Attendees come from far and wide to participate, and include Conrad and Davina Hosier and their son, Kyrie. I was standing at a Cars & Coffee event last spring when Conrad and Davina came up to me, introduced themselves and explained that they had driven from their home in central Connecticut with their nine-year-old son who wanted more than anything else to meet me.
Searching through the more than 50,000 images on my phone, I found a photo that had to be shared with Ky and his parents. The photograph was of me and my oldest brother in the backyard of our home when I was eight years old and he was 16. We had just finished building a model of the Lotus 29 race car and I was over the moon. The pure excitement and unbridled enthusiasm I’m displaying in that photo was now right in front of me, decades later, embodied by Kyrie.
Immediately taken with Ky’s intelligence, charm and passion for cars, Leno decided on the spot that he had to introduce the young man to the world—as my successor. Leno brought him up to the awards podium, introduced him to the crowd and loudly proclaimed, “I’ve found my new co-host! He’s smarter and better looking than Donald, and so much younger! Everyone, meet Ky!”
As long as I can remember, maybe when I was one year old? I know that by the time I was four, I was crazy about them., it was a 1990’s Camaro. First it was the design and the paint—it looked really cool. Then I heard the engine, and that really caught my ear! On my fifth birthday, my parents took me to five dealerships—Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley, Mercedes and a muscle-car tuner. I got to see the cars and sit in some. It was fantastic.