August 12, 2025 • 42 mins
On this episode of Throttle Therapy, Katherine checks in after the NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen. Then, it’s that time of the month and Christina Nielsen is back to share what school doesn’t teach you about other careers in racing, outside of driving. They give their advice to anyone interested in working on the track, no matter what role you want to pursue.
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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. Hey you guys, and welcome
(00:21):
to this week's episode of Throttle Therapy with Me Catherine Legg.
And today we're going to talk a little bit about
Watkins Glenn because we just got back from the race
weekend there. Now, Watkins Glen is probably one of my
favorite road courses on the schedule. It's iconic, it's storied,
(00:42):
it's fast, it's fun. It looks with the curbs painted
all different colors, it looks different to every other racetrack
in my mind, and I was super excited about it
going in. Andy Lally joined me because he's driven there
a ton, and he's obviously a very good friend of mine. Well,
he was coaching him on to sello on Sunday, so
(01:03):
he said he'd come in a day early, so he
was there for the Saturday, which is kind of cool
to get his perspective and his take on you know
what I was saying about the car and how I
felt on track, and he gave me notes about where
he was breaking, what he was doing, and I drove
the simulator the friday before we left and tried to
put all of that into action. So roll into the
(01:26):
weekend and we did not have a great practice. We
didn't have a terrible practice. It just wasn't brilliant. We
learned a few things, like literally every time, I'm learning
different things. So we went out and we massively overshot
the tire pressures, especially on the front, and after about
three laps, I had no turning left and they said, oh,
(01:47):
you forgot to put your brake fans on. So I thought, okay,
I put my brake fans on. We went back out
and I thought something was wrong with the car. It
was like shaking, like a will was loose or something. Well,
turns out that's because I had the fans on. The
brake fans on too early. So I learned that you
have to wait a couple of laps or a lap
or so before to get some heat in the brakes
(02:10):
before you put the brake fans on, because it turned
out to be that. So we wasted a bunch of
time in practice figuring all these things out, and then
qualifying was okay, but I massively overdrove in qualifying, I think,
and I tried too hard and I outbreak myself and
it was sideways and it was messy and I felt
(02:30):
very I don't know, just not smooth and not fast.
So we had a few issues with the car, very
not compliant over the curves. It would hit the hit
the chassis really hard coming down in the in the
bus stop and try and snaphook me into the wall.
Same oount of TWN one, same in turn ten if
(02:51):
I went over the excobe. So we went to work overnight.
The team kind of all got together and sat down
and made some ride height changes and made some damping changes.
So I was pretty psyched for the race because I
thought we'll do our usual go out chill in the
first stage and then go race them a little bit
more in the second stage than we'll be competitive in
the third stage. Well, turns out we went completely out
(03:17):
the window with both ride heights and tire pressures, and
so the first stage was miserable. I was hanging on
to the thing and it was loose up through the s's.
I was partial thrust all the way up through there,
rather than being almost flat and it was just pretty bad.
So I was complaining a lot on the radio, like
(03:38):
please fix it for me. So we made a swing
at it in the first ride height wise in the
first stop, and the problem wasn't just one thing right.
It wasn't just loose or just understeery tight. It was
loose on entry, tight in the middle, and loose on exit.
So with what you can do in a pit stop,
you kind of limited. And I said, I think we're
(04:00):
we're out to lunch on the tire pressures for some reason.
All the way through practice and the first two stages
of the race, like we could not get our head
around the tire pressures. I didn't know whether I wanted
more or less or I know that I knew this
split was wrong, but I'm just learning and getting experience
in these class so I couldn't tell them exactly which
way to go. But I knew that the tires were
(04:20):
going off super quickly. We would fire off pretty strong
for like two laps, and then they would go off,
but it didn't feel like they were too high. It
felt like they were too low. So it was a
bit confusing, and we wanted to lower the rear of
the car for a stability, but we also had a
lot of mid corner rounder stare, so we were all
kind of perplexed as to what to do in the
middle of the race, but we kept cool heads and
(04:43):
we kept working on it. And by the third stage,
again it's always the third stage, they had the tire
pressures figured out. So unfortunately we stayed out for as
long as possible in that third stage hoping for a
that yellow didn't come, so we were on old tires
for a while, and that made us a lap down.
(05:05):
The difference between new ties and old tires at Watkins
was huge, much bigger than I feel like, it's much
bigger than it normally is. So when you're on old
tires and everybody in front of you is just pitched
it and they've come out on new tires and they're
going buy you like you're standing still, you're a sitting duck.
And that's not a good feeling when you're being past left, right,
and center. So anyway, third stage, we put new tires
(05:29):
on for like the second half of the third stage,
if you like, and they nailed the tire pressures, like
finally got it right. We were finally back on the
ground on the rear of the car, and I felt
racey for the first time all day. And I wish
that we could go back and start this race. This
is the same with every single race I've done this year.
(05:50):
I wish I could go back to the start of
the race, with the end of the race setup and
the end of the race knowledge, and I think then
we would be competitive. We were hanging with the leaders
for the second half of the third stage. I had
to keep obviously moving out of the way because they
were fighting each other, but we could do similar that time,
(06:11):
So that kind of gave us a little bit of
motivation coming out of Watkins Glinn that it is there.
We just need to be better at rolling off the
truck faster, both the car and the team and myself.
And you're just disappointed with the result, really, like I think,
for the amount of work and effort and speed that
(06:32):
we showed right at the end, it wasn't a great result.
But again, so many lessons learned. So anyway, Whattkins Glinn
is in the review mirror pun fully intended. And this
week I drove back from Charlotte, North Carolina to Atlanta
last night and I am frantically getting ready for my
(06:55):
friend's arrival. And you all know and love her. It's
Christina and Nil and she is this week's episode and
she will be visiting me this week, so I'm very
excited about that. The weather in Atlanta sucks, but I'm
sure we will have fun and bring you a live
episode next month. This week on Throttle Therapy, we are
(07:26):
joined by Christina Nielsen because it is that time of
the month, and it's my favorite time of the month.
It's a totally different time of the month where I
get to check in with my bestie. And it's not
like we don't check in most days, to be honest,
but most of what we say to each other cannot
be shared. On Throttle Therapy, you get a little glimpse
(07:47):
into some of the topics that we discuss. And today
I thought. Last week we spoke to Corey from ELF
and her conversation was fascinating to me. I love that
woman so much. She makes me think, and so we
were talking about all kinds of things, but what really
(08:08):
stuck with me was how you show up for yourself,
how you change, how you evolve, what you do, how
your dreams evolve, Like what you want to be when
you grow up, and so I was talking to Christina
about it, and today we really want to step away
from the driving aspect of things, because even with the
(08:29):
diversity program that I plan to do in the future,
it's all very much focused around driving. And Christina has
a unique point of view outside of driving and a
unique experience outside of driving now, and so we thought
we might bring you a myriad of other things and
topics of discussion outside of driving and what else you
(08:50):
can do within racing. Hi, Christina, Hello, glad.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
To be back. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I mean, there's so many opportunities in the world the
sports that I think is worth discussing, because while you
and I have a passion for driving and that was
our main focus, there are so many ways that you
can be a part of a team or a sanctioning body,
or an association or a race team. So quite a
few different types of opportunities, and I think it would
(09:19):
be awesome for us to discuss those, but also share
a little bit about probably what we call the cheat sheet,
because one thing is what you see from the outside,
what do you see in you on social media? What
you might learn if you go to study some sort
of indication that's focused around sports management or something similar,
(09:39):
but there's quite a bit that goes into it that
people don't normally know about unless they actually experience it.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, so both of my nephews actually are going into motorsport,
which blows my mind because they never showed that much
interest that I knew of Josh, the older one, he's
actually working for McLaren now he graduated Oxford Brooks and
the younger one is going to Oxford Brooks to study motorsport.
And that's also just such a thin slice of what
(10:07):
can be done on the engineering side, on the mechanicing side,
or the PR side, or the marketing side, and there's
so many things. And when you mentioned cheat sheet to me,
I was like, Oh, that makes so much sense because
you could have a degree in motorsports marketing or motorsports engineering,
but no idea of what it's like at the track.
(10:29):
And so why don't you run us through what you
were telling me about your cheat sheet for how you
figure out racing.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, essentially that conversation came out because I did have
lunch with a lovely woman who was interested in getting
into the world about of sport, and she was going
to study with the idea of potentially working in racing
and sponsorship management, client management activation throughout the weekends. And
I said to the coach to Okay, that's great, you
(10:59):
are really good yourself prepared, But there are things that
you will never know until you've actually gone to the racetracks.
I mentioned to her, for example, where are you going
to get the golf carts? What if the main entrance
is closed or it's blocked for traffic and you have
to be at a certain time with the partners or
the clients that you're taking. Which other entrance can you take?
(11:20):
How do you get around the track if somebody asks
you about the teams, like can you actually answer the
questions that they might have for you? If they say, hey,
I want to get something to eat?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Where are you going to go? Like what kind of
hospitality do you have access to?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Who are you going to text if you need extra
tickets for hospitality? Who are you going to own favor
to because you need that for that specific weekend. So
there's a lot of networking. And I would say physically
being at the tracks. You and I have gone to
the same tracks year after year, so we know them
very well. But that's the kind of stuff that school
(11:55):
will never teach you, but something that actually just comes
from doing the job and being a part of it.
And I will give a shout out to the ones
that decide to go into chasing sponsors and wanted to
secure sponsorships because it looks glamorous and cool and you
have some of the biggest companies in the world, for
example in Formula One, and you think, oh, it would
be so cool I get to work with all of
(12:16):
these brands at once. But that is so much hard work,
and especially series like IMSA is still a big series
in the US, but it is nowhere near the status
of Formula One. So to secure sponsors for that kind
of racing, it is a long, teeth polling process and
(12:39):
it's a lot of else very few amount of yess
that you normally get.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So I'm going to digress just for a second and
talk about what I wasn't going to talk about. But
did you notice that there were over one hundred drivers
this weekend in the Msopadic and not one of them
was a woman.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
You know, it just isn't the same without us, is
what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Absolutely, I think we were the longest standing ones, but
it's a bit of a shame. I hope that I
hope it resolves. I hope that it kind of bounces back.
But my dad sent that to me and I was like, oh, yeah,
there are a couple I think in like Lamborghini and
GT four, but nobody in weather Tech, which has shame. However,
I digress. The point you make is very valid and
(13:27):
top of mind for me, especially this year, because I
thought after twenty years of professional racing, I knew it all.
Not knew it all, but like I know in imcern
in IndyCar, where you go, where the med center is,
who you talk to and if I don't know who
you talk to me, I know somebody who can introduce
me to who you talk to. But then when I
(13:48):
went across the road this street and I started in Nascar,
I have no I had no idea of any of that.
And it was same with what you're saying, like I
didn't know anybody. I didn't know where I was supposed
to go. I didn't know where the credential office is.
I still don't. All of these tracks are still new
to me, and I think that it's very valid that
(14:10):
you have to gain experience and do it. So I
think that with any of this, that kind of experience
can be gained by doing like an intern job or
just kind of showing up and helping out with a
team and it doesn't really matter your more capacity.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah, and you could also maybe just work hospitality for
a team where you're second ranked, Like there'll be a
main person who is the primary person in charge, and
you're that person's sort of assistant. I mean, I remember
the first time I did the twenty fours of Lamont
getting to the driver's parade. How do you get there?
It's in the city. No other races really or I
don't think a lot of races do this, so, I mean,
(14:49):
it's even IndyCar. I remember the first time I was
going to watch you do the NDY five hundred and
my friend told me, oh, you have to be there
at six am or four m or whatever it was.
What these are the little secrets that you don't know
unless you've actually gone and done it. And if I
were to be the team coordinator heading to Lamong for
(15:10):
the first time, I would be stressed. That is so
much besides the driving part that goes on. It puts
a lot of responsibility on I would say especially like
the team coordinators, but I also think it's an exciting role,
it's a cool one. Maybe we should go through a
little bit of a list of jobs that we see
that are you know, possible to do well that?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And how do people they might be motorspot found but
how do they break into the world of motorspot.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, absolutely, well, okay, so if we start with the team, right,
there's always the foundation of a team, which I would
call the mechanics, the engineers, the team principal, team coordinator, hospitality,
and then there's normally also pr and social media.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Anybody I'm missing fueler, truck driver.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Truck driver, tie guy. Yeah, But to be honest, you're
not going to make it up to the management ranks
or even the engineer ranks without previous motorsport experience. So
you kind of have to start at the bottom within
a team, just like the drivers do. So you start
in Formula forod a, Formula RENNO or GT four or
whatever it is, and you get experience at that level
(16:18):
before you move up. It's very rare that people just
go straight into a higher series, unless it's like a
Formula One team or something and they're just hiring engineers
out of college to sit in the facility that they
have back home. Yeah, but you have to gain experience.
And I just wonder, like, I know, from a drive perspective,
but from like an outside perspective, how do you just
(16:39):
go to races and get to know people and talk
to people and give them your CVS.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I would say, I know some of the teams, for example,
have hired somebody to coordinate their travel. That's just done
for the office. But then normally these people, you know,
they want to go to the racetrack. They want to
be a part of the action of the racetrack, and
I just you know, book flight tickets and rental cars
and hotels for the guys that are actually going. So
normally they start there, they keep asking. At some point
(17:05):
they're going to get an opportunity to come and join
maybe the hospitality team, and they're going to take care
of catering credentials, you know, whatever it might be that
they need help with to run the weekend.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
So there's always like a coordinator job.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I think that race teams are looking for in terms
of support, and even though it might not lead to
you going to the track, you know directly, I think
it's it's a great place to start. Another option would be,
you know, there's Porsch Motorsport North America. If you're based
in LA you know, maybe you start working there. One
of the jobs that's possible you get into the racing side,
(17:41):
because even some of the guys who works for Portion
Motorsports are also at the Porsche Experience Center because that's
where some of the facilities are. So I think there
are different places that you can go to and apply
for jobs that might not be directly what you want,
but that could be a stepping stone to where you
want to go.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, that's very valid point. And the other point there
is it's very location dependent, Like if you want to
be involved in racing, you have to be in one
of those locations that houses teams, series manufacturers, you know,
like Detroit or LA as you mentioned, Charlotte, Indy. And
then it seems to me like most of the series
(18:23):
people and this sanctioning body people and the people looking
for sponsorship and that kind of thing, they all kind
of come from the team part first, or most of
them do.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah, And I think there's sometimes a transition that some
people have also done let's say you've gotten in with
a team, you figure it out. You like working with
sponsors because reality is there's also some basic work because
in a race team, it's a smaller group of a
you know, it's sort of a small company. And that
means you're not just a person who is potentially dining
(18:56):
the clients, you know, the sponsor in the evening, taking
them tonight scenaries, doing the contract negotiations, smoothing them. You
might also be setting up, you know, the autograph table
and the chairs and finding the pens and the autograph
cars and making sure that that's produced. So there's a
lot of like little jobs that or as what do
(19:17):
you say, assignments throughout the week that you're also part
of doing because you know, the team steps up for
whatever is necessary.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I think it's also important to note that racing is
a very small community. It is all very small communities.
I should even say. You know, you've got in the car,
you've got NASCAR, you've got European LAMA, you've got WEAG,
You've got all these little communities, and it's almost like
a traveling circus. So you know everybody super well for
the most part, and so reputation precedes you and it's
(19:49):
super important. So as you're working your way up, it's
important that you're not making any enemies and you're making
friends and you're making a good impression on literally everybody
to be able to work your way up the ladder
because there aren't that many people at the top of
the ladder in whichever job you choose that have a
bad reputation.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
True, and I think there's you know, possibilities, but it
starts with you being in the right place physically, like
you need to be living in the area where wherever
you want to work for is. I think it's just
a big part of it. Even a bunch of the
people that works for for example, are based in Florida
because that is where INSI is based, That's where NASCAR
(20:30):
is based.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
There's worse places to be based in Daytona Beach with
NASCAR has two bases, one in Daytona Beach and one
in Charlotte, I believe, and obviously is a offshoot from
NASCAR's owned by NASCAR, right.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, there's also a little bit more of a creative
outlet in terms of doing social media.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Can you do edits? Can you do video?
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Can you do photography, so there are a few different
types of jobs that you'll work as an independent contractor.
You might not be tied to one team, but often
what happens is one team is happy with the photographer,
you get a break, probably not going to make the
most money on that first round, but then eventually you
should also be able to gain multiple clients during the weekend,
(21:18):
so that you're not just shooting for one team, but
you might be shooting for several teams, and you're just
more of a free floating agent compared to some of
the other jobs.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
There's actually one other category that we've neglected so far,
and that's working for either the track or the event.
Because some of the most talented people I met this
year were the people who organized the Chicago Street Race.
So they're based in Chicago and they're so year round
primary focuses the Chicago Street Race. So I suppose you
(21:57):
could be based near a racetrack and do that way too.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Absolutely, I also think, you know, whenever we did Detroit
and Emster, I do think the organizers behind Detroit do
a great job also with the marketing, including the local
communities doing charity work. In terms of visiting hospitals and schools,
so there is a lot of activation, but you will
be tied to then just one event most likely.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Detroit's a little bit different because that's Penske Entertainment, I believe.
So they do a bunch of promoting, so they're moving around.
I guess some people must be located in Detroit, but
they do. They do a whole ton. Did you see
that Fox Sports or a third of INDYCA. Oh wow, Yeah,
that's going to change the game.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
They're going to stick together then.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
And I think because the head of Fox Sports is
a big IndyCar fan and he went to IU. I
think that that will change the game for IndyCar. I
really do. I think that that will help IndyCar. But
what does it mean for NASCAR because NASCAR have a
deal with Fox for I think it was like seven years,
so six more years maybe, yeah, where they're also on Fox.
Are they competing because they're racing on some of the
(23:02):
same weekends? Like how does that work? I don't know.
Is above my pay rde But again, I guess you
could work in television.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
And it's actually an interesting point you just made because
you're talking about one of the top people liking motorsports,
liking in the car, so that's where the company is
going to go. Often when you see a sponsorship, it's
also because somebody you know on the board, the CEO
has or maybe the chief operating marketing person has a
(23:30):
passion for motorsports and they want to go that route.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
You could also be on the other side.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
So instead of potentially working for a race team or
the sanctioning body or whatever it might be within racing,
you could also actually work for a company that sponsors
a race series, a race team and for example castin
absolutely and then we'll be on sort of on the
other side of the fence.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
But they also get to sometimes have some of the
best experiences.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, that's a really good point. There are at of
different jobs. I wonder how many people look at motorsport
from the outside when they're younger and think I want
to be involved in some way, shape or form. It's
an interesting conversation because we've only really looked at it
from the driver standpoint. You then have transitioned out and
you've got other things outside of racing as well, which
(24:20):
is super impressive. Why don't we touch a little bit
on how what we do on racing gives us the
skills and the but.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
When we're no longer racing exactly, Yeah, absolutely so. I
mean while I was still racing, I did, together with
another woman named Rihanna, started Accelerating Change, a program designed
to create events for women within the automotive space and
premiarily track days. We wanted to get more women behind
the wheel, join track days, join clubs, get into driving,
(24:53):
and we actually did quite a few events with a collaboration,
whether the Porsche BMW or Michelin.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
So I me kind of started there. For me, the
instructure part.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
And using or sort of becoming an ambassador for it,
being the face of it helped get it off the ground.
And you know, Mariana was amazing at organizing everything, so yeah,
a little bit of a combo and you know, amazing
to find people who have other strengths so you can
combine and be a little strength balled together. But that
(25:25):
was definitely a little bit of something outside of my
comfort zone and trying something new and I mean putting
together those events. I escalated it with the destination when
I started do the driving experiences, which was multiple days
you know, hotels, dinners, the track experiences, providing everything, so
(25:46):
that kind of snowballed into this, but it was still
with racing. Besides that, I've been with Portion for the
last five years pors to Denmark. I worked with them
as an instructor and what I did realize was accelerating
change and the destination plus the structure jobs. I do
really enjoy seeing people get out of the car feeling
more confident, being happy, because let's face it, most people
(26:08):
will walk out of a car and have a smile
on their face because it's a cool thing to go
and do.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
They're empowered by what they just achieved.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
H Yes, and I love that they're taking an action themselves.
It's amazing to go and watch a race weekend. But
I also think it's so cool that they get to
drive themselves. I mean, besides that, I also do a
little bit of commentating gigs. I go to sports and
different channels here in Denmark, and I am actually starting
part time a study for psychotherapy.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Which is fascinating to me. You're going to be so
good at this. I'm more excited about it.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
But I mean I still have to go through now
a four year process because that's how long it takes.
But my idea is that with my background and racing
and everything that I've experienced and done, they're combined with
having a better understanding for the human being and how
we operate, how we think, how you know, we behave.
(27:05):
I would love to work with teenagers, young adults that
are doing sports semi professionally or professionally, maybe they're trying
to break into you know, becoming a professional or have
just gotten there, and get to work with with those
types of powerful young individuals.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
So everything that you've done post racing, you've been utilizing
all the skills that you learned from a very young
age in racing that are very unique to you.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, but I also think when you work in motorsports,
whether you're a driver, I mean we are often the
first ones to lead.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
The track, right.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
The ones that are actually there for a long time
are the people who are doing primarily the mechanics or
the marketing jobs.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
You know, there's a lot of people that.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Experience these long days, long hours at the time, and
I think there are some common traits that you take
with you even if you leave motorsports, and that is,
even when the battery is that zero, you keep going,
even when you're exhausted, you keep.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Going because you're passionate for it.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yes, and you're also used to being all the time
running around at one hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
And I mean those skills you can use anywhere.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Does it translate in like everyday life though, Because I'll
tell you what, I feel like it's served me well.
But I also feel like everyday life frustrates me now
because I'll give you an example, getting to the airport,
getting on an airplane. Like I am, it is a
military operation for me, and I want to do it
(28:44):
the most effective efficient way I possibly can. And I
know where to park, I know where my bag's going,
I know everything else, and everybody else is faffing around
trying to get everything out of their pockets for the
third time before they go through security, trying to fit
their bag in fat like in the middle of the
road of no self allents. And it drives me absolutely crazy.
And I think all of that is learned from having
(29:07):
to be so efficient at a racetrack because you go
a very limited amount of time and we are on
the goal all the time.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
I even have when I go through security, I have
an order of where when I take things out of
my back. If they suddenly grab my back to put
it on a tray, like you know, in the wrong order,
I'm like, you're messing up my efficiency structure here.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
My system's busted.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Don't mess with it.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Okay, this is the quickest way for me to get
my things back in my bag if I have them
laid out in the right order.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Man, something is wrong with us. I know all the
damaged ones. Well, why does it have to be? What
are we saving thirty seconds? Maybe a minute?
Speaker 1 (29:45):
But it's so bizarre that it spills over. I'm the
same in the grocery store or shopping if I've got
an idea of what I'm going to go and get,
and if my mom's here or something and she's like
wandering around, I'm like, focus, leg, we're going down this aisle.
We do not need to go down that aisle. And
so I must be complete nightmare to be around in
everyday life.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
As long as we go shopping together, it's fine.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
It works.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Endurable experience.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Or traveling together, yeah, we just know. We don't even
have to talk about it. And car is the same way.
We just like walk a million miles an hour through
an airport to get to where we're going.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
I'm so bad at that. I walk fast.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Same some of my friends when I travel with them,
they will walk like, you know, two steps behind me,
And I tell myself, why am I in a rush?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
But I just don't like it. Why do I have
to do.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Same? Which makes me think, like, after racing for me,
I'm going to have to do something working for myself
in some way, some capacity because working for somebody else
and nobody's going to put up with that. Nobody's going
to put up with that OCD Like, I mean, I
will get a lot done, but I will also be
very intolerant of others and not getting a lot done.
(30:57):
So I don't know how that's going to work. But
I don't intend to work for anybody. I think we
have enough skills now that we can do our own thing.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
The other thing I wanted to touch on is how
like the instructing and the outside world spills over into
racing because you are also mentioning people like Robbie Foley
and how he is enabled in racing because of the
outside world.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
I mean, there's quite a few drivers that have worked
with clients or maybe work that's driving clubs as an
instructor and we're looking for that person to believe in
them potentially help them financially get their career started. And
you know, Folio has done an amazing job. He's been
picked up by BMW. He's a factory driver. But a
(31:42):
lot of people also start by just again, you've got
to live in the right place. That means you need
to be ready, like to take that extra coaching gig
here or there, and be available because you never know
who you're going to meet. And that's why it's important
to also be out networking and go to those events,
go to the track. If you really want to work
(32:04):
for a race team, you know, do your research, figure
out which one is based where you live. When the
race is there, go over in hand of your TV.
What do you have to lose? Right, like you to
put yourself out there.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
It's definitely definitely who you know a big proponent of
be comfortable being uncomfortable, and sometimes we get too comfortable
and then we don't go outside. And I think in
inside I did that. You notice I would go in
the truck and I'd be in the truck and then
I'd go home, and so I'd be very laser focused
on the people in my team and surrounding what I
was doing, but I wasn't networking anymore because they felt
(32:38):
like I near everybody. But I think that's a mistake.
I think most of racing is that networking and the
gentleman drivers that you pick up along the way. My
people who I've coached have become friends of mine to
start with. You know, you Aileen, Youve got Tom that
come to front of mine. Then there's a bunch of
others that I would class as friends. But it's helping you,
(32:58):
and it's helping them the same time, because it's their
gateway into racing and a lot of them want to
go to be gentlemen drivers in MSER, in GD four
and GD three, whatever it may be. It's also your
way of staying relevant and staying racing. So it's kind
of like this weird racing economy that makes the racing
world go around absolutely same asponsors.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
What we're saying is there are quite a few ways
to break into this world if you want to. But
it is a matter of being okay with putting yourself
out there and you know, doing the work like it
is going to be hard and you're going to have
to start at the bottom most likely, but.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
There's a lot of growth potentially if you do it right.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, if you could do it all over again. I
know that you got inter racing because of your dad,
and I got interesting because my dad in a way
with ghutting and everything else. If you could go back,
what was it that you wanted to be and what
would you be if there was no racing available.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
If there wasn't a racing, I would probably have continued
playing tennis because I played tennis for seven years before
I started racing, so I probably would have tried to
play tennis. But then I started driving gokreds and I'm like,
this is so much fun tennis, and.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I stopped and the iron is now.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I played tennis as a hobby, so I think that
would definitely have been it. But I every time I've
chosen a new past, it has just been I've got
feeling at some point this is what I want to do.
And I will say meeting different people throughout my career
has helped open my eyes two opportunities, and it has
(34:34):
meant that I have had these opportunities, like for Sanmla
Mariana that I did accelerating change with I met her
because I was asked to come to a speaking engagement
at the Peterson Museum Portia Focus when I was driving
with the Right Motorsports AM and she was a part
of organizing it.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
You really get at that, by the way, So if
anybody's listening, Christina is available for public speaking events, and
she's really I can get.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Sometimes I don't know, it's not my first choice, I
would say, but yeah, it's a part of it. So yeah,
So that was how I met her. And again, just
being out there and going around and having the opportunity
to network and meet people, I think is one of
the key things. And that's what often moved me in
(35:23):
order to you know, try new things and get involved
in new projects. Even the therapy part, I mean for
me it was a big part. My dad did get
sick with cancer when I was racing and I needed
help in order to separate.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
My racing from my private life.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
And I got introduced to an amazing therapist called Cynthia, and.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
I God, bless you, Cynthia, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
And you know, I think if I can be for
other people what she was for me, I think that
would be an amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Well, so firstly, I think that you're incredibly empathetic, and
you feel very deeply, and you're very kind and sweet,
and there is not a bad bone in your body.
So I think that you'll be really good at it.
I hope that it doesn't. You don't take on their
pain right because I think there's a potential that that
(36:20):
does happen and it brings you down. I hope that
doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
But I will say that's also why I find the
group that I would love to focus on interesting is
because those people in that's at least my belief, they
will be willing to change, to be able to really
want to move forward and be motivated to make whatever
changes might be necessary in order for them to produce
(36:43):
better results and for them to be an even better
sports individual.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
I need to put you in touch with Gloria. You
should go back and listen to the Troto Therapy podcast
episode that is with Gloria. It's fascinating because that's what
she's done the whole time. She has a very unique
take on it, and I think you'd find her really interesting.
I think you'd get down great. So I will definitely
do that. The other thing I was going to say
is I think it's hard to find the level of
(37:09):
I don't know if it's dopamine or whatever it is
from racing. You know, when you have a good weekend
and you know, the excitement and everything else. I think
that you will have something similar from the therapy because
you'll have that helping people thing, and so I think
that's really hard to find outside of it, and I
think then you'll be able to substitute one for the other.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
I'll tell you I had the exact same thought when
I was watching a Netflix show that was about the
coaches of some of the best sports teams, like it
was baseball, basketball, a lot of American sports, and I
just thought, you know what, that's really cool those highs
that you get from racing.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
I was a little bit worried, I've.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Experienced something so cool and so intense. How am I
going to feel satisfied doing anything else afterwards? And when
I watched that, I was like, huh, Okay, So if
you're a part of the team or helping the players,
you know, the drivers, whatever it might be, that might
be just a fulfilling in a little bit of a
different way. But there's going to be some of the
(38:08):
same magnetic energy that's going to be fueled.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
And that's why I'm excited for you as well. Obviously
you've had me. What if you get people like me
that you have to work with them? I mean, you'd
be so frustrated.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
I would love that.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
I mean, how it goes, you know, I did ask
I remember asking my therapist that part about being patient.
I said, what if no change has happened, and I'm
going to be so impatient?
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Why they're not making the change? Told me, then you're
going to tell yourself they're just not ready.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
You're a better man than me, because I'd be like,
why are you ready? Why are you not doing what?
It works? I told you have to do it.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Here's formula, here's how you line up your trade and
the security department in order to say thirty seconds.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Why can't you just do it? Everybody has to do
it their own way.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
We've had hundreds, probably thousands of very deep and meaningful
conversations over the years, and I'm fascinated by your depth
of knowledge in the subject and how emotionally intelligent you are,
and how much work you've done. And I've tried, and
(39:22):
I was talking to Cory about this tried. I'm one
of those frustrating people. But sometimes if you're not on
top of it, and you're not thinking about all the
changes that you want to make in the person that
you want to be, and like you're constantly doing this
like evaluation of yourself, it's really easy to fall back in.
We've spoken about this, It's really easy to fall back
into whatever your original state is, your like natural state.
(39:47):
So it is definitely a work in progress, and the
people are going to have to put the work in,
and I think that you will maybe get frustrated with
them if they're not prepared to put the work in
because you have such a rate work ethic and an
understanding of it, you know, I.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Do think that.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
As a final note, you and I have just come
up with an amazing concept for a company, and it's
going to be you know, optimization of traveling or going
to the racetrack packing, Like there's so many ways we
can optimize, so we should definitely anybody wants posted on that, like,
(40:24):
we'll make them.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
We can't. It's funny because Andy Lally does this traveling
hack one I want where he gets the coat hanger
clipse and he clips the curtains together so you don't
have the light coming through the thing, and how he
like modifies the air conditioning system and stuff. We could
do the same thing. We'll just do like Cat and
Christina's military operations.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
I will say, well, we're going to have to need
somebody to monitor the budget because I feel like you're
going to buy all sorts of gadgets of Amazon.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
And then we have to Oh, we could review them.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
I guess, but I still feel like that would be
quite a toll order.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
In terms of how much money we might end up
spending on that.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, my Amazon problem is is out of control. Well, Christina,
thank you so much. It has been a pleasure as always,
And next time we have you on that time of
the month, you will be here with me and we
will do a video one where the listeners can look
at your lovely face. And I cannot wait to see you.
(41:30):
I love you so much, and we will come up
with something fascinating.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
I can't wait to be in person. I know me
too the other days.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
All right, dude, to all the listeners, thank you for listening,
and be sure to check out next month that time
of the month, because it's going to be even better.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Thanks for listening to throttle Therapy. We'll be back next
week with more updates and more overtakes. We want to
hear from you. Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts
and tell us what you want to talk about. It
might just be the topic for our next show. Throttle
Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legg. Our executive producer is
Jesse Katz, and our supervising producer is Grace Fus. Listen
(42:16):
to Throttle Therapy on America's number one podcast network, iHeart.
Open your free iHeart app and search throttle Therapy with
Katherine Legg and start listening.
Throttle Therapy with Catherine Legg is an iHeart 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. Hey you guys, and welcome
(00:21):
to this week's episode of Throttle Therapy with Me Catherine Legg.
And today we're going to talk a little bit about
Watkins Glenn because we just got back from the race
weekend there. Now, Watkins Glen is probably one of my
favorite road courses on the schedule. It's iconic, it's storied,
(00:42):
it's fast, it's fun. It looks with the curbs painted
all different colors, it looks different to every other racetrack
in my mind, and I was super excited about it
going in. Andy Lally joined me because he's driven there
a ton, and he's obviously a very good friend of mine. Well,
he was coaching him on to sello on Sunday, so
(01:03):
he said he'd come in a day early, so he
was there for the Saturday, which is kind of cool
to get his perspective and his take on you know
what I was saying about the car and how I
felt on track, and he gave me notes about where
he was breaking, what he was doing, and I drove
the simulator the friday before we left and tried to
put all of that into action. So roll into the
(01:26):
weekend and we did not have a great practice. We
didn't have a terrible practice. It just wasn't brilliant. We
learned a few things, like literally every time, I'm learning
different things. So we went out and we massively overshot
the tire pressures, especially on the front, and after about
three laps, I had no turning left and they said, oh,
(01:47):
you forgot to put your brake fans on. So I thought, okay,
I put my brake fans on. We went back out
and I thought something was wrong with the car. It
was like shaking, like a will was loose or something. Well,
turns out that's because I had the fans on. The
brake fans on too early. So I learned that you
have to wait a couple of laps or a lap
or so before to get some heat in the brakes
(02:10):
before you put the brake fans on, because it turned
out to be that. So we wasted a bunch of
time in practice figuring all these things out, and then
qualifying was okay, but I massively overdrove in qualifying, I think,
and I tried too hard and I outbreak myself and
it was sideways and it was messy and I felt
(02:30):
very I don't know, just not smooth and not fast.
So we had a few issues with the car, very
not compliant over the curves. It would hit the hit
the chassis really hard coming down in the in the
bus stop and try and snaphook me into the wall.
Same oount of TWN one, same in turn ten if
(02:51):
I went over the excobe. So we went to work overnight.
The team kind of all got together and sat down
and made some ride height changes and made some damping changes.
So I was pretty psyched for the race because I
thought we'll do our usual go out chill in the
first stage and then go race them a little bit
more in the second stage than we'll be competitive in
the third stage. Well, turns out we went completely out
(03:17):
the window with both ride heights and tire pressures, and
so the first stage was miserable. I was hanging on
to the thing and it was loose up through the s's.
I was partial thrust all the way up through there,
rather than being almost flat and it was just pretty bad.
So I was complaining a lot on the radio, like
(03:38):
please fix it for me. So we made a swing
at it in the first ride height wise in the
first stop, and the problem wasn't just one thing right.
It wasn't just loose or just understeery tight. It was
loose on entry, tight in the middle, and loose on exit.
So with what you can do in a pit stop,
you kind of limited. And I said, I think we're
(04:00):
we're out to lunch on the tire pressures for some reason.
All the way through practice and the first two stages
of the race, like we could not get our head
around the tire pressures. I didn't know whether I wanted
more or less or I know that I knew this
split was wrong, but I'm just learning and getting experience
in these class so I couldn't tell them exactly which
way to go. But I knew that the tires were
(04:20):
going off super quickly. We would fire off pretty strong
for like two laps, and then they would go off,
but it didn't feel like they were too high. It
felt like they were too low. So it was a
bit confusing, and we wanted to lower the rear of
the car for a stability, but we also had a
lot of mid corner rounder stare, so we were all
kind of perplexed as to what to do in the
middle of the race, but we kept cool heads and
(04:43):
we kept working on it. And by the third stage,
again it's always the third stage, they had the tire
pressures figured out. So unfortunately we stayed out for as
long as possible in that third stage hoping for a
that yellow didn't come, so we were on old tires
for a while, and that made us a lap down.
(05:05):
The difference between new ties and old tires at Watkins
was huge, much bigger than I feel like, it's much
bigger than it normally is. So when you're on old
tires and everybody in front of you is just pitched
it and they've come out on new tires and they're
going buy you like you're standing still, you're a sitting duck.
And that's not a good feeling when you're being past left, right,
and center. So anyway, third stage, we put new tires
(05:29):
on for like the second half of the third stage,
if you like, and they nailed the tire pressures, like
finally got it right. We were finally back on the
ground on the rear of the car, and I felt
racey for the first time all day. And I wish
that we could go back and start this race. This
is the same with every single race I've done this year.
(05:50):
I wish I could go back to the start of
the race, with the end of the race setup and
the end of the race knowledge, and I think then
we would be competitive. We were hanging with the leaders
for the second half of the third stage. I had
to keep obviously moving out of the way because they
were fighting each other, but we could do similar that time,
(06:11):
So that kind of gave us a little bit of
motivation coming out of Watkins Glinn that it is there.
We just need to be better at rolling off the
truck faster, both the car and the team and myself.
And you're just disappointed with the result, really, like I think,
for the amount of work and effort and speed that
(06:32):
we showed right at the end, it wasn't a great result.
But again, so many lessons learned. So anyway, Whattkins Glinn
is in the review mirror pun fully intended. And this
week I drove back from Charlotte, North Carolina to Atlanta
last night and I am frantically getting ready for my
(06:55):
friend's arrival. And you all know and love her. It's
Christina and Nil and she is this week's episode and
she will be visiting me this week, so I'm very
excited about that. The weather in Atlanta sucks, but I'm
sure we will have fun and bring you a live
episode next month. This week on Throttle Therapy, we are
(07:26):
joined by Christina Nielsen because it is that time of
the month, and it's my favorite time of the month.
It's a totally different time of the month where I
get to check in with my bestie. And it's not
like we don't check in most days, to be honest,
but most of what we say to each other cannot
be shared. On Throttle Therapy, you get a little glimpse
(07:47):
into some of the topics that we discuss. And today
I thought. Last week we spoke to Corey from ELF
and her conversation was fascinating to me. I love that
woman so much. She makes me think, and so we
were talking about all kinds of things, but what really
(08:08):
stuck with me was how you show up for yourself,
how you change, how you evolve, what you do, how
your dreams evolve, Like what you want to be when
you grow up, and so I was talking to Christina
about it, and today we really want to step away
from the driving aspect of things, because even with the
(08:29):
diversity program that I plan to do in the future,
it's all very much focused around driving. And Christina has
a unique point of view outside of driving and a
unique experience outside of driving now, and so we thought
we might bring you a myriad of other things and
topics of discussion outside of driving and what else you
(08:50):
can do within racing. Hi, Christina, Hello, glad.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
To be back. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I mean, there's so many opportunities in the world the
sports that I think is worth discussing, because while you
and I have a passion for driving and that was
our main focus, there are so many ways that you
can be a part of a team or a sanctioning body,
or an association or a race team. So quite a
few different types of opportunities, and I think it would
(09:19):
be awesome for us to discuss those, but also share
a little bit about probably what we call the cheat sheet,
because one thing is what you see from the outside,
what do you see in you on social media? What
you might learn if you go to study some sort
of indication that's focused around sports management or something similar,
(09:39):
but there's quite a bit that goes into it that
people don't normally know about unless they actually experience it.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, so both of my nephews actually are going into motorsport,
which blows my mind because they never showed that much
interest that I knew of Josh, the older one, he's
actually working for McLaren now he graduated Oxford Brooks and
the younger one is going to Oxford Brooks to study motorsport.
And that's also just such a thin slice of what
(10:07):
can be done on the engineering side, on the mechanicing side,
or the PR side, or the marketing side, and there's
so many things. And when you mentioned cheat sheet to me,
I was like, Oh, that makes so much sense because
you could have a degree in motorsports marketing or motorsports engineering,
but no idea of what it's like at the track.
(10:29):
And so why don't you run us through what you
were telling me about your cheat sheet for how you
figure out racing.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, essentially that conversation came out because I did have
lunch with a lovely woman who was interested in getting
into the world about of sport, and she was going
to study with the idea of potentially working in racing
and sponsorship management, client management activation throughout the weekends. And
I said to the coach to Okay, that's great, you
(10:59):
are really good yourself prepared, But there are things that
you will never know until you've actually gone to the racetracks.
I mentioned to her, for example, where are you going
to get the golf carts? What if the main entrance
is closed or it's blocked for traffic and you have
to be at a certain time with the partners or
the clients that you're taking. Which other entrance can you take?
(11:20):
How do you get around the track if somebody asks
you about the teams, like can you actually answer the
questions that they might have for you? If they say, hey,
I want to get something to eat?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Where are you going to go? Like what kind of
hospitality do you have access to?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Who are you going to text if you need extra
tickets for hospitality? Who are you going to own favor
to because you need that for that specific weekend. So
there's a lot of networking. And I would say physically
being at the tracks. You and I have gone to
the same tracks year after year, so we know them
very well. But that's the kind of stuff that school
(11:55):
will never teach you, but something that actually just comes
from doing the job and being a part of it.
And I will give a shout out to the ones
that decide to go into chasing sponsors and wanted to
secure sponsorships because it looks glamorous and cool and you
have some of the biggest companies in the world, for
example in Formula One, and you think, oh, it would
be so cool I get to work with all of
(12:16):
these brands at once. But that is so much hard work,
and especially series like IMSA is still a big series
in the US, but it is nowhere near the status
of Formula One. So to secure sponsors for that kind
of racing, it is a long, teeth polling process and
(12:39):
it's a lot of else very few amount of yess
that you normally get.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So I'm going to digress just for a second and
talk about what I wasn't going to talk about. But
did you notice that there were over one hundred drivers
this weekend in the Msopadic and not one of them
was a woman.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
You know, it just isn't the same without us, is
what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Absolutely, I think we were the longest standing ones, but
it's a bit of a shame. I hope that I
hope it resolves. I hope that it kind of bounces back.
But my dad sent that to me and I was like, oh, yeah,
there are a couple I think in like Lamborghini and
GT four, but nobody in weather Tech, which has shame. However,
I digress. The point you make is very valid and
(13:27):
top of mind for me, especially this year, because I
thought after twenty years of professional racing, I knew it all.
Not knew it all, but like I know in imcern
in IndyCar, where you go, where the med center is,
who you talk to and if I don't know who
you talk to me, I know somebody who can introduce
me to who you talk to. But then when I
(13:48):
went across the road this street and I started in Nascar,
I have no I had no idea of any of that.
And it was same with what you're saying, like I
didn't know anybody. I didn't know where I was supposed
to go. I didn't know where the credential office is.
I still don't. All of these tracks are still new
to me, and I think that it's very valid that
(14:10):
you have to gain experience and do it. So I
think that with any of this, that kind of experience
can be gained by doing like an intern job or
just kind of showing up and helping out with a
team and it doesn't really matter your more capacity.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Yeah, and you could also maybe just work hospitality for
a team where you're second ranked, Like there'll be a
main person who is the primary person in charge, and
you're that person's sort of assistant. I mean, I remember
the first time I did the twenty fours of Lamont
getting to the driver's parade. How do you get there?
It's in the city. No other races really or I
don't think a lot of races do this, so, I mean,
(14:49):
it's even IndyCar. I remember the first time I was
going to watch you do the NDY five hundred and
my friend told me, oh, you have to be there
at six am or four m or whatever it was.
What these are the little secrets that you don't know
unless you've actually gone and done it. And if I
were to be the team coordinator heading to Lamong for
(15:10):
the first time, I would be stressed. That is so
much besides the driving part that goes on. It puts
a lot of responsibility on I would say especially like
the team coordinators, but I also think it's an exciting role,
it's a cool one. Maybe we should go through a
little bit of a list of jobs that we see
that are you know, possible to do well that?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And how do people they might be motorspot found but
how do they break into the world of motorspot.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Yeah, absolutely, well, okay, so if we start with the team, right,
there's always the foundation of a team, which I would
call the mechanics, the engineers, the team principal, team coordinator, hospitality,
and then there's normally also pr and social media.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Anybody I'm missing fueler, truck driver.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Truck driver, tie guy. Yeah, But to be honest, you're
not going to make it up to the management ranks
or even the engineer ranks without previous motorsport experience. So
you kind of have to start at the bottom within
a team, just like the drivers do. So you start
in Formula forod a, Formula RENNO or GT four or
whatever it is, and you get experience at that level
(16:18):
before you move up. It's very rare that people just
go straight into a higher series, unless it's like a
Formula One team or something and they're just hiring engineers
out of college to sit in the facility that they
have back home. Yeah, but you have to gain experience.
And I just wonder, like, I know, from a drive perspective,
but from like an outside perspective, how do you just
(16:39):
go to races and get to know people and talk
to people and give them your CVS.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
I would say, I know some of the teams, for example,
have hired somebody to coordinate their travel. That's just done
for the office. But then normally these people, you know,
they want to go to the racetrack. They want to
be a part of the action of the racetrack, and
I just you know, book flight tickets and rental cars
and hotels for the guys that are actually going. So
normally they start there, they keep asking. At some point
(17:05):
they're going to get an opportunity to come and join
maybe the hospitality team, and they're going to take care
of catering credentials, you know, whatever it might be that
they need help with to run the weekend.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
So there's always like a coordinator job.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I think that race teams are looking for in terms
of support, and even though it might not lead to
you going to the track, you know directly, I think
it's it's a great place to start. Another option would be,
you know, there's Porsch Motorsport North America. If you're based
in LA you know, maybe you start working there. One
of the jobs that's possible you get into the racing side,
(17:41):
because even some of the guys who works for Portion
Motorsports are also at the Porsche Experience Center because that's
where some of the facilities are. So I think there
are different places that you can go to and apply
for jobs that might not be directly what you want,
but that could be a stepping stone to where you
want to go.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, that's very valid point. And the other point there
is it's very location dependent, Like if you want to
be involved in racing, you have to be in one
of those locations that houses teams, series manufacturers, you know,
like Detroit or LA as you mentioned, Charlotte, Indy. And
then it seems to me like most of the series
(18:23):
people and this sanctioning body people and the people looking
for sponsorship and that kind of thing, they all kind
of come from the team part first, or most of
them do.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah, And I think there's sometimes a transition that some
people have also done let's say you've gotten in with
a team, you figure it out. You like working with
sponsors because reality is there's also some basic work because
in a race team, it's a smaller group of a
you know, it's sort of a small company. And that
means you're not just a person who is potentially dining
(18:56):
the clients, you know, the sponsor in the evening, taking
them tonight scenaries, doing the contract negotiations, smoothing them. You
might also be setting up, you know, the autograph table
and the chairs and finding the pens and the autograph
cars and making sure that that's produced. So there's a
lot of like little jobs that or as what do
(19:17):
you say, assignments throughout the week that you're also part
of doing because you know, the team steps up for
whatever is necessary.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
I think it's also important to note that racing is
a very small community. It is all very small communities.
I should even say. You know, you've got in the car,
you've got NASCAR, you've got European LAMA, you've got WEAG,
You've got all these little communities, and it's almost like
a traveling circus. So you know everybody super well for
the most part, and so reputation precedes you and it's
(19:49):
super important. So as you're working your way up, it's
important that you're not making any enemies and you're making
friends and you're making a good impression on literally everybody
to be able to work your way up the ladder
because there aren't that many people at the top of
the ladder in whichever job you choose that have a
bad reputation.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
True, and I think there's you know, possibilities, but it
starts with you being in the right place physically, like
you need to be living in the area where wherever
you want to work for is. I think it's just
a big part of it. Even a bunch of the
people that works for for example, are based in Florida
because that is where INSI is based, That's where NASCAR
(20:30):
is based.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
There's worse places to be based in Daytona Beach with
NASCAR has two bases, one in Daytona Beach and one
in Charlotte, I believe, and obviously is a offshoot from
NASCAR's owned by NASCAR, right.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, there's also a little bit more of a creative
outlet in terms of doing social media.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Can you do edits? Can you do video?
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Can you do photography, so there are a few different
types of jobs that you'll work as an independent contractor.
You might not be tied to one team, but often
what happens is one team is happy with the photographer,
you get a break, probably not going to make the
most money on that first round, but then eventually you
should also be able to gain multiple clients during the weekend,
(21:18):
so that you're not just shooting for one team, but
you might be shooting for several teams, and you're just
more of a free floating agent compared to some of
the other jobs.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
There's actually one other category that we've neglected so far,
and that's working for either the track or the event.
Because some of the most talented people I met this
year were the people who organized the Chicago Street Race.
So they're based in Chicago and they're so year round
primary focuses the Chicago Street Race. So I suppose you
(21:57):
could be based near a racetrack and do that way too.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Absolutely, I also think, you know, whenever we did Detroit
and Emster, I do think the organizers behind Detroit do
a great job also with the marketing, including the local
communities doing charity work. In terms of visiting hospitals and schools,
so there is a lot of activation, but you will
be tied to then just one event most likely.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Detroit's a little bit different because that's Penske Entertainment, I believe.
So they do a bunch of promoting, so they're moving around.
I guess some people must be located in Detroit, but
they do. They do a whole ton. Did you see
that Fox Sports or a third of INDYCA. Oh wow, Yeah,
that's going to change the game.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
They're going to stick together then.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
And I think because the head of Fox Sports is
a big IndyCar fan and he went to IU. I
think that that will change the game for IndyCar. I
really do. I think that that will help IndyCar. But
what does it mean for NASCAR because NASCAR have a
deal with Fox for I think it was like seven years,
so six more years maybe, yeah, where they're also on Fox.
Are they competing because they're racing on some of the
(23:02):
same weekends? Like how does that work? I don't know.
Is above my pay rde But again, I guess you
could work in television.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
And it's actually an interesting point you just made because
you're talking about one of the top people liking motorsports,
liking in the car, so that's where the company is
going to go. Often when you see a sponsorship, it's
also because somebody you know on the board, the CEO
has or maybe the chief operating marketing person has a
(23:30):
passion for motorsports and they want to go that route.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
You could also be on the other side.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
So instead of potentially working for a race team or
the sanctioning body or whatever it might be within racing,
you could also actually work for a company that sponsors
a race series, a race team and for example castin
absolutely and then we'll be on sort of on the
other side of the fence.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
But they also get to sometimes have some of the
best experiences.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, that's a really good point. There are at of
different jobs. I wonder how many people look at motorsport
from the outside when they're younger and think I want
to be involved in some way, shape or form. It's
an interesting conversation because we've only really looked at it
from the driver standpoint. You then have transitioned out and
you've got other things outside of racing as well, which
(24:20):
is super impressive. Why don't we touch a little bit
on how what we do on racing gives us the
skills and the but.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
When we're no longer racing exactly, Yeah, absolutely so. I
mean while I was still racing, I did, together with
another woman named Rihanna, started Accelerating Change, a program designed
to create events for women within the automotive space and
premiarily track days. We wanted to get more women behind
the wheel, join track days, join clubs, get into driving,
(24:53):
and we actually did quite a few events with a collaboration,
whether the Porsche BMW or Michelin.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
So I me kind of started there. For me, the
instructure part.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
And using or sort of becoming an ambassador for it,
being the face of it helped get it off the ground.
And you know, Mariana was amazing at organizing everything, so yeah,
a little bit of a combo and you know, amazing
to find people who have other strengths so you can
combine and be a little strength balled together. But that
(25:25):
was definitely a little bit of something outside of my
comfort zone and trying something new and I mean putting
together those events. I escalated it with the destination when
I started do the driving experiences, which was multiple days
you know, hotels, dinners, the track experiences, providing everything, so
(25:46):
that kind of snowballed into this, but it was still
with racing. Besides that, I've been with Portion for the
last five years pors to Denmark. I worked with them
as an instructor and what I did realize was accelerating
change and the destination plus the structure jobs. I do
really enjoy seeing people get out of the car feeling
more confident, being happy, because let's face it, most people
(26:08):
will walk out of a car and have a smile
on their face because it's a cool thing to go
and do.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
They're empowered by what they just achieved.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
H Yes, and I love that they're taking an action themselves.
It's amazing to go and watch a race weekend. But
I also think it's so cool that they get to
drive themselves. I mean, besides that, I also do a
little bit of commentating gigs. I go to sports and
different channels here in Denmark, and I am actually starting
part time a study for psychotherapy.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Which is fascinating to me. You're going to be so
good at this. I'm more excited about it.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
But I mean I still have to go through now
a four year process because that's how long it takes.
But my idea is that with my background and racing
and everything that I've experienced and done, they're combined with
having a better understanding for the human being and how
we operate, how we think, how you know, we behave.
(27:05):
I would love to work with teenagers, young adults that
are doing sports semi professionally or professionally, maybe they're trying
to break into you know, becoming a professional or have
just gotten there, and get to work with with those
types of powerful young individuals.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
So everything that you've done post racing, you've been utilizing
all the skills that you learned from a very young
age in racing that are very unique to you.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Yeah, but I also think when you work in motorsports,
whether you're a driver, I mean we are often the
first ones to lead.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
The track, right.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
The ones that are actually there for a long time
are the people who are doing primarily the mechanics or
the marketing jobs.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
You know, there's a lot of people that.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Experience these long days, long hours at the time, and
I think there are some common traits that you take
with you even if you leave motorsports, and that is,
even when the battery is that zero, you keep going,
even when you're exhausted, you keep.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Going because you're passionate for it.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yes, and you're also used to being all the time
running around at one hundred miles an hour.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
And I mean those skills you can use anywhere.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Does it translate in like everyday life though, Because I'll
tell you what, I feel like it's served me well.
But I also feel like everyday life frustrates me now
because I'll give you an example, getting to the airport,
getting on an airplane. Like I am, it is a
military operation for me, and I want to do it
(28:44):
the most effective efficient way I possibly can. And I
know where to park, I know where my bag's going,
I know everything else, and everybody else is faffing around
trying to get everything out of their pockets for the
third time before they go through security, trying to fit
their bag in fat like in the middle of the
road of no self allents. And it drives me absolutely crazy.
And I think all of that is learned from having
(29:07):
to be so efficient at a racetrack because you go
a very limited amount of time and we are on
the goal all the time.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
I even have when I go through security, I have
an order of where when I take things out of
my back. If they suddenly grab my back to put
it on a tray, like you know, in the wrong order,
I'm like, you're messing up my efficiency structure here.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
My system's busted.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Don't mess with it.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
Okay, this is the quickest way for me to get
my things back in my bag if I have them
laid out in the right order.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Man, something is wrong with us. I know all the
damaged ones. Well, why does it have to be? What
are we saving thirty seconds? Maybe a minute?
Speaker 1 (29:45):
But it's so bizarre that it spills over. I'm the
same in the grocery store or shopping if I've got
an idea of what I'm going to go and get,
and if my mom's here or something and she's like
wandering around, I'm like, focus, leg, we're going down this aisle.
We do not need to go down that aisle. And
so I must be complete nightmare to be around in
everyday life.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
As long as we go shopping together, it's fine.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
It works.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Endurable experience.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Or traveling together, yeah, we just know. We don't even
have to talk about it. And car is the same way.
We just like walk a million miles an hour through
an airport to get to where we're going.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
I'm so bad at that. I walk fast.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Same some of my friends when I travel with them,
they will walk like, you know, two steps behind me,
And I tell myself, why am I in a rush?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
But I just don't like it. Why do I have
to do.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Same? Which makes me think, like, after racing for me,
I'm going to have to do something working for myself
in some way, some capacity because working for somebody else
and nobody's going to put up with that. Nobody's going
to put up with that OCD Like, I mean, I
will get a lot done, but I will also be
very intolerant of others and not getting a lot done.
(30:57):
So I don't know how that's going to work. But
I don't intend to work for anybody. I think we
have enough skills now that we can do our own thing.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
The other thing I wanted to touch on is how
like the instructing and the outside world spills over into
racing because you are also mentioning people like Robbie Foley
and how he is enabled in racing because of the
outside world.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
I mean, there's quite a few drivers that have worked
with clients or maybe work that's driving clubs as an
instructor and we're looking for that person to believe in
them potentially help them financially get their career started. And
you know, Folio has done an amazing job. He's been
picked up by BMW. He's a factory driver. But a
(31:42):
lot of people also start by just again, you've got
to live in the right place. That means you need
to be ready, like to take that extra coaching gig
here or there, and be available because you never know
who you're going to meet. And that's why it's important
to also be out networking and go to those events,
go to the track. If you really want to work
(32:04):
for a race team, you know, do your research, figure
out which one is based where you live. When the
race is there, go over in hand of your TV.
What do you have to lose? Right, like you to
put yourself out there.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
It's definitely definitely who you know a big proponent of
be comfortable being uncomfortable, and sometimes we get too comfortable
and then we don't go outside. And I think in
inside I did that. You notice I would go in
the truck and I'd be in the truck and then
I'd go home, and so I'd be very laser focused
on the people in my team and surrounding what I
was doing, but I wasn't networking anymore because they felt
(32:38):
like I near everybody. But I think that's a mistake.
I think most of racing is that networking and the
gentleman drivers that you pick up along the way. My
people who I've coached have become friends of mine to
start with. You know, you Aileen, Youve got Tom that
come to front of mine. Then there's a bunch of
others that I would class as friends. But it's helping you,
(32:58):
and it's helping them the same time, because it's their
gateway into racing and a lot of them want to
go to be gentlemen drivers in MSER, in GD four
and GD three, whatever it may be. It's also your
way of staying relevant and staying racing. So it's kind
of like this weird racing economy that makes the racing
world go around absolutely same asponsors.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
What we're saying is there are quite a few ways
to break into this world if you want to. But
it is a matter of being okay with putting yourself
out there and you know, doing the work like it
is going to be hard and you're going to have
to start at the bottom most likely, but.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
There's a lot of growth potentially if you do it right.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, if you could do it all over again. I
know that you got inter racing because of your dad,
and I got interesting because my dad in a way
with ghutting and everything else. If you could go back,
what was it that you wanted to be and what
would you be if there was no racing available.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
If there wasn't a racing, I would probably have continued
playing tennis because I played tennis for seven years before
I started racing, so I probably would have tried to
play tennis. But then I started driving gokreds and I'm like,
this is so much fun tennis, and.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I stopped and the iron is now.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
I played tennis as a hobby, so I think that
would definitely have been it. But I every time I've
chosen a new past, it has just been I've got
feeling at some point this is what I want to do.
And I will say meeting different people throughout my career
has helped open my eyes two opportunities, and it has
(34:34):
meant that I have had these opportunities, like for Sanmla
Mariana that I did accelerating change with I met her
because I was asked to come to a speaking engagement
at the Peterson Museum Portia Focus when I was driving
with the Right Motorsports AM and she was a part
of organizing it.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
You really get at that, by the way, So if
anybody's listening, Christina is available for public speaking events, and
she's really I can get.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Sometimes I don't know, it's not my first choice, I
would say, but yeah, it's a part of it. So yeah,
So that was how I met her. And again, just
being out there and going around and having the opportunity
to network and meet people, I think is one of
the key things. And that's what often moved me in
(35:23):
order to you know, try new things and get involved
in new projects. Even the therapy part, I mean for
me it was a big part. My dad did get
sick with cancer when I was racing and I needed
help in order to separate.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
My racing from my private life.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
And I got introduced to an amazing therapist called Cynthia, and.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
I God, bless you, Cynthia, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
And you know, I think if I can be for
other people what she was for me, I think that
would be an amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Well, so firstly, I think that you're incredibly empathetic, and
you feel very deeply, and you're very kind and sweet,
and there is not a bad bone in your body.
So I think that you'll be really good at it.
I hope that it doesn't. You don't take on their
pain right because I think there's a potential that that
(36:20):
does happen and it brings you down. I hope that
doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
But I will say that's also why I find the
group that I would love to focus on interesting is
because those people in that's at least my belief, they
will be willing to change, to be able to really
want to move forward and be motivated to make whatever
changes might be necessary in order for them to produce
(36:43):
better results and for them to be an even better
sports individual.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
I need to put you in touch with Gloria. You
should go back and listen to the Troto Therapy podcast
episode that is with Gloria. It's fascinating because that's what
she's done the whole time. She has a very unique
take on it, and I think you'd find her really interesting.
I think you'd get down great. So I will definitely
do that. The other thing I was going to say
is I think it's hard to find the level of
(37:09):
I don't know if it's dopamine or whatever it is
from racing. You know, when you have a good weekend
and you know, the excitement and everything else. I think
that you will have something similar from the therapy because
you'll have that helping people thing, and so I think
that's really hard to find outside of it, and I
think then you'll be able to substitute one for the other.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
I'll tell you I had the exact same thought when
I was watching a Netflix show that was about the
coaches of some of the best sports teams, like it
was baseball, basketball, a lot of American sports, and I
just thought, you know what, that's really cool those highs
that you get from racing.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
I was a little bit worried, I've.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Experienced something so cool and so intense. How am I
going to feel satisfied doing anything else afterwards? And when
I watched that, I was like, huh, Okay, So if
you're a part of the team or helping the players,
you know, the drivers, whatever it might be, that might
be just a fulfilling in a little bit of a
different way. But there's going to be some of the
(38:08):
same magnetic energy that's going to be fueled.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
And that's why I'm excited for you as well. Obviously
you've had me. What if you get people like me
that you have to work with them? I mean, you'd
be so frustrated.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
I would love that.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
I mean, how it goes, you know, I did ask
I remember asking my therapist that part about being patient.
I said, what if no change has happened, and I'm
going to be so impatient?
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Why they're not making the change? Told me, then you're
going to tell yourself they're just not ready.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
You're a better man than me, because I'd be like,
why are you ready? Why are you not doing what?
It works? I told you have to do it.
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Here's formula, here's how you line up your trade and
the security department in order to say thirty seconds.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Why can't you just do it? Everybody has to do
it their own way.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
We've had hundreds, probably thousands of very deep and meaningful
conversations over the years, and I'm fascinated by your depth
of knowledge in the subject and how emotionally intelligent you are,
and how much work you've done. And I've tried, and
(39:22):
I was talking to Cory about this tried. I'm one
of those frustrating people. But sometimes if you're not on
top of it, and you're not thinking about all the
changes that you want to make in the person that
you want to be, and like you're constantly doing this
like evaluation of yourself, it's really easy to fall back in.
We've spoken about this, It's really easy to fall back
into whatever your original state is, your like natural state.
(39:47):
So it is definitely a work in progress, and the
people are going to have to put the work in,
and I think that you will maybe get frustrated with
them if they're not prepared to put the work in
because you have such a rate work ethic and an
understanding of it, you know, I.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
Do think that.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
As a final note, you and I have just come
up with an amazing concept for a company, and it's
going to be you know, optimization of traveling or going
to the racetrack packing, Like there's so many ways we
can optimize, so we should definitely anybody wants posted on that, like,
(40:24):
we'll make them.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
We can't. It's funny because Andy Lally does this traveling
hack one I want where he gets the coat hanger
clipse and he clips the curtains together so you don't
have the light coming through the thing, and how he
like modifies the air conditioning system and stuff. We could
do the same thing. We'll just do like Cat and
Christina's military operations.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
I will say, well, we're going to have to need
somebody to monitor the budget because I feel like you're
going to buy all sorts of gadgets of Amazon.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
And then we have to Oh, we could review them.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
I guess, but I still feel like that would be
quite a toll order.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
In terms of how much money we might end up
spending on that.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Yeah, my Amazon problem is is out of control. Well, Christina,
thank you so much. It has been a pleasure as always,
And next time we have you on that time of
the month, you will be here with me and we
will do a video one where the listeners can look
at your lovely face. And I cannot wait to see you.
(41:30):
I love you so much, and we will come up
with something fascinating.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
I can't wait to be in person. I know me
too the other days.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
All right, dude, to all the listeners, thank you for listening,
and be sure to check out next month that time
of the month, because it's going to be even better.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Thanks for listening to throttle Therapy. We'll be back next
week with more updates and more overtakes. We want to
hear from you. Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts
and tell us what you want to talk about. It
might just be the topic for our next show. Throttle
Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legg. Our executive producer is
Jesse Katz, and our supervising producer is Grace Fus. Listen
(42:16):
to Throttle Therapy on America's number one podcast network, iHeart.
Open your free iHeart app and search throttle Therapy with
Katherine Legg and start listening.
Host
Katherine Legge
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