Glen Plake joins Big Rich Klein for a wide-ranging conversation about skiing, off-road racing, rock crawling, and the unexpected opportunities that shaped his life.
A member of the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame, Glen reflects on growing up in South Lake Tahoe, learning to ski at age two, and finding inspiration in the hot-dogging revolution and early ski films. He discusses his iconic mohawk, resisting the pressure to conform, and the importance of individuality in sports.
Glen also shares how family, mechanics, water skiing, and Baja influenced his path. He recounts his unconventional introduction to off-road racing, including a race-saving repair during the Baja 500 and a decades-long relationship with Darren Skelton.
The conversation continues with Glen’s experience on Truck Night in America, his transition into rock crawling, Trail Hero, and building and wheeling a buggy with his wife, Kimberly. Throughout, Glen emphasizes staying active, embracing uncertainty, helping others, and walking through every door that opens.
His advice to the next generation is simple: believe you can—and never let anyone tell you otherwise.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:13.290] – Big Rich Klein
On this week’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, I’ll be talking with a guy who is in the US National Ski Hall of Fame. You might ask, what does that have to do with off-road? Well, he has raced rally cars, off-road racing in Baja, drives rock buggies, and he was one of 4 hosts on Truck Night in America. My guest is Glen Plake. Good morning, Glen Plake. It’s so good to have you on the podcast. Actually, we go— we may have crossed paths in our youths, although I am 6 years 7 years older than you, so maybe I was out of the Squaw Valley area and all that before, and out of the, you know, out of skiing before, you know, you became recognizable. No, but I—
[00:02:07.910] – Glen Plake
we were always running around. And then obviously being, you know, having a lot of ties to El Dorado County too, we were always crossing paths of not seeing each other at some point. I know for a fact. Excellent. And I— yeah, we definitely walked and walked the same path at some point.
[00:02:22.160] – Big Rich Klein
Well, it’s really good to have you on here, and I’m looking looking forward to this conversation.
[00:02:26.660] – Glen Plake
Yeah, you have me too.
[00:02:27.960] – Big Rich Klein
It’s such a, a vast variety of things that— an interest in things that you’ve done, and this ought to be really great.
[00:02:36.090] – Glen Plake
Yeah, this is a great honor to be, uh, you know, asked to be a part of this. And yeah, I mean, my, my brother-cousin said I’ve lived fast and didn’t die young, so here we are. Yep. Excellent.
[00:02:50.430] – Big Rich Klein
Yes. So first question I ask everybody is, where were you born and raised? Yeah.
[00:02:56.560] – Glen Plake
I was born in Livermore, California. Okay. My grandparents were based in that area, but I was actually raised in South Lake Tahoe. Okay. Or based in South Lake Tahoe during my youth. I’d bounce around back to the Central Valley a little bit to visit the grandparents, and so I always kind of had a little bit of a tie to the Central Valley there, the Tracy area. And then, and, but South Lake Tahoe was for the most part where I was raised. That’s right.
[00:03:25.000] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. And so that’s where you, you spent your early years in school and stuff, is Southlake? Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
[00:03:32.920] – Glen Plake
Went to all my grammar school right there. I lived in El Tahoe, and, um, my mother and father were living there. My parents were divorced a pretty young age, but they both lived in Southlake Tahoe. My father went on to be, uh, chief of the fire department there, and my mom continued to live there for many, many, many, many years. READ MORE
