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Herm & Schrader
Mike Harrison: Chasing Championships With Family-First Racing
01:12:29
One of the greatest dirt modified racers of all-time, Mike Harrison, joins Kenny Wallace on the latest edition of Kenny Conversations
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- [00:00]
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Mike Harrison
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- [00:32]
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- [01:02]
Kenny Wallace
Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation brought to you by jegs, the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts. Remember to go to JEGS.com to fix your hot rod up or your everyday vehicle. All right, As I always say, deep breath. You are looking at the man that I say. I say he's the greatest of all time in UMP modified racing history. The great Mike Harrison. Mike, how are you doing, buddy?
- [01:38]
Mike Harrison
I'm doing good, Kenny. How about yourself?
- [01:41]
Kenny Wallace
Well, I'm doing really good, but I'm super excited to have you on. You know, I feel like you're known throughout America, but we're doing a local tour and we started out with Kevin Gundaker. We went with Mad Dog, Mark Minor. And Mike, you are an incredible race car driver. Let's start like this, Mike. Brother Rusty always says, herm, you got to remind them because they remember what they want to. So I'm going to say this and then you give me your response after you hear this. Mike Harrison. 631Amain wins since 1995. Eight time ump national champion. Six time summer national champion. Those stats are off the wall. Crazy good when you hear me say that. What do you think?
- [02:47]
Mike Harrison
I mean, it's, it's definitely been a hell of a ride. It's been, it's been, it's been fun. Yeah, I, you know, I don't know. I mean, there's here you know, Jimmy Owens, he was like, you know, he was one of the guys, you know, way back when, when I was coming up. And you know, we're pretty much the same age, so I mean, we pretty much grew up racing together, you know, but you know, back in the day, you know, we all kind of shot for him and we all talked about him and we all thought about him and him and Mikey Marler, you know, because them guys run around together and they were, you know, they were like just ahead of everybody else for some reason, for whatever reason, you know. But yeah, so, you know, to be in, to be in, to be talked about and have the same kind of stats as him, you know, obviously I've been in modifieds longer than him because he moved up to late models, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's something. Hopefully the, hopefully the records stand for a while, hopefully.
- [03:53]
Kenny Wallace
Oh, they will, they will. And there's so much to say and I want to, I want to stay on course here. I want to talk about you, Jimmy Owens a little bit later on, but let's, let's go down this route right away. You are a working man. I consider you a friend. We talk. But you, you are a farmer. You work for a corporate farming group. You farm. That's what you do. Yeah, tell me, tell her, tell everybody in America what you do besides race.
- [04:32]
Mike Harrison
Race is just a small part of life. You know, obviously you got your home life, which don't seem like there's a whole lot of home life a lot of times because you're either at work or you're out in the shop working on the race car. So. But yes, you know, you know, I haven't always farmed all my life. I started farming for render farms in 2009. So, you know, it's, that's been going for 15 years now, which is quite a long time. But yes, it is. The job is very demanding at times. I do got a, you know, a good group of guys that I work for. We're all roughly around the same age. You know, I, I got, basically there's a dad and then there's three boys in. The three boys are all basically around the same age as is me. I went to school with one. One's a couple years younger than me, one's a couple years older than me. So it's, it's really a tight knit group. And yeah, we work, I mean, we work and we work and we work. You know, I mean, we, we roughly farm around 25,000 acres and it is, it's it's serious. I mean, in the spring and the fall, there is. There's not a lot of time for life, I'll tell you that. And then, you know, and then to try to put a race car in the mix with that, you get run down really quick. I mean, and thank God for good help and my boys and the few other guys that helped me, you know, Bob England and his boy Drew and then Brandon. Because if it wouldn't be for all them guys during farm season, I mean, the car would probably have to sit.
- [06:27]
Kenny Wallace
There's a. There's another racer around Highland, Illinois. Robbie Eilers. Robbie is an acquaintance. I don't really know him, but he's very pleasant around me. And he said something about you that I'll never forget. And I want to share with all the other racers out there. Robbie knows how great you are. And I've already read all your stats off. He said, let me tell you something about Mike Harrison. He says I go by that shop at all hours. Because I guess he goes by your shop. It's right there on one of the city streets in Highland, Illinois. Robbie says you work your ass off on that race car. He says them shop lights are on all the time. You work hard on that race car. What. When do you work on it? And you're kind of mentioning, but I thought that was pretty cool. I want to give a Robbie a shout out for bragging on you.
- [07:20]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, well, I mean, I know Robbie, you know, he's, you know, obviously we live right here in the same town, so, I mean, we're gonna know each other, but. Yeah, I've known his, you know, his dad. His dad and my dad, they grew up together through school. And then Robbie was, you know, younger than me, so we didn't really go through school together. But we've just, you know, from our dads knowing each other and then us knowing each other and I mean, we've just all known each other forever, you know, family, friends and. And so, yeah, I do work a lot with Robbie, too. I mean, me and him, we talk on the phone and we talk about stuff and. And yeah, he said their whole family. There's good family and. Yeah. But when do I work on the car? Whenever I can. I mean, sometimes, you know, during farming time, you know, a lot of times the, you know, the guys will come and they'll work on, you know, they'll come and work on stuff, you know, and obviously me and Brett, you know, I mean, Brett's. Brett's the right hand man. He's more or less the guru behind everything.
- [08:27]
Kenny Wallace
I mean, his son.
- [08:29]
Mike Harrison
Yes, he'll, he'll pretty much have the game plan and you know, we talk back and forth and, and so he'll usually, he'll usually schedule the guys all to come over and what night and so they kind of take care of stuff for me throughout the week when I am working late hours and then what's left are all the stuff that I do. Then when I get home, it, you know, just depending on what time I get home that night, if it's 8:00 or 10:00, you know, then I'll usually come in the house and eat supper. You know, the wife will have supper in the oven or the microwave waiting for me and I'll eat and go into the bedroom and say hi to her and give her a kiss and then I'll go off to the shop and you know, she may not see me till midnight or 1 o'clock in the morning. Sometimes we obviously try to, try not to do that a whole lot because you know, six o'clock comes early again the next morning. But sometimes you just have to, I mean, if, if I, if, if stuff's not done and I want to go race, I know that it's got to get done or we don't go race. So you know, sometimes either I let it sit or I go and work on it and, and you know, then we can, then we can go. But for the most part, Brett and, you know, Brett and Michael and Brandon and Bob and Drew, I mean them guys will all, they'll all get together and get, you know, 80, 90% of everything done for me anyways, so there ain't much left for me to do.
- [10:05]
Kenny Wallace
I wanted to establish that you're a hard working man. You work for a living, you have a family. I, I also want to establish for the people that are jealous of you, you know, of course I came home about seven, eight years ago. You win all the time. You're the greatest modified racer in UMP and UMP history. And that's the reason I wanted to, you know, paint this picture of what you do. You know, Robbie Eiler's saying, hey, he's in the shop all the time. I know Robbie's around there. So I think we've established that. Mike, you're a hard working man and you use your family. You, you talk about your boy, everybody helping you. One thing you know, that I like to share with people is, is I know you and you share things with me. You're in that tractor and you're bouncing up and down all the time, and I don't know if I'm gonna blame it on the race car, but you paid the price. Your. Your back is hurting you, but you're still winning with a hurt back. How. How are you maintaining that pain right now?
- [11:15]
Mike Harrison
I don't know. You know. Yeah. Beginning of last year and I mean, you know, I've kind of always had. I mean, it's really not. Well, let me. Let me start over. My next stuff, which came last year, that kind of just all came about, but, I mean, pretty much all my life I've dealt with back issues. My dad's back is bad, my back's bad. My brother's back is bad. It kind of. There's kind of hereditary things that we've got in our back, you know. You know, so I can blame it on my dad, I guess, but, you know, it's just. It's. It's part of life. It's part of. It's part of working hard all of our life. It's part of. It's part of doing stuff that we shouldn't have done. You know, growing up thinking that, you know, we're stronger than what we really are and just, you know, now I wish that's what I always yell at my boys and whoever's around me now, hey, wait for somebody to help. Don't try to carry it yourself. Because, you know, back in the day, that's what I would do. I'd just do it myself. And. And that's how it was. But, yeah, so, you know, the back stuff, you know, it's kind of just. It is what it is. We live with it. We deal with it. I don't know if you've ever seen me, but, you know, prior to this year, there's. There's times that you'd see me laying in my trailer with one of my legs straight up in the air on the wall. You know, I just trying to, like, stretch my lower back out, like, you know, stretch my sciatic nerve and my. My vertebrae is apart to release them. Release them nerves, you know, because sometimes, I mean, it'd be so bad at the racetrack, like I said, I'd have to lay down on, you know, in the trailer and put my legs straight up in the air, you know, just because it was hurting me so bad. But that's just kind of, you know, normal life is. I call it really. You know, I mean, it don't bother me enough and bad enough, I feel like, to Go to the doct. So I just kind of live with it. But, you know, when my whole neck deal happened last year, that was. That was something different. And still to this day, I don't know what triggered it. The only thing that we can. That me and the doctors, you know, and the surgeon that we figured out that possibly could have triggered it is about three to four days before it happened. I was on my four wheeler. I got a snowplow for my four wheeler, and I was plowing all the snow in front of the house and in front of the shop. You know, there's about 100ft of nothing but concrete, about 30, 40 foot wide. You know, so I was. I was plowing all that night. You know, it's constantly turning around on the four wheeler, turning around. And so that's the only thing that I can come up with that that triggered everything. And once it triggered it, I mean, it. It was actually just like three days later. You know, say I plowed snow on a. On a Thursday, and we had Brett's baby shower on Saturday, and I was perfectly fine, perfectly normal. Went to bed Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning. Like, I slept wrong. You know, I woke up, sat on the side of the bed, and I told Lori, I said, man, I slept wrong. I got a cramp in my neck because I couldn't, you know, my neck hurts so bad. Well, you know, normal. It just go away after. You know, a day after you get up and get moving or, you know, a day or two days, it would go away. Well, this time it just never went away. So, you know, I. I finally. I finally ended up. Well, literally got so bad, I went to work. You know, I was just trying to work through everything, went to work, and it was so bad that I literally called Lori on the phone. I was driving the semi. I left St. Louis to the river at the grain terminal. And I was coming back. I was actually going to Greenville, I think, and I got a little east of Troy, and I actually called Lori crying on the phone, because I. I tried to call the doctor before I called her, and I couldn't even. It hurt so bad that I couldn't even get on Google or. Or get my phone dialed up to call the damn doctor's office, right? So I, you know, Lori's. Obviously, I got her in the top of my phone at the top of the list. So I was, I. I got her on the phone and I said, listen, I'm trying to get back home, but if I don't make it, I'm Going to be at Route 4 and 70. I'm going to get off the interstate right there because, oh my gosh, no matter what I did, I mean, it, It. It hurt so bad. So I ended up may. I just brought the semi straight home and parked it right out in front of the shop. And I got on the phone and started calling the doctors and the chiropractor. And so I was. The chiropractor was actually able to get me in.
- [16:29]
Kenny Wallace
Lori works at a hospital though, right?
- [16:31]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, she works at Barnes down in St. Louis. Yes, but she was actually home. She's, you know, she's home on Thursdays and Fridays, so she was actually home at the time. So I ended up getting into the chiropractor and they did their thing and, you know, took X rays and this and that and, you know, so they, they started their treatment instantly. So then I was just not getting really better. So I went to the doctor and more X rays scheduled got me scheduled for. They wanted me to start physical therapy and I wanted more results, you know, I wanted. I wanted to know what was going on, you know. So we got MRI scheduled, went and got the mri. So then we had facts of what was going on. So then after we got the mri, then we went back to the doctor, started physical therapy, you know, all the steps for everything. Well, then Lori got. Lori got a doctor involved down at Barnes. So I started talking to him and he, you know, we was, we was talking back and forth, made an appointment to go see him and, and you know, he read the MRI and everything. And after he read the mri, he said, just stop right here. He says, this is for options. We've got to, you know, either try injections first or we can talk about what we don't want to talk about. And so obviously, you know, we don't want to go down that road. So I got an injection scheduled in injection, and that helped tremendously. And then got three, three or four rounds of trigger point injections in all my muscles around my neck, you know, just to. Because everything, you know, this is two or three months in at this point in time. And you know, you know how it is when something's hurt, everything attacks that. And, and so everything else around my neck was all suffering now because it was trying to protect my neck. So. So we kept doing it. We did them trigger point injections, and you got to wait so long before you can get the, you know, the big injection. So I finally got a second round of the cortisone injection, I guess steroid cortisone whatever you want to call it. And I. I was. I was so gung ho to go get that, you know, because the first one helped so much. I was like, yes, you know, we're gonna.
- [19:29]
Kenny Wallace
This is gonna cure it.
- [19:30]
Mike Harrison
Yes, I'm gonna be better. Right? Went in there, got it. And after, you know, the first one, when they gave me the first one, I mean, I, like, felt it go all the way down to my fingers. And, you know, they did the second one, and I'm. They're like, okay, you're done. And I'm thinking, what did you even do anything? Because I didn't feel nothing. So I come home and, you know, it's like, man, it's like, did they even put medicine in the. In it? You know, Because I didn't feel nothing. But over time, you know, you know, you don't think about it. But after a week went by and two weeks went by and three weeks went by, it's like, hey, you know, I'm. I don't even really notice it no more so much now I notice it, but there's not necessarily pain involved with it. Like, there was. So, you know, and I. I still do feel it. I still. I still do feel it, but there's just. There's not a lot of pain involved anymore. I just. I guess I should say I probably learned a little bit of what, you know, learned a little bit of what to do, what not to do. Don't move real fast. Just be a little more cautious with things. Yes, but I mean, I. I would say I'm. I would say I'm pretty. Well, I mean, I'm not going to say I'm back to normal because, I mean, we all know ain't none of us ever normal. But. No, you know, I'm back to. I'm back to feeling pretty good again. And, I mean, I don't have nothing I can't do anymore, so it's pretty good. We'll just see how long it lasts and, you know, see if I got to do injections again or not. You know, we're just like that. Like the surgeon told me and Lori, which, you know, he works down there with Lori, he basically told Lori that we've got to push the inedible off as long as we possibly can, you know, so, yeah, we'll just see how long it can go and before. Before something has to happen.
- [21:37]
Kenny Wallace
Welcome to Nadiata Island.
- [21:40]
Mike Harrison
Next on Metro's Nadia Yada island podcast. I almost fainted when the four new bombshells arrived. Four free Samsung Galaxy A16, 5G phones at Metro.
- [21:49]
Kenny Wallace
No way.
- [21:50]
Mike Harrison
And finding out the fourth line is free. Things got heated. That's wild. Join Metro and get four free Samsung 5G phones only at Metro plus tax. Bring four numbers and an ID and sign up for any Metro Flex plan not available currently at T Mobile or been with Metro in the past 180 days.
- [22:09]
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- [22:40]
Kenny Wallace
I want to. I want to take a minute here and say this to you and for everybody that is in pain in America. The great David Pearson, one of the greatest of all time in nascar. Horrible back pain. Ended his career. Jeff Gordon. Everybody knows that. Myself and Jeff started together. One of the greatest of all time. You know, I would look inside Jeff's race car, Horrible back pain. Jeff Gordon, always working on his lumbar support. Mark the Kid Martin. Mark, you know, these are people that I'm close with, and they are, they are great race car drivers. Mark deals with chronic pain, you know, and he's been on Kenny Conversation. My dear friend, Billy Smith. Billy, good little race car driver, horrible back pain. And I think the reason I brought it up is besides just talking about how great you are and we're celebrating you, Mike. I want everybody to know that, you know, everybody goes through a little bit, everything. And, you know, some, some sometimes, you know, it's like, hey, be careful, you know, because it's not a better roses.
- [24:02]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, you.
- [24:03]
Kenny Wallace
You know, people want your life, Mike. They're like, oh, my God, if I could win 30 races a year and some of them 25 in a row or against great people. So it's more than just winning, don't you think, Mike?
- [24:20]
Mike Harrison
Oh, yeah. I mean, it's, you know, like I, like I always say, you know, it's. I mean, yes, winning is great, and, And I get all the glory for the winning, but it's, It's. It's so much more than just winning it. You know, it's. It's all the memories that you make with your family and your boys and your. Your wife and, and all your partners and Your sponsors, you know, all your product people. It. Every single one of them, you know, we all talk about it. Every single one of them is part of that win, you know, and you know, yeah, we all try to mention all them all the time, you know, everybody that helps you and everything, but there's just, there's so much that goes into winning and it's no fun to.
- [25:07]
Kenny Wallace
Do it by yourself, is it?
- [25:08]
Mike Harrison
No, you got to have the whole, the whole package to make the deal work, you know, I remember.
- [25:16]
Kenny Wallace
Let me interrupt you for a minute and I wanna, we're both kind of together on this all. And they're there. Okay, there's the therapy session right there. Yeah, that's that baby. You, you care. You're such a tough man. You're a big man. I mean, you know, you're, you're a quarterback for a football player and there you are and you, you, you have that, that doggy with you all the time. Then you get in the race car and you just terrorize the cushion and the wall. Tell me about that dog. What does that do for you?
- [25:53]
Mike Harrison
I don't know. You know, we've. This is our, this is our third one. We had two, we had two before him. One last one was 14 when she got went down and then the other one was 16, my boy. And you know, I mean we, we always had them at the racetrack with us too, but not as much as him. He was, we were, we were looking for, we still had our boy that was 15 years old and we were looking for, we were looking for another one to, for him to kind of train and, and him to have. And, and we were, I was actually getting ready to buy one another shih tzu just like this one from a lady down in Kentucky. I think, you know, I think 2500 bucks is what, you know, around that 2000. 2500 bucks. And I was literally getting ready to call and put the deposit down on, on that one. And my daughter in law called me and this little guy was, he was a baby obviously, but he was having a hard road to go. He was, he went home with a family and the family, everything wasn't jiving with them and, and so she actually gave him to some other guy to try to potty train him and, and get him trained a little bit. And so they obviously asked me if I was interested in a boy because I was looking for a girl. But I says, well, yeah, you know, it don't matter because we're not going to breed him or whatever. And he was the, he was the rot. And he just, he needed attention, you know, and, and so, like me, like me. Yes. Yeah. Hey, like all of us. All of us. But yeah, so, so I told my daughter in law, I says, well, if you bring him over to the house, and if I like him, you can't take him back away. So she brought him over and I mean, she brought him over. She brought a, a, a dog carrier, a bed, couple toys, turnkey. Yeah, and some dog food, you know, and, and, well, that, you know, he, he was very little. I mean, he was like £4 when we got him. I mean, he literally fit in my palm. And, you know, the dog food that they had was like cheap adult dog food. And, you know, he was a little baby, you know, and so he really needed, he really needed some help. And, and so he was really looking for us as bad as we were looking for another one. So we, we found him and he became, he became me and mom's baby. I mean, basically. And then, you know, so we had Gizmo, which was the older boy. We had him for a year while this one came into the house. So Gizmo kind of trained this one. And then it's just been, just been us three in the house, you know, me and Lori and Gunner and you talk about spoiled. That's one little spoiled. One little spoiled kid.
- [29:13]
Kenny Wallace
We're, we're close to getting to a lot of racing. I think it's important on Kenny conversation when we celebrate you, Mike, I think people want to know about you. So, you know, when you drive that race car, you could appear to be angrily fast. You know, in other words, this guy's an animal. Mike Harrison is the best at the cushion. When the track's super rough, he just goes right through the holes. But here, here you are. You know, I remember stealing your boy Brett. I said, can I take Brett to Volusia?
- [29:52]
Mike Harrison
Yeah.
- [29:52]
Kenny Wallace
And, and in a loving way, you said, you bring my boy back. Said that. You said that to me. And I, and I thought he loves his kid, which we all do. But I'm wanting to, you know, show you to people what I know about you. As mean as you are on that, that race car, you're, you're, you're, you're soft a little bit. You're a lover, you love that doggy. You love your family. Is it okay for people to know that about you? Am I giving your image up?
- [30:23]
Mike Harrison
No. No. Hell no. I, I, I mean, if, if I, if I was, if I was that big, tough guy, I wouldn't I wouldn't give it about family and all the people coming. It would just be whoever could come and help and do this. But, I mean, if you'd ask my kids or my wife, I don't even really like going to the racetrack without all them being there and being involved and being a part, because that's. That's how. That's how we roll. I mean, we. We. We go as a family and, you know, even. I mean, obviously we've got. Obviously we've got some friends other than. Other than family, but, you know, 75 of the time, anytime you see me, you're gonna see my wife. Yeah, anytime you see me, you're gonna see my kids. Just because that's how. That's how we all go, you know? I mean, it just. That's what it's all about. You know, when we go to the. When we go to the lake, it's usually. It's usually us and the kids go out in the boat, you know, and go to the lake. We go snowmobiling. It's me and. Me and the boys or, you know, me and Lori and the boys and their girlfriends. I mean, it's just, you know, everything we do pretty much is, you know, as we do as a family. And. And I always talk about the boys. There is girls involved too, you know.
- [31:57]
Kenny Wallace
Now.
- [32:00]
Mike Harrison
You know, I mean, my daughter, she don't go. She don't. She very, very rarely goes to the races. Lori's daughter goes a lot. So, I mean, a lot of people see her around more than. Than anything, you know. But, I mean, you. Yeah, between my kids, her kids, I mean, we've got a. We've got a team right there alone, you know, and then. And then you want to get grandkids involved. I mean, there's 11 of them total. So, I mean, before long, it's. Before long, you better stay away from the trailer.
- [32:32]
Kenny Wallace
And one last thing on this subject, I. I just find it fascinating because I like to know I'm a people person. I remember years ago, you drove a race car. And no need of saying anybody's name, but there was a little bit about you. You have a lot of family with you. And it just came to where you said, hey, I don't need to drive for you anymore. If my. If my family can't be around this race car, I'll just go my separate ways. I heard that story. Is that true?
- [33:06]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, kind of.
- [33:07]
Kenny Wallace
Somewhat.
- [33:07]
Mike Harrison
Yeah. That was kind of when, you know, that was kind of when Michael, my oldest boy, he. He had. He Had I think one of his kids, maybe two at that point in time. And so he was kind of. His life had changed. Obviously. Michael was, Michael was always my Brett because Michael was the older one. So Michael was, Michael was my Brett with the race car. He was my right hand man, you know, because he was at that age and he could do whatever. Well then he got girlfriend and then he had one kid and then two kids. So his life changed drastically with, with racing and helping dad, which he still tried to come and help as much as he could. But you know, we all know life changes when you have kids. So. So that kind of, you know, everything kind of changed right there with him. And then, you know, Brett was, Brett was quite a bit younger at that point in time. Well then the transition was. Brett was kind of trying to come in, but Brett was younger and he was, you know, this stupid little young kid that was learning. Learning coming in. Yes, I mean, and that's exactly what he was doing. But you know, not everybody necessarily thought that, you know, because he was just a little bitty young kid, you know, so, so you know how it is that you, you have good years, you have bad years, everything don't always go right. Right. You know, sometimes, sometimes you can get a car that, you know, it can be the same car that you ran years before or whatever, but sometimes you just get a car that just isn't as good as your last car and, and you begin to struggle a little bit. So that's kind of what happened. I mean we were. Sorry, we were still winning races, but it just wasn't like the domination, you.
- [35:21]
Kenny Wallace
Know, you, you spoiled whoever you drove for. Yes, you spoil people. You win all the time and.
- [35:28]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, and that's, I mean that, that's kind of, you know, you know, I've kind of all my career, I mean I've really spoiled myself because I have, you know, I've won so much that, you know, when you don't win, you know, it's like a letdown, you know, you, I mean, you know, not so much anymore because we know how, you know, we know how tough everything is nowadays. But yes, just like you said back, you know, and kind of the same thing happened with, you know, my brother in laws when I drove for, for Brad and then Ken, you know, I drove for them and, and then, you know, Craig, I drove for him. I kind of the same thing. I mean you, you, you win so much and, and then when you don't win and there's more than, yes, there's more than One or two people involved, you know, everybody just starts pointing fingers, you know. Well, when you start pointing fingers, that's when things turn bad, you know. So kind of, you know, you're talking about the one instance, but kind of both instances, you know, it just, it just came to the point to where, listen, we need to just end this while we can all be friends and we can all be family and, and just do away with the race car now so it don't end everything. Well, you know how that goes. Then you try to end things nicely and, and it still goes badly, you know, so. But yeah, since then, I mean, we pretty much all rekindled relationships for the most part. But yeah, so like that one instance you're talking about, you know, so Brett came into the picture and Brett was kind of, of helping and you know, there wasn't many of us that left that actually helped on that race car no more. Everybody had kind of, you know, left and, and run off and, and did their own deal or you know, whatever. And so it's kind of me and Brett, another guy that I worked with, he was helping me just because he knew I didn't have no more help, you know. And yeah, so then it, you know, just one thing led to another and another led to another and you know, I was hearing that my boy was the one making the wrong decisions and I'm out. If he's the problem, then I'm the problem. So it just needs to stop here. And that's where we're going to end it.
- [38:01]
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- [38:30]
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- [39:01]
Kenny Wallace
So, Mike, I do like this, everybody. I take my, My conversation serious, and I've got a whole page of notes here. But. But I. I just thought of something. Now we're going to turn the corner. By the way, I realize with my hyperactivity, I have to tell people when we're changing subjects, we're changing subjects. And I want to thank you. Now, I feel like we spent, you know, the first half of the show explaining who Mike Harrison is. Now everybody knows Mike Harrison. Now I want to go to the race car driver. I want to. I want. Now we're going to go all racing. And I. I witnessed something. You know, we all, we all have good tracks and bad tracks. If there's a hundred tracks, I feel like you're good at 99 of them. You're good everywhere. You know, I. I moved back here, and it's like, oh, Mike Harrison, he wins at home. You know, he don't ever travel out. Well, I'll never forget you and Michael Long came down to one or two points. And you're. You're a racer. You race for money, too. You told me that if you don't got the money, you can't race. So you go to tracks. You've taught me this. You know, like, there's some tracks that are really hard on our equipment. You taught me that. And. But now you're forced to go to Eldora to wrap this championship up. And I witnessed it. And, And I want to lay the picture out for everybody. I want to tell everybody what I witnessed. I was told that Mike Harrison only wins all these championships around home.
- [40:49]
Mike Harrison
Yeah.
- [40:51]
Kenny Wallace
And so then you got to go against Michael Long for the national championship for $20,000 for all the marbles. Now you're forced to go to Eldora and destroy your motor and wear your car out. Sometimes we say it's 10 to 1. One race at Eldora. It's like 20 races at. @ Highland, maybe. So Highlands. Highland's okay on your car. It's. It's tolerable. So you go to Eldora and you air this son of a booger out. And I was, I was like, holy moly. You let the wind fly, buddy. And. And you did it. You did it by one or two points. You come down pit road, and I was amazed that you, you, you arose, you rose to the occasion. You're like, I'm traveling to Eldora. Fastest racetrack in America. Yeah, I gotta race this guy, this guy Michael Long. You win it. Okay. He's crushed. You win. I'm happy for Donnie Jumper. My point is this, Mike. When you got to travel, you travel. And when you got to kick their ass, you do kick their ass. Wherever you got to do it. How big was that moment at Eldora for you? Satisfying.
- [42:19]
Mike Harrison
That was. That was definitely a good one. I, that was, that was the second. That was the second time I had wanted Eldora. I won the fall Nationals. I'm bad with years. Okay. I won with Eldora in the late O's sometime. I, I believe seven or eight. Somewhere around in there. I, I believe I won The Fall Nationals 2012. 2012. That was when Nick brought his first car out, his first elite chassis. Fall Nationals. I was leading that race by almost a half a track in the J bar, bent in half. And then, you know, obviously that, that handed the lead over to Nick and, And Nick won. And then. Yeah, then the year you're talking about, I believe, 2012 or something. Maybe. Yeah, yeah.
- [43:23]
Kenny Wallace
But, but you race at home because you work for a living. You got a family, you know, specifically for the people that say he races around home and wins all these national championships. What I'm. My point is that I've watched you go out when you got to.
- [43:38]
Mike Harrison
Yes, but, but, but what a lot of people don't realize and what a pop. A lot of people don't maybe think about or. But they don't maybe know in the early 2000s, you know, I didn't just start racing 10 years ago. I've been racing for a long time.
- [43:55]
Kenny Wallace
Yes.
- [43:56]
Mike Harrison
Okay, so. So in the early 2000s, in the late 2000s, in the early teens, that's all we did was travel. That's all we did. We, we. We raced everywhere. We raced from, you know, wherever we could in Missouri, because there wasn't a lot of ump tracks in Missouri to Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and obviously Illinois. But we raced. We raced everywhere. You know, I mean, I won the. You know, a lot of people don't even know what the Wolf Pack series was. Back in the day, Tim Wolf started the Wolf Pack series, and that was a. That was a series through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and we were gone every weekend, you know, racing this Wolf Pack Series. And then, you know, there was. I don't even remember, you know, I won. I won two or three of them. Them Championship series is throughout, you know, different years. So what people don't, you know, like I said, what people don't think about is 20 years ago, that's all he did is traveled around every weekend. I mean, we raced 60, 70 times a year.
- [45:16]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [45:17]
Mike Harrison
And traveling. Probably 40 of them were out of town. We didn't race locally hardly. You know, so a lot of people just think of the last 10 years. Well, they're not remembering the first 20 years, you know, so, and, and nowadays being so family orientated with all the, you know, the kids getting older and the grandkids and I like racing around home. I like the kids.
- [45:50]
Kenny Wallace
Me too.
- [45:52]
Mike Harrison
I do. Just like you. I mean, me too. I like, I like the grandk kids being able to come to the races. I, you know, we've got several pictures from year to year to year to year of, of grandkids standing up at the fence, you know, and you just see the, you see here, then here, then here, then here, you know, and so I mean that's really, I mean that has got a lot to do. Why I don't travel all the time like I used to as hard.
- [46:22]
Kenny Wallace
It's hard.
- [46:23]
Mike Harrison
Expense.
- [46:24]
Kenny Wallace
Expensive.
- [46:24]
Mike Harrison
Yes. And then on top of it, just the expenses now, you know, you can't, you can't drive four or five hours from the house to go race for $1,500. No, it's not, yeah, it's not feasible, you know, so, so why that then? That's where, you know, just like you said early earlier. Unless if, if I don't want to go to that track or I don't necessarily like that racetrack, I'm not gonna go. I don't care.
- [47:00]
Kenny Wallace
Right.
- [47:01]
Mike Harrison
I don't care how much it pays. Right. You know, I don't care how much it pays or what's involved. If I don't feel like I want to go, mindset wise, I'm not going to go because before I ever get to the racetrack I'm already going to be mad. And.
- [47:25]
Kenny Wallace
To tell the truth, to tell the truth, this is, this segment. Yes. I love it.
- [47:29]
Mike Harrison
You know, like Eldora, you know. Yes. Eldora is very, very demanding on your equipment. It's very fast. It's, it's very fun for me. I love Eldora. I really like Eldora. I wish it was closer so I could race there more. But you know, it's, it's so far. I mean, hell, what is it, a five, five and a half hour drive?
- [47:52]
Kenny Wallace
For us, eight hours? For me it's, it's 7:40. Yeah, it's seven. You know, stop, get some gas.
- [47:58]
Mike Harrison
Yeah. I actually had a good friend of mine, Junior from Two Brothers Motorsports, you know, I'm really good friends with him and I remember he's from out that way and you know, he's had modifieds for years. Two years ago, he actually called me and wanted me to come out and run his car for the, for the whole Eldora modified point series, which I think it was like five or six nights or maybe seven nights or something. But there was, I guess it was two years ago because that's when I was kind of dabbling in the, the 33 late model stuff a little bit. And Eldora and some of them late model races conflicted with each other, so there was just no way for me to be able to, to do it. But even like I told him, hell, I'd have to fly back and forth because you couldn't, you know, you'd lose a day driving back and forth. So, I mean, that would have, that would have been sure fun to do, but it just, things just couldn't, things just couldn't work out to be able to do it. But.
- [49:03]
Kenny Wallace
Okay, let's go. Let's do two things back to back. Let's talk about the cushion and let's talk about that late model. Let's go to the cushion first. Where in your career, at what point was it your old stock car, your old sportsman car? Where did you realize that you had a talent that nobody else had? You can run that high side and, yeah, you tear the quarter panel off every once in a while, but it's usually when you're going for the win. When did you realize you were different than everybody else, that you could run that damn high side quicker than 99 of the field?
- [49:43]
Mike Harrison
You know, I don't, I don't even really know because, I mean, you know, back when I originally started, you know, I, I, I more ran the bottom in the middle. And even like back in the Godfrey days, you know, there I was. Well, I mean, I ran a lot, I ran the top a lot at Godfrey, too. I, I mean, I really.
- [50:07]
Kenny Wallace
Let me, let me stop you. Let me interrupt you. You can win on anything. You, you, you are, you are excellent on dry. You're good on the bottom, you're good in the middle. That's that. I've watched you win everywhere but this high side is what I want to talk about. I, I just put up for you. You got it. You go where they're. I've seen you win on the bottom. I've seen you win in the middle, but this high side is where you, the fans come to their feet. We're celebrating you. Yeah, tell me about this damn high side.
- [50:40]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, you know, and I, I really don't know. It Just. It just. I mean, I was. I. I mean, obviously I. I was able to do it, you know, because I could always do it. But it's just like you put your, you know, you put your mind to something and you just hone in and focus on that, and you focus on it so hard. You just become so good at it, and you, you know, you. You learn how to shorten the back end of your car up by 6, 8 inches and get that much more and. But, yeah, I don't, you know, I don't really know. It's just, you know, it's just. It's just one of them. Them things that just. I'm not gonna say it was natural, but it's. It's kind of like just one of them things that it just. It was just natural for me, you know? I mean, I've always. I've always been a daredevil. I've always love any challenges, you know, And I. I mean, you know, some people say the high side's more of a challenge than the bottom. Some people say that the bottom's more of a challenge than the top. I just love. I love. I love putting on a show. I love being up on that cushion. I mean, because that's. If I go to the races to watch.
- [52:00]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [52:01]
Mike Harrison
I love watching somebody wild and. And putting on a show. I mean, so I guess I, you know, I just. I love watching myself almost, you know.
- [52:12]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, let me just say this. I want to. I want to. I'm laughing to myself because Kenny Schrader has. He says, I don't like. I don't like giving opinions. I don't like opinions. I'm like, well, I'm gonna give my opinion all damn day long. But I want to say this for everybody watching the greatest on the High side is. Is. You're looking at him. Mike Harrison. Second is Michael Long. Third is Trent Young. That is my opinion. What do you think of that?
- [52:41]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, that's. I mean, you put. You put any of the three of us on the top in front of the other, and it's going to be. It's going to be tough for any of you to get past the other just because, I mean, you're also. Also good at it, you know, I mean, Michael very good. Michael's. Michael Long very good, too. And Trent Young, I mean, he kind of. He kind of went on a little, you know, a few year hiatus there. To where?
- [53:13]
Kenny Wallace
Sabbatical? Yeah.
- [53:15]
Mike Harrison
Yeah. Just cars weren't fitting him or, you know, he had other, you know, Just whatever. I don't know. But now, the last year or so, he's kind of been coming back, and. I mean, he's been. He's been tough up on the top again, but. Yeah, you. You talking about you and Kenny Schrader? I just want to. One of my favorite. One of my favorite races of all time is me and you and him at Brownstown, Illinois.
- [53:40]
Kenny Wallace
Oh, my.
- [53:41]
Mike Harrison
You two were. You two were actually first and second, racing for the lead, and Schrader was running the top, but he didn't realize.
- [53:52]
Kenny Wallace
There was more top.
- [53:55]
Mike Harrison
He didn't realize there was another top up there above him. And I passed both of you at the same time above Kenny Schrader, half off the racetrack, going down the front straightaway. I watch that video all the time. I. I love it. It's great.
- [54:12]
Kenny Wallace
Tell me about that picture behind you. Is that you and me?
- [54:15]
Mike Harrison
That's me and you. That.
- [54:17]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [54:18]
Mike Harrison
You obviously remember our buddy Troy Wallace.
- [54:21]
Kenny Wallace
Yep, yep, yep. I follow him.
- [54:23]
Mike Harrison
That was one of those. That was one of them that he made for. I think he made one for me and you.
- [54:29]
Kenny Wallace
I got mine, but.
- [54:31]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, yeah, he just. He made that. And I've always. You know, it's a. It's a really nice picture that he.
- [54:37]
Kenny Wallace
A lot of work.
- [54:38]
Mike Harrison
Picture frame that he made, and. Yeah, so it's. Yeah, it's one of them fans that you've made along the way that you, you know, you just cherish. And so, yeah, it always. It always stays hung up and. Yeah, that was from Lincoln, Illinois.
- [54:54]
Kenny Wallace
Hey, before. Before we move much further. I don't ever do this. I never do this, but I got to do it. It's in my crawl right now. I started racing here. I wanted to learn how to run dirt, and when I came back, really, nobody liked me because I was a NASCAR dude. But you made me feel better about coming home. You. You told me. You looked me right in the face, and I don't know if it was you. You know, I don't know what it was, but you said to me and you said to your boy, and he said it to me, and you said to me, you said, kenny Wallace is good for dirt racing. I want. I want to thank you because I was. I was spitting nails. I wanted to. I was mad at everybody because they didn't like me, and I wanted to learn how to race dirt. And. And I watch. I watch you, and I watch you, and I'm like, how. How does that. You do that? But what made you feel compelled to be nice to me?
- [55:55]
Mike Harrison
You know, I don't know because I, I just, I felt like you were good for, you were good for the sport. You were good for our modifieds, you know, I mean, I don't, you know, I, I've always been, I mean, it's not like we talk every day or nothing, but between you and Schrader both, you know, I mean, I, I've, I've, I've always got along both with you guys very well. I've always liked you guys. You guys always liked us. Our families always been extremely nice to all of us. You know, I don't know.
- [56:29]
Kenny Wallace
It was not, it was nice of you.
- [56:31]
Mike Harrison
Yeah. You know, I don't know what it was back then. I just seen, I seen what, I guess I just seen what I, I, I, I could just see what I thought that you was going to do for our sport. I just thought it was extremely good and it was, it was fun racing with you and it was fun watching you learn. Yeah. You know, it's just, it was fun, it was just fun being a part of, of you learning the dirt era when you did it in your life, you know, and, and you know, and I mean, now, you know, look what, look what you've got going on with this and, and all the other stuff for our sport. I mean, I, I, you know, some people may not like it, some people, you know, don't care, but you know, some of us, I mean, it does mean a lot. I mean, it keeps our sport, keeps our sport happy.
- [57:21]
T-Mobile Representative
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- [57:50]
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- [58:22]
Kenny Wallace
Let me. Let me end like this. I started dirt racing when I was 44, and I felt like when I was on national TV, when I was on Fox TV, speed TV, they gave me the ability at the end of a lot of those shows. Herman, what are you doing this weekend? I'm going to run my dirt modified. And I felt like the modifieds are the fourth division down. You know, you got the world of outlaw sprint cars, the world of outlaw late models. I call them the center steer super dirt card series. Then. Then it's us. When you're the fourth series, and there's no doubt about it. But. But it's in. It's like go karts, the box stock Hondas. Our series is so damn tough because it's a working man series. It's like when I got into this deal, you know this, you go to the local tractors. 40 cars for 20 starting positions.
- [59:16]
Mike Harrison
Yeah.
- [59:17]
Kenny Wallace
And my job was to promote these mods. I just want to end by saying thank you for being nice to me. That was. That was incredibly rare back when it was cool to hate Kenny Wallace because he raced nascar. All right, man, we are already at an hour. That is nuts. I want to talk about the dirt super late model. Everybody has always said Mike Harrison has too much talent to stay in the modifieds. So what did you learn? You. You won in them. You excelled quickly. There's no doubt. You are a super late model driver. You want a big race in front of the world at Granite. What did you learn? And we know that you're not going to, you know, carry on this year. At least you haven't announced it. What did you learn about the whole late model scene? The technology, the money? Tell me your experience.
- [60:20]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, a lot. A lot of money. A lot of technology. Yes, it is very. That is a very, very demanding part of our racing world. You know, the mods and, you know, it's easy for me with the mod stuff because that's, you know, like the back of my hand. You know, that's what I've done so long. It's. It's so easy. And. And I'm sure it's. It's kind of easy like that for some in the late model world, but the late model world, from what I've, you know, just a couple years that I was in it, it is. It is forever changing from week to week. You know, that there is new stuff that people figure out by the day in that world, that if you don't stay up from week to week, month to Month you can get behind so fast. And then, you know, the car wise and the setup wise and the technology, it is way more technical than the mod stuff. I mean, the mod stuff's kind of going down that road to where it's getting a lot more technical, like the late model stuff. But you know, that late model world, it is, you know, 1, 1 or 216 inch packers.
- [61:47]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [61:49]
Mike Harrison
You know, which, which if people don't know, you know, a packer is just like a little bitty plastic shim that you put between a bump stop on your shock shaft in your spring. You know, that's the, that's the size of something like this.
- [62:06]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [62:08]
Mike Harrison
That's the difference between, that's the difference between winning and finishing fifth or tenth. It is, it is that everything is that precise and that critical. But you know, you know, I mean the, the late model stuff, you know, I, I had a nice deal with, with Steve Lampley and Randy Cordy. You know, I mean, giving me the opportunity to do that, it was, it was fun while it lasted. We, we won some races, we had some good times. And then me and Josh had, you know, that other car that we had that, you know, I housed here and you know, we ran more locally with it just to try to make me better with the 33 car. And, and yeah, you're right. You know, I won, I won summer national race, I won Mars late model race. I won, you know, a handful of more local shows between Brownstown and Highland. I've, you know, people's asked me and I've told people, would I love to keep doing it? Yes, I would. Can I afford it and can I handle it myself? Absolutely, positively not. That's why I run where I feel like I can run in the modified division. That's what, that's what me, myself and my team and my sponsors and my partners, that's what we can afford to do and that's what we do. The late model deal is just over our head. I mean, I would, like I said, you know, it's not something I wouldn't like to do again, but in my time, in my career, I, I feel like you need to be 100%, all in, totally, all in, 110% involved with that late model world and have to live it, eat it, breathe it, just like I've always done. And I just don't know if that's where I'm at anymore in my career. I mean, like I said, I, if the right opportunity came about and I was able to go do it and drive for somebody again on a limited schedule, I would, I would definitely entertain it and, and think about it. But as far as what me and my family, what we want to do, I think we're happy with where we're at, you know, but like I said, if, if, if something did come about and if somebody did want me to run their deal on a limited schedule or, or, you know, do something, we would have to seriously think about it. And you'd almost have to just park the modified and put the modified aside and, and totally forget about it and just go do the late model stuff. And the late model only because I feel to be competitive, where I would want to be doing that, that's where I would have to be, and that's what I would have to do.
- [65:23]
Kenny Wallace
You know, I mean, yeah, I'm with you, and I want to, I want to give you a positive once again. I love giving my opinion when it, you know, I never hurt people. I was really impressed with you in that late model because when you ran 8th or 10th, you ran 8th or 10th. And to me, that is a sign of a champion race car driver. You see some people that if they aren't winning, they end up wrecking it, you know, But I really liked that when you had an 8th or 10th place late model. You finished the race out, Mike. And, and that's, and that, to me, that is an incredible sign of a great race car driver driving back, you know, to the trailer. Let's, let's, let's go again. Let's get the chassis better. But I really admired that about you. More so than you winning, because, man, you've won so much. I thought, how is he gonna handle this? You know? But you gained more of a fan of me. Very cool.
- [66:25]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's tough. I mean, you're, you know, it's just like any. It's just like any other series, you know, when you move up to that next level and that next level, I mean, it's just like, it's just like going from where we're at to go jump in a nascar. I mean, yeah, you're. You're out there on the racetrack with 30 other guys capable of winning that race, you know, to where, you know, local shows. You're. There's 20 cars there, but there's five to, to seven or so actually capable of winning the feature. You know, the higher each step you go, the more, the more the equipment gets better, the more the technology gets better. The smarter their people are, the better the drivers Are. I mean, it's just a. It's just a combination of everything just gets better and better. And you, you know, you've got to be better and better at everything.
- [67:24]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah. All right, we're. We're going to finish this deal out. I got a couple things for you. Let's. I think everybody's learned about Mike Harrison once again. 631Amain wins since 1995. Eight time United Midwest promotion. We call it UMP that's what it stands for. United Midwest promotional national champion six time summer national champion. Mike, one thing I learned about you, we got two. Two fun subjects here. I never knew how much your family loved my big brother, Rusty Wallace. Your, Your wife Lori loves Rusty. Your. Your oldest boy, he loves Rusty. He's always Snapchatting me die cast of Rusty.
- [68:12]
Mike Harrison
Yeah.
- [68:13]
Kenny Wallace
Where did this love for Rusty Wallace come from? It made me happy. Yeah.
- [68:18]
Mike Harrison
I don't know. You know, I was. Oh, I was. I was a Rusty Wallace fan too, back when I was. Back when I was young. You know, I don't know. And then. Yeah, then Michael, he just.
- [68:31]
Kenny Wallace
He loves Rusty.
- [68:32]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, you know, I was. I mean, I had several NASCAR guys, you know, I mean, I, you know, I. Dale, Jared, I was a big Dale Jarrett fan back in the day. Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon. So then me and Michael, we always went back and forth with, you know, Jeff Gordon and Rusty and, you know, I mean, you know how it gets at home when you're watching the races. And same thing with sports, you know, with football teams, we always got to have different favorites just so we can aggravate each other. And then. Yeah. And then Lori, you know, I don't really know where that ever come about. She's just always been a. A Rusty fan too. And she. I mean, she really loved when you called. Even she got to talk to him on the phone. Boy, that.
- [69:19]
Kenny Wallace
Remember that. Peoria.
- [69:22]
Mike Harrison
Yeah. Yeah.
- [69:23]
Kenny Wallace
And Rusty answered. Yeah, that was great. That was a good night. Okay, last. One very last thing. Everybody has something that they like. You know, Rusty's got me, you know, doing the motorcycle deal and I go on vacations. I'm really intrigued. You love this snowmobiling around this time of the year. You know, maybe after Volusia, maybe March. But tell me about the snowmobiling and where do you go? I love the pictures.
- [69:56]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, well, you know, a lot of people have always. A lot of people have always dogged me about not going to Florida to race in Florida. And Florida is Florida. All the Florida races are during snowmobile season.
- [70:14]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah. So you race enough?
- [70:15]
Mike Harrison
Yes. You know, and that's what I've always. That's what I've always said. You know, we race. We race from March until December now. So there's, there's, there's never no break with the racing stuff, really. And snowmobiling is obviously during the winter time and that's when I can go up north snowmobiling. And I've always. I've been snowmobiling since I was a kid, you know. And I mean, I bought my own snowmobiles when I was 16 years old and even before that probably. But I've always had snowmobiles. I've always loved snowmobiling. And you know, I started, I don't know, probably when I was 17 or 18, maybe before I ever even started racing. Didn't have a clue what I was doing and what we were getting into. But me and some buddies and we all had snowmobiles and I planned this trip to go up north to Wisconsin. Snowmobile.
- [71:22]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [71:23]
Mike Harrison
So we take off up there to go snowmobiling. And ever since then I've just been. I've just been hooked on it and, and out of all them years, I mean, there's obviously been some years that I haven't gone, but I usually try to go once, twice as, you know, three times as many times as I can up to the UP of Michigan, which I used to always go to Wisconsin, like I said. But then we, we slowly ventured up to Michigan.
- [71:56]
Kenny Wallace
Ken Ross, do you go around Ken Ross at all? You ever heard of that? Up. I've raced up there before, but yeah, we have.
- [72:04]
Mike Harrison
We have seen a couple racetracks up there. But obviously when we go the racetracks, you can't even, you know, they're covered up. But so we, we ventured up. Charlie Depew for that. Used to run Brownstown, Illinois. Yeah, he. He has gone up there with me a lot also. So one year, one particular year we was up there, we was staying in Wisconsin and they didn't have enough snow, so we ventured up to Michigan. Up to the up by Lake Go Give it. And it just fell in love with it up there. I liked it so much better up there. So that's pretty much the main hub where we always go. But we've been everywhere up there. We've been everywhere from as far west to the UP as to the far east of the upper. To the very, very, very, very tip of the up at Copper Harbor. We've been camp everywhere in between and, and yeah, it's Just something that I love doing. And we're actually getting. The third weekend of January, we're going up. There's a group of six of us going up. Six guys all going up. And me and Brett and Michael, my two boys, and then a few other guys are all going up and. Yeah. Go up there and ride for a few days, have a good time and come back home. But, yeah, I just. I love it. I. I don't know. Like I said, I just. I always love challenges and daredevil stuff and. Yeah, it's fun. Yes. It's just. It's fun. You know, It's a. It's a different kind of fun. People. The first thing that people talk about when you talk about snowmobiling is f. That cold. You know, it's too cold, too.
- [74:03]
Kenny Wallace
I love it.
- [74:04]
Mike Harrison
Yeah. But people. People don't understand. One, it's a different cold.
- [74:08]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah.
- [74:09]
Mike Harrison
And two, when you dress right, it's not cold. And then, you know, you're behind. You're. You're sitting behind that snowmobile behind that windshield, and your feet are tucked up underneath there next to the motor, and it's just. You don't. You don't really get cold. You know, I mean, it's just a whole different. It's a whole different fun is what it is.
- [74:31]
Kenny Wallace
Oh, I love it. I. I. My. My wife, I. I do so much beach stuff because of my wife, but I love. We went to the Canadian Rockies and we seen glaciers, and she's like, get me out of here. And I'm like, I love it.
- [74:44]
Mike Harrison
Yeah.
- [74:45]
Kenny Wallace
Well, listen, Mike Harrison. There he is, everybody. Boy, did we have an easy conversation. And I can keep going, but I think we covered, you know, everything about Mike, you know, about his personal family now, you know, trials and tribulations, and there he is. Mike, thank you so much for being on Kenny Conversation.
- [75:09]
Mike Harrison
I. I enjoyed it. I'm glad you asked me. I'm. I'm glad you had me. It's fun, and I sure do it again. If you ever wanted to talk more, it's.
- [75:18]
Kenny Wallace
It's a little therapeutic for all of us, isn't it? Don't you find it sometimes? Yeah.
- [75:23]
Mike Harrison
Yeah. Like I said, a lot of people say I'm stuck up, and.
- [75:27]
Kenny Wallace
No, no, he's not.
- [75:30]
Mike Harrison
Don't talk and. And this and that. But, you know, you're. You're one that. I mean, I've always been able to talk to you how we've talked to each other on the phone for hours before, you know, but sometimes we got.
- [75:41]
Kenny Wallace
To say Okay, I got to go. Goodbye.
- [75:43]
Mike Harrison
Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. All right, everybody, like I told you, I'd. I'd talk for hours if you wanted to talk for hours.
- [75:51]
Kenny Wallace
Yeah. And that I got. I gotta leave everybody with this. There's not very many people that can out talk me on the phone and you're looking at one of them, and he's known for that. All right, we're gonna leave on that. Everybody racing is coming up. We're turning the corner. Mike's going snowmobiling. I'm going on a cruise in March. But we all know this race season is around the corner. Kenny, conversation just keeps on rolling. We've got some great ones in the pipeline, bigger and better this year. Mike, everybody. We'll see you next time.
- [76:30]
Mike Harrison
Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter.
- [76:32]
Kenny Wallace
Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.
- [76:35]
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