Speed TV News
Hollywood stunt rider Jason Britton, who doubled for actor Ice Cube in the motorcycle action movie, Torque, takes his extreme riding skills to some of the nation’s most recognizable landmarks with the new Wednesday night prime time series, Stealth Rider, premiering July 21 at 8 p.m. ET on SPEED.
From the Washington Monument to the Seattle Space Needle and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Britton visits 12 cities, grabbing stunt riding shots in front of some unimaginable backdrops.
“We aimed big and threw a lot of ideas on the table,” Britton said. “It wasn’t as simple as picking up a phone, but once we got into a rhythm, we really got some great locations.”
Episode One of Stealth Rider will visit Detroit, with stunts at the Heidelberg Project, the Packard Factory, Metro Station, Greektown and Belle Isle, where the effects of social media were in full force.
“We talked to a couple of riders when we started shooting in Detroit, and through text messages, Facebook, Twitter and stuff like that, we ended up with about 3,000 bikers at the final shoot on Belle Isle,” Britton said. “It was overwhelming.”
In subsequent episodes, Britton and his crew will visit Washington D.C., Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, New Orleans, San Diego, Seattle and Denver, with one spot yet to be announced.
Britton, born in Hollywood and raised in nearby Huntington Beach, admits to being partial to the L.A. stunts.
“They were star-studded shoots in places that have a lot of personal meaning to me,” Britton said. “Performing stunts on Venice Beach, Rodeo Drive and in front of Mann’s Chinese theater was really special.”
Later on Wednesday nights, beginning July 21 at 10 p.m. ET, SPEED delivers Intersections, taking two seemingly different speed machines and comparing the similarities, as well as offering intimate looks at the people who operate them.
“The human face of technology; that’s what this show is really about,” said SPEED VP of Programming and Executive Producer Robert Ecker.
“There are so many mechanical and design elements that must perform perfectly; all it takes is a single flaw and the result can be catastrophic. Strip away the state-of-the-art engineering and amazing hardware and the human factor remains. It is this intersection of man and machine that defines the series and reveals the flesh and blood individuals behind and inside them.”
Episode One features seven-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher and his U.S. Army-sponsored 8,000-horsepower hot rod along with Lt. Aaron Ochalek and his U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter jet.
And on Thursday nights, champion racers Paul Tracy and Tanner Foust will put the world’s coolest cars through their paces with Battle of the Supercars, premiering July 22 at 10 p.m. ET.
Tracy, the 2003 IndyCar Series champion, and Foust, a two-time national drifting champ, will get behind the wheels of cars most of us only dream about, putting each through a series of challenges and obstacles to see which one comes out on top.
Episode One will feature a matchup between the Porsche GT3RS and Ferrari 430, with future episodes matching 1,000 horsepower Mustangs and Camaros, the Viper and Corvette, the Lamborghini Gallardo and Ford GT and the Aston Martin DBS and Maserati Gran Tur S.
In addition to the three new enthusiast titles, SPEED also welcomes back Rich Christensen and the gang from the popular grassroots drag racing series, PINKS All Out, for a fourth season and 13 new episodes, premiering July 22 at 8 p.m. ET.
The first episode of PINKS All Out will be made available through advanced screening via SPEED’s 42-million-household cable, satellite and telco VOD distribution platform.
SPEED, anchored by its popular and wide-ranging coverage of NASCAR, is the nation’s first and only cable television network dedicated to automotive and motorcycle racing, performance and lifestyle.
Now available in more than 80 million homes in North America, SPEED, a FOX Sports property, is among the industry leaders in interactive TV, video on demand, mobile initiatives and broadband services. For more information, please visit SPEED.com, the online motor sports authority.