Extreme Sports 4 All interviews Tanner Foust

Extreme Sports 4 All interviews Tanner Foust, american rally racer considered one of the best race car drivers in USA, and also famous because of his role as TV presenter in Top Gear USA™.

 -Extreme Sports 4 All: Let’s talk about television.

You have done many TV appearances in the past, but recently you have become a presenter in TOP GEAR™ which is the best-known car program in the world. How does it feel to be part of such a production?

-Tanner Foust: It’s truly an honor to be working on such an iconic show. Adam, Rutledge and I have a great time together meeting the BBC folks that made the UK show what it is.  We're about to start the second season and I can’t wait for the adventure

-Extreme Sports 4 All: We have watched all the episodes and we have liked them very much, but the one that caught our attention was the drifting challenge with the 370 Z. Was not it a bit weird even scary to be doing all this tricks with a blind man in the driving seat?

-Tanner Foust: I really thought they were playing a joke on me when I met Brian, the blind driver, for the first time. I figured he had to be able to see at least a little and maybe he'd driven before. But when he got behind the wheel and his first question was what the pedals did, I knew we were in for a long day. Fortunately, Brian was didn’t get motion sick easily and was, go figure, a good listener.  Once we let Nash, his seeing-eye dog, out of the car it was all tire smoke, laughs and -- well -- pure fear.

-Extreme Sports 4 All: Before TG you have done Battle of the Supercars with Paul Tracy, a driver we are great fans at his days in CART. Has he told you many anecdotes from those days? How would you compare the two programs? 

-Tanner Foust: A lot of making TV is about the chemistry between presenters. Paul and I have a friendly rivalry and we've had fun competing with each other on the show. Paul and I both drive for a living, so it's similar to going out to a competition… there's some smack talk, then we get our game faces on and race. Top Gear is more about three guys having fun with cars. Adam and Rutledge clearly love cars, but they are not great drivers -- nor do they posses the ability to think rationally.  For that reason, Top Gear is more about exploring the fun and ridiculousness you can achieve with cars, rather than extracting outright speed.

-Extreme Sports 4 All: Will you continue racing now you are in TG or are you too busy to do both?

-Tanner Foust: I love racing and I want to do as much of it as I can. I had to make the tough choice to drop out of Formula DRIFT in 2011 – which I've been doing for the past seven years. But, in addition to allowing me to commit to another season of Top Gear, it means I have a little more room this season to try new things, including the whole European Rallycross Championship, the new US rallycross events, X Games and whatever other competitions I can get into.

-Extreme Sports 4 All: Talking of racing, you have had great success in Formula D and in Rallying, you have been the first American to do the European Rallycross Championship, and you have also been Formula D champion two times. Which is your favorite Rallying or Formula D?

-Tanner Foust: Rally racing is probably my favorite. Every form of racing is about passion, skill and teamwork. When it all comes together and it works, that's amazing.  But rally racing, through stages, tearing at 100mph+ on dirt roads you’ve never seen before, trusting a co-driver’s every syllable with your life, is such a mind tweak; it’s awesome! This year, I'm focusing on rallycross – a short-course, door-to-door version of the sport. The driving is fast and aggressive and I'm learning an amazing amount about strategy and interaction with other drivers.

-Extreme Sports 4 All: These two are great disciplines, but have you thought of trying other forms of motorsports such as NASCAR or Sportcars ? 

-Tanner Foust: I’ve had the opportunity to try my hand at many different types of racing and I never want to rule anything out. I got into racing cars because I enjoyed driving. Period. And I respect the drivers that are able to be competitive in a variety of cars. I've always thought that the coolest part about motorsport was the actual driving and, when it comes down to it, the driving part of NASCAR, BAJA or whatever all looks fun to me. I also enjoy the variety and keeping things fresh – it helps keep you from getting burnt out. New cars, new tracks, new competitors: what does it for me is the learning process.

-Extreme Sports 4 All: Going back to TV hosting, you have had the opportunity to drive the fastest road cars ( we think you have one of the best jobs in the world). Which one do you like the most?

-Tanner Foust: The fastest I've ever driven was in a turbocharged Ford GT in a standing mile. I did 223 miles an hour and that was incredible. But if I was able to get any car I wanted, it would be the Techart Porsche GT Street RS. Half-a-million dollars of daily driver racecar.

-Extreme Sports 4 All:The last question about TG: Do you know who is "The Stig" ?

-Tanner Foust: I know that the Stig is unbeatable. That's all anybody needs to know.

-Extreme Sports 4 All: Finally we want to talk about your stunt driver role in The Bourne Ultimatum, The Fast and The Furious, etc. We suppose that this is pretty exciting, isn't it? 

-Tanner foust: Driving for movies is absolutely awesome. There are films where the driving is a small part of the story, and that can get a little slow on set, but movies like Dukes of Hazard and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, where the driving is a huge part of the film, are indescribably fun.  Crashing, jumping, pushing other cars off cliffs… What’s not to love?

-Extreme Sports 4 All: Which was your favorite of all the stunts you have done?

-Tanner Foust:Our team was nominated for a Taurus Stunt Award for our work in Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift and I'm really proud of what we accomplished in that film. Most of the lead drivers in that movie came from the drifitng world and I think we were able to really showcase the driving skills you have to have to compete in the sport. A lot of people think the driving scenes were CGI, but they weren't. I did all the driving for Drift King in the grey 350Z and drifting along that cliff edge (which was real, but had some CGI details added to it) was some of the most dangerous and fun driving I’ve ever done.

10 Fast Questions/Answers

-Favorite food: Broccoli

-Favorite drink: Rockstar!

-Favorite movie: Wedding Crashers, Rushmore or Top Gun

-Favorite season of the year: The next one

-Your current Rally car:  Rockstar Energy Drink Ford Fiesta

-Your current daily car:  For any trip to the city I’ve got an AC Schnitzer BMW M3 E46.  I still think that inline-six is one of the greatest production car motors built.  For the beach or cruising I’m on a Ducati, Tundra (soon to be a Raptor), or 76 912E.

-You would like to travel to: New Zealand to see Rod Millen's version of Goodwood this Spring.

-You would like to drive a: (Car/Model)   Porsche 968

-Hobbies:  Mountain biking, Skiing, Shooting guns

-Sponsors: Rockstar, Etnies, Ford, Motegi

-Extreme Sports 4 All: Finally, could you tell us what do you think about a website like Extreme Sports 4 All, in which all followers of extreme sports can know about many different sports only visiting a unique website?

-Tanner Foust: I checked it out recently and saw you had an interview with Petter Solberg up there, coverage of Ryan Dungey, and kick-ass skate and BMX videos. For an action sports fan, it seems like the place to go.

-Extreme Sports 4 All: That's all! Thank you very much again Tanner. We love your driving style and we think you are a really good person, what you demonstrated when you showed all the World that a blind person can do some unimaginable things only with the help of other people like you. Best wishes for you on TV, in cars and in your everyday life.



 A video by Etnies

A video by Travis Valtierra