Meet the YouTube Influencers of Rumble in the Ozarks Powered by PEAK

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Meet the YouTube Influencers of Rumble in the Ozarks Powered by PEAK

Derek Bieri of Vice Grip Garage, Emily and Aaron Reeves of Flying Sparks Garage, and Alex Taylor of Riding with Alex Taylor are ready to rumble!

If you were on HOT ROD Power Tour 2022, you may have seen a short clip about something called the Rumble in the Ozarks Powered by PEAK as you watched the big screen next to the eBay Motors main stage. In that clip you would have seen some intense go-kart racing action and three of YouTube’s biggest automotive influencers—Derek Bieri of Vice Grip Garage, Emily Reeves of Flying Sparks Garage, and Alex Taylor of Riding with Alex Taylor—getting ready to rumble.

Those paying close attention would have also seen an important date: August 13, 2022. That should sound familiar; it’s the same Saturday you can bring your street legal race car out to Pontiac, Michigan to legally street race on historic Woodward Avenue for the 7th Edition of MotorTrend Presents Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge. John Force’s title sponsor, go-karts, social media influencers, Jeremy Scott waving flags and yelling “drop the hammer!”—what the heck is going on here!?

Derek Bieri: Vice Grip Garage

When he first caught wind of the MotorTrend YouTube sensation that is Roadkill (click here to sign up for a free trial to MotorTrend+), Derek Bieri thought to himself, “I’ve been doing that my whole life. I could do that.” That same weekend, he decided to tape his broken iPhone to his garage door and film himself installing an engine, transmission, and front clip on a 1969 Chevy Camaro. This was the beginning of Vice Grip Garage. That’s not a misspelling; Derek has a sense of humor, and named his YouTube channel such because cars are literally his vice, he didn’t want viewers to take him too seriously (the channel is all about having fun and telling great car stories), and he wanted to avoid copyright infringement from the company that makes a similarly named tool.

Actually, the beginning of Derek Bieri’s wrenching life goes back to his grandparents, who were cattle and wheat farmers in northwest South Dakota. Grandpa always had a pair of pliers on his hip, and dad Bieri was the same. Growing up on a farm outside of a small town where parts and supplies were limited, the Bieris were constantly tinkering with equipment and cars to keep them running. Naturally, Derek has been working on cars, trucks, and more for his entire life, and he provides a similar education for his children, who can often be seen helping their dad in Derek’s videos.

The entrepreneur-turned-business-executive-turned-derelict-car-rescuer always has a pair of locking pliers in his pocket and was always happiest in the workshop, which is why he hung up the suit and tie permanently, and puts his coveralls on every morning instead. Locking pliers can grab things, pinch things, hammer on things, test spark-a-lator things—they’re the perfect tool for the enthusiast who just wants to get their car working and go have fun. That’s why Derek started his YouTube channel—he wants you to get out there and get that ’69 Camaro running, then go have fun with it.

Emily and Aaron Reeves: Flying Sparks Garage

You know that feeling when the sparks start to fly, and everything just feels right with the world? Emily and Aaron Reeves felt those sparks at the end of a youth group meeting with their church as teenagers and never looked back. Aaron is a fourth-generation diesel mechanic and Emily is technically a professional model by trade, but now you could say they’re both YouTube influencers. The Houston-based husband and wife have been inseparable since that first night they listened to the thumping bass in Aaron’s Nissan 280Z on the drive home.

Way back in 2004-2005-ish, Aaron was still working at the family commercial diesel service center but had a side business swapping Cummins 4BT engines into Jeeps and trucks. Emily and Aaron were already starting to see a shift in how automotive parts and supply manufacturers were marketing their products, and with the help of a high school friend who had studied marketing, they started a YouTube channel showcasing all of Aaron’s Cummins Jeep swaps. Ultimately, the swapping business wasn’t going to work out, so the couple decided to change direction, and Flying Sparks Garage was born.

It doesn’t matter if it rolls, floats, or flies, the Reeves want to work on it and drive it. Emily loves drag racing her Pontiac GTO “Roxy” so much that she’ll run hot lap after hot lap without any care that she’s losing mile-an-hour and power due to heat-soak, and Aaron only encourages her to keep going. Emily and Aaron’s goal is to keep that passionate spark for life hot—and ignite one in you, dear reader, to get your hands dirty and dig into that project vehicle—as they showcase their family values and healthy marriage.

Alex Taylor: Riding With Alex Taylor

How have you not heard of Alex Taylor at this point? The nearly-26-year-old drag racer and co-host of HOT ROD Garage has been making waves in the automotive YouTube and drag-and-drive scene since she was 16. All Alex wants to do is go fast. Her “Badmaro” 1968 Camaro built for HOT ROD Drag Week was originally intended to just be a daily driver, but plans have a way of snowballing at the Taylor’s Arkansas hot-rodding compound. Now she considers the 10.78 best e.t. she ran in Drag Week 2013 to be slow, and Badmaro can run in the 8s and eat up road trips in style and comfort like nobody’s business.

Dad Dennis Taylor is a master fabricator and loves the challenge of building automotive art … that also runs really fast. Marketing wizard Alex appreciates the challenge, too, and plays along from the business side, and the two inspire each other to go bigger and bigger with each new build. That’s how her Youtube channel, Riding with Alex Taylor, and her racing company, Alex Taylor Racing, both got their start. After Alex got her first sponsors in 2014, she saw the opportunity that being a social media influencer could afford her, and was off to the races.

Even before she finished her Bachelor’s degree in business marketing, Alex was leveraging her social media influence to do what she loves most—to go fast. But Alex doesn’t set goals like other people would. She doesn’t want to miss any opportunity, so rather than set rigid goals with inflexible timelines, Alex just goes with the flow—as long as that flow is (even remotely) guiding her towards speed. She recently accomplished her current short-term goal of running in the 6s in the 1955 Chevy 210 she and her Dad built. But that is not the end of the Riding with Alex Taylor journey; now she wants to run even faster with the Bumblebee Racing Pro Mod Camaro, and go land speed racing.

You already know that PEAK is pitting these YouTube influencers against one another in some form of go-kart race, but where and why? The why is easy—ultimate bragging rights. Derek, Alex, and Emily (with the help of Aaron) are all dyed-in-the-wool racers, but who is the fastest of the group? As for the where, you’ll have to wait until August 13, 2022, to find out. Tune in to MotorTrend+ or MotorTrend’s YouTube channel to get the full story on the Rumble in the Ozarks Powered by PEAK, or make a trip out to Pontiac and find out in person what these rumbles are all about.

Watch a Full Episode of Roadkill! Dodge Hellcat-Viper-Hellcat Thrash Battle!

On episode 38 of Roadkill, David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan got some (then) brand-new supercars: the 707-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and Charger SRT Hellcat, plus a 645-horsepower Dodge Viper GT. Why? For an epic thrash, of course! This video has more tire smoke than you’ve ever seen from these cars, plus a big, irresponsible surprise at a motocross track. Sign up for a free trial to MotorTrend+ and start watching every episode of Roadkill today!

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