April 1, 2026 • 45 mins
Katherine Legge talks with AJ Foyt Racing president Larry Foyt about running an IndyCar team and where the sport is headed. Foyt says AJ first told him “no way” to racing, so he quit other sports, swept floors at the shop, and started in go-karts. They discuss the grind of sponsorship and budgets, why results are about people and culture as much as money, moving operations from Texas to Indianapolis to find talent, working well with Santino Ferrucci, and how technical alliances (like their Penske partnership) shape IndyCar’s future and potential growth to three cars.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart Woman's sports production.
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Throttle Therapy
with Me Catherine Legg and today's guest is someone who's
lived nearly every single angle of racing, from growing up
in one of the most iconic families to carving out
(00:28):
his own path behind the wheel, and now subsequently leading
a team in one of the toughest series in the world.
Larry Floyd is the president of aj Foyd Racing, a
former driver across multiple disciplines including IndyCar and NASCAR, and
someone who understands both the history and the future of
our sport in a really unique way. We're going to
(00:48):
talk about what it's like carrying on the Foight legacy,
how the team has evolved in recent years, and the
realities of running a modern IndyCar operation. Where does Larry
see the sport heading next? Larry, I'm so happy that
you joined us. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well, thank you, good to see you and be with you.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, it's it's obviously that part of the season where
everything's ramping up, so I know that it's incredibly busy
for you and getting ready for Indy and all the
good stuff. But I want to go I want to
go back, and I want to start with like baby Larry,
and I want to get a feeling of like what
it was like to be you as a kid. Like
(01:27):
you obviously grew up in a very special kind of
racing household. Did you realize that it was special? Was
it normal for you as a as a kid to
just have Aj as a granda.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I mean, looking back, I guess you wouldn't say it
was normal, but it was. You know, I wasn't really
that involved in racing like a lot of drivers, you
know kids are at a young age. I mean I
played all the normal sports. I was playing baseball and
basketball and soccer and all that. And you know, I
(02:00):
of course knew what dad did, and I went to
the Indy five hundred every year, but he really didn't
take me to a lot of races. And you know,
when he was he was on the road still a lot.
He was still very active driving. And Edie was also,
you know, the typical when you think about AJ Foyd,
he was tough. So as a kid, you just kind
of minded your p's and q's. You didn't want to
(02:22):
get in trouble because he was pretty strict. So but
as I got older, I started wondering, Hey, why can't
I give this a try, you know. So of course
I went to him and he's like, nope, no way, yeah,
he just never did he really he said no, oh yeah,
he didn't want any of the kids really involved in racing.
And it was hard to understand it, but looking back,
(02:45):
I do. But of course I went to mom and
she's like, you got to show him how bad you
want it, you know, So I kind of quit all
my other sports. Yeah, no, it was and I quit
my other sports and just started going to the race
shop after school. And Jack's star and he's been with us,
for my goodness, over sixty years probably now. He said, okay, yah, here,
(03:06):
here's a broom. Get started. You know, you're the new janitor.
So that's how that's how I got started.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It went quickly, you know. Yeah, from there, I mean then,
you know, Mom and AJ they did give me some
money to get my first go kart and help me
do that. But so we were working on it in
a buddy of mine and I. We'd drive to the
racetrack on the weekend and go go karting, so kind
I got it started.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Did you feel like a pressure then to perform? Was
he telling you like, this is what an apex is,
and this is what you're gonna break, and this is
what you're gonna do.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, I mean not too much. I mean he tried
to take the pressure off. He said, look, I've won
about every race you can win, and he said I've
also hit the wall as hard as probably most people
have ever hit it. So he said, you're not going
to do anything to impress me, so just go do
what you can do. But my second ever race, I
remember I was I was in second and the guy
(04:01):
and the lead went off, so I was I had
the lead, and then I think I was lapping somebody
and we got together, and I remember I was really
mad and I hit the steering wheel and luckily still
the guy leading, I was able to catch them and
get the wind, and I was in the you know,
victory circle there I'm all happy and I just see
people's eyes like kind of big. I'm like, oh, what's
(04:23):
going on? And then I see my dad. I was like,
oh man, and he starts chewing me out in victory lane.
You know you don't lose your composure like that. So
I was like, oh man, it's going to be a
long road to choose this path, but it's good.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Wow. Was there ever anything else that you thought you
might want to do instead? Was there like, oh I
want to be?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
For me?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
It was a flight to pilot, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, I mean me. I think you know you know me.
I'm a pretty laid back guy. I'm not that typical
race car driver, adrenaline junkie. I think it wasn't really
why I loved it, but yeah I was. You know,
I don't know, it's school, you know. I actually wanted
to be a I really liked film and wanted to
be a film director. I ended up going to TCU
(05:05):
and joining the film school. But AJ got that report
card it said you're going to go join the business
school now, so I had to pivot. But yeah, I
mean really, once I got into racing, you have the bug, right,
I knew. I knew it was what I wanted to
do with my life. So that's that's how we got there.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
And you still love it to this day, even to
all the detriment of writing the rollercoaster of what is racing?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Huh? It is. I mean, we've had some tough years,
you know, when you get on the business side of
the sport. Whereas when I first started with the team,
it was it was a lot of fun because I
felt like, Okay, I'm going to take my experiences from
what I felt I lacked and my teams as a driver,
(05:52):
so what can I do to help our team in IndyCar.
And it was it was great to make those changes
and see things is getting better. But as even I
think Indy Car has grown, and the financial obligations that
you have to run a team at a high level
now are so great that a lot of my time
(06:15):
has turned to that, to that financial side of the
business and working on sponsorships and nurturing those relationships so
you know, it can It's such Racing is such an
up and down ride, right like you can you have
some of the highest highs and then also you can
go through a stretch. I mean we haven't. We haven't
(06:35):
been back to Victory Lane since twenty thirteen, and that
that just wears on you. But you're trying to do
everything you can within your budget. I know sometimes fans
don't understand, well, why don't you just hire this guy,
or why don't you just do that and there's a
bottom line that you just you have to work with
and to make it all work.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Do you think there's a direct correlation between how much
money you have to spend in the result that you
get you're going to get.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, that's the old adage, right is you know, if
you have more money, you can can go faster. But
I mean in some instances, but no, what I've learned
through my years is it's a people business. You just
have to get the right people, especially an IndyCar where
we have a lot of the same parts and pieces
(07:23):
and the cars are very similar. But at the same time,
the right people making those decisions, the right engineers working
with the drivers, everybody pulling the same direction, I think
can make a big difference.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
How much do you think your experience as a driver
has helped in your endeavors now running the team because
you've seen like Indy, Kay, You've seen NASCAR, You've seen
all of the different series, and you've you've experienced it
from pretty much every angle. Like do you think that
that makes it more difficult because you can see the
future or do you think it makes it easier?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I think it definitely helps. My heart was always an IndyCar.
The Indy five hundred is why I wanted to be
in racing growing, you know, Going's Era every year, I
mean really since I was born, and watching Dad race
and hearing the fans cheer for him and just the
whole spectacle of what India's you know, that's that that
(08:20):
had me hooked. So my heart was an IndyCar. But
as I was coming up is kind of when the
split was happening, you know, as right as I was
getting ready to go up, and no one really knew
what was going to happen. And Harris Casinos was my
sponsor at the time, and they really liked the NASCAR side,
and that's why I ended up heading over there kind
(08:41):
of first and doing that. But I think all of
those experiences definitely help on the team side, just from everything.
And I think it's where you know, people, people know
that Santino and I have really hit it off. We've
got a great relationship, and I'm on the radio with
him and I think it I kind of know when
I need to keep him calm. I know when I
(09:02):
can tell him to shut up and drive. Most of
the time, I know he stays pretty cool in the
car usually, but a couple of times I've had to
kind of get on him, and I guess, being the boss,
I'm probably the only one who can say that to him,
and an he responds to it. But we've had a
lot of fun over the last few years. We've come
close to winning Indy and I know he can get
it done, and if we can keep giving him a
(09:24):
good car, we'll get there.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah. Funny story. I remember when the Harris sign was
at Rhode Atlanta, and I didn't know that it was
called Harris at the time. I was doing a TV
show and I called it Hurrahs. I'm super embarrassed about
that to this day. But no, I feel like a
certain affinity with you because you have experienced the IndyCar
(09:48):
and the NASCAR side. How good of a driver do
you think you were?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
So I think I could be pretty quick. I don't know.
You know, I moved up so fast that it was
almost crazy. I had raced maybe twenty ASA races and
got thrown straight to the you know at that time
was the Bush Series, the Expanity Series, now or what?
(10:13):
And then I was there for a couple of years
and straight into Cup. So it was just it was
a lot, and we ran our own team. I mean
I was actually managing my own Bush team back then,
which was crazy. I was what twenty five years old
or something, so I'm racing for it and racing for it,
and it was it was a lot because and we
(10:36):
just probably didn't have the budget that other people have.
So I think as a driver, you know, when you
don't have the success you want to, you can always
make excuses. There are always things that could have been better.
Have the book, no, I mean it is because I
think we wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think
we were good enough to do it right. And yeah,
(10:57):
it was just it was definitely tough because race it's
some big teams and some guys that have grown up
driving late models and racing short tracks. I'd never seen
a short track till I got to write as a
stock cars But but there were fun little things. I
think I still have the track record at Winchester that
I got from Tomartin. I believe I still have it.
(11:18):
I tried to look the other day. That was so
funny because we I qualified and I went out pretty early,
and I knew it was a good lap and so
I had the poll for a long time and I
was so nervous. I actually climbed up in the grand
stands and I'm watching the rest of qualifying and ended
up getting the pole. So of course, I you know,
I call aj. I said Dad, I got the poll
at Winchester and I knew he liked that place because
(11:39):
it's you know, a high bank, short oval that he liked.
And he says, what happened to the throttle stick? Wow?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
He sounds rough to grow up with that, You know.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
He was happy that. You know, he always had good
one liners like that and things like that. So we
had a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Do you miss racing? Is there ever a time where
you were like standing at Indy and you're watching them
go around and go, oh man, I'll give it another game.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
You Catherine, I'm almost fifty years old. I'm too old
to hit that wall anymore. It's yeah, sometimes I think,
you know, I driving an Indy card. Indy was to
me was probably the best experience of your life. But
now racing it was tough. And I think because I
know my dad was so nervous about us being out there,
we really didn't run in traffic muchil until CARB Day,
(12:32):
which was crazy. So trying to understand what you needed
out of a car for race conditions versus just qualifying
was definitely a challenge. But I'm glad I got to
do it and got to experience it. And yeah, I
mean one of the few guys lucky enough to race
the Brickyard four hundred and the Indy five hundred and
do some cool things like that.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, I mean, there's still only a half of the
people who have done that, so that's pretty special.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Right when I quit, it was harder, like making that
decision to really hang it up and not not keep
chasing that. So, you know, I went and drove a
truck at Daytona and did some things just just scratching
that itch, I guess. And then once I finally made
the decision to move back to Texas and get involved
really on the business side, I kind of let it
(13:18):
go at that point. We'll get wild ideas every now
and then. I saw one of my old crew chiefs
at Phoenix when Indy car was racing with NASCAR, and
he said, come on, let's go run the ARC race
next year. We'll win. That thing was like, oh, man,
I'm too old for that, though.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I'll do with you Daytona. AKA.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Well there you go.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
How did that transition from driver to team happen? Was
it a conscious like at the end of this year,
I'm gonna then focus on running the team or was
it kind of just it happened.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I got to give a kudos to the old man
because he really got me. There was an IndyCar race
at Michigan. I was still kind of hanging on and
trying to see if I could get something going to
NASCAR again, and he calls said, why don't you come
to the race? And next thing I know, there's like, hey,
there's a press conference. Why once you come in and
he announces me as the team director in the press conference,
(14:14):
I said, well, I was well played. Yeah, I said,
I guess I'm moving to Texas. So he got me
pretty good on that one. And but yeah, from there
probably never looked back. I mean it was you know,
he was still super involved in the team at the time,
and which is great. I mean it was unbelievable he
was still basically engineering the cars. I mean, I think
(14:34):
when I came, I don't know that we even had
an engineer really called staff. So, but I remember I
called it. This was like two thousand and six or seven.
I believe I have to look to be sure, but
I called. I had known Darren Manning from from when
(14:55):
he was over at Ganassi. Uh. He was my first
call and I just said Darren, and I said, what
do you do it? You know he's he's six or
seven hours later than I was. He's over in England
and he said, I'm just down at the pub having
a beer. Said. I said, you need to get in
shape and get over here and drive an IndyCar for me.
He said, hell, yeah, I'll do it. So that was
(15:15):
my first hire, was getting old Darren back and he
was good. Helped us get on the run of stuff.
I don't know if he is or not. He was
doing some driver coaching. In fact, he was working with
Dalton Kellett when Dalton was running for us. So but yeah,
from there I was kind of all on the business side.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The old guard. That's cool. We're going to take a
quick break, but we'll be right back. Welcome back to
Toronto therapy. How much involvement does your dad have now? Like,
(15:59):
does is he still involved in some way?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
You know? He still comes by the shop here in Texas.
I'm still based in Texas, but last year we did
move pretty much the entire operation at to Indianapolis, and
that was tough. I know that was tough for him
because he loved coming in and obviously seeing his race
cars and talking to the guys. But it was just
(16:24):
it was time. I felt like it was time to
make that move and consolidate both shops. You know, we
were running one car out of Indy because we just
couldn't find enough really good people down here in Texas.
We had a great core group, which is why we
kept it going down here for so long. But getting
everything up to Indy and I think just having the
talent pool of mechanics, engineers and everybody there I think
(16:47):
really helped us last year. And I mean I think
it was we saw it in the results.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
It seems like racing's very incestuous and like if you're
in Indyka, you have to be in indian If you're
in Nasca, you have to be in like Charlotte Walls
because you all steal mechanics from each other and engineers
and earth now, so it's like that's where people gravitate towards.
If they want to be in racing, right, So I
guess it's harder to to find. But like with Mike Shank,
(17:15):
I guess when you have people in that area that's
not Indy and then you keep them, then you know
that they're really good people. Did you have to move
anybody from Texas to Indy?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
A lot of my guys were getting a little older
that were in Texas, so a couple of them were
happy to retire or move on to something else. A
couple guys took shot based jobs, you know, up in Indy.
But no, you're exactly right. I mean, that's what I
always found was when you got good people and you're
there aren't a ton of race teams in town, it's
(17:47):
a lot easier to keep them, and they want to
and they're happy to stay there. I mean, Indy, you
do fight everybody's you know, looking to get good people
and so so you fight that bad a little bit
up there. But we've did. We really didn't have any
turnover after last year, which was great. We've got a
good group and you just try to keep them together.
We can get a good group together.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, how hard is that?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Like?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Because so much of its culture and how you melt together.
Like you can have a really good crew, you can
have a really good engineer, you can have a really
good driver. But if they don't all kind of like
melt and mash together, then they cannot reduce the results.
And you could have like pretty average group of people.
But if they all like get together and do great things,
(18:31):
It's like, it's so interesting to me to see like
the culture of it all, Like how hard is it
to see into the future with that stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, so we're Yeah, I think with us it's unique
as well, because I've really tried to keep that family
race team feel. But also, you know, even we're at
a point where you're between forty and fifty people, so
you have a lot of different personalities and you have
you know, getting everyone to mesh and be on the
(19:04):
same page can sometimes be a challenge. But no, we've
got a really good group right now and we just
try to keep that together. They like to you know,
we all spend so much time together in this indy
car world and going to these races, you're traveling together,
you're staying together. So no, it's important. I think, like
you said, even a guy, if you rate them a
(19:27):
eight out of ten versus a ten out of ten.
If they're pulling the same direction with the group, you
can get the better results. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, And I think it's if you'll speak the same language.
And it's really hard for me to be able to
tell that because I think, Okay, so and so is
a great engineer. He was winning races with whoever. It
was like, I can't wait, I'm going to do all
some things. And then you know there's a disconnect and
you don't speak the same language, or vice versa. You're like, oh,
(19:54):
this guy's knew I don't know how this guy's going
to be and then you just like whatever I say
that speaking Catherine, because each driver has like a different
language and a different way of describing the car and
what the car is doing and talking. And if you
connect a bit like Will Power did with his engineer,
you know early on, like that just seemed to work
from the get go, and it's it must be hard
(20:18):
to see whether that's going to be a thing going
in you like, I've got the best engineer for you.
But if if they're not going to get on, then
it's not going to work. You know.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I think that driver engineer relationship, like you said, is
just that is the most important thing for getting speed
out of it, especially these indie cars. Now. I mean
I even had it a little bit on the NASCAR side,
you know, I met had a creature, you know more
back then it was crew chiefs over there, and it
wasn't engineers as much. But he could tell me, hey,
(20:47):
just hold a flateal stick and I believe him, you know,
I just had that much trust in him that the
changes he made good. Yeah, he did, he did, and
that's good.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
So what do you think, I mean from the outside,
I see like the team's made some steps forward lately,
and I think, you know, like it's never linear as
it It's never like every race it is getting better.
It's always like you have two good races and then
you have a bad one or whatever movie. What do
you put that down to you partly the move or
(21:19):
is there something else?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I think having some consistency with Santino being within the
team now for a few years, you know, you we
have a good idea of how he wants the car
to feel and the setups that he likes. And obviously
us doing the technical alliance with Penske has been great.
Just seeing a little bit behind that curtain of how
(21:43):
the really big teams operate and working together. I mean,
last year, I'd say we came out of the box
a little bit slow, and we've done the same this year.
So I'm still confident we can turn it around. But
because last year, you know, Santino got a got a
couple of podiums there and we almost won the five
hundred with David, and David was really fast. I mean
(22:06):
obviously he's fast on short ovals anyway, but you know,
definitely had some opportunities to win and just didn't get
it done. But this year started slow, not all our call.
I mean, Santino got taken out on the first lap
at Saint Pete and that was a bummer.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
And such early days, it's hard to tell.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, it is hard to tell, but you kind of
get a feel where, you know, I've been a little
disappointed just with our outright pace, so trying to figure
out what's going on there, and it's just, man, everyone
is so good the whole The depth of this IndyCar
field probably the deepest I've ever seen it. So you
(22:47):
just got to have everything right and to be up
there and put yourself on that spot do.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You think that the landscape's changed because of the technical partnerships,
Like all the teams have kind of banded together in
some way, shape or form if they're competitive, like teams
that are left out on their own really are as
disadvantage as far as I could see. And that you've
got technical alliances with Ganassia and Dretti and New and
Penske obviously, do you think that that's where the future
(23:15):
of racing's going, that you'll get groups of teams banding together.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Well, I think, I mean we're seeing it happen already,
right because I know, even before before we got involved
with Penske, we had gone down a huge multi year
project designing our own dampers, you know, which with so
many things that are the spec in our series, that's
(23:42):
one of the main open areas of development, and everybody
was spending the money in that area. And so for
us to finally get to a point where we could
go down that path, we were already ten years behind
some teams on where they were with dampers. So so
for us, I think just that working with Penske on
that side has been a huge help. And so if
(24:03):
you are an independent team and maybe you have the
right people and you've been working on that and you've
got the resources, than sure doing it yourself would be great.
But also just with a little bit of practice time
we have, it's nice to be able to share data
with someone and get information quickly, and that's really helpful.
(24:24):
So curious to see what will happen because when the
new car comes out, I mean, that's where you can
try to get an advantage early if you can figure
it out sooner than some other people. So I would
think just having more data points would be really helpful
on some when that happens.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So has the new car release got anything to do
with the fact that IndyCar said that the manufacturers can
have charters. So does that mean that whoever gets the
charter for the manufacturer will then be able to go
and test the new car for example, or has that
not been sensed, don't you.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I haven't heard any specifics on that, and I know,
being a Chevrolet team, I don't think Chevy's decided exactly
what they're going to do with their charter yet. I
believe Honda announced what they're doing, So it'll be interesting
to see what happens there and how that all works.
But yeah, because.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Typically the Ganazis and the Andretties and the Penskes of
the world have done the testing. They've been selected by
Bridstone or a Firestone, I should say, to do the
testing and buy the engine manufacturers to do the testing.
So then in my mind that gives them such an
advantage because they've you know, found out all the little
nooks and crannies of the new cars, and so I
(25:41):
would assume that it's going to be relatively similar with
the test and the Indy Car is obviously going to
get together with Delara and go and test the car
before it gets delivered to everybody, right, and I would
think that it would be the manufacturer cars that would
go and do it. But I mean, who knows. It's
so different, Like it's changing so much t year now.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, I mean it it feels like though it's kind
of always been that way, where the top teams, like
you say they got they were able to go do
the tire testing, they were able to do some of
those things that gets you that little extra bit of
track time which we all we all want, and now
it's simulator time. You know, if you're a mid pack team,
you're you're fighting to hopefully get on the good SIM
(26:27):
more and things like that.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
So have you tried driving the SIM?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I haven't. I have not. I mean, I you know,
played with I Racing a little bit back in the day,
but I haven't been on one of the big sims yet.
So I would do that?
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Would should when when the team, Yeah, when the team
have a day in India, Ora and Shiloh or whatever,
you should be like, give me, give me a handful
of apps. Because it takes a little while to get
used to. It's like a whole different ballgame. But it's
actually really cool because you can get through so many
test items by changing five minutes worth of computer stuff
instead of having to take year books off, you know,
like it's it's really interesting. But yeah, that is definitely changing,
(27:07):
and that definitely favors the younger drivers because they grew
up doing I Racing and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Well, it's unbelievable. I mean, you know what these modern
steering wheels are like, and now it's hybrid settings along
with all the other things were changing all the time.
It's busy in there. But yeah, these these young kids,
they take right to it. I think they're so used
to that, I know.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Put me to shame. Did you ever follow F one?
Did you have any F one aspirations or anything like that?
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Oh? Probably when I was first coming up. Yeah, I
certainly wanted to, you know, try to get them, but
she'ld I. You know, I just didn't have that much
road racing after go karts, just a tiny bit of
F two thousand and went straight to the NASCAR staff.
But you know, I've I definitely keep an eye on
it and as well, even the European Ladder series because there's, yeah,
(28:02):
they F one seats are so few and far between
that a lot of times you've got some really good
drivers and we've got some of them in Indy Carnal
that the European Ladder. It's fun to watch both the
American side and the European side because a lot of
talented guys coming up. Good girls.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
We're going to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back. Welcome back to Toronto Therapy. I was just
having this conversation about the difference in culture and actually
I was speaking to Eric Warren from GM and this
(28:41):
was this time last year ish, I would say, and
I said, the culture difference is going to be a shock,
like you're going to find that they don't do things
the same way that they do things over here. And
having gone from there to here and then back again
and then back again, when I went and did AUDI
and DTM, I didn't realize how it's the same sport.
(29:02):
But I didn't realize how different everybody approaches it and
how different the team setup is and all the things.
So I expect that they have some stories coming out
of F one now that they're like, Wow, they do
this and they do that. And even when I did
Indy five hundred for Ray Hall, their technical director came
from F one and he kind of hated IndyCar. You know,
(29:24):
he was open about he hated the way that we
did things over here. And I've known the same to
go back the other way. So I'm curious, like what
did AJ think. Did he like the American style of
raising better?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
I think he did. I mean a lot of people
don't know. I believe he was offered a driver Ferrari.
Was he really? Yeah? In fact, he went over and
been awesome to see. Yeah, he met with mister mister
Ferrari and they just I think, but what they were
(30:00):
offering was the number two, the number two seat, and
he wasn't going to do that. So I do think
he always preferred American racing though he's he's pretty American
through and through. But he I know, he enjoyed. He
has great stories of going over and racing at Brand's
Hatch or yeah right, you know obviously he was one
(30:21):
for one went over once to Lemon and won and
came back. So did he.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I didn't know that, that's pretty.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah, yeah, he only went over there once. And so
when when him and Gurney won in sixty seven, that
was that was his only time he went over there.
But yeah, I think, oh yeah, no, it was but
great stories and yeah, I think he would have you know,
and he did race about everything. But yeah, I mean,
(30:50):
I know I remember his him telling me how mad
his dad was at him because he was on the
pole for the five hundred and he goes and races
a dirt car a night, you know, the night before
the race. Its like, you know, what are you doing.
You're on the poll for the five hundred. You're going
to go get yourself hurt, you know, running tea hoade
or whatever. And but that that was him. Loved racing, do.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
You think that he you grew up with him the
same way he grew up with his dad, Like it
was kind of like rough and gruff and tough love.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
No, because I think AJ always had that in the
back of his mind of what he went through. Uh,
it just and his him and his dad were super close,
like don't like because you know, they built their cars together,
they worked on everything together. But his dad was tough,
Like I don't really remember remember him so much. He
(31:42):
died when I was pretty young. But the stories I
hear of, you know, him and AJ getting into it.
But but they were so close also. And I think
after AJ's fourth went at Indy, they said Tony AJ's
dad was thanking the crew and telling them what a
good they did, and I guess AJ said, well, what
about me? Did I have anything to do with it?
(32:04):
He said, you did? Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
They're both very dry obviously as well, which is cool.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Yeah, he wasn't like that with me. I mean there
were you know, there were times like if you weren't
doing what he thought you should be doing, he was
definitely hard on you. But he also wasn't like that,
you know, like his dad was. You could tell he
was he was he was nervous about any of us,
whether it was Anthony you know AJ four the fourth
when he was started racing and was an Indy car,
(32:34):
or whether it was me. It made him nervous. He
didn't want us to get hurt for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah. I think one of my favorite stories is, like
I always think of AJ as kind of like scary,
because you know, the old icons are like they're like
God's almost. I mean, I know that's probably a little
bit too much, but you just see them as this
kind of iconic figure and not a real life per
(33:00):
Does that make sense? And so then I was talking
to you Janet Gathrie on the podcast like maybe six
months ago, and this is one of my favorite stories
because she was trying to qualify for Indy and AJ
actually lent her a car, and I thought that was
so cool of him because you have this picture of
AJ being this like rough ruff, No, I'm not going
(33:20):
to help anybody because I'm gonna win everything, kind of
like madly Man. And there he was like actually helping
people and doing it for a woman in times where
it was unheard of, and and so I love that.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I tell you, you would think by now that I've
heard every story, but I'm telling you, I still will
come across a fan or somebody who will tell me
an AJ story of something he did to help them
that nobody knows about and because he didn't really talk
about it, but he's he's definitely one of the biggest
hearted guys you'll you'll come across. But his intensity level
(33:58):
was also one hundred and night, so he was those
those guys were definitely intense.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Do you think you have any of his traits?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, I'm sure I do. I mean we're obviously pretty
different where I'm you know, pretty low key. Tell you
a funny story. The first time I got hurt was
at Phoenix in an F two thousand car and they're
loading me on a stretcher and we're going to the
hospital and the nurses are doing these things and they
just looked at me. They said, are you sure you're
related to AJ? Because you're way too nice. He's normally
(34:29):
yelling at us and telling us what to do to
get him bandaged up, and it was pretty funny. I said,
I'm pretty different. I'm definitely more on you know, I
always laugh as I guess I was raised more by
by mom AJ was out of town, but no, I
mean sometimes he was raising Yeah he was. It takes
a lot to get me there. I mean I can
get upset and get angry, but it takes me a
(34:50):
lot to get there. And no, I'm just I'm just
kind of a little probably more lower key than he was.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I've got a few like rapid fire questions if he
didn't want what's the favorite track you've ever raised?
Speaker 2 (35:03):
That Indianapolis?
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Can you describe to the people listening what even as
a fan driving into indiaan going under the tunnel and
seeing the people and like getting goosebumps and it's just
a vibe like can you describe that feeling?
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I think, like I said earlier, from being a kid
and having fans cheer for you know, cheer for your
dad and you say around there he's he's like a god, right,
I mean he's just a legend, yah, legend, And that's
pretty impactful when you're a young, young kid. But yeah,
I think just having been there every year, and you know,
(35:47):
when I was young, as as a fan or as
a as a kid, you know, and then now being
a part of it, and I kind of sometimes I
still saw our family box has been up in Turn
two ever since I was born, and it's still my
favorite view of the track. I think you are so
close to the cars, you can see the speed, you
(36:09):
can see the driver's hands inside as they're you know,
coming through the corner, and it's just really awesome, I think.
And yeah, if people haven't been to India, and that's
why I think you have so many lifers that fans
that have been going their whole life, because it's it
is such an experience. So I still get goosebumps during
all the opening ceremonies and back home in Indiana and
(36:33):
everything that the playing of taps gets me every time.
You know, it's it's quite a.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
First year I did it, I like put blinkers on
and I was like, don't let any of it in.
I need to focus on the race. I need to
do this. This that's this is the procedure. This is
what I'm going to do. Yet together other right, like,
I'm like, don't look, don't take any on board. And
then after that, I'm like, you know what, not many
people get to do this. This is the coolest thing
in the entire universe. And I'm going to look around.
(37:00):
I'm going to make a mental note because when I'm eighty,
if I make it that long, I'm going to want
to look back and remember those things. And I get
emotionally even thinking about it now because it's so special,
and I find it really hard to describe it. And
I think that it's one of those things. I know,
it's the largest sporting event in the world as far
as the tendance goes, but like it's one of those
(37:20):
things that it's got a life of its own, it's
got a personality of its own. It's indescribable because it's
like the vibe, the energy is just you know, you
don't get the same feeling. I don't get the same
feeling at Daytona or Silverstone or Lamar or anywhere else.
They've all got their own kind of like personalities.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
I agree. I felt the same way, and my rookie
year there, I did the same thing and said, I'm
going to enjoy this first lap around. I'm going to
wave to the family and check it out and then
I'll then it comes down and lucky like I don't remember,
you know, your rookie year at Indy, but going into
that three wide start and how intense that is and
(38:01):
the different things you feel with your car with all
the dirty air and the turbulence, and this U quite
an exploit.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
That was back in the day before the screens too
for us, right like the first time, so like I
just remember the moving around and the whole car was moving,
and I was like, this is crazy, Like I didn't
night nobody told me to expect that, like and yeah,
it's the wildest experience. Yes, it was all right, one
race you wish you could relive.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
I tell you, I enjoyed racing in the Daytona five hundred.
I thought it was a lot of fun because even
if your car wasn't the fastest, you could draft and
so you know, you could get up there and mix
it up and get good runs and all that. I
mean obviously Indy Indie of course for the event, but Daytona,
(38:51):
I just I really enjoyed because I enjoyed the drafting
part of it. I had a lot of fun there me.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Too, I and Talladega and Atlanta that reason, because I
think it's almost like a different sport because you have
to be thinking like three steps ahead, and you're like, okay,
that lane's faster there, and this is doing this and
this guy's going to do that, and it's almost like
playing chess at two hundred miles an hour. It's it's
a different experience because you're not really driving the car.
As long as the car is stuck. All you're doing
(39:17):
is like trying to math everything out in your head
and listen to your spotter and trying to figure out, okay,
which lane, how am I going to zigzag my way
up up to the front now?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Which is cool?
Speaker 1 (39:26):
And I think it rewards the drivers who are patient
and who are smart more than the more than the
average I agree, most underrated driver right now.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Goodness. I don't know. Maybe you.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Thank Lorry.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
We talk, you know, we talked a that I know.
I really want you to get a good shout at
Indy because I know I've had some engineers that you
work with in the past and they were so complimentary
of you. Is by the I mean of your skill set.
So I've got a lot of hope from my rookie too.
Kyle Collette, who's young Brazilian rookie.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Shocked me. Actually, yeah, I did not expect him to
come out of the box and look so proficient. I
expected him to make a lot more mistakes and so
he's pleasantly surprised me. I've been watching him thinking he could,
you know, be something. This is good.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Yeah, it's hard for young drivers in Indy Car because
they just don't get a lot of track time before
before you're in the race, testing so limited that they're
really learning every weekend. So I think once we hit
the midyear point, I'm really excited to see how Kyle progresses.
Coffee or tequila depends on the day. Probably coffee. I'm
(40:47):
not a huge tequila drinker.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
But it depends on how much stress you've got going
on at the time.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Yeah, spring break, I'll go with tequila. There you go.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Where do you see a j Foyt racing in the
next five years?
Speaker 2 (41:04):
So our plan is to continue to grow. I mean,
that's that's where we're at. I mean, right now, we're
trying to get healthy. We've we've probably had our best
year of sponsorship acquisition that we've had, but we were behind.
You know, we had a sponsored default on us a
(41:25):
few years ago, which kind of put us on our
back foot, and that was tough because you know, I
was really enjoying we were working with Tatiana Calderon at
that time, and yeah, we had to stop running her
car mid season because we just you know, the sponsorship
had stopped coming. So but we ran our probably longer
(41:47):
than we should have. But I was trying hoping. You know,
you're always hopeful that people will live up to their
obligations or do what they said. But you know, it
literally takes a couple of years to get back on
your feet from something like that, at least for us.
So we've got that, We've got great partners right now,
and I would love to get to three cars where
(42:09):
the big teams are, but we're still trying to right
now just do two cars right and get the most
out of that that we can. But as the sport grows,
and I feel like it is, I feel like there's
a lot of positive momentum right now, everything that Fox
is doing in any car leadership right now that yeah,
hopefully hopefully keep growing with it.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Actually, I hadn't thought of the three car aspect because
it's like, how do you weigh up what it adds
to what it subtracts, like because it's obviously in one
way of distraction and a drawer on the original two cars,
but in another way, it adds data and support to
those two cars. So it's like, at what point does
(42:50):
it become an addition and not a subtraction? And I
guess that's kind of like a gut feeling of like
are we ready?
Speaker 2 (42:57):
You know? Yeah, now you're right, And that's that's something
because you're talking about adding a whole other team of
people that you have to find the right people, like
we talked about earlier. You know, when you can get
a good group together, we know how hard that is,
and so adding another one is tough. But you know,
my mind has been let's grow, Let's continue to grow.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, well, Indy car is also growing. So hopefully, what's
this saying? A rising tide raises all ships. So hopefully
that brings in more money because more eyeballs means more money,
and then more money means better people and all the things,
and it will spiral upwards from there. I think racing
in general kind of went through this dip for a
(43:42):
while that it's really kind of after the recession where
there's so many other sports that you can support in America.
You know, you got baseball and basketball and football and
all the other things, and it kind of just went
through a lull, but it seems to be maybe because
of drive to survive and everything else. It seems to
(44:03):
be like on this upward trend at the moment. So
I'm hoping that that helps you and everybody else out
to you.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
I appreciate it, and I think so I think we're
seeing that, and I think like, as a race fan,
I would think, hey, maybe I only followed up one,
but here's another very similar, cool type of racing with
some cool differences in why you wouldn't want to be
interested in following that as well. So I think open
wheel race fans, it's great because they have two great
(44:32):
products out there to follow and personalities.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I think Indika should highlight the personalities different like Santina.
You know, like the drivers aren't robots in Indyco. They're
not just like, yes, I will follow the instructions. They've
got personalities, and I think that that's what attracts the fans.
They just need to get to know them. And I
think Fox are doing a good job of highlighting some
of the top ones, but I think they need to
highlight some of their other ones too. Personal opinion. There
(44:58):
you go, Fox, take it from me, Larry. I will
let you go. I really really really appreciate your time
and this conversation and I've enjoyed it very much, and
I wish you all the best and I hope to
speak to you soon well.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Thank you for having me on. Always great to speak
with you, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be back next
week with more updates and more overtakes. We want to
hear from you. Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts
and tell us what you want to talk about. It
might just be the topic for our next show. Throttle
Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legg. Our executive producer is
Jesse Katz, and our supervising producer is Grace Fus. Listen
(45:42):
to Throttle Therapy on America's number one podcast network, iHeart,
open your free iHeart app and search throttle Therapy with
Katherine Legg and start listening.
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart Woman's sports production.
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Throttle Therapy
with Me Catherine Legg and today's guest is someone who's
lived nearly every single angle of racing, from growing up
in one of the most iconic families to carving out
(00:28):
his own path behind the wheel, and now subsequently leading
a team in one of the toughest series in the world.
Larry Floyd is the president of aj Foyd Racing, a
former driver across multiple disciplines including IndyCar and NASCAR, and
someone who understands both the history and the future of
our sport in a really unique way. We're going to
(00:48):
talk about what it's like carrying on the Foight legacy,
how the team has evolved in recent years, and the
realities of running a modern IndyCar operation. Where does Larry
see the sport heading next? Larry, I'm so happy that
you joined us. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well, thank you, good to see you and be with you.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, it's it's obviously that part of the season where
everything's ramping up, so I know that it's incredibly busy
for you and getting ready for Indy and all the
good stuff. But I want to go I want to
go back, and I want to start with like baby Larry,
and I want to get a feeling of like what
it was like to be you as a kid. Like
(01:27):
you obviously grew up in a very special kind of
racing household. Did you realize that it was special? Was
it normal for you as a as a kid to
just have Aj as a granda.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
I mean, looking back, I guess you wouldn't say it
was normal, but it was. You know, I wasn't really
that involved in racing like a lot of drivers, you
know kids are at a young age. I mean I
played all the normal sports. I was playing baseball and
basketball and soccer and all that. And you know, I
(02:00):
of course knew what dad did, and I went to
the Indy five hundred every year, but he really didn't
take me to a lot of races. And you know,
when he was he was on the road still a lot.
He was still very active driving. And Edie was also,
you know, the typical when you think about AJ Foyd,
he was tough. So as a kid, you just kind
of minded your p's and q's. You didn't want to
(02:22):
get in trouble because he was pretty strict. So but
as I got older, I started wondering, Hey, why can't
I give this a try, you know. So of course
I went to him and he's like, nope, no way, yeah,
he just never did he really he said no, oh yeah,
he didn't want any of the kids really involved in racing.
And it was hard to understand it, but looking back,
(02:45):
I do. But of course I went to mom and
she's like, you got to show him how bad you
want it, you know, So I kind of quit all
my other sports. Yeah, no, it was and I quit
my other sports and just started going to the race
shop after school. And Jack's star and he's been with us,
for my goodness, over sixty years probably now. He said, okay, yah, here,
(03:06):
here's a broom. Get started. You know, you're the new janitor.
So that's how that's how I got started.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
It went quickly, you know. Yeah, from there, I mean then,
you know, Mom and AJ they did give me some
money to get my first go kart and help me
do that. But so we were working on it in
a buddy of mine and I. We'd drive to the
racetrack on the weekend and go go karting, so kind
I got it started.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Did you feel like a pressure then to perform? Was
he telling you like, this is what an apex is,
and this is what you're gonna break, and this is
what you're gonna do.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, I mean not too much. I mean he tried
to take the pressure off. He said, look, I've won
about every race you can win, and he said I've
also hit the wall as hard as probably most people
have ever hit it. So he said, you're not going
to do anything to impress me, so just go do
what you can do. But my second ever race, I
remember I was I was in second and the guy
(04:01):
and the lead went off, so I was I had
the lead, and then I think I was lapping somebody
and we got together, and I remember I was really
mad and I hit the steering wheel and luckily still
the guy leading, I was able to catch them and
get the wind, and I was in the you know,
victory circle there I'm all happy and I just see
people's eyes like kind of big. I'm like, oh, what's
(04:23):
going on? And then I see my dad. I was like,
oh man, and he starts chewing me out in victory lane.
You know you don't lose your composure like that. So
I was like, oh man, it's going to be a
long road to choose this path, but it's good.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Wow. Was there ever anything else that you thought you
might want to do instead? Was there like, oh I
want to be?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
For me?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
It was a flight to pilot, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, I mean me. I think you know you know me.
I'm a pretty laid back guy. I'm not that typical
race car driver, adrenaline junkie. I think it wasn't really
why I loved it, but yeah I was. You know,
I don't know, it's school, you know. I actually wanted
to be a I really liked film and wanted to
be a film director. I ended up going to TCU
(05:05):
and joining the film school. But AJ got that report
card it said you're going to go join the business
school now, so I had to pivot. But yeah, I
mean really, once I got into racing, you have the bug, right,
I knew. I knew it was what I wanted to
do with my life. So that's that's how we got there.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
And you still love it to this day, even to
all the detriment of writing the rollercoaster of what is racing?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Huh? It is. I mean, we've had some tough years,
you know, when you get on the business side of
the sport. Whereas when I first started with the team,
it was it was a lot of fun because I
felt like, Okay, I'm going to take my experiences from
what I felt I lacked and my teams as a driver,
(05:52):
so what can I do to help our team in IndyCar.
And it was it was great to make those changes
and see things is getting better. But as even I
think Indy Car has grown, and the financial obligations that
you have to run a team at a high level
now are so great that a lot of my time
(06:15):
has turned to that, to that financial side of the
business and working on sponsorships and nurturing those relationships so
you know, it can It's such Racing is such an
up and down ride, right like you can you have
some of the highest highs and then also you can
go through a stretch. I mean we haven't. We haven't
(06:35):
been back to Victory Lane since twenty thirteen, and that
that just wears on you. But you're trying to do
everything you can within your budget. I know sometimes fans
don't understand, well, why don't you just hire this guy,
or why don't you just do that and there's a
bottom line that you just you have to work with
and to make it all work.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Do you think there's a direct correlation between how much
money you have to spend in the result that you
get you're going to get.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Well, that's the old adage, right is you know, if
you have more money, you can can go faster. But
I mean in some instances, but no, what I've learned
through my years is it's a people business. You just
have to get the right people, especially an IndyCar where
we have a lot of the same parts and pieces
(07:23):
and the cars are very similar. But at the same time,
the right people making those decisions, the right engineers working
with the drivers, everybody pulling the same direction, I think
can make a big difference.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
How much do you think your experience as a driver
has helped in your endeavors now running the team because
you've seen like Indy, Kay, You've seen NASCAR, You've seen
all of the different series, and you've you've experienced it
from pretty much every angle. Like do you think that
that makes it more difficult because you can see the
future or do you think it makes it easier?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
I think it definitely helps. My heart was always an IndyCar.
The Indy five hundred is why I wanted to be
in racing growing, you know, Going's Era every year, I
mean really since I was born, and watching Dad race
and hearing the fans cheer for him and just the
whole spectacle of what India's you know, that's that that
(08:20):
had me hooked. So my heart was an IndyCar. But
as I was coming up is kind of when the
split was happening, you know, as right as I was
getting ready to go up, and no one really knew
what was going to happen. And Harris Casinos was my
sponsor at the time, and they really liked the NASCAR side,
and that's why I ended up heading over there kind
(08:41):
of first and doing that. But I think all of
those experiences definitely help on the team side, just from everything.
And I think it's where you know, people, people know
that Santino and I have really hit it off. We've
got a great relationship, and I'm on the radio with
him and I think it I kind of know when
I need to keep him calm. I know when I
(09:02):
can tell him to shut up and drive. Most of
the time, I know he stays pretty cool in the
car usually, but a couple of times I've had to
kind of get on him, and I guess, being the boss,
I'm probably the only one who can say that to him,
and an he responds to it. But we've had a
lot of fun over the last few years. We've come
close to winning Indy and I know he can get
it done, and if we can keep giving him a
(09:24):
good car, we'll get there.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah. Funny story. I remember when the Harris sign was
at Rhode Atlanta, and I didn't know that it was
called Harris at the time. I was doing a TV
show and I called it Hurrahs. I'm super embarrassed about
that to this day. But no, I feel like a
certain affinity with you because you have experienced the IndyCar
(09:48):
and the NASCAR side. How good of a driver do
you think you were?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
So I think I could be pretty quick. I don't know.
You know, I moved up so fast that it was
almost crazy. I had raced maybe twenty ASA races and
got thrown straight to the you know at that time
was the Bush Series, the Expanity Series, now or what?
(10:13):
And then I was there for a couple of years
and straight into Cup. So it was just it was
a lot, and we ran our own team. I mean
I was actually managing my own Bush team back then,
which was crazy. I was what twenty five years old
or something, so I'm racing for it and racing for it,
and it was it was a lot because and we
(10:36):
just probably didn't have the budget that other people have.
So I think as a driver, you know, when you
don't have the success you want to, you can always
make excuses. There are always things that could have been better.
Have the book, no, I mean it is because I
think we wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think
we were good enough to do it right. And yeah,
(10:57):
it was just it was definitely tough because race it's
some big teams and some guys that have grown up
driving late models and racing short tracks. I'd never seen
a short track till I got to write as a
stock cars But but there were fun little things. I
think I still have the track record at Winchester that
I got from Tomartin. I believe I still have it.
(11:18):
I tried to look the other day. That was so
funny because we I qualified and I went out pretty early,
and I knew it was a good lap and so
I had the poll for a long time and I
was so nervous. I actually climbed up in the grand
stands and I'm watching the rest of qualifying and ended
up getting the pole. So of course, I you know,
I call aj. I said Dad, I got the poll
at Winchester and I knew he liked that place because
(11:39):
it's you know, a high bank, short oval that he liked.
And he says, what happened to the throttle stick? Wow?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
He sounds rough to grow up with that, You know.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
He was happy that. You know, he always had good
one liners like that and things like that. So we
had a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Do you miss racing? Is there ever a time where
you were like standing at Indy and you're watching them
go around and go, oh man, I'll give it another game.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
You Catherine, I'm almost fifty years old. I'm too old
to hit that wall anymore. It's yeah, sometimes I think,
you know, I driving an Indy card. Indy was to
me was probably the best experience of your life. But
now racing it was tough. And I think because I
know my dad was so nervous about us being out there,
we really didn't run in traffic muchil until CARB Day,
(12:32):
which was crazy. So trying to understand what you needed
out of a car for race conditions versus just qualifying
was definitely a challenge. But I'm glad I got to
do it and got to experience it. And yeah, I
mean one of the few guys lucky enough to race
the Brickyard four hundred and the Indy five hundred and
do some cool things like that.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, I mean, there's still only a half of the
people who have done that, so that's pretty special.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Right when I quit, it was harder, like making that
decision to really hang it up and not not keep
chasing that. So, you know, I went and drove a
truck at Daytona and did some things just just scratching
that itch, I guess. And then once I finally made
the decision to move back to Texas and get involved
really on the business side, I kind of let it
(13:18):
go at that point. We'll get wild ideas every now
and then. I saw one of my old crew chiefs
at Phoenix when Indy car was racing with NASCAR, and
he said, come on, let's go run the ARC race
next year. We'll win. That thing was like, oh, man,
I'm too old for that, though.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I'll do with you Daytona. AKA.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Well there you go.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
How did that transition from driver to team happen? Was
it a conscious like at the end of this year,
I'm gonna then focus on running the team or was
it kind of just it happened.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I got to give a kudos to the old man
because he really got me. There was an IndyCar race
at Michigan. I was still kind of hanging on and
trying to see if I could get something going to
NASCAR again, and he calls said, why don't you come
to the race? And next thing I know, there's like, hey,
there's a press conference. Why once you come in and
he announces me as the team director in the press conference,
(14:14):
I said, well, I was well played. Yeah, I said,
I guess I'm moving to Texas. So he got me
pretty good on that one. And but yeah, from there
probably never looked back. I mean it was you know,
he was still super involved in the team at the time,
and which is great. I mean it was unbelievable he
was still basically engineering the cars. I mean, I think
(14:34):
when I came, I don't know that we even had
an engineer really called staff. So, but I remember I
called it. This was like two thousand and six or seven.
I believe I have to look to be sure, but
I called. I had known Darren Manning from from when
(14:55):
he was over at Ganassi. Uh. He was my first
call and I just said Darren, and I said, what
do you do it? You know he's he's six or
seven hours later than I was. He's over in England
and he said, I'm just down at the pub having
a beer. Said. I said, you need to get in
shape and get over here and drive an IndyCar for me.
He said, hell, yeah, I'll do it. So that was
(15:15):
my first hire, was getting old Darren back and he
was good. Helped us get on the run of stuff.
I don't know if he is or not. He was
doing some driver coaching. In fact, he was working with
Dalton Kellett when Dalton was running for us. So but yeah,
from there I was kind of all on the business side.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The old guard. That's cool. We're going to take a
quick break, but we'll be right back. Welcome back to
Toronto therapy. How much involvement does your dad have now? Like,
(15:59):
does is he still involved in some way?
Speaker 2 (16:03):
You know? He still comes by the shop here in Texas.
I'm still based in Texas, but last year we did
move pretty much the entire operation at to Indianapolis, and
that was tough. I know that was tough for him
because he loved coming in and obviously seeing his race
cars and talking to the guys. But it was just
(16:24):
it was time. I felt like it was time to
make that move and consolidate both shops. You know, we
were running one car out of Indy because we just
couldn't find enough really good people down here in Texas.
We had a great core group, which is why we
kept it going down here for so long. But getting
everything up to Indy and I think just having the
talent pool of mechanics, engineers and everybody there I think
(16:47):
really helped us last year. And I mean I think
it was we saw it in the results.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
It seems like racing's very incestuous and like if you're
in Indyka, you have to be in indian If you're
in Nasca, you have to be in like Charlotte Walls
because you all steal mechanics from each other and engineers
and earth now, so it's like that's where people gravitate towards.
If they want to be in racing, right, So I
guess it's harder to to find. But like with Mike Shank,
(17:15):
I guess when you have people in that area that's
not Indy and then you keep them, then you know
that they're really good people. Did you have to move
anybody from Texas to Indy?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
A lot of my guys were getting a little older
that were in Texas, so a couple of them were
happy to retire or move on to something else. A
couple guys took shot based jobs, you know, up in Indy.
But no, you're exactly right. I mean, that's what I
always found was when you got good people and you're
there aren't a ton of race teams in town, it's
(17:47):
a lot easier to keep them, and they want to
and they're happy to stay there. I mean, Indy, you
do fight everybody's you know, looking to get good people
and so so you fight that bad a little bit
up there. But we've did. We really didn't have any
turnover after last year, which was great. We've got a
good group and you just try to keep them together.
We can get a good group together.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah, how hard is that?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Like?
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Because so much of its culture and how you melt together.
Like you can have a really good crew, you can
have a really good engineer, you can have a really
good driver. But if they don't all kind of like
melt and mash together, then they cannot reduce the results.
And you could have like pretty average group of people.
But if they all like get together and do great things,
(18:31):
It's like, it's so interesting to me to see like
the culture of it all, Like how hard is it
to see into the future with that stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, so we're Yeah, I think with us it's unique
as well, because I've really tried to keep that family
race team feel. But also, you know, even we're at
a point where you're between forty and fifty people, so
you have a lot of different personalities and you have
you know, getting everyone to mesh and be on the
(19:04):
same page can sometimes be a challenge. But no, we've
got a really good group right now and we just
try to keep that together. They like to you know,
we all spend so much time together in this indy
car world and going to these races, you're traveling together,
you're staying together. So no, it's important. I think, like
you said, even a guy, if you rate them a
(19:27):
eight out of ten versus a ten out of ten.
If they're pulling the same direction with the group, you
can get the better results. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, And I think it's if you'll speak the same language.
And it's really hard for me to be able to
tell that because I think, Okay, so and so is
a great engineer. He was winning races with whoever. It
was like, I can't wait, I'm going to do all
some things. And then you know there's a disconnect and
you don't speak the same language, or vice versa. You're like, oh,
(19:54):
this guy's knew I don't know how this guy's going
to be and then you just like whatever I say
that speaking Catherine, because each driver has like a different
language and a different way of describing the car and
what the car is doing and talking. And if you
connect a bit like Will Power did with his engineer,
you know early on, like that just seemed to work
from the get go, and it's it must be hard
(20:18):
to see whether that's going to be a thing going
in you like, I've got the best engineer for you.
But if if they're not going to get on, then
it's not going to work. You know.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I think that driver engineer relationship, like you said, is
just that is the most important thing for getting speed
out of it, especially these indie cars. Now. I mean
I even had it a little bit on the NASCAR side,
you know, I met had a creature, you know more
back then it was crew chiefs over there, and it
wasn't engineers as much. But he could tell me, hey,
(20:47):
just hold a flateal stick and I believe him, you know,
I just had that much trust in him that the
changes he made good. Yeah, he did, he did, and
that's good.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
So what do you think, I mean from the outside,
I see like the team's made some steps forward lately,
and I think, you know, like it's never linear as
it It's never like every race it is getting better.
It's always like you have two good races and then
you have a bad one or whatever movie. What do
you put that down to you partly the move or
(21:19):
is there something else?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I think having some consistency with Santino being within the
team now for a few years, you know, you we
have a good idea of how he wants the car
to feel and the setups that he likes. And obviously
us doing the technical alliance with Penske has been great.
Just seeing a little bit behind that curtain of how
(21:43):
the really big teams operate and working together. I mean,
last year, I'd say we came out of the box
a little bit slow, and we've done the same this year.
So I'm still confident we can turn it around. But
because last year, you know, Santino got a got a
couple of podiums there and we almost won the five
hundred with David, and David was really fast. I mean
(22:06):
obviously he's fast on short ovals anyway, but you know,
definitely had some opportunities to win and just didn't get
it done. But this year started slow, not all our call.
I mean, Santino got taken out on the first lap
at Saint Pete and that was a bummer.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
And such early days, it's hard to tell.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, it is hard to tell, but you kind of
get a feel where, you know, I've been a little
disappointed just with our outright pace, so trying to figure
out what's going on there, and it's just, man, everyone
is so good the whole The depth of this IndyCar
field probably the deepest I've ever seen it. So you
(22:47):
just got to have everything right and to be up
there and put yourself on that spot do.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You think that the landscape's changed because of the technical partnerships,
Like all the teams have kind of banded together in
some way, shape or form if they're competitive, like teams
that are left out on their own really are as
disadvantage as far as I could see. And that you've
got technical alliances with Ganassia and Dretti and New and
Penske obviously, do you think that that's where the future
(23:15):
of racing's going, that you'll get groups of teams banding together.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Well, I think, I mean we're seeing it happen already,
right because I know, even before before we got involved
with Penske, we had gone down a huge multi year
project designing our own dampers, you know, which with so
many things that are the spec in our series, that's
(23:42):
one of the main open areas of development, and everybody
was spending the money in that area. And so for
us to finally get to a point where we could
go down that path, we were already ten years behind
some teams on where they were with dampers. So so
for us, I think just that working with Penske on
that side has been a huge help. And so if
(24:03):
you are an independent team and maybe you have the
right people and you've been working on that and you've
got the resources, than sure doing it yourself would be great.
But also just with a little bit of practice time
we have, it's nice to be able to share data
with someone and get information quickly, and that's really helpful.
(24:24):
So curious to see what will happen because when the
new car comes out, I mean, that's where you can
try to get an advantage early if you can figure
it out sooner than some other people. So I would
think just having more data points would be really helpful
on some when that happens.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So has the new car release got anything to do
with the fact that IndyCar said that the manufacturers can
have charters. So does that mean that whoever gets the
charter for the manufacturer will then be able to go
and test the new car for example, or has that
not been sensed, don't you.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
I haven't heard any specifics on that, and I know,
being a Chevrolet team, I don't think Chevy's decided exactly
what they're going to do with their charter yet. I
believe Honda announced what they're doing, So it'll be interesting
to see what happens there and how that all works.
But yeah, because.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Typically the Ganazis and the Andretties and the Penskes of
the world have done the testing. They've been selected by
Bridstone or a Firestone, I should say, to do the
testing and buy the engine manufacturers to do the testing.
So then in my mind that gives them such an
advantage because they've you know, found out all the little
nooks and crannies of the new cars, and so I
(25:41):
would assume that it's going to be relatively similar with
the test and the Indy Car is obviously going to
get together with Delara and go and test the car
before it gets delivered to everybody, right, and I would
think that it would be the manufacturer cars that would
go and do it. But I mean, who knows. It's
so different, Like it's changing so much t year now.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, I mean it it feels like though it's kind
of always been that way, where the top teams, like
you say they got they were able to go do
the tire testing, they were able to do some of
those things that gets you that little extra bit of
track time which we all we all want, and now
it's simulator time. You know, if you're a mid pack team,
you're you're fighting to hopefully get on the good SIM
(26:27):
more and things like that.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
So have you tried driving the SIM?
Speaker 2 (26:32):
I haven't. I have not. I mean, I you know,
played with I Racing a little bit back in the day,
but I haven't been on one of the big sims yet.
So I would do that?
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Would should when when the team, Yeah, when the team
have a day in India, Ora and Shiloh or whatever,
you should be like, give me, give me a handful
of apps. Because it takes a little while to get
used to. It's like a whole different ballgame. But it's
actually really cool because you can get through so many
test items by changing five minutes worth of computer stuff
instead of having to take year books off, you know,
like it's it's really interesting. But yeah, that is definitely changing,
(27:07):
and that definitely favors the younger drivers because they grew
up doing I Racing and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Well, it's unbelievable. I mean, you know what these modern
steering wheels are like, and now it's hybrid settings along
with all the other things were changing all the time.
It's busy in there. But yeah, these these young kids,
they take right to it. I think they're so used
to that, I know.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Put me to shame. Did you ever follow F one?
Did you have any F one aspirations or anything like that?
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Oh? Probably when I was first coming up. Yeah, I
certainly wanted to, you know, try to get them, but
she'ld I. You know, I just didn't have that much
road racing after go karts, just a tiny bit of
F two thousand and went straight to the NASCAR staff.
But you know, I've I definitely keep an eye on
it and as well, even the European Ladder series because there's, yeah,
(28:02):
they F one seats are so few and far between
that a lot of times you've got some really good
drivers and we've got some of them in Indy Carnal
that the European Ladder. It's fun to watch both the
American side and the European side because a lot of
talented guys coming up. Good girls.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
We're going to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back. Welcome back to Toronto Therapy. I was just
having this conversation about the difference in culture and actually
I was speaking to Eric Warren from GM and this
(28:41):
was this time last year ish, I would say, and
I said, the culture difference is going to be a shock,
like you're going to find that they don't do things
the same way that they do things over here. And
having gone from there to here and then back again
and then back again, when I went and did AUDI
and DTM, I didn't realize how it's the same sport.
(29:02):
But I didn't realize how different everybody approaches it and
how different the team setup is and all the things.
So I expect that they have some stories coming out
of F one now that they're like, Wow, they do
this and they do that. And even when I did
Indy five hundred for Ray Hall, their technical director came
from F one and he kind of hated IndyCar. You know,
(29:24):
he was open about he hated the way that we
did things over here. And I've known the same to
go back the other way. So I'm curious, like what
did AJ think. Did he like the American style of
raising better?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
I think he did. I mean a lot of people
don't know. I believe he was offered a driver Ferrari.
Was he really? Yeah? In fact, he went over and
been awesome to see. Yeah, he met with mister mister
Ferrari and they just I think, but what they were
(30:00):
offering was the number two, the number two seat, and
he wasn't going to do that. So I do think
he always preferred American racing though he's he's pretty American
through and through. But he I know, he enjoyed. He
has great stories of going over and racing at Brand's
Hatch or yeah right, you know obviously he was one
(30:21):
for one went over once to Lemon and won and
came back. So did he.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I didn't know that, that's pretty.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah, yeah, he only went over there once. And so
when when him and Gurney won in sixty seven, that
was that was his only time he went over there.
But yeah, I think, oh yeah, no, it was but
great stories and yeah, I think he would have you know,
and he did race about everything. But yeah, I mean,
(30:50):
I know I remember his him telling me how mad
his dad was at him because he was on the
pole for the five hundred and he goes and races
a dirt car a night, you know, the night before
the race. Its like, you know, what are you doing.
You're on the poll for the five hundred. You're going
to go get yourself hurt, you know, running tea hoade
or whatever. And but that that was him. Loved racing, do.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
You think that he you grew up with him the
same way he grew up with his dad, Like it
was kind of like rough and gruff and tough love.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
No, because I think AJ always had that in the
back of his mind of what he went through. Uh,
it just and his him and his dad were super close,
like don't like because you know, they built their cars together,
they worked on everything together. But his dad was tough,
Like I don't really remember remember him so much. He
(31:42):
died when I was pretty young. But the stories I
hear of, you know, him and AJ getting into it.
But but they were so close also. And I think
after AJ's fourth went at Indy, they said Tony AJ's
dad was thanking the crew and telling them what a
good they did, and I guess AJ said, well, what
about me? Did I have anything to do with it?
(32:04):
He said, you did? Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
They're both very dry obviously as well, which is cool.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
Yeah, he wasn't like that with me. I mean there
were you know, there were times like if you weren't
doing what he thought you should be doing, he was
definitely hard on you. But he also wasn't like that,
you know, like his dad was. You could tell he
was he was he was nervous about any of us,
whether it was Anthony you know AJ four the fourth
when he was started racing and was an Indy car,
(32:34):
or whether it was me. It made him nervous. He
didn't want us to get hurt for sure.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah. I think one of my favorite stories is, like
I always think of AJ as kind of like scary,
because you know, the old icons are like they're like
God's almost. I mean, I know that's probably a little
bit too much, but you just see them as this
kind of iconic figure and not a real life per
(33:00):
Does that make sense? And so then I was talking
to you Janet Gathrie on the podcast like maybe six
months ago, and this is one of my favorite stories
because she was trying to qualify for Indy and AJ
actually lent her a car, and I thought that was
so cool of him because you have this picture of
AJ being this like rough ruff, No, I'm not going
(33:20):
to help anybody because I'm gonna win everything, kind of
like madly Man. And there he was like actually helping
people and doing it for a woman in times where
it was unheard of, and and so I love that.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I tell you, you would think by now that I've
heard every story, but I'm telling you, I still will
come across a fan or somebody who will tell me
an AJ story of something he did to help them
that nobody knows about and because he didn't really talk
about it, but he's he's definitely one of the biggest
hearted guys you'll you'll come across. But his intensity level
(33:58):
was also one hundred and night, so he was those
those guys were definitely intense.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Do you think you have any of his traits?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, I'm sure I do. I mean we're obviously pretty
different where I'm you know, pretty low key. Tell you
a funny story. The first time I got hurt was
at Phoenix in an F two thousand car and they're
loading me on a stretcher and we're going to the
hospital and the nurses are doing these things and they
just looked at me. They said, are you sure you're
related to AJ? Because you're way too nice. He's normally
(34:29):
yelling at us and telling us what to do to
get him bandaged up, and it was pretty funny. I said,
I'm pretty different. I'm definitely more on you know, I
always laugh as I guess I was raised more by
by mom AJ was out of town, but no, I
mean sometimes he was raising Yeah he was. It takes
a lot to get me there. I mean I can
get upset and get angry, but it takes me a
(34:50):
lot to get there. And no, I'm just I'm just
kind of a little probably more lower key than he was.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
I've got a few like rapid fire questions if he
didn't want what's the favorite track you've ever raised?
Speaker 2 (35:03):
That Indianapolis?
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Can you describe to the people listening what even as
a fan driving into indiaan going under the tunnel and
seeing the people and like getting goosebumps and it's just
a vibe like can you describe that feeling?
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I think, like I said earlier, from being a kid
and having fans cheer for you know, cheer for your
dad and you say around there he's he's like a god, right,
I mean he's just a legend, yah, legend, And that's
pretty impactful when you're a young, young kid. But yeah,
I think just having been there every year, and you know,
(35:47):
when I was young, as as a fan or as
a as a kid, you know, and then now being
a part of it, and I kind of sometimes I
still saw our family box has been up in Turn
two ever since I was born, and it's still my
favorite view of the track. I think you are so
close to the cars, you can see the speed, you
(36:09):
can see the driver's hands inside as they're you know,
coming through the corner, and it's just really awesome, I think.
And yeah, if people haven't been to India, and that's
why I think you have so many lifers that fans
that have been going their whole life, because it's it
is such an experience. So I still get goosebumps during
all the opening ceremonies and back home in Indiana and
(36:33):
everything that the playing of taps gets me every time.
You know, it's it's quite a.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
First year I did it, I like put blinkers on
and I was like, don't let any of it in.
I need to focus on the race. I need to
do this. This that's this is the procedure. This is
what I'm going to do. Yet together other right, like,
I'm like, don't look, don't take any on board. And
then after that, I'm like, you know what, not many
people get to do this. This is the coolest thing
in the entire universe. And I'm going to look around.
(37:00):
I'm going to make a mental note because when I'm eighty,
if I make it that long, I'm going to want
to look back and remember those things. And I get
emotionally even thinking about it now because it's so special,
and I find it really hard to describe it. And
I think that it's one of those things. I know,
it's the largest sporting event in the world as far
as the tendance goes, but like it's one of those
(37:20):
things that it's got a life of its own, it's
got a personality of its own. It's indescribable because it's
like the vibe, the energy is just you know, you
don't get the same feeling. I don't get the same
feeling at Daytona or Silverstone or Lamar or anywhere else.
They've all got their own kind of like personalities.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
I agree. I felt the same way, and my rookie
year there, I did the same thing and said, I'm
going to enjoy this first lap around. I'm going to
wave to the family and check it out and then
I'll then it comes down and lucky like I don't remember,
you know, your rookie year at Indy, but going into
that three wide start and how intense that is and
(38:01):
the different things you feel with your car with all
the dirty air and the turbulence, and this U quite
an exploit.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
That was back in the day before the screens too
for us, right like the first time, so like I
just remember the moving around and the whole car was moving,
and I was like, this is crazy, Like I didn't
night nobody told me to expect that, like and yeah,
it's the wildest experience. Yes, it was all right, one
race you wish you could relive.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
I tell you, I enjoyed racing in the Daytona five hundred.
I thought it was a lot of fun because even
if your car wasn't the fastest, you could draft and
so you know, you could get up there and mix
it up and get good runs and all that. I
mean obviously Indy Indie of course for the event, but Daytona,
(38:51):
I just I really enjoyed because I enjoyed the drafting
part of it. I had a lot of fun there me.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
Too, I and Talladega and Atlanta that reason, because I
think it's almost like a different sport because you have
to be thinking like three steps ahead, and you're like, okay,
that lane's faster there, and this is doing this and
this guy's going to do that, and it's almost like
playing chess at two hundred miles an hour. It's it's
a different experience because you're not really driving the car.
As long as the car is stuck. All you're doing
(39:17):
is like trying to math everything out in your head
and listen to your spotter and trying to figure out, okay,
which lane, how am I going to zigzag my way
up up to the front now?
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Which is cool?
Speaker 1 (39:26):
And I think it rewards the drivers who are patient
and who are smart more than the more than the
average I agree, most underrated driver right now.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Goodness. I don't know. Maybe you.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Thank Lorry.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
We talk, you know, we talked a that I know.
I really want you to get a good shout at
Indy because I know I've had some engineers that you
work with in the past and they were so complimentary
of you. Is by the I mean of your skill set.
So I've got a lot of hope from my rookie too.
Kyle Collette, who's young Brazilian rookie.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Shocked me. Actually, yeah, I did not expect him to
come out of the box and look so proficient. I
expected him to make a lot more mistakes and so
he's pleasantly surprised me. I've been watching him thinking he could,
you know, be something. This is good.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Yeah, it's hard for young drivers in Indy Car because
they just don't get a lot of track time before
before you're in the race, testing so limited that they're
really learning every weekend. So I think once we hit
the midyear point, I'm really excited to see how Kyle progresses.
Coffee or tequila depends on the day. Probably coffee. I'm
(40:47):
not a huge tequila drinker.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
But it depends on how much stress you've got going
on at the time.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Yeah, spring break, I'll go with tequila. There you go.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Where do you see a j Foyt racing in the
next five years?
Speaker 2 (41:04):
So our plan is to continue to grow. I mean,
that's that's where we're at. I mean, right now, we're
trying to get healthy. We've we've probably had our best
year of sponsorship acquisition that we've had, but we were behind.
You know, we had a sponsored default on us a
(41:25):
few years ago, which kind of put us on our
back foot, and that was tough because you know, I
was really enjoying we were working with Tatiana Calderon at
that time, and yeah, we had to stop running her
car mid season because we just you know, the sponsorship
had stopped coming. So but we ran our probably longer
(41:47):
than we should have. But I was trying hoping. You know,
you're always hopeful that people will live up to their
obligations or do what they said. But you know, it
literally takes a couple of years to get back on
your feet from something like that, at least for us.
So we've got that, We've got great partners right now,
and I would love to get to three cars where
(42:09):
the big teams are, but we're still trying to right
now just do two cars right and get the most
out of that that we can. But as the sport grows,
and I feel like it is, I feel like there's
a lot of positive momentum right now, everything that Fox
is doing in any car leadership right now that yeah,
hopefully hopefully keep growing with it.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Actually, I hadn't thought of the three car aspect because
it's like, how do you weigh up what it adds
to what it subtracts, like because it's obviously in one
way of distraction and a drawer on the original two cars,
but in another way, it adds data and support to
those two cars. So it's like, at what point does
(42:50):
it become an addition and not a subtraction? And I
guess that's kind of like a gut feeling of like
are we ready?
Speaker 2 (42:57):
You know? Yeah, now you're right, And that's that's something
because you're talking about adding a whole other team of
people that you have to find the right people, like
we talked about earlier. You know, when you can get
a good group together, we know how hard that is,
and so adding another one is tough. But you know,
my mind has been let's grow, Let's continue to grow.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
Yeah, well, Indy car is also growing. So hopefully, what's
this saying? A rising tide raises all ships. So hopefully
that brings in more money because more eyeballs means more money,
and then more money means better people and all the things,
and it will spiral upwards from there. I think racing
in general kind of went through this dip for a
(43:42):
while that it's really kind of after the recession where
there's so many other sports that you can support in America.
You know, you got baseball and basketball and football and
all the other things, and it kind of just went
through a lull, but it seems to be maybe because
of drive to survive and everything else. It seems to
(44:03):
be like on this upward trend at the moment. So
I'm hoping that that helps you and everybody else out
to you.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
I appreciate it, and I think so I think we're
seeing that, and I think like, as a race fan,
I would think, hey, maybe I only followed up one,
but here's another very similar, cool type of racing with
some cool differences in why you wouldn't want to be
interested in following that as well. So I think open
wheel race fans, it's great because they have two great
(44:32):
products out there to follow and personalities.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I think Indika should highlight the personalities different like Santina.
You know, like the drivers aren't robots in Indyco. They're
not just like, yes, I will follow the instructions. They've
got personalities, and I think that that's what attracts the fans.
They just need to get to know them. And I
think Fox are doing a good job of highlighting some
of the top ones, but I think they need to
highlight some of their other ones too. Personal opinion. There
(44:58):
you go, Fox, take it from me, Larry. I will
let you go. I really really really appreciate your time
and this conversation and I've enjoyed it very much, and
I wish you all the best and I hope to
speak to you soon well.
Speaker 2 (45:11):
Thank you for having me on. Always great to speak
with you, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be back next
week with more updates and more overtakes. We want to
hear from you. Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts
and tell us what you want to talk about. It
might just be the topic for our next show. Throttle
Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legg. Our executive producer is
Jesse Katz, and our supervising producer is Grace Fus. Listen
(45:42):
to Throttle Therapy on America's number one podcast network, iHeart,
open your free iHeart app and search throttle Therapy with
Katherine Legg and start listening.
Host
Katherine Legge
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