Rhode Island’s First NASCAR Driver: Tyler Tomassi on Racing & the Road to Daytona | So New England #63

And just like that another episode down and another amazing New Englandah we have here to share with you! Today’s guest, NASCAR driver Tyler Tomassi and boy is this episode pure speed! Tyler joins the boys to discuss where his story began and just how he got into one of the fastest sports around. Tyler gives us an in depth feeling of race day and just how one gets into this field to become a race car driver. Tyler shares the woos to being in New England and how he gets around to being the driver he desires to be! This episode was FAST so buckle up and strap in! And as always folks remember, Life’s Bettah in New England

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Least favorite? At least that's where you're
going with it. Probably Massachusetts.
Oh. OK #5.
Connecticut. Massachusetts below Connecticut
is probably the hottest thing this podcast has ever seen.
From Maine's cold coast to Connecticut pride, Vermont Green
hills take it all in. From Massachusetts traffic.
We grip and we grind with a Dunkin iced coffee.

(00:20):
No Peace of Mind. So New England stand up crowd
shouter. Shouting loud from Fenway chance
to Rhode Island side, New Hampshire's cry Live free or
die. So New England with Ian

(00:43):
Brownhill. Good freaking morning from New
England folks. Welcome back to episode 64 of
the So New England podcast. I'm your host, Ian Brownhill,
joined by my Co host RJ Travisano.
All things life's been in New England.
So New England podcast producer Vinny G behind the lens, taking
care of everything we need. And once again, we've got a
wonderful guest for you today. So, TuneIn folks and RJ, why

(01:04):
don't you tell us who we have? It's been quite some time since
we've had our first in the Sonu Wing and pod, but here we are at
episode 64. Our guest joins us, holding it
down for good old little roadie,and you know just how we feel
about our brothers and sisters from our home state.
Normally I'd write something a little bit more fancy, but the
more I thought about it, the only true way to introduce our

(01:27):
guest today is this. Ladies and gentlemen, listeners
and viewers of the So New England pod, start your engines
holding it down with a four O 1 NASCAR racer Tyler Chabazi.

(01:54):
Tyler, I'm so sorry about that. I did not notice what he was
going to do. Had I known that, I would have
apologized in advance, Bruce. Buffer, eat your heart out.
All right into the pod. Sorry.
Amazing. Tyler, thank you for making the
trip up. I know how South County folks
can be about making the trip allthe way up to Providence, so I
know it was like a day trip for you.
Yeah. But I appreciate you coming out.

(02:15):
No, no problem. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, of course. All right, man, let's dive into
it. NASCAR driver.
Yeah. How the hell did that happen
from Rhode Island? I mean, listen, we're not known.
We're not world class drivers around here.
So to be a NASCAR driver, you have to have some sort of skill
set that we are all missing herein Rhode Island.
I'd love to hear where you got it.
It might have been the bad drivers in Rhode Island that

(02:35):
helped me get so good. But no, I started back in 2017
when I was younger over at Seekonk Speedway, which I think
is like 15 minutes from here, maybe an hour with traffic,
Yeah. We're going over the Washington
Bridge, pal. That's going to take a little
bit more than 15, yeah. So it started there when I was
like 1314 ish and then I ran these little cars called

(02:58):
Bandoleros. They're just small.
They're like, they're like the speed of a go Kart, but they're
shaped like a car, but they're like miniature cars.
So I drove those for two years and then I jumped to late models
in 2019. So I think I was like 15 years
old in like a full body stock car.
Oh, shit. So before I even had my driver's

(03:19):
license. So which is kind of crazy.
I was the only kid in school, like, you know, like a freshman
in high school. And I'm over here like, yeah, I
drive race cars, but that's. Awesome.
Did that at Seekonk for a littlebit and then I started running
some tour racing. American Canadian Tour, which is
a late model tour that runs all of cross county, mainly New

(03:42):
England. And what is it Canada?
They call it American Canadian, but it only really stays in New
England and Canada. So it should be the New England
Canadian tour. But so I did that for a little
bit and then after that, you know, kind of dabbling between
the tour and running at Seekonk.Then we started in 2024.

(04:02):
I was done with racing like I was.
I felt stuck. I for the last, like it was from
20/19 to 2023, just kind of running late model stuff, you
know, just kind of stuck in the same like bubble, like kind of
get bored of it after a while. So beginning of 2024 I was like,
Nope, I'm done racing because I,you know, we're stuck here.

(04:23):
So and then some things came together.
My girlfriend didn't want me to quit racing, so she went and
reached out to some teams for meand stuff.
And then some connections, some connections came together and
then what is it I drove down to,we both drove down to North
Carolina without telling my parents all the way to North
Carolina, met with Ryum Racing and he took a chance on me,

(04:47):
Josh. And, you know, we signed a deal
and I had a race in Indianapolisand you know, because we were we
had a trip at South Carolina that weekend because we were
racing A1 off late mile race in South Carolina.
So I drive to the hotel and I tell my dad, I don't know how to
tell you this, but because he thought I just came from Rhode
Island. Like we took like a detour.
I was like, yeah, we went to North Carolina to go sign a deal

(05:09):
with the NASCAR team. So that's how that all came
together. And then what was supposed to be
a one off race and it up turned into I think at this point like
15 because that was July 2024, so like a year and a half ago.
That's awesome. And did other people in your
family race? Like where did the inspiration
for racing come from for? You.
No, I don't even know sometimes because.

(05:31):
You can only have like 3 roads in West Greenwich.
So I'm like, I'm trying to figure out where you would have
been driving and getting into this.
I mean, so I had like a go Kart that I drive around my backyard.
But you know, I know some peopleare like, you know, since I was
a little kid, I had a dream. Be completely honest with you.
I didn't even know what NASCAR was anything about racing until
the first time I raced until I literally sat in something

(05:51):
because in 2016 the back the story up a little bit.
We went to Seekonk just to watchlike, you know what, nothing to
do. We saw her like it was some cool
place and we watched the cars race and I didn't think anything
of it. And I guess my dad got in
contact with somebody who said, you know, kids can get into it.
So I think it was like March andhe was like, oh, I got like the
surprise for you. And it's just that Bandolero.

(06:12):
And then I had to like, do research on racing, and then
that was just throwing. That's kind of like a cooler
story because it's like, how often do you hear these cool
success stories where people arelike it kind of just happened,
you know what I mean? Versus someone that's like I've
spent my whole life doing it because it kind of just shows
the uniqueness and the adaptability of your skill set
into what you're doing now. Kind of walk me through because

(06:35):
I am very like naive and unawareof anything in the NASCAR world.
I have gone up to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and
done like the test where they like let you know guests come in
and use a NASCAR and drive. That was a shit ton of fun.
Way too fast for me, but fun. And I'm I'm still just kind of
unaware of like when you say like late model, is that like

(06:55):
the type of car? Is that the type of racing?
So yeah, walk me through like your racing specifically and and
what you do. So the late model stuff was
stuff that races at C conk. It's like amateur racing but
it's full size cars like the real deal race cars but you're
not on TV or racing for huge money.
So it was just kind of like a amateur series.
What I'm in now when in 2024 I made my ARC and Menards series

(07:19):
debut and my Truck Series debut in the same day.
So basically NASCAR has like 4 tiers.
It's ARCA trucks, Xfinity and Cup so and I race ARCA trucks
and Xfinity so. And is Cup the the biggest one
that's like, you know, but all the bigger names that you're
kind of you kind of see on the mainstream?
Yeah, but all four of them race on the same weekend are on TV.

(07:43):
Gotcha. OK.
And like, you know, trucks and Xfinity, I mean the cup guys,
it's not like other sports wherepeople stay in their league.
Like you'll, you run a truck race, like I'm racing with Kyle
Larson and stuff and Kyle Busch.Like they come down, they come
down and they run those series. So it's it's a little different
like cuz F1 you wouldn't see that stuff, but like people will
make careers in Xfinity and trucks.

(08:04):
Like they're all professional series.
Like they're not like amateurs. Like they might be lower, but
it's just like it's different. Yeah.
So. And what is the difference
between is it like the the cars themselves?
Like why? Why the different tiers and why
the different types of of racing?
Yeah, I guess the different tiers, the idea of it is to have
a ladder system. Gotcha.

(08:24):
OK. I figured that's what it was,
but it seems like there's different vehicles being used,
which I'm imagining means different motors, different
types of tools, different racingoutcomes.
Like is there a like the same standardized qualifications or
the same amount of laps and the same amount of breaks you can
take? Like, hey, George, just.
Change each tier. So I mean, usually Arca's the

(08:45):
shortest race of the weekend andthen trucks 2nd and it kind of
goes in the order to get the same.
But they're the trucks obviouslyare different because they're
just, I always tell people like,you know, what's it like racing
a truck? I'm like, listen, it's a race
car with a flatbed. It's not a truck.
Like it's shaped like a truck, but it has a roll cage and it's

(09:07):
low to the ground. And like I can promise you it
drives nothing like a truck out of the road.
But so honestly, there used to not be such a big difference
like between Xfinity and cup. Now they changed the cars, the
next Gen. cars. Now they got independent rear
suspension and all this stuff. So the gap between Xfinity,
which is just your average stockcar, is to a cup is a little

(09:28):
different, but it's honestly allkind of the same thing.
Like it's just, you know, Cup series is Cup series and then
Xfinity is I guess technically lower than it, even though the
Xfinity cars are literally faster than the Cup cars, so.
Very fast, yeah. And how many laps do you do?
So in trucks, like I'll just useBristol, for example, ARCA will
run like 150 trucks, 250 Xfinity350 Cup 500.

(09:54):
It's a bit of a jump and. How many and how long does that
take to complete? Like Xfinity can take like 2 1/2
hours and and you're so you're it's a long 2 1/2 hours.
Yeah, I can only imagine. And, and how many, like how many
breaks do you take in that? Cause like, obviously your
breaks are really only to gas upand, and yeah, change things
like. So I guess it just depends on

(10:15):
the track and like tire wear, like you know, Talladega this
past weekend, I mean, we only did 85 laps, but that's also
because of tracks 2.6 miles. So like laps will definitely.
I I guess a better way to describe it is they could try to
hit a miles like Xfinity races are usually like 250 mile races.
So gotcha. That's a 2.5 mile racetrack.
We're not going to do 250 laps. Oh my God, You know what I'm

(10:38):
saying? About 100 miles, Yeah.
They should try at least one. Yeah, just to see.
But they. Do that in every other sport,
like oh, they got ultra marathons and.
Right. You got to like, do the extreme,
the most extreme version. Yeah, Yeah.
Or they could just drive from Rhode Island to Florida.
That's true. I've done that, yeah.
Plenty of times, yeah, yeah. But no, it's so, yeah, they, we

(11:00):
have stage breaks, which basically it's, you know, they
kind of split it up in the threes, kind of like it will be
evenly split stage 1, stage 2, but usually stage 3 is like
double. So basically at the end of stage
2, you're halfway and then stage3 is basically the rest of the
half of the race, if that makes sense.
The stage breaks is basically just they just throw caution and

(11:23):
then you just go down pit Rd. and change tires and then
there's no brake 'cause you're still sitting in that hot car
burning your butt off for while you're actually under yellow is
worse because you're when you'reracing your Focus.
But when it's, you know, Arca has brakes, like Arca will stop
you on pit Rd. halfway and give you a 5 minute break and you'll
sit in your car, which is terrible 'cause you're just
sitting there baking alive. I'd rather just be going than

(11:45):
just stopping. Yeah.
But yeah, so we guess we kind ofget a break, but not really.
What would you say was the hardest thing to learn growing
up? Probably learning how to like
you, save or spend money. You legit worked in banking, did
you not? You're welcome.
Are you still with Dime Bank or you 2?
Hollywood now? Okay, rude, but yes, yes I am.

(12:07):
Imagine your followers finding out you're with the Connecticut
based bank. Okay, first of all, they have a
branch in Wesley, Rhode Island, which is where we grew up.
So really, that's brownie pointsbecause I'm sticking to my
roots. Second, I think everyone would
appreciate that I'm with a bank that knows and understands their
community. Their tagline is legit.
Community banking lives here. Hey, hey, I'm not asking you to
sell me on it. I've been banking with them for

(12:29):
years and they know me on a first name basis.
I'm just saying I'm surprised asall I can see the headlines now.
Mr. Anti Connecticut actually banks with local community bank.
OK, you know what? Follow along with me here.
They're FDIC insured, equal housing lenders, wicked
friendly, they take care of all my personal needs, have
expansive products to help all my businesses, offer lending

(12:52):
across the board, merchant services.
What more could I possibly want or need?
And you know that I secretly like Connecticut so.
Oh, I hope you heard that, folks.
Dime Bank is the reason Ian loves Connecticut.
OK, you're ridiculous. Funny story though.
You know how they have like the mobile app with like Banking
Lifesaver? You can do all the deposits.
Have you tried to teach your momhow to do the mobile deposit

(13:14):
yet? I was teaching my mom how to do
it and she takes a selfie instead of the check.
Visit dime-bank.com to learn more.
OK so then this is so fascinating because I'm just
trying to, I keep calling back to that New Hampshire time that
I was on the Speedway and I was in the car for maybe 3 laps and
how uncomfortable it is in that chair because it's just like a

(13:35):
steel. I'm just like stuck and you
can't move and your arms are pinned like this.
So what is that like on the mental psyche?
Like do what? Do you practice something or do
you do something specific to like get yourself ready for a
race to be able to like, so staystill and focus.
Also, what do you do to go to the bathroom?
Oh. GMI, we'll just leave it just.

(13:55):
Doesn't happen because it's justso hot in the car.
Just sweat it all out, yeah? Basically that makes sense.
So I would definitely shit myself.
Yeah, I'm just. Gonna put that out there.
If 1000 E car driver, I'd be thefirst one to put in my pants.
I said I'm really pee shy. So when I, when I get to the
racetrack, I cannot go to the bathroom.
I will go the entire day withoutgoing to the bathroom and I'll
be having electrolytes obviouslybecause it's super hot out,

(14:17):
right? And like I've only had to go to
pee once And it was during an autograph session and it was 5
minutes in and I was like, uh oh.
And I got an hour left the autograph session.
Oh no. The only time I.
Have the bladder of an infant. I could never.
Once I have to go, I have to go.You have 30 seconds before I
start being my pants. But like when we were talking to
Camilla about doing the, the live action, what's the game?

(14:42):
It's good games. She was talking about it was
like very similar concept, but like she couldn't move because I
had to get all these shots and blah, blah, blah.
And I was, we were sitting here like I'm going to pee myself and
I have pee running down my leg and all those shots and it's no
different. Like I can only imagine.
I mean, I guess it makes sense. If you're in the car, you're
sweating, you got the suit on, and you're probably 20-30
degrees hotter. Maybe more.

(15:04):
It's way harder than that in those days.
Yeah, we have. We've had like thermometers in
the car. And if it's 95 out, 90 out, it's
going to be 140 in the car. Oof.
Like, it's bad because we run, especially at Talladega, we run
side windows, so no air. Remember, these things are made
to be aerodynamic, so you don't want air coming into the car.
So you're just baking alive. Like you people think, oh, you

(15:25):
get air flow. Nope.
It's. Not that makes sense why you
never see like racers that are kind of like, no offense, but
they're not. They're never fat.
Yeah, I'm telling you, when you sit in this seat like I thought
I could not move. Yeah, so.
You would be screwed because youhave the shoulders of Hercules.
So we got we got custom seats. So like obviously like we're
pretty comfortable, as comfortable as you can be, I

(15:47):
guess, and be safe. Like we get carbon fiber seats,
like we'll sit in the seat like this and they'll come like with
they'll pour a seat like kind offoam pores like.
Around your stuff. So like, no, you can't move, but
it's not like you're trying to fit in something you can't fit
in. It's tight because it's
literally can only fit to you. Gotcha.
Interesting. OK, that's actually really.
Cool. It's it's comfortable for what

(16:08):
it is. It just gets really hot in the
car. And then the, the biggest thing
with these long races is just pacing yourself.
You can't get too excited in thebeginning.
Like if your heart rates throughthe roof on lap 5, good luck
because you're not making it. Do people just fall out of the
race because of that? Because they're just no, they
can't do it. They just they quit or.
No, I mean, it happens sometimes, but honestly not

(16:29):
really. Like when you get in a race car,
it's weird. It's like, you know, that you're
overheating, but like, there's so much adrenaline that it's
really hard to stop no matter how sick you feel.
Yeah, but it usually hits you assoon as the race is over, you
realize, oh, I'm in trouble. Like, I'm not feeling too good
right now because, you know, it's people.
Just pass out the minute they get done.
Yeah, because it's just, there'sjust so much like it's.

(16:51):
It's a lot of sticky trace. Yeah, like you're not going to
die in a race car, but it feels like life or death out there,
right? So like you're just like, you
know, trying not to crash. You're going like 200.
There's other things on your mind.
But it, the races are long. Like my first, my debut weekend,
when I made my debut, I was supposed to just do the truck
race, but then I decided to do the ARCA race.

(17:12):
So I went from running 30 lap late model races at Seekonk to
running two races in one day. So I did 400 laps in the Indiana
sun, which was terrible. Now, OK, I want to go back
because I did. I kind of jumped over your
question. But before we get there, how do
you not get fucking dizzy dude? Like if I spin once I would get

(17:34):
dizzy. You're telling me for 400 laps
you went One Direction? Yeah.
It's when you get out of the cardo you just start doing circles
the other direction to balance yourself back out?
You do. You can get nauseous and it's a
different type of nauseous. Yeah, like what the?
Hell it isn't dizzy but like if you go Bristol for example,
Bristol has 36° of banking. It's a half mile.
What the fuck? So it's so it's, it's a half

(17:57):
mile, but you're turning 15 second lap times around 1/2
mile. So you're just constantly.
But the thing when I first went there, like I've been to, you
know, Indianapolis, these tracksthat are flat and kind of, you
know, they're small some of them, but like reasonable lap
times for the size like 20 seconds or whatever.
But you go to Bristol, the banking and the G Force is like,

(18:19):
you don't realize it on TV. Like you think, oh, the banking
like it makes the car easier to drive whatever, but the G force,
like when you're going around 1/2 mile at 15 seconds, like
you're, you're corner center, like you're going 150 down the
straightaway, but through the center of the corner, you're
going 112, right with all that banking.
So you get in the corner, you cannot breathe.
Like if you forget to breathe down the straightaway, you're

(18:39):
done. Like you go down the street, we
go, then you go back in the corner and it's.
Just Oh my. God, that place is brutal.
Like and it goes by quick like it's a quick 250 laps, but it's
like your heart rates to the roof.
You got people running at the top bottom everywhere.
It's just a place is it's the best race track in the world,
but it's also if you're having abad day there, it's a bad day
I'm. Going to be honest with you,

(19:00):
this sounds like the Thurber Zafcurve.
It does not sound anything different to me the way that
you're talking about the embankment and people left,
right, center, all over the place.
I'm just looking at all of thosescratches on the side of the
wall there. I'm thinking this is, this is
Talladega right now. This is what this is.
That's probably why you're goingto be so good at this, because.
All right, but I do want to backup and talk about your like pre

(19:20):
race like routine. What do you have to do to get
yourself mentally prepared for something like?
That well, usually it starts like obviously well before a
race. I mean like I work out and stuff
but we do a lot of cardio stuff.Like I got no muscles like.
I don't. I mean, it's funny, guys with
muscles, they struggle. Like I think it's like they
maybe they get pumped or whatever, but.
Yeah, it's probably why I can't.But.

(19:41):
Same. Yep, same.
It's just all like running or actually I don't like the run so
I just do bike stuff. But, and obviously you do upper
body shrink to an extent, but it's mainly the biggest thing
that like the absolute biggest thing, I don't care how much you
work out is hydration. Like at the end of the day you
could be the most toughest person ever if you don't drink
enough water before you go get sit in 150° car or.

(20:05):
Three hours, you're not going tomake it like.
This is why I'm getting so confused because you're telling
me that you're chugging water but you're not peeing for 2 1/2
hours. Well, that's just me.
The other guy that the G. Forces alone would just pull it
right out. I.
Was going to pay so. For the people who aren't like
you, do they just pee in their suit?
Is that? What you do, I'm saying like at
the racetrack, people go to the bathroom before.
I don't know. Honestly, I don't think I.

(20:27):
Just don't know if you could just do like a catheter or some
sort of tube to just like you know.
I mean, if you're sweating that much, do you?
I mean, I mean, unless you unless you have to pee and then
you get in the car knowing you have to pee.
Yeah. But then I don't know.
I was in the sauna for 25 minutes this morning and I got
out to go pee and then went backin.
Yeah, this is a whole nother level hot.
It's about you're thinking like 11-O5110150.

(20:50):
It's. Also I think too it's AI think
it's a mental thing. I just think it's because the
adrenaline's so high that your body just doesn't think to
itself about it. 100% OH. So yeah, it's just like, I can't
describe to you how hot it gets in the cars.
Now some people run cool suits, which that's.
What I was going to ask like, sowe have to cool down in some
capacity. Yeah.
So some people run like cool suits, which is just a suit

(21:13):
that's underneath their fire suit that has like tubes and it
runs water through it. They're really expensive, so I
don't have one, but I just suffer.
But sometimes if they break, it circulates water, but sometimes
they break and then the water sits there and boils.
So that's like, if it breaks, now you're like.
Now you're now you're a cooked egg.

(21:34):
Yeah, but all I have and what most guys have is just, you
know, we have our, we get in there, we have nothing besides
the, you know, we have the fireproof underwear and shirt,
plus your fire suit and helmet. So that's what people don't
realize. We're wearing like double layers
of stuff and then, you know, youget the helmet, but in the back

(21:54):
of the helmet we have this little air hose thing that hooks
up and it basically all it does is take air from the outside and
blow it in through your helmet. Oh OK, cool all.
Right, so it's still hot air, but it the problem is everybody
has that helmet blower like everybody, because you almost
have to because if you have stagnant air and it's just
sitting in there, it's really bad like so it's it's still you

(22:18):
don't realize when you're racing.
I'm like, I sometimes I shut it off under yellow and then turn
it back on to mentally like relieve myself like, oh, this is
what it's like without it. This is what it's like with it
because it gets so hot in the car.
But yeah, it definitely helps. But you don't really don't
notice it though, because it's just it's blowing hot air.
But. Hot, very gassy, fumy air.

(22:39):
No, because it's out, it's coming and it's sucking air from
the side window, so it's taking air from outside.
It's like nowhere near OK and it's like through like a filter.
So like it's fine. It's just gotcha and like.
Science. Yeah.
Not my Forte. Yeah, we're gonna put it right
near the exhaust and have it come right in.
Yeah. Yeah, Yeah.
That's what I think. You're just.
Sucking it in, well, that's the whole reason for it, because if

(22:59):
you don't have it, the stagnant air is fumes and all that stuff,
right? Is there a filter?
I think so. Honestly, I don't know exactly
how it works. We.
Hope so, for your sake, yeah. Yeah, we'll say.
I mean, I would assume so. But I mean sometimes though,
like if there's dust or something, I've had dust go
through it and it like gets in your eyes, which isn't great.
But imagine being in there. Oh my God.

(23:19):
But 200 miles an hour, dust in your face, 140°, you haven't
peed in four hours. You got Vertigo going on.
But hey, what's a little sand inthe eyes?
No biggie, that's the best description of how it feels.
Remind me again why you signed up for this?
No, you didn't. Your dad did.
Yeah, no, I love it. I mean, I will admit on I I like
night races, day races. There is some races where it is

(23:42):
90 out and it's hot in the car and you're like racing.
You're like, you know, is this even any fun?
Yeah, but no, it it is fun. I mean, it's it, you're at the
end of the day, you're going fast, so you get distractions.
Gotcha. That's cool.
Now you are the first person I believe in 25 years, right, to
be out of Rhode Island. Yeah, out of, but we tried to

(24:05):
look into that and it didn't saythe guy was born in Rhode
Island. So you have been.
So you're the first ever NASCAR driver from Rhode Island?
I maybe. We're going to put, we're going
to put an official so New England stamp on that bitch
right now. There we go, brother.
Now, how does that make you feel?
Is that like a cool accomplishment?
Yeah, no, pretty cool. I remember wanting to get into
NASCAR being like, oh, what's the odds?

(24:25):
I remember one of the reasons thinking I wouldn't get in is
because I was like, nobody from Rhode Island.
Not that somebody would really care from a race team, but more
of just like, what's the odds? No, it's cool.
Yeah, definitely. It's crazy that there isn't.
I mean, this guy's at that race at Seekonk that are from Rhode
Island, but it's hard to get into the NASCAR ranks.
Well, you got to think like 95 depending on where you are,

(24:48):
feels like NASCAR. So we are all technically NASCAR
drivers. It's just taking that next step.
It's. Qualifier, yeah, especially, I
mean, we're about, we're about amonth, a month or two away from
our official qualifier, which isknown as winter.
Once winter hits that icy Rd. I don't know what is it?
What's the name of your company there?
That's that's your sponsor? The what Bros?
Oh no, this is this is 1. So I jump from team to team like

(25:11):
I don't I'm part time. So this is just one of the teams
that I race for Reading Bros Race and I've raced for them a
couple times this year, but I mean, I have a different sponsor
every race. Gotcha.
Well, I'm just saying they mightbe hitting us up in January once
they see what we can. Do.
Oh yeah, yeah. And that we should.
See what happens in North Carolina.
If it snows, it's a disaster. Oh my God, Ice.

(25:31):
I know what. To do, yeah, No.
Insolation in their homes, no snow tires.
They're screwed. People crashing everywhere like
it's bad. I remember I had like a meeting
with somebody and like on the phone and then they got like a
little ice coating and it was like, oh Nope, the whole state
shut down. Funny, that's crazy.
Well I say funny but it is kind of scary because I remember when
Texas got snow like 2 years ago which I didn't even know was

(25:53):
possible. Again, science just not my
thing. And you know unfortunately like
people like passed away because their homes are not designed for
it. So pretty crazy.
But anyways, back to you. So when it comes to like New
England racing, I know of the new New Hampshire Motor Speedway
and I know like Seekonk, but arethere other places that you go
in the New England region? Are there other tracks outside
of those? Well, yeah, we got Lime Rock

(26:16):
which is in Connecticut. OK, just added.
And like I said, I race on a part time kind of like race as
sponsorship comes up type deal. So I don't run all the races,
but I did run New Hampshire, like AI think it was September
20th. That was in the New Hampshire
Truck Race. So I've raced there a couple
times. I have no luck there.
I get crashed every time. So really, yeah, wants to be the

(26:37):
New England driver. The New England comes out and
everybody. Everybody.
I know I'm knocking a lot of youhere.
I'm a little. You're from Rhode Island and
every time you're in a New England race, you crash so.
Yeah, New England. That.
Adds up. Yeah, Bingo.
Yeah, I don't. I don't know.
If I had a racing team, I wouldn't want any of those guys

(26:57):
from Florida. No, they're too nice down there.
Yeah, go ahead and go. Go ahead.
No, I got somewhere to be. I need someone from Rhode
Island. He could definitely be like, he
could definitely be a driver. Not a good one, but he drives
like it's NASCAR. I'd be like the fourth guy in
the on the hockey line, like youjust need to go in there and
give the guys a rest, maybe get some penalty minutes, start a
fight, get my ass beat, something like that.

(27:19):
No. OK, so you say you crash every
time. I was going to ask you about
that. Like talk about this.
Like the intensity of racing though.
The intensities. Luckily, I've only gotten in one
crash in NASCAR so far, which ofcourse came at New Hampshire.
Yep, so. Same for your dad, baby.
Yep, how it? Goes the intensity of racing, it
depends. Like there's some tracks where

(27:39):
honestly, like you're kind of just racing yourself, if that
makes sense, where you're kind of in control and people are
spread out. But you got a place like
Talladega, like it's, you know, Talladega is crazy because we
got the restrictor plates and it's pack racing.
It's such a big track. You never let off the gas.
So there isn't really that much skill driving the car wise.
So everyone's really tight. So you're like in from first to

(28:03):
like 30th was is within like onesecond of each other.
So the whole pack is like this. And that's what we just ran a
few weeks ago. And I mean, it's crazy.
I mean, I came this close to getting wrecked because you
know, when you're racing the pack, one person crashes the
whole everyone crashes. But like, you know, you're like
mid pack, it's hot, you're going200, everyone's bumper to

(28:24):
bumper. And like, you know, I've watched
NASCAR on TV and you see like those big crashes and you're out
there and you think about it, you're like, wow, those crashes
don't look, don't sound funny anymore, because that could
literally be me, right? But no, it's because the most
intense racing you'll ever do isat Talladega because of the OR
Daytona because of the pack racing where you literally have

(28:44):
no idea what's about to happen. I say it's like slot playing
slot machines at 200 miles an hour.
It's all luck at those places. The most luck based racing
you'll ever do. It's just any second, just
you're just waiting, just waiting to see one person get
turned and then all hell break loose and then you know, you're
upside down or something happens.
Luckily there was a crash in front of me.

(29:05):
I missed it by an inch. I didn't get wrecked so but we
were running in the top ten there and it it's, it's crazy,
it's intense. So that's that's going.
To say you kind of I feel like if you're in that, unless you're
in the front, how do you like get out of the pack?
Because it's not like you throw the Yeah, I.
Don't. I don't understand.
I don't understand at all. Why don't you?
Why can't you just go faster around them?

(29:26):
Not, not, not those. Are there rules against that?
But I mean, there's regulations,like everyone has to have the
same stuff. But when you go to like short
tracks or other tracks where youhave to lift, use brake, maybe
Rd. courses where you shift, there's skill.
So like guys, guys will get gapson each other.
Like you know what I'm saying? Like we'll be spread out.
Talladega, you literally hold itflat to the floor.

(29:49):
You never let off the gas. So basically, you know, I'm not
saying anybody can get around there, but like I would say, put
it in fourth gear and hold it flat to the floor and just don't
fly off the track. You're not going anywhere.
So like. You can't get away if you get in
the lead with the draft too, because we punched such a big
hole in the air that like when you get in the lead, as soon as

(30:10):
you get in the lead, now all of a sudden you have all this drag
on your car and everybody behindyou sucks right back up to you.
The guy in second will always befaster at a superspeedway
because you're punching a hole through the air for them.
So they suck right up and as soon as they go around you, now
they're the one with all the airin front of them and then they
fall. So.
So it's kind of like they. Chaos.
So that's where like that, that kind of like shotgun situation

(30:31):
where you kind of wait for your moment.
But that's why I guess I'm so confused by that.
I know it's always like when you're on the straight away,
you're on the outside. When you're on the turn, you're
on the inside, right? Yeah, not Talladega, though.
You stay right around the yellowline the whole time.
The whole time, Yeah, but not like, I mean, you can make the
outside work if you have help with you.
But I mean, the slingshot move and all that, it sounds cool,

(30:51):
but what happens is you get a huge run and you move out of
line. As soon as you move out of line,
it's like you get a parachute because now.
It really makes so much of a difference.
Yeah, because wow, that's actually really cool.
When we qualify, we do single car qualifying.
We're a good 10 miles an hour slower outside the draft, 10 to
15 miles an hour faster in the draft because the whole the

(31:12):
energy of the pack, you have 40 cars punched in a huge hole
through the air. So the energy of the pack just
carries everyone. So everyone's almost kind of
like jousting in their position to get right in the middle of
the entire time. Right.
Honestly, with with those tracks, you almost get
gridlocked because like I said, there isn't a skill like skill
difference. And also if you're leading, it's

(31:33):
almost a disadvantage because you got air on your nose and
you're just going slower. So it's just, it's just what it
creates is a pack where people are going back and forth.
People lose patience, try to make moves and then they cause a
huge crash. That's why those places are very
intense, because you just can't get away from anybody.
Is that so do you have to qualify for your starting

(31:54):
position? Yes.
So in that kind of race, would it be better to focus on like a
top five, top ten spot to start because you know you're going to
be there? Yeah, 95% of the race.
So the weird, The thing about Super Speedway racing is that
there's games you can play. There's some guys who will

(32:16):
purposely drop to the back just so that they don't want to be in
the pack in the beginning because they want everyone to.
Sometimes you just bail, let those guys go race, let them
have the huge crash that they always have because when they
crash, they take like 1520 people with them and then you go
up and race at the end. It's a long race.
So you got to play that game of be smart.
You don't want to be up there and get crashed on lap 4 of 85

(32:37):
because what's what do you gain by leading lap for Yeah, but at
the same that. Makes sense.
Yeah, I guess, yeah. This is this.
Is fascinating. The strategy behind it, super
speed, like you play games like that at all race tracks, but
super Speedway racing, like I said, there is it's a completely
different skill. It the only type of racing where
you could fall back to 35th and then be first five laps later

(32:57):
because it's just like just so much chaos.
You can't do that other places. But for qualifying, sometimes
we're only allowed to have 36 trucks start the race.
So if there's 3848, they'll sendpeople home.
So you have to qualify, you know, you just have to be top
whatever. Like they'll send like 4 people

(33:17):
home. But with that being said, if you
want to go fast at a superspeedway in qualifying, you
have to trim your car out. Less downforce because you
remember you qualify by yourself, nobody around you.
So there's no draft. So you trim the car out.
Remove parts and remove no. Just like just lower it, just

(33:37):
trim it out. That's what we mean by that.
Just get get the spoiler down sothere's less drag.
You just don't want drag. So it goes really fast in a
straight line. The problem is though, is if you
qualify really good at superspeedways, usually your
car's going to handle really badin the pack because now you have
no downforce. So when you're around people,
you're going to be squirrely. Your car's going to kind of sway

(33:58):
back and forth if you qualify mid pack, but if you want your
car to handle really good, you're probably going to qualify
like mid pack, like 20th, but you're going to drive really
good in the race. So that's like a weird balance.
So it's like a. Strategy to where you want to
start? What is like?
I'm curious. Maybe you could look this up
statistically, but I'm curious to know what the statistics are
of people who start first in therace and how often they finish.

(34:21):
First. Well, for Talladega, the winners
statistically come from the 20s for qualifying.
Gotcha. How many total cars in the
Talladega? 36 or 36 for Trucks, 38 for
Xfinity, 40 for Cup. So I mean, it's kind of a
difference, but not really. But yeah, most winters come from

(34:42):
the 20s because their cars handle good.
But if you handle good, that means you have a lot of
downforce, which means you're going to be slow when you're by
yourself because you're going tobe just dragging.
That's so crazy. I just, I would have never
thought of that. I like, I I've always wondered
like why do they just stay together?
Why isn't anyone just flooring it on the outside?
Yeah, I mean, now when you go toRd. courses, you go to tracks

(35:02):
where you lift, shift, do whatever, that's when you see
guys. That's where the skill shows,
right? That's where you'll have a guy
who has a 17 second lead but no Talladega.
Good luck. Doesn't matter who you are,
you're not getting away and you're going to be in the chaos.
You can. The only way to get away is by
dropping all the way back and letting them drive away.
So. But yeah, so.

(35:23):
Is there like a particular? Do you have this stat?
OK, you got to look up superspeedways because I know
when you go to short tracks or Rd. courses does the winners
will come from obviously up front at that point.
The superspeedway racing never already said it, but I don't
know how to describe it. It is completely different than
any type of racing on the entireearth.

(35:44):
Like it's a you could be the best super Speedway racer and
suck everywhere else. You could be the best racer at
every track and go to Talladega and suck like it's just its own
talent and own skill. No kidding.
What do you think? Which one do you think is
harder? I guess it depends on, I feel
like if you're really good at normal race tracks, you're going

(36:05):
to hate Talladega because there's going to be guys beating
you who would never beat you before and you can't.
It's it's the easiest track to have a chance to win, but the
hardest track to actually win because oh.
I like that. Everybody can win at Talladega,
but that's what makes it hard. Everybody can win.
Now if you go to a short track and you're a really good driver,

(36:25):
well, your your chances of winning are really good because
there's not many people who can drive the track as good as you.
But everybody who's at NASCAR level can more than likely get
around Talladega with no issue. So, but if you're someone who
struggles at the shorter tracks or struggles at those skill
based tracks, it that all soundskind of terrible.

(36:46):
Talladega's course going to be better for you because you're
more statistically likely. But I mean, you know, you have
the winning teams and the the underfunded teams love
superspeedways because it costs money to go fast at those short
tracks or at the mile and a halfs.
You got to spend a lot of money to be able to compete.
So if you're somebody with a lower budget like myself,
superspeedways are fun because Idon't have to go spend

(37:07):
$1,000,000 to go run top ten. I can just show up and run with
the pack and I have just as goodas a chance of anybody else.
Now, as a driver myself, you putme in a good car.
I would. Talladega is the last place I
wanna go. Gotcha.
Because absolute mayhem. And you could leave the whole
race and get dumped on the last lap and flip over.
Okay. And how does it work as far as a

(37:28):
career is concerned, you guys? I know the mainstream
understanding is that there's advertising all over the cars.
Yeah, right. And like, obviously you have the
movies like Talladega Nights that talks about the
sponsorships and all that stuff,but how does it actually work?
Yeah, it's money. Money is the driving factor of
racing. Like you need sponsors to
survive. You could be the world's best

(37:49):
driver and you'll be out if you don't have sponsors.
And you could be the world's worst driver.
And you'll be in if you have sponsors.
And how do you typically earn sponsorship?
Do you you have to like front money yourself and go to like
the places like Seekonk and the smaller to kind of yeah, stand
out and get people to sponsor you?
The local levels will always be the hardest to get sponsors for
because you don't have the TV side to sell to people, right?
Obviously when you're trying to sell sponsorships, one of the

(38:11):
selling points is that you're racing on national television
and the fact that it's NASCAR and you're racing in front of
whatever. Like Xfinity's always over
1,000,000 viewers like, so they're always getting a lot of
viewers. And it's, it's good for selling
sponsors. And obviously Cup Series is
probably the easiest to sell sponsors for because you know,
it's the Cup Series, but you need money.

(38:32):
And that's, you know, like next year, I don't know what my plans
are because I don't know what mysponsors look like for next
year. So that's right now what we're
trying to do is we're trying to get Rhode Island companies
because we're trying to use the Rhode Island angle, get a bunch
of different Rhode Island companies to pitch in and you
know, we'll do a car. And what we mean by that is like
obviously you sponsor your on the car, right?
And you know, be able to go run Daytona or wherever it may be.

(38:56):
That's the race that we're more than likely running regardless
right now is probably Daytona inFebruary.
But yeah, so we're just trying to do that.
We need sponsors because it's just, you know it, it cost a lot
of money and then not only it cost a lot of money to get there
and then you get there and then you're on 25th and you're like,
oh, how do I run with those guys?
And then you find out, oh, triple what you're spending,

(39:18):
right, right. So.
I just picture a gigantic lemon on the front of his car in for.
Dell. Dell.
That would be pretty cool. Against the beer on the side.
I've been trying to get them, they almost did last year, but
maybe we can get them this. Year, this year's, the year I
can. I can feel it.
We're going to manifest it. You have that stat for us, it
said. Like specifically I looked at
Bristol, it said like 20% like who've started in like the top

(39:42):
top pole, like finish the race also at the top.
Yeah, for Bristol, because that's like a short track.
A short track, Yeah, I'm. Trying to find like the larger
one but. Yeah, if you just look up
superspeedways, it should like somewhat tell you like.
ChatGPT. Yeah, sometimes they don't
really know, but. Yeah, no.
So we're just trying to put sponsorship together for next

(40:04):
year. You can't can't race without
sponsors. Now, do you win like cash prizes
when you finish top three at all?
It doesn't do anything. For you, it goes to the team.
It goes to the team. Gotcha.
The team makes its money off of payouts in the drivers
basically. So now with the bigger teams,
like you see guys like Larson and stuff, usually what happens

(40:27):
is if you start racing so much, winning a lot, it's like the
team has a car and a sponsor, and then they go find a driver,
yeah, that the sponsor wants like one of those type of deals.
But there's always one common denominator is the money has to
be coming from somewhere, right?So there's no such thing as a
free ride. You might be driving it for
free, but somebody's paying, right?
Right. So yeah.

(40:48):
So yeah, we need sponsors. And then, you know, when someone
sponsors, like if they're the primary, they get the whole car,
they get hero cards, merch, they're on the hauler, they're
on TV obviously. And then obviously I have a
whole marketing deck that goes into statistics and stuff, which
is a lot of stuff. But you know, overall it's just

(41:09):
it's it's just a unique way to showcase your company, you know,
rather than just it's like a 200mile per hour billboard.
Plus, you know, like I tell people like, yes, you're paying
to get your name on the car, butyou're really getting it from
the off track stuff, the merch stuff, the big time seller in
NASCAR, the die cast. You could sponsor one race and
you're die cast and T-shirts areat every race for, for eternity.

(41:29):
Like they just go around and be in a Walmart or something
forever, right? So that's really where you get
your money's worth. But yeah, it's it's a sponsor
game with 40 of the world's bestmarketers is what you're looking
at when you're watching NASCAR. Seriously, this is all brand new
stuff. Holy smokes.
Yeah. Now what do you think about,
like, racing movies? No.
Like, how do you feel about those?

(41:49):
Like, do you feel like they're agood depiction of like, what
actually happens in the culture at all or no?
Honestly, I don't watch too manyof them.
Maybe Talladega nights might. I went to Talladega and it
actually might be accurate. They drive, we're trying these
on for says yeah, but no, I I don't know.
I honestly haven't watched too many, but usually it's like, oh,

(42:11):
I can't pass this guy. Let me put it in 8th gear and
just blow right by him. Yeah.
Fast and Furious. Yeah.
So no, not really. Gotcha.
I think the doc, if you want to like get a good insider racing,
just look at like the documentaries.
Yeah, usually we're going to getthe most accurate information.
Now, when it comes to like practicing and like getting
better, like, how does that work?

(42:32):
If you do you own your, if you don't own these cars, how do you
how do you practice? How do you get better?
And also as a driver, do you, I don't know how it works with
NASCAR. Do you have like favorite
drivers that you look up to and get inspired by or former
drivers, anything like that? So for the practice side of
things, so basically with me being part time and kind of
going as I get sponsors to sum up how it works is I find a

(42:54):
sponsor and then I find a team to go race with.
I don't I'm not full time, whichmeans that I don't race with one
team. I don't really have a home.
I just kind of go with what's open or if somebody, for
example, like I ran at New Hampshire, the whole reason why
I raced that New Hampshire is because Frankie Munes got hurt
and that's why I ended up driving his car.
And then literally the next weekI was in another car because in

(43:16):
New Hampshire somebody crashed and got hurt.
So I was in their car. So like, gotcha.
OK. You know, like substituting is a
way you can do it or like with sponsor.
So I kind of team hop basically is how it's going right now.
But yeah. You're kind of substituting
right now. You're in the middle, you're in
the grind right now. I respect it.
That's that's a lot to have to undertake and a lot to do.
But yeah, sounds like you're doing a great job with it.
Yeah, what was the original question?

(43:38):
I forgot. So I was asking, well, first I
was kind of asking how you practice.
Oh yeah, yeah, that's right. That's where I was going.
It's so this is the part that makes it really hard.
Is it even if you're a full timedriver, you show up to a track
you've never been to, NASCAR gives you 25 minutes to
practice, you go out and qualifyand then you race

(43:58):
superspeedways. It gets even worse.
They get you show up, you get one lap to qualify, no practice.
You show up, get in the car, go out and qualify and you better
hope that you make the race and then an hour later you're
racing. Wow, that's.
That's intense. I really.
Thought you were going to say Mario Kart, but yeah.
Well, so I do have the, the guyswho race full time, they have a

(44:22):
lot of like for example, this team that I race with sometimes
their full time drivers have have Ford support.
So like the manufacturer, Ford gives them backing and stuff.
Part of that is SIM time. And you're talking like $250,000
probably even more than that huge SIM rigs where it's like
basically real life and that's where they test setups,
practice, do all that stuff. I haven't been on one of those

(44:44):
before, but I'm sure it's great.I use iRacing, which is another
simulator. It's basically like that, except
it's it's a cheaper thing and it's online racing and you know,
you have the wheel and all that and a lot of drivers use it.
It's extremely accurate. During COVID was a great time
because that's when NASCAR started actually running a races

(45:07):
on there on TV on I racing, but I racing that's actually.
That's actually really cool. Can we do that?
I racing I racing's legit though.
Like obviously it's hard when you're talking and it's a
simulator, but you have the video game aspect of you have
people who can sit there and play it all day.
And even me, as someone who races in real life, struggle to

(45:28):
keep up with some people becauseyou got kids that sit on there
and like, OK, they're running this race.
They know that they're running this race at this track on
Thursday. They're going to practice for 17
hours every single day leading up to that race.
So like they're like aliens, like in terms of like they're
like computers, like they just never make a mistake.
And they have like I racing has their top series called the Coke

(45:49):
Series, which the winner gets 500 grand for the championship.
And in order to make it, you have to get your I rating up,
which basically, you know, to get your I rating up, you just
run an official online races anddo good.
The thing is these kids who are going for it, they they're
running, you know, as many racesand two months that I've ran in

(46:11):
five years on there, like they're on it 24/7 to make it,
which I mean, if you make it andwin half a million doing that,
then I guess it's good. But.
That investment might be worth it for.
Yeah, but the odds are you're not gonna make Yeah, I think you
have a better chance of making it in real life NASCAR.
And then you do the that sometimes you get like anybody
could play it you right now. I mean, you should play you.

(46:31):
Said 500,000. I already Amazon ordered all the
parts to my house. I have AI got a whole house car
waiting for me at the house right now.
I'm ready to go. Yeah, like a SIM rig, like a
good one is probably like 3 grand and you get the wheel you
3 grand or 30 grand. No 3 grand.
OK like like a decent one for like someone to play at home.
Like you get a good computer, you get a good wheel, good
pedals. You know, obviously there's
people who spend the best is like the people who like post

(46:53):
like I wish I could race in reallife.
And then you look at their SIM rig and it's like 50 grand.
It's like, you know, you could go like get a race car.
For that much. What are you doing?
Like you could have actually done this.
Now here's a real question. The racing at Dave and Buster's.
I mean, that's pretty accurate. No, I.
Mean what 1? There's a few.

(47:14):
Yeah, you don't get turtle shells.
But you know which one car you talking like the one where they
have? They do.
It's called oil coming out the back of your car.
They got like, you know, the NASCAR one that it's like
specifically NASCAR and you can race all your buddies and
there's like 10 or 15 of them ina row.
Yeah, not accurate. I haven't.
Because I like, I don't know, I wasted a few swipes on that and

(47:34):
I came out of there thinking I might have a chance.
But you're saying? No, I don't think so.
All right. Well, we still love a good Dave
and Buster's day. Just put that out.
I mean, you could just put that on your resume.
Yeah, Dave and Buster's professional driver.
Yeah. And the follow up to that was,
do you have anyone that inspiresyou or that you look up to
favorite racers, anything like that?
So the cool thing about Trucks and Xfinity is that all the Cup
guys come and run them anyway. And they actually had to put a

(47:56):
rule where like Cup guys can only run a certain amount
because there was like 10 years ago where Cup guys would run
full time. They would run full time Trucks,
Xfinity and Cup on the weekend. They were on all three every
single weekend and win the championship in like all three.
Yeah. So they used to kind of like we
used, we used to call them leeches because like they would
just come down there and just whip everybody's butts because
like the Cup guys. But so like my favorite driver

(48:20):
is Kyle Busch and I've raced with him a couple times this
year. So it's weird because it's like
you look up to these guys, but now like you're out there and
you're like, no, like that's, you know, that's some random 40
year old guy in front of me that's literally like Kyle Busch
or that's literally Larson. You can't think of who else I've
raced against. Kyle Busch and Larson are two
big ones, so. That's awesome.
That's how I feel when I go to Gillette.

(48:41):
Continue. Good.
Nope. Pause for a second.
I'm gonna need you to finish that.
You're heroes, but, you know, competing them, playing football
against those guys, you know, throwing Tom passes and.
You're telling me you compete with Tom Brady?
Yeah. When did that ever happen?
Right here, right up top. Right up top.
OK, he's a little full tap this guy.
My heart just stopped beating from the from the intro I was.

(49:04):
Confused for a second. So I was like try not to react
to it. That's project.
For you, throw a couple things in there.
Hopefully This is why you have to cut your friends off at the
tailgate a little early so that they're not full blown thinking
that they're the quarterback of the opposite team that will be.
Shocked what I can do with the pigskin.
Awesome. All right.
We're going to get into this so New England segment now, can you

(49:28):
rank and order your favorite NewEngland states one through 6?
One through 6, my least favorite.
We're going to start with six, all right?
Least favorite. At least that's where you're
going with it. Probably Massachusetts, just
because. I don't know if Massachusetts
has ever been in 6th place before on our list.
I'm going to say wise because. Take.

(49:49):
Give it. I've had to pick up a lot of
people from the airport, so there's why.
And you just don't. You don't do Logan.
You're tired of it. No.
That's hilarious, OK #5. Connecticut.
Massachusetts below Connecticut is probably the hottest day this
podcast has ever seen. Because listen every time.
One thing I forgot to mention isI hate to fly so I drive to all

(50:11):
these races. Really.
A NASCAR guy doesn't like to fly, he prefers to drive?
I would have never thought that.I'll be driving back from North
Carolina and it's like, oh, you know, we're only three hours
from home and then I get to Connecticut and then it's worse
than New York for some reason. There's.
Still 3 hours to get home. Yeah, it's like, oh, wait, it
says 22 hours and then two hoursgo by, it says an hour and. 1/2

(50:31):
Somehow I'm still only in New Haven right now, with another
hour and a half to go. That's hilarious.
OK, 4. Guess New Hampshire get crashed
all the time there. It's New Hampshire, it's not
user error. Yeah.
And then 321. Probably Rhode Island at three,
yeah. Wow.

(50:52):
Yep, it's mainly because. You grew up in West Greenwich.
And yeah, I mean. Shit to do out there.
And New Hampshire, New Hampshirewould actually be my number one,
but I had to put it back there mainly because of just the
crashing. So something about those roads.
And I guess I don't know. Now we have 2 left.
Yeah, you got Maine and you haveVermont.

(51:14):
So what's going to be 1? Vermont or Maine?
Man, I haven't even been there. Vermont.
Vermont should be at #6 really hates Logan Airport.
We'll do you a favor. We're going to move that back.
You never been to Vermont? So they have to be 6.
And then we'll put Massachusettsat 5:00.
And then we'll put Connecticut at 4:00.
So where's that put now? Lost.

(51:36):
Okay, so technically speaking, the only one left would be
Maine. Yeah.
All right. So main main #1 Rhode Island 2.
Yep, New Hampshire 3. Yep, All right.
Cool. That's.
A good that's a good that's a good list you have.
There. Hey, listen, the first thing I
thought of where you like list your the states.
The first thing I came I had wasjust Boston.

(51:57):
I've gotten stuck in the tunnel with 20 miles left of gas.
My friend, because I dropped my friend off and he had his, He
gave me his car and he's like, I'm like it says 50 miles.
Oh, it says that it's really 100.
Well, I start driving away afterI drop him off and it just
starts dropping and it says 23 and I'm stuck and I'm like, Oh
my God. And I had to go pee.
I almost that would have been the.

(52:18):
Set to be when you drive, look at that different.
That would have been a regular. Car that would have been the
second time if I peed in his carbecause it happened one time.
I'm just going to be honest. Getting stuck in the box, I've
got a lot of questions because all of a sudden you were like,
oh, when you're driving you don't have to pee.
Now you're telling me you almostpeed in your friend's car twice
because of the Boston traffic inthe tunnel?
Well, that's different. You just sit in there with the

(52:38):
car off because I'm trying. I'm over here putting the car in
neutral trying to have to run out of gas.
Oh, is that a real thing? Because I've done that before,
Because I've heard about it, butI wasn't sure.
Yeah, I mean. You understand cars much I.
Know in a Street car, I guess I mean in a in a rail race car, we
just shut it off, put it in neutral and then when we save
gas, we shut it off, we put it in neutral and then you just put
it back in the gear and pop the clutch and turn it right back

(52:59):
on. But obviously the automatic so
a. Lot easier.
I put it into neutral. I don't know if it does much and
I not like I can shut it off androll and turn it back on so but
yeah, I don't like the Boston tunnels.
It's. Hilarious.
All right, here's another question courtesy of our boy Vin
over there. And he thought, well, this would
be pretty good. So I'm going to this is not

(53:21):
wasn't on our list. But if you could assign a
sponsorship like a decal, it could be like anything.
Doesn't have to be like a particular brand, but like what
would be the decal for the side of your car for each New England
state? Well, Massachusetts, I just like
a sticker with a tunnel with, you know, the brake lights.

(53:41):
Sponsored by Logan Airport. Sponsored by Logan Airport Yeah,
a Logan Airport 1. Yeah, Connecticut.
And I mean, I haven't done much in Connecticut, but see, besides
drive through it, which I have, the problem with Connecticut is
there's always construction on 95.
South, a traffic cone. Yeah, there we go.
Yeah. There you go.

(54:02):
Yeah, I guess you're right. Traffic.
Cone Connecticut gets a traffic cone on the side.
Boston gets the tunnel. New Hampshire gets like picture
of a car crashing with you don'tlike that the like superhero
graphics where it says like boom, like he crashed.
So we did Rhode Island because Isaid lighthouse.

(54:23):
Yep, lighthouse from Rhode Island, Massachusetts.
You got Maine in Vermont left, your two favorite.
Maine in Vermont, Maine, I guesslike snow because when I went to
Maine, it's just like. So just a completely all white
car it. Was a little snowman maybe?
It's honestly like funky, huh? When I raced in, when I raced in
Maine, it was Oxford, Maine. It's just like nothing.

(54:45):
It's not like a bad nothing. I don't know how to explain it.
Like when I went to Alabama, that was like a bad nothing.
I don't. Know how to explain it?
But this was just like more of like a nice nothing.
That makes sense, yeah. Like a peaceful nothing.
Yeah. So I guess yeah, I just picture
like a snowy field in like the one random hotel in the corner.
This is great in Vermont. Vermont.
There would be no car because he's never been.

(55:06):
Yeah. So I guess that.
We're going to help you out here.
We're going to put Ben and Jerry's on the side.
Yeah, there you go. There you go.
Ben and Jerry's come. Sponsor, get sponsor.
My trip to Vermont. There you go.
All right. If you could add another city,
state or country or town to New England, who would you add?
You've you're pretty well travelled now.

(55:27):
Obviously, it's not Alabama. No, this is and definitely not
Iowa. That was probably my least
favorite state I've been to. OK, just boring.
And every time there's a thunderstorm you had in the
basement because you never know when a tornado's come.
That's fair. What is it?
So you're saying if I could add something on to New England, is
what you're saying? They come and join the six

(55:48):
beautiful states here. It could be a city, state,
country, whatever you want to be.
Charlotte, NC All right, look atthat.
I mean, everything I do racing wise is North Carolina.
So like when someone gets hurt, for example, and I find out
usually it's like Monday, like, hey, you're going to be driving
this car. Well, then I have to drive from
here 'cause I, I throw up on planes.
So that's why I don't like to fly.

(56:09):
OK, this is OK time out. You OK?
You are an interesting individual.
So when I asked you about the driving, you were like, oh, the
G forces are unbearable and it makes you it you know people
don't understand and it's like difficult.
You can do it no problem. So you can for 3 1/2 hours not
pee your pants. You get crazy G forces at 250

(56:29):
miles an hour at a 36° angle, but you can't fly because it
makes you sick. Yeah, it's just, it's like.
Are you pulling my chain right now?
No, I swear. How does that happen?
Because I just think that Tyler.What the fuck?
I think that like when you're onthe plane, like you don't see
the movement but you feel it. I think that's what makes me
sick. Interesting, if that makes

(56:51):
sense. Do you get what I'm saying?
That makes perfect sense becausewe go to the Patriots game and
we take the train whenever we go.
Usually when we go up we'll takethe train and I always for some
reason end up getting screwed where my back is turned and I
can't look out the window because everything is going the
opposite. Direction window seat and I'm.
I'm so I'm the opposite. So used to, I'm so used to
feeling my like visually seeing it.
So when you start to see yourself going backwards after a

(57:12):
while, it kind of messes with that.
Are all the food in the buffets?We did eat quite a bit.
Yeah, I have to sit window seat on a plane to have a chance.
Oh see, I'm the other. I'm the other way.
This is like I can't look out. The to have a chance, Yeah, have
a chance, usually. And this is like every time you
get sick. Every time.
Yep. Holy smokes.
I don't know, it's just it's really annoying motion sickness.

(57:34):
So for Talladega. I wonder if the plane was just
turning sideways the whole way if you'd be fine.
I mean they found a way is. A flew like. 33 angle.
And 20 feet off the ground so I could see and I was driving it.
But maybe that's probably what it comes down to.
I mean, there's plenty of guys that I race with who like, you
know, like I'm friends with and be like, because in North
Carolina there's Carowinds amusement park and they don't
want to go on roller coasters because they get sick.

(57:55):
I think it's like a control thing.
I think like some guys if you'redriving.
Like some people get sick when they're, you know, in the
passenger seat, but if they're driving, it's like.
Sometimes my friends get sick onboats, but then how do you?
Point on me for I get I get I have Vertigo so I can't do
roller coasters anymore, but I like I love roller coasters.
I just can't I get I get the spins like you wouldn't believe.
Yep. Yeah, but.

(58:17):
Oh, you're talking because you said the control thing?
No. Is that what this is?
No, that was way before that, but I.
Understand what? You're saying if the clip fits?
Anyways, OK, Charlotte NC is what you're asking.
Adding excuse. Me, Charlotte.
Charlotte. Charlotte, NC.
What's the Speedway right there?I mean, that sounds dumb.
I is it Charlotte Motor Speedway?
Yeah, OK. That's what I thought.

(58:39):
Even I knew that. Well, no, because I got a Isn't
there another? No, I'm thinking of Bank of.
America Stadium, Aren't you fromthe Carolinas?
No Concorde's near no, I lived in.
I lived in South and North Carolina growing up from the
ages of like 4 to 13 and I only lived in Concorde, North
Carolina for about a year. Big Carolina guy doesn't know
that's Charlotte, NC. It's different, OK.

(59:01):
It's like West Greenwich to to. Be fair, it used to be called
Lowe's Motor Speedway. Oh, that's what?
That's what it was. Yeah.
What a load of fucking shit. What a load of son of a bitch.
Do you have a favorite movie that's based out of New England?
You're driving. You don't take a plane.
You don't get to watch any freaking movies.
No, but I like Family Guy all. Right.
Well, let me ask you this. What is the worst?

(59:22):
What is the worst state to drivein in New England?
Let's just forget about the Boston Tunnel thing because like
that's like, I mean, honestly, maybe it's temporarily, but it
feels like Rhode Island because of this whole bridge situation.
This is true. I 95 Rhode Island's so small
that because of that bridge, it just like radiates through the
whole state. I swear this.

(59:43):
Is so true. And then you get traffic,
traffic and SEGI clear that bridge.
It's like. Wide open am I thinking to
yourself, why was this an issue?These were three moving lanes.
Well, that's what I we can't zipper to save our.
Lives I don't get it because we go like you said, you go over
there and you would think there's a lane closed, but they
like there's like extra lanes over there and it's I think
people get scared because like it's so like.
Tight over there with the wall or something.
It doesn't make a lot of sense because even when the bridge was

(01:00:05):
open, it was only three lanes wide to begin with, and now you
still have three lanes. They're just very tight.
But they have. They gave all the trucks a
detour. There's no trucks on it.
It's just cars, at least no 18 Wheelers.
Maybe people think that it's gonna be harder when it is, so
they have their mandatory like, you know, slam on the brakes and
stack the whole line, that's what.
Starts the problem is on the no one wants to get stuck in the

(01:00:26):
traffic so the the dump off fromthe 195 merger coming from South
and N when they come in the the South Bend has an extra lane so
by the time it gets to three that lane refuses to get over
earlier. Everyone wants to be the last
person to get in front. You know what happens that guy
causes the traffic and he wants to get off in East Providence.

(01:00:48):
So now in a no changing lane zone, because those three lanes
are solid line but not allowed to, you're not supposed to
change lanes then you're supposed to do it earlier when
you have hundreds of yards to doit.
And then they just 'cause traffic, they don't zip her
properly and then they go acrossthree lanes to get to the east
and then they. Put up three walls.
No, I've caused more traffic. Yeah, right.

(01:01:08):
Maybe. That.
Would be wild. Not a good idea.
It would be wild. Yeah, we it is the.
Traffic and so All right, so worst state to drive in Rhode
Island, worst drivers in New England.
I mean, this is good, OK? It's hard to say because
honestly, it's weird. The second you get to New
England, it feels like it's all the same, like it just.

(01:01:31):
We're all bad drivers. Yeah, it just feels like the
same vibe of just like angry over the top, just everybody's
mad. Nobody knows where they are on
the highway, just traffic cones everywhere.
So that our holes, what state would probably be the best, like
NASCAR, Like if we had NASCAR teams like Vermont, NASCAR team

(01:01:52):
main, like who do you think would win?
Oh, based on? Oh, you're saying like based?
On the state, like if the state was like its own team, which is
like congregating together all of the drivers.
I mean, I guess I don't know, it's hard to tell.
Like I've raced with some New Englanders and a lot of them are
like weapons race around. What is it?

(01:02:14):
I guess usually so like on the American Canadian tour, like a
lot of like the good guys come from like Vermont and like Maine
and New Hampshire kind of and usually the wrecking balls come
from over here. So no wrecking balls.
There's a title. Yeah, I choose one.
Oh, oh, the best one. I think it would be like Maine.
Wow, just based on like if I could say Canada, I would

(01:02:36):
because that's where all the best drivers come from actually
that come over here. But I'd say.
Canada. Yeah.
Don't they drive on the left side?
I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
OK, so worst Rd. Worst place to drive?
Worst state Rhode Island, Worst drivers, All of us.
Best NASCAR team to ever come out of New England,
hypothetically speaking, would be the state of Maine.

(01:02:57):
Yep. We'll see what the Internet
thinks of that. Probably not going to agree with
me. Just don't base.
You're a guy. Driver.
So they have to agree with you, yeah.
Come on, I'm just going based off the people I've raced with.
Like I noticed guys from Maine are like the good ones and guys
from Canada Gate and Mass are the ones that just crashed me.
You're going to get all the comments of the guys who don't
even commute or drive like 2 minutes to their local Duncan

(01:03:18):
every morning. That's they're going to be like,
Nah, I would I Rhode Island's the best.
Yep, those guys, those are the those are the best drivers
around. OK, how about a New England food
that you think is like the best?It represents New England to the
fullest extent. So what I like to eat, or what I
think would represent New England, What?
Do you think would represent NewEngland?

(01:03:38):
The best clam chowder Chowder. Chowder, Yeah.
Something to not eat before you get into your nest.
Could you? Is there a filtration system if
you have gas inside of your NASCAR?
Like you get to go to bathroom. No, I mean you just let out a
little bit of fumes yourself. I mean I think it just gets
burnt because the air is so hot.I can't imagine a clam chowder

(01:03:59):
fart inside of a NASCAR. Could you ever?
Be so bad, oh man. Let's go back to the movie
things. Do you have a favorite like
bracing movie at all? Is there any movie where you're
like, it's about racing, You're like hell yeah.
And it doesn't have to be NASCAR.
Like obviously there's really only Talladega Nights for that,
but I'm saying. Like.
Any street racing or anything that has like cars in it that
you're like hell yeah. I've never been really a big

(01:04:21):
movie guy. All right, so Fast and Furious
is what you're saying. That's not.
True. Let's just.
Say that some. Respect on cars.
There's three of them. Oh.
Cars. There you go.
That wouldn't be actually the best representation.
Lightning McQueen is for real. Damn it, I forgot all about
that, obviously. Oh my God.
All right, favorite New England season?
Summer. Yeah, you're a summer guy.

(01:04:42):
Hate the winter. Like this is my worst like month
ever is November really? It's just like, I'd rather be in
February because like it's like it's not winter, but it almost
is. And it's like, oh, it's almost
here. Dark out that floor.
When we get a little warm duringthe day but then the sun goes
away. It's hilarious after I hate
November. OK.

(01:05:03):
Last question for you, if you could describe New England in
like a single sentence for any of your NASCAR buddies, You got
all your North Carolina folks coming up to come and race with
you at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and they're like,
Tyler, what is it like up in NewEngland?
What's the one thing you're going to tell them?

(01:05:23):
Cold, but I got it from there. I think you're hyper fixated on
the winter thing. Right now it's cold.
The accent cold, obviously, because that is a big factor.
Be prepared for cold weather, strong accents, shitty roads.
Yes, lots of traffic. Lots of traffic.

(01:05:44):
No apparent reason traffic. Pretty homes, I'll say.
When you go down South, all the houses look exactly the same,
especially Florida. They're just like cookie cutter.
Yeah, I get a lot of culture. We have a lot of diversity.
I feel like there's a lot of like culture, like everything
kind of looks different, like the houses are kind of prettier.
They all have bold. It's but very.
Nice. And the falls are pretty, so I
guess there's like for tourists.And the beaches in Rhode Island,

(01:06:08):
I guess, are pretty nice, yeah. Look at you go, huh?
Little melting pot. Action.
Melting pot, yeah. We are multicultural.
We've got a lot of different options for our homes.
We've got beautiful beaches, lots of potholes.
Yeah, pretty cold and a strong accent.
How you Darn there you. Go.
That's honestly it. I love it.
Tyler, where can everybody find you online?
And if there's anybody that's interested in sponsorship, how

(01:06:30):
do they get a hold of you? Yeah, so just basically all my
social medias are just at Tyler's Mossy for Instagram and
X. My TikTok is Tyler TT Tomasi.
If you just search Tyler Tomasi,you'll run into my hacked
account that I cannot get back. Oh jeez.
We ignore all the TikTok shop ads on there.
I do not endorse any of it. But for sponsorship stuff, you

(01:06:52):
can just either e-mail me at [e-mail] or just
DM me. You don't have to like send some
formal message or anything like that.
You can just DM me on Instagram or X or you can text me which
I'll have all my number and stuff in the e-mail stuff so.
Awesome. And anything specific race wise
coming up that people should be on the lookout for or anywhere
where they can watch? Like do you have like highlight

(01:07:13):
tapes and stuff people can see? Yeah, I mean, so I'm trying to
work on get my YouTube channel back going, which would be I
have it Tyler, Matthew Tomasi. OK, so make it very easy for
people to remember. Some guys have like 50 different
names, but I have for like mainly highlights and like race
recaps. Honestly.
My Instagram or Facebook, which,yeah, Facebook is Tyler Tomasi

(01:07:36):
racing also. Yeah.
So we usually post like recap. Sometimes we'll have a video
photographer, like we had a really cool one for New
Hampshire, so. Yeah, I saw some of those
videos. Looked really cool.
So yeah, that's basically where you can find everything.
Awesome. And and any races coming up to
look out for, they can maybe come and participate.
You're going to be popping up over at Seekonk at all.

(01:07:57):
Sometimes, sometimes I go and watch at Seekonk, but gotcha.
Honestly, not really any racing stuff.
So we have Daytona that we're more than likely running, which
would be in February, that's theseason opener, which would be
the biggest race. So that would be pretty cool.
But right now we're working on our 2026 plans.
We're trying to do some Xfinity Truck stuff.
Just like I said, it's just the sponsorship side.

(01:08:19):
So gotcha. Anybody wants to sponsor or got
anything, you know, come on board.
And you know, we basically have anything open.
Like we can go wherever a sponsor wants.
If they're like we want to absolutely run Indianapolis, we
can go there. If they want to run here, we go
there. So we're open to basically
anything. Awesome.
I love that. Guys, please sponsor him so he
doesn't have a car that just hassnowflakes on it for me.
Let's put something, let's put something nice on the side of

(01:08:41):
it. All right, Todd, thank you so
much for taking. Come on with the So New England
podcast, ladies and gentlemen, that is going to conclude
episode 60 foe of this New England podcast.
Please remember folks likes better in New England.
I want to go fast. Red Sox crack in the Celtics fly
Patriots fights in the Bruins grind from six great states.

(01:09:01):
We raised this down New England strong, homeward bound.