Carstories

This week James and Kyle somehow managed to trick Mr. Adam Carolla into letting them into his podcasting compound in the San Fernando Valley and sitting down for an episode of CarStories. You know Adam from his many fine podcasts and television appearances as well as from his exploits with Dr. Drew Pinsky and from his work as a documentarian. Adam is a serious automotive enthusiast and has the world's best collection of ex-Paul Newman race cars and Kyle and James had a blast sitting down with him in his studio and picking his brain.

Monterey Car Week is legendary among auto enthusiasts for bringing out some of the rarest and most exciting cars from around the world. We set CarStories host James McKeone loose on the Monterey Peninsula and he managed to secure interviews with some incredible folks including Valentino Balboni, Marcel Massini, and Alan Galbraith. So sit down and prepare for an insider's look at the exclusive world of Monterey Car Week!

Will Roegge is an incredibly talented filmmaker/awesome human and you may know him has half of the team behind the documentary Keep Drifting Fun as well as being instrumental in capturing some of the craziest shots from Hoonigan's Gymkhana series and the newly released Climbkhana. Will stopped by the podcast to talk about his work with Hoonigan as well as with his mentor, Jeff Zwart. Kyle and Will also find time to nerd out over Russian Arm rigs and lots more. Don't miss this one.

Brian Scotto is the co-founder and Chief Brand Officer for Hoonigan Industries, best known for the crazy car exploits of their other founder, Ken Block. Brian is an incredible guy with a huge wealth of talent and knowledge when it comes to cars and car culture and he has helped turn Hoonigan into one of the world's biggest automotive lifestyle brands. Kyle and James were lucky enough to get Brian in the CarStories hot seat just days before the official launch of Climbkhana, the latest Hoonigan masterpiece which sees Ken Block rocketing up Pike's Peak in a 1200+ horsepower twin-turbocharged Hoonicorn Mustang. Brian is also great because he's one of those guys who if you can get them talking, they'll just keep talking indefinitely and typically end up saying some really interesting stuff. This episode is a long one, but it's one of our favorites. Give it a listen and then make sure to go check out Climbkhana on YouTube!

Loren Healy is an incredibly accomplished rock crawler and off-road racer who competes in the mind-bending Ultra4 racing series. A frequent sight at events like King of the Hammers, Loren has built a loyal following and recently left his day job to race full-time. He and his wife were in town for Nitto's Auto Enthusiast Day and we somehow managed to convince them to drive to the Petersen from Orange County to sit and talk to James and Kyle. 

Simon Kidston is one of the most interesting people you've probably never met. He is the owner of Kidston, a classic automobile consultancy unlike any other. He comes from a family of racing enthusiasts and pioneers and he has built a career and a life around his love of automobiles. Kyle and James were lucky enough to convince him to take a few hours out of his Los Angeles vacation to visit the Petersen and tell his story, and let's face it, when someone parks their Mercedes 300SL Gullwing in the parking structure after having shipped it from Europe, it's going to be a story worth listening to. Simon has an almost encyclopedic knowledge as as a well-developed set of opinions and tastes where sports cars are concerned and he's not afraid to voice them. This is one of Kyle and James' favorite interviews, please enjoy!

Gard Hollinger is the engineering and design genius behind Arch Motorcycle. He's been neck-deep in motorcycles since he was a kid and has gone on to found several businesses including the incredible ChopRod custom shop. Eventually, he hooked up with Keanu Reeves and built a bike out of Mr. Reeves' Harley Dyna and the rest, as they say, is history. Now Arch is a thriving "production custom" motorcycle company that designs, builds, and assembles its bikes here in Southern California. Gard and their new Sales Manager, CarStories alumnus Heath Cofran rode up from the South Bay to sit down with James and Kyle to talk about bikes, design, modern architecture, growing up in the NW, and much more. This one is super fun. Enjoy!

Shane Tecklenburg is a master of MoTeC tuning and over the years he has built himself a reputation as being the guy to go to if you have a fuel-injected race car and you need to extract maximum power from your current set up. Shane is a mostly self-taught tuner, getting his start with a Briggs & Stratton engine for which he cobbled together a fuel injection setup out of junk he found in his dad's shop. Now he spends his days tuning land speed racing motorcycles, 2000hp drag Supras, and much more. In this episode, Shane sits down with Kyle to geek out on fuel injection tech and talk about how he became the wizard he is today.

Taro Koki is the guy behind GTChannel, one of the most popular network of automotive channels on YouTube as well as the guy who convinced the producers of Japanese motoring video magazine, Best Motoring to let him do dubs and subtitles in English and bring the joy of their Tsukuba Battles to the world. Taro is an interesting guy with a lifelong love of automobiles and a willingness to jump headfirst into new technology before anyone else. James and Kyle were thrilled to sit down with Taro to talk about the genesis of GTChannel and much more.

Ari and Zack are lifelong friends who somehow, through the machinations of fate and the weirdness of the world, managed to end up as co-editors of the redesigned and rethought Motorcyclist Magazine. We were super excited to have them in the CarStories studio before they left for a trip up the coast on two tiny adventure motorcycles. In their conversation with James and Kyle, they talked about growing up with bikes and racing. They also went into what it's like to helm a modern, industry-leading publication and how they balance that with the increasing demand for video content. They also scheme ways to get James on a motorcycle in a way that wouldn't get him divorced. Gear up, this is a fun episode!

The Auto Club of Southern California is one of the oldest automotive groups in the world, with its inception dating back to the turn of the 20th century. The Auto Club has been instrumental in shaping the highways, byways and surface streets of Southern California through legislative efforts and even signing of roads! Morgan Yates and John McQueen stopped by the podcast to talk about the history of the Auto Club and its long-standing involvement with the Petersen. We hope to have these guys on again to help us dive a little deeper into the strange and wonderful automotive history of Los Angeles!

Forza Motorsport has been one of the world's best-loved and most popular racing simulator games since its introduction in 2005. Now, with the release of the 7th game in the franchise looming, Kyle and James managed to corner Dan Greenawalt, creative director of Turn 10 Studios while he was in town for E3 to talk about what makes Forza different and so special amongst racing games. They do a nerdy deep dive on some of the nuts and bolts of the games including tire physics, modeling, and more. This episode is a serious nerd's paradise and if you're even a little into racing sims, this is well worth a listen.

Bisi Ezerioha is best known as being a turbo obsessed horsepower freak who gets his kicks turning out 1000hp minivans and 850hp water-cooled turbocharged classic Porsches. A lot of people might not know that he is also a trained scientist and engineer and that he has more degrees than Phoenix in summer. Bisi got his start modifying cars soon after he got to the US to attend college. His first US car happened to be a Civic CRX and thus his love affair with Hondas was born. This led him down the slippery slope of modifying import cars through the SoCal import boom of the early-to-mid 2000's.Bisi is an incredibly friendly and intelligent guy and we were thrilled to sit down with him and pick his brain to find out what makes him so unique in the automotive landscape. Strap in, this one is good.

Evan Klein is an automotive photographer and is also a total hand-full. Turn the mic on and he just goes. He is a larger than life personality and he sat down with Kyle recently to talk about daily driving classic European cars, justifying the pain and expense of classics, being in love with cars and what it's like working as a top automotive photographer for print and online. They also talk about Evan's amazing annual Highway Earth car show and his work with Motor Trend, Motor Trend Classic, Octane, and of course the Petersen!

Larry Chen is a man that seems to be everywhere at once. Luckily for us, he tapped the power of his omnipresence to appear at the Petersen in order to sit down and talk to Kyle. Larry is best known as being one of the busiest automotive photographers working today. He is an editor at Speedhunters, a contributor to Hot Rod Magazine, the premier photog for the Formula Drift series and the designated heavy hitter behind the camera for events such as the Gumball 3000 and Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Larry is also a man with an insane work ethic and during his conversation with Kyle, he outlines his rise from being a nerdy California kid with a camera to the giant he his today. Larry and Kyle also get into Larry's fleet of project cars including his super internet-famous Datsun 240z, "Ole Orange Bang," and his daily driver manual-equipped FJ Cruiser. They also touch the nature of print magazines in the US vs Japan and the weird microcosm that is Japanese car culture.This is a rare look at the mind of someo

Today is Independence Day and what could better symbolize freedom than a motorcycle? That's definitely what Kyle and James thought so this week we're pleased to present our interview with Rick Mitchell. Rick is a fascinating guy, a lifelong Californian and Chapter President of the Pyrate Ryderz Motorcycle Club here in Los Angeles. He sat down with the boys and talked about his love of bikes and how his club got their start. He also goes into great detail about an incredible bike-themed trip to Cuba. This is a great episode, and Rick is one of our favorite kind of guys: totally unique and passionate about his interests. Enjoy!   

This week, Kyle and James sit down with Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage, the two men behind the incredible motorsport series known as Formula Drift. They get into what makes Formula D so appealing to a younger generation of car enthusiasts and why it's one of the last financially accessible high-level forms of racing plus a whole lot more. Jim and Ryan are great guys with a lot of unique insights into the sport that they helped popularize in America. This is a good one, strap in!

James and Kyle were invited to come down to Toyota HQ in Torrance, CA to judge the Toyota Dream Cars art contest along with several Toyota North America executives, Cheech Marin, Dave Kunz and more. They figured that since they were there, they'd sit down with a few Toyota folks and get a bit of a peek behind the curtain. Karen Ideno works in corporate social responsiblity, helping to administer programs like the Dream Cars contest. Susan Sanborn runs the incredible Toyota Museum and has a fantastic story of working her way up through the company to her current position. Both of these ladies were wonderful to talk to and Kyle and James hope they get invited back next year!

We were lucky enough to be invited to judge the Toyota Dream Car kid's art contest with Cheech Marin a few months ago and Mr. Marin was nice enough to sit down with us to record a short (yet sweet) podcast where he talks about his involvement with the Cars franchise, his love of Chicano art, lowriders, and more. This is a fun one and making it was an amazing experience for both Kyle and James.Keep an eye out for the rest of the CarStories Toyota special coming up soon!

Greg Hancock is one of America's greatest racers on two wheels. He is a four-time World Speedway champion, with his most recent championship coming in his mid-forties, almost unheard of in what is normally thought of as a young man's sport. Greg is also a fantastic human being with a ton of passion for racing and his family. James sat down with him at the museum to see what makes him tick.