In his latest blog, former Le Mans 24 Hours winner and current SPEED/American Le Mans Series talent Justin Bell told us of an exciting new venture that sees him as part of NBC’s new ‘The Jay Leno Show.’ Today he answers the question he has heard the most…

“So how did that happen?”

House hunting in LA had been proving overwhelming to my wife (Sarah) and I, especially as we were looking to lease, and compared to Florida the cost of living meant that our options were ranging from shabby chic with no space, to just plain shabby.

So with coffee in our minds we were pulling into Starbucks in Studio City when an unknown number popped up on my phone. “Jay Leno here Justin, would you be interested in having a role on my new TV show and can you meet on Wednesday at the NBC studios?” Now I don’t know about you but I don’t often get calls from anyone more important than my parole officer, so as I almost accidentally parked the rental car inside the Starbucks with my jaw still hanging open, the answer was obviously “yes’ followed by me hyperventilating for a few moments when he hung up.

I had seen Jay at the Pebble Beach Concourse two weeks earlier when I was there for the launch of the Devon GTX, and had only just sent him an email saying hi and could I meet with him sometime to talk about my TV career and get his advice. Obviously timing was on my side (for a change) and he was looking for someone to host a small segment on his upcoming new show.

How can I best describe it - probably like the phone call that a lucky few have received from Maranello asking them to come to Fiorano to test an F1 car  - this truly felt like I was being given a chance at something that could change my life. Even if I didn’t yet know quite what I would be doing! It was enough that Jay Leno had seen enough to pick up the phone to call me.

So what am I actually going to be doing? Well, as you know Jay is a huge car guy and so he has incorporated cars into the fabric of his new TV show, that started this past Monday at 10pm on NBC.  He has built a small race track behind the studios which looks really cool, and has got a specially built Electric Ford Focus built for the show that is actually very fun to drive and once it gets rolling, pretty nippy around the tight turns.

Once or twice a week a hot celebrity will get the chance to take on the challenge of the track from behind the wheel against the times of other celebrities. Sort of like Top Gear does in the UK.

My job is to train the Celeb’s and then that ‘behind the scenes’ footage will be posted to the very popular NBC website for the show. www.thejaylenoshow.com. As one of my friends pointed out I could be considered the American Stig…. although without a goofy white outfit and helmet, and I am allowed to tell people what I do!

Obviously, as things progress I would love to have more opportunity to get on the main show itself, and according to Jay that is his intention for me also. It is really a case of now suddenly being exposed to a massive mainstream audience that allows me to showcase my talents. Jay has been incredibly generous in involving me in a lot of the pre-show publicity and I have already done Access Hollywood and the Today Show in the past week. Internationally, the show goes out to an even wider audience and so I think that this Sunday there will be a significant article on the show and the racetrack in the London Sunday Times – which obviously is very cool for me. Maybe my mum will even work out what it is I am trying to achieve over here!

So what a crazy whirlwind couple of weeks it has been, and now we are all looking forward to Petit Le Mans in just over a week. I love doing the Speed TV gig and just wish I could do more of it. The ALMS is cranking it up right now and Petit will be a blockbuster of a race with the Audi and Peugeot entries taking on our home favorites of the Deferran and Highcroft Patron Acura’s. So Speed will have all hands on deck to bring you the best long distance race TV coverage in America.

Lastly, the first show I am involved with is Today (Friday) at 10pm when I get to work with Drew Barrymore as our driving guest. As everyone that knows me can imagine, I will be very cool and collected (?), and I promise not to wave one long finger in the air as I open my eyes wide and say something really stupid like “if you thought ET was out of this world just hop in this car with me young lady….”

I will be back next week to give you an update on how it went…….!

Best wishes,
JB