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132 Miles Per Hour—and $6.5 Million in Debt: What a CEO Learned About Legacy with Ed Rahill

• Grant McGaugh CEO 5 STAR BDM • Season 6 • Episode 45

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A single Saturday in 1966 changed everything. When a young Ed Rahill paused lawn duty to hear the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the radio, endurance racing planted a seed that would grow into record-setting coast-to-coast drives, a fearless corporate career, and a blueprint for living with grit. We go beyond the spectacle to explore how planning, patience, and partnership carry you through the stretches no one posts on highlight reels.

Ed maps the unlikely bridge between CFO and president roles and the “last great American road race,” weaving in a vivid history of endurance—from the Pony Express and thousand-mile cattle drives to the first cross-country auto challenge in 1904. The stories are cinematic: arrests in multiple states, an all-points bulletin, clandestine support from GM engineers, and the relentless math of speed, fuel, and fatigue. Yet the real takeaway is strategic: choose the right teammate, build redundancy, respect the road, and recover fast when everything breaks at once.

At the heart of this conversation is a promise. Raised by women who sacrificed their dreams, Ed vowed to break that pattern and treat life as a relay. The baton metaphor runs through every chapter—start strong, absorb the hits, and hand off hard-won wisdom so the next runner goes farther. He shares the razor‑thin moment when a handshake with Blackstone saved his company and his team, reminding us that survival is often the doorway to impact. The message is simple and powerful: you have the right to try, the duty to prepare, and the calling to pass your gains forward.

If stories of resilience, leadership under fire, and American car culture light you up, you’ll find both adrenaline and guidance here. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a push, and leave a review telling us the toughest mile you’ve ever run—what baton are you carrying next?

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com
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And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/

See you next time on Follow The Brand!

SPEAKER_02:

I want to welcome everybody to the Funnel Rant podcast. We are going to have a unique show today. I want to welcome everyone to an experience on both sides of the ball: the personal world and the business world and the convergence of how they come together. And I call the life and times of Ed Rahill. He's going to convey to us his story, some of his experiences that I think will help the audience to grow and move forward. And before I keep going on and on and on, let's get him introduced. So, Ed, you'd like to introduce yourself? Thank you, everyone.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh Grant, it's an honor to be here and talk to your audience. I'm Ed Rahill. I'm the author of One Mile at a Time, a project that I've been on for a number of years, and I plan on taking it to the next level. And I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to you about it. Um, it's it's a it's a very unique uh situation to be in because my third the prior 30 years is in corporate America as uh you know then you know becoming a CFO of a company, taking it public, then becoming president of then starting my own company, becoming CEO, and then selling that. So I have 30 years of that. Well, how in the hell did you get into this business of writing a book?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's really not a book about business, it's about life. It's uh really the um, you know, uh, and I think what I'd like to share is the attitude uh of why you're willing to take on new things that are unfamiliar and try to do it because I I think that's part of the adventure of life. And so that's uh matter of fact, the the heading on my book is one mile a time. It says the memoir of the last great American road race and the adventure we call life. So I even have that in the title. Um, so uh I'm I'm I'm love to lay it out for you. Uh how what would your audience how would you like to to set this up so that I can immediately get to the heart of it?

SPEAKER_02:

That's a great question of itself because you piqued my curiosity in what you're doing, why you do it. And that is really the the purpose of this particular uh episode. That's what the follow brand is all about. I love that you have a uh background chief financial officer. So you speak finance, you know, finance is the language of business. Um so I'm into the personal brand, business development, investment banking, which you take all three of those boxes. But the brand, the personal brand is the story of yourself. Now you've done some things around, I I call it from Le Mans to Life Lessons, where you've shared the watching, which I found this intriguing. 1966, 24 hours of Le Mans that sparked your passion for endurance racing. My question is this what about that race lit the fire in you as a young boy? And how has that passion shaped your life since?

SPEAKER_01:

I grew up in an automobile company. I you know, I I grew up my grandmother was the first woman ever to own and operate a Ford dealership in the United States back in the uh 30s. Her my grandfather and her you know had two nickels and a dime to get started, and he he was 36 or 34 and it convinced Henry Ford in the 30s to let him explore getting a dealership in Western New York. He ended up doing it, and the long story here is that he he actually got it to where it was running, and then at 36, 37 he he died of appendicitis. People died of that stuff back then.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

So my grandmother had to take over with four kids, and so uh, and I basically was in in many parts of my life raised by her, so I was involved in her life and the business and that. And her her point was as long as soon as I was able to walk, I had to go down to the dealership and take garbage out to the pails. Then, but uh what we're talking about, and by the time I was 12, I was big enough or old enough to cut the grass. And I just happened to be on a Saturday doing that, and the salesman ran out, knew who I was to come on in. We listen to a race in in France, and that was the uh it was it was called the 24 Hours Le Mans. And the interesting thing is the reason I bring it up is because it was the first time I remember thinking, I want to do this. Yeah, you know, up to that point, I was aware of cars. Uh, you know, I have been exposed to the typical South Buffalo environment with drag racing and that type of thing. And that never really appealed to me. That always felt like that was well, I don't know, I was burning tired, and what I was really doing was an uncontrolled race, uncontrolled rocket ship on wheels. And I uh at that time uh NASCAR was being born, and and again, you know, Ford was a bigger NASCAR, and so I used to watch that, but after a couple hours of watching it on TV, I got bored with their going. They just spent two and a half hours turning left all the time. It just seemed to me that where where is this, you know? And Lama is a is a 24-hour endurance race where you get you you drive um nonstop. Well, you you trade places with a partner every four hours, but you drive nonstop, uh, and the uh uh and the objective is to see the one who can go the farthest in 24 hours is the winner. And it was over open roads, roads that people drove on all you know in France all the time. They just closed eight, ten miles off for the race. And I that seemed to me what was most fascinating the being able to to uh to get out there and and and drive on a on in a real driving environment, not a racetrack. So that's kind of got it going.

SPEAKER_02:

That's you you park I I'm getting a memory from the 60s, and I remember seeing a I think it was a movie that and maybe it's that movie that came out that there was a road race, and they were just and it was a comedy, I think it was a comedy at the time.

SPEAKER_01:

You you but this is gonna lead right into that, yeah. Yeah, you're thinking about you're thinking about the uh Burt Reynolds stuff, which was uh uh the the cannonball run, uh the gumball rally, and the uh um I think the the other one was Smoky and the Bandit. Interestingly enough, those movies became hits in Hollywood because what the in unbeknownst to many people, that was really going on. Okay, and and one thing I lay out in the book about the about cross-continental racing, endurance racing, it started in the 1860s with the Pony Express, where uh Baldo Bill Cody was a Pony Express rider. And and it was dry, it was in case they were dropping the mail off, but they would ride as fast as they could to get from one end of the country to the other ocean to drop the mail off. And that became legendary, and people became at the first time aware of the vastness of the country and the and the romantic you know uh picture of a of a cowboy riding as fast as he could. At 40 miles, they had these stations, and they literally they wouldn't basically get off one horse and start all over again.

SPEAKER_00:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And it got the imagination. Unfortunately, we had the Civil War, and that went away. But after that, and I'm there's a method to my my conversation here. So now go right away. Um, after that, uh you had thousands of of young men who had basically lives had really pretty much been upset with uh uh and disoriented because of having been in in the war, and they were looking for opportunities, they had nowhere to go. And and at that time, ranchers were starting moving out west and having cattle uh ranches and all those places in Texas and everything. And so this is when the cowboy was born, right? Right. It was right after the Civil War because they they he would they would go out, they'd they'd take what pay they had, buy a horse, a saddle, a rope, and they'd ride around from ranch to ranch to see if they could get a job. They were like freelancers.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And at that time, then the cattle they had these thousand-mile cattle drives where and that and and that these employ these cowboys would be employed with that. And what would happen, uh, you drive from Abilene to your your your the herd to Abilene to Texas to the stockyards, and they would get paid and they get drunk, and inevitably became a tradition. First one back to Abilene gets you know, gets the prize, and they'd get out on their horses and ride as fast as they could for about a week to get there. And so that was the cross-continental, the long-distance endurance uh horse racing became part of the culture. The last big race was the 1893 uh Great Cowboy Race of 1893 uh from uh Nebraska to Chicago that was sponsored by Buffalo Bill Cody and won his Wild West show. The winner was going to get a gold, all he would get was a gold-plated cold 45, and of course it was awarded. But that that shook up um it actually got coverage in in Europe, it became very famous, and uh, but it was also at a time when it was the culmination and the end of that type of racing because you had the railroads taking over the cattle drives, you had barbed wire faints stopping it, and there was no longer a need for a cowboy.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01:

There were the only ones that would survive were ones that were full-time employees at a ranch. But the average cowboy, the 80% that were out there, their careers went away. And so that that ended the the uh the and it became nationally uh a real event if you read the papers and back then, you know, uh people interested in that race. And that was the end of it, but it wasn't because in 2000 and in 1904, a group of men in New York City at a club challenged each other to a race across the country with their automobiles, and that was the very first cross-continental endurance race. Instead of a horse, you used a car. It took 44 days. And if you read the book at the beginning, I have a forward where I'm I drove out to Oregon. It was from uh New York to Portland, Oregon, 44 days. A guy named Woodland is his driver, uh, won that race. And the state of Oregon enacted two monuments in their state park honoring this event. And there's a picture of it because it what what America today doesn't understand, because we're a totally different culture, we've matured and evolved. But back then, this stuff was big entertainment, and so it continued to that race. There was a series of other races, and then a guy named uh Edwin Baker became the name Cannonball Baker, was setting records driving from LA to New York. Uh, all these guys are publicity kind of, by the way. They they always made sure the cameras are there and that type of thing.

SPEAKER_02:

And let me jump in there, Ed, because you also you hold the the record for the fastest cross-continental endurance road race from Boston to San Diego. That is a heck of an experience. You know, there's uh and I want you if you could take us to that, because riding across the country, you know, probably I don't know if you go into speed limit or not, but there's got to be some high points and tough moments. What does it feel like though? First of all, first we finally crossed the finish line doing that.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, it wasn't an uh just understand that was the last great American road race, and I'll explain why. But also understand that there was a hundred years of history behind that race. Okay. And so it it you know, it was not, it was basically I ran it twice. The second time was called the can uh the four-ball rally. Uh 3,126 miles in in 35 hours and 46 minutes. The just to give you a reference point, um, the average speed, including all stops, I was I had six hours' delays. I was arrested in upstate New York, I was arrested in Ohio, broke down Illinois, and we were really out of the whole race at that time. We were a good six hours behind everybody else. And um, you know, I averaged from the Mississippi River to to Adrian, Texas, about 132 miles an hour. And that was that got us back in the race. And then from that point on, it was just uh pedal to the metal. My partner and I just ran the thing as fast as we could. There's some really fun stuff that happened in it, a lot of interesting. Uh, this was the nation's most aggressive in the in American history. It was the most nationally aggressive law enforcement effort in the country. All the state police from both from Massachusetts to California were coordinated. They had tracking going on. They knew I when I got arrested in in Ohio, I didn't even have, I couldn't, didn't even give the guy my license. He said, Hey, Mr. Rahill, come on back to my car. We got something to talk about. And he showed me the APP, the all points bulletin, which I have a copy of my book, about the fact that the races started and we got to get out there. And we they were out there hunting, and he would laugh about it. Uh that that he the the ticket, he said, This is my day off, Ed. You know, I you know, but when I heard you guys are running, I volunteered to come in because I wanted to do this. And he's and he ended up getting what we call the super trooper award. He arrested four of us. At the award bank, what we would officially get the tickets. Who did it? And we we just sent no other trooper before that had done anything, but we sent another say about congratulations. He showed up at the awards bank would get his trophy. It was a different world back then. There was an adventure, and it was the end because the population was growing, it was going to become too dangerous to do it anymore. The traffic could be too much. Legally, it became very difficult to do it because lawsuits were now getting the sense of humor about the race kind of dissipated. And and and I basically tell people it's it's it should never happen again because it's with with when you had 150 million people in the country, you know, you could probably could do this. But when you got 330 million on the road, it's much more difficult.

SPEAKER_02:

Much more difficult.

SPEAKER_01:

But it was the last great race, and and um uh I I it it was an adventure and it was planning, uh, and it was for preparation and it was courage and guts because uh it was you you get physically and emotionally and uh beat up on a race like that, especially since you're when you're being chased and having to watch out for getting arrested. And it was uh it was it was it was an event, but it was an example, I think, of of a it was an example of trying to to accomplish something in life different than the business environment, but you use the same skill set. The skill sets are anticipation, planning, choosing the right partner. When you're a CEO, it's who your employees are are gonna make you look good or bad, you know, uh is an example. Um uh you know, getting support. We basically were sponsored by General Motors in this race. Nobody knows about that. And and in the book, you'll start you'll discover the environment. The year before I won it with Tim, my partner, Porsche has sent over a 9-11 team from their from their race car development group, and they won it. This was an international event. And and it it was in and and we the reason how we were lucky enough to get GM is that the GM Proving Grounds engineers in Milford, Michigan were following these races and were pissed off because GM would not support any American doing it. So they called us up and did a clandestine support. I bought the car, they made it into something a lot more than what the car was, and then I got it back. And then they called me afterwards, asked me if they could have the car back and get me a new car because the word had gotten out to headquarters of downtown Detroit that that you know somebody was a GM was sponsoring this race and they wanted to hide the evidence. Yeah, but it was it that's all went on, and it was it was a it was a great experience.

SPEAKER_02:

I tell you what, now you got some family history around this. I mean, you made a a promise, I think, to your grandmother that you're gonna break the cycle of broken dreams. Yeah, that is um huge, huge, huge dream. So, how did you keep that promise?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and I think that this is a story of America too, because all of us, if we go back far enough in our family history, we have we have we have really very difficult times. My uh great-grandmother came over from Ireland at 14 and uh left her family, never saw her family or siblings again, and was sent to Buffalo, New York to become a maid in a house on Bedower Avenue, and that's how she spent her life. She had my grandmother as one of her kids, and at the age of at the she only got a fifth grade education um because uh uh the she had to the family needed her to go out and work to help support the family, and her job in South Buffalo was to walk the railroad tracks to collect coal. And she said to me that this was a good job. She'd be able to sell the coal and be able to bring some home for cooking and heat. And that was the environment, but but none of her generation and prior generations, including my mother, who basically had to work and and and give up her dreams of travel and becoming everything. Uh she was a single mother got a divorce. Um she would say to me, you know, the entire family is a history of broken dreams. Nobody, you know, your great-grandmother, myself, your mother have never been able to pursue the dreams. They had to pursue the responsibility. I'm asking you, you have the opportunity now to break that string of broken dreams for your family going forward. And that was really the driver in my life. Um, that one of the drivers that caused me to continue to pursue a career. I never pursued a career uh for the money, I never pursued a career for that. It was really to try to establish uh myself as a solid platform for the next generation. And key to the book, you'll see it in the back. I use an analogy, uh, and you're gonna I'm gonna go through my high school years, including athletics and sports and football. But at the end of it, I say, what I've learned, but I wrote this book and I wrote it because I wanted to tell the remaining generation that life is like a relay race. It's like a mile relay race. And there are runners who run their leg before you, and there are runners that are gonna run it after you. And when that runner who before you, hopefully your your ancestors, when they come to turn, they're handing off the baton of wisdom and experience to you. And your job is to run that damn thing as far as you can. Yes, you do live for yourself. Yes, you do try to become as best you can be. But there's going to come a time when you're doing the fourth turn coming in the last hundred yards where you've got to start thinking about handing your baton off to the next generation. And that's the theme I'm trying to get in the book in the driver. I want to tell because people say, Well, do you uh you mean you have to give up things for the next generation? No, you don't. You're you need to grow and become the best you can, but you have to have the attitude that you do have the responsibility to help the next generation to become better than you. And that and that and that is what handing the baton off is. So I I wanted people to understand that you know being in it for your life, for yourself, and growing and living your life is is is good as long as at the end of it you understand that you that the knowledge you gain you want to give to others. And that's where so you can it it's really important because sometimes I think people don't understand about their responsibilities to other people and your family. Responsibilities is uh I have a I don't have in the book, but I I'm sitting in my home office of my my 12, 13-year-old son screaming and crying at me because I'm I'm on his case about something that he that he dropped the ball on. He says, All you want me to do is become like you. And I said, No, I want you to become better than me. That's what I'm bringing you up for. And that's the way I like being a parent.

SPEAKER_02:

That's better. I mean, that that's the responsibility of the that that further generation, and that's what we always look at. Maybe it's a tall order, but you gotta be better in what you're doing, your zone of genius, what you've been doing. And and like you mentioned, uh, you've been the CFO of uh ITC holdings, CEO of Grid Lance, you what's the Blackstone company? And so here's the question that comes out of that, what you're what you're talking about, which is very important for people to understand. I want I want to understand even more like what is harder? Is it closing a high-stakes business deal or racing across the country on the clock, coming around for that fourth, you know, fourth leg and handing off that baton? Which one is uh harder?

SPEAKER_01:

What I love about the race, I'm gonna answer your question. Just give me a second, it's gonna come right back. The race in this book is a metaphor for life and how to live it. Because every time we pursue anything in life, I guarantee you, at least half the time, if not more, you're gonna get slammed and knocked down, and you're gonna not think you can do it. The key for the key for my success in business is basically not it's and I talk about it, you know, I got knocked down and it seemed impossible, but I got back up. It was really it's what my my grandmother says in in the book, I have as a quote in the back. The difference between winners and losers in life are the survivors. The point is, can you hang on longer than anybody else? And and and you know, that that's that's the that's the story of the race, hanging on when everybody else and you were gonna give up. And and starting, you know, I when I you should have seen what it was like when I started Grid Lions, I was six and a half million dollars in debt. I had people who quit their jobs, paying jobs at secure utilities to come work for me, and I wasn't paying none. They were doing it on the common, and they had families and mortgages. And and you know, it's talk about not sleeping at night.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

At the end of the day, all I wanted was this business to be a success. Blackstone came in, and they at and I'm telling you, I it you gotta recognize a break when you see it. I was talking to a lot of of uh private equity, but they were all dragging their feet. But Blackstone over lunch said, we'll do the deal, it's a handshake deal, we'll do it right now. But I had to give up the company. Yeah, I was CEO and I get a little stock, but I had to give it up. They owned it. But what what did I get out of it? I got a chance to build a company I had a dream. I really didn't have a big economic stake in it anymore, but I got to pay my people and I got to pay off my debts so I don't go bankrupt. And I was that frigging close. And willing is is hanging in there that one more time. Um, it you come so close to just a razor-thin moment. Um, you you you can and I I've and I know this because there's times I in other adventures that I gave up on and I regretted it because I realized that I just didn't hang in. But every success that's worked out in this book and in my life is hanging on that last one moment and not not not giving up. Um, and so that's something I would like my kids to know. And I'd like to I like the next generation though. I th I I do feel that our Gen Z group is just a little bit entitled and not understanding how they're gonna run into problems when they get older. I just want them to understand. They don't see it now. But man, you know, you live life. No, life is not.

SPEAKER_02:

You don't know until you know. And but are you prepared for the race? Just like you just stated. Are you prepared? Because if you keep thinking it's smooth sailing and you don't realize you know what comes after um summer and fall is winter. I mean, that's just the cycles of life. It's going to happen, it's just a matter of timing and what that's really going to look like. You have spoken about one of my key principles in my framework, which I call the Brave Framework, and that's resilience. You've got to have resilience, you've got to prepare yourself and understand it. You know, you're going to go through some things that aren't all that pleasant, but you you've got to set a goal, whatever that goal is. Uh to your point, man. Going to bed at night, knowing six and a half million dollars in debt. You've got people that are depending on you to finally pull it through. And then at the end of the day, when you don't even see it, you come around the corner and get some daylight, blackstone with some daylight. And then you're like, I got to hand that baton off like right, right, right now, and then and get to the other other side of what this journey is about. That's what I call the endurance in American culture, the endurance racing that you've done. I and you just pointed to that unique role in the United States culture, history. I think you gave a great history lesson that I did not know and just come from Boston to San Diego. I want to understand like, what do you think uh people are so fascinated? Why would they be so fascinated by this story? And what does it symbolize to you in the big picture?

SPEAKER_01:

It's a unique American uh cultural uh uh event that that many Americans, unlike other societies in the world, Europe, you just go over to nobody thinks they can do anything. They feel they have a role to play, and that's it. What's been unique about this country, and this may not last forever, that you can see it, is that we you have the ability to come here and actually have the audacity to think I can be better and I can do this. I can be the one that's in charge a little bit. You can be look you in in Britain, you can't be an alpha male. It's not allowed in that society or in France. It's not allowed. And and what and and and what I use that in the term is that uh alpha males you know have a little bit of a bad reputation because they think they're you know they're full of themselves or a little bit. But the attitude is that I know that I a lot if I can dream it, I can do it. Or if I can dream it, I can try it. You don't in other countries, in other societies, you don't even get a chance to try.

SPEAKER_00:

Very true.

SPEAKER_01:

You have the right to fail. That's what makes it so so good. They just go right ahead. And and and I think that's part of the the lesson I know I learned in my life, is that uh you know, I I remember several times, including starting Grid Lions, when I wanted to give up because I was really nervous about the debt and I was worried about everything. Um I remember saying to myself, how do I if I quit now, how am I going to feel about myself 10 years? I says, I'm always gonna wonder if I could have done it if I just hung in there longer. You know, and so there's no there's no shame in giving your best and failing. It just means you move on to something else. And and that that's what that's what I'm trying to capture an attitude in this book is that you you can overcome it. You do have the right to try. And that you know, failure is not, you know, while winning can be temporary, failure is also not permanent. It's only permanent if it destroys you as a man and you don't go on. It's picking yourself back up that that that's the hero. And and I think that's that little bit of subtle difference in our culture versus European culture and other places, I think is an important thing to understand. Um, and I'm hoping that when I say a metaphor for life, the whole race is a metaphor, you the massive preparation for it, and then having everything go wrong and how you approach it.

SPEAKER_02:

That is true life. You know, that right you said there, we all start out. Some of us have a goal, you have a plan, here's your strategy. This is our go, you know, go to market strategy. Let's say that's like breaking the huddle in football, right? Everybody has a plan. I tell people this all the time that when when they draw it up. Up you know, in on the board, every every play is a touchdown, and everybody knows it's not like that. You know, there's resistance on the other side of the ball. There's somebody else with another agenda that's maybe not parallel to yours, you know. So it's gonna run into yours. So the plan always gets altered. But if you have that North Star in front of you, that this is the goal. The path forward may not be straight, it might be very cyclical, or it could be almost unrecognizable at the end of the race. But at the end of the day, you always learn something from your journeys. I like what you have taken us through uh for the last half hour or so, and taking us from an endurance race, something that was fun. You took us to the past, you took us into the present, and then you took us into the future. My last question to you as you begin to hand off this paton, this baton in the in this particular episode, but then in your life and your journey, and you put it into your book, what do you want to tell that generation that's coming ahead of you that's now got that handout to get that baton? What would you say?

SPEAKER_01:

I pray that they they they have the attitude I was trying to lay out. When you're born into this life, you've been given a gift. You know, you've been given a gift to you know to to make something better than what you were born, what you were when you were born, or just just the way I'd like to say it, you have a choice to be the type of human being where life happens to, or the type of being that happens to life. And it's your choice. And and so what I lay out in this trying to do lay out in this book, because I talk about personal development all the way to the end of winning, um, is I I'm I laid out what I hope is a a roadmap of of how you could approach life and make that happen. Because I honestly believe I've never met somebody who didn't have a real gumption and tenacity that kept that couldn't get anybody who's gonna, I'll tell you, I will never go up against anybody that has the guts to pull himself up after the knockdown. That's not a type of guy you want to go up against. I'm telling you right now. And it's also life is that way. And and and and so I want them to be the happiest, most successful human being they can be. I want them to feel good, self-actualized. But I also want them to understand that the good Lord's gonna call you home someday. So before you do that, pass your gift of what you learned on to the next generation so they could take advantage of it and become the best they can be. I love that. That's what I do.

SPEAKER_02:

I only got one more question for you, Ed. And I've been asking this question for a lot of my guests because I like to get real feedback in real time. You've been on a lot of podcasts, you've done a lot of interviews, you've talked to a lot of different people. This is your first opportunity to be a guest on the Follow Brand Podcast. How was your experience?

SPEAKER_01:

Superb. Let me let me explain why I love this this interview. I got to talk, we got to talk about the the person behind the events and what it was what the personal experience was and the right attitude. Because what I really am, I'm that's what I want. You know, this is part of my I say my legacy. I this is my turning the corner with the baton. This puts my baton. I try to make a move, get a movie made out of it, but after that, I'll probably move on to something else as long as I you know I have the you know the uh opportunity to do so and maybe go back into business. But I want I want to take the moment to make sure I can look back at my life, and I try to do my best to pass the baton on to those who come after me. I feel that's my responsibility to the future generation and to the human race. I'm I'm I'm a proud member of the human race. I like being one. I like humans, I like people. Uh, I just want to be something that did something positive in my life.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you certainly have done that, and I I want to appreciate you being on the show. Never had a guest quite like yourself that has such a story that I don't think anyone will be able to tell a story uh like that. Because I just got these visions. I just remember the 1960s and some of these movies they came out. They had the the great, I think one of them was called the Great Race. And it was it was hilarious. And you lived in that, then it's not a movie for you. You actually did that.

SPEAKER_01:

The car, the car culture, uh I mean, what where I when I grew up, uh speed limits were a suggestion. I'm not kidding you. And the cops were different. Uh the cops were were just like you and me. Um, they you know, they basically would um what what if they thought you were a decent guy, they wouldn't they didn't have a quota, so they wouldn't give you oh, they'd go the hell on you if they thought you were a jerk. But I mean, I got pulled over when I was 17 with my sister, you know, doing in the backwoods uh in Guardville, New York. And the cop pulled me over and he spent 15 minutes giving me a lecture. And you know what he said to me? He says, you know, I know who you are, I know you work at that dealership, I know you drive cars all the time. He says, I'm not care, I'm not worried about your ability to handle your car. I'm worried about the little old lady in a rambler taking a turn. She's over the line, and you knock her out. He says, That's what you have to think about the next time you step on the gas.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

What's gonna happen? And I look at me. How many decades later? I'm telling you what I remembered what he said to me when I was 17.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

You see what I mean? Those are the types of costs I love because he changed my he affected me even here at this in in 2025.

SPEAKER_02:

I I love it. Now, now you're gonna tell the audience because you talked about the book. They gotta know where they can can they get the book and how they can contact you.

SPEAKER_01:

It's it's one mile at a time. Um uh you're catching me at this is the original. We're doing a second edition with a little bit different cover, and it's gonna be out on Amazon, and it'll be available uh in uh at Barnes and Noble and bookstores they asked for it one mile at a time, Edward M. Ray Hill. And it it uh I'm having an audiobook come out, and we're gonna do the full score on it. And I have just hired a marketing group so that you to get some attention to it because right now my next venture, which is a long shot, I just had two people in the film business tell me I'm crazy, can't do it. I want this to be a movie. Yeah, so I'm gonna figure it out I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna figure it out.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, you can get it done. Somebody director, they're gonna listen to this podcast and they're gonna remember the great race. And like we got somebody actually did the great race, they went from Boston, San Diego, they got stories they're talking about where speed limits were suggestions. I want to see that movie. I want to see what that looks like.

SPEAKER_01:

It was good. And I mean there uh and there was some excitement we haven't talked about. Um, when we got into Arizona and then finally California, the California Highway Patrol was really you know, wanted to stop and uh stop us and we were able to get through that. But we can you can read it in the book.

SPEAKER_02:

That's why we can see the movie. But I want to thank you again for being a guest on the Follow Brand Podcast. Encourage your entire audience to see all the episodes of Follow Brand at Five Star BDM. That is the number five. That is Star S T A R BDM B for brand, D for Development, Informasters.com. I want to thank you again for being on the show.

SPEAKER_01:

And thank you for the opportunity. I really, really appreciate it. This has been fun. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Fun for me as well. Thank you.