The title can never quite describe the podcast; Adam ‘Skinny” Lunn is so much more. Coming out of North Texas, he wiggled his way into the Arizona scene as a sweeper in the Campbell shop and expanded from there to 11 years driving and winning desert races – great stories from the early days and beyond. Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
5:06 – I started chopping this thing up, thinking I was going to rock crawl a Z71 pickup
8:31 – I think right away we knew we were outgunned – we showed up with a 4 wheel drive and left with a one-wheel drive
12:41 – “kid, everyone that works in here’s last name is Campbell”
15:37 – I was going to be a professional rockcrawler, so I quit school without telling my parents
22:22 – I went into gypsy mode
25:21 – …until the fire got to me, I wasn’t burning…
35:39 – I don’t know if I’m dumb or tough, maybe both, anybody else would’ve quit
41:29 – I got my biggest break, the Trophy Tractor was born
Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:39.380] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, we have Adam Skinny Lunn. I don’t know if he’s still going by Skinny anywhere, but maybe some of the old rock crawlers. But Adam has been around for quite a while in the rock crawling scene. As a young kid, he got started, will get into the age and all that. But he progressed himself up to a full time fabricator shop and desert racer. So Adam, thank you for coming on board and spending some time with us.
[00:02:08.600] – Adam Lunn
Yeah, awesome. Thanks for having me, Rich. It’s been a while and I look forward to catching up.
[00:02:14.320] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah. So let’s just jump right in with both feet and find out where you were born and raised.
[00:02:21.620] – Adam Lunn
I was born and raised in Wichita Falls, Texas. It’s about two hours north of Dallas Fort Worth, right here on the Red River. Born and raised here. And actually, out of all the crazy wild places I’ve worked and lived, I’ve come full circle. And that’s where I’m living back today. A suburb of right near where I grew up. And that’s where my shop is.
[00:02:46.340] – Big Rich Klein
Oh, excellent. And when you grew up in Wichita Falls, I’ve been through there a number of times. Were you in town or were you on the outskirts, more rural?
[00:02:57.070] – Adam Lunn
I was growing up. I was I was in town, but my family has always been into ranching and a little in the oil business. So we were always running around ranch and lease roads. And that’s how I got into a four wheeling, to be honest with you.
[00:03:13.970] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. And those early school years, how did they impact your future life? Were you studious or were you a little rebellious or whatever?
[00:03:27.180] – Adam Lunn
I was always pretty good at school. But once I got to high school, high school, I’m sure like a lot of guys back then, it was pre all the phones like it is now. Everybody was into the magazine. So probably about 15 or 16, once I got my first truck, I was in school with magazines tucked in the books, acting like I was doing school work. But I was almost always over there sketching up offroad cars and trucks and making list of modifications and reading magazines and seeing what everybody was doing in the offroad scene.
[00:04:01.420] – Big Rich Klein
And did your high school offer industrial shop classes or anything like that?
[00:04:08.490] – Adam Lunn
Yeah, they did. And actually, I give big credit to them for being one of the few that still had it back in that day. They’re coming back around now. But we had what they just called AG, and that was at a full metal fab shop with torch and welders. And you could go in there and use the stuff as your own and really dive into it. And that was key. I did that my junior and senior year, and that’s when I got bit by the… I enjoy driving them, but I… And even to this day, I’m not sure which I like more, driving or building them. I got bit by the FAB bug there and haven’t been able to kick it since.
[00:04:47.920] – Big Rich Klein
Very nice. So then when you were at that age where you said your family did some ranching and that stuff, and you were out on the ranch roads, were you driving yourself? What was the first vehicle you got to drive?
[00:05:06.930] – Adam Lunn
So first vehicle I drove was a 60s F 100 two wheel drive, which is sliding around. We know down here in the south, you drive pretty young. We were probably 10, maybe nine, eight starting driving that thing. And then in high school, back then, it was like the thing. I wanted a Z 71 pickup so bad and got a used extended cab, four wheel drive Z 71 pickup when I was 16 and then lifted it up, put it on mud tires and was in the… Back then, it was just mud bogging hill climbing, just rallying that thing around. And that’s what led me to start grabbing the magazines. And that’s when I started seeing, got bored with the mud and then seeing all these guys on rocks and was just fascinated with it. So as ridiculous as it sounds, I started chopping this thing up and thought I was going to rock crawl a Z 71 pickup and was just really fascinated with it. And then realized real quick, a Z 71 is a little too big for rock crawling. So then I migrated into K5 Blazers and Jeeps. And my dad, he was hacked at me because he thought I was tearing up this nice truck. READ MORE
