Sahil Laul: I think when I did that burn on it was like two and a half million views on YouTube. You know what I mean? And it's like, you got to show your butt hole now for two and a half million views. You know what I mean? Like it's dumb. Creepy carnivals, ghosts, and hell on wheels. What do these things have in common? They're all just pieces of a life story about imagination, tenacity, and family legacy that you don't want to miss. And it's coming up right now. Welcome to Count's Culture, a late night podcast for those who never shut it down. I'm Danny the Count Coker. If you love cranked amps, burning rubber, grease knuckles, and stories that don't let go, this is the place for you. Who you are, where you're from, what do you believe, none of that counts here. This is neutral ground. You're all part of the counts culture family, so consider yourselves home. I also bring unfiltered conversation about passion, purpose, and the roads that shape us all. And as you know in every episode, I'm joined by one member of my Count's Customs team. Today I'm joined by a guy who does a lot more than just talk. He's a general manager who keeps every build here at the shop moving and rocking, literally from start to finish. A master fabricator from Houston. ⁓ passionate Astros fan, a father who adores his kids. He's worked on famous rides with famous people and he's been in my life, man, laid back, low key and turned out beautiful work for decades. My brother, the absolutely lovable Mr. Ghetto Bob. How you doing today, sir? I'm good, man. How you doing? I'm wonderful. Feeling good? Just living the life. Amen. I know we are blessed that we get to this very blessed. We're happy. I know. And we get to do this. We get to talk to cool people and hear about all their weird... ⁓ Exactly man, exactly. And that's the cool thing about Count's culture because you know, it's cars, it's bikes, it's music, it's pop culture, it's all cool stuff from you know, crazy insane people like us. We're just as crazy, we just get to hear how other people are crazy. Absolutely. Well, crazy attracts crazy. That's right. And that's what we do, man. And we, ⁓ man, the stuff we're working on in the shop right now, we got crazy stuff going on. always. In all of the buildings. Every building. We loony things happening. Cars, bikes, all this. ⁓ crazy things for some hotel casinos around town. All kinds of cool stuff coming up. Right. Tons of new stuff. That's why it counts customs. It's not counts choppers. It's not counts hot rod. We don't want to ⁓ pigeonhole ourselves. Well, I mean, we might not start working on refrigerators, but we could. We've done some refrigerators. We have. We've done some really cool fridges, That's right. I don't mind doing that again. We'll see. Not this week. How about that? Not this week. Not this week. Right, right, right, right. I gotcha. I gotcha. What project are we working on right now that we think is our personal biggest challenge? What are we doing now? Oh, we got so many going on now. We got that 57 truck. Yeah. It's going to be badass. got the... That's going to SEMA, That's going to SEMA. Yeah. Also along right next to that 57 truck is a 58 Corvette. Right, that thing is restomod. That's right, that's going to SEMA That's going to SEMA. Right, And then a 62 restomod Corvette that's almost done. Right, that's a wicked car. Supercharged We got a lot of work. I know we do. I know We're behind the gun. We got stuff. Couple of vans, couple special projects around town for some casinos. That van is gonna be way cool. It's something completely different. And the owner is just not going to know what to do with it. It's going to be so cool. Absolutely, man. He's going to so wish. Anyways, in just a minute, a builder who's earned every scar, he's coming out here, man, with decades on the shop floor and some of the wildest builds ever imagined. He deserves an honorary PhD in fabrication. There's no filter, no BS, just hard lessons, the battle wounds and the legendary machines that survived it all. This is Steve Darnell, and this one goes deep, my friends, and that's coming up next. There are a few causes more important to me than Camp Freedom. Camp Freedom isn't about what someone's lost. It's about what's still possible. We give disabled veterans, first responders, and Gold Star families something powerful. Time outdoors, shoulder to shoulder, fishing, hunting, riding, away from hospitals and stereotypes. Out here, it's not therapy. It's camaraderie. If you're looking to support something real, monthly giving, sponsoring land, or just learning more, Camp Freedom is changing lives one acre at a time. Head to CampFreedomPA.org to show your support. Today's guest is one of the most imaginative builders in the automotive world. His unforgettable work isn't just mechanical, it's emotional and cinematic. He's the mastermind behind WelderUp. The creator of some of the wildest diesel rat rods ever put on wheels and the star of the hit show Vegas Rat Rods. He's a Vegas icon, a storyteller, a rebel with a welder, a man who turned fabrication into poetry. He inspires and motivates me on a daily basis. I'm proud to call him a friend, the one, the only Mr. Steve Darnel. What's up, brother? Wow, that was pretty good. I'm like over here teary-eyed a little bit about that. mean to get you all misty before we start, man. was funny because you were just, you know, what you just said, which was such kind words. And then I was thinking the same thing about you when you made me write in that book. I was in there writing in that book and I was like, you could write, Steve? Well, if you can read it. ⁓ okay. I didn't get here being a writer, that's for sure. But the words that I said in there were kind of along the same lines, but it was like, you've always been a mentor to me, because I mean, since Count Cool Rider. I'm a Vegas born, you know, I'm a born Vegas kid. So being young and watching Count Cool Rider, I would run home on Friday nights. It was a Friday or Saturday night? me and my buddy, Juice. we would watch Count Cool Rider. It was like, it was one of them things where you know how you usually hate commercials? Yeah. But when you came on, was like, because you're just so cool, man. I just loved it. Your bike and your... This guy's such a bad... I love it, man. Thank So anyway, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. And I mean, we're... I don't know. I don't think we're too far apart in age, but you were just older, enough older than me to be like, what were you doing in your 20s? Oh, yeah. I was in my... my mid to late 20s when we started that. And then it lasted for 10 years. So that was in my late 30s when we signed off. Wow, isn't that crazy? Those were good times, man. were great times. Count Cool was a ball. Count Cool Rider was super cool. Vegas was so cool. Yeah. I loved Vegas. I did too. had so much fun back then. I did too. I'm not sure about the evolution of things these days. We can get into that if you want. We I don't know if we should. We're going to talk a little bit because you've been all over the place, but what I want to start with, what'd you drive today? I drove my 1967 power wagon with a compound Cummins diesel in it. I love it, man. I knew you were going to come. And it's not like you drove it down the street. You're how far away? So I moved to Goodsprings, which is about, I don't know, 35 miles from here, probably, down the freeway. It seems like it's way further than 35 miles, but... No, I made it here... Well, I can... Like I was telling You drive a little fast too there, Steve. Yeah. Well, you know what's really crazy about this old power wagon? So this is power wagon, it's a 67, but it's cab swapped onto a 97 Dodge. And then I stretched it for a long bed, and I put a six-speed manual transmission in it with a 354 gear with 40-inch tires. So this thing cruises at 85. Like at 85, it's like in its peak. It's just cruising. So it's kind of funny sometimes when I'm cruising down the highway and some dude will pull up on me. You know, it's got compound turbos on it. It runs pretty good. not, but 40 inch tires in a 7,500 pound truck, you know, it rips. But it's funny how it'll pull your a little bit, know, and people are like, whoa, I can't believe that thing goes like that. So. Right. Just seeing that on the road is enough to blow people's minds. But then to see it. It actually works. Actually behave and run like Four wheel drive works. I I could do anything I want with the truck. I love that you brought it, man. I love that Yeah, we did. I drove that today. So Goodsprings, man, okay, this is like a time capsule. It's a ghost town out there. How in the world did you choose that spot to move to? You left Vegas and you went out there. Have you seen any ghosts or anything out there yet? Oh yeah, it's creepy out there. Is it really? It's... You would love it. Well, you know, you know that stuff. I love that **** too. you up the Cal Cool history, you're right. I love that Right, I do, and I think you would really appreciate it. Matter of fact, one of these days I want you to come out and I'll show you around. I look forward it. What's so interesting is I guess I'm kind of an old soul when it comes to certain things. And I love history. And I know you do too. mean, obviously. We're into cars because of the history. Absolutely. You don't see us in here pimping out Teslas. You know, we're working on stuff that... but we did one. Well, I haven't done a Tesla. Yeah, yeah, well, you know. I don't know if Tesla would be okay with a diesel engine. Well, actually... That's kind of, you know, that doesn't really work together. No, no. I mean, it would be fun. But if you think about it, all our trains are diesel generators, So we still need diesel. Right, yep. And you still need diesel and coal to burn to charge up... Yeah, so what the f***? I get Right, exactly. But anyway, back to Good Springs, mean, you know, I'd been out there a number of times prior to all of that, you know, back in the old days in Sandy Valley, believe it or not, I don't know if you knew this about me, but I rodeo'd for 20 years. I had horses and I team roped and I had, I've done a lot of different crazy stuff, but I used to always go to go rope out in Sandy Valley with some friends and I'd cruise up into Good Springs and stop at the bar, kind of walk in, it's just cool, you know, it's like a, It's like stepping back into time. When you walk through the front door, you should have some six shooters on and a hat. That's the feeling vibe that you should have when you go in there. And this is back before, Papa Don still ran it back then. And so it was kind of a little biker-ish. They were building Harleys in the room next to it and still biker-ish. This is back probably. had to be in the early 90s, you know? Or even further back. But anyway, I just kind of fell in love with the authentic, like cool little graveyard coming into town and it's cool, you know, and all the buildings are like untouched and people are pretty sleepy and quiet. They don't mess with you and they're in their houses and it's quiet. I'm like the noisiest son of a gun in that place. So I thought, you know, I'm gonna go out and start this new journey. I'm gonna head out to Good Springs and let me put together a I want to restore this area to the way it was in the 30s. So that's what I'm working on. All the cars are 1930s. The buildings will be restored the way they were. I literally walk around and trip over history daily in there. Like there's old, there's like old picks buried in the dirt. And I find them, I dig them out. I found this really, really cool arrowhead the other day out there. It was really cool. I should have brought it with me today. But just things like that, that you can just find, you know? So that's what I'm doing. I'm restoring it to the 1930s. I'm going to open up a little coffee shop out there and I want it all Hot Rod related. I want it to be a little baby Disneyland for car guys. So we can just chill. This is the coolest destination. I can't wait to come out there, That's really cool. I'm not kidding you. We're going to gather up a group of us, be it Hot Rods or Chompers or whatever. We're come out there and bug you. Dude, we'd love to have you. Come out and check it You're to have electricity and plumbing. Yeah, actually I have. Believe it or not, I have a well. I have two wells on there that are windmill driven. Water at nine feet. Really? I'm not kidding you. I live on an aquifer. My wells are like four feet deep in water. You could just, you can, that's what they were doing there though. In the 1800s, the natives were living there and the Spanish Trail came through. Because of the water, they stayed there. World War I, it became a place to mine for lead for. the bullets. Okay. Later on, zinc, cobalt, silver, gold, all that they started bringing out of the ground. And then I would say by 42 during World War II, it was the crash of Good Springs. And it just, whew. Good Springs got to be loving you out there. They loving you? I think most of them, I love them. I mean, it's a cool place. That's a beautiful thing. I mean, you're breathing such coolness and life into the area. It's funny because some of the neighbors that you would think would never even come out of their house, they drive by smoking cigarettes. They're about 100 years old. They're like, we just love what you're doing out here. It's so cool. Those cars, where'd you get all them cars at? know, I mean, it's just such a cool thing. I love it. And so, you know. Are we waiting on that? We do all kinds of noises down here. Everybody on the podcast knows that I'm in a noisy neighborhood. Trains, helicopters. I'm just like, you know how we get trained for TV? Right. Same here. We've been trained to it. Sound guys are over there going, hold for sound. They just look at you like, got their little bag right here. Exactly. They look at you with this look on their face like, We don't care here. don't care. Al. We like the We're to keep rocking and rolling. So check this out. This podcast is not just about cars, it's about... All things kind of cool, man. And I know that your brand has to do with everything metal, so I'm gonna go with a music question now. What are you listening to? What are you playing in your shop? What are you listening to in your vehicle, besides loud engines? Does it have a banjo? Yeah, exactly. Does it have a banjo? have a banjo in it? What kind of music is motivating It may not have a banjo, but it does have a steel guitar. All right. Tell me what you're listening to, man. What kind of music's inspiring don't know. It really depends. It's what I'm creating at the time. But ⁓ when I'm rolling down the road, sometimes it's like, you know, Hank Williams Jr., like old country music. I love old country. I love steel guitars. I love that. But then I could jump over to like Rodney O and Joe Cooley real quick and be bumping down the strip. Got it. Got it. But if I'm building some in my shop, it's dark. What's the motivation music? What's the inspiration music? What is this dark and I think the dark stuff is what really gets my brain. It feeds an artistic part of my brain that I can't really explain. What would it be? If you were going to put something dark on right now, what would it be? It's called like Sea of the Dark. And it's like this almost like... pirated, creepy orchestra that just... you just fall off into it. Wow. And if you crank it up and you got some good surround sound in your shop, you'll do some weird s***. Okay. And you know me, like, I don't really smoke weed and I don't drink. So I don't really have a... That doesn't make me creative. Right. Right. It's got to be a feeling of what I feel. And when I talk to somebody for a minute, like, I would love to build you a car one day. because you could have me just go completely insane. This could be fun. You know what I'm saying? I would know what to do for you. Yeah. You know what Well, you know me well. If we're going all the way back to the count days. Yeah, yeah. I would know what to do, you know? And your personality and... That could be way cool. One of these days, I'm going to hold you to that. Yeah, I think it would be really I think that could be an absolute... I got one question, if he's going to build you a car. Yeah. Would it have a sunroof or not a sunroof? Is this a trick question? What happened? I'm saying. I'm a roof guy, man. This guy has a sun roof. I don't know. I think it would be like... Or no roof. I mean... Yeah, what would it be? I mean, just off-topic. I mean, yours... It'd be long and it would be dark. And it would be very... But I want, like... 800, 900 horse under the hood. Like it to be a supercharged like CTS-V under the hood of like something that is just like a wicked like 59 or 60 Impala just dumb looking. I love it. Or a caddy that's just, I love it. Way down. But something that's no joke. Yeah. Like you stand on it and it just, gone. know? I'm going to hold you to this one of these But it will have lots of detail. There'll be lots of detail in it. Yeah. Because your detail. Yeah. Look at you. Yeah. I mean, look at your boots. It would take me so long to detail the details. The car is one thing. OK. But the interior and the subtle details that will keep people staring for hours. the difference, man. That's what makes it your car. It'd be sick. I love the way you think. Yeah. One of these days, we're going to play this tape back, and I'm going hold you to it. Roll it out. Let me ask you this. What has ⁓ taken up the most space? in your shop right now? What are you working on? What's... guess right now I really don't have a shop. I still got my museum down here for now. Where I've really been falling off into is pre-war cars. So I'm really like, I've always been a fan of pre-war 32, 34 Fords, flathead V8s. The big thrill for me right now is... trying to find something that hasn't been touched by someone else. Find an unrestored ⁓ vehicle that literally looks like a barn find. know, that's honestly probably the only thing that thrills me anymore about cars. Because I've done, I've built everything. We've created all these crazy things and you know, diesel engines that make, you know, 1500 horsepower, gas engines that make 1500 horse blowers, know, twin turbos on everything, blah, blah, blah. but there is something really cool to see about a V8 flathead Ford and a 32 Ford with a three-speed transmission that goes 40 miles an hour. I am totally fine with that. I love that too. And ⁓ I guess now being that I like history so much is like, love to find, that is like finding a chunk of history that is getting less and less by the day. Because there's guys out like us that are still trying, we want it too. Everybody wants some. But if you could find that little jewel. There's only so many of them. And I like to bring them home and like, you know, I mean, it's a flathead V8, you know, or a model A with a four banger and it's probably gonna run. I mean, I can make most any of them run. I mean, clap down, like, who knows if this guy drove this thing all the way from back East across the United States in 1931. wound up in California, you pick it up, bring it back, you don't know the history. But you know that just looking at it, you can almost figure on like how many miles they must have beat down a dirt road because there was no asphalt back That's exactly right. Yeah, they're as nails, man. They're tougher than tough. Yep, absolutely. And so I guess right now what I'm working on, and I was telling you earlier as I just got done building my, it's a 37, 38 Indian motorcycle. Yeah. And I have a 32 Ford. that looks almost the same flathead V8, got a Offenhauser intake and a couple of 97s on it. And I just picked up two 34 Fords. One of them was a race car in New Jersey. these two old guys built this car in 1958. They put a 58 V8 Pontiac in it, rear end in it, raced it till 1962, blew the motor up, threw a rod outside, parked it in the garage till now. It's bad. So yeah, I don't have it yet. Yeah, but I'm hoping to get it here pretty soon, but I'm gonna bring it back I'm not too sure about the Pontiac but I think I'll put a Hemi in it like a 392 with a blower Craig old Kregler blower and make it look like a traditional hot rod from like 1959 1960 okay, right around the time that the big himmies were coming out. Yep. So that would have been the time for this car. There you go. And but yeah, I'm I'm like, I'm not about like doing 150 miles an hour. It's like, if I could just get in an old flathead, blowing a little smoke off a tailpipe and you know, that little town of Good Springs where I'm at, there's no stop lights. There's one stop sign. And I'll get in that thing. I'll throw my grandson in the front seat with me. And dude, we cruise around town and just put that old car. And it's so much damn fun. You know, you see the neighbors. You know, you're thinking about what it must have been like back then. Right. Because Goodsprings in 1919, there was a thousand people living there. There was more people in Goodsprings than Las Vegas. Yeah. People would come from Vegas to go shopping up there, believe it or not. Okay. So the original Ford garage was straight across the street from where I'm at. Okay. And in 1915 or even earlier, you could buy a new Ford car right there in Goodsprings. Yeah. You know? So I'm trying to like, historically bring that back. That's too cool. That's so cool. That's too cool. You should, you should be doing that. You should be doing that. Let me ask you this. Arguably, your most famous build was done in a tribute to your grandfather. was a World War II veteran. God bless him. 1928 Dodge, nickname Destroyer. Yes. testament to your grandfather, what a badass he was, everything he endured in the early 20s. Nightmares that most of us can't even imagine. yeah. Has any custom build of yours come close to even have that much emotional impact on you or your family since the Destroyer? I guess, you know, every one of them has a different feeling. And that's how I build them. I build them off a feeling. Not really... I'm just going to build this guy a, you know, 67 Chevelle and put a, you know, 396 in it and you know, whatever. It's, every one of them was built around something that the D rod originally was, it was built on a, you know, I like the diesel engines and I just wanted to really do something kind of way off the cuff. ⁓ When my grandfather died, I, I redid the car for him. And I called it the Destroyer because he was on a Destroyer in World War II and he was a gunner's mate. oh man, a guy, what a tough, tough generation. And what a cool guy. just, you know, these guys, they endured some of the, think about it. You were going to get on a tin can is what they called it. This little destroyer ship. They were the ones that had to go in and fight. They had to get in there. No cell phones. You can't call your mom and be like, ⁓ I'm scared. There's none of that. ⁓ They went out there for three years in the South Pacific. He lived through two typhoons. A kamikaze hit the bow of the ship, broke the ship off, and they... They pulled that thing backwards for like 11 weeks from the South Pacific to San Diego to fix it. Can you imagine? The bow of a ship goes like this. Pulling it backwards. He said people were sick. was miserable. ⁓ The typhoons, he said that he would crawl on the floor because the ship was just going crazy. And he would crawl up to his gun and strap himself in the gun where he... where they shot the gun and ride it out for like three days. No food, no water. Just sit there and ride it out. Guys are sliding across the floor and he goes, could just see. He won't eat spaghetti to this day. Well, he's passed away since, but he never would eat spaghetti because they had spaghetti that night. And it was just all over the deck. ⁓ And guys are sliding in it and it was a mess. But he got out of the war and never said a word. He was so happy to be alive. He was right. How old was he when he went and got shipped off? Let's see, that would have been nasty. He was probably 21. Yeah. You know? And, you know, they didn't. But he came back, man, and, you know, he bought a house right here in North Las Vegas in like 1954 or five. Wow. And raised four kids, my mom and my two aunts and my uncle. Yeah. And then I was born and I was... I was basically raised in their house too. Nice. You know? Yeah. They paid $11,000 for their house. 11 grand. Yeah, man. You can't even buy a used pile of crap for 11 grand anymore. man. Exactly. So, simple. Yeah. You know, the North Las Vegas house are made out of masonry, steel doors, no air conditioning. I mean, he was mowed his yard every day. Every, you know, 4th of July or Independence Day, he his flag up. take it down, fold it up. Amen. never cried about nothing and never talked bad about nobody. That's awesome. He was so cool, man. You'd have loved that guy. Absolutely. That's definitely the kind of guy that we look up to. Right. Admire, respect, and pay tributes to. Well, and it's sad. You know what we could use right now is about 1,000 of them dudes or 100,000 of them come back. Amen. Amen. And walk around this planet right now and check some of these little... You got that right. They'd be disgusted. They would be completely disgusted. They would be disgusted, yep. We need to put everybody in check. You're 100 % right. You know what I mean? I'm saying we live, know, evolution changes everything. that was a generation of parents from the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression. And these guys really gave a crap about everything they had, their families and... You know, we have now, like we were just talking with our phones. Like you got your cool little phone, and I respect you for that. That's really cool that you don't have like the big old iPhone with all the crap on it. And you know, the thing of it is, like, we get so caught up in the bull crap that's on the internet that we can't even be our own person. Yeah. And none of it's real anymore. No, all this AI? Yeah. I get on there, I'm like, cause I'm still dumb and old. So I'm like, no way. You're not that much older than me, Steve. I think I'm actually older than you. No, you're not. Hey, Hey, before we move on. I think I've always been curious about your dad. personally. Because I never got to know him. And I kind of know, how long has he been gone now? 2008. So I remember- February 17th, 9.52 PM, 2008. I remember hearing about him because me being a Vegas kid, and I know you don't know this, but I knew- I kind of thought you were so cool and I knew your dad was heavily involved in everything that you were kind into. I know a lot, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming that a lot of these cars were in his collection. Correct. Is that right? Yep. So I guess my question for you is like, you know, if it's not too emotional, can you tell me about him a little bit? Yeah. Yeah, I'll do my best. ⁓ He... Definitely the biggest inspiration in my life. And I'm doing my best to try and fill some pretty big shoes. If there's any coolness in me, I just got it from him. Detroit boy. He really did. Yeah. His father to death, his father was a million times cooler than him. A million times I know. I always wanted to medium. And I mean, of course, I was younger and I didn't know, But after all this time, know, I... because you are such a great soul as a human. People ask me too sometimes, when we're in that celebrity kind of thing, and people know we're right next to each other. So I think they fish like, what's Danny like? Well, Dad was, he was ⁓ a musician first off in his life, very young age. ⁓ And then I went into the service and he was ⁓ 10 Special Forces, Green Beret, 101st Airborne. That's strong. He was ⁓ played on a hockey team for the Army. was an Army hockey player as well. ⁓ Got out the service. worked at Ford Motor Company on the assembly line for a while up there. year would this be? Man. 60s? Yeah, in the 50s. 50s? Yeah, yeah. And then, then he went, he went back into music and music was his life. And he brought me up in music. And then, and that's also where I got the love for music, got the love for cars, got the love for motorcycles, got the love for style. He's the respect for military and nation and family and yeah. Well, the thing of it is, like, you know, he's just proud as hell of you right now. Thank He's looking down at you right now going, look at the legacy that you kept going. I appreciate it. You could have totally done something different. Yeah. But because of his influence and how much you respected him, you've carried this on throughout and turned it into something great. mean, counting cars. mean, wow, dude. I know that. He's up there with my grandpa going, look at our boys, man. Thanks, man. You know what I'm saying? we should be proud of them and what they did. And like I was getting back to like people asking me about Danny. And I'm like, probably one of the coolest guys I know. Like a good. Honest good dude. Like, I, I, I, and all of you guys, like, cause they ask me all the time about you guys. If I'm at a, you know, signing autographs and we're sitting there and they're like, so are you, so you're right down the street from counting cars, huh? And I go, yeah, what a bunch of ****. That's what we That's what they want me to say. They almost want you to just be like, yeah, we're rivals, you know what I mean? We've seen it, we've been at different places together and they freak out when they see us together because we do get along, because we are friends, because we do help each other, we do whatever we need to do to make things happen and they don't want that. That's this new generation. Keeping it real. They don't want us We gotta keep it real. And I think that people think that we, know, that they don't know. Okay, from our side, the way I've learned is like, when you're doing, when you're like a personality on TV, I think people kind of look at you a little different. You know what I mean? We're really not. I mean, we're really not. There's nothing different about us. And the thing about it is, is I think they think that we, it almost puts us into a different category of like love. Because we're like, we're behind the door in here talking about what's going on out there. You know what I mean? And really the deep down inside that people don't understand is like, you know, and I'll use like, say like farm truck in Asia. What a couple of cool dudes. I love them. And they're down to earth and they're my friends. And if I see them somewhere, we like, it's like with you and me, like kind of get off to the side real quick so we can catch up and be like, bro, man, it's so good to see you. Absolutely. And we're in that little world. And as soon as that's over, We have to go back out there. Right. And we have to, you know, go out and accommodate these awesome fans that we have that love what we do. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be able to do what we do. So I'm so thankful. I'm grateful for all of them. And that's why I try so hard to be a decent human to these people. Amen. Because... And what sucks is like, I'm into cars. Yeah. So when they talk about cars, I kind of am into it. Yeah. Like, you know how many times you see like somebody open their phone? Bro, all the time. ⁓ let me show you one. ⁓ here we go. And I'm like, and then unfortunately in our world, it's usually a guy that's probably in his 60s that don't know how to run a phone. He's got his wife that does it. Hang on, hang on. Hold on. ⁓ crap, I just bucked out. Or if they want to do a selfie, it's like, ⁓ dude, let me help you just turn the thing around. But at the same moment, it's like, you know, when that's over, It's over. And you know, right now it's like, it's our time. It's cool. And it's like, sometimes it's hard. And you know how it is, like just trying to get in here to go to work or for me to like work on something. And it's like, ⁓ man, this guy wants to talk to me. I hope I don't forget what I'm doing because when I get done, this could be a safety issue, you know? So I usually have to go hide to work on something because I don't want to, I'm a hands-on guy. I'm working on my stuff. So I don't want to mess that up. But To get back to your dad and who you are and what has created all of this is because of him. know what I mean? Really deep down inside, it was him that made this all happen with you. That's exactly right. You just kind of like go, okay, now what do I do with all this? I'm running with it. You gotta go. It drives me crazy that he didn't get to see where it went, but I'm... Like you said, I'm believing that he is watching. I'm believing that. I believe it. And I think also, I mean, the only thing ⁓ I'm upset because I kind of really, I wanted to meet him because I knew that he had a big play in different things in Vegas. And he probably made the move to come here, right? It was his idea and he did a lot of big things at this Did he have a channel? Was that channel his? Like the one that you guys did? The TV station, that was him. He put that on. What channel was that? 33. 33, that's right. He built the TV station, he built the studio, built the tower farm up on the mountain, did all of that stuff. He must have been amazing, dude. He was something else. was something else. Thank you for asking. Yeah, I don't want to go on too much about it because it gets a little... It's like me talking about my grandpa. I got to psych myself out so I don't lose it because... Those people are what molded us to make us who we are. ⁓ you know, you just, and I mean, I got to give credit to my dad because he was a hard-ass too. I I grew up in a steel yard right down the road here. And I mean, I sometimes wondered, you know, like, do dad, do you love me? I mean, you know, I'm right here. know, like, but I think if I didn't go through that and I didn't endure the torture, I wouldn't be who I am today. Amen. I agree. And I think if I can just interject one more thing, one of the biggest things he instilled in me was ⁓ love and faith in the Lord. That has gotten me through anything and everything in my life. Right. And I have to give credit to that a hundred percent. Hey, you know what? mean, that's, ⁓ if you don't believe in something. Yep. What do you believe in? What do you do? Just go through life in a blunder of like, you know, I'll tell you when it comes, when it all matters, is when you're laying there and you're down to your last day, ⁓ that's when you're going to sit there and question, ⁓ I'm, you know, I figure out how all this. I'm a bad ass. Well, you know what? I don't care. When you're laying there and you're all inked up and you were the baddest mother effort on the planet, when you're laying there dying, It's a whole, you're, did anybody got a Bible? Right. You know, like all of sudden now you're, you know, you're, cause that's the only option you have at that point. And let's hope your faith gets you through the next, the next one. And the big thing that I always think of is like, I want to be up there horseback with my grandpa, herding sheep and cattle. That's right. That's what he wanted to do. And that's what I want to go do with him one day. There you go. Is just be out there in the middle of nowhere doing that. Yeah. And, cowboy stuff with him, know, cause he was a cowboy, know, he liked that stuff. And I guess that's what got me like really inspired in, you know, rodeo and team roping and cattle and learning all that stuff. you know, but he was just a cool guy, man. And, you know, like your dad, I mean, coming from Detroit over to Vegas and starting a new life and creating all this, was it. But that's what these guys were doing. That's what they were doing, man. They were moving. Yeah, bold moves. Old news making it happen. Yeah, no phone. Yeah. No, no, no, no. They weren't like making deals on the way. Yeah. Yeah, bro. I'll be there like, you know, no, they were. Yeah. And he always brought Detroit with him, man, because let me tell you, talk about style. Oh, yeah. Well, you know what? Think about Vegas, though. Yeah. New York, Detroit, built Vegas. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? Built Vegas. I wish it was still around like that. I know. I'd give anything. I miss it. We're gonna get into that. We're gonna take a little break, you guys. Don't go anywhere. We got more with our brother, Mr. Steve Darnall, coming up. Stick around. If you're a fan of this podcast, of counting cars, or of my shop Count's Customs, head over to countscustoms.shop for official gear, collectibles, and shop favorites. Or better yet, come by and see it all right here in person. The builds, the history, the vibe, it's not a showroom, it's an actual working garage. Online or in Vegas, Count's Customs is always worth a stop. Steve, you went from Montana. Feeding cows with a truck at seven years old. To running forklifts in your dad's steel yard every summer here in Vegas. Doesn't get more American than that. What do you remember about that time and what sort of kid were you growing up? Well, to go back a little bit, I was born here at Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas. So my dad was here. ⁓ My mom and him separated. and she wound up marrying a guy that worked at the, well he actually worked at the horseshoe. And then he was from Eastern Montana. So, you know, going with your mom usually, I would spend my school years up there. ⁓ What was really cool is my stepdad at the time, he had an aunt uncle that had a ranch in Eastern Montana. And man, my uncle Dorn was just a cool dude. He was like short with words. but a cowboy, like cowboy hat, horses. I mean, I seen him just do some unbelievable things out there. Well, anyway, I just took into it, you know, like I like the tractors and I like the horses and I like the farm and the ranch and you know, how it all worked and more than anything, you know, I love driving the tractors around the ranch. I mean, like he'd be like, yeah, go feed those cows. And I'm, awesome. You know, you're like 10 years old driving an old farm all tractor out there with a coat on and you're. freezing to death, feeding cows, but if it was 50 below, you wouldn't care because you're driving something. You know what I mean? know are. Right, right, absolutely. But, you know, as a little kid, you know, I was just, I was into like, you know, go-karts and, you know, same thing. How old-ish? I mean, seven, eight years old. Okay, yeah. My dad... here in Vegas, had a steel yard right here on Mead, back in 1977 or eight, nine. And he was a welder, he had a welding business. And so, ⁓ I'm over here welding, playing around with the welders, didn't know really what I was doing. Matter of fact, I got my fingers caught in the plug one time, I was cleaning the shop when I was a little kid and I got my fingers caught in the plug and it, 220. ⁓ And about killed me. I had to run me to the sunrise after that. But anyway, ⁓ but my dad was always a car guy. He always had hot rods and GTOs and know, 55 Chevy's and cool stuff. And then I would do that here and then, you know, go back up to Montana and you're one little yard light, a dark, you could just see it and you had to walk all the way from the shed, all the way to the yard light to get to the house. You go from Vegas lights with show girls and all this crazy. Awesome cool stuff, you know, right to one little yard light clear across the wheat field and that was the house Yeah, yeah, so I think At the time I I didn't know if I was confused on where I where I really should be, know Like because I love Vegas right loved Vegas. Yeah, but I loved being on the ranch or being out in the country and seeing all that so That was a, and not only that, but I got to grow up a little bit of milking the cow in the morning and getting the eggs out of the chicken coop and like watching my aunt just go out there and grab a chicken and wring its neck and pluck it right there in front of me and make fried chicken. That's how it was. I mean, people trip out when you say stuff like that, but that's how it was. You know, and they never thought even, I can tell you right now, the look on her face wasn't even a thought. Yeah. It wasn't like, ⁓ this... was a way of life. chicken. That's not it was. We didn't even do that. It wasn't poor little chicken, that's lunch. Yeah, exactly. was just a thing. It's how you lived. And so I really got a real good opportunity to see like the ranch life and how he lived and doing without. And you know, we were 35 miles from a paved road. I mean, was muddy gumbo roads in and out. But I think that... time in my life just, I really loved it, but I was so young that I didn't know nothing about girls. So I really loved that. And that put me into a spot of like a memory that when I started getting older, know, you know, okay, girls are starting to come into the picture, at the ranch, you know, it's cool, but I'm, you know, I'd rather be here at this party right now. You know what I mean? And, but you... You circle back. You get a little older and you circle back to those memories of the reality of life. Let me ask you another question. What was the first thing that you remember making as a kid? As a kid, I'm sure you made something. Do you remember the first thing? I think one of the first things that I remember making is I... ⁓ I wanted to do the Pinewood Derby really bad. ⁓ cool. That's cool. And so I wasn't digging being a Boy Scout, but I wanted to... Because I didn't care really about tying knots and building fires and sh**. I already had that figured out. I could burn the shop down quick. So I didn't need any help building fires, right? But ⁓ I really wanted to do the Pinewood Derby. ⁓ so, ⁓ you know, my stepdad, wasn't into none of that stuff, really. didn't... really care about that kind of crap. So I didn't really have, my dad was here in Vegas when I was in Montana, and I didn't really have anybody to really help me do my Pinewood Derby. So I think I was like six or seven years old. I used to get grounded to my room all the time for dumb. You know, like was just, I don't think me and my stepdad's seen eye to eye. You know what I'm saying? So anyway, I did get grounded to my room a lot. I used to have, like my mom would pick these models up at the garage sales. Cause you know, I mean that's my mom, she'd garage sale and come back with a box full of just random crap. And I'd throw it in my closet and I'd put these little models together. But anyway, so this Pinewood Derby, I'm like, I'm going to get in this. So I don't know nothing about it. know, like obviously the boy Scouts, their dads build their cars. They don't build them. You know what I mean? You know, these guys came in with these shaved down, like, you know, weighted perfectly, got graphite on the wheels. I didn't know about that. I'm like seven years old. All right. Isn't that what you're supposed to be doing? Right. And you're to do it. Right. Yeah. comes in a box. Right. Yeah, I get it. You know, but back in those days, you know, came in a box and guess what? You got to use a knife. Right. We got to carve our right. Yeah. We didn't have Sanders. I don't know. I had a I had a frickin old buck knife and I'm just carving and whittling it out. Right. So I build this, this bad little Pinewood Derby car. And I went in my closet with all those models and I got like the decal stickers. They dipped in water. And I decaled it and I glued a big block Chevy with a blower sticking out of the hood on it. And then I made some headers that came out the side and down so it had like lake heads. You I get it. Anyway, I painted it this really cool looking metallic color, like a gold. And I put a wing on the back, you know, out of another model, like a wing, you know? And I'm like, yeah, okay. Man, I showed up to the Pinewood Derby and people are just like... Because, you know, the dads are all in there, they got their Eagle Scout **** on, they're all badass and they're just like, ⁓ that ain't right. Anyway... So they had two classifications. It was like, you had the display on the table of the coolest car, and then they had the fastest car. So anyway, I'd get mine up there and I'm like, I'm going rip this thing down the track. Well, the track goes like this. ⁓ So it'd go down and hit the headers and it'd go... And it was dragging the headers. Right, right. High centering. Yeah. It's slam bro, on the ground. Exactly, exactly. Like a hot rod looks, right? Right, right. And anyway, so at seven or eight, seven, eight years old, I had won the best car show though. Like out of all the cars, ⁓ I think there was some, you know, like the wives and stuff were judging it. Got it. If it was the guys, they would have been like, oh, get my kid. anyway, they wound up winning the car show when I was like seven years old with my Pinewood Derby car. I wish I knew where it was at. Would you say that that was like how old you were when you kind of realized that your style, your vibe was completely unique from everybody? Yeah, I think that's when I was like creatively... you know, starting to put things together with cars even before I even knew how to work on it, you know, didn't know nothing about a car. ⁓ But, you know, and then as you get older, it's BMX bikes. I mean, I had a really sweet Redline that I had bought mowing yards and I bought half the frame and the rear tire because they were so, even back then they were expensive. A Redline. And I drug it home and I parched and pieced and I mean, I don't know how many stolen bike parts I bought from other friends and pieces to put this thing together, but I guarantee you that bike was hot. Every part of it. I paid $80 for the frame and the rear wheel though. And I carried it home for like four or five miles from the sky. I bought it of the newspaper way back then. But you know, and then that was probably the next layer was BMX, you know. That was cool in the 80s though, you know? I'm gonna absolutely flip the script here, okay? We're gonna get to your WelderUp TV show here in a minute. But I got something different, okay? You two, both you cats. You guys understand blowtorches, you understand welders, you understand all this kind of stuff. So we're gonna do a little fun segment here. And this is for the listeners at home. I want you guys to all pay attention to this. is going to be a segment that I'm going to call, are you smarter than a welder? Okay. Can't be real hard. I promise I'm not going to put you guys on a spot. There is no winner. There is no loser. But, but you know, this is going to be fun. I'm going to ask a series of welding related. pop culture questions. See if the fans out there on the podcast can answer these questions before you guys. And so they're going to be playing at home and it's up to them in their minds to get the answer before you guys do. If you know the answer to these pop culture questions, just shout it out and feel free to work together as a team. guys are a team. Yeah, you guys are competing. So good luck to everybody at home. And just in your own self, try to beat these guys to the answer. You guys ready to give this a shot? Let's go. All right, all right, all right. In which movie does a character weld underwater to save the day? A, The Abyss, B, Terminator 2, C, Armageddon. I'm gonna say The Abyss. I'm I'm I'm not really good at TV also. like 30 years ago. I don't think Terminator 2 was underwater. ⁓ I'll go with you, because I really don't know that I'm just guessing. Do we know? A, the Abyss? Is that the answer? A, the Abyss. You guys are right. It is the Abyss. Absolutely. Pretty good at this. They were welding underwater under there. Which legendary musician? Don't be looking over there, Gil. Sorry. which legendary musician actually worked as a welder before making it big. A, Johnny Cash, B, Ozzy Osbourne, C, James Hetfield. I don't see Ozzy Weldon. Probably Johnny Cash. That's a great guess. But it was James Hetfield. ⁓ I can see Johnny out there Weldon, but not I thought the same thing. I thought the same thing. But know Hetfield, he's a huge car guy. And old school, know, hot rod type guy, which I love that about him. Okay, number three. What's the scientific name for that blinding flash you get if you look at someone Welding? without protection. burn. Here's the options. would, yeah. A, arc eye. B, fire blind. C, weld fury. We always call it rocks in your eyes. I would say A. Arc eye. Arc eye. Yeah, yeah. You're right on my, that's the technical term, but I know what you're saying. I know what you're saying. Number four, which rock musician has welding art displayed? in art galleries around the country? A, Rob Zombie, B, Sammy Hagar, C, Billy Gibbons. Billy Gibbons? Amen. Absolutely. A friend of both of ours. Billy is arguably one of the coolest cats on the planet. If you opened up an old school dictionary and looked up the word cool. There's a picture of Billy. He's just a cool dude. I love Billy. 100%. Yep. Which, okay, number five, which video game, I know nothing about this. I don't either. Which video game features welding as a legit gameplay mechanic? A, Fallout 4, B, Half-Life 2, C, Dead Space. I'm gonna say Fallout. I'm gonna go with you, because I don't know. It's Dead Space, I know nothing. I hope you all at home got that one. I knew nothing about that. Number six, which actor famously used welding, ⁓ this is cool, which actor famously used welding as part of their role prep? A, Charlize Theron, B, Patrick Swayze, C, Jennifer Beals. A. I'm gonna go with A. It's actually C, Jennifer Beals, Flashdance, she was a welder. Damn it, man. I'm confused. Damn, dude, I need to watch more TV. I never did, I never watched TV. Well, you can't get any on Goodsprings anymore, Yeah. Don't start asking me any like football, baseball, I don't Oh, no, we're not gonna go. I don't even know none of that. We're not gonna go there, I don't either, I don't either. Number seven, which movie accidentally inspired thousands of people to start welding as a hobby? Was it A, Transformers, B, Fast and Furious, C, Iron Man? Ooh, that's a tough one. I Because it's inspired. I would say Iron Man. Right on the money. It was Iron Man. For whatever reason, that movie literally inspired people to go out and start welding. I am Iron Man. I'm not an Iron Man. All right, here's the final question. That's different Iron Man. Yeah, that's Ozzy's Iron Man. Yeah, but didn't they do that in the movie? I think so. I don't think they used Ozzy's. I don't remember. I thought they did. I'm with you. He was a rich guy that just made ****. exactly. Final question. Which weld is considered the most beautiful when done perfectly? A. The TIG stack of dimes. B. MIG weave. C. Stick drag line. TIG. Right on the money. Yeah, you didn't even have to think about that. I'm surprised you even got the question out before you answered that. Before you answered that. Right, right, right. I hope everybody at home had a good time playing along here with Bob and Steve at this. Thanks for enjoying that. We're going to get back now to Steve's amazing career. Vegas Rat Rats, but Welder up on the global map. How did that opportunity come about? How'd that happen? Well, right around the time your dad passed in 2008 is when I... is when it really took mainstream. did a, I built this car and out of just wanting to do it, kinda, you know? And I took it out to this church parking lot during a car show and I did this giant burnout. Just, I don't think anybody had ever seen what a diesel engine, they never seen one exposed. I mean, back then they never, anybody that was a hot rodder, ⁓ or just a person, regular person, I've never seen a diesel engine sitting exposed with turbos hanging out. We see that in HotRide all the time, but we don't see a diesel engine exposed like that. And they're like, what is going on here? So when I did that, it went viral because it really showed the world what a diesel engine is capable of. We're ⁓ say, a diesel engine versus a big block Chevy. You could take a stock 215 horsepower Cummins to a 550 horse big block, but this Cummins makes two or three times more torque. Torque is everything. And with a little bit of boost, ⁓ life is different. It's awesome. It hit like, I don't know, seven or eight magazines in a year. One of them was Hot Rod Magazine. It became a controversy. I was face to Did you a lot of heat from it? I was ready to fist fight a lot. Yeah. I caught a lot of grief at Viva Las Vegas. Guys were, you know, that's not a hot rod. And almost led me into some fist fights in the parking lot over there with my car. Yeah. And I was like, I'm onto something. Yeah. If these guys really want to kick my ass over this, is a, they're going to have to try. They put me in the back. They told me I couldn't park up front. Yeah. After I just got done doing all the work to Paul Tracy's car. that was set right up in the very front. it was anything but traditional. And I was like, you know, that's where it goes to show you like fame will get you in the front. But if you're a nobody and you're a threat to what they're doing, they're going to shove you all the way in the back. Well, you know, I had problems at that show too. Yeah. They shunned me on a lot of stuff. It was horrible. It was a terrible experience. Needless to say, I don't go because I'm not going to support it. You know what I mean? I'm not going to support that. You know what I mean? Like I'm here as a builder. I built this thing. I built this cool looking car and I just want to show it and you're not going to let me in here. I sat at the gate for like an hour and a half trying to tell him, but you know, me in. Anyway, I think when I did that burnout, was like two and a half million views on YouTube. You know what I mean? And it's like, I can't get, you got to show your butthole now for two and a half million views. You know what I mean? Like it's dumb. That's what kind of got it there. there was a couple of production companies that had hit me up about, you should, you know, we should do something. Well, early in the, early in my, cause I didn't know nothing about TV. I didn't even know I'd ever be on TV. I didn't know nothing. I never tried or didn't know nothing about it. So this production company out of Montana hit me up and they're like, Hey, I think we could do something with this. This is really cool. Like what you're doing. And so we shot this little pilot and and all that. I mean, now I wish I would have known that what I know now, but ⁓ ironically enough, a Canadian production company came down from Canada and they were looking for a car show. So they talked to some guys in LA and they're like, man, you need to get a hold of Steve Darnell. Like he does some really cool crazy. Yeah. So this guy called me from California. He was from ⁓ Toronto. Okay. And he's like, Hey, we're looking to do a show and and we just want to see if you want to do something. I'm like, dude bro, I'm right in the middle of landscaping my yard and I don't really actually give a crap. You know what mean? Yeah. And ⁓ because at this point I can do anything. I can weld, I can landscape, I can run up equipment. What do you want me to do? I can pretty much do anything. So I don't really need this. Right. ⁓ So he's like, man, I'm going to be there. I'm going leave LA now. I'll be down there and let's talk. I'm like, all right, well, come on down. So he came down and he talked to me. so he talked me into shooting another little pilot. we were out there off of, ⁓ we were in Wheeler's yard over here off Blue Diamond and Rainbow back in the day. And shot a little pilot and a teaser and took it to Canada. And Canada looked at it they're like, I think we could do something with this. So about. six months, eight months of shopping it around. Well, the guy that was the owner of the production company, he's European. So he got Europe involved and he got Canada involved. So he's like, all right, we got enough to start shooting some episodes. So I'm like, all right, well, let's get it on. So we start shooting and America didn't even come in on it till like the third episode. And then they showed him. what we were doing. then it was out of New York, Discovery took it. Got it. So anyway, needless to say, was a f***ing show. When you're first being on TV, you're just being so accommodating because you're like, oh, this is going to be so cool. I'm going to be famous. And this is going to be awesome. And they're telling you the whole time, you're going to be famous. We're going to make you famous. Right, right, right. Okay, what do want me to do? Well, we want you to build this car in eight days. Yeah, yeah eight days. Yeah Yeah, it went from two weeks to ten days down to eight. Mm-hmm I'm talking we're talking chassis. Mm-hmm four-link in a rear end Mm-hmm Putting building the motor because we didn't have we didn't have no money. We had no budget to work with it was you know, it was yeah, you're living with it, so The first year of TV. Let's see. What do we shoot the first year eight? I think it was eight episodes just to see if it'd work. And I was beat. know, we're working at a shop, it's hot. There's no air in there. It's just a big, you know, we're just going for it. But to get to that level of the sacrifices and the torture, and don't let me forget to say that if it wasn't for my sister, I wouldn't be here. God bless her. She is the core of all of it. She lined all them guys out. She did all the attorneys, because there's a whole other side to it. mean, building a car and in the shop and fighting, that's one thing. But dealing with your attorneys and how it all works and the network wants this and that and blah, blah. she just... Stuff that people at home just don't see or get ever wrapped their minds She's behind it all. Yeah, honestly. And that's family, brother. Family, that's nothing better than that. She's behind it all. Without her, I wouldn't even be sitting here right now. What's her name? Donnelly. Donnelly, God bless Donnelly. Yeah, she's a badass and she's been by my side since we were... Is she involved with the Goodsprings? Unfortunately, yeah. For her, yes. Unfortunately for her, yes. I love it. That's a great answer. She's involved in everything. Everything. Good. I can't do nothing. Yeah. If I was at the topless bar over here charging a bunch of ****, she'd know within seconds. I you, So I, you know, I gotta watch what I'm doing. But, uh, love it. But, you know, without her and, and like a lot of motivation, um, you know, the crew, was, it was a skeleton crew and we were doing things that were unbelievable. But the one thing that worked is the first the first night of airing on Discovery Channel, I was like, here it is. Like what's gonna happen after all of this work? And I'm beat, I'm sitting there bloodshot eyes and I'm wore out. I'm just tired from all this stuff. We sit down in my backyard. I invited some friends over cause I'm like, ⁓ okay, this is gonna be cool at this point. No one even knows who you are. You know, this is where it changes your life. And you know, we're sitting there watching it on TV. And I remember the first episode and I'm just like, wow. Like I'm sitting here thinking, there's probably, you know, 3 million people watching this right now. Or 4 million people. That's pretty crazy. And I mean, this is back then. you know, ⁓ I talked to Rick at Pond Stars and when he started early in, he's like, ⁓ we're like 11, 12 million. He goes, but as you know, platforms of TV started coming on, it started dropping off. Well, yeah, it spreads all over the place. Right. So by the time I was on TV, viewership is already starting to The audience is divided to gazillion different platforms. Yeah, it's starting to decline. So if you're pulling three, four million people, that's pretty good. It's huge. From there, I think, you know, the thing about Vegas rat rods, what I think Europe and Canada, Australia, Brazil, not America, but everywhere else in the world, it was so... Like a sin. Because you go to Canada, you can't have **** like that. Europe? Forget about it. Right, yeah, it's no go in Forget about it. It's like open wheels, motor sticking out, blowers, like twin turbos, rolling coal, like we were just like the Hellions on That's insanity in other parts of the world. And so, you know, I think honestly, America's been a great support, but I think the world in itself actually loves it more. know, think... It's like the American dream for them. It is. Because they're under so much restrictions and everything. Some of the greatest fans in the world for us are out of Canada. I can't disagree with you though. The Canadians are a huge love and when I was younger, was the only time I thought about going to Canada was the Calgary Stampede rodeo. And I was like, that's about as far as I'd go into Canada. Do you know I've been all over that? You probably have too. But I've been all over Canada. They love you. They want you to come back and hang out. And then you develop this friendship with them and they're nice people. They've been really, really good to Yeah. I mean, it's funny because me and Gene Winfield would always wind up together all the time in Canada. I gotta tell you this real quick about Gene. So when he turned 90, we were in Canada. we at, but they get him this birthday cake that I'm not kidding you, it's as big as that table right there. It was huge. Yeah. Yeah. It's big cake. Yeah. And know, Jeannie liked his sweets. Yeah. You he did like sweets. So anyway, we're out there and I'm kind of hanging out and stuff like that. And I mean, he is out there dancing with two or three pretty hot chicks. And I mean, dancing his ass off and he's 90 at this time. Yep. And, um, And I'm standing over there like the cool guy like, you know, he's like, come on, get out here. Come on, Steve, come dance with us. And I mean, I'm like thinking, dude, I got this 90 year old man out here out dancing my ass. You know what I mean? But it was funny because me and my cousin were there, Dave, that was on the show with me. And I wish I could find footage of it, but we wrote a rap and I rapped in front of the hole. And my cousins bebopped and bopped. I'm like, Gene Winfield, you know, I'm just doing this fricking sick ass rap. And ⁓ it was fun. mean, and the Canadians just, they loved it. But Gene Winfield and me showed up to at least a dozen different Canadian and they would book us together. So we were always together. And ⁓ man, those were the great. Good days, man. Gene was so fun. Gene was amazing. We'd walk around together and hang out. And he was like me. He didn't care. He just didn't care where he was or what he was doing. He was a beautiful guy. And I know you two were really close. And that's really cool. Yeah. was a really good friend of mine. Yeah. Don't go anywhere, everybody. We got more stuff. We got more stuff coming up with Steve Darnell in a minute. We're going to take quick break. Steven Tyler started Janie's Fund for a simple but powerful reason. to help girls heal and move forward after trauma. I've been honored to support and work with Janie's Fund over the years. This is about giving young women access to counseling, education, stability, and the confidence to reclaim their future. Janie's Fund is built on compassion, community, and real impact because every girl deserves the chance to stand strong. Learn more or get involved at JaniesFund.org and help change a life today. Alright Steve, you're going to get this more than anybody else, what I'm trying to do here. I'd to ask my guest a series of escalating questions. Take us through all the kinds of vibes of your life, man. Like rolling through a manual transmission. I call this section Shifting Gears. So we're going to just bang out some questions. Quick questions, quick answers. Ready, Rock? Yeah, let's do it. First gear. What's the craziest client request you ever receive for a project? Craziest client. think one of the craziest ones was probably my freak show car. I had this guy, Canadian, by the way, came to me and he goes, Steve. And I mean, he's a really nice guy, very quirky. They called him the cowboy. He had this little cowboy hat. He was a car salesman up there. And he's like, man, I want a car that makes people happy. And I want to pay a smile forward. And he was just such a... And I'm thinking to my, and as soon as he starts talking about making people happy and being so like pay a smile forward, the creepiness came out of me. Like I'm like, I'm gonna make something super creepy. Like you want to, we are not doing happy. We're not doing happy. No, no. And so anyway. I developed one of the one of the funnest coolest cars out of the deal and I wound up with the car back I actually own it and it's down at the shop right now, but it's called the it's called the freak show and it's a it's a 34 international truck, but I put a 496 big block with a 671 blower a couple carbs on it and it you know, it's got a 1932 Coney Island Ferris wheel ride on the back of it, you know, and it's funny because it it you can sit in it and lock it like the old But it came from Coney Island. It's super cool. Like the history of that was bitchin'. And you know, nine-inch rear end, it's got a straight drop axle in it. And runs and drives really good. But I guess, I don't know if it was really a request, but it was like, because most of the guys that came to me about a car they wanted build, I was like, I don't really care what you're gonna tell me, what you want. I just wanna sit and talk to you. and I want to know about your family. I want to know about your kids. I want to know what you did. And then I'll go from there. You're going to build a car. I'll build it structured around you as a human. I get that. most of the guys that, well, all of them that came in and we built a car for, it was a surprise because they didn't know what they were getting at all. They might have brought me a cab or, my grandpa had this thing and I want to put it in. And that's what I'd say. Bring me your family heirlooms, bring me some stuff. I might use it, I might not. I'll try to incorporate it. But I would say the freak show was probably the best one. I went into a... I've always liked the creepy carnival. I like carnival. I like the colors of the carnival. I like the lights of a carnival. I like the untold weird parts of a carnival. I like the carnies of the carnival. I was going say the carnival world of the carnival. And when you're a kid, you go to the carnival and the carnies are there and they're just like, you know, they're really like Joe Dirt was in the movie. You know what I mean? and, but the, what I did is I, I had put some headphones in my ears with creepy carnival music for the whole time I was building it and literally went weird. Like I dropped off into some weird, just I was like, I had these small people. chasing me in my sleep with knives. like, I was really into it and listening to it. And then I researched a lot of the carnival stuff of the freak shows in the 1800s and how not politically correct that is today. And I really dug into some of the weird, really strange things and it just stuck in my brain. And I got so weird about it that when I built the freak show, And I don't know, I can't tell you that it's probably the most, one of the more detailed, it's pretty detailed, but there's other ones that are more. But this one just, it was kind of a fun, creepy way to do it. You know, I'm like, do do do do do do do do do. And I'm just in there just freaked out of my brain building this cool car. And I was so into all the little details in the, I mean, the inside of it looks like the zipper. You you got these seats and the door panels look like chewing gum stuck. It's all dirty and looks like, you know, like when you were there, right? Absolutely. And so that one is probably one of my fun ones. ⁓ Second gear. Did the pressure of TV help or hurt your creativity? It demanded it. It demanded it. It didn't hurt it. Good answer. It demanded it. Okay. And if you're, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, ⁓ big time. Because you've got to be on right now. And I'm not building one. I'm building two. Maybe three that you don't see. Right. There's the A car. Yep. Then there's a B story. Yep. and then there's another A car in the background over here because I don't have time. I got to start on that and start getting parts. And we're filming a TV show. We're building 10 or 12 cars in six months. Right. 10 or 12 in six months. I'm talking everything. You know what I'm talking about. Motor, tranny, from the ground up. And ⁓ as an artist, it's hard for me not to be involved in, know, Justin did a lot of the chassis work, but I was like, well, I kind of want to make it look like this or like that. Travis, which is an artist in the shop, which is very talented, he sees things not quite like, but he's got the talent to do what I want him to do. You know what I'm saying? So he could curve it into what we want. And the motor, it's like, okay, if we're going to build this engine, got to have these, like honestly on the freak show, I got like tuba. Like, you know, the tubas as the air intakes under the thing. Cause I want it to be just quirky. Right. So it demanded my creativity. And then my guys in my shop that were with me say like, you know, Travis and Justin and my cousin and a couple of the other guys, their mojo was with me and they're like, okay, well here's an idea. What if we do this? And I'm like, yeah, that that's exactly what I'm talking about. Once we all got in the game and I gave him a just of what I want, then we just started creating. Makes sense. But it's demanding. Third gear, your boys Chase and Cash, grew up in your shop. Do remember the first moment you watched them fall in love with what you do? Let's see. They are in love with the, like they love what I got. But you know, I would say that they, when they were, I mean, when they were little kids, I put them in the shop and they would, they raced dirt bikes. I had them on dirt bikes since they were four years old. So they raced motocross until they were in their 12 or 13 years old. They were always into. dirt bikes, cars, mini bikes, four wheelers. I don't care what it was, they were out there doing it. ⁓ As they're getting older now, Chase is working with me every day, he's 27. And it's really kind of funny. He's kind of got an old soul too. He's out there working on a 30 Ford Model A pickup, really clean. He chopped it the other day, four inches, Tig welded it all back together himself. He wants to put a V8 in it, he slammed it. We ⁓ built a jig to drop ⁓ straight axles out of a Ford. We built a jig, it's so cool, I'll have to show you it. But anyway, he did it. I was like, ⁓ we can figure this out. And then the other one, Cash, he's got a portable welding truck, so he goes out and welds stuff back together. Because I told him, how do you want to live your life? Do want to be free or do you want to be bound down to a bunch of stuff? But he's a CTSV Cadillac supercharged, Vets. He's a Vet guy, Porsches, Audis, Ferrari, like he knows them all. He's got a Z06 Corvette that he goes out here and he does a little nighttime activity with the boys. I can't say that I blame him. Yeah, you know what mean? And I love his choice of vehicle, His Z06 are wicked. I'm telling you, he's got this Z06 Corvette that is so fast. C6, Z06? Yeah. Yeah, it's a six-speed manual. favorite right there. I mean, and it's an older one, but dude, it gets down. Absolutely. gets down. yup. Chase, he's like, he's building a crew cab 1972 Ford Highboy with a cab swap in it like I did. Yeah. Putting a 6.7 Cummins in it. Yeah. And making like a daily out of it, you know? Yeah. So... I mean, they've kind of always followed in my footsteps, but they just do their own little thing. But at the end of the day, when we're all together sitting in the, say sitting in the yard together and we're talking, we're all so engaged with what we're saying. Like to have your boys, they're different, but we're so engaged with what we're saying to each other. Like I love listening to them talk, because Cash knows so much about the Audi transmission and how it works and blah, blah. and Chase knows the innards of the six, seven and how it works and the transmissions and blah, And I'm just like, I'm learning. I'm sitting here learning from my own kids now. And it's just, I love it. It's awesome that they're doing that with you. Fourth gear, what's a build that meant more to you personally than people might know or realize? Ooh, that one's tough. That is a tough question. ⁓ I don't know. There's a couple of them that I... I hated to see go. ⁓ One of the ones that I really, really loved that I put a lot of time in is there's one called the Cater Killer. And it didn't get a lot of love for some reason, right? It was like that viewing of that episode was kind of a weird time for some reason. And it didn't really get out as much as I thought it would, but it was a, it was a 28 Ford model A that was channeled, chopped. and I put a caterpillar engine in it and I put tracks on the back of it like a cat. ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah. But all the details on that car were all hard-faced and it looked like a dozer because the guy owned heavy equipment. Yeah. And I wanted it look like a you know, like a little caterpillar running down the road. Right. And I just remember putting so much time in that car and it came and went so fast. And I wish it's clear on the East Coast over in like Pennsylvania or something. So I don't know if I'll ever see it again. But That was one that I, that one and probably my Peter built that is out here that I have now, my black, you would, which I know you would love it. Oh, big time. I'm already digging it. This truck is built like him. Yeah. You would love it. I got to see it. But that one there was one that never seen TV. Okay. But it's another one that C15 cat, you know, goes down the highway. do all my, it's my car hauler. I pull up and pull cars out of people's yards with it. It's, look forward to seeing that. Yeah. You got to see that one. Fifth gear. When you see a kid in your welding class who reminds you of you at 16 years old, what's the one thing you try to get through to them before they leave the shop? Honestly, the first thing I do is I talk to them about being a drunk or a drug addict. Yeah. Because... God bless you know, if... That's good. I go, you can come here and you can learn and be the best welder in the world. Right. But if you go home... and you turn into a drunk or a drug addict, it's all for nothing. Because you'll be 30 years from now looking back going, 30 years has gone by and what did I do? I go, I've seen that ruin more people, ⁓ being a drunk or a drug addict because you can't work an honest day. You can't get up in the morning. You got a drink to go to sleep. It's a rough way to be, if you want to have something successful. and you're on your own and you got nobody to back you up, it's all about you. And if you ruin that, I don't care how good a welder you want to be. If you ain't got daddy's money, you don't have an inheritance, you don't have nothing. Most of these guys that are coming to me is because they have nothing. A lot of kids that have everything, they don't care to weld. They're just like, nah, I'm just, you know, whatever. I'm sure my parents will take care of me. These kids are starving and we need them. We need that in this country right now is we need guys that want to work outside and be a man and be tough. And that's the one thing that I have to get across to him because I'm like, I was never really smart when I was in school. I didn't have anybody motivating me to be to college or, you know, none of that stuff. It was like, here you go, here. Yeah, figure it out. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I mean go figure it out. God bless you on that. mean, you're you're you're giving these you're giving these young people a skill in a craft, but I like I like that. That's the one thing you want to get across to them is is is a life thing. That's a beautiful. Well, my my welding courses. Yes, I'm going to teach you how to weld while you're there, but I'm going to motivate your ass. Yeah, and I'm going to tell you how I feel because guess what? You're in my world now. Yeah, and I'm to tell you what I think. Yeah, and whether you like it or not. And a lot of times they come with their dads. And you know how kids are. They don't want to listen to their dad. I didn't. I was like, ⁓ okay, whatever, dad. Until I'm older and then I realized how smart he was. But when you're young like that, it's almost better that someone kind of choose your ass that isn't your dad that you look up to. Because then you're going to take that and run with it. But that's kind of what I do is I just want to let them know that I, each and every one of them that come, especially these young guys. I really want them to keep your nose clean and don't be a piece of s***. You know what mean? Good call. Overdrive. We're going to the overdrive gear now. If you learned you only had one year left, what's the last project that you want to take on? How's that for a question? It's kind of crazy because if I only got one year to live. ⁓ Or at least one year left in business, one year left in building. I have this car. What's the last project? have this car called Hell. Okay. Okay. That I want to build. And it's Hell. Okay. Because, you know, in our world, if I built a car about Jesus Christ, no one would give a ****. Okay. No one would care. Oh, I would, but go ahead. You would. But think about the average. Right, I get it. know what you're saying. car, gold trim. Right. People are like, oh, okay. But if you build a car about hell, they all want to see it. You know what I'm saying? Sure, I get what you're saying. But I have this car, Hell, I want to build. And it's just incredibly, very highly detailed. It would take me years to probably build it, but it's stuck in my head for years. So I probably won't get to it, if all I had was a dedicated year and a shitload of money, I'd do it. That'd be it. Yeah. I got you. I got you. I would want to see that. Steve, I just want to say, we're wrapping up. Thank you. for spending a lot of time with us. Thank you for getting my mind going on some stuff, for sharing your creativity over the years, the stories. We ain't gonna forget this, brother. Steve Darnell, you rock, man. Thank you for being here. are a friend, you are an inspiration, you are quite the accomplished man, and ⁓ I'm proud to call you a brother. Thanks for being appreciate you. Thanks for being here, for having me. Absolutely, man. Thanks, brother. Doing another killer episode. Steve's awesome. I mean, he's a great dude. He's a family man. He's been friends. Me and Steve have done a lot of different things over the years together. He's just like a brother. I call him. I need help. He's on the way. Yeah. Flag-waving, patriotic American too, which I love that about him. And something else that I really dig about him is the old soul. mean, this can't go He's an old man. Yes, he really is. He's an old man hiding in a younger man's heart. Yeah. ⁓ a really good guy. mean, the things that he wants to, not just his craft, but what he wants to pass on to the younger generation as far as being a good man, being a good person. Well, and he wants to teach the kids, just like we've talked about over and over the years. It's like, if we're not teaching people to do it now, these young kids, who's going to do it? When I'm old and you're old, who's going to fix our stuff? Right. I love the fact that you didn't classify me as old yet. Thank That's correct. ⁓ That's a wrap. That's a wrap for this episode of Count's Culture. Thanks for hanging out with us. I'm honored that you guys chose to listen to our podcast. If you want the full experience, head over to our YouTube channel at Count's Culture and Cultures with a K and watch the entire episode there. You can also find the show on all major podcast platforms and please connect with us on TikTok X. Facebook and Instagram for exclusive and behind the scenes content. Until next time, be good to one another, follow your dreams, and be cool in everything you do. You guys rock.