Courtney Hansen loves cars. She has a passion for them. That becomes evident after a two-minute conversation, and we spoke much longer than that. Her hit television show, Ride of Your Life with Courtney Hansen.
“I grew up in an automotive family. My father, Jerry Hansen raised SCCA, which is sports car Club of America, and we owned a Speedway, in Northern Minnesota, which is still there. It’s called Brainerd International Raceway. So, I grew up on the Racetrack, a pit kid, you know, watching my dad and his friend’s race and hanging with the greats and cars are just in my blood. My dad went on to win 27 national championships in SEC racing. And so, yeah, he was a badass and he’s still living and still doing great. He’s super healthy. Racing with his vice. So, my dad never had a drink, never smoked, or drug or a cup of coffee in his entire life. And, yeah, he just jokes about racing and going fast. That was his vice. But my life was a pit kid. I spent a lot of time on the racetracks. And so that’s what led to my passion for cars. And then a love of cars is in my blood.”
We all have favorite cars and Courtney is no exception.
“Well, my favorite car ever is my 57 Thunderbird. I have a white 57 Thunderbird and it’s not a performance car, but it’s the ultimate cruising car. And I love my Thunderbird more than anything, she proclaimed. “And then my favorite car that I’ve ever owned and driven is my 2022 charger Hellcat redeye. 797 horsepower and it is so fast and so much fun. And I actually just saw police officers at the coffee shop the day before I left for California. One in particular, who has pulled me over like four times.”
Maintaining a show like this, as the first female executive producer to create and run her own custom car series is hard. It hasn’t been handed to her. She’s worked her ass off to get where she is today.
“It has been quite a feat, but we’re now going into season three, and we’re really excited about that. Season two is going strong, airing right now. I’ve been hosting automotive shows for the past 22 years and I got my start on a show called Overhauling, where we ‘stole’ cars from people and then turned them into a work of art and gave them back to the recipient without the family and friends. And that was just such a blast. And I always thought, man, it would be cool to take it one step further and reunite them with the car that they had to part ways with when they came on hard times and they thought that they would never see again,” Hansen explained.
“And so, we don’t give them the exact car, but we find the same year making and model and we make it into a work of art, and we give it to them as a surprise and these elaborate reveals. So, I just dreamed of doing that particular show I’ve produced other shows, and I will do a lot more going forward, but that one, it was a concept that just resonated with me. I had the idea to do it, and when I had a good idea to do something, I try to make it happen, and I did. And we saw great success in season one, season two, I think, goes to another level with Brian Fuller, world renowned Car and Motorcycle, designer and builder, Bryan Fuller, and our A-list team we just took it up many notches in season two. We’re now airing on HBO Max and Hulu and Motor Trend as well. And the show’s doing great, so we’re thrilled about it.”
When I asked if Season 3 had a big budget, she quickly answered, “No, I mean, there is slightly more of a budget. It’s an expensive show to produce.”
Hansen is a mother. A good one. A strong one. Her daughter, Holland had a few opinions about sports. She likes the Miami Dolphins, and her favorite player is Tyreek Hill. Holland is a terrific soccer player too. To be clear, I had to drag this information out of Courtney who doesn’t like to brag.
“She’s played on U.S. national team, which is essentially indoor soccer for the past couple of years in a row. We went to Costa Rica to play. We went to Brazil, and she is, right now in California, we’re playing with one of the best teams in the country and then we’re getting ready to go to Sweden for a big tournament. So, yeah, that’s a big deal. So, yeah, she’s a very, very strong player.”
When we dug a little deeper into her family’s sports background, it turns out her grandfather, Oscar, played in the NHL. He was born in Camrose, Alberta, Canada.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Hanson
“Well, no family members really ever explained it right, but basically, my family’s very Norwegian, like, I obviously can’t say it is Norwegian. And then they’re Norwegian and Austrian and my great grandparents came from Norway, and I don’t know why there was something about passing through Canada or they lived in Calgary for a short time and then they moved to Minnesota.”
That back story is as interesting as she is and that’s another reason why her show is so successful. Here is more on the Hanson brothers.
http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2016/05/oscar-hansen.html
I did finally get Courtney to brag about something about her.
“I’m a hard worker. I’ll give myself that and I’ll say that I’m a good driver in parallel parker.”
ROYL Garage is growing.
“I have exciting things on the horizon for ROYL Garage.”
Hansen has never customized a car for herself.
“I’ve never customized one of my cars No time to do it. And when I finally do it, I’ll it’s going to be hard to choose who I would want to do it with. It’s like, you know, do I do with Chip Foose or Bryan Fuller or, you know, one of the others that it would maybe be a collab.”
Read more about ROYL Garage.
Watch Ride of My Life!
Her Insta is a great follow.
