February 17, 2025 • 42 mins
Jimmie Johnson thought Legacy Motor Club had a win in a Daytona duel race, but the button doesn’t lie. Johnson gives his perspective on the ending of the duel race and Erik Jones being so close before going into an in-depth conversation about now being the organization's majority owner. Johnson breaks down the progress of the team and working through getting everything in place with Toyota, as well as being self-sufficient with processes in-house; choosing to go without an alliance partner; the type of owner Johnson wants to be; becoming comfortable as a leader of hundreds; the approach to being present as a team owner; finding opportunity for Legacy while living in England; the reason why racing expansion for Legacy Motor Club is in the plans; shooting down the Indianapolis 500 rumor but if that race would be one to look at in the future; things Johnson better understands about racing now as an owner; ways that he’s been challenged and has challenged himself the last few years; learning a different side of the patience game; becoming comfortable communicating with NASCAR as an owner; closely monitoring the 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and NASCAR lawsuit; understanding the Open Exemption Provisional; being in the team owner space with some of his former rivals; the reason Johnson will only contest two races this year and if the end of his driving career is over; hearing the critics about his current driving career, and how the performance changed his expectations; if the end of his driving career is approaching; balancing ownership, family, and starting his own podcast.
Original music created by Tony Monge.
Follow me here: https://linktr.ee/kellycrandall
Original music created by Tony Monge.
Follow me here: https://linktr.ee/kellycrandall
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, everyone, Welcome to the Racing Writers Podcast. I'm your host,
Kelly crandall. Our guest today is Jimmy Johnson, seven time
NASCAR Cup Series champion and now the majority owner at
Legacy Motor Club and still part time driver. I've been
working hard to get JJ on the podcast for a
while and we finally made it happen over the weekend
at Daytona International Speedway. You're gonna hear us saying in
the conversation. This was recorded Friday afternoon, so a day
(00:28):
after the duels and going into the Daytona five hundred.
We cover a lot in this conversation. I am really
proud of how it came out. I thought it was
a fantastic chat with JJ. We're covering everything from him
now being a majority owner at Legacy Motor Club, adjusting
to that the future adjustments will have to make as
he continues to get comfortable in the role. We're also
talking the progress of Legacy Motor Club, why they chose
(00:51):
to go the self sufficient route instead of having an
alliance partner. We also talk about the charter agreement, the
open exemption provisional, the end of his driving career when
that is coming and so much more, a lot to
dig into with Jjane. I think you're really going to
enjoy it. Let's get into it. Here is Jimmy Johnson
on the Racing Writers Podcast. We're gonna jump into the
(01:19):
conversation with Jimmy Johnson finally on the podcast Glad we're
getting to do this. We're recording Friday and Daytona. This
will drop Monday for everybody to listen to. So maybe
you'll have won another Daytona five hundred, Yes, I hope so.
Or maybe you'll have won it as an owner.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
May last night.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Okay, let me give you a chance to recap that
from your perspective. We heard from Eric, how about for
you watching that unfold?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So I had a problem with a fuel pump and
I thought I was out of gas, so I had
to pit and lost the draft and then just being
a fuel pump issue, so I get back out, caution happens.
I'm on the lead lap, but I know chaos is
going to happen at some point, so we're just hanging
at the back.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
We restart.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I see Eric in maybe the third row inside, and
I'm like, oh, get a decent finish.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I hope it doesn't get wrecked. I don't think anything
of it.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And as the race finishes and then big crash happens,
I leave the chaos, and the Earl's like winter forty three.
I'm like, sorry, what are forty three? Is like, yeah,
who else would it be?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Winter forty three? I'm like, holy cow. So I'm celebrating, excited.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
By the time I get out of the car, Eric's
you know, standing by his car in the front stretch,
and I'm like, wow, this is such a cool moment.
And then the announcement comes over two cars the winner.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
My reaction to the media center was I turned to
some of my colleagues. I said, it's too early in
the week for this shit.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So we're already off to a good story.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Thankfully they have that system. But I mean, couldn't the
guy have been sleeping at the switch just a little longer?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I mean, anyway, that's what a few drivers have said
about the finishes of the five hundred recently of yeah,
you know, just Bowman the same way. Could they not
have just hit the button sooner? So?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, I guess it depends on which side of it
you're on.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, So Jimmy you recently had an announcement Legacy Motor
Club the next chapter this year. You are now the
majority owner. I want to start talking about that. Over
the last couple of weeks. What has it looked like
just I don't know if getting up the speed is
the right term, but maybe just the reaction just getting
everything kind of solidified and settled since since the announcement
was made and now it's public.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, getting settled is a good way to put it.
The process.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I've never been through a business transaction like this, and
it is quite lengthy, and you know, this opportunity really
started to develop in October when Maury kind of shared
his new position and the fact that he, you know,
would want to kind of speed things up, and so
we jumped into action, and I had some relationships to
(03:38):
engage in and lean on and quickly with the Nighthead folks,
and the friendship I have with everybody over there, and
our connectivity through life and Europe and racing and just
a variety of things. It just really stood out as
the best strategic partner for us, and as Tom Wagner,
the principal there and I agreed on terms and of
(03:59):
course more in the terms that he wanted. You know,
it seemed pretty easy from my standpoint, like, Okay, let's
be done in a week or two, you know, three
or four months later.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It's finally done.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
So that aspect in the lawyers doing their thing really
take a lot of time, and so we haven't had
a chance to really implement anything of substance. Yet we're
very proud of We know that there is so much
to get organized and to move forward with, but what
everyone has seen right now, I don't want it to
be overlooked. The progress we're making is an organization and
(04:29):
the changes we've made have been really at Maury's hands.
Maury has created these opportunities, and we're going to start
the season with you know, Maury's heart and soul in
this saying and commitment to Legacy Motor Club. And then
as we get into the year, you know it will
transition into the opportunities that Nighthead brings in my leadership.
But right now, you know, this is really Maury's direction
(04:53):
and approval and cash.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
That's been able to create it. And I just saw
him at one of our.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Appearances, so I'm so happy he's here, going to be
able to enjoy it all.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
You mentioned the word progress there. As we look at
the race team, that's the biggest thing that's going to
stand out for your race fans, right your fans, Eric's fans,
the team's fans. How can you explain to them what's
the progress that's not being seen in that regard and
the steps that have been taken or you feel will
continue to be taken to show that we are going
(05:23):
to get better. We are on the path we need
to be on.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, this I call it kit car racing. You know,
we all have a single source provider and we all
buy the same parts in our strategy. In the past,
we weren't maximizing the system and we weren't inventorying accordingly,
and so we would put cars together and do our
best job to put them together. But when you look
(05:46):
at it from more of a global standpoint, there are
small little margins to chase everywhere, and your strategy and
your inventory and when you buy your inventory and how
you put combinations together. There's just a lot of science
in that and a lot of pre and post race
evaluations that need to be done, and sadly, we just
didn't have great processes in place, and that's really been
(06:08):
the change is to see all these processes change. And
you know, with leadership from Brian Campy who is at Hendrick,
Jacob Canner who ran the GM platform for all forms
of motorsports, bringing in Chad Johnston, he's fresh off being
a crew chief at a very established race team. At SHR,
we have some real experience and know how in the
(06:31):
building and it's been wild to me.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
In the past.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
You've always been able to find a couple of tenths
pretty easy. You know, some secret sauce somewhere.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
It's not around.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I mean you're literally stacking pennies left and right to
try to figure it out. And those processes are what's
so different, and it's impossible for the fans to see that.
And it's going to take, honestly, probably four or five
races before we can fairly evaluate ourselves to play races.
The road course, not your traditional racing, the.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Switch to Toyota, I think you've mentioned it, like your
drivers have mentioned it all last year. It feels safe
to say that a you all understood it wasn't going
to be an overnight transition to where the results were
going to show up, but it also felt like Jimmy
that there was a little disappointment last year, I think
all around of how long it took or how long
(07:17):
it is taking maybe to kind of just figure it
out and sift through the information you all now are
getting to turn it into results at.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
The end of the day.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
And the long relationship to IT has had with JGR,
the JGR side and their software toolchain to process the
data and to create trustable, believable, accurate data.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know, that's their IP.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
And we chose not to be an alliance team to JGR.
We wanted to build our own infrastructure and that journey
was just way more complicated, expensive, time consuming than we
ever thought. And to IT certainly has their own tool sets,
but they haven't needed to supply data like that since
the MWR days so different. Car you know, there's just
(08:02):
a lot of elements there, and I'd say the biggest
issue on our behalf was maybe not reacting soon enough
and investing in our software toolchain and trying to develop it.
This stuff takes months and months and months to develop.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And just you know, that was just kind of a miss.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And thankfully, come the end of the year, our toolchain
is now up and running, and there's some other adjustments
on the Toyota side, and we're in a much much
better place. We still have fine tuning to do, and
you know that last ten percents the hardest to get,
but we've made a huge step forward in our development
off track and how we apply that to the cars
(08:38):
when they go to the racetrack.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
On that note, how much are you all doing on
your own at the shop now? I believe last year
there was talk of having some simulators in there, really
upping just as you said, the resources, the equipment, the software.
So where are you all now with that in terms
of what are you guys taking and doing in house?
As you were talking about that that we now we
need to figure out for ourselves how to do this.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
We have everything in house. Everything, everything we can control,
we're trying to control. And I guess you could debate
the point that last year we bid off more than
we could chew and it would have been nice to
farm out or contract out other layers and elements. But
again speaking of more in his commitment to this team,
he's like, I know, long term, this is the best
(09:24):
thing for the team.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It's what I want to.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Do, and we have to buite the bullet at some point,
and we did. And you know, it's hard to really
reflect on the struggles and challenges when you're living it
and in the middle of it. But with the opportunity
to reflect over the off season look back on it,
you know, we bid off way more than we could chew.
And you know time will tell if we're caught up.
But we will continue to to improve and get better.
(09:48):
It's just the rate and we want it overnight and
we'll see where it comes.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
For race fans, who I know that one of the
things that has always brought up and you touched on it,
is you didn't want to be an alliance team, but
a lot of race fans again, are so used to
this team has an alliance, and this team has an alliance,
and this team has an alliance. Breakdown from your perspective,
and I think you touched on Morey's thinking there, but
the pros and cons of having an alliance to not
(10:13):
having an alliance and why it was the right way.
I guess long term, as you said that this could
work for us, it's just we've got to put the
time and the effort in if we do it our
own way.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, being self sufficient is key and when you look
across the motorsports landscape, wrong or right. There's always a
question of the powerhouse team that has an alliance. Once
the alliance catches up or once the alliance beats the
powerhouse team, does anything change. You know, people can debate
it and argued all the time, but we did not
(10:42):
want that in our conversation and with our ability to
be a true Tier one team with Toyota and get
all the information right out of the spickett. Again, we
invested in twenty four to really just dive in the
deep end and figure it out. So sure, there were
moments where we'd sit around on them and a competition
meeting and be like, man, if we would have stroked
that big check that JGR would.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Have made life a lot easier. But you know that's
not the pathway chose.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Right Again, that's where the cons come in of playing
the long game. So, Jimmy Johnson, the owner, this is
not new for you. Majority ownership is over the last
couple of years, and now that you do step up
and you have the reins, Jimmy, what kind of owner
do you want to be? If that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I haven't viewed it from that through that lens yet.
But you know, I certainly have a style. I certainly
thrive in an environment, you know, consistent, calm environment, and
I hope to create that. And I've learned over my
lifetime that I am attracted to certain people that are
that way and then vice versa, and so I hope
(11:44):
to build a you know, mature, steady, you know, very
dedicated and focused race team. I am learning so much
about the sport in gaining my own confidence in how
I can mentor lead, instruct delegate. You know, a lot
of these things do not come easy to me. I've
always been a part of a system, and now you know,
(12:05):
everybody looking up to me and how do you want
to do this? Shoot, I don't know. Let me think
about it and gets you a clear, concise answer. So
it's just different, and I'm thankful I had the two years.
I thought I would have three more to learn.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
But here we go.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
As a driver, you were a leader of your race
team along with your crew chief. What is the difference
of being comfortable as a leader of as you said,
now many more people who are going to look at you,
that are in that building that you are signing their paychecks?
What comes with that? And being comfortable in that role
and even for instance, you know, having your event at
(12:41):
the Hall of Fame, your kickoff event that I sat
in for a little bit, just something as simple as
standing up and talking in front of everybody, all of
that that comes with it. What is that side like
to go from driver to really being a true leader
of many more? Now?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, you know, the team that I drove for was
really led by the crew chiefs, you know, Chad Canalson.
Then above Chad, there are other department heads that all
helped carry the weight. And my focus was to create
the locker room, the energy in the locker room, and
that's what I feel I did a really nice job with.
(13:15):
And yeah, I had some technical pieces of the puzzle
that I was involved with, but it it really was
all drived by Chad and team and on and on,
and I just had to keep everybody's head in the game.
And I created an environment where people really wanted to
work for the forty eight car and work for me,
and the respect you know that I would show these
guys would help them want to stick around and we
(13:37):
could recruit others. And that was a really fun role
that I grew into. But now as a team owner,
you know, just on the furthest of extremes.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Now I got to worry about bottom line. I got
to worry about P and L.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And when I think back to the Hendrick days, we
had all the resources we could have ever dreamed of.
Now I'm in a situation where we don't have all
the resource as I could have ever dreamed of, and
budget and being smart, and where our focus is as
an organization, and how we help other departments realize, hey,
we know your department's important competition comes first, right now?
(14:12):
You know, these first ninety days, these first three months,
this is solely where we're focused. And we'll reevaluate and
come back. And so I guess not only to the
P and L piece, but also having enough elevation to
see all the departments and understand how to manage those
expectations and share a more long term vision. I've never
worried about a vision like all I did was worry
(14:33):
about the next race and then the one after that.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
So now to.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Look at a calendar in the year, break it up
into quarters. How are we going to manage this, How
are we going to focus? How are we going to
communicate this to our department heads like that stuff was
forigned and we had no idea this was all going
on when I was just my raw rod cheerleader guy
inside the forty eight car?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Does the team owner have to be there every day?
And I asked that because it's going to go into
another part about how life is different for you. You've
said it, you went on a one year family traveling
the world and it's turned into two and now you
all are all over the place. So does the team
owner need to be there every day? And how will
how will you approach that? Then?
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah, I assume it's debatable, without a doubt. I subscribe
and believe to the more you're there, the better it is.
And as the minority owner, and this opportunity for us
to live abroad, and of course dealing with the tragedy
the first year for us, it's just something that's going
to happen expanding into the second year, much more logic
(15:32):
around it. Okay, I'm a minority owner, I'm available, I
can work these angles. My focus has been asked of
me has been on revenue and to try to find
sponsorship and partnership, and we've been able to do so.
In addition, how I met the night Head folks was
being in London. So there are many things that have
served me well. Being across the pond on this adventure
(15:53):
with my family, but being around. I'll be around a
lot more this spring, and then when the kids finish
up school, we'll move back to the States and be
here and get back into our grind. It's wild to think,
but our oldest Evy is going to go into high.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
School next season.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That is crazy to think.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
This is crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So we knew it would be a year, maybe two,
and then when high school started for her, we'd be back.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
That is absolutely crazy. I remember when you showed up
after she was born and you had the footprints on
your helmet, and now here we are you saying she's
going in high school. Wild goodness, that is wild. You
touched on it, not touched on it, you said it there.
The flip side of that was it did help unconsciously
at first of that's how you met Nighthead and exploring
all these other opportunities and getting to talk to folks
(16:37):
that aren't even in racing, but maybe just through your
connections and social circles, you're able now to make these
relationships and bring people into racing, and that was because
you weren't here. That happened in London.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You said it did, and you know, London is full
of F one teams and then all the support series
teams are there, all the infrastruction, marture from sales, marketing, digital, sponsor, procurement, engineers,
technician like you name it. London is the Charlotte for
Formula One. And as time goes on, especially with this
(17:12):
new gen next gen car, vehicles are getting closer together,
especially with the sports car side using the same transaxles
and rear ends, and before long we'll be using the
same torque sensors and all these elements are just kind
of being used across all platforms and certainly the way
the Wax Series races and IMSA NASCAR is now an
(17:35):
extension of that were kit car racing.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
So there are many benefits.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
To being in London that are going to help our team,
and in time, I would hope that we could move
into other divisions. I love the Wax Series and Nighthead
has an involvement with the Joda team actually owns the
Joda team, so you know, who knows what that will
look like over time. In addition to IMSA there could
be a really neat opportunity there for us trying to pursue.
(18:01):
You know, I'd just love to be more of a
global platform and have Legacy Motor Club your race anywhere
and everywhere we can. And if that does happen, I'm
going to be traveling a lot, not at every NASCAR race,
But it really falls back on key hires the right
people in the right places that can really manage and lead.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
If Legacy is able to do that, to branch out
and compete in other series and have its name out there,
why is that a good thing? Why is that something
that you want to happen? Because there's always got to
be the return on investment, right, So what would be
that return on investment of having Legacy in more places
than just NASCAR.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Yeah, first and foremost, our NASCAR program has to be competitive,
so that's the primary focus. But you know, the name
Legacy Motor Club was very intentional for me. I believe
there's an opportunity to create a lifestyle brand, and I
believe racing in multiple platforms divisions around the globe helps
(18:58):
us build a massive motor club and an interest in motorsports.
And then also from the hobbyist standpoint. I think there's
a real opportunity, especially as you see these country club
car concepts coming around and the interest in all of
that and hobbyists driving on these awesome tracks that are
popping up. And when I look across the landscape in
(19:19):
the US, we don't have many brands as teams or
team owners. You have a lot of incredible individuals that
have helped motorsports become what it is, but very few
are like household brands. It's more about the driver recognition,
and I think through legacy and the way I want
to spin this. You know, you have my legacy, Richard's.
We have Matt Kensith working for US, Trevor Bain is there,
(19:42):
Dale Liman. You know, it's not just Jimmy Johnson racing.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
It's legacy. There's five big names there that help grow
our ip and.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
As we move along and hopefully you're involved in other areas,
I think we have a different way to look at
it in a larger offering for a fan base and
to build a lifestyle brand and to build experiences.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
And ultimately, at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Racing's expensive and there are other business entities that can
spin off the legacy Motorclub brand to create revenue to
come back into the performance side.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
The one area you didn't mention, and I want to
give you a chance to address because I know it's
popped up in the rumor mill is Indianapolis. And that
was the first thing when I spoke to you for
the story about you becoming the majority owner. That was
the first thing my boss has said to me, Well,
Indy five hundred and when right? And I know that
that was a rumor on social media. So, first off,
if you want to address Jimmy the rumor about this year,
(20:38):
but even in the future, would that be a race
that is attractive to want to put a car that
you own, You've competed in it as a driver. Is
it attractive that that is also going to be perhaps
on the bucket list, where as you said sports cars
and all these other areas.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, Indy car is super interesting. And earlier you mentioned
about profitability of race teams, and when you see these
other leagues providing a charter system, I think we're still
extremely undervalued in NASCAR and it's going to continue to
ratchet up and as other leagues series create their own
charter system and you get past that ten year mark
(21:14):
and the stability is there. Outside groups are going to
want to invest and be involved, so IndyCar is of interest.
There's a lot of change I think in the near
future with IndyCar and power plant and discussion around kind
of a new car. They still have a very old
tub and car, so understand that landscape's important. But Indy
(21:34):
five hundred and one off opportunity. I would love for
Legacy motor Clip to be there. I had a talk
with Ganassi earlier in the year about the opportunity has.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
A fourth car. We're just not ready. We're just not ready.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
And I think the Nighthead rumors started to work their
way out and Tom Wagner, one of the founders of Nighthead,
and Tom Brady are close friends and have invested in
a lot together, and that kind of spun into you.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yescha, gotcha. What do you better understand, Jimmy, now from
these past couple of years of being in this role
and this chapter of your career, what do you better
understand about racing that you didn't before when you were
just solely focused on driving.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
It's how relational it is in the car. You're just
worried about you're fifteen that are allowed at the track
and get.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
To the shop.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
There's a few key touch points, and of course you
worry about your organization, but you don't. You're not with
those folks all the time. On the other side, here,
it is so relational. Everywhere I turn, it's relational, from
partnerships to or.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Your motor homes parks. So you can entertain your.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Guess something nobody would even think about except for you guys.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Right if you're short on passes, you hope the credential
truck still likes you, and you're like, hey, remember me.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
It's just so relational. Everything about this is relational.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
In what ways have the last few years also challenged
you or how have you challenged yourself even the last
couple of years in this again in this.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Chapter, I think adjusting my expectations. You know, the challenge
for me the last two years had not been fun,
not enough for any of us, I mean, everybody involved.
It's been tough, you know, so that that's been the
biggest challenge. But I've been here before. I was a
young driver that people said would never make it, and
I just put my head down, I kept going, And
(23:23):
I've seen a lot of that, especially a few times
I check into social and try to read anything over
the last couple of years. But I've been here before
and I'm just going to grind it out.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Are you also learning a different side of patience and
as we talked about before, the long game of it's
not going to happen overnight.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yes, that has been in progress under construction for a while.
You know. The opportunity at Nighthead really gives us a
viable long term runway to grow as an organization and
get things right. So I feel that's relieved some pressure.
But at the same time, it's private equity money. There's
(24:03):
still this pressure to have a return on investment. So
it's not like we have a free pass by any means.
But to understand the structure and the long game and
the way they're thinking about things does give me more time.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
It takes some pressure off as an owner, even minority owner.
Have you been in any meetings with NASCAR? How involved
in the process when it comes to the collaboration is
always the word that gets used between the two sides.
How involved have you been the last couple of years
with just conversations or meetings or feedback from the team
side or will that start now because you are the
(24:37):
majority owner? Was more re handling it before. Just how
was your relationship again as an owner with NASCAR?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah, I attended everything, usually stay pretty quiet on the
calls or in the meetings depending on how they you know,
how we were attending them. And then Mare and I
would connect after kind of talk through and he was
the majority owner and it was kind of his say,
and you know, I really wanted to learn from him
and have mentored me in so many different ways, and
(25:03):
I think from the race team alliance side, he's been
a great voice for the group. He's experienced a lot
in his years and you know, the ups and downs
of business and being an entrepreneur as he is, so
he's been quite quite involved and I've been able to
sit back.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
How do you anticipate now as you take on that
role of being in these meetings and having these conversations,
how do you anticipate the feeling will be of speaking
up on behalf of your team? This is yours now
versus how you interacted with the sport and with the
sanctioning body as a driver, and maybe how you offer
feedback that way.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Yeah, this is the part where the more I'm around
to live it and feel it, the more informed I
will be and I can speak more honestly from the heart.
I mean, there's plenty of literature to read and understand
and you know, occupy your brain for days and days
(25:58):
and days, but being around.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Is a big part of that. So it's really high
on my agenda.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
It's going to be a tough few months here before
family returns back to the States, but we'll figure it out.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Okay, that's interesting. You talk about things you can study,
read literature. What does that even mean?
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah, I guess reading literature probably was incorrect statement, but now.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Maybe it wasn't. But in terms of again you trying
to understand and fit into this role, I'm genuinely curious.
How does one do that?
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Like the charter agreement shows up and you're like, oh
my gosh, how many pages there are? And then by
the time I get through it, there's a revision and
another one hits and you're like, wait a second, this
thing again. Sponsor contracts. If you look at employee contracts,
HR your real estate that we've been leasting the building,
(26:49):
now we own the building, tax structure, Like they're everywhere
you turn, there are these very new experiences for me.
Of course, in general, I know what that stuff is,
and I've been able to kind of manage some stuff
on my personal side. But to this magnitude, there's just
a lot there, and I swear the more important it is,
the more pages there are in these contracts that hands.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
You, so you really are reading literature just about everything.
There's so much.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I'm trying. Yeah, I'm trying.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
I've been taking a lot of shortcuts and I've found
a couple of really good ones that are helpful, including
leaning hard on your legal staff.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
There you go. That's always good to have, right, That's
why you hire them the charter agreement. Two things on
that one. It's kind of a broad question, but does
it matter or how closely do you pay attention to
what will happen with the lawsuit that's ongoing? Will it
affect your team? Will it affect other teams? You think
in this sport like, does it matter to pay attention
to it? Does?
Speaker 3 (27:42):
No, it absolutely does. There's a precedent being set in
how litigation takes place, which you know, we're in a
religious world, and who knows what the future will hold
for any team in NASCAR, right, So there's that. Then
the second piece is in the position we are in
and the chartered teams are in, and the way NASCAR
(28:03):
has explained, if the judgment goes their way, those charters
and the fees that come with it or the prize
money that comes with it will be put back into
the system.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
So that's some form of bump up for us.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
And then we'd have to assume if the two teams
come out successful, that it would reset for the whole
industry and that would really raise all ships in the harbor.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
So we're all watching.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Very closely and trying to understand what's going on. It
seems that there's going to be a lot of time
spent in this first stage just understanding if those two
teams can operate as a chartered organizations or not. We
haven't even made it to the part that the argument's
about yet, so it's going to be a while.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
It is another part of the charter agreement. I know
this became a topic of conversation recently, is the open
exemption provisional? And I think at first there was even
those of us who didn't know about it, and then
when we learned about it, of we all asked Nascar, well,
who does this apply for in terms of NASCAR drive?
Your name came up. I think you've touched on this
a little bit, Jimmy, But what is your understanding now
as far as that being open to you, even to
(29:07):
a guy like Martin TRUCKX Junior, Because at first we
didn't think so, but now we're being told it is.
Are you understanding that as well?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Well?
Speaker 3 (29:14):
First of all, it's clearly a page I didn't read right, right.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I think we all learned that as well as that
it was apparently in there, but not everybody. I must
have read that far.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yeah, it was that piece.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Plus, the teams are used to having a notice or
an alert amendment, you know, something that's sent to them
as a warning. Not that it's buried in the charter agreement,
but it makes sense they needed charter.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Approval to do it.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
But there was an emotion or some kind of action
that we were expecting to see. We did, and it
was we didn't have ninety days like, well, what does
this mean?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Well, it means you're not eligible. What really? We just
got this.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
So, yeah, that was an interesting one, you know, shame
on us. But I was a little confused with it,
and I came down for the Rolex twenty four and
Jim France was really kind and spent some time with
me and explained it, and I feel a lot better
about it understanding the intent. You know, the thing that
I left there with and was lobbying for, was just
(30:12):
commit to starting the forty one cars because if the
I can't remember what it's exactly called, but that provisional,
if they don't fall back on the provisional, you know,
you're going to push someone out that would typically be
in the race. And I think it's good for us
to have Ilio Castronevis in the race, or if Max
Verstappen wants to come, or whoever it might be, or
(30:33):
if Jimmy Johnson didn't make the race, and be nice
to have seven time champion in the race.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
And NASCAR's built on this.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
We've had promoters, provisionals and a variety of provisionals forever.
So I know there's a comparison to Indian it's only
thirty three cars, it's how it is, no provisionals.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Well, that's their history. Our history is different.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So I'm in favor for saying, hey, let's just commit
to forty one cars and from there, I think there
still needs to be some latitude for an ask because
what if three or four, you know, top name guys
show up and need a spot. How are they going
to handle that? And right now there's not clarification of
who would even win that.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Tire's not because that was all questions we the media
had with them in our preseason briefing. So it sounds
like it's it's something that could change going forward. They're
going to figure it out on the fly. I guess I.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Think they have something ready to launch.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
They felt like it would be unfair, wrong to do
it before the five hundred, so I think that not
long after the race we'll see some kind of change
to that.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Are you more comfortable with that then, like the fact
that taking the feedback that maybe they reacted and they
and here we are with the five hundred, but they understand, Okay,
we need to look at this going forward totally.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Jim Frantz loves the sport, Steve Phelips loves the sport,
Steve O'Donnell, all of Nascar. I mean, it's easy to
throw rocks at them all the time, but their their
heart is absolutely, absolutely in the right place, and they're
trying to do something good for the fans here and
it just didn't didn't come out correct that first time through. Right,
they failed tech the first time through.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
That's a good analogy. I love that, right it was
off just by all of this a little bit, get
those tolerances. Are you ever struck by the fact, Jimmy, that,
as we talk about ownership, you are a team owner
in NASCAR, and then you've also got Brad Keselowski, who've
raced against this team owner in NASCAR, and Denny is
a team owner in NASCAR, and Dale Junior is a
team owner and Nascar. Does that just strike you at all?
Like the guys that you've kind of come up in
(32:27):
the sport with, some of them you're pretty close to,
And now here you all are not only still competing
but are owning teams in the sport. That's pretty cool,
at least from the outside looking in. How about for you?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I think so too. I think it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
And as you look at the popularity of NASCAR and
the outside money that wants to come in, you know,
somebody that's spent a lifetime in the sport, it's great
to keep these familiar names around for our core fan base,
and you know, I never saw myself in this role,
but here we are, and I'm really really excited about
the challenge and the opportunity ahead, and also very happy
(33:03):
to know that there are some familiar names around. I
hate that Tony's out. His presence and name is just
phenomenal for motorsport. Clearly, Jeff Gordon is still around and
he's working his tail off at Hendrick Motorsports, So to
have that history still in our garage area is really important.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, and I think if we went down the line
of each one of those we can find somehow you
have a story with each one appreciated in a whole
another hour for that, I want to talk about you
driving specifically here for a few minutes the two races
this year. It seems like am I safe? And assuming
that is kind of a reaction to now that you're
the majority owner, that just seems like, Okay, I need
to be outside of the car, not inside.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
The car very much the case. I still want to
be out there, and as we're turning our program around,
I want to go out there.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
And show that I can still run competitively.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
So I'm stuck in this headspace of where I now
have a real job. I've run from a real job
forty nine years and out now here I'm really working
for one. But I love being in the car, and
I will find other outlets and that's part of my
motivation with IMSA. And there could be some off road
racing in my future tirds switching to gr racing, and
(34:13):
there might be some neat opportunities for me to run
around in some cars. So I still want to drive,
but when I'm in a cup track and trying to
prepare to drive, and all that goes into it now
is simulator time and all that stuff, and then post
you got to go through it all again, and then
entertain partners, work with prospects, try to help with the team.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
It's just too much, it really is.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
The last couple of years, as you've run select races,
have you heard or paid any attention to there was
some critics out there that felt like, we love Jimmy,
but why is he doing this because he's not running well.
It almost felt like to them, it's like we hate
to see it. It's like he's ruining his career. Did
you hear any of that?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
I would see some of it. I mean it started
when I went IndyCar racing. That wasn't for anyone else
but me. I mean, that was my childhood dream. So
I mean, I don't feel like I'm ruining my career.
I feel like it's something to be proud of, you know.
So I truly enjoyed that. And my second year, I
ran the full IndyCar schedule and then the five Endurance
(35:16):
sports car races and both of those divisions allowed testing,
and I was back on a Cup schedule, and I
was like, Okay, that's not what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
And then to drive.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
I wanted the experience to drive for my own team,
even though it's a minority owner. I want to experience that.
So and then also the benefits of trying to help
grow the team, trying to bring sponsors in. You know,
there was another reason for it. I'm trying to build
something here. And now I think as time goes on,
people see the bigger vision and maybe it was just
tough to see in twenty three.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I guess it was twenty four.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Was it tough for you behind the wheel? Your competitive
side though, to be that guy that I know why
I'm doing this, But man, I'm used to leading, laugh
and running up front.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah, it really was the only saving grace I had
is I usually wasn't too far away from another one
of our cars, and so I was really judging myself
against our cars, and I found that to be a
way to manage the emotions that came with that.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Couple more things so on the driving side. Then now
as again this majority ownership takes full effect, are we
getting closer to seeing the last Cup start for Jimmy Johnson?
Or will that always be kind of open ended? You're
not going to put kind of a date or a
time on it.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
I don't have a date or a time on it.
I feel like Daytona is just such a unique opportunity,
and I feel like plate keep calling a play track,
but a super speedway racetrack. You don't need to be
in the car every week to be competitive. It's just
a different animal. So I with that, I hope that
I can continue to keep doing this, But when it
doesn't make sense for the team and it hurts the organization,
(36:53):
I'm not going to do it all.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Right, last thing for you, I want to wrap up.
We talk about ownership the family aspect, which I think
is fascinating as you shared insight into that the racing aspect.
But now your own podcast sitting here talking for mine
and I see this, you know, all of a sudden,
I know Jimmy's got his own podcast coming. How are
you going to balance? Have you thought about how are
you going to balance all these pieces? Now?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I yes, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
I man, when I get into something, I am all in.
And you know, Marty Smith has been a twenty five
year friend and we've talked about this over and over,
and when I think about these different opportunities to build
brands off of Legacy Motor Club, you know, I think
there's a real pathway with a media company, which you know,
(37:40):
it's kind of what Marty and I are working on,
at least with the start with this this podcast. I
think that hospitality experiences, you know that there are these other,
you know, little arms of the business that can generate
revenue to put money back into the race team. It's
gonna be hard to go and compete against Rick Hendrick.
It's gonna be hard to compete against Joe Gibbs or
(38:01):
mister Benski. These guys have been out it a while.
And certainly with Penske and Hendrick, they have some deep pockets.
So I just need to be really smart and try
to try to continue to create revenue and not solely
depend on sponsorship dollars. And so that's that's one big
piece in the background in my mind. The other part
of it is, you know, we're in a time and
era here where sponsors want more than just on paint
(38:26):
on car, and so that again feeds the business opportunities
I just spoke about from experiences, hospitality and the show
with all of that business stuff in the there. I
have a great love of documentaries and podcasts and just
love when you're able to attach to someone and hear
their story and pull it out. And what Marty and
(38:47):
I want to do is talk about these two point
zero moments that people have. And it could be you know,
somebody super successful, it could be somebody that's just living
a simple life and you face the fork in the road.
I mean, we're all to go through it, if not once,
but multiple times, and it's for your personal life and
your professional life. And Marty and I were very certain
(39:09):
we didn't want to be just you know, we didn't
want to be in a competitive space against other racing shows.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
There are a lot of great.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Racing shows, especially on the serious platform, and we didn't
want to compete against that. Sure we'll touch on some racing,
Sure we'll touch on the interesting things that Marty has
going on in his world and ESPN and sports, but
we want our subjects to come on and really talk
about these interesting moments in their life and share that.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Well. I listened to the first episode yesterday and it's
the podcast is out Never Settle, so folks can listen
to that. It sounded great. Can't wait to hear and
see what you do with that, and just the season
ahead now that being a majority owner, looking forward to
seeing how you tackle that. So Jimmy, thank you forank
you all the time today, looking forward as I said,
to see what you do, and I'm glad we just
got to sit down and do this. So, as I said,
(39:56):
the audience will hear this on Monday, so maybe three times.
We'll just manifest it, right, that's how it works.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
If that is the case, just just count on the
fact that I have a massive hangover. If you're hearing
some Monday and I have one yes or the team yes,
No one has been asleep yet sounds good.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Jimmy, thank you too. I'm back here to wrap things
up on the podcast. My thanks once again to JJ
for coming on the show, really appreciated and giving me
an hour blocking off an hour on the calendar. We
got to everything I wanted to talk about. I thought
it was really insightful and that is the best kind
(40:35):
of conversation to have, so I appreciate that. My thanks,
of course also to Amy Walshtock of Legacy Motor Club
for coordinating letting me work her over since last year
to get JJ on the podcast, and we made it
happen and I thought the timing was perfect. If you
enjoyed the conversation, please leave a rating and review. You
can also find me on social media to give me
your feedback. Very easy to find me. The best way
(40:58):
is go to the link tree link in the show
description of this episode. You will see all of my
social media profiles on that page, such as X Blue Sky, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook,
and a few other places. But very easy to find me.
I appreciate all the feedback. Please keep leaving ratings and reviews.
It goes a long way of telling me if you're
(41:19):
liking the podcast as well as getting it out there
to other people to see spread the word. And that
is all for this week. Thank you once again for tuning, in, clicking, downloading.
I appreciate the support, hope you enjoyed the conversation and
I will see you again real soon. On the Racing
Writers Podcast story
Hey, everyone, Welcome to the Racing Writers Podcast. I'm your host,
Kelly crandall. Our guest today is Jimmy Johnson, seven time
NASCAR Cup Series champion and now the majority owner at
Legacy Motor Club and still part time driver. I've been
working hard to get JJ on the podcast for a
while and we finally made it happen over the weekend
at Daytona International Speedway. You're gonna hear us saying in
the conversation. This was recorded Friday afternoon, so a day
(00:28):
after the duels and going into the Daytona five hundred.
We cover a lot in this conversation. I am really
proud of how it came out. I thought it was
a fantastic chat with JJ. We're covering everything from him
now being a majority owner at Legacy Motor Club, adjusting
to that the future adjustments will have to make as
he continues to get comfortable in the role. We're also
talking the progress of Legacy Motor Club, why they chose
(00:51):
to go the self sufficient route instead of having an
alliance partner. We also talk about the charter agreement, the
open exemption provisional, the end of his driving career when
that is coming and so much more, a lot to
dig into with Jjane. I think you're really going to
enjoy it. Let's get into it. Here is Jimmy Johnson
on the Racing Writers Podcast. We're gonna jump into the
(01:19):
conversation with Jimmy Johnson finally on the podcast Glad we're
getting to do this. We're recording Friday and Daytona. This
will drop Monday for everybody to listen to. So maybe
you'll have won another Daytona five hundred, Yes, I hope so.
Or maybe you'll have won it as an owner.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
May last night.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Okay, let me give you a chance to recap that
from your perspective. We heard from Eric, how about for
you watching that unfold?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So I had a problem with a fuel pump and
I thought I was out of gas, so I had
to pit and lost the draft and then just being
a fuel pump issue, so I get back out, caution happens.
I'm on the lead lap, but I know chaos is
going to happen at some point, so we're just hanging
at the back.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
We restart.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
I see Eric in maybe the third row inside, and
I'm like, oh, get a decent finish.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I hope it doesn't get wrecked. I don't think anything
of it.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And as the race finishes and then big crash happens,
I leave the chaos, and the Earl's like winter forty three.
I'm like, sorry, what are forty three? Is like, yeah,
who else would it be?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Winter forty three? I'm like, holy cow. So I'm celebrating, excited.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
By the time I get out of the car, Eric's
you know, standing by his car in the front stretch,
and I'm like, wow, this is such a cool moment.
And then the announcement comes over two cars the winner.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
My reaction to the media center was I turned to
some of my colleagues. I said, it's too early in
the week for this shit.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So we're already off to a good story.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Thankfully they have that system. But I mean, couldn't the
guy have been sleeping at the switch just a little longer?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
I mean, anyway, that's what a few drivers have said
about the finishes of the five hundred recently of yeah,
you know, just Bowman the same way. Could they not
have just hit the button sooner? So?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, I guess it depends on which side of it
you're on.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, So Jimmy you recently had an announcement Legacy Motor
Club the next chapter this year. You are now the
majority owner. I want to start talking about that. Over
the last couple of weeks. What has it looked like
just I don't know if getting up the speed is
the right term, but maybe just the reaction just getting
everything kind of solidified and settled since since the announcement
was made and now it's public.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, getting settled is a good way to put it.
The process.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
I've never been through a business transaction like this, and
it is quite lengthy, and you know, this opportunity really
started to develop in October when Maury kind of shared
his new position and the fact that he, you know,
would want to kind of speed things up, and so
we jumped into action, and I had some relationships to
(03:38):
engage in and lean on and quickly with the Nighthead folks,
and the friendship I have with everybody over there, and
our connectivity through life and Europe and racing and just
a variety of things. It just really stood out as
the best strategic partner for us, and as Tom Wagner,
the principal there and I agreed on terms and of
(03:59):
course more in the terms that he wanted. You know,
it seemed pretty easy from my standpoint, like, Okay, let's
be done in a week or two, you know, three
or four months later.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It's finally done.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
So that aspect in the lawyers doing their thing really
take a lot of time, and so we haven't had
a chance to really implement anything of substance. Yet we're
very proud of We know that there is so much
to get organized and to move forward with, but what
everyone has seen right now, I don't want it to
be overlooked. The progress we're making is an organization and
(04:29):
the changes we've made have been really at Maury's hands.
Maury has created these opportunities, and we're going to start
the season with you know, Maury's heart and soul in
this saying and commitment to Legacy Motor Club. And then
as we get into the year, you know it will
transition into the opportunities that Nighthead brings in my leadership.
But right now, you know, this is really Maury's direction
(04:53):
and approval and cash.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
That's been able to create it. And I just saw
him at one of our.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Appearances, so I'm so happy he's here, going to be
able to enjoy it all.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
You mentioned the word progress there. As we look at
the race team, that's the biggest thing that's going to
stand out for your race fans, right your fans, Eric's fans,
the team's fans. How can you explain to them what's
the progress that's not being seen in that regard and
the steps that have been taken or you feel will
continue to be taken to show that we are going
(05:23):
to get better. We are on the path we need
to be on.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Yeah, this I call it kit car racing. You know,
we all have a single source provider and we all
buy the same parts in our strategy. In the past,
we weren't maximizing the system and we weren't inventorying accordingly,
and so we would put cars together and do our
best job to put them together. But when you look
(05:46):
at it from more of a global standpoint, there are
small little margins to chase everywhere, and your strategy and
your inventory and when you buy your inventory and how
you put combinations together. There's just a lot of science
in that and a lot of pre and post race
evaluations that need to be done, and sadly, we just
didn't have great processes in place, and that's really been
(06:08):
the change is to see all these processes change. And
you know, with leadership from Brian Campy who is at Hendrick,
Jacob Canner who ran the GM platform for all forms
of motorsports, bringing in Chad Johnston, he's fresh off being
a crew chief at a very established race team. At SHR,
we have some real experience and know how in the
(06:31):
building and it's been wild to me.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
In the past.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
You've always been able to find a couple of tenths
pretty easy. You know, some secret sauce somewhere.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
It's not around.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
I mean you're literally stacking pennies left and right to
try to figure it out. And those processes are what's
so different, and it's impossible for the fans to see that.
And it's going to take, honestly, probably four or five
races before we can fairly evaluate ourselves to play races.
The road course, not your traditional racing, the.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Switch to Toyota, I think you've mentioned it, like your
drivers have mentioned it all last year. It feels safe
to say that a you all understood it wasn't going
to be an overnight transition to where the results were
going to show up, but it also felt like Jimmy
that there was a little disappointment last year, I think
all around of how long it took or how long
(07:17):
it is taking maybe to kind of just figure it
out and sift through the information you all now are
getting to turn it into results at.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
The end of the day.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
And the long relationship to IT has had with JGR,
the JGR side and their software toolchain to process the
data and to create trustable, believable, accurate data.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
You know, that's their IP.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
And we chose not to be an alliance team to JGR.
We wanted to build our own infrastructure and that journey
was just way more complicated, expensive, time consuming than we
ever thought. And to IT certainly has their own tool sets,
but they haven't needed to supply data like that since
the MWR days so different. Car you know, there's just
(08:02):
a lot of elements there, and I'd say the biggest
issue on our behalf was maybe not reacting soon enough
and investing in our software toolchain and trying to develop it.
This stuff takes months and months and months to develop.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And just you know, that was just kind of a miss.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And thankfully, come the end of the year, our toolchain
is now up and running, and there's some other adjustments
on the Toyota side, and we're in a much much
better place. We still have fine tuning to do, and
you know that last ten percents the hardest to get,
but we've made a huge step forward in our development
off track and how we apply that to the cars
(08:38):
when they go to the racetrack.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
On that note, how much are you all doing on
your own at the shop now? I believe last year
there was talk of having some simulators in there, really
upping just as you said, the resources, the equipment, the software.
So where are you all now with that in terms
of what are you guys taking and doing in house?
As you were talking about that that we now we
need to figure out for ourselves how to do this.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
We have everything in house. Everything, everything we can control,
we're trying to control. And I guess you could debate
the point that last year we bid off more than
we could chew and it would have been nice to
farm out or contract out other layers and elements. But
again speaking of more in his commitment to this team,
he's like, I know, long term, this is the best
(09:24):
thing for the team.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
It's what I want to.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Do, and we have to buite the bullet at some point,
and we did. And you know, it's hard to really
reflect on the struggles and challenges when you're living it
and in the middle of it. But with the opportunity
to reflect over the off season look back on it,
you know, we bid off way more than we could chew.
And you know time will tell if we're caught up.
But we will continue to to improve and get better.
(09:48):
It's just the rate and we want it overnight and
we'll see where it comes.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
For race fans, who I know that one of the
things that has always brought up and you touched on it,
is you didn't want to be an alliance team, but
a lot of race fans again, are so used to
this team has an alliance, and this team has an alliance,
and this team has an alliance. Breakdown from your perspective,
and I think you touched on Morey's thinking there, but
the pros and cons of having an alliance to not
(10:13):
having an alliance and why it was the right way.
I guess long term, as you said that this could
work for us, it's just we've got to put the
time and the effort in if we do it our
own way.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, being self sufficient is key and when you look
across the motorsports landscape, wrong or right. There's always a
question of the powerhouse team that has an alliance. Once
the alliance catches up or once the alliance beats the
powerhouse team, does anything change. You know, people can debate
it and argued all the time, but we did not
(10:42):
want that in our conversation and with our ability to
be a true Tier one team with Toyota and get
all the information right out of the spickett. Again, we
invested in twenty four to really just dive in the
deep end and figure it out. So sure, there were
moments where we'd sit around on them and a competition
meeting and be like, man, if we would have stroked
that big check that JGR would.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Have made life a lot easier. But you know that's
not the pathway chose.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Right Again, that's where the cons come in of playing
the long game. So, Jimmy Johnson, the owner, this is
not new for you. Majority ownership is over the last
couple of years, and now that you do step up
and you have the reins, Jimmy, what kind of owner
do you want to be? If that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I haven't viewed it from that through that lens yet.
But you know, I certainly have a style. I certainly
thrive in an environment, you know, consistent, calm environment, and
I hope to create that. And I've learned over my
lifetime that I am attracted to certain people that are
that way and then vice versa, and so I hope
(11:44):
to build a you know, mature, steady, you know, very
dedicated and focused race team. I am learning so much
about the sport in gaining my own confidence in how
I can mentor lead, instruct delegate. You know, a lot
of these things do not come easy to me. I've
always been a part of a system, and now you know,
(12:05):
everybody looking up to me and how do you want
to do this? Shoot, I don't know. Let me think
about it and gets you a clear, concise answer. So
it's just different, and I'm thankful I had the two years.
I thought I would have three more to learn.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
But here we go.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
As a driver, you were a leader of your race
team along with your crew chief. What is the difference
of being comfortable as a leader of as you said,
now many more people who are going to look at you,
that are in that building that you are signing their paychecks?
What comes with that? And being comfortable in that role
and even for instance, you know, having your event at
(12:41):
the Hall of Fame, your kickoff event that I sat
in for a little bit, just something as simple as
standing up and talking in front of everybody, all of
that that comes with it. What is that side like
to go from driver to really being a true leader
of many more? Now?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, you know, the team that I drove for was
really led by the crew chiefs, you know, Chad Canalson.
Then above Chad, there are other department heads that all
helped carry the weight. And my focus was to create
the locker room, the energy in the locker room, and
that's what I feel I did a really nice job with.
(13:15):
And yeah, I had some technical pieces of the puzzle
that I was involved with, but it it really was
all drived by Chad and team and on and on,
and I just had to keep everybody's head in the game.
And I created an environment where people really wanted to
work for the forty eight car and work for me,
and the respect you know that I would show these
guys would help them want to stick around and we
(13:37):
could recruit others. And that was a really fun role
that I grew into. But now as a team owner,
you know, just on the furthest of extremes.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Now I got to worry about bottom line. I got
to worry about P and L.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
And when I think back to the Hendrick days, we
had all the resources we could have ever dreamed of.
Now I'm in a situation where we don't have all
the resource as I could have ever dreamed of, and
budget and being smart, and where our focus is as
an organization, and how we help other departments realize, hey,
we know your department's important competition comes first, right now?
(14:12):
You know, these first ninety days, these first three months,
this is solely where we're focused. And we'll reevaluate and
come back. And so I guess not only to the
P and L piece, but also having enough elevation to
see all the departments and understand how to manage those
expectations and share a more long term vision. I've never
worried about a vision like all I did was worry
(14:33):
about the next race and then the one after that.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
So now to.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Look at a calendar in the year, break it up
into quarters. How are we going to manage this, How
are we going to focus? How are we going to
communicate this to our department heads like that stuff was
forigned and we had no idea this was all going
on when I was just my raw rod cheerleader guy
inside the forty eight car?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Does the team owner have to be there every day?
And I asked that because it's going to go into
another part about how life is different for you. You've
said it, you went on a one year family traveling
the world and it's turned into two and now you
all are all over the place. So does the team
owner need to be there every day? And how will
how will you approach that? Then?
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah, I assume it's debatable, without a doubt. I subscribe
and believe to the more you're there, the better it is.
And as the minority owner, and this opportunity for us
to live abroad, and of course dealing with the tragedy
the first year for us, it's just something that's going
to happen expanding into the second year, much more logic
(15:32):
around it. Okay, I'm a minority owner, I'm available, I
can work these angles. My focus has been asked of
me has been on revenue and to try to find
sponsorship and partnership, and we've been able to do so.
In addition, how I met the night Head folks was
being in London. So there are many things that have
served me well. Being across the pond on this adventure
(15:53):
with my family, but being around. I'll be around a
lot more this spring, and then when the kids finish
up school, we'll move back to the States and be
here and get back into our grind. It's wild to think,
but our oldest Evy is going to go into high.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
School next season.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
That is crazy to think.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
This is crazy.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
So we knew it would be a year, maybe two,
and then when high school started for her, we'd be back.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
That is absolutely crazy. I remember when you showed up
after she was born and you had the footprints on
your helmet, and now here we are you saying she's
going in high school. Wild goodness, that is wild. You
touched on it, not touched on it, you said it there.
The flip side of that was it did help unconsciously
at first of that's how you met Nighthead and exploring
all these other opportunities and getting to talk to folks
(16:37):
that aren't even in racing, but maybe just through your
connections and social circles, you're able now to make these
relationships and bring people into racing, and that was because
you weren't here. That happened in London.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
You said it did, and you know, London is full
of F one teams and then all the support series
teams are there, all the infrastruction, marture from sales, marketing, digital, sponsor, procurement, engineers,
technician like you name it. London is the Charlotte for
Formula One. And as time goes on, especially with this
(17:12):
new gen next gen car, vehicles are getting closer together,
especially with the sports car side using the same transaxles
and rear ends, and before long we'll be using the
same torque sensors and all these elements are just kind
of being used across all platforms and certainly the way
the Wax Series races and IMSA NASCAR is now an
(17:35):
extension of that were kit car racing.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
So there are many benefits.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
To being in London that are going to help our team,
and in time, I would hope that we could move
into other divisions. I love the Wax Series and Nighthead
has an involvement with the Joda team actually owns the
Joda team, so you know, who knows what that will
look like over time. In addition to IMSA there could
be a really neat opportunity there for us trying to pursue.
(18:01):
You know, I'd just love to be more of a
global platform and have Legacy Motor Club your race anywhere
and everywhere we can. And if that does happen, I'm
going to be traveling a lot, not at every NASCAR race,
But it really falls back on key hires the right
people in the right places that can really manage and lead.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
If Legacy is able to do that, to branch out
and compete in other series and have its name out there,
why is that a good thing? Why is that something
that you want to happen? Because there's always got to
be the return on investment, right, So what would be
that return on investment of having Legacy in more places
than just NASCAR.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Yeah, first and foremost, our NASCAR program has to be competitive,
so that's the primary focus. But you know, the name
Legacy Motor Club was very intentional for me. I believe
there's an opportunity to create a lifestyle brand, and I
believe racing in multiple platforms divisions around the globe helps
(18:58):
us build a massive motor club and an interest in motorsports.
And then also from the hobbyist standpoint. I think there's
a real opportunity, especially as you see these country club
car concepts coming around and the interest in all of
that and hobbyists driving on these awesome tracks that are
popping up. And when I look across the landscape in
(19:19):
the US, we don't have many brands as teams or
team owners. You have a lot of incredible individuals that
have helped motorsports become what it is, but very few
are like household brands. It's more about the driver recognition,
and I think through legacy and the way I want
to spin this. You know, you have my legacy, Richard's.
We have Matt Kensith working for US, Trevor Bain is there,
(19:42):
Dale Liman. You know, it's not just Jimmy Johnson racing.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
It's legacy. There's five big names there that help grow
our ip and.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
As we move along and hopefully you're involved in other areas,
I think we have a different way to look at
it in a larger offering for a fan base and
to build a lifestyle brand and to build experiences.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
And ultimately, at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Racing's expensive and there are other business entities that can
spin off the legacy Motorclub brand to create revenue to
come back into the performance side.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
The one area you didn't mention, and I want to
give you a chance to address because I know it's
popped up in the rumor mill is Indianapolis. And that
was the first thing when I spoke to you for
the story about you becoming the majority owner. That was
the first thing my boss has said to me, Well,
Indy five hundred and when right? And I know that
that was a rumor on social media. So, first off,
if you want to address Jimmy the rumor about this year,
(20:38):
but even in the future, would that be a race
that is attractive to want to put a car that
you own, You've competed in it as a driver. Is
it attractive that that is also going to be perhaps
on the bucket list, where as you said sports cars
and all these other areas.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, Indy car is super interesting. And earlier you mentioned
about profitability of race teams, and when you see these
other leagues providing a charter system, I think we're still
extremely undervalued in NASCAR and it's going to continue to
ratchet up and as other leagues series create their own
charter system and you get past that ten year mark
(21:14):
and the stability is there. Outside groups are going to
want to invest and be involved, so IndyCar is of interest.
There's a lot of change I think in the near
future with IndyCar and power plant and discussion around kind
of a new car. They still have a very old
tub and car, so understand that landscape's important. But Indy
(21:34):
five hundred and one off opportunity. I would love for
Legacy motor Clip to be there. I had a talk
with Ganassi earlier in the year about the opportunity has.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
A fourth car. We're just not ready. We're just not ready.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
And I think the Nighthead rumors started to work their
way out and Tom Wagner, one of the founders of Nighthead,
and Tom Brady are close friends and have invested in
a lot together, and that kind of spun into you.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yescha, gotcha. What do you better understand, Jimmy, now from
these past couple of years of being in this role
and this chapter of your career, what do you better
understand about racing that you didn't before when you were
just solely focused on driving.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
It's how relational it is in the car. You're just
worried about you're fifteen that are allowed at the track
and get.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
To the shop.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
There's a few key touch points, and of course you
worry about your organization, but you don't. You're not with
those folks all the time. On the other side, here,
it is so relational. Everywhere I turn, it's relational, from
partnerships to or.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Your motor homes parks. So you can entertain your.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Guess something nobody would even think about except for you guys.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Right if you're short on passes, you hope the credential
truck still likes you, and you're like, hey, remember me.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
It's just so relational. Everything about this is relational.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
In what ways have the last few years also challenged
you or how have you challenged yourself even the last
couple of years in this again in this.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Chapter, I think adjusting my expectations. You know, the challenge
for me the last two years had not been fun,
not enough for any of us, I mean, everybody involved.
It's been tough, you know, so that that's been the
biggest challenge. But I've been here before. I was a
young driver that people said would never make it, and
I just put my head down, I kept going, And
(23:23):
I've seen a lot of that, especially a few times
I check into social and try to read anything over
the last couple of years. But I've been here before
and I'm just going to grind it out.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Are you also learning a different side of patience and
as we talked about before, the long game of it's
not going to happen overnight.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yes, that has been in progress under construction for a while.
You know. The opportunity at Nighthead really gives us a
viable long term runway to grow as an organization and
get things right. So I feel that's relieved some pressure.
But at the same time, it's private equity money. There's
(24:03):
still this pressure to have a return on investment. So
it's not like we have a free pass by any means.
But to understand the structure and the long game and
the way they're thinking about things does give me more time.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
It takes some pressure off as an owner, even minority owner.
Have you been in any meetings with NASCAR? How involved
in the process when it comes to the collaboration is
always the word that gets used between the two sides.
How involved have you been the last couple of years
with just conversations or meetings or feedback from the team
side or will that start now because you are the
(24:37):
majority owner? Was more re handling it before. Just how
was your relationship again as an owner with NASCAR?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yeah, I attended everything, usually stay pretty quiet on the
calls or in the meetings depending on how they you know,
how we were attending them. And then Mare and I
would connect after kind of talk through and he was
the majority owner and it was kind of his say,
and you know, I really wanted to learn from him
and have mentored me in so many different ways, and
(25:03):
I think from the race team alliance side, he's been
a great voice for the group. He's experienced a lot
in his years and you know, the ups and downs
of business and being an entrepreneur as he is, so
he's been quite quite involved and I've been able to
sit back.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
How do you anticipate now as you take on that
role of being in these meetings and having these conversations,
how do you anticipate the feeling will be of speaking
up on behalf of your team? This is yours now
versus how you interacted with the sport and with the
sanctioning body as a driver, and maybe how you offer
feedback that way.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Yeah, this is the part where the more I'm around
to live it and feel it, the more informed I
will be and I can speak more honestly from the heart.
I mean, there's plenty of literature to read and understand
and you know, occupy your brain for days and days
(25:58):
and days, but being around.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Is a big part of that. So it's really high
on my agenda.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
It's going to be a tough few months here before
family returns back to the States, but we'll figure it out.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Okay, that's interesting. You talk about things you can study,
read literature. What does that even mean?
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah, I guess reading literature probably was incorrect statement, but now.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Maybe it wasn't. But in terms of again you trying
to understand and fit into this role, I'm genuinely curious.
How does one do that?
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Like the charter agreement shows up and you're like, oh
my gosh, how many pages there are? And then by
the time I get through it, there's a revision and
another one hits and you're like, wait a second, this
thing again. Sponsor contracts. If you look at employee contracts,
HR your real estate that we've been leasting the building,
(26:49):
now we own the building, tax structure, Like they're everywhere
you turn, there are these very new experiences for me.
Of course, in general, I know what that stuff is,
and I've been able to kind of manage some stuff
on my personal side. But to this magnitude, there's just
a lot there, and I swear the more important it is,
the more pages there are in these contracts that hands.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
You, so you really are reading literature just about everything.
There's so much.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I'm trying. Yeah, I'm trying.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
I've been taking a lot of shortcuts and I've found
a couple of really good ones that are helpful, including
leaning hard on your legal staff.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
There you go. That's always good to have, right, That's
why you hire them the charter agreement. Two things on
that one. It's kind of a broad question, but does
it matter or how closely do you pay attention to
what will happen with the lawsuit that's ongoing? Will it
affect your team? Will it affect other teams? You think
in this sport like, does it matter to pay attention
to it? Does?
Speaker 3 (27:42):
No, it absolutely does. There's a precedent being set in
how litigation takes place, which you know, we're in a
religious world, and who knows what the future will hold
for any team in NASCAR, right, So there's that. Then
the second piece is in the position we are in
and the chartered teams are in, and the way NASCAR
(28:03):
has explained, if the judgment goes their way, those charters
and the fees that come with it or the prize
money that comes with it will be put back into
the system.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
So that's some form of bump up for us.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
And then we'd have to assume if the two teams
come out successful, that it would reset for the whole
industry and that would really raise all ships in the harbor.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
So we're all watching.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Very closely and trying to understand what's going on. It
seems that there's going to be a lot of time
spent in this first stage just understanding if those two
teams can operate as a chartered organizations or not. We
haven't even made it to the part that the argument's
about yet, so it's going to be a while.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
It is another part of the charter agreement. I know
this became a topic of conversation recently, is the open
exemption provisional? And I think at first there was even
those of us who didn't know about it, and then
when we learned about it, of we all asked Nascar, well,
who does this apply for in terms of NASCAR drive?
Your name came up. I think you've touched on this
a little bit, Jimmy, But what is your understanding now
as far as that being open to you, even to
(29:07):
a guy like Martin TRUCKX Junior, Because at first we
didn't think so, but now we're being told it is.
Are you understanding that as well?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Well?
Speaker 3 (29:14):
First of all, it's clearly a page I didn't read right, right.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I think we all learned that as well as that
it was apparently in there, but not everybody. I must
have read that far.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Yeah, it was that piece.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Plus, the teams are used to having a notice or
an alert amendment, you know, something that's sent to them
as a warning. Not that it's buried in the charter agreement,
but it makes sense they needed charter.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Approval to do it.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
But there was an emotion or some kind of action
that we were expecting to see. We did, and it
was we didn't have ninety days like, well, what does
this mean?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Well, it means you're not eligible. What really? We just
got this.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
So, yeah, that was an interesting one, you know, shame
on us. But I was a little confused with it,
and I came down for the Rolex twenty four and
Jim France was really kind and spent some time with
me and explained it, and I feel a lot better
about it understanding the intent. You know, the thing that
I left there with and was lobbying for, was just
(30:12):
commit to starting the forty one cars because if the
I can't remember what it's exactly called, but that provisional,
if they don't fall back on the provisional, you know,
you're going to push someone out that would typically be
in the race. And I think it's good for us
to have Ilio Castronevis in the race, or if Max
Verstappen wants to come, or whoever it might be, or
(30:33):
if Jimmy Johnson didn't make the race, and be nice
to have seven time champion in the race.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
And NASCAR's built on this.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
We've had promoters, provisionals and a variety of provisionals forever.
So I know there's a comparison to Indian it's only
thirty three cars, it's how it is, no provisionals.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Well, that's their history. Our history is different.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So I'm in favor for saying, hey, let's just commit
to forty one cars and from there, I think there
still needs to be some latitude for an ask because
what if three or four, you know, top name guys
show up and need a spot. How are they going
to handle that? And right now there's not clarification of
who would even win that.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Tire's not because that was all questions we the media
had with them in our preseason briefing. So it sounds
like it's it's something that could change going forward. They're
going to figure it out on the fly. I guess I.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Think they have something ready to launch.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
They felt like it would be unfair, wrong to do
it before the five hundred, so I think that not
long after the race we'll see some kind of change
to that.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Are you more comfortable with that then, like the fact
that taking the feedback that maybe they reacted and they
and here we are with the five hundred, but they understand, Okay,
we need to look at this going forward totally.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Jim Frantz loves the sport, Steve Phelips loves the sport,
Steve O'Donnell, all of Nascar. I mean, it's easy to
throw rocks at them all the time, but their their
heart is absolutely, absolutely in the right place, and they're
trying to do something good for the fans here and
it just didn't didn't come out correct that first time through. Right,
they failed tech the first time through.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
That's a good analogy. I love that, right it was
off just by all of this a little bit, get
those tolerances. Are you ever struck by the fact, Jimmy, that,
as we talk about ownership, you are a team owner
in NASCAR, and then you've also got Brad Keselowski, who've
raced against this team owner in NASCAR, and Denny is
a team owner in NASCAR, and Dale Junior is a
team owner and Nascar. Does that just strike you at all?
Like the guys that you've kind of come up in
(32:27):
the sport with, some of them you're pretty close to,
And now here you all are not only still competing
but are owning teams in the sport. That's pretty cool,
at least from the outside looking in. How about for you?
Speaker 2 (32:37):
I think so too. I think it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
And as you look at the popularity of NASCAR and
the outside money that wants to come in, you know,
somebody that's spent a lifetime in the sport, it's great
to keep these familiar names around for our core fan base,
and you know, I never saw myself in this role,
but here we are, and I'm really really excited about
the challenge and the opportunity ahead, and also very happy
(33:03):
to know that there are some familiar names around. I
hate that Tony's out. His presence and name is just
phenomenal for motorsport. Clearly, Jeff Gordon is still around and
he's working his tail off at Hendrick Motorsports, So to
have that history still in our garage area is really important.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, and I think if we went down the line
of each one of those we can find somehow you
have a story with each one appreciated in a whole
another hour for that, I want to talk about you
driving specifically here for a few minutes the two races
this year. It seems like am I safe? And assuming
that is kind of a reaction to now that you're
the majority owner, that just seems like, Okay, I need
to be outside of the car, not inside.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
The car very much the case. I still want to
be out there, and as we're turning our program around,
I want to go out there.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
And show that I can still run competitively.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
So I'm stuck in this headspace of where I now
have a real job. I've run from a real job
forty nine years and out now here I'm really working
for one. But I love being in the car, and
I will find other outlets and that's part of my
motivation with IMSA. And there could be some off road
racing in my future tirds switching to gr racing, and
(34:13):
there might be some neat opportunities for me to run
around in some cars. So I still want to drive,
but when I'm in a cup track and trying to
prepare to drive, and all that goes into it now
is simulator time and all that stuff, and then post
you got to go through it all again, and then
entertain partners, work with prospects, try to help with the team.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
It's just too much, it really is.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
The last couple of years, as you've run select races,
have you heard or paid any attention to there was
some critics out there that felt like, we love Jimmy,
but why is he doing this because he's not running well.
It almost felt like to them, it's like we hate
to see it. It's like he's ruining his career. Did
you hear any of that?
Speaker 3 (34:54):
I would see some of it. I mean it started
when I went IndyCar racing. That wasn't for anyone else
but me. I mean, that was my childhood dream. So
I mean, I don't feel like I'm ruining my career.
I feel like it's something to be proud of, you know.
So I truly enjoyed that. And my second year, I
ran the full IndyCar schedule and then the five Endurance
(35:16):
sports car races and both of those divisions allowed testing,
and I was back on a Cup schedule, and I
was like, Okay, that's not what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
And then to drive.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
I wanted the experience to drive for my own team,
even though it's a minority owner. I want to experience that.
So and then also the benefits of trying to help
grow the team, trying to bring sponsors in. You know,
there was another reason for it. I'm trying to build
something here. And now I think as time goes on,
people see the bigger vision and maybe it was just
tough to see in twenty three.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I guess it was twenty four.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Was it tough for you behind the wheel? Your competitive
side though, to be that guy that I know why
I'm doing this, But man, I'm used to leading, laugh
and running up front.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah, it really was the only saving grace I had
is I usually wasn't too far away from another one
of our cars, and so I was really judging myself
against our cars, and I found that to be a
way to manage the emotions that came with that.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Couple more things so on the driving side. Then now
as again this majority ownership takes full effect, are we
getting closer to seeing the last Cup start for Jimmy Johnson?
Or will that always be kind of open ended? You're
not going to put kind of a date or a
time on it.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
I don't have a date or a time on it.
I feel like Daytona is just such a unique opportunity,
and I feel like plate keep calling a play track,
but a super speedway racetrack. You don't need to be
in the car every week to be competitive. It's just
a different animal. So I with that, I hope that
I can continue to keep doing this, But when it
doesn't make sense for the team and it hurts the organization,
(36:53):
I'm not going to do it all.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Right, last thing for you, I want to wrap up.
We talk about ownership the family aspect, which I think
is fascinating as you shared insight into that the racing aspect.
But now your own podcast sitting here talking for mine
and I see this, you know, all of a sudden,
I know Jimmy's got his own podcast coming. How are
you going to balance? Have you thought about how are
you going to balance all these pieces? Now?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I yes, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
I man, when I get into something, I am all in.
And you know, Marty Smith has been a twenty five
year friend and we've talked about this over and over,
and when I think about these different opportunities to build
brands off of Legacy Motor Club, you know, I think
there's a real pathway with a media company, which you know,
(37:40):
it's kind of what Marty and I are working on,
at least with the start with this this podcast. I
think that hospitality experiences, you know that there are these other,
you know, little arms of the business that can generate
revenue to put money back into the race team. It's
gonna be hard to go and compete against Rick Hendrick.
It's gonna be hard to compete against Joe Gibbs or
(38:01):
mister Benski. These guys have been out it a while.
And certainly with Penske and Hendrick, they have some deep pockets.
So I just need to be really smart and try
to try to continue to create revenue and not solely
depend on sponsorship dollars. And so that's that's one big
piece in the background in my mind. The other part
of it is, you know, we're in a time and
era here where sponsors want more than just on paint
(38:26):
on car, and so that again feeds the business opportunities
I just spoke about from experiences, hospitality and the show
with all of that business stuff in the there. I
have a great love of documentaries and podcasts and just
love when you're able to attach to someone and hear
their story and pull it out. And what Marty and
(38:47):
I want to do is talk about these two point
zero moments that people have. And it could be you know,
somebody super successful, it could be somebody that's just living
a simple life and you face the fork in the road.
I mean, we're all to go through it, if not once,
but multiple times, and it's for your personal life and
your professional life. And Marty and I were very certain
(39:09):
we didn't want to be just you know, we didn't
want to be in a competitive space against other racing shows.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
There are a lot of great.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Racing shows, especially on the serious platform, and we didn't
want to compete against that. Sure we'll touch on some racing,
Sure we'll touch on the interesting things that Marty has
going on in his world and ESPN and sports, but
we want our subjects to come on and really talk
about these interesting moments in their life and share that.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
Well. I listened to the first episode yesterday and it's
the podcast is out Never Settle, so folks can listen
to that. It sounded great. Can't wait to hear and
see what you do with that, and just the season
ahead now that being a majority owner, looking forward to
seeing how you tackle that. So Jimmy, thank you forank
you all the time today, looking forward as I said,
to see what you do, and I'm glad we just
got to sit down and do this. So, as I said,
(39:56):
the audience will hear this on Monday, so maybe three times.
We'll just manifest it, right, that's how it works.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
If that is the case, just just count on the
fact that I have a massive hangover. If you're hearing
some Monday and I have one yes or the team yes,
No one has been asleep yet sounds good.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Jimmy, thank you too. I'm back here to wrap things
up on the podcast. My thanks once again to JJ
for coming on the show, really appreciated and giving me
an hour blocking off an hour on the calendar. We
got to everything I wanted to talk about. I thought
it was really insightful and that is the best kind
(40:35):
of conversation to have, so I appreciate that. My thanks,
of course also to Amy Walshtock of Legacy Motor Club
for coordinating letting me work her over since last year
to get JJ on the podcast, and we made it
happen and I thought the timing was perfect. If you
enjoyed the conversation, please leave a rating and review. You
can also find me on social media to give me
your feedback. Very easy to find me. The best way
(40:58):
is go to the link tree link in the show
description of this episode. You will see all of my
social media profiles on that page, such as X Blue Sky, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook,
and a few other places. But very easy to find me.
I appreciate all the feedback. Please keep leaving ratings and reviews.
It goes a long way of telling me if you're
(41:19):
liking the podcast as well as getting it out there
to other people to see spread the word. And that
is all for this week. Thank you once again for tuning, in, clicking, downloading.
I appreciate the support, hope you enjoyed the conversation and
I will see you again real soon. On the Racing
Writers Podcast story
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