The Lucas Oil Story: Truck Solution, Global Distribution, and NFL Stadium Naming Rights

For me, I think it was the first game. You see the sign, everything's lit up, people driving in and it was like that's when it got real

for 10 years going all in again and again and like putting every dollar into growth. That's crazy.

At the core of Lucas Oil, we're trying to improve and impact lives and there's just so much excitement about what we're gonna do in the future.

See the logo on the side of this massive building looming over the Indianapolis skyline. What did that mean to you?

From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Before we dive into today's episode, a quick shout out to our friends at NCW.

The team that's been building one of the fastest growing staffing and recruiting companies in America for over 25 years. They specialize in the skilled trades, but here's the thing, they're also growing their own internal team. If you or someone you know is interested in recruiting sales or just making businesses run smoother, you'll want to check them out at teamncw.com.

This is not just another job pitch NCW has been voted a top workplace by the IndyStar, landed on the IBJ Fast 25 list and made the Inc. 5000 list multiple times. I'll tell you, I've got plenty of friends who work there and they all love it. Go check out teamncw.com. Now, let's get into the episode. My guest today, you're gonna know them.

I have Morgan Lucas, the CEO of Lucas Oil. He is a former NHRA Top Fuel dragster driver who once clocked 330 miles per hour on the racetrack. Is that true?

Yeah. Well, a few times, actually, I'm not to brag. No.

Holy smokes. Now he's driving impact off the track by leading Lucas Oil with a focus on innovation, team development and Midwest values.

He was named one of Indiana's 250 most influential leaders this year. Katie Lucas is the president of Lucas Oil. She's a visionary leader shaping the company's culture, global branding, and philanthropic outreach. She was also named one of Indiana's 250 most influential leaders. She's championing purpose-driven business right here in Indiana.

So I have. One. 125th of the most influential business leaders in Indiana in the studio today. Let's go. I'm really excited to learn this story started back in 1989 by, uh, Forrest and Charlotte Lucas. So another married couple started this in 1989. Let's go. I'm really excited. Welcome to the show y'all.

Thank you for having us.

Very excited. Oh my goodness. This is fun. I think that, uh, if I thought back to. You know, like pipe, dream bucket list. When you first start a podcast of like, one day it would be so cool to have like blah, blah, blah. It'd be like Lucas Oil is right up there. Like this is, you guys' name is on the side of the Colts stadium.

Shout out there seven to one at the moment. Let's go. Um, this is awesome. I'm really excited to be sitting down again with one 125th of the most influential people in the state of Indiana. But the story doesn't start today. The story starts back in 1989, um, down in southern Indiana. Is that where your dad, Harrison County is?

Where your dad's from?

Uh, that's where my, my father, uh, he's actually from Columbus, originally went to high school in Harrison County. He was a long-haul truck driver for most of his life. I mean, he worked a lot of different jobs, hard jobs was broke most of his life. You just learned an amazing work ethic in that process.

But when we started and founded Lucas Oil, sorry, I say we, when my parents did, I was, uh, the little rug rat that was annoying them the whole time.

How old, how old were you in 1989?

Uh, five, six. Okay. You know, so born in 83, but, uh, you. Again, trying to found a company and, and incorporate that at that time, um, took a lot of time and effort from my parents' part, but we had to do that in California, uh, because that's where the raw materials that we used at the time were were.

Oh, so, so you were out in California at the time?

So, uh, basically my father, um, while owning his own trucking company, small fleet, realized that there was a plethora of problems with trucks, especially in, in heat. A lot of friction based problems trying to drive across Southwest in the middle of summer.

Uh, just a lot of overheating issues. Trucks were constantly having to drive at night, just trying to keep temperatures down and it, it just, the mechanical issues came. My dad maintained all of his trucks himself to the point where I, I've heard countless stories of, you know, my dad rolling tires down a hill to my brothers to get inflated.

You know what I mean? It, it's just, 'cause the service station was down there and that, that's just a, he, he just did everything based on necessity and so he had a massive problem. He knew the whole industry had a problem and he started, uh, basically doing research. He was a self-taught man and, and. Um, my mother was an amazing support system for him through all that, and, uh, developed this product that worked in his own trucks.

And then my mom said, Hey, this is pretty good. Maybe you wanna start something to somebody else. She

made, what was the first product?

Uh, Lucas Oil Stabilizer.

Stabilizer.

Yeah. And I, at time when he started using it, didn't even have a name for it. Um,

just the magic, the magic juice or whatever.

Yeah, yeah.

Uncle Four's secret blend, you know. Um,

yes.

Uh, and that's, that's really how it started, was basically, hey, we we're onto something here.

What was the problem that, that stabilizer was solving?

Uh, friction, uh, basically in an engine. So you have a lot of metal to metal contact, especially when oil breaks down.

Diesel, uh, fuels can actually, um, work as a cleaning agent to some degree, and it will actually break down the oil over time. Uh, when you mix that with heat, uh, external heat temperatures, operating temperatures go up. Friction goes up, um, and then you start seeing failures of parts.

Okay. So he solves his own problem for his fleet that he's self like.

That's crazy. Yeah. How old was he? Was your dad? We, in, in 1989 when this started.

45, 46 years old.

Oh man. Like, I think a lot of today, especially in 2025, a lot of people like fantasize being the Mark Zuckerberg, 18-year-old. Mm-hmm. Like drop out of Harvard to start your company and change the world. And I think it's really interesting to see like finding like, you know, you have a 25 year career plus, and then like finding this problem and solving your own issue and then it leads you to a company.

Mm-hmm. Like, that's, that's wild. How did it go from solving his own problem to then getting commercialized and selling it to other people?

That's again where my mom as a support system came in. Uh, because, you know, in the beginning he had to take a big risk. He had to move a lot of his trucking equipment and sell the trucking company in general.

Um, and go all in. Um, no

way.

Yeah, and he did all of it himself, uh, for a long time. He and my mom, um, I see himself meaning, uh, in the beginning we started with a lot of homemade equipment. He found use tanks, um, pumps, things like that. And what people probably see in a manufacturing facility, especially when it comes to bottles with liquid in them, is a machine that's just rolling through and just filling in automatic, just automation throughout the front back of the process.

At this point, my dad built this equipment in a small, you know, warehouse that they leased. And again, this is all floating a lot of cash at that point in time that they had, but it was a big risk. And he built all this equipment and we're filling bottles one at a time by hand with an on and off valve like you would see, similar to an irrigation system.

And, uh, putting caps on by hand, putting 'em in boxes, stacking pallets. Everything was done completely by hand. And, uh, at the time, especially for the first decade, I mean, everything was being reinvested back into the business and in order to grow, to scale to, to all that and all that without incurring any debt.

And that was kind of the, the real miracle in the situation. Um, the real kind of God point in that moment, you know, to see something like that happen, you can't think of doing anything in the business world today without incurring debt or finding outside funding. And so, I don't know if you could redo it today.

But it was a, a special set of circumstances where everything had to go right. And I think the, my dad's superpower at that point, I'm using one of Katie's phrases here, um, but his superpower was common sense.

Mm-hmm.

You know, he, he knew what they needed to get by. They fed me 29 cent cheeseburgers from McDonald's on, on special, you know, and the real treat was the hot apple pie.

Oh. You know? Um, and, and that was just how life was. And as a kid, I didn't know any different. I, I, you know, I embraced it.

Starting a company is not a nine to five. Anyone out there who's wondering, it's not a nine to five. So you as a kid growing up and you're seeing that, I'm sure there was late nights or early mornings or dad, mom doing these things.

Like what was that family life like for you all

early on? I mean, I had family here in Indiana that, you know, sometimes during the summers or winters we'd spend Christmas or whatever it was. Most of the time we didn't fly 'cause we couldn't afford the plane tickets 'cause we drove. From California to Indiana almost every time.

It is just interesting. You get a lot of life experiences, you know, even if it's just driving across the country, whether it's ice storms in Oklahoma and the dead of winter, I remember that the doors of the car were frozen shut. Um, and it was wild as a kid. And my dad, I had a lot of respect for him 'cause he handled those roads like a champion.

But, um, you know, you, you see all that and you see that growth. But as a kid, again, your mind is evolving alongside of the company, um, and growing. So for me, I spent a lot of time, you know, they'd gimme a stack of paper and I, I learned how to draw and keep myself busy, or there'd be other times where my dad would put me to work.

Yeah.

Um, you know, that'd be, again, at the time we couldn't even get our bottle screen printed. We were labeling everything, everything had a, a decal on it. Um, and some products did have a screen printed, if, depending on the life of it. But we would, I mean, by hand. Labeling bottles. No way boxes of them.

Do you remember the moment where I think a lot of people fantasize entrepreneurship.

They're like, oh my gosh, yeah, I wanna be the, you know, the flashy tech, CEO and all this stuff. Do you remember the moment where it went from, like maybe like your parents could breathe of like, okay, this is gonna work. Like we have something that's going to, you know, be successful and sustainable for our family?

Again, I'm, I'm dating myself and I'm dating the company at this point, but there's a fax machine in the office and, uh, we had a customer at the time Barjan, who sold into a lot of truck stops and fleets. And, and this is again, the progression of being a kid with my dad driving around with product in the trunk of a, a Burgundy red Buick.

Um, that was my mom's car and like basically selling

delivery, delivery vehicle.

Oh, it was a delivery vehicle? Yeah.

Mom's delivery vehicle.

Right. Yeah. I mean, and I would go on plenty of deliveries with my mom at times as a kid because it's like, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna go with her in the car ride.

I'm gonna sit back. But that's again how we did it. Yeah. Um, but my dad, we did a lot of, uh, you know, lunches, sitting at an Iron Skillet at a Petro, yeah. Um, talking to the store manager trying to get our product on the shelves. And so that escalated into, uh, this relationship with Barjan who serviced a lot of these stores and shops.

And I remember this $40,000 order coming in. And my dad, I mean, I, he was doing a dance all the way down the hallway because I think in his mind it clicked as well. Like, Hey, this is, this is sustainable. This

is where that customer barges in.

Oh no Barjan is the name. Oh, bar.

Oh

yeah.

Didn't barge in they the place and they ordered $40,000 worth of product

at, at that one time.

And that was, that was the single biggest order at the time. And I remember like, that was a champagne popping moment, so to speak. Uh, it was, it was a big deal as a kid to um, see your parents that excited. Uh, and I guess, you know, but it took. 10, 15, 20 years for me to really understand the magnitude of it at the time.

Yeah. And like getting other people to believe that a thing like, I don't know, like an idea, a vision, like something that you've put so much blood, sweat time, money you sold, he sold the company to go all in on this thing. Mm-hmm. So that has to be such a validating experience. Uh, how old were you at that point when it felt like things were kind of gonna

work?

I was probably, I don't know, 12, maybe. Yeah. 10, 12. I mean, it was already every year we'd saw growth and we experienced it. I mean it, to be honest, to the point where my parents were unsure. We were doing year to year leases on warehouse space and like moving from location to location constantly. Wow. And it evolved with him.

My dad would never buy new things or anything, but I feel like after that Barjan order is funny because my, my parents never bought new things, I'm telling you. And then in 19 96, 97, somewhere in there, they bought a, their first brand new car ever. And that was a massive deal at the time.

Was this a car or also a delivery vehicle?

No, this was a standalone car.

Hey, there

we go. Yeah, we had a truck at that point in time. We had, we, we had, uh, elevated to that point of actually having delivery vehicles and

Okay. Nice. So, so things start to progress. When do like employees start to come on and this thing start growing?

Uh, I mean, within the first probably two years we started hiring employees.

Yeah.

Uh, the first year Doing

like the production side of things.

Yes. Okay. And then, you know, again, that, that was one of those things was see a need fill, a need, um, you know, okay, we're starting to pick up sales. My dad had a great friend from trucking that was a dispatch guy, um, uh, that he hired on to help with the sales front.

And, uh, again, it just, it was a very organic growth type of situation.

Yeah. And so then your career, and we're gonna get to the, you know, fast forward to today, but we do have to briefly dive into where. Racing comes into this. Oh, and becoming a what? An NHRA dragster driver.

Well, you can't have a, you know, automotive based oil company and not have a passion for cars.

And my father actually was very passionate about me understanding how internal combustion engines work, the difference between an automatic and e manual transmission, you know, all those, those things. And, and honestly, racing was something my dad was passionate about. He drove, um, he was basically renting and driving a, like this is in the mid, late nineties.

Around that time when they got that car. Um, he wanted to drive a dirt track car, like a hobby stock kind of thing. And he was good. I mean, he was really good as a kid. You noticed that. And then he took me to my first drag race. Um, 'cause we were sponsoring a team with oil at the time. That was a really big deal for us.

And

like giving them oil

Yeah. For the race car. And, uh, it was, again, it was a big deal for us. And we were trying to solve problems even at the racing front and. I just, again, I, I, I fell in love with it. Um, just the same way my dad did with what he was doing. Um, my dad fell in love with racing when he was driving on back roads in southern Indiana.

You know, I heard stories about him rolling a car when he was a kid, so he, he lived a very exciting youth apparently. Um, but, and to that point, I just fell in love with it. I started working on cars before I could drive them and started driving, and it kind of just took off. And that's again, to this day why I say I was the most expensive mistake my parents ever made.

I, that's, that's a good one. I like that. Um, well, I mean, we do have to a, like, I mean, I think the easy question is like, what's it like going 330 miles an hour down a drag strip

tells you a lot about the brain because it's exhilarating. Um, the, the G-Force, the pressure, the, the rush. You know, our, our kids are into baseball, so, um, I use a lot of baseball metaphors, but you know, the idea of me or you stepping in the box, somebody throwing 95 to 100 It seems very intimidating, but I had the chance to kind of move up different categories and classes, and it's amazing how strong your brain is, uh, in that sense of being able to slow things down and to perceive it. And so for me, you know, the, the race lasted three to four seconds and it felt like it was, you know, much longer than that.

It just felt like a, you know, in that sense because you're, you know, you're competitive at it and you want to pursue it. It is a lot of fun. Very exciting, uh, way to, to make a living for a while. Um, I, it moved me to Indiana from California.

Okay. That's what got you to Indiana.

So, yeah, racing, uh, is, uh, crazy as it was and as hard as it was on my body over the years, uh, I can honestly say it was the best thing that ever happened because it moved me here.

I got a chance to meet her.

How did you guys end up meeting?

So, my very first job, I got my dream job, um, out of, out of college. So I. You know, big sports family. We had always, um, had season tickets for the Colts. And so I was, you know, at, uh, Kelley School of Business at the time. So I'm like, dream job doing marketing for the Colts.

That would be my absolute dream. I remember sitting at the RCA Dome saying that, and um, as luck would have it, as, you know, in God's divine timing, I, uh, my very first job I was able to work for the Colts and corporate sales. Uh, so I actually met Forrest and Charlotte, well before I had ever met Morgan, and they kept telling me, Hey, we, you know, we have a son, we really want you to meet him.

Yeah. My, my parents trying to pimp me up. That's good. Yeah.

And I, at the time, I was like, this is not gonna end well. I don't wanna ruin a relationship with a sponsor. I am, you know, single outta college. No way. Don't wanna ruin that. Um, that went on for almost a year when we had people from the Colts trying to get us, uh, together, his whole family trying to get us together.

That literally a full year went by of that trying to happen. And then we just, you know, met on our own at a Colts event. Um, and she

felt bad for me. And here we are today.

Wait, what? Like you had no idea. You guys just met and you're like, oh, you're the guy that

I can hear you. Can I embarrass you a little bit?

Oh, well, please tell the story. Okay. I'm, I, this is very factual. So yeah, I, I, I, I lean into this because again, that's why I say she felt bad for me.

Right? I, I did. So, um, we were at a Colts event. Um, I was working for the cult. It was a, a sponsor event, so we knew everybody. So my friends and I that worked there, we knew everyone.

And there's this one guy that was our age that we hadn't didn't know, and like, this is weird. Like, we normally know everybody. So we were talking like he keeps staring at you.

Yeah.

Like he keeps just staring at you. And we're like, I don't know. We don't know who this is. It was just kind of awkward. And then all of a sudden they were like.

He's coming over here and I'm, so we were sitting at this cocktail table, had just gotten drinks and we're like, okay, what do we do? This guy we don't know is starting to come over. And he so nervously came up and he was like, can I get you a drink? And we all looked down at our full glasses and he just looked down at him and then just like, tail between the legs walked away.

Like legit felt so bad for him.

I was, I was thoroughly, uh, embarrassed with myself. But, uh, you know what, sometimes you just gotta break the ice. Yeah. And, uh, and, and hope that you run into her again, which we're fortunate enough to have.

And I mean, it looks like it worked. It did. Hey, who, who maybe you needed two drinks.

Could have been one of those Thursday nights. Come on.

Yeah. It's, again, it's a God thing. You know what I mean? Like, it, it's, uh. Too many coincidence, like not to that route. So

at the point when you guys met, how many, how long were you still driving after that?

Well, I drove for a number of years after that and, um, when we, after we got married, we had our first child and I went back to, uh, what I call reduced schedule.

Did that for a little while because at that point my focus was getting, I think, more heavily involved in the family business.

Okay.

So that was your goal, like you never fully get out? Right. But, um, it was to, to get, I think, uh, get back involved to the level it should have been. I did that for a couple years after we had our second, uh, son.

We have two boys. That's when, that was 2016. I realized it's time to, to hang it up. A lot of people asked, do you miss it? Do you No, I, I, I love it. Our kids now, they play competitive baseball. They're a handful and I can't imagine her doing that without me. Um, and, and traveling on the road just takes a lot of time.

Mm-hmm. And, uh, my parents, again, to the point earlier, they were working their butts off when I was a kid, so. To me, the success that they built and established, it would be foolish of me not to, to take advantage of that and be involved, um, in more of my kids' lives and their passion points.

Totally. Like being out.

How many races is a season? Uh, in drag car?

Uh, 23. 24.

Yeah. So that's 23, 24 Weekends.

Well, pretty much full weeks because they, you know, test before, they'll test after. It's not like, you know, IndyCar or NASCAR that comes in for just a weekend. You're talking a full week. And there were times, you know, I would travel with him.

We'd be on the road for three weeks at a time.

Oh man.

Well, on those West Coast swings. So it was a lot.

Yeah. We tried to make some fun stuff happen in between, but it still, it is, uh, you know, it was a, again, it was a really fun, exciting thing. But, um, I, I think that, uh, all the decisions were made after the fact.

Uh, this is, it's, it's awesome. I mean, getting to work alongside her on a daily basis is amazing. I think at night, like, you know, we know what the other person's dealing with. I think it, it, that's also very helpful. But we balance each other out very well. I, you know, because I was racing, I don't have a formal education when it comes to business.

I just know Lucas Oil business. Um, I know cars and, um, I understand how hydraulic system works and, and all of those things. But, and she has an amazing plethora of institutional knowledge and work experience and, and, and understanding, you know, how we can take this company forward and, and it's been kind of just a really, a blessing and a fun ride.

Yeah. Is that challenging? I feel like leading a company as well as like, sometimes, you know, like when you have. Okay. Someone's gotta do parent teacher conference and someone has to do like a shareholder meeting. Yeah. You know, like, how does that go?

Um, I mean, I think in the beginning it was not challenging, but it just took us a little bit to, to find our groove.

But like Morgan said, we are so different and our experience is different. Our knowledge base is different than when we come together. It, it really, we make a great team.

Yeah.

Because I don't know cars the way he does, he doesn't know some of the, you know, traditional business knowledge that I do. And so when we come together, it's great.

We really are a team, uh, through and through, and we really divide and conquer a lot of even the kids stuff.

That's

awesome. It's like, ick, you have this important meeting, I'll pick up the kids, or vice versa.

Yeah.

And we have a great,

it's nice to have like, uh, visibility into like what, like, because I feel like sometimes if you have like v vastly different careers, it's like you don't know the actual level of stress that like, whoever might be enduring there.

Yeah, a hundred percent. And, and to be honest with the kids, that is a perfect analogy of how we create balance in our life. Yeah. Because I feel like when it comes to school related issues and things like that, she is for like, she's at the forefront of all that when it comes to practices and all those things.

That's where I take over and we create a balance in that situation.

Katie, did you know, like as you guys in your relationship progressed and everything, that you were gonna end up working within the family business?

I kind of assumed so I feel like, um, you know, because I knew Forrest and Charlotte before they knew my background.

Yeah. And I think, you know, Forrest, I, I. Loved talking to him about business and questions. And I, we had a, a good relationship when it came mm-hmm. To the business side. So I think I knew maybe even before Morgan knew what our future kind of held. Um, and I, it's the best example because, you know, Forrest and Charlotte work together to build it.

And it's just, it's amazing that I get to work next to my husband as we, you know, continue to build and elevate, uh, what, what they started.

Heck. Yeah. I love that. I think that's so cool. So when did you guys become CEO and President?

I

think it was last year, right? Um,

it's been a couple

years. I'm not good with dates.

She's really good. Yeah.

Uh, but really with the family business, the title, we were in those roles well before the titles changed. Neither one of us actually cared about the title. Um, it was more of our team saying, Hey, you know, you, you really need these titles just externally. Um, so in the roles, probably four to five years, but officially probably two years,

man.

Okay. Wow, that's super fun and a lot of learnings and fun. And, and this, we did say before we started filming, this is your first time doing a podcast together.

Together.

Yes.

Like, that's on all front. It's exciting.

Yeah. This is a, this is a maiden voyage for us, and it's going well so far. I'm happy I'm enjoying

this.

I mean, only one embarrassing story, so we need to like up those numbers a little bit there. I'm sure we have some

stats.

We, there we go. Um, okay. So let's talk about, I think what Lucas Oil is and, and all the different products and things like that. I think that a lot of times we see. Uh, we did this when I had, um, I had someone from Gainbridge on.

Mm-hmm. It's funny, we're like getting all the, the, you know, facilities and stadiums, right? Like no one knows what Gainbridge does. Mm-hmm. We had the, they gave us like a five minute elevator bridge. I kind of get it now. It makes a little sense. Like, I think that people see the name, you know, Lucas Oil Stadium.

Mm-hmm. And that's like, might be their experience. They see the drag cars inside there. They think racing. They think this. But like, give us the pitch of what is Lucas Oil products and all the things that you guys do and the global reach. I think I saw 40 different countries all across the world.

Well, Lucas Oil is a, you know, a basically a problem solving company first.

Mm-hmm. Uh, and when I say that meaning, 'cause again, when the genesis of the company was solving a problem, it, we've really tried to continue that, that kind of North star culture, whatever you wanna call it, uh, keep that embedded in what we do and how we look at things. Um, we wanna make sure that we're always producing first in class products.

Um, if we can't make it. Better or best? Um, we don't typically like to even get involved. We've looked at the automotive space, but not just the automotive space, the heavy duty, uh, the agriculture space, industrial, everything front to back from that side of a world lubricant need is, is there, um, because we strive to make things last longer, uh, to save people money to again, reduce friction, to reduce operating temperatures, to, to do all these things that most people don't think about on a daily basis.

Yeah. And a lot of times people don't think about that need until they have a problem.

Yeah. So like the average Hoosier, where would a Lucas Oil touchpoint be as someone's like probably driving down the road in their 2015 car listening to this podcast? Where are all the different places that you guys could impact their journey?

Well, we can impact their journey from a fuel economy standpoint. Mm-hmm. Uh, you know, a lot of people end up with a valve injector and don't even know the car can have a rough idle, some different things. They start burning fuel, maybe getting a little more of that smoke coming outta the exhaust. Those are things that.

Or can build up to be a very expensive problem, and we sell products that can solve those problems before they ever become that big expensive issue. Mm-hmm.

So how does someone like these are all like thing like you would pour into like

Oh yeah. You could pour it into, oh, sorry, go ahead.

No,

I say some is it's super easy, right?

To Morgan's point. We have things for maintenance, uh, for older cars and, but certainly just for newer cars as well, that increase mile per gallon. I mean, in this day and age, we can all use a little bit of savings, right? And that's kind of our bread and butter

a hundred percent. It, it's, it really is about the consumer at the end of the day.

Mm-hmm. You know, my dad always bragged about the fact that we've saved, you know, I think his numbers were always inflated, right? But we saved the world billions of dollars and, and it's, um, it's interesting because uh, when I first got started that move back out of racing and getting into the company, I actually was taking calls in customer service.

Oh, mm-hmm. Yeah. There was this nice lady from Florida that called and she just wanted a call to, to say thank you, which is interesting. But she was a grandmother who was working two jobs. To support her daughter and her daughter's kids. And she's from Florida. And her transmission started slipping. She went to the shop, they told her it was gonna be, you know, a week to two weeks of repair time and it was gonna cost her, you know, X thousand dollars.

I can't remember what it was, A couple grand probably. But she was, uh, then at that point decided to go to the auto parts store to get a second opinion. And they told her to try her product, put it in, fix her problem, and she calls us just to say thank you because it, for her, it wasn't necessarily about the money, it was about the time that she would've to ride a bus from one location to another.

Mm-hmm. To do all these things. And, and this woman was probably in her late sixties, early seventies, just by the sound of her voice. And when you hear that, and I'm not saying this is a, you know, a pump or ego up here, that's. A kind of reoccurring theme from things that we hear from people, and it makes you feel good about what you do on a daily basis.

And I feel like cars and engines are a lot like furnaces and water heaters. Like the average person does not want to spend time like mm-hmm. Messing with their furnace. The average person doesn't wanna spend time messing with their transmission. And it's, uh, if you're not a, like a car junkie mm-hmm. It is very intimidating, you know?

Absolutely. Especially like your older car. And it's, but it's also debilitating, like if you have car issues mm-hmm. Transportation issues, whether you're in rural Indiana or you're in the city, like you have to catch a bus or, you know, in rural Indiana, there's probably like no way for you to get where you need to go, even to an on parts store.

Like, and like, you know, talk about the economics behind all of that. Mm-hmm. Like that can be really, really impactful. Like transportation is something I think. Mm-hmm. Sometimes we take for granted.

The world has gotten a little, I think overall. A little more naive to how to properly take care of the car.

It's intimidating. You pop the hood and I mean, there's literally a million wires going everywhere. Mm-hmm. And what people forget sometimes is that what's underneath those wires is very similar to the technology that's been around for a long time now, I'm not gonna say it's the same, it's improved, but it's still metal and metal parts in there that need proper lubrication to operate.

Mm-hmm. I think if you have a problem with your car, the best advice I can give you and, and to quote signi here, uh, just Google us, you know? Um, there, it's, it's, it's, it's easy. Love it. You know, if you've got a problem, type in your symptoms, man. And a lot of times it can take you to

mm-hmm.

A quick, easy, cheap fix.

Yeah. That like, and I think a lot of people, as soon as stuff, you know, starts to go in the car, it's like, okay, dollar signs. Mm-hmm. Open up the checkbook, back up the Brinks truck, like this is gonna be expensive. And some of the other like, is like preventative maintenance type stuff too, and like people are.

Unfor, I feel like the, there's certain oil change places that I have. Mm-hmm. Nickel and dime so many people on preventative maintenance things and changing the cabin, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, like a thousand times. And it's like people are, it's very skeptical towards preventative maintenance.

Well, there's good companies and bad companies everywhere.

I think the really exciting thing for us is that we have the data to prove that our products work. Yeah. Um, it's not just a marketing gimmick when we say it works, it's because it actually works and we have the data and the science to back it up, which is super exciting for us.

Okay. So I'll, I'll, I gotta give you a story of like my tie into racing and then my question about, uh, maintaining old vehicles.

So I was kind of talking about this before. What launched this whole podcasting journey was, uh, the Indy 500.

Oh, right on.

So, um, when we were trying to get more listeners to the podcast, I like went on this crazy mission to. I was like, we have to do something huge for the Indy 500. So I bought a 1986 Dodge pickup truck off a Facebook Marketplace and like documented the journey of like flipping it, cleaning it, getting it ready to go.

Oh, that's And being the first truck in the infield at the Indy 500. So lining up the day before. And then once we got there, we hosted an all Indiana tailgate. So like Sun King Upland, all local breweries, all local, uh, butcher shops, like no buns from Meijer. We had to like find a local bakery to do everything.

It was crazy. Um, but a part of that is like, I, I bought this truck.

Oh, that is

cool. So this is the 1986 truck that runs roughly. Like very, it's top speed, 45 miles an hour. Like we're, it's not for speed, it's for show. But if I was like wanting to keep this, which I do for forever, like are there things from um, preventative maintenance that like older vehicles need to be thinking about and what should I do?

What Lucas Oil products should I be considering for the Trek?

Any car with, uh, I would say substantial miles really should be using a stabilizer. Um, what does

a stabilizer do?

It's a product that actually has properties within it that create a film strength on the parts themselves that again, reduce that friction.

Uh, it can raise the viscosity, the oil inside. So if you have, let's say, blow by the rings, old worn out oil rings, um, it will help seal that up as well, which, uh, actually helps fuel consumption because you're not getting as much of that fuel going past the oil rings and diluting the oil in, in the crankcase again, because of that friction reduction, operating temperature as a whole reduces, which will extend the life of the products in there.

So you're not getting all that metal on metal. Uh, contact, um, and a transmission. I'm assuming that truck probably had an automatic transmission in it. And, you know, we have Transmission Fix, but it, you know, it's funny 'cause the name is fixed, it will fix the problem. But what happens in transmissions, automatic transmissions, there's clutch packs within those and eventually they will wear out and there's not enough contact surface, uh, area that is still got enough grip on it, so to speak, to engage.

So that's where you'll get that slipping if you're in second gear and all of a sudden the motor just revs up on you and you're, yep. What happened? Um, trying to increase the system pressure in order to engage those clutch backs. Harder to run longer. Now anything has a failure point. Um, I'm not gonna say that.

You know, you get a truck and you put three thou, 3 million miles on it, at some point in time there's gonna become a pinhole leak in, uh, from the water jacket into the crankcase itself. And well, uh, there's no oil in the world that's gonna fix

it in the, in the last five minutes we have said more auto parts than the last 200 episodes.

So I love it. Yeah. Like, this makes sense. Like, as you think of older vehicles that, I mean, this is 19 85, 19 86, like I, that's a long time ago. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, for like a vehicle to keep going. Are there any stories of like, what's the oldest vehicle that is a, has been a customer of you all that you have heard of, like how many miles?

Well, so this is actually interesting is that my dad, when we were in California, his cousin, um, second cousin lived out there already and he was driving, uh, one of those private limo services where, uh, it's just like a standard Lincoln town car. Not a stretch or anything, but he would, you know, pick people up, drive 'em around, do all the stuff throughout the days and, uh.

My dad and and his cousin started talking about how maybe what we can use is our products as a test. So they get this brand new town car started putting our products in it. I mean, in southern California it is not hard to put 50 plus thousand miles on a car in a year. They ran this car out with our products in it front to back for I think two or two and a half years before they retired it, and I think it had almost 225,000 miles on it.

When we got it, uh, we ended up buying the car in order to continue the test. We ran it out to 450,000 miles before it got totaled out by somebody. We're ending on the highway. No. Yeah. An original drivetrain, everything. Never had to make a single fuel injector repair, um, transmission, everything, it all stayed in there just as it was when it came off the, the manufacturing.

Wow. So it, it was kind of a cool testament for us inside. And honestly it was funny because the thing kind of turned into the. Err running car. You know what I mean? So yeah, let's go take the town car, here's the keys, and you flip around, we want more miles, let's go.

Yeah.

Um, but that's just an example of, of that.

I mean, we had a lot of trucks in our fleet for a long time that would have. You know, one, two, 3 million miles, miles,

half a million miles. Mm-hmm.

Million miles.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. We'd, we'd service certain aspects of it, just out of general maintenance principles, but I mean the, all the original hard parts were there.

Okay. So this is interesting. So if I bought a new brand new car, like it comes off the lot, I get it here, are there things that I should be thinking about from a Lucas Oil perspective and putting into my car on day one,

say Fuel Treatment? I'm gonna test

Katie right now.

Let's, I'm gonna, let's say Fuel Treatment and it, because it's the easiest thing for me.

Someone that did not grow up working on cars, I did not know.

Mm-hmm.

I took it to the dealership. If it needed something

you didn't know about the clutch pack and

the crankshaft. I didn't, isn't that shocking? Um, but the Fuel Treatment is so easy and again, increases miles per gallon. You can use it on new cars and you just stick it in your fuel tank.

That's something I can do. It's something anybody can do. Mm-hmm. Yeah. To me that is always first and foremost.

Yeah.

Yeah. Agreed. I think that and, um, you know, finding, we have, uh, a couple different versions of stabilizer, even if it's a newer car, putting some Synthetic Stabilizer in with your oil changes only because.

Again, it's reducing friction. Yeah. You gotta think it's that your engine is turning over anywhere from, you know, a thousand to 3000 revolutions per minute. That's that many times that metal is turning on metal. And it's one of those things that if you can reduce incrementally that friction over time, it will extend the life of that vehicle.

Now maybe you're not the person that wants to, uh, own that car for your whole lifetime, but there's other people that are buying that car after the fact. And if you're the guy that's going out and buying a used car off a lot, highly, highly recommend you getting our products and putting it in. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Um, because you don't know what the previous owner did. You don't know how they drove the car. They might've just everywhere they went, pedal the wood, you know? Yeah. And, and, and that's going to increase that wear and that issue.

Yeah. And I, I have the feeling that it's almost like a preventative maintenance type thing is like the antidote, not the antidote, but like, like warranty.

The warranty's reactive. Yes. Like, okay, I am. Covered when something goes wrong versus like the preventative maintenance is, well, I'm doing my best to make sure that less things go wrong. It's interesting, and I'm assuming like, I don't know, if you're buying a five year warranty, it's gonna be whatever. And I wonder if you took the same amount of money and put it into preventative maintenance.

Like probably a significant, like less amount of money. Like, I don't know about the total economics on that, but there's something to think about there. Mm-hmm. From taking better care of your stuff. Wow. My girlfriend just bought a new Honda and I'm like, all in. Yes. I'm like, I'm gonna call in on like, this is what, she's gonna be so pissed when she listens to this episode.

Like her Christmas basket is just all like oil. We can hook her up. We can hook her up. Yeah. It's, she's gonna be like, oh yeah, like hope, like, like new Uggs, new ugs, new Uggs. And it's like. Fuel additive. She's like, what the, it'll be great though. This is longevity for her new Honda. Yes. Let's go. Um, okay.

What I do wanna talk about is one, so company starts in California, when does the move to Indiana obviously racing, brought you to Indiana. Um, but when did the company come to Indiana?

Uh, it's been a few years of, we officially moved headquarters, we moved into it last October, so it's just been just about a year.

So it was still headquartered in Indiana. It was. Or in California.

California, yeah. Which is very, very difficult to do business. And it actually, so, uh, the genesis really is it was costing us more money to produce product and deliver it to California than if we produced it in Indiana and shipped it to California significantly more.

It's California just makes it very, very difficult to do business.

So were you guys living in California? No. No. So you were living here. Mm-hmm. But the business was running in California. Was that hard to it? A

lot of travel.

Yeah.

Uh, a lot of travel, um, going back and forth. And to be honest with you, I mean, California.

The people that we had employed out there, there was a lot of great people. Mm-hmm. Um, it was a tough decision to shut the office down out there. Mm-hmm. But it just, Indiana's just more inviting. Now the plant in southern Indiana where we produce our product, um, we've had that since the early 2000s

Was that like something your dad, like so obviously started at out in California and was like, you know, if I have to make a manufacturing plant I'm gonna put it in Southern Indiana.

Uh, yeah, a hundred percent. That's

so cool.

He, he knew that a, he's an Indiana, he's a Hoosier. Um, first and foremost, right. Uh, loves the state.

We have family down there. Um, but he always had this, um, thing that he said that if you look at the overall population in the United States, Southern Indiana is like really close to the center of. Population, not necessarily, you know, mileage. And I don't know if he was just saying that just to justify the cost of doing it there or not, but it, it does work out.

Our freight costs are, are reasonable coming from that location.

Yeah. What is his, like, this was the original Amazon Prime was like southern Indiana. It's like you're two days from like everything. Mm-hmm.

That that was his, yeah. That was just basically his vibe, you know, and that was the common sense coming out of him.

He, he drove up and down the, the road for so long, he understood. You know, where people were, where they needed to be and, and honestly knew the customer base too. And, and, uh, the lion share of our customers are in the Midwest and the east coast.

Yeah.

And there's still a lot of the community aspect, right.

He wanted to give his family, his friends opportunities for jobs. There's not, there's not a whole lot of manufacturing down in Southern Indiana.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and that's too, you know, our discussion earlier of why do some of these ancillary businesses exist? It's to give people jobs. Yeah. Um, that was really the heart of a lot of forests and Charlotte's decisions.

Yeah. And it's like, let's say the cost between putting it in Kentucky or New Mexico or Indiana is all like, roughly the same. It's like, oh, I might as well like go someplace where I'm gonna know the people and it's gonna make an impact in my local community. That helped get me where I am today. I love that.

I think that's so, so cool. That had been in southern Indiana since the early two thousands. Talk to me about making the decision to like move. Everything from California to Indiana. Like, that's not an easy thing to do.

Well, California laws and regulations, they, they change year to year. Mm-hmm. Um, and it's, it's never in favor of the, the entrepreneur.

Yeah. Um, is what I'll say, because there's probably a lot of businesses out there that really don't have that entrepreneurial spirit. It's, it's more cutthroat, um, than I think we are in how we try to operate. Got to the point where we were landlocked to our site, where we were there and we were, is costing 10 to 11% more mm-hmm.

Per unit.

Oh wow.

To reduce in California,

were, uh, and were people, I'm assuming, I think I know the answer, but I'll, I won't jade it. Were people from Indiana all like, whether they're economic development or government, whoever, like kind of always in everyone's ear saying, Hey, you guys should just, you should move to Indiana.

You should just bring everything here. Uh,

I, I think it depends on, you know, it wasn't as abundant as you'd think. I think there, oh, if I was in

economic development, I would've been like, come on, water's

nice. Jump on in. I think there was some nice nudges, but there was never a forceful push, uh, so to speak.

Um, I know that you know, governor, you know, Pence at the time and Holcomb, you know, my dad, they were close. Mm-hmm. My dad, um, you know, has done a lot of different work with, uh, you know, I'm gonna say just. Different politicians to try to protect certain aspects of life. Did

your dad live in Indiana?

He's kind of been here for a long time.

He's got a place here, a place in Missouri. That's where they, they spent a lot of their time was between here and there.

Yeah. Okay. But not ca So like the companies out in California, but the, you guys are all here. That makes like, not in California. That has to be very hard, like challenging of leading from a distance and traveling all the time and spending too much time on airplanes.

Yeah. It definitely doesn't, uh, bode well for your anxiety levels. 'cause you know, you're, you're constantly having to check on things and ask questions you wouldn't normally have to ask if you're sharing an office with somebody.

What year did the official transition, you said it opened last October. So

24 was when we, I put our, you know, the flag in the ground and moved, um, to Indianapolis officially.

Heck yeah. I love that. Uh, did any, and I know you said it was obviously that, you know, having shut down mm-hmm. Uh, facility. Definitely not easy. Did anyone from California come to Indiana?

So it, I think the most surprising thing is. There are lifelong California residents that asked to come and move to Indiana.

And we were shocked. I was like, or do you know what you're getting into with the weather? And they love it because, I mean, yes, California is beautiful, the weather's great, but Indiana is a fantastic place to raise a family, to be in community. The fellowship, I mean, everything. They, it's funny, lifelong California residents asking to move and they are so happy, would never go back.

That pumps me up. Let's go. It's cool. That's hype. Come on. Uh, 'cause you guys have this, the new, uh, location is like up off 4 65. Yes. On the south side,

uh, north side Keystone crossing.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and I drove past it the other day and I saw it and I was like. Oh, is it like black? Yes. Pretty cool.

Very slick looking. Yeah. Trying

to be a little bit more modern.

Yeah. Come on. That's awesome. Yeah. Okay. Um, so talk to us about, you know, growing and now, you know, obviously new office mm-hmm. In this past October, looking forward like, you know, innovation, what can we expect coming out of Lucas Oil in 2026 and beyond?

I think that there, there's quite a bit. I mean, I think one of the things that we're most proud of is the team that we built around us. Um, just very, very, um, intelligent, passionate people that really understand what at the core of Lucas Oil we're trying to improve and impact lives. We do that through products, but then also how we help in our community.

And we have a group that is so incredibly passionate that we, you know, we met yesterday as a team and they're just so much excitement about what we're gonna do in the future. Um, so certainly expansion and growth, uh, global, a lot of global opportunities as well.

Oh, okay. Global op, I mean, 'cause you are in 40 countries thus far.

Oh, that's fun.

Yeah. We feel like, again, we've had a lot to offer every consumer. Yeah. And there's a lot of countries where people just are, you know, they have vehicles that need

cars aren't getting any younger anywhere.

Mm-hmm. And the economy changes for everybody all the time. And, and at the end of the day, not everybody is.

You know, doing as well as your average American. Um, and it's nice to know we can go in and hopefully make an impact on someone's life in those areas. Mm-hmm. We have a good sales team that's trying to grow that front. Mm-hmm. We, we also are trying to launch new products, uh, moving forward. And I say that meaning like we have a new line of, of hybrid specific Products that are coming out. Because I, I feel, and I think we feel collectively that 10 years from now, the lion share of the cars on the road are gonna be hybrid.

Oh yeah. Right. Like

Yeah. It's, it's wild. And, and to be honest, it's great technology. Yeah. Um, it really is great technology. We're, uh, I'm a big fan of it.

I drive a hybrid truck. Uh,

you, you want to hear a fun fact about hybrids and electric vehicles, Studebaker. Up in South Bend, built one of the first electric powered vehicles back in the early 19 hundreds, but the range was only like 90 miles. And so it was like they drove an electric car back around then.

Mm-hmm. And it got like nixed for the gas engine. Mm-hmm. And obviously gas takes off. Mm-hmm. And it's funny to see that come full circle, but back in the early 19 hundreds they were making battery powered cars in South Bend, Indiana.

Right. So I do have to say. There's a big difference between hybrid and ev.

Yes,

yes, yes, yes. So we support very much support, uh, hybrid technology Yeah. And things like that. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So I just, I

have to say it, we, we don't hate Tesla owners. We don't, but, uh, to me it's, it's kind of an argument of free market versus not. And I feel like, uh, you know, hybrids are the natural evolution mm-hmm.

To the combustion engine. Yes. Yeah. Um, because it's assisted, the range is better, the impact on the environment is better. It's just a smarter option from an efficiency standpoint.

Yeah. It's kind of wild that hybrids are like totally in right now. I feel like back in, you know, mid two thousands, like someone, the only hybrid was a Prius, and it was like if you drove the Prius, you're like, like if someone's by like, ah, your mom drives the Prius, like in high school, that was hundred percent.

Yeah. And now it's like, like, yeah, there's. Trucks, cars. Yeah. SUVs, everything is like, like hybrid. That's

fun. That's, that's how the free market works though, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, it took time for it to take off and grab in, but if you think about the overall evolution, the cars today are a million times more efficient than they were in the seventies or eighties or even nineties from a, a, you know, a fuel consumption standpoint, but also just a, a general life standpoint.

Granted, there's probably more cars on the road than there ever has been. Yeah. In order to sustain a proper infrastructure for this country, not to create an overtax or, you know, electrical grids and all these things, you know, it should be more organic and not forced.

Mm-hmm. Talk about community impact.

Mm-hmm. Like one of the largest ways that you, you guys, your family and your company has impacted Indianapolis for the last, oh my gosh, 15 years or so. I don't know the exact number is on the side of the football stadium downtown. Can you take me through? That pro? Like what does the pro, this is a, I, I'm really curious about this.

What does the process of sponsoring an NFL stadium look like in the first year, like, like when it first comes out? This is gonna be Lucas Oil Stadium,

so I can talk to that. 'cause I was working for the Colts when this all transpired. So you were on the other side. So I was on the other side of this and so, you know, Tom Zupancic Jay Sauers and Forrest had a fantastic relationship.

Those are the two of the gentlemen that were working at the Colts. Um, they kind of pitched this huge idea to one of our absolute smallest sponsors at the time Lucas Oil was, came in kind of bare minimum sponsor to be sponsor of the Colts. So they pitched this, just knowing the Indiana roots, not really thinking a whole lot.

First pitch. And Forrest was like, yep, let's do it. I mean, oh, without talking to his CFO COO anybody else, he was like, yep. Because he had that, his brain just worked so well with branding that he knew that it would make Lucas Oil appear much bigger than it actually was at the time, to put your name on a NFL stadium.

And so just the excitement and the energy around, um, that first year, I mean, I remember they, you know, the team would bring us Lucas Oil merch and all this stuff. People would take it from our offices. People just wanted anything that said Lucas Oil on it, 'cause no one had really heard of it. Um, so it was, it was so fun on kind of the back, the other side of it.

Yeah. Um, and just the excitement from Forrest and Charlotte. I mean, it was such a huge deal for the family and the business.

Yeah. Talk about that. When your dad, he says, yep, we're in, he, does he call you? Does he call family meet and say, Hey, just so y'all know, we're, we're gonna be on the side of an NFL stadium?

Just to, to put this in context, my dad, I think a lot of times thought of himself as like John Wayne, right? Like, he was very cavalier. He was the cowboy. He's gonna roll in and, and, uh, you have conviction in the moment as a kid, you know, I was racing at the time when all this got announced and, uh, I feel like.

I can't remember who called me. It wasn't my dad. Um, I've had it by my mom actually said, Hey, we're gonna do this deal. And then I found out for somebody else that it's, it was a done deal. Um, but to, to really kind of, uh, is huge. I mean, I feel like there was a lot of these different milestones that happen at the time and you know, it's crazy because that one set the bar pretty, pretty high.

Yeah. Like yeah. But his whole mindset was, okay, I want people in other spaces besides Motorsports, which is where we heavily did our advertising. At that point in time, there was no such thing as, you know, Facebook and, you know, Instagram and all the stuff where we do digital marketing now. It was a different vibe.

Right. Podcasts weren't a thing. Mm-hmm. When this announcement happened. If they were, they weren't what they are now.

Yeah.

It was just a, a different world. My dad said, we need other people to know about the brand and he also wanted to give the appearance that we're this Fortune 500 company and we weren't.

And, but it did help growth. We saw sustainable growth from the announcement, from the Super Bowl, from everything. It's been an amazing cornerstone in our, our mm-hmm. Marketing efforts, uh, since, and even now, today with, uh, having our brand on the front of the Pacers jersey. That's something I never, in all my childhood, I would've never thought this would've been a thing we're talking about.

Well, and I think for us too, to showcase Indiana, you know, we bring our clients, our customers in to Lucas Oil Stadium. It's beautiful. The restaurants just survive around Indie. How Indianapolis and Indiana host events is second to none. We know that. Right. And so it's such a joy for us to bring people in and showcase the stadium.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. And I, I just remembered Yeah. The patches this year. Yes, yes. That you guys are now. That's so incredible. I mean, I hope the season's starting off. We're getting going. You, you gotta shake off some of the rest. You know, we're ready to rack Morgan. Uh, talk to me about the first time you saw the stadium, like maybe you're driving down I 70 or wherever it is, and you see the logo on the side of this massive building looming over the Indianapolis skyline.

What did that mean to you?

To be honest, I was around it a lot as it was being built. 'cause my father was there. He, he, I mean, when he goes all in on something, he's all in. He was there for, I mean, I was basically a year straight where he was in there with the construction team laying things out, reevaluating, going through it.

I mean, they basically lived at the Marriott 'cause it was mm-hmm. Before they bought their house in Carmel. That was his thing. Again, he goes all in. That was just to how he always was, uh, when it came to those things. Um, anything like that. But for me, I think it was the first game, you know, you see the sign, everything's lit up, people driving in, and it was like, that's when it got real.

Um, it was extremely special to see that and kind of weird. Uh, I think at the same time when you're thinking about it, like, wow, this is like, it, it is. I don't know. It was heavy, I think is the right way to say it. It's hard to explain just because of the, it was an emotional experience.

This thing that your dad and mom started in 1989 to fix the problems of his fleet is now on the side of an NFL stadium and there's gonna be a Super Bowl there and like that's crazy.

It's so, so awesome. And now like the impact like. It's just a staple within Indiana, within, I mean, obviously the entire NFL community, but like, oh yeah, it's Lucas Oil Like you're, it's synonymous with Indiana. Like, it's literally like, I don't know, it's crazy in the best way possible. And it is this story of entrepreneurship and the grind and you talk about like, you know, pouring all, every, selling your company, going all in for 10 years, going all in again and again, and like putting every dollar into growth and you know, then manufacturing it.

It's not so much like the filling your own bottles and you know, like all that stuff. It's awesome. It is like this American entrepreneurship story of, uh, your mom and dad, which is so, so cool. And I think it's amazing that you guys get to help, you know, champion this next generation of that legacy. Uh, talk to me about winning.

Uh, I guess winning, awarding, being awarded, uh, two of the top 250 most influential business people in the state of Indiana. How did that feel for you all on a, on a personal level and a company level?

I think sometimes it's hard to accept that, just to be honest, because we know we have an incredible team behind us, right?

That doesn't happen without the people that are surrounding us. Um, and so I think that if we accept it, it's more of accepting on behalf of the amazing team that we have. Um, but it is, I mean, Indiana's our home. We absolutely love everything about Indiana, the community, the people, you know, we talk about this quite often when we need something or wanna do something in the community, all of our partners come together.

I mean it, that's, I think sometimes people take for granted how many businesses want to help and better the community. That's not normal when you go to other states or other cities. It's just, it's remarkable. The just quality of good human beings, um, that are here.

Kay. Where are you from originally?

I was born in Carmel.

Yeah. And then moved all over the country and then I went to Noblesville High School in IU and then never left.

There we go North side of Indianapolis to IU Kelly. There we go. Uh, that's, that's so fun. I love it. I do think that's really cool. 'cause it is a team, you know? Mm-hmm. Like you guys get to be out in the front and, you know, leading this thing and carrying on this legacy.

But yeah, if you have a great team, I dunno, Morgan, what are your thoughts

very much aligned with her on this one? Um, and I think even more so because I know that, you know, anything that we accomplish, as Katie said, is because of our team. But I think in large part it's Katie's leadership has really done so much for, uh, not just our company, but in, in the internal aspects of our company, but also in the community.

And she leads with intentionality and purpose and all the things. And I feel like I'm kind of like a, a, I get to be the, the plus one in that moment because at the end of the day, like as a company. We are being awarded these things. Based on the leadership of the overall bigger picture, but it does take good leadership in order to get there.

I love that. And you guys are a staple of the Indiana community and I mean very well deserved. You know, being on the list of, again, 1, 1 20 fifth of, of the most influential people and you guys are doing big things. Uh, and we, we did talk about it before, if anyone is ever down in Crawford County, in Southern, you guys do have your name on a couple other, uh, sporting facilities, one being a golf course in Southern Indiana.

If you're ever looking to, is it 18 or nine? I dunno. Oh, it's, it's

18. If

you're looking for a good golf course in

southern Indiana. Oh yeah. Don't let the front nine fully, the back nine is tough. So have fun.

I love that. Uh, and that's like a, a statement or a testament to your dad and his impact in that community.

You guys obviously have a, a facility down in Harrison County. Mm-hmm. Crawford County's like neighbors there. Mm-hmm. So just like building up these areas in which you guys, uh, and I mean, that's where you graduated from high school, right? Uh, yeah,

yeah. Harrison County.

Uh, Harrison County. Yeah, I think that's super cool.

Um, and I love that fact that he, you know, in two thousands when you put in the place to open up a facility in southern Indiana. Um, amazing. Okay, we've come to the end of the show where we have a couple fun segments and portions here for you. Okay. So the first question is brought to you by our friends at J.C. Hart.

They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond. Check them out at homeisjchart.com. My question for each of you, why do you call Indiana home?

I mean, I would say family. It is not just our family is here, but the, the community is family.

People come beside you if you need anything, you're not alone. Um, I, I, that is just, it's absolutely amazing. Um, the feeling of family you get, um, no matter where you are.

Heck, yeah.

I think to build off of that, because I completely agree, um, I'm not just saying that 'cause she's sitting right next to me. Uh, no, I do agree with that, but I have the unique perspective of growing up in California.

And then moving here and understanding the difference in the cultures of the communities. Um, again, there's a lot of great people in California, but the overall culture of the community of, of central Indiana, Indiana as a whole is different. I, I, first time I, I came here to look for a house. It wasn't the first time I've been to Indianapolis, but the first time I was looking for a house, I mean, driving around random neighborhoods, looking at things, trying to get a feel for everything.

And I mean, people would stop what they're doing and wave at you. Uh, they weren't flipping you off. Um, you know, they weren't calling the cops. It was, uh, just a, it was just a different feeling. And, and it, you get that across the board. There's just a more fiber, uh, approach, attitude, love. Mm-hmm. Um, I think there's a lot more faith.

Uh, embedded into what people do here and, you know, as a young man, it, you don't really appreciate it as much as, as you, you know, you grow up and get older. Now that we have kids, you really understand why all that is so critical. 'cause raising a family here, I'm hard pressed think of anywhere I, I think would be better.

Mm-hmm.

Come on. I love that. And I love that you have the perspective. 'cause when I get up here, it's like, I've lived in Indiana like the majority of my life, right? So it's like, oh, this is just at home. We're talking about how great it is. But people who have different perspectives and have seen different things.

We just had someone on, uh, Nick Giuliani and he talks about his family. He was, um, well, uh, he was in the Oculus program at Facebook. Mm-hmm. And then moved his family out to Indiana during COVID ID and has just loved it. And he said he had this similar story where. His wife was like getting groceries and carrying them out from her car and like someone offered to help her and like was going to like grief.

She thought someone was trying to steal her groceries. She's like, no, it's just an Indiana person, like helping you get your groceries to your car. And I thought that was so funny. That's amazing. But, so telling, I wanna talk, obviously we know the, the Pacers logo, we have, uh, the stadium here in Indianapolis.

I think you guys have also sponsored things like Monster Jam, Major League Fishing for pro bull riding. Mm-hmm. All sorts of crazy cool things. If there was one dream crazy sponsorship and you could just choose and like, you know, snap your fingers and Lucas Oil was involved with it, what would it be?

I would say F1.

Oh,

because that's so far out of our, out of our realm.

Like the, the Grand Prix in Indianapolis. Like the Circle City Grand Prix. Yes. Come on. That would like, I just imagine everyone like. Tuxedoed up downtown and they, they're like ripping on the

bricks and monument

circle. Like that would be legendary.

I feel all the, I could hear all the teams, the F1 teams in Europe right now entering, you know, information into chat GPT to send us a letter for engagement Uhhuh.

Oh yeah. 1%. It's already,

that's gonna happen,

right? It's honestly so hard for me to think of anything. Uh, literally anything that, that we haven't been part of that hasn't already blown my mind. Um,

is there a current sponsorship, let's say, besides Pacers and, uh, in the stadium downtown? Mm-hmm. Because obviously those are the best.

Let's go. But is there like something you guys have been a part of? I dunno, bull riding fishing monster, like all these crazy, like what's been the craziest one where you're just like, this is wild. And I love this,

uh, we used to actually film this TV show back when we were super heavily, it was uh, On the Edge, right?

You remember this? Mm-hmm. I mean stuff, but the lawnmower races were probably the most interesting thing that's ever happened.

You guys once sponsored like a television. Wait, what's the television show? We gotta dive into this for a second.

Uh, the show's called On the Edge and it would find the, the most interesting, uh, or obscure forms of, that's a nice way

to say it.

Interesting. Uh, interesting or obscure forms of motor sports. I mean, swamp buggy races, different things like that. Like, and, and it's all thoroughly interesting when you watch this because it's like, it's like ES esp n the O show, but for Motorsport, oh,

that's sick.

You know? Uh, and it's

no

longer on television.

No, it's not right now. That's shame. They might do some reas at different times. You'll probably find some stuff on YouTube, but, um. I, I find that to be the most interesting. I mean, it's not the thing I'm most proud of. Yeah. But it is definitely the most interesting thing. 'cause when you think about seeing grown men hanging off the side of a lawnmower, going around a dirt track, that's pretty fun.

That's

true. We also have to talk about Lucas Oil Live. Oh yeah. So part of WinStar, so the large world's largest casino is WinStar in Oklahoma, uh, by square feet. And they built a new, uh, music venue, entertainment venue. And so we did naming rights to that Lucas Oil Live. Um, there has been some fantastic acts.

We went and saw Jelly Roll a few months ago at Lucas Oil Live, and he's, and for us, like for. You know, jelly Roll sitting like Lucas Oil Live and Lucas Oil, like on stage. And I was just like, this is so cool.

That's pretty cool. I saw him, uh, 'cause I didn't think, I wasn't like soul. I really, I was like, oh, it's Jelly Roll.

Like, I wasn't that pumped. He is a performer, Uhhuh, and he is like, hands start moving really fast. He's just so hyped. Yeah. And he's like, it's like a moving experience. Mm-hmm. Like, I would actually recommend anyone. Yes. Next time he comes to town, go see it. Agree. Even if you're kind of like, oh, it's just jelly.

Like music is phenomenal. The energy's great. Like the whole thing was incredible. Like that's really, really cool.

Yeah. Yeah. And if you're a Stapleton fan, he's come to Lucas Oil Live in March. Yes.

Yes. Coming up

there is, do we have a direct flight to Oklahoma? Like how do we,

Dallas is not that far away.

Yeah, there you go. All right. It's

45 minutes

from Dallas. Okay. That's pretty. So we have the obscure lawnmower racing. Mm-hmm. That's pretty fun. And then obviously Lucas Oil Live. How old is that venue?

Uh, three years.

Heck yeah.

Yeah. And I don't wanna sell anything else. We do short. Oh, PBR is insane, man. If you get up on the, that's so cool.

By, by the, the gate. And, and watch these guys get ready on these bulls, these massive. Animals.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, that is crazy. The, the, I don't, I, it's, it's a level of bravery that most people don't.

I was gonna say

like

bravery or maybe that and stupidity maybe a little bit

it, as a male, I have to go with the bravery.

Yeah, exactly.

Okay. Wait 330 miles in a drag car, or eight seconds on a bull, like, which one's crazy?

Well, I, eight

seconds on a bull,

I would say so because at the end of the day, I had a roll cage, a fire suit, a helmet, all those things. And to be honest with you, like knock on wood, if something were to happened to me in that situation, it probably would've happened pretty quick.

Those guys, man, you, you're talking about having these massive things stomping on you.

You know,

it's wild.

Is bull riding like, like it might be the craziest modern profession, you know, like the fact that, and that's why, I mean, that's why it gets eyeballs, like people are Oh yeah. Like I love the, like, um, if you go into like Louisville, they have a, and they have a few of the, the pbr like the bar.

Mm-hmm. And they have like the mechanical bull. That's my style. I'll totally gotta crank it up a little bit, but it's nice and fun. Obviously in the mode of transportation your dad drove all across the United States of America. But we're talking the state of Indiana. Favorite road trip in the state.

I can tell the one that we've most commonly done is that's going to CERAland in Columbus for baseball.

Um, yeah, that's a, that's a tough one because there's so many beautiful aspects, but I honestly think that whole. Southern Indiana area. Mm-hmm. Down by French Lick. Um, going out by Patoka and through the whole southern part of the state Rolling Hills stuff that, uh, it's awesome. I mean, especially this time of year.

It's so beautiful. So

beautiful.

See trees turning. Mm-hmm. And it's, um, you know, it's. Awesome to see God's creation at work. Mm-hmm.

I love that. I think that's super cool. And, and it's, we always encourage people to get out and explore parts of the state. Like something like French ic, I feel like everyone knows, everyone knows Larry Bird, everyone knows that it's down there.

Mm-hmm. There's a casino, blah, blah, blah. But like so many people haven't actually gotten in the car and driven down there. Mm-hmm. Each's crazy. I dunno. Maybe once you get past like Martinsville and everything starts turning and changing and you're like, wait, where the heck am I? Mm-hmm. And then like Lake Country up in northern Indiana.

Mm-hmm. It's like everyone knows that like WBAI and Uck and Tip Canoe are up there, but it's like, until you go and check 'em out Yeah. There's, or the coastline of Lake Michigan. Yeah. We got that. Absolutely. Like, oh my goodness.

Just drive up to the top of the hill by the Pete Dye Course. You don't have to golf.

Just drive up there and take a look around. Mm-hmm. Just do a 360 and you'll appreciate Southern Indiana.

I went to, um, the Korn Ferry tour, the championship that they have at Pete Dye and like. I was like, okay, this is like, you know, triple A golf, you know, but someone like, you know, I think 20 people get their PGA cards there.

It's like an intense event. Pretty cool. I get to the top of there and I like look around and I was just in awe, like there is, I would say like the stereotype is that Indiana wouldn't have that much like jaw dropping natural beauty. Mm-hmm. That the top of that mansion or the top of that hill, uh, by the mansion is jaw dropping.

Mm-hmm. It's crazy. Uh, wow. Okay. I'm fired up right now. Let's go. Alright. So, uh, this brings us to a portion where we talk. We ask the same three questions to every guest. We also get to highlight some more things across the state of Indiana. Obviously you guys have been all over traveling for racing, growing up in California, here, there, Oklahoma.

As you're going out there and, and if you could tell everyone in the world what is one thing the world needs to know about Indiana,

I'm gonna speak to the business world. Give us a shot. Mm-hmm. Um, the state's amazing. Uh, great. I think you know, the IEDC and the group there, the leadership that's here with local.

Uh, even like local Carmel government, for example. Mm-hmm. Like there, there's people that understand the need for good businesses mm-hmm. And good jobs and communities here, and they're very welcoming. We have plenty of real estate for manufacturing jobs to set up shop here. There's a lot of, a lot of opportunity.

But I think what really needs to be said in that, what we discovered ourselves, um, is that the workforce here, the pool of talent in this community mm-hmm. Is amazing, phenomenal, very intelligent, highly trained people, you know, buy into a good culture and if you're willing to. Giving Indiana a shot, you're gonna find some great talent here.

I agree. And I think there's a lot of leaders that are just so forward thinking. Like Morgan mentioned, you know, Sue Finkam, Chris Jensen, they just mm-hmm. They understand business, they understand culture. Um, and, and how to really move Indiana forward. It's exciting.

I got to spend the day, uh, with Mayor Jensen and Noblesville and he had gave me the tour around the square and all the stuff up there.

He is. He's great guy. Yeah. I haven't met Sue yet, but I've also heard great things. She's amazing. Yep. And yeah, I mean, obviously I think it's really funny. Carmel gets so much hate, like everyone hates her, but then it's like, if you were to like find a blind study and say like, alright, paint your perfect town of what you want, Uhhuh.

They're like, I want trails and vibrant arts in downtown and all these things. And you're like, then on paper you're like, well, you just described Car Indiana. Like it's really crazy. Um, okay, this is, uh, the part where you get to. Enlighten us on a piece of the state that means a lot to you and that more people need to know about.

So what is a hidden gem in Indiana?

Shout out to Craig Huse and, um, that family mm-hmm. And the, and the Cunningham Restaurant Group as well. Mm-hmm. I feel like there's just some really good. Um, people in that sense. So if you come here, you'll lead. Well. Have fun.

Yeah. Uh, okay. So if you were bringing someone from out of town, you know, let's say you had a weekend to like take them out to a few places to dinner, let's go like dinner Friday, Saturday, and maybe lunch on Saturday, where would you take them if you had three spots?

I love Commission Row. I just think that, you know, mm-hmm. Being attached to Gainbridge um, it feels like you're in a big city. So I feel like St. Elmo's and Commission Row are kind of our two go-to downtown. Yeah. Um,

I love 1933 Lounge in Carmel. Yes. 1933 Uh, yeah. It's, it's amazing

that place You walk in there and it's just like, it takes your breath away a

little bit.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's cool. And then I feel like we go at Prime 47, we do a lot. Mm-hmm. I feel like they truly understand the experience and just make it, yeah. It's just such a fun experience and, and really good human beings that run it.

Hundred percent. Yeah. Jeremiah, his wife ness are, are just awesome folks.

And, and again, great food.

We do Rosie's a lot. That is when we need, like, because men being from Noblesville that was the original location, so it's been really fun to see. Which not

a lot of people know that, the original Rosie's is in Noblesville. I think a lot of people think the Zionsville spot was the OG one?

Oh yeah.

It is the oldest looking one for, for that. But it's an old building

that's, that's Zionsville They love the culture, they love like the history and tradition there. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Those are, I mean, fantastic spots. Um, I feel like everything new that they're putting up, like Carmel gets like a great restaurant every like two months.

It, it seems like it's all, they're all fire.

I love it. I love it.

Well, I mean for you too, like they just opened like the buffalo's there, that has to be pretty like, you know, reminiscent of your time. Kilroy's

downtown.

Oh, we've come to the final question of the show where we get to talk about. Someone or some people in the state, these could be, this is where we get guest recommendations or just, uh, you put on notice people in Indiana that are doing great things.

Mm-hmm. So who's a Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar? Someone who's doing big things

well, maybe it's because we're a husband and wife duo, but, uh, Philip and Andrea Daigle at Heart & Soul Church, um, what they are doing, not just in the church community, but just expanding their reach outside of the church walls, um, husband and wife together doing it.

It is amazing. They're amazing human beings. Um, and she has the voice of an angel, um,

a thousand percent. She does. And, and, and Philip's a great guy too. Charismatic. Mm-hmm. Um, but with a big heart. Yeah. Um, and it's nice, uh, for us, as you know, members of that church just to, to know and have faith and, and trust in, uh, the people that are leading that, that.

Part of our life really. Yeah. I'd say outside of them, I would say Pamela Whitten is somebody I think is, um, oh, she's, she's, she's one of, uh, Katie's uh, favorite superstars in the world. But I just wish she's done to change the culture of, um, IU as a whole. Uh, again, I didn't graduate from there, so I shouldn't be able to talk about this.

But, um, as a sports fan, um, it's awesome. Uh, the, I think the amount of dedication she's put that because I think she understands the marketing of a, of a university. Yeah. And how to compliment the amazing first in class education.

It's her vision. I mean, the reason the football program is the way it is, is because of her.

Um, and not a lot of people know that. I mean, Curt certainly gets. All the credit, but she's the one that hired Curt. She's the one that put the money into the program. Um, and to Morgan's point, it's just her vision, um, of what Indiana could possibly look like,

and like, gives him the freedom to like

Yes.

Be him.

Yes. And like, you know, put that whole thing together. Orchestrating. Yeah. Yeah. I, everyone I've met has raved about, I've never met. She's amazing. Um, Pam, but I know that everyone raves about her. Yes. I, wait, I, I have one more question now from that, uh, because I think this is, is really an interest, interesting part.

So from, yeah. Whether it's Lucas Oil Live or Lucas Oil Stadium or like the different, you know, in-person events and activations, you guys are part of, have we come across anyone that just like had you starstruck where you're like, oh, meet whoever

at the um, WNBA All-Star Game. Yeah. Same night. All-Star Game.

Same night. Same night. But at the actual, at the game. And it was so funny. All these celebrities, all these people. They walk over and freak out about Jake from State Farm from the commercials. I was just like, oh my word. They, they met

Cedric the Entertainer, and they were not

as enthralled as they were with Jake from State Farm.

It's like, it was so funny. But just because the kids see it and they sit it on TV because the only thing they watch is sports. And it was, it was so funny to me that Jake from State Farm,

Jake from State Farm, like he's boys with like, uh, uh, who is Patrick Mahomes like, like he's,

they've

met everybody.

They've

met everyone. And it's

Jake

from State

Farm

and now having a chance to think about it, I do have that one celebrity person that I was shocked with. And it was just earlier this year was Jim Nantz.

Oh.

Oh. Because I had a chance to talk to him for a little bit.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, his father passed from Alzheimer's.

That's, uh, what got my dad as well. And, uh, just you wanna talk about a real dude? Um, just a nice guy. Uh, purely like as nice as he seems on tv, I think he's probably nicer in person.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's like also a cool piece is when you meet someone and you're like, it's not a persona, it's not an act. It's like, oh, this is who you really are.

Like, you're just a good, like a good dude. That's real. That fires me up. Let's go. Um, y'all, I want to just say thank you so much for coming on and sharing the story. It's incredibly inspiring the entrepreneurial journey of, uh, Forrest and Charlotte back in 1989, getting this whole thing started to then, you know, developing, building this business, getting your name and your logo on the side of an NFL stadium and continuing to grow, uh, making global impact in over 40 countries now and more to come in the future.

I'm so pumped up. Uh, thank you for being amazing stewards of the state of Indiana. Thank you for being champions of all the cool stuff that's going on here. Uh, we are very, very fortunate to have y'all in our community, to have you in our, you know, whether it's eating at our restaurants or you helping, you know, give people jobs here in our state.

It's incredible. And so, uh, from one Hoosier to another. This, we're very grateful for that.

Oh, thank you very much for having us and thank you for what you're doing. Showcasing Indiana. 'cause it needs to be showcased more. We need to brag about how awesome we are. Right?

It's, that's, uh, I could go on a whole talker, but everyone's just so humble.

Mm-hmm. And it's like, Hey, I'll hype you guys up. You everyone say humble, but we'll talk about how great this stuff is going on here. So, hey, we appreciate y'all, and we'll, and we'll talk to you soon.

Thank

you. Thank you. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at Sweetwater.

If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state. Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hoosier State great. We'll see you next time here on Get IN.