00:03
the bring a trailer
00:05
podcast well uh so excited to be here
00:07
with you guys at bring a trailer
00:09
headquarters today uh we're excited to
00:11
have Mike and Nicole on from uh Nicole
00:15
Johnson's dour um bring a trailer
00:18
headquarters is getting re-roofed so
00:19
huge apologies to you guys for any of
00:22
the Hammers uh that might come in during
00:24
the episode but thank you guys so much
00:25
for coming out dude we're so excited to
00:27
be here I flew in this morning from Las
00:30
Mike our producer director flew in from
00:33
San Diego so that we could be here
00:36
because I was never going to turn down
00:38
an opportunity to see the cars I walk in
00:40
they're all under plastic and the first
00:42
thing I see is that R5 Turbo 2 sitting
00:45
there well and you've driven one of
00:46
those before uh from a regular bat user
00:49
there's a lot of bat Nicole Johnson
00:52
crossover you guys have driven a lot of
00:53
cars that either been on the site or
00:55
that are owned by power bat users but
00:58
talk a little bit about driving that was
01:00
Bike Peddler shout out to a bike peddler
01:01
who we love uh who's been a big champion
01:04
and fan of the site for a long time and
01:05
who I've met many times in person talk
01:07
to us a little bit about driving that R5
01:09
that was cool so Eric is his name he is
01:12
so call Everyone by their username
01:14
because we're to see I know to you guys
01:16
it's it's username you know it's at a
01:18
bike peddler yeah uh Eric cholm he is so
01:24
enthusiastic and he's a nerd he's a
01:27
total nerd he knows everything there is
01:29
to know about the history yeah you know
01:32
and and even when we were shooting with
01:34
him it was like good creef this guy
01:36
talks forever right but it was all
01:38
really good stuff his enthusiasm so
01:41
shines on it's infectious his enthusiasm
01:44
it is it really is he knows everything
01:45
so we drive that car and it's got this
01:48
Widow Maker you know reput reputation
01:51
because it has such epic turbo lag and
01:54
where we shot the uh walk around and
01:58
then where we took off to go drive
02:00
they're two different places but I had
02:02
driven around the property where we were
02:04
walking around and talking technical
02:06
stuff and there's some hills and and a
02:08
little turn and you got to go up a steep
02:09
driveway there is absolutely no power in
02:11
first gear yeah you're like you cannot
02:15
get up this little driveway and then you
02:17
wait and then you wait and then it
02:19
builds up enough that spool going oh yes
02:21
and then you go up the hill and I was
02:24
like we were just moving the car around
02:26
uh we should over two days usually and
02:29
the next day we were actually going to
02:31
go drive the car so that first day I'm
02:33
maneuvering the car on that property and
02:34
I'm like oh this is going to be
02:36
different and fun and terrifying yeah it
02:39
was all those things it was great how do
02:40
you come across is are you Mike is it a
02:43
Mike Nicole like joint together how you
02:46
yeah how do you Scout him how do you
02:47
figure him out he Scouts a lot we both
02:49
do I mean some of them he's come up with
02:51
and he'll throw to me and I'll come you
02:53
know throw things to him what's funny is
02:56
you know Mike is never on this side of
02:59
the k camera and I'm like be on this
03:02
podcast it'll be a lot of fun and well
03:03
you guys need to educate us on how to do
03:05
things like pros so I appreciate it Mike
03:07
but he wasn't on you know he's got this
03:09
private not on Instagram or anything I'm
03:11
like you got to be on Instagram dude in
03:14
what it's like I don't want do I don't
03:16
want to be on social media I'm like no
03:18
you don't get it like you can find so
03:19
much good stuff yeah so so that's where
03:22
you're scouting the cars for the most
03:24
well we can find about events we can
03:26
find out about Cars and Coffee and
03:28
there's news really that comes out of
03:30
social media which is no wonder that you
03:32
know 18-year-olds don't watch
03:34
traditional news getting the show has
03:37
changed like from three years ago when
03:39
we first started you know we were out
03:41
begging but we please let us do this you
03:43
know and now we have a little bit more
03:45
notoriety so now it's a little bit
03:48
easier to knock down those doors are
03:49
people reaching out to you guys yeah we
03:50
get that more now too so we're getting
03:53
like so it's been more it's been a lot
03:56
easier to get get into places you know
03:59
we got with Magnus which was incredible
04:01
totally and dri the iconic car talk
04:03
about getting turned on to Porscha right
04:05
like book right there it's in frame or
04:08
not I I I have that book he gave me one
04:10
too yeah yeah totally tell about tell
04:13
about no see you got yeah okay I got so
04:16
we're cut mik off okay Mike what about
04:18
my dad you know tell them about how you
04:20
just how Porsches kind of came into was
04:22
part of your DNA and then you wa to
04:24
Magnus and like everything sort of I
04:27
mean growing up my stepdad was a Porsche
04:30
Audi dealer down in Ventura okay A a
04:32
manager the name of the dealership my
04:33
family from Santa Barbara it was
04:35
Masterson Porsche Audi sure and that was
04:37
uh Ralph Masterson owned it my dad was
04:40
the general manager they eventually went
04:41
into business as uh caral franchises
04:45
together so I was always around cars my
04:47
my that was my stepdad my my other dad
04:50
biological dad real dad I say real but I
04:52
called them both dad both my real dad my
04:55
real dad was a diesel mechanic so I was
04:56
always around cars oh you're you it's in
04:58
your blood yeah and uh you know but but
05:03
my stepdad was more of a businessman
05:04
except he would bring Porsches home
05:06
every night and this is like just like
05:08
off the lot is that the like he was
05:09
driving what was what was for sale kind
05:11
of yeah interesting so he would just I
05:14
don't even remember if he owned a car my
05:15
mom went in to buy a car I think she
05:20
924 and went in and met him and this was
05:23
like 1980 that they got married I'm now
05:25
you guys know how old I am no no I am 75
05:28
I look really good great for 75 totally
05:32
up great when they got so that's the
05:34
Vintage of car he was selling sc's you
05:36
know what I mean like that's the car
05:37
that was did you like at the time were
05:39
they interested to you at the time or
05:40
not really I just it was just part of
05:42
you know how your past is just part of
05:43
your past was normal things are normal
05:45
when you're six years old things are
05:47
normal like I don't it's just a Porche
05:49
whatever I remember getting pulled over
05:51
by you know a cop and he didn't get a
05:54
ticket cuz the car was so cool the cop
05:56
to talk about the car for sure so anyway
06:00
yeah like I met Magnus and of course
06:04
everyone everybody knows you kind of
06:05
lost interest in porsa since before you
06:07
met I let me moved into trucks and
06:09
everything we've got to then go into
06:11
what the name of the show is and why
06:13
then you'll understand where I'm at when
06:14
I meet B Magnus yeah it's called Nicole
06:17
Johnson's detour because I'm I've done
06:20
all kinds of things in off road monster
06:22
trucks King of the Hammers rock crawling
06:24
a little bit of short course racing I've
06:26
done all kinds of stuff that's where I
06:29
ate drank slept breathed off-road and
06:33
when you're in off-road you think your
06:35
universe is this big it's everything
06:38
until you really look at like a a pie
06:40
chart of the automotive world and you
06:42
realize it's this tiny sliver and you
06:45
had no idea so for many many years we
06:47
had no idea that all of these things
06:51
that we're exploring were out there yeah
06:53
and it's like I'm really late to the
06:56
game so we're calling it Nicole
06:58
Johnson's detour cuz I'm detouring from
07:00
my past experiences and trying new
07:03
things yeah that's not to say I don't
07:05
like off-road anymore but like my
07:07
interest changed the tagine we do do
07:10
stuff Offroad too yeah yeah totally my
07:12
my interest so by the time I meet Magnus
07:15
I'm like yeah you're like into Porsches
07:18
he's pretty into porous what an
07:20
understatement of the decade right
07:22
you're kind of into Porscha when I
07:23
interviewed he was like rattling off
07:25
vins he's like and that was you know
07:27
0075 and this one's 0 62 and I'm like oh
07:30
man I can't the guy's an
07:32
encyclopedia he's like unbelievably you
07:35
know he's got such a cool presence but
07:38
you don't realize or you do realize very
07:43
encyclopedia but he does he like I was e
07:47
eating drinking sleeping breathing
07:49
off-road that's what he's doing with
07:51
Porsches absolutely so when you're
07:52
around him you're like oh my gosh you
07:56
on bat and then going oh I can't afford
08:02
those so then I you could afford 924
08:05
maybe I don't know if you've Revisited
08:06
924 so I turned to Craigslist I said to
08:09
my husband I was like oh man your score
08:13
the decade the decade this is a true
08:16
story this isn't to take away from the
08:20
911 but the first 911 I ever drove on
08:24
the street was magnus's on 911 wait are
08:27
you kidding me oh wow interesting the
08:29
277 car the iconic one the first 911 I
08:33
ever 911 on yeah on the street oh man
08:37
now I we had done an we had done an
08:39
episode with a 911 that was more of a
08:41
safari style an off-road one that was a
08:43
great car and that was the year earlier
08:45
but everybody had been asking me to that
08:48
point what's what's the favorite car
08:49
that you'd ever driven and up until that
08:51
point I I kept going back to Scot's car
08:54
saying that's the safari car yeah it was
08:57
uh it had a G50 gear box what did you
08:59
guys like about it so much I've never
09:01
the sound of it okay I didn't know when
09:05
we were when I was interviewing him I
09:07
was like you know um I guess air cooled
09:10
cars kind of have a cult following he's
09:12
like uh yeah and I'm like okay and then
09:16
I got it I drove that car and I was like
09:19
oh the way it breathes and sounds is so
09:21
different and so then fast forward to
09:24
magnus's car and it's twin plug I mean
09:28
my gosh anyway I leave the presence of
09:33
Whirlwind Tasmanian Devil Magnus porsa
09:36
pora pora yeah going I got to buy a
09:38
Porsche I can never afford a Porsche and
09:40
so I'm nerding out and I'm looking for
09:43
months just daydreaming not getting any
09:45
real work done like everybody on bat
09:49
absolutely like everybody on bat Y and I
09:53
said to my husband only way I'm ever
09:56
going to get a we never going to AFF a
09:58
Porche unless somebody's d have to put
09:59
it on Craigslist a Porche one well
10:02
because we all know you're going to
10:05
fetch more for your car on B because of
10:09
the great photos and the way the ads are
10:11
written and all the engagement you're
10:13
just not going to get that on Craigslist
10:15
so therefore that was unfortunately
10:17
where I was able to find a broken one I
10:20
found a broken one locally project and I
10:22
picked it up 13 months ago it just
10:25
a it's a 78 SC Coupe great hard top like
10:30
like no no sunroof and beautiful it's in
10:34
petrol blue metallic oh great color love
10:37
that color and it was filthy and the
10:39
photos were atrocious which is why I
10:42
knew it had to be a scam to be scam and
10:45
it didn't run it had to be a scam I send
10:47
I send it to my husband and he's like
10:49
this a scam the first picture was like
10:52
the odometer this is the way people used
10:54
to sell cars before by the way and it
10:56
just didn't have any
10:57
information and I seen it a couple weeks
11:00
earlier and blew it off and I was like
11:02
let's just go look scored this car it
11:06
everything was legit it was real and it
11:09
even had a certificate of
11:10
authenticity and it was a California car
11:13
so it only ever lived in California or
11:15
Nevada no rust no rust anywhere but it
11:18
didn't run yeah scary so we got it
11:21
running it needed you know fuel lines we
11:23
did all of the work ourselves we built
11:24
our own fuel lines amazing and um fuel
11:27
you know pump and F filters and anyway
11:31
we got it running and now it's just fun
11:34
car we just rebuilt the gearbox yeah
11:37
great new synchros close ratio gears 2
11:41
three and four weo shifter everyone puts
11:43
a no I don't have a short shifter yet
11:45
that's great so Bill Raider Motorsports
11:47
he's like the guy who builds these
11:49
Porsche gear boxes he rebuilt my gear
11:52
boox and we put a wave track limited
11:54
slip oh great good stuff so I'm just
11:57
just barely getting that in the last car
11:59
week is you said oh yeah in August we
12:01
went up to Monteray I have no air
12:03
conditioning no and uh my husband
12:06
couldn't take the time off work so I
12:08
soloed from Vegas to Monteray amazing in
12:11
August well done cuz I with a roof rack
12:14
you feel like you've accomplished
12:15
something when you do that yeah I have r
12:16
on line roof rack and I threw like bags
12:19
that are for like kaying on the roof no
12:22
problems with the car along the way no
12:24
didn't have any issues with a broken
12:26
going into that trip it was just and you
12:28
didn't tell me that I didn't tell
12:30
anybody why don't you have Mike there
12:31
documenting at this because he is the
12:33
biggest Waring board in the world tell
12:35
him what happened imagine you're being
12:36
me imagine you're me tell what happened
12:38
oh like 36 hours before I'm supposed to
12:40
leave and I'm going to have it in the
12:42
billstein display at Works reunion I've
12:47
you You Ren line was generous enough to
12:48
give me the roof rack this is important
12:51
I had an octune I think I saw that we
12:53
were at works I saw the car so I had an
12:55
octune craft like active Muffler I have
12:58
all these sponsor Parts everything is
13:00
writing on me getting to to he's not on
13:04
camera and I'm looking at him because he
13:07
he's enjoying the hell
13:08
out the camera so a lot of pressure
13:11
there's all this pressure for me to be
13:12
there and but this feels like an epic
13:15
Road video to I am not going decep I
13:19
didn't want to wimp out and trailer it I
13:20
have a trailer I got an aluminum trailer
13:23
I could e driving you made the right
13:24
call I was like we discovered a broken
13:27
head stud about I don't know less than a
13:30
day and a half before I was going to
13:31
leave and we're like What do we do
13:33
option A call the call your part your
13:35
partner and tell him if I told you no my
13:38
husband was like so I called a friend
13:41
who is look at him listen listen I can't
13:44
say his name because his reputation
13:45
would be on the line but let's just say
13:48
I called a friend who has has has worked
13:51
in Porsches for 40 years y he has a shop
13:55
and I said what do we do we just found
13:58
this broken head stud goes my
13:59
professional opinion is you need to stop
14:02
and rebuild this motor oh let's call
14:04
Mike and tell him what's going on this
14:06
is why I don't tell him because he's no
14:08
he's like my mom he's so my mom so
14:12
anyway we're like golly you cannot be we
14:16
have worked so hard producer director
14:18
mom uh two security
14:22
guard mom we talk too much so my husband
14:26
Frank and I are on the phone with
14:29
uh our mechanic friend he says uh you
14:32
need to rebuild the motor cuz you got to
14:36
pull that broken stud out and now you're
14:38
you're pulling things out that you might
14:39
as well do this and you might as well do
14:41
that you got new seals and you got it's
14:43
this while yeah totally yep it's what
14:46
you want to hear and he goes this is
14:48
like totally yeah this is what he said
14:50
go homes cars he goes but you didn't
14:52
hear it from me I'd run the snot out of
14:54
it just drive it I was like all right if
14:57
he thinks if he would personally just
14:59
drive this car that's what I'm going to
15:01
do I won't name names but I've heard
15:03
people running you know tens of
15:04
thousands of miles you didn't hear from
15:06
me but it we it had probably been broken
15:08
for a long time because the just by the
15:11
way it looked and stuff I'm glad you
15:12
didn't tell me I would have flipped out
15:13
that's why I don't tell him cuz he was
15:15
flying in so that we had you know we had
15:17
business things to do there during the
15:19
week I would have said let's bring a
15:20
helicopter and drop it in there with a
15:22
totally option was well I could
15:26
obviously we've been driving around on
15:28
this thing but would a road trip in
15:30
August be too much stress coming from
15:32
the desert and the Heat and everything
15:33
else would it be too much stress it's
15:35
yeah I 1,200 miles round trip that solo
15:38
during that whole event you know and it
15:41
I could trailer it that was just going
15:44
to be super poser mode yeah I was like
15:46
no I'm I represented to my sponsors that
15:49
I'm going to drive this car yeah so so
15:52
you did my it was great it made it all
15:54
the way there back my husband you one
15:56
stayed one day the whole way from
15:59
all the way there and back it was hot it
16:01
was hot so I I um this is my husband the
16:04
difference the opposite this is my mom
16:07
and let me tell you about my husband so
16:09
my husband is like well call me if you
16:11
break down y have fun that's all he said
16:14
totally love I didn't even have he
16:16
framed us on the last shoe he framed us
16:19
what do you mean on the the last shoe we
16:20
did with the with the pinto he framed us
16:22
oh dude he framed his own wife you guys
16:24
don't even know this because we haven't
16:25
released the episode yeah I was going to
16:27
say I didn't see a pinto on there
16:28
that'll be our next episode we shot a
16:30
pinto Pinto are rad it's got to be
16:33
modified right a hot rod something it's
16:34
a beautiful I'm saying that a little
16:38
shocked by that it's modified within
16:39
it's like those Motors the 2.3 l Pinto
16:42
motor which a lot of people stock motor
16:44
200,000 miles on it and wow a gorgeous
16:46
little car I can't believe I'm sitting
16:48
here in this place saying that yeah they
16:50
used to be a joke we drove down to um we
16:52
saw them on bat we we drove down to um
16:56
Orange County to shoot that and and my
17:00
Toyota seoa has 303,000 mil I like an
17:04
old car I don't want the new
17:06
connectivity of the new stuff right I
17:08
like my old car I like my cars I like my
17:10
cars car I can tow with it I can do some
17:12
damage at Costco with it it's paid for
17:15
like I like my car we don't want smart
17:16
cars we want dumb cars I I have a dumb
17:18
car I kind of have a screen cut off for
17:20
most of my cars right like I want
17:21
pre-screen that's that's like an era
17:24
where it like yeah 2008 is like there's
17:27
not even Bluetooth right
17:29
it's just right on the edge of that
17:31
anyway what what what even broke down I
17:35
forget what broke down it was the it
17:37
remember Kai was like oh I think this is
17:39
like no not on the Dodge my SEO was
17:41
busted and I had to take it to the local
17:43
dealer get to the part about so I have
17:45
to take my husband's 2006 with 300,000
17:49
mil he has a Dodge [ __ ] 3500 diesel great
17:53
truck the four-door long bed this thing
17:55
is huge love those trucks it's a big
17:57
truck trck they're great truck and um so
18:00
I'm going to take that onto the shoot so
18:03
I drive it down to Orange County and
18:04
three shs three shoots what does it do
18:07
uh the serpentine belt goes out in the
18:10
like I pull up to the guy's house we're
18:12
going to shoot the pinto and he he's
18:15
already there and he goes what is that
18:17
noise and we're like getting out and um
18:20
we pop the hood we look underneath and
18:22
there's like shreds of something picked
18:24
this up I'm like oh that's the belt yeah
18:27
yeah crap and and he kind of knew what
18:31
was going on was like and then and know
18:32
his reaction was well get it fixed he
18:34
had said to me talking to the pinto
18:36
owner at the same time you're like of
18:38
his house we go to his mechanic he's
18:40
calling his mechanic he he saved the day
18:43
he's calling his mechanic and we were
18:46
able to get it fixed that day and cash
18:48
the pinto guy saved the Dodge 3500 long
18:50
bed love that but that must happened
18:53
other time I mean you guys are driving
18:55
modified cars you're driving like oh
18:56
there's so many episodes that you'll
18:57
never see because the have broken broke
18:59
down or had we filmed probably five
19:02
things that'll never get released cu the
19:03
cars have broken or things that we just
19:05
didn't get done the folks react to that
19:07
I mean are they embarrassed about it or
19:09
like some of these cars is kind of
19:10
inevitable if they're so modified dude
19:12
one time we had a alternator fall out of
19:14
a car like yeah but it was a custom
19:16
bracket you're not replacing the you're
19:18
not just going to AutoZone it's like ah
19:21
we're done yeah we were through the walk
19:23
around and halfway through the drive but
19:25
hadn't shot the thumbnail hadn't shot
19:29
there was all this stuff that was
19:31
missing that you couldn't just Cobble
19:32
the episode together and we drove all
19:34
the way up to Northern California to do
19:36
it oh well is what it is sometimes
19:40
sometimes you get blanked like that but
19:42
you know honestly we've had an equal or
19:44
greater number of episodes where
19:46
something hiccups on the car and the
19:47
owner gets out and fixes it on the Spot
19:49
while we're shooting and we keep going
19:51
and it's great so there's a lot more of
19:52
those than there are you know things
19:55
just taking a crap and kind of leaving
19:56
own essentially always the Builder when
20:00
necessarily bought a bike peddler he
20:04
just bought his car yeah yeah so we'
20:07
we've had guys that that are less
20:09
mechanical that just have great
20:11
collections and we're going to
20:13
experience that you know obviously if
20:15
the guy built the car he's the only guy
20:16
that really knows car are you like
20:17
evaluating the safety of it and the
20:19
person as you're walking around gosh oh
20:20
my gosh you sound like my mother sound
20:22
like my mother don't go there we're all
20:24
worried about you hear it totally so
20:26
listen that looks like a sketchy weld
20:28
here's another episode you'll never see
20:31
can I at least say what kind of car it
20:32
was which one are you talking about
20:33
smart car yeah you could just say about
20:36
the the car we won't name names yeah
20:39
well generally it was a it was a smart
20:43
car this this is an electric smart car
20:46
that also it still had electric motor
20:49
yeah and a and a Suzuki Jer motorcycle
20:53
super cool car so he the passenger seat
20:56
uh no all the way up in the front it was
20:57
chain driven and um and so you could be
21:01
quietly zooming around in electric and
21:03
then fire up the motorcycle
21:06
engine take off we saw this guy we were
21:09
like we got to film this guy this is
21:10
great cool car super cool idea so idea
21:14
we did all of the walk around and then
21:16
the next day we go to drive this car and
21:19
there were all these weird controls like
21:21
you would control the throttle for the
21:23
motorcycle engine on a little Beany
21:26
dial how terrifying something on the
21:29
steering wheel gas pedals hooked up to
21:30
the electric oh my gosh all these weird
21:33
things that could go very wrong so I
21:35
said listen you drive it first right
21:38
show me because I don't know how to
21:39
drive this car and all my safety radar
21:42
things are going bing bing bing bing in
21:44
my head and he drives the car we get to
21:47
the point where we're going to swap and
21:49
and he's in his truck you'll often see a
21:51
dark gray the chase truck Chase truck a
21:54
toyot Tacoma with a camper shell in the
21:57
back and that's his truck and he's
21:58
chasing so we pull up to go swap and I
22:00
go Mike oh my gosh I'm not driving this
22:04
car yeah this car's going to grenade so
22:06
every time he would like you know get
22:08
into the throttle the entire like like
22:12
shift like the whole dash was wobbling
22:15
and I said that chain I could hear all
22:17
the rattle from the chain is going to
22:19
grenade come through this Dash murder us
22:22
or flip the hood up and we'll crash into
22:24
the car something horrific is going to
22:26
happen totally wait I'm not driving this
22:28
car and we sent the guy home he actually
22:30
this one he drove from Arizona to San
22:32
Diego he brought it out and trailered it
22:34
to shoot the episode and we turned him
22:36
around and sent him home but a but a
22:37
great a great car a great guy we might
22:39
end up actually doing that at some point
22:41
I hate to say it if he sees this or
22:43
hears this I'm so sorry dude yeah but I
22:46
ultimately have to put my foot down
22:48
because everybody's livelihood is at
22:50
stake totally so I'm not afraid to speak
22:52
up yeah if it's a piece of crap I'll let
22:55
you know yeah I mean in a very very tful
22:59
before we started recording you were
23:00
talking about like safety and you know
23:01
not wanting to push things and I think
23:04
that's really wise and that must come at
23:06
least in part from your competition
23:08
background right you're so comfortable
23:10
with or aware of and knowledgeable of
23:12
vehicles that are really kind of
23:13
overbuilt for their job right like rock
23:15
crawlers and monster trucks are like
23:16
yeah I mean I drove monster trucks for a
23:18
monster jam and I I you know did rock
23:22
crawling competition but that's like
23:23
everything's safe there's I mean there's
23:24
not chains running open through or No
23:26
Maybe not maybe I'm wrong about that so
23:29
I'm just I'm curious where you honed
23:30
your your instincts on what's safe and
23:32
what's not always the Driver's
23:33
Responsibility to communicate to the
23:36
crew what was happening so if you could
23:38
sense something was wrong and didn't say
23:40
anything how are they going to know so
23:43
as the driver you always have like the
23:47
buck stops with you sure they could tell
23:50
me to do something but it was ultimately
23:52
my decision to drive up that obstacle or
23:56
you to put or to stop the car and turn
23:59
and I feel like uh you
24:02
know go back to when you were 16 and
24:04
your friends were pressuring you to do
24:05
things right you you think that you have
24:07
to do what everybody's telling you no no
24:09
no please know that as the driver you're
24:12
the one that's ultimately in control of
24:14
whether or not you do whatever with the
24:15
car so you have to be very in tune with
24:19
if something's wrong or not and you
24:20
spend years like owning that ability to
24:21
say no this isn't right or whatever flip
24:24
side is if you know everything's gone
24:26
through you can trust your equipment if
24:27
you know that thing was built to to you
24:30
know I don't know launch in the air 30
24:32
ft do go launch in the air who are some
24:34
of the who are some of the uh Builders
24:37
or folks that you've driven their cars
24:38
where you were like oh this person is
24:40
dialed or this person like a lot of one
24:43
of the cars is the MGB that got sawed in
24:45
half that was on bat that car seemed at
24:48
least from our perspective really well
24:49
built you guys posted that video thank
24:51
you for doing that yeah of course happy
24:52
day on the because I suggested he put
24:55
interesting oh thanks to you when we met
24:57
him he said was going toell the car so
24:59
that he he was done with it and he was
25:01
retired and he bored he wants to build
25:03
something El he wanted build right that
25:04
was the impression we got from he wanted
25:06
to do the build like it that was the
25:07
thing that was exciting for him years to
25:09
do that it's interesting some people
25:11
years or something that's what they want
25:12
to do they just want to build the car
25:14
and then well and he built every tool to
25:15
build the car which is also like are you
25:17
kidding me buil you built your own
25:21
Wheeling wow amazing guy he was Jim stab
25:24
awesome guy huge supporter of the show
25:27
he's one of the guys that to us okay
25:29
he's an older gentleman who isn't on
25:31
social media how who's going to know
25:33
about his car unless you're just his
25:34
neighbor or something right so he
25:36
watched the show reached out to us we're
25:38
like oh my gosh this guy literally took
25:40
a sawall and cut this thing in half
25:42
widened it 11 in who does that I mean he
25:46
Liv 10 miles from my house i' never
25:47
heard of him 10 miles from his house
25:49
never seen him hiding in the garage
25:50
there's so many Treasures hiding in
25:51
garages that's probably a lesson you
25:53
guys have learned so when I'm driving
25:54
that car I was like good grief it's
25:56
solid it's straight it's solid this guy
25:59
did a phenomenal job yeah drove pretty
26:00
well absolutely and we love it when
26:04
they've been driving it for a year or
26:05
two because believe it or not if you
26:08
don't sort at least 2,000 miles on your
26:10
car a th000 2,000 miles it's not dialed
26:13
yeah and sometimes something is just so
26:16
hot we want to get in there before
26:18
anybody else gets word of it totally and
26:20
film it and so we're yeah know takes
26:22
some risks but again back to me to call
26:24
the shots on if it's not going to be
26:27
yeah safe uh huh 100% 100% and Mike's
26:30
there worrying about all oh he's my mom
26:33
I swear that's my job between him and my
26:35
actual mom my my mom is 80 she's a widow
26:38
and she lives with us moved her in a
26:40
couple of years ago I have a lot of
26:44
people worrying about me yeah that's
26:46
shout out right now to Georgia Crandle
26:48
the mom who does a ton of work on our
26:50
social media a lot of work on the show
26:58
that you mentioned yep my son helps us
27:00
too on the boom Unfortunately today yep
27:02
he'll hold the moon mic he flies the
27:05
Drone he's great on our shoots he's
27:07
great on great he he helps me when I
27:09
need something hey edit that real for me
27:12
you know I'll just shoot the content and
27:13
he'll help me sometimes too so he's
27:16
great and um but it's a small we're
27:18
small everybody thinks we're huge we're
27:20
not we're we have no bosses it's fun
27:22
watching you guys operate it's fun
27:23
watching can you believe how long we've
27:25
been doing this no so so we've been
27:29
our our first episode was four years ago
27:30
next month talk talk about how did you
27:32
guys are you have a background in cars
27:34
mik what's the connection Story how did
27:35
you um I was doing I was in the music
27:37
business for a long time and I used to
27:39
come up here a lot actually to Frisco to
27:41
see bands stuff you ever go to the
27:42
bottom of the hill right acoss I went
27:43
there a billion times yeah okay and
27:45
apparently there are some Legendary
27:47
Shows there back in the day you know I I
27:49
would probably be able to tell you I
27:50
don't remember about half of it so yeah
27:54
maybe in about 15 minutes I'll Circle
27:56
back to that but so um I got that
27:58
business and started a video production
28:00
company and did a lot of client work for
28:02
about 10 years and one of those clients
28:05
things that we did was we we did
28:07
off-road we shot best in the desert we
28:09
did a lot of score stuff and shot for
28:11
Trophy Truck teams tsco and did a lot of
28:13
neat stuff in that universe so I was in
28:17
off-road scene is that like helicopters
28:19
and stuff like oh yeah okay yeah we shot
28:21
the second and third King of the Hammers
28:23
movies in 2009 2010 it was crazy we had
28:26
no idea what we were doing there was no
28:28
such the GoPros hadn't even been
28:29
invented yet I'm biting my tongue not
28:30
asking about King of the hamers whole
28:32
timeo there were no GoPros yet yeah
28:34
totally so it was helicopters and you
28:36
know we had 20 people ac across the
28:38
desert like I got people like missing
28:40
overnight like where are they they're
28:41
Canyon 30 miles away with no no you know
28:45
so it was that but I met you before that
28:48
so we were doing desert racing stuff and
28:52
we got a call from a guy named Jeff null
28:54
who was one of the co-creators of the
28:55
king of the hammer it's the best guy he
28:57
said and starting this race where we
28:59
combine open desert racing and rock
29:01
crawling and so I saw I had met Nicole
29:04
about a year before that first King of
29:06
the Hammers movie she was doing uh she
29:09
was with the Red Bull rock crawling team
29:11
we got hired to shoot the Red Bull rock
29:12
crawling team and I go to this event at
29:14
cougar butes and about a thousand yards
29:18
away I see this squirrel and I'm like
29:20
who's that squirrel am I the squirrel I
29:22
had just gotten out me a squirrel I had
29:25
just gotten out of the music business I
29:28
just started this great this is awesome
29:31
and I didn't want to do I didn't want to
29:32
get back into um I devel have you been
29:34
into cars before or is this all yeah
29:36
yeah I had a car in music the Hammers is
29:38
kind of a crazy thing to drop in on if
29:40
you're not well he grew up in elone area
29:43
Offroad he grew up what next door to
29:47
Ivan Stewart yeah like when I grew up it
29:49
was all the it was the beginning of all
29:51
the desert racing kind of stuff it was
29:53
aloh that where a lot of you know Chen
29:55
withth came out of there and Jackman
29:56
Wheels andac you the r came out of there
29:59
you know I played soccer with Ian
30:01
Stewart's kid like it was just kind of
30:03
part of totally like the scene you know
30:05
we we didn't really realize that it
30:07
would become what it did yeah so we're
30:10
doing um so I I saw Nicole at this thing
30:15
at this cgar be I said she's great so
30:18
2007 yeah it's been about 2007 and I
30:21
really did not want to get back into
30:23
like managing someone or helping someone
30:25
get there I did a lot of that in music
30:27
developing artists that would go on and
30:30
you know hopefully do well yeah and um
30:33
so I really did not want to do that and
30:36
so I was like oh she's such a star but I
30:38
can't you know I can't I gotta I'm
30:40
really I want to just move to the
30:42
mountains and I don't want to talk about
30:44
too much entertainment stuff anymore you
30:46
know and then I shot King of the Hammers
30:48
two years she was there both years and I
30:50
couldn't believe it we had to pick there
30:52
were so many racers we had to
30:54
pick 12 or 20 that we were going to sort
30:57
of kind of teer and follow him along the
30:59
way in the movie and kind of see how
31:01
they were doing along the way so we
31:02
couldn't shoot how we going to shoot 80
31:03
Racers I think at that time and so
31:06
Nicole was one of them because there
31:08
weren't that many females running it was
31:10
you it was cotton Rod it was I mean
31:13
there wasn't like it was like maybe five
31:14
of you there wasn't a lot five and none
31:16
of them finished and she finished I'm
31:17
like who so every time I turn around I'm
31:20
in the middle of night I'm at the Finish
31:22
Line I'm like holy crap Here Comes
31:24
Nicole Johnson finishing that race I
31:27
couldn't believe believe it I said no
31:28
but that's more than half of the people
31:30
don't even finish yeah I know we shot up
31:31
if you watch those movies now there's
31:33
guys crying oh yeah I mean there guys
31:35
big tough guys you wouldn't believe it
31:38
reduced to tears dude yeah Tears like
31:41
real tears yeah and there's Nicole
31:44
out there she is comes across headlight
31:47
it got all the energy in the world act
31:48
like she just went to 7-Eleven I think
31:50
we our headlights were out no headlights
31:53
we didn't have a a rear drive shaft so
31:55
we were on front wheeel drive only it
31:58
was night and we had no headlights and I
32:00
know that until I was Ed no lights were
32:02
driving with no lights I didn't know
32:03
that until I was editing it I'm editing
32:05
this movie I'm like who's this going
32:06
down this Canyon with no effing lights
32:09
and there it is John by Braille and we
32:12
had to get through oh it was insane so
32:15
that's how we met head and we just kept
32:17
talking and talking no kept kind of
32:19
calling me for advy stuff and manager
32:21
consigli kind of stuff and then she got
32:24
monstered around I used to pester him
32:26
because I knew he had done this with in
32:28
the music industry so as something would
32:31
come across a sponsor contract oh my
32:34
gosh I have this opportunity who are you
32:36
going to ask I'm going to call Mike
32:38
badamy and run this past him so for many
32:41
many years I would just introduce him as
32:42
my manager be and and he helped guide my
32:45
career and I never got locked into a
32:48
crappy contract because of it yes I
32:50
never ever signed CRA contract because
32:55
he had the ability to read all of that
32:57
legal stuff and I'm not stupid but he
33:00
you know and align me with Lisa and we
33:03
together had a lot of you know yeah we
33:06
were able to navigate those Waters
33:08
pretty well so in 2010 I was at SEMA
33:12
show he had put a press kit together for
33:15
me when I was doing rock crawling and
33:17
King of the Hammers I got a lot of media
33:20
it's dominated by men yeah and so
33:23
they're naturally gravitated to
33:25
photographing a female driver which is
33:28
great I'm not going to not take the
33:30
marketing if the opportunities are there
33:32
and so he helped put all this is before
33:34
social media he helped put all of that
33:36
together you know uh magazine covers or
33:40
whatever and I had a DVD and I had a
33:43
printed press kit that was pretty thick
33:45
you remember I had a Sizzle reel on a
33:48
DVD my DVD Sizzle reel on the D have a
33:52
DVD SZ real that was and I'm walking
33:54
around SEMA but at this time rock
33:58
not getting enough Warm Bodies there and
34:00
so sponsors couldn't get an Roi because
34:03
there wasn't enough eyeballs and media
34:05
that would come out of it and he knew I
34:07
had to move into short course racing
34:08
Lucas Oil was hosting a series called
34:10
the Lucas Oil you know short course
34:12
series and a dabbled in a that a little
34:15
trophy trucks or Stadium trucks what's
34:16
the v d buggies it's like well no you
34:21
would take something like that but rear
34:23
it shorter for a closed track but body
34:25
work or no body work on it oh yeah yeah
34:28
I mean fiberglass everything's tube
34:29
frame so you'd have bleachers think of
34:32
Super Cross but with trucks and Buggies
34:35
and they're jumping and they're going
34:37
around a course right okay and it's
34:39
televised so I knew that I had to move
34:41
into something that was going to give a
34:43
return on investment to sponsors so
34:46
that's a expensive I had a a little
34:48
1,600 you know type one VW motor
34:52
whatever like a traditional like sand
34:54
rail type thing with the a little single
34:56
buggy we called it single buggy because
34:58
it was a single seat little itty bitty
35:00
buggy and that was um a very competitive
35:03
class because there was just no
35:04
horsepower at all so these guys got
35:05
really good was that fun to drive that
35:07
that car yeah the ergonomics of that car
35:09
really beat you up and I wanted more
35:11
power is cool to watch though it's fun
35:14
but even my rock buggy had 350
35:16
horsepower in a Ecotech in a turbo
35:19
EOTech so it it was different but it was
35:22
an inexpensive way to get some
35:23
experience in that sure and I wanted to
35:25
move into the not all the classes were
35:27
televised I'm going to have to find A4
35:29
million dollars I don't have the money
35:31
so I'm walking around SEMA carrying his
35:34
the press kit he had made for me in my
35:37
and that's when I met Dennis Anderson
35:38
who was the guy who started and created
35:40
Gravedigger yeah and so when buom rushed
35:43
him I totally BM I was going to ask how
35:45
that happened you he recognized you or
35:47
you you came up holding he was with his
35:48
son Ryan Ryan Anderson is today a
35:52
phenomenal driver I don't think he had
35:54
even I don't even think he was old
35:56
enough to compete at the time I don't
35:57
know he was I don't think he was
35:59
technically competing at the time I
36:00
think he he just start gotten into his
36:02
truck which was a badass truck yeah I
36:04
can't quite remember remember that
36:05
little truck anyway um I saw Dennis
36:09
because he's wearing his Gravedigger
36:10
shirt he's just like the Mario Andreia
36:13
monster trucks right and he's like I
36:16
don't know 10 ft in front of me and I'm
36:17
on the phone with my mom it's the end of
36:19
the day and everybody's leaving SEMA at
36:21
5 you know an hour earlier he has a line
36:25
an hour long at the MagnaFlow booth
36:27
because he's Dennis Anderson yeah sure
36:31
if I'm ever going to say hello he's
36:32
right in front of me and there's no
36:34
crowds yeah Mom I got go oh my gosh hi
36:38
you're Dennis Anderson and I stuck my
36:40
hand out and said I'm Nicole Johnson and
36:42
his son goes you're that route crawler
36:44
chick oh man amazing one in a trillion
36:47
right I was like how do you even know
36:51
like something like that I mean he at
36:55
that point it's on pirate for 4.com we
36:58
were using you know bulletin boards to
37:01
like share our content it was I competed
37:04
in the 20000s yeah there wasn't social
37:08
media yet a little bit of Facebook right
37:11
but there was like a I remember the like
37:12
King of the Hammers like that was no no
37:16
no no that was 2010 yes yes yes I had
37:17
red I had raced it three years by then
37:20
track like people got real excited about
37:22
it for a little no i' already raced it
37:24
three years by then but it was like you
37:26
would see on YouTube somebody would
37:27
would post their own cell phone video of
37:29
something or you would see something on
37:31
a bulletin board it maybe on Facebook um
37:35
this was when like Myspace was tanking
37:38
totally right I'm so old so anyway um I
37:43
don't know he I just said you don't know
37:45
I didn't know who he was he hadn't
37:46
really been a name he wasn't um known to
37:49
everybody at at that time but he goes I
37:52
follow that Sport and I'm like dude this
37:54
is just a little grassroot sport anyway
37:56
long story short is within um 2 weeks of
37:59
meeting them I was in North
38:01
Carolina at Dennis's property test
38:04
driving in a Gravedigger truck Whoa
38:07
because they introduced me to the bosses
38:10
and I had a DVD yeah and I had have
38:12
Sizzle reel Mike I was able to give the
38:15
next day Ryan introduced me at SEMA to
38:18
the bosses I gave him this the DVD and
38:21
they called me Monday which is you know
38:24
right after as soon as SEMA ended you
38:26
know like sema's Tuesday through Friday
38:28
by Monday I'm getting a call can you
38:30
come to North Carolina to test drive a
38:32
monster truck you know what I'm thinking
38:34
sweet free trip to North Carolina to
38:37
driv truck I'm not thinking career path
38:40
right I'm just like yeah but uh I've
38:42
never even been like been around one are
38:44
you going to show me how to operate it
38:46
no problem we'll show you how to operate
38:48
it so uh they just run you through a
38:51
series of drills and tests for like two
38:53
days and then they offered me a job you
38:55
know we go i' we go from I've never
38:58
driven a truck to by the end of the
39:00
second day going diagonal off the big
39:02
jump man that's wild and they just and
39:04
these trucks are no joke man they're
39:05
1500 horsepower they've got a Merlin 540
39:09
big block is it like a Nitro it's like a
39:11
Nitro funny car motor kind of methanol
39:13
or it's methanol okay it's methanol it's
39:16
a right right dragster motor right I
39:18
mean it's it it it it it it's got a big
39:20
blower on it and it's just a beast and
39:23
so but they weigh you know people go oh
39:26
1,500 horsepower let's put in
39:27
perspective it weighs 10,000 lb totally
39:29
so it's not, 1500 horsepower in like an
39:31
NSX or something but you're still
39:33
throwing around 10,000 lb is my point
39:35
and it's as tall as this building and
39:36
the tires are 66 in tall by 43 in wide
39:41
by 20 maybe 22in wheel I'm trying to
39:44
remember how big the wheels were first
39:46
20 I can't remember the wheel size I'm
39:48
so sorry but yeah 66x 43 it's pretty big
39:52
first time I went backstage at one of
39:54
these Monster Jams I went one of these
39:56
things one of security guys walks up to
39:57
me and he goes see those tires that are
39:59
over there standing right there don't
40:01
walk around the tires because if it
40:02
falls over it'll kill you yeah there's
40:06
lb a wheel tire combo is 700 lb
40:09
unbelievable and that's light there some
40:11
of the guys who were the independent
40:13
guys that were running at the time were
40:15
using I mean these are just these are
40:17
Farm like Equipment Tires and they'll be
40:21
a th000 lb combination because the lugs
40:24
are huge like deep lugs like this
40:28
the scale is just like and if what they
40:30
would do is they turn them on a lathe to
40:32
shave them down and reduce weight so oh
40:36
I didn't know that yeah yeah yeah you
40:38
that's for the big the big money people
40:39
before they had their bkt Tire
40:41
sponsorship which was then a a spec tire
40:44
and those were the lighter ones so 700
40:46
lb on a wheel on tire was the light
40:48
version you should see what a mechanic
40:50
looks like pushing that in a parking lot
40:52
he looks like a dung beetle I can only
40:54
imagine and you got to use some kind of
40:55
a crane or a li to put him on right d
40:58
you just feel like you're in a clown
40:59
world big ball of dung that's what the
41:01
mechanic it just feels like a clown
41:02
World it feels like a a fake like a
41:04
cartoon they're that big they had a
41:07
little uh little their floor jacks were
41:09
hydraulic and they kind of were just you
41:11
know not Jimmy rigged but like that was
41:13
like what they had created to do the
41:15
work but we would put them in a semi and
41:17
they'd have skinny transport tires you
41:20
could store two you could put two trucks
41:22
in a semi with all the huge wheel tire
41:25
combos up in the of the semi and then
41:29
have these skinny little transport tires
41:31
they look so ridiculous on transport
41:33
it's hilarious how quickly did you get
41:35
comfortable in something like that did
41:37
that take quite a bit of learning I mean
41:39
you said that you had a job within two
41:40
days I mean I that's a really
41:42
interesting question I don't think
41:44
anybody's ever asked me that so I don't
41:47
I don't know if you're ever like oh yeah
41:49
yeah yeah I'm totally comfortable you're
41:51
always just out of control you're you
41:55
can't see anything you're just taking
41:58
window in the bottom so when you're up
41:59
on well there's lexan right down here so
42:02
you sit in the center of the chassis no
42:04
you're not in a motorcycle standup
42:07
condition that is one guy named Frank
42:09
scattini there's one guy he never ran
42:12
Monster Jam but I get this all the time
42:14
do you stand up like you're driving a
42:15
motorcycle no that's one guy okay I know
42:19
him he's nuts we would sit and who does
42:22
that you're singular no so you sit in
42:25
the center of the chassis you have a
42:28
at NASCAR and it'sust molded to your
42:31
body so your hips your your ribs your
42:34
shoulders all of these custom
42:35
measurements or you'll be dead so um how
42:40
so you had no experience and the
42:41
question was how many how until I got
42:44
comfortable right so how many races did
42:45
you win in in the beginning oh jeez oh
42:48
jeez he just wants to
42:49
talk say St he's asking let me just tell
42:53
you I I test drove for two days uh if
42:56
you think you got that figured out
42:57
you're wrong yeah you drive it for
43:00
years at with with 3 minute increments
43:03
in a weekend and you're going to you're
43:05
never going to get comfortable in that
43:06
car you're just going to do the best you
43:07
can you're just going to hop in and
43:09
adapt that that's what I'm doing with
43:10
this show hop in and adapt as quick as
43:13
you can and I that's probably why I got
43:14
the job cuz with with no experience at
43:17
all they just said to do something they
43:18
said okay uh you know just just just
43:20
when I drop my arm we're just going to
43:22
do a whole shot you're going to stand on
43:24
the brake come up on the torque
43:25
converter pretend I'm a green light I'm
43:26
a drop my arm and you go and stop and 20
43:29
ft just just go 20 ft ready go and
43:33
that's it well you know how many guys
43:35
lift lift off the throttle because it
43:37
scares the crap out of you to do that
43:40
with 1500 horsepower and there's a lot
43:42
of torque squat so you could see right
43:44
away if they they can't progress to step
43:46
two which is now there's a there a
43:48
little dirt Mound do the same thing you
43:50
need that moment you need that weight
43:51
transfer to do some of the it's just GNA
43:53
do that I mean it's just torque squat
43:56
everything is going to those
43:58
re huge it's a big dragster so anyway
44:01
you could tell by watching someone if
44:03
they would lift off yeah Oh no you're
44:05
not you can't do it so anyway not they
44:07
hesitating yeah yeah you hesitate you
44:09
got to commit to that throttle so anyway
44:11
made that pass and they're like oh now
44:14
we're going to have a little dirt Mound
44:16
about this big and and and do the exact
44:18
same thing but that dirt's like maybe 10
44:20
feet in front of the car I drop my arm
44:23
you you go so what do you think happens
44:26
I mean I floored in 10 feet in front of
44:29
you's a bump of dirt you're you're just
44:33
Airborne totally immediately Airborne
44:36
okay anyway that was your that was your
44:38
second time you that was on day one of
44:41
test driving so the by the end of two
44:44
days they're testing your instincts to
44:45
see if you can by the end of two days
44:48
again we were going diagonal off of a
44:50
big jump yeah diagonal is different than
44:53
straight because you're all four tires
44:55
you're Landing like this so they said
44:58
hey do you want the job I said yes and
45:00
then 6 weeks later was my very first
45:03
show and I had no driving in between
45:06
then and then what happen ask how often
45:08
you get to practice maybe not that often
45:10
when am I going to get a practice again
45:12
you practice at the they said oh no uh
45:14
the your first show is the next time
45:18
you're going to drive this truck oh man
45:21
cool guys we're in a huge field in North
45:24
Carolina with no barriers yeah there and
45:26
so there's a bunch I was was telling you
45:27
before we started recording I I watched
45:28
an indoor Monster Jam here just right
45:31
across the way in the basketball arena
45:33
so is there explain to listeners and
45:37
everyone a little bit about the
45:38
different it's kind of a different
45:39
course a different format almost every
45:40
time let me fast forward to the driver's
45:42
meeting for that very first show right
45:44
and this is open that's the first
45:45
question I had that's the first question
45:47
I had I six weeks ago I drove something
45:50
for two days in a field with no barriers
45:53
what is in my mind about like the risk
45:55
level drive all over the place right now
46:00
we're in Trenton New Jersey and the
46:01
world's tiniest Arena and then when you
46:04
go into an arena that that plays hockey
46:07
they have hockey the Dashers it's like
46:09
this big which are expensive
46:12
electronic um boards that have
46:14
advertisements on them and so here we
46:17
are in the you know sometimes they would
46:19
get rid of those it just depending on
46:21
what the building had as an agenda we
46:24
didn't always you're kind of the victim
46:25
of your Venue right yeah it's the venue
46:27
that would make those calls so we would
46:29
sit in our driver meeting and be told
46:31
whether or not the Dashers were going to
46:32
be gone or if they which would give us
46:34
more space or if we were within the
46:36
confines and that's the very smallest
46:38
configuration we drive in and it's
46:41
show previously only two days in a field
46:45
so they say hey the Dashers are
46:47
expensive um they're like five grand if
46:50
you just tap it with your tire so don't
46:53
hit a Dasher what do you think Nicole
46:55
did on our first show right into it oh
46:59
I I had a what did you expect totally
47:04
sure but I also W racing W there you go
47:07
there you go so um I don't know we had
47:10
just single elimination and in an arena
47:13
it's just straight line drag racing
47:14
basically cut a good light which is that
47:16
whole same thing when I drop my arm go
47:18
come up on the torque converter there's
47:20
just a red light green light and there's
47:22
two trucks and at the time we had crush
47:24
cars something from a junkyard painted
47:27
all vibrant colors right and it just
47:30
maybe a van in between them it'd be like
47:32
a car van car we call it a you know a
47:34
van stack car van car or whatever and
47:38
the idea is uh there's a start line and
47:40
and then the finish line is like like
47:42
like maybe just right afterwards you
47:43
might even be in the air just right
47:45
afterwards you're going 30 feet I don't
47:47
know and when the green light goes it's
47:50
just drag race each other so I I beat
47:53
everybody that night it was single
47:55
elimination I just you know so you
47:57
didn't get round I beat Gravedigger the
47:59
it wasn't dentist driving we had
48:01
multiple drivers of multiple truck care
48:03
about the but he was my teammate and I
48:05
beat him that's great and then I uh
48:09
wasn't supposed to be great apparently
48:11
that's not cool because oh interesting
48:14
listen little kids like to buy the
48:16
gravedigger merch absolutely and he's a
48:18
loser now but then okay but then let me
48:21
fast forward a little bit but then the
48:23
game is to try to get out of the small
48:27
hockey ring and get into the big giant
48:29
Arena listen you didn't have any control
48:31
over where you were going to be we got
48:33
your schedule and uh my first year I
48:37
only did the Arenas um I did Win Racing
48:40
nine times in that roughly are you
48:43
driving in a year like that dozens or is
48:45
it doz at the time it was the first
48:47
quarter of the year we go on right after
48:48
New Year's okay until the end of March
48:51
no no you had 12 weekends 11 12 weekends
48:55
and if you're doing Ara you're doing a
48:57
Friday night two Saturday shows if it
49:00
was a 3-day weekend like MLK then we
49:02
would also do a Sunday show so typically
49:04
three shows in a weekend times 12 maybe
49:07
36 shows whatever so I I won racing nine
49:10
times in that 12 week window which was
49:14
the most amount of wins by a rookie or a
49:17
female in a single season albe it
49:20
straight line drag racing so I got a
49:22
good light I guess I don't know I just
49:24
have you done any actual drag racing
49:26
seems like maybe you have good re a sand
49:28
drag race one time when a guy was like
49:31
Hey drive my car was a friend of my
49:32
dad's hey drive my car okay and I just I
49:35
I placed third at the Dan chittendon
49:37
Nationals totally out of nowhere just
49:40
showed up and placed
49:42
third well maybe my super projective i'
49:44
would I don't know the detour show come
49:47
on we'll see I don't know just look at
49:49
the light and come just go the light is
49:51
hard I I don't know I want to do ly's
49:54
dragster if you ever do dragster I want
49:55
to do I don't know so anyway I enough
49:58
about all that stuff yeah know I I've
50:00
had I for 17 hours we talk completely
50:04
your retention will go down no talking
50:07
but at the end of the six years you end
50:08
up in the Scooby-Doo truck Warner
50:10
Brother scoobydoo TR I guess back I've
50:13
seen you go upside down I've seen all
50:14
kinds of clips of he is you know then I
50:19
was given an opportunity to drive in
50:21
stadiums and now you have a little bit
50:23
more freedom to do bigger tricks and
50:26
things though our driver meetings were
50:30
again Hey listen you know who you are if
50:34
if you've been given the green light to
50:37
do a backflip if you're not somebody
50:39
who's been given a green light we will
50:41
use the ri which is the remote ignition
50:43
interruptor they go [ __ ] and shut you
50:45
off cut you for safety reasons we had to
50:47
run you're not ready to do it corre well
50:51
it they're just the cars would run away
50:53
and kill somebody so foram was fantastic
50:58
a big monster truck's too big to have
51:00
like a easy no the whole reason why you
51:02
couldn't do it was because it it
51:05
devalued the entertainment quality of
51:07
the three back flips they were already
51:09
going to see oh right
51:11
you did a back flip ywn right right
51:15
right you can't go Rogue where's the
51:16
double back flip where's the front flip
51:18
which is a thing I think they do now I
51:20
mean the tricks are so amazing everybody
51:21
who's doing it now all the girls females
51:23
who are doing it now oh my gosh
51:24
everybody's so good at it kids today
51:27
these kids today you still plugged into
51:29
the world at all you know those folks I
51:30
have a couple friends that I keep up
51:32
with but it's easier for me to put my
51:34
blinders on cuz I'm not much of a
51:35
spectator totally I'm not a spectator
51:37
but the one of the things about monster
51:40
trucks and Monster Jam is like so like I
51:42
took all my I have three kids and I took
51:43
them and they freak they don't even like
51:45
cars that much they freaking loved it
51:48
and all the other fans there were like
51:50
going nuts so you must have started
51:52
doing pressing stuff right in fact I've
51:54
seen interviews of you now you're in
51:55
front of cameras great amount Monster
51:57
Jam yeah Mike is doing his job you come
51:59
out of it with with press training media
52:01
training right and I was on a lot of I
52:03
did all the morning media in we would
52:06
get a sign little local stations what go
52:08
to the local news channel go to the
52:10
radio station sometimes they would come
52:12
to us so I have a lot of experience um
52:14
being in the media did you enjoy it or
52:16
were you like this right to be in with
52:18
or did you always been like like this is
52:20
who I am you were born to do this it was
52:22
great yeah overall it was great that's
52:24
what you were thinking way back at King
52:25
of the hamb remember I had a press kit
52:28
so even before that like I have been on
52:31
in front of the camera for 20 years and
52:34
it's just I'm not afraid of it I I'm
52:37
it's comfortable for me I've never even
52:39
been afraid of public speaking I've been
52:41
be through all of this I've also been
52:44
able to address a crowd of 60,000 people
52:49
microphone you know talking to them like
52:51
if you won I don't know racing or Donuts
52:53
or whatever right you get out of your
52:55
truck and talk to the crowd
52:57
none of it has ever intimidated me so I
52:59
don't know very comfortable it doesn't
53:01
scare me so is that where the impetus or
53:04
the idea comes for the YouTube show or
53:07
like how how does that transition let me
53:10
you got to talk about how they were just
53:12
not letting us do it well we didn't want
53:15
to let us do it well Monster Jam was a
53:17
great like first of all you got like
53:18
Monster Jam was a great opportunity like
53:20
that six years what occurred in that six
53:22
years for Nicole Johnson's you know sort
53:24
of stock and trade was like incredible I
53:27
mean there's a lot of thing I didn't
53:28
grow up watching like monster trucks I
53:31
mean I'm so old for me the was the
53:32
original Bigfoot truck absolutely like
53:34
to me that was a I remember that was
53:36
more like a real pickup truck yeah that
53:37
was kind and it blew up and became you
53:39
know gig B Chandler I met that guy so I
53:42
mean you know just to to
53:45
like when from the first time I met
53:48
Nicole you know to to do a show like
53:52
this like it's a huge commitment like
53:54
you know we didn't think we did four
53:55
episodes and thought we're going to
53:56
shoot four of these and see if anybody
53:58
cares because the the odds are with
54:00
everything on YouTube the answer will
54:02
probably be no um but there was also
54:05
a go back though to the Monster Jam days
54:08
and we thought of in the original
54:10
Monster Jam so Nicole is getting to a
54:11
point where she could like carry a show
54:14
originally I was thinking and we were
54:15
thinking oh maybe she needs to be with
54:18
someone else a co-hosting show the two
54:20
of them together but this always
54:21
supposed to be a YouTube show
54:23
that the process of my thinking the
54:25
process let me tell the beginning and
54:27
I'll throw it to you we're like almost
54:29
like a married couple here you are I've
54:32
been watching your snorted back this is
54:35
great so we knew we wanted to do a show
54:38
inside of monsters yeah we knew we had
54:40
the opportunity there to really do
54:42
something special take Nicole put her in
54:44
a show this was when everything was
54:45
still very terrestrial TV it was Motor
54:48
Trend there wasn't a lot of like a
54:49
reality show there wasn't a lot on
54:51
YouTube yet there was no Rumble like
54:53
there was nobody doing things really on
54:55
their own I was being contacted all the
54:58
producers they wanted to do a monster
55:00
truck driving mom show they wanted to
55:02
have a they wanted to come and watch me
55:03
flipping pancakes taking my kids to
55:06
then making cookies where are they by
55:09
way so so we couldn't getair eating them
55:13
all so we couldn't get traction with
55:15
with moner Jam we couldn't get him to
55:16
work with us to to to motivate and get
55:18
that show on the air there was just a
55:20
lot of complications you would have
55:21
needed their this was people approaching
55:23
me to be honest it wasn't it was that I
55:26
was was getting emailed by people that
55:28
was that you oh excuse me I was getting
55:32
emailed by real producers in Hollywood
55:35
who were producing was that you was that
55:38
you well we and we did a deal with the
55:40
you know a company that that had
55:42
developed Wayne Kini show we did a first
55:43
look with them and they did a shopping
55:45
deal with using deal so like we were
55:47
doing that kind of circulating around
55:49
trying to do it then we went and and so
55:51
we just could never do the Monster Jam
55:52
show that we wanted to do it just too
55:54
logistically hard with with them to get
55:56
for a lot of the right and wrong reasons
55:59
on both sides and um so then we went to
56:02
France actually Nicole got invited to do
56:05
the 70th right the 70th anniversary of
56:08
the Jeep which was in
56:12
2011 she calls me up she Normandy like
56:15
uh World War II liberating I got an off
56:18
an opportunity from a French um group
56:21
that was putting on an annual event it
56:23
just so happened to also coincide with
56:25
the 70th anniversary of the Jeep they
56:27
wanted me to come as a guest of honor it
56:29
was all these guys from all over Europe
56:31
were bringing their Jeeps to this event
56:32
and they were like wanted a promotional
56:35
video so I know a dude Mike so Mike and
56:39
I went to France drove Jeeps did you
56:42
offer a World War II era Jeep as part of
56:44
that uh no I drove like a I drove like a
56:48
rock crawler and we were Expos like a
56:50
there was rock crawling it was like a
56:52
big like I have a second Channel which
56:54
is old and then sometimes I dump things
56:55
on there anyway it's on that other
56:57
channel it's on there called weand in
56:58
France or something like that anyway
57:00
love to see Nicole up over the dunes at
57:02
Normandy in a 1944 G it was the event
57:05
and and sort of the vibing out this
57:08
event and so when we were there shooting
57:10
that I don't know that Nicole knew this
57:12
at the time maybe you did but I was
57:14
really thinking like okay I think she
57:16
could she could do a show I think we
57:18
could do a show and she'd be a great
57:20
producer and she's great on camera as
57:22
long as we don't let it be scripted it's
57:24
going to be a great show
57:26
and so that was kind of the test we shot
57:28
that video she did it all by herself so
57:30
she carried that whole video all by
57:32
herself and I was like oh my gosh this
57:34
this is like a 10 out of 10 she's really
57:36
really really good spent a little bit of
57:37
time having some more meetings about
57:40
having it be a co-hosted show with a
57:42
good friend of hers um we want to say
57:44
who that is yeah it was Jesse Jesse
57:46
Colmes do you know who Jessie Coles is
57:48
she was a dear friend and at the time we
57:50
chatted about her co-hosting some sort
57:53
of an adventure with us two of together
57:55
while where we chatted so we met with we
57:57
actually met with Roger Norman who owned
57:58
score at that time about that we had a
58:00
really weird meeting with him and that
58:01
didn't happen but I had been in music
58:03
for a long time and I was used to
58:05
shopping things for years before when
58:07
nobody cares and then they do and then
58:08
you sell six million records right so I
58:10
was used to patience patience you cuz
58:12
you know you just know and she was great
58:15
so we we shot I don't know we did that
58:19
was it and then we just said So Co hit
58:21
that's what it was right yeah so years
58:23
went by I retired at the end of 2016 my
58:25
last year was December of 201 and I
58:28
retired from Monster gy so fast forward
58:30
to Co in that time frame I'm just like
58:33
raising my kids and and doing mom things
58:35
out remodeling the house and was doing
58:38
no Motorsports at all out of the car
58:39
world out of the car world and he in the
58:44
meantime was filming in hospitals up
58:46
until covid right that's yeah we had a
58:49
big client in San Diego we were doing
58:50
all these real world documentaries
58:52
shooting surgeries and people with their
58:54
heads falling off and all this I saw
58:56
some crazy stuff and so 10 years of that
58:59
Co hit everything shuts down for me
59:01
there's all these complications and
59:03
problems with Co for me and you also
59:06
don't want to be in hospitals at that
59:07
time um well I didn't mind we actually
59:09
were one of the only crews in the
59:10
country that would go in and shoot we
59:12
shot inside those Wards right in
59:15
February of 2020 yeah my crew went in
59:18
there and we shot everything that's a
59:19
whole podcast in of itself wild yeah we
59:21
weren't afraid we went in there crazy
59:23
yep and uh so we did all that and then
59:25
that so that ended and I was sitting
59:27
there with my thumb at my ass sorry and
59:31
and um I'm like what am I going to do I
59:33
got to do something I'm like God you
59:34
know I'm a squirrel I gota I can't just
59:37
around and um I called Nicole and we
59:39
started the show and here we are so
59:41
October of 2020 if you actually go on
59:43
our YouTube channel and when you click
59:45
on the little weird about area it'll say
59:47
when the channel was created joined
59:50
it'll say October 20th of 2020 that was
59:54
about a week after he called me and said
59:57
you know that show we'd always talked
59:59
about doing way back in the day did you
00:01
have a blueprint for what you wanted to
00:02
do about this years ago two shows we
00:05
were going to do the the the reality is
00:09
Monster Jam didn't want to do the
00:12
monster truck show that some of the
00:14
Hollywood producers that were reaching
00:18
suggested for whatever re they they just
00:21
didn't want to have anything to do with
00:22
it which would have not been we created
00:26
what could we do on our own that's when
00:29
we were like hey maybe it's involving
00:31
Jesse comes like maybe you know we
00:34
created this show years earlier shelv
00:37
the idea life goes on Co hits hey but
00:41
was it question Drive everything was
00:42
that always the idea it was a lot of
00:44
off-road stuff and then it morphed into
00:46
wait a minute we could just do this with
00:48
everything totally because I said to him
00:50
one day I asked you I've always wanted
00:53
to drive everything I asked you who I am
00:56
I asked you I said that day I said what
00:58
were you like when you were a kid what
01:00
did you what was in your heart when you
01:01
were a little kid and you said I want to
01:03
drive everything when I was a kid I said
01:05
that's the show I had a go-kart um um my
01:10
my sister had a pinto at 6 years old I
01:12
drove a pinto connection y full circle
01:14
so I had a go-kart when I was five my
01:16
sister had a pinto and she let me drive
01:18
it down a back alley when I was six I
01:20
was probably sitting on her lap I don't
01:21
remember yeah and then my my my dad my
01:26
real dad had a um a Chevy
01:29
C10 I don't know what year it was late
01:32
70s granny low I mean I'm 12 had a C1
01:37
you never told me that yeah he did and I
01:39
I was driving that thing around the
01:41
neighborhood I was 12 years old granny
01:43
low you can't not you can't stall it
01:46
right so and we would still drive the
01:49
go-karts and somebody would call the
01:51
cops and we'd quickly put them away at
01:53
natural like they would we're not the
01:58
and when I was in high school uh I was
02:01
always like let me drive your car drive
02:04
your car I had a friend with you're one
02:05
of those I know those people oh I dated
02:07
this boy who had whose parents had you
02:10
know an Alpha Romeo and I just thought
02:12
that was really cool and I was just
02:14
constantly pestering all my friends to
02:16
let me drive you had broad interest you
02:17
were like any like almost anything I
02:20
always wanted to drive everything but I
02:22
never knew until he was asking me and I
02:27
I said I always wanted I always wanted
02:29
to drive everything and then oh oh and
02:32
then my husband you can't tell the story
02:34
without Frank this whole show this show
02:36
doesn't go without Frank I mean so I was
02:39
19 when I got married I've been married
02:41
31 years he's also a car guy right oh
02:43
yeah he had right he was a lifeguard
02:46
with a tan in Ventura with big curly
02:50
hair and a 72 Toyota fj40 with a Chevy
02:55
350 in it and a m the same exact Rock
02:59
Crusher in the Nova was in the Land
03:02
Cruiser you still have that gear box no
03:05
we sold it I like the sound of a mon
03:08
though yeah totally straight cut gears
03:10
so he had a freight train horn on that
03:12
thing so I was 19 years old oh you
03:16
pushed the button and five horns toal
03:18
Central California lifeguard Life Style
03:20
love exactly so I grew up in St Louis
03:22
viso just a little north of there my
03:24
family is from S I love that part of the
03:26
so he that was his daily driver it was
03:27
only a 20-year-old car at the time right
03:29
it wasn't even that old and I thought he
03:31
was so cute he didn't have a dime to his
03:33
name but he had a Land Cruiser and curly
03:35
hair yeah so I asked him can can I drive
03:39
it that's what I asked him if I could
03:42
drive it and he's like the only girl
03:44
that's ever driven my car is my mom
03:47
ironic that's what the show is this day
03:50
totally the only girl who's ever driven
03:52
his car to this day is his mom and me
03:55
how many people have said that in the
03:56
show to you that's incredible yeah
03:58
almost everybody we get be they like
04:00
they've never sat in the passenger seat
04:02
ever oh yeah that's disconcerting that's
04:04
probably half of our episodes at least
04:06
half the people freaking out about their
04:07
passenger seat more they never they'
04:09
never been and then people want to give
04:10
them a hard time that they look nervous
04:11
yeah totally they're sitting in their
04:13
own passenger seat for the first time
04:14
because you're also seeing it in real
04:15
time we don't fake any of the show the
04:17
show is all 98% first place yes if I
04:19
mess up you see it yeah so so when she
04:22
gets in the car for the first time she's
04:23
really getting in the car for the first
04:25
time a fake first time it's a real first
04:27
time so you know the nice thing about it
04:29
being everything is there's thegu the
04:31
limit you have I moved a car a you can
04:34
drive all kinds of Stu move the car
04:36
around and oh okay get it you know yeah
04:38
sometimes we'll do pre- drives on
04:40
something that's absolutely so bat ass
04:43
crazy that like no human would would
04:45
ever you know but that's pretty rare I
04:47
mean the the what Scotty's was Scotty
04:51
like that I mean some of these things
04:53
are so intergalactically bizarre Nicole
04:57
yeah I mean Duke's Car was crazy
05:00
remember I was like arguing about oh I
05:01
don't want to do the drag I'm totally
05:04
scared it's going to blow up like my mom
05:06
in the safety like concerned worry world
05:10
yes and so 100% all the time he's
05:13
constantly like freaking out on well you
05:16
are driving a lot of builds you another
05:18
guy who's been on is is uh Mano is that
05:21
his name the guy mono it's mono like
05:24
modifi like he he calls his company
05:27
modified because it's like modified he
05:29
sold some cars on Chris do you remember
05:30
him we' we've encountered him down at
05:32
the SoCal van eyes BMW show in fact he
05:34
had some cars I think that were live on
05:35
bat and he was next to our tent uh but
05:38
you drove a really wild one five or 600
05:40
horsepower two of them guy he's a guy
05:43
two of them um that was a square
05:45
extraordinary was4 Square tail light and
05:48
he lot an E36 in it he moved the
05:51
firewall 7 in back big oiless two uh
05:55
turbo and uh he he could dial it of
05:59
course you have to dial down the Boost
06:01
so that the motor doesn't grenade um so
06:03
it was dialed down but it had the
06:05
potential to get up to 600 horsepower
06:07
yeah it was beautiful to drive amazing
06:09
oh yeah I also drove a Roundy you know
06:12
what that is round light was out a 72
06:15
I'm trying to remember now and l0 30 in
06:20
it for Banger right uh E3 it was out of
06:24
an E30 it was a there's
06:26
and Cy now now don't quiz me I know like
06:29
s46 and m52 I don't I get them all
06:32
confused so anyway um little four
06:34
cylinder with a turbo still hoot to
06:38
drive so I drove them and they were just
06:40
wild he does put six cylinders in 2002's
06:42
though I'm pretty sure one of the ones
06:43
that that was the second one I drove y
06:44
that was one the big be that was a six
06:46
cylinder that's it just needed so much
06:48
more space which is bigger and smoother
06:51
and we oh everything was smoo it was
06:53
like the it was like the
06:56
right you think it's going to be one way
06:57
but it's the other yeah you know a 427
06:59
and a 289 are very very different by the
07:02
way in the Cobra World totally but I
07:04
would have thought the 427 would be like
07:06
you know but I found the 289 way the 289
07:09
better why small block it revs now yeah
07:13
that's what all the all the early comp
07:15
cars were 289 I mean I those are the
07:17
ones I like too cuz they're they're
07:18
narrower and I like them aesthetically
07:20
look I'm not driving it like a
07:23
professional 427 race car driver
07:27
D that's not what I'm I'm just going to
07:30
experience it on the road and be
07:31
respectful of his car and and he let me
07:35
you know the Cobra Lynn Park let me take
07:38
a one of five FIA Cobra to Willow
07:41
Springs and driving on the track amazing
07:43
and that was a 289 and it's just like as
07:45
you're downshifting and you're blipping
07:49
throttle it's just it does it so quick
07:51
it sounds like a fighter plane it sounds
07:53
like a like a it just sounds like a f
07:55
ating there's a reason that those cars
07:57
are so beloved and you
07:59
gotting but I I have now driven six of
08:02
his Originals amazing two uh we did an
08:07
we did two episodes with the guy but
08:08
privately I've also had an opportunity
08:10
to drive some of his cars so you've also
08:11
driven a lot of EVS you were talking
08:13
about that just one don't ever say don't
08:16
ever make thought you driven quite a few
08:18
ni how do you feel about electrics oh
08:20
yeah totally if oh my gosh she's fine
08:23
with it as long as there's a hausa motor
08:26
like goes with listen that didn't count
08:28
because it had a it if you ever in the
08:32
same sentence says say Nicole Johnson's
08:34
driven a lot of EVS I'm just pulling my
08:36
eyeballs out and I'm but wait there
08:38
there are certainly at least there's at
08:39
least one driven one on the show but it
08:41
was like a mod of people Chris ashon
08:44
Ruffian cars it was Chris Ashton
08:49
1977 or eight N I can't remember um it
08:55
was a wide bodied race car Porsche 911
09:01
and he couldn't get it registered in the
09:04
state it had gone through a Mudslide it
09:06
was too too new too new to be have a
09:09
race engine what a story God plus it had
09:13
been through a horrific mudslide and
09:15
he's like you know what I'm just going
09:16
to throw any in it they threw it through
09:18
T Electric GT they threw a Tesla motor
09:22
in there and it's great yeah I was like
09:26
okay listen if I'm going to do an
09:27
electric I mean that's a really cool car
09:29
kind of like a hot rod a little bit
09:30
right was like driving an RC car totally
09:35
and Chris pointed that out to me he's
09:36
like listen we were kids it was Super
09:39
Rad nobody got upset that you had to
09:41
drive your electric RC car now you're in
09:44
it totally plus it's a badass car the
09:46
history of that car particularly is like
09:49
looks awesome that car had a history for
09:51
sure but I was like I'm going to do this
09:54
yeah it was fun what's on The Hit List
09:56
if you can drive everything does that
09:57
mean you can drive boats you can drive
09:58
tanks like what you going to drive gosh
10:00
my good friend Aaron Hagar he we did a
10:03
pinsar episode with Aaron oh yes I saw
10:05
that one Sammy Hagar's son he's such a
10:08
dear sweet friend he said he he we were
10:12
talking the other day and he's like uh
10:14
the guy with the shop next door to me
10:16
has this cool fighter plane you should
10:18
go you should do that and he's sending
10:20
me pictures and I'm like maybe I mean
10:24
maybe I you can drive all kinds of stuff
10:27
that's for sure the sky is you know the
10:29
cool concept of this show is we have no
10:31
ceiling totally we will never run out of
10:33
content it's impossible that I will
10:35
exhaust every car that there is on the
10:37
planet we would really like to travel we
10:40
envision the show being Anthony Bourdain
10:43
No reservation meets UK Top Gear yeah
10:46
but we got to go around the world we
10:47
could find culture totally and that was
10:50
what our France event there's different
10:52
kinds of car cultures in different
10:53
places right we went to in Australia
10:55
have like these really active like
10:57
modifying scene they do different stuff
10:59
right our huge audience ating our
11:03
scouting list now for Europe is
11:05
incredible the cars we want to hit over
11:07
there top secret but things that we want
11:09
to get to can you speak broadly about
11:11
the kind of stuff you guys are
11:11
interested in in in chasing down yeah I
11:14
mean we're always looking at like you
11:16
I'm sitting here now for everybody
11:17
watching this for anybody watching this
11:19
podcast we're sitting here now in The
11:21
Amazing headquarters and right on the
11:22
other side of this is a Porsche an
11:26
BMW we never know what it's going to be
11:29
and when it hits us we both will hit
11:32
each other right away and say oh my God
11:34
yes there's ones that she brings to the
11:36
table that I don't like there's ones I
11:37
bring to the table that she doesn't like
11:39
and if it doesn't pass the test we don't
11:40
do it yeah sure um we don't care what if
11:43
there's a sponsorship or some political
11:46
reason we don't care that's what the
11:47
good thing about being around bosses now
11:49
yeah I bet so we really as far as The
11:51
Hit List really got to get out to the
11:53
Eastern Seaboard of the United States
11:55
there's some really crazy amazing stuff
11:57
we want to do there we have there a lot
11:58
of things in Austin and
12:01
Texas longer and longer right think this
12:03
year we're gonna we're going to do I
12:04
think this year what you can look
12:05
forward to for fans is we're going to
12:06
try to do a run to the Northwest and try
12:09
to do a run to Texas Oklahoma oh where
12:11
you do like a couple at the
12:12
same eony reasons you have to yeah so we
12:16
want to do like you know I want to I'd
12:17
love to see Nicole like in a Formula 1
12:19
car i' love to see her and all kinds of
12:21
things my job is to put her in the most
12:25
safe but interesting Len I'm not going
12:27
to tell you who it is but two times now
12:32
an individual who has a vintage Formula
12:35
1 has said to me you're welcome to drive
12:38
my vintage Formula 1 I mean how do you
12:40
say no to that right now I don't want to
12:42
jinx myself yeah right totally but if
12:45
that ever happens he's going to die he's
12:47
going to just die I won't have a
12:49
producer director anymore he's going to
12:51
just Keel over and die because yeah he
12:55
four years ago he's like if you ever get
12:57
in a Formula 1 a vintage formula go yeah
12:59
yeah he goes you'll get in one I'm like
13:02
nah so we'll see I don't know you
13:05
mentioned a tank like we've actually
13:07
talked love to drive a tank let me ask
13:10
czy let me ask the both of you something
13:11
crazy okay but this is a focus group
13:15
okay I've talked to you a little bit
13:16
about this but I we haven't talked about
13:18
this a lot yet I mentioned it to you so
13:21
I got a call like right before Christmas
13:24
from a guy I who will REM who will
13:27
remain anonymous for right now this guy
13:31
calls me sends me an email initially
13:34
before he called me sends me an email
13:36
that's like I don't know four pages long
13:39
the the gist of it is do you want to
13:43
submarine heck yes heck yes is your
13:47
answer those they have I think they have
13:49
a little steering wheel so now I'm
13:50
trying to explore I'm wear a love boow
13:52
outfit and everything I'm trying to
13:54
explore the the the possibility you know
13:57
and this is like a 6mon process to even
13:59
get vetted to walk on to the absolutely
14:02
okay like to you know like you think
14:04
your TSA pre-check means something it
14:07
doesn't I I will tell you if if you want
14:09
focus group I was I was doing submarine
14:11
content a week or two ago with my kids
14:14
where I wish I could remember his name
14:16
he's a big science YouTuber he flew in a
14:18
helicopter out to the to the polar ice
14:21
cap and a sub came up through the ice
14:23
and he got on it and went down and the
14:25
video that I that we watched was just
14:26
about cooking oh that's like red October
14:28
that's like H for Red October when drops
14:30
them off out the middle of nowhere on
14:31
the sub oh my God anyway my my
14:33
four-year-old and my 14-year-old loved
14:35
it so yes thumbs up on submarine content
14:38
I I don't know do you think that like I
14:39
don't know like would anybody would
14:41
anybody watch it this is these are the
14:44
things like I would watch that that we
14:46
have to sit here as producers and
14:51
creatively we're always going to just do
14:55
and we don't care what anybody else Rad
14:57
do it if it's rad we'll go do it right
15:00
we rad is a word from the 80s it's back
15:04
are very much like you know you you try
15:09
to have this philosophy that we don't
15:11
care if anybody's going to ever watch it
15:13
he's classic every time we're 30 minutes
15:16
from releasing an episode we've seen it
15:18
nobody else has seen it he's like I
15:19
don't give I don't care five people see
15:21
this episode this is the best one we've
15:23
ever done I don't care five see I well
15:25
we ultimately don't care five people see
15:27
it because it's really hard to carry on
15:29
I would say but that's the problem we
15:32
creatively are trying to pick things
15:36
that we like and we are trying not to be
15:38
influenced by what somebody tells us to
15:42
like totally we want to do what we like
15:44
because if you're creating art that you
15:46
like maybe people people cometic
15:49
authenticity Chris and I know a thing or
15:51
two about building a successful brand
15:53
and uh we've always stuck to our like
15:56
core beliefs and tenants and this is the
15:57
way we do it this is the way it feels
15:59
right if you're passionate about it
16:00
maybe that enthusiasm will bring people
16:02
Along on your bandwagon team whatever
16:05
however the realities are you're facing
16:08
algorithms I know it's
16:10
YouTube it's wonderful you can post it
16:13
for free but listen do you know how
16:17
important a thumbnail is oh it's vital
16:20
it is there are only two things two bits
16:23
of data that that viewer gets to decide
16:26
before they've clicked the title and the
16:28
thumbnail you could have the best video
16:32
on the planet if you don't have a great
16:34
title and thumbnail nobody's going to
16:35
click on it the algorithm is going to
16:37
assume it's a terrible video and it
16:39
won't put it in front of new eyeballs or
16:43
eyeballs I realized that sounded like my
16:46
own eyeballs no but I me but you see
16:48
what I'm saying it's like a magazine
16:49
rack if you're in a grocery store old
16:51
school and there's magazines that cover
16:54
has got to get your attention or the
16:56
best article in the world isn't going to
16:57
be read yeah so we do have to think
17:00
about that too creatively and sometimes
17:02
our thumbnails Rock sometimes they're
17:04
you know I wish they were better but
17:06
that is a huge key of course that is a
17:09
huge key that's a magic that's so magic
17:12
but as you're so I know you guys and I
17:16
totally understand it do do what you
17:17
want do what excites you and and trust
17:19
that that will then get folks excited
17:21
but I know Nicole to some extent you are
17:22
thinking about your audience we were
17:23
talking about it before right yeah and
17:25
you were talking about how exciting it
17:26
is when folks recognize you or come up
17:28
to you or you were talking about telling
17:30
me an anecdote about SEMA and somebody
17:32
coming up and saying how meaningful it
17:33
is for you when you hear from
17:36
fans uh about how they've been inspired
17:39
to I don't want to blow up your spot but
17:40
you were telling a story about a guy
17:42
who's doing a build with his daughter
17:44
because inspired by your two SE ago we
17:46
met a gentleman and he came over and was
17:49
excited to meet me and and he said your
17:52
show is the reason why my 14-year-old
17:54
daughter and I are building her a car oh
17:57
my gosh I started getting like watery
17:59
eyes and before you know it Mike's like
18:03
what's going on over there cuz he could
18:04
see that I was crying so he wasn't sure
18:05
if this guy was like offending me or
18:07
something and Mike comes over I'm like
18:09
oh his daughter they're building a car
18:12
together I'm going this gu like yo bro
18:13
what's up so yeah he's coming over like
18:15
a bodyguard like be this guy up 5 fo six
18:18
of me I'm like hey D he's thinking that
18:20
this guy has said something offensive to
18:23
me to make me cry I'm just emotional
18:25
hearing it like are you kidding me we
18:28
impacted like your lives that much that
18:30
you're now building a car together so I
18:33
feel Mike in and before you know all
18:34
three of us are crying yeah I'm not
18:36
crying you're crying andco that's not
18:38
and that's that's not a oneoff like
18:39
we've had bizarre a lot of those like we
18:44
audrain uh uh in no I don't know when
18:46
that was October October that's Newport
18:48
Road Island we did a we did a bat alumni
18:51
event the two years ago at that same
18:55
out what a great place I was a Concord
18:58
judge this year awesome it was so great
19:00
event great people you're going to
19:03
Concord that's the place to be I'm not
19:04
trying to Hype these guys they're good
19:06
friends of ours yeah it's a good scene
19:08
over there man it's it's it's everything
19:10
you want to Concord but it's not stiff
19:12
and uptight and and Ne some of the
19:15
negative stuff that goes with the free
19:17
free Sho nature when our R out they
19:19
people were driving their duesenbergs
19:20
and stuff in the rain through the rain
19:23
real they just go like we're like oh you
19:25
know it's kind ofing I'm staying inside
19:28
they don't yeah no it was real deal
19:31
they're cool where were you going with
19:33
that I forgot what I was saying we were
19:34
talking about well I was I was asking
19:36
this was my I was asking you guys about
19:38
how inspirational it must be fans and
19:40
audience with all the tattoos so we're
19:42
out of the AUD there's one guy that that
19:44
comes up you know we have the fans that
19:45
come up and say oh my gosh I'm totally
19:47
into you oh my and and but then you
19:50
forget the other guy there's another guy
19:52
walks up and he's walks up to Nicole
19:55
he says hey I need to say
19:57
something and we're like oh maybe he's
19:59
going to say I hate this freaking show
20:01
you're the worst thing ever but he goes
20:05
and he's he's standing with another guy
20:07
the other guy is the nuclear submarine
20:08
guy oh that's howle that's how he found
20:12
me okay okay okay um so this so this guy
20:16
said I have to tell you something and he
20:18
start this like a tall guy like in the
20:20
middle of the day and he starts crying
20:22
and I'm like what's going on man and
20:24
he's like it's hard for me to even tell
20:26
this story but he goes
20:29
um he says um you remind me so much of
20:33
my mom when I watched the show and my
20:35
mom is the one who turned me on to cars
20:38
and when I watch you I feel like I'm
20:41
watching my mom amazing and he starts
20:43
balling you know and I'm like oh my God
20:46
so I like I hug we hug these guys you
20:48
know and so there's like an emotional
20:51
like tendon that runs through this sh
20:54
show that I I don't understand or can't
20:58
you guys were hoping for you talked
20:59
about mentioned Anthony Bourdain before
21:00
right that's what you're hoping for
21:02
right like this like there's a
21:04
authenticity and I know he just turns
21:06
the camera on yeah I don't know we don't
21:09
I don't know what it is we just he just
21:12
points and shoots and we talk and we're
21:14
not scripted and we're just having a
21:16
conversation and then we go drive it
21:18
yeah and that's it that's the show I
21:20
think the minute I think the minute we
21:21
start doing a show it's over yeah like
21:24
we're not really doing a show right
21:26
we're just yeah we're we're uh you know
21:28
for me I was desperately
21:32
missing a lot of the shows that I
21:34
thought were incredible you know a lot
21:36
of these shows were going away or they
21:38
were becoming syndicated and getting
21:40
mashed out and kind of vanilla eyes and
21:42
ruined in syndication like I loved all
21:45
the original [ __ ] you know I grew up
21:46
watching Barry McGuire and Dennis Gage
21:48
and all those first round of shows I
21:50
mean derer was just very kind of very
21:53
close to what Dennis Gage was doing you
21:54
know he was going on location and
21:56
talking to people about their stories
21:57
then we saw all the American shows come
21:59
through American Hot Rod American
22:00
Chopper we all went through all that
22:01
then velocity Network became huge and we
22:03
got to see all those shows you take UK
22:06
Top you know Wheeler Dealers was coming
22:07
through the original one before it got
22:10
split apart and everybody now is one
22:12
where said but all those shows were kind
22:15
of gone or they've been syndicated it
22:17
seemed like there was just something
22:18
missing and there sure as hell wasn't a
22:20
lot of strong powerful females who could
22:22
like rule the camera Dwayne does like
22:25
Jesus a natural yeah you know I don't we
22:28
don't have to like do a whole lot in
22:30
these episodes and there's no scripting
22:31
we tell the people when we show up you
22:34
know people when we're going to shoot
22:35
them they say what should I think about
22:38
what should I be thinking about saying
22:39
and stuff just don't think about any of
22:41
it forget all of it don't think about
22:43
anything and when we show up you're just
22:44
going to talk to this human about your
22:48
creation mhm you know yeah I don't know
22:52
it just works and and by the way but I
22:55
also like he's really good on the
22:58
production value is so good on the
23:00
production side of things like he never
23:03
tootes his own horn like seven emys from
23:06
his prior work with clients he's never
23:08
going to sit here and tell you but I
23:10
will because I'm I'm proud of his
23:12
accomplishments and that I'm teamed with
23:14
somebody that's this darn smart and
23:17
experienced it would not be what it is
23:20
without this guy it it is such a a team
23:23
effort mhm it is such a team effort the
23:27
show could not exist without me the show
23:30
could not exist without him it is that
23:33
like tight and and Frank and your mom
23:37
and no no no see there he goes there he
23:40
goes there he goes see how I do it I
23:44
guys really good and he will never toot
23:48
his own horn but I'm telling you that
23:50
we're always like dang Mike did really
23:52
good on this you know he's the guy that
23:54
makes it look so good well that's an
23:56
important part of it there have been
23:57
several people we're trying who have
24:01
asked hey I'm I'm doing videos too but
24:05
what do you do to your audio like how
24:07
come your cars sound good so good I'm
24:08
like it's all AI secret no it's not
24:12
watch out they're going to try to hire
24:13
him no no no it's because this guy knows
24:15
what he's doing yeah it's tough stuff
24:17
and we we do an audio mix and color
24:19
grading it's not it's very over
24:21
engineered for YouTube well it looks
24:23
fantastic you know when they when they
24:25
were making he's trying to wrap it up I
24:26
can tell that's the key when when they
24:28
were making when they were making Star
24:29
Trek as on the on the flight here
24:31
actually I was reading this book on the
24:33
making of Star Trek right the original
24:35
series and all the stuff they went
24:36
through to try to get to convince the
24:38
studios and they rejected the first
24:39
pilot nobody liked it and they hated
24:41
Spock and all these things that happened
24:44
you know so there's just an element of
24:47
to um and they you know they they they
24:51
said you have they just had to keep
24:53
going like you know and honestly you
24:58
trailer it's pretty crazy the ride
25:00
you've been on oh and it's all it's the
25:02
same kind of thing it's always always
25:03
moving forward right like it's the same
25:05
kind of thing right you like can't stop
25:07
Chris and I it's like you know there's
25:09
thousand auctions live 24/7 sometimes it
25:11
keeps you up at night so it is a similar
25:13
kind of thing right but the ride to
25:14
where you are now uh right now I think
25:16
there's only about 800 but last year our
25:18
Peak was around a thousand yeah I know
25:20
that's comments and people saying things
25:24
but the space you occupy now there is no
25:26
other I mean I tell people all the time
25:28
to check you guys out like like I know a
25:30
couple of guys in Vegas with some cool
25:32
cars you know I got a friend who's got a
25:38
Mustang um we sell those yeah you know
25:41
with 50,000 miles on it which isn't a
25:43
lot Y and he's wondering where to sell
25:46
it bring a trailer man we're bring
25:48
trailer.com yep Nicole cons send I was
25:50
trying to wrap up which is true that's
25:52
good that's a media trained person uh
25:54
but before I do that I actually do want
25:55
to give you guys an opportunity like
25:56
what else should people know what do
25:57
they need to know about about you guys
26:00
individually about producer co-producers
26:03
SL hosts or uh the man behind the camera
26:06
or just about the channel in general oh
26:08
jeez my least favorite food is mushrooms
26:10
oh gosh my most favorite is chocolate
26:12
that's what you need your cookie recipe
26:13
is secret I do have cookies upstairs
26:16
it's my signature move hey if all this
26:19
fails I'm I'm open you got back cookie
26:21
store in the mall absolutely what else
26:23
should folks know M other than it was
26:25
hard to drag you in front of the camera
26:27
but I'm glad we did it I think follow
26:31
and don't compromise and do everything
26:34
you can to maintain your vision
26:37
and make your sponsors your
26:42
and do the best you can for for them
26:46
because they're taking a chance on you
26:47
as a Creator so if you can do justice
26:50
for everybody and be nice be nice is or
26:53
that's words to I me one of the things
26:55
it was hard for me to learn along the
26:57
way you know I've always been nice but
26:59
sometimes I don't know just be nice in
27:01
production there's a lot of things that
27:02
go wrong I mean you know talking about
27:04
Star Trek they you know no money and you
27:06
know until they really had a budget and
27:08
everybody has to do 10 jobs and there's
27:11
a lot of stress you know when you watch
27:13
these episodes you got to remember
27:14
what's going on this is somebody who's
27:16
never been in a car before a lot of
27:18
these cars now are getting to be very
27:20
very expensive they're very fast and
27:22
they can be very dangerous also doing an
27:24
interview she's driving a car she's
27:26
never been in I'm not trying to prop you
27:27
up on a road I'm usually not on a road
27:29
she hasn't been on so there's just a lot
27:31
going on for people to kind of just sit
27:33
there and watch and go oh cool you know
27:37
there's and I think people sense that
27:38
with Nicole when they're watching an
27:40
episode you kind of get inside of it
27:42
it's Show's produced very much that way
27:43
the walk around is very um matter of
27:47
fact you know it's very matter of fact
27:49
once she gets in the car it becomes very
27:50
Alice and Wonderland and very
27:52
overproduced and there's a lot going on
27:53
with this soundtrack and everything kind
27:55
of goes into a crazy dreamlike state so
27:59
just don't compromise and when people
28:01
tell you oh you can't do it or no he's
28:03
going to watch it or doesn't care I've
28:04
been hearing that my whole life I will
28:05
tell you that years ago in probably 2007
28:09
a dear friend of mine
28:11
said I I I after hearing that I said I
28:14
want to make a living in Motorsports he
28:16
said it can't be done well I am still on
28:21
this quest to prove it can be done I
28:23
have done it in the past with you know
28:26
my motor my off-road stuff but if
28:29
somebody tells you you can't do it just
28:31
turn that into fuel to go do it if
28:34
that's what you want to do yeah every
28:35
time we ran into that I'm sure you guys
28:37
went through that with wants to wrap the
28:38
show this business every time somebody
28:40
tells you no you double down yeah we I
28:43
just double down yeah CU they're telling
28:44
you no there's re there a lot of reasons
28:46
why you guys have been on a great ride
28:48
should be very proud of what you done
28:50
yeah I say the same thing right back to
28:51
you guys thank you really appreciate you
28:53
coming out so awesome to have you here
28:54
in person I'm just nerding out just
28:57
we're staring at a 912 well let's go
28:59
keep talking about cars like we can keep
29:01
doing that for a little bit we thank you
29:03
you guys for doing this I appreciate you
