Luis Hernandez
Psychology 2301 Prof. Ray Saenz
October 10, 2015
Book Report I. Title/Author
Richard Rawlings II. Main Characters
Richard Rawlings III. Setting/Time
Fort Worth, Texas 1969, 1990 Dallas, Texas 2005 IV. Main Theme
How to start up a car business from the ground up. V. Summary
The year is 1969 the infamous all-American year in the city of Fort Worth, Texas where Richard Rawlings was born. Blame it on the free-love era, but he was basically the product of too young of a dad and mother. He’s Mother left him at the age of two years old. He’s father ending up quitting high school to support him and his sister. In the 1970’s they moved into their first apartment he describe it with having shag carpet, fishing nets hanging from the ceiling, a bunch of liquor bottles filled with color water. Richard says it was not the best but it was a start and quickly found out that his dad straighten up grew up and put his kids first. He started working all three of them and when I say work, I mean work.
His dad was holding down two or even three jobs to pay the bills and put a roof over their heads to live. He says that he would spend all day with his father at his primary job at the grocery store manager because there was nobody to take care of him and sister. The job that he remembers is when he was about seven until he was a teen he would wake up at three or four in the morning every day. His dad would put him in the back the backseat of his car surrounded by stacks and stacks of newspaper that needed to be delivered and Richard job would be rolled all them up, one by one. After all that delivering he would have only have thirty minutes to get ready for school. His dad would spend most his day at the grocery store working. His dad later remarried and they sort of had a mother figure at their house but she would not baby them. Richard would remember that him and his sister would walk to the bus stop everyday no matter what kind of weather would hit them. Then after school Richard would have to get ready to work with his father delivering newspaper all afternoon.
Richard got his hard working ways from watching his dad growing up. Richard did want to live the way his dad did working to make ends meet. He says in the book he respected his dad in what he did to make a living to support him and his sister. Richard father told him to hold these three strong principles he demanded him to respect for his elders, to be respect for his family, and to work hard. His father also thought that getting their education was also important so wanted them to finish high school and graduate. Richard says they rarely had anything “extra.” His father would never go buy or get any of the latest toys or electronics. He would take pride in anything he will do. That included his cars. He would always wash his cars carefully Richard would help him clean them sometimes.
His dad would never spend a lot of money on cars or motorcycles. He would always change the gas put new wheels and just take them to a Sunday drive. Richard says that his father always wanted to put his cars into car shows but they were not the best to put them into. That until Richard father purchased a ’65 Mustang 2+2, maroon with black interior. Someone drop out last minute, because the night before the big Autorama shows at Market Hall in Dallas. They called him up and told his father “Hey, you’re in. But you’ve got to load in first thing in the morning.” Richard says they did not have a truck or trailer to haul the Mustang in, so they had to drive the car in the pouring rain. As soon as they got to the area his job was run back and forth to the restroom to dry off the rag to dry the car.
High school came around for Richard Rawlings and he described it that it was pretty rough on him. He didn’t fit in with the crowd in high school and did not like it at all. The only thing that kept him cool was a lot of cash. He worked a typical teenage job at a burger joint, drugstore, he worked everywhere. It was not the jobs that taught him to make money it was the wheeling and dealing on the side as a hobby. By the time he was in high school he owned like twenty cars. His dad brought his first car which was a 1976 Chevrolet Impala. He did not keep that car for long sold it for big profit and got himself a ’74 Mercury Comet. After selling and dealing all these cars for a while his dad lost his job and he was dealt to stop selling but soon after that his father recovered from losing his job.
As soon as he got out of high school he landed a job with Miller Lite beer company. He described his job as an emergency keg-truck. He would have a route that they would give him and would just go to each bar a fill them back up with beer. One night he was delivering to a bar when an old man was questioning him about what was he doing with his life. He responded by telling the old man that he wanted to become a police officer which back in the day you had to be sponsored by someone to join the academy. Later to find out the old man was a retire sheriff and sponsor him and became an officer for the city of Alvarado. Richard always wanted to become a full time police officer and he was hired by Coppell a suburb outside of Dallas.
One day when one of his shift ended he saw a posting of help wanted to become a firefighter. So he gave it a try filled out paper work later to find out he was hired and started training the next day. So by the age of twenty years old he was a full time police office, a fire fighter, and was training to become a full time EMT.
Richard was sitting one day with his co workers and they started talking about a dream to own a business. That when one day he went to a car wash a gal came up to him to give a litter bag but back in the day they had them as promotional tool back in the day. But in the litter bag that had towels with advertising that when an idea hit Richard. That when it hit how come he can’t nice disposable printed towel many questioned his idea. Some called him an idiot or those will never sell and not make any money off that. Their skepticism spurred him up and started making phone calls and see how it would cost him to start a business in this. He found out that there was going to be an international car-wash association in Las Vegas. He printed some sample towels and he made little money. He brought a small spot in Las Vegas for the trade show. Saw the biggest companies there and was not making the money that he wanted. So that night he called up a local modeling agencies and had show girls and started making the money that he wanted that night. He was hoping of making at least forty or fifty orders but made 980 orders.
Suddenly, he realized that he had a small business growing in his hands. So he went to a company in Green Bay, Wisconsin to start his orders for him. He would gamble all of his money out his savings to start this company but he was up to the challenge. He realized that he was managing this business, firefighting, police officer, and EMT. Life was good at this point of his life and went to buy a ’65 Mustang.
He talks about his phobia of driving in the rain and one time it saved his life by not driving in the rain. That day it was pouring rain and one of closest buddies, invited him to a party and going out. He had the idea that just going out for little bit just for beer did not make sense so he just his friends to have a good time. That night he got a phone call that shook him up really bad. Apparently the club was not happening that night so when they walking out the club they saw a man robbing their car. So like all men they walk up to man to comfort them and the robber pulled out a gun and shot one his friends in the head and instantly killed him. He described that one of the worst feeling that he has and just had a great friend gone like that.
Months went by so he had the idea to take his friend out to some drinks. So he agreed to go and had a great time it was getting late and took his friend back to his house. He had the craving of eating a burger so Richard went by himself to get one. As he got there he noticed that their was people acting different. When it was his turn to pay his order the lady at the window took the money and closed the window. That when he noticed that there was there two men walking up onto his car. He knew that something was up so he reach down to get his gun and notice that he didn’t have it. So that when the two men started shooting that when he punch the gas and went over curves to get away. When he speed away he noted that he was shoot in the bicep in his left arm. He got home and told his buddy to grab his gun and look for those guys and did not find anything and they called the cops. Cops noticed that he was set up and lucky that he got away and later on was going to sue the burger joint.
It took him couple years to get motion in his left arm back after that experience he had. After all that one day his caption called him into to a meeting with him to talk about his future and his retirement. After talking with his caption during he saw that staying with the fire department was going anywhere with his future he just stood up and told him that he quit his job. He knew that moment his career in public service was over and started and sold the promo wipes business.
He was twenty-five at the time and he wanted to clear his mind so trade and sold everything that he had. And got a brand new Jeep Wrangler and got some new T-shirts and jeans and hit the road. He would tell his father that he was leaving that moment that the first time that he would see his dad cried. He told his dad he will be fine and hit the road.
After a few miles away from Fort Worth he noticed that he was free. That no one can tell what to do and he did whatever he wanted to do. He stop in Tucson for gas until a man his age came up to him and ask for some money and told him that he did not have any. He noticed that this man had made a living not working and had enough money to eat and live. So he made a deal with this guy that was that he would teach him how to live like him and make money without working and he will buy him all the burgers and beer that he wanted and took the deal. After that they talked for a little and were there a couple hours asking for money and made 60 bucks just in those couple of hours made enough and hit the road with this guy he never meet in his life. After that they were on the road and took turns driving stopping at these run down hotels and getting loaded on beer.
Reaching his destination which was Los Angeles he was on Sunset Strip that when he saw a young women and told he if she wanted to meet at a bar for couple of drinks. She said yeah and so he told the guy that he was riding with that this is where there adventure was going to end for the both of them he agreed grab his stuff and left never saw him again after that. Richard stuck around till the young came to the bar and he never thought the girl was going to show up. He wading to stay on this girl couch for a couple of months then he taught that he wanted to back to Texas. Heading back he made to Las Vegas to realize that he ran out of money he went to the nearest phone booth and called his sister. Told her if she can send him money to at least make it home and she did and got home and ended making it to Texas and making it to his sister house.
Once his journey was over, reality hit hard on him because his jeep was reposed and his credit got real bad and it pile up on him. His sister and dad really to worry about him because he didn’t have a job and was just at his sister house and started looking for a job. It came to realize that he had experience of a sells man to get a quick job doing a sells person and selling advertisement. So first thing as a sells person was to sell ads over urinals. After making enough money he left his sister house and got his own apartment.
After having this job for a while he wanted to set goals so he started reading motivational books and got that courage to get his life back on track. He gave himself a couple of years to save money to but himself a Harley that he always wanted one. Keeping this job was great for him wand was surpassing sales like crazy and was top seller for that year. He wand up getting a promotion to VP of sales and was changing rules that he wanted.
Richard was twenty eight years old having VP and meeting up with his future wife. Her name was Sue she was the type that Richard wanted. She was successful at that time running a multimillion-dollar home-health-care company. On their twenty-eighth day they were passing an airport on their way to dinner when he had the idea to give her two options one was to go right and go to dinner or take the left and take a flight to Las Vegas and get married. He was thinking that he really wanted to marry her she was the one for him and she decided to marry him and got married that day. And after that with Sue encouragement he stop working his job and take all his clients and start working his own business.
Starting that business was great and had lots of clients making lots of money and he had people hired to run it and just making profit like that. After years in this business he knew that it was slowing down by the year 2004 because that when computers started taking over and he had all manmade equipment and was not going to make it in the future. One day a man walk into his store and was looking around and Richard introduce himself to the man and ending with the man wanted to buy the business from with no hesitation he shook his hand and did not have regrets of selling his business and was know free.
Couple of months went by and was in bed one day and was watching TV and yelled out that he “can do that.” He was watching American chopper on the Discovery Channel. It is where they make choppers and had shirts and much more as advertisement. So as mentally he wanted to create a show of his own where they show how they build cars and just restore them to make more money. The next morning he had a couple of guys come over to start make a business plan create logo and gave the business a name. The name he came up with Gas Monkey Garage the reason why people that like messing with cars are motor heads and just wanted to go crazy with them.
His main mechanic for the future was Aaron Kaufman he meet this guy couple of years back when he would go down to local machine shop. He describes Aaron as self-taught and was leaning on his own when he was growing up. Richard was impress buy him because he could take a challenge and turn into something amazing. One day Richard came to shop showed Aaron what he was planning to start his own Garage and gave him the logo and everything and told him if he wanted to join him. It took him a couple of days to decided and tool the offer and hired him on the spot. He saw an opportunity at a NASCAR show coming to Austin to promote his Garage. He went on to buy a big size trailer and a loading it up with merchandise and told Aaron ready to hit the road and took off.
Aaron and Richard were driving to next few years giving out merchandise and people were just all over just buying shirts from them. He saw a great way to give his company name out there. A race was coming up and had a chance to buy a race car and but Gas Monkey name all over and do a promotion. The race came around and he called up all the local news to be there and get his name there. There was one TV station that he called like nine to ten times a year to get his Garage on the show. Sometimes they would pick up then just gave him a response that he did not want to hear.
Richard would put lots of effort into his business but was not getting to fame that he wanted and was at his lowest point that he wanted to quit. It was low because he ended up getting divorce from Sue. Two years went by and was barely keeping Gas Monkey alive by just flipping cars and putting his own money. Was not hearing anything from Pilgrim TV station and was just about to put everything on the side.
In the mid-2010 he decided that he had enough and was barely there at the shop so he moved the Garage into a smaller one. Aaron ended up taking a other job on the side to support him and Richard went back to his ex-wife business of health care. Few months went by working on his own with the home car business when he got a phone call from pilgrim that they had a talk with Discovery about they wanted to make episodes with Gas Monkey. At that point he almost closed Gas Monkey for sure at that point till the phone rang again and things were about to change.
It was one of the respective from pilgrim studios. They told him that they were buying six episodes and that they would need to slam them into their schedule. But told Richard that there was a catch to it and it was that he needed to be ready in five days. Richard told him that he would give him an answer a couple of days. He started thinking if he wanted to take the chance and do this. The one person he wanted to talk to about this was his ex-wife Sue and told her what was going on. It was the only chance that he was going to have and that was this time.
He thought about it and came to say that he wanted to take the chance and started making it happen. But he was in tons of pressure to have it ready in five days which was having a crew and having cars that they were going to have to remodel when the camera crews came. Aaron knew some guys that would be there for day one and for the future.
The crew with come together with the help with Aaron they would meet K.C and other guys that would help grow this business. It all begins with making of their first car and filming it and it was pressure making the builds and putting them out the door before the dead line. When filming started the guys would pull 12 to 18 hour shifts just to make it. They would be sleeping in the shops and that time when filming started it was cold and it kept them outside working in builds. But he had people quit and get hired all the time just to make the show last.
Good news came to Richard because Discovery Channel like the show and wanted to buy more episodes from them. That when Richard had live his dream of starting his own business and start making his brand grow and have good ratings all the way till know he thanks all the fans of the show. Talks about what you need in life are family and god to get you thru the hard times. VI. Conclusion
My thoughts on the book was that it was great talking about how he started and the struggles in life that he had to overcome. Got thru them and did something and learned from them and got better things out of it. The analysis were great I learned new things about this person and want to do what he did to start a business. What got me to chose this book was that I watch this all the time and saw that Richard Rawlings was coming out with an auto biography and wanted to know more about the person and what it takes to be at that point of life. I recommend this book to people that like cars and like the show and want to learn more about Richard and his business.