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 and welcome to this
(00:22):
week's episode of Throttle Therapy with Me Catherine Legg. I
apologize in advance if I am a little incoherent. I
am trying to stay awake as long as possible today,
having got the Red Eye back from Las Vegas, where
(00:43):
we had my latest NASCAR Cup race. I always say
I'm never doing the Red Eye, and then I always
do the Red Eye and instantly regret it because the
next day I'm completely junk. So yeah, next time, I'm
not doing the Red Eye. It's tough because you've in
a race car all day, and I will say that
(01:03):
NASCAR races are particularly long. I felt like I turned
left a whole bunch of times yesterday. I feel like
spending over three hours in a car on and a
mile and a half oval is very different to anything
that I've experienced before in one of these cars, just
because it's a long time, Like you don't have straightaways
(01:24):
to rest or anything. And you're constantly fighting the car
and the entire degradation. But I will start at the beginning.
We took the beautiful black and white Desno de Car
to Vegas Or with BJ McCloud's team, and it was
an interesting weekend. It was my first mile and a
(01:44):
half in a cup car. I'd done Charlotte, I think
in Exfinity, and I'd done Phoenix obviously at the beginning
of the year, so I was a little apprehensive that
things were going to go well because I didn't want
to embarrass myself like I did in Phoenix. Now, bearing
in mind, this is very not similar. It's very dissimilar
(02:08):
to anything that I've driven before in my twenty years
of driving career. At Phoenix, we used the brakes and
it's a very different kind of driving. Here, it was
just a small lift. And so we went to the
SIM last week and I got used to the car
and the SIM, and then when we got to the
(02:28):
track for practice, it was literally nothing like I felt
in the SIM. So I felt very out to lunch
and a little bit lost. Honestly, the car did not
feel great in practice. We pitted and tried to change.
We have twenty minutes to practice, and we pitted maybe
four or five times to change it to try and
make it feel a bit more comfortable, but it never
(02:50):
really did. What was happening was as I turned off
the wall into turn one, it would do this weird
take a set thing, and I didn't know whether it
was the wind or if it was on one of
the stops, but it would do this like little jog
in towards the corner that completely unweighted the rear of
the car and made me feel a little insecure on
(03:12):
the rear, like it was going to be loose. And
then mid corner the front washed up the track like
a whole groove, and then I was chasing the rear
to the exit and it felt like it was a
weird diagonal mismatch in roll coupling. So it felt like
the front and the rear were fighting each other and
(03:32):
they weren't doing the same thing, and I wanted it
just to do one thing. There was no side bite,
there was no like dig and carve. It was just
very uncomfortable, and we changed it a whole bunch. We
took big swings at it, and everything we did made
it worse. So I was a little bit perplexed after
the session and feeling a little bit down because we
(03:54):
qualified like a second off the last car, and I
felt honestly embarrassed, like I I look like a wanka
and people are going to judge me on it, and
I didn't want to be that far off. And I
was very nervous about going into Sunday because I want
to do well right. I want to show people that
I have talent and it's not a gimmick and I
(04:15):
can do this and I deserve to be there and
all the things. So overnight I said to the team, please,
can you check everything out? Can you talk to our
partners team partners and you ask what they did with
their car and try and figure out if we can
make it any better. I'd be happy if it just
understairs or it just overstairs, but I don't like the
(04:37):
rocking on the diagonal.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And bj.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
BJ said you got to drive it in harder, and
I'm like, okay, if I drive it in harder, I'm
going to crash it. And I don't want to just
put it in the wall just to prove a point
to you. That seems really dumb. So while I believe
I could probably drive it in harder on new tires
that will probably mask a lot of things for a
lap or maybe two or three. I don't think that
that's the answer. I think we have to find a
(05:05):
solution to the problem. And then I'm spending Saturday night
kind of questioning, Okay, is it me?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I know I've got to get a lot closer.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
But is what I'm feeling just how the cars drive
and this is how I have to figure it out?
Or is there something in the car that we can
do that we'll get rid of that feeling. So I
was not feeling very confident, and I was questioning myself
a whole bunch. I looked at the SMT data and
I spoke to some people that I know. We came
(05:34):
back on race day and I really didn't know what
to expect. We made some changes to the car, but
we got from our friends down the pit lane and
we started the race and the car was a lot better,
but the tendency now was just like really washy on
the front and then I was chasing the rear but
the entry was free but fine, like could deal with
(05:56):
the entry. So started the race. When a few laps
down in the first stage where we did a pit stop.
I've got to work on my in lapse of my outlaps.
So obviously, the first time I came to pit lane,
I was super conservative on picking my break point and
coming down pit lane.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Like literally every pit lane run.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
I was super conservative because the last thing I needed
to do was get their drive through when I'm just
not really racing anybody and I'm just trying to figure
it out, and then I think I lose too much
time coming off because again I don't want to make
a mistake and like get loose and go up onto
the track and collect anybody or anything. Very consistant in
(06:34):
the fact that it is a playoff race, and whilst
I'm trying to learn, I'm trying to learn this at
the highest level. Everybody has to do it, you know,
even the guys who've been driving in trucks or Exfinity,
they still have to learn at this level too. So
I was trying to be respectful and listen to my spotter,
who was awesome by the way, and worked really hard
because there was cars passing me a lot, and it's
so destroying when you keep getting passed, and my car
(06:59):
was pretty rough in the beginning. I would say, I
was also trying to get used to it and not
feeling very confident. But every stop the team did awesome,
and every stop we made a change in the right direction,
Like the first one I think we made was tire pressure,
and I'm like, dude, we need to take a biggest
thing at it than tire pressure, because that's not it,
Like I need a lot of support you. And the
(07:24):
tire pressure was actually one of the biggest changes that
we made, which is mind blowing to me in every
other form of racing, like tires are obviously really really important,
but the like half a pound or a pound in
one of these tires is actually a big deal, and
so I have to commit that to memory. And all
the changes that we made, and all the changes we
made were good. So literally every stop we got better
(07:47):
and we got better, and we were I would say
competitive lap time wise. When we were by ourselves. The
thing we couldn't do was run in traffic, like if
I had to move off the one line that worked
for me, I was out to lunch, Like the front
would just wash up the track and I couldn't get
on the power. And even now, like looking at S
and T after the weekend, I couldn't commit to power
(08:10):
because as soon as I went from seventy percent to
one hundred percent throttle, the front would just wash away
from me, and then when it does dig at the exit,
you're chase in the ear. So I would say I
was using the apron to tend the car as well,
which is a little sketchy, but it worked when I
was by myself, especially in three and four, like I
(08:30):
could really just go a tile with below below the
line there on the flat and the car would rotate
so I could get to power a little bit easier.
One and two were really tricky, like I had to
roll all the way out to get the car to
turn so the diff was free, and get back on
the power to the exit. So it was a really
(08:50):
rough weekend from a going multiple laps down standpoint, but
it was a really positive weekend from a learning standpoint.
Like I think if we started the weekend again now,
we would obviously be in a far better position. We
would probably lower the front a whole bunch or do
something to start somewhere close to where we finished, and
(09:12):
then I think would be a lot closer because when
I wasn't being passed, I could kind of hold my
own a little bit, and we were faster than maybe
six to eight cars, I would say towards the end.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I mean it did make a couple of passes.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
So I was learning that as well, like the cadence
of that, because it's different in every race car, but
also every race track, you know, like the way you
pass it Indy in a cup car is different to
the way you pass here, and I've never done it before,
So learned that, learn a lot. Logged all the lapse,
which was positive, and yeah, I just really want to
go back and start over and do it all again.
(09:47):
I laid back at every start thinking there was going
to be crashed as I thought this race was going
to be carnage because it's a playoff race. I was
expecting them all to you know, high stakes in Vegas,
to be a little bit more crazy than there were.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And then I.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Spent like two or three laps catching back up to
the pack because there were There was only one crash
on the restart, which was again another lesson to be learned,
like always expect to the unexpected team did a really
good job. Every stop was good. I just need to
work on the in and out laps and firing off
(10:23):
and like the auxiliary stuff, and we need a more
competitive car.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Straight out of the bat. And I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Some part of me thinks, are they just being super
conservative with me because they think that I'm going to
scare myself if it's too loose or something. I'm like,
give me, don't give me the safe option, give me
the fast option, and I'll figure it out. But it's
a learning process as well, with a new team and
new people. And I think we work really well together
because like every stop, they did a great job of
(10:52):
making the car better and they understood what I was wanting.
So I feel like there are so many positives to
be taken away, even though the result wasn't exactly what
we wanted and it was a little bit I se depressing.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It is like.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Nobody wants to be passed by the leaders. Nobody wants
to be passed by these multiple times. It's kind of
soul destroying because you're like, Okay, what am I doing
wrong here? But as soon as you're out of the groove,
then you just keep getting past. That's the tough thing.
It's almost like you need a buffer. But lots of
pit stops We're done. Lots of experience was gained, lots
(11:26):
of fun was had.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I did not do any gambling. I flew in.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
We did a bunch of promo stuff on the first
day that we were there, which was the Friday. I
guess lost track of time. That's what doing red Eyes
does for you. But I didn't get to enjoy the sunshine,
or the gambling or any of the good restaurants. So
I feel like I did not plan this properly. I
think I should have stayed on a night as well
(11:51):
and like relaxed and got the plane back like a
normal person. The next day, my dad came home with me,
which is super cool, and you know, he flights out
for every race because he's all some best daddy ever,
so he came back with me. So I feel even
double guilty making my old man do a red eye
home too, but we did. I did a little bit
of shopping for a couple of hours with some friends,
(12:14):
which was fun bit of ur and r but apart
from that, didn't really get get the Veguus experience, which
just means that I'll have to come back again next
year and try again. So now I'm back and I
(12:36):
need to get caught up on everything. I'm going to
put my dad to work because we've got some clearing
up in the yard to do and bonfires to be had.
And meanwhile, I am working hard on what comes next,
and it is giving me anxiety. You guys working really
hard on next year, trying to figure out the sponsorship
and team aspect, you know. I'm talking to two teams,
(12:58):
one for the five hundred and one for through some
NASCAR stuff next year, and I'm kind of really hoping
and praying that it works out, feeling very anxious about
it because I really want a good car. I really
want a chance to show what I'm capable of, and
I really want to tie all the worlds together and
(13:20):
have it be successful. I also really want to do
Tala Day next week, and BJ said that maybe I could,
and I really wanted to do a rest cancer awareness car,
so I've been trying to make that happen. But the
deadline is in literally an hour and twenty minutes, and
so I haven't heard back from a couple of people
that I need to hear back from, so I'm not
(13:40):
sure whether that's going to happen. I'm still touching with
and hoping and praying that it does, because I think
that would be super cool and it would make me
feel like a good person for doing something good. Yeah,
just knuckling down, trying to get everything sorted for next
season so that I get to live this wonderful life
all over again. I'll speak to you, Nay, thanks for
(14:03):
listening to Throttle Therapy. We'll be back next week with
more updates and more overtakes.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
We want to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
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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 Fuse. Listen to Throttle Therapy
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(14:30):
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