The Avants Podcast

This week on the podcast we interviewed Mark Raffauf, Senior Director of Race Operations for IMSA, about all things racing from IMSA, to Isle of Man TT, to Formula 1, and everything else. Mark is truly an expert on basically everything racing related and as it turns out even more. With over 50 years of experience in the racing world, you’ll find it difficult to find anyone with his level of experience and knowledge which made for a really interesting episode we really enjoyed recording.

As Dan went down the rabbit hole of trying to determine what lift to buy, we quickly found out we don’t know jack about lifts. We reached out to the experts at Hydraulic Solutions, Jarett and Sara Bailey, and asked them to come in and give us all the information on vehicle lifts we would ever need to know before purchasing one.

When you decide you need a lift for you shop, reach out to Hydraulic Solutions at https://www.hydraulicsolutions.net/ and follow them on Instagram to see some great design ideas! 

You can’t talk about wild car builds of the 80s without talking about the tuner cars of Koenig. Shant Meshefedjian is an expert on Koenig, especially their polarizing Mercedes builds. Shant gives us the incredible stories of how he acquired one the rarest of them all and his love for the over the top builds that Koenig is famous for.

Here at Avants we have one major complaint with car manufacturers and what they choose to sell in the US…they never give us enough wagons! Give us all the wagons! Megan Zalud joins in the studio again as we discuss all the cars we wish we could import to the US, but those stubborn manufacturers just refuse to give them to us. Did we miss one? Do you agree? Let us know!

You’ve seen her 280Z on the cover the recent Avants Magazine and seen her work in Black Panther and more, but now you can hear the incredible stories of profession stunt driver and drifter, Brionna Lynch. She gives us all the epic stunt driver stories, stories of last minute engine swaps, race prep, and so much more. Brionna is every bit as great of a story teller as she is a driver. Be sure to check out her article from the Avants magazine posted here and be sure to follow herInstagram to see all her latest updates!

This week we have the pleasure of talking to Molly Saleen, CEO of Saleen Performance Parts and of course of the legendary Saleen family. Molly talks with us all about The Molly Project, Molly Pop Pink, the history of Saleen, the excitement around the upcoming Saleen 1, and a lot more.

The fact that we met Megan through Avants is kind of surprising since she’s been friends with basically everyone we know for years. Megan started life at the Kart track, but has worked with Bondurant, Yukon Gear and Axle, DirtFish, Forza, and more pursuing her automotive passions. We caught up with Megan at the DirtFish Women in Motorsports Summit which seemed like the perfect place for this recording.

This week we sit down with Jennifer Klein and she gives us a reminder that being a success in the motorsports world doesn’t always mean being in the car. If you’re looking for yet another inspirational person who’s making a name for themself in the industry without being a driver or co-driver, then look no further. She shares some great stories of working her way up and there is definitely some great lessons to take home for all of us wanting to or currently working in the industry.

You can work with Jennifer by reaching out to her on her LinkedIn.

We start off Women’s Month strong with Karisa Haydon and Trista Smith, aka Team Baby Bronco, who share their journey of doing the Rebelle Rally! They give us the details of how their adventure started before the rally even began and how they completed the rally to make rookies of the year!

Follow along with Karisa and Trista at TeamBabyBronco.com!

We discuss challenges of building a shop and still trying to maintain your sanity all while trying to stay within a budget. We also talk about Dan’s attack dog to defend his shop, some pretty cool tools we don’t need, and the quickly rising costs of buying a new Jeep or Bronco.