November 10, 2025 • 37 mins
A single Saturday in 1966 changed everything. When a young Ed Rahill paused lawn duty to hear the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the radio, endurance racing planted a seed that would grow into record-setting coast-to-coast drives, a fearless corporate career, and a blueprint for living with grit. We go beyond the spectacle to explore how planning, patience, and partnership carry you through the stretches no one posts on highlight reels.
Ed maps the unlikely bridge between CFO and president roles and the “last great American road race,” weaving in a vivid history of endurance—from the Pony Express and thousand-mile cattle drives to the first cross-country auto challenge in 1904. The stories are cinematic: arrests in multiple states, an all-points bulletin, clandestine support from GM engineers, and the relentless math of speed, fuel, and fatigue. Yet the real takeaway is strategic: choose the right teammate, build redundancy, respect the road, and recover fast when everything breaks at once.
At the heart of this conversation is a promise. Raised by women who sacrificed their dreams, Ed vowed to break that pattern and treat life as a relay. The baton metaphor runs through every chapter—start strong, absorb the hits, and hand off hard-won wisdom so the next runner goes farther. He shares the razor‑thin moment when a handshake with Blackstone saved his company and his team, reminding us that survival is often the doorway to impact. The message is simple and powerful: you have the right to try, the duty to prepare, and the calling to pass your gains forward.
If stories of resilience, leadership under fire, and American car culture light you up, you’ll find both adrenaline and guidance here. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a push, and leave a review telling us the toughest mile you’ve ever run—what baton are you carrying next?
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com
.
And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/
See you next time on Follow The Brand!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:02):
I want to welcome everybody to the Funnel Rant
podcast.
We are going to have a uniqueshow today.
I want to welcome everyone to anexperience on both sides of the
ball (00:14):
the personal world and the business world and the
convergence of how they cometogether.
And I call the life and times ofEd Rahill.
He's going to convey to us hisstory, some of his experiences
that I think will help theaudience to grow and move
forward.
And before I keep going on andon and on, let's get him
(00:36):
introduced.
So, Ed, you'd like to introduceyourself?
Thank you, everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
Uh Grant, it's an honor to be here and talk to
your audience.
I'm Ed Rahill.
I'm the author of One Mile at aTime, a project that I've been
on for a number of years, and Iplan on taking it to the next
level.
And I'm thrilled to have theopportunity to talk to you about
it.
Um, it's it's a it's a veryunique uh situation to be in
because my third the prior 30years is in corporate America as
(01:07):
uh you know then you knowbecoming a CFO of a company,
taking it public, then becomingpresident of then starting my
own company, becoming CEO, andthen selling that.
So I have 30 years of that.
Well, how in the hell did youget into this business of
writing a book?
SPEAKER_00 (01:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:23):
And it's really not a book about business, it's
about life.
It's uh really the um, you know,uh, and I think what I'd like to
share is the attitude uh of whyyou're willing to take on new
things that are unfamiliar andtry to do it because I I think
that's part of the adventure oflife.
And so that's uh matter of fact,the the heading on my book is
(01:46):
one mile a time.
It says the memoir of the lastgreat American road race and the
adventure we call life.
So I even have that in thetitle.
Um, so uh I'm I'm I'm love tolay it out for you.
Uh how what would your audiencehow would you like to to set
this up so that I canimmediately get to the heart of
(02:06):
it?
SPEAKER_02 (02:07):
That's a great question of itself because you
piqued my curiosity in whatyou're doing, why you do it.
And that is really the thepurpose of this particular uh
episode.
That's what the follow brand isall about.
I love that you have a uhbackground chief financial
officer.
So you speak finance, you know,finance is the language of
(02:30):
business.
Um so I'm into the personalbrand, business development,
investment banking, which youtake all three of those boxes.
But the brand, the personalbrand is the story of yourself.
Now you've done some thingsaround, I I call it from Le Mans
to Life Lessons, where you'veshared the watching, which I
(02:50):
found this intriguing.
1966, 24 hours of Le Mans thatsparked your passion for
endurance racing.
My question is this what aboutthat race lit the fire in you as
a young boy?
And how has that passion shapedyour life since?
SPEAKER_01 (03:11):
I grew up in an automobile company.
I you know, I I grew up mygrandmother was the first woman
ever to own and operate a Forddealership in the United States
back in the uh 30s.
Her my grandfather and her youknow had two nickels and a dime
to get started, and he he was 36or 34 and it convinced Henry
(03:32):
Ford in the 30s to let himexplore getting a dealership in
Western New York.
He ended up doing it, and thelong story here is that he he
actually got it to where it wasrunning, and then at 36, 37 he
he died of appendicitis.
People died of that stuff backthen.
SPEAKER_02 (03:50):
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
So my grandmother had to take over with four kids,
and so uh, and I basically wasin in many parts of my life
raised by her, so I was involvedin her life and the business and
that.
And her her point was as long assoon as I was able to walk, I
had to go down to the dealershipand take garbage out to the
pails.
Then, but uh what we're talkingabout, and by the time I was 12,
(04:12):
I was big enough or old enoughto cut the grass.
And I just happened to be on aSaturday doing that, and the
salesman ran out, knew who I wasto come on in.
We listen to a race in inFrance, and that was the uh it
was it was called the 24 HoursLe Mans.
And the interesting thing is thereason I bring it up is because
it was the first time I rememberthinking, I want to do this.
(04:36):
Yeah, you know, up to thatpoint, I was aware of cars.
Uh, you know, I have beenexposed to the typical South
Buffalo environment with dragracing and that type of thing.
And that never really appealedto me.
That always felt like that waswell, I don't know, I was
burning tired, and what I wasreally doing was an uncontrolled
race, uncontrolled rocket shipon wheels.
(04:58):
And I uh at that time uh NASCARwas being born, and and again,
you know, Ford was a biggerNASCAR, and so I used to watch
that, but after a couple hoursof watching it on TV, I got
bored with their going.
They just spent two and a halfhours turning left all the time.
It just seemed to me that wherewhere is this, you know?
(05:19):
And Lama is a is a 24-hourendurance race where you get you
you drive um nonstop.
Well, you you trade places witha partner every four hours, but
you drive nonstop, uh, and theuh uh and the objective is to
see the one who can go thefarthest in 24 hours is the
winner.
(05:40):
And it was over open roads,roads that people drove on all
you know in France all the time.
They just closed eight, tenmiles off for the race.
And I that seemed to me what wasmost fascinating the being able
to to uh to get out there andand and drive on a on in a real
driving environment, not aracetrack.
(06:02):
So that's kind of got it going.
SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
That's you you park I I'm getting a memory from the
60s, and I remember seeing a Ithink it was a movie that and
maybe it's that movie that cameout that there was a road race,
and they were just and it was acomedy, I think it was a comedy
at the time.
SPEAKER_01 (06:23):
You you but this is gonna lead right into that,
yeah.
Yeah, you're thinking aboutyou're thinking about the uh
Burt Reynolds stuff, which wasuh uh the the cannonball run, uh
the gumball rally, and the uh umI think the the other one was
Smoky and the Bandit.
Interestingly enough, thosemovies became hits in Hollywood
(06:46):
because what the in unbeknownstto many people, that was really
going on.
Okay, and and one thing I layout in the book about the about
cross-continental racing,endurance racing, it started in
the 1860s with the Pony Express,where uh Baldo Bill Cody was a
Pony Express rider.
And and it was dry, it was incase they were dropping the mail
(07:07):
off, but they would ride as fastas they could to get from one
end of the country to the otherocean to drop the mail off.
And that became legendary, andpeople became at the first time
aware of the vastness of thecountry and the and the romantic
you know uh picture of a of acowboy riding as fast as he
could.
(07:27):
At 40 miles, they had thesestations, and they literally
they wouldn't basically get offone horse and start all over
again.
SPEAKER_00 (07:33):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
And it got the imagination.
Unfortunately, we had the CivilWar, and that went away.
But after that, and I'm there'sa method to my my conversation
here.
So now go right away.
Um, after that, uh you hadthousands of of young men who
had basically lives had reallypretty much been upset with uh
(07:56):
uh and disoriented because ofhaving been in in the war, and
they were looking foropportunities, they had nowhere
to go.
And and at that time, rancherswere starting moving out west
and having cattle uh ranches andall those places in Texas and
everything.
And so this is when the cowboywas born, right?
Right.
It was right after the Civil Warbecause they they he would they
(08:19):
would go out, they'd they'd takewhat pay they had, buy a horse,
a saddle, a rope, and they'dride around from ranch to ranch
to see if they could get a job.
They were like freelancers.
SPEAKER_00 (08:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:29):
And at that time, then the cattle they had these
thousand-mile cattle driveswhere and that and and that
these employ these cowboys wouldbe employed with that.
And what would happen, uh, youdrive from Abilene to your your
your the herd to Abilene toTexas to the stockyards, and
they would get paid and they getdrunk, and inevitably became a
(08:52):
tradition.
First one back to Abilene getsyou know, gets the prize, and
they'd get out on their horsesand ride as fast as they could
for about a week to get there.
And so that was thecross-continental, the
long-distance endurance uh horseracing became part of the
culture.
The last big race was the 1893uh Great Cowboy Race of 1893 uh
(09:18):
from uh Nebraska to Chicago thatwas sponsored by Buffalo Bill
Cody and won his Wild West show.
The winner was going to get agold, all he would get was a
gold-plated cold 45, and ofcourse it was awarded.
But that that shook up um itactually got coverage in in
Europe, it became very famous,and uh, but it was also at a
(09:40):
time when it was the culminationand the end of that type of
racing because you had therailroads taking over the cattle
drives, you had barbed wirefaints stopping it, and there
was no longer a need for acowboy.
SPEAKER_00 (09:54):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
There were the only ones that would survive were
ones that were full-timeemployees at a ranch.
But the average cowboy, the 80%that were out there, their
careers went away.
And so that that ended the theuh the and it became nationally
uh a real event if you read thepapers and back then, you know,
uh people interested in thatrace.
(10:16):
And that was the end of it, butit wasn't because in 2000 and in
1904, a group of men in New YorkCity at a club challenged each
other to a race across thecountry with their automobiles,
and that was the very firstcross-continental endurance
race.
Instead of a horse, you used acar.
It took 44 days.
(10:37):
And if you read the book at thebeginning, I have a forward
where I'm I drove out to Oregon.
It was from uh New York toPortland, Oregon, 44 days.
A guy named Woodland is hisdriver, uh, won that race.
And the state of Oregon enactedtwo monuments in their state
park honoring this event.
(10:58):
And there's a picture of itbecause it what what America
today doesn't understand,because we're a totally
different culture, we've maturedand evolved.
But back then, this stuff wasbig entertainment, and so it
continued to that race.
There was a series of otherraces, and then a guy named uh
Edwin Baker became the nameCannonball Baker, was setting
(11:20):
records driving from LA to NewYork.
Uh, all these guys are publicitykind of, by the way.
They they always made sure thecameras are there and that type
of thing.
SPEAKER_02 (11:28):
And let me jump in there, Ed, because you also you
hold the the record for thefastest cross-continental
endurance road race from Bostonto San Diego.
That is a heck of an experience.
You know, there's uh and I wantyou if you could take us to
(11:49):
that, because riding across thecountry, you know, probably I
don't know if you go into speedlimit or not, but there's got to
be some high points and toughmoments.
What does it feel like though?
First of all, first we finallycrossed the finish line doing
that.
SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
Oh, yeah, it wasn't an uh just understand that was
the last great American roadrace, and I'll explain why.
But also understand that therewas a hundred years of history
behind that race.
Okay.
And so it it you know, it wasnot, it was basically I ran it
(12:23):
twice.
The second time was called thecan uh the four-ball rally.
Uh 3,126 miles in in 35 hoursand 46 minutes.
The just to give you a referencepoint, um, the average speed,
including all stops, I was I hadsix hours' delays.
I was arrested in upstate NewYork, I was arrested in Ohio,
(12:44):
broke down Illinois, and we werereally out of the whole race at
that time.
We were a good six hours behindeverybody else.
And um, you know, I averagedfrom the Mississippi River to to
Adrian, Texas, about 132 milesan hour.
And that was that got us back inthe race.
(13:06):
And then from that point on, itwas just uh pedal to the metal.
My partner and I just ran thething as fast as we could.
There's some really fun stuffthat happened in it, a lot of
interesting.
Uh, this was the nation's mostaggressive in the in American
history.
It was the most nationallyaggressive law enforcement
(13:27):
effort in the country.
All the state police from bothfrom Massachusetts to California
were coordinated.
They had tracking going on.
They knew I when I got arrestedin in Ohio, I didn't even have,
I couldn't, didn't even give theguy my license.
He said, Hey, Mr.
Rahill, come on back to my car.
We got something to talk about.
And he showed me the APP, theall points bulletin, which I
(13:48):
have a copy of my book, aboutthe fact that the races started
and we got to get out there.
And we they were out therehunting, and he would laugh
about it.
Uh that that he the the ticket,he said, This is my day off, Ed.
You know, I you know, but when Iheard you guys are running, I
volunteered to come in because Iwanted to do this.
And he's and he ended up gettingwhat we call the super trooper
(14:11):
award.
He arrested four of us.
At the award bank, what we wouldofficially get the tickets.
Who did it?
And we we just sent no othertrooper before that had done
anything, but we sent anothersay about congratulations.
He showed up at the awards bankwould get his trophy.
It was a different world backthen.
There was an adventure, and itwas the end because the
(14:34):
population was growing, it wasgoing to become too dangerous to
do it anymore.
The traffic could be too much.
Legally, it became verydifficult to do it because
lawsuits were now getting thesense of humor about the race
kind of dissipated.
And and and I basically tellpeople it's it's it should never
happen again because it's withwith when you had 150 million
(14:56):
people in the country, you know,you could probably could do
this.
But when you got 330 million onthe road, it's much more
difficult.
SPEAKER_02 (15:04):
Much more difficult.
SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
But it was the last great race, and and um uh I I it
it was an adventure and it wasplanning, uh, and it was for
preparation and it was courageand guts because uh it was you
you get physically andemotionally and uh beat up on a
(15:25):
race like that, especially sinceyou're when you're being chased
and having to watch out forgetting arrested.
And it was uh it was it was itwas an event, but it was an
example, I think, of of a it wasan example of trying to to
accomplish something in lifedifferent than the business
(15:47):
environment, but you use thesame skill set.
The skill sets are anticipation,planning, choosing the right
partner.
When you're a CEO, it's who youremployees are are gonna make you
look good or bad, you know, uhis an example.
Um uh you know, getting support.
We basically were sponsored byGeneral Motors in this race.
(16:09):
Nobody knows about that.
And and in the book, you'llstart you'll discover the
environment.
The year before I won it withTim, my partner, Porsche has
sent over a 9-11 team from theirfrom their race car development
group, and they won it.
This was an international event.
And and it it was in and and wethe reason how we were lucky
(16:31):
enough to get GM is that the GMProving Grounds engineers in
Milford, Michigan were followingthese races and were pissed off
because GM would not support anyAmerican doing it.
So they called us up and did aclandestine support.
I bought the car, they made itinto something a lot more than
what the car was, and then I gotit back.
And then they called meafterwards, asked me if they
(16:51):
could have the car back and getme a new car because the word
had gotten out to headquartersof downtown Detroit that that
you know somebody was a GM wassponsoring this race and they
wanted to hide the evidence.
Yeah, but it was it that's allwent on, and it was it was a it
was a great experience.
SPEAKER_02 (17:09):
I tell you what, now you got some family history
around this.
I mean, you made a a promise, Ithink, to your grandmother that
you're gonna break the cycle ofbroken dreams.
Yeah, that is um huge, huge,huge dream.
So, how did you keep thatpromise?
SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
Yeah, and I think that this is a story of America
too, because all of us, if we goback far enough in our family
history, we have we have we havereally very difficult times.
My uh great-grandmother cameover from Ireland at 14 and uh
left her family, never saw herfamily or siblings again, and
was sent to Buffalo, New York tobecome a maid in a house on
(17:48):
Bedower Avenue, and that's howshe spent her life.
She had my grandmother as one ofher kids, and at the age of at
the she only got a fifth gradeeducation um because uh uh the
she had to the family needed herto go out and work to help
support the family, and her jobin South Buffalo was to walk the
(18:10):
railroad tracks to collect coal.
And she said to me that this wasa good job.
She'd be able to sell the coaland be able to bring some home
for cooking and heat.
And that was the environment,but but none of her generation
and prior generations, includingmy mother, who basically had to
work and and and give up herdreams of travel and becoming
(18:32):
everything.
Uh she was a single mother got adivorce.
Um she would say to me, youknow, the entire family is a
history of broken dreams.
Nobody, you know, yourgreat-grandmother, myself, your
mother have never been able topursue the dreams.
They had to pursue theresponsibility.
I'm asking you, you have theopportunity now to break that
(18:54):
string of broken dreams for yourfamily going forward.
And that was really the driverin my life.
Um, that one of the drivers thatcaused me to continue to pursue
a career.
I never pursued a career uh forthe money, I never pursued a
career for that.
It was really to try toestablish uh myself as a solid
(19:16):
platform for the nextgeneration.
And key to the book, you'll seeit in the back.
I use an analogy, uh, and you'regonna I'm gonna go through my
high school years, includingathletics and sports and
football.
But at the end of it, I say,what I've learned, but I wrote
this book and I wrote it becauseI wanted to tell the remaining
(19:37):
generation that life is like arelay race.
It's like a mile relay race.
And there are runners who runtheir leg before you, and there
are runners that are gonna runit after you.
And when that runner who beforeyou, hopefully your your
ancestors, when they come toturn, they're handing off the
(19:57):
baton of wisdom and experienceto you.
And your job is to run that damnthing as far as you can.
Yes, you do live for yourself.
Yes, you do try to become asbest you can be.
But there's going to come a timewhen you're doing the fourth
turn coming in the last hundredyards where you've got to start
thinking about handing yourbaton off to the next
generation.
And that's the theme I'm tryingto get in the book in the
(20:19):
driver.
I want to tell because peoplesay, Well, do you uh you mean
you have to give up things forthe next generation?
No, you don't.
You're you need to grow andbecome the best you can, but you
have to have the attitude thatyou do have the responsibility
to help the next generation tobecome better than you.
And that and that and that iswhat handing the baton off is.
(20:40):
So I I wanted people tounderstand that you know being
in it for your life, foryourself, and growing and living
your life is is is good as longas at the end of it you
understand that you that theknowledge you gain you want to
give to others.
And that's where so you can itit's really important because
(21:02):
sometimes I think people don'tunderstand about their
responsibilities to other peopleand your family.
Responsibilities is uh I have aI don't have in the book, but I
I'm sitting in my home office ofmy my 12, 13-year-old son
screaming and crying at mebecause I'm I'm on his case
about something that he that hedropped the ball on.
(21:23):
He says, All you want me to dois become like you.
And I said, No, I want you tobecome better than me.
That's what I'm bringing you upfor.
And that's the way I like beinga parent.
SPEAKER_02 (21:33):
That's better.
I mean, that that's theresponsibility of the that that
further generation, and that'swhat we always look at.
Maybe it's a tall order, but yougotta be better in what you're
doing, your zone of genius, whatyou've been doing.
And and like you mentioned, uh,you've been the CFO of uh ITC
holdings, CEO of Grid Lance, youwhat's the Blackstone company?
(21:57):
And so here's the question thatcomes out of that, what you're
what you're talking about, whichis very important for people to
understand.
I want I want to understand evenmore like what is harder?
Is it closing a high-stakesbusiness deal or racing across
the country on the clock, comingaround for that fourth, you
know, fourth leg and handing offthat baton?
(22:17):
Which one is uh harder?
SPEAKER_01 (22:20):
What I love about the race, I'm gonna answer your
question.
Just give me a second, it'sgonna come right back.
The race in this book is ametaphor for life and how to
live it.
Because every time we pursueanything in life, I guarantee
you, at least half the time, ifnot more, you're gonna get
slammed and knocked down, andyou're gonna not think you can
(22:41):
do it.
The key for the key for mysuccess in business is basically
not it's and I talk about it,you know, I got knocked down and
it seemed impossible, but I gotback up.
It was really it's what my mygrandmother says in in the book,
I have as a quote in the back.
The difference between winnersand losers in life are the
(23:04):
survivors.
The point is, can you hang onlonger than anybody else?
And and and you know, thatthat's that's the that's the
story of the race, hanging onwhen everybody else and you were
gonna give up.
And and starting, you know, Iwhen I you should have seen what
it was like when I started GridLions, I was six and a half
(23:25):
million dollars in debt.
I had people who quit theirjobs, paying jobs at secure
utilities to come work for me,and I wasn't paying none.
They were doing it on thecommon, and they had families
and mortgages.
And and you know, it's talkabout not sleeping at night.
SPEAKER_00 (23:43):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:44):
At the end of the day, all I wanted was this
business to be a success.
Blackstone came in, and they atand I'm telling you, I it you
gotta recognize a break when yousee it.
I was talking to a lot of of uhprivate equity, but they were
all dragging their feet.
But Blackstone over lunch said,we'll do the deal, it's a
(24:06):
handshake deal, we'll do itright now.
But I had to give up thecompany.
Yeah, I was CEO and I get alittle stock, but I had to give
it up.
They owned it.
But what what did I get out ofit?
I got a chance to build acompany I had a dream.
I really didn't have a bigeconomic stake in it anymore,
but I got to pay my people and Igot to pay off my debts so I
don't go bankrupt.
And I was that frigging close.
(24:28):
And willing is is hanging inthere that one more time.
Um, it you come so close to justa razor-thin moment.
Um, you you you can and I I'veand I know this because there's
times I in other adventures thatI gave up on and I regretted it
(24:48):
because I realized that I justdidn't hang in.
But every success that's workedout in this book and in my life
is hanging on that last onemoment and not not not giving
up.
Um, and so that's something Iwould like my kids to know.
And I'd like to I like the nextgeneration though.
I th I I do feel that our Gen Zgroup is just a little bit
(25:11):
entitled and not understandinghow they're gonna run into
problems when they get older.
I just want them to understand.
They don't see it now.
But man, you know, you livelife.
No, life is not.
SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
You don't know until you know.
And but are you prepared for therace?
Just like you just stated.
Are you prepared?
Because if you keep thinkingit's smooth sailing and you
don't realize you know whatcomes after um summer and fall
is winter.
I mean, that's just the cyclesof life.
It's going to happen, it's justa matter of timing and what
that's really going to looklike.
You have spoken about one of mykey principles in my framework,
(25:46):
which I call the BraveFramework, and that's
resilience.
You've got to have resilience,you've got to prepare yourself
and understand it.
You know, you're going to gothrough some things that aren't
all that pleasant, but youyou've got to set a goal,
whatever that goal is.
Uh to your point, man.
Going to bed at night, knowingsix and a half million dollars
in debt.
You've got people that aredepending on you to finally pull
(26:09):
it through.
And then at the end of the day,when you don't even see it, you
come around the corner and getsome daylight, blackstone with
some daylight.
And then you're like, I got tohand that baton off like right,
right, right now, and then andget to the other other side of
what this journey is about.
That's what I call the endurancein American culture, the
(26:30):
endurance racing that you'vedone.
I and you just pointed to thatunique role in the United States
culture, history.
I think you gave a great historylesson that I did not know and
just come from Boston to SanDiego.
I want to understand like, whatdo you think uh people are so
fascinated?
Why would they be so fascinatedby this story?
And what does it symbolize toyou in the big picture?
SPEAKER_01 (26:57):
It's a unique American uh cultural uh uh event
that that many Americans, unlikeother societies in the world,
Europe, you just go over tonobody thinks they can do
anything.
They feel they have a role toplay, and that's it.
What's been unique about thiscountry, and this may not last
(27:19):
forever, that you can see it, isthat we you have the ability to
come here and actually have theaudacity to think I can be
better and I can do this.
I can be the one that's incharge a little bit.
You can be look you in inBritain, you can't be an alpha
male.
It's not allowed in that societyor in France.
(27:41):
It's not allowed.
And and what and and and what Iuse that in the term is that uh
alpha males you know have alittle bit of a bad reputation
because they think they're youknow they're full of themselves
or a little bit.
But the attitude is that I knowthat I a lot if I can dream it,
I can do it.
Or if I can dream it, I can tryit.
(28:02):
You don't in other countries, inother societies, you don't even
get a chance to try.
SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Very true.
SPEAKER_01 (28:08):
You have the right to fail.
That's what makes it so so good.
They just go right ahead.
And and and I think that's partof the the lesson I know I
learned in my life, is that uhyou know, I I remember several
times, including starting GridLions, when I wanted to give up
because I was really nervousabout the debt and I was worried
about everything.
(28:29):
Um I remember saying to myself,how do I if I quit now, how am I
going to feel about myself 10years?
I says, I'm always gonna wonderif I could have done it if I
just hung in there longer.
You know, and so there's nothere's no shame in giving your
best and failing.
It just means you move on tosomething else.
(28:51):
And and that that's what that'swhat I'm trying to capture an
attitude in this book is thatyou you can overcome it.
You do have the right to try.
And that you know, failure isnot, you know, while winning can
be temporary, failure is alsonot permanent.
It's only permanent if itdestroys you as a man and you
(29:13):
don't go on.
It's picking yourself back upthat that that's the hero.
And and I think that's thatlittle bit of subtle difference
in our culture versus Europeanculture and other places, I
think is an important thing tounderstand.
Um, and I'm hoping that when Isay a metaphor for life, the
whole race is a metaphor, youthe massive preparation for it,
(29:36):
and then having everything gowrong and how you approach it.
SPEAKER_02 (29:41):
That is true life.
You know, that right you saidthere, we all start out.
Some of us have a goal, you havea plan, here's your strategy.
This is our go, you know, go tomarket strategy.
Let's say that's like breakingthe huddle in football, right?
Everybody has a plan.
I tell people this all the timethat when when they draw it up.
Up you know, in on the board,every every play is a touchdown,
(30:03):
and everybody knows it's notlike that.
You know, there's resistance onthe other side of the ball.
There's somebody else withanother agenda that's maybe not
parallel to yours, you know.
So it's gonna run into yours.
So the plan always gets altered.
But if you have that North Starin front of you, that this is
the goal.
(30:24):
The path forward may not bestraight, it might be very
cyclical, or it could be almostunrecognizable at the end of the
race.
But at the end of the day, youalways learn something from your
journeys.
I like what you have taken usthrough uh for the last half
hour or so, and taking us froman endurance race, something
(30:44):
that was fun.
You took us to the past, youtook us into the present, and
then you took us into thefuture.
My last question to you as youbegin to hand off this paton,
this baton in the in thisparticular episode, but then in
your life and your journey, andyou put it into your book, what
do you want to tell thatgeneration that's coming ahead
(31:06):
of you that's now got thathandout to get that baton?
What would you say?
SPEAKER_01 (31:13):
I pray that they they they have the attitude I
was trying to lay out.
When you're born into this life,you've been given a gift.
You know, you've been given agift to you know to to make
something better than what youwere born, what you were when
you were born, or just just theway I'd like to say it, you have
(31:33):
a choice to be the type of humanbeing where life happens to, or
the type of being that happensto life.
And it's your choice.
And and so what I lay out inthis trying to do lay out in
this book, because I talk aboutpersonal development all the way
to the end of winning, um, is II'm I laid out what I hope is a
(31:56):
a roadmap of of how you couldapproach life and make that
happen.
Because I honestly believe I'venever met somebody who didn't
have a real gumption andtenacity that kept that couldn't
get anybody who's gonna, I'lltell you, I will never go up
against anybody that has theguts to pull himself up after
(32:16):
the knockdown.
That's not a type of guy youwant to go up against.
I'm telling you right now.
And it's also life is that way.
And and and and so I want themto be the happiest, most
successful human being they canbe.
I want them to feel good,self-actualized.
But I also want them tounderstand that the good Lord's
gonna call you home someday.
So before you do that, pass yourgift of what you learned on to
(32:39):
the next generation so theycould take advantage of it and
become the best they can be.
I love that.
That's what I do.
SPEAKER_02 (32:46):
I only got one more question for you, Ed.
And I've been asking thisquestion for a lot of my guests
because I like to get realfeedback in real time.
You've been on a lot ofpodcasts, you've done a lot of
interviews, you've talked to alot of different people.
This is your first opportunityto be a guest on the Follow
Brand Podcast.
How was your experience?
SPEAKER_01 (33:08):
Superb.
Let me let me explain why I lovethis this interview.
I got to talk, we got to talkabout the the person behind the
events and what it was what thepersonal experience was and the
right attitude.
Because what I really am, I'mthat's what I want.
(33:29):
You know, this is part of my Isay my legacy.
I this is my turning the cornerwith the baton.
This puts my baton.
I try to make a move, get amovie made out of it, but after
that, I'll probably move on tosomething else as long as I you
know I have the you know the uhopportunity to do so and maybe
go back into business.
But I want I want to take themoment to make sure I can look
(33:50):
back at my life, and I try to domy best to pass the baton on to
those who come after me.
I feel that's my responsibilityto the future generation and to
the human race.
I'm I'm I'm a proud member ofthe human race.
I like being one.
I like humans, I like people.
Uh, I just want to be somethingthat did something positive in
my life.
SPEAKER_02 (34:10):
Well, you certainly have done that, and I I want to
appreciate you being on theshow.
Never had a guest quite likeyourself that has such a story
that I don't think anyone willbe able to tell a story uh like
that.
Because I just got thesevisions.
I just remember the 1960s andsome of these movies they came
out.
(34:30):
They had the the great, I thinkone of them was called the Great
Race.
And it was it was hilarious.
And you lived in that, then it'snot a movie for you.
You actually did that.
SPEAKER_01 (34:42):
The car, the car culture, uh I mean, what where I
when I grew up, uh speed limitswere a suggestion.
I'm not kidding you.
And the cops were different.
Uh the cops were were just likeyou and me.
Um, they you know, theybasically would um what what if
(35:04):
they thought you were a decentguy, they wouldn't they didn't
have a quota, so they wouldn'tgive you oh, they'd go the hell
on you if they thought you werea jerk.
But I mean, I got pulled overwhen I was 17 with my sister,
you know, doing in the backwoodsuh in Guardville, New York.
And the cop pulled me over andhe spent 15 minutes giving me a
lecture.
And you know what he said to me?
(35:25):
He says, you know, I know whoyou are, I know you work at that
dealership, I know you drivecars all the time.
He says, I'm not care, I'm notworried about your ability to
handle your car.
I'm worried about the little oldlady in a rambler taking a turn.
She's over the line, and youknock her out.
He says, That's what you have tothink about the next time you
step on the gas.
SPEAKER_00 (35:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:41):
What's gonna happen?
And I look at me.
How many decades later?
I'm telling you what Iremembered what he said to me
when I was 17.
SPEAKER_02 (35:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:49):
You see what I mean?
Those are the types of costs Ilove because he changed my he
affected me even here at this inin 2025.
SPEAKER_02 (35:58):
I I love it.
Now, now you're gonna tell theaudience because you talked
about the book.
They gotta know where they cancan they get the book and how
they can contact you.
SPEAKER_01 (36:06):
It's it's one mile at a time.
Um uh you're catching me at thisis the original.
We're doing a second editionwith a little bit different
cover, and it's gonna be out onAmazon, and it'll be available
uh in uh at Barnes and Noble andbookstores they asked for it one
mile at a time, Edward M.
Ray Hill.
(36:27):
And it it uh I'm having anaudiobook come out, and we're
gonna do the full score on it.
And I have just hired amarketing group so that you to
get some attention to it becauseright now my next venture, which
is a long shot, I just had twopeople in the film business tell
me I'm crazy, can't do it.
I want this to be a movie.
(36:48):
Yeah, so I'm gonna figure it outI don't know how I'm gonna do
it, but I'm gonna figure it out.
SPEAKER_02 (36:52):
Oh, you can get it done.
Somebody director, they're gonnalisten to this podcast and
they're gonna remember the greatrace.
And like we got somebodyactually did the great race,
they went from Boston, SanDiego, they got stories they're
talking about where speed limitswere suggestions.
I want to see that movie.
I want to see what that lookslike.
SPEAKER_01 (37:12):
It was good.
And I mean there uh and therewas some excitement we haven't
talked about.
Um, when we got into Arizona andthen finally California, the
California Highway Patrol wasreally you know, wanted to stop
and uh stop us and we were ableto get through that.
But we can you can read it inthe book.
SPEAKER_02 (37:28):
That's why we can see the movie.
But I want to thank you againfor being a guest on the Follow
Brand Podcast.
Encourage your entire audienceto see all the episodes of
Follow Brand at Five Star BDM.
That is the number five.
That is Star S T A R BDM B forbrand, D for Development,
Informasters.com.
I want to thank you again forbeing on the show.
SPEAKER_01 (37:47):
And thank you for the opportunity.
I really, really appreciate it.
This has been fun.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (37:52):
Fun for me as well.
Thank you.
I want to welcome everybody to the Funnel Rant
podcast.
We are going to have a uniqueshow today.
I want to welcome everyone to anexperience on both sides of the
ball (00:14):
the personal world and the business world and the
convergence of how they cometogether.
And I call the life and times ofEd Rahill.
He's going to convey to us hisstory, some of his experiences
that I think will help theaudience to grow and move
forward.
And before I keep going on andon and on, let's get him
(00:36):
introduced.
So, Ed, you'd like to introduceyourself?
Thank you, everyone.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
Uh Grant, it's an honor to be here and talk to
your audience.
I'm Ed Rahill.
I'm the author of One Mile at aTime, a project that I've been
on for a number of years, and Iplan on taking it to the next
level.
And I'm thrilled to have theopportunity to talk to you about
it.
Um, it's it's a it's a veryunique uh situation to be in
because my third the prior 30years is in corporate America as
(01:07):
uh you know then you knowbecoming a CFO of a company,
taking it public, then becomingpresident of then starting my
own company, becoming CEO, andthen selling that.
So I have 30 years of that.
Well, how in the hell did youget into this business of
writing a book?
SPEAKER_00 (01:22):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:23):
And it's really not a book about business, it's
about life.
It's uh really the um, you know,uh, and I think what I'd like to
share is the attitude uh of whyyou're willing to take on new
things that are unfamiliar andtry to do it because I I think
that's part of the adventure oflife.
And so that's uh matter of fact,the the heading on my book is
(01:46):
one mile a time.
It says the memoir of the lastgreat American road race and the
adventure we call life.
So I even have that in thetitle.
Um, so uh I'm I'm I'm love tolay it out for you.
Uh how what would your audiencehow would you like to to set
this up so that I canimmediately get to the heart of
(02:06):
it?
SPEAKER_02 (02:07):
That's a great question of itself because you
piqued my curiosity in whatyou're doing, why you do it.
And that is really the thepurpose of this particular uh
episode.
That's what the follow brand isall about.
I love that you have a uhbackground chief financial
officer.
So you speak finance, you know,finance is the language of
(02:30):
business.
Um so I'm into the personalbrand, business development,
investment banking, which youtake all three of those boxes.
But the brand, the personalbrand is the story of yourself.
Now you've done some thingsaround, I I call it from Le Mans
to Life Lessons, where you'veshared the watching, which I
(02:50):
found this intriguing.
1966, 24 hours of Le Mans thatsparked your passion for
endurance racing.
My question is this what aboutthat race lit the fire in you as
a young boy?
And how has that passion shapedyour life since?
SPEAKER_01 (03:11):
I grew up in an automobile company.
I you know, I I grew up mygrandmother was the first woman
ever to own and operate a Forddealership in the United States
back in the uh 30s.
Her my grandfather and her youknow had two nickels and a dime
to get started, and he he was 36or 34 and it convinced Henry
(03:32):
Ford in the 30s to let himexplore getting a dealership in
Western New York.
He ended up doing it, and thelong story here is that he he
actually got it to where it wasrunning, and then at 36, 37 he
he died of appendicitis.
People died of that stuff backthen.
SPEAKER_02 (03:50):
Wow.
SPEAKER_01 (03:50):
So my grandmother had to take over with four kids,
and so uh, and I basically wasin in many parts of my life
raised by her, so I was involvedin her life and the business and
that.
And her her point was as long assoon as I was able to walk, I
had to go down to the dealershipand take garbage out to the
pails.
Then, but uh what we're talkingabout, and by the time I was 12,
(04:12):
I was big enough or old enoughto cut the grass.
And I just happened to be on aSaturday doing that, and the
salesman ran out, knew who I wasto come on in.
We listen to a race in inFrance, and that was the uh it
was it was called the 24 HoursLe Mans.
And the interesting thing is thereason I bring it up is because
it was the first time I rememberthinking, I want to do this.
(04:36):
Yeah, you know, up to thatpoint, I was aware of cars.
Uh, you know, I have beenexposed to the typical South
Buffalo environment with dragracing and that type of thing.
And that never really appealedto me.
That always felt like that waswell, I don't know, I was
burning tired, and what I wasreally doing was an uncontrolled
race, uncontrolled rocket shipon wheels.
(04:58):
And I uh at that time uh NASCARwas being born, and and again,
you know, Ford was a biggerNASCAR, and so I used to watch
that, but after a couple hoursof watching it on TV, I got
bored with their going.
They just spent two and a halfhours turning left all the time.
It just seemed to me that wherewhere is this, you know?
(05:19):
And Lama is a is a 24-hourendurance race where you get you
you drive um nonstop.
Well, you you trade places witha partner every four hours, but
you drive nonstop, uh, and theuh uh and the objective is to
see the one who can go thefarthest in 24 hours is the
winner.
(05:40):
And it was over open roads,roads that people drove on all
you know in France all the time.
They just closed eight, tenmiles off for the race.
And I that seemed to me what wasmost fascinating the being able
to to uh to get out there andand and drive on a on in a real
driving environment, not aracetrack.
(06:02):
So that's kind of got it going.
SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
That's you you park I I'm getting a memory from the
60s, and I remember seeing a Ithink it was a movie that and
maybe it's that movie that cameout that there was a road race,
and they were just and it was acomedy, I think it was a comedy
at the time.
SPEAKER_01 (06:23):
You you but this is gonna lead right into that,
yeah.
Yeah, you're thinking aboutyou're thinking about the uh
Burt Reynolds stuff, which wasuh uh the the cannonball run, uh
the gumball rally, and the uh umI think the the other one was
Smoky and the Bandit.
Interestingly enough, thosemovies became hits in Hollywood
(06:46):
because what the in unbeknownstto many people, that was really
going on.
Okay, and and one thing I layout in the book about the about
cross-continental racing,endurance racing, it started in
the 1860s with the Pony Express,where uh Baldo Bill Cody was a
Pony Express rider.
And and it was dry, it was incase they were dropping the mail
(07:07):
off, but they would ride as fastas they could to get from one
end of the country to the otherocean to drop the mail off.
And that became legendary, andpeople became at the first time
aware of the vastness of thecountry and the and the romantic
you know uh picture of a of acowboy riding as fast as he
could.
(07:27):
At 40 miles, they had thesestations, and they literally
they wouldn't basically get offone horse and start all over
again.
SPEAKER_00 (07:33):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (07:34):
And it got the imagination.
Unfortunately, we had the CivilWar, and that went away.
But after that, and I'm there'sa method to my my conversation
here.
So now go right away.
Um, after that, uh you hadthousands of of young men who
had basically lives had reallypretty much been upset with uh
(07:56):
uh and disoriented because ofhaving been in in the war, and
they were looking foropportunities, they had nowhere
to go.
And and at that time, rancherswere starting moving out west
and having cattle uh ranches andall those places in Texas and
everything.
And so this is when the cowboywas born, right?
Right.
It was right after the Civil Warbecause they they he would they
(08:19):
would go out, they'd they'd takewhat pay they had, buy a horse,
a saddle, a rope, and they'dride around from ranch to ranch
to see if they could get a job.
They were like freelancers.
SPEAKER_00 (08:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:29):
And at that time, then the cattle they had these
thousand-mile cattle driveswhere and that and and that
these employ these cowboys wouldbe employed with that.
And what would happen, uh, youdrive from Abilene to your your
your the herd to Abilene toTexas to the stockyards, and
they would get paid and they getdrunk, and inevitably became a
(08:52):
tradition.
First one back to Abilene getsyou know, gets the prize, and
they'd get out on their horsesand ride as fast as they could
for about a week to get there.
And so that was thecross-continental, the
long-distance endurance uh horseracing became part of the
culture.
The last big race was the 1893uh Great Cowboy Race of 1893 uh
(09:18):
from uh Nebraska to Chicago thatwas sponsored by Buffalo Bill
Cody and won his Wild West show.
The winner was going to get agold, all he would get was a
gold-plated cold 45, and ofcourse it was awarded.
But that that shook up um itactually got coverage in in
Europe, it became very famous,and uh, but it was also at a
(09:40):
time when it was the culminationand the end of that type of
racing because you had therailroads taking over the cattle
drives, you had barbed wirefaints stopping it, and there
was no longer a need for acowboy.
SPEAKER_00 (09:54):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
There were the only ones that would survive were
ones that were full-timeemployees at a ranch.
But the average cowboy, the 80%that were out there, their
careers went away.
And so that that ended the theuh the and it became nationally
uh a real event if you read thepapers and back then, you know,
uh people interested in thatrace.
(10:16):
And that was the end of it, butit wasn't because in 2000 and in
1904, a group of men in New YorkCity at a club challenged each
other to a race across thecountry with their automobiles,
and that was the very firstcross-continental endurance
race.
Instead of a horse, you used acar.
It took 44 days.
(10:37):
And if you read the book at thebeginning, I have a forward
where I'm I drove out to Oregon.
It was from uh New York toPortland, Oregon, 44 days.
A guy named Woodland is hisdriver, uh, won that race.
And the state of Oregon enactedtwo monuments in their state
park honoring this event.
(10:58):
And there's a picture of itbecause it what what America
today doesn't understand,because we're a totally
different culture, we've maturedand evolved.
But back then, this stuff wasbig entertainment, and so it
continued to that race.
There was a series of otherraces, and then a guy named uh
Edwin Baker became the nameCannonball Baker, was setting
(11:20):
records driving from LA to NewYork.
Uh, all these guys are publicitykind of, by the way.
They they always made sure thecameras are there and that type
of thing.
SPEAKER_02 (11:28):
And let me jump in there, Ed, because you also you
hold the the record for thefastest cross-continental
endurance road race from Bostonto San Diego.
That is a heck of an experience.
You know, there's uh and I wantyou if you could take us to
(11:49):
that, because riding across thecountry, you know, probably I
don't know if you go into speedlimit or not, but there's got to
be some high points and toughmoments.
What does it feel like though?
First of all, first we finallycrossed the finish line doing
that.
SPEAKER_01 (12:02):
Oh, yeah, it wasn't an uh just understand that was
the last great American roadrace, and I'll explain why.
But also understand that therewas a hundred years of history
behind that race.
Okay.
And so it it you know, it wasnot, it was basically I ran it
(12:23):
twice.
The second time was called thecan uh the four-ball rally.
Uh 3,126 miles in in 35 hoursand 46 minutes.
The just to give you a referencepoint, um, the average speed,
including all stops, I was I hadsix hours' delays.
I was arrested in upstate NewYork, I was arrested in Ohio,
(12:44):
broke down Illinois, and we werereally out of the whole race at
that time.
We were a good six hours behindeverybody else.
And um, you know, I averagedfrom the Mississippi River to to
Adrian, Texas, about 132 milesan hour.
And that was that got us back inthe race.
(13:06):
And then from that point on, itwas just uh pedal to the metal.
My partner and I just ran thething as fast as we could.
There's some really fun stuffthat happened in it, a lot of
interesting.
Uh, this was the nation's mostaggressive in the in American
history.
It was the most nationallyaggressive law enforcement
(13:27):
effort in the country.
All the state police from bothfrom Massachusetts to California
were coordinated.
They had tracking going on.
They knew I when I got arrestedin in Ohio, I didn't even have,
I couldn't, didn't even give theguy my license.
He said, Hey, Mr.
Rahill, come on back to my car.
We got something to talk about.
And he showed me the APP, theall points bulletin, which I
(13:48):
have a copy of my book, aboutthe fact that the races started
and we got to get out there.
And we they were out therehunting, and he would laugh
about it.
Uh that that he the the ticket,he said, This is my day off, Ed.
You know, I you know, but when Iheard you guys are running, I
volunteered to come in because Iwanted to do this.
And he's and he ended up gettingwhat we call the super trooper
(14:11):
award.
He arrested four of us.
At the award bank, what we wouldofficially get the tickets.
Who did it?
And we we just sent no othertrooper before that had done
anything, but we sent anothersay about congratulations.
He showed up at the awards bankwould get his trophy.
It was a different world backthen.
There was an adventure, and itwas the end because the
(14:34):
population was growing, it wasgoing to become too dangerous to
do it anymore.
The traffic could be too much.
Legally, it became verydifficult to do it because
lawsuits were now getting thesense of humor about the race
kind of dissipated.
And and and I basically tellpeople it's it's it should never
happen again because it's withwith when you had 150 million
(14:56):
people in the country, you know,you could probably could do
this.
But when you got 330 million onthe road, it's much more
difficult.
SPEAKER_02 (15:04):
Much more difficult.
SPEAKER_01 (15:05):
But it was the last great race, and and um uh I I it
it was an adventure and it wasplanning, uh, and it was for
preparation and it was courageand guts because uh it was you
you get physically andemotionally and uh beat up on a
(15:25):
race like that, especially sinceyou're when you're being chased
and having to watch out forgetting arrested.
And it was uh it was it was itwas an event, but it was an
example, I think, of of a it wasan example of trying to to
accomplish something in lifedifferent than the business
(15:47):
environment, but you use thesame skill set.
The skill sets are anticipation,planning, choosing the right
partner.
When you're a CEO, it's who youremployees are are gonna make you
look good or bad, you know, uhis an example.
Um uh you know, getting support.
We basically were sponsored byGeneral Motors in this race.
(16:09):
Nobody knows about that.
And and in the book, you'llstart you'll discover the
environment.
The year before I won it withTim, my partner, Porsche has
sent over a 9-11 team from theirfrom their race car development
group, and they won it.
This was an international event.
And and it it was in and and wethe reason how we were lucky
(16:31):
enough to get GM is that the GMProving Grounds engineers in
Milford, Michigan were followingthese races and were pissed off
because GM would not support anyAmerican doing it.
So they called us up and did aclandestine support.
I bought the car, they made itinto something a lot more than
what the car was, and then I gotit back.
And then they called meafterwards, asked me if they
(16:51):
could have the car back and getme a new car because the word
had gotten out to headquartersof downtown Detroit that that
you know somebody was a GM wassponsoring this race and they
wanted to hide the evidence.
Yeah, but it was it that's allwent on, and it was it was a it
was a great experience.
SPEAKER_02 (17:09):
I tell you what, now you got some family history
around this.
I mean, you made a a promise, Ithink, to your grandmother that
you're gonna break the cycle ofbroken dreams.
Yeah, that is um huge, huge,huge dream.
So, how did you keep thatpromise?
SPEAKER_01 (17:26):
Yeah, and I think that this is a story of America
too, because all of us, if we goback far enough in our family
history, we have we have we havereally very difficult times.
My uh great-grandmother cameover from Ireland at 14 and uh
left her family, never saw herfamily or siblings again, and
was sent to Buffalo, New York tobecome a maid in a house on
(17:48):
Bedower Avenue, and that's howshe spent her life.
She had my grandmother as one ofher kids, and at the age of at
the she only got a fifth gradeeducation um because uh uh the
she had to the family needed herto go out and work to help
support the family, and her jobin South Buffalo was to walk the
(18:10):
railroad tracks to collect coal.
And she said to me that this wasa good job.
She'd be able to sell the coaland be able to bring some home
for cooking and heat.
And that was the environment,but but none of her generation
and prior generations, includingmy mother, who basically had to
work and and and give up herdreams of travel and becoming
(18:32):
everything.
Uh she was a single mother got adivorce.
Um she would say to me, youknow, the entire family is a
history of broken dreams.
Nobody, you know, yourgreat-grandmother, myself, your
mother have never been able topursue the dreams.
They had to pursue theresponsibility.
I'm asking you, you have theopportunity now to break that
(18:54):
string of broken dreams for yourfamily going forward.
And that was really the driverin my life.
Um, that one of the drivers thatcaused me to continue to pursue
a career.
I never pursued a career uh forthe money, I never pursued a
career for that.
It was really to try toestablish uh myself as a solid
(19:16):
platform for the nextgeneration.
And key to the book, you'll seeit in the back.
I use an analogy, uh, and you'regonna I'm gonna go through my
high school years, includingathletics and sports and
football.
But at the end of it, I say,what I've learned, but I wrote
this book and I wrote it becauseI wanted to tell the remaining
(19:37):
generation that life is like arelay race.
It's like a mile relay race.
And there are runners who runtheir leg before you, and there
are runners that are gonna runit after you.
And when that runner who beforeyou, hopefully your your
ancestors, when they come toturn, they're handing off the
(19:57):
baton of wisdom and experienceto you.
And your job is to run that damnthing as far as you can.
Yes, you do live for yourself.
Yes, you do try to become asbest you can be.
But there's going to come a timewhen you're doing the fourth
turn coming in the last hundredyards where you've got to start
thinking about handing yourbaton off to the next
generation.
And that's the theme I'm tryingto get in the book in the
(20:19):
driver.
I want to tell because peoplesay, Well, do you uh you mean
you have to give up things forthe next generation?
No, you don't.
You're you need to grow andbecome the best you can, but you
have to have the attitude thatyou do have the responsibility
to help the next generation tobecome better than you.
And that and that and that iswhat handing the baton off is.
(20:40):
So I I wanted people tounderstand that you know being
in it for your life, foryourself, and growing and living
your life is is is good as longas at the end of it you
understand that you that theknowledge you gain you want to
give to others.
And that's where so you can itit's really important because
(21:02):
sometimes I think people don'tunderstand about their
responsibilities to other peopleand your family.
Responsibilities is uh I have aI don't have in the book, but I
I'm sitting in my home office ofmy my 12, 13-year-old son
screaming and crying at mebecause I'm I'm on his case
about something that he that hedropped the ball on.
(21:23):
He says, All you want me to dois become like you.
And I said, No, I want you tobecome better than me.
That's what I'm bringing you upfor.
And that's the way I like beinga parent.
SPEAKER_02 (21:33):
That's better.
I mean, that that's theresponsibility of the that that
further generation, and that'swhat we always look at.
Maybe it's a tall order, but yougotta be better in what you're
doing, your zone of genius, whatyou've been doing.
And and like you mentioned, uh,you've been the CFO of uh ITC
holdings, CEO of Grid Lance, youwhat's the Blackstone company?
(21:57):
And so here's the question thatcomes out of that, what you're
what you're talking about, whichis very important for people to
understand.
I want I want to understand evenmore like what is harder?
Is it closing a high-stakesbusiness deal or racing across
the country on the clock, comingaround for that fourth, you
know, fourth leg and handing offthat baton?
(22:17):
Which one is uh harder?
SPEAKER_01 (22:20):
What I love about the race, I'm gonna answer your
question.
Just give me a second, it'sgonna come right back.
The race in this book is ametaphor for life and how to
live it.
Because every time we pursueanything in life, I guarantee
you, at least half the time, ifnot more, you're gonna get
slammed and knocked down, andyou're gonna not think you can
(22:41):
do it.
The key for the key for mysuccess in business is basically
not it's and I talk about it,you know, I got knocked down and
it seemed impossible, but I gotback up.
It was really it's what my mygrandmother says in in the book,
I have as a quote in the back.
The difference between winnersand losers in life are the
(23:04):
survivors.
The point is, can you hang onlonger than anybody else?
And and and you know, thatthat's that's the that's the
story of the race, hanging onwhen everybody else and you were
gonna give up.
And and starting, you know, Iwhen I you should have seen what
it was like when I started GridLions, I was six and a half
(23:25):
million dollars in debt.
I had people who quit theirjobs, paying jobs at secure
utilities to come work for me,and I wasn't paying none.
They were doing it on thecommon, and they had families
and mortgages.
And and you know, it's talkabout not sleeping at night.
SPEAKER_00 (23:43):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:44):
At the end of the day, all I wanted was this
business to be a success.
Blackstone came in, and they atand I'm telling you, I it you
gotta recognize a break when yousee it.
I was talking to a lot of of uhprivate equity, but they were
all dragging their feet.
But Blackstone over lunch said,we'll do the deal, it's a
(24:06):
handshake deal, we'll do itright now.
But I had to give up thecompany.
Yeah, I was CEO and I get alittle stock, but I had to give
it up.
They owned it.
But what what did I get out ofit?
I got a chance to build acompany I had a dream.
I really didn't have a bigeconomic stake in it anymore,
but I got to pay my people and Igot to pay off my debts so I
don't go bankrupt.
And I was that frigging close.
(24:28):
And willing is is hanging inthere that one more time.
Um, it you come so close to justa razor-thin moment.
Um, you you you can and I I'veand I know this because there's
times I in other adventures thatI gave up on and I regretted it
(24:48):
because I realized that I justdidn't hang in.
But every success that's workedout in this book and in my life
is hanging on that last onemoment and not not not giving
up.
Um, and so that's something Iwould like my kids to know.
And I'd like to I like the nextgeneration though.
I th I I do feel that our Gen Zgroup is just a little bit
(25:11):
entitled and not understandinghow they're gonna run into
problems when they get older.
I just want them to understand.
They don't see it now.
But man, you know, you livelife.
No, life is not.
SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
You don't know until you know.
And but are you prepared for therace?
Just like you just stated.
Are you prepared?
Because if you keep thinkingit's smooth sailing and you
don't realize you know whatcomes after um summer and fall
is winter.
I mean, that's just the cyclesof life.
It's going to happen, it's justa matter of timing and what
that's really going to looklike.
You have spoken about one of mykey principles in my framework,
(25:46):
which I call the BraveFramework, and that's
resilience.
You've got to have resilience,you've got to prepare yourself
and understand it.
You know, you're going to gothrough some things that aren't
all that pleasant, but youyou've got to set a goal,
whatever that goal is.
Uh to your point, man.
Going to bed at night, knowingsix and a half million dollars
in debt.
You've got people that aredepending on you to finally pull
(26:09):
it through.
And then at the end of the day,when you don't even see it, you
come around the corner and getsome daylight, blackstone with
some daylight.
And then you're like, I got tohand that baton off like right,
right, right now, and then andget to the other other side of
what this journey is about.
That's what I call the endurancein American culture, the
(26:30):
endurance racing that you'vedone.
I and you just pointed to thatunique role in the United States
culture, history.
I think you gave a great historylesson that I did not know and
just come from Boston to SanDiego.
I want to understand like, whatdo you think uh people are so
fascinated?
Why would they be so fascinatedby this story?
And what does it symbolize toyou in the big picture?
SPEAKER_01 (26:57):
It's a unique American uh cultural uh uh event
that that many Americans, unlikeother societies in the world,
Europe, you just go over tonobody thinks they can do
anything.
They feel they have a role toplay, and that's it.
What's been unique about thiscountry, and this may not last
(27:19):
forever, that you can see it, isthat we you have the ability to
come here and actually have theaudacity to think I can be
better and I can do this.
I can be the one that's incharge a little bit.
You can be look you in inBritain, you can't be an alpha
male.
It's not allowed in that societyor in France.
(27:41):
It's not allowed.
And and what and and and what Iuse that in the term is that uh
alpha males you know have alittle bit of a bad reputation
because they think they're youknow they're full of themselves
or a little bit.
But the attitude is that I knowthat I a lot if I can dream it,
I can do it.
Or if I can dream it, I can tryit.
(28:02):
You don't in other countries, inother societies, you don't even
get a chance to try.
SPEAKER_00 (28:07):
Very true.
SPEAKER_01 (28:08):
You have the right to fail.
That's what makes it so so good.
They just go right ahead.
And and and I think that's partof the the lesson I know I
learned in my life, is that uhyou know, I I remember several
times, including starting GridLions, when I wanted to give up
because I was really nervousabout the debt and I was worried
about everything.
(28:29):
Um I remember saying to myself,how do I if I quit now, how am I
going to feel about myself 10years?
I says, I'm always gonna wonderif I could have done it if I
just hung in there longer.
You know, and so there's nothere's no shame in giving your
best and failing.
It just means you move on tosomething else.
(28:51):
And and that that's what that'swhat I'm trying to capture an
attitude in this book is thatyou you can overcome it.
You do have the right to try.
And that you know, failure isnot, you know, while winning can
be temporary, failure is alsonot permanent.
It's only permanent if itdestroys you as a man and you
(29:13):
don't go on.
It's picking yourself back upthat that that's the hero.
And and I think that's thatlittle bit of subtle difference
in our culture versus Europeanculture and other places, I
think is an important thing tounderstand.
Um, and I'm hoping that when Isay a metaphor for life, the
whole race is a metaphor, youthe massive preparation for it,
(29:36):
and then having everything gowrong and how you approach it.
SPEAKER_02 (29:41):
That is true life.
You know, that right you saidthere, we all start out.
Some of us have a goal, you havea plan, here's your strategy.
This is our go, you know, go tomarket strategy.
Let's say that's like breakingthe huddle in football, right?
Everybody has a plan.
I tell people this all the timethat when when they draw it up.
Up you know, in on the board,every every play is a touchdown,
(30:03):
and everybody knows it's notlike that.
You know, there's resistance onthe other side of the ball.
There's somebody else withanother agenda that's maybe not
parallel to yours, you know.
So it's gonna run into yours.
So the plan always gets altered.
But if you have that North Starin front of you, that this is
the goal.
(30:24):
The path forward may not bestraight, it might be very
cyclical, or it could be almostunrecognizable at the end of the
race.
But at the end of the day, youalways learn something from your
journeys.
I like what you have taken usthrough uh for the last half
hour or so, and taking us froman endurance race, something
(30:44):
that was fun.
You took us to the past, youtook us into the present, and
then you took us into thefuture.
My last question to you as youbegin to hand off this paton,
this baton in the in thisparticular episode, but then in
your life and your journey, andyou put it into your book, what
do you want to tell thatgeneration that's coming ahead
(31:06):
of you that's now got thathandout to get that baton?
What would you say?
SPEAKER_01 (31:13):
I pray that they they they have the attitude I
was trying to lay out.
When you're born into this life,you've been given a gift.
You know, you've been given agift to you know to to make
something better than what youwere born, what you were when
you were born, or just just theway I'd like to say it, you have
(31:33):
a choice to be the type of humanbeing where life happens to, or
the type of being that happensto life.
And it's your choice.
And and so what I lay out inthis trying to do lay out in
this book, because I talk aboutpersonal development all the way
to the end of winning, um, is II'm I laid out what I hope is a
(31:56):
a roadmap of of how you couldapproach life and make that
happen.
Because I honestly believe I'venever met somebody who didn't
have a real gumption andtenacity that kept that couldn't
get anybody who's gonna, I'lltell you, I will never go up
against anybody that has theguts to pull himself up after
(32:16):
the knockdown.
That's not a type of guy youwant to go up against.
I'm telling you right now.
And it's also life is that way.
And and and and so I want themto be the happiest, most
successful human being they canbe.
I want them to feel good,self-actualized.
But I also want them tounderstand that the good Lord's
gonna call you home someday.
So before you do that, pass yourgift of what you learned on to
(32:39):
the next generation so theycould take advantage of it and
become the best they can be.
I love that.
That's what I do.
SPEAKER_02 (32:46):
I only got one more question for you, Ed.
And I've been asking thisquestion for a lot of my guests
because I like to get realfeedback in real time.
You've been on a lot ofpodcasts, you've done a lot of
interviews, you've talked to alot of different people.
This is your first opportunityto be a guest on the Follow
Brand Podcast.
How was your experience?
SPEAKER_01 (33:08):
Superb.
Let me let me explain why I lovethis this interview.
I got to talk, we got to talkabout the the person behind the
events and what it was what thepersonal experience was and the
right attitude.
Because what I really am, I'mthat's what I want.
(33:29):
You know, this is part of my Isay my legacy.
I this is my turning the cornerwith the baton.
This puts my baton.
I try to make a move, get amovie made out of it, but after
that, I'll probably move on tosomething else as long as I you
know I have the you know the uhopportunity to do so and maybe
go back into business.
But I want I want to take themoment to make sure I can look
(33:50):
back at my life, and I try to domy best to pass the baton on to
those who come after me.
I feel that's my responsibilityto the future generation and to
the human race.
I'm I'm I'm a proud member ofthe human race.
I like being one.
I like humans, I like people.
Uh, I just want to be somethingthat did something positive in
my life.
SPEAKER_02 (34:10):
Well, you certainly have done that, and I I want to
appreciate you being on theshow.
Never had a guest quite likeyourself that has such a story
that I don't think anyone willbe able to tell a story uh like
that.
Because I just got thesevisions.
I just remember the 1960s andsome of these movies they came
out.
(34:30):
They had the the great, I thinkone of them was called the Great
Race.
And it was it was hilarious.
And you lived in that, then it'snot a movie for you.
You actually did that.
SPEAKER_01 (34:42):
The car, the car culture, uh I mean, what where I
when I grew up, uh speed limitswere a suggestion.
I'm not kidding you.
And the cops were different.
Uh the cops were were just likeyou and me.
Um, they you know, theybasically would um what what if
(35:04):
they thought you were a decentguy, they wouldn't they didn't
have a quota, so they wouldn'tgive you oh, they'd go the hell
on you if they thought you werea jerk.
But I mean, I got pulled overwhen I was 17 with my sister,
you know, doing in the backwoodsuh in Guardville, New York.
And the cop pulled me over andhe spent 15 minutes giving me a
lecture.
And you know what he said to me?
(35:25):
He says, you know, I know whoyou are, I know you work at that
dealership, I know you drivecars all the time.
He says, I'm not care, I'm notworried about your ability to
handle your car.
I'm worried about the little oldlady in a rambler taking a turn.
She's over the line, and youknock her out.
He says, That's what you have tothink about the next time you
step on the gas.
SPEAKER_00 (35:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:41):
What's gonna happen?
And I look at me.
How many decades later?
I'm telling you what Iremembered what he said to me
when I was 17.
SPEAKER_02 (35:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (35:49):
You see what I mean?
Those are the types of costs Ilove because he changed my he
affected me even here at this inin 2025.
SPEAKER_02 (35:58):
I I love it.
Now, now you're gonna tell theaudience because you talked
about the book.
They gotta know where they cancan they get the book and how
they can contact you.
SPEAKER_01 (36:06):
It's it's one mile at a time.
Um uh you're catching me at thisis the original.
We're doing a second editionwith a little bit different
cover, and it's gonna be out onAmazon, and it'll be available
uh in uh at Barnes and Noble andbookstores they asked for it one
mile at a time, Edward M.
Ray Hill.
(36:27):
And it it uh I'm having anaudiobook come out, and we're
gonna do the full score on it.
And I have just hired amarketing group so that you to
get some attention to it becauseright now my next venture, which
is a long shot, I just had twopeople in the film business tell
me I'm crazy, can't do it.
I want this to be a movie.
(36:48):
Yeah, so I'm gonna figure it outI don't know how I'm gonna do
it, but I'm gonna figure it out.
SPEAKER_02 (36:52):
Oh, you can get it done.
Somebody director, they're gonnalisten to this podcast and
they're gonna remember the greatrace.
And like we got somebodyactually did the great race,
they went from Boston, SanDiego, they got stories they're
talking about where speed limitswere suggestions.
I want to see that movie.
I want to see what that lookslike.
SPEAKER_01 (37:12):
It was good.
And I mean there uh and therewas some excitement we haven't
talked about.
Um, when we got into Arizona andthen finally California, the
California Highway Patrol wasreally you know, wanted to stop
and uh stop us and we were ableto get through that.
But we can you can read it inthe book.
SPEAKER_02 (37:28):
That's why we can see the movie.
But I want to thank you againfor being a guest on the Follow
Brand Podcast.
Encourage your entire audienceto see all the episodes of
Follow Brand at Five Star BDM.
That is the number five.
That is Star S T A R BDM B forbrand, D for Development,
Informasters.com.
I want to thank you again forbeing on the show.
SPEAKER_01 (37:47):
And thank you for the opportunity.
I really, really appreciate it.
This has been fun.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (37:52):
Fun for me as well.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.