Dave Drakes – Owner of The Collective Experience and Two-Wheel Lead at Volcon e-Powersports

Dale Spangler:

Welcome to Pit Pass Moto, a 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 this week my guest is Dave Drakes, owner of The Collective Experience and two-wheel lead to the electric outdoor vehicle manufacturer, Volcon ePowersports.

This episode is brought to you by MotoAmerica. See the fastest racing on two wheels. It's MotoAmerica Superbikes at Barber Park, May 19th through the 21st. See six classes of racing featuring 190 mile per hour superbikes.

It's fun for the whole family with available VIP and camping packages. Treat yourself to the ultimate fan experience with the MotoAmerica VIP experience.

It's MotoAmerica Superbikes at Barber Park, May 19th through the 21st. Get your tickets and camping spot today at motoamerica.com.

Let's get started.

Dave Drakes, welcome to Pit Pass Moto. How are things today, and what are your thoughts about Denver? I can't believe it.

Dave Drakes:

What's up, man? Things are going good, another busy Monday. And man, for Denver, dude, I'm feeling so dejected and down for Eli, man.

Dale Spangler:

I know.

Dave Drakes:

Even though I would say I lean more towards a Sexton fan, I mean, I love all these guys. But even just seeing that, man, could you imagine being that close to a title and not to mention like legacy stuff, but dude, that's millions of dollars that just goes out the window for like a simple triple, you know what I mean?

Dale Spangler:

I know.

Dave Drakes:

It just, oh man, I feel so gutted for the dude.

Dale Spangler:

Me too. I almost kind of took it for granted that he was just going to wrap this thing up and then carry that momentum into outdoors. But now, it's just like everything is just blown wide open.

It's literally, basically handed it to Chase Sexton, who I'm a big fan of too. Like the guy's just so silky smooth. Like you just can't help but think that he's definitely that next generation.

And I feel like Eli had to adapt a little bit the riding style, but like Chase and Jett to me, are just that new school, just buttery smooth riding style, standing up everywhere.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah. Fundamentals are on point for those guys, man. And yeah, you hate to see guys go out like that, but such is the sport, right?

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. I keep hearing people say like, “It's just the cruelty of motocross.” Like one minute you're a winner and then you go from hero to zero, like quickly, so.

Dave Drakes:

Quick. Quick, man. Yeah.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. Well, let's talk a little bit about, I know you've got like two aspects over your background that I'm really interested in talking about. Like we'll call it your day job at Volcon. But then you also, have this really cool side project (passion project, if you will) called The Collective Experience.

Dave Drakes:

Yes, sir.

Dale Spangler:

For listeners out there who might not know about The Collective Experience, like break that down a little bit and tell us what it's about.

Dave Drakes:

It's very simply just the best motorsports experience that you can possibly get. And I stand behind that 100%. We really care about all the fans that come through our program, and we're basically a all-access behind the scenes experience program for race fans.

So, people like you and me, we get a chance to really hang out with our favorite racers. I mean, go into the rigs, touch the bikes, talk to them on like it's a very personal level. You're helping the team do so many cool things. And we try to make it as immersive as possible.

It's been going on for a couple of years. We tend to cater more towards the privacy or satellite support teams only because they need a lot of the funding. And what we do raise in our program for funding, we give over 70% back to the teams that really need them.

It's a super beneficial program to everybody involved, the fans, the teams, the sponsors, all of that. We have a good time doing it.

And we also, have an internship program that allows people to get hands-on experience in supercross and motocross professional races where they wouldn't be able to get this experience other places.

It's a resume builder, and so many, I think it's something like 75 or 80% of our interns get hired indirectly to the industry. And it's been super fun, man.

As a race fan myself, I get kind of jealous sometimes. I'm like, “Dude, I wish this was around when I was like 18, 17, 16.” You know what I mean? But it's a really fun program to run. And we're so pumped on the impact that we're having.

Dale Spangler:

It's kind of like a next level fan experience, if you will, because it's more than just going around and seeing the racers and taking a glimpse behind the scenes. I mean, you're really actually participating in the experience. Like if you choose to be part of a pit crew, for example.

I mean, you're kind of in there helping them with the bike and maybe getting some gear ready. And I mean, you really like get an immersive experience for what it's like to be part of a Supercross privateer team, I guess you will.

Dave Drakes:

100%. I mean, they got the headphones on, they're spotting for the racers. You said it perfectly. They're helping get gear ready or helping with the bike, I mean, whatever they're comfortable with. We kind of tailor each experience to the individual.

But I mean, you really are a teammate and it's really cool because if you're a rider or your team has a good race, you attributed to that. It's because you were also, there to share in the work and the ups and downs.

And dude, it's such a fun program to be a part of. And I can't tell you all of the cool stories we have over the years of people doing this, man, and just making memories. It's awesome.

Dale Spangler:

The real goal of it to me, seems like just to introduce people to our sport.

Dave Drakes:

Yes.

Dale Spangler:

Hopefully, you're helping bring more people in the industry, but you're also, just making like true lifelong fans out of them, I would assume.

Dave Drakes:

Oh, 100%. I mean, we have a few people that come in, they're like, “Hey, man, my buddy told me about this. I've got no idea about dirt bikes. Like I want to check it out.” And they leave like, dude, it's like soccer hooligan level fandom.

I mean, dude, they got like the Tomac shirts, they got the freaking Webb hats. I mean, they're so fully into it.

And it's awesome to kind of see the sport brought to just a demographic that really wouldn't have seen this before. You know what I mean?

We have a lot of guys that race dirt bikes, but they never brought their best friends, or their girlfriends, or wives with them. And we help introduce them to the sport, get them really immersed in the teams and they leave more of a fan than their buddy who's really into it. You know what I mean?

So, it's definitely a way to introduce a sport to a lot of people and get them opportunities that they really wouldn't have otherwise.

Dale Spangler:

I love that. Yeah. Because I think about like a lot of people are introduced to, I'm going to use the term monster truck route where it's like kind of like you go and you really don't know a lot about the sport.

But it's cool, and wild, and there's flames at the beginning of the opening ceremonies. But this to me, is like after this experience, I mean, they're guzzle in the Kool-Aid. I mean, they're all in probably.

Dave Drakes:

Oh, for sure. And it happens quick, man. It's like a switch flips or something. Like when you personally are talking to the rider who's out there, like it happens so fast. They get really hooked into it and it's awesome to see.

Dale Spangler:

Some of the partners I think I've seen you work with is like AJ Catanzaro, like the Enticknap brothers, probably Jeff Crutcher, who we've had on this show. Like great guy, love seeing what he's doing with his privateer team.

Dave Drakes:

Oh, he's the best.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. I mean, so, with that aspect of it, I mean, you just kind of keep building like with who you're working with? Or is it primarily focused on those privateers?

Dave Drakes:

Yeah. We kind of build every year and the number kind of varies depending on which riders need the help. Because most of the time these riders, they don't have much funding or they really don't have that support person.

So, they kind of rely heavily on our program, supply them with either a mechanic, or just an extra set of hands, or something at the races.

But every year, I'd say we have maybe between 8 to 15 privateers that we're helping out at varying levels. You have guys at the top level, like you said, the Enticknaps, AJ Cat, all of those guys that have the good funding all the way down to like Josh Greco who's out there just living in the van.

We try to help out as many privateers as possible and fund them, get them the support, recognition, the resources that they need.

Dale Spangler:

I saw something where you have, on your website there's something called a masterclass. So, tell us about that. Is that just kind of a higher level for someone that really is specifically wanting to break into the industry and say be a team manager, or a mechanic, or what have you?

Dave Drakes:

So, we partnered up with The Moto Academy. AJ Catanzaro is brainchild and in there he's got a vast array of different masterclass that you can partake in. Most of them are riding focus, but they also, go into like mechanic work and a few other things.

And the one that we have is focusing on just honestly being the best you and presenting yourself well within the industry.

And a few of these things you can take outside of motocross and supercross, but we get a lot of questions around, “Hey, how do I do really well in an interview with a team?” Or, “How do I present myself the best way to get a gig?” Or, “How do I market myself the best way?”

So, we kind of walk through a masterclass in like an eight-step process on how to do all of that. It's even got someone on how to get sponsored if you're looking to get some help financially for your races.

So, we go into some pretty in-depth things, but I thought it was really important to do this because again, I get so many questions about it. I don't think it's talked about enough. Like the best way to market yourself to showcase who you are and get the recognition, the opportunities, and the support you need.

Dale Spangler:

That's really a great point because I mean, I think it is probably overlooked a lot, that aspect of it. People that really want to get into the sport and how do they conduct themselves. Things like it's a very small industry. Like unless you're in it, you kind of realize that like it's a small world.

Like if you this person off over here, who knows if you're going to be working for them two years down the road.

And so, yeah, it's kind of wrapping your head around how the whole industry actually works, it sounds like.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah. And you said it perfectly. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I have to be like, “Hey, man, I know you're kind of bummed on this thing ending or whatever. Don't burn a bridge, just leave with a smile. You never know. It's a small industry. Everybody knows everybody. You never know what's going to happen down the road.” So, yeah, that's definitely part of it.

Dale Spangler:

Now, I saw where it looks like you might potentially branch off into maybe some other segments, like I think I saw like a NASCAR experience you had recently.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah, yeah. So, we've been working with I don’t know if you've seen him, but Michael J. Kicks the custom boot designer. He's super heavily tied into the NASCAR world.

And kind of went to one of them to check him out and got the full lay of the land. And man, it was pretty cool. It was definitely interesting to see the cars race around the track and with no jumps, and a couple more wheels.

But yeah, it was exciting man. And I think there's definitely a need for this in the NASCAR world and I'm 100% down to bring that over.

So, we're laying the groundwork now, trying to make sure that that happens and we can have the same level of impact that we have on the two wheels side for the four-wheel side. So yeah, it's definitely in the works.

Dale Spangler:

Very cool. Well, let's go back even further now, and talk more about your background, and where you grew up, and when did your passion for power sports begin? I think I saw where you grew up in kind of the Greater Hartford, Connecticut area.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah. From Connecticut, new England, born and raised. Grew up racing dirt bikes, man. My dad was super into two wheels and got me a dirt bike when I was pretty young. And just going to our local tracks, started racing at a pretty early age.

Southwick’s our local track, it's only like 30 or 40 minutes away. And it's one hell of a track to have your first race at, I will say. Oh, man.

Dale Spangler:

Oh yeah.

Dave Drakes:

Oh, I got beat up for years at that track. But yeah, just did the normal motocross supercross thing, just traveling with the parents, going to different tracks, different regionals.

Tried my hand at Loretta's and realized really quickly that my buddies are a lot faster than me. So, yeah, just did the normal thing.

And it's very easy to get into the sport, especially when your dad's into it and your friends are all into it, and you get immersed in it. You see the people, the competition, the challenges, the ups and downs. I mean, you just fall in love with it.

So, I got hooked pretty early and ended up thinking I wanted to be a mechanic for a while. Went to mechanic school and got really into like the videography portion on some buddies and commentating. I really love like the social aspect of the sport as well.

And after a while, I realized, “Hey, I kind of want to see if I can design these things too, not just work on them and wrench on them.”

And went back to engineering school, still riding and racing throughout this time, working at parts shops, trying to afford books and stuff like that. Got to get the classes. Yeah, you know what it's like. Man, it's stressful when you're a broke college kid.

And yeah, lucky enough, I got picked up by Harley right after college in my engineering degree and flew out to Wisconsin, started working on designing motors for them, and intakes, and full vehicle systems. And did that for a long time.

And then made the transition over back to off-road dirt bikes here in Austin. And it's been a fun ride ever since, man.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. I think I saw a word, maybe this is during like when you were first coming up, you were saying you race local races like Southwick. Which by the way I agree with you. Like if there's a worst track, you can probably have your first race. Because there's no faster locals in my mind than Southwick.

Dave Drakes:

Everybody is super fast there, dude. If you try to take like a millisecond of a break, you're getting passed by like two different dudes. It's crazy. They have the fastest locals of all time, man.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. I remember one year I went did the national in ‘89 there. And the week before, they had like a locals race, like a warmup race. And I think I did worse than that, than I did in the national.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah. And there's no rhyme or reason to why that that's like that, man. They're just like freaks of nature out there, man. I don't know. It must be something in the water around us or something.

Dale Spangler:

But yeah, I saw during that time, I think it was like from 2009, ‘12, like you worked for Smith Racing Team. Was that like just kind of another local race team or is it something else?

Dave Drakes:

So, it was my buddy, Jenna Smith, she was a pro WMX racer for a long time and grew up with her, our dads were like best buddies. And started of wrenching for her a little bit and just sort of like a crew chief role and we'd do a lot of the bigger WMX rounds. And just supporting her a little bit here and there and stuff.

So, it was a great opportunity, kind of I learned so much and learned about the ins and outs of putting together a solid bike and just having a program that ran smoothly. A lot of logistics in these outfits which a lot of people don't realize.

But it was a really, really fun time just getting to work with a bunch of cool people, a bunch of buddies, and just learn the ropes.

Dale Spangler:

It's very cool that you're able to sort of combine two things that you're interested in because obviously, like mechanical engineering, like I kind of see that coming from working on the bikes. And you realize you've got some mechanical aptitude.

And so, was that kind of what sort of drove you in that direction to go to college for mechanical engineering?

Dave Drakes:

Definitely. I mean, I realized, just like most of us out there, had a really good time working on my bikes. And the more I worked on it, the more questions I had, the more curious I got.

I'm like, “Hey, I wonder if this was made out of a different material, like what would happen.” Or, “Hey, if I wanted to make more power, what's a easy cheap way to do that?”

And just started asking myself more and more questions and I was like, “You know what? I should probably figure out how to design these things and get these questions answered and see if I could make a really cool motorcycle one day.”

And things just kind of spiraled from there and made the full leap to get that degree and had some cool opportunities pop up from it, for sure.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, I mean, your first job out of college is Harley. I mean, that’s pretty dang awesome.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah, yeah. That one was kind of out of left field. I had some really cool internships. I had a NASA funded research grant that I got selected for. So, we were doing some really nerdy stuff, man. We were testing air foils, and prefer differentials, and making them more efficient and stuff like that.

And I had a couple other internships. One was for like inside sales engineering, which grateful for the opportunity, but man, it put me to sleep just about every day.

But yeah, I mean, I went to an engineering conference and I was talking to some recruiters about just motorcycles. I'm a big nerd for motorcycles like we all are. And they're like, “Hey, we'd love to talk to you about a cool opportunity.” And he's like, “Hey, what's your background in motorcycles?”

And I got halfway through telling them about it and they stopped me and they're like, “Hey, we want to make a job offer.” I was like, “Oh, okay. That was easy.” You know what I mean?

Dale Spangler:

So cool.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah, it was nuts. I think when I talked to the recruiters after, they don't have many people that have a riding background that also, want to do the engineering route.

It's usually, you see the math, the mechanical stuff behind it, and you want to hop into it, but very rarely do they have people make the crossover, which I think is more prevalent now. You see a lot more a lot more people that are I guess, combining both now.

So, it was super cool and everything happened super fast. A month later, I was in Wisconsin and designing some cool stuff for them.

Dale Spangler:

I saw where you did some really fascinating projects during your time in college where like you guys got to like as a team maybe refurbish a wind tunnel or something like that.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was interesting. We had this like super rundown wind tunnel that we were looking to use for a lot of our higher-level classes. So, I mean, as you can imagine, a lot of this stuff is super theoretical, just really hard to make tangible.

Like you're learning all these different theorems and different equations and a lot of these principles, you’re like, “Dude, I kind of get how it works, but I don't really fully get it.” And for me, I need to see it, touch it, understand the whole deal to fully grasp the concept.

So, my thought behind it was that we could take this and help ourselves and other students kind of visualize a lot of what we're learning.

So, it was me and a group, we were just about every day, man, we were just in the basement, just refurbishing this thing, grabbing hand tools, soldering, painting. Just doing so much to try to get this thing going.

And ended up working out pretty good, man. It was super cool project and great way to get introduced into like the hands-on engineering world.

Dale Spangler:

I feel like just doing all those different types of projects just has to be just a way to make you such a much more well-rounded engineer. Like I saw where you did some amputee rehabilitation rowing device projects or something like that.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah.

Dale Spangler:

And some electric vehicles, which kind of leads into your next role with Volcon. But yeah, I mean, I feel like that's got to be just some cool stuff, some memories even from your time there.

Dave Drakes:

Most definitely. It's honestly, just picking up things that you think are interesting. Like that's one thing that I always try to do is projects that I have fun with, something that is exciting, can help people.

And the amputee rowing device that we created was just one of those. It's like, “Hey, how can we help people who might be down in appendage continue on with cool physical activity like rowing?”

It was super fun. We didn't get it right the first couple of times, but we finally got the chance to figure it after a while.

And yeah, the Electric Car Club, honestly, again, I'm a gear head and somebody told me, “Hey, we can put this big motor in this little truck and make it go fast.” And I was like, “Hey, I'm there. Sign me up.”

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, I think I saw where I think Honda even has like a dedicated division now, to robotics and prosthetic type robotics. Really fascinating to where some of these directions of these companies like looking towards the future. Have you noticed that too?

Dave Drakes:

Yeah, most definitely. I mean, you're starting to see a lot of sectors pop up that really weren't thought of before. We didn't even think of it as a concept a couple years ago.

But now, with new technologies, new materials, new awareness to different needs that select groups have, I mean, you're seeing full divisions pop up and like just literally industries built around a thing that we had no idea about 10 years ago.

So, it's really, really cool to see the innovation. And it doesn't only benefit that one industry. A lot of the principles, or devices, or techniques use can translate into other things. You know what I mean?

Like there's nothing that can say a new material that's used in a prosthetic robotic arm can't be used on dirt bike plastic. Make it more shatter resistant, or more lightweight, or just scratch resistant, something like that.

So, there's so many applications for what we learn in different divisions that to me it is one of the cooler parts of it.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. I think of like the 3D printers come to mind as just such a game changer for like making prototypes.

And I think a lot of the factory teams I understand, like I think I saw that Kawasaki Science Of Supercross where they use 3D printers to like test different products. Like the chain block or something, for example. Just makes it that much easier to kind of iterate new versions of a product.

Dave Drakes:

Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, it takes the manufacturing time and cuts it in like a quarter. When you're looking at the amount of time it takes to quote something with a supplier, and get the material for it, and send the specs, and all of this stuff, make it take weeks.

Where if you have a 3D printer, you're typing in, changing a few things, you have your part in an hour. There's so much world of possibilities with that stuff, it's crazy.

Dale Spangler:

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

So, let's talk about your current role now. So, last year, it looks like you got called up by upstart EV manufacturer, Volcon, who I think that has some of the best marketing out there, some of the best-looking vehicles. So, tell us about that and what your role is there.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah. So, I was looking to get more into the off-road world when I was at Harley and I got a call from one of the Volcon directors, like, “Hey, we saw your resume, we'd love to talk to you about an opportunity to be a technical program manager.”

Which basically is helping the program stay afloat, keeping them on track, working on the budget, timing, resource standpoint of it. And because I had the technical background, you’d be able to get your hands a little bit more dirty with the engineering side of things, and just more like an overseer of these programs.

Yeah. And it ended up working out really well for us and hopped in that role, and helped to launch one of the coolest products I've had the pleasure working on, which is the Brat. Little electric e-bike, super fun little thing.

Dale Spangler:

Yes.

Dave Drakes:

I mean, I can't tell you-

Dale Spangler:

So cool.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah, it's so much fun, dude. I worked on million-dollar Harley projects, but this thing takes the cake, man. This thing is a portion of that budget, but like the amount of talent we have in this building, the amount of hardworking people, man, it just made this project so much fun.

It's a cool little like e-bike with a throttle on it, good size motor, all this cool storage. And it is just really, really fun to be a part of that.

And once that thing launched, we had a need for some more support in other departments and I ended up getting promoted to lead of two-wheel development.

So, now, I'm overseeing all of our two-wheel platforms, making sure that things are running smoothly, that we've got a good product out there. And we're doing our customer a huge service by listening to them and designing it the way that they would want to see it designed.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, that was something I actually had a note on here, that you really tried to listen to customer feedback on that Brat model, because I feel like you just nailed it. Like the look of it, just the way that the handlebars, like everything just seemed like you guys nailed it.

And the fact is like I just couldn't believe the price points when I was looking at, I'm like, “These things are really reasonable for what you're getting and the way they look.”

And the same thing for some of your other models. Like I love like the runt and the grunt where they kind of remind me of an old Yamaha BW200 with those big ATV tires on them. Just so cool.

Dave Drakes:

They're awesome, man. One thing that I'm really grateful for is everyone here is like super passionate about what we do. We're all off-road nerds. We love two wheels. We love the power sports industry. We're all riders, or mountain bikers, or dirt bikers, road racers, or something of that aspect.

So, we're customers ourselves. Like we thought about how we would use the product as riders ourselves. What would we pay for it? Knowing that we already pay for expensive toys and stuff in our garage. We don't want to pay out the nose for something super expensive.

So, we took all of this into mind. Architecture, the ergos, all of that stuff, and put it out there for our customers. And yeah, you're right, we listen to them a hundred percent. If they say they want something polka dot with rainbow sparkles on it, we're doing it. You know what I mean?

So, yeah. And the runt and the grunt is so fun, man. Like coming from like the motocross racer world, you want like the lightest this, premium suspension, and all other stuff, you forget like just riding a motorcycle in general, off road is super fun.

And the runt and the grunt kind of take you back to that, you know what I mean? Like the runt itself is-

Dale Spangler:

Just giggling.

Dave Drakes:

You can't wipe the smile off my face, man. When we're all on the runt, we're just banging bars, banging elbows, and just having a good time through the trails. There's nothing better than that, man.

These bikes are so fun, low maintenance, easy to use, anyone can ride them. They're an absolute blast, man.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, as soon as I saw that Brat, I was like, “Ah.” Because where I live, I'm like a mile from the Boise Airport, but it's only like a mile and a half to downtown. I'm kind of in this sort of urban area where like it would be so fun just to run down to the coffee shop or whatever. I mean, it'd be super cool.

But I also, noticed that you guys are introducing some minibikes, kind of like in the Strider type style. But it looks like they got the Toro engines in them.

But what's the plans there? Is it just kind of rounding out your lineup or is there plans to expand even further into some segments we might not know about yet?

Dave Drakes:

For sure. We're always looking to expand into new worlds, and that's kind of what our mini offerings, the Moto Kids One and Two are about. It's sort of your first soiree into moto, into two-wheel riding.

And I always say it's almost like a bridge between the STACYC and like your high-end KTM racer, you know what I mean? It's fully electric.

You have the throttle, you have the hydraulic brakes. You're learning a lot of the fundamentals to riding. You got the suspension on there. But you have the app programmability, which is really nice.

So, you can have somebody who's never ridden a motorcycle before, a little three, four-year-old on there and really tune it and cater to what they would need.

You can make the throttle just really, really easy. You can make the top speed really, really low. And as they start to hone their skills to get more comfortable, you can turn the dial up. They're really programmable without scaring the kids too much.

I remember me and my little brother, we're 15 years apart, so when I was like 20, he was just kind of five getting his feet wet with dirt bikes. Bought him a KTM 50. And man, it scared the crap out of him.

It was just so talky, the noise, the weight kind of scared him out of the sport for a little while.

And with these new bikes that we have, the Kids One and Two, they're all electric. There's no maintenance, there's no noise, and you can really just make it that much more of an enjoyable experience and kind of usher them into the sport.

And you're doing it for half the price of a KTM. So, you can't beat that, you know?

Dale Spangler:

Yeah, absolutely. And I think you made a really good point there about just that first experience. Having it be less intimidating can mean all the difference between making someone that's hooked and becomes a lifetime enthusiast, or someone that just says, “No way. Like that's scared the crap out of me. I'm not doing that again.”

Because I was just talking to a buddy of mine this morning and he's talking about teaching his wife and he's like, “I'm scared to death of teaching her because she doesn't have any fear. Like she doesn't know the repercussions yet when you grab a handful and you get throttle lock and you run into a fence.”

It's not easy to teach someone new. And so, like a less intimidating way like this, I mean, that seems like a win-win for everybody.

Dave Drakes:

Oh, it's awesome, man. I mean, all of our products, they do have some zip to them, I will say that, when you put them in the higher drive modes. But that's one of the cool things is bringing people out there that don't really know what they're doing.

And you can just, again, give them that introduction into off-road riding. And at the end of the day, dude, they're just confident, they're beaming, they're all into it. Man, I'm all for that experience.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah. It's going to be pretty incredible when we start seeing these young kids that coming out of that STACYC era, like when they become professionals. Like it's going to be interesting to see how much more they elevate the support because I mean, the kids are doing back flips on these things at whatever, eight years old now to where it's-

Dave Drakes:

It's crazy.

Dale Spangler:

Yeah.

Dave Drakes:

It's nuts. I was talking to AJ about this a little while ago and I'm like, “Dude, we're going to see like freaking like Jett Lawrence in every class, you know what I mean?”

You're going to go watch the 65 Loretta's and they're going to be scrubbing harder than the 450 guys because they've been riding since they were 10, 11, 12 months on a STACYC and then transition right over to an electric bike. And there's really no downtime.

It's pretty incredible. I'm stoked to see what the future brings for the sport, man. All these new innovations, I'm hoping it helps us grow and we just get more and more talent just dumped into the pro ranks.

Dale Spangler:

Well, it sounds like just a fun job that you have there at Volcon and what you do with The Collective Experience.

But I'm curious, how do you get all this done? Like how do you balance the two? Because it sounds like a lot of work between your 40 plus hour day job and then you have the weekends to go do The Collective Experience. How do you balance it?

Dave Drakes:

Oh, it's a lot, I will say. I mean, there are some nights where I'm getting suboptimal sleep, I will say that. But I don’t know if I want to say it out loud because my girlfriend might be listening and yell at me, “You're not getting enough sleep.”

But no, I mean, it's a balancing act for sure. I mean, there's some days where you’re like, “Man, I've been going two days straight just trying to get things going with The Collective, and then I've got supplier calls for the Volcon side.” So, it is a lot of balance.

But I do have few people that can help out. So, I do have some good buddies that are willing to help out, that know the program inside and out. They're all for that passion of moto, ensuring that with people. So, it's really good to have that.

But I won't lie, it does get tough, man. There is a while where one of my gigs for Harley was to travel from Monday to about Friday doing some on-track testing.

And I would literally fly back on the Friday, go home, grab my other suitcase and go right back out the door for Supercross on the weekends. And then get back on Sunday, change suitcases and go right back out for Monday.

So, yeah, there's a while where I was like, “Man, I have a new couch I just bought. I haven't even sat in the thing in like six months.” You know what I mean? Like really, I'm like, “What am I paying rent for?”

Dale Spangler:

Wow.

Dave Drakes:

Yeah, there's some days that get really, really crazy. But yeah, it's all about just prioritizing, getting a balancing act, and just making sure you're maximizing the time that you do have.

Dale Spangler:

Well, obviously, it shows how much passion you have for the industry too, because you're going above and beyond.

But I'm curious to know, like with your engineering background now, if you weren't involved in power sports, (I always like to ask this of my guest) but is there another sector or something else that you're equally passionate about that would fill that two-wheel void? Because I know for most people it's tough.

Dave Drakes:

Oh man, that's a tough question because I mean, I'm super into like motors, racing, stuff like that. But if it wasn't on that side, the rollercoaster engineering side, I was super into like RollerCoaster Tycoon that like rollercoaster designing game when I was younger.

Dude, I got super hooked, like Call of Duty type hook, the middle of that thing. I'd say that that kind of interests me, but I mean, nowhere near the level of power sports and two wheels obviously.

But I'd say I'd probably be in something like that, or maybe even like toy creation, like really fun, exciting toys for kids some way. But other than that, I mean, it's tough to imagine anything but two wheels, man. I won't lie to you.

Dale Spangler:

I'm there with you. Yeah, it's been my entire life since I've been 12 years old, so.

Dave Drakes:

Man, it's tough. It's tough to get away from it, man. That passion just burns deep.

Dale Spangler:

Sure does. Well, I thought I'd mentioned one more thing. You also, have a cool podcast called What The Pros Ride, that you've been putting out episodes. And tell us a little bit about that and any other fun projects on the horizon like that?

Dave Drakes:

Yeah. So, we have a YouTube channel where we feature different segments. What The Pros Ride, it's like a Monday thing where we show you what the privateers are riding.

We do do some factory editions of that where we showed you like Jett Lawrence's bike, we got a deep dive into Jeremy Martin's, AJ's full custom tip to tail 125 bike.

But for the most part, we like to show the privateer bikes. And I think a lot of people would be surprised that they're not too far off from the average bike, you know what I mean? They might have the cool graphics and stuff, but for the most part, they're racing what some of the C class guys are racing on.

So, I love highlighting them. Kind of shows off a little bit of the ingenuity that they have to kind of get into, since they don't have the bigger budgets. They get to get kind of creative. So, it's really cool to highlight them.

And we also, have live watch parties that we do on the weekends for the races that I can't get to. We do a live watch party where we'll just bench race, have on various pro guests, and sort of do our own commentary and live chat with people, do some giveaways and have some fun.

And we also, do another weekly show, just kind of like a 20-minute wrap up of the races or what's happening in the sport called The Foul Plugs Moto Show. So, we have some fun with it for sure.

We're always doing things with the Moto Academy inside that app. And there's always cool partnerships that we're looking for on the horizon and a lot of fun to be had on social, I will say that.

Dale Spangler:

Anybody could just google The Collective Experience and all your stuff will come up, I would assume.

Dave Drakes:

Yep. thecollectivexp.com is right for our website, and then @thecollectiveex on Instagram, The Collective Experience on Facebook, The Collective Experience on YouTube.

So, you just give that a Google, you'll find us, we'll pop up, you'll see our shiny, colorful, multi tied eye logo and a bunch of dirt bike stuff.

Dale Spangler:

Awesome. Well, Dave, I really appreciate your time today. It's been fun telling some of your story and seeing what you're doing and just how much passion you have for the industry. And any last words before I wrap up this episode?

Dave Drakes:

No, thanks for the time. I appreciate it. Been a fan of the podcast for a minute, man. So, really stoked to be on here and really appreciate you highlighting all the little guys of the sport and even some bigger names and stuff.

So, yeah, keep it up man, hope to talk to you soon.

Dale Spangler:

Thank you so much. Well, it's always fun showcasing people like you that give back to the sport. And like I said, all the best. Thanks so much.

Dave Drakes:

Thank you.

[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.