Roadkill (2012–2020): Season 7, Episode 10 - Roadkill - full transcript
A tale of David Freiburger, Mike Finnegan, and Steve Dulcich taking a vacation to Alaska for the Fourth of July to visit the legendary celebration in the remote area of Glacier View where ...
- This time on Roadkill,
automotive cliff diving!
(engine revs)
- [All] Whoa!
- Boom!
(laughing)
- This is the most useless
episode of Roadkill ever,
and you will love it!
(engine starting)
(tires screeching)
(metal rock music)
(engine revs)
(shouting and laughing)
Unbelievable!
(laughing)
(funky rock music)
Roadkill is back in Alaska.
This is going to be really cool.
A couple years ago I saw these videos
of a Fourth of July
celebration that they have
in Glacier View, Alaska.
And because it's light for
like 20 hours a day up here,
they can't do fireworks,
and so they have a party
and throw cars off a cliff.
Why?
Because Roadkill.
Alaskan vacation, boys.
- It's fun.
- Yeah.
- It's going to be great.
I had to go see this in person,
so I talked all my buddies
into coming with me.
Yeah, I only have two
friends, Finnegan and Dulcich,
and the entire crew.
And we're going to sweeten the
deal with two cars of our own.
These old Oldsmobiles are worthless.
I usually feel bad about
wrecking old cars but honestly,
these two Oldsmobiles are garbage.
I really wouldn't get
too torn up about it,
because this is going to be fun.
This one is going to be Thelma.
That one over there is Louise.
And we're going to have some fun today
just thrashing 'em
around, and then tomorrow?
(whistles) Send it.
(paint spraying)
- Which car inherently has the willpower
to want to go back up the
mountain for a second shot?
- Probably the one that
doesn't say Roadkill
on the side real big.
- [Mike] That's the real challenge here.
Let's race.
- [Steve] All right, see
you at the top, Finnegan.
I'll wait 'til Finnegan draws first blood.
How's the car running?
- [Mike] You scuffed my vehicle!
(David laughs)
- No I didn't!
- [Mike] Mine doesn't want to move.
- [David] Oh no.
(laughing)
(engines rev)
(laughing)
(country rock music)
(water splashing)
- [Steve] Oh, I've got no brakes!
- Where's Finnegan?
- Look at that.
(cars collide)
- Hey, where'd you learn to drive?
- Oops!
Hey don't worry, it's insured!
- I don't know if I should
drive in front of him anymore.
- [David] Ooh, dirt track.
- [Mike] You notice, he didn't go
all the way in there, right?
- That's because it's a slush pit.
So what are the rules?
- No rules.
- No rules.
- Okay, first car to stuck loses, right?
- All right.
- All right.
Let's go.
(Mike laughs)
This is going to be awesome.
(engine running)
This should be fear and
loathing, but you know what,
this Regency is going to prove
itself the superior machine.
I've got this course figured out
and I think Finnegan's seriously
going to be in trouble here.
I got Freiburger navigating, so.
- This is going to be
nothing more than stupid fun
and I predict that one of these cars
is going to get stuck fast.
- Definitely pushing
them into the mud, yes.
Because if I don't, they're
going to do that to me.
It's kill or be killed here on Roadkill.
- [David] Oh man, we got to
go right in with no momentum.
- [Steve] I know.
Oh, this is cake.
- [David] Oh, you got this.
- [Steve] Oh, we're going to get so muddy.
- [David] Whoa!
You got to be really careful
not to roll it off the edge.
- [Steve] There's no way that can happen.
- [David] Where's Finnegan?
- [Steve] He's going to come in behind us.
- [Mike] (laughs) This
is going to be awesome.
- [Steve] All right, well
he's coming up on us now.
- [David] Here we go!
Oh, you got this.
Whoa, sliding!
(Mike laughing)
- [Steve] This thing handles pretty nice.
- Not bad!
- Yeah!
It's actually pretty good!
Oh, that hurt!
- The up and down!
(country rock music)
(Steve laughing)
(country rock music)
- [Steve] I'm just
learning the course still.
- [David] I can tell.
- [Steve] I don't know where Finnegan is.
- [David] Oh, he's behind.
(Mike laughing)
- [Steve] This is the key
part of the track right here.
This is key.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
- Nice work.
(both yelling)
(Steve laughs)
- I got flooded with mud!
- [Steve] I feel like
Finnegan's right on my tail.
- [David] Oh, he is right on your tail.
- [Steve] Not for long.
- [David] Okay, yeah, he
skipped the jump completely.
- He did?
- He did.
- [Steve] I knew a shortcut.
Oh no, you cheated!
(Mike laughs)
- [David] Oh, he's smoking us!
(Mike laughs)
Hit him!
(Mike laughs)
(shouting)
Oh, he almost flipped it.
He almost flipped it.
- [Steve] He almost did!
Let's go make sure he's okay.
(Mike laughing)
- [David] You okay?
- Yeah!
(both laughing)
- [David] That was good.
- [Mike] I think I broke my spleen!
- [David] We thought you were going over.
(Mike laughs)
- That was a close one!
That was insane.
Look at my face, dude.
(Mike laughs)
- [David] By the way,
you're a cheating SOB.
(all laughing)
- [Mike] Maybe just a little bit.
(David yells)
- This is freedom.
Oh man, that was awesome.
We were making laps and everything
until Finnegan jagged the
course and got in front of us
and then we were getting
dusted out so bad,
we couldn't see him
until next thing we know
he's sliding up and over this berm
and I thought he probably
flipped the thing.
So we stopped to save him
like the gentlemen racers that we are.
But that doesn't stop me
from gloating, we won.
- Aw, I lost the race.
Tried to roll my car, unsuccessfully.
Got it stuck here on an embankment.
Now it's very flooded
and doesn't want to run,
so I'm about to get towed
out by the monster truck.
- [David] Here he goes!
(Mike grunts)
- [Mike] It's just way too
flooded and the starter's so hot.
- [David] Victory.
That was great.
Hopefully this turd runs.
- It's just got to get from here
to the edge of eternity right there.
- Oh wow, Quadrajet.
- [Mike] Boom.
- [David] Oh, you can see how
flooded it was, it's all wet.
(aerosol spraying)
(engine stutters)
Wow.
(engine revs and dies)
It's on fire.
- [Mike] Do we have a jump box?
That would help.
- Jump box.
There you go.
(engine stutters)
(aerosol sprays)
Wow.
Maybe it does have something,
like a spun rod bearing or something--
- It might.
- That's keeping it
from wanting to turn.
- [Mike] We could push it with Louise.
- Over there?
- Mm-hmm.
When it was spinning fast enough
and you hit it with the spray--
- We had it running.
- It lit off.
It's not a spark thing.
That battery's dead, the
jump box isn't enough,
because maybe it's seizing
up while we're doing this.
- [David] It might be.
So, push it over, pressure
wash it, try again?
- Sure.
Hi Steve.
- [Steve] Nice meeting you here.
- [Mike] Be gentle!
(engine revs)
- [David] This is working out good.
- [Steve] I don't have any brakes!
- (laughs) Roadkill.
- [Mike] Look at that.
Beautiful!
Woo-hoo!
Steve, get over here,
let me do your laundry!
(laughs)
Let me get your pants!
- No!
- Oh, that's just mean.
That's just mean.
- [Steve] Stop it!
Come on, Finnegan, stop it!
(Mike laughs)
Aw, man.
- I can't hear you.
- Try to get in line at the car wash
and that's what you get.
- Man, look, here I am, just killing it.
(water spraying)
- Okay, enough of this foolishness.
We're going to get down to the business
of what we actually came here to do.
Throwing cars off this cliff.
This is an event that's been going on
here at Glacier View,
Alaska, for I don't know,
three, four, five years.
And I've seen it on YouTube,
and they normally throw
cars off over there.
But the new element is this ramp,
designed for the corkscrew action.
Let me show you how this is going to work,
there's a little bit of science to it.
You would hope that this
was just going to be
a full-on ghost ride, and it kind of is.
Obviously there's nobody in the car.
But the key is this rail right here.
This is also new this year.
So this is your basic railroad track,
it's got spikes driven 18 inches
into the ground right here,
and there's going to be a guide
that is going to get welded
to the front of the car
that will keep it on this rail, on track.
And then, brick on the
throttle, wide open,
someone reaches in, drops
it into gear, and zing!
And by the way, look how long the rail is.
We're going to get some speed.
Look how fast Steve is going right now.
(welding torch sparking)
Now we're ready for the science
of throwing junk off the cliff.
We've got our, what's it called, music?
- Don't say ours, because,
let's be clear here--
- We didn't engineer that.
- We didn't engineer it
or design it, which means it should have
a chance of working, except--
- It's welded to the lower control arm?
- Okay, first off, it's not centered.
And this is not connected to the chassis,
and the whole goal for this
is to keep the car going straight, right?
Well guess where it's welded?
It's welded to the ball
joint on the control arm.
- [David] How do you weld to a ball joint?
- [Mike] Get things really hot.
It's cast, you know?
(David laughs)
- [David] That's awesome.
- In theory if it does this or this,
it's going to push the
wheels and turn the car.
I don't get it.
- I want to see this.
- I want to see it in action.
- But the other thing is, I
guess the local knowledge says
you want to load a bunch
of weight in the back
so that it doesn't nosedive off the cliff.
You want more that level,
Dukes kind of thing.
- Yeah, America.
- Yeah, but this one's welded shut, so.
(David revs tool)
- So I'm backing up.
- This is where I stand back too.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Freiburger and power tools.
- Hacking.
(metal grinding)
So we're going to load a bunch of dirt
in here and add weight.
- I've never driven heavy equipment,
but I feel like it's probably
just like a forklift, right?
- [Steve] Exactly the same.
- Finnegan's going to use the excavator
to fill this with dirt.
- I just get in and--
- You just get
in there and drive.
- [Mike] Okay. (laughs)
- Really?
- Yeah.
There's nobody here.
- He's never done this before,
he's just going to do it.
Stand back.
And he's afraid of me
with a cut-off wheel.
(all laughing)
- I'm standing back.
- I've never driven one of these.
Bad things may happen.
Okay, let's go right.
- Oh wow.
- Ooh, yeah.
- Wow!
- Whoa.
- Wow.
- All right, you're good!
You need to go that way.
(Steve laughing)
There you go.
There you go.
- Keep her coming.
- Okay, smash!
- Oh, this is awesome.
Okay, time to open the trunk.
- Open the trunk.
Whoa!
- I think it needs to
come a little deeper.
- There you go.
- [Steve] Oh wow, nice work.
- That was pretty good.
- And don't kill our trunk.
- Oh yeah.
- Perfect.
- Yeah!
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah!
- [Steve] Oh yeah!
(Mike laughs)
- Oh, it's so fun.
(all shouting)
(dirt falling)
- [David] Oh, look at that technique.
- [Steve] Oh, technique.
- This is spreading it.
All right!
(Mike laughs)
Nice work!
- I'm pretty impressed.
- That was incredible!
- I think he's got the job.
- [David] Yeah.
- [Mike] That's fun, I can see
why people want to do that every day.
- Just when you think this
is a senseless episode,
Finnegan learns to drive an excavator.
That was awesome!
(bright country music)
Well here it is, the big
Fourth of July celebration
in Glacier View, Alaska.
This thing is like a massive party.
Arnie, the guy who runs the place,
like, just makes it happen.
Check it out, we got
airplanes coming through,
we got food, we got face
painting, there's kids everywhere.
Today's the F day, it's
about family, faith,
food, fun and freedom.
But no fireworks,
because it's light here
almost 24 hours a day
and that's why they started
doing this celebration,
throwing cars off of that cliff,
instead of the traditional fireworks.
- Fourth of July.
We celebrate by launching
cars off the cliff here.
About a 300-foot drop, and
the goal is to do it twice.
- This is going to go one of two ways.
Either these cars are
going to go off that cliff,
come all the way down here,
splat and be completely totaled,
or it gets halfway down,
gets stuck in the trees,
we have to become axmen to get them down.
Or, we just sit here and bask
in the glow of freedom, and America.
- That car hit a moose,
that's what happened there.
So the next thing that we have to do
before we can get to the actual carnage,
is do the parade of all of the cars
that are going to be flying later today.
If we can get our junk running.
("The Stars and Stripes
Forever" by John Philip Sousa)
(crowd cheering)
- Somehow this is totally American.
- Man.
Woo!
(crowd cheering)
- No!
- Finnegan's dead right now.
- (laughs) I need a jump!
- Go neutral!
- Okay!
Okay, go for it!
(Mike laughing)
- We're now officially a train.
- [David] We're locked together!
- Good, because I don't
have a lot of brake!
I never thought I'd be in Alaska,
getting pushed up a hill by another car.
- Finnegan, I can't steer
and we're hooked together.
- [Mike] You're doing great!
I see the horse, dude!
(crowd cheering)
- That's a big crowd.
They're thinking there's
like a thousand people
here to watch this happen.
(metal rock music)
I'm unreasonably anxious right now.
Or maybe perfectly reasonably.
- This is going to be awesome,
and I'm going to run if it goes side--
- Oh, here it comes!
- Oh, there it goes.
- [Steve] That's a train rail.
- [David] First one down!
- [Steve] Whoa!
- Oh, it's hauling!
Oh my God!
(crowd cheering)
Oh my God, unbelievable!
- Wow!
That was perfect!
- (laughs) That was so awesome!
- [Mike] That cleared
the entire embankment.
- [David] Yeah, way down there.
- Wow.
- This is so stupid
and so good all at the same time.
Did you see the launch?
- [Mike] I thought the
pole was going to dig in
and it was going to pogo.
- I did too.
Man.
- Okay, let's see this again.
- Yeah.
They're going to throw
six or seven cars today.
- That thing was perfect.
Just launched over like an
out-of-control locomotive
and careened down the bank.
Doesn't get any better than
that, that was awesome.
- You have a rail system
to guide the car off here,
and we're going to launch
a car from over here
with no rail system at all,
which means it could very
easily just turn left
and come right at us.
So I'm going to be in my
steal-second-base stance, ready to go.
This is dangerous.
- Yes.
- And exciting!
Oh my God.
There it goes.
- [David] Oh, it got second gear!
(laughs) Oh my God!
(country blues music)
(Mike laughs)
- [Mike] That's incredible.
Oh my God!
It is totaled!
There is nothing left of that thing.
Dude, that was incredible.
It is destroyed.
We may be screwed, the only
way to know is to go down there
and watch our cars go down there.
- [David] Yeah, now we
got to go downstairs.
- Okay, later. (laughs)
That was awesome.
(metal rock music)
(all shouting)
Oh my God!
- [David] Wow.
(metal rock music)
Oh!
- It's still running!
- Running!
Oh!
- Yeah!
- Yeah!
- [David] Still running!
- Yeah.
- Is it going to throw a rod?
(engine continues revving)
(David laughs)
Oh, he's going to go shut it off.
He's going to flip it over
and it's going to take off.
- He's going to drive it away.
(engine shuts off)
- Aw!
(blows raspberry)
- [Mike] Boo!
(crowd cheering)
(planes buzzing)
- They're going to roll
two cars at the same time,
trying to go for a midair collision.
- [Mike] No matter how that
ends, it's going to be amazing.
- [David] Yes, it will.
- Trajectory, acceleration, and luck.
- A lot of luck.
- Here they come.
(engine revving)
(crowd cheering)
(engines revving)
(crowd cheering)
(David shouting)
(Mike laughing)
- [Mike] Oh dude!
Look at that!
- Oh man!
- Boom!
- Whoa!
- Wow!
- That was incredible!
- That was so violent!
(David laughing)
- Boom!
- Oh my God!
- [David] The Jeep Cherokee
cleared the whole hill,
it just pancaked!
- Wow.
- Wow!
- [Mike] That was awesome!
- [David] That was amazing!
(crowd cheering)
(David laughs)
- Wow!
- Did you hear that?
- That was amazing!
- All the tires blew.
- I don't know that we're going
to make a car run after this.
- I know.
- I don't care anymore,
because that was awesome.
- We might've bitten off
more than we can chew.
That was amazing.
- Dude, when it landed,
I felt it over here.
- Wow. (laughs)
- Like, it was incredible.
- It was.
- [Mike] America!
(engine revs)
(all shouting)
(crowd cheering)
- Boom!
- Oh!
- Wow!
- That one came
way off the line! (laughs)
- Wow.
- Louise is up next,
which is 50% of our hope
to drive out of here
and back up to the hill.
Which way is Louise coming?
- [David] On the rail.
- [Mike] Louise is going on the rail,
so what I'm praying for is
it shorts the landing
and just kind of cruises
down the hill and maybe
runs into that Jeep.
- Just sort of rolls over the edge.
- Scratches the bumper, you know?
- Drives down.
- Yeah.
- You think it'll be perfectly intact,
that's the hope here.
- [Mike] That's what I'm hoping for.
- [Crowd] Three, two, one!
- [Mike] Please land soft, please!
- [David] Oh, it died!
(Mike laughs)
- That figures. (laughs)
- How could that happen?
- Well, the car sucks.
- It was just such a finely tuned machine.
(engine starting)
(engine revving)
(energetic rock music)
(crowd cheering)
(all cheering)
- [David] Oh, it folded up!
(Steve laughing)
It folded up!
(Mike cheers)
- Yeah!
Wow!
- It was like a lawn dart!
- I think it'll run again! (laughs)
(crowd cheers)
Okay, that was our first
car, it was on the rail,
it went off the corkscrew jump.
The dirt in the trunk worked.
Did you see the poise of that thing?
It was flawless, and
then it the half gainer
and rolled all the way down the hill.
I don't think there's any chance
we're making that thing drive again.
All hopes are dashed.
This is awesome.
- That was just a thing of beauty.
The soar, the Finnegan
dirt, the excavator work,
it all came together in a
blaze of barrel-rolling glory.
I love that thing, but it's a gonzo goner.
- It's the end of the
day, we got one car left.
And it's Thelma.
And the thing is, that's
our only last hope.
We've seen cars pancake,
we've seen 'em barrel roll,
we've seen 'em just
absolutely explode the tires.
You think this one's going to survive?
- Sure.
- Sure. (laughs)
(upbeat rock music)
(engine starting)
- [Steve] Go big or go home, baby!
- [Mike] Whoa!
(engine revving)
(blues harmonica music)
(car part strikes window)
(all shouting)
(all laughing)
Dude, look at that!
- That wasn't bad!
- Wait.
- Wait!
- Wait?
- Wait.
- Oh!
- Oh my God!
- The only one that didn't make it
all the way down, because Roadkill.
- It looks remarkably intact.
- [Mike] It kind of does, dude.
- [David] Man, maybe that one will run.
- [Mike] I think it'll run
but I don't think it'll move.
- [Steve] It's got a little twist to it.
(David laughs)
But other than that.
- [David] Let's go look!
- [Mike] Jesus.
(upbeat harmonica music)
Oh, dude, look how high
in the air the trunk is.
- [David] That is destroyed.
- [Mike] The wheel's on the ground
and the trunk is five feet in the air.
- [Steve] Maybe it's not that bad.
- This is the one with the good engine.
- [David] Uh-huh.
- It might look worse than it is.
- Wow.
- This is--
- Oh no, up front
is pretty messed up.
(Steve laughs)
Our plan had been to like
try and make a car run
and drive out of here, but as
soon as we saw this happen,
we were thinking that might not go down.
(country rock music)
- [Mike] Oh my God, dude.
- Wow.
- Inertia.
- Wow!
- [David] The engine is like
completely like torn out of it.
- Look at that,
the passenger compartment's
completely intact.
You would've been able to survive that.
- [David] I don't think so.
- You might have had a broken neck,
but yeah, you'd still
be in the seat at least.
- The frame is bent in
half right in the middle.
Remember how we saw it bend in half
and then like rebound?
Look at that, it is totally maimed.
I want to see if it was going to run.
- [Mike] Oh yeah, jump
in there and crank it.
- Oh, the battery's gone.
Completely gone.
So Louise is retired, how about Thelma?
At this point, all of the
cars have been dragged
off the hill except for ours.
And our hopes of actually
driving one of these
out of here is I think getting real slim.
We've given up on Louise
and now we got to go check out Thelma.
Oh wow.
- I keep sliding backwards.
- [David] The front suspension
is completely destroyed.
- No.
- While this appears good,
it is not.
- [Mike] The crossmember
and the drag link are pushed
into the oil pan, and
the oil pan is caved in.
- [Steve] Oh!
The whole floor is completely
buckled by the tire.
- But, the ratchet strap
battery hold downs survived!
- Yeah!
- Proof of
Roadkill engineering!
I thought we were going to
be able to make this happen,
but I don't know.
- Maybe we can push it down.
- Oh yeah, look.
- Let's push it down, Steve.
- Oh yeah, come back here Steve.
One, two, three!
- Uh-oh!
- Go, go, go!
- We got it!
- We got it, go, go!
- There it goes!
- There it goes!
(all cheering)
- [Mike] Now it will
never hurt anyone again.
(all laughing)
(funky rock music)
- So we're going to end
this all by crawling
over all these cars with a six-by-six.
This is an M35A2.
This is going to be good.
(metal crushing)
Oh yeah. (laughs)
(funky rock music)
Oh, this is good. (laughs)
Okay, I have to admit it.
We gave up pretty easily.
We really thought that
we were going to be able
to take those cars after the cliff jump
and just sort of pull 'em straight
and throw a battery in 'em
and get 'em fired up again.
We didn't anticipate
transmissions breaking in half,
and dampeners getting broken off engines,
and frames being completely tacoed.
But, we had an awesome time anyway.
You might not really like
the episode, I get that.
Because there's no road
trip, there's no wrenching,
there's just a lot of fun.
- [Mike] That was awesome!
- [David] That was amazing!
But that's the thing.
It's the Fourth of July, and in America,
we have the freedom to
have differing opinions.
Well, maybe not so much these days,
but that's not the point.
The point is we're having
a great time in Alaska.
This is sweet.
I'd have no idea how to
fix anything on this.
- Nothing will break though.
- [David] Wow, it's cool.
We got to go hunt ourselves down
maybe another project vehicle.
Support companies that support Roadkill.
(all shouting)
(laughs) Oh my God!
(all cheering)
- [Steve] Boom!
(David laughing)
(all shouting)
automotive cliff diving!
(engine revs)
- [All] Whoa!
- Boom!
(laughing)
- This is the most useless
episode of Roadkill ever,
and you will love it!
(engine starting)
(tires screeching)
(metal rock music)
(engine revs)
(shouting and laughing)
Unbelievable!
(laughing)
(funky rock music)
Roadkill is back in Alaska.
This is going to be really cool.
A couple years ago I saw these videos
of a Fourth of July
celebration that they have
in Glacier View, Alaska.
And because it's light for
like 20 hours a day up here,
they can't do fireworks,
and so they have a party
and throw cars off a cliff.
Why?
Because Roadkill.
Alaskan vacation, boys.
- It's fun.
- Yeah.
- It's going to be great.
I had to go see this in person,
so I talked all my buddies
into coming with me.
Yeah, I only have two
friends, Finnegan and Dulcich,
and the entire crew.
And we're going to sweeten the
deal with two cars of our own.
These old Oldsmobiles are worthless.
I usually feel bad about
wrecking old cars but honestly,
these two Oldsmobiles are garbage.
I really wouldn't get
too torn up about it,
because this is going to be fun.
This one is going to be Thelma.
That one over there is Louise.
And we're going to have some fun today
just thrashing 'em
around, and then tomorrow?
(whistles) Send it.
(paint spraying)
- Which car inherently has the willpower
to want to go back up the
mountain for a second shot?
- Probably the one that
doesn't say Roadkill
on the side real big.
- [Mike] That's the real challenge here.
Let's race.
- [Steve] All right, see
you at the top, Finnegan.
I'll wait 'til Finnegan draws first blood.
How's the car running?
- [Mike] You scuffed my vehicle!
(David laughs)
- No I didn't!
- [Mike] Mine doesn't want to move.
- [David] Oh no.
(laughing)
(engines rev)
(laughing)
(country rock music)
(water splashing)
- [Steve] Oh, I've got no brakes!
- Where's Finnegan?
- Look at that.
(cars collide)
- Hey, where'd you learn to drive?
- Oops!
Hey don't worry, it's insured!
- I don't know if I should
drive in front of him anymore.
- [David] Ooh, dirt track.
- [Mike] You notice, he didn't go
all the way in there, right?
- That's because it's a slush pit.
So what are the rules?
- No rules.
- No rules.
- Okay, first car to stuck loses, right?
- All right.
- All right.
Let's go.
(Mike laughs)
This is going to be awesome.
(engine running)
This should be fear and
loathing, but you know what,
this Regency is going to prove
itself the superior machine.
I've got this course figured out
and I think Finnegan's seriously
going to be in trouble here.
I got Freiburger navigating, so.
- This is going to be
nothing more than stupid fun
and I predict that one of these cars
is going to get stuck fast.
- Definitely pushing
them into the mud, yes.
Because if I don't, they're
going to do that to me.
It's kill or be killed here on Roadkill.
- [David] Oh man, we got to
go right in with no momentum.
- [Steve] I know.
Oh, this is cake.
- [David] Oh, you got this.
- [Steve] Oh, we're going to get so muddy.
- [David] Whoa!
You got to be really careful
not to roll it off the edge.
- [Steve] There's no way that can happen.
- [David] Where's Finnegan?
- [Steve] He's going to come in behind us.
- [Mike] (laughs) This
is going to be awesome.
- [Steve] All right, well
he's coming up on us now.
- [David] Here we go!
Oh, you got this.
Whoa, sliding!
(Mike laughing)
- [Steve] This thing handles pretty nice.
- Not bad!
- Yeah!
It's actually pretty good!
Oh, that hurt!
- The up and down!
(country rock music)
(Steve laughing)
(country rock music)
- [Steve] I'm just
learning the course still.
- [David] I can tell.
- [Steve] I don't know where Finnegan is.
- [David] Oh, he's behind.
(Mike laughing)
- [Steve] This is the key
part of the track right here.
This is key.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
- Nice work.
(both yelling)
(Steve laughs)
- I got flooded with mud!
- [Steve] I feel like
Finnegan's right on my tail.
- [David] Oh, he is right on your tail.
- [Steve] Not for long.
- [David] Okay, yeah, he
skipped the jump completely.
- He did?
- He did.
- [Steve] I knew a shortcut.
Oh no, you cheated!
(Mike laughs)
- [David] Oh, he's smoking us!
(Mike laughs)
Hit him!
(Mike laughs)
(shouting)
Oh, he almost flipped it.
He almost flipped it.
- [Steve] He almost did!
Let's go make sure he's okay.
(Mike laughing)
- [David] You okay?
- Yeah!
(both laughing)
- [David] That was good.
- [Mike] I think I broke my spleen!
- [David] We thought you were going over.
(Mike laughs)
- That was a close one!
That was insane.
Look at my face, dude.
(Mike laughs)
- [David] By the way,
you're a cheating SOB.
(all laughing)
- [Mike] Maybe just a little bit.
(David yells)
- This is freedom.
Oh man, that was awesome.
We were making laps and everything
until Finnegan jagged the
course and got in front of us
and then we were getting
dusted out so bad,
we couldn't see him
until next thing we know
he's sliding up and over this berm
and I thought he probably
flipped the thing.
So we stopped to save him
like the gentlemen racers that we are.
But that doesn't stop me
from gloating, we won.
- Aw, I lost the race.
Tried to roll my car, unsuccessfully.
Got it stuck here on an embankment.
Now it's very flooded
and doesn't want to run,
so I'm about to get towed
out by the monster truck.
- [David] Here he goes!
(Mike grunts)
- [Mike] It's just way too
flooded and the starter's so hot.
- [David] Victory.
That was great.
Hopefully this turd runs.
- It's just got to get from here
to the edge of eternity right there.
- Oh wow, Quadrajet.
- [Mike] Boom.
- [David] Oh, you can see how
flooded it was, it's all wet.
(aerosol spraying)
(engine stutters)
Wow.
(engine revs and dies)
It's on fire.
- [Mike] Do we have a jump box?
That would help.
- Jump box.
There you go.
(engine stutters)
(aerosol sprays)
Wow.
Maybe it does have something,
like a spun rod bearing or something--
- It might.
- That's keeping it
from wanting to turn.
- [Mike] We could push it with Louise.
- Over there?
- Mm-hmm.
When it was spinning fast enough
and you hit it with the spray--
- We had it running.
- It lit off.
It's not a spark thing.
That battery's dead, the
jump box isn't enough,
because maybe it's seizing
up while we're doing this.
- [David] It might be.
So, push it over, pressure
wash it, try again?
- Sure.
Hi Steve.
- [Steve] Nice meeting you here.
- [Mike] Be gentle!
(engine revs)
- [David] This is working out good.
- [Steve] I don't have any brakes!
- (laughs) Roadkill.
- [Mike] Look at that.
Beautiful!
Woo-hoo!
Steve, get over here,
let me do your laundry!
(laughs)
Let me get your pants!
- No!
- Oh, that's just mean.
That's just mean.
- [Steve] Stop it!
Come on, Finnegan, stop it!
(Mike laughs)
Aw, man.
- I can't hear you.
- Try to get in line at the car wash
and that's what you get.
- Man, look, here I am, just killing it.
(water spraying)
- Okay, enough of this foolishness.
We're going to get down to the business
of what we actually came here to do.
Throwing cars off this cliff.
This is an event that's been going on
here at Glacier View,
Alaska, for I don't know,
three, four, five years.
And I've seen it on YouTube,
and they normally throw
cars off over there.
But the new element is this ramp,
designed for the corkscrew action.
Let me show you how this is going to work,
there's a little bit of science to it.
You would hope that this
was just going to be
a full-on ghost ride, and it kind of is.
Obviously there's nobody in the car.
But the key is this rail right here.
This is also new this year.
So this is your basic railroad track,
it's got spikes driven 18 inches
into the ground right here,
and there's going to be a guide
that is going to get welded
to the front of the car
that will keep it on this rail, on track.
And then, brick on the
throttle, wide open,
someone reaches in, drops
it into gear, and zing!
And by the way, look how long the rail is.
We're going to get some speed.
Look how fast Steve is going right now.
(welding torch sparking)
Now we're ready for the science
of throwing junk off the cliff.
We've got our, what's it called, music?
- Don't say ours, because,
let's be clear here--
- We didn't engineer that.
- We didn't engineer it
or design it, which means it should have
a chance of working, except--
- It's welded to the lower control arm?
- Okay, first off, it's not centered.
And this is not connected to the chassis,
and the whole goal for this
is to keep the car going straight, right?
Well guess where it's welded?
It's welded to the ball
joint on the control arm.
- [David] How do you weld to a ball joint?
- [Mike] Get things really hot.
It's cast, you know?
(David laughs)
- [David] That's awesome.
- In theory if it does this or this,
it's going to push the
wheels and turn the car.
I don't get it.
- I want to see this.
- I want to see it in action.
- But the other thing is, I
guess the local knowledge says
you want to load a bunch
of weight in the back
so that it doesn't nosedive off the cliff.
You want more that level,
Dukes kind of thing.
- Yeah, America.
- Yeah, but this one's welded shut, so.
(David revs tool)
- So I'm backing up.
- This is where I stand back too.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Freiburger and power tools.
- Hacking.
(metal grinding)
So we're going to load a bunch of dirt
in here and add weight.
- I've never driven heavy equipment,
but I feel like it's probably
just like a forklift, right?
- [Steve] Exactly the same.
- Finnegan's going to use the excavator
to fill this with dirt.
- I just get in and--
- You just get
in there and drive.
- [Mike] Okay. (laughs)
- Really?
- Yeah.
There's nobody here.
- He's never done this before,
he's just going to do it.
Stand back.
And he's afraid of me
with a cut-off wheel.
(all laughing)
- I'm standing back.
- I've never driven one of these.
Bad things may happen.
Okay, let's go right.
- Oh wow.
- Ooh, yeah.
- Wow!
- Whoa.
- Wow.
- All right, you're good!
You need to go that way.
(Steve laughing)
There you go.
There you go.
- Keep her coming.
- Okay, smash!
- Oh, this is awesome.
Okay, time to open the trunk.
- Open the trunk.
Whoa!
- I think it needs to
come a little deeper.
- There you go.
- [Steve] Oh wow, nice work.
- That was pretty good.
- And don't kill our trunk.
- Oh yeah.
- Perfect.
- Yeah!
- Oh, wow.
- Yeah!
- [Steve] Oh yeah!
(Mike laughs)
- Oh, it's so fun.
(all shouting)
(dirt falling)
- [David] Oh, look at that technique.
- [Steve] Oh, technique.
- This is spreading it.
All right!
(Mike laughs)
Nice work!
- I'm pretty impressed.
- That was incredible!
- I think he's got the job.
- [David] Yeah.
- [Mike] That's fun, I can see
why people want to do that every day.
- Just when you think this
is a senseless episode,
Finnegan learns to drive an excavator.
That was awesome!
(bright country music)
Well here it is, the big
Fourth of July celebration
in Glacier View, Alaska.
This thing is like a massive party.
Arnie, the guy who runs the place,
like, just makes it happen.
Check it out, we got
airplanes coming through,
we got food, we got face
painting, there's kids everywhere.
Today's the F day, it's
about family, faith,
food, fun and freedom.
But no fireworks,
because it's light here
almost 24 hours a day
and that's why they started
doing this celebration,
throwing cars off of that cliff,
instead of the traditional fireworks.
- Fourth of July.
We celebrate by launching
cars off the cliff here.
About a 300-foot drop, and
the goal is to do it twice.
- This is going to go one of two ways.
Either these cars are
going to go off that cliff,
come all the way down here,
splat and be completely totaled,
or it gets halfway down,
gets stuck in the trees,
we have to become axmen to get them down.
Or, we just sit here and bask
in the glow of freedom, and America.
- That car hit a moose,
that's what happened there.
So the next thing that we have to do
before we can get to the actual carnage,
is do the parade of all of the cars
that are going to be flying later today.
If we can get our junk running.
("The Stars and Stripes
Forever" by John Philip Sousa)
(crowd cheering)
- Somehow this is totally American.
- Man.
Woo!
(crowd cheering)
- No!
- Finnegan's dead right now.
- (laughs) I need a jump!
- Go neutral!
- Okay!
Okay, go for it!
(Mike laughing)
- We're now officially a train.
- [David] We're locked together!
- Good, because I don't
have a lot of brake!
I never thought I'd be in Alaska,
getting pushed up a hill by another car.
- Finnegan, I can't steer
and we're hooked together.
- [Mike] You're doing great!
I see the horse, dude!
(crowd cheering)
- That's a big crowd.
They're thinking there's
like a thousand people
here to watch this happen.
(metal rock music)
I'm unreasonably anxious right now.
Or maybe perfectly reasonably.
- This is going to be awesome,
and I'm going to run if it goes side--
- Oh, here it comes!
- Oh, there it goes.
- [Steve] That's a train rail.
- [David] First one down!
- [Steve] Whoa!
- Oh, it's hauling!
Oh my God!
(crowd cheering)
Oh my God, unbelievable!
- Wow!
That was perfect!
- (laughs) That was so awesome!
- [Mike] That cleared
the entire embankment.
- [David] Yeah, way down there.
- Wow.
- This is so stupid
and so good all at the same time.
Did you see the launch?
- [Mike] I thought the
pole was going to dig in
and it was going to pogo.
- I did too.
Man.
- Okay, let's see this again.
- Yeah.
They're going to throw
six or seven cars today.
- That thing was perfect.
Just launched over like an
out-of-control locomotive
and careened down the bank.
Doesn't get any better than
that, that was awesome.
- You have a rail system
to guide the car off here,
and we're going to launch
a car from over here
with no rail system at all,
which means it could very
easily just turn left
and come right at us.
So I'm going to be in my
steal-second-base stance, ready to go.
This is dangerous.
- Yes.
- And exciting!
Oh my God.
There it goes.
- [David] Oh, it got second gear!
(laughs) Oh my God!
(country blues music)
(Mike laughs)
- [Mike] That's incredible.
Oh my God!
It is totaled!
There is nothing left of that thing.
Dude, that was incredible.
It is destroyed.
We may be screwed, the only
way to know is to go down there
and watch our cars go down there.
- [David] Yeah, now we
got to go downstairs.
- Okay, later. (laughs)
That was awesome.
(metal rock music)
(all shouting)
Oh my God!
- [David] Wow.
(metal rock music)
Oh!
- It's still running!
- Running!
Oh!
- Yeah!
- Yeah!
- [David] Still running!
- Yeah.
- Is it going to throw a rod?
(engine continues revving)
(David laughs)
Oh, he's going to go shut it off.
He's going to flip it over
and it's going to take off.
- He's going to drive it away.
(engine shuts off)
- Aw!
(blows raspberry)
- [Mike] Boo!
(crowd cheering)
(planes buzzing)
- They're going to roll
two cars at the same time,
trying to go for a midair collision.
- [Mike] No matter how that
ends, it's going to be amazing.
- [David] Yes, it will.
- Trajectory, acceleration, and luck.
- A lot of luck.
- Here they come.
(engine revving)
(crowd cheering)
(engines revving)
(crowd cheering)
(David shouting)
(Mike laughing)
- [Mike] Oh dude!
Look at that!
- Oh man!
- Boom!
- Whoa!
- Wow!
- That was incredible!
- That was so violent!
(David laughing)
- Boom!
- Oh my God!
- [David] The Jeep Cherokee
cleared the whole hill,
it just pancaked!
- Wow.
- Wow!
- [Mike] That was awesome!
- [David] That was amazing!
(crowd cheering)
(David laughs)
- Wow!
- Did you hear that?
- That was amazing!
- All the tires blew.
- I don't know that we're going
to make a car run after this.
- I know.
- I don't care anymore,
because that was awesome.
- We might've bitten off
more than we can chew.
That was amazing.
- Dude, when it landed,
I felt it over here.
- Wow. (laughs)
- Like, it was incredible.
- It was.
- [Mike] America!
(engine revs)
(all shouting)
(crowd cheering)
- Boom!
- Oh!
- Wow!
- That one came
way off the line! (laughs)
- Wow.
- Louise is up next,
which is 50% of our hope
to drive out of here
and back up to the hill.
Which way is Louise coming?
- [David] On the rail.
- [Mike] Louise is going on the rail,
so what I'm praying for is
it shorts the landing
and just kind of cruises
down the hill and maybe
runs into that Jeep.
- Just sort of rolls over the edge.
- Scratches the bumper, you know?
- Drives down.
- Yeah.
- You think it'll be perfectly intact,
that's the hope here.
- [Mike] That's what I'm hoping for.
- [Crowd] Three, two, one!
- [Mike] Please land soft, please!
- [David] Oh, it died!
(Mike laughs)
- That figures. (laughs)
- How could that happen?
- Well, the car sucks.
- It was just such a finely tuned machine.
(engine starting)
(engine revving)
(energetic rock music)
(crowd cheering)
(all cheering)
- [David] Oh, it folded up!
(Steve laughing)
It folded up!
(Mike cheers)
- Yeah!
Wow!
- It was like a lawn dart!
- I think it'll run again! (laughs)
(crowd cheers)
Okay, that was our first
car, it was on the rail,
it went off the corkscrew jump.
The dirt in the trunk worked.
Did you see the poise of that thing?
It was flawless, and
then it the half gainer
and rolled all the way down the hill.
I don't think there's any chance
we're making that thing drive again.
All hopes are dashed.
This is awesome.
- That was just a thing of beauty.
The soar, the Finnegan
dirt, the excavator work,
it all came together in a
blaze of barrel-rolling glory.
I love that thing, but it's a gonzo goner.
- It's the end of the
day, we got one car left.
And it's Thelma.
And the thing is, that's
our only last hope.
We've seen cars pancake,
we've seen 'em barrel roll,
we've seen 'em just
absolutely explode the tires.
You think this one's going to survive?
- Sure.
- Sure. (laughs)
(upbeat rock music)
(engine starting)
- [Steve] Go big or go home, baby!
- [Mike] Whoa!
(engine revving)
(blues harmonica music)
(car part strikes window)
(all shouting)
(all laughing)
Dude, look at that!
- That wasn't bad!
- Wait.
- Wait!
- Wait?
- Wait.
- Oh!
- Oh my God!
- The only one that didn't make it
all the way down, because Roadkill.
- It looks remarkably intact.
- [Mike] It kind of does, dude.
- [David] Man, maybe that one will run.
- [Mike] I think it'll run
but I don't think it'll move.
- [Steve] It's got a little twist to it.
(David laughs)
But other than that.
- [David] Let's go look!
- [Mike] Jesus.
(upbeat harmonica music)
Oh, dude, look how high
in the air the trunk is.
- [David] That is destroyed.
- [Mike] The wheel's on the ground
and the trunk is five feet in the air.
- [Steve] Maybe it's not that bad.
- This is the one with the good engine.
- [David] Uh-huh.
- It might look worse than it is.
- Wow.
- This is--
- Oh no, up front
is pretty messed up.
(Steve laughs)
Our plan had been to like
try and make a car run
and drive out of here, but as
soon as we saw this happen,
we were thinking that might not go down.
(country rock music)
- [Mike] Oh my God, dude.
- Wow.
- Inertia.
- Wow!
- [David] The engine is like
completely like torn out of it.
- Look at that,
the passenger compartment's
completely intact.
You would've been able to survive that.
- [David] I don't think so.
- You might have had a broken neck,
but yeah, you'd still
be in the seat at least.
- The frame is bent in
half right in the middle.
Remember how we saw it bend in half
and then like rebound?
Look at that, it is totally maimed.
I want to see if it was going to run.
- [Mike] Oh yeah, jump
in there and crank it.
- Oh, the battery's gone.
Completely gone.
So Louise is retired, how about Thelma?
At this point, all of the
cars have been dragged
off the hill except for ours.
And our hopes of actually
driving one of these
out of here is I think getting real slim.
We've given up on Louise
and now we got to go check out Thelma.
Oh wow.
- I keep sliding backwards.
- [David] The front suspension
is completely destroyed.
- No.
- While this appears good,
it is not.
- [Mike] The crossmember
and the drag link are pushed
into the oil pan, and
the oil pan is caved in.
- [Steve] Oh!
The whole floor is completely
buckled by the tire.
- But, the ratchet strap
battery hold downs survived!
- Yeah!
- Proof of
Roadkill engineering!
I thought we were going to
be able to make this happen,
but I don't know.
- Maybe we can push it down.
- Oh yeah, look.
- Let's push it down, Steve.
- Oh yeah, come back here Steve.
One, two, three!
- Uh-oh!
- Go, go, go!
- We got it!
- We got it, go, go!
- There it goes!
- There it goes!
(all cheering)
- [Mike] Now it will
never hurt anyone again.
(all laughing)
(funky rock music)
- So we're going to end
this all by crawling
over all these cars with a six-by-six.
This is an M35A2.
This is going to be good.
(metal crushing)
Oh yeah. (laughs)
(funky rock music)
Oh, this is good. (laughs)
Okay, I have to admit it.
We gave up pretty easily.
We really thought that
we were going to be able
to take those cars after the cliff jump
and just sort of pull 'em straight
and throw a battery in 'em
and get 'em fired up again.
We didn't anticipate
transmissions breaking in half,
and dampeners getting broken off engines,
and frames being completely tacoed.
But, we had an awesome time anyway.
You might not really like
the episode, I get that.
Because there's no road
trip, there's no wrenching,
there's just a lot of fun.
- [Mike] That was awesome!
- [David] That was amazing!
But that's the thing.
It's the Fourth of July, and in America,
we have the freedom to
have differing opinions.
Well, maybe not so much these days,
but that's not the point.
The point is we're having
a great time in Alaska.
This is sweet.
I'd have no idea how to
fix anything on this.
- Nothing will break though.
- [David] Wow, it's cool.
We got to go hunt ourselves down
maybe another project vehicle.
Support companies that support Roadkill.
(all shouting)
(laughs) Oh my God!
(all cheering)
- [Steve] Boom!
(David laughing)
(all shouting)