Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / What's Up With Rutledge Wood? | Lights Out With John Roberts

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What's Up With Rutledge Wood? | Lights Out With John Roberts · Kenny Wallace Media

0:04
And it is now time to go lights out with the one and only and
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I'm glad to say, my close personal friend Rutledge Wood.
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How are you, brother? It's been way too long.
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Johnny man, I'm doing great, brother.
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It has been too long. I was so happy that we got to
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spend a little time together this past year.
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It wasn't enough. I mean, 45 minutes was is never
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enough, but man, I'm doing great.
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Thanks for having me, I really appreciate it.
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What is occupying most of your day these days?
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I know you've been involved in so many different product
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projects rather, but what's what's up now?
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What are you doing? Man, it's funny.
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I see people out and about and they're always like, so, So what
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are you doing now? What are you doing these days?
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I'm like, oh, you mean you haven't seen me on TV in the
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last six days? So you think I might be
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unemployed? Oh, yeah, everything's good.
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No, it's funny man right now covering the Meekam auctions,
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which is really fun. You know, for me being a car
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guy, it's, it's like vacation work.
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It is so much fun to get out there and do that.
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Nobody Chris Jacobs, who people know from overhauling and he's
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done lots of auction work. He actually was the one that's
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like, hey, we we ought to bring rut back because they used to
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cover those when they were on NBC and so now they're part of
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the ESPN plus. I've been doing that.
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Just announced this week that I'm in a new movie that we're
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going to start shooting, actually started today called
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Drifter. That my buddy Sung Kang from The
1:31
Fast and Furious has written this movie and he's directing it
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and starring in it. And you know, for me, being a
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fan of Motorsports the way I am, and I've always loved drifting,
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to get to play a smart part, small part in this movie is so
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exciting to me. It was always on my bucket list
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to be in a movie with my friends.
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And, you know, we're so lucky to get to do the stuff that we love
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for so long. To get this opportunity is just
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like I I couldn't be more excited.
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And because I'm AI think this is my 15th year as a Toyota
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ambassador. Toyota plays a big part not only
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in drifting in the world, but also in this movie.
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So it's also really fun to get to be a part of that.
2:15
And it's funny. There's always like different TV
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kind of projects that are in different stages of of their
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existence, right? Like right now it is like
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farming, you know, we plant something, we water it and then
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six months later we're like, is that is it sprouting?
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It seems like it might be sprouting.
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So all I'll say is I'm doing a bunch of different things for
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The History Channel. You know, I always loved them
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since since my Top Gear days over there.
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So I get to join like lots of different little shows they do,
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which is pretty fun. So like one day they'll ask me
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to sit down in front of a camera and talk about those like dam
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Buster bombs, which is hilarious because I'm like the youngest
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person on the show. I have no frame of reference for
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World War 2, but I'm like, yeah, here's a dam Buster and here's
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how it works. So that stuff's going on and
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there's always a little something else.
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It's funny, I still talk to Tanner and Adam a lot that I did
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Top Gear with. And we've had a couple different
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opportunities that have been really close to to making it to
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where we would go and go make essentially like a new version
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of Top Gear. I mean, sometimes we get right
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down to the to the one yard line and stuff falls apart.
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And sometimes, you know, that's the right kind of thing.
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But I'm not covering any NASCAR right now.
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Certainly missed that. But still watch and love indie
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cartoon. I still think that's probably
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the best racing that exists out there.
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But, you know, always staying busy more than anything, just
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being a dad to have my three daughters and trying to keep up
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with them, which is insane because the oldest, Elsie, is
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17, 14 and 11. So I got my hands full, John,
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I'm not going to lie. I remember, I remember when they
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were just knee high to the grasshopper and now 17 Scary
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Relish. I guess that means we're kind of
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getting old. But man, you hit it right on the
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head, brother. When you talk about what we do
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now and what we used to do for a living, it's like a vacation
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when you and me were part of that traveling circus that would
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end up at the racetrack every weekend and we were just there
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to have fun, to bring out the personalities and everything
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that those were just great days. They really were.
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And you know, I was so lucky to to come in.
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I started with Speed Channel in 2005 through the marketing
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department as the DJ. So I'd gone to school for
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marketing. I'd worked at a radio station,
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I'd worked for country music television doing mobile
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marketing for them. But my job that first year was
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to ride around to the campgrounds and I had some speed
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girls with me that were promotional models.
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Jolly and Danielle ended up being the the two that were with
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me for the next few years. But we would ride around and get
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people to come to the big speed stage where they'd get to see
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you. They'd get to see our friend
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Steve Burns. We would just do, whether it was
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trackside or race day, any of the other shows that we did,
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NASCAR smarts, NASCAR performance with our buddy Booty
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Barker. You know, it was just the most
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fun thing ever. And I was so lucky.
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You guys really let me into that world.
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And not only were y'all the first group that really
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supported like, yeah, let's let Rut do more stuff on air.
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You know, it was really like I owe a huge amount of of thanks
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to you because you were the the quarterback.
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You were the leader of that Sunday fun.
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And the very first thing, I don't know if you remember, they
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gave me a shot in 2006, a year later, to go do this.
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You remember the scavenger hunt? Yep, very well, Very.
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Well, they sent me on a scavenger hunt in the infield to
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look for all these different things, and one of them was like
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a Jim Hunter Bobblehead doll. It was just.
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The wildest Kurt Bush fan. Yes, I was.
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I had a hard time finding a Kurt Busch fan at the time.
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Oh, oh, gosh, but it was so funny because you're like, well,
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this is either going to work or it's not.
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And our old buddy Chris Long, we call the muscles muscles.
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Whole thing was I'm going to give you one shot and if you
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suck, you got to work for me for for the rest of the year.
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So I was like not telling any of you guys I was like, this has to
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work or I'm in big trouble. And man, you, you were so kind
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and so helpful to me always. And you always made me feel like
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I had a seat at the table. And I just, I hope I have
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thanked you enough for that, because I certainly wouldn't be
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where I am and doing the things I'm doing without you.
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Man, more, more than enough of you.
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But you remember right when you came to me and you said, hey,
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Muscles has said, don't mess this up.
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I'm going to go on the air now. And you said, what?
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And I said, man, Rutledge, I said, I love the guy.
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I'm talking to you right here. If you're the dude on the camera
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that you are, I'm talking to you right now, it's going to be
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fine. And then you went out there and
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you made your debut. And if you remember when you
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came back, I said, hey, you better Remember Me when you're
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big time. You do, though, I said.
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Man, it's going. To work and and you know,
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Muscles was smart about that. Muscles was really smart about
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it because what he said to us, Rutledge was he he wanted to
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capture, like when you and me and Steve Burns and everybody
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were joking around and having fun, he said that's what we need
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on the air and that's why he turned to you.
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Yes, absolutely. And I think that was something
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that Chris has always been such a visionary and had a great
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sense of like what do people really want and what do they
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bring? Like it was funny.
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His one of his big things was we need to have thunderstruck
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playing and everybody going crazy right before we came on
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air. And I'm sure that there were
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people that were like, come on, you like the Dallas Cowboys,
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like what's the deal? But those little things we
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created this insane atmosphere that people love.
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You know, it really was our of college game day, but at the
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NASCAR tracks and people felt so much that they were a part of
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this show with us. And you know, even getting Kenny
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Wallace and Spencer to stand up on the desk and whip these
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people into a frenzy, man, there was just nothing like it for
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sure. And, and the thing I liked about
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it, Rutledge was we didn't have rules, right?
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You know, a lot of people go into these TV shows or go into
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their meet their corporate meetings or whatever, and you
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have all these rules. You can or can't do this.
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And what muscles did and I think we all bought into was nothing
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is off the table. So one of the funniest things
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that that ever went on was producer Ted decided right after
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Michigan got knocked off by App State in the upset of the
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College of Football History practically decided to dress you
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up in Appalachian State football uniform and Mosey around the
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campus of Michigan. And the piece turned out
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spectacular. It was John.
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It was a really good example of what you don't know could hurt
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you. I had I just I was always a car
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person. I love sports, right, but I'm
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not a die hard sports fan The way that you and Steve burns you
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and Steve would talk about games and stuff that I'm sitting there
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like what a bunch of nerds. I have no idea what y'all are
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talking about. So when when you guys come
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together and I think it was Scott, Keith, all Scott of
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Keith, he's the one that got the the full uniform.
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Like I had shoulder pads, I had a helmet.
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All of it was App State. I didn't understand what a huge
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deal that was in the sports world.
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So when I hear, hey, you're going to go to the Michigan
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campus. And I was like, cool, I'll just
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walk around John. I've never been in a more
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dangerous situation. In my life, it's.
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Every person I spoke to, I couldn't believe that they would
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talk to me because at first I'm like, oh, this is funny.
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This is a good bit. This team beat them.
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No, they they ripped their heart out and stomped on it.
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And I just had no idea. We had the cops called on us
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because I was up on this bridge above where they practice.
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And apparently that's like violation of some sort of NCAA
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rule. Again, no clue.
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I'm like, oh, cool, they're practicing.
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They didn't know. I asked this one guy.
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I said, how would you describe it?
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And he was like, honestly, it was the worst day of my life.
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And without skipping a beat, my first reaction was to say, so
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you've never seen Mariah Carey in person?
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Like what? Also, what did she do?
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I don't know why that was the first thing that jumped into my
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head. But to your point about just
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always be you, I was like, well, I'm just going to be me.
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I don't know enough on the sports side to play a different
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role in here, but it worked. I also think it's funny, Ted,
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that was the producer of that show for a long time.
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It's not that Ted didn't like me as a human being.
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I think he did. I don't think he liked having to
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put me in the show. He was very much a nuts and
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bolts guy sometimes. And I think I think that was his
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way of being like, well, if they kill him, you know, I don't have
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to put him on anymore. So I think he was like, yeah,
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all in, greatest idea ever. And then turns out it worked
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pretty well in there. And I think you threw me the
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ball and I somehow caught it in the crowd.
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Yep, I did on the stage. As soon as we're done with that
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show live, I threw the ball and you caught it.
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That's a fact. And we have videos.
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That's the one catch I've made in my life with a football job
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that was that was like the miracle.
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That was like my Rudy moment. But man, that's the kind of
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stuff that we would go do. And I think I, I definitely
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think NASCAR is in a place where they need that sense of
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community and vibe and feel more than ever.
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I'm so proud of our, of our, our buddy Jose Castillo has done a
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really good job of bringing back that feeling with the SMI
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tracks. But I do think it's the kind of
12:03
show that would be really great and and really necessary because
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we're now at this generation where all these cats that are
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out there were children watching that show with their parents.
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And now they're becoming parents.
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And so I think there's this great sort of turnover of people
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that I hope one of these networks will lean in.
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And I thought, I thought Amazon did a great job.
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They have the room to do pre and post shows.
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But, you know, haven't you guys out there having you and Kenny
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and Wendy Venturini out there just give it such a perfect
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feeling of, you know, old and new and the perfect mix of all
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these things together. It's really special.
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All right, so really, you were scared.
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I know when we put you on the Michigan campus, but this is
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true story. This is a fact.
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We go to, we're having breakfast at the hotel in Kansas, right?
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And you and Kyle Petty are sitting there.
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And I said, man, Kyle, aren't you supposed to be on Xfinity
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Series practice? And he's no, he looks down his
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phone. He goes, oh, yeah, I am.
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And it's OK. The track from the hotel is a
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normal person. It's got to be 1/2 hour drive.
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It's got to be 35 minutes. And so Kyle realizes that he's
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supposed to be on this this live broadcast.
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And you and Kyle go tearing out of the lobby.
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And guys, I did not finish the breakfast cereal and walk
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upstairs and turn on the TV. But maybe 15 minutes later and
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Kyle's on the air at the racetrack.
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You were part of that miracle. It was a thrilling ride.
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I'm happy that I wasn't driving that day.
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You know what's I'm so lucky? Speed Channel and the trackside
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live stage is the reason that Kyle and I became friends.
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And I know you, you probably heard that story about I had
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like struck up the nerve to ask him one day, hey, would you mind
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coming and being on here with us?
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It was from my friend Billy Race that I had met at the airport.
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You know, Billy was the one that introduced us.
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So I was like, Kyle, would you be on this show with me?
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And I'll put a brat on here in Johnsonville, Brat.
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I'll put a little mustard on it. You smile at the crowd and he's
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like, yeah, buddy, I got you. And I'm like, this is so cool.
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This is Kyle Petty. This is amazing.
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We go to do the shot. I put a little mustard on it.
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And he chucks that thing into the crowd, John, like a live
14:22
grenade. And immediately the wide shot is
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me going like, oh, my God, I'm going to get fired.
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And he grabs with his bare hand another brat on there, slathers
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it up and throws that in the crowd.
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So I knew at that moment that was in Watkins Glen in 2005, I
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was like, well, this guy and I are going to be friends.
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And then turns out Kyle's been one of my best friends ever
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since. So when he says, oh, my God, I
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got to get on air. I was like, cool, we're going
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down together. It's like, Thelma and Louise,
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you're going to sit down and shut up.
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I got that seat belt tight and we flew, man, we went so fast to
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get there. But you're also like when you're
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riding a paddle. Yes, it, it's, it is a different
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thing when you ride with a NASCAR driver who has spent his
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life going 200 miles an hour. You know, breaking the speed
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limit by 15 or 20 is really not a big deal.
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It's, it's no skin off his back. And you know, it's also funny
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thinking of we had to get through places with parking
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passes and do all the stuff so he could get on air.
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And I tell you what, we pulled in, he was gone, made it on air.
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I, I don't think that anyone knew besides you that he was
15:30
even possibly going to miss it. It was insane.
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Insane. So and this is what this is what
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Kyle, that's what I love hanging out with Kyle.
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So admittedly, right me, me and Rutledge are, we're germaphobes
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and and we're foodophobes, I guess, which always worried
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about, you know, eating something or getting sick.
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And So what we go into the Kansas restaurant, me, Kyle and
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Rutledge, right? And and Rutledge very calmly
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orders shrimp. And as soon as Rutledge orders
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the shrimp, Kyle starts smiling. And he waited and waited and
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waited until the shrimp got there.
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And he goes, hey, Rutledge, you know, here in Kansas, we're as
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far away from an ocean as we possibly can be.
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There ain't no way that shrimp is fresh enough for you to eat
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and you have it on your floor. I was just like, what?
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What have I done? And The thing is, Kyle, I don't
16:30
know if Kyle gets the credit that he should.
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He is one of the brightest people I've ever interacted with
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my life, right? Like he and I, I think we became
16:39
super close because we both would stay up late and watch
16:43
Saturday Night Live and then we would get up early and watch CBS
16:46
Sunday Morning. And like that was my entire
16:48
childhood, really just still through as an adult.
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And he did the same thing. So in one of those moments when
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he sees that, like, he didn't say anything when I ordered it.
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Oh, no. And like, I would eat every meal
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with Kyle. Yeah, for years, right.
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If we were at work, we were together.
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And so I get it. And that's his first thing of
17:06
like, you know where we are geographically.
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You couldn't be farther in the US from an ocean than any other
17:12
place. And you sit there and you're
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like, yeah, yeah, he's he's right.
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He's like, those are going to be good, aren't they?
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I was like, Dang it, Kyle, don't ruin this for me.
17:24
Too late and he's just. You know what, I, I think you've
17:30
got, you made a good point that I, I don't think anybody really
17:33
that's watched NASCAR broadcasting really can
17:37
appreciate what Kyle has brought to it.
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Just not, not only growing up in the shadow of the King.
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I remember one time being on being on race day and we're
17:47
talking about Dale Junior having some struggles and I looked at
17:51
Kyle. So, you know, there's nobody in
17:53
this world that's more qualified to speak on what Dale Junior's
17:57
going through because he grew up in the shadow of the Intimidator
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and Kyle grew up in the shadow of the King.
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But Kyle's wit, his quick, you know, the quick mindedness, the
18:08
the way he's able to tell us what's going on in the race car
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for a driver I think is second to none.
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I don't know if people really understand.
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When we got Kyle on TV, we we had a an American masterpiece.
18:22
Absolutely. And you know, it's funny, there
18:24
were times it's like an ebb and flow.
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NASCAR has really needed someone like Kyle to to hold them
18:32
accountable for some of the choices that they've made over
18:35
the years. And there were times where
18:37
NASCAR did not want to be accountable for anything.
18:40
And they were like, oh, well, don't say anything bad about us.
18:42
We weird. Everything's just fine.
18:45
And so it would be these interesting moments of like,
18:48
hey, I love you guys and this isn't cool.
18:53
This thing that's happening, this rule change, whatever the
18:55
different kind of spaces are. And turns out that's like one of
18:59
the things you need most in sports and entertainment is you
19:02
need someone who has the experience and also the
19:07
positioning to hold others accountable.
19:09
And that's what Kyle is. And it's also funny.
19:12
That's what like NASCAR went through these periods of like, I
19:14
don't know about this guy. Like why?
19:16
Cuz he told you that like the car tomorrow wasn't going to
19:19
make sense because of XY and Z. And then turns out everything he
19:23
said was correct. Because also he does it in a way
19:26
that is so astute. And he's literally spent his
19:28
entire life at a racetrack. I mean, him and Dale Jarrett are
19:31
two of those great links to the past and really junior too.
19:36
But Junior was was away from it in certain spots different.
19:40
Junior is kind of now the best representation of that, I think.
19:44
But also, you know, it's funny. I laugh thinking when I started,
19:48
you know, when I talked to Chris long muscles, we keep calling
19:51
him muscles said, well, what do you want to do?
19:54
Like what are you going to do different on air?
19:55
And I said, well, I don't want to talk to him about the cars.
19:59
And he said. But you're a car guy.
20:00
And I was like, yeah, yeah. But also I can read.
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So I think asking a person, how's your car?
20:06
When I see it? And I know how their car is, I
20:08
think that's a wasted question. But like they said, OK, well,
20:12
let's prove it. Go get, go get Mark Martin on
20:16
NASCAR LIVE. And this was our buddy Mark
20:18
Smith was producing the show. And I was like, you want me to
20:20
get Mark Martin on the show? And he's like, yeah, yeah, just
20:22
go knock on the door. And Mark was like 37th in
20:26
practice. Yeah.
20:27
And you know, Mark is a legend. So I knew I needed to really
20:32
like well, Carl, Chuck. So I knocked on the door and I
20:36
said, hey, Mr. Mr. Martin, Sir, excuse me.
20:43
I would like to talk to you outside about your week.
20:45
And he's like, well, what do you want to know about my week?
20:48
And so I want to know like, what what you did this week and what
20:51
was fun, what was different, that sort of thing.
20:53
He said, well, why do you want to ask me about my week?
20:56
I said, well, how was your car in practice?
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He's like, we were 37th and I just looked at him without
21:00
skipping a beat. And I said, that's why, That's
21:04
why. And there was this like so slow
21:06
smile that came over his face and he's like, all right, let's
21:08
talk about my week. And I, Johnny was like, Oh my
21:11
God, it worked. This proof of concept.
21:13
If you can get him to talk about.
21:14
And also like in that same way, we learned all of this cool
21:18
stuff about Mark Martin in his modern era.
21:21
Like First off, the dude is the best kind of insane.
21:26
Like watching his videos of how he will detail his RV and how he
21:30
hops up these huge diesel motors so he can get more power than
21:34
best mile per gallon out of, you know, a bus is incredible.
21:39
But also like he loves Gucci Mane like stuff that shouldn't
21:43
be possible. He is like one of the hardest
21:46
dudes in the gym I've ever seen in blue jeans.
21:50
Like. Mark's just, Mark's just legit.
21:52
He's everything. Well, keep in mind before
21:55
Twitter and this notion, and I'm not saying I started, but I was
21:58
definitely one of the first people was like, let's talk to
22:00
them about who they are. Like Elliot Sadler.
22:03
The reason that he was just this incredible existence of
22:07
marketing and how you sustain a career in a sport is because he
22:10
was a fun dude and he made you feel like, I want to have a beer
22:13
with this guy. Like he reminds me of my friends
22:15
because he would just be himself.
22:17
So we didn't, for the record, know anything about Dale Junior
22:21
before Twitter. We didn't know that he liked,
22:23
you know, Star Wars or that he watches old movies.
22:27
Like we just literally knew nothing about him.
22:30
And you think now it's cool to see?
22:33
He knows that he's accepted for being the great guy that he is,
22:37
and he can be a total nerd like the rest of us about XY or Z,
22:41
and everybody's still going to love him.
22:43
But like, we didn't have that in 2005, 2006, 2000.
22:47
It wasn't like that at all. It was like, oh, there's Kasey
22:50
Kahne. Girls like him because he's
22:51
attractive. That was it.
22:54
Like, we know anything else. Yeah.
22:56
We didn't know anything else about Casey back then.
22:58
Like what a weird thing. So right there were two times
23:03
that Chris Long told me I would be fired if I didn't do
23:05
something. And it was pretty difficult
23:07
because I didn't know Regis Philbin was walking around the
23:13
garage with Jeff Gordon and I was on the RF pack and I was
23:17
walking around there and Muscles goes, hey, go over there and get
23:21
Regis Philbin. I said I just can't get Regis
23:23
Philbin. And he goes, yeah, you can, or
23:24
you're fired. Do it or you're fired.
23:26
So I walk up to Regis and I didn't know who this dude was.
23:30
This guy Gelman there, apparently, yeah, it was his
23:35
producer. He's not going on.
23:37
And Regis said, yeah, I'll talk to you.
23:40
And I said, OK, get out of here, whoever this other guy was.
23:42
But kind of a pretty important dude.
23:46
But then also Rutledge. I was at Talladega and the
23:49
infield had flooded and there was a dude sitting on a picnic
23:54
table. The water was up to the top of
23:56
the picnic table and it was in his RV.
23:59
And Muscle said, Johnny Go interview that guy.
24:02
And I said, I can't, I can't go over there.
24:04
I'm not, you know, get soaked. It's waist deep water.
24:07
And there's also extension cords and fire ants in that water.
24:11
And so some dude showed up behind me like 30 seconds later
24:14
with a pair of hip waders. And there I was walking through
24:18
the mud, but I didn't get fired. No, no.
24:21
And that's, that's the thing that we needed that sort of
24:24
level of insanity. Very similarly, I had to go
24:30
interview the two wives of this was at Talladega, of the two
24:36
husbands that had been killed because they were putting their
24:40
flagpoles up and this was coming.
24:44
So they went to go take them. Now they get electrocuted and
24:47
killed on Thursday. I have to go talk to them on
24:52
Sunday. And John, I interviewed these
24:55
two sweet gals who stayed because they, quote, said their
24:59
husbands would have wanted them to.
25:01
And meanwhile, I'm like, Oh my gosh, go home.
25:07
Go home, you poor things and mourn.
25:09
Can someone help them get these campers home?
25:12
Like it was just, you know, when you see that kind of stuff and
25:16
that dedication, that's what, to me, I love so much about NASCAR
25:20
fans. They are nomads for a party for
25:23
a great time. It's one of the only places I
25:25
still believe in the world. You could go without food or
25:28
without drink. And you can make friends who
25:30
will say, oh, gosh, yeah, we'll put up a tent for you.
25:32
Or you can sleep on the couch. Like, it's just full of
25:35
wonderful, sweet people that have, you know, there's pockets,
25:41
right? It's one of the only places
25:42
you'll be a drywall guy is next to a dentist, you know, next to
25:46
a hedge fund guy who is sitting next to a mechanic that also
25:51
races part time. Like it's just an incredible
25:53
melting pot of people. Yep, and the NASCAR fan
25:57
relatives. The average fan tailgates for
25:58
two hours. The NASCAR fan tailgates for two
26:01
days and sometimes actually misses the event they went to go
26:05
see. But right, you've done a ton of
26:07
other really cool stuff, Kentucky Derby stuff overseas,
26:12
I'm sure. What are some of the other
26:15
things that you've done after we kicked everything off together
26:19
on Speed Channel and then you branched out and some other
26:22
things. I know you work with Guy Fieri a
26:23
bit. Yeah, yeah, I've gotten to do
26:26
some fun stuff. We got.
26:27
I've done a bunch of like Diners, Robins and Dives and
26:30
Guys Grocery Games, but he actually produced a show I did
26:33
with my friend Damaris Phillips called Southern and Hungry where
26:36
we rode around the South trying to show everybody that's not
26:39
just fried foods and sweet tea. I of course started doing Top
26:43
Gear in O8O9 thanks to our friend Frank Wilson.
26:48
Gave me a big blessing to go make that happen.
26:50
And that was funny because Top Gear was on The History Channel
26:53
as a Co production with them and the BBC.
26:56
That started Top Gear and we were in I think 100 different
27:01
countries, 80 different languages, something like that.
27:04
And then when I moved to NBCI was still doing that show, but I
27:08
also started doing some stuff for Netflix.
27:10
So I did a show called Hyperdrive, which is this crazy
27:13
Top Gear meets American Ninja Warrior, sort of a vibe where
27:17
people were doing crazy things in their own cars.
27:20
I started a show called American BBQ Showdown, which is now just
27:24
called BBQ Showdown, and I wanted to make a fun competition
27:27
show that wasn't filled with fake drama.
27:30
And we made it. But I wasn't a part of the
27:32
second season and beyond because I also took a job for Netflix
27:36
doing a show called The Floor is Lava.
27:39
And that's my lava lamp set my lava lamp over here.
27:43
That turns out, John, to be the biggest thing I've ever done in
27:46
my career. Because even if you add up, you
27:49
know, doing Super Bowls for NBCI, did a couple of those.
27:52
I did the Rio Olympics in 2016, Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in
27:57
2018. I did the delayed 2020 Olympics
28:01
in Tokyo, and that did a bunch of stuff for the Beijing Winter
28:05
Olympics that was delayed. And we did that remotely.
28:08
But the Flores Lava came out in June of 2020 when a lot of
28:12
people were home and we had 38 million viewers in the first
28:16
month. And we went on to be #7 for
28:20
Netflix Global for 2020. And it's me making dad jokes for
28:25
an hour while people are going through this insane obstacle
28:29
course, trying to avoid falling in lava and trying to win money.
28:33
And so you're also like, what is happening?
28:35
How is this possible? And then one of the coolest ones
28:38
for me I've ever gotten to do is I got to host my first primetime
28:41
show. And this is the, the kit for
28:45
right there, that blue box, it was called Hot Wheels Ultimate
28:48
Challenge. It was on NBC.
28:50
We shot that over in the UK. And I was there for 2 1/2 months
28:55
and just had the time of my life.
28:57
It's really fun. Turns out as an adult to get
29:01
thrown into another culture for work.
29:03
And you just have to like, go ahead, maybe two weeks of a
29:06
heads up that, oh, by the way, you got this gig and you're
29:09
hosting it and it's going to be the coolest thing you ever get
29:12
to do and it's going to shoot in the UK and you leave in two
29:14
weeks. So I just had to pack up my
29:16
stuff. And of course, I missed the
29:18
girls. I got to bring them all over for
29:20
spring break that year. But it was a, it was a great
29:24
time. The people in the UK are so
29:25
kind. I was in Manchester, England,
29:28
for 2 1/2 months, and I got to see, like, I was at this
29:31
legendary match between Liverpool and Manchester United
29:36
where Liverpool beat them 7 to nothing, which never happens.
29:40
No one ever scores that high, let alone a blowout.
29:43
And so, like, people are like crying in the streets.
29:46
They're so excited and crying because they're so crushed.
29:49
Yeah, dude, it's, I thought I knew what serious sports were
29:52
traveling with NASCAR for 20 years.
29:54
I had no idea these these soccer fans are so intense.
29:59
So, yeah, it's really fun to get to do the variety of things that
30:02
I've done, you know, from cooking stuff to car shows and a
30:06
little bit in between. I also did a show called Lost in
30:08
Transmission, which was really about how I fix up cars with my
30:11
friends. I did that with my friend Randy.
30:13
All good. And Randy's grandson got drafted
30:17
to the Mets last week. That was exciting.
30:19
So yeah, you know, it's just it's fun to get to do so many
30:23
different projects that connect you with people and places.
30:28
And obviously I'm still part of the NBC family.
30:32
Turns out budgets are tight for a lot of people.
30:33
So that's why I'm not covering any racing right now.
30:36
But still, you know, yeah, it's it's stuff that I love to do it.
30:40
It was looking like I might, I was going to go help some other
30:43
people do some NASCAR coverage. And then, you know, kind of the
30:46
last minute, a lot of those things sort of fizzle out.
30:48
They're interesting. A lot of groups are, how do we
30:51
say this with kindness? There's some groups that are mad
30:54
at NASCAR and they're going to have to ride that out for a
30:59
little while. And, you know, NASCAR makes some
31:02
weird decisions sometimes. I don't always understand.
31:05
And sometimes, like, I really love Jim France.
31:13
Jim's always been cool to me, always like them.
31:16
But like, I've done this thing in my career where I try to
31:19
avoid asking, don't answer questions that people aren't
31:24
asking. Does that make sense, Sean?
31:26
Oh, absolutely. Like, yeah.
31:28
Just don't, like, all of a sudden, like, weigh in on some,
31:30
like, Hot Topic. Well, one day on a Tuesday
31:32
afternoon, Jim Francis says, oh, by the way, those charters might
31:36
not be worth anything if we don't get another TV contract,
31:38
like, right after they just signed this huge contract to
31:42
bring Amazon in and TNT back. And everyone's like, wait, what?
31:47
But Jim, we just, a lot of us just paid all of this money and
31:51
why would you just come out with that on a random Tuesday?
31:53
And then his started this avalanche of crap of which
31:56
people have still not escaped. You know, Fox was mad at NASCAR,
32:00
so they cancel, you know, race hub.
32:04
And then a bunch of our friends are out of work for no real
32:07
reason. Like they end up as pawns in
32:09
this chess game, but the only people that lose are the fans.
32:13
And so you're also like, what are you guys doing?
32:16
Why can't we just, can we not just work together?
32:19
This is a time where a rising tide should raise all ships.
32:23
And I've been lucky enough to work with a lot of people that
32:25
really believe in that. And you know, Jeff Binky is one
32:29
of those guys to me that always understands that.
32:32
And Sam Flit too. And so I believe that we will
32:36
get this ship righted. It's just in this fight with
32:39
Jordan and all these things, I'm like, guys, it's not none of
32:43
this looks good on y'all. We don't have to do this stuff.
32:46
Why don't we? Why don't we make the show
32:48
really great and and you got to give credit.
32:50
A lot of these tracks have done an amazing job to bring that
32:54
sense of community back to to NASCAR and really make the event
32:59
special because you know, that's what we lived for so long and I
33:03
do. I do want to give everybody
33:04
credit. I think 2020 was a big reset
33:06
where they got a chance to say, OK, how can we make the fans #1
33:10
again, to really prioritize them?
33:11
And I just want to say hats off to everybody that's worked so
33:14
hard on those experiences. Well, I think Rut, there's been
33:17
a lot of great developments this year.
33:19
You know, the earliest ever for a sell out of the 500.
33:22
There was so many different places that were packed.
33:25
The TV ratings have been trending upward and a lot of
33:27
people are happy with some of the new coverage.
33:29
But I'm I'm with you, Rut 100%. Maybe someday we could get it
33:34
all back together where it was again.
33:36
I mean, you and me be doing TV shows together every weekend.
33:39
Oh, I'd love that. I'd love that.
33:42
Right. It's so great to talk to you,
33:43
brother. We became such good friends over
33:45
those years and I'm glad that we still keep in touch.
33:48
Not enough, but I'm so glad to talk to you and so proud of what
33:53
you've been able to do. And we need to continue this
33:56
conversation at a later date sometime soon.
33:59
I'd love that brother. Thank you so much for having me.
34:01
I appreciate all the love and support over the years.
34:04
I do want to say my favorite era of getting to see you and be
34:08
friends with you all the time. And I don't know how many people
34:11
who are watching know this story, but John at one point was
34:15
really active in the gym. And he liked it so much that he
34:18
bought the gym. And he was like, within three
34:21
months, it went from like, here's sweet John Roberts to
34:26
here is Arnold Schwarzenegger's little brother.
34:29
Dude, you were so gigantic. And it was funny because, yeah,
34:36
dude, it was. You're still in great shape.
34:38
But you, you remember, you are like, the funny part is I knew
34:41
it was serious when Jeff Hammond would kind of like, look at you.
34:44
Like, yeah, you've been in the gym pretty hard.
34:46
And I was like, oh, no. If Hammond's feeling threatened
34:48
by you right now, you have really gotten in the gym hard.
34:52
But I do not have to know you. No chemical, absolutely no
34:56
juice. No juice.
34:57
I hope one day I'll have one of your pieces of woodwork in my
35:01
house. That's the one thing I feel like
35:03
I'm missing. So maybe one day.
35:04
Got it. Make that.
35:04
Happen. I might go to work right now.
35:06
What time is it? I'll go to work right now.
35:08
All right, Rush. Thanks brother.
35:10
Hey, I love you man, thanks for having me.
35:11
Love you brother, bye. See you man.