THE RACING NUTS INTERVIEW AL GARCIA 10 - 14 - 23

The Racing Nuts get the latest from Al Garcia, President of Homestead-Miami Speedway

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Listen, we got somebody on holdright now. We do, Yes,
we do, and he's he's theman, the myth, himself, mister
al Garcia, the president of HomesteadMiami Speedway. O. Welcome to the
racing not show. Yeah, yes, how you there. I am here.
Sorry to see Big Lisa most ofall. Lisa, good morning and

(00:20):
thank you for having me. Goodmorning. You're welcome. Oh, you're
always always welcome. We can't waituntil next weekend when we're gonna be down
there at Homestead Miami Speedway, ourhometown track. I'm sure you guys are
a lot going on before the weekeven starts right out. Oh yeah,
no, absolutely, we're everybody allhands on deck and we're trying to put
all the finishing touches on the property'sIt looks fantastic. We're really excited.

(00:45):
I mean, Steve, you knowhow intensive competition is on track. We
want to make sure we put ourbest foot forward and are able to care
for and provide an excellent experience toall the folks that join us from all
over the state and all over thecountry. Yeah, you still have tickets
for the beach park, right,Yeah, we certainly do, and should
we reserve a paddleboard for you,Steve. Yeah, I think I did.

(01:06):
Might eat one. Uh, maybetwo of them would be good for
me and Lisa because if we bothget on the same paddleboard it might be
a problem. So yeah, twowould be great. Yes, absolutely,
there's water tracks of kayaks. We'reready for you, man, and guess
what they're okay because I Testra oneand it supported me, So you're you're
you're good to go. Hell youguys, just don't give Steven Lisa the

(01:26):
one that says Titanic. Listen,I'm probably one of the only guys that's
been down to Lake Lloyd and fishthat thing over there. So Homestead,
you're in the next tund to fishthat bad boy too. A lot going
on before we get to Homestead MiamiSpeedway next weekend. But tickets are still
available, am I right? Al? Oh? Yes absolutely we uh you
know they're going fast, but yes, there's good seats available and you know,

(01:49):
homesoid Mimi Speedway dot com. Thereyou go, or you could call
eight six six four oh nine raceAnd thanks to Allan his generosity, we
asked some tickets to give away toon today's show to both the doublehead of
the Truck Series race and the ExfinitySeries race and the Cup Series races.
We'll put them together as a package, so you can head down to Miami
with the racing nuts and hang outwith us, and we'll be there all

(02:12):
weekend long down a Homestead Miami Speedway. Do you guys still have the special
box seats and all that available orthey sold out already. They'll get it
close, but no, we dohave some seats available. The champions Club
is available. The Speedway Terrace,which is our club levels also available.
And you know what, Steve,we try to be very very inclusive,
so we have family four packs andget this. For a Cup race,

(02:35):
we have tickets starting at forty dollars, so very affordable, very inclusive,
and you know, the brand isLush Miami. Think about being in the
Keys or you know, out inCaptiva Island or on a cruise. You
know, palm trees, swaying,very very easy. The competition on track
is as intense as it gets becausemost people, including most of the drivers,

(02:55):
identify this as the most competitive mileand a half oval. So on
try super intense on track, superrelaxed and a welcoming wonderful, laid back
atmosphere. Now you know we've beengoing there. It's opened up and way
back in the nineties and we've beendoing live shows there every year since the
first race. Yeah, and youknow the place has changed. They've done

(03:19):
so many upgrades and it's just awonderful place to go see a race and
go. It's not just a race, it's a total experience with the Midway
and all the stuff you got goingon there. What's the big the big
deal this year at the Midway,Well, you know, we try to
build on it, Steve. Sothe vision is to really celebrate the diversity
of South Florida, right, Sowe have a tense set up. It's,

(03:42):
for example, it's like a sliceof Key Largo, so a lot
of confiters and peel Andy trimp andrum runners. You know. Down the
road there's another one that's like aslice of Little Havana, so Cuban sandwiches
and a lot of Mohito's and rumand cokes, people playing dominoes and cigars.
So for some of the folks,the vision from our of state,
they don't have time to get downto the Little Havana or down to Key

(04:02):
Largo. They can experience that righthere at the track as a micro version
of what we have to offer inSouth Florida, and we're gonna build from
there, you know. So yeah, we're excited. We can't wait to
get there. And you know,I think it's really cool that the Truck
Series is gonna is gonna have theirfinal four right there at Homestead. So
they'll go in there and I thinkonly three guys are eligible, but four

(04:24):
guys are going to walk out ofthere, and one of those four will
be the champion at the last raceof the season. And Homestead's going to
determine all that. That's awesome.Oh, it's fantastic. And you know,
you know the story Nick Sanchez,homegrown kid, young man, grew
up here at our goat kart track, which we'll serve as preferred parking for
the NASCAR weekend. But Nick andhis family, Nick enrolled in the NASCAR

(04:46):
Drive to Diversity program and turn thatinto an ARCA championship and now he's one
of the right now he's above thecut line as one of the final four.
But as you saw in Talladega,he dusted up with Matt crafton So
that's a really interesting storyline. Butwe claim him. He's one of ours,
and we're really really proud of Americaand what he's doing. So I
like how Al said that we claimhim. Yeah, we claim them.

(05:10):
Hell, yes we do. Yeahclaims us. That's South South Florida racing
spirit, just like rails Che sayinghas that's absolutely correct, sir, and
Al claims us from Highly Speedway fromway back in the day, and we
still keep coming around. So it'sgreat. You feel like you're at home,
even if you're not at home inMiami, but they make you feel
like that you're at home. It'sa great place to watch a race.

(05:30):
And I love the variable banking.It's some good racing going on. And
I think with all the changes indoing the race at night for the Cup
Series race in the evening and whereeverything starts to cool down makes a big
difference. You know, the caris set up one way, but then
the track's going to change and thesecrew chiefs and teams are going to have
to keep changing that car to makethe adjustment to be able to get the
victory. Land a Homestead, it'salways a great racing out there. A

(05:53):
Homestead minus Beway, Yeah, absolutelySteve. You know, for the gear
haas of folks that are really youknow, there's a lot of event gos
and people are just here party andoh the blue car went by or whatever.
But for the people that are reallyinterested in their gearheads, you know,
what a unique challenge because there isno track like this on the circuit.
You know, there's many mile anda half trioval that you know,
are similar. This is so differentthan anything they race on all year.

(06:16):
It's quite quite an engineer, youknow, it's quite a challenge for the
engineers and the drivers. Typically,what I hear is they can either get
the car working well in turns oneand two, or they can get the
car working well in turns three andfour. But to get a balance where
it works well on both sides isvery, very, very difficult, you
know. So I'm really looking forwardto seeing Kevin Harvick here for the last

(06:36):
time. He's always run very wellhere, won his championship here, and
you know, just so many greatstorylines. We're going to be more excited.
It's such a treat to be ableto offer this up to the community
here in South Florida. The variablebanking is one of the things that makes
it so tricky there, and itdoes Steve event and like al said,

(06:57):
they try to set their car upor the truck up on corner or the
other. But what the drivers havethere is they have the variable degree of
banking where if the car's off justa little bit, they'll move around and
you'll seem the whole race move around, move around, move around till they
find a sweet spot and then theystart to get getting it, you know,
passing a lot of cars. Andon top of that is being able

(07:20):
to enjoy the atmosphere of my ofmy speedway. It's an amazing thing.
It's a big fiesta, you knowhow we drag our wives and our ladies
over there to the track end thekids like I could, like al Garcia
was saying, you know, somepeople just watch the blue car go buying,
but man, there's so much todo there. You will not be
bored. You will have a greattime. It's the it's the best track

(07:42):
on the circuit if you ask us, and I believe it deserves to have
the championship back over there. I'mmaking called the NASCAR during the weekend.
We'll see what we can do aboutthat. Let me know, Steve I'm
with you, you know, butbut but we are grateful to host this
race. You know that we haveeight drivers digging for four spots. Are
that's depending on what happens in Vegastomorrow. It could be seven drivers if

(08:05):
somebody clinches a berth in Las Vegaswith a win. But either way,
we're gonna have at least seven driversdigging hard for one of the last three
or four spots. So it's gonnabe really exciting. And and you know
what what I kind of equated tois the analogy was sticking ball sports is
kind of the AFC NFC Championship weekend. Oftentimes it's more exciting than the Super

(08:26):
Bowl itself, So that's what I'mgoing with. Times those college games are
more exciting than the pro ones too. That's why I like seeing the Truck
Series, Nextenity Series working their wayup there and that nice way. I
love it. I love it.That's perfect, Yes, sir, Nice
win for AJ Almendinger last week.Pretty emotional to see him back in Victory
Lane. Uh, Lisa and Iwere, we were like excited to see
him back in victory Then he wascrying. He was so happy. This

(08:48):
weekend had what was awesome. Ishe went into the state. Yeah,
he just went up in there withthe fans and stuff. We've seen that
before. Now, I know NickSanchez has actually found victory then homes in
the past, hasn't he? Yeah, And you know, you know how
to get to victory Lane. Youknow how to get back to victory Lane.
It's one of those things. Andso Homestead Miami Speedway. I know

(09:09):
we're going to bypass Vegas. We'lltalk about Vegas in a few minutes.
But Lisa, who do you thinkis going to take care of business at
Homestead? Yeah, come on,you ain't got a pick yet. No,
I'll tell you. I think it'sgonna be Dennie Hanlin. Again,
he's got more boats than anybody outthere, so I think he needs another
boat in his arsenal. What doyou think, big Al? No,

(09:30):
I'm not going to go that routewith him right now. Championship the four
that got voted out or got outof the playoff, and we knew they
were going to miss this whole deal. They just said dismal the race before
that. I'm looking at Kawlowski's stillin this hunt here. No, he's
not the Championship oh he's out too. Huh. So okay, so I

(09:54):
don't know. I'm I'm gonna goRyan Blaney. That's a really good pick
after his I am blaming. I'mgonna pick a Ford because Fort's always run
good. There, Yes they do. Homestead Miami Speedway, Lisa the last
chance to pick somebody. I'm notsure yet. I mean, you know,
al Garcia is the president week ofHomestead Miami Speedway. And I gotta

(10:15):
tell you how Lisa cheats all yearlong. She'll say I'll take a Hendricks
car or the whole team. Yeah, she takes the whole team. Alis
just not I put my money onone guy when I can take the whole.
Well, look look at look atlook look at all the good decisions
Lisa's made her life right see not. So that is one smart cookie you
got there next to you, Myman, you got you went out on

(10:39):
a limb on that one. Butyeah, okay, so I know who
the brains behind the opera al Garcia. Hey, if you guys want to
go to Homestead Miami Speedway, calleight six six four oh nine race or
go to Homestead Miami Speedway dot com. And guys, don't forget around two
hundred and seventy eight days of there'ssomething happening out there at Homestead Miami Speedway.

(11:01):
It's not just a big race theyhave every year. It's something going
on out there, Big guy.We've done the Miami Exotic Shoot that,
We've done a skip barber, We'vedone the Richard Petty, We've done every
racing school that there is under thesun. Always something happening out there at
Homestead Miami Speedway. Go to HomesteadMiami Speedway dot com. In a little
while after we come back from commercialbreak, we're gonna give away a set

(11:24):
of tickets to the Truck Race,Expinity Race doubleheader and a Cup race right
here on FM ninety six nine theGame Orlando, And thanks to al Garc
and everything he does, hopefully Iwill be able to sit you down on
Sunday morning. We'll be there livein in the pit area and have you
do a little interview with us inperson over there like you always do every
year with us on the Racing NutsShow. How we really do appreciate everything

(11:46):
the Homestead Miami Speedway does for theshow, and we appreciate your partnership with
the show. But who is gonnabe your pick to win Homestead. Now,
you know has had success here.Kyle Larson is also really good here.
But you know true x A andHamlin both have had success. So
the Gibbs and Hendrick teams haven't figuredout, you know. But my dark

(12:11):
horse or the flyers is with Blaneyand Ford. You know at your time,
Legano has run very well here,but it's time for Ryan to step
up, and I think this maybe his year. There you go,
and it could happen, and itcould change the whole dimension of the whole
thing right there at Homestead Miami speedWay. Be there in person, enjoy
the race next week and the racingnuts will be there. Al Garcia be

(12:33):
there and he's not one of thoseguys that hides in the glass tower.
Man. He's out there in theaudience saying, hid everybody. Great guy
to meet in person, mister Garcia, the president of Homestead Miami Steed.
He's Al's out there kissing babies andshaking hands. It's not my job.
It's called it's a job, rightbut listen, I appreciate Let me take
a moment here because you know,big Al, Steve and Lisa the way

(12:56):
you promote NASCAR racing the way youembrace it. It's evident that you guys
are very passionate about what we do, and you are a part of the
sport. You know. It takeseverybody, all stakeholders, including and probably
most importantly, the media, thefolks like yourself that put a spotlight on
what these folks do on Sundays,and I really really do appreciate it.
We couldn't do without Y'allan president ofHomestead Miami Speedway, I'll go to see

(13:20):
you. A stand up guy.He'll be out there shaking hands and kissing
babies at Homestead Miami Speedway. Makesure you make it out there. Call
eight six six four oh nine raceor you could call als a cell phone
number at three or five. AndI'm only joking out. Hey, have
a great weekend and we'll see younext weekend down there at Homestead Miami Speedway.
I'll go to see everybody. Hey, alright, I look forward to

(13:41):
see y'all.