May 13, 2025 • 49 mins
Tonight, we have an opportunity to bring a piece of Le Mans to you, sharing in the Legend of Le Mans with guests from different eras of over 100 years of racing.
In 2007 Adrián Fernández made his debut at Le Mans taking home a second place in a V8 powered LMP2 prototype. This was the first podium for a Mexican driver at the Circuit de la Sarthe since the 1960s.
Three years later in 2010, Adrián found himself back at Le Mans this time behind the wheel of Aston Martin’s LMP1 finishing fifth in class (6th overall).
Returning for the 80th running of Le Mans in 2012, Adrián and Aston Martin took home a third place finish in the GTE-Pro class covering 332 laps without failures or serious mechanical problems. With his help, the team achieved the fastest lap in their class at 3:54.928. And Adrián had the distinct honor of driving the Aston to the checkered flag. On September 12, 2012, Adrián announced his retirement from racing, thus concluding his relationship with Aston Martin Racing, but that wasn’t the end of this involvement in the world of Motorsports.
===== (Oo---x---oO) =====
00:00 Adrian Fernandez's Le Mans Journey 01:56 Early Racing Career and Challenges 03:20 Transition to Endurance Racing 07:54 First Le Mans Experience 10:50 Challenges and Triumphs at Le Mans 13:13 The Art of Endurance Racing 21:45 Aston Martin and Later Years 24:49 Transition to GT Racing 25:58 Final Race and Reflections 29:03 Advice for Aspiring Drivers 34:37 Changes in Motorsport: Safety Innovations 38:32 Historic Cars and Modern Racing 40:55 Life After Racing 45:35 Closing Thoughts and Farewell====================
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Evening with a Legend is a seriesof presentations exclusive to
Legends of the Famous 24 Hours ofLe Mans, giving us an opportunity
to bring a piece of Le Mans to you.
By sharing stories and highlightsof the big event, you get a chance
to become part of the legend of LeMans, with guests from different
eras of over 100 years of racing.
(00:34):
Tonight, we have the opportunity to bringa piece of Lamar to you, sharing in the
legend of Lamar with guests from differenteras of over 100 years of racing.
And as your host, I'm delightedto introduce Adrian Fernandez.
In 2007, Adrian made his debut atLe Mans, taking home a second place
in a V8 powered LMP2 prototype.
(00:54):
This was the first podium fora Mexican driver at the Circuit
de la Sarthe since the 1960s.
Three years later, in 2010, Adrianfound himself back at Le Mans, this time
behind the wheel of Aston Martin's LMP1,finishing fifth in class, sixth overall.
Returning for the 80th running of LeMans 2012, Adrian and Aston Martin
took home a third place finish inthe GTE Pro class, covering 322
(01:18):
laps without failures or problems.
And with Adrian's help, theteam achieved the fastest lap
in their class of 3 minutes 54.
928. At that point, Adrian had thedistinct honor of driving the Aston
Martin to the checkered flag, and onSeptember 12th of 2012, he announced his
retirement from racing, thus concludinghis relationship with Aston Martin.
(01:38):
But that wasn't the end of hisinvolvement in the world of motorsports.
And with that, I'm your host,Crew Chief Eric from the Motoring
Podcast Network, welcoming everyoneto this evening with a legend.
Adrian, welcome to the show.
Thank you.
How are you, Eric?
Great.
I'm glad you're here.
Let's go back in time a little bitand talk about your road to Le Mans.
You started racing in Mexico in 1981around the age of 15, and you quickly
(02:01):
moved up and spent 10 years or so racingstateside in kart and IndyCar, building
up your skills and your reputation.
So talk us through how thatall led you to Le Mans.
Was that a goal of yoursto race at Le Mans?
How was the deal put together?
I started in the 24 hours of Mexico.
You know, that was my first race,24 hours of Mexico in a Volkswagen
(02:22):
Beetle with my uncles sharing the car.
So my whole career went through basicallyevery time I managed to get where
I wanted to be like certain steps,then, you know, new dreams, new goals.
Came to be able to make it.
So first for me was to raiseformula one and, uh, at some stage,
because I didn't have the age, Istarted racing at 19 years old.
(02:43):
So it was not the right agewhen I was there in Europe.
So then IndyCar was morelike the right fit for that.
And so I moved to IndyCarsin 93, 92, I did Indy lights.
And in IndyCar, I stayed thereall the way through until the
separation of Kart and Tony George.
And then I went to IRL,did the 2004 full season.
(03:07):
Some of my sponsors, they didn'treally want to continue there.
So at that point, really was.
I was just searching tosee what else I would do.
I still had my own team withmy partner, Tom Anderson.
So we continued to do the IRL.
And at a certain point, we decided togo with Honda to do the, uh, Ford Karts.
First with the Grand Am in 2006.
(03:28):
And then in 2007, basically westarted this program with the, uh,
the American Amount Series with theLMP2, we work on the development
of the engine and all that stuff.
And basically that was my introductionto sport cars, to endurance series and,
uh, 12 hours of searing and six hoursof the glen, et cetera, et cetera.
So that's really how I got tosport cars in that respect.
(03:52):
So you mentioned that you had racedin Europe earlier in your career,
especially when you were doing open wheeland looking to get into formula one,
where had you turned laps in Europe?
As soon as I realized that I dideverything I could in Mexico, I realized
that I was not going to go anywhere.
If I stay in Mexico, you know, Ihave achieved everything I wanted
to do, and I felt that I was stuck.
So really I wanted to go theroad to formula one and we had
(04:15):
the Grand Prix at the time, butwe didn't have Mexican drivers.
So I say, you know, thisis the perfect opportunity.
But there was no help, no sponsorship.
I mean, as big as it is now in Mexico,in that time, there was nothing.
I was actually the first guy afterthe Rodríguez and a few guys that
tried, but didn't make it to thetop and consistently stay there.
I was the first guy to actuallyjust dig my way through it, try
(04:37):
to make it in racing in Europe.
But I couldn't get the sponsorshipwhere I didn't, I couldn't even
find 5, 000, 10, 000 in Europe.
I mean, I couldn't, I wasworking as a mechanic.
I was an instructor in Brown'sHatch with Jeff Brabham and other
good friends from England, when Ididn't find the money to race in
formula four, I was already committedwith a mechanic to do everything.
I gave him all my savings.
(04:59):
And when the sponsorship was goingto give me the other part of it, he'd
say, well, sorry, I cannot help you.
I said, now I'm stuck.
I'm living in the house of themechanic that is going to work with me.
He's going to do the teamfor me and everything.
And now I have no money.
So I asked my dad, what do I do?
And also come back home.
You know, what are you doing?
You're crazy, you know, blah, blah, blah.
So I thought about it and Isaid, no, I'm not coming home.
(05:20):
So I found a job.
I found my job in Poland,but I have no money.
I went through France andI didn't have the visa.
So I have to return.
I have no money.
I had to sleep three nightsin the train station.
before we crossed thistime over through Belgium.
And at that time I convincedthe driver to keep me in the
box, you know, in the trailer.
I hid for four hours and two boxes soI can go through it with no checkups.
(05:43):
So I smuggled in two therebecause I didn't want That's
the type of life that I had.
And I still make it, made it.
So that's what I'm saying.
You know, it was just very tough.
So at that time in 87, 88 and 89, Ireally did all the circuits in Europe,
especially in England, you know,Silverstone, Trotstone, Donington.
I mean, you name it, all of them.
(06:04):
It was a very good for my careerbecause the experience that I got
there, it was just incredible.
I mean, it was the best racing.
And even though it took me a while to,because I was, I stay in the same series
for three years because I have no moneyand I was working at the beginning
as a mechanic and things like that,but it gave me a lot of experience.
experience, which it made the base forme eventually to have the knowledge
(06:26):
and things like that to own my ownteam and do the different things
that I did in my racing career.
So it was a very, very good decisionto go to Europe at the time.
So a lot of drivers that go overseasand go to Europe, they end up
cutting their teeth at some of themost famous tracks in the world.
You talk about spa, you talkabout Silverstone, Monza, the list
goes on and on, but then there'salways in the back of their minds.
(06:49):
Le Mans or Nurburgring, butusually Le Mans because Le Mans
is the biggest race in the world.
And so for you, when you werethere, was that ever a thought
that was crossing your mind?
Like one day I want to drive at Le Mans.
Yeah, it was.
I mean, it was like, Iwanted to drive Monaco.
I wanted to drive the Indy 500.
I wanted to drive the Daytona,you know, the big races and like
Le Mans was one of the big ones.
(07:09):
And Pedro Rodriguez won there and it wasa very special race for us in Mexico.
We have knowledge about the race.
And obviously Le Mans was likethe jewel of the endurance racing.
So yes, through my career, I alwaysthought about it, but I never had
the chance or the opportunity untilI finished my career in IndyCars and
just had this great relation withHonda to really start racing prototypes
(07:33):
in America with an American Le MansZero, which was very competitive.
I don't know if you remember, you know,we had the Penske's, Porsche Penske's
and, you know, Andretti was there andeventually Gilles Deferran was there.
And I mean, it was just a very strongand competitive series at the time.
So, yeah, I mean, I got in lovewith it and it's just so special
to race those cars at that levelbecause those cars are super fast.
(07:54):
So you put together the dealfor your first run at Le Mans.
In 2007, that was with teams.
I tech in the LMP two car.
Yeah.
What was it like goingto Lamar the first time?
What kind of impression did it makeon you and coming from open wheel
to endurance more so than let's sayALMS in a much longer format and
a track you've never seen before.
(08:16):
How different was it to drivethat LMP two car at Lamar?
Lamar is my favorite racetrack andI will say the most challenging
because of the high speeds.
So I really.
took my time to prepare myself very well.
Firstly, that race that we did in 2007was all orchestrated by Honda because
Honda was looking into doing their ownprogramming in the future in Le Mans.
(08:37):
So basically they took me as a driverand they made a deal with SciTech
at the time for me to race thereand for them to get an experience.
about what was Le Mans all about it.
So at the time we have smallsimulators, just very basic.
We didn't have, you know, the hightech simulators that you have now, but
at least it gave me an idea of wherethe track was going and then just as
(08:57):
I got there, you know, it's a trackthat you cannot just drive around 80
percent of the track is roads thatpeople just go from town to town.
What I did is I took a scooter and I wentcorner to corner taking pictures because
as a race car driver, especially in LeMans, everything is about references.
You know, you have to have a goodreference to every turning point and
breaking point, especially you're going sofast, like in the Mulsanne straight, you
(09:21):
know, it's, uh, at night you go so fast.
that stopping into the first chicane,if you miss a little bit, your
breaking point, you blow the chicane.
So basically I went through witha scooter and I started looking
at buildings, you know, there isa bar, there is this and that.
And, you know, I took photographsof all of this while the test was
happening and all that, with all thisinformation that I got, I really,
(09:42):
really got very well prepared.
And I remember that the Japanese driver.
Karuaki Kurosawa, he had more experience.
He's already raced in Le Mans.
So he did a few laps.
And then that's the other thing.
You don't do many laps before therace because the laps are so long.
It's not like you do 20, 40, 30 laps.
No, no, no.
You do maybe seven laps.
And the other guys, 10 laps,you know, just not many laps.
(10:04):
So that's why I did my homework interms of knowing where every breaking
point may be, references and all that.
So I didn't feel like lostbecause otherwise it takes you
forever to learn the track.
And I did my labs and I told theguys, I said, don't put any lab times.
Don't show me any lab times.
The first time that I went there,I said, don't show me anything.
Just let me be.
Just going to go outand I know I'll be fine.
(10:26):
I just want to learn it.
And I took my time and eventually I wasstarting better, better, better, better.
And, uh, I mean, and then I was.
Quite fast to the point that Iqualify the car because I was
the fastest of the drivers.
And, uh, we put the car on the pole,so that was very satisfying for me.
But like I said, I did thehomework and I walked the track.
I check everything.
So I didn't feel likeI was in a man's land.
(10:49):
So that was key.
So how different was the setup of theLe Mans prepared LMP two car versus the
one you were running here in the States?
I mean, the cars are very.
I mean, this was an open cockpit, thesame as I was driving in with a Lola
chassis and then eventually the Acurachassis in the American Le Mans series.
But the difference betweenthe racetracks in America to
(11:10):
Le Mans is that it's so long.
So you're going super fast.
You know, there, there is quartersof eight years, six years.
I mean, the entry of the Porsche cornersand all that section is extremely
fast to the point that if you makea little mistake, I mean, it's over.
It's not like there's nothinglike a little mistake.
It's almost like the Indy 500.
You're not a little mistake.
You're on the wall.
It's the same there.
So you have to have a lotof respect for the track.
(11:32):
It's all about the speed.
So it feels different in thatrespect because you're going so fast.
Nothing compares all the racetracks that we race in here.
Sebring.
Searing is super slow compared tothem on wood tracks, but it's just
different setups, techniques, everything.
For example, Sebring is super bumpy.
One year we wanted Luis Diazand myself, just two drivers.
(11:54):
I drove six hours and a halfof total for the 12 hours.
And I was absolutely done.
I mean, just because of the vibrationand the bumps and everything in
Lamonts is the other way around.
It's extremely super smooth.
The track.
And the nice thing about Lamontsis that the tire Keeps the
grip lap after lap after lap.
So it's really a pleasure and it'svery enjoyable to drive Le Mans because
(12:16):
the tires then they don't really dip.
They stay very consistent andit was just fantastic to drive.
So it's just anothertechnique, but it's beautiful.
And I know I keep bringing upLMP2 cars and LMP2 cars because
actually you're the first.
Legend to be on evening with alegend that's campaigned an LMP2 car.
And oftentimes it's one ofthose classes that we overlook.
It is extremely competitive even to thisday, but people view it like a spec class.
(12:40):
And it's like, ah, it's LMP2.
You know, I'm more interestedin the LMP1 prototypes or what's
going on in production car.
And even TV coverage doesn't oftengive enough light on the LMP2 class.
So it's fun to sort of pull thesethreads and learn from a driver.
What LMP2 is really like I'veheard from some other drivers.
Coming from open wheel to prototypes,not necessarily LMP2, they're
(13:01):
like apples and oranges, there'sno translation between the two.
And I often wondered, is that really true?
How close is the downforce?
Are they very similar handling wise,or did you have to relearn as you
transition from one to the other?
First thing you have to relearn becauseyou're not the only driver in the car.
You know, you're sharingthe car with somebody else.
So basically everything is a compromisefrom the seating position to the setup.
(13:22):
So basically you have to really workwith your teammates to be able to get
the best setup and the best feeling foreverybody because it doesn't matter if
I'm very quick and my teammate is notthat quick because he doesn't fit well or
he doesn't like what we make to the car.
It just doesn't matter.
So it's a compromise.
The LMP2 that we drove in thoseyears that I competed in the
American Le Mans series with Acura,those cars were extremely fast.
(13:46):
I mean, super fast because after that theytuned down the engines, but 2007, eight
and nine, the cars were extremely fast.
In that respect, the car performanceand speed up through the corners was.
In some ways, very close to IndyCars.
So really, the things that you neededto work a lot, like I say, working
with your teammates, working in acompromise setup that it works for
(14:09):
everybody, learning how to, uh,manage the car, not destroy the car.
Obviously, these days, evenin my days, you can push.
10, 10, all the time, the carand the car, they survived the
other 12 hours, 24 hours is a go.
But at the same time, you know,it's a long race, so you don't
want to do stupid mistakes.
And you just really want to havea little reserve just to make
sure you don't make any mistakes.
(14:31):
And you drive through the night.
Sometimes you drive through thenight in rain and things like that,
that you don't have in IndyCars.
IndyCars, you always have lights.
The races are very shortcompared to Le Mans.
I remember one year, 2010, with theLMP1, I was driving with my good
friend Stefan Muka and Harald Primat.
And Harald Primat had a problemthrough the night, and he
(14:51):
couldn't drive after one hour.
And I just came out of the car.
I was just getting ready, you know,you have your motorhome, you take a
shower, you have your physiotherapist,you eat, you do all the things.
And I was starting toget ready to go to sleep.
And the team called me thatthey had an issue with him.
And that if I would be able to replacehim, he had, uh, an issue with,
uh, cramping and things like that.
So I jumped in the car.
(15:12):
I didn't rest much three years.
Yeah.
Three and a half hours after Icame out of the car and I drove
almost four hours straight.
And I say almost four hours, becauseit was like three hours and 55 minutes,
because you cannot exceed in those days.
You couldn't exceed more than four hours.
Otherwise you get apenalty, but I was fine.
I was fine.
I could drive.
I was.
Not sweating.
I was just, I remember that thingthat I did so long, actually
(15:33):
the engineers and everybody wentto sleep in the, in the trucks.
I was not hearing any,anybody was completely dark.
There's not even lights.
The only part that there's somelights is in the permanent course,
but the rest is just absolutely night.
So you just see your lights of the dash.
The lights of the other cars,but it's so peaceful and you're
just basically, it's like divingat night, which is so beautiful.
(15:55):
But I was calling my engineer and nobodywas answering like for two, three laps.
I was getting worried, you know, eventhough I knew exactly more or less
when I had to get into the pit, butsometimes it gets a little, uh, scary
if you don't hear back from your team.
Glad you brought us into 2010 andthe LMP1 attempt with Aston Martin.
And so I wanted to focus inon something you just said.
said, we've heard from other driversabout the changing conditions at Lamar.
(16:18):
What are the most stressful times when thesun is starting to come back up or what
inevitably starts to rain, but almost fourhours in the car, a lot of drivers these
days don't do those long stints like that.
They do two hours at a time.
And you know, then they havethe maximum amount of drive time
and all those kinds of things.
How do you stay focused for fourhours in the middle of the night
when you're just by yourself?
How do you not, let'sjust say, get bored or.
(16:40):
How do you keep your pace consistent?
Lap after lap for four hours.
Just training.
I have always been a very disciplinedperson, very disciplined athlete.
Even in my days of IndyCars, I alwaysworked to the maximum and more.
I was very good with everythingI did, you know, and the type of
training physically that I used to do.
It was also about concentrationand focusing and things like that.
(17:03):
For me, it was just natural.
I felt I was very good at it.
Barely made any mistakes.
I've never crashed in Le Mans.
So I was just very pure concentration.
And to the point that, like Isaid, you know, I can drive for
four hours and I didn't haveany problems with getting tired.
In IndyCar, one of the challengesthat I face when I enter IndyCar is
(17:24):
that I have a very small bone frame.
You know, my bones are tiny comparedto, for example, people in those
days like Mario, Andre, NigelMa, Paul, Tracy, ARDI, et cetera.
So the indicators in those days were sophysical that you needed four or five
LAP to do a, a good lap in qualifying,and the four feet lab were the best.
(17:46):
And I couldn't do morethan three laps good.
And, uh, so the X track, whichwas in the fourth or fifth lap,
my body was completely done.
Physically, I just couldn'tturn the steering wheel.
We have no assistance of anything.
We have no traction controls.
We have no power steering control.
And we have 1000 horsepower.
Those cars were really a beast.
I mean, you have physically.
(18:06):
I remember Ari lying like a night beforethe start of the Laguna Seca race.
We were instead of talking about thecar or whatever it is we were talking
about, are we going to make it, you know,physically because it was so physical.
So I learned a technique to relax.
Obviously I changed the way I work outand everything, you know, less cardio,
more, more weights and things like that.
(18:27):
But then I work a lot on relaxingmy muscles through the straights.
A technique that I learned and Iapplied very successful work with my
engineer because we have this deficit.
So how are we going to make it?
So one, physically youhave to work on this.
So I learned how to relax my muscleson the straight and just put the
effort on the, you know, so somepeople are like very tense, you
(18:47):
know, even in the straight, no, no.
And in the straight I was justrelaxed, just basically putting
the minimum amount of effortjust to keep the car on the line.
And then when you get to the corners andall that, that's when you put the effort.
So that really takes a lotof effort out of each lab.
And that's how I managed toimprove because of the strength
that I, that was, I was lacking.
(19:08):
And then because we were notqualifying so good, John Ward and
myself, we work on just how are wegoing to fight with these deficits?
So basically we work alot on how to save fuel.
And if you remember my days ofIndyCars, we were the first one
that we were so good on saving fuel.
So I always managed to do one lapor two laps more than the guys
(19:29):
when they came into the pits.
And that was how we compensate thelack of strength in those days.
Within the cars to be able to winraces that transfer it to Lamont.
So same with Lamont, some guys who,when they come and you know, the speed
and everything, they are very tenseand they get tired more and all that.
And I was extremelyrelaxed on the straight.
(19:50):
You have a such a long straight.
So I was very relaxed driving thecar in that respect, putting minimum
effort into my muscles and just.
Focusing on the track, but you'regoing so fast, you know, you're
going so fast, but you have to relax.
And once you put everything incontest, you know, everything
slows down in your mind.
It's like a machine, youknow, lap after lap after lap.
And the only thing you have to worryis about somebody went off, there's
(20:11):
gravel, or there's certain thingsthat normally when there's a driver
change, you have to be ready, likehalf an hour before you get into your
shift to getting back into the car.
And at that time, you put your earplugs,your radio, and you start talking to
the driver that is driving the car.
And he's telling you the last three lapsor two laps or the last lap, he tells
you, you know, be careful in here, becareful in there, there's a little bit
(20:33):
of oil, or the track is okay, don'tworry, because you have to perform.
Once you get out of the pits, evenif it's 3, 4 in the morning, you
know, a little chilly and all that.
And you're like sleepy or whatever.
I mean, you have to jump on the car andyou have to go and you have to be within
three, four tens or, or the same laptimes that the other guy got was, I mean,
you have to be really on it because thecompetition is so strong, but it helps
(20:55):
to listen to the driver that is comingout to see how is the track, how is the
car, any problems, blah, blah, blah.
And that's the big difference whenyou were asking about Indy cars and
sport cars, you know, the endurance.
A competition is just that, that you'resharing the car with somebody else.
So you're a team in that respect thatyou normally don't do that in IndyCar.
That's a lot of fun andit's very challenging.
(21:15):
So let's catch everybody up.
2007, you come home with asecond place finish in LMP2,
your first time at Le Mans.
Yeah.
With all the preparationthat you did, it paid off.
I'm sure you couldn't have beenmore happy with those results.
Yes.
You come back in 2010 running anLMP one car for a totally different
team, totally different car.
And you come in fifth, sixth overall.
(21:37):
Sixth overall.
We finished fifth in class and, uh, itwas with Harold Priman and Stefan Munchen.
We finished, uh, fifth in class.
Yes.
Another year goes by the 2011 season comesaround and I didn't mention this in the
introduction because your luck sort of ranout at Le Mans that year and you had some
problems with the LMP1 Aston Martin AMR1.
(21:58):
So what happened?
David Richard wanted to do his own engine,his And, uh, the way they designed the
car, especially the engine, they runout of time to produce a good engine.
Um, basically they were having so manyproblems, both cars retiring within.
We started, we did one lap just asthat after the door lock corner, you
know, in the Molson straight, just200 meters into the Molson straight,
(22:20):
basically I broke first and then DarrenTurner was driving the other one.
He broke a hundred meters ahead of me.
And that was it.
One lap in a quarter.
That's what we did.
That was very hard on AstonMartin, in Debbie Richard.
And it was just a toughday for the whole team.
But that didn't stop you.
No.
Another attempt in 2012 at Le Mans.
(22:40):
So how did that work?
How did you move then intothe GT production class?
Again, running for Aston Martin.
Why the invite to go into productionand not maybe another LMP2 or LMP1?
So this is what happened at theend of 2009, we see us and myself,
we won the LMP2 championshipin the American Le Mans series.
At the same time was the end of myteam, Fernandez Racing, I closed
(23:02):
the doors of Fernandez Racing.
And the reason was wehad the crisis of 2008.
And we did very goodwith Fernandez Racing.
I wanted to, uh, keep the team,but it was very difficult to keep
sponsors and a lot of things.
At that point, you know, I'vedone everything in my career.
I was, you know, I was very successfulin most of the championships
and cars that I competed.
(23:22):
So I was in a good position myself.
And for me, the most important partof my life at that point was to put
a lot of attention on my family.
That was like as much attention anddedication I put to my race career.
I wanted to put that into my family.
I was just burned out.
I was living in Miami.
I didn't want to go on and livein Indianapolis or somewhere else.
And I mean, I had differentopportunities, but I was done basically.
(23:46):
We decided to sell the teamand Lowe's USA helped me to get
this deal with Aston Martin.
They sponsor us.
They paid for my salary andthe deal was for three years.
So basically I was going to drivewhatever David Richard wanted me to
drive there and whoever he would putme to drive with because I was at
that time, I was not an owner driver.
(24:06):
I was just a driver.
So basically he wanted, first, the LMPone was the first time 2010 with him.
Then 2011 was his project.
It was our LMP one also, butit was just a total disaster.
And actually that year we haveto jump back to the other car
that we had to the LMP one.
You know, the beautiful, I don't knowif you ever heard it, but the, the
aftermath, they call it BO nine 60, whichwas the Lola Chelsea, beautiful Chelsea.
(24:31):
With this B12 Astro Matthew wasbeautiful, sounding beautiful.
So in 2011, we went back.
After we saw that the AMR one wasnot working, we went back to the Lola
chassis and we finished the season.
So for 2012, David sayno more LMP1 or LMP2.
Obviously Aston Martin makes a lotof cars, you know, especially, you
(24:52):
know, the Vantage GT and all those.
So they had always a program there.
So, but basically they wantedto have the top drivers.
Driving in the pro team, basicallythat was my year that I just did GT,
which I never done before in my life.
I did a few NASCAR races inMexico and things like that.
And I did, uh, a few reasons onthe, all of a sudden when I tried
(25:13):
to go to NASCAR in 2005, six,seven, and it was challenging to be
honest, driving the GT was the mostchallenging because I was driving
with Darren Turner and Stefan Muecke.
These guys were extremelygood drivers in GTs.
When you come from cars like theLMP1, LMP2, and driving all your life
single seaters, Indy cars, thingslike that, type of driving is just
(25:35):
very precise, very small movements,etc. You know, when you jump in a GT,
you know, the car moves a lot more.
You have to get used to that movement andtrusting the car and things like that.
So I really had to work really, really,really hard on it, but I managed
to have a great season with them.
I worked really hard on looking athow the car felt and everything.
And I was always within two tens of them.
(25:58):
So it was a great season and basicallya great finish for my career in terms of
racing, because that was my last race.
And we finished third,you know, when you follow.
The WEC and even the IMSA schedule,not all of the races do the quote
unquote, the bigger cars, likethe LMP twos and LMP ones run the
whole season with the GT cars.
(26:18):
It's a little bit different whenyou've got all the classes running
together, like at Rolex or atthe Glen and places like that.
So when you got to Lamar runningthe GT, even though you had been
running it in the rest of the season,I've heard a lot of other drivers.
Say that when they took a step intoa production class, they spent a
lot more time driving than theirmirrors, than they were used to.
Yeah, that's the horrible part of it.
(26:40):
I remember very well because, youknow, I took my dad there because
I, I really thought it would,that was going to be my last race.
So he was with me there.
So we started driving and in practice,I did race some at night and I was
extremely uncomfortable, especially,you know, I was 50 years old.
My eyes are not as good as when Iwas 35 and I was struggling at night.
The most difficult part of it, firstthe lights, you know, you get these
(27:02):
lights and obviously your marks arenot as good and now they have better
systems so you don't get blinded.
But you see the lights and you thinkthat he's there and you want to turn
that part of it that you are not secure.
If he's there or he's not there, it'svery difficult, especially in those years.
Now they have much better systemto know if they turn, if the
other guy is there or not.
So it was just very, verydifficult in that respect.
(27:24):
So what I told my guys, StefanMucha and Darren Turner,
and I said, how old are you?
Is 20 something, youknow, and you 31 or 32.
Okay, good.
See you in the morning.
I'm not driving at night.
I took the right decisionof not driving at night.
They did all the work.
They did a fantastic work.
Fantastic drivers.
And I drove in the morning andDavid Richard let me, uh, finish
the race, cross the finish line.
(27:46):
And, uh, that was very special.
A lot of drivers that tell theirLe Mans story, it's a turning
point for them as a driver.
And for you, it was towards the endof your career, actually at the end
of your career, as you decided toretire after the 2012 season and move
on to other things, still involvedin motorsports, which we'll get to,
but everybody's tends to agree that.
(28:06):
Lamar changed them asa driver for the good.
Sometimes maybe for the bad,but generally for the good.
So how would you say that Lamarchanged you or what did you walk
away from the experience with?
What did Lamar teach you as a driver?
To be even more disciplined becauseany small mistakes, you know, like
the Indy 500 is a tough race, butit's just two hours and a half, maybe.
(28:28):
Max, but Lamont says 24 hours,you know, you're driving with
different classes, different speeds.
So basically it just teaches you a lotabout awareness and respect the other
classes, respect the other drivers andbe more disciplined within yourself.
Every time you make any decision.
When you're driving, and that'swhy Le Mans, it makes you a
better driving in all aspects.
(28:49):
As you retired from racing, butyou didn't retire from motorsport.
You got involved with Sergio Perezin formula one and trying to promote
the next generation of Mexicandrivers coming up through the system.
And so you've been involved inmotorsport for your entire life.
When you look back over your career,working with Sergio, working with a lot
of other drivers, do you have any advicefor aspiring Latino drivers who want to
(29:11):
make a career in professional racing?
Yes, of course.
I mean, the main thing is that if youreally want to become a professional race
car driver and make an impact, you haveto really take it with all your your arms.
I mean, you have to be completelyinvolved on it 10 10 all the time
because it just takes so much.
The competition is so tough.
There's so many good drivers.
(29:32):
So you have to always look at howcan I be better than the other guys?
And there's so many good drivers around,you know, that the difference between
the good drivers are not so good.
It's very small.
It's just the good drivers, exceptionaldrivers are the drivers that can
stay in that limit for a longtime and they don't make mistakes.
They can adapt to different type of cars.
If the car is not good or bad, theycan adapt and they can go through
(29:55):
adversity and things like that andstill be there and make the results.
And that's what it takes.
And to do that, you know, your life hasto be balanced, meaning you have to have.
Time just to think about racing.
If you have other businesses, otherdistractions, family, or a lot
of family or other distractions,you know, it's difficult.
I mean, look at Max Verstappen.
(30:16):
He finished one race and even sometimesin the weekend of the Grand Prix,
he's racing online, you know, withthe simulators and after the races.
He's racing on Monday and Tuesdayand Thursday with a simulator.
He's so sharp mentally becausehe's on it all the time.
And that's how the levelof competition it is.
So if you really want to do this, youhave to really put everything on it.
(30:38):
You have to be very selfishbecause you have to really
dedicate a lot of your time to it.
And sometimes, you know, I miss a lot ofweddings and special events for my family.
I have to leave Mexico.
I have pursued my dreams andthat takes a lot of sacrifices.
It's done.
Nah.
A lot of people don't do ita hundred percent and they do
it 98%, 97% or, or like that.
(30:59):
And sometimes that two 3% makesthe difference between the good
drivers and the exception of drivers.
Do you know of any pathways for youngerdrivers to come up through the system?
Is it easier now?
Are there any incentives for LatinAmericans and Mexicans to come into
the US and European racing programs?
You know, I, I have notbeen so attached to racing.
(31:21):
I mean, I watched the races.
Because I like to race.
I watched IndyCar races.
I watched Formula One and I watchedsome NASCAR races because my good
friend Daniel Suarez is there.
But for Mexican and for a lot of theLatin drivers, the doors now are open.
When I went to Europe, the doors wereshut and I had to open them because there
were no opportunities to have sponsorship.
Nobody believed that you can make it.
(31:41):
Now it is proven.
So now the work is that you haveto go and knock at the doors of
the sponsorship and convince themthat this is what you want to do.
And they tell you, no, it feels bad, butyou have to keep knocking at more doors.
And because now it's easier toreally make it in terms of make
it to different categories.
Like I tried to do, it's easier,but I will probably say it's more
(32:04):
difficult to make it to the topin terms of Formula One, because
there are so many drivers now.
They all know the techniques and allthat, because it's all out there.
In my days, you have to walk the track.
There was no simulator.
They have no, I mean, youhave to find yourself out now.
All the information is out there.
So that's what I'm saying.
So it's in the old days, the differencebetween exceptional drug and a good
(32:24):
driver was bigger because of theknowledge that we didn't have now,
because they have everything, they haveall the tools now, the small details.
on your commitment to racing.
That's what makes the difference.
So let's say non drivers,enthusiasts, you know, somebody
walks up to you, Adrian, and says,Hey, I heard you drove at Le Mans.
I've never watched anendurance race before.
Why should I watch such a long race?
(32:46):
American Le Mans series, enduranceracing is not easy to watch.
You just have to be very passionateabout it because there's too
many drivers, too many classes.
But when I race a sport car, soI mean, all those times the fans
were really knowledgeable about thedrivers and the brands, everything.
It was like a big family.
And same with Le Mans, youhave so much history there.
(33:06):
If you like cars and you start readingabout all the stories about Le Mans and
the Porsches and Ferrari and Ferrariversus Ford, et cetera, et cetera.
And then you get there and yousee the atmosphere, the place.
I mean, it's just, it's overwhelming.
It's just beautiful, butobviously you have to like racing.
And these days, you know, uh, theyoung generations have three kids.
(33:28):
The span of attention isvery, it's very short.
They want things very quickly.
And that's why like NASCAR, youknow, to watch a NASCAR race.
Now it's just moredifficult in the old days.
Remember, I mean, you have all the red,everybody watching the races stay there.
You know, I raised in those era,I raised against Dillon, her
seniors, junior, all those legends.
And he was, all the people were therebecause racing was in their blood.
(33:52):
So now we just have to educate the newgenerations and like what is happening
with Formula 1 because of COVID andNetflix and they did this documentary
on the racing, you know, people gotcooked because of the personality
of the drivers and everything.
And the same with me when my careerbecame a boom in, in, in the nineties.
It was because people knew about thedrivers, we have very good television
(34:13):
coverage and everything, and peoplereally got really hooked into it.
It was very special.
So now it's the same.
It's just, you know, we justhave to educate the public
in terms of endurance racing.
What's it all about?
Make small stories and all that.
So, yeah, but I mean, as a driver isfor me, it's just one of the best.
And I, I, I put Le Mans as my favoriteracetrack in my entire career.
(34:37):
One of the things you touched on therewas seeing a lot of change over the years
and over your many years in the motorsports world, in your professional career.
And then afterwards you'veseen a lot of change.
What do you think is one of thebest things to have happened to
motorsport in your time in itsinvolvement, or one of the best
things that's ever happened to Lamont?
You came after the courseredesign and the building changes.
(34:59):
You didn't get to see all the stuff inthe eighties, but there's a lot out there.
So what do you think is one of the best?
Things that's happened.
Yeah.
I say safety, definitely.
I mean, I was one of the firstdrivers to test the Hans device.
It felt weird.
It felt like, really, we haveto use this, but the safety
aspect of it is just incredible.
And then the halo, but all thesethings, I had also a terrible accident.
(35:19):
I don't know if you remember, but inMichigan and one of my wheels came out
and went into the public and it wasjust horrible and after my accident, the
fences went up on the track and more in.
And they start putting tethers in theuprights to attach the tires to it.
So that was a big improvementin terms of safety, the halo and
many, many, many other things.
(35:40):
So I I'll say the aspect of safety,not just on the cars, but the
tracks has made it much better.
Since I started driving to when I finisheddriving, I lost 14 friends that they're
actually practicing testing or erasing.
So that's a lot of drivers.
You know, my career was span of 32 years,but losing 14 friends, that's a lot.
That's way too many.
(36:01):
So, yeah, I say safety is the main thing.
Obviously, the track has improved a lot.
Le Mans.
For example, my last race, you know,with the GT and the following year,
I forgot his name from Denmark.
I think was his name, got killed in,uh, Petra rush, just little things
because it was a real and they had atree on the back and things like that.
So I'll say the safety isthe main, main, main point.
(36:23):
Obviously the cars are becoming also alittle less physical, but more degrading
in terms of your steering wheel, whichin the old days, we didn't have that
many things on the steering wheel.
We have them in differentareas, so it's more there.
So basically you just have to trainyour, your mind, your brain to work with
this little steering wheel where youhave everything in our days, we didn't
have any, I, I actually, I used to, Iremember I used to say to my engineers,
(36:47):
you know, the less bottoms you have inmy steering wheel, the better, you know,
I don't want destruction because itwas already physically very, very hard.
And, you know, I just bought,um, a BRM from Pedro Rodriguez.
1970. And the car is,uh, difficult to drive.
It's very, I drove it in the lastyear in the Monaco Grand Prix Storix.
(37:08):
That's when you realize how racing was somuch more for the driver, more difficult,
more challenging, especially physically,because the position wasn't the right one.
You didn't have the right steering wheels.
The pedal position was not right.
The cars were not that strong.
They were very dangerous.
Et cetera, et cetera.
So when people start comparing driversfrom different generations, eras, I
(37:29):
always say, listen, you cannot compare,you know, you cannot compare, you
cannot put me a modern Formula Onedriver and put it in, in the cars that
I, I, we used to drive or other areas.
So they find you errors.
Where if you have an off, you probablymost likely are going to get killed or get
burned because the cars were like that.
So when, you know, for example, in acorner, you take flat out in Formula 1
(37:51):
these days, if you don't make it, yougo in, in a off lane, it's all paved,
no worries, offline, you know, offlimits, like they call it these days.
Our off limits was the wall, thetrees, you know, the, the grass,
the rocks, the fence, whatever.
So in that respect, everything has changeda lot that has improved, which is good.
In some ways, it's good.
In some other ways, I think theyhave taken a little bit too far,
(38:14):
especially with these four wheelsout of the line and all that.
I think that's so stupid.
I think they should putnatural limits on tracks.
And if you want to go up there,well, there's no grip or you're
going to go into the wall.
It's still with the safetyprotocols that they have these
days, they can still do that.
But obviously always, alwaysthere is a compromise.
Well, I'm glad you brought up drivinghistoric cars because as we wrap up
(38:37):
here, one of the final questions Iwant to ask you is if you could go
back to Lamont today, all things beingequal and drive maybe a car from 2023
or the 2024 season, what would it be?
Or because this year we have theopportunity that we're running the
Lamont's classic for the first time inmany, many years, would you go back to
Lamont and drive one of your previouscars or one of your competitor's cars?
(39:00):
I think I would love to have driventhe GT 40, you know, the GT 40 that
Pedro Rodriguez drove on typical, youknow, the, the engines when they were
fighting with, uh, Ferrari and allthat, the GT is just a beautiful car.
I'm actually trying to get one becauseI would like to drive it actually
in Le Mans, in the Le Mans classics,you know, with the old cars, but
(39:20):
that's the car that I would love.
It's just a beautiful car.
Another car that I like is the 970, youknow, from Steve McQueen those days.
That's another car that I love.
It's another beautiful car, butI think I like better the GT40.
Just imagine in those days they didn'thave chicanes and they were flat out and
if you jump in these cars if you see the917 in the front it's just little shoes.
(39:43):
There is nothing in front of your pedalto protect you if you hit the wall.
I mean, you're going to be just as muchwhen the car is going to be like this.
It's just incredible that in those daysthrough Le Mans and all that, what they
did and the speeds they were doing inthose days in these cars is incredible.
I mean, that's a Molsonstraight took forever.
I mean, probably some guyssmoke a cigarette those days.
(40:04):
To paraphrase something I heard DerekBell once say, driving the 917 was
like being strapped to a lawn chairthat could do 200 miles an hour.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I, I know him well and I, we talkabout it and you know, I drove a lot of
the cars that were very unsafe and sortof like when I started my career, but
it's incredible that in those days youdon't think about it, you know, even the
(40:26):
truck that I used to drive, you see someof the pictures of my early days and you
see people there, people there, whatever.
That was how racing was.
And you, you just didn't think about it.
It was like, okay, well,you hit him and kill him.
Well, that's part of the sport, right?
Sublime to think that, you know, nowwe're thinking, you know, now is so
scrutinize everything, safety drivers,everything, uniforms, fire, this, that.
(40:49):
In those days, I mean, even theseatbelts and so many things that
were not so safe as they are now.
What's next?
Is there more to the story?
Are you done with motorsport?
No, you know what?
I have learned to close the circles.
I live a beautiful life now.
I have three beautiful kids.
I have a beautiful wife.
I have a 16 year old boy, a 17 yearold girl, Valentina Nico, and then I
(41:13):
have a four year old, Adrian Junior.
And like I said, I sacrificed somuch and I was very selfish where I
didn't have other life but racing.
I was so, so into it and soperfectionist in everything I did,
that I miss a lot of those things.
So now I just love my lifebecause I'm just Adrian Fernandez.
I'm not the Rayska Frapper.
(41:33):
I go out, I can be myself.
If they don't recognize me in thebetter, I can do the things that
I didn't do for so many years.
And I absolutely love it becauseI had a fantastic career.
I'm here.
I'm still in one piece.
I did a lot of good friends.
I. I own my own team, Icompeted in different series.
I won in most of them.
I made my money doing racing,which not many people do that.
(41:55):
You're right.
Everything I have, I made it from racing.
And also my career teachme a lot of other things.
So I'm in another thinginvestments and I've done very
well, but it's my own schedule.
I don't like schedules anymore.
I don't fancy that, you know, theyinvite me to the Mexican grumpy or
to these, I don't fancy that anymore.
I spent so much time, you know, I was anFIA steward also in formula one, apart
(42:15):
from being a manager of Checo Perez.
And I mean, those are the worst jobsbecause you know, you're not looking after
yourself, you're looking after somebodyand they don't hear you all the time.
So it's, that's not very nice.
I, a lot of people want me to manage them.
I don't do that anymore.
I help them.
I give them advice and I,I say, I help you for free.
One day, if you become big, justinvite me to one of the races.
(42:36):
To be with you and we havea nice dinner and that's it.
That's your thank you.
And I'll be happy, but Idon't have to get involved.
I don't have to go through the headaches.
I already have them, you know,because racing is tough, especially
that I, I was the driver.
I was the owner.
I sold the sponsorship.
I never had a managers.
So I did everything myself and I did itvery well, but I was extremely exhausted.
(42:56):
So now this balance of life that I havehere, where I am, I have a beautiful
museum here in Miami with some of myrace cars, memorabilia, and I work here.
We have.
Great partners with othercollections of cars.
It just cannot get better.
Some people, sometimes they don'tlet it go, you know, and they
want to stay, stay attached.
I see it with a lot of people, youknow, drivers and they keep driving.
(43:16):
You know, you see, I mean,I drove the 32 years.
So what else am I going to prove?
You know, it's a Lamont, you know,like I do Monaco that's for fun.
I don't care if I win or ifI'm bad last, I don't care.
I mean, what am I going to prove?
I don't have to prove anything I'm done.
And that circle in my life is closed.
It's just the best part.
A lot of people who cannot dothat, then they start getting a
(43:38):
lot of problems with themselvesbecause they want to be that light.
They want to be in the spotlight.
And they want to be there.
It's just, I don't careif I'm in the spotlight.
I don't care if they look at me.
They recognize me.
In the 90s, I was big.
You know, I was very That's fine.
I enjoy it.
But that circle is closed.
Now I do other thingsand I enjoy it a lot.
Have your kids expressed anyinterest in going into motorsport?
(43:58):
Or is that just part of dad's past?
No, I, you know, I took Nico,Nico because he's, uh, two years
younger than Sebastian Montoya.
Juan Pablo Montoya isa good friend of mine.
They used to live here in Miami.
We were neighbors.
The kids went to the same school.
So when Sebastian, Sebas was startingto drive go karts and all that, I
took Nico a few times with him andall that, but he was never, he didn't
(44:22):
really, didn't like it that much.
He enjoyed, but like, if I invite youto a ride in, in, uh, Fairground or
something like that, but nothing special.
He never asked me again and I didn't.
So he has been playing soccersince then and he's a fantastic
soccer player, which I love itbecause I also do different things.
And sometimes I think about it.
(44:42):
Do I want to spend the rest ofmy life going to the tracks again
and the weekends and all that?
It's just too much.
Now I live in other things.
I do other things.
And it's just so your life is full.
In terms of experiences and everything,when you do everything the same,
that's why I don't do podcasts oranything like this, because if I
speak the truth, most of the timeit's, it's going to be in trouble.
(45:04):
And now these days with social media thatyou have to be politically correct and
all that, I mean, it's all that bullshit.
You know, I don't want to get into that.
I don't need it.
I don't live from that.
It's just a great balancein my life at this moment.
And I enjoy a lot of what I did.
You know, I had a fantastic 31 years.
It was just a wonderful journey.
And, you know, I'm just glad that I'mstill here because I lost a lot of good
(45:27):
friends that I love and that I like,you know, I'm very blessed to be able
to be here with good health and enjoy myfamily and do the things I love to do.
As we wrap out here, I'd like to passthe torch to David Lowe, president of
the ACO USA for some parting thoughts.
Adrian, on behalf of theACO and the U. S. members.
I just want to thank youfor an incredible evening.
(45:48):
Thank you.
It was about Lamont, but itstarted to sound like a TED
Talk, which is a big compliment.
You touched on a lot of points thatpeople don't touch on in our evenings,
and you brought a different flavorto it, and I really appreciate that.
And I say that on behalf of the members.
I personally thought itwas an incredible evening.
Thank you so much.
(46:09):
Thank you, Dave.
Anytime, and thank you, Eric.
And on behalf of everyone here and thoselistening at home, thank you, Adrian,
for sharing your stories with us.
Since 1981, when Adrian entered his firstauto race, the 24 Hours of Mexico, in
Mexico City at the age of 15, he maderacing a permanent part of his life.
In the 90s, he would enjoy many successesbehind the wheel of an Indy car, along
(46:31):
with his four attempts at Le Mans from2007 to 2012, propelling him to even
higher heights, becoming the managerfor another up and coming Mexican
driver, Formula One's Sergio Perez.
With over 30 years of professional racingunder his helmet, Adrian is a model for
many of us to continue to aspire to.
To learn more or to keep up withAdrian's latest adventures, be
(46:52):
sure to follow him on social atadrianf007 on Twitter and Instagram.
We hope you enjoyed this presentationand look forward to more evening
with a legend throughout the season.
And with that, Adrian, I can't thankyou enough for coming on the show
and sharing your stories with us.
And whether you realize it or not,you continue to be a role model for up
and coming drivers from here on out.
(47:14):
Thank you, my friend.
Thank you, Eric.
Stay well, my friend.
Good luck.
Ciao.
Ciao.
This episode has been broughtto you by the Automobile Club
of the West and the ACO USA.
(47:34):
From the awe inspiring speed demons thathave graced the track to the courageous
drivers who have pushed the limits ofendurance, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is
an automotive spectacle like no other.
For over a century, the 24 Hours ofLe Mans has urged manufacturers to
innovate for the benefit of futuremotorists, and it's a celebration of
the relentless pursuit of speed andexcellence in the world of motorsports.
(47:55):
To learn more about or to become a memberof the ACO USA, look no further than www.
lemans.
org, click on English in the upperright corner, and then click on the
ACO Members tab for club offers.
Once you've become a member, youcan follow all the action on the
Facebook group ACO USA Members Cluband become part of the legend with
(48:16):
future Evening with the Legend meetups.
Hello.
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Evening with a Legend is a seriesof presentations exclusive to
Legends of the Famous 24 Hours ofLe Mans, giving us an opportunity
to bring a piece of Le Mans to you.
By sharing stories and highlightsof the big event, you get a chance
to become part of the legend of LeMans, with guests from different
eras of over 100 years of racing.
(00:34):
Tonight, we have the opportunity to bringa piece of Lamar to you, sharing in the
legend of Lamar with guests from differenteras of over 100 years of racing.
And as your host, I'm delightedto introduce Adrian Fernandez.
In 2007, Adrian made his debut atLe Mans, taking home a second place
in a V8 powered LMP2 prototype.
(00:54):
This was the first podium fora Mexican driver at the Circuit
de la Sarthe since the 1960s.
Three years later, in 2010, Adrianfound himself back at Le Mans, this time
behind the wheel of Aston Martin's LMP1,finishing fifth in class, sixth overall.
Returning for the 80th running of LeMans 2012, Adrian and Aston Martin
took home a third place finish inthe GTE Pro class, covering 322
(01:18):
laps without failures or problems.
And with Adrian's help, theteam achieved the fastest lap
in their class of 3 minutes 54.
928. At that point, Adrian had thedistinct honor of driving the Aston
Martin to the checkered flag, and onSeptember 12th of 2012, he announced his
retirement from racing, thus concludinghis relationship with Aston Martin.
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But that wasn't the end of hisinvolvement in the world of motorsports.
And with that, I'm your host,Crew Chief Eric from the Motoring
Podcast Network, welcoming everyoneto this evening with a legend.
Adrian, welcome to the show.
Thank you.
How are you, Eric?
Great.
I'm glad you're here.
Let's go back in time a little bitand talk about your road to Le Mans.
You started racing in Mexico in 1981around the age of 15, and you quickly
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moved up and spent 10 years or so racingstateside in kart and IndyCar, building
up your skills and your reputation.
So talk us through how thatall led you to Le Mans.
Was that a goal of yoursto race at Le Mans?
How was the deal put together?
I started in the 24 hours of Mexico.
You know, that was my first race,24 hours of Mexico in a Volkswagen
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Beetle with my uncles sharing the car.
So my whole career went through basicallyevery time I managed to get where
I wanted to be like certain steps,then, you know, new dreams, new goals.
Came to be able to make it.
So first for me was to raiseformula one and, uh, at some stage,
because I didn't have the age, Istarted racing at 19 years old.
(02:43):
So it was not the right agewhen I was there in Europe.
So then IndyCar was morelike the right fit for that.
And so I moved to IndyCarsin 93, 92, I did Indy lights.
And in IndyCar, I stayed thereall the way through until the
separation of Kart and Tony George.
And then I went to IRL,did the 2004 full season.
(03:07):
Some of my sponsors, they didn'treally want to continue there.
So at that point, really was.
I was just searching tosee what else I would do.
I still had my own team withmy partner, Tom Anderson.
So we continued to do the IRL.
And at a certain point, we decided togo with Honda to do the, uh, Ford Karts.
First with the Grand Am in 2006.
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And then in 2007, basically westarted this program with the, uh,
the American Amount Series with theLMP2, we work on the development
of the engine and all that stuff.
And basically that was my introductionto sport cars, to endurance series and,
uh, 12 hours of searing and six hoursof the glen, et cetera, et cetera.
So that's really how I got tosport cars in that respect.
(03:52):
So you mentioned that you had racedin Europe earlier in your career,
especially when you were doing open wheeland looking to get into formula one,
where had you turned laps in Europe?
As soon as I realized that I dideverything I could in Mexico, I realized
that I was not going to go anywhere.
If I stay in Mexico, you know, Ihave achieved everything I wanted
to do, and I felt that I was stuck.
So really I wanted to go theroad to formula one and we had
(04:15):
the Grand Prix at the time, butwe didn't have Mexican drivers.
So I say, you know, thisis the perfect opportunity.
But there was no help, no sponsorship.
I mean, as big as it is now in Mexico,in that time, there was nothing.
I was actually the first guy afterthe Rodríguez and a few guys that
tried, but didn't make it to thetop and consistently stay there.
I was the first guy to actuallyjust dig my way through it, try
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to make it in racing in Europe.
But I couldn't get the sponsorshipwhere I didn't, I couldn't even
find 5, 000, 10, 000 in Europe.
I mean, I couldn't, I wasworking as a mechanic.
I was an instructor in Brown'sHatch with Jeff Brabham and other
good friends from England, when Ididn't find the money to race in
formula four, I was already committedwith a mechanic to do everything.
I gave him all my savings.
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And when the sponsorship was goingto give me the other part of it, he'd
say, well, sorry, I cannot help you.
I said, now I'm stuck.
I'm living in the house of themechanic that is going to work with me.
He's going to do the teamfor me and everything.
And now I have no money.
So I asked my dad, what do I do?
And also come back home.
You know, what are you doing?
You're crazy, you know, blah, blah, blah.
So I thought about it and Isaid, no, I'm not coming home.
(05:20):
So I found a job.
I found my job in Poland,but I have no money.
I went through France andI didn't have the visa.
So I have to return.
I have no money.
I had to sleep three nightsin the train station.
before we crossed thistime over through Belgium.
And at that time I convincedthe driver to keep me in the
box, you know, in the trailer.
I hid for four hours and two boxes soI can go through it with no checkups.
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So I smuggled in two therebecause I didn't want That's
the type of life that I had.
And I still make it, made it.
So that's what I'm saying.
You know, it was just very tough.
So at that time in 87, 88 and 89, Ireally did all the circuits in Europe,
especially in England, you know,Silverstone, Trotstone, Donington.
I mean, you name it, all of them.
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It was a very good for my careerbecause the experience that I got
there, it was just incredible.
I mean, it was the best racing.
And even though it took me a while to,because I was, I stay in the same series
for three years because I have no moneyand I was working at the beginning
as a mechanic and things like that,but it gave me a lot of experience.
experience, which it made the base forme eventually to have the knowledge
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and things like that to own my ownteam and do the different things
that I did in my racing career.
So it was a very, very good decisionto go to Europe at the time.
So a lot of drivers that go overseasand go to Europe, they end up
cutting their teeth at some of themost famous tracks in the world.
You talk about spa, you talkabout Silverstone, Monza, the list
goes on and on, but then there'salways in the back of their minds.
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Le Mans or Nurburgring, butusually Le Mans because Le Mans
is the biggest race in the world.
And so for you, when you werethere, was that ever a thought
that was crossing your mind?
Like one day I want to drive at Le Mans.
Yeah, it was.
I mean, it was like, Iwanted to drive Monaco.
I wanted to drive the Indy 500.
I wanted to drive the Daytona,you know, the big races and like
Le Mans was one of the big ones.
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And Pedro Rodriguez won there and it wasa very special race for us in Mexico.
We have knowledge about the race.
And obviously Le Mans was likethe jewel of the endurance racing.
So yes, through my career, I alwaysthought about it, but I never had
the chance or the opportunity untilI finished my career in IndyCars and
just had this great relation withHonda to really start racing prototypes
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in America with an American Le MansZero, which was very competitive.
I don't know if you remember, you know,we had the Penske's, Porsche Penske's
and, you know, Andretti was there andeventually Gilles Deferran was there.
And I mean, it was just a very strongand competitive series at the time.
So, yeah, I mean, I got in lovewith it and it's just so special
to race those cars at that levelbecause those cars are super fast.
(07:54):
So you put together the dealfor your first run at Le Mans.
In 2007, that was with teams.
I tech in the LMP two car.
Yeah.
What was it like goingto Lamar the first time?
What kind of impression did it makeon you and coming from open wheel
to endurance more so than let's sayALMS in a much longer format and
a track you've never seen before.
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How different was it to drivethat LMP two car at Lamar?
Lamar is my favorite racetrack andI will say the most challenging
because of the high speeds.
So I really.
took my time to prepare myself very well.
Firstly, that race that we did in 2007was all orchestrated by Honda because
Honda was looking into doing their ownprogramming in the future in Le Mans.
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So basically they took me as a driverand they made a deal with SciTech
at the time for me to race thereand for them to get an experience.
about what was Le Mans all about it.
So at the time we have smallsimulators, just very basic.
We didn't have, you know, the hightech simulators that you have now, but
at least it gave me an idea of wherethe track was going and then just as
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I got there, you know, it's a trackthat you cannot just drive around 80
percent of the track is roads thatpeople just go from town to town.
What I did is I took a scooter and I wentcorner to corner taking pictures because
as a race car driver, especially in LeMans, everything is about references.
You know, you have to have a goodreference to every turning point and
breaking point, especially you're going sofast, like in the Mulsanne straight, you
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know, it's, uh, at night you go so fast.
that stopping into the first chicane,if you miss a little bit, your
breaking point, you blow the chicane.
So basically I went through witha scooter and I started looking
at buildings, you know, there isa bar, there is this and that.
And, you know, I took photographsof all of this while the test was
happening and all that, with all thisinformation that I got, I really,
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really got very well prepared.
And I remember that the Japanese driver.
Karuaki Kurosawa, he had more experience.
He's already raced in Le Mans.
So he did a few laps.
And then that's the other thing.
You don't do many laps before therace because the laps are so long.
It's not like you do 20, 40, 30 laps.
No, no, no.
You do maybe seven laps.
And the other guys, 10 laps,you know, just not many laps.
(10:04):
So that's why I did my homework interms of knowing where every breaking
point may be, references and all that.
So I didn't feel like lostbecause otherwise it takes you
forever to learn the track.
And I did my labs and I told theguys, I said, don't put any lab times.
Don't show me any lab times.
The first time that I went there,I said, don't show me anything.
Just let me be.
Just going to go outand I know I'll be fine.
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I just want to learn it.
And I took my time and eventually I wasstarting better, better, better, better.
And, uh, I mean, and then I was.
Quite fast to the point that Iqualify the car because I was
the fastest of the drivers.
And, uh, we put the car on the pole,so that was very satisfying for me.
But like I said, I did thehomework and I walked the track.
I check everything.
So I didn't feel likeI was in a man's land.
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So that was key.
So how different was the setup of theLe Mans prepared LMP two car versus the
one you were running here in the States?
I mean, the cars are very.
I mean, this was an open cockpit, thesame as I was driving in with a Lola
chassis and then eventually the Acurachassis in the American Le Mans series.
But the difference betweenthe racetracks in America to
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Le Mans is that it's so long.
So you're going super fast.
You know, there, there is quartersof eight years, six years.
I mean, the entry of the Porsche cornersand all that section is extremely
fast to the point that if you makea little mistake, I mean, it's over.
It's not like there's nothinglike a little mistake.
It's almost like the Indy 500.
You're not a little mistake.
You're on the wall.
It's the same there.
So you have to have a lotof respect for the track.
(11:32):
It's all about the speed.
So it feels different in thatrespect because you're going so fast.
Nothing compares all the racetracks that we race in here.
Sebring.
Searing is super slow compared tothem on wood tracks, but it's just
different setups, techniques, everything.
For example, Sebring is super bumpy.
One year we wanted Luis Diazand myself, just two drivers.
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I drove six hours and a halfof total for the 12 hours.
And I was absolutely done.
I mean, just because of the vibrationand the bumps and everything in
Lamonts is the other way around.
It's extremely super smooth.
The track.
And the nice thing about Lamontsis that the tire Keeps the
grip lap after lap after lap.
So it's really a pleasure and it'svery enjoyable to drive Le Mans because
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the tires then they don't really dip.
They stay very consistent andit was just fantastic to drive.
So it's just anothertechnique, but it's beautiful.
And I know I keep bringing upLMP2 cars and LMP2 cars because
actually you're the first.
Legend to be on evening with alegend that's campaigned an LMP2 car.
And oftentimes it's one ofthose classes that we overlook.
It is extremely competitive even to thisday, but people view it like a spec class.
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And it's like, ah, it's LMP2.
You know, I'm more interestedin the LMP1 prototypes or what's
going on in production car.
And even TV coverage doesn't oftengive enough light on the LMP2 class.
So it's fun to sort of pull thesethreads and learn from a driver.
What LMP2 is really like I'veheard from some other drivers.
Coming from open wheel to prototypes,not necessarily LMP2, they're
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like apples and oranges, there'sno translation between the two.
And I often wondered, is that really true?
How close is the downforce?
Are they very similar handling wise,or did you have to relearn as you
transition from one to the other?
First thing you have to relearn becauseyou're not the only driver in the car.
You know, you're sharingthe car with somebody else.
So basically everything is a compromisefrom the seating position to the setup.
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So basically you have to really workwith your teammates to be able to get
the best setup and the best feeling foreverybody because it doesn't matter if
I'm very quick and my teammate is notthat quick because he doesn't fit well or
he doesn't like what we make to the car.
It just doesn't matter.
So it's a compromise.
The LMP2 that we drove in thoseyears that I competed in the
American Le Mans series with Acura,those cars were extremely fast.
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I mean, super fast because after that theytuned down the engines, but 2007, eight
and nine, the cars were extremely fast.
In that respect, the car performanceand speed up through the corners was.
In some ways, very close to IndyCars.
So really, the things that you neededto work a lot, like I say, working
with your teammates, working in acompromise setup that it works for
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everybody, learning how to, uh,manage the car, not destroy the car.
Obviously, these days, evenin my days, you can push.
10, 10, all the time, the carand the car, they survived the
other 12 hours, 24 hours is a go.
But at the same time, you know,it's a long race, so you don't
want to do stupid mistakes.
And you just really want to havea little reserve just to make
sure you don't make any mistakes.
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And you drive through the night.
Sometimes you drive through thenight in rain and things like that,
that you don't have in IndyCars.
IndyCars, you always have lights.
The races are very shortcompared to Le Mans.
I remember one year, 2010, with theLMP1, I was driving with my good
friend Stefan Muka and Harald Primat.
And Harald Primat had a problemthrough the night, and he
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couldn't drive after one hour.
And I just came out of the car.
I was just getting ready, you know,you have your motorhome, you take a
shower, you have your physiotherapist,you eat, you do all the things.
And I was starting toget ready to go to sleep.
And the team called me thatthey had an issue with him.
And that if I would be able to replacehim, he had, uh, an issue with,
uh, cramping and things like that.
So I jumped in the car.
(15:12):
I didn't rest much three years.
Yeah.
Three and a half hours after Icame out of the car and I drove
almost four hours straight.
And I say almost four hours, becauseit was like three hours and 55 minutes,
because you cannot exceed in those days.
You couldn't exceed more than four hours.
Otherwise you get apenalty, but I was fine.
I was fine.
I could drive.
I was.
Not sweating.
I was just, I remember that thingthat I did so long, actually
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the engineers and everybody wentto sleep in the, in the trucks.
I was not hearing any,anybody was completely dark.
There's not even lights.
The only part that there's somelights is in the permanent course,
but the rest is just absolutely night.
So you just see your lights of the dash.
The lights of the other cars,but it's so peaceful and you're
just basically, it's like divingat night, which is so beautiful.
(15:55):
But I was calling my engineer and nobodywas answering like for two, three laps.
I was getting worried, you know, eventhough I knew exactly more or less
when I had to get into the pit, butsometimes it gets a little, uh, scary
if you don't hear back from your team.
Glad you brought us into 2010 andthe LMP1 attempt with Aston Martin.
And so I wanted to focus inon something you just said.
said, we've heard from other driversabout the changing conditions at Lamar.
(16:18):
What are the most stressful times when thesun is starting to come back up or what
inevitably starts to rain, but almost fourhours in the car, a lot of drivers these
days don't do those long stints like that.
They do two hours at a time.
And you know, then they havethe maximum amount of drive time
and all those kinds of things.
How do you stay focused for fourhours in the middle of the night
when you're just by yourself?
How do you not, let'sjust say, get bored or.
(16:40):
How do you keep your pace consistent?
Lap after lap for four hours.
Just training.
I have always been a very disciplinedperson, very disciplined athlete.
Even in my days of IndyCars, I alwaysworked to the maximum and more.
I was very good with everythingI did, you know, and the type of
training physically that I used to do.
It was also about concentrationand focusing and things like that.
(17:03):
For me, it was just natural.
I felt I was very good at it.
Barely made any mistakes.
I've never crashed in Le Mans.
So I was just very pure concentration.
And to the point that, like Isaid, you know, I can drive for
four hours and I didn't haveany problems with getting tired.
In IndyCar, one of the challengesthat I face when I enter IndyCar is
(17:24):
that I have a very small bone frame.
You know, my bones are tiny comparedto, for example, people in those
days like Mario, Andre, NigelMa, Paul, Tracy, ARDI, et cetera.
So the indicators in those days were sophysical that you needed four or five
LAP to do a, a good lap in qualifying,and the four feet lab were the best.
(17:46):
And I couldn't do morethan three laps good.
And, uh, so the X track, whichwas in the fourth or fifth lap,
my body was completely done.
Physically, I just couldn'tturn the steering wheel.
We have no assistance of anything.
We have no traction controls.
We have no power steering control.
And we have 1000 horsepower.
Those cars were really a beast.
I mean, you have physically.
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I remember Ari lying like a night beforethe start of the Laguna Seca race.
We were instead of talking about thecar or whatever it is we were talking
about, are we going to make it, you know,physically because it was so physical.
So I learned a technique to relax.
Obviously I changed the way I work outand everything, you know, less cardio,
more, more weights and things like that.
(18:27):
But then I work a lot on relaxingmy muscles through the straights.
A technique that I learned and Iapplied very successful work with my
engineer because we have this deficit.
So how are we going to make it?
So one, physically youhave to work on this.
So I learned how to relax my muscleson the straight and just put the
effort on the, you know, so somepeople are like very tense, you
(18:47):
know, even in the straight, no, no.
And in the straight I was justrelaxed, just basically putting
the minimum amount of effortjust to keep the car on the line.
And then when you get to the corners andall that, that's when you put the effort.
So that really takes a lotof effort out of each lab.
And that's how I managed toimprove because of the strength
that I, that was, I was lacking.
(19:08):
And then because we were notqualifying so good, John Ward and
myself, we work on just how are wegoing to fight with these deficits?
So basically we work alot on how to save fuel.
And if you remember my days ofIndyCars, we were the first one
that we were so good on saving fuel.
So I always managed to do one lapor two laps more than the guys
(19:29):
when they came into the pits.
And that was how we compensate thelack of strength in those days.
Within the cars to be able to winraces that transfer it to Lamont.
So same with Lamont, some guys who,when they come and you know, the speed
and everything, they are very tenseand they get tired more and all that.
And I was extremelyrelaxed on the straight.
(19:50):
You have a such a long straight.
So I was very relaxed driving thecar in that respect, putting minimum
effort into my muscles and just.
Focusing on the track, but you'regoing so fast, you know, you're
going so fast, but you have to relax.
And once you put everything incontest, you know, everything
slows down in your mind.
It's like a machine, youknow, lap after lap after lap.
And the only thing you have to worryis about somebody went off, there's
(20:11):
gravel, or there's certain thingsthat normally when there's a driver
change, you have to be ready, likehalf an hour before you get into your
shift to getting back into the car.
And at that time, you put your earplugs,your radio, and you start talking to
the driver that is driving the car.
And he's telling you the last three lapsor two laps or the last lap, he tells
you, you know, be careful in here, becareful in there, there's a little bit
(20:33):
of oil, or the track is okay, don'tworry, because you have to perform.
Once you get out of the pits, evenif it's 3, 4 in the morning, you
know, a little chilly and all that.
And you're like sleepy or whatever.
I mean, you have to jump on the car andyou have to go and you have to be within
three, four tens or, or the same laptimes that the other guy got was, I mean,
you have to be really on it because thecompetition is so strong, but it helps
(20:55):
to listen to the driver that is comingout to see how is the track, how is the
car, any problems, blah, blah, blah.
And that's the big difference whenyou were asking about Indy cars and
sport cars, you know, the endurance.
A competition is just that, that you'resharing the car with somebody else.
So you're a team in that respect thatyou normally don't do that in IndyCar.
That's a lot of fun andit's very challenging.
(21:15):
So let's catch everybody up.
2007, you come home with asecond place finish in LMP2,
your first time at Le Mans.
Yeah.
With all the preparationthat you did, it paid off.
I'm sure you couldn't have beenmore happy with those results.
Yes.
You come back in 2010 running anLMP one car for a totally different
team, totally different car.
And you come in fifth, sixth overall.
(21:37):
Sixth overall.
We finished fifth in class and, uh, itwas with Harold Priman and Stefan Munchen.
We finished, uh, fifth in class.
Yes.
Another year goes by the 2011 season comesaround and I didn't mention this in the
introduction because your luck sort of ranout at Le Mans that year and you had some
problems with the LMP1 Aston Martin AMR1.
(21:58):
So what happened?
David Richard wanted to do his own engine,his And, uh, the way they designed the
car, especially the engine, they runout of time to produce a good engine.
Um, basically they were having so manyproblems, both cars retiring within.
We started, we did one lap just asthat after the door lock corner, you
know, in the Molson straight, just200 meters into the Molson straight,
(22:20):
basically I broke first and then DarrenTurner was driving the other one.
He broke a hundred meters ahead of me.
And that was it.
One lap in a quarter.
That's what we did.
That was very hard on AstonMartin, in Debbie Richard.
And it was just a toughday for the whole team.
But that didn't stop you.
No.
Another attempt in 2012 at Le Mans.
(22:40):
So how did that work?
How did you move then intothe GT production class?
Again, running for Aston Martin.
Why the invite to go into productionand not maybe another LMP2 or LMP1?
So this is what happened at theend of 2009, we see us and myself,
we won the LMP2 championshipin the American Le Mans series.
At the same time was the end of myteam, Fernandez Racing, I closed
(23:02):
the doors of Fernandez Racing.
And the reason was wehad the crisis of 2008.
And we did very goodwith Fernandez Racing.
I wanted to, uh, keep the team,but it was very difficult to keep
sponsors and a lot of things.
At that point, you know, I'vedone everything in my career.
I was, you know, I was very successfulin most of the championships
and cars that I competed.
(23:22):
So I was in a good position myself.
And for me, the most important partof my life at that point was to put
a lot of attention on my family.
That was like as much attention anddedication I put to my race career.
I wanted to put that into my family.
I was just burned out.
I was living in Miami.
I didn't want to go on and livein Indianapolis or somewhere else.
And I mean, I had differentopportunities, but I was done basically.
(23:46):
We decided to sell the teamand Lowe's USA helped me to get
this deal with Aston Martin.
They sponsor us.
They paid for my salary andthe deal was for three years.
So basically I was going to drivewhatever David Richard wanted me to
drive there and whoever he would putme to drive with because I was at
that time, I was not an owner driver.
(24:06):
I was just a driver.
So basically he wanted, first, the LMPone was the first time 2010 with him.
Then 2011 was his project.
It was our LMP one also, butit was just a total disaster.
And actually that year we haveto jump back to the other car
that we had to the LMP one.
You know, the beautiful, I don't knowif you ever heard it, but the, the
aftermath, they call it BO nine 60, whichwas the Lola Chelsea, beautiful Chelsea.
(24:31):
With this B12 Astro Matthew wasbeautiful, sounding beautiful.
So in 2011, we went back.
After we saw that the AMR one wasnot working, we went back to the Lola
chassis and we finished the season.
So for 2012, David sayno more LMP1 or LMP2.
Obviously Aston Martin makes a lotof cars, you know, especially, you
(24:52):
know, the Vantage GT and all those.
So they had always a program there.
So, but basically they wantedto have the top drivers.
Driving in the pro team, basicallythat was my year that I just did GT,
which I never done before in my life.
I did a few NASCAR races inMexico and things like that.
And I did, uh, a few reasons onthe, all of a sudden when I tried
(25:13):
to go to NASCAR in 2005, six,seven, and it was challenging to be
honest, driving the GT was the mostchallenging because I was driving
with Darren Turner and Stefan Muecke.
These guys were extremelygood drivers in GTs.
When you come from cars like theLMP1, LMP2, and driving all your life
single seaters, Indy cars, thingslike that, type of driving is just
(25:35):
very precise, very small movements,etc. You know, when you jump in a GT,
you know, the car moves a lot more.
You have to get used to that movement andtrusting the car and things like that.
So I really had to work really, really,really hard on it, but I managed
to have a great season with them.
I worked really hard on looking athow the car felt and everything.
And I was always within two tens of them.
(25:58):
So it was a great season and basicallya great finish for my career in terms of
racing, because that was my last race.
And we finished third,you know, when you follow.
The WEC and even the IMSA schedule,not all of the races do the quote
unquote, the bigger cars, likethe LMP twos and LMP ones run the
whole season with the GT cars.
(26:18):
It's a little bit different whenyou've got all the classes running
together, like at Rolex or atthe Glen and places like that.
So when you got to Lamar runningthe GT, even though you had been
running it in the rest of the season,I've heard a lot of other drivers.
Say that when they took a step intoa production class, they spent a
lot more time driving than theirmirrors, than they were used to.
Yeah, that's the horrible part of it.
(26:40):
I remember very well because, youknow, I took my dad there because
I, I really thought it would,that was going to be my last race.
So he was with me there.
So we started driving and in practice,I did race some at night and I was
extremely uncomfortable, especially,you know, I was 50 years old.
My eyes are not as good as when Iwas 35 and I was struggling at night.
The most difficult part of it, firstthe lights, you know, you get these
(27:02):
lights and obviously your marks arenot as good and now they have better
systems so you don't get blinded.
But you see the lights and you thinkthat he's there and you want to turn
that part of it that you are not secure.
If he's there or he's not there, it'svery difficult, especially in those years.
Now they have much better systemto know if they turn, if the
other guy is there or not.
So it was just very, verydifficult in that respect.
(27:24):
So what I told my guys, StefanMucha and Darren Turner,
and I said, how old are you?
Is 20 something, youknow, and you 31 or 32.
Okay, good.
See you in the morning.
I'm not driving at night.
I took the right decisionof not driving at night.
They did all the work.
They did a fantastic work.
Fantastic drivers.
And I drove in the morning andDavid Richard let me, uh, finish
the race, cross the finish line.
(27:46):
And, uh, that was very special.
A lot of drivers that tell theirLe Mans story, it's a turning
point for them as a driver.
And for you, it was towards the endof your career, actually at the end
of your career, as you decided toretire after the 2012 season and move
on to other things, still involvedin motorsports, which we'll get to,
but everybody's tends to agree that.
(28:06):
Lamar changed them asa driver for the good.
Sometimes maybe for the bad,but generally for the good.
So how would you say that Lamarchanged you or what did you walk
away from the experience with?
What did Lamar teach you as a driver?
To be even more disciplined becauseany small mistakes, you know, like
the Indy 500 is a tough race, butit's just two hours and a half, maybe.
(28:28):
Max, but Lamont says 24 hours,you know, you're driving with
different classes, different speeds.
So basically it just teaches you a lotabout awareness and respect the other
classes, respect the other drivers andbe more disciplined within yourself.
Every time you make any decision.
When you're driving, and that'swhy Le Mans, it makes you a
better driving in all aspects.
(28:49):
As you retired from racing, butyou didn't retire from motorsport.
You got involved with Sergio Perezin formula one and trying to promote
the next generation of Mexicandrivers coming up through the system.
And so you've been involved inmotorsport for your entire life.
When you look back over your career,working with Sergio, working with a lot
of other drivers, do you have any advicefor aspiring Latino drivers who want to
(29:11):
make a career in professional racing?
Yes, of course.
I mean, the main thing is that if youreally want to become a professional race
car driver and make an impact, you haveto really take it with all your your arms.
I mean, you have to be completelyinvolved on it 10 10 all the time
because it just takes so much.
The competition is so tough.
There's so many good drivers.
(29:32):
So you have to always look at howcan I be better than the other guys?
And there's so many good drivers around,you know, that the difference between
the good drivers are not so good.
It's very small.
It's just the good drivers, exceptionaldrivers are the drivers that can
stay in that limit for a longtime and they don't make mistakes.
They can adapt to different type of cars.
If the car is not good or bad, theycan adapt and they can go through
(29:55):
adversity and things like that andstill be there and make the results.
And that's what it takes.
And to do that, you know, your life hasto be balanced, meaning you have to have.
Time just to think about racing.
If you have other businesses, otherdistractions, family, or a lot
of family or other distractions,you know, it's difficult.
I mean, look at Max Verstappen.
(30:16):
He finished one race and even sometimesin the weekend of the Grand Prix,
he's racing online, you know, withthe simulators and after the races.
He's racing on Monday and Tuesdayand Thursday with a simulator.
He's so sharp mentally becausehe's on it all the time.
And that's how the levelof competition it is.
So if you really want to do this, youhave to really put everything on it.
(30:38):
You have to be very selfishbecause you have to really
dedicate a lot of your time to it.
And sometimes, you know, I miss a lot ofweddings and special events for my family.
I have to leave Mexico.
I have pursued my dreams andthat takes a lot of sacrifices.
It's done.
Nah.
A lot of people don't do ita hundred percent and they do
it 98%, 97% or, or like that.
(30:59):
And sometimes that two 3% makesthe difference between the good
drivers and the exception of drivers.
Do you know of any pathways for youngerdrivers to come up through the system?
Is it easier now?
Are there any incentives for LatinAmericans and Mexicans to come into
the US and European racing programs?
You know, I, I have notbeen so attached to racing.
(31:21):
I mean, I watched the races.
Because I like to race.
I watched IndyCar races.
I watched Formula One and I watchedsome NASCAR races because my good
friend Daniel Suarez is there.
But for Mexican and for a lot of theLatin drivers, the doors now are open.
When I went to Europe, the doors wereshut and I had to open them because there
were no opportunities to have sponsorship.
Nobody believed that you can make it.
(31:41):
Now it is proven.
So now the work is that you haveto go and knock at the doors of
the sponsorship and convince themthat this is what you want to do.
And they tell you, no, it feels bad, butyou have to keep knocking at more doors.
And because now it's easier toreally make it in terms of make
it to different categories.
Like I tried to do, it's easier,but I will probably say it's more
(32:04):
difficult to make it to the topin terms of Formula One, because
there are so many drivers now.
They all know the techniques and allthat, because it's all out there.
In my days, you have to walk the track.
There was no simulator.
They have no, I mean, youhave to find yourself out now.
All the information is out there.
So that's what I'm saying.
So it's in the old days, the differencebetween exceptional drug and a good
(32:24):
driver was bigger because of theknowledge that we didn't have now,
because they have everything, they haveall the tools now, the small details.
on your commitment to racing.
That's what makes the difference.
So let's say non drivers,enthusiasts, you know, somebody
walks up to you, Adrian, and says,Hey, I heard you drove at Le Mans.
I've never watched anendurance race before.
Why should I watch such a long race?
(32:46):
American Le Mans series, enduranceracing is not easy to watch.
You just have to be very passionateabout it because there's too
many drivers, too many classes.
But when I race a sport car, soI mean, all those times the fans
were really knowledgeable about thedrivers and the brands, everything.
It was like a big family.
And same with Le Mans, youhave so much history there.
(33:06):
If you like cars and you start readingabout all the stories about Le Mans and
the Porsches and Ferrari and Ferrariversus Ford, et cetera, et cetera.
And then you get there and yousee the atmosphere, the place.
I mean, it's just, it's overwhelming.
It's just beautiful, butobviously you have to like racing.
And these days, you know, uh, theyoung generations have three kids.
(33:28):
The span of attention isvery, it's very short.
They want things very quickly.
And that's why like NASCAR, youknow, to watch a NASCAR race.
Now it's just moredifficult in the old days.
Remember, I mean, you have all the red,everybody watching the races stay there.
You know, I raised in those era,I raised against Dillon, her
seniors, junior, all those legends.
And he was, all the people were therebecause racing was in their blood.
(33:52):
So now we just have to educate the newgenerations and like what is happening
with Formula 1 because of COVID andNetflix and they did this documentary
on the racing, you know, people gotcooked because of the personality
of the drivers and everything.
And the same with me when my careerbecame a boom in, in, in the nineties.
It was because people knew about thedrivers, we have very good television
(34:13):
coverage and everything, and peoplereally got really hooked into it.
It was very special.
So now it's the same.
It's just, you know, we justhave to educate the public
in terms of endurance racing.
What's it all about?
Make small stories and all that.
So, yeah, but I mean, as a driver isfor me, it's just one of the best.
And I, I, I put Le Mans as my favoriteracetrack in my entire career.
(34:37):
One of the things you touched on therewas seeing a lot of change over the years
and over your many years in the motorsports world, in your professional career.
And then afterwards you'veseen a lot of change.
What do you think is one of thebest things to have happened to
motorsport in your time in itsinvolvement, or one of the best
things that's ever happened to Lamont?
You came after the courseredesign and the building changes.
(34:59):
You didn't get to see all the stuff inthe eighties, but there's a lot out there.
So what do you think is one of the best?
Things that's happened.
Yeah.
I say safety, definitely.
I mean, I was one of the firstdrivers to test the Hans device.
It felt weird.
It felt like, really, we haveto use this, but the safety
aspect of it is just incredible.
And then the halo, but all thesethings, I had also a terrible accident.
(35:19):
I don't know if you remember, but inMichigan and one of my wheels came out
and went into the public and it wasjust horrible and after my accident, the
fences went up on the track and more in.
And they start putting tethers in theuprights to attach the tires to it.
So that was a big improvementin terms of safety, the halo and
many, many, many other things.
(35:40):
So I I'll say the aspect of safety,not just on the cars, but the
tracks has made it much better.
Since I started driving to when I finisheddriving, I lost 14 friends that they're
actually practicing testing or erasing.
So that's a lot of drivers.
You know, my career was span of 32 years,but losing 14 friends, that's a lot.
That's way too many.
(36:01):
So, yeah, I say safety is the main thing.
Obviously, the track has improved a lot.
Le Mans.
For example, my last race, you know,with the GT and the following year,
I forgot his name from Denmark.
I think was his name, got killed in,uh, Petra rush, just little things
because it was a real and they had atree on the back and things like that.
So I'll say the safety isthe main, main, main point.
(36:23):
Obviously the cars are becoming also alittle less physical, but more degrading
in terms of your steering wheel, whichin the old days, we didn't have that
many things on the steering wheel.
We have them in differentareas, so it's more there.
So basically you just have to trainyour, your mind, your brain to work with
this little steering wheel where youhave everything in our days, we didn't
have any, I, I actually, I used to, Iremember I used to say to my engineers,
(36:47):
you know, the less bottoms you have inmy steering wheel, the better, you know,
I don't want destruction because itwas already physically very, very hard.
And, you know, I just bought,um, a BRM from Pedro Rodriguez.
1970. And the car is,uh, difficult to drive.
It's very, I drove it in the lastyear in the Monaco Grand Prix Storix.
(37:08):
That's when you realize how racing was somuch more for the driver, more difficult,
more challenging, especially physically,because the position wasn't the right one.
You didn't have the right steering wheels.
The pedal position was not right.
The cars were not that strong.
They were very dangerous.
Et cetera, et cetera.
So when people start comparing driversfrom different generations, eras, I
(37:29):
always say, listen, you cannot compare,you know, you cannot compare, you
cannot put me a modern Formula Onedriver and put it in, in the cars that
I, I, we used to drive or other areas.
So they find you errors.
Where if you have an off, you probablymost likely are going to get killed or get
burned because the cars were like that.
So when, you know, for example, in acorner, you take flat out in Formula 1
(37:51):
these days, if you don't make it, yougo in, in a off lane, it's all paved,
no worries, offline, you know, offlimits, like they call it these days.
Our off limits was the wall, thetrees, you know, the, the grass,
the rocks, the fence, whatever.
So in that respect, everything has changeda lot that has improved, which is good.
In some ways, it's good.
In some other ways, I think theyhave taken a little bit too far,
(38:14):
especially with these four wheelsout of the line and all that.
I think that's so stupid.
I think they should putnatural limits on tracks.
And if you want to go up there,well, there's no grip or you're
going to go into the wall.
It's still with the safetyprotocols that they have these
days, they can still do that.
But obviously always, alwaysthere is a compromise.
Well, I'm glad you brought up drivinghistoric cars because as we wrap up
(38:37):
here, one of the final questions Iwant to ask you is if you could go
back to Lamont today, all things beingequal and drive maybe a car from 2023
or the 2024 season, what would it be?
Or because this year we have theopportunity that we're running the
Lamont's classic for the first time inmany, many years, would you go back to
Lamont and drive one of your previouscars or one of your competitor's cars?
(39:00):
I think I would love to have driventhe GT 40, you know, the GT 40 that
Pedro Rodriguez drove on typical, youknow, the, the engines when they were
fighting with, uh, Ferrari and allthat, the GT is just a beautiful car.
I'm actually trying to get one becauseI would like to drive it actually
in Le Mans, in the Le Mans classics,you know, with the old cars, but
(39:20):
that's the car that I would love.
It's just a beautiful car.
Another car that I like is the 970, youknow, from Steve McQueen those days.
That's another car that I love.
It's another beautiful car, butI think I like better the GT40.
Just imagine in those days they didn'thave chicanes and they were flat out and
if you jump in these cars if you see the917 in the front it's just little shoes.
(39:43):
There is nothing in front of your pedalto protect you if you hit the wall.
I mean, you're going to be just as muchwhen the car is going to be like this.
It's just incredible that in those daysthrough Le Mans and all that, what they
did and the speeds they were doing inthose days in these cars is incredible.
I mean, that's a Molsonstraight took forever.
I mean, probably some guyssmoke a cigarette those days.
(40:04):
To paraphrase something I heard DerekBell once say, driving the 917 was
like being strapped to a lawn chairthat could do 200 miles an hour.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I, I know him well and I, we talkabout it and you know, I drove a lot of
the cars that were very unsafe and sortof like when I started my career, but
it's incredible that in those days youdon't think about it, you know, even the
(40:26):
truck that I used to drive, you see someof the pictures of my early days and you
see people there, people there, whatever.
That was how racing was.
And you, you just didn't think about it.
It was like, okay, well,you hit him and kill him.
Well, that's part of the sport, right?
Sublime to think that, you know, nowwe're thinking, you know, now is so
scrutinize everything, safety drivers,everything, uniforms, fire, this, that.
(40:49):
In those days, I mean, even theseatbelts and so many things that
were not so safe as they are now.
What's next?
Is there more to the story?
Are you done with motorsport?
No, you know what?
I have learned to close the circles.
I live a beautiful life now.
I have three beautiful kids.
I have a beautiful wife.
I have a 16 year old boy, a 17 yearold girl, Valentina Nico, and then I
(41:13):
have a four year old, Adrian Junior.
And like I said, I sacrificed somuch and I was very selfish where I
didn't have other life but racing.
I was so, so into it and soperfectionist in everything I did,
that I miss a lot of those things.
So now I just love my lifebecause I'm just Adrian Fernandez.
I'm not the Rayska Frapper.
(41:33):
I go out, I can be myself.
If they don't recognize me in thebetter, I can do the things that
I didn't do for so many years.
And I absolutely love it becauseI had a fantastic career.
I'm here.
I'm still in one piece.
I did a lot of good friends.
I. I own my own team, Icompeted in different series.
I won in most of them.
I made my money doing racing,which not many people do that.
(41:55):
You're right.
Everything I have, I made it from racing.
And also my career teachme a lot of other things.
So I'm in another thinginvestments and I've done very
well, but it's my own schedule.
I don't like schedules anymore.
I don't fancy that, you know, theyinvite me to the Mexican grumpy or
to these, I don't fancy that anymore.
I spent so much time, you know, I was anFIA steward also in formula one, apart
(42:15):
from being a manager of Checo Perez.
And I mean, those are the worst jobsbecause you know, you're not looking after
yourself, you're looking after somebodyand they don't hear you all the time.
So it's, that's not very nice.
I, a lot of people want me to manage them.
I don't do that anymore.
I help them.
I give them advice and I,I say, I help you for free.
One day, if you become big, justinvite me to one of the races.
(42:36):
To be with you and we havea nice dinner and that's it.
That's your thank you.
And I'll be happy, but Idon't have to get involved.
I don't have to go through the headaches.
I already have them, you know,because racing is tough, especially
that I, I was the driver.
I was the owner.
I sold the sponsorship.
I never had a managers.
So I did everything myself and I did itvery well, but I was extremely exhausted.
(42:56):
So now this balance of life that I havehere, where I am, I have a beautiful
museum here in Miami with some of myrace cars, memorabilia, and I work here.
We have.
Great partners with othercollections of cars.
It just cannot get better.
Some people, sometimes they don'tlet it go, you know, and they
want to stay, stay attached.
I see it with a lot of people, youknow, drivers and they keep driving.
(43:16):
You know, you see, I mean,I drove the 32 years.
So what else am I going to prove?
You know, it's a Lamont, you know,like I do Monaco that's for fun.
I don't care if I win or ifI'm bad last, I don't care.
I mean, what am I going to prove?
I don't have to prove anything I'm done.
And that circle in my life is closed.
It's just the best part.
A lot of people who cannot dothat, then they start getting a
(43:38):
lot of problems with themselvesbecause they want to be that light.
They want to be in the spotlight.
And they want to be there.
It's just, I don't careif I'm in the spotlight.
I don't care if they look at me.
They recognize me.
In the 90s, I was big.
You know, I was very That's fine.
I enjoy it.
But that circle is closed.
Now I do other thingsand I enjoy it a lot.
Have your kids expressed anyinterest in going into motorsport?
(43:58):
Or is that just part of dad's past?
No, I, you know, I took Nico,Nico because he's, uh, two years
younger than Sebastian Montoya.
Juan Pablo Montoya isa good friend of mine.
They used to live here in Miami.
We were neighbors.
The kids went to the same school.
So when Sebastian, Sebas was startingto drive go karts and all that, I
took Nico a few times with him andall that, but he was never, he didn't
(44:22):
really, didn't like it that much.
He enjoyed, but like, if I invite youto a ride in, in, uh, Fairground or
something like that, but nothing special.
He never asked me again and I didn't.
So he has been playing soccersince then and he's a fantastic
soccer player, which I love itbecause I also do different things.
And sometimes I think about it.
(44:42):
Do I want to spend the rest ofmy life going to the tracks again
and the weekends and all that?
It's just too much.
Now I live in other things.
I do other things.
And it's just so your life is full.
In terms of experiences and everything,when you do everything the same,
that's why I don't do podcasts oranything like this, because if I
speak the truth, most of the timeit's, it's going to be in trouble.
(45:04):
And now these days with social media thatyou have to be politically correct and
all that, I mean, it's all that bullshit.
You know, I don't want to get into that.
I don't need it.
I don't live from that.
It's just a great balancein my life at this moment.
And I enjoy a lot of what I did.
You know, I had a fantastic 31 years.
It was just a wonderful journey.
And, you know, I'm just glad that I'mstill here because I lost a lot of good
(45:27):
friends that I love and that I like,you know, I'm very blessed to be able
to be here with good health and enjoy myfamily and do the things I love to do.
As we wrap out here, I'd like to passthe torch to David Lowe, president of
the ACO USA for some parting thoughts.
Adrian, on behalf of theACO and the U. S. members.
I just want to thank youfor an incredible evening.
(45:48):
Thank you.
It was about Lamont, but itstarted to sound like a TED
Talk, which is a big compliment.
You touched on a lot of points thatpeople don't touch on in our evenings,
and you brought a different flavorto it, and I really appreciate that.
And I say that on behalf of the members.
I personally thought itwas an incredible evening.
Thank you so much.
(46:09):
Thank you, Dave.
Anytime, and thank you, Eric.
And on behalf of everyone here and thoselistening at home, thank you, Adrian,
for sharing your stories with us.
Since 1981, when Adrian entered his firstauto race, the 24 Hours of Mexico, in
Mexico City at the age of 15, he maderacing a permanent part of his life.
In the 90s, he would enjoy many successesbehind the wheel of an Indy car, along
(46:31):
with his four attempts at Le Mans from2007 to 2012, propelling him to even
higher heights, becoming the managerfor another up and coming Mexican
driver, Formula One's Sergio Perez.
With over 30 years of professional racingunder his helmet, Adrian is a model for
many of us to continue to aspire to.
To learn more or to keep up withAdrian's latest adventures, be
(46:52):
sure to follow him on social atadrianf007 on Twitter and Instagram.
We hope you enjoyed this presentationand look forward to more evening
with a legend throughout the season.
And with that, Adrian, I can't thankyou enough for coming on the show
and sharing your stories with us.
And whether you realize it or not,you continue to be a role model for up
and coming drivers from here on out.
(47:14):
Thank you, my friend.
Thank you, Eric.
Stay well, my friend.
Good luck.
Ciao.
Ciao.
This episode has been broughtto you by the Automobile Club
of the West and the ACO USA.
(47:34):
From the awe inspiring speed demons thathave graced the track to the courageous
drivers who have pushed the limits ofendurance, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is
an automotive spectacle like no other.
For over a century, the 24 Hours ofLe Mans has urged manufacturers to
innovate for the benefit of futuremotorists, and it's a celebration of
the relentless pursuit of speed andexcellence in the world of motorsports.
(47:55):
To learn more about or to become a memberof the ACO USA, look no further than www.
lemans.
org, click on English in the upperright corner, and then click on the
ACO Members tab for club offers.
Once you've become a member, youcan follow all the action on the
Facebook group ACO USA Members Cluband become part of the legend with
(48:16):
future Evening with the Legend meetups.
Hello.
Hello.
Hello.
This episode has been brought to youby Grand Touring Motorsports as part
of our Motoring Podcast Network.
For more episodes like this, tune in eachweek for more exciting and educational
(48:37):
content from organizations like theExotic Car Marketplace, The Motoring
Historian, Brake Fix, and many others.
If you'd like to support GrandTouring Motorsports and the Motoring
Podcast Network, sign up for one ofour many sponsorship tiers at www.
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com forward slash GT Motorsports.
Please note that the content,opinions, and materials presented and
(48:57):
expressed in this episode are thoseof its creator, and this episode has
been published with their consent.
If you have any inquiries about thisprogram, please contact the creators
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
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