Introducing: Lauren Goodman (REVS Institute)

Lauren Goodman - Supervising Producer of Media and Exhibitions at Revs Institute for REVS Institute

Lauren received her Masters in Fine Arts in screenwriting from the College of Motion Pictures Arts at Florida State University. While volunteering at the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida, she encountered one of two Maserati's entered by Lucy Schell in the 1940 Indy 500. Wanting to know more, and diving head first into the research, She became an overnight Petrol-head, now owns a sports car, and finds herself as the Supervising Producer for Media and Exhibitions at The Revs Institute! And she’s here to share her story with you!

Contact: Lauren Goodman at Visit Online!

       

• You worked in Hollywood for a while, what was that like? Any highlights?
• How did you get involved in the autosphere? Because your background isn’t in this arena. What drew you in? 
• You bought a MIATA!?! Her name is Kitty Raikkonen?
• You’re a member of the SAH – what drew you to that organization?
• You presented at the 2022 IMRRC/SAH Symposium on motor racing history; with a wonderful presentation we featured on Break/Fix about Lucy O’Reilly Schell – why Lucy?
• You find yourself at REVS; and there’s a story there too – how did that come to be? 
• What’s next for Lauren?

and much, much more!

[00:00:00] BreakFix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the autosphere, from wrench turners and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of petrolheads that wonder. How did they get that job or become that person?

The road to success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.

Tonight’s guest received her master’s in fine arts in screenwriting for the college of motion pictures arts at Florida state university. While volunteering at the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida, she encountered one of two Maseratis entered by Lucy Schell in the 1940 Indianapolis 500. Wanting to know more and diving headfirst into the research, Lauren Goodman became an overnight petrolhead, now owns a sports car, and finds herself as the supervising producer for media and exhibitions at the Revs Institute.

And she’s here [00:01:00] with us tonight to share her story with you. So welcome to break fix, Lauren. Hello. I’m so happy to be here. Well, like all good break fix stories, there’s a super heroine origin story. So let’s talk about the who, what, where, and why of you. And it’s a little bit of a roundabout way to CARS.

So let’s start with your career in the movies. I received my MFA in screenwriting from a terrific little film school headed out to LA as most of us do a few friends. Went to Atlanta, but starting out in LA, I did a little bit of everything that you’re supposed to do. I did internships. I worked as an assistant.

I ended up making a living in TV commercials for a while, learning about producing them and then getting a chance to even write a couple, not major ones. We’re not talking about for the giant agencies, but for some smaller brands, looking to break into TV as a market. I think all of it was. educational for the work I do now, even though I didn’t realize that’s what was going on.

I was just trying to [00:02:00] find a way to make ends meet. Basically, L. A., you’re always robbing Peter to pay Paul, especially when you freelance, which I did for quite a while. And by the time the pandemic rolled around, I really was kind of done. I had set out to become a TV writer and And even with my foot in the door taking a look around at the people I was working with, the environment I was working in, it didn’t appeal to me.

I couldn’t see myself doing that for the next 20, 30 years. Of course, at that kind of time, I ended up moving home like so many people did. And like a lot of people, I decided, you know what, I don’t think I’m going to go back. Then the question becomes, well, what do I do now? I have a degree in screenwriting.

What am I possibly qualified to do? And while I was basically working a job here in my hometown, I discovered that my hometown, Naples, Florida, has one of the premier car museums in the world. Let’s see, my first time at REVS, it was just after my birthday because my sister had gotten us tickets for a tour for my birthday.

I gotta tell you, REVS is one of the best kept secrets in Florida because a lot of people [00:03:00] who work at the higher level of car collecting or attend heritage events that have really incredible cars are familiar with the cars in the collection. But locally, it’s kind of like the best kept secret in the area.

There are a lot of people like me who grew up here or spent many years here and don’t know it’s there. So when my sister said, Oh, I have some tickets to this car museum for your birthday. I was kind of like, okay, it’s going to be like a Model T. And a couple of Thunderbirds or something. It’s just going to be a silly way to spend an afternoon before you go to lunch.

So was there already an inkling there of being interested in cars? Why did she pick specifically going to Revs for your birthday? So I am at home during the pandemic, jobless, living in my teenage bedroom, feeling like an absolute winner. Just. Everything’s going great around this time. I still love film and television.

I love that it can introduce people to new things, either as a documentary, even great narrative films can get you really interested in a new topic. So I [00:04:00] love Ford versus Ferrari. And I love the Senate documentary. It was the first time I’d ever heard of something called Formula One. And Netflix was kind of like, you, uh, want to watch some hot guys drive some Formula One cars.

And I said. That sounds good. I don’t have anything else to do. Oh, maybe I should ask you this piss stop question. Sexiest Formula One driver of all time? Ooh, ooh, all time. Oh, sir, I wasn’t ready for that curveball. Here it is. It depends on what you go for. Because I gotta say, Jim Clark is up there for me.

But he’s, he’s very much a gentleman. Like, it’s almost, it feels… Ungentlewomanly to call him sexy because it’s kind of like this handsomeness and this respectability. I do have to put Senna up there. Like the man just had a, a light on him. Just very special. I think the current crop of drivers, I think we’re very hashtag blessed in the looks department there, which is nice.

Nobody ever votes for Nigel Mansell and the push broom mustache. Okay. First of all, I do love Nigel Mansell and I do love that mustache. Big [00:05:00] fan. So I am one of the generation of people who came to Formula one through drive to survive, which some people look down their noses at, but I, I’m of the opinion, whatever gets somebody in the door.

And for me, it became an obsession very quickly, like watching every single free practice, signing up for the app. So I could watch old races. I couldn’t consume enough. Since you’re coming up to speed on Formula One over the last couple of years, have you attended a race in person yet? Do you want to attend one?

And if so, where? I went to the US Grand Prix at Kota twice. The very first Grand Prix I went to was at Austin. That was 2021. So it was the first one after COVID. And I went just as a General Admission Hoi Poloi with my blanket and my little lawn chair, my sister and I. The following year, through a friend, I got tickets to some of the grandstand seats at turn one.

And that was a stupendous view. And then I also went to the inaugural Miami Grand Prix. So there are many more Grand Prix on my [00:06:00] bucket list. And your thoughts being there in person versus on TV. Okay. So I’m going to level with you. It’s better to watch the racing on television. It just is being at your house.

The TV broadcasts are so good. Now you have a much better idea of what’s going on when you’re at the track. You will have very little idea what’s actually going on. That’s been my experience. So really you’re there for the atmosphere. You’re there to enjoy some fellowship with crazy people who love this and want to spend their days baking in the sun to watch these cars go round and round a track.

It’s kind of ridiculous when you think about it, but we’re all so happy to be there. It’s infectious. Have you investigated any other disciplines of motorsport, maybe sports car and endurance, any NASCAR, anything else? There is no way you can spend all your time at the Rebs Institute and not get into sports car racing, especially because in our collection, especially if you’re into Porsches, we have some, some pretty terrific Porsches.

Y’all should come on down and check it out. These cars, not only is the history behind them incredible, [00:07:00] but when I get to go to events and I get to see them still right on the track. That’s also pretty spectacular. I would say that the majority of our collection is sports car focused. And I also, I enjoy Rally.

I have my little WRC Plus subscription now, so I can watch my little onboards whenever I want, on demand. Love that. Well, that’s good, because I’ll have to have you on, and we’ll just do a Rally recap, because we’re the only two people on this show that like it. Rally’s so great! Oh my gosh, I love the Group B stuff.

I’m talking about like, The original Carlos Sainz. The old school stuff. Michel Mouton. Oh, the best. All the Audis. The launch of Delta Integrale is probably my dream car. I don’t know why. I just love those boxy hot hatches. They’re the best. All I’ll say to that is never drive your heroes. Having driven a bunch of those cars from that era.

Yeah. Yeah. The homologation rules were not kind to those vehicles. That’s all I’ll say. Yeah. I think a lot of it was. A, I was searching for something to be passionate about. And at that point, LA [00:08:00] broke my heart a little bit. I was looking for what was the next thing that was going to spark me. And motorsport ended up being the perfect place for me.

I love the camaraderie of it, especially at the upper echelons. The Motorsport is about being a team and it’s about every member of that team working in unity and doing the best of their ability. Which a really great film said is the same way. It’s people operating at the absolute limit of their endurance, of their talent, of their efforts in order to achieve one goal.

That excited me. And the more I learned about it, the more I wanted to learn. And that’s why my sister said, let’s go to a car museum. I read it’s good for people who are into F1. But I was thinking local museum, like it’s not going to be anything that interesting. But lo and behold, there’s a collection of almost 120 cars, which are some of the most beautiful examples of whatever it is they represent in the world.

And I remember on this tour, by the time we got up to the upstairs gallery, which is where all the open wheel racing is, I thought I needed a paper bag. I thought I was going to like [00:09:00] hyperventilate. I was like, I’m sorry, did you just say Sterling Moss? One in this car? Is there a different Sterling Moss? I don’t understand.

How could you possibly have this? I’m sorry, you mean Graham Hill? You mean Graham Hill, like Damon’s dad. You must be confused. It must be a different Graham you’re thinking of. You can’t possibly have the car he won the championship in. And yet they did, and I remember the first time coming around a corner and seeing the Gurney Eagle for the first time, which Dan Gurney was driving to Oakland at Spa in 1967, first time an American driver in an American constructor car won a Formula One Grand Prix, like, just goosebumps.

And I couldn’t believe it was there, and I just thought, I have to figure out how to spend time with these cars. How to come back. How, how is this here? My tour guide, who is now one of my very good friends, and track instructor, Rock, said, Well, you know, we take volunteers. And also, if you ever want to know more about driving yourself, I’m a track instructor.

Here’s my card. It was kind of off to the races from there. A chance [00:10:00] birthday gift now presents you with a job opportunity. So you go in as a volunteer, let’s call you an intern. What was the Revs Institute having you do at that point? I think one of the most interesting parts about REVS Institute is its volunteer organization, which I think at last count was something like 130 people and growing.

It’s not people who just sent up for our newsletter. They’re dedicated individuals who go through lots of training and mentorship in order to participate in keeping the collection open for the public. So one of the first things you do is you kind of shadow a mentor. And you get training on every single car in the collection, which, you know, that made me pretty nervous when I volunteered because I said, I’m still pretty new to cars.

I know a lot and I, I’m learning more, but I’m by no means an expert. And they said, that’s okay. Cause we can teach you everything you need to know about these cars. What we’re looking for are people who want to engage other people with their excitement about whatever it is that draws them to this museum.

So it sounds like they were gearing [00:11:00] you up to really become what’s known in the upper echelons of the museum and card collector world as a docent. That walking encyclopedia of information so you can engage with the audience, which you never know what that’s going to be about anything and everything in the museum.

Now, obviously fielding questions could challenge you in certain ways, but those are things you learn along the way. Lean over to your mentor and say, Hey. Uh, you know, once you step in here and help me out, what was pretty neat is it allowed me that, you know, I’d go in on a Saturday for a few hours and you’d be stationed in one of the galleries.

You function a little bit as security because we’re very unusual. We don’t have any ropes around any of the cars. It’s really kind of an honor system and people have tried to get into the cars at some point, but it’s mostly being able to connect with individuals. As they look at the collection, people who are just their general admission, they’re not on a tour, they’re beginning to identify somebody who they seem kind of interested, but also maybe a little lost or sometimes I like identifying the person who’s there has been clearly dragged along, you know, like, [00:12:00] oh, my God, I’m with my car spouse or my car child.

and I’m not a car person. If I can see that person and I can engage them and tell them about not a car, but a person behind the car, suddenly that person’s engaged in a different way with a people’s story. And I found that really rewarding because cars are really about people ultimately. But a byproduct of all this, ditching your daily driver for a sports car.

I want to say I’ve been very responsible. I have kept the daily driver. It’s a hybrid. It’s very boring. I frequently lose it in a parking lot because I forget what it looks like. It’s anonymous, which was perfect in Los Angeles because I never got broken into because I look like every other car, but the volunteer organization, besides being a lot of really passionate people, very knowledgeable people and people who also like driving.

A few of them like to get together and we all go to Sebring to do a track day. And I said, Oh, I think I might like to try that. And they said, Oh, okay. Well, one Saturday we were up, just drive up and take a ride along. Just [00:13:00] see if you’re into it. Yeah. I think I was maybe through the first corner riding along on my buddy’s Mustang.

And I thought, Oh yeah, this is for me. Please put this in an Ivy bag. Give me a central line. Whatever this is. I need more of this and my buddies afterwards were delighted because they said, listen, when somebody rides along, you have one or two reactions. Somebody gets out and says, don’t ever do that to me again.

That was horrible. The other type of person says, hi, are you my dealer now? Do I buy from you? Direct from you? Like, how do I get this? Track rats are wonderful. I really enjoy them a lot. There’s a camaraderie there at the track. Everyone’s easy to talk to anything you want to know about. You just walk up and you’re like, Hey, what’s that thing on your car?

They’ll tell you. There’s no, there’s no snobbery about it. In fact, they’re dying to tell you. They’ve just been waiting for somebody to ask. And that kind of education is invaluable. It’s invaluable. So I said, well, I want to do this. And they said, well, you need to get a car. And of course, Miata is always the answer to [00:14:00] everything.

That’s what it stands for. Miata is always the answer. I found one on Craigslist. And I called up my buddies from the museum because I said, will you come out and kick the tires? And then also test drive it because it’s a manual and I don’t know how to drive stick. So I also learned how to drive stick by buying this car off Craigslist.

I put in the roll bar myself. First time I’d ever changed oil in my life. That was an adventure because the first time you do it, it’s, you know, you make a mess. I think I’m making a little bit of a mess. At some point installing the roll bar, I took out the package tray, six stitches later, you know what I mean?

I thought I was handling, I’d forgotten where I placed it and I bumped it. It was a whole thing. But, I gotta tell you, getting the car prepped and then being out on the track in that car, It was a level of pride I hadn’t felt in a long time. Well, it’s common in the car community, especially in the Volkswagen community, for owners to name their cars.

So is this tradition upheld in the Mazda community as well? I think some of them do, some of them don’t. I certainly name my car, she’s a [00:15:00] 2003, so it’s the second gen NB2 Miata with the variable valve timing, which is broken. And I know that, I’m gonna fix it. But I call her Kitty Raikkonen. Oh! After, of course, Hello Kitty, because she’s Japanese.

but also Kimi Raikkonen because I love Kimi Raikkonen. That’s it. People say, it seems like you kind of just went all in on this car thing. I said, yeah, that’s kind of what my personality is. But I think also it was finding a community of people. And then at my first volunteering at Revs and then Essentially, they needed some help with some marketing writing.

So I came on board as a contractor for a little bit, which turned into, would you like to just be on staff? And I said, yes, please. I already showed up for free here on Saturdays. Why wouldn’t I want to show up Monday through Friday to make a career out of it? You’re a full time employee at REVS now. So let’s talk about REVS a little bit more for those of us that are listening to this, not in Florida, not familiar with, and as you said, it’s sort of a best kept secret, a diamond in the rough, if you will.

So what’s the history [00:16:00] behind the REVS Institute and some of the things that you’re working on now that you’re a part of the staff and you’re part of media and production? It’s a really exciting time to be part of REVS Institute. In short, REVS Institute is a 501c3. Three devoted to the exploration of the automobile as an archaeological object as a subject worthy of historical study.

It comprises a museum that we’re most known for. The museum is home to the Miles Collier collection, which is nearly 120 cars that are really significant. And there’s a lot of cars that are significant for motorsport history. It also comprises. A massive library and archive, which I wish more people could see because it’s not just about the stacks and stacks of books, all devoted to automotive topics.

We’re talking about the papers and personal archives for former drivers, for editors, for automotive writers, for designers, we have old goggles and helmets. We have plans for all types of cars going [00:17:00] way, way, way back. These are the kind of things, these little objects that are worthy of preservation. And unless somebody steps up and says, we’re going to take care of them.

They’re the kind of things that end up in the waste bin over years and years and decades. So what’s in a name I’ve been asked before, does Rev stand for something? Yeah. Where does the name come from? No, I think there was a marketing thing a while ago where they wanted it to stand for something, but no.

It’s just refs. In your new role there, what are you working on? This is what’s really exciting. It’s really the museum is at the point now where media is going to be such a crucial part of preservation of not only the cars in our collection, but cars generally. The reason being, media is still one of the best ways to meet people where they’re at, to educate them, and to get them excited.

So, for example, one of the things that’s really interesting about the cars in the collection at REVS Institute is that they all still run. Streetcars are still taken out and driven on the street for exercise on a regular basis. Racecars are still raced. So most famously [00:18:00] events like Goodwood and just recently Velocity Invitational are some of the few places where cars of historic significance, race cars, can come together and be exercised.

And anyone who’s a gearhead knows an engine has to be exercised. And for us, we have a philosophical belief that cars aren’t really a car unless they run. You can’t really understand them unless you hear them and smell them and see them. Just like a musical instrument, Just like a watch, if a watch didn’t run and were seized up, is it still really a watch?

Or is it a bunch of gears just stuck together? So what’s really interesting about taking these cars out is, it’s good for the car, but more importantly, it gets people excited about the car. People love attending these events, but not everybody can attend these events. So if we can use media to share these events and share the excitement of the car with a greater portion of the world, I think that’s what’s going to guarantee getting the next generation excited about maintaining these cars.

I think in our lifetime, we’re going to see the internal combustion engine disappear. So it will become a [00:19:00] matter of the term hobbyist. can be a loaded one, but I mean it affectionately. Amateurs and hobbyists, people who do it out of love, not just out of, it’s their profession, maintaining these cars and the culture around the cars to keep them alive.

It’s an interesting paradigm that you guys have put together for the museum and for the library as well, because It’s very dynamic and I can only name a few museums with the same strategy of keeping objects in motion that should be in motion versus static displays. And you’re like, man, that thing hasn’t run in a hundred years and it’s a hundred years old.

So it’s good that you’re doing that. And I love that philosophy. I love that ideology because as everyone likes to say, cars are meant to be driven. They’re not meant to be stored. If you wanted a model car, you buy a model car. One of the other things that you’re involved with and that Revs is stepping up to is you guys have been named as part of the official heritage partners for Formula One.

It’s really exciting. So F1, as you know, commissioned an official exhibition that opened in [00:20:00] Madrid and had a great run there. And now they’re opening their next leg in Europe and Vienna. REVS Institute has been named as one of the heritage partners, along with names like BRM and Lotus. The idea being, they’re not only engaging present F1 teams to tell the story of F1, but also people who are recognized as keepers of F1’s heritage.

That’s pretty exciting, and as the F1 exhibition continues to travel around the world, it will present more opportunities for places like REVS to engage with them and to offer things from our treasures to a whole new audience. As you mentioned, you know, you’ve gone in it 110 percent head over heels.

You’re a petrol gal now. You’re in the space with the rest of us drinking from that IV bag right into the main vein. And then you find yourself as part of the Society of Automotive Historians. How did that happen? First of all, Rose Institute is really involved generally in the community of people who are interested in automotive history.

Which is not as big of a world as you think it might be because it’s an area [00:21:00] that’s really rich for academic study. Any kids out there in a PhD program for history, I strongly encourage you to think about automotive history because it’s a totally untapped field where there’s just still starting to dig into, I mean, you can still go out and discover a primary source is what I’m saying.

Like you can dig up stuff nobody else has seen. Automotive history for a long time was kept. By these, kind of, almost these oral histories and these legends. It was like, oh, people are like, oh, Kars. Like, that’s not history. That’s not a, but of course it is. A kar is an archaeological object. Just like a pottery shard.

Just like an ancient manuscript. Just like a building. It’s a record of human time and talent. And by investigating it, we tell better stories about ourselves. I think that’s the big appeal. And I think that’s what’s so interesting about the Society of Autovotive Historians. And that’s where we met, was at their conference they put on in Watkins Glen with the International Motor Racing Research Center.

I ended up presenting there only because I had been doing a research project at [00:22:00] REVS when I was a volunteer. that I got really into about Lucy O’Reilly Schell. She was many, many things, but one of the cars in our collection was a car that she sent to the Indianapolis 500 in 1940 with Rene Dreyfus and Rene Lebesgue as drivers.

And in doing this presentation, I enjoyed it so much. And the librarian at Rose at the time said, you should publish it. I said, where? This is, you know, there’s a journal for the Society of Automotive Historians. I said, there’s a Society of Automotive Historians? That sounds great. Anyway, I get online, they’re having a call for papers.

I say, Oh, don’t mind if I do. Tippy tack. And the next thing I know, I’m on a plane to Watkins Glen. That was a fun weekend. And for those of you that are wondering about Lucy O’Reilly Schell and the work that Lauren has put together, you can actually go back into the BreakFix catalog and revisit that episode, which is the first time, but not the last time you’ll hear Lauren’s voice on this show.

There’s these names throughout motorsport, women’s names, and you don’t hear them too often. But when you do, they are lightning rods, just like [00:23:00] Lucio, Riley shell, Michelle Mouton, the queen of rally. And so you’ve jumped into that side of motorsport as well, kind of investigating more. resurfacing some of those stories and you most recently went to the women with drive summit.

So I wanted to give you an opportunity to tell people what that was all about. Oh, that was fabulous. This is a conference. This was its third year. It’s a conference put on by women in motor sport, North America, which is in St. James’s organization, when St. James and Beth Paretta it’s growing year over year.

This year, we had to do the Phoenix raceway 450 in attendance. I’m sure it’s going to double for next year when we’re at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I really enjoyed going because this is devoted to women in motorsports present day, to making women visible and to gaining equity in terms of sponsorship, getting the dollars needed in order to put women in the car and to make it feasible.

What I loved is having a historical perspective showing up and saying, Hello, I’m from a car museum, and you have a long line of women who came [00:24:00] before you who were drivers. You know, the very first real road race, Paris Madrid, Camille Degas, a woman driver, was in it. So since the very beginning, we’ve been here.

So as much as we talk about creating more seats at the table, which is really, really important, I think sometimes it’s also nice to know the seat was kind of ours to begin with. And we were shoved out. The rules that prohibit women in racing originated because women were racing, and they didn’t want that.

If you go through some of these dusty tomes that exist in the libraries like Rev’s, one of them that jumps out at me a lot, and I reference it quite a bit, is Chapman and His Machines, written by Cromback. He mentions in there that Colin, in the early days, developing the original Lotuses, he developed them for his wife.

Because they were doing hill climbs. He was the engineer mechanic and she was the driver. And so the original lotuses were built for her. And so it’s really kind of interesting how some of these stories just are forgotten sort of on the winds of time. And it’s really cool to go back and read some of [00:25:00] these older books where they were chronicled and explained and reignite the interest in those stories and dig a little bit deeper and give them the credence that they always deserved.

One of the things that really struck me when I started doing some research, Into a Lucy O’Reilly show, which by the way, this is a great chance to plug Neil Bascom’s book faster, which is what got me interested. Fabulous book that covers not only Lucy, but Rene Dreyfus in this era, sort of the French versus the Nazis in Grand Prix racing.

A terrific book. But I think what I found really interesting is I went through all the French newspapers at the time, the race results, you know, it would be listed. Monsieur, monsieur, mademoiselle, monsieur, madame, madame. Monsieur Mademoiselle, from the very beginning, women were participating wherever they could.

And in fact, so many women were interested in motorsport in France that one of the newspapers sponsored a women’s only championship, which was hugely attended and had some of the finest racers of the day in it. L. A. niece, for example, very famous, the Bugatti Queen, Lucy participated in the, when Lucy [00:26:00] transitioned from a driver of hill climbs and from rallies, she and her husband did Monte Carlo numerous times and came P2 in 1936, which I think is bananas.

Then she decided I want to be a team owner and on her sports car team, she included women. So from the very beginning, women had their fingers anywhere. Somebody didn’t forbid them from being, they were. And it wasn’t until they were forbidden that they were chucked out. Even somebody like Jill Scott, her photo portrait is in the National Gallery of the UK.

We have one of her Bentleys at Rev’s Institute. She was the first woman inducted into the Royal Automobile Club. And then the Royal Automobile Club decided they don’t actually want to permit women. They moved her to honorary member status. Things like that. I actually recently picked up and it was buried under a bunch of other books from Vintage Motor Books.

I found a copy of Todd McCarthy’s Fast Women, the legendary Ladies of Racing. This covers McLuggage, Evelyn Mull. And a bunch of other famous names and to go back and reread their backstories again, kind of [00:27:00] highlighted in this one book with other women has been actually quite fascinating. You know, I recommend more titles like this to people to be like, Hey, we all know Andretti’s story.

We know our Earnhardt’s story. We know a lot of the Roundy Round and dirt track guys. But go back and discover some of these lesser known stories. ’cause they’re absolutely fascinating. They really are. And I think. Anyone interested in telling stories, be they academic, be they a fiction writer, be they a screenwriter, I think this is a rich area and I can’t recommend enough.

Dig it a little deeper. You’re going to be very well rewarded. And that’s a perfect segue into one of the other reasons why you’re here with us tonight. You’re going to be showing up more on break, fix in the future. And so I wanted to give you an opportunity to kind of tell the audience, maybe some of the things we’re going to talk about, some of the guests we’re going to have on the show, what are your thoughts for your role on break, fix podcasts?

Well, I would love if I could participate not only about women in the autosphere, but also the interesting tidbits from history that maybe get missed. To me, the human story is always the human angle is [00:28:00] always the one that I look for. And cars represent such a rich field for looking for those stories. So I think it’s not only pulling in, you know, women, but also pulling in.

People have a really interesting take or really interesting. Viewer experience on cars and motorsport and motorsports, my particular passion, but really anything about cars interests me ultimately. Well, we have some great guests lined up for the future and I don’t want to give out too many spoiler alerts, but I’ll say soon after this episode airs, you’ll be back on quite frequently.

And so we look forward to having you on the show and co hosting with me and maybe co hosting with Tanya and some of the other folks on break fix. So that’ll be fantastic and welcome aboard. So thank you. Thank you for having me. Bye. Well, with that, what’s next, Lauren? What else is on your horizon? What’s your five year plan, as they like to say in an interview?

Oh boy, five years. Well, certainly working with Rev’s Institute to increase their media presence. I’m really looking forward to right now we’re working on essentially [00:29:00] developing a YouTube series that each episode focusing on a different car in the collection. Being a really engaging way to take a closer look, a slightly deeper dive into some of the cars.

And especially the people behind some of those cars. So the first episode is actually going to be about Briggs Cunningham. If you don’t know who Briggs Cunningham is, I highly recommend you watch, because you’re going to be blown away by this incredible American and what he attempted to do at Le Mans.

As I’ve made lots of connections with more and more women. Either presently working in cars or connected some way through history. I’ve been looking around to see if there’s a database essentially of where all this stuff about women in motorsports and women in the automotive sphere is. Is there just one place I can go look and see, oh, if I want to know where the personal paper is about, you know, Elizabeth Jennegar, and I want to know about the women who worked in the GM design studio, where do I go to find those things?

If there’s a database. It doesn’t seem that there is. I’m hoping that by putting out this APB, maybe somebody will either contact us and say, Oh, I know of a database. And if it doesn’t exist, I’ll [00:30:00] just plant my flag in the sand and say, I’ll do it. I work at Rev’s Institute. Yeah, we’ll do it. Very cool. And I think it’s much needed as well, and it’ll be a great resource for folks.

Doing research on these advanced topics. Like you said, ladies that are getting their PhD in history, looking for source material, I think this is going to be the place that they’re going to want to go. Especially because so much now I’m really looking to about figuring out how to better record oral histories because the generation now that’s passing away, they have a whole encyclopedias in their head.

And it’s disappearing. That’s one of the things that we talked about when we were at Watkins Club. That’s why it’s also important to do shows like ours and others that exist where you’re capturing the living history of these people because who better to have you tell the story than that person in their own words.

Now granted it is their perspective and sometimes time changes history but it’s still coming from the source. Reading an autobiography versus a biography, same kind of thing. So podcasts are a great medium for that. There’s other ways to do it. I think what you’re doing and what you’re planning to do is fantastic and [00:31:00] really great that you have the power of Revs behind you to do it.

Incredible resources there. Absolutely. We’ve reached the point of the episode, which we like to ask our guests any shout outs, promotions, or anything else you’d like to share that we haven’t covered thus far. The one thing I’ll mention that additionally that Revs is doing is they’ve realized that there’s a lack of knowledge about.

Some of the basics about how cars work and people feel uncomfortable working on their own cars. So they actually started something called Rev’s Ed, which is essentially like shop class for grownups. I don’t know how else to phrase it, but they’ve written this whole curriculum and it’s portable. And some people can either come and study at the Rev’s workshop, which is an incredible place to study in, or they could take it to where they are.

Learn how to work on their own cars. It’s designed to be a really fun way to get people comfortable working on their own cars. I think that’s fabulous. That would be invaluable to a lot of people, especially even in our age group where we’re thinking about taking over the role as the custodian for some of these more classic vehicles.

And then you get this 1940s [00:32:00] MG and you’re like, well, what do I do with it? Well, how do I work on it? It runs now, but when something breaks the previous owner or that club of people, they’re gone. And you know, you’re starting all over again. It’s like learning how to make fire, chronicling this, documenting it.

It’s going to be super critical to the life expectancy of these classic cars. That’s actually a huge part of what we do is documenting those things. Step by step. So future generations say to themselves, how do you fix? And I should know two more. Exactly. Well, with that, Lauren, we’re going to wrap up here and I will let people know how to get ahold of you.

And if you’re interested in learning more or getting touch with Lauren and discussing the Rev’s Institute, or if you happen to be in the Naples, Florida area, stop by the Rev’s Institute for a visit. Get a personal tour or learn more about the museum and its collections and other services. You can check out www.

revsinstitute. org or follow them on social media at Revs Institute on Facebook and Instagram, or check out their YouTube [00:33:00] channel at The Revs Institute. So with that, Lauren, I can’t thank you enough for coming on the show, sharing your story as a newly minted petrol head and joining the team. So we really look forward to seeing you on future episodes of the show.

I think it’s going to be okay. That’s my life motto right now. It’s going to be fine. It’s going to be fine. Just go, just go. It’ll be fine. This episode has been brought to you in part by the REVS Institute. The REVS Institute is more than a car museum. It’s a place to see society through a different lens.

It’s an invitation into a working educational institution dedicated to the study, preservation, conservation, and restoration of historically significant automobiles. Explore the rich historical materials and images that define the automobile’s role in society and motorsport. Step into an amazing world of meaningful cars at the Rev’s Institute.

So if you’re in the Naples, Florida area, stop by the Rev’s Institute for a visit, get a personal tour and learn more about the museum, [00:34:00] its collection and services. For more information, visit www. revsinstitute. org or follow them on social media at Rev’s Institute on Facebook and Instagram or their YouTube channel, the Rev’s Institute.

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