July 8, 2021 • 55 mins
Competing in just his second NTT IndyCar season, Alex Palou currently holds first place in the points standings, driving the #10 NTT DATA Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. Alex talks about his family’s support from the very start of his career, his impressions of Barber Motorsports Park and Road America, along with colorful descriptions of what it’s like to be behind the wheel at the Indy 500.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The skinny with Riego and Kenna is a production of
I Heart Radio. Hey I'm Alex below and this is
the skinny from the bath Heads I Wear Studios in Speedway, Indiana.
This is the skinny brought to you by Toyota Rhino
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General Tire dot Com today. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. You
are watching the skinny. We have a very exciting driver
on here today to join us. He is the hottest
driver on the MT T Indy Car series as it
(01:07):
stands right now. Comes in here as a points leader.
Brand new to the Chip Ganassi Racing team behind the
wheel of the number ten, just picked up his second
win of the season at Roade America, kicked off his
first career when at Alabama a little bit earlier in
the season, and we will certainly talk about his INDI
five efforts because he qualified very strong, decided to go
(01:29):
back out eight a little bit of the wall, came back,
qualified a little bit better, and then damn near one.
This saying, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show. Alex Pelo,
thank you so much for having me, guys. Pretty cool stuff.
Man boy, what a season you're having. Hey, before we
get going any further, I want to ask you something
because I was reading reading a little bit um from
(01:51):
your culture. Do they call you Alex Polo at home
or is it Polo Montebo. So in Spain we used
to surnames the surname from the second name from dad
and from bomb Um, not like here in the US,
so they normally use Palo. But we still have the
second surname, which is the certain name of my mom.
(02:13):
Uh there. I don't know why because we don't really
use it, but in all the documents and everything, we
have to use it. So um, So it's basically two
last names. So did they still call you Alex when
you're at home? Is that your first name at home? Yeah, yeah,
it's just Alex. Yeah, it's just Alex and and Palo
that's it. Yeah, yeah, I was reading about it. It's
kind of cool. Just different cultures, you know, how how
(02:34):
they how they interact. So man, congratulations, what an incredible
season you're having here. Yes, so we've been having a
good start so far. It's been amazing to join the
number ten crew and all the Chip and racing team.
I think we've done uh, some good races, some social
(02:55):
racist as well, but yeah, we will always able to
get up and and and performed the next day and
and as you said, and at the UNDI five hundred,
we had some bad moments but we were able to
get back on and still have good results. So super
happy so far. Um, it's good that we're leading the championship.
It's always good that everybody is chasing us, but we
(03:17):
need to be leading the championship at the end of
the championship. So yeah, to keep it going until the
end and hopefully it can be one of those champions Yeah,
baby steps for sure. My partner here, Rico, uh, he
always has the same question that he loves to ask
these drivers, drivers like yourself that have made it to
(03:38):
the highest levels, um uh and and their humble beginnings. So, Rico,
you're the master at this deal, and we we'd love
to know more about Alex. So Alex, how did you
get started? Where did it all begin? So? I started
when I was five. I'm not coming from a family
that had any racing background or any sport background, um
(03:59):
And I started to because there's really small go karting
place in between my house and my school. So I
used to pass there two times a day every day,
and I used to see all these people like doing
labs for fun. So I guess that one day I
decided that I wanted to try and and I was
so small that I couldn't reach a better So my family,
(04:20):
all my family, my my uncles, my grandfather's they decided
to buy me a small, really old go kart for
my fifth birthday. And we started there. We didn't know
anything about sport, about racing, about driving, about anything, um
And we started just me, my dad and my family
(04:42):
and and yeah, now we're here. I love it. I
was just talking with our last guest about Marcus Ericson
and his beginnings, and it was interesting much of the same.
There's a lot of families that say, well he wants
to race. Let's was by a you know, a go
(05:03):
kart and see how it goes. And Marcus was talking about,
you know, them traveling around you know, Europe in the
back of his dad's paint van, and I mean, I
love that story and I'm sure that you have one
much of the same or similar. I mean, it's a
family taken a taking a leap of faith and trying
to do something that they thought you would love. So
(05:24):
where all did you guys travel? How far out did
you go? And how how did all that work out? Yeah,
so it was it was tough at the beginning. Obviously,
my my parents they were super young. Um they my
mom was nineteen when they had me, so they didn't
really had any experience at all. But we we started
(05:46):
around Barcelona and around those areas. Then we moved a
bit further in Spain with our own band and our
own things, and and then we started traveling step by
step to Italy, which Italy, let's say, it's the international
base of gold carting, like called big Racist happens there.
(06:06):
So we started traveling there and then we found some
good teams there and and yeah, I think it was
all step by step and we didn't plan anything. We
didn't um know what was the next step, but we
always had somebody that was either helping us or or
just following us or giving us some opportunities. Um. So
I don't know how far we went. I think the Yeah,
(06:29):
maybe Italy, which is not too far if you think
about us, because in US, if you want to move
from state to state, it's already more than from Spain
to Italy. But for us they're in Europe, it's it's
a long travel from from Spain to Italy. So when
how old were you when uh somebody said hey, this
(06:50):
this kid's got some real talent, he can really drive
drive a car. Was were you still in cards? Yeah?
So I like, I'm not going from a really healthy family,
wealthy family. Um but I remember that when I was
six or maybe almost seven, h the go karting that
(07:10):
I was running, and that I started running. They had
a team, so they gave me an opportunity to do
one of those big races. And then once we were there,
another bigger team gave us the opportunity to go to
Spain and step by step like that, and then I
think I was fourteen when Campos Adrian Campos, that was
(07:32):
a NEFT one driver before they had the neft E
three team back in Spain, and they allowed me to
do a test for them for my first time and
they liked it. So we we did three seasons together
and and that's how I went from go karting to
like single sitters. So how old were you were you
then when you transferred out a go karting to have three?
(07:55):
I would say I was fifteen. Um, yeah, I think
I was fifteen or sixteen. Um. Yeah, I'm not kundubsential now,
but yeah, fifteen or sixteen, that's awesome. So clearly you
were you were a quick learner, you started putting things
together and then only a couple of years later and
you were in the euro Formula Open Championship two thousand fourteen.
(08:16):
So um, really just seven years ago you were really
getting up on the wheel and kind of chasing points,
if you will, at at a national level. Correct. Yeah,
So that's that's when when I first did my My
first test was with then at three for Adrian and
that euro Formula three was my first year in single
(08:37):
seaters and yeah, seven years ago, so it's it's crazy
how how how fast was it? Right? Like it seems
it since yesterday and and yeah it's only seven years ago.
But I learned a lot um and and yeah, we
were able to still learn a lot. Like it's amazing
now to be sharing teams with like guys like Scott
Dixon that they can learn so much from him, but
(08:59):
we have a long long way to to learn. He
seems like he kind of knows what's going on that
dicks and kid. Yeah, yeah, Scott sticks with it. He's
he's going to be he's got a future in this.
Uh Scott, Scott's a friend and has been on the
show as well, and him and Robbie fast and we're
(09:21):
trying to get us of course, uh you know, Felix
and Marcus trying to get us to get going on
him with the Swedish jokes and uh so it was
as as usual, more driven by Robbie than anyone. So
so you're so, do you have a large family back
(09:42):
in Spain? No, really, I have just once, he said,
and then I have some uh yeah, all my families
they are still really young but only one sister, no brothers. Uh,
no more sister aunts and uncles I do. I do
have uh two uncles and they have kids now, so
(10:05):
it's growing. It's it's starting to grow. Like my my
uncle is like thirty four, so they are still really young.
Like all my family is super young. So so that's
why it's still developing. Let's see. The reason I ask
is I can just see them. I know you mentioned
how young your parents were when you got going. I
can just see the enthusiasm and the passion from your
(10:28):
family as as you're making this fast track up to
any car. They have to be so excited to watch
you have so enjoy so much success. And I mean
forget about now. Of course now they're going to be
very excited. But even in your ranks, working your way
up through and seeing you be so successful, uh, it
has to be very exciting for them. Yeah, for sure,
(10:49):
we had some really exciting moments, but at the same time,
we had some really hard moments to be honest, Like
we didn't have enough, We didn't have money to to
to even do a test in single city. So it's
not like we were depending on ourselves to to continue
doing it and you need to have experience to to
be able to show what you're able to do or
(11:09):
or how you think you're able to do. So we
were always depending on sponsors, which everybody pretty much is,
but it's it's hard to get into a team already
since since some money. Um So, yeah, we had some
tough moments where before I was going to Japan for
my every year, um I didn't have a job until
(11:30):
the February of that season, so I was I thought
from October to January February that that was over, that
my racing career was over for so for sure, my
my parents, they were not enjoying that much. I was
not enjoying that much. But yeah, we had some some
luck to be able to continue our career and making steps.
(11:52):
So so tell me about the day Chip calls um I.
I think it started in in the five hundred twenty
twenty so last year. I don't know why, but I
always had so much in admiration for for Chip. I
show a documentary back when I was in Japan and
(12:12):
when I was following everything every news about the inn
car um and I don't know that the way he
he drives the team, the way he motivated him and
the way he pushes everything and the way that he
is like he as he says, he only has racing
and that's his life. And he has his NASCAR team,
(12:34):
he has his Indicar team, he has now his Inset team,
he has the Extreme A team, and he just goes
from race to race, from race to race, and that's it.
That's what he does and he loves it. So in
the five twenty I I saw him at the product
and I was like, hey, Chip, like, this is Alex,
Like I would love to drive one day for you,
And I think that started. Um then we had a
(12:57):
good thing the five hundred last year, we had some
couple of good races um And and he called us.
Everything was done maybe just before the last race of
the season last year, so it came quite late also.
But the day that they call, obviously it's it's amazing,
Like you'd never think that they are going to give
(13:18):
you the opportunity to drive the champion car um And
and to be able to share teams with with Scott
and Marcus. It's it's just unbelievable. Yeah, that's uh, that's
quite the fairy tale, if you will. But so did
your folks. Do they get to come over and catch
much of it or come over and watch you were
on or how's that work? No? Unfortunately, only my my mom,
(13:44):
my sister, and my dad. They were able to come
at some races because they had a special permission just
too because they are my parents. But but I cannot
get any other family. Um, I cannot get any friends.
I have my girlfriend here, but um now with COVID,
it's it's still not allowed to travel. So I'm waiting
until they opened finally and and some of my friends
(14:07):
are able to come and enjoy in the car. So
I'm with Rico here. I'm gonna I'm gonna ask the
same question, but I'm gonna step back up a year
two thousand nineteen. I think it was you had an
opportunity to test for dale and dale Coin just seems
to have that magical ie where he keeps and he
keeps an eye on on young talented drivers coming up
(14:27):
looking for an opportunity and seems to be able to
provide that to some fortunate individuals. And if I'm not mistaken,
I think it was two thousand nineteen when you got
an opportunity to test for dale Coin. How did that
one come about? Did you reach out to him or
did he reach out to you? Yeah, that's it's true.
If it was not because of del Coin and all
(14:48):
the sponsors that helped us to make Lassier or the
first test, that I wouldn't be here today. But I
think it was a bit of luck thing big As
I was driving for Honda in Japan, I had really
good relationship with them and we were winning some races there.
They were super happy. So I was always saying like, hey, yeah,
I'm super happy here in Japan. I love Japan, but
(15:11):
my my dream is to go to INDICAR. They were
like WHOA, Like it's not to go to everyone, Like
all the drivers were asking to go to every one
or two test and have one um and I was
just the only one saying like, hey, just give me
a car in Indy Car just a test. And so
they had obviously relationship with Dale because they have Honda UM.
I had Roger Yesukaa, I had my management team that
(15:34):
was able to get in touch with Jale and and
they made it happen. Honda um ye. Everybody was was
giving me the opportunity to test at me. Ohio was
actually it was a good test and then we moved
from there. I didn't expect that last year was gonna
be already the year that we were moving to indicar Um.
(15:56):
But yeah, again some block and and we were able
to raise last here. I would I would say it's
not luck at this point. Well, I'm with you. I mean,
you were as a guy progress. We're a little bit older,
so it probably might seem lucky to him, but there
is there is some There is some luck, but I
think somebody is down playing their their abilities here. And
(16:16):
uh and what a what a talent he is to
begin with, So I couldn't agree more um No, But
to be honest, I sorry, I it's it's so hard
motor sport. It's super hard and and and I always
had somebody that was able to give me the opportunity
to do the next step. And it was not only
(16:37):
because of what I did, like the opportunity that Chip
gave me for this year, it's it's unbelievable. I don't
think I did an amazing season to deserve the number ten,
but he saw something, um and obviously I went for
it and it worked out. But as I said, I
had some so many people during my career that was
(16:57):
able to give me one more chance, one more step
that I think I had some luck. I'm a lucky guy,
and yeah, I take it. I take it like for
sure we had some good races, but I had some
luck as well. We're gonna get him to buy some
lottery tickets on this lock. I try it. It doesn't work.
(17:18):
You used it all up with your career making at
the Indy Car, which is good. That's a that's a
better deal. Yeah, it's a better deal for all of us. Man,
We're really glad you did. I find it very intriguing
as well that you did have a desire to come
to any car versus Formula one, because uh, certainly I'm
I'm not at verse and what is going on in Spain.
(17:38):
I've never been there, but I would think that you
guys would be more in tune with motorsports racing programming
on television or what you're watching, um in Spain with
Formula one than you would with any car. So, UM,
fill me in a little bit. Do were you watching
any car races at home as a young man? Yeah?
I was, and I was. I started obviously because my
(18:01):
dad used to have a look at the unified UM.
But yeah, once once I grew up and I was
in single seaters, maybe a bit before and and I
started realizing what was what were my options to to
be a professional race car driver and to too yet
to leave from driving. UM, the biggest for me, the
(18:24):
biggest dream I could have was Indy Car. For me,
have one, Yeah, you can get there. It's yeah, we
all know. It's it's the most they have the fastest cars,
they have the more money. But I I think it's
only twenty two drivers. UM. They only take drivers that
either have really good money or really good UM sponsors
(18:49):
backing them, or that they had it before, because otherwise
you cannot win races enough two or every junior series.
If you're not with the best teams, you're not gonna win.
So Indy Car was like the highest target I could
dream of, which was still a big dream for me. UM.
And I think it's probably the most competitive championship out there,
(19:10):
not only because we have the same cars, but also
because we raised on street course, road course and ovals.
And I think the guy that is a champion at
the end of the year, it's it's a pretty fast guy.
So UM, that's why I was so into Indy car.
It's they're raising in the US, which is awesome. That
was a dream of mine to be able to be
(19:31):
here in the U s So, um, yeah, made all happen.
So tell us about it, because we asked this question
to tell us about coming out of turn four at
Andy down the front straight away the first time. First time,
first time heads insane. It's insane just because you that
(19:55):
those first laps, you realize how fast you are, Like
you see the stickers at the walls, you see, um,
you see that there's some people and you pass them
like so quickly, I mean people in the stands and
you you are those laps, you're not only concentrated on
on on driving you the first time you look around,
(20:16):
so you realize how fast you are. And and then
it's it's scary, like going into turn one and you
know you have to be fled out, but there's no
way you can do it on the first ten laps.
So the car is not easy to drive. The speed
it's super high and it's scary but super amazing at
the same time. Um, you're driving that car to the
(20:38):
limit and the tire starts to slide and you get
closer to wall, and it's amazing for driver. Um, I
think you cannot get better than that, Like you're putting
everything to the limit. So yeah, it's it's amazing to
drive an any carter. Yeah, Marcus was talking about it.
He said it's like driving into a tunnel. He said,
(21:01):
it feels like it feels like it all closes down
on you if you come out of turn four. Yeah,
that's true, but I think that's more like when you
are already like after one day at the beginning, you
look around at everything, um, just because you're not used
to and everything goes so fast. So then you get
up to speed, you you get comfortable. And yeah, it's
(21:23):
true that we only see the track and that's it,
and we focus so much and that helps us not
realize how far we're going and and to concentrate on details.
But yeah, it's it's pretty amazing. It's a totally different
driving silent sensations that but we have in other tracks
awesome stuff. Yeah, I definitely want to want to reel
(21:44):
in on on this five hundred deal for you, um
before before we go there. Though, Um, you certainly honed
your craft over there in Europe and you grabbed a
win at the Newburgring circuit of Barcelona. Um, you saw
some high saw some loads there. You look end the
season and two thousand and fourteen with a couple of wins.
But I know you mentioned before that if you weren't
(22:06):
with the best teams in the best cars over there
in n F three F two, that you weren't gonna win.
And I believe I read where you were struggling. I
want to say, maybe you're still in F three, but
you were struggling. You felt like your straight line speed
just was not there. And I want to say, a
few races end of the season, you guys made an
engine change and boom, all of a sudden, right to
the front of the pack. You win. Yeah that was
(22:29):
in A three, And yeah, I remember that we used
to have like different engine manufacturers as well, and also
in Japan. But I don't know. I feel like you
can win some races in small teams, but you cannot
win championship tim in my opinion, And if you do,
you are either really really good or that team is
not that small, at least in Europe, to be honest,
(22:50):
there's a big difference on budgets and and That's why
I think it's super tough, which I'm not saying I'm
I'm not uh an F three champion because of that,
but uh yeah, we we had some changes that went
really well. Then we went to GP three that went
really bad. But then I started my career in Japan
and that was really good. And since then, I think
(23:12):
we're having a really good seasons. By the way, I'm
really I agree with Rico I I And there is
always luck involved. We all know that, and you've got
to be on the lucky side of this saying to
to go forward it It does play a role. But
a lot of times I we we believe you bread
your own luck. And and like you said, you were
over in Japan, you had some good success, you were
(23:33):
doing a good job, Honda liked you, you wanted to
come to any car in the States. There was a
relationship there with Dale and Honda, so um, all of
those things merged together. But I still think you had
to earn your way, you know, you had to earn
your right, and had you not been over there, committed
to that series and turning in some good results, I
(23:54):
don't think that open opportunity opens for you. I think
it goes to somebody else. So I think you've earned
a lot of your luck, if you want to call
it that. I mean, it's it's an awesome I mean
the short spin of time that we just talked about
in seven years to go from your euro formula to
come to Indy Car is nothing short of exceptional. Yeah,
(24:14):
thank you. Yeah, but I mean what can I say
thank you for those words? But yeah, I mean it's
I think it's super hard to go from Spain or
Europe to Japan. Like you need to have some really
good moments around you. Like, yeah, you have to have
some races, good races, but the guy that is in
(24:34):
charge of getting you from Europe to Japan has to
be wanting to do that. And then the guide or
the guys or the people that are able to make
me go from Japan to US and directly to Indy Car.
It's everything has to go right. Like if they have
a bad day and they decide no, that's not going
to happen, Um, then you're you're done. That's why I
(24:58):
think I had some good luck. It was good timing. Um.
I think if I had my racing career here in
the US, um, you have so many more opportunities because
everybody knows you, Um, if it doesn't work out with
one team on the Junior Series, you can go to
the other one or then to to have some test
in Indy Car. But what they what they did, they
(25:19):
think what we did was pretty pretty rare, Like you
don't see guys from Europe to Japan and Japan to Indicar.
And then that's what I mean that we had some
really good timing and some black as well. But yeah,
we we did a good job so far, some really
good time. And Rico, just Rico and I just had
this conversation with our previous guest. Uh maybe a little
(25:40):
divine interventioned. I think there was a plan there all
along the way. So we're gonna take a quick break here, ma'am.
We'll let you, let you get something to drink, and
we'll be right back on the other side with the
more from Alex Paloud. This segment of the Skinny it's
brought to you by Dream Giveaway. Dream Giveaway has been
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at dream giveaway dot com. Once again, welcome back to
(26:25):
the Skinny. We have Alex Pelo on the show here today.
Couldn't be happier to have the young Spaniard on here,
and what an incredible season he is having so far,
comes in here leading in the points in this season,
chasing his first career championship in the Indy Car Series. Alex,
let's go back and talk about the Indianapolis five D
this year, because, oh my goodness, man, it was magical.
(26:48):
It was quite the roller coaster ride for you from
highs to lows back to almost the highest of highs.
But you come out, you come out, you have a
great practice week. I think all the Knasty cars did,
and I think, uh three, I think all the Kinnasty
cars were in the fast nine if I'm not mistaken
at the end of Saturday. But whenever we took a
(27:11):
look at you, you came out, you qualified seventh. You
were I mean seventh you're I don't know if you're
safely in, but we felt like you were pretty safely in.
But you were not happy with it. Man. You wanted
to go out and better your mark a little bit.
And a lot of people were scratching their heads. Dude.
It was late in the day, it was hot, they
felt like the track and slowed down a bit, but
you were confident that you could go get a little
(27:33):
bit more, and you got some. It just wasn't what
you were hoping for. Um. Yeah, and if I hunted
this year, was was a roller cursor. But yeah, I
mean we had that. You said, we had such a
good week of training, and I was so sure that
our car was the best, Like it was clearly the best,
(27:53):
like I mean the for Chip Keenness Racing cars. And
our first run didn't really go quite well. Um, so
I said, hey, guys, let's go again. We just obviously
took some down first and went for it. It was
super hot and and Julian and my engineer was like,
are you sure you want to go out? And I
was like, yeah, let's go. Like that's if it doesn't
(28:14):
work out, it doesn't work out, like we come in
and we will wait until the end of the of
the of the day. So we went out. The first
lab was faster than my previous first lab, so I
was gonna jump I think like two or three positions,
So that was like the target. Second lab was okay,
and third lab, yeah, we cried, whicharche of all um
(28:37):
quite quite hard. And yeah, that was a big low,
I think, just because I could have avoid it. But
I thought that it was going to be okay, which
now I learned, I know that that's not gonna happen
at the Indianapolis. Maybe it can happen brought America or
mid Ohio, but you cannot control a car at the Indianapolis.
Once it goes, it goes. UM. So I felt super
(28:59):
bad just because I thought I lost the chance to
to fight for Pole, which which we had a card
to fight for Pole, and and the mechanics did such
an amazing job on putting that car together from December
to May or even from earlier. Um, so I felt
super bad. I knew all the work and all the
(29:19):
hours that all the effort that they put in um.
But then we said, okay, it's done. Like I did
a mistake, It's all right. We learned from it and
we had another chance to go for fast nine and yeah,
we didn't fight for pole, but at that's, at that moment,
it felt like Paul to get one more position with
a repaired car with the driver that just christ I
(29:41):
think if I hand it quite hard. Um so I
felt super good. And then we went out on the
Raisin and we we tried it. It was not enough,
but we tried. So let's walk back through that that
lap three that you spoke of. Did did you feel
a car wiggle? I'm guessing you've watched the video over
and over and over again now, but a little bit
(30:02):
of a wiggle there and turn number one where it
was telling you like I'm about done right here and
then turn to you know obviously it ate it. Yeah
it was. It was not a small wiggle. It was
a big wiggle. But I said, maybe the turn is
gonna take it and I can adjust my tools after
turn two and I normally turned too. It's it's a
(30:22):
bit easier than turn one. Um so I said, I
made it to turn one, so let's let's do turn two.
And after turn two I reset all my tools and
maybe I come in like let's see. But yeah, that
that moment never came. But yeah, I mean it's something
that I never had, that sensation of losing the rear
(30:44):
at at Indianapolis and and and yeah, I guess my
I know now what I don't have to feel like Normally,
Dario would used to tell me like, if if you're
asked tells you that the car is not gonna stick,
it's not gonna stick, okay. And I was like, yeah, yeah,
I don't worry it, doory. But then my ass told
me that he was not gonna stake, and and I
(31:05):
didn't listen. So I know now, if my ass tells
me Alex, that's not gonna work out, I'm gonna say, Okay, okay,
let's let's trust. I trust. I'll listen second time around.
Smart young man. So, um, so you come back in
and you know we've had Hench Cliff on this show.
(31:26):
You know clearly had a nasty crash there and was
able to come back the following year and put it
on pole. I look at somebody like you that goes
through that incident on Saturday. As you talked about the
mechanics on your team, I mean, just unbelievable how talented
they are. They thrash all night. You go back out
and that that Sunday morning practice, you get a feel
(31:46):
for the car, shake it all down, everything's pretty good,
and then obviously fast nine later on on Sunday and
you go out there and like you said, you picked
up a spot. But I'm I'm marvel at the enormous
out of courage that it takes to get back into
a car when the last time you were in it
you just ate the wall stand on that thing flat footed.
(32:08):
I mean, you, guys, your terminal speed I believe was
two down straight away going into turn number one, like
you were saying, and uh, to get back in and
just absolutely go for it. I just don't understand how
you can do it. Um yeah, I mean the first
thing is that the team did a tremendous job overnight
to to be able to fix a car that was
(32:29):
prepared for so long and just fix it in less
than twenty four hours, and being able to make it
fast like normally a repaired car shouldn't be that fast,
to be honest. And then for myself, if if the
mechanics were able to do it, why I shouldn't be
able to just trust on what they did and what
the engineers did, Like the car was gonna stick. It
(32:51):
didn't stick the day before because it was super hard.
We were running super trim and he didn't have to
stick at that moment. So, um, we just had to
have confidence. Um, I gotta say that. Yeah, I had
no confidence. Like my body, my entire body was like
super tight. I was like, oh my god, play stick,
play stick. And it was like four laps, those four
labs they took for so long. UM, so I was scared.
(33:16):
Like those four labs probably where my my worst laps
of my entire life because I I didn't I I
knew I had to be flat, but you don't want
to crush again. Um. And you know everybody is in
the limit if you want to if you want to
finish P nine on past nine, yeah, you can just
be relaxed. But I didn't want that. I thought that
(33:37):
the team deserved better. I thought that I had to
show something for Chip and we tried. I was not
still happy because we did the six when our car
was easy in the top three. Um, but it was
it is what it is. Once once we did that mistake.
But the only thing we could do was to get
up and to work for it. So we at one spot,
(34:00):
which felt good, and yeah, I had some days to
get up to speed, to get some confidence and and
go to a race. So one last question on this
incident here, correct me if I'm wrong, But if you
guys were not able to fix that same tub that
you wrecked, if you had to go to a backup car,
you would have fallen out of the fast nine. Is
(34:22):
that correct? I don't know, Like I don't know. I
don't think so maybe I think, to be honest, I
don't know. Just by the car number, I think that's
what it goes, not the Actually I remember I was
talking about a little bit when it was happening, and
I didn't know if you you know, because you crashed,
if you could get if you could lose your spot
(34:42):
there or not. But yeah, it was there was a
lot of stuff going on, man, and it was a
huge moment and and you rose to the occasion. The
team certainly rose to the occasion, but you were the
final piece of the puzzle line. Hats off to you, man.
That was not an easy task to go out there
and do what you did. Yeah, and the and the
(35:02):
road America, I was, I was up there for that event.
And uh, and what a wild course. I mean it
is it is Uh, it is fast, I mean it
is way fast. And so New Garden was having issues
with this gearbox. Did you have anything for him? Otherwise
it's always tough to say red like now, Um, I
(35:25):
think we were getting faster and faster throughout the race.
Every stop we were making. It was really good bit stops,
but we were making changes to a car, which is
I was adjusting my tools with with the car to
make it faster, and we were getting super close. Like
the last two runs, we were just there, following like
less than half a second new Arlan. So I my
(35:48):
idea was, like we had like four laps or three
laps left. My idea was to make him burn some
pushy pass on the first lap and then try on
the last lap something like you never know what's that happened. Um,
but at least we were there. We took the opportunity
we had and and it worked out for us good points.
The wind is always a wind and anyway, we were
(36:10):
up there, so I felt great. Yeah, nobody will ever
look at how you want, but they'll know that you
did win. So that's uh, that's the cool part of it,
and I I, yeah, I absolutely love that course. I mean,
just a beautiful place altogether. And uh watching watching you guys,
(36:31):
Uh what's it called down at the bottom of the
back side of that where it's so fast and the
carousel through Canada Corner. Yeah, yeah, I mean I was
absolutely the first time I ever went there, was just
amazed with the with the place, and uh, I understand
the place in Alabama's is pretty pretty on point as well,
(36:53):
so uh, neat places to win for sure. Yeah, they
are really good races, I think. Um well, I always
said Road America is is my favorite track here in
the US. I think it's awesome. It's it's super big,
there's some really good overtaking spots. Um, you have some
(37:13):
Tara deck which you want for racing, some curves you
can attack, and some real high speed corners, so it's
super nice to drive. Um. Then Barbara, it's super fast,
like it's an insane to the amount of teams we
take there, and it's super tough. But I don't say
it's my favorite, probably because we don't have so many
overtaking points, so for raising it's it's harder. Um, But
(37:38):
I love Barbara obviously, as well. Uh, and and once
you have a good result there, everything feels much better.
Everything feels awesome. Even if there's some bad guys around
the track. You feel like you're in love with everybody. Um.
So yeah, I love those those tracks. Um. But Road
(37:58):
America says that's my favor bread. My second favorite is
mid Ohio and hopefully we can make it even more favorite.
I've got a question for you. So going into Rhode America, Uh,
your confidence level had to be sky high because you're
climbing into the tin car that Felix at one end
uh previously, so same team. You've got Julian and all
(38:20):
that brain power back there, and you know you're gonna
get into the car that won the previous year. That
had to be pretty excited man, and build your confidence. Yeah,
for sure. It always that its um I mean, but
the thing is that I have this confidence going to
every weekend like being able to It's amazing the job
that all the mechanics, all the engineers and everybody from
(38:42):
Chip and Assy Racing. It's amazing the job that they
can do. That they just give me a car that
is able to fight for wins every weekend. So um yeah,
it gives more confidence if you know that. Both Scott
and Felix one. Um, but that's pretty much the feeling
we get every weekend. So it's more up to me
(39:03):
to to be able to get up to speed quickly
enough to have enough confidence. But normally we've been having
really good car, especially on the races, so I cannot
complain about that. Um. But yeah, now now, for example,
going to Middle Ohio. They didn't have such a great
racist there last year, but I'm still really confident, not
(39:24):
because of Road America, but just because I know that
the car is going to be good. Is we're just
gonna be We're going to have enough time with two
free practices to get it more to my style or
my what I like to be able to push in,
and we'll go from there. We're gonna take a quick
break here and pause for just a moment. When we
come back, well, uh, we'll get some final questions here
(39:46):
with a young Spaniard that always has a smile on
his face. This segment of the Skinny is brought to
you by Rhino Classifies tired of all those ads and
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or sell your car parts Rhino Classifies was created just
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(40:07):
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we got you at Rhino dot Co once again. Welcome
back to the Skinny. Alex Pelo has joined us here.
We appreciate all of his time. A very busy man
(40:29):
by the way. We thought we'd have him on a
little bit earlier in the day, but last minute schedule
put you behind the wheel of the SIM. I heard
you say you were doing some eye racing. So was
um was the I was thinking when you were on
the sim, you're actually doing some testing for the team,
maybe trying to come up with a set up for
this coming weekend at mid Ohio? Was it? Was it
(40:49):
something other than that? It was both. It was both
of them. So I spent like good my morning till
like three pm at the same today preparing meat Ohio.
It went a bit longer than we first planet. But yeah,
then I had commitment and I racing like I do
my my tweet streamings and I do my races and
(41:10):
E racing just for fun and it's also a good training.
So that's why I was a bit busy today. I'll
be busier than normal. But yeah, I don't know. I
like to raise. I like the simulators, and that's why
I spent some time with them. So is the same
that you were on. Is that at the shop at
Gannassy or was that at home? Or was that the
Dolores sem So in the morning, was the Honda the
(41:35):
HPD sim with all the team and all the engineers there,
and that's where we prepare me Ohio. But then when
I finished that, I came home and I have my
own simulator here at home, and I did my E
racing things. So it was two different things, two different sims,
but both simulators. I love it. Yeah, that's uh, that's
(41:56):
amazing stuff. It's a sim for Honda out and uh
Alan Brown's at their place. Yeah I didn't. I didn't
really have right there, right next to CapCo the drag
Race team, which are a bunch of maniacs that make
so much noise. The people from Honda tell John Forrest
(42:16):
that they need to throw them out all the time.
So so they're probably over there trying to study and
get things lined out. And you've got the cap Co
boys getting a little wild over there. So they're very
successful at what they do, that's for sure. Hey man,
let's let's reel in on the five hundred. So I
(42:38):
don't know if you're aware of this or not, but
I spot for Dixon and turn three and uh, and
I know exactly what happened to us, and and I
know why it happened, but you were not that far
behind us. So so Stephen spends out and we go
around one time. Obviously the pits are closed. We come
(42:59):
back around and they tell Scott you've got enough fuel
to make to make one more lap because the pits
were still closed. And of course, you know, we didn't
want to go in and take a splash and lose
whatever you lose, you know, fifteen sponsors so um track
positions being so important now, especially this year, right, So
we try to go around one more time and unfortunately,
you know, we miss it by what a thousand foot
(43:20):
or something like that. The other thing runs out and
then it doesn't want to start. But you were only
a handful of positions back behind us, So were you
able to stay out long enough to wait for the
pits to open up. Yeah, I did. I did. That's
how we made it, and it was us and Elliott
that did it. So we we were out and we
(43:43):
were able to say some fuel at the beginning. I
was saving fuel the first labs um and then we
we actually had for one more lab after the pits opened,
so we were plenty good of fuel. I think just
because we were running on those I was running P
seven or P eight, so having that toe at the
end of the straight gave me those uh extra maybe
(44:06):
one gallon. I don't know how much was it, but
it was enough fuel to do those laps that I did,
and I had one more extrat to do, so I
was thinking the same thing. I mean, clearly we led
the first lap, but then we fell back to second.
I want to say, uh, to start saving fuel as well,
but I'm still just running that first lap hard on
the throttle and then even being a P two, I
(44:28):
guess I don't think we repeat three. I think we're
P two and and maintaining that speed. There was the
difference in fuel of like you say, even one lap
off pace and uh, and boy did it. It was
just a huge game changer for us. Clearly, and so
so glad that you didn't get caught up in that deal.
It was just bad for everybody. Yeah, it was. It
(44:49):
was quite bad timing, like come on, what are the
other first yellow? It's like by the end of the
first in and and it's inside the pitlane. It's like,
come on. Like it was. It was tough for lots
of people, But it was bad because we got three
cars there and I was close to getting also that tsue.
So um yeah, just racing. I was lucky that moment.
(45:14):
But yeah, we we we we we were able to
fight afterwards as well, So clearly we struggled. They were
getting the car refired, so we were not near you.
But I do remember watching out of the corner of
my eye. I would keep an eye on you because
you were up in the front. You know, if if
we can't win it, then we want a team car
to win it. Um. And I'm watching you battle with
(45:35):
Ali oh, and I'm like, oh my god, man, this
kid's got a legit shot at winning this race. You um,
you were. Your composure was second to none, man. I
mean you did not get rattled. You stayed right there.
He'd pass you, you'd pass him back, you know, when
it was right. I didn't think you were pressing the
issue anywhere along the way. I didn't see you taking
(45:55):
any unnecessary chances. You were really just letting the race
come to you. Yeah, I don't know. It was we
had a good car. It was a long race. So
I took it easy, and suddenly we did really good
pit stops. Suddenly I saw that we were B three
and I was like, okay, let's let's we still had
(46:15):
two bitch stops to go. So I said, okay, let's
try and see how was our car leading. Like I
I wanted to see if we were super bad on
fuel or if we needed some twigs. So I said,
let's let's see. Maybe we got a shot at the
at the end. So I was taking it easy. I
took the lead and I was like, oh yeah, I
like it, Like it was quite good, Like we had
a good car. We kept on doing some changes um,
(46:38):
and then I saw our fuel number and I said, okay,
let's let's do some running after following Pato and following Alo,
and we had some playing there. We did really good
two pitch stops at the end that gave me the
lead like instantly, and I was like, okay after the
last bit stop. I was like, yeah, okay, we got
a shot. So Um, I knew I had a faster
(47:01):
card than Elio, so that's why I was able to
overtake him always. Um in turn three. He would overtake
me always in turn one, so right away I would
or take him in turn three. Um. But then I
think we he either planet or he had really good timing,
but with the two that he got from traffic, I
couldn't get him back and that was that was it
(47:23):
raised over So just curious. I was on Dixon the
year before when we finished second, and uh, very well
aware of the fuel game that has to be played
almost right to the very end. I mean for us,
I think we had maybe seven or eight laps to
go when they turned him loose. Um, were you guys
(47:45):
playing that same game. Did you still have to check
up really late into the race or did they turn
you loose fairly early? No? To be honest, we were
quite good on fuel, just because we had that issue
with our engine, so we were in an old engine.
We didn't have that much cube power lab so I
was running not cute power until the end, so we
(48:06):
were super good on feel because we were not maximum power. Um,
so that's why at the end, I think once we
did our last bit stuff, we were right on cue
power for all the labs and and we could just
go flat out. We have having to worry too much,
so we planet or not we but the team planets
super good. So at the end we were able to
go flat out and try and get that lead and
(48:28):
being able to be up there. So, speaking of Alio,
have you watched any of the s RX races? No,
not yet, so just because they did one when we
were road America was the first one, I think, or
Yeah or Detroit and and I was that I didn't
(48:50):
watch any Yeah to watch, I didn't watch. You need
to watch the last one. We're Paul Tracy tries to
use him up and how all Castor Nevis keeps it
together at El Dora, which is a fast half mile
high bank dirt track. It's pretty amazing. I mean, I
gotta tell you it was watching those guys. Uh Castro
(49:16):
Nevis pt. He's pretty much almost alienated himself throughout the paddock. Now.
If he had any friends are almost over. He had,
if he had any at all, they're almost completely gone now.
And uh he wrecked Bobby Lebani to the point where
he destroyed his car. Uh. They think Bill Elliott maybe
(49:37):
broke his hand, don't know. And uh, but I mean
it's it's just wild but watching So Hinch got in
one of them too, just just to see see what
it was like when they were all practicing. Um, maybe
one of the best parts of the telecast is where
Hinch is actually announcing is doing the show. And uh,
(50:03):
we were all at lunch before that, me Hench, p
J Chess and Marco and Brandon Bernstein and Hinch told Tony,
he goes, I'm gonna hit you up during a green
flag lap on the radio and see how things are going.
And so he's run, so he's running wide open and uh,
(50:29):
and Tony's just talking to him like regular deal, and
he goes, he goes, I'm getting ready to teach your
little brother a lesson and then he blew by Marco
and and kind of just kept on going from there.
But it was it's some great stuff. And you know,
the the unbelievable talent that you guys have and uh
and uh and I and I will say this about
(50:52):
all of the professional drivers that I know I mean,
I listen, Tony would raise a grocery cart. Okay, I mean,
if if it just got down to it, he would,
he would do it. So um, but it's it's a
lot of fun to watch all of you guys and uh,
and you know I was going to ask you. That
was one of the things I was going to ask you.
(51:13):
So back here you train somewhere here? Yes, Um, I
trained physically. I don't train and go karting or anything like,
I don't drive anything. No. I have my CrossFit gym
right around like okay, okay, that's cool. Cross to cross
(51:35):
a cross fit is is is tough. But yeah, we know,
Jim Leo, Well that's why we were asking. I just
we always find out who goes where or whatever, but
cross fit is Uh. If you can beat yourself up
with that, I think you can pretty well get through
a lot of things during the day. So yeah, that's
why that's why I started this year actually doing CrossFit.
(51:56):
And I wanted to go with somebody that didn't have
been anything to do with motorsports, so he wouldn't take
easy on me. And he's not taking it easy on me,
Like sometimes I have to slow him down, like hey,
like in two days, I have a race, like can
of can we take it easy? Oh? No, it's fine,
you need fine tomorrow. Yeah, like today, so today I
(52:18):
was starting um at the scene quite early and he
was like, oh, we can we can go training at
six am and normally we train at seven am. And
I was like, man, I don't know, like maybe that
we don't need it, like it's so it's okay, Like no, yeah,
I can come at six And I said, I we'll
do it in the afternoon. Okay, well we'll do it tomorrow.
We'll do it. We cannot train at like six am
(52:40):
like crazy and then go to the same and I
have to travel to mid Ohio in a couple of days.
Like we train every day and he's like pushing me
so much, which I love it, but yeah, sometimes we
we we go too much, which is good. It's what
we need. It's it's mentally, uh and physically it helps
me actu a champion. Yeah, great stuff, man, great stuff. Well,
(53:03):
we certainly appreciate you taking the time out to spend
with us. And I'll send Kelby a text as well.
I appreciate Kelby helping us out as well. I know
he's super super busy, and uh, we constantly push it
try and get talent like you on here. And you
know we wanted you on the show actually earlier. As
it turns out, waiting a little bit was even better
(53:24):
because you grabbed another win. You're leading in the points
now and uh and of course the five D drama
was second to none. We we can't wish you more
luck man going forward. I know you've got a big
race here at mid Ohio. You're with an incredibly good
team and Dixon certainly has h found the magic to
win at mid Ohio before. He's a he's a master
saving fuel. So you couldn't be surrounded by better talent,
(53:46):
and uh, we we wish you with the best for sure. Yeah,
I agree, He's he's the man at mid Ohio. So
it's going to be interesting, lots to learn and and yeah,
hopefully one of all cars is going to be the
victory lane on Sunday. So thank you so much for
having me at the show. And yeah, I hope to
see you soon and be at the show again. All right,
(54:07):
but I'll say hello here in a couple of weeks. Man.
By the way, quick quick little nod. We love watching
all you young guns, you and and h v K
of course and Patto and Colton and I mean the
the young talent coming up through that series is oh
my god, so exciting, uh for sure. But a quick
nod to you, man. Every time I've ever been in
(54:28):
the trailer, you always have a smile on your face.
You never have an ego, you never have uh you know,
not enough time to talk to somebody. So keep being
yourself man, because you're you're an outstanding driver, but you're
a better person. Thank you so much. Man, I'm just
a normal guy with that. I'm leaving the dream every day,
so maybe that's why I'm smiling. Awesome, but okay, best
(54:51):
of luck at mid Ohio and with a run at
that championship. Thanks for being with us here on the Skinny.
This episode has been brought to you buy Toyota, Rhino Classifies,
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The skinny with Riego and Kenna is a production of
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skinny is brought to you by General Tire. It's more
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General Tire dot Com today. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. You
are watching the skinny. We have a very exciting driver
on here today to join us. He is the hottest
driver on the MT T Indy Car series as it
(01:07):
stands right now. Comes in here as a points leader.
Brand new to the Chip Ganassi Racing team behind the
wheel of the number ten, just picked up his second
win of the season at Roade America, kicked off his
first career when at Alabama a little bit earlier in
the season, and we will certainly talk about his INDI
five efforts because he qualified very strong, decided to go
(01:29):
back out eight a little bit of the wall, came back,
qualified a little bit better, and then damn near one.
This saying, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show. Alex Pelo,
thank you so much for having me, guys. Pretty cool stuff.
Man boy, what a season you're having. Hey, before we
get going any further, I want to ask you something
because I was reading reading a little bit um from
(01:51):
your culture. Do they call you Alex Polo at home
or is it Polo Montebo. So in Spain we used
to surnames the surname from the second name from dad
and from bomb Um, not like here in the US,
so they normally use Palo. But we still have the
second surname, which is the certain name of my mom.
(02:13):
Uh there. I don't know why because we don't really
use it, but in all the documents and everything, we
have to use it. So um, So it's basically two
last names. So did they still call you Alex when
you're at home? Is that your first name at home? Yeah, yeah,
it's just Alex. Yeah, it's just Alex and and Palo
that's it. Yeah, yeah, I was reading about it. It's
kind of cool. Just different cultures, you know, how how
(02:34):
they how they interact. So man, congratulations, what an incredible
season you're having here. Yes, so we've been having a
good start so far. It's been amazing to join the
number ten crew and all the Chip and racing team.
I think we've done uh, some good races, some social
(02:55):
racist as well, but yeah, we will always able to
get up and and and performed the next day and
and as you said, and at the UNDI five hundred,
we had some bad moments but we were able to
get back on and still have good results. So super
happy so far. Um, it's good that we're leading the championship.
It's always good that everybody is chasing us, but we
(03:17):
need to be leading the championship at the end of
the championship. So yeah, to keep it going until the
end and hopefully it can be one of those champions Yeah,
baby steps for sure. My partner here, Rico, uh, he
always has the same question that he loves to ask
these drivers, drivers like yourself that have made it to
(03:38):
the highest levels, um uh and and their humble beginnings. So, Rico,
you're the master at this deal, and we we'd love
to know more about Alex. So Alex, how did you
get started? Where did it all begin? So? I started
when I was five. I'm not coming from a family
that had any racing background or any sport background, um
(03:59):
And I started to because there's really small go karting
place in between my house and my school. So I
used to pass there two times a day every day,
and I used to see all these people like doing
labs for fun. So I guess that one day I
decided that I wanted to try and and I was
so small that I couldn't reach a better So my family,
(04:20):
all my family, my my uncles, my grandfather's they decided
to buy me a small, really old go kart for
my fifth birthday. And we started there. We didn't know
anything about sport, about racing, about driving, about anything, um
And we started just me, my dad and my family
(04:42):
and and yeah, now we're here. I love it. I
was just talking with our last guest about Marcus Ericson
and his beginnings, and it was interesting much of the same.
There's a lot of families that say, well he wants
to race. Let's was by a you know, a go
(05:03):
kart and see how it goes. And Marcus was talking about,
you know, them traveling around you know, Europe in the
back of his dad's paint van, and I mean, I
love that story and I'm sure that you have one
much of the same or similar. I mean, it's a
family taken a taking a leap of faith and trying
to do something that they thought you would love. So
(05:24):
where all did you guys travel? How far out did
you go? And how how did all that work out? Yeah,
so it was it was tough at the beginning. Obviously,
my my parents they were super young. Um they my
mom was nineteen when they had me, so they didn't
really had any experience at all. But we we started
(05:46):
around Barcelona and around those areas. Then we moved a
bit further in Spain with our own band and our
own things, and and then we started traveling step by
step to Italy, which Italy, let's say, it's the international
base of gold carting, like called big Racist happens there.
(06:06):
So we started traveling there and then we found some
good teams there and and yeah, I think it was
all step by step and we didn't plan anything. We
didn't um know what was the next step, but we
always had somebody that was either helping us or or
just following us or giving us some opportunities. Um. So
I don't know how far we went. I think the Yeah,
(06:29):
maybe Italy, which is not too far if you think
about us, because in US, if you want to move
from state to state, it's already more than from Spain
to Italy. But for us they're in Europe, it's it's
a long travel from from Spain to Italy. So when
how old were you when uh somebody said hey, this
(06:50):
this kid's got some real talent, he can really drive
drive a car. Was were you still in cards? Yeah?
So I like, I'm not going from a really healthy family,
wealthy family. Um but I remember that when I was
six or maybe almost seven, h the go karting that
(07:10):
I was running, and that I started running. They had
a team, so they gave me an opportunity to do
one of those big races. And then once we were there,
another bigger team gave us the opportunity to go to
Spain and step by step like that, and then I
think I was fourteen when Campos Adrian Campos, that was
(07:32):
a NEFT one driver before they had the neft E
three team back in Spain, and they allowed me to
do a test for them for my first time and
they liked it. So we we did three seasons together
and and that's how I went from go karting to
like single sitters. So how old were you were you
then when you transferred out a go karting to have three?
(07:55):
I would say I was fifteen. Um, yeah, I think
I was fifteen or sixteen. Um. Yeah, I'm not kundubsential now,
but yeah, fifteen or sixteen, that's awesome. So clearly you
were you were a quick learner, you started putting things
together and then only a couple of years later and
you were in the euro Formula Open Championship two thousand fourteen.
(08:16):
So um, really just seven years ago you were really
getting up on the wheel and kind of chasing points,
if you will, at at a national level. Correct. Yeah,
So that's that's when when I first did my My
first test was with then at three for Adrian and
that euro Formula three was my first year in single
(08:37):
seaters and yeah, seven years ago, so it's it's crazy
how how how fast was it? Right? Like it seems
it since yesterday and and yeah it's only seven years ago.
But I learned a lot um and and yeah, we
were able to still learn a lot. Like it's amazing
now to be sharing teams with like guys like Scott
Dixon that they can learn so much from him, but
(08:59):
we have a long long way to to learn. He
seems like he kind of knows what's going on that
dicks and kid. Yeah, yeah, Scott sticks with it. He's
he's going to be he's got a future in this.
Uh Scott, Scott's a friend and has been on the
show as well, and him and Robbie fast and we're
(09:21):
trying to get us of course, uh you know, Felix
and Marcus trying to get us to get going on
him with the Swedish jokes and uh so it was
as as usual, more driven by Robbie than anyone. So
so you're so, do you have a large family back
(09:42):
in Spain? No, really, I have just once, he said,
and then I have some uh yeah, all my families
they are still really young but only one sister, no brothers. Uh,
no more sister aunts and uncles I do. I do
have uh two uncles and they have kids now, so
(10:05):
it's growing. It's it's starting to grow. Like my my
uncle is like thirty four, so they are still really young.
Like all my family is super young. So so that's
why it's still developing. Let's see. The reason I ask
is I can just see them. I know you mentioned
how young your parents were when you got going. I
can just see the enthusiasm and the passion from your
(10:28):
family as as you're making this fast track up to
any car. They have to be so excited to watch
you have so enjoy so much success. And I mean
forget about now. Of course now they're going to be
very excited. But even in your ranks, working your way
up through and seeing you be so successful, uh, it
has to be very exciting for them. Yeah, for sure,
(10:49):
we had some really exciting moments, but at the same time,
we had some really hard moments to be honest, Like
we didn't have enough, We didn't have money to to
to even do a test in single city. So it's
not like we were depending on ourselves to to continue
doing it and you need to have experience to to
be able to show what you're able to do or
(11:09):
or how you think you're able to do. So we
were always depending on sponsors, which everybody pretty much is,
but it's it's hard to get into a team already
since since some money. Um So, yeah, we had some
tough moments where before I was going to Japan for
my every year, um I didn't have a job until
(11:30):
the February of that season, so I was I thought
from October to January February that that was over, that
my racing career was over for so for sure, my
my parents, they were not enjoying that much. I was
not enjoying that much. But yeah, we had some some
luck to be able to continue our career and making steps.
(11:52):
So so tell me about the day Chip calls um I.
I think it started in in the five hundred twenty
twenty so last year. I don't know why, but I
always had so much in admiration for for Chip. I
show a documentary back when I was in Japan and
(12:12):
when I was following everything every news about the inn
car um and I don't know that the way he
he drives the team, the way he motivated him and
the way he pushes everything and the way that he
is like he as he says, he only has racing
and that's his life. And he has his NASCAR team,
(12:34):
he has his Indicar team, he has now his Inset team,
he has the Extreme A team, and he just goes
from race to race, from race to race, and that's it.
That's what he does and he loves it. So in
the five twenty I I saw him at the product
and I was like, hey, Chip, like, this is Alex,
Like I would love to drive one day for you,
And I think that started. Um then we had a
(12:57):
good thing the five hundred last year, we had some
couple of good races um And and he called us.
Everything was done maybe just before the last race of
the season last year, so it came quite late also.
But the day that they call, obviously it's it's amazing,
Like you'd never think that they are going to give
(13:18):
you the opportunity to drive the champion car um And
and to be able to share teams with with Scott
and Marcus. It's it's just unbelievable. Yeah, that's uh, that's
quite the fairy tale, if you will. But so did
your folks. Do they get to come over and catch
much of it or come over and watch you were
on or how's that work? No? Unfortunately, only my my mom,
(13:44):
my sister, and my dad. They were able to come
at some races because they had a special permission just
too because they are my parents. But but I cannot
get any other family. Um, I cannot get any friends.
I have my girlfriend here, but um now with COVID,
it's it's still not allowed to travel. So I'm waiting
until they opened finally and and some of my friends
(14:07):
are able to come and enjoy in the car. So
I'm with Rico here. I'm gonna I'm gonna ask the
same question, but I'm gonna step back up a year
two thousand nineteen. I think it was you had an
opportunity to test for dale and dale Coin just seems
to have that magical ie where he keeps and he
keeps an eye on on young talented drivers coming up
(14:27):
looking for an opportunity and seems to be able to
provide that to some fortunate individuals. And if I'm not mistaken,
I think it was two thousand nineteen when you got
an opportunity to test for dale Coin. How did that
one come about? Did you reach out to him or
did he reach out to you? Yeah, that's it's true.
If it was not because of del Coin and all
(14:48):
the sponsors that helped us to make Lassier or the
first test, that I wouldn't be here today. But I
think it was a bit of luck thing big As
I was driving for Honda in Japan, I had really
good relationship with them and we were winning some races there.
They were super happy. So I was always saying like, hey, yeah,
I'm super happy here in Japan. I love Japan, but
(15:11):
my my dream is to go to INDICAR. They were
like WHOA, Like it's not to go to everyone, Like
all the drivers were asking to go to every one
or two test and have one um and I was
just the only one saying like, hey, just give me
a car in Indy Car just a test. And so
they had obviously relationship with Dale because they have Honda UM.
I had Roger Yesukaa, I had my management team that
(15:34):
was able to get in touch with Jale and and
they made it happen. Honda um ye. Everybody was was
giving me the opportunity to test at me. Ohio was
actually it was a good test and then we moved
from there. I didn't expect that last year was gonna
be already the year that we were moving to indicar Um.
(15:56):
But yeah, again some block and and we were able
to raise last here. I would I would say it's
not luck at this point. Well, I'm with you. I mean,
you were as a guy progress. We're a little bit older,
so it probably might seem lucky to him, but there
is there is some There is some luck, but I
think somebody is down playing their their abilities here. And
(16:16):
uh and what a what a talent he is to
begin with, So I couldn't agree more um No, But
to be honest, I sorry, I it's it's so hard
motor sport. It's super hard and and and I always
had somebody that was able to give me the opportunity
to do the next step. And it was not only
(16:37):
because of what I did, like the opportunity that Chip
gave me for this year, it's it's unbelievable. I don't
think I did an amazing season to deserve the number ten,
but he saw something, um and obviously I went for
it and it worked out. But as I said, I
had some so many people during my career that was
(16:57):
able to give me one more chance, one more step
that I think I had some luck. I'm a lucky guy,
and yeah, I take it. I take it like for
sure we had some good races, but I had some
luck as well. We're gonna get him to buy some
lottery tickets on this lock. I try it. It doesn't work.
(17:18):
You used it all up with your career making at
the Indy Car, which is good. That's a that's a
better deal. Yeah, it's a better deal for all of us. Man,
We're really glad you did. I find it very intriguing
as well that you did have a desire to come
to any car versus Formula one, because uh, certainly I'm
I'm not at verse and what is going on in Spain.
(17:38):
I've never been there, but I would think that you
guys would be more in tune with motorsports racing programming
on television or what you're watching, um in Spain with
Formula one than you would with any car. So, UM,
fill me in a little bit. Do were you watching
any car races at home as a young man? Yeah?
I was, and I was. I started obviously because my
(18:01):
dad used to have a look at the unified UM.
But yeah, once once I grew up and I was
in single seaters, maybe a bit before and and I
started realizing what was what were my options to to
be a professional race car driver and to too yet
to leave from driving. UM, the biggest for me, the
(18:24):
biggest dream I could have was Indy Car. For me,
have one, Yeah, you can get there. It's yeah, we
all know. It's it's the most they have the fastest cars,
they have the more money. But I I think it's
only twenty two drivers. UM. They only take drivers that
either have really good money or really good UM sponsors
(18:49):
backing them, or that they had it before, because otherwise
you cannot win races enough two or every junior series.
If you're not with the best teams, you're not gonna win.
So Indy Car was like the highest target I could
dream of, which was still a big dream for me. UM.
And I think it's probably the most competitive championship out there,
(19:10):
not only because we have the same cars, but also
because we raised on street course, road course and ovals.
And I think the guy that is a champion at
the end of the year, it's it's a pretty fast guy.
So UM, that's why I was so into Indy car.
It's they're raising in the US, which is awesome. That
was a dream of mine to be able to be
(19:31):
here in the U s So, um, yeah, made all happen.
So tell us about it, because we asked this question
to tell us about coming out of turn four at
Andy down the front straight away the first time. First time,
first time heads insane. It's insane just because you that
(19:55):
those first laps, you realize how fast you are, Like
you see the stickers at the walls, you see, um,
you see that there's some people and you pass them
like so quickly, I mean people in the stands and
you you are those laps, you're not only concentrated on
on on driving you the first time you look around,
(20:16):
so you realize how fast you are. And and then
it's it's scary, like going into turn one and you
know you have to be fled out, but there's no
way you can do it on the first ten laps.
So the car is not easy to drive. The speed
it's super high and it's scary but super amazing at
the same time. Um, you're driving that car to the
(20:38):
limit and the tire starts to slide and you get
closer to wall, and it's amazing for driver. Um, I
think you cannot get better than that, Like you're putting
everything to the limit. So yeah, it's it's amazing to
drive an any carter. Yeah, Marcus was talking about it.
He said it's like driving into a tunnel. He said,
(21:01):
it feels like it feels like it all closes down
on you if you come out of turn four. Yeah,
that's true, but I think that's more like when you
are already like after one day at the beginning, you
look around at everything, um, just because you're not used
to and everything goes so fast. So then you get
up to speed, you you get comfortable. And yeah, it's
(21:23):
true that we only see the track and that's it,
and we focus so much and that helps us not
realize how far we're going and and to concentrate on details.
But yeah, it's it's pretty amazing. It's a totally different
driving silent sensations that but we have in other tracks
awesome stuff. Yeah, I definitely want to want to reel
(21:44):
in on on this five hundred deal for you, um
before before we go there. Though, Um, you certainly honed
your craft over there in Europe and you grabbed a
win at the Newburgring circuit of Barcelona. Um, you saw
some high saw some loads there. You look end the
season and two thousand and fourteen with a couple of wins.
But I know you mentioned before that if you weren't
(22:06):
with the best teams in the best cars over there
in n F three F two, that you weren't gonna win.
And I believe I read where you were struggling. I
want to say, maybe you're still in F three, but
you were struggling. You felt like your straight line speed
just was not there. And I want to say, a
few races end of the season, you guys made an
engine change and boom, all of a sudden, right to
the front of the pack. You win. Yeah that was
(22:29):
in A three, And yeah, I remember that we used
to have like different engine manufacturers as well, and also
in Japan. But I don't know. I feel like you
can win some races in small teams, but you cannot
win championship tim in my opinion, And if you do,
you are either really really good or that team is
not that small, at least in Europe, to be honest,
(22:50):
there's a big difference on budgets and and That's why
I think it's super tough, which I'm not saying I'm
I'm not uh an F three champion because of that,
but uh yeah, we we had some changes that went
really well. Then we went to GP three that went
really bad. But then I started my career in Japan
and that was really good. And since then, I think
(23:12):
we're having a really good seasons. By the way, I'm
really I agree with Rico I I And there is
always luck involved. We all know that, and you've got
to be on the lucky side of this saying to
to go forward it It does play a role. But
a lot of times I we we believe you bread
your own luck. And and like you said, you were
over in Japan, you had some good success, you were
(23:33):
doing a good job, Honda liked you, you wanted to
come to any car in the States. There was a
relationship there with Dale and Honda, so um, all of
those things merged together. But I still think you had
to earn your way, you know, you had to earn
your right, and had you not been over there, committed
to that series and turning in some good results, I
(23:54):
don't think that open opportunity opens for you. I think
it goes to somebody else. So I think you've earned
a lot of your luck, if you want to call
it that. I mean, it's it's an awesome I mean
the short spin of time that we just talked about
in seven years to go from your euro formula to
come to Indy Car is nothing short of exceptional. Yeah,
(24:14):
thank you. Yeah, but I mean what can I say
thank you for those words? But yeah, I mean it's
I think it's super hard to go from Spain or
Europe to Japan. Like you need to have some really
good moments around you. Like, yeah, you have to have
some races, good races, but the guy that is in
(24:34):
charge of getting you from Europe to Japan has to
be wanting to do that. And then the guide or
the guys or the people that are able to make
me go from Japan to US and directly to Indy Car.
It's everything has to go right. Like if they have
a bad day and they decide no, that's not going
to happen, Um, then you're you're done. That's why I
(24:58):
think I had some good luck. It was good timing. Um.
I think if I had my racing career here in
the US, um, you have so many more opportunities because
everybody knows you, Um, if it doesn't work out with
one team on the Junior Series, you can go to
the other one or then to to have some test
in Indy Car. But what they what they did, they
(25:19):
think what we did was pretty pretty rare, Like you
don't see guys from Europe to Japan and Japan to Indicar.
And then that's what I mean that we had some
really good timing and some black as well. But yeah,
we we did a good job so far, some really
good time. And Rico, just Rico and I just had
this conversation with our previous guest. Uh maybe a little
(25:40):
divine interventioned. I think there was a plan there all
along the way. So we're gonna take a quick break here, ma'am.
We'll let you, let you get something to drink, and
we'll be right back on the other side with the
more from Alex Paloud. This segment of the Skinny it's
brought to you by Dream Giveaway. Dream Giveaway has been
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(26:03):
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of the coolest cars on the planet. Check it out
at dream giveaway dot com. Once again, welcome back to
(26:25):
the Skinny. We have Alex Pelo on the show here today.
Couldn't be happier to have the young Spaniard on here,
and what an incredible season he is having so far,
comes in here leading in the points in this season,
chasing his first career championship in the Indy Car Series. Alex,
let's go back and talk about the Indianapolis five D
this year, because, oh my goodness, man, it was magical.
(26:48):
It was quite the roller coaster ride for you from
highs to lows back to almost the highest of highs.
But you come out, you come out, you have a
great practice week. I think all the Knasty cars did,
and I think, uh three, I think all the Kinnasty
cars were in the fast nine if I'm not mistaken
at the end of Saturday. But whenever we took a
(27:11):
look at you, you came out, you qualified seventh. You
were I mean seventh you're I don't know if you're
safely in, but we felt like you were pretty safely in.
But you were not happy with it. Man. You wanted
to go out and better your mark a little bit.
And a lot of people were scratching their heads. Dude.
It was late in the day, it was hot, they
felt like the track and slowed down a bit, but
you were confident that you could go get a little
(27:33):
bit more, and you got some. It just wasn't what
you were hoping for. Um. Yeah, and if I hunted
this year, was was a roller cursor. But yeah, I
mean we had that. You said, we had such a
good week of training, and I was so sure that
our car was the best, Like it was clearly the best,
(27:53):
like I mean the for Chip Keenness Racing cars. And
our first run didn't really go quite well. Um, so
I said, hey, guys, let's go again. We just obviously
took some down first and went for it. It was
super hot and and Julian and my engineer was like,
are you sure you want to go out? And I
was like, yeah, let's go. Like that's if it doesn't
(28:14):
work out, it doesn't work out, like we come in
and we will wait until the end of the of
the of the day. So we went out. The first
lab was faster than my previous first lab, so I
was gonna jump I think like two or three positions,
So that was like the target. Second lab was okay,
and third lab, yeah, we cried, whicharche of all um
(28:37):
quite quite hard. And yeah, that was a big low,
I think, just because I could have avoid it. But
I thought that it was going to be okay, which
now I learned, I know that that's not gonna happen
at the Indianapolis. Maybe it can happen brought America or
mid Ohio, but you cannot control a car at the Indianapolis.
Once it goes, it goes. UM. So I felt super
(28:59):
bad just because I thought I lost the chance to
to fight for Pole, which which we had a card
to fight for Pole, and and the mechanics did such
an amazing job on putting that car together from December
to May or even from earlier. Um, so I felt
super bad. I knew all the work and all the
(29:19):
hours that all the effort that they put in um.
But then we said, okay, it's done. Like I did
a mistake, It's all right. We learned from it and
we had another chance to go for fast nine and yeah,
we didn't fight for pole, but at that's, at that moment,
it felt like Paul to get one more position with
a repaired car with the driver that just christ I
(29:41):
think if I hand it quite hard. Um so I
felt super good. And then we went out on the
Raisin and we we tried it. It was not enough,
but we tried. So let's walk back through that that
lap three that you spoke of. Did did you feel
a car wiggle? I'm guessing you've watched the video over
and over and over again now, but a little bit
(30:02):
of a wiggle there and turn number one where it
was telling you like I'm about done right here and
then turn to you know obviously it ate it. Yeah
it was. It was not a small wiggle. It was
a big wiggle. But I said, maybe the turn is
gonna take it and I can adjust my tools after
turn two and I normally turned too. It's it's a
(30:22):
bit easier than turn one. Um so I said, I
made it to turn one, so let's let's do turn two.
And after turn two I reset all my tools and
maybe I come in like let's see. But yeah, that
that moment never came. But yeah, I mean it's something
that I never had, that sensation of losing the rear
(30:44):
at at Indianapolis and and and yeah, I guess my
I know now what I don't have to feel like Normally,
Dario would used to tell me like, if if you're
asked tells you that the car is not gonna stick,
it's not gonna stick, okay. And I was like, yeah, yeah,
I don't worry it, doory. But then my ass told
me that he was not gonna stake, and and I
(31:05):
didn't listen. So I know now, if my ass tells
me Alex, that's not gonna work out, I'm gonna say, Okay, okay,
let's let's trust. I trust. I'll listen second time around.
Smart young man. So, um, so you come back in
and you know we've had Hench Cliff on this show.
(31:26):
You know clearly had a nasty crash there and was
able to come back the following year and put it
on pole. I look at somebody like you that goes
through that incident on Saturday. As you talked about the
mechanics on your team, I mean, just unbelievable how talented
they are. They thrash all night. You go back out
and that that Sunday morning practice, you get a feel
(31:46):
for the car, shake it all down, everything's pretty good,
and then obviously fast nine later on on Sunday and
you go out there and like you said, you picked
up a spot. But I'm I'm marvel at the enormous
out of courage that it takes to get back into
a car when the last time you were in it
you just ate the wall stand on that thing flat footed.
(32:08):
I mean, you, guys, your terminal speed I believe was
two down straight away going into turn number one, like
you were saying, and uh, to get back in and
just absolutely go for it. I just don't understand how
you can do it. Um yeah, I mean the first
thing is that the team did a tremendous job overnight
to to be able to fix a car that was
(32:29):
prepared for so long and just fix it in less
than twenty four hours, and being able to make it
fast like normally a repaired car shouldn't be that fast,
to be honest. And then for myself, if if the
mechanics were able to do it, why I shouldn't be
able to just trust on what they did and what
the engineers did, Like the car was gonna stick. It
(32:51):
didn't stick the day before because it was super hard.
We were running super trim and he didn't have to
stick at that moment. So, um, we just had to
have confidence. Um, I gotta say that. Yeah, I had
no confidence. Like my body, my entire body was like
super tight. I was like, oh my god, play stick,
play stick. And it was like four laps, those four
labs they took for so long. UM, so I was scared.
(33:16):
Like those four labs probably where my my worst laps
of my entire life because I I didn't I I
knew I had to be flat, but you don't want
to crush again. Um. And you know everybody is in
the limit if you want to if you want to
finish P nine on past nine, yeah, you can just
be relaxed. But I didn't want that. I thought that
(33:37):
the team deserved better. I thought that I had to
show something for Chip and we tried. I was not
still happy because we did the six when our car
was easy in the top three. Um, but it was
it is what it is. Once once we did that mistake.
But the only thing we could do was to get
up and to work for it. So we at one spot,
(34:00):
which felt good, and yeah, I had some days to
get up to speed, to get some confidence and and
go to a race. So one last question on this
incident here, correct me if I'm wrong, But if you
guys were not able to fix that same tub that
you wrecked, if you had to go to a backup car,
you would have fallen out of the fast nine. Is
(34:22):
that correct? I don't know, Like I don't know. I
don't think so maybe I think, to be honest, I
don't know. Just by the car number, I think that's
what it goes, not the Actually I remember I was
talking about a little bit when it was happening, and
I didn't know if you you know, because you crashed,
if you could get if you could lose your spot
(34:42):
there or not. But yeah, it was there was a
lot of stuff going on, man, and it was a
huge moment and and you rose to the occasion. The
team certainly rose to the occasion, but you were the
final piece of the puzzle line. Hats off to you, man.
That was not an easy task to go out there
and do what you did. Yeah, and the and the
(35:02):
road America, I was, I was up there for that event.
And uh, and what a wild course. I mean it
is it is Uh, it is fast, I mean it
is way fast. And so New Garden was having issues
with this gearbox. Did you have anything for him? Otherwise
it's always tough to say red like now, Um, I
(35:25):
think we were getting faster and faster throughout the race.
Every stop we were making. It was really good bit stops,
but we were making changes to a car, which is
I was adjusting my tools with with the car to
make it faster, and we were getting super close. Like
the last two runs, we were just there, following like
less than half a second new Arlan. So I my
(35:48):
idea was, like we had like four laps or three
laps left. My idea was to make him burn some
pushy pass on the first lap and then try on
the last lap something like you never know what's that happened. Um,
but at least we were there. We took the opportunity
we had and and it worked out for us good points.
The wind is always a wind and anyway, we were
(36:10):
up there, so I felt great. Yeah, nobody will ever
look at how you want, but they'll know that you
did win. So that's uh, that's the cool part of it,
and I I, yeah, I absolutely love that course. I mean,
just a beautiful place altogether. And uh watching watching you guys,
(36:31):
Uh what's it called down at the bottom of the
back side of that where it's so fast and the
carousel through Canada Corner. Yeah, yeah, I mean I was
absolutely the first time I ever went there, was just
amazed with the with the place, and uh, I understand
the place in Alabama's is pretty pretty on point as well,
(36:53):
so uh, neat places to win for sure. Yeah, they
are really good races, I think. Um well, I always
said Road America is is my favorite track here in
the US. I think it's awesome. It's it's super big,
there's some really good overtaking spots. Um, you have some
(37:13):
Tara deck which you want for racing, some curves you
can attack, and some real high speed corners, so it's
super nice to drive. Um. Then Barbara, it's super fast,
like it's an insane to the amount of teams we
take there, and it's super tough. But I don't say
it's my favorite, probably because we don't have so many
overtaking points, so for raising it's it's harder. Um, But
(37:38):
I love Barbara obviously, as well. Uh, and and once
you have a good result there, everything feels much better.
Everything feels awesome. Even if there's some bad guys around
the track. You feel like you're in love with everybody. Um.
So yeah, I love those those tracks. Um. But Road
(37:58):
America says that's my favor bread. My second favorite is
mid Ohio and hopefully we can make it even more favorite.
I've got a question for you. So going into Rhode America, Uh,
your confidence level had to be sky high because you're
climbing into the tin car that Felix at one end
uh previously, so same team. You've got Julian and all
(38:20):
that brain power back there, and you know you're gonna
get into the car that won the previous year. That
had to be pretty excited man, and build your confidence. Yeah,
for sure. It always that its um I mean, but
the thing is that I have this confidence going to
every weekend like being able to It's amazing the job
that all the mechanics, all the engineers and everybody from
(38:42):
Chip and Assy Racing. It's amazing the job that they
can do. That they just give me a car that
is able to fight for wins every weekend. So um yeah,
it gives more confidence if you know that. Both Scott
and Felix one. Um, but that's pretty much the feeling
we get every weekend. So it's more up to me
(39:03):
to to be able to get up to speed quickly
enough to have enough confidence. But normally we've been having
really good car, especially on the races, so I cannot
complain about that. Um. But yeah, now now, for example,
going to Middle Ohio. They didn't have such a great
racist there last year, but I'm still really confident, not
(39:24):
because of Road America, but just because I know that
the car is going to be good. Is we're just
gonna be We're going to have enough time with two
free practices to get it more to my style or
my what I like to be able to push in,
and we'll go from there. We're gonna take a quick
break here and pause for just a moment. When we
come back, well, uh, we'll get some final questions here
(39:46):
with a young Spaniard that always has a smile on
his face. This segment of the Skinny is brought to
you by Rhino Classifies tired of all those ads and
random stuff that shows up when you're looking to buy
or sell your car parts Rhino Classifies was created just
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(40:07):
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we got you at Rhino dot Co once again. Welcome
back to the Skinny. Alex Pelo has joined us here.
We appreciate all of his time. A very busy man
(40:29):
by the way. We thought we'd have him on a
little bit earlier in the day, but last minute schedule
put you behind the wheel of the SIM. I heard
you say you were doing some eye racing. So was
um was the I was thinking when you were on
the sim, you're actually doing some testing for the team,
maybe trying to come up with a set up for
this coming weekend at mid Ohio? Was it? Was it
(40:49):
something other than that? It was both. It was both
of them. So I spent like good my morning till
like three pm at the same today preparing meat Ohio.
It went a bit longer than we first planet. But yeah,
then I had commitment and I racing like I do
my my tweet streamings and I do my races and
(41:10):
E racing just for fun and it's also a good training.
So that's why I was a bit busy today. I'll
be busier than normal. But yeah, I don't know. I
like to raise. I like the simulators, and that's why
I spent some time with them. So is the same
that you were on. Is that at the shop at
Gannassy or was that at home? Or was that the
Dolores sem So in the morning, was the Honda the
(41:35):
HPD sim with all the team and all the engineers there,
and that's where we prepare me Ohio. But then when
I finished that, I came home and I have my
own simulator here at home, and I did my E
racing things. So it was two different things, two different sims,
but both simulators. I love it. Yeah, that's uh, that's
(41:56):
amazing stuff. It's a sim for Honda out and uh
Alan Brown's at their place. Yeah I didn't. I didn't
really have right there, right next to CapCo the drag
Race team, which are a bunch of maniacs that make
so much noise. The people from Honda tell John Forrest
(42:16):
that they need to throw them out all the time.
So so they're probably over there trying to study and
get things lined out. And you've got the cap Co
boys getting a little wild over there. So they're very
successful at what they do, that's for sure. Hey man,
let's let's reel in on the five hundred. So I
(42:38):
don't know if you're aware of this or not, but
I spot for Dixon and turn three and uh, and
I know exactly what happened to us, and and I
know why it happened, but you were not that far
behind us. So so Stephen spends out and we go
around one time. Obviously the pits are closed. We come
(42:59):
back around and they tell Scott you've got enough fuel
to make to make one more lap because the pits
were still closed. And of course, you know, we didn't
want to go in and take a splash and lose
whatever you lose, you know, fifteen sponsors so um track
positions being so important now, especially this year, right, So
we try to go around one more time and unfortunately,
you know, we miss it by what a thousand foot
(43:20):
or something like that. The other thing runs out and
then it doesn't want to start. But you were only
a handful of positions back behind us, So were you
able to stay out long enough to wait for the
pits to open up. Yeah, I did. I did. That's
how we made it, and it was us and Elliott
that did it. So we we were out and we
(43:43):
were able to say some fuel at the beginning. I
was saving fuel the first labs um and then we
we actually had for one more lab after the pits opened,
so we were plenty good of fuel. I think just
because we were running on those I was running P
seven or P eight, so having that toe at the
end of the straight gave me those uh extra maybe
(44:06):
one gallon. I don't know how much was it, but
it was enough fuel to do those laps that I did,
and I had one more extrat to do, so I
was thinking the same thing. I mean, clearly we led
the first lap, but then we fell back to second.
I want to say, uh, to start saving fuel as well,
but I'm still just running that first lap hard on
the throttle and then even being a P two, I
(44:28):
guess I don't think we repeat three. I think we're
P two and and maintaining that speed. There was the
difference in fuel of like you say, even one lap
off pace and uh, and boy did it. It was
just a huge game changer for us. Clearly, and so
so glad that you didn't get caught up in that deal.
It was just bad for everybody. Yeah, it was. It
(44:49):
was quite bad timing, like come on, what are the
other first yellow? It's like by the end of the
first in and and it's inside the pitlane. It's like,
come on. Like it was. It was tough for lots
of people, But it was bad because we got three
cars there and I was close to getting also that tsue.
So um yeah, just racing. I was lucky that moment.
(45:14):
But yeah, we we we we we were able to
fight afterwards as well, So clearly we struggled. They were
getting the car refired, so we were not near you.
But I do remember watching out of the corner of
my eye. I would keep an eye on you because
you were up in the front. You know, if if
we can't win it, then we want a team car
to win it. Um. And I'm watching you battle with
(45:35):
Ali oh, and I'm like, oh my god, man, this
kid's got a legit shot at winning this race. You um,
you were. Your composure was second to none, man. I
mean you did not get rattled. You stayed right there.
He'd pass you, you'd pass him back, you know, when
it was right. I didn't think you were pressing the
issue anywhere along the way. I didn't see you taking
(45:55):
any unnecessary chances. You were really just letting the race
come to you. Yeah, I don't know. It was we
had a good car. It was a long race. So
I took it easy, and suddenly we did really good
pit stops. Suddenly I saw that we were B three
and I was like, okay, let's let's we still had
(46:15):
two bitch stops to go. So I said, okay, let's
try and see how was our car leading. Like I
I wanted to see if we were super bad on
fuel or if we needed some twigs. So I said,
let's let's see. Maybe we got a shot at the
at the end. So I was taking it easy. I
took the lead and I was like, oh yeah, I
like it, Like it was quite good, Like we had
a good car. We kept on doing some changes um,
(46:38):
and then I saw our fuel number and I said, okay,
let's let's do some running after following Pato and following Alo,
and we had some playing there. We did really good
two pitch stops at the end that gave me the
lead like instantly, and I was like, okay after the
last bit stop. I was like, yeah, okay, we got
a shot. So Um, I knew I had a faster
(47:01):
card than Elio, so that's why I was able to
overtake him always. Um in turn three. He would overtake
me always in turn one, so right away I would
or take him in turn three. Um. But then I
think we he either planet or he had really good timing,
but with the two that he got from traffic, I
couldn't get him back and that was that was it
(47:23):
raised over So just curious. I was on Dixon the
year before when we finished second, and uh, very well
aware of the fuel game that has to be played
almost right to the very end. I mean for us,
I think we had maybe seven or eight laps to
go when they turned him loose. Um, were you guys
(47:45):
playing that same game. Did you still have to check
up really late into the race or did they turn
you loose fairly early? No? To be honest, we were
quite good on fuel, just because we had that issue
with our engine, so we were in an old engine.
We didn't have that much cube power lab so I
was running not cute power until the end, so we
(48:06):
were super good on feel because we were not maximum power. Um,
so that's why at the end, I think once we
did our last bit stuff, we were right on cue
power for all the labs and and we could just
go flat out. We have having to worry too much,
so we planet or not we but the team planets
super good. So at the end we were able to
go flat out and try and get that lead and
(48:28):
being able to be up there. So, speaking of Alio,
have you watched any of the s RX races? No,
not yet, so just because they did one when we
were road America was the first one, I think, or
Yeah or Detroit and and I was that I didn't
(48:50):
watch any Yeah to watch, I didn't watch. You need
to watch the last one. We're Paul Tracy tries to
use him up and how all Castor Nevis keeps it
together at El Dora, which is a fast half mile
high bank dirt track. It's pretty amazing. I mean, I
gotta tell you it was watching those guys. Uh Castro
(49:16):
Nevis pt. He's pretty much almost alienated himself throughout the paddock. Now.
If he had any friends are almost over. He had,
if he had any at all, they're almost completely gone now.
And uh he wrecked Bobby Lebani to the point where
he destroyed his car. Uh. They think Bill Elliott maybe
(49:37):
broke his hand, don't know. And uh, but I mean
it's it's just wild but watching So Hinch got in
one of them too, just just to see see what
it was like when they were all practicing. Um, maybe
one of the best parts of the telecast is where
Hinch is actually announcing is doing the show. And uh,
(50:03):
we were all at lunch before that, me Hench, p
J Chess and Marco and Brandon Bernstein and Hinch told Tony,
he goes, I'm gonna hit you up during a green
flag lap on the radio and see how things are going.
And so he's run, so he's running wide open and uh,
(50:29):
and Tony's just talking to him like regular deal, and
he goes, he goes, I'm getting ready to teach your
little brother a lesson and then he blew by Marco
and and kind of just kept on going from there.
But it was it's some great stuff. And you know,
the the unbelievable talent that you guys have and uh
and uh and I and I will say this about
(50:52):
all of the professional drivers that I know I mean,
I listen, Tony would raise a grocery cart. Okay, I mean,
if if it just got down to it, he would,
he would do it. So um, but it's it's a
lot of fun to watch all of you guys and uh,
and you know I was going to ask you. That
was one of the things I was going to ask you.
(51:13):
So back here you train somewhere here? Yes, Um, I
trained physically. I don't train and go karting or anything like,
I don't drive anything. No. I have my CrossFit gym
right around like okay, okay, that's cool. Cross to cross
(51:35):
a cross fit is is is tough. But yeah, we know,
Jim Leo, Well that's why we were asking. I just
we always find out who goes where or whatever, but
cross fit is Uh. If you can beat yourself up
with that, I think you can pretty well get through
a lot of things during the day. So yeah, that's
why that's why I started this year actually doing CrossFit.
(51:56):
And I wanted to go with somebody that didn't have
been anything to do with motorsports, so he wouldn't take
easy on me. And he's not taking it easy on me,
Like sometimes I have to slow him down, like hey,
like in two days, I have a race, like can
of can we take it easy? Oh? No, it's fine,
you need fine tomorrow. Yeah, like today, so today I
(52:18):
was starting um at the scene quite early and he
was like, oh, we can we can go training at
six am and normally we train at seven am. And
I was like, man, I don't know, like maybe that
we don't need it, like it's so it's okay, Like no, yeah,
I can come at six And I said, I we'll
do it in the afternoon. Okay, well we'll do it tomorrow.
We'll do it. We cannot train at like six am
(52:40):
like crazy and then go to the same and I
have to travel to mid Ohio in a couple of days.
Like we train every day and he's like pushing me
so much, which I love it, but yeah, sometimes we
we we go too much, which is good. It's what
we need. It's it's mentally, uh and physically it helps
me actu a champion. Yeah, great stuff, man, great stuff. Well,
(53:03):
we certainly appreciate you taking the time out to spend
with us. And I'll send Kelby a text as well.
I appreciate Kelby helping us out as well. I know
he's super super busy, and uh, we constantly push it
try and get talent like you on here. And you
know we wanted you on the show actually earlier. As
it turns out, waiting a little bit was even better
(53:24):
because you grabbed another win. You're leading in the points
now and uh and of course the five D drama
was second to none. We we can't wish you more
luck man going forward. I know you've got a big
race here at mid Ohio. You're with an incredibly good
team and Dixon certainly has h found the magic to
win at mid Ohio before. He's a he's a master
saving fuel. So you couldn't be surrounded by better talent,
(53:46):
and uh, we we wish you with the best for sure. Yeah,
I agree, He's he's the man at mid Ohio. So
it's going to be interesting, lots to learn and and yeah,
hopefully one of all cars is going to be the
victory lane on Sunday. So thank you so much for
having me at the show. And yeah, I hope to
see you soon and be at the show again. All right,
(54:07):
but I'll say hello here in a couple of weeks. Man.
By the way, quick quick little nod. We love watching
all you young guns, you and and h v K
of course and Patto and Colton and I mean the
the young talent coming up through that series is oh
my god, so exciting, uh for sure. But a quick
nod to you, man. Every time I've ever been in
(54:28):
the trailer, you always have a smile on your face.
You never have an ego, you never have uh you know,
not enough time to talk to somebody. So keep being
yourself man, because you're you're an outstanding driver, but you're
a better person. Thank you so much. Man, I'm just
a normal guy with that. I'm leaving the dream every day,
so maybe that's why I'm smiling. Awesome, but okay, best
(54:51):
of luck at mid Ohio and with a run at
that championship. Thanks for being with us here on the Skinny.
This episode has been brought to you buy Toyota, Rhino Classifies,
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(55:15):
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