Richard Rawlings

“I went dead broke - twice! - trying to get Gas Monkey up and going. And when I say broke, I mean sleeping on my sister's couch and can't pay-the-rent type broke.”

“Vehicle donation programs have existed forever, but the typical model loses a lot. There had to be a place to store them, people who could only go out so far regionally to pick them up.”

“My goal in the beginning was to build a lifestyle brand around what I love to do, which is motorcycles and cars. That was our main goal from the very beginning.”

“Look, I'm still a goateed guy with a bunch of tattoos, but I've got a poodle and not a pit bull. I don't kick boxes and I don't scream at other people.”

“I want people to come to town and come by the shop and buy a T-shirt, then go by the bar-and-grill and have a hamburger or go hear some music. I want to be a destination - the destination.”

“So I think you want to keep a keen eye on things. Grab it and go. Sure, you check your financials, but don't be afraid to take a jump. Learn the trends.”

“I was a fireman very early on in my life and a police officer, so I'm very militaristic, clean.”

“My style is very hands-on. I own everything we do or the vast majority of everything we do. I don't do a lot of letting people just use my name like a lot of people in my position would do.”

“I used to watch some of the other motorcycle shows on television 10 or 15 years ago because I was a gearhead and I'd be depressed at the end because I can't afford a $200,000 motorcycle.”

“I used to have a five-year plan when I was younger. But that's changed. Technology is changing every day. So you have to live in the day. You have to see what the opportunities are, and go for them.”

“I've always wanted to build a '37 Lincoln Zephyr.”

“Realistically, my favorite thing really is going out and seeing the different problems that people have in different geographical areas. Not just from a standpoint of the area that they may be in or the city they may be in but the different kind of car culture or motorcycle culture there is.”

“We have a massive following and a loyal following. We've never bought a follower or any of that stuff that brands do, it's all organic.”

“That's been the secret to 'Gas Monkey': Move fast. I opened the first restaurant within a year and a half. Most people wait five years. I always move quickly, and in today's market, no matter what you're in, you can recover from a mistake faster than you can recover from not doing.”

“I wanted to have the no. 1 show on the Discovery channel. I went for it for a very long time, and I was knocking on every door in L.A. that would answer, and sleeping in front of Discovery's office, probably. It wasn't working, so I decided to regroup and take a break from knocking on doors.”

“You see the hair and the clothes, I look flamboyant. But I'm not the guy with the lake house and the boat. I don't own a home, or a plane. Really, all I want in life is beer in the fridge and a hot rod.”

“I kinda thrive on the chaos which is my life. I have a good time when I can, but work is what I enjoy the most.”

“Getting a TV show and getting on to Discovery was the main goal when I started the company in 2004.”

“I really like the variety and I like to do the bulk of our cars as cars that people can understand and relate to and afford.”

“We've stayed with the business and even though we have the arguments and disagreements that eight guys in a building trying to do a job would have, we try to keep that off the cameras because it's too much drama. Really what it is is we have eight guys who are having fun doing what they do.”