Blood Drive’s James Roland’s 7 Tips For If You Find Yourself in a Cross-Country Death Race


There’s a chip in your neck that can make your head explode at the turn of a knob, your car runs on blood, and there’s a lunatic ringmaster who’s laying down what few laws exist. From the looks of it, you’ve found yourself in the cross-country death race known as the Blood Drive.

I know what you’re probably thinking, “F*ck! What am I gonna do?!?!”

Well, I have some good news for you. I caught up with James Roland, who is the creator/producer of Syfy’s hit grindhouse show Blood Drive, to get his tips to help you out in this situation.

Sharing these nuggets of information goes against his very first tip, but I’m going to do it anyway.

1. Be Selfish


“You have to be in a place where context doesn’t matter, all that matters is winning, and your reasons for winning.

If you’ll notice, everybody wants the prize ($10 million), but everybody wants it for different reasons. Domi and Cliff want to save their marriage. The Gentleman wants to be seen as refined, and better than everybody else, that’s obviously very important to him. Grace wants to save her sister.

It has to be more than the $10 million. Whether it’s evil, or noble, or whatever, you gotta have something that makes you greedy.”

2. Be Morally Pliable


“Hang on, and be willing to bend. I think that’s the theme of everything on the show. Do not assume that you are right. There is always, even if it’s something as crazy as Clowndick, there’s always a different viewpoint, and you can justify murder a thousand ways, and you’re gonna find it, because when it comes to survival all bets are off.

People change when they feel like they are threatened, or their loved ones are threatened, so don’t think you’re gonna be good, because nobody’s good when they’re on the Blood Drive.”

3. Find The Right Race Partner


“I think the best teams are yin and yang. I think Arthur (aka Barbie) and Grace, part of it is learning how to work together, and they really learn how to work out their differences. So I think yin and yang is a good method.

You could argue Domi and Cliff are too similar, and this is why they’re always at odds with each other. The Gentleman and The Scholar are at odds with each other, but they always manage to work it out because they both need each other.

Yin and yang tend to need each other.”

4. Kill Your Adversaries Creatively


“It’s not about efficiency, it’s not about the most obvious choice, it’s about the style in which you murder.”

“You gotta be sneaky about it. If you’re in the race, accidents can happen, but what (Blood Drive ringmaster Julian) Slink doesn’t want is you to be sitting at a table eating afterwards and somebody just stabs you through the head, because that’s not fun. It’s all about the showmanship, and how it happens.”

“Slink believes in a good show. It’s like reality TV … Slink is the producer. So I think killing with the most style, and attacking with the most style, is going to have value to Slink, and if you get Slink on your side he can pull some strings, even if it looks like you’re doing it all on your own.”

5. Anyone Can Be Fuel For Your Ride


“Slink doesn’t care. Slink cares about the racers being true to who they really are. Slink cares about eradicating affectation. He hates pretentiousness. He doesn’t think Barbie is really good, (he thinks he’s) just pretending to be good. He gets annoyed at Grace for focusing on her sister, and wants her to just be this pure id.

For Slink that’s the one and only guiding light, be true to yourself, in this weird way. That’s what the Blood Drive is for him.”

6. Beware The Agents Of Chaos


“Everybody else plays by a certain set of rules. The Gentleman says in the pilot he really does believe in good manners. He will try and bend those rules, and circumvent them to get what he wants, but he’s beholden to it. Even Rib Bone seems to have a certain code, at least when it comes to animals, but what is Clowndick beholden to? Nothing. I think those guys are the most dangerous.”

7. Don’t Leave One Of Slink’s Post-Race Mayhem Parties Early


“You’re not supposed to leave, and we see what happens if you try to sneak away.”

“Most people don’t want to (leave). They’re doing (the race) for the glory, and they’re doing it to get their rocks off. You survive the day, your adrenaline’s up, all you’re gonna wanna do is fuckin’ beast, so why would anybody want to leave? Of course, Arthur and Grace might have reasons they want to leave.”


Blood Drive airs on Syfy on Wednesdays at 10pm est.

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