We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris James and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Back in 2015 I began producing an extreme sports film/doc series, called Mod Kids USA, which documented the lives of an elite class of youngsters who race mini off-road trucks called mod karts. It was so exciting to watch up close. I still call it the most BadAss sport “never-to-been seen” by the masses. Over the last 6 years, that film has turned into multiple films, now being released on Prime Video.

In 2017, UTVs started to encroach on short-course racing and began growing in popularity. They were more affordable and could be financed, so a new breed of racer was born. The kids in our documentaries would have to leave the mod kart class at 16 years old and upgrade either to a larger truck class, which costs close to a quarter of a million, or a UTV which didn’t perform as well.

In 2018, the idea of creating our own larger vehicle and making it electric for the future of racing made total sense; and Battle Approved Motors was born. Since then, as we team up with a number of Pro drivers and key brands in the industry, we have been developing our race model which should be ready by 2023 and crowdfunding what we believe to be the future of green racing on StartEngine. Battle Approved Motors has quickly become one of the top performing investment campaigns on the StartEngine platform. 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I come from a racing background. My dad raced Formula 2 and 3 back in the sixties. My younger brother and I used to race BMX professionally.

I mowed neighbors’ yards and washed their cars as a 10 year old kid, and always envisioned how much bigger things could be.

I developed three highly successful UK and US-based record labels. Had a Number 1 record in Japan as a recording artist and sold more than 4.7 million units independently.

Moving from the music business to the film industry made perfect sense to me, as I could still place music into films.

Incorporating all that skill-set and experience, I’m now working extensively on Battle Approved Motors. BAM is where Off-Road meets Electric. BAM is striving to become a key contributor and innovator in a future space that truly wants to make good decisions (where possible) for the best interests of our Planet.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?Anything outdoors for sure! To be honest I’m far too busy to take time off, but everyone needs some daily natural light.

I really like the WildHorse Pass Hotel and Casino, plus Phoenix Premium Outlets for family shopping.

As far as places to eat and drink, the choice in Phoenix is almost unlimited.

Travel wise; Sedona is worth a two-day trip if you haven’t been before and the Colorado River by Havasu is really cool.

History wise; I love the building of the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas. Those were amazing visions built by hard working Americans and only a 4 hour drive away.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I always like to shoutout my parents. They’ve supported my brother and I in all our passions since we were kids. If you have a true passion and are willing to work harder than you can ever imagine, the added support from family is something quite special.

No one sees the true grit and years that help define anyone’s success behind the scenes. If one does not have that support, a true entrepreneur will create that family.

Shoutout to all the race families we documented across the last 6 years, as I feel we truly learned what the future of Off-Road needs to be.

Website: https://battleapproved.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/battleapproved/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BattleApproved

Other: Learn more about investing in Battle Approved Motors https://www.startengine.com/bam

Image Credits
Battle Approved Motors

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