Go for Donny! with Gary Shaffer

 Go for Donny! with Gary Shaffer

Join host Donny McGuire and special guest Gary Shaffer as they take a nostalgic ride down memory lane, reminiscing about their high-octane experiences on the iconic show, Top Gear USA. In this episode, Donny and Gary dive into some of their craziest and most entertaining moments from their time working together, emphasizing the importance of trust and camaraderie within their crew.

From homemade RVs and hilarious costume pranks to dangerous stunts involving fire and high-speed chases, this episode is packed with thrilling tales and behind-the-scenes stories. Listen in as they recount a chaotic yet memorable shoot in Gainesville, a wild leather shop escapade in Sturgis, and a high-stakes race with homemade RVs against real NASCAR drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The duo also shares anecdotes about their encounters with enthusiastic fans, the camaraderie and dedication of the crew, and the unique charm of small-town America compared to the bustling streets of Los Angeles. Donny and Gary's conversation is filled with humor, excitement, and heartfelt reflections on the bonds formed during their time on Top Gear USA.

Whether you're a die-hard Top Gear fan or just love listening to epic stories from the world of television, this episode of Go for Donny! with Gary Shaffer is one you won't want to miss.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast for more incredible stories and candid conversations!

 Top Gear USA, Donny McGuire, Gary Shaffer, behind-the-scenes, stunts, camaraderie, homemade RVs, fans, small-town America, dangerous shoots, nostalgic.

Don’t forget to check out Go for Donny! Switch to Channel 2 where we get to ask our guests some more in depth questions that you the listener want answers too.
“Go for Donny!” & “Switch to Channel 2” can be found on all available podcast platforms.
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Transcript

0:02

Camera for Donnie. Go for Donnie. Sound for Donnie. Go for Donnie. Makeup for Donnie. Go for Donny. We're voting for Donnie. Go for Donny. Group apartment for Donny. Go for Donny. We're going for Donnie. Go for Donny. Gary for Donnie. Go for Donny. What's up, everybody? Hey, guys, welcome to go four. Donnie. I'm your host. And that right there, that is Gary Shaffer, aka the hair. Oh, my God. Guys, don't forget after this, stay tuned for more go for Donny. Switch to channel two, where we'll get a chance to ask our guests some questions that you, the listener, want to get answers for. We'll also have an amazing car enthusiast that has some insane knowledge. This kid's crazy. He has insane knowledge in all types of vehicles, and he gets to ask a few questions from his perspective. But the catch there, Gary, is that he's only 15. So I can't wait to see what Max has. Gary Schaefer, welcome to go for Donny, man. I'm so excited to have you on. We've spent a lot of time in the trenches together. Indeed we have. Thanks. I appreciate it. I'm really excited to be here. When you first reached out, I thought, there's nobody more gifted to do a podcast than the world famous Donnie McGuire. And the stories we have, I love going down memory lane and rehashing them and just. It was just a fun experience. And I love that you say that because that actually, Gary, that was one of the brainchilds of this or one of the reasons why we decided to do this podcast is because, you know, we had so many fun stories. We do have so many fun stories to share. And that's all we did when we get together is we would talk about these crazy shenanigans that happened behind the scenes on Top Gear and other shows and brand new content as well. But mostly Top Gear. And everyone that wasn't a part of Top Gear would get sick of them. Like, my wife, she's like, oh, I don't want to hear any more stories. So what do we do? We decide we're going to tell everybody these stories and get them out there because they're so much fun. And I was literally thinking about it, Gary, I told you last week, I was walking. I was just thinking in my head how many amazing moments on top gear I've had, and those were all because of you. You were directing and you would always ask me to do something fun and crazy, and I would, of course say yes. So I can't think enough. But even before we got there, I think we had to build trust, I think, across the board, with everybody, between you and I, between myself and other directors, between myself and the cast, between myself and the crew, I mean, everyone, we needed to build that trust amongst everyone so that way we could continue working and know that our job is going to be safe and it was going to get done in a timely manner. So I think that really helped us as a group. And I keep preaching that about trust and the camaraderie that we had on that show, how people were. Some would step in and stay with a group, others would step in and we would weed them out. So it's a testament to the ones that we're able to come in and stay and be a part of our group because it was such a cool experience, at least for me and some of the other guys. I'd love to hear your take on it. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, just for the, you know, obviously for the crew members that are listening, it's. It's obvious. But to the. To the. Not just the fans and listening to it, it's like it was, you know, I've been in production for 25 years, and Top Gear was just one of the greatest experiences and most unique experiences of all the shows I've ever done. And the reason why, it was just. Because it was a very specific type of person that needed to do this show and be a part of this show. Right. It was, you know, obviously coming to the american market, it turned it, you know, we had a big shoes to fill with the template that was created and, you know, the fan base that the UK version had. But, you know, to really kind of. I mean, it was just. It was an anomaly, like how we would, you know, go out to these beautiful places, beautiful locations, and we kind of had a plan what our, what our, you know, storyline was going to be, but we would just make up so much stuff on the fly, and it was. And it was such a, you know, it was, it was, you know, it's cars, it's fast cars, it's, you know, beautiful cars, sexy cars. We call it car porn. All that stuff was like, there were so many expectations and it was such a, like, you know, there was so much pressure on us to really sort of deliver, but it was. It was such a small group that made it, you know, and we had so many different camera angles that it felt like a huge production. But the reality was it was a stealth production. It was, you know, I can't. I don't know how many people were on the crew, but I. 30 to 40 in the crew out in the field is maybe realistic, but we were, you know, it was just fast cars and doing dangerous things, and it was like, how do we elevate and keep it, like, really fun and stupid and. And, you know, dangerous and. And still keep it a really safe environment? And every shoot day was. Was just that, like reinventing that and, you know. Tanner, what do you think about this? You know, rut, you know, you think you can climb up that wall, you know, and just the craziest things. And it was just. It was so fun. The shit we would come up with every single day. I love how safety conscious you are, Gary. Always think about safety. Well, that was for the outside people. Donnie was responsible for safety on the crew. He was the assistant director. And so I would just be the wild child would come up with great ideas, but Donnie would sort of, like, that's kind of cutting it a little too close on the danger zone. But we always, you know, I always love to push the boundaries, and there was nobody better than Donnie McGuire to. Well, thank you, Gary. Push the boundaries and throw me. And throw me into dangerous way to make sure it is safe. I don't know. There's so many stories. So, I mean, as I scroll through my list and I was looking at all these photos and just great memories, and there's so many of you, Gary. Um, and there's one. I mean, I'll just start with, um, the whole. Just the whole episode. The whole episode of Homemade Rvs. Um, I have this amazing, amazing photo. Um, it's me, um, with, uh, beardy riding on the sidestep of the suburban with the antennas out. Um, and I'm walking. I got my tack vest on. And this is in the infield of the, uh, of the dirt oval track, where we'll get into exactly what we did there. And then you're behind me walking. It's a really great black and white photo that Mikey Schneider took of it and just captures. And there's even a little sliver of one of the motorhomes that looks like the windows were popped out of. Because it was a crazy freaking shoot, y'all. It was crazy. From the minute we started to. Maybe we stopped. So I can think of maybe four or five great memories from that shoot. Gary, do you have any? Just one maybe. I don't know. Oh, God. You know, just to set up the scene. It was the dirt track at Charlotte, and we had, you know, our competition was to create, obviously, the rvs, these homemade rvs, and then race against real NASCAR drivers in other rvs. Just the most ridiculous concept ever. But, you know, what could go wrong? So one of my favorite was, you know, a lot of the, you know, if you watch the show, there's so many different Gopros and different angles. And the people that were responsible for them are our lovely POV crew, Craig and Roche. They had cameras all over, inside and outside of these rvs. And I'm driving the lead vehicle with Peacock shooting out the back. We're driving around the track as fast as possible, leading all these lunatics of our host, Tanner, rut, and Adam, and, what, two or three different NASCAR drivers, I think. And it was chaos because they were, you know, we wanted it to feel like. And it was like it was a real race, and they were bouncing into each other a little bit. Well, they are so competitive. Everybody was so competitive. They just started bashing into each other, smashing into each other, and we just kept driving and driving, and mud is coming into Peacock's face and camera, and he can't hold his shot. And it was just like. It was so fun. And we were. The whole sequence must have lasted ten minutes or something like that. And at the end of it, you just see Greg and Roche coming on the track, like, you know, cut coming out like you assholes screaming and yelling. And they were so pissed because I think they had, like, 50 gopros, and we must have destroyed 25 of them. And we literally, like, there was just gopro heads and bodies and pieces all over the track, mashed into the mudd. And it was just like. It was hilarious to us. But to them, who, you know, obviously they was, their little pride and joy. We had just destroyed their whole department and all of their inventory. And it was just like. It was. I mean, it was frustrating, but it was one of the funniest things ever. GFD is a BFD. There's technology these days. Oh, my God. I apologize. All right, so it's in the box. It's in the box. So. Oh, I know. I was talking about the dirt track. I was kind of setting it up with the guys in their homemade rvs. Adam, who I was able to have on a previous episode of Gopher Donnie, did talk about the flatiron building that he had on top of his car and about how he was racing that around until he finally, when we first got to the track, we had to. It was a dirt track, just so you all know, it's a short, dirt old track, and so what they do is they go out there with these rollers, and they kind of chop up the dirt, and then they spray it. And then they have these vehicles that you have to go out and mash down, and you're supposed to just drive in a circle and mash it down, flatten it. I mean, these are old, beat up vehicles, and so I was able. And everyone, of course, jumped into the vehicles and wanted to do it instead of driving, I don't know, responsibly and flattening it down like we were supposed to be doing. Everyone was out in these piece of shit cars, like, drifting the cars, just sliding them around the track instead of flattening them down. So at the end of that time, I came in. I don't know if you remember, Gary, but I was driving that van, that really dumpy, crappy, dirty van, and I came up, and you handed me the american flag. And then I took a couple of laps of the american flag with that van. That was. That was a moment. That was a moment. Single tier. So that was just the beginning to set it up. And then we got into the race where the three hosts were racing the three NASCAR drivers, and that's where it got crazy. A little bumping and rubbing some windows taken out. A lot of Gopros lost maybe some media to some pissed off crew members. But then I, um. Gary says, you know, we. We don't have enough coverage. We need some more coverage. So. So what do we do? We throw myself in one of the motor homes. I think beerdy, Jeremy was in one of the other motor homes, and I don't know what happened to the other one. And so we just kept going around the track with the other two hosts, with Rutledge and Tanner driving around until you got the coverage. And that. That was another one of the best moments of my life, where, um, I got to drive that 35 foot motorhome, and I. And literally drifted. You felt the back end cutting around, you know, driving like a jackal, and you look down, and there's, you know, Rutledge driving in that piece of shit Honda. That was extended, you know, loud as hell. I mean, it was just an amazing, amazing time. But that was just one of a few amazing moments from that shoot, Gary. Yeah, might you might. You know what other might. You know what other moment I might be talking about during that shoot that you put me through? It just goes back to that whole safety thing that you're very safety conscious. I try to block those out, to be honest with you. I never put you in harm's way, Donny. So let me. Let me set it up for the listeners. So here we are. We get to. I don't even know where the hell we were. We're in North Carolina, and we wanted to test their homemade rvs to see how they do in a hurricane. So what do we. What do we have to replicate the hurricane? We have big industrial fans and water and, I don't know, sand buckets and lawn furniture and the noodle for pools. And so to test it out, I put on a helmet and goggles and some wet gear and then stood out in front of those fans as Gary and company and the host, I think, even joined in, throwing shit at me and testing it out to see if it was safe enough to put the hose through, which we eventually put the hose through the same thing. So I can't thank you enough for that, Gary. Another amazing moment. The greatest test dummy ever, Johnny Maguire. I mean, put that on your resume, too. And it was like, I think it's. Good, but more water, more water, more dirt, more dirt, more feathers. We were just, like, chucking shit at you. You were like, it's fine. All right. We're good. It's not hurting them. It's not hurting them. So great. Yes. Schaefer. So that was. That was a moment. And then, I don't know. I think that whole filming at Charlotte mortar Speedway in the infield, in the area, for y'all that don't know, there's an area called Redneck Hill, and that's where all the rednecks go, if you can afford the infield passes, where they set up their homemade rvs in camp, and it was amazing. Yeah. And. And redneck Hill, like, the greatest celebrity to ever show up, there would be none other than Rutledge wood. So when we walked in there with him, people went fucking bananas. It was crazy. Like, they were just rushing him. I think we were on a bus, right? A school bus or something. Yeah, we did. We went on a walk down where they all park and they party at night. And there were so many buses and rvs and all these that were remodeled, and they were actually pretty nice. There were some really nice ones. It was amazing. So just to walk that with rut and him just getting to meet fans and just experience that environment and be with him and just talk to those people and just. It was such a great experience. I loved it. And the mayor of, you know, the mayor of just the kindest kid. Yeah. Oh, completely. And he's just a, you know, for everybody that knows. I mean, he's just such a kind soul and funny and, you know, just gives everybody the time of day and, you know, it was. It was magical. It really was. I loved it. And I don't think you remember we picked up a straggler, some guy that wanted to hang out, so he dragged a cooler around for us. Tools around the infield is pretty amazing. Oh, God, I do remember that guy. It was great. Yeah. Yeah, that was. That really was. That was an amazing experience, by all means. I mean, just. Just want to marry, Gary. Just want to marry. I do remember another one. We did episode of toughest trucks in. Where do we film? We filmed out of Eagle Mountain. That's right, Eagle Mountain out there by the border of Arizona. It's hot. It's an old abandoned mine that they rented out for film shoots, and we took full advantage out there. I think we pulled down some power poles, if I recall right, that kind of. Just as soon as the gas they fell over. Yeah. I mean, we went out, you know, you and I went out to scout it, and I remember we were like, you know, meeting with the site reps, and it was like, what can we do? What can we get away with? And it was like an old, you know, besides the mountain and the mine itself, there was houses that was, I guess, once a prison. And, you know, we were just driving around and spitballing ideas, and we're like, what if we. You know, and they're all, like, dually trucks, you know? And it was like, what, can we pull a house off the foundation with one? And the guy was like, yeah, no problem. Like, okay, great. It was like, all right, so then there's the dirt road all the way up to the minefield, like, and it was just, you know, electrical pole. Electrical pole. I was like, what if, like, we pulled one down and then, like, maybe four or five other ones came down at the same time? He's like, sure, as long as you clean it up and don't block the road, you're like, oh, my God, this is phenomenal. So he just had the run of the place, but it was just the most ridiculous thing ever where we were, like, chopping telephone poles and then putting big chains on them and just yanking them down and just watching, you know, domino effect of, like, ding, ding, ding. Quarter mile up the road, you just see a bunch of telephone poles coming down. And it was like, a lot of the time, it was just better than we ever imagined. And it was just. It was unbelievable. The stuff we got away with on the show. Well, another reason why I brought toughest trucks up, because that was another great moment in my Top Gear career with you, where we had a scene where we wanted to pull one of the. An engine. A switch engine in a car. In a car. And a train. We wanted to pull a train with locomotives. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Locomotive. So they had one there, and it worked. And for the listeners that don't know my background, I used to drive freight trains. I was an engineer for the good old Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad a lifetime ago. So I was there, and I'm like, hey, I can move this for you. And the site reps, like, really? You know how to drive this? I'm like, yeah, I was an engineer. He's like, okay. So I fired that thing up, hooked it up to that rail car, immediately started. I backed up and immediately derailed the cardinal. Had to put it back on the rails and dig the flanges out. But, yeah, I was able to get it down there and put it in place, and we were able to pull it with the truck. Yeah, I don't think that train had moved in decades. No. And you were like, yeah, let me see what I can do, you know? And eight minutes later, he's like, yeah. And I was like, oh, my God. But that's the one thing you should all know about. Donnie is like, that guy was like, I've known him for a decade, and, like, he still surprises me. Like, I learned something about him, and he's done every job on the planet, and the guy can just pretty much do anything. And that was a perfect example of, like, oh, the train. You know, that'd be cool to move it, but I don't know. We have to probably get the train conductor to come out here. He's like, no, no, no, that's me. I got this. And it was just another beautiful thing. I will say I've been lucky enough. You know, Top Gear has given me a. A lot of opportunities to be able to get in the seat of a lot of different vehicles and trucks and tractors and boats and motorcycles. And, you know, it's been so much fun because I did grow up driving a lot of crazy, weird things, and, you know, on a farm, you get to drive a tractor and you kind of learn. So everything's the same. It's a couple levers, couple. Couple of pedals, and you can figure out how to do it. So that was a lot of fun. But yet another. Another epic journey for me with you, Gary, was when we did the Sturgis episode. I mean, there's so many things about that Sturgis episode that was amazing. A few of them that ring top of my mind were, well, at least I got to ride the street glide because I knew where to ride a motorcycle. So I got to ride the street glide around the Black Hills. We'll get back to the Black Hills in a second. I got to ride it down through Sturgis. So much fun. We got to go to Buffalo chip and experience a Leonard Skynyrd concert for the first time. And that's where they sit on their harleys and they rev the engines instead of clapping between songs. So that was pretty epic. But probably the funniest part of the whole shoot for me was the leather store up in the Black Hills. That scene. Gary is a great director, y'all. He has. He has an amazing vision. Let me set it up. The vision I had was, you know, the boys come into Sturgis, and the Sturgis is obviously a very, very specific type of person in that town during that. During that event. And I, you know, the setup was like, you know, we clearly need to. In order to infiltrate this. This culture, we need to dress the part. So the boys, you know, rutting his little. His plaid shirt and. And, you know, Adam in his, like, New York hipster jacket, leather jacket, and tanner, you know, just being Tanner was like, all right, let's go and go. At least dress the part. So the idea was three boys way out of their element, and then cut to, like, you know, slow motion of them coming out and being all leathered up. But I was like, this, you know, be better if we could do it in slow motion. And they're coming through, like, smoke or fog or something. And we came up with that idea when we were in South Dakota, when it was just a really, you know, our resources were limited. Limited. So I think it was your idea to go to a boat store and get a flare. I don't know. I don't know if it was my idea. I just want to know. Sure. But I was like, that's genius. A flair. Great. So we go to this family owned, like, it's probably been there 100 years. Leather shop. Beautiful leather shop. One of the best in Surgis. Most well known. And it's just, like, beautiful cabin, and they have a showroom, and it's just gorgeous, like, handmade leather. Everything is just, you know, stitched. Hand stitched, gorgeous and expensive stuff. And we go. And the final scene, and the sun's going down, so we have to shoot another scene. Anyway, so we're like, hurry up. Gotta hurry up. So we've got everybody dressed, you know, everyone's in their leathers, and hilarious, like, all right, light the flare. And we light the flare. And I've, you know, I've had a lot of experience, but don't have a lot of experience with flares. So we have the flare go off. We ask permission, have the flare go off inside the showroom, and then the cameras are outside shooting, high frame rate, and it's like, action. And the boys come out of the flare smoke, and it's like this big reveal, you know, reservoir dog kind of shot. And it was hilarious. It was like, oh, got it. But let's do it again. So we had, like, three or four takes of it. Keep that flare burning. Keep that flare burning. And after, like, the third take, like, the flare was just. I mean, it smoked everybody out. Nobody could, like, see, so it was. Orange smoke, by the way. It was like, orange smoke. Yeah, yeah. And then, like, all right, pack it up. We got to go to the other scene, and the owner and his family were there, and all they wanted was, like, a picture with all the guys. I was like, yeah, I'll get you that picture. Don't worry. Don't worry. Tanner, quick, take a picture of you guys. Boom. Right? Oh, we gotta go. And then when the smoke settled, like, it was like, this much film all over the entire showroom, all the leathers, everything. We had just destroyed their showroom, and it was. The guy, luckily, was just the sweetest man on the planet. He's like, thank God. Don't worry. I I don't know. I just. I remember it. We had that. So I kind of. I kind of. I remember the flares were on the sides and the smoke and the wind was blowing, like, through, you know, the shop. I mean, so they got a good dose of that orange smoke, but it looks really cool in the. In the. In the scene, Gary. So no one was hurt. No animals were hurt while making that scene? Maybe just stained a little. Oh, yeah. See, shenanigans, the things that happens that people don't know about, you know, that was. That was fun. And then we also had a couple other moments, Gary, one of the moments with you and beardy and I, when we went to. I can't even think of it. Not stuff where we saw the presidents, Mount Rushmore. Gosh, that's what escapes my memory. Yeah, we had a nice little scout out there, the three of us. I got some good selfies of all of us, but my favorite memory from that trip was, I don't know why I had to be on the back of the scooter with you, Gary, but. But for some reason. For some reason, I was on the back of the scooter, and we were rolling. I mean, it was pretty awesome. So. So I had that memory, you know, that one's close to my heart. I mean, I don't even know how we wrote on. I don't even know how I fit on the back of that thing. It's pretty. Pretty bad. Pretty bad. Oh, I'm sure they're probably laughing right now as they saw the photo of me riding on the back of that scooter with you. Like, no. Yeah. No reason at all. So sometimes we also get into dangerous situations. We don't really think about the dangerous situations again until after they occur. But we were doing another episode. Gary Schaefer was our director. For those of you that don't know, it was an episode called eighties cars, and we were filming a scene similar to back to the future at the same mall. So we did a scene. We basically recreating that. So we had this little toyota tr two or something that we drove, and then behind me, they lit the fire. It was just, you know, like the. Like, the. The DeLorean disappeared, and the fire from the tracks were there. Um, and then the other one was, um. Gary, I get to set, and he's like, hey, Don. He's like, hey, hey, man, how do you feel about driving that grand national, you know, just to the other side of those. Those bags of fuel? And then it'll go boom. You know? I'm like, okay, I'll drive on the other side, you know, so I'm getting ready. He's like, hey, buddy. He's like, hey, man, how do you feel about driving the car through the two bags of fuel? You know? I'm like, like, it's gonna go boom. He's like, yeah. I'm like, well, okay. I don't know. Let's. Let's talk with Bill Shermer. So we consult with Bill Shermer, our pyro guy, and he's like, yeah, you'll be fine, Don. Don't worry. You're just gonna feel a little heat, you know? Don't worry. It'll be fine. And I'm like, okay, so here I go. I go to do it. And, oh, and by the way, he's like, you got to get up to 35 miles an hour, and then you have to stop in front of that locked off camera. That's there. So I'm like, okay. So I get in there. I don't have. It was crazy back then, you guys. We didn't have a fire suit. There wasn't a bellaclava. There wasn't the fuel cell. The lines weren't bled out at all. It was just a working grand national. And Donnie in a cardinal. We're about to go, and I call in the walkie. I call Bill Shermer. I'm like, hey, Bill. I'm like, so who's cueing you? Who's. You know, I'm usually queuing. Like. He's like, don't worry, we'll tell you to go, and then I'll just cue the bags off of you. So I think it's Gary. I think you're the one that calls action. You can hear it on the video. And then I get going, and then I go through the fireball, and it is bright shit. And then I remember I had to get up to about 35, and then as soon as I could see, the locked off camera appeared, and I had to stop right in front of it. And I did it. It was great. And I get out and I'm like, wow, that was nuts. I can't believe I just did that. And so what does Gary say? He's like, hey, buddy, you got one more in you? So I did one more. Different. Different angles for coverage. Yeah, yeah. So I did one more for Gary, and I'm here to talk about it. So it was an amazing time. It's a great story that I like to talk to tell about, man. Thanks. Thanks for putting me through fireball, Gary. So funny, because it was a. I think it was a bigger fireball than we had both had suspected. I was excited about it, obviously, but it was. I'm looking at a photo right now, and it's looking like, I don't know, about 40, 50ft in the air is the top flame. Pretty awesome. Pretty, pretty awesome. I hope we have audio of that, of Milwaukee chatter to everything coming in. Like. All right, Donnie, all set. Okay, roll cameras. And action. And, oh, and then after. And then you can hear all the. All the car alarms going off in the parking lot, too. So, yeah, we did this. Rupert pointed it out, or Dan pointed it out. So I did that. We did this in a parking lot in East LA. Yeah, yeah. In a working mall. Yeah. You know, I think it was like ten in the morning or something. And we had to. We had to be done by the time the mall opened. But the people were still coming in, like, the employees were coming, and, you know, the early birds were parking, so it was just like. It was, you know, it was quite an attraction. You know, we were gathering a lot of attention, by all means. But we got the. And, you know, once again, loud fireball would totally garnish the attention of some shoppers at a shopping mall. Yeah, go figure. I mean, that's. That was just top gear in a nutshell. It's like every time, it was like you never had enough time. You know, you always had a problem with the cars because, you know, a lot of the times we were having used cars, so there's always breakdown. So we were just, like, improvising every step of the way how we could, you know, just get enough footage to tell the story sometimes, you know, a lot of the times, we're just pushing cars through frame because they were. They had died, and. Yeah, we've done that a few times. Push it in the frame, and, oh, here we are. Just put some. Barely meeting the frame. Sun's going down. We need it, so. Yeah, but the sun never sets, though. The sun never sets, right. God, indeed. That was the irony of the production company name, right? Yes, the sun does set, and time waits for no man, so, I mean, there's not enough time to shoot it. Yeah. I didn't get it. Oh, those are the days. So another. Another. So many. So many memories, Gary. So many fun, behind the scenes shenanigans with you, man. I mean, I'm just going to jump right to it. I'm going to go right to New York, because we did an episode in. In New York where we were in the Hamptons, filming out there in the Hamptons at some nice golf course. Tanner was driving some jaguar, brand new golf course, you know, really modern. And that's when Tanner decided to do donuts and burn rubber on the brand new tarmac at the brand new golf course in the Hamptons. Well, I guess. And the backstory, right, was that it was the Long island grand Prix location that James Dean raced in. Right, and then. That's right. And Paul Newman raced in, and then back in the day, and then now it was this beautiful, super snooty golf course that we were like, oh, maybe we'll like to recreate a couple of the, you know, the memories back in the day from here. And it was just like, the juxtaposition between the posh and just us down and dirty, you know, dirt bags. Like, just, like, tear this thing up. It was. And back then, I feel like we were just, like, caged wild crew members, you know, that just barely tame to get through a chute. But then after, like, they just go crazy. Like, on our drive back through the city was pretty interesting. If you recall doing some car to card stuff on the way back. And then we were filming in New Jersey at this recycling plant. It was hotter than the hell it smelled. I think we were going to crush one of the cars. And so you guys were handling all that. I don't think you remember. I was over in the car trying to look for places to stay so that way we could get a place in Times Square so we could all stay and then, you know, go out and have some fun. So that's exactly what we did, except we stayed out all night and we didn't go back, except we went back and got our. Our stuff. And then good old Gary, captain, he pulled it together and drove us to the airport in the morning. So I can't thank you enough for that, Gary. Oh, my God. How we made that, I have no idea. It was amazing. We were young. We were young. We were young. And we're like, yeah, we can. We can do it all nighter, you know, now not so much like what I'd be like. That's crazy talking. That's just crazy talk. Sorry. That dog is gonna stop talking at some point. No, that's all right. We all have dogs. All the listeners know they have dogs. They love. They love hearing these dog. She's old and blind. Yeah. See, there's forgiveness for the old and blind. Now, if she were. Yeah, I do have a heart. Yeah, come on, shut your dog out. I've only tried to kill you a hundred times, but I have a heart. Um, killing people. Gary, have you ever. Have you ever, uh. Do you have any episodes where you, uh. It was close. Um. You didn't do Jackson Hole, did you? Were you in Jackson hole for, uh. That was pretty nice. Um. Yeah, we've had, uh. Um. You know, we were always cutting it close. And the Jackson hole episode was, can a GTR beat a snowmobile? So we had the greatest snowmobile riders, two of the best snowmobile riders in the world at the time versus tanner and a beautiful, brand new red, cherry red GTR. And it was amazing because we would, like, you know, we were. And it had. Was just a nonstop blizzard. And we had, you know, met with the snowmobile riders and, you know, see what they were capable of. And we built some jumps, and it was like. It was amazing because I always wanted, like, oh, the car drifting into frame and, you know, the snowmobile jumping over, up and over. And we built a couple ramps to do that, but these guys would go twice as high, exceeding twice as high that I, you know, thought they were able to do. So some of the time, we would, like, have this perfect little drift by Tanner, and the snowmobile would go out of frame because he was so high. So. But it was pretty nuts. But we had a little chase scene going on where, you know, they're sort of coming into the finish, and. And it was just like, it was choreographed. And, you know, Tanner is always on point, so. But I just remember it was a little miscue and definitely wasn't Tanner's fault, but he was. He was coming down this, you know, snow. It was a road that was kind of plowed, but it was still snow packed. And the snowmobiles, like, came out of, you know, the forest and went. Landed on the road, and they're side by side, side by side, and the guy just took off, and I guess he fishtailed, and then Tanner just went over the sled. Luckily, the guy got out of frame in time, but Tanner went over the sled and was just like, you know, it was such a close call, but it was crazy, but it was. It was, you know, that was. That was a pretty scary moment. And thank God, obviously, no one was hurt. And, you know, we'd always damage vehicles left and right. We were pretty good at that consistently. And I think we were banned from, I think, four or five different rental companies because of all the rental cars that we in suburbans we've trashed in our day. Enterprise. Enterprise. They weren't too happy a few times. They were like, well, when you check that box collision, damage waiver, that doesn't mean you can, like, physically damage it and just return it and walk away, which we did a lot. I remember we love enterprise. Another fun one was, remember when we were in Monterey, and the only reason, the only way I took the job was like, I have to be back for my 40th birthday surprise party that I knew about. But I was like, all right, yeah, don't worry. You know, Ashley had planned this dinner, and I was like, all right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be back in time. And we were down in Monterey, and I think the last flight. Bridge. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So then it was like. And. And then I remember you told the cops that we had. Because we always had cops that shut down the roads, and, you know, we would do our business, and he's like, listen, I got to get this guy back to this to San Francisco hotel or Oakland or SFO or Oakland. San Jose. Right. And then it was like, you know, he's. This is the last flight, and he's got to be on this flight. The officers are like, no problem. I think it was, like, 45 minutes, probably. Yeah, that was. It was maybe. Maybe longer and longer. These officers. It was hilarious. So the officers with their lights on are flying down the freeway. We are in a suburban behind it, flying down the freeway. So nobody could figure out, like, what the fuck was. It was like a reverse car chase where it was like we were chasing the cops, and. And then I think there was a cop behind us, you know, just. Just helping us on the tail, too. But we were going 110 miles an hour, like, flying in the freeway just. Just so I could get to the airport to make this flight. And you were like, go, officer, you got this. You got this. And I was like, he was. He was the coolest. You get me there. You're a fucking legend. And you. He's like, yeah, no problem. He basically, they took us to, I think, Watsonville. He's like, I'm gonna peel off here. I'll help you until Watsonville. The rest of the way, you're on your own. But. But we made up enough time to get you there. And you got to the airport, and you got your flight. Well, we had to catch another flight. But you made your 40th birthday. I was proud of it. I love. I love our office. Proud of you, chpdehdeh. I mean, you know, they've hooked us up more than once, so I'm glad you were able to make your 40th birthday, Gary, because, you know, you don't want to reap, reap, reap that if you didn't make it. Oh, my God. You never seen an angry Gary, guys? An angry Gary, he just carries around a baseball bat, you know, slapping in his hand, you know, just, like, waiting to hit someone upside the head, you know, smack him in the balls. Rutledge and Adam, to try to keep in line. I mean, those guys, I'd be like, come on, concentrate. And they would like, hey, Rud. Then Adam would have some new joke. And I was like, no, the fucking sun is going down. Let's shoot this. And like, okay, Gary, good hair, Gary. What's the hair looking like right now? And I was like, just shut the up and fucking. Let's go. Let's go. That's funny. But we did. We were able to get back at them at times. And Adam, uh, did mention something about this. Um, I think Tanner did, too. We did the 500 for 500, um, road trip where we started in Santa Monica, and they had cars for $500. They didn't make 500 miles. And these vehicles that we got them were just. It was some disgusting stuff. We took it to, um, a lab, I think, on our way, and they did a test, and they found a lot of semen, a lot of human hair, dog hair, feces. Yeah, a lot of stuff. So we got him back once. Not we, I should say. I think Top Gear got them back, or at least humbled them a little with some of the vehicles. We threw them in. I remember we had. And again, another one of those, like, we were just making stuff up on the fly, but it was like, let's get, you know, what's iconic San Francisco. Oh, the trolley cars. Okay, let's have the. Let's have the vehicle break down right on the trolley tracks. So it was like, rut, like, broke down on the track trolley. Car comes in, guy gets out, like, what the fuck? Everyone's screaming and yelling, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, we shot it, we got it, like. And then literally was like, all right, we got to get the car. Go. So then rut gets back in the car, turns the car back on, because there's nothing wrong with it. We got our scene, and then we just kept motoring all the way up to twin peaks for our finished. Just funny things like that. Non stop. That was another one where our officers, our SF PD, were guiding us all the way up. And then we had to get the boys to SFO for their flight, and they escorted them all the way, got them on their flight. So I feel like that happened a lot. So it really was nice having our officers work with us for ITC and then any high speed stuff we were doing or traffic breaks, you know, to be able to get down to the border. So it was. It was a lot of fun. I love working with, um, with the police. Um, what about, uh, that 500 for 500? Um, what was up with that gator pool toy? Because I was looking through my, uh, my feed, my. My photo feed, and I got a lot of photos of you in that gator pool toy, testing it out for Rutledge. I don't remember why we had that, but I was like. I remember it was like, what car did he have? Did he have, like, I forget why we put him in a damn. But I was like, I want to put him in a costume. Like. Red thing, I think. Yeah, I want to say. But I remember it was like. It was just I forget the backstory of it, but it was like, oh, I want to put him in a costume. And Rhett was like, no, I'm not doing a costume. It's like, come on, come on. Like, all right, whatever, you figure it out. And I remember, like, came up with this idea and it was like, you know, a day before the shoot. So it was very limited what I could find in the meantime. But one of the producers found a alligator like raft at the pool store. And I was like, oh, what if we cut it out? We could turn it into the costume itself. And it was great because then rut was such a sport and he put this fucking thing on and he just looked like such a doofus. Yeah. And he, it was so funny and fun. And then like, you know, the whole thing wouldn't fit in the car. So, like, he slammed the door on the tail and the tail, like, as we're going up PCA or the highway one, the tail was hanging out the side door. And it was just like such really funny memories of things like that. You know, we were just, again, making up on the fly and the boys were such sports to just roll with it. And that was another, on our long trips, we would have to stay awake because we have to film. So all you don't know what we do or did on Top Gear is we would start, let's say, in Santa Monica on this trip, we'd have

a 07: 45:18

00 a.m. call time. Well, we'd have to make it to Santa Cruz

where we would make our day by 07: 45:22

30 p.m. so we would drive and film, stop drive, film some more. So we had to make it all the way up there. So we get tired sometimes. So we have to play some games on the walkies. So we played this amazing game on the walkie. So hopefully some don't get offended about, but it's called the vagina game and you basically replace words with vagina for music lyrics or, um, tv shows or movies. So that was always a great way to stay awake. Probably wasn't the best. Um, um, I don't know if human resources would have loved it too much. Yeah, PC. Any type of PC. Yeah, but that was, that was them. But it kept us awake and it was a fun game. So, um, kids, if you're out there, you should try sometime. It'll keep you awake. Whatever it takes. Yeah, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes to stay awake. I mean, you got it. Did you do tangent where, you know, there's so many memories that sort of flood my mind. But were you down in Gainesville for muscle cars? American muscle cars? No, I was not in that one. That was with Travis. That was another amazing one where we had, you know, american muscle cars going through Gainesville, and then we ended up at the raceway down there, the dragster. But one of the. We were in this. I remember we were in this small town, and the bit was who. What car was, like, the loudest, essentially. So we were thinking, you know, think about, like, a really small town, southern town, all mom and pop shops, probably no more than, you know, 101 hundred yards, tops of all the stores along the main street there. And the idea was, you know, someone would go first and they would go down the street. And, like, all the cars were parked. I think it was a one way street. All the cars were parked diagonally. And you go down, and, like, how many car alarms could you set off? So Adam would go, first, a couple car alarms, rut second, more car alarms. And then it was Tanner's turn. And we had. When we scouted, we. We told Ydev, uh, we met with the mayor of the town, and he was so. It's such a huge top gear fan. That always helps. And, uh, it was hilarious because it was like, can he, like, you know, strike the road a little bit? You know, if he. If he kind of just lit it up a bit. And the guy was like, no problem. It's fine. Like, okay. So then the first take was like, all right, Tanner, go. So meanwhile, the whole town is out. You know, the cars are parked. It's their personal cars, all, you know. And anyway, we invited everybody to come. You could park your car along the street, and you could watch from the sidewalk. And the stores were open. It was middle of the day, and so it was Tanner's turn, and Tanner lit this thing up where he, I mean, literally burned the tires for, like, 15 seconds before he even moved the car. And then he just creeped 100 yards down this road. There was so much smoke, and it was billowing into all the storefronts. So. And we had a drone in the air, and you could see just, like, people, like, scattering, like, oh, my God, what is happening? And it was so funny because it was bigger than we all had ever. It was phenomenal. We had cameras straight down the street looking straight up. You just see this car and then a billing of smoke behind it, and people just like, oh, my God. You know, car alarms are going off. Total chaos. And we strike the road. And it was so. I was like, oh, my God. They are going to kill us. We ought to get out of here. And the fire chief loved it at the. And he was at the end of the road, and we cut. Tanner got out of the car. I was like, that was hilarious. I love it. And I was like, can we do one more? Of course, Gary, can we do one more? One more? And he was like, just do it. Just do it. So we had to change the tires. Victor changed the tires. And we did it a second pass. And now, you know, the public knew what to look out for. So a lot of the stores had closed up shop, close their doors. But people were so excited, like, to see it again, because they knew what they. To expect time. And he did it perfectly again. Always, as usual, just strike this road. And it was. I mean, I couldn't believe that the mayor let us do this. The fire chief. Everyone was like, all they wanted was photo ops at the end of this, like, photo op with. With Tanner and rut, and I was like, yeah, yeah, sure. The boys are great. They'll take pictures like, boys. You got to take pictures with these guys because, you know, we got to make nice with this, with this town. I love that. I love going to small towns like that. Wherever they're more genuine, they're more enthusiastic and excited about us being there and about Top Gear, where, you know, you can't get away with that here in LA, because no one cares about anyone filming here. So it's nice to get outside of LA, outside of California, to these small towns, these small, you know, communities that love it, embrace it, welcome us, and they have fun. Yeah, I mean, and it really was. It was a. It was like most places we went, you know, they really welcomed us, and. That was such a. A nice part of it. Hopefully, they welcomed us. They still loved us when we left. But who knows if that could be. I don't know if that's 100% true. But the funniest thing about that story, to wrap it up was, I remember, like, Sylvia, I think, like, you know, eight months later, had looked at Google Maps and Google maps, still had the stripes, all the burn marks down this main, main street in, just outside of Gainesville. It was so amazing. You gotta leave your. You gotta leave your mark on Gainesville. You gotta love that. Yeah. Did you. Did you direct the bug out vehicle episode? That wasn't you, right? No. Where was it? It was a bug out vehicle they built like a. On a Camry chassis. This bug out vehicle, no. Shot up in. I forget who it was. Cause I did talk about that story with Tanner about getting nailed by, by a stig on some driving shots. It was a really shitty car to drive, that's all. You didn't miss anything. But, you know, it's so funny to say about taking photos with the guys. They're really well known worldwide. And when I was down in Guyana for a shoot for naked and afraid, I. Before I went down to the bush, I had a couple days. So I went out to this bar during the day and met some guys, and they were really nice, and they found out what I did and that I worked on Top gear. And so they're huge, huge, huge fans. So I was like, well, let me see if I can Facetime Tanner and see if he'll, you know, say hi to the guy. So I text him and he's like, yeah, sure, no problem. So I facetime him, and I literally have at that point, like, twelve to 20 guys around me trying to say hi to Tanner on FaceTime. And, you know, of course they couldn't hear anything. He couldn't hear them. And then said goodbye. And then I went back to the bar and they slammed down a bottle of El Dorado rumenae. Like, here you go. I'm like, what? I'm like, this is awesome. Let me see if I can get ahold of Adam. So I text Adam and he's like, yes, your pally. So I facetime him and, you know, 2025 people around, like, freaking out, saying hi to him, and then I go back and sit down, they slam another bottle, 22 year old rum, on my bar, and I'm like, this is great. It has his perks, right? Yeah. I'm like. I'm like, I wonder if I can get a hold of Rutledge? And then he wasn't available, unfortunately. But I did get a couple of bottles of rum out of it, so they are really well known worldwide, and then hopefully, you know, they'll be able to get on another show together and do some more fun shenanigans like we had on Top Gear USA. Yeah, I agree. It was, you know, again, I've been at this decades. We've all been in decades. And I would say single handedly, it's one of the greatest shows I've ever done, you know, consistently. It was just always some new challenge, and it was, you know, it was dirty and grimy, and we were, you know, short turnarounds, and we were going to way out, far out places that, you know, had, you know, a lot of places didn't even have hotels. We were sleeping in tents in some of these places or barracks and, you know, different, wherever. We, you know, we just wanted to make the show. We all. That was the best thing. The crew single handedly just loved the show and loved our vision for what we were trying to do. That, you know, it was just all hands on deck, whatever it takes. And it was. That was the. The motto. And it worked for years. I think. I think that that really did help. Having, like you just said, like the crew having, they were vested in the show. They loved this show, you know, so they would go the extra mile for the show. They wouldn't really complain about the little things. I mean, we still bitched. Yeah. But, I mean, the love of the show and being able to work on the show, I think it was a privilege, you know, so I think we were really lucky to be able to do that and to. To meet everyone that we did along the way, including a lot of the crew that are still close friends, you know, to today. I mean, I know distance and I. We all have to work, and it takes us out of town for a certain amount of time, but. But, you know, we're all still friends when we come back to it. And, you know, we haven't talked in how long, and you just pick up like it was yesterday, so it's nice to have that. Yeah, no, I agree. It's. It was. It's a. It was a family atmosphere then, and it's, you know, and it is. It's. It's a family for life. And it's, you know, there's. There's very few. There's tons of production stories, but, like, I think consistently top Gear delivers amazing stories and amazing experiences that we all had that we'll never forget. Lifelong experiences, right? Yeah, 100%. It's amazing. Well, I can't thank you enough for coming on the podcast, Gary. Hopefully, you come back. You can think of some other fun stories. You know, they can be stories from any other show or. Or brand of content that you may have done. Because we all have those crazy stories from our work. It seems like they. It's like the gift that keeps on giving. So, you guys, don't. Don't forget to check out the website at go four. Donny Gofordany.com. this will not only be an audio podcast, but this will also be a YouTube video podcast. So make sure you check it out so you can see all those lovely references, photos and videos of why we were actually laughing and smiling today on the show. And you can also follow us on all the social media links at the bottom of our website. Don't forget to check out go for Donny switches channel two, where I'll be firing off some questions to our guest, Gary Schaefer, with the help of Max Hillhouse on Max's motor. Minute later. So once again, thanks, Gary. Thanks for listening. Thank you, everyone else, for listening to GFDE. Don't forget to subscribe so we can grow our audience. And don't forget hashtag htfu. Go for Donnie, Gary. Donnie. Go for Donnie, Gary. For Donnie. Thanks, buddy. I appreciate it. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Gary. Cheers, buddy. See you, bud. Take care. Go for Donnie. Locations for Donny. Go for Donnie. Production for Donnie. Go for Donny. Locations for Donnie. Go for Donnie. How do you stop for Donny? Go for Donny. Hey, Donnie. What the hell are they doing.