Turning Passion for Cars into Profit: Taro Koki

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It's time for profit. Welcome to another episode of The Profitable Creative, the only place on the interwebs where you will learn how to turn your passion into profit. I am your host, Christian Brim. Special shout out to our one listener in Troy, Missouri. Uh, no idea where that is, but, uh, thank you for listening. Joining me today, Taro Koki of Eraser.

Taro, welcome. Hello, hello. I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Well, I'm, I'm glad you're here too. I think this is going to be an interesting interview. So, uh, Taro is a high school friend of my wife, and I don't know exactly where I got the idea, but I'm like, well, I think she was telling me what you do, um, and showing me, you know, some of your YouTube channel and this and that, and I'm like, Oh, that's pretty interesting. Like, he would be a good person to interview. And so we reached out and you made it happen. So because I think it's interesting, tell the listeners that don't know what you do, what you do.

Yeah. So right now I'm working at a company called Eraser Media and Marketing. The company has been around for 33 years, started out as a, a marketing agency for automotive and motorsport brands. So a couple years, you know, probably like, you know, a couple years later, they started their own magazine called Racer Magazine. And so we do print magazine and then as well we have, you know, racer.com and, you know, we're a media and basically marketing company. We have clients also that we do a lot of brand and content work for. Mostly in the automotive and motorsport genre. And I joined the company in September of last year, 2024, to launch a creator agency, a creator network business for, for Racer. And so what I do is collaborate with creators out there. I'm a creator myself. I've been creating content for over 25 years, both, you know, digital and non-digital. I've written, I've hosted, I've, you know, had my own YouTube network, um, you know, so sold that business. Um, so I, I've kind of been around the automotive and motorsport, um, content, you know, world for, for pretty much my whole career. Um, so that's why, um, I thought it was a perfect fit for me to join Racer, and, and they, they, uh, welcomed me in. So that's in a nutshell, that's what I do right now.

And that's the abbreviated version. Okay, so a couple of questions. So when you say create a, a creator community, what does that look like in your mind? What does that mean?

So, you know, when you look at media, the whole media landscape, um, Racer as a traditional media company competes with, you know, uh, creators just like, right, you and, and I on, on the feed, right?

Right.

Like, we are on the same platform as anybody, right? CNN, Road and Track, Fox, you know, uh, NBC, right? For Today's user, there's no difference between an Instagrammer that spends, you know, 12 hours Instagramming and a news outlet that has 12 hours of programming. It's the exact same thing. So as a media company, we need to adapt. So Racer needs to adapt. And work with creators, um, because it— that's where the eyeballs are, right? So we need to be where, where the eyeballs are. And our eyeballs are on, you know, on, on mobile, it's on TV, but TV is digital now, right? So, right, um, and we are competing with it, with everyone, you know. I think, you know, more than half of the YouTube views now come from YouTube, you know, YouTube on the big screen now. So people aren't watching YouTube on browsers anymore, people are watching YouTube on, on you know, at home now. Um, and what happens then is like you're, you're no longer— you no longer have an advantage as a media company to, to get the attention of, of anybody out there. Um, and attention is, is an, is an important asset, the most important asset that we have as human beings, right? So we only have 24 hours a day, and the attention we spend, you know, uh, wasting our times on, on mobile, um, where everybody's fighting for that attention. So the media, media company has, has actually no advantage against, against any creator out there. So, um, so as a media company, if you want to succeed, we have to collaborate with, with creators out there. So what Racer wants to do is collaborate with automotive and motorsport creators that are out there at at races, at different races, or at different car events, um, or a creator that's, you know, building their car and documenting it on YouTube or Instagram, um, or any other, you know, or TikTok, um, what we can bring to the table are a couple different things, right? So as a media company, we have a— we have the infrastructure to run a media company. So we have a sales sales department, for example. We have, um, you know, resources to license your content to other platforms. We have marketing, you know. These are some of the things that, that we can bring to the table, um, where creators, you know, if you're a, you know, lone creator making stuff, um, in your garage, you just don't have the resources to do that. A lot of the big creators, they have built teams, but essentially they're becoming media companies of their own.

So what does that look like? So you would be, before you sold your company, you would be one of those people that you were trying to reach, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. And so what would that arrangement look like? What does Racer bring to the table for you as a content creator?

Yeah. So it's, it's exactly the same as what we were doing in my previous company. So with GT Channel, I started the channel and it became a large channel. And we saw similar creators doing cool things about cars. And we thought, hey, if we gather a bunch of like-minded channels together, maybe we can go to brand A and sell against all of our collective views and engage engagements rather than just like one channel going out and trying to do, you know, one piece of content. So with the Racer, it's very similar with that, right? So as a creator agency now, we can go to the various clients and partners that we work with already. You know, the past 33 years, we have a roster and we have partners that we've, you know, we've been working with. And, you know, uh, we're creator, um, the creator, um, uh, distribution of their message, the brand message and their content could just be another thing that we can add to our offerings. So that, that's sort of where, where we, you know, where I think we can bring value. Also, you know, a lot of creators are, you know, if they're just starting out, they don't have access to maybe cars or events, or they can't get a media credential to, you know, Formula One, you know, Las Vegas, because no one knows them and they're not a, you know, they're not a media company, you know. So, right, those are some of the things that, that we can, you know, uh, I think help out with and bring to the table and just, uh, share our, you know, uh, resources. With the creators, especially if they don't have them yet.

How have they received it thus far?

It's been very positive, actually. Recently, we also acquired MAVTV, which was an action sports TV network. Now it is called Racer Network, and we're in millions of households, and we're, you know, you can access Racer Network through cable, and we have a FAST channel. We also have an app called Eraser Plus. So as a creator, it's also another— it's a different platform. It's a different way to access a new audience that they haven't been able to just through the social channels that maybe they're on. So now you can have your show, your podcast show, for example, on the Eraser Network. And we've done that with some of our podcasts already. They're airing on TV. They're on the app as VOD content. So we're just, you know, offering a different way to expand their distribution, which means, you know, potentially more sponsorship dollars or more opportunities to collaborate with different brands and creators.

Okay, so why cars? Why did you get into cars? What— where'd that come from? Hey listeners, are you ready to turn your passion into profit? Then grab a copy of Profit First for Creatives. Click the link in the show notes to purchase a copy. And if you're not ready to make that full commitment, you can download a free copy of the first chapter. Check it out right now.

Uh-huh. That's a great one. Um, so Um, when I started my company back in 2000, my first company— so I've created several companies, but it's always been about cars. I am a car enthusiast. Um, but when we created our first company, it was back in Tokyo. We set out to, um, build this, you know, website that featured Japanese pop culture, right? So we had, we had, we had anime, we had, uh, you know, like J-pop and J-rock and Japanese fashion. And all these things are like really common now, like food too, um, because like Japan's all over social media now and like everybody's really familiar. But this was like in 2000, like this, you know, there's no, no social media, right? No YouTube. Right, um, so one of the things that just got a lot of hits immediately, uh, was cars. And, you know, Fast and Furious had just come out in the United States, and, you know, you're suddenly seeing these Japanese souped-up Japanese cars, right, that people have never seen before, right? But because, like, You know, before then, like, you know, in Southern California, you know, there's a little pocket of guys that, you know, I'm friends with and everything that have been, you know, souping up Civics and Supras and, you know, RX-7s and things like that for, you know, since the '90s. But that was like a subculture, right? No one, no one knew about drifting. No one knew, you know, like the rest of the United States or rest of the globe didn't know that people are drag racing Civics, right?

No, you wouldn't expect that.

No, you know, when you think about drag racing, you're thinking about American muscle cars, right? Uh, but that was happening here, you know, in Los Angeles. It was, uh, um, and that's what Fast and Furious was all about. And people were suddenly hungry and thirsty for Japanese tuner culture content. And the website that we launched just had a bunch of visitors really curious about, like, Japanese tuning and Japanese cars and we call them JDM, but Japanese domestic market cars. So like cars that we only have in Japan and don't have here, like Nissan Skyline GT-R, which is like an icon here now. But, um, there was just no way to get any of that, that content. So, you know, one of the first things we did, um, so the website just didn't work because of, you know, many reasons, because no one in the US was placing ads in a site in Japan, right? So, there was no like Google back then. There was no AdSense back then. So, you had to go sell your own ads basically. But, well, the first things we did was we went to a Japanese publisher that had all this content and asked if we can create English versions of this content. And it was video content, and they had these VHS videos. So we started translating these videos into English, putting in subtitles. This was before desktop publishing, so, you know, we literally had to take— go to a studio and, you know, put these subtitles in. And then we'd, um, you know, we'd manufacture these DVD— you know, originally VHS. This is how old I am. VHSs and then eventually DVDs. And we'd go to car shows here in the US and like put up a tent and, you know, sell DVDs out of the back of our, you know, minivan that we rented at LAX. And we'd sell a whole box or a couple boxes or cases. And then we'd go back to Japan. And then eventually we started to find, you know, distributors here in the US that were interested in carrying our stuff. So we started printing the DVDs here in the US and we started distributing and we got our DVDs into all the mass retail stores that funny enough don't even exist anymore too like FYE and Circuit City and Blockbusters basically. They're gone too, right? So, that happened in 2007 when YouTube came out. So when YouTube hit, you know, kids were uploading their— our content onto YouTube. And, um, you know, no one's buying our DVDs anymore. And our distributors are calling us and say, well, we can't carry your stuff anymore because, like, no one's buying your stuff anymore, right? We're only carrying Hollywood, you know, movie— movies. Um, so you know, you either go home and cry or you just go with the flow. And so what we started to do was we started uploading our video content. We just started cutting up our DVDs and putting them up on YouTube. Say, well, we'd— well, okay, we'd rather build an audience than, you know, just close shop. So, right, we created, uh, GT Channel and we started uploading our content and You know, we were one of like the first auto professionally produced automotive channels on YouTube. Because back in the day, if you remember, YouTube was just like cat videos and, you know, people just like didn't, you know, we didn't know what to do with YouTube, right?

Right. You know, initially, initially, was there an advertising platform in YouTube or was it— no. Was there any way to monetize it?

No.

Okay.

No. No, at the beginning, no, it wasn't. Uh, there were some platforms, there was like this platform called Revver and things like that where they would share revenue. But you know, this is early, early days of like online video, right? It's like obviously not HD, not 4K. The quality of the content was terrible. Um, and you know, we couldn't monetize, but, but YouTube purchased DoubleClick. And then that became AdSense, and then they started inserting ads into, um, videos, right? So they started, you know, pre-rolling videos and, and things like that, pre-roll ads. Um, and then YouTube got sued by all the studios. So what happened was that they had to, you know, they, you know, they got sued and they had to, you know, settle and develop this program where, okay, the studios can choose if they want to keep that content up or take it down or just monitor it. And so they— now it's called the YouTube Partner Program, but you get an— you get a percentage of the ad revenue that you make on, on YouTube now. And even if someone takes your content as this— it's called Content ID on YouTube. But if someone takes your content and uploads it onto their own channel, they don't get— that user doesn't get the advertising fee. The owner gets it. The content owner gets it, um, gets to monetize on it. Um, so we were invited actually by YouTube to this program, um, just because we were uploading professionally created car content. And we were kind of like rolled up into this program as default. We weren't big enough like the studios, but we were recognized as a professional content creator, as a media company. And so they invited us. OK, people are taking your content, right? Yeah, they are. Are you losing money? Yeah, we are. What are you going to do for us? And say, OK, we got this program. You want to be part of it? Said, yeah, of course, you know, why not? And we didn't know how it was going to be, but long story short, why we— why we— why cars? That's, that's why we, we started out originally like that. And then it was just a good time, you know, Fast and Furious, and the need was there, and we were filling that, filling that demand, and it just, it just grew from there.

Okay, so, so are you a self-identified gearhead? I mean, do you work on cars?

No, I don't. I'm terrible. I mean, I, I work during high school, actually. I, I did work a couple summers at an automotive repair shop in Houston. Um, so I, I'd done some, um, you know, I've worked on cars, but I am not a, uh, I'm not very good. I'm not good with my hands in terms of working on cars. I, I approach cars more from an aesthetic, okay, uh, point of view. So I like, uh, creating content about cars. So that's what I've specialized in. So I like, um, I shoot cars, you know, um, I create videos about cars, I interview people that build cars. I like telling those stories, um, whether they're, you know, building their cars in their garage, or if they're a legendary, you know, race car driver that has won Le Mans Pikes Peak. Um, those are the kind of things that I like to do with, with cars. So I'm, I'm like, I live on the kind of like, you know, like what you talk about on your podcast. I'm on the intersection of automotive and creativity. Yeah, so that's why my, my, that's why my, my podcast on Racer Podcast is called The Creative Drive. Um, I don't interview— I do interview race car drivers, but I— it's not I don't approach the podcast from a point of view of like, how fast were you going, you know, and, you know, at, you know, turn 5 at, you know, this particular, you know, racetrack, you know, or like what gear were you in, what kind of like suspension setup you had. We don't really talk too much about that kind of stuff. I talk more about like, you know, how they got started, why cars, you know, how they got started into racing, what's the appeal, and, you know, like, how are they building their social media following in the automotive world. So, you know, I not only interview race car drivers, but I interview designers and journalists and creators and, you know, car builders.. So I keep it kind of broad.

Okay. So what was your first car in high school?

My first car was a Chevy Monza. Absolutely. I don't even remember that model. Absolute piece of junk. I bought it for like $500.

The price was right.

Yeah. Yeah, it was worth it. You know, first day I got into it, I still remember I was with, you know, two guys. I think it was, you know, your wife would know, Jamie Bragg and Tommy Palmisano. We were both in— the three of us were in the car, and I tried to change the gear and the shift, you know, shift knob just like pulled right out of it, right out of it. But I wrecked that car in like a month. So it was just like a terrible car. I was driving down.

It did you a favor.

It did, it did. It fell in a ditch on Sunday morning and people just came out. It happened in front of a church. So this was like after church. Some guy, you know, they all came out and they see this car, you know, this like Japanese kid, like, you know, like in the ditch. And they're like, "Hey, you okay?" He's like, "Yeah, I'm fine." But, you know, and here he gave me his card and it was like he was, he had an auto repair shop right down the street and says, "You want me to take care of this?" Like, "Yeah, can you?" And so basically he took the car and he fixed the car and he said, "You know what, if you don't want the," I mean, he just kind of gave me an offer. He's like, "You know, my kids need a car." You know, it's like, Well, how much do you want to buy it for? And he said $700. How's that? You know, I bet he thought he was getting a great deal. And I said, okay, yeah, sure. So I made $200.

Done.

Yeah.

So did you ever, did you trade cars? Did you like, did you ever get into that aspect of it?

No, no, not really. I've always, you know, I've always owned cars. I've loved cars. Personally, I like, you know, I like off-roading, so I like— all right, so I've had Jeeps and I have— I own a 4Runner now, but the subject of my videos have always been like Japanese tuner cars. Most of them are about, you know, the world we live in is about like JDM tuning and drifting and things like that. So I've done like a lot of videos on like drift cars and And, you know, GTRs and NSXs, and those are the kind of cars and like, uh, the subjects that, that I've made, you know, videos and, and wrote about and things like that.

So at what point did you go back to Japan, or go to Japan? I don't even know. Were you born here in the States, or were you an exchange student?

Yeah, no, no. So I was, I was born in Japan, actually.

Okay.

I was born in Japan. I came here when I was 4.

Okay.

And then, um, I went back a couple times, but I came to Houston, um, for high school. And I was— I did 4 years of high school, and then I went back to Japan for college. So yeah, so I came back here in 2007 to live again. Okay. So I was married Um, and I came here with my wife.

And, um, is she Japanese?

No, she's, she's Venezuelan.

Oh, all right.

American.

Yeah, very American. Very American arrangement.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's a, she's a Venezuelan American.

Yeah. And okay, so, um, I heard a rumor, and I think my wife asked me to ask you this. About— did you play football in Japan?

I did, I did. I played American football. I played college football in Japan.

So that was a thing? Okay, I never even would have thought it was.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I played college football 4 years in Japan. Um, yeah, it was like sort of like the heyday of like Japanese football in Japan.

So do they still play it there?

Yeah, they do, they do. They still play, um, you know, it's not as big as baseball and soccer, you know, but, um, back in the day it was kind of popular, right? And we, we played like at the Tokyo Dome where the Yomiuri Giants play. Um, that's the, you know, the dome in Tokyo where like Shohei Ohtani hit the, hit the ball and it just went right through the, through the roof. But we used to play there. Um, yeah, so it was, it was kind of a thing back then. Yeah, and we, we kind of like went over all over. We actually our whole team came to play football at Harvard Stadium too one summer. Interesting.

So, so, so, I mean, did they play high school football in Japan? Like, how— I mean, do you don't—

okay, yeah, yeah, they have high school just like here. They, you know, start with flag football and then they start playing tackle football in high school and then— you know, they have college football, they have a whole semi-pro league too. So, after college, you can still play as well. Most of the teams are owned or supported by companies. So, they're all sponsored by, you know, large corporations and they— you know, some— most of the players are like employees of the company. There are some, you know, there's some players that just, you know, they basically get paid to pretty much play football.

So same rules as American football.

I mean, exact same rules. Yeah, we follow that.

Yeah. And what position did you play?

I played— so, you know, I played cornerback when I was in high school. Right? Because I'm, I'm 5'11", you know, not the biggest guy, and I was—

but not short—

quick. No, but I was quick, so I played cornerback. Um, but as soon as I got back to Japan, they're like, okay, 5'11" is not cornerback size anymore. So like, every— everything goes down a size. So they're like, okay, you're playing linebacker now. So, so I played—

gotta beef up.

I played outside linebacker, you know, like a defensive end, sort of edge position for for 4 years. I love that.

Okay, Stacy said she was going to listen to this episode, so now you have your answer, Stacy.

There you go.

She also said you're, uh, an avid surfer.

I do. Well, so I live in Redondo Beach now.

And do you have to, to surf if you live in Redondo Beach?

So like, okay, no, you don't have to. You don't, you don't have to. But most— but a lot of people do. Yeah, but a lot of people do. Yeah. A lot of people surf here. Um, so we're, we're, we live, you know, 10 minutes from the beach, so I can, I can go before work, I can go after work in the summer. Um, you know, I'm probably surfing maybe once or twice a week at least. It's, it's a, it's a really nice, yeah, situation here. And, you know, it's beautiful right now in the summer, so I went, I went yesterday.

Nice. Okay, so I want to circle back to the business aspect of it and Um, one of the things we talk a lot about on this podcast and, and is a challenge for a lot of creatives is, is that monetization and, and trading off the passion of creation, what they enjoy doing with how to make money with it. And, and it seems like you have a lot of experience through two different, um, obstacles on how to, you know, actually make money doing what it is that you love to create. How have you been continually successful? Like, are there some principles that you follow or some, you know, words of wisdom that you would share to another creator about how to make that happen?

Yeah, I mean, that's, I mean, It's always a balance, right? You, as a creative, you want to do the things that you want to do and you're passionate about. But it's not always the best way to make money. But the other aspect is that if you love it, you can really go through some hard times and try to make it. Right. Because you have that drive, right? Yes. That's sort of like, just like, sort of like my podcast, The Creative Drive, is like, um, what drives you, right? And if it's that passion to create content about cars or, you know, cats, cooking, cats, whatever it is, right? Whatever creative thing you're doing, it could be acting, right? It could be painting, whatever it is. Um, if you are passionate about it, you do have that drive, um, to someday make it happen. Um, but you know, there's always a balance though, right? You really always— you also have to be kind of realistic about, um, like where, where your situation is economically, I think, you know, like I mean, if you are— if you have the resources to, to pursue that goal, you know, go for it. But you also have to think about, okay, if— am I, am I really good at this? You know, you really have to find your unique selling point, even as same as any startup, right? Um, what's your, what's your USP, right? Right. Why, why are you— why are you different? Why are you unique because, you know, if you're just one out of a million people that are making the same kind of content, it's like you're not going to stand out. So you just really have to find that thing that you're, you, you're, you're good at and also you're passionate about at the same time and sort of like find your own niche because you really have to be unique in this own, in this, in your own way to, to make it.

Was there ever a point in the, in the, I'm guessing 30 years that you've been doing this, um, that you were like, not for me anymore? Like, I, I, uh, you know, there's got to be an easier way to make a buck.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, there, there been times, but a lot of times when I thought, okay, I'm kind of like in this hole and like not in a good place, um, it's not— it hasn't been about like me losing the passion for, you know, building the business or, um, being creative, right? That has— that hasn't been the fact. If you kind of like, you know, put all these like problems in a box, um, the, the one big box that, um, usually like wears on you is not the fact that, you know, uh, you've lost your passion for, for being creative or automotive or, you know, building that, building a business. It's for me at least, it's mostly been, you know, pressure from like other, other things, right? Um, it, it could be, you know, that guy's not paying me, or it could be like, oh, I'm getting pressure from this person because of that problem, or it could be, you know, some like, um, you know, it could be anything else. So if you sort of like Um, if you can find that one problem that is really like wearing down on you, if you can like really put that in a box and just like— I, I like to just go and solve it. Like, I just like, I'll put everything aside and try to just solve that problem. Then things will become easier because when like everything is like on your shoulders, it feels like, oh man, I don't want I don't think I want to do this anymore. I think I'm just going to pack it up and go home. I think sort of compartmentalizing those problems and tackling them one by one is what's helped for me at least.

Yeah. I was interviewing the author Todd Henry for the show. And he He wrote The Accidental Creative. His most recent book is The Brave Habit. But he talked about the Greek word for passion, and I'm going to mispronounce it. It's like parakletos or something like that. But the Greek word actually means suffering. He said, you know, when you're passionate about something, you're willing to suffer for it. And, you know, I think a lot of us as entrepreneurs and creatives have had to suffer for it. But, you know, I think that kind of weeds out the people that aren't really passionate about it. Like they just have an interest in it, right?

Yeah.

Yeah. Because you're not going to go through that fire and that the pain of having your business collapse overnight because of YouTube if you're just interested in it.

Yeah. Yeah, I think so. And the interesting thing about being an entrepreneur is a creative is an entrepreneur, right? A lot of creative people are entrepreneurs, but you have full ownership of of your situation, you know, everything from— so the creative is the product, right? And like the— your income is like the business, right? Um, and, um, those things go, go hand in hand, right? And, and it's like, it's— if, if you don't have both, it, it's not really sustainable.

No. No, not at all. My, I, I've talked about my daughter, uh, my middle daughter who's a figurative oil painter, and when she decided that that was what she wanted to do as a career, I started asking those, you know, entrepreneur questions that a dad would ask, like, well, what are you going to paint? Who's going to buy it? How are you going to price it? You know, blah blah blah, right? She finally just threw up her hands and said, I don't know, I just want to paint what I want to paint. And I'm like, okay, which, which wasn't she in LA or she did. She lived in, she lived in West Hollywood for a couple of years, went screaming back to the heartland. It's funny because she, she is my most liberal. She was my most liberal daughter. Like she's, she was and West Hollywood was too weird for her. And she, she came back. And I swear to God, she came back and she was listening to country music. And I'm like, what the hell happened to you? Like, this is not my daughter. I don't know. So one last question I have. So what's it like going back to work for somebody else after being an entrepreneur for so long? How has that been different?

Well, it's definitely different. Um, but I kind of take it— I approach it the same though, you know. The big difference is that you, you don't have ownership in the company, right? Right. So it comes— it's, it's sort of connected to your last question too, but, um, you know, you don't have ownership to everything, you know. You, you're, you're passionate about, and you're passionate about your business. That's why you spend you know, your weekends working when you own your company because you're growing your company and your brand and it's, uh, you know, the returns will— it's all yours, right? You might have some outside investors and things like that, but you're— it's basically you are the company. Um, but when you're working for a different company, um, you, you know, you don't own the company, but you do have, you know, there is accountability and you do have responsibilities. So I, I I, I approach it pretty much the same, you know. I, I try to give it the best I can, um, you know, which— when you, when you give something that is good enough, it really is only good enough. And I don't like good enough. I'd like to give, you know, 100% of myself to, to a task. And so, um, it's been refreshing though, you know, like when, when you own a company, everything is on your shoulders, right? Like, like talking about like from HR to accounting to, you know, sure, legal, making sure the bathroom's clean, right? It's like all of that is like on you, right? Um, and then you got to go out and, you know, produce and sell. Um, but what's been really cool about working at Racer is that, you know, I have, I have a team now, um, and resources, and I don't know, and I don't have to do every single thing anymore, right? So I can go to other people and ask them for advice, or I can, I can work collaboratively. Um, I can collaborate with like the sales team to pitch something to a potential brand, or, um, you know, work with the creative director, um, to, to, uh, to deliver something for, for a client. You know, it's, it's, it's been so— I'm really enjoying it though. It's been really cool to not have to do every single thing myself. I mean, we did have a team too, but this team is much more bigger too. So, I'm enjoying it a lot right now. It's good.

Now, did Racer buy your company or somebody else? No. No. Okay. You sold it to somebody else.

Okay. Yeah. So, I sold it to another company and I was just consulting and and just hanging out for a bit. And then, I joined Racer. I've known the CEO and co-founder of Racer, Paul Fanner, for about 15 years and we've been good friends. And, he's actually sold his company once to a media company. And, I actually called him up one day and said, "Hey, you know, Paul, you sold your company to Haymarket." you know, years ago, what was it like? Because I'm thinking about selling my company. And then we've just kept in touch. And then after I sold my company, I said, hey, what do you do when you're, you know, like, you're not getting along with the board? You know, like, how did it happen for you? Right? It's like, so he's been a really good mentor and a friend. And yeah, and we just kept in touch., and, that's, that's how I, became to be part of the racer team as well.

Nice. I actually have one last question. Do you recommend seeing F1? Oh, not being— I'm not a fan of Formula Racing, so I don't know.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, no, totally. I mean, it's— it is.

Have you seen it?

The Formula One? Yeah. I mean, so it's the best time to, to become a Formula One fan right now. Okay. Yeah. A lot of— I mean, it is the fastest growing motorsport in the United States right now. Right. So I don't know. Do you know— do you know a lot about Formula 1?

Oh, hell no. I'm from the South. Well, technically not the South, but like NASCAR, you know, drive fast, turn left. That never appealed to me. Right. Yeah.

Yeah.

But I don't know the difference between I don't, I don't know what these other racer forms are.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, Formula 1 did this big transition a few years ago. So basically, uh, a U.S. company bought them.

Okay.

Liberty Media bought Formula 1, and they made a big transformation. So up until Liberty Media bought them, it was predominantly a European sport and they didn't market a lot in the US either. It was just, they just came to, you know, they had the, they still have the Circuit of the Americas, COTA, in Austin, right? And they had that, but you know, you never saw any shows about Formula 1. You didn't see any promotion.

You didn't see any— So is it distinct from Grand Prix racing? It's different.

Yeah. So Grand Prix is just a general term. They, they call these major races.

So like the race they have in Vegas, that new—

Yeah. So they call that the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Okay. So is it the same cars as Formula One?

Yes. So Formula One is the pinnacle of formula racing. Okay, right. So it's like NFL. Formula One is the NFL, right? So in football you have, you know, the college football, you know, NCAA, and then they have, you know, NFL. But even under NCAA, you know, in the US they have like high school football and like, right? So it's sort of like the same. So like in formula racing too, like the bottom of the bottom is like kart racing. It's like the little, little, you know, like the go-karts that you, that you drive. And then from there, you kind of move up and move up and, you know, you'd have like these, you know, smaller formula cars. Formula cars means that the tires are exposed. They're not like the stock cars are like, you know, or GT cars, grand touring cars are like the regular cars that you kind of see on the streets. And those are like the sports cars. Formula cars are like, they're just built differently. The tires are exposed. There's no, you know, the chassis is also like very specifically built. And Formula 1 is the top of the top of Formula 1, Formula racing. Okay. Right. And, and they go around the world and they have 3 rounds in the US right now. They have Las Vegas, Miami, and Austin. And US is the only country that has 3 races. All the other countries, they go once. They go once to even to, to, uh, to the UK. They go once to Silverstone, they go once to, you know, Austria, they go once to the Netherlands, they go, you know, once to all these countries. But they all— they come to the US 3 times because Liberty Media bought them. And, you know, US is the, is the biggest market in the world, and they wanted to capture— and the, the one significant move that they made was a Netflix documentary called Drive to Survive. I'm sure you may have seen it on Netflix, but Drive to Survive is probably in their 6th or 7th season now, and that just changed everything for Formula 1. Now, you know, Drive to Survive is basically a reality show about Formula 1, so it's basically the, you know, the Kardashian version of Formula 1.

Perfect.

And that just exploded the market. So now women and kids know the drivers by name. They know the team principals, and they just follow the teams now because of Drive to Survive.

So, so to clarify, like the, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is a Formula One race.

Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah.

Monte Carlo. Is that what they do there?

That is also a formula. So they call that the, you know, the, uh, yeah, yeah, that's the Formula One race as well. Okay. And Grand Prix is like, you know, like when they go to Japan, they call it the Japan Grand Prix. It's Formula One. Um, and you know, the one in Las Vegas is the Las Vegas Grand Prix. They're all Grand Prix. It's just a way of calling it the, the name of the race, the big race. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, uh, distinctly different from drive fast, turn left, which I—

yeah, yeah. But you know, NASCAR is still strong though. NASCAR is still strong. It still has a really, really passionate, um, audience and fan base.

I know that the place they've got down at Texas Motor Speedway, I mean, it's the, the, the size of the event that they put on is just mind-blowing to me. Like, the entire infield filled in for the whole week.

And yeah, motorsports is, is, uh, making a kind of a comeback right now. I mean, uh, you know, uh, there was just the Indy 500 just a couple week—

weekends ago.

They— it was the largest, um, crowd they've ever attracted at Indianapolis and the largest audience on, on TV as well.

So now that's a lap— that's, that's a track race, correct? Like it—

yes. So the Indy 500 is, you know, they go around the Indianapolis Speedway. It's—

but it's not a NASCAR— it's not a NASCAR race.

No, that's, that's, uh, the IndyCar. So IndyCars are— they kind of look similar to Formula 1 cars because they have open— it's an open wheel as well, right? Um, so technically an IndyCar is also a formula car because they are open wheel cars, but they're designed and built way different than, than a Formula 1 car. They're just different regulations. So, um, it's sort of like, yeah, it's, it's, it's very like, if you, if we use a football analogy again, it's, um, the, the, it's, it's kind of like rugby and football, right?

Okay, it's kind of similar, same but different, right?

Yeah, but it's It's different. They don't, they don't, you can't, you know, mix them together and race them together. It's just like the rules are different, the cars are different, the people, you know, grew up different racing. Some people go back and forth, but that's a, it's kind of a, it hasn't happened too much. Some Formula 1 drivers have come in and like Juan Pablo Montoya and a bunch of people have come from Formula 1 and raced in IndyCar. But that back and forth doesn't happen too often.

Taro, I very much appreciated this conversation. Thank you for educating me on cars.

I appreciate it. No problem.

Thank you. And Japanese football as well. Listeners, if you like what you've heard, please rate the podcast, share the podcast, subscribe to the podcast. If you don't like what you've heard, shoot us a message and tell us what you'd like, and I'll get rid of Taro. But until then, ta-ta for now.