WEBVTT - Ep20 RJ de Vera

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<v Speaker 1>All right, welcome back to car Stories with some King

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<v Speaker 1>and Amelia Hartford. Amilia, I have to ask you a question, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>before we get to our next guest. So my wife

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<v Speaker 1>and I we got in a pretty big argument, and

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<v Speaker 1>I want to hear another female's perspective on this. So

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<v Speaker 1>I was traveling for a few months, right, and during

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<v Speaker 1>the travels, I ran out of underwear, okay, And then

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<v Speaker 1>I was living out of a hotel. And I don't

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<v Speaker 1>know if you've ever done laundry at a hotel. It's

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<v Speaker 1>like highway robbery. What they charge you for it's.

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<v Speaker 2>Insane third prices. I usually try to find like a

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<v Speaker 2>local laundromat.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I just didn't have the time to do that,

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<v Speaker 1>but I do. Just I have a problem paying that

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<v Speaker 1>kind of money to like.

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<v Speaker 2>It's like a five dollars repair underwars sometimes more.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. So I just stopped wearing underwear, and my wife

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<v Speaker 1>thinks it's disgusting. But then I tell her, I go, well,

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<v Speaker 1>it's like I stop boring underwear, but I do wash

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<v Speaker 1>the pants and I think of it, and then I

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<v Speaker 1>thought about it. It's like, why does a guy I'm

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<v Speaker 1>just gonna speak for men. It's like why do I

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<v Speaker 1>need underwear? What is the point of it? So is

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<v Speaker 1>that discuss She's like, that's gross, that's disgusting, that's I

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<v Speaker 1>don't know.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm sitting here as your double story. I'm thinking, like, huh,

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<v Speaker 2>do guys even really need underwear exactly? What's the purpose

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<v Speaker 2>of it?

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<v Speaker 1>What are boxers? They're like shorts. They're like shorts at

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<v Speaker 1>the end of the day, right, So what do I

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<v Speaker 1>need underwear for?

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<v Speaker 2>Unless you're wearing sheer pants? This is gonna get gross.

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<v Speaker 2>But I know some guys just pull their boxers and

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<v Speaker 2>don't like white.

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<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, well look and all the guys, well, you

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<v Speaker 1>know guys that do that. I don't do that. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>not one of those guys. If you have that habit, sure,

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<v Speaker 1>I understand the purpose of underwear. But otherwise, would you

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<v Speaker 1>get in an argument with your like future husband or

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<v Speaker 1>significant other because he's not wearing underwear and he's clean

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<v Speaker 1>an argument? No.

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<v Speaker 2>I want to be like, yeah, why wouldn't you wear underwear?

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<v Speaker 2>But as we're having this conversation, I'm struggling to see

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<v Speaker 2>the point.

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<v Speaker 1>Of what I mean, right, Because I was like, explain

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<v Speaker 1>to me why I need under It's like, well, that's gross,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's the that's the reason why I need underwork

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<v Speaker 1>because it's gross, Like who invented this thing called underwear?

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<v Speaker 2>Like?

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<v Speaker 1>Why, yeah, do I even need it?

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<v Speaker 2>Right? It's restrictive, especially if it's just like boxers, not

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<v Speaker 2>something to like support.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well I started doing a lot of running, right,

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<v Speaker 1>like like mid distance running. I don't wear underwear really, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>because it's it's it's a constrictive. You're all like blushing

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<v Speaker 1>was a question thinking of the anatomy.

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<v Speaker 2>Of like, well, if you're running, wouldn't you want something

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<v Speaker 2>to support? Because I know, as a woman, I like

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<v Speaker 2>to wear sports bross. I don't need something bouncing around.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I guess. But then yeah, I guess, but I

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<v Speaker 1>don't think I need that, Okay, Yeah, because I'm trying

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<v Speaker 1>to prove her point, I'm like le's laundry.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but then you're known as the guy who doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>want underwear.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, you don't know who's going to see.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, anyone listening this podcast?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well I have nothing to hide. But seriously, yeah, right,

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<v Speaker 1>come on, listeners, like everyone like think about it. It's like,

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know, obviously, you're right.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm struggling to see the point of it, I understand

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<v Speaker 3>why a woman, a female would need underwear like this

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<v Speaker 3>if there's she's wearing a skirt or dressed like you know,

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<v Speaker 3>you don't what it's concealing things, right, But then what

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<v Speaker 3>does a dude need that for?

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<v Speaker 1>Right, It's like I'm wearing pants nine point percent of

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<v Speaker 1>the time.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, as long as you trust your parts, I guess.

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<v Speaker 1>What, it's going to spray things and you're wearing pants,

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<v Speaker 1>you know what I mean?

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 1>All right, So you are you pro underwear.

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<v Speaker 2>Or I'm gonna say I'm pronorb but I agree that

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<v Speaker 2>you know, you agree.

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<v Speaker 1>With my argument that it's unnecessary depending on your level

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<v Speaker 1>of hygiene.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, how long does you like wash your clothes?

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<v Speaker 2>I guess?

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<v Speaker 1>And yeah I want to smell. Look, there's no issues

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<v Speaker 1>with that, right, So okay.

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<v Speaker 2>Good, all right, God we got that out of the way.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, So next on to our next guest.

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<v Speaker 2>Today, we have our good friend RJ. Devera. When I

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<v Speaker 2>think car industry, I think of Argent And it was

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<v Speaker 2>really cool to get to hear stories about the fact

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<v Speaker 2>that his mom had a turboed mini van that she

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<v Speaker 2>used to drag race.

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<v Speaker 3>What.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it was really wonderful to hear how close he

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<v Speaker 1>is with his mother and how impactful she was to

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<v Speaker 1>where RJ is today within the car community. In the

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<v Speaker 1>car industry, RJ.

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<v Speaker 2>Was at the Guires for years and now he's at

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<v Speaker 2>SEAM of the nonprofit which if you guys don't know

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<v Speaker 2>about SEMA, they are basically the nation lorgest trade show

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<v Speaker 2>when it comes to automotive and they also helped to

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<v Speaker 2>keep the passion of motorsports alive.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I met RJ because he lent me his famous

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<v Speaker 1>essex way before the Fast and Furious days, and I

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<v Speaker 1>used a little bit of his swagger even in the

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<v Speaker 1>Han character because I was like, this guy is super cool.

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<v Speaker 1>But to actually sit down with them get to know

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<v Speaker 1>the man behind the myth was really awesome.

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<v Speaker 2>And he actually had a feature in the Fast franchise

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<v Speaker 2>as well. That's right aout further Ado, r jaa Vera.

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<v Speaker 1>RJ, Hey, r JA dea vera.

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<v Speaker 5>What's going on? Thanks for having me, Thanks.

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<v Speaker 2>For coming on.

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<v Speaker 1>When people talk about RJ, your mother always comes up. Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>And it's something that I've always like, admired and envied

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<v Speaker 1>about you that you have such a deep connection. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>those relationship to your mother.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I'm my mama's boy for sure. You know, I

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<v Speaker 5>love her dearly. I wouldn't be who I am without her.

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<v Speaker 5>But yeah, in the nine you know, when my parents

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<v Speaker 5>got divorced, he decided to come hang out with with

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<v Speaker 5>her kids, me and all my friends that were in

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<v Speaker 5>the car club, to like drive us back and forth

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<v Speaker 5>from the car show. And then she used to go

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<v Speaker 5>to battle the imports with us. And then one day

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<v Speaker 5>she woke me up and she's like, hey, can we

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<v Speaker 5>turbo charge my van? And I was like, are you serious?

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<v Speaker 5>She's like, yeah, I'm getting bored just hanging out with

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<v Speaker 5>you guys, Like I want to go drag racing with

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<v Speaker 5>you guys. I'm like, okay, Sure, it was a Honda

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<v Speaker 5>Odyssey minivan, but the original.

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<v Speaker 1>It was still a minivan.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, it wasn't a Siena, but it was a minivan.

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<v Speaker 5>So anytime anyone turbo charges a minivan, I always kind

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<v Speaker 5>of get some nostalgic feelings, like Besi's Odyssey and stuff.

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<v Speaker 5>But yeah, we painted it yellow for her fiftieth I remember.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm sorry. I'm like shook. I didn't know your mom

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<v Speaker 2>had a turbo min yellow and used to race people.

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<v Speaker 5>It wasn't fast, but she was really good on bracket racing,

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<v Speaker 5>so I taught her how to power I can build

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<v Speaker 5>a boost up.

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<v Speaker 2>I want to meet your mom.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's have the coolest mom ever, right yeah.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, so it was really fun. But yeah, she would

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<v Speaker 5>beat people because she was pretty good at dialing in

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<v Speaker 5>and running pretty consistent, and that she would always give

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<v Speaker 5>people a hug. So my friends would come like destroyed

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<v Speaker 5>and they're like, dude, I just last year mom in

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<v Speaker 5>your in her mini van. I'm like I'm sorry. They're like,

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<v Speaker 5>I will never raise my mom. She'll definitely beat me

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<v Speaker 5>because her dial in was like on the money, like

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<v Speaker 5>a tenth every time.

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<v Speaker 2>Amazing.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, she's super cool.

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<v Speaker 1>I read that you guys started selling car parts out

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<v Speaker 1>of the condo.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, she still lives in that.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, so she's just she's a great example of, you know,

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<v Speaker 5>any parent that's had a difficulty but decided to be

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<v Speaker 5>different for her kids, because some parents have a rough

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<v Speaker 5>upbringing and that kind of continues on and there's some

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<v Speaker 5>parents that kind of do the flip. Right. So I

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<v Speaker 5>really got it early into like wanting and modified cars.

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<v Speaker 5>I started buying parts for a car and have pretty

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<v Speaker 5>early on, and I was saving up for a Civic,

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<v Speaker 5>and then because my brother wanted to be a DJ,

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<v Speaker 5>she gave him the wagon, sold his car, and then

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<v Speaker 5>got me an Integra, which I started modding really fairly quickly,

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<v Speaker 5>even before I had my license actually, and then she

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<v Speaker 5>was like, son, it's a new car, like, I got

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<v Speaker 5>you a new car so you don't have to fix anything.

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<v Speaker 5>And I'm like, well, I'm not really fixing anything. She's like,

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<v Speaker 5>I don't get it, and I just needed an excuse.

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<v Speaker 5>So I'm like, well, there's this whole thing going on

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<v Speaker 5>and people modding like import cars. I'm just going to

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<v Speaker 5>sell the parts. And she's like you're going to sell

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<v Speaker 5>what parts? And I'm like, well, springs and rowbars and intakes,

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<v Speaker 5>and she's like, I don't get it. But if you

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<v Speaker 5>like doing it, sure you know you got to pay

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<v Speaker 5>for the stuff. When you're I'm not going to pay

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<v Speaker 5>for it. So that's how that started, and I learned

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<v Speaker 5>how to promote that stuff, kind of helping my brother

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<v Speaker 5>promote and his friends promote the clubs that they were doing.

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<v Speaker 5>So I just made flyers with car ports on it,

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<v Speaker 5>and I would put it at the different like fixed

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<v Speaker 5>up cars at the local college, Santamonica College, and that's

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<v Speaker 5>really how I started. Yeah, I guess I started selling

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<v Speaker 5>car covers before that, like right before that car covers. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 5>I worked at a little shop in Santa Monica and

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<v Speaker 5>they were like, oh, like, we're really interested in this,

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<v Speaker 5>like this thing that's happening with like you know these

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<v Speaker 5>you know, Japanese American cars. There was JDM wasn't even

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<v Speaker 5>a term. Then I'm like, oh, I could help with that,

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<v Speaker 5>and they're like, okay, we'll hire you. But all I

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<v Speaker 5>do is sell car covers. I was like, I don't

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<v Speaker 5>want to do that. I don't want to sell like

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<v Speaker 5>all these like performance sports. And a guy worked with

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<v Speaker 5>he's like, oh, just get a business license and I

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<v Speaker 5>was like, well, how do you do that. He's like, well,

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<v Speaker 5>you go down to this state Board of Equalization office

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<v Speaker 5>and I was like, well, how old do you have

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<v Speaker 5>to be and he's like, I don't think you have

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<v Speaker 5>to be any age.

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<v Speaker 1>Wait.

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<v Speaker 2>That's so intimidating for so many people to do, and

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<v Speaker 2>it doesn't seem like that's anything that's prevented you in

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<v Speaker 2>your life. Someone you just went straight after it, because

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<v Speaker 2>at least as a child growing up. For me, if

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<v Speaker 2>someone want to tell me, oh, go to get a

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<v Speaker 2>business license, like I would be a little intimidated of

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<v Speaker 2>that process.

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<v Speaker 1>Hustle would go get it.

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<v Speaker 5>I think it's part Asian, but I think it's an

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<v Speaker 5>immigrant hustle, like when you're an immigrant, you know, so

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<v Speaker 5>I immigrated from Philippines with my parents. It's like, well, that's

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<v Speaker 5>what is needed to get done with. Okay, let's all

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<v Speaker 5>find out. And all they can say is no, right,

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<v Speaker 5>what else is going to happen? So seeh I was

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<v Speaker 5>really skeptical that I would even get it because I

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<v Speaker 5>didn't know if there was this eighteen year old barrier

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<v Speaker 5>because I was sixteen and a half or seventeen.

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<v Speaker 1>That's crazy.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 5>And so I would call these shops that I was

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<v Speaker 5>buying parts from. They're very few that sold parts, and

0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.480
<v Speaker 5>I'd be like, hey, I'm looking to start selling this stuff.

0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.720
<v Speaker 5>And I remember when I would walk in because I

0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:37.880
<v Speaker 5>was seventeen with like size thirty six, like khakis like

0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:42.040
<v Speaker 5>the bangs that were died, and they were like are

0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:43.880
<v Speaker 5>you the guy spoke on the phone. I'm like, yep,

0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.240
<v Speaker 5>that's me, and they're like do you own is it?

0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:48.640
<v Speaker 5>Like a real business. I'm like, yep, have my business license,

0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.680
<v Speaker 5>and they're like, where's your shop. I'm like, well, it's

0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:54.680
<v Speaker 5>in West LA. And then I wouldn't tell anyone. It

0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.640
<v Speaker 5>was just my mom's condo. And so it was a

0:10:57.679 --> 0:10:59.240
<v Speaker 5>lot of fun. It taught me a lot, and that

0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.079
<v Speaker 5>was kind of the time when like import car culture

0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.160
<v Speaker 5>was really like starting to move, Like the first import

0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:07.880
<v Speaker 5>car show was in ninety five. I mean I had

0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:11.360
<v Speaker 5>started this in ninety four, but the only place you

0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:12.920
<v Speaker 5>could really go if you had a fixed up car

0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.920
<v Speaker 5>was to these house parties that I talked we talked

0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.800
<v Speaker 5>about before we sat down, or these like eighteen and

0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:20.160
<v Speaker 5>over like dance parties.

0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:21.720
<v Speaker 1>Talk about what's this house party?

0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:22.079
<v Speaker 4>Yeah?

0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:24.240
<v Speaker 1>So all at you? Yeah.

0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.600
<v Speaker 5>So a lot of the house parties were kind of varied, right,

0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.760
<v Speaker 5>there are people dancing, there's people getting in trouble. But

0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:31.680
<v Speaker 5>at a couple of us would end up in the

0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.600
<v Speaker 5>garage and because we had no money and we're like, okay,

0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.120
<v Speaker 5>well who's cars next, you know, and really all we

0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.440
<v Speaker 5>wanted to do is lower it and look, you know,

0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.240
<v Speaker 5>kind of gangster, right. So so we got really my

0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.440
<v Speaker 5>friends and I got really good at like popping off suspension,

0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:49.080
<v Speaker 5>and we didn't even have the spring tension really, so

0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.640
<v Speaker 5>we would just put a box and Dino exhaust box

0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.160
<v Speaker 5>and we would stand on it and we were like

0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.800
<v Speaker 5>one more, one more, like everyone get out of the way,

0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:59.520
<v Speaker 5>you know, and it would like pop off, you know,

0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:01.800
<v Speaker 5>and that's how I think we would cut it or

0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.120
<v Speaker 5>have it burnt somewhere, right, which was the worst ride.

0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.320
<v Speaker 5>I think someone was talking about like it was fun

0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:10.040
<v Speaker 5>to be bouncy, Like, no, that wasn't fun, But that's

0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.080
<v Speaker 5>what happened, right, because there wasn't a lot of stuff

0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:14.560
<v Speaker 5>that you could buy at the time. So yeah, I

0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.560
<v Speaker 5>ended up befriending a lot of Asian gangs because they

0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.440
<v Speaker 5>lowered a lot of their cars. But they're also like, oh,

0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.760
<v Speaker 5>that's Argen. He's into that street racing stuff. Like don't

0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:25.120
<v Speaker 5>need to mess you know, you don't need to mess

0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:27.440
<v Speaker 5>with him. He's cool, you know. But yeah, it was fun.

0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:28.800
<v Speaker 5>It was a lot of fun. It was kind of

0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:32.959
<v Speaker 5>that culture some time until Imports Show Off and Hot

0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:36.280
<v Speaker 5>Import Nights and Battle the Imports got really big, which

0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:38.520
<v Speaker 5>led into the movie of course, And yeah, it was

0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:40.679
<v Speaker 5>kind of a game changer at that time, but it

0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:45.240
<v Speaker 5>was already kind of getting bigger because there was this movement.

0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.880
<v Speaker 1>For those that you don't know speaking of the movie,

0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.439
<v Speaker 1>RJ is in Fast and Fears.

0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:52.360
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, a little two seconds of thing. I still get

0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:53.640
<v Speaker 5>residual a little more than that.

0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:55.080
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean.

0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.080
<v Speaker 5>There was three lines in the script. One got cut

0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.600
<v Speaker 5>where joh Rule and I were kind of bantering at

0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:01.000
<v Speaker 5>the line.

0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:03.480
<v Speaker 1>So just to give you context of how I know

0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:09.080
<v Speaker 1>RJ was starving actor. Like, I'm like a buck twenty

0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:12.480
<v Speaker 1>five starving. I have like twenty jobs just to like

0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.360
<v Speaker 1>you know, be able to eat. And I was like,

0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.640
<v Speaker 1>I have to just like make some type of money.

0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:21.319
<v Speaker 1>I have to also be around like you know, production

0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:25.000
<v Speaker 1>and Stan I can't remember his name, last name, but

0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:29.240
<v Speaker 1>he was part of Yolk magazine and he was a

0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.840
<v Speaker 1>good friend, right. He was like an older kind of

0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:35.880
<v Speaker 1>like brother type, and he was like, hey man, you

0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.160
<v Speaker 1>know we got to do this like kind of cool commercial.

0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.240
<v Speaker 1>And you know, you have a camera which I didn't

0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.840
<v Speaker 1>because I could borrow it, right, And he's like, do

0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.280
<v Speaker 1>you want to shoot this commercial? I was like, what

0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.160
<v Speaker 1>do you mean you like shoot it? He's like you

0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.120
<v Speaker 1>want to direct it? And I was like yeah, I

0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.440
<v Speaker 1>had never directed anything, and he's like, you know how

0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.920
<v Speaker 1>to do that? I go, yeah, of course I did.

0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.240
<v Speaker 1>I was like yeah, and I'm like, so what is

0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.280
<v Speaker 1>it about. It's like, well, you know, you got to

0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.160
<v Speaker 1>come up with an idea and then you know it's

0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.120
<v Speaker 1>like like some car thing. This is way before fast

0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:17.320
<v Speaker 1>and fierous or anything. Right. So and then somehow I

0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.320
<v Speaker 1>think that the actress that was going to be in

0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.400
<v Speaker 1>the commercial, they stan already had picked her or they

0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:29.040
<v Speaker 1>were friends and she's was friends with you. So because

0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:30.560
<v Speaker 1>I was like, where do we get a car? Right,

0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.160
<v Speaker 1>it's like, well, we need like a dope car. I

0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:34.480
<v Speaker 1>go like what kind of car? It's like ideally like

0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:39.800
<v Speaker 1>an NSX something like that. Like that's crazy, that's that's insane.

0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:42.400
<v Speaker 1>Like who's gonna let us follow that? We have no money?

0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.520
<v Speaker 1>And then you showed up at your car okay, right,

0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:46.920
<v Speaker 1>and it's.

0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.440
<v Speaker 5>Starting to ring something. Remember I do that now that

0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:50.760
<v Speaker 5>you say?

0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.840
<v Speaker 1>And then he shows up and I was I tell

0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.680
<v Speaker 1>everybody the story. I was like, yo, man, that's like

0:14:55.720 --> 0:15:00.320
<v Speaker 1>Asian James Dane dude. It was because I'm not from right,

0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.680
<v Speaker 1>so I didn't grow up in that that culture, right,

0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.400
<v Speaker 1>like the car culture in Georgia. We didn't have that.

0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:08.960
<v Speaker 2>It was that's a nice car.

0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:15.160
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, time that I had. Actually, there's a story about that.

0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:15.840
<v Speaker 5>I can get into.

0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:16.960
<v Speaker 1>What color was that car?

0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:19.440
<v Speaker 5>Like it was red, it was candy apple red, then

0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:21.200
<v Speaker 5>it was a color shift paint. Then it was.

0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:25.200
<v Speaker 1>Silver, silver, we got to win silver, and it was orange.

0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.360
<v Speaker 5>That was the last six colors. Too many. Yeah, I

0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:29.760
<v Speaker 5>would have kept it if I didn't paint it so

0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:30.400
<v Speaker 5>many times.

0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.720
<v Speaker 1>But he was the first like cool Asian car dude

0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:38.000
<v Speaker 1>I had ever met. That's to find this commercial. Yeah,

0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:39.720
<v Speaker 1>but it's so cool.

0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.120
<v Speaker 2>That was your That was your directorial debut.

0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:44.840
<v Speaker 1>You realized it and we finished it, like you know,

0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.120
<v Speaker 1>we cut it. It took forever because it was it was

0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:50.080
<v Speaker 1>an old ass computer, so I remember it was. It

0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:54.240
<v Speaker 1>was before final cuts and we had to like walk

0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.160
<v Speaker 1>away and go have dinner every time we rendered.

0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:58.120
<v Speaker 5>I remember those days.

0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.520
<v Speaker 1>But yeah, you came and you were.

0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.040
<v Speaker 5>Actually because I always wanted and even me now probably

0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.520
<v Speaker 5>not as much, but anytime someone had a project like hey,

0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.040
<v Speaker 5>we're trying to do this, I'm like, let's go, Like

0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:11.480
<v Speaker 5>what do you need? You know, like you need a car,

0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:13.920
<v Speaker 5>you're a person. So that's how that Arco thing came up.

0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.280
<v Speaker 2>That's funny because that's how I know you today. You're

0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.360
<v Speaker 2>still very much like that. I try to make it like,

0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.160
<v Speaker 2>let's do this, make it happen.

0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:25.200
<v Speaker 5>Especially if it's like paving away or giving someone an opportunity.

0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.000
<v Speaker 5>I just loved to get involved. So being part of

0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.640
<v Speaker 5>this Asian American movement at that age, and then like

0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.520
<v Speaker 5>car culture being becoming somewhat of our platforms to be

0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:39.960
<v Speaker 5>kind of seen and recognized became a real fulfilling thing

0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:40.280
<v Speaker 5>for me.

0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.560
<v Speaker 1>Let's back up, how did you get involved in Fast? Yeah?

0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.480
<v Speaker 5>I was initially like casult with Craig Lieberman, the other

0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:04.119
<v Speaker 5>person that was consulting on the film. We were both

0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.960
<v Speaker 5>working at Peterson Publishing. Somehow somebody at Universal found Craig

0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.119
<v Speaker 5>gave him the script when it was still Redline. They

0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:13.240
<v Speaker 5>were like, hey, we're looking for some consultants. He jumped

0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:14.760
<v Speaker 5>on and they were like, hey, do you know any

0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:16.680
<v Speaker 5>Asian kids that grew up kind of six street racing

0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.320
<v Speaker 5>and stuff? And he's like, huh, funny you asked like, yeah,

0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:21.200
<v Speaker 5>I have this really young, y, happy twenty year old

0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.000
<v Speaker 5>that works for me, and I'm actually part of his

0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.200
<v Speaker 5>car club. We're gonna have a car show this weekend.

0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:26.800
<v Speaker 5>You should come meet him. And then they were like, hey,

0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:28.680
<v Speaker 5>what's your story? And I told my story. They're like, oh,

0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.200
<v Speaker 5>well you want to help us? And I literally thought

0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:32.920
<v Speaker 5>the movie was going to go straight to DVD. I'm like,

0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:34.399
<v Speaker 5>are you serious? You're going to make a film with

0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.359
<v Speaker 5>impoor cars? Sure?

0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:37.040
<v Speaker 2>Right?

0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.880
<v Speaker 5>And they're like, no, we're serious. I okay, you're sure.

0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.879
<v Speaker 5>If Craig's working on it, yeah, sure, I'll help. And

0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.320
<v Speaker 5>so what we first did was go through the script

0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.840
<v Speaker 5>and be like, well, this car progression doesn't feel right,

0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:52.919
<v Speaker 5>like was it. Paul's character initially went from like a

0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.040
<v Speaker 5>three thousand GT tony clips and We're like, well, that

0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.359
<v Speaker 5>progression isn't right. So we started to align cars to characters,

0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:00.879
<v Speaker 5>and then they wanted to go find some cars, so

0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:03.480
<v Speaker 5>we started to call friends for these like casting calls

0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:05.920
<v Speaker 5>for cars, and then started to figure out, like could

0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.199
<v Speaker 5>we afford it, because I think that initial movie was

0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:10.359
<v Speaker 5>like a thirty five or forty million dollar budget, So

0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.639
<v Speaker 5>there were actually a lot of cars that ended up

0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.399
<v Speaker 5>being the character car that weren't initially Selfishly, I was

0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.320
<v Speaker 5>trying to get Vin's character to drive the NSX, but

0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.720
<v Speaker 5>we couldn't afford six of them, let alone the kit

0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:24.480
<v Speaker 5>that was on my car, Like, they wouldn't give it

0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.399
<v Speaker 5>to us for free. So we ended up getting the

0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:29.479
<v Speaker 5>RX seven because the Veil side guys were totally down.

0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:31.520
<v Speaker 5>They're like, yeah, you need kits, no problem, I mean,

0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:34.800
<v Speaker 5>you know what it's for. So there there's little funny

0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.080
<v Speaker 5>tidbits like that. Even the S two thousand that was

0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:43.000
<v Speaker 5>rick Yun's vehicle, which is the villain in the first movie,

0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:45.800
<v Speaker 5>that ended up being my S two thousand. We wanted

0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.480
<v Speaker 5>to use a ham and Z four, but we couldn't

0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.920
<v Speaker 5>afford four or five ham and Z four, so it's like,

0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:53.240
<v Speaker 5>what else do we got. I'm like, oh, I have

0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.480
<v Speaker 5>this thing S two thousand that looks kind of like batmobile.

0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.480
<v Speaker 5>They're like, that's good. Can you get the kit? Like, yeah,

0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:01.800
<v Speaker 5>I think I get that kit for us, which ended

0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:04.120
<v Speaker 5>up being Suki's car in the second movie, and now

0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:05.320
<v Speaker 5>it sits at the Pepo it's the.

0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.520
<v Speaker 1>Same car, same car. Well who made that kid?

0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.200
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, yeah, you know Sacho, So yeah, well.

0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:14.560
<v Speaker 1>It's the same.

0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.119
<v Speaker 5>I didn't know that it was black in the first

0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:21.520
<v Speaker 5>movie with the Ninja Stars, which we made fun of

0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.200
<v Speaker 5>in Super Street and call them snowflakes.

0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.360
<v Speaker 1>But I didn't realize like vale Side was there from

0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:26.920
<v Speaker 1>the beginning.

0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:27.520
<v Speaker 5>In the beginning.

0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:29.679
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well, hopefully you get to meet him one day.

0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.360
<v Speaker 1>Yoku Makusan, the owner of the site. It's like just

0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.040
<v Speaker 1>one of the angelic Cuman beings.

0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.880
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, did see your z it toky It was there again?

0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.040
<v Speaker 5>Yeah yeah, yeah, he's one of the OG's from that

0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:46.240
<v Speaker 5>Japan tuning air, like Smoking Nagata, you know, Ada San,

0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:49.760
<v Speaker 5>Drift King, They're all the same circle. And I had

0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.720
<v Speaker 5>met him because I was working at Super Street. He

0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:54.560
<v Speaker 5>didn't have a booth at Auto Salon, so I got

0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:56.880
<v Speaker 5>some friends to rent a van to drive us out

0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.400
<v Speaker 5>to his shot and then I shot it for a feature.

0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:01.920
<v Speaker 5>And then the next year I came back and I'm like, hey,

0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:05.000
<v Speaker 5>remember me. I worked for the small little magazine in

0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:08.280
<v Speaker 5>the US. And people were already knocking his stuff off

0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:11.760
<v Speaker 5>in the US, and he was like RJ, like in Japan,

0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:15.680
<v Speaker 5>this is shameful, and I'm like I understand, but people

0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.480
<v Speaker 5>want your stuff and they can't get it. And they're like,

0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:20.720
<v Speaker 5>I'm going to fly to the US and you're gonna

0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.840
<v Speaker 5>help me. And I was like sure, Okay, so I

0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:26.040
<v Speaker 5>actually helped him start as US when he had the

0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.159
<v Speaker 5>US offices back here back then, which is how we

0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.400
<v Speaker 5>got all the parts for the movie, because I was like, Hey,

0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:35.560
<v Speaker 5>there's this movie that's happening. We need some parts. And

0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:37.320
<v Speaker 5>he's like, what do you need. I'm like, well, we

0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:40.760
<v Speaker 5>need RC seven kids and S two thousand kids. He's like,

0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:43.000
<v Speaker 5>do you need wheels. I'm like, yes, we need wheels.

0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:45.359
<v Speaker 5>Send that to and so that's how we ended up

0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:47.800
<v Speaker 5>in the movie. WHOA Yeah, but he was.

0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:48.080
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:50.240
<v Speaker 5>He was a mentor for me, and everyone talks about

0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:52.040
<v Speaker 5>their mentors, so he was definitely one of them.

0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:54.000
<v Speaker 1>That's so interesting. I never knew that.

0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:56.640
<v Speaker 5>Or Jay, he's super a jail. Like, there's so many

0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:58.399
<v Speaker 5>cars that I built that ended up on the covers

0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:01.560
<v Speaker 5>of magazines, and they did because he would always send

0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:04.400
<v Speaker 5>me the first so he'd like, Oh, here's my new

0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.440
<v Speaker 5>S two thousand, here's my new Millennium Edition S two

0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:09.520
<v Speaker 5>thousand kit. I'm going to send you on go build

0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.680
<v Speaker 5>a car. Or here's the m R two Fortune Model kit.

0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:13.760
<v Speaker 5>I'm going to send you one, and.

0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:15.399
<v Speaker 2>This while you were at Superstreight.

0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.000
<v Speaker 5>It was while I was kind of like a roving

0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:21.879
<v Speaker 5>editor at Superstreet. Yeah, and still doing you know, selling

0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:25.480
<v Speaker 5>body kits and other parts. And then started the wheel line.

0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:27.040
<v Speaker 5>I don't know if you know this. I had a

0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:29.800
<v Speaker 5>wheel line that was named after me for about seven years,

0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:30.640
<v Speaker 5>which is a lot of fun.

0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:32.040
<v Speaker 4>Really uh huh.

0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:35.240
<v Speaker 1>So those are probably collector items now, it's fine.

0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:37.879
<v Speaker 5>I didn't keep it. I don't have one single wall right.

0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.320
<v Speaker 2>If anyone's listening, who has what did you?

0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:43.920
<v Speaker 5>If you have a Roja Motorsport wheel, I would love

0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:46.800
<v Speaker 5>to like have one.

0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:48.880
<v Speaker 1>Got to bring those back, man.

0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:49.840
<v Speaker 4>Yeah. It was.

0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.159
<v Speaker 5>It was a good era in my life. I was

0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:54.920
<v Speaker 5>very blessed, very fortunate. Like I remember the wheel deal

0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:58.400
<v Speaker 5>specifically where I had helped the company American Racing develop

0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:01.320
<v Speaker 5>their new import line which is still rounds called Multagi Racing,

0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:02.879
<v Speaker 5>and then they were like, hey, RJ like, have you

0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:06.560
<v Speaker 5>ever thought of having your own line? And they created

0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:09.280
<v Speaker 5>a mock up and the center caps at RJD wheels,

0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:12.639
<v Speaker 5>which I felt I just about fell like out of

0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:14.919
<v Speaker 5>my chair laughing because I was super into like the

0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.000
<v Speaker 5>JDM stuff like racing hard SSR and I could never

0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:20.480
<v Speaker 5>imagine someone like wanting to buy a wheel that had

0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:24.000
<v Speaker 5>like RJD. I remember driving home one day and I

0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.359
<v Speaker 5>was like, you know, even if it did suck, it

0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:29.680
<v Speaker 5>just be cool. And this is probably in the mid

0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.280
<v Speaker 5>early two thousands, right before the first movie. I got

0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:35.320
<v Speaker 5>back and I'm like, hey, guys, like I'm down, Like

0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:37.720
<v Speaker 5>you can't call it RJD because that sounds really lame,

0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:40.400
<v Speaker 5>Like it's your it's your line. You make it whatever

0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:41.880
<v Speaker 5>you want, you know, I'm like.

0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:42.400
<v Speaker 1>Okay, cool.

0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.320
<v Speaker 5>And that started that whole kind of line of wheels

0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:47.359
<v Speaker 5>for about seven years.

0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:50.000
<v Speaker 1>That's a long time. Yeah, it had a good run.

0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:52.479
<v Speaker 1>I like what you just said. There was like self

0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:56.119
<v Speaker 1>doubt about like who's who, Who's gonna want these wheels?

0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:59.440
<v Speaker 1>But let's give it a try, right, you know, it's

0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:03.000
<v Speaker 1>like these for in our head. I'm very guilty of it.

0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:07.479
<v Speaker 1>And that's something that I'm always conscious of and trying

0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:11.240
<v Speaker 1>to like overcome going I'd like to try this. I'd

0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:13.439
<v Speaker 1>like to you know, write this, or direct this, or

0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:16.840
<v Speaker 1>even my first, like you know movie I directed. Right

0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:19.840
<v Speaker 1>the whole time, it was all these voices like who

0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:20.639
<v Speaker 1>are you doing direct?

0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:21.159
<v Speaker 5>What do you know?

0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:22.000
<v Speaker 1>You have no talent?

0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:23.080
<v Speaker 2>Imposter syndrome.

0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:25.880
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's gonna it's gonna bomb, it's gonna flop. It's

0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:28.480
<v Speaker 1>gonna you're gonna lose money and you'll never be able

0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:30.680
<v Speaker 1>to do this again. And even after I finished it,

0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:33.320
<v Speaker 1>it was like constant voices like it sucks, it sucks,

0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:35.960
<v Speaker 1>it sucks. And then it comes out and it's like

0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:38.560
<v Speaker 1>it sucks, it sucks, it sucks. And then all of

0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:41.560
<v Speaker 1>a sudden one day you like step back and you go,

0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:44.840
<v Speaker 1>you know, yeah, it didn't want to Oscar or it

0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:47.080
<v Speaker 1>didn't do all that, but you know, it sets you

0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:50.960
<v Speaker 1>up and you learn so much. Yeah right, And the

0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:54.880
<v Speaker 1>most important thing I learned was that even if it

0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:58.959
<v Speaker 1>doesn't didn't win awards and doesn't have the same successes

0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:02.359
<v Speaker 1>as like the big block busters, it made me realize

0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:05.720
<v Speaker 1>that I have so much gratitude that I could just

0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:08.760
<v Speaker 1>even do that. Yeah, to be in a place to go, hey,

0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:10.840
<v Speaker 1>you know, you want to go make a movie, you

0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:14.520
<v Speaker 1>want to direct a movie. It actually happened, yeah right,

0:24:14.560 --> 0:24:17.760
<v Speaker 1>And then the voices kind of calm down and you're like, hey,

0:24:17.800 --> 0:24:20.280
<v Speaker 1>shut up, voices, just go and do. And the lesson

0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:23.080
<v Speaker 1>that I try to like convey here is that you

0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:25.080
<v Speaker 1>got to shut those voices down. You just got to

0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:26.080
<v Speaker 1>do it right.

0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:29.760
<v Speaker 2>I heard something this morning and I don't know who

0:24:29.760 --> 0:24:31.800
<v Speaker 2>it came from, so I don't want to misquote, but

0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:35.560
<v Speaker 2>it was one day or day one.

0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:37.280
<v Speaker 1>It's your choice, so simple.

0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:39.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I know, but like so much there at the

0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:40.400
<v Speaker 2>same time.

0:24:40.960 --> 0:24:42.960
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, because if you don't start, it never happens.

0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:45.280
<v Speaker 2>But I hear that through line in your story. A

0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:47.719
<v Speaker 2>lot even you know, get in the business license of

0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:51.000
<v Speaker 2>just going after it and getting it. It doesn't seem

0:24:51.359 --> 0:24:55.800
<v Speaker 2>or do you have many thoughts that are similar to

0:24:55.840 --> 0:24:58.520
<v Speaker 2>what sung saying of imposter syndrome or maybe doubt? Do

0:24:58.560 --> 0:24:59.520
<v Speaker 2>you ever doubt yourself?

0:25:00.960 --> 0:25:03.560
<v Speaker 5>I definitely have the voices I think, like a lot

0:25:03.600 --> 0:25:06.800
<v Speaker 5>of people do, write down you know that doubt and

0:25:06.840 --> 0:25:10.000
<v Speaker 5>whether am I capable of doing this? You know what

0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:13.040
<v Speaker 5>gives me the right to try this? You know? Will

0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:16.359
<v Speaker 5>it resonate with anyone? I think that's a lot of

0:25:16.359 --> 0:25:19.240
<v Speaker 5>people deal with that, right. I'd like to say, probably

0:25:19.280 --> 0:25:22.399
<v Speaker 5>bury it pretty good. We're like, oh, wow, what's the

0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:24.520
<v Speaker 5>worst that can happen? And I think I was really

0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:27.560
<v Speaker 5>blessed and fortunate that at a at a fairly young age,

0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:31.439
<v Speaker 5>I was able to do that and things were somewhat successful, right.

0:25:31.480 --> 0:25:34.240
<v Speaker 5>The movie did well, Super Sheet did well, so I

0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:36.520
<v Speaker 5>worked on projects. I worked on forts and motorsports that

0:25:36.560 --> 0:25:39.439
<v Speaker 5>did well, and so I was really like, oh to

0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:41.560
<v Speaker 5>your point, like you look back, You're like I did

0:25:41.600 --> 0:25:44.480
<v Speaker 5>pretty good, you know, and so you get you gain

0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:47.280
<v Speaker 5>more confidence, and it's kind of I'm sure your your

0:25:47.280 --> 0:25:50.320
<v Speaker 5>first YouTube video to the one you just posted, if.

0:25:50.200 --> 0:25:52.840
<v Speaker 2>You go back and watch huge growth, right yeah.

0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:56.720
<v Speaker 5>You know, yeah, because I mean it is it is

0:25:56.840 --> 0:25:59.399
<v Speaker 5>day one, you know, and so I've I've been really lucky,

0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:01.560
<v Speaker 5>and I think thee of us, you know, to be

0:26:01.600 --> 0:26:03.760
<v Speaker 5>able to do things where then you can look back

0:26:03.800 --> 0:26:05.879
<v Speaker 5>in hindsight, so the second time you do it, it's

0:26:05.880 --> 0:26:08.800
<v Speaker 5>a lot easier, and the third time it becomes like, oh,

0:26:08.840 --> 0:26:11.719
<v Speaker 5>I kind of know this cycle, you know, and so

0:26:11.760 --> 0:26:14.000
<v Speaker 5>you do have a lot more confidence, and then you

0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:16.680
<v Speaker 5>also fail, right I was, you know, I I after

0:26:16.760 --> 0:26:19.840
<v Speaker 5>the wheel line. I tried to do a whole performance

0:26:20.000 --> 0:26:23.720
<v Speaker 5>car line right around the one bubble bursts, and I

0:26:23.760 --> 0:26:26.040
<v Speaker 5>had investment and then I lost it. I was trying

0:26:26.040 --> 0:26:29.439
<v Speaker 5>to build a couple pro drag cars, went crazing a

0:26:29.480 --> 0:26:31.960
<v Speaker 5>debt on my mom's home equity and then had to

0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:34.640
<v Speaker 5>shut everything down, and the dream came collapsing down. And

0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:36.880
<v Speaker 5>it was probably some of the toughest time in my life,

0:26:37.400 --> 0:26:40.400
<v Speaker 5>and it took me seven or eight years to kind

0:26:40.400 --> 0:26:43.240
<v Speaker 5>of pay back this this loan. Luckily it was a

0:26:43.240 --> 0:26:46.080
<v Speaker 5>home loan. So but this fear that I was going

0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:49.200
<v Speaker 5>to lose like our small little condo, you know, chasing

0:26:49.200 --> 0:26:51.960
<v Speaker 5>this dream and having this gratitude to my mom for

0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:55.879
<v Speaker 5>even allowing me to like do that. But that was

0:26:55.920 --> 0:26:57.600
<v Speaker 5>an experience and you grow from it and then you

0:26:57.720 --> 0:26:59.800
<v Speaker 5>learn like, well, failure's just a part of it, you know,

0:27:00.040 --> 0:27:02.560
<v Speaker 5>and just about getting up and getting back on the bike.

0:27:02.720 --> 0:27:02.960
<v Speaker 1>Right.

0:27:03.040 --> 0:27:07.320
<v Speaker 5>So I think that's that's where that imposter syndrome can

0:27:07.359 --> 0:27:09.440
<v Speaker 5>really hold you down, if you hold on too much

0:27:10.119 --> 0:27:12.479
<v Speaker 5>to the things that didn't go well, yeah, you know,

0:27:12.640 --> 0:27:16.040
<v Speaker 5>versus like, well that didn't go well, what did I learn? Okay,

0:27:16.280 --> 0:27:18.200
<v Speaker 5>that hurts. I'm gonna let it hurt, and then I'm

0:27:18.200 --> 0:27:18.639
<v Speaker 5>gonna move on.

0:27:18.720 --> 0:27:20.800
<v Speaker 2>And just because it didn't go well last time doesn't

0:27:20.840 --> 0:27:22.200
<v Speaker 2>mean it's not gonna go well again.

0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:25.320
<v Speaker 5>So so I think that's if I could impart anything

0:27:25.320 --> 0:27:27.280
<v Speaker 5>on anyone, you know, I would agree with you. Just

0:27:27.560 --> 0:27:29.520
<v Speaker 5>they want to just go just go for it, you know,

0:27:29.600 --> 0:27:32.800
<v Speaker 5>and no matter what happens, it's not the end of

0:27:32.840 --> 0:27:33.879
<v Speaker 5>the world life goes on.

0:27:34.160 --> 0:27:37.359
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I mean, I think a

0:27:37.359 --> 0:27:39.800
<v Speaker 1>lot of people look at you. He is a dude

0:27:39.800 --> 0:27:42.879
<v Speaker 1>that every that everything goes right. And then to just

0:27:42.960 --> 0:27:46.600
<v Speaker 1>share that you had to take like a loan out

0:27:46.640 --> 0:27:49.240
<v Speaker 1>from your mom's condo where it all started.

0:27:50.400 --> 0:27:51.600
<v Speaker 2>It all.

0:27:52.400 --> 0:27:56.200
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well obviously, I mean all that wealth of knowledge

0:27:56.280 --> 0:28:00.480
<v Speaker 1>is you know, valuable to the industry, the car industry

0:28:00.520 --> 0:28:03.439
<v Speaker 1>too today because now you're at SEMA.

0:28:03.640 --> 0:28:06.719
<v Speaker 5>Yeah yeah, yeah, so it's it's come around full circle,

0:28:07.000 --> 0:28:09.840
<v Speaker 5>you know. Like my first two main events that I

0:28:09.840 --> 0:28:12.520
<v Speaker 5>went to outside of the import car shows were Autoslon

0:28:12.560 --> 0:28:16.199
<v Speaker 5>and SEMA back in ninety six. I had so I

0:28:16.280 --> 0:28:19.119
<v Speaker 5>took you Autuslan for those listening, which is there's a

0:28:19.160 --> 0:28:21.160
<v Speaker 5>couple events that I think if you're a car enthusiast

0:28:21.320 --> 0:28:24.000
<v Speaker 5>you have to go to Tokiautoslan is one of them,

0:28:24.200 --> 0:28:27.600
<v Speaker 5>Festival of Speed is another, SEMA Show is another, and

0:28:27.680 --> 0:28:30.000
<v Speaker 5>Monterey Carweek. It was like to me those four like

0:28:30.640 --> 0:28:33.760
<v Speaker 5>if you love cars like you gotta go to those four.

0:28:34.320 --> 0:28:37.760
<v Speaker 5>But SEMA, I haven't missed one since ninety six except

0:28:37.760 --> 0:28:39.160
<v Speaker 5>for the one that we didn't have, So this one

0:28:39.200 --> 0:28:41.760
<v Speaker 5>will be twenty seven years. So when I came to

0:28:41.800 --> 0:28:44.440
<v Speaker 5>work for the organization. It kind of felt like a homecoming.

0:28:45.320 --> 0:28:47.560
<v Speaker 5>The only the only thing that I had not done

0:28:47.720 --> 0:28:50.760
<v Speaker 5>going to the SEMA show was be part of the

0:28:50.880 --> 0:28:55.920
<v Speaker 5>team that put it together. I'd been you know, a builder, photographer,

0:28:56.560 --> 0:29:00.720
<v Speaker 5>small company host, bigger company hosts for like so many

0:29:00.720 --> 0:29:04.320
<v Speaker 5>things around the show. That just felt like natural that

0:29:04.320 --> 0:29:06.400
<v Speaker 5>I would be part of the team that helped, you know,

0:29:06.520 --> 0:29:10.120
<v Speaker 5>kind of puts it together and helps evolve it. And

0:29:10.200 --> 0:29:12.920
<v Speaker 5>just the organization, right, because many people think about SEMA,

0:29:13.000 --> 0:29:15.760
<v Speaker 5>they just think about the show, but the organization does

0:29:15.760 --> 0:29:19.600
<v Speaker 5>so much more for just the aftermarket companies and the

0:29:19.640 --> 0:29:21.280
<v Speaker 5>people that are involved in the industry.

0:29:21.400 --> 0:29:24.120
<v Speaker 1>So for the listeners that don't know what SEMA is like,

0:29:24.160 --> 0:29:25.120
<v Speaker 1>how would you describe it?

0:29:25.200 --> 0:29:29.360
<v Speaker 5>For Layman Tern, Well, it's some membership based organization or association,

0:29:29.640 --> 0:29:31.720
<v Speaker 5>but it also really looks out for the industry and

0:29:31.840 --> 0:29:33.120
<v Speaker 5>advocating for the industry.

0:29:33.200 --> 0:29:33.360
<v Speaker 2>Right.

0:29:33.400 --> 0:29:35.600
<v Speaker 5>We're doing a lot of work on the government front,

0:29:36.680 --> 0:29:39.200
<v Speaker 5>you know, to really advocate for, as an example, a

0:29:39.280 --> 0:29:43.280
<v Speaker 5>technology neutral future. There's a lot of proposals that by

0:29:43.360 --> 0:29:46.320
<v Speaker 5>twenty thirty five, everything that's sold news is going to

0:29:46.400 --> 0:29:49.800
<v Speaker 5>be ev and we feel and personally for myself too,

0:29:49.800 --> 0:29:51.960
<v Speaker 5>that it should be technology neutral. If people should be

0:29:51.960 --> 0:29:55.160
<v Speaker 5>allowed the choice to choose whether it's a synthetic fuel

0:29:55.320 --> 0:30:00.240
<v Speaker 5>or hydrogen or biofuel or EV or hybrid. That yeah,

0:30:00.240 --> 0:30:02.680
<v Speaker 5>the customer should have the choice, right, it shouldn't be mandated.

0:30:02.760 --> 0:30:05.960
<v Speaker 5>So let like innovation kind of you know, it's it's

0:30:06.000 --> 0:30:08.760
<v Speaker 5>the American story, you know, Let innovation like win over.

0:30:09.000 --> 0:30:11.480
<v Speaker 5>So we're doing things like that, and we do a

0:30:11.480 --> 0:30:15.280
<v Speaker 5>lot of product development testing and EPA and card compliance

0:30:15.280 --> 0:30:16.120
<v Speaker 5>for a lot of companies.

0:30:16.240 --> 0:30:21.880
<v Speaker 1>You're making it too too complicated organization to help and

0:30:21.960 --> 0:30:24.160
<v Speaker 1>support aftermarket.

0:30:23.440 --> 0:30:26.880
<v Speaker 5>Companies, yes, and the industry, yes, the automobile. Sorry, so

0:30:27.000 --> 0:30:31.280
<v Speaker 5>I got too deep. I just love it. I just

0:30:31.320 --> 0:30:34.640
<v Speaker 5>love what we stand for. We love working here, and

0:30:34.720 --> 0:30:38.440
<v Speaker 5>it's really really interesting to see like car culture like

0:30:39.160 --> 0:30:42.760
<v Speaker 5>move beyond just like national borders, right, and I think

0:30:42.840 --> 0:30:45.640
<v Speaker 5>Fast kind of did that too, you know, where like

0:30:45.680 --> 0:30:49.320
<v Speaker 5>it created as phenomena and just to be part of

0:30:49.360 --> 0:30:53.880
<v Speaker 5>that for me was was very fulfilling, really really fulfilling.

0:30:53.920 --> 0:30:56.320
<v Speaker 5>And so that's that's all I want to do now

0:30:56.360 --> 0:30:57.520
<v Speaker 5>is do things like that.

0:30:57.680 --> 0:31:01.560
<v Speaker 1>So do you think because of social media car culture

0:31:02.000 --> 0:31:06.600
<v Speaker 1>is going strong? Because you know, with ev sure, coming in.

0:31:06.840 --> 0:31:10.560
<v Speaker 1>There's always this argument, this notion about car culture dying,

0:31:10.600 --> 0:31:14.080
<v Speaker 1>but it seems like, you know, anytime I looked at it,

0:31:14.200 --> 0:31:17.280
<v Speaker 1>like Instagram or yeah, it's just it's all like maybe

0:31:17.280 --> 0:31:21.120
<v Speaker 1>it's my it's all I see.

0:31:22.240 --> 0:31:24.440
<v Speaker 5>I think I was on the brink of disappearing, to

0:31:24.480 --> 0:31:27.760
<v Speaker 5>be quite frank, after the recession. It felt like my

0:31:27.880 --> 0:31:30.560
<v Speaker 5>nephews as an example for me being who I am

0:31:30.600 --> 0:31:32.640
<v Speaker 5>and my nephew is not caring about cars is a

0:31:32.680 --> 0:31:35.280
<v Speaker 5>little bit crazy to me. But it's just not their deal.

0:31:35.760 --> 0:31:39.440
<v Speaker 5>Older they they're twenty five and twenty three, a super

0:31:39.440 --> 0:31:42.040
<v Speaker 5>into sports, super into gaming, but that's their deal.

0:31:42.160 --> 0:31:44.160
<v Speaker 1>They don't care about cars at all, not at all.

0:31:44.240 --> 0:31:47.360
<v Speaker 5>But it felt like during the risk, after the nine recession,

0:31:47.920 --> 0:31:51.440
<v Speaker 5>there's this debt, and then right around like twenty thirteen

0:31:51.520 --> 0:31:53.800
<v Speaker 5>or fourteen, I started to see young people again at

0:31:53.840 --> 0:31:56.880
<v Speaker 5>car meets and it would rattle off like car names

0:31:56.880 --> 0:32:00.960
<v Speaker 5>and horsepower, like the people that grew up in our

0:32:01.040 --> 0:32:04.200
<v Speaker 5>generation that played grants Arismo actually oddly enough and found

0:32:04.200 --> 0:32:07.560
<v Speaker 5>out about cars and come to find out because of

0:32:07.560 --> 0:32:11.200
<v Speaker 5>social media, because of mobile games like CSR Racing and

0:32:11.240 --> 0:32:14.240
<v Speaker 5>things of that nature. It was kind of coming back

0:32:14.280 --> 0:32:16.960
<v Speaker 5>in a different way though, you know, do I think

0:32:17.440 --> 0:32:21.120
<v Speaker 5>things will change. Absolutely if things become really all new

0:32:21.120 --> 0:32:23.400
<v Speaker 5>cars are evy, that's going to change things, you know.

0:32:23.480 --> 0:32:27.680
<v Speaker 5>But I think the love to personalize thing isn't and

0:32:27.720 --> 0:32:29.840
<v Speaker 5>I think that's where the difference is. Like maybe some

0:32:29.920 --> 0:32:33.080
<v Speaker 5>of the performance stuff changes, but this idea that you're

0:32:33.080 --> 0:32:35.440
<v Speaker 5>always going to want something that's personal in yours, I

0:32:35.440 --> 0:32:37.360
<v Speaker 5>think isn't going to go away. So that's what gives

0:32:37.360 --> 0:32:40.160
<v Speaker 5>me hope. And then of course what everybody's doing, you know,

0:32:40.200 --> 0:32:44.240
<v Speaker 5>the stuff that Emilia is doing, Dustin TJ, you name it, right,

0:32:44.320 --> 0:32:47.760
<v Speaker 5>all these people that are young and really diving into

0:32:47.880 --> 0:32:51.680
<v Speaker 5>it and showing that next generation. It's really cool to

0:32:51.720 --> 0:32:53.360
<v Speaker 5>see and I think it is helping at the end

0:32:53.360 --> 0:32:55.240
<v Speaker 5>of the day, Like I don't think we'd have as

0:32:55.320 --> 0:33:00.440
<v Speaker 5>much interest from the younger generation if people like Chamelia

0:33:00.520 --> 0:33:02.960
<v Speaker 5>weren't making her content and breaking the barriers that she's

0:33:02.960 --> 0:33:03.600
<v Speaker 5>braking early.

0:33:03.840 --> 0:33:16.240
<v Speaker 4>So absolutely, yeah.

0:33:20.000 --> 0:33:24.800
<v Speaker 1>I was watching this YouTube video but this car meet

0:33:24.880 --> 0:33:30.640
<v Speaker 1>in Texas, right, and this guy asking car owners like, hey,

0:33:30.800 --> 0:33:32.280
<v Speaker 1>you know, what do you think about this car? You

0:33:32.320 --> 0:33:34.520
<v Speaker 1>should show a picture of like somebody's and a sex

0:33:34.600 --> 0:33:37.440
<v Speaker 1>and you know, give it a brating one to ten

0:33:38.040 --> 0:33:40.800
<v Speaker 1>and you go, that's a nine, that's a ten, And

0:33:41.280 --> 0:33:44.000
<v Speaker 1>there was you know the ten people I saw. There

0:33:44.080 --> 0:33:47.600
<v Speaker 1>was I think one Asian dude. Everybody was like Texan

0:33:48.080 --> 0:33:52.560
<v Speaker 1>like you know, good old boy like Americans, but everyone

0:33:52.720 --> 0:33:54.960
<v Speaker 1>was driving. I think I saw one hell cat. Everybody

0:33:54.960 --> 0:33:58.000
<v Speaker 1>was driving JDM. Yeah, and it made me realize something.

0:33:58.400 --> 0:34:07.200
<v Speaker 1>It's like through the car culture, this thing of like inclusion, diversity, right,

0:34:07.560 --> 0:34:11.960
<v Speaker 1>understanding other cultures, like for us to be accepted people

0:34:12.000 --> 0:34:15.000
<v Speaker 1>that you that look like you and I. The cars

0:34:15.040 --> 0:34:17.480
<v Speaker 1>are taking care of that for us because you know,

0:34:17.600 --> 0:34:21.600
<v Speaker 1>when Japanese cars are so beloved, it's not a thing anymore.

0:34:21.880 --> 0:34:25.640
<v Speaker 1>There used to be this term called rice rocket. Even

0:34:25.719 --> 0:34:28.840
<v Speaker 1>five years ago. Man, there was like these Maverick guys

0:34:28.880 --> 0:34:32.520
<v Speaker 1>from good old boys, and they kept calling my Maverck

0:34:32.680 --> 0:34:35.440
<v Speaker 1>like a rice rocket, and I was like, what is

0:34:35.480 --> 0:34:38.399
<v Speaker 1>that term? Rice rocket? Right? The thing has gone now

0:34:38.880 --> 0:34:40.799
<v Speaker 1>they're just like heay man, that's a dope ass car,

0:34:41.040 --> 0:34:44.919
<v Speaker 1>right right, And it's pretty beautiful to see that that,

0:34:45.719 --> 0:34:49.759
<v Speaker 1>you know, the car culture JDM culture becoming so like

0:34:49.800 --> 0:34:55.040
<v Speaker 1>global actually helps like people get along better, you know,

0:34:55.120 --> 0:34:59.200
<v Speaker 1>and it fights racism. It was just like fascinating, like

0:34:59.360 --> 0:35:01.040
<v Speaker 1>you know, likezation I had's.

0:35:01.160 --> 0:35:01.880
<v Speaker 5>I never thought of it.

0:35:02.040 --> 0:35:04.120
<v Speaker 1>Ten years ago, these good old boys would be in

0:35:04.280 --> 0:35:07.080
<v Speaker 1>like you know, American Iron and they look at a

0:35:07.160 --> 0:35:09.680
<v Speaker 1>in the hegra type bar is like a rice rocket.

0:35:10.400 --> 0:35:11.960
<v Speaker 1>They're like, why would I drive that? Or they look

0:35:12.000 --> 0:35:14.120
<v Speaker 1>at that Corolla. It's like why would I drive that

0:35:14.239 --> 0:35:20.040
<v Speaker 1>little Corolla? But now that is like pretty cool everybody's pocket. Yeah,

0:35:20.040 --> 0:35:23.200
<v Speaker 1>it's it's changed for sure. I think for bring a trailer,

0:35:23.320 --> 0:35:27.600
<v Speaker 1>Like the fastest growing segment is eighties and nineties JDM cars.

0:35:28.040 --> 0:35:31.640
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, Like there's this bond that people start to have

0:35:31.680 --> 0:35:34.040
<v Speaker 5>when you're like, oh you're you're a carn thesist. Like

0:35:34.239 --> 0:35:36.960
<v Speaker 5>we're the same people, you know. And it happens in

0:35:37.000 --> 0:35:39.600
<v Speaker 5>different cultures, right, I are other things like food or

0:35:39.640 --> 0:35:42.600
<v Speaker 5>sneaker culture or whatever, but car culture is one of them.

0:35:42.680 --> 0:35:45.400
<v Speaker 5>You travel around the world and it could be completely different.

0:35:46.320 --> 0:35:48.680
<v Speaker 5>Like I've never seen this car, like I used to

0:35:48.719 --> 0:35:50.320
<v Speaker 5>go to France. I'm like, what is that poujo?

0:35:50.480 --> 0:35:50.600
<v Speaker 1>Like?

0:35:51.200 --> 0:35:53.040
<v Speaker 5>But it's tuned in the same way. It's got deep

0:35:53.160 --> 0:35:56.320
<v Speaker 5>job and stereo and wheels, and you're like, you're my people.

0:35:56.600 --> 0:35:59.600
<v Speaker 2>I called out my found family because I always say

0:35:59.600 --> 0:36:02.640
<v Speaker 2>wherever travel. I know, I have a family there, and

0:36:02.719 --> 0:36:04.920
<v Speaker 2>you don't even need to speak the same language. Like

0:36:04.960 --> 0:36:07.360
<v Speaker 2>when I was at Tokyoto San, I was using the

0:36:07.360 --> 0:36:10.239
<v Speaker 2>translator app to just communicate about the modifications that have

0:36:10.320 --> 0:36:13.319
<v Speaker 2>been done to certain cars, and I at one point

0:36:13.400 --> 0:36:15.520
<v Speaker 2>I took a step back and screenshot it because I

0:36:15.560 --> 0:36:18.160
<v Speaker 2>was like, this is pretty cool. Yeah, we don't speak

0:36:18.160 --> 0:36:20.040
<v Speaker 2>the same language, but at the same time, we do

0:36:20.200 --> 0:36:22.520
<v Speaker 2>and we're talking it. And that's cars.

0:36:22.840 --> 0:36:25.160
<v Speaker 5>I am curious, like, what are you guys looking to

0:36:25.200 --> 0:36:27.919
<v Speaker 5>do next car wise? But you got Project Base, Yeah,

0:36:28.040 --> 0:36:29.319
<v Speaker 5>you got your thirty four.

0:36:29.640 --> 0:36:32.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's probably going to be my next project.

0:36:33.000 --> 0:36:33.320
<v Speaker 1>Okay.

0:36:33.480 --> 0:36:38.320
<v Speaker 2>I also have this Replica Superbird that it came across

0:36:38.640 --> 0:36:40.799
<v Speaker 2>that I'm kind of going through the planning stages of

0:36:40.880 --> 0:36:44.640
<v Speaker 2>right now. And yeah, a few few cars on my horizon,

0:36:44.760 --> 0:36:47.680
<v Speaker 2>but my biggest focus right now is getting the FTR

0:36:47.760 --> 0:36:50.160
<v Speaker 2>on a container and back out here to the States.

0:36:50.480 --> 0:36:51.080
<v Speaker 2>What about you.

0:36:51.440 --> 0:36:55.440
<v Speaker 1>I have a it's actually a eighty five Grand National

0:36:55.520 --> 0:36:59.920
<v Speaker 1>roller found in the desert. I have a stock which

0:37:00.600 --> 0:37:02.880
<v Speaker 1>you have a Grand National team. I love this. I

0:37:02.960 --> 0:37:07.040
<v Speaker 1>love wow you sold it? Yeah, well so I just

0:37:07.120 --> 0:37:11.239
<v Speaker 1>love the Gea bodies. And then Nissan they're supporting us,

0:37:11.280 --> 0:37:15.120
<v Speaker 1>and they send over enough car for me to take

0:37:15.160 --> 0:37:18.960
<v Speaker 1>all the pieces out. So Nissan sent me a R

0:37:19.080 --> 0:37:22.920
<v Speaker 1>thirty five with a v R thirty eight motorow So

0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:27.239
<v Speaker 1>that imagine a R thirty five g t are having

0:37:27.239 --> 0:37:31.319
<v Speaker 1>a baby with a Buick Grand National and the King

0:37:31.400 --> 0:37:32.439
<v Speaker 1>Kudo comes out.

0:37:32.719 --> 0:37:38.319
<v Speaker 5>I think you're so good. And Daniel like best names

0:37:38.320 --> 0:37:38.880
<v Speaker 5>for cars.

0:37:38.920 --> 0:37:41.520
<v Speaker 1>So hey, I'm doing it with Daniel because we have

0:37:41.680 --> 0:37:45.160
<v Speaker 1>students Ordan together. Yeah yeah. So then it's actually just

0:37:45.200 --> 0:37:47.040
<v Speaker 1>sitting in the garage now, so we just got to

0:37:47.080 --> 0:37:50.719
<v Speaker 1>get to it. It's been a busy last year. I'd

0:37:50.719 --> 0:37:54.200
<v Speaker 1>love to send it to Tokyo Auto Salon and just

0:37:54.320 --> 0:37:59.600
<v Speaker 1>leave it there because you know, Japanese love American cars, yes, right,

0:37:59.640 --> 0:38:03.040
<v Speaker 1>and then as an egent, a real Grand National and

0:38:03.080 --> 0:38:07.759
<v Speaker 1>the heart is Japanese car, which is like so awesome, right,

0:38:08.120 --> 0:38:12.520
<v Speaker 1>So King Kudo that's sweet with like watanabase. Imagine like

0:38:12.560 --> 0:38:16.120
<v Speaker 1>the vision is like big fat waase right with the

0:38:16.280 --> 0:38:19.040
<v Speaker 1>rocket bunny kid on it, right, and it's all these

0:38:19.080 --> 0:38:23.080
<v Speaker 1>little like the door handles are from the gtr okay, right,

0:38:23.080 --> 0:38:25.279
<v Speaker 1>you're gonna use it a little bit yeah together yeah,

0:38:25.360 --> 0:38:28.799
<v Speaker 1>so it's like it's like if a Grand National and

0:38:28.880 --> 0:38:32.359
<v Speaker 1>a GTR had a baby, the King Kudo would come out.

0:38:32.680 --> 0:38:33.920
<v Speaker 1>So it's a biracial car.

0:38:34.280 --> 0:38:37.919
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'm excited for this project. Yeah, that's a really

0:38:38.000 --> 0:38:39.680
<v Speaker 2>rad Is yours going to be the S two k?

0:38:40.000 --> 0:38:40.200
<v Speaker 1>Yeah?

0:38:40.200 --> 0:38:43.080
<v Speaker 5>It's almost done actually for us for what I wanted

0:38:43.120 --> 0:38:43.520
<v Speaker 5>it done.

0:38:43.600 --> 0:38:45.520
<v Speaker 2>What were you doing to it? You just got this

0:38:45.600 --> 0:38:46.439
<v Speaker 2>car a couple of months ago.

0:38:46.600 --> 0:38:49.400
<v Speaker 5>No, no, it's been two years almost. It's pretty stoked

0:38:49.520 --> 0:38:51.719
<v Speaker 5>about it because I kind of the thought was if

0:38:51.760 --> 0:38:54.319
<v Speaker 5>I was going to make an S T thousand, if

0:38:54.360 --> 0:38:57.440
<v Speaker 5>Fast and Fears was just coming out, Now, how wide

0:38:57.440 --> 0:38:59.600
<v Speaker 5>I build it? And so that's what this car is.

0:38:59.600 --> 0:39:02.439
<v Speaker 5>It's kind of a little bit of a tribute building. Yeah.

0:39:02.600 --> 0:39:04.960
<v Speaker 5>So I've been driving it around a lot of about

0:39:04.960 --> 0:39:07.799
<v Speaker 5>four months ago. I just haven't taken it to track,

0:39:07.880 --> 0:39:08.920
<v Speaker 5>which will be the next thing.

0:39:09.040 --> 0:39:12.440
<v Speaker 1>So since I have you here, this is a good

0:39:12.760 --> 0:39:14.240
<v Speaker 1>good person to talk.

0:39:15.960 --> 0:39:17.279
<v Speaker 2>Not the underwear thing.

0:39:17.440 --> 0:39:25.480
<v Speaker 1>No, no, no, okay, that's past topic. So since you

0:39:25.520 --> 0:39:32.359
<v Speaker 1>were part of the first Fast and now we're at Fast, Yeah,

0:39:32.600 --> 0:39:35.200
<v Speaker 1>where do you think the Fast franchise can go or

0:39:35.239 --> 0:39:38.760
<v Speaker 1>should go? Or should it even go any longer? Because

0:39:38.920 --> 0:39:41.000
<v Speaker 1>I mean now that we're literally in space.

0:39:41.880 --> 0:39:43.600
<v Speaker 5>You're all avengers at this point.

0:39:43.680 --> 0:39:46.960
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, right, so how do we make it better? If

0:39:47.000 --> 0:39:47.959
<v Speaker 1>you were too?

0:39:48.080 --> 0:39:50.480
<v Speaker 5>I don't know if it's better. I mean I do feel.

0:39:50.239 --> 0:39:52.400
<v Speaker 1>Like, what's it what? What does it need to to

0:39:53.160 --> 0:39:54.719
<v Speaker 1>put some gas in the tank?

0:39:55.360 --> 0:39:57.080
<v Speaker 2>I mean what you did there?

0:39:57.280 --> 0:40:02.000
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, unintended? And you've got cars in a piero in space,

0:40:02.040 --> 0:40:04.920
<v Speaker 5>which is pretty hilarious actually, and cars getting picked up

0:40:04.920 --> 0:40:07.319
<v Speaker 5>by jets. It's like, okay, Like it feels like it's

0:40:07.400 --> 0:40:10.239
<v Speaker 5>run its course as that, and it almost feels like

0:40:10.280 --> 0:40:13.320
<v Speaker 5>a prequel could be an avenue, but it's a completely

0:40:13.320 --> 0:40:15.799
<v Speaker 5>different story, and it's back to cars, you know, at

0:40:15.880 --> 0:40:17.520
<v Speaker 5>least as a car fan, Like I still watched the

0:40:17.560 --> 0:40:22.080
<v Speaker 5>franchise knowing like it's gonna be a spy movie, you

0:40:22.120 --> 0:40:23.520
<v Speaker 5>know at the end of the day, right, and with

0:40:23.600 --> 0:40:26.160
<v Speaker 5>a lot of explosions and cars that flip over and

0:40:26.239 --> 0:40:29.040
<v Speaker 5>keep driving like fifty million times, which is funny because

0:40:29.040 --> 0:40:30.440
<v Speaker 5>we used to make fun of the first one like

0:40:30.480 --> 0:40:32.160
<v Speaker 5>oh there were like twelve thousand.

0:40:31.840 --> 0:40:34.120
<v Speaker 2>Shifts, granny shifting not double.

0:40:34.680 --> 0:40:36.840
<v Speaker 5>And all the words right that they had us actually

0:40:36.880 --> 0:40:39.399
<v Speaker 5>like a side tangent. Craig and I created a bunch

0:40:39.400 --> 0:40:41.320
<v Speaker 5>of words on a sheet and they just started putting

0:40:41.320 --> 0:40:44.840
<v Speaker 5>stuff in spoonoaterer with like these six turbo was like

0:40:44.840 --> 0:40:47.400
<v Speaker 5>those those don't don't go together. No one's gonna know,

0:40:47.520 --> 0:40:49.640
<v Speaker 5>No one's gonna know. But it just feels like it's

0:40:49.719 --> 0:40:51.480
<v Speaker 5>it's just so over the top. Now, like how do

0:40:51.520 --> 0:40:54.240
<v Speaker 5>you bring it back? Like kind of like Bond. Bond

0:40:54.320 --> 0:40:57.120
<v Speaker 5>got super over the top when I forget who the

0:40:57.160 --> 0:41:00.800
<v Speaker 5>action director was, where like you were people were shot

0:41:00.800 --> 0:41:02.560
<v Speaker 5>at and they were like ever getting hit and then

0:41:02.600 --> 0:41:04.879
<v Speaker 5>you went to the like the current version of Bond,

0:41:04.880 --> 0:41:08.319
<v Speaker 5>which was way more raw, right physical, and I feel

0:41:08.360 --> 0:41:11.080
<v Speaker 5>like the franchise could do that. And so that that's

0:41:11.200 --> 0:41:13.640
<v Speaker 5>just Party of one if it was going to go anywhere,

0:41:13.800 --> 0:41:16.799
<v Speaker 5>and maybe it needs to sunset and something else come up.

0:41:17.000 --> 0:41:20.360
<v Speaker 5>The Grand Tourisma movie was a great movie. It approached

0:41:20.600 --> 0:41:22.719
<v Speaker 5>car culture in a different way. I mean, yeah, it's

0:41:22.960 --> 0:41:26.359
<v Speaker 5>gaming culture and car and more racing culture, right, but

0:41:26.880 --> 0:41:29.359
<v Speaker 5>Grand Sarisma was such a big part of why car

0:41:29.400 --> 0:41:32.080
<v Speaker 5>culture became what it was because like, no one knows

0:41:32.120 --> 0:41:35.839
<v Speaker 5>what the hell spoon Civic was until they paid grants

0:41:35.920 --> 0:41:39.120
<v Speaker 5>risk or earth GTR for a lot of young people.

0:41:39.200 --> 0:41:41.920
<v Speaker 5>That's how they got introduced. You know, So that's my

0:41:42.080 --> 0:41:43.880
<v Speaker 5>that's my thoughts on I'd love to see it be

0:41:43.920 --> 0:41:44.680
<v Speaker 5>something different.

0:41:44.760 --> 0:41:46.799
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean when I when I you know, when

0:41:46.800 --> 0:41:50.120
<v Speaker 1>I think about Emilia and you know, the TJ's and

0:41:50.160 --> 0:41:54.160
<v Speaker 1>the Dust and right, there's such a like lack of

0:41:54.239 --> 0:42:00.440
<v Speaker 1>representation and movies today for this demographic, right, I mean

0:42:01.200 --> 0:42:05.560
<v Speaker 1>Fast is kind of our generation, right. And it's interesting

0:42:05.560 --> 0:42:09.120
<v Speaker 1>because you know, when we did Tokyo Drift, I mean

0:42:09.239 --> 0:42:12.440
<v Speaker 1>after it came out, you know, people just kind of

0:42:12.480 --> 0:42:15.360
<v Speaker 1>pooped on the movie. They're like, what is this drifting nonsense?

0:42:15.480 --> 0:42:19.680
<v Speaker 1>Isn't that fast? And now kids, the kids today are like, hey,

0:42:19.719 --> 0:42:22.120
<v Speaker 1>that's the movie I connect with, right, and that's.

0:42:21.920 --> 0:42:22.520
<v Speaker 5>What started it.

0:42:22.600 --> 0:42:24.759
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, a lot of it's interesting, right, It's like.

0:42:24.840 --> 0:42:27.680
<v Speaker 5>And not like Fast won because they were okay.

0:42:27.560 --> 0:42:29.120
<v Speaker 2>Drift was the first one for me, and then I

0:42:29.160 --> 0:42:30.360
<v Speaker 2>went back and watched the others.

0:42:30.520 --> 0:42:33.400
<v Speaker 5>I think there's this opportunity, to your point, to you know,

0:42:33.520 --> 0:42:35.759
<v Speaker 5>have the next generation be a part of something that

0:42:36.480 --> 0:42:39.759
<v Speaker 5>becomes the next Fast. I mean, it's car culture I

0:42:39.760 --> 0:42:41.560
<v Speaker 5>don't think is ever going to die. I think the

0:42:41.600 --> 0:42:45.319
<v Speaker 5>love for cars and going fast and breaking barriers and

0:42:45.360 --> 0:42:47.920
<v Speaker 5>all the things that it stands for is part of

0:42:47.920 --> 0:42:50.560
<v Speaker 5>the human spirit, So how do you capture that in

0:42:50.600 --> 0:42:51.160
<v Speaker 5>a new way.

0:42:51.440 --> 0:42:56.840
<v Speaker 1>I think there is a hunger for car centric like entertainment.

0:42:57.560 --> 0:43:01.799
<v Speaker 1>You know, yeah, there's still a big interest. I mean,

0:43:02.239 --> 0:43:04.239
<v Speaker 1>this is a good question. Then to gauge that is,

0:43:04.280 --> 0:43:07.319
<v Speaker 1>like it Seema growing or dying or not dying?

0:43:07.760 --> 0:43:11.240
<v Speaker 5>It is, so then that kind of change things. Okay, sure,

0:43:11.360 --> 0:43:14.520
<v Speaker 5>So we're growing from what the pandemic was. I think

0:43:14.560 --> 0:43:16.000
<v Speaker 5>like last year we had like one hundred and forty

0:43:16.040 --> 0:43:18.560
<v Speaker 5>thousand people. Year before we had one hundred and thirty

0:43:18.600 --> 0:43:21.040
<v Speaker 5>year before, we had one hundred year before, we didn't

0:43:21.080 --> 0:43:23.840
<v Speaker 5>have it. So we're getting close to some of the

0:43:23.840 --> 0:43:24.960
<v Speaker 5>pre pandemic numbers.

0:43:25.160 --> 0:43:26.800
<v Speaker 1>Or were those numbers, Yeah, what were those numbers?

0:43:26.800 --> 0:43:29.880
<v Speaker 5>I think the biggest was like one seventy.

0:43:30.239 --> 0:43:32.800
<v Speaker 2>I would love and this is my unwarranted or unasked

0:43:32.800 --> 0:43:36.399
<v Speaker 2>for opinion, but I would love to see Seema doing

0:43:36.440 --> 0:43:38.680
<v Speaker 2>I know there's always it's Vegas, so there's the parties

0:43:38.760 --> 0:43:40.839
<v Speaker 2>and all that afterwards, but I'd love to see it,

0:43:40.880 --> 0:43:42.839
<v Speaker 2>to see a carshoon in one of the garages one night,

0:43:43.239 --> 0:43:45.879
<v Speaker 2>and I'm sure you got to talk about doing that,

0:43:45.960 --> 0:43:46.800
<v Speaker 2>but yeah.

0:43:46.560 --> 0:43:47.959
<v Speaker 1>It's a good I noted.

0:43:49.360 --> 0:43:50.400
<v Speaker 5>We're hatching an idea.

0:43:50.560 --> 0:43:53.440
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well, thank thank you J. This was a great conversation.

0:43:53.600 --> 0:43:54.399
<v Speaker 2>Thank you so much.