Sheikh Moe

Frank151: Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself, about your love of cars, and how you ended up doing Gumball?
Sheikh Moe: Supercars have been a passion of mine since I was a kid. I met Max and Julie at one of the rallies back in Dubai and they told me about Gumball. I had heard a lot about Gumball but I never knew how to actually register. But when I met them, I asked about the routes and everything and then I signed up straightaway.
F151: What year was this?
SM: 2009.

F151: I saw that you race as a team, “Moe ‘n’ Matt.” Who is Matt?
SM: Our team was me, Matt, and also Mothman. We’ve been friends for the past 15 years, all three of us. We love cars and we also love movies as well, so when we did Gumball the first thing we decided to do was to do it in a white Rolls-Royce, just like in the movie The Cannonball Run. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie, but we imitated Sheik Abdul Bin Falafel throughout the whole rally.
F151: I am a big fan of that movie, and I saw that your plans for this year, also, are to race as Sheik Abdul Bin Falafel. Is that true?
SM: That is true. There is a big chance we will do it the same. However, we will do it with a twist.
F151: Do you want to tell us about the twist, or no?
SM: I think we will leave it for a surprise, for the starting grid. But there is a big chance we will not be doing it in the Rolls-Royce again.
F151: Do you wanna tell us about what car you want to do it in, or is that also a surprise?
SM: Yeah, that’s the twist. Last year we got a lot of fans during the rally, and we got a lot of emails from people wanting us to do it again as Sheik Abdul Bin Falafel, so we said, “We’ll do it again.” But we don’t like repeating ourselves every year, you know? If we do it every year, the same thing, it gets boring. So we decided to change it a little bit and basically spice it up.

F151: I saw that you guys have a term, “You’ve been Sheikhed.”
SM: Well, it started out as a joke. We asked people questions about the Middle East, our region, and if they answered it right—or wrong—we’d give them a bracelet and tell them the right answer. Ninety percent of the time it was the wrong answer. Basically we tell them, “Name five countries in the Middle East.” Out of the five they would mention four that were not in the Middle East, and then one Middle Eastern country, which is Iraq. We ask people, “Where is the Middle East on a map?” Some people say somewhere in China, some people say Europe, which is very funny. Also, if we don’t ask them a question, we ask them to perform something, like a small dare, and if they do it, they get Sheikhed.
F151: Who are the most famous people you guys have Sheikhed?
SM: Basically, we Sheikhed all of Gumball—Dennis Rodman, Gretchen Rossi, Tony Hawk....

F151: I noticed you guys do this thing called the Arab Run. What is it?
SM: That’s where I met Max and Julie, on the Arab Run. Basically they do it across the UAE, a one-day event. Sort of a mini Gumball.
F151: And who participates in it?
SM: Many Gumballers who live here, plus many new people. That’s why it’s a nice way for people to open up and learn more about Gumball.

F151: I heard you’re something of a thrill seeker.
SM: Last Gumball, on the last day, we went skydiving. After skydiving, I think we all lost a chip in our brain. We became adrenaline junkies. Since then we’ve done five or six trips. We went to the Himalayas. We went to the Everest base camp. It was a very nice experience. Two weeks of very hard work, but it was worth it. Then we decided to go to Kilimanjaro, which is next month, and we’re trying to raise the Gumball flag at the top of Kilimanjaro.

F151: I see that you took a lot of photos on the rally.
SM: It’s a hobby of mine.
F151: I was looking at the pictures of the inside of your car, and I saw lots of gadgets. Are you into electronics?
SM: We were very well equipped, but we ended up getting caught by the police twice every day. So all these electronics didn’t help us.
F151: Do you have any funny stories involving the police?
SM: Yeah, we Sheikhed at least four or five cops.
F151: Did any of the cops wonder who you were?
SM: Yeah, they see us wearing this and they have two choices: either give us a ticket, or take a picture with us. Most of them decided to take a picture. We also Sheikhed a judge.
F151: Where?
SM: In Texas, at the courthouse. We were speeding a little bit. A cop tagged us at about 114 miles [per hour], if I’m not mistaken. The police stopped us and made us follow them one hour back to the courthouse. We said, “Give us the ticket. We’ll pay you here.” He said, “No way. You have to go back to the courthouse and pay.” So we drove all the way to the courthouse, went in front of the judge, and pled guilty, of course. She gave us a ticket and we had to pay in front of her. Then we Sheikhed her, took a picture with her, and left [laughs].

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