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How has things with Tolo spent? You're the Turo of trailers is what I've told my friends. That's right. How's things going with that? Yeah, I mean, we've made a lot of progress since Midwest Fest in June. You know, that's kind of when I got connected with Andrew Raines with E46 BMW. And things have been progressing. We've kind of developed better strategy as far as who we're going to go after and where the test markets are going to be. Okay.
What does that mean in the future? Like where are you going to go and how are you going to do things? Yeah. So I'm currently engaged with a venture capital firm. We're doing a pretty large scale discovery and commercialization project, which basically means really analyzing what Tolos is at the present time. And then, okay, this is what it is. And then what could it be and how do we get there?
And we want to do all that. Business things. Yeah, exactly. Lots of business things. And as I told you guys on the pod, I'm an orthopedic surgeon by training, and I did that for 10 years. And so this tech thing, this is all a new world for me. Well, you've got an idea. You've got to figure out how to turn it into a thing. So the test markets that we've decided to really focus on is, number one, we want to focus on car haulers. So that really targets the motorsports enthusiasts. And then we decided at this point, this may change, but we decided to focus on SoCal, kind of the L.A. County area.
For geography and then like the Birmingham, Atlanta area. Okay. Where you are in Andrews? Yep. Well, I'm in Denver. Oh, I thought you were in California. Nope.
I'm in Denver, so I lived in LA for a little bit. For some reason, I thought you were in LA. Trained at UCLA. But we've just identified those areas, and maybe I don't know how much analytics you guys do. I would probably agree with those things. Like the proximity of racetracks, the enthusiasm, just those we've identified as good test markets where we're basically trying to stack the odds in our favor a bit and then really kind of learn where the pain points are for people, both on the host, the trailer owner side, and then on the guest or the renter side.
not really focusing on scale at all. So what we want to do is try to understand, iterate, understand, iterate, and, you know, kind of that launch, iterate, which is kind of that tech cycle. So, yeah. You're here just kind of getting to know the industry a little more? Yeah. The racing industry? Yeah. So, yeah, and I'll say that PRI, you know, it was my first time at PRI last year. I didn't meet you then, but I certainly saw the Gridlife booth, and I didn't know anything about it. All I thought at that time was that it was... We were doing sim racing last year. Exactly. All I thought last year was, oh, this is a company that does sims. You guys sell sims? No, we don't sell sims. That's right.
That's not what we do. That's what I walked away with until Raines told me. I was like, oh, no. These guys, this is like the hottest thing in town. I don't think so. What are you guys doing? My video nerds are here. Get out of here, creature. Get out of here.
Yeah, the show's been really busy this year. It's probably a good one to come to. It makes me, I always, especially at the end of the season, I always get nervous about next year. I'm like, what if they don't show up? And we had our state of the grid this morning. Yeah, tell me just a little bit about that. Basically, it's our season announcement for next year and a recap of this year kind of thing. We had, I mean, there's probably 300 people. Okay, awesome. Standing room only and people out the back door. We need a bigger room next year. That should make you less nervous, right, buddy?
If there's anything I'm bad at, it's in believing that people will like us. And they keep liking us, so we keep trying. Yeah, you have imposter syndrome. I struggle with that sometimes, too. It's not a fun way to feel, but it does make you try hard. It keeps you motivated, yeah. Have you done much track use with your C7, right? Yeah, C7 Grand Sport. A little bit. The track that's closest to me is High Plains Raceway. Have you ever heard of that one? No infrastructure out in the middle of a cow field, but a great track. Yeah, I hear it's awesome.
What else have you done? Any other place? You were at Road America once, right? Yep, yep, been a Road American. In fact, I was actually just texting with Reigns, and he saw the festival schedule come out. We're going to Road America. And I think he's planning on Road America, CMP, and Gingerman. He did well at CMP last year. Did he? Yeah, he did great there. So, Road America is...
For those listening, we haven't really talked about it on the show, but that's going to be our next, because we just announced it today. That's going to be our next. Oh, yeah, hopefully I didn't leak. We leaked it already. Okay, good, good, good. Yeah, we haven't talked about it on the show because we hadn't announced it, but that's going to be our next place we go with festival tour. Okay. MidOhio will-ish not really be a festival. It'll be kind of what it has been. Okay.
And we're not going to Watkins Glen this year because of scheduling and weather and all that stuff. But Road America approached us and asked us to do a spectator event. And we were like, yeah, how can you not when Road America wants to do a spectator event and they want to be a partner? Help me understand the spectator event. So we do club rounds, which are basically club racing weekends. HPD, time attack, sometimes GLTC, but not really spectator focused. No nightlife kind of stuff, no big show. Yes, right. And then we have the festival events, which is like gingerbread that you went to. Yes. CMP is basically that. This will be that. Yes. Laguna is that.
Lime Rock is kind of that, but we can't do music at night, so we build a tent with walls and do karaoke, and it's a wild party. It's a full festival, just no big stage. Okay. You've got to reduce the noise slightly. After 6, you've got to be quiet at Lime Rock, even on sound-free weekends. Okay. Wow. But karaoke's pretty loud. Right. But you can still get away with that. Yeah. Just barely. Right. But yeah, that's our festival versus club tour, effectively. Yeah. Is what we're calling it this year. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I mean, that's exciting. I mean, that's another big expansion, right? You guys expanded a lot in 2023. This year was the biggest year, but it'll be a big effort at this facility. We've been to this facility a bunch.
but we've never hosted a festival there. Okay. We've rented it two times as our championship round, I think. And then one time as a DE weekend before then. And then we were off a year because they were paving on our October date, which is a gorgeous weekend. Right. In 2022. Right. And then we were a sports series for the NASCAR. Yes, exactly. So, yeah, that's, we've been there a bunch, but it was really cool to be asked to host. Yeah, absolutely. Glad that Andrew wants to come out to it. Yeah, yeah. I'll make that, I'll make that trip too.
It's such a fun place to be, especially when they turn on all the food courts and there's people everywhere. The NASCAR weekend was really special for us. I loved it. I mean, I love the driving experience there. That was my first experience on a track, and I think I kind of got spoiled. Big, gnarly track. But really, I didn't like it the first time I drove it. What's because you were in a Honda? So there's more to that story. First time I drove it, I was in a good car, a good old race car, pretty fast, and it was a GLTC car, effectively. And it was before GLTC. But I didn't like it that much. I was like, this is, I don't know.
And then when I raced it in my Honda Fit, which is way slower, I thought, this place is magical. It's so spectacular. The straightaways are boring. Yes, exactly. But you can collect your thoughts. Yeah, literally. Listen to Kyle Heyer or something. You can wave for the camera. That was my first time attack competition that I've ever actually done. I had hosted like 150 of them. I never competed. So I bought a Honda Fit. I cut the springs. I put a rear sway bar on and brake pads and bought tires and went. I got P4 out of like 20 cars. Wow. And then I proceeded to make the car worse with bad choices on used coilovers. Yeah.
Yeah, Road America rules. I'd love to have you back out for that. I would also suggest, if you're looking at any other markets, the track scene in the Midwest, Indiana, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Michigan. We call that the Rust Belt. We kind of identified that one, too. That scene is big. It's big, and it's lower budget. So that would be one I would suggest. And we may add that one in. If you're going to start somewhere else again, that would maybe be one place I would look. Just because of the nature, they get pent up over the wintertime, which Atlanta and California may not. And they want to do stuff for six months a year. But also, especially in the cities.
You might not have a place for a trailer. Right. So, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. The plan is to... Obviously, people there could still list them. We're not restricting people's ability to list trailers. Just because I lived in Chicago and that was some of my contacts, I got to know them. But, absolutely, we're going to turn on the faucets here pretty soon. We just want to make sure that we're promoting a great product rather than trying to put money towards a good product. Yeah, you've still kind of been in beta for a little while. Yeah, we're still in beta. I think it's such a cool idea, as we talked about previously.
But if I could say one thing. It's such a useful thing for the right person. Yeah. Just got to make sure that they know it exists. Yep. They got to know that it exists. And if I could say one thing, if we had to just boil it down to one question right now, we're trying to understand what car hauler owners, what they would do because they would be the host. What do they need to really, you know, blow them away with value? Right. And so that's something. So if anybody wants to hit me up and let me know, you know, what would allow them to promote this thing without reservation? Right now I think, you know, people can promote it, but there's some hangups, there's some reservations, and I want to understand what can we do. And we can build it. We just need to know what to build. Okay.
Where do people find you with ideas? Well, they can go to TOLOS.com, T-O-W-L-O-S.com, and they can go to the Contact Us page, and that'll come to me, or they can just email me directly at matt at TOLOS.com. Cool. You guys just sent a few of us a little swag pack, so I think I might be walking around with a TOLOS hat next year. There you go, buddy. Maybe some koozies. Yeah, and I still got to get Jabay to list his trailers. Well, I got to get titles for him. And when you're at a racetrack every 10 days, you don't want to go stand at the DMV. Exactly. You should talk to your bosses, you know. You work too much. Yeah, the home-built trailer would be a perfect one for this. You can put two cars on it. It's really heavy-duty, great axles, great tires. Okay.
Perfect shape, powder-coated frame, easy to put a low car on, but I built it myself, and I don't have a plate for it because I just take the plate off my work trailer and put it on. Perfect. I didn't say that. That was theoretical. Hypothetically, I don't have a plate for that. That's right. And my other one, it started, my enclosed, it started life in Texas, I think, and they don't issue titles. So I bought it from somebody, and I'm like, well, now what? And I haven't investigated the now what? I just put my work trailer plate on it when I use it because I can only tell one thing at a time. Exactly, right. So I'm scumbagging it a little bit. Well, I'll help you out with that. We'll, you know, tell us we'll come to your rescue there, buddy.
I'll do some research. I could use a little pocket money, so maybe my units need to be used a little more. And that one's got fold-down beds, too. She might be in a trucker one. Oh, yeah. Okay. She's a good little enclosed. Yeah. And she's not pretty enough that I'd worry about it. And it's durable enough that I wouldn't have to. Speaking of, I just want to throw something a little like a sneak peek out. You know MTV Cribs? Yeah. So we've been thinking about doing some type of trailer version, like call it Tolos Cribs or something, you know, where people...
With cool trailers. Well, this is a DIY version of a cool trailer. Well, you know, but still you're proud of it. Well, my buddy built it. And I was like, I need to have that when you're done with it. Okay. He got out of cars because of kids and divorce and things. And he's actually listening. I think he still listens. So, Bowie, thank you for that. That's right. But, yeah, great trailer. One of my favorite things I've ever bought. Totally indestructible. Yep. Kind of fun that the beds fold down. Yeah. And you can still put a car in it. Right. And it's got AC. It does? Fucking dope. Yeah.
Wow. Yeah. So, no, that's a cool idea. I want that. I might steal it. It's a big, heavy 28-foot enclosed, but she's a good girl. Steel? No, aluminum. Aluminum. But it's a feather light, which, contrary to the name, is not that light of a trailer because they're built so well. They're built like tanks, especially in the 90s. So, anyway, I could talk about trailers forever. I love talking about trailers. Good trailer tires? Gotta have them. Gotta have them. Yeah. So.
Anyway, well, my voice is going. I think we promoted you plenty here. Yeah, exactly. So TOLOS.com? Yeah, that's right. Awesome. Thank you, man. T-O-W-L-O-S. I think it's such a cool idea. I think it can maybe get people to our events far away. You know, they borrow Dad's truck, and they tow their little hot rod, and they don't have to own a trailer all the time. Yeah, if we can decrease the barrier to entry, I mean, that's going to, you know, that'll, what do they say, that the rising tide races all ships? Ever since you were on the show, just about every event, somebody comes up, and they're like, what's up with the TOLOS thing? Is that legit? And I was like, I think it's legit. It's semi-legit, and we just, we're getting there.
This is where my imposter syndrome comes in. I need to say, yes, it's legit, but we're still learning and growing. Well, it is legit. You are doing it. Yeah. And, yeah, you're launching a business. Yeah. So I love that you're sticking with it. We're so thankful for the people that are, you know, jumped on board with us so far. Right. We appreciate their patience. And this is going to be a fun and exciting thing, but we got a ways to go. But I appreciate it. It's a really cool idea. Abe. I don't see Abe here this weekend. Abe's on his way back from Disney right now. Okay. He's coming tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I appreciate you guys. And, yeah, I'm excited for 2024. Yeah, man. All right. Well, Grid Life schedule is live. Grid.life. We put it all up today.
And live from PRI, that's another show. It's Friday. On the Hayward show, I said that it's only Saturday and my voice is gone, but it's actually Friday. So, yeah. Thanks, everybody, for listening.