A home-built go-kart with a 140HP Kawasaki engine takes center stage as the hosts discuss its impressive speed and sketchy design. The NHRA countdown heats up with updates on top fuel and funny car standings, including Tony Stewart's surprising return to racing. The episode also dives into the recent end of the EV tax credit, with companies like Ford and Hyundai adapting their strategies to clear inventory. The conversation is light-hearted, filled with humor and anecdotes about racing, automotive culture, and the challenges of modern car ownership.
"...she is a huge fan of NHRA ever since we sponsored all of Don's cars back in the day and Don Prudhomme and she got so into it, man."
The NHRA is a big organization that runs drag racing events in the U.S. They make sure the races are safe and fun for everyone involved.
The NHRA, or National Hot Rod Association, is the largest sanctioning body for drag racing in the United States. It organizes events and championships for various classes of drag racing vehicles, promoting the sport and ensuring safety standards.
"...ever since we sponsored all of Don's cars back in the day and Don Prudhomme and she got so into it, man."
Don Prudhomme is a famous drag racer who has won many races and is well-known in the racing community for his skills and achievements.
Don Prudhomme is a legendary figure in drag racing, known for his successful career as a driver and team owner. He has won multiple championships and is recognized for his contributions to the sport.
"...the days that we look back on and we see the photos, um, of guys working on their top fuel dragster in their driveway or a pro stock guy who just came on an open trailer and, and you know, was the champion."
Top fuel dragsters are special racing cars that go super fast, often reaching speeds over 300 mph. They race in a straight line for a short distance, usually a quarter-mile, and are built to be incredibly powerful.
Top fuel dragsters are the fastest and most powerful class of drag racing vehicles, capable of reaching speeds over 330 mph in just a few seconds. They are powered by supercharged nitromethane engines and are known for their incredible acceleration and short race distances, typically a quarter-mile.
"...or a pro stock guy who just came on an open trailer and, and you know, was the champion."
Pro Stock is a type of drag racing where cars are based on regular cars you can buy, but they are modified to go much faster. They still have to look somewhat like the cars you see on the street, which makes the races interesting.
Pro Stock is a category in drag racing that features cars that are based on production models but heavily modified for racing. These vehicles are known for their high performance and are required to maintain a certain level of similarity to their street counterparts, which adds a unique aspect to the competition.
"Mine started with an F, but it was Fisker. Yeah, I'm right."
Fisker is a car company that makes electric cars. They focus on creating stylish and eco-friendly vehicles.
Fisker is an American automotive company known for producing electric vehicles and sustainable luxury cars. Founded by Henrik Fisker, the brand aims to create environmentally friendly vehicles with a focus on design and performance.
"Well, Ferrari doesn't have an EV and Fisker doesn't technically have an EV either."
EV means electric vehicle, which is a car that runs on electricity instead of gas. They are better for the environment and can save money on fuel.
EV stands for electric vehicle, which is a type of vehicle that is powered entirely or partially by electricity instead of traditional gasoline or diesel fuel. EVs are known for being more environmentally friendly and often have lower operating costs.
"Well, Ferrari doesn't have an EV and Fisker doesn't technically have an EV either."
Ferrari is a famous Italian car company that makes high-end sports cars. They are known for their fast cars and success in racing.
Ferrari is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer known for its high-performance vehicles and rich motorsport heritage. The brand is synonymous with speed, luxury, and exclusivity, producing iconic models like the Ferrari 488 and LaFerrari.
Term
$7,500 plug
"But yeah, the $7,500 plug."
The $7,500 plug is a tax credit you can get when you buy an electric car. It helps lower the price you pay for the car.
The $7,500 plug refers to the federal tax credit available for electric vehicles in the United States, which can reduce the overall purchase price of an EV by that amount. This incentive is designed to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles.
"The $7,500 EV tax credit ended yesterday. However, the car companies didn't want it to end because they still have a lot of inventory."
An EV tax credit helps you save money when you buy an electric car by lowering your tax bill. This makes it cheaper to own an electric vehicle.
The EV tax credit is a financial incentive provided by the government to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles. It reduces the amount of tax owed, making electric cars more affordable for consumers.
"...the time we bought Charlotte Fox Body Mustang convertible and we drove out to the dealership and it was black, had a gray interior."
The Ford Mustang is a famous sports car that many people love. The 'Fox Body' is a nickname for a specific version of the Mustang made in the 1980s and early 1990s, which has a unique look.
The Ford Mustang is a classic American muscle car known for its performance and iconic design. The 'Fox Body' refers to the specific generation of the Mustang produced from 1979 to 1993, characterized by its boxy shape and lightweight construction.
"...extending the $7,500 incentives through October. Again, these companies have to get these cars off of the lots."
Incentives are discounts or money offered to help sell cars. They make buying a car cheaper for you.
Incentives in the automotive context refer to financial discounts or rebates offered by manufacturers or dealers to encourage the purchase of vehicles. These can significantly lower the effective purchase price for consumers.
Electric cars run on electricity instead of gas. They are better for the environment and can save you money on fuel.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are powered entirely by electricity, using batteries instead of traditional internal combustion engines. They are known for being more environmentally friendly and often have lower operating costs compared to gasoline vehicles.
"They're EVs. They're EVs, yes. They're EVs and it's expensive."
EVs are cars that run on electricity instead of gas. They are better for the environment and can save you money on fuel.
EVs stands for electric vehicles, which are powered entirely by electricity instead of traditional gasoline or diesel fuel. They are becoming increasingly popular due to their lower emissions and potential cost savings on fuel.
This means that the truck is worth a lot less money now than when it was bought, which happens to many cars over time.
Losing half its value refers to the depreciation of a vehicle, which is common in the automotive market. Many vehicles, especially new ones, can lose a significant portion of their value within the first few years of ownership.
"...some guy was just talking about his story about a Porsche Taycan that he bought. And he's like, it's dropped in so much value..."
The Porsche Taycan is a high-end electric car made by Porsche. It's known for being fast and having a lot of modern features, but some people have noticed that its value can drop quickly after buying it.
The Porsche Taycan is an all-electric luxury sports sedan that combines high performance with advanced technology. It represents Porsche's entry into the electric vehicle market, offering impressive acceleration and handling characteristics.
"...for the all EV Chevrolet. And you know, that they had promised to launch 30 electric vehicles globally..."
Chevrolet is a well-known car brand in the United States that makes many types of vehicles, including electric cars.
Chevrolet is an American automobile brand known for producing a wide range of vehicles, including cars, trucks, and SUVs. It is a division of General Motors and has a significant presence in the electric vehicle market.
"...Just have a normal hybrid. And you probably do. Agreed, yeah. I agree. I 100% agree. Speaking of which, I still, I still dig those I-8s. The BMW I-8, I'm still looking at..."
The BMW i8 is a sporty car that uses both gasoline and electricity to drive. It looks futuristic and is known for being eco-friendly while still being fun to drive.
The BMW i8 is a plug-in hybrid sports car that features a unique design and advanced technology, combining a turbocharged engine with an electric motor for enhanced performance and efficiency.
"...he put a 140 horsepower Kawasaki ZX9R motor in the back. Now that thing's got to be like wicked fast..."
The Kawasaki ZX9R is a fast motorcycle that many people loved for its speed and how well it handles on the road. It was especially popular in the late '90s and early 2000s.
The Kawasaki ZX9R is a sport motorcycle known for its powerful engine and performance. It was popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, often praised for its speed and handling.
"But a buddy of mine was a big time kart racer. He did shifter karts. And I race shifter karts with Howie a couple times up in Middle California."
Shifter karts are special go-karts that let you change gears like a car. They go really fast and are often used in racing competitions.
Shifter karts are high-performance go-karts that feature a manual transmission, allowing drivers to shift gears while racing. They are known for their speed and agility, making them popular in competitive kart racing.
"...he built one in the shop, and so it's a motorcycle and it's got this aerodynamic little pod next to it. It's the sidecar, and you race it."
A sidecar is a small compartment that attaches to the side of a motorcycle. It lets another person ride along safely without needing their own motorcycle.
A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, allowing another person or cargo to be carried along with the motorcycle. It is commonly used in racing and recreational riding.
"... underneath. And there's like old flower pots for contours. Yeah."
The Ford Contour is a small car that Ford made in the late 1990s. It was designed to be fun to drive and was popular because it was affordable and stylish. People might talk about it because it represents a certain era of cars that many remember fondly.
The Ford Contour is a compact car that was produced by Ford from 1995 to 2000. It was known for its sporty design and handling, making it a popular choice among drivers looking for an affordable yet fun vehicle. Its significance lies in its role as a representative of the mid-90s American compact car market.
"If you wanted to race one, Aaron, you wanted to race one at Isle of Man, didn't you?"
The Isle of Man is a place where a very famous motorcycle race happens every year. It's known for being really exciting but also very dangerous because the race takes place on regular roads.
The Isle of Man is known for its famous motorcycle races, particularly the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy), which is one of the most prestigious and dangerous motorcycle races in the world. It features a challenging course that runs on public roads, attracting riders and fans from around the globe.
"...CUBA certified when I was a kid, we did it out of Catalina in Southern California. And I remember going out ..."
The Pontiac Catalina is a big car that Pontiac made for several decades, starting in the 1950s. It was known for being roomy and comfortable, making it a great choice for families. People might mention it because it represents a classic style of American cars from that time.
The Pontiac Catalina was a full-size car produced by Pontiac from 1950 to 1981, known for its spacious interior and classic American styling. It was popular during its time for offering a comfortable ride and was often seen as a symbol of American automotive culture. The Catalina is significant for its role in the evolution of Pontiac's lineup and its representation of mid-century American cars.
The Tesla Model 3 is a popular electric car that is known for being fast and having a lot of technology. Many people like it because it's environmentally friendly and has a modern design.
The Tesla Model 3 is an all-electric sedan known for its performance, safety, and technology features. It has become one of the best-selling electric vehicles worldwide.
Car
Honda That Honda
"Did you guys see the photos of that Honda Prelude that they're going to do in Super GT that Honda's taking?"
The Honda Prelude is a two-door car made by Honda that was known for being fun to drive and stylish. It was made for many years and has a following among car fans.
The Honda Prelude is a sporty coupe that was produced by Honda from 1978 to 2001. It is known for its sleek design and performance-oriented features, making it a popular choice among car enthusiasts.
"Go to Jalopnik. It's on Jalopnik right now. They're Super GT's GT500 class. Yeah, Honda prelude Super GT."
Super GT is a racing series in Japan where fast cars compete against each other. It's famous for having cool-looking cars and thrilling races.
Super GT is a popular sports car racing series in Japan, featuring high-performance vehicles that compete in various classes, including GT500. The series is known for its exciting races and diverse car models.
"OK. They're Super GT's GT500 class. Yeah, Honda prelude Super GT."
The Shelby GT500 is a super-fast version of the Ford Mustang, which is a popular American sports car. It's famous for being really powerful and is often talked about because it's one of the coolest cars you can drive if you love speed. People admire it for its racing history and how it looks.
The Shelby GT500 is a high-performance variant of the Ford Mustang, known for its powerful V8 engine and aggressive styling. It has a storied history in American muscle car culture and is often celebrated for its speed and performance on both the street and the racetrack. Discussions about the GT500 often revolve around its racing pedigree and iconic status.
"And it just reminds me of those old DTM cars, like the DTM Mercedes and stuff like that."
DTM stands for Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, which is a racing series in Germany. It includes cars that are modified from regular production models to race against each other.
DTM, or Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, is a touring car racing series based in Germany. It features modified versions of production cars and is known for its competitive racing and high-performance vehicles.
"And it just reminds me of those old DTM cars, like the DTM Mercedes and stuff like that."
Mercedes DTM cars are special racing cars made by Mercedes-Benz for a racing series in Germany. They are built to be very fast and competitive.
Mercedes DTM refers to the racing cars produced by Mercedes-Benz for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series. These cars are specially designed and modified for high performance on the racetrack.
In rear-wheel drive cars, the back wheels get the power from the engine. This can make the car handle better and feel sportier, especially when driving fast.
Rear-wheel drive (RWD) is a vehicle configuration where the engine's power is sent to the rear wheels. This setup often provides better handling and acceleration, especially in performance cars.
"And it's like, yeah, that's what I want the street car to be."
A manual transmission means you have to change gears yourself while driving, using a stick and a pedal. It can give you more control over how the car drives.
A manual transmission is a type of vehicle transmission that requires the driver to manually change gears using a clutch pedal and gear stick. This allows for more control over the vehicle's power and speed.
"I want all of that and that carbon fiber wide body with the big wing for $30,000."
Carbon fiber is a very strong and light material used in cars to make them faster and more efficient. It helps reduce the car's weight without sacrificing strength.
Carbon fiber is a lightweight and strong material often used in high-performance cars for body panels and components. It helps reduce weight while maintaining structural integrity, improving performance and efficiency.
Select text to request an explanation
If you're an HVAC technician and a call comes in, Granger knows that you need a partner that
helps you find the right product, fast and hassle-free.
And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's
no need to break a sweat.
With Granger's easy-to-use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have
everything humming right along.
Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com or just stop by.
Granger.
For the ones who get it done.
Every team, every topic, everywhere.
This is Belize.
I hope you guys heard it.
The record button has officially been pressed.
We are in business.
This is Shifton Steer.
Welcome to the party, pals.
And hey, we've got something special to talk about today.
That's right.
FunSpeed Streetwear is open for business.
You thought, Aaron, I saw it on your face, speedstreetwear.com.
You thought I was going to say, happy birthday to Matt DeAndrea, didn't you?
And I threw in a plug for my website.
Now, hey, Matt, happy birthday, pal.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I was going to wear my birthday suit, but since we're doing a video feed, you know,
I figured I should.
I am so glad you didn't.
I should put a shirt on.
Some of your pre-show jokes, Brad, I almost took my shirt off for him.
They're so good.
Aaron was going to rip off his shirt and run around the room.
How does it feel to be 57 years old, Matt?
How old am I?
57.
75, almost.
OK.
70.
It's 75.
I actually thought it was 65 because you were talking about how you're going
to get, you know, get all of your benefits now and everything like that.
Yeah.
My AARP benefits.
I don't want to talk about it.
I'm, you know, I'm getting closer to the days when I'll get benefits, but they keep
moving it.
You notice that as we get older, they keep ratcheting it up higher and higher.
And someday it'll be you can get your retirement benefits at 82, you know,
or something like that.
Yep.
So gentlemen, are you doing well today?
Is it starting to feel like fall up your way, Aaron?
Oh, yeah, it's raining this morning.
I've got fall mold allergies.
The yard is a mess covered in dead pine needles.
The squirrels are going absolutely bonkers because they're collecting.
And the bears are making regular visits to the trash can.
So yeah, feels like fall in Tahoe.
And it's cold.
Did you see speaking of the squirrels?
I don't know if you saw this, but some, some city workers were going to do
maintenance on like a light post that wasn't working.
And you know, the light post has that little access port down on the bottom,
right?
And the way we know about it, because that's where the homeless people
I was just going to say the homeless people take it off and get the electricity
and they, they, they power up their flat screen TVs and an intersection,
you know, and their coffee box.
So I don't know exactly where it was.
But I guess the light wasn't working and maybe had like a hole up on the top, right?
And when, when they took that plate off the bottom,
squirrels have been filling it up with nuts.
And it just, they played game with nuts came out really, you know, it was like,
I don't, it was just like thousands and thousands.
The whole light post was filled with nuts.
It just kept pouring out.
And I, if you're a squirrel, you're like, this is the best deal ever
because I get to store these things forever.
But like, how do you get to them?
Wow.
What a time to go down and get to them and come back up.
Like, what do you want to do?
It was like, there was so many in there.
They were just stored.
There's an access plate, right?
They got so could the squirrels, you know, the squirrels just waiting
around for the, for the, uh, for the city worker to unscrew the plate.
And then they're like, well, now we know why the light doesn't work.
It's exactly.
Um, but I like free storage, free storage.
It's like you said, though, you got to make sure that if you can put it in,
you can pull the stuff back out later on.
I risk free storage.
The, um, you talk about the, um, you know, the homeless people
that access those plates, I'll never forget one time, uh, I stopped
to get some, yeah, okay.
Aaron, chili fries at Tommy's, um, on Sunset in the freeway right there.
Heck yeah.
And I remember I parked in the lot and I looked over and it was near
the holidays and there was this dude, he had the whole sidewalk and he had
his tent there and he was right at the base of the pole.
He had extension cords coming out of it.
He had one of those little like three foot Christmas trees with lights on it.
He had a space heater and I'm like, going, this guy's living better
than I am because he was charging his Tesla.
Yeah, right.
We're selling charges to passersby, right?
Right, right, right.
I'll charge your Tesla, quick charge, quick charge.
Here you go.
You know, but it's crazy.
It's crazy.
A lot of them, um, what's happening is is they're, they're stripping
the wires out and selling the copper.
Oh, nice.
So if you're not using it for power, they're, they're stealing
the wires and, and selling those as well.
Well, that is not very nice for the guys who want to strip it
out and use it for power because, you know, they can't do that.
I don't know if this is an issue or for the, like anybody that's not in
California and you hear these stories, are they just the craziest stories ever?
What?
Here it's normal.
I, I know people elsewhere probably go, well, where do they live?
Is it Mad Max land or what?
You know, totally.
Yeah.
It's, that's where Aaron got that power cable right there.
He took it out of the light post outside.
You guys know what this is?
Look, it's USB-C to USB-C to a, to a plug, right?
This is my extension cable for my VR.
Because the battery life is so shitty on those things that you need a tether
that's 14 feet long to plug it in somewhere.
I know, I know.
It works really well.
I mean, I would not say that I was never, I think the, the times
will lapse now, but I remember in my very, very, very young years, my first
house that I ever had that I rented back in the days of cable, I might have
accidentally slipped and, you know, accidentally put my cable on.
My, my parents own the house next door to me.
And if you guys, back then it was just out by the curb.
It was this thing that was like a dome.
And it had one of those, those little things like they put on the back
of trucks to make sure they're sealed, you know, those little plastic things
with a, and they, you know, if they're clipped, they've been broken into, right?
And the, um, the cable company, basically all it was was a junction block.
And my cable for my house was sitting there.
All I had to do was open it up, screw it on.
And I had cable.
And, um, and everybody said, well, yeah, but what if they came along?
They'd see you were plugged in.
Then they'd know, I go, no, because my mom and dad paid for their cable.
And if they were having service or something I knew, like the day in
advance, I'd run out and I'd unscrew it.
I did that for like a couple of years when I was making, you know, like nothing.
And, uh, you know, just, um, I remember doing it.
So yes, I stole cable in my early years.
Stealing cable.
Yeah.
You had the, and then came the little black boxes and then satellite
with the little satellite receivers.
We had to update the little card all the time.
Yeah.
How do you, how can't we just point, uh, you know, one of those massive
eight foot dishes like people had, like, you know, and, uh, you know,
point one of those at a dish satellite and say, Hey, I'm, I still, I
still see those dishes on like Craigslist and stuff for like 800 bucks.
I'm selling the old dish for 800 bucks.
What are you going to use the dish for at 800 bucks?
Seriously?
The thing was the people, I knew a guy who had it and he's going like, yeah,
man, I get the East coast feed of Johnny Carson, you know, or whatever,
whatever, you know, whatever show started at life.
Yeah.
They get it three hours ahead, you know, because they, uh, got the download,
you know, before it aired and I'd be like, yeah, so, you know, it's
like people, right?
But hey, now everything is streaming.
So now people just steal your Netflix password.
So they can log in, your account, screw up all your preferences.
Yes.
I know, right?
And it's always some foreign country.
Have you noticed that?
It's like, you know, checklist Slovakia or something.
I don't know.
Checklist Slovakia, what did you say?
Checklist Slovakia.
I can't even say it.
Slovakia.
You're good, Brad.
Hey, it's like Charlotte, I says I say Vietnam wrong.
So she said, I used to say Vietnam.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, Vietnam.
No, because it's not.
And I go, okay, okay.
Uh, I still get busted for saying Dolophins once.
Dolophins?
I'm trying to remember what it was Charlotte could never say.
And I used to give her a hard time and then she finally, finally fixed it.
Um, hey, um, this leads right all this Tomos talk, all this.
Fuck of, um, stealing cable and like that leads right to Matt's birthday right
into the, um, that we're halfway through the NHRA countdown of drag racing.
I mean, what a transition.
It's just a natural, um, they have all those tents and they're, and
they're all running on, they've all got those little, uh, you know, uh,
generators out.
Yeah, it's same thing.
Um, and they're, and a lot of them are cooking outside on little grills.
You get it.
You know, I don't get it.
I don't get it.
There's a fine line between camping and, uh, LA unhoused as we call it now.
Just where you're doing.
Yeah, unhoused.
I love the names.
They come up.
Yeah, unhoused is just longer duration or they call, they call crooks.
Um, what's the new name for crooks?
Oh, seriously?
Oh yeah, they've got a, uh, you know, a refined name for that.
They're, uh,
Don't call me a crook anymore.
Yeah.
I can't call people, I can't call them hobos.
I don't know what's wrong with hobos, but you can't call them hobos.
Wasn't that an acronym?
I don't know.
I have no idea.
Uh, there's a lot of those that I don't know about.
And there was something that somebody said on TV the other day and I went,
you're not supposed to use that anymore.
And it was some sportscaster and Charlotte goes, why not?
And I told her why not?
And she goes, Oh yeah, they probably shouldn't use that.
And I said, yeah.
They fired like Kimmel.
Yeah.
Well, you look at a lot of words or slang or whatever, where it originated from.
And you're like, Oh, okay.
I didn't realize that.
Yeah.
Like, like cracker.
Yeah.
You know, but there's a lot of them that are very bad, you know, bad
pejoratives, you know, it's really interesting.
So now, now that we're at the hangar, uh, you can't say that.
I know.
I know that, that the owner, the owner there, he's, you know, he's, he's
old school military, kind of, you know, old school pilot.
And he is so much fun because, you know, in privacy, we can say just about
anything and I hear some great stories and the way they were meant to be.
Yeah.
They are a period.
Correct.
Period.
Correct.
There you go.
Period.
Correct.
They're not restored.
What's going on in drag racing?
Why does he smell like cigars and beer?
That's what my crap I smell like.
Um, okay.
So NHRA, the season, have you guys been following it at all?
Oh, no.
Well, I gotta, I gotta say my wife keeps me up to date on it because, uh, she
is a huge fan of NHRA ever since we sponsored all of Don's cars back in
the day and Don Prudhomme and she got so into it, man.
She would have the points down.
She'd go, he's got to get it.
He's got to get through two rounds to get there.
I'm like, how do you know that?
And she goes, well, don't you?
And I'm like, no, I don't put that.
You're like, no, that's why I have you.
In Top Fuel, the big news was that not only we spoke about last week
that Leah is coming back to Top Fuel, but Tony will again resume
his place in Top Fuel, but in a surprise move, he's going to drive
for Elite Motorsports, who just recently bought that team.
All they have to do is find a sponsor, which in today's world of racing
is a major thing, but Tony Stewart should be a little easier.
So Tony Stewart is going to be a team owner, but he's going to drive
for Elite Motorsports and compete against Leah and his own team.
Um, and I'm totally fine with that.
I love it.
I think it's a fun idea.
I, I, there they, so Tony Stewart racing got together with Elite
Motorsports to sort of share resources and stuff anyway.
And I think this is, uh, just sort of the first step in figuring
out what that part, partnership can be.
Cause if you think about it, they're just trying to make,
make it all competitive while keeping the costs down.
It still is a business.
You have to make money, but also it's like, you've seen this before,
uh, Brad, cause you used the sponsor.
Like the amount of sponsorship dollars required to get a team out
there is, is so much and you kind of have to cap that at some point.
There needs to be a reasonable amount.
Otherwise you won't get the sponsor.
So if you're starting to share resources and keep costs down, you
can keep drag racing competitive and entertaining.
Like it can't just, it can't have a hundred million dollar teams out
there.
Like it can't be F one money, you know, to do drag racing.
Like, well, it shouldn't be F one money.
It's been so hard for these teams to get sponsors that, and, uh,
I don't know if you saw it, you guys saw it in the news.
And I, I'm not even going to guess at which team, cause I
don't want to, um, be wrong, but there was a, a top fuel team
that last week said due to, they said it in a very nice way, but
very, pretty much their sponsor not paying their bill.
They're now left without a sponsor for the last part of the
season and they are looking for immediate sponsorship and they
put it on social media.
I mean, it was like just a post and I was like, wow, they
need money bad.
That sucks.
Cause you thought you had a sponsor.
Now you're coming into the last few races of the year.
And you don't have a sponsor all of a sudden.
So it's, it's crazy.
I mean, we've seen it, um, and as you said, Matt, it's got
to stay reasonable, but even reasonable has become millions
and millions of dollars to be competitive in top fuel or funny
car and million dollars easy in pro stock.
You know, which, uh, which I miss the fact and we talked
about this before, but the days that we look back on and we
see the photos, um, of guys working on their top fuel
dragster in their driveway or a pro stock guy who just came
on an open trailer and, and you know, was the champion.
It was, it was kind of cool because anybody could compete.
I mean, if somebody got a couple guys together, they could
literally do a top fuel team.
And I've talked to Harry Hibbler and Ed Pink and stuff
like that over the years about that.
And they were like, yeah, it wasn't, it was a, such a
fraction of the money that, you know, that nowadays I
remember when, um, Taylor Motorsports was right across
the alley from me here at this building and they did all
of the safety equipment for every major team and Don
Prado's guys would come by to pick up their new equipment
and they would leave their old equipment for, for a
couple guys that they were all friends with because they
couldn't afford all the new equipment.
And I'm talking like, um, motor parts, heads, you
know, all kinds of stuff.
And, uh, it was, uh, it was kind of cool how they
would kind of do the hand me downs to the, to the
smaller teams or the top alcohol teams and stuff
like that, you know, it's, uh,
I forgot who we were talking to years ago on the
podcast, we had, uh, some guests on, um, different
drag racers were on and, and we were saying, we were
saying, you know, maybe you can sort of revitalize
and get more people to show up if we went back to
old school ways of big smoky burnouts halfway down
the track and all that.
And they're like, yeah, we'd love to.
It's too expensive.
Like we can't afford to do it.
Clutches tires like the nitro.
It's like you do that.
It costs them thousands of dollars just to do it.
Like you just, you just can't do it.
Like, like you could back in the day, you know, well,
couldn't they use old tires and old, old parts, you
know, that they were doing it and then racing, you
know, like there, it wasn't just like an
exhibition, it was just like, they're going to do a
big burnout and then back it up and then race.
And now it's just like, nah, the math isn't
there.
Matt, you said something right there, a word that
used to be huge in drag racing.
When I was in high school and college, it was kind
of getting towards the end of it, but exhibition
match races.
Yeah, that was so cool.
I remember it, and that was how some of these
guys, these pros made money between the nationals
is they would stop at a local track and get
paid show money and it would be like, you know,
Don Perome versus, you know, so-and-so, you know,
Don Schumacher and...
Snake and Mongoose, come on.
Yeah, Snake and Mongoose.
And people would all come out just to see those
two cars go head to head and, you know, it was
neat, you know, it was pretty cool.
It's the same of like, you're, you know, you
do, you're doing seasons of Star Trek.
And then when, you know, the five months
you're not filming, you're at the conventions
doing the signings and the meet and greets.
And, you know, it's like, it's a bit of that.
It's like, yes, I got to go and do my job.
But then how do we, how do we make money
outside of it and engage with fans?
And like-
I totally understand that.
You know, it's like we do 12 months of shift
and steer every week, even on holidays.
And then we go to Vegas and one person
comes up and asks for our autograph or something.
And then I, and then Aaron says, that's five
bucks, man, I need to make some money somewhere.
Okay.
It's all worth it.
We should set up a card table out front
where people get there in the morning
and just said, meet the stars of shift and steer
and just be sitting there.
Just stay there.
They met what, what Brad misunderstood
about that transactional is that I gave that person
five bucks.
There you go.
Yeah.
I wonder what SEMA would do if we just set up
a rando table, like right at the front
where everybody's in line there
and just meet the stars of shift and steer.
We just sat there in the mornings.
Yeah.
Womp, womp, womp, womp, womp.
It'd be hilarious.
Oh, we could get that banner and put it up behind us,
the one we made of the three stages.
SEMA would feel sad for us and let it,
they probably would think, God,
these guys are on hard times.
They would wave their feet.
They would stand like 50 feet away
and tell fans, tell people go, just go over there
and say you recognize those guys
and have a nice day.
You know, just like.
Go up and go, go up and look at the guy
with the big beard and say,
wow, I've always wanted to meet you, Rutledge.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
All right, well.
Anyway, back to NHRA.
Back to NHRA.
Leading top fuel right now by 108 points
is Doug Coletta.
Now, if he wins the championship
after so many years of coming close,
I mean, I remember the year that Tony Schumacher
and Doug Coletta were in the running.
They come to Pomona and it was,
well, the only way Doug will not win
is if Tony Schumacher makes it to the finals
and wins in the finals,
but he has to do it by bubble.
And it was like, he did it.
And it was like, Doug was like, it was a shoe win.
What the heck?
And, but now in the last three years,
if he wins this year,
it'll be two championships in three years,
which would be great for him.
Cause he's been, and he's, you know,
he's such a loud mouth though.
That's the thing about Coletta, you know?
He's just always in the camera.
And now he's so quiet and so mild mannered,
but right below him,
we have in the running, Justin Ashley,
Tony Stewart, Clay Millican and Sean Langdon.
So anything can happen, as we know.
I mean, Tony Stewart was right up there.
And now he's kind of dropped down
because he had that penalty
and he didn't get to race one week.
So he lost all his points that week.
As we move into funny car,
it's looking pretty good for Austin Proc.
I mean, he's really gotta lead eight of the last 10 races.
I mean, that's pretty impressive,
but it already started in the finals.
So again, Hagan's only 79 points below him.
And Ron Capps, three-time champion that we know,
Ron could still pull it off.
He's only 94 points behind.
So we'll have to watch how these go
and keep watching NHRA.
And if we don't, we can always have Charlotte come on
and give us a-
We should.
I think Matt Hagan eats Ron Capps weight
and protein every day.
Yeah.
Hagan's getting jacked.
He got real skinny for a while.
You know, he lost a bunch of weight
and then he just bulked right back up and-
Yeah.
And he's like out on this farm
or whatever in the off season, he's just kind of-
He's got like a cattle farm or something.
Yeah.
He's like a full-on rancher out there
just lifting weights and hanging out with cows, I guess.
Wrestling cows sounds like-
I like hanging a lot.
He's a good guy.
Those guys, you know, a lot of them,
most of them are all good guys.
I mean, they're just, you know,
drag racers are like a big family, you know?
It really is because they're-
Very much so.
They're so much.
But, oh, I've got some bad news for you guys.
If you didn't buy your new EVs by last night,
you're screwed.
I blew it.
Yeah.
It was really disappointing.
I was gonna go down to Ferrari last night and I forgot
and I just forgot what the date was.
I got my date screwed up.
Well, I got my brands mixed up.
Mine started with an F, but it was Fisker.
Yeah, I'm right.
Well, Ferrari doesn't have an EV
and Fisker doesn't technically have an EV either.
Both of you guys were not in good shape.
That's why I was gonna go to Ferrari.
I was gonna say, oh, you don't?
Oh, well, then I'm out of here.
I tried three different maps and there was nothing.
But yeah, the $7,500 plug.
The what?
There's just an empty plug on a post just hanging there.
The $7,500 EV tax credit ended yesterday.
However, the car companies didn't want it to end
because they still have a lot of inventory.
In fact- I gotta say, this was pretty,
what you're about to say, this was kind of smart.
Right?
What?
Cause what I was gonna say was that Ford's made the statement
that they think that this will have their EV sales.
They think half their sales will go this tax credit.
But they are trying to fix it.
What they did was they and GM actually bought their EV
so that they could like claim to that tax credit
and then hand it off to someone if they went when they-
So basically they bought their inventory, right?
They bought their inventory early.
So they-
Sort of.
Sort of.
Let me elaborate on that a little bit.
Yeah.
Can you explain that, Matt?
What they did was when you buy an EV,
you get the tax credit, but when you lease an EV,
the leaseholder gets the tax credit.
And in which case like Ford Motor Credit or GM's credit.
So what they did was is they went to the dealers
and said, what inventory do you have on the lot?
Not cars that we're making, cars that are already out there.
Ford was going to pay the down payment
on all of those EVs and lease them
and they will take the tax credit
but pass that discount on to those cars that would be leased.
Wow.
I believe you have to lease the EV to get that discount.
I'm not sure how it applies if you're buying it
and because their tax credit would only be
for this calendar year,
this deal is only until the end of this year.
Because they can't carry it to next year.
So yes.
What is the risk?
Do they have 100,000 EVs around the country
and they're going to pay the $7,500 or the equivalent,
they're going to pay the down payment on those cars
and then their own internal credit unions or, you know.
This tells me that in late December,
if you go and get one off the lot,
you're probably going to get a pretty good deal.
So that's a good question.
So yeah.
But you have to lease it.
But you have to lease it.
You have to lease it.
You probably still have to lease it, right?
But yes, that last week of December,
you know, maybe there's slimmer pickings,
but from there, those-
You got to take the pink one with green pinstripes, but-
Yeah, but if it's 40% off sticker price,
because they-
You could pay to wrap it.
They just moved that car.
Could be interesting.
Could be interesting.
It's like the time we bought Charlotte
Fox Body Mustang convertible and we drove out
to the dealership and it was black, had a gray interior.
It was exactly the color she wanted.
And I kept telling the guy,
yeah, I don't know, maybe we don't want it.
And he's like, why?
I go, I go, it's got pink pinstripes.
What the hell do I want?
Pink pin-
We can buff those off.
And I said, all right, right.
You know, and I kept making such,
and as we were pulling out,
Charlotte goes, I like the pink pinstripes.
It's my cargo.
I know, but am I going to tell them that?
You know?
You know, it's like.
Yeah, always trying to find-
Oh, and then go with it.
Yeah.
Go with it, yeah.
We really wanted a cool gray.
This is more-
Charlotte walked into the dealer and she saw the stripe.
She's like, ah, it hurts my eyes.
No!
Brad's like, what are you doing?
I need to pay less, quick.
Hurry, sign this paper.
The other company that is doing something is Hyundai.
Hyundai, they're on their iconic five,
which I don't know about you guys,
but I see those everywhere.
They must be selling a lot.
Yeah, they're pretty cool.
Every time I see a weird car, I'm like, oh, that's so,
oh yeah, it's a-
It's not a bad car.
It's got a lot of weird angles and stuff,
but it's not bad.
But they, they're dropping prices like $10,000,
and extending the $7,500 incentives through October.
Again, these companies have to get these cars off of the lots.
I mean,
and they said right now,
that's a big chunk of change on a car
that right now costs between $44,075 and $55,000.
I actually did not realize
that those cars were that much.
Yeah.
But it's electric.
They're EVs.
They're EVs, yes.
They're EVs and it's expensive.
You mentioned Ford, you mentioned Jim Farley,
and he's just been all over the news.
Kind of sometimes saying some weird things,
but he said, we're past the $70,000 EV truck
with a $30,000 battery.
He's like, there's no business model around that.
Meanwhile, my truck's losing half its value
and I can't give that thing away if I wanted to.
Yeah, that sucks.
It's crazy.
But in 30 years, we've been selling recently.
Somebody else bought,
some guy was just talking about his story
about a Porsche Taycan that he bought.
And he's like, it's dropped in so much value.
He's like, it's basically worthless.
He's like, I guess he could keep it,
or I don't know if he'd keep paying on it,
but he's like, the way those things have tanked.
And that Mercedes EVs, they have tanked.
It's just, now with the tax credits going away
and some of these loopholes all going away
between now and the end of the year,
potentially used EVs might go up in value
because the new ones don't have deals anymore.
Yeah.
Well, I'd still consider, consider a used Taycan,
you know, Sport Turismo.
They're cheap.
Yeah, yeah, they're cheap like 45 brand cheap.
Yeah, but if you're getting a $100,000 Porsche EV
for 45 grand and it's got hardly any miles,
whatever it is, 50,000, 40,000 miles,
like it's probably not bad.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, it's every company,
because Mary Barra at GM,
she basically declared that they're not going
for the all EV Chevrolet.
And you know, that they had promised
to launch 30 electric vehicles globally
within the next few years.
And that's off the table.
They're not going to build their big battery plant.
And I think they're, we're seeing a lot of this,
it's the swaying of the government.
You know, I mean.
That's the thing is they're not being forced into it.
Yeah.
The interesting part of the story was
the past several years, the last administration's like
EV, EV, EV.
They were forcing them to do it.
Toyota was like, nah, I don't want to do that.
Toyota was like, hybrid is the way to go.
Yeah.
EV.
And they stayed in their lane.
They didn't, they didn't,
and now they're the number one car company, right?
Or whatever they're doing right now,
they're massive sales.
They're like, hybrid is the way to go.
We're saying hybrid, we're good at it.
We can make it more efficient
and no issues with the plug-in.
And they, they're coming out on top.
Hybrid, hybrid's the way to go.
Hybrid's the way to go.
And they're way ahead of everybody else.
Like Ford saying hybrid now and somebody saying,
so many covers are going, hybrid's the way to go.
By the way, plug-in hybrids where you get like
10 miles of range or 30 miles of range.
Nobody's plugging them in.
Like someone was pulling the date on it.
Like nobody's plugging in the plug-in hybrid.
So that's not the way to go.
Just have a normal hybrid.
And you probably do.
Agreed, yeah.
I agree.
I 100% agree.
Speaking of which, I still, I still dig those I-8s.
The BMW I-8, I'm still looking at,
they really have a depreciated pass like where they are,
you know?
But I know they're troublesome
and they're only, what, a three cylinder,
but they're cool.
I was just saying, I just saw an article,
might have been on Jalopnik
or AutoWeek or something like that.
Yeah.
And it said, the car that looks so fun
until you drive it.
That's what everybody said.
They're like, you will not enjoy driving that car.
And then another thing is,
is didn't we report that AutoWeek was shutting down
its website and it's still up?
I don't understand what happened there.
And they're still reporting.
You're gonna take it down.
No, I don't know.
Mark Vaughn who, you know,
was an editor there forever.
He's been there.
He's still working for him.
He just dropped a story on the art center,
you know, show they had last weekend.
I, it's weird.
It's weird.
Maybe it's a phase out.
Fake news, fake news, fake news.
You want to take a quick break before we forget?
Yeah, let's take a quick break
and Matt, well, we're gonna have some virtual cake
with you, okay?
Sweet.
Matt, let's take a quick break.
And when we come back,
we'll talk about a 120 mile an hour ride of your life.
Okay.
Need parts fast?
O'Reilly auto parts as fast.
Need them now?
We've got now.
No matter what you need,
we have thousands of professional parts people
doing their part to make sure you have it.
We're O'Reilly fast.
Just one part that makes O'Reilly stand apart.
The professional parts people.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, O'Reilly auto parts.
If you're an HVAC technician and a call comes in,
Granger knows that you need a partner
that helps you find the right product,
fast and hassle free.
And you know that when the first problem of the day
is a clanking blower motor,
there's no need to break a sweat.
With Granger's easy to use website and product details,
you're confident you'll soon have everything
humming right along.
Call 1-800-GRANGER, click Granger.com
or just stop by.
Click Granger for the ones who get it done.
Are we back?
Are we back on?
I mean, I'm back.
I think so.
All the lights came back on.
Oh man.
Matt, I was amazed how fast
and how efficiently you blew all 57 of your candles up.
That was awesome.
I thought it was 75.
I thought it was 75.
Someone can't do math.
I'm going to send you a gift certificate
from BonspeedStreetWare.com so you can get outfitted, OK?
Hey, Brad, you have some cake on your nose.
I do?
No, that's a sticker.
It says BonspeedStreetWare.com.
Which also are available at BonspeedStreetWare.com.
Yes, exactly.
I mean, guys, I see you going there.
We got lots of traffic.
Now I need you to hit that play button, the one that says
Purchase.
It's so frustrating whenever you do drop something new
like that, everybody goes to check it out
and there's that lag time.
And what's weird is I had a friend of mine
purchase the very first item on there just
to make sure everything went right.
And I go complete the whole purchase
and I'll pay you back for the shirt.
And then I called another friend, told him the same thing.
Then I called like 200 people.
They all fell for it, man.
It was great.
No, speaking of which, guys, buy something.
I'll pay you back, OK?
And he did it to see how it was delivered
and the efficiency and everything like that.
Then the very first sale we had, it was the weirdest thing,
the same exact shirt sold.
And it was like the next day.
And I looked and I go, did that come through twice?
Is that a bug?
And then I like, oh no, that one's going to Wisconsin.
Wow, that's cool.
But it is very strange when you drop a site like that.
And now we've got our first ads that we did.
And have you guys advertised on Meta?
I know you have, right, Matt?
Yeah.
Why do they make it so difficult?
And the stuff changes.
From the last time I ran an ad to this time,
all the buttons are different and all of the,
and it's just, it's very, very difficult.
And I just remember, do it from your computer,
not from your phone.
So you don't have to use the app and pay the Apple
Commission.
30% percent.
Wow, that's crazy.
So if you spend $100 to advertise,
30 of it comes right off the top and goes to Apple.
Wow, interesting.
Now you got to do it from your desktop
and schedule everything there.
And I got to be honest, I thought I was pretty smart.
And I thought boosting was the same as an ad.
And it's not.
It's a huge difference, huge difference.
And I've spent lots of money boosting posts.
And now I think, oh man, that was dumb.
You know what, design, I actually really like your spread.
It's the one, it's a real thin sliver with the guy
with the flag.
Oh, the flag man, the vintage flag man.
Yeah, I think that's a cool idea.
Thank you.
Just that little sliver along the side.
I was wondering if anybody would like that one.
But you know, you throw them out there and you see and.
I'm that guy.
You're that guy.
You're that guy.
You know.
Yeah, that guy.
So as we went away to the ad, OK.
So I saw this ad on social media.
I think it was on Jalopnik or something like that.
But it was a kid, a high school kid,
who put his go-kart up for sale.
And they were talking about this ad and it's a shifter
cart frame that this kid adapted.
He lengthened it and he put a 140 horsepower Kawasaki ZX9R
motor in the back.
Now that thing's got to be like wicked fast.
And it's got to, it's got to like burn rubber from the,
because those things have a lot of torque.
Those bikes do.
And he said he had the digital cluster on the steering wheel.
And as part of it, it said, number one,
when he lengthened it, he says, and the welds are OK.
That doesn't give me a lot of, the welds are OK.
But it said that he had it up to 120,
but then he backed off because it was so low to the ground
and his neighbors were complaining that he kept
running up and down the street.
I'm like 120 in a go-kart up and down your street, man.
You know, that's like.
Did he wear a helmet?
That's all I want to know is, do you wear a helmet?
Come on.
What are you thinking?
He wasn't on a track.
Why would he wear a helmet?
Oh, to be young and beep.
I remember buddy of mine.
Packed in there.
Oh, you're looking at it now?
OK.
I got to find it too.
I got to find it.
I had a buddy when we were growing up.
He had a, you know, a regular go-kart with,
you know, what a Briggs and Stratton motor on it.
You know, you pull and everything.
And we had more fun on that.
And then his dad had a Cessna.
And his dad got all new wheels and tires for his Cessna plane.
And for some reason had four of them.
And we put the Cessna wheels and tires on that go-kart.
And what a ride that thing was, man.
It was like, it raised it up.
It made it kind of squishy.
And we had so much fun on that thing.
Never rolled it, though.
Never rolled it.
Never rolled it.
I can't find it.
I'll just text it to you.
All right.
Thank you.
But so would you go 120 in a homemade go-kart, you guys?
I just looked at it, so no.
I just looked at it, so no.
It looks pretty sketchy, doesn't it?
Yeah, that's a hard pass for me.
I might if I didn't have the speedo hooked up yet.
So or the, you know, so I didn't know how fast I was
going, I might.
But a buddy of mine was a big time kart racer.
He he did shifter karts.
And I race shifter karts with Howie a couple times up
in Middle California.
Santa Rosa, I think, is where we used to go.
Oh, yeah.
But this one friend of mine who was a big time kart racer
and did lay down karts, which are totally nuts,
he let me take that out for a spin once.
And it just freaked me out.
Because you're laying down, your head's propped up,
just so you can kind of see.
And it's scary.
And his kart did like 120, you know?
And I was like, and you like this, huh?
And he goes, oh, yeah, man.
You know, I'm like, OK.
They'd race.
He'd go down to Daytona and they'd
race them on the super speedway and stuff like that.
Oh, Matt, name the kart.
What'd you name it, Matt?
I named it.
Yeah, it was in brackets.
It's a death trap.
Death trap.
Have you guys seen the motorcycle racing, the sidecar,
like the side hack?
Right.
Oh, yeah.
Those guys are on-road or off-road?
On-road.
So Leno's longtime guy, Bernard, he races those things.
Yeah, he's really good, too.
He built one in the shop, and so it's a motorcycle
and it's got this aerodynamic little pod next to it.
It's the sidecar, and you race it.
And that guy who's in the sidecar, they call him the monkey.
And the monkey has to shift his weight around.
And Bernard is fast.
Yeah, he's good.
He's like Laguna Seca and stuff of that thing.
I saw him building it, building one of them
at Jay's Garage years ago, maybe 12, 13 years ago.
And I think they wrecked one, which is scary in its own thing.
He's always working on it.
As soon as you go in the shop, it's
right on the left by the kitchen.
Yeah, he races that thing.
And Jay being as great as Jay is, Jay's like, yeah,
we've got the space.
We've got the tools.
We've got the resources.
Like, have at it, brother.
It's beautiful.
I mean, the body was off it when I was there last.
And the kind of thing is just gorgeous across each bit.
Yeah, because it's Bernard, and it's in Jay Leno's garage.
It's like all the resources you have a paint booth
and the best mechanics and 3D printing and water jet.
And you have unlimited resources, anything you can imagine.
And then I came across a world.
Exactly.
Case in point, he got me really interested in him.
And I started looking around and searching all the trades.
And I'm like, there's none of them out that look like that.
Yeah, there's none of them out that look like that.
You take off the body, and you look underneath.
And there's like old flower pots for contours.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right?
Right.
Right.
They definitely don't look like Bernard's.
If you wanted to race one, Aaron,
you wanted to race one at Isle of Man, didn't you?
Isle of Man.
My friend just got back, or he got back from this year's
Isle of Man.
You know what the deal breaker was for me?
For having that on my bucket list?
What?
The ferry ride.
Really?
Yeah.
He said on the way, I think he said on the way there,
it was OK.
It was a little tricky.
You had the time riding your bike on the ramp,
because it goes up and down like three feet or more.
But he said on the, I think he said on the way back,
they hit some rough water.
He said, which is very likely.
And he goes, he's got some pretty good sea legs.
And he's like, yeah, it was tough.
He goes, I was about one of maybe a dozen people
on the entire ship that were able to keep it together.
Everybody else was seasick.
And I'm like, that's a deal breaker for me, man.
Come on.
I got like you charter a helicopter.
Yeah, right.
I don't have that option.
When I got SCUBA certified when I was a kid,
we did it out of Catalina in Southern California.
And I remember going out to Catalina,
and it was a rough day.
And yeah, I didn't want to.
I was OK, but I don't want to experience that again.
That was horrible.
There was actually like pools of fun
riding her out on the deck.
I was, oh, god.
I took my nieces to Catalina on the clipper
and out of Newport.
And one of them was getting sick.
And I hustled her to the top deck by the rail.
And I said, just sit here and let the spray come up.
Just kind of get over and let the spray come up.
And then I started getting, I'm going, move over.
I want to get over.
You know, and it's funny, too, because I had someone tell me
once, well, vomit doesn't slosh around.
It's like it doesn't mix with seawater on the deck.
Yeah, it does.
Trust me.
When it's rough, you got seawater and vomit,
and it's moving around on the deck.
But I keep thinking now, it's like you can go on your phone
and you can activate the dots.
It's like, who's that going to help?
Do I just stare at the dots on my phone
the whole time and not get sick?
I never even heard of that.
What is supposed to take your equilibrium?
Yeah, I think in accessibility that there's a motion sickness.
Wow, I never knew that.
You can add, and it brings up all these dots on your screen.
And so if you're on your phone or device in a car or somewhere
and you don't want to get motion sickness,
you can activate that.
I've never used it, but I was reminded of it.
I'm going to use it next time on the back of an Uber
because it's on the back of an Uber.
An electric Uber.
Yeah, like in the Model 3, we're so bumpy.
Like the Tesla, it's terrible.
So yeah, I've got that.
I've got that.
Did you guys see the photos of that Honda prelude
that they're going to do in Super GT that Honda's taking?
I didn't see that.
That thing is wicked looking, isn't it?
This is like a little hip art?
Or is that a built car?
I have no idea.
These days, if it's AI or not.
Yeah, I know.
You don't know anymore.
I would say it's probably real.
And here's the reason why I say that.
If you look at the carbon fiber fender wells underneath,
they're unfinished.
And I think AI would have finished them.
Maybe.
You know, I mean, it wouldn't have left it just gel
coat underneath there.
I mean, I'm looking at the picture with the lighting
on the hood.
I was like, this could bend for some motorsport
for all I know.
It's going to be like that.
But anyway, cool.
It looks cool as shit.
Like, it's so cool.
Why can't I find that either?
Man, I'm just lagging on finding stuff.
Go to Jalopnik.
It's on Jalopnik right now.
OK.
They're Super GT's GT500 class.
Yeah, Honda prelude Super GT.
Yeah, it's really cool.
It's very, very cool looking.
And it just reminds me of those old DTM cars,
like the DTM Mercedes and stuff like that,
because it's that type of a wheel housing widebody.
You know, the.
I must have yesterday's feed.
You have yesterday's news.
I got yesterday's news.
Some things are all of my time code.
Oh, there's that go-kart.
Yeah, that thing is sketchy, man.
God.
And it's horribly, it's terribly disproportionate.
It's just ugly.
And it's just motor.
It's just motor and a chassis.
I bet you anything too low to the ground
means the whole center flexes and hits the ground
when you're driving it.
Yeah, I can't find it.
All right, I'll look at it.
I texted it to you.
But the issue with the Honda prelude race car
is it's a 650 horsepower, two-liter rear wheel drive
manual transmission.
And it's like, yeah, that's what I want the street car
to be.
Exactly.
You know, instead of like a little hybrid front wheel
drive, it's like, I want the rear wheel drive.
I want all of that and that carbon fiber wide body
with the big wing for $30,000.
Yeah.
Oh, the kit.
You want the kit for $30,000.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I got it.
We've been talking about companies
that are failing, going out of business, filing chapter 11.
We get those every once in a while.
But one that might affect you possibly
if you happen to buy an oil filter or, gosh,
a windshield wiper blade or a million other things.
Matt, what was the info you had on that?
So it's called First Brands Group.
And what you may not know it is all of these like OE Fitment
aftermarket parts that you get at an auto parts store.
So many of them come from a single company.
And the company filed for bankruptcy, so much debt.
They're doing a chapter 11 bankruptcy.
But anything like you said, Fram, centric parts,
Raybestos, windshield wipers like Anco, Michelin, Trico,
spark plugs, I think auto light spark plugs.
Yeah, auto light.
All of these things that you see in your auto parts store,
that company is in trouble.
Now, they're trying to eliminate debt and survive
and still offer those parts.
So the way to make that happen is they
got to burn bridges with a lot of suppliers
and a lot of stores.
And that's going to take its toll on the company overall.
I think you're going to have a much smaller overall company
if they manage to survive.
And it's a lot of stuff.
The creditors have to agree.
They all have to appear in court basically and go,
you owe us a bunch of money.
We need to settle on something.
Are we settling on $0.50 on the dollar?
Or are we settling on $0.02 on the dollar?
And they have $1 billion in assets and $10 billion
plus in liabilities.
And they also own like DrawTite, Bulldog, Fulton,
and Reese, which are all your trailer hitch parts,
your balls and your drops and all that kind of stuff,
which there used to be a lot of different companies.
And that's part of the problem of this consolidation.
There used to be a lot of people that offered parts,
these type of things.
Now they all consolidate into these big companies.
Then when one of them have a hiccup,
we're all kind of screwed.
Yeah, definitely.
Strange times, guys.
Strange times.
I'm glad I hoarded for so long.
Right?
So if you need me, ball hitches.
You got the backlog on them.
Well, I can't even lift the bin anymore, literally.
Matt knows, also, if you need some nuts,
Matt knows where those are, too.
They're in a pole on Sunset Boulevard.
Yeah, they're in a light pole.
Marina Del Rey.
So all right, anything else, guys, today?
Oh, there's so much more.
There's so much more.
There really is so much more.
I've got to run and kill some squirrels, so.
Oh, you're so mean.
Yeah, it's just the.
Yeah, yeah, I see what you're doing.
He's going to go shoot bears.
I am doing.
The squirrels have, I love squirrels,
but they have really been causing some trouble,
and we just can't seem to get rid of or relocate them.
So.
Where are they?
What are they doing?
They are just throwing everything in the sheds.
You know, it's like, well, OK, this is valuable.
I'll just put it in the shed for now and wrap it
and put it there, getting into there,
getting into stuff that they shouldn't.
And there's a ground squirrel now that's
digging up all the foundation.
And our path has started to collapse,
and he's burrowing everywhere.
It's just one damn squirrel.
So can I ask you a question about that?
Who lived up in those mountains first?
We did.
I've been in this house for eight years.
Oh, that generation, but their family.
I mean, this is like the Hatfields and McCoys, buddy.
And the squirrel appeared last summer when we weren't here.
So our little year and a half vacancy outside of Tahoe has.
So you have squatters.
You have squatter squirrels.
Yeah.
Have you tried talking to them?
I did.
I did.
And all I hear is, have you used any legal methods?
I mean, you know, you could get ahold of an attorney in.
I got those new AirPods, but on the languages,
it's not squirrel, but squirrel.
Translator, the squirrel translator.
Yeah, you know that I got to say that's a little bit of a gimmick
because there's only like four languages.
Oh, really?
I was hoping to hear my wife and her sister
are talking about all the time in Czech.
And Czech isn't on the list.
German is not on the list.
Like there's a lot of necessary languages that aren't on the list.
I hope they're coming, but so far they're not on the list.
But they have Czechoslovakian.
Czechoslovakian?
I got to say, though, I'm always an over-ear guy,
always an over-ear guy.
But the new AirPods are good.
That little foam, I wish I would have just put foam inside
of my old ones because me should sound almost just as good
if they fit you right.
But these fit me now because of that little foam
patting on the ear canal piece.
Yeah, so now I'm thinking, why didn't I just take
a little piece of foam and put it inside the ear canal
of my old ones?
I've never gotten a pair of earbuds because I'm always
afraid that I'll be walking along and all of a sudden go,
where'd it go?
And it'd just be gone.
The new ones fit really snug.
I'll tell you, I have like the AirPods pros,
not the new ones from the previous gen.
That's what I got, yeah.
I work out with them.
I run with them.
I have not knock on wood.
I have not lost.
Never lost one?
And now.
Yeah, you know, if they fit you, Brad,
they're great.
And now with that extra foam, the shape's
a little bit different too, like the angle's
a little bit different.
That was the problem before is I had to move them
and push them in and they wouldn't stay that way.
And the sound would just go away 50%.
Well, now that sound stays.
So the fitment, you know, I guess the quality
is a little better too, but the fitment
is so much better for those of us
that they didn't fit before that.
I gotta say, I'm a fan.
I'm converted now.
I'm going to make a leash, a safety leash,
that goes to each of the ear pods and then connects
to your phone because you're not going to lose your phone.
Yeah, yeah.
So basically, your phone will have two balls
from it hanging from it.
You know what the problem is?
The one thing that Apple did that I don't dig a whole lot
is for the old corded pods, which I do use at night.
Sometimes when I lay down, I want
to listen to something that I want to plug it in.
You can't plug in your phone to charge up
and have your headphones in.
Of course you can.
You just need a little dongle adapter thing that, you know.
Well, I had one of those.
It never worked that well.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Well, you got to put your phone on a charge pad.
Yeah.
And you're plugging it in.
Yeah, I guess you could do that.
Charge pad.
Right, by the way, the AirPods,
like if you just use them in the office, that's fine.
But if you're going to go out like if you go for your hike
or go for your run or whatever.
They do make a little clip on leash that, you know,
so they're connected.
So it goes down on your neck.
So like if one falls out, it's tethered to the other one.
Yeah.
You can pierce your earlobes and have them dang
and always have them and just put them up and just.
Why go for the earlobes when you go for the nipples?
You know what?
I did a race and I couldn't get the ear pods,
you know, for the radio guy.
So we would just tape them.
We use like gaffer's tape and you tape them.
Like everyone just taped them in.
Sure.
And you have to get your helmet on and off
because your ears are pinned down in your head.
You know what I mean?
You just use some of that stuff to boob tape.
That's what you use.
Boob tape.
That's what Brad wears.
All of his Emmy and Oscar parties.
Brad, just 3D scan your ear with the AirPods in it.
And then 3D print and like the softer PLA,
you know, just 3D print a little cover
that fits over your ear.
Here we go.
Yeah, yeah.
Could they be pointy like a, you know, like Spock?
Sure.
Sure.
Sure.
Why not?
All right, all right.
Speaking of which, our listeners,
Adam Savage, let me know because I'm trying
to get a hold of him about my Spock ears.
Spock ears?
Yeah.
I think they should be on this show.
I think what we should do an episode
with my original Spock earmults
that I have from the original series,
The Last in Existence,
the ones that everybody thought were gone.
I've got them.
I've always had them.
I have the Spock nose.
Oh, Bradley underscore Fanshawe.
That's right.
And you know what you can find me now?
At bondspeedstreetwear.com.
So if you go there today
and you use the code first 10,
that's all in caps, first 10,
you get 10% not just off a purchase of a t-shirt,
but your entire order.
So if you bought like $50,000 worth of stuff,
you would get 10% off of that.
I mean, think of that.
That's a lot of money you're saving.
You would make Brad stay if he did that.
Yes it would.
Especially if your card cleared.
Hell, it'd make Brad's day if you bought one t-shirt.
What do you mean?
It's a...
All right.
Hey, I gotta go.
We'll be back next week.
And that's a promise, not a threat, pals.
So thanks for listening to Shifton Stair.
Thanks guys.
All right.
Hey, Bob.
Request an explanation for:
8 cars
Scroll for more
8 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark.
Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
