Hert Eugene Joins Very Vehicular to Give Scotto Hell, Plus Reminisce About Early Hoonigan Days
Very Vehicular
Hert Eugene Joins Very Vehicular to Give Scotto Hell, Plus Reminisce About Early Hoonigan Days
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Car
Dodge Viper
The Dodge Viper is a super-fast sports car that stands out because of its big engine and bold look. It's known for being very powerful and is loved by fans of American muscle cars.
Term
treadwear
Treadwear is a measure of how long a tire will last before the tread wears down. A lower number means the tire will wear out faster, while a higher number means it should last longer.
Term
grippy tire
A grippy tire helps your car stick to the road better, especially when turning or accelerating. They are great for racing but can wear out faster than regular tires.
Term
wheel size
Wheel size is how big the wheels on your car are, measured in inches. It can change how your car drives and what types of tires you can use.
Car
Volkswagen Rabbit
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that people enjoyed driving, especially in the 1980s. It's known for being easy to handle and good for city driving.
Concept
Formula D
Formula D is a competition where drivers try to make their cars slide around corners in a controlled way. It's all about style and skill, and the best drivers win prizes.
Concept
drifting
Drifting is when a driver makes their car slide sideways while turning. It's a cool driving style that shows off how well the driver can control the car.
Company
Hoonigan
Hoonigan is a brand that makes videos and merchandise for car lovers, especially those who enjoy drifting and racing. They are known for their fun and exciting car content.
Car
Ford Raptor
The Ford Raptor is a tough and powerful truck made for off-road driving. It's popular for both work and fun, and people respect it for its capabilities.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful a car's engine is. The higher the horsepower, the faster and more powerful the car can be.
Car
Ferrari
Ferrari is a famous car brand from Italy that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They're often seen in races and are known for their luxury.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people recognize because of its unique shape and fast performance. It's been around for a long time and is loved by car fans for its speed and style.
Car
Audi RS2
The Audi RS2 is a special version of a family car that was made to be really fast and fun to drive. It's unique because it combines everyday use with sports car performance.
Car
B 150
The Dodge B 150 is a big van that was made in the 1970s and 1980s. It's known for being roomy and useful for carrying people or cargo.
Car
Mazda RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a sports car famous for its unique rotary engine, which is different from traditional engines. It's popular among car fans and is known for being fun to drive.
Term
anti-lag
Anti-lag helps turbo engines keep their power when you take your foot off the gas. It makes the car faster when you start accelerating again, especially in racing situations.
Car
Toyota GS 300
The Toyota GS 300 is a comfortable luxury car that can be made even faster with modifications. It's a popular choice for those who want both style and power.
Term
air conditioning
Air conditioning is what keeps the inside of your car cool and comfortable when it's hot outside. It's important for a pleasant driving experience.
Company
Heat Lightning Speed Shop
Heat Lightning Speed Shop is a car repair shop that focuses on making cars faster and fixing problems. They have a lot of experience with certain types of cars.
Car
Nissan GT-R R32
The Nissan GT-R R32 is a fast and powerful sports car from the 1990s, famous for its racing success and advanced features.
Car
Mazda FC
The Mazda FC is a version of the RX-7 sports car made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, known for its light weight and unique engine type.
Car
Porsche 944S
The Porsche 944 is a sporty car made in the 1980s and early 1990s, known for its good handling and performance.
Car
Nissan Skyline GT-R R32
The Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 is a famous sports car that was built for speed and performance. It has a strong engine and is known for its ability to handle well on the road and track.
Car
Toyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla is a small car that many people drive because it's dependable. Here, they're talking about a special version that is faster and more fun to drive.
Term
naturally aspirated
Naturally aspirated means that the engine gets air from the environment without using any extra help like a turbo. This can make the car feel more responsive when you press the gas.
Term
sequential
A sequential transmission is a type of gearbox that lets you change gears quickly and easily, one after the other, which is great for racing cars.
Car
2024 Telluride
The Kia Telluride is a large SUV that can fit a lot of people and their stuff. It's known for being comfortable and safe, making it a good choice for families.
Car
Toyota JZX 100
The Toyota JZX 100 is a type of car that's great for racing and drifting. It's known for being fun to drive and is often customized by car enthusiasts.
Car
Nissan 240
The Nissan 240 is a sporty car that many people like to modify and race. It's known for being fun to drive and is popular in drifting competitions.
Car
Nissan 350Z
The Nissan 350Z is a sporty car that people enjoy driving. It has a powerful engine and is designed for performance, which makes it fun to take on the road or track.
Car
Audi D2 SE
The Audi D2 SE is a model of the Audi A8, a luxury car known for its comfort and technology. However, it has a reputation for being unreliable, which means it can have more problems than other cars.
Company
FCP Euro
FCP Euro is a website where you can buy parts for European cars. They are known for getting parts to you quickly.
Brand
Ford
Ford is a well-known car company that makes many types of vehicles, including popular trucks and cars.
Brand
Tanner Faust
Tanner Faust is a famous race car driver who is known for his drifting skills. He has been part of many car shows and competitions.
Car
Chrysler New Yorker
The Chrysler New Yorker is an old luxury car that was made for many years. It was known for being very comfortable and spacious, making it a nice choice for long drives.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
Car
BMW E36
The BMW 3 Series is a popular car that combines luxury and sporty driving. It's known for being fun to drive while still being comfortable and practical for everyday use.
Car
Chevrolet C8
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast sports car made in America that many people admire. The newest version, called the C8, has a special engine placement that helps it drive even better.
Car
Mazda Miata
The Mazda Miata is a small, two-seat convertible car that is known for being really fun to drive. It's light and simple, making it a favorite among people who enjoy driving.
LIVE
Today's episode is a great one. Why? Because Hertz here. You know, we talk about everything.
We talk about, obviously, the old times, nostalgia of Hoonigan, what he's up to now, a little
bit of everything in between. And because he's Hertz, I give him shit. He gives me shit.
We break each other's balls. It's a fantastic episode. Enjoy.
Alright, I'm going to just start. I was supposed to make notes on all these episodes, and yours
is blank, because I wasn't really sure if you were going to show up.
That's crazy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but I also like, you were kind of like last minute, because you
got to add the idea.
But I just do have like one really important question.
Do you miss me?
Well, like what and what way?
I love that that needs a cab. Yeah, you're like,
What way are we talking?
It's an open question for you to answer.
There are things about you. There are things about you.
There's a couple things.
Yeah, there's some things about you that I missed.
Does your life feel more free without?
You see?
No, because now I have employees and they think I'm you.
I enjoy this.
So, I mean, like, you could look at it two ways, either, you know, you were either one
of the best or one of the worst things that ever happened to me.
Yeah, I'll take one of the best.
I got a little secret to share.
And that's I like talking a lot and for long periods of time.
Unfortunately, a lot of people know my secret, including my friends over at Viper
Industrial, who said, you guys need stools that you can sit on for hours.
They made us these really rad stools.
It's their robust, but they did him custom.
It says three, two, one action, action in the seat.
Really nice brown leather.
These things are great.
And you can modify them.
We're going to do the adjustable back.
We've already added the pneumatics.
I mean, who doesn't love a stool that's probably built better than your car
and has just as many mods.
And if you're sitting home right now listening to this in your garage, probably
by yourself, check out your seating arrangement and questions yourself, do you
deserve better?
Cause right now there's a holiday deal going on.
Go check it out.
ViperIndustrial.com.
That's Viper with a Y.
And it checks that 200 treadwear box.
Those of you who actually race your cars know why that matters.
This super grippy tire is set to drop next year, coming in over 50 sizes,
covering 13 to 21 inch wheels.
That's right.
Whether you drive a Mark 1 rabbit or a GT3 RS, the Sport R will fit the bill.
And as you know, I've marked oils forever.
I got them on all my cars and trucks.
Typically on set, I can't wear sunglasses.
Why?
Cause I'm often looking at a screen and a lot of times it's hard to really see
what's going on if my lenses are too dark.
But Heatwave fixed that problem.
These new photochromics, they adjust from almost clear to a pretty dark tint
depending on the sun, which is great because when I was in Australia filming
Jim Khanna, it was one really bright, especially in the Outback.
And there's also a ton of flies out there.
These prevented them from getting into my eyes.
I don't actually understand how the technology works.
They told me it's wizardry.
I believe them.
You should too.
You should also get yourself a pair.
And if you have an extra large head, they fit pretty nicely.
All right.
So like to rewind for everyone.
So you actually, and this is kind of interesting because you left soon again
before what is now sort of known as the mass Exodus.
But you in standard hurt fashion forgot to tell people you left.
So you left to go do the TV show with Hot Wheels.
And you know, in the background, I knew that all the Nappy Boy stuff was there.
And you had this great opportunity.
So you left early.
But then you didn't tell anyone.
You didn't like, you recorded a video that you probably sat on for like seven months.
I did.
By the way, how is Unprose season finale part two coming?
Are you almost done with that?
You know, actually, yeah, me and Rob have been working on it.
Are you ready?
Oh, that's kind of awesome.
Rob and I have working on it.
Inside joke.
They released a season finale of Unprose in two parts and they never released the second
part.
This is like 10 years ago now.
But yeah, no, I never really looked at it that way that I didn't, that I forgot to tell
people, you know, because I was just doing.
Yeah, you're doing your thing.
You're like, you know, living in Manchester for months.
And yeah.
So, you know, everything happened at Hoonigan.
But you were like, it's funny because I want to let you know that people who are sort of
inside the Hoonigan group think that it was planned.
Yeah.
Because you announced and then like, then I announced, then like Vinny, then Ron, then
Zach, and it was like, it all fell in order.
Yeah.
And you like jumped us all on it.
Like you announced like, they were like, they were like, just as long as you guys don't just
wait till after SEMA to say you're leaving.
And you were like, the week before SEMA, I'm out.
But it started, you were like, I had to be first.
I had zero conversation with you, Vin, Ron, anyone at Hoonigan, no conversation whatsoever.
I was like, oh, I should probably release this video because.
Because I'm going to SEMA and it makes sense.
And I'm doing my own thing and I was like, yeah, drop it.
And then I come to find out that everyone had theirs planned.
And it looked like we did a group, a group walk out.
Like it was a big group.
But I had quit a year before already.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, man.
How's life now?
It's good, man.
You seem to be driving a lot.
Like you somehow accomplished the thing that all of us told you wasn't possible at Hoonigan.
Because you're like, I just want to drive and not do everything else.
And like it seems like from the outside, that's what it looks like that you're actually getting in all of the driving.
Yeah.
I mean, I definitely driving a lot more than I ever really got the opportunity to.
I mean, it's the culmination of a lot of things.
You know, I remember a lot of our early days, startup, Hoonigan vibes going to Formula D events, setting up booths and stuff.
And I'm essentially following that model, but at grassroots events.
So grid lives and things like that.
Things that we can also participate in as drivers while selling merch and making content and whatever like that.
So that has given me the opportunity to kind of stretch my legs a little more and get some seed time.
And I mean, you know me.
I love driving.
So definitely not mad at it.
It's crazy because like I was thinking about this the other day.
You remember Bash Bangers?
Yeah.
So like that was maybe the second year that you were at Hoonigan or maybe the first year.
I think that was the first year.
I think we kind of just.
And like, because when you talk about grassroots, I feel like that was.
2013 for sure.
That was 2013.
Yeah.
And that was like us trying to like pay attention to grassroots because like so every FD was still really big.
And like I felt like, like had a big shadow on everything else and drifting.
And it was like the Bashes were starting to grow.
And obviously like East Coast Bash was like big.
And then there was all the other ones right there was All-Star and then No-Star and all of them.
And it's funny because like I think about it, like there's so many people that like I met just by going to like one or two of them with you that are like still very much like.
Like they ended up becoming big people in sort of the space like Ilya, for example, and like like Simba and people like that who like I met or like, what's his face now?
Nick, like, like it's like these are all people who like, like now have like a big part to do is like drifting today, but they were all just like these grassroots just back then.
Yeah, just in their little corner, building up their area and contributing to the building blocks of, you know, what drifting is.
Bash bangers like Formula D was super important for us.
I mean, you know, we had a lot of awesome drivers between Turk and Forsberg and all these guys doing the bridging the gap on their end of like missile cars and fast cars.
And like being a part of that and working with those guys and going to East Coast bash with them and just doing fun stuff with them was a huge part of what I was already doing.
So like it was cool to to tap that in but going to do the bash bangers tour and like I always love.
I mean, I'm a grassroots baby, you know, so any opportunity to to tell that story and prop drifting up on that side up on a pedestal was always exciting to me.
It's always interesting because like Formula D was actually such a big part of my life, you know, going to Formula D and filming with my friends who were drivers there and just capturing chaotic content was such a huge part of my story getting to Hoonigan and like starting that new journey.
It was interesting when it stopped when Hoonigan was like, yeah, we're not doing Formula D anymore.
And I felt lost, you know, because that was such a big part of my story.
But then after the first event, I was like, oh, I could, I guess I could do other stuff, you know, and then like really started opening doors mentally and like, you know, pulling gates back and allowing me to do other stuff.
I think that was a major pivot for us, though.
I mean, I think we we there was this moment where I remember we went to an FD event and I was like, it grossed me out how many people were wearing Hoonigan shirts, which is like a weird thing to say is like the owner of the company.
But to be like, shit, like we've hit saturation way too quickly, like half of the people here are wearing Hoonigan.
It was nuts.
And then it was like, maybe we need to like not focus on this as much.
Like we're already here.
We could desaturate a little bit and we put some time into other spaces, did some off road stuff, did some muscle car stuff.
But that all was sort of the path to what ended up becoming, I think probably the thing that inadvertently was probably the most important thing for most of your guys' careers.
I don't know mine, but for you guys, which was daily transmission, right?
We were behind the scenes.
We were helping guys like Turk and Forsberg become, you know, bigger names or do whatever.
And then all of a sudden it was like, no, now you're going to be the name and like Vinny's going to be the name.
And like that was like a major shift for us that I don't, I definitely don't think that was in my head early on.
Like we were making small little pieces of content like smoke break and things like that at the original shop.
Like we always were doing that, but we weren't leaning into the characters of like the people who worked there.
Beyond just like, hey, this is Hurt, Hurt has a cool car.
Like this is Scott, Scott has a cool car.
But like we were not like, we weren't really big upping ourselves.
I remember we were grossed out by vlogging and you know, like vlogging was, you know, the idea of it just didn't, we didn't understand it.
And I mean, maybe that's a strong word.
I don't know what it was, but we were just like, yeah, we don't really want to do that.
And then, you know, we started just, you know, I guess just doing fun stuff at the shop.
Yeah, we just kind of created our own version.
Yeah. And then there's like, I think, I think we're looking at it wrong.
We don't have to do this person's version or that person's version or that person's version.
We do our own thing.
We just do, you know, there's nothing wrong with documenting your fun and sharing that with the world.
And that when, I think we all realized that that changed a lot first.
So now, and like, cause I don't want to, but we, I did an episode with Vinny and Ron, we spent a lot of time kind of down memory lane.
I don't want this whole podcast to just be like, remember when we were cool back then?
Cause you're still cool and you're doing actually cooler shit now.
See, that's something that he's always been good at.
He's like, you're doing stuff.
I'm working on a movie, but you're doing, you're doing.
Bro, you're a rapper.
You are a rapper.
Doing one song.
I can go on Spotify and I can listen to you.
And I kind of, I think you kind of killed pain on that track.
I'm just saying.
Oh my God.
Doing one song doesn't make you a rapper, but you got to think about it, right?
Uh, you know, first off, uh, shout out to pain.
That dude is awesome.
I can't really put into words how, uh, I would never expect somebody like him to be as down to earth and humble as they are.
You know, and it's, it's been a mind blowing experience to work with somebody like that.
But also, uh, genuinely become friends with after I was that person for Halloween and like, yeah.
Our entire early twenties was T-Pain coated, you know?
Um, so, so yeah, shout out to him.
Um, but I feel like anyone in that situation, um, should rise to the occasion when you have someone like that saying, Hey, I have an idea, uh, for a song.
Let's do a song.
We do a song.
You're going to be on the song.
I was like, uh, what?
And then like,
Were you nervous about that?
So I have this thing that I've been doing.
Like I don't let nervousness stop you from doing something.
Right.
Because the way I look at it is I could go in and be nervous and do a bad job or I can go in and not be nervous and still do a bad job.
And, you know, it's, so no point in feeling a certain way, just go in and do it and have fun.
You know what I mean?
So I wasn't nervous.
You know, I definitely, uh, was just like, fuck it.
I have to do this.
You know, so I'm going to draw a parallel and stop me if it's not a, not a parallel that makes sense for you.
But I feel like in a lot of ways, um, what, what Ken was to me seems to be what T pain is for you.
Right.
And I, you know, I only got, you realize like through all this, I only met T pain once.
And I feel like it was almost like it was weird.
Like you didn't want to introduce your ex-girlfriend to your new girlfriend or like whatever.
Like, but, but we, we got to go as long as you know, you're the girlfriend.
Yeah.
I'm a text pain about that.
We'll see.
We'll see about that.
But, um, but like, you know, we, you know, we, we went, we had dinner and I walked out of that and I texted you.
And I was like, man, I'm really like, I'm not just proud of you, but I'm also like, I'm stoked for you.
Like, like, because I could see the relationship that you guys have.
And it was similar in my relationship with Ken.
And the one thing that was really interesting with Ken was Ken was not a core car guy to start.
Right.
So he trusted me.
There was an element of like, you know this, tell me what to do.
Right.
Ken knew marketing, Ken knew culture, but he didn't really know the car stuff, you know,
and it was like, there was certain stuff.
I mean, he learned it as the time went on, but he wasn't like you and I where we like lived and breathed it every day.
Like Ken's feed on Instagram was like snowboarding and furniture and like some race stuff.
Like he wasn't in it the same way that we were.
And because of that, like I was there to help fill in some of those spaces.
But at the same time, you know, I, I, whenever I talk about Ken and my relationship with him,
one of the things that always comes up is like, dude just made me feel like capable of things that I didn't think I was capable of.
Right.
And I think like when I see you go and try to rap, I'm like, yo, pain got that same, that same confidence drug that he could be like,
here, you go do this, like you got this.
And like it seems like you're kind of like stepping into that and owning that.
Yeah.
No, I mean, there's definitely a lot of parallels.
I cannot deny that.
Just the timing and life and the way that it's happening and the way that it's going and, and one of pain's biggest things is really just like,
Hey, I don't know if this is going to work.
Okay.
So it doesn't work like you do it.
It doesn't work.
Then what happens, you know, you just, you go on to the next thing.
Like don't let a thought like that stop you from trying something that could work as well.
As much as it might not work, it could work and change things, change the entire landscape.
So, so there's definitely a lot of that going on.
Just, you know, taking unknown steps and the result is the result.
Yeah.
So let me ask you, I'm going to take notes on this.
So how did you figure out how to be sort of in my position at Nappy Boy but still drive and have fun?
Cause I was never able to figure that out.
The most driving I did was after I gave my notice to him again and then I was able to eke out a few tracks.
I mean, I think, I think just coming into it the way that I, I was right.
I think, I mean, I, I can't tell your story, but I mean, you've always been the, like in the war zone, gut of it, just the wild man.
So it's like, I came in, I think, I think what the defining factor is I came in and I taught my business partner how to drift cars.
Right.
You know, and so that gave me the little, that gave me the key to unlock, you know, unlock the door and continue to do that.
But honestly, I, I don't, I don't know.
I don't know.
I mean, I think it boils down to just, cause like, you know, things like I never asked you.
I never knew what the goal was for Hoonigan.
You know, I never, I never asked you what the goal was.
I never asked you what you and Ken had in mind for it.
I just loved the feeling and everything.
And I was right or die.
Like just from our experiences before, like my experiences with Drift Alliance and building a friendship with them and making content with them.
That led into like that night at SEMA, you know, the night, you know, the night at SEMA.
The one where we almost got into a fight with that bouncer at the Falcon party.
Sorry, Nick.
Hey, shout out Falcon.
One of my sponsors.
I love you guys.
You know, it's funny how that.
By the way, this is brought to you by Toyo Tires.
Hey, you know, friends got friends.
Friends got friends.
Um, but just the way that like, you know, our story built and I, you know, obviously Ken, I mean, with Jim Conner and all the stuff he was doing.
Um, just had nothing but respect for you guys.
So I was like, they say we're going to build this brand.
All right.
Let's go build this brand.
Yeah.
It was just, and it was a pretty just undeniable, you know, thing for me.
It's funny when you talk about goals because like I talk, I think a lot about, it's, it's hard not to think about like Hoonigan and did we always take the right path.
And, you know, a lot of people after everything happened would come up to me and be like, man, like I'm so sorry.
And I'm like, man, we were here for a good time.
Not a long time.
Yeah.
Like it worked.
Like it worked when it worked and when it worked, it was great.
Yeah.
And like everyone kind of got out on skates.
We're all still friends, which is cool.
And like, I think a lot of people did get to a point where I was like, but like, you know, like everyone in the end, like whether it's like soupy, like everybody kind of like, you know, figured it out in the end.
I think like we were all just stressed in a bad situation and then we all, I think came out better from it.
But going back to like your question of like, you know, what, um, you know, like, what was the goal?
I think the goal was always moving, which was like the fun, but also the scary part.
Like the idea that the goal post constantly shifted in the beginning, the goal was like, can we make this work?
Right.
Like, is this working?
And then once it started working, it was like, okay, can like how much more can we make this work?
And then I think it got to a point where the goal was like, we are becoming a juggernaut.
Like how big can this become?
And that was really good.
I think until the goal became, can we sell this?
And like, it was always the goal.
Like it was always, I mean, when Ken, you know, did the original deal with me, it was like, we're going to build this company.
We're going to do this and we're either going to license it or sell it within five years.
We, it took us whatever 12 or 13 years to sell.
So it took a lot longer, but we also grew it into something I think way bigger than Ken and I initially thought.
Ken saw it very much in the beginning.
It was just a clothing company.
I mean, he saw it as metal militia for cars, right?
Like, how do you create this cool brand?
And then you have a licensing company deal with it all.
And like, you just do the, the content and the marketing around it all.
But then the content became bigger and bigger and bigger.
And like, and then all of a sudden, like half of the employees at Hoonigan became these personalities and became a part of it.
And then I think it was just like, how big, you know, what can we do?
What else can we take on?
And that was like really fun for a while.
And then all of a sudden one day it wasn't, I think like one day it just got to a point where like we were growing for the sake of growing,
not because it was like the stuff we all wanted to do.
But it's interesting because I think like you got to be, you know, it's interesting that you say you didn't feel like you knew what the goal was,
but I definitely think you were, you were, you were in the inside circle of like what we were always trying to do.
And I had never been in a company like that before.
Like the first time I was doing it was with Hoonigan.
I didn't know.
And, you know, and I think the one thing that a lot of people don't understand about Hoonigan, which is weird,
but it is like, like Ken didn't work in the building.
Yeah.
Like Ken wasn't there.
Like he was in Utah.
He was running his own race program.
He was doing his own thing.
There was a lot of stuff that like I was like, man, I don't know how to do this.
We're just going to figure this out.
We're just going to do this on our own.
And it wasn't really until YouTube became successful that I think Ken was like,
what are you guys doing with the YouTube thing?
Because he was always the one like Jim Khan and all that stuff was where, where it was where the money was.
And then all of a sudden YouTube started to crack.
And then he was like, oh, maybe I, maybe I should have a YouTube channel too, you know,
because we were out there just testing it and trying it out.
But I to turn this kind of back around to you.
Like, do you feel like in a way you could kind of take your experience at Hoonigan and let it either be like,
I don't want to say cautionary tale because I think there's a, there's a lot of amazing stuff we did at Hoonigan.
And it's unfortunate that it ended sort of in the way that it did, but it was always going to.
It's like your favorite band always brings up in the end.
Like if your favorite band never stops touring, they're probably not your favorite band anymore.
Like there's something about that like magic that I always compares to Jackass because I think it's like the same thing.
Like there's a window of time where like it all works, but you got like a front or a seat to all of that.
And now you're getting to do it again.
Like, is there like, does that change your perspective on how you do it now?
I mean, I think the, so there are definitely some lessons.
But I didn't think this was going to be a business conversation.
I actually was, I want to make this a conversation about style, but we'll get back to that.
My time at Hoonigan was interesting because naturally I, on the spot, if someone asked me, name five things that you learned at Hoonigan,
that you learned working with Brian Scott.
And honestly, I might not be able to, to rip it off the top of my head, but if you come in with this specific question about something
and then I find myself rambling and I'm like, oh, that's, that's one of the things that I learned, you know.
You learned how to hide cars from your wife.
Let's just be honest, bro.
She might listen to this dude.
I mean, this is, this is kind of wild, a wild take now.
It must be my aging or whatever, but I, or just my ability to destroy.
But I don't get the same joy from having as many cars as I have right now.
You know, Vinny just brought this up.
Vinny was like hoarding cars is not as cool as it once was.
Yeah.
We made it cool during COVID and it's not cool anymore.
It doesn't feel the same.
And now I'm struggling to pick some cars to relinquish, you know.
What do you think the right number is?
I'm going to bring us back to the business side.
I'd say four.
Four?
Yeah.
I think four is a good number.
I think like for normal people, three, like what I call the three car solution.
And like, here's how that works for me.
Cause I know everyone loves the two cars.
Two cars are ridiculous.
You just, three cars simple.
A pickup truck.
That's a crew cab.
I was in Canada.
A pickup truck.
That's a crew cab so that you can tow stuff, right?
Whatever.
But it's a nice enough pickup truck that you can also take it to dinner.
Right.
So like it could be your family vehicle, like a Raptor or something like that.
I definitely think we differ there because I only see those as tools.
I don't look at trucks and like think about.
I get that, but you can use it if you need to.
Like a Raptor is nice enough that your friends getting married and you do the wedding and
Raptor, it's acceptable.
It's respected.
It's fine.
Right.
Then I think you need a project car that like it runs, it doesn't run whatever it is.
And then you need another, and this is what has changed in my life now is you need another
fun car that kind of always runs.
So my RS two is that car.
So like no matter what everything else isn't working, like when I get in the RS two, it
reminds me, I still like cars and gives me a reason to keep working on my car.
Cause there was a period of time where the only thing I was driving was church van.
And that was like pre 700 horsepower.
Yeah.
It's got 700 horsepower now.
If you want some of that slower than the GS, the GS makes 800.
So if you want to, you want these pros, I got all wheel drive.
You want to run on that.
You want these problems.
You know, we could bring back that.
We can make that versus this.
It's a whole new show.
I'd be willing for all of us.
You, me, Vin, Ron, Zach, I'd be willing for all of us to pick a location and meet up
and race.
All right.
It's on.
You want.
No, let's do it.
Dead serious.
Is it call out style or you just bring your fastest whatever.
Everyone gets fucking smoked.
All right.
What do you bring in?
Everyone gets soft.
You finally gave me a reason to finish my crew.
Everyone gets.
Let's do it.
All right.
I'm on.
Let's do it.
We'll call everybody else afterwards.
I'll pay for it.
We'll put on Abbey boy.
All right.
We'll get that done.
We'll get that done.
All right.
So I don't even know where.
No, but I was saying like I was sitting there driving like a stock van every day and I like
stopped liking cars because I wasn't driving anything fun.
So I feel like that's like a good three car.
But then I think for people like us, I think probably 10 is the right number.
I'm at 25.
That's like more than 50% reduction.
You own 25 vehicles at this moment right now sitting on the property right now at the
farm.
No, right here.
Here.
This property.
The 911, the Ferrari, the rabbit was in the driveway.
The disco is in the backyard.
The RS2 is parked out on the street.
The B 150 is out on the street right now.
That's the Mexican truck.
And the van is parked in front.
And then my wife's, my wife's LR for that's just here.
How many of these cars run at a 25?
If you would have asked me a week ago, I would have said all of them three cars broke last
week.
Out of the 25.
Oh, no, no, no.
I mean the ones here.
The ones because all these are kind of run.
Yeah.
They're at the house.
I know.
I know you're naturally going to list the good ones first.
I've got like five cars that just probably will never run and I'm okay with that because
like I'm just kind of holding them because I know at some point I won't be able to afford
them.
It's kind of like the FDR seven was for you.
So I got to the point where, you know, I used to say I have 12 cars.
Now I just say eight because four of them are that, you know, they're just, you try not
to count them.
Yeah.
Just cause like, you know, I mean they count, but when I talk about them, I don't bring
them up really, you know, just cause it's just like, oh yeah, I have this RX seven.
That's one day going to be something and then this other RX seven, that's one day going
to be something and then this other RX seven.
How does it feel to lie to yourself?
They're going to be, they're going to be something.
All right.
You don't, you understand.
You definitely of all people understand.
So my, yeah, my list of 10 is aggressive.
I think, I think 10, if like you work in the business, you make content, you need to be
able to rotate through things, people get bored of stuff, or you could be like Vinny's
and just and not hold on to have current issues and not hold on to anything.
I mean that works out great for his business.
Right.
Yeah.
I think it's, it's awesome to see.
When he's starting to dealership.
So like his whole new business now is buy a car, use it in content, fix it up, do whatever,
enjoy it for like three to four months and then sell it.
And then move on.
I mean, that's what drivers are supposed to be, right?
It is again.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's kind of, I thought that was brilliant.
Him and Ron actually split.
Ron's now doing anti lag, which is a, which is like a rally car inspired thing.
Cause it was more what he cared about.
And Vinny wanted to do more of the dealership thing.
So he's doing that with drivers.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Yeah.
But okay.
So four cars.
So let's just, let's play this game.
Name your four cars.
All right.
You only have four cars.
Four cars, four cars, my GS 300, four doors, four doors, built motor, 3.2 liter stroke
or 800 horsepower on low boost.
So like when I see you, I can turn it up AC, put my family in it, go wherever I can drive
it across the country.
It looks, it looks good as hell.
It's a great car.
Yep.
And I can drift it.
Yep.
That's a Swiss.
It's an all around car.
Yeah.
And I can drag race and smoke on my friends.
That's kind of, I guess what the RS two is for me, obviously it's not, I don't really,
it being able to need to drift is not a priority for me.
Yeah.
But it serves a little bit more power.
Like for me, I think a 500 to 600 horsepower RS two would be perfect.
Yeah.
And I want the air conditioning to work because it doesn't right now.
Yeah.
That was a non-negotiable.
I, there's some local guys, heat lightning speed shop.
They specialize in GS's.
Oh, nice.
And I was just so fed up with the car.
I found them.
And that was my only non-negotiable.
Well, that's cause you're, you're 40 now, right?
Is there a mic issue here?
Yeah.
You're 40 now, right?
Cause no, cause when you're 40 is when you need air conditioning.
I'm in my 30s.
Late.
I'm in my 30s.
You're in your late, late 30s.
I am in my 30s.
I think you're in your late, late 30s.
Cause you're, there's no four in front of my age.
So 35 is mid 30s.
37 would be mid late 30s.
38, which is what I think you are.
It would make you late, late 30s.
What's this podcast called?
Over 40.
I only bring on guests over 40.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's called very old.
I thought it was called pushing 50.
No.
Let's stay on.
Let's stay.
Look, I'm in my 30s.
Anyway.
GS, I explained that.
That car is fantastic, right?
My, my GTR, R32 kind of the same vibe as the GS.
It's a coupe, but you can still put fam in the back AC.
Collect your car too.
I will drive, collect the car.
And that, I mean, just that boxy era is me.
You know, FCs are my favorite car.
The R32 is the same idea with that, right?
And that's,
You like 944s too, right?
I'm better than 911s actually.
Well played.
Well played.
Have you been, have you been holding that one for a few years?
That was nice.
You inspired it.
Keep going.
Keep going.
I feel like boxy cars.
This is the R32 GTR.
Same thing.
You know, you, you can have power, all drive, super fun handling AC car that you can take
anywhere with anyone, right?
So those are like the two Swiss armies that are super fun.
Then the Corolla.
Which one?
The beams one.
The Levin.
Yeah.
So hatchback, Levin, 300 horsepower naturally aspirated, Hasselgren engineering
built beams, 10,000 RPM, all the good sounds, all the good feels, all the good handling,
no AC, very raw and can grip and drift.
And I mean, that's a fall, that's a fall street car too.
You know, and then, and then the fourth car is like the full race car.
R7 four rotor, fully caged sequential.
Okay.
I like this list, but there's like zero practicality here because one, there's no truck in the
list.
And is that because you're just including work trucks?
That's, that's what I was saying.
It's like, you and I see trucks differently.
I just see them as tools.
So I don't, I, it's not even on my, yeah, it's just a, it's a tool that he used to go
to the thing.
But, but yeah.
And what's your car?
What's your car driver right now?
She's got a.
Just look at Alexis or?
No, no, we, we leased a 2024 tell your ride while we figure out what we want.
Those are kind of nice.
Yeah.
They are super nice.
They're super nice.
Whenever I see them drive by, I'm like, Ooh.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's not bad.
Yeah.
And the lease was so cheap.
Why not?
Right.
Okay.
So four plus truck, four plus truck, four plus truck now.
I might be wrong because like, I love having cars.
So you're saying there's no FD in your list anymore.
I could sell that car.
You could.
I could sell that car.
Okay.
Yeah.
I could sell that car.
It's definitely.
I've thought about it.
I could sell that car.
And if I had a breakdown to four, I think I would do obviously the nine 11.
That's like the forever car.
My RS two.
I guess my rabbit, which is weird, but I just love that thing.
And do I get four plus one because of the truck?
Sure.
Sure.
All right.
The Vans, the plus one.
See, I guess the Nova.
All right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cause it keeps that would keep it like as varied as possible.
So that's the thing.
I've got my all wheel drive car.
I've got, but yeah, but then it's a bumper.
Cause I know that keeps me no track cars, but whatever.
I feel like four is a sweet list, but I don't know if it's possible.
I don't have four cars.
I have more than four cars.
Yeah.
And I do like the FD sometimes, you know, um, I'm not driving in the summer.
It doesn't have AC not going to touch it.
You know,
we definitely sound like addicts talking about how we ain't going to get high
tomorrow while we're still high.
So currently so, so torqued, fully torqued.
Um, I've got the GS, the R32, the Corolla, the other Corolla, uh,
Torx Valium, FD, um, JZX 100.
How you had that?
240.
Remember that time I smoked you in my, uh, 200 in your JZX?
Yeah.
Anyway, I just wanted to remind you, I brought it up in the last podcast.
So automatic and naturally aspirated.
It's not a, don't worry.
We will meet again.
Um, so that's a, I think that's all of them.
I have a 350Z.
I don't really talk about, uh, 350Z.
You haven't showed it to anyone.
Oh, it's a secret car.
Yeah.
It's just a,
secret cars are nice.
It's just a pilot.
Um, you don't have that crest of that anymore.
No, I gave that away.
I gave that to a chair slayer.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Cause I just was like, I mean, I, I didn't even take money.
I paid for that car.
I bought it from Ron and I gave it to chair slate.
No one would buy it.
I lost.
I lost.
No one would buy it.
Um, yeah.
I don't know, man.
I love having cars.
I love experiencing different cars.
Like one thing, you know, all my cars, none of them have the same engine.
Right.
Cause I almost did multi-swap a couple cars, but then I was like,
then it's just,
What's the fun of that?
Yeah.
Exactly.
So, so I love experiencing different things.
I mean, I think the venue route is super cool cause he gets to experience it,
build it how he wants to, and then flip it.
And it all just pays for itself, you know,
and that's just a brilliant way to go about being a car enthusiast.
You know where,
It doesn't work for me, but I get it.
Yeah.
No, I'm stuck in a hole of breaking the same shit over.
Yeah.
But it seems like for the first time ever, you've got a bunch of working machines.
Yeah.
I mean, uh, you know, um, starting this journey with night people,
automotive and T-Pain, um, you know, we have, you know, we've got a John.
Yeah.
You know, someone who's in the shop all the time,
making sure everything is good to go.
And then we're going, your cars, not like you,
it's not like you're building.
No, we're not building.
Projects.
We're keeping our ship running, you know, for our events and stuff.
And then, you know, when something new comes in for ourselves.
Yeah.
You know, I mean.
Cause that's the part no one understood at Hoonigan was that all the people who worked
at Hoonigan, when we were there to work on cars,
we're working on project cars that belong to the company that we're like funding our content.
Yeah.
But all our personal cars, we pretty much all worked on on our own,
which is why it was always such a disaster.
It definitely added stress, um, to what we're doing.
But yeah, so I'm, I'm in a ship now where, you know, I, I, it definitely,
you definitely find a disconnect when you're completely not touching your stuff,
you know, and I'm going to start breaking that disconnect, you know,
you know, just being more active in the shop and just, I don't know.
I think being in the shop and being immersed helps everything else.
It keeps your mind creatively thinking about what's next or what should we do with this
or that and all that.
So I think that helped us out a lot of Hoonigan because we were really active in the shop.
I mean, that was like the peak era.
Um, I remember, do you remember this when the first time you were working on your,
uh, your LSSE and I came over Santa Fe?
Yeah, I came over and I only, I don't even think it was video.
I think I was just taking photos.
Dude, we didn't record anything there.
No, I was just taking photos.
It actually blows my mind that we didn't, we have like no video from that time.
And that was one of the sickest times.
Yeah.
And we can't even go.
I've tried to go on Facebook and try to find it.
Facebook kit won't load that far back.
Like it just struggles to load anything that far back.
Most people don't even realize that time again.
Yeah, no, I have no idea.
Because it's a pre-donut garage.
Yeah.
So pre-long page.
This is just Instagram.
Downtown LA.
Instagram Facebook.
Grimy.
Yeah.
Remember when the vagrants jumped over the fence and you cut the wiring harness out of
Ashley's car and then stole our barbecues and they like wasted them like over a 20 foot
fence?
Remember the door wouldn't close?
Was it Ernie?
Was it Ernie?
Yeah, Ernie.
I still got, you know, it's funny you mentioned that because I just found photos of Ernie the
other day.
Ernie was the best.
You know, it's crazy.
Um, Julio.
You remember Julio?
Of course I remember Julio.
Bro, Julio ended up outside my shop in Long Beach.
What?
Right before I left, I saw Julio and I was like Julio and he was like, Oh, what's up,
man?
And he was just outside my shop in Long Beach.
So quick Julio story.
Julio was a vagrant who lived near 621 Long Beach office, right?
Donut garage.
And he would, if he was, if you just caught him off by himself, he was, he was always
like kind of loudly talking to himself or kind of yelling.
He definitely presented as the kind of vagrant, right?
Like, or whatever you want to call him, unhoused, whatever person you did not want to be near.
But if you called him by name, it would like break the spell and he would then become like
this super mild manner, really, really nice guy.
And it was like 230 in the morning, one night and I had just retimed the disco.
I was driving home because remember I used to always stay at the shop super late and
work on stuff.
I had just timed the disco and I'm driving home and I'm leaving the shop and I closed
the gate and I'm going to make, going around the corner underneath the bridge and the rover
breaks.
And I'm like, God damn it.
It's like 230 in the morning.
Like I have no way to tow it back to the shop.
Like I'm by myself and I'm trying to like push this thing back to the shop.
And all of a sudden out of nowhere, I just hear, get in, get in, get in, get in.
And I'm like, what?
And it's Julio.
He comes running up.
He's like, you steer.
I push.
And this dude pushed me.
I don't want to say crack head energy because I don't know if he had crack.
I don't think he was.
He was just unfortunately had mental health issues, but this man pushed this disco at
like 20 miles an hour.
Like he got us like into, I mean, I was waiting for him to push us up the ramp.
It was like incredible strength.
I was like, Julio, you saved me.
Like thank you so much.
And he was like, yeah.
I was just like, I saw you break down.
I came running out to help you.
I'm like, this dude's the best.
And like Ernie was the same way.
Yeah.
Remember those dudes were trying to break into the shop.
And he stopped them.
Cause we, cause we used to always remember, you guys used to call me the vagrant whisper.
Do you remember that?
Cause I would talk to all the vagrants.
I think you named yourself that.
And we just, I thought it was someone else, but whatever.
I'll take it.
Um, do you remember the other dude, the white dude, uh, who?
The bike.
He had a bike with the trailer.
Yeah.
And he showed up at the shop.
He was arrested and leave his stuff at our shop.
Well, he would get arrested so that he could spend the winter and get a,
get three, three hots in a cot in a warm weather.
And then he would get out like later in the year and he would come and leave his bike.
And the police would show up and they would like, like his,
his Brian Scott over here.
And I've always thought I'd be in trouble.
And then it would just be like, we've got this guy's bike.
He said, you can, he can leave it here.
Do you remember?
Cause that was before we had the bakery.
So we put it in there.
And remember, like we didn't open the door for like six months.
We had no air conditioning.
We opened the door and it was just the worst funky smell ever.
So that guy.
Yeah.
Anyway, yeah.
The Vegas.
Yeah.
No, I ran into Julio outside my shop and I couldn't believe it.
And I was just like, you know, I, I was like, you need anything.
I got drinks, whatever.
And I gave him some stuff and, but it was just, I don't know.
There was another guy who actually I saw.
Do you remember the dude who used to hang out at the gas station on,
he used to hang out at the gas station on seventh and Magnolia.
Did you ever go there?
And he would always wash your windows for you.
He was really, really, really, really nice.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yes.
I know exactly what I ran into him.
I ran into him like, I don't know, maybe like six months ago at another gas station
on another side of Long Beach and I saw him and I was like, I kind of looked at him
and he looked at me and he's like, where's the Porsche?
I was like, oh man, it's you.
I actually went and bought him lunch because I was just like, it was just chatting him
up.
I was like, how are you doing?
Like what's going on?
Like he was always an interesting story for me because he seemed like all there.
Yeah.
And always was like kind of well put together and like seemed clean.
And I hate to say that, but a lot of the other guys who lived by the river did never seem
clean.
But like, and I could never tell like, are you just hanging out?
Do you just like being in the gas station or like what's going on?
But I was just talking to him.
Yeah.
Anyway, this storytime interruption brought to you by our good friends at FCP Euro.
So I have an affliction.
I like really unreliable European cars.
It almost seems the more unreliable it is, the more I lost after it.
So of course the car I'm talking about right now is my 2002 D2 SE.
This is probably one of the most unreliable cars Audi's ever built, but it is so magnificent
during its fleeting moments of reliability.
Luckily, a lot of the things you need for this car, I can get FCP Euro.
Let me tell you a little story.
It's been running great.
It's been just fantastic.
Aside from all the lights on the dash, but it's been great.
Then I opened the door and there was this smell.
Smelled like a gym bag and it shouldn't smell like a gym bag.
That car actually smells pretty good, real leather, but it smelled horrible.
And I realized all that rain we got, it definitely flooded.
And when I say flooded, it's not the normal kind of flooding.
This is like water coming out of the air vents level flooding,
and that also means water going into the fuse panel,
which meant that a few relays might have shorted,
as well as a bunch of other things that got corroded.
Hit up FCP Euro, had them out to me in a day.
This is what's great about them.
They enable really bad decisions with European cars.
I mean, they are like class one enabler,
because if I couldn't get those parts as quickly as I do,
I don't think any of my cars would run.
Maybe some of the old Ford's.
Anyway, FCP Euro, thank you very much.
And if you have similar habits,
maybe you too should try fcpuro.com.
So anyway, back to the business side of things.
How's all that going?
What's it like to have?
Oh, right.
What's it like to have?
Wow, that was a gnarly tangent.
Yeah, we tangent.
I mean, it's kind of expected with the two of us.
So what is it like to now be in a position where daily,
you want to text me?
I'm sorry.
Like, what does that feel like?
You know, because I got to see that moment.
We were at LC Fest and I got to see you being boss man and seeing
like you dealing with everybody.
And I have not had that level of joy outside of maybe the birth
of my son and like a few of my cars started up there in a long
time where I just got to sit there and I got to watch you have
that moment.
And I remember Ken used to, whenever I would, I would be
talking to him, I'd be like, ah, I had that long sigh and he'd
be like, you know, when I met you, you didn't have that sigh.
He's like, you developed that sigh and he enjoyed it because he
remembers those days at DC and you know, he was removed from the
day to day.
So he didn't have to deal with the day to day bullshit.
And now I get to watch you do it.
And I used to look at Ken and be like, what kind of fucking mean
asshole are you that you enjoy the demise of my soul?
Like my soul is leaking out of me.
And now I get to see it happen to you.
And I understand it from Ken.
You want to know what's what's actually hilarious about this
story is I remember that there would be days where I'm like,
fuck man, fuck Brian.
Like, why is he this way?
Why does he act like this?
Why does he do this stuff?
And then I spent a weekend with you and Ken.
And then I was like, and then I was like, oh, he does it to him
and then he does it to me.
Shit downstream, my friend.
Shit downstream.
I remember having that realization.
I was like, oh, it's literally just the trickle down.
This is, you know, some business class will teach me this.
I think, you know,
It's trickle down economics, kid.
I remember having that realization and then I saw everything a
little different.
You know, I was like, I handled things a little differently.
But I mean, if I had to apply anything from my time at Hoonigan
to what I'm doing now, I don't know how Ken was when it came to
just like setting goals and dreaming big and like just wanted
to hit a home run every time or whatever, you know.
But I like the natural progression that Hoonigan had, you know,
from the Santa Fe days that no one really ever saw, you know,
and like the grunt work we had to do then.
And that led to the Dona Garage and then the grunt work we had
to do there that led to just becoming the YouTube channel
and the legacy name that we did.
Cause like, I mean, no matter what anyone says,
no matter what anyone says or how they felt about the brand,
like we're stamped.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
That sensor bar logo absolutely stamped.
There's an error for it.
And so if, you know, any lesson that I try to apply is to like do
the grunt work, like grind.
Yeah.
Don't try to jump ahead with, you know, some home run idea.
Cause like, and I'm not against, you know, like the jumps and like
trying big things and stuff like that.
But I also understand like going to these grassroots events and
like being a part of the community, which is stuff I'm going to do anyway.
And just like, just the natural progression and growth of our name
and who we are in the space and building that trust with the community
and stuff like that, that nothing at Hoonigan works without that.
Yeah.
Let me ask you, I'm going to say this.
It's not a, it's not a, it's not a knock at you.
Um, you were, you went from being like the young kid in drifting who was stoked
that, you know, Chris Forsberg had a, ran a bird life sticker, a beard life sticker
on his car.
Right.
And like you were this young guy and now like you are an elder in the drift community.
You're not the eldest, but you're there.
You know what I'm saying?
Like you're no longer one of the new jacks.
Do you think about that much?
Because like, look, there's like the old timers, like Tanner Faust and like, you know,
even before that, Tony Angelo, Chris Forsberg, like some of the OG OGs for American drifting.
Um, but like when I was at LZ Fest, I couldn't help but think like, man, there's so many
like new young kids.
Like I don't even really think of them as part of drifting, but they are.
But like, I don't think about it because I'm still stuck in an era where like you were
part of the new generation of drifting and like now you're old.
Yeah.
I mean, my, my story, that's crazy.
Nice, nice slip in there.
Nice slip in there.
But you're an elder.
And I, I mean, all jokes aside, you are a veteran.
I 100% accept.
Now.
And it's like, it's a different position for where you are.
Well, no, I do accept that.
And I do see it.
I am aware of it.
Right.
Because like when I started, I was, uh, you know, young shithead.
FCR seven slammed KS being V eight, half of grassroots drifting hated V eights.
Yeah.
You know, and I was like, well, fuck you guys.
This is cool.
You know, you had a, you had a Steve Austin to zip tie to your intake.
Like it was still there.
Yeah.
Um, but you know, I lived through that and it was fun to be a part of that and like,
and you know, try to help, uh, bring grassroots to another level and, and all that stuff.
And like, I'm definitely fully self-aware that one, I'm not that guy anymore.
And two, I am an elder.
There are 15 year olds drifting coming up to me.
I've been watching you since I was eight years old.
And I'm just like, oh shit, you know, it's like, Hey, that's cool.
Don't tell anyone else that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, it's crazy.
Um, but it's like, you know, I went from participating and final bout and like doing
everything I can to, to, you know, drift with drifting animal style and go to find
about and try to win.
And now I'm very happy just judging it, you know, like I'm happy showing up and judging
it and seeing cool cars and being a part of the community.
And like as I'm judging 150 cars or whatever it is, half the kids are in their early 20s,
you know, and it's just like, wow, they're, I remember this moment.
Like I remember the grind to get to this moment.
And it's cool to see that still happening and all that jazz.
But yeah, I'm fully aware.
So here's a, here's a like, cause I wonder, cause I think about this a lot because as
you kindly point out, like I'm, I'm pushing 50.
So I'm pushing 50.
The name of the podcast.
That's a great name for a podcast.
I'm just.
Anyway.
Um, yeah, I'm 45.
So 50 is around the corner.
God, that's scary to even think about.
But, um, but like, I still actually have a hard time, um, not thinking about myself
as like the, the outsider, uh, underdog in the space.
Like when I started at zero to 60, I was the New Yorker running a car mag in New York.
I was in part of like the, the automotive elite.
And then even like when we started hoonigan, you know, there was all this others like we
weren't motor trend.
And, and then all of a sudden one day we were on top and I didn't like it anymore.
Like I enjoyed punching up.
Right.
Like I enjoyed being the scrappy ones who were like trying to like, to, to set a name,
the ones who were DIY because we had to be, and you know, and I like that punk rock element.
Yeah.
I went from why are they here to, oh, they're here.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I like, I enjoy, or why are they not here?
Right.
You know, I think that's actually went from why are they here to why aren't they here?
And then the expectation of us where like the first time we went and did power tour,
the first time we went and did, um, you know, Baha, like, you know, all these different
things where people are like, why, what are they doing here?
You know, um, and then it became, you know, they're still to this day.
I think about this all the time.
It's one of the things I'm probably most proud of is that you could talk to guys in desert
racing and the only people they know in drifting are people who are part of hoonigan.
Right.
Like that was their lens and their vision into drifting.
And they think it's cool because the attachment to like what we showed them.
They weren't going to watch it on their own.
They don't follow the same accounts we do.
They were just at it for that.
But I think now it's interesting because I personally have a hard time separating that.
Like I will talk to people and I'm not, you know, people will give me like a certain level
of praise of like, oh man, everything, you know, this, that and the other thing.
And it's like, I still don't think that way.
Like I don't look at the body of work that we did and when I don't think about it.
Like I just, I'm like, I just like making stuff and we did this thing.
And it always felt, and you were there.
We all, it always felt scrappy.
There was like maybe a year or two that didn't feel scrappy where like we were getting really
good breakfast and lunch and all that.
And that was probably the, not the best time actually.
I think the scrappy era was when it was better.
I think the question is, is like, how does that role feel different for you?
Right.
Like you went from being just hurt of beard life to then like hurt of hoonigan.
And we're very much seen as like the sort of this big personality, right?
Like no one's going to deny you were the outside of Ken.
You were the biggest personality at hoonigan.
Right.
I would say it was you and then probably Vinny.
Right.
And like, you know, you became so recognizable for that.
And then you leave that and now you're doing this other thing where like you're kind of
a little bit in the background of like T-Pain in some ways.
And it's funny because I see that and it's like, man, there's so many similarities
between like what I was dealing with with Ken.
But then you also have this crew people, you have way more responsibility on all that kind
of stuff.
But there's also this element of like, yeah, you've been doing this for N plus years, 12,
15 years.
Like Un Pros was so long ago, man.
So long ago.
It was a decade ago.
A decade.
Sometimes I watch it and I'm like, definitely can't make the show again.
No.
Oh, that one part.
Don't watch that.
Don't cancel.
Definitely.
Definitely can't make that show.
Wow.
That one.
Yeah.
You know, that was first episode or second episode or whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it's, I mean, there's so much has changed and that, that like whole thing with it's
natural regression, right?
Like how you say is like, Ken, me, Vin, whatever.
None of us were, we were just having fun.
Yeah.
And the community built us without them, we're nothing without them taking our content and
putting us on pedestals or whatever and we're nothing.
And it's always interesting to me, people who were casually looking at Hoonigan, like
maybe didn't watch the content, but saw the Instagram or whatever.
And, you know, it's like, they don't understand that Hoonigan was in half.
Half was Ken.
The other half was us.
And like, you can ask this half of the community and they'll say no Ken and you'll ask this
half of the community and say no to those guys, you know?
So it's all just like a natural progression thing.
And the same thing with pain, right?
I feel great trying to put him in the position to thrive in the automotive space because
just like I'm sure you experienced with Ken, mega rich guy comes in, can buy whatever he
wants, do whatever he wants.
People aren't going to take him seriously, you know?
And so I am actually really enjoying telling the story and showing that this dude really
loves us and wants to be a part of this and wants to do the grunt work to get to the,
to be on your level and, you know, and earn your respect.
So, so that's what you're seeing really, you know?
Cause like, I mean, I've, like you said, we've done this so long and have made videos about
ourselves and love a lot and this and that.
And it's like, I just, I want to do this first.
And then, and then, you know, we can start doing more together.
Do you, do you sort of enjoy a little bit of the feeling like maybe there is another
little extra pressure on you anymore?
Cause like I got to live this, these two different lives at Hoonigan.
I got to live this life with Ken when I went and did the Gymkhana stuff and I was very
much guy behind the guy.
And then I got to live this life of like in the early days, I stayed behind and kind of
let you guys ride.
And then eventually like, it's really all your fault.
Cause I, I think about it like car cane, the car cane intervention episode that you and
like Vinny thought up, like you really kind of pushed on that.
Like that, I think cracked an audience for me where people were like, Oh, I get this
guy now where like before I think my character was like, he's the boss, like what's going
on with him?
Like he's kind of an asshole cause I just had like a New York, you know, sense of humor.
You just popped in.
Yeah, I just popped in and just ripped you guys.
It was whatever.
And then like, I think that kind of brought me out.
But then all of a sudden like it was these two worlds.
One was I'm sitting there making content.
I'm thinking about like this character of who I am.
Not that that's not who I am, but like, you know, you, you lean into your, your
stereotyped and your character elements, like, although I do own 25 cars and only
half run, but, um, and maybe I just bought into that a little bit more.
But it's interesting now because like I, is it weird for you to, and then, and I, I
don't mean weird as a negative thing, but is it weird for you to go to an event and
you know, and in some ways kind of like have T pain take front and center?
Or is it also kind of nice?
Like, does it relieve a little bit from you?
Cause I, I, and I don't know how much you want to talk about this, but I know that
fame has been a very double edged sword for you.
And you and I used to joke about us that we were coach class famous, which meant
that even though we were famous, we still had to fly coach everywhere.
It's, it's like, I, I hate, I hate like when people say you're famous and like
you're a celebrity and this and that, cause like we're not, we genuinely are not.
Um, do we have fans?
Sure.
And do they recognize us?
Sure.
And you know, it, it, you know, I always tell, cause people will come up and ask
or picture or whatever it is or just want to talk and they always apologize.
And I'm like, Hey, without you, I don't have any of this.
Like don't apologize.
You know, it's, it's no big deal.
But at the same time, there's always a lingering feeling.
Like I'm at Disney with my family and I'm taking pictures.
I don't, I don't make enough money.
Yeah.
No, it's like, I don't make enough money to be this recognizable.
You know what I mean?
It's like, so that, that part was always weird.
Um, that part was definitely always weird, but when it comes to events and like T pain,
it's, it's,
He's a different level celebrity and the closest I can get to that is like spending time with
Sung Kang or like, I am in Manchester when we were out there for, you know, for the episode
with you on Hot Wheels.
Um, and I'm like, I'm out in town, like outside of a restaurant and every single person who
walks by recognizes, like it is like he cannot, he cannot exist in the real world.
Yeah.
Which is, which is a different level of, of crazy.
It is actually crazy.
And like, I don't feel any, any pressure or anything, right?
It's, it's like, I know what to expect when I come to events.
I know the same amount of people are going to come and say hi.
Like, you know, in terms of celebrity, we dealt with like Ken celebrity,
which really seemed big to us at the time.
I'll never forget.
Sorry to interrupt you.
I gotta interrupt you.
You're going to talk about the in and out, the in and out moment.
No, that's hilarious.
Ken to get your autograph.
I thought Ken's insides were going to fall out of him.
That was crazy for sure.
That was like early shit car days where like we were first getting some traction,
but also a Ken without a hat.
Yeah.
You know, he's in hiding.
Yeah.
Well, they asked him for, he pulled out a marker.
I got, I got to tell the story.
I got to tell the story.
I got to, this kid was working the, the drive through line.
He was the guy asking you at in and out what you wanted.
He ran from the line over and came up to us and said, I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I just really want to get an autograph and Ken pulled out a marker,
pulled out a Sharpie and he said, thanks.
And he took the marker from Ken and handed it to her and asked her for an autograph.
It was fantastic.
It was a fantastic moment.
It was a fantastic moment because I, because one, there was a humbling that I think
Ken was not expecting at the moment, but it was also, it was real proof to Ken.
The thing we were doing on YouTube matter.
Yeah.
And it was the first moment to go, there's views.
There's all of this, but like this is something we, we didn't understand.
This is off the internet.
Yeah.
And you know, you're right.
He wasn't wearing his hat.
So maybe they didn't.
So what was the other moment?
Uh, WRC, Mexico, 2013.
Wild.
Pandemonium.
Like Ken's celebrity there was insane.
Yeah.
All I remember is a family throwing their kid over the fence to send to Ken to get an autograph
because he wasn't doing autographs.
Yeah.
So they threw their kid over the railing.
When we say kid, like for you.
Yeah.
No, a toddler, a little baby.
Yeah.
They threw the kid over with stuff for Ken to sign and Ken signed it, you know, but it's
just like that's.
Well, they used to bring in like the riot police to hold the crowd back because they would
push so hard to get autographs.
So that, that was a gnarly, uh, witnessing of celebrity.
And like, obviously T-Pain has been T-Pain for.
Yeah.
Well, and the closest I've gotten to that is spending time with Sun Kang where like,
no matter where he goes, it's like he is recognized.
Yeah.
Either they know exactly who he is or they have to ask him who he is.
They can feel, they can feel like this guy is somebody and it happens whether we're at
a restaurant and an airport, like, and like that's just a whole different level of celebrity.
Yeah.
It's cool.
Like I said about.
We're like, we're like famous adjacent.
Like we're not really famous cause like it's weird when people say that to me.
I don't think of myself as famous.
I'm recognizable to a group of nerds who are no better than me.
Like my, my fan base is as important as I am.
We like the same shit.
I think, I think the best way to run more than I do.
That's all.
I think the best way to put it is people intentionally know T-Pain, Sun Kang, Ken Block.
They accidentally know us.
That's amazing.
They accidentally.
Oh, I accidentally saw a video with you in it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, and, but it's like, like I was saying about pain.
We're algorithmically famous.
It's not because of us.
Yeah.
We got served.
He didn't look for me.
Yeah.
You got served us.
Yeah.
They're like, we're, you're not really a fan.
You're not a fan of us.
You are.
We sued you with your view.
Yeah.
You're actually a victim.
We have a bunch of victims.
You have been victimized by the algorithm.
And because of that, you know me and her.
It's, it's nuts, man.
Cause yeah, those guys are all super famous.
And that, that, you know, I don't think you were there when we met pain at the,
the burn yard.
I was there when pain was there, but I was super busy and I was like running past.
I didn't really get a chance to chat with him.
So, you know, Danny Neville brings pain to the burn yard.
Danny Neville's a, you know, he's a driver,
but also a famous DJ in the UAE worldwide actually, but super cool dude.
And we'd cross paths when Rob and I went to, to Abu Dhabi with Sultan and Sultan
introduced us to him.
And then fast forward, he hits me up.
Hey, I'm a pain.
He wants to do some stuff.
Come on by.
And when pain met me, he was excited to meet me.
That's a trip.
It was crazy.
I was like, is this.
No, like I, sometimes I start to think I'm fabricating the story, but like, I remember.
It's okay.
It works.
You know, he was a little bit together.
He was super excited to meet me.
He called his wife.
I'm with her a lot of, a lot of like this, like he was excited, you know, and I was like,
what, what is this life?
What are we doing to where this guy knows who I am and where I was him for
Halloween many years ago.
Right.
So, you know,
do you wish you looked a little bit less like him?
I don't think I look anything like him.
You know,
I'm just saying that because I know you can.
Yeah, I know.
So that, that's where this, this story is going to lead into.
Right.
So it's like,
we're going with pain has been amazing.
And he puts me on a pedestal and Mike, he, his favorite story is funny that you said
that about Ken, but his favorite story to tell is like hurts the only person that
someone's handed me the camera to take a picture for, you know what I mean?
And that's just, that's crazy.
So it's like,
he actually puts me on a higher level than him at automotive events.
You know, he's like an auto space.
You're the guy.
Cause he feels that you, and you do, you have more authenticity than he does in the
space.
I mean, he's new, you know, ish.
Of course.
Of course.
Like in the direct space.
He's been, he's had cars like Ken had cars, you know, a lot, a lot, but.
We shot him for rides magazine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, so I don't feel any pressure.
I don't feel any type of way.
I just wish people would pay more attention to, because like I do have, you know, a pretty
awesome group of supporters that come and see me at events and stuff like that.
But if they, if pains people know he's at an event, but don't see him.
I'm pain.
You know, like I, I, I grid life not too long ago.
I did a meet and greet and 30% of the line thought I was pain.
Yeah.
What songs they love.
Yeah.
No, seriously.
Cause I don't, you know, when you meet people, it's just a casual conversation.
Oh, I love what you do.
Thank you so much.
That's awesome.
My dad loves, I'm in love with a stripper.
Yeah.
Look, look at it this way.
At least they confuse you for pain.
I get confused for Vinny.
Like it doesn't even make sense.
Oh, that's.
People will just be like, yo, like what's up with the whatever.
I'll be like, wait, you think I'm Vinny.
Like I get an interchangeable white dudes with beards.
Yeah, but you're not like the way that I take it is you're not actually a fan of this person.
You know, yeah.
It's the adjacency.
Yeah.
You, you don't actually care about this person.
If you think I'm him or you're Vin, like it's very clear.
Do you think the fan word is a weird word for us?
I don't like saying.
I don't like it either.
Yeah.
And it's weird.
We used to call it like viewers or the audience.
I was, it was always a weird thing in Hoonigan.
Like I never wanted to say fans and I or followers like followers.
Sounds even more cultish, although I will admit.
I think maybe like, I think I still think a cult is in my future.
Like I feel like I could pull that off.
I mean, you did.
Yeah.
I think a cult is still, I think I could still do that.
Hoonigan is a fucking cult.
It was for it.
It certainly, it certainly was.
Hey, I mean, not to like you, you, you could have talked us through the shittiest
points in life.
Like you, you did a great job leading.
I'll admit now I was talking myself through it and you guys were just hearing me talking
out loud.
We eventually caught on and that's when things started getting weird.
You're like, yo, he's not even talking to us.
He's actually talking to himself.
We should leave.
Yeah.
There was, you know, it's, you could for sure have a cult.
For sure.
Good.
Thanks.
I appreciate it.
I want to work on it.
I feel like it's, I feel like it's the next chapter.
Yeah.
I think, I think that's where I go next.
It starts with your Patreon people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The cult, the cult, I don't even know what that cult is, but it'll be interesting.
So, um, no man, I'm, I'm, I'm stoked to see what you guys are doing and like kind of
putting together.
It's, um, you know, I, again, it's, it's so interesting to me because I feel like in
some ways like your, your next chapter feels like the chapter I just went through and it's
cool that you've got someone like pain who gives you that confidence.
There's a quick little like Ken story I want to tell, which I, when Ken did this to me,
I realized how important it was.
We would walk into meetings and this was early on and we'd walk into a meeting and the meeting
would start and like, you know, it'd be like Ford executives.
So you have like the top people at Ford there, you know, it's like early on, there's like
six or seven people in the room or Castro or whoever, you know, whatever, whatever tire
company Pirelli and we would start the meeting and he would like, like interrupt everyone
and be like, oh, hold on one second.
Cause everyone would like, would like just glaze like they would just like gloss right
over me.
Like, oh, I'm like his bad boy.
Right.
Like who's the guy who's with them or I'm the friend or I'm the agent or whatever.
And Ken would just pedestal, like just completely pedestal me.
He would just be like, this dude is everything.
Like I listened to him about it.
Like he basically would put me in a place where it's like, like this is the guy and
like you need to like, you need to understand that like what he says goes so on, so on.
And later on, like I asked him once, I was like, you know, what's your, what's your
strategy there?
And he was like, I don't want to have to deal with these people.
He's like, and they're never going to believe that like, I don't have a say unless I just
tell them that like you have to say, he's like, cause I don't want to have to be in the
meeting.
I don't want them to second guess you like you and I can have our own internal conversations
and our own internal arguments, but to the outside world, your say is everything.
Like if you tell Ford, we're not doing it.
They don't need to come talk to me.
Like that's it.
Like you have that thing.
And at the time, especially like at my age, cause I was, I don't know, 31, 32 at the time,
like it felt like such a massive power to have that.
And like, I think about like that simple thing that he did was such a set up for me to like
take a confidence of like, all right, this dude's putting me on.
Like he's the one who's vouching for me in front of all these people to kind of go do
that.
And, you know, I look back at it now.
It's like, it gave me, it gave me a confidence that allowed me to do things that most, I
probably previously I wouldn't have tried to do cause I would have thought I would have
failed, but he was just like, you got this, you got this, you can figure it out.
And I, you know, and I, I know Ken was that way with you too, where it's like, I don't
know, figure it out.
I mean, I still don't think you know how to use a camera, but you got some of the best
shots ever in Chumkana.
I don't know how.
And you figured it out.
Say that too loud.
Cause it didn't make people hate me.
No, it's because, and I, I love it so much cause I'm not a technical, I'm not a person
who loves the tech side of cameras.
You, and then this sounds like corny filmmaker shit, but like you understand the emotion
of a camera, which a lot of people don't, a lot of people can sit there and they can
talk to you about shutters and they can talk to you about, you know, why you want to run
this with this aspect ratio and this frames per second and why this vignettes and what
Anamorphic does.
And you're like, I don't know any of that.
Then I'm just like, cool story.
Yeah.
And you just get the shot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's like, I mean, and like there's something there that just works.
You can't really, you can't really teach that.
But, and I always told you that because I knew that you, as we grew up, there were more and
more camera guys who knew way more than you.
But I was like, you still always have a camera on set because like you understood that in
a certain way.
I love filming.
I love filming automotive stuff.
I totally tangent off the original.
Yeah.
I don't even remember.
Just run it.
I mean, I love filming automotive stuff, but I also think being around the nerds, like
well, Rogi and those guys who absolutely like each sleep, breathe filmmaking, you know, I
think just being around them helped me a lot too.
It was like, I may have not fully understood how the thing worked, but they definitely,
you know, gave me an understanding of it.
But yeah, I just, I love being in the mode, catching the action.
So I had to run it back one time just for the feels.
Come on out.
Or you could bring me out.
I'll come off on one of your sets.
So what's sort of, what's sort of next for you guys?
Like where does, where does everything with, with Nappy Boy go?
Like what are, what are your goals?
Like you said before, you know, you never really fully understood what the Hoonigan
goals were, which is weird.
But for me, because I'm thinking, man, maybe I wasn't that clear about that kind of stuff.
I think our goals were like weekly.
Yeah.
I knew what our goals were as a brand, but I didn't know what the goal was as the company.
Right.
If that makes sense.
You know, so like, I really did either.
But for sure.
But like I said, I was just heads down and support.
Like whatever, I don't, I don't, whatever Brian wants to do, we're doing.
Like that's just how I operated.
You know, it's just, you know, I was, I was, I always, I always tell myself it's like,
I was, what's the word that I use?
Blindly loyal.
You know, I didn't look, I didn't, I didn't look outside of the scope.
I just was like, Brian wants to do this.
He says this, let's do it.
You know what I mean?
And you know, there's ups and downs to that.
Yeah.
For sure.
For sure.
It's also the best, basically the definition of a cult.
So maybe that was already my chapter.
I already told you you had a cult.
I was talking about who to get.
I don't know if you picked up on that, but.
So are you saying that the people who worked at Hoonigan were the cult or the, or the,
or the viewership fan base was a cult?
The people, you were the cult leader.
Nobody, no one creates Hoonigan.
If it's not you, like no one gets what you got out of these people.
If it's not you, I don't know if you understand that.
I don't know if you understand that, but you have the gift of gab.
You fucking, you talked your way through so much shit and made us believe no matter what
everything was this and that, and we did it.
And you went through, so you went through different generations of it.
Like, and I, you know, this is maybe too personal a conversation for us to have on
a podcast, but whatever we're over an hour in at this point, no one's listening anymore.
Um, you know, you went through me trying to figure out how to be a leader in that world.
Cause I remember like in the beginning, like I would lose my temp, like I would lose my
like cool, I would be yelling and screaming.
By the end, I wasn't that person anymore.
Like I came out this other end of it and became way more calm.
Well, it's funny cause people like round would come to me and be like, who's this?
Who's this version?
When did you guys get this update?
Because I'd be mellow.
Yeah.
Cause he remembers zero 60, which was even more like I was in zero to 60.
I was a movie character.
Like I was throwing shit, yelling, screaming.
I once threw a chair to like almost through the window.
Like I was full on like a bad movie of like, you know, a guy who wasn't really like not
didn't know how to be in charge.
And then by the end I kind of calmed down.
I actually calmed me down a bunch.
She definitely.
Shout out Ashley.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But um, but yeah, that was like, you definitely went through all those, those different phases
of it.
So all to make you just better at your job now.
Answer the goal question.
What are what are your guys?
Um, I mean, so I mean, just how you said, you know, you operated, we all operated spazzy
because like the goalpost moved a lot.
Right.
So, you know, currently, uh, I think main focus now that we've done a nice run up touring
is just starting to build up a solid YouTube rapport, you know, so it's like we've done
the event coverage, but now I want to, you know, I want to make some shows, you know,
I, I think there's, I think pain and I have an undeniable chemistry.
Yep.
Um, and I think there's a couple of different show options we can do.
Um, I want to make him super uncomfortable.
You know, he can afford private jets.
I want him to drive a shitty car across country.
You know what I mean?
Like bro, I've been looking for limos for him.
We have to.
Oh, sick.
Yeah.
Yeah, we have to.
Nice.
It sucks.
I realized on that dinner when we started talking about like weird limos, I was like, oh shit,
pain and I have more in common than I thought.
Everyone listening to this, I said, I texted this to Scott.
Oh, I said, you meeting pain is the worst thing to ever happen to me.
This is the worst thing to ever happen to me because, because pain has a lot of wild
ideas and, and obviously the money to fuel them.
And, uh, I feel like it's funny because, you know, he tells me just money doesn't
matter, spend the money.
And I'm, I'm a very, I like to, you know, no, I'm going to do it.
You know, I want to do it this way.
Well, Hoonigan, we were very aware of the money because there wasn't as much.
Yeah, right.
And, and I don't want to, you know, I'm not just trying to spend money, you know,
unless there's a great idea behind it that we need to, you know, build or whatever.
But, um, Scott, I was definitely not, not somebody I need.
Yeah.
I don't, I don't need it.
But the goal, the goals currently is like, you know, we're not, when the
industry is, is not that different no matter where you look, right?
You know, we have ourselves as the brand entities.
Um, we sell merch, we go to events, we make YouTube videos and things like that.
But I mean, the goal definitely is to one.
I think build a really fun event series, you know, where we hop around and have
some really cool events.
Um, and then just build some really cool YouTube shows that revolve around one,
our chemistry, but also bringing in old friends, new friends and things like that.
So how was the event you guys did up in the Milwaukee area?
You guys did the Wisconsin.
Yeah.
Wisconsin stay fear.
So that was basically every year pain is done.
Uh, Wisconsin vest, which is his music festival that he has at the rave in Milwaukee.
Um, and I mean, I think it's four years now and it's sold out all four years.
And we decided, Oh, let's open it up with an event.
You know, so that was our third event that we,
what is his connection to that?
What, what's the background there for him?
Um, the song.
Uh, okay.
That's yeah.
Yeah.
So, so he had the song and then he started having a festival there.
Uh, and it went crazy.
They gave him a, an official T pain.
They, they're there and everything.
And so it's just a relationship that they built.
Um, and so that's definitely going to be the home of it all the time.
You know, so now we're trying to add a drift event element to it.
Or just an automotive event in general.
I'd love for it to be more than just drifting.
Um, cause I don't, I don't want us to just be a drifting company.
You know, this pain, like, I know he likes cars and I know he likes super cars and stuff like that.
But does he, is he interested in more things on the motor sport side than drifting?
Or does he just really kind of stick to drifting?
No, I, he's definitely interested in, and doing more.
I think we both are, um, you know, he's getting drifting down.
He's feeling good there.
But I think, I think where the fun really starts for us is when we are on the same.
Playing same level and a new sport.
You know, so like when we go to rally school together, the competition between us,
that's a show right there.
Yeah. You know, so when we go to rally school together in the competition between us,
or we go to grip school or whatever it is, like we're on the same level.
So it's like a buddy, buddy, you know, competition show, learning how to do all this stuff.
And I think that's really going to change the landscape for us is when we're,
we're not showing what we're already good at, where you get to see us grow into either
being not really good at something or, you know, finding a new passion.
Did you remember going to Glamis, me, you and Vinny, and like we were jumping stuff
and you were like, I don't know how to jump things.
And you're like, we're like, well, like we grew up riding BMX.
And even though we had never done that in UTVs, the concept of jumping something was there.
And you're like, I'm just going to do donuts and then you're rolling.
I think I probably can find the picture of, yeah, I could probably find the picture of it rolled over.
I think I have a video of me doing donuts.
And you were just laughing hysterically.
Yeah.
I have a video for sure of me doing donuts with cacao in the can.
Remember when I flipped that on the intersection, the day we got it.
Do you remember Brad rolled the four seater right after we put the carbon roof on it, bringing it into the shop?
Basically off the dock or whatever.
Yeah.
Oh, Bradley.
That dude, do you remember Travis Clark, the agent?
Yeah.
He rolled it on the set.
Like I was like, hey, can you move that?
Yeah.
He got in it and rolled it from a standstill.
I had never seen that before.
And he has like, he like raced Baja.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Off-road scary, man.
Do you remember me riding with Jason Ellis?
Jason Ellis is a man, man.
He's psychopath.
I'm sorry I made you do that.
Yeah.
That was terrifying.
Terrifying.
Yeah, yeah.
He had so much joy.
Yeah, yeah.
Just scaring you.
Yeah.
It wasn't driving.
He was enjoying making you scared.
I've never seen something.
He got fully erectile.
I've never seen someone genuinely pull someone's soul out.
And, you know, and being like, yes, this is exactly what I wanted.
You know, that was a gnarly moment.
Shout out to Jason too.
I haven't seen him in a minute.
He's doing all right.
He's doing pretty good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I spoke to him recently.
So, yeah, man.
So for you guys, I'm interested in the event stuff because I think,
you know, like that was always the next frontier.
I always wanted to do more events.
We obviously did burn yard and stuff, but we always wanted to kind of do
something more.
And I feel like, I feel like there's a bunch of great events out.
I don't want to name anyone because I think a bunch of people doing a
really good job and stuff, but it seems like automotive events have oddly
plateaued in an era when I don't think car culture has been more peak
than it is right now in terms of mainstream consumption of it.
And there doesn't seem to be an event that really services that.
I think grid life is the closest, but I still think like there's,
there's so much room.
And I think it takes someone like a T-Pain to bring that to it.
Like, I don't think two people like, I don't think, you know,
John and James Rand, Randos can just go and go make an event.
I think like you guys have a unique space where you speak to one side
of automotive.
Like he speaks to a side of pop culture that can bring that together.
So to me, that's very interesting for you guys.
That's exactly, you know, it's funny.
I feel like we had this conversation internally too.
It's like, because, you know, I go into meetings for our events and I'm
just talking about the drivers, you know, I'm like, I know, you know,
I want to make sure the drivers have a great experience and a lot of
this and that.
And, and he's on the other end of it, the spectators and the overall
entertainment aspect of the event.
And we just, you know, work on blending those things.
Total tangent, but we'll, we'll jump over to this.
And by the way, we haven't actually gone to any of the things I wanted to ask
you, but it's fun.
It's good to catch up.
It has been a while.
Although people, you know, like just, I asked the boys, I asked Vinny and
Ron this question.
Do people often ask you about everybody else at Hoonigan?
Like, oh, because I think everyone thinks we still don't talk.
Like everyone feels like, well, now that you're not on YouTube anymore,
you clearly must not be friends.
You must not chat.
You must not talk anymore.
And like Vinny was like, I talked to her like once every other, like once
a week, once every other week via texts, like you and I text.
Like, I don't think, I don't think that people directly asked me like, oh, how's
such and such or la, la, la, but it's often a, hey, loved Hoonigan, loved what
you guys did, stoked to see you, et cetera, like doing this stuff.
Keeping up with all you guys is awesome.
And I mean, I, I've signed a handful of driver's error stuff.
I get tagged in their stuff all the time.
I'm like, it's not my company.
I mean, dude, I mean, it's undeniable what Vin is doing.
Like that dude is absolutely killing it.
Which is funny because he was the one in the last year who was like, I don't,
when Hoonigan's over, I'm not going to be onscreen talent.
I don't want to do this.
I just want to do biz development.
Like I don't want to do this part.
It's useless for my career.
And then he's the one churning it every week.
Yeah.
And some, some things made him see the light and he's an actual demon.
You know, like he's done great.
Obviously Jolly, Jolly's got a great vision and helps him with all that.
So I think that that's been, no, I'm stoked to see everybody kind of going
on and doing their, their new things and doing different stuff.
It's like cool to see that.
Um, I know everybody's been begging for, uh, for like a reunion of all of us.
And maybe that's, maybe this is the drag race thing you set up.
I just want to get smoked.
Y'all want to put some money on it?
I don't have any money.
I still don't have any money.
Nothing.
Well, you trying to get rid of cars so you can put a car on it, bro.
That's crazy.
We can talk.
I would love to take that from you.
The Ferrari?
No.
Come on.
Put up the hard.
That's the only card.
Race you pink.
How about my eight six for your eight?
I don't need that.
I don't need that.
I don't need that.
The only car I'd ever race you for pinks is your Porsche.
That's the only one.
A car versus car, but like, what car would you race me in that?
It's got to be fair.
I'd make it fair.
I'd make it fair.
How much power does that make?
400.
Yeah.
Ways like 2,600.
I can race you in the FD.
I'd put pinks on that.
What's in the FD these days?
Just a two rotor, a little two rotor, 1.3 liter, nothing crazy.
Me racing for pinks.
We can race.
That's like, I always tell people like if that car is for sale,
check on me because something bad happened in my life.
Like that's a forever pot.
Because even though it's worth a ton, I didn't buy it for a ton.
So like it still just feels like.
What is that worth now?
I don't even want to say out loud.
Like 300.
I thought 250 and then I started talking to some people and it's definitely north of 350.
Yeah.
Like I've actually had people offer me more than that and I delete the DMs because like,
I just don't want it to be real because like it's dumb for me not to sell it.
Like that is that type of money right now would pay off mortgages, do all that.
So like, yeah.
Yeah.
Hoping my wife's not listening to this podcast.
But anyway, yeah.
So no, I think event.
I think an event thing would be super rad.
Yeah.
As far as goals go, I think that's a big thing for us is definitely having events.
It never was really in my spectrum to want to throw events.
That's a pain thing, but after now doing three events, I see it.
Yeah.
And I feel it too.
You know, it definitely feels fulfilling putting on something that one, you're proud of too,
that people go home and tell people, I went to this thing, you didn't go.
You're stupid for not going.
You know, that type of stuff.
So, so let me, let me ask you a question on drifting and I'm curious because I will
and I have this conversation all the time.
I feel, I am an, I feel like an outsider in drifting.
It's never was my hobby, but because I was so involved in it from the business side and
the content side of Hoonigan and so connected with all of you guys, like I have a very intimate
knowledge of it.
I know, you know what I'm saying?
Like I know all the nuance and all the whatever, but like it was never my, it wasn't my passion,
the way it was for all of you guys, but that didn't make, that always, that didn't stop
me from wanting to improve it, change the way that it was talked about, you know, do
all these different things, but you, and Will feels different to that.
Will's like, you've been in this for so long that you're basically a part of it.
Like you created pathways for it.
Even if you weren't there as a driver, like you still saw this in a different, you know,
in a different way, but this is, I can't, I have to be careful cause I'm on under NDA,
but you know about the project I'm working on and there's a conversation around a drift
course in it and I brought up the idea of adding a bunch of like elements to it, like
how we would in Gymkhana grid.
And I think that there's this conversation of like, well, that's not done in drifting
and meaning like, you know, like in a Gymkhana grid, we'd have like, you know, a plane like
Hong that you slide underneath or like something you would hit that would like hit a dunk tank
and do all of that.
Do you think there's a place for that in drifting or do you think that that moves too far from
what the OG kind of like toga drift was and it becomes too gimmicky, but like, or do you
think that there is a world for it?
There's no one way of drifting.
Right.
You've got the toga rats.
You got the track rats.
You got the street guys, you know, like there's no one.
You've got the full just competition level.
Full comp.
Yeah.
Pro-am comp guys.
Like there's no one version of drifting.
It just kind of depends on, on, you know, what you're seeking there.
So like a gimmick like that isn't, I don't think is a bad thing on the scope with the
scope of the event in mind.
Right.
Right.
So what's the scope of the event?
That allows you to do more.
If it's a grassroots core, you know, just a purest style event.
That's one thing.
But if you're putting on a show for people, spectators or right, you know, viewers, whatever
that those are elements that can make a mediocre drift event into an amazing drift event to
the naked eye.
Yeah.
Cause like I agree.
I 100% agree.
As a driver, and this is what I'm learning, like blending my style and pain style into
an event.
Like as a driver, I don't fucking care if there's a, am I truck in the middle of the track
that I have to go under?
Like it doesn't change the track for me.
You know, I'm going to power through that section and just like I would if it wasn't there.
You know what I mean?
So.
Well, I think Mad Mike brought that first.
Yeah.
With drift shifters.
I thought that that was phenomenal.
Drift shifters was awesome.
When that first came, I'm like, this is the future.
Yeah.
And then it just didn't really catch on outside of what Mike did.
And I don't know if people were either trying not to copy what he was doing or just the
expense and the cost of adding it.
That's what it is.
That's what it is.
Well, that's 100% what it is because like you talking about that element isn't necessarily
going to sell more tickets to your event.
You know what I mean?
Right.
Like after they see it and you do it.
It's the, it's the FOMO.
Then when people are like, Oh, it was crazy.
They had pyro.
The initial, the initial might not make or break your event, you know, so it's just people
not wanting to, you know, do the spend drift events are expensive running a track and coordinate
everything.
Like you're a lot of times you're lucky you break even, you know what I mean?
So it's just like being in a position to do that and build it because you have to slum
it out to get to the, you know, grid life doesn't start overnight.
Good life has been around for 15 years.
Their events at Michigan now are a lot bigger than they were, you know, in the early days,
you know, so.
I sat down about six months ago and I took out a piece of paper and I just wrote like
a list of things I want to do in my life.
Right.
And one of the reasons was, was after I left super plastic, I was in this like weird situation
where like I had to make money instantly because I had like nothing left in savings
after, after buying the farm and I still had a mortgage on this and the farm.
And you know, as you know, the whole thing went south and most of my money, what do you
mean?
And what are you talking about?
So it was one of those like, I had to go make money and I go do that.
And that meant that I had to like take, and I don't want to say work, I didn't want to
work on because it was stuff I enjoyed doing, but it wasn't like my passion, right?
It was like consulting work and stuff like that.
And I only try to work with the companies I like working with, you know, and same thing
for this, this podcast, like my rule was like, I only want to work with partners that like
I actually know these people and I like them because I don't want to promote someone's
brand.
I don't know.
We got into like in Hoonigan early days, we worked with brands we knew.
There was definitely an error where we were just like sling and stuff and like that sucked.
It didn't feel good, right?
So, you know, I wanted to do that.
But I was sitting there thinking like, what are the things I want to do in life?
Right. And like, obviously, like top of the list is like start a cult, right?
Like obviously start a cult, maybe another cult.
Number two was another cult is the right.
You already know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Number two was was podcasting.
I enjoyed you've always wanted to do this.
You guys, we never did it.
I mean, I did that one quick show.
I did the one quick show that was on Spotify, right?
That I did with Ron Ball and it went one season.
But like everyone called it Scottos Folly because like it just no one else wanted to do it.
I wanted to do it.
I enjoyed it.
It was something I liked.
I like podcasts.
It's what it's what I like.
It's where you digest.
It's where I digest because I don't really have time for the visuals side of everything.
I enjoy the audio, although video podcasting is where everything's moving.
And I enjoy this.
I enjoy the conversation.
Like this is not this is not performative for me.
Like I'm enjoying the conversation with you right now.
And we probably wouldn't have a chance to have this conversation otherwise, right?
So it's like podcast gives a reason.
Yeah, it gives gives the reason, right?
But so the pocket is one.
But then the other two things that were on there.
One was fixed Hollywood, not like the whole thing, but the automotive side of it.
I think I think car chases and everything in Hollywood are just absolute trash.
I think they've really lost the plot of like what makes cars look good on camera.
And that is something I want to go do.
Obviously, I'm working out working my way towards that.
I'll tell you about another thing that's going on after this.
But the other one of it is is save motorsports.
And I realize it's like both of those are like really, really, really big concepts.
And I'm being, I'm being kind of a bit, you know, ridiculous.
I'm purposely being hyperbolic in the way that I say it.
But like I I can't help but look at motorsports and realize that they have racing
has an entertainment problem, right?
And I know when I say racing, I include drifting, I include everything.
Any kind of of competition level vehicle.
It's like they have an entertainment problem.
You know, it doesn't have an entertainment problem.
Supercross, Monster Jam, like these guys understand entertainment.
Like they get that right.
I think F1's figuring it out a little bit more now and they're
leaning into the storylines and the soap opera of it all.
But I can't help but look at drifting and go.
Where does drifting go next, right?
Where does where does, you know, where did some of these like forgotten,
you know, spaces like Indie and like all these places?
Like how do they get a new audience when their audience dies?
Like how do they bring in that new thing?
And so much of it is like creating a platform where it's entertaining to go there, right?
And and it's it's more about like it really makes an experience feel, feel different.
And I it's something I think a lot about.
I obviously haven't really kind of put it to action, but whether it's like talking
to, you know, Cole and like he's got some stuff coming up.
Maybe I shouldn't talk about that because I'm probably under NDA.
But like, but like, there's a bunch of stuff like that.
And I think it's interesting because when I hear that your guys are going to do,
you know, that type of thing, I'm like, man, you guys have that opportunity.
Like maybe you could hire me.
Wouldn't that be a great change?
Wouldn't that be a weird flip?
You know, I would hire you for a day.
Bro, that'd be so fun.
I don't know if I could get that much revenge in in 24 hours.
They're actually one of my favorite albums is Jawbreaker's 24 hour revenge therapy.
I now understand what that means.
I got 24 hours to get all of my revenge.
Oh, you think you're going to get the revenge?
Oh, I'm getting the revenge.
I thought you were talking about me.
No, bro.
No, no, no.
That's crazy.
Yeah, yeah, it's hard.
You know, when you're it's it was a great employee.
Is it time for a commercial break?
There's no way you were a great friend.
Sometimes you were a great employee, but you were you were you were a lot.
You were a lot at times.
You were a lot.
We were a lot.
We were all a lot.
We were a group of a lot.
Yeah, we definitely were a lot.
We were doing too much at sometimes.
Yeah, so.
No, but anyway, jokes aside, like I think you guys have
the pieces it takes to make it happen because you need someone who has the
weight of pain to go do it and someone like you who has.
And I'm going to wrap this all around to what my original thing
I want to make this podcast about an understanding of style to make it cool.
Because I think that that is something that often gets lost.
I'm not going to name other people in the celebrity world,
but there's a lot of celebrities who've tried to do big car shows.
And I just don't think that they land
except for Rick Ross, like his like the Rick Ross car show.
Have you been for I haven't been.
Did you go?
What did you think of it in person?
I don't want to talk about it.
Oh, really?
See, because online for like the Don community online, it looks nice for the
Don community and like for that, like community
that has never really had a pinnacle event.
It seems really, really cool.
I don't think it's a bad car show.
But I don't like for what he is.
It should be.
I think it should be more.
They do a very good job than a packaging.
Because to me, it felt like hip hop's Goodwood Festival Speed.
Yeah, no, it has a lot of potential for sure.
It's a massive car show.
But I think for what, who he is and how much money he has.
Yeah, I think it could be a lot different or should be a lot different.
Well, then gives you guys that's not your lane.
That's not your lane.
But I think no matter what, though, I think it's really good to look at other
how people do things in other spaces.
Yeah, to say, like, how does that translate over?
Sure, 100 percent.
Like, how do you do a version of that for drifting?
And I think like, dude, we and track cars and like just our audience of people.
We were in pace because like, you know, Wisconsin State Fair was a feeler.
We got screwed by the original venue and we lost a month and a half for
promote to promote this event.
And we didn't have a another event locked in until a month and a half.
So we couldn't plan what we were doing because we didn't know where we were doing.
So we didn't have a lot of time to really dial in that event.
But we were planning an event at the end of October.
You know, we we put a hold on the track.
We were figuring out the contract and all that stuff.
And then the track calls us one day and tells us we can't have our event
because they booked one the day before and the day after,
even though we had our holds since January, you know, and we're figuring out
actively talking to them about the contract.
And they're just like, yeah, sorry, maybe tried next year.
That sucks. Yeah. And it's just like, you know, and that one, we were
that was going to be our big nut. You know what I mean? Can I say?
Can I say? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can say whatever.
It's his job to believe it.
Yeah, yeah. So that that one was going to be our big nut.
And I was really excited to like really dive in and go in on all these things.
We're talking about what, you know, how to level up an auto motor sports event
in general, you know, and just like from, you know, having a bit of a car.
I'm not like it's not that I don't care about car shows.
I love car shows.
I love walking around and looking at what people are doing.
But there's also a lot of car shows going around, you know, so I'm not trying to create the vibe, though.
Yeah, yeah, I'm not trying to have just a standard car show, though.
You know, I'm trying, we're trying to elevate all the elements of
of a motor sports event and the venue pulled it out from under.
So we're still going to plan, you know, and build what that looks like.
But having the venue and the purpose, the date definitely gives it
a lot more motive, you know, but I'm trying to create something like that on the small level.
But I've been paying so much attention to like what everyone else is doing,
because like nowadays, like cars and coffee is such a big thing that like why go to a car show?
Like you go see a crazy car is a cars and coffee.
So it's like, it has to offer you more.
It has to be a real experience.
You can't just be walking in the parking lot, you know, which unfortunately is what I thought
was kind of a little bit what the Rick Ross show was, again, for like the Donk community.
But it's giving them a reason to build really cool stuff.
Definitely not speaking down on the show.
And there are definitely some radical builds.
Guys building gnarly donks and, you know, and that brown sugar and Bobby Brown.
I love to see, I love to see that car culture kind of bridge the gap
into just automotive media, you know what I mean?
Because like donks and bubbles and that general culture has always had a hard time
breaking the mold and like being seen serious.
I watched that whole show on Beto's channel on the gas, which is great
because I watched their stuff and I'm like, that's cool.
You guys kind of just like stole the Hoonigan five.
I like it.
I like it.
Like I, well, a couple of people who, I mean, like we were so early in what we were doing.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, I, there are a bunch of people that we've brought on our show that
have created their own things.
That are doing stuff, you know, because I said stole.
I don't mean it that way.
I mean, like they've, they've vamped it, you know, like they took a version of it, made
it their own.
We were doing burn yard before Garrett Cleetus was doing Cleetus in cars.
Do you remember what he said?
I have 100% what did he say?
What did he say?
Say it.
Cause I, cause, uh, you know, maybe this is not for a radum, but he looked us in
the eyes and was like, I'm doing this when he was done with, cause he came to the
event and that was when he had, he brought Leroy out, right?
When I was like still new and, you know, and at the end he was like, I'm going to do
this idea, which was like so honest.
He looked us in the eyes and said, I'm going to take this idea and do it.
And now he has the biggest burn yard style show imaginable and he does it every
month and it's nuts.
Like he's built a fucking empire.
That, that meant we missed an opportunity there.
And that was, but that's because we were, well, just different goals, dude.
Like, if COVID didn't happen, I wonder though, cause I was going to ask you that
question on seven burn yards in a row at Irwindale, cracking out 5,000 a pop,
which like is pretty good for that.
I actually was going to ask you, what do you think Hooning in is if a COVID doesn't
happen?
Cause like that was a momentum halt.
That, that halted our momentum.
We were, we were moving.
Yeah.
Like we were booking, but I also think there was an element of like, we were kind
of being torn apart too.
Like I think that there was so much work at the time that like it may have burned us
out.
I mean, that's, it's, it might have been it for sure.
And that, that carries on the conversation that I was, you know, just
right now with thinking about Cleetus and, you know, his events and things like
that, it's just like what Cleetus is building and what he's doing isn't what
Hooning and was trying to build.
No, it's, it's, they're separate.
Like if we were a grassroots company and we, and the idea wasn't to sell and our
ecosystem was us, I think we definitely could have, you know, done something like
that, but that just wasn't our goal.
I don't know.
In the end, you realize like that wasn't, that wasn't the move, but this, I don't
know, this episode, I don't know, are we on track on this episode?
Are we all over the place?
Hey, we're good.
My ride's going to be here in five minutes.
Did you call that before?
No, no, no.
So no, it's like, did you like plan an escape?
Cause like if so, you have matured and grown in a way that I am most proud that
you have actually planned an extraction.
I don't want to, you planned an extraction to get out of this podcast.
You're going too far.
Cause you know, I don't want to, I don't want to burst your bubble, but it's all
Raquel, I don't, I don't know.
Oh, she took care of it all.
She got you planned.
Okay.
All right.
That's fair.
I appreciate you.
She also knows me.
I appreciate you giving me that.
Yeah.
She's like, they all do you just sit in there talking for hours.
Okay.
I want to hit you with a couple of last things cause this is brought up.
So, um, you and I just chatted the whole time, but there's this other concept I
have for another podcast I want to do called firing order.
And it's basically creating lists of different things.
I tested it in the first episode with Vinny and Ron.
And the question we had, I wanted to keep it something simple so we could get
through it pretty quickly, but the question was, was what was the, um, top three
cars we ever built at Hoonigan?
So I, I, I have the, I have the, the final answer from them.
So I can either ask you for your top three and these are the company cars.
So it's not personal cars and not, not cars, not cars yet.
That's cause then it's easy.
Then it's basically just Hoonicorn, Hoonatruck, Hoonupig is probably the top
three, but, um, but no, so it's the cars we built.
So like, you know, the, the rolls, the Camaro, Knucklebusters, E36, Shark
cart, like whatever, right?
Top three cars.
What's your list?
They have to be in order.
You could give them to me and yeah, you could give them to me.
However, I'm curious how close you are to what we debated about to land on.
Okay.
Um, the Donk, shit car.
See, what do we have?
He said Sharkard, the Sharkard, Scumbug, Rolls Royce, Warthog, uh, Lightning,
632 Camaro, um, the Indy car thingy, the Ridgeline with the Indy car rear on it.
Um, Colmaro, I mean, there's a bunch of like lower level things like the C8
build or whatever, those are kind of nothing, but like of the more major builds.
Okay.
So you got a shit car, Donk.
It would have to be between, narrow it down, narrow it down.
It'd have to be between the Indy car and the 632.
Okay.
I think I'm not sure which one.
Probably lean towards the 632 because we had more access to it.
Right.
Yeah.
The thing that sucked out the Indy car was that we weren't allowed to drive it.
We had no access to it, but that was a gnarly build.
Um, fuck Warthog too, though.
But again, we didn't really, I mean, that was for somebody else essentially,
right?
Cause we didn't keep, yeah, we just gave it to it.
That was for Microsoft for it.
Yeah.
So Microsoft, uh, Halo.
I guess, I guess I'll, I guess I'll, I hate to pick two V8 cars, you know, like
that's all right.
You know, but the 632 Camaro was really cool.
Well, I actually realized something when we were doing this before I didn't bring
it up, but Hoonigan never did a Japanese car build because all the personal builds
other than mine, everyone was building Japanese cars.
So we didn't need to, like we had to offset it with a lot of the
American cars because internally we weren't really building American cars.
Yeah.
Like you, Vinny, Ron, Dan, like you guys were all building Japanese cars.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Donk, shit car, uh, Camaro.
Okay.
I, it's hard not to pick Sharkard too.
You know, like if, if we're going lower, like Sharkard should be on there.
You know what I mean?
Like strictly lower, but.
You got to, you got to pick all the things, the quality of it, the lore of it,
the fun of it.
All right.
You know what, you want, all right then, I'm going to go one, two, three,
shit car, one, Donk, two, Sharkard, three.
Okay.
So here's the list that we, we came up with roles.
Number one, Donk, number two, shit car, number three.
So two of the three you're on roles wasn't on your list.
You drove the living shit out of that thing in Atlantic city.
Can you explode the transmission on that thing?
The transmission broke every time it was driven.
Yeah.
Every time.
It's a cool car.
It just, it just, it came, well, it came pre-broke.
It's not that it came pre-broke.
I think at the era of that car, it didn't, I don't think it meant that much to the
brand.
I see what you're saying.
Yeah.
I don't think, I don't think that meant more than the cars that I've listed to
the.
So I'll give you their individual list because we each, how we did it was everyone
did their three and then we went through it.
So Ron was Donk, Rolls, Indy, right?
Vin was six, three, six, 32, Camaro, Rolls, shit car.
Mine was Donk, Sharkard, scumbug, because even though I think that shit car was
more important to the brand as an identity, Sharkard served a longer span was
actually way more fun to drive.
The amount of people who learned how to slide a car around like, I think the first
car I like, I had done figure eights in with Sharkard.
Like that was one of those vehicles that like everybody had fun driving it and it
went from being a car we hated, which was the $200 Miata and actually made it kind
of cool.
So, and it also lived every single mechanic who ever worked at Hoonigan worked on
it.
So Darnall started the build, Dan took it from there and then soupy, like ever,
it lived the life where like we, and we never ruined it.
We've ruined shit car, off road shit car.
Maui, Maui.
You were against it from day one, I know you were.
I should have put an asterisk on shit car that.
No, no, shit car was fourth of July shit car.
That was like ultimate peak shit car.
Yeah, that was, all right.
Yeah, so I mean, I guess, all right.
So Donk and shit car are definitely up on the list.
I just think like Sharkard, Sharkard wasn't like good looking, but it was
shit car.
Shit car is obviously lower.
I mean, I feel like that car started a brand, like really started a brand with that car
oddly, you know, it did a lot for us.
If you looked at Hoonigan and you just talked about the story of shit car and Indy
truck, I think like you could just talk about where we started, where we ended up and like
maybe some of the mistakes made, because if you think about it, shit car was a attainable
$500 bill that we made look stylish with very little money and everyone got to drive it.
Like everyone drove it.
If you came to the building, you got to drive it, including the Domino's delivery guy.
Wow.
And the.
Memories.
And the Indy car, no one got to drive it except for a professional race car driver.
Like that, if that doesn't say everything about where we started and where we ended.
Yeah.
I mean, things like the Indy car and the Rolls Royce, I think reflect where I was at Hoonigan
and, you know, where I just was like, that had nothing to do with us.
Soupy had his gang and those boys did the thing.
And like we weren't really a part of it.
It was crazy that they let us do it, but it definitely didn't have like the initial
soul of like what we were doing.
Yeah.
To me, Donk was, I will be the first to say, it was this, it was like the emotional support
project during the pandemic.
It was the one time a week we all got to get together, like go deal with all that shit.
You know, the Donk, I think is cool.
You know, obviously it's a Donk big blower out the, the sound of crazy, uh, you know,
the custom, those BB or Rotiform.
Yeah.
BBS wraps.
Yeah.
But the whole idea of the Donk, I don't, no one on the main stage of automotive YouTube
was building dogs.
So it's like, not only was it cool, but like, you know, breaking that mold and educating
people and, and watching you kind of lead a build and really be a part of the build too.
You and I both learned to weld on that project too, which is cool.
Yeah.
We got welders, shout out.
It's your podcast.
I don't know.
You can shout out Miller.
I still, I don't have a welding partner, but I still have Miller.
Yeah.
So shout out Miller.
Yeah.
We got, we got welders.
We learned that.
You still got a, you still got a partnership with them?
No.
That was just a friendly thing.
But, but that project, you know, that was a really good time.
I thought we got to do some cool shit.
Eventually got taken out of our hands, but like we, we got to do some stuff.
And then obviously shark hunt for the Lord.
Just how you said it went through all the paces, which is kind of, and I mean, like
the cacao story with the thing and stuff like that.
You got to get cacao on here.
If you have cacao on here, can I be a co-guest?
Yeah.
You can come back for that.
Next time you come back, we'll do that.
Plan.
Cacao would be good.
Yeah.
I would love to be on a podcast.
We'll hit cacao.
That'd be hilarious.
But, but the only thing is, is it has to be a video podcast because he won't reply.
He'll just look at you because he won't talk.
He'll just, he'll just give you that look and be like,
he'll talk if I kiss him on the cheek.
He does love that.
Yeah.
He does love that.
Yeah.
It's a good little, good little cheek kiss.
You know?
All right, dude.
I really appreciate you coming in.
I don't say I wish we had more time.
I know, but you have to catch a flight and I ain't trying to catch the
Rathar for Kel if you knock at home.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
So anyway, I mean, thanks for coming by, catching up.
I mean, at a certain point, I feel like we were just,
just talking.
It's like nice podcast.
We'll run it back.
I'm sure, I'm sure.
I would love to have you come back on is an episode of firing order.
And one of the ones I want to do is the greatest wheels of all time.
So like, obviously it's BBSRS's.
Who you talking to?
And then after that.
Wait, what do those look like again?
They don't look like thrust, thrust masters or whatever.
Thrust.
No, thrust.
What was it?
A torque thrust.
They don't look like torque thrusts.
KS.
Thrust masters.
This guy's horny.
I'm down.
So unimportant.
I don't even remember it.
I think that's crazy.
No, when you're back, well, let's plan a day.
Because I think we'll get everybody in here.
We can do a couple of the, because I need your,
I need your like just absolutely blatant biases in a fight on wheels.
Okay.
Yeah.
Because I think that'll be a good, we'll do the best wheels of all time.
Yeah.
So thank you, sir.
Appreciate it all.
Good to see you, man.
And a big thanks to our partners.
Obviously Viper chairs, which I've been sitting on for the past two hours.
Pretty mellow.
Do you have any Viper chairs?
Yeah, I do.
They're great.
I love Viper guys, man.
They're like, the team is really good and the quality of their stuff is great.
And yeah, and they came on to support this, which is awesome.
Heat wave glasses.
Actually, I'll be honest.
I mostly wear their safety glasses because I never really was a sunglass guy,
but I like actually having safety glasses that don't look corny,
which was like kind of nice because I'm on camera.
I mean, you're always cutting stuff.
Bride the builders always.
See, that's a side of a lot of people don't know the old Bride the Builder days
or just making stuff out of whatever.
If he's not cutting, he's not happy.
And obviously, SCP Euro and my longtime friends at Toyo Tires.
Thanks again.
And yeah, check out the Patreon, all that good stuff.
And thanks again, dude.
Good to see you.
So you probably know these guys best for their killer shop stools.
I'm sitting on one right now.
But Viper Industrial also makes an amazing shop cart.
You're thinking right now, how amazing of a shop cart do I need?
You need one this amazing.
It holds over 1200 pounds.
I've seen people rebuild engines on them.
It has fantastic wheels just like their stools.
They're massive eight inch casters.
It's got this smart modular system.
They make holders for everything from hammers to polishers.
You can set it up for a bunch of different things from detailing to wrenching
or running your podcast,
which is exactly what we're going to do with it here on Very Vehicular.
Anyway, I said it before, I love these guys.
They run a great company made here in the USA.
So go support them.
After all, they do support us.
By now, you should have picked up on a theme.
All of the partners that we're working with here at Very Vehicular
are partners that I've worked with before.
And quite frankly, not only do I like their product,
but I like the people who work there.
He wave, especially being one of them.
Look, first off, I don't wear sunglasses all the time,
but these guys make an amazing sunglass.
What I do wear a lot of more safety glasses,
and they make cool looking safety glasses that don't make you look lame.
And also something that's really important to me is that their founder,
he's one of us.
He is a bonafide car dork.
He's out racing.
He builds really cool fun cars.
And they also support our scene.
They sponsor a bunch of great drivers from Darren Parsons to Travis Pastrana,
Blake Wilkie, the whole group.
We'll give them a look because not only are they supporting the scene,
they're supporting the show and they make it happen.
All right, here's a little secret.
The first project car of my professional career dates all the way back to 2004,
and it still doesn't run.
But that has nothing to do with the tires that are on it.
You see, Toyo Tires was the first sponsor I ever had in anything I did,
all the way back to zero to 60.
They're on all of my cars.
I use their tires for everything and I love them.
They're great.
So whether you need a tire for your track car,
your daily, or your off-road truck,
Toyo's got you covered.
They have for me for, oh my God, 20 plus years.
About this episode
Hert Eugene joins Scotto to reminisce about their early days at Hoonigan, sharing stories filled with nostalgia and humor. They discuss the evolution of their careers, the challenges of creating engaging automotive content, and the importance of community in drifting. The conversation touches on memorable builds like the Donk and Sharkard, while also exploring the future of motorsport events and the need for innovation in the automotive scene. Their banter reveals a deep camaraderie, making for an entertaining and insightful episode.
Original notes
This week Very Vehicular welcomes Ex-Hoonigan superstar personality and all-round character: Hert. He’s ready to set the record straight on stories from the Hoonigan days, he relives the horror of jumping (and capsizing) an ATV in the desert, the joys of working with T-Pain, and naturally, gives Scotto as much s**t as you’d hope for. Finally, they litigate their ranking for the top builds at Hoonigan in Firing Order. Enjoy!
@Hertlife
@BrianScotto
@321ActionAction
Partners:
Vyper Industrial
FCP Euro
Heatwave Visual
Toyo Tires
Music: SlikSound
Producer: Nick Rutter
https://bio.site/321actionaction
00:00:00 - Welcome and Introduction
00:01:49 - Sponsors: Vyper Industrial, Toyo Tires, Heat Wave
00:03:52 - Leaving Hoonigan
00:06:07 - How's Life Now, Hert?
00:38:31 - Julio's Midnight Rescue
00:42:45 - Sponsor: FCP Euro
00:44:29 - Reflections on the Hoonigan Days
00:48:08 - Fame and Leadership
01:19:03 - White Boys Can Jump?
01:20:45 - Events - the Next Frontier
01:26:10 - Drifting
01:30:03 - Life After Hoonigan for Scotto
01:32:55 - Motorsports has an Entertainment Problem
01:42:53 - Firing Order - Ranking the Top Hoonigan Builds
Very Vehicular
321 Action Action
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