JCW ARCHIVE: Rattle & Roll

Summary

Podcast Episode Summary

The John Clay Wolfe Show: JCW ARCHIVE - Rattle & Roll

Date: November 14, 2025
Host: John Clay Wolfe
Guests/Co-hosts: DJ Prek, Ralph Poindexter
Theme: Behind-the-scenes stories, car culture, and reflections on building community through the annual Rattle & Roll Car Show.

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Episode Overview

This episode of The John Clay Wolfe Show dives into a lively retrospective on the Rattle & Roll Car Show. The hosts exchange candid stories about organizing the event, surprising challenges, memorable guests, and their vision for transforming a small Texas town into a vibrant car and bike haven. Listeners get an entertaining blend of event recap, car culture banter, and a glimpse into the show’s growing influence — all delivered with the show’s trademark irreverent, authentic tone.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Car Show Video and Its Highlights

• Announcement of New Video:

  • John announces a new car show highlight video is going live on the website, featuring snippets from the event, including Richard Rollins and Dennis Collins acquiring a Hot Wheels Twin Mill car in Connecticut.
  • Quote:
    “The car show video from last week is going to go up at noon, at 12 Central, and it has clips of Rollins and Collins. Richard Rollins and Dennis Collins went to Connecticut and bought this Hot Wheels Twin Mill.”
    —John Clay Wolfe [01:14]

• Behind-the-Scenes Banter About Cussing:

  • Dennis Collins typically avoids profanity in his videos, but Richard’s language was too much to edit out.
  • Quote:
    “The preface of the video, he’s like, ‘I’m so sorry that there’s so much cussing… I could not bleep it all out or it wouldn’t make sense.’”
    —John Clay Wolfe [01:31]

• Editing Approach:

  • John decided to leave all Richard’s “F-bombs” unedited in their recap video for authenticity.

2. Listener Feedback: Burnouts and Street Action

• Listener Call-In:

  • Ralph reads a listener’s playful complaint: the car show had great cars but lacked smoky burnout action or racing.
  • Quote:
    “With one exception. No smoking tires. All the cars were great. I saw no action… next year, it should be easy to have the town rope off the street where the cars can race up and down the strip of the highway.”
    —Ralph Poindexter [02:40]

• John’s Response:

  • Cites constraints: liability, state highways, and wear-and-tear on roads; remembers getting in trouble for similar antics in the past.
  • Quote:
    “State highway. You’re not—this is not the burnout strip. Stop doing that! You’re supposed to be a pillar of the community. Don’t be such a jerk, John.”
    —John Clay Wolfe [04:16]

• Hidden Burnout Action:

  • Reveals that spontaneous burnouts broke out as attendees left town, even if not officially sanctioned.
  • Quote:
    “At the end of the car show when everybody was leaving, they pulled up in front of the Rattlesnake and lit them up.”
    —John Clay Wolfe [03:28]

3. Planning Future Car & Bike Events

• Insights on Event Growth:

  • John, Richard Rollins, and the promoter only had two weeks to organize, yet drew a huge turnout.
  • Quote:
    “For only two weeks. Really two weeks notice…People came from—Rollins wanted to do a pilot… and we put a thousand people together that fast. That was pretty cool.”
    —John Clay Wolfe [05:28]

• Community Impact:

  • Initial skepticism from locals has faded, with town businesses expressing gratitude for the crowds.
  • Quote:
    “Even the guys, the haters were like, hey man… They called saying, thanks.”
    —John Clay Wolfe [05:57]

• Giving Back:

  • John personally funded street improvements to help the show and town year-round.

• Vision for the Town:

  • Envisions Walnut Springs as a weekend destination for car and bike enthusiasts.
  • Quote:
    “We gotta create flow. We gotta make this town work. It’s gotta be car town, bike town… I see those two side streets blocked off every weekend… That’s what I would want.”
    —John Clay Wolfe [06:47]

4. New Ventures and Next Steps

• Spring Bike Rally Planned:

  • Announces a “Texas Rattlesnake Rally” motorcycle event for May.

• New Businesses:

  • Teases a new Mexican restaurant partnership with Felipe Armenta, aiming to keep visitors coming back.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Keeping the Vibe Alive:
  “Now we ain’t new to this. We true to this.”
  —DJ Prek [00:51]

• On Small Town Transformation:
  “All I’m trying to do is finish what they’d already started… It just kind of turned into this little bar and restaurant strip. But there’s not enough flow there for anybody to make any money.”
  —John Clay Wolfe [06:27]

• On Planning Future Events:
  “Hey, this was our first one. I bet there were a thousand people in town. It was awesome. And we figured out what to do next time and I think we’re going to do another one.”
  —John Clay Wolfe [04:37]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:14 — Discussion of new car show highlight video and behind-the-scenes of Dennis Collins & Richard Rollins’ Hot Wheels Twin Mill adventure
• 02:40 — Listener feedback about lack of burnouts; lively banter about why racing isn’t practical on public streets
• 03:28 — Revelation that burnouts did happen, unofficially, as the show wrapped up
• 04:16 — John recounts previous burnout contests and trouble with the law
• 05:21 — Reflection on bigger-than-expected crowd and how fast it came together
• 05:57 — Positive impact on the town and gratitude from local businesses
• 06:47 — John’s vision: turning Walnut Springs into a year-round hotspot for gearheads, and preview of a new Mexican restaurant

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Closing Tone and Energy

Throughout the episode, the energy is upbeat, candid, and mischievous — a mix of car-guy pride, small-town nostalgia, and DIY drive. The hosts celebrate their wins, poke fun at their own misadventures, and repeatedly champion their mission: building community through passion for cars, bikes, and good company.

“Keep on rocking with us.” —DJ Prek [07:29]

Transcript

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[John Clay Wolf]

The John Clay Wolf show has appeared on terrestrial radio for a really, really, really long time. So we dug into our pockets and on the other side of our we found something funny. And yes, it's contagious. Gather round as the wolf pack goes on this throwback adventure.

[DJ Prek]

What's the damn deal? It's your boy DJ Prek with the John Clay Wolf show up in the archives. And we are on the eve of our big show. So let's take a look back at last year's. I was out there, man. It was popping and it was good vibes all around. And we only getting better, baby, because now we ain't new to this. We true to this. Check it out.

[Ralph Poindexter]

What video is going to be up today? You have a new one?

[John Clay Wolf]

Yeah. The car show video from last week is going to go up at noon at 12 Central and. And it has clips of Rollins and Collins. Richard Rollins and Dennis Collins went to Connecticut and bought this Hot Wheels Twin Mill.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Yeah.

[John Clay Wolf]

And Collins put the video up on his coffee walk site that gets gazillions of views. Yep. And before he's very squared clean jelly bean, Dennis Collins is. And he has sponsors and he doesn't cuss and all that stuff. So the pre. The preface of the video, he's like, I'm so sorry that, that there's so much cussing in this video. I could not bleep it all out or would make sense. He's basically talking about Richard.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Yes.

[John Clay Wolf]

So, so people started like, comment. So Richard's like, well, just take it down. Just take it. I mean, they're good buddies, sure. But he's like, just take it down. If you're too good for me, then just take it. If I can't be around the preacher in his presence and just take the video down. So I've got the role of that video. And I put it up at the end of this part of it. And I said, leave all the F bombs that Richard throws in there. Leave them live. And all the ones that Dennis, if he did any, bleep them out.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Right. So we're gonna see that.

[John Clay Wolf]

Yeah.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Okay, cool.

[John Clay Wolf]

Well, that's at the End of the video. We're putting up at noon. That's a recap. But the. The twin mill car, the Hot Wheels car, was in town. Dennis sent it over for us to display at the rattle and roll car show, which was very fun.

[Ralph Poindexter]

In fact, our listener. We can do this real quick if you want. You lost the listeners about the car show. Oh, yeah. You just lost a listener. It's about the rattle and roll car show. I was there. This is Ralph Poindexter from Waco. I was there, and it was great. With one exception. No smoking tires. All the cars were great. I saw no action. Next year, it should be easy to have the town rope off the street where the cars can race up and down that strip of the highway right there. I had a lot of fun.

[John Clay Wolf]

The Texas highway, dude, it's like a real highway. They won't. They're not gonna allow that.

[Ralph Poindexter]

But they think you own this town. I think you can do anything you got.

[John Clay Wolf]

And all the side streets aren't run. Burnout contest on. They. They hit the dirt. They rip all the damn chip seal up.

[Ralph Poindexter]

I think it's cool, but I'd love to see drag racing at 100 miles an hour in your. In your town.

[John Clay Wolf]

I can tell you what happened at the end of the car show when everybody was leaving. They pulled up in front of the rattlesnake and lit them up. So everybody. The burnouts were there, but it was on the way out of town. Really? Yeah.

[DJ Prek]

Everybody was asking, when's the burnout show? When. When are y' all doing burnouts? I'm like, no, I don't think there's gonna be any burnouts going on.

[John Clay Wolf]

And I think that'd be a great idea. I just gotta figure out where to do it, because you cannot have a burnout contest in the middle. They were being pretty cool with us anyway. We don't want to push it that far, because I remember when we did this in Vernon at the summer's Last Blast years ago, when I had the Wolf Ford Dodge up there. We had a. I put. We had a water hose. I was spraying it in front of the dealership and having people light it up.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Sure.

[John Clay Wolf]

And, man, that caused a lot of problems. Oh, yeah, that got me in trouble. But they love that.

[DJ Prek]

What was the problems?

[John Clay Wolf]

State highway. You're not. This is not the burnout strip. Stop doing that. You're supposed to be a pillar of the community. Don't be such a jerk, John. And endorse bad behavior like this. Put this in a. In a language you can understand fairly Las Palisia.

[DJ Prek]

Well, there's also the Rev contest too.

[John Clay Wolf]

Everybody's like, when's that going to be?

[DJ Prek]

And it kind of happened.

[John Clay Wolf]

Yeah. Hey, this was our first one. I bet there were a thousand people in town. It was awesome. And we figured out what to do next time and I think we're going to do another one.

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[John Clay Wolf]

And then we're going to do the big rally. The bike. The bike week is going to be in May. Texas Rattlesnake Rally.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Was it bigger than you thought? Because I really turned out a lot better than I figured the first one would be. But it was a lot of folks.

[John Clay Wolf]

Man, I pushed it hard. Richard Rollins pushed it hard. The promoter pushed it hard with the car clubs, but for only two weeks. Really two weeks notice. You know how it happened. People came from. Rollins wanted to do a pilot. Actually you did the video on the pilot, the podcast. So he's like, I'm coming out on Friday. We're going to spend Friday afternoon working. Why don't we do something out there while I'm out there? I was like, well, let's just have a car show. And we put a thousand people together that fast. That was pretty cool.

[Ralph Poindexter]

That was very fast.

[John Clay Wolf]

That was cool.

[Ralph Poindexter]

People came from everywhere.

[John Clay Wolf]

Town was super happy. All the businesses, even the guys, the haters were like, hey man, they called, they're not haters. But they at me a little bit like, we don't want you in this town. They called saying, thanks.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Good.

[John Clay Wolf]

Yeah. So good.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Good, good.

[John Clay Wolf]

And I paved. I paid to pave one of the side roads so that it was better for the. For the car show that, you know, it's there today. It was city property, so gave a little bit back and you know, we're just. I think these people are starting to understand the guys, the locals, Walnut Springs, that, that I'm not trying to turn their town upside down.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Exactly.

[John Clay Wolf]

All I'm trying to do is finish what they'd already started. Because it already started. It was a strip of in the middle of nowhere. It's like a little baby strip on an island, you know, and there's nothing there. And then a couple people put in some bars, and it just kind of turned into this little bar and restaurant strip. But there's not enough flow there for anybody to make any money.

[Ralph Poindexter]

Sure.

[John Clay Wolf]

So we gotta create flow. We gotta make this town work. It's gotta be car town, bike town. Actually, I see those two side streets blocked off every weekend when the weather's pretty and just have that vibe rolling all the time. All the time. That's. That's what I would want. And that's why we put the garage where it is. That's like, I make this work because that strip. And then Felipe Armenta and I are putting in a Mexican restaurant out here called the Cantina at Bosque Canteen. It'll be good. It'll either work or won't.

[DJ Prek]

All right, y' all know what to do. Hit us up on John Claywolf dot com. You can check out old episodes on there. You know, stay up to date with what we got going on. Get cool gear. We got hats, shirts, all that hit us up on Facebook. You know, search John Clay.

[John Clay Wolf]

Wolfshow.

[DJ Prek]

We're on Instagram. John's on Twitter. You know, you can holler at all of us. Okay. You know how to spell it. Okay. We appreciate y' all listening. Keep on rocking with us.