#15 - Scott Dixon and Robbie Fast

Rico Elmore and Ken Stout welcome Scott Dixon, Indianapolis 500 winner and his spotter Robbie Fast.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Scott Dixon and this is the Skinny from Fathead

(00:04):
Studios and Speedway, Indiana. This is the Skinny. Welcome once
again to the Skinny. We've got a big show coming
your way. Stout Enrico as usual here, but inside the
studio we've got a fat Cat, Ladies and gentlemen. How
about a five time IndyCar champ, the O eight Indianapolis

(00:27):
five winner, a four time winner of the twenty four
Hours of Daytona has won at least one race in
the last fifteen years consecutively an Indy car, starting his
twentie IndyCar season and his nineteenth season with Ganassi. Ladies
and Gentlemen, the iceman cometh Scott Dixon in the house.

(00:49):
Thank you, Thank you, appreciate it. Yeah. Absolutely. Right alongside
is a guy that has been with him for We
were talking about it this morning, we think maybe twelve years.
That is Robbie Fast. Robbie Fast is his spotter and
of course also drives a transport and takes care of
coaches and you pretty much criss across the country all
year long. And then the others spotting jobs at the

(01:10):
twenty four and twelve hour and NASCAR yeah, cover it
always on the roof, yea, if it's a role and
I'll spot it. I've had the pleasure of seeing the
next of that guy for for a number of hours,
and he's certainly made a big help to me and Scott.
I've got to think I only raced a little bit.
I raced in short course off road, and I remember
my spot or just being the absolute lifeline when I
climbed back out of the truck. It was he was

(01:32):
my best friend in the world. And just that comfort
of having that same voice has to be huge. Yeah,
it is big, you know, and and I think specially
to the extent of indycow racing and over racing. But
even now, you know, I did a couple of different
races at the Style of the Year and the Bathist
twelve hour, which was weird because you had nobody kind
of guiding you in in situations pit exits, pit entries. Um,

(01:53):
you know, we have a lot of the time, so
you don't you kind of just get used to and
you don't really understand how much of a help it
is and that's not there, so you know, it's uh,
it was definitely you know, uh that that that was
very paramount earlier in the year this year. But you know,
know it's just one of those things that you become
so accustomed to it. Um. It takes moments like the
start of the year that that you you really noticed

(02:15):
the big difference. But yeah, the spot is a fantastic
stater races, you know, through the pitch stuff sequence, uh,
to even seeing you know on ovals, you know who's
utilizing what lanes and and you know what other guys
maybe doing to pick up time. You know, it's it's
it's a huge amount of information, uh that you know
the driver's name. And I would think much like your
your crew chief, if you will driver engineer, the guy

(02:36):
that you conversed with the most about changes you want
to make to the car. You just learned your own dialogue.
Everybody has their own special way of communicating. When you
say something that might mean a little something different than
another driver, so YouTube get in sync. But they have
the same guy for twelve years. And Robbie was thinking,
maybe the longest duo, longest standing current duo UM in
the series right now, I'm guessing that the only other

(02:58):
possibility will probably be Rick Mears and and Elio Um.
But then now the Elio is just doing single events.
But you know, pretty much almost every race that Scott's
been in, uh, since I've started here on nine, you know,
it's my first kickoff season at that month of May
for Indie. UM been spotting for him, you know, for
Scott ever since. And then the funny thing is when
he does the twenty four, even with you know, through

(03:19):
the Cannassy years, I've never spotted the twenty four for him.
I don't think I was always on an against you
don't know, you don't know how your good point. But no,
he did fine. Obviously this year too because I was
working on the third place car with Sebastian Board and

(03:41):
those guys in the j DC car. So, but no,
in that and just doing all the different NASCAR stuff,
it helps me out keeping in starting off like you
said at the uh, you know, when you're doing at
least half the race sharing it with another guy, it's uh,
it kind of gets your feet going and get your
stuff back in the rhythm and stuff. And then um,
you know tests we do test at IndyCar for get Nasty,

(04:02):
you know with Scott, so that we just do everywhere
we go. I'll find a place you know, and sometimes
it might be his where he wants to put me to,
you know, rather than just picking milon you know, best
place I can see stuff. So um, like you said,
for starts and restarts, and that's basically you know where
the test Monday, you know, we needed help and traffic
and just gapping ourselves and that. Yeah, like when you're
doing the test at Seabring short Course, you know, and

(04:24):
there's fourteen or sixteen indye cars like that, it's very
easy to step on top of each other in a
you know, less than fifty two second lap, you know.
So it's um, it's all those scenarios where you're trying
to get out of the way of you know, you know,
traffic and people that maybe are on a hot lap.
You know that the data has changed so much to
these days. You know, you you're on the steering whil
at least to have a gap chart on who's behind

(04:45):
you and who's coming fast, which helps you know, especially
on race weekends. But you still can't believe, you can't
you know, change or exchange that for for someone actually
visually seeing it and telling you right away, because then
you have a bit of a totally bitter understanding of it,
and my understanding, I mean talking to the drivers you
know before the five D one I have Spider for
them and talking with David Hamilton's the vision when you're
inside of those cars is really limited. Yeah, it can be,

(05:07):
you know, I think it's specially India. It's it's a
lot of people don't realize how narrow that track is,
you know, especially on the front stretch. You know, with
the war right there, you know, the backstrade doesn't tend
to feel as tight just because you've got the grass
and and and you know, it feels a little bit wider.
But Indie, you know, especially when she's start any three
four wide, man, it gets really it gets really stressful,
you know, getting to figure who's going to left first,

(05:29):
or who's going to bail out of it, or if
who's going to try and challenge you to the corner
and it could be all three cars, you know, all
four So um, India's is definitely very unique because you
have the switchover of the two you know spotters as well,
you have one and one and one and three as well,
so it's you know, they have to work very well together.
So it's definitely a common ground of knowing what everybody
wants to hear and having that sink, especially at bigger

(05:50):
tracks like Indianapolis. The D five such a special place
of course for you. You've seen the highest of highs
in the in the lowest of lows, they're winning it.
In two thousand you lost a teammate there early on
in your career. And then of course, um that massive
wreck that you had just a couple of years ago,
and I was actually standing beside Robbie when when that happened. Boy,

(06:12):
that place has really delivered some crazy stuff to you
along along your way. Yeah, it's uh, you know, that's Indianapolis,
you know. I think that's what it is summed up,
you know, is the highs and lows. You know, it
just can be pretty brutal that place. But you know,
I think that's what is so fun about it is
the challenges. You know, and one day, you know, even
in testing, you can be it can be feeling easy,

(06:33):
and then the next day can just bite you in
the ass, you know, And uh, I think it it
requires a d respect every day, every minute of the
day testing at that place. You know, the fine changes
because you're running, you know, so far on the limit
that you know, the ambient conditions are shift in the wind.
You know, it can it can just it can take
it away from you quickly. So it's um that's why

(06:53):
I love about it is just it's just that challenge,
you know, it's it's trying to figure it out. And
some years, you know, you you just know when you
off in the first couple of days of testing that
it's going to be a much easier than than some
of the others. Um. I think in recent years, you know,
the manufacturers play pretty heavily in the shift of power
that's delivered on on certain days. And then you know,
once you get to fast Friday or qualifying, you really

(07:14):
really understand where where you've been sitting. And you know,
unfortunately for us, you know, the last few years, we
we just haven't really been in the race. You know,
it's I think we you know, we we got involved
in one of the crashes last year kind of running
on the top eight, but you know, the previous year
we finished third, but it was more strategy that kind
of got us there. You know, gone of the days
where you know, we had a really good string of
you know runner our positions. You know, the occasional win

(07:35):
that that I had at least a No. Eight and
Daria had a string of them, um, you know, through
that period. So it's been a huge focus for our team,
specially in the off season, of of trying to understand
where we've been getting it wrong and trying to reassess
you know, some situations. But you know, hopefully a Honda
have stepped it up as well. I know that's been
their sole focus in the off season has just been
Indianapolis and hopefully that placed true. Yeah, talk talk about that.

(07:58):
That race in its entirety of or a moment, it
seems to me and I don't I don't recognize other
I don't see it in other races as prominently as
I do. In the The progression of that race starts off.
It seems as though, like you say, everybody kind of
being respectful, you can things can go wrong really quickly
there early on, but it seems though everybody bides their

(08:18):
time to the first half of the race. The second
half of the race, things start picking up. But I mean,
and it's noticeably how things start picking up, and then
the re starts with a quarter of the race left
to go. Man, it is gloves off, four wide people
driving in the grass, and it always is mind boggling
to me. It's like, are they just that comfortable with

(08:39):
the car and after being in it for that amount
of time, or is it the urgency of trying to
get in the front at the end of the race
A little bit of everything. I mean, you can just
see how much more aggressively are at the end of
that race. Yeah, for sure. You know, I think it
indis definitely become a track position race. You know, gone
in the days where it didn't really matter too much
where you started. Um. You know, you had plenty of
winners from you know, back in UM it is a

(09:01):
little more difficult unless you you have a dominant car,
which you saw this year, you know, or last year
I think, you know, Passionate really had a dominant car.
It was just one of those things that you know,
even if you got into the middle of the pack,
he was going to fight his way through. So you know,
those years are ones that you you definitely cherish and
try to make the most of it. Um. I think
the race has changed a little bit. I think a
lot of the new driver car combinations that we've had,

(09:22):
probably in the last couple of years, I think the
urgency has become a lot earlier in the race. You know,
you've seen a lot more desperation I think earlier on.
Some of that is derived from, you know, the style
of racing that we've had to where it is kind
of tricky at a pass. You know, a lot of
those passes need to be made in the first sort
of five laps when the tires are really good and
you can you know, really stretch it on the high
line or try and you know, make these you know,

(09:44):
brave dives. So it's um I think it does have
a really uh in each year changes, you know, just
how the pace kind of picks up and slows down.
You know, I think the first five to ten laps
of a stint, it's pretty chaotic throughout and then everybody
gets into a fuel safe mode or trying to reap
session themselves and kind of you know, you had to
have a little bit of a lull. But yeah, it's
full of emotions, you know, I think throughout that day

(10:07):
and that's that's one of the hardest things I think
to to overcome is is you know those highs and
lows that that even you know, you we We were
talking about it from year to year in the race. Man,
It's it's crazy, just you know, those peaks and valleys
that you have, you know, over a three out period.
The last couple of years, I wasn't there, but the
year before I was on Carlos Minos and I remember
about mid race or so, we were under a caution

(10:29):
and he said to me, he said, has anybody gone
to the top yet? Talking about on the restart, and
I said, I haven't seen anybody go up there yet.
That restart ross around the outside, you know, and passing
people and three wide in the short shoot between one
and two, and I just remember, you know, not even
expecting that to happen, and immediately on the radio to him,
you know, outside outside, and he already had somebody inside

(10:50):
of him. It's likely we're going three wide here, man,
which those things look cool when they work out, But honestly,
when you look at the reef, I've watched that replace
several times and he was so lucky, you man, so
lucky that a couple of scenarios there where obviously you know,
the driver on the inside had been respectful because it
could have gone so sideways in so many moments. But
that's what it's about. You know, there are situations where

(11:12):
you've really got to take those you know, opportunities and
and and you know bank on them, um, you know,
working out the correct way. But but you've got a
kind of a shop there. So it's it's good to
watching it and it's fantastic to see when when things
like that play out and what ROSSI did that to
have gotten away with it a couple of times, a
couple two or three times, and then as drivers started thinking, well,

(11:33):
I don't know, you know, maybe it should dry and fishing,
and drivers start watching it because that that that spurs
the others one too. So you'll probably see a lot
of that this year. Hey, let's go back just a
little bit because because I was reading doing a little
bit of homework on you, of course as as I should,
but I was I was pleasantly surprised to see that

(11:55):
both of your parents ran dirt cars at some point.
Tell me about that. What was that like early on
in your days? So my dad, my dad kind of
raced a bit of everything, like a club level, you know,
he did rally car, he did you know, the track,
they owned a speedway actually in Townsville in Australia for
a period of time. Um. Actually that's why I was.
I was born in Australia and all my families from

(12:15):
New Zealand. But they were working there for I think
a four or five year period. They had me there
while they were living in Townsville, and then we moved
back to New Zealand and then and then Dad did
more dirt track racing, and then and then more of
the kind of road uh you know road call stuff
um kind of in the Benson. The hedges days that
we had in New Zealand were kind of big for
racing there in Australia and New Zealand. So yeah, he

(12:38):
loved a race. That's where you know, all I remember
growing up was was you know, going down to the
garage and seeing my dad working on some kind of
car and you know, I was trying to help out,
and it kind of my bugs started with motorbikes, you know,
as like a three or four year old. And then
you know what triggered me into it was, you know,
seeing my cousins race go carts at the age of seven,
and uh, you know, kept kept asking for a go cut.

(12:59):
But yeah, Mum's a Mum. Mom did a little bit
of racing. They would have like um weekends where they
would do a I don't even know what you would
call it, like a mom and dad half kind of
swap and she she would she would race, you know.
I think she was one of the ones that initiated
it at the speedway that they were running at the time,
and she would race two um. I don't remember she

(13:20):
was very successful at the time, but but yeah, it
was pretty cool that that that they had that opportunity,
and you know, Mom did get to race a little bit.
Because could you imagine that if you had a husband
wife in the US, you would have they would be
beating each other. I'm sure. I'm pretty sure that's why
it didn't really last year. So for a number of

(13:41):
years I did the show called Lucas Oil on the Edge,
and one of the shows that we did was actually
in Northern Indiana. I want to say it was a
demolition derby, but it was the Divorcee Demolition Derby, Shareville, Indiana.
That's a great idea that Phil cares. Yeah, it was
couples that had been to wars and they put them
in cars and somebody through a green flag that's perfect.

(14:04):
That could be deadly. We need to bring that exactly.
Oh you're not supposed to hitting by in the driver compartment.
Big hits, And ironically enough it was the women that
were really angry. Man, they were handing some hits out.
I'm surely finally the muscles are even here. I'm sure
the guys will laughing a lot that. Yeah, there's probably
a lot of insurance plans taken out. Behold that one. Yeah, yeah,

(14:25):
I know it's my ex but I need to get
a plan on her. Yeah, yeah, but no, it's Yeah.
So that's how kind of my racing career started. And
and yeah, I guess just it was inevitable. My parents
loved that. My I have three sisters and a brother too.
And uh one of my sisters raced for a long
time and said of my brother and go cuts, they
were they were a lot older. I think the next
youngest was eight years, you know, older than I. So, um, yeah,

(14:50):
it was just a family things. So how far did
you go up in the go carts? And then where then? Where?
So I skipped out of go cuts? Uh kind of
at thirteen. Um, just just got into junior category and
then and ran that for maybe a year year and
a half and then starting Formula VISE so I think
at that point it was the youngest. I think it
was a Guinness World record at the time was when
I was racing open wheel at the age of thirteen.

(15:11):
It's probably been beating now just with the age of
some of these young kids. But there was there was
a lot of controversy in the fact that we kind
of got through a loophole in the licensing because most
countries you have to have a road bearing license before
you can go for a racing license. But there was
like a small um you know, one liner that you know,
if you if you could get special dispensation by going

(15:32):
and somebody watching you on track, and that's what I did,
which that was a funny story. I kind of went
to Pukakoee, which is one of our bigger tracks in
New Zealand, and I had to go around. It was
in a Suzuki Swift, I don't know if you know,
it's like a little twelve hundred road car white thing,
and I had to go around with a driver for
for a Reagan Morgan was was the guy and did

(15:53):
a few laughs and then we came around the fastest
corner and if you've been there, it's like flat out
in that car. It was probably on a hundred miles
now because it was so slow. But there was a
family of ducks that were walking across the track and
I swerved to miss them, spun the car when it
ended up in the grass, and just stop before the bank.
And all I remember was that the driver sitting in
the Reagan sitting in the passenger seat saying, just hit

(16:15):
the ducks next time. Please please do not swerve to
avoid the ducks. By the way, no ducts were harmed.
Ape So that was that was the end of my
practice day there. But so let's let's go along at
that same time, because you're thirteen years old. Let's let's
hear about the Nissan story, because apparently you had a
pad strap to your back so you can reach the padals. Yeah.

(16:37):
So there it was kind of a Within like two months,
I had my first form of the V race and
ran really well. Um, I think I came like third
or something in my first race, or fifth, and then
then was passing another one. In the second race of
that weekend, we actually crashed in that same corner. I
missed the ducks and broke the car pretty bad. But
then yeah, I think three or four races into my

(16:59):
form of the V season, um dad sort would be a
a good idea to do some endurance racing. It was
called the Nissan Centric Cup I think at that time,
which were you know, all one mate cars. It was
probably thirty five or forty of these things, and it
was classic racing. It was like the old British train
cars like the X five exactly, which is the best
racing on any weekend and that we have. We sit
in our truck watching that race the whole time and

(17:20):
it's it's so cool. But yeah, so coming around, uh,
I got past that corner this time where where I
missed the ducks, and it was like lap three. So
we shared the car and the UM I was thirteen,
the regular guy was like forty forty forty years old
or whatever, and he thought it would be a good
idea since we were renting the car. That I started

(17:40):
the race to which we should have seen a mile off,
and yeah, I got spun exiting into the back straight
and just barrew rolled this thing and destroyed it. But
the worst part was, you know, for the driver change
to make it fast was, you know, because I was
shorter at the time. I had this big pink floral cushion.
Isn't just a cushion, man, it was this big pink

(18:02):
floral thing taped to my backside was pink. And I
get out and I'm just boiling my eyes out, man,
And and it made like the front page of our
biggest newspaper in New Zealand. And yeah it was. It
was not a good luck. There is video, yeah, yeah,
I think the video is the one I've seen is
pretty grainy. You can't actually see me crying, which is good.

(18:24):
Carl and air and they'll find it. Think there was
an HD technology that exactly. They just saw the flowers
on the and everything. So yeah, so it was a
pretty interesting start to my racing career, with lots of
ups and downs. But then the year worked out fantastic.
I won the championship and Formula first year and and
uh yeah it was cool. That's cool. So how do

(18:44):
you transition here? Uh? So then we were to Formula four.
There was Class one, Class two. Class two was the
older cars. Like I think we ended up buying like
a nineteen eighties six fan demon or. It was a
Swift and then we won that year in Class two,
moved up to Class one, won that championship that year
and they moved to Australia Formula Holden which is former

(19:06):
three thousand cars with a GM engine, and UH finished
rookie the year in the first year, won the Australian
Drivers Championship this the following year, and then made the
jump to America. But we were kind of on the
way to Europe to start testing a Formula three and
at that point Kenny Smith, who was helping me still

(19:27):
racing seventy god knows how many years old now, like
he's still doing doing the New Zealand Grand Prix down there.
Um he knew Vern Shupen and Stephan jo Hansen and
the Lights team, and on the way to to Europe
we kind of stopped off in the Sea bring did
a two day test. First day it was with pack
West Racing and then second day was with with Yo Hanson.
We ended up being the quickest out of the open

(19:47):
test and they did a deal that we couldn't refuse
and I never made it to Europe. So it was
not only was it the quickest, but it was a
lab record by the way, just yeah, it was a
good test. Yeah, it worked out the bye, Yeah, it
was good. It was fun. So what you were two
years of Indy Lights is that one day? Yeah? I
do one year with with with Stephen Johanson and Burns

(20:08):
team UM and I think we were I don't know,
Rookie of the year maybe the year we had one
when I think in Chicago and then and then went
on to Pack West UM and then I think we
won half the races that year and won the championship
and so how many so how many Indie Lights were there? Then?
Do you remember about thirty thirty it was big fields?
Do you think I'll get that back? I don't know.

(20:30):
It's a it's a weird dynamic now, right because it's
so split, you know, I think the whole as the
road to India or I don't even know if it's
still called that is. It's kind of fragmented, you know.
And and because IndyCar don't really have it under their
you know, arms anymore, that it kind of I don't know,
I don't know what they're gonna do. It's kind of
expensive to you know, from some of the numbers that

(20:51):
I was hearing, you know, it's it is pricing, it is, yeah.
But which when I did Indie Lights, it was kind
of you know, for for the guys bringing the money.
It seemed like every team had a guy that we
brought the money and then a guy that didn't bring
as much money, and and they were still asking somewhere
between nine one three. So you know, it hasn't really
changed that much. Um, it's just that the Indy Car

(21:11):
series has got so much cheaper, you know, gone in
the days where it wasion per car. You know, if
you can scrape together to three million dollars, now you
can get a drive, you know, with all the factors
of the leader'st circle money and everything that gets tipped in,
you know, it's achievable. So that I think is where
they lose that a lot. You know, you've got people
that are kind of skipping any lights because you know,

(21:32):
if they can raise a little bit more money, then
go straight to Indica, you know. And that's the thing
that we were talking about the other day when Robin
was here, and I think Davy and Ko and all
of us were talking about. But you know, it's you know,
you think about all these the guys that came up
you have a j A, you have Mario, all these
guys that came through U Sack, Race Dirt, did all
the different stuff like that, you know, and and came

(21:55):
up through the progression. Yeah, it's different now, it's way different.
It will never be the aim again. But the problem
is as you have somebody like as again, Cody Swanson
probably the most deserving guy to try to get an opportunity, right,
the most deserving since Brian Clawson would be my my,
my feelings of it, and uh, you know, so we're

(22:16):
working on trying to get Cody something and uh, you
know the Indie Lights deal and you know it's probably
a hundred and fifty grand just to run the the
you know, the Freedom one hundred. But you know that
hundred and fifty grand could turn into a career. It's
kind of exactly what you just said about, you know,
Stephan Joynson's deal and in that, yeah, I think if

(22:38):
you look at my path it was you couldn't write
a book and have paid it as well. You know,
it's very lucky with some of the opportunities that opened up.
We've had a great group of investors. We were one
of the first to kind of do the investment program. Um,
we had fourteen New zeal investors that kind of raised
the money for for me to kind of live and
pay for the racing career, which you know then you

(22:59):
had to pay act you know ever ever a period
of time as well. So you know, it seems like
that thing or that function is a little more common too.
But it's still hard, man, It's it's hard. And now
the business model has changed so much, and it seems
like there's such an influx of rich, wealthy families that
are that are just piling in the money and it's
kind of a lot of the talent is getting lost.
Yeah let it and yeah exactly. I was just going

(23:20):
to say, the timing of it, I think it's what
you were talking about there are alluding to is so critical.
And a great example of that would be Connor Daily
and Joseph Newgarten. Those two kids came up through the
ranks side by side, up up into Andy Lights there
and then Connor decided to go to Europe. Uh, Joseph
sticks with it, went the championship and he spent some

(23:40):
time in Europe as well. Um, and things didn't pan
out as well for for Connor, just timing wise, certainly
not lack of talent. Both of them, you know, were
very very good, you know, coming up through the ranks,
and Joseph despite having a team owner that passed away,
managed to hang on comes back over here. The timing
of Sarah Fisher operation becoming lucrative with with money and

(24:03):
wanted to a young American driver. He falls right in place,
and then it moves forward to Carpenter, and then it
obviously delivers here in the last couple of years to Pinsky.
But then you look at Connor and Connor still scrapping
as hard as he knows how to, you know, to
stay in the hunt. And it's just funny how close
it can be and and go different directions. Yeah, and
and and you know, even Mike, just because I know

(24:26):
my career, you know, any any sort of sway in
the timing line there could have shifted a big time,
you know, even the pacuist. You know, well, I think
Tony Renner and are were the only people that ever
got paid. In fact, and in the Light's history, I
think we made God like I under fifty ground was
the base and we got a load of prize money.
Like it was. It was insane that we were getting
paid to do any lights, you know, which which was

(24:47):
you know, I've never heard of it because when when
we went to try and do the deal, they're like, oh,
we'll just put you on the same deal as Tony Wrenner.
And then we saw the contract with like, yeah, sure,
we'll definitely take that um And then you know the
blund out opening and you know, the that year later,
but then even mine with Toyota's backing and then you know,
shifting me over to Canassy when you know that went
imploded at pack Whist and they went bankrupt. You know,

(25:09):
it's just those shifts, you know, could have not happened
at any point, you know, from pac Whist, I could
have been lost and left in the wind. You know.
So it's it's I totally get it, you know, I
totally get um. You know Connor's path and and you
know Joseph's path. Yes, they're they're both very talented and
they've they've won a lot of races and and uh,
you know, it's good to see I think kind of
get this opportunity this year and you know, hopefully hopefully

(25:30):
it plays well, you know at the IndyCar deal and
everything that's going on with that. I mean, I'm excited
to see where it goes, but I'm also excited to
see if we can't make it go a better direction
as well. You know, with things that happened with you.
You brought up Toyota. Of course, we're very very close
with the Toyota family, and uh, you know, I keep saying,

(25:52):
so when you guys coming back and they're like, quit
talking about it, and I'm like, you know, Roger's going
to get you back. So when you guys go back.
Manufacturers are important, you know. I think even if you
look at the driver programs they have in cup you know,
and it's it's just the feeder that they use, you know,
is you need you need? Unfortunately, the manufacturers and and
really Indie Car's missing that big time right now. I

(26:13):
think with the two were very lucky to have, you know,
such great brands, but they really need a third or
even better would be a fourth. You know. That's what
I was thinking whenever you said it's so fragmented with
Indie Lights. That's where the big teams need to have
that manufacturer support, to have that Indie Lights program to
keep that that driver feed coming up. Through there. Yeah,
it's hard. I think when you look at the history

(26:34):
of Indy Car racing and indie lights, so there was
never really none of the big teams really had indie
lights programs. You know, it's kind of they just it
worked because the steps were at that time when you
were going to Indy Car. You know, there was enough
of a jump that it that it became such an
ideal zone to go to Indie lights and if you
did well, then you were going to get picked up

(26:54):
and then you were immediately paid. You know. The problem
now is the gap is so small, you know, they
just end up trying to dive straight into Indy Karen.
You you you're kind of really just getting the people
that have the funds opposed to the talent, you know,
which is which is you know a bit of a struggle.
So it's you know, I think you know who was there.
There's been a couple just of recent you know, with
v K and a few of those that are that

(27:14):
are fighting through it, you know and doing well, all
of them ask you and Patto. You know, I think
with with what McLaren has done, you know, you maybe
need that shift with some of these teams that are
kind of going to just go with that younger generation
and try it out. Yeah, and I mean, and that's
what I you know, the whole Indie lights thing. I mean,
that was the thing that I was talking about. It's
like now it's like a lot of independence, you know

(27:35):
what I mean. It's it's somebody that still has the
passion to race, but it's kind of what they can
afford to do. You know, there's four or five people
that own one car. They may run three or four races,
and you know, it makes it it makes it difficult
to keep it a full time deal. But that that's
interesting when you were in it what they had. And
I mean I've watched it over the years because you know,

(27:57):
we you know, when we were heavily involved in sponsorship
of Silver Crown cars, Well, Silver Crown would run with
IndyCar you know, or would run with Indie lights, uh
you know, and and Indie lights would run with trucks
or we would be there with Silver Crown trucks and
any lights. And you know, I gotta tell you, I mean,

(28:18):
it's it's always it's always interesting to watching it. But
you know, now you've got you've got Indy lights, but
you know, you've got the MASDA, this and that. I mean,
so it's kind of categories that are so close together
they're kind of falling on top of each other. But
then you know, kind of going to the Oval racing
man like, it's it's a tough sell when when Indy

(28:38):
Car goes, like I remember poking, it would be the
only thing on track. So when we're down for three
or four hours, like there's nothing to watch, you know,
I remember going when it first started, you know, in
in indie lights there would you know, there'd be several
categories running throughout the day to to keep people, you know,
sort of interested, and you know, Texas always do a
good job of that with the trucks in the Indy
Car and at least it's action always kind of happening.

(28:59):
They're kind of really got to get rid of these
lulls that we have, all these giant lulls. That's that's
why we're doing this show, by the way, But we
can fill on the laws we can we're in I
mean that that would be great, That would be great
for sure. How exciting is it to be with one
team for nineteen years? Uh, most of the time, it's

(29:19):
exciting you know, it's like a marriage, you know, it's
it's up and down. But no, honestly, it's it's um
Chip and I think have you know, just personalities that
don't you know, there's no conflict. Um. You know, I've
seen a few teammates throughout throughout my years and and
you know, you definitely see straight away the personalities that
that are gonna, you know, sort of inflict some pain.
I think with the Chip, you know, fairly early on. UM.

(29:42):
But no, it's it's been great. You know. I think
it's there's very few people that have been able to
you know, achieve you know, this this length. You know,
I think, you know, if you look at Team Driver
kind of combination, Elio is probably the longest last thing.
I think he had a couple of years on me. Um,
you know he's not doing any couple time. But but no,
it's you know, for me, it's been it was a
game changer. Um. You know. The first meeting I remember

(30:04):
having what Chip was was daunting as hell coming from
Pack West, you know, and and it didn't, in my opinion,
didn't go very well. I remember walking out and talking
to Steph and I'm like, man, that's that sucked. That
was really bad because you know, he had all the
cards right. So he's like I even more in my
indie light season than driving for for for Chip in
the first year. But but you know, I think that's

(30:26):
that's what you need sometimes and it's not going to
be easily achieved. But you know, I really respect Chip.
You know, I think him and my wife Ema are
probably the two most competitive people I've ever met, you know.
And he never he never left man, he never. You know,
each time he's he's pushing for more. And you know,
I've any situation, he always says, you know, if is

(30:48):
there anything anybody needs? Does anybody need anything? You know,
whatever it is, We'll figure out how to pay for it.
And and and he just keeps it rolling. And you
know a lot of respect for that because I've been
with a lot of teams in my junior career it
was was not about you know, finding speed. It was
about you know, dealing or making the product look better
opposed to to being fast. And you know, I think
when you look at chips semi short career, the guy's

(31:10):
achieved crazy numbers and across the board, you know, and
many different things. So yeah, I don't know. I feel
very lucky to be with this team. I love being
with his team. It's it's family, and hopefully it continues
for a while. I believe this to be true. But
only team owner to win the DY five D Daytona
five hundred Brickyard, four hundred Rolex twenty four Daytona. Uh

(31:30):
and of course Lamar in the twelve Hours of Sebring.
I mean six six massively large, very difficult races to win,
and he's managed to win them. It's not quite changement,
it is. It's huge and he you know, he keeps
knocking them out, man, So it's it's good to be
part of it. I met the first time I met
Chip was at Bill Simpson Sweet and of course Bills

(31:51):
and there running running the show, and Chips just sitting there,
just listed to really really not saying much. But now, guy,
I mean, it's a lucky guy to work for somebody
like that, as long as you have so yeah, he's
he's demanding, and you know, he he has his quirks
like everybody does, and like I do, you know, but
but but deep down, you know, I think, you know,

(32:13):
Chips changed a lot from when I first met him.
You know, he was he was he could be pretty mean,
you know, And I've been in some meetings where you know,
I've felt very small with him and you know, walked
out and thinking that's probably you know, my last year.
But you know, he's got a big heart. Um. You know,
I think he values a lot of things that that
people necessarily don't see that out of him. And and yeah,

(32:34):
you know, I think when the biggest thing, like when
I've been part of you know, the the down world
in situations or justin Wilson's or anything, he's the first
guy man and they're trying to help and help in
a big way, you know, whether it's the family side
of things or down the road trying to you know,
make sure everybody's okay. So it's it's um, you know,
he's He's been a big part of my career and
a big part of a lot of others. I see

(32:56):
a lot of that. I call it passion. I know,
I know you said in that moment he was mean,
but if you take a look at his personality and
I don't know him personally, but just people like him,
he's just there's a lot of passion there and so
everything if he's angry and he's being mean right now,
he's going to be the meanest of mean. And if
he's loving right now, he's he's the lovingest of loving.

(33:16):
And if he's racing right now, he's the most competitive guy.
It's it's just big personality, big passion. And when he's going, man,
he's on the gas and whatever direction is he's going. Yeah,
most of the time, it's a fun ride, man, right,
A couple of bumps along the way, and you you
get to spend a lot of time with him too.
I mean, I know you're in and out and working
with him, you're sitting over there. You can't just not

(33:37):
say anything. The old times they will lame a couple
of This is pretty cool just to be here, to
be the tracks clear right now. So he's yeah, clear
all around. So yeah, it's it's just super cool to
see that that bond between driver and team owner because
so many guys bounce around and I know it's all
money generated, but it's so difficult to have the success.

(34:00):
And certainly he's very happy with you. You don't want
to see you go away, you know, with what you've
delivered to that team, and it's a difficult thing to do,
you know, and going back to what we were talking
about before, the fans want to see stuff. I think
the fans, you know, they love people like you because
you didn't come from big wealth, and this has always
been a rich man's game. We might as well just
hit it on the head, you know, it's never been

(34:21):
something you know, maybe if you go back to the
midget days and in the thirties, forties and fifties, when
those guys are still building stuff in their own garage,
it could be competitive, but for the most part, it
still ended up as the guy with the most money
could do the most stuff. And and to have somebody
come up, even if it was a timing thing that
did not come from wealth and makes it to the top.
People people love that, man. They want to just know

(34:42):
that there's a chance. Yeah, it's definitely um. You know
I think that that you know, a lot of people
do forget that and brush over it. I think in
some scenarios and and and you know, I personally respect
you know that the people that do achieve it that
way a little bit more. But but you know, it
is hard because you know, even through the junior degrees,
you know, having the resources makes a big difference, you know,

(35:02):
and you see that in cutting to this day. Like
I don't know if you've been to a car tract recently.
It's incredible the amount of monor homes and the amount
of money that people are spending is is is crazy.
You know, there was no chance in in my gene
Catecorty that I could have even even you know, my parents,
there's no way they could have achieved that. You know,
we were rocking up with an open trailer and you know,
and that was it. But but you know, it's it's

(35:25):
it's good to see. I think a lot of people
that still have the passion for the sport. It's just
that it's it's changed a little bit right now. Two
thousand four, two thousand six, we were running national tour
running Stars of Carding and Manufacturers cup UH with w
k A, with Robert and we spent about fifty thousand
dollars on carding that year. That was two thousand six,

(35:46):
I want to say it was two thousand, twelve, thirteen fourteen.
Somewhere in there. We were talking talking to a Cardian
family and that was a hundred grand Yeah, you know,
and I'm sure it's north of a hundred grand. Now, yeah,
I don't know. Like for me though, it was all
about that camping, like that's what we did. You know,
we couldn't afford the motels or hotels. You know, we'd
pack a tent and you know we'd sleep. That was
a kind of cool thing about you know, the New

(36:08):
Zealand series. They're always in the summer um and you
would you know, would be just like a big touring
carnival for for eight to ten weeks. You know, you'd
kind of go from you know, school holidays always and
you'd go from round to round to round, you know,
sleeping in the tent and it was fun. Man. That
was the best days of my life was you know,
living at the track and and you know waking up

(36:28):
and you know cooking some bacon and eggs and and
get on the track and race and then do it
the next day too, you know. So it uh, I
don't know, New Zealand was a lot of fun. And
I think the series, you know right now that I
think tour the series down there was doing really well
just because of that fact too. And it's offseason. A
lot of Europeans still going down there. But Yeah, those
were probably the best memories I've had of my racing career.
So I'm not going to I'm not going to jump

(36:51):
into this too hard. I'll let you take it as
far as you want to go. But rumor has it
that your dad joined the Blue Man crew at one
point was was not very happy about it. Can you
tell us some of that story? Yeah, I can. I
can tell you about that. Sorry. Um that was at
Miller Motor Sports Park and and um, I don't know
if you were round then maybe it was doing um

(37:12):
uh And I was I think the second or third
driver on one of the cars for that weekend. It
was in between the Indie cast season. It was an
off week for us, and then we had it was
weird though. We tested like on a Tuesday at the
track and then we had like Wednesday Thursday off and
then you know, back on track on Friday and for
the race weekend, and so we're doing nothing and then

(37:35):
you know, someone's like, hey, we've got some moonshine and
one of the motor homes and you know, there's nothing
to do out there. So we're like, okay, let's stay
and drinking, which is a dry which a dry county too,
and so then everybody's probably had a few too many.
And then my dad we see him walking over to

(37:55):
a Porterloo or porter John or whatever it's called, and
was worth another person and they thought it would be
quite a funny idea to rock it. So we rocked it.
And it was actually sitting on on like a curb,
so it was on top of the curb. So actually
when we rocked it, I feel like I wasn't the
one that rocked it that much. But as it turned out,
this thing, this thing rocked all the way until a

(38:18):
tiptoe there and and of course it tipped door down right.
So all I remember is like, I'm trying to lift
this thing off him, and then and then I see him,
he's just covered, he's blue, looks like a smurf. And
then I see this like bright orange turd sitting right
on his chest, and uh, and he's trying to hit me.
So I'm like, I put it down again and I

(38:39):
I run off. And so yeah, long story short, it was.
It was a bad day for my dad. He was
not real happy about that, um as you can imagine,
and actually that weekend got worse. I think he didn't
got in a car accident in my rental car which
wasn't in his name. Wrote the thing off, and of
course somebody had to pay for that, so we can

(39:00):
literally turn the crap. Yeah, for for a weekend, that
was help and chip out not driving for any money.
It costs me a lot of money and my dad
still hasn't let that one go. With Dad's dignity on
the way there, I'm just glad there wasn't many people
there that that that. I don't think there's anybody there
that that witnessed it, but he definitely remembers. I remember
going to the hotel that night and apologizing, and he

(39:21):
was still for days, he was still a tinge of blue.
I don't know how hard it is to watch that
stuff off, but I feel extremely bad for that racetrack memories.
It's yeah, yeah, I've tried to let that one go,
but that one seems to keep popping up. So you've
had a day and a half in the car. You've
actually had a lot more time than that with the
wind screen, right then you test a little bit last

(39:42):
year a little bit. Yeah, we did earlier on I
think with the different version which was just just the
screen portion and then it changed I think later in
the year which I did Indianapolis and then also Richmond,
UM which there were four testing There was Indy, Richmond
and two Sea Brings or some like that. Oh no,
there was an Alabama. Yeah, it's been it's been pretty good. Man.

(40:04):
I think you know the whole uh you know, conditioning
from from PPG and and Red Bull technologies. I think
that what everybody knew and then put together, I think
was it was a huge jump. But I think the
way that you know, Red Bull have have you been
through this process on the F one side for for
a little while, so they had had most of it
developed already, so it was it was pretty seamless and

(40:25):
and you know, I think through the CODA tests, which
was really only about a five or six our test
and then seabring obviously no issues. CODA had some rain,
so it was good to finally test the screen to
see what was actually going to happen. But um, I
think there's still that rare situation like we had at
Detroit Race one this year where it rained has started
as a wet race and went dry, and because it's

(40:46):
a concrete circuit, you know, it has that kind of
concrete dust to it um and when I actually crashed
in that race. But when when you were taking a
tear off, each time you would kind of get the spray,
it would be a milky white and you were just
peeling through tear off. So that's kind of the only scenario.
I think that maybe an issue because you can really
only pit and take a tear off off. But if

(41:07):
it happens every kind of lap or two, then then
I don't know what you're gonna do. So there there
is like a drop dead situation. I think that the
glass portion can come out and just have the halo,
which on the street course I think is sufficient enough
for sure. Is there a low pressure area when it
comes up over the wind screen where that dirt and
dust can collect on the inside of that. Does that

(41:28):
distort vision? No, so from the inside not at all.
You know, the first few lenses that we had to
have some distortion in them, and it was kind of,
for whatever reason, it was always kind of the low
left side, which was where you need it for the ovals,
and that was a bit strange, but they said it
was just kind of, you know, production kind of issue
that they had. And after that there's there's been no
scenario over that. I think the first street course will

(41:50):
be a little tough. I know when I first jumped
in it at the speedway at Indianapolis. The kind of
just your your visual peripheral perception of how close you
were to the wall because you're looking through another lens.
You know, I wear contacts, I have Advisor, you have tearoffs,
and you have another lens and you have tearoffs. There's
a lot of dimensions you're kind of looking through. So

(42:11):
that was a little probably the first four or five laps,
you know, I think kind of just figuring out how
close you were to the wall which you're on the
street course, I think could be interesting. I think especially
for the first five laps, you know, maybe the first session.
But um, what they've done and the cooling was an
issue to start with two because you know, when you're
doing two hundred miles an how that the airflow is

(42:32):
pretty good, but when you start to enclose that that
was a big issue. So they've opened up a lot
of front nose area and then also inside by the
shock shock area or panel on the front now you know,
pushes air into the into the cockpit, So there's a
lot of calling and even now we're running like a
helmet pumper, so there's a deflector on the outside of

(42:53):
the car that runs a tube to the helmet too,
now which gives us more error as well. So it's
they definitely covered all the bases. Well, well that's great,
stuffs or we'll see how see how everything pans out
and a few changes there. It's I was surprised it
was more important. Yeah, yes, I mean upros gonna get

(43:13):
paid more. I heard they got heads up display and
they don't need you anymore in the car. They had
that too, and I thought we were going to be
what's the point of having us, you know? But then
there was a lot of drivers that didn't you know,
on our car for sure didn't. Yeah, that was that much.
I don't know if you did much in the those
were good. So those have radars on them to the

(43:35):
ones in the GT cars, so it gives you a
good perception of how fast the car is coming from behind.
So it could help you at night a lot, you know,
to know if you're running and racing another g T
car if it was a prototype coming through um just
because it would have speed arrows that would come up
on the on the picture you know, with with it
looking back on the other cars, but which was handy.
But the one on the Cadillac is kind of pointless,

(43:57):
like it's right in front of the rear wings, so
all you get is a really good view of a
rear wing. You can't see anything else behind it. The
camera needs to be on the wing, said the same thing.
He said, he didn't even And it's slight way up
here and ours our drivers, I was telling Robbie earlier
this morning we have we have breakfast together and at
nighttime that's just blown out. You know, when the headlights

(44:18):
are coming up the rear view camera, it just blows
the whole spring. So they don't even want to look
at almost like turn it off because it's so bright
to The technology is pretty pretty trick now though, Like
the stuff we use at Lamar for the GT program
was insane, and especially when you you know the prototypes
there were so much faster than the GTS, like it was.
It was created a lot less accidents, man, just because

(44:39):
you knew somebody was coming and they're a huge safety
far back. There was a radar pick somebody up. It's
quite a way is I don't know the actual but
you you would know for at least five seconds how
fastest thing was coming. And you know, you could clearly
depict if it was Act P one car or a
P two car or a g T car like it.
They're good, man, really good. That's amazing. Knew the corvettes.

(45:01):
They had some cameras inside. There's were a number of
years now and um, obviously you being in the in
the in the pea cards so much, you know, most
of yourself was out of the windshield. But I was
blown away at how close the g T l M
s and the GT cars were this year. I mean
the speedway speed was almost identical. I mean they could

(45:21):
get into the turns harder, you know, the brakes on
they were better, and then coming off the turn they
were a little better, but sheer speed. There was not
much difference. Yeah, it kind of It kind of changes
each year. I think with the difference between the categories.
For sure, are you talking about Daytona or at least
you know it's um, the GT categories always the best race.
I think, like it's it's flat out man, and like

(45:43):
you know, you can rob on each other a little
bit too. The prototypes that still kind of, you know,
a bit delicate, but the GT had a lot of
it was weird, you know. I ran I think eleven
years and prototype and then did four years of the
four GT program and then this year coming back into
the prototype, it was it was actually quite nice to
only look forward, you know, and previously you're you know,
looking at the marriage because the products would just take

(46:06):
you out. Man, that'd waste you. So it's uh, it
was um yeah, but yeah, it's super cool of you
to take the time out. We know you're a busy
guy and a million people want to want to slice
of it. So thank thank you very much, and man,
we wish you the best luck this year. And I
know you can beat them going fast when they give
you a fast car, but you've got the ability to
beat them in a slow car. Between you and Mike

(46:26):
Hole and your ability to save fuel and his ability
to strategize is just unparalleled, man, incredible. Same. I appreciate it.
Thank you guys. It was a real pleasure. I'll be
back for sure. I love it. Awesome, very cool. Spread
the word man and Robbie can't thank you enough. Appreciate it.
You're a big part of making this happen as well,
so thanks a lot man. So there you go, guys,
another edition of the Skinning, Scott Dixon, Robbie Fast here

(46:48):
in the House. Hope you enjoyed it. We'll see you
next time. Thanks for watching this episode of the Skinny.
Be sure to check out all the latest son An
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(47:17):
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