Rounding out our trio of Farmington celebs is RJ Brown. The older of the Brown brothers, RJ brings a wealth of knowledge of the early days of rockcrawling and the characters involved. Listen in for some fun with RJ.
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4:06 – we didn’t have any big city problems then
7:58 – the start of my motorsports type stuff
11:54 – I worked at a junkyard for free on Saturdays to get parts
14:17 – my dad was one of the cooler dads
19:22 – Harold Off gave us a Jeep to build
25:12 – when did you go with nitrous?
29:45 – who were the influencers in the early days?
35:49 – that stuff was evolving so fast
39:59 – I quit when my kids started doing sports
41:54 – we’re building an OJ Bronco with my son
48:11 – Randy Ellis in Cedar City
54:26 – every weekend we were trying to think of a better way to advance
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:19.810] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich. We have RJ Brown. RJ Brown has been around the rock crawling scene from the very beginning or pretty damn close to it, and RJ is out of Farmington. We’ll find out all the rest of his history here real soon. But RJ, thank you for coming on board and sharing your life with our listeners. Yeah.
[00:01:47.840] – RJ Brown
Thanks for having me.
[00:01:49.440] – Big Rich Klein
So let’s get started and jump right into it. First off, what does R. J. Stand for?
[00:01:56.940] – RJ Brown
Ralph John. How about that, Ralph John. People ask me all the time
[00:02:02.750] – Big Rich Klein
You know, I’ve known you a long time, and I’ve never asked you that. I just figured it was like Ron Jr. Or something like that. You never knew.
[00:02:12.930] – RJ Brown
Yeah, I get that all the time. I mean, my dad and I have the same name. So I’ve been RJ since I was born. I’m one of the lucky kids that your parents name you something, and then they never call you that.
[00:02:27.120] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah. There you go. Well, I was the second, so I’m glad they didn’t call me. Hey, number two. Although they probably did. Just not to my face, it something like that.
[00:02:39.970] – RJ Brown
Yeah.
[00:02:40.790] – Big Rich Klein
So anyway, where did where did you grow up? Where were you born and raised?
[00:02:46.590] – RJ Brown
Kind of crazy. I was born in New York, but my parents moved to Albuquerque when I was less than a year old. And then I lived in Albuquerque til five and then moved to Farmington. And I’ve been in Farmington ever since. The only time I left was for College for four years in Los Cruces, but I ended up back in Farmington, and I have never left.
[00:03:15.340] – Big Rich Klein
Wow. Okay. So I have to ask a question. First of all, reference it for those who do not know RJ. He has a brother named Joe who’s older? I am older by two years by two years. Okay. I never knew that one either. Okay.
[00:03:34.570] – RJ Brown
So I’m agent a little bit better than he is, I think.
[00:03:40.110] – Big Rich Klein
And better looking, right?
[00:03:41.420] – RJ Brown
Yeah, for sure.
[00:03:43.720] – Big Rich Klein
I’ll let you guys decide on that one. Yeah. So let’s talk about those early years. You probably don’t remember a whole lot of Albuquerque at five years old or so. Probably nothing of New York.
[00:03:58.740] – RJ Brown
Yeah.
[00:03:59.850] – Big Rich Klein
What what do you remember those early years in Farmington? I don’t know.
[00:04:06.400] – RJ Brown
I mean, it was a really small town back then. Obviously, it’s grown and it’s probably even changed a lot since you started coming here. But for the longest time, it’s just a really small town, so really personable town didn’t really have any issues or anything like that for, you know, all of my growing up. I mean, it was just kind of out of the way and hidden and a good place to grow up. We obviously didn’t have any big city problems or anything like that. Just a little town, right.
[00:04:38.500] – Big Rich Klein
So what was your first mode of transportation? Like a bicycle? Motorcycle?
[00:04:46.620] – RJ Brown
Oh, yeah. Bicycles. I was really big at the bicycles. Me and my brother both.
[00:04:52.840] – Big Rich Klein
Okay. So, yeah, we did all that.
[00:04:57.080] – RJ Brown
We did all the half pipe stuff and jumps and all the things that we probably should have broke a lot of bones. And we really never did. And then from bikes, we went three wheelers and we survived all the three Wheeler stuff that they currently say that it was dangerous.
[00:05:17.870] – Big Rich Klein
And then you guys get cages later on, and that becomes even more dangerous.
[00:05:24.500] – RJ Brown
Yeah. We’ve put ourselves out there quite often.
[00:05:29.090] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah, you have.
[00:05:34.340] – Big Rich Klein
Know that growing up there, you you have a lot of opportunity for the outdoors. I mean, Farmington is just surrounded by what I would call high desert, lots of canyons, Sandy washes, rocks, all that kind of stuff, Rivers. What were the other things that you did that got you into a life of off road?
[00:06:01.470] – RJ Brown
Well, when we first started, we were young, 10-11 years old and back in that day, I mean, we had three wheelers and, you know, I live three minutes from the Hills from Chokecherry Canyon, and, you know, no phones, no nothing. I mean, we would get on our three wheelers and drive into the street right out into the Hills, and we would go riding for hours out in the Hills with our three wheelers. And, you know, Parents just let you do that. I guess back then, you know, they didn’t worry about it.
[00:06:37.120] – RJ Brown
I guess it’s like the true meaning of, like, when the street light turns on, you better be home. And that was it. Yeah. READ MORE
