By Jason Mulroney
From turbocharged school buses to Rolls-Royces powered by Cummins diesels, Westen Champlin has built a digital empire by doing what most people only daydream about: taking wild automotive ideas and turning them into full-blown, tire-shredding reality. What started as a simple desire to make videos with his brother eventually grew into one of the most recognizable content channels in the automotive space.
Champlin and his team began by filming the work they were already doing—buying, selling, fixing and experimenting with vehicles—only to discover that audiences across the country and around the world couldn’t get enough of the chaos, creativity and humor woven into each build.
Named SEMA’s Content Creator of the Year at the 2025 SEMA Show, Champlin remains humbled by the recognition, noting how surreal it feels for a crew operating “in the middle of nowhere” to reach a global audience that values their unfiltered, hands-on approach to automotive entertainment.
Whether he’s dyno-testing outrageous builds, assembling a 200-acre off-road playground or exploring every corner of car culture—from drifting to drag racing to off-roading—Champlin continues to push boundaries while surrounding himself with a team he says makes the impossible possible.
SEMA Magazine: How did your Westen Champlin Channel come to be?
Westen Champlin: My brother told me I was going to be a YouTuber. And then, boom, here it was. No, actually my brother Garrett made YouTube videos for a long time, but then, obviously, he couldn’t make any money at YouTube. There was no way to make a living at it. So, he stopped, but it was his passion. I always wanted to do it, and one day we realized people were making YouTube videos about what we did—every day. When we started our business, we would buy trucks, sell trucks, fix things up—you know, do stuff like that. We ended up making YouTube videos about what we did every day. And then the videos got a little crazier and a little crazier and a little crazier. Next thing you know, we’re driving around Rolls-Royces with compound turbo diesels in them.
Outrageous builds and tire-shredding mayhem comprise Champlin's trademark formula.
SM: What does recognition as SEMA Content Creator of the Year mean to you?
WC: I’m a bad M*** F***. No. I’m joking. It’s kind of wild because it feels like we’re out here in the middle of nowhere making videos, having a good time. And it’s wild to think that people all the way across the country, let alone the world, see this and recognize it as we’re doing something great and awesome when we just think we’re doing something cool. But it’s wild to see other people appreciate it. I think that would be the best way to describe it.
SM: What are your thoughts on content creation marketing in the aftermarket space?
WC: It’s the best marketing you can do. I’m biased, obviously, but the people will buy what they trust, and what they trust is what they see. So, it’s more likely that if they see me use an eBay turbo kit, Valvoline or whatever I might use in a video, they’re like, that worked for him and they can see it with their own eyes. Us doing what we’re doing and it’s working and having a good result, then they’re going to trust it more. This means whenever they walk up to the shelf, there’s a hundred different options of everything you want to buy. Which one are you going to pick? The one you’ve never heard anything about or the one that you’ve seen on the internet actually working and doing what you want?
SM: What advice would you give a younger version of yourself trying to establish a presence or a content business?
WC: Determination. I’ve never ran into anything that if I haven’t messed with it long enough that I’ve eventually made it work. If I keep going long enough, I have made every single thing I’ve ever tried to make work, work, including YouTube, including content creation—everything. I guess the best thing I would say is keep going.
SM: That’s a good one. Your favorite platform is presumably YouTube. What are your thoughts on others?
WC: They all have their place. YouTube is good because it gives people the ability to watch content that’s very much like traditional television. You can sit down and watch a long-form video, but if you’re riding down the road, you’re probably not going to watch a full-length YouTube video. But you can scroll through and see a reel, photo or post—anything like that. They all have their place, and I think everyone’s got their own way of how they want to digest content—whether that be short- or long-form.
Champlin specializes in long-form content on YouTube bolstered by short-form content on other platforms.
SM: How do you partner with brands in the automotive aftermarket?
WC: Most of the time brands approach us, but it goes either way. Maybe we’re working on a special project, and we’ll approach a brand and say, hey, this is what we’re doing, would you like to come on board and help support it? And 90% of the time they’re like, yeah, that’s awesome. We’d love to. This is what we can do to help. And sometimes they’re like, well, no, it’s just not our thing. That’s totally fine too, but I think more than anything, it’s a give and take. Some companies, we approach them and explain what we can do for them. And then other places say, hey, this is what we would like to get out of you. What can you do?
An example is, we have this Rolls-Royce we’re building. It’s one of one; no one else has ever done it in the world. And we’re trying to take and piggyback an airlift system into it that, basically, shouldn’t work. We’re taking parts from a Rolls-Royce, and we’re trying to figure out how to make all those parts from a Rolls-Royce work without the Rolls-Royce Ride Control unit.
And then one of my guys in the shop said an airlift system would be awesome. We reached out to Airlift, told them what we’re doing, this is how we can showcase your product, and this is the kind of promotion that we can give you. Would you be willing to come on board and help us in this project? And they said they’d love to be involved and have seen the project we’re working on and we think it’s cool.
And in that instance, they come on board, sent us an entire Airlift system for that build, which then we built a custom plate in the trunk and did chrome plated lines and all the good stuff. Dual pumps, ride control unit, and it turned out nice because they got a great section in the YouTube video of us unboxing it and showing what it’s capable of when installing it. So, people go from seeing it in a box and then they see it working on the car as well.
SM: Any specific thoughts on best engagement, particularly towards a younger audience?
WC: It’s such a broad question. It’s hard to say because YouTube has good engagement. Obviously, the younger audience leans more towards the short-form content. Short-form is kind of like mashed potatoes. It’s nice, you would eat it, but you still want the steak—you know what I mean? You still want to have a nice juicy rib-eye next to it.
I would say, more than anything, that the younger audience is kind of on every spectrum of social media, whether it be YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts, Facebook reels, whatever it is. That is 100% where the younger audience is. You’re not going to see them on forums, Facebook pages or things like that. You’ll see them enjoying content and videos, but you won’t see them in more of a conversational set.
SM: You’re saying it’s good to have Instagram reels, Facebook reels, and other things to get them engaged with your content and then have that juicy steak, which is the YouTube videos, to give them something more…
WC: Yes, exactly. That’s exactly the best way to put it. Reels are like your welcome sign to the hotel. And then once you get inside, there’s the steak and everything else that they might want.
SM: What, if any, areas of the industry do you see trending or blowing up again?
WC: You know, the thing is...
