How has GRM survived for 40 years and counting? Because it’s cool.

40 years is a big deal. Big enough to start a sentence–indeed an entire column–with “40,” which is a thing you aren’t supposed to do according to the people who make the writing rules. But really, we shouldn’t be doing any of this, so I guess it’s okay to break a rule here and there.

As you have no doubt gathered from the columns of my colleagues, GRM, previously Auto-X and briefly using both of those titles in the world’s most complicated logo, is celebrating its 40th birthday with this issue. 

I’ve worked here for a little over 34 of those years, which is a thing that’s all at once personally wondrous and horrifying to ponder. I’ve spent 63% of my life doing this, and parts of our audience who are now full, grown-ass adults didn’t even have the common courtesy to be alive when I started here.

Wow, I’m old.

Anyway, back to none of this making sense.

See, print is dead, or at least that’s what everyone keeps telling us. And although we’ve certainly broadened our output to adapt to a changing media landscape, this magazine is still our premier bit of output. 

When so many other print outlets are shuttering, we’ve stuck it out, largely because we really don’t have anything else to do with our time and have become not only a trusted voice in our space but, weirdly, an iconoclast among media outlets that are quick to abandon good ideas as soon as the arrow temporarily points down.

But while this doesn’t make sense now–even though we’re managing to feed our families with mid-grade or better Human Chow®–it really didn’t make sense in 1984, when Tim just decided after attending a single autocross that there should be a magazine about this cool thing he just did. 

I mean, I toooootally identify with the overcommitment and falling head over heels with a cool new hobby, but just up and starting a magazine isn’t exactly buying a few too many Lego sets or getting a pet iguana.

But he did. Not because it made sense but because it seemed like the coolest thing to do at the time–which is actually a better reason to do most things, if we’re being honest. And at all those junctures where it would have been easier to say, “Nah, this isn’t working out,” and move on to something else, we’ve continually made the decision that the coolest thing was still the thing worth doing.

So celebrate along with us, because whether you’ve been here from the beginning or you just joined the party, I don’t think I’m eschewing too much humility to say that you’re part of something unique. Just like the magazine surviving numerous marketplace changes, the scene has largely shrugged off numerous supposed doomsday events.

I still remember being at a trade show in the early ’90s, shortly after the introduction of OBD II, and hearing how computer-controlled engines would destroy our scene. Or ABS, or direct injection, or hybrid drivetrains, or EVs. 

Sure, plenty of those things have posed initial challenges, but ultimately the desire to go fast and have fun has conquered the attempts at buzzkill at every turn, occasionally even turning their own weapons against them.

The community has adapted and had the enthusiasm and flexibility to respond to challenges, and I think to a large extent we’ve leveraged that same spirit to survive and thrive in a media space that’s constantly trying to kill the buzz. In the last several months, “Why I’m leaving [large car media outlet]” has become a straight-up genre on YouTube, and I feel truly terrible for all of my colleagues who are seeing their hard work and love for the game get marginalized by PE ownership that just doesn’t get it.

And it’s not that hard to figure out why they don’t get it, because, as previously mentioned, none of this really makes sense. We’re a niche outlet servicing a niche community, and no “real” company would ever look at this space and say, “Oh yeah, we can create some shareholder value there.”

But we don’t care. The shareholder value in our equation is getting to do a thing we love with people we love–both our fellow employees and the extended family reading this–and somehow being able to pay our bills at the same time. No, it doesn’t make sense, but it’s cool, and sometimes that’s enough to make something last 40 years.

Well, 40 years so far….

Comments

Displaying 1-10 of 16 commentsView all comments on the GRM forums

You'll need to log in to post.