Welcome to the first ever Rambling on Chat. Basically this is a new feature where I’ll be taking random people and asking them some questions. I believe that’s called an interview. To break us in we’ve got Offroad Junkies founder Rob Mitchell. Rob brought us the phenomena we know as Offroad Junkies. Let’s dive right in.
In 2006-2007 I got it in my head that I could run a forum better than any other out there. So I register a domain called motocrossconnection.net and set up a crappy little forum. In trying to build more traffic I spoke with Jimmy Soldo of Dirt Bike Television fame about some cross promotional thing. He said he wasn’t interested because the name implied we only catered to the Motocross crowd when their show was about offroad riding.
That got me thinking, maybe I’m not getting any traffic because of the name…no way it could have been a bad idea from the get go. So I thought about a new name that could cover both the motocross and offroad world of things, offroadjunkies.com.Long story short, I ended up tearing my ACL a year later and went through the typical injury drama, “I’m done riding!”. So I lost all interest in the forum and it died off…quick!
In 2009 I met Charkie through Thumpertalk and tagged along for a few races to shoot video. On some of our long drives I would bring up the domain and how I’ve thought about starting up another site…this time no forums! The conversations ended the same…too many damn websites already, another one wasn’t needed.
In January of this year, Charkie called me up and this time it was him making the suggestion that we should start a website. I said “cool!” and I think it was two weeks later I had the site up.
The site has generated a ton of interest in the past few months, did you ever expect it to grow into what it has become so far?
No way! Honestly I thought it was something that would run its course and we would lose interest in it pretty quick. It took me quite a while to realize that people were actually interested in the site and that I should take it a little more seriously.
What kind of future do you see for the site right now?
It’s hard to say. I think for the remainder of this year we’ll continue trying to find the balance of being goofy and being informative. The whole idea is that we try and break the mold of every other site out there. But we still need to get the information people want to hear to know. We’ve talked about some ideas that I think could be really cool, things other offroad sites don’t do.
For next year we haven’t even talked about it. The site works as well as it does because of everyone involved in it. So we need to get together and see if everyone wants to do it again. Maybe we can find some sponsors that will help getting to the races easier. We’ll see.
With the popularity of the site growing, how long do you think it will be before you, Charkie and I are asked for autographs at GNCCs?
I’m surprised people aren’t knocking you two over for autographs now. Seriously.
As for me, I hope not very soon as I would need to learn how to write. Little kids would laugh at me for how bad my hand writing is and I don’t think I can suffer that blow to my self esteem. If it does ever happen maybe I can get a rubber stamp made up with ‘SRR’ on it.
Right on, I mean, I just kind of scribble and call it a signature. So how did you get into the whole moto industry?
I’m a late comer to the moto world. When I was growing up I always read the moto magazines. I wanted a bike but we couldn’t afford it. Even if we could I don’t think my Mom would have gotten me one.
I purchased my first bike in 2006, a Honda CRF230f, and had a solid year a riding and learning. Then I tore my ACL and it took me out for a year and I’ve been injuring myself ever since. I tell myself I’ve only been riding really for two years and that’s why I ride like a goon.
Yeah, you’re lucky. I can’t say that, I just have to admit to naturally goonyness. A lot of people see the Offroad Junkies videos but don’t realize you own a productions company also, how did Scratch n Sniff Productions come about?
Scratch N Sniff came about during on-going conversations with my sister. We’re big film buffs and had always talked about making our own movies and producing our ideas. Before we actually had any projects in mind I thought that ‘Scratch N Sniff Productions’ would be a funny name to have for our production company. It was a name that I thought was funny and it would fit well with the content we had in mind. Over the years it turned into something we always talked about but never did much with. When I moved to North Carolina I decided to needed to start working towards doing something I really enjoyed doing and finally get moving with the production stuff. When I started through the LLC process I tried to come up with some other names but my family thought I should go with Scratch N Sniff. Probably not the best name for a business but it’s a reminder that I want to keep things fun.
You actually made your offroad racing debuet at the Florida GNCC, when do you plan on making a return?
I’m planning on doing a race up in Pennsylvania on the 25th of this month. Then I want to try out the Unadilla race when the GNCC series kicks back into gear. Depending on how things go I may try and do the rest of the GNCC series. I would like to race a NCHSA race but on the fence about it.
Other than managing the awesomeness of Offroad Junkies, what do you like to do in your spare time?
Most of my time lately is spent on the computer refreshing Facebook or editing videos. Since the GNCCs started I haven’t had much time to get out riding so now that we’re on a break I’m taking every chance I can get to go riding.
Since becoming involved in the offroad racing scene what has been your favorite race?
By far this years Snowshoe GNCC. The whole weekend was a blast. Everything from the kick ass karaoke singing, the lame-ness of ATV racing, and getting to meet Taylor Congdon and Guy Streeter. Hiking around the track with you was sweet too.
Snowshoe was the bomb! Even though we had a heck of a time finding anything to shoot haha! Would you rather see Mick Jagger with his pants off, or a shirtless Jared Bolton dancing to “Touch Myself’ by The Divnyls?
Man, tough question. Both would be life changing experiences. But I think I would like to see you dancing to “Touch Myself” while I sit in a dark corner smoking a cigar. Is that creepy?
Alright, I think thats all I have for you, anything else you want to tell your admiring public or anyone you want to thank?
I want to thank Charkie and his family, You (Bolt-On), Honcho, The Fortner Family, Austin Bankert, and everyone that checks out our site. If it wasn’t for them offroadjunkies wouldn’t exist.
Awesome Rob, appreciate it.
Bolton Adventures 