August 27, 2025 • 38 mins
"S71" is media collaboration between two lifelong friends who love cars, action films, and have nostalgia for the awesome toys of the 70s, namely HOT WHEELS! This interview with the company's founders explores why these two build the worlds coolest toy car race tracks, and how they plan to grow.
Learn more at www.superhighway71.com
Fuel for the Future is presented by State Farm Insurance and Driven by America's Automotive Trust.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Super highway 71 is a
media collaborationthat started with two lifelong friends,
known as JSB and CPL,that both have a love and appreciation
for storytelling,filmmaking, community, and cars.
They brought their unique talentsto building massive, creatively amazing
Hot Wheels tracks,and not only do they create amazing videos
(00:24):
for these tracks, but Super Highway71 builds them for live events
where kids and adults can bring toy carsand get in on the action.
Their most recent event was heldat LeMay America's Car Museum.
This is fuel for the future,presented by State Farm Insurance
and driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael May.
(00:45):
Can you introduce yourselves? Yeah.
I have a long Italian name.
So many peoplehave Bridget to to GSD, but,
so I, have been working for many yearsand across the spectrum
of technologyand entertainment and venture stuff.
This particular conversationis sort of about my, my and,
car culture passions.
(01:06):
So we, we originally connected in the WaltDisney Company where we worked,
way back in the 90stogether as and studio entertainment.
He'll talk a little bitabout what the role was
because it was super funand unique and interesting.
And he went on toto pursue excellence in Hollywood.
And then I went into software.
So, I'm, you know, my day job is I'ma innovation consultant and, inventor
(01:27):
technology, hardware and software,in the, in the Pacific Northwest.
And then, Chrisand I had always collaborated
professionally and of course,we've been friends for decades, but,
we were always looking for somethingthat would be our own passion project that
kind of flexed all of our unique musclesand also our special brand of crazy,
which led us to the Super Highway71, adventure.
(01:50):
Which which we'll talk about ChristopherLips, Chris spiel.
Yeah.
As John mentioned, we met, in 1990at the Disney MGM Studios,
where we both opened to the Teenage MutantNinja Turtle show, there.
And, we became fast friends.
We bonded over a number of of aspects.
And of course, carswere, at the forefront of all that.
(02:13):
And John was always ahead of the curve.
He was always,
you know, talking about the latest,you know, tech in cars or,
you know, you know, the newest modelsthat were coming out.
And I, I was kind of a car kid.
You know, I'd always had radio controlcars.
I always wanted to, you know, race,go karts and all that stuff.
So anyway, it was just a perfect fit.
And so,
yeah, car culture is kind of been woventhroughout our friendship over the past.
(02:35):
Gosh.
For what is that, 35 years?
And so, yeah.
And then of course, collaborationwas always, you know, the goal.
And we were, you know, we hadwe had some crossover in
both of our careers, but not enough to,you know, fully dive into a collaboration.
So when John, this is John's brainchild
and when he pitched this to me,I was like, oh my. Yes.
(02:58):
I mean, sign me up wherever,
you know, however,I can support this, this wacky dream.
And then, yeah.
And then it just it just, you know,we we did our first video and,
we had a lot of fun, and we just thought,gosh, we got to keep this going.
So it's it's been a great journey,and we've met a lot of great people
and have created a lot of fun tracksand been at a lot of cool venues.
(03:18):
So, yeah, in fact, I love thatyou say he pitched you this idea.
Georgie, what was that pitch?
Can you recreate that for our listeners?Yeah.
So maybe we'll, it will work backwards.
So the, you know, some of, you know, SuperHighway 71, some of you don't, but we,
we make insane,
track sculptures for 1/64 scale cars.
(03:38):
So hot Wheels, Matchbox, whatever.
And we usually use a blend of 3D printedmaterials and of our own inventions.
And of course, Hot Wheels trackto create these massive kind of room sized
or sometimes bigger,you know, Hot Wheels track sculptures.
They're temporary.
We show up, we build one, we shoot itat full cinematic Hollywood level,
and then we, maybe the most cool thing iswe do an event around it.
(04:01):
So we invite peopleto show up and participate.
Sometimes you have an imaginationor a wheel.
People can use our methodto build their own crazy track sculptures.
But then we also let, kids bring their owncars and run them on our track.
And they're just like these incrediblyjoyful, super fun events.
And they havethis kind of temporary sense.
So they pop up for a day or two.
There's tremendous energy and enthusiasm,and then we leave no trace.
(04:23):
Then we goand build another one somewhere else.
And we've done themall over the Pacific Northwest.
So that is what Super Highway 71 is.
It's this combination of a sort of a mediaand event, experience around
tiny little that's kind of fantasysuperhighways that we build in anywhere.
And the catalyst of our introductionwas of course,
our most recent and most ambitious onewe did at the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma.
(04:44):
And they were an amazing partnerto to do something really dramatic.
So the original pitch,to answer your question.
So Chris and I had done a bunchof collaborative corporate, film work
together. Whenever at any of my ventures.
Chris was always the first phone callI made because he does
incrediblestorytelling video storytelling.
And so we hadcollaborated extensively professionally.
And of course, we're dear friends.
(05:05):
But we, so I think the turning pointfor both of us was,
my, at the time, young son,probably around 5 or 6,
we had a kind of a cool remotecontrol car, and we were playing with it,
and Chris was over for the weekend.
And Chris being Chris, like always,had his editing laptop and his, like,
high quality camera with him.
And so we we were just like,you know, we were pulling like literally
(05:27):
like milk cartons and rampsout of the recycling bin and making jumps,
you know, as one does with an RC car,you know.
And Chris, unable to controlhimself, starts shooting this in exactly
the same way that he would shoot his filmsin Hollywood, like with that level
of attention to detail.
And we got some really good footage.
This is one of the early camerasthat high frame rate.
So we were able to use good slo mo and
(05:49):
and without telling us,he basically pulled an all nighter
and cut this thing together with musicand sound effects and, like, into this
amazing chase sequence, like,you know, we're just
we're we're in our alley with, you know,like, milk cartons from the recycling bin.
And it turned out, I mean, my son and Iwere just completely floored that, like,
how he transformed this
beautiful moment of play into this, like,essentially like 1970s style car chase.
(06:12):
It was awesome.
So that lit the I think that lit the sparkand a parallel universe.
I had long been doingimagination activation events,
with mostly Lego for kids, reallyall around the mission of bringing people
together, a sense of community, screenfree experiences, permission to play.
All these were themes that were driving mein my kind of spare time,
and I quickly realized that, like,we all love Lego.
It's wonderful.
(06:32):
I mean, I still do Lego sculptures,but the reality is that
you know it with kids,especially young kids,
it ends up being a fairly solitary actwhere they pull those pieces in together
and they're building their thing.They're fighting for the pieces.
That doesn't happen without wheels.
Track like you dump a pile of trackin front of somebody,
and that brings people togetherbecause they want to make the jump bigger.
And they, you know,they want to try to see if the car.
So so I started doing that with my kids,
(06:54):
and then Chris and Istarted tinkering with it, and we together
devised and partneredwith some 3D printing partners
to actually createthis little device that, that connects a,
you know,1960s Hot Wheels track to a camera tripod.
So this simple little devicethat you slide into a, you know,
into a track, that you canbasically attach them to it, to a tripod.
(07:17):
And that unlocked itas a sculptural, sculptural medium.
Now, we could make these.
We're no longer bounded by the imaginationof the height of the couch
or the table, right.
You can get out really creativeand it really unlocked imagination.
So we, we did the first one of these.
We happened to both be in,in, in bend, Oregon.
We brought all of our tracks and tripods,and we built the first one
(07:38):
on this volcanic rock.
And again,Chris shot it, and it was so joyful.
And the output was so funand so different, so unique, different
than, you know, we really admireall the all the Hot Wheels creators online
for this to have its own kind of tone.
So that was I'd say that's whatlit the spark
and then the fire burn from there.
Yeah, I love this combination of carculture mixed with the creativity
(08:00):
of both filmmaking building,playing playfulness and this like joy.
Joyful toy playing around like childrendo that we never grow up from.
We all want to play with HotWheels and tracks and everything.
So I love that you combined all thesegreat things that you're passionate
about and have fun with.
So, Chris,
you were telling me a little bit offlineabout your background in the studios
(08:24):
and you had mentioned meetingat universal and stuff,
but tell me a little bitabout your filmmaking background and also
how that eventually lends itselfto helping Super Highway 71.
Yeah.
No, I mean, so, you know, I was always,
you know, aI got bit by the film bug very early on.
You know,
my parents moved us from, you know,Northern Virginia down to Central Florida
(08:46):
because Disney had openedand we were very much a Disney family.
We went to the parks and we would go,you know, back then there were only,
you know, there was the Magic Kingdom.That was it.
Then when Epcot opened in 80,you know, 81 or 82 was
it was crazy is like,oh my gosh, there's a second park.
But anyway,we were always going to the resorts.
We would go camping at Fort Wildernessand for wilderness, they had these,
fireside movies.
(09:06):
They had a big, you know, movie screen,
and they were showingall the Disney classics.
And that's reallywhere the seed was planted.
I just,I fell in love with the magic of film.
And I knewI wanted to be a part of cinema somehow.
But when you're that ageand you live in Central Florida,
you're like, how is thiseven going to become a reality?
But, you know, with the parksand the entertainment industry somewhat,
establishedthere, I got into the live shows.
(09:28):
That's where, you know, John and I met.We were, you know, Ninja Turtles.
And then I went on to universal.
I did the Wild West stunt show
over there, and through that,I got my first TV show.
It was a kids martial arts TV show.
I had a martial arts gymnasticsbackground. It was a perfect fit.
But filmmaking was always the end goal.
I mean, that I knew thatno matter where this journey took me,
that that was my end goal.
And so,but I knew that wouldn't happen overnight.
(09:49):
Obviously,I needed to, you know, learn the ropes.
I needed to practice my craft,hone my skills.
And so while I was working as a stuntman,
I was, you know, filmmaking when I could,you know, buying gear and learning
how to edit and all that stuff.
So, you know, as you know, Michael, it'slike when you're when you're a filmmaker,
if you don't have anything to shoot,you know, especially, you know, 20,
(10:10):
30 years ago,
it was kind of a bummer, you know,you didn't have if you didn't have actors
or if you didn't have, you know, subjectmatter or whatever the case may be.
You literally were just writingand tinkering and,
you know,trying to come up with something.
So now obviously,
you know, with, with technology advancesand all the social media outlets,
you know, you literallythere's no excuse not to shoot anything.
Yeah.
But the nice thing is that, you know,I started out in documentary films,
(10:33):
kind of got into short films.
And as John mentioned,you know, any chance
I got to capture somethingand make a little story about it?
You know,that was always really enjoyable.
So when he, again, you know, wecollaborated on his corporate, you know,
marketing and things of that nature.
I was kind of doing my, you know, whenI wasn't, you know, working as a stuntman.
I was kind of shootingand editing my own things,
(10:54):
whether it was just,you know, spec commercials or short films
or documentary stuff or clips or sizzlesor trailers or whatever.
And so,
when he pitched, you know, the SuperHighway 71 idea and he,
you know, he, you know,
he talked about thislava rock formation in Sunriver and he was
we were going to build trackall over the place.
And I didn't quiteI still didn't quite get it.
(11:15):
But then when we got there
and we were building it, and I firstgot behind the camera at the first shot,
it just the light bulb went offand I was like, now, okay, I get it.
I think one of the things that inspiredboth of us was the Metropolis,
sculpture, the that,you know, the 164 scale sculpture,
was I think
we saw it at Lachman in Los Angeles,and that was really cool.
(11:38):
But then they made sort of a sortof a documentary short on that,
and it was shot very cinematic,and that really spoke to me.
That resonated because I just felt likeit was it went from being just this
sculpture that, you know, looped,you know, thousands of cars to a story.
And that's what I was like, you know, sowhen John and I talked about Super Highway
71, I thought, you know, can we make thesealmost like little short films?
(11:59):
Like, it'snot just about a car going around a track.
You know what?
What happens to the car?
What what are the dynamics of the track?Sculpture itself?
You know, what can we go throughand around and interact with in a way.
And so it's been really great to,you know, again, sort of check
that box of being able to create contentthat, you know, has a storyline at least,
(12:20):
you know, even on,you know, a very small scale with,
you know, with, with the carsgoing around the tracks.
And so, yeah, it's been a great it'sbeen a great outlet and just so fun.
I mean, it's, you know, it's a couplepeople have asked
me, you know, what do you like betterbuilding the track or filming the track?
And they're both so incredibly rewarding.
You know, John and I have such a blast.
We put on music and,you know, he'll you'll,
(12:42):
you know, you know, start a playlistand we'll just start building and
and what if it did this. What about that.
And it really you know,it's it's interesting
because growing up with Hot Wheelsyou know as John mentioned, you know,
it was down the stairs or around the couchor over a shoe box or whatever.
And, and the, the physics behind it just,you know, you didn't really understand
what it kind of takesto create a successful Hot Wheels track.
(13:06):
And so in doing this, it opens uppart of your mind that you don't.
I never really thought I would really needto access, you know, it's like, well,
we know the car needs to go from thereto there.
And, you know, how do we achieve thatin the most creative way possible?
Not just, you know, allowing gravity to,you know, pull it.
And so anyway, it's just been it'sunlocked so many different avenues
(13:27):
and aspects of just collaborationand creativity.
And, you know, through our events. That'swhat we'd love to see.
We'd love to see the kids light up.
We'd love to see the adults light up.
You know, whether it's the nostalgiafor what they experienced
when they were youngeror the kids, you know, because they have a
smaller track at home that they nowsee this massive room sized sculpture,
and it's just an explosion of imaginationand creativity, and it's just just
(13:51):
to be able to witness that, to be part ofit is just it's just really magical.
So yeah.
Do you guys pre designwhat you're going to do when you're like,
hey we're going to do this event.
We're going to be like we'll just use lamébecause that was a recent one
at LeMay America's Car Museum.
Do you plan ahead and say, okay, we'regoing to try to do this kind of thing.
We went thismany loops will with these turns,
or do you just show up and startfeeling the space and go from there?
(14:13):
We get that questiona lot. It's so interesting.
So it's funny because the short answeris that there's a reason
why we call it a Trek sculpture,because, it is
really do feel like we make the trekas we go, and when we really do,
it is a very expressive, artistic actbecause we're building it in real time
and we have tremendous respect for.
There's a ton of really amazing YouTubers
(14:34):
that actually build permanent tracksin their basement that they sell and that,
and they put a lot of engineering loveand they preplan that out.
Our medium is a little bit differentbecause the tripod system where we're
and we are actually kind of building itas we go.
And the, a funny anecdote here is thatwe first devised this tripod system.
It really was a huge unlock for usbecause it really expanded
the dynamic rangeof how big these tracks could be.
(14:55):
And, but it's it's deceivingly
hard to buildbecause you have the track folding on top.
We really want this, like,
you know, almost like this fantasysuperhighway from the 1950s
where it's like folding on top of oneanother.
And, you know, we referencedthemed entertainment in Metropolis.
And I know, Michael,you also grew up in Orlando,
and now you live in southern California.
So themed entertainment, you know,you have my yes, you get access to it.
(15:16):
Absolutely. That. Yeah.
But like we Chris and I often bondin the original GM worlds,
a world of motion pavilion,which is this really fun pavilion.
And if you do, you ever go there?And if I did, yes, yes I did.
And so you rememberyou might remember the last scene.
You come around the corner
in the final scene and it's this insane,probably roughly 164 scale
diorama of this like city of the futureand like all these transit lines.
(15:38):
And unfortunately, because it was such adark room, it is so dramatically lit, it's
really hard to find good captures of that,you know, post facto, of course, that
that ride isn't there anymore, but,but that kind of lit the spark.
And so we have the sculpture,meaning we can make these things
and we make them as we go,this, this surprising thing.
So the LeMay build took us about a day.
So I think it was, you know, give ortake about ten hours to, like, build that.
(15:59):
And it was actually threeinterlocking tracks.
So it was more complexthan some of the ones we build.
So if you think about, you know,deconstruct the ten hours to like
make a pop up sculpture, as sillyas it sounds, takes ten hours
to make a Hot Wheels track.
It's actually about, about half and half.
It's like five hours to design the track
and then five hours of actuallylike physics tuning,
because we generally try to make itso that about 75 to 80% of the cars
(16:22):
that kids bring will complete the track,which is again, pretty hard.
And you kind of you don't actuallywant 100% because you want that, you know.
Oh, I mean, and yeah, you know,you kind of want there
to be that little bit of intrigueand challenge.
It's more exciting for kidswhen they have that excitement
when their car finishes the trackor doesn't.
And so, so that's I would say number one,it's very improvizational in real time.
(16:44):
On the back end, it's a lot of tuningand refining to make sure
the drop and the rise and the superchargesand everything's perfectly tuned.
The third thing I want to share is Chris,who's amazing at learning anything.
I've learned this after 30 yearsof flying information with him creatively.
You know, I started as like the trackbuilding guy and he was the film guy.
And now by any analysis, he is way betterin building and tuning tracks than I am.
(17:06):
Like, you just it's just like, yeah,it lights up that unique part of his brain
and he's incredibly good at doing it.
So I'm not actually sure what value I addanymore because he's so good at math.
But it really is a funny anecdote.
It's my OCD, nothing more than that.
It's just my my perfectionism.
No, but it's interesting
because you, you know, when when we did,you know, our very first one,
(17:26):
volcanic it was,
I mean, as you can imagine, Michael, the
the the tripods were sort of precariouslyperched on these rock formations,
and they had to really be,you know, just dialed in perfectly.
And that it's interesting growing up,you know,
as I mentioned,have a martial arts background.
I mean, Jackie Chan and Yoon Bo and SamuelHong, all of those, you know, the the,
those sort of iconic martial arts stars,they were known
(17:50):
for using their environment,especially Jackie Chan.
Whatever the environment was,he wanted to use, you know, the walls or,
you know, certain props and things.
And so that's what really got me excited,because I thought the more varied
and the more variety we could haveand where we build these tracks,
let's try to interactwith the environments as much as possible.
And so,
yeah, I mean, we talk about thingswe want to do, but it's really
(18:13):
when we get there, we kind of justlook around and go, okay, could go there.
Oh, it'd be fun to do. Oh, nowand then just build and go from there.
So again, it's kind of
you know, it's like dumping the Legoson the Lego onto the floor
and throwing away the instructionsand just seeing what you can
come up with and create with, you know,the time and the parts that you have.
So it's a really fun, organic processfor sure.
(18:34):
Yeah,it seems just so enjoyable and so cool.
And I'm honestly, I'm so jealousthat you guys get to do this so often.
It's no.
Come on. Yeah,I want this. I would love to.
But you obviously you build these tracksand people can come.
You have cars that can run on it,but you encourage kids to bring their own.
What have you noticed interms of the quote
(18:54):
unquote, successful carsthat do these tracks?
Well, have you seen a commonalityin like the design?
Is it the heavier like truck, like HotWheels cars, or is it the smaller,
lighter, sporty looking ones, or is itjust, hey, it just depends on, you know,
it just depends on the car in the dayand how well it rides.
Well, I'll take a first crack at it.
I'm sure you'll have colorful commentary.
(19:16):
So first of all, in this transition,I do want a shout out to, to Garrett
Nelson, who's our other collaboratorwho really is is often the, like,
the personwho, gets us into these incredible venues
and kind of helps, that helps us createsuper highway 71
into more than just a passion project,but an actual business,
because hehe actually had the spark of really
leaning into this work of the publicto bring their own cars.
(19:39):
Yeah, make it an event.
And that was reallyhe was really essential
in that amplifying that visionand that idea.
So that'sI really celebrate that spark from him
and that did makeit made the challenge much greater,
because you are going to have thisbiodiversity of cars from every vintage
since the 60s showing upand like running on the track. So,
the answer
might be simpler than you think, generallyspeaking.
(20:02):
You know, everybody thinks,oh, I bet a heavy car.
But like, generally speaking, it'slike a lightweight, you know, relatively
modern car with good track wheels,you know, that's like
not too heavy, actually,because these tracks
is less about like the soapbox racer,like you want speed.
Yeah. Aerodynamics are not relevantat the scale as much.
It's much more about like,
it's about the stability of the car.
(20:23):
Because it's funny,if you actually look at the scale
of these super highways,
these cars are, you know, the scalemiles, miles per hour of these cars,
they're traveling many hundreds of milesper hour, in some cases 3 or 400mph.
Right.
So you really want a carthat is just very stable, has really good
proportions, has great wheels,no bent axles like it's
it's really about stability
(20:43):
more than anything else with this factorin the sense you don't want it too wide
because it'll get caught on a curvesomewhere.
You don't want the exposed axlesbecause those sometimes
affect the superchargers, the sort of,you know, flywheel accelerators
that we have to use on these big tracksto give to inject speed back into the car.
So I'd say there's a series of variables,but generally speaking, like the
I hate to say it because, you know,I know a lot of the diecast communities,
(21:06):
the collector community,
those old cars usually don't performsuper well, even if you replace the axles
like they're too heavy.
The wheels are not as goodas the modern stuff.
However, we we have had exceptions to thatwhich we always celebrate.
But, so that's my my point of view.
Chris, do you want to take a crack atwhat what you what we learned?
Yeah. I mean, really quickly.
You like Jesse said,
I mean, lighter is actually better,but again, it's it's about total.
(21:27):
You know, that's what's great about the,you know, the universe of Hot Wheels and,
and and Matchbox and, you know, the 164scale is that they're just like real cars.
They all have different proportions,
different balance,different weights, different.
You know, and all these different thingsthat go into it.
But yeah, it's, it's,that's the one thing that this, again,
(21:47):
this whole endeavor has really taught meis the is more the physics aspect
of things and the amount of energythese cars lose in turns.
And even, you know, rubbing against thewalls is a lot more than you would think.
So, you know,it's really about keeping the energy
through the turns,you know, and trying to design that.
Like like John said, it's likewe can design a track for a single car,
(22:09):
maybe two.
But when you've got peoplebringing their own cars, you know,
we obviously want a high success rate.
You know, we don't want,
you know, kids not to not, you know,be able to make it to the finish line.
But it's, it's it's an incredibly it'san incredible challenge to do that
because you never knowwhat's going to show up.
I mean, some people bring these top heavy,you know, sort of Mario Kart
kind of proportions, squished vehiclesand sometimes those do.
(22:31):
Well, sometimes they don't.
They usually,
you know,sometimes they topple in the curves
if you lose speed and then they justkind of fall off the track.
But yeah, it's funny.
A lot of people think heavier is betterand it's actually lighter
is is usually what we found in general to,to perform the best.
So yeah, it's, it's, it's always,
it's always a surpriseand kind of an event what comes our way.
(22:52):
Yeah.
So, what do you have any plansfor your next track yet?
We do.
Actually, we have plans for 20 more.
It's.
It's just a matter of time and location.
Time?
We have a literally a listthat just continues to grow.
Every month. We're like, oh,
we can do one here, be amazing,or we feel like we'll be in a location.
(23:12):
One Chrisand I don't live in the same city,
so we somewhere mostly kind of filma quick, you know, like,
you know, a track.
And so of course, Garrett is doing,you know, business partnerships
of with people who want usbecause they want to attract families
and they want to, you know, sell SUVsor whatever, like they want to kind of,
so there'sthat kind of that pressure as well.
(23:33):
And if you look at Super Highway 71.com,those of you who might not be familiar,
you'll see there's incrediblebiodiversity of tracks
like we did one on an airplane hangarthrough an experimental airplane.
You know, we did one, in partnershipwith Microsoft through the actual Halo
Warthog designed bike unit by Hoonigan,all wheel drive, all wheel steer.
And the cool thing about thatis that we actually ran
the Mattel Warthog on the,you know, actual warthog.
(23:55):
You know,it was a Halo promotion really fun.
And that was a really fun one to do.
So, and by the way, the Mattel Halo
doesn't actually run on Hot Wheels tracksbecause the tires on two wheels.
So there's a little movie magic therewhere Chris did like a wheel replacement,
that same diameter wheels. Onceit gets rolling, we cut to a different.
And I was like all kinds of movie magic.
But, to answer your question, we,a couple of years ago, we were at,
(24:19):
Van Haven, which is a really cool vanevent in Seattle.
And, so, and it's like all peoplewith crazy custom vans from the 70s,
but also like these overlandexploring vehicles.
And it's a really cool vibe, cool music,great humans.
And so,
we had a great showing at that event
that actually turned a series of videosfrom us that, Chris cat together.
(24:39):
And then we've been invited back,next month.
So we'll be at Van Haven.
We'll be our next onein September. Fantastic.
I'm gonna back up a bitbecause I want to know
your first event that people were invitedto with these tracks.
Tell me about that.
Tell me what you designed,what was cool about it,
and also the reception that the peopleyou know had to this event.
(25:01):
Chris, I'll let you take that.
That's probably a Chrysler one.
Yeah. So event.
Yeah. So you weI was at the shop in Seattle.
John, how did you first discover the shop?
I mean, you're, you probably justwere plugged into the gap in the shop.
Michael.
Sure.
Your experience, this place is sortof an epicenter for Seattle car culture.
It's sort of a, a country clubfor supercar owners, basically.
(25:23):
So you.
And not just supercar owners, actually,you know, of course, if you have
if you have, you know, ten
too many Porsches for your house,which is not a problem I have in my life.
But some people have that problem.
But but actually, it's also coolbecause there's tons of people
who are just doing it,you know, that's their
their father's Mustang that they want to,you know, wrench on and kind of work on.
And so theythey want a safe place to store that.
(25:43):
But it's cool because they built a whole,
kind of social club around that.
So you park your car there.
They have a beautiful,basically museum of priceless cars.
But then also they have garages,they have events,
they have an incredible restaurantand bar there.
And then they also have likea private member's
only area with pokerrooms, stuff like that.
So it's like a really awesomekind of car culture community.
But they also,do open to the public events.
(26:05):
So in fact, our, our, our seller, Garrett,
he was the head of salesfor that organization.
And so that was the event we did there.
But before that happened,
it's funny, because I was meetingI had a business meeting there
for one of my ventures,a longtime collaborator, with Michel.
And I was there, and I,
we had been making these tracks,and I was like, you know what?
I loaded one up on my phone, andI just went to, like, the due to the front
(26:27):
desk and said, like, hey, we make these.
Do you want one of these?
They're, you know, like,and then the car room and I
happened to the guy Matt at the front deskhappened to be a huge Hot Wheels nerd.
And he was like, don't move, wait here.
And he went and got,you know, that sort of team.
And that's how that catalyzed.
So, so that was the original sparkthat that led to this like first,
(26:49):
you know, activation event. Chris,you can talk about the event itself.
Yeah. It was a greatthey were such a great partner.
And, you know, we, we they had gonereached out to some of the owners
and said, hey,you know, here's what we're doing,
who would like to donate their carfor this event?
You know, obviouslytake very good care of it.
But it'll be featured.
And, yeah, we had 1961 Chrysler wagon.
It was absolutely gorgeous.
(27:10):
And we,we we try to match as closely as possible.
So we went with the whipped creamer,
which is the classic,you know, Hot Wheels, vintage car.
And so anyway, but,
so we were, you know, again,we were really excited about the shoot,
but also, you know, they werethey were really excited about,
you know, the families and, you know,because they're always trying to,
you know, do more for their membersand things of that nature.
(27:31):
And so, we, we sort of had an anticipationof how many people would show up,
I think double that showed upbecause it was just, you know, they were,
you know, again, it's such a fan.It's a great family environment.
And so the event was an absolute blast.
I mean, you know, we had there were just
we had two areas.
We had one where itwhere our signature track was.
And then we had another imagination area,which was a huge hit with,
(27:53):
you know, smaller kids.
And, you know, they could
you know,we would just throw a bunch of Hot
Wheels tracks and smallertripods and pieces down,
and they would just go to townand they could just, you know, work
together, you know, and build these tracksand run their cars along them.
But that's, you know, that kind of startedbeing the first, you know, sort of,
the initial event that we did it wasit was an interesting way to look at how
(28:15):
we need to tackle or approachbuilding tracks that are going to be
a signature track for not only our YouTubechannel, but also for the event itself.
Because, you know, a lot of times
there's those are two different,you know, elements there.
And so, yeah, it was really interesting.
We went through that went, you know,through the car and around and down.
We also had to be careful, like, okay,we don't want to fly off the track here
because we want to scuff the hood,you know.
(28:37):
So is it made us kind ofhave to really engineer, you know, the,
the dynamics of where the track wentand what, what the performance would be.
But yeah, it was a huge success.
We had a great time.
All the attendees had a great time.
And then that's really where we were like,okay, this is this is sort of
the direction we want to go inin this regard, this sort of interactive
(28:57):
imagination event where, you know,you're not only expressing
creativity, but also, you know, enjoyingcreativity and everything in between.
It's just it's a such a super funenvironment and something pretty unique.
I mean, we'd never heard of or experiencedanything of that nature.
So it was it's been really cool.
Is there a moment that stood out to youand you can have different answers
between the two of you? Of course.
(29:19):
But is there a moment that stood out toyou in terms of either a kid or an adult
that's come to this and just reactedin such a way that like an emotionally hit
you of like, oh my God, what we're doingis really amazing,
for the community and people.
But has there been a moment like thatfor either of you?
There are so many.
But, I mean, I think every eventthat's like
(29:41):
when we're debriefing,at the end of the day,
you know, we'll always share examplesof someone who had a cool experience
and what we heard from themand their magic in there.
But I'll share two,I'd say two things that happened
at every single eventthat really are the reason why we do this.
So the first one is,
you knowthis because we both have a background,
you know, at the Walt Disney Companyand Themed Entertainment.
(30:02):
I mean, one of the things,
one of the reasons why theme parksand Disney in specific is amazing
is that you might know about the ideaof what you know, Epcot is.
But like the first time you walk inand you experience Epcot, experience
the sphere, you know, you see thatyou get this like uncontrollable, like
like can there's like this look onyour face is like,
you know, this shock and all moment.
We're looking at the scaleof how humans built this.
(30:23):
And there's a monorailgoing through the park. Like what?
This is amazing.
You know, there's that
brief moment and so it's crazy to say,but like in our little
one day builds, we actually achievea little microcosm of that.
Because most kids,
when you say, you know, their parents
say to some six year old like, hey,we're going to see a hospital track.
Most kids have a context of like,what a Hot Wheels track is.
Oh yeah, I bought one at Walmartand it's this big and the car goes around.
(30:43):
It does one thing, you know,but when they come down the stairs
and they round that cornerand they see what we did
and they're just like,we just get this like, wait, what?
You know, this is like,this is huge thing, you know?
So that's the one reaction we get.
Oh, we I'll just look at the entranceto the track area.
And we just see that every kid underthe age of ten gets that reaction,
which is so joyful.
And also like, again,this permission to play.
(31:03):
They see people of all agesthat are laughing and having a blast.
And if you watch the event videos,you can see it.
It's just like everybody'skind of in this place together.
There's no barriers of age,they're just having a joyful time.
Also, you know, all gendersand all races like, just love this.
Seeing these little miniature cars.
I don't know why or how,but it lights people up.
The second one, which is just as fun,
is that we'll see peopleusually in their like 40s will, you know,
(31:25):
kind of grew up playing with Hot Wheelstracks, but, you know, that stuff leaves
you behind that phase of your lifeas it should developmentally.
And then, like, they'll be thereusually with their own kids or something,
and they'll just be sitting therekind of watching the cars go around
with their hands in their pocket,you know, kind of like, you know,
sometimes you don't really knowhow they're reacting to it.
They're just kind of liketaking it all in.
And then one of us will go overand talk to them like, like,
(31:46):
do you know, dude,what do you think of this?
You know, and and they all
I can't tell you how many timeswe've heard the phrase like,
man, I, I got to go in the atticand get my trach out, you know,
because it just like,is this again, permission to play?
Like so of course, missionaccomplished. Like, you know, get it out.
Let's, let's let's do so.
So that's really, what we're going for.
Chris, you probably have a bunch of funanecdotes. Oh, yeah.
(32:06):
No, exactly the same thing.
I mean, that's that's what it's all aboutto see to see them light up,
you know, across a generationsand just, again, the excitement,
yeah.
Talking to, you know,
the guys our age and older and, you know,I mean, one at one of the shop events
we did, a gentleman brought,you know, his, like, prize collection.
(32:26):
He opened up, he had this little box andhe just walked over and, like, opened it.
And he and he was telling usa story about each one.
And he showed us images.
He his this warehouse,and he was running them all.
And he would
whereverthey would finish on the track, he'd
pull them off the track and put them rightnext to, the track.
So that was likethe marker of where they went.
And so I was like,
and of course, so I looked at the photosand I was like, I went to the last one.
(32:48):
I was like,oh, did you bring that one today?
And he's like, yes, I did.
And so he ran the track with that one.
So it's just,
you know, it's just it's, it's it'smore universal than you might think.
You know, I mean, you know, again,I kind of gravitated toward cars because,
you know, being ayou know, a young boy growing up.
But I mean, we,you know, we we get everyone.
And it's justit just brings people together.
I mean, there's, you know, grandparentsthat are filming their grandkids and,
(33:11):
you know, couples are bringing,
you know, cars and seeing who, you know,it's just it's just a great, great.
I like I said, I think it'sjust universally brings people together.
I think it's something to dowith the interaction
and maybe just something that'skind of off the beaten path.
I mean, you really don't,you know, it's funny because my sister,
she texted me a photo one nightand it was a track that,
(33:33):
my brother in law and my cousin,my nephew were trying to build,
and they had like a straight awayand a curve.
And my sister goes, they've been at thisfor two hours and this is all they have.
I'm like, it's hard. Is it? Yeah.
So I mean, again, it's not somethingthat everyone really has access
to or even wants access to,but when they, when they
(33:53):
when these events, you know,are available, it's just it's a unique
kind of opportunity and somethingthat you don't experience all the time.
So I think that brings out just an extralevel of of fun and joy and excitement.
Yeah, again, it's a amazing combinationof all these
amazing things of this joyousness.
I love the, the the phrase you use, John,about the permission to play.
(34:14):
It brings that to the table.
It brings car culture together.
I mean, it's just such an amazing thing.
So I'm so excited to have metyou guys and be aware of your work.
And I'm sure we all look forwardto finding one of these near us soon.
So pleaseexpand beyond the Pacific Northwest.
And in case anybody is, I'll providelinks in the show notes.
But in case anybody listening to this,like in the car or on the treadmill,
(34:36):
tell us about the best placesto find Super Highway 71,
specifically the YouTube and and websiteand things like that.
Yeah.
The, the best site is probablyeverything is on our YouTube
channel, which just redirectfrom Super Highway 71.com.
Obviously,if you Google Super Highway 71 or you,
you know, we were both born in 71.So that's where that came from.
And that was kind of peak peak Hot Wheels.
So so we so super highway seven 1.com
(34:59):
will route to YouTube today,but we're on many social media platforms.
Amazing. Yeah.
We we're we're looking forward to the yearahead.
It should be exciting with some newsome new opportunities and new avenues
to explore and,you know, just to continue to creating.
But yeah,
thank you to so muchto all of our supporters,
all the people that come outto our events.
You know, that's why we do it.
It would be nothing without you.
I mean, we we'd have a great timebuilding it and shooting it.
(35:21):
But, you know, again,it's really about that live interactive.
You know, experience.
And yeah, we hope to just keep growing andgetting bigger and reaching more people.
And, you know, yeah, it's you know,it's interesting because so many of the
I wish I shouldn't say so many,but there are several times when,
when, you know, you hear older,you know, the older crowd
(35:42):
and they're like, oh, yeah.
You know, I had to put those
away because, you know, they were getting,you know, I was getting in trouble or,
you know, there and it's like,no, there's no shame.
I mean, break this stuff out,play with it.
I mean, it's just it's such a funI mean, whatever,
whatever it is, it can be HotWheels track.
It could be,you know, a toy from your childhood.
I mean, don'tdon't let it die in the attic.
(36:02):
I, you know, get it out, play with it,
you know, expand your creativity,expand your imagination and just have fun.
There's, you know,that's that's what keeps us all young.
So amazing.
Michael I love I love that you endedwith the concept of playing because,
I think it's such a powerful conceptthat if anything, kind of
it kind of bums me out that toys are goingmore in a direction of kind
of collector and play and, you know,
(36:25):
you know,build the thing, put it on the shelf,
you know, admire it, it collectsdust or not, you know, and that's that.
Although I know that a lot of car,
a lot of toy companiesare marketing to adults in that way.
But actually, that doesn't really ignitechildhood in the way that play does.
I've come to meet, Peter Gray,who's an expert in the research of play,
and there's so much evidenceand humanness and humans
and animals about the impact of playand how healthy play is.
(36:48):
And I also, you know, one of my dayjobs is I'm a creative director for, for,
game studio.
And it's like understandingthe idea of what they call hard fun
is that, you know, a conceptI first heard when I was collaborate
with the MIT Media Lab, where it's like,you know, they asked a kid
in early the Lego Lego ThinkingBrick project like, hey, was that fun?
You know, when he was playing with thiscomputerized brick and the kid who is
(37:10):
probably,you know, five said it was fun, but it was
it was hard fun, you know, and that's whyI think, like, we always seek out
these things that are ideally non-digital,that are like that.
You don't you don't do a thing in 30minutes, have have a fun time, be done.
Like you're drawn into scratchesas part of this brain. It's frustrating.
You have to break throughthat frustration.
I mean, that's some of the most excitingprojects in life, right?
(37:32):
Or about that cycle of experimentation,play, refinement, engineering
and and then sharing as a communityis like that.
That's if we stood for one thingas a as a venture and as an adventure.
I'd say it's this notionof like permission to play and hard fun.
So that's I'll leave you with that.
Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate you taking the time
to talk to me today, and I'm so excitedto watch more Super Highway 71.
(37:55):
Thank you.
Like, oh my gosh,
we're excited to, to continue to enjoyand experience your content as well.
Michael. Oh thank you.
Such a pleasure, Michael.Thank you so much.
This has been a blast.
Thank you for listening to fuelfor the future, presented by State Farm
Insurance and driven by America'sAutomotive Trust.
Learnmore at America's Automotive Trust. Talk.
Super highway 71 is a
media collaborationthat started with two lifelong friends,
known as JSB and CPL,that both have a love and appreciation
for storytelling,filmmaking, community, and cars.
They brought their unique talentsto building massive, creatively amazing
Hot Wheels tracks,and not only do they create amazing videos
(00:24):
for these tracks, but Super Highway71 builds them for live events
where kids and adults can bring toy carsand get in on the action.
Their most recent event was heldat LeMay America's Car Museum.
This is fuel for the future,presented by State Farm Insurance
and driven by America's Automotive Trust.
I'm Michael May.
(00:45):
Can you introduce yourselves? Yeah.
I have a long Italian name.
So many peoplehave Bridget to to GSD, but,
so I, have been working for many yearsand across the spectrum
of technologyand entertainment and venture stuff.
This particular conversationis sort of about my, my and,
car culture passions.
(01:06):
So we, we originally connected in the WaltDisney Company where we worked,
way back in the 90stogether as and studio entertainment.
He'll talk a little bitabout what the role was
because it was super funand unique and interesting.
And he went on toto pursue excellence in Hollywood.
And then I went into software.
So, I'm, you know, my day job is I'ma innovation consultant and, inventor
(01:27):
technology, hardware and software,in the, in the Pacific Northwest.
And then, Chrisand I had always collaborated
professionally and of course,we've been friends for decades, but,
we were always looking for somethingthat would be our own passion project that
kind of flexed all of our unique musclesand also our special brand of crazy,
which led us to the Super Highway71, adventure.
(01:50):
Which which we'll talk about ChristopherLips, Chris spiel.
Yeah.
As John mentioned, we met, in 1990at the Disney MGM Studios,
where we both opened to the Teenage MutantNinja Turtle show, there.
And, we became fast friends.
We bonded over a number of of aspects.
And of course, carswere, at the forefront of all that.
(02:13):
And John was always ahead of the curve.
He was always,
you know, talking about the latest,you know, tech in cars or,
you know, you know, the newest modelsthat were coming out.
And I, I was kind of a car kid.
You know, I'd always had radio controlcars.
I always wanted to, you know, race,go karts and all that stuff.
So anyway, it was just a perfect fit.
And so,
yeah, car culture is kind of been woventhroughout our friendship over the past.
(02:35):
Gosh.
For what is that, 35 years?
And so, yeah.
And then of course, collaborationwas always, you know, the goal.
And we were, you know, we hadwe had some crossover in
both of our careers, but not enough to,you know, fully dive into a collaboration.
So when John, this is John's brainchild
and when he pitched this to me,I was like, oh my. Yes.
(02:58):
I mean, sign me up wherever,
you know, however,I can support this, this wacky dream.
And then, yeah.
And then it just it just, you know,we we did our first video and,
we had a lot of fun, and we just thought,gosh, we got to keep this going.
So it's it's been a great journey,and we've met a lot of great people
and have created a lot of fun tracksand been at a lot of cool venues.
(03:18):
So, yeah, in fact, I love thatyou say he pitched you this idea.
Georgie, what was that pitch?
Can you recreate that for our listeners?Yeah.
So maybe we'll, it will work backwards.
So the, you know, some of, you know, SuperHighway 71, some of you don't, but we,
we make insane,
track sculptures for 1/64 scale cars.
(03:38):
So hot Wheels, Matchbox, whatever.
And we usually use a blend of 3D printedmaterials and of our own inventions.
And of course, Hot Wheels trackto create these massive kind of room sized
or sometimes bigger,you know, Hot Wheels track sculptures.
They're temporary.
We show up, we build one, we shoot itat full cinematic Hollywood level,
and then we, maybe the most cool thing iswe do an event around it.
(04:01):
So we invite peopleto show up and participate.
Sometimes you have an imaginationor a wheel.
People can use our methodto build their own crazy track sculptures.
But then we also let, kids bring their owncars and run them on our track.
And they're just like these incrediblyjoyful, super fun events.
And they havethis kind of temporary sense.
So they pop up for a day or two.
There's tremendous energy and enthusiasm,and then we leave no trace.
(04:23):
Then we goand build another one somewhere else.
And we've done themall over the Pacific Northwest.
So that is what Super Highway 71 is.
It's this combination of a sort of a mediaand event, experience around
tiny little that's kind of fantasysuperhighways that we build in anywhere.
And the catalyst of our introductionwas of course,
our most recent and most ambitious onewe did at the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma.
(04:44):
And they were an amazing partnerto to do something really dramatic.
So the original pitch,to answer your question.
So Chris and I had done a bunchof collaborative corporate, film work
together. Whenever at any of my ventures.
Chris was always the first phone callI made because he does
incrediblestorytelling video storytelling.
And so we hadcollaborated extensively professionally.
And of course, we're dear friends.
(05:05):
But we, so I think the turning pointfor both of us was,
my, at the time, young son,probably around 5 or 6,
we had a kind of a cool remotecontrol car, and we were playing with it,
and Chris was over for the weekend.
And Chris being Chris, like always,had his editing laptop and his, like,
high quality camera with him.
And so we we were just like,you know, we were pulling like literally
(05:27):
like milk cartons and rampsout of the recycling bin and making jumps,
you know, as one does with an RC car,you know.
And Chris, unable to controlhimself, starts shooting this in exactly
the same way that he would shoot his filmsin Hollywood, like with that level
of attention to detail.
And we got some really good footage.
This is one of the early camerasthat high frame rate.
So we were able to use good slo mo and
(05:49):
and without telling us,he basically pulled an all nighter
and cut this thing together with musicand sound effects and, like, into this
amazing chase sequence, like,you know, we're just
we're we're in our alley with, you know,like, milk cartons from the recycling bin.
And it turned out, I mean, my son and Iwere just completely floored that, like,
how he transformed this
beautiful moment of play into this, like,essentially like 1970s style car chase.
(06:12):
It was awesome.
So that lit the I think that lit the sparkand a parallel universe.
I had long been doingimagination activation events,
with mostly Lego for kids, reallyall around the mission of bringing people
together, a sense of community, screenfree experiences, permission to play.
All these were themes that were driving mein my kind of spare time,
and I quickly realized that, like,we all love Lego.
It's wonderful.
(06:32):
I mean, I still do Lego sculptures,but the reality is that
you know it with kids,especially young kids,
it ends up being a fairly solitary actwhere they pull those pieces in together
and they're building their thing.They're fighting for the pieces.
That doesn't happen without wheels.
Track like you dump a pile of trackin front of somebody,
and that brings people togetherbecause they want to make the jump bigger.
And they, you know,they want to try to see if the car.
So so I started doing that with my kids,
(06:54):
and then Chris and Istarted tinkering with it, and we together
devised and partneredwith some 3D printing partners
to actually createthis little device that, that connects a,
you know,1960s Hot Wheels track to a camera tripod.
So this simple little devicethat you slide into a, you know,
into a track, that you canbasically attach them to it, to a tripod.
(07:17):
And that unlocked itas a sculptural, sculptural medium.
Now, we could make these.
We're no longer bounded by the imaginationof the height of the couch
or the table, right.
You can get out really creativeand it really unlocked imagination.
So we, we did the first one of these.
We happened to both be in,in, in bend, Oregon.
We brought all of our tracks and tripods,and we built the first one
(07:38):
on this volcanic rock.
And again,Chris shot it, and it was so joyful.
And the output was so funand so different, so unique, different
than, you know, we really admireall the all the Hot Wheels creators online
for this to have its own kind of tone.
So that was I'd say that's whatlit the spark
and then the fire burn from there.
Yeah, I love this combination of carculture mixed with the creativity
(08:00):
of both filmmaking building,playing playfulness and this like joy.
Joyful toy playing around like childrendo that we never grow up from.
We all want to play with HotWheels and tracks and everything.
So I love that you combined all thesegreat things that you're passionate
about and have fun with.
So, Chris,
you were telling me a little bit offlineabout your background in the studios
(08:24):
and you had mentioned meetingat universal and stuff,
but tell me a little bitabout your filmmaking background and also
how that eventually lends itselfto helping Super Highway 71.
Yeah.
No, I mean, so, you know, I was always,
you know, aI got bit by the film bug very early on.
You know,
my parents moved us from, you know,Northern Virginia down to Central Florida
(08:46):
because Disney had openedand we were very much a Disney family.
We went to the parks and we would go,you know, back then there were only,
you know, there was the Magic Kingdom.That was it.
Then when Epcot opened in 80,you know, 81 or 82 was
it was crazy is like,oh my gosh, there's a second park.
But anyway,we were always going to the resorts.
We would go camping at Fort Wildernessand for wilderness, they had these,
fireside movies.
(09:06):
They had a big, you know, movie screen,
and they were showingall the Disney classics.
And that's reallywhere the seed was planted.
I just,I fell in love with the magic of film.
And I knewI wanted to be a part of cinema somehow.
But when you're that ageand you live in Central Florida,
you're like, how is thiseven going to become a reality?
But, you know, with the parksand the entertainment industry somewhat,
establishedthere, I got into the live shows.
(09:28):
That's where, you know, John and I met.We were, you know, Ninja Turtles.
And then I went on to universal.
I did the Wild West stunt show
over there, and through that,I got my first TV show.
It was a kids martial arts TV show.
I had a martial arts gymnasticsbackground. It was a perfect fit.
But filmmaking was always the end goal.
I mean, that I knew thatno matter where this journey took me,
that that was my end goal.
And so,but I knew that wouldn't happen overnight.
(09:49):
Obviously,I needed to, you know, learn the ropes.
I needed to practice my craft,hone my skills.
And so while I was working as a stuntman,
I was, you know, filmmaking when I could,you know, buying gear and learning
how to edit and all that stuff.
So, you know, as you know, Michael, it'slike when you're when you're a filmmaker,
if you don't have anything to shoot,you know, especially, you know, 20,
(10:10):
30 years ago,
it was kind of a bummer, you know,you didn't have if you didn't have actors
or if you didn't have, you know, subjectmatter or whatever the case may be.
You literally were just writingand tinkering and,
you know,trying to come up with something.
So now obviously,
you know, with, with technology advancesand all the social media outlets,
you know, you literallythere's no excuse not to shoot anything.
Yeah.
But the nice thing is that, you know,I started out in documentary films,
(10:33):
kind of got into short films.
And as John mentioned,you know, any chance
I got to capture somethingand make a little story about it?
You know,that was always really enjoyable.
So when he, again, you know, wecollaborated on his corporate, you know,
marketing and things of that nature.
I was kind of doing my, you know, whenI wasn't, you know, working as a stuntman.
I was kind of shootingand editing my own things,
(10:54):
whether it was just,you know, spec commercials or short films
or documentary stuff or clips or sizzlesor trailers or whatever.
And so,
when he pitched, you know, the SuperHighway 71 idea and he,
you know, he, you know,
he talked about thislava rock formation in Sunriver and he was
we were going to build trackall over the place.
And I didn't quiteI still didn't quite get it.
(11:15):
But then when we got there
and we were building it, and I firstgot behind the camera at the first shot,
it just the light bulb went offand I was like, now, okay, I get it.
I think one of the things that inspiredboth of us was the Metropolis,
sculpture, the that,you know, the 164 scale sculpture,
was I think
we saw it at Lachman in Los Angeles,and that was really cool.
(11:38):
But then they made sort of a sortof a documentary short on that,
and it was shot very cinematic,and that really spoke to me.
That resonated because I just felt likeit was it went from being just this
sculpture that, you know, looped,you know, thousands of cars to a story.
And that's what I was like, you know, sowhen John and I talked about Super Highway
71, I thought, you know, can we make thesealmost like little short films?
(11:59):
Like, it'snot just about a car going around a track.
You know what?
What happens to the car?
What what are the dynamics of the track?Sculpture itself?
You know, what can we go throughand around and interact with in a way.
And so it's been really great to,you know, again, sort of check
that box of being able to create contentthat, you know, has a storyline at least,
(12:20):
you know, even on,you know, a very small scale with,
you know, with, with the carsgoing around the tracks.
And so, yeah, it's been a great it'sbeen a great outlet and just so fun.
I mean, it's, you know, it's a couplepeople have asked
me, you know, what do you like betterbuilding the track or filming the track?
And they're both so incredibly rewarding.
You know, John and I have such a blast.
We put on music and,you know, he'll you'll,
(12:42):
you know, you know, start a playlistand we'll just start building and
and what if it did this. What about that.
And it really you know,it's it's interesting
because growing up with Hot Wheelsyou know as John mentioned, you know,
it was down the stairs or around the couchor over a shoe box or whatever.
And, and the, the physics behind it just,you know, you didn't really understand
what it kind of takesto create a successful Hot Wheels track.
(13:06):
And so in doing this, it opens uppart of your mind that you don't.
I never really thought I would really needto access, you know, it's like, well,
we know the car needs to go from thereto there.
And, you know, how do we achieve thatin the most creative way possible?
Not just, you know, allowing gravity to,you know, pull it.
And so anyway, it's just been it'sunlocked so many different avenues
(13:27):
and aspects of just collaborationand creativity.
And, you know, through our events. That'swhat we'd love to see.
We'd love to see the kids light up.
We'd love to see the adults light up.
You know, whether it's the nostalgiafor what they experienced
when they were youngeror the kids, you know, because they have a
smaller track at home that they nowsee this massive room sized sculpture,
and it's just an explosion of imaginationand creativity, and it's just just
(13:51):
to be able to witness that, to be part ofit is just it's just really magical.
So yeah.
Do you guys pre designwhat you're going to do when you're like,
hey we're going to do this event.
We're going to be like we'll just use lamébecause that was a recent one
at LeMay America's Car Museum.
Do you plan ahead and say, okay, we'regoing to try to do this kind of thing.
We went thismany loops will with these turns,
or do you just show up and startfeeling the space and go from there?
(14:13):
We get that questiona lot. It's so interesting.
So it's funny because the short answeris that there's a reason
why we call it a Trek sculpture,because, it is
really do feel like we make the trekas we go, and when we really do,
it is a very expressive, artistic actbecause we're building it in real time
and we have tremendous respect for.
There's a ton of really amazing YouTubers
(14:34):
that actually build permanent tracksin their basement that they sell and that,
and they put a lot of engineering loveand they preplan that out.
Our medium is a little bit differentbecause the tripod system where we're
and we are actually kind of building itas we go.
And the, a funny anecdote here is thatwe first devised this tripod system.
It really was a huge unlock for usbecause it really expanded
the dynamic rangeof how big these tracks could be.
(14:55):
And, but it's it's deceivingly
hard to buildbecause you have the track folding on top.
We really want this, like,
you know, almost like this fantasysuperhighway from the 1950s
where it's like folding on top of oneanother.
And, you know, we referencedthemed entertainment in Metropolis.
And I know, Michael,you also grew up in Orlando,
and now you live in southern California.
So themed entertainment, you know,you have my yes, you get access to it.
(15:16):
Absolutely. That. Yeah.
But like we Chris and I often bondin the original GM worlds,
a world of motion pavilion,which is this really fun pavilion.
And if you do, you ever go there?And if I did, yes, yes I did.
And so you rememberyou might remember the last scene.
You come around the corner
in the final scene and it's this insane,probably roughly 164 scale
diorama of this like city of the futureand like all these transit lines.
(15:38):
And unfortunately, because it was such adark room, it is so dramatically lit, it's
really hard to find good captures of that,you know, post facto, of course, that
that ride isn't there anymore, but,but that kind of lit the spark.
And so we have the sculpture,meaning we can make these things
and we make them as we go,this, this surprising thing.
So the LeMay build took us about a day.
So I think it was, you know, give ortake about ten hours to, like, build that.
(15:59):
And it was actually threeinterlocking tracks.
So it was more complexthan some of the ones we build.
So if you think about, you know,deconstruct the ten hours to like
make a pop up sculpture, as sillyas it sounds, takes ten hours
to make a Hot Wheels track.
It's actually about, about half and half.
It's like five hours to design the track
and then five hours of actuallylike physics tuning,
because we generally try to make itso that about 75 to 80% of the cars
(16:22):
that kids bring will complete the track,which is again, pretty hard.
And you kind of you don't actuallywant 100% because you want that, you know.
Oh, I mean, and yeah, you know,you kind of want there
to be that little bit of intrigueand challenge.
It's more exciting for kidswhen they have that excitement
when their car finishes the trackor doesn't.
And so, so that's I would say number one,it's very improvizational in real time.
(16:44):
On the back end, it's a lot of tuningand refining to make sure
the drop and the rise and the superchargesand everything's perfectly tuned.
The third thing I want to share is Chris,who's amazing at learning anything.
I've learned this after 30 yearsof flying information with him creatively.
You know, I started as like the trackbuilding guy and he was the film guy.
And now by any analysis, he is way betterin building and tuning tracks than I am.
(17:06):
Like, you just it's just like, yeah,it lights up that unique part of his brain
and he's incredibly good at doing it.
So I'm not actually sure what value I addanymore because he's so good at math.
But it really is a funny anecdote.
It's my OCD, nothing more than that.
It's just my my perfectionism.
No, but it's interesting
because you, you know, when when we did,you know, our very first one,
(17:26):
volcanic it was,
I mean, as you can imagine, Michael, the
the the tripods were sort of precariouslyperched on these rock formations,
and they had to really be,you know, just dialed in perfectly.
And that it's interesting growing up,you know,
as I mentioned,have a martial arts background.
I mean, Jackie Chan and Yoon Bo and SamuelHong, all of those, you know, the the,
those sort of iconic martial arts stars,they were known
(17:50):
for using their environment,especially Jackie Chan.
Whatever the environment was,he wanted to use, you know, the walls or,
you know, certain props and things.
And so that's what really got me excited,because I thought the more varied
and the more variety we could haveand where we build these tracks,
let's try to interactwith the environments as much as possible.
And so,
yeah, I mean, we talk about thingswe want to do, but it's really
(18:13):
when we get there, we kind of justlook around and go, okay, could go there.
Oh, it'd be fun to do. Oh, nowand then just build and go from there.
So again, it's kind of
you know, it's like dumping the Legoson the Lego onto the floor
and throwing away the instructionsand just seeing what you can
come up with and create with, you know,the time and the parts that you have.
So it's a really fun, organic processfor sure.
(18:34):
Yeah,it seems just so enjoyable and so cool.
And I'm honestly, I'm so jealousthat you guys get to do this so often.
It's no.
Come on. Yeah,I want this. I would love to.
But you obviously you build these tracksand people can come.
You have cars that can run on it,but you encourage kids to bring their own.
What have you noticed interms of the quote
(18:54):
unquote, successful carsthat do these tracks?
Well, have you seen a commonalityin like the design?
Is it the heavier like truck, like HotWheels cars, or is it the smaller,
lighter, sporty looking ones, or is itjust, hey, it just depends on, you know,
it just depends on the car in the dayand how well it rides.
Well, I'll take a first crack at it.
I'm sure you'll have colorful commentary.
(19:16):
So first of all, in this transition,I do want a shout out to, to Garrett
Nelson, who's our other collaboratorwho really is is often the, like,
the personwho, gets us into these incredible venues
and kind of helps, that helps us createsuper highway 71
into more than just a passion project,but an actual business,
because hehe actually had the spark of really
leaning into this work of the publicto bring their own cars.
(19:39):
Yeah, make it an event.
And that was reallyhe was really essential
in that amplifying that visionand that idea.
So that'sI really celebrate that spark from him
and that did makeit made the challenge much greater,
because you are going to have thisbiodiversity of cars from every vintage
since the 60s showing upand like running on the track. So,
the answer
might be simpler than you think, generallyspeaking.
(20:02):
You know, everybody thinks,oh, I bet a heavy car.
But like, generally speaking, it'slike a lightweight, you know, relatively
modern car with good track wheels,you know, that's like
not too heavy, actually,because these tracks
is less about like the soapbox racer,like you want speed.
Yeah. Aerodynamics are not relevantat the scale as much.
It's much more about like,
it's about the stability of the car.
(20:23):
Because it's funny,if you actually look at the scale
of these super highways,
these cars are, you know, the scalemiles, miles per hour of these cars,
they're traveling many hundreds of milesper hour, in some cases 3 or 400mph.
Right.
So you really want a carthat is just very stable, has really good
proportions, has great wheels,no bent axles like it's
it's really about stability
(20:43):
more than anything else with this factorin the sense you don't want it too wide
because it'll get caught on a curvesomewhere.
You don't want the exposed axlesbecause those sometimes
affect the superchargers, the sort of,you know, flywheel accelerators
that we have to use on these big tracksto give to inject speed back into the car.
So I'd say there's a series of variables,but generally speaking, like the
I hate to say it because, you know,I know a lot of the diecast communities,
(21:06):
the collector community,
those old cars usually don't performsuper well, even if you replace the axles
like they're too heavy.
The wheels are not as goodas the modern stuff.
However, we we have had exceptions to thatwhich we always celebrate.
But, so that's my my point of view.
Chris, do you want to take a crack atwhat what you what we learned?
Yeah. I mean, really quickly.
You like Jesse said,
I mean, lighter is actually better,but again, it's it's about total.
(21:27):
You know, that's what's great about the,you know, the universe of Hot Wheels and,
and and Matchbox and, you know, the 164scale is that they're just like real cars.
They all have different proportions,
different balance,different weights, different.
You know, and all these different thingsthat go into it.
But yeah, it's, it's,that's the one thing that this, again,
(21:47):
this whole endeavor has really taught meis the is more the physics aspect
of things and the amount of energythese cars lose in turns.
And even, you know, rubbing against thewalls is a lot more than you would think.
So, you know,it's really about keeping the energy
through the turns,you know, and trying to design that.
Like like John said, it's likewe can design a track for a single car,
(22:09):
maybe two.
But when you've got peoplebringing their own cars, you know,
we obviously want a high success rate.
You know, we don't want,
you know, kids not to not, you know,be able to make it to the finish line.
But it's, it's it's an incredibly it'san incredible challenge to do that
because you never knowwhat's going to show up.
I mean, some people bring these top heavy,you know, sort of Mario Kart
kind of proportions, squished vehiclesand sometimes those do.
(22:31):
Well, sometimes they don't.
They usually,
you know,sometimes they topple in the curves
if you lose speed and then they justkind of fall off the track.
But yeah, it's funny.
A lot of people think heavier is betterand it's actually lighter
is is usually what we found in general to,to perform the best.
So yeah, it's, it's, it's always,
it's always a surpriseand kind of an event what comes our way.
(22:52):
Yeah.
So, what do you have any plansfor your next track yet?
We do.
Actually, we have plans for 20 more.
It's.
It's just a matter of time and location.
Time?
We have a literally a listthat just continues to grow.
Every month. We're like, oh,
we can do one here, be amazing,or we feel like we'll be in a location.
(23:12):
One Chrisand I don't live in the same city,
so we somewhere mostly kind of filma quick, you know, like,
you know, a track.
And so of course, Garrett is doing,you know, business partnerships
of with people who want usbecause they want to attract families
and they want to, you know, sell SUVsor whatever, like they want to kind of,
so there'sthat kind of that pressure as well.
(23:33):
And if you look at Super Highway 71.com,those of you who might not be familiar,
you'll see there's incrediblebiodiversity of tracks
like we did one on an airplane hangarthrough an experimental airplane.
You know, we did one, in partnershipwith Microsoft through the actual Halo
Warthog designed bike unit by Hoonigan,all wheel drive, all wheel steer.
And the cool thing about thatis that we actually ran
the Mattel Warthog on the,you know, actual warthog.
(23:55):
You know,it was a Halo promotion really fun.
And that was a really fun one to do.
So, and by the way, the Mattel Halo
doesn't actually run on Hot Wheels tracksbecause the tires on two wheels.
So there's a little movie magic therewhere Chris did like a wheel replacement,
that same diameter wheels. Onceit gets rolling, we cut to a different.
And I was like all kinds of movie magic.
But, to answer your question, we,a couple of years ago, we were at,
(24:19):
Van Haven, which is a really cool vanevent in Seattle.
And, so, and it's like all peoplewith crazy custom vans from the 70s,
but also like these overlandexploring vehicles.
And it's a really cool vibe, cool music,great humans.
And so,
we had a great showing at that event
that actually turned a series of videosfrom us that, Chris cat together.
(24:39):
And then we've been invited back,next month.
So we'll be at Van Haven.
We'll be our next onein September. Fantastic.
I'm gonna back up a bitbecause I want to know
your first event that people were invitedto with these tracks.
Tell me about that.
Tell me what you designed,what was cool about it,
and also the reception that the peopleyou know had to this event.
(25:01):
Chris, I'll let you take that.
That's probably a Chrysler one.
Yeah. So event.
Yeah. So you weI was at the shop in Seattle.
John, how did you first discover the shop?
I mean, you're, you probably justwere plugged into the gap in the shop.
Michael.
Sure.
Your experience, this place is sortof an epicenter for Seattle car culture.
It's sort of a, a country clubfor supercar owners, basically.
(25:23):
So you.
And not just supercar owners, actually,you know, of course, if you have
if you have, you know, ten
too many Porsches for your house,which is not a problem I have in my life.
But some people have that problem.
But but actually, it's also coolbecause there's tons of people
who are just doing it,you know, that's their
their father's Mustang that they want to,you know, wrench on and kind of work on.
And so theythey want a safe place to store that.
(25:43):
But it's cool because they built a whole,
kind of social club around that.
So you park your car there.
They have a beautiful,basically museum of priceless cars.
But then also they have garages,they have events,
they have an incredible restaurantand bar there.
And then they also have likea private member's
only area with pokerrooms, stuff like that.
So it's like a really awesomekind of car culture community.
But they also,do open to the public events.
(26:05):
So in fact, our, our, our seller, Garrett,
he was the head of salesfor that organization.
And so that was the event we did there.
But before that happened,
it's funny, because I was meetingI had a business meeting there
for one of my ventures,a longtime collaborator, with Michel.
And I was there, and I,
we had been making these tracks,and I was like, you know what?
I loaded one up on my phone, andI just went to, like, the due to the front
(26:27):
desk and said, like, hey, we make these.
Do you want one of these?
They're, you know, like,and then the car room and I
happened to the guy Matt at the front deskhappened to be a huge Hot Wheels nerd.
And he was like, don't move, wait here.
And he went and got,you know, that sort of team.
And that's how that catalyzed.
So, so that was the original sparkthat that led to this like first,
(26:49):
you know, activation event. Chris,you can talk about the event itself.
Yeah. It was a greatthey were such a great partner.
And, you know, we, we they had gonereached out to some of the owners
and said, hey,you know, here's what we're doing,
who would like to donate their carfor this event?
You know, obviouslytake very good care of it.
But it'll be featured.
And, yeah, we had 1961 Chrysler wagon.
It was absolutely gorgeous.
(27:10):
And we,we we try to match as closely as possible.
So we went with the whipped creamer,
which is the classic,you know, Hot Wheels, vintage car.
And so anyway, but,
so we were, you know, again,we were really excited about the shoot,
but also, you know, they werethey were really excited about,
you know, the families and, you know,because they're always trying to,
you know, do more for their membersand things of that nature.
(27:31):
And so, we, we sort of had an anticipationof how many people would show up,
I think double that showed upbecause it was just, you know, they were,
you know, again, it's such a fan.It's a great family environment.
And so the event was an absolute blast.
I mean, you know, we had there were just
we had two areas.
We had one where itwhere our signature track was.
And then we had another imagination area,which was a huge hit with,
(27:53):
you know, smaller kids.
And, you know, they could
you know,we would just throw a bunch of Hot
Wheels tracks and smallertripods and pieces down,
and they would just go to townand they could just, you know, work
together, you know, and build these tracksand run their cars along them.
But that's, you know, that kind of startedbeing the first, you know, sort of,
the initial event that we did it wasit was an interesting way to look at how
(28:15):
we need to tackle or approachbuilding tracks that are going to be
a signature track for not only our YouTubechannel, but also for the event itself.
Because, you know, a lot of times
there's those are two different,you know, elements there.
And so, yeah, it was really interesting.
We went through that went, you know,through the car and around and down.
We also had to be careful, like, okay,we don't want to fly off the track here
because we want to scuff the hood,you know.
(28:37):
So is it made us kind ofhave to really engineer, you know, the,
the dynamics of where the track wentand what, what the performance would be.
But yeah, it was a huge success.
We had a great time.
All the attendees had a great time.
And then that's really where we were like,okay, this is this is sort of
the direction we want to go inin this regard, this sort of interactive
(28:57):
imagination event where, you know,you're not only expressing
creativity, but also, you know, enjoyingcreativity and everything in between.
It's just it's a such a super funenvironment and something pretty unique.
I mean, we'd never heard of or experiencedanything of that nature.
So it was it's been really cool.
Is there a moment that stood out to youand you can have different answers
between the two of you? Of course.
(29:19):
But is there a moment that stood out toyou in terms of either a kid or an adult
that's come to this and just reactedin such a way that like an emotionally hit
you of like, oh my God, what we're doingis really amazing,
for the community and people.
But has there been a moment like thatfor either of you?
There are so many.
But, I mean, I think every eventthat's like
(29:41):
when we're debriefing,at the end of the day,
you know, we'll always share examplesof someone who had a cool experience
and what we heard from themand their magic in there.
But I'll share two,I'd say two things that happened
at every single eventthat really are the reason why we do this.
So the first one is,
you knowthis because we both have a background,
you know, at the Walt Disney Companyand Themed Entertainment.
(30:02):
I mean, one of the things,
one of the reasons why theme parksand Disney in specific is amazing
is that you might know about the ideaof what you know, Epcot is.
But like the first time you walk inand you experience Epcot, experience
the sphere, you know, you see thatyou get this like uncontrollable, like
like can there's like this look onyour face is like,
you know, this shock and all moment.
We're looking at the scaleof how humans built this.
(30:23):
And there's a monorailgoing through the park. Like what?
This is amazing.
You know, there's that
brief moment and so it's crazy to say,but like in our little
one day builds, we actually achievea little microcosm of that.
Because most kids,
when you say, you know, their parents
say to some six year old like, hey,we're going to see a hospital track.
Most kids have a context of like,what a Hot Wheels track is.
Oh yeah, I bought one at Walmartand it's this big and the car goes around.
(30:43):
It does one thing, you know,but when they come down the stairs
and they round that cornerand they see what we did
and they're just like,we just get this like, wait, what?
You know, this is like,this is huge thing, you know?
So that's the one reaction we get.
Oh, we I'll just look at the entranceto the track area.
And we just see that every kid underthe age of ten gets that reaction,
which is so joyful.
And also like, again,this permission to play.
(31:03):
They see people of all agesthat are laughing and having a blast.
And if you watch the event videos,you can see it.
It's just like everybody'skind of in this place together.
There's no barriers of age,they're just having a joyful time.
Also, you know, all gendersand all races like, just love this.
Seeing these little miniature cars.
I don't know why or how,but it lights people up.
The second one, which is just as fun,
is that we'll see peopleusually in their like 40s will, you know,
(31:25):
kind of grew up playing with Hot Wheelstracks, but, you know, that stuff leaves
you behind that phase of your lifeas it should developmentally.
And then, like, they'll be thereusually with their own kids or something,
and they'll just be sitting therekind of watching the cars go around
with their hands in their pocket,you know, kind of like, you know,
sometimes you don't really knowhow they're reacting to it.
They're just kind of liketaking it all in.
And then one of us will go overand talk to them like, like,
(31:46):
do you know, dude,what do you think of this?
You know, and and they all
I can't tell you how many timeswe've heard the phrase like,
man, I, I got to go in the atticand get my trach out, you know,
because it just like,is this again, permission to play?
Like so of course, missionaccomplished. Like, you know, get it out.
Let's, let's let's do so.
So that's really, what we're going for.
Chris, you probably have a bunch of funanecdotes. Oh, yeah.
(32:06):
No, exactly the same thing.
I mean, that's that's what it's all aboutto see to see them light up,
you know, across a generationsand just, again, the excitement,
yeah.
Talking to, you know,
the guys our age and older and, you know,I mean, one at one of the shop events
we did, a gentleman brought,you know, his, like, prize collection.
(32:26):
He opened up, he had this little box andhe just walked over and, like, opened it.
And he and he was telling usa story about each one.
And he showed us images.
He his this warehouse,and he was running them all.
And he would
whereverthey would finish on the track, he'd
pull them off the track and put them rightnext to, the track.
So that was likethe marker of where they went.
And so I was like,
and of course, so I looked at the photosand I was like, I went to the last one.
(32:48):
I was like,oh, did you bring that one today?
And he's like, yes, I did.
And so he ran the track with that one.
So it's just,
you know, it's just it's, it's it'smore universal than you might think.
You know, I mean, you know, again,I kind of gravitated toward cars because,
you know, being ayou know, a young boy growing up.
But I mean, we,you know, we we get everyone.
And it's justit just brings people together.
I mean, there's, you know, grandparentsthat are filming their grandkids and,
(33:11):
you know, couples are bringing,
you know, cars and seeing who, you know,it's just it's just a great, great.
I like I said, I think it'sjust universally brings people together.
I think it's something to dowith the interaction
and maybe just something that'skind of off the beaten path.
I mean, you really don't,you know, it's funny because my sister,
she texted me a photo one nightand it was a track that,
(33:33):
my brother in law and my cousin,my nephew were trying to build,
and they had like a straight awayand a curve.
And my sister goes, they've been at thisfor two hours and this is all they have.
I'm like, it's hard. Is it? Yeah.
So I mean, again, it's not somethingthat everyone really has access
to or even wants access to,but when they, when they
(33:53):
when these events, you know,are available, it's just it's a unique
kind of opportunity and somethingthat you don't experience all the time.
So I think that brings out just an extralevel of of fun and joy and excitement.
Yeah, again, it's a amazing combinationof all these
amazing things of this joyousness.
I love the, the the phrase you use, John,about the permission to play.
(34:14):
It brings that to the table.
It brings car culture together.
I mean, it's just such an amazing thing.
So I'm so excited to have metyou guys and be aware of your work.
And I'm sure we all look forwardto finding one of these near us soon.
So pleaseexpand beyond the Pacific Northwest.
And in case anybody is, I'll providelinks in the show notes.
But in case anybody listening to this,like in the car or on the treadmill,
(34:36):
tell us about the best placesto find Super Highway 71,
specifically the YouTube and and websiteand things like that.
Yeah.
The, the best site is probablyeverything is on our YouTube
channel, which just redirectfrom Super Highway 71.com.
Obviously,if you Google Super Highway 71 or you,
you know, we were both born in 71.So that's where that came from.
And that was kind of peak peak Hot Wheels.
So so we so super highway seven 1.com
(34:59):
will route to YouTube today,but we're on many social media platforms.
Amazing. Yeah.
We we're we're looking forward to the yearahead.
It should be exciting with some newsome new opportunities and new avenues
to explore and,you know, just to continue to creating.
But yeah,
thank you to so muchto all of our supporters,
all the people that come outto our events.
You know, that's why we do it.
It would be nothing without you.
I mean, we we'd have a great timebuilding it and shooting it.
(35:21):
But, you know, again,it's really about that live interactive.
You know, experience.
And yeah, we hope to just keep growing andgetting bigger and reaching more people.
And, you know, yeah, it's you know,it's interesting because so many of the
I wish I shouldn't say so many,but there are several times when,
when, you know, you hear older,you know, the older crowd
(35:42):
and they're like, oh, yeah.
You know, I had to put those
away because, you know, they were getting,you know, I was getting in trouble or,
you know, there and it's like,no, there's no shame.
I mean, break this stuff out,play with it.
I mean, it's just it's such a funI mean, whatever,
whatever it is, it can be HotWheels track.
It could be,you know, a toy from your childhood.
I mean, don'tdon't let it die in the attic.
(36:02):
I, you know, get it out, play with it,
you know, expand your creativity,expand your imagination and just have fun.
There's, you know,that's that's what keeps us all young.
So amazing.
Michael I love I love that you endedwith the concept of playing because,
I think it's such a powerful conceptthat if anything, kind of
it kind of bums me out that toys are goingmore in a direction of kind
of collector and play and, you know,
(36:25):
you know,build the thing, put it on the shelf,
you know, admire it, it collectsdust or not, you know, and that's that.
Although I know that a lot of car,
a lot of toy companiesare marketing to adults in that way.
But actually, that doesn't really ignitechildhood in the way that play does.
I've come to meet, Peter Gray,who's an expert in the research of play,
and there's so much evidenceand humanness and humans
and animals about the impact of playand how healthy play is.
(36:48):
And I also, you know, one of my dayjobs is I'm a creative director for, for,
game studio.
And it's like understandingthe idea of what they call hard fun
is that, you know, a conceptI first heard when I was collaborate
with the MIT Media Lab, where it's like,you know, they asked a kid
in early the Lego Lego ThinkingBrick project like, hey, was that fun?
You know, when he was playing with thiscomputerized brick and the kid who is
(37:10):
probably,you know, five said it was fun, but it was
it was hard fun, you know, and that's whyI think, like, we always seek out
these things that are ideally non-digital,that are like that.
You don't you don't do a thing in 30minutes, have have a fun time, be done.
Like you're drawn into scratchesas part of this brain. It's frustrating.
You have to break throughthat frustration.
I mean, that's some of the most excitingprojects in life, right?
(37:32):
Or about that cycle of experimentation,play, refinement, engineering
and and then sharing as a communityis like that.
That's if we stood for one thingas a as a venture and as an adventure.
I'd say it's this notionof like permission to play and hard fun.
So that's I'll leave you with that.
Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate you taking the time
to talk to me today, and I'm so excitedto watch more Super Highway 71.
(37:55):
Thank you.
Like, oh my gosh,
we're excited to, to continue to enjoyand experience your content as well.
Michael. Oh thank you.
Such a pleasure, Michael.Thank you so much.
This has been a blast.
Thank you for listening to fuelfor the future, presented by State Farm
Insurance and driven by America'sAutomotive Trust.
Learnmore at America's Automotive Trust. Talk.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through the top sports stories of the day.