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Coming up in the second half of the show, I'll have my conversation with Travis Braden. He's a race car driver from the Wheeling area, and he's fresh off of victory in the biggest late model race in the country, the Snowball Derby. So I'll have that coming up for you a little later on. First, it's almost time to feel the love of Christmas.
Feel the love of a tribute to a VE Taylor Christmas is happening this coming Monday at Capitol Theatre in downtown Wheeling. And as you may know, this is the final year that the show will be gracing to say. Last week, I talked with VE's son, VE Taylor, about this year's show. And we'll pick things up where VE was explaining the factors that went into the decision to make this year the last year for the show.
Take a listen. Well, it was, you know, coming to an end, there's of course you love the fact that you're getting to do it again. But announcing that it comes with all of these different emotions, which of course, I mean, if you did, it didn't, it didn't, it'd be almost strange. The main reason why is that it takes a toll that, that I don't think everyone necessarily realizes it and they shouldn't.
That's not, that's not their, that's not, they're not supposed to, but not only physically and mentally just putting on the show itself. But more so for my family from the standpoint of every Christmas season, we are reminded of the VE Taylor Christmas show and then also reminded of my dad. And that's never going to change like with the show without the show. But with the continuation of the show since it's passing, my family members have had a hard time, I believe finding complete closure because, you know, you're seeing ads for the VE Taylor Christmas show or you're seeing, you're hearing his music, which you're always going to hear his music on and you should because the music is so, it won.
It's amazing. And two, it's all about the true reason for the season of Christ and that needs to be on radio and on television, all that. But if it's promoting the show that my mother and my father worked on for years, you know, it's just a little bit more of a reminder of what is gone. And I think with this being the last year, there's a chance of proper and like full closure and the chance of real healing and being able to somewhat move on to like the next chapter of all of our lives while carrying that feeling of the love of Christmas into, you know, that next chapter of the next year.
And that's the reason for this show, why it's called Feel Love. You know, because that song embodied everything that my dad stood for, feeling that love Christmas year round, you know, friendship, family, acceptance, all of those things is what those are what made him, Bill Taylor, not just VE Taylor. And I wanted to, I wanted to make sure the show was centered around that idea because that is what he stood for. And that's why, you know, if we're going out, I want to go out making sure everyone feels about love Christmas, the way he would want everyone to feel it.
Gotcha. It's only fitting that the last stop of this tour is Wheeling because this was a highlight in the staple of the season here in the Ohio Valley and considering how much VE was loved here in this area. It's only right that we close out here and we like, you know, it started there. I grew up literally on that stage, which is so wild to be able to say.
And yeah, I mean, there's no, there's no other place I could even think of bringing this show to an end. Like there's no other place I want to do it. Absolutely. So you mentioned that this was a show that you grew up with.
So what did you learn from your dad to help make you a better artist and even a better person at that? Well, as a better artist, he was so professional in almost a sly way. I don't mean that in any kind of negative where he was just so unassuming and so charismatic and so warm and charming and welcoming that you have to take a step back and realize he's also unbelievably organized, shows up by time, knows all the parts. He's unbelievably talented with the, you know, the creativity, the arrangements, his ability to work around, his ability to bring wonderful players together who are like-minded and also unbelievably talented.
There was so much there that went into it beyond just his, just his, his talent. But I think one of the most important things I learned from him was regardless of your role, whether you're working at a show and you're the, you're the doorman or you're the lighting company or you're the sound company or you're the lead singer, you all have a job. And that job is so important and it's equal because you're all there for that show and for the, for the fans and the, and the people who are coming to attend that show. And that job, when you all work together creates this wonderful experience for the people who are coming.
And that's something that I, that I watched in action where we were at Heinfall and there was a union, a stage hand working our show and we broke for catering for our dinner and my dad asked him, are you coming up to eat? And the, the stage hand goes, oh no, I'm, I'm union. I don't eat with a band. And my dad goes, well, are you working with a beat, he'll tell a Christmas show and he goes, yeah, well then he goes, you are the band.
You are with us. Come on, come get some food. And, you know, it's a small gesture, but that's something that those, those stage hands still bring up to me today. And it was, now they eat with us like that.
That was probably 10, 15 years ago. And now, like when we walk into Heinfall, it's not like, okay, there's a band and there's a crew. It's like, they're all like, hey, you know, they're, and I think that is something where, you know, there's, he just made it everyone was equal, you know, everyone was equal, everyone was human and everyone deserved kindness. And, and I think that's something that I took away from him and, and I try to use that and I try to live that way.
Whether it's professional or personal or whatever, just, I don't, you know, I don't think there's ever a reason not to treat someone. I was like a human being and he was, he was so unbelievably good at that it was just, you know, he just did it. And without that to me, obviously from a professional standpoint, so many things to learn just from that. But then furthering that, like again, he was just, I just try to be as close to him and who he was as a man as I can because if I can embody even just the 10% of what a bee retailer is, I'm off to such a huge start.
And I'll be such a wonderful person because he, like I said earlier, embodied love and acceptance and family and friendship and all of these unbelievable qualities and he just packaged it in such an unassuming, welcoming way. And, you know, it's just something that I strive for on a daily basis to just be more like that because he, I mean, he's the best man I've ever known and the best role model that anybody, I mean, any son could possibly want. Absolutely. Some beautiful stuff there again.
BC Taylor, the son of the late great B.E. Taylor joining me here on Weekend Focus. We're talking about field of love attributed to a B.E. Taylor Christmas that's happening Monday, December 23rd at a capital theater here in downtown Wheeling.
But before that, the show will be hitting a couple of other locations. As a matter of fact, on Saturday, December 14th, it'll be at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Newcastle, then December 16th and 17th, it'll be at Heinz Hall up around Pittsburgh and then December 21st, it'll be at the Kovalchik Center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania before coming to the capital theater on Monday, December 23rd. And it'd be another thing that I remember about our talk last year is just how well received the show is in each location because you mentioned how Heinz Hall was like pretty much saving days, hoping that you guys will come back. Yes, we called last year and we were just hoping that they would have really any date in December open and they ended up having the two exact dates held for us that we were wanting.
And that just goes to show exactly what I was talking about before that this became more than just like, okay, well, there's a show coming in on September 17th and 18th. It's when is the B.E. Taylor show coming? You know, people from the business side and obviously from the fan base, we're all expecting it in different areas.
You know, it became a tradition, not only for us, but for many, many, many families across the tri-state area where they're, you know, they came 15, 20 years ago, families came with their kids, those kids grew up and now we're bringing their children. So it's a wild thing to watch something that you've been a part of, span three to four generations. You know, it's a, I just, I'm so honored that I've been one, involved and two, allowed to continue something over the past few years that my father started so many years ago. And that the fans have trusted that, that essence of the B.E.
Taylor show will be there even though he's not. And it is. And that's the thing, like, you can't come to these shows and not feel my dad there. You know, it's just, you just can't do it.
And that's, you know, that's good. That's the way it should be. So yeah, I mean, it's been, you know, it's been, it's an amazing thing. We were actually talking about that.
It's such a tribute to him and the band and what this music is to be able to, to have so many shows in a relatively close area. Like, you know, it's not, it's not normal that you would be able to have a show in Newcastle and Beaver Falls and they both do, you know, over the years or Beaver Falls and, or New Castle and Pittsburgh and then you have another one in IUP. It just, it's wild that there are so many fans that want to go to so many different areas to see the show and that it was so embraced across the track. It was, it was, you know, he would always say like, oh, I just pinched myself because it's all, you know, it's, you would never think his thing was you would never think a kid from Malibu would wake up and be doing his show.
And you know, so he was always unbelievably appreciated or appreciative of the fact that people just wanted to come and celebrate with him. So for those of you that haven't experienced a bit, you Taylor Christmas or these days, B.C. lean the show, this is the last chance to experience it again Monday, December 23rd at the Capitol Theater. But for those who haven't seen this concert before, B.C., what can people expect?
Well, for those who have, they can expect a B.D. Taylor Christmas show. And what I mean by that is the songs that they've known, they've come to know and love will be in that set. The characters on stage are all the same.
You'll have your Rick Wicowski or Jeff Jamerson, Herman Grinotti, Jamie Peck, Herb Schweitzer, myself. You'll have local drum lines coming down, the Alachua Church of the Round of Choir. We're tweaking it a little bit for them because dad would always try to do that every year. Just tweaking for the people who come every year and you know you want to keep it a little bit interesting.
So we're changing a few things around that I think I think regardless of your first time or not, I believe that you will truly enjoy it. But for those who have not come, the show is meant to put you in the Christmas spirit. And my dad did it in such a non-invasive way or non-invasive. I've always messed up Word up.
But from a standpoint, it's not over the top. It's not beating you over the head with anything. It's just this love of the season, love of Christ, love of family, love of good music and making people smile and laugh and really just brighten their night and hopefully brighten their season. And so that's what we're doing.
So if you haven't been there, I'm hoping that someone who has been there is bringing you because they can be like, oh, this is what you see feeling like. But even if you're just like, oh, I'm just going to check this out. I guarantee that if you come in there, you will just be surrounded by people who are there to have an enjoyable night and celebrate the Christmas season. And that's it.
And the joke was throughout the year, if you come to the show and you don't leave with a smile and you're just your face, your last name is Srooge. So we'll see. We'll see. I never, you know, like, hey, who tweaks their own.
But I kind of tend to agree with that where it's hard not to leave smiling and just feeling a little bit lighter after coming to one of these shows. So that's what you can expect. Absolutely. So BC, I'll get you out of here on this last question.
What are some of the biggest takeaways from the last couple of years of putting the show on? Like, what stood out to you? The biggest thing that stood out and I kind of touched on this earlier, the love that this community has for my father, you know, and community surrounding, like, again, like a tricetic area, the fact that he was so embraced and his music was so well-loved. And because I've, you know, since promoting the show and posting on, you know, Instagram and Facebook and you just get all of these, you know, messages and they're posting back and, you know, and it's all, we love your father.
We wake up decorate our tree to his music and it's not Christmas time until Beethail is music on or I met your father and he made me feel like we were best friends. I mean, I could literally take the next 20 minutes of just, you know, reiterating all of these comments. And it's just, I mean, to me, that is, that is a gift from anyone who's been posting and sending messages. Those are little gifts because it is so wonderful to hear how my father has affected anybody, whether it was individually or as a whole show or by releasing music and whoever's listening to it.
You know, it's just when you take over or when I decided to continue these shows, you are now, you know, leading it. And because of that, you are now putting the role of, you're getting all of that information versus my father would get it and then relay certain things to me. Now I'm the only one getting it and it's just, it's so, it's just, I can't, I can't express how thankful I am that people let me know how they feel about my father because it's just, I mean, that's the reason for doing this. I know what he created.
I know that this show means a lot to so many people because I know what it means to me. And the fact that we get to share that and we get to share that love for him and this show together is a real blessing. And I just, I just think anyone who has posted and written or talked to me or anything or even yourself, like the fact that you feel, you feel enough about the show to bring me on your radio and speak with you, it really means a lot. So what I take away is that there was true love for my father and what he did.
And because of that love, I get, I have been able to do the past few years. I've been able to continue the show and that's all because of the fans and all because of what he created. So again, if you haven't seen the show do it Monday or forever hold your piece. Get your tickets, why you can at the Capitol Theater box office, call 3-0-4-2-3-4-7-0 or get them online at CapitolFearedOrWealing.com or e-ticks.com.
That's e-t-i-x.com. So before we get to my conversation with Travis Braden, just want to remind you that if you want to be a guest on weekend focused, if there's something you want me to talk about before you have a community calendar announcement, just email me, Corey Clue at iHeartMedia.com. If you have a community calendar announcement, just please get it to me at least two weeks in the mail. You can see O-R-E-Y-K-L-U-G at iHeartMedia.com.
So back in March, we talked with Travis Braden as he was getting ready for another season of racing and he was able to close out 2019 with a pretty big win. He won the Snowball Derby down in Pensacola, Florida last week and he joins me on the phone right now to talk about what all went down with that race. So Travis, thanks for coming back on the show. I appreciate it.
Hey man, how you doing? Thanks for having me on and pretty cool circumstances to be on. No problem. So for those that don't know about the Snowball Derby, kind of describe the lore around this race because this is one of the bigger late model races in the country.
Yeah, so the best way of explaining it is everyone sees a new NASCAR guys racing on TV on Sunday or Saturday night. But obviously that's not the only stock car racing in the world and to groom you for that level of racing has to be a support layer of motorsports. So late models are a type of stock car pretty similar to what you see the NASCAR drivers compete with, but a little different and they race pretty much just on the smaller tracks all around the country. A lot of people actually compete in those as a career in and of itself.
A lot of the guys you'll see racing NASCAR will come down and race pretty frequently in the late model. So that's what it is. That's what late moderation is. And the Snowball Derby is the biggest.
That's the Super Bowl of short track racing and late moderation. Absolutely. So the weekend kind of got off to a rough start for you guys and Team Platinum because you guys had a mishap in practice and you barely got into the show. So it was definitely a rough start from the get go there.
Yeah, we've we had we had quite a hard time with with just some luck this entire year and the Snowball Derby seemed to be about the same story that we had all seen it. We unloaded the 60 cars attempting to make the race only 36, get to start the race. We were at top five car all weekend in practice and right at the end of practice we get wrecked by the single slowest car on the property wasn't aware where I was or where he was and just ran straight into us and destroyed our car. It was not quite sure we would even be able to get it fixed.
Unfortunately, we were pretty cobbled up, but we got it fixed. Miraculously still qualified into the race. They only take the top 30 initially and we were 30 just barely in the show. But that gave us a chance to really take the time on on Saturday, which was the day after qualified and get the car back together right for some days big race, which ended up being close to Monday.
Gotcha. So what I'll help you remain positive when it seemed like everything was going wrong in those couple of days linked to the race? I don't know. I mean, I got a little bit I wasn't 100% positive the entire time.
At first I wasn't sure we were going to fix the car at all. I thought we were just going to have to withdraw from the race. Once I found out we probably could fix it at least a little bit, you know, to get in the race hopefully. That was just my new goal.
We had a car capable of winning. It was like now we don't have a car capable of winning, but if we could make the race, circumstances were out of our control. So I guess that would have been the best we could do at the time. So that was kind of a roller coaster ride between being so fast in practice and getting wrecked.
I think we were going to make the race and then we barely make the race. So once we made the race, it was kind of like, okay, it seemed like this was really going to go horribly for us. But for some reason it worked out. So let's take a breather and just refocus.
And like I said, we were able to really get the car pretty good again before the race started. And we started in the back. So we had to be really careful working through traffic to get to the front clip. We had some luck there too.
That actually worked out in our favor for the first time. It seemed like all season and that let us put us in good position. Racecar driver and wheeling zone Travis Braden join me here on weekend focus fresh off of his win in the Snowball Derby last week down in Pensacol, Florida. And you talk about some of that luck you had in the race, Travis.
Like you mentioned, you started in back of the field. You march your way through the field and you get pretty high up. You're in a battle for second in the closing laps of the race, but then you get spun out in the midst of that battle. But then the stars align for you and there's a big wreck in front of you and it gets you back in contention.
Yeah, you know, there's another circumstance of this. When you think you're in the clear and things are finally not working against you at least, we get wrecked with like three laps to go in the race running second, which you know, finishing second in this race. I've been phenomenal. My first attempt at the race in almost eight years of competing weight models.
My first try just to run second one, great. And we got wrecked. And so again, it was just an emotional roller coaster. You know, at that point, you don't figure you still have a chance to recover from getting wrecked.
We had to restart back in like 11th position, I believe. And so we got, we got lucky. They restart the race immediately. The field wrecks and five or six cars were involved that had to start, you know, the next restart behind me again.
So that gave me a fourth place position going into what would end up being the last restart. So fourth place puts you on the outside. There's two lanes, you know, the inside and the outside outside is definitely not preferable. But for some reason, our car just was really good right at the end of the race and I'll be able to actually pass third place and second place in the outside groove.
And we finished the race in second, which as you now know, after the race, the winner was disqualified, which gave us the eventual win of the race. Yeah, the race winner was disqualified because he failed post race inspections. So when you found out that there was going to be a word that there might be a disqualification going down, what were some of the emotions that you were feeling as you were awaiting word of those results? You know, it was probably a little different than what you would think because again, it was our first attempt at the race and with our season went and how this week went, you know, just for just a second, we were so satisfied.
There was a lot of emotion and we were very excited just to finish second. And so really we didn't necessarily, as competitors, you don't want to see the trophy handed to you. You want to earn it 100% you want to take it, right? And so there's a little bit of, you know, not really desiring of this qualification, but at the same time, yes, of course, in the race is big.
You're not going to turn down the trophy when they say they're going to hand it to you. So there's a long process. There was like a three hour time span from the beginning of the inspection process to the end, about halfway through, we kind of knew something might not be up to par on the winter car. And so then it was like an hour or two hours of just waiting to hear what the deal was.
And so you start to see a lot of cameras kind of turning our way and just, you know, things are really focusing on us all of a sudden as we wait. And then eventually they, it's kind of weird. They don't like announce anything. They just simply take the trophy and they walk it over to your car and they sit on the roof of the car and there you go.
You receive the trophy. You won the race. And Travis Braden race car driver and we only made a joint here on weekend focus, winning the snowball derby last week down in Pensacola, Florida. So now that you won this race, you're on a list of past winners.
That's pretty epic. You have some names from the past like Donnie Allison and Daryl Waltrip and even some of today's stars like Chase Elliott, Eric Jones and the current NASCAR Cup Champion Kyle Busch just to name a few. So how's it feel to be in that kind of company? It's incredible.
You know, this was the 52nd year of the race being run extremely historic list of winners. I mean, there's no one on the list that's not a Hall of Fame name, you know, or you look at the past 10 or 15 years winners. They may not be Hall of Famers yet, but they're going to be. I mean, you just look at the nine races in the 2010s, every single driver on the list from 2010.
So this year is a full time NASCAR competitor, a couple of them are Cup Series champions. So pretty incredible list to be on. It's pretty incredible to think of the team. You know, we're a really small team, team platinum is the team I drive for.
They raced for decades locally throughout Ohio and Indiana and Michigan. And to go to a race this caliber and compete says a lot to go and get a victory is something that is almost unheard of. Just again, you look at that list, those are the drivers on that list. If you go back and look at the teams they were driving for, you know, much larger teams and more personnel, more experience, larger budgets, all those things.
So it's incredible, not just for myself, but for our team and all our people that support us, the sponsorship or, you know, just a hand when we need it, you know, there's so many people that were a part of this little team winning the sports biggest race. And as we learned in the day in the couple of days after the race, the dynamic of this race and your relationship with your girlfriend is interesting too. So I'm going to go over that. Yeah.
So my girlfriend, my name is Jeff. She's relatively new to the racing, you know, world. She's introduced it in 2016 and she's from Columbus, Ohio, which is where I raced a lot throughout my career. Columbus, Zina, all around that area.
And so she had actually been a fan of mine from watching through a couple of years prior to when we met, which was at the Snowball Derby two years ago. So 2017, we were sitting at the grandstands and we had just happened to have a group of mutual friends and she asked for a picture and autograph and that was two years ago, the first time going to the Snowball Derby to watch. And so we became friends shortly after and started dating a couple of months later. And it's pretty incredible to think that we met at that track, watching that race.
I was not competing in the race. And then two years later, almost on the exact same day, we're sitting there kissing the Snowball trophy together, which is the tradition of the winner kisses the trophy and has a snowball on top of it. So, you know, that race is in her eyes. It was always the biggest, glorious thing you could ever compete in, right?
And it's saying for me. So to me, and then two years time, do that together is pretty cool. So one last thing here, Travis, before I let you go, aside from your late model racing with Platinum, you finished fourth in the Menards ARCA Series in 2019. So what all is on the DACA for 2020?
What's in mind for you? 2020 is going to be a little different. It's going to be really fun and exciting, honestly. People out of mind are actually going to expand our schedule a little bit.
Hopefully we've got some really cool new partners coming on board and we might be doing a little bit more traveling. Of course, we're going to go try and, and, you know, back to back, get the Snowball Derby and the Winchester 400 would be cool to win again. The All-American 400 and Nashville Tennessee would be something that we really hope to try to win for the first time. We've been extremely close.
We have a pretty cool idea of what we want to do next year and it's going to be exciting for people to watch. And as you've probably seen, Jess and I are really starting to pick up our social media engagement. We've been starting to create some cool videos for our followers to watch, see how our life goes and see how these races go. And it's a lot of fun.
So we want to share all that with everyone. So that's actually what this is going to be for next year is just sharing the experiences and hopefully introducing some new fans to the sport. So, Travis, congratulations again on your win in the Snowball Derby. I appreciate your time here on Weekend Focus.
Happy Holidays to you and best of luck in 2020, man. All right. Well, thank you very much. Have a great holiday.
You too. So that does it for this week's show. Again, if you have a community calendar announcement, if you want to be a guest on Weekend Focus or if there's something you want me to talk about, go ahead and email me. Corey Clue, goodeyeheartmedia.com.
You can catch this episode, past episodes and past interviews on the Weekend Focus podcast on the pre-I Heart Radio app. Corey Clue, thanks for tuning into Weekend Focus. Have yourself a very Merry Christmas and until next time, get out of the week. You deserve that.