Stromer emerged from his hybrid unharmed but markedly startled and in a radio interview on fellow TG USA host Adam Corolla's radio show, Stromer dishes that his primary concern during the accident was spilling his newly purchased "triple grande nonfat latte." We are looking forward to the gripping social commentary Stromer will bring to the table for the new series. [The Adam Carolla Show]

Obviously Clarkson grabbed the ZR1, Hammond got the keys to the CTS-V, and of course James May gets the outgunned Challenger SRT8. Pending the results of the show, we're assuming the ZR1 and CTS-V will be getting their just due on the world stage, while May will probably end up with the Challenger doing donuts and catching on fire. We have no idea when this episode will be hitting the airwaves, but when we find out it'll be pinned to our calenders. We eagerly await the metaphoric gymnastics Clarkson will be performing on the ZR1. Wonder how the Top Gear America guys feel about the British crew stealing their product thunder? (Hat tip to Paul!) [FinalGear]

PM: As I mentioned, the Internet geeks are already pumped up about the show—my buddies at Jalopnik are already calling you the "proto-Clarkson," and I'm sure fans of your radio show and accompanying blog have been hammering you about which rides you're pulling out of that stacked garage of yours and onto set. But Top Gear in the UK is kind of an online phenomenon in this country to begin with—it's gotten bigger on YouTube than some of your old Man Show tricks. What do you make of that, and are you as into the, well, insane stunts of the original as we are?
AC: You know, it's funny. I like cars more than I like stunts. The stunts are cool, but I would much rather just see ... I was just watching a rerun and Jeremy had that Aston Martin DBS in the Aston Martin Racing Green and he was turning some hot laps with that thing on an Air Force base they have over there in the UK. For me, as a viewer, in terms of just pure eye candy, I like watching that more than I like them turning a car into an amphibious landing craft or something. That's all well and good, and there's a place for it, but for me it's really about the cars.

Shredding Tires with Tanner Foust - Garage419

We left it to you and Ted Striker knocked it out for us:

Just like the US version of The Office became a runaway success after finding a voice that was distinct from its UK ancestor, this can work. Will it work is another question; Carolla has always pissed me off, but if he knows his shit, then I'll still watch.

Let's be honest here: this is Top Gear we're talking about, not Shakespeare. If the show is entertaining, features a lot of supercar pr0n and manages to mock shitty cars, I call it a win.

Well, aside from being a pretty face on TV, he's apparently handy with a hammer and saw. Stromer also has his own self-promoting Web site which conveniently gives us a raft of insight into the leather arm-band wearing, eco-friendly co-host.

If you discount his time as a prop on "Santa Barbara," a show from the middle of 1980's daytime drama hell we'd watch only when the remote control was broken and we were home sick from school, and a couple stints on a few other TV shows, Eric has primarily been a construction guy. After 20 years running a construction company, the 47-year-old former People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" was tapped for "Home Improvement with Eric Strommer," "Clean Sweep," and "Over Your Head," all produced for HGTV.

When Eric isn't hosting stuff, he's apparently going to women's shows. Well, at least in 2006 he was. And he's working on a solo music project which has resulted in (bad) songs on his site that you can buy or sample-stream (if you can make it through them, you may be the progeny of Superman).

Now that you have all the facts, we know you'll join us in feeling absolutely comfortable with the idea of this guy getting a spot hosting the US version of the most amazing car show in the world. Absolutely comfortable. Well, maybe if he gets his teeth whitened and learns how amazingly well a Camry hybrid fits in a junkyard crusher. [EricStrommer.com and Youtube]

Most recently, Foust has been the host of the SPEED Channel's Supercars Exposed, a program all about fast cars. Promising, right? Well, no. The show only scratches the surface of automotive insight, and often comes off as feeling overly drawn-out and tedious. Of course, that's not completely Tanner's fault, but his commentary does lack the spice of his British counterparts. At least he won't be camera shy, as he's also been on ESPN's Import Tuners, and SPEED's Redline TV.

Perhaps it's best to look at Foust as a driver first and foremost — someone who can entertain us by doing big smokin' powerslides. After all, Foust has had most of his professional driving success as someone who can control a car at its limit, and then push it even further. That's what he does as a stunt driver, hooning on the sets of productions such as The Bourne Ultimatum, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and The Dukes of Hazard, as well as on various television shows and commercials. He's probably also got some connections at the rainbow-peacock empire NBC-Universal.

Of course, while doing fancy spins for the camera is all good for paying the mortgage, any serious driver proves himself on the track. Tanner is no exception, having won a gold medal at the 2007 X-Games Rally and a championship in the 2007 Formula Drift series. Okay, so those are both racing series that aren't traditionally considered in the top tier of motorsport, but they demand driver skill nonetheless. Especially when you consider that Foust's X-Games win in his WRX came over the factory Subaru team's Ken Block. Besides, Tanner has raced all over the place, doing open-wheel series, the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, winning five Ice Racing championships, competing in the SCORE Baja 1000, setting lap records across the US in time-attack events, and even driving a Scion in the 25-hour endurance race at Thunderhill.

But will this be enough to overcome the cockiness, wit and repertoire we'll expect? We guess we'll have to see.

First of all, he's named Carolla not Corolla. Let's get that out of the way. With a face for radio, Carolla started his career by doing lots of the local variety, plus some comedy on the side. His big break came when he was offered a spot co-hosting the call-in sex advice show Loveline, which I listened to on headphones underneath my covers, grasping to understand what sex meant. Rarely during the show did I ever hear Carolla actually talk about sex, instead he seemed to just rant about whatever was on his mind. That's a good sign...

His big television break came along with The Man Show on Comedy Central, which he started and co-hosted with his friend Jimmy Kimmel. If you saw one episode, you saw them all. If you never saw an episode it went like this: boobs, drinks, boobs, misogyny, boobs, drinks, belch...boobs on trampolines.

After The Man Show met what many might call a timely demise, he went on to host Too Late With Adam Carolla, a late night show actually worse than Colin Quinn's late night show. It lasted one season. Luckily, Carolla kept his bridges with Comedy Central unburned as he's stayed involved with the network via his talented voice work as Spanky Ham on Drawn Together. And by talented, we mean it's a show so bad it's actually worse when you watch it drunk. We kid, we're just happy Comedy Central found that sweet spot demographic of people who think South Park is too tame.

His most successful recent venture has been his eponymous radio show, which has run in major west coast markets since late 2005. Cars are a topic of discussion on the show and he has, by most accounts, come-off as though he's not only interested in the topic but well-versed enough to carry on in-depth conversation on most topics related to the automotive world.

But even if we couldn't verify how much he knows, we can certainly verify the guy has good taste in cars. As evidence of this we can look at his own garage, which has included vehicles ranging from a 1978 Datsun Pickup, to a far more sporting E30 BMW M3. Additional cars from the Carolla lineup include a Nissan 300ZX driven by Paul Newman in the 84 SCCA National Championship and a BRE-Replica Datsun 510. Nice.

But we're guessing he's there to fill the "funny" slot on the show — the proto-Clarkson if you will. Let's just hope he can talk about cars better than he can Fox Trot:

See, we have high hopes for the show, given that the current BBC version is pretty much the best broadcast anywhere in the world. We also have grave concerns, given American networks' history of eviscerating imported program ideas in an effort to tweak them for "our unique tastes." So, what say you: Will Top Gear USA succeed?

Obviously, a show's hosts and the related chemistry are a huge part of success or failure. To that end, the announcement of Adam Carolla and Eric Stromer as co-hosts makes us even more wary. On the other hand, stunt driver Tanner Foust, the third host, sounds like a potential winner. If the three can play off each other just right, and they're able to work in enough killer car footage despite our litigious society, Top Gear USA could be a winner. Or not.

NBC’S ‘TOP GEAR’ BUCKLES UP ITS HOSTS FOR HIGH-OCTANE PILOT FROM BBC WORLDWIDE AMERICA BASED ON INTERNATIONAL HIT FRANCHISE

BURBANK - June 16, 2008 - Television and radio comedian Adam Carolla, champion rally and drift racer Tanner Foust, and TV construction guru Eric Stromer, will lead NBC’s pilot of the international smash hit series “Top Gear.” The production will begin later this week.

Produced by BBC Worldwide America, the U.S. version of the hit franchise will mirror the UK show’s irreverent humor and camaraderie between the three presenters, epic races, outrageous stunts and challenges, unique celebrity guest participation and eccentric methods of testing cars.

"This franchise is a proven winner worldwide and the hosting team of Adam, Tanner and Eric that we have brought together for the U.S. version offers a perfect match of humor, insider know-how and priceless track experience," said Craig Plestis, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming Development and Specials, NBC Entertainment. "We are going to create a high-powered show that, like the original, will keep viewers in every demographic clutching the edge of their seats."

“These three guys will get to drive the world’s most amazing cars, go on incredible road trips and blow stuff up. It’s a dirty old job but someone has to do it…why didn’t I get the job?!” said Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, TV Sales and Content & Production, BBC Worldwide America.

Jeremy Clarkson, executive producer and host of the UK “Top Gear” said: “This is fantastic news - but how on earth you lot are going to do it on the wrong side of the road I’ve no idea.”

Adam Carolla:

Television and radio personality Adam Carolla is host of the daily, nationally-syndicated radio program “The Adam Carolla Show,” based out of Los Angeles’ KLSX 97.1/ FREE FM. With partners Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison, Carolla created Jackhole Industries where he produced and starred in two hit Comedy Central shows, "The Man Show" and "Crank Yankers." Carolla also co-hosted the nationally-syndicated radio program “Loveline” with Dr. Drew Pinsky for 10 years, as well as its TV version on MTV. Carolla also recently wrote and starred in the independent, award-winning feature film, “The Hammer.” In season six of “Dancing with the Stars,” Adam became the first ever contestant to complete a Paso Doble on a unicycle. Carolla is an avid car collector and owns several classic collectible Lamborghinis, Maseratis, two Ferraris and an Audi S4.

Tanner Foust:

Tanner Foust is in high-demand as a stunt driver, with film credits including “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” and “The Dukes of Hazard.” Foust is a winning competitor in rally, drift, ice racing and time attack with multiple champion podium placements including the 2007 X Games Rally Champion and 2007 Formula Drift Pro Drift Champion. His varied race experience includes open wheel competition, the Pikes Peak Hill Climb (2002 - 2004), five Ice Racing championships and the 2005 PGT Rally Championship. He also holds class lap records at numerous U.S. road courses in Time Attack. In addition, Foust also hosted “Supercars Exposed” for the SPEED channel. Foust’s car of choice is a tricked-out M3.

Eric Stromer:

Eric Stromer, host of the HGTV show "Over Your Head," started life in construction and remodeling houses after a short acting career as a soap opera hunk was abruptly ended by a Styrofoam boulder on the set of “Santa Barbara.” For 20 years he ran a successful building company before becoming the face of HGTV’s hit show. He’s a regular on Adam Carolla’s nationally-syndicated radio show giving out construction advice, and also appears on TLC’s “Clean Sweep,” NBC’s “Three Wishes” and is a special correspondent for “The Insider.” Stromer prefers his Camry hybrid.

About the Executive Producers:

The pilot of “Top Gear” will be executive produced by Tod Mesirow and Kevin Harris. Mesirow’s background includes producing credits on “Wired Science,” Discovery Channel's “Smash Lab,” “Mythbusters,” and “Monster Garage.” He also executive produced Discovery Studio's “Overhaulin'” for TLC. Harris’ credits include “The Apprentice” and “The Baby Borrowers” for NBC.

About Top Gear:

The series, which premiered in the UK in 1977, is consistently BBC TWO’s most-watched program in the UK. The UK version of “Top Gear” is broadcast globally in over 100 countries and has been airing on BBC America since 2007. The program has been the recipient of various awards including National Television Awards, BAFTAs, Broadcast Award, Royal Television Society Awards and an International Emmy Award. Top celebrity guests have included Hugh Grant, Simon Cowell, Ewan McGregor, Helen Mirren and Gordon Ramsay. In addition to the television show, the “Top Gear” brand has achieved global success. The self-titled magazine Top Gear continues to be both the best-selling car and men’s magazines in the UK. Internationally, Top Gear is the leading motoring media brand.

About BBC Worldwide America:

BBC Worldwide America (BBCWA) is part of BBC Worldwide - the main commercial arm and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). BBCWA has headquarters in New York and Los Angeles and brings together all of BBC Worldwide’s businesses in the U.S. – including cable channel BBC America and a bi-coastal production division responsible for the smash hit “Dancing with the Stars,” which returns for its 7th season this Fall.

Our sources say this picture — it's been floating 'round the fan-forums for the past few days — of a GT3, an RS4 and an F430 Spider sitting pretty on the El Toro airfield is in fact the first on-set picture from the new NBC-BBC-whatever team for the 'merican market. Call it "Gear," or call it whatever you want — all you need to know is you can call us interested in seeing what it ends up looking like when they're done with the pilot. [via Final Gear]

Whatever. We're not holding our breath either way. If it happens, we'll watch. If it doesn't, at least we'll always have Jeremy, Richard, James and Stiggie. What we do know is they're certainly taking their sweet time making this thing official.

But all this is separate from the bigger issue and emblematic for why we're curious to see what happens to "Gear." The reason Top Gear UK works is because it's on the BBC and therefore not wholly dependent on advertising of the automotive variety. To have the show out there at the up-fronts pointing to a "Featured "after market" accessory of the week" indicates — well, we're not sure what it indicates, but we'll be watching. [NBC Universal via Final Gear, Gumball144]

...this is not. However, this vodcast from SpeedTV IS a great example of the former Man Show host's ability to throw down with the in-car cavorting during challenges. So although it's not NBC's new Gear, it's a taste of what we should expect. Except hopefully with better music. Also, hopefully without 50 Cent. (Hat tip to PhkMark!) [via Final Gear]