June 19, 2025 • 27 mins
Episode 161 - A Filmmakers Campaign to Save Lives
This special episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast is the fourth and final episode in a short series on Impact and Awareness films. Your host, Geoffrey Whitt interviews Aaron Schwartzbart, a rocket scientist, race car driver, and ordained minister, Aaron shares his transformation from a reckless street racer to a dedicated Christian using his passion for racing to promote safe driving. His organization, Motor Gospel Ministries, works with the LAPD to address issues like gangs, drugs, and illegal street racing. Aaron discusses his background, experiences, and the founding of Motor Gospel Ministries, which provides legal racing opportunities and awareness campaigns to reduce street racing incidents. Their documentary, 'Driving Fast and Saving Lives Since 2001,' compiles 20 years of their awareness work, now available on platforms like Tubi TV, Stash TV, and Taken TV. The episode highlights how filmmaking can be used to support and promote social causes.
Highlights Include:
- Welcome and Introduction
- Aaron's Backstory
- Motor Gospel Ministries Overview
- Anti-Street Racing Campaign
- Awareness and Impact Stories
- Filmmaking Journey Begins
- Collaborations and Success
- PSAs and Docu-Shorts
- Reaching out to Young People
- Final Thoughts
Bio:
An award-winning rocket scientist with degrees in physics and theology, Aaron Schwartzbart is a 5-time champion race car driver and an ordained minister. As seen on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, Sky News, LA Times, Daily News, OC Register, countless talk shows, crime drama Vindication and in movies with Dean Cain, Kevin Sorbo, Larry Wilcox and Rodney Allen Rippy, Schwartzbart has garnered dozens of laurels for this component of his ministry. Founded in 2001, MotorGospel Ministries works in partnership with the LAPD to address community issues such as gangs, drugs and illegal street racing.
Ministry Website: motorgospel.org
http://www.schwartzbartconsultinggroup.com/
Aaron on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6546286/
Editing by Michael Roth
Content Christian Media Conference: https://www.christianmediaconference.com/
FAFF Association Online Meetups: https://faffassociation.com/#faff-meetings
FAFF July Filmmakers Bootcamp: https://www.faffassociation.com/filmmakers-bootcamp
Screenwriters Retreat - Mexico: https://www.faffassociation.com/writers-retreat
Jaclyn's Book - In the Beginning, Middle and End: A Screenwriter’s Observations of LIfe, Character, and God: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9R7XS9V
VIP Producers Mentorship Program https://www.faffassociation.com/vip-producers-mentorship
The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Geoff (00:00):
Hey there.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.
I'm Geoff, and today I've got Aaron Schwartzbart with me.
Aaron is an award-winning rocket scientist with degrees in physics and theology.
Aaron Schwartzbart is a five-time champion, race car driver and an ordained ministeras seen on, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, countless talk shows, crime, drama, vindication, and in movies with Dean King, Kevin Sorbo, Larry Wilcox, and Rodney Allen Rippy.
(00:28):
Schwartzbart has garnered dozens of laurels for this component of his ministry.
Founded in 2001, motor Gospel Ministries works in partnership with the LAPDto address community issues such as gangs, drugs, and illegal street racing.
Welcome, Aaron.
Aaron (00:45):
Wonderful to be here.
Thank you, sir.
Geoff (00:47):
I think I could safely say this is the first time we've had a rocket scientist on the podcast.
Aaron (00:53):
You'd be surprised how often I get that.
Geoff (00:56):
Aha.
Interesting story there.
We're gonna hear some of your backstory in just a second.
This episode is part of a short series on awareness films, and we'regonna talk about Aaron's film driving fast, saving lives since 2001.
But first of all, Aaron, let's talk about your background and, uh, how you came to do what you do.
Aaron (01:17):
Uh, executive summary, I, came out of the womb hardwired to turn into a Charles Manson or a Ted Bundy.
Anytime I got a steering wheel.
My hands.
I was, I can say along with Lady Gaga, I was born that way.
I wasn't abused, I wasn't seduced into having a dark side.
I was born with a dark side.
Um, I went that way doing what came naturally to me forabout 30 years, and then much to everybody's astonishment.
(01:42):
Uh, I got born again at about the age of 30, uh, about half my life ago, andI've been using my pathological tendencies with the steering wheel to do good in the community instead of being a problem for about the last three years.
Geoff (01:54):
Okay.
So all of this dark side you're talking about has to do with driving.
tell us about that.
Aaron (01:59):
That was a major feature of it.
my daily commute as a gainfully employed tax paying rocket scientist, highly educated, arrogant.
Atheistic Jew.
I'm a Jew by blood, although
Geoff (02:09):
Mm-hmm.
Aaron (02:10):
um, living proof that education and sanity are not necessarily the same thing.
My daily commute in a space program was 90 miles an hour on 35 mile an hour surfacestreet rush hour traffic on surface streets, uh, 90, weaving in and outta cars.
Ball of road rage, sometimes driving drunk with loadedguns in the car and completely unrepentant about it.
(02:32):
I would slow down to 60 if I had to turn left in an intersection with crosswalk,with pedestrians and stuff, and I'd be right back up to 90 and I did that.
I. Every morning, every night, five days a week.
That wasn't even street racing.
That was commuting for me.
And I never ended up killing anybody or killing myself.
I never ended up going to jail.
I had some relatively unique skills, but I was nowhere near as good of a driver as I thought I was.
(02:57):
Uh, it's it, in retrospect, it's pretty clear, that God was up there with a, likea heavenly hockey stick, uh, keeping me as a puck guided toward the, the goal.
Uh, you know, despite my worst intentions,
Geoff (03:09):
Uh huh.
And did you say that change was three years ago?
Aaron (03:13):
Approximately 30.
I'm 62 now.
It was, uh, at about the age of
Geoff (03:16):
30 years ago.
Okay.
Okay, cool.
Aaron (03:18):
so about half my life I was zealous for Satan with the steering wheel, and about half my life I've been zealous for Jesus with the steering wheel.
Geoff (03:25):
and so you took that and you're using it for good,
Aaron (03:28):
Yes.
This is sort of an important part of this.
I would hope this is important to people.
It's important to me and I think it's important to God, importantto note that this was not a carefully chosen strategy on my part.
When I got born again, I thought I was done with racing.
In the sixties, we had a saying, if it feels good, do it.
Now as a Christian in church, uh, churchianity, people say if it feels good, it must be a ministry.
(03:52):
It must be from God.
Many, many things feel good that are not from God.
We need to bring ourselves into submission with whatwould delight him, not just what he ally feels good to us.
So.
No, this wasn't part of the careful strategy on my part.
As much as it's flattering that people think that this was theresult of careful planning on my part, it was not careful planning.
(04:13):
When I got born again, I thought I was done with the racing'cause I thought that it was, it was too pleasing to my flesh.
It was too visceral.
And it was.
It was so much of what I was born to do, but not necessarily what God wanted me to do.
Not every tendency with which we're born or about, which we're passionate is put there by God.
Most men, if they're honest about it.
(04:35):
Uh, out of 8 billion, eight with a B, 8 billion people on the planet, thereis more than one woman to whom they might be capable of being aroused.
Um, maybe even both genders, for some.
And yet that's not God's intention.
God's intention is for us to commit to a wife of our youthand to do that till death do us part no matter what comes.
(04:55):
So, you know, that's a silly obvious example where the tendencies with whichwere born are not necessarily the things that are most pleasing to God.
So I thought I was done with the racing, with the kid stuff about which I was so passionate.
It took God about eight or 10 years to convince me inresponse to my earnest prayer, Lord, how can I bleed for you?
Send me to a jungle where they don't have flush toilets to eat grub,worms off of rocks and stuff like, you know, I, I want to suffer for you.
(05:23):
I. Accurately and appropriately rebelled against hedonism when I got saved.
But what I, didn't expect was that God's answer to my,my sincere earnest prayer, how can I bleed for you, Lord?
His answer was, go drive really fast in my name.
When chant do, do the very thing that you came out hardwiredto do, I couldn't believe he was that magnanimous.
Geoff (05:45):
So your, uh, your bio says you're a five time champion, race car driver.
Was that after your salvation
Aaron (05:52):
Oh yes, of course.
Yes.
Yeah.
That's all legitimate racing at racetracks throughout the Western United
Geoff (05:56):
Okay, cool.
so tell us about, we're gonna get into your filmmaking in just a minute.
Tell us about Motor Gospel Ministries.
What is it and what does it involve?
Aaron (06:04):
right.
I compete in the John three 16 car throughout the Western United States.
I am a driving instructor at racetracks throughout the Western United States.
Uh, I teach afterschool auto shop to at risk youth.
I do hospital visitation and grief counseling whenever drivers are hurt or killed,and I operate an anti streett racing campaign for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Geoff (06:25):
And this Anti- Street racing campaign.
Aaron (06:27):
that has many components to it.
Angel Rodriguez was twice arrested for street racing and the court sentenced him tocommunity service in Motor Gospel Ministries program where he under court border came to be humiliated by US Motorsports professionals at 150 to 200 miles an hour and two race legally against his arresting officer at Irwindale Drag Strip in one of the.
(06:50):
Co-branded race cars that Motor Gospel Ministries provides to the LAPD at neither costto the taxpayers, nor the nor the pd. The arresting officer was in a co-branded race car, uh, branded with LAPD and Motor Gospel racing against Angel, the perpetrator.
Uh, legally with the cameras rolling, he ended up becoming the darling ofthe news media, the LAPT and L-A-C-D-Q is, you know, wonderful poster child.
(07:13):
So that's.
That's one type of thing that's involved with the Antit Streete racing campaign.
Other components are, the awareness piece is huge.
Michelle Littlefield and three of her friends were coming up, uh, the fivefreeway in the City of Commerce here in Southern California, and they were good kids a few weeks away from high school graduation headed to college.
They weren't drinking or partying, street racing, doing nothing except coming back froma day at Disneyland and an 18 wheeler fell out of the sky and landed on their car.
(07:43):
Three kids were killed on the spot.
One kid, uh, the last I heard is still in a coma today, years later, the man driving the 18 wheeler.
Was a veteran, uh, UPS driver, 15 years of experience in his place of work, minding hisown business, doing the speed limit in the appropriate lane, and he burned to death.
His cab was so wadded up, they couldn't extricate him.
(08:05):
He died a, a horribly so slow unspeakably, painful death, uh, burning in his truck.
All that misery was caused by a guy who thought he was arace car driver, accidentally bumping into the 18 wheeler.
The kid in the fast car was doing 120 or 140 miles an hour, and, uh, dida pit maneuver on the 18 wheeler and launched it up a K rail, launched it into the sky, and it landed on top of these kids in the oncoming lane.
(08:29):
A as, as if that isn't horrific enough, all of that misery and the consequences thereof.
Including the perpetrator having to live with this forthe rest of his days, as if that wasn't horrific enough.
That happened within 30 minutes of the nearest legal racetrack.
Had gone 30 minutes out of his way to do his racingat the track, those people would still be alive today.
(08:51):
That veteran UPS driver would be walking his kid down the aisle, So this is good news and bad news.
We don't necessarily need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars building new trackswhen that kid caused all that heartache within 30 minutes of the nearest legal racetrack.
That's where we come in.
That suggests that awareness is huge.
Awareness is virtually free.
(09:11):
You don't need a $10 million facility to just.
Teach somebody, here's the right place to race, here's the right way to race.
And so, uh, awareness can save lives.
Geoff (09:21):
I'm betting that that's where your filmmaking comes in.
Is that how your filmmaking started?
Uh, totally related to this awareness.
Aaron (09:28):
yes, for the most part, it's, it's actually a wonderful story, uh, that we could spend eight hours on this that we don't have, but the, the executive summary and then you can drill down on anything on which you want more detail.
God told me to take the gospel to Hollywood many, many years ago.
I. I was neither an actor nor an aspiring actor.
I had no connections.
(09:49):
I knew nothing about Hollywood, but I trusted God.
I called up either Dave Christiano or Rich Christiano.
It was one of the Christiano brothers cold called, and much to my surprise, he pickedup his own phone and said Hello, and he spent 45 minutes on the phone with me, kind of explaining to me the roles and the responsibilities and how you get involved in stuff.
(10:09):
I will never, I have to be 300 years old.
I'll never forget the kindness that he showed, thisunknown cold calling him, clueless kid that knew nothing.
It's a lesson for us all to remember where we came from, you know,where we started, and that sort of launched me on a journey of.
Flirting with Hollywood and making Antis street racing PSAs, youknow, 32nd PSAs, very crude stuff, not feature length movies and such.
(10:34):
this is a beautiful part of the story.
About 20 years ago-ish, a man named Neil Newman, who is an editor atthe time, he had aspirations of doing everything, not just the editing.
He bought a camera and didn't know what to do with it.
And, uh, we had a race car in the facility and all that.
So he was excited to come out and shoot the race car, uh, with his new camera, getting hisfeet wet for free since he really had no name for himself as a, a full service filmmaker.
(11:03):
And we made a couple of little PSAs together and a music video and stuff.
20 years later, we've grown up together.
He's hugely successful in his sphere, and we've had dozens of laurels together.
Dozens of laurels.
That wouldn't have happened if we never met.
Dozens of laurels that might not have happened if I were doingthis on my own and might not have happened if he had not met me.
Geoff (11:23):
and it probably wouldn't have happened if you'd paired up with an experienced, successful person who would've done whatever project that was, and that might've been the last time you'd ever connected with them.
Sometimes for many people in this industry that gets 'em where they are is by joiningtogether with other people who are you know, moving up together and lift each other.
Aaron (11:43):
It's a beautiful story of that, that yet another thing that was not the result of careful planning on my part.
You know,
the Grateful Dead they came from.
Kind of different angles came together, uh, as a bunch of misfits and they created a genre.
They're like the only band in the genre debatably.
That's sort of the story of Neil and me.
Neil is not a believer.
By the way, pray for Neil.
(12:04):
He would make a great Christian.
If our program has saved any lives, we have him to thank for it.
And, uh, he surely has seen the impact of this ministry, even though he's not of our faith.
And he, he's been very supportive.
Geoff (12:15):
So let's talk about driving fast, saving lives.
I think it was a short, the short came first, I'm assuming.
Aaron (12:22):
Yeah, so we made bunches of shorts over the course of 20 years, ranging from 30 second PSAs to seven minute Docus shorts and things like that.
Neil and I together and.
Whenever I would take these, these beautiful, he's really brilliantat what he does, both with the camera and with the editing and stuff.
And he's a very patient man.
(12:42):
I'm a very spontaneous ditzy creative.
I believe that rock and roll and this is a metaphor, uh, and it's literal 'causeI'm also a musician, but, but in this case, you know, metaphorically rock and roll.
If it's too organized, it's not rock and roll.
If it's too quiet and too well ordered.
There's a certain element of spontaneity and edginess and chaos that, that are required forit to be rock and roll, sort of by definition, even though these are admittedly very terms.
(13:09):
You know, musicology is very imprecise science.
But in that, in that context, Neil has worked with a extremely zany passionate ditzycreative that's me, who never has this stuff planned out, never has a script and says, Hey.
Film this, you know, and in the course of doing that, we go to a, tRacing Summit at the police station organized by Motor Gospel Ministries.
(13:32):
Inviting street racers and cops and survivors that have lostloved ones, you know, that were innocent bystanders and stuff.
And at just the right moment, he has the camera there when a grieving aunt stands upand says, if you people would go bleeping instead of bleeping and go to the track with this bleeping guy, I mean my, you know, my niece would still be alive and stuff.
(13:54):
You can't script stuff like that.
Geoff (13:55):
Right.
Aaron (13:56):
It's not, it's not contrived reality television.
It's, it's real.
So in that context, he and I made 30 second to couple minute Docus shorts and offeredthem around trying to get them on television and stuff with some pretty good success.
I've been all over news media and stuff, but every time we would go totelevision producers about actually showing something as more than just a.
(14:17):
A PSA or something, they would say, gorgeous, gorgeous work.
This dude is really inspired.
Neil, my partner, is really inspired, but we don't havea place for a seven minute and 43 second docus short.
You need to package this in a context, in a timeframe and stuff that works for us.
And the result of that packaging was.
Taking our 20 years worth of Docus shorts and PSAs and such,and having Isaac Hernandez and Dean Kane compile it for us.
(14:45):
I mean, Isaac was both editor and, uh, host in, uh, driving fast and saving life since 2001.
So I. With various roles and responsibilities, we compiled 20 years worth of littlematerials, including Neil buying newer and better cameras and things like that.
So not even, there isn't even coherence necessarily amongst the technology that wasused because driving fast and saving lives since 2001, I. A compilation of bits.
(15:09):
I mean, it's been 20 years in the making, so Isaac Hernandez and Dean Kane putthat together with a little blue ribbon on top in a 58 minute, 32nd package that the television folks and, and others can now, uh, do something with.
Geoff (15:23):
cool.
And so when was that
Aaron (15:25):
We released it Christmas of 2023.
Geoff (15:28):
Okay.
So just a short time ago, uh, in relation to your whole time doing this ministry,what outlets, what distribution, what opportunities has it had to be seen?
Aaron (15:37):
Yeah, so our first up at bat, was the wonderful Barry Alsobrooke of taking tv, who you probably know.
Barry gave us kind of our break and he was the first one to show it.
He premiered it.
We had a big watch party, at the police station here with the LAPDand people all over the world tuned in and stuff on taking tv.
and it's been showing on taking TV since December of 2023.
(15:59):
Both on demand and by special event and things like that.
Barry has several different modes of operation, as you may be aware, soyou can watch something on demand, but then there's also like Christian movie night or live streaming or whatever, where Barry chooses and curates.
A handful of his on demand shows and puts them together to make a Fridaynight worth of entertainment where the family doesn't actually have to take the time clicking and pointing and clicking and stuff like that.
(16:26):
So it's been showing there that way since December of 2023.
It got monetized on two Tubi TV approximately a year ago.
I don't remember exactly when, but it's monetized on two Tubi TV as of about a year ago wherein.
It's free to the viewer to watch, and yet for every view, the 5 0 1 C3 Antis Streettracing campaign that Motor Gospel Ministries operates, gets a fraction of a penny.
(16:48):
So it's a beautiful, yeah, it's a beautiful opportunity.
Fraction of a penny isn't much, but obviously we want to get more viewers watching it.
But it's a beautiful opportunity for people that might be wondering, what can I do?
I'm not a race car driver, I'm not a volunteer with the Los Angeles Police Department.
I'm not an attorney or a judge.
Uh, what can I do to help save lives that would otherwise be lost to illegal street racing?
(17:10):
Well, you can watch this movie for free on Tubi TV.
Merely by watching the movie, you're supporting the ministry financially because theadvertisers give a fraction of a penny to our 5 0 1 C3 anti street racing campaign.
A hundred percent of the proceeds go to the campaign.
Uh, my ministry is an unpaid labor of love.
I was a rocket scientist for 40 years.
I still do some consulting occasionally in my semi-retiredstate, so I don't take a penny from the ministry.
(17:34):
A hundred percent of the proceeds go to the charitable board.
So merely by watching driving fast and saving livessince 2001 on Tubi TV, your viewers can help save lives.
It's also monetized on something called Stash tv.
Stash tv is a YouTube channel that aggregates films such as mine and shows them for free.
Free to the viewer.
(17:55):
But, uh, again, the 5 0 1 C3 gets a fraction of a penny for every view on Stash Tv.
Geoff (18:00):
Are there any direct opportunities?
I know that part of your ministry is awareness with these drivers who driving unsafely, how.
Have you had opportunities to use your shorts or your PSAs or thefilm with regards to, any direct connection with these people?
Aaron (18:19):
Right multiple ways we post the shorts and the, the PSAs and such on various.
Sort of underground Facebook channels and YouTube places andthings like that that are frequented by the illegal street racers.
And hopefully that gets their attention to some extent.
Pretty much every major television network has featured our work, and featured our success stories.
(18:41):
They don't just interview the old man who's saying don't street race.
They're interviewing the young kids that are former street racers.
And the kids themselves, without my putting any words in their mouth, aresaying, man, you can't imagine how much better it is to go 150 at California Speedway legally than it is, you know, running from the cops in the streets.
This is great.
So the product sells itself, but unfortunately we're getting one kidfor every million that, or at least a thousand, I don't know how many.
(19:08):
Would really benefit from, from our type of rehabilitation.
The awareness has been successful in terms CBS, ABC, NBC,-A-B-C-N-B-C,Sky News, all that good stuff, being all over social media.
And on the other hand, we barely scratch the surface of the impactthat we could have if more people watch the movie and or more people.
Simply tell people, you know, we have a, tab on the motor gospel.orgwebsite that says where to race and it lists the place is to race.
(19:36):
So even if the viewers don't have 58 minutes and 30 seconds to watch the movie, if theviewers can tell their neighbors, tell their friends, tell their kids tell whomever it is.
They have sporadic opportunity for interaction with Um, oh, bythe way, people who wanna surf big waves, they go to Hawaii.
People who want to snow ski, they wanna ski at the best snow.
(19:57):
They go to Vail, Colorado.
If you want to race, here are the 600 legal race tracks nationwide.
Go to one of them.
If you're serious about your motor sports, spend the three hours to get to the track.
If you don't live within 30 minutes of a track, you won't be sorry.
You did.
That is the message that everybody can give at no cost, and it's an honest message.
There's nothing exaggerated about it.
Geoff (20:18):
so directing people to your website, uh, and watching the film.
Aaron (20:22):
Yes,
Geoff (20:22):
documentary, I guess is the correct word.
It's a documentary film.
So do you have any specific links?
I know you've kind of referred to them already, but let's uh, just say 'em loud andclear here so everyone can know where to go looking and to help out your ministry.
Aaron (20:34):
yes.
So, uh, my website is motor gospel.org.
That's M-O-T-O-R-G-O-S-P-E l.org, motor gospel.org.
On that website, you'll see various tabs.
One for the documentary, one for my book, streetRacing 1 0 1, why Motor Sports Belongs at the Track.
(20:55):
Uh, the book is for sale on that link, a 7 99 for a little.
It's a little stocking stuffer.
It's not wor peace.
It's a a hundred page stalking stuffer three by five little book writtenat a comprehension level that I hope is accessible to 13-year-old children.
So any adult could read the whole book in 20 minutes.
The, the point of the book is not so much to entertain or be fascinating, it's apolemic shooting down every excuse that anybody has ever used, uh, for why they should engage in illegal, dangerous motorsports and pointing them to the track.
(21:29):
I think it should be required reading for school teachers, counselors, pastors,adults, cops, emergency, medical technicians, you know, first responders, everybody who has opportunity for sporadic interaction with teenagers.
And sometimes that's like fishing.
You can't necessarily, it's not digging post halls.
It's sitting by the shore waiting for the moment when the fish is biting.
Sometimes you don't know when that moment is gonna come and you havea conversation with a kid where you can say, you know, do you realize.
(21:56):
Aaron Schwartzbart, when he was a hoodlum, he invested $12,000 in a street rod.
This was 1980 dollars, so 12,000 was kind of a lot back then.
He invested $12,000 in a street rod, and then he bought his first real NASCAR racer for $1,200.
These kids don't know that you can be racing legally for a fractionof cost of what they're wasting on illegal, dangerous motorsports.
(22:18):
That kind of stuff is in my book, street Racing 1 0 1.
Why Motor Sports Belongs at the track, for sale on motor gospel.org.
Geoff (22:25):
And once again, um, we can watch your film.
Aaron (22:29):
Oh yes, sorry.
Right.
Tubi TV Uh, if you go to two BTV and search on driving fast and savinglives since 2001, you'll find it or search on Dean Kane movies or Rodney Ellen Rippy movies or Aaron Schwartzbart movies, but probably just the title.
Driving Fast and Saving Lives since 2001 is the easiest.
Stash tv.
(22:50):
If you Google stash tv and driving fast and saving lives since 2001, you'll find it on Stash tv.
Stash tv is a YouTube channel, so you can also go on YouTube and search on driving fastand saving lives since 2001 on YouTube, and you'll find it on Stash TV or taken tv.
(23:10):
Uh taken tv.com and search on driving fast and saving lives since 2001.
Geoff (23:15):
Cool.
Cool.
Well, I really appreciate you sharing with us today.
You know, there's two sides to this.
We're hearing about your cause and hopefully.
Passing on information that will be helpful to you and to your ministry, butwe're also watching and, and we're hearing, and observing how you've taken, a cause and how you've taken film and your calling and how they all work together.
(23:39):
Our audience, is filmmakers and there are certainly manyothers who have causes that they want to create films for.
And so I really appreciate you sharing today.
Is there anything else you would like to share as a closing remark before we go?
Aaron (23:55):
With the plethora of opportunity for legal motor.
Sports throughout the United States, there is no good excuse for illegal street racing.
Geoff (24:03):
There we have it.
Thank you so much, Aaron.
Aaron (24:05):
And thank you for, the potential lives that you'll be saving by virtue of the exposure you're giving to our program.
Hey there.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.
I'm Geoff, and today I've got Aaron Schwartzbart with me.
Aaron is an award-winning rocket scientist with degrees in physics and theology.
Aaron Schwartzbart is a five-time champion, race car driver and an ordained ministeras seen on, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, countless talk shows, crime, drama, vindication, and in movies with Dean King, Kevin Sorbo, Larry Wilcox, and Rodney Allen Rippy.
(00:28):
Schwartzbart has garnered dozens of laurels for this component of his ministry.
Founded in 2001, motor Gospel Ministries works in partnership with the LAPDto address community issues such as gangs, drugs, and illegal street racing.
Welcome, Aaron.
Aaron (00:45):
Wonderful to be here.
Thank you, sir.
Geoff (00:47):
I think I could safely say this is the first time we've had a rocket scientist on the podcast.
Aaron (00:53):
You'd be surprised how often I get that.
Geoff (00:56):
Aha.
Interesting story there.
We're gonna hear some of your backstory in just a second.
This episode is part of a short series on awareness films, and we'regonna talk about Aaron's film driving fast, saving lives since 2001.
But first of all, Aaron, let's talk about your background and, uh, how you came to do what you do.
Aaron (01:17):
Uh, executive summary, I, came out of the womb hardwired to turn into a Charles Manson or a Ted Bundy.
Anytime I got a steering wheel.
My hands.
I was, I can say along with Lady Gaga, I was born that way.
I wasn't abused, I wasn't seduced into having a dark side.
I was born with a dark side.
Um, I went that way doing what came naturally to me forabout 30 years, and then much to everybody's astonishment.
(01:42):
Uh, I got born again at about the age of 30, uh, about half my life ago, andI've been using my pathological tendencies with the steering wheel to do good in the community instead of being a problem for about the last three years.
Geoff (01:54):
Okay.
So all of this dark side you're talking about has to do with driving.
tell us about that.
Aaron (01:59):
That was a major feature of it.
my daily commute as a gainfully employed tax paying rocket scientist, highly educated, arrogant.
Atheistic Jew.
I'm a Jew by blood, although
Geoff (02:09):
Mm-hmm.
Aaron (02:10):
um, living proof that education and sanity are not necessarily the same thing.
My daily commute in a space program was 90 miles an hour on 35 mile an hour surfacestreet rush hour traffic on surface streets, uh, 90, weaving in and outta cars.
Ball of road rage, sometimes driving drunk with loadedguns in the car and completely unrepentant about it.
(02:32):
I would slow down to 60 if I had to turn left in an intersection with crosswalk,with pedestrians and stuff, and I'd be right back up to 90 and I did that.
I. Every morning, every night, five days a week.
That wasn't even street racing.
That was commuting for me.
And I never ended up killing anybody or killing myself.
I never ended up going to jail.
I had some relatively unique skills, but I was nowhere near as good of a driver as I thought I was.
(02:57):
Uh, it's it, in retrospect, it's pretty clear, that God was up there with a, likea heavenly hockey stick, uh, keeping me as a puck guided toward the, the goal.
Uh, you know, despite my worst intentions,
Geoff (03:09):
Uh huh.
And did you say that change was three years ago?
Aaron (03:13):
Approximately 30.
I'm 62 now.
It was, uh, at about the age of
Geoff (03:16):
30 years ago.
Okay.
Okay, cool.
Aaron (03:18):
so about half my life I was zealous for Satan with the steering wheel, and about half my life I've been zealous for Jesus with the steering wheel.
Geoff (03:25):
and so you took that and you're using it for good,
Aaron (03:28):
Yes.
This is sort of an important part of this.
I would hope this is important to people.
It's important to me and I think it's important to God, importantto note that this was not a carefully chosen strategy on my part.
When I got born again, I thought I was done with racing.
In the sixties, we had a saying, if it feels good, do it.
Now as a Christian in church, uh, churchianity, people say if it feels good, it must be a ministry.
(03:52):
It must be from God.
Many, many things feel good that are not from God.
We need to bring ourselves into submission with whatwould delight him, not just what he ally feels good to us.
So.
No, this wasn't part of the careful strategy on my part.
As much as it's flattering that people think that this was theresult of careful planning on my part, it was not careful planning.
(04:13):
When I got born again, I thought I was done with the racing'cause I thought that it was, it was too pleasing to my flesh.
It was too visceral.
And it was.
It was so much of what I was born to do, but not necessarily what God wanted me to do.
Not every tendency with which we're born or about, which we're passionate is put there by God.
Most men, if they're honest about it.
(04:35):
Uh, out of 8 billion, eight with a B, 8 billion people on the planet, thereis more than one woman to whom they might be capable of being aroused.
Um, maybe even both genders, for some.
And yet that's not God's intention.
God's intention is for us to commit to a wife of our youthand to do that till death do us part no matter what comes.
(04:55):
So, you know, that's a silly obvious example where the tendencies with whichwere born are not necessarily the things that are most pleasing to God.
So I thought I was done with the racing, with the kid stuff about which I was so passionate.
It took God about eight or 10 years to convince me inresponse to my earnest prayer, Lord, how can I bleed for you?
Send me to a jungle where they don't have flush toilets to eat grub,worms off of rocks and stuff like, you know, I, I want to suffer for you.
(05:23):
I. Accurately and appropriately rebelled against hedonism when I got saved.
But what I, didn't expect was that God's answer to my,my sincere earnest prayer, how can I bleed for you, Lord?
His answer was, go drive really fast in my name.
When chant do, do the very thing that you came out hardwiredto do, I couldn't believe he was that magnanimous.
Geoff (05:45):
So your, uh, your bio says you're a five time champion, race car driver.
Was that after your salvation
Aaron (05:52):
Oh yes, of course.
Yes.
Yeah.
That's all legitimate racing at racetracks throughout the Western United
Geoff (05:56):
Okay, cool.
so tell us about, we're gonna get into your filmmaking in just a minute.
Tell us about Motor Gospel Ministries.
What is it and what does it involve?
Aaron (06:04):
right.
I compete in the John three 16 car throughout the Western United States.
I am a driving instructor at racetracks throughout the Western United States.
Uh, I teach afterschool auto shop to at risk youth.
I do hospital visitation and grief counseling whenever drivers are hurt or killed,and I operate an anti streett racing campaign for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Geoff (06:25):
And this Anti- Street racing campaign.
Aaron (06:27):
that has many components to it.
Angel Rodriguez was twice arrested for street racing and the court sentenced him tocommunity service in Motor Gospel Ministries program where he under court border came to be humiliated by US Motorsports professionals at 150 to 200 miles an hour and two race legally against his arresting officer at Irwindale Drag Strip in one of the.
(06:50):
Co-branded race cars that Motor Gospel Ministries provides to the LAPD at neither costto the taxpayers, nor the nor the pd. The arresting officer was in a co-branded race car, uh, branded with LAPD and Motor Gospel racing against Angel, the perpetrator.
Uh, legally with the cameras rolling, he ended up becoming the darling ofthe news media, the LAPT and L-A-C-D-Q is, you know, wonderful poster child.
(07:13):
So that's.
That's one type of thing that's involved with the Antit Streete racing campaign.
Other components are, the awareness piece is huge.
Michelle Littlefield and three of her friends were coming up, uh, the fivefreeway in the City of Commerce here in Southern California, and they were good kids a few weeks away from high school graduation headed to college.
They weren't drinking or partying, street racing, doing nothing except coming back froma day at Disneyland and an 18 wheeler fell out of the sky and landed on their car.
(07:43):
Three kids were killed on the spot.
One kid, uh, the last I heard is still in a coma today, years later, the man driving the 18 wheeler.
Was a veteran, uh, UPS driver, 15 years of experience in his place of work, minding hisown business, doing the speed limit in the appropriate lane, and he burned to death.
His cab was so wadded up, they couldn't extricate him.
(08:05):
He died a, a horribly so slow unspeakably, painful death, uh, burning in his truck.
All that misery was caused by a guy who thought he was arace car driver, accidentally bumping into the 18 wheeler.
The kid in the fast car was doing 120 or 140 miles an hour, and, uh, dida pit maneuver on the 18 wheeler and launched it up a K rail, launched it into the sky, and it landed on top of these kids in the oncoming lane.
(08:29):
A as, as if that isn't horrific enough, all of that misery and the consequences thereof.
Including the perpetrator having to live with this forthe rest of his days, as if that wasn't horrific enough.
That happened within 30 minutes of the nearest legal racetrack.
Had gone 30 minutes out of his way to do his racingat the track, those people would still be alive today.
(08:51):
That veteran UPS driver would be walking his kid down the aisle, So this is good news and bad news.
We don't necessarily need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars building new trackswhen that kid caused all that heartache within 30 minutes of the nearest legal racetrack.
That's where we come in.
That suggests that awareness is huge.
Awareness is virtually free.
(09:11):
You don't need a $10 million facility to just.
Teach somebody, here's the right place to race, here's the right way to race.
And so, uh, awareness can save lives.
Geoff (09:21):
I'm betting that that's where your filmmaking comes in.
Is that how your filmmaking started?
Uh, totally related to this awareness.
Aaron (09:28):
yes, for the most part, it's, it's actually a wonderful story, uh, that we could spend eight hours on this that we don't have, but the, the executive summary and then you can drill down on anything on which you want more detail.
God told me to take the gospel to Hollywood many, many years ago.
I. I was neither an actor nor an aspiring actor.
I had no connections.
(09:49):
I knew nothing about Hollywood, but I trusted God.
I called up either Dave Christiano or Rich Christiano.
It was one of the Christiano brothers cold called, and much to my surprise, he pickedup his own phone and said Hello, and he spent 45 minutes on the phone with me, kind of explaining to me the roles and the responsibilities and how you get involved in stuff.
(10:09):
I will never, I have to be 300 years old.
I'll never forget the kindness that he showed, thisunknown cold calling him, clueless kid that knew nothing.
It's a lesson for us all to remember where we came from, you know,where we started, and that sort of launched me on a journey of.
Flirting with Hollywood and making Antis street racing PSAs, youknow, 32nd PSAs, very crude stuff, not feature length movies and such.
(10:34):
this is a beautiful part of the story.
About 20 years ago-ish, a man named Neil Newman, who is an editor atthe time, he had aspirations of doing everything, not just the editing.
He bought a camera and didn't know what to do with it.
And, uh, we had a race car in the facility and all that.
So he was excited to come out and shoot the race car, uh, with his new camera, getting hisfeet wet for free since he really had no name for himself as a, a full service filmmaker.
(11:03):
And we made a couple of little PSAs together and a music video and stuff.
20 years later, we've grown up together.
He's hugely successful in his sphere, and we've had dozens of laurels together.
Dozens of laurels.
That wouldn't have happened if we never met.
Dozens of laurels that might not have happened if I were doingthis on my own and might not have happened if he had not met me.
Geoff (11:23):
and it probably wouldn't have happened if you'd paired up with an experienced, successful person who would've done whatever project that was, and that might've been the last time you'd ever connected with them.
Sometimes for many people in this industry that gets 'em where they are is by joiningtogether with other people who are you know, moving up together and lift each other.
Aaron (11:43):
It's a beautiful story of that, that yet another thing that was not the result of careful planning on my part.
You know,
the Grateful Dead they came from.
Kind of different angles came together, uh, as a bunch of misfits and they created a genre.
They're like the only band in the genre debatably.
That's sort of the story of Neil and me.
Neil is not a believer.
By the way, pray for Neil.
(12:04):
He would make a great Christian.
If our program has saved any lives, we have him to thank for it.
And, uh, he surely has seen the impact of this ministry, even though he's not of our faith.
And he, he's been very supportive.
Geoff (12:15):
So let's talk about driving fast, saving lives.
I think it was a short, the short came first, I'm assuming.
Aaron (12:22):
Yeah, so we made bunches of shorts over the course of 20 years, ranging from 30 second PSAs to seven minute Docus shorts and things like that.
Neil and I together and.
Whenever I would take these, these beautiful, he's really brilliantat what he does, both with the camera and with the editing and stuff.
And he's a very patient man.
(12:42):
I'm a very spontaneous ditzy creative.
I believe that rock and roll and this is a metaphor, uh, and it's literal 'causeI'm also a musician, but, but in this case, you know, metaphorically rock and roll.
If it's too organized, it's not rock and roll.
If it's too quiet and too well ordered.
There's a certain element of spontaneity and edginess and chaos that, that are required forit to be rock and roll, sort of by definition, even though these are admittedly very terms.
(13:09):
You know, musicology is very imprecise science.
But in that, in that context, Neil has worked with a extremely zany passionate ditzycreative that's me, who never has this stuff planned out, never has a script and says, Hey.
Film this, you know, and in the course of doing that, we go to a, tRacing Summit at the police station organized by Motor Gospel Ministries.
(13:32):
Inviting street racers and cops and survivors that have lostloved ones, you know, that were innocent bystanders and stuff.
And at just the right moment, he has the camera there when a grieving aunt stands upand says, if you people would go bleeping instead of bleeping and go to the track with this bleeping guy, I mean my, you know, my niece would still be alive and stuff.
(13:54):
You can't script stuff like that.
Geoff (13:55):
Right.
Aaron (13:56):
It's not, it's not contrived reality television.
It's, it's real.
So in that context, he and I made 30 second to couple minute Docus shorts and offeredthem around trying to get them on television and stuff with some pretty good success.
I've been all over news media and stuff, but every time we would go totelevision producers about actually showing something as more than just a.
(14:17):
A PSA or something, they would say, gorgeous, gorgeous work.
This dude is really inspired.
Neil, my partner, is really inspired, but we don't havea place for a seven minute and 43 second docus short.
You need to package this in a context, in a timeframe and stuff that works for us.
And the result of that packaging was.
Taking our 20 years worth of Docus shorts and PSAs and such,and having Isaac Hernandez and Dean Kane compile it for us.
(14:45):
I mean, Isaac was both editor and, uh, host in, uh, driving fast and saving life since 2001.
So I. With various roles and responsibilities, we compiled 20 years worth of littlematerials, including Neil buying newer and better cameras and things like that.
So not even, there isn't even coherence necessarily amongst the technology that wasused because driving fast and saving lives since 2001, I. A compilation of bits.
(15:09):
I mean, it's been 20 years in the making, so Isaac Hernandez and Dean Kane putthat together with a little blue ribbon on top in a 58 minute, 32nd package that the television folks and, and others can now, uh, do something with.
Geoff (15:23):
cool.
And so when was that
Aaron (15:25):
We released it Christmas of 2023.
Geoff (15:28):
Okay.
So just a short time ago, uh, in relation to your whole time doing this ministry,what outlets, what distribution, what opportunities has it had to be seen?
Aaron (15:37):
Yeah, so our first up at bat, was the wonderful Barry Alsobrooke of taking tv, who you probably know.
Barry gave us kind of our break and he was the first one to show it.
He premiered it.
We had a big watch party, at the police station here with the LAPDand people all over the world tuned in and stuff on taking tv.
and it's been showing on taking TV since December of 2023.
(15:59):
Both on demand and by special event and things like that.
Barry has several different modes of operation, as you may be aware, soyou can watch something on demand, but then there's also like Christian movie night or live streaming or whatever, where Barry chooses and curates.
A handful of his on demand shows and puts them together to make a Fridaynight worth of entertainment where the family doesn't actually have to take the time clicking and pointing and clicking and stuff like that.
(16:26):
So it's been showing there that way since December of 2023.
It got monetized on two Tubi TV approximately a year ago.
I don't remember exactly when, but it's monetized on two Tubi TV as of about a year ago wherein.
It's free to the viewer to watch, and yet for every view, the 5 0 1 C3 Antis Streettracing campaign that Motor Gospel Ministries operates, gets a fraction of a penny.
(16:48):
So it's a beautiful, yeah, it's a beautiful opportunity.
Fraction of a penny isn't much, but obviously we want to get more viewers watching it.
But it's a beautiful opportunity for people that might be wondering, what can I do?
I'm not a race car driver, I'm not a volunteer with the Los Angeles Police Department.
I'm not an attorney or a judge.
Uh, what can I do to help save lives that would otherwise be lost to illegal street racing?
(17:10):
Well, you can watch this movie for free on Tubi TV.
Merely by watching the movie, you're supporting the ministry financially because theadvertisers give a fraction of a penny to our 5 0 1 C3 anti street racing campaign.
A hundred percent of the proceeds go to the campaign.
Uh, my ministry is an unpaid labor of love.
I was a rocket scientist for 40 years.
I still do some consulting occasionally in my semi-retiredstate, so I don't take a penny from the ministry.
(17:34):
A hundred percent of the proceeds go to the charitable board.
So merely by watching driving fast and saving livessince 2001 on Tubi TV, your viewers can help save lives.
It's also monetized on something called Stash tv.
Stash tv is a YouTube channel that aggregates films such as mine and shows them for free.
Free to the viewer.
(17:55):
But, uh, again, the 5 0 1 C3 gets a fraction of a penny for every view on Stash Tv.
Geoff (18:00):
Are there any direct opportunities?
I know that part of your ministry is awareness with these drivers who driving unsafely, how.
Have you had opportunities to use your shorts or your PSAs or thefilm with regards to, any direct connection with these people?
Aaron (18:19):
Right multiple ways we post the shorts and the, the PSAs and such on various.
Sort of underground Facebook channels and YouTube places andthings like that that are frequented by the illegal street racers.
And hopefully that gets their attention to some extent.
Pretty much every major television network has featured our work, and featured our success stories.
(18:41):
They don't just interview the old man who's saying don't street race.
They're interviewing the young kids that are former street racers.
And the kids themselves, without my putting any words in their mouth, aresaying, man, you can't imagine how much better it is to go 150 at California Speedway legally than it is, you know, running from the cops in the streets.
This is great.
So the product sells itself, but unfortunately we're getting one kidfor every million that, or at least a thousand, I don't know how many.
(19:08):
Would really benefit from, from our type of rehabilitation.
The awareness has been successful in terms CBS, ABC, NBC,-A-B-C-N-B-C,Sky News, all that good stuff, being all over social media.
And on the other hand, we barely scratch the surface of the impactthat we could have if more people watch the movie and or more people.
Simply tell people, you know, we have a, tab on the motor gospel.orgwebsite that says where to race and it lists the place is to race.
(19:36):
So even if the viewers don't have 58 minutes and 30 seconds to watch the movie, if theviewers can tell their neighbors, tell their friends, tell their kids tell whomever it is.
They have sporadic opportunity for interaction with Um, oh, bythe way, people who wanna surf big waves, they go to Hawaii.
People who want to snow ski, they wanna ski at the best snow.
(19:57):
They go to Vail, Colorado.
If you want to race, here are the 600 legal race tracks nationwide.
Go to one of them.
If you're serious about your motor sports, spend the three hours to get to the track.
If you don't live within 30 minutes of a track, you won't be sorry.
You did.
That is the message that everybody can give at no cost, and it's an honest message.
There's nothing exaggerated about it.
Geoff (20:18):
so directing people to your website, uh, and watching the film.
Aaron (20:22):
Yes,
Geoff (20:22):
documentary, I guess is the correct word.
It's a documentary film.
So do you have any specific links?
I know you've kind of referred to them already, but let's uh, just say 'em loud andclear here so everyone can know where to go looking and to help out your ministry.
Aaron (20:34):
yes.
So, uh, my website is motor gospel.org.
That's M-O-T-O-R-G-O-S-P-E l.org, motor gospel.org.
On that website, you'll see various tabs.
One for the documentary, one for my book, streetRacing 1 0 1, why Motor Sports Belongs at the Track.
(20:55):
Uh, the book is for sale on that link, a 7 99 for a little.
It's a little stocking stuffer.
It's not wor peace.
It's a a hundred page stalking stuffer three by five little book writtenat a comprehension level that I hope is accessible to 13-year-old children.
So any adult could read the whole book in 20 minutes.
The, the point of the book is not so much to entertain or be fascinating, it's apolemic shooting down every excuse that anybody has ever used, uh, for why they should engage in illegal, dangerous motorsports and pointing them to the track.
(21:29):
I think it should be required reading for school teachers, counselors, pastors,adults, cops, emergency, medical technicians, you know, first responders, everybody who has opportunity for sporadic interaction with teenagers.
And sometimes that's like fishing.
You can't necessarily, it's not digging post halls.
It's sitting by the shore waiting for the moment when the fish is biting.
Sometimes you don't know when that moment is gonna come and you havea conversation with a kid where you can say, you know, do you realize.
(21:56):
Aaron Schwartzbart, when he was a hoodlum, he invested $12,000 in a street rod.
This was 1980 dollars, so 12,000 was kind of a lot back then.
He invested $12,000 in a street rod, and then he bought his first real NASCAR racer for $1,200.
These kids don't know that you can be racing legally for a fractionof cost of what they're wasting on illegal, dangerous motorsports.
(22:18):
That kind of stuff is in my book, street Racing 1 0 1.
Why Motor Sports Belongs at the track, for sale on motor gospel.org.
Geoff (22:25):
And once again, um, we can watch your film.
Aaron (22:29):
Oh yes, sorry.
Right.
Tubi TV Uh, if you go to two BTV and search on driving fast and savinglives since 2001, you'll find it or search on Dean Kane movies or Rodney Ellen Rippy movies or Aaron Schwartzbart movies, but probably just the title.
Driving Fast and Saving Lives since 2001 is the easiest.
Stash tv.
(22:50):
If you Google stash tv and driving fast and saving lives since 2001, you'll find it on Stash tv.
Stash tv is a YouTube channel, so you can also go on YouTube and search on driving fastand saving lives since 2001 on YouTube, and you'll find it on Stash TV or taken tv.
(23:10):
Uh taken tv.com and search on driving fast and saving lives since 2001.
Geoff (23:15):
Cool.
Cool.
Well, I really appreciate you sharing with us today.
You know, there's two sides to this.
We're hearing about your cause and hopefully.
Passing on information that will be helpful to you and to your ministry, butwe're also watching and, and we're hearing, and observing how you've taken, a cause and how you've taken film and your calling and how they all work together.
(23:39):
Our audience, is filmmakers and there are certainly manyothers who have causes that they want to create films for.
And so I really appreciate you sharing today.
Is there anything else you would like to share as a closing remark before we go?
Aaron (23:55):
With the plethora of opportunity for legal motor.
Sports throughout the United States, there is no good excuse for illegal street racing.
Geoff (24:03):
There we have it.
Thank you so much, Aaron.
Aaron (24:05):
And thank you for, the potential lives that you'll be saving by virtue of the exposure you're giving to our program.
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