If you haven’t been watching or listening our Podspeed podcast, what are you doing? We’ll tell you what. You’re missing out on some great conversations about our favorite topics and conversations with some of the most interesting people in car culture, motorsports, and the auto industry.

In one of our most recent episodes of Podspeed, the crew was joined by driver extraordinaire Tanner Foust. If you’re reading this then that name should certainly sound familiar to you as Foust has touched just about every part of modern car culture.

He’s a two-time Formula Drift champion, Global Rallycross World Champion, four-time X-Games gold medalist, stunt driver for major Hollywood action films, and if all that weren’t enough he was also a host for the first iteration of Top Gear USA!

The man’s resume reads like a car-culture version of Homer’s Odyssey. Not to mention that Tanner still drives Rallycross with Volkswagen and continues his stunt driving to this day.

Needless to say, the crew was pretty excited to have Foust join them for an episode of Podspeed.

Here are just a few of the highlights from the crew’s chat with Tanner

Tanner learned to drive at 10 years old in Scotland

Tanner drove a Volvo similar to this at just 10 years old on snowy roads and fields in Scotland.

Despite claiming Colorado as his hometown, you might be surprised to know that Tanner actually learned to drive in Scotland! Being a “military brat” as Tanner himself said, he moved around a lot when he was younger. Due to that, he spent a good portion of his early life in Scotland.

While there a man named “Rob” who had a bus service would drive Tanner and his other fellow military kid friends to school. Rob was an interesting character who Foust described as an “expert” at purposely hitting pheasants with his Volvo which he would throw in the back of said car and cook up later for dinner. Rob would let Tanner drive that very same Volvo in the snow when he was as young as 10! Sliding the Volvo around in the Scottish winters is how Tanner got his first taste and feel for car control.

He beat F1 champion Jenson Button in a head-to-head race

Imagine going up one-on-one against a literal Formula One champion and winning! It’s the stuff that dreams are made of and Tanner Foust did this while he was completely awake.

Tanner Foust (right) with Michael Schumacher (left) at the Race of Champions

How did it happen? Well, Tanner was invited to compete in the Race Of Champions. If you’re unfamiliar, the Race of Champions (RoC) is an invitational event usually held at the end of each race season in which two champion drivers are chosen from different countries to compete against each other in a series of varied race events.

In 2008, a twist of fate saw Tanner lining up against Jenson Button in a head-to-head rally buggy race. Tanner won the battle and to add insult to injury the RoC was in Wembley stadium that year! Could you imagine being a F1 champ and getting beat on your home turf by a relatively unknown American driver? Tanner recently crossed paths with Jenson again and when Foust tried to use the opportunity to brag about his past victory, Jenson seemingly shrugged it off and claimed he didn’t remember, though Tanner suspects otherwise.

Tanner Foust has a passion for flying

Tanner Foust flying. Image taken from Tanner Foust Instagram page. Photo by Larry Chen

As if race cars of all shapes and sizes weren’t fast enough, Tanner also has a huge passion for flying. He feels that being a pilot adds a “great extra layer for life”. He caught the bug for flying back when he was a college student. During those years Tanner worked for an inventor that created theme park rides. That inventor happened to own a few small planes and shared his flying hobby with Tanner.

Though, despite getting interested in flying while in college, it would be more than a decade before Tanner would get his pilot’s license. Hosting Top Gear USA and racing kept him too busy to dedicate the required time. When Top Gear USA ended, that gave Tanner the opportunity he needed to pursue his passion. “Literally the day after the last day of shooting [Top Gear] I started on getting my pilot’s license” said Foust.

Tanner Foust enjoying a Rockstar Energy Drink while flying. Image taken from Tanner Foust Instagram page. Photo by Larry Chen

Today he owns his own small plane which he maintains himself. He said that having a plane makes the “southwestern part of the country a lot smaller”. While the freedom and convenience are great benefits to owning and flying his own plane, there is one social downside. “You can’t not be a dickhead when you tell people that you ‘flew to work’..” said Tanner. Ah well, we guess every pro as a con!

Watch or listen to the whole episode right now!

This was just a few of the highlights from the Podspeed crew’s conversation with Tanner Foust. They get into so much more including how he got the job as a Top Gear USA host, stunt driving for Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, driving a real-life, giant Hot Wheels loop, and much more. You can listen or watch the full episode to hear about it all right now. Podspeed can be found on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube and pretty much every major podcasting platform so go check it out right now!

Tanner Foust Visits The Podspeed Podcast