Carstories by The Petersen Automotive Museum

Welcome to Season 4! This week, Petersen's Daniel Valdez sits down with legendary tattoo, graffiti artist and lowrider Mister Cartoon. Cartoon talks growing up in a creative household, early days airbrushing shirts at swap meets, how he become one of the greatest living tattoo artists and his lowrider that's included in the upcoming "Best in Low" exhibit opening May 11th. Listen now!

Daniel Valdez and Patrick Thomas caught up with John Hennessey, JackUltraMotive, Damon Jones, Adam Faris, Michael Van Runkle and Captain Crankshaft at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering this year. They asked what was your first and favorite car. Listen now!

This week, Daniel Valdez sits down with the world's fastest female motorcycle racer, Valerie Thompson. She talks about how she started riding motorcycles, setting the world record at 328 mph and her new passion pickieball. Listen now!

This week, Daniel Valdez sits down with producer, DJ, entrepreneur and automotive enthusiast, DJ Skee. He talks about moving to Los Angeles at 17, starting his music career, his numerous collaborations, owning a Tesla CyberTruck and much more. Listen Now!

This week, Daniel Valdez sits down with automotive content creator, car reviewer and host of YouTube channel Vehicle Virgins, Parker Nirenstein. He talks about how the idea of Vehicle Virgins started, the cars he has collected and reviewing some amazing cars.

This week Daniel Valdez sits down with professional stunt driver, automotive enthusiast, mechanical hobbyist and an entrepreneur, Bri Lynch. Bri talks about starting motocross at an early age, how she started stunt driving and being in over 40 movies, tv series and music videos including Black Panther.

This week Daniel Valdez sits down with highly influential contemporary street artist, visionary and star of "Exit Through the Gift Shop," Mr. Brainwash. Mr. Brainwash talks about moving to the United States at an early age, how he got involved with street artist, meeting Banksy and his recent collaboration with Matchbox. Tune in to this amazing interview with an amazing guest.

This week Daniel sits down with automotive enthusiast, Petersen lifetime member and author of Tales From The Garage, Rodney Kemerer. Rodney talks about his passion for the automotive in his new book that is formatted like an owner’s manual.

This week Daniel Valdez sits down with Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, 2x Winner at Daytona & Sebring, Lyn St. James. Lyn talks about her life before she discovered racing, how she started racing and being invited to the White House three times. Listen up!

This week Daniel Valdez sits down with coachbuilder, designer and Porsche enthusiast, Chris Rünge. He explains how his journey in coachbuilding began and how RUNGE cars was birthed out of his Minnesota Farm. "RÜNGE Cars specializes in producing handcrafted, bespoke automobiles and furniture. Each commission is designed to customer specifications. Executing traditional coachbuilding techniques, bodywork is hand formed of aluminum over body bucks and finally fitted to the "Superleicht" aluminum tube form. " To learn more about Chris follow his Instagram @christopher_runge and his website rungecars.com/

This week Daniel sits down with the Vice President of Experiential Marketing & Events at MotorTrend Group, Karen Brown. She talks about growing up in southern California, starting in sports marketing and her decade long experience in the automotive industry.

This week Daniel sits down with the President of Hemmings and automotive enthusiast, Jonathan Shaw. Jonathan talks about Hemmings 70th Anniversary in 2024, launching new services/features and how he plans to keep Hemmings the world's largest collector car marketplace. Listen now!

This week Daniel Valdez sits down with car influencer and enthusiast, LACarSpotter aka Cody Lewis. Cody talks about how he started his famous instagram page @lacarspotter_, growing up in an automobile family, attending prestigious car events and his love of collecting.

This week, Daniel sits down with Petersen Automotive Museum's Chief Historian and automotive encyclopedia, Leslie Kendall. Leslie talks about coming to the Petersen Museum in 1993, curating exhibits in the early years, and how he helped the museum acquire some of the its "crowned jewels" cars. Listen now!!

This week Daniel sits down with lead designer for Matchbox and petrol head, Julian Payne. Julian talks about how he studied car design, his long career with Mattel working on Hot Wheels/Matchbox and the 70th Anniversary of Matchbox event on October 29th, that will be hosted at the Petersen Automotive Museum. You can learn more about the event here.

Daniel and Patrick sat down with stunt driver and host of Hot Shift, Bet Heykoop. Bet talks about growing up in Southern California, her experience as stunt driver and her series, Hot Shift which teaches automotive enthusiasts how to drive a manual transmission car. You can learn more about her at www.stuntdrivebet.net

Daniel and Patrick sat down with Alfa Romeo Brand Marketing Manager, Comedian & Automotive Enthusiast, Kara Coraci Sellentine. Kara talks about the growing up in an automotive family, sponsoring the Petersen's Road to Pebble Rally and the new Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. Listen now!

Patrick Thomas and Daniel Valdez sat down with Donut Media's director, writer and host of the Past Gas podcast, Joe Weber. Joe talks about his early days as an audio engineer, doing improv for the Upright Citizens Brigade and how he started at Donut Media.

Patrick Thomas and Daniel Valdez starts Season 3 of CarStories with Donut Media's Editor in Chief and host of the Past Gas podcast, James Pumphrey. They talk about his stand-up days, his love for German cars and his experience working for Donut Media over the years.

Ending Season 2 of CarStories, Daniel Valdez and Patrick Thomas sat down with contemporary artist Daniel Arsham to talk cars, Cleveland Cavaliers, Formula 1 and his current exhibition "Arsham Auto Motive" at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Daniel Arsham is known for his “eroded” works that occupy a space where the concepts of yesterday, today, and tomorrow collide, representing a fictional archaeology wherein objects from our cultural and material present are unearthed at some point in the distant future. These casts of modern artifacts are created from geological materials such as sand, quartz, and selenite, appearing fossilized as if they have just been discovered after being buried for ages. Through the sculptures displayed in Arsham Auto Motive, the artist historicizes the automobile—a paragon of the modern era—and its related symbols, presenting the viewer with a glimpse of future history.