Autoblog

Just two days after taping the pilot episode of Top Gear USA, Adam Carolla took the proactive approach of revealing who the first Star in a Reasonably Priced Car is before the blogosphere could get those in attendance who signed NDAs to spill the beans. On his radio show Monday morning, Carolla got a caller to cough up the name, and it's none other than auto icon and generally icky dude David Hasselfhoff. Reports from people who attended the taping say that the Hoff was actually a great live guest and even had autographed photos of himself to pass out to the crowd who had been standing in place for seven hours. We haven't heard how Hasselhoff did running a Kia Rio around Top Gear USA's test track, but being the first will ensure his time gets placed atop the leader board.

Who else would you like to see be a Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on Top Gear USA? We can think of a whole red carpet's worth of B- and C-list celebrities, and yes, that includes Kathy Griffin. Click the source link below to make your way to an audio clip of Adam Carolla's radio show on Monday morning.

[Source: Final Gear, Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty]

The debut of the U.S. version of Top Gear is supposedly only three months away and Popular Mechanics had a chance to sit down with Adam Carolla, the import's new front man, to discuss the show, his co-hosts and what buns are in the oven when the series debuts this September.

Make the jump to read all the details.

Top Gear has just officially announced who will be hosting the U.S. version of the popular car show born in the UK and now officially scheduled to appear on NBC sometime this fall, and the winners are... (drum roll, please): Adam Carolla, Tanner Foust and Eric Stromer. Everyone knows Adam Carolla, of course, having watched him hit the big time hosting The Man Show with Jimmy Kimmel. He now hosts his own nationally-syndicated radio show called "The Adam Carolla Show". Tanner Foust brings some actual professional driving cred to the show with a resume that includes stunt driving in "The Bourne Ultimatum," "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" and "The Dukes of Hazard". He's also a winning rally driver, has medaled in the 2007 X-Games and hosted "Supercars Exposed" on the SPEED Channel. Eric Stomer was the last to be cast and when you see him, you'll probably say "I know that guy." He's hosted an HGTV show called "Over Your Head", was a former soap-opera actor and spent a lot of time in construction (and on construction-related TV shows). Guess we'll pick him to win the amphibious vehicle challenges. We surmise that producers may have picked Stromer because he's a hunk of man meat, but also because he can bring in a big female audience from his time spent on HGTV.

The press release after the jump also reveals what each host drives, and as you would imagine, Carolla (who will now be referred to as Jezza Jr.) sports a garage full of Lamborghinis, Maseratis, two Ferraris and an Audi S4. Foust makes do with a simple, tricked out BMW M3. Stromer... a Camry Hybrid. Something tells us Stromer better come equipped with a thick skin. So what do you think? Does Top Gear USA now appear better suited for success or does the show have Bucket of Fail written all over it?

[Source: NBC, Top Gear]

SpeedTV did a video podcast featuring Adam Carolla -- along with SpeedTV's Kendall, and 50 Cent -- flogging a Pontiac G8 around a track. Carolla gets a check mark for being able to make jokes at speed and while in a spin. Whether he's actually funny, we'll let you decide. Since it wasn't done as a trial for the US Top Gear, and we have no idea what he was meant to be doing -- or allowed to say -- we shouldn't judge too harshly. But Clarkson doesn't have anything to worry about just yet...

[Source: Final Gear via Jalopnik]

NBC has officially purchased the rights to produce an American version of Top Gear, and seeing as it has one of this country's biggest gear heads on its payroll, it's a no-brainer that they would at least ask Jay Leno to host. In his most recent editorial for The Sunday Times, Leno recounts being asked by a corporate suit with practically no clue about of the hit British show to host the American version. It goes something like this. "Well, the network has bought the TV show... um... High Gear? Top Gear? Top Gear! Top Gear, yes. We know you like to build cars." Sigh...

Thankfully Leno turned down the offer, not because he's unworthy, but rather because he knows he couldn't do the show justice and because the idea of an American Top Gear is doomed from the start. Being part of the BBC, the original version is not reliant on advertising to stay on the air, so talking smack about a particular automaker and its wares is no biggie. As Leno notes, things work differently at NBC and any episode in which a sponsor gets lambasted would immediately be followed by what The Tonight Show host calls, "the meeting". And then, bye bye sponsors and bye bye show.

Rumors of comic Adam Carolla hosting the show have us optimistic, because he's a bonafide gear head and if anyone could keep it real about cars on camera, he could. Plus, his last name is phonetically identical to Toyota's little econo-sedan, which would be great fodder for ridicule by the other hosts, whoever they might be. The fact is, however, the task of doing justice to this great export from Great Britain is near impossible, and Jay knows it. Thanks for the tip, everybody!

[Source: Times Online]

Recent news about NBC's quest to create a Top Gear for the United States has brought forth rumors of potential hosts. First, names like Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfield were offered up to great debate. Now another name with an extensive hosting resume but no previous ties to the peacock network is heading up the leader board. That name is Adam Carolla, formerly of Loveline and The Man Show. Carolla is no stranger to the land of automotive enthusiasm, either. He owns a BRE replica Datsun 510 that once graced the cover of Grassroots Motorsports. The rest of the horses in his stable aren't too shabby either, like an E30 BMW M3, for instance. No official word has come out of NBC on the matter, but an excited Carolla decided to spill the beans on his radio show, anyway.

[Source: 97.1 Free FM via VW Vortex, Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty]