Tom Yash brings a ton to the table for any industry company he works for. He’s got all the classic over-achiever qualifications we can all relate to. Never satisfied with just one thing, he’s always building and growing. Loved this interview, Tom is a great guy, easy to be around, and always up for a beverage or two. We appreciate his participation in Dirt Riot and his contributions to 4Low Magazine.
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3:55 – teacher called me a hammerhead
8:44 – who here knows how to drive a stick?
11:35 – “you bought yourself a plastic coffin!”
20:49 – we don’t pay for our friends, we pay for our beer
31:19 – my first trip to Compton, I’m reading street signs, I’m like, I heard this in a rap song.
41:48 – oh, that’s Brad, he can do what he wants
46:17 – holy cow, which vehicle am I going to build?
1:05:34 – I hit the front-edge and the leading edge of the box truck, felt like I ripped the whole box off
1:10:45 – is the juice worth the squeeze?
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:42.250] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, we have Tom Yash. Tom has been in the industry for quite a while. We’ll find out exactly how long, but I met Tom, I believe, the first time some time back in the mid two thousands when he was working for JKS, I believe so. Tom, thank you very much for coming on board and talking about your history. And it’s great to have you on here.
[00:02:08.710] – Tom Yash
Thank you, Rich. Thanks for having me.
[00:02:10.730] – Big Rich Klein
So let’s jump right in. And where were you born and raised?
[00:02:16.810] – Tom Yash
I was actually born in Youngstown, Ohio. Pretty sad city. So sad. Springsteen wrote a song about it. I grew up in the area, basically have lived in Lake Milton for most of my life, but bounced around, went to College in Athens, Ohio, lived in Nebraska, Boston, New York. So been a little bit everywhere. And for about five years I lived on the road.
[00:02:40.630] – Big Rich Klein
Well, for me as a San Francisco 49er fan since I can remember first understanding what football was, DiBartolo owning the 49 ers was like the greatest thing ever. Did a great job. And he’s from Youngstown.
[00:02:59.120] – Tom Yash
Yeah. The DiBartolo’s, yeah, still got the 49rs logo on the side of their building here.
[00:03:04.430] – Big Rich Klein
Excellent. So then primarily where did you go to school and stuff? Was it Youngstown going to Jackson, Milton?
[00:03:15.730] – Tom Yash
It was a really small town, so I think we have a total of two stoplights in our town. Graduating class is about 50 people, and that was the biggest in I think ten years was my graduating class. And then right after that, I went to College at Ohio University where I think my freshman class was over 1400 people or something like that. So it was a pretty big jump in a different direction. It was a lot of fun now.
[00:03:45.930] – Big Rich Klein
So when you were in high school, question I got to ask, were you studious, athletic, or did your own thing?
[00:03:55.570] – Tom Yash
Yes, I was a problem child, probably up until about 6th grade. And then I had one teacher called me a hammerhead, which it stuck with me. And I was like, I’m not dumb. Come on. And after that, I applied myself more and actually just paid attention in class and realized if you did that, you get good grades. So I did well with that. I was my senior class student Council President. I started the golf team. My parents, unfortunately, got stuck with doing football, baseball, wrestling, track, and eventually golf. So there wasn’t a free moment of space to get a breath of air in anywhere.
[00:04:39.830] – Big Rich Klein
And I know you have a brother because you raced with him and we’ll get into that. Is he older or younger?
[00:04:45.660] – Tom Yash
Older one year older. He’s my co driver. Yeah.
[00:04:47.940] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. And was that town, if it’s that small, that must have been fairly rural. Is that correct?
[00:04:56.520] – Tom Yash
Absolutely. Yeah. Our football team would diminish once the students got old enough that the parents wanted them to come back and work on the farm. So up until about 6th grade, we were Dynamite. We would beat everybody around. And then 7th and 8th grade, all those farmers would have to go back and work on their farms and we lose all that muscle.
[00:05:16.980] – Big Rich Klein
Wow. Okay. Yup. That happens. And as a kid riding bikes. Motorcycles. What was your thing for outdoors?
[00:05:32.210] – Tom Yash
Bikes was a way of life. We live so far away from everybody else that you have to ride a bike to go see the neighbor. And that was a good pedal. So there was times where you’d be riding 5 miles just to go see a friend. Then you have to ride 5 miles back and you didn’t have a cell phone. And thankfully our parents weren’t hovering at that point. So we were allowed to go out and explore. And I grew up next to a golf course, so we were always causing havoc there and looking for golf balls and being chaotic there. But yeah, eventually you grow up and you buy some bigger toys. I think I was 14 when I bought my three Wheeler ATC 350 X. So I bought the biggest, fastest three Wheeler I could find that they ever made. And I just remember my mom crying and having to promise them I’d get a helmet. And yes, it was just chaos after that ever since. And basically the next year I was starting to buy Jeeps and cars and everything else and it just snowballed to where I’m at right now. READ MORE
