then he rewarded you. So you know I don't really know the answer to how to find those people. I've gotten lucky here. But I need you know right now I'm looking for a mechanic. Right.

02:22:49:20 - 02:22:51:02
Kelly Aiken
Oh yeah. You mentioned that. Yeah.

02:22:51:02 - 02:22:52:10
Ken Bjonnes
And it's like.

02:22:52:12 - 02:23:12:09
Kelly Aiken
Speaking of al, BMR, he texted me, quite often and says things like, you know, it gets a lot harder from here before it gets easier. You know, he'll say that to me like, yeah, good luck. Like it's going to get hard before it gets easier, you know? And I guess you're at that point where it's like, it's going to get hard.

02:23:12:12 - 02:23:20:14
Ken Bjonnes
I'd say the like 3 to 6 year mark was the toughest because in the beginning it was easy. Right. Because you're saying this is the first.

02:23:20:14 - 02:23:23:22
Kelly Aiken
Couple of years was like, yeah, as long as you can do what you need to.

02:23:23:22 - 02:23:26:00
Ken Bjonnes
Do because you're making more money.

02:23:26:05 - 02:23:27:20
Kelly Aiken
And you're having early.

02:23:27:23 - 02:23:40:17
Ken Bjonnes
And then you're taking on the overhead to go that next step. So now you're a little doing good cash wise and things are going good. And you may have not had that rash of bad customers or.

02:23:40:19 - 02:23:46:04
Kelly Aiken
I mean, I want that from I told you, you know, I went from no overhead.

02:23:46:04 - 02:23:47:11
Ken Bjonnes
Basically right.

02:23:47:13 - 02:23:59:18
Kelly Aiken
To, I don't know, ten, $12,000 or, you know, just, throwing a rough number out there that's. Yeah, from nothing to that. And I, you know, people might laugh and say there's not much.

02:23:59:18 - 02:24:00:21
Ken Bjonnes
Money or whatever, but.

02:24:00:23 - 02:24:02:03
Kelly Aiken
When that's buying your.

02:24:02:09 - 02:24:03:15
Ken Bjonnes
Food and you're, you know.

02:24:03:15 - 02:24:07:00
Kelly Aiken
Paying for your things to do, like, that's all the money. Yeah. You know, I mean.

02:24:07:04 - 02:24:26:06
Ken Bjonnes
That's the biggest mistake I made with this business was as things grow, you're like, oh, I just do this and grow and hire more people and get more buildings and do all this. And I got to the point like two and a half years ago where my overhead, I mean, I don't even want to put a number on it, but like, it's what was it?

02:24:26:06 - 02:24:37:20
Ken Bjonnes
So one month was what? most people don't even make any year, right? You know, and people go when you're charging $750 for ten, and you do how many calls you how much money?

02:24:37:20 - 02:24:38:17
Ken Bjonnes
I'm like, dude.

02:24:38:19 - 02:24:43:04
Ken Bjonnes
Do you have any idea how expensive it is to run a business like this?

02:24:43:04 - 02:24:44:12
Ken Bjonnes
And then this location?

02:24:44:13 - 02:24:53:13
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. Oh, exactly. I mean, when I moved in here, we were paying 12, $12 a square foot. It's probably $22 a square foot now. You know, it's insane.

02:24:53:15 - 02:24:58:20
Kelly Aiken
Because they know that if you leave somebody else, like. I mean, somebody needs a space. I'm. Hershel's crazy, you know?

02:24:59:01 - 02:25:03:00
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. I mean, I have a three year lease coming up in a couple of months.

02:25:03:02 - 02:25:04:04
Ken Bjonnes
I'm like.

02:25:04:06 - 02:25:06:09
Ken Bjonnes
I'm not even looking forward to that. But, you know.

02:25:07:02 - 02:25:24:08
Kelly Aiken
people online have no idea, though, like, a lot of the people that are kind of the younger adults that don't really, you know, I mean, I knew this stuff because I did business courses in college and I just kind of been around it. And then, you know, seeing you and seeing other people and, you know, it's a good example.

02:25:24:09 - 02:25:50:17
Kelly Aiken
I mean, we watched you and I watched them go from, you know, nothing to, to where he is and all that stuff. And, but, you know, we experience it. We see other people experience it. You know, we can lend a hand or give us some advice if needed. But then, you know, the people online and stuff that are, you know, our customers, really the people that see us, right, that we're visible to, they don't really think about any of that.

02:25:50:22 - 02:26:12:12
Kelly Aiken
This I paid this much, I ordered this, I need it now. I need this and, you know, and needed to do this for me. And it's, you know, I think in our world, we're in such a unique industry that, like, it can be tough in this industry. You know, I think a lot of people come and go because of, you know, recently I'm not going to say a name, but recently a shop closed and then he's gone back to doing what he was doing.

02:26:12:18 - 02:26:26:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. And then there was another one a few months ago up in the northeast that closed. And what people don't get is, They a lot of people think that this, these, that we're bigger than we are.

02:26:26:13 - 02:26:27:18
Ken Bjonnes
Oh, absolutely.

02:26:27:18 - 02:26:39:14
Kelly Aiken
And that especially me. Yeah. I mean, I, I would show people that's why I would post my videos of a 90 square foot corner. Yeah. I'm like, guys, I'm doing this stuff out of here. So like if the order takes a couple.

02:26:39:14 - 02:26:41:03
Ken Bjonnes
Days, I calm down. Yeah.

02:26:41:03 - 02:26:56:22
Ken Bjonnes
People expect like, Walmart level, like oh or Turner for any reason. I don't care if you've been using it for six months. If you're not happy with it now, dude, like you ordered that shit. It's yours. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, I don't I don't stock this part so you can't return it, you know, things like that.

02:26:56:22 - 02:27:05:23
Ken Bjonnes
And, you know, sometimes you make exceptions and all, but people just think that they're going to get like Amazon, I guess I use Walmart as an example, but Amazon's probably a more.

02:27:06:01 - 02:27:08:06
Kelly Aiken
Walmart recent example of it.

02:27:08:08 - 02:27:09:13
Ken Bjonnes
Walmart. Sorry. You could buy.

02:27:09:13 - 02:27:10:11
Kelly Aiken
A vacuum.

02:27:10:11 - 02:27:12:15
Ken Bjonnes
And use it for a month.

02:27:12:17 - 02:27:14:05
Kelly Aiken
Take it back. I don't want it okay.

02:27:14:06 - 02:27:25:07
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, exactly. And there's just not that much volume in or margins right. Like Walmart probably doubles their money on that vacuum or more. Yeah. It's like because.

02:27:25:07 - 02:27:27:07
Kelly Aiken
They're beating people up because they're powerful.

02:27:27:07 - 02:27:47:01
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. In most parts companies may operate. As I was talking to, I'm not going to name names, but like a company that sells a lot of superchargers, it wasn't lethal. And the margins, he told me he had to work on to be competitive and volume because he's a volume company. I was like, wow.

02:27:47:07 - 02:27:48:02
Ken Bjonnes
What? Yeah.

02:27:48:02 - 02:27:49:02
Ken Bjonnes
You know, like selling.

02:27:49:02 - 02:27:49:22
Kelly Aiken
Mind boggling.

02:27:49:22 - 02:28:07:06
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, selling like a $10,000 package. And at the end of the day, you know, you know, like if you Amazon for $500, you know, and it's like, dude, that's really bad. You know, and then you add in credit card fees and, you know, everything that goes on top of it. It's just it's a struggle. So we didn't talk much about Mr. Draggy.

02:28:07:07 - 02:28:07:17
Kelly Aiken
Okay.

02:28:07:17 - 02:28:09:20
Ken Bjonnes
We'll talk about that real quick.

02:28:10:01 - 02:28:14:11
Kelly Aiken
Okay. So, building up my little car collection and I'm doing some stuff. Yeah, you.

02:28:14:11 - 02:28:20:03
Ken Bjonnes
Just got the Hellcat. So you got the car? Yeah, the Hellcat, which is, the jailbreak.

02:28:20:03 - 02:28:21:01
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. Why body?

02:28:21:01 - 02:28:25:22
Ken Bjonnes
Why body? All that stuff you got a GT 500 you've got, which.

02:28:25:23 - 02:28:27:18
Kelly Aiken
Is going to get real serious soon.

02:28:27:18 - 02:28:29:08
Ken Bjonnes
The S650 Whipple.

02:28:29:10 - 02:28:33:22
Kelly Aiken
Oh, yeah. I don't even know damn well.

02:28:33:23 - 02:28:38:06
Ken Bjonnes
Dodge dart GM two got two Fords.

02:28:38:06 - 02:28:48:00
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, I got the coyote truck, but it's not a hot rod. But. Yeah, yeah, get rid of the raptor, man. It was like it it. Yeah. Didn't fit. And I'm going to work on some development for the trucks anyways.

02:28:48:02 - 02:28:48:21
Ken Bjonnes
So.

02:28:49:04 - 02:29:09:03
Ken Bjonnes
the point behind the Mr. Dragon deal is a obviously, I think it's a good look inside the differences between. What the average guy might be able to do with a car versus like, if you, they talk about every little detail, but, how much does that play into like the suspension stuff?

02:29:09:07 - 02:29:10:20
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, it's actually a lot.

02:29:12:21 - 02:29:33:16
Kelly Aiken
but you got to remember. It's about the whole thing. So like here's an example. There's been times over the years where I'm at, I had a tune from you or Rob or, you know, whoever I was working with that sent me that revision that I asked for more timing. I love timing, right? So I'm like, give me more.

02:29:33:18 - 02:29:50:05
Kelly Aiken
That helps the big picture though, because if I'm out going, let's talk about my orange car. Yeah, yeah, dude. I went three 80s on the street. It's couple threes, three 90s, four pros. I was remember when I was doing drag hits in Georgia. Yeah I'm back roads that I've never driven on.

02:29:50:05 - 02:29:51:12
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. You didn't even know it was.

02:29:51:15 - 02:29:54:12
Ken Bjonnes
Halo Four's the low fours. Yeah.

02:29:54:14 - 02:29:59:08
Kelly Aiken
And I know people watching our even know what we're talking about. But what I learned on that.

02:29:59:08 - 02:30:02:16
Ken Bjonnes
But they can know as they go on it. Exactly. The YouTube channel learn about.

02:30:02:16 - 02:30:22:14
Kelly Aiken
So I'm documenting all that stuff. But here's what I'm getting at. If I'm helping people activate hook, I tell people all the time, I also have to know other things. So if a customer is like, dude, I cannot get this car to hook. And I'm like, well, what's your timing on the hit 18 degrees turn it down to ten.

02:30:22:17 - 02:30:25:04
Kelly Aiken
That. But you'd be surprised how many people are like.

02:30:25:04 - 02:30:31:05
Ken Bjonnes
Whoa, okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Kelly. Yeah. And it's like that to us. It's

02:30:31:06 - 02:31:01:13
Ken Bjonnes
It's a that's a but that's good advice sometimes is like, this sounds arrogant, but it's not. It's just because it's our job. We're professional at this. And the average guy may not be thinking about it. So the problem is you have to try. The hardest part for me is to sometimes not overcomplicate it and think like, you know, you know, you may just assume the guy knows not to run 30 pounds of air in his tire.

02:31:01:15 - 02:31:05:12
Ken Bjonnes
You're going to a shock adjustment. And the whole time he's got 30% of my time.

02:31:05:13 - 02:31:20:22
Kelly Aiken
Yeah. If I'm not out there on a three on a Gt500 right, then I you know, I know the exact pressure that Hoosier DVR likes. I know this, I know that, I know that the tune because I was logging the heck out of that car. So I see that just like blue balls or whatever. Yeah.

02:31:20:22 - 02:31:39:19
Ken Bjonnes
So since the draggy stuff, obviously, you know, we do quarter miles with drag, but for the most part you're doing like 60 to 1 30s or one 100 to 1 50s, which is closely tied in with role racing. What's your opinion of road racing? so there's two types of road racing.

02:31:39:21 - 02:31:40:19
Kelly Aiken
That's what I was going to say.

02:31:40:19 - 02:31:43:13
Ken Bjonnes
Street roll racing. And then there's track road racing.

02:31:43:15 - 02:32:04:22
Kelly Aiken
Here's the thing. I will tell you this. If I can figure out a way to make a big power car hook from a row on an average surface, it pretty much translates to the to the dragstrip. but there's your outliers, like, oh, I got wheelie problems. You're not going to run into that role racing. So I got to know how to resolve that.

02:32:04:22 - 02:32:16:02
Kelly Aiken
Or you got these other things. Now, I guess my my answer to your question is, what bothers me is when drag racers that are really hardcore drag racers make fun of real racing. I was.

02:32:16:02 - 02:32:16:15
Ken Bjonnes
Just going to say I.

02:32:16:15 - 02:32:20:11
Kelly Aiken
Don't like it when people make fun of anything competitive. It bothers me.

02:32:20:11 - 02:32:22:04
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah, it really bothers me. Do you.

02:32:22:04 - 02:32:24:08
Ken Bjonnes
Have to go and say, don't get.

02:32:24:10 - 02:32:40:07
Kelly Aiken
Gay? Yeah, that's a you'll see the drag racers are say and it's like, well, first of all. And it happens a lot where people make jabs at me and it's like I've made thousands of drag strip passes. I don't get it twisted. Right at the end of the day, I'd rather go to the drag strip. You know me.

02:32:40:07 - 02:32:50:12
Kelly Aiken
Yeah, I'd rather go to the drag strip and do anything, but I just like to constantly be making passes. I can't drive to Bradenton every day, right? I can go right out to Mexico.

02:32:50:14 - 02:32:51:11
Ken Bjonnes
You know? So, so.

02:32:51:14 - 02:32:54:18
Kelly Aiken
I, I just love competition in that regard like.

02:32:54:23 - 02:33:00:18
Ken Bjonnes
That. And that's what that's why I ask. Because that bothers me when people say that it's stupid or whatever, because.

02:33:00:20 - 02:33:04:01
Kelly Aiken
They say it's and that would you may as well compare dyno sheets that's so.

02:33:04:01 - 02:33:06:18
Ken Bjonnes
Far out. It's it's not even.

02:33:06:22 - 02:33:30:01
Ken Bjonnes
It shows they're ignorant. It's the same type of person that's talking about s650 numbers that has never touched NASCAR's 50. So, you know, to me, real racing, it's beneficial in multiple ways. A it's just something fun to do. You don't have to take it so seriously. Exactly. Like, what else are you going to request parts to? If you can't go to the dragstrip and.

02:33:30:01 - 02:33:31:16
Ken Bjonnes
You're you're your your.

02:33:31:16 - 02:33:34:06
Ken Bjonnes
Choices are to sit on the couch and watch TV.

02:33:34:06 - 02:33:35:11
Kelly Aiken
And talk to people or go.

02:33:35:11 - 02:33:35:21
Ken Bjonnes
Out and.

02:33:35:22 - 02:33:53:05
Ken Bjonnes
Replace somebody. Yeah, I'm going to go on road race every time. but to me, like when you're talking about a race environment, almost always whether it's Texas, FL, two K, right. Any of those events that combine roll racing, I always of the road race people.

02:33:53:05 - 02:33:57:23
Ken Bjonnes
What are you what are you doing like a race. It's a it's yeah, it's.

02:33:57:23 - 02:34:03:20
Ken Bjonnes
Kind of fun. It's a little I've had some situations in which problem starts and like, I like this, right?

02:34:03:21 - 02:34:04:22
Kelly Aiken
Dude, it's stupid.

02:34:04:23 - 02:34:23:08
Ken Bjonnes
But for the most part, I don't run into that. Yeah. And at the very least, I'm out there and I'm logging my car and I'm getting it ready for the next day in the future. So everything other than launch in a mayberry really issue is already friggin handled. Yeah, but but even then, even if that wasn't a benefit, it's just fun.

02:34:23:08 - 02:34:44:01
Ken Bjonnes
I like anything competitive. I don't care if it's ping pong or like I just like to compete at things and it doesn't bother me if you don't want to do that. But when you crap on somebody else because like, it's not as cool as what you do, it's like, right? Role racing is just a competition of speed, right?

02:34:44:01 - 02:35:04:12
Ken Bjonnes
And performance no different than right to me. No, I'm not throwing shade at Drifters, but like drifting is more towards that then. Yeah. All racing. Yeah. But you'll get people that are in a drifting call. Royce. Yeah. Okay. It's like dude, drifting is more like figure skating. Like it's judged.

02:35:04:12 - 02:35:06:02
Ken Bjonnes
Judged. Exactly.

02:35:06:02 - 02:35:06:16
Ken Bjonnes
There's no like.

02:35:06:16 - 02:35:08:06
Kelly Aiken
It's not a measured, a metric.

02:35:08:06 - 02:35:10:04
Ken Bjonnes
Finite number. Right. You know, which leads.

02:35:10:04 - 02:35:19:18
Kelly Aiken
To the draggy thing I always see. Just the other day somebody posted a quarter mile and it wasn't fast. I don't remember what it was like a ten second fast. And the guy was like, finally.

02:35:19:20 - 02:35:20:11
Ken Bjonnes
The 60.

02:35:20:11 - 02:35:21:05
Kelly Aiken
One dirty stuff.

02:35:21:05 - 02:35:22:10
Ken Bjonnes
Stupid.

02:35:22:12 - 02:35:24:23
Kelly Aiken
And it's like nothing measured.

02:35:25:00 - 02:35:27:20
Ken Bjonnes
To me is stupid at all, right? I love it, right?

02:35:27:20 - 02:35:50:12
Kelly Aiken
I love the all, I love draggy, I love a time slip. I love a half mile time when you go to that stuff out or not. Time. Speed. Yeah. It's measured performance in a measurement. So then think about it. What is the metric that, the whole world talks about? And it's the one that I don't really. Well, I know you, you talk about it a lot, but 0 to 60, right?

02:35:50:14 - 02:35:56:18
Kelly Aiken
It's a metric that's been talked about for ages. And it's like, okay, I want to go faster than.

02:35:56:18 - 02:35:59:13
Ken Bjonnes
60, right? No I agree.

02:35:59:14 - 02:36:01:18
Kelly Aiken
Do you see what I'm saying. Like I understand why you would say.

02:36:01:22 - 02:36:03:03
Ken Bjonnes
With zero 60 and one.

02:36:03:03 - 02:36:13:08
Kelly Aiken
.99 like the manufacturer said. Okay. But at the end of the day, 0 to 60 in 2024 is like and it's like right here, like it's like what's right.

02:36:13:10 - 02:36:25:23
Ken Bjonnes
And to me it's like, you know, draggy 60 to 130. I take that just seriously as as time slip. Somebody else tell me they're 60 to 130. I'm like, give me the slip. Yeah, I want to see what the 60 to 70 was. 70.

02:36:25:23 - 02:36:26:20
Kelly Aiken
The increments and.

02:36:26:21 - 02:36:33:18
Ken Bjonnes
Increments. And I go, okay, well, you know, I went this belies my 60 to 1 hundredths faster than that.

02:36:33:18 - 02:36:35:07
Ken Bjonnes
So you go you gotta.

02:36:35:07 - 02:36:43:18
Ken Bjonnes
Work on the back end. And maybe it was a shift or you know, and it's like, so even if even that's going to matter at the dragstrip too.

02:36:43:18 - 02:36:44:12
Kelly Aiken
Exactly.

02:36:44:12 - 02:36:54:13
Ken Bjonnes
Right. It's still going to matter. Like, okay, what's wrong here? Is there pulling too much timing on the shift. Right. Am I shifting it. So if it's a stick shift, why am I quicker to 100 but the same exact thing.

02:36:54:13 - 02:36:55:23
Kelly Aiken
That's why it's so valuable.

02:36:55:23 - 02:36:57:10
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah. No, I agree it is.

02:36:57:10 - 02:37:08:08
Kelly Aiken
Like a valuable tool. You know, that's why I do all my testing. I'll be like, import my intake and go to it, and I even do it. I don't know if you've seen I need to do it more, but I'll do single gear testing. Yeah. There's no that's.

02:37:08:08 - 02:37:09:21
Ken Bjonnes
Pretty much like a diamond pole, right.

02:37:09:23 - 02:37:10:14
Ken Bjonnes
Exactly.

02:37:10:14 - 02:37:27:23
Kelly Aiken
Except you could go 7.1, 7.1, 7.1. And then I put the intake and I'm doing third gear from 3000 to redline. Right. And I have those speeds marked because I calculated them. And then I have all that data. Then it goes 686868. I just picked up 3/10 through, you know what I'm saying.

02:37:27:23 - 02:37:29:11
Ken Bjonnes
So no it's like that.

02:37:29:11 - 02:37:41:14
Kelly Aiken
Will make sure so so really quick. I've had people years ago because I've been using drag you you used it before I did. You were like this thing's cool. And it took me a while to get adopted to it. And then I just went overboard.

02:37:41:16 - 02:37:44:02
Ken Bjonnes
I actually had something else before that. It was.

02:37:44:02 - 02:37:45:08
Ken Bjonnes
A GM.

02:37:45:10 - 02:37:48:06
Ken Bjonnes
It was by, the escort, the radar.

02:37:48:06 - 02:37:48:17
Ken Bjonnes
Detector.

02:37:48:18 - 02:37:49:00
Kelly Aiken
People.

02:37:49:05 - 02:37:55:13
Ken Bjonnes
Back when I had the very first major depot, some guy oh, you had showed up with it and he's like.

02:37:55:15 - 02:37:57:20
Ken Bjonnes
Check this thing out. I'm like, what the hell is that?

02:37:57:21 - 02:37:59:21
Ken Bjonnes
You know, and then drag it, obviously.

02:38:00:01 - 02:38:10:07
Kelly Aiken
But what I was going to tell you is like, over the years, I've set goals for some of these cars that I have, and I go to the track and I get my results, like, right away.

02:38:10:09 - 02:38:10:23
Ken Bjonnes
Yeah.

02:38:11:01 - 02:38:17:04
Kelly Aiken
Why? Because I was out testing it and I was looking at drag. Yeah, I was looking at logs. I was communicate with you.

02:38:17:06 - 02:38:35:08
Ken Bjonnes
Well, on the drag stuff, role racing or whatever you want to call it, allows you to really get most things dialed in. Right? Without I mean, usually when you're going to break a car, at least most cars, it's going to be in that first 100ft. Yeah. You know, because it's really hard launching a car if it's a fast car.

02:38:35:17 - 02:38:50:23
Ken Bjonnes
whereas if you're just doing road racing, obviously training can brake on a shifter, you can mess up a clutch if it's a stick shift car. But for the most part, it allows you to race without as much of a danger of like having a tow at home.

02:38:51:01 - 02:38:52:19
Ken Bjonnes
You know? Absolutely.

02:38:52:21 - 02:39:02:21
Ken Bjonnes
Well, thanks for coming. I really appreciate it. Good luck with Cal Track. And I ask you what's going to happen in five years. So maybe every year or so we'll hear this and we'll kind of keep track of how things are going.

02:39:02:22 - 02:39:03:20
Kelly Aiken
Thanks for having me.

02:39:03:22 - 02:39:04:10
Ken Bjonnes
Thanks, Kelly.

02:39:04:10 - 02:39:04:16
Kelly Aiken
Okay.