Wish there was a Grassroots Motorsports TV show? Well, there almost was.
We recently uncovered a tape with the unaired pilot for a GRM TV series dating back to 2001.
Watch the episode to see appearances from AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson, 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner Brian Redman and some familiar faces from the $1500 Challenge–the predecessor to the $2000 Challenge.
Presented by CRC Industries.
By Chris Tropea
3/10/23 6:47 p.m.
Classic footage. Thanks, Chris, for preserving it.
3/10/23 7:17 p.m.
Do you guys know why it want picked up? Seems like it was well done and there's lots of good car footage.
3/10/23 9:43 p.m.
I mean, the same reasons most pilots don't get picked up: Because TV is expensive and time consuming and even the best projects usually need strong financial backing from a network, studio or random rich dude for a long time before they can start paying for themselves.
It's a bummer, too, because we had a really cool arc sketched out for everything. In the second season I was going to hook up with a talking dog and we'd go around solving crimes and stuff. We were also going to jump a shark, but we were going to do it with another shark, so they'd cancel out.
3/10/23 10:00 p.m.
Wow. I very much enjoyed that. I'd have surely enjoyed a weekly installment!
3/10/23 10:46 p.m.
Isn't that what Tim is there for? I always figured he was some William Randolph Hearst of automotive magazine publishing...
3/10/23 10:58 p.m.
That was really good.
It truly was the 90's, okay, 2001.
Count all the denim shirts.
3/10/23 11:49 p.m.
Roaming from track to track.
Getting into adventures.
3/11/23 7:42 a.m.
Sadly we're about a century late for that level of success from magazine publishing.
3/11/23 8:14 a.m.
Of all the things i remember about that day, I do not remember that clip at all.
3/11/23 9:40 a.m.
The first Challenge had no exclusions, right? Oil change, brake pads, cleaning supplies all came out of the budget? Didn't the guy with the black Honda detail that engine bay with a rag and a bottle of Armor All?
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