Re-Learning to Love 'Fast & Furious'
The franchise became a joke but the enthusiasm is very, very real.
Happy Race Day! especially to this movie trailer I just discovered that is basically Japanese, woman, Baby Driver. It’s the most fun car chase I’ve seen in years. The reverse gag is so great! Hope you enjoy:
I recently had a very Fast & Furious week. A couple of days ago I saw the most recent movie in the franchise, Fast X, on the big screen. If I remember correctly, it’s the first time I’d seen one in the theater since the original back in 2001. I was 16.
It’s no secret that F&F movies long ago drove straight off a figurative cliff. They stopped being about cars, and stopped adhering to the laws of gravity. They became a ridiculous parody of action movies without the self-awareness.
They became a joke, and the culture they inspired, in many ways, took a hit by proxy. I bought into it. Me! A person devoted to giving all auto enthusiasts their due praise, even I wrote them off.
Then I went to FuelFest. Check out my video recap below:
FuelFest is a massive show that travels the country and beyond to celebrate automotive culture. And I mean all parts — drag racing, drifting, monster trucks, sports cars, tuner cars, exotic supercars and everything in-between.
There’s live music. There are driving demos. You can a ride-along in a drift car. Or you can walk and peruse the hundreds, if not thousands, of cars on display. Everywhere you look, there’s something else to see you missed the first time.
Now here’s the rub. From the outside, its association with F&F makes FuelFest an outcast. Most of SoCal car culture is fixated on deluxe — whether that’s exotic or vintage, there’s a certain… distinguished aesthetic favored by tastemakers. We are smack in the middle of the Luftgekühlt era, after all.
FuelFest and F&F cars take a giant dump on that idea. Though the films were originally based on ‘90s street racing they’re more commonly associated with the early 2000s. Think brash colors, stickers on stickers and big-ass spoilers. Subtlety and nuance didn’t exist. This was pre-Great Recession, when credit was easy and gaudiness was a virtue. Paris Hilton and Ashton Kutcher were style icons.
Cars in the F&F films reflected the time, attracting as much attention as possible — good or bad — with outlandish paint jobs and Lambo doors. Nos! So much Nos.
There’s a lot about the 2000s to be embarassed about and the F&F franchise is mired in a lot of it. You’ll find at FuelFest the cars of the era, the music and the attitude of the era. But you won’t find embarassment. Only genuine enthusiasm.
As much as F&F became a mockery of itself, it also introduced the world of cars to an entire generation. Automotive purists like to tout the importance of Gran Turismo or Initial D during this time but don’t assign the same cultural status to F&F.
But at FuelFest there’s nothing held in higher regard. The style is celebrated. The corny lines are heralded. It’s this lack of pretension, this willingness to embrace rather than exclude, that stands out. Film has the ability to touch people, and for all its faults, F&F touched tens of millions who call themselves car enthusiasts today.
You can be a purist and still appreciate F&F for its cultural significance. Hell you can hate the movies and still be thankful for the passionate generation it fostered.
Either way, give the franchise its due. Because what I saw at FuelFest was a swarm of people who care enough to show up and participate and celebrate. Write them off and you won’t be bothering them. You’ll just be depriving yourself.
Ask A Millennial! Cody Walker, 35
Cody Walker is the founder of FuelFest, CEO of the disaster relief charity Reach Out World Wide and a self-professed car nut. Brought into the automotive world by his brother, the late actor Paul Walker, he’s now a symbol of car culture to many across the country, and around the world. One fan (who flew from Massachusetts to attend FuelFest) told me that meeting Cody was “one of the best experiences of my life.” The day before the show I visited with Walker to learn more about his passion and his goals. Here is an edited version of our conversation:
Race Day: How did FuelFest come about and what does it represent to you?
Cody Walker: I had been to Australia, to Japan, to Hong Kong for all these “Drive for Paul” events before anything in the US. It was really neat — my international network is amazing from all the people I met along the way. We were doing all that for Reach Out Worldwide because Paul funded that all himself, he just paid for everything. So when he left, we didn’t know how to make it sustainable, long-term. I had no interest in running around and doing “Paul shows.” You have to let the guy rest. His memory lives on, his legacy lives on through his acts, through ROWW, through his daughter and all the work she’s doing. That’s his legacy. I wanted to create something tasteful as a standalone event.
RD: What do you hope people experience at FuelFest?
CW: The whole idea is to get people together to celebrate the culture. I want to feel like our shows are also helping spawn the next generation. That’s what’s unique about our shows — everyone’s invited here. We’re getting the enthusiast crowd, obviously. But we also get a lot of the mainstream. We get a lot of people who’ve never been to a car show before, let alone seeing any motorsport or drifting. And they come and go “This is a thing? I thought this was just in the movies.”
RD: Can you describe the connection people feel with your brother?
CW: With FuelFest I get to engage with car lovers all over the place. I’ve been told lots of times that fans come because they love cars and grew up watching the movies. They tell me, “I’m into cars today because of your brother,” or “I was in a dark place when The Fast and the Furious came out and it saved my life.” It gives me chills. Total strangers will tell me the most intimate stories, ya know? I think it’s the coolest thing. It’s cool to hear someone I’ve never met before say, “Your brother is the reason I’m into cars.” Because, my brother is the reason I’m into cars, too. We have that in common.
RD: What do you think people feel when they meet you?
CW: I have a hard time with it. I go through big bouts of feeling like an imposter. Because I’m not my brother, and I’m not (Paul’s character) Brian O’Connor. I’m not responsible for this culture. I’m his youngest brother. But they tell me they feel the connection. For whatever reason it’s me — it’s not (the eldest Walker brother) Caleb, it’s me that the fans connect so hard with. Caleb’s not a car guy, I guess that’s what it is. I love the car stuff. I go to events, I support different groups, I’m learning everything that I possibly can. I have a connection with the community and I guess they feel that energy from me and I appreciate that so much. They’ve been so welcoming and so wonderful to me. Still, I do wonder why.
RD: People want someone to understand their passion, and you’re actively trying to add to it. With something like FuelFest, you’re contributing. You’re giving back.
CW: Yeah. What’s the point otherwise?
An extended version of this interview will be included in my upcoming book about the Nissan Skyline GT-R and Walker’s connection to the infamous sports car. Click the button below to receive updates on availability.
Our Event Recap
Over the weekend I was thrilled to welcome Carrara Media author Victoria Scott to the L.A. area with our first joint book signing. We drew a fantastic crowd to the Garage + Social collector car storage facility in Culver City, with lots of friends and some impeccable cars.
Thank you so much to our friends at Garage + Social for their hospitality, and to everyone who came out to support! In particular people who brought their own cars to display or just share with others. We felt all the love.
We still have books left, so grab your copy here and use the code “FD2023” for a 15-percent discount. And stay tuned for future events! We hope to hold many more.
Now please enjoy this photo of Victoria unpacking her books from her carry-on luggage during our setup. Gotta love the resourcefulness! Follow us on Instagram here for more BTS shots like this one.
Culture
Couple of things worth watching this week:
The 100th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans stormed into France over the weekend with a dramatic finish at the top. You can watch the 10-minute highlight video here. Ferrari snatched victory from defending champs Toyota in a stunning return after 50 years away. (Toyota contends that the loss was caused, at least in part, by hitting a squirrel on-track.)
Undoubtedly the star of the show was the unlikely NASCAR entry of a Camaro stock car that competed and finished in a wild, ultra-American display. I liked this video from YouTuber Eric Estepp about the cultural impact it made — I also had non-racing fans ask me about the car out of the blue and heard non-NASCAR fans openly rooting for it. The car only finished 10th in its class, but after that response, we haven’t seen the end of its significance yet.
The trailer is out for the latest version of Forza Motorsport that will debut this October. The big highlights here seem to be greater levels of tuning and customization, the inclusion of modern racecars and of course stunning graphics.
And Finally…
This week I discovered the Customer States series on YouTube which shows the unbelievable car problems people bring to mechanics and expect them to fix. You don’t have to watch the whole thing — just the first couple will blow your mind.
Mechanics often get a bad rap but they have a hard job! Be nice to one today.
Drive hard and be safe. Black Lives Matter.
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