A YouTube channel is like your own TV show online where you can post videos for people to watch anytime. Many car fans use YouTube channels to share car videos instead of magazines or TV.
Print media means magazines and newspapers you can hold in your hand. Over time, fewer people buy them because they get their news and videos online instead.
Streaming platforms are websites or apps where you can watch shows and videos anytime you want, like Netflix or YouTube. Many car shows are now on these instead of regular TV.
YouTube car culture means people who love cars sharing videos online about fixing, modifying, and talking about cars. It's a way for car fans to learn and have fun together.
Car shops are places where people fix and work on cars. The people who own or work there know a lot about cars and how to make them better or fix problems.
Car shows are TV or online videos where people talk about cars, fix them, race them, or show off cool cars. They help people learn about cars and have fun watching.
The Ford Pinto wagon is a small car made by Ford in the 1970s. It was easy to drive and had space in the back for carrying things, but it also had some safety problems that made it famous.
The Mazda Miata is a small sports car that is easy and fun to drive. It has two seats and is known for being good at turning and driving fast on twisty roads.
Nitrous is a special gas that you can add to a car's engine to make it go faster for a short time. It helps the engine burn more fuel and makes the car more powerful.
In some sports like racing, you have to pay money or find sponsors to be able to compete. It's not just about being good; you need money to get a chance to race.
The meniscus is a soft cushion in your knee that helps it move smoothly. If it gets hurt, it can make your knee hurt and hard to move.
LIVE
The Muscle Car Place, online podcast, episode number 642.
This week a special edition muscle car place for your St. Patty's Day week.
Mike Finnegan is here to regale us with the tales of automotive TV to YouTube stardom
with all the dishes you'd ever want on all the old roadkill cars and all the new adventures
going forward.
And I asked him what he thinks Cletus McFarland is up to in NASCAR, really, and his thoughts
on the guys taking over for the new grand tour on Amazon.
And here's what he said.
That was some tough shoes to fill.
Good luck.
I don't know any of those new dudes.
My prediction is that it goes probably the same way it did every time someone else tried
to launch another top gear with three new people.
This is the Muscle Car Place, online podcast, brought to you by National Parts Depot.
This is the weekly show dedicated to people worldwide who love American muscle cars.
If you're buying, selling, restoring, even racing them, this is the place for you.
Now here's your host, Rob Kibbe.
Yes, indeed, I am Rob Kibbe and welcome to the Muscle Car Place podcast.
Well, here we are.
Happy St. Patty's Day, everybody.
St. Patty's Day 2026 has come and gone.
Spring break is here, but nearly over.
I'm not home yet, but I'm probably on my way home by the time this airs.
Today, though, we have a special edition of the show just to feature guest, Mike Finnegan.
So that's right, Michael Finnegan for St. Patty's Day.
Speaking of Michael Finnegan, want to hear an earworm that will just genuinely make you
hate yourself?
There was an old man named Michael Finnegan.
He had whiskers on his chinigan.
Along came the wind and blew them in again.
Poor old Michael Finnegan, beginning again.
That's from the Wiggles channel on YouTube.
Don't go looking for it.
You'll regret it.
Okay.
Anyway, special edition of the show for you today.
Since I'm gone this week, I thought, what better way to entertain you than with a decade-long
friend, Mike?
So I met Mike in 2015, and we were both working on the Hot Rod Power Tour.
He was there with Roadkill.
And I was there working with FM3 Performance, which, and I still do today, but at that time,
I was handling their business development, and they were short, a person for the week
of power tour.
And I filled in as a mover of stuff and a coordinator of things.
I was there doing business development for the company, but it was everything.
They needed help setting up equipment.
They needed logistical support.
It was a good eye-opening week for me to understand how hard those mobile events are.
I ended up escorting an ambulance in to one facility and helping someone who was maybe
having a heart attack.
I'm not sure, but someone who was definitely not well did a lot of moving of stuff in and
out of a U-Haul.
Very little sleep.
And on the last day of the power tour, I, on my own, ended up directing all of the traffic
out of the event.
I think they were short of staff members somehow.
As I recall, I didn't intentionally get abandoned, but I was abandoned.
And I was having the migraine of a lifetime, and I called for help on the CB and nobody
came.
So I got everybody out of there.
They dropped me off at the airport, made sure that I wasn't dead, and I went and sat
down in front of my gate to go home, and I fell asleep.
Thankfully, I woke up before the plane left, but I mean, it was a hard, hard week.
While there, though, I met Mike, and he was killing little time.
The day before we were done, we had dinner with their staff, and we just became friends.
I don't really have any better explanation than that.
He's just a cool dude, and I enjoyed talking to him.
I didn't know it, but he was on his own search for what was going to be at that time post-road
kill.
Now, that was 10 years ago.
11 years ago, and obviously, road kill lasted another year, decade after that, but I had
him as a guest on Muscle Car Place, and I assumed that's where it would end.
And then I just threw the idea of Adam about starting a new podcast show, and that's what
eventually became the Kibbe and Finnegan show, which became the Kibbe and Friends show.
And his YouTube channel is his day job now.
When road kill ended, he just switched to full-time YouTuber, was an easy transition,
probably.
The rest is history here.
So the good news is Finnegan and Fryeberger, who were the dynamic duo that made road kill,
they can be working together again, and that's just great, and they are.
So we'll talk about all of that in here.
We'll talk about what Mike thinks of other car YouTubers and only positive things, what
he really thinks the future of the Grand Tour could be, what he thinks Cletus is really
up to in NASCAR, all of it.
Mike is an open book.
What you see is what you get.
So I know at the end of these interviews, he's always kind of asking for a job back,
you know, here on the podcast network.
And frankly, I can't help him with that.
It's flattering, of course, but only Corndog can answer that question.
And until Corndog says yes, Mike, the answer is no.
Anyway, that will be coming up here shortly.
Burn very brief.
Cue the Dallas Kibbe Racing Update right here.
The Rarion's loose, the car is fast.
Loose is fast, but on the edge, you're out of control.
Excellent intro, Burn.
As soon as I get back from a spring break, before I even record another muscle car place
I'm leaving, I take in Dallas to Nashville, and we're doing a prep session.
So the next National Legends car event is in the Nashville area, and they race at two
tracks, veterans and motorplex, maybe?
No, I got it right here.
Spring Nationals at Highland Rim, does that sound right?
No, it's somewhere in Nashville.
Two tracks, Nashville Fairground Speedway and apparently Highland's Rim, wherever that is.
That will be the week of April 13th through April 18th.
He's got an extra race on April 11th to get prepped for that track.
The weekend that we're headed down to right after we get back from a spring break
is for the fairgrounds.
He has no experience at any tracks in Tennessee, much less these two.
So he'll get a couple, three races under his belt at both and then let a rip.
Tatership, that's what we're planning to do here.
He will not be running a late model, likely in the month of April, at least not
till after this national stuff is done.
That's the focus for April here.
He might be back in a late model in May, though, and that'll be an update for a later time.
All right, Burn, that's it.
That's the Dallas-Gibby racing update, cue the outro.
By the way, please follow the links in the show notes and follow all of
Dallas's stuff on social media.
It helps sponsors.
Look at that.
And we are absolutely putting documents in front of sponsors for all the things
that you need to race, but starting with the physical things you need, like gear.
That's a very important thing in racing.
And you typically update it every single year at this level.
And it's a lot of money, man.
Any sponsor help is really appreciated.
You know, the big thing is I'm his dad.
I don't take safety gear lightly.
The truth is I'll go buy whatever I need to keep my kids safe, but I'd much rather
work with a partner and we've pitched the right ones, the ones that you would trust to.
Alrighty, don't forget, once per month, we do have Mr.
Rick Schmidt from National Parts Depot on to talk all things NPD.
And you can ask him anything you like.
Send in your questions to me, Robert, at themusclecarplace.com.
And of course, visit nationalpartsdepot.com to peruse for all your muscle car parts
need because they find the source, they expect the best.
There is a difference and they got the goods.
Alrighty, feature interview time.
Up next is our special edition, St.
Patty's Day, YouTube star extraordinaire edition of the show.
Fan favorite, Mike Finnegan.
Enjoy everybody.
The Muscle Car Place weekly podcast interview is brought to you by our good
friends at National Parts Depot.
See them through the link at themusclecarplace.com.
Today, our guest is Mike Finnegan,
Radio Tyler Recycler, Professor, Professor, Professional Adventure Haver,
Instagram Megastar, host of Finnegan's Garage on YouTube, former host of Roadkill,
former host of Faster with Finnegan, former host of the Kibbe and Finnegan podcast,
but our current favorite former of everything.
Today, we will catch up with him where we last left off because, frankly,
we just love him and we miss him.
Mike, welcome back.
No, that's so warm.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
A lot of formers there. Wow.
I hadn't really given that a lot of thought, but it sounds very dire.
Yeah.
Yeah, I was thinking, how does one introduce Mike Finnegan?
It doesn't really need an introduction.
Let's list everything.
Mike has either quit or failed or was asked not to return or just didn't show up.
Yeah. Yeah. All those apply, actually.
Well, here we are. Mike, briefly, who are you and where are you from?
Oh, my name is Michael Finnegan.
I am from Georgia, real close to Atlanta, but not in Atlanta.
Thank God. Not there's anything wrong with Atlanta.
I just don't want to live in a city anymore.
And so just outside of Atlanta, where it's mostly trees and water, which is great.
Currently, I'm a full time YouTuber, which is a lot of fun.
I believe you.
Now, am I right in thinking here that you are 10 years into YouTubeing?
Did you start your own personal channel 10 years ago?
Yeah, next month will be the 10th anniversary of Finnegan's garage on YouTube.
10 years ago was a lifetime ago for many of us.
But 10 years ago, the world of automotive media and entertainment was enormously different.
Magazines existed, TV shows existed.
They kind of exist today, but what they look like is almost unrelatable.
Did you see this coming or did you just start your own YouTube channel because you wanted to?
A little of both.
I'm not a profit and I'm not the smartest guy in the room.
But the decline of print media was pretty easy to see, beginning in probably 2008.
And the rise of YouTube was real easy to spot.
But I literally started my YouTube channel in 2016 because when I was doing roadkill,
it began on YouTube and it blew up on YouTube.
And somebody who's not nearly as smart as me or anyone else in that room decided to take it off of YouTube.
And as soon as they did that, I went, oh, that's a horrible idea.
I don't know how long this is going to last.
Let me start a YouTube channel so I have a job.
If this thing implodes, I never expected it to last as long as it did behind a paywall, but it did.
And luckily when it ended, I had a YouTube channel with eight years of effort behind it.
So I had a job. Thank God.
I don't quite remember.
When did not just roadkill, but all of the formal TV shows that we know and love, when did they formally end?
2024, November, October, November of 2024 is when they yanked the plug on the complete production side of Motor Trend
with regards to those original car shows.
They were all done, I think a couple of them.
They didn't even air the last season on streaming platforms or cable television.
I've heard that about fast with New Bernadine Cotton that their last season didn't air.
So, yeah, it's been about a year now.
The reason I mentioned that is I'm not here to make you feel bad because things are.
No, trust me, I'm way past all of that.
For a few days after I got the news, I was genuinely sad, mostly about how it ended.
But then I sat down and I added up all the days we filmed roadkill.
And what I realized was 13 years and an average of 15 episodes a year,
I missed an entire year of my kids' lives.
And once I realized that, I went, oh, this is the perfect time for this thing to end
because I got kids that are about to be teenagers and they're getting into sports.
And there are a lot of fun and there were all these moments that I had been missing
while I was away filming that show and I'm not missing now.
And so as soon as I realized that, you could talk about roadkill all you want
and the fact that it's over, I'm OK with it.
It's not ideal, sure, but I much prefer to spend time with my kids and my wife
than go on the road as much as I was on the road.
Well, the new version of post-roadkill is pretty good.
And I would say that one of the things that was immediately asked right after roadkill
went away was, does that mean you can't work with Freiberger anymore?
And that's a problem because that's what we the world want.
Yeah, we wanted that.
The answer is no.
He was out of work.
I was out of work.
And before that, there were these complicated contracts where a lot of us
couldn't appear with each other unless it was on a motor trend product.
For example, when Faster with Finnegan started,
two or three weeks before that show started filming, there was no cast other than me.
They were bringing people to my house to audition with me,
which was really fun.
I had never been a part of a process like that.
Really?
But I'm a big believer and you can't fake chemistry.
And it's just a lot easier to work with people you're actually friends with.
It got down to crunch time and I was like, yo, just hire my friends.
They've never done television, but whatever, like,
Newburn's already working on my YouTube channel,
so you can see what he looks like there on camera.
Cotton is a character.
He's a natural on camera.
I'm like, just hire my friends.
And so they did, which was great because that show turned out awesome.
But next thing you know, Newburn wasn't allowed to be on my YouTube channel.
And stuff like that got real complicated because it was a,
that era of automatic television, the legacy of it is Hollywood and these weird contracts
and a lot of exclusivity and things you can do and things you can't do.
And now that that's all over with, it's the Wild Wild West.
We can go do whatever we want whenever we want.
This episode of Finnegan's Garage that comes out on Sunday,
there's three different YouTubers on there.
You know, it's going to be great.
Freiberger's on there, Aaron and Emily Reeves is on there,
Shay Seafelt is on there.
There's all these people that a couple of years ago,
I wouldn't have been able to do anything with on YouTube and now I can.
So it's kind of a blessing in disguise that all of this changed, you know.
I didn't know they had a casting call for it.
So for a faster with Finnegan, did they bring you like smoothed up actors?
Or was everybody like a legit car person?
Yeah, they were car people.
Like they were people that own shops.
I met a couple of real nice guys that own shops.
There were people that had been on car shows before like John Andrade,
who was on Street Outlaws and who has his own shop in Yukon, Oklahoma.
They brought him in and he was great.
But at the end of the day, it was like, he was great,
but we didn't know each other real well.
And probably out of everybody they brought in,
he was who I gelled with the most.
But in that short amount of time, it was like,
if you just bring in my actual friends, we can bust each other's nuts immediately
and make fun of each other and have a good time.
And the proof was in the footing.
That show was a hit for them right out of the gate because of the people I was working with.
What is your favorite car from faster with Finnegan or faster with Cotton & Newburn?
It would have been Greta.
It had been Tossup.
It was Greta, the Ford Pinto wagon, or it was the Maniata,
which was that Mazda Miata that we shoved a 50 shot of nitrous down on a button,
just held it down and climbed a mountain with.
It was really fun.
I mean, the Miata wasn't anything like I would personally want to own,
but oh my God, was it fun to drive?
In that narrow microcosm of just get from the bottom of this hill to the top of this hill,
that thing was awesome.
And Greta was just fun as hell to learn to drift and go around a road course with.
And whoop up on a Ferrari with.
Do those cars still exist?
They do.
Sadly, I just sold Greta because I've just got too much stuff these days and I'm out of space.
And so I just sold Greta.
One of the other project cars from that show that I really liked was the Momsoon,
which was a GMC Safari all drive minivan with the rear mounted turbos.
I still own that one.
I'd love to sell it and see someone else finish it because it runs, it drives,
it's great.
It's not fast.
It needs to be faster.
I would love to see someone else, especially another YouTuber,
take that thing and just run with it, you know, and make it even better.
Because I'm just flat out of room in my warehouse.
I personally enjoyed the Fairmont that you guys had Corey LaJoy drive eventually.
Wasn't that what it was?
It was a Fairmont, right?
I think it was.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Rick Flairmont.
Corey was hysterical, dude.
When he walked up on like the very first scene, he walks in and kicks out my tail light.
God, it was funny, dude.
And he's a madman behind the wheel.
Well, so that was what was interesting about that episode is because
when a race car driver gets in a car every now and then, it's just like days of thunder,
like there's a race car driver, you know, when you see it.
And when he took his first pass, like, holy smokes.
All right, that's a race car driver.
That's what they do.
It is all in full tilt, whether I live or die here, you know, is on the line.
But that's all I can do.
It's all in.
Yeah, no fear.
Like, I like to think I'm pretty competent behind the wheel.
And against people of similar skill sets, I will go further into a corner and
brake later than most of my friends.
But this dude, no regard for his own personal safety.
I mean, that car was actively cutting two of the tires as it went around the track.
When I was driving it, there was an oil leak that was just showering the inside of that thing
in hot oil and transmission fluid, maybe not transmission fluid, but motor oil.
And he just got in there and immediately just whooped my time by a lot and just kept going.
And when he finally stopped, the tires were about to fall off the car.
Like, it was awesome.
Okay, so I put together a series of questions knowing what fans want to know.
All right, Stubby Bob lives in and is visible, is returned, has been towed by a limo.
How many roadkill cars, like a fan favorite roadkill cars, I guess I should say, live
and will be seen again?
Oh, a lot of them.
That was one of the really cool things that I don't know who you would credit for this.
Warner Brothers Discovery is such a large company that maybe they didn't even aware
what was happening at the end, but they shut down all those car shows.
A couple of dudes that worked for Motor Trend stayed until the ship went all the way under
the water. And one of the responsibilities was getting rid of the fleet of cars, getting rid
of the studio, the tools, everything. The answer is yes. David bought a bunch of them.
I bought a bunch of them. I got some of my favorites, like I bought the Rotson 1971 Dotson 240Z.
I bought NASCARLO, which is a street legal stock car on a 1970 Chevy Monte Carlo body.
I just got Stubby Bob from Fryeburger, which is really exciting.
What else? I'm brain farting. But a lot of the ones that round roadkill, like Death Metal Charger,
I still have that. The Dumpster Fire Daytona, I still have that. Blasphemy.
And Fryeburger, he's got the muscle truck. He's got General Mayhem. He got a bunch of really cool
ones. I think all of the tent pole hero cars are still accounted for and hopefully won't disappear.
For those cars, Blasphemy is your car and Death Metal is your car. How many cars were owned,
not your cars that you had to purchase back? Well, hundreds of the cars were motor trends.
They had a warehouse full of them. Very few were actually mine. Like the Rubber Duck is mine,
Death Metal, Dumpster Fire, Blasphemy. My 67 Chevy C10 was on roadkill.
My wife's cell Camino was on roadkill. Maybe 10 throughout all the seasons, I'm guessing.
I bought the Vet Cart. I have that. You do. But yeah, I bought the Vet Cart.
See, I bought the Vet Cart and drove it home from Tennessee like three hours,
or not three hours, 300 miles. I got stopped by a cop like a mile from where I picked it up
at Derek Beery's house. And this cop was like, what are you doing in this? And I said, I'm driving
it back to Georgia. He's like, you're never going to make it. I'm like, ah, no, no, no,
it's pretty reliable. He's like, no, no, I mean, the cops are not going to let you drive this down
the road. I'm like, well, it's registered and sure, I don't see why not. And he let me go. And
he's like, yeah, they'll get you on the interstate. Go, just go. And I was like, okay. And I drove it
all the way home. Never had a problem. What does he know? I find it hard to believe that no one
has stopped you for, you know, do you feel comfortable driving this vehicle on the interstate?
Yes, I do. You know, it seems very plain as trains and automobiles to me.
It's funny, in the history of Roadkill, we got two vehicles impounded in 13 years, got them both
back. And I think Fryburger got one ticket. And I never got a ticket. Really? And we got pulled
over once for driving too slow in the Maserati and impeding traffic. But all of those contraptions
that we drove, there were never permits for any of the stuff we did. We just went out and did it.
So when you're driving like that flat fender Jeep that's like this far off the ground, and if someone
hits it, you're dead. We never got stopped. It was wild. All those burnouts, like, I'm a big believer.
And if you drive something old and you just drive casual and don't drive like an idiot, cops got
better things to do than hassle you. Apparently. Because it's working for you. I'm going to ask
you some YouTuber questions here. So, Cletus McFarland, is he legitimately trying to become
a race car driver? Or is this the world's best publicity stunt? He's one of the most competitive
people I've ever met. He's for sure taking the act of driving that car and truck seriously.
Is he serious enough to run a whole season? I don't know. I've never talked to him about it.
For sure, he doesn't need to do it. His personal channel, his brand, his business,
everything is fine without doing that. So I don't know. You'd have to ask him. It's a great question.
I think when he's there, he's serious as a heart attack about what he's doing,
even though he's joking around when he's on camera. When he's behind the wheel, he's serious.
Does that translate into putting all his eggs in that basket and trying to run
all year long? I don't know. It's a good question, though.
I'll confess, now that my kid's doing this and wants this to be his profession,
I'm studying the world and business of racing so much and my kid is the worst. It's such an upside
down business. And for almost everyone and him involved, him too, it's a paid-to-play sport.
You've got to bring some talent. Oh, yeah.
That's the game. So the fact that he is basically skipping the earning your stripes part,
probably rub some people the wrong way, I personally think he's got talent. I don't
know if he's going to succeed or not, but I think he's got talent. I think he's capable of doing this.
I think the fact that he hasn't raced a lot may eventually catch up to him, but frankly,
I hope it works. I think it would be kind of awesome if it worked. That's just my take.
Oh, yeah, because it's so much fun to watch. And you're right, he has skipped some of the steps
because the upside of him being there is so good for everybody that's involved in that sport.
Definitely. You're right. It's paid-to-play. If you're nobody and have all the talent in the
world, you better have every dollar you need to campaign that car, because that's the only
way you're going to get a driver's seat. But if you're somebody like him that literally
makes title changes to the broadcast when you're there, the viewership numbers, literally you
can see the view. You can just go to YouTube and look at NASCAR's channel. When there's a
Cletus video, there goes the numbers. When there's everyone else, there goes the numbers.
And so that enables you to skip some steps for sure. I think the talent is all the talent in
the world. The lack of experience, sure, that's going to be a problem. But how do you get experience
if you don't go do it? So he's skipping the shifter carts and the smaller cars where you
get a lot of experience. But maybe the experience he gets from driving everything on wheels every
day of his life on YouTube, maybe that's better. I don't know. Well, I'll find out. And frankly,
I hope it works. And also, frankly, but I hope it works.
And not just because I'm friends with him. It's so much fun to watch somebody with that
enthusiasm for what they're doing. And it's not just a job. When you get him next to some other
drivers, they're meh, because it's their job. It doesn't always feel like it's their passion.
It feels like it's their job. And he is so happy to be there and so excited. How can you not want
to root for that, dude, you know? Totally. Shifting gears. What do you think about
the new Grand Tour? With the guys from Throttle House and what's the guy's name?
French Hobb or the Trainspotter guy? Oh, those are some tough shoes to fill. Good luck.
I don't know any of those new dudes. My prediction is that it goes probably the same way it did
every time someone else tried to launch another top gear with three new people.
It's really hard. And I do think, and we talked about this earlier, if they're not friends in
real life, real friends, and they don't have that chemistry, it's going to look scripted. It's going
to be not as good as it could be. So I hope that those dudes that they got to replace Clarkson,
Hammond, and May are really good friends in real life because you need that.
Do we need another Grand Tour? No. You could launch it and call it something else.
But I get why you're doing it. It's a legacy brand with a lot of value to it. And if you can
somehow continue it on, you'd be a fool not to try that. So I get why they're doing it.
I am a fan of the Throttle House channel. Just from watching, I would assume that Thomas and
James are pretty good friends. Pairing with dude number three that they don't know,
that's the risk, certainly. But they are friends. Okay. How about Aaron and Emily Reeves? Who is
on the light and time of day, I think? What are you nuts? It's Emily. Come on.
Okay. I'm just curious because at PRI, I saw Aaron walk out with just quaffed hair and like,
that's a good looking man there. Oh, he's a solid dude. Absolutely. But Emily,
her personality, she's obviously attracted, but her personality just ratchets everything up way
higher. Not that Aaron doesn't have a personality, but they're a yin and a yang. You know, Emily is
very bubbly and very, it's hard not to be in a good mood when you're around Emily. It really is.
Totally. Final one. Derek Beary. That's how you say his last name by script garage. Derek,
I think it's Barry. Does he really talk like that in real life? Like, does he really say
Bobby Dipton? Stuff like that. I don't know what the politically correct answer is. To a degree,
that's kind of like Cletus. Cletus is Garrett's alter ego, and he's been doing it so long,
it's kind of bled into his real life. Derek is hamming it up for sure when he's making YouTube
videos, but there's an element of that in him. He would be doing this stuff even if the camera
wasn't there, for sure. Cool. All right. What do you got going on in your shop right now for
upcoming videos? Oh, well, this weekend, you guys are going to get to see after building that big
block Chevy in the limo, how we got it out of the limo, and then what happened when we put it in
the limo and dynoed it and tried to drive it. And then a week after that, you're going to see Joe
and I build a complete floor for my Cadillac. That's done, which is exciting. Actually, what I
hang up with you, I'm going back downstairs to finish welding it. We cut and broke and bead
rolled sheet metal for the whole inside of that Cadillac. And turns out it's a lot of work. It's
tunnel. I had to go to an elevator construction company and have them build the driveshaft
tunnel out of one piece because my sheet metal break wasn't eight feet long. So there's some
cool stuff there. Are you getting surgery on a leg or a knee or an arm? Next Tuesday, yeah.
So like you, I am post 50 and things are breaking. Shockingly faster than they used to get hurt even.
What happened to you? Is this a long time? I took a day off of work to go ride dirt bikes with my
kids, something we all really enjoyed doing. I came off one jump, goose to throttle for the next
jump. When I landed, the throttle on that 450 is like on and off switch. And when I landed,
I twisted it just a little bit and it instantly stood up in a wheelie. And I got off the back
of the bike. It was kind of running behind it trying to save the bike. And but I was going too
fast. And so I ended up falling flat on my back with my right leg under me. And as I was falling,
I went, Oh God, I'm not 25 anymore. And it hurt, but I didn't think it was that bad. But the next
day I woke up, my knee looked like a softball. So I went and got an MRI and they're like, Oh,
yeah, you broke your tibia, you ripped your ACL completely in half and your meniscus is screwed
up. And I was like, I didn't fall that fast or that hard. Oh my God. So yeah,
I got to go for surgery on Tuesday and I'm crossing my fingers. The rehab doesn't mean I'm
on crutches for extended period of time, because I got a lot of work I want to do. I got a lot of
things I want to do this summer. What events will you be at this summer? Are you scheduled for
events this summer? Yeah, I'll be at the Mickey Thompson turn and burn event in May. I will be
SEMA and PRI. In between then I've scheduled nothing because I don't know what's going to
go on with my leg. It'll all depend on how rehab goes. I dig the full movies that you've been
doing. They must be a lot of work. They are great. You know, just as a friend and a fan,
we love seeing you with all your friends on camera. It makes us happy. It's good for the
universe. Thanks, dude. It's good for my soul. I hope to keep that up. If you ever need somebody
with a generally, I still have one. I am contracted, though, by JustinCornDogCornette,
and my understanding is that you and he are not cool, and whenever he says we can play,
I guess I can, but you'll have to clear that with him. I don't know if I'll reach out for that.
You know, maybe we'll just go get a bandit trans-am instead of the generally, just so that
you and I can go play without actually having to be in the same room as him. If he's showered,
it'd be different. Yeah, I'd feel differently. It'd be just not even deodorant, bro. Just some
soap, some under the armpits. Do something. He's a vicious, vicious man, Mike. That wasn't even
for me. That was from somebody else. Oh, I see. All right, Mike. What are all the channels that
people confide you? You can find me on YouTube at Finnegan's Garage. I am on TikTok. I am on
Instagram, on Facebook. I'm on Twitter. Just search Mike Finnegan. You'll find me. But YouTube,
every Sunday, new episode for you guys. Awesome. Mike. But not corn dog. Of course not.
Good as always. I'll catch you later. See you later. Thanks, bro.
Thank you, Mike. Excellent as always. Now, obviously, you're going to go follow Mike on all
the social platforms and YouTube, but something weird happened again. After that interview was
complete, he submitted another job application for the Kibbe and Friends show, but at least I think
it was him. I only got the voicemail from it. It's from our application hotline. It sounded like him,
but the name was slightly different. If you listen to the Kibbe and Friends show soon, you might catch
it. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's not really him, but it, jeez, I would swear it sounded like him.
Anyway, I'll be back in a couple of weeks, back for the first week of April between now and then
hit me up on Facebook or Instagram anytime. Be sure to subscribe for, wait a minute,
will that be Easter weekend? I think, I think it will. Let me stop. I got a look here.
Easter is April. Holy smokes. All right. The next show that I'm back for will be,
is that right? Good Friday? Yeah. I won't be back till April 3rd. All right. Well, see you on April
3rd. Public service and Bernie, play the public service announcement music right here. Wasn't
planning this, but I didn't realize until just now it's needed. Get out to Walmart right now
and get yourself all the Reese's eggs that you can. You can't wait till after Easter for these.
They'll be sold out. It's the most perfect Reese's peanut butter cup you can buy, the one in egg form.
You're welcome. All right, Bern, thank you for that. Alrighty, I'll be back in two weeks on
Good Friday between now and then hit me up on Facebook or Instagram anytime. Be sure to subscribe
to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and yes, YouTube. And you can always find every show
plus all the merch at the home page of themusclecarplace.com website. And as always,
don't forget to keep chasing your dreams like you've let me chase mine. Thanks for listening,
everybody. See you in a couple of weeks. Bye-bye. Thanks for parking at the Muscle Car Place
online podcast sponsored by National Parts Depot. Visit themusclecarplace.com to get the
show weekly through Apple podcast and wherever you get your content. Don't forget to leave some
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They make it all possible. See you soon at the Muscle Car Place.
About this episode
Mike Finnegan shares his journey from automotive TV star on Roadkill to full-time YouTuber with Finnegan's Garage, reflecting on the end of traditional car shows and the rise of digital content. He discusses his favorite project cars, the challenges of automotive media contracts, and his thoughts on fellow YouTubers like Cletus McFarland and the new Grand Tour hosts. Mike also opens up about balancing family life with his career, upcoming projects, and his recent injury. The conversation offers a candid look at life after TV and the evolving car culture online.
Mike Finnegan returns to The MuscleCar Place for a special edition episode, and as always, he brings the stories, honesty, and perspective that only he can deliver. From his early days on Roadkill to becoming a full-time YouTube creator with Finnegan’s Garage, Mike shares what life looks like after the 2024 shutdown of Motor Trend productions. What once felt uncertain turned into the perfect transition—giving him more time with family while opening the door to collaborate freely with friends and fellow creators in what he calls the “Wild Wild West” of YouTube.
We also dig into the fate of fan-favorite Roadkill cars, the reality behind automotive media today, and what’s next in Mike’s world—from wild shop builds to recovering from a recent dirt bike injury. Along the way, Mike shares his thoughts on Cletus McFarland’s impact on NASCAR, the future of shows like The Grand Tour, and why real chemistry—not scripted production—is what truly makes automotive content work.
