Wrenches, Redemption, and Raising a Daughter: The Courage of Boyd

In this powerful episode of Courageous Crossroads, we meet Justin “Boyd” Baker a former NASCAR body fabricator turned power grid engineer, comic book collector, motorcycle enthusiast, and devoted family man. Raised in a Midwest farming town, Boyd shares his journey from chasing perfection in high-octane race shops to finding purpose in fatherhood, faith, and craftsmanship. He opens up about how raising his stepdaughter became the most courageous act of his life, redefining manhood through sacrifice, love, and conviction. Boyd’s raw honesty and grit reveal a man who believes courage isn’t flashy, it’s consistent, humble, and rooted in doing the hard thing when no one’s watching.

Thank you for listening! We hope you feel inspired and encouraged by our conversation today. If you did, be sure to share this episode with others.

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See you in the next episode! Be blessed!

Full Transcript

Announcer: Welcome to Courageous by Crossroads Apologetics. A look into what motivates us to step out in courage and the everyday bravery of men and women like you. In each episode, we hear a personal story of bravery centered around this question. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? And now your host, founder of Crossroads Apologetics, Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: Hey, everybody. This is Jeff. Welcome back to another edition of the Courageous Crossroads podcast. My next guest, Justin Baker, is a new friend of mine. Justin and I are actually several states apart. He’s over in North Carolina, and I’m sitting here in Iowa. And we met each other through a mutual friend that invited me to join a Bible study that Justin was already a part of. And, I was impressed with Justin from the get go. Okay. I was impressed by him because of such a strong personality, such a bold person.

And, what happened is I stuck around the bible study long enough to learn a little bit more and get a sense of his heart. And, gosh, what you’re gonna learn about Justin in this episode is profound. He is he’s a wonderful father, and that means everything to me. I really admire people that take fatherhood seriously and press into that. And, so for that reason and a whole bunch of reasons, I’m just super happy to introduce you to our next guest, Justin Baker. So we jump into it, kinda catching up a little bit. And, without further ado, here’s Justin. Justin Baker, AKA Boyd is our guest on the Courageous Crossroads podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. What do you want me to call you? You want me to call you mister Baker, like the drummer, or do you want me to call you Justin, or you want me to call you Boyd? What’s going on?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Mister Baker’s my dad. Justin’s what I was when I was a child. Boyd is a industry nickname that the, Bible study knows me by. So Okay. So, yeah, that would probably be the most comfortable. Justin Boyd Baker.

Jeff Johnson: So we’re gonna refer to you as Boyd here on our Sounds good. Sound good? Okay. Well, I’m so grateful that you’re taking time out, Boyd, to do this podcast because I’ve been invited into your little bible study and got to know you a little bit. And the thing that I noticed right off the bat, and I’m not gonna be slobbering on you. Okay? But your boldness and your directness and your intentionality with going through the bible study, I mean, this is it’s so refreshing, and it’s been so wonderful to get to know you. And I and I barely know you. So this is gonna be a deep dive into who is Boyd right now. But,

Justin Baker (Boyd): I think that’s the kindest way anyone has told me I’m a lot to take in that I’ve ever received, so thank you for that.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. You’re fantastic. Okay. Tell me, it’s an industry nickname. What do you do? What’s your industry?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I I got the I got the nickname back when I was racing professionally in NASCAR. I was at a little team that usually tried to run middle of the pack. We were not in the upper echelon of the sport, and, I came from a a hot rod background. And, one of my fabrication managers was frustrated, is how I’ll say it, with my pursuit of perfection in in what we were doing. NASCAR is, of course, very different than hot rods. We

Jeff Johnson: Tell me what the what’s the distinction between a Hot Rod and a NASCAR?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Well, Hot Rods are meant to do everything well, but also be reliable and streetable as far as, you know, ease easy to drive relatively, starts every time, works the way it should, all of that. Race cars are a little more raw and a little more primal. Okay. Where you would spend years building the perfect hot rod, and it would be a legacy generational kind of object of talent and craftsmanship and skill and all of that. Race cars are meant to go 500 miles at a time and fall apart when they’re finished. So Okay. Way way higher on the performance side of it, but maybe a little less reliable and a little less comfortable and user friendly.

Jeff Johnson: Gotcha. So you started in hot rods, and then you moved to NASCAR.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Right. I, I was the second grandson, and my uncle who was the hot rodder was the surprise, I guess, is how I’ll say it, from eleven years younger than his siblings. So when the family got together, we would always be left her own devices. And he was a caterpillar mechanic by day and a hot rodder by night. So I was always the one that was getting told the hand in the five eights, to put my finger here, to hold this flashlight, and he was the guy that actually got me into cars and would eventually take me to the races, and that’s how that got started. Well, to allude back to what you asked me, I had a lot of trouble adapting to the timeline that professional racing demanded of you because the truck leaves on Wednesday whether you’re done or not. So it was one of those things where he constantly pressed me to kinda throw something at the wall and find it find something that sticks and then move on to the next one, and I wanted everything to be perfect when I started out. Oh. So we had a contrast of opinions and approach for that. And, in the early two thousands, there was a famous hot router named Boyd Coddington. So he gave me that nickname after him to kind of tease and goad me into what I was doing. And the cool things about nicknames is you don’t get to pick them. That’s right. Of course, every everybody else that heard that thought that it was just as funny as he did, and it stuck. And I’ve still got friends decades old at this point in time that have no clue my Christian name is Justin. They still call me Boyd, and that’s how we all move through the world. So That’s a great are. Okay. That’s a great story.

Jeff Johnson: Well, now I gotta even from that, I got 10 more questions now, Boyd.

Justin Baker (Boyd): I try to ram I I tend to ramble, Jeff, but I’ll do my best to keep it short and getting it done as best we can.

Jeff Johnson: So what is your what’s your job now? What do you do now?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Now I’m a power grid engineer. I, I’m a field technician. Pretty much what I do is I go out and I do data acquisition for a local energy company here. I, make sure that all of those wooden poles along the roads stay upright and working properly. And me and the company that I’m with, the team that I work in, we, do substation optimization pretty much. We have got a little bit of expansion here in the North Carolina area with new construction and population growth, and we are trying to stay ahead of the curve of the increase in demand. So that’s what I do now. Not near as glamorous or cosmopolitan as my past, career, but probably 10 times more important. And it affords me the luxury of making a good living and also not being under a microscope or a spotlight. So

Jeff Johnson: So the goods the good people of North Carolina appreciate you when they plug their hair dryer in and it works.

Justin Baker (Boyd): I, I I always run on to some of the best people where whether I’m in the city or in the country. There’s more often than not, the everybody from, you know, the white collar, blue collar guy coming down the driveway to shake my hand and tell me that they appreciate me or the sweet old lady offering me a cup lemonade or anything like that and hot cocoa in the winter. I, yeah, I I have a great interaction with people now. So

Jeff Johnson: That’s one that doesn’t surprise me. That’s one of them. That’s wonderful. I love it very much. I really do. Like What are your what kind of enthusiasms do you have then? As far as How do you like to how do you like to spend your free time? How do you have fun?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Oh, buddy. I mean,

Jeff Johnson: are you a fisher? Are you a hunter? Are you a all that stuff? Or

Justin Baker (Boyd): I’m not. I I have I have more expensive hobbies than than I have any business with. I’ll tell you that much. My my wife again, like, here we go. Circling back to the greatest of all of us. Yes. She she she teased me the other day. I can’t remember if it was a Facebook post or a T shirt or whatever it was, but she said the most low maintenance men have the most high maintenance hobbies. And she looked at me very judgmentally, and boy, was I convicted in that moment. Let me tell you. So I, I’m I’m still a child, but still, you know, very much an adult. I, I’m into comic books, so I’ve got a pretty decent comic book collection. And there’s probably three or four shows a year that I still go to and

Jeff Johnson: Really?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Hang out with my nerd friends. Yep. Do that. It’s American mythology, man, and we all love a good story.

Jeff Johnson: Yes. It is. And how long have you been collecting comic books?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Oh, man. I probably got heavy into it when I was about seven or eight years old. I, I’ve I’ve I’ve always loved to read, and I had I had an aunt that saw me doodling one day in between switching back and forth from Beverly Cleary novels. And she decided that comic books would be the perfect medium for me, and I hit the ground running with that first book that she gifted me with. And so it’s been it’s been on and off, of course. I mean, I took a break there for a long time to focus on career and, you know, marriage and growing up things. But now that I’m comfortable and, you know, have a have a middle class income, it’s you know, there’s always a little bit of money to burn here and there for for happiness about it. So comic books are a thing. I you talk about hunting, third generation farmer raised in the Midwest from a flyover state. So that that was kind of a, guns were just a part of life for us, but they they were tools more than they were anything else. However, the first time that, you know, like, my dad took me squirrel hunting, I was just fascinated by the mechanics of it. Not so much the actual shooting, but everything leading up to that. You know, wearing camouflage and being out in nature and learning how to read the terrain and stuff like that. So that kinda turned me into a shooting enthusiast, and I still do that. Not so much hunting nowadays as I just go to the range and try to stay tight and disciplined. It’s, again, another one of those American traditions that I latched onto and and still hold. But if I had to pick one that that really took up most of my time and energy, it’s motorcycles, man.

Jeff Johnson: Really?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Yeah. I am I am hard and fast into motorcycles.

Jeff Johnson: What do you ride?

Justin Baker (Boyd): It depends on the day.

Jeff Johnson: Oh, you got a multiple?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I have four right now Okay. With me. So, I I started out on a Fuel. It’s a Harley based American sport bike. That was the bike that I began riding in 02/2007, and a friend of mine introduced me to motorcycles. And I’d always been kind of enamored with it. There were a couple of real deal bikers that had lived across from us when I was a kid in Illinois, and I was always kinda fascinated with that. And there was, you know, a gravity to it that I was drawn drawn close to. But, I started out with that Buall and still have it. It’s it’s the one full custom motorcycle that I have. There’s not any part or piece on that motorcycle that hasn’t been touched, and, I’ve I’ve got the most time and miles on it. I also have a big BMW that’s that’s my dad bike that everybody teases me about. So when I need to go far and carry a lot of stuff, I ride that r 1,200 r t. When I am just tooling around town, going to the hardware store or running errands at the post office or something like that, I have a Honda Grom, which is about the funniest thing on God’s free earth for a 44 year old bald man to push around town. There’s there’s no lack of humor in that. It’s a little one twenty five cc. Because it’s just a tie because it’s a tiny bike. It’s it’s like a three fifth scale motorcycle. Yes. It’s it’s wildly hilarious. I look like a circus bear on a tricycle with that thing.

Jeff Johnson: Why’d you get that one?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I bought it for my daughter, actually. She she used to ride with me, and she expressed an interest in it. And, so I I bought one for her, and she didn’t take to it. She never could get over the fear of being out on the road in traffic, which if anybody understands it, it’s me. But, I absolutely took to that thing because people ask me all the time because I’ve restored a lot of high of the few high dollar motorcycles and a couple of exclusive ones that are rare and unique. And and then people see me on this Grom, and they’re like, what are you doing? And and I and I have to tell them that we all take ourselves a little too seriously on motorcycles. I mean, you gotta look the part. You gotta act a certain way. You have to fit this stereotype, and the Honda Grom is not a motorcycle that you can take yourself seriously on at all. So it’s just a joy machine. It reminds me of why we all do this. Okay. Anyway, and it’s just it’s a happiness thing. So the last one I’ve got is an old Harley that, I I got through kind of a tragic event, but I’m I’m building it up, and I’m kinda trying to get it back on the road. I I’m a better man when my hands are busy and focused on something. So Okay. That’s my current focus.

Jeff Johnson: Well, that’s good. So the BMW, I had friends that, rode a lot, bought and sold so many Harley Davidsons, etcetera, etcetera. But they got into, you know, riding up to Alaska and out to the West Coast and doing all that kind of stuff from Iowa. And they would talk about their BMWs just cutting through the wind and the rain and all, like, nothing else. So is that what you do on that BMW is you go a long way?

Justin Baker (Boyd): So mine, you’re you’re almost assuredly talking about GS riders. Those are the, adventure bikes that BMW has made famous, and they’re famous for them. Those are the ones that you see people doing what you’re talking about, going down fire trails and gravel roads and game paths and Alaska trips over mountains, through deserts, all of that. They’re they’re the dual motorcycle. I have I have an RT. It’s actually a large touring bike, and it’s more of a road bike than it is an an all over type of terrain bike. But, but, yeah, if if there’s any Harley guys listening to this podcast right now, don’t ever ride a BMW because you will never want to ride anything else ever again.

Jeff Johnson: And the BMW, you ride forward on it. Correct?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Oh, yeah. Mhmm. Ever so slightly. I mean, mine’s mine’s got more of a nod toward the sport as opposed to the to the cruiser type. But but, yeah, though those motorcycles are amazing. They’re they have their own cult following too. And if you ever let the clutch out on one, you will know why. It’s they’re they’re magnificent.

Jeff Johnson: Really? What’s the farthest you’ve ever gone on your motorcycle? Have you ever been on a really big trip, I would imagine?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I, I always take a good spring trip that I really try to cover some ground on that I don’t really plan for necessarily. I might have an idea of, you know, the direction I wanna go or whatnot. But, this this past spring, I took I took a I took a long trip that brought me through, I guess, five or six states here in the Southeast, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and then North Carolina. Maybe South Carolina. I don’t I might have touched that once or twice. I don’t know. So, yeah, not too awful far, but more just a lot of a lot of miles in a short amount of time.

Jeff Johnson: So okay, this is the Courageous Crossroads podcast. So we talk about the topic of courage here, and it’s gonna, it’s gonna anchor in the one question, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done, which I’m gonna ask you here in a second. But before I get to that, I’m curious about the NASCAR stuff because I just I admire people that are motorcycle riders and go fast. I’m afraid of getting on a big heavy bike and stopping at a stop sign and having it lay down on me and not ever being able to pick it back up again. I had somebody tell me that they had a fit with one of those one time, and that scared me off of it. And I also thought, how do you ride in the rain? So you can call me a wuss. I don’t know. But I’m just I probably need to go try. I like to ride in a convertible. Okay? So I like a little wind in my hair. But I’m curious about the NASCAR stuff, Boyd. You were a driver?

Justin Baker (Boyd): No. I would say a body hanger is what they call it. It’s not as morbid as it sounds. Back back years ago when I got into sport without giving my age away too awful far, The cars were still made by hand out of sheet metal. We would start with a rack of tubing and a pallet of flat steel, and we would handcraft the cars from start to finish. And I was a sheet metal guy. I was a body guy, so that’s that’s what I did. I’ll tell you how I got into it. It’ll make a lot of sense.

Jeff Johnson: You made the shape of the of the NASCAR Yes. Vehicle, and then it sat down on top of the frame and all that kind of stuff?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Exactly. Yep. I did wow. Okay. Certain parts of it don’t don’t take it too far. Like, certain parts of it were were stock. They would give us a Kevlar composite nose cone and a tail, and then the hoods, the roofs, and the decklids were stamped. But it’s been long enough. I can tell you, Jeff, we cut the piss out of them things too and modified them beyond recognition. So so so, yeah, we we we were it it was definitely a, a profession that that was focused on fabrication and and craftsmanship, and and that’s ultimately how I got in it. We talked about a little bit about, you know, coming from a hot rod background. Yeah. I got into I got into hot rods in the late nineties, early two thousands. And, I had a real white collar job working for the phone company at the time, and I would moonlight with, you know, that group of dudes that would do that type of thing. Well, I ended up taking a gig from an old retired truck driver, and, he had commissioned me to English wheel atop of a 1948 Riley. You guys on the Internet looked that up. It was it’s a super rare car that I had never heard of at the time. I was in my early twenties. And, I mean

Jeff Johnson: And English wheel meaning to to hone the shape or

Justin Baker (Boyd): It’s a device that we got from prewar and war era times that that, yeah, would shape Mhmm. The this the Yeah. The sheet metal in into convex or concave parts. Yeah. Okay. So these cars come with a vinyl top that was stretched over chicken wire and wood frames, and he being a street rodder, a particular type of hot rodder. He wanted a hardtop that he could paint. And so he commissioned me to make one of those. Well, I took the job not knowing if I could really do it, to be honest with you. But, you know, if you’re gonna be a bear, be a grizzly. So I, I I was about I was about three quarters of the way done with this car at the time, and it was I had been working on it long enough in the evenings to where me and me and the guy that that owned the car, we had already talked about everything there was to talk about, so we were just working in silence with each other. He was over there doing some wiring. I was over here trying to fit this panel to the roof, and it had been quiet for a couple hours. And I remember him asking me, what are you gonna do when you’re done with this car? Because September 11 had just happened. The phone company had told us that they were gonna be closing the office in a few months, and I had the option to either take a leave and get a small payout or follow my job to a larger city, Louisville, Kentucky, Nashville, Tennessee. And to be honest with you, man, I’m I like being outside and talking to people, and that was not the position that I had with the phone company. So I knew that I wasn’t gonna I knew I didn’t like the job enough to follow it to a major metropolitan area. That was for sure. And he knew that as well without me telling him. And and I I I thought for a little bit about it. I was like, man, I really wanna build cars. I think that I’m probably gonna look toward California and go out there and try to get a job in one of those shops. And the truck driver, man, he wore these big, thick aviator glasses. You know how certain dudes reach that point in their life where they’re just not moving on their style anymore? Yeah. So he had arrived. He was there. Yeah. It was the coolest thing. You know? He just carried it with that confidence. He had these big gold aviator prescription sunglasses on and this member’s only jacket that he still rolled up his his forearms, and I’ll never forget the sound of those glasses hitting that workbench. And he turned around and looked at me, and he said, if if you go out to California, you’re gonna starve to death and die. Oh. And I thought, well, thanks for the vote of confidence, man. Like, that’s exactly what I wanna hear. And and he said, if you really wanna build cars for a living he gave me the best piece of advice that I ever got. He said, if you really wanna build cars for a living, you need to go to North Carolina, and you need to learn how to build base cars. And I had told him, again, I’m a punk kid, and I was I told him, I don’t know a thing about building a race car. And he said, it’s the only job left in America where you can put hammer to steel and carve out a good living. He said that’s what you need to do. He said, California’s too expensive. He said, North Carolina’s growing. You need you need to go out east. And so the more I looked into it and I started asking around, again, my uncles and all of them were into racing. So, the more sense it made. And I got to the bottom of Illinois and turned left instead of right, and I’ve been out here for going on twenty five years. Wow.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. What okay. So you’re involved with NASCAR, and you’re building cars. Is that a progressive sort of a thing? You work with this team and you work with that team and you work with another team, or do they hire you out a la carte year after year?

Justin Baker (Boyd): It’s it’s a real job with a w four, and, you know, they talk about family and all of that just like most everybody does. But that was a tumultuous time in the industry. The business was changing. You’ve you’ve talked to you’ve talked to a guy that’s that’s been fortunate enough to be in this industry a long time. That is not the case for everybody. Mhmm. More often than not back then, yeah, you were a real employee. But because of the competitive nature of the industry, there was an incredibly high turnover in in that type of field. And more often than not, yes, you would end up working at a team for a little while and then working at another team for a little while and then working at some other place a while after that. And it was just part of the culture to move around a lot like that. So Mhmm. I I was fortunate enough to work in places that were not good places to work and also fortunate enough to work in one of one of the top tier teams in the industry. And I was I was very fortunate because I had I had a I had a lot of reality checks and and come to Jesus moments, I guess, is how you’ll say it, but I also had some wild success in that business.

Jeff Johnson: So So what’s the what is the nature of that work when you are, what did you call it, a body hanger? Yes. When you do that, is that your your car goes out every weekend, gets beat up, and then you go refurbish it, or you’re making new ones all the time? Or how does that work?

Justin Baker (Boyd): All of that. Nine times out of 10, teams would operate anywhere from five to six cars all the way up to sometimes eighteen, nineteen cars a team. Oh, boy. Certain cars were built for certain tracks, so we would build them tailored to the environments that they were that they were going to. A new chassis was, of course, the nicest to work on because it wasn’t stressed or beat up or, you know, have a bunch of love or hate in it. Both of those can cut their own way. And a new a new car was nice. You could you could get a new chassis, and it would be set up for a specific racetrack. You would know where it was going, and you would know how to build it to best perform on that racetrack while still fit in the templates. Again, this was a long time ago, so we just had two dimensional templates that they would lay over the car to make sure that you were close enough to the shape they liked, and then they would send them off. Well, those cars, you could do in between five to nine days depending on how specific you you wanted to get. Speedway cars demanded a lot more attention than downforce cars. You know? Say, Daytona or Talladega, we’re a lot more concerned with fit and finish than we were, say, Bristol or Martinsville where we we knew that they were gonna get bounced around and knocked up, stuff like that.

Jeff Johnson: So And did you do all those kinds of cars?

Justin Baker (Boyd): All the time. Yeah.

Jeff Johnson: Is that my from a novice, I promise you, Boyd, we’re gonna get into the topic of courage, but this fascinates me.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Yeah. I’d love to talk about it.

Jeff Johnson: So from a novice perspective, I don’t know much about NASCAR, but my assumption is my paradigm is that that car body is so heavily regulated that there’s not a lot of art that you can put into it. I’ve I’ve gotta be mistaken in that. Right?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Well, sort of, but not really. And, what that nonanswer means is, we we learned pretty quick, where we had room to innovate is how I’ll say it and, where we didn’t. And the beauty about an industry like NASCAR is they were primarily concerned with the show. Again, that’s an entity that’s here to entertain, and they need entertainers. And the drivers and the cars and the teams are those entertainers. So more often than not, we were able to we were able to see that on certain weekends, they would be paying attention to this particular area of the car. So we would focus on other areas that they weren’t so attentive to. And as time went on, it was that game of cat and mouse. They were always wonder they were they were always the left hand wondering what the right hand was doing, and and that was that was our competitive advantage. A funny story about it is and I’m not gonna go into great detail because I want the people to remain non non incriminating or whatever. There there was a moment that, you know, very early in my career, I showed up at the racetrack, and they had a particular measurement for a for a hood. And, they had not been paying attention to to this measurement. And so

Jeff Johnson: And they is and they is NASCAR, the regulated NASCAR officials.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Correct.

Jeff Johnson: Okay.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Correct. So all of a sudden, they were paying attention to this measurement, and we knew that we had a car that they better not pay attention to at the racetrack. So a a scheme was devised to, take take the car cover and and throw it over the back of the car. And even in the garage area, every time you’d work on it, every time that you would do something, you would go underneath that car. Well, of course, this created a fury of curiosity between our fellow competitors and especially NASCAR. And when it come our time to roll through the tech line where you got your sticker saying you were legal, they crawled all over the back of that car just sure that we were trying to hide something by leaving the car cover on it. When you know it, they never looked at the front of that car at all.

Jeff Johnson: Just put a little flashy light or something like that or act like this is something you really don’t want them to see.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Hey, man. Sometimes, don’t get me wrong, like, I would get caught red handed, fingers in the cookie jar and all of that. And then really, like, you just gotta play on your relationships. You you go to the man that’s running that whole deal, and you look at him and you’re like, alright. What do you want me to do?

Jeff Johnson: No. I totally I he says. I totally get it. You know? It’s like the it’s like a little bit of a gentleman’s understanding. You know? Nobody’s supposed to use a sandpaper on your fingernail or Vaseline under the visor of your cap, but everybody’s scuffing that ball up somehow. You know?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Got it, man. I mean, we we never cheated, but there was a lot of things that we did to stay competitive.

Jeff Johnson: Right. Oh, that’s fantastic, Boyd. So what how long did you stay in that world then until you moved to what you’re doing now?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I was in NASCAR, professionally for probably about sixteen years. And, again, like, I had a I had a phenomenal run. That’s Man, that’s when I like a long time to me. It was it it felt like forever, Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: So What was the funnest part about it?

Justin Baker (Boyd): The funnest part about it for for me I mean, so much there’s so many things. The the diverse amount of personalities and characters that you meet in a business like that is something that a kid from a flyover state in the Midwest never had any concept or understanding of. So I met dudes from all walks of life, from all over the world. Mhmm. I had friends that come from Brazil and Venezuela both here to do this. I, of course, had a bunch of dudes, you know, from the Southeast and out West and even the Northeast also, and they were they were phenomenal to work with. So if the the people was probably the funnest part of it, but I can’t sit here and lie to you about being able to being able to to go to the racetrack and and see the product of all your hard work and effort actually compete on on the weekends. I, eventually, after I got comfortable enough to to not have to go to the racetrack, It was it was a beautiful thing to be able to sit at home and turn the TV on and and see the car that you built, that you put all of your time, energy, and effort into go around the track. And even sometimes every now and then cross the finish line in front of everybody else.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. So it was Did you were you able to have some success with some of your car bodies?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Absolutely. Absolutely. There was there was a particular day that will always stick out to me that, I woke up and a buddy of mine had had called me early, and his wife had gave him a pass. And I was the last single dude hold out of all of my friends, and he said, let’s let’s go ride motorcycles. And so he he met me up early, and we went all over the North Carolina Mountains that day. We rode for about seven or eight hours. We put in, you know, a few 100 miles. I don’t remember how far we went, but we were gone all day. We left about eight in the morning. We come home late in the afternoon. And as as we came into my apartment to kinda decompress and cool off a little bit, I, I got a couple of drinks out of the fridge and and handed him one, and we sat down and turned the TV on. And just as we did, we saw the car that he and I worked on past the finish line at Indianapolis Motor Speedway finished first place at at the Brickyard four hundred. Wow. And that was a good day, Jeff. I’m like, oh, I see you. That was a good day. Indianapolis, the Brickyard is one of the one of the pinnacle races in the industry. It’s it’s a milestone in anyone’s career to do good on that. And, I actually got a ring for that win, and that was one of my early little goals that I had set for myself way back when I was in tech school and wanted to try and break into the business. And it was just it was it was just a magnificent experience. Man, that’s cool.

Jeff Johnson: What’s the one last question about racing, and then we’re gonna get into the I’m gonna I think I’m just gonna jump in and ask you the question. But, last question about racing. What’s the relationship like with the driver and the crew and the car builders, the body hangers, the owners? Is everything compartmentalized, or is that one big team and one big family? My, again, my paradigm is is the drivers move in and out of vehicles, so they’re a little bit transient.

Justin Baker (Boyd): There’s That’s true. Definitely a I don’t wanna say a cast system necessarily, but it it is it is compartmentalized. That would be a good word for it. Shop guys are shop guys. Road guys are road guys being the people that travel on the road Mhmm. With from track to track with the same amount of groups. And those guys are pretty tight knit. Us guys in the shop are pretty tight knit.

Justin Baker (Boyd): And then, yeah, the driver has his circle of people that he tries to surround and insulate himself with. Not everybody’s necessarily closed off or anything like that. Believe me. Like, there was a lot of drivers that I seen around the shop that were, you know, just as down to earth and interactive as anyone else that could possibly be. There were there were one or two dudes that I built cars with that I never laid eyes on either, which was fine. I mean, it’s not anything that I would cast a negative light on. It was just the nature of the business and, again, the the difference in in personalities of of characters.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. That’s interesting. Boy, okay. Now I lied. One quick question before I jump into the big question. What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done? How do you define courage? You’ve already talked about a lot of different endeavors in your life that demand courage. So I’ve already got a feeling for what kind of cat you are. But how do you I’m curious. How do you define courage? What’s that mean to you?

Justin Baker (Boyd): For me, courage and and bravery, which is a sister Mhmm. To that to that type of distinction go hand in hand. And, I would I would say that courage is is having the the the motivation to know what needs to be done and setting it as a prerogative to to see that through by any means necessary. And, I mean, again, bravery is a huge part of that. Like, bravery for me is just the ability to perform even when scared to death. Mhmm. And so that’s how both of those things would would correlate with with what you’re asking and how we’re trying to, I don’t know, move through the world in our own walks nowadays when it especially when it comes to spirituality.

Jeff Johnson: Yeah. You’re saying courage is like a persistence in the face of challenges. A lot of determination. To keep going.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Yes. Abs absolutely. I mean, there’s there’s obstacles in diversity for all of us, and it’s always easy to use those things as an excuse to shy away from what you know to be true or necessary Mhmm. Or required of you. And, I think that I think that courage is is being able to defeat those things in your mind as you defeat those things in action.

Jeff Johnson: Mhmm. Very good. So that being said, what’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Buddy, I thought about this question a lot, leading into this, and, I could I could point to several different instances in my life, you know, being a mama’s boy and and a homebody, leaving Illinois for something that, you know, leaving everything that you knew and loved to an uncertain future in another state 600 miles away, that was that was that would probably fit that category. Man, the the thing that I landed on, however, leading up to this was raising my daughter and and doing it with conviction. I, when I met my wife, I don’t wanna say that I was in a bad place, but I absolutely was not living my potential is is just how I’ll frame it. I was subject to a lot of the world’s excuses, like I alluded to a little earlier. And there was just a lot of a lot of baggage that I was carrying around that I made excuses for that didn’t allow me to to grow into the person that God would wanted me to be. And, man, seeing that little girl and and just knowing not only what she was, but what she could become with with the right amount of leadership, with the right amount of guidance, most importantly, with the right amount of love is is really what pulled what made me let go of who I was and become who I was meant to be.

Jeff Johnson: That’s a beautiful answer. Thank you, man. That’s a very beautiful answer. You’re talking about turning away from selfish ways and focusing on somebody else as the most courageous thing you’ve ever done. Right?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, we all talk about, sacrifice and submission. And as a man in America, like, nobody likes those words, let alone the idea of them. And especially, I believe, when you’re immature or when you’re, you know, not quite as confident in yourself or as assured of the character that you are, you you want to put up an an ample amount of resistance to that type of thing. And and I was doing that at the time. And and then with her, it all it all changed. I finally understood what sacrifice was and why it was a virtue. A virtuous thing to do, I guess, is what I’ll say. And how truly being selfless I had thought that I was selfless before, but truly being self sacrificial in the name of a greater good was it it just hit me like a ton of bricks, man. Wow. There wasn’t any one particular thing that she did or said. It was just seeing her grow up from, you know, this little thing into this into this giant of a person and how she interacted with with the world and how how she would would deal with things and approach stuff in in a completely different way. And and that was that was when I knew that that I had a role to play and and that that role was for her. And I can’t tell you how proud of her I am, man. She’s she is my greatest achievement. I mean, leaving home for for the first time was a lot. You know, there was a little bit of military service in there. There was coming back from a terrible wreck on a bike, and there was a again, there’s a thousand things that I could talk to you about that orbit around perseverance and determination and all of that, but none of them none of them stack up to to raising that little girl.

Jeff Johnson: Now this is now this is needing some more investigation because this is really interesting. I’ve heard people talk about being sacrificial as a hallmark to of maturity. You know? We’re sacrificial. When we’re mature, we’re thinking more of others than we are of ourselves. You know, that’s a humility kind of a thing, you know, that sort of thing. But I’ve never had anybody attach that with sacrificial being courageous, but it absolutely is. But that seems to me, Boyd, like something that almost happened to you, almost I want you to talk about that. Was that a choice that you made, or was that something that you found yourself just automatically living a different life?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Or Everything is a choice that we make. And

Jeff Johnson: You saw her. She was born, and you went, I’m gonna be different now.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Let me let me clarify. Okay. So I she’s not my biological daughter. K. My wife had her when we met, and I actually met Gianna before I met Dina. Not before I saw her, but before before I’m I actually got to speak with Dina. And Gianna had a light and a presence about her that it put me back on my heels, man. And

Jeff Johnson: You met the daughter before you met the mama?

Justin Baker (Boyd): Correct.

Jeff Johnson: Okay. Correct. How old was she when you met her?

Justin Baker (Boyd): She was nine years old. Okay. She’s nine years old. We were, I had I had these hippie friends that, lived on the opposite side of the block to me, and they were enamored with my storytelling telling abilities, which I don’t know if, you know, that’s something to be enamored with or not. But, the lady laughed, and she said, I’m gonna have a party in June, and all my weirdo friends are coming, and you gotta come too. And I was like, alright. And I don’t know what that says about me, but I’m showing up for sure. Well, she was a, she was a female energy artist, quote, unquote, married to an industrial architect. So you wanna talk about contrast in a relationship, these two had it. Well, her her husband was the the guy that actually taught me the difference between having a bike and being a motorcyclist. So it was just they’re we’re we’re all still dear friends to this day. I love them to death. You know? Shout out to Scott and Alyssa, but they, they had this party, and it’s the funniest thing, man. I was, let’s not pull any punches. You’re too good a man to lie to, Jeff. I was in between jobs is how I’ll say it at the moment. Okay. Living living in a living in a no bedroom studio apartment, and, it was Sunday. And I I like God’s approach to the story of creation. Like, if I can’t do it in six, I ain’t gonna try in seven type of thing. Well, Sunday was Sunday was my day of rest, and lo and behold, this is the day of the party. And I’d sit there and argue with myself for a little bit like, you know, I I gotta go. Like, this is what grown up adults do. I’m gonna go do it. And so I mixed up some of the like, I put some turkey in some wraps with, you know, cream cheese and such and roll it up and cut them into little finger foods. I threw these things on a paper plate and put some tinfoil over them and all off I went. And I rolled up to this party in my Primer CRX and walked down the driveway, and I got about three quarters of the way there. And all of a sudden, I seen tables with covers on them and glass dishes covering entrees. And I was too far up the driveway to leave. Everybody had already seen me coming, so I thought that I would just make a joke about it. And, I got up, and everybody’s looking at the weirdo kid holding this paper plate as they’re eating off China and drinking out of crystal. And I was like, man, like, all this delicious professional catered food, and I show up with this trailer park sushi. And it was dead quiet except for this roaring obnoxious laugh. And I looked up, and there was the most beautiful, olive skinned, dark haired woman that I had ever seen in my life, and it was like the comet that killed the dinosaurs. That was Dina. That was my wife. And I was I I was my teeth were numb. She was so pretty. I had never laid eyes on any creature that that that put me in a position like this in my life. So by this time, the hostess had came, and she was showing me around and introducing me to everybody. And I went in I went in the house because, you know, I I I needed I needed to kinda get my bearings about me and, you know, get something to drink. I got something to drink and was headed toward the front door to go back out in the sun, and there was this gangly little nine year old girl that bounded up the steps and met me, you know, how they are at that age, head and hands too big for their body and all of that. And she just looked at me with, you know, such reckless abandon for safety and said, hi. I’m Gianna. And and, like, I I took a knee so I could look at her in the eye, and I was like, hey. I’m Boyd. And and that was how me and her met. And she she was she was something to behold right then even at nine years old. Just just just full of love and light and innocence. Kids are great, man. You know how they you know how they are. And and, yeah, then I end up finding out that, yeah, she belongs to this incredibly gorgeous woman in a sundress with a flower in her hair that laughed at my jokes. And I’m like, we gotta figure this out. Something’s happening here.

Jeff Johnson: So so yeah. That’s That that’s amazing that it that that that’s the catalyst for you and that that’s the thing that you would say is the most courageous thing that you that you’ve ever done is changing your focus from yourself to being of service and being, you know, in somebody else’s life in a real purposeful way. Boy, I just I very much admire that.

Justin Baker (Boyd): I appreciate that. I mean, without without going too too far down, you you know, the rabbit hole and getting incredibly personal about about it, you know, Dina was a single mom, and Gianna’s father was not in the picture Yeah. Anymore. And I I couldn’t I I just I don’t know. I couldn’t wrap my head around how somebody would, you know, not not be in that in that position for them. And, honestly, we all joke and tease one another about love at first sight and all that. And, dude, that’s where I was at with Dina. Like, I had never it was it’s pitiful. I was hopeless hopeless from You were good. Drug street. Bad. Yeah. And and you so you talk about whether or not it was a choice. There were there was a choice there that I could have made. Like, well, you know, I can just kinda be here and have this placeholder position and, you know, let this little girl grow up and be, you know, as mildly involved as I have to be or all that. Or I could actually look at at what the needs were there versus my own selfish kinda desires. And and I I chose to do what I believed was the right thing. And I feel like my life is more full and more rewarding and of higher quality because of it.

Jeff Johnson: Courage is a choice. Absolutely. I believe that. It’s not an inherent thing that you just that it’s a reaction to a situation or a circumstance or something like that. It’s a choice that you make.

Justin Baker (Boyd): 100%. 100%.

Jeff Johnson: How does your were you a Christian when you met your wife?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I I was one of those kids that was raised in church. I was dedicated when I was a newborn, and, we’ve probably all got our own opinions about that or whatnot. But, I was I was raised in a little country Baptist church. And, from as young as I can remember until I was about 17, if the doors of that church was unlocked, I was on the inside of them. And and so, yeah, I I I came to God when I was when I was eight years old. And, we’ve, like any relationship, probably had our ups and downs with one another along the way somewhere here or there. But, no, I’ve I’ve I’ve always I I was born again early, and, I’ve, how did the Baptist say it, backslid a couple of times here and there, I think, is the old country term for for our various stages of rebellion in life. But, no. Like, I’m I’m always finding my way back to the presence of the lord and continuing our walk. I think that there’s a majesty in creation and the mechanics of the universe that are undeniable that there is a higher power and that he has taken a vested interest in us. And, I’ve much to my own frustration every now and again, never been able to shy away from that. So yeah.

Jeff Johnson: So is faith so you you absolutely were a Christian when you met her. What Encourage is a choice. Is faith a necessary thing for people to have courage?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I believe that you have to be rooted in some sort of, an objective truth, I guess, is how I’ll say it, to, to live out the responsibility outside of your own selfish desires, if that makes any sense.

Jeff Johnson: I know that’s a lot of syllables there, but no. That makes sense.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Okay. I’d yeah. I I absolutely think that at at some point or another, if you are in active pursuit of a relationship with with Christ, that he will give you certain responsibilities along the way. And and, yeah, I think that that’s part of it. You gotta have some ideal, something that you’re focusing on that’s just not yourself. For sure.

Jeff Johnson: Driving you, that’s keeping you. Yeah. And then you can you can act courageously in relationship to what that thing is. That’s what I heard you say.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Buddy, he’ll snatch you by the collar quick. Like, there’s a difference between guilt and conviction, and you will get convicted if at some point or another whether you want to or not.

Jeff Johnson: I I I was talking to a guy today at my bible study at my house about he went down to El Salvador to do some ministry work down there, and we were talking about, fatherlessness. He ran into situations with fatherlessness down there that was just destroying their society. And, of course, we’ve talked about that a lot in The United States, how fatherlessness is a is a problem. I’m curious what you say about that because I’m already labeling you, Boyd, a wonderful father because you’re you’re making a decision to be courageous just meeting this sweet little nine year old. So what’s your what’s your impression of fatherlessness and the perils of that in our society now?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I’ll agree that it’s a problem. And, I’ll I don’t know. I’m pretty raw and probably not as politically correct as a lot of people that you’ve had on here. There’s not a lot of social grace that I can give you compared to most people. But, I I think that I think that as men and women, we all have our roles to play. And I’m not talking about, you know, feminism or equality or, you know, do bro masculinity or nothing like that. It’s just like it or not, there are certain things that women will always inherently be better at than than men. And I believe also on the other side of that that there are certain things that men will have a better chance of succeeding at than than some women. And, I think that when a man and a woman will partner up and embrace that reality and move toward it equally as a unit together, that not only their their family, but society will benefit as a whole. Mhmm. And, I I just I knew that I I knew right then that, like, I had a role to play, and that, again, this was this was God checking me, that I needed to absolutely, in this case, do what needed to be done. And and, again, like, I was hopelessly in love with with Dina at this point to to say no to anything. So Right. So yeah. That’s that’s kind of that’s kind of where I’m at with it. I mean, I I think about I think about the strong men in my life. And, buddy, like, I could expand on me and my father’s relationship, and and the gifts that he give me along the way. Mhmm. My dad was a good dad. He may not have I’d I had a conversation with a friend of mine one time, and we were talking about our dads. You know? And, again, we were in our twenties, and it was we were prosthetizing all of the good and the bad that come with being the sons of these two men that were the the moment of discussion. And as the discussion went on, I realized that I had probably had a better experience than he did. Mhmm. And in in that moment, in that in that discussion, I I realized something profound about about my dad, and it was that he may not have always made the right decision, but he always tried to make the best one. And and that revelation stuck with me for a long time, and it it made me aspire to be the man that he was to me, to someone else. Like, so that was that was part of part of that whole thing too. There were again, there were a thousand experiences that were a thousand facets of my life that kind of led to that to that point in time when we all got together. And, and, yeah, that’s just kind of what what led me to to make that decision.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. So your dad is somebody that you would obviously hold up as a courageous person in your life, somebody that’s

Justin Baker (Boyd): He’s a giant. Yeah. He’s a giant. I mean, again, like, we I think that we’ve all got differences with our fathers. You know? There’s my dad’s a simple guy. Doesn’t take a lot to make him happy. And, you know, there’s there was a little bit of strife in the beginning there. Like me, I needed something more to look at than a cornfield or some soybeans to to be content in my soul, and, you know, he couldn’t understand that. But, like, at the same time, yeah, like, the the my dad never wavered or questioned himself in anything that needed to be done with courage. And, you know, especially looking back on it now, it’s just some of the things being alone in your helmet when you’re a motorcyclist is a is a peculiar kind of kind of a state of consciousness. You know? All kinds of things come and go in between your ears when you’re, you know, in in this Zen rhythm with whatever good road that you’re on. And and, yeah, there’s a thousand things that I could say great about my dad nowadays, especially looking back then. And my godfather too. My godfather was such a huge, huge influence on me as a as a kid. You talk about you know, again, I’m, again, I’m a rambler, Jeff, but we’re talking about the roles that men and fathers play in our lives and the the impact that fatherlessness will have on someone. I was see, like, this is a revelation right now. Like, I had several men in a fatherly role in my life, and my godfather was one of them. And it was I was so fortunate to have such a thing because there were things that I could go to, of course, to him about that I couldn’t necessarily talk to my father about. And that’s that’s a whole another set of of wisdom and and love and and trust that that you could get from someone for someone else that that had your best interests in their heart too. So so, yeah, it’s a it’s an incredibly important thing for for any child, you know, boy or girl, to have a masculine role of of example to to reference.

Jeff Johnson: That’s a powerful. It’s a very powerful thing. And thank you for characterizing it just like that, Boyd. I think everybody that’s listened to this podcast right now can relate to what you’re talking about in one fashion or another. Your your daughter Mhmm. Does she have an appreciation for the decision that you made when you met her and when you married her mother? The one eighty that you did, the sacrificial thing that you did and stopping whatever it was that you were doing and focusing on her instead of yourself?

Justin Baker (Boyd): She’s in her early twenties right now, and, there there was absolutely some growing pains in those first couple years to go, she didn’t want me to be, you know, the replacement for her biological father. And, then she didn’t want me to come in between her and her mother. And, if if I would have known that we were going to to arrive at this point in the conversation, I would have I would have had it here so I could read it to you. But couple three years back, she she wrote me this letter on Father’s Day about just the amount of impact that I had had on her and just the amount of of growth and development in discipline and action and intent that that I had given her. And, of course, like, I was just trying to, you know, I was trying for I I was trying to do the best job without, you know, her ending up, I don’t know, addicted to drugs or living in a tent under an overpass or something. I didn’t realize that I was having such a such a heavy kind of kind of impact on her. I was hoping to. Don’t get me wrong. Like, I wasn’t, you know, floating through this thing blind. Again, I was doing all this with intent, but I didn’t realize that all the things that I was doing was was landing as hard as it was. And, you know, like, I’m not a crier. We’re Midwest rednecks. We’re not supposed to show emotion about anything or, you know, have any vulnerability. And there’s there’s only been a couple of times that, you know, like, I’ve not been able to hold back tears, and one of those one of those moments was was, yeah, when I read that letter. You know? The other one was seeing her graduate. The other one was Mary and my wife, man. Like, that was Yeah. We we’ve focused most on Gianna here, but Dina is the most Dina’s absolutely the most courageous person that I know. Like, I have seen that woman set her mind to something and accomplish more things than anyone should should be able to do in such a short amount of time. I mean, she was raised in church, and she come from a good family, and, you know, she had that nuclear mother father type of thing as well. But that girl’s that girl’s been down a hard road. You know, there was nothing handed to her. She was the oldest of three sisters, so there was more expectation set on her than there was in the other two. And and she’s she’s the most unique and special person that I’ve ever that I’ve ever encountered in my whole life, and the way that she just moves through the world is is something to behold. Her compassion, her empathy for others, and her her commitment to service. And and to see her do so much like, when I met her, she had her own business. And then, you know, due to whatever economic circumstance at the time, you know, when that didn’t work out, she she humbled herself enough to go back to her previous job, which she ended up growing and eventually managing for the owner that she was underneath with that. And, you know, even when most people just would’ve quit there, she dove in heavy to to being a licensed massage therapist and then being, you know, big into energy work and then being being she poured herself in into what talents other people asked her to do as far as, you know, singing and being just a lot of encouragement and and a light for for others to heal and grow themselves with their own issues. And she’s she’s the most amazing thing that I’ve ever seen in my life. And, you know, but most most all other people would have quit. Again, at any one of the obstacles or, you know, the distractions, were the were the excuses that they could have used to to just be like, oh, well, tough luck. This is where I’m at. This is how it’s gonna be. She’s never done that. Like, just over the past couple of years, I’ve I’ve watched her with with no formal training at all turn herself into a sound engineer. And now she’s got another business. She’s got another website. She’s got another list of clients that come and see her for their needs, and it’s just it’s magnificent. It’s it’s unbelievable.

Jeff Johnson: Sounds to me like you married the right woman, Boyd.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Dude, I mean, I’ve tried to keep it as as g rated as I can. My wife is a psycho badass. She is the most she is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. And it’s it’s it’s no wonder because there there’s there’s no other person that such a magnificent child could have come from. Like, how’s that how’s that saying go in that movie? Like, only Spartan women give birth to Spartan men. Like, she’s that’s her, man. That’s her.

Jeff Johnson: Dude, there’s that T shirt. Have you seen that T shirt that has the your wife, and it’s got the silhouette of the lady with the hair and the skirt and whatever, like, you’d see on a bathroom stall or something identifying a woman. And it says your wife over here, and then over here, it says my wife, and it’s got, like, this silhouette of somebody slinging a gun and slinking down the road. And you gotta get one of those t shirts, boy. I’m telling you. It sounds like it.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Dude, she’s born again hard. I’m telling you. Like

Jeff Johnson: You’re still making her trailer park sushi?

Justin Baker (Boyd): She’s still laughing at it. Whenever she wants it. Whenever she wants it. I’m look. I am man enough to tell everybody right now when when she sits down at night and she gives me that look, I jump right up in my seat beside her, and I sit in front of her, and I rub those feet. And I do it with enthusiasm and conviction. Like, this this is my form of worship to her, and I will I will bow to her for as long as she lets me from now on.

Jeff Johnson: Man, listen to what Boyd is talking about. Listen to what Boyd is talking about right now. Learn something from it. Oh my gosh.

Justin Baker (Boyd): She is my greatest honor.

Jeff Johnson: So this this, I don’t wanna say it surprises me, Boyd, because I didn’t know a whole lot about you before this interview. Just a couple of interactions on our bible study, which I’m enjoying a tremendous amount. But learning more about your background and all of that sort of thing. And you haven’t spoken into specifics, and you don’t think you need to, about the things that you turned away from to focus on, this new daughter of yours and certainly your wife. But the thing that is making an impression on me is that you’re very other focused, and that seems to be a very humble thing to me. And you’re talking about doing that in the context of that being a courageous thing, and I think that is so right on. And I think that’s a valuable thing for people to hear. Do you think do you think courage can be taught? Think you can pass that along to somebody? I mean, you had your father and your godfather, those people that inspired you, and you see them as courageous people. But do you think that you can teach that to somebody else?

Justin Baker (Boyd): I think there are certain things in life that that can be taught or can be instructed with with enough, persistence Mhmm. And repetition. But, man, there’s certain things that didn’t know. Like, that you you either got it or you don’t. And, I’m sitting here second guessing myself because I, I was I was one type of person before I went before I went in the military, and I was very much another when I come out. And, I’m not I wouldn’t ever say that that’s a bad thing, but, the military gave me the tools that I needed to be successful that on a level that I probably otherwise would not have had without that experience. And and so no. I think that I think it’s like that old story of of the stone carver, you know, where he gets this hunk of rock, and he gets commissioned to make this statue, and, you know, he does it. And the statue is the most beautiful thing, and they tell him how great it is when he’s done. And he’s like, no. It was always there. I just chipped away the rough edges. Mhmm. So I think that I think that we all have inside of us what we need to be the person that we’re supposed to be. Mhmm. And I think that in my case, god blessed me with the wherewithal to recognize my role in in his plan, my my own life, however you wanna say it. Yeah. And, I mean, dude, we can talk about we can talk about all of those things. Like, I’m not gonna pull any punches with you, man. I wasn’t I wasn’t, like you know, I didn’t have a needle hanging out of my arm or anything like that, but, there was there was a period in my life where I didn’t shy away from a challenge with with my consciousness or with my physical pleasure, I guess, is how I’ll say it. Mhmm.

Jeff Johnson: And, I get you.

Justin Baker (Boyd): I I did that long enough to, be able to recognize that I knew that’s not what I was intended to do, I guess, is how I’ll say it. And, yeah, I mean, when I was when I was given the opportunity to to put a halt to all that and actually step up and and do what what was needed to be done, I’m I’m just grateful that I had the presence of mind to to recognize it and and act upon it.

Jeff Johnson: Wow. I so admire that. Last last question. You’re the only Justin Baker that God made in all of human existence. You know, you’re the unique article and fearfully and wonderfully made as the Bible says. I’m curious. Why do you think God sent you here?

Justin Baker (Boyd): You’re talking about purpose now. And, for me, this is, like, this is gonna be one of them tough things that, you know, people are gonna struggle with all over the place. Because some of us were meant to maybe, you know, build the rocket or create the thing that furthers mankind and all of that. And some of us may just have a purpose of nothing else than to be in a certain place in a certain time and hold a door open for someone else. And, I think that you need I think that we as followers have to have a humility and a humbleness to recognize that truth. And for me, I think that God just put me here to be a creator and a curator of things that inspire people to do better tomorrow than what they were yesterday. Like, I’d I really do for me, purpose is to, you know, my purpose is to be a metalworker, and my purpose is to, you know, make old things new again. Like, I’m a I’m a restoration specialist more than I am anything, and I love giving things a a second chance after, you know, their their first chances come and gone. And, you know, it may not mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but that’s that’s just where I’m at. I mean, I had people do that for me, I guess. I’ll I’ll never forget the first time that I saw a car that shouldn’t exist that did exist and the way that it made me feel and the path that it put me on with my life. And, again, like, I know there’s probably a lot of people listen to this podcast like this dude seen a car, and that’s what set him in motion. From here. Yeah. That’s that’s really for real what happened. Like, to be able to create something from nothing and to inspire action that results in making the world a better place and leaving something more than what you found it. Yeah. That’s that’s my purpose. I think that that’s my that’s that’s the reason that I exist here.

Jeff Johnson: Boyd, I love this interview so much, and I love it so much more than I thought I was gonna love it. And I thought I was gonna love it. So, Justin Baker, NASCAR man, body hanger, hot rodder, amazing father, lover of a amazing woman, man of god, man of great courage. I’m a I’m a better man for spending this time here with you, and I can’t wait for us to talk again. Thank you for joining us today.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Jeff, it’s been a privilege and an honor to be with you here. And, dude, let’s do it again. I look forward to it.

Jeff Johnson: A 100%. Thank you, sir. Thank you. We’ll cut it right there, Boyd. Alright, dude. Golly.

Justin Baker (Boyd): You’re a deep well. There’s a lot I mean, I feel like it’s super cheesy there in a couple of spots. But, yeah, dude. Like, I I got a lot. And I am one of those guys that’ll talk on the phone while I’m going for a walk or whatever.

So, dude, if you ever wanna rap with a stranger about something off me, for real, for real, we got each other’s phone number. Give me a shout. I’m always around.

Jeff Johnson: I’ll do it. I’ll do it.

Justin Baker (Boyd): For real. Like, we can talk about seventies vinyl. We can talk about tires. I’m such a fucking tire nerd, man. Like, we can talk about we can talk about all kinds of shit.

Jeff Johnson: Oh, man. So That’s fantastic, Boyd. Okay. I’ll let you go have a good weekend. I’ll talk to you on Monday if I don’t talk to you beforehand, but, man, it’s good to get to know you.

Justin Baker (Boyd): Hell, yeah. I appreciate it, dude. I’ll see you when I see you. Alright. Thank you.

Jeff Johnson: Later, dude.

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