We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bryant Blakemore. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bryant below.

Bryant, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I have had a lifelong dream of being professionally involved in off road racing. A dream that stemmed from a sole passion for cars and the challenge of using a machine to explore nature as well as pushing the limits of human endurance.

I spent most of my life pursuing that dream in the best ways I knew how, learning, exploring, and directing my self towards that ultimate goal. I worked to create opportunities and place my self strategically in positions to take advantage of those opportunities
when they arose.

In 2015 I was finally able to realize this lifelong pursuit by starting an off road racing association and my own race team. I had a draw to develop opportunities for others to participate in this incredible sport locally to me in Texas. Understanding that there was opportunity here but not realizing the full scope of potential impact. While some forms of off road racing did already exist in Texas I was able to realize that more could be done and that competition breeds innovation. Growth and challenge is good for all players.

Once diving into setting up events and focusing on adequate venues I learned how even more impactful the sport could be in my home state and how much more diversified it could be.

Seeing the positive potential economic impacts for small rural Texas communities has pushed me to continue forward in developing all forms of outdoor recreation, not just with racing, across the state in ways that will benefit not only individual landowners but their towns and counties as well. It’s that potential that keeps ideas of progress at the forefront of my mind despite difficulties and setbacks related to developing programs from the ground up out of the dirt.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was introduced to off road racing through pictures shown to me by a family friend when I was about 7 years old. From that moment on I knew that it was a life goal to be involved in the sport and to race my own vehicle through the Baja desert. It would take almost 20 more years before the opportunities would arise to really dig into racing for my self and being heavily involved in building and promoting desert racing in Texas.

The fact that this was a singular lifelong interest of mine told me that I was working towards a worthy application of my time and talents. Children often have dreams of many directions for their lives but the one constant in mine was an involvement in off road motorsports. After attending a few events and seeing how things worked from the inside I knew I was on the right path and that desert racing was everything I imagined it would be. My interest was strong enough that I knew I wanted to not only compete in my own race truck but to provide opportunities for others to participate in the sport. In previous years I had worked to organize other types of motorsports events like diesel dyno days and drag racing events. I found that I enjoyed putting together events and that those events were successful from the participant and spectator viewpoint. Understanding how to organize and promote those events would come into play when I was finally able to step into the off road world.

Starting my own racing association and race team cemented the fact that I was in the right place and pursuing the correct path. Developing outdoor recreational opportunities through out Texas has shown to be a worthy and necessary task to the sustainability of rural Texas communities. I enjoy brainstorming new and creative way to introduce people from across the country to the wonders of Texas through motorized out door recreation as well as introducing landowners to potential business ventures they can utilize by opening up properties to recreation. Together these activities keep heritage and history alive, preserve natural landscapes across rural areas and inject much needed economic growth into these regions. In addition to that the small communities feel a great sense of pride when people from all walks of life are interested in respectfully visiting and learning about their area.

My time spent involved in the sport, not only organizing and promoting but racing and volunteering, has developed into other potential business opportunities such as team management, social media management, logistics coordination, etc. These skills have been put to use helping other teams with their own race programs and bringing new people in to try their hand at racing with a knowledgeable and safe foundation.

In mid 2022 I was diagnosed autistic which opened up even more opportunities to be of service to different communities. I immediately recognized that I had been building a platform that could potentially encourage others to pursue their passions and follow their dreams even if it is difficult. I have been able to utilize my racing as a charitable program to not only raise awareness on adult autism but to raise funding for programs such as the Burkhart Center for Autism Education and Research at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. At the 2023 Mint 400 off road race we raised nearly $12,000 for the Burkhart! I am shown that this part of my journey is worthwhile by having people regularly come up and chat with me about their experiences with neurodivergence in the lives of their loved ones or even their own life. Being able to tie this part of my life together with my passion for off road racing is purely icing on the cake.

I will always continue to grow and adapt in this space and work to provide the best service I can to customers who are looking to start racing, continue racing, host races, develop recreational activities, or who are just looking for ways to encourage and expand their own businesses.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social Media is an incredibly powerful tool in today’s business world. The amount of people you are able to reach in a very short and cost effective time is unmatched anywhere else. I feel that it is a critical part of growing any business and spreading your message as far and fast as possible.

I have attempted many methods of approach when it comes to social media and will admit that I am by no means an expert. I have found that the best use for me is to post honestly and as frequently as possible. I attempt to post as real time as I can and I post not only successes but failures. It is import to me to represent my self as realistic and approachable as possible as I do my best to represent the every day person following an extraordinary goal.

I have utilized tools for growth such as participating in giveaways, partnering with brands related to my niche, and regularly attempting different styles of posts. I have also found that being accessible through messaging and comments not only on my own posts but supporting the posts of others is also helpful for growth. People within your interest area will recognize seeing your “handle” as you participate in those online communities, if you are posting beneficial and encouraging words/information you will gain the trust of the public.

There are, of course, different methods for different folks but the keys for me are posting real content, posting as regularly as possible, and staying involved with the communities and my followers.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Reputation, in my opinion, is critical and something that I have consciously put effort into building and maintaining. It is the basis on which trustworthiness is built and the metric by which word of mouth spreads.

In the automotive world, specifically trucks, I realized the potential of online reputation. I started building that in college during the days of online forums before what we know now as social media. I participated in online community message boards and chats in the areas I had an interest in and understand the importance of being visible as well as providing quality information or thought provoking questions. I took the time to carefully craft my statements and worked hard to not negatively discourage or belittle the other forum members, even during a disagreement. Time spent on the forums resulted in the attention from parts manufacturers sending me products to install and review, developing that all important trustworthiness.

This build of online reputation expanded with the introduction of Facebook and Instagram where I always wanted to accurately represent my self and the projects I was working on. Growing my reputation here and participating in the online communities allowed me to grow my in person network, proving that I was the same in real life as my online persona. Sharing my adventures online opened up opportunities for real life activities such as my first trip to Baja to run race support for a guy who had somehow found me online. This was a chance to prove that I could put into action all the planning and discussions I had had online, once again building trustworthiness and adding fuel to the word of mouth spread.

Putting ideas into action built my reputation as a doer, showcasing them online served as a means to let others know that I was capable. It has always been important to me to be a person of action and not just words and ideas, especially actions that some people might feel are impossible to reach. After completing some of those things (ie: running successful desert races in Texas or completing over 1000 miles of racing in Baja in my own truck) I try to encourage others to attempt the things they have always been talking about and become doers themselves. If I can do it, so can you.

I feel that this has helped solidify my reputation as reliable, trustworthy, and capable of completing the tasks I set or brought to me by clients.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taquache_motorsports/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Taquache/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryant-blakemore-503423135
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaquacheMotorsports
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/TaquacheMotorsports/ https://www.facebook.com/Tejasoffroadracingassociation/