We might be a little biased, but we love every episode of the Podspeed podcast with Taro, Sam, and James. Though, we really think that this week’s episode is particularly good. This is especially true if you’re a fan of off-road sports and rally racing. We say this because the guest on Podspeed this week is Matt Martelli.

If you’re an off-road racing fanatic then you probably already know who Matt is. If not allow us to fill you in. Matt Martelli is an off-road racing fanatic who has turned his passion for racing in dirt into a motorsports and media empire. He is the founder of Mad Media, a full-service film and tv production house and marketing agency. If the name “Made Media” sounds familiar, that is likely because that studio was the production team behind the first three Ken Block Gymkhana videos. Yes, Matt is literally behind the videos that broke the internet and helped make Gymkhana part of the car culture lexicon.

If that weren’t enough, Matt is also the owner of the Mint 400 which is the largest off-road race in America. Every year the Mint 400 completely takes over Las Vegas for a multi-day event in which over 500 off-road racing teams battle in the dirt.

Matt joined the Podspeed crew to discuss all manner of things revolving around off-road racing, making cool content, and even some talk of drifting.

Here are some of the few highlights from their discussion.

How Matt started Mad Media

Martelli runs Mad Media with his brother and while today it is one of the top automotive production houses in the business, it didn’t start out that way. Matt and his brother actually grew up as skateboarders in San Diego. After spending all of their youth immersed in action sports Matt had the idea that they could start an agency that combined the guerrilla marketing tactics found in skate culture with the more structured methods found in traditional advertising agencies. Thus, Mad Media was born. However, the brothers eventually hit a ceiling in terms of the limited budgets found in the action sports and skateboard industry.

Though, it also just so happened that San Diego is the mecca of off-roading and it was another area that Matt and his brother were deeply involved in. So, the shift to becoming a motorsports and off-road focused agency was a natural progression for them.

Why Matt Martelli bought the Mint 400

In our youth we’ve all observed something managed by the old guard and thought that we could do better. The difference between pioneers and everyone else is that the pioneers actually do something about it. In a nutshell that is how Matt came to own the Mint 400. In essence, he was motivated by frustration of seeing off-road racing being dominated by older men who were out of touch and resistant to change. It was one of the only turn offs of off-road racing for Matt. “You’d see the performance of this awesome car and then the driver would get out and he’d also have to unload his belly from the car,” said Matt. “It was generally older white men that were able to do it.” He continued.

“Our goal was to unlock the value of off-road racing,” said Matt. Unlocking the value would in turn expose the sport to younger, more diverse people. That is what ultimately motivated Matt and his brother to buy the Mint 400. It was also interesting to learn that Matt said he applied some lessons he gleaned from watching how Formula Drift and X Games operate and incorporated those lessons into how he promotes the Mint 400.

How the first Gymkhana video happened

The now legendary original Gymkhana video happened due to a confluence of several circumstances. Taro mentioned how his friend Ken Takahashi started his own gymkhana series called “American Gymkhana”. Ken Block would attend those events and participate but the series actually started to grow a bit too fast for Takahashi-san to handle so he stepped away. Block was still interested but now he had no event to drive in. So, Ken and Matt decided that they were going to create their own showcase for gymkhana.

Ken Block knew that gymkhana was cool but his keen instincts for marketing told him that he needed to find a way to condense it and make it more consumable for a young audience with short attention spans. Ken and Matt’s experience with skate culture once again came into play and that is the kernel in which the first Gymkhana video came from.

“The irony is that it was a skateboard video but with a car,” said Matt. He also mentioned that they were inspired by drifting videos and the legendary Pikes Peak film Climb Dance.

Check out the full episode

Matt and the Podspeed crew discussed so much more than we could possibly highlight here; so the best thing to do is to check out the episode in its entirety! It is an hour of great conversation that is stuffed with cool stories and interesting facts. Luckily for you there are a bunch of different ways to check out Podspeed! Find the Podspeed podcast on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, right here on GTChannel.com, and any other podcast platform!

Matt Martelli of Mad Media on Podspeed