Indy 500 Drivers Special Episode!

To celebrate the upcoming Indianapolis 500, Rico and Ken welcome some of the best-known drivers in the sport. Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Conor Daly, Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist share their personal journeys to success and talk about their amazing adventures behind the wheel at the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Don’t miss this special episode!

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Skinny with Riego and Kenna is a production of
I Heart Radio. I'm Scott Dixon, I'm Marcus Eriksen, I'm
Felix Frosen Quiz Day. I'm James from the bath Heads.
I Wear Studios in Speedway, Indiana. This is the Skinny
brought to you by Toyota, Rhino, Classified General Tire and

(00:24):
Dream Giveaway. This segment of the Skinny is brought to
you by Toyota. Scott Dixon in the House. Thank you,
Thank you appreciated. Yeah. Absolutely. The such a special place,
of course for you. You've seen the highest of highs
in the in the lowest of lows, they're winning it.
In two thousand and eight, you lost a teammate there

(00:46):
early on in your career. And then of course, um
that massive wreck that you had just a couple of
years ago, and I was actually standing beside Robbie when
when that happened. Boy, that place has really delivered some
crazy stuff to you along along your way. Yeah, it's uh,
you know, that's Indianapolis. You know, I think that's what
it is summed up, you know, is the highs and lows.

(01:08):
You know, it just can be pretty brutal. That place.
But you know, I think that's what is so fun
about it is the challenges. You know, and one day,
you know, even in testing, you can be it can
be feeling easy, and then the next day can just
bite you in the ass, you know, And I think
it requires a d respect every day, every minute of
the day testing at that place. You know, the fine
changes because you're running, you know, so far on the

(01:31):
limit that you know the ambient conditions are a shift
in the wind. You know, it can it can just
it can take it away from you quickly. So it's
um that's why I love about it is just it's
just that challenge, you know, it's it's trying to figure
it out. And some years, you know, you you just
know when you roll off in the first couple of
days of testing that it's going to be a much
easier than than some of the others. Um. I think
in recent years, you know, the manufacturers play pretty heavily

(01:54):
in the shift of power that's delivered on on certain days,
and then you know, once you get too fast Friday
or qualifying, you really really understand where where you've been sitting.
And you know, unfortunately for us, you know, the last
few years we we just haven't really been in the race.
You know. It's I think we you know, we we
got involved in one of the crashes last year kind
of running on the top eight, but you know, the
previous year we finished third, but it was more strategy
that kind of got us there. You know, gone of

(02:15):
the days where you know, we had a really good
string of you know, runner our positions, you know, the
occasional win that that I had at least a No.
Eight and Daria had a string of them, um, you know,
through that period. So it's been a huge focus for
our teams, specially in in in the off season, of
trying to understand where we've been getting it wrong and
trying to reassess you know, some situations. But you know,
hopefully Honda have stepped it up as well. I know

(02:36):
that's been their sole focus in the off season has
just been Indianapolis and hopefully that place true. Yeah, talk
talk about that, that race and its entirety. For a moment,
it seems to me and I don't I don't recognize
other I don't see it in other races as prominently
as I do in the five. But the progression of
that race starts off it seems as though, like you say,

(02:56):
everybody kind of being respectful. You can thanks and go
wrong really quickly there early on. But it seems though
everybody bides her time through the first half of the race.
The second half of the race, things start picking up.
But I mean, and it's noticeably how things start picking up,
and then the re starts with a quarter of the
race left to go. Man, it is gloves off, four wide,

(03:17):
people driving in the grass, and it always is mind
boggling to me. It's like, are they just that comfortable
with the car and after being in it for that
amount of time, or is it the urgency of trying
to get in the front at the end of the race,
a little bit of everything. I mean, you can just
see how much more aggressively are at the end of
that race. Yeah, for sure, you know, I think it
indis definitely become a track position race. You know, gone

(03:38):
in the days where it didn't really matter too much
where you started. Um, you know, you had plenty of
winners from you know, back in the back. Um, it
is a little more difficult unless you you have a
dominant car, which you saw this year, you know, last year.
I think you know, passionate really had a dominant car.
It was just one of those things that you know,
even if he got into the middle of the pack,
he was going to fight his way through. So you know,

(03:58):
those years are ones that you you definitely cherish and
try to make the most of it. Um. I think
the race has changed a little bit. I think a
lot of the new driver car combinations that we've had,
probably in the last couple of years. I think the
urgency has become a lot earlier in the race. You know,
you've seen a lot more desperation. I think earlier on.
Some of that is derived from, you know, the style
of racing that we've had to where it is kind

(04:19):
of tricky at a pass. You know, a lot of
those passes need to be made in the first sort
of five laps when the tires are really good and
you can you know, really stretch it on the high
line or or try and you know make these you know,
brave dives. So it's um I think it does have
a really uh and each year changes, you know, just
how the pace kind of picks up and slows down.
You know, I think the first five to ten laps

(04:39):
of extent, it's pretty chaotic throughout and then everybody gets
into a fuel safe mode or trying to reposition themselves
and kind of you know, you have to have a
little bit of a lull. But yeah, it's full of emotions,
you know, I think throughout that day. And that's that's
one of the hardest things I think too, to overcome
is is you know those highs and lows that that
even you know, you we we were talking about it
from year to year in the race. Man, It's it's crazy,

(05:02):
just you know, those peaks and valleys that you have,
you know, over three our period. The last couple of years,
I wasn't there, but the year before I was on
Carlos Munos and I remember about mid race or so,
we were under a caution and he said to me,
he said, has anybody gone to the top yet, talking
about on the restart, and I said, I haven't seen
anybody go up there yet. That restart ross around the outside,

(05:23):
you know, and passing people and three wide and the
short shoot between one and two, and I just remember,
you know, not even expecting that to happen, And immediately
on the radio to him, you know, outside outside, and
he already had somebody inside of him. It's like we're
going three wide here, man, which those things look cool
when they work out. But honestly, when you look at
the reef, I've watched that replace several times and he

(05:44):
was so lucky, man, so lucky. A couple of scenarios
there where obviously you know, the driver on the inside
had been respectful because it could have gone so sideways
and in so many moments. But that's what it's about.
You know, there are situations where you've really got to
take those opportunities and and and you bank on them, um,
you know, working out the correct way, but but you've

(06:04):
got a kind of there. So it's it's good to
watch in it, and it's it's fantastic to see when
when things like that play out, and what ross he
did that when these things to have gotten away with
it a couple of times, a couple two or three
times I wanted, and then as drivers started thinking, well,
I don't know, maybe it shouldry yeah and fishy and
drivers start watching it because that that that spurs the

(06:25):
others one too, So you'll probably see a lot of
that this year. Hey, let's go back just a little bit,
because because I was reading doing a little bit of
homework on you, of course, as as I should, but
I was. I was pleasantly surprised to see that both
of your parents ran dirt cars at some point. Tell
me about that. What was that like early on in

(06:46):
your days? So my dad, my dad kind of raced
a bit of everything, like a club level, you know,
he did rally car, he did you know, the track.
They owned a speedway actually in Townsville in Australia for
a period of time. Um. Actually that's why I was.
I was born in Australia and all my families from
New Zealand, but they were working there for I think
a four or five year period. They had me there
while they were living in Townsville, and then we moved

(07:07):
back to New Zealand and then and then Dad did
more dirt track racing, and then and then more of
the kind of road uh you know road call stuff,
um kind of in the Benson. The hedges days that
we had in New Zealand were kind of big for
racing there in Australia and New Zealand. So uh yeah,
he loved a race. That's where you know, all I
remember growing up was was you know, going down to
the garage and seeing my dad working on some kind

(07:28):
of car, and you know, I was trying to help out,
and it kind of my bugs started with motorbikes, you know,
as like a three or four year old. And then
you know what triggered me into it was, you know,
seeing my cousins race go carts at the age of seven,
and uh, you know, kept kept asking for a go cut.
But yeah, mom, so mum, Mom did a little bit
of racing. They would have like um weekends where they

(07:49):
would do a um, I don't even know what you'd
call it, like a mom and dad kind of swap
and she she would she would race, you know, I
think she was one of the ones that initiated it
at the speedway that they were running at the time,
and she would race two Um I don't remember. She
was very successful at the time, but but yeah, it
was pretty cool that that that they had that opportunity,
and you know Mom did get to race a little bit. Yeah,

(08:12):
I guess just it was inevitable. My parents loved that. Might.
I have three sisters and a brother too, and uh,
one of my sisters raced for a long time and
and sod of my brother and go carts they were
they're a lot older. I think the next youngest was
eight years older than I. So, um, yeah, it was
just a family thing. That's so. How far did you
go up in a go carts? And then where then? Where?
So I skipped out of go cuts uh kind of

(08:34):
at thirteen, Um, just just got into junior category and
then and ran that for maybe a year year and
a half and they starting Formula Vise. So I think
at that point I was the youngest. I think it
was a Guinness World record at the time was when
I was racing open wheel at the age of thirteen.
It's probably been beat now just with the age of
some of these young kids. But there was there was
a lot of controversy in the fact that we kind

(08:55):
of got through a loophole in the licensing because most
countries you have to have a road bearing license before
where you can go for a racing license. But there
was like a small um, you know, one liner that
you know, if you if you could get special dispensation
by going and somebody watching you on track, and that's
what I did, which that was a funny story. I
kind of went to Pukakoee, which is one of our

(09:15):
bigger tracks in New Zealand, and I had to go around.
It was in a Suzuki Swift. I don't know if
you know, it's like a little twelve hundred road car,
white thing, and I had to go around with a
driver for for Reagan Morgan was was the guy and
did a few laughs. And then we came around the
fastest corner and if you've been there, it's like flat
out in that car. It was probably on a hundred

(09:36):
miles how because it was so slow. But there was
a family of ducks that were walking across the track
and I swerved to miss them, spun the car when
it ended up in the grass, and just stop before
the bank. And all I remember was that the driver
sitting in the Reagan sitting in the passenger seat, saying,
just hit the ducks next time. Please please do not
swerve to avoid the ducks. By the way, no ductor

(09:58):
were harmed when I Yeah, So that was that was
the end of my practice day there. But so let's
let's go along at that same time frame, because you're
thirteen years old. Let's let's hear about the Nissan story.
Because apparently you had a pad strap to your back,
so you can reach the paddles. Yeah, so there it
was kind of a Within like two months, I had
my first form of the V race and it ran

(10:20):
really well. Um I think I came like third or
something in my first race or fifth, and then then
was passing another one. In the second race of that weekend,
we actually crashed in that same corner. I missed the
ducks and broke the car pretty bad. But then yeah,
I think three or four races into my form of
the V season, um, dad sort it would be a
good idea to do some endurance racing. And it was
called the niss And Centric Cup I think at that time,

(10:42):
which were you know, all one mate cars. It was
probably thirty five or forty of these things, and it
was classic racing. It was like the old British train
cars like the Miles MX five exactly, which is the
best racing on any weekend man that we have. We
sit in our truck watching that race the whole time
and it's it's so cool. But yeah, so coming around
I got past that corner this time where where I
missed the ducks, and it was like lap three, so

(11:06):
we shared the car and the UM I was thirteen
the regular guy was like forty forty forty years old
or whatever, and he thought it would be a good
idea since we were renting the car that I started
the race to which we should have seen a mile off.
And yeah, I got spun exiting onto the back straight
and just barrew rolled this thing and destroyed it. But

(11:27):
the worst part was, you know, for the driver change
to make it fast was you know, because I was
shorter at the time, I had this big pink floral cushion.
It wasn't just a cushion, man, it was this big
pink floral thing taped to my backside, pink pink. And
I get out and I'm just bawling my eyes out, man.
And it made like the front page of our biggest

(11:47):
newspaper in New Zealand, and it was it was not
a good luck. There is video, yeah, yeah, I think
the video is the one I've seen is pretty grainy.
You can't actually see me crying, which is good. So
it was a pretty interesting start to my racing career
with lots of Upton downs. But there the year worked
out fantastic. I won the championship and Formula very first year,

(12:07):
and and and uh yeah it was cool. That's cool,
So how do you transition here? Ah? So then we
were to Formula four. There was class one, Class two.
Class two was the older cars, like I think we
ended up buying like a nineteen eighties six fan demon
or it was a swift. And then we won that
year in Class two, moved up to Class one, won

(12:28):
that championship that year, and they moved to Australia Formula
Holden which is former three thousand cars with a GM
engine and uh finished Rookie of the the Year in the
first year, won the Australian Drivers Championship this the following year,
and and then made the jump to America. But we
were kind of on the way to Europe to start

(12:48):
testing a Formula three and at that point Kenny Smith,
who was helping me, still racing his seventy god knows
how many years old now, like he's still doing doing
the New Zealand Grand Prix down there. Um he knew
Verne Schupen and Stephan Johnson then in the Lights team,
and on the way to to Europe, we kind of
stopped off in Seabring, did a two day test. First

(13:08):
day was with PacWest Racing and then second day was
with with Johnson. We ended up being the quickest out
of the open Test and they did a deal that
we couldn't refuse and I never made it to Europe.
So it was not only was it the quickest, but
it was a lab record by the way. Just yeah,
it was a good test, yea, Yeah, it worked out. Yeah,
it was good. It was fun. So what you were

(13:28):
two years at Indy Lights is that one day? Yeah?
I did one year with with with Stephen Johanson and
Verne's team UM, and I think we were I don't know,
Rookie of the year maybe a year we had won
win I think in Chicago and then and then went
on to Pack West UM and then I think we
won half the races that year and won the championship
and so how many so how many Indie Lights were there? Then?

(13:50):
Do you remember about thirty thirty it was big fields?
Do you think I'll get that back? I don't know.
It's a it's a weird dynamic now, right because it's
so split, you know, I think the whole as the
Road to India or I don't even know if it's
still called that. It's kind of fragmented, you know, And
because IndyCar don't really have it under their you know,

(14:10):
arms anymore. That it kind of I don't know, I
don't know what they're gonna do. It's kind of expensive
to you know from some of the numbers that I
was hearing. You know, it's it is pricing, it is, yeah.
But which when I did Indie Lights, it was kind
of you know for for the guys bringing the money.
You know, it seems like every team had a guy
that brought the money and then a guy that didn't
bring as much money, and and they were still asking
somewhere between nine and one three. So you know, it

(14:34):
hasn't really changed that much. Um, it's just that the
Indy Car series has got so much cheaper. You know,
gone of the days where it was million per car.
You know, if you can scrape together to three million
dollars now you can get a drive. You know, with
all the factors of the leaders circle money and everything
that gets tipped in, you know, it's achievable. So that
I think is where they lose that a lot. You know,

(14:54):
you've got people that are kind of skipping any lights
because you know, if they can raise a little bit
more money then go through. Yeah, I think if you
look at my path it was, you couldn't write a
book and have paid it as well. You know, it's
very lucky with some of the opportunities that opened up.
We've had a great group of investors. We were one
of the first to kind of do the investment program um.
We had fourteen New zeal investors that kind of raised

(15:16):
the money for for me to kind of live and
pay for the racing career, which you know, then you
had to pay back, you know, over over a period
of time as well. So you know, it seems like
that thing or that function is a little more common too,
but it's still hard, man. It's it's harder now. The
business model has changed so much, and it seems like
there's such an influx of rich, wealthy families that are
that are just piling in the money and it's kind

(15:37):
of a lot of the talents getting lost. How exciting
is it to be with one team for nineteen years? Uh,
most of the time, it's exciting. You know, it's like
a marriage, you know, it's it's up and down. But no, honestly,
it's it's um chip and I think have you know,
just personalities that don't you know, there's no conflict. Um.
You know, I've seen a few teammates throughout throughout my

(15:59):
years and and you know, you definitely see straight away
the personalities that are that are gonna, you know, sort
of inflict some pain. I think with the Chip you know,
fairly early on. Um. But now it's it's been great.
You know, I think it's there's very few people that
have been able to you know, achieve you know, this
this length. You know, I think you know, if you
look at Team Driver kind of combination, Alio is probably
the longest last thing. I think he had a couple

(16:20):
of years on me. Um, you know he's not doing
any couple time. But but no, it's you know, for me,
it's been it was a game changer. Um. You know,
the first meeting I remember having with Chip was was
daunting as hell, coming from pack West, you know, and
and it didn't, in my opinion, didn't go very well.
I remember walking out and talking to Steph and I'm like, man,
that's that sucked. That was really bad because you know,

(16:43):
he he had all the cards right, so he's like
I earned more in my indie light season than driving
for for for Chip in the first year. But but
you know, I think that's that's what um you need
sometimes and it's not going to be easily achieved. But
you know, I really respect Chip. You know, I think
him and my wife Ema are probably the two most

(17:03):
competitive people I've ever met, you know, And he never
he never left many, he never you know, each time
he's he's pushing for more. And you know, I've any situation,
he always says, you know, if is there anything anybody needs?
Does anybody need anything? You know, whatever it is, we'll
figure out how to pay for it. And and and
he just keeps it rolling. And you know, a lot
of respect for that because I've been with a lot

(17:24):
of teams in my junior career where it was was
not about you know, finding speed. It was about you know,
dealing or making the product look better opposed to to
being fast. And you know, I think when you look
at chips semi short career, the guy's achieved crazy numbers
and across the board, you know, and many different things.
So yeah, I don't know, I feel very lucky to
be with the team. I love being with the team.
It's it's family, and hopefully it continues for a while.

(17:47):
I think we definitely need to bring in the two Swedes.
You know, they my teammates for this year. They're coming
in Friday. A good good. Yeah, you won't understand what
the hell they're saying. Felix and Eric Ericson both both
coming in. We need some formation, We may need some
some stakes of the Swedish fish candy, yeah, they love it,
the Swedish chef from the Muppets and that, yeah, Swedish

(18:11):
meat balls. Yes. I'm not going to jump into this
too hard. I'll let you take it as far as
you want to go. But rumor has it that you're
dead joined the Blue Man crew at one point was
was not very happy about it. Can you tell us
any of that story? Yeah? I can. I can tell
you about that. Sorry. Um that was at Miller Motor
Sports Park and and um, I don't know if you

(18:31):
were run then maybe it was doing um uh yeah,
and uh I was I think the second or third
driver on one of the cars for that weekend. It
was in between Needdie car season. It was an off
week for us and then we had to It was
weird though. We tested like on a Tuesday at the
track and then we had like Wednesday Thursday off and

(18:52):
then you know, back on track on Friday and for
the race weekend, and uh so we're doing nothing and
then you know, uh, someone it's like, hey, we've got
some moonshine and one of the motor homes and you know,
there's nothing to do out there, so we're like, okay,
let's stay drinking the moon which is a dry which
is a dry county too, And so then everybody's probably

(19:14):
had a few too many. And then my dad, we
see him walking over to a Porterloo or porter John
or whatever it's called, and it was worth another person
and they feel it would be quite a funny idea
to rock it. So we rocked it. And it was
actually sitting on on like a curb, so it was
on top of the curb. So actually when we rocked it,

(19:34):
I feel like I wasn't the one that rocked it
that much. But as it turned out, this thing, this
thing rocked all the way until it tiptoe there and
and of course it tipped door down right. So all
I remember is like, I'm trying to lift this thing
off him, and then and then I see him. He's
just covered, he's blue, looks like a smurf. And then
I see this like bright orange turd sitting right on

(19:56):
his chest and uh, and he's trying to hit So
I'm like, I put it down again and I run
off and so yeah, long story short, it was. It
was a bad day for my dad. He was not
real happy about that, um as you can imagine, and
actually that week and got worse. I think he then
got in a car accident in my rental car which

(20:18):
wasn't in his name. Wrote the thing off, and of
course somebody had to pay for that, so we can
literally turn the crap. Yeah, for for a weekend that
was helping chip out, not driving for any money. It
costs me a lot of money. And my dad still
hasn't let that one go with that dignity on the way.
I'm just glad there wasn't many people there that that that.

(20:38):
I don't think there's anybody there that that witnessed it.
But he definitely remembers. I remember going to the hotel
that night and apologizing, and he was still for days,
he was still a tinge of blue. I don't know
how hard it is to watch that stuff off, but
I feel extremely bad for that. It's yeah, yeah, I've
tried to let that one go, but that one seems

(20:58):
to keep popping up, and I'd be remember if I
didn't ask how many more years? Uh? Well, I don't know.
I think it's it's hard to always comment on that.
You know, I think right now at least five, but
who knows. You know, I don't want to be in
this sport when I'm not competitive, you know, I don't
want to be dragging it out and just beating on
a on a drum. But um, you know, I still
have the same passion for it. Um. I love the

(21:19):
competitiveness of the sport. You know, last year, I think
we we could have gone back to back. You know,
we had four or five DNF that really took us
out and we went that far out of winning the championship.
So you know, there's there there are scenarios that that
you know, those situations keep you motivated to to kind
of come back. But yeah, I don't know, it's hard
to to really comment on. I think there's some guys
that kind of try to set a deadline. I think

(21:41):
that's hard to do. Um, But I just want to.
I just I love the sport, I love doing it.
I love the team that I'm with. And and uh,
you know, especially with PNC two, they've been a huge
help for for for our team, and um, you know
and and and you know, keep going. So it's um
short answers. I don't know, man, I'm for a quick
for don't go away. This segment of the skinny is

(22:04):
brought to you by General Tire. For over one hundred years,
General Tire has provided tires for your lifestyle, your adventure.
You're anywhere from the aggressive mud Terrain Grabber X three
to the all terrain performance of the Grabber A t
X to the strong and durable all Purpose Terrain Grabber apt.
General tires balanced excellent on road performance with off road capabilities,

(22:25):
designed for all weather conditions. Remember with General Tire anywhere
as possible. For more information or to find your local dealer,
head over to General Tire dot com. Felix rosen Quist
and Marcus Ericsson. We did get Scott in here, and
he said you gotta get the Swedes in here. So
we got we got the Swedes in and he said,
you guys enjoy the muppets. Apparently the Swedish chef leaders

(22:46):
they did, actually they did that and yeah it's a
bit old now, but he likes to go on about
it everything. Yeah, they were trying to get us. I'm like,
I'm out, I'm not doing that. I told him we're
gonna start the show off with it. So you guys
are feel comfortable. And the Swedish fish we hear a
lot as well, but we don't even have them in Sweden.

(23:07):
That's no. I know, I've never never tried until I
came here. Marcus. I take you back to your early days.
You started off in carts and nine ten years old,
somewhere in that that area. What was that like, running
around with with mom and dad. Yeah, I was lucky
enough to get my dad to to buy me a
go cart when I was around nine. I don't come
from a motor sport family, so it was never it

(23:28):
was never natural for for me to start go carts.
It was more by by sort of by accident that
I got into it. Tried some rental carting, and you know,
I thought it was fun. And then yeah, convinced my
dad to buy me a go cart. And and my
dad is a house painter, so you had like a
van where he could like we could fit to go there.
That's what we got. The card in the back there

(23:52):
in the van, in the in the painting van, and
then I went around Sweden doing all these different go
cart races growing up. So that was that was always
all started. So I have had my dad and also
my mom my mom of course too to thank yeahhount them,
I wouldn't be here. And Kenny Brack somewhere along the
way watched you and and actually gave you a massive

(24:13):
accolade along the way as well said you reminded him
of a lane prost a four time f one chaff.
That's some pretty big words coming from legitimate guy. Yeah.
I mean it was around that time, my my late
go kart years that Kenny so came into the picture
and started a project and picked me up. So Kenny
and a few others started this project and was managing

(24:38):
my career for for a long time and Kenny was
part of it and for a good five six years,
and so yeah, Kenny helped me a lot. And you know,
really without Kenny and other people involveder I wouldn't be
able to take step to cars from go cars. So
so yeah, that that helped a lot. To have a
lot to thank Kenny for that. And obviously growing up

(25:00):
we were also watching you know, I think both me
and philis was watching Kenny driving here in America in
the States, in in the car and cart. It was
always on TV and back in Sweden, so he was
very popular back then. What was it like for your
for your parents? I mean, like you said, no racing background,
you kind of take on this hobby. It's fun to
go racing with my son, and it starts to develop

(25:23):
and it turns into this massive monster. What is what
is mom and dad doing? And what you know, say
year four or five, it's like I can't believe what's
happening here, you know, and what what what was that
feeling like being at home? Yeah, I think for us
and my family, we were only doing it for fun
and and and you know, we didn't really have big

(25:43):
plans with me becoming you know, you had dreams as
a kid, you have dreams you want to be a
form of one driver or in the car driver. But
but the thing was it was not really realistic for
for me. So we were just doing it year by
year and just having fun and you know, yeah, trying
to to raise go cards basically. And then yeah, I
was lucky enough to have Kenny there that he sort

(26:05):
of spotted my talent and and and helped me to
find sponsors and everything to to take the step to cars.
But my mom and dad has always been, you know,
very good there with When Kenny and this project stepped in,
you know, they took a step back and let me
sort of live my dream and pursue my dream, and
and and they've always been there supporting me, but not

(26:25):
been involved in my career really since I started raising
cars when I was like sixteen. But yeah, it's it's
been a it's been a long journey, but it's been
it's been a very successful one. How do you felix
how things start off? Well, pretty similar. My My family
was also not in in motorsport at all. We we

(26:46):
were more into skiing actually, So that's what I started
with when I was two years old, and you know,
I started competing, and then at some some point along
the road, me and my dad had a big interest
in cars in general, not really racing, but just cars,
and I think those two kind of blended together. And
there was another guy who did skiing. I had a
go kart and I got to try that one, and

(27:09):
then you know, the whole thing took off and yeah.
I mean, as you say it, something that's you know,
supposed to be a fun thing takes off into something else.
And you know, I mean we're not really from a
you know, specifically rich family. I think you know, we
we weren't poor, but we we we didn't have a
lot as well. So you know, my dad, I think

(27:30):
he I mean he put everything on the line. And
at that age, you know, when you're I mean, when
you're twelve to fifteen years old, you can't have the
responsibility to think, you know, I'm going to be if
one driver, I'm going to be a football player. I mean,
you don't know what's going on with your with your brain.
I mean you change every day. One day you want
to do that, the next day you want to do that.

(27:51):
So it's a it's it's a difficult thing to get
into motorsport is when you make the commitment, you don't
know if that's what you want to do when you're eighteen.
You know, looking back now, almost every one of us,
you know who made it to Indy car or something,
and there's always people that came, you know, from a
rich family or to add money that made it easier.

(28:12):
But even with that position, it's always a really tricky journey.
And I like to, you know, analyze what made all
these guys special, what how do they make it? And
it's you know, even if it's if you're compared to
another sport when you have a huge volume of players
or drivers whatever coming in, and then it's a really

(28:33):
you know, small percentage. Even in racing there's a lot
of them, but maybe less. But it's probably even harder
to to make it because of the whole budget, right,
and the and the whole thing about the money is
you know, yeah, that's a different path, but you know what,
you still gotta be good. Yeah, I mean, you can't
go out there and run around and be garbage. I mean,

(28:53):
you're just it's not gonna last mediocre. I mean, I
mean at this level, right, and what you guys do,
and I think it's it becomes very clear at these
ovals you're talking about Texas or or I don't think
anybody really unless you're in this industry, you have no
idea how narrow that track is. At Indy, I stand
up there every year and it scares the hell out
of me. I don't know how they make it through

(29:15):
by themselves much less at the end when they're going
side by side through those turns. But uh, but the
talent is just absolutely exceptional, and you see it really
shine on those on those racetracks where you can't make
a mistake, people are going to get hurt really bad. Yeah,
pressure every day. Both of you guys kind of followed
the relatively close path to each other coming out of

(29:38):
Sweden and chasing that stuff through Europe. And I know
you spent a lot of time in Asia as well. Yeah,
I mean I did. Yeah, we did carting back back
home in Europe, and then I did some some racing
in the UK, and then went to Japan for a
year and and and race there and d Tree of Japan,
and then back to Europe and and did this sort

(29:59):
of h F one ladder there with with GP two
and and and then Formula one. So been through quite
a few different categories. But I really feel at home
now in the car and super happy to be here.
And both of you having success at Macau's pretty cool.
I mean I think you both of you qualified on
pole you want from the pole a couple of times,

(30:19):
two times, two times, yeah, and you qualified on the
finished top five. Yeah, exactly. I was on poll the
finished fourth and end. Talk to me about that race track.
I mean it just looks wicked. Yeah, it's it's one
of the best in the world for sure, and especially
for the three cars they I think they're perfect for
that that track, and it's just a it's a great,
great event and then a great track and and definitely

(30:41):
one of the best in the world. Is the challenge there,
it's uh, yeah, it's very very tough, but it's so
much fun when you sort of get the rythm and
get everything right. Yeah, and Felix, so they call you
the most successful Formula three racer of all time. I
mean in two thousand and fifteen, incredible efforts, seventeen poles,
thirteen wins, twenty four podiums. I mean, holy smokes, dude,

(31:03):
miss those kind of numbers. I mean I was there
for a long time, so I definitely helped, you know.
But yeah, Formula three has a you know, big place
in my heart. That's where I spent most of my
career till now. So hopefully that will change soon. Within
the car, but yeah, three it's a great car. It's
like one of those underpowered cars that you need to

(31:26):
to really nail your driving to to get the right
kind of speed through the corner and the exit of
the corner, and it definitely helped me becoming the driver
and today. So yeah, yeah, of course, Marcus. Also your
fair fair amount of successor to two thousand seven BMW
UK Champ and then two thousand nine and Formula three
right in Japan. Yeah, that's right. So yeah, it's been

(31:49):
a while. It makes me feel old when we talked
about the years, but yeah, I agree with you. Like
F three was, it was one of the most fun
cars and categorised to raise and I think you as
a driver, you'll learn a lot from from a category
category like that that you will, you know, have with
you all your career. It seems as though that was

(32:10):
the path for many years, was to get started here,
go spend a few years in Europe and then see
what happens and maybe a door opens for F one
or come back over here to Indy Car. And then
it seemed like the tables turned. I was hearing that
the people in Europe wanted to get over here to
the States. It seems like it's more people for sure.
The last couple of years seems like more people are

(32:30):
starting in Europe to look at the American racing and
the like Felix was saying, a bit the ladder system
here is seems to be working a bit better than
in Europe at the moment. So I like to think
there will be more European drivers coming over to America
and and trying it out here the next couple of years,
because I think in they car is in great shape
at the moment, the cress growing, and like we said,

(32:54):
you know, I'm sure they're trying to to get in
the lights to be a bit bigger field as well,
because that would help. But the categories below in the
light seemed to be very healthy and good numbers. So yeah,
I definitely feel like there's a lot more attention to
American racing in the in the car and in the
ladder from from Europe than it was five ten years ago,

(33:16):
all right, so we gotta ask them. The f one
show on Netflix, Connor said that there couldn't be an
Indy Car show. It was a big It was a
big part of it, by the way. Yeah, season one
I was I was there for quite a bit and
at least one episode, and they even this year they
keep showing my crash from eighteen exactly. But I think

(33:38):
it's it's great. I think, or I know it created
a lot of new fans for fone when they did that,
and in in the last year, yeah, beginning of last
year when they released it. I think it was the
beginning of last year they released the season one and
it was so much people coming up to me talking
to me because it seemed you on Netflix, not because

(33:59):
I was from one or in the car driver, it
was because they've seen Netflix. It was like, and it
was a lot of people writing to me and I
could see also of my social media the followers went
really like high when after the Netflix was released. So
it definitely had a big impact, and I know a lot.
It created a lot of new fans because it's such

(34:19):
a big platform, and I think people that's what I
like with it is they go behind the scenes. They
go and like get to know the drivers, get to
know what goes into it. It's not only driving a
race car on Sunday afternoons. It's so much more that
you don't really see. And I think that's why I
got a lot of people hooked on it. So both

(34:39):
of you rookies last year, so one at a time.
Which race surprised you the most. I've been to the five,
I hadn't hadn't drive it. I haven't done it until
last year, but I went there and in the lights.
But I actually say the one, the one I have
to Texas, is that surprised me the most because it
was just such a I don't know, I never had

(35:02):
that feeling in a race quite. It almost felt like
I was in a plane or something. Yeah, like when
when the sun went down and it went black, and
it felt like it went twice as fast because everything
is like you know those movies when they're going into
like warp speed right exactly. I don't know. It was
just such an adrenaline rush. And and sometimes you're like
when you had a yellow, you were you were actually

(35:23):
thinking about what you were doing, like what what are
we actually doing here sitting in these boxes driving two
twenty and you know, and like the steering force and everything.
It was just mad. And I remember actually talking to
Marcus after the race and we were both you know,
like you almost had to take a few minutes and

(35:43):
sit on the pitfall and yeah, just calmed down and
I couldn't sleep that night. I think I fell asleep
like four am. Yeah, so that that was that was
something very different, and Indy didn't have that impact on me.
I think there was more everything around. And it's a
really cool race. You know, it's a good race, a
lot of overtaking and it's exciting. But Texas is just

(36:05):
like pure adrenaline. I think for me it was still
the five hundred because you know, coming from five years
of Formula One, I've done the Monaco Grand Prix, I've
done the Italian Grand Prix. In months, I've done a
lot of the big races over in Europe and and
the rest of the world, and a lot of people

(36:26):
we're telling me when I was coming to America when
I signed for for ind the car, that you know
how special the five hundred was and how different it
was for anything else, and I I I didn't really
believe it, you know, I thought, Okay, it's a big race,
but it's you know, I've done Monaco, I've done Monster.
It's it's not going to be any different, right. It
was sort of way I thought, but I actually got

(36:48):
surprised how much it did. You know, how unique it
was and how special it was. And I think the
whole month, the way the build up is throughout the month,
you know, qualifying weekend, and then you have Car Day
and you know, it's so much going on, it's so
much history, so much you know, you can see, you
can tell how much it means to everyone that's working there,
that's coming there as fans, as the city, and and

(37:12):
how much it means for everyone. And he just made
it very very special and and and and it's sort
of like I I could feel it myself as well
in a in a strange way, and it was it
was very very special race day, you know, with all
the fans there, to every everywhere he looked, it was
just yeah, literally you talking about it because like up

(37:36):
in turn one and you stand up there and it's
just inspiring. You just can't even put it in words.
It's unbelievable the feeling you get. I mean, it's just
overwhelmed with and I think you have to experience it
until you understand it, you know, because that was the
thing for me, like I couldn't believe it was what
it was. And and then I was there and you know,

(37:57):
I did the month and did the race and it
was just unbelievable. So for for for me. I can't
wait to get back there and then get it, give it,
give it an a go in May and you know,
I think that's for me. It was something they're there special.
Let's pause for a moment here to take a quick break.
This segment of the Skinny is brought to you by

(38:17):
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 for you.
Welcome to a streamline buying and selling that created by
racers for racers and race vans, modified cars, classic cars,
race cars, that special big block you need the trailer

(38:40):
to move your baby around the country in we got
you at Rhino dot Co. Let's get back to our
special in Indianapolis five show with clips from a fan
question and answer session with Connor Daily. I have a
question for you as I was able to watch some
of the onboards during qualifying, and I gotta say, even
my I've been around it for a little bit, but

(39:01):
I was very surprised at how busy you guys are
in the car, working your tools, changing your fuel maps,
shifting gears. Uh don't know that you're necessarily talking on
the radio. But somebody's talking to you on the radio,
give us an idea of everything that's going on per
lap when you're behind the wheel of that thing. Well, realistically,
this year, the balance almost changes every corner because every

(39:23):
lap you're you're degrading. The entire is a little bit more.
You've better adjust the tools in your car, whether it's
the waychack or the front bar of the rear bar um.
And there's a lot of special tricks that are also
going on that people don't really know about um that
are also helping the car find speed, but you have to,
you know, work them every single lap to try and
get the absolute maximum speed out of it. So we
are very busy. There's a lot going on, and and

(39:45):
you're just trying to get around with the least amount
of scrub and the wheel as possible, the least amount
of steering, the least amount of the car moving, uh
and and just trying to keep stay flat as well,
which is sometimes the hardest part. Favorite prank you have
pulled or one that's been pulled on you, and I'm
going to throw a little something in here. I'm kind
of curiously maybe you had anything to do with it.

(40:07):
But I saw a golf cart on on blocks a
little bit earlier today, and there's no wheels on it,
And if I'm not mistaken, rumor has it it might
own to some guy named Alex Rossi. It is Alexander
Rossi's golf cart from what I've seen on the internet.
I don't know why I was the first suspect. That
seems terrible because I I have been pranked myself and

(40:28):
it wasn't Alex that did it, so I have no
reason to get him. Um but I I got pranked
very badly in two thousands seventeen by my crew guys.
My my bus was full of cups of water, like
a hundred of them, and about ten thousand balloons in
the bedroom, all of them filled with confetti. So that
was really aggressive. Took a long time to clean up. Um,

(40:50):
but I have not been a part of a prank,
so I don't know. I I maybe I need to
spend more years in IndyCar. Maybe everyone's having less fun
than they did back in the day when everyone was
pulling pranks. Who knows. We're trying to trying to have
a good time year, so we'll see. I look forward
to seeing who who committed the Alexander ROSSI uh, prank,
so who knows? So talk to me about your representation
of the United States Air Force. This one coming from

(41:12):
Brandon T. Wants to know how much fun it is
to be part of that program. Well, it's awesome. I
mean even today, Um, you know, we were able to
greet the USA of Thunderbirds at the at the airport
because they're doing the flyover for this weekend. So that
was super cool experience. Just I've met some of the
most impressive human beings, um, that I've ever met through
this program. Just some I mean American heroes, right, incredible people.

(41:35):
So I have really enjoyed it. I have really enjoyed
representing for them, recruiting for them. Uh. And and it's
a business deal in the end, you know, and if
if if it works, they'll keep coming back. And then
they have for three years running. So hopefully we can
keep keep this this dream alive and keep this keep
this deal going because it's been incredible for our fans.
I think we've They've created some of the most awesome

(41:56):
cars that I've ever seen in racing, and that's huge.
People love that. Um. And obviously this year has been
a bit weird. What's really important for the Air Force
is human interaction at the racetracks and their activations that
they have there, and we haven't had to have any
of that yet. So but but it's been an awesome,
awesome program without a doubt for this for three years running,
and hopefully we can keep it going. Of course, everybody

(42:17):
thinks so United States Air Force. They think of the
fighter pilots and some of the most intelligent individuals to
ever walk the face of the earth, and then also
physically fit as you well know, and what the g
loads that they have to deal with up there in
those jets. Yeah, and also the funny part about the
air forces, you know, there's only about I think two
or three percent maybe even two percent are fighter pilots.

(42:37):
So there's still so many other people in the Air
Force that are that are doing incredible work every day
in and out, and and that's what we you know,
we try to say, like, look, fighter pilots, that's an
incredible job. But there are so many other things too
that you can do in the Air Force, which all
matter and are all an incredible, you know, incredible career path.
So there's there's a lot to be found out there
for sure. Alright, how hard is it to manage your

(43:00):
blood sugar while racing? From Garrett Barnes. Honestly super easy. Now, Uh,
it's a challenge, but it's all about preparation. Um. You know.
For me, I obviously wear a constant, a constant blood
glucost monitor in the car. Uh, so I have that
whenever I need it. And we've got a drink bottle.
So the drink bottle has you know, anything that I
need in it, whether it's sugar, gatorade or whatever. Um,

(43:21):
So pretty simple for me. It just comes down to
prep and I'm super strict when it comes to preparations.
So it hasn't been an issue for me. But it
always is a challenge no matter what. Here's one from
Andrew tob I'll let you dissect this one. Is it
usually more advantageous to go for an aggressive undercut or
an overcut when pitting during Green at Indy? I don't know.

(43:45):
Nothing's worked for me, so we just pit whenever we
have to pit. Uh. Strategy wise, it seems to be
less effective at Inde for an undercut. Um, and just
because of how close everyone is and how big the
track is so uh. The tire fall off is also
less at Indy usually, so the undercut doesn't necessarily play

(44:07):
a big factor. Um because at the end of our
stint our tires are worn, but our cars are a
lot lighter, so you can still do quite fast laps. Um.
So the strategy game at Indie honestly just comes down
to luck, like whether you hit the yellow right or
not and how fast you how fast you burn fuel
at the beginning. Um, you just try to end up

(44:27):
leading but not leading, and then trying to save fuel
as much as you can until until the end when
hopefully you can either be a stop less or just
be right in the right spot to be on everyone
else's strategy to go for the win. Here's one from
Chris Curtis, a little bit off the IndyCar subject. But
you were a thing called the Chili Bowl a little
bit earlier in the year and it was super cool

(44:49):
to see out there with the absolute best that the
world has to offer when it comes to the world
of midget racing, some three fifty plus entries out there,
and you thought, hey man, let me jump in the
middle of that game. Yeah, I mean, I would love
to do it. Again. I wish I got more practice. Um.
That's the only thing that I would say with the
Chili Bowl. But yeah, I mean amazing experience. I love it,

(45:10):
have enjoyed every time that I've been a part of it. Uh,
and I want to do it again. So you know
that every every time I've done a dirt race. Uh.
You know, I've gone better on Oval racing an Indy car.
So maybe it's helping. I don't know, um, but yeah,
it's it's it's a great experience in an incredible event. Uh.
And I'm glad to have been a part of it
for sure. All Right. Rob Botts asked a question he

(45:31):
wants to know if you have any superstitions. I don't
really have any superstitions. I always get in the car
from the left side. That's it. I can't get in
the car from the right. I don't know why. It
just doesn't feel right, doesn't work. Um, and that's pretty
much it. Favorite TV show, UM, Entourage. Entourage is my
favorite TV show. It's a little older, obviously, but greatest

(45:52):
TV show in the history of television. Any amazing race,
I guess because we did it. But I'm more of
a survivor guy. So that's all right. I got offered
survivor after the amazing race. I said, absolutely not. I
will not be spending my time on an island somewhere,
living with animals in the woods and getting eaten by Okay,

(46:14):
that was from Rebecca Sexton. We'll go back over here.
I'm gonna try not to destroy this guy's last name,
Mike's Brobs tough. That was. I know. There's a there's
a lot of consonants there um at any rate. Something
you already kind of brought up, how will fuel mileage
compare between the Chevy's and the Hannas. That's we talked

(46:36):
about the power and qualifying, but you said back under
race Boost, you're kind of curious how it's gonna work
out yourself. Yeah. I mean, to be totally honestly, we
have absolutely no idea, not a clue. I mean, anytime
we're out there racing, well in practice kind of race
mode running. Uh you know, no everyone tries to fill
up a fuel and then run to the end of

(46:56):
the stint. Most people don't do that. We'll do half
a stand, make a change, and go back out. Uh.
So it's not like anyone's done a full fuel stint.
I'm sure some people have. UM, but until you're in
the race, and until you're you know, calculating how far
you can go, you don't really know. And and and
until you see, you know, a competitor with another engine,
uh see how far they can go? UM, you know,

(47:19):
you just have to wait and see. But realistically, so
far this season, there hasn't been a huge, um, a
huge differential between between fuel mileages on oval. So we
we should be fine. So we'll move along here. I've
got another question for you here that that is pretty
interesting actually from Aaron Noll. If you could have driven
Indy Car and any other era, I know exactly what era.

(47:42):
I mean, I appreciate what the um the Elder Statesman did,
like love the Mario Andretti era and A J. Foyt
are and like all the legends. I mean A J.
Foyt's era really never stopped. I mean it's still going. Man.
He did like a million and five hundreds, so that
would have been cool. Um. But realistically I would say
two thousand three or two thousand two to two thousand

(48:07):
eleven that that was. That was an era of me
growing up seeing heroes Dan Weld and Eleo Castron, have
his Tony Cannon, Thomas Scheckter, Sam Hornish Jr. Um, Alex Barron,
guys like just guys like that were so good. But
like young hero Marco obviously as well. Marco was at

(48:29):
the Playboy Mansion, Michael was at the I mean there
was guys were Thomas was sponsored by Cool Jeans and
like had a hot tub in the bus lot. At
one point, I just thought they were heroes and there
was no social media so they didn't get in trouble
for anything they were doing. Obviously, so they could have
been on boats in the Bahamas in between test days
and no one knew because you didn't have the internet. Really,

(48:50):
so I thought that was from hearing stories from those
days and seeing how good those guys were and how
good some of the racing was. Uh and and I
saw it as a kid, and now hearing about what
was really going on, I was like, I love, I
love everything about this era, so the Golden Era, and
and yeah, that's it's it's a great era. Well, we

(49:11):
thank Carpenter Racing for allowing you to come in here.
Certainly the United States, Sarah Force to support you, fat heads,
to support you. Thank you for taking the time to
come in here. I wish you the best of luck
on Sunday. Listen, I gotta have a little fun with you.
I hope you do a really good job on Sunday.
A strong second place would be great for you. But
I gotta pull over the nine car on Sunday. I'm sorry, bro,

(49:31):
I love you, but I gotta pull on the nine car.
They employ you, I I that's totally fine. I And
if I finished second to Scott, honestly, not the worst
day in the world. Right, exactly right, That's exactly right.
Thanks a lot, brother, man, have a great race on Sunday.
Thank you so much. Thanks everyone for turning in as well.
We appreciate that this segment of the Skinny. It's brought

(49:54):
to you by Dream Giveaway. Dream Giveaway has been giving
away high in American muscle cars to raise money for
charity since two thousand seven. Dream Giveaway is known for
giving away classic and new muscle and paying the federal
taxes so the winners don't have to For twenty dollars,
you can jump in the game and part of that
goes to charity. You'll have a chance at winning some

(50:16):
of the coolest cars on the planet. Check it out
at dream giveaway dot com. Kin Stout and Rico once
again here with you and one of the best that
any car has to offer, sitting inside the studio as well,
a six time winner, one of the biggest personalities in
the industry for sure, also a great broadcasters, certainly proven
that here as of late, and of course the pride

(50:39):
of our good friends up north in Canada, we have
James Henchcliff inside the studio with us. Welcome James, Thank
you very much for having me. That was quite the intro.
I don't feel like I'm worthy of all of those things.
People are gonna be very disappointed now when they hear
me talk. We shoot high here at the beginning. Hence,
You've had quite a career, man. You've driven for a
lot of different people all along the way. And and

(50:59):
one thing that Rico and I love to do is
to hear how careers started. And I know you started
off in Go Cards, but picked your way through the
U two thousands, Formula BMW, uh Star, Malls, Champ Car
Atlantic Series for a couple of years, Indy Lights and
then finally into any car. So I mean you scrapped
all the way through Man, the longest road to Indian history. Yeah, no,

(51:20):
it's uh yeah. My my timing wasn't great, you know,
because it was sort of going to originally play out,
so as you know, there was the split and open
wheel right, and we were on the other side going
the Champ Car Atlantic route and kind of trying to
get the Champ Car at the time, and then it

(51:41):
was sort of it was sort of mapped out perfectly
that like I would probably make my Champ Car debut
and like two thousand eight, well, I don't know if
you guys remember two thousand eight very well, but it
wasn't a super strong year for the racing world because
when the entire global economy collapses, the first thing to
disappear are frivolous expenditures like motor sports programs from companies

(52:01):
marketing budgets. So that sort of derailed things a little bit.
It did lead to the merge in open wheel racing,
so at least we were now all playing in one sandbox.
But I kinda had to take a half step back,
and the years that I spent in Atlantic were sort
of I don't say wasted, because I learned a lot
and grew as a driver, but uh, it sort of
stunted my progress. So we had to go do two
years and Indie lights after that, and uh and then

(52:23):
eventually got our our shot in the big show. But yeah,
it was it was a scrap. That's like, it's a
good way to put it, you know, because you know,
year in and year out, you know what it's like,
you just you're out there trying to figure out how
to get the money to go racing. One of the
big things my dad and I did was I spent
a lot of time figuring out where the best competition was.
You know, we because now we have the actual road
to Indie and it's a very clear cut, you know ladder,

(52:44):
which classes you go to in what order. That didn't
exist when I was coming up, and so you had
to really think about where you wanted to race, and
you know, not just waste the seasons of sponsorship going
in a in a series that, yeah, you might win
it hands down, but if you're not racing against anybody,
you're not getting better as a driver, you know. So
I was like, I would rather finish third in a
really tough championship than win a really easy one, because

(53:05):
that's gonna make me better down the road. So it
was it was a lot of a lot of long winters, begging, borrowing, stealing,
whatever you had to do to get there. But we
had a really good year in Indie Lights in two
thousand ten and cut the tension of Newman Has and
they gave me a test and kind of the rest
is history, so to speak. I find that a bit
curious that you say that's you felt that was the

(53:26):
best path. Well, yeah, because so now it's different, because
the road to Indie rewards success, right, you win the championship,
you get the scholarship to move up to the next level,
very clear cut, and it's the only system on earth
that exists like that, and it's amazing. Um. But back
in the day that wasn't the case. And so when
you say, oh, if you're winning, all these racist people
are gonna notice you, it's like, yeah, cool, they'll they'll
read your name on racier dot com. But you think

(53:49):
that's gonna make Chicken Assy hire you at sixteen years old,
or you think that's gonna make a company X y
Z come and just give you a bunch of no nobody,
nobody cares. And the junior categories. Nobody cares. There's there's
no money to be made there for sponsors, there's no
return on investment. So yeah, they're gonna notice you. And
let's see you're running Promza. Yeah, lights team might notice
you and they'll be like, yeah, we'll notice you to

(54:09):
ask you for eight hundred thousand dollars to come right, Like,
no one's writing checks for those kids, So it doesn't matter.
What matters is getting better and so yeah, for me,
it was always about it was always about being in
the best competition. And like a great example is, you know,
one year we made the decision we were going to
stay in Formula BMW for another year. We'd finished second
of the championship one rookie of the year, Like, right,
do we stay another year and try and get the title?

(54:30):
And uh and BMW that actually offered us a bit
of money to stay and whatever. And then we looked
at who was going to be in the what was
then the Star Maza Championship. We're like, no, I think
this is where we gotta go that year and Star Mazda,
the top of the top five in the championship for
them became Indy car drivers. That's where the competition was
and so that's where we went. And you know, you

(54:51):
compete against those guys and you do well against those guys,
and you know it sets you up better for down
the road. If you look at who's come out of
that since then, you know, guys like Joseph Newgarden and
you know Jared Hilderbrain was in my year. But you
see like Rerina's VK and I'll ever ask you a
pot of award and Colon Herda and all these all
these kids are coming out of Lights at a pretty
young age and are instantly competitive in the big cars
because it's a very good system for for teaching and

(55:14):
training young drivers. Do you think that do you think
that Roger's going to pull that back in from the
from the what is it? Dan Anderson? Uh? Probably not No,
I think I think Anderson is a great job. You know,
they're kind of in charge of all those series now,
and um, you know Dan's Dan's really helped grow that program.
I think when they lost the support from MASDA that

(55:35):
hurt a little bit and it would be great to
get another partner on board that can kind of help
out with it. But even when MASDA pulled out, Yes,
I realized I say that like a Canadian. But even
when Masda pulled out, no, I say you good looking
at it, like, you know, we can't use that. He
sounds like a moron. But but the A again, I

(55:55):
give any Carl out of credit. They kept that scholarship
program going even without that that support from AS and
that is really important because you know, I've sat down
with a lot of a lot of young drivers and
their and their families over the years who are racing
over in Europe. You know, they're doing F three and
A four in World Series and maybe GP two or
F two whatever now and um, you know, I'm like, yeah,

(56:18):
why are you Why are you guys doing that? Oh?
We want to get to Formula one. I'm like, that's cute.
Do you think that's gonna happen? Do you have manufacturer
backing yet? Even like your kids fourteen? Is he has
he been noticed by the manufacturer? Well? No, but if
we know it's too late in Formula one, It's just
that's not how it works over there. Like what happens
if you win the F three Championship, you're allowed to

(56:38):
pay three million dollars to go do the F two Championship.
If you win Pro Indie Pro, you get to go
need lights, you win in new Lights, you get to
go to any carre like, there's actually a reward over
here for success, and we've helped get a lot of
European kids come over here and do that. What I had,
Carl pull up, was you receiving the Greg Moore Legacy Award.
And I know Greg Moore you you credit to a

(57:01):
lot of your racing success. Yeah, no doubt. I mean
he he was my hero growing up. You know, Greg
he got into so I mean, Canadian makes it easy. Um,
he was replacing my favorite drivers, So Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian,
who I was cheering for, you know, won the championship.
Going over to F one, Greg steps into that car
makes it really easy to kind of just start following him.

(57:23):
And then the more you race, the more you get
to know him. He was just like the nicest guy
and he was bad fast behind the wheel of an
indie car. And you know, I had I started racing
go karts the year that Greg started racing IndyCar, so
it was kind of like, oh, you know, I just started,
he just started there. He's the new kid on the block. There,
I'm the new kid on the block, you know, everywhere,
and it was it was just easy, and he was

(57:44):
just such an easy guy to look up to. And um,
I got the chance to meet him in at the
race in Toronto. Uh and then obviously he you know,
he passed a few months after that, and so I was,
you know, incredibly fortunate to get that opportunity to spend
a couple of minutes with him, and um, you know,
I've subsequently got to know a bunch of his family
pretty well, and you know, he was really good friends

(58:04):
with Dario Frankitti and Tony Cannon and Max Pappas, all
guys that are around you know, the races now. And
I used to love, you know, especially when I first
got to Indy Carr. I remember we raced in Brazil
and we had we got rained out on Sunday, so
we raced like at ten o'clock Monday morning, and we

(58:24):
all had flights out at five pm. And so what
has everybody do. We go to the hotel, lobby, bar
and burn, you know, seven hours. And it was like
it was Pappas, it was Cannon, as Frankie, Jimmy Vassar,
like all these guys and we just sat there and
I just I just listened for like four hours to
these guys just tell stories about Greg and like what
it was like back in the day, and it was
just the coolest thing. They get to race against guys

(58:46):
like that, and you know, it's it sucks and never
got the chance to run against him and kind of
get to know him like I did those guys, because
it would have been it would have been cool. But
that was a very special moment for sure. So tell
me the significance. Two thousand and twelve, you finally you're
driving for ram Dreading. Now you call five second up
the five, finish sixth and you've got a pair of
his gloves with you. Yeah, that was really cool. So
you know, back then it's it's kind of a similar

(59:08):
qualifying format to now. You would do Saturday qualifying and
that would kind of set the fast nine and then
you know you'd go for pole the following day. And
when we went out for our run on Saturday, I
had a pair of Greg's gloves. Is Greg never got
to run the five. You know, he he was on
the cart side of the split, and you know, so
he never got the chance to do it, and he
was so good on ovals and he had just signed

(59:29):
a Penske deal, you know, like Elio's car that the
next two years won the five hundred, you know he
that was that was his car. So he would have
he would have done it. He's just he was incredible.
He absolutely would have wanted and he never got that
opportunity and that really sucked. And so, um, an old
mechanic has had this pair of gloves and we were
kind of telling them talking about it, and um, he said,
you should, you should take him around the speedway. He
deserves that. I said, that's it's a great idea. And

(59:50):
so I had these gloves all month and I'm like,
when should I take him around? I thought, you know what,
there's nothing cooler than we do here than than qualifying
those four laps all the down force peeled off, just
hang it out and uh so I grabbed the gloves
and I tucked him into my suit. We went out
there and we went p one on the day and uh,
you know, provisionally qualified first. We went on Sunday, ended
up second by a by a hair to Ryan Briscoe.

(01:00:11):
But it was just so cool to kind of get
that moment, and uh, we we were not we had
not been that fast up to that point. Like, we
were very kind of surprised that we went to one
on the day. We're like, maybe had a little help,
who knows, But it was it was cool moment. You know,
if we go back to Indianapolis in two thousand and fifteen,
you've got a bit pretty damn hard. And then to
come back in sixteen and put that thing on pole. Man,

(01:00:32):
I got goose bumps talking about it. It was just
one of those phenomenal moments and time for all time
and motorsports and an accomplishment just to come back after
the crash like you did, but then to have the
balls and the mental capacity to push that car on
the edge like you did again to qualify number one,

(01:00:53):
and you said it the most hair raising four laps
you guys run all year longers right there. Man, hats
off to you forever for quite an accompliable. But I
don't know if I think it just shows how stupid
we are as as people to you know, survive something
like that and be like, well let's go do it again. Um,
But no, you know, it was it was interesting because

(01:01:15):
you know a lot of people had that question right,
like how did you do it? How did you get
over it? Were you afraid to get back in the car,
and especially at that track, and you know when I
when I woke up from what's on the screen, but there, yeah,
maybe you can, maybe you can take us through it. Well,
I mean it's it's pretty self explanatory. Going well, going well,
not going so well, going really bad. And uh, when

(01:01:37):
I hit the wall there, so part of the suspension failed.
You can see the right front pops up and the
cars going straight in the wall at about part of
the suspension actually punctured the tub and went straight through me.
So I was shish keba quite literally, I was. I
was stuck in the car, stabbed by a metal rod
that had gotten the whole way through my body. And uh,
you know that's bad enough on a good day, but

(01:01:59):
when it went through, he's you pop up there. What
what happened was it hit my femeral artery in my
left leg and I was bleeding the day and they
nearly lost me. I I lost double the amount of
blood my body holds because they kept pumping it in
and I just kept pumping it out. Um, And so
that that took me out for the rest of the season.
You know, I had a bunch of injuries I had
to come back from. But I was I was very

(01:02:20):
fortunate in the sense that I didn't um I didn't
have any memory of the accident itself. Was pretty bad concussion,
so I was, I was awake, but I don't remember that, thankfully.
And so when I when I kind of came to
in hospital and you know, slowly started to understand what
had happened and appreciate, you know, the magnitude situation or whatever,

(01:02:41):
I made a really conscious decision um to not associate
any of the pain or the injuries, or the rehab
or any of the unpleasant stuff with a car, with
the track with anything. The way I thought about it
in my head was I got hurt. It doesn't matter
how I got hurt, and I now I just have
to get better. And that allowed me to not be

(01:03:03):
afraid to get back into a car, because in my head,
it wasn't the car that hurt me. I just got hurt.
And we went back to the speedway and everybody and
by that point, I mean, by that point I've been
back in the car, the new season had already started.
We're a couple of races in and already raced on
an oval. I actually already had a practice crash on
an oval, so like I'd literally done everything you could

(01:03:23):
do back in a car, good and bad. And I
was just approaching me like any other may, like I
was so far removed from that accident. But you show
up there, and of course that's what the story people
want to tell, right, And we got I think like
the first day of practice, and I was chatting with
my team and I was like, here's the deal, guys.
The goal here is we're gonna we gotta leave this
May with a new story to tell, because I'm three

(01:03:46):
sixty five days and I am sick and tired of
that story. So let's let's do something. And and and
we did. We went out and we on the GP.
We actually finished on the podium, which was awesome. Let
a bunch of laps there, and then managed to put
the thing on pole, like you said, the scariest four
laps of the year. And team did an incredible job,
and Honda did an incredible job, and uh it was

(01:04:08):
again it was a little bit of a surprise that
we had that much pace. When it got to Saturday.
We were P one qualifier Saturday, and so we went
out last in the fast nine, and Joseph had put
up some crazy times. We're like, okay, so we we'll
be we'll be the first two rows, you know. And
uh went out in My first lap was nowhere near
as quick as his. But my second lap was quicker
than my first lap, and that's that's not how it

(01:04:29):
goes in. And the third lap was only two tents
slower than them. And so I was doing that math
in my head, like I knew what Joseph's average was,
and I'm doing the math in my head while trying to,
you know, hang on to this thing and save my life.
Travel travel abbacus, you know. I put a small abacus,
a little handheld deal in my car fuel and uh.

(01:04:53):
And so I crossed the line for the last lap.
I knew roughly what I needed, but like it comes
down to thousands of a mile an hour there, right,
And so I had like the first decimal place sort of,
and I was like, oh man, that's close. And then
they keyed up on my radio and all I just
heard was screaming and nobody actually said anything. I just
heard noise. It's like, yeah, wow, we did it. That's
pretty cool, and yeah, that was that was an awesome

(01:05:13):
moment for sure because it gave us a new story
to tell. And it was such a such a good
thank you for the team, right, I mean, we're raising
is a big family, you know, and and yeah, I'm
the one that got hurt, but the whole the whole team,
that whole group went through that with me, Like we
all went through that together, right. That's it's not easy
to just be on the sidelines and watch one of

(01:05:34):
your guys get hurt and part of your family be
hurt and be out of the season whatever. So all
those guys suffered through it with me, and we're really
supportive of me and um and and qualifying it Indie
is you know, certainly as much of an exercise and
how they prepare the car as it is and how
I drive it, and so it was this awesome moment
for all of us and just be like we came
back here and we kicked as like as a group,

(01:05:55):
we did a really good job. And then somebody be
really proud of him. Congrats and good luck with you
your podcast and thank you you and Alex have some
fun doing that. Yeah, we do. He I have more
fun than him. He doesn't. Alex doesn't have fun doing
many things. He's a very serious guy. Well, it had
to be fun watching your tire stacked on top of

(01:06:15):
your coach. I mean that had to be a fun moment.
That was Yeah. For for him it was great. I
mean he immediately accused me, which was which was very alarming.
Where I went to the gym that morning and he
comes storming in the gym and he walks right out
to me and he goes dead. I'm like, what for what? What?
I mean, Okay, I believe I've probably done something, but
which which grievance specifically? Yeah, are you upset about? And

(01:06:40):
he showed me the picture. I'm like, oh, no, that
one actually what that one wasn't me? That's great stuff. Man,
You guys working out all together all the time over there,
That's that's pretty cool too. I mean the camaraderie outside
of the race car, yeah, for sure, you know he see.
I mean, Dixon's there remorning, t K's are remorning me,
Charlie Spencer, Alex Zack's there, Dalton. I mean it's most
of the guys in town come out and train there,

(01:07:01):
and uh, it is. It's it's cool. It's always fun
on like Tuesdays. You know, we usually take Mondays off
after the races, but like Tuesday after races, like the
best day to be in the gym because he's here.
Everybody's stories and he's just you know, swapping war stories
from the day or whatever. It's it's cool. It's gotta
be a bit of a motivator too. It's like, at
least I wanna have a good time there. There's gonna
be you know, some buddies are there. And well, I
mean the motivator comes in the fact that, like we
just push each other so hard, which is awesome. And

(01:07:24):
by that I mean Scott Dixon pushes the rest of
us because nobody can beat him and anything. Get on,
get on the Jacob sladder. It's oh, that's that's a
medieval torch thing. Well I saw that. You know. Let's
go back to Iowa. I mean, guys getting out, I mean,
will power done? You're talking to Connor. Connor said they
had to wrap my legs and I said, he said
they had to help me out of the car so

(01:07:44):
I couldn't stand up. Yea he fainted or something. When
he got in the car, he was done, I mean
a brutal, brutal race. And and then he doesn't train
a bit bit, just saying all the the pivot guys,
we're fine. Weird there, you fired shot fire, something learned. Yeah,
I digs of a standing there and you know it's

(01:08:04):
hair look great. Yeah, you could have done another one
the next day. He's fine, He's totally fine. Thanks for
being with us here on the Skinny. This episode has
been brought to you by Toyota. Rhino classifies Dream giveaway
and general tire for the latest and sunglasses, optical frames, accessories,
and apparel. Be sure to check out batheads dot com.

(01:08:26):
That's bath Heads with a Z. Production facilities provided by
Fatheads I Wear Studios. All rights reserved. The Skinny with
Rico and Kenna is a production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I
Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.