Speaker 1 0:42

hey, danielle, have you ever been in a high-speed chase before like from a cop, just anyone, a cop? You running from the cops. Is that what you're doing?

Speaker 2 0:49

yeah, no, I have not been in a high-speed chase. Now that I have a new car, that's pretty fast, I take it over a hundred a few times alone. My old car used to shake when I went over 80.

Speaker 1 1:01

Yes, it did, so I'm really excited my new car can go. It really did used to shake my car barely made it here today.

Speaker 2 1:07

Oh my God, I'm not laughing at that. That's not funny. But no, I have not, and I'm'm, according to my husband, a very bad driver, so I would not be doing anything like fancy in my car doing donuts or anything like that. I was watching breaking bad the other day and he got like a new car and was doing donuts and all the. I couldn't even figure out how to do that who was doing donuts walter or jesse walter?

Speaker 1 1:27

yeah, they do so much so yeah, they do mess, so they're doing donuts. Hopefully you're not doing any, no Carrying on. Well, today in the studio we have Jeff Groff. Am I saying your last name, right?

Speaker 4 1:41

You are, that's correct.

Speaker 1 1:42

And he is a stuntman in movies and for Hollywood and does driving stunts and also is are you the founder of Drift NWA?

Speaker 3 1:52

Yes.

Speaker 1 1:53

Yeah, so we're going to hear a little bit about that. We're going to hear about race car driving. So you're really good at driving, but like a different kind of driving. Yeah, he's.

Speaker 4 1:59

Yeah, try to be, have to be yeah.

Speaker 1 2:02

So I met Jeff through his wife Erica, who she did my awesome spray tan when we won our award. Oh yeah, I also, but I actually originally met her through, I think. Just we became friends on Facebook, I think that's what happened.

Speaker 2 2:17

Yeah, probably. Danielle makes friends with everyone. I'm friends with everyone.

Speaker 4 2:23

Pretty much, yeah, I get it.

Speaker 1 2:24

And then our kids did a Perry Ryan production this last summer Annie Jr together and so I connected with her and that sort of thing. And then I see her posts about her husband who does all these Hollywood stunts and all this really cool stuff. I want to say cool, but I'll say stuff. So we're really excited to have him here in the studio and so welcome Jeff.

Speaker 4 2:45

Thank you. Thank you for having me Appreciate it. It's nice to be here.

Speaker 2 2:47

Yeah, how did you get to Northwest Arkansas? Are you from here?

Speaker 4 2:55

No, I'm definitely not from here. Thankful to be a transplant, I spent 20 plus years in Southern California in the Northern LA County area. It's where, obviously, I actually born and raised in upstate New York, similar area here rural I wouldn't say mountainous like here, more rolling natural hills and then went out to California, thought I was going to be a pastor and became a stuntman.

Speaker 4 3:14

So yeah it's not what. I even went to a Bible private Christian Bible college and got my four-year bachelor's degree but was pursuing to be a youth pastor. And then I just God directed my path elsewhere and became a professional stuntman, and I think I don't know, I know all things work out for a reason became a professional stunt man, and I think I don't know, I know all things work out for a reason. And ultimately I think God knew where he needed to have me. And stunts in Hollywood is definitely not for the fan at heart. It's very cutthroat and I definitely have my guardian angels, for sure.

Speaker 4 3:50

And then from there I'm really big in the bikes and BMX, grew up racing and all that. And then, once COVID hit and California was very locked down, and so I have three young boys and we were in the ER a lot from that time period. They're very active and my middle son, harlow, who was in the play, and then our youngest just started riding bikes and we're like we need to go on road trips, we need to get the kids out of the house and just to other places that we can be outside and do things without feeling like we're going to go to jail. And so we just decided to do many road trips around the country and people that we ride bikes with. They were like, oh, you got to stop in Bentonville, they have a really cool bike park and got to go to the rail yard and all this. And so that's what we did.

Speaker 4 4:33

And we came through here on the first time and we got stormed out, rained out, and so we just went down to my folks in Florida, visited my sister, and then on the way back we stopped through and ended up staying, for we were only supposed to stay for the day and ended up staying for three days. And then my wife Erica had started to like, oh wow, this place is really cool, it's eclectic and people are all super nice, and blah, blah, blah. And then we made our way back West and then we came back again six months later and by the time that we were on our way home, my wife was like I think we should list the house.

Speaker 4 5:05

So, born and raised. She's never been out of California very much, very few times out of California and I've been praying for that for a long time that she would want to raise our kids out of California and I've been praying for that for a long time, that she would want to raise her kids outside of California. And boom here we are.

Speaker 2 5:17

There's the answer. We had another guest like that from LA, a film producer that has her. She'll go back for work.

Speaker 4 5:23

Oh yeah, of course, yeah.

Speaker 2 5:26

But loved it so much here. During COVID time she needed like a break, so I love these stories. These are great stories.

Speaker 4 5:33

It's definitely special because I think this place has definitely brought so many people from all over the country and world to be honest with you. But, it's just, it's nice to have people that are just genuine and just nice.

Speaker 4 5:44

Like hey like you pass people and you say, hi, you make eye contact. It's like California. You guys can't see what I'm doing. Like, head over your eye, your hand over your eyes. You're like don't look at me, don't make eye contact. I'm making money right now. I need to stay moving. Yeah, you are booking yourself too tight. Like the world will go on without you, believe me.

Speaker 2 6:03

Yeah, how do you go from being like going to school to be a youth pastor to discovering you want to be like a stuntman?

Speaker 4 6:08

Well.

Speaker 1 6:09

Yeah that's not necessarily the transition of, but it's like there are a lot of scenarios going through my head right now.

Speaker 4 6:21

Yeah, super active kid. You know racing bikes from time I was young. I went pro in snowboarding when I was 16, racing motocross, and then I'm very hands-on mechanical take things apart, Don't necessarily know how to put it back together Typical kid lighters, fires, all that, all this stuff. And then as I got older and honed my skills and my maturity, I just had a real drive for people and then I got saved when I was 19. And so after that was just really like felt like I needed I have a bigger purpose, and so I just wanted to spread that message, but also like hey, still do the things that God had created me and give. It was like a gift. I mean some things that I don't work hard for, other people have to work hard for and then I have to work harder at other things. But it wasn't like I'm a youth pastor and now I'm a stuntman. It's like all those things from my youth and as I still continue to do just kept transitioned over.

Speaker 1 7:12

So yeah, yeah, so how did you get into stunts though? How like was it? Was there like a call for stuntmen? Was it a? Did you audition? How did that process come about?

Stunt Stories

Speaker 4 7:24

It's not necessarily like a secret society but, it definitely is. It's a smaller niche market because obviously you need to be fearless Not necessarily. Well, yes, but it's the people that do. It are just you have very good body awareness, air awareness it's hard to say, but it's like typically the people that are like overthinkers or constantly evaluating themselves, and it's just they excel in things that they can really focus in on and like because you're either a control freak and it's like these are.

Speaker 4 7:54

This is the one area that I can really focus and put all my energy in. But, to answer the question, it's another. What I believe is a God story. But I was going to Bible college and a family that I became friends with from a kid that was wanting to leave. He was the head of the soccer team. He was the captain of the soccer team, good looking dude, super talented, and he was in my dorm.

Speaker 4 8:17

I came back from surfing one day. He was out on the porch and he's like, man, I'm walking up to my surfboard all jolly, and he's like you could just tell this dude was down in the dumps. I'm like, hey, luke, what you know, what are you doing? And he's like, oh, man, I'm just having a bad day. So I'm like, oh, let me go throw my stuff.

Speaker 4 8:34

Anyways, long story short, he just didn't believe that he was a Christian. He felt like he was a fraud at the school and all this stuff. So we walked through that and we became really close. He committed his life to Christ and then introduced me to his host family through athletics, and then that mom was an agent at an agency and she became fond of me and my interaction with Luke and what I did for them and then had me around their family a lot and brought me into their agency one day and I was like hey, this dude is super talented and I think you guys should take a look at him.

Speaker 4 9:04

She wasn't working there at the time because she was home on maternity and so it just I walked out of there in one day with three agents, which is unheard of, and so that kind of started the process. Then another connection she got reached out to be a nanny for a family and that family happened to be a stunt family and she couldn't do it. But I could because of my schooling and I made it work and they were just super instrumental in getting me connected with some other people. I auditioned for the live stunt show at Universal Studios called Waterworld, which is a Kevin Costner flop of a movie, but it's a fantastic stunt show, the highest rated live stunt show in the world, still going for like I don't want to say it's like 17 or 18 years now maybe longer, and I played the Kevin Costner role in that, and then there's another role called the Deacon Double, which is the bad guy.

Speaker 4 10:25

And so fire, high falls, water, jet skis a lot of energy. But that's basically how, in a roundabout shorter version. That's how I got into stunts.

Speaker 2 10:35

So you do stunts on like skis cars, what else?

Speaker 4 10:39

Houses.

Speaker 2 10:40

Houses like out of windows.

Speaker 4 10:42

Yes, yeah, lots of.

Speaker 2 10:43

Fire, yeah, yeah, pyro.

Speaker 1 10:52

I've been set on fire probably over 2 000 times. Oh, whoa 2 000, yeah do you have any scars from that?

Speaker 4 10:55

no, but I did. I was stupid one time, and this is a thing where it's like you mess around and because all the stuff that we do is choreographed and we work it out, it is the safety is paramount. It's because people can get killed. And so you, when you rehearse something that this accident was when I was doing the live show and we were goofing around and it's all live, it's choreographed, we have.

Speaker 4 11:18

But when you work with somebody, time and time again, you just you mix things up, you make it fun, and so we were goofing around and we changed the fight up, and then I wasn't expecting one move and so then I reacted to it and then I turned to get back into formation of what we were, the fight.

Speaker 4 11:34

We have spear like metal spears and all this stuff, and when I turned cause I was on fire and I turned and I just took a breath at the same time and so I breathe in, and so the inside of my mouth got all raw and burned and blistered. So I breathe in, and so the inside of my mouth got all raw and burned and blistered and part of my upper throat got blistered because I, like I was. I have a mask on that has gel and all sorts of all safety stuff and a fireproof hood on underneath that, and so but it was my own fault I like turned and I was taking a breath before I had a big run, before I do a 35, 40 foot fall into this water pit, and so yeah, so yes, I have been burning, changing things up.

Speaker 2 12:07

Wow, just one misstep.

Speaker 1 12:10

One breath.

Speaker 4 12:11

Like that's wild which yeah, typically when you're doing a fire thing, you are holding your breath the whole time. That's it. So when they set you up, you have X amount of time that you rehearse and you're like this is I have to hold my breath for this amount of time, get through the action, do whatever, and then you lay down and then they come and they put you out Like you'll. You'll have a safety team that will come with extinguishers and they'll cause you'll have flammable stuff all over you.

Speaker 1 12:36

Yeah, okay, is the thumbs up thing like a thing?

Speaker 4 12:38

a real thing the fall guy.

Speaker 2 12:47

No, oh, you got. I'm so disappointed. It's a really good movie if that, if the movie kind of aside, realistic right yeah is it?

Speaker 1 12:50

obviously probably not getting chased by like the bad guys and a murder plot and all that.

Speaker 2 12:56

But other than that you'd be surprised. I have stories oh, my god, oh, he has stories.

Speaker 4 13:02

Oh, so the movie is dead on yeah, yeah okay, yeah well, if you, if you like, do any research on the movie.

Speaker 4 13:10

The director, david leach, is a very accomplished stuntman and he's been in the business for a long time I didn't realize that and so and he's a very popular director now and they have a very successful franchise with john wick and now he's branched off and he's done other jason's or he's done jason stateam movies before that but he's just a very accomplished stuntman and then second unit director and now big time director. He did this one for the industry like it was like. So there's a lot of innuendos and things in there that general public will have no idea really but it is like dead on okay so what we go through on?

Speaker 2 13:46

a pretty pretty, because most celebrities do not do their own stunts right, yeah, because I think there's very few that do yeah, it's not that it's.

Speaker 4 13:54

It's not that they don't do their own stunts, is that they're like, honest to god, not allowed. So how it works is the fact is because each show will have an insurance policy and you can take an insurance day. But an insurance day is a it's a bad penalty against the production company. So unless there's like an actor got hurt or there's a torrential downpour and storm and they absolutely can't shoot, then they'll pull an insurance day. So for them to risk an actor getting hurt and having to shut down the show is a huge deal. And so then basically everybody gets cut and you're not being held, so they're not giving you a money stipend to keep you on while this dude or girl gets recovered. So they're going to lose their whole crew because they're going to go to another show.

Speaker 1 14:41

Yeah.

Speaker 4 14:42

And so they don't want to do that, so they want to lock everybody in. So it's just better to hire a professional stunt double, get the shots, do everything that you need to do and then put the actor's face in where you need to. But a lot of it now with all this computer stuff. Like I, have dots on my face all the time, so I'll do scenes with the actress, I'll do everything, and then they just put the actor's face over my face.

Speaker 1 15:05

Oh wild. So, what are some of the movies that you've been in that you would our listeners?

Speaker 4 15:11

I've been in a lot. I have like. Maybe some of your favorites, because I'm a huge car guy and racing is really big, fast and Furious franchise has been a really big pinnacle in my career.

Speaker 4 15:24

I've done the last four of them and honored every time that I get a phone call to do that stuff. I've done a lot of Marvel shows my kids love that just because of superhero stuff. And then obviously a lot of TV all the car chases, cop shows, cop dramas those are always fun. And I did day shift, which was the other Jamie Foxx one, and then I just did his newest one that's going to be coming out in January, called back in action, which is him and Cameron Diaz, and that one will be probably the pinnacle of my career, just because there's a lot of things that happened on that show from started a year out before I even went on the show, and so there was a lot of prep and stuff that went into that, because they have a really they had a really specific car chase that they wanted to accomplish and a lot of different facets in that, and so they called me on and they just said, hey, we got something really special and this is it.

Speaker 4 16:12

Start working this up and we'll call you in December of the following year and then we'll bring you out and start getting you going, and so it was probably the only production that I've done, that I've been involved in every facet of the car chase, from designing to execution. So to answer your question, that the fast and furious franchise has been like the one that I've always looked forward to just because I'm with amazing people and the stunt coordinator and second unit director are always such a blessing to work with.

Speaker 4 16:47

Andy gill and spirit was autos as they've made in my career. So it's yeah, it's a huge deal.

Speaker 2 16:53

It's an it sounds like an exciting career. Like the adrenaline each time I don't know, that would be fun.

Speaker 4 17:02

Oh, absolutely Like I heard that that saying back when I was young and I didn't really quite ever like find a job or find something that you love in a way to get paid doing it and then, you'll never work a day in your life, and don't get me wrong Like it's a levels of that are true.

Raising Resilient, Adventurous Boys

Speaker 4 17:17

Then, once you have a family and you have kids and then like that stuff just it takes a different route and it's just not. It's not as, because now, with production in America, there's not a lot of things that are actual in America anymore, or that's everything is everywhere else. So you're always traveling, which I was told from the time that I started, it's a traveling circus, jeff, buckle up, you're just going to go around wherever it goes. And luckily I have a really rad wife and kids that absolutely love what we do and what I do.

Speaker 4 17:49

But it's still hard because our oldest has autism and he's very structured and needs structure and so my wife can't always just drop everything and come to wherever I am. Like when I was on Fast 10, we were over in Portugal for two months and I had lined up for them to come and she's just like, like I don't know, two weeks out. I was like, no, let's, just I'm going to stay and you'll be home soon. And so, yeah, there's just things like that just aren't as fun, but once the kids get a little bit older it will be fun again.

Speaker 1 18:20

Yes, how old are your kids?

Speaker 4 18:22

My oldest is 13 now, and then Harlow is 10. And then my youngest is about to turn eight, in 14 days.

Speaker 1 18:30

All, boys All boys, all boys.

Speaker 2 18:32

Well, you know what.

Speaker 1 18:33

I bet they're learning stuff. What kind of stunts are you teaching them?

Speaker 4 18:37

To be honest with you, I'm not teaching them anything. Oh, that's probably good. Yeah, what's your wife?

Speaker 1 18:40

like. I like the jumping off the roof, I mean.

Speaker 4 18:43

Well, if you come over to our house, it's definitely between the ramps, the air bags, the pool and like objects and garage and race cars and parts.

Speaker 2 18:53

So you're the perfect boy, dad, actually, because I feel like girls would be like dad, don't.

Speaker 1 18:57

Well, or they'd be rough and tumbling girls. That's true, yeah.

Speaker 4 19:01

It seems like when we have girls over it's, they're just in the mix too, because they're finally like it's like the band-aids ripped off or the cage is open and they're like we have free reign here, so typically it's.

Speaker 1 19:13

Can you tell? Danielle has all girls.

Speaker 2 19:16

I do, but my youngest one is like a wildling.

Speaker 4 19:19

So she's a wildling yeah you bring her over.

Speaker 2 19:22

She'd fit right in.

Speaker 1 19:23

Mine is the opposite.

Speaker 2 19:24

She'd be like no, my older one would be like no, that's not safe.

Speaker 1 19:29

No, my son would love it though.

Speaker 4 19:33

Yeah, no, that's not safe. Yeah, no, my son would love it though. Yeah, we definitely don't we my wife probably drops the safe word a bunch more than me, but yeah, we don't talk about safe at our house. It's like, hey, are you okay? Can you move it?

Speaker 1 19:42

okay, shake it off, let's go. Yeah, so it's probably a good way to raise kids.

Speaker 4 19:47

Yes, yeah, absolutely it's gonna be tough resilient I know, yeah, we don't need any more softies in this world.

Speaker 2 19:53

No we don't. Oh man, I know that's why my kids I'm like but did you die?

Speaker 4 19:58

Yeah, exactly, we're going to keep on going. Yeah, it's character building skills. Yeah.

Speaker 1 20:08

But, did you die?

Speaker 2 20:09

I know there's like I love it though, listen, I'm not going to like cater to every little tiny scratch or I can't tell you how many times they've told me they thought they broke their finger or toe and I'm like you didn't, I guarantee you.

Speaker 3 20:22

I just know you didn't.

Speaker 2 20:23

Until that, one day that they do, and then I'm going to feel really bad.

Speaker 1 20:27

You are going to feel bad what we do to our kids when they get like hurt, hurt. They'll hurt a part of their body or whatever we're like.

Speaker 3 20:35

Oh, I guess we're gonna have to cut it off now, yeah, and they're like what now they're like or you're gonna need a shot for that.

Speaker 2 20:41

Yeah, yeah, you're gonna have to go to the doctor. They're gonna give you like 10 shots exactly.

Speaker 4 20:45

Yeah, you don't want that oh look at that yeah, yeah yeah, look at that mom, I'm great.

Speaker 1 20:52

Yeah, oh my God, yeah.

Speaker 4 20:53

We definitely did throw that around for a while. But then my two younger ones, which are very active and overstimulated, and so they're just like yeah, we're not afraid of needles anymore. Like my Harlow, my middle is just like he's. Like I like it.

Speaker 2 21:07

My blood, john, so you can't use that now.

Speaker 4 21:09

No, it's not. Yeah, it's like the cut off my arm thing or whatever which is. Harlow hanging out with Ardelia. No, he's definitely like I'm here to just cruise through school and then I'll let the fun start after that. Oh my goodness, he's all about sports and having fun.

Speaker 1 21:26

That is a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 21:28

Like you said, we're all gifted with different things.

Speaker 4 21:30

Absolutely. I definitely wasn't gifted with school. I had to work very hard and so that's why I didn't pursue more going down the pastor route, because you had to go to seminary and seminary is. I was really close friends with a few doctors that were board certified doctors at UCLA and then they stopped being a doctor because they felt called to the ministry and they wanted to be a pastor and they said that seminary was harder than eight years over the extra med school stuff and I'm like it just scared me to death because I had just to get my B plus or B GPA. I think I graduated with like a three something GPA. I forgot what it was, but I was in like the prof's office all the time doing all the extra work Like what can I do?

Speaker 4 22:17

But yeah, that's a story for another day.

Speaker 2 22:19

No, that's interesting to hear that comparison from board certified doctors, yeah, and it scared me to death.

Speaker 4 22:25

I was like I can barely get my bachelor's degree, let alone seminary. Yeah, no thanks.

Speaker 1 22:31

So oh, my goodness. Well, I don't want to miss an opportunity to talk about Drift NWA. Okay, and so tell us what is Drift NWA and why did you start it?

Speaker 4 22:42

Well, as you can see now, a lot of the car chases and such in TV shows and movies all have cars that are super nice and they're sliding corners and they're doing it's really poetic and beautiful to watch and all that, but that level of driving and responsibility is I can't even explain it Like it. I still to this day, my heart races, I get the pit goes into my stomach. You're just like and I pray always and do my kind of things that I do to just rein myself in and just, but when they say action, it's like I become a different person and I just it, just you turn that switch, and so to get to that level, though, you have to put your homework. You have to do your homework and you have to put the effort into it, just like any craft. If you want to be a good house cleaner, you got to clean houses. If you want to be able to do good dialogue, you have to practice doing dialogue. It doesn't matter what you do, it's just seat time, and so I, instead of doing like, what the traditional route in hollywood was is you go to like these driving schools and you do all that.

Speaker 4 23:50

At that time, my career, I didn't have the money. It was like I don't know, two grand or 2,500 to do these like three day driving schools, and I'm like I'll put $2,500 and I'll just buy a car and I'll just go out and drive it as much as I can. So I didn't buy a $2,500 car but I saved up my money and I bought a BMW E36, m3 and I started driving it and setting it up for racing and started going to the track more. And then I connected with some other drift guys that had been professional and so started to pick their ear and I knew that stunts and stunt driving was like.

Speaker 4 24:26

Stunt driving specifically was my goal, like that's what I wanted to be known as and get at, because it's just been part of me since I've been young, and so I just focused on that and I just spent hours and hours week after week. I'd go to the track probably three to four days a week, spend a hundred bucks every time. I'd go tires, everything and I would just go out there. I would set up different courses by myself and I would just do things and teach from the things. I'd see, like while I was working, other guys that were doing the driving sequences and then the jobs that I did have, and then I would just recreate some of that stuff and just start to let the rubber meet the road and see where I was weakened and then see what I excelled in and then just made tweaks and changes from there.

Speaker 4 25:10

And then I started to compete in drifting and I was like, oh okay, so I did that for a number of years in California, and California tracks are plentiful. Believe it or not, once you leave the LA area, there's several tracks around. Within two hours there's. We had three tracks that we could go to. Now moving to Northwest Arkansas beautiful, love riding bikes and doing all that, but there's no tracks around here, like the closest one is over three hours away, and so I was like man, what?

Speaker 4 25:39

are we going to do. And so I started to look around and I was riding dirt bikes with these two guys and he goes hey, I have a friend that does autocross events down in Fort Smith. I should connect you with him. He might maybe let you one day. Just he does a two day event or something, and maybe you guys can do it on Sunday or you can do it on set, whatever. And so I reached out to this gentleman. His name was Brandon Sharp and the company that he owns is Reaction Motorsports, and so he's been holding autocross events for nine years.

Speaker 4 26:06

Well, when I am down in Fort Smith at, I think, the Fort Chaffee base down there I'm not familiar with this, so it's since moved away and it is what it is now. But they had just quit 2021. Obviously, covid hit 2020. Covid hit 2021. They weren't able to pull their season off because they didn't have a location. So he and I met the end of 2022. And then, going into 2023, we decided to join forces and he was like yeah, I think it's great. And so I called a couple places, got some people to listen, to, set up a meeting, gave them a pitch, and then we landed at the Drakefield airport down in Fayetteville, which is technically in Greenland, and have since built a really great relationship with Fayetteville and the city and the tourism bureau there, and so it's brought a lot of people in.

Speaker 4 26:56

But basically what Drift NWA is? It's a group, an auto sports group that's a branch of Reaction Motorsports, and so I fall underneath Brandon's Reaction Motorsports and him and I. He's co-owner and he sets all the basically the infrastructure and helps me be able to do these events. And he saw my vision, he saw, you know what I believed in and what I could bring to the table, and so we partnered up and then basically now put on drifting events periodically through spring till the fall, and we just finished our third and final.

Drift Racing in Northwest Arkansas

Speaker 4 27:32

First ever actually in this country is drift events, which is called specific version of. It is called toge, which is where drifting started and it's a Japanese word for mountain pass, and they used to leave Japan and then drive up in the mountains and do all their drifting in the mountain and then they would come back and so the form of drifting over there was toge. And so now there's three different groups or event promoters that put on toge events in the country. We're one of those three, but we're the only ones that open it up to where we have spectators and where you're all involved, and we do that at the great passion play in eureka springs.

Speaker 4 28:11

We have a private road up there. They've they have been tremendous and fantastic and have let us improve the road. We laid over 30 yards of concrete to widen it in certain sections, make it safer, make the show better, make the driving faster and more, more just, intense, and so there's a lot of growth and potential there, and we have a few things on the books for next season that I can't talk about right now, but it's going to be. It's going to be pretty good it's. I'm really excited to bring more racing and stuff to Northwest Arkansas, because obviously we're known for bikes and all this beautiful land and beautiful people, but racing just isn't one of the things that kind of comes to mind when you're talking Arkansas, which is crazy, because it's like NASCAR and all the all the bootlegging is very yeah, all the bootleg.

Speaker 4 28:54

Well, that's how NASCAR started, was from bootlegging.

Speaker 2 28:56

Really.

Speaker 4 28:57

Yeah, that's how they ran booze on the Like Ricky Bobby, yes. Yeah, they would put all the moonshine in the cars and they would run on the back rows.

Speaker 2 29:05

That makes sense though.

Speaker 4 29:06

When they would get chased. That's how NASCAR started.

Speaker 2 29:09

Oh, that is so movie. I love it yeah.

Speaker 4 29:17

Come on, tell the Ignites, you got to say it, I know.

Speaker 1 29:20

I love that movie. Come on, that's a great movie. No, I just love it because you're going to quote something and I can't. Well, we're talking about this car?

Speaker 2 29:27

Come on, no, you totally should. I love that movie in my hands.

Speaker 3 29:38

Yeah, I don't know, okay, that's, I just learned a lot, right there because I did not know.

Speaker 4 29:40

Yeah, I toge. Yeah, toge is a form. So at the airport it's this typical us american style drifting flat it's. There's a course set up and it's this like concrete skid pad style. There are two grass areas, so it's a little bit of a I wouldn't say a road course. It's just a spare runway strip that they had, that we get to design, that they don't use anymore.

Speaker 2 29:58

Now they're going to be putting I want to go to this and watch. You should.

Speaker 1 30:01

Yes okay, that was my question. Was going to ask what is, what is the experience like for a spectator, like, what is that?

Speaker 4 30:07

so we have food trucks, we have live dj. There's no age restrictions. It's very family friendly, that's my big thing is I.

Speaker 4 30:14

I put a lot of effort into making events family friendly, and so it's as much as you can control everything you can't, but it's a clean environment for people to bring their kids out see, something that's just not really prevalent in this area and you can get ride alongs in the cars. So you can go yeah, you can come and you can get rides in the cars with the drivers. And then at the Toge one there is just because it is a lot more dangerous and there's a lot more on the line the cars are all like. It's like anybody can come and drive. At the airport events we don't have, like there's basic safety stuff that has to criteria that has to be met, but at the Toge ones ones it's fully caged all race seats, everything's sturdy, there's fire suppression or fire extinguishers, there's multiple safety facets that are done just because there's cliffs and hillsides and there's guard rails and things like that on this road, and so at the end of the day it is a risk, but it's something that is, an experience that is once in a lifetime.

Speaker 1 31:17

That's amazing. So, as a spectator, do you? Is it like just you watch from a specific section?

Speaker 4 31:25

Yeah, we have an area that's right in the front where, like, the main action happens at. So there'll be at the airport we have like pit parking. That's out on the far end of the runway and then there's a straight strip and then that's where staging will be. And that's out on the far end of the runway and then there's a straight strip and then that's where staging will be, and then you leave, the start line is right there, and then you'll come in and you'll go through like a different course and then you'll exit and then you'll go back out. So all the action, where all the drifting and the cars are right next to each other, on top of each other or hitting each other, is right where we're, where we have the spectator area what kind of cars do they drive?

Speaker 2 31:54

not in the toge but, just you said they at the airport yeah what do people just bring their own, like, like sports, yeah typically.

Speaker 4 32:04

Basically it's not anything, but it's a rear-wheel drive. Okay, manual is where you start at and then you can specifically set the car up for drifting, which is you know. You know you can get angle kits, you can get additional handbrakes that will lock up just the rear calipers on the car.

Speaker 2 32:20

You have to try out for this.

Speaker 4 32:22

No, there's no tryout. Like we definitely promote. Like there's beginner, there's intermediate and then there's advanced and so if you're a beginner and you've never done it, then we have this year we're going to have like a specific training, like a class day to like work and help people, because specifically in this area there's obviously not a big community for that, so we have to build it. So if you build it and then you create it, and then you'll have guys that will always be a part of that, and then we'll want to continue to excel and move up, and so that's the goal is to just keep providing an opportunity for these people to place the people to do it you drive manual I can, so can I there you go years.

Speaker 1 33:00

Yeah, I drove a mini cooper, oh nice, I don't I learned how to drive a manual in a truck no, it's, it's it.

Speaker 4 33:11

Those are good, those are fun cars I've also driven a Honda.

Speaker 2 33:14

Does that count? No A manual.

Speaker 4 33:16

No, unless it's one of the new NSXs, then it doesn't count.

Speaker 2 33:20

Okay, well no. No, my current car is an automatic, but I feel like I could drive a manual. It's like riding a bike, right.

Speaker 4 33:29

Yeah, pretty much yeah.

Speaker 2 33:30

Yeah.

Speaker 1 33:30

You could drive a manual, okay.

Speaker 2 33:31

So when you had your M3 and you were taking it out, how many tires did you go through? Like, if you drive like that, yeah, three times a week.

Speaker 4 33:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 33:40

How fast do you go through a set of tires?

Speaker 4 33:43

Well, when the car's like set up and it's like now. So I have two cars, two drift cars. Now I have a 1997 Nissan 240 SX that I built two years ago for here, 1997 Nissan 240 SX that I built two years ago for here. And then my dream car was still out in California at a shop that had where it was keeping it for me from when we moved.

Speaker 2 34:03

The dream car yeah.

Speaker 4 34:05

It's a it's a 2011 BMW M3 chassis that I put all my stuff from when I was competing in my other BMW and then we put it all in that and was building that and at the time because I started it like over six years ago it was one of the first true M3 chassis in the country to have an LS like, which is a Chevy motor in it, and so it just a lot of things get put on the side. Then I built a Corvette and then I had another four-door M3 that I was E36 M3 that I was messing around with, and then once I sold all that and then we sold our home. The guys that crewed my car Cash Run Motorsports they let me keep the car there until I could come here and get it and do all that, and so, yeah, we were building that car for a while and that's finally done, and so I've been driving that car this season and it's amazing how fun. So cool.

Speaker 1 34:54

Oh my gosh, I totally want to ride in a car.

Speaker 2 34:57

Yep, Okay so.

Speaker 1 34:59

It scares me a little bit but it would be really fun.

Speaker 2 35:02

You got to do something that scares you every day.

Speaker 1 35:03

For a moment, I was like we should get our husband's gift so that they can go and experience this fun thing and I was like wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 2 35:18

An m2 yes, that's what his dream car is.

Speaker 4 35:21

But if he doesn't get in manual, then we can't be friends. Oh, what is it wait, what is it manual? An m2? Oh, he would get a manual.

Speaker 2 35:24

Oh, yeah, he would get a manual for sure, in fact, because I asked him that and he was like, no, I would never get automatic yeah, yeah, that's his dream, car you got a good husband yeah, thank you tell our listeners how they can follow you online and stay connected with with everything that you're doing and with drift nwa yeah, absolutely so.

Speaker 4 35:45

On instagram it's jeff groff action. My first name has one f in it, so it's j-e-f g-r-o-f. Action, and then that's instagram and then drift, drift NWA is Drift underscore NWA on Instagram and Facebook is just Jeff Groff. Same way spell my name. And then also we have a private Facebook group, drift NWA. You can search it in groups and it'll come up and you'll request to join because we try to keep all the riffraff and bad images out of that group. So, yeah, you can find us online and, yeah, happy to have you guys out.

Speaker 2 36:16

Yeah, thank you so much for coming on the show Thank you. We love meeting passionate people. I know, that are bringing new things to the area, and I think that's really cool because, yeah, come to think of it, it really all is bike-centered. So I like that racing is a thing here now.

Speaker 4 36:32

Yeah, it's definitely been something that's taken off and thankful for that. I didn't have any anticipations on hosting events or doing any of that, but because of the historically low production level in Hollywood, it's just opened up a ton of time for me to pour into my family and be a good dad and be a good husband. And then now they're all involved in it. My wife's highly involved in the drift scene and drift NWA, and my kids are involved. They're running grid, they're sending cars, so it's a true family affair now because back when I was competing she never wanted to have anything because we're out in deserts and just places that aren't fun to be, and so it's definitely become a family affair and it's very meaningful to me now because they're all involved and so love it and want to see it grow and have other people smile and other families be like. This is what brought us together.

Speaker 1 37:22

So, yeah, that's really awesome. Yeah, thank you so much.

Speaker 2 37:25

Happy to be here, thank you. Hey, thanks so much for listening today. If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing to the podcast so you never miss an episode. You can also follow us on Instagram at people of NWA. Thanks so much.

Speaker 3 37:36

People of Northwest Arkansas with the two Daniels produced by me. Brock Short of Civil Republic Productions. Please rate, review and like us on any podcast platform where you listen. For more information about today's guests and the show, please check the show notes. Thanks for listening.