It’s Wednesday. I was saddened to hear that Grant Imahara from Mythbusters suddenly passed away yesterday from an aneurysm. Before joining MythBusters in 2005, Grant worked as an engineer for LucasFilm’s THX and ILM divisions where he was involved in films such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I, Episode II, Episode III, AI: Artificial Intelligence,  Terminator 3, The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, and Van Helsing. He was also known for his appearances on BattleBots where he competed with his robot Deadblow, which he designed and built himself. Very sad to see him go. Grant was 49.

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Grant Imahara, the engineer who co-hosted Mythbusters for Discovery and White Rabbit Project on Netflix, has suddenly died at the age of 49. “We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant,” Discovery said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. “He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.” Imahara died from a brain aneurysm, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

After a career as an engineer at Lucasfilm’s THX and ILM divisions, Imahara joined Mythbusters in the show’s third season, and left in 2014 alongside co-hosts Kari Byron and Tory Belleci; the trio reunited for Netflix’s White Rabbit Project in 2016. He was also active in the robot combat community, regularly appearing on BattleBots in the early 2000s with his robot Deadblow and later returning as a judge. In 2018, Imahara hosted Home of the Future, a web series co-produced by The Verge and Curbed.

“Heartbroken and in shock tonight. We were just talking on the phone. This isn’t real,” Kari Byron, his other co-host, wrote in a tweet.

“I’m at a loss,” former Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage said in a tweet. “No words. I’ve been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I’ll miss my friend.”

 
It’s Tuesday. Hot damn tamale, baby! Tony Stewart has a new racing series launching next year that will try to do what NASCAR hasn’t—put the fun back into racing. Stewart is teaming up with NASCAR Hall of Famer and former crew chief Ray Evernham, former NASCAR COO George Pyne, and agent Sandy Montag. They are the series’ sole investors.

It will take place on short tracks in the “heartland of America” and run on dirt and pavement, with 12 drivers all using the same car. The series will be called Superstar Racing Experience, or SRX, and already has a deal with CBS to air the races primetime on Saturday nights. They’re going after the areas where they feel NASCAR has fallen short:

A television strategy that will fit races into two-hour prime-time windows, presenting a contrast to NASCAR’s races that can run twice that long.

A focus on driver performance, rather than auto technology. Evernham will design the cars so that everyone races with the same equipment.

It will include racers and crew chiefs who are well known. Each race will have 12 drivers randomly matched with a crew chief.

It will feature racing under the lights at short tracks in the American heartland.

It is being positioned as an easier sale for sponsors that want to buy time on TV and at the event. “They make one phone call to be integrated in all aspects of the broadcast and the event,” Pyne said.

Some of the tracks currently being considered are Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut, Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, New Smyrna Speedway in Florida, Eldora in Ohio, Knoxville Raceway in Iowa and Terre Haute Action Track in Indiana. Evernham would also like a road course and a modified oval on the schedule.

Will they be able to pull it off? I certainly hope so. I love NASCAR but this sounds pretty cool. I look forward to checking it out next year!

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It’s Monday. Okay, there’s this woman that lives at the entrance of our cul-de-sac. She’s rather old with dark leather-like skin and can often be seen sunbathing out in her driveway. If it’s hot, she’ll be out there sitting in her chair soaking up the rays.

Last week it was extremely hot. We had temperatures in the upper 90s and it was humid as hell. I was coming home from work and pulled into our cul-de-sac around 4pm. As I passed her house I could see her sitting there in her chair just like she normally does. Sorta. As I went by she seemed to be somewhat slouched down in the chair with her arms hanging and her head back. I kinda joked to myself that she looked dead. I didn’t really give it much more thought as I pulled into my driveway several houses down. I brought my stuff inside, grabbed a snack, and went back out into the garage. It was about 15 minutes later when the fire department and ambulance rolled up with their lights & sirens blazing. They stopped right in front of her house. They quickly loaded her up and left. I didn’t know if she was okay or what.

Fast-forward a couple days later when my neighbor came over. She said that another neighbor had noticed that she hadn’t moved in a while and were concerned about her being out in the heat. They went over and quickly realized that she was not good and called 911. The paramedics didn’t even try to resuscitate her because it was obvious she had been dead for a while. She was 95 years old and the cause of death was heat stroke. They said judging by the amount of blistering on her skin, she had likely died between 2 to 3pm. Her son had come home around 2:30 and thought she was sleeping, so he didn’t bother her!

I know this sounds bad, but I’m so glad she was already gone by the time I saw her. 

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