August 23, 2024 • 57 mins
Welcome to Fast Cars, Fast Girls, hosted by Abby Meyer and Mike Knapp. After a busy summer, Abby and Mike are back to discuss the latest developments in the IndyCar series.
The episode kicks off with an in-depth look at David Malukas' early Silly Season moves and his transition to Asian Port Racing. The hosts analyze the implications for Malukas and other drivers who find themselves without a seat, touching on the importance of staying active in the series.
The conversation then shifts to Alexander Rossi, debating whether he’s getting a raw deal at McLaren and what his future holds.
The hosts also discuss the upcoming races, including Portland, Milwaukee, and the season finale at Nashville Super Speedway. They share their predictions for who will come out on top and how the championship race might unfold, highlighting key drivers like Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, and Will Power.
With only four races left, the stakes are high, and the competition is fierce. Tune in for expert analysis and passionate discussion as Abby and Mike break down the final stretch of the IndyCar season.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Fast Cars, Fast Girls. I'm your host, Abby Meyer,
with my co-host, Mike Dow. How are you, Mike? Doing great. Doing great.
So glad we finally, you know, it's been, I guess, maybe because the summer's
gone by so fast that, you know, we haven't recorded in a while,
but it's good to be back doing it again.
It is. It is. Yeah, it's been a very busy summer. Yeah, I'd say you and I were just talking.
(00:24):
There's been a lot of change for both of us. So a lot going on.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, but there's going to be a lot going on with Digicar as well.
So let's just dive right in. Silly season has started early.
David Maloukis has had three different feats this season. Yeah.
Yeah. So he's with Meyers Fing right now, which I absolutely love.
(00:46):
But it's already been announced he's going to Asian Port Racing this year.
That sounds really interesting, actually. Actually, I think it goes to show
a couple things that, you know, he's ready to seriously contend at the Indy 500.
But beyond that, I'm just not sure. And I know that Farushi's had a decent season
(01:08):
with them and everything like that.
But I don't know if he's, I know Meyer Schenck and I mean, Nathan Brown reported on this today.
I mean, they did not extend him an offer. I don't know if they were going to
before the Foyt stuff showed up.
But it's really interesting that is he going there a la Kyle Kirkwood from a
couple of years ago just to stay in the series and keep running races and see
(01:32):
how everything, you know, plays out over the next couple of years.
So and plus, I mean, all of a sudden, you know, the shop's going to go from two cars to three.
And where does that leave, you know, everybody else?
So just to me, a really interesting move on his part. But then again,
I think it's really important to stay in the series because look at what happens to drivers who...
(01:58):
You know, without a ride, even for a season or so, and how they just kind of
get spit out the back, so to speak, because, you know, there's more,
there's more drivers than seats, but, you know, you look at a guy like Alvin Lassiter.
You take a look around the GA seating at pretty much any race on,
(02:18):
you know, at the first practice, and you will find sections of litter for Pini Kelly drivers.
Yeah, yeah. You look at guys, you know, they are open.
You know, they're with the helmet hoping that somebody needs somebody to fill
in. Yeah. I mean, you look at a guy like Oliver Askew and, you know, people like that.
Ah, he got a radio. I love Oliver Askew. Yeah. Yeah, I do, too.
(02:40):
And I think he's a great driver.
But, yeah, he just sort of got in. And even if you want to go like a real veteran,
I mean, you know, Hinch loves TV and he's very, very good at it.
And I don't know if he has a desire to be in a car, but he's still in his mid
30s. And it's just surprising that it's been three or four years since he's
(03:02):
gotten an opportunity. And maybe he feels like that time is past.
But it was interesting how quickly that timeline got sped up when he didn't have a full time seat.
Yes. You know, so, yeah, I think it's smart to stay in the series and to keep driving.
And maybe that's and I'm sure
(03:22):
he's he's bringing you know his own funding and everything
like that so in that sense it is a smart
move but it's just kind of you know it seems like the top couple three teams
are pretty solidly locked in for a while so I don't know you know I've I've
heard and I don't understand people saying this that you know with the Penske
(03:44):
alliance with Foyt that oh oh,
he's just, they're farming him out so he can take Will Power's seat.
And it's like, look, I love the guy. I think he does have talent,
but it's a long way between... He's like strength.
Yeah, it's a long way between being David Malukas and filling in Will Power's seat.
And plus, I don't think Will's gonna be done anytime soon.
(04:08):
So I'm not sure where they really get that. And plus, I think if...
Yeah, I think Penske is going to go. First of all, I don't know when the last
time Penske brought in a driver who had never won a race before,
you know, or never won a championship before or brought in some sort of resume.
Amaze so i think if the day ever does come
(04:30):
that that will steps away i could
see them just staying with two cars if there's not
massively good you know just if there's somebody just a massively good driver
that is going to get another opportunity but i just don't see them going with
a really untested driver to to fill in that seat so anyway no i can't see that either i mean Yeah,
(04:56):
I don't see that happening at Ganassi or, you know, when they think driver,
let's use the calculator.
Yeah, and even if you... Not a lot left to chance.
Right, and even if you look at the seats that were filled this year and have
seen some turnover, I mean, I don't, you know, I think Leah Sundquist has really surprised this year.
(05:19):
I think, you know, he's pretty, pretty much solidified his seat with,
with Ganassi and, and, you know, just the way things are working out with Andretti focusing on just,
you know, three good drivers and not bringing in pay drivers and all that kind of stuff.
And I think in that big three, big four, it's just going to be really difficult
to, you know, crack that for the next few years.
(05:42):
You're really almost going to have to wait till either somebody A,
can't bring money to the table or B.
You know, isn't getting the job done or, well, it's at another one that somebody
retires or somebody goes to another series, you know?
So, so I, you know, what is fortunate about him is he's got,
he's got youth on his side, so he can, he can sit for two or three years and
(06:04):
who knows, maybe he'll, maybe he'll outperform his contract and, and do really well.
And finally being in, And it says something when a driver gets an opportunity
and gets, you know, seat that they know they're going to have for a while.
I think that makes a big difference. And so. Yeah.
So, yeah. You know. I think that makes a big difference as well.
(06:29):
I think the security and knowing you're going to be in it for a while and that
we'd be of same team, same stuff. Right.
Right. That they play into each other as well.
Yeah. but yeah i'm with
you but we don't have a lot of open spots for
a new talent right now yeah i mean you know of
(06:50):
course there's a new team coming in allegedly next year and so we'll see you
know who fits who takes those seats but i think the other silly season piece
i'm thinking about is is alexander rossi and what's really going to happen to
him i think he's i think he's He's getting a raw deal.
I'll be honest about it. I think he's done a lot better than his results have shown.
(07:17):
I mean, obviously, go back to last Saturday night, the bad luck that happened there.
You know, and, and, and, but just, you know, even earlier in the season,
I mean, it was the fault of his team or, or it was a mechanical or it was something like that.
But I don't, I don't see him having done anything to lose that seat other than. Right.
(07:42):
Yeah. So I, I, I'm really surprised that, that, you know, he's moving,
you know, they're, well, not he's choosing to move on.
They're making him move on so quickly, but, um, so it'll be interesting to see.
I was surprised by that as well, especially because I felt like Rossi and McLaren
were a good fit together. on that. I think so too.
I think so too. But for some reason, I don't know.
(08:04):
I really, I really am kind of baffled other than, look, I mean,
every, every team, no matter what team it is, I don't care what anybody says,
every team has a pecking order and, you know, Hato is far and away their number one.
And, you know, I don't know. And I'm not saying this. is a bad thing about,
(08:24):
about Alex, but you know, I think he wants the opportunity to be a number one.
And, and I think if he gets that opportunity, he's going to do really, really well with it.
I just think he, he just, I don't know. He needs to win a race.
I think as soon as he wins a race, he'll start, you know, it's hard to believe
when you look at the start, he got off to in his career and all of a sudden
(08:45):
now it's coming up on what?
Four years since he's won three, four years or while he won one race a couple of years ago,
with Andre but other than that he's won like one race in three four years and
just yeah I think I think if he if he could you know string together a win maybe two wins,
here you know coming up I think that would be.
(09:07):
You know, that would be a boost for his confidence. It's kind of crazy to sit
there and talk about guys who've had that kind of success and who are in their
30s that they need a confidence boost.
But, you know, pro athletes are people.
Everybody needs it some here and there. Absolutely.
Well, and honestly, Roxy has encountered a ridiculous amount of unwlocked,
(09:29):
just bad luck, it feels like.
I don't know what I mean with that. And then it seems to have been all the time as well.
Just you know bizarre mechanical issues pit
stop issues i mean
yeah the 2019 any 500 the same pageant oh
one would have been rossi's 500 had he
not had that super long pit stop yeah that was
(09:52):
the year that he like lost his shit with like bayonet steering wheel
because he was stopped so long it's like that literally
cost him that race right and
and you even were yeah keep going it's like
you point to something like that in almost every
case that is totally not rough
you know not within rossi's control right yeah and just second and just looking
(10:17):
at this year you know he had a tire come off not his fault at barber then at
road america he had a wastegate problem and i that you know race cars break
i mean that's part of the thing but when was the last time.
Wastegate problems were like you know an
80s 90s turbocharger era thing i
(10:37):
knew a lot of guys who would have problems with their weight but who
the hell has a wastegate problem in this area except
alex ferrassi you know so it
just yeah that that's kind of crazy to me
that's kind of crazy to me yeah no that's gonna happen to anybody exactly exactly
oh yeah no it's really hilarious unless you're uh yeah yeah which i which i
(11:04):
am i mean you know i i'm far and away,
you know an alex below fan and everybody knows that pretty well but but uh rossi's
up there is one of my favorites too just because i don't know i i i i kind of
get him it's a little it's a little like the way it's a little like the way
i become a willpower fan over the years is just yes i get I get him.
(11:28):
You know, I get him. And the more I get to know him, the more I like him.
Yeah. I enjoy his sense of humor.
I find him very dry, very witty.
Yeah, he drives me up. And, you know, listening to the podcast,
and I think that's where you kind of really...
See a lot of rossi's personality is on
(11:50):
the podcast and and just i mean he says some
funny stuff and i mean it's not funny funny like
laugh out loud stuff but it's just stuff that's just
so funny because you know he has this
this and it's really funny and you.
See this from a lot of driver pro
athletes for that matter as they get older but like i remember
(12:12):
you know people talked about how you know
all three years like jimmy johnson and
how oh man he's so buttoned up he's so corporate and
people are like you don't know the guy you
know this dude parties this dude is hilarious
this kids were and people have said the same you know
we all thought scott dixon oh the ice man well he'll always
(12:34):
be the ice man on track but we thought he was off track too
and then now he's sort of letting it
out and being himself and I think you know and
yeah it's like this part you know and naked on New
Year's Eve you know for them
I mean you know yeah that's
the thing I think they I think they're like all of us they reach
(12:56):
a point in their life where they don't give a shit so then
they just start being themselves and Rossi's kind
of starting to get that way and you know I like it I get i i get you know i
get drawn to that type of humor so so you know and he's just one of those guys
and i think he's just kind of naturally a little bit shot you know but you put in it.
(13:21):
Yeah yeah so you put him in a room with a couple of
buddies and and they just start talking and stuff and yeah
that's that's what you end up getting so you know
but yeah i've been listening into quite a few
of those episodes lately and really enjoy not
just what he says but just a lot of his insights and
you know i think when he talked about like the crash in iowa and you know he
(13:46):
talked he talked for quite a while about look this is you know and i learned
so much just in like three or four minutes about you know indycars aren't like
regular cars they don't sputter they don't do this, they do that,
it just stops, you know, and you don't know when it's coming,
you don't, you don't know anything, but when you run out of gas,
you run out of gas, and the engine dies,
(14:08):
you know, you can't leave the car around, or you can't do anything,
this is what happens, and, and hearing that perspective, and,
you know, I've been following this sport for 45 years,
and it's amazing, the stuff that, that, that I keep learning from these guys
and girls as time goes on.
(14:28):
Yeah, the intricacies, it never, never made me just how many little things there
are that I wasn't aware of.
And, and even when I did an interview with Tony Kanaan last year and,
and I knew the answer to this question, but I said to him, you know,
why would drivers at this level need a coach?
And he said, because you're, you're always learned, you know,
(14:52):
and, and I know that about, I once talked to a guy who got as high as triple A.
In baseball. He was an outfielder. And he said, one time he goes,
I grew up playing baseball and my dad was my coach. I played in high school. I played in college.
He said, he goes, I thought I knew everything there was to know about the game
of baseball, but then I turned professional and I realized I didn't know shit about baseball.
(15:16):
And I think that just encapsulates probably what racing is too.
It's just when you think, you know, everything about racing, it
turns out you don't have shit about racing but but
yeah so
let's uh look ahead i guess you
want to look ahead to the rest of the schedule four races
three weeks sad the
(15:38):
sad the season ends as early as it does but you
know it's just almost as dumb as going up against the olympics which they couldn't
know because of nbc but almost as dumb as going up in the olympics is going
up against the behemoth that's the NFL and the season ending when it does is
just because it has to be that way.
(16:00):
I don't think anybody wants it to be that way, but it really has to be that way.
And so unfortunately, we're what, three weeks away from the end of the season, four races.
We are. Yeah. So what do you see happening between now and then?
Well, we've got, I mean, a lot of excitement. So there's Portland,
which always is a great race.
(16:22):
I absolutely love the Portland race. If you've not been, I highly recommend
going out there. It was a great time.
But, yeah, so Portland went up. I had no idea he was going to win.
But it always was a great show. And then we've got two new horses back-to-back. Well, not back.
There's a weekend between. But, yeah, so Labor Day weekend, we've got double-hierarch
(16:43):
Milwaukee, going back to Milwaukee, you know.
And then we're going to the Nashville Super Speedway for Series Finale.
And i love that we're ending
the series on a note i mean i could not love that more
yeah me too me too i mean when you look at you
go back to like say when the season
ended at fontana and some of
(17:05):
the just massive drama you know that occurred
there i mean you know i remember willpower crashing and losing the title because
he crashed you know and you just don't i don't know that the The chance of a
big dramatic swing just doesn't really seem like it happens more often on a road or a street course.
(17:26):
So, you know, to go to an oval, get these guys up to speed and girls because
Catherine Legge will be there.
But yeah, get the drivers up to speed and and, you know, let them sort it out
and let there be a little bit of drama and lap cars and all that kind of stuff. I'm all for it.
Yeah, I love it.
(17:47):
I absolutely love it I think that it's going to produce a very exciting finale,
Which I love, because sometimes we've ended up on a road course where the winner
doesn't matter, and the racing kind of reflects that.
Sometimes we have our road course where the winner doesn't matter,
and they all drive like a pot. Yeah.
(18:07):
But I think it'll be a little more consistent on a normal.
Here's a question I want to ask you, though.
Will, is there, do you think that we may go to Nashville and already have our
champion? I think it's always that possible.
Well, I mean, it happened last year with, with, uh, with Palo and,
(18:27):
and I mean, he's, he has more than a one race lead.
So yeah, it's possible, which would be kind of a, kind of a bummer.
But I mean, I obviously of course want him to see the, see him win the championship,
but you know, if it comes down to the, to the last race of the year,
I'm not going to be too upset about it either.
So. Yeah, same. But I think, though, the key to Palou's championship,
(18:53):
I mean, he's okay on all this.
He's never one-on-one, which is a little bit surprising given how accomplished he is. It is.
So I really think a key race for him is this weekend.
He has to I feel like
(19:15):
in order to make himself more comfortable yeah
he has to widen his lead
this weekend oh he absolutely does because I mean because it's unlikely that
he's going to win any of the next three races after them right right and so
and you know and one thing that
(19:35):
Scott Dixon said once years ago in an interview that he He always said,
you know, at least now it's four races left,
but he always said, if I'm less than 100 points out, I feel like I still have a chance.
And so when you've got, you know, you've got these guys with 100 points,
you've got three oval races left and how quickly things can swing.
(19:57):
You know, I think and Palou has had success at Portland.
So I think what he really needs to do is take all 53 points and and hope that a few people,
you know the people chasing him finish a little behind him and maybe he can
push that lead up to you know 75 points or something like that and that would
probably give him a much better comfort level heading into the the last three races.
(20:23):
Absolutely yeah it's probably not the way that he would convert it in the series,
yeah yeah exactly let me look at helen at this part out but,
yeah so you have you have six drivers who are roughly you know i think the award
(20:44):
is what 98 points back so you have six drivers who are still in it you know
theoretically within that 100 points The one thing, though,
that sticks out to me is that I know Joseph Newgarden is,
if my math is correct, he's 126 points back.
But with three ovals to go, I mean, what do you think?
(21:09):
I mean, yeah. I mean, I could see him winning all three of them.
Yeah. And I mean, really. I don't want to see that, but I could see it.
Right. That's what I'm saying. I mean, you know, and even if you,
you know, that's the thing.
And you look at both him and McLaughlin and the way they've recovered,
(21:33):
you know, this year has just been nothing short of, you know, phenomenal.
And, and, and especially, you know, I look at, I hate to say,
and I look at McLaughlin and Newgarden through different lenses,
you know, and it's just interesting that, you know, it's really awesome to see
McLaughlin haven't bounced back the way he has, but Newgarden just,
(21:56):
yeah, it just isn't doing it for me.
I don't know if it's maybe just the controversy that's surrounding him.
And we can talk about that, what happened last weekend.
But yeah, it just sort of seems like, I don't know, unless you're a hardcore
fan of his, are you really excited for him?
No, I'm so tired of seeing him win.
(22:19):
I mean, yeah. I'm tired of it. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
And especially, yeah, because it's like sort of weird shit has happened around his wins this year.
And so, you know, I mean, I shouldn't say that about Indy because,
you know, he went out, you know, took that one by the throat.
But it just seems like, yeah, you know, you look at. The weird circuses.
(22:43):
Yeah yeah but but you look at the weird circumstances
about saint pete you know last week last
weekend i mean you know you
and i talked offline about willpower and his emotions but i'm still wondering
how that team debrief went i can't imagine i mean you know and especially Especially
(23:07):
you look at a guy like Will who, you know, shoot, what is he?
How far behind is he? He's just about 65 points behind.
So, I mean, he'd be a heck of a lot closer if he'd won the race on Saturday, you know.
And you look at a guy like him, time's ticking on his career.
(23:28):
So, what, yeah, I get upset, you know, when I had a chance to win a race and
somebody did something.
Let's just make him the villain. Somebody did something nefarious,
and, you know, he had an issue as a result.
I mean... He had to know that that was going to fuck over Will. Yeah.
(23:50):
He is one of the hardest chargers on a restart. If not the hardest,
now that Tony Fanon isn't racing anymore. Right.
You know the chargers for anybody that's hard as hard, and you go for the fact
that that includes your teammate, Will Bauer.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it just seems dirty.
Yeah. Yeah. And everybody can sit there and go, oh, the data and the,
(24:12):
you know, all that throttle traces and speed and all this other stuff.
You know, I mean, and I understand that the driver, the leader is responsible
for, you know, bringing the field to green.
But I think, you know, there's an element of good faith that has to go along
with that. I mean, you already have an advantage. You go when you want to go.
(24:35):
Everybody has to respond to you. So you have that advantage.
So, you know, just sitting there and sitting on everybody, you know,
goes back to the crap that would happen back in the cart days,
you know, and they'd be break checking people and maybe trying to get people
that I just don't think that's.
I hate to say fair because it's the highest level of competition,
(24:57):
but yeah, I mean, you're responsible.
And put it this way, if a crash happens that close to the front of the field
on a restart, you didn't do it correctly as the leader of the Rex.
Let's just say it that way. That's what I believe.
I mean, Rex happened in the back because everybody wants to, that's your best part,
(25:22):
your best opportunity to make some hay and the back of
the field is on a restart so people are going to make mistakes but but
when guys are crashing at the front of the field yeah
absolutely you didn't do your job and you didn't show good
faith in you know bringing the field back
to the green in a you know in a correct
manner i guess yeah i didn't
(25:43):
know i already lay green it's like i knew you obviously you
met the south yeah yeah and and
it's yeah i didn't know i was gonna get this fired up when
i was when we were going to talk about this but but but
then again it it really it affected the race it greatly affected the championship
(26:04):
and oh yeah and it left a lot of of drivers in really pissed off foods you know
and it also then and and the worst thing.
You can also do as a sport or a series
is especially when the competitors
(26:25):
start doing it is questioning how the sport
or series is being efficient and i
think we've i think you know in some of our other recordings we've had we've
had discussions about this but you know i mean if put it this way brian hurt
is the type of guy that chooses his words really well And when he's one of the guys who's,
(26:50):
you know, saying the most about this,
I kind of take, I kind of understand his, his frustration and I kind of take
the merits of it, you know, cause it's not a bright heart.
It doesn't want, you know, I mean, he, he picks his, he picks his spots very carefully.
And when he's one of the ones leading the
(27:10):
you know leaving the conversation and saying you know
this just isn't looking good then you
really you really start putting the the questions up you know in your mind yourself
because and and not even just with penske teams but you know teams all through
the field i mean you know hurt again i don't know how you can get a blocking
(27:33):
penalty on one of the last couple laps of the race.
I mean, I understand it. I know it's within the spirit of the rule, but, you know.
Newgarden makes a move that wrecks a bunch of guys behind him,
and he doesn't get a penalty, but then Hurtig gets one defending.
His line on the last lap of the race. Yeah, that's baffling to me.
(27:59):
Yeah, well, and also the fact that But Newgarden is fun, and you have the yellow,
and then you get a bouncy.
That's true, too. Yeah. Yeah, it just... Like, way earlier in the break.
I mean, yeah, I've never been shy about calling out the officiating.
(28:20):
It's just, things are not enforced equally across the board, and it's frustrating.
Right. And it even comes down to, you know, when they throw yellows,
especially on road courses and things like that.
And I look at it this way and I've always,
you know, believe this, especially when you look at some of the tragic things
that have happened on track is I don't care how far the field is away as soon
(28:45):
as non participants put it that way.
Touch the racing surface the yellow should come
out it doesn't it doesn't matter if you
know because it does it indie i mean as soon as the yellow comes out or i mean
as soon as an incident happens and the trucks come out it's yeah nobody dicks
(29:07):
around you know and and but this whole thing about we're gonna hold the field
we're gonna hold the yellow until everybody pits or whatever whatever,
that's not competition.
That's, you know, that's manipulating things for the benefit of a show, you know?
And it shouldn't count at the cost of the safety of our racers.
(29:28):
Or anybody, yeah. The safety of the drivers, the safety of...
Shouldn't be, yeah, safety shouldn't be the cost.
Right, right. And I just feel like if you do it that way and if you make it
consistent, then it's fair.
Fair if if you know if if it's flag
things for safety alone and not
(29:48):
for the betterment of the show right yeah
it'll be fair yeah i mean you know
you can have a a track like road america where you know somebody spins out that
you know somebody has an incident in the kink and oh we'll let everybody come
around and hit and stuff and then we'll throw the yellow but still i just don't
agree with that you know and and it's just same way like if you talk about basketball you know Now,
(30:11):
if it's a foul in the first minute of the game, it's a foul in the final 10 seconds.
And and so that's the thing. If if it's a yellow, it's a yellow.
And or if it's cause for yellow, if there's an incident, then it should be one.
And because that's where these guys are supposed to all make their money.
(30:33):
That's what these guys get paid, a shitload of money to be strategists and to
do all this other kind of stuff.
And so, you know, they're the ones that are supposed to make these calls.
And I just don't understand why we sit there and say, oh, well,
you know, this isn't worthy to throw yellow right away. We'll let everybody pay.
No, you throw it and you let the competitors figure out what to do for them.
(30:58):
Yeah, but it ships all where they fall.
Yeah. Well, and also another thing is, I'm sure that the person who,
the driver who called the yellow, is not loving that it's being delayed. Right.
Because, A, that means the car is still going by its speed, and B,
the AMR isn't out yet, because they're not coming out. Yeah.
(31:19):
Yeah, they're not coming out until the yellow goes.
And so, yeah, it should, it should just be a, it should just be a uniform thing
that as soon as something happens,
you know, and, and say it as it like, if a car say road America or,
you know, anywhere else goes off track in the grass and the,
you know, and they hang out there for a while and stuff.
(31:41):
Okay yeah no but i mean when you know
cars are getting damaged or when they're pointing the wrong
direction or when they're doing all that kind of stuff that's a yellow no matter
what that's a yellow and and it should be dealt with that way and so and and
especially when it seems like and i don't know if you want to do a deep dive
and and say you know go by and and see who benefits the most,
(32:05):
but it just seems glaring sometimes when you look at who benefits from a call and it's a Penske car.
I mean, you know, I would really think that the owner of the series would want
to try and avoid any type of discussion of conflict,
you know, conflict of interest and, you know, but apparently he's not doing that.
(32:28):
And I think that doesn't sit well with people either.
Yeah. Yeah, that was a big discussion. And then a couple of Facebook groups
I'm in yesterday, I just kind of scrolled through some of the comments.
But I don't feel like there's been a change in the officiating since Penske took over.
Right. So I don't feel like I don't feel like I'm owning a series that's really
(32:54):
benefiting Penske drivers, with the exception of the whole cheating thing.
I feel like I'm doing an internal investigation like, hey, we've got cheating,
but we're going to investigate ourselves and you should just trip them. Yeah.
That's if she is gone. Right.
Otherwise, I don't feel like there's been any impropriety just because I feel
(33:17):
like the officiating has always kind of been tipped in the favor of the bigger piece.
Well, yeah, that's that's true, too. I mean, you know, and you and you look
even like last year at Toronto when, you know, Polo Drive, you know,
drove the end of the race with, you know, his nose hanging on for dear life in front of the car.
He should have been black flagged for that and i'm saying that as a
(33:39):
as a polo fan and how he's finishing that race probably helped him win the championship
but but but yeah i mean if you know if a coin car was driving around like that
i don't think they would i don't think they would let him drive around like
that especially you know and especially i hate to say it but,
you know you look at toronto and i mean tragic things can happen anywhere but
(34:03):
you look at what happened a long time ago at Toronto and yeah,
a nose flying off of a car could be bad,
you know, and, and they should, they shouldn't be, you shouldn't be able to
drive around even if you're keeping pace.
And I know that's, that's a separate thing that they'll black flag you if you're
not keeping your pace, but if your car is damaged in some way that could cause
(34:23):
harm to anybody else, you know, you've got to race control has to take care of that.
Absolutely. Again, you should flag based on safety.
Right. Not, yeah, not the number
on the car or the person driving it or anything like that, you know.
Or shaving ship invocations or blah, blah, blah. Yeah.
Like, if the nose cone is being held on by what's basically a piece of duct tape, nah.
(34:48):
Yeah yeah especially like i
said you know that that comes off you know
that falls off in front of pullo's car he runs
over it what happens to him or what happens if you know god forbid it drinks
off and and you know it gets a draft of air underneath it throws that thing
up in the air you know i mean i've never i've never lifted a nose before and
(35:11):
i don't know how heavy they are but I can imagine they're heavy.
So, you know, I mean, for them to be as... They're heavy enough to fall out of the sky at you.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know... Somebody doesn't have to be that heavy for me to not want to date them.
Right, right. Absolutely.
(35:31):
Yeah, my bar for that is pretty low. Yeah.
I guarantee that the nose is heavier than anything I want to get kids to head
with. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
So we've already talked a little bit about Portland. And here's another one, too, is that,
You know, another guy you've got to think about as far as the title.
(35:52):
I mean, you have, you know, a top six.
If you want to just look at the guys who were in that window of Palo,
Hurta, Dixon, Power, McLaughlin, and Award.
I think the guy who I sort of like to maybe possibly if something happens to
Palo is either Dixon or Hurta to make a really serious move this weekend.
(36:16):
I just think, you know, you know, in golf, they call Saturday,
you know, there's a four round tournament Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, they call Saturday moving day.
And I sort of feel and that's where you like, train, you know,
move yourself up in the field, so you're in position to do something big on Sunday.
And I kind of think that I kind of think I feel like I feel like this weekend
(36:39):
is kind of moving day and where you position yourself to.
I mean, whoever it is, you know, if if I'm those guys that are in within 50,
60, 70 points of blow, I want to put the pressure on.
And it's unfortunate in sports that you have to not root for somebody's demise.
(36:59):
But if it happens, you're not going to apologize for it.
And so, so if Paloma doesn't have the greatest of weekends, you know,
if I'm those next two or three in the standings, I've got to pounce on it.
And I think of somebody, the person, the two people I think most would be Hurta and, and Dixon.
I mean, of course, power is right there too, but, but those two guys,
(37:21):
especially Hurta, you know, like I said, he's done well at Portland,
you know, Dixon, I like it Milwaukee.
I like power at Milwaukee because I think at least the first week,
the first race is going to benefit guys who have been there.
Yes. So so that that advantage goes to Dixon power and even further down to
(37:44):
to New Garden, you know, and especially if it's one of those. And I hope it's not.
One of my worries about Milwaukee is that the race won't be like Milwaukee back
in the day or it was just to follow the leader fast.
I hope that's not the case I hope what we got this weekend will be a better
(38:06):
indicator for that but especially if it's a follow a leader race I really look
at the people who have raced a lot there to.
Be able to really put the pressure on Palau and you know take Palau to the last
race of the year on an oval where he has to perform and see what happens,
(38:28):
yeah i mean that might be the push that
he needs you never know yeah i never
know what uh what that kind of pressure will do i um it's a funny story i was
a competitive swimmer i swam on a lot of swim meets not just like iso swimming
i did year-round swimming yeah and so those swim meets at their three-day events
(38:49):
friday saturday sunday and each day has specific events and so you're You're not in an event.
You are in a specific heat number of that event number, and then you also have a lane number.
Right. So it's so much shit that we end up writing our event heat and lane numbers
on our arms in Sharpie. Yeah.
(39:11):
Because there's no fucking way you're going to remember that.
So anyhow, I was, there was a little bit of overlap with the high school season
and with the year round for how we would do it.
And I had just won the gold on me and I was in the 100 freestyle.
And for whatever reason, in my moderate, I thought it was a 50 freestyle.
(39:34):
And which is a very different, very different race.
Because you breathe maybe one time at a 50 freestyle like maybe on the flip turn,
maybe you breathe at all yeah there's 100 freestyle you don't
really do it like that it's not exactly an all-out sprint
and i'll tell you what i was almost back to the wall and it hit me i was like
wait a second this isn't a 50 this is 100 and i was like oh my god i'm gonna
(40:00):
die yeah i just got balls to the wall for 50 meters and had to do another 50
and but yeah yeah, I took 14 seconds off of my best time.
The funniest part is my dad was the sometimes he came over and as soon as I
got out of the pool, he was like, you thought it was a 50, didn't you? And I was like, sure did.
And he was immediately like on the get. He was like, oh, and I saw you take
(40:23):
off. I knew you thought it was a 50. He goes, I'm just glad nobody had to tell you to keep swimming.
Well, yeah, I mean, being a track parent, I mean, there were especially indoor meets.
There are a lot of times where I'd see somebody like pull up a lap too early
and then you're like no you've got no more lap and then they you know then they
have to get it together and and you know but their last lap they'd be mentally
(40:45):
fried because they made that kind of mistake but but yeah with nashville high bank concrete,
loss of speed yeah that that could that could lead to some interesting things
and yeah if i'm i want a 54 point lead before i head there but,
this being IndyCar, you can't just drive around and do that.
(41:08):
You know, that's sort of the hard thing about it is you just can't ride around
and be like, oh yeah, I'm just going to hang in there and try and nurse my lead because,
that's when you just end up making a mistake or, you know, the way things work,
all of a sudden you're 10th and somebody else wins and they take a big chunk out of your lead.
(41:30):
So, yeah, I think the pressure on Palou as the season ends is quite different
than it has been, you know, for a long time,
given the fact that, you know, nothing's set in stone after after Portland and
the last couple of championships he's won.
(41:51):
That's almost been the case you know where it's like
oh well you know we get done in portland hey we're going to a we're going
to a road course this is cool but now it's we get
done with portland and holy crap we've got three more ovals three
ovals on two tracks that all he's probably
done is tested on so you know
it's gonna be interesting like i said as
(42:12):
an alex pillow stan dude i i want
him you know i'm rooting for him to win the championship but at
the same time i also realize that it's not going to be
all that easy for him and yeah it's
not it's not going to be a sunday drive one yeah
what do you speaking of though milwaukee what do you
think the the racing has been like i haven't really followed the testing all
(42:35):
that much or anything like that i mean you know the hard part is is is just
you know back in the day there wasn't a second line through the corners and
that was what made things different or difficult so and especially Especially on lower horsepower,
I'm just kind of curious to see what this is going to be like in its return.
Yeah, you know, I'm curious to see that as well. I hope that the rate being
(42:57):
good. I haven't followed the company that closely either.
So I hope it is. I hope it is. I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, Milwaukee is just one of those places where IndyCar needs to be. It does.
I mean, it's a great market. It's not far away from us, I'd say.
It's close to you guys up near Chicago.
(43:18):
Yeah. Yeah, because it's only about a four-hour drive from Indianapolis.
So it's another great Midwest stop.
So I absolutely love that we're going there. And I love the history of the racetrack.
It's actually older than IMS.
Which is awesome. Yeah. And, and just hearing the, the, you know,
(43:42):
all the stories about the history of racing.
I mean, you know, Ralph De Palma, who is one of my, you know,
one of my racing heroes, uh,
before anything was built around that racetrack now
it sits and it's like a wriggly field or it's like ims it's it's
right in the middle of a neighborhood but he was going down
the back stretch and he crashed and he crashed into
a cornfield and he got a corn stalk
(44:04):
impaled through his chest you know i mean
that's just that's just like badass old-time racing
stuff but then you look at you know aj floyd
and how you know one time he had to
come there and qualify in his dirt car because his other
car wasn't ready and he still he still put it on the front row
i mean you know and and watching it from
(44:25):
the like 80s and 90s and the way they raced there i mean milwaukee yeah it's
just it's part of the history of racing and i i think any car needs to be there
for one and two they've got you know if the racing isn't great i think they
should really go to great lengths to
try and improve it because yeah, I think, I think Milwaukee should be,
(44:48):
should be on the schedule from here on out.
I completely agree. Yeah, it's just, it's got, like I said, such great history
that it's one of the places, like, yeah, we need to keep going here.
Yeah. And, you know, I felt that when we went back to Portland as well.
It was, it's got such a great history. I mean, it's not as old as Milwaukee
or IMS, but it's got such a great history.
(45:10):
And, you know, when we went back there, I was like, yes, we need to keep coming
back. Like, it just feels right. Yeah.
And so, yeah, it's like, if we don't quite have the racing running here,
then we need to work on that. So you do get it right.
Milwaukee deserves to have good racing. And I hope the fans show up.
I mean, that's a big thing. Now, that was always disappointing when you just see the effort.
(45:32):
I went to, what, the last probably five or six races there from maybe 2009 or 2010 on.
And yeah, I always felt bad because people put a lot into it and nobody showed
up. And it's kind of unbelievable because it's easy to get to.
Parking's easy. you can park close the tickets aren't that expensive you know
(45:55):
there's just so many good things about going there and it's close you can you
know even really even if you live a few hours away you can pick or choose what
race you want this weekend if you don't want to go to both,
and absolutely you can and you can't go wrong and you know you can still have
your labor day weekend and all that other kind of stuff so i mean it's so set
(46:16):
up in my mind it's set up for success and I just yeah I just want to see it
happen I want to see it happen too and you know.
We have been after ovals and we've got three great ovals at the end of this
so I really can show up too especially with it being such a such a close track
(46:39):
to drive to for so many fans for Nashville that's a four and a half hour drive as well,
Yeah, I think when people talk about...
I've got to say, sorry, that's definitely a farther drive for you.
Yeah, but still, it's and I mean, especially when you're going to a city like
Nashville, it's it's it's pretty cool.
(47:01):
But I know a lot of people may not agree with it.
You know, I don't have a problem with IndyCar.
You know, a lot of people say, oh, we need to go race on the East Coast or we
really need to go do this.
And, you know, I I like a diverse schedule and I think IndyCar stretches out pretty well.
But I don't see a problem with focusing on the Midwest the way the series tends
(47:25):
to do, because the most loyal fans are here, you know.
And so I'm glad California has a couple of races because those fans are extremely loyal.
When you look at, you know, when you look at like Long Beach,
I mean, extremely loyal.
Portland has proven to be a great market, you know, St.
Pete speaks for itself. but for the most part
(47:47):
but for the most part yeah i mean just you got to put races where the fans are
and and i think any car drivers or any car fans you know don't mind driving
eight nine hours to go to a race you know and so why not put a majority of your
races that far from everywhere,
and let everybody because most people go to multiple races anyway so you may
(48:11):
i mean this This will be what my fourth or fifth of the year.
So, you know, we all go to multiple races anyway. So just put it here.
Absolutely one thing i was saying back to back because i gotta work sometime yeah exactly,
exactly you gotta spread them out a little bit my employer's like you yeah yeah
(48:33):
exactly so one thing i will want to mention to our charter listeners who are going up to milwaukee,
back off the pedal the gas pedal a little bit once you get in wisconsin because
they are they They will be out in force, put it that way.
Anytime they know people are coming up from Illinois, they're waiting.
And I know from personal experience. Oh, and it's already a holiday weekend,
(48:55):
which brings out force anyway.
Right, right. But I mean, I fell victim to that the first Milwaukee race I went to.
So, you know. Yeah, Wisconsin police do not play.
Well, yeah, a quick story. We took my wife's son up to school at the University of North Dakota.
Cody he he went to his first semester there was
(49:15):
the spring semester so we took him in the dead of winter in
January and I'm cruising through Wisconsin it's
nighttime you know we get into some valleys the
the the temperature thing on the car would say it was like 20 below I go breezing
by this cop he pulls me over and I look at the I look at the temperature and
it's 19 below and I'm like if this guy's getting out of his car when it's 19
(49:39):
but I'm getting a ticket and yeah a hundred.
So so but but yeah my my story with the the way on the way to milwaukee was
came over a hill came over an overpass and they were like there was a little
access road there and there were like 12 12 state troopers just lined up picking people up so so yeah,
(50:04):
yeah i would definitely yeah definitely lift a little bit definitely go into
fuel safe mode Or when you come into Wisconsin,
it will like... Yeah, across that border.
It'll benefit your wallet a lot. Yeah.
And if you're staying in the Pfister Hotel, it makes noises.
There might be ghosts, but, you know, it's just part of the charm of that hotel
(50:26):
in Milwaukee. So don't worry about that either.
But yeah. So, so then you did it to just, you know, move on to the finale.
And I don't want to talk about Nashville a little bit, but I don't know if,
I mean, the downtown street race is fun and all that other kind of stuff,
(50:46):
but if they're going to stay in Nashville, which I'm okay with,
I'd rather they almost stay out at the speedway.
I know it's... I think it's going to... I hope it... You know,
we were talking about Milwaukee and ticket sales.
I hope you know, Nashville is the same way because you know, what is it?
45 minutes outside of town and they have traffic problems and all that other kinds of stuff.
(51:09):
I really hope that the fan tour, I probably won't be going.
So, you know, anybody who hasn't gone to an IndyCar race, go there on my place.
But yeah, that's another, another event that is just really needs to succeed,
I guess, for, for the benefit of IndyCar.
I agree. Yeah, I'm interested to see how the oval will be.
(51:31):
I hope it's really great racing because three course has been,
frankly, kind of disappointing. Yeah.
And, yeah, just a lot of things. I was there in person for the first one.
And, you know, stands weren't needed to, like, the day of the race.
There was just kinds of weird stuff that went on.
So I would love to see it.
(51:53):
And, you know, I said Nashville knows how to throw a course.
Yeah they they do that very well they were just still you know getting their
feet wet with learning for a race so i'm i'm excited to see how it is at like
a permanent track i think that'll be helpful,
and so i feel like this is gonna hopefully usher
in some some really fun racing and fun times
(52:14):
in the napa area yeah i want one
thing i will say about it and if you've never been to a street street
race those of you who are listening what's really cool about a
street race is the party is right outside the
track you know it's like you finish it like
whatever's going on the track you just leave the
track area and you're within restaurants and bars so yeah it just it just continues
(52:38):
on to the next location it's wonderful yeah yeah and and that's the only thing
i get you know i think about with some of the some of these tracks that are sort of far out there.
But I think what also on the flip side is going to help is being that this race
is going to be five or six weeks later on the calendar, it may not be as oppressively
(53:00):
hot, and there may not be...
And there really may not be as much of a threat of bad weather.
So I think moving it to the middle of September is good for a lot of different
reasons. And maybe if they...
If they decide to go back downtown, then maybe, you know, I think they are keeping
(53:25):
it there because it's going to be the finale for a while.
But I think that'll, I think, change, you know, how many people come to that race weekend as well.
So let's just say, let's just say here's getting close to an hour.
So here's with four races left and let's find time to, you know,
check back on this a couple of times between now and then. but race finishes in Nashville.
(53:50):
Give me a prediction of your top three and points.
Oh, I have no idea who are the topics right now.
Top six right now are below Herda Dixon, power McLaughlin award.
Tough to say, isn't it? It is. I feel like Dixon and power are going to do well. Yeah.
(54:17):
They're extremely versatile drivers and they statistically do the best on this track.
Both of them are very good at that.
I have to go with Dixon because I haven't blogged in a while,
but I should again, but if you go to the Fast Cars, Ferris Girls website and
(54:39):
read my prediction from the start of the season, I've hit Dixon as a champion.
Oh, that's right, you did. I did. I did. I did. So, you know,
my head is still saying him because he's great at Portland.
He's done well at Milwaukee. And I remember a couple, at least one race there
where he was really dominating the racing out of penalty.
(55:00):
So he's done well at Milwaukee. Power has done well at Milwaukee.
So my head really is thinking that Dixon's still, I guess I'll have to go with
my prediction from a few months ago.
So I say the top three are going to be Dixon, Palo and Power.
Okay. And, you know, and maybe, and maybe Hurd just because I don't know how far back it goes.
(55:28):
If Hurd has ever, I know he's too young to have ever even in a ladder series, if he's ever raced.
But, you know, you look at those three guys, second, third, and fourth are separated
by seven points, you know, and then, and then McLaughlin is another seven back.
Act so is that duchess it
(55:49):
sure is hi duchess boomer boomer's a boomer's a w daycare so it's it's pretty
quiet around so yeah that's what i guess i have to say is is dixon pillow power
would be you know since i have to stay faithful to my my choice at the beginning of the beginning.
Of the year so well absolutely but
(56:11):
again i mean you know
you look at a guy that and and dixon if i'm not mistaken without
looking this up and taking the time to do it i think he's won at
nashville hasn't he i think he has yes true
all right so so to answer a question
while you're doing that i looked it up surprisingly any
car has a racer since 2008 and here's
(56:34):
a from a story i read off the website beyond the flag nashville super
speedway has not been on the indycar calendar since 2008
when scott dixon won there for the third straight
year there we have it there you
go so granted different era different car all other kinds of stuff but he's
(56:57):
scott freaking dixon and so somewhere in the recesses of his brain he's like
i've won here before maybe I know how to win here.
So, yeah, I think that's, I think I might be pretty, I should look back and
see what my predictions look like.
Maybe I'll talk about that if we're, you know, in our next recording and see
(57:18):
how close I am to some of those.
I think so. Thanks for listening. Be sure to check out my blog on the website, pathcarfabgirls.com.
And as always, we're on all social media. Thanks for listening.
See you later. All right.
Welcome to Fast Cars, Fast Girls. I'm your host, Abby Meyer,
with my co-host, Mike Dow. How are you, Mike? Doing great. Doing great.
So glad we finally, you know, it's been, I guess, maybe because the summer's
gone by so fast that, you know, we haven't recorded in a while,
but it's good to be back doing it again.
It is. It is. Yeah, it's been a very busy summer. Yeah, I'd say you and I were just talking.
(00:24):
There's been a lot of change for both of us. So a lot going on.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, but there's going to be a lot going on with Digicar as well.
So let's just dive right in. Silly season has started early.
David Maloukis has had three different feats this season. Yeah.
Yeah. So he's with Meyers Fing right now, which I absolutely love.
(00:46):
But it's already been announced he's going to Asian Port Racing this year.
That sounds really interesting, actually. Actually, I think it goes to show
a couple things that, you know, he's ready to seriously contend at the Indy 500.
But beyond that, I'm just not sure. And I know that Farushi's had a decent season
(01:08):
with them and everything like that.
But I don't know if he's, I know Meyer Schenck and I mean, Nathan Brown reported on this today.
I mean, they did not extend him an offer. I don't know if they were going to
before the Foyt stuff showed up.
But it's really interesting that is he going there a la Kyle Kirkwood from a
couple of years ago just to stay in the series and keep running races and see
(01:32):
how everything, you know, plays out over the next couple of years.
So and plus, I mean, all of a sudden, you know, the shop's going to go from two cars to three.
And where does that leave, you know, everybody else?
So just to me, a really interesting move on his part. But then again,
I think it's really important to stay in the series because look at what happens to drivers who...
(01:58):
You know, without a ride, even for a season or so, and how they just kind of
get spit out the back, so to speak, because, you know, there's more,
there's more drivers than seats, but, you know, you look at a guy like Alvin Lassiter.
You take a look around the GA seating at pretty much any race on,
(02:18):
you know, at the first practice, and you will find sections of litter for Pini Kelly drivers.
Yeah, yeah. You look at guys, you know, they are open.
You know, they're with the helmet hoping that somebody needs somebody to fill
in. Yeah. I mean, you look at a guy like Oliver Askew and, you know, people like that.
Ah, he got a radio. I love Oliver Askew. Yeah. Yeah, I do, too.
(02:40):
And I think he's a great driver.
But, yeah, he just sort of got in. And even if you want to go like a real veteran,
I mean, you know, Hinch loves TV and he's very, very good at it.
And I don't know if he has a desire to be in a car, but he's still in his mid
30s. And it's just surprising that it's been three or four years since he's
(03:02):
gotten an opportunity. And maybe he feels like that time is past.
But it was interesting how quickly that timeline got sped up when he didn't have a full time seat.
Yes. You know, so, yeah, I think it's smart to stay in the series and to keep driving.
And maybe that's and I'm sure
(03:22):
he's he's bringing you know his own funding and everything
like that so in that sense it is a smart
move but it's just kind of you know it seems like the top couple three teams
are pretty solidly locked in for a while so I don't know you know I've I've
heard and I don't understand people saying this that you know with the Penske
(03:44):
alliance with Foyt that oh oh,
he's just, they're farming him out so he can take Will Power's seat.
And it's like, look, I love the guy. I think he does have talent,
but it's a long way between... He's like strength.
Yeah, it's a long way between being David Malukas and filling in Will Power's seat.
And plus, I don't think Will's gonna be done anytime soon.
(04:08):
So I'm not sure where they really get that. And plus, I think if...
Yeah, I think Penske is going to go. First of all, I don't know when the last
time Penske brought in a driver who had never won a race before,
you know, or never won a championship before or brought in some sort of resume.
Amaze so i think if the day ever does come
(04:30):
that that will steps away i could
see them just staying with two cars if there's not
massively good you know just if there's somebody just a massively good driver
that is going to get another opportunity but i just don't see them going with
a really untested driver to to fill in that seat so anyway no i can't see that either i mean Yeah,
(04:56):
I don't see that happening at Ganassi or, you know, when they think driver,
let's use the calculator.
Yeah, and even if you... Not a lot left to chance.
Right, and even if you look at the seats that were filled this year and have
seen some turnover, I mean, I don't, you know, I think Leah Sundquist has really surprised this year.
(05:19):
I think, you know, he's pretty, pretty much solidified his seat with,
with Ganassi and, and, you know, just the way things are working out with Andretti focusing on just,
you know, three good drivers and not bringing in pay drivers and all that kind of stuff.
And I think in that big three, big four, it's just going to be really difficult
to, you know, crack that for the next few years.
(05:42):
You're really almost going to have to wait till either somebody A,
can't bring money to the table or B.
You know, isn't getting the job done or, well, it's at another one that somebody
retires or somebody goes to another series, you know?
So, so I, you know, what is fortunate about him is he's got,
he's got youth on his side, so he can, he can sit for two or three years and
(06:04):
who knows, maybe he'll, maybe he'll outperform his contract and, and do really well.
And finally being in, And it says something when a driver gets an opportunity
and gets, you know, seat that they know they're going to have for a while.
I think that makes a big difference. And so. Yeah.
So, yeah. You know. I think that makes a big difference as well.
(06:29):
I think the security and knowing you're going to be in it for a while and that
we'd be of same team, same stuff. Right.
Right. That they play into each other as well.
Yeah. but yeah i'm with
you but we don't have a lot of open spots for
a new talent right now yeah i mean you know of
(06:50):
course there's a new team coming in allegedly next year and so we'll see you
know who fits who takes those seats but i think the other silly season piece
i'm thinking about is is alexander rossi and what's really going to happen to
him i think he's i think he's He's getting a raw deal.
I'll be honest about it. I think he's done a lot better than his results have shown.
(07:17):
I mean, obviously, go back to last Saturday night, the bad luck that happened there.
You know, and, and, and, but just, you know, even earlier in the season,
I mean, it was the fault of his team or, or it was a mechanical or it was something like that.
But I don't, I don't see him having done anything to lose that seat other than. Right.
(07:42):
Yeah. So I, I, I'm really surprised that, that, you know, he's moving,
you know, they're, well, not he's choosing to move on.
They're making him move on so quickly, but, um, so it'll be interesting to see.
I was surprised by that as well, especially because I felt like Rossi and McLaren
were a good fit together. on that. I think so too.
I think so too. But for some reason, I don't know.
(08:04):
I really, I really am kind of baffled other than, look, I mean,
every, every team, no matter what team it is, I don't care what anybody says,
every team has a pecking order and, you know, Hato is far and away their number one.
And, you know, I don't know. And I'm not saying this. is a bad thing about,
(08:24):
about Alex, but you know, I think he wants the opportunity to be a number one.
And, and I think if he gets that opportunity, he's going to do really, really well with it.
I just think he, he just, I don't know. He needs to win a race.
I think as soon as he wins a race, he'll start, you know, it's hard to believe
when you look at the start, he got off to in his career and all of a sudden
(08:45):
now it's coming up on what?
Four years since he's won three, four years or while he won one race a couple of years ago,
with Andre but other than that he's won like one race in three four years and
just yeah I think I think if he if he could you know string together a win maybe two wins,
here you know coming up I think that would be.
(09:07):
You know, that would be a boost for his confidence. It's kind of crazy to sit
there and talk about guys who've had that kind of success and who are in their
30s that they need a confidence boost.
But, you know, pro athletes are people.
Everybody needs it some here and there. Absolutely.
Well, and honestly, Roxy has encountered a ridiculous amount of unwlocked,
(09:29):
just bad luck, it feels like.
I don't know what I mean with that. And then it seems to have been all the time as well.
Just you know bizarre mechanical issues pit
stop issues i mean
yeah the 2019 any 500 the same pageant oh
one would have been rossi's 500 had he
not had that super long pit stop yeah that was
(09:52):
the year that he like lost his shit with like bayonet steering wheel
because he was stopped so long it's like that literally
cost him that race right and
and you even were yeah keep going it's like
you point to something like that in almost every
case that is totally not rough
you know not within rossi's control right yeah and just second and just looking
(10:17):
at this year you know he had a tire come off not his fault at barber then at
road america he had a wastegate problem and i that you know race cars break
i mean that's part of the thing but when was the last time.
Wastegate problems were like you know an
80s 90s turbocharger era thing i
(10:37):
knew a lot of guys who would have problems with their weight but who
the hell has a wastegate problem in this area except
alex ferrassi you know so it
just yeah that that's kind of crazy to me
that's kind of crazy to me yeah no that's gonna happen to anybody exactly exactly
oh yeah no it's really hilarious unless you're uh yeah yeah which i which i
(11:04):
am i mean you know i i'm far and away,
you know an alex below fan and everybody knows that pretty well but but uh rossi's
up there is one of my favorites too just because i don't know i i i i kind of
get him it's a little it's a little like the way it's a little like the way
i become a willpower fan over the years is just yes i get I get him.
(11:28):
You know, I get him. And the more I get to know him, the more I like him.
Yeah. I enjoy his sense of humor.
I find him very dry, very witty.
Yeah, he drives me up. And, you know, listening to the podcast,
and I think that's where you kind of really...
See a lot of rossi's personality is on
(11:50):
the podcast and and just i mean he says some
funny stuff and i mean it's not funny funny like
laugh out loud stuff but it's just stuff that's just
so funny because you know he has this
this and it's really funny and you.
See this from a lot of driver pro
athletes for that matter as they get older but like i remember
(12:12):
you know people talked about how you know
all three years like jimmy johnson and
how oh man he's so buttoned up he's so corporate and
people are like you don't know the guy you
know this dude parties this dude is hilarious
this kids were and people have said the same you know
we all thought scott dixon oh the ice man well he'll always
(12:34):
be the ice man on track but we thought he was off track too
and then now he's sort of letting it
out and being himself and I think you know and
yeah it's like this part you know and naked on New
Year's Eve you know for them
I mean you know yeah that's
the thing I think they I think they're like all of us they reach
(12:56):
a point in their life where they don't give a shit so then
they just start being themselves and Rossi's kind
of starting to get that way and you know I like it I get i i get you know i
get drawn to that type of humor so so you know and he's just one of those guys
and i think he's just kind of naturally a little bit shot you know but you put in it.
(13:21):
Yeah yeah so you put him in a room with a couple of
buddies and and they just start talking and stuff and yeah
that's that's what you end up getting so you know
but yeah i've been listening into quite a few
of those episodes lately and really enjoy not
just what he says but just a lot of his insights and
you know i think when he talked about like the crash in iowa and you know he
(13:46):
talked he talked for quite a while about look this is you know and i learned
so much just in like three or four minutes about you know indycars aren't like
regular cars they don't sputter they don't do this, they do that,
it just stops, you know, and you don't know when it's coming,
you don't, you don't know anything, but when you run out of gas,
you run out of gas, and the engine dies,
(14:08):
you know, you can't leave the car around, or you can't do anything,
this is what happens, and, and hearing that perspective, and,
you know, I've been following this sport for 45 years,
and it's amazing, the stuff that, that, that I keep learning from these guys
and girls as time goes on.
(14:28):
Yeah, the intricacies, it never, never made me just how many little things there
are that I wasn't aware of.
And, and even when I did an interview with Tony Kanaan last year and,
and I knew the answer to this question, but I said to him, you know,
why would drivers at this level need a coach?
And he said, because you're, you're always learned, you know,
(14:52):
and, and I know that about, I once talked to a guy who got as high as triple A.
In baseball. He was an outfielder. And he said, one time he goes,
I grew up playing baseball and my dad was my coach. I played in high school. I played in college.
He said, he goes, I thought I knew everything there was to know about the game
of baseball, but then I turned professional and I realized I didn't know shit about baseball.
(15:16):
And I think that just encapsulates probably what racing is too.
It's just when you think, you know, everything about racing, it
turns out you don't have shit about racing but but
yeah so
let's uh look ahead i guess you
want to look ahead to the rest of the schedule four races
three weeks sad the
(15:38):
sad the season ends as early as it does but you
know it's just almost as dumb as going up against the olympics which they couldn't
know because of nbc but almost as dumb as going up in the olympics is going
up against the behemoth that's the NFL and the season ending when it does is
just because it has to be that way.
(16:00):
I don't think anybody wants it to be that way, but it really has to be that way.
And so unfortunately, we're what, three weeks away from the end of the season, four races.
We are. Yeah. So what do you see happening between now and then?
Well, we've got, I mean, a lot of excitement. So there's Portland,
which always is a great race.
(16:22):
I absolutely love the Portland race. If you've not been, I highly recommend
going out there. It was a great time.
But, yeah, so Portland went up. I had no idea he was going to win.
But it always was a great show. And then we've got two new horses back-to-back. Well, not back.
There's a weekend between. But, yeah, so Labor Day weekend, we've got double-hierarch
(16:43):
Milwaukee, going back to Milwaukee, you know.
And then we're going to the Nashville Super Speedway for Series Finale.
And i love that we're ending
the series on a note i mean i could not love that more
yeah me too me too i mean when you look at you
go back to like say when the season
ended at fontana and some of
(17:05):
the just massive drama you know that occurred
there i mean you know i remember willpower crashing and losing the title because
he crashed you know and you just don't i don't know that the The chance of a
big dramatic swing just doesn't really seem like it happens more often on a road or a street course.
(17:26):
So, you know, to go to an oval, get these guys up to speed and girls because
Catherine Legge will be there.
But yeah, get the drivers up to speed and and, you know, let them sort it out
and let there be a little bit of drama and lap cars and all that kind of stuff. I'm all for it.
Yeah, I love it.
(17:47):
I absolutely love it I think that it's going to produce a very exciting finale,
Which I love, because sometimes we've ended up on a road course where the winner
doesn't matter, and the racing kind of reflects that.
Sometimes we have our road course where the winner doesn't matter,
and they all drive like a pot. Yeah.
(18:07):
But I think it'll be a little more consistent on a normal.
Here's a question I want to ask you, though.
Will, is there, do you think that we may go to Nashville and already have our
champion? I think it's always that possible.
Well, I mean, it happened last year with, with, uh, with Palo and,
(18:27):
and I mean, he's, he has more than a one race lead.
So yeah, it's possible, which would be kind of a, kind of a bummer.
But I mean, I obviously of course want him to see the, see him win the championship,
but you know, if it comes down to the, to the last race of the year,
I'm not going to be too upset about it either.
So. Yeah, same. But I think, though, the key to Palou's championship,
(18:53):
I mean, he's okay on all this.
He's never one-on-one, which is a little bit surprising given how accomplished he is. It is.
So I really think a key race for him is this weekend.
He has to I feel like
(19:15):
in order to make himself more comfortable yeah
he has to widen his lead
this weekend oh he absolutely does because I mean because it's unlikely that
he's going to win any of the next three races after them right right and so
and you know and one thing that
(19:35):
Scott Dixon said once years ago in an interview that he He always said,
you know, at least now it's four races left,
but he always said, if I'm less than 100 points out, I feel like I still have a chance.
And so when you've got, you know, you've got these guys with 100 points,
you've got three oval races left and how quickly things can swing.
(19:57):
You know, I think and Palou has had success at Portland.
So I think what he really needs to do is take all 53 points and and hope that a few people,
you know the people chasing him finish a little behind him and maybe he can
push that lead up to you know 75 points or something like that and that would
probably give him a much better comfort level heading into the the last three races.
(20:23):
Absolutely yeah it's probably not the way that he would convert it in the series,
yeah yeah exactly let me look at helen at this part out but,
yeah so you have you have six drivers who are roughly you know i think the award
(20:44):
is what 98 points back so you have six drivers who are still in it you know
theoretically within that 100 points The one thing, though,
that sticks out to me is that I know Joseph Newgarden is,
if my math is correct, he's 126 points back.
But with three ovals to go, I mean, what do you think?
(21:09):
I mean, yeah. I mean, I could see him winning all three of them.
Yeah. And I mean, really. I don't want to see that, but I could see it.
Right. That's what I'm saying. I mean, you know, and even if you,
you know, that's the thing.
And you look at both him and McLaughlin and the way they've recovered,
(21:33):
you know, this year has just been nothing short of, you know, phenomenal.
And, and, and especially, you know, I look at, I hate to say,
and I look at McLaughlin and Newgarden through different lenses,
you know, and it's just interesting that, you know, it's really awesome to see
McLaughlin haven't bounced back the way he has, but Newgarden just,
(21:56):
yeah, it just isn't doing it for me.
I don't know if it's maybe just the controversy that's surrounding him.
And we can talk about that, what happened last weekend.
But yeah, it just sort of seems like, I don't know, unless you're a hardcore
fan of his, are you really excited for him?
No, I'm so tired of seeing him win.
(22:19):
I mean, yeah. I'm tired of it. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
And especially, yeah, because it's like sort of weird shit has happened around his wins this year.
And so, you know, I mean, I shouldn't say that about Indy because,
you know, he went out, you know, took that one by the throat.
But it just seems like, yeah, you know, you look at. The weird circuses.
(22:43):
Yeah yeah but but you look at the weird circumstances
about saint pete you know last week last
weekend i mean you know you
and i talked offline about willpower and his emotions but i'm still wondering
how that team debrief went i can't imagine i mean you know and especially Especially
(23:07):
you look at a guy like Will who, you know, shoot, what is he?
How far behind is he? He's just about 65 points behind.
So, I mean, he'd be a heck of a lot closer if he'd won the race on Saturday, you know.
And you look at a guy like him, time's ticking on his career.
(23:28):
So, what, yeah, I get upset, you know, when I had a chance to win a race and
somebody did something.
Let's just make him the villain. Somebody did something nefarious,
and, you know, he had an issue as a result.
I mean... He had to know that that was going to fuck over Will. Yeah.
(23:50):
He is one of the hardest chargers on a restart. If not the hardest,
now that Tony Fanon isn't racing anymore. Right.
You know the chargers for anybody that's hard as hard, and you go for the fact
that that includes your teammate, Will Bauer.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it just seems dirty.
Yeah. Yeah. And everybody can sit there and go, oh, the data and the,
(24:12):
you know, all that throttle traces and speed and all this other stuff.
You know, I mean, and I understand that the driver, the leader is responsible
for, you know, bringing the field to green.
But I think, you know, there's an element of good faith that has to go along
with that. I mean, you already have an advantage. You go when you want to go.
(24:35):
Everybody has to respond to you. So you have that advantage.
So, you know, just sitting there and sitting on everybody, you know,
goes back to the crap that would happen back in the cart days,
you know, and they'd be break checking people and maybe trying to get people
that I just don't think that's.
I hate to say fair because it's the highest level of competition,
(24:57):
but yeah, I mean, you're responsible.
And put it this way, if a crash happens that close to the front of the field
on a restart, you didn't do it correctly as the leader of the Rex.
Let's just say it that way. That's what I believe.
I mean, Rex happened in the back because everybody wants to, that's your best part,
(25:22):
your best opportunity to make some hay and the back of
the field is on a restart so people are going to make mistakes but but
when guys are crashing at the front of the field yeah
absolutely you didn't do your job and you didn't show good
faith in you know bringing the field back
to the green in a you know in a correct
manner i guess yeah i didn't
(25:43):
know i already lay green it's like i knew you obviously you
met the south yeah yeah and and
it's yeah i didn't know i was gonna get this fired up when
i was when we were going to talk about this but but but
then again it it really it affected the race it greatly affected the championship
(26:04):
and oh yeah and it left a lot of of drivers in really pissed off foods you know
and it also then and and the worst thing.
You can also do as a sport or a series
is especially when the competitors
(26:25):
start doing it is questioning how the sport
or series is being efficient and i
think we've i think you know in some of our other recordings we've had we've
had discussions about this but you know i mean if put it this way brian hurt
is the type of guy that chooses his words really well And when he's one of the guys who's,
(26:50):
you know, saying the most about this,
I kind of take, I kind of understand his, his frustration and I kind of take
the merits of it, you know, cause it's not a bright heart.
It doesn't want, you know, I mean, he, he picks his, he picks his spots very carefully.
And when he's one of the ones leading the
(27:10):
you know leaving the conversation and saying you know
this just isn't looking good then you
really you really start putting the the questions up you know in your mind yourself
because and and not even just with penske teams but you know teams all through
the field i mean you know hurt again i don't know how you can get a blocking
(27:33):
penalty on one of the last couple laps of the race.
I mean, I understand it. I know it's within the spirit of the rule, but, you know.
Newgarden makes a move that wrecks a bunch of guys behind him,
and he doesn't get a penalty, but then Hurtig gets one defending.
His line on the last lap of the race. Yeah, that's baffling to me.
(27:59):
Yeah, well, and also the fact that But Newgarden is fun, and you have the yellow,
and then you get a bouncy.
That's true, too. Yeah. Yeah, it just... Like, way earlier in the break.
I mean, yeah, I've never been shy about calling out the officiating.
(28:20):
It's just, things are not enforced equally across the board, and it's frustrating.
Right. And it even comes down to, you know, when they throw yellows,
especially on road courses and things like that.
And I look at it this way and I've always,
you know, believe this, especially when you look at some of the tragic things
that have happened on track is I don't care how far the field is away as soon
(28:45):
as non participants put it that way.
Touch the racing surface the yellow should come
out it doesn't it doesn't matter if you
know because it does it indie i mean as soon as the yellow comes out or i mean
as soon as an incident happens and the trucks come out it's yeah nobody dicks
(29:07):
around you know and and but this whole thing about we're gonna hold the field
we're gonna hold the yellow until everybody pits or whatever whatever,
that's not competition.
That's, you know, that's manipulating things for the benefit of a show, you know?
And it shouldn't count at the cost of the safety of our racers.
(29:28):
Or anybody, yeah. The safety of the drivers, the safety of...
Shouldn't be, yeah, safety shouldn't be the cost.
Right, right. And I just feel like if you do it that way and if you make it
consistent, then it's fair.
Fair if if you know if if it's flag
things for safety alone and not
(29:48):
for the betterment of the show right yeah
it'll be fair yeah i mean you know
you can have a a track like road america where you know somebody spins out that
you know somebody has an incident in the kink and oh we'll let everybody come
around and hit and stuff and then we'll throw the yellow but still i just don't
agree with that you know and and it's just same way like if you talk about basketball you know Now,
(30:11):
if it's a foul in the first minute of the game, it's a foul in the final 10 seconds.
And and so that's the thing. If if it's a yellow, it's a yellow.
And or if it's cause for yellow, if there's an incident, then it should be one.
And because that's where these guys are supposed to all make their money.
(30:33):
That's what these guys get paid, a shitload of money to be strategists and to
do all this other kind of stuff.
And so, you know, they're the ones that are supposed to make these calls.
And I just don't understand why we sit there and say, oh, well,
you know, this isn't worthy to throw yellow right away. We'll let everybody pay.
No, you throw it and you let the competitors figure out what to do for them.
(30:58):
Yeah, but it ships all where they fall.
Yeah. Well, and also another thing is, I'm sure that the person who,
the driver who called the yellow, is not loving that it's being delayed. Right.
Because, A, that means the car is still going by its speed, and B,
the AMR isn't out yet, because they're not coming out. Yeah.
(31:19):
Yeah, they're not coming out until the yellow goes.
And so, yeah, it should, it should just be a, it should just be a uniform thing
that as soon as something happens,
you know, and, and say it as it like, if a car say road America or,
you know, anywhere else goes off track in the grass and the,
you know, and they hang out there for a while and stuff.
(31:41):
Okay yeah no but i mean when you know
cars are getting damaged or when they're pointing the wrong
direction or when they're doing all that kind of stuff that's a yellow no matter
what that's a yellow and and it should be dealt with that way and so and and
especially when it seems like and i don't know if you want to do a deep dive
and and say you know go by and and see who benefits the most,
(32:05):
but it just seems glaring sometimes when you look at who benefits from a call and it's a Penske car.
I mean, you know, I would really think that the owner of the series would want
to try and avoid any type of discussion of conflict,
you know, conflict of interest and, you know, but apparently he's not doing that.
(32:28):
And I think that doesn't sit well with people either.
Yeah. Yeah, that was a big discussion. And then a couple of Facebook groups
I'm in yesterday, I just kind of scrolled through some of the comments.
But I don't feel like there's been a change in the officiating since Penske took over.
Right. So I don't feel like I don't feel like I'm owning a series that's really
(32:54):
benefiting Penske drivers, with the exception of the whole cheating thing.
I feel like I'm doing an internal investigation like, hey, we've got cheating,
but we're going to investigate ourselves and you should just trip them. Yeah.
That's if she is gone. Right.
Otherwise, I don't feel like there's been any impropriety just because I feel
(33:17):
like the officiating has always kind of been tipped in the favor of the bigger piece.
Well, yeah, that's that's true, too. I mean, you know, and you and you look
even like last year at Toronto when, you know, Polo Drive, you know,
drove the end of the race with, you know, his nose hanging on for dear life in front of the car.
He should have been black flagged for that and i'm saying that as a
(33:39):
as a polo fan and how he's finishing that race probably helped him win the championship
but but but yeah i mean if you know if a coin car was driving around like that
i don't think they would i don't think they would let him drive around like
that especially you know and especially i hate to say it but,
you know you look at toronto and i mean tragic things can happen anywhere but
(34:03):
you look at what happened a long time ago at Toronto and yeah,
a nose flying off of a car could be bad,
you know, and, and they should, they shouldn't be, you shouldn't be able to
drive around even if you're keeping pace.
And I know that's, that's a separate thing that they'll black flag you if you're
not keeping your pace, but if your car is damaged in some way that could cause
(34:23):
harm to anybody else, you know, you've got to race control has to take care of that.
Absolutely. Again, you should flag based on safety.
Right. Not, yeah, not the number
on the car or the person driving it or anything like that, you know.
Or shaving ship invocations or blah, blah, blah. Yeah.
Like, if the nose cone is being held on by what's basically a piece of duct tape, nah.
(34:48):
Yeah yeah especially like i
said you know that that comes off you know
that falls off in front of pullo's car he runs
over it what happens to him or what happens if you know god forbid it drinks
off and and you know it gets a draft of air underneath it throws that thing
up in the air you know i mean i've never i've never lifted a nose before and
(35:11):
i don't know how heavy they are but I can imagine they're heavy.
So, you know, I mean, for them to be as... They're heavy enough to fall out of the sky at you.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know... Somebody doesn't have to be that heavy for me to not want to date them.
Right, right. Absolutely.
(35:31):
Yeah, my bar for that is pretty low. Yeah.
I guarantee that the nose is heavier than anything I want to get kids to head
with. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.
So we've already talked a little bit about Portland. And here's another one, too, is that,
You know, another guy you've got to think about as far as the title.
(35:52):
I mean, you have, you know, a top six.
If you want to just look at the guys who were in that window of Palo,
Hurta, Dixon, Power, McLaughlin, and Award.
I think the guy who I sort of like to maybe possibly if something happens to
Palo is either Dixon or Hurta to make a really serious move this weekend.
(36:16):
I just think, you know, you know, in golf, they call Saturday,
you know, there's a four round tournament Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, they call Saturday moving day.
And I sort of feel and that's where you like, train, you know,
move yourself up in the field, so you're in position to do something big on Sunday.
And I kind of think that I kind of think I feel like I feel like this weekend
(36:39):
is kind of moving day and where you position yourself to.
I mean, whoever it is, you know, if if I'm those guys that are in within 50,
60, 70 points of blow, I want to put the pressure on.
And it's unfortunate in sports that you have to not root for somebody's demise.
(36:59):
But if it happens, you're not going to apologize for it.
And so, so if Paloma doesn't have the greatest of weekends, you know,
if I'm those next two or three in the standings, I've got to pounce on it.
And I think of somebody, the person, the two people I think most would be Hurta and, and Dixon.
I mean, of course, power is right there too, but, but those two guys,
(37:21):
especially Hurta, you know, like I said, he's done well at Portland,
you know, Dixon, I like it Milwaukee.
I like power at Milwaukee because I think at least the first week,
the first race is going to benefit guys who have been there.
Yes. So so that that advantage goes to Dixon power and even further down to
(37:44):
to New Garden, you know, and especially if it's one of those. And I hope it's not.
One of my worries about Milwaukee is that the race won't be like Milwaukee back
in the day or it was just to follow the leader fast.
I hope that's not the case I hope what we got this weekend will be a better
(38:06):
indicator for that but especially if it's a follow a leader race I really look
at the people who have raced a lot there to.
Be able to really put the pressure on Palau and you know take Palau to the last
race of the year on an oval where he has to perform and see what happens,
(38:28):
yeah i mean that might be the push that
he needs you never know yeah i never
know what uh what that kind of pressure will do i um it's a funny story i was
a competitive swimmer i swam on a lot of swim meets not just like iso swimming
i did year-round swimming yeah and so those swim meets at their three-day events
(38:49):
friday saturday sunday and each day has specific events and so you're You're not in an event.
You are in a specific heat number of that event number, and then you also have a lane number.
Right. So it's so much shit that we end up writing our event heat and lane numbers
on our arms in Sharpie. Yeah.
(39:11):
Because there's no fucking way you're going to remember that.
So anyhow, I was, there was a little bit of overlap with the high school season
and with the year round for how we would do it.
And I had just won the gold on me and I was in the 100 freestyle.
And for whatever reason, in my moderate, I thought it was a 50 freestyle.
(39:34):
And which is a very different, very different race.
Because you breathe maybe one time at a 50 freestyle like maybe on the flip turn,
maybe you breathe at all yeah there's 100 freestyle you don't
really do it like that it's not exactly an all-out sprint
and i'll tell you what i was almost back to the wall and it hit me i was like
wait a second this isn't a 50 this is 100 and i was like oh my god i'm gonna
(40:00):
die yeah i just got balls to the wall for 50 meters and had to do another 50
and but yeah yeah, I took 14 seconds off of my best time.
The funniest part is my dad was the sometimes he came over and as soon as I
got out of the pool, he was like, you thought it was a 50, didn't you? And I was like, sure did.
And he was immediately like on the get. He was like, oh, and I saw you take
(40:23):
off. I knew you thought it was a 50. He goes, I'm just glad nobody had to tell you to keep swimming.
Well, yeah, I mean, being a track parent, I mean, there were especially indoor meets.
There are a lot of times where I'd see somebody like pull up a lap too early
and then you're like no you've got no more lap and then they you know then they
have to get it together and and you know but their last lap they'd be mentally
(40:45):
fried because they made that kind of mistake but but yeah with nashville high bank concrete,
loss of speed yeah that that could that could lead to some interesting things
and yeah if i'm i want a 54 point lead before i head there but,
this being IndyCar, you can't just drive around and do that.
(41:08):
You know, that's sort of the hard thing about it is you just can't ride around
and be like, oh yeah, I'm just going to hang in there and try and nurse my lead because,
that's when you just end up making a mistake or, you know, the way things work,
all of a sudden you're 10th and somebody else wins and they take a big chunk out of your lead.
(41:30):
So, yeah, I think the pressure on Palou as the season ends is quite different
than it has been, you know, for a long time,
given the fact that, you know, nothing's set in stone after after Portland and
the last couple of championships he's won.
(41:51):
That's almost been the case you know where it's like
oh well you know we get done in portland hey we're going to a we're going
to a road course this is cool but now it's we get
done with portland and holy crap we've got three more ovals three
ovals on two tracks that all he's probably
done is tested on so you know
it's gonna be interesting like i said as
(42:12):
an alex pillow stan dude i i want
him you know i'm rooting for him to win the championship but at
the same time i also realize that it's not going to be
all that easy for him and yeah it's
not it's not going to be a sunday drive one yeah
what do you speaking of though milwaukee what do you
think the the racing has been like i haven't really followed the testing all
(42:35):
that much or anything like that i mean you know the hard part is is is just
you know back in the day there wasn't a second line through the corners and
that was what made things different or difficult so and especially Especially on lower horsepower,
I'm just kind of curious to see what this is going to be like in its return.
Yeah, you know, I'm curious to see that as well. I hope that the rate being
(42:57):
good. I haven't followed the company that closely either.
So I hope it is. I hope it is. I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, Milwaukee is just one of those places where IndyCar needs to be. It does.
I mean, it's a great market. It's not far away from us, I'd say.
It's close to you guys up near Chicago.
(43:18):
Yeah. Yeah, because it's only about a four-hour drive from Indianapolis.
So it's another great Midwest stop.
So I absolutely love that we're going there. And I love the history of the racetrack.
It's actually older than IMS.
Which is awesome. Yeah. And, and just hearing the, the, you know,
(43:42):
all the stories about the history of racing.
I mean, you know, Ralph De Palma, who is one of my, you know,
one of my racing heroes, uh,
before anything was built around that racetrack now
it sits and it's like a wriggly field or it's like ims it's it's
right in the middle of a neighborhood but he was going down
the back stretch and he crashed and he crashed into
a cornfield and he got a corn stalk
(44:04):
impaled through his chest you know i mean
that's just that's just like badass old-time racing
stuff but then you look at you know aj floyd
and how you know one time he had to
come there and qualify in his dirt car because his other
car wasn't ready and he still he still put it on the front row
i mean you know and and watching it from
(44:25):
the like 80s and 90s and the way they raced there i mean milwaukee yeah it's
just it's part of the history of racing and i i think any car needs to be there
for one and two they've got you know if the racing isn't great i think they
should really go to great lengths to
try and improve it because yeah, I think, I think Milwaukee should be,
(44:48):
should be on the schedule from here on out.
I completely agree. Yeah, it's just, it's got, like I said, such great history
that it's one of the places, like, yeah, we need to keep going here.
Yeah. And, you know, I felt that when we went back to Portland as well.
It was, it's got such a great history. I mean, it's not as old as Milwaukee
or IMS, but it's got such a great history.
(45:10):
And, you know, when we went back there, I was like, yes, we need to keep coming
back. Like, it just feels right. Yeah.
And so, yeah, it's like, if we don't quite have the racing running here,
then we need to work on that. So you do get it right.
Milwaukee deserves to have good racing. And I hope the fans show up.
I mean, that's a big thing. Now, that was always disappointing when you just see the effort.
(45:32):
I went to, what, the last probably five or six races there from maybe 2009 or 2010 on.
And yeah, I always felt bad because people put a lot into it and nobody showed
up. And it's kind of unbelievable because it's easy to get to.
Parking's easy. you can park close the tickets aren't that expensive you know
(45:55):
there's just so many good things about going there and it's close you can you
know even really even if you live a few hours away you can pick or choose what
race you want this weekend if you don't want to go to both,
and absolutely you can and you can't go wrong and you know you can still have
your labor day weekend and all that other kind of stuff so i mean it's so set
(46:16):
up in my mind it's set up for success and I just yeah I just want to see it
happen I want to see it happen too and you know.
We have been after ovals and we've got three great ovals at the end of this
so I really can show up too especially with it being such a such a close track
(46:39):
to drive to for so many fans for Nashville that's a four and a half hour drive as well,
Yeah, I think when people talk about...
I've got to say, sorry, that's definitely a farther drive for you.
Yeah, but still, it's and I mean, especially when you're going to a city like
Nashville, it's it's it's pretty cool.
(47:01):
But I know a lot of people may not agree with it.
You know, I don't have a problem with IndyCar.
You know, a lot of people say, oh, we need to go race on the East Coast or we
really need to go do this.
And, you know, I I like a diverse schedule and I think IndyCar stretches out pretty well.
But I don't see a problem with focusing on the Midwest the way the series tends
(47:25):
to do, because the most loyal fans are here, you know.
And so I'm glad California has a couple of races because those fans are extremely loyal.
When you look at, you know, when you look at like Long Beach,
I mean, extremely loyal.
Portland has proven to be a great market, you know, St.
Pete speaks for itself. but for the most part
(47:47):
but for the most part yeah i mean just you got to put races where the fans are
and and i think any car drivers or any car fans you know don't mind driving
eight nine hours to go to a race you know and so why not put a majority of your
races that far from everywhere,
and let everybody because most people go to multiple races anyway so you may
(48:11):
i mean this This will be what my fourth or fifth of the year.
So, you know, we all go to multiple races anyway. So just put it here.
Absolutely one thing i was saying back to back because i gotta work sometime yeah exactly,
exactly you gotta spread them out a little bit my employer's like you yeah yeah
(48:33):
exactly so one thing i will want to mention to our charter listeners who are going up to milwaukee,
back off the pedal the gas pedal a little bit once you get in wisconsin because
they are they They will be out in force, put it that way.
Anytime they know people are coming up from Illinois, they're waiting.
And I know from personal experience. Oh, and it's already a holiday weekend,
(48:55):
which brings out force anyway.
Right, right. But I mean, I fell victim to that the first Milwaukee race I went to.
So, you know. Yeah, Wisconsin police do not play.
Well, yeah, a quick story. We took my wife's son up to school at the University of North Dakota.
Cody he he went to his first semester there was
(49:15):
the spring semester so we took him in the dead of winter in
January and I'm cruising through Wisconsin it's
nighttime you know we get into some valleys the
the the temperature thing on the car would say it was like 20 below I go breezing
by this cop he pulls me over and I look at the I look at the temperature and
it's 19 below and I'm like if this guy's getting out of his car when it's 19
(49:39):
but I'm getting a ticket and yeah a hundred.
So so but but yeah my my story with the the way on the way to milwaukee was
came over a hill came over an overpass and they were like there was a little
access road there and there were like 12 12 state troopers just lined up picking people up so so yeah,
(50:04):
yeah i would definitely yeah definitely lift a little bit definitely go into
fuel safe mode Or when you come into Wisconsin,
it will like... Yeah, across that border.
It'll benefit your wallet a lot. Yeah.
And if you're staying in the Pfister Hotel, it makes noises.
There might be ghosts, but, you know, it's just part of the charm of that hotel
(50:26):
in Milwaukee. So don't worry about that either.
But yeah. So, so then you did it to just, you know, move on to the finale.
And I don't want to talk about Nashville a little bit, but I don't know if,
I mean, the downtown street race is fun and all that other kind of stuff,
(50:46):
but if they're going to stay in Nashville, which I'm okay with,
I'd rather they almost stay out at the speedway.
I know it's... I think it's going to... I hope it... You know,
we were talking about Milwaukee and ticket sales.
I hope you know, Nashville is the same way because you know, what is it?
45 minutes outside of town and they have traffic problems and all that other kinds of stuff.
(51:09):
I really hope that the fan tour, I probably won't be going.
So, you know, anybody who hasn't gone to an IndyCar race, go there on my place.
But yeah, that's another, another event that is just really needs to succeed,
I guess, for, for the benefit of IndyCar.
I agree. Yeah, I'm interested to see how the oval will be.
(51:31):
I hope it's really great racing because three course has been,
frankly, kind of disappointing. Yeah.
And, yeah, just a lot of things. I was there in person for the first one.
And, you know, stands weren't needed to, like, the day of the race.
There was just kinds of weird stuff that went on.
So I would love to see it.
(51:53):
And, you know, I said Nashville knows how to throw a course.
Yeah they they do that very well they were just still you know getting their
feet wet with learning for a race so i'm i'm excited to see how it is at like
a permanent track i think that'll be helpful,
and so i feel like this is gonna hopefully usher
in some some really fun racing and fun times
(52:14):
in the napa area yeah i want one
thing i will say about it and if you've never been to a street street
race those of you who are listening what's really cool about a
street race is the party is right outside the
track you know it's like you finish it like
whatever's going on the track you just leave the
track area and you're within restaurants and bars so yeah it just it just continues
(52:38):
on to the next location it's wonderful yeah yeah and and that's the only thing
i get you know i think about with some of the some of these tracks that are sort of far out there.
But I think what also on the flip side is going to help is being that this race
is going to be five or six weeks later on the calendar, it may not be as oppressively
(53:00):
hot, and there may not be...
And there really may not be as much of a threat of bad weather.
So I think moving it to the middle of September is good for a lot of different
reasons. And maybe if they...
If they decide to go back downtown, then maybe, you know, I think they are keeping
(53:25):
it there because it's going to be the finale for a while.
But I think that'll, I think, change, you know, how many people come to that race weekend as well.
So let's just say, let's just say here's getting close to an hour.
So here's with four races left and let's find time to, you know,
check back on this a couple of times between now and then. but race finishes in Nashville.
(53:50):
Give me a prediction of your top three and points.
Oh, I have no idea who are the topics right now.
Top six right now are below Herda Dixon, power McLaughlin award.
Tough to say, isn't it? It is. I feel like Dixon and power are going to do well. Yeah.
(54:17):
They're extremely versatile drivers and they statistically do the best on this track.
Both of them are very good at that.
I have to go with Dixon because I haven't blogged in a while,
but I should again, but if you go to the Fast Cars, Ferris Girls website and
(54:39):
read my prediction from the start of the season, I've hit Dixon as a champion.
Oh, that's right, you did. I did. I did. I did. So, you know,
my head is still saying him because he's great at Portland.
He's done well at Milwaukee. And I remember a couple, at least one race there
where he was really dominating the racing out of penalty.
(55:00):
So he's done well at Milwaukee. Power has done well at Milwaukee.
So my head really is thinking that Dixon's still, I guess I'll have to go with
my prediction from a few months ago.
So I say the top three are going to be Dixon, Palo and Power.
Okay. And, you know, and maybe, and maybe Hurd just because I don't know how far back it goes.
(55:28):
If Hurd has ever, I know he's too young to have ever even in a ladder series, if he's ever raced.
But, you know, you look at those three guys, second, third, and fourth are separated
by seven points, you know, and then, and then McLaughlin is another seven back.
Act so is that duchess it
(55:49):
sure is hi duchess boomer boomer's a boomer's a w daycare so it's it's pretty
quiet around so yeah that's what i guess i have to say is is dixon pillow power
would be you know since i have to stay faithful to my my choice at the beginning of the beginning.
Of the year so well absolutely but
(56:11):
again i mean you know
you look at a guy that and and dixon if i'm not mistaken without
looking this up and taking the time to do it i think he's won at
nashville hasn't he i think he has yes true
all right so so to answer a question
while you're doing that i looked it up surprisingly any
car has a racer since 2008 and here's
(56:34):
a from a story i read off the website beyond the flag nashville super
speedway has not been on the indycar calendar since 2008
when scott dixon won there for the third straight
year there we have it there you
go so granted different era different car all other kinds of stuff but he's
(56:57):
scott freaking dixon and so somewhere in the recesses of his brain he's like
i've won here before maybe I know how to win here.
So, yeah, I think that's, I think I might be pretty, I should look back and
see what my predictions look like.
Maybe I'll talk about that if we're, you know, in our next recording and see
(57:18):
how close I am to some of those.
I think so. Thanks for listening. Be sure to check out my blog on the website, pathcarfabgirls.com.
And as always, we're on all social media. Thanks for listening.
See you later. All right.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.