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CORVETTE TODAY #54-Meet Rick DeBruhl, TV Host of the Barrett Jackson Auctions!
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May 9, 2025
You know Rick DeBruhl by face and by voice. You've seen Rick on TV for IndyCar races and Formula 1 on ABC, ESPN, NBC and Speed TV. You've seen and heard him as TV host of the Barrett Jackson auctions. Rick sits down with your CORV ETTE TODAY host, Steve Garrett and talks about his career. He talks about his start in radio and television in California. He gives you insight on how he got into the racing business. Rick also talks about rubbing elbows with some of the biggest racing figures in the history of Formula 1 and IndyCar. And obviously, Rick also talks about the important role Corvette plays in each and every Barrett Jackson auction! Then Steve and Rick dig deep into Barrett Jackson, which he's done for nearly 20 years. Rick DeBruhl is a storyteller. That is clearly evident on this episode of CORVETTE TODAY....enjoy! _________________________________________________________________________ Visit the CORVETTE TODAY website: www.CorvetteTodayPodcast.com Sign up for email notifications: https://CorvetteToday.ck.page Join the CORVETTE TODAY Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2718423201763136 Instagram: @CorvetteTodayPodcast Twitter: @SteveGarrettDJ
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0:00
Welcome to Corvette Today, the podcast that talks about everything Corvette, with your
0:09
host Steve Garrett, MC and DJ at one of the largest Corvette weekends in the country
0:13
Corvette FunFest, president of the Corvette Club of Kansas City, Missouri, and radio disc
0:19
jockey at the number one radio station in Kansas City for over 40 years. Here's Steve Garrett
0:24
Hey, thanks for listening to Corvette Today, the podcast that talks about everything Corvette
0:32
I'm your host, Steve Garrett. I appreciate you tuning in. You can listen to Corvette Today on all podcast platforms like iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Anchor.fm, Pandora, Stitcher, Audible, and many more
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My guest on Corvette today is someone you'll know by face and by voice
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You've seen him on ABC and ESPN covering IndyCar and NASCAR. You've seen him on Speed TV covering Formula One
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And you'll know him for his TV coverage on Motor Trend TV hosting the Barrett Jackson auctions
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It's Mr. Rick DeBruy. Rick, welcome to Corvette today. It's a pleasure to be here. Yeah, it's amazing how many races and car events I've been to over the last 40 years, but there's a lot of them out there
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Absolutely. And we're going to try and cover some of those as well, Rick. Let's start with your early career, with the automotive career that you've had
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Obviously, you're a car guy, right? Talk about your early days. Who and what influenced you to be the car guy that you really are today
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You know, that's a really good question. A few years ago, I was at the Indy 500 and we were having a dinner and Gilles de Ferre and, you know, I was a great IndyCar driver and some other IndyCar drivers were there. And Dr. Jerry Punch, who's a great ESPN reporter for many years. And everybody was telling great stories about how they got involved in racing. And they all have amazing stories. And their parents have been racing or in racing or there were all these things. And they came to me and they were like, so what's your story? And I said, well, I read a lot of car magazines when I was a kid. I built models
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I mean, my family, we had a Volkswagen and a Rambler, so we weren't exactly car people
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I grew up in Los Angeles and joke, I lived on a main street, so I watched all the cars go by
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I used to play a game. I'd sit on the fence between my house and the next door neighbor's house with my next door neighbor
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And we'd have a game to see who could identify the cars fastest as they went by
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Oh, that's a Camaro. That's a Mustang. That was whatever it was. Nice. So there was no reason that I got attracted to cars other than I just thought they were cool
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And you get a kick out of this. When I was little, my mom figured this out and didn't take a lot probably
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And I actually, she put car wallpaper up in my room. Wow
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So I was literally every night, every day surrounded by cars wherever I went in my room because they were all over the place
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That's amazing. Now, most media people have a great story of how they broke into the business
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What is your great story of how you broke into the media industry? So it's purely by accident
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So I grew up in Los Angeles. The college I went to was Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which is about halfway between L.A. and San Francisco along the coast
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And I went there to be a journalism major, but I was going to be a journalism major because I wanted to get involved in racing
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And I thought advertising was my entree into the racing world. And at the school I was going to go to, advertising was part of the journalism world
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And so I went away to college, and literally on my very first day on campus, I accidentally walked into the college radio station
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And I joked, I walked out four years later. And at the end of my first year, it was so much fun playing with broadcasting
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I'd never taken an advertising class. And I thought, well, I just shift over to this broadcasting stuff
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And it took me a while to get back to the car world. Broadcasting was so much fun
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I started in radio. Then I went to TV pretty quickly. And it was just such a great way to have fun and make money at the same time that I just couldn't pass it up
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That's really cool. I've got a cool car story, too. Everybody says, Steve, share more about yourself on the podcast
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Well, you know, I've been on the radio industry here in Kansas City, Missouri for almost 45 years
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And when I broke into the industry, I was a junior in college. And my mom used to say to me, honey, when are you going to get a real job
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You know, this radio thing is not a real job. It's like, mom, you're killing me here
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Come on. Yeah, my parents were just happy. I was making money, whatever I was doing and wasn't living at home
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So I think they're pleased with that. Hear, hear, my friend, hear, hear. Rick, talk about how and where you got started and where you worked in radio and TV
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So I once again went to college in San Luis Obispo. And my first radio job was at a small radio station in San Luis Obispo as the news director
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I had interned at a TV station in Santa Maria, California, which is just south of San Luis Obispo, about 30 miles south
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And I interned at that TV station. And then not long after my internship, when I was actually working at the radio station, I got the chance to apply for a job there and got the job
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and I was anchoring the 11 o'clock news and doing sports on the early newscast for this very small
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TV station in Santa Maria. It was wonderful. I was there for 11 months and one week. And in
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retrospect it was a lot of work I was the only person there at night I used to joke at 11 o I did news weather and sports I edited the show I produced the show I was the only one in the news department So it was kind of funny to do that And then I got fortunate and somebody from Phoenix called me up and said you know I got a job
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Are you interested? And that was 1978. And I thought, well, I'll move to Phoenix for a couple of years
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And I just got really lucky. I worked at the NBC affiliate in Phoenix
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Wonderful place to work. I worked with great people and great management over the years
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And I ended up working there for 31 years. And it was just a phenomenal place
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And working in TV news, especially during that era, was so much fun
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I'm a car guy. And so every now and then I'd figure out ways. I did car reviews and stuff during the course of my time there
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And so it was always a great way to make money and have fun at the same time working in broadcasting
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Very cool. Very cool. And, you know, besides your radio and TV career, you've also written for AutoWeek magazine
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Talk about that. And did you like that better versus radio and television? Well, I only did a little bit of that. So what happened was, so I grew up reading AutoWeek
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magazine. I'm one of those kids that literally from the time I was 10 or 12 years old, I would
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take two hours of auto shop every day in high school. I worked my way through college as a
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mechanic and service writer at Sears Automotive. And so as a kid, I was always into that. And I
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used to read AutoWeek. I would go down to this one store where they sold AutoWeek and I'd get
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myself a snack and I'd eat that and I'd sit there and read through and go through all the want ads
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in the back of Auto Week, which back then was like a newspaper style magazine. And, you know
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there were all race cars and hot rods and stuff. And I'd be like, oh, gosh, if I only had a thousand
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dollars, I could buy that. If I only had twelve hundred dollars, I could buy that. And so years
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later, I'm working for the TV station. This is literally the early 80s. And they had an article
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about the Geneva Auto Show. And I'm sure you've heard the saying that one picture is worth a
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thousand words. Well, I joke that one article, they went the thousand word route. There was
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literally one picture of one car and then the rest was words. And this is a Geneva Auto Show
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I want to see the cool cars. I don't know. I just was kind of fed up with it. And so I wrote this
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three-page letter to Auto Week's editor at the time. And I said, hey, your magazine sucks
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And here's why. And I detailed the first two pages of why I thought they'd gone downhill
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And then the third page was, if I ran Auto Week, this is what I would do. And I sent it off to
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the guy named Leon Mandel, who was the editor at the time. And next thing I know, he calls me up
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I'm working at the TV station. I'm a reporter at this point. He calls me up. He says, hey, I just want you to know I got your letter and I agree with everything you've said. Like, really
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And he said, you know, we're just going through some changes. And he explained to me that the reason they didn't have photos was that the film had gotten caught in customs and they couldn't get
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it out. So there was a reason behind it. He said, but to be honest with you, we should have just
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waited a week and then shown the pictures. And he said, I went through all my ideas and said
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this one's good, this one I can't do, this one. But, you know, and he said, if you ever have anything else, any other ideas, let me know. So I don't know what got into me. About a week later
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I wrote my first article, which was about how I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, where it's really
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hot. I was tired about hearing about how everybody has to winterize their car and deal with snow and
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snow tires. No one ever worries about us in summer and how our chapstick liquefies in the center
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console. And we get third degree burns when we put our arm on the windowsill and we can't put
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our sunglasses on if they've been in the car because they'll scorch our forehead. And he
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published it. And I was like, I'm printed in auto week. This is it. I finally arrived
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And I ended up writing a number of articles over the years. Not a lot, but just enough. And he was a wonderful person. He was actually very supportive of my TV career as well. So
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it was just enough to kind of get my finger in. And interestingly enough, somebody who saw that
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first article that I wrote, because it said Richard Brulls, a TV reporter in Phoenix, Arizona
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was interested in putting together a race package in Arizona for a TV broadcast they wanted to do
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And that's how I got noticed. Amazing. What a story. So did you enjoy that better than TV and
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radio? Oh, no. To me, TV and radio. First off, TV is my first love. I love being on TV. I love
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the visual way you can tell stories. And having been involved in all that, whether it's TV news
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or the racing broadcast I've done or the Bear Jackson broadcast I've done
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It's always been so much fun to be able to do that. Do I like writing stories? You know, over the years, I've written a lot of car reviews and other things and had that opportunity
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Yeah, it's fun. Radio, I always love radio because you can talk about something you don't have a picture of
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I can describe a 500-foot car with 300-foot tires, and I don't have to show a picture of it
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I can just describe it. Right, right. Very cool. Well, Rick, let's take our first break in segment number two
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Let's talk more about your TV career and racing on Corvette today
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Call them toll-free, 877-962-5200. KC Trends Motorsports. and now back to corvette today with your host and my husband steve garrett thanks for listening to
14:00
corvette today the podcast that talks about everything corvette i'm your host steve garrett
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with me today is barrett jackson tv announcer rick de brule in the second segment we're going to talk
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about rick's tv career and his racing career rick you started with espn in 1987 where you covered
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all kinds of auto racing. Talk about those years and your most memorable experiences in auto racing
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Well, first off, I'm really fortunate that I've been covering auto racing for a long time. And in
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fact, even when I was in college, we were mentioning earlier, I went to college in Cal
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Poly San Luis Obispo, which is not that far from Laguna Seca Raceway up near Monterey
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When I was a freshman, I actually got credentials to go cover the K&M race. Even though I was not
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actually running down the racing road that early in terms of a real career, I was already trying
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to start that. And then, as I mentioned, I wanted to get involved in racing, but I kind of got
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detoured into broadcasting television news, which once again, I love, but I was a car guy and I had
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to figure out how to get back to it And as I mentioned I wrote that article and somebody reached out and said Hey we doing the small race in Arizona Would you it was a Eloy Grand Prix which is Eloy little town about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson
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And they were doing a street race and they were going to broadcast it. And he said, would you be willing to do a be our play by play guy
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I was like, this would be wonderful. And trust me, it was a dinky little race. I've seen the video since then. It's amazing. I mean, people are crowded right up to the street
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It's about as unsafe as you could possibly imagine. But that was my first true race broadcast of play-by-play
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And it was a fun experience. The guy in Arizona loved racing. He worked for the local cable company, did their production
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And that one led to another one, which led to another one. We were doing an IMSA GTO standalone race, a sports car race at Firebird Raceway
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And I ended up kind of doing the play-by-play next to a guy I'd never met
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who, as it turns out, worked for a national company that was producing races called World Sports Enterprises
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And about a month later, he called me up and said, hey, I need somebody to do a race for USA Cable Trans Am race in St. Petersburg, Florida, just to be a pit reporter
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Would you be interested? I'm like, well, would I be interested? Absolutely. So this was 1987
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And so that my very first race was for USA Cable in 1987, the St. Petersburg Trans Am
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I worked alongside two legendary broadcasters now, Bob Varsha, who did Formula One for many years, and David Hobbs, former race car driver, who was the commentary for Formula One for many years and other races
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And it was a great experience. And apparently they liked me enough that they brought me back to do an INSA sports car race for ESPN from Portland, Oregon
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And that was my first race. And through pure blind, dumb luck, it just one race led to another, which led to another
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And I grew up a sports car guy. Not that I didn't like NASCAR, but sports cars were what I loved
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I loved Indy cars, Formula One, sports cars. I love that whole road racing world
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And that's what I got to cover on a limited basis because I was still working at the TV station
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So I would run off. And I'll tell you, there were some years where I was doing 24 to 26 weekends of racing in addition to my full-time job
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Wow. Fortunately, I have a wonderful wife, and she managed to keep the home fires burning with my two kids
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But it was wonderful. And the opportunities, the very first race I did in Portland
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And Dan Gurney, for those who know racing from the 60s and 70s, Dan Gurney was a racing god
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And he ran an IMSA GTO team at the time. I got to interview Dan Gurney
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I'm like, oh, my goodness, this is a guy who had been one of my racing heroes. And that was the great fortune I had
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As time went along, I got to meet and interview and, more importantly, get to know and be friends with these people that I'd only been reading about over the years
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So it was such a great opportunity. And once I got into that ESPN world, once I had that foot in that door, I wasn't going back out
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I don't blame you. That's a great experience. And I'm like you. I love IndyCar and Formula One
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And that's when you moved over to Speed TV after that. That had to be an awesome experience
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Yeah, I started doing Formula One on ESPN. The very first Formula One race I did was called at the San Marino Grand Prix
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It was a racetrack called Imola, which they're going back to. In fact, it's the second race of the Formula One season this year
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I got Barb Barsha, who was the voice of Formula One at that point, had to do another race
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So they brought me to do the play by play. And I'm sitting there and essentially in Italy because I'm in Italy, although San Marino was a little postage stamp size country within Italy
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I'm doing it and I'm surrounded by all these Formula One people. It was during the Ayrton Senna era, you know, one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time
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And I'm there with Nigel Mansell and all these people. I'm pinching myself like somebody's paying me to go to Italy to cover a Formula One race
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So I did that one, and then I did the German Grand Prix. And every now and then when Bob was gone, I'd get tapped to do those
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And every now and then I'd do pits when they were doing, for example, the Formula One race in Phoenix
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They did that for three years. I did the pits for that race. I did pits for the Canadian Grand Prix
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So slowly but surely, I was kind of getting my way into that system. And then at a certain point, I was doing other racing, mostly sports cars
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And I was doing some Indy light stuff and some other things for ESPN
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And then ESPN lost the IndyCar contract to, back then it was called CART, Championship Auto Racing Teams
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They lost it to Speed. So Bob Varsha wanted to go off and do that because even though Formula One may be the Grand Prix circuit
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back when we were doing Formula One for Speed, and unfortunately it's the same way today, we didn't go to the races
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We would go to Charlotte, North Carolina and watch them on a TV monitor
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Wow. And then we tried not to pretend we were there, but we also didn't say we weren't there. Huh
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So Bob really wanted to go to a race. So when the cart job opened up, he said, well, can I go do that and actually be out? And I filled in for a couple of years doing the play by play for Formula One. So I was the voice of Formula One in the United States for a couple of years, which was a great experience
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The only live race we got to do back then was the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, but such a great experience
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And I was doing play-by-play during the Michael Schumacher era, the guy who won seven world championships
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I was there during his Ferrari years, and he was absolutely amazing to be around, a great driver, a great champion
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In fact, we actually had a problem. We would do the teases saying, okay, what are we going to talk about to tease this week's race
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Oh, Michael Schumacher is going to win again. And so after a while, one of the teases I remember we did was, you're going to tell your children that you saw Michael Schumacher because he's going to be so historic
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Of course, literally, we realize that Lewis Hamilton would come along and equal, you know, at some point in time
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Right. But the ability to be a part of Formula One during that era was so great, you know, as Fernando Alonso was coming up and Jensen Button was there and all these great, great drivers
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It was such a great opportunity to be a part of that. And once again, I'm a car geek, right? I'm like the kid who grew up with the cars on my wallpaper. So the fact that somebody was paying me to go to all these races, Formula One races around the world, or at the very least to call them from my studio in Charlotte was great
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Absolutely. And, you know, even in the radio industry, we always say, I do the job for free, but I never tell them that. And it's probably the same way you did, right
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Exactly, exactly. You moved back to ESPN as a pit reporter for the Indy 500, NASCAR, the IndyCar race series on ABC
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Was that kind of like coming home when you returned to ESPN? Yeah, it was
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And I have such great friends there. It's just a great organization. And so I've been working at the TV station for 31 years
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It was a great place. But we were an NBC affiliate, and I could never cover the IndyCar series because it aired on ABC, a little conflict of being on different networks
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So when I decided to leave the TV station, I was really fortunate. I called up my contacts at ESPN and said, hey, I'm going to be a little more available
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And they were making some changes at that moment in time. And they just decided, you know what, you're the right guy
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And so I ended up coming back. I actually came back and did some, back then it was called NASCAR Nationwide
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Now it's called NASCAR Infinity, some stuff for that. And then the next year I became a part of the Indy 500 and IndyCar broadcast team for
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the races that were on ABC. And once again, for a kid who grew up in Los Angeles, listening to the Indy 500 broadcast live on the radio before they used to televise it live
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I remember I'd be out mowing my lawn with my little transistor radio listening
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To become a part of that broadcast was so spectacular. The very first year I did it, which was 2010, I remember it was on Saturday night
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And our Saturday was relatively, we didn't have a big schedule the day before the race because there's so much homework we knew we were going to have to do that night
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So we all leave the track a little bit early and there not a lot that was going on And I walked out onto the front straightaway of the track after pretty much everybody left And literally I could see not a single human being in either direction And I just thought about all the ghosts of all the drivers Ray Haroon who won the very first race in 1911
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Troy Ruttman, who won it in 1952. You know, all these drivers that over the years had been there
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And I thought this is such a historical place, you know, with such historic racing that's happened here
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And you look at that yard of bricks and you just marvel at it. And to think that I was going to be a part of that
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And that year, you know, I didn't know how much longer I was going to get to do it. So I'm just excited I'm doing it that year
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And I'm getting to do it for nine years before ultimately the IndyCar contract moved to NBC
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And so ESPN no longer does IndyCar racing. I always joke. I didn't get fired, but I had nothing else to do, you know
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But it was such a great opportunity to be a part of those races, to be a part of IndyCar racing
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And once again, go back to I'm a car geek. I'm that kid that grew up loving that stuff
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And the idea that I could actually be sitting there with Dario Franchini and Dan Weldon and Will Power and Juan Pablo Montoya and all these people who are such amazing, Elio Castro Neves, such amazing race car drivers
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And so many of them are such great people. The ability to spend time with them
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And like you say, most people have to pay to be there. I remember sitting there. I'm on the front stretch before the start of the Indy 500
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All the cars are lined up, you know, all the people down on the grid. And I'm in my fire suit, my ESPN fire suit. And I look up and they're surrounding me are 300,000 people
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Because that's how many people it's the largest one day sporting event in the world. 300,000 people. And I'm thinking, you know, they all paid to get here
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And somebody's paying me to stand on the front straightaway to talk to the people I only get a chance to read about
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to be in the pits, to be right in the center of the action. And I get to do this as my job
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This is how I'm making my living. It was the most exciting thing on the planet. Absolutely right
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What an outstanding career in racing and motorsports. Did I forget anything, Rick
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Did we get all the blanks filled in? Well, I can tell you over the years, I was really fortunate
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I joke. I did everything from Grand Prix to Gravel-rama. It was an event outside of Cincinnati where the cars, you know, they do this mountain of gravel
24:38
They have to climb up. I did the Mint 400. I've done Pikes Peak
24:42
I've done races in Mexico and Canada and Europe. It's just to have the opportunity for pretty much anything with four wheels
24:49
I love it. Now, drag racing, for example, wasn't my personal fanaticism. But boy, I can appreciate everything those drivers go through and what they do
24:57
I used to sit out on the line at Firebird Raceway when they'd be taken off and just marvel at those top fuels
25:02
In fact, just the other day, I was looking at a story I did on Shirley Muldowney when she came back after her accident in the mid-80s and did her first race back
25:10
and think, boy, the ability to be in a top fuel dragster after you've been hurt in one and get
25:15
back in. And that's what always amazes me about these drivers. Somebody asked me not too long ago
25:20
is Lewis Hamilton makes $40 million a year. Is he really worth more than Steph Curry or
25:25
any of these other great basketball players? And I said, well, how many of them risk their life on
25:29
the court? How many of them run the risk of not being able to come back and see their family when
25:34
the game's over? Unfortunately, IndyCar racing is so much safer than it used to be. Every year
25:39
they improved. You know, they put the windscreen on last year. I mean, every year they did a little
25:43
bit better. I have friends, drivers that I've known and liked, you know, Justin Wilson or Dan
25:49
Weldon, who've died in racing. To me, it's a great sport. And every time, every single time we lose
25:55
somebody, I sit there and go, is this the right sport to be involved in? The people in it overall
26:00
that keep coming back are so good. The drivers that I know are such great people. And the sport
26:05
itself, that combination of man and machine is such an amazing thing. I keep just getting pulled
26:10
back into it. Great stories, my friend. Great stories. Rick, let's take our final break. And
26:15
in the third segment, we're going to talk about your Barrett Jackson career and Corvettes at
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28:21
you're listening to the corvette today podcast with steve garrett hey thanks for listening to corvette today i'm your host steve garrett with me today
28:34
is tv yst and play-by-play announcer for barrett jackson rick de brule in this third
28:39
segment we're going to talk about barrett jackson and corvette and what the role corvette plays in
28:44
the barrett jackson auction rick talk to me about how you got connected with barrett jackson and how
28:49
you got your job with them. So I moved to Phoenix in about 78. And by then the Barrett Jackson
28:54
auctions were already underway. In fact, I think I attended my first Barrett Jackson auction
28:59
I'm going to guess it was 1980. And back then it was a much smaller affair. They held it at
29:03
Phoenix Municipal Stadium. I always remember there was a swap meet for parts out in the parking lot
29:07
I remember going through the swap meet, trying to find fun stuff. Living in Phoenix and being a car
29:13
guy, I went to it. I think I went to it every single year. I don't think there was a single
29:17
year where I didn't go to it. Back then, it was just the one auction. And so when SpeedVision
29:21
started to broadcast the auction, a couple of times, it kind of said, hey, if you need somebody
29:25
I'm here. And of course, at that point, they had their crew and everything was fine. And then one
29:29
year, they reached out to me and said, hey, it looks like we need somebody else to join our team
29:33
Could you do that? This was 2003. And I'm like, could I do that? Absolutely. At this point
29:39
SpeedVision had become speed. And so I'm like, yeah. And I was already doing Formula One for
29:43
speed at that point in time. So they reached out and they said, we'd like you to do it. And I'm like, well, what's my job going to be like
29:49
Well, we don't know. We're going to make it up. I'm like, all right. So that's when they created the concept of that kind of roving reporter who would introduce
29:55
and preview cars. And so I did my first one in 2003
29:59
And then I. I've literally been a part of the broadcast ever since
30:02
I think I'm in my 18th year now of broadcasting Barrett Jackson, and it's just been a blast
30:07
The cars, and I look at how the cars that cross the block have changed in that time
30:13
The muscle car phenomenon was really just fully taking hold there when I started doing these broadcasts
30:20
And I look at where the prices have gone, and we've already had some cycles that have gone through there
30:25
and the quality of the cars and the event itself. I mean, if you've never been to the traditional January Scottsdale auction, boy, it's not a three ring circus
30:34
It's a 12 ring circus. Once in the last full January auction that we had was a year ago in 2020
30:42
And I think there were 17 or 1800 cars. And not only are there 17 or 1800 cars, there's 17 or 1800 amazing cars
30:51
When you talk to people, sometimes we'll be at one of the other auctions and they'll say, oh, I'm working on a Corvette or I'm working on a Baby Bird or whatever
30:57
How come you didn't bring it to this auction? Oh, that's a Scottsdale car. Let me tell you, that's going to be, we're doing a great job
31:03
This is going to be a Scottsdale car. Wow. So people bring their best stuff and the variety
31:08
I mean, it's amazing. Everything from pre-war classics to post-war to muscle to modern machinery, you know
31:14
whether it's a muscle car from the late 60s or a hyper car from last year, it all shows
31:20
up at Barrett-Jackson. It's just an amazing collection. And when you go to Scottsdale, there's the manufacturer's showcase
31:26
when you first walk in the door and you see all the new cars that they've got on display
31:29
If you turn right and go through the tents, and it's this big, huge, long series of tents
31:34
there's vendors selling all kinds of fun stuff. And then there's all the cars lined up inside
31:38
And then there's five or six tents of cars outside. And then there's the auction block
31:42
which is just this cacophony of sound and action and excitement. That's amazing. Rick, talk about the approach Barrett Jackson takes to the auctions
31:50
because it's much different than most other auctions. And I will tell you, I don't really go to the other auctions for no reason other than I go to enough Barrett-Jackson auctions that normally we have for a year
32:01
I mean, obviously, last year we only had one in Scottsdale and then a second one in Scottsdale in October
32:05
This year, we've got the one last month in March in Scottsdale
32:10
We've got another one now scheduled for June in Las Vegas. We're not sure what's going to happen for the rest of the year after that
32:15
But back to the point, I don't really go to a lot of the other auctions. I mean, I watch them on TV sometimes
32:20
the thing about barrett-jackson is it is an event it's not just a car auction it's a lifestyle event
32:27
i mean you go in there there's so much going on i have friends who love to go to the scottsdale
32:31
auction and know nothing about cars they're always like can you give me some tickets like what do you
32:35
want to go for oh the people watching the show the party just want to be there and be a part of it
32:40
because it's such an event the other thing about barrett-jackson is that traditionally they're
32:45
almost, I won't say 100%, but traditionally, they're mostly non-reserve. So you can't have
32:51
a reserve and have the car there. And I fully understand why some auctions are more reserve
32:54
and less reserve. When you've got a car that's worth $5 million, and the last thing you want is
32:58
somebody's buying it for $2 million, and you just lost $3 million. But the great thing about a no
33:03
reserve auction, I always believe that it's great for the people who are buying the car. Yeah, it's
33:08
a little dicier for the seller. But for the people buying the car, it's true honesty. If a car is
33:13
worth a certain amount of money, it's going to sell. And when you see the market begin to fade
33:17
in cars, it's the honesty of knowing that, you know what, there was no extra bidding that went
33:22
on. There was no trying to get it up to 50,000 or 100,000. You actually had to have hands in the air
33:28
and people bidding on that car. Pretty amazing. Rick, with this being the Corvette Today podcast
33:34
talk about some of the more memorable Corvettes that have crossed the auction block there at
33:38
Berger Jackson. So the thing that always, and I remember it vividly, we were doing our first
33:44
auctions up in Las Vegas. And traditionally, when Corvettes crossed the block, classic Corvettes
33:49
C1s, C2s, and to a degree C3s, stock was always king. In fact, we used to joke
33:55
what's a great modification to put on a early Corvette? Nothing, because you only devalue
34:01
at the moment you did that. But then we went to Las Vegas, and suddenly we began to see
34:05
the rise of the Restomod. And suddenly for the first time, we were seeing modified Corvettes
34:12
getting the same dollar, the same buying power that stock classic Corvettes were going to get
34:19
And that came on, I mean, that's been over a decade. And we began to watch that market start
34:23
to move. And then a couple of years ago, and I remember it was at Scottsdale two, maybe three
34:27
years ago we suddenly saw the Corvette Restomod just take hold and launch And suddenly you had maybe a 62 Corvette or a 61 Corvette that have been restomodded And I mean some of these are amazing I mean they pieces of art and jeweled
34:42
dynamics that are underneath them. And they're just spectacular pieces of machinery that are
34:45
done to the highest standard. And then suddenly you see a restomod customized version making 250
34:52
300, 350. And it was all day long. We were seeing car after car after car. So suddenly this market
34:58
in the Corvette Restomods has changed everything. The ability to take a stock Corvette and put an
35:05
Art Morrison chassis in a C5, an LS6 engine or whatever it may be, and stick it underneath
35:10
and suddenly make it to that next level. So it's got the look of a C1 or a C2
35:15
but the performance of a modern car, boy, it changed everything in that whole market
35:20
Absolutely right. All right. It's time to get personal, my friend. What do you drive? Is there
35:25
Corvette in your garage? Well, there used to be. One of my all-time favorite Corvettes is the C5
35:30
range. I've always been a big fan and partially because I like kind of the flowing aspects of the
35:35
body. I had the first year of the C5. I bought it several years later. Love that car. It was great
35:40
you know, 330 horsepower. There's a big change between the C4 and the C5 in so many different
35:47
ways. And as I always point out, the C5 had 1,800 fewer parts than the C4. Now, there's a good and a
35:55
bad to that. It means if you had to replace a part, it was probably going to cost you more because there were more elements that were a part of it. But what it really meant was it was a tighter car
36:03
There were less squeaks and rattles. You drove a C5 and boy, you know, and I, you know, don't get
36:07
me wrong. C4s are great little cars, but C5s were just that next level up the technology where they
36:12
put the transmission in the back and what they'd done with the car. And really that C4, C5
36:17
C6, you know, really built off that same chassis. I just love that. Now, I will tell you today
36:22
I got a Mustang convertible out there. It's just such a fun car. I live in Phoenix. I like to have
36:26
the top down. I think it's a great bang for your buck kind of car. And I also need a backseat. I do
36:31
some carpool driving with high school students and every now and then I have to stick somebody in a backseat. So with the Corvette, I couldn't quite pull that off. That's true. And we'll give
36:39
you a pass on that because the Corvette doesn't have a backseat. Exactly. It's okay to have a
36:43
Mustang convertible on Corvette today. I will tell you, it's one embarrassing story that I had
36:48
to sell the Corvette because I bought another car. I already have a two-car garage and I didn't have
36:53
enough room in there. And the car that has taken the place of the Corvette in my garage is a 1958
37:00
BMW Isetta. And if you don't know what an Isetta is, look one up. It's a little goofy car they made
37:07
in the late 50s and early 60s by BMW. People call it the Urkel car. And it's got one door that opens
37:14
in the front, one cylinder motor, 13 horsepower. And the reason we bought this, my wife and I both
37:19
went to the same high school together. It's a pretty frightening story. We've been together forever. And our high school principal had one and it was the unofficial school mascot painted
37:28
the school colors. It was at all the football games. Every time we'd score a touchdown, he'd
37:32
pop a cheerleader out the top and drive around. And so this car became available, you know
37:37
I think it was five, six years ago, whenever it was. And we bought this car because we bought it, the Isetta, from the high school principal
37:44
No kidding. The exact car that had been driving around our high school. So it's pretty embarrassing to say I kicked a Corvette out to put an Isetta in
37:52
That's an amazing story. Do you have a great Corvette drive story? Oh, I do
37:57
So I live in Phoenix. And for many years, they had the GM Proving Grounds, which were just outside in Mesa
38:04
and we would go over there back when I worked at the TV news station, we would do stories and
38:08
they're a great group of people out there. And there's one particular guy who was in charge of their test drivers and he knew I was a car geek. And so he'd call me up when stories would happen
38:16
So one day we're out there doing a story and we finished doing the story and he said
38:19
you want to go fast? I'm like, yeah. So I said, and this was, I want to say
38:26
this was probably towards the end of the C4 era. They had a C4 sitting there and they had a circular
38:31
test track, complete circle. It had two separate angles on it, a low angle and a high angle banking
38:37
And so he said, hey, I got a test driver. We'll go out with you. You can drive. She'll go with you. It was a female. Wow. So we go out and I'm in the C4 Corvette, probably an 83 maybe
38:46
And I get up on the track. They had a line about midway up the track. And the rule was below the
38:51
line, 90 miles an hour, above the line, above 90 miles an hour. So I get up to about 90 miles an
38:56
hour and she's like, all right, go a little faster and let's go above the line. So boom, Above the line, 100 miles an hour, 110 miles an hour, 120 miles an hour, 130 miles an hour, 140 miles an hour
39:07
And I mean it a circular test track So it really designed to make it easy And it is so easy except my arms are on the steering wheel And I got a death grip on it because I thinking I going 140 miles an hour
39:18
Now, I'll tell you that one of the rules was you had to have the headlights on because
39:24
obviously they wanted for safety reasons that any car on the track could see the headlights
39:28
Sure. So remember the C4, the headlights pop up. So I'm still 140, 145, 146, 147, 148
39:36
and it just stalls out at 148 miles an hour. Wow. And I thought if I could just pop those headlights down
39:42
I could get 150 out of this darn thing. But the funny thing is, so I do a number of laps at 148 miles an hour
39:49
and finally I'm like, okay, I think I'm good. I slow down a little bit and I get down to about 120
39:54
And remember I had that death grip on the steering wheel and suddenly at 120
39:58
now I've probably done 10 or 15 laps. I just felt so relaxed
40:03
And I said, can I go back up to top speed? She goes, sure, absolutely. So I floor it, get up to 148 miles an hour because I could never get over that
40:10
And it was amazing how relaxed I felt because it was a perfect circle, perfect banking
40:15
the ability to have that car have total and complete control. But I always thought, man, if I could just pop those headlights down, I could have made 150
40:23
That's a great story. Rick, you've interviewed countless people from rock stars to presidents
40:29
Talk about some of your most favorite interviews and what happened during those interviews
40:33
Oh, man, I don't even know where to begin. I mean, I've been so fortunate over the years. I mean, for example, Dan Gurney, a racing guy, this guy that I grew up reading the articles about and getting to actually interview him
40:44
And I will tell you, he's passed away a couple of years ago. Dan Gurney was one of the greatest, nicest people on the planet
40:49
And I remember how I was interviewing him and I was a little nervous. He goes, just relax. It's OK
40:54
So to be able to talk to somebody like that, especially in the racing world, I can tell you the first interview I ever did with Roger Penske
41:01
It was during the split between USAC and CART. This goes back to the late 70s, I think, at that point in time
41:09
And I was interviewing Roger Penske thinking, this is Roger Penske. This is the guy, you know
41:14
And I remember talking to him and then getting to interview, whether it's Michael Schumacher or Jackie Stewart
41:20
And once again, you're right. I mean, have I interviewed a lot of people across the full range outside of the automotive world
41:25
Absolutely. But, you know, I got to spend time with Carol Shelby. You know, I got to spend time with these people who were legends and ask them questions about
41:32
And I always think I didn't ask nearly enough questions. I actually had the good fortune of getting to spend quite a bit of time towards the end of this gentleman's life, kind of by the name of John Weyer
41:42
And John Weyer, for people who don't know, ran what's called the Gulf Weyer Racing Team
41:47
And he was responsible for two of the four Ford GT victories in 68 and 69
41:54
and then was responsible for the Porsche that's in the movie Le Mans that Steve McQueen drives
41:59
that blue and orange one. He was responsible for making that team. And his team was responsible for
42:04
taming the Porsche 917. Getting to spend time with John Weyer and talk to John Weyer
42:10
was just such a blessing. And I always think I needed to ask more questions
42:14
So I always tell people, anytime you get a chance, when you're with a legend and you know it's a
42:18
legend, you got to ask those questions. What was it like to race the 917? What was it like to
42:23
have the Ford GT40s? What was it like for Dan Gurney to win at Spa in 1967 with a Formula One
42:31
car that he built himself? If you're around that legend, you may feel odd. Ask the question anyway
42:37
because trust me, most of them are perfectly happy. I've been really fortunate. I've been
42:40
a number of times. I've had a chance to spend time with Rick Mears. Here's a guy who's won
42:44
Indy four times. Tell me about this and tell me about that. And it's not for a TV story
42:49
but just the ability to ask the question of somebody who is truly a legend and was there in the thick of it all
42:56
It's a priceless moment. Maybe we just need to ask our parents about the cars they drove so we could remember those stories a little bit better
43:03
But when you're around those people who have that special moment, whether you're asking them for business purposes or just because you want to know
43:10
ask people questions, especially about their cars, so that we can be the generation that transfers that information on
43:17
I am writing that down as we speak, my friend. Hey, talk about the Barrett-Jackson schedule coming up for TV broadcast
43:24
So we've already had one auction. That was the rescheduled January auction that was in March at Scottsdale
43:29
We have another one scheduled for Las Vegas that's going to be in June. You can just check barrett-jackson.com
43:36
And these days we're on the A&E network, so we split between History Channel and FYI
43:41
We've moved over. We used to be on Velocity and Motor Trend and Speed and other TV networks but now we on History and FYI Right now those are the only two that we know of for this year but I know they working hard to try to come up with some more So stay tuned keep checking the website and hopefully there be more And more importantly maybe next year
43:57
we can get back to having a full schedule because Barrett-Jackson has four per year and get back to
44:01
a full schedule of having four. Yeah, that would be great. Getting back to normal is what I'm all
44:05
about. Looking forward to it. Absolutely. Not that you're not busy enough. You're also an accomplished
44:10
motivational speaker. Talk about where you've spoken and what groups have you spoken to
44:15
First off, I love communication. And really, when you get down to it, my story, my career has always
44:19
been about storytelling and the importance of storytelling. And so over time, I've also
44:24
I got a master's in media management from the University of Missouri, which is not far from you
44:28
And so I've, over time, kind of developed a consulting business associated with communication
44:33
I do presentation coaching and media training and all that kind of thing, but I also do keynotes
44:37
And my keynote is about the importance of communication in the organization
44:42
But I do it by telling the story of how Alexander Rossi won the 2016 Indy 500, the 100th running of the race, as a rookie
44:51
And he didn't win because he was the fastest car, although he was really fast that day
44:56
But they won because the team communicated so well. And it's an amazing story
45:00
And I was fortunate that day. I was part of the ABC broadcast team, and I was embedded in his pit along with several others
45:06
So I got to hear all the radio conversations between the team owner, Brian Hurta and Alexander Rossi
45:12
And it's such a fun story to tell about how everything they went through that day and the importance of how communication mattered
45:19
And so it's a really fun story to tell that has some great lessons about how communication can help any organization
45:26
I want to hear that story. I want to see you speak sometime because I want to hear about that because that was amazing when Alexander Rossi won that 100th IndyCar race and he was a rookie
45:35
And that's just pretty darn incredible. Yeah. And Alexander is an amazing driver
45:39
And I'll tell you what, that day he was the fastest driver early on, but they had problems
45:43
in the pits and they ended up having to come up with a whole new strategy to help him win
45:47
And their strategy was to save fuel. And so instead of being the fastest guy, he actually had to be one of the slowest guys
45:55
And when everybody else stopped for their last pit stop, he stayed out
45:59
And it's an amazing story. Those last few laps. I can tell you at one point, Brian Hurd is he's the team owner
46:05
And he's the strategist. And they'd hooked up with Andretti. So they had good technology information
46:09
And I go up to Brian Hurta with about two laps to go, because I know that Ross is out
46:14
there and he's almost going to run out of fuel. And I go up to Brian Hurta. I said, Brian, are you going to be able to make it
46:20
Can he go the distance? Brian held his hand out and he had his thumb up and he looked at me with his thumb up
46:25
And then his hand started to shake. And it was, I joke, it was the universal sign for optimistically, maybe, but I'm not sure
46:35
That's a great story. Rick, if anybody wants to get in contact with you, how can they reach you
46:40
Pretty simple. Just go to rickdebrul.com. I've got a website that has all my information for my presentations and that kind of thing
46:47
I'm rick at rickdebrul.com. I joke, if you can't find me, you're not looking hard enough
46:51
That's great. Rick, thank you so much for taking the time to be on Corvette today
46:55
The stories were simply outstanding. That's a pleasure. Thank you. Thanks for listening to Corvette today
47:00
and thanks to our sponsors, CTR America, who makes chassis components for the C6, C7, and C8 Corvette
47:07
Visit their aftermarket items online at aftermarket.ctr.co.kr. Also, American Hydrocarbon at AmericanHydrocarbon.com
47:17
and KC Trends Motorsports at KC Trends.com. And don't forget e-Tech Custom Coatings at E-T-E-K Custom Coatings.com
47:26
or call 913-745-3732. You've been listening to Corvette Today with Steve Garrett
47:35
If you'd like to contact Steve with any thoughts on the podcast or ideas for guests on Corvette Today
47:41
you can email him at stevegarrettdj at gmail.com. That's stevegarrettdj at gmail.com
47:50
Garrett has two R's and two T's. Or connect with Steve on social media on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram
47:56
using at Steve Garrett DJ. Thanks again for listening to Corvette Today
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