Jacki Lutz: 0:08

Welcome to Auto Care On Air, a candid podcast for a curious industry. I'm Jackie Lutz, content Director at the Auto Care Association, and this is Carpool Conversations, where we collaborate on today's most relevant power skills. We're all headed in the same direction, so let's get there together. Hi everybody, welcome to another Auto Care On Air Carpool Conversations episode. We have a really exciting episode right now because we are at the peak of Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and I am here with Rob Tinson VT at Hella Aftermarket. Welcome, rob. We actually have a bit of a past together. We used to work together at Schrader Sensata, so it's kind of neat to finally get you on the podcast with me, so welcome.

Rob Tinson: 1:00

Yeah, I was right at the beginning of Jackie's aftermarket career, so it is awesome to be on your show. This is great.

Jacki Lutz: 1:06

Yeah, it's a little scary. He was part of my onboarding, so if there's any complaints, you can go back to Rob Tinson. And then I'm also here with a very exciting guest, rob Holland. He's the 2B. There's Rob with 2Bs and the not-to-be over there, so that might be how I have to refer to them today, but he is a race team owner and professional race car driver and we'll be driving tomorrow at the Pikes Peak Race. Welcome, yeah, thank you.

Robb Holland: 1:35

Thanks for having me.

Jacki Lutz: 1:36

This is very exciting for us and thank you, hala, for inviting Auto Care On Air here. So this is going to be a great conversation. I reached out to our audience before this and gave them a little poll of what they wanted to hear us talk about today, and I was a little surprised not shocked, but surprised to hear that the number one pick was about navigating career turns. What is it? Pivots, pivots, navigating career pivots and I don't know how many people who voted on that knew about your career pivots. And and I don't know how many people who voted on that knew about your career pivots. And, frankly, rob's 1B your career pivots. So I think that this is actually a perfect topic for us and we might go all over the place, but let's just see. Really, the main topic of this show is professional development skills, so I'm excited to see what comes out of this. So, rob, tell us a little bit about some. Rob Tubies, tell us a little bit about some of the career pivots that you've made, just to give us a little baseline.

Robb Holland: 2:33

You know it's. It's weird, I don't ever consider them pivots, it's just directions I've been led. You know it's just one door opens, another door closes, type of thing. So, um, but it has been pretty unique. Um.

Robb Holland: 2:44

I started kind of my athletic career, um as a bicycle racer, um, you know, and it was a thing that I did as a, as a kid, that developed into um, you know, a career that I was fairly successful at, um. But once that ended, um, I didn't know what I wanted to do and ended up doing real estate for a bit because Denver at that time was booming and it was a good opportunity for me to get into but I miss being competitive and so kind of a door opened in the motorsport world and I walked through it and that was 20 years ago and I'm still managing to make a living at it. And you know, again, no career path, there was no. Like I woke up, you know, when I was five years old and said this is what I'll do the rest of my life. But um, I've managed to, to make it work and enjoy it.

Jacki Lutz: 3:29

Yeah, and and Rob, you had a career pivot.

Rob Tinson: 3:32

I did. You know, born and raised in the automotive aftermarket, so I couldn't pivot too hard. I had to just follow kind of my roots and really what, uh, I'd grown up around but, yeah, you know, really kind of trying to reinvent a brand and figure out, you know, what is it that we need to do to kind of build on our long heritage. And so really took to a strong branding initiative and stumbled across Rob Holland. We had a program with him just prior to me joining Hela and you know we looked great on the car. But one thing that I needed to understand and really take a new approach to my career and really to help out our company was to find a brand ambassador, I mean, find somebody who can speak to the brand, drives a Porsche as a daily driver, drives an unbelievable Porsche for a race car, a couple of them and so we liked that connection and so I did.

Rob Tinson: 4:25

I pivoted to understand, okay, well, I need to know. Motorsports Like this is new territory for me. So not a career pivot as much. I mean somewhat, like you said, I never really looked at it as a pivot. It's an evolution. But to where Rob said we're networkers and so it has a way of kind of finding your next path yeah, well, I was also thinking your radio career yeah tell about your buttery.

Rob Tinson: 4:49

This is buttery smooth voice that's the face in short, the radio career was was short. Um, you know, there was a station in boston that that it kind of made me feel like this is going to be a career and uh, and that was quick. You know, quick, realize that radio guys don't necessarily have families, or for long, and so follow your roots.

Jacki Lutz: 5:09

Yeah, you know, I think something that I wish happens at a younger age is just more exposure to different types of careers, or or more talk about the fulfillment that comes from them.

Robb Holland: 5:21

I think it's a bit tough, though, because I think until you're actually in it, it's really tough to know that comes from them. I think it's a bit tough, though, because I think until you're actually in it, it's really tough to know. I mean, when I, when I came in and in motorsports, I had no idea, and I think you know, your, you know my ideas were formed by the stereotypes of what everybody thought race car drivers were like. Were you these wild and crazy guys, your hair on fire, and you know whatever, and and, and that's just. It couldn't be further from the truth. I mean, most race car drivers I know are very cerebral, they're very down-to-earth individuals, and so, in fact, one of the best race car drivers I know worked as an accountant before he was a race car driver. So, you know, I think until you've actually gone into the career and understood what it is, it's very difficult to kind of get the full view of what that really means.

Jacki Lutz: 6:01

Yeah, and it's almost like there needs to be some work done about like what's going to be important to you in your career. A lot of, a lot of managers always ask that probing question. Right, good managers ask them. Plays like what's your motivation? Is it money, is it status and title? Is it, you know, just a fulfilling thing? You know, like doing media things like that, like that really feeds your soul. You know, competition, that's what feeds your soul. You know, have those kinds of conversations with people because I think when people kind of get into their thirties and forties, they kind of feel like they should have figured out their lives right now in a career pivot starts to become kind of scary.

Robb Holland: 6:34

I'm 58 years old and you know I didn't get into motorsports until I was in my thirties and you know, and I think at the end of the day, it's gotta be what is most important for you. I think you know that's to me. I wasn't happy with the things that I was doing and I wasn't. It wasn't like I was looking around for something. I think it found me more than I found it. And and then I think you just have to be open for the change. I mean I think that's the, from my perspective, that was the big thing. It wasn't like I'd ever. You know, I think everybody dreams of being a race car driver when they're older. I mean, the astronaut, firefighter, race car driver. But no one actually is a race car driver. And you know, when the opportunity presented itself, it wasn't something that I had like I'd planned for, but I was open for it. And I think that's the biggest thing is being open for the change and understanding what it means and embracing it.

Jacki Lutz: 7:24

That's so funny because, like Rob, you have kids. I also have kids and I was just thinking like you, tell them you can be anything you want when you grow up. But I'm imagining when they're like 18 and they say I want to be a race car driver.

Robb Holland: 7:35

You're like no, I want to make a real thing, like a real job.

Rob Tinson: 7:40

But I think Rob's kind of be kind Maybe that's not the right word but kind of be kind of that escalation or that pivot. You're a risk taker and you know I think your level of you're not the fear of thinking outside the box. What is my next career move? I was talking to Paul Gerards with us here in the top of the summit and you know Paul's got motivational speaking background and he's an author. He was telling me like it's got motivational speaking background and he's an author. He was telling me like it's never to your point about kids, it's never about you can do anything. You can do anything. It's about mentally having the preparation to take that leap that a lot of people don't. As you get older and more defined in your career, you may be less. As you have kids you're maybe less to make that jump, but mentally I think it's a mental you just have to be comfortable with it.

Robb Holland: 8:24

And I think it's, you know it could be the same. I never look at it this way. But you know, with Pike's Peak and what we do here, um, you know, it's, I think, being comfortable with the fear, the comfortable with what we do, and it's, I think the same thing, um, you know, with a with a career pivot is just being comfortable with, hey, it's the unknown. But the unknown isn't necessarily bad and it's not necessarily scary, it's just the unknown.

Jacki Lutz: 8:45

Maybe there's something to like if you do start to feel, even if you're 20 years into your career and you start to feel like you might want to try something different, maybe asking like, why, like you know you want to be a race car driver, why do you want to be a race car driver now? Or, like you want to do a completely you know a pivot into the automotive aftermarket? Why is it? Because you know you like the people, you like the industry? Is it because you like the competition and you like that? You like that you know feeling of, you know being in control and you know trying to be, you know narrow or navigate yourself up a crazy mountain that we just went up? You know, like thinking about why you're making these pivots and it might help steer you direction of, like you know, yes, maybe it's time for a pivot, but maybe you're going in this direction for maybe the right.

Rob Tinson: 9:30

How much of that is. I felt like I've reached success and the level of comfort for me to make that next leap, because for me it's. It's a little bit of affirmation. It's a little bit I have to feel like I'm worthy and then I have to feel like I have enough network around me. If I screw it up, I could do that. I mean, were you finding success in cycling to say I can do anything, or was it like? No, it was, it was honestly, it was the opposite.

Robb Holland: 9:52

It was the. It was the. I wasn't finding success. I knew I had reached the limit of what my ability was in cycling, and that was not, you know, winning the tour de France. And you know, for me I'm a very driven competitive person and for me to have reached that peak and recognize that I'd reached it was something that I just wasn't happy with and I was like, okay, what else can I do? And so I kind of drifted and I said, like I did real estate for a while, and I still do that, but it wasn't something that was fulfilling. And so I was looking for that next thing, to really kind of get to the point where I was happy and content with what I do, and I found that in motorsport.

Rob Tinson: 10:29

So was it adrenaline? Because you're an adrenaline junkie.

Robb Holland: 10:33

No, but I'm not. That's the thing. We've had this conversation, you know she asked me. And I'm competitive. There's no doubt I hate to lose, I love to win, but that. There's no doubt I hate to lose, I love to win, but no, I mean as far as, as far as go walk out to the the I didn't. There's a long way down. I don't want to know what it looks like down there. No, I mean, it is funny. I don't consider myself a thrill seeker. I I'm actually for me, when I'm in the car, it's, it's almost Zen. Um, like I was telling you on the way up, my heart rate doesn't get above a hundred beats a minute. You know, it's very, very calm, very, very focused, and I think that, to me, was one of the things I really enjoyed, because it's it allows me to a hundred percent focus on everything, to the extent of everything else in the world, like there's nothing else in the world that matters at that moment but me making it to the next corner.

Jacki Lutz: 11:20

I want to know how that affects you in other areas of your life, like business decisions, right, like, are you really calm? Or like you know if you're in an argument with somebody, do you get back into that calm state and make sure you're thinking about everything clearly?

Robb Holland: 11:35

Yeah. So the one thing I say and this is, it is actually very much a racing thing when you're, when you're going wheel to wheel racing and you're and you're being competitive, we have something called the red mist, and the red mist is that someone just pisses you off and you do something really stupid and you'll hit them and take them out and then you'll get a penalty for it and you regret it, uh or not, um, but uh, I always say that if, if the other driver has made me emotional about something, then he's won, he's got me, because now I'm not thinking logically, I'm not making rational decisions, I'm making decisions based on emotion and that, at the speeds that we race at and the and the close quarters we race at, um, that's, that's definitely not a good thing, and so for me, it's not having that need. For me, it's if I can just be calm and be relaxed and in the moment, then that's where I, I'm, um, I'm the best.

Rob Tinson: 12:27

Right One title. We didn't mention shop owner.

Jacki Lutz: 12:32

Yes.

Rob Tinson: 12:32

So as a business person, as a shop owner, and I was going to say, like what would Phil say about you as a as a boss, you know, like what's that perspective of your shop owner? You're working on cars. That you know, jackie and I grew up. There's a passion there, for sure, on that shop environment. How do you take that shop environment? How do you grow your business? How do you grow your business and say, how do you invest in a new race car? How do you take three-hour performance to another level? Or where did you start? And then ultimately got to a point where you're like this is tough, because shop owners, I think, is one of the hardest jobs in our industry. Technician is the hardest for me because it's constantly evolving. But as a shop owner and as somebody who's very mechanically inclined, how do you take it to that next level?

Robb Holland: 13:14

No, I mean again, it's the logic of it, because you can be emotional about cars. I mean cars are emotional, I mean they're a passion. We love our cars. That's, I think, why a lot of us are in the industry and so, from that perspective, you can't make emotional decisions about the cars you're purchasing, the race cars that I buy.

Robb Holland: 13:33

There are a lot of race cars I'd love to buy, but they don't make economic sense for what the business model of what the shop is, or what the race team is. Would your father say that too? Oh, my father would definitely say that. In fact, my father would say what are you buying race cars for you, moron? No, but there is. There is a business model to it that actually makes sense. And if there is that, then that's what you have to do.

Robb Holland: 13:53

You can't say, ooh, that's the most beautiful race car I've ever seen, I'm going to buy that. You've got to go. Hey, this is a race car that makes sense in the overall scope of what our business model is, and the same thing in the shop. It's figuring out the cars that we work on and how we go about it. It can't be an emotional thing, it can't be a passion driven thing. It has to be why you're there and why you work the 12 hour days and the seven days a week. That's the passion, part of it. But the side of it that has to be logical is okay. How do you make money at these great projects?

Rob Tinson: 14:54

So we're at Pikes Peak, we're here for the hill climb. We did FanFest last night downtown Colorado Springs 40,000 people. Part of that was bringing a whole bunch of stuff down, and so we were fortunate enough to be able to ship a bunch of stuff to Rob's shop, and he was already here. I walked down, he walked into the shop, said I to the guys, went on all my stuff, but I had to take a tour inside the garage. So give me the visual of what. What's in that garage right now, because there's just some. There's some gems.

Robb Holland: 15:23

No, I mean we and I don't even know what we have in the shop because I haven't been there in a week and it changes so much. But no, we, we get to work on passion projects. We get to work on and it's great because they're they're other people's passion projects. These are people that love their cars and they, they want to take care of them, and not only from a maintenance standpoint. But we do the restomods and we do the race car stuff, and so we've got several Porsche 993s, we've got an RSR, we've got a couple of cool Corvettes, we've got a bunch of our race cars. So I mean we've got fun things, we've got everybody's dream garage.

Robb Holland: 16:01

And again, that's why it can't just be passion. You can't just go and say, hey, this is, I love doing this, so I'll work on your car and I don't need to make any money on it because it's so cool. It's a business. I have to pay the rent, I have to pay my employees, and it's the same with every shop owner. It's just a really difficult business to survive in.

Robb Holland: 16:17

Yeah, and on that note, and then I want to get back to a question about pivots. But what do you have any thoughts on? Right to repair? Yeah, I think everybody has strong opinions on that and I do think that it's something that everybody should have. We should have the right to repair, whether it's cars or cell phones or whatever. I do think that that's an important part to the industry and I know that everybody's lobbying very hard for that and I don't know where we stand. I don't know where everybody is on that and where it goes, but I know the manufacturers want to control as much of the the information coming out of the cars as possible and I've always struggled with that because I never saw again. These are passion projects. I never see a car as an information device, I never see it as a data driven thing, and so it's hard for me to get my head around that.

Jacki Lutz: 17:05

A lot of people do, yeah, and that's something that is a huge priority of the Auto Care Association is lobbying on the Hill for right to repair. Getting back to pivoting Rob not to be has told me in the past that you are like an expert networker and maybe that's not something that people think of if they're starting to think about a career pivot, that you have tools in your pocket to make that a successful venture, and your network is really one of them. So what are some things people can do to really think about their network as a tool if they're making a career pivot?

Robb Holland: 17:39

So, for me, I'm big on organic things. Um, there are people that are out there that are networkers. That's what they do. Their whole thing is trying to connect with people, and I'm the opposite. I just like people and I want to.

Robb Holland: 17:53

I'm I'm fascinated about people and I want to know people and I think, um, that authenticity, um is is the best way to do it. I'm not I don't talk to you or I don't talk to Rob, because there's a goal at the end of me knowing you. It's if there is something that comes out of it, great from a business perspective, I'm, I'm, I'm happy that that's the case. But, um, and I think that having people um have those relationships um is is the most important thing, because it is the person that I can call 10 years from now and go hey, remember, I met you at this. Yeah, I remember, and and it's I'm not the person that's asking for something. Oh, yeah, you know we met, but you, the first thing you did was ask me for a job or ask me for this or whatever, um, and I think that's a big thing.

Robb Holland: 18:37

I love going to the SEMA show or PRI and just talking to people and you know, and everybody there, like SEMA is getting hit up for sponsorship and they're like, oh, you're a race car driver, you're talking to me because you want sponsorship. I'm like, no, I mean, I don't even do the thing that you make your product for, I'm just interested in your product Cause it's a cool product. Um, and then 10 years later, you never know. That guy comes around and is you know a guy that helps you? Do you know, move your career forward or take you in that different way?

Jacki Lutz: 19:02

I'm sure that that helps you in business, just because you take the time to develop the relationship when you do have it ask. Yeah, not like you know somebody you said hi bye to at a networking event and you know connected and I see that all the time and in fact they're there.

Robb Holland: 19:16

I mean, I've gotten fortunate enough to be in the position that I'm now the guy that people want to network with, and I see that all the time is. Is that the first thing is Rob, hey, can I race for your team? Well, no, I. You know I have a long line of very successful drivers that would like to drive for us. So, thanks, I don't know you, but you know. Thanks for asking, but then you're going to call me again in five years and ask me the same question. So the only reason you know me is for for that, for something that I can give to you. I want to know people and network with people because I want to know them. I want to find out about them and what they do and their products or their passions or their motivations, and I think that's the most important thing we can do.

Jacki Lutz: 19:53

Yeah, and I think something huge for our industry on the auto care aftermarket side, which is most of our audience, something we want to see more of is innovation and new thought leadership and not so wait to take cues from, you know, the car makers, you know, before we come up with technologies and things to help our industry really succeed, and that a lot of that would take career pivots, right, people that are, you know, doing the maybe the grind at a corporate job and they see a need and they want to dump off that ledge, but it's a huge risk. So do you have any kind of advice for how to look at risk or how? I mean, every single situation is going to be different, so I don't think that there's a one size fits all, but do you have any advice for what's worked for you?

Robb Holland: 20:42

Well, as Rob said that you know I'm a risk taker, apparently.

Rob Tinson: 20:44

So no, I mean I don't what some would consider a risk. Maybe you don't.

Robb Holland: 20:50

I think that's it though.

Rob Tinson: 20:52

Your question earlier, I think, is one word, because you and I share a lot of this, and that's curiosity. The organic comes simply because of the curiosity I'm a people person, I'm curious comes simply because of the curiosity I'm a people person, I'm curious. Rob's a very curious guy and I you feel that and so and I'm not a perfect networker I try hard to keep in touch with people and I'm terrible at it, but I'm curious and I think that's a something that I've enjoyed getting to know Rob over is because he's constantly like what if we did this, what if we did this, what if we did this? And it's not I want to do this, it's what does that look like?

Robb Holland: 21:22

Yeah, yeah, no, and and I think there's in that. I think if you, if you as a person, looking at where you want to go and what you want to do, I think there's, there's plenty of opportunities to to try new things, and it doesn't necessarily need to be a full pivot. I think when, when people use the word pivot, it's a like life change and career change and everything changes, and it's like well, no, like, okay, this portion of your life can change, or this little tiny piece of what you do can change, and then that's the dipping the toe in the water. I mean, there's some people like me that are just like, hey, I'm going to be a race car driver and then wake up one morning and that's what you do, but but that's. I don't think that that's the way it works normally. I think it's most people are well, let's take a step in that direction and see where it leads. And if it doesn't lead where I think it leads, well then I still have this fallback with where I'm currently doing.

Jacki Lutz: 22:12

And I think sometimes people focus too much on what the path was supposed to be to get to where they want to go and I think so much of your past can make you like. Like you, you started off as a cyclist, but a lot of those skills and that mindset you learned probably makes you a different kind of race car driver. That makes you very, very good at it, and that can be the same for me. I started out in sales. That made me a really good marketer.

Robb Holland: 22:39

But that's the thing is that you, you take the skillsets you've learned from whatever you've done and can translate them into something else. And it might not be directly applicable, but you know, that's the thing is that people might not necessarily see the crossover between cycling and motor sports as sure, we're racing stuff, but where's the, where's the? You know one's got a, you know a human power and the other has got you know 800 horsepower. Like there's what's the? What's the similarity? Um, but I look at the things that I learned in cycling.

Robb Holland: 23:03

I learned the spatial awareness from racing wheel to wheel with 200 other guys. I learned to to be able to be focused under high stress situations, one from racing but two from the physical nature of what it is that we did and all of those things were able to translate into motor sports. And so when I made the move into motor sports, when I was learning things and coming up, there were a whole bunch of skill sets that I didn't have to learn because I'd already learned, I'd already been there and I already, as a 12 year old kid, I was doing these, and so now I could just focus on the actual art of driving the race car. And so I think, like again, it's always looking forward for other things, but it's also taking the most of what you're doing currently. I think is the most important thing.

Rob Tinson: 23:45

You were talking about. You're talking about innovation earlier, and and I know that the team in Denver three are are problem solvers. And so how many do you have an example of a project where you said the oh, we designed this like garbage and we're going to solve this problem by doing this, doing that, whether it's electronical or it's fabrication you mean today, because I can list a whole, because the aftermarket is full of problem solving.

Robb Holland: 24:16

That's all it is I mean honestly.

Robb Holland: 24:17

I think that owning a shop and working as a tech especially for what we do because we're not a traditional shop in the sense that we do traditional service work but we do race cars, which are a one-off thing, we do restoration projects, we can build a car from the ground up, we do all sorts of fabrication Every single one of those things is problem solving in and of itself.

Robb Holland: 24:42

So you look at the project and you look at the car as a problem to be solved. You know and now it's actually when we look at it used to be that we would take a street car and you can turn it into a race car, but now, with the integrated CAN bus systems, it is almost impossible to do. It's very, very difficult. And literally now, taking a street car and turning it into a race car and stripping all the systems out of it, it's the biggest problem-solving thing that you can do. It's literally one problem after another, and so I think the people that work for me are the ultimate problem solvers. They literally started their career solving the most complicated automotive problems you can, and now they can take that skill set and now take it to whoever. You know our customers passion projects.

Rob Tinson: 25:29

Take it to manufacturers in the aftermarket to solve that problem. Yes, exactly, exactly.

Jacki Lutz: 25:35

One more question, and then we'll kind of wrap it up.

Robb Holland: 25:37

But you're just getting winded at the altitude, aren't you? You're just, I'm so fit. This doesn't affect me at all.

Jacki Lutz: 25:44

You're just. I went to up these stairs. He was trying to make me run.

Robb Holland: 25:48

Come on, it's not that bad.

Jacki Lutz: 25:49

Actually, it kind of catches up with you, though I felt really good when I got up the stairs.

Robb Holland: 25:53

And then two minutes later you're like wait a second, Hold on. I was in the bathroom, we're all just like swaying a bit. It's getting a little darker on the edges of your vision. Yeah, I just like swaying a bit. It's getting a little darker on the edges of your vision.

Jacki Lutz: 26:04

Yeah, I get that. So just last thing on career pivots. So if somebody starts getting into, like you know, they they kind of start a new role and they tried, they're trying something different and they're definitely finding it challenging. They're thinking about quitting. Have you ever thought about quitting? Have you ever felt like maybe when you got into racing you're like, oh, this is harder than I thought. Getting sponsored is harder than I thought you know. This has a lot more, you know, like you know pieces to it than I thought you know. Have you ever thought about quitting? Or?

Robb Holland: 26:32

What do I do?

Robb Holland: 26:34

Life is harder than I thought, you know. That's the thing is. Is that I don't think that there's. So the short answer to your question is no, um, I, I, life is difficult and for me it's. It's. It's facing those challenges and overcoming them.

Robb Holland: 26:49

I, you know, during, you know, the the economic recession in in 2008, nine, um, you find out very quickly that race car drivers are disposable items. You know, we, no one wants to. When you, when you can't pay your employees, race car drivers are superfluous, superfluous, and it's a very frustrating thing to think that, well, one day I was valued, in the next day that I'm not. And so, yeah, it is very frustrating, and it's not something that that you and then that was. That wasn't just a week or two, it was. That was two or three years of of struggling, making a living at the thing that I was doing.

Robb Holland: 27:24

But, no, did I ever think of giving up now? It's not in my nature. It's now okay, this is tough. How do I overcome it? What do I have to do? And in fact, that's where I've ended up doing. The stuff that's led me to Rob is that I recognized that manufacturers weren't hiring race car drivers anymore. So now I had to become a you know, a sponsor hunter and develop that set of skills, and that's led me to Rob and Hela and all the sponsors that we've had over the years. And so no, I think it's. It's now. When you put an obstacle in front, it's just figuring out how to get over or around that obstacle.

Jacki Lutz: 27:58

There seems to be a trend there.

Robb Holland: 27:59

I was at the Wimna event yesterday which is motorsport, north america, north america um, and they had an amazing panel with michelle mouton and lynn st james and all the legends in the sports monty unser and michelle, you know, having just uh gotten inducted into the hall of fame, uh, for the hill climb, yeah the bike hill climb hall of fame is a badge of honor.

Jacki Lutz: 28:27

I asked I asked that same question to that panel and it was like did you ever feel like quitting and, and if so, why did you stay? And I had Michelle answer. And I love to shoot. I'm trying to.

Rob Tinson: 28:38

She inspired so many people to give this a try.

Jacki Lutz: 28:40

Um and then Amelia answered and she talked about you know some struggles she had. You know when she first started doing YouTube and you know some of the comments she'd get, all that kind of stuff. And she said after her very first video she thought about quitting, um, but at the end of the day her advice was like let it fuel your fire. And that was kind of like. What I always say is like let the haters hate, and you know what they hate more than anything is when you don't quit and you keep going. You know all the people that thought you couldn't do it and they're all the people that are behind your back saying they can't do it, do you hear what they're trying to do.

Jacki Lutz: 29:24

He's trying to be a race car driver. He's a cyclist. Why is he trying to be a race car driver? You know, what they hate the most is that you're doing it and you're successful at it 20 years later.

Jacki Lutz: 29:34

Let it feel your fire. So as we wrap up, I usually like to just go around real quick and have everybody just give their. You know, usually humans are capable of one or two takeaways. I think there was probably 37 in this did. So if they do walk away with one, what do each of you hope that it is?

Robb Holland: 29:53

Don't be afraid of change, don't be afraid of pivoting. I think that's the number one thing. It's a follow your passion and you'll never work a day in your life.

Rob Tinson: 30:03

I'll add to the cliche book right now, I mean it's. I always remind myself you can do anything, you just can't do everything. And the takeaway so we are here, a lot of hella folks are here, we've got our marketing agencies here. My takeaway from if I can just change the question, maybe my takeaway is that everybody looks at you know, pikes Peak for the first time and it's just an awe. And I think you look around and I think part of the stress that we put on ourselves is when we're closed in and locked in between these four walls or in a meeting room. Get out. Get out. You travel a lot. He travels a lot. You travel a lot when you're traveling. Get in the night before. You know, look around. That to me is a big like. This is the big world. You know this is important From a stress standpoint. That's one thing I think this experience can certainly take away.

Jacki Lutz: 30:53

Yeah, in mine it's like if you watch any of these podcasts, I feel like my takeaway is always the same one, but it's so applicable and this is really being authentic and knowing who you are. And I think you need to look at your career as a discovery process and you're going to continue to discover things about yourself and passions and things you like and don't like. And just because you've spent 20 years doing one thing doesn't mean you can't spend the next 20 years doing something else and really discovering those, like giving yourself the freedom to think that big right To dream that big yeah.

Rob Tinson: 31:26

Just try it. There's a lot of people who you and I know who are extremely proud of the changes pivoting that you have done, and so I know you're not very self-deprecating. You know you're not going to look at it that way. You're constantly all about the other person, but this, this woman, has taken charge of your career and, um, there's haters, but you've persevered. So give give yourself some credit too, because I remember the beginning. You know it was cool, so it's awesome to be on your show.

Jacki Lutz: 31:55

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me, yeah, and thank you guys both so much. This was such a fun conversation.

Robb Holland: 31:59

Thank you.

Jacki Lutz: 32:00

And good luck tomorrow.

Robb Holland: 32:01

Thank you very much, appreciate that.

Jacki Lutz: 32:03

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Auto Care On Air. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so that you never miss an episode, and don't forget to leave us a rating and review. It helps others discover our show. Auto Care On Air is proud to be a production of the Auto Care Association, dedicated to advancing the auto care industry and supporting professionals like you. To learn more about the association and its initiatives, visit autocareorg. Hi, I'm back here with Rob Holland. We got back from Pikes Peak and we had a very exciting win on our hands with Rob. He won his class of Pikes Peak, so we get to have a little bonus round with him and learn a little bit more about the experience. Congratulations, rob.

Robb Holland: 32:47

Thanks. Thank you very much, Jackie. It was great chatting with you on top of the hill and I wanted to talk to you again so much that I had to win to make sure that you guys had me back on the air.

Robb Holland: 33:06

There you go. Glad I could help motivate you to do that. I trust that you're. You're 14,000 feet. Well, this year, unfortunately, we didn't go all the way to the top because of the high winds, but you know we're. We still spent most of the afternoon at 11 or 12,000 feet. So, um, you come back down and you want to celebrate. But you know you've been, you've been in high altitude all day. So you have one beer and you're, you're flat on your butt. So celebration. But it was what we lacked for in time. We made up for it in enthusiasm.

Jacki Lutz: 33:35

Yeah, for sure.

Jacki Lutz: 33:35

And I got to tell you it was kind of emotional because I've never been kind of seen like the backstage of a race before, like that, and seeing your team and how devoted they are to every little teeny tiny detail of that car and you and the whole day, little teeny tiny detail of that car and you and the whole day, um, and then you are kind of once, once for people that don't know, once you go up the hill and you do the race, they're kind of stuck up there until they let all the racers come down at once. So Rob was, you know, up there for a few hours while we were down with the team, just kind of like big load off our shoulders, you know, excited, um, knowing the whole time that you were in the lead, not necessarily hearing you won yet, but when you came down the hill and seeing you guys kind of celebrate together, it was kind of emotional and I can imagine like how people just fall in love with the sport. It's a lot of work that goes into a few little moments.

Robb Holland: 34:27

Yeah, no, and you know, for us it's it's cool because you know we're yeah, no, and you know, for us it's cool because you know we're, we're obviously the, you know, the tip of the spear and so we get all the accolades and we're up on the podium and we get to spray the champagne and everything.

Robb Holland: 34:41

But it is, it is fully a team effort. And you know, for me, I get a lot of pleasure in coming back down the hill and being able to celebrate with the guys and giving them the win and you know all of those things and and so I I really enjoy it. So it's it's kind of cool for us because we, you know, we were up in the mountain for most of the day and again, this was a bit weird because we were kind of halfway, but but you know we're, we're there for for quite some time after, after you realize that you've won. So you've kind of gone through that celebration and then you come down the hill and you celebrate with the fans because everybody's cheering you on as you're coming back down, and then you get back down into the pits and you get to celebrate with your crew and everybody, like again. So it's it's kind of this never ending, never ending celebration. So it's one of the things that makes makes the race really really special.

Jacki Lutz: 35:25

Yeah, it was so exciting to see, Do you? Do you have a pretty clear memory of the race? Is there any any moments that stand out to you in that, in that few minutes when you're racing, that maybe you feel like you did really well or you wish had gone differently? Anything stand out.

Robb Holland: 35:40

Yeah, racers are really critical. Um, you know, we're like golfers in that sense. You know you hit even the perfect shot and you're still going to find, you know, things in it that you didn't like or that you could have done better. And that's what it is. As a driver, I mean, 99% of the time it goes well and everything's perfect. And then there's two or three little things that'll just irk you, so nothing major.

Robb Holland: 36:03

Obviously we went a little bit later in the day than we were supposed to, so the road temperature was a bit higher and so there was a couple of corners that I kind of counted on having grip. That wasn't quite there. So I made a few mistakes. It probably costs, you know, somewhere in the second, second half range. So I wasn't like super, super. You know that was the perfect run, but it was good, it was really solid. But you know, the fun part is is that you kind of get to the end of it.

Robb Holland: 36:31

And again, this was unique this year because, because we only finished it halfway, they had tried to bring as many spectators down the mountain as they could, because there are a lot of spectators up at Devil's Playground. And again, the reason they had to basically shorten the race was because it was 120 mile an hour, winds up there, so they also didn't want to leave those guys up there all day. So they ended up packing in all the spectators down at Glen Cove, which kind of made it a really unique thing, and they parked us on the side of the road. So we just wandered into the spectators, into the crowds and just kind of hung out with them for several hours. So it was good fun. Everybody.

Robb Holland: 37:05

You know they had sandwiches and sodas and stuff like that, and it was a. It was a fun day being able to hang out with the spectators.

Jacki Lutz: 37:12

That's pretty amazing to me that normally the spectators are all the way at the peak and they stay up there that long.

Robb Holland: 37:18

Well, no, I mean people, people camp out overnight so they they'll come up on the on the Saturday and they spend. They spend the entire night on the Hill to, to, to be there, cause we're you know, we our first run is at 7.30 in the morning and so, yeah, they're literally there all day long. And that's what I love about it. I mean it really is. It's not like going to an F1 race. You buy your ticket, you come in, you see the race, you leave and you go have dinner or something like that.

Robb Holland: 37:43

The fans are really committed, but I think in return, they get a really, really amazing event that you don't really see anywhere else. The cars are right there. It's not like there's big catch fencing and everything else and you're 100 yards away. So I mean it is a lot more up close and personal, which for me, is a lot more enjoyable. I really kind of I love the energy that we get from all of the spectators and stuff. So it was kind of special this year is to be able to kind of wander into the crowd and you know and basically, you know, celebrate with the, you know with all of our fans.

Jacki Lutz: 38:19

Yeah, I mean, that's just you and I and and and Rob Tinson were up there talking, for I think our episode was like 30 minutes long and you can tell at the end I know you haven't seen it yet, but you can tell at the end like I'm running out of breath. So the idea of camping, well, imagine for us.

Robb Holland: 38:34

I mean, we have to spend, usually spend the whole day up there. If you're in one of the top 15 or 20 cars, you're going to probably be up there from eight in the morning until three, three, 30, four o'clock in the afternoon and to spend that long at you know over 14,000 feet it by the end of the day, you're, you're pretty worn. ,000 feet it it by the end of the day, you're, you're pretty worn. So it it definitely takes it out of you.

Jacki Lutz: 38:55

Yeah, I gotta say too, like there's something too about that atmosphere where, you know, I got to see a lot of the drivers, got to meet a lot of the other drivers and it's like I know you guys are competition but you almost wouldn't know it. Uh, just cause there's such good relationships there, it seems like like friendships, friendly banter.

Robb Holland: 39:16

Yeah, so it's weird. So if you were looking at how we race in SRO, I mean, it's still a pretty tight-knit community there and for the most part you get along with your competitors, but there they are truly competitors. They are guys that you are racing directly against and trying to beat. So, as friendly as you are, there's still that whole undercurrent of I'm still going to beat you next time we're on track, whereas Pikes Peak's a little different, because we're I think we're fighting the mountain more than we're fighting each other, and we also recognize the dangers that Pikes Peak brings. And so, you know it's, it's kind of a band of brotherhood type of thing, where we're just in there together, um and uh, you know, so it's. It's definitely a different, um, a different feeling in the paddock than you get in most places. So I, the guys that are racing Pikes Peak, it's a very unique subset of of drivers.

Jacki Lutz: 40:10

Yeah Well, it was an amazing experience on my end. I hope I get to go back.

Robb Holland: 40:22

I'm going to go bug Rob to invite us back. We want you back. I mean, it's so great for us to be able to spend that time with you guys at the beginning and kind of let you into our world. And you know, you know Hela and Rob have been behind us for years now and Rob fell in love with the event event and that's kind of the cool thing with that is that he now wants to bring everybody in. He gets excited about this every year.

Robb Holland: 40:38

It's not. Yeah, sure, there are sponsors, but at the end of the day, he's more excited about sharing the experience with everybody than he is necessarily maximizing every dollar spent or whatever. So I think that's awesome, every dollar spent or whatever. So I think that's awesome. And then you know, to be able to bring in, like the guys at Myla and H&R and JRZ and all the guys that have been around with us, mobile One, you know it's very cool because each one of them gets that unique perspective and they're so invested in this because it's stuff that you never see anywhere else and I think that, for me, is great. So I mean I love the fact that you were there and I love the fact that you had a great time and want to come back because that means we're doing something right.

Jacki Lutz: 41:32

Yeah, it's awesome, like, honestly, like next year it would just look a lot different, knowing what to expect, you know, and knowing the tension around the day and the starting line, how exciting it is after, like it's just a really cool experience. If anyone has not checked out pike's peak, um do it was pretty amazing. They throw out a pretty cool event there, um, and it's just all around. I can't think of a single negative thing to say.

Robb Holland: 41:44

uh, even even with the winds, it's still a cool experience, like to see see footage of outhouses basically being thrown off the mountain from the wind and that's the thing about Pikes Peak is that you just said, you know, hey, look, you're excited about coming back, you're knowing what to expect, and I will tell you it will be a completely different event next year because it is not the cookie cutter.

Robb Holland: 42:04

Hey, go to a track and it's this, and you can expect, you know this, that and the other. You know there'll be days where it's just completely sunny and it's beautiful out. There'll be days where it's windy, there'll be days where it's snowing and raining and all these different things that you, just you cannot, you cannot sit there and go. I understand, or I know what I'm going to see next year and that's what makes it so much fun is is that it's not, it's not the same thing. So, um, you know, and I just it's, why I've fallen in love with it and it's like it's great, great to be able to share that enthusiasm with everybody else and see them be enthusiastic about it too.

Jacki Lutz: 42:38

So It'll be amazing next year too. It'll be awesome to see you defend your title. Get two in a row, hopefully.

Robb Holland: 42:48

Hard work. Those guys will not make it easy for me.

Jacki Lutz: 42:54

But thank you again for the extra time. Really appreciate it. Congratulations again to you and the team.

Robb Holland: 42:58

Thank you very much, Jackie. I appreciate it and thanks for having me on. It's really been great chatting with you and, you know, look forward to hopefully doing more of these and seeing you at PRI or SEMA or one of the shows during the rest of the year.

Jacki Lutz: 43:10

Absolutely, that'd be awesome, thank you.

Robb Holland: 43:12

Thank you.