Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Rooster Hall Racing: Johan Schwartz and Todd Brown’s Racing Journey
Transcript
- 0:00BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from
- 0:04all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors,
- 0:09designers, and everything in between.
- 0:11Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder, how did
- 0:17they get that job or become that person?
- 0:19The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
- 0:25The following episode is brought to you by SRO Motorsports America and their partners
- 0:29at AWS, CrowdStrike, Fanatec, Pirelli, and the Skip Barber Racing School.
- 0:35Be sure to follow all the racing action by visiting www.
- 0:38sro motorsports.
- 0:40com or take a shortcut to gtamerica.
- 0:44us and be sure to follow them on social at gt underscore America on Twitter and
- 0:50Instagram at SRO GT America on Facebook.
- 0:53and catch live coverage of the races on their YouTube channel at GT World.
- 1:01Walking through the paddock at any motorsports event affords you the ability
- 1:04to see a lot of really cool things.
- 1:07Everything is designed to capture your attention and draw your eyes and
- 1:11ears to it from the fast looking cars with their colorful liveries and ear
- 1:15pleasing exhaust notes to the giant flags denoting the team garages.
- 1:19But this weekend one logo really stands out among the crowd, and that's
- 1:23the giant red rooster emblazoned on the BMW M4 of rooster hall racing.
- 1:28That's right, Brad.
- 1:29Rooster Hall Racing traces its roots to 2002 with the purchase
- 1:33of a highly modified E30 M3.
- 1:36And today the team campaigns cars in both BMW CCA Club Racing and SRO America.
- 1:43Team owner Todd Brown and lead driver Johan Schwartz join us live to talk
- 1:48about supporting cars in both series, the history of Rooster Hall Racing
- 1:53and some great paddock stories.
- 1:55So let's jump back into our session at VIR.
- 1:58So welcome to BrakeFix, Johan and Todd.
- 2:00Thank you.
- 2:01Thank you.
- 2:02So like all good BrakeFix stories, we want to start out with the origin.
- 2:05So how did you guys get started in motorsports?
- 2:08Well, uh, I, I, I guess I can go first.
- 2:11My, uh, my love for motorsports has been, I remember when I was like five or six
- 2:15years old and I could name all the cars and I kind of felt bad for when somebody
- 2:21was high revving their engine because, you know, to me they had soul, right?
- 2:24So why would you mistreat somebody, uh, a car like that?
- 2:27And then I, I Started really getting into the motorsports end of it and
- 2:31being from Denmark, it was rallying, rally sprints, closed course, yeah.
- 2:36The Joakim Kunen's and the Steve Blomqvist and all those guys,
- 2:39they were just finishing off their careers, but that's kind of when
- 2:43I started catching up, watching.
- 2:44Then I started racing on a local dirt road course, which was known
- 2:50as rally sprint, but with chump or champ like cars, you know, very low.
- 2:55But for everybody to go out there and race, there was a claimer rule.
- 2:59And then, uh, it just went from there into Formula Ford.
- 3:03And then I started actually racing go karts for seat time.
- 3:06So I went into the cars first before I went to the go karts
- 3:09because my parents didn't really know anything about motorsports.
- 3:12So they had no idea where to support me and how to get me involved in it.
- 3:15So it was all driven by myself.
- 3:17And then I just drove whatever I could came to the States in the
- 3:21early nineties, back in Denmark.
- 3:23I'd seen a little lap timing system when I was racing in Denmark.
- 3:25Formula Fords that would give an instant on board lap time, come to
- 3:29find out it was a Danish product, brought it here to the States and uh,
- 3:33had a, uh, a contact that had good contact with Hendrick Motorsports.
- 3:37I installed it in Ricky Rutz and Kenny Schrader's car.
- 3:40So all of a sudden I opened my eyes up to NASCAR and like,
- 3:43this is what I want to do.
- 3:45I had come to find out I had the wrong accent for that one, especially back then.
- 3:49But I had a blast, got to know a lot of people, slowly kind of got myself into
- 3:53the road racing part here in the States.
- 3:55Raced a lot of SCCA and NASA.
- 3:57Then it grew from there, got together with some people doing
- 3:59some longer endurance races, and then started racing SRO in 2013.
- 4:06Basically an SRO, there's been a few years I was in transition from one class
- 4:11to another, and then been there in a sense and raced a little bit of IMSA
- 4:14too, and races a lot of, uh, endurance races and also race for a team out
- 4:19of Florida for the, uh, SCCA runoffs.
- 4:21We're trying to qualify for that.
- 4:22So I try to still race as I believe till this point here this year,
- 4:28there's four weekends I've been off.
- 4:30All the other weekends I've been on a racetrack.
- 4:31So I enjoyed a lot with the support of my family, right?
- 4:34Did you mention a championship or two?
- 4:36Oh yeah, and then, you know, with Rooster Hole, I was going to let
- 4:39you do that, talking about the history of Rooster Hole, right?
- 4:42Then we got together in 2018, started campaigning at 240, one of the factory
- 4:48built race cars in the TC class, placed third in the championship
- 4:52there, won, yeah, won three or four races, and then in 2019, again
- 4:58with West Virginia on the carb.
- 5:00One of the most beautiful paint schemes I've seen out there.
- 5:03I loved it.
- 5:04And, uh, we won, I think, uh, nine out of fourteen races, something
- 5:08like that, and championship.
- 5:09And we got second in the, um, standings amongst, at the rating
- 5:13of all BMW drivers in the world.
- 5:15And Rooster Haul is a team, I believe, got third, so we won the championship in 19,
- 5:21and I'd won a previous, uh, championship in 2015 in Touring Car as well.
- 5:27That's kind of my racing background.
- 5:29It's been my blood and my mom is here from Denmark watching this weekend and she
- 5:34still doesn't understand what's going on and how this thing happens and you know,
- 5:38what are all those buttons for on the steering wheels and you know, all that.
- 5:42So it's fun to explain that to her.
- 5:43She's just watching it and all, but it's a lot of fun to have her.
- 5:47My sister is here from Spain as well.
- 5:49So we have a whole family get together.
- 5:51My two kids are here watching as well.
- 5:53That's great.
- 5:53And I, I, hearing your origin story, what we're going to talk about later
- 5:57makes a lot of sense, you know, when we talk about your, your longest
- 5:59drift, if you've got rally, uh, rally sprint and rally X experience
- 6:03in your, it all comes Who hasn't?
- 6:08I did.
- 6:10I was born and raised on a farm, so that's also how I kept practice, bought
- 6:14old beat up cars on the harvested fields in the summer, set up a rally course,
- 6:19obviously, and my friend and I were timing each other, had a little in competition,
- 6:23and then when the winter came in, the little two acre pond that we had, we
- 6:26did the same thing, put studded tires in the front, ball tires in the back,
- 6:30and we had a blast oversteering the whole time with a front wheel drive car.
- 6:34So that's a great segue to Todd to talk about his motor sports background and
- 6:38the creation of Rooster Hall Racing, its history, you know, what's in the
- 6:42name, the significance of Rooster.
- 6:43So mine goes back to age five or six as well.
- 6:46I was born in 62 and I woke up to cars in 1968.
- 6:50I can tell you, when I moved from Cincinnati, Ohio, where I grew up, to
- 6:54Virginia, where I spent the rest of my life, I can tell you every car on my
- 6:59street, even today, and what year it was.
- 7:02I had every Hot Wheels car made from 1968 to 1970.
- 7:06My parents knew that I was just this car nut.
- 7:09Car, car, car, car, car.
- 7:10So in 1971, my mother, she takes me to see this movie called
- 7:15Le Mans, with Steve McQueen.
- 7:17Um, Oh, this would be great for Todd.
- 7:20I think it was rated R, maybe.
- 7:22She takes me to the movie, we walk out of that, and all I want to do is race cars.
- 7:28You know, at this point I'm eight or nine years old.
- 7:30The last thing my mother ever wanted her son to do.
- 7:34was race cars because in the movie they all crash and burn up.
- 7:37My mother did not see me race until I was 53 years old.
- 7:42Oh man.
- 7:43And the only reason she came out is because my son was in the same race.
- 7:46Moved forward many years.
- 7:49It was, I was 32 years old.
- 7:50I started going to the track at Summit Point.
- 7:53They called Friday at the track and I went there for five years and
- 7:57I became an instructor for eight and during that whole time I was
- 8:00racing go karts like y'all on here.
- 8:02And then I made the decision to make the plunge into BMW club racing.
- 8:08And I've been doing that now for 18 years, I guess, formally won a couple
- 8:12of national championships there.
- 8:14Although my son is still faster than I am.
- 8:16That's how you want it to be, right?
- 8:18Exactly.
- 8:19But that's not the way it all is.
- 8:20And in the meantime, talked about this a little bit off a
- 8:22microphone, but my son Sean is one.
- 8:25Twice the world championship in soapbox derby racing, which is a lot more car
- 8:30control than you would ever think Because you follow the crown of the road and you
- 8:34follow the cones and inch off the cones the entire way down the track And the
- 8:38world championships are a little different and there's crosswinds and all kind of
- 8:41things But that was really neat ESPN had a documentary on us through that.
- 8:46I guess this was about 789 years ago I was looking for a place where I could
- 8:53maybe expand my car collection because we had kind of grown out of our garage.
- 8:57I have five cars in a three car garage.
- 9:00I was at a restaurant, saw this free real estate publication,
- 9:04and this shop was for sale.
- 9:07Forty minutes from my house, but 15 minutes from my wife's parents house.
- 9:12Hmm, and it was just weird enough that no one would buy it except for me maybe.
- 9:18It was a 5, 000 square foot garage with a 1, 200 square foot nice apartment on it.
- 9:23That's every guy's dream, right?
- 9:24Yeah.
- 9:25So this guy built this, he was a single guy, his girlfriend lived next door in
- 9:30the property next door, who happened to be a realtor, and he built this
- 9:35for his car collection and for his RV.
- 9:37Unfortunately, he got cancer and died, and so we bought it from the estate
- 9:41from his girlfriend, the realtor.
- 9:43And she said, well, the name of the place is Rooster Hall.
- 9:47You can keep it.
- 9:48You can do whatever you want.
- 9:50Just wanted to let you know that.
- 9:51And I said, you know what?
- 9:52We'll keep that name.
- 9:53Tip of the cap to him.
- 9:55Three years later, or seven years ago, we decided to start a real race team.
- 9:59We said, here we go.
- 10:00And you know, what are we going to name the team?
- 10:03And sorry for all the guys that name it after themselves.
- 10:05I wasn't into that.
- 10:06Didn't want Todd Brown Racing or TBR or whatever it might be.
- 10:10One of the guys on my team said, why don't you call it Rooster Hall Racing?
- 10:15I said, you know, that's just wacky enough.
- 10:17That's cool enough.
- 10:18We'll make it around the rooster.
- 10:21You know, we got the biggest rooster in the paddock.
- 10:23That's for darn sure.
- 10:24And on the side of P.
- 10:26G.
- 10:27version of that.
- 10:27The P.
- 10:28G., that's correct.
- 10:30That's right.
- 10:31Listeners, you can put that together yourselves.
- 10:33Yes.
- 10:34That's the basic story on how Rooster Haul got started and
- 10:37how our racing deal got started.
- 10:39I was the owner of the trailer.
- 10:42Before Johan came aboard, we had Anthony Magagnoli as a driver.
- 10:46And Anthony, we won crew of the year that year.
- 10:49The next year, with Johan, we won rookie of the year.
- 10:53No, that was Anthony.
- 10:54Oh, it was Anthony.
- 10:55Anthony won rookie of the year.
- 10:56Then we won crew of the year, the first year with Johan.
- 10:58Sorry about that.
- 10:59And then we won the championship.
- 11:01And then this year, I'm going to turn 60 years old this year.
- 11:04And I said, You know, I don't have a whole lot of years left of high quality driving.
- 11:09Let's do it, Johan.
- 11:10Let's go to Sprint X.
- 11:11Went out and bought a GT4, M4 GT4.
- 11:15Ended up buying yet another, I had an M2 CSR, bought another one, another
- 11:19one of those when Colin Garrett's family and Colin came to me, I know his
- 11:24father, known his father for 35 years.
- 11:27He's an up and coming NASCAR driver, and they said we're looking for him
- 11:30to get more road course stuff, good marriage, and we're sitting here
- 11:35right after Colin's win here at VIR.
- 11:38Congratulations to Colin, by the way.
- 11:39Yeah, thank you.
- 11:40Yeah, great race.
- 11:41He's a consummate professional, and he could really go places.
- 11:44He's only 21.
- 11:44Yeah, he's fast.
- 11:46He's got the pull.
- 11:46And he listens.
- 11:47Yeah.
- 11:48He listens to Vijay Mehrzaran, his coach, and to Johan, his coach here.
- 11:54He really absorbs everything they say.
- 11:56And that's a true student.
- 11:58So you guys are campaigning two cars, an M2 and TCX, which is now currently,
- 12:02if you'll, as we talked to Jim Jordan in a previous episode, is comprised
- 12:06mostly of BMWs, hoping to change that.
- 12:08Right now it's all BMWs.
- 12:10Right.
- 12:10Yeah.
- 12:11He always puts an asterisk there.
- 12:12Yeah, he does.
- 12:12It's going to change in the future.
- 12:14Yeah.
- 12:14We're going to see how that goes, so we won't talk about futures.
- 12:17And the second car is in Sprint X, where both of you switch off and
- 12:21drive the car in a 60 minute race.
- 12:23All GT4 cars.
- 12:25Yeah, all GT4.
- 12:25Which I believe they have 40 of this weekend.
- 12:28Yeah, 40.
- 12:28Big field.
- 12:30Man, popular class.
- 12:31For example, this evening, 4.
- 12:3205pm, I will drive the first half, hand it over to Johan.
- 12:37Tomorrow, he will drive the first half, and hand it over to me.
- 12:41Well, we're looking forward to seeing how that race turns out.
- 12:44Yeah.
- 12:44If you're driving the first half, are other teams, I'm assuming it's split up
- 12:48with, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but is it a pro am kind of series?
- 12:53This is interesting, and I'll start it, he can finish it.
- 12:56We're am am because of our age Okay at a certain age.
- 13:03I don't know.
- 13:04It's 50 or 55.
- 13:05What is it 50 50 you get knocked down One rating one rating if you're a silver
- 13:11pro when you pass 50, you're gonna become a bronze If you're a gold or
- 13:16platinum, you get knocked down, one.
- 13:18Just because your reflexes, they say, aren't as quick as they once were.
- 13:22It's probably true.
- 13:23My son's, again, probably quicker than mine.
- 13:25We can benefit from that in the AM side, because he was a pro.
- 13:30But technically is, technically is not now because we're both bronze drivers.
- 13:36So we'll be competing in the AM AM.
- 13:38Then there's the Pro AM championship, right, where there is a silver rated
- 13:41or higher together with a bronze rated.
- 13:44That's the pro, and then the silver class, which is both silver drivers.
- 13:48So, so there's in a sense three races within that race, all racing
- 13:51GT4 cars, but also having their own little internal battles in there.
- 13:56Our listeners are about to find out that Johan, you have two records
- 14:00under your belt that we know of.
- 14:01Yeah.
- 14:02Um, well let's start with the, probably the most famous one,
- 14:04which is your longest drift record.
- 14:07It's in the Guinness Book of World Records.
- 14:09We looked it up, it was 8 hours, 232.
- 14:115 miles.
- 14:12Correct.
- 14:12Tell us about that, what led to you wanting to do that, other
- 14:16than just being a drifter in your, in your entire experience.
- 14:20Tell us about the refueling, how did that go?
- 14:22We saw the videos, we saw, from our perspective, it looked
- 14:25kind of interesting, but Yeah.
- 14:26How is it from your perspective?
- 14:27The start of it was, I used to teach down at the BMW school down in Spartanburg,
- 14:32right next to the BMW factory.
- 14:34I was leading a class, during lunch somebody asked me, because we go to
- 14:39the skid pad and learn skid control, and if people are good at that, we
- 14:43also let them drift, you know, see how they can keep the car sideways.
- 14:46So as instructors, we demonstrate that, and then we go out of the drift,
- 14:50and then it's the student's turn.
- 14:51So during lunch, this guy, and I wish I knew who it was, I
- 14:54remember who it was, because he's the one that started all this.
- 14:57Really, he deserves a lot of credit.
- 14:59So, um, he asked me, how long do you take a class?
- 15:02I could go without spinning out in the drift.
- 15:06I was like, well, I don't know.
- 15:07I've never tried.
- 15:08And then I went home that night to look at Guinness and see if there
- 15:13was a record for the longest drift.
- 15:15And there was, and I'm like, and I sent a email to Guinness about the rules for
- 15:20that, you know, what parameters we had.
- 15:22And it said nothing about that the skid pad could be wet.
- 15:27You know, so I didn't want to ask them, can the skid pad be wet?
- 15:31Will it still count?
- 15:32I read between the lines, I submitted for it, and that was in 2013.
- 15:37So I did that basically on my own, using the facility there, in the F10 BMW M5 back
- 15:44then, and no refueling, just filled it up.
- 15:48And then we had a sponsor.
- 15:50I put sponsorships together that all went to charity, the BMW charity, conjunction
- 15:54with a golf tournament down there, and then the M school that's down there.
- 15:58So I tried to create that triangle of partners that were involved and went
- 16:0251 miles and the internet blew up.
- 16:05We made our own little video about it.
- 16:07It got over a million views.
- 16:08I remember coming out of the movie theater after the event and we went in
- 16:11to check how many views there was and it went up by a hundred thousand by every
- 16:1510, 15 minutes because Yahoo sports.
- 16:19taking it in and other and BMW actually took notice to that all the attention.
- 16:24It was great.
- 16:25It was fun to do.
- 16:26Didn't think I was going to do it again.
- 16:28Then the new M5 comes out, which now is an all wheel drive
- 16:31car and the purest M owner.
- 16:34M enthusiast and M car can only be rear wheel drive.
- 16:39So then BMW corporate now took the opportunity to say, well, if you turn
- 16:44this knob in the car, you can go from all wheel drive to two wheel drive.
- 16:48And if you want to, you can drift it for a long time.
- 16:51So Guinness now because of this wet record that I set back then, they
- 16:56now established, okay, we have a dry record and we have a wet record.
- 17:00You have a window of eight hours to see how long you can drift.
- 17:04And basically.
- 17:05The clock starts and then it stops.
- 17:07And then you can stop and change tires or fuel and eat
- 17:10lunch, whatever you want to do.
- 17:11But we wanted to make it continuous, just like the first record.
- 17:15And to make it rival, in order for us to continue drifting for 8 hours or
- 17:206 hours, whatever, we had to refuel.
- 17:23We had to basically refuel every hour and a half, every 45, hour, 45 minutes.
- 17:28And so that was the rival component of it.
- 17:30So I go out, obviously put it in two wheel drive start and BMW's
- 17:35goal was to beat the old record.
- 17:37Now Toyota had it, you know, so there was back and forth fun rivalry and they just
- 17:42wanted to beat it and say, okay, but I was, I was internally set on, prepared
- 17:47myself physically with all the right things to be in the car for eight hours.
- 17:53But not dehydrate myself, you get the idea.
- 17:57Physically or in the car.
- 17:58Correct.
- 17:59I go out and I start drifting and we had two tanks in the car.
- 18:04The main tank which BMW comes with and then the tank on top of it which was the
- 18:08one we were going to refuel into and then pump from that tank into the main tank.
- 18:13So in order for us not to have any Anything happened with the V Fuel in the
- 18:17beginning, we wanted to beat the record.
- 18:19We had now three hours worth of fuel and that would allow us
- 18:22now to go for the hundred miles.
- 18:25I go there and it gets, it gets a little monotonous at the time.
- 18:28Still have to throttle and steer all the time, but you know, I
- 18:32mean the concentration level.
- 18:33So I actually had my phone hooked up to Bluetooth and, uh, made some phone calls.
- 18:39Some of the BMW folks that were involved, right, and it was so funny
- 18:42to hear them pick up the phone.
- 18:44Are you supposed to be drifting right now?
- 18:48So, uh, and I called the people that were involved in the previous
- 18:51events as sponsors because, you know, they kind of started all this and
- 18:55helped it, thanked them for that.
- 18:57So, and then after the three hours, then that's when the excitement
- 19:00obviously started, you know, because During that time, up till the event,
- 19:04we had connected with a guy hanging out the window in the old F 10, right?
- 19:09There's now a guy, his name was Matt Butts, and a guy called Matt
- 19:12Mullins was driving that fuel car, hanging out the window to connect.
- 19:16You have to turn it half a turn to lock it in, then the fuel pump
- 19:19has to go on to transfer the fuel into the, uh, to my accelerator
- 19:23tank and then have to disconnect.
- 19:26But we come to find out in our practice that when I am doing that, to connect,
- 19:32I And I have to then increase the RPMs to keep the angle that makes the engine
- 19:37because there's no air coming in, right?
- 19:39So it's very hard on the whole drivetrain and engine.
- 19:42I had to look at it, keep my eye on the oil temp and I knew when
- 19:45it was going to go into lip mode.
- 19:47If that thing goes into lip mode being connected, it's like taking your foot off
- 19:51the gas and it was going to straighten up and Met, but that's hanging there.
- 19:54Yeah.
- 19:55Crush, you know, I mean crushed.
- 19:56Yeah.
- 19:56He had, I don't know what waiver he signed or . What attorney signed
- 20:00off on this project back then and BM BMW say, yeah, go ahead and do that.
- 20:03It's not dangerous at all.
- 20:05No, for sure.
- 20:05So he was certainly the guy that was gonna be the meat and sandwich.
- 20:08Right.
- 20:09So I had the authority to override whenever there was enough fuel in
- 20:13the car and we had to disconnect.
- 20:15We did that five times throughout the process.
- 20:17Where two times we were just about to connect and we were starting
- 20:21to increase the temperature.
- 20:23I figured we could only stay connected for maybe 10 seconds.
- 20:26It was not worth the risk.
- 20:27So then we would in a sense not hook up and I would kind of increase
- 20:31my speed again to cool down the engine to go for another refuel.
- 20:36And then at one point I would say maybe six hours in and the guy
- 20:39from Guinness, you know, he's there counting laps, you know, he's like.
- 20:42This is not, you know, I've used a guy in five minutes or
- 20:48something like that or watermelons.
- 20:51And so he's like, okay.
- 20:53So I get the radio call from the BMW person and said, you know,
- 20:56you can stop now if you want.
- 20:57We got the record.
- 20:58I said, you know what?
- 20:59I'm out here for all eight hours.
- 21:01Sorry.
- 21:02You know, because we don't know if this has got to be another opportunity.
- 21:05So I want to put the test to somebody to go out and beat it.
- 21:08So we stayed for eight hours, did the record and it also blew up.
- 21:12Up and now corporate obviously took it in and, and really made a big deal out of it.
- 21:16I went to a dealership not too long ago and they're still playing the same video
- 21:20you probably watched in the dealership and everybody that gets recruited into
- 21:25BMW on the mechanical side, when they go into training and come in the first
- 21:30time they show that video to, for them to get excited about the brand.
- 21:34So it's kind of neat to be part of that.
- 21:36And again, it was started by that guy that raised his hand in that class
- 21:39and said, how long do you think you could Yeah, and according to the
- 21:44video, you didn't just beat the record.
- 21:46You annihilated it.
- 21:47Yeah, we did.
- 21:47Yeah, we did.
- 21:48And that was my goal.
- 21:50So a lot of folks know us.
- 21:52Through that in a rooster haul because of Johan question.
- 21:56I get is Johan How in the world did you have to go to the bathroom?
- 22:00I know Yeah, I get that and I do I get that all the time That is
- 22:05you know, that's the one that's on top of mind of everybody Right?
- 22:09And, uh, so they're a little, you know, when they raise their hand, and I just
- 22:13say, just like the astronauts do it.
- 22:15And then they can look it up on the internet how the astronauts do it.
- 22:18And that's how I did it.
- 22:19And I did that all on my own because my goal was to be out there for eight hours.
- 22:23And he's eating cookies and crackers.
- 22:26Yeah, well, I wasn't, so my diet was obviously water to stay hydrated.
- 22:31And then I was eating what, uh, the bicyclist, you know, that
- 22:35does, uh, the Tour de France.
- 22:37So, it was not a non solid diet, because the other one, I wasn't quite born.
- 22:46But you have another record under your belt, and we talked about
- 22:50this on a previous drive through.
- 22:51through news episode.
- 22:53And it's very fortunate that we're here talking to you at VIR today
- 22:56because you hold the record for the fastest lap in an EV in the Tesla plan.
- 23:02And we actually, again, we talked about this on a previous episode,
- 23:04and this was to take away the record from Porsche in the take hand.
- 23:08We found out that you were the driver of that vehicle.
- 23:11And we want to talk to you about that experience.
- 23:13When you think about driving the EVs, you know, the evolution as we call
- 23:17it, or the EV revolution, the future of racing with EVs, stuff like that.
- 23:20So let's get your take.
- 23:21on that hot lap here at V.
- 23:23I.
- 23:23R.
- 23:24There was a super exciting project.
- 23:26Carmine, which is, um, the guy that had the car and he's got
- 23:29a shop here in North Carolina.
- 23:31Him and I got to be friends when I was doing some shock development
- 23:34for Ohlins for their club racing.
- 23:36And we met each other.
- 23:37He had the BMW.
- 23:38I was test driving for Ohlins.
- 23:40And then we just stayed connected.
- 23:42Next thing you know, they put on the event here for, to set the, the record.
- 23:46And that was for the Grand Course.
- 23:48Yeah.
- 23:49Yeah.
- 23:49So that is kind of like the, the Nordschleife, right?
- 23:53Uh, for, for the U S car and driver is the one that comes
- 23:57in and does it all the time.
- 23:58So our goal was to go in and beat the Porsche record that
- 24:01had carbon brakes, right?
- 24:02That had really cool suspension.
- 24:04I believe they have a two speed transmission as well, so they can
- 24:08really work in the right torque range.
- 24:10And it was kind of a last minute deal.
- 24:11We didn't really have any, we had 300 tread wear tires, so not
- 24:15nothing, not even 200, not even 200.
- 24:18You did modify the brakes Pads.
- 24:21Oh, okay.
- 24:22No, no.
- 24:22The calipers too?
- 24:24Not the calipers, but the rotors.
- 24:25Rotors, okay.
- 24:26But that does come on, Tesla does offer a carbon option.
- 24:31But other than that, the vehicle was stock.
- 24:32Completely stock.
- 24:33Wow.
- 24:34Yeah, completely stock.
- 24:36Really the only electrical vehicle I had driven was somebody I had
- 24:39instructed that got a Tesla, the non plaid, this is maybe five years ago.
- 24:43He's like, I want you to drive it, I want you to feel the acceleration.
- 24:46And I remember I punched out, he put it in ludicrous mode.
- 24:49I punched it and I really, I was like, I was taken back.
- 24:53The acceleration was amazing, right?
- 24:54Have you all been in Ludacris?
- 24:56Yeah.
- 24:57I have not, no.
- 24:58It is, it is life changing.
- 24:59Yeah.
- 25:00Yeah, it's like being in a top shelf dragster.
- 25:01Almost, yeah.
- 25:02Yeah.
- 25:02And if you don't put your head back, it'll put it back for you.
- 25:05Oh, it'll put it back.
- 25:05Right.
- 25:06I'm like, kind of excited about it, but also a little bit nervous.
- 25:09Am I gonna get that sensation out here at the track, especially
- 25:12with a thousand horsepower?
- 25:14on this plaid go out and run it kind of, you know, 5, 000 pounds.
- 25:18I can feel it's heavy.
- 25:19The brakes are working pretty good, but I am also feeling the
- 25:22pedal getting a little long because they're generating some serious heat.
- 25:26And this is a dual motor Tesla, right?
- 25:28So four wheel drive, basically.
- 25:29Yeah, I believe that has actually three motors.
- 25:32It has one for the front axle.
- 25:34And two in the rear, one for each rear tire.
- 25:36Acting as a diff, basically.
- 25:38Correct.
- 25:38Yeah.
- 25:40And I mean, when I heard a thousand horsepower, right?
- 25:42I mean, it, it, that's a, that's a drag racer that sits there
- 25:46and lopes on the cam, right?
- 25:47Yeah.
- 25:48That has that kind of horsepower.
- 25:50Go out, kind of get used to it.
- 25:52I mean, I was amazed, 5, 000 pounds.
- 25:54You know, it did very well.
- 25:55I got on the curbs, suspension absorbed that very well, too.
- 25:59You know, kind of known, trying to see what ideal line, again,
- 26:02our goal was to beat the record.
- 26:04Kind of get an idea.
- 26:05The idea about fuel consumption, reading the display for when I have
- 26:08the power and when I'm overheating the battery, the conclusion was I
- 26:12basically had one lap with full power.
- 26:16And then it starts going into where the battery heats up and all that.
- 26:19I still have amazing speed, but I will not be able to go faster.
- 26:24So it's Everything you got on one lap.
- 26:27And then we had laid out logistically to go and charge
- 26:30the batteries in South Boston.
- 26:32There's a supercharger there.
- 26:34So in between sessions, we boogied in there, sat there, you know, 40
- 26:38minute, charge the thing up, go back again, set ourselves up, you know,
- 26:42slow lap out, get some heat in the tires, and then one hot lap and then
- 26:46cool it down and then back to the, so I basically had a total of five laps
- 26:50throughout that day, long day for five laps, long day, but it was fun, right?
- 26:54The whole logistic.
- 26:55The whole logistical component of it, of going to South Boston,
- 26:59being back in time when we were up again and all that, was really fun.
- 27:03And if you see the video, I think it's turn 9?
- 27:06No, it's up to the S's.
- 27:07Up to the S's?
- 27:08Yeah.
- 27:09Oh my gosh.
- 27:10Yeah.
- 27:10He gets sideways.
- 27:12And his steering wheel is almost at full lock, and he comes back,
- 27:15and this car doesn't have any aero.
- 27:17Well, and that's the funny part about when we reviewed the article, when it came
- 27:21out and everything, my, uh, my sister, who's one of the other hosts on the drive
- 27:25thru, she goes, Did you see the part of the video where he almost bins it?
- 27:29I know.
- 27:30And so, the cool thing about this whole thing is, the lap before I
- 27:34did the faster lap, I'd already beaten the record, so I had that.
- 27:39So I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna try to send it up through the S Send it.
- 27:43Yeah.
- 27:43And see what happens.
- 27:44And I obviously said it a little too hard, and I'm remembering
- 27:48when I got locked to one side, I'm like, I'm not sure how this is.
- 27:52Could be interesting.
- 27:53This could either go really viral or I'm gonna try to obviously keep it on track.
- 27:58And then it goes the other, you know, basically creates a tank slapper.
- 28:01Right.
- 28:01So when we look at the data from the other lap, I did lose about
- 28:05six or seven tenths by that.
- 28:07But then I gained up elsewhere because I was still like
- 28:10determined when I caught it.
- 28:12I'm like, I still got it.
- 28:13Let's see what we got.
- 28:14And then beat it on a little bit further on that lap.
- 28:17So that's why that lap made it right.
- 28:20And obviously the whole exciting part that everybody has been emailing and
- 28:25texting me about is when I'm sideways.
- 28:28Did you see I still hit my apexes even though I was sideways?
- 28:32It comes from drifting the BMW.
- 28:34So that said, I've also coached some HPD folks with Teslas.
- 28:39I've driven one as well.
- 28:40I came away from the car going, It handles like a 911.
- 28:44That's what I kept thinking.
- 28:45So I'm wondering if your impression was the same and what your thoughts
- 28:48are of the handling of the Tesla's and do they have a Future in let's
- 28:52say even amateur motorsports.
- 28:53Yeah, you know, I think you know a lot of manufacturers I
- 28:56mean, I think the statement the big statement is the GM, right?
- 28:59What's that, you know in two or three years they got their goal is to be
- 29:02all electrical So the commitment is obviously there from the manufacturers
- 29:07as a purist fortunate enough to drive that Ford 944 that I drive an SCCA in
- 29:13the STU class and you know, it sits there and I the KM and doesn't get
- 29:17to life before 6, 000 RPMs, right?
- 29:19So I think those days are slowly going away where the electrical is going to
- 29:23take over and you see it in Europe, they now have the TC cars that are basically
- 29:29all there with electrical motors and.
- 29:31Going extremely fast.
- 29:32Formula E.
- 29:33Formula E, you know, it will take maybe some time.
- 29:36You see the the two person drive, you know, where I think Hamilton
- 29:40owns a team and, you know, they race out in the desert, right?
- 29:44Dakar, right?
- 29:44Yeah.
- 29:45Yeah.
- 29:46No, it's not Dakar.
- 29:46It's a, it's an EV off road series.
- 29:50Yeah.
- 29:51I'm thinking about the Audi Dakar.
- 29:53Yeah.
- 29:54But I think that they also had a electrical vehicle
- 29:57that race in da car, right?
- 29:59Mm-Hmm.
- 29:59. So it's interesting that the ones that made the, uh, the
- 30:02name for the diesels, right.
- 30:04Which was Audi vw, and then they got a little trouble then, then they
- 30:07immediately went to the EV route.
- 30:09Right.
- 30:09They had a little bit of trouble.
- 30:10Yeah.
- 30:11Right.
- 30:11A little bit of trouble.
- 30:11As a matter of fact, there's a great story behind that.
- 30:14Yeah.
- 30:14When, when you guys have a chance, so.
- 30:16Our car was sponsored by West Virginia University for two years.
- 30:21Dr.
- 30:21Scott Wayne is the head of the Formula SAE department.
- 30:25Each year, two students would come on to our team and be integrated, and
- 30:29we'd find them jobs in motorsports.
- 30:32Integrated for the team throughout the season?
- 30:35Yeah.
- 30:35And it was a great program.
- 30:36It was awesome.
- 30:37Well, he was the one that found it out.
- 30:40Yeah.
- 30:41And I got the whole story directly from him.
- 30:43Yeah.
- 30:44That's where Dieselgate starts.
- 30:45That's where it started.
- 30:46That's where it started.
- 30:47And he started to prove how good clean diesel was.
- 30:52And it kind of backfired.
- 30:54Yeah, it's a fun story.
- 30:55for another episode.
- 30:57It's certainly a story, and maybe he even wants to tell about this story.
- 31:00So, let's, let's touch on one thing, Johan.
- 31:02So, the biggest drawback to the EVs right now is probably the weight, right?
- 31:06Weight and range, I mean.
- 31:07And I think the other thing I hear from a lot of people to your kind of
- 31:11underlying point about your 944, etc.,
- 31:13is there's no sound.
- 31:14You don't get that loping, you don't get that acceleration, that build up,
- 31:17it's just power and plateau, right?
- 31:19That's the thing.
- 31:20way right now.
- 31:21Are you sold yet?
- 31:22I mean, uh, you know, I, I would, and I've been thinking about this, especially if,
- 31:26so I go to Denmark once a year and racing the streets of Copenhagen and they had
- 31:30the electrical touring cars over there.
- 31:32And I'm like, if there ever is an opportunity where that comes over
- 31:35here, I will try to see if I can't get to drive one of those cars
- 31:39and be involved in that series.
- 31:41Because I think there's such a push from the manufacturers to go that route.
- 31:45That you would have big support for that.
- 31:48You may have the hybrid version of racing, which is in a lot of forms now.
- 31:51I mean, Formula 1 is in many respects hybrid.
- 31:54You look at Le Mans too, WEC, right?
- 31:56Yeah.
- 31:57So, you know, we'll go that route likely first before we'll go all EV
- 32:02because you don't want to see a car lightning fast at the beginning of
- 32:05the race and substantially slower You get into that conversation
- 32:10about balance of power too, right?
- 32:11How do you let that take hand against a Corvette, right?
- 32:15It just, it doesn't work.
- 32:15It doesn't.
- 32:17And what's interesting is what I was impressed.
- 32:19I mean, the little whining and all that kind of was, it was
- 32:22pretty cool to be inside that whining and just hearing the air.
- 32:26But then I, uh, somebody took a video of the car coming by on the outside and
- 32:30all you hear is that wind moving and I thought that was actually a pretty cool
- 32:35sound because you don't normally hear that because it's overwhelmed by the engine.
- 32:39At the beginning of that video, he comes by, all you hear is this whoosh.
- 32:43It looks like the car's in fast motion, like they sped
- 32:45up the film, but they didn't.
- 32:47Yeah.
- 32:47It's that blasted fast.
- 32:49We were going, I think, 155 or something like going into turn two, turn one, right?
- 32:54They can fly.
- 32:55And then to that point, I think Tesla tried to start an electric series.
- 32:58So they were looking for drivers a couple of years ago to start an electric series.
- 33:02I don't know about that.
- 33:03I know Jaguar made like a really sharp looking SUV that they were
- 33:08going to race as a high port series in conjunction with Formula E.
- 33:12Yeah.
- 33:13I don't know how that was perceived or not.
- 33:15Yeah.
- 33:16Yeah.
- 33:17But moving on a little bit, you guys earlier joked that you have
- 33:20a combined experience of 114 years racing between the two of you.
- 33:26No, no, no, no, no, no, no, 114 years of life, of life, of age, of racing,
- 33:32114 years of age between you two.
- 33:34Right, right, right.
- 33:36So outside of age.
- 33:37Todd is 85.
- 33:38Todd is 85.
- 33:39So what we think, we're not sure, but.
- 33:42Just kind of putting two and two together, we think we may have
- 33:45that label here at the track.
- 33:47So again, another record.
- 33:48Yes, right.
- 33:49The oldest two drivers combined in SRO, in the United States, right?
- 33:54So let's talk about SRO and your experiences here.
- 33:58What drew you to race with SRO?
- 34:01Why should more people look to join the SRO series?
- 34:04First of all, it's sprint racing.
- 34:07That's what the SR stands for?
- 34:08No.
- 34:09It's Stephane Rattel.
- 34:13Well, first of all, that's where I cut my teeth, without
- 34:15question, in BMW Club Racing.
- 34:17We've had hour and a half races, but they're normally 25 to 40 minutes.
- 34:22Let me tell you that's enough to wear you out.
- 34:24Okay, but I believe from a fan's point of view, it's much better to
- 34:30watch a 40 minute race or maybe an hour as opposed to a four hour race.
- 34:34You lose your attention a bit.
- 34:37I know I'm a giant motor.
- 34:40I'm famous for falling asleep in the middle of a NASCAR race
- 34:43and waking up either right before or right after it ended.
- 34:46I think the sprint side of things is very attractive to me and to the watching
- 34:51audience or listening audience perhaps.
- 34:53You know, also because, you know, there are two professional
- 34:56sports car series in the U.
- 34:58S., right?
- 34:58There's SRO and there's IMSA.
- 35:01And if you want to go into pro racing, there is one of those two to pick from.
- 35:06And SRO is catering a little more to make it, you know, if you
- 35:09can call it more cost effective.
- 35:11There is obviously no such thing as cheap racing, right?
- 35:13But it is a little more cost effective than to run IMSA
- 35:17because there's no fuel stops.
- 35:19But they still have the component of the endurance, but making a shorter race.
- 35:24So that's why Todd and I are racing on a team together.
- 35:27We are a two driver team, but we don't have to have all the fuel
- 35:31rigs, the manpower to fuel, the manpower to change tires and all that.
- 35:35So the cost is obviously not there, but the excitement of being two
- 35:39drivers in a car is there playing at, in a field where all the cars are,
- 35:44by definition should be equal, right?
- 35:47That's what makes it appealing.
- 35:49You know, it's hard to find that anywhere else.
- 35:51So if you want to go longer races, then MCEL And when we started
- 35:55it, we started in touring car.
- 35:57Yeah.
- 35:57In TC and the BMW M235, which became the M240.
- 36:03IR, R stands for racing factory race car.
- 36:06There was a place for that here.
- 36:08And there wasn't a place for it in many other places, and that, I thought that was
- 36:12the best car for the money in the world.
- 36:15Because, you know, my club race car, I've got a lot more money in
- 36:19that than I would have in the TC car, and it's a 20 year old car.
- 36:24You pile money into these things, that's what, that's what it is.
- 36:27And then also the professional component, which the coverage of it,
- 36:30so that obviously, Uh, gave us some leverage and the exposure for Miss
- 36:34Virginia and exposing the team to the pro side because, you know, you go
- 36:40here and look in the paddock, right?
- 36:41I mean, people are up on scales, the wheels are off,
- 36:44you see the string on there.
- 36:45So it really becomes competitive, not just on the track, but
- 36:50also in the garage, right?
- 36:52And when we got that competitive DNA in us, Hey, can we play at this field?
- 36:57And let's see how I don't like to lose it.
- 36:58Putt, putt, exactly.
- 37:00You know, that's exactly.
- 37:02And to your point, I know jokingly around the paddock, IMSA is referred to as an
- 37:06air quotes, the other series, but you know, there's a lot of fanfare and a
- 37:11lot of pomp and circumstance when you go over there and it's, you know, they
- 37:13draw huge crowds, a lot of it's backed by, let's say NASCAR and other places.
- 37:16It's owned by NASCAR.
- 37:17Yeah.
- 37:18Based on the tracks they go to, et cetera.
- 37:19But you come here and you, you quickly remember.
- 37:24It's a little bit more grassroots, but not grassroots.
- 37:26Right, exactly.
- 37:27It's a beautiful blend of the two.
- 37:29And it's enjoyable to watch you guys out there running together.
- 37:32The multi class racing, for me, is fantastic.
- 37:35I've always enjoyed it.
- 37:35That's what draws me to WEC and IMSA and everything.
- 37:38So, again, congratulations.
- 37:39And I'm a big IMSA fan.
- 37:40Yeah.
- 37:41I am.
- 37:41And, you know, I was going to run this next January in an LMP3 car.
- 37:47I was given great advice.
- 37:49Todd, if you're going to do this, stop your sports car racing six
- 37:53months before and just do the LMP3.
- 37:56Because the downforce cars, it's a completely different mindset.
- 38:00To relearn, yeah.
- 38:01The faster you go, the more stick you have.
- 38:03And I did two test sessions with the LMP3.
- 38:06I spun five times here and at Road Atlanta when I was going around slow turns.
- 38:12Because you think it would have stick, and it doesn't.
- 38:15Now it's mechanical grip.
- 38:16Yeah.
- 38:17You know, now it's back to where it was before, with a, with a normal
- 38:20car, whereas in the fast corners, now you have the aero grip, so it's
- 38:24that transition back and forth.
- 38:26So we, we decided to do this, and we may, we're talking about it, we may
- 38:31do the, the series just the day before the 24, down there in Daytona next
- 38:37year, with the car that we have here.
- 38:39Yeah, with the Michelin Tire Challenge.
- 38:40Is that the Roar before the 24?
- 38:42No, it's the Michelin Tire Challenge.
- 38:44And actually, I think that's a great segue into talking about
- 38:48the future of Rooster Hall Racing.
- 38:50So, what does the next couple of years look like for you guys?
- 38:54That's a great question.
- 38:55I just retired from my real job, if you will.
- 39:00I own an investment firm for And Todd was very good at it, so he could retire early.
- 39:06Yeah.
- 39:06At 85 years old.
- 39:08Yeah.
- 39:10That's the only way we do that math.
- 39:12So, it's, it is an expensive sport.
- 39:16At a certain point you've got to treat it as a business.
- 39:18And if you can't make money, or, not lose a lot, you might have to hang it up.
- 39:25There's a whole lot of teams that have come and gone, but we had
- 39:29to take a year off during COVID because we didn't have sponsorship.
- 39:33Now we got sponsorship with Colin and his team and some stuff that
- 39:37we've got because I mean it cost and I'll say it pretty openly.
- 39:43It costs about a quarter of a million dollars to run that TC car a year.
- 39:47I've done pretty well in life, but I just can't afford to spend a quarter
- 39:50of a million dollars every year on letting somebody else drive my car.
- 39:53And it's about that same amount in my car.
- 39:56There's a half a million dollars.
- 39:58These teams that have these GT three cars, there's some deep pockets somewhere
- 40:02because you know, there's a million dollars a pop a car or more in some cases.
- 40:07So this is a very expensive sport and it's gotta be.
- 40:10Treat it as a business.
- 40:12And I think my goal is to do this until I'm 70 for 10 more years.
- 40:17And then we'll see where it goes from there.
- 40:19You have to have goals in life.
- 40:21And that's what drives me.
- 40:23You know, again, I'm 60 in a few months starting my
- 40:27professional racing career now.
- 40:29Holy crap.
- 40:29That's, that's late in life.
- 40:31Now I've had a personal trainer for 12 years just for racing.
- 40:36She comes to my house.
- 40:37I have a gym in my home.
- 40:39She comes to my house and I used to go to Gold's gym.
- 40:41When I retired, I put a gym in my house and she works my tail off.
- 40:47Now, could I eat a little bit better?
- 40:48We all could, but I'm in pretty darn good shape for my age.
- 40:52You have to to stay up with these 20 some year olds.
- 40:55Again, our reflexes get a little slower.
- 40:58Muscle reaction gets a little slower.
- 41:00I want to race for at least five more years and I wouldn't mind 10 years.
- 41:04And then we'll see where it goes from there.
- 41:06We had three cars by the way, in 2019, and then one of our drivers
- 41:10had a very bad accident in a club race and had to retire from racing.
- 41:14So we went down to two.
- 41:16We now have two.
- 41:18I see us with three cars in the future, maybe four, but I will tell
- 41:23you at a certain level, it's managing people and you're not racing anymore.
- 41:29You're managing people and you got to make a decision.
- 41:32Do you want to be a manager of people or do you want to go race?
- 41:35There's that balance there too.
- 41:37And how much money am I willing to put into the business out of my
- 41:41pocket that sponsorship may not cover?
- 41:44That's a tough one.
- 41:45It is on that side of things, you know, with, with Todd, with four cars, when
- 41:50we were three cars, Todd wasn't racing, I was driving for Todd in the TC.
- 41:54So I was here managing people.
- 41:57Now Todd obviously wants to race, right?
- 41:59And you can't be Thinking about managing people when you're out there driving.
- 42:04Todd needs to have fun, right?
- 42:06Otherwise it's not fun.
- 42:07So, think about this.
- 42:08We've got 30 or 40 people out here because Colin Garrett, our TC driver,
- 42:13TCS driver, lives 15 minutes away.
- 42:15And he's backed by this military community and he's all involved with that.
- 42:19And there's a bunch of military owned companies that are here,
- 42:22represented by several people.
- 42:23So we have 30 or 40 people out there.
- 42:25So you're running a team, you're entertaining, you're entertaining.
- 42:28You're trying to get enough liquids in you and you're driving and one
- 42:31person can only do but so much.
- 42:33My wife, and this is very important, my wife couldn't make it this weekend.
- 42:38She had some health issues she's dealing with.
- 42:40She technically owns the team and without her, there's no way
- 42:43I could do it without Michelle.
- 42:45She's integral and I will tell you.
- 42:48There's no big secret that Karen, Johan's wife, is a big secret to his success.
- 42:54Yep.
- 42:54That woman behind a man.
- 42:56Yeah.
- 42:57And you know, my wife is one of the few that come to the track every race.
- 43:02Club race, pro race, whatever.
- 43:04When she's not there, everybody says, where's Michelle?
- 43:07So, I count my blessings.
- 43:09I'm incredibly blessed to have a wife that not only Accepts what
- 43:15I do, but helps be part of this and she owns Rooster Hull Racing.
- 43:20Johan, any records in your future that you want to break?
- 43:23It's funny you should ask because somebody contacted me about combining my drifting
- 43:29and the EV side of things, you know, because that's also held by a Porsche.
- 43:33So it would be fun to do.
- 43:35So we are working a little bit on doing that and finding the
- 43:39facility for that, which we have.
- 43:41Now it's just putting it all together.
- 43:43So you might say, I see an EV drifting record here, not
- 43:47within, yeah, too, too long.
- 43:49I would ask Johan what his opinion is of Porsche, but I think we know.
- 43:52Yeah, I think we know the answer to that.
- 43:53What is what?
- 43:54Your opinion is of Porsche, but I think we know.
- 43:56Well, actually I drive one.
- 43:58I love Porsches, but I also love to keep their records.
- 44:01I have a Porsche GT4.
- 44:02Yeah, so, so, yeah.
- 44:04Well that said, let's get your thoughts on the reveal of the new BMW.
- 44:09Are you guys going to be upgrading vehicles next year now that we've
- 44:12seen it for the first time at EIR?
- 44:13Likely.
- 44:14I've been given advice to get two or three of them, but a couple hundred
- 44:19thousand dollars a pop, you know, that is not probably in the cards for that.
- 44:23What's the biggest draw?
- 44:24Do you think switching to the new car early on the AC?
- 44:29Well, yeah, maybe.
- 44:30We talked about that at length, actually.
- 44:33We're behind the curve this year because we just got the car and we
- 44:37just took it to track immediately.
- 44:39And it's taken us the third race weekend to figure it out.
- 44:43So, obviously, when you get a car and you get it ahead of time, and you get
- 44:47a chance to you know, work out the bugs and figure out what it likes.
- 44:52And that's really the key.
- 44:54What is the car like?
- 44:56Does it like more camber?
- 44:57Does it like more tow?
- 44:58Does it like more cross?
- 45:00You know what it brings set up, spring set up, shine, all that, you
- 45:04know, and the car is in my opinion, somewhere between this car that we have
- 45:12now, the M4 GT4 and the now M4 GT3.
- 45:17It's somewhere in the middle there.
- 45:18It's more of a race car.
- 45:20It appears to be more safe, which is even better.
- 45:23Even has a hatch in the roof to extract somebody in case of emergency.
- 45:28I think that's important.
- 45:30And there's also some front shims now, which makes it a lot more efficient.
- 45:37For our type of racing, Johan's substantially taller than me.
- 45:41So we have to pull the seat.
- 45:43The seat stays stationary in the GT4.
- 45:45The pedal box moves forward and back.
- 45:48On the new one, they have stops that you can put at different areas.
- 45:52So we put it full to the stop on the front for Johan, and full to the
- 45:56back wherever I want my stop to be.
- 45:58So it's boom, boom.
- 45:59And now, we have to write, we have to take white chalk and write, put lines in there
- 46:04and I gotta kinda pull it back to that.
- 46:06You know, so this would be a lot easier.
- 46:08I smirked when I heard about that particular feature because I thought
- 46:11about it and I said, go karts have had that for as long as I can remember.
- 46:15I know.
- 46:16The adjustable pedal box, right?
- 46:18Exactly.
- 46:19So that has the same, but it's a little, uh, where you can
- 46:22just use some stops with it.
- 46:24I think it's a good looking car.
- 46:25I'm not a big fan of big grilles on BMWs, but I think they did a good job.
- 46:29They're growing on me, by the way.
- 46:30Yeah, they do.
- 46:32I think it's the liveries that help.
- 46:33When you see them in just plain dress, you're just like, wow.
- 46:36Well, let me tell you, I just ordered a 2022 M4 Competition X Drive last week.
- 46:44So, in black.
- 46:46No, no, no, in Dravet Gray, which is the coolest color in the world.
- 46:49But it's got the big grill.
- 46:51It's a darker car, which kind of, you know, so a little bit.
- 46:54But when I first saw that grill, I thought it looked hideous.
- 46:57Somehow, it's growing on me.
- 46:59I think the GT3 probably is better.
- 47:00No, it's, it's, I can't say completely attractive, but it's really growing on me.
- 47:07Oh, and this car, this new race car, is an automatic transmission, whereas the
- 47:13race car we have now is a dual clutch.
- 47:15So they're going backwards in some respects, but they say it shifts faster.
- 47:19And the dual clutch does, which is hard to imagine.
- 47:21Well, this also shows you how far automatic transmissions have come, right?
- 47:25I mean, when they're shifting that quick and the durability and there's less, you
- 47:28know, uh, mechanical components in there.
- 47:31So it makes it extremely durable that the 240 was also an automatic transmission.
- 47:36They made into a paddle shift and remember how durable that is.
- 47:39This is a straight six, three liter with 550 horsepower.
- 47:43Yeah.
- 47:44And I believe they said for tuning wise, uh, or making changes on
- 47:47the fly, it can all be done.
- 47:49You need no connecting laptops or any of that stuff.
- 47:51Right, you can do it in the pits, not while you're driving, but yeah.
- 47:53Yeah, of course, but you do it right there from inside the car.
- 47:55Yeah, which is pretty important.
- 47:57And traction, traction control too.
- 47:58So, Todd, he told me about the new M4, uh, xDrive that you bought.
- 48:02And I'm super excited, I can't wait to drive it.
- 48:04But when he makes the phone call to me and says, Hey, I just bought a new GT4 M4.
- 48:09We're going to drive it next year.
- 48:11Then I'm going to be really excited.
- 48:15So on that note, any shout outs, promotions, or anything else you'd like
- 48:19to share that we didn't cover this far?
- 48:21Number one, my wife without her, I wouldn't be here without her support.
- 48:25We wouldn't be here.
- 48:27I'm sorry.
- 48:27She couldn't make it this weekend, but daggone it.
- 48:30She's a big part of this.
- 48:32And to all our supporters who follow us, my daughter, I haven't
- 48:36talked about her too much.
- 48:37She's out in San Diego.
- 48:39She's getting into the sport now at age 29, looking very much forward to that.
- 48:43My personal selfish goal is that I can be on the track with my son
- 48:47and my daughter at the same time.
- 48:49Unfortunately, I lost my oldest daughter 13 years ago and she'll never be replaced.
- 48:54My daughter is a, she's got 20, 000 followers on Instagram.
- 48:59She's a bodybuilder.
- 49:00She was nationally ranked and a great soccer player.
- 49:03And I think because she's so coordinated and she's an athlete, she'll fit
- 49:07really well into this racing.
- 49:09I'll tell you, it's true.
- 49:10You have to be an athlete and you have to be coordinated to do this.
- 49:14You don't, See uncoordinated people do this.
- 49:17We emphasize all the time that sport is a real thing in motor sports.
- 49:21Yes, it is.
- 49:21Not just driving around.
- 49:22I played college soccer.
- 49:24I know what sport is at the highest level.
- 49:26My daughter played for West Virginia University.
- 49:28Top 10 in the country.
- 49:30Athletics are athletics.
- 49:31This is sport.
- 49:32It's a workout.
- 49:34And at the end of the half an hour run, when you're giving it 100%,
- 49:39you get out of that car exhausted.
- 49:41Exhausted.
- 49:41Our cockpit, we saw, you know, it's 132 degrees.
- 49:45We sit with a helmet and a suit on.
- 49:47It's certainly some And a lot of pressure.
- 49:49Yeah.
- 49:49And the air conditioner only works when we put the brakes on.
- 49:52Yeah.
- 49:52And we try to use the brakes as little as possible, right?
- 49:55Yeah.
- 49:55Because what's that for?
- 49:56To slow you down.
- 49:57Yeah.
- 49:58For me, it's kind of what I wanted to say what Todd said.
- 50:01You know, I have the family Family support and obviously I'm here
- 50:04because of Todd and the partnership that we have established since 2018.
- 50:09And friendship.
- 50:10Yeah, absolutely.
- 50:11We have a great friendship.
- 50:12And while you were talking, I realized your background is kind of
- 50:16like the same how you got involved.
- 50:18It was all self propelled, right?
- 50:20We didn't have a parent that she took you to Le Mans, but you remember the
- 50:24cars that are parked in the street.
- 50:25I remember, I could recognize all the cars that we were driven by and throughout
- 50:30life for me and for Todd, it sounds like we It was always a priority that we saw
- 50:36as, you know, when I went to college, I think I may have gone to two parties
- 50:40because I was always trying to find out where's the race, where can I go, where
- 50:43can I meet people and stuff like that.
- 50:45So I'm very fortunate and I hope we will do it some more.
- 50:48You either have a car gene or you don't.
- 50:50Yeah.
- 50:51You guys obviously do.
- 50:52Yeah.
- 50:52We do.
- 50:54And most of our close friends do because of this wonderful
- 50:57sport we're involved with.
- 50:59Owner Todd Brown began Rooster Hall racing as a way to enhance his hobby.
- 51:03Today, Rooster Hall offers customer support, transportation, and car building
- 51:08from club level to pro level racing.
- 51:10Rooster Hall has had multiple national championships in club racing and
- 51:14three successful pro seasons from 2017 through 2019 with driver Johan Schwartz
- 51:20bringing home the SRO championships.
- 51:22And to learn more about rooster hall racing, be sure to log on to www.
- 51:29roosterhallracing.
- 51:29com or follow them on social at rooster hall racing on Facebook
- 51:34and at rooster hall on Instagram.
- 51:36I cannot thank both of you enough for coming on the show, sharing your stories,
- 51:40getting people to know rooster hall racing a little bit more intimately
- 51:43and a little bit more internally.
- 51:45We look forward to seeing what happens this year and next year.
- 51:48If you guys get a new car and best of luck throughout the weekend
- 51:51and throughout the You've got a new follower, a new fan in me.
- 51:54I'm all on board for Rooster Crawl.
- 51:56Thank you.
- 51:57We're hopefully going to be on the podium in about an hour.
- 52:02Absolutely.
- 52:03Thank you guys.
- 52:04I enjoyed it a lot.
- 52:09The following episode is brought to you by SRO Motorsports America and their partners
- 52:14at AWS, CrowdStrike, Fanatec, Pirelli, and the Skip Barber Racing School.
- 52:19Be sure to follow all the racing action by visiting www.
- 52:23sro motorsports.
- 52:25com Or take a shortcut to GT America dot us and be sure to follow them on social
- 52:32at GT underscore America on Twitter and Instagram at SRO GT America on Facebook
- 52:38and catch live coverage of the races on their YouTube channel at GT world.
- 52:44If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about GTM,
- 52:46be sure to check us out on www.
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- 53:08Hey everybody, Crew Chief Eric here.
- 53:11We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted
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