Andrew Campo - Co-Founder and Publisher of VAHNA Magazine

Dale Spangler:

Welcome to Pit Pass Moto, the show that brings you deep dive interviews with the motorcycle industry insiders and racers that make the sport move.

I'm host, Dale Spangler, and I'm super excited about today's guest. I've known him for many years and consider him among my closest friends in the power sports industry.

Andrew Campo is the co-founder and publisher of VAHNA Magazine. He joins me to discuss the ever-changing media landscape, managing a print publication in today's digital first world, and the publication's goal of telling inspiring stories about motorcycles and where they take us.

This episode is brought to you by MotoAmerica, home of Ama Superbike Racing, and North America's premier motorcycle road racing series. Watch every round of the 2023 series with MotoAmerica Live+ video-on-demand streaming service. Or visit the MotoAmerica YouTube Channel for race highlights and original video content.

For the complete 2023 MotoAmerica schedule, head to motoamerica.com or follow MotoAmerica on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for real-time series updates. Let's get started.

Andrew Campo, we'd like to welcome you to Pit Past Moto. How are you and what is happening today?

Andrew Campo:

I'm doing great, Dale. Thanks so much for inviting me on the show. What's happening today, is Spring’s in the air. I'm here in Colorado, in Denver area, and it's just beautiful outside. I got to ride a street bike this morning downtown and short sleeves.

And man, it's just when you live here, you get excited for these days. You wait all winter long, but yeah, times are good right now.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, similar vibes here. We had like 70 over the weekend. Didn't get out on my bike, but I saw, like you sent me that photo of your new Triumph Scrambler. Oh my God. How fun is that thing? Did you get out on some gravel at all?

Andrew Campo:

Not so much on the gravel. I rode it this morning for my second time. I just picked the bike up over the weekend. I honestly cannot explain how perfect that motorcycle is for me. Super happy with it. It's a beautiful bike, rides so nice.

And one thing I wanted to do this year, was spend more time on like fire roads and doing some off-road adventure bike style, riding around Colorado. Because there's so much to offer up in those mountains. And so, yeah, that's why I picked that bike up and super excited about the days to come, for sure.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, there's something about both of us kind of coming from moto backgrounds. There's just something different about drifting a large, heavy motorcycle on gravel at a decent speed that's just pretty exhilarating and completely different, but similar in the same token. Would you agree?

Andrew Campo:

Oh, absolutely. Grown up riding dirt bikes and being involved in that side of things. I think it makes you want to ride your street bike on gravel roads when you can.

But I like riding on roads as well. But yeah, I definitely love that feeling of being on a dirt road and having some slippage underneath you and riding a motorcycle like a dirt bike.

Dale Spangler:

Well, let's talk a little bit about VAHNA Magazine. You being the co-founder and publisher, how are things right now? Like what would you say is kind of the state of the union in some ways for the publishing world at the moment?

You publishing a print magazine in the power sports industry, focusing on that. What's your kind of outlook on the publishing world in general? It's probably got to be tough right now, with paper and other things like that, I assume.

Andrew Campo:

We had some issues last year with paper, more demand than anything. And we were able to make it through some of that. It seems like as far as supply chain issues and whatnot, it feels like those things are starting to become more normal again.

I think for us, God, it's … I'm going to back up just prior to COVID. Leading into COVID, I was like, “Oh man, I've put seven years of my life into this. What's going to happen?” And Ben, my business partner, he's really good at pushing me forward and being like, “Dude, you're overthinking everything.”

But I figured that COVID could be the end of us. And everything that I was expecting to happen didn't happen. And we saw our subscriber numbers rise. The industry brands realized that staying relevant was super important.

We provided a vehicle for people to escape what's going on in the world and tune into our pages and get like an analog getaway. And I think that really hit home during COVID, that maybe more awareness around supporting small business. And then everybody got those stimulus checks, so the industry was booming there for a little bit, right?

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, absolutely.

Andrew Campo:

So, who knows what's going to happen here in the near future, but we've done really well.

And since I have the opportunity, I'd really like to thank everybody who supported us from day one, because it's a passion project that's become very real and we couldn't do it without the readers support, the industry support, community support that we get as well. So, it's been a great deal.

I got some photos last night from Ben who is over in South Africa. And I know he always has a way to just one up everything he does. He is on a trip down there right now, with our staff photographer John Hebert. And man, we've got some beautiful stuff coming up for this next volume. I can tell you that much.

Dale Spangler:

Always beautiful stuff on the pages of VAHNA. It seems like I mean, the photographers, the level of photography, the writing, everything. I mean, your partner Ben, (speaking of him) I feel like I've watched him just become such an amazing writer through the years. Just really thought-provoking pieces.

So, let's talk about though, where did the idea for META come from with you and your partner, Ben? How did that whole thing come about?

Andrew Campo:

Well, let me touch on Ben real fast, something you just said. He is super talented at pretty much anything he puts his focus into. And that's really, to be honest with you, where we started. I had been working with Ben, he was an employee at the time when I was managing Vurbmoto.

And that's where META started. It was started as a product. Our first two magazines were a product of Vurb. I had been put maybe a decade of my life into Vurb. Ben and I connected just kind of on the creative side.

I loved working with him. He was super special. He'd done some things very early into his career that I was super impressed with. He was the creative director on that Robbie Maddison shoot that was done outside of Phoenix or Tucson in the airplane shoot, the airplane graveyard.

Dale Spangler:

Yep.

Andrew Campo:

He designed that JS7 gear that was really beautiful coloring for Answer Racing right before James's career kind of came to an end. But he was at DC Shoes, he was just doing great things.

And the two of us got to talking and he really didn't want to spend much more time in California. He was originally from Colorado. He was an employee, but our friendship grew quickly. We have common interests and then we started looking at a magazine called Monster Children, which is like a culture magazine focus kind on escape, surf, music culture.

And we were just like, “Man, this is cool because it's a very independent feeling.”

And right around that time, I was seeing that Instagram was changing the way online publishers were going to be doing business. Like the writing was on the wall. And so, my focus at Vurb was a digital platform.

And like I said, about 10 years into it, I realized what I was passionate about was producing print. And that goes back to my journey before Vurb. I had started working in publishing in my mid 20s before the Action Sports Group, or at that time, Surfer publication group out of California.

So, I'd always been a big fan of magazines. I'd spent enough time there to realize how to do one, or so I thought. But I had worked in a lot of different departments at some incredible publications earlier on in my career.

But yeah, I kind of, I think a lot of it also, comes from like going against a grain or kind of I remember when I first started talking in the industry, everybody's like, “Dude, what are you thinking? Print's dead.”

And it's not ever going to really die. If anything, I think it's a stronger medium right now, for advertisers. I think the digital landscape, a reader finds more trust in an ad he sees on print than they do digitally.

But yeah, long story short, everybody's like, “Dude, I wouldn't do that if I was you.” And I think that's pretty much what fired it up. Ben and I at the time, we kind of made a pact that, “Hey, let's do something that allows us to live a certain lifestyle. Let's let that magazine do that for us.”

And it certainly has. We are a decade in now. And yeah, it's taken us both all over the globe. It's been an amazing journey. It's been super hard some days, but other days you just feel really fortunate that you kind of believe in yourself.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. It's almost like you guys went the opposite direction when everybody was heading down this digital path. You guys flipped the script and you kind of create this tangible product that you can hold in your hand that we all know.

Like I sent you that photo over the weekend of all the books, collecting them. Like it's nice to have something that looks beautiful and you're able to kind of just look at those again and touch and feel and the paper quality. And it's completely different viewing photos in a book compared to online as well.

So, to me, I feel like it was just you guys were … I go back to, I say it a lot on this show, it's like I'm a big believer in timing. And it just seemed like the timing was right for you to do this, and you put everything into it with amazing photography and just top quality writing. And so, I think that's probably a huge reason.

But one of the things I noticed too, and it's something I picked up on recently. I wasn't really noticing it so much before, is you guys do these themes throughout each issue. And so, like this issue that just came out Spring ‘23, the theme is Letting Go. So, talk a little bit about that.

Obviously, you make a conscious effort each issue to create all the stories, photography, everything like that kind of revolves around a common theme. Have you done that since the start of the magazine?

Andrew Campo:

Yes and no. Sometimes those themes find themselves, which is really cool. But yeah, I mean, the very first volume we were a motocross magazine. That's a world we were in. It's very similar in design and quality of paper and everything, but our editorial focus was on the world of motocross.

And then the third issue in, that's when Ben and I started realizing like, “Dude, we love all kinds of motorcycles. Like we don't just live on dirt bikes. Let's celebrate all genres of motorcycling.”

And I think when we decided to take that leap of faith, which was really early on to do something like that, now that I look back on it, that's when I think we started to really find our identity.

And then if I think back on it, I remember having conversations going into the third volume with Ben, like, “Dude, how are we going to keep these stories coming?” I thought we had already thought up everything we could ever think of.

And since then, we've grown in an enormous team of contributors that have helped us like along the way and some really, really talented people. So, those things help dictate a theme at times.

Going back to the theme, a lot of that will come from Ben. Letting Go, I think I know exactly where that came from. I think there's been a lot of like fatigue in the world today.

Dale Spangler:

Absolutely.

Andrew Campo:

I think that's where the Letting Go theme came from with Ben. He's been, like any of us, needing to let go, needing get back on his bike, needing to just let these things bounce off of us and focus on day-to-day living.

Dale Spangler:

Well, I know from my personal experience, and you probably have similar being in the Rocky Mountains, like this has been one of the longest winters, I swear. Like it came in September late and never stopped until … I mean, we still have a ton of snow in the mountain.

So, this year, I feel like that Spring ‘23 issue, it's even more fitting because everybody's just chomping at the bit to get out and do anything outdoors.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah, it's that time of year and I'm glad that we have a product that's able to inspire other people. Like not everybody has a beautiful sunny day right now, I can tell you that much. Again, being a kind of that tool, that always makes us feel good. Storytelling is what we set out to do from day one. That's why we've called it a print collection.

And I've seen that voice really improve itself over the years through both Ben and the other journalists that we have work for us. And from day one, I've wanted somebody that doesn't have the opportunity to live a life similar to mine.

I'm really blessed. Last night, I scrolled my Instagram through the last 10 years thinking about this call today. And I was like, “Geez, man, I've done so many things on two wheels over the last 10 years and constant adventures.”

But I created that opportunity for myself. So, I'm more proud of it. But I really like the fact that our book could possibly inspire somebody to buy a bike for the first time. To say, “The heck with it, I'm going to take some personal time off and I'm going to travel to Baja and ride motorcycle through Baja,” or just anything like that.

I feel like there's so many people that are just trapped in the monotony of the day-to-day life. And if we can inspire one person, which I'm sure we have, then I felt like we've done our job.

Dale Spangler:

Well, I feel like your character, you're like a natural born storyteller to begin with. And so, I feel like that drives … and Ben as well, you guys both seem like you're that way. You're very curious people, you're open to experiencing new cultures.

And so, I feel like that's a huge part of the mentality that goes into this book because you have to be open minded to try new foods and experience different cultures and go extreme locations where you've been.

I mean, you've been, like you said, to some amazing places, like Bali comes to mind. I remember you talking about that. Just cruising around there on scooters and just enjoying it.

And it seems like that's just a huge factor behind VAHNA is just that whole storytelling element, like you said, that inspires others to potentially go ride a motorcycle if they've never ridden one before.

Andrew Campo:

Absolutely. Or to pick up a camera or a video camera. I think it is cool. And I bring that up because we've had a few conversations over time where the book reaches people that aren't motorcyclists and have no plans to become motorcyclists, but they still enjoy the content, so.

Dale Spangler:

It's still relatable. Yeah. It's just like it's universally relatable, it seems like.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah, it's kind of cool. I went to Barnes & Noble the other day and was hanging out. And the lady that curates the periodical stand, she — or I thanked her for our position because our magazine was like, boom, I walked around the corner and there it was.

And then she's like, “Oh my God, I love your magazine.” She goes, “We just wait, wait, wait for your covers because they're so great.”

So, we got to talking and it was really cool to know that she's never been on a motorcycle. She doesn't care to be on a motorcycle, but when our magazines come in, she takes the time to pull one out and go through it.

And it was really cool for her to get to meet me. And I love seeing that it's the product. It's Ben's artistic abilities that give us strength to reach outside of our community and demographic. It's pretty cool.

Dale Spangler:

So, let's talk about more about your role as the publisher. Like what's a typical day look like for you? I mean, what is your primary focus with the magazine as a publisher?

Andrew Campo:

Day-to-day, my focus is on building the business. Relationships are key to everything we do, and that's really where I think I shine the most. But we're a three man team. It's myself, Ben, and Derek Mayberry.

Ben focuses on everything creative, and Derek and I make sure that the lights are turned on. And I've worked, like I mentioned earlier with many different publications in the past, and usually back then you're staffed 20 to 40.

So, day-to-day, man, I could be packing up magazines, I could be working on strategy. That's what we're doing right now. A lot of focus on our brand moving forward. Derek and I are working on putting together something that's going to take us on a tour.

We’ll be announcing that here, I believe on the 26th of this month. So, just planning.

Activation, this weekend I'm going out to Austin for the hand-built show that the guys at Revival put on, Revival Cycles down in Austin.

Dale Spangler:

Nice.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah, super excited for that. But my job this weekend is to catch up with my buddy, Paolo from REV'IT! to talk to Adam VanderVeen from Triumph. Just get some FaceTime in with those guys and further work on ideas.

So, yeah, day-to-day, we're either working on concepting a shoot and we do a lot of production for our clients as well. So, it's just a mix of stuff that comes at us that sometimes I feel like I'm drowning, but I think the fact that we're so nimble makes us capable.

So, yeah, it's a mix for me. It's a mix of a lot of things. I do try to write once in a while. I wrote a story about a really great close friend of mine, Cody Schafer recently.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. We had him on. Yep.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah, yeah. It was an amazing opportunity for me. Back in the very early first couple years, I was trying to put pen to paper more often. But creatively, I'm maybe more involved on the ideas side of things. Not so much the execution, that's where Ben comes in.

But yeah, just focusing on, I mean, right now, we're like I said, almost 10 years old. I think it's a great time for us to grow our brand. And so, we've had a few different things that we're working on right now, that are going to change our path a little bit, moving into 2024 and beyond.

And so, kind of reinventing things just a bit, but also, elevating things and yeah, so that's where my focus is. And that's super fun because when you get to that point where you know you want to do more and you start pushing forward. It feels really good.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, it's funny, I don't know if you read Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point, but I always think of you as a connector. So, in his book, The Tipping Point, he kind of famously described three types of people who make ideas happen.

There's the maven, who shares their knowledge, there's a salesperson who convinces others to adopt ideas, and then a connector who distributes the ideas. And I just always think, I mean, you have all three of those for sure, and I feel like you do all three of those in your role as publisher.

But I feel like the connector to me, I was thinking, you're like a senator. Man, you just know so many people and you're so good at building those relationships. Would you agree there?

Andrew Campo:

Yeah, I kind of, I do know a ton of people from within our industry and also, action sports and everything else. And I like making friends and I talk quite a bit. I've considered myself a really friendly person, an approachable person. I'm usually very interested in what anybody else can bring through conversation, friendship alignment, those things.

And I believe that the success of what we've done here. There's three of us that work on it every day, but again, it's an army of people that actually make it happen, from our advertisers to our readers.

So, yeah, I appreciate you brought that up to me not too long ago about being the connector. I do know a ton of people. I wish I was in California a little more often as far as like an industry.

Dale Spangler:

More of those launches things? Yeah.

Andrew Campo:

More launches, stuff like that. I used to spend a lot of time out there, just haven't found that opportunity. I was able to go to the AIMExpo show this year in Las Vegas. And for me, that was a really good opportunity to see some faces I haven't seen in a while, network with everybody. And that was super rad.

And Derek has that same gift, I would say. Just he's approachable.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, I agree.

Andrew Campo:

And so, yeah, I think between the two of us … and relationships are key. That's what we do, is build relationships and connect people. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked like, “Hey, who would be good for this job role?” Or just within the industry we've got a great little circle that we all turn to each other from time to time.

It makes me think of one thing, Dale, you were on the … when COVID hit, remember we did those round tables together?

Dale Spangler:

Oh yeah. Mm-Hmm (affirmative).

Andrew Campo:

My idea then was like everybody had been at home for I think about two months then. And I remember that was an effort I put together to bring different brand managers and marketing specialists and influencers, people working in the industry together to kind of take temperatures with each other, see how things are doing, learn from other people's good decisions, bad decisions. Like I think we did that for about six of those, but-

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, it was just good to kind of feel alive. Like I felt like we were all just so cooped up to where, man, it was just good to talk to other like-minded people.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah. And I think it is great because there's a lot of people are — at least speaking for myself, there are some days you're just fearful, you're not sure what's going on. And I think knowing that you have some companionship out there, you have other people that are facing the same problems.

Pulling those groups of people together was something I'd actually like to do more of in the future when I get a little more time on my schedule. But yeah, I guess I do know a lot of people.

Dale Spangler:

Well, two other words I had to describe you is kindness and empathy. And I feel like those are two things you just exude. Whether it's, you're talking to people, you love animals, situations, you've been to Haiti, you know what I mean? It just seems like that's part of your character. It's one of the things I like about you so much, being friend with you.

Is just, like you said, you're approachable, you're genuinely nice person. I think that is why so many people will get around, surround you guys. I feel like the VAHNA publication is they want to be behind good people.

Andrew Campo:

I appreciate that, first and foremost. And I don't know, that's just kind of nature. You're right, I love animals. I don't believe in … I don't want to say the wrong thing, but I don't hunt. I just love critters and I love probably critters more than humans these days. But there's some damn good humans out there as well.

I don't know, man, I've seen a lot of things growing up. I lived in the south for a while, saw a lot of ugly stuff when I was a kid. And man, I just, I love everybody until they give me a reason not to. And I think that's a good approach.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. Well, I feel like you treat people … I mean, there's that saying, treat people how you want to be treated, and you truly act that way, I feel like. And so, I feel like that definitely drives who you are.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah, I think that's part … it's good and bad at times too, because I think that's like you turn on — like mass media is not my favorite thing. And you just see all this divide and craziness going on in the world and hatred. And man, that stuff just literally zaps me. Like I want nothing to do with that.

Dale Spangler:

It's exhausting. It really is. It can be.

Andrew Campo:

It is exhausting. And I don't know, I just I'd rather be happy and in a good vibe than any other way. So, like I said, I try to help people when I can. Done a lot of things in the past. I've learned from some great people.

I've a friend, Paul Tamburro that's been a mentor to me in many ways. And he's the guy I went to Haiti with. And I believe he's in Guatemala right now. But he's a successful man that donates his time and money to helping communities in need all over the world.

And real interesting fact, I know we're not talking too much about motorcycles here, but when I went down to Haiti, I think 2017 maybe, following Hurricane Matthew, I went with Paul and he asked me if I wanted to join in on the trip.

And I was so excited at the opportunity to go help other people, like at that scale is a good way to put it. We set up food distribution camps, worked on wells, put new homes on houses and things of that nature.

But man, you get down to Haiti and these people have nothing. I mean, nothing. And although they had the biggest smiles, I was shooting photos down there and I just started recognizing that and I was like, “Geez.” And you come back here.

I remember coming back from Haiti and just kind of being back in the civilization around here for a day or two, and everybody's honking at each other and walking around with grumpy faces. Like, man, none of this makes sense.

My point there is I went to Haiti wanting to help other people and it wasn't till I had been back here and kind of settling back in, it was definitely a shock that I realized how much it was helping me.

And I didn't go there looking for help. But I just realized how valuable that was for me because I can always think back to those beautiful smiles and those little kids that they build their toys out of trash. And they're just happy, beautiful people with nothing.

At some points, I feel like the world we live in is pretty greedy world at times.

Dale Spangler:

Before you finish today's episode, first, we have a word from our sponsor.

Well, what are some of the things you have coming up with VAHNA? Anything you can share with us? I know you had some of these events you were kind of alluding to. Some of the ones you've done in the past, like Rumble at Oak Ridge.

And then that Leadville Holiday Moto Experience that you and I talked about last year. I think last year was the first year. Talk a little bit about some of these events you have coming up.

Andrew Campo:

Oh, I'd love to actually. Rumble at Oak Ridge is an event, I think I've been maybe eight years now, helping Jon Kriegel put on a race in Iowa that is arguably the most beautiful motocross facility on the planet. It's just breathtaking out there.

But we've been building a race out there for eight years now. We do it I think it's going to be last weekend of September this year. And it's just becoming something very special for the Midwest. We've had great support. We've got Yamaha last year. Villopoto was our guest of honor on behalf of Yamaha and the Bluecrew Program.

And he was at the race and he is so flipping nice. Like we've had Emig there, we've had Anderson there, we've had Josh Hansen there, we've had Dean Wilson there. Man, the list goes on.

Emig used to get in the vet class and race at that race. But Villopoto, A, he gave away a brand new YZ 125 last year. I think we're doing the same thing this year.

And we did a Spirit award, which was killer. We found this kid that he gave us reasons. I mean, he was just this very helpful kid at the track. He was ripping on the track, and outside of that, he was just a good kid.

But Villopoto gave him his bike with the number two graphics. I mean, the sickest little 125 in the world. But throughout the weekend, he was popping in and out of all kinds of different classes, 65 class would be out there and then here's RV in the middle of the pack.

And it was great, man. I couldn't just imagine being a whatever on your super mini and you've got RV coming up on you. It created something really special. The community was super happy. And thanks to Yamaha for all they do for that race.

That's my one thing I look forward to all year, is that's kind of like my vacation, if you will. I just help Jon any way I can because he's a great friend and the motocross community needs more people like him as surely from the track owner's perspective. Just salt of the earth, good people.

But that's what I really like about Iowa and that community. I think there's still a lot of good values in the Midwest, and we see that at the track. And yeah, that's my motocross holiday every year, which is great.

So, I just help with the race anyway I can. And yeah, we've got something special going on there. Jon is going to help this year as well. He's going to come out from Iowa.

You mentioned event called Holiday, that's Holiday Moto Experience. Something we created last year here. And I say we, it's not really a VAHNA deal, it's something I'm working with a local team that we're really close with called the Outerkind. They’re experiential marketing group.

But the idea is to bring kind of … well, VAHNA supports it, but we don't have the infrastructure that need to put on an event, so we work with Outerkind on it. But Leadville is just beautiful. It looks like a little mammoth mountain.

The dirt reminds me of mammoth and the views are incredible. But it's a really beautiful motocross practice track at 10,000, maybe 11,000 feet in Colorado. It's epic.

So, last year, we put together a weekend that included single track rides, adventure rides, street rides, open practice for moto with special girls, happy hour by 805 Concerts. Our friend, Jimbo Darville & the Truckadours played on Saturday night.

So, basically, you come up to Leadville, the idea is to get different genres of motorcycling together to maybe try their hand at something new, but also, to camp out and just have an incredible mountain weekend.

And this year, we planned to expand to 500. We did 250 to 300 somewhere right around there through the gate. And everything that we did last year, was focused on how to scale this thing in the future.

And so, we went in with the mentality of we’re bringing a smaller audience last year, cater to all their needs, take those notes and feedback back to the table. And man, we put that whole thing together last year in like six weeks and we've been working on it since last year, this year.

So, that event again is for anybody to come up. It'll be ticketed this year. But basically, your ticket gets you a three-day pass of catered barbecue pancake breakfast, free sample beer from 805 all weekend. Our brand supporters will be on site as well.

The one cool thing about it is I've never hosted like an event that wasn't a race prior to this. And man, it was just cool because when you take the racing out of dirt bikes, man, there's a lot of happy people wandering around.

Dale Spangler:

The fun factor goes up, doesn't it?

Andrew Campo:

Yeah. You know what the pits are like at some races, Dale.

Dale Spangler:

Oh yeah.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah. It was just a good times get together in Colorado that really sparked the interest of a lot of people in the industry. And Yamaha, they were amazing. They set up Jason Raines and the whole demo fleet comes up so you can test and ride new bikes.

And REV'IT!, they're a Dutch based company that has offices now, here in Denver. Very gear focused and great friends of ours.

But those guys, 805, I think this year, we're going to try to get the out wild girls up there. I think Vicki Golden might make an appearance at this year's event too. So, we can screen her movie that's out right now.

I think brands are finding it an opportunity to — an inclusive opportunity with the community is big for brands right now, so.

Dale Spangler:

Quality face time too.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah, that's it. This year's July 14th through the 16th. And yeah, Leadville Motocross Park. The URL for that website, which I need to do some updates, is holiday-moto.com. Super excited about this.

And then again, like this is for me, I just love doing this stuff. I probably would be a lot less stressed out if I didn't do these things, but I felt like our community needed it and I felt like our industry needed it. So, here we are. One more thing on the plate.

Dale Spangler:

Well, sounds like an epic event to me. I know I talked about coming last year, didn't make it. So, after talking about it more now, I just wrote it down. It's going into my calendar. So, it sounds like just such a fun event.

All the photos I've seen, like every photo is like a postcard, so I mean, it's like you said, it's such a unique setting to where you don't get something like that in moto too often where you're riding your dirt bike at 10,000 feet, so.

Well, Andrew, really appreciate your time today, really super happy and proud of what you guys are doing with VAHNA Magazine. Like I said before, I consider you a friend, you're a mentor, role model for me. And just really appreciate your time today.

Anything else you want to share with our listeners though? Any other information?

Andrew Campo:

Yeah. I would like to share a few things. I'm going to say this real fast. I've been talking to my old partners that resurrected Vurb a lot recently. And I know those guys put on The World Mini race. They rebirthed that this year or resurrected it.

And I'm just happy for those guys because that journey got me to where I am. And that's the one thing I'm missing right now, is I wish I was at more amateur races. But I'm really happy to see my team of old partners at Vurb kicking butt right now. That makes me feel good. So, I wanted to shout that out.

But I also, wanted to thank you, Dale. Like when we got started in the industry many moons ago, (and I've told you this more than once) you were one of the first people to step up and support visions that I had. And without that, I don't know, maybe there would be no VAHNA Magazine.

Dale Spangler:

I doubt that, but I thank you though.

Andrew Campo:

Yeah, yeah, man, you've been a big part of my journey in a lot of ways. So, thank you for all the support over the years. And thanks for the opportunity to be on Pit Pass. Haven't done an interview in a long time.

I know we didn't talk a whole lot about motorcycles and dirt bikes, but I'm loving them more than ever right now. I've ridden more this last year moto than I have in the last 10 years. And yeah, my heart's there for sure. It's my one love and I'm glad to be able to share some of my experiences with others. So, thanks for having me on.

Dale Spangler:

Thank you. And once again, appreciate everything you do and just the positivity you put on motorcycling and sharing it to others. So, appreciate your time today, Andrew. Thank you.

Dale Spangler:

Alright, guys, take care.

[Music Playing]

Dale Spangler:

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow Pit Pass Moto on your favorite podcast listening app, so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, please rate and review our show. We'd appreciate it.

You can also, follow us on social media or visit pitpassmoto.com where you can listen to past episodes and purchase your very own Pit Pass Moto swag.

This has been a production of Evergreen Podcasts. A special thank you to Tommy Boy Halverson and the production team at Wessler Media.

I'm Dale Spangler. I hope you'll join us next week for another episode of Pit Pass Moto. Thanks for listening.