General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Roadkill (2012 TV series)

Roadkill is an American automotive reality series hosted by HOT ROD magazine editors David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan, who buy worn-out gassers (Old stripped-down drag-racing cars built for speed), hot rods, and muscle cars and push them to their limits on road trips and challenges. It premiered on February 17, 2012 on the Motor Trend YouTube channel, ran for 13 seasons and 167 episodes, and ended after its final episode aired on December 16, 2024.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
First aired	February 17, 2012, on the Motor Trend YouTube channel¹
Hosts	David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan, then editors at HOT ROD magazine⁴
Run	13 consecutive seasons, 167 episodes, last episode December 16, 2024²
YouTube reach	Described by its producer as the most viewed YouTube automotive original series in the world, averaging more than 3 million viewers per episode with 137,000,000 lifetime video views (as of 2015)⁴
Franchise	Spawned Roadkill Garage, Roadkill magazine (2016), and the Roadkill Nights drag-racing event sponsored by Dodge⁵
End	MotorTrend announced on November 18, 2024 that its TV shows would no longer be produced⁶

Spoilers

Format and premise

Each episode follows Freiburger and Finnegan as they track down worn-out gassers, hot rods, and muscle cars, then push them to their limits; as the show's own description puts it, just getting to their destination is an adventure.³ The premiere set the template: the two hosts went to El Paso, Texas, spent $1,500 on a car, made it roadworthy, and drove it back to Los Angeles, with the added condition that they had to sell it on eBay Motors before returning.⁵ Planning an adventure around a car most people would write off as a lost cause became the show's trademark; cars featured over the years included a 1971 Datsun 240Z powered by a Chevrolet S-10-sourced 4.3-liter V6, a 1978 Lincoln Continental cut into a coupe, and a 1980 Chevrolet Monte Carlo with hydraulic suspension that the duo drove to Las Vegas on three wheels.⁵

The original format was short and unscripted: the Motor Trend channel described Roadkill at launch as a feature-length, 22-minute program with new episodes uploaded every third Friday beginning February 17, 2012.¹ Later listings give an average runtime of about 36 minutes.³

Origins

Roadkill began as a spinoff of HOT ROD, the performance-car magazine founded in 1948.⁴ Around 2011, Freiburger, who was then editing HOT ROD, started producing car-adventure videos alongside staff editor Mike Finnegan; YouTube then reached an agreement with the publishing company to bankroll the MotorTrend channel, which grew into YouTube's biggest automotive outlet, and the Freiburger-and-Finnegan program received the name Roadkill on that channel.⁷ When Roadkill launched, the Motor Trend YouTube channel had about 150,000 subscribers.⁸

Growth and the Roadkill brand

The show quickly became the flagship of MotorTrend's YouTube channel, and by 2015 its owner, TEN: The Enthusiast Network, called it the most viewed YouTube automotive original series in the world, reaching on average more than 3 million viewers per episode, with 137,000,000 lifetime video views and 1,294,806,356 total minutes watched.⁴ Its most popular video, "Rat Rod vs Lamborghini Aventador!" from season 1, drew 39,168,694 views.⁴

In 2015 TEN transformed Roadkill into a multiplatform brand, launching Roadkill.com, the Roadkill Nights event, and issue #1 of Roadkill magazine.⁴ The success also spawned spinoff series including Roadkill Garage, Roadkill Extra, Engine Masters, Roadkill's Junkyard Gold, 3K Hooptie Challenge, and Faster with Finnegan.⁹

Distribution changes

Roadkill aired on YouTube from 2012 until the program moved to the subscription service MotorTrend On Demand, and it became available on Discovery+ when Discovery bought MotorTrend in 2017; later the show wound up on Max.⁵ The MotorTrend channel's subscriber base and the industry's shift to streaming made the shows a target for acquisition: Discovery took a stake in the company, renamed MotorTrend Group, and in 2022 the Warner Bros and Discovery merger brought MotorTrend shows and MotorTrend Studios into Warner Bros. Discovery.² The MotorTrend+ subscription service closed on March 28, 2024 in the United States and Canada, with subscribers migrated to Discovery+.¹⁰

Cancellation

On November 18, 2024, cohost Mike Finnegan announced on Reddit that the show was over: after the end of season 13, which had just finished filming, no new episodes of Roadkill would be filmed, and the MotorTrend production company was shutting down, with no specific reason given to him.¹¹ Freiburger said the same day that MotorTrend had announced his TV shows would no longer be produced, ending Roadkill (13 seasons) and Roadkill Garage (9 seasons) along with the spinoffs Hot Rod Garage, Faster With Newbern & Cotten, and Roadworthy Rescues; episodes already produced but not yet aired would continue to stream on Max and Discovery+ and air in 2025 on MotorTrend cable TV.⁶ MotorTrend's own announcement framed the ending as a transition, noting that the Roadkill brand, including the Roadkill Nights event in Detroit, would continue.²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Early English-language web series (1997–mid 2010s)

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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