0:00
/
0:00
RJ De Vera from SEMA talks about this year’s SEMA Show and his role in the first Fast and Furious movie.
RJ De Vera from SEMA talks about this year’s SEMA Show and his role in the first Fast and Furious movie.
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
About this episode
RJ De Vera, Vice President of Marketing at SEMA, shares insights about this year's SEMA Show and his unique role in the Fast and Furious franchise. He discusses the evolution of the SEMA Show, including the expansion of its venue and the inclusion of public access on Fridays. RJ also reflects on his journey from the aftermarket scene to his current position, highlighting the importance of community and innovation in the automotive industry. The episode offers a fascinating look at the intersection of car culture and business.
Topics:
SEMA Show updates
Fast and Furious involvement
aftermarket evolution
public access to SEMA
SEMA Fest details
car culture
electric vehicles
performance cars
industry trends
community engagement
Cars:
Acura NSX
Chevrolet Corvette
Ferrari LaFerrari
Ford F-150 Lightning
Honda S2000
Mazda RX-7
Porsche 918 Spyder
Follow @motorator
Presented by Bravago Hard Seltzers
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Filter:
|
Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Ford F-150 Lightning
"And we brought a truck. We brought a 22 Ford Lightning. And I drive that truck."
Car
Honda S2000
"and was a car in the second movie this S2000 that is now pink it just made a Lego out of it ac..."
Car
Acura NSX
"...p being in the film for that I had another car in NSX that we were going to use for Vin Diesel's charac..."
Car
Mazda Rx7
"...couldn't afford the extra so we ended up with the rx7 for Vin but my character Paul Walker"
Select text to request an explanation
Say what you want about AI, but it's here, and it's helping businesses get more done in a day.
Wix's website builder is infused with AI so you can stay ahead.
Create a beautiful, functional website just by describing your idea.
Track how your site appears in AI search results.
Create custom images on demand, or launch an entire campaign in a matter of minutes.
Wix gives you AI wherever you need it.
Try it now for free at wix.com.
This episode is brought to you by Peloton.
The new cross-training series balances your workouts with 15-plus workout types for endless movements on and off your equipment.
Stay motivated with weekly personalized plans that guide you from beginner to expert,
and push past your goals with routines tailored to you.
Get the new cross-training series, Term Supply.
Get up to $210 in stackable rebates on batteries, brake pads and rotors, cabin and engine air filters, and wiper blades.
At participating USGM dealers only, Max Rebate derives from collectible rebates on all eligible parts.
Visit chevrolet.com slash service offers or see dealer for full details.
Offer ends $228.26. Multi-point vehicle inspections vary by participating dealer.
We're going to do a little bit different episode this week.
I'm going to welcome a guest, RJ Devera.
He's the Vice President of Marketing at SEMA, and he's got quite a bit of background in the Fast and Furious movies.
It's a pretty interesting story that I think you guys will enjoy.
This was an interview that I actually already recorded from a little while ago,
but I wanted to bring that to you this week.
But before we get started, let me tell you guys a little bit about Zip Recruiter.
Finding great candidates the higher it can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
You get too many resumes and not enough candidates with the right skills or experience.
But not with Zip Recruiter. Zip Recruiter finds amazing candidates for you fast.
And right now you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com slash work.
Zip Recruiter's smart technology identifies top talent for your roles quickly.
Immediately after you post, Zip Recruiter's powerful matching technology starts showing you qualified people for it.
Zip Recruiter lets you connect with top candidates ASAP.
You can use Zip Recruiter's pre-written invite to apply message to personally reach out to your favorite candidates
and encourage them to apply sooner.
Ditch the other hiring sites and let Zip Recruiter find what you're looking for, that needle in the haystack.
Four out of five employees who post on Zip Recruiter get a qualified candidate within the first day.
Try it for free at ziprecruiter.com slash work.
Again, that's ziprecruiter.com slash work.
Alright, here we are.
Alright, we're back with Arjay Devera. How are you?
Good. Doing great.
As we're recording this, we're both getting ready for Monterey Car Week, so it's a good time.
Yeah, getting ready for Monterey Car Week.
Although, I think by the time people listen to this, Car Week might be over.
We're going to figure out exactly when this is going to air.
We've been banking a couple of interviews and shows for Car Week.
But you and I have known each other a long time.
I would say maybe 10 years ago, maybe could be 12 or so.
So we've been doing the podcast 16 years.
We've been going like MPMC for probably 17, 18 years.
And probably early on there, you were at McGuire's.
Yeah, from 2010 on.
So probably from that time.
So now we've known each other somewhere in that range, right?
And now you're VP of marketing at SEMA, the SEMA organization.
Correct. Not just the show.
Most people just know just the show, right?
The trader organization.
There's a lot going on there.
So let's touch on that.
Let's touch on SEMA a little bit and then we'll get into more of how you got there.
Sure, sounds good.
We've been talking, we've had Mike Spagnola on a few times.
He was talking quite a bit about the legislation stuff that's been,
they've been pushing through.
That was high up on his list.
We've had Tom Katusa on for the past couple of years talking about SEMA fest
and the SEMA show, how it's involved, certainly grown to West Hall.
And they've been working on that bridge for a while that you can kind of,
you can walk across, but the entrance was missing.
First of all, the SEMA show this year.
Is the building done?
Is the central hall open or is it still going to be?
For this year, most of it will be done.
There'll still be some construction.
The next years when it's completely the front side of it will look like West
Hall.
Last year, if you remember a center hall, the entrance is missing, right?
We actually built a separate entrance.
So most of that will be completed, but they moved down.
So that area between, let's call it center hall down to the escalators
that go up to the media center.
That's really the last final piece that the convention center is redoing.
So still some construction.
So we'll lose a little bit of the front display area for feature cars,
but it'll be much more together than it was last year.
So you will be able to walk across the bridge from West Hall into north and
center, and that'll be all completed from what I understand.
So it's interesting to see as a person that,
I started going to SEMA show, I think in 97,
and there was just center and north hall.
And then you, where all the activations are out front,
you could park there and there was a tent where you would get your badge,
so to see it evolve, this will be my 28th SEMA show in a row.
Over the last 28, almost three decades,
with the addition of West Hall to your point, it's just insane.
The amount of space that we take up,
the amount of vendors that come, the amount of activations and people,
I mean, from 97 to now, I mean,
it just kind of blows my mind how the industry's continued to grow
and to support the event and just to make it a bigger,
you know, better, you know, coming homecoming, let's call it,
every year for the whole aftermarket industry.
It's really cool to see.
To think that it started in, like, deep in Dodger Stadium.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Like the initial, I don't know how many years they did it there.
This will be, I think it's year 57 or 58 somewhere around there.
I don't know exactly.
I think it's 58.
And, you know, started in Dodger Stadium to your point and moved to Anaheim,
I believe, and then it finally went to Vegas.
And it really got started by a bunch of mostly hot rod drag racers, right?
Yeah, you know, when we started the other podcast that we did,
Shift and Steer, we still do the podcast,
but we initially started that, Brad Fanshawe and I and Aaron Hagar.
We started that with Pete Shaporas.
Okay.
He was at Pete and Jake's and then was at SoCal Speed Shop.
And he was like one of the founding members of SEMA.
SEMA, yeah.
Big Edelbrock.
Yeah.
Mr. Peterson.
Yeah, Peterson.
Polly Parks, right?
And I'm pretty sure he was there at the initial, at the very first.
Wow.
Yeah.
I don't know what the rules are anymore, but I just,
because I remember when Pete passed away,
but it was like, Pete, you're going to the SEMA show.
And he's like, yeah, SEMA, you know,
SEMA invites me out and they get me a hotel room.
A hotel room was like, oh, that's nice.
How do you get to, how do you get that perk?
He's like, you kind of have to be like the first SEMA member ever.
And I was like, oh.
Yeah.
Founding father, right?
He's sort of grandfathered in.
Yeah.
He gets an invitation every year.
Well, I mean, he did for the longest time.
So he had a lot of fun telling those stories back in the day.
So SEMA, we talk a bit.
I'm a big fan of the aftermarket.
So we've been talking about SEMA for a long time.
We've been talking about SEMA every year for quite some time.
Well, not quite 28 years, but probably 17, 18.
Wow.
Yeah, still a good one.
Almost 20.
And knowing it as a trade show.
I love the parts.
I go out and I try to interview a bunch of people that are to
talk about what's new in the part side of it.
I always go by the new part showcase.
Like a big photo gallery of every sports, you know,
as much as I can that's in there.
Now it's kind of grown that you can't really get it off.
But to check that out.
And the cars that debut there are the cars that are shown there.
One of the things that we brought up recently was.
Yes.
SEMA still is a great place to debut a build.
But myself included.
We've had five.
I've had five cars that seem up.
A lot of the cars are are.
That are being shown are cars that are being used.
I get it.
You're, you know, you're one of the top builders.
You're debuting something there, but that's evolving as well.
Now we're seeing like cool cars that are are.
I don't want to say not perfect because that's not the case.
It's just they're sort of used.
They're supposed to be used and then show up at SEMA.
Yeah.
Before it was just like racing cars, but now it's just like,
like, for example, I did something with real truck last year.
And we brought a truck.
We brought a 22 Ford Lightning.
And I drive that truck.
And that was just.
Not quite as big a project as, as what we've built.
But the idea was to go, let's take a truck that we actually use.
Let's bolt on a bunch of gear to it and, and, and a few personal
things we did, you know, Brembo brakes and lowered it and did
some custom things on it.
But I, you know, aside from that, I was like, I don't need
the detail, the undercarriage of this car.
You know, like this is.
You know, like it's being driven.
Like we're going to, you know, drive it there or drive it
home and get a bit of that.
So that's one of the things that I think has evolved is
some of the cars that have been there.
For sure.
And as the show's gotten bigger, just been more space to put
different things.
I would, I don't have the data in front of me, but I'm sure the
number of cars that are there now, now that we have West Hall is
way more than it's ever been.
Right.
Because you have space in West Hall around West Hall and then
everything else.
I would say that, you know, see my show is, is a beat is
predominantly a B2B trade show, you know, we opened it to
the public a few years ago on Friday.
So it's a new element, but for the most part, it's unlike most
other, let's call it our shows where people compete.
Right.
So there is a competition like battle, the builders and a few
wars that got get given by the OEs, but really the cars there
are really meant to showcase the product.
That the manufacturers are exhibiting in their space or in
new product showcase to your point.
New product showcase has grown.
It's actually moved to South Hall this year.
And it's one of the first destinations for most attendees to
figure out what's new and what, what booth did it, do they want
to go see?
Beyond that, a lot of the vehicles that do come are the, are
the vehicles that either a part was prototyped on or, you know,
some car that went racing with certain parts on or a car that
was built for some purpose, right?
To your point, not just to be a show car.
Yeah.
You know, like one that gets like one that gets rock
crawled at King of the Hammers, right?
Yeah.
And it'll come like dusty and, you know, it's not, it's not meant
to be a, a Riddler contender, you know, and the Riddler being,
you know, the highest award you can get for hot rod along with
the, with the Amber award, right?
And those cars come to like Mike, our CEO just pinged me the
other day like, Hey, I got it on the Riddler this year.
He wants to come.
Like, you know, let's, let's figure out how we, we can
connect them with an exhibit to get him a space.
So that's the, that's the fun of SEMA as you get cars
and trucks from all different, let's call it walks of life
in every genre.
And some are, you know, Riddler winners and some are
competition vehicles and others are just project cars that
were driven on the street, you know, which is kind of the
fun part of going to this event where you get to see lots
of everything.
Yeah.
And it's really a true reflection of, of everything that's
in the aftermarket.
You know, and you, you talked about opening it up to the
public.
So one of the things we, we've talked about, but I just want
to remind people, SEMA does offer now individual
memberships that pretty much anyone can get.
And separately from that, you can buy a ticket to the SEMA
show.
So access on Friday.
I don't know if it's, it's just Friday.
I don't know if it's the full day.
Maybe you're limiting how many tickets get sold.
It's full day.
We did in the beginning.
So two things that you mentioned, SEMA plus is our
individual membership program that gets you involved
into our community offers a lot of benefits.
There's some discounts on, on some certain brands and
merchandise, even a discount on SEMA fest and are open
to the public.
They open to the public as all day Friday.
You get access to all the halls that, that the B2B
people have for the whole week and then all of the
outside.
And then if you choose to stay for SEMA fest and the
concert and the festival, you can, and you can buy a
bundle ticket.
But every year it's grown.
The open to the public day because I would say the SEMA
show did such a great job of letting people know that
she couldn't get in until you were, unless you were
part of the industry that even when we were selling
open to the public tickets, people are like, I don't
understand why you keep promoting this.
I can't get in.
And we, you know, we got, we call it Friday
experience.
We call it Friday enthusiast experience.
We, we finally just settled.
We're just going to call it open to the public day.
Just so it's just like in your face and people
understand like if the SEMA shows up part of your
bucket list, you can come, you know, on that day
and, and get, you know, everything that everyone
gets for the whole week.
And then of course you can come for the cars and
stay for the music and make it a really long
fun day.
But that is something that continues to grow for us.
And a lot of our exhibitors, it's becoming
more important because a lot of exhibitors are
starting to do D to C, right?
So as the marketplace evolves, we, as a
organization, as a show also evolve.
Tom, our, our, our show VP says it all the time
that we're just a reflection of the industry.
So, you know, five years from now, 10 years from
now, couldn't the publicly, can the publicly,
the public, they be more than one day,
essentially, you know, if that's where the
market's going.
Yeah.
And maybe, maybe offer some way of offering
e-commerce capabilities, you know, like if
you're opening to the public, you know, maybe
you're not selling a lot of parts there because
there's no inventory on the show floor.
That's a different type of event.
But, but to be able to go, yes, these are
parts that are available or some that are
coming out soon.
If you would like it, you know, we'll scan
it, we'll charge you, we'll set it in the mail
and by the time you get home, you'll have
it there for you.
You know, maybe make it a little bit
transactional in that sense to, on the
consumer side.
It'd be very different for us, but it could
be an evolution to your point.
I think many people are starting to shop
that way and many manufacturers have
their own e-commerce website.
Some could drive to that, some could
drive to their, you know, their biggest
distributor who has an e-commerce site
as well.
So there's a shift that will need to
happen with the exhibitors themselves
on who's the customer that's walking
under a booth or are they more of a
B2B job or wholesaler or are they,
you know, direct to consumer enthusiasts
that just wants, you know, to buy something
and a lot of that kind of is there,
right?
Because a lot of business and shops have
their own personal projects, you know,
they're like, oh, you know what, yeah,
I'd like your parts, but I have a
project that's specific to the shop,
right?
And having a trade show that
is open to the public, that's
part of, there's a little
bit of an obstacle, there's a little
bit of the growing pains for the
exhibitors because the exhibitors,
many of them would say, listen,
the booth we would build for a trade
show is different than a booth we
would build for consumers.
Like their booth at, let's say
Barrett Jackson is different
than the booth at
SEMA or PRI, right?
And then so now they're going, well,
how do we do a little bit of both?
How do we change Friday into
less of our meetings
and trade days and more
into a public day without really
changing much of the booth,
you know, or any of it? Like, do they
even just, you know, change some
signage or something, you know,
you know,
so there's a little bit of that,
but I think everyone's
getting more comfortable with it.
Yeah, and it's more mindset really, right?
Because you're really there showing
new product at the end of the day,
most times, you know, and I,
if I put my McGuire's cap on,
and the SEMA show was one of the things
that my group ran, it was really
for us, we look, we use the
SEMA show as a launchpad to launch
new items, you know,
accompanying like McGuire's and a lot
of brands that sell through a big box
retailer or an auto
specialty retailer, like an auto zone
or advanced auto or Riley.
They didn't really need to sell at the SEMA show,
right? Because most of their, they knew what was going to be
on shelf before, you know,
they even got to the show. So we really
used the show as a different
platform.
And much in the same way that an exhibitor
on a public day, the booth can still
be the same, but it's what is your
message, right? Are you doing
demos? Are you doing samples? Are you talking
about product and then connecting them
with the best way for that customer
to buy that product, right? Whether it's
through an auto specialty chain,
whether it's through a summit or a
Jags or whether it's through a shop
that, you know, that retails
like, let's say it's a performance
part, you know, like an exhaust
or something or a shock
or coil over.
So to your point, I think
some adjustments need to be made,
especially from the team
that's in the booth. That's, you know, because
it's not, we're selling a pallet.
It's more about like, what's your project
and what you're interested in and what's
your challenge and okay, here's some of the
parts that we offer that make
sense for that. And here's how you can
find out more information and or buy it,
right? Yeah.
Let's talk about SEMA Fest. What can we look
forward to with SEMA Fest this year?
SEMA Fest is on year three.
We moved it to
the SEMA Show Campus last year, which
worked out really well. So we
announced our bands for this year.
So Queens of the Stone Age, Black
Crows and Neon Trees. Yeah.
We've got Optima again doing
a lot of the motorsports
activities. We are adding
more car corrals to give it
an even
larger taste of automotive culture.
So we've got some cars
coming from the show.
I think some of the battle of the builders cars will be there.
I believe
we're going to have kind of a hypercar exotic
car row.
So quite a bit of it is still forming, but
we're definitely infusing even more automotive
into it. So for the people that
didn't come earlier
and do the open to the public there
just coming to SEMA Fest,
you're getting just as much
music as there has been
last year.
And then even more motorsports
and car culture than there was last year.
So pretty exciting.
We've gone
both times.
It's been fun.
I've said this before on the show.
When you're doing something
to this scale
and something that's
a little bit new
from what SEMA's
been doing in the past
you want to be fair
and give it a few years to kind of figure out
how it needs to happen.
The first year, great bands
off-site
a little more complicated to get to
second year last year
on-site
much easier to get to
easier overall just to
get in and get out
the bands were great
but
definitely scaled back on some of the
automotive stuff
to kind of figure out
a lay of the land and what fits
and is this the right location
can we build from here
and so this year I like
the idea of
it's going to be Friday night
Friday night, same night
or going to SEMA for the public event
you go to the SEMA Fest directly after
you don't come back the next day
you don't pay for parking twice
if that's what you're doing
or Ubering over or whatever like
you do it all in one day which
is convenient, way more fun
definitely makes sense
what time
is SEMA Fest start
are you doing like the car stuff first
and the bands that night
the first year try to do like in between
but then it got dark and you couldn't really figure out
it'll still be similar
where the band will go on and the great thing is
when you shift the stage
for the next band you have this interval anyway
and so it's natural
for the motorsports activity to happen
at that time so the crowd can go back and forth
I believe
SEMA Fest is starting
don't quote me on this, 3 or 4 p.m
which is as the SEMA
show is ending
and then SEMA
actually happens at the same time
so you've got multiple things that you can do from this
let's call it 4 p.m.
to 6 30 p.m.
window
last year the first band was like
5 36 if I remember
correctly so as the cruise is ending
you could get to Fest
and watch the first band
the automotive activity started a little bit earlier
for the people that are just coming to Fest
which is the optimal stuff of course
so we're trying to find this
middle ground for people
as they transition from the show
to the cruise to Fest
should they want to do
any one of those things
there's just areas a little bit of overlap
and then I would say around
6 30 it's really all Fest
because the cruise is really
at its tail end
and then the bands
the bigger bands are coming on stage
and then the motorsports activities
will be happening in between
the bands changing
on the big stage
right
yeah okay and then so
cmofest.com is the website
where you can buy the tickets
for both for Fest
and for open to the public because
you can buy a bundle ticket
yeah right so that was the thing
you can buy the different packages
you can do it all in one location
just go to cmofest.com
and there's
and also by the way for the bands
and stuff that you have even if you don't make it
to the open to the public day
the bands are great and the prices are fantastic
like general admission for 70 bucks
go watch the bands
and see the car events are happening in between
I mean
I don't know
we've been told it's one of the most
cost efficient tickets in Vegas
to see bands so
we're looking to make it accessible
at the end of the day
we love
that it's a
it's kind of a closing party
for everyone that worked all week
should they choose to stay that night
and it's really just to shut down
just a week long of fun
around cars right so we haven't made it
ultra expensive
to your point concert tickets these days
aren't the cheapest in the world
and with us just having three bands
versus the 22 that we had
we've been able to keep the ticket prices
much more reasonable
I was all in it at year one
I was there
and I was just like
I want to check it out
I want to see the thing and I go from one stage
to the other stage
and we might end up there again
you know to be quite frank
but it's tough with the footprint that we have right now
yeah I mean it was
it was a lot but I was just like
I'm seeing bands I didn't see
and
and then
toward the end of the night I just remember
just standing there in the crowd
and I realized
it's me
my girlfriend some friends
and then it's Bagnola and his family
they're all standing right next to us
watching the
the bands and they did a great job
yeah it was
we had some great bands here one
for sure so
seeing that tradition on
okay so that's the theme of stuff
let's take a quick break
and we'll be right back
delete me makes it easy quick
and safe to remove your personal data online
at a time when surveillance
and data breaches are common enough
to make everyone at risk
data brokers make a profit off your data
your data is a commodity
anyone on the web can buy your private details
this can lead to identity theft
phishing attempts and harassment
but now you can protect your privacy
with delete me
I've actually had my data in identity stolen
and it was a mess to fix
I wish I had taken steps to prevent it in the first place
have you been a victim of identity theft
or harassment or doxing
if you haven't you probably know someone
who has delete me can help
take control of your data
and keep your private life private
by signing up for delete me
now at a special discount for our listeners
today get 20%
off your delete me plan
by texting PRO to 64000
the only way to get 20%
off is to text PRO
to 64000
again that's PRO
PRO to 64000
message and data rates may
apply
hey guys it's Matt again
I just wanted to give a big shout out to everyone who's been coming out
to our bravago hardseltzer
tasting events and ordering online
if you haven't tried it yet
here's what you're missing
bravago is lightly carbonated
stevia free and bursting with flavor
and guess what it's not just great on its own
it's a perfect mix or two
throw in a splash of gin or vodka
and you've got yourself a next level cocktail
find it online at
drinkbravago.com
or at our next event
that's drinkbravago.com
this episode is brought to you by Peloton
the new cross training series
balances your workouts
plus workout types for endless movements
on and off your equipment
stay motivated with weekly personalized
plans that guide you from beginner
to expert and push past your goals
with routines tailored to you
get the new cross training series
Term Supply
going back a bit like you know we talked about you were at
McGuire's for a long time like 12 years
or something we're at McGuire's
but tracing this back to
you know I don't even want to say
influencer you were doing stuff on the content
side and photography before
then your editors of
magazines
you're building cars
working in the aftermarket
quite a bit of a background there
and then the Fast and Furious stuff
which I'm not sure everybody knows
yeah
because you started before
that Fast and Furious is like
2001
2000, 2000
2001
right so it's been a great
journey for me
I would say the aftermarket is
and it really made me who I am as a professional
going on three decades
being in this industry
I started in
my very first job was selling
car covers out of a
small automotive
accessory shop in West LA
that was called Anything Limited
that was 1993
or four
had a JDM Japanese
import that I was modding
decided to start selling
you know parts
out of my mom's condo
or Japanese import cars
right after that
maybe like 94, 95
you know attended the very first import car
show in LA and was a big proponent
had a big car crew competed
did quite a bit of drag racing as well
battle the imports
and all those things which led to this
editor job at this magazine called
Super Street which was Peterson
publication, Peterson publication
I remember going out to a NoPy Nationals
event yeah do you remember NoPy
like 10,000 cars
yeah NoPy by the way
it was drag racing
for imports
so there was the drag racing series
but they really became known
they did a big car show
on the indoor speedway on the infield
and it would draw
I thought it was about 10,000 cars
if I remember correctly
and Super Street would do this tour
from three different sides
from Miami from Jersey
and then from the west
I think it started in Texas
and became a really big deal
I remember being on the tour and it would be like
a thousand cars deep
you know if one person pulled over
like 500 cars would pull over
and it would be like
you know kind of showing
the U.S.
different parts of car culture
not just in America
but also in Japan
and also it was going in Europe
and it was all based on
sport compact cars and Japanese
imports and whatnot so
did that for about five years
six years maybe
paid my way through college
and then started kind of
it was such a
it was so heavily involved
in that youth car movement at the time
of this like you know
mid to late 90s
which led to the Fast & Furious franchise
and being one of two consultants
for the film
helping choose the cars and the parts
you know the cars were the characters
and the aftermarket parts that they were modded with
and then got a speaking line
and I still get residuals now
just pretty crazy to think
and then had one of my cars
that was rented for the first movie
that then got sold to them
and was a car in the second movie
this S2000 that is now pink
it just made a Lego out of it actually
you connected
with some of the producers
how did you get involved with the film
because you were obviously
you were involved in the import scene
and then
I don't know if it was the producers
the initial writers that said
I mean we need to learn about that
who can we talk to
and you became one of the consultants
on that side
so the story goes and this is a little bit
before I jumped on was that
somehow they saw an article
that talked about import
drag racing and they bought their rights to it
and then decided to create
this movie which is like Point Break
meets cars so to speak
and then my boss at the time
at Peterson one of my bosses was
Doug Lieberman who ran
Naira which was
the National Import Racing Association
that Peterson bought from somebody
and Craig was running it so they found
Craig he became a consultant
and I asked Craig do you know anybody
that grew up in this scene
in this room and he's like oh yeah
I have a little yappy
20 year old that's the president
of my car club that I'm a part of
you should talk to him
so that's why I met the producer
Doug Claiborne and the director
Rob Cohen they actually came to an
import show and started to ask me
a bunch of questions about what it was like growing up
in import car culture
and you know the import drag racing
things and whatnot so I was just giving them
a bunch of information they're like oh you should join
your buddy Craig
and be one of our consultants and I was like sure
you know why not. Yeah listen you got money
I'll take it. Yeah exactly
and I actually remember asking them
like is this movie for real is like going straight
to DVD and they're like no no no we're gonna
we're gonna launch it in the movie theater
and I was like sure buddy
and then it became what it was
so it's it's crazy that they're gonna make
number 11 right
where they're making number 11 or whatever it is
yeah and your your car
in the film was the s2000
Johnny Tran's car
correct it was black in the first movie
and then turned kink into the second
and then you you you already had that
car. Correct yeah it was a company car
you were working with these guys
they asked what do you have
what do you drive like what's your car
and you said let me show it to you
they're like this is cool
let us rent it for you we'll make it a hero
car for our art yeah
for Johnny Tran's character
and then you were
in the film talking about your role
because your role is actually
it's comedic
it's comedic relief right it is but it's a
memorable character right you're the
kid playing the video games
so yes correct
so the s2000
was the lead villain's car it wasn't even
supposed to be that car but we couldn't
afford the original car that we wanted for
Johnny Tran which was going to be this full
home and BMW
m car and we didn't have enough money to
buy and replicate it so they're like
Arjun what about your s2000 that looks pretty sinister
I'm like yeah let's do it you know
I had a new veilside kid it looked pretty mean
we ended up being in the film for that
I had another car in NSX that we were going to use
for Vin Diesel's character but same thing
we couldn't afford the extra
so we ended up with the rx7 for Vin
but my character Paul Walker
was actually the one that was like hey RJ
I just saw you in a gas commercial
us living in LA you end up
being in something eventually
and so I was in this arco gas commercial
and Paul saw it and he was like
hey how come you didn't tell anyone you're an actor
and I'm like oh I'm not an actor
isn't this you in this gas commercial
I'm like oh that's like total fluke right
very LA and he's like
well you know we're making a movie and I'm like
well why he's like well
have Rob give you one of the parts let me call him
so Paul called the director
was like hey RJ's you know actually
an actor and I'm like I'm not an actor and he was like
RJ like why didn't you tell anyone I thought we were family
so that's that's how my character
was given to me Danny Yamano
character name this is why I still get
residuals but he's one of the first
in the beginning
drag race sequence when Paul's trying to
kind of get Vince trust
and build credibility I'm one of the
four racers
in that ensemble right so jaw
rule Paul Walker Vin Diesel and this
this character that I play Danny Yamano
who plays you know
a video game in his car before it had raced that's his ritual
and he crashes
right so you kind of laugh like
you know and if you knew Gran Turismo you're like
there's like you suck you're the worst
Gran Turismo player of all time
so it was cool and you know I had three lines
in the script maybe you know an ablib
part that never made the film
with jaw rule so it was really
fun you know and that led to actually
had an MTV show for a couple seasons
I'll trick it out where I was the host
and judge and that was my five seconds
and my and my 15 seconds of fame
so yeah so
they rented your car for the
first film and then the second film
they bought your car
and they turned it into the pink
yeah the pink car that's
as it sits at the Peterson right now so
the first movie because the budget
was let's call it frugal
all the principal cars were rented
were rented yeah
and then when the movie got so big
Universal kind of had
a challenge with some of the owners
because the owners were like okay well I'm
gonna rent it here and here and sell it
and so for the second movie
of course the budget was a lot bigger they're like
they're just gonna own everything so
we had they had
we had bought a couple S2000s
for the first movie that we
stunt cars that we didn't use
so for the second movie like we have these cars
let's just use them
yeah hey we're gonna we're not
gonna rent any car so they called and said hey
would you would you like to sell the S2000
because we're gonna make that a one of the
you know principal character cars because
we've got these stunt cars that we're gonna destroy
which is you know it jumps the bridge
but really destroyed literally
so so I was like yeah sure I'm
willing to sell it you know I painted it twice
by that time and then
you know they're like I just painted it when I sold it
to them this this really great Lambo
orange pearl color they're like oh come
back into easy you know we have an idea
for for what it's gonna be and it came
back and was pink and had the airbrush
and whatnot and they're like oh it's
the big graphics on everything yeah
so it's it's cool to see that it's
still alive it's not in the greatest shape
but it's not gonna ask you
what they paid but are you happy
you sold it or do you got selling it
no I'm sure I would get way more for it now
I think I we sold it for what
we paid for it because it was just like we're
done with a car it was it was a company car
that I was a partner in
you know just selling body kits
and the performance parts
and we're like yeah we'll make our money back
you know I think we made a grander too
so so yeah you know
you win some you lose some could have what it should have
but you know it's cool again it's cool to see it
it's still around it is cool
to see that it's still around and I glad I'm glad
to see it it's at the Peterson Museum so it's at a
place you can go and be viewed it's not hidden
away but like we
we've done this on the show a bunch
of times you know buying and selling
cars and talking about what you could have like
yeah anything that we
we could have held on for
20 years longer would have been worth a lot
more money especially today with inflation
and everything else so it doesn't make a difference
if it was the right move at the right time
then then that it's fine you move on
and yeah careers change
other projects you know things like that
and you enjoy the next cars
right so I did buy an S2000
again
two years well three years ago now
right before I started at SEMA
I wanted an analog project
car again yeah and I thought
about all the cars that I really enjoyed
just modding
you know growing up and the S2 was
not the car for maybe
a year and a half
so I was like you know what the pricing on this
on this on the S2 isn't
ridiculous it was still fairly accessible
even though it's been going up so I
ended up doing a new
S2000 and the thought in my head is
how do I build it if fast
was just coming out now like if number
one was coming out now so I built it with modern
day parts and whatnot so it's quite fun
yeah awesome
well I it's been
a while the adventure I'm sure for
you and now to end up at SEMA like
think about starting in
the aftermarket selling parts out of
your mom's condo to now
VP of marketing at the
entire trade organization that
manages and oversees
and helps the aftermarket community so
it's
not a bad place
yeah I would have never thought of it
too but when I thought about joining
the organization it felt like I was coming home
you know because I've been to the show
in every facet that you mentioned I was a
photographer I was an editor
I was a car builder for quite some time
was helping a bunch of brands
either develop product or market
product a lot
in the sport compact or European
tuner space
and then I you know
work with big brands you know
small brands was a partner
in a couple of businesses making parts
so you name it I was I've
seen as a platform
to be part of the organization and to be able to
continue to help the industry
you know it feels
it feels like it ties to
you know my purpose right
of helping people
and companies build better versions of
themselves so it's a real honor to be here
I've enjoyed the three years I've
been here we're going through a lot of change
which has been quite fun and
yeah the industry continues to change you know
there's a lot of things going on as you know both from
the legislative side and
and just the cars that are coming out you know
a big question about propulsion right and
you know having choice in the future
of whether you want a synthetic
fuel car you know regular
ice engine hybrid
you know be easy
yeah it's really interesting
I'm super curious to see where we'll be
in 10 years and
what the vehicle choices like
and what we're able to drive because I think
the driving dynamics are so different
from like
you know a battery
a BEV car battery electric vehicle
versus an ice powered
or hybrid powered vehicle
they're all slightly different
kind of fun
what I think what we spoke about
here on the podcast quite a bit is
I think a lot of the obstacle
was it you know
the choice being forced
you know politically
or whatever but once you take that component
out of it and go this is just another
option now you can pick
do you want gas engine cars
do you want electric vehicles
and I've got both
yeah
but
I've got both because I was
given a choice and I was able to make a choice
and go what do I want
what works for me what's convenient
for me
but you know once
it kind of levels out
like here's the lineup of options
you know
then you can kind of pick and choose
and if you're lucky enough to have more than one vehicle
then
you get to enjoy those options
so I haven't made the EV jump yet
on the daily I know a lot of people have
yeah I have a new truck
yeah
I still have a little bit of range
anxiety but I think the next daily
will probably be hybrid or BEV
so to your point is this opportunity
if you're lucky enough to have
more than one car then
you get to drive different things
it's like having a truck in a car
completely different things right
and now even the propulsion
and the driving characteristics
are so different
the thing that really woke me up I remember
I was a friend of mine's let me
their take on turbo s
and I couldn't believe how quickly
accelerated you know and how flat it turned
because the battery weight was on the bottom
it was just so different from
any of the I stuff that I
and people go turbo supercharged
NA you know very different
as well but like
electric motor propulsion is definitely
its own thing
but I really appreciate it after I drove that car
which is why I'm like okay at some point
I'm gonna go BEV as well
when you start looking at
electrification
for performance
it gets very interesting because now you're looking at
oh I think we just lost it
hold on one sec
yeah when we're talking about electrification
for performance it gets interesting
when you're looking at some of like
all in the news now is Corvette
ZR1X we have
ZR1 rear wheel drive
crazy horsepower
and then go well what if we
add electric motors
in the front
we've got a little bit more torque
we've got all wheel drive
a little bit better torque vectoring
like
is it more fuel efficient? Nah
it's not that
that's not what you're buying that for
and it's not a plug-in
at all either
it's also contained
yeah we're using that electric power
to fill in
what would have been gaps before right
which I think we
kind of first saw with that first
effect of LaFerrari
918 and P1
yeah we saw with NSX
NSX as well
which I
a little too early huh
I think that car should have done better
I think if it came out now
I haven't driven
but I've heard really great things
and I think if it came out now
and it's funny that it's discontinued now
but you know the McLaren's
the 296 Ferraris out right now
yeah and it feels like
oh it was just a little ahead of its time
yeah
alright
we're going to wrap things up
but I'll see you up
at car week and we'll see you
over at SEMA as well
and I appreciate you guys
again go to SEMAFest.com
you can get the tickets there
you can get the tickets
to the SEMA show you can get tickets to the SEMAFest
all the public stuff
you can get there and check it out
and if you really are interested
you can look into the
individual memberships
SEMA plus
SEMA plus
at
so SEMA.org
we'll find the memberships there
thanks for the plugs Matt
check us in the mail my friend
jeez
you're doing my job for me
no problem this is
our first podcast
alright guys thanks so much for listening
until next time
keep the air and the spare
in the bag and the wheel
Request an explanation for:
7 cars
Scroll for more
7 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
Help improve this episode
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark. Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
Report incorrect info
Suggest better explanations
Flag missing cars
More from CarCast
DirtyFest BMX event, Roush race car collection for sale, RAM’s Tacoma T-Shirt and more.
Jun 4, 2026
CarCast+Edmunds - Interview with Alan Clarke head of Ford’s Advanced EV Development.
Jun 2, 2026
CarCast+Edmunds - Mercedes-AMG GT EV, new Kia Seltos and more.
May 30, 2026
CarCast+Edmunds - All about the controversial Ferrari Luce EV.
May 28, 2026