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A conversation about cars, trucks, tugs and other machines of transport that flows like an ADHD fever dream, hosted by Hoonigan co-founder and 321 Action Action director Brian Scotto. Enjoy, it’s gonna be a bizarre ride.
S4 E32 Audio
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[00:00:00] Welcome back everyone to another episode of Very Vehicular. As always, I am your host, Brian Scotto. Today's guest is the youngest and most controversial we've ever had on the show, and it is also my first time ever speaking to this person. Yep, we have Alex Choi on today. You may know him best from the infamous stunts he's been involved with, some of which have landed him in jail and hit with federal charges.
We talk about those, and actually a lot of the regrets he has around that entire phase of his life. And then we get into this new pivot for him that brings him into an entirely different space that I have to say can be a bit disturbing and really heavy when we talk about it. So, uh, yeah, it's a interesting conversation, and, uh, one you're gonna need to strap in for.
Enjoy it. Oh, and one thing, uh, just a warning for everybody, uh, we do get into some conversations around fatal car accidents. It might get a little gruesome at moments, and it might not be suitable for [00:01:00] everybody, so, uh, please use a little discretion. Thank you.
Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. So, uh, this is kind of a first for both of us it sounds like, 'cause this is the first time I've had someone on the show that I didn't have like a previous relationship with and spoke a lot to. Um, and this is apparently one of your first podcasts, huh?
Yeah. Actually, I, I lied when I told you that. I did one podcast like six or seven years ago. Okay. But yeah, this is like, I never agree to podcasts. Like, once, at least once a year somebody, like n- you know, notable will ask me for a podcast, but like- Why don't you normally agree? I hate being put on the spot.
Like, there's al- there's like a lot of questions that I feel [00:02:00] like the public asks, and like I, I avoid to answer. Right. But, um, like I just never want to be put on the spot. And like I've just been d- and I, I've been done dirty by like a lot of like news reporters or like- Yeah, yeah. Yeah. They'll like, they'll like, "Hey," like, "can we interview you about this?"
And then they'll come to my house and like, "Why are you so terrible?" And I'm like, and then that airs, and I'm like, "Great." Did they start that way? Or did they like- No, not at all. Ah, man. Yeah, I get done d- so dirty by like, you know, a lot of news reporters, so I, I, I've s- I'm just scarred. Like, I never agree to news interviews unless it's like a close friend of mine.
Like, I have a lot of friends in the news industry, right? And like if they ask to do an interview, I've done a lot of those. Right. But, um, if it's like a stranger or like some random publication, um, yeah, no. I, uh, I got gotcha'd once. I'll tell the, the story real fast. Okay. Um, you know, we do the Gymkhana films.
Yeah. We had shut down Los Angeles. Yeah. And I get a- Whole reason why I'm into cars in, in the first place. Oh. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. We'll, we'll get to that. But, um, I get a phone call from, [00:03:00] from an, um, like ... I don't even remember what news channel it was, and they said, "Hey, we're doing a special on filming in L- in Los Angeles- Mm-hmm
and how it's such a big industry." Mm-hmm. And I was like, "Well, I'm going on vacation with, you know, with my f- my fiancee at the time." And they said, "Well, is there any way we can get your availability?" So like we're up in Pismo camping. I like set up, you know, a, a, a Zoom with them to do this call, right? Okay.
And like during our little camping trip that we're going up to Big Sur, and they ask me, I don't know, 10 questions. And the 10 q- the first nine questions are the most benign questions- Yeah ... about how we shoot things. Yeah. And then the 10th question was- Oh, God ... was, "Do you think you should be responsible for all of the taxpayers' money- I, um-
that's lost by you shutting down the streets in Los Angeles while you guys filmed your car videos?" And I was like, "What?" I, I was expecting you to say, "Are you, are you responsible- Oh, no, no ... for all the street racers?" Oh, no, no. They, they were, they went after this from, like, a, a, 'cause it was attacking [00:04:00] Hollywood for filming in LA.
Interesting. And I, and my reply was, "Well, you live in Hollywood. Like, this is- Yeah ... Tinseltown." Yeah. "It's what makes the city go 'round. If you don't like traffic created by filming, maybe you shouldn't live here." And then they only used that excerpt, and it became this, like, bash on Hollywood, and then they pulled a photo of my wife, who was on production with us, doing a handstand on the closed 710, and it said, "Sorry, not sorry.
Road closed." And it was like, you know, "The productions of, of LA don't even care about you," and it became this entire slam piece. And I was like, all right, I, I'm not gonna do this anymore. Like, as you know, like, in, in editing, like, you can turn somebody- Of course ... into a devil just from- Yeah ... editing, right?
Yeah. It's like, that's what I'm scarred from and, and- Yeah ... yeah, that's why- Well, you did get into a bit of trouble that, like, became a big thing All, all the time. Yeah, I've gotten into trouble all the time, but, like, I know that, like, people are gonna come up to me and, like, you know, ask me nine completely benign questions and bring that up, and then I'm now I'm put on the spot, and- Right
that's the only thing they hear. Well, they softened you the whole time- Yeah, [00:05:00] yeah, exactly ... and you think it's about something else- Exactly ... and then they only use the last part. Yeah. No, I, yeah, and yeah, that's also the big reason. Like, I've got in my fair share of trouble, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I just, I don't wanna answer that.
It's funny, when you, um, when, when you actually look up your name online, you are listed as a controversial automotive influencer. Yeah. Is that how you see yourself? Sadly, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. Do, do you think what you do is controversial, or do you think it's just sort of seen that way? Um, definitely, like, what I did when I was a lot younger, 100%.
Ugh. Terrible. Um, terrible, terrible, terrible. Now I'm, I feel like I'm getting a lot more mellower, um, and, like, learning from my mistakes. Yeah. Um, but yeah, for sure, like the things I've done, like, I, I, I look back now and I'm like, how am I not in prison and, you know, how does everyone not hate me? Um, and like, I get so embarrassed.
Like, I... Like recently I actually went back on my YouTube channel and, like, deleted like 90% of- Oh, really? ... all the videos, and, um, I'm like, [00:06:00] how did I... Like, I was, didn't have a, didn't even have a gun to my head, like, how do I upload this on my own will, you know? Yeah. So, you know. When you look back at it, why do you think it was?
Was it just, it was like feeding the machine kind of thing? Illegal, attention grabbing, like, just, I don't know. Yeah. Just... And I'm sure, like, the stuff I do, and I'm 26, right? And when I turn 35- Only 26 ... yeah, when I turn 35, I'm gonna look at myself now and be like- Of course ... "What the hell were you thinking, Alex?"
But, um- You know, just I feel like part of growing up and part of getting mature and, you know- Yeah ... I've been arrested, like, a bunch of times. Um, so, you know. Yeah, I mean, the two ones that, that obviously stood out for me, and I think, I, I was w- I became aware of you just because you were doing a lot of stuff, and you were getting a lot of views and- Yeah
a lot of supercar stuff, and that was always in a very different playground than, like, we were at, at Hoonigan at the time. Mm-hmm. But, um, obviously, like, the Tesla jump- Yeah ... was a big one. Oh, yeah. And it's one of those ones for me that as a, like, if you would've permitted that, [00:07:00] then it's awesome, but at the same time, it's fucking cool looking.
Well- Right? And it's that weird mix, you know? Like, s- 99% of people still think I was driving the Tesla, and, like, I feel like- Right, you just, you just- ... that's a big, huge misconception ... you organized the day, right, kind of thing? No, not even. Oh, really? Yeah. And- See- But nobody believes me, so, like, I don't even try to explain this.
But the, the story is that I b- hosted a Tesla meet and, like- Right ... 50 Teslas showed up, and we were gonna go do a canyon drive. It started raining, so I was like, "All right. Well, what are we gonna do? We're just gonna go home." And this kid comes up to me. Well, a mutual friend, like this kid I know comes up to me and is like, "Hey, I have a friend of mine that wants to jump his Tesla."
And I'm like, "Okay. Sure." "Yeah, let's go watch." And then, and then it happened, and then- And then you got associated with it. Well, so- 'Cause you, or is it because you upload on your channel? I'll admit something. I'll admit something. So somebody else posted that video before me. Ugh. And they, within, like, the first 30 minutes, they got, like, a million views, and I'm like, "Views?
Oh my God. Like, I, I wanna hop in on that bandwagon." Yeah. And then, so I posted it, like, maybe six or eigh- s- eight hours after. So, like, that happened at, like, [00:08:00] I think, like, 1:00 AM, and then I stayed up all night to, like, edit my YouTube video. And I'm like, "This guy's out here getting all the views right now, and I should be getting it."
Um, and then so I edited that video, and I post it. And the next day, I woke up and, like, the world hated me. Mm. Yeah. I don't know. I, from my perspective, I don't know if I think entirely the world hated you 'cause it, it was viral because it was something to see, right? Right. Yeah. But there's also an element, I think, in this community where, like, there's always going to be anything like that that you've got people who are gonna call you out for, "You should've done it this way.
You should've done it that way." Yeah. Which, like- Yeah ... yeah, I mean- If it was done legally, it would've been- Right ... a huge film and everyone would've, people would've, you know, brought you on to talk about how you guys put it together and everything, but yeah. Yeah. I get that. I mean, that was a time where, like, if somebody w- came up to me and was like, you know, "Hey, you wanna go, like, watch me drift my car in the middle of the street?"
Like, I'd be like, "Sure. Why not? I'll go watch." But like, you know, looking back at it now, I'd be like, I don't even wanna be associated with that. Like- Yeah ... you wanna drift your car? Man, just d- I don't even wanna [00:09:00] be near you- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... in the middle of the street. Yeah. But, like, that was a time where, like, if anybody wanted to do anything, any hood rat shit, I'd be like, "Yeah, I wanna come watch."
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, when we were at w- with Hoonigan, because of the type of content we made at Hoonigan, we kind of create this rule early on that, like, we would never associate ourselves with that type of stuff, because we had this whole business that was- Makes sense ... running around it. Yeah. So it was like, you never saw us doing something on the street, like, none of that what- Like, and that's one of the reasons why, like, you know, we developed the burn yard and all of that, because we needed places to go slide cars and- Mm
do all of that- Mm ... but keep it off, because the brand had so much, like, attitude around that stuff- Mm ... that it was like, okay, we have to do it, but we have to do it in a way that we say is, like, legal and legit- Mm. Mm-hmm ... and, and kind of bring those things together. Because it was clearly, it was clearly the, a fear that someone would eventually do something, like, with a Hoonigan sticker on a car, and we would have to defend that, right?
And when that happens, it's easy to sit there and go watch every one of our videos. None of them are on the [00:10:00] streets. Like, we've never done that, you know, kind of thing, so. S- It's funny you bring that up because, and I, I'm not, I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, so I'm gonna have to- It- ... to tell you, text you tomorrow- Yeah, yeah.
and say, "Don't put this in there." But, um, so I've done, recently I've done a lot of, um, s- ride-alongs with the California Highway Patrol. I wanna get into this whole part of it. The, the, actually- I just don't know what I'm allowed to talk about or not. Okay. So I, I, like, but I'll, I'll tell it right now anyways, so you have it.
So I've been doing a lot of ride-alongs with the California Highway Patrol. Mm-hmm. Right? And it's funny you bring up the, the Hoonigan sticker stuff because- They have Flock, right? And you know what Flock is. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And so when I do the ride-alongs, I see all the Flock notifications, and you would not believe how many-
license plate frames- Oh ... Hoonigan license plate frames are like- Oh, of course ... associated with, like, a- assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer wanted cars, you know? Like- Yeah. Oh ... and they're all, like, Hoonigan, like Hoonigan. Like, every day there's a Hoonigan either a license plate frame or, like, the c- the plate itself.
Um- So just [00:11:00] yesterday someone got arrested in Huntington Beach for something, and they- Yeah ... were wearing, like, Hoonigan head to toe. Yeah. And of course, like, the group chat of all the ex-Hoonigan guys- Yeah ... were all like, "What the fuck happened to the fan base? Like, what, what changed?" If, if you had Flock on your phone, well, which you can't.
Like, only law enforcement officers can. Yeah Right? You will get a notification at least, like, twice a day of a Hoonigan car- Yeah ... or a Hoonigan-stickered car wanted for something, um, on Flock. Oh, that's horrible. It's incredible. Um- Yeah, yeah, not proud of that. And yeah, it's, it's- Well, the license plate frames that we sold, and mostly the license plates, were one of the, like, number one sellers at Zumiez.
And, like, you know, and I think it's- Zumiez? Yeah, Zumiez. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, because it was one of the things we sold at Zumiez. Yeah, cool. And it was one of those things that we never thought it was gonna be that big. Uh-huh. And then they were everywhere, and I remember- License plate frames?
The frame- Okay ... and the actual plates, like the, you know, they're not a fake plate, but it's like a vanity plate thing that would just say Hoonigan that you... And people would just [00:12:00] run- Yeah ... those on their- Yeah ... their cars. Yeah, yeah. And the, when we made them, the intention- Yeah ... of it was like, if you go to a car show, if you go to the track, like, you don't want your real plate on your car for whatever reason.
Yeah. Yeah. You want people to know who you are or where you are. And then it just became things that- All the takeover kids. Yeah. Yeah. And all of my friends who are, like, in the sheriff's department are like, "Dude, you know how many fucking cars we pull over that, like, are running Hoonigan plates?" And we have to explain to them, like, "This is not a license plate.
You are not allowed to run this on your car." So. Yeah, and, and Flock's AI knows the type of car that it takes a picture of. Yep. So, like, every t- time a Hoonigan plate drives by- Yeah, yeah ... a Flock camera, it's like, oh, the cold plated car. Yeah. Th- this is actually good for me to know, 'cause I- Yeah ... drive my, like, 911 around that still has Hoonigan stickers on it, 'cause it was the original RWB Hoonigan car, and now I'm probably gonna be- Oh
they're gonna be like, "This guy." Yeah, no, there are cops that don't care and don't know anything about cars and car culture that now associate that sticker with hood rat people. Oh, boy. Yeah. What happened to the brand? Yeah. What are, what are your thoughts on Flock? This is obviously a, a big topic these days.
Okay, so I can [00:13:00] totally understand, um, where the, the general popu- the, the people are coming from. Yep. It's like, it's not chill, the surveillance and stuff like that. But- If people just like looked at how Flock is being used, um, obviously there's, there's always gonna be cops that abuse it, right? Yeah.
There's like 20 people that now got arrested for, you know, stalking- Mm-hmm ... their girlfriends. But if you actually saw that, like, how Flock was being used properly, it works. Like so many bad guys get caught and they would be let free, like people are stealing cars- Mm-hmm ... or like stealing catalytic converters, r- robbing people, burglarizing homes.
Like so many people would not be caught if it weren't for Flock. Right. And like it is such an incredible tool. Um, but I can totally understand like just- Yeah ... having that out there Giving up, giving up freedom for safety thing. Yeah, 'cause it's, it's incredible. Like it, it works so damn well. Like somebody just, 459, somebody just, uh, burglarizes a house and somebody has a plate, bang, it's in, it's in every cop's [00:14:00] Flock app hit list and like we'll get notifications within- the first flock camera hit.
And there's like, I mean, here there aren't that many flock cameras, but in the Bay Area they're like everywhere. Yeah. So like you cannot avoid a flock camera. And they'll, they'll pick up like, they're really good about it, like they'll pick up like all sorts of, you know, not just California plates. Like if, if, even if you have like a license plate cover on it- Mm-hmm
like, they'll, they'll pick it up. Hmm. Um. So l- l- let's jump into this, 'cause y- this is like a whole new chapter of yours, of your story. Yeah, yeah. Which is like you deci- I, I, I'm trying to understand kind of where, h- how did this come about? And, and, and explain for people who don't know, like what you've been doing recently.
'Cause I, I know about it 'cause we actually have a mutual friend, Eddie at Calabasas Porsche. He's a long old time friend of mine from- Yeah ... um, from Queens. Oh, Eddie. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Mon- we, I call him Mongo, by the way. Mongo. That's his nickname, but like I grew up- Okay, I'ma call him Mongo next time
yeah, you call him Mongo. But, uh, shout out to Mongo. Yeah. But, uh, but I went [00:15:00] there, I don't know, it was almost like a year ago, and your, you know, your GT3 was there with all the cop lights and everything in it. Yeah, yeah. I was like, "Oh, have you seen, you know, Alex's car?" And I was like, I was like, "What are, what are you doing with this?"
And then obviously I started seeing all the content that you're putting out. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So, um, and we were talking about this before, it's like, it's kind of like a modern day like Ouija or like, you know who that is, the photographer from New York? Mm-hmm. He would phot- he would photograph crime scenes.
Okay. So he was like kinda this guy who would show up and be like the first person on the scene- Mm-hmm ... and photograph crime scenes. And that kind of, I think, was a little bit of an inspiration behind the movie Nightcrawler. Mm-hmm. Do you familiar with that? Yeah, I've seen it. Yeah, yeah. So what made you shift to this?
So- 'Cause this is such a different kind of story for you now. Um, I've been doing that stuff as like a hobby since I got my driver's license, so 2016. Okay. And right around that time a sh- a Netflix show came out called Shot in the Dark. Mm-hmm. And it's a Netflix show about all the people that, you know, do that, [00:16:00] but sell it to the news.
Mm-hmm. And like, I was like, "Oh my gosh, these people are so amazing and so cool." So like I went out and like introduced myself and met all of them, and then one of them kinda introduced me to like how to figure all this stuff out and what to do. And then, then I got like so fascinated that I even like went out and...
Like everyone for some reason, like you don't have to, but everyone drives a cop car, like an off d- like a, you know, civilian- Mm ... but like an old cop car. Right, right. Like, people drive Crown Vics, Ford Explorers, Dodge Chargers. Mm-hmm. So I went out and bought a, like a brand new, uh, Chevy Caprice. Do you know what that is?
Mm-hmm, of course. 2014 Chevy Caprice with like s- the, the LS- SS, yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And then like I kitted it out, but then for like all my life- I would run all those calls and, like, go and, like, see all these pursuits, um, but I would never want to post it on my social media 'cause I'm like, "I'm a car person.
Like, this has nothing to do with what I do." Mm-hmm. And, you know, I don't want people to think I'm just, like, being a completely [00:17:00] nosy person and going on all these, you know, calls and, like, posting this stuff. So I never posted it on my Instagram or on my social media. Um, but I made a burner account, and I posted some of, like, the craziest clips- Mm
that I filmed back in the day. And, like, that burner account got way more views- ... than my own Instagram. And, like, n- still to this day, nobody knows, you know, who that account- Right ... belongs to, and I'm not even gonna drop the username. But- But... And I was like, you know, views equals money, and, like, what, what if, like, you know, I shift my...
Like, cars are great, right? But then I also... You know, when I was much younger, I, I thought cars were the world, and, like, the 1% of the population that's into cars, like, I thought that was, like, 90% of the population 'cause it was just the world I was surrounding myself in, right? Mm-hmm. And then I realized, like, you know, there's a lot of pe- 1% of the world is still a lot of people, right?
And there's still, th- there's a lot of people that cares about cars, but the entire world cares about police chases and, like, drama and shit happening. Like, [00:18:00] it, there's a reason why if there's a car accident on the freeway And all that traffic backing up is not because of there's one less lane. It's all because of people stopping to, like, break their necks and look at the cars and- They call it rubbernecking for a reason.
Yeah. E- e- exactly. And so I got mon- I got a monetization deal with Snapchat, and I got more views, um, posting police chases and, like, drunk people crashing their cars. Um, yeah, I got more views posting that stuff than, like, I could have ever imagined in my entire life, and more money, um, as a result of that.
And so I was like, "You know what? I'm just gonna not..." Like, I, I s- also started to, like, hate cars a little bit because I started to, like, I had to monetize it in one way or the other. Mm. And then, like, cars became sort of a job. You're probably very familiar with this. I know it very well. Yeah. Exactly. So, like, had no motivation to do car stuff, no motivation to go to car shows.
Like, i- i- if I had to, if I did s- car activities, it was a chore because I had to, like, work and film it while everyone else is having fun. Yep. So [00:19:00] that, I brought that back to my life, which is, like, amazing, 'cause now I do a lot of, like, car stuff and track days and, you know, all sorts of car activities, and I don't film it, and I'm actually enjoying life.
Mm-hmm. Um, and then, um, being, uh, while I'm monetizing all the, you know, police chases and... So I actually took all the proper steps and then, like, even got a, you know, police department credential to, like, be a f- press photographer. Mm. And, like, went through all the tests and whatnot, and all the processes to be able to, like, you know.
I mean, the Constitution protects everyone to be part of the press, but, like, there are still things you can do to be more legit, I think. Yep. And, like, special plates you can get for your car if you're, like, a recognized press photographer. So I, you know, I did all that, and then, um, yeah, now that's, like, all I do, and, like, it, it doesn't get me in trouble.
Yep. Um- That's good. Yeah. Like, you know, I don't, I don't have to post cars stuff. You're less controver- you're less controversial now. Yeah. E- exactly. Yeah. Right. And, um, you know, the amount of views that I got doing social media for [00:20:00] cars in 10 years, um, I got in, like, one month. Wow. Um, so it was incredible.
And you're not having to constantly buy new supercars to achieve that. Yeah, exactly. And now I can, like- W- I- if people followed me for a long time, they'll notice that, like, all my cars went from, like, this, like, flashy wrap and, like, all sorts of weird, crazy wraps to, like, now every car I have is black. Yep.
And now I can actually enjoy them how I personally want them to be. Mm-hmm. Not, like, have to, "Oh my gosh, I'm gonna wrap my car in pink 'cause I think that'll get more views." Yeah. You know? Like, now I can actually just enjoy my car, and, like, um, I don't ever, like ... Half the cars, like, I don't even post even. I just enjoy them by myself.
Um. Yeah, I fully understand the, um, like how it becomes a job and it ruins it. The f- the ... I think, like, four of the best months of my life of being a car enthusiast in the past, whatever, decade was right when I quit Hoonigan. I was, like, doing track days. I was going to [00:21:00] events again because it ... And I, I went and I worked outside the industry for a year.
So I went and worked at a animation company, so I was completely gone from car stuff. And all of the sudden, when the weekend rolled around, I wanted to go do car stuff, right? Like, I wanted to go to my local Cars and Coffee to go catch up with some friends, to go do a day at Willow Springs. And all of a sudden, I'm
I was doing all the stuff that everyone would say, you know, like, "Oh, why don't you go do more of this?" And it's like, because when the weekend comes, like, I just wanna, like, just remove myself from this 'cause it's all business. When I'm there, it's business. The people I'm talking to, it's business. And now it's like, oh yeah, I, I don't have anything you want anymore- Yeah
or anything that I want from you. Yeah. So now we just hang out and talk. Yeah. And, and like that- Talk shit, yeah ... yeah, it's, it's a lot better. So, um, I definitely, uh, I definitely know that. Um- It was, like, the most relieving feeling, and also, like, um, I used to make a lot of content with car rallies, and I, I don't even know why people make content with car rallies.
It's ... Nothing happens, but- Yeah ... um, yeah, every car rally was, like, something I dreaded. Like, it was a final in high school coming [00:22:00] up. Hm. Like, crap, I have to, like, have all this camera ready and- Yeah. I mean, you're wearing a- ... like something needs to happen ... you're wearing a Gold Rush hat right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, yeah. Yeah. But now it's, like, something I look forward to for the first time in my life. Hm. So yeah, no, it ... I, we can relate to that so hard. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and, and, like, now, like, this Gold Rush Rally is, like, a, my, my vacation once a year, you know? Mm-hmm. Um, and I actually enjoy it, and, like, I have so much fun.
I put a couple Instagram stories up, but, um- But it feels more like you're an, you're an enthusiast- Exactly ... instead of a business person there. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. You still have a pretty decent car collection? What do you, what do you have these days? Yeah, I've never sold anything. Okay. So everything, everything I've ever posted.
What do you, what do you have? How many cars do you have? I have a lot of, like, junk cars, but, um- Oh, j- you're speaking to the junk car king I think I probably have junkier cars than you, but ... Ah. I, it's, I have, like, my Tesla, and then my Fiat, and then I have my GT3, which I use every day. Um, my Caprice I still have.
[00:23:00] Oh, I just got a P1, which is, like, childhood dream come true, happiest- Hm ... day of my life. Um- I still have my Huracán. My M2 I still have My 720 I still have. Uh, um, I think that's... No, I have my I think that's it. I have my RS6 still
I think that's all, like, the nice cars I have, and then everything else is, like, I have a billion, like, minivans and, like, just crap Oh, what's your favorite minivan? This is this is, this is my kind of conversation. Most favorite nice minivan is probably- Any minivan ... like, the, the, the Pacifica with the vacuum cleaner in the back.
Ah. It's, like, the greatest invention ever. Pacifica- Yeah, yeah ... with the vacuum cleaner is pretty great. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Having a b- built-in vac... Every car should have a vac. I, if I can- Yeah ... build, put a built-in vacuum cleaner in my GT3, I would. Doesn't the Toyota Sienna also offer a vacuum cleaner now? Do they now?
I think so, yeah. Y- well, then, yeah. Sung Kang is a- Yeah ... big Toyota Sienna guy. I've seen those clips. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's, he's told me a lot about the vacuum. Yeah. I mean, I'm pretty sure they have vacuum cleaners now too. [00:24:00] Um, I bought a, like, a '90, 2001, uh, Dodge Caravan, which is also the car I grew up in.
It was, like, my childhood car. What year? You said nine- 2001, 2000. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I chopped the roof off of it and had the- ... two rear seats, like, face each other. Yeah. And it was, like, the most fun I've ever had with my friends- That's awesome ... driving around. Um, I have... Oh, I have my Miata, which is, like- Honestly, the greatest car ever made.
Um, I loved just hauling in that car in the canyons and, like, the car, the, the maintenance on that car to me is, like, is, like, free. Mm-hmm. It's like $30 for brake pads. Mm-hmm. Frigging $40 to change the oil, like, every 10,000 miles if that. Like, um, so I just love knowing that, like, I can, like, at my financial standpoint, I can
If I crash this $4,000 car that I only have liability insurance on- Mm-hmm ... like, I'm not, it's not the end of the world. Yep. And just having that feeling. That's also, like, why rental [00:25:00] cars are so fun, right? Of course. Like, who, who cares, it's a rental car. Yeah. But, like, als- having that own, having your own rental car experience where it's, like, a car that's fast and fun- Yeah
and you don't care about, it's, like, so enjoyable and, like, top tier- Yeah ... male human experience versus, like, driving a P1 around. I'm like, "Holy shit, I can't put miles on this thing." Not put miles or- Yeah ... if something breaks, it's kind of terrifying around it. Yeah. And there's, like, the anxiety of it or if you have to go somewhere and you don't know if there's gonna be, like, parking.
Yeah. And you're like, "Oh," like the other day I had to go up to Culver City for something and my buddy Vinnie was like, "Oh, let's take the Ferraris." I was like, "Dude, you know what parking's like there?" Yeah. And I was like, "I, someone's gonna back into it. Like, I don't wanna deal with that," and just worried about it the whole time.
Where it's like you just take, like, a normal car and you're like, "Ah, whatever." Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's a freedom. Yeah. There's definitely a freedom in that. My thing is, is there's two different types of cars I have, cars that I, if they break down, I'm willing to leave them there and come back the next day- Yeah.
Yeah ... and not be too worried about it. Yeah. And cars that I have to sit there and wait- Yeah ... like, to figure out how to get it off the road- Yeah ... because I'm afraid of leaving it there, you [00:26:00] know? Yeah. Kind of thing. No. So. It, it, yeah, it ... That's so funny. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, there's just certain stuff where you're like, "Oh, fuck.
I can't, I gotta wait for this thing now," so. Um, we're gonna take a quick break. Exactly. We'll come right back. Cool. So Nick, you see, uh, I bought a new car. I did. Outside, looks a little bit modern for you. I, I was really trying to stay true and, like, just drive old cars and, and be in it. The AC died in the van.
The RS2's, like, a little problematic, and then I got a flat the other day, so I bought a new car. New? It's 13 years old, dude. Yeah, but, like, for me, it is definitely youngest by miles. It's got only 28,000 on the clock. But it's you, so there's a catch. What's the catch? Yeah, so I got it thinking, "This thing's gonna be perfect.
There's nothing to fix. No reason to go to FCP Euro and order some parts," but I got inside and it smells like it has 100,000 hours of cigar smoke in it. Rough. So obviously it needs to go get detailed and cleaned, and if you know anything about doing this, if you [00:27:00] don't replace your cabin air filter, it doesn't really matter 'cause you blow all of that horrible smell back into the car.
So I went to FCP Euro, got myself a new cabin air filter, and of course, on the way to the cart, like, might have clicked in a few other Liqui Moly fluids. It was weird for me though, I got to admit. Like, I'm used to having this, like, really long, like, multi-page cart of all the parts I need. Which reminds me of that other Audi that I bought a few months ago, which honestly needs all the parts.
Hmm, maybe I should head back to FCP Euro and order some of those. So if you've got a thing for questionably reliable old or new cars, uh, check out FCPeuro.com and they will keep your machine on the road. All right, can you w- I, I need you to walk me through, like, what a day or a night is like, sort of you know, chasing kind of these police moments and everything.
Like, like h- like what technology do you have? Like, how do you f- I'm, I'm assuming police scanners, all these things, but h- how, how do you... 'Cause it, I've watched a lot of the [00:28:00] videos that you've created, and it's like how are you there? How did you get there before the cops got there or did this? Like, like what is it that you're, you know, h- what does it look like for you?
Walk me through that. Well, first of all, scanners. Mm-hmm. There's a lot of apps, and I made a lot of connections. That's, I think, the most important part- Mm ... is like when a 911 call gets broadcasted, it's not just the cops that hear it. There's a whole economy that shifts towards that night. Hmm. Like, fire department goes, the tow truck drivers go.
Right. Um, all the media people go, and there are so many people that listen to 911 calls or, like, the scanners at night. Um, and by building a... I, I have, like, probably, like, 50 people that I know that I, like, run into on a nightly- Mm ... basis in different parts of LA, like, whether it's police officers all the way to, like, gang members.
Hmm. Um, I'm friends with whoever... Not friends, but, like, a- Acquaintances ... aqu- acquaintances with. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, whoever, and I have no enemies, besides a couple actually. Um. Um, and [00:29:00] having those connections, like, people will always... Or I could hit somebody up. Like, if I know someone's gonna be in, like, Wilshire Division, like, I, I know that's somebody, I know somebody from there, and they're gonna be there within two minutes, and I can...
And if I'm in, like, Southeast Division, then I, like, I can call them and be like, "Hey," like, "What's going on over there? Is this worth me driving 20 minutes over to?" And that is the most valuable thing, I think, that I've built to- Hmm ... like, be able to filter. 'Cause, like, by 6:00 AM, there's, like, the incident number for LAPD goes up to, like, 1,000.
So that means there's 1,000 911 calls, and, um, so then there's CHP, and there's LAC Fire, and there's sheriff. So, like, there are so many 911 calls that get generated in one night, and having those connections to, like, um, people and, you know, having eyes everywhere is, like, the most valuable thing for me to be able to, um, like, filter out these calls and, like, actually go to what's, like, funny.
Mm-hmm. Um, people love watching drunk [00:30:00] people do stupid shit. Do drunk things. Yeah, just do drunk things. Um, one, um, I would never drink and drive, and I actually had a friend that die 'cause of a drunk driver. So I have n- zero mercy for drunk drivers. And- Yeah ... and, like, I even tell my friends, "Hey, if I ever catch you drunk driving and you crash and you come out over a 911 call, I'm gonna film your ass and post it."
And, like, not only am I making just a nice example out of these people, the sad part is LAPD doesn't care. I, I don't wanna say that, but, like- It's not a high priority ... it's not a high priority for them to arrest drunk drivers, so a lot of drunk drivers get let go, um- Mm ... and they don't, they just get an Uber home, officer shows up, you know, suspects GOA, whatever, they tow the car and they come get it from the impound lot the next day.
That's- Right. So you're saying they've crashed and they've left the scene- Yeah ... and just left the car there? I don't wanna give the public too much, like, information on how to get away from DUI, 'cause if you drunk- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... drunk drive a car, like, there's for sure ways to get away from it, um, knowing what I know.
But it's, it's [00:31:00] all because of the system. And LAPD, CHP not so much, but LAPD And if s- if someone matters is watching this, like, I hope you change something because it's a big issue in my opinion. And LAPD, th- it, they make it so hard for officers to write up a DUI. Mm-hmm. And it doesn't benefit them at all.
Um, it doesn't... It, it, it... Unless you're trying to make traffic division, like, it doesn't, or trying to promote and you wanna rack up your DUI numbers, like, it doesn't benefit them, and it takes them, like, six hours sometimes if they don't know what they're doing. If they're... If, if it's, like, their first 10 DUIs, like, it takes them lit- literally six hours of their entire shift to book one DUI.
So, and so most... So there's two watches for LAPD. There's 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM- Mm-hmm ... plus or minus an hour, depending on division, and then there's 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM, um, for watch three, sort of night shift, graveyard shift. When are most people drunk driving? At 2:00 in the morning. That's the end of watch three shift, at the graveyard [00:32:00] shift.
Right. Nobody's g- they have... These people have families. They have kids to go home to. Mm-hmm. They have... And they're working 12-hour shifts. They're not gonna show up to a crash at 2:00 in the morning- Mm-hmm ... and sign up to do a six-hour DUI process and go home, and then have to show up to work in t- after three hours of sleep.
Yeah. When we were kids, we used to street race around shift change, and we had an enti- w- when I, I grew up in New York City, and we would street race in Queens. Yeah. And then we would jump the border to Brooklyn when the cops would kick us out of Queens, and we'd go back and forth. And we basically had it all timed so that it was happening around shift change because we knew that the cops would flip the lights on, we would leave, but they wouldn't r- ticket any of us because that's not what they...
They were, like, all going home in the next 15 minutes, and they didn't wanna deal with waiting for- No ... impound or any of that. So- Yeah, exactly ... and it's basically the reason that we got to street race every weekend, you know? So- Yeah ... it was all because it was, it happened at shift change. I mean, you might get unlucky and get a mid-watch- Oh, it happens
like, a swing shift person- It happens. It happens ... yeah, that just got on shift- It happens, yeah ... and like, "Yo, I'ma book your ass," but- Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I mean, CHP's a lot easier. Their processes [00:33:00] is, is a lot more streamlined for DUIs, so they'll take, like, they'll take two... Like, taking two DUIs in one shift is crazy to LAPD.
Hmm. Like, that's a, that's unheard of. It's kind of alarming to hear that, to be honest. I mean, they'll do... Yeah, it's sad. It's very sad, and, like, most... From what I see, all the- Yeah ... gnarly car accidents that I see on the freeway, like, I- Yeah ... the f- people crash, CHP comes, shuts the freeway down. I swing their door open, and they're drunk.
They're hammered. Yeah. And, like, it's really sad, and a lot of people are dying 'cause of- Yeah ... drunk drivers. And, and, uh, no cop wants to deal with it- Yeah ... ever, unless someone crashes, and then, then they have to deal with it. But then... Or even if somebody crashes, if there's no injuries, they don't have to deal with it.
Yeah. It's, it's exchange your information to whoever properties you damaged and go home, you know? You brought up, when you started talking about this, you brought up that, you know, you don't mind sort of shaming these people. Do you get feedback from people who are annoyed that you're shaming these people?
100%. Oh, interesting. And you, I cannot believe how many people try to protect drunk drivers. Hmm. And I cannot believe the amount of [00:34:00] jokes- That are, I mean, I'm pr- I have thick skin, I can take a lot of jokes, but, like, people joke and, like, think it's so funny to go drunk drive. And, like, there are a lot of memes.
I mean, some of them are hilarious, but there's, like, even a lot of- Yeah ... memes on Instagram like, "Oh, I'm gonna-" Yeah, yeah, yeah ... pr- pr- like, take nine, 10 shots and, like, I'm ready to go fucking race. Yeah. You know? And, um, you know, and people think it's funny and it's like, I mean, hey man, if you wanna deal with it, like, it ultimately it's gonna cost you, like, $40,000 in just- Yeah
insurance and lawyers and whatever and, um- I have never had more than a drink and drove a car because cars were always such an important part of my life. Mm-hmm. That the idea of losing my license was, like, just something I wasn't willing to, to do. Yeah. And by the time I was 24, I was a magazine journalist- Yeah
and was told that, like, "If you get a DUI- Yeah ... like, automakers will not let you drive press cars." So, like- Uh-huh ... it literally got to a point where it's like, if you get a DUI as an automotive journalist, your career is over. So it's like, like, like pe- I, I can understand not getting [00:35:00] press cars, but man, if you crash and if you, if you get a DUI, I, there's, like, people with DU- getting DUIs with, like, eight prior DUIs.
Like, and they still- Yeah ... have a valid license. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm saying, like, for- Yeah ... a lot of people, but, like, in the automotive world it was like, yeah, you do that, like, you know, you're not getting in- invited to the next Porsche launch 'cause, like, they're gonna get told. 'Cause they all have, you know, they have all your driver information and that stuff.
And that was enough for me when I was younger to be like- Mm ... "Yeah, I'm just not gonna do that." Like, you know. But, like, it is crazy. Mm. People are very open about just, like, drinking and driving and- And they, yeah, they think it's hilarious and funny. Yeah. Um, I mean, I- some of the jokes are funny. I'll g- I'll give them the jokes, but, like, it's- It, it, I honestly, I blame the system.
I blame, like, whoever the hell wrote up the whole DUI process. I'm sure it's a lot of, like, legalities and, you know, I'm sure in, in the, in the '30s it wasn't as complicated. Mm-hmm. But, um, yeah, it's just so impossible for a cop to write. Like, LAPD officer, don't know about sheriffs, but LAPD, it's... They're not gonna...
Like, sadly, like, you know, you crash your car at [00:36:00] 4:00 AM, like, and nobody's injured, um, it'll come out as a non-high priority call, like a code two non-priority call. Yeah. And, like, nobody's gonna buy it. Nobody's gonna show up for an hour, and if they do show up, they're gonna hope that, you know, Father Time took care of the call.
It's... Father Time is a, is a actual terminology, a slang phrase cops use is like, "Oh, call comes out, I'll just let Father Time handle it." So they'll, they'll let Father Time handle it, and then, um, hope that, like, one of the bandit tow drivers- Yeah ... like, took the car and, like, this guy went an Uber home. I think the other day you posted one where it was, like, a Mercedes went underneath another car.
Uh-huh. That... Does that sound familiar? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And, like, the, they, like, the people who were in the car, like, thought it was funny. Like, you could- Yeah ... see they were, like- Yeah ... laughing about it. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, that was a wild accident. I mean, nobody was hurt and you- Yeah ... you can joke about it, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But- Yeah ... yeah. Yeah, but they, they... I... That guy looked like he consented to get in this car, his car, even though he was, you know, taking ketamine, so. Yeah, yeah. You know, like- Yeah ... 'cause he w- it was the passenger who was talking about what the driver was doing, right, at that point, I think.[00:37:00]
I forget. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. Yeah. It, it was, it was, uh, it was interesting, an interesting thing to watch. And I was like, "Yeah, that's crazy," like, to also, like, sort of, like, get out of the car and then self-snitch on yourself about what you just did on camera. Actually, this morning, it was crazy, like, this girl crashed her Tesla into, like, four parked cars, and then, like, 10 911 calls came out.
But I show up, and it's noth- nobody but the girl. And I'm like, "Who called 911?" And she's like, "I did." And she's, like, hammered and plastered. And I'm like, "Why are you calling 911?" She's like, "'Cause I crashed into s-" I'm like, "Oh, it's very responsible of you, but, like-" Yeah, you're gonna be in trouble now. Yeah, yeah.
And then, like, I, it was, like, 4:00 in the morning, and nobody showed up, and it timed out. Like, time out means, like, nobody showed up. Yeah. And, like, no LAPD officers wanted to buy the call. How often does that happen? Like, it- That you show time outs just all the time? DUI crashes, nobody's injured, LAPD ain't doing shit.
Hmm. Unless a, a T unit, a traffic unit- [00:38:00] Shows, I mean, like it, it, there will be officers that love taking deuces- Yeah ... deuces DUIs. There's a, a lot of officers that take, love taking deuces and like enjoy it. Gr- good, amazing for them. Um, but 99% chance you crash a car in LAPD jurisdiction, um, where LAPD has to handle that area's call, and then they'll...
Yeah, I mean, th- they won't, they're not gonna show up for minimum 30 minutes and then, um, up to three hours. I mean, I've seen DUI calls time out for like five hours sometimes. Hmm. I'll, I'll be going home at like 7:00 in the morning, and then the, the operator will say like, "Hey, is anyone gonna take care of this DUI crash timed out by five hours?"
And I'm like, "Holy crap." Like, nobody's there anymore. It's five hours old So this brings up a good point. I imagine most of this is nighttime. Like, that's the more exciting stuff for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So y- you kind of live a weird life now, huh? Yeah. Like, where you're up all [00:39:00] night and sleep day. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when you told me to come down here at 10:00 AM, I'm like, "No chance." Not happening. So like, you just- Yeah ... woke up and came here. Yeah, I had- Had to get breakfast on the way here ... I, I, I had something due at, like, 2:00 PM. So, so yeah, like, I, I woke up at like- Yeah ... 1:00, and that's pretty early for me.
So outside of the DUIs, what's sort of the other sort of exciting stuff? Police chases. Yeah. Yeah. That, that's the part that I think sounds the most interesting. I love watching police chases. Yeah. Like, it's, it's dangerous to the public, and, um, but, like, luckily, like, at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, like, nobody's really out.
Mm-hmm. Um, and if a police chase lasts for more than, like, 30 or 40 minutes, it's typically a person that's, like, a car enthusiast. Oh, okay. Or like, likes cars. If people panic, like, and they don't have, like, driving, fast driving experience, like, most pursuits, 99% of pursuits, people either just flip out within the first minute or, like, crash.
Mm-hmm. 'Cause they just panic and they don't have... They've never driven a car fast like that. Mm-hmm. But, um, [00:40:00] like last week there was a, um, a Civic Type R. I posted this. One of my most viral videos now, but a Civic Type R was waiting underneath the bridge, um, and these two dudes in a stolen Chevy SS came while they were being chased and hopped in a dude's, another stolen Civic Type R.
And Type Rs, as you know, are all manual. Mm-hmm. And, like, I knew right then and there this is a car guy, and this guy's either gonna get away, they're gonna s- spike him. Mm-hmm. The only chan- only way this guy's gonna get caught is they're gonna spike him. Mm. Um, otherwise they're, he's just gonna drive all frigging night, and, like, somebody's gonna give up or, or he's just gonna get away.
Mm. And, and yeah, so, um, when a car guy gets into a police chase, like, I can kinda tell just by, like, listening to the radio and the type of car they're in. And, uh, yeah, they're, they're really good at running. I, I always am surprised 'cause you'll, like, watch, you know, especially, like, the helicopter chase ones, and I'm sitting there, and they're like, "He's speeding."
I'm like, "He's doing 90 miles an hour." Like, that's like what [00:41:00] I do every day on the 405 with traffic. Like, it's not even going that fast. Yeah. And then occasionally you'll see the one and it's like, "This car's doing 150 miles an hour." Yeah. And it's like- Yeah ... the cops ain't catching him. Like, this dude- And the helicopter can't keep up, yeah
this dude, yeah, and they're, he's just sw- completely caught in traffic, and you're like- Yeah ... yeah, this, they're not, they're not gonna catch him. No, yeah, yeah. So. Yeah. Do the cops stand down here when it gets too fast? I, I don't really know the laws in LA. So it depends on, like, it's policy. Okay. Um, like LAPD's a lot more, they have a lot more pursuit policies that people have to abide by.
Mm-hmm. They're also cutting down on pursuits. Like, um, they used to be a lot easier with DUI suspects. Like, if someone's wanted for DUI- Right ... like they're swerving all over the road, that was typically a good chase and not anymore. Mm-hmm. Like, if you're drunk driving and... or if a officer can articulate that this person is possibly drunk driving, um, like that's not enough to keep- Sure
having to chase somebody. Right. Um- So it has to be like a violent crime- Yeah ... for them. I... There... Just the other day there was a, um, [00:42:00] Cybertruck wanted for a shooting. Yeah. Yeah. Is that the one that got split in half? Is that the... Is it that one? No, no, no. Oh, okay. No, no, no. There was a Cybertruck, and the air unit observed, uh, this guy shooting at other cars on the freeway, and the watch commander in Van Nuys just told everyone to cancel it.
Like, I don't know why. I actually, I actually wanna meet that guy and ask him, "Hey, I wanna know your logic," because, I mean, not only did it piss me off, it pissed a lot of people off. The air unit- Yeah ... got pissed off and like started arguing with the watch commander, but- Yeah ... like- Did you put this on- Yeah.
I, I saw this. Yeah. Because you hear the con- where they keep asking, and he keeps repeating, like, to shut it down. Yeah. So yeah, yeah. Yeah. I saw this. Um, and I, I, I genuinely... Like, I've... The only thing I know about this watch commander is that, is that he's new to the Van Nuys area, and he j- he's like just a fresh watch...
like a probational- Yeah ... watch commander. Like, he's a fresh watch commander, um, or fresh lieutenant. But, uh, yeah, I, like, I want... Like, I think I tried to, like, ask one of my buddies in Van Nuys to, like, see if I can, like, get ahold of him because I wanted, before I post a video, like, [00:43:00] "Is there anything I should know on why you canceled this?"
Um- Mm-hmm. 'Cause that was crazy. Like, that never happens. If an air unit says this guy's shooting at people, like they will chase this guy until the wheels fall off- Mm-hmm ... or until they lose him. Um, if it's like a stolen car or whatever- Yeah ... they'll, they might- You could tell that the officers in pursuit were not wanting to shut down.
They're like, "We have CHP support," and they're like- Yeah, that was the air unit ... yeah, yeah. Yeah, and e- even the air unit was shocked, and then he was like, "Forget it. I'm just gonna take over at CHP"- Yeah ... um, 'cause he was right behind. But I mean- Yeah. Yeah. It was, it's, and it's, it's- How many chases have you sort of, y- you know, have you been involved in, followed?
Like, what's- Over the last 10 years, thousands. Really? Yeah, thousands. Um, probably between, anywhere between 1,000 to 2,000. And when did you shift your content to talk more about this? Just in the past year or so? End of 2024. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause I was like, "This works." And when I post it on Snapchat- Yeah
um, I was like, "This content works." And when I post about, like, I see every [00:44:00] Snap stories analytics. Yeah. When I post about car content, like, everybody swipes out. Right. And then when I post police chases, like, my average of retention for, like, stories, um, was, like, five minutes, and I would tell people that and, like, they were, like, blown away.
Yeah. Because, like, the next best content creator on Snapchat was doing, like, one minute in retention- Yeah ... on Snapchat. And, like, I was getting, like, people were actually sitting there watching all 100 of my stories. Um, it was incredible. Do you go solo, or do you bring camera ops with you, or is it just you?
I bring a lot of friends with me. Okay. Yeah, but a lot of the stuff I just film off my phone. Yeah. Yeah. I, um- I was gonna say, that, that, is it mostly phone or do you have other gear? Yeah, I used to bring my camera and then I just, I realized, like, I started losing a lot of shots, like fumbling with my FX3, and I'm like, like, the car would go, go by and I would just, like, not pa- This Sony wouldn't turn on fast enough.
Yep. And, um, so I mean, the iPhone 17 you can just, I have this button programmed- Mm-hmm ... in my settings set. If I click it, it's recording now. So, um, [00:45:00] that I feel like helped me catch a lot of stuff that I wouldn't be able to catch with a camera. Sure, I'd, like, a camera, especially at low light at nighttime would be a much better, but, um, like, pursuits, they, they f- they fly past you on the freeway, um, so fast that, like, um, yeah, if I didn't have my phone.
So l- let's talk about the GT3 'cause you have built a vehicle now- Yeah, yeah ... that is fleet prepped. And you said a lot of the other people do it in sort of retired cop cars. Yeah. But you now- I have three cars. I have four cars that are purpose-built for this stuff. Okay. And the three cars I'm not gonna talk about, and they're, like, very civilian cars.
Right. Okay. Um, and nobody's gonna notice. Um, and I use those cars to, like, drive around a lot of, like, dangerous areas of LA. Mm-hmm. Um, so I don't wanna be, like, noticed. Yeah, that's fine. But, um, yeah, the GT3, that car I purely use for pursuits. Mm-hmm. So, like, if I know, if it's a weekend and there's a lot of takeovers, um, some Infiniti without a license plate's gonna run.
Yeah. Um- Or unfortunately a Hoonigan license plate. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. With the Hoonigan sticker on the back. C35s- Yeah, yeah ... with the Hoonigan [00:46:00] license plates. Somebody's gonna run, right? Damn it. And CHP will chase them. Um- That's why I love CHP. Uh, if somebody runs, that itself is a felony. Right. And now they're chasing somebody wanted for a felony.
Yeah. Um, versus LAPD, they have to go by what they're ch- they're wanted is... Their want is, like, what the original want is. Yeah. So, like, if the original want was, like, expired registration, forget it. You're not chasing that person. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, but that's why, that's why, like, CHP, if a l- if some- they'll pull somebody over for just not having a license plate, and if they run, that's a felony and they'll chase it.
Um, and, uh, so yeah, going back to what I was saying, I drive the GT3 if, like, I... it's a weekend, there's a lot of takeovers. Um, I w- I'm... I have a lot of friends that, like, go to takeovers. Or not friends, but, like, acquaintances that go. Acquaintances. Um- I like how you're like, "Gang members and takeover people, acquaintances."
Yeah. I have another funny story to tell, actually. We'll, we'll go back to that. Yeah. But, um, um, yeah, [00:47:00] I'll know if there's a lot of... there's gonna be a lot of takeovers or, or there used to be a street takeover task force- Mm ... a really big one in LA, and somebody ruined it, and now they're gone. Hm. Um, so that doesn't happen anymore in LA.
They still have it in the Bay Area, and they're really good about it in the Bay Area, but not in LA. So sadly, those guys are not out, but yeah, I'll... Like, if the weather's clear and I know there's gonna be a pursuit this day, like, I'll drive the GT3. And purely because, like, the brakes on that car are so... I m- on any sports car- Mm-hmm
is so good. Like, even, even if it's, like, a, like, a sports sedan, like a BMW M5- Mm-hmm ... like, those brakes are still not as good as GT3- Yeah ... stopping power, right? And the tires I have on that car are, like, way ri- way wider on the front than stock. I also put... took off the carbon ceramics, put steel rotors on so that they'd bite much faster, and those brakes on that car have [00:48:00] probably saved my life, like, multiple, multiple, multiple times.
Um- Yeah, that was gonna be my next question. Uh, you must have gotten into some really sketchy situations where you're sort of in the mix with the chase and stuff. Like, what... how, how do you deal with that? Well, if I'm in a car, I feel pretty invincible. I know that's pretty unhealthy, but, like, I feel pretty invincible in a car just 'cause I, I trust my driving abilities, um, and I can get away and, um, like, I know that, like...
I'm working on putting ballistic windows on my GT3, but, like, my doors are ballistic, so I... if I hide behind my door, like- Mm. I'm... If somebody shoots at me or... I can just get, you know, get down and then- Um, I also put ballistics- Well, I, by the way, I don't... I think you might be the only person in the world who has ballistic paneling in their GT3.
Most people are trying to remove weight. You're like, "We'll add Kevlar in." Well, the ballistic paneling, um, helped me a lot in filming, um, felony stops. Oh. So, like, at the end of a pursuit or if, like, if they start following a wanted vehicle- Yep ... they'll wait for all this backup to arrive, and they'll stop it once the backup arrives.
Um, and I don't wanna just stand... Like, this guy might just stop his [00:49:00] car and get out and spray, right? Of course, yeah. So being able to film, and I would, like, swing my door open and just, like, stick my phone above my door and, like, peek my head out like this, um, that's helped a lot to have that cover. Um That's 90% of the reason why I got ballistic doors.
Not I was worried about getting shot at, but- Yeah ... w- just worried about being in the line of fire of the bad guy, because I'm always behind the cops, right? It's bad guy, cop, then me. Yep. And so if the bad guy shoots, um, then it's me. If it goes pa- if it goes past the cops, then it's me. So having that cover was nice, and especially the, the, uh, GT3 doesn't have front engine, so, um, there's not really a cover in the front.
So, like, if I'm in my other cars, I can just run around the front- front or, like, hop out the passenger side and take cover behind the engine. But then- Yeah, you don't have that ... on the GT3 I... If I'm covering behind the front fender- Yeah, it's fuel cell, then you. Yeah. So the ballistic thing was, uh, ballistic doors was just peace of mind and, like, nice that I can cover behind something.
Yeah. Yeah. [00:50:00] Have you, like, has there been any moments that are, been, like, where you- Yeah ... got back in the car and you're like, "This is crazy. I don't know why I do this"? This morning, I actually- Really? This, this morning, I had... I've never feared for my life harder. And all, it, it was just a crackhead that chased me with, um, with a knife.
Hmm. But, like, I was unarmed, and I had a pepper spray on me, but pepper spray's not gonna do shit to a crackhead. No. Those guys are zombies at that point. They're gonna eat it. Yeah. And this guy, like, started charging at me like a fucking bull, like Usain Bolt on his full sprint, like, charging at me. And I- Was he a suspect involved in a call, or was he just coming at you random?
No, so I was filming a, another crackhead in the middle of the street, and this other crackhead with a knife comes in to- Crackheads united ... my line of fire, and then he's like, "Stop filming me." And I'm like, "I wasn't even filming you." And then just starts charging at me. Um, and I, I was with another live streamer on Kick.
Um, he was streaming on Kick and, like, he got the whole thing on stream. Mm. And I just put my camera down. I'm like, "Okay, my life's in danger." And then, man, I, like, [00:51:00] ran for my fucking life, and I was so, like, burnt after that run. Like, my chest was hurting and I was pale and my hands were shaking. Um, I literally thought I was gonna die, and then I called 911.
And then I was like, "Why am I even calling 911? Like, this guy's already gone." They're gonna time out. I have no, I have no faith in LAPD, right? So I called 911, they showed up. I'm like, "All right, guys, GOA." Then, like, we're good. Yeah. Like, the, like, not even worth taking a report. Um, LAPD, I feel like they're always trying to bring their crime stats down, so they'll, they'll not take a report.
Or if there's, if there's a felony, then, and there, there's a victim like myself, they'll call you five weeks later at 3:00 in the morning on a blocked number, and then they'll say, "Oh, nobody answered." Hmm. Um, joke's on you, I'm awake at 3:00 in the morning. But- ... uh, yeah, but they'll still call me with that unknown number, um, or they'll call anyone with an unknown number.
Um, and then they just, "Oh, there's no victim? All right, we're gonna toss this case." Do any of those incidents make you question continuing to do this, or is it part of the rush? [00:52:00] No. I was like, "Okay, well, now I'm, like..." I- I've been putting off getting my CCW, and I'm like, "Okay, now I need to work on it again."
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It's the system's. Yeah. It's what they have to do- Yeah ... that causes them to behave this way. Yeah, I, and a topic I wanna bring up, which is actually something that Chazzy mentioned to me, shout-out to- Oh ... Cha- Chaz Warren, and, um- Was he on here? Yeah, he came on. Oh, sick. Yeah, we did a, we did- Was that published?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, it came out like- Oh, I gotta watch it ... two weeks ago or something, or three weeks ago. It was me, him, and Ron Zaras. Um, and, uh, we actually did a show. It was called, uh, it was called Generational Conflict, 'cause, like, I'm Gen X- Mm ... Ron is Millennial, and he's Gen Z. Mm. So it was, like, three generations looking at car culture, like how- Okay
you know, what we think of takeovers, what we think of, like, you know, Burble Tunes, and, like, how each generation kind of, like, looks at it slightly different. But in the end, we all kind of had very similar thoughts about it all, you know? So he might like a lot more of the flash and bangs than we do, but it was all, it was all [00:55:00] pretty similar.
But I really love Chazzy. He's a, he's a, he's- Yeah ... he has just such a good energy. He's so excited about the culture, and, and he still doesn't seem too jaded, which is nice for- Yeah, I used to work with him ... a particular- Like, yeah ... I know, that's, that's what he had said. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So. And, um, yeah, no, he's always laughing and smiling.
Yeah, no, it's great. Yeah. But what he mentioned, which I thought was interesting, was he said, and I, and I don't know if you can talk about this, but he said that you've actually been working with, uh, whether it was LAPD or CHP, to help sort of define who the takeover people are and what the problem is there versus, like, the traditional car enthusiast.
Is that something that's true, something you can talk about? Um, if not, we can move on, but- It, so, and something I'm trying to help with CHP is, like, recruitment. Right. But I'm not trying to, like, differentiate, 'cause I've r- like, this is something I gave up on a long time ago, but, like, a, somebody that's out, assigned to go pulling people over that's, has to do with takeover activities- Yeah
he's never gonna learn the difference between, like, a Mark- Like the- ... a Mark IV Supra that's worth 300 grand- Right ... [00:56:00] versus, like, a clapped G35. Yeah. Like, he's not gonna know the difference, and he's not gonna care to learn the difference, and he's not gonna, like, he's, you know. The, like, state reffing and all those laws were, or 30-day impounds- Mm-hmm
all those laws were made for takeovers. I know. Yeah, the, purely for takeovers. And, um- It's nice knowing that a lot of my police officer friends, like we bond over cars, right? Yep. So a lot of my police officer friends are also car guys. Same here. And they know their stuff, and I, I have faith in them. But like this one time, like I did a ride-along with CHP, and, uh, one of the guys I was riding with had no knowledge about cars, or like very minimal.
Yeah. He wasn't a car guy. He just- Yeah ... he knew what he had to know about cars to do the job and that was it. And like we rolled up behind like a Skyline and a Mark 4 Supra and, and I think he, he mentioned something like, "Oh, look at these takeover cars. Like I'm gonna light one of them up." I'm like, "These guys are not takeover cars."
Yeah. "Like nobody, ain't nobody taking these cars to a takeover." He's like, [00:57:00] "Oh, really?" And then I, then I pull up a photo- They're counting the number of miles they're driving tonight- Yeah, yeah ... to keep the value of the cars up. Yeah, don't blame the cops. It's really the takeover kids. Yeah. Like, these laws exist- Oh, of course
because of the takeover kids, and, um, I mean, if I had state ref, I'll deal with it, whatever. Like, it, it's, it's part of, like, the process. I mean, it's, it's part of the crossfire, you know? Like- Yeah ... it's part of, part of the war. Yeah, I know. But- And I, you know, obviously when takeovers really started to kind of pop up before the pandemic, they got horrible during the pandemic.
It felt like that's where it really went to, like, a massive level for obvious reasons. Mm-hmm. City was empty. There wasn't much to do. Mm-hmm. Like, I understand both the draw of it and why it was happening. Mm-hmm. Um, but before that, like, Hoonigan was working with sheriff's department because sheriff's department sat there saying, you know, 20 years ago there was this thing called, um, the Brotherhood of Street Racers, right?
I'm not sure if you're familiar with it. Mm. But there was this guy named Big Willy, and he ran, uh, the Brotherhood of Street Racers, and they ended up working [00:58:00] with, uh, Long Beach, uh, San Pedro, the city of LA, bunch of different people to create an actual racetrack in Terminal Island. So they built, they built a racetrack down there to get this- There was a racetrack on- Yeah, in Terminal Island.
Yeah. It was called- No way ... and it was called Brother- How do you get there? It, it was called Brotherhood Raceway. How do you get there? You would... They just would go down into the ports, and there was entrances in- in from the port line off of there. So- Oh, wow ... so you would go down there, and they had- Wow ... and they would run races, like, Friday and Saturday night.
There's actually a fantastic podcast about this. I forget the name of it, but we'll throw it up on the screen. And, um, it was, uh, it was, you know, this really amazing thing that happened, and there was all of this, like, really interesting crime data which was that in the surrounding area, so Compton, Long Beach, uh, crime was going down on Friday and Saturday nights when they were holding races because it gave people something to go watch and go do, and it got heavily supported.
It ran for, I think, like, a decade and a half or so before it got shut down, and it was- [00:59:00] Why did it get shut down? Um, change in politicians and, you know, change in support in local government, and then there, like, wasn't funding for it anymore. And I think originally, don't quote me on this, but I think originally they had plans for the land, and then they didn't do anything with the land.
The land just sat there forever, right? And I think part of the land is actually still there. So I discovered this story in talking to a bunch of people locally, and I- Mm ... I, I went to sheriff's department. I had some friends over there. And I'm like, "How do we create this for, you know, for the current, you know, automotive community?
Like, how do we create a place where kids can go drive cars?" 'Cause we've lost all our racetracks, right? And, you know, maybe it's not a racetrack. Maybe it's this. And then we eventually end up doing the, the Burn Yard events out in Irwindale. So I'm not f- sure if you're familiar, but we did- Yeah ... we did the Burn Yard events- Yeah, yeah, yeah
out there, and the reality was, was, like, there, the takeover crowd wasn't really showing up to it. It was a car community crowd that was showing up to it. There were some takeover kids, but what the, what the department said- Was that it was really important because if we're [01:00:00] giving an alternative to go do it, it's actually easier to then crack down on takeovers because there's less backlash of like, of like- You're going after the wrong guys.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so we had started working with them a bit more and trying to figure out ways, and you know, and I, I said this to Chazy on, when he was on the pod. I was like, "Look, I'm, I'm too removed from them now, and I'm a much older, I don't have the same brand that I ... You know, the Hoonigan connection, I was speaking to an audience that was there, that I have that ability to move that forward.
But you do. And like, I think that, you know, and with him doing meets and all of that stuff, and the stuff that you've been doing, I think it becomes ... That the police department wants to figure out how to deal with this, at least from all the people I've spoken to in there. Because, like, they don't wanna deal with takeovers because they're like this weird powder keg.
Like, they don't wanna show up and throw the lights on and cause a riot and people get hurt. And but at the same time, all the neighbors are complaining about it. So instead, they just punish regular enthusiasts because then they get all the tickets, [01:01:00] and they get to go, "Hey, we wrote up 400 illegally modified cars," and those are cars that belong to people like me who've never been to a takeover.
So it's kind of this like weird thing. And, and anyway, Chazy was saying that you have been working with, you know, with people and sort of talking about the difference. But you feel like the department's never gonna really sort of understand the difference between a Skyline and a G35. I think there's creative, there's creative ways where I'm like, "Oh, I wish they did this.
I wish they did that." Yeah. And if ... I, I would love to be in a position of power one day, like when I'm older, so I can push for that and change, make some changes in the department. Mm-hmm. Don't know if I ever will be or if I'll ever qualify to be, but like I think there's a, there's a way for sure. There's a way.
Yeah. Right, right now- What are, what, what's your take on takeovers now? Oh. Like, where, how do you see them and their involvement in the community? They're all just like really young people that, like, they ... I don't think in their mind, like they're not ... In, in their minds, they're not out to do anything malicious.
Right. And they just want a, a rush. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm doing something illegal, and I'm just getting an adrenaline rush. Yeah. [01:02:00] Um, sadly, like there's a lot of ... I mean, if ... Like, I want pe- I want people to know that if you're going to a takeover One in five of those guys have a gun- Yes ... and they might shoot you.
This is what the sheriff's department told us. And you might get... Yeah, yeah. And, like, if you're a kid and you're, you're, you're in high school and you wanna go to a takeover, just know that the person standing next to you is armed and has multiple felonies. Yeah. And doesn't... No gun control, and there's one in the chamber, and if somebody pisses him off, like, he'll shoot you.
Yeah. Um, like every weekend- This is what our sheriff friend was telling us years ago. They said, "Every day we pull over take- cars from takeovers, and they all, everyone's got a gun on them." Yeah. Like, 'cause he, I said, I was like, "How much of this do you think is the car community?" And they're like- And I think the guy- No, like, it's not.
It's stolen cars ... I think those guys, I would, like, I'd say maybe about half are out there with that sort of, like, nefarious intent. Yeah. And a, a lot of them are also out there just wanting a show, just wanting some excitement. Yeah. Um, not realizing how terrible it is. Yeah. And, um, you know, and [01:03:00] if they're, you know, standing in a, in a, in a intersection with an AutoZone in the background, and that AutoZone gets 459-ed, then a AutoZone gets burglarized, then, you know, then, uh, they're part, they, they're like, "Oh, wow," like, "Look, everyone's doing this."
Like, then they have this pack mentality and, like, they start going stealing stuff from AutoZone just 'cause 300 other people are doing it. Yeah, mob, mob mentality kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And, like, I just don't think the, a, a lot of kids are there with malicious intent, which is sad. And, and I think they need to realize.
Yeah. And they'll learn, maybe the hard way or not, but the, the, like... Okay, I've seen some, like, 40-year-olds out there that are standing there, and I don't know what the fuck they're doing. Like, go get a life. But, um, yeah, but a lot of the kids. Yeah. I will admit I was one of those kids. Yeah. Yeah. I will- And w- and what attracted you to it?
It was just exciting, right? It's excitement. Yeah. I will admit, um, two months after I turned 18, I got arrested for being at a takeover. Yeah. For spectating a takeover. Um, [01:04:00] and that... I, I just freshly started my social media. Yeah. And there is people in the police department that their salary is to do nothing but scroll through social media.
They are p- like multiple, there's many people in the police department that are looking at your social media right now. Stop snitching on yourself. Yeah, yeah. And, uh, yeah, all they do, their job is to look at social media, right? And so they, they see people like me, and then they to- and that's back when the, the street racing task force- Mm-hmm
was out, and they put out a, like a be on the lookout for me and my car, and then, like- Mm ... they just saw me in a gas station, pulled me over, took my camera. Took the camera as evidence to n- and used that a... Um, ultimately, um, I, as a kid, I, you know, I wasn't there with malicious intent. Yeah. And I think one of the, the brass there, thank God, recognized that, and now him and I are very [01:05:00] close friends- That's good
that arrested me. And, like, h- his kid and I are close friends, too. Yeah. Um, and- I mean, Chas, he says the same thing ... and throughout the case, but, uh, like, you know, it's... I was one of those kids, so I can understand where they're coming from. Like, looking back at my s- own self now, I was pretty stupid. Um, and I, I hope the kids The younger kids, like, realize that pretty soon.
Yeah. Um. It, it's a tough one for me. Like, look, I- it's so easy ... I'm, I'm 46 now. It's so easy to look back and be like, "Oh, yeah, you know, blah, blah, in my age, when we were kids, we went street racing in New York. It was, like, the standard thing on the weekend." Yeah. Um, I didn't think it was dangerous. I didn't think what we were doing- Except you didn't have social media, and- Yes
there was nothing f- really for you to self-snitch with. It ... Yeah, and there was also- Yeah ... no, like, clout chasing as much. Yeah, no. Like, that wasn't as big of a thing. Mm-hmm. Um, I've, I've, I've mentioned this before, but it was like when Fast and Furious came out, it sort of changed, 'cause, like, I was into cars [01:06:00] before that, and all of a sudden a lot of, like, outsiders from the community started showing up and were just doing dumb things, like just s- not
And this is, like, before drifting was even big. Would just be, like, swerving cars down the road and then would crash into a bunch of cars, and, like, that type of stuff would happen at the street races- Yeah ... which didn't happen previously. But it didn't in any, any ways feel as, as wild- But, like, there's something inside of you-
as what the, as what the takeover is. But I understand what my attraction to that was. Yeah. And it was fun to go. Yeah. And it was fun when the cops came to run back to your car and- Mm-hmm ... get out of there. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So, like, I, I totally under- I totally understand that. I think- Fun to watch people crash, too.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, all of it was- Yeah ... you know, it, it's a scene- Yeah ... especially when you're 19- Yeah ... 20 years old, right? Yeah. I mean, I, I also grew up, you know, in the punk rock scene, and it was fun to go to crazy parties and, like, you know- Yeah ... and, you know, have ... be, be at events where people are, like, shooting fireworks off in the building.
Like, you know, everyone's, like, losing their minds. So, like- Yeah ... I, I, I, I'm not so far removed from that to be like, "I don't know why they're doing that." It's like I, I get it. I think the ... one of the disappointing parts, and I don't think [01:07:00] people talk about this a lot, is that- Like, one of my main goals in my sort of time as both a mag- I was a magazine writer.
You know, obviously I ran Hoonigan and, and, you know, and all the other stuff I do in car community. Mm-hmm. Is, like, I wanna bring younger people into car community, right? So, like, the takeover has become something that is this big sort of trending thing in cities. It's every city has it, including in Europe.
Like, it is everywhere now. We see it everywhere. It has, it has grown out of Oakland and lives in the whole world now, right? And- It's actually not that bad in Oakland. What? And okay, now- Yeah ... now, now Oakland has it- Yeah ... under control, right? Yeah. Where these sideshows started, right? Right. But, um, but we now, it's like they're, it's like how do you take the people who are going there, like yourself, like Chazzy, to these guys, and really sort of convert them into enthusiasts?
Yeah. Instead of, like, them just being menaces, right? Like, that's- I don't wanna throw him under the bus, too, but Chazzy was also one of those kids. That's what I said. Yeah, yeah. You and Chazzy. Yeah, yeah. 'Cause Cha- [01:08:00] and Chazzy came on the show- Yeah ... and said, "I used to love takeovers, and now I fucking-" Oh, he admitted it.
And he's like, "And now I fucking hate 'em." Yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah. And I think, like, I am not the kind of person who wants to close the door to those people. Yeah. I wanna be like, "All right, cool. Like, that happens. Everyone has that. But now how do we think of another path out for the, for the people who are in takeover culture 'cause they actually enjoy the cars, and they enjoy the action of the cars?"
'Cause- Yeah ... look, I, I'm, I'm gonna be very, you know, honest here. Like, what we did at Hoonigan- Mm ... even though everything we did was legal- Mm ... I'm sure had a level of influence on what is happening out there, because we were sliding cars around in small little spots, the burn yard, all of that. And, like, we weren't taking that from Oakland sideshow c- stuff.
We were just like, we had a, a building in Long Beach, and we had a lot of room, and it was fun to throw donuts. And that, like, became a content piece for us that obviously expanded from there, and it obviously influenced that. But, like, w- it would be really cool to be able to take a piece of that and really bring it back into a world where it was, like, legal and fun, and [01:09:00] not something that has all of law enforcement in every single city making every car enthusiast a criminal, right?
Like, that would be a good fix. So h- so how do we do it? It's up to you. Now that you're friends with the police. I mean, I would lo- I t- I have some people high up there that I'm friends with, but then, like, the people that can ch- make changes, like, you know, hopefully the, the, my circle of people- Mm-hmm ... that I know one day, you know, promote and grow older and are in positions of power where I can, like, you know, maybe, like, give them ideas or work with them.
Um, right now there's, like, there's nothing I can do or anyone that I know can do. Yeah. Um, um, or change anything as a matter of fact. How do you think though, even with, even without the police side of it, do you, when you look at the community that you saw at Takeovers, like, how many of them do you think are either real car enthusiasts or, like- I think more than a lot of people think, sadly.
Hmm. Okay. Sadly. Um- 'Cause I think we all wanna believe they're not, because we want- Yeah, 100% ... to [01:10:00] create this, like, us versus them thing, right? 100%, yeah. But I think there's sadly a lot of people that actually like cars that are just sitting there clueless. Right. Um- And there isn't something else for them, and this is something that's really exciting- Yeah, and it's free
that they have access to, and it's free. Yeah. Yeah. Um, now all these racetracks are shutting down. Yeah. But we spoke about that already. Um, yeah, I, I think there's unfortunately a lot of... Yeah ... you know? There, I, I think a solid, I, I wanna stay with, st- stick with my statement, I think about half of them are actually there with nefarious intent.
Right. Um, where they're, they wanna sell drugs or, like, you know, there's a lot of drug sales happening. Hmm. Um, and balloon sale, like nos sales happening. I, I'm gonna sound so old. Kids still do nos? That's crazy. It's a- Whippets? It's huge. Is it really big now? It's huge. Um- I was actually at the, I was sitting in Long Beach down by the beach at, um, Rosie, uh, Dog Park.
Oh. And I was working in my, my van again. Oh, yeah, I go there too. Really? Yeah. I go there to just sit and work- Yeah ... by the beach, 'cause you can sit right next to the sand. You go to that restaurant on there? No. Wait. Oh, the one that's over- The dog restaurant ... yeah, [01:11:00] yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And, um- I was just there
yeah. And, uh, these kids pulled up next to me and just started cracking, you know, nitrous and just started blowing up, um, uh, balloons. And I looked over at them, and they looked at me, and I was like, "I didn't know people still did that." And they just laughed and rolled the windows up. Yeah. Like, I, it was, like, a big thing in the '90s, but I guess it's back pretty hard.
I mean, you still go d- to the gas station and buy nos bottles. Oh, really? Yeah. Hmm. There's a gas station- When we were kids, we had to go to, like, kitchen supply places, but no one really wants to do that, but. Yeah. No, there's, like, there's a gas station on, on ... Actually, I'm not even gonna say it. But, um- Yeah.
Huh ... there's a gas station on s- somewhere that, that, like, I walk into and there's a whole What do you call those things? A, array of- Yeah, yeah ... of NOS bottles in all sorts of different flavors and all sorts of different brands. And I'm like- They flavor them now too. Wow. Crazy. Yeah, and it's incredible. It's, it's- Definitely not something you should be doing while driving
and, uh, um, when I go to the aftermath of takeovers, 'cause sometimes there's, um, like shootings there, and I'll go- Yeah, of course ... check [01:12:00] those out after, after everyone left. Yeah, there's 100%, like, just bottles of NOS, like, everywhere. Especially people leave in a hurry, 'cause like those gu- those dealers will bring out the giant bottles sometimes- Oh, dude
they'll leave them behind. Yeah, and there's always, like, those things laying around. Oh. Like those industrial, commercial- Yeah ... big bottles that you refill. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's always those. Hmm. Um, and there's a lot of drug sales, drug, drug transactions. Last weekend actually, this guy, um, had a bunch of drugs in his backpack, didn't wanna give it up, and then got shot in the head.
And then somehow in, in that process, some girl also got involved. She... I don't know if she got shot or got hurt. Um, but there was a, a kid, like, lying face flat with a bullet hole in his head, um, and, and a backpack full of drugs. Is that become more prevalent? 'Cause three years ago when I was way more sort of...
Because I was still at Hoonigan- Mm-hmm ... I was paying more attention to this. Um, I was asking the police, and they said that while they were finding guns, there really weren't a lot of people being killed at takeovers at the time. [01:13:00] And because of that, it became sort of like a low priority issue for the department.
Because, like, yes, it's a nuisance and it's causing a huge problem in the neighborhood, but, like, people were getting hit by cars, but they actually really weren't getting too badly hurt, and that they weren't having too much problems. But it sounds like that's changed. Every, every weekend there's a shooting at a takeover.
Wow. Whether someone gets hurt or not, uh, depends. Maybe- Yeah ... once a month in LA ar- at least, like, there- And do you think that's getting progressively worse or has that always sort of been there? I mean, I, I've, I only n- have been listening to scanners for 10 years, and in the last 10 years, no. It's just peop- That's it
shooting at takeover. Um, if there is a takeover, it's a, it's, uh, the category of the call for LAPD is reckless drivers, and reckless driver is, like, one of the lowest priority calls. Right. So unless the s- the street racing enforcement unit is out, which- With that, I, I don't know- 'Cause a single cop car can't do anything at a takeover No, no They can't even get access to it So, so they used to box, but, uh, the, a [01:14:00] judge from, like, the 9th District Circuit, whatever- Mm-hmm
um, ruled that boxing people in from intersections is unconstitutional. Um- Explain for the audience what boxing means So they'll come f- intersec- intersection, north, south, west, east, like, they'll have, like, three or four units, or five, six, seven, whatever units, um, slowly box everyone in and not allow that entire crowd of people to leave.
Hmm. And then zip tie everyone, 'cause they don't have 150 handcuffs. Yeah. So they'll zip tie everyone, ID everyone, h- um, tow every car, and, uh, give everyone a misdemeanor citation or book them- Yep ... for, um, spectating a takeover. And spectating a takeover is still illegal. You can't be within- Yeah ... like 150 feet- Same with street racing
Los Angeles Municipal Code. But yeah, same with street racing. Actually, if, if, if one guy is doing a donut and, and there's nobody in the audience but yourself, and you're still standing there watching this guy doing a donut and filming it, that also is illegal. You're just, like- Yeah ... walking across the street.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You're still spectating. Um- What do you [01:15:00] think are the percentages of actually owned cars versus stolen cars at takeovers? Um, m- well, most of them are owned, because they're m- mostly owned by the spectators. Hmm. But the cars that are doing the donuts- That's what I mean, yeah 'Cause everyone, everyone's driving them like they're stolen Yeah, I don't know- Like people are smashing into each other- But
and don't seem to care at all But I think 90%. I saw a Ford GT at a takeover once. What? That's for sure owned. Yeah. I was about to ask you, what's the craziest cars you've seen? Yeah, Ford GT. That's nuts. Just swinging it on like Manchester and Avalon, just, just, yeah. And l- uh, the, a 911 call came out- And that's like a $300,000 plus car now, right?
Yeah, so. S- 600,000. Is it other that much, Ron? Wow. A call came out, um, a call, a 911 call was generated by someone that clearly liked or knew their cars, and then I was like, "No fucking way there's a Ford GT, um, swinging at a takeover." C- and I was like, "Maybe they m- they misconstrued it with a- Mm-hmm ... Mustang GT, right?[01:16:00]
Right, right, right. Um, and lo and behold, there's a takeover, uh, there's a takeover and there's a Ford GT, and I'm like, "Is this guy really gonna swing it?" And then he came out and just started doing donuts again. And I'm like- ... holy crap. So now that you're, now that you're sort of doing, you know... What, what do you call what you do?
Like what do you, what do you refer to it? Is, what's the name? The official word is stringing. String- Stringers. Stringers? Yeah. I've never heard that before. People call people myself stringers. What- Nobody knows it, though What's the, what's the etymology behind that? I have no freaking clue. Huh. Um, but like ever since like the '80s or before I was even born, people do what I do called stringers.
The, a lot of cops know that terminology, and then they started using it, "Hey, it's a str- it's a stringer, a stringer over there, a stringer over here." Um, and- Hey, and we, by the way, Nick pulled up the, the, the etymology of it. What is it? This is fun. So a stringer is a term referring to, um, a freelancer who contributes writing, photos, or videos to a press agency, news agency, or other news organization.
That's the context I always knew it in as [01:17:00] a photographer. Okay. And they frequently would collaborate with law enforcement. Ah. So a stringer isn't associated- You, you, you knew what the- Yeah ... you heard of that word? Oh, okay. Uh-huh. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He, he was, he was a photographer. Oh, okay.
So, yeah. Yeah. But that's what you call the more official people, not like the TikTokers. Mm. And now so many people are live streaming this- Mm ... and which I don't know how, 'cause they're all driving like a fucking bat out of hell, running red lights, and live streaming it to get to these calls. So you don't live stream?
Hell no. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I might, but it has, it's not gonna be this. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um- And everyone's on Kick and whatever. Yeah, everyone's on Kick. Yeah. Um, but yeah, there's... So the cops that don't know the s- the word stringer started mis- like thinking that they were saying streamer, so now they just call everyone streamers.
Yeah. 'Cause like people are streaming, and there are streamers now. Right, right, right. This is all within the last two years or a year. Oh, okay. Um, and I, I- And it's a pretty big community, huh? Is what it sounds like. Now it is. Yeah. Um, ever since- How many are, how many people are your age versus like old [01:18:00] school dudes doing this?
Like what's the mix? Well, the, all the old school guys are still out, but they're... Like when I started doing this 10 years ago, it was like me- And like three dudes, and they're all- Hmm ... like one's in their 40s, another one's in their 40s, another one's in their like 30s, and that was it. Yeah. And then I started doing Snapchat, got n- my Snapchat stories in one year did like 11 billion views, um, which is like- Insane
just un- That's why I was saying, like I, I've never even gotten a billion views- Yeah ... um, on anything. And so, and it, when I started doing that, s- see, like I don't know, there's no official science for, for me posting on my Snapchat to having all these streamers come out now. But I started doing my Snapchat stuff 2024, 2025, beginning of 2025.
All of a sudden, at every pursuit termination, every car crash, every structure fire, there's like 20 people live streaming it, and that's all new. [01:19:00] That's all, like, one year old. Is that... Now, does that sort of create a little bit of a chase between everyone to get there first? Yeah. Just 'cause you wanna be able to break it first.
Oh, yeah, and somebody's gonna kill themselves. Yeah. Yeah. I'd imagine that- that's creating its own problem. Yeah, that's a part of the reason why I s- kind of stopped doing it. Yeah. Um, I used to be out, like, 10 hours a day. My day, uh, you asked me this a while ago. My day would be like wake up at 7:00 PM, edit till 10:00 PM, go out 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM, edit again for three hours, post for an hour, go to sleep.
Mm-hmm. And did that for a year straight, and then, uh, that, it gave me mental health issues 'cause I was doing nothing else but that. But, um, n- but now, I only go out. I, like, listen at home- Yeah ... listen to the scanner, and then I- I'll, like, go out if there's a chase, but I'm not out, like, driving around in circles going to every single car crash.
How'd you get introduced to this, listening to police scanners, and, like, like, what was it that- Um, Shot in the Dark, the Netflix show that I saw- That was it, that was it ... when I was 16 years old. Yeah. Um, right in front of my [01:20:00] house, there was a crash that I just... I was in my Huracan. I was 18. No, I was s- 17 or something like that.
Um, and, uh, I, like, drove out of my house, and then there was a car crash. And then the, the guy from Shot in the Dark was standing there, and I'm like, "Holy shit, I saw you on Netflix. I'm a huge fan." And then we connected, and then he said like, "Hey, man, you wanna join me one night? Like, you got a cool car." And then he, we talked about...
He didn't know who I was, but, um, like, we talked, and then he brought me out. And then I'm like, "This is fucking sick." And he also mentioned to me that... Like, I'll never forget that one day where he brought me out- Yeah ... for the first time. And he was like, "This is the best, one of the craziest days I've had.
Maybe it's like, maybe you have some weird luck." But, like, it was this guy who's been doing this for, like, 15 years, his craziest day he's ever had, so imagine what I saw. Oh, yeah, yeah. Right? We're going to shootings after shootings after dead bodies after dead bodies after chases after car crashes after people on fire and cars on fire.
And [01:21:00] I was like, the, the dopamine rush I got from, like, we're on our way to the next call, the adrenaline rush I got, um, um, was, like, yeah, insane. And, like, that week, I went and bought a c- a Chevy Caprice and sent it to an, a police outfitter and had them put all the radios in it. I'm like, "All right." His name is Scott, so I was like, "Scott, what do I get?"
Um, and then he told me all the stu- stuff to get, all the scanner skit, and then, and then I just did it as a, I ran that thing as a hobby for, like- Like, like eight years And you were doing this just privately for yourself? No one really knew. It was always with friends. Yeah. It was like- But you- I never went out solo- Mm-hmm
back then. Uh, it was like, "Hey, like, we, you gotta come see this." And it would change people. It would, like, change the way people think, um, about dri- about driving or, like, drinking and driving especially. Mm-hmm. Does it... You mentioned the mental health side of it, and I, I, I assume one part of that is just this, this livelihood where your whole life is at night and you're kind of living opposite from everyone else.[01:22:00]
But do you ever think about sort of the effect of, like, just all you're seeing every day? Like, 'cause the... I imagine you've seen some really fucked up shit. Yeah, and I can tell you of- I mean, I've definitely- ... some of the fucked up shit I can think of ... yeah, I mean, I've definitely driven past accidents and been like, "Well, I wish I didn't see that."
Like, I was... I saw a motorcyclist's head get torn off- Oh ... in a crash, and it still sits with me, and I saw it when I was, like, 22, you know? I've completely checked out from it at this point, and I actually... A lot of the cops get called out for being insensitive all the time. Yeah. Like, they'll be seen in videos, like, laughing and making jokes in front of a dead body, and that's actually a coping mechanism, psychological coping mechanism, to, like, crack jokes- Yeah
so that you don't get so attached to, like, what you're... that's, it's the scene you're in. Um, and I find myself being extremely insensitive around deceased people, and I'm like, "Holy shit, I can't believe I just made that joke." Um, but, like, I don't think I'm a terrible person, right? But, like, I'm just here, like...
Uh, in the beginning days- Because it starts to just feel like [01:23:00] work. I mean, I, I have friends who work in the ER, and they're like- Yeah ... at a certain point you can't care about everything. Like, if, if you... You know, one of the most mind-blowing things today that I still see is the way medical examiners handle dead bodies.
Um, and I'm sure, like, all they do is handle dead bodies for 20 years. So what is a dead body to you? Just work, just, just- Yeah, yeah ... a piece of paper in a file folder, right? But, like- a couple nights ago, like, these two, like, medical examiners were, like, laughing their ass off about, like, one of their jokes and, like, they, they pulled up to a scene and, like, saw all these cameras and they were trying to contain their laughter, but there was, like, a guy, like a mutilated guy in there.
Yeah. Like, and then everyone left and, like, the way dead bodies get treated is, like, so undignified and... But how can you blame them? Like, you know- Yeah ... it's, it's, how can you... Everyone's human and, like, you know, you can't call somebody insensitive if, you know, you've, you're not in [01:24:00] their shoes. Like, you don't s- you don't know what they're doing.
And s- you know, to some people they still might feel the psychological effects of it, and joking about it is simply just a psychological reflex- Yeah ... that they're having to cope with it, because it is so traumatizing. Um, and there's a word for it. I actually, like, read all about the psychology. Um, but like, yeah, like you'll, people will like...
I mean, you know, what's a cop gonna do? Like, it, like I'll, I'll be like, I'll ask one of my cop buddies, "Hey, like, you bored? You're not doing anything? Like, you know, let's go get some tacos." And I'll meet up with them during their shift. And then, um, we're all laughing and I'm like, "Hey, like, so what'd you do today?"
And he's like, "Oh, I just came from a triple fatal." And I'm like, "What the fuck are you laughing about this?" But, um, but then now I understand. Yeah. Like, it's... I'm, I'm, I'm like that sadly. You disassociate. Yeah. Yeah. And my girlfriend's, like, very... My call- calls, calls me all the time like, "You're the most insensitive piece of shit human being."
Um, and I'm like- That's kinda it ... "Okay, well, like, yeah, if [01:25:00] you say it like that," and if I think about it and if I start, you know, if I start learning about this person's story, like I've never seen this dead person while they're alive. But like, if I s- sometimes I, like, look into it, and sometimes I'm like, "Oh wow, this fif- this is, like, a 15-year-old kid."
And- Yeah ... I learn about their stories, I get really fucking sad. Um, but now it's just like the only time I get sad is, like, if there's a relative. Like, there was a time where, like, this 12-year-old girl just became an orphan right in front of me. Mm. And that made me pretty fucked up. Yeah. Like, I did not sleep.
But that was also during, after I was already desensitized to all this, and I'd never thought anything could, I could possibly see anything that would bother me. Mm-hmm. And I watched a girl, I don't know how old she was, but she was a kid, um, super young girl, lose both their parents right in front of me, and I'm like- Like, yeah, that...
I almost wanted to, like, do something. I don't know. Right. I felt helpless. Yeah. But, [01:26:00] um, yeah, that was, that was rough. But, like, that, like, y- y- that was not too long ago. That was, like, a year ago, and, like, even a year ago myself, if I saw a dead body, I would think nothing of it. Like, I've given, you know, I've- Do you remember the first time you saw a dead body?
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What did that feel like? Oh, terrible. Terrible. I, like, I couldn't sleep, and I had nightmares over it. First time I saw a dead body, it was on, uh, Santa Monica and Western, and I remember it. It was, like, 10 years ago- Mm-hmm ... and I remember it like it was, it was yesterday. Um, first, like, 10 times I saw a dead body, I remember it like it was yesterday.
Yeah. Um, if, you cannot tell me to, you cannot ask me what dead body I saw last night. I would not remember it. But, um- Um, yeah, I, I remember the first dead body I saw like it was fucking yesterday. Yeah. Unfortunately, I've, I've unfortunately have seen dead bodies, and I, I don't... Growing up in New York City in a crazy time, like, it was something that unfortunately, you know, was, I saw more dead bodies than I'd [01:27:00] like to over, in just random situations.
Um- Like ODs and shootings and stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and it's funny 'cause I do think that I, too, like you, had like a, I don't know, like a lack of empathy around it. It was just like, "Well, this is, this is the life, right?" Like, "This is what happens," right? Yeah. Um, and then I had a s- I had a child, and that very much changed my empathy on things.
Like, I- It completely woke me up to a different thing, to the point where, like, I see vagrants asking for money, and old me would be like, "These motherfuckers." And now new me is like, "That's someone's kid. Like, that could be someone's bro..." Like, it changes the way you see it, I think. I don't know. At least for me it was like having a child really brought out the empathy and, like, you know, just you telling the story of, like, some kid being orphaned, I'm like, "Oh, like, that's sounds horrible," you know?
But, uh, yeah, it's a... But I, I get it. I mean, I have a lot of friends who, who served in the military and saw horrible things and had to do horrible things, and they will be very honest with you that joking about it is the only way to deal with it, that, like, [01:28:00] comedy is therapeutic. Like, they, like, if you- Nobody gets it, yeah
if you talk to them one-on-one, it's a different story, but when there is a group- Nobody gets it ... it, it's funny because- Yeah ... it has to be, 'cause, like, what else are you gonna do but cry, you know? So it's like- Yeah ... I might as well kinda laugh kinda thing, so. But I... You know, it's, it's interesting 'cause, uh, do you s- do you sort of feel like you follow, like, a, like, a journalistic code in the way you kinda do things and how you approach things?
More and more I do. Okay. I definitely did not. I used to, like, intervene on everything- Yeah ... or, like, get involved when we were there, but, but now- Yeah. Well, just before when you said that you did, you felt like you wanted to do something for this little girl, and that's, like, a journalistic thing. Like, when I, I went to journalism school, and- Oh, nice
it's, and they said, um, you know, I never graduated, but whatever. But, but I did take a lot of classes. But, um, there was this conversation. It said, uh, you know, a, a, a person's falling off a cliff- Uh-huh ... and you can either take the photo of them falling- Uh-huh ... or you can save them. Uh-huh. What do you do? [01:29:00] And then everyone- Photo journalism is take the photo
photo jour- photo journalism Oh, yeah. Yeah ... take the photo. Yeah. And it's like, if you ans- and 70% of the class always answers, "I'd save them," right? Yeah. And the teacher says, "You're never gonna be a good journalist. Like, a good journalist is to be there and not to intervene and not to involve yourself, and just to tell the story because your photo means, will be more valuable and has a larger impact than saving one life," or something like that, which is, like, a really hard thing, I think- That's dark
for most people to wrap their heads around. Yeah. Yeah. Dark stuff. I mean, this is something that was taught to me in a college, a college setting, you know. Um, I had a f- I have, I have a friend of mine, I don't know if he likes me still or not, but I have a friend of mine that You have acquaintances, and then you have friends who don't like you.
Never know. Um, but um, yeah, he always tells me to, that, to push that, and I'm like, "I don't know, like, I have, I have clear chances to, like, save somebody." Yeah, yeah. And, and I always do, and he always gives me shit for it. And- Have you shown up to scenes where you're the first pers- [01:30:00] like, you're basically the first person to show up?
90% of the time I am the first person to show up. So what do you do? Like, what do you do in a situation like that? You show up and there's something that, like, someone needs to be, get out of a car. Like, do you just show up and take the journalistic position and just film it and wait, or do you intervene? I, no, I intervene.
Okay. Yeah. Whether it's a good thing or not, I don't know. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I, I, I j- I mean- I, in that, in, like, a high-stress situation like that I just do without thinking, right? Mm. And my do is just, like, I'll intervene. Do you have any stories you can share, or? Um- I know it's weird 'cause today being a good Samaritan you can get sued for, so Yeah, it's crazy.
Um- That's why doctors don't raise their hand on planes anymore when they say, "Is there a doctor on the plane?" 'Cause they're more likely to get sued for helping you than they are- Yeah ... gonna be thanked for it, so. Yeah, there's, there was a time where, like, this guy was like... You know, actually, I don't think anybody realizes, like, how dangerous the freeway is at 3:00 in the [01:31:00] morning, um, if your car is blacked out.
Like, you will get hit. Mm-hmm. Um, I go to, like, every car stalled in the middle of the street and watch their cars get smoked all the time. Mm-hmm. And then I bought this laser light. It's not a laser pointer, it's a, a laser light that, um, can pan. It's, like, on a joystick, and I pan it and I just beam it onto a blacked out car that's in the middle of the freeway.
Hmm. Um, and is that intervening? Yeah, for sure. But ever since I got that... Like, that laser system was, like, $5,000. It was not cheap. Mm-hmm. And I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it, but, um, if, if you're on the side of the freeway and you're out there with your phone flashlight just waving and, like, telling people to slow down, that's making it worse because now these people are gonna stare at you and they're not gonna see what's in front of them, and they're gonna kill somebody.
Right. Um, but, um, if... I figured out, like, i- if I can bring attention to, [01:32:00] um, whatever is blacked out and, like... So now my procedure now is, um, if, if I see a car blacked out in the middle of the freeway I'll sh- I'll black out my car. As long as I'm in a safe spot on a shoulder, I'll always try to find a safe spot.
I'll be before the car so I don't get hit and hit with debris, but I'll be before the car, and then I'll point the laser at whatever blacked out person- Mm-hmm ... car, whatever it is. And that's the most I'll do now. Mm-hmm. Is, like, I won't go risk my life ever. But, um, like, ever since I got that device I haven't seen a crash myself.
Hmm. And sadly, very sadly, like, all my journalism friends, like, pr- actual professional stringers give me shit for it. And like, "Man," like, "we have money to make out here," you know? Hmm. 'Cause, 'cause- Oh ... there was- Interesting. I didn't think about it that way. Yeah. That you're basically preventing something that could be- Yeah, them from making money.
Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. They're, they're... I'm preventing breaking news from, like, being a crash. Mm-hmm. And, [01:33:00] uh, before I got this laser system on my car and lit up this car I- saw somebody crash into a blacked out car in the middle of the freeway at 2:00 in the morning at least once a week. Wow. Like, at least once a week.
Um, and I would go to these calls for like these traffic 1125 traffic hazard calls, um, just knowing that somebody's gonna hit it. Yeah. And, and at first I, like, turned on m- I had strobing lights on my car too back then. Uh, then I turned on my lights and then I, and then a CHP officer was like, "Hey, people are probably crashing into these cars 'cause they're looking at you.
Not like you're legally at fault, but they're, you're- Right ... you're standing there, like, on the shoulder like a fucking Christmas tree, and they're- Distracting them from this, yeah ... distracting them. So then I black- I just completely blacked out. I, I would stand on the side of the freeway behind s- some sort of cover, like K rails or something, blacked out, and, like, not film it, and just pr- hope and pray, like...
And then, I don't know, I just felt helpless, and I'm not a great journalist, [01:34:00] so... And then I just, like, I was like, "Oh, I should get a spot- like, a really fucking bright spotlight." And then, um, the, yeah, this laser, how it works is super cool. You can't even see the source light. Mm. Like, um, it, y- you can't see where this laser's coming from.
So from your POV- It's gotta be the only attention that's on those things ... all you're seeing is, like, a fucking sunlight in the middle of the street. Yeah. And, like, oh, hey, maybe that's, like, a c- it, it, I think it looks, or I know so, it looks like a car is driving at you head-on- Oh, okay ... from the POV of the person.
Right. So they move out of the way. Yeah. Like, I've never seen somebody crash into- Hmm ... um, a, a car ever since I got- Yeah ... and, like... Yeah. It's something people don't realize, I mean, even just, like, pulling off to the side of the road to get your tire changed is a hu- like, and changing a tire- Fuck no, yeah ... is so dangerous.
Yeah. I've had mul- I've had friends pull off to the side of the road 'cause they got hit by a car, and then get hit by a truck on the side of the road. Yeah. So it's like you've already gotten hit by a car, and you pulled over, and you're there waiting, and then you get wrecked by a truck. And now you're, like, no longer have your seatbelt on.
You're like, you're sitting in the car not ready for it. Yeah. Yeah. It's, yeah. [01:35:00] Super dangerous. I think after the hours of, like... That's why, you know, when you get a learner's permit, like, they don't let you drive on the fre- drive after 11:00 PM, 'cause it is dangerous. Yeah, yeah. Like, it, and, and, uh, and I see it firsthand.
And, uh, yeah, if you, like, get off the freeway, the shoulder's not safe. That's my advice for people, is, like, from what I've seen, like, I've seen people, so many people get smoked on the shoulder, 'cause they'll look at you and, um, fixate on- And target, target fixation ... target fi- target fixate on you, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I've, I've had close calls, too. I've had to jump out of the way many times. I bet. Um, because I'm standing there with my phone, and people are looking at me, and the, these DUI drivers just go straight into you. Hmm. It's incredible. Um, yeah, I've had to jump out of my wa- my way to save my ass, like, many, many, many, many times.
Um, but now I've been pretty good about, like, just jumping over the K rail. I, I park my car on the shoulder. If my car gets smoked, at least it's not my life, and then I just hop over the- Yeah ... K rail. All right, let's rewind all the way back. So you, you did mention in the beginning, so I won't ask you the question of how you got into cars.
You said [01:36:00] the Gymkhana films were part of that inspiration, but I mean, you got into cars really early, had cars really early, and that's kind of what you were known as was- Yeah ... sort of this young teenager who had these crazy cars. How, how did that all come together? Just honestly, as cliche as it sounds, the Fast and Furious movie, Gymkhana, and- Top Gear Yeah, that's a good question.
Yeah. That's, like, all it is. Um- Yeah ... if it weren't for that, I would not be a car person. And maybe I would've found inspiration elsewhere, but, um... And then, like, my two most notable, or my, all, my most notable videos is, like, I think Gymkhana 3, and then, where, like, Ken's, like, doing donuts around the chimpanzee on the Segway.
Is that 3 or 4? Uh, that's 4. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, like, that was, like, a video that I probably re-watched an unhealthy amount of times. Oh, okay. Like, maybe, like, legitimately, like, 100, and I would, like, force all my friends to watch it. Like, it was the coolest video ever. That's the one we shot at Universal Studios, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. With the, with the wrecked 747 in the background and stuff. Oh, no. [01:37:00] So that one, the... Wait. Oh, the wrecked one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I might be mixing up- No, no, you're right. No, no, that is, that is- I might be mixing up Gymkhana- That's, that's, that's Universal Studios. Yeah. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah.
I might be mixing all them up, but- Yeah ... um, what made me want exotic cars is two videos, is the, the one video of Richard Hammond reviewing the Lamborghini Aventador, um, on Top Gear. Okay. That was, like, also a video I watched 100 times. And then Chris Harris Uh, drifting the McLaren P1 on Yas Marina I know it very well Um- Chris is a good buddy of mine.
He's a- Really? Yeah, he's, he's a ripper. The only reason why I have a P1, and I saved up my whole life to get a P1, is 'cause of Chris Harris and that video. So, like, that was a car that I liked before I even knew anything about cars. Like, I didn't even ... When was that video? Like 2013, 2014? Probably, yeah. It was two years before I had a driver's license, and I didn't even know the difference between a V6 and a V8.
Right. And I was like, "Wow, I need that car." And then, so once I started making money, [01:38:00] um, a P1's a P1, right? And then I was like, the Aventador was still on my list. I, like, childhood dream cars, but there's so many fucking different versions now, and they're all, like, mileage rolled back, and now they're so expensive- Yep
and you can either spend $200,000 on an Aventador or a million dollars on an Aventador. I'm like, "Ah, fuck this." Yeah. Um, so that's where I'm at with Aventadors. But, like, the, the P1 is like ... P- the P1 and a Chris Harris, and Ken Block, and Gymkhana are probably the only reason why I'm into cars, and I'm like, "That's the coolest shit I've ever seen in my life."
Well, I'm happy I could have played a part in that. So, yeah. Um- Yeah. No, yeah, if, if, if it weren't for that, I would not be into cars at all. Yeah. Yeah. No, Chris Harris also is just, he's such an amazing talent. Like, his ability to slide a car around and then with perfect- Oh, I bet ... composure speak to camera- Yeah, that's crazy
it's such a skill. It's such a skill. In the P1 video, he got so emotional that- Mm ... he couldn't ... I don't know if he was faking it or not, but he got so emotional that he didn't even wanna narrate and just wanted to enjoy the moment. Yeah. And I was [01:39:00] watching that as a 13-year-old kid going, "I need to experience what that fucker is experiencing- Yeah, yeah
at one point in my life." Yeah. Um, yeah, so. I, it's usually rude to ask people how they make their money, but obviously you were able to afford a lot of cars early on. Yeah. And you did a lot of investment stuff. Is that kinda what was your background? Social media. Okay. Like, I, I posted one ... Um, first of all, like, I don't have any bills.
I still live with my parents. Yeah. Still do, actually, unfortunately. Um, no, actually, fortunately. Uh, Asians are very, like, big family. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my mom has a really big house. Um, she's ... My mom is super successful. Um, so, like, honestly, like, money was never a, a hurdle in my life. Right. As, as, as ignorant as that statement is to say, I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't.
So- Yeah, yeah.
We, uh, we can open a whole can of worms about this, but when I was like 13 or f- 12 or 13, um, I got diagnosed with a brain tumor and my mom was like, "Oh, this kid's gonna die." And then before that I was [01:40:00] very... Like, m- my mom convinced me that we were a very poor household, and then after that she like really spoiled me- Mm
um, and like bought me whatever the fuck I wanted. Um, 'cause the doctor was like, "Hey, this kid's gonna have like three years to live." So- Did your, did you- End up just being benign ... were you told that or- No. Okay. No. So you didn't know but your mom feared that? Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean I saw her crying every day and, and she's like, "Oh, you just have like a disease."
But then at the same time my grandfather, so my mom's mother, my mother's father had a stroke and like went into a coma for the next 10 years of his life- Mm ... um, within the same month. So I was like, to me I was like, "Oh, my mother's just crying about her father." So I didn't know. Yeah. But she was crying about both things.
So every day she was like crying and crying and upset. Um, but then m- she, I was like, you know, as a kid I'm like, "Mom I want this, I want that," and then, [01:41:00] you know, all of a sudden she started buying me everything. Mm. So there's my ... To answer your question that's how I got a lot of things when I was like 15 years old- Mm-hmm
that a 15-year-old shouldn't afford. And then, uh, I remember I made a video, it was like launching my Lamborghini and like I picked up like every, it was like a rental Huracán, and I picked up like every girl- Mm ... in my high school and like fucking drove like a maniac. And that video got millions of views and, uh, that video I think it's like at like 80 or 90,000 now dollars.
Oh, wow. Um- And this was all YouTube? It was all YouTube, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, 50 grand as a 16-year-old kid is like unheard of. With no bills. Yeah. So I like went and bought an M2 the next day, or the moment I got the check for that, and then I was like, "I'm gonna be a car YouTuber." So, and then didn't realize like that was just like a once in a lifetime virality.
Mm. I've never, I've never gotten that many views since until I did [01:42:00] Snapchat. Right. And then, yeah, and then that humbled me real quick. And then, um- But you had a lot of really successful stuff over the years. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. How, how would you sort of like, what was your process in thinking like what I'm gonna do, like, for creating videos?
Was it something that you'd come up with an idea and then just go do it? Or was it like a group of people who were thinking up stuff and, you know, how, how... Or was it just sort of things that were happening and you kinda captured them? It was a case by case basis. Yeah. Like, I, I, I always thought I was, like, running out of ideas all the time, but then, like, in reality I wasn't and I had so many ideas.
And I had, I have so many people around me. I'm so lucky to have my friends. My friends are so fucking creative. Mm-hmm. Um, and half of them have just, like, salary jobs, and I keep telling them every day, "Bro, leave your job and, like, make a company or do something with your creativity." Um, anyways, so yeah, 80% of my [01:43:00] ideas are, are my friends.
My, like, five, or not five, like, three of my very close friends. "You should do this. You should do that." Um, and I'm like, "Holy shit, that's a great idea." So, um- Yeah, that's where most ideas come from, I think. Wh- what do you, like, c- consider yourself now? 'Cause you, before you said, like, "I wanna become a car YouTuber," and obviously, like, that has limitations.
Like, if someone asks you, like, "What are you? What are you today?" Either a car YouTuber or a stringer- Or a stringer ... whatever you wanna call- Yeah ... whatever, whatever they wanna call me. Yeah. Um, I'm not, like, a professional stringer, or at least I don't act that way. I have all my credentials. On paper I'm a professional stringer, but- Right
I definitely don't act that way. Um, so I don't know. Whatever you wanna call me, I, I'm just a dude. I, I ask- Yeah ... 'cause, like, I don't know, like, some people see themselves as, like, onscreen talent. Some people see themselves... Like, I see myself more as the creative. Like- Hmm ... I'm only onscreen because it made sense.
But, like, I really enjoy the making of it all. But I know there's a part of you that does that, too, like that, not to bring up other things you've been arrested for, [01:44:00] but like, the fireworks and- Yeah ... Lamborghini thing- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... was clearly something that was, like, a creative concept. Mm. You guys thought that out.
You went and filmed it. It looked sick. Mm. May not have gotten the right permits and got into some trouble for it. Mm. But, um, look, I've done pyro I wasn't supposed to. I just did it in foreign countries. It's a little less, little less likely- That was actually- ... to catch up with you on ... um, that whole incident was, I was very shocked at how I got no hate for that.
Yeah. Like, like, almost got no... I mean, the fact that, besides the fact that I got arrested, like, people were very supportive of the situation I was in. Yeah, 'cause I don't think, I don't think anyone was potentially put in harm's way, right? So, like, there wasn't a safety issue other than the people- No, there was for sure a safety issue
well, the people who were- Yeah ... on set. But they knew, yeah. But, but they were- Yeah ... they had signed up for the job. Yeah. Where, like, the Tesla jump, there was obviously a car that got hit- No, yeah ... and other people... There was, it's an open space, so when- Yeah, that was controversial ... some kid could've walked out into the street- Yeah
and gotten killed, right? Got a lot of hate for that, yeah. Like, that's obviously a place where the hate gets- Yeah ... the hate is deserved. Yeah. But I [01:45:00] think for that one, I mean, when I saw it, I was like, "Oh, shit, that looks sick," and then I heard it w- that you were getting hit with federal crimes or something on it, and I was like, "That's a bummer.
I get it. Like, you're breaking the law 'cause you were, you know, fireworks California, so on and so on, filming." And also the min- the mi- That's the only law that I, I thought I was breaking ... the minute that, the minute helicopters get involved there's, like, all of the laws you have to follow. So, like, I mean, I've- Yeah, now you're dealing with the feds.
Yeah. Yeah. I've, I've flown helicopters 20 feet off the deck on the Las Vegas Strip, and it's like, the amount of planning that goes into that- Mm ... and the amount of insurance that goes into that is insane. Mm. So, like, having done it the legal way, like, I know everything that's involved. But I think to the average viewer, it's like, oh, it looked sick, and you just didn't follow the right permits, so.
But I, uh, I reached out to, like, the federal investigators- Mm-hmm ... like recently, and I wrote them an email. I'm like, "Hey, how do I do this the legal way?" And none of them answered me. Um, I mean, there's ways to do it. Pyro is definitely a big s- Like, you entered a whole other category by firing- Yeah ... pyro out- Yeah
of a [01:46:00] helicopter. Yeah. But there's ways to do it. I would love to- It happens all the time. It happens all the time ... I would love to remake that video legally. Yeah. I mean, I- Yeah ... I, I know a bunch of stunt coordinators who, and, and helicopter pilots who can figure that stuff out. I mean, you've seen heli- me do helicopter stuff in the Gymkhana films with Travis- Yeah
and things like that. Yeah. Like, it's all legal. You just... One, you just have to, you have to convince somebody to do it, and a lot of it is the pre-production of going, "This is how we're gonna do it. Here's what's gonna happen- Yeah ... if it goes wrong. This is this." Yeah. It just costs money, right? That's it. I mean, sadly, nobody, like, nobody wants to work with me anymore because I have that on my record.
Yeah. And people are like, "Oh, I don't..." Uh, people, helicopter pilots are like, "Oh, you've been arrested for helicopter shit. I don't wanna work with you." Yeah, yeah. Um, so, like, there is a hate that... Oh, sorry. Yeah. There is a hate that I get, um, in that sense. But, like, from the public, yeah. Yeah. Everyone was like, "Oh, you're going to jail."
What do you think are the things, I mean, since you brought it up, what do you think are the things that, like, you feel like you got the most hate for in your career? The Tesla jump. The Tesla jump. Yeah, easy. Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. Easily the Tesla jump. Yeah. Um, 2022[01:47:00]
Yeah, worst, like probably one of the worst years of my life. Yeah. Do you regret that now? Yeah. 'Cause, and you didn't do it, you didn't do it yourself. Yeah. You just sort of created the content for it. Yeah. Right. Um, I glorified it. Yeah. And then, um Yeah, I mean, that's, that's part of the... That was my learning experience of, like, if somebody wants to do dumb shit, I don't want to be part of it.
Um, like, even being there, you're a part of it. Yeah. And that was, like, when I learned that, that's when I was like, "Oh, okay, okay, just because somebody's doing donuts in the intersection, um, and... But I'm not, but I just want to be there, but I'm, I'm, I'm not do- I'm not the one doing the donuts," that doesn't mean that you're not a part of it.
Right. Um, you're there, you went with that person, you know that person, y- you- Yeah ... helped them in a sense of, like, hey, like... Yeah. Right, because it was your meet and all of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I- it's a, it's interesting 'cause now you've crossed over into this other space where you're responding to things that are already happening and covering them.
Mm-hmm. Right? So you're not really creating the situation, you're telling the story of it. [01:48:00] Um, I, I think about this a lot with takeovers because when I was an automotive journalist back in the mid-2000s, like, we did a feature on sideshows, and we knew it was illegal, but we, we covered it with a non-biased view of like, hey, this is this illegal event.
Like, this is obviously a problem. We interviewed people in Oakland, like, you know, what they were doing to try to prevent them. But then we also interviewed guys who'd been a part of the culture since the '80s, and it was, like, a community thing for them, and we, we told sort of both sides of the story. And I think about it now, like, if I was still in the same position, like, I would 100%, you know, enjoy telling the story of what is takeover culture, 'cause it's just something that's interesting, good or bad.
Um, there's something there. But I think you found yourself in a place where because you were part of the creation of it, you were part... Like, it wasn't like you weren't able to separate yourself as the like, "I'm the journalist here." Yeah. So I, I set that up because [01:49:00] now, do you find that you get to cover these sort of amazing things that people obviously want to see, but you are, you have a line drawn where you are separated from it?
Is that a... Do you find yourself enjoying that more? Well, if I had a line drawn and I'm separated from it, I'd be a great journalist. Um- I f- I find it hard to- Where do you find it hard to draw the line? Just make sure people don't crash. Yeah, yeah. There's a blocked out... That's really it, is p- make sure it- Yeah, I mean, h- I think on that side you have a moral high ground, actually, because- Well, I get a lot of shit for it.
Of course. I get a lot of shit for it. Yeah, yeah. A- as a... I was classically trained as a journalist and started my career not in cars, started my career more in pop culture and wrote stories on gentrification and all these different things that were hard subjects. Mm-hmm. Um, so, like, I, I understand that side of it, but I also probably...
When I was younger, I'd like to believe I wouldn't, I wouldn't grab the person's hand and I'd take a photo, but now that I'm older, I would grab the person's hand so they don't fall off the cliff. You know what I'm saying? I, I, I think it's a, it's really hard to draw that line. [01:50:00] I, I wanted to be a war photographer when I was younger.
I was in journalism school when 9/11 happened, and- I wanted to go tell the story of what was happening over there. Um, and I wanted to do it non-embedded. I wanted to- You were gonna go to Afghanistan? Yeah, I wanted to do that. Ballsy. That's what I wanted to go do. Um, I'm happy I didn't now that I'm older in life, because like I, I don't know if...
Like, it sounded like something I really wanted to do when I was younger. Um, I think it would've been a really difficult place to be. I th- and not just because of the- Right, 'cause of the ex- experiences ... not because of the danger, but because of the experience. Mm-hmm. What you would see. Yeah. What you'd see- Yeah
and how that might shape you. Yeah. And how it does take a bit of your humanity away. There's a lot of things a human brain was never designed to see. Yeah, and that's kind of what I was asking you about that before with like seeing mutilated bodies- Mm-hmm ... is, is horrific. Like, I've unfortunately had to see it.
Yeah, I mean, seeing one or twice, and I, I think I had a correct reaction when I first saw my first, second- Right ... first and second dead body, and I th- I had a very normal human reaction, 'cause I, I think a human being You know, uh, throughout their life, like sure our, our brain's designed to take [01:51:00] in the, the picture of a mutilated body once or twice, but not 1,000 times.
Mm-hmm. And that's, I think that's where I'm at. And I think my... anyone's brain's not designed to take that in. That's why you end up with coroners that like mess around with people's dead bodies thinking it's nothing. Mm-hmm. Um, because it's just what the result of all that exposure. And, um, are they a terrible person because of it?
No. But are they like, do they lack empathy, and is empathy a good thing to have? Yeah. And, um, yeah, no, you're right. Like, if, if you went to Afghanistan and saw what you saw, like would you come back a better person? Arguably no, arguably good. Arguably yeah, but- Yeah ... arguably no, because you would've lost all your empathy in life.
And, um- Yeah. Yeah. And- Yeah, again, I, I, like I, it's interesting. I don't know, and this is reaching the conversation a whole other place, but it's like I sometimes question if like we have the ability to deal with all the stuff that we, that social media shows us- No ... as, like, people. No. Like tribally we were these small groups, and you d- you only dealt [01:52:00] with a certain number of horrors in your life.
Yeah. Doom scrolling. And now it's like every day- Yeah ... just feels like everything's horrible. Yeah. So would y- Social media, yeah, we're not, we're not meant to see all that shit on social media. And we're, we're also not meant to see, watch porn. No. Like porn is terrible. Yeah. Yeah, so it's the same thing, same effect.
Like there, like a 12-year-old- It desensitizes- ... a 12-year-old kid shouldn't have access to 100,000 naked women. Yeah. Um- Yeah. Or even, like that's one thing. They shouldn't be- Yeah ... have access to sort of a version of sex that doesn't really exist in real life, right? Like, and be like, "This is normal." Yeah. Like it, like dual penetration is normal, you know?
A, a 12-year-old kid has access to more women now than a Roman emperor ever had. Yeah. Um- Yeah ... so and we're the, genetically this, we're the same people, you know? Yeah, yeah. Do you find that you have to sort, like do you censor when you do find like a mutilated body? I mean, is this something you, you show or you don't show?
Like where do you draw your lines there? I have like a subscription page- Okay ... and like on Instagram, and it's only, I, it's, [01:53:00] it's the, the only reason why I use a subscription page is 'cause Instagram's really good about protecting it from screenshots. Oh, okay. You cannot screenshot it. Right. It'll just, you'll just...
You can't even plug in like, if you plug in like a hacking device- Yeah ... like the only way to capture that photo is with another phone taking a photo of the iPhone. Right, right, right. Um, so that's why I use my subscription page, and I als- like I, I, in my subscription page, the first thing you see is like, "This is strictly journalistic things.
It's unfiltered. I'm gonna post everything I see- Right ... whether it's good, morally okay, morally not to post." Whatever, and like I think I like have like a couple thousand people on there, but like they, they've signed up for it. They- Right. I don't, do I post it for the public to see and for like that person's relative to be doom scrolling and end up on their page?
No. Yeah. But, um, like if... And, and I'm, I'm very like journalistic about that stuff. I'm very like- LOL dead body, no. Like, you know- Yeah ... like, it's very... And I, and I post it in a very journalistic way. This is exactly what happened, no opinions. [01:54:00] Like, this is what happened on this time of day at this location, this is what happened, and this is what you see.
Yeah. And this is what... Yeah, you know. So, so those people on there kind of sign up for it. Would I ever post a mutilated body to the public for it to be shared a million time? Fuck no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, 'cause man, I can see that's where you start to get into, like, a weird world of, like, if that was your family member or a loved one, like, you definitely don't want that stuff out there.
And there's so- Yeah ... because everyone has a phone now, we see so much more stuff that, like, we never saw. When I was younger and, you know, I'm, whatever, 20 years older than you, there was a series called Faces of Death, and it was, like, a VHS tape of, like, you know, things like bodies and people get being killed and whatever.
And then it's like, you know, I, I... It was, like, there was this, it was this tape that, like, you know, I think I may have seen, like, clips of it, but I never saw the whole thing. But people would talk about it. It was, like, a legend thing. Like, "Oh, I saw the Faces of Death, and this guy gets, you know, murdered in it."
And now it's like you can find that shit, like, [01:55:00] two clicks away on the internet. Like, where back then it was this, like, lured VHS tape that, like, you couldn't rent at Blockbuster. It had to be, like, something that was, like, given from one person to another or bought off of, like, you know- Much harder. Yeah, much harder.
I mean, it was like, you know, it wasn't that easy, and I think now it's like- Now if Instagram algorithm notices- Oh ... that you like dead bodies- Yeah ... it'll just keep pushing dead bodies in your algorithm. Oh, I have seen stuff on, on Instagram. I'm like, "Oh, I wish I didn't see that this morning." Yeah. Like, uh, that's not something I wanted to see, so.
But I mean, you know, people get insens- you know- Yeah ... desensitized to it eventually 'cause they see so much of it and, like, not have the proper reactions to it when they actually see it, um, like, and, and end up like me, you know? Yeah. Like, genuinely, I, I don't know if I... That, like... You wouldn't be wrong if someone, if someone said you be- you've become a terrible person- Because, I mean, you are a terrible person because of the way you act and because of the reason why, like, all the stuff you've been exposed to- Mm-hmm
um, is causing you to act this unempathetically. [01:56:00] Mm-hmm. And if someone calls me insensitive and a terrible person, like, I don't deny it. Hmm. And, um- Is this something you talk to a therapist about? 'Cause it feels like- Yeah, yeah ... you might want to. Okay. Yeah. Um, and I, a- but then I find myself like sh- I should be empathetic here.
A- and I'm s- but, you know, it goes back to, like, it's just what the result of, like, how first responders act, right? Mm-hmm. And are they all terrible people? No. Um, are, are they being terrible by being insensitive? I don't know. Probably. Well, I mean, look, I, I've, I've read a lot of sort of stuff from first responders and, you know, and, and spoken to some of them who are friends, and I think a lot of it, as you said before, it's a coping mechanism.
Yeah. Like, you have to, you have to do your job, and sometimes to do your job you have to disassociate from doing things or, or from paying attention to most things- Yeah ... because you have to make those decisions I mean, if that's, if that's a way for you to justify- Yeah ... you know, you being completely un-unsympathetic, then- Yeah
it's a good justification. Well, I, I- Yeah ... a f- I, I was just talking to a guy the other day- Yeah ... and he, he drives fire... You know, he, he drives ambulances, right? [01:57:00] Yeah. And I was telling him that I saw this ambulance. I've never seen an ambulance pushing like I did. Like, he was, like, you know, on the horn, sirens on, um, you know, in and out of oncoming traffic, just going for it.
Mm-hmm. And he t- he said, "Yeah, there was a kid in the bus." Mm-hmm. He's like, "That's when you drive like that." He's like, "You don't drive like that for old people." And it was just like an in- it was like, it was just, like, he just said it. He's like, "Yeah, that's just the reality." Yeah. He's like, "There was probably a kid in the bus," you know?
And, and you're like, "Yeah, I get that." I can't even get started with- Yeah ... EMTs. Man, they- Yeah ... I mean- Yeah ... they're not terrible people, but- Of course not. They're, they're- ... they all act terrible because- But have you ever seen the movie Bringing Out the Dead? Mm. It's a Martin Scorsese film- Mm ... and it's a, it's about this topic.
It's about the topic of, like, how difficult it is to drive an ambulance, right? Or with a, a bus, right? Mm-hmm. And, like, what, um, you know, and, and how difficult that, that is to deal with it then, right? And, like, and how you, they all just disassociate and, you know, and, and the things that come with that, right?
Does that make someone terrible? I [01:58:00] don't, I don't... I, I don't know if I'm the one to be the judge for it, but I- Yeah ... they're doing a good job. Yeah. So, like, they're doing something that needs to be done, and if that's what they have to do- They're doing the Lord's work ... to do that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah.
I mean, I don't know. They... Like, I... Like, if, if there is a f- a, someone bleeding out in the middle of the street, like, unless it's a kid, every f- every, like, ambulance dr- like, EMT, like- I don't know. I just, sometimes I see them, like, take their sweet ass time just coming out of the back of the car and, like- Yeah
driving so slowly. Oh, all right, this person's dead. On to the next. Go, let's go actually. Well, I guess, I guess there's an element of, like, you can't always be at... I mean, a- and I'm trying to give them- Yeah ... the benefit of the doubt in saying this, but it's like, and I'm, and I'm sure there are people who listen to this who are EMTs, first responders.
Mm. There's definitely a lot of police officers and, and stuff who, you know, when you do it every single day of your life- Mm ... there's only a particular speed you can operate at, right? So, like, I don't know. Because I think- Yeah ... we all wanna believe that [01:59:00] everybody is always operating in, at superhero spage- Yeah
stage, but you just, you aren't. Like, you have own things going on in your life. Yeah. When you do it enough, that there is a bit of a taxing of it that I- I- Yeah ... I would think would happen. And I'll be honest, it's not something I think about often, but this conversation's been really interesting to me, and we probably spent a lot more time on- Yeah
this one piece. It's a huge debate, yeah. We've, uh- Yeah ... well, we've probably spent a lot more time on just... I- I found this new chapter of your story, which is sort of, you know, being the, the stringer and doing that to just... It w- it's like a real left turn to- Yeah ... anyone who's watching from the outside. Yeah.
Um, and like I said, I, I got to see your vehicle in person when I went to go up to, to- Oh, cool. Yeah ... hang out with Mongo. Yeah. And I was like, I was like, "This is crazy, like, to build a GT3 to just go do all of it." Yeah. I, I, I strip out all the scanners from inside the car too when I get to the dealer. When you, when you bring it.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I like saw the lights- Yeah ... and saw- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... just kind of how- Yeah ... how it was outfitted. And as, like, a tech nerd, like- Mm ... I kind of enjoyed that whole part. And it was, it's, it's been great to talk with you about it because I think the [02:00:00] motivation for it for me, why you do it, I don't really fully understand.
I get that you did it the first time, and it's, I don't know if it's the rush for you or whatever, but it's, it's definitely something that's interesting. I mean, is it the- I mean- ... views? Because it's not the views, 'cause you did it without telling anyone for, for eight some odd years or whatever, right? At first it was just, like, the love of the- So it's, it's, it's not about the clout- Yeah
or the views. No, at first it was just the love of the game. Yeah. I did it for the love of the game. Yeah. Like, I cannot deny that. Yeah. And then it was like views, and then it was like more money than I've, I've actually ever seen in my life. Hmm. Um, yeah, it was like- So it, so there is a financial upside to it.
Yeah. Yeah. It was a financial upside. And like it, it, uh, um, I, I justified it where I was like, well, first of all, I never post a dead body on Snapchat- Right ... ever. You can't even- Yeah. Not only is it a community guideline, like I also just still stick by the point where like I would never post a dead body for millions of people to see.
If I did, like, and I had to tell a story, then it was like someone's [02:01:00] foot. Right. And it was like, "This person is, this person was deceased." Yeah. Um, but yeah, ultimately it became like a very, uh, monetary thing and like, um- Yeah, it like shifted my life so much to the amount of money I made, um, that it, it like became such a chore and a job, and like I hated doing it.
And then I stopped last September, 'cause I literally wanted to... I was having m- I was going to therapy. I was like having mental health issues. Yeah. Um, I was seeing more dead bodies than a human being should be seeing. Like, an EMT sees one dead body, and then deals with it for the rest of the night. Right.
I go out and see- Yep ... like 10 different dead bodies and listen to 10 different moms crying about- You're going to all the worst calls. Yeah, all the worst calls. So arguably for that year, I've been, I, I don't wanna be ignorant here, but like I saw more than like what a one cop or like one- Right ... EMT would see.
Yeah. Um, and, um- So are you not doing it anymore? Because you said you just had an incident last night, so clearly it's- Yeah, so, so I went [02:02:00] out last night, but it's like, it's like twice a week now. And then I, instead of like 12 hours a day, like I said, I'd, I'd listen in my, at my house, like to the scanner.
And like if a pursuit comes out and I know this person's a car guy, and this guy's gonna be in a pursuit for three hours, hey, let's go out and make a fun video. Right. Um, and that's, like it's on that basis now, and it's like much more of just, it, it came back to just being a hobby for me. Okay. Um, and- How often do you listen to the scanners though?
Every other night, at least Okay At least every other night. Or, like- D- does it feel a little... I, I- Or, like... But, but, but what is... W- when I, what I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast is having the connections everywhere in LA. That is more useful to me- Okay ... than, like I'm in this group chat right now, um, where, like, it's, like, all...
It's a group chat full of, like, 10 stringers, and, like, I will know within 30 seconds if, like, a call comes out just b- by being in that group chat. Mm. Like, in, just, like, in, in our podcast, I was looking at my watch- I saw that, yeah ... and I was getting a, I was getting a bunch of updates on that triple homicide in Hollywood.
Like, I, m- my, that [02:03:00] group chat is, like, the most direct source of news that I have, and then, like, people will be like, "Hey, there's this call." Everyone will help each other out, and, like, the, the- there's this call, or, like, people will be like, "Hey, Alex, like, are you home? There's a pursuit near your house." Um, so on that basis I'll, I'll go out a lot, and then I'll, like, film it and...
But then, like, like last year when I was doing this for the money, I found myself driving to the 1,000th car fire that I don't care about, driving like a bat out of hell, risking my life, risking everyone else's life- Mm-hmm ... to get there to film it. Um, and that was dreadful, and I was driving very illegally, um, and, like, risking a lot.
Right. You're like- Yeah ... cr- you're potentially creating- Yeah ... another call. Exactly, um, to get to these calls, and then, um, so and I'm just, I'm just glad that I, I'm not in that position anymore, having to do that. And I've, like, I feel like I've just saved up enough money to, like, try to figure out, you know- So are you- I'm not retired, but, like, I- What the next chapter is?
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I've, I've figured it out. I, I know what I wanna [02:04:00] do, actually. Um, I just haven't done it yet, but, um, I'm just, like, testing the waters right now. But I'll t- I, I don't wanna- Yeah, yeah ... discuss this- We can talk about it o- off- ... 'cause this is like a, this is like a NDA- You don't want someone to take your...
Yeah, yeah ... NDA idea. I get that. But, um, yeah. C- can I ask you a question? And you, you can, you can skip on it, but- Sure ... i- the way you talk about this and this thing that... It, it's, it's clearly, it's exciting. It has a rush involved in it. Obviously, there's a financial upside to it. Um, but you were doing this before there was a financial upside, so, like, this is clearly something that's there.
And now you sort of realize it is probably bad for you on some levels. 100%. Do you feel it's addictive? Like, does this feel like an addiction to you? The dopamine rush, yeah. That's what I'm... Yeah. The dopamine rush is, like, man, when, when the LAPD BO- or the, the dispatcher goes, "And all your units off Ricky is to stand by, like, 21's in pursuit of a..."
Like, the dopamine rush, I still get it. Mm. I'm like, "Oh, shit." And even cops get it, too. Like, like, I'll I'll be like hanging out with off-duty cops and like ev- they've been on the workforce for [02:05:00] 20 years, and they hear a pursuit and like, "No way, like, let's listen," you know? Hmm. Um, um, like that dopamine rush from a pursuit, I don't know why people are just addicted to pursuits.
I mean- Like police chases are like... P- people watch. That's a- that's why like the news still plays it. Yeah. Like it's like, it's like they- they'll spend, you know, $3,000 on a helicopter to go play pursuits for a reason. Like it's, people love watching it live especially. Yeah. I mean, that was, that was big TV in California for a long time.
Yeah. I mean, I grew up in New York- Yeah ... and they would cut to car chases in Los Angeles- Yeah ... just because people would watch it, you know? Especially the aerial- Yeah ... chases where you could- Yeah ... see it all from above. Shout out to OJ for like really kickstarting that. But yeah. Seriously. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the most watched car chase of all time.
Yeah. And ever, ever since people... Everyone cares about- Yeah ... a poli- like even, e- like there is not a car person, a person that's into freaking makeup or something completely else. Yeah. Like people will unite and sit in front of a TV to watch a live car chase. Yeah. You [02:06:00] know? No matter what. Well- Yeah, I mean, look at how good TV shows like Cops, and when I was a kid, Rescue 911, and these things were all out.
Like there... It was fun to watch that. And I guess in a lot of ways, I guess you're... and current, you know, sort of stringers are the modern-day version of that, 'cause it's not really a TV show anymore. Yeah, no. And TV's kinda dying, sadly. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You say sadly. Do you, do you... Is there a part of TV you miss or, or is it just sad to see anything die?
Um, I mean, TV's done so professionally and so well, and people, like, know what they're doing, and, like, and, and, like, there's... People would rather, like, watch somebody's Twitch stream over TV and- ... you know? Um, but I'd rather just put... I would rather wa- if I'm gonna spend time watching something, I'd rather watch something that has production value and, like- Yeah
something that people have put care and a lot of time and money into making versus somebody yapping on Twitch. Um- Why do you think that is, though? Why do you think the, the n- younger- Fuck if I know ... newer generation- I don't know ... cares about that more? I don't know. I, uh, streaming is incredible, and I, I, I personally don't watch any streamers.
[02:07:00] Yeah, I don't even have Kick downloaded on my phone. Like, I know what it is, but- But it's incredible and I respect it. Yeah. I, I, like, I, I will never, like, undermine the next new thing, whether or not I like, I like it or not, and I, I respect it, and, like, if I can, you know, if there... If I can get my foot in the water, you know, and grab a piece of that pie, I would.
I personally, you know, I, I never watch streamers. I would never watch a streamer, um, or a stream, um, personally. Mm-hmm. But I really respect it. Yeah. What do you watch? Like, what are the things you enjoy watching now? Do you- Nothing. I have so many hobbies. I'm, I'm, I'm very grateful that I have all these hobbies.
Um, I like... I, I, I wake up out of bed and, like, I do something, whether it's work, productive, trying to figure out my next big thing. Yeah. I've been, like, for the last, like, year or, like, seven months, ever since the beginning of this year, I've, I've gone from, like, um, working 20 hours a day to getting three hours of sleep every day to, like, being able to, like, relax, and so I've been [02:08:00] really enjoying that.
And then, um, yeah, I have so many hobbies that I can just go out and do, and I just get so excited, and I fi- fixate on a hobby for, like, a month, and then I go move on to the next hobby and the next hobby, and I come back to some hobby, and then I just keep moving on. Yeah. So, like, um- What, what's the, what's the- What do I watch?
I don't watch TV. I don't watch streams. I don't... I mean, I... Who doesn't doomscroll? But I, I do doomscroll here and there. Yeah. If I'm taking a shit, I'll fucking doomscroll. But, um, like, yeah, I, I, I don't watch anything, and I, and I don't... I try and do my best to, like, not consume anything, um, and just, like, go out and do something.
I hate, I hate being a consumer. Like, I- Yeah, yeah. That's my big thing so- Wh- what are your current hobbies? What's, like, the top hobbies at the moment for you? Right now I am really fi- ... I guess this goes back to being a consumer, but- I'm really fixated on building PCs. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's like so weird, 'cause, like, all my other hobbies are, like, action.
Um, but, but- Are you into, are you into gaming? Is that part of it? Or just- [02:09:00] Not- Or just, like, the building of the machines? Yeah, I mean, I'm into g- the gaming a- as any, like, not an unhealthy amount, but, like, as any normal boy would be into gaming. Yeah. Like, if, uh, all my friends are hopping in a Fortnite lobby, I'll play Fortnite with them.
But, like, I'm so ... Like, I just fixated on, like, getting the latest and greatest PC and turning up all the graphics, and also, like, running AI. Um- Okay ... like, downloading an LLM and running AI. Okay. But, like, I don't know. It, like, a, a, a month ago it was, like, RC planes. Um, and then a month before that it was guns.
And then- Yeah ... and then a month before that it was like ... I mean, I rode motorcycles my whole life, but then, like, I really rode every single day for like a month straight. I don't know. It's just like I have something that I can go do and hang out with myself, and I don't even need to rely on my friends. I can just go hang out with myself and, and, and enjoy myself.
Like, I get so ex- ... Like, every day I, like, wake up and I'm like, "Can't wait to go build this PC." Mm-hmm. Like, and I lose sleep over it. Um- I, I saw this clip from Jon Stewart this morning, and I, I thought it was really good. And he was talking about how ... It was, he was doing, [02:10:00] um, I think he was doing, uh, Trevor Noah's podcast.
And, uh, he said, you know, he, he used to be really into drugs, right? In the '90s he had a lot, he had, like, a big drug problem. Which honestly I didn't really realize that he did. Okay. Which all of a sudden makes the, uh, his statement in Chappelle's, um, episode of, like, so much funnier or more real. Do you- I don't know any of these people.
Uh, do you know Jon Stewart? I, I'm so- This is great ... I don't, I don't consume anything. This is the, this is the cultural break. Yeah. Okay, so Ch- I don't consume anything. Like, the, even in my culture, like, I don't- Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. Okay. Yeah. So Jon Stewart runs a, a, a show called The Daily Show, which is, like, a kind of
It was started as a fake news show. Oh, wait. Is that the person that drills people for, uh, car payments? No, no, no, no, no, no. This, he- Oh, okay. No ... he's on, like, Comedy Central or was- Oh, okay. Okay, okay ... and, like, and basically his show is, like, a satire TV sh- a satire news show- Okay ... on politics, right? Okay. But it has we- it we- in the beginning it was a satire show, like, 20 [02:11:00] years ago, and it eventually actually became for millennials, it became, like, their source of news.
Like, it r- like, Jon Stewart became, like, the number one source of news for, for, like, millennials, right? And, um, anyway, uh, I, I'll, I'll get to the point, but I- Uh-huh ... I, I do ... It's, it's such a crazy disconnect to be like, "Wow, you don't know who I'm talking about." And then Trevor Noah took over the show from him later on.
I, I, I get that all the time- Yeah, yeah ... even if I- It's fine. Yeah. It's fine. Um, but anyway, he said this thing, and I, get back to what you were saying. He said that, you know, he, he had, he used to smoke a ton of weed, did other drugs, and, you know, to ... Because when he was really busy everything was good. But when he slowed down, life got bad, right?
And, like, I feel that way often with things. Yeah. And he got into woodworking, and- I was so into woodwork. I have every damn Milwaukee tool. Yeah, I love woodworking too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, all the, all of the, um, French cleats in the background that are there. Yeah. Like, I built all that one weekend 'cause I just decided I need it.
Yeah. My dad was into woodworking. But his point was, was that [02:12:00] hobbies are, like, the one thing that turns the noise down. Like, if you have that noise in your head, a hobby does it in the same way that drugs do, but without the hangover, and without the bad results, and without making bad decisions. That, like, really good hobbies can just suck you into something for four or five hours where you don't think about all the bad things in the world.
You don't think about the noises or the voices in your head. You just get to do the hobby. And I thought about that this morning, and I was, I was like, "Man, I... It's so true." Yeah. And I, I think the most unhappy times of my life is when I haven't had hobbies to, like, do. And, like, in hearing you, it's like that's the thing you go to, and, like, it makes sense, you know?
Like- Maybe it's a dude thing, but yeah ... do things. I think it's, I mean, I think that it's, I don't know if it's a gender thing. I think that it goes both directions. Mm. I... For me, it's an ADHD thing. I swap out- Oh, yeah, yeah ... I swap out different hobbies every month. Yeah. Like, I, I, like, I just, I keep joking- Do you ever fixate so hard on a task that you even forget to take a piss?
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, and then, like, five hours later, you're like, "Holy shit, I need to go take a piss so badly"? I will forget to eat. I will forget- Yeah. So you, you have [02:13:00] ADHD as well, or you think? I, I went to go get tested for it. Apparently I don't, but that, I, I think that's bullshit. Yeah. You may have a different thing that's similar.
Maybe. There, there's something else in that, in that world. Yeah, yeah. I went to go get officially tested. Yeah. But for me, I have been in situations where I forget to feed myself, and it'll be, like, 1:00 in the morning, and I'll feel horrible. My wife will be like, "Did you eat today?" Or drink water Or drink water.
Yeah. No. Yeah. No, no. Yeah. You know? So yeah, that t- that, that hyper-fixation is, is fantastic when you need to get things done, but it can also be really, really dangerous. But if you have nothing to fixate on, that's when, like, the mind does the thing. Then you're depressed. Yeah. Yeah. And you get depression.
Yeah. So hobbies fill that in if, you know, instead of, instead of, like, mind-altering substances. Anyway, I thought it was a really interesting thing. I just read it this morning and thought, I was like, "You know, that is true." Like, the hobby is that thing that if you have enough hobbies it fills in the world for other vices, right?
Like, 'cause it's something to do. Unless your hobby is vices, but whatever. Yeah. So. I mean, learning how to just hang out with myself is [02:14:00] like- Yeah. Yeah. To spend time by yourself without f- without relying on friends, without having to, like, go find girls or- Yeah ... I'm not single now, but, like, you know, when I was single, like, having to worry about girls.
Like, I think that's unhealthy. Yeah. And if you, if you can learn, truly learn how to just be with yourself, then yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been married for 10-plus years, so, uh, or well I've been in a relationship for h- for 10-plus years with my wife, and married for, I don't know, eight or nine or something.
So that, like, part of my life is completely gone. Yeah, yeah. But I for- but I forget how cons- It's pretty recent for me, but yeah ... but I forget how- Yeah ... consuming that is in your 20s. Like, that is something you always, always think about, so yeah. For you- Well, having hobbies helps too, you know? Like a lot of- Yeah
girls, you know, I mean if a lot of s- young single guys are watching this, like, making a hobby and, like, having something to focus on, like, girls like that I feel like. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 'Cause, like, it's, it's better than just drinking on the weekends. Yeah, it's better than just, better than just drinking and, like, going after girls.
Yeah. Yeah. If they see that, like, you're really passionate- Yeah ... about something. I, I don't know. I'm not a girl, so I don't know. Yeah. But yeah. Um, do you feel like cars is a lifelong [02:15:00] hobby for you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, any hobby that I made, I think when, like, really my frontal lobe was developing, um, is gonna be a lifetime hobby.
So, like, uh, motorcycles. Mm-hmm. Um, I got my dirt bike when I got... Like, the week I got diagnosed with the brain tumor, like, the, the number one thing I wanted was a motorcycle, so of course my mom c- went and got me- Yeah ... a Honda CR90 I think, CR90. Um, which by the way magically got stolen, and, um, I think I still to this day think it was, uh, my mom who just threw it away in the garbage can.
But she will- She's like, "This is gonna, this is-" I think she's gonna take that to the grave ... she's like, "This is gonna kill him faster- Yeah ... than the tumor." Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, so yeah, I, I think she threw that away in the garbage, but I think she's gonna take that to the grave. Yeah. But, um, yeah, so- Can I- ... go back to what I was saying- Can I ask you a quick question on the tumor thing?
When your mom found out it was benign, is that when she told you that it was... or did you find out about this later on in life? [02:16:00] I remember Dr. Finley of the Children's Hospital telling me, "Hey, I think your tumor is benign," and my mom, like, lighting up on her face. Yeah. I'll, I'll remember that moment, and I think that's how I found out.
Wait, I- But she, but she- But wait- But you didn't really know what it was. But I was like, "Oh, it's benign. I thought it was benign. Whatever. I thought I had a disease that's gonna be cured." Yeah. Okay. Um, well, my mom never lost hope, so she was like, my, my tumor, it's pretty chunky. It's like 25 millimeters by 25 millimeters by 20 millimeters.
So they never removed it. And it's, like, right in the mi- I don't know how the brain works, but it's like right in the middle of the brain. Like- Mm-hmm ... you would have to... Like, it's not like a tumor. A lot of tumors are on, on the du- like ag- up against the dura. But, um, like, it's like here, here- Mm-hmm ... and, like, here.
It's, like, right in the middle. And I guess, like, even a biopsy, um, was too dangerous- Mm-hmm ... 'cause it's so deep in there, and to figure out what it was. So s- we still don't know what it is, um, for sure. Yeah. But even a biopsy was too dangerous, and my mom was always like, "Oh, there's, like, technology here and there."
And, like, I, we did a tour of hospitals. Yeah, yeah. Like, a [02:17:00] tour of American hospitals, like Texas, New York. Kettering? I don't know the names. Oh, yeah. But I, um- My, my mom worked at s- Memorial Sloan Kettering. She's a research scientist, so yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. Um, but yeah, like a tour of hospitals around the world, but the best Korean hospitals, the best, like, American hospitals, you know.
I mean, luckily, my, my, my mom was in a financial standpoint to do so, which I'm grateful for. But, uh, um, yeah, I just didn't know what was, didn't know what was going on. I was just like- Yeah. It's probably better that way ... I was 12. Yeah. Yeah. I, I have no trauma- You know what I mean? ... from it. I have no emotional thing from it.
I was just like, "Oh." And then life kind of- You're like, "Oh, I got a dirt bike" ... it was like a humbling experience after that because, like, people started treating me a little differently. Mm-hmm. And I was like, "Oh, I guess people aren't so nice to me after all." That part, that part wasn't- Um, a lot of, like, teachers, like I'd go to s- I went to school that one year.
Um, but I, my mom told me that I can show up whenever, so I kinda got used to that, and I'd just show up to school, like, [02:18:00] um, like, during, like, the fun hours, like the PE hours. Yeah. And I'm like, "All right, all right, history class, I wanna leave now." Um, so I really did that, and then all the teachers knew that, I think, or they knew that I knew that, um, but, like, let me do whatever the fuck.
Yeah. Like, I tooled around school. Um, and, uh- Yeah, being exposed to that for like a year and then coming back to reality was tough, I think. So that... If anything, that was the toughest part, was coming back to reality after, like, having all this sympathy from everyone around you for a year. Yeah. Um- I can see that.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then, like, having my dirt bike be mysteriously stolen. Are you dirt biking now? Do you have a- Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but, like, that, uh, w- going back to what I was saying, that is a, a hobby that I f- I feel like, I think a lot of hobbies that you develop before your frontal lobe develops is gonna be like- Well, technically you're 26.
Your frontal lobe, like, finished developing maybe, like, a few months ago, right? Isn't it 25 that you fully develop? Maybe. But I feel like- Yeah ... it's, it's, like, 80 perc- [02:19:00] 90% of it is, like- Yeah ... zero to 15, and then the- Yeah, yeah ... 15 to 20 is, like, the last little bit. Is the last part, yeah. Like, it's like, it's like a electric car charging.
Yeah. That's a good comparison. Um, so, um, but yeah, that's, like, in the early stage of my frontal lobe developing. Um, so it's motorcycles, cars. Um, yeah. Hm. Yeah. What's... Do you... What's the next car for you? Do you have something in mind, or are you kinda just enjoying what you have?
No, I... After the P1, no, I don't know. Yeah. It's just like, uh, that's my... There's not a hypercar I want, care for. Um, it was, like, really, that was, like, the car that I really needed. Yeah.
You know, I shouldn't... Uh, like not making as the income that I used to make, it kind of feels a little rougher to... I mean, I have investments, but now I do, but like it's, it's kind of feels a little bit wrong to make large purchases- Mm-hmm ... 'cause you're just like not [02:20:00] making income. Like making, like paying my credit card, I never had to like pull money out of a brokerage account to pay my credit card.
Just like whatever I made, I just threw into our credit card and then whatever was left over, you know? Right. Um, so I, like I don't, I'm not like fixated on making large purchases. Um, but back to your question, I, I don't know. I, I wanna, I wanna buy a lot of those like fun cars that are worthless that, um, uh, that I don't care about if I leave it parked overnight.
Yeah, I mean- So- ... I'll, I'll tell you from my side, you forgot some of the names of the hypercars you owned, but you were, you completely lit up talking about a Miata. Yeah, yeah. So may- maybe, maybe the really nice stuff isn't what brings you the happiness. I've learned that. I mean, I don't, I mean, not that this is anywhere near P1, but like I don't drive this.
I drive like, I have way more fun driving my shitboxes. Yeah. It's just so hard to do it in California. Yeah. Um, like every year my registration bill's like 30 [02:21:00] grand, um, just from registration, and like my insurance on every car is like... So half the cars I don't even put insurance on. Yeah. I just don't drive it.
Yeah, or just turn it on when you need to drive it. Yeah, exactly, and then you need to give them a month-long grace period for it to even turn on and- That's how my 911 is- Oh, yeah ... 'cause I don't drive it enough, so when I need to drive it I'm like, "Oh, I gotta turn the insurance back on." I just keep fire and theft on it, you know?
Yeah, yeah. No, like once, like I want to I would love to, like, retire when I have kids and then move somewhere else where I can have cars like that- Mm-hmm ... and I can buy a billion cars and pay $20 a month to register it, and then, um- When did you move to California? When I was 10. Okay. Yeah. My mother retired in two thousand oh- eight, and then I think, yeah, '08.
No, '09. She didn't retire. Her, she sold her company, and then, um, and then- And you guys moved here from South Korea or from- From South Korea. Okay. Yeah. And then you bounced around, 'cause you said you lived in Europe for a bit and stuff like that. Oh, no, that was when she [02:22:00] was working. Okay. So part of her work, um, yeah, sh- we did so much traveling.
Like, we were ar- like, I was barely in South Korea, and then, like, she would be stationed at, like, Japan for, like, three months- Mm-hmm ... to, like, build a system there. She was in IT, so, um, like early stages of IT, internet technology. So, um, yeah, like w- I went and lived in Qatar for, like, three months 'cause she was building a system there.
Mm-hmm. And then, so in that sense, yeah, I, I lived kind of everywhere, and I was, like, barely in school. Um- Yeah. But yeah, so I, that's how I jumped around. But e- ever since I came to California, uh, my mother retired, and I stopped traveling. Um, and then all the traveling that I've done was, like, on my own, like f- for me.
Mm-hmm. Not 'cause I had to follow my parents around. Yeah, yeah. If you were to live in California, where would you live now? It's definitely not anywhere but America. Yeah. Um, I love America. 'Cause of the air conditioning, which we don't have in this garage right now, two and a half hours in. [02:23:00] Not worse than, not any worse than a, a, a random restaurant in London, though, so.
Yeah, true. I'm, I'm pretty used to it. Eating, eating hot, hot Indian food. Yeah. Sweating both ways. Exactly. Yeah, I was just in Korea too in, in, in the summer. It was awful. Um, I love like, I love that the people here, like, stand behind the Constitution. It's so funny, and it's amazing. Uh, like the right to bear arms is so funny.
Um, but like, it's cool, you know? Yeah. Like, where else can you go and own a bunch of guns, you know? Like, thank you, America. Um- Guns and ti- yeah ... and like, there's nowhere where like, you can, you have, like, rights like America, I feel like. Like, you have all these - Yeah ... when you get pulled, you, you, you, as a felon- It, it's interesting to hear you say it, 'cause as an American, we feel like a lot of our rights are disappearing, but I guess when you come from other places, you're like, "Yeah, there's still a lot of rights still here."
Like, you're, you're, if you try to film a cop in Japan, you're going to jail. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like, you can't just film a cop and just- Yeah ... anywhere else in the world but America. Um, so I love not [02:24:00] taking that for granted and just being here. Yeah. And knowing all that. Um, so yeah, for answer your question, definitely America.
I don't know, just somewhere where I can like... I, I feel like the next chapter in life after I finish working is gonna be raising kids. Um- Yeah ... so I don't know, wherever, wherever I feel like is fit for raising kids. Yeah. Yeah. Do you, um, this is a question we kinda ask a lot of Californians is, like, do you feel like the, that the car culture in California is in a good place, a bad place?
Um, you know, obviously, there's a lot of crackdown from CHP and bo- you know, and, and, you know, getting state raft and all these kind of things. Um, but as someone who has gotten to experience car culture in a lot of places, like, do you still feel like California is, you know, one of the peak places, or is there somewhere else now that you see?
I mean, I'm, I'm not really in a culture, I feel like. Mm-hmm. Like, I'm not really, like, going out to constantly meet new people. I'm always just in my own circle- Mm-hmm ... as far as cars go. [02:25:00] So I guess it doesn't affect me as much. Um, like, if I, if I move to Montana, as an example, then, like- Right ... I'm, I'm still gonna have the same friends.
Right. Um, so, um, to answer your question about culture from the cultural standpoint of, like, going to meets and stuff, absolutely California is, like, top tier and, um, is it moving for the better or worse? I, I don't know. I don't know. But, um, yeah, I don't... To answer your question, I don't know to that answer.
Yeah. Yeah. No, that's, that's a fair, that's a fair answer. Um, I'm always trying to push for, um, like, fairness and, like, hey, not all car people are takeover kids. Yeah. Um, so I'm always trying to point that out, and it's really, um- I mean, I would say the majority is not takeover kids. Yeah. The majority are just guys who- Yeah, yeah, yeah
enjoy wrenching on cars and building stuff- It's really- ... and going to the track or going to Cars and Coffee or whatever, you know? It's really refreshing, um, meeting cops that know that. Yeah. And, like, have that difference. Um, like, one of my closer friends, [02:26:00] um, is in the Hayward area, CHP. Mm. And there's a lot of takeover stuff, and he, like, knows cars.
Like, it's... He's like an encyclopedia of cars. Yeah. Um, so he knows that, and he's a motor officer, so he's CHP. So, like, his job is to go out and write and do enforcement actions. Yeah. And I know that he's not gonna, like, go out and, you know, state ref a beautifully built, I don't know, something. Yeah. Yeah. Um- Whatever.
NSX or something like that. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So he knows that, so it's re- refreshing to know that, and I always tell him, like, "Hey, man," like, "Spread your knowledge," you know? Yeah, yeah. You know, "Go tell your folks," um- But, um- Well, I think there's an element, too, where, like, the, there's this moment comes where the car community, like, almost has to start, like, policing itself on a level, 'cause it's like otherwise it all goes away.
You know? It's like you have to kind of figure those things out and be like, "All right, hey, like, we either have to as a group-" Mm-hmm ... "like, be good about figuring out how to fix problems." And, a- and, uh, [02:27:00] and it happened for a while in the street racing community when I was younger. I mean, Toronto had, like, a really good, like, legal street race community.
Mm-hmm. They obviously did it out here in Long Beach. Like, there's ways to do it, it just means that sometimes, like, you gotta put the work in. I actually, I wish more car people became cops. Like, if... I, I, I try to push that a lot. Most of my car- most of my cops were, well, most of my cop friends w- are car people or were car people.
Yeah. Like, I think there is a big transition there. Like, I have definitely- Like, most cops are not. Yeah. But, I mean, maybe your circle, 'cause my circle's the same. Yeah. Yeah, 'cause my circle of cop friends are all ca- car people. Yeah. But, um, I th- I... from my experience doing ride-alongs and meeting other cops outside of cars, 'cause a lot of my cop friends I met through cars, but, like, outside of...
Yeah, I don't think they- Yeah ... they know jack shit about- It's the best ... besides, like, the knowledge they'd have to know. Yeah. Um- It always bugs I, I remember one time I got pulled over. I was driving the brand-new Camaro when it first came out, so we're talking 2005 they re-released the new Camaro, and it's, like, the biggest deal.
Everyone's buzzing about it. It's, like, you know, [02:28:00] Bumblebee, you know, Transformers. They need a, there's a good chase down one time right now. You, I can see the dopamine hit. You're like, "I could be... Can he wrap this up real quick?" No, no, no. "I could be there." No, no, no, no, no. But that's the group chat that I was talking about.
Is that it? Yeah, it's like that. Yeah. Yeah. But, um, and- Sorry about that ... no, no, no, no. I, it's great. The, uh, live in action right there. Um, but I got pulled over by this cop in Jersey Turnpike. I was doing, like, 95, and in New Jersey 95 is going pretty fast. Like, in the 405, the 95's, like, s- the speed limit, I feel like.
But in New Jersey, like, it, you're, like, you know, 30 miles an hour over. Oh, yeah. You can, like, lose your li- you know, license and whatever. Yeah. And the cop pulls me over, and he walks up, and I'm thinking, like, I am driving a car that is not currently in the dealership. It is a pre-production vehicle from, from General Motors.
Mm-hmm. And no, he's probably never seen one before. Mm-hmm. And I literally thought he pulled me over just to see the car. Mm-hmm. And he walks up, and he's like, "What kind of car is this?" I was like, "Oh, it's the new Camaro." And he's like- Huh? [02:29:00] Oh, all right. And then once he said that, I was like, "I'm screwed." Yeah.
Once I realized he didn't, like, he was not one of us- Yeah ... I was like, "Oh, I'm fucked," and he wrote me a pretty, pretty serious ticket. But, uh, but then the other time, I got pulled over in my ni- my '72 Nova. Cop pulled me over on Lincoln Boulevard in Venice. Mm-hmm. And, uh, cop said to me, he's like, "Hey, pop the hood."
I was like, "Hey, it's a, it's a pretty smog car. It doesn't really matter what's under my hood." He's like, "Yeah, it does. I wanna see what you got." He's like, he's like, "I'm not writing you a ticket." He's like, "I just wanna see what it is." And we popped the hood, and then me and him just sat there and chatted about big blocks for, like, 20 minutes, you know?
So, you know, you get different, you get different situations. It just, it just, I... When I say, like, I wish more car people became cops, it's not because... It, it, part of it is, yeah, I wish more, there were more cooler cops out there, but I genuinely also think that, like, having car knowledge also, like, translates into, like, extremely good policing.
You just have to, like, not get too many tickets and not get in trouble before you're 21. Yeah, [02:30:00] yeah, yeah, yeah. As a car guy, 'cause that's pretty tough to do when you're a car guy and- Yeah ... you're just fucking speeding around everywhere. But, uh, yeah, as long as you make it through that plateau, um, and not get in trouble, like, oh my gosh, like- Car guys make the most badass like, especially like in LAPD Metro, Metro divisions- Yeah
like their SWAT and stuff. Like, some of the most badass guys, I'm like, "What are you driving?" He's like, "Oh, I just bought a new 400Z." I'm like- Sick ... "Hell yeah." Yeah. Well, I actually think one of them to come follow, shows that's gonna follow this up is a buddy of mine who is on auto crime in sher- Mm ... in LA Sheriff's Department.
I texted him something, and it was this cop who posted, he was a retired traffic cop. Mm. And he, it was this podcast clip, and he was talking about how, "Oh, I salivate when I pull over, you know, a, a car that has all these mods. I just can't wait to write him 15 tickets." And the comment well is just like, is just mostly car enthusiasts being like- Yeah
"This is why there's a problem between us and the police department." Yeah. Like, "This sucks," right? Yeah. And I sent it to him and I said, 'cause he, like, [02:31:00] runs the, you know, they've got the sheriff, like, drag race team- Yeah ... and, you know, they do a lot of stuff and, like, you know, community outreach. Yeah. And like, they really are car guys and they're trying to, like, educate in that space, right?
Yeah. And I think that they're very much allies in, like, what we're trying to do. Yeah. Um, and I sent it to him and I was like, "Hey, shit like this is really bad." And he was like, "Hey, let me come on the podcast and, like, talk about this." I was like, "Ah, maybe I will. You know, maybe bring you on and kinda chat about it."
But, um, that being said, I, I wanna bring something up. Now that you're doing a lot of this- If he's w- by the way, sorry to cut you off. Yeah. It, if, if you're willing and if they're willing, like, there's some interesting police officers that I would, I would love for you to chat with on this podcast. I think it'd be great.
Yeah. I think it, I think it's- But only if they're willing, yeah. Yeah, they have to be willing, and they also have to be able to speak freely. Yeah. Sometimes the problem is you bring someone in and they- Yeah ... they're so, like, message trained that it's- Yeah ... not a good conversation. I see. Right? I see. So, like, that's always a difficult one.
Yeah. Or we're gonna have to do it like Vice Magazine style, and they're gonna have to, like, wear a mask or something. Wear, have them in like a, you know- Yeah ... a cop mask for whatever- Yeah ... and they can do that. But, um, yeah, no, I, let me ask you a question on the flip [02:32:00] side of that. Like, do you get any, do you get a lot of hate from people who are, like, really just anti-cop and who are like- Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. You can see that? I'm, I'm so blocked on Instagram by so many people. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. And, like- Fuck, a lot of people hate cops. Yeah, it's pretty sad, but a lot of people hate cops. Yeah. Um, and it's, it's because of they have that experience. Like, most cops are like- I've had- Most cops are, like, very chill
I've had both really good- Yeah ... and really bad experiences with cops. Yeah, of course. I know, and I have family members who are cops and good friends who are cops. Yeah. But I've also had bad... I mean, when I was 17 years old, I got pulled out of the mi- the window of my car, like- Yeah ... you know, by a cop and thrown on the floor- Yeah
because they thought my car was stolen. It wasn't, I just had a temporary license plate. But like- Yeah ... and they treated, like, me like shit until they found out. And like, you know- Yeah ... it's one of those things where, like, that was, like, one of my... That was the first time I ever got pulled over, so of course I was like...
I was 17. I'm like, "Fuck these dudes." But, you know, then I had other good situations. I got pulled over once doing 130 miles an hour on the LIE. Should've gone to jail, and instead the cop told me that, uh, [02:33:00] he was gonna call up my girlfriend who was in the passenger seat, and he's like, he's like, "Instead of going to jail, I'm gonna call your, your girlfriend's dad and tell her, him what you're doing."
And I was like, "Fuck." 'Cause this dude, by- Just give me the ticket ... by the way, her d- h- this girl's dad was a Hells Angel. I was like, "I, I don't think I really want you to call him. I don't think this is gonna be a good... I don't think this- Yeah ... is gonna end well for me." That's funny. Yeah. Um, yeah, I mean s- I mean, sometimes the cops have to, as part of, like, doing their job, they have to be a prick, you know?
Yeah. But, um- I don't know. It, uh, it's... I, I tell people like, "Hey, d- don't discriminate. Like, there's, there's good ones. There's plenty of good ones out there." Yeah. Um, and there's plenty of terrible ones. I've, I've complained. I've written complaints to, um... Like, on the flip side of all this, like, it- from a cop standpoint, if you're a citizen who wrote a complaint, you're an op to them.
If you file a complaint- Yeah ... you're an op. I, I, I could see that. Yeah, like, got a cop investigated. And, like, sometimes, you know, I've had, like, a legitimate [02:34:00] reason. Like, "Hey, your ass needs to get investigated. You're fucking corrupt. You're- Yeah ... this is not what you should be doing." And I've written a couple complaints which gotten sustained and ended up in, um, you know, disciplinary action.
And I don't... I hope no cop that's watching this is gonna be like, "Oh, all right. Fuck this guy. I'm gonna go fuck his-" Now you're the op. Yeah, now you're the op. But, like, on the flip side, yeah, like, y- just people are people, right? And you can't discriminate. Like, you can't, you can't be racist per- per- to one race just 'cause, you know, it's a terrible experience with one race.
Right. Stereotype everything. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So I, I don't think people should stereotype cops. And, um, yeah, man, I like, I... The whole reason why I really do those ride-alongs with CHP also is, like, I really hope a lot of my followers- Yeah ... sign up and, like, go through- So how did that... 'Cause we started talking about that, and we jumped off, and we never got to it.
Yeah. How, how did that start working out that you're doing CHP ride-alongs, and what did, what does that look like? Uh, it's just one person I got connected with up there. Okay. Um, and, uh, like, he was like, "Hey," like, you know, "our recruitment standards have gone down. We really need better people-" Okay ... "on the job.
Um, [02:35:00] and I'm a car guy. You're a car guy, and I think a lot of car guys make great cops." And then he explained to me why he thinks that a lot of car guys- Mm-hmm ... make great cops, and it makes so much sense. And now I'm a believer in that. Um, and, uh, I'm like, "How can I help?" And he's like, "Well, you have millions of viewers, and you get, your videos get millions of views.
What if you just make our job look awesome to all these car people that follow you? Um, and, you know, that'll help our recruitment." Yeah. And I'm like, "Done. Let's do it." Do you know that the sheriff's department has a racetrack in Santa Clarita- Yeah ... that they use for testing? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. They used to let us go up there and drive there.
It was pretty sick. That's sick, yeah. We made friends with the sheriff's department- Yeah, you go up, yeah ... in Compton, and they were like, "Yeah, it's up at the prison up there." And they were like, they're like, "You know we have a racetrack?" I'm like, "What?" They're like, "Yeah, yeah, come, come drive it." It was sick. We just went up there, and we'd just go drifting up there at the r- at the cop track, so.
I love cops that, like, love cars. I mean, also, like, if you think about it, like, 90% of your job is driving. Mm-hmm. You're in a cop car all day. Yeah, yeah. Unless you're, unless you're an office de- de- detective, whatever. And you [02:36:00] get to legally speed- Yeah ... which is kinda cool. Yeah. It's better than being- Can't beat 'em, join 'em
it's better than being an Uber driver. Yeah. I mean, and I'm not just, like, I'm not just, you know, advertising being a police officer here, but, like, it is so fun. Is it something you think you would do? If I- Yeah, I just have to... I would, I genuinely would, and- You just have to get that takeover ticket expunged.
Yeah, it is expunged. And all the LPO evidence. No, I, I think I qualify. Yeah. I mean, uh, the only reason why I think I don't think I would qualify is 'cause of s- what I posted on social media, like my past. Mm. Maybe in 10 years they'll be like, "Oh, it's 10 years ago, whatever." But, um... Or 20 years ago. But, um, yeah, right now I don't think because of what's out there and, like, the reputation that these police departments need to uphold, and, like, making sure everyone's there as a professional- Yeah.
But it sounds like you do actually have- I am not a dipshit ... a lot of regret around all of that. I do. Yeah. Yeah. 100%, 100%. Um, uh, I think there's a lot of... Like, a lot of people in your age right now would not have, you know, [02:37:00] or, or got off lucky because you didn't grow up with social media. And if- 100% ... I bet your ass if people your age had social media, like- 100%
you would have the terrible-s- most terrible track record- The- ... because all your dipshit activities would've been posted. The greatest thing about my generation- Yeah ... was that we didn't really get that kind of technology until we sort of all grew up. Think about how many of you- Like, I didn't have my first phone that had a camera in it- Yeah
until I was almost 30. Yeah, and yeah, and think about how many of your, you or yourself or even- Yeah ... your friends would've incriminated themselves or made terrible reputations online- Yeah, yeah ... if you had social media, you know? Um, and yeah. So I, I don't think they would hire me or accept me because of that.
I have a clean criminal record. Yeah. Um, so my criminal record's fine. I, I have a clean driving record and, like, I, my driving record's squeaky clean, but, like, one Google search and 10 years facing felony in federal prison, like, you know. Oh, I did your Google search before you came in- Yeah. ... just [02:38:00] to see what'd pop up, and I told you.
Yeah, yeah. It's like controversial automotive enthusiasts- Yeah ... federal charges. Yeah. Um, if it weren't for that, I probably would have- Uh, join the academy Mm. Right now, actually, I would've joined the academy. I think about that all the time. Like, right now it's out of the question 'cause all the social media stuff is so fresh.
But, um, like ever since, uh, like September, I stopped working as hard. Mm-hmm. And I told myself I'm gonna take a break. Like, I would've taken this time to join the academy. And, you know, whether I'd do it for a year or two, probably would've quit, honestly, or b- joined a reserve status- Mm-hmm ... if that department that I joined allowed a reserve status.
Most departments don't, but, um, I would've 100%. And, like, you know, my hopes was that w- not only to enjoy myself and, and, and my time on this earth or, you know, to do the right thing, but also, like, I hope that people... There's a lot of changes I wanna make in the system. Like, [02:39:00] example being make DUIs not take six hours for LAPD officers.
Um, you know, I don't know the logic of why it takes six hours to be, you know, to write a dues for, as an LAPD officer. Yeah. But, like, I would've loved to be in a position of power to, like, change stuff like that. And, and be in a circle of friends where, um, you know, the people, person, my, my academy graduate mate or my classmate is, like, all of a sudden, in fast forward 20 years, a, a lieutenant, and he has power to change stuff like that.
Mm-hmm. Um, and, you know, I can, like, maybe convince him or something. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I, I mean, like, that's the ul- that would've been the ultimate angle for joining. Yeah. Um, and also, like, um, there's not really much a civilian does where they're put in a high-stress, like, do rather than a think scenario than, than car guys do while they're just hauling ass in the canyons, I feel like.
And that helps a lot, I think in- Mm-hmm ... in high-stress situations that you have to deal with in policing [02:40:00] is like, um... And driving too, you know? Like, a lot of, so many, so many cops wreck their cars and like- Yeah ... I ask- I mean, look, a lot of cops give a reason for why they get into, you know, officer-involved shootings is because they talk about their, um, you know, it, they, it was a chase and their, you know, their stress levels are high, and that's kind of one of the things that, like, put them in that position.
Yeah. And I do, like, I get that for, like, an average person, but I watch some of these chases and I'm like, "That's not, you're not really going that fast." Like, like, I get that it's stressful- No, yeah, but they've- ... but it's different for- ... they've never experienced- ... someone who has spent- Yeah ... a lot of time driving quickly, you know, on track or- Yeah, every car guy has hauled ass.
Yeah, yeah. Like, there's no denying it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no way you don't like cars- Yeah ... unless you're, like, a, someone who's doing it for the clout. But, like, there's no way you like cars that actually like cars and you're not, like, you haven't done triple-digit speeds. Yeah. But yeah, that for sure helps.
And, like, um, I, you know, if, if Chris Harris became a cop, imagine the ability that Chris Harris would have if, like, being [02:41:00] able to be in a pursuit and, like, calmly talk on the radio. He already has that ability- ... and he's never even gone through a academy, you know? They need to cast him in a film where we make him a cop.
Yeah, and I bet he would be... He, like, if, if a man can powerslide a P1 and narrate a TV show- Yeah ... you can also be in a high speed chase- Yeah. I mean, he can powerslide a Carrera GT, which is a very difficult thing to- And- And still talk to camera ... and narrate. Yeah. And if you have that ability, then you also-
have the ability to broadcast your location while- Yeah ... properly and in a, in a, in a clear way and be in a high-speed chase. By the way, this is a really good concept for a, for a movie. The cops go and recruit from r- old race car drivers and old journalists. I have so much faith in race car drivers. Like, the, I, I do.
They, like, they would be, they would make great fucking cops. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I've been in car-- Rally car drivers are the craziest. You're in a, you constantly feel like you're crashing, and they are as calm as can be. Like, we've done, like- How did you meet, how did you meet Ken, by the way? I wanted to ask you this.
Yeah. I, um, so I was a magazine [02:42:00] journalist. Uh, I worked, I did a magazine called Zero 60, but before that I did a magazine called Rides, which was, like, a hip hop car mag. Um, it was, like, competition for, like, DUB Magazine today. Oh, okay. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah. So think, like, 26-inch rims- DUB Magazine ... and spinners.
Yeah, yeah. Do you remember, do you remember donks? Yeah. So I was the first person to ever put a donk in a magazine, and we called... And then I put it in Rides, and then we did a spinoff of that called Donk Box and Bubble. It wasn't my culture, but it was really enjoying to, it was, like, an enjoyable thing to go and watch and see and, and kind of like, you know, experience it all.
But, um, I, uh, Gumball Rally- was still really, really big in the early 2000s. Mm-hmm. It was 2005, and we wanted to go, well, the magazine wanted to go on Gumball Rally. We'd gotten word that Rob Dyrdek was gonna go, and this is before Rob Dyrdek had Fantasy Factory and before he had Robin Big. Okay. So he was still just a pro skateboarder, and we were looking to branch out from just hip hop.
So it was like, "Oh, let's bring some skateboarders in." I made a phone call to, to people at DC, said, "Hey, we'd love for you guys to send some photos [02:43:00] over." Long story short, they got back to me and said, "Hey, actually, um, you know, uh, one of the founders of the company is going along with Rob and he's got an extra seat in his, in his car.
Do you wanna go? But if you wanna go, you need to be in Trafalgar Square tomorrow." So I headed to JFK, got on a plane, flew to London, and met Ken, and rode with him on the Gumball Rally, um, which was a ton of fun, and we- Wait, you just, you... That was your first time meeting him? Yeah. And you did a whole-ass Gumball Rally with him?
Yeah. Well, we, I did half and had to fly out 'cause I had other work to do, but like we- What was he driving? We had a 2005 STI or 2004 STI. I think it might've been it was a 2005 STI. Like, was he working with Subaru? Uh, yeah. Yeah. He was racing for them at this point. Oh, okay. And it was a Crawford-built car, so it had about, like, 475 horsepower.
So it moved, and, uh, and we basically just drove through, you know, Belgium, Germany, obviously London, and, like, France at, like, 160 miles an hour together. Mm-hmm. You know, just on Gumball, and had a lot of conversations. And I told him... 'Cause he was like, "This is fun, but," like, he's like, [02:44:00] "I really just enjoy racing more."
And it was- How is there not a single video of, like, Ken driving illegally on the street? 'Cause we... I mean, other than Gumball Rally, 'cause we were pretty smart from early on saying that, you know, this is not something that we can do. Yeah, no, I was really down with that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, look, I mean, one, we were older than you, so like- Okay, okay
our frontal lobes, fully formed. Yeah. Um, so, uh, Ken was already, you know, Ken was 35, 36 when he started racing rally, you know, so that's around when I met him. So he was already in his mid-30s, already sold his first, you know, sold actually a couple companies at that point, but sold DC for, for, you know, a good amount.
And when we started talking about Hoonigan, um, you know, it was, we were, from day one, we... I'm, I'm gonna make a reference that- That you will not know, but my Uncle George called me and he said, you know, when I was t- when he heard about the brand we were building, and he said, "You're gonna have your Ozzy Osbourne moment."
So, like, you know who Ozzy is? [02:45:00] The guitar or the rock player? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So there was a moment, someone killed themselves listening to their album backwards, playing the Bl- Black Sabbath album backwards, right? And this moment was this moment that rocketed Black Sabbath and then Ozzy into, like, massive stardom because of, of bad news.
Like, everybody talked about it, but then of course every kid went out and, like, wanted to hear what the record sounded like played backwards, right? And- No way ... and, and it became this, like, sort of, like, phenomenon. And I, I think this is, like, late '70s, early '80s. It's before my time, right? But his point was, was like, "You guys are doing something that's dangerous, and eventually somebody is going to hurt somebody, and they are going to have a Hoonigan sticker on their car.
And you are going to be woken up at 3:00 in the morning by a, by a news team- Yeah ... and they're gonna ask you for a comment, and you are going to need to be able to say, 'We never condone that. We never did it ourselves.'" And we did, and that's how we ran our, that's how we ran the business. Like, everybody... I mean, look, I'm not saying that [02:46:00] the guys who worked for the company didn't street drift before Hoonigan, but there was a rule that was like, once you're on Hoonigan, like, you don't do this.
Like, you don't go street drifting. You don't even do burnouts in the street. So, like, even when we were doing, like, Power Tour, everybody from the MotorTrend crew was, like, doing burnouts and we weren't. Do you think they did? So... What's up? Do you think they did? What? Who? Do dumb shit on the street, like people that worked with you?
Uh, it was a pretty hard and fast rule for us. Yeah. So, like, look, do I think they did when it, when we weren't, when people weren't watching? Yeah. Yeah. It was definitely something that everyone knew never to film and post, right? So, 'cause, like, that was the c- well, it was the model was, like, there was this term back when I was into skateboarding.
It was called skateboarding is not a crime. Yeah, yeah. And they made these stickers about it, right? And then when we launched Hoonigan, we had hooning is not a crime. And the, the idea- Ah ... the idea behind it was that the actual act of hooning and sliding a car around- Uh-huh ... doing burnouts- Mm-hmm ... and whatever is not a crime Doing it on public streets or doing it in a place where you don't have permission is.
And [02:47:00] drawing that, that separation was really important in the world of skateboarding, 'cause early on skate- all skateboarders were seen as criminal even if they weren't committing crimes, 'cause it was just like, "Oh, you're doing something that we see as illegal." And this was the way that the, that skateboarding pushed themselves out of a subculture that was entirely built around sort of, like, people destroying property to eventually there being a skate park in every city, right?
And, and the Olympics. So, and the Olympics. Yeah. So we saw it the same way, and 'cause remember, like, things are different now, but, like, when this first started, like, a lot of racetracks still didn't allow drifting, right? Like, I mean, shit, Laguna Seca only started allowing drifting recently at Lime Rock and places like that.
They do? Yeah, Gridlife is the ones that brought that there. Oh, wow. But for the longest time, like, a lot of tracks didn't allow drifting. It was, like, hard to go to places like that. So a big part of our message early on was like, "We need to stay absolutely on the legal side of this so that we can really push and, like, sort of lobby for more access for this."
And look, eventually we brought, you know, donuts and [02:48:00] burnouts to SEMA with, like, the, you know, burn yard out front situation and like, you know, and doing all of that. So- Was that Hoonigan's- Yeah, we did it ... deal with SEMA? Yeah, we, we did it. Oh, wow. We did it with Hoonigan and SEMA. So, you know, so for us, I think we always had sort of this busi- business-minded element that, like, there was gonna be somebody who took what we did and did it the wrong way, and we needed to be able to sit there and say that, like, "Hey, this is nothing we ever condoned."
So I wish you and I would've had a conversation when you were 16, but, you know, I didn't know you then. I literally met you, like, three hours ago, so ... But yeah, and look, I mean, obviously, like I said, when we were watching you from the outside, I understood what you were doing, but I was also like, "Oof, this is, this isn't great for everybody," you know?
But, but we had you on Hoonigan. We had you, we brought you on to do This versus That, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I wasn't there that day, but I remember, yeah. 'Cause there was definitely the conversation of like, "Oh, is he too controversial?" And I was like, "Not if he's bringing a car to come race us on the track.
Like, there's nothing wrong there. It's totally legal." So, but- I mean, I, listen, I, I hope- ... um, [02:49:00] in 10 years kind of people forget about it, but, um- Yeah ... nobody, nobody ever will sadly, and I just have to, like, I feel like live with that sentence the rest of my life. But, um, you know, I don't know. Maybe I can, like, do the next big thing, and people kind of be like, "Oh, really?
He had that past? But okay." Yeah. "But whatever, now I know him as this person." Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I don't know. I look, I think there's a lot of people out there. I think because you had so much eyeballs on you, everything that you were doing felt Um, exponentially bigger, right? And I also think that there's a lot of people who weren't watching what you were doing, they were just hearing what you were doing, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, like you, you actually reminding me the Tesla jump wasn't you, I was like, "Oh, I actually knew that, but I kind of forgot about it." Yeah. Because it just, the Tesla jump is just associated with your name. Do you know what I'm saying? So it's like, that's that thing. Yeah. So I think, you know, and- Yeah, people come up to me, like, at least once a week asking me, like, "What happened to my Tesla?"
And I'm like, "What Tesla?" And they're like, "The one you jumped." Yeah. And I'm like... Yeah, so yeah, I, I don't know. It's a, it's one of those, um, [02:50:00] yeah, we... Look, but I, that being said, I don't know, man, if I built a company when I was 16, probably be a lot different- ... you know? So- Yeah ... I was pretty wild until I was, until I was in my early 20s.
But, uh, because, like, I, I worked in the business early on, like, you had no choice but to, like, be whatever. But, like, m- I'll tell you this: most journalists in, like, the magazine era were, like, committing crimes every day in cars. Like, it still is. Like, you listen, and I don't wanna name names, but you listen to any podcast with a journalist and they're like, "I was doing 130 miles an hour on whatever."
And you're like, "You just snitched on yourself." Like- Doug DeMuro. Anyone, any one of them, you know? And it's like, look, w- I actually think Hoonigan was probably the least crime-committing group of enthusiasts because we had, uh, we had, like, a magnifying glass on us because of the type of attitude and style- Yeah
we had, and, like, that energy- Yeah ... that everyone was just expecting it. So because of that, we couldn't get caught, you know? It was kind of wild. Has anybody ever told you, like, all these people dying from very, like, doing stupid shit on the street is your fault? Um, I've had people say, like, you [02:51:00] know, "You guys are, you know, a big influence in the space."
And I was like- Takeovers? I, yeah. And I was like, "I, I get that. I, I, I can understand an argument for it, but if you actually watched our content, if you actually were a part of it," like, we were, we were pretty adamant about, like, don't do stupid shit. Like, we- Yeah ... I mean, even at Hoonigan, if you left, there were big signs that were like, "Don't do shit on the street.
Don't fuck it up for the rest of us." Because we looked at it as, like, we love the hobby of cars, just don't do it on the street, you know? But, you know, I get that there's, there's that connection there. I just, you know, for me, um, I don't know. Like, there's al- like, it- it's the same way of saying, like, yeah, Fast and Furious caused a bunch of street race deaths, so it's like, or Street Outlaws or whatever.
You know, like, still, uh, in LAP or LA City, if you, uh, get charged with any sort of, like, DUI, um, street racing, takeover crimes, misdemeanors The DA will push this program on you where you either go to the morgue and look at dead bodies or you c- if it's a lesser [02:52:00] crime, then you can listen to this PowerPoint.
Mm-hmm. And at the end of the PowerPoint, um, there's a survey and there's a whole section on that survey about did Fast and Furious- Oh, really? Yeah. Did Fast and Furious... And this is, like, officially sanctioned by the LA City. Yeah. Um, did Fast and Furious cause you to act this way? Did Fast and Furious affect you?
What part of Fast and Furious affected you? And there's, like, a whole section on Fast and Furious. Huh. Yeah. That's pretty crazy. I know this because I had to do it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I had to, uh Uh, the three times I got in trouble was the fireworks takeover, spectator takeover, and street racing. Um, I was just caught doing like 70 on a 35 with somebody else next to me.
Yeah. Um, I just, like, launched it from a light. It wasn't like, "Three, two, one, go," but, like, uh, there was a UCLA police officer behind me. And he saw the whole thing and then pulled me over. Um, I was also 18. This was like a month after I also got arrested. Right. Um, and then, and then, yeah, part, so part of that was, [02:53:00] um, doing this lecture, and I had to get lectured by this, uh, city worker that, like, lost a daughter to a street racer.
And then at the end of... Yeah, there's like a fat survey or test, and there's like a whole Fast and Furious section. And I'm like, "I wonder if Universal Pictures is aware of this?" Yeah, I mean, I mean, look, I saw the direct effect of Fast and Furious as a kid, so, like, it definitely was there, right? And, but I don't think it was their intention.
I mean, they're making... It, it, it, it's this weird blurry line because, look, every time that we try to convince a city to allow us to film a Gymkhana, their number one concern is that there's going to be copycats, right? And it's interesting 'cause they don't sometimes worry if there's gonna be copycats from movies.
So it's like, oh, you're filming a Jason Statham film, no one's concerned about it. But when we're filming it, they are, right? It's like an interesting blurred line 'cause what we're making is, even though all the [02:54:00] driving and everything is real, it's like a fictionary story of, like, someone tearing through a city, right?
And, like, that's why- You should just say, like, "You're not gonna let them film John Wick 'cause if gangsters are gonna buy guns because of that." Well, that, and that, that is the- Yeah ... conversation of that, right? Yeah. But, like, it, there's a, there's a definitely... They, they parse those differently. Um, and we, we actually tried to film in San Diego, um, two years ago for the, what eventually became the Australia film that we did with Travis Pastrana.
And we tried to do a film in San Diego, and they just shut us down. And I know a big reason they shut us down is because, because of Blake Wilkie, and I had Blake Wilkie on the... I mean, that episode came out today, 'cause he did a whole... He, like, basically stole San Diego and, you know, shot- Yeah ... his own kind of, you know, video there.
Um, and you know, so they already have had a copycat situation in that city, and, like, I get that. And I'm like, yeah, that's definitely... Like, that's not something we wanna create. But at the same time, to the John Wick point, it's like I also don't wanna make content- I don't wanna not make [02:55:00] content because you're just worried that everyone's going to try to emulate something, right?
And as like someone who grew up snowboarding, riding BMX, like skateboarding, like half the stuff we were doing was really dangerous. Like, for how many views we've seen in the films versus like real copycats- Uh-huh ... it is like a decimal point of it, right? Like, of like people actually went out and tried to recreate what we've done, right?
And- I mean, I- ... so it's like a pretty small piece ... I would love to one day too. Just like slow my buckle up. Legally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, legally is- Um- ... legally is not a problem. Yeah. It's the illegal part that's obviously the problem. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? So. Oh, I- And that's why like when you did the Tesla jump, all...
You know, you didn't do it. But when you- Yeah ... were involved with the Tesla jump, those are the things that scared us from the production side. Yeah. 'Cause we're like, "This is case number one why they're gonna tell us we can't do stuff in their city," right? It's things like that. So, but like, you know, I mean, it's...
That you also can't, like you can't be expected to be responsible for every person's decisions either, so it's a difficult one. It's a, it's a tough one. I really, really, really enjoy making, [02:56:00] uh, stunt scenes in cities. It's a lot of fun. I wanna do more of it for movies. And like- I would love to do that
wanna keep doing that kind of stuff. I would love to. So it's like I really enjoy it, but I also have to then be the person who's like, "We do this with tons of cops and tons of safety, and if anything goes wrong, we've got ambulances on site. We know... We have a medevac ready to fucking come pick us up depending on where we are.
And we also have a ton of trained professionals who do this and who think this through." Mm. "And it's not just like a random moment, you know?" Mm. And we've also made sure... Like, to give you an idea of like how things work with this, like if we did... Like, let's just say... And I'm, I, I know the block that you guys did the Tesla jump on.
I don't know it well, but I, but I know it, and I know there's a lot of residential on it. If we were to do that, the way we'd have to permit it, one, we'd have to close all the streets down, but two, we'd have to post a person in front of like almost every door or every causeway on that street to make sure that someone doesn't walk out, right?
Like, these are the safety precautions that like you create. Mm-hmm. So [02:57:00] it's like, it's like... And, and it... I think it's all, it's always important to tell people that kind of stuff. Mm-hmm. And that's why like even like doing all... Like we did the behind the scenes show on Amazon- Mm ... um, Prime. It's like it's great 'cause people are like, "Fuck, I didn't realize how many people were involved in doing this."
And it's like, yeah, well, to do it legally and safely, it actually takes a lot of people. Like, we have 100 to 140-person crew, and a lot of those people are just doing lockdown, like, you know, what we call like lockups, which is like just to make sure that someone doesn't drive up the street or walk out of their house when we have a trophy truck, you know- Flying
70 feet in the air kind of thing, yeah. One of the neighbors came out... On a side note, one of the neighbors came out for that Tesla jump interview when it hit the news, and he was like, "You know, I'd really appreciate it if people stopped driving their Teslas over my house." It was so funny. 'Cause before I did that, it was David Dobrik.
Oh, right. Yeah Yeah, in his, in his Tesla It's also a really big spot for dirt bikes too, 'cause I see dirt bike jumps there all the time Yeah, and then it popped off after Yeah And then they put like something there so people don't do it, and then like it got vandalized the day after Yeah, yeah. What's crazy, and I don't know why this is true, but that [02:58:00] didn't happen in San Francisco where we did the Vallejo jump Nobody tried to do it?
There was a motorcyclist did one, like, eight years later. Oh. But like, it, but I don't, and it's, it was weird to me why that one popped off so much as a copycat situation. Yeah. And the one we did didn't. I don't know. I would love to one day, um, like, have the, I just, I don't know who to call to shut down an intersection, maybe even shoot me in the right direction.
But, like, I, I would love to actually go through the proper procedure and do this properly and, like, film a- Yeah ... Gymkhana copycat. I mean, I can certainly, uh, I can certainly point you in the right directions of how to do that stuff. I mean, I've, I've, I've done it a ton. Um, and, and hey, maybe that's, like, your good, um, maybe that's, like, your make, your, your make good, your penance.
Yeah. You get to go, you get to go do it that way and then show everyone the right way to go do it, so. Yeah, I would love to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean- I mean, not, not even for profit, just- I mean, you, you realize, like, Blake Wilke did his first film, he went to jail for it. Yeah. Right? Yeah, yeah. He, and then he got out, and then every other film after that he's done properly.
He's pulled all the permits for, and [02:59:00] he's, he's, he's done it the right way. Yeah. Well, I'm in, I'm in the same shoes as him then. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, so clearly he shows there is a redemption route, and we had him on. I mean, you know, and he was a young kid, too, and kind- Yeah ... of just was like, "Oh, I didn't..."
He was like, he's like, "I didn't actually think we were gonna get caught," 'cause he's like, "I didn't think the video was gonna do big numbers." I was like, "You snitched on yourself." So. I would love to do the firework thing, but properly and permitted, and then I would love to, yeah, do all the Hooning crap. Yeah.
Properly and permitted. It's, it is, it is a ton of fun. I mean, shooting, like, shooting- Yeah ... on Gymkhana, Recoil, Climbkhana, all the films I've done. Is there another one coming? I don't know. Um, Travis signed a three-year deal with them. Okay. Or a three project deal with Hoonigan, and I obviously left Hoonigan after the second one.
Um, when Travis came back to do the third one, he asked me to come back and direct it with him. Mm-hmm. And, uh, uh, I will always take an opportunity to work with Travis Pastrana. He's one of the most fun people in the world. Um, so I, you know, I obviously went back and did it, and I'm happy I did. I think Australia's one of my favorite films I ever made.
Um, we did it, we took a very different cinematic approach to it. We kind of did it more as, like, [03:00:00] a Hollywood film in the way that we, like, scripted it. When I say script, script's, like, the wrong way to work, but just the way we built out all the scenes and how it was all put together. Uh-huh. Um, so I really enjoyed that, but I don't know.
I don't know if there'll be another one. I don't... Like, right now though I don't think there's any plans for it, but I don't work with Hoonigan anymore. They own the... We s- when we sold Hoonigan, they also got the Gymkhana name. Mm-hmm. Didn't exactly work out the way that I thought it would. Yeah. I mean, I thought Ken would still be here, and we'd still be doing stuff together with his family and everything, but that didn't work out.
So I don't know. What, what- We'll see where it goes ... would have Ken, would Ken would have, would he have, like, kept working with Hoonigan? I mean, he was still, we, we were both on a five-year deal, so- Oh ... which would- Did, did he pass before that deal? Yeah, he, he passed, um, after two years, so we were two- Oh, wow ... we were just two years into it.
Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. And then I left six months after he passed. Uh, that being said, he, the reason that Travis Pastrana was brought in was because Ken was kind of over doing the Gymkhana films. He was over doing them by the fifth one, which was, [03:01:00] um, which was San Francisco Because we did, we thought San Francisco, which still is probably the best one we have ever done- What's the, like, the most popular one?
Which one is it? San Francisco. San Francisco. Yeah. That's four? That's five. Yes. Five? Yeah, Gymkhana five. Oh. Yeah, yeah. San Francisco is Gym five, and that has, like, 120 million on YouTube alone. Geez. That doesn't include, like, everywhere else it's been ripped, in Facebook- What year was that? ... and so on. Uh, ch- ch- ch- 13 maybe, 12 or 13.
Yeah, so, um- I think I did, like, a screening at my house for it. Yeah, it was, that was a, I mean, that was, that was the first time that we ever did a city takeover, and it was incredible. I mean, the whole time I was there I was ex- pinching myself, but I was expecting the police to show up and be like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa.
We didn't agree to this." Mm-hmm. And it never happened. Instead, a cop pulled up next to me and did a burnout in his cruiser, and I was like, "Sick." You know? So. But it was all permitted, obviously. Ob- obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything, everything we've done in any of those films are permitted, and so, but- Yeah.
Anyway, yeah. Um- In the next life or the other, I hope I do something like that one day. Yeah, it'd be fun. Yeah. Dude, this has [03:02:00] been a really interesting conversation. I, I appreciate you coming and chatting, and being, like- Thanks for having me ... really open about everything you've done, and like- Yeah ... I'll be honest, I didn't know what was gonna come out of this.
I, we'd ne- Okay. We've never talked before, right? Yeah, yeah. So I didn't know what was gonna come out of it, and, um, I, I had, I feel like, I don't know if it's m- just a curiosity or morbid curiosity, but everything you do as a stringer is really interesting to me. I still don't know if I fully understand your motivation, but I, but I get the attraction to it- Yeah
which I think is interesting. And, uh- I mean, listen, I ... The things I would say on camera and off camera are obviously different. Yeah, yeah. I'd be crazy if it wasn't, so if, if, yeah. Yeah, no, no, it's, it's- I can have another conversation with you. No. No, but still, it's- Yeah. And I appreciate how open- Yeah ... though you were on all of this.
Yeah. Um, and, and also, like, I, I think it's been great to kinda hear you talk about, um, you know, the previous controversial side of what it is. Yeah. And I really wasn't sure how that was gonna come out, so it's kinda nice to just, like, just talk through it, so- Yeah ... thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me.
Yeah. I feel like I talked about myself a little too much, but yeah. I [03:03:00] appreciate your attention. Yeah, no, man. Yeah. It's been great. You got any- Yeah ... you got any last things? No? No. All right. Yeah. Thanks, dude.
This episode marks the end of watch for Nick Rudder, AKA Producer Nick. That's right, Nick's moving on. He's going to do other things. But luckily for us, he has trained his replacement. Welcome, Producer Troy. We'll get to that next season. That's right, Nick actually stuck with me for four seasons of absolute chaos trying to get this show put out, and we've done it.
We've been making the show for, um, about nine months now, which is kind of crazy. A full gestation period. Well done, Nick. Um, couldn't have done it without you, uh, and I wish you luck in everything you do. But of course, we couldn't just let Nick leave. That's right, we conducted a little bit of an exit interview.
Head over to the Patreon to, uh, learn a little bit more [03:04:00] about Producer Nick. And look, I'm sure he'll be back. He, he just can't stay away from the chaos. Nick, thanks for everything. Couldn't have done it without you. The mailbox is full, full, full, full. The mailbox is full, full, full, full. The mailbox is full, full, full, full and cannot accept any messages at this time.
Goodbye. Goodbye.
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