Question: In your opinion, is it a good thing or bad thing that the Camaro is being reintroduced into the American muscle car market again?

Adam Ferrara: Any time you can get a muscle car back it's a good thing. It's a great car. Backing up is a little bit of a problem because it's tough to see out of it, the visibility. It's a little chopped for me. But other than that anytime I can get my hands on the muscle car I will.

Tanner Foust: That would definitely be Adam's take on it. I love the fact that we get these retro rods back on the market. They're very cool. You can't really level out of the technology that's in them though. It's hard to get excited about some of the electronics and some of the go fast bits on them. But any time you get something as American as a rumbling V8 and throw it out on the road, it can't be a bad thing. That's the charm of the muscle car. There’s no bells and whistles -- big engine, light car, go fast, straight line.

Rutledge Wood: It's cool that they tried to go back to the roots in some of their hay day when they were a lot stronger as a company. So it's neat to see the Camaro on the road reborn and to revisit those times. And it is a fun car to drive for sure.

Question: Did any of you own a Bitchin' Camaro?

Tanner Foust: No, I never have.

Adam Ferrara: Nope, never owned a bitching Camaro.

Tanner Foust: I had a motor out of a Camaro once in something else. But that's it.

Rutledge Wood: Well, my uncle did have a ‘67 RS, which wasn't necessarily the fastest but it was kind of rare. And a convertible. It was a three speed on the floor. It was very cool to drive. I always sort of grew up wishing I kind of had one of those. They weren't fast. I mean they didn't handle well. They didn't stop well that's for sure. But there's just something kind of mellow about sitting on black vinyl in the sun in a convertible, and rumbling along with the three speed.

Question: Of the high performance exotic cars, which are your favorites or which would you recommend?

Adam Ferrara: I would recommend to someone that has the money to experience the experience of giving to another and purchasing me a Bugatti Veyron. That will really make you want to give to your fellow man.

Rutledge Wood: Good ploy.

Tanner Foust: It's a different thing for different people right? I've always been a fan of Porsche’s to be honest with you, and there something about them. I grew up when my dad had an old one in the garage, and there’s something about them that's kind of multitalented. It's one of those cars that you can drive on a daily basis but it's also wickedly fast. It's multi-talented. And it's kind of good in any environment. I've never been a fan of people having garage queen exotics that didn't get driven. And while Ferraris are great and Lamborghinis are awesome and amazing, they can get old to drive on a daily basis. So I think there something about a Porsche that lets you kind of live in it.

Adam Ferrara: Yes, they call that homelessness. If you're living in a Porsche you don’t have a house.

Rutledge Wood: My favorite kind of exotic that I got to spend a little time in was a Murcielago Super Veloche Lamborghini. And I think the reason I loved it so much, as a product of the 80s, I grew up with this poster of the old Lamborghini Countach on my wall. It was like ‘85...

Tanner Foust: I had that one. The white one?

Rutledge Wood: Yes, Tanner, the white one.

Tanner Foust: The white one, exactly, sitting on the grass. Yes, I had the same one.

Rutledge Wood: It just was this gorgeous car. It just represented this impossible dream, and Lamborghini let me ride around in one of those for four days with these knuckleheads as it rode through the desert. It was the most fun I've probably ever had in the car. [The car was sexy] but the seat wasn’t sexy. I'm 6’3” and it was painful. It was made for I would guess - I mean I don't even know if Tanner’s short self, would be comfortable in there -- no offense Tanner.

Question: Adam, are you going to get Denis Leary in a car?

Adam Ferrara: I'd kind of like to get him in a truck. He's probably up at the farm in Canada, and I don't know if he'll come all the way out -- he probably will if we get picked up. He's crazy enough to do stuff like that.

Question: Did you guys watch the other versions of the show? How did you get involved in TOP GEAR?

Adam Ferrara: Well, I was a fan of the [British] show. I saw a bunch of the episodes before because I was a fan before any of this even came up; so I was really familiar with the show and the guys.

And it came to me from History channel. I had done another show called UNITED STATES OF CARS, which was a pilot that didn't get picked up, and they said we're doing TOP GEAR and would you like to meet the guys? It was the wild most wild audition I ever had because I never went to a studio or a producer's office. The call came in and we met in a parking lot. It was like a ransom drop. We had to meet behind the mall in a parking lot, and these two guys were in an Evo. And we just jumped in the Evo and just started tearing around doing donuts. Tanner was spinning us around, they had cameras set up, and we we’re just having a good time with this car. And we found this couch in I think we tried to put Rutledge in the couch and see how close we could come with the car. And that's what everyone said "Cut. Okay, fine. Thank you." So that's how I came to it.

Tanner Foust: Of course, I was a big fan of the British show and also FIFTH GEAR. I enjoyed those.

During my elementary school years I lived in Scotland, and so I really kind of enjoyed the British sense of humor. I grew up on shows like BLACKADDER and THE YOUNG ONES, and I would track down watching TOP GEAR.

And then I met the BBC Worldwide folks when they were coming together with the NBC show and got involved with that and shot the pilot and went through a whole casting process. Then did the same with the History show and was lucky enough to get involved in both and have some killer times.

I come from the driving standpoint as a racer and in some cases as a stunt coordinator and safety guide, making sure that Adam has buckled his seatbelt up completely before jumping his Cadillac. It's an amazing franchise to be involved in that's for sure.

Rutledge Wood: I've been watching the show for years, and I actually remember hearing that they had made a pilot for NBC. I knew Tanner was part of that, and obviously I was hoping for something like that one day.

One day I got a call -- I spent all my weekends on the road with NASCAR -- and this person said, "Hey, we want to know if you'd be interested in talking with producers for the show. It's called TOP GEAR. Have you ever heard of it?" And I was of course like yes, I’d say that's the premier car show in the world. She said, "Well,  they're working with the History channel, and BBC Worldwide is going to produce it. Would you like to maybe go talk to someone about it?" And so the whole time I just kept thinking, "This is going to be so cool to tell my friends that I got to go to the audition when I'm home watching the show." And then somehow I got picked to be on there. Then just like Adam said we were in a parking lot essentially with the Mitsubishi Evo and went and had a lot of fun and it just kind of all came together from there.

Question: Do you have a favorite challenge of the show so far?

Rutledge Wood: Yes, but it's tough to pick a favorite. The road trips were obviously what you'll see in the show. That was so much fun for us because the whole premise of this show is to just tell us what you really think, whatever you're in. Be honest, don't hold back.

And so whether it was when we took a trip to Alaska to test America's toughest truck or when we went to Detroit to find a car that we thought GM should bring back. That was probably my favorite thing we did, the favorite trip we took. It just was so much fun and nonstop.

But I'll be honest, the piece I was most jealous that I didn't get to be a part of was when Tanner got to test out the new Ford Raptor.

Tanner Foust: That was epic. We went out just east of Phoenix.

Well, Ford came out with this version of the F150 truck which is like the best selling machine in the world. It's wider and it's got suspension travel and it's basically like an off road truck you can buy for 50 grand and drive on the road. And we went to see how good it was and ended up racing it in the desert against a skydiver. So the skydiver went five miles up. I want five miles out and we raced to a point and just beat the tar out of this truck.

And there something about it that's like therapy,like medicinally helpful in some way. There's something about just beating the snot out of somebody else's truck that you walk away calm with the world -- like Gandhi. You're just on a level playing field after that. And so that kind of stuff for me is definitely therapy for me. So that was a great trip.

Adam Ferrara: One of the things I liked is in one of the challenges is when we found out Rutledge has no peripheral vision. When Rut took his glasses off and said, "I have no peripheral vision Tanner," we just looked at each other and go "Oh, we’re going to have a lot of fun for the next eight episodes. And we began exploiting that for our own amusement.

Tanner Foust: Yes, you can literally be standing next to him talking, making faces at him, and he can't see a thing.

Adam Ferrara: Oh, the possibilities are really endless.

Question: Besides the Lamborghini, what other car was a highlight for you?

Tanner Foust: I'm into the exotic cars and so Lamborghini was up my alley, but I took a trip to England and I drove a norm (Morgan). It was simply an unbelievable trip out there going through the English countryside and driving this car with side exhaust pipes in a land where a 1.3 L engine is kind of the performance package. And then you get into a 4.8 L V-8 out there. And that was really kind of an amazing car. It looks like a 1930s mix between like Dick Tracy and Margaret Thatcher kind of pulling together this really bizarre thing that I didn't expect to like but came away having one of the greatest trips ever.

Adam Ferrara: And you know when he came back he made us call him Dick Thatcher.

For me, it was actually getting air in that ‘76 Coupe Deville. We did a moonshine run and we had to test the endurance of these cars. I picked the ‘76 Caddy because what else would I be driving? It was basically like an off-road motorcycle course. I knew this thing weighed 5800 pounds and if I stopped I wasn't going to start again. I didn't want to get it stuck so I just kept it moving. I went up this incline, I just dropped it in low and I stepped on it just to keep the momentum going. And then there's all kinds of violence and crashing because everything has been smashing around. And then all of a sudden it got real quiet for a long time. And then it wasn't quiet anymore when I landed. That feeling was great. It was exciting and terrifying. I was all excited when I got out of the car, but then I saw Tanner's face and I was scared because all the blood was out of his face. And when Tanner Foust, the gold medal winning rally driver and stunt guy looks at you and goes, "Dude, are you okay?"

Tanner Foust: I mean that really was bad.

Adam Ferrara: I was kind of scared.

Tanner Foust: That was shocking. You bent the car. I mean it was a huge, huge dare.

Adam Ferrara: Yes it was fun too. There was no safety belt in it. It was in 1976, and the shoulder belt doesn't work. So Tanner pulls it tight, pulls the seat up so I'm locked in there, takes the belt, puts it under the head rest, pushes the head rest down, smacks me on the helmet goes, "You'll be fine."

Tanner Foust: Like I said, safety coordinator, one of my past jobs.

Rutledge Wood: It's a little bit hard to choose. I do want to say for the record that if you're not excited driving a Lamborghini -- in which we certainly were -- you should definitely not be part of TOP GEAR because those cars were just everything that is wonderful about the impracticality of cars in one expensive package. They were just insane.

But I think for me one of the craziest moments was we did a race from Miami to Key West to see what was faster -- a car, a boat, or plane. I got put in this John Z speed boat that had 1400-hp, and I did 100 miles an hour on the water. I said, "Hey, do you guys have a life jacket for me?" They said, "Yes, except you won't need it." And I said, "Well what do you mean, we’re not going to wreck?" And they said, "No, no. If we wreck we’re all going to die." So for me, as a guy with two kids and a nervous mom, that was probably the most frightened I was on the show. And these two know I am not a strong swimmer so I think the producers think it's really funny to mess with each of us in those different ways. So it was a lot of fun.

Adam Ferrara: That was a highlight. And I think finding out that you have a weak stomach was kind of fun too.

Question: What's your dream car?

Adam Ferrara: I want a ’57 Starfire Olds.

Tanner Foust: I would take a Zonda. I just love the fact that Pagani is what happens when you're OCD brilliant, wealthy and a fan of cars all mixed together.

Adam Ferrara: I like the exhaust on the Zonda. It always reminded me of the Batmobile with those four little exhausts out the back and that big circle.

Rutledge Wood: In all I'll say this, I'm from the South so I don't want to get shot
for my answer because it's a...

Adam Ferrara: '83 Honda Civic Wagon?

Rutledge Wood: Don't you dare because I have one.

Adam Ferrara: He doesn’t want a dream car, Rutledge has dream parts he wants.

Rutledge Wood: Yes, exactly. I'd like an old set of BBS wheels I can put a wire lip on possibly. Let's make fun of me for that you jerks.

I'm about to obtain somehow one of my dream cars because I'm trading my friend Kyle Petty the car that his dad gave me for his ‘69 Charger. He has a 383 in a four speed. So I never thought I could get that and he said he’d trade for it.

But I think the Ferrari Enzo would be on that list for me. It's so over the top and such a piece of art when it's parked or moving. It's a magical thing.

Question: What type of pressure do you feel being host of the American version of one of the most beloved shows on television?

Adam Ferrara: There’s a lot of pressure only because we’re also fans of the show and we know it's history. Anytime you're just going to put the words TOP GEAR and you're going to try and do a show under that flag, naturally you're going to be nervous. I don't want to speak for the other guys, but I know that we all had this idea like we cannot try and be Clarkson and Hammond and May. None of us wanted to even attempt that because it's not going to work. We just wanted to be ourselves in the TOP GEAR form. So we just wanted to do justice to the TOP GEAR name just try to do what we do in that context.

Rutledge Wood:    You’d be silly to say that you didn't feel the pressure because it's just this incredible show, but we all know that it was long overdue that this country had its own TOP GEAR with cars that are available here, on roads that are available here, trips that are here, things that are important to us. And that's not to demean them at all. But the whole process has been really like dating their sister. It's this very intimate thing. We wanted their approval. We want them to like it. We never want to bring their sister back home late with leaves in her hair.

So there's this myriad of things that we've had on our minds the whole time. But just like Adam said we knew that if we showed up and were ourselves and had a good time that we would make a great show and something we would be proud of. And I think the three of us could definitely say we did that.

Tanner Foust: The trick is that you really know the characters involved. And because we’re all fans of the show, we kind of know to expect from Hammond or from Clarkson in a particular situation. And what those characters developed, that's what we don't necessarily have -- we haven't really got our characters out there. So the question is the chemistry between the three of us, and obviously we don't get along at all. So that's been really hard.

Adam Ferrara: Yes we’re a little civil on this phone call.

Tanner Foust: Once we started hanging out -- the three of us really have a great time together -- then it really didn't matter that we were making a TV show. It was like the pressure kind of lifted a little bit. You just sort of have some fun with it. And then you see the production quality. I mean it really looks amazing. And then you get the real feeling like, "Wow! We really did make something that looks a lot like TOP GEAR." So then you can be proud of it. Whenever I watch them I'm really amazed at the production quality, and so hopefully the rest of the country will think that too

Rutledge Wood: I just want to add something to that. We knew about the show and we knew obviously BBC Worldwide and History were coming together to make it, but we didn't know entirely what that meant. But the fact that we had those same great BBC producers and the staff at History has been so good at making us feel at home and a part of it. And you know what, it's a perfect place for that show because you get to learn so many different things about what we’re doing in the cars and history. But it's history in motion. We were doing things that people hadn’t done here before whether it made sense or not. And that's what was so cool for us -- to find out that this is a perfect place for the show.

Adam Ferrara: Yes we did like American. We did a moonshine run, which was the beginnings of NASCAR. How American can you get than NASCAR and moonshine?

Question: When did you feel like this show worked?

Adam Ferrara: It's an evolving process. The audition process was the first time I met these guys, and it was like guys hanging out in a parking lot with an Evo -- except one of the guys is Tanner Foust. I'm going to spin you around. There was enough there to let me know that I wanted to meet him again and hang out with them again. So it's been an evolving process. We’re still getting to know each other, but we’re having a good time on the ride. So there was no moment where I said we have chemistry.

Rutledge Wood: One thing that isn't mentioned a lot is that the process to find the three of us was probably eight months long. So each of us had talked to different people around the whole thing and BBC and History really wanted to make sure that they found the right people and the right mix. And I think that's one thing that really helped with it. But when the first time we started shooting we had already spent a lot of time together to make sure of all those things.

So obviously anybody can watch the show and tell the more stuff we did the more we knew about each other, the newer ways to make fun of each other because we are in fact all friends and that's what friends do. But I think that it's a natural progression. We didn’t force it, and I think that was something they really wanted to make sure by taking their time, making sure we've done a lot of stuff. Yesterday, I saw Tanner and we both got excited. I hugged him. I'm a little bit of a hugger so that may be a trick.

I work with lots of people and do TV with them every weekend that I barely shake hands with. This whole TOP GEAR thing that the three of us have is really something special.

We just had our second daughter and there was a picture of my wife with the baby right there kind of laying on her chest. Adam wanted to Photoshop in a picture of himself with a note that said she looks just like me, and Adam's wife would not allow him to do it.

Tanner Foust: A baby Adam, awesome that’s it.  It's really amazing because how successful the British show is you’d think there's this crazy formula. But in reality it's just three guys hanging out having a good time with a budget.

Adam Ferrara: If you had two of your friends and a bunch of super cars and a camera, it's going to be pretty much the same kind of spirit that we’re doing.

Question: Has there been any talks about a crossover episode with the British version?

Tanner Foust: I saw the German version did it at one point, which was hilarious. They like put stacks of cars on top of each other.

Adam Ferrara: I don't know. I think if there is going to be a British-American meeting, I think they hang a lantern in the North Church. I think that's how they'll signal us.

Tanner Foust: I say we meet them at the Alamo. We just go old school with it.

Question: What's been the highlight of the series?

Tanner Foust: Working with Richard Porter. Next question.

Adam Ferrara: Yes, Richard Porter.

Rutledge Wood: No laughing here. I’m just kidding. We love Richard Porter.

Adam Ferrara: That was a highlight for me.

Tanner Foust: I grew up a skier. Always loved skiing, always loved cars. And in this series I finally got to drive a car down a ski mountain. I took a Mitsubishi Evo 10 down Mammoth Mountain on a beautiful powder day. It was a nice day for skiing and just carved it up with this car. It was pretty much the coming together of so many of my worlds. That was a dream come true. That has to be the highlight for me.

Question: Do you three still like each other or can you not stand the site of one another?

Adam Ferrara: We’re going to be together in New York. We actually had a good time hanging out with other and everything was fun. I mean one of the highlights for me was finding out that Rutledge has limited peripheral vision and a weak stomach so those were two things we could exploit.

Tanner Foust: I’m just going to say Rutledge threw up like seven times in ten episodes. That’s some great record broken.

Adam Ferrara: We only show two though, but the other five were just fantastic. And the other highlight for me was when Rut put a fog machine in Tanner’s trailer.

Tanner Foust: Which I still own by the way, and I have a remote control helicopter in front of me now that I’m about to drive through the fog. It makes cool like veortices when it goes through there. I don’t know if that’s a little too geeky but it’s pretty awesome.

Rutledge Wood: For me I think there’s so many good moments that we had together and so much fun, but I think the most epic trip we took was to Alaska when we decided to test America’s toughest truck in the toughest state. I’ve never been to a place like that before where just everywhere you look it’s more and more beautiful. And we got to go on all these crazy trails with these three trucks that we had to buy up there online. The sun was up for like 18 hours a day, 19 hours a day. And so we’d just shoot the whole time. And Tanner was telling me last night when he was doing voiceovers yesterday. I started laughing looking at us sitting by this fire because we've been shooting for like 20 hours or something ridiculous and we look like where half drunk but we are just damn tired but it was just an amazing trip.

Tanner Foust: We had a psychotic episode around day two. That's when the squirrel got out. It's one of those things. When you watch the UK version and you see them going these crazy trips across Africa and this and that and you’re always kind of questioning in your mind kind of like watching SURVIVORMAN, where you’re thinking "Okay, there's the Ritz-Carlton right out of the camera view for sure" as he's eating these ants and stuff. I mean we’re out in Alaska literally sleeping in the back these trucks. Yes it's a TV show but it's really an insane adventure that you just would never get to do without a production like TOP GEAR.

Question: Did anything go majorly wrong during filming?

Rutledge Wood: My favorite thing that went wrong and no one got hurt. We were doing one challenge and we had to park a car up on a hill. And I had gone and Adam had gone and it was Tanner’s turn. Adam's car was parked right behind mine. And Tanner couldn't get his car to stick on the hill with the parking brake so he decided to kind of do a little TOP GEAR bail out and shot out the window. And he didn't lock the steering wheel or point at any direction. The car just kind of went on its own. Apparently the car hated Adam because it went and made this crazy S coming down the hill and then tried to kill Adam's car. And that's probably my favorite moment that we had in the show because Adam -- then pissed about it -- tried to grab a bowling ball and smash the window and the car hated him so much he couldn't even do it.

Adam Ferrara: It bounced off the deck.

Tanner Foust: I still am now surprised that you didn't realize it. It's a dent-free car. It's a Fiero. It's made out of plastic. You can't dent it.

Question: When you are reviewing your car, how honest are you allowed to be?

Adam Ferrara: They haven't told us to hold back anything. If we’re supposed to not say something we don't know about it. They said to be completely honest, just watch your language.

Tanner Foust: Which Adam has a problem with frankly.

Adam Ferrara: Well look some stuff is shit all right? Sometimes shit is the right word.

Tanner Foust: Guys in the UK have profanity that is so eloquent and it goes under the radar whereas here we just have six or seven real solid ones. And you can only say the F word so many times before it just doesn't have any meaning. That's the one thing that we have is we just have clever ways to say...

Adam Ferrara: But it even sounds good. To our ears it sounds good. When James May pulled up to review a car and the Pagani and the Zonda pulled up and he just went oh cock. That's great to an American.

Tanner Foust: Wiener just doesn't have the same flair.

Adam Ferrara: Wanker. See it doesn’t have the same thing. See motherfucker, that's big. And if you're going to spell it I think it's a hyphen.

Question: TOP GEAR UK is always making sure fun of US cars. Are you guys going to make fun of UK cars?

Tanner Foust: Some of us did. I drove the Morgan and I didn't want to make fun of it. I didn't go out there with that intention but I thought that it was inevitable. But I ended up really liking it. And so it was a little bit of a surprise and I think it was because I drove it in England. If I would've driven the car in the States it would've been a mess. It would have looked like a cartoon car driving down the road, but over there it was absolutely King of the Hill, you know?

Rutledge Wood: I don't think we have any sort of underlying theme of our dislike towards the Brits or anyone else. We are a loving, kind people. But I may have gone over the line slightly in proclaiming that all Brits were liars. The speedometer grossly overstates a number and makes people think the car might accomplish such a thing. And I basically inferred that all British people were liars because the car was a liar.

Tanner Foust: Yes exactly. And I don't think there's some good stereotypes that we could make back but were big people. We can handle it.

Question: How do you guys appeal to an audience outside of gearheads?

Adam Ferrara: Well, I hope they can see the fun we’re having. One of the things I love about the UK show is those guys are having fun, you know? It's just the enjoyment of those guys being together, and the cars that they're driving just makes the show for me. So I'm hoping that that excitement and the genuine fun we’re having transfers to the audience here. And I know a lot of people who watch the UK show aren't really gearheads. They just like the show and like the guys.

Rutledge Wood: So I'm just hoping that they can tell two friends and then those two friends will tell two friends basically and work its way across the country.

Question: Who's a worse driver, Rutledge or Adam?

Tanner Foust: They are both horrible, just horrible.

Adam Ferrara: What have you got to go and do that for? We’re just both horrible because we’re just driving a straight line Mr. Sideways.

Tanner Foust: Thank you for this opportunity to answer this question first of all. In reality they're exactly like you would think.

Rutledge drives like he grew up on a farm. He slid things around a lot, has good skills but his arm is always hanging onto the roof of the car when he’s sliding around and his other hand is palming the steering wheel.

Adam is just angry behind the wheel because that's how I think New Yorkers are. They just get it done somehow. It just works and it shouldn't but always one hand on the horn. But these guys are car fans. And I think any car enthusiasts that you meet -- whether they race cars or not -- grow up watching their parents drive and have an interest in driving. So you tend to have skills behind the wheel when push comes to shove. And these guys aren't any different.


Adam Ferrara: Yes, I can actually learn to drive by watching my parents. So I'd steer with my left hand and I smacked my brothers in the back seat with my right hand.

Tanner Foust: Yes, exactly.

Question: How would you sum up how the first season has gone?

Tanner Foust: Well, I hope we get to do it again because I really had a good time. I really had a good time just sleeping on the ground in Alaska with these idiots and riding around in $1 million worth of Lamborghinis and interviewing the stars. I enjoyed all of that and I really hope that that transfers to the audience and we get to do it again.

Rutledge Wood: I think we put together a really fun show about three guys in cars and it’s going to be right at home on the History channel. I always said that the level of success would be if we could take people who maybe weren’t into cars, didn't really care about it whatever, and help them have fun and watch what cars represent to other people it would be a success. So I hope that's what we can do.

Tanner Foust: I had the pleasure of sitting down with Andy Willman, one of the creators of the UK show, and like he said, "the show is just really a glimpse into the male mind." And so it really is just a couple guys just having a good time, you know? We’re just enjoying ourselves. And it will take some time to get the characters. With the UK show, I know it took a few years before people understood exactly the different characters involved. And so hopefully we get to do this again and kind of keep the ball rolling because I think it only gets better.

Question: Is there a huge difference between like going 173 miles an hour and 175? What does it feel like to go that fast?

Adam Ferrara: It depends on how much room you have to stop.

Tanner Foust: I think it takes a long time to get up to that speed in most cars, you know? And to hold your foot for an extra what is probably ten seconds to get from 173 to 175 it'll feel like a big difference even though physically it really hasn't.

Rutledge Wood: It's frightening. There's a certain air of calmness that hits around like 130 or 140 because you really have to lock in. You're really paying attention. But when you climb above 170 or even 180, time is a strange thing. I think that it slows down while it's completely sped up too. It's a little bit surreal. But also the whole time in your mind you're thinking, "If I do anything wrong right now, this is going to be really, really bad." So I learned that lesson the hard way because Tanner didn't want to mark a cone once when we were trying to see how fast we could go in a Lamborghini. And he said, "Oh, we’re on this runway. When you see the number two that means there's 2000 feet left. You need to let off the gas and start slowing down and then brake a little harder as you get further along." And as I was going I realized that not only did I not see the number two, I hadn't seen any numbers or any indicators of where I was on the runway.

Adam Ferrara: Because your eyes were closed.

Rutledge Wood: But they weren't closed. I was just going really, really fast. When I saw a camera van that had a bunch of our camera guys hanging out of it on the side of the runway, I passed it and it was about the size of a golf ball at 176. I realized I should stop now. We learned a lot about each other -- that I need a breaking cone if we’re going to do something where we might launch off into the desert or into rough stuff. But it's really crazy to go that fast.

Adam Ferrara:    When you get to like 150 or so the car starts floating. And that's when you and the car become one because any move any one of you makes will kill you.

Rutledge Wood: Wow you guys are scaring them. It's all about the car at those speeds. The driver basically just has to not mess it all up for the car.

Adam Ferrara: Yes, well the car...you're just kind of holding on at that point.

Question: Rutledge, you're from Georgia. Is that how the show came to find Griffin, Georgia?

Rutledge Wood: They called and said, "Hey, we’re going to shoot this thing in Spaulding, Georgia." And I started to look it up and Spaulding is North. But Spalding County is where Griffin is. So I kept saying, "Are you saying Spaulding County or Spaulding the city?" And it took them a few days and then they got back to me. They're like, "Oh, Spalding County. It's in a place called Griffin." And I just started laughing because I used to get my hair cut in Griffin.

So it actually happened to work out. One of the producers, Ryan Cinder, had worked with the Atlanta Air Recovery, which are these crazy guys who go pick up planes when they're wrecked. And he had worked with them on the show before and so knew that they would know the right people.

Rutledge Wood (cont): But that day Tanner and I were really being chased by this Cobra attack helicopter. And he's driving so he's a little more competent. I was clearly frightened for my life several times. But we made a wrong turn and ended up cutting through a bank. And there were police around that were making sure people knew that we were making a TV show. Tanner and I cut through this bank and there's probably ten different women or 12 different women ranging in age from I'd say 18 to 50 screaming "Oh Lord Jesus, oh, oh Lord God, help us!" because they were pretty sure it was Armageddon. That really changed the whole thing for Tanner. Here we are, these two goofy young white kids in a crazy Dodge Viper, screaming "It's okay, it's for TV!"

Question: How did the people of Griffin react?

Rutledge Wood: The police really thought it was a great idea at first, I think. We had this Cobra attack helicopter hovering between buildings in these neighborhoods, and we were going into some neighborhoods that were pretty seedy. And the police were like "Oh this is great. This is awesome. People are flushing drugs down their toilets right now. This is better than any kind of raid we could ever do." And I mean they were absolutely ecstatic about it really but.

Tanner Foust: Do you remember what the cop said?

Rutledge Wood: No.

Tanner Foust: I think they said "This is the most exciting thing that happened in town since that murder." Do you remember all the people that were running out on that street that the car wash was on? Do you remember the screaming?

Rutledge Wood: They'd run out the door, open the door, say "Oh they're coming for Tommy" and they'd close the door and run back in the house. Everybody thought we were coming to get them. It was strange. And then somehow we ended up into that cemetery. That sort of brought it all back full circle as we were kicking up flower baskets and everything. That was awful.

The reason I'm laughing is here's the thing. Those helicopters came out of a junkyard. This guy, Skip Lamb who is the pilot, and I think there was probably 20 other guys who used to fly those back in the day found out that the government had a bunch sitting in the junkyard. And they said "Hey, why don't we pick these up and will take them to air shows and we can use them for TV and movies and all sorts of stuff?" Now here's the thing, I bought cars at a junkyard before and they've loaded them onto my trailer with a forklift. And that was the kind of mental picture I had. So I'm imagining one of my friends in Georgia hacking together some old car that they bought at the junkyard and now it's flying above us. I legitimately heard that in my nightmares for days because it was just so menacing behind us. And that's before you even get in the car with Tanner who could make you puke in a Datsun.

Tanner Foust: You would puke in everything. But I'm just shocked that you you've bought a whole car from a junkyard before.

Rutledge Wood: Oh I bought like three. I mean you don't live in Georgia and not have a friend at the junkyard.

Question: Who was your favorite guest star?

Rutledge Wood: We had some great ones. And honestly they were all super fun people. I loved every minute of it. Bret Michaels is like one of the kindest people you'll ever meet. Just super nice.

I think for me to get to meet Tim Allen and get to talk to him was so monumental. Because in the hierarchy of car guys he is so high up there for a man that has had more cars than people have shoes in a lifetime. That was cool. I want to get something else now and he was just such a kind guy. I knew Adam knew him from doing comedy for years but they were some really great, great people.

Adam Ferrara: Michelle Rodriguez was really fun. She's from Jersey so that was fun. She was a lot of fun. Everyone really was excited to be there. Buzz Aldrin was excited. Bret Michaels brought pictures of all the cars he had. Ty Burrell was really fun. And everyone was generally excited to go around the track and to be part of it with us.

Question: Do you get to pick the guest stars?

Adam Ferrara: No.

Rutledge Wood: Well, I wanted to get the entire cast of GLEE, but Tanner shot that down.

Adam Ferrara: Yes, I wanted Oprah and Gayle.

Rutledge Wood: Rutledge Wood: Oprah and Gayle would still be amazing, Adam. Tanner just doesn't like GLEE I think. Tanner what's the big deal? They sing, they dance, what's not to love?

Rutledge Wood: You know what's weird is that maybe Tanner secretly is thinking "Well I don't believe them because they're all 30." And that's a fair argument.

Tanner Foust: Yes, the singing and dancing while driving would be pretty impressive actually.

Rutledge Wood: Tanner's a closet In Sync fan. He was really heartbroken when they quit making albums. So I think they'd get back together for Tanner.

Tanner Foust: I'm hoping so. Buzz Aldrin was cool because I kind of grew up wanting to be a little bit of an astronaut. It was in the airplanes and stuff. But Tony Hawk, I met him doing the celebrity race in Long Beach this year. And it was just cool. He was just the coolest cat. And he got out there and he went pretty quick didn't he?

Question: What were your first cars? What do you drive now?

Rutledge Wood: Okay. Well, I always like to tell this because I think it shows clear roots we have. Tanner’s first car was the 1983 Honda Civic Wagon which he rolled. He rolled seven or eight times. But don't worry, he's totally fine. He was 9 years old. Adam was part of the "dead relative inheritance program" that he likes to call it which means, "Hey, sorry about grandpa. Here's a car." So he got a 1981 Dodge Aries K which of the sucky cars that the three of us had really I think takes the cake. But it had red velour interior.

Adam Ferrara: And you said it correctly.

Tanner Foust: Rutledge Wood: I did. I always say vay-lor in the South and Adam laughed his ass off at me.

Adam Ferrara: He said vay-lor, and I laughed for 20 minutes. Sound likes a strip name for Macon.

Rutledge Wood: I'll be honest with you, I don't listen to these two. My current car that I've been working on for eight months is in fact an 83 Honda Civic Wagon which was not Tanner’s but I want to make my own.

But these guys will have very different opinions on them. The car isn't necessarily what makes it better isn't what it does or how fast it goes or whatever. It's really about how it makes you feel and what it represents. My first car was a ‘81 Rabbit VW pickup diesel four speed. I went 64 miles an hour just hung out. That's as fast as I could get it. It had no radio. I had to keep like an old-school 80s boom box in there. But that car was like freedom to me. I could go where I wanted and do what I wanted -- of course I had to be back by 10:00 pm -- but for me I love the old cars and the new cars. But all the old cars I've had will always a special place in my heart. I don't know about these two though.

Adam Ferrara: Yes, those cars are attached to your childhood and your youth. I was the same way. I was a rebel on a school night, you know? One of my favorite cars that I actually ended up getting from my father was a 70 Coupe Deville. We had a Caddie and my mother flipped this cigarette out the driver’s side window and it came back and burnt out the back seat. And in the morning we just had this smoldering mess. My father was a plumber, and he figured out if he took the back seat out he could put a full length of copper pipe from the trunk all the way through the driver and passenger’s seats with the armrest down. It would fit a bunch of length of pipe; so that car became the plumbing truck, and I was delivering pipe in a Cadillac.

Rutledge Wood: My car, that ‘83 Wagon. As much freedom as that represented, it was just so slow. At a traffic light you had to turn the air conditioning off just to keep up with traffic and get a little bit like boost power. So I loved being able to get around, but I couldn't wait to get into newer cars and ended up getting a Honda CRX after that.