July 9, 2025 • 53 mins
It’s that time of the month, and Christina Nielsen is back to discuss the F1 Academy, trends in separating men and women in driving, and what that means for the global conversation around women’s sports. Also, Katherine is home from the Chicago Street Course NASCAR Cup Race and shares the lessons she learned on the way to her top 20 finish.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, lovely people, it is
(00:22):
the day after the Chicago Street Race and I'm feeling
a little bit tired.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
A bit worn out over here.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
But we are going to get to that, so you
need to stick around to the end and we'll talk
about all things Chicago. But first here is that time
of the month with my good friend Christina Nielsen. Hello,
and welcome to you this week's episode of Throttle Therapy
with me Catherine Legg, and this week I'm coming to
(00:50):
you from Chicago, the windy City.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I've had a well wind week already.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I drove to North Carolina to do some sim work
for Chicago Street Race. It's the only street race on
the NASCAR calendar and it's in its third year and
I don't know that they have done any street racing
before Chicago, so all the drivers love it. I personally
love street racing. We've had a lot of success street
(01:17):
racing in the past at Long Beach, at Detroit, Toronto,
and every street course has its own unique kind of personality.
It's kind of a function of the city that is
in and the fans that it has. Because the fans
aren't necessarily race fans. They're more, you know, looking for
a really fun day out, and so the vibe and
(01:40):
the atmosphere and the feeling of it is vastly different.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
So I'm looking forward to it. It's it's a tricky
little track.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I have to qualify in for this one, so there's
a little bit of stress and anxiety that's going on
having to be one of the open cars, which I
think is about five of us, and one of us
will go home. So we can't make any mistakes, graze
any walls, go slow, we have to get out to
speed fast and we only have twenty minutes of practice.
(02:06):
So it's a little bit of pressure, but I'm up
for the challenge. The sim went really well. I feel
like I.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Know the track.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Now I need to watch some more video. I need
to watch last year's race. But as soon as I'd
got done on the sim I food Chicago for a
media day and we had a great day yesterday going
around all the local media outlets, the radio TV. We
had a gourmet dinner on the Stuff Finish Line, which
was super fun, and it was a long day. So
(02:34):
today I'm going to do some emails, run some errands,
talk to you guys, and kind of get my thoughts
in order for the weekend. I also want to say
that it is that time of the month with Christina Nielsen,
and I am super happy that Christina has graced us
with her awesome presence.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Hi Christina, Hello, pleasure to be back.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
How are you good.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
It's getting a bit warmer, a bit sunnier in Copenhagen,
so yeah, we normally joke and then I can say,
you know, we love Danish summer. It's the best, and
it's those like three days a year. Currently we're having
quite a few of those, so yeah, Copenhagen is quite
magical during that time.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
The Danish way of living, I have to say, in
some ways is bustly superior to England and America because
you do have a lot of you have a lot
of time off, you have a summer houses, and it
just seems like a.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Far more relaxed, balanced lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Most people with normal jobs, like it's very normal to
do four to six weeks of vacation a year July.
You can literally send an email to a Danish person
during July and it'll be like, I don't care, it's July.
So everybody else in the world cannot expect an answer
during July, because while it's not a known international rule,
(03:57):
every day knows. Oh yeah, we just up doing business
during July.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
How does that affect the economy though? I feel like
it would just grind to a standstill.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I mean everybody does it, so nobody misses out.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
But people still go to work, Like you can still
go to the supermarket, and the supermarket workers aren't like,
n it's July.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Sorry you don't get potatoes this week.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah, I mean that's different. I'm talking maybe more like
the corporate jobs. You will send an email during this time,
and I would say seven out of ten replies we'll
come back when an auto reply that says I'll be
back on the twenty first or the twenty nine or
the twenty fist of July. Like everybody's just up now.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And you're coming to visit me in August, so I
can yes set up the same thing, and I'm going
to do it, and we're going to go float on
the lake and have some orange because I feel like, yeah,
we've both served it this year. We've worked really, really hard.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
It's going to be nice. Absolutely, it's going to be nice.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
So, yeah, we decided that this week we are going
to give the listeners insight to what it's like to
be a race card driver from a holistic standpoint in
the Yeah, we do so much outside of the car.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Yeah, I mean, I am. You know. One of the
first questions I asked you that I thought would be
very cool to debate on here was, well, your social
media presence and you know, what you are doing around
your racing activities has vastly changed. You know, in sports cars,
it was very much more when you looked at your Instagram,
(05:31):
for example, like it was results, right, it was a
few leg days or you know, travel and then you know,
there's a few media stuff, but it was it was
very easy to go on and find the results. Nowadays
that's definitely more difficult. And even your social media, I
mean sometimes when I see the stuff up, it's a
lot of media interaction, it's a lot of media engagements.
(05:52):
So you know, just curious with the development that you've
seen and you're personally experienced. Now what's the ballot for you?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Oh, it's so hard, honestly to find that balance.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I really only do Instagram, I would say, And I
also have some great people this year that I'm working
with that provide the content. So it's a mix of
me doing it and them don it. So up until
I signed with ELF, I fell into the category of
(06:25):
just wanting to be seen as a professional race car
driver and honestly being super judge to people who were
more Instagram models than racing drivers, right, like, are you
doing it for the right reasons?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
What are you trying to portray here?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I do think that the fans and the general public
and everybody wants the reason they're invested is because they
want an insight into what your life looks like as
a driver. And that's not just driving the race card,
that's okay. What do you do with sponsorship, meetings, the
media and working out and all the things. And it
(07:01):
used to drive me crazy if drivers would just do
workout videos too. It's like, I feel like there is
a balance to be had their way. You can keep
an element of privacy of who you are and what
you do, but also show all these different elements to
being a race car driver because we work really hard
outside of the race car. The race car is the
easy part where we feel zen and peace, and it's
(07:24):
all the cools and the sponsorship interaction, finding sponsors during
the business, working out, driving the sim all the things right.
And before I signed out, I think I was maybe
a little too much the other way where I just
wanted to be seen as a race car driver and
you didn't really see Catherine, who's also kind of fun
(07:45):
and giggly sometimes. And I don't know if it's gone
too far the other way because I noticed that the
drop Flight are awesome and they do my social media,
and I'm like, I don't that's a filter, like can
we bring it back a little tiny bit? But they're
so their videos are so awesome. And I will say
(08:10):
it's gone down that path for two reasons. One because
there is a ton more media stuff where you get
dressed up and you go and do the things with
NASCAR right there just is there's more attention on it,
so there's more things like that to post. I mean,
when we're doing insert how often did we go to
(08:30):
fancy dinners? Well, maybe a couple of times a year, maybe,
and now it's a lot. So I noticed that, like
yesterday being here at the fancy dinner, I'm like, oh, look,
I look like a girl again. But I am still
super judgy. And I actually spoke to Lint James about
this when we're in Pies Pete. The girls who are
(08:52):
doing it for the attention and wanting to be seen
a certain way, and I really don't want to fall
into that category because it's not me.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I love racing.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I think I proved that over the last two decades
that I'm in it for the racing and not because
i want people to say.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Oh, you're so pretty and you're so clever and you're so.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
That's my issue sometimes with the young girls when I
go to then their social media, because what's the quickest
recap that I can get and I don't have to
go through, you know, result after results, clicking on to
the races everything. I go to the social media, and
then I would expect that, you know, a post race
post would be able to tell me if I just
found enough of those, I would get an impression of
(09:30):
where they were. But there is so much social media
it annoys me that I can't find the results because
also social media, there's so many publicity posts where it's
taking away the actual racing, and I just, you know,
it does make good question, well are you a racer
or are you an influencer? Why do you want to
(09:52):
do this?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Really good point, really good point. And actually I think
that's a good point for.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Me that you bring up, because I got a lot
of really positive feedback about the Pike's Peak post that
I did, you know, the little videos like this is
how it went today, this is where we're at. This
is what we're doing in no makeup, not trying to
look pretty, not trying to do it for my sponsors,
just trying to keep everybody updated. And I think maybe
I should do more of that as a balance. They
(10:17):
are coming up with a social media plan for me
because it isn't necessary evil and Clint he also said
to me that like some sponsors, all they want is followers, right,
so they just want to get to a big reach.
I think that's incredibly short sighted. I think you need
to align with the beliefs of whoever your athlete is.
(10:38):
If you want a social media influencer, get a social
media influencer.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
If you want to align with a sports person, or
whatever then do that.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
It's two different things. But I think a lot of
people get it confused.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yeah, but and it is fair, like you said, what
the sponsors want in the end, of course that matters
because that's what keeps you in a race car. So
there are several parties that need to be entertained, that
need to be happy, that need to feel like that
their goals are being met, and that takes a lot
more from the driver because it's it's just a bigger
(11:12):
package that you, as a driver have to handle during
a race weekend. All I'm saying is worre's the balance
because sometimes I feel like it's not equal between the
racing portion and then the media portion of what is
about creating content and lifestyle and putting them out there
as a beautiful girl, beautiful woman, but also about the racing.
(11:36):
I think it's very important sometimes to just ask yourself, well,
what kind of impression am I leaving behind? I actually
know something funny. My dad sent me a link and
he said, somebody else an intant website has your bio, has.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Another female driver that had my bio and it said
two times I'm a champion and you know seeping twelve
ar when and all this stuff, and I texted one
of the girls that works there and said, hey, can
I have my CD bag?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
But yeah, I was like, wow, it can be gone
so fast a mistake on a website and then you
know those credentials in a longer mind.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I know people are like, what if she want all
the time for me? And apparently they can't use tratbto goole.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Exactly, but it's so wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah, I agree, but I also look at the girls
coming up through and you make an assessment. I was
having a business discussion about diversity the other day and
how we find girls that take it seriously. And I'm sorry.
(12:43):
I know that I am judgy a little bit, but
I think everybody else is as well to a certain extent.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And you can look at drivers.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You can look at certain drivers and I won't mention
any names and think, Okay, she's trying too hard to
be seen like the boys, and she's trying too hard
to be seen like following Danika's footsteps. Where sex cells right,
it's hard to know who's being authentic to themselves, who's
got people behind them pushing that narrative to try and
find sponsors and who takes it seriously, and you can
(13:15):
look at them and think, Okay, she's wearing too much makeup,
she's not wearing enough makeup. And I'm a girls girl.
I don't want to think that about them. I want
to think, how good are they in a race car?
What can I do to help? YadA, YadA YadA. But
you definitely make judgments about them by looking at their
social media, and I catch myself and I try not to.
But I want to help the ones that are in
(13:37):
it for the right reasons because they love the sport,
because that's what's going to get them to dig in
and get through the hard times.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And not give up when the going gets tough.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Right, I do think we should give them some grace theory,
because let's also remember when we were eighteen or twenty
years old. I think both of us have experienced great
people throughout our career who gave us great advice, were
great mentors, But we also had somewhere we look back
at it now and think, oh, I wish I wouldn't
have gone down that path or I wouldn't have done that.
(14:07):
So I think there's a lot beyond the scenes that
also needs to come into play. Plus let's remember how
young some of them are. I recently met one of
the academy drivers, Alba. She's a Danish girl. She's sixteen
years old. I believe, super sweet, very young. I mean
I give a credit for the among the stuff that
(14:28):
she shows up for and with a smile and she's
on it and she's doing it and she's sixteen. How
knowledgeable were you at sixteen? Like that's insane. It's so
important who you surround yourself with, but there also needs
to be some grace because you're not always going to
get it right every time, and.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
We didn't have that growing up. We didn't have we
didn't have enough pressure of it, and.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
It's brutal, Like I honestly I feel bad for these
girls because, like you say, how they thread that needle
and how they walk on the line and they are
going to ge it wrong. For sure, I get it wrong,
and I have so much more experience than I would
not have wanted to have that on monkey on my
back back then too.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I mean they put out with a lot.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
We definitely also, I would say, had one year together
where we were with an amazing team. We were competitive
every weekend, like we had a great car, great teammates,
great everything, and we had one of the largest companies
as a sponsor. We had Caterpillar, And that's one of
the programs that I look back at and I think, Oh,
(15:33):
I wish you would have had more time with it.
I wish we would have gotten another year or two,
because I really think we could have been competitive after
year one. And that was a program where amazing that
the management team got a company of that size to
sign on to the deal. It almost felt like whenever
people saw photo of the car, they were like, Oh,
(15:55):
you got Caterpillar. It's a company that everybody else. So
it was so cool to have that kind of company
supporting you. But when I look back at it now,
you know again we were so focused on driving, But
I wish there would have been more focused on the activation,
engaging the local dealerships, communities, the local business for the
(16:17):
different areas that we went to in the race series,
and actually utilized our racing program more than we did.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I don't feel like that was our responsibility. I worked
my ass off that year trying to vacate and manage
and keep everybody happy, and I feel like some of
the budget or the management team should have organized it
(16:48):
better with Caterpillary to make the most of it, because
I don't think they got out of it what they
thought they were going to get out of it.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
It was a very strange time.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Because I don't really know how what they didn't seem
to be invested, even though they were giving the team
all this money. And so I don't know where the
disconnect came from between Caterpillar and let's call it the
management of the program. And so I don't feel like
that was our responsibility. I feel like our role in
(17:18):
this was and I think I went above and beyond, honestly,
and it meant mentally was very draining. The driving part
was awesome. I really enjoyed driving with you and driving
with beer, and we brought Alice in for a race.
And I really wanted that program to build and grow,
like you say, into a bigger, bigger thing.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
They could have done so much with it, especially given
the timing. I mean, they were on the front end
of the diversity wave, let's call it, and we could
have done so much with it, and we were in
a great car and we were successful. And so I
don't think that engaging dealers and doing all of that
was our job.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I think that would have just distracted from what we
were trying to do even more. I think at some
point you have to have people who are taking on
that role, and I think that the ball was dropped
outside of our control.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I don't fully understand what went on.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
No, we didn't make the deal, so we didn't know
what was in the contract. We didn't know what was
promise in terms of deliverables. Just looking at it from
the outside, and if somebody asked me, like, hey, if
they would have asked you to show for twenty media days,
would you have done it if the program then continued,
my answer would have been yes. I wouldn't say it
was in our control. All I'm saying is when I
(18:33):
look back at it now, we didn't use its full potential,
and yeah, it could have been done, and I would
have been willing to do more in that regard to
keep it going because that was really one of the
strongest programs. So I think we've both been a part.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Of Yeah, a very strange time, because it almost felt
like a push in the opposite duration at times, you know,
like they didn't want to do it even though they're
spending all this money but I think that's probably politics
that will never know or get to the bot.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
It's going to be one of those mysteries.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
But that's what I was trying to do for so long,
and then ELF came along and then they totally changed
the game, right, And I will absolutely try and persuade
them to do a diversity project and handover the band
at some point.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
And I would love to do Get Like a Car together.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Even if it's just for the endurance racism of women
in sports cars, to showcase that talent, because I think
that Iron Dames are doing a really good job in
that regard. I think they've done a lot for women
in racing. But it seems like now if you're a
woman and you're coming up through the ranks, you're limited
(19:50):
to either Iron Dames or Female Experience or the F
one Academy, and there's no US or MES coming up
and doing programs like that and then moving on and
doing other things. And I don't know it, just it
seems like there can be a balance where you could
do both. I guess they are with like Darian, she's
(20:12):
going out and doing some things where she's teammates.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
And I would say Jamie Chadwick as well. She's in
a program now in Europe that's been quite successful, created
some strong results. So it's nice to see that there
are a few that are progressing. But yeah, I think
it's a balance, right, and it's sometimes understanding what will
make me attractive to a company, to a potential sponsor,
(20:37):
versus also considering what will make me be taken serious
as a driver by a team owner to potentially take
me on. And that is a very fine line that
I'm not sure always if the boys, you know, we're
having the same thoughts, what do you think.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
I think the byproduct of these female programs that I
had never considered before has been the segregation aspect that
then the boys think that the girls belong in a
girl's car or a girl's series, and so it becomes
more socially acceptable for them to have their own programs
(21:17):
instead of being integrated.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
And so while we were thinking how.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Awesome it was to showcase our talents and stand up
there together like in Unison, actually what it's done, yes,
and it's created a monster, which means that if you're
coming up through the ranks, you trend to the female
side on the male side and you're not integrated.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It's a bit like, here's one of.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
My Christian analogies, because you're so awesome if you're foreign
and you don't speak the language and you go to
a country. So say you're not from England and you
go to England and you don't speak the language. You
all assimilate in like a little community instead of integrating
into the community. And I feel like that's kind of
(22:04):
what's happening with the female drivers, And I feel like
integration's probably how we get better and how we.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
But it also still goes hand in hand with the
media because, let's face it, there was say wow factor,
Oh my god, a female effort, a female car are
going to go up together against the men. Okay, here's
a newsworthy piece of news.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Right, they get more banged for their but yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
And you know, then you're creating a wave of attention. Now,
once that's been done a couple of times, that's not
great news anymore. So you got to take it further. Okay,
we created a series for women right now, we're doing
like So it also keeps on, you know, snowballing in
terms of wanting to create that new media wave that's
(22:55):
going to come with doing something that hasn't been done before.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Then you can delve even deeper and say, okay, if
this is the direction that the sport's going, which I
totally disagree with because I think that there's no reason
we can't compete equally with the guys. So say the
F one Academy becomes a sport in its own right,
and there's a female series and female ladder series, and
it becomes like the female version of F one. It's
(23:33):
never going to be as big as the male version
of F one. Like even the WNBA is not as
big as the NBA. Even female soccer is not as
big as male soccer. So then there's like an even deeper,
more global conversation into women's sports in general. Like I
believe that racing is one of the only sports where
(23:54):
we can compete on a level playing field. Why segregate us?
I think that's making a still go backwards in a way.
But why is women's sport not as highly soto after
for want of a better term, than men's.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
I mean, even think about it whenever you're out, Like
I just attended this car show this weekend, and I'm
sitting at this table at the dinner and we're talking
and they go, oh, so you race against men. I
still get that question all the time. I bet you
do too, And I said proudly, like, yeah, we're racing
on equal footing. And I guess I wonder what the
(24:35):
girls think, the ones that are racing against females. They
must know that, you know, a part of them want
to go racing against the boys, because when you're competing
against everybody, that's where you're going to get measured, you know,
right correctly, like that's going to be the ultimate test.
But at that point when they're racing the female series,
they have to say no, I raise against women, And
(24:57):
then that could create another, you know, round of questions, Oh,
do you think that women aren't strong enough? Can they
not compete against the men? Are you not competitive enough?
Do you need to? Like is it a physical thing?
And that's a whole new line of questions that you're
then going to get asked that we never got asked,
and like it could still come up, but we would
(25:17):
be showcasing or directly or indirectly saying yeah, I'm strong
enough because I am racing against the men. I'm competing
against them, So you don't have to ask me that question.
They're not sitting questioning it. They're just maybe asking, oh,
are there any differences in how you train versus the men.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
I got asked that question so much in open will
coming up through and I think that question actually read
its ugly head with Jamie last year, because there is
a strength element to open wheel racing like the F
one star racing.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
In the cars style racing, we.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Do have to work harder and it is it is
way more physical.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
But I feel like Danik did it right. She's teeny tiny.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
And I think when Simona and I were coming up
through the ranks and we were built differently, you know,
we were in the gym twice a day, more than
three hours a day, and we were big girls because
we had to be really strong, but we made it work.
So there was the question are women physically strong enough?
(26:25):
Until we did that, and then I feel like by
the time you came along, Little Lady, we already dispelled that,
dispelled that theory. But then it came up again last
year with Jamie because these cars are really physical to drive,
and unless you are one hundred and ten percent committed
to being in the gym, all day every day.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
It's really tough. And so do those girls want to.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Change their bodies and do that work or would they
rather raise against women and not have to you know,
maybe the females has palasteering.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Yeah. I still get asked all the time about the
Formula one portion where they ask is a woman strong
enough to raise the Formula one car? And my honest
answer is, in GT racing it is not the same
kind of you know, physical form or strength that you need,
so mine I can one hundred percent say yes, also
because I drove it, but Formula one I haven't driven
(27:23):
I don't know it. I don't know what it's like.
I don't know what it's going to feel like. And
normally my answer is because it is in relation to well,
is that why we don't have a woman in Formula one?
And I say, I can't answer that question specifically, but
I do think it's a numbers game. It comes down
to if you have say ninety nine men and one
female cart racer for every one hundred drivers, then of course,
(27:46):
as more and more drivers don't make it to the
next class, the next level, you know, we're just at
a low percentage in terms of being represented compared to them,
And so yeah, I do think it just comes down
to the statistics in terms of are we going to
see a woman and Formula one someday? Yeah, what do
(28:07):
you think?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
I think it's entirely possible.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I don't know whether it's a generational thing where I
don't see the same level of wanting it out of
some of these girls, you know, like they don't have
the same.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Glimmer in their eye.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I guess that's wrong because I actually I can think
of a few that do.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
But I would love to see them not be.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Sucked into these female series and programs and like have
to hone their skills against the boys and maybe they
can do bits and pieces with women to showcase it
and all the things like like we did. But I
still think you have to throw them in at the
deep end and see whether they sink or swim and
(28:50):
be supported.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Because it's also having this conversation the other.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Day, we are the only ones with that life experience, right, Like,
there's probably ten of us, and ten years ago there
was a bigger group of us trying to make our
way through I think about it. There was Dannika, Simona Beer,
you me, Pipper, others trying to do it, and you
(29:14):
don't see those numbers at that level anymore, and I
think that we need to see if they're single swimmen,
we need to support them. The fact that there's a
different times, there is all the social media, and there
is all this stuff going on around it. We were
able to be very focused on racing. We were also
(29:37):
tough in the we were outcasts or we were alone
on our own little island. I mean, it was great
when I had you and others and we could support
each other and we didn't feel like we were on
our own island. But I think there's a balance to
be had where you can get that support and still
(29:58):
and not feel like an outcast. Feel you're integrated, you know,
work with the teams and the manufacturers and the series
and make sure that they are part of it and
not like some kind of some kind of outcast. And
I think people are thinking about it now, so I
think times will change, and I think now that we're
(30:21):
also getting to the point where we can reflect on
it and help and change times. I mean, I have
no idea how I would have handled the social media
negativity and critique and all those things when I was
sixteen eighteen. I think I would have really got to me. Honestly,
(30:41):
now can give the monkeys. I've got a thick skin,
and it's a totally different story.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
But if we can help.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Support those girls through that while still making it really
hard on the racing side, then I think we.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Have a chance.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
I am going to challenge a little bit what you're saying,
because the whole with thing with like throwing them out
into deep water see if they can swim. That is
because what you experience, that is how you learned, so
that is your proven way of or a proven method.
And I think women like Susie Wolf is doing something new,
(31:17):
and I do think we might need to give it
a bit more time to see what happens.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
I know that Susy did it old school, she.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Might know, but she's not doing it differently. So maybe
there is a plan in place, But you know a
few years from now down the line it's actually going
to play out, we don't know yet. All I'm saying
is if everybody continues to do everything the same way
as it's always been done, they would never be progress.
And while we might have had one experience in certain areas,
(31:45):
and that's why it's hard for us sometimes to understand.
You know, new ways of doing it is going to
come with new challenges, just like you said, the social
media portion of having to deal with the amount of
pressure from the public being so involved in your life,
having a voice, having an opinion about you, and having
very easy access to express it. But maybe there is
(32:06):
a new method being developed here, and I think we
need to give it a little bit more time. I
think it's too new.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Still, it remains to be seen.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
I think we should give it a bit more time.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
See, I'm going to reach out ine you. Here's the difference.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Hit me.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Look at mail drivers, right, I know, different animal. But
if you look at all pretty much all the successful,
really successful mail drivers.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
They all.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Wanted it so badly, and they all had it tough, and.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
That's what made them want it so badly.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
If it's too easy, if it comes too easy for you,
then it's not worth as much to you. So if
you look at the ones that really had to dig
in and struggle and find the sponsors and do the
hard things, that's the ones that have been around, some
of them that have had dads pay their way to
learn to f one for example, They've been good, but
(32:58):
they haven't been special special. And I think sometimes it
is about the journey and how hard you have to
work because then it makes you want and more.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
What I'm hearing you talking about is the work ethic,
and that I think can be influenced by a lot
of factors. I think there are different ways to make
people excel, and you know, putting them out on the
deep end is one way that can work for some,
but there could also be other people that can excel
doing it different ways. Maybe you know, there are new
(33:31):
methods being developed, new ways of doing it that we
don't know about. Also new challenges like we just spoke about.
I mean, social media didn't come I mean I think
I was thirteen or something when Facebook became a thing,
so it was just like happening around the teenage yeers.
And I think about those that have grown up with
it since they you know, basically had a phone. And
how at what age did they get a phone? Now
(33:51):
we're getting completely off track here. Oh I'm saying I
think there is room for growth and improvement, and you know,
do they need to have the willingness to fight?
Speaker 5 (34:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (34:01):
And I hear what you're saying in terms of having
to have work ethic. I also think you and I
both know we've had more bad results than good results,
But that means that the good results we have are
so special that we keep wanting more of that because
that's such a high that I don't know many other
types of jobs with passions or hobbies are going to
(34:25):
feel that way. So I think you have a bit
of like harshness in that regard when you are racing,
how many times it can go wrong is when it
goes right. But yeah, I'm just saying I think there's
I think I'm saying a bit open to see where
this can go. Do I still think there needs to
(34:45):
be a balance, you know, these girls need to be
racers and not just influencers. Yeah, but I remember at
some point I had that that came and asked me
about sponsorship packages and like, you know, spending money, and
I just told him the only thing I would do
spend money on a media team that's going to follow
your son all the time and create great content and
(35:06):
started creating an image and identity for him, because if
he has a certain amount of followers on social media,
that's going to be so much easier to gain sponsors
from rather than trying to provide, you know, a hospitality
package for the weekend that a company is going to
buy in for it, where you also have expenses related
to it. So I think there's very much a change
in the approach to how you're going to survive, and
(35:29):
social media is a big part of it.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
And actually that brings me your survive word to Drive
to Survive, And I think that what you're saying is
one hundred percent evident. In the before Drive to Survive,
especially in Formula One, all the drivers were kind of robotic, right,
They didn't really have a personality. Occasionally they did, but
they were mostly like plug and play race car drivers.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
And then Drive to.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Survive came on and the public could see that they
have personalities and kind of get a behind the scenes view,
and that's what made them buy in, which is what
made the sport bigger, especially in North America, which is
then what brought more sponsorship in. And then it kind
of like raised the thing because people love to watch
reality TV type stuff. They like to see how other
(36:15):
people live, and so we go full circle with that one.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
Yeah, no, absolutely, and I mean it's even insane sometimes
when you then look at the privileges that the drivers have,
but also the responsibility how much they have to do
on a race weekend where they are athletes that are
performing and need to you know, be geared towards creating
results because they got a beat you know, as minimum
(36:41):
their teammate, but out there, you know, maybe fighting for championships,
securing their job, their seat. But they also have so
much media responsibility that drivers didn't have in the past.
Or I would say even other sports do not have
that kind of compact schedule during a weekend that they
do now because of Netflix, et cetera. And you know,
(37:02):
it's definitely being used to its full potential. But it's
also not just about driving a car fast anymore. There's
so much more to being a Formula One driver. Hell,
what if you're not good looking?
Speaker 3 (37:16):
I mean that even like you have any drama.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
I saw I saw one guy that, like, I think,
I don't remember who it was, but one of the
drivers that was new and he showed up, you know,
in a suit, and it was a nice looking suit,
but it definitely wasn't what, you know, what some of
the more established drivers were wearing. And he gave an
interview and he was like, yeah, I guess I got
to spend more of my salary. I find a way
to make more money if I got to keep up
with these guys. Even that is actually for the men
(37:43):
becoming a thing that they're being, or paying more and
more attention to their appearance. Thank god you have a
makeup sponsor on.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
I know, I love what I've done because it's made
it more authentic.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
You know, I can still be feminine, I can still
want to.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Look good, but I also can be taken seriously as
bad as racecut driver. And I think that's where my
balance I'm finding my balance is I spent so much
of my career not wearing makeup and not wanting to
be seen as a girl, just wanting to be seen
as a race cut driver, that I thought it so
hard and I think it is.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
A really really really difficult, really fine line to walk.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
And so that's why, even though I'm judging, I do,
I want to help because I feel like I have
a lot of experience in this world, but I don't.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
I think social media is a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Honestly, I think that it's created a monster, and you
see it with some other sports, but not to the
same degree because they have a bigger numbers and a
wider range of people, so you're not so much in
the spotlight.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
I mean, I think it comes with the good and
the band, and that's typically what we see with a development.
And that's also why, you know, like we said before, drivers,
they have to have a new set of skills.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Yeah, you have to be media trained almost because that's
how you get the sponsors, and that's how you get
to race, and so it's a cycle. Thank you for
taking the time to debate all the things that are
on the top of my mind. I love you heaps
and tons of masses, and I will speak to you
very soon.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
I have a countdown going on for August and I
cannot wait. Thank you so much for having me back
on today.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
All right, so now we get to talk about Chicago,
which was epic. It was successful in the end, still
my mistakes, still learning a lot, but I got to
go out there early and do a bunch of media
and pr and that is a necessary evil, you guys,
(39:55):
because we need the sponsors and the money and press
and everything to be able to race. So while it
is always in my mind racing first, and I will
do everything I can to make sure I'm prepared and
sim physically all the things that is also a necessary
(40:17):
thing that we have to do, just like autograph sessions
and meeting fans. If it wasn't for the fans, we
wouldn't be racing, and if it wasn't for the sponsors,
we wouldn't be driving. And to get the sponsors their
money's worth, we have to get them out there, and
that means don't PR. So I spent most of Wednesday
(40:38):
in Chicago doing medium PR and TV stations and radio
stations and driving around, which was exhausting but also very
rewarding to be able to give Elf and Droplight the
recognition that they deserve for coming on board with me
and sticking it out despite all the ups and downs
of this crazy NASCAR journey. And we got to enjoy
(41:02):
a little bit of Chicago. We went on a really
cool NASCAR boat ride where we went down the river
and then threw the lock and out and saw the sunset,
which was really cool. And we had a few events
to go to and then came Saturday, so oh. I
also did some Barry's boot camp in Chicago. I was
(41:25):
looking for a CrossFit gym because that's primarily what I
do when I'm on the road and stuff as well.
And Cora, who is our team coordinator, and I found
Barrie's and that was super fun. So if any of
you thinking about checking out Barries, you definitely should. And
next we're going to try a forty five, I believe,
so stick with me for your fitness journey. Now I'll
(41:47):
teach you other things not to do. So Saturday, I
did not realize the enormity of the task of qualifying
in for this race, Like, it really didn't.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Occur to me.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
I just thought we would for some bizarre reason. And
bj and Jessica said the exact same thing. They said
that they thought that I would get in and they
weren't worried about it. But then I was sitting down
and I was looking at the cars that we were
racing against. Because obviously, the way it works is all
of the charter cars, all of the franchised cars, are
set in the race, and the open cars is what
(42:20):
they call them without a charter, are the ones fighting
for the remaining positions. There are thirty six charters and
there are forty cars allowed on the grid. There was
five open cars so one of us was going home,
and I will say I was the person with the
least experience in a stock car. I may have had
more experience in other forms of racing, but definitely not
(42:41):
in a stock car. And I have not driven on
Chicago Street Course before, only on the sim So we
get twenty minutes practice twenty minutes twenty minutes to learn
the track, figure it out, and go as fast as
those tires will allow you at that time, bearing your mind. Also,
I don't have much experience on doing the qualifying where
(43:02):
you go out and you put a lap together straight away.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Normally you get three or four laps to build up
to it.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
So we actually set our tire pressures for a lap
three because we anticipated that it would take me that
long to kind of figure it out. But in practice
twenty minutes, I made a mistake and got wheel hoop,
which is unusual in the next gen car. Like I'm
used to getting the wheel hop in the in the
Xfinity car now, but I hadn't had it before in
the next gen car.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
And so I was going forward and forward on the.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Breake bys to try and wind more front break into
it so I would be able to break more efficiently.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
But I didn't do enough.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
And my issue a lot of the time, I would say,
in stock cars and NASCAR, has been that I overcharge
the corners, I break too late, I try and roll
too much speed in I literally for the last twenty years,
I've been programming my brain with cars with downforce and
that are very light and break much much later. Just
(44:00):
to give you an example, road America going into term
five long, long, long straight and in an Indy car,
you're breaking it like the two and a half marker.
In a sports car, you're breaking it like three and
a half marker. In a NASCAR you imagine a like
six and seven marker and break somewhere around there. Like
(44:21):
it's bonkers how different it is and how heavy these
cars are on these bumpy streets. I messed up basically
in practice, and my goal was just to do all
of the lapse because I knew how valuable that experience
would be. We weren't even going to change the car
because there was more time in me than there was
in the car.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
But I made a mistake, and it's not easy.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I will always be hardest on myself for these mistakes,
but I think literally everybody made a mistake at some
point in this weekend and either clipped wall or did
something right.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Like I'm not alone.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
It's not that I shouldn't be there because I don't
have the experience, because these guys do the experience, and
they're doing the same thing, maybe not to the extent,
maybe not as often, but irrelevant. So I'm trying to
minimize the mistakes. I didn't damage to the car. We
had a bank corner splitter was down. It was less
(45:16):
than ideal, and the advantage I had though, was going
into qualifying. I knew I was in group two, so
I knew what time I had to beat. So all
the other open cars were in group one, and Corey Heim,
who was driving the twenty three to eleven car, he
also had a bank car because he had touched the.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Wall too, and so we were hoping.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
That I would either get ahead of him or Josh
Bilicki in the sixty six. The other cars were really
good cars and they had experienced drivers in them, and
I don't think we were going to challenge them in
qualifying until we had more laps under our belt and had,
you know, made a few changes to the car made
it better anyway, long story short, we knew what we
(46:02):
had to beat. I beat it by a tenth of
a second after touching.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
The wall and.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Almost not making it like I would have been a
lot faster and a lot further up the grid had
it not, But it didn't matter. We got in, and
because we had to fix the car then after qualifying,
it meant that I started at the back along with
a bunch of other people, so didn't realize the enormity
of actually getting in against the caliber driver and teams
(46:30):
that were there.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
So we made it.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
Everybody was super happy, massive relief, and we got to
go to Sunday and to race day, and I knew
that the pressure was off a little bit then because
I had the whole race we hoped to learn. So
I let Denny go by on the start, and even
(46:53):
he was kind of hanging back and looking at what
was unfolding in front of him because we were all
expecting carnage and I was trying to do what I've
done in every single stock car race that we've been
in this year, which is used the first stage for
like figuring things out, getting a bit more racy in
the second stage, and then third stage we can go
for it, so it was following Denny. There was a
(47:15):
massive pile up relatively early on. I think hosts of
us stuck it in the wall, so there's a red flag.
I think only like two or three laps in big
pile up damaged about six cars. I think one or
two of them were then out of the race. Most
of them made it back around and got repairs throughout
the whole race. Actually, you think every single car had
a little bit of damage in some way, shape or form.
(47:37):
So we were sat there under red flag where they
cleared the streets because they blocked really easily the streets
when there's a pile up like that and you can't
get through. So we were sat there boiling. It was
so hot in Chicago, and we had the cars switched off,
so no cool suit, no helmet blower, and radio problems
that we were trying to fix and couldn't hear my spotters.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
I could hear one of them, and I.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
Could hear like the first three words of what my
crew chief was saying, so they were trying to fix that.
I would put my helmet blower on intermittently to try
and keep the voltage up so the car would still
start because it draws a lot of voltage, and literally
sitting there boiling your brains out, going, Okay, when are
they going to restart?
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Is everybody else feeling this hot?
Speaker 4 (48:21):
Is it just me?
Speaker 1 (48:22):
And then I'm like, you got a man up. Everybody's
in the same boat. So eventually we got going again,
and we made our way through the first stage relatively unscathed,
learned a ton, got to grips with the car a
little bit more, had a few different things going on
with the car that I hadn't experienced before, Like the
steering would lock up in the slowest corner, the power
(48:45):
steering and it would like hesitate and jiggle out of
my hand. It's kind of like a capitation. I don't
know how to explain. It's basically the power steering switching off.
And then I was struggling with getting on the power.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
I was loose.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
They made it changed to the car. They raised the
front of the car, and that helped in the second stage.
And so feeling a bit more racy in the second stage,
trying to make some moves some past, some people messed up,
tried to throw what was looking to be a good
race where we were in like P twenty or something
away and I outbraked myself into the turn one tire wall,
(49:22):
and I was so lucky.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Honestly, I was just thinking no, no, no, no, no.
I was so lucky.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
I was able to drive out of it and continue,
and I took it super easy for the three laps
that it was to the end of that second stage,
just to get a feel for the car and whether
it was okay, and I think we'd like bend the
toe and a few other things, but it was decently driveable,
so threw tires on it and went to race them.
In the third stage, I was involved in a little
(49:48):
bit of a little few pile ups where you'd get
hit from behind and then it would knock you into
the car in front of a start or a restart,
but was trying to be conservative and play it cool.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Still couldn't really hear.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
My spotters, so it was really tricky because I'd come
around the corner and there'd be a safety car in
the middle of the road. I didn't know where the
back of the field was after the jews like it
was still my eyes were on stalks, not knowing all
the information. So basically survival of the fittest and it
was carnage at one point. I actually feel bad about
(50:21):
this now. Chase Elliott came to see me after the race,
and I could hear my spotter, but he said right,
like three times, but he said that every time they
were in line, so I didn't actually think anything of it,
and I didn't think you could get more than one
car through that term force section. Well, turns out he
(50:41):
was actually on my right rear.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
And he hit me and moved me out the way.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
It wasn't hard, but I was a bit pissed about it.
I showed him my displeasure, and then he came down
to see me and he's like, just so you know
I was there, and so now I feel bad for
being mad at him. And then Cody Where had a
Oh it was brutal. He had a rotor explode, go
through the tire and put him in the tire wall
(51:08):
in turn five, which looked like such a hard hit
right in front of me. I was expecting them to
throw the yellow, so I didn't know whether that would
finish the race.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
It was like a lap or two laps to the end.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
And then we ended up p nineteen, mostly by attrition,
but I think lap average wise, in the middle we
were decent, and I don't think we were that bad.
I think everybody went through this up and downstage, depending
on how much damage they had at the time, because
everybody was hitting everybody else. I don't think there was
a corner on anybody's car that came back unscathed. But
(51:43):
I think that it was such a great race for Chicago.
It was such a success. The rain stayed away. It
was a great race for the team. We're trying to
punch above our weight, basically, both me and Live Fast,
and so things like that really mattered. They had a
great result in Atlanta, and then they had another top
twenty there in Chicago with me, and so I'm really
(52:04):
hoping that we can build on that momentum and capitalize
on it and keep learning and keep pushing.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
I was.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
I flew back with the team on the charter Sunday
after the race, directly after the race, and then I
was at the SIM at eight am on Monday morning,
so I'm like, I'm putting in the work.
Speaker 2 (52:20):
I was in the gym this morning.
Speaker 1 (52:23):
I am hoping that we can capitalize on that momentum
and keep pushing and get another good result in Sonoma
this week, and you know, hopefully that will have broken
out of the bad luck and the and like, let's
be on a positive trajectory from here on in.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
So everything good.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
My dad is still staying with me, he goes home
from Sonoma, and such as life, keep on keeping on racing, racing, racing.
Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be back next
week with more updates, more overtakes.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
We want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
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 to Throttle Therapy
on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free
(53:23):
iHeart app and search throttle Therapy with Katherine Legg and
start listening.
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart women's sports
production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, lovely people, it is
(00:22):
the day after the Chicago Street Race and I'm feeling
a little bit tired.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
A bit worn out over here.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
But we are going to get to that, so you
need to stick around to the end and we'll talk
about all things Chicago. But first here is that time
of the month with my good friend Christina Nielsen. Hello,
and welcome to you this week's episode of Throttle Therapy
with me Catherine Legg, and this week I'm coming to
(00:50):
you from Chicago, the windy City.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
I've had a well wind week already.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I drove to North Carolina to do some sim work
for Chicago Street Race. It's the only street race on
the NASCAR calendar and it's in its third year and
I don't know that they have done any street racing
before Chicago, so all the drivers love it. I personally
love street racing. We've had a lot of success street
(01:17):
racing in the past at Long Beach, at Detroit, Toronto,
and every street course has its own unique kind of personality.
It's kind of a function of the city that is
in and the fans that it has. Because the fans
aren't necessarily race fans. They're more, you know, looking for
a really fun day out, and so the vibe and
(01:40):
the atmosphere and the feeling of it is vastly different.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
So I'm looking forward to it. It's it's a tricky
little track.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I have to qualify in for this one, so there's
a little bit of stress and anxiety that's going on
having to be one of the open cars, which I
think is about five of us, and one of us
will go home. So we can't make any mistakes, graze
any walls, go slow, we have to get out to
speed fast and we only have twenty minutes of practice.
(02:06):
So it's a little bit of pressure, but I'm up
for the challenge. The sim went really well. I feel
like I.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Know the track.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Now I need to watch some more video. I need
to watch last year's race. But as soon as I'd
got done on the sim I food Chicago for a
media day and we had a great day yesterday going
around all the local media outlets, the radio TV. We
had a gourmet dinner on the Stuff Finish Line, which
was super fun, and it was a long day. So
(02:34):
today I'm going to do some emails, run some errands,
talk to you guys, and kind of get my thoughts
in order for the weekend. I also want to say
that it is that time of the month with Christina Nielsen,
and I am super happy that Christina has graced us
with her awesome presence.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Hi Christina, Hello, pleasure to be back.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
How are you good.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
It's getting a bit warmer, a bit sunnier in Copenhagen,
so yeah, we normally joke and then I can say,
you know, we love Danish summer. It's the best, and
it's those like three days a year. Currently we're having
quite a few of those, so yeah, Copenhagen is quite
magical during that time.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
The Danish way of living, I have to say, in
some ways is bustly superior to England and America because
you do have a lot of you have a lot
of time off, you have a summer houses, and it
just seems like a.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Far more relaxed, balanced lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Most people with normal jobs, like it's very normal to
do four to six weeks of vacation a year July.
You can literally send an email to a Danish person
during July and it'll be like, I don't care, it's July.
So everybody else in the world cannot expect an answer
during July, because while it's not a known international rule,
(03:57):
every day knows. Oh yeah, we just up doing business
during July.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
How does that affect the economy though? I feel like
it would just grind to a standstill.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
I mean everybody does it, so nobody misses out.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
But people still go to work, Like you can still
go to the supermarket, and the supermarket workers aren't like,
n it's July.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Sorry you don't get potatoes this week.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Yeah, I mean that's different. I'm talking maybe more like
the corporate jobs. You will send an email during this time,
and I would say seven out of ten replies we'll
come back when an auto reply that says I'll be
back on the twenty first or the twenty nine or
the twenty fist of July. Like everybody's just up now.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And you're coming to visit me in August, so I
can yes set up the same thing, and I'm going
to do it, and we're going to go float on
the lake and have some orange because I feel like, yeah,
we've both served it this year. We've worked really, really hard.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
It's going to be nice. Absolutely, it's going to be nice.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
So, yeah, we decided that this week we are going
to give the listeners insight to what it's like to
be a race card driver from a holistic standpoint in
the Yeah, we do so much outside of the car.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Yeah, I mean, I am. You know. One of the
first questions I asked you that I thought would be
very cool to debate on here was, well, your social
media presence and you know, what you are doing around
your racing activities has vastly changed. You know, in sports cars,
it was very much more when you looked at your Instagram,
(05:31):
for example, like it was results, right, it was a
few leg days or you know, travel and then you know,
there's a few media stuff, but it was it was
very easy to go on and find the results. Nowadays
that's definitely more difficult. And even your social media, I
mean sometimes when I see the stuff up, it's a
lot of media interaction, it's a lot of media engagements.
(05:52):
So you know, just curious with the development that you've
seen and you're personally experienced. Now what's the ballot for you?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Oh, it's so hard, honestly to find that balance.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I really only do Instagram, I would say, And I
also have some great people this year that I'm working
with that provide the content. So it's a mix of
me doing it and them don it. So up until
I signed with ELF, I fell into the category of
(06:25):
just wanting to be seen as a professional race car
driver and honestly being super judge to people who were
more Instagram models than racing drivers, right, like, are you
doing it for the right reasons?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
What are you trying to portray here?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I do think that the fans and the general public
and everybody wants the reason they're invested is because they
want an insight into what your life looks like as
a driver. And that's not just driving the race card,
that's okay. What do you do with sponsorship, meetings, the
media and working out and all the things. And it
(07:01):
used to drive me crazy if drivers would just do
workout videos too. It's like, I feel like there is
a balance to be had their way. You can keep
an element of privacy of who you are and what
you do, but also show all these different elements to
being a race car driver because we work really hard
outside of the race car. The race car is the
easy part where we feel zen and peace, and it's
(07:24):
all the cools and the sponsorship interaction, finding sponsors during
the business, working out, driving the sim all the things right.
And before I signed out, I think I was maybe
a little too much the other way where I just
wanted to be seen as a race car driver and
you didn't really see Catherine, who's also kind of fun
(07:45):
and giggly sometimes. And I don't know if it's gone
too far the other way because I noticed that the
drop Flight are awesome and they do my social media,
and I'm like, I don't that's a filter, like can
we bring it back a little tiny bit? But they're
so their videos are so awesome. And I will say
(08:10):
it's gone down that path for two reasons. One because
there is a ton more media stuff where you get
dressed up and you go and do the things with
NASCAR right there just is there's more attention on it,
so there's more things like that to post. I mean,
when we're doing insert how often did we go to
(08:30):
fancy dinners? Well, maybe a couple of times a year, maybe,
and now it's a lot. So I noticed that, like
yesterday being here at the fancy dinner, I'm like, oh, look,
I look like a girl again. But I am still
super judgy. And I actually spoke to Lint James about
this when we're in Pies Pete. The girls who are
(08:52):
doing it for the attention and wanting to be seen
a certain way, and I really don't want to fall
into that category because it's not me.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I love racing.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I think I proved that over the last two decades
that I'm in it for the racing and not because
i want people to say.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Oh, you're so pretty and you're so clever and you're so.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
That's my issue sometimes with the young girls when I
go to then their social media, because what's the quickest
recap that I can get and I don't have to
go through, you know, result after results, clicking on to
the races everything. I go to the social media, and
then I would expect that, you know, a post race
post would be able to tell me if I just
found enough of those, I would get an impression of
(09:30):
where they were. But there is so much social media
it annoys me that I can't find the results because
also social media, there's so many publicity posts where it's
taking away the actual racing, and I just, you know,
it does make good question, well are you a racer
or are you an influencer? Why do you want to
(09:52):
do this?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Really good point, really good point. And actually I think
that's a good point for.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
Me that you bring up, because I got a lot
of really positive feedback about the Pike's Peak post that
I did, you know, the little videos like this is
how it went today, this is where we're at. This
is what we're doing in no makeup, not trying to
look pretty, not trying to do it for my sponsors,
just trying to keep everybody updated. And I think maybe
I should do more of that as a balance. They
(10:17):
are coming up with a social media plan for me
because it isn't necessary evil and Clint he also said
to me that like some sponsors, all they want is followers, right,
so they just want to get to a big reach.
I think that's incredibly short sighted. I think you need
to align with the beliefs of whoever your athlete is.
(10:38):
If you want a social media influencer, get a social
media influencer.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
If you want to align with a sports person, or
whatever then do that.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
It's two different things. But I think a lot of
people get it confused.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yeah, but and it is fair, like you said, what
the sponsors want in the end, of course that matters
because that's what keeps you in a race car. So
there are several parties that need to be entertained, that
need to be happy, that need to feel like that
their goals are being met, and that takes a lot
more from the driver because it's it's just a bigger
(11:12):
package that you, as a driver have to handle during
a race weekend. All I'm saying is worre's the balance
because sometimes I feel like it's not equal between the
racing portion and then the media portion of what is
about creating content and lifestyle and putting them out there
as a beautiful girl, beautiful woman, but also about the racing.
(11:36):
I think it's very important sometimes to just ask yourself, well,
what kind of impression am I leaving behind? I actually
know something funny. My dad sent me a link and
he said, somebody else an intant website has your bio, has.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Another female driver that had my bio and it said
two times I'm a champion and you know seeping twelve
ar when and all this stuff, and I texted one
of the girls that works there and said, hey, can
I have my CD bag?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
But yeah, I was like, wow, it can be gone
so fast a mistake on a website and then you
know those credentials in a longer mind.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I know people are like, what if she want all
the time for me? And apparently they can't use tratbto goole.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Exactly, but it's so wrong.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah, I agree, but I also look at the girls
coming up through and you make an assessment. I was
having a business discussion about diversity the other day and
how we find girls that take it seriously. And I'm sorry.
(12:43):
I know that I am judgy a little bit, but
I think everybody else is as well to a certain extent.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
And you can look at drivers.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
You can look at certain drivers and I won't mention
any names and think, Okay, she's trying too hard to
be seen like the boys, and she's trying too hard
to be seen like following Danika's footsteps. Where sex cells right,
it's hard to know who's being authentic to themselves, who's
got people behind them pushing that narrative to try and
find sponsors and who takes it seriously, and you can
(13:15):
look at them and think, Okay, she's wearing too much makeup,
she's not wearing enough makeup. And I'm a girls girl.
I don't want to think that about them. I want
to think, how good are they in a race car?
What can I do to help? YadA, YadA YadA. But
you definitely make judgments about them by looking at their
social media, and I catch myself and I try not to.
But I want to help the ones that are in
(13:37):
it for the right reasons because they love the sport,
because that's what's going to get them to dig in
and get through the hard times.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And not give up when the going gets tough.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Right, I do think we should give them some grace theory,
because let's also remember when we were eighteen or twenty
years old. I think both of us have experienced great
people throughout our career who gave us great advice, were
great mentors, But we also had somewhere we look back
at it now and think, oh, I wish I wouldn't
have gone down that path or I wouldn't have done that.
(14:07):
So I think there's a lot beyond the scenes that
also needs to come into play. Plus let's remember how
young some of them are. I recently met one of
the academy drivers, Alba. She's a Danish girl. She's sixteen
years old. I believe, super sweet, very young. I mean
I give a credit for the among the stuff that
(14:28):
she shows up for and with a smile and she's
on it and she's doing it and she's sixteen. How
knowledgeable were you at sixteen? Like that's insane. It's so
important who you surround yourself with, but there also needs
to be some grace because you're not always going to
get it right every time, and.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
We didn't have that growing up. We didn't have we
didn't have enough pressure of it, and.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
It's brutal, Like I honestly I feel bad for these
girls because, like you say, how they thread that needle
and how they walk on the line and they are
going to ge it wrong. For sure, I get it wrong,
and I have so much more experience than I would
not have wanted to have that on monkey on my
back back then too.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I mean they put out with a lot.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
We definitely also, I would say, had one year together
where we were with an amazing team. We were competitive
every weekend, like we had a great car, great teammates,
great everything, and we had one of the largest companies
as a sponsor. We had Caterpillar, And that's one of
the programs that I look back at and I think, Oh,
(15:33):
I wish you would have had more time with it.
I wish we would have gotten another year or two,
because I really think we could have been competitive after
year one. And that was a program where amazing that
the management team got a company of that size to
sign on to the deal. It almost felt like whenever
people saw photo of the car, they were like, Oh,
(15:55):
you got Caterpillar. It's a company that everybody else. So
it was so cool to have that kind of company
supporting you. But when I look back at it now,
you know again we were so focused on driving, But
I wish there would have been more focused on the activation,
engaging the local dealerships, communities, the local business for the
(16:17):
different areas that we went to in the race series,
and actually utilized our racing program more than we did.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I don't feel like that was our responsibility. I worked
my ass off that year trying to vacate and manage
and keep everybody happy, and I feel like some of
the budget or the management team should have organized it
(16:48):
better with Caterpillary to make the most of it, because
I don't think they got out of it what they
thought they were going to get out of it.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
It was a very strange time.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Because I don't really know how what they didn't seem
to be invested, even though they were giving the team
all this money. And so I don't know where the
disconnect came from between Caterpillar and let's call it the
management of the program. And so I don't feel like
that was our responsibility. I feel like our role in
(17:18):
this was and I think I went above and beyond, honestly,
and it meant mentally was very draining. The driving part
was awesome. I really enjoyed driving with you and driving
with beer, and we brought Alice in for a race.
And I really wanted that program to build and grow,
like you say, into a bigger, bigger thing.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
They could have done so much with it, especially given
the timing. I mean, they were on the front end
of the diversity wave, let's call it, and we could
have done so much with it, and we were in
a great car and we were successful. And so I
don't think that engaging dealers and doing all of that
was our job.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
I think that would have just distracted from what we
were trying to do even more. I think at some
point you have to have people who are taking on
that role, and I think that the ball was dropped
outside of our control.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
I don't fully understand what went on.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
No, we didn't make the deal, so we didn't know
what was in the contract. We didn't know what was
promise in terms of deliverables. Just looking at it from
the outside, and if somebody asked me, like, hey, if
they would have asked you to show for twenty media days,
would you have done it if the program then continued,
my answer would have been yes. I wouldn't say it
was in our control. All I'm saying is when I
(18:33):
look back at it now, we didn't use its full potential,
and yeah, it could have been done, and I would
have been willing to do more in that regard to
keep it going because that was really one of the
strongest programs. So I think we've both been a part.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Of Yeah, a very strange time, because it almost felt
like a push in the opposite duration at times, you know,
like they didn't want to do it even though they're
spending all this money but I think that's probably politics
that will never know or get to the bot.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
It's going to be one of those mysteries.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
But that's what I was trying to do for so long,
and then ELF came along and then they totally changed
the game, right, And I will absolutely try and persuade
them to do a diversity project and handover the band
at some point.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
And I would love to do Get Like a Car together.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Even if it's just for the endurance racism of women
in sports cars, to showcase that talent, because I think
that Iron Dames are doing a really good job in
that regard. I think they've done a lot for women
in racing. But it seems like now if you're a
woman and you're coming up through the ranks, you're limited
(19:50):
to either Iron Dames or Female Experience or the F
one Academy, and there's no US or MES coming up
and doing programs like that and then moving on and
doing other things. And I don't know it, just it
seems like there can be a balance where you could
do both. I guess they are with like Darian, she's
(20:12):
going out and doing some things where she's teammates.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
And I would say Jamie Chadwick as well. She's in
a program now in Europe that's been quite successful, created
some strong results. So it's nice to see that there
are a few that are progressing. But yeah, I think
it's a balance, right, and it's sometimes understanding what will
make me attractive to a company, to a potential sponsor,
(20:37):
versus also considering what will make me be taken serious
as a driver by a team owner to potentially take
me on. And that is a very fine line that
I'm not sure always if the boys, you know, we're
having the same thoughts, what do you think.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
I think the byproduct of these female programs that I
had never considered before has been the segregation aspect that
then the boys think that the girls belong in a
girl's car or a girl's series, and so it becomes
more socially acceptable for them to have their own programs
(21:17):
instead of being integrated.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
And so while we were thinking how.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Awesome it was to showcase our talents and stand up
there together like in Unison, actually what it's done, yes,
and it's created a monster, which means that if you're
coming up through the ranks, you trend to the female
side on the male side and you're not integrated.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It's a bit like, here's one of.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
My Christian analogies, because you're so awesome if you're foreign
and you don't speak the language and you go to
a country. So say you're not from England and you
go to England and you don't speak the language. You
all assimilate in like a little community instead of integrating
into the community. And I feel like that's kind of
(22:04):
what's happening with the female drivers, And I feel like
integration's probably how we get better and how we.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
But it also still goes hand in hand with the
media because, let's face it, there was say wow factor,
Oh my god, a female effort, a female car are
going to go up together against the men. Okay, here's
a newsworthy piece of news.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Right, they get more banged for their but yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
And you know, then you're creating a wave of attention. Now,
once that's been done a couple of times, that's not
great news anymore. So you got to take it further. Okay,
we created a series for women right now, we're doing
like So it also keeps on, you know, snowballing in
terms of wanting to create that new media wave that's
(22:55):
going to come with doing something that hasn't been done before.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Then you can delve even deeper and say, okay, if
this is the direction that the sport's going, which I
totally disagree with because I think that there's no reason
we can't compete equally with the guys. So say the
F one Academy becomes a sport in its own right,
and there's a female series and female ladder series, and
it becomes like the female version of F one. It's
(23:33):
never going to be as big as the male version
of F one. Like even the WNBA is not as
big as the NBA. Even female soccer is not as
big as male soccer. So then there's like an even deeper,
more global conversation into women's sports in general. Like I
believe that racing is one of the only sports where
(23:54):
we can compete on a level playing field. Why segregate us?
I think that's making a still go backwards in a way.
But why is women's sport not as highly soto after
for want of a better term, than men's.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
I mean, even think about it whenever you're out, Like
I just attended this car show this weekend, and I'm
sitting at this table at the dinner and we're talking
and they go, oh, so you race against men. I
still get that question all the time. I bet you
do too, And I said proudly, like, yeah, we're racing
on equal footing. And I guess I wonder what the
(24:35):
girls think, the ones that are racing against females. They
must know that, you know, a part of them want
to go racing against the boys, because when you're competing
against everybody, that's where you're going to get measured, you know,
right correctly, like that's going to be the ultimate test.
But at that point when they're racing the female series,
they have to say no, I raise against women, And
(24:57):
then that could create another, you know, round of questions, Oh,
do you think that women aren't strong enough? Can they
not compete against the men? Are you not competitive enough?
Do you need to? Like is it a physical thing?
And that's a whole new line of questions that you're
then going to get asked that we never got asked,
and like it could still come up, but we would
(25:17):
be showcasing or directly or indirectly saying yeah, I'm strong
enough because I am racing against the men. I'm competing
against them, So you don't have to ask me that question.
They're not sitting questioning it. They're just maybe asking, oh,
are there any differences in how you train versus the men.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
I got asked that question so much in open will
coming up through and I think that question actually read
its ugly head with Jamie last year, because there is
a strength element to open wheel racing like the F
one star racing.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
In the cars style racing, we.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Do have to work harder and it is it is
way more physical.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
But I feel like Danik did it right. She's teeny tiny.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
And I think when Simona and I were coming up
through the ranks and we were built differently, you know,
we were in the gym twice a day, more than
three hours a day, and we were big girls because
we had to be really strong, but we made it work.
So there was the question are women physically strong enough?
(26:25):
Until we did that, and then I feel like by
the time you came along, Little Lady, we already dispelled that,
dispelled that theory. But then it came up again last
year with Jamie because these cars are really physical to drive,
and unless you are one hundred and ten percent committed
to being in the gym, all day every day.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
It's really tough. And so do those girls want to.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Change their bodies and do that work or would they
rather raise against women and not have to you know,
maybe the females has palasteering.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Yeah. I still get asked all the time about the
Formula one portion where they ask is a woman strong
enough to raise the Formula one car? And my honest
answer is, in GT racing it is not the same
kind of you know, physical form or strength that you need,
so mine I can one hundred percent say yes, also
because I drove it, but Formula one I haven't driven
(27:23):
I don't know it. I don't know what it's like.
I don't know what it's going to feel like. And
normally my answer is because it is in relation to well,
is that why we don't have a woman in Formula one?
And I say, I can't answer that question specifically, but
I do think it's a numbers game. It comes down
to if you have say ninety nine men and one
female cart racer for every one hundred drivers, then of course,
(27:46):
as more and more drivers don't make it to the
next class, the next level, you know, we're just at
a low percentage in terms of being represented compared to them,
And so yeah, I do think it just comes down
to the statistics in terms of are we going to
see a woman and Formula one someday? Yeah, what do
(28:07):
you think?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
I think it's entirely possible.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I don't know whether it's a generational thing where I
don't see the same level of wanting it out of
some of these girls, you know, like they don't have
the same.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Glimmer in their eye.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I guess that's wrong because I actually I can think
of a few that do.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
But I would love to see them not be.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Sucked into these female series and programs and like have
to hone their skills against the boys and maybe they
can do bits and pieces with women to showcase it
and all the things like like we did. But I
still think you have to throw them in at the
deep end and see whether they sink or swim and
(28:50):
be supported.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Because it's also having this conversation the other.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Day, we are the only ones with that life experience, right, Like,
there's probably ten of us, and ten years ago there
was a bigger group of us trying to make our
way through I think about it. There was Dannika, Simona Beer,
you me, Pipper, others trying to do it, and you
(29:14):
don't see those numbers at that level anymore, and I
think that we need to see if they're single swimmen,
we need to support them. The fact that there's a
different times, there is all the social media, and there
is all this stuff going on around it. We were
able to be very focused on racing. We were also
(29:37):
tough in the we were outcasts or we were alone
on our own little island. I mean, it was great
when I had you and others and we could support
each other and we didn't feel like we were on
our own island. But I think there's a balance to
be had where you can get that support and still
(29:58):
and not feel like an outcast. Feel you're integrated, you know,
work with the teams and the manufacturers and the series
and make sure that they are part of it and
not like some kind of some kind of outcast. And
I think people are thinking about it now, so I
think times will change, and I think now that we're
(30:21):
also getting to the point where we can reflect on
it and help and change times. I mean, I have
no idea how I would have handled the social media
negativity and critique and all those things when I was
sixteen eighteen. I think I would have really got to me. Honestly,
(30:41):
now can give the monkeys. I've got a thick skin,
and it's a totally different story.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
But if we can help.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Support those girls through that while still making it really
hard on the racing side, then I think we.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Have a chance.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
I am going to challenge a little bit what you're saying,
because the whole with thing with like throwing them out
into deep water see if they can swim. That is
because what you experience, that is how you learned, so
that is your proven way of or a proven method.
And I think women like Susie Wolf is doing something new,
(31:17):
and I do think we might need to give it
a bit more time to see what happens.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
I know that Susy did it old school, she.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Might know, but she's not doing it differently. So maybe
there is a plan in place, But you know a
few years from now down the line it's actually going
to play out, we don't know yet. All I'm saying
is if everybody continues to do everything the same way
as it's always been done, they would never be progress.
And while we might have had one experience in certain areas,
(31:45):
and that's why it's hard for us sometimes to understand.
You know, new ways of doing it is going to
come with new challenges, just like you said, the social
media portion of having to deal with the amount of
pressure from the public being so involved in your life,
having a voice, having an opinion about you, and having
very easy access to express it. But maybe there is
(32:06):
a new method being developed here, and I think we
need to give it a little bit more time. I
think it's too new.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Still, it remains to be seen.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
I think we should give it a bit more time.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
See, I'm going to reach out ine you. Here's the difference.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Hit me.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Look at mail drivers, right, I know, different animal. But
if you look at all pretty much all the successful,
really successful mail drivers.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
They all.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Wanted it so badly, and they all had it tough, and.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
That's what made them want it so badly.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
If it's too easy, if it comes too easy for you,
then it's not worth as much to you. So if
you look at the ones that really had to dig
in and struggle and find the sponsors and do the
hard things, that's the ones that have been around, some
of them that have had dads pay their way to
learn to f one for example, They've been good, but
(32:58):
they haven't been special special. And I think sometimes it
is about the journey and how hard you have to
work because then it makes you want and more.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
What I'm hearing you talking about is the work ethic,
and that I think can be influenced by a lot
of factors. I think there are different ways to make
people excel, and you know, putting them out on the
deep end is one way that can work for some,
but there could also be other people that can excel
doing it different ways. Maybe you know, there are new
(33:31):
methods being developed, new ways of doing it that we
don't know about. Also new challenges like we just spoke about.
I mean, social media didn't come I mean I think
I was thirteen or something when Facebook became a thing,
so it was just like happening around the teenage yeers.
And I think about those that have grown up with
it since they you know, basically had a phone. And
how at what age did they get a phone? Now
(33:51):
we're getting completely off track here. Oh I'm saying I
think there is room for growth and improvement, and you know,
do they need to have the willingness to fight?
Speaker 5 (34:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (34:01):
And I hear what you're saying in terms of having
to have work ethic. I also think you and I
both know we've had more bad results than good results,
But that means that the good results we have are
so special that we keep wanting more of that because
that's such a high that I don't know many other
types of jobs with passions or hobbies are going to
(34:25):
feel that way. So I think you have a bit
of like harshness in that regard when you are racing,
how many times it can go wrong is when it
goes right. But yeah, I'm just saying I think there's
I think I'm saying a bit open to see where
this can go. Do I still think there needs to
(34:45):
be a balance, you know, these girls need to be
racers and not just influencers. Yeah, but I remember at
some point I had that that came and asked me
about sponsorship packages and like, you know, spending money, and
I just told him the only thing I would do
spend money on a media team that's going to follow
your son all the time and create great content and
(35:06):
started creating an image and identity for him, because if
he has a certain amount of followers on social media,
that's going to be so much easier to gain sponsors
from rather than trying to provide, you know, a hospitality
package for the weekend that a company is going to
buy in for it, where you also have expenses related
to it. So I think there's very much a change
in the approach to how you're going to survive, and
(35:29):
social media is a big part of it.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
And actually that brings me your survive word to Drive
to Survive, And I think that what you're saying is
one hundred percent evident. In the before Drive to Survive,
especially in Formula One, all the drivers were kind of robotic, right,
They didn't really have a personality. Occasionally they did, but
they were mostly like plug and play race car drivers.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
And then Drive to.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Survive came on and the public could see that they
have personalities and kind of get a behind the scenes view,
and that's what made them buy in, which is what
made the sport bigger, especially in North America, which is
then what brought more sponsorship in. And then it kind
of like raised the thing because people love to watch
reality TV type stuff. They like to see how other
(36:15):
people live, and so we go full circle with that one.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
Yeah, no, absolutely, and I mean it's even insane sometimes
when you then look at the privileges that the drivers have,
but also the responsibility how much they have to do
on a race weekend where they are athletes that are
performing and need to you know, be geared towards creating
results because they got a beat you know, as minimum
(36:41):
their teammate, but out there, you know, maybe fighting for championships,
securing their job, their seat. But they also have so
much media responsibility that drivers didn't have in the past.
Or I would say even other sports do not have
that kind of compact schedule during a weekend that they
do now because of Netflix, et cetera. And you know,
(37:02):
it's definitely being used to its full potential. But it's
also not just about driving a car fast anymore. There's
so much more to being a Formula One driver. Hell,
what if you're not good looking?
Speaker 3 (37:16):
I mean that even like you have any drama.
Speaker 4 (37:21):
I saw I saw one guy that, like, I think,
I don't remember who it was, but one of the
drivers that was new and he showed up, you know,
in a suit, and it was a nice looking suit,
but it definitely wasn't what, you know, what some of
the more established drivers were wearing. And he gave an
interview and he was like, yeah, I guess I got
to spend more of my salary. I find a way
to make more money if I got to keep up
with these guys. Even that is actually for the men
(37:43):
becoming a thing that they're being, or paying more and
more attention to their appearance. Thank god you have a
makeup sponsor on.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
I know, I love what I've done because it's made
it more authentic.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
You know, I can still be feminine, I can still
want to.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Look good, but I also can be taken seriously as
bad as racecut driver. And I think that's where my
balance I'm finding my balance is I spent so much
of my career not wearing makeup and not wanting to
be seen as a girl, just wanting to be seen
as a race cut driver, that I thought it so
hard and I think it is.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
A really really really difficult, really fine line to walk.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
And so that's why, even though I'm judging, I do,
I want to help because I feel like I have
a lot of experience in this world, but I don't.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
I think social media is a bad thing.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Honestly, I think that it's created a monster, and you
see it with some other sports, but not to the
same degree because they have a bigger numbers and a
wider range of people, so you're not so much in
the spotlight.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
I mean, I think it comes with the good and
the band, and that's typically what we see with a development.
And that's also why, you know, like we said before, drivers,
they have to have a new set of skills.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Yeah, you have to be media trained almost because that's
how you get the sponsors, and that's how you get
to race, and so it's a cycle. Thank you for
taking the time to debate all the things that are
on the top of my mind. I love you heaps
and tons of masses, and I will speak to you
very soon.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
I have a countdown going on for August and I
cannot wait. Thank you so much for having me back
on today.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
All right, so now we get to talk about Chicago,
which was epic. It was successful in the end, still
my mistakes, still learning a lot, but I got to
go out there early and do a bunch of media
and pr and that is a necessary evil, you guys,
(39:55):
because we need the sponsors and the money and press
and everything to be able to race. So while it
is always in my mind racing first, and I will
do everything I can to make sure I'm prepared and
sim physically all the things that is also a necessary
(40:17):
thing that we have to do, just like autograph sessions
and meeting fans. If it wasn't for the fans, we
wouldn't be racing, and if it wasn't for the sponsors,
we wouldn't be driving. And to get the sponsors their
money's worth, we have to get them out there, and
that means don't PR. So I spent most of Wednesday
(40:38):
in Chicago doing medium PR and TV stations and radio
stations and driving around, which was exhausting but also very
rewarding to be able to give Elf and Droplight the
recognition that they deserve for coming on board with me
and sticking it out despite all the ups and downs
of this crazy NASCAR journey. And we got to enjoy
(41:02):
a little bit of Chicago. We went on a really
cool NASCAR boat ride where we went down the river
and then threw the lock and out and saw the sunset,
which was really cool. And we had a few events
to go to and then came Saturday, so oh. I
also did some Barry's boot camp in Chicago. I was
(41:25):
looking for a CrossFit gym because that's primarily what I
do when I'm on the road and stuff as well.
And Cora, who is our team coordinator, and I found
Barrie's and that was super fun. So if any of
you thinking about checking out Barries, you definitely should. And
next we're going to try a forty five, I believe,
so stick with me for your fitness journey. Now I'll
(41:47):
teach you other things not to do. So Saturday, I
did not realize the enormity of the task of qualifying
in for this race, Like, it really didn't.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Occur to me.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
I just thought we would for some bizarre reason. And
bj and Jessica said the exact same thing. They said
that they thought that I would get in and they
weren't worried about it. But then I was sitting down
and I was looking at the cars that we were
racing against. Because obviously, the way it works is all
of the charter cars, all of the franchised cars, are
set in the race, and the open cars is what
(42:20):
they call them without a charter, are the ones fighting
for the remaining positions. There are thirty six charters and
there are forty cars allowed on the grid. There was
five open cars so one of us was going home,
and I will say I was the person with the
least experience in a stock car. I may have had
more experience in other forms of racing, but definitely not
(42:41):
in a stock car. And I have not driven on
Chicago Street Course before, only on the sim So we
get twenty minutes practice twenty minutes twenty minutes to learn
the track, figure it out, and go as fast as
those tires will allow you at that time, bearing your mind. Also,
I don't have much experience on doing the qualifying where
(43:02):
you go out and you put a lap together straight away.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Normally you get three or four laps to build up
to it.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
So we actually set our tire pressures for a lap
three because we anticipated that it would take me that
long to kind of figure it out. But in practice
twenty minutes, I made a mistake and got wheel hoop,
which is unusual in the next gen car. Like I'm
used to getting the wheel hop in the in the
Xfinity car now, but I hadn't had it before in
the next gen car.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
And so I was going forward and forward on the.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Breake bys to try and wind more front break into
it so I would be able to break more efficiently.
Speaker 2 (43:36):
But I didn't do enough.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
And my issue a lot of the time, I would say,
in stock cars and NASCAR, has been that I overcharge
the corners, I break too late, I try and roll
too much speed in I literally for the last twenty years,
I've been programming my brain with cars with downforce and
that are very light and break much much later. Just
(44:00):
to give you an example, road America going into term
five long, long, long straight and in an Indy car,
you're breaking it like the two and a half marker.
In a sports car, you're breaking it like three and
a half marker. In a NASCAR you imagine a like
six and seven marker and break somewhere around there. Like
(44:21):
it's bonkers how different it is and how heavy these
cars are on these bumpy streets. I messed up basically
in practice, and my goal was just to do all
of the lapse because I knew how valuable that experience
would be. We weren't even going to change the car
because there was more time in me than there was
in the car.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
But I made a mistake, and it's not easy.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I will always be hardest on myself for these mistakes,
but I think literally everybody made a mistake at some
point in this weekend and either clipped wall or did
something right.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Like I'm not alone.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
It's not that I shouldn't be there because I don't
have the experience, because these guys do the experience, and
they're doing the same thing, maybe not to the extent,
maybe not as often, but irrelevant. So I'm trying to
minimize the mistakes. I didn't damage to the car. We
had a bank corner splitter was down. It was less
(45:16):
than ideal, and the advantage I had though, was going
into qualifying. I knew I was in group two, so
I knew what time I had to beat. So all
the other open cars were in group one, and Corey Heim,
who was driving the twenty three to eleven car, he
also had a bank car because he had touched the.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Wall too, and so we were hoping.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
That I would either get ahead of him or Josh
Bilicki in the sixty six. The other cars were really
good cars and they had experienced drivers in them, and
I don't think we were going to challenge them in
qualifying until we had more laps under our belt and had,
you know, made a few changes to the car made
it better anyway, long story short, we knew what we
(46:02):
had to beat. I beat it by a tenth of
a second after touching.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
The wall and.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Almost not making it like I would have been a
lot faster and a lot further up the grid had
it not, But it didn't matter. We got in, and
because we had to fix the car then after qualifying,
it meant that I started at the back along with
a bunch of other people, so didn't realize the enormity
of actually getting in against the caliber driver and teams
(46:30):
that were there.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
So we made it.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
Everybody was super happy, massive relief, and we got to
go to Sunday and to race day, and I knew
that the pressure was off a little bit then because
I had the whole race we hoped to learn. So
I let Denny go by on the start, and even
(46:53):
he was kind of hanging back and looking at what
was unfolding in front of him because we were all
expecting carnage and I was trying to do what I've
done in every single stock car race that we've been
in this year, which is used the first stage for
like figuring things out, getting a bit more racy in
the second stage, and then third stage we can go
for it, so it was following Denny. There was a
(47:15):
massive pile up relatively early on. I think hosts of
us stuck it in the wall, so there's a red flag.
I think only like two or three laps in big
pile up damaged about six cars. I think one or
two of them were then out of the race. Most
of them made it back around and got repairs throughout
the whole race. Actually, you think every single car had
a little bit of damage in some way, shape or form.
(47:37):
So we were sat there under red flag where they
cleared the streets because they blocked really easily the streets
when there's a pile up like that and you can't
get through. So we were sat there boiling. It was
so hot in Chicago, and we had the cars switched off,
so no cool suit, no helmet blower, and radio problems
that we were trying to fix and couldn't hear my spotters.
Speaker 2 (48:00):
I could hear one of them, and I.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
Could hear like the first three words of what my
crew chief was saying, so they were trying to fix that.
I would put my helmet blower on intermittently to try
and keep the voltage up so the car would still
start because it draws a lot of voltage, and literally
sitting there boiling your brains out, going, Okay, when are
they going to restart?
Speaker 2 (48:20):
Is everybody else feeling this hot?
Speaker 4 (48:21):
Is it just me?
Speaker 1 (48:22):
And then I'm like, you got a man up. Everybody's
in the same boat. So eventually we got going again,
and we made our way through the first stage relatively unscathed,
learned a ton, got to grips with the car a
little bit more, had a few different things going on
with the car that I hadn't experienced before, Like the
steering would lock up in the slowest corner, the power
(48:45):
steering and it would like hesitate and jiggle out of
my hand. It's kind of like a capitation. I don't
know how to explain. It's basically the power steering switching off.
And then I was struggling with getting on the power.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
I was loose.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
They made it changed to the car. They raised the
front of the car, and that helped in the second stage.
And so feeling a bit more racy in the second stage,
trying to make some moves some past, some people messed up,
tried to throw what was looking to be a good
race where we were in like P twenty or something
away and I outbraked myself into the turn one tire wall,
(49:22):
and I was so lucky.
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Honestly, I was just thinking no, no, no, no, no.
I was so lucky.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
I was able to drive out of it and continue,
and I took it super easy for the three laps
that it was to the end of that second stage,
just to get a feel for the car and whether
it was okay, and I think we'd like bend the
toe and a few other things, but it was decently driveable,
so threw tires on it and went to race them.
In the third stage, I was involved in a little
(49:48):
bit of a little few pile ups where you'd get
hit from behind and then it would knock you into
the car in front of a start or a restart,
but was trying to be conservative and play it cool.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
Still couldn't really hear.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
My spotters, so it was really tricky because I'd come
around the corner and there'd be a safety car in
the middle of the road. I didn't know where the
back of the field was after the jews like it
was still my eyes were on stalks, not knowing all
the information. So basically survival of the fittest and it
was carnage at one point. I actually feel bad about
(50:21):
this now. Chase Elliott came to see me after the race,
and I could hear my spotter, but he said right,
like three times, but he said that every time they
were in line, so I didn't actually think anything of it,
and I didn't think you could get more than one
car through that term force section. Well, turns out he
(50:41):
was actually on my right rear.
Speaker 2 (50:44):
And he hit me and moved me out the way.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
It wasn't hard, but I was a bit pissed about it.
I showed him my displeasure, and then he came down
to see me and he's like, just so you know
I was there, and so now I feel bad for
being mad at him. And then Cody Where had a
Oh it was brutal. He had a rotor explode, go
through the tire and put him in the tire wall
(51:08):
in turn five, which looked like such a hard hit
right in front of me. I was expecting them to
throw the yellow, so I didn't know whether that would
finish the race.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
It was like a lap or two laps to the end.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
And then we ended up p nineteen, mostly by attrition,
but I think lap average wise, in the middle we
were decent, and I don't think we were that bad.
I think everybody went through this up and downstage, depending
on how much damage they had at the time, because
everybody was hitting everybody else. I don't think there was
a corner on anybody's car that came back unscathed. But
(51:43):
I think that it was such a great race for Chicago.
It was such a success. The rain stayed away. It
was a great race for the team. We're trying to
punch above our weight, basically, both me and Live Fast,
and so things like that really mattered. They had a
great result in Atlanta, and then they had another top
twenty there in Chicago with me, and so I'm really
(52:04):
hoping that we can build on that momentum and capitalize
on it and keep learning and keep pushing.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
I was.
Speaker 1 (52:10):
I flew back with the team on the charter Sunday
after the race, directly after the race, and then I
was at the SIM at eight am on Monday morning,
so I'm like, I'm putting in the work.
Speaker 2 (52:20):
I was in the gym this morning.
Speaker 1 (52:23):
I am hoping that we can capitalize on that momentum
and keep pushing and get another good result in Sonoma
this week, and you know, hopefully that will have broken
out of the bad luck and the and like, let's
be on a positive trajectory from here on in.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
So everything good.
Speaker 1 (52:43):
My dad is still staying with me, he goes home
from Sonoma, and such as life, keep on keeping on racing, racing, racing.
Thanks for listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be back next
week with more updates, more overtakes.
Speaker 2 (53:01):
We want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
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 to Throttle Therapy
on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free
(53:23):
iHeart app and search throttle Therapy with Katherine Legg and
start listening.
Host
Katherine Legge
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