Sahil Laul: And he punches it and the front end comes off the ground and hits the wheelie bars. And I laughed at it. Yeah. And his buddy threw an apple at me and hit me in the head with the apple because he thought I was a A attack with an apple. A traveling circus of women's oil wrestling. And the best business advice you'll ever receive. What do these things have in common? They're just the surface of an insane crash course on life, tenacity, and entrepreneurship. And it's all coming up right now. Welcome to Count's Culture, a late night podcast where cool doesn't punch a time clock. I'm Danny the Count Coker. This show is for anyone who lives for cars, bikes, rock and roll, great energy, maybe an occasional cocktail and stories that stick with you long after the night's over. And even if you don't know me or Count's Customs or anything about what we do, that's cool too. Your home here doesn't matter what road you've been on or where you're headed next. From this moment on, you're part of the Count's Customs family. ⁓ My promise is simple, real conversations, incredible people, and stories about life, passion, struggle, success, and everything in between. Thank you for being here. Buckle up. Let's enjoy the ride. Now as you know in every episode, I'm joined by one of my members of my Count's Customs family. I'm gonna regret saying this, but today I'm with the one guy at the shop who's legitimately probably more famous than me. Man, I hate that part. The horniest man in Las Vegas, and that's quite the accomplishment. My brother, Mr. Horny Mike. Thank you for having me. What's up, Holmes? I'm good, man. How you doing, man? I like that. I don't think that I would be more famous than you. I'm just being nice. Yeah, I think maybe they would talk trash about me a little bit more, but I don't know if I'm more famous. There's a difference. Yeah, man, absolutely, man. You know, I'm just being nice. What are up to? Man, well, as you know, I just got an embroidered machine. So, you know, I'm starting new ventures behind your back. Yeah, no, that's good. In front of you and behind your back. No, that's all good because, you know, I tell you something funny. ⁓ There's a public perception because, you know, counting cars all those years. And so many times people have the perception of, I don't like you or you and I don't get along or why do I put up with you and all this kind Or I'm stupid, I'm moron. Yeah, I've heard all those And they're all true. But, you know, but no, on a funny note, you people don't realize that's just the great relationship you and I have. ⁓ You do make me crazy at times, but... Your talent and your abilities and stuff are phenomenal. People don't know behind the scenes and I hate to let this out of the bag is you're really a great guy. You're really nice, good human being that wants to do good by people. I think you spiked my drink. I try to. People challenge that a lot though, know, they really do challenge it. I do, you know, being around you all these years, I must say, you know, you've been a very good influence on me. I'm trying, You're a lot of work. good influence. Thanks bro. I definitely started out not having a problem just spitting on people just for the hell of it. ⁓ Right. And you've definitely put some morals behind myself. Thank you for telling me that man. I'm doing my best. You did a good job over the years. Slowly but surely wore my disgusting human being down and was like, you can probably show the other side right? That's it. And that's the side I like to show off of you man because it's there and it's good so everybody. Well, and as far as what they've seen on the show, that's very simple, It's ⁓ still a brotherly thing. You may be the boss, but it's still more of a brotherly thing. ⁓ Everybody that works here at Count's Customs knows that I don't necessarily like to be the boss. It's us. It's not me and you guys, it's us. And that's what I like. And I've always enjoyed that because let me tell you, every boss that's ever tried to ⁓ lock me up and put me in a corner, Well, no, didn't work out for them. doesn't work out, man. doesn't work out. I had a boss a long time ago. He kind of got me in the corner. Yeah. And, you know, I was late. No, some **** like that. I was late again. No, not you. I swear. It was weird. It was an off day. So was like 1130, and, you know, he takes me in a little lunch room, and he goes, hey, what's wrong with you? What's going on, man? Yeah. You know, we started at 8 o'clock. I said, well, the airbrush department starts about 1145. ⁓ And he's like, who the hell do you think you are, you know? He's like, I'm the boss. You know, I tell you when you get here and when that. And I was like, you know what, you're right. You are the boss. But you're also the same guy that keeps promising me more money. you never give it to me. But you always promise it to me. But you never show up with it. I was like, so I decided I'm not going to let you waste my time anymore. I'll come in when I feel like it. He goes to me, goes, who the fuck do you think you are? Everybody's replaceable and I said yeah, you're right. I should look for a new boss Yeah, but tomorrow I'm coming in at 12 Yeah, yeah. Well see what you gotta learn in in our business is creative people work in a different manner and and so, you know ours you got to let creative creativity run free, but as the boss, you also have to make sure that you TCB, you get the business done. But putting strict parameters in a creative genre is a difficult thing to do. So you just gotta make sure that the business gets finished and gets done and that it's proper and let the creativity flow as it is. say it's gonna be done Wednesday. It's gonna be done Wednesday. It'll be done. It may be done at 12 or 11.59. Right. No, I know that. I know that about you. But it will get done right right so check this out before we we're gonna bring Chuck Brandon out here in a minute Just just for the heck of it. I may regret asking us. What'd do last night? What did I do last night? Well, you know I mean I'm right back Yeah, I was just working on my embroider machine trying to figure things out good. ⁓ you know now that I got it I mean, I wish I had a fun story for you, but I sat in my garage and I made I made hats. That's a refreshing. That's a great story. I like that you were working. You were taking care of business. Let me ask you another question. Counting cars is in our rearview mirror right now. And you know, the fans don't always get to see all the crazy things you're working on. What are you working on right now that's got you stoked the most? For you, your thing. you know, my ultimate project is my Batmobile. I know. That's my ultimate I was going to bring that up. Yeah, that's, mean, yes, I'm working on a Corvette, but I'm only just going to finish that 1968 wide-body Corvette with the 427 sticking out the hood. I'm only going to finish that, it, make it beautiful, make it amazing, and then sell it so that I can finance the Batmobile. Just like counting cars is gone, so is any of the money I made on it. You know, as that Corvette starts getting more complete, we need to share the word everybody because, yeah, somebody's gonna, that car is way cool. Somebody's gonna want that car and yeah, that car will be a huge step to finance the business. Where's my camera? They're gonna pay for it. Deeply. I love it, I love it. Don't go anywhere everybody, in just a minute, one of the most fearless, unapologetic and influential entrepreneurs in America. Gonna be sitting down right here with us. A self-made power player, avid car collector, and a guy who does everything full throttle in business and in life. It's the incomparable Chuck Brennan coming right up here on Count's Culture. There are 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 fascinating, controversial, and relentlessly driven entrepreneurs in America. He's a serial builder in every sense of the word, from finance to entertainment to philanthropy. A guy who's proven over and over that he doesn't follow the rules, man, he writes new ones. He founded the Dollar Loan Center, built an empire of financial services across four states. created the Brennan Rock and Roll Academy for underprivileged kids, built the DLC Event Center in Las Vegas, and is a collector whose car vault and rock memorabilia room go beyond museum quality. One of the boldest voices in Vegas, the king of doing things his way, the one and only Mr. Chuck Brennan. Hello, brother. That's an elephant intro. Hey man, come on brother. I would want to watch this too. You deserve I got to hear about this. Darren Wright brother, you deserve it. How are you? I'm great. Thanks for having me in man. Thank you so much. I've been looking forward to this. Thank you. For a long time. And it's super exciting. It's first one of these I've ever done by the I heard it was either me or Joe Rogan. I told Dana White this once. I said, you know, I'm waiting for Joe Rogan. to do my first podcast because look, there's a lot of them. So you got to start at the top. But for you, I settled. I'm going to do you instead. Thank you, brother. you. Somehow or I like that, I think. Look, we're partners on way too many things. Amen. And I wouldn't miss this. from the bottom of my heart and my family and the Dollar Loan Center family, congratulations on this and all your success. Love this. Thank you so much. know, everybody at home, got you got to realize Chuck and I, we go back and there is there is a ton of love and respect here, at least going that way. Well, we're Vegas. You know, and you more than most, you've been here forever. And there's so many incredible stories right here between these mountains in this valley. There is. And it's it's absolutely amazing. It's fun to be a part of it and a fan of it. Yeah. and live it and be it every day here. And we to be it. How cool is that? It's extremely cool to be honest with you. I mean, I've seen this valley change so much. My first time here was I came in 78 and I was here from 78 to 82 and then I've been back since 89. And it's changing. know, when I left here, went to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Let's not talk about that right now. And then I went to South Are you here just to get us off track? Yeah, basically. He disappeared. I wanted to know where he went. Well, know, then South Florida for a while, and then I came back here. Now, thank you, Mike. So anyway, Chuck, let me ask you a question. What car did you pull out of the garage for your ride over here today? Well, our daily drivers are the Lamborghini Urus, right? And I've always kind of disliked people with Lamborghinis, to be quite honest. And it's because they're so low and so uncomfortable. that I'd blow a hammy getting in or out, it's tough. But when they came out with the Urus, it's like, I describe it as the comfort of a Range Rover with the motor of a NASCAR. And they're a lot of fun. So they're Mary and I daily drivers. She's the only grandma in town with two child seats in the back for our grandkids, but that's our daily driver. See, there you go. I was talking about, what do they feel like? Again, I'm not 100 % sure. I don't, yeah. Yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about. We're talking about a Lamborghini. They're the SUVs. Yeah, of Lamborghini. Yeah. Oh, gotcha. They've been out since 2019. Yeah. And it's my favorite daily driver. Yeah. Which is awesomely cool to have a friend that his daily driver is a Lamborghini. And dude, this new 2025 is a hybrid. It's also my first electric car. Really? So I kind of feel like maybe I'm doing something important. This is the one that that. When we did the Janey's Fund in LA, you had this. Right, just to got it. Yeah, yeah. What an incredible ride, by the way. it's different getting used to it. It's really cool though, because you get to punch off the line of the electric and then the backup of the, you know, 85,000 horsepower, whatever it has. A lot of fun. You know, we're a hot rod shop. Well, I'm just telling us about your electric car. It's weird, you know? I didn't have a choice. At this point, that's what they have. I guess. in, you take it. I said, it yellow and black? They said, yeah. was perfect. They wouldn't get us then. So I know we got some football going on today. We do. And I know you're going to get home in a little bit to check out some football. And I thank you for coming down and hanging out with us. So my question now is, who's your team and why are you such a big fan? I've been a Raiders fan since I'm 12. Love it. And I'm so optimistic to be disappointed every year. They're just terrible. And it's a bummer. I grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And in South Dakota, you're either a Packers fan or a Vikings fan. So my second favorite team is the Packers, has been forever. Been a lifelong Packer fan. So was my dad, my family, my son. So in the day, Lyle Alzado was a famous raider. He was the epitome of that whole era. And he went to school in Yankton, South Dakota, not too far from where I grew up. And watching him play... at Met Stadium when they were still outdoors against Tarkington, you know, in Minneapolis against the Vikings. the sweat and the water and the frozen beard, they were real gladiators. And it just really caught my eye. And that's the team I got a root for. These guys are animals, right? Absolutely. So I've been a fan for a long time. Obviously they've been terrible since six minutes into the Super Bowl in 2002 ⁓ when Gruden figured out the whole game plan. and Barrett Robbins was in Mexico. He thought the game was already over. He was so messed up on drugs, the center was kind of the key to all of it. All this stuff. And since then, it's been a mess. And I absolutely. loved Al Davis, I thought him and Madden were the epitome of football. ⁓ I don't disagree with anything they're doing now. The coolest thing is ⁓ they came to Vegas, And they built this great stadium. They brought so much here. was like a dream come true. It's really, I still can't believe it. Haven't missed a game there and really enjoy it as a fan. But I don't know if it's just too commercial, too Hollywood, too California. I don't know what it is. I can't put my finger on it. But my question isn't doing what Al did and it's just not about football. Yeah, those are tough shoes to fill Al Davis. Brother, tough shoes to fill. Old school football. Yeah, very old school. And when you bring up guys like, know, Lyle Alzado and Tarleton. Yeah, mean, just wonderful. Those are like the pioneers of real deal stuff. You have an insane rock memorabilia collection. I mean, I've seen parts of it, but what's the last piece that you bought or got that really made you feel like a kid again, took you back? Well, I'm, you know, and this isn't to toot your own horn, but when we went through the whole vamped closing and those last state of concerts and things like that, just prior to that at your club at vamped, ⁓ I had my birthday party, as you remember. It was amazing. again, Mike, you got to hear this stuff, Chuck just kind of rolls over things. He threw a birthday party at my rock club, okay, before we shut it down. But who were the attendees? Who came to celebrate at Chuck Brenner's birthday party? Nobody big, just some friends. Nobody big, just some friends. Okay, we're There's so much backstory to all this, so we probably should plug in a couple seconds. Okay. Because I'm kind of known for being in the lending business, but in the day I used to manage bands when I was 21, I owned a big rock club in Minnesota, and I used to promote concerts all over the Midwest. I have a... I've accumulated an incredible group of friends like yourself over the years and this particular event was actually on a Tuesday night. And why? Because it was really my birthday, January 23rd. So your band, of course, was nice enough to back them up and we had just a couple incredible backup bands. And then all my lead singer buddies came in. My God, had Kevin Kenney from Driving and Crying. Jizzy Pearl from Love Hate. We had Phil Lewis from LA Guns. Mike Reno from Lover Boy. The big one at the end, mean, look, the Offspring came in and did a set at the end, Dexter and Noodles and Todd. It was incredible. Who am I missing? mean, I feel bad. Was Jesse James Dupree at that? Yeah, Jesse James Dupree was there from Jack. You're missing me. didn't get to... I was missing you. I get to there. Right. And oh my God, who are we missing? Tammy Down? Tammy? Oh, that's right. Tammy was there. Yeah. It was crazy. From Faster Pussycat. Yeah. was... Oh, Sebastian? Sebastian Bach was Steven Pearcy? Oh, Steven Pearcy from These are all people that just came down to celebrate Chuck's birthday party. They did. I got him a plane ticket in a room. But it didn't like give him any money. right, right. the coolest part about that show is all those guys got to watch the other guys perform. Yeah. And it turned into it, you know, almost a four hour thing. It was. everybody sang two, three songs. Yeah. Offspring sang four, I think. Yeah. But it was crazy. It was an amazing night. Yeah. So to answer your question on the weed bag there. the memorabilia. The memorabilia was that night. OK. ⁓ My awesome guy, John, and my marketing team, we made these killer guitars at the end of the just at the 11th hour, we had everybody sign them, took pictures with everybody signing them, and I'll never forget it with the date on there. And the best memorabilia is memorabilia, in my opinion, this isn't for everybody. Some people collect memorabilia and it's, ⁓ my God, I got this great piece, so-and-so signed it, it's from this event. The memorabilia I like are events that I either promoted, I was involved in, I knew what was going on. Anybody can go out there and buy, especially online, anywhere. Our stuff's personal. All personal. I like When you go through our office and our little museum, it's all personal. Back to the original poster that we hand drew for our first shows in the day or whatever. The concert tickets, the passes, the posters, all of that. Because that tells the story. And to me, I dig it. And of course, when I die, my family will just get rid of all of it, I think. I think I need to do stuff like this So they they realize and have something immortalized that right might have been important to the old man Maybe we ought to maybe we should keep it for the grandkids or something. Don't sell pop stuff Okay, all right Chuck you are a guy that moves fast You really do when you slow down like like seriously actually slow down and take time. What do you do for fun that? might surprise people. I'm on one speed and I don't want to get the point out that I'm this crazy work, work, work, work, work guy. It seems that somewhere along the line, I think it was probably when my son was born, Jet, and he's just about ready to turn 21, that something kind of triggered there. I took life at a little bit different approach, didn't quite take things as serious, and really mixed in, ⁓ I call them the fun dots, along with the work. ⁓ And Mary and I, and she's extremely involved in the company, as you know, and probably does more than I do now. Somewhere along the line, that switch too. But we really think that work is fun and fun is work. But we can just take off for a while. Like in Vegas, when it hits 100, I kind of get the hell out of Dodge and run down to Newport Beach or somewhere halfway cool because I get overheated here in the summer. But still working during that. And I like to, the reason we love Vegas, both of us, is all the sporting events, all the concerts, all the things that are going on, the specialty parties that people would have no idea in a million years that are happening that who do we run into when we're there each other and stuff. It's like, how are we so lucky to get to do these things? It is kind of a blessing when you run into. people that you network with all the time and you find each other at these events. It's easier when you get an invite though, you know. If you're invited to it and you show up and then you meet those people, it's a lot easier that way. It does make you feel a part of the community and you run into the same people and you hear this a lot, but it is a small town. It is. And the same people are involved in the same things and it does give you that sense of accomplishment, not only for you, but for the city and everything that you're going on with at that time. To answer the question again, I kind of weave it all together and if I'm at an event, know I'm working the hardest thing for me doing this podcast right now is my phone's gonna be off for about an hour or so and I do I run the entire company From that wherever I'm at. I'm always working. I have fun doing it. ⁓ I think when you retire you die I really think it I really am one of those believers of it. I don't have any retirement date in mind. Yeah My biggest business, latest one, the one we talk about most, Dollar Loan Center, was my eighth business. We're going on 30 years of that, and it seems like I just started. Well, you're only 35, so I don't know how you do it. No, exactly, exactly. You're the guy that's working, working, working all the time. So I get that. You got a lot of different projects going all the time. You're not just working on one thing. What's the thing? It's taken up the biggest chunk of your time right now. The newest Chuck Brennan Empire expansion that we need to know about. What are you doing? Well, with Dollar Loan Center, we have about 75 locations right now. Right. We're in Nevada. We're in Utah. Couple years ago, we opened up 14 locations in Idaho. Right. But right now, that's a very easy answer. We're expanding to Wisconsin. Yep. And we're opening up 30 locations, 36 rather locations there. We opened up our first one October 1st and we're opening a location every Monday. You're kidding me. No. That's massive. Yeah. I mean, you you and I talk semi-regularly and I never know where you are. And yes, your phone is never but inches away from you. But every time I talk to you now, you're here, you're there, you're all over the place. And when we expand to a new market, I need to be there. Right. Because one thing I still do is I pick out all the locations, you know, I check out the traffic patterns, the... the egress, the signage, ⁓ is it gonna be good for the customers, all of it. I've seen that about you and that's something that I really respect and admire. You are not just the big cheese over here who's doing things by remote control. You're very hands on. I've actually been in offices with you and on the way out you're like, would you help me straighten this table? Yeah, that's true. You know what I'm saying? It is. Because I'm too weak to move it. I need some help. Now, I do two big things. I'm really hands-on when we set up the locations. I want them perfect. Because I know when we get the whole region set up, it goes on autopilot. We have a great team of people from facilities to finance to the loan processors and all that. They're going to take care of it when I go. But when I'm there, I'm fully engaged. Like this summer, I rented a house in Wisconsin near Green Bay for six months. I'll be out there April 1 to October 1, 90 % of the time to make sure we wrap up these 36 locations in 18 months. They're up, running, and rolling. So the next time I need to see those folks is when I host the holiday party. Well, you know, that's so funny because you were just triggering in my mind when you're talking about your team. Your team is amazing. You really collect. Amazing people. Yeah, that's a good word to collect. It's the truth and people really make the difference but something that I really noticed because I've been to one-year holiday parties and The love that your team has for you is huge and the love that you have for your team is huge and it shows and it's awesome And you are all business and you make sure that they're taking care of business, but there's a thing there That's really awesome between you and your team. Yeah, it's all business But I think that's just keeping them in the loop and making them kind of part of the car Let them know where we're at good or bad. Yep Really? I like that. And measuring people and letting people know. As tough as it is, we rank all of our 78 stores weekly. So you kind of know where you're at up and bottom. it goes out to the regional managers. And they're part of the team. And Dollar Loan Center is not a company like other ones where annually you're going to get a 3 or 4 5 % raise. Yeah. You could get a bonus that's double your salary. Or you could get a big, you you suck, you gotta get out. And it's good for everybody because if somebody's not doing a great job, it's not good for the company and it's not good for the person. you gotta cut ties. The best business advice I've ever gotten, ever, from Jack Daly was the most expensive time in a business owner's career is the time between they lose faith in an employee and the time they do something about Okay. And when you really think about that as a business guy or anybody watching, that is the time because that person that you lose faith in, they're never gonna come back anyway. Losing faith in somebody is a big thing, right? Right. It isn't like they screwed up, they forgot to do this, they showed up late. Right. You've really lost faith in the, you can't get that back. Got it. So they are gonna pollute your organization. Okay. Until they go. Got it. And when they do go, in almost every instance, the rest of the staff are like, man, it's about time they got rid of them, about time they saw them. That is great advice. In every instance. I can say that Danny's been through that. Yeah, he might be through it after the I was just going to say, before this podcast is over, it might not be through. Yeah, I'll help you with that. I'm an expert. Danny's been trying to pick me like a scab for years. It won't come off. Dude, that's just wrong, man. That's just wrong. Oh my God. Part of our success is just keeping people in the loop on that. Yeah. You know, letting them know where it is, being transparent with everybody. We're transparent with our loan customers, and that's why nobody touches us. And we are transparent with the staff. And that holiday party is something else. I mean, it really is. You talk about my birthday party and how big that is. The holiday party is over the top. We close every location in the country. We fly everybody to Vegas. It's a dress-up event, gowns, black ties, all that. Employees only. No spouses. Right. So you are running into people that you're talking to on the phone, emailing with. do this store. This store's doing great. I've heard about you. It is gold. It was a ball. It was a ball. I had a blast and your people are amazing. you that you contacting them? Just in case, you know, I this guy. I'm getting one of these parties. keep hearing about it. They're great. We go all in on this holiday party. It's really my thing. Oh, yeah. We give away at least a quarter million in cash and prizes. new cars, we do live promotions. We go through all this. And you've there, you've seen it I was there, bro. mean, there were times, because he does drawings with his employees, like that. He's literally giving away cars. A briefcase, and a briefcase full of cash, given away for Literally. Let's do that. Let's do it next year. I like it. I can't really breathe. I'm losing faith. Faith might have been lost by this Might have been. We started with the holiday party. promote longevity with the company. And to win, your only qualification is you've been there a year. So that way you're getting psyched for the next year on the pool of prizes that go out. And it's all about longevity. And when one of my new staff members start, it's within seconds that another employee is going, you think this is crazy. You wait till you see this guy at the holiday party. You're not gonna believe what happens. It's definitely something to see. I got a question. How did you, I mean, How'd you start Dollar Loan Center? Basically did you have too many friends come by and be like, hey man, No, no, no, no, we're gonna get to that Mike. We're gonna get to that Mike. You just sit over there. Mike is so far ahead of I'm curious. I think he's back in. think I have faith in I'm getting faith a little bit more. But we're gonna put him on hold. Before I dig any deeper on anything, okay, you get one shot to put me on the spot here, just for a second. This is something we do on a regular basis. Ask me any question you want. could be business, Vegas, cars, motorcycles, music. Whatever you want and I'm gonna do my best to not dodge it. I'm gonna do my best. Right now? Yes, sir. This is the question right now. This pops into my head immediately. Oh, actually scare me. Well, and the reason is because I've been guilty of this before too and putting too many things out there. But why haven't you really looked at in your life focusing a little bit more on a little bit less? And I think that's something that should always be top of mind to the count because you put you put your ⁓ you know you put it out there in a lot of different that's the best business that you're having out there sir and ⁓ less is more that i've i've found out somewhere along the line ⁓ you're a smart guy you're a faithful guy you ⁓ you do have focus that that a lot of people don't have and and i think one thing that ⁓ that i could give you as a as a gift is to possibly make something somewhere along the line a little more simple. Less is more at a certain point. is probably the deepest, heaviest question that I did not expect to get asked on this. ⁓ shockingly enough, I have a bit of an answer for you. good. And since you asked that question, it makes me realize that I'm trying to fix that in my life right now. ⁓ a distraction is why. I ran in 14 different directions on purpose at one time in my life because I needed a distraction. ⁓ And that was all over the loss of my father who was, you know... my best friend on the planet. when the good Lord called him home, I really needed to distract myself. And I found myself running in 14 different directions. That is a really deep question and a really deep answer. And I can't believe that I'm just talking about this. But ⁓ now that I find myself several years down the road, I am starting to streamline, so to speak, and focus on the things that need to be more focused on. Wow, do I owe you for that one. It's under complicated and oversimplified. Right. I've had over 20 businesses, probably closer to 30. Dollar Loan Center is my biggest. Every time I start a new one and go off in a different direction, Dollar Loan Center dips. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's paying the bills for everything. You're right. all my crazy stuff. You're right. The family and team says that I'm the arsonist and they're all the fire department. And you have that same disease a little bit. We do. We carry that. you're a great television personality. You're great at doing stuff like this. The public needs to engage with you. A lot of the other distractions, maybe not so much. Need to go away. You're right, you're right. Are you guys talking about me? We are. No, we're gonna get on that. You guys don't go anywhere. We're gonna take a break here and we'll be right back with more of my brother Chuck Brennan. 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 JaniesFun.org and help change a life today. Chuck, let's go back to the beginning. You did not come from privilege. I know this. You built everything from the ground up. What do you remember about your early years in South Dakota that shaped who you became? Well, that's some good history there. I grew up 28 years in South Dakota. My dad was military, Navy, 21 years in the Amen. God out of the Navy and worked for the government another 21 years. a pipe fitter journeyman at the VA hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Mom was a homemaker, ⁓ only child, like a lot of folks that I know, they kind of get creative, right? So maybe it had something to do with that. My dad wasn't an entrepreneur. ⁓ We didn't have a lot of money at all. I didn't know that growing up. I kind of thought everything was normal, but we were ⁓ definitely lower middle class, ⁓ Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Yeah. yeah, lower upbringing to say the least. Humble. The first business I did, I started in sixth grade buying and selling lunch tickets. It was really that simple. know, on lunch ticket day, the kids would get them and I'd give them five bucks for 20 lunch tickets and sell those 20 for 10 bucks as 100 % markup. And you know, when you talk... the same thing, but I stole them out of the teacher's desk. Well, that's cool. It's a little different. After a while, then I would go down to Prairie Market, which was kind of like a Sam's Club back in the day, right? And you buy a big old box of Snickers bars and peanut M &Ms. if you came to me at school with your dollar that your parents sent you, you could get a lunch ticket and a candy bar. And I was always about 100 % markup on it. And as simple as that, when you talk to so many entrepreneurs, they'll all tell you that it was always something just really simple. literally my first business starting out. So I've always had something there. How old were you? Well, I was sixth grade, so I don't know, 12 or whatever. like that. 14, 18, I don't know. I sold candy bars in high school too. Bought them for 50 cents, them for a dollar. I was unaware of why everybody was so lazy to go get them themselves. Well, there you go. So I made money every day. I actually got busted one time in school for selling candy bars. Really? Yeah, they thought I was selling drugs. was like, yeah, was selling drugs for a dollar a piece. I mean, I don't know what type, but you know, it was weird. I like hearing it though, because, know, maybe I'll own a dollar loan center. Maybe you will. Right. There was a long way between between those two. But and my biggest customer at that time were the teachers, right? Oh, that's hilarious. ate too and they had to go through the lunch line and they all wanted a candy bar. And did they know you were working the hustle? Yeah. My dad went up to the school and did a little welding job on my locker and put a separate little lock on it, because I got robbed a couple of times there. But it was all these little things early on. But I think your question was where it started. It definitely started there. I was a hustler. I didn't want to be poor. I didn't want to be like everybody else I saw all the time. would be fascinated with the family discussions when they're talking about $0.05 an hour or $0.10 an hour, this benefit. or whatever, things that seem so unrealistic when you look at the real world. And how are you going to get anywhere in life if you're looking to make an extra 25 cents an hour and waiting to retire? My parents thought I was pretty nuts because it's like, now you're going to be self-employed. How's that going to work? You're not going to have any benefits. You're not going to have this. You knew this at such a young age though. So where did that come from? I really don't know. I wish I did. I I had advice to give people on it. I coach a lot of young entrepreneurs on a lot of great ideas and mistakes not to make and try to help them. But there's really something innate about being an entrepreneur. It's either in you or it isn't. We have four kids and they're as different as you can be. Really? So it's got to just be in your DNA. is what it is. So what in the world then, okay, you basically grew up with this entrepreneurial mind not even knowing how that happens. Where in the world, where does the idea of Dollar and Loan Center come from? How in the world did that happen? That was way later. That's so far into the game. That's 1996. After I moved to Las Vegas, after I just got through filing bankruptcy on business number seven. All these businesses haven't been great. Some of them have been traumatic. Well, I do have to bring up a personal favorite business that you were involved in and that would be the... ⁓ wrestling. Wrestling, yeah, we'll get to that. Maybe we will. So, know, the chronological order of this, I had some businesses throughout high school. I made it through one semester of college, couldn't handle it. I just thought the professors were talking a completely different language. I'm in economics classes and I, at the time, I thought I was just so far advanced on what they were talking about. They're talking about unrealistic things and I needed to get back to my business, I started managing bands when I was 18. And ⁓ I was too young to even get in the bars that I was promoting them at. It was just crazy. How did that happen? You start managing bands at 18? Riff Raff out in Minneapolis, St. Cloud when I was 18 years old. for a while there until I turned 19 when the drinking age changed, I couldn't get into the bars that they were being booked at. But I saw Alice Cooper when I was three years old. I saved up money for months to go see ACDC open up for Cheap Trick in the Sioux Falls Arena in 1977. This stuff changed my life. My whole existence and what I wanted to be at the time was a rock concert promoter. I wanted to be Bill Graham, wanted to Doc McGee, I wanted to be somebody big in the rock industry. And the punchline to that is I found out how to make a small fortune in the music business early on. And that's to spend a large fortune because you're gonna lose all your money and go bankrupt. Which I did in 1993. We just did a massive fast forward. Fast forwarding on the youngest person in Minnesota ever to get a liquor license on my 25th birthday. Or excuse me, my 21st birthday. You know, I bought a roller skating rink there with my two cousins on 10 acres of land, a 10,000 square foot bank. 21 years old. You buy was 19 when it started. So I was managing riff-raff and a couple of rock bands out there and the ballroom scene was big in the Midwest, all these great ballrooms back to the, you know, where Buddy Holly was at the Surf Ballroom, right? In Minnesota. that was a big part of the rock scene. So when I grew up, we would travel to all these small towns and go to the showboat or the Hollyhock or all these crazy historical ballrooms to see these killer rock bands. So. roller skating had died in this town called Pipestone, Minnesota, dead center between Minneapolis and Omaha. So a great rock path, man. Everybody went, all the bands played Minneapolis, all the bands played Omaha. There really wasn't **** in between. So they're on their way, they're traveling. So my cousin and three highways met at this roller skating rink, but it 10,000 square feet on 10 acres of land and we bought it out of bankruptcy, $67,000. Crazy, right? 10,000 square foot place. 10,000 square feet on 10 acres where two highways meet. Unbelievable. We bought it cheap, fixed it all up ourselves, opened it in less than eight months, and it was the hottest thing out there. It was called the Blitz Ballroom, named after the ballroom Blitz. Right. You know, and it was the ****. And that was 1989, 1990, 1991, and that area, National X every weekend, Blue Oyster Cult and Marley Hatchett and Fog Hat and all these biker style bands, Joan Jett and the new breaking bands in the day like Britney Fox and Danger Danger. I booked Nirvana there for 2,500 bucks coming out of the Mirage in Minneapolis. You're kidding. I still got the contract and the drill box of CDs from Sony. Of course they didn't do the play because they went huge right off the bat. But it was, I told Grohl that story just a few years ago. I don't want to get off on a tangent there, but that's kind of where it started. I wanted to be into rock music. I opened the rock club. I started promoting concerts. I did my first Kiss show in 1992 in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota arena on the Revenge Tour right after Eric Carr died. And that's kind of where I met those guys and kind of been family with them forever. So many things, but I wanted to be, I couldn't master an instrument. I couldn't play drums. I couldn't do any of that. When I would go to a concert, I'd look at the sound, the lights, the lines at the beer tent, the lines here, the lines at the merch. I wanted to be the back end of this, because I could be the guy who's helping all these people have fun. And I kept seeing things, how things would be easier and better and more exciting. And why are they doing this? And why is this line here? And why is this barricade here? And this could be so much better. And why aren't there four spotlights instead of two? All this. I just had a knack for that because all I did as an only child was listen to rock, watch whatever I could see on television, looked at the magazines. I was all into it. So that's what I really wanted to That's crazy. mean, this is an insane story. So I'm going to go to 1993 here. In 1992, I had more money than I knew what to do with, right? Outdoor concerts were killing it. It was beautiful out. And we were literally, at the end of the night, me and my buddy Todd, ⁓ were stuffing garbage bags in my mom's K-car in the trunk, pushing down on it, and all these wet bills and stuff. from these outdoor concerts. I did an April Wine show on the nicest day of the year and April Wine was a thing in the mid-20s. absolutely. 4,000 people come out of the woodworks, insane. Yeah. Everyone. So I parlay that, my betting style, right? Okay. In 1993 and go all in on outdoor concerts. Sturges style stuff, all the biker stuff. Okay. You know, the birds, fog hat, hatchet, steppenwolf, all these things, all based around the rally. Yeah. And... My biggest festival that year in September in 93, it opened at three o'clock on a Friday, right? And it was a three day festival with about 15 bands, vendors. We had the beer, we had the food, we had the parking, we had the camping, we had it all. It was a four wall thing. I had all my money invested in it. I had $2 million of a bookie's money invested in it, family's money, all in on this thing. But I was gonna hit that. Like there was nothing. That was my payday. And at noon it started raining on that Friday when we opened at three and it rained biblical for three f**king days. By the end of it I'm in the fetal position, back in the production trailer, out of money, owe everybody money, moving back in my parents' apartment in the pink bedroom looking for a bankruptcy attorney. That quick. Wow. Okay. That's Rags D'Orische. Richest of rags, Right back down at the bottom. the music industry. And if you ask anybody, you ask Doc McGee, you ask any concert promoter, anybody, they will tell you the exact same story. Music is up, down, highs, lows, and that was it. I was never going back into that again. I wanted to do that as a hobby. So that was the biggest switch in my life. I'm going to clean this mess up. I'm going to get back on track. I'm the only person I've ever met that has paid everybody back who I filed bankruptcy on. The business you were talking about, California WOW, W-O-W, women's oil wrestling. A guy owed me some money. I'm fast tracking this. This is hilarious. This is funny story. And I'm going to fast track this big time because this is a two hour podcast in itself. As matter of fact, I was on Howard Stern once, Harvey Weinstein, of all people, heard this and summoned me to his office in LA. and said, I'm making a movie about you and a book. He's got Judith Reagan on the phone. It was nuts because of this story. I'm not gonna tell you the whole story. We're leaving these, but I'm gonna tell you the punch line. Punch line is, I was a promoter. There's this women's oil wrestling show out of California. When they would come to my region, I would book some of their shows. Well, the guy who had it, he wasn't a good guy. Didn't pay his bills, didn't show up, whatever. He owed me a bunch of money. I needed something to do because the concert industry And I figured, this guy owes me money, I got good paper on it, I'm gonna repossess the oil wrestling show. And to God, this happened. When you repossess an oil wrestling, what do you get? Well, we drove from Sioux Falls to Chicago where they were performing. Okay. And we took the sound, the lights, the ring, I already own the name and everything because the paperwork said if I don't get paid, it's mine. Okay. So we just repossessed the oil wrestling show. So on Friday I didn't own an oil wrestling show, on Saturday I did. Brought it back to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My mom was a professional seamstress, my dad was a professional welder. Okay. And my friends were all handy, like you with... some of stuff. So we built the ring back up and the costumes and all this and we revamped it in 30 days. We were on the road 90 days and pretty soon for two years I'm out doing oil wrestling. That's hilarious. Yeah, me and Sean and that's how I moved to Vegas, Sean McKee. And so it was me, I was the DJ. Sean was the MC and a guy by the name of Soda, he was the referee. ⁓ We would load the show in, right? We'd go to five, six cities a week. Okay. Literally. Five or six cities The tour bus, the trailer, the girls and us three crew in there. How many girls? Six. Wow, you had to travel with three crazy girls everywhere you was a circus. That's hilarious. This is all 94, 95. We go to the city, we load the show in, and not nudie bars or anything. There was no nudity in the show, but you're going to Billy Bob's and s*** like that around, right? The big clubs. So we'd go in, we'd load the show in, we'd produce the show, have the show, load the show out, get in the bus, go to the next show. It was killing me. Gosh, yeah, that's crazy. Cash business, popular business at the time. That was a thing back then, right after Stripes and all that. We were on all the talk shows, Sally, Jesse, Raphael, and Phil Donahue. I mean, it was a big thing. So we're traveling all over the country doing this women's oil wrestling. And it bounces me back. But at the time, there was a club out here in Vegas. we were based out of Sioux Falls. And every time we would go on tour, It never failed that we'd start in Cleveland or something. You had to drive from Sioux Falls, South Dakota all the way to Cleveland to start. Then we'd be on the road three months. Five, six nights a week, three months. And then we'd be three months off. How old were you during this time? Well, I'd be early 20s, 24, 25. Well, at least you got the energy for it. So the three months off, we would book the shows. And because of all my concert promoting connections, we were tight with Budweiser. So they would help us plug into these things. It was shooting fish in a barrel. It was easy, right, to get the bookings. So we'd book it for three months, recharge, get the girls ready, get the show ready, get the promotion ready, send out the posters, the radio ads, the television. Then we'd hit the road. We wouldn't come back for three months. So this guy out here loved the show. And he says, look, on the three months that you're off, bring it to Vegas. We'll run it seven nights a week at our club as a college promotion at two in the morning. Like a residency, get to hang out here. love it. In Vegas, we'll call it the Vegas Hot Oil Treatment, so it doesn't infringe on your California wild. And you be out here, and how are Sean and I gonna pass this up? Right, right. We're in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, we can go to Vegas. So literally, in a week, I called him, I said, this is what we're gonna do, so did Sean, we're gonna pack up in our Farner Bakken oil wrestling truck, that's an old. coffee company in the Midwest. I bought this big 26 foot box. Packed up the ring, the sound, the lights, everything we had, the luggage. Drove to Vegas in 1996. I had just broke even. I had no money, borrowed another 5,000 bucks from the bookie, 5,000 bucks from my parents because I was back to even coming out here to start business number eight. ⁓ When I got here. The guy, and I might be a little off on the year whatever, but I think it was April, May of 1996. We get out here, we get a house in Green Valley, we rent the house, we get settled, we go to talk to him. He got caught banging one of his waitresses. Wife takes the place, he's out, she wants nothing to do with the show. Best thing that's ever happened to me. Okay, because this leads me to concert promotion. This gets back to your story of what happened. You brought up the oil wrestling. We're in Vegas, the truck, the sound, the lights, everything's in a storage unit in Henderson. I take a big breath and say, this is killing me anyway. This is time to start something new. I tell Sean, we're not going to oil wrestle anymore. He goes to work for Larry Carter at AutoNation back into car detailing. And I decided to get back into finance and collections where it all started when I was 17 as a bill collector at Citibank. And this is how the Chuck Brennan mind parlays into DLC. you're doing, you got a nine to five, you got a job now. I wasn't going to. My seventh business was, you know. the whole concert and you know, went bankrupt and the oil wrestling and all that. It's called boss man promotions for lack of a better term. And my eighth business was going to be opening a collection agency here because that's the business I knew. When I started as a junior in high school, I was a bill collector. When I left Citibank, I was one of the managers of the largest collection floor in the country. So I had that skill set. Then I went into music and rock. I'm gonna jump back into this because we're in Vegas. It's exciting. It's the early 90s. It's transient. People are coming and going. Great spot to be in collections, Apartment complexes, vets, doctor bills, cable company, whatever. Bill collecting. I went to get my collection agency license and they said, ⁓ by the way, you have to be a general manager at a licensed collection agency for 18 months prior to getting your license. ⁓ Talk about a locked up good old boy system. Who has ever heard of something like that? So I got to go apply. As an employee, I just got through running all these concerts, owning this big club, owning the largest women's oil wrestling show, and I'm going in to apply as a bill collector. Incognito, right? Yeah, right, right. So I go to this collection agency. It had been open for 25 years in North Las Vegas. Okay. I take the job and... they promote me right away to general manager. The guy couldn't even believe my resume. He's like, you worked at Citibank? What's this? We're in North Las Vegas. You're more qualified than You're overqualified. We're putting you in charge. And at the time, my hair made yours look short, down to my ass. You know, I'm a concert guy. Nothing really added up. So I go in, I start working at this collection agency. And the best part about this story that will take a tiny little detour is a gal started working there. just three weeks or three months, just right before I did, and that's my wife Mary. So she came to Vegas in 92. She says she had to wait a while for me to get here, but she was one of the leading medical collection experts in the country, so she started working there. ⁓ I come in, I'm her boss, and the boss of the whole place. She didn't like me at all, of course, because there was a riff with that, new boss coming in and such. But that's where Dollar Loan Center was born. So instead of getting into the collection world, this collection agency happened to collect for about 50 of these payday loan and check cashing companies. And I really didn't even know they existed, being from Sioux Falls. And I'm looking at this bad debt that they're turning in and what they're doing and start kind of studying it. And I was a bit of a computer hack at the time and wrote my own credit scoring system, kind of like Experian or Equifax or TransUnion. But based on a of college education schooling in this. Yeah, it's done. I love that. All real world. I love that. Yep, absolutely. Yeah, okay. So I wrote my own credit scoring system based off 27 different things. Yeah. know, married, single, full-time, part-time, own your home, rent your home, own your car, rent your car, how many other loans you've had out, all kinds of stuff like Okay. And I think it would work, right? Okay. I'm thinking this is gonna work. Okay. And I needed to test it, I needed to beta test it. Because I'm taking this off-ramp out of collections and thinking about going into lending. But there's no licenses available. It's a wild west at that time in 1997. So I start lending money based on this system to Las Vegas taxi drivers at 500 bucks a pop out of my fucking pocket. That's ballsy move. I'm just ballsy. is, it is. Based on this formula. and based on my collection knowledge only. Only if I can collect it or not. I didn't care what the situation was, I wanted to make sure I got my money back. So I wanted to test if it worked. I was doing the contracts on WordPerfect for you old people out there. I was doing the books on Lotus 123. I'm a one man band, I got one employee, 10 bucks an hour that I brought out from Sioux Falls to kind of man the phones and stuff. And I started lending money to taxi drivers. Where are you doing this? Sahara and Burnham right down the road from here from Valley High School. from here to there. Yeah, I know where you're at. 400 square foot office at a collection agency I was managing at the time. Okay. I talked the owner into giving me this little closet that faced Sahara. So you're kind of doing a spinoff thing from your... I don't know if it's going to work, Okay. I just, I got to keep my day gig. Right, right, right. And I'm doing well at it. I mean, we blew this business up. so that is cool with you doing this. Cool with Because you're rocking the day gig. He's happy. Absolutely. So he's cool letting you do this little spinoff over here. On the side, he's gonna let me lend a little money. He was nervous about it, still says to that to this day. I wish I'd never let you do that. But, so I opened up this closet facing Sahara. And when taxi drivers would come in, I'd give them a stack of flyers, tell them to bring them back to the cab stand, pass them out. If you send somebody in to get a loan, I'll give you a week's free interest. It was really that rudimental. All it was was a beta test. Right. But I needed the money to lend out. And if you remember, I was flat at the time. I was broke, I come back, I'm flat. I go back to the same bookie that I borrowed all that money from on the concert. I meet him at the Toucan Lounge at the Stardust before they blew that **** up. We sit in there, I tell him this story, that I'm gonna lend out money to people I don't know, the most transient people in the country, Las Vegas taxi drivers, and hope that they pay me back. He laughed his a** I was gonna say, he's gotta think you're nuts. Took another pull of his core's light, this was at lunch, went up to his room, came back down, sat at the table, put $100,000 on the table, and said, Brennan, I'll never see this again, but that was the best story I've ever heard. Unbelievable. Now, this guy obviously had a level of comfort with you because although you went in deep with him prior, you made up for that. Well, we had stayed friends throughout the whole thing. Right. And, you know, look. Right. Today, how much has he made off me? What, 20 million? You know, whatever, just for meeting me. Right. ⁓ That is a ballsy move. It is, it is. Big, big wow. And our original deal was, our original deal way back when was, you know, he was gonna give me the money, I was gonna loan it out, we'll see if it works. Right. And I started beta testing it. I'm gonna tell you something, within 90 days, three months after me starting to lend money to taxi drivers, you know the Sahara Burnham area, it's full of apartments all the way around. Right where you're at, yep. everybody would come out of the apartments, stand in front of that little first dollar loan center, they thought it was a cab stand, because so many taxis were coming back hilarious. Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. You had so many guys coming there. And so this is now working for you. In three months. In three It just started with the cabbies. Why was it just the cabbies you concentrated on? It was just a beta test. Oh, see, look, if they're going to pay me back and this is going to work, it'll work on anybody. Yeah. Yeah. And it was just testing with them. Yeah. Yeah, that's but that's how simple it started and that was business number eight dollar loan center and So you didn't have a bunch of money you borrowed money. I borrowed money to lend out at that time Yeah, and then it just all snowballed from there and went from one location to two and all over the place I'm drone since then Dramatically and then we did open our collection agency finally and in 2001 it's called Clark County collection service still around been around 25 years Yeah, one of the largest collection agencies in the region Mary still runs that Tell him to calling me. Tell him to stop calling me. We're going to tell him to call you more. Another segment, Chuck, that we do on the podcast here, it's the perfect blend of cars and celebrity, leads us to some of the best stories. We call it car-struck. Now, I want to dive in with this. Are you ready? You ready? We're going to do this together. I'll try. All right. I'm a quick study. Give me a moment when you were truly star-struck. Someone famous walked into your life. and you really felt yourself just lose it right there. You got one? Absolutely. And I know it kind of ties back into what we're going up, what we're talking about right now. Sioux Falls, South Dakota Arena, another concert. So many of my things date back to concerts. Bon Jovi's there opening up for 38 Special. That's huge. Slippery When Wet hits number one. Yeah. I'm sitting there, I look next to me, Doc McGee is standing there with this big trophy and album. And he'll tell you this story too. He remembers Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They happened to be playing that night when Slippery went number one. ⁓ He gets up on stage. God, I don't even know. I really don't. I gotta get better in high school when that song came out. So ⁓ he goes right up on stage, right in the middle of a song. And everybody stops and he presents them with that. They're opening for 38 Special just a few months later. He's discovered Bon Jovi. Scorpions, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue. Doc is everybody. He's legit legit. ⁓ And nobody there knew who he was. I'm there with all my friends and all these rock fans. And Doc's this short, kind of portly dude. And he looked a little like ⁓ the porn guy. ⁓ my God, why am I losing? The guy who passed out in the green room at Vamps one night? ⁓ Hang on, Ron Jeremy. Ron Jeremy. looked a little like Ron Jeremy in the 70s look and Yeah, absolutely. And nobody knew who was, hands down the most starstruck to that time I ever was. Now, since then, it has been story after story after story. So I can't really start on that. Look, I flew to Europe with Kiss on tour with them. And after we played in London, after the show, Brian May from Queen and... and Jimmy Page come over to the hotel and we sit down from two to five in the morning shooting the ****. I'm sitting there with Paul and Gene and Jimmy Page and Brian May. I mean, there's so many of these things along the way that both of us have ran into, but without sounding like that guy and the name dropper, which you know me, I'm not, No, no, you never had, no, no, you never had, you keep it close to the vest all the time, which is so refreshing for someone like yourself that has... all these contacts and connections. But what I find fun and borderline humorous about this, that first starstruck moment wasn't the lead singer of some giant band, it was Doc McGee. That's who I wanted to be. Right, because that was your... And I think I was probably one of 20 people in that arena of 10,000 that knew that Doc McGee was Bon Jovi's manager who got him started. And I knew why they were there. And I knew where this was going. That's cool. That's a great answer. All right. What's the first time that you were ever car struck a speed machine? Something that really made you weak in an ease as far as a car is concerned. When I was young, my friend, Kelden, he lived next to this big monstrous man. His name was John Traub. And in high school, he was the scariest we've ever seen. He was just a monster. His mom was a monster. His dad was a monster. This guy was huge. It was legend that, you know, There used to be this loop in town that people would drive around. It was called the Loop. And on Friday and Saturday nights, you drove around the Loop, right? Because you didn't know what else to do, and that's what you're doing. Cruising. Some guy cut him off, he gets out of the car, he goes up and he tore the car door off the car and threw it. I mean, this is the legend of John Traub. He's a couple down. My friend, Gelney, calls me and says, you've got to come over and see Traub's new car. And I went over there, and it was... probably like a Camaro or a Chevelle or something like that. I don't even know 100%. It was bright, you know, candy apple red and the coolest thing ever. And it had wheelie bars on the back. ⁓ I love it. And I don't know what car or anything like that with a story, but I've never seen a ⁓ street car that was ballsy or cocky enough to put wheelie bars on the back. I laughed at it. And his buddy threw an apple at me and hit me in the head with the apple. I remember all this like it was just yesterday. Wait, why did he throw the apple? Because he thought I was a... Oh, that's a... He thought I was going to piss off John. But John kind of looks at me and he gets in the car and he punches it and the front end comes off the ground and hits the wheelie bar. He needed the wheelie bar. Yeah, It was legit. And then the second thing is anytime I ever see you were walking your things, I just can't believe... the product you have. So where do we even start with that? As a young kid in Axedale Park Junior High School, that blew my mind. ⁓ without a doubt, something like that. That's a mind blower. Everybody stick around. Don't go anywhere. I hope you guys are digging this. We have more with Chuck Brennan coming right up. Don't leave. 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 the stop. All right, Chuck, we both love cars. You're gonna like the next segment. We call it Shifting Gears. So I'm gonna throw. a set of gears of questions at you. So here's first gear. What's one type of business that you respect, but you would absolutely never touch? Restaurants, bars, things like that. Look, we love it. We love to go there. We love to eat there. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It's one of the first things I say when I'm giving any of my entrepreneur speeches. Second gear. What's harder, pleasing your customers or tuning out people who don't understand your vision? It's pleasing the customers for me because I'm really good at tuning that out. Okay. Just because of the early on and I don't know why. I just have that attitude that everybody's going to be against you if you're succeeding anyway. Got it. So if you're not able to tune that stuff out early on, it's a good piece of advice I have for people too. Believe me, I'm soaking this up. At one point I owned a racetrack out there. Been around for 55 years. It was called Hewson Speedway. bought it, changed it to Badlands Motor Speedway. Race fans are the most fickle people ever. Love them, love everything about it. We had the 410 Outlaw Sprints. It was on 80 acres of land. It was like racing ⁓ jet fighters in a gymnasium, man. This a 3.8s banked dirt track, incredible. Put $20 million into it and made it the premier sprint track in the country. I'm telling you though, those race fans, if you were to sell them, dollar bills at the concession stand for 75 cents, they tell you they're getting the shaft. ⁓ pessimism is rampant out there. So it's convincing the customers and making them happy that the haters, f*** them. Whatever. We deal with it all the time. Believe me, I came up with a silly idea to put stick-on horns on helmets and everybody came at me and was like, stupid. That's dumb. They might be onto something. ⁓ Third gear I still didn't listen though. Third gear walk me through the day You took your biggest risk the one that you thought might actually Ruin you my whole business model on almost all of them. Yeah have been a risk Yeah, it would be but you knew it you knew going in that this was like this this could be the one to kill very very dangerous and ⁓ the easy the first concert real real concert I promoted I was still in high school yeah, and I had to go up against City Council to get a beer garden in okay because I didn't have a beer license, I wasn't old enough, had to hire the bands, had to do all this stuff. I pretty much knew if I didn't have 480 people show up at that show that I'd never have any more money. Right up until the minute when you're waiting for it to cross that number and then you start counting the $10, okay, I'm up 180 bucks. But man, it's relationships too. It's asking, you know, marry out on the first date and how's this gonna work? and all that, where's that gonna go? So it bounces between relationship and business. Okay, yeah, you definitely are the guy that rolls the dice a lot. Yeah, we gamble a lot. I'd say, mean, listening to your story, that 100, know, borrowing $100,000 to loan out, I'd say that was the ballsy-est thing I have. Most people would agree that, but he didn't kill me after I lost two million of his money on the concert. What's he gonna do for 100 that he's got up here? Right, right, right. I guess that's the way to look at it. That's a weird way to look at It's a strange way to look at it. Fourth gear, fourth gear. You've used your success, this is really cool, to help out a lot of people. You really have. I know that. Kids at the academy, events in the community, what is the most meaningful impact that you've ever felt from that, from helping out? Well, you nailed it with the Brennan Rock and Roll Academy. And that wasn't my idea. That came from, you know, I call him my second dad, Alice Cooper. ⁓ I Alice when I was three years old. met him later in Vegas at a Paul McCartney concert in the front row. We hit it off. He was telling me about this solid rock foundation. He was going to be starting in Phoenix, Scottsdale. I loved it. I helped him raise a lot of money, millions, I'm sure by the end of the time. ⁓ We became very close and we are family. And what he did down there is nothing shy of amazing. And I asked him and Cheryl, can I do this? ⁓ not the solid rock, but I want to call it the Brennan Rock and Roll Academy. I just built this building in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that I spent over a million dollars on to put a P.F. Chang's in. And it was 7,000 square feet. And at the time the economy had crashed and P.F. Chang's decided not to open in 173 tertiary markets. So I'm sitting on this brand new, beautiful building right in the center of my hometown, six blocks from where I grew up in Sioux Falls. And I brought it to Allison Sherrill. I said, look, I want to open up the Brennan Rock and Roll Academy. I need your help. I don't need any money, but I need your help. I swear, these guys got on a plane, they came out, they put the first shovel in the ground for the transformation of it with me and the mayor. They came out there, he performed there, he got involved with the kids. It was so special and it made it all worthwhile. Fast forward to that, we opened it up. It was like a school of rock that my son, Jett, went to and just loved it. We had the people who developed Paisley Park, helped me do the inside. We had foot and a half thick walls, nine different rehearsal rooms, a concert room. There was a replica of the Whiskey of Go-Go that held 300 people up and down. It was just unbelievable. So the inner city kids, because I grew up in inner city, ⁓ it was free, first of all. I had 45 volunteers. You couldn't pay to go there. We gave a thousand free music lessons a month. The kids would come in, learn an instrument, form a band, and then we would let them open for our big concerts or other stuff. It was crazy. That's huge. Slash came and played with the kids. Kiss, Alice, Motley, Rapp. All my friends came out, every time they're on tour in Minneapolis or Omaha, they come to the Academy and put these shows on. So I'd invite the rich people in town to pay a thousand, two thousand, five thousand bucks a ticket, because only three hundred people were going to be at the shows. And you're seeing these shows. Sebastian, everybody. was insane. Gene, Paul. Kiss played there. We had a kiss wing. But that was the most fun I had. So these kids, Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, all the... all these kids, they would come in after school, get a juice box, get a little sandwich. They had a workplace they could do their homework. They'd wait for their instructor to come out. Because of the design of this, you could have a little girl practice in vocals and keyboards next to a boy doing drums and you couldn't hear a thing. It was just the coolest of it. But hands down, it's the best charity thing I ever did. And to put my name on it was... That's a beautiful thing. That is an absolute beautiful thing. I have to agree with you about Alice and Cheryl that some of the most beautiful people I've ever met, blessed to be able to meet in my entire life. were amazing. look it up. mean, that Solid Rock Foundation is still going. It's awesome. It does miracles. And the cognitive brain function when music is in your life, or dance or whatever. I set it up too for people like me who couldn't master an instrument. So you could learn how to do the sound, the lights, the recording. was... Alice put a studio in there for me. We called it the, I think it was a welcome to my nightmare studio. And so the kids could produce their own stuff. was sick. Thanks for giving back like that. God bless you. That's a beautiful thing. Fifth gear. What scares you more? Slowing down or being so busy that you lose touch with people and the passions that got you there? Just slowing down. Yeah, the other really is, that's not even a... Yeah, you're not the type to disconnect and those connections. And I don't have a... I don't stress out at all. There's something about me, no high blood pressure ever. Nothing bothers me. I can get a full night's sleep after anything. I don't know how you do that. I think I do. I think it's because I lost and gambled so much early on that I'm not afraid of losing it all. It doesn't scare you anymore. I lost it all on the way out, ⁓ I'm still going to get it all back in 18 months. Bro, that's huge. Okay, overdrive. Let's go to overdrive. What's the one dream, a project? a legacy piece that you still feel calling your name. This changed a while back because this wasn't there at all before. But literally, we just entered my youngest son, Jet, our fourth kid of four who's working for the company. And Mary and I never thought that that would happen. We didn't encourage it. Go to college, because neither one of us did. We both made it through one semester. We were terrible students. But we want them to go enjoy the experience, meet people, see what it's like out there, get other opinions, blah, blah. Go to school, go do something else. If you want to come back, we'll find a spot for you and go. So early on, we joked around that we're going to piss all this money away and have fun and the kids can do their own thing. Now, all the kids work there. I got two grandkids. And it's kind of, it's turned a corner somewhere. I don't know when, but it's kind of turned into a legacy business, maybe at COVID. I should have sold it a few times, maybe not. It's taken some dips. COVID was rough for us because nobody needed money. So we really reevaluated a lot over that. And now the answer to your overdrive question is just, I think we've kind of pivoted to the company being a multi-generational deal. And that scares my eye because We're still pretty young and we're active and we're in it. So when's the battle going to hit? And it's going to be like one of these movies when they try to have us commit it or something. want to take over. Take it all over. Already I'll hop on a private jet and go somewhere and they're like giving me the side eye because I'm blowing away their inheritance. How much is that jet going to cost? I love the fact that the legacy has to do with family. That's beautiful. Yeah. that's kind of, it came out of nowhere and we kind of enjoy it. Yeah, yeah three of our kids already work at corporate. Yeah jet gets out of college in in August and he's coming on and good in a different department And yeah, it's it's exciting. Amen to that brother and they're kind of digging it They're all doing a good job to it. So one one's a little We will talk about that. All right. That one that one knows who he is. Yeah, he's sharp as a basketball. Okay, let me say this, my man. First off, Chuck, thank you for being here. You are you are amazing. And and it's almost time to wrap things up. But before we do, this is this is one of the favorite things that we do on the podcast. We call it Pump the Breaks. We're going to ask you questions that fans have submitted and. If you don't want to answer anything that you're being asked, all you got to say is pump the brakes. And we're going to move on. So it's a rapid hit and fire. So are you ready for I'll try to go quick. All right. Here's what they want to know. Number one, what's the one car you bought that your friends still give you crap about and you still don't want to sell it? I don't want to sell it? The car that I bought, was a Volkswagen. When I was first young, it was a Volkswagen Doon Buggy for $300. I felt terrible, all my friends gave me shit about it. The floor was rotted out so when we'd drive, water would splash up. That's the main car, I did sell it. Love love it. One of these days we'll have to find you another one. Number two, who's someone in Vegas you'll never work with again? Ooh, you remember, you can say pump the brakes. But who's someone in Vegas that you never want to work with? And please don't say it's me. I would never say it's you. I got to pump the brakes on that. It's a small town. Absolutely. And I got a couple of real answers that you know. Trust me, I'm with you. I may actually know anyways. What's the question? This is number three. What's the question fans never ask you that you secretly wish they would? Why? Really? Yeah. They just think that a lot of people where we're at, because Dollar Loan Center is so big and so famous and we touch so many lives and we're one degree of separation, they've either worked with us, been involved with a charity, they borrowed money from us, they know somebody who's borrowed money from us, all these things. ⁓ A lot of times they just think it's this massive monopoly or big corporation. It's really just Mary and I. who started lending this money out of her pocket, still own the whole thing. We are a family business. So the why thing would help out a little bit. That's beautiful. That's a great answer. We don't just do it to make money and people would think you do. I guess we're wrapped up, man. There's no other questions? I don't have to pump the brakes anymore? You ain't got to pump That was a tough one. You pump the brakes in the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You only pump the one. Thanks, man. Thanks for doing this. is really... Incredible, I love the fact that you shared your story with us and there's so much more. I mean, we got other things to talk about all the time. But brother, thank you for taking the time. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being there for myself and so many people that I know ⁓ and so many people that I don't know. I pray. God's continued blessings upon you, Chuck. I really do. Love you and your family. Thank you. Well, thanks. And I hope this helps out a little, but I really never have done any podcast before. Thanks for I didn't want to do it. It's all evidence, right? Yeah. You got to be careful. Yeah, it's all evidence. It's all evidence. Thank you, I don't want to say anything. Thanks for Mary's at home praying right now. I hope he doesn't say anything He doesn't let anything slip. I hope you all had a blast with us here on Count's Culture with my brother Chuck Brennan. Dude, what a story. Chuck's amazing. Well, he's amazing and I know that I'm now gonna be amazing because, you know, I related to a lot of what he was saying. Did you? What, what? Give me something that I mean, listen, when you're hearing how he truly came up, what he first started, that he was just a young little hustler. He was a hustler. That's all I can do is reflect on myself and I'm like, was poor, I sold candy bars, I cut grass, you know? I mean, there was anything I could do to make anything because... I didn't want to live in grandma's trailer forever. Right. I did it and listening to him the way he said it and everything I was like, ⁓ so I'm on track I'm just really late. Just really it is amazing Yeah, what a young age he started the hustle 18 to be putting rock concerts on yeah, absolutely Wow, Yeah, he wasn't even old enough to go into the places where he was putting these shows on yeah But he was he was doing these large, know large shows man. That's intelligence that you know, yeah I might not have I don't think I'm ever gonna have that one I think think what I think one of my you know one of my favorite parts about the conversation today was was his why and and and is why is given back and trying to be good to people that are in need. And taking his hustle. ⁓ And his amazing entrepreneurship and trying to do the right thing by people. That's cool. I like that the the the Starting like like the start up of dollar. I thought it was completely different. I thought it was completely backwards I just thought he had a you know, but load of money and he was like, know what? Yeah, let's start loaning its people we can make some money this and that yeah to borrow a hundred thousand dollars to give away to people that are from a bookie Maybe not so nice right? Right? I'm a borrow hundred grand from a bookie and I'm gonna try to loan it and make money loaning it and get everybody payback. Really? And it worked. I think, if I were to told somebody that, you know, like if I came to you and I was like, I'm gonna need to borrow $100,000 from you. I'm gonna give it away to people and they're gonna pay me back and we're all gonna make a bunch of money. I might get punched in the face. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, you know, it's kind of miraculous that he got the right answer from that guy. Look at him now. Look at him now. just, that's, that's... I've never sat on the couch with ⁓ another man with those kind of, yeah. He's the big dog. I know, he is. He's definitely a big dog. He's definitely a big dog. I've known Chuck for a long time, but sitting here talking to him today, every time I talk to him, I learn more. Cool cat. Good show. How do you he felt having to sit next to the horny guy? I think he was a little upset about that. I'm just saying. It was good. He's not gonna go home and tell his wife about that. like, I had this weirdo sitting next to me. But he gave me some horns. Right, exactly, exactly, dude. That's what I'm saying. Trust me, there'll be a picture of Chuck somewhere wearing those horns. I will, that'll be a great day for me. Good show. ⁓ man. Good show. That's a wrap for this episode of Count's Culture. Thanks for hanging out with us. I'm so grateful that we get to be a part of your day. If you want the full experience, Head over to our YouTube channel at Counts Culture, culture spelt 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, y'all stay cool, take care of each other, and I can't wait to be back with y'all here again on Counts Culture.