217 - Competition and Coaching - Scott's 2025 Season
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Company
Revmatch
Revmatch is a group that runs driving events where people can practice and compete with their cars.
Concept
HPDE
HPDE is a type of event where drivers can learn how to drive their cars better and faster, usually on a racetrack.
Concept
Grid Life
Grid Life is a fun event for car lovers where they can race, show off their cars, and enjoy music.
Concept
One Lap of America
One Lap of America is a car event where drivers go on a long trip and compete in different challenges along the way.
Concept
Gingerman Raceway
Gingerman Raceway is a place in Michigan where people can go to race their cars on a track.
Car
Cardinal Coupe
The Cardinal Coupe is a type of car that is used for racing and events. It's built to be fast and perform well on tracks.
Concept
NCM
NCM stands for National Corvette Museum, which has a racetrack where people can practice driving their cars. It's a popular place for car events.
Term
ABS
ABS is a system in cars that helps the brakes work better, especially in emergencies. It stops the wheels from locking up so you can steer while braking.
Term
245 tires
245 tires are a type of car tire that is 245 millimeters wide. Wider tires can help a car grip the road better, especially when going fast or turning.
Car
Mazda Miata
The Miata is a small sports car made by Mazda that is very fun to drive. It's light and handles well, making it popular for racing and driving on tracks.
Term
personal best
A personal best is when someone does something better than they ever have before, like driving a car faster than they did in the past.
Part
camber
Camber is how tilted the wheels are when you look at them from the front of the car. Changing this angle can help the car handle better when turning.
Part
short shifter
A short shifter makes it easier to change gears in a car because you have to move the stick less. This can make driving feel more responsive and fun.
Company
Valkyrie engineering
Valkyrie Engineering is a company that makes special parts for cars to help them perform better. They work on things like shifters to make driving easier and faster.
Concept
NASA events
NASA events are car racing competitions where people can participate and improve their driving skills. They have different types of races and activities for all levels of drivers.
Concept
Lemons drivers
Lemons drivers are part of a fun car race where teams use very cheap cars, usually costing around $500. It's all about having a good time rather than just winning.
Concept
CridLife drivers
CridLife drivers are part of a group that helps people improve their driving skills, often through coaching and practice at events.
Part
transmission
The transmission is a part of the car that helps it move by transferring power from the engine to the wheels. It allows the car to go faster or slower by changing gears.
Concept
paddock
The paddock is a special area at a racetrack where racing teams park their cars and work on them before and during races. It's like their home base during the event.
Term
valve
Valves help manage the air and fuel that go into an engine and the exhaust that comes out. If they get damaged, the engine can have problems working properly.
Concept
GLTC
GLTC is a type of racing series where different kinds of cars compete. It's about having fun and showing driving skills rather than just having the fastest car.
Car
Mazda MX-5 Miata
The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a small sports car that is very fun to drive. It's known for being light and easy to handle, making it a favorite for people who love driving.
LIVE
Hi, I'm Scott. And I'm Seth. And I'm Ragey Angry. I'm cold. I'm also cold. I mean, and
this is who I am as a person. I'm angry. It's something that hasn't happened yet.
But he's got such good positive energy being angry. It's so it's so good right now.
Can I say though, it felt weird to say that out loud. I said it. I'm like, that's not good.
Not what healthy people do. No, but at least you're acknowledging your your lack of of healthy
boundaries during this trying time. So I'm angry at something that hasn't happened yet.
Because of course, in my mind, like, I'm sure it's going to happen. And like, I know how it's
going to happen. The only thing worse than that is when you get like angry at a dream,
like something that never did and never will happen. So you're like one layer off the dumbest
kind of anger. This is my this is my white boy dream anger. Becky has woken up on occasion
angry at me for something you did in a dream. Yeah, that I had nothing to do with. I've done
that to my wife before too. I'm like, I had the worst dream and it's your fault. And she's like,
I wasn't there, man. I'm like, but weren't you? Yeah, what what is truth? You sent that topic to
me. What is truth? Because in my experience, you bet your boat better believe you were there.
Sure. Yeah, Becky and I are still dealing with junkyard engines and I did I swear I've
got a curse with junkyard engines. Yeah, I've got three quarters, like three really,
really nice quarters of an engine in the garage right now.
It's you can't afford to give up a cylinder when you've got four teeny tiny ones.
That's the thing, dude. This is so much time, energy and money for 83 horsepower. It is so dumb.
Oh my God. I can't. I can't. And I'm like ready to throw money at the problem. I'm so irritated
about it. Anyway, that'll be tomorrow. On this note, we need to talk about your race season.
Yeah. I mean, it didn't start this way. So got that going for me. It did start weird though.
I'll admit that. Talk to me. Yeah. Okay. Let me wind down here a little bit from.
No, keep the energy going. I want all of this. Yeah. So this season really started for me
at PRI last year. Right. And we've gone into it as much as I want to get into it on a podcast,
but effectively grid life and I parted ways. And I really didn't have a role in grid life
for this year. You lost your job. Yeah. Kind of. So there's a change in direction.
Away from Scott. Well, not that, but I mean, but I was involved. So I had a position floated to me
with grid life that really didn't sound like a very good time. And I was like,
you know, not really my thing. Our plan had been to, you know, continue to work with grid life and
do some coaching, but no driving to kind of like limit the three rolls down to two. But then with
that decision, it was effectively like, all right, well, we're all in on the coaching this year.
And, you know, I had started to meet with drivers, emailing, phone calls, kind of getting a schedule
ready. And the goal was to be at all of the grid life events, except with the possibility of
not going to Laguna just because of the travel and cost involved. Right.
That that would kind of have to be in its own beast and probably will be next year.
Even though next year the grid life schedule is a lot more driving for us, like long distance
kind of stuff, but that can be for a different podcast. So our plan was to do the one lap of
America, driving wise competition. And then we were going to work with Revmatch. We were going to
come out to as many of their events as we could to sure get some seat time, but also to help them
with their HPD vision and with some potential, some of their competition stuff that they were
looking at getting into. And so with the Revmatch events and the grid life events that I was going
to be coaching at and the one lap America, all of a sudden, like it was looking to be the busiest
we've been. Yeah. How many weekends would that have been? Because grid life is,
or not grid life, but one lap is two weekends. Two. Then I went to at least three Revmatches.
Plus there were a couple events at Gingerman. I just went to go say hi to people,
which by the way, I have to pay $10 every time I want to step foot on property,
because that's Gingerman's new thing. We could talk about that a lot too.
Anyway, yeah. So it was a lot. It was a lot of weekends.
I love it. You don't have anything to count. You're just like a lot between when the snow
melted and when the snow came back. It was a lot. It was a lot. And yeah. And the last one was
Becky went out to, it was a female only track day at Gingerman in October. It was paired with
summer track days and Sunday was a women's only event. And so I went to kind of support the women
and Becky and just kind of went, played crew chief and stuff like that. And it was cool.
But yeah, the first event was going to be CMP for us, which is a drive for sure.
But weirdly, I think we were supposed to leave Thursday or no, Wednesday night,
Wednesday night or Thursday, something like that. But it was a long drive. It's like
13 hours or something like that. And Tuesday, I, maybe it was Monday. No, it was Sunday night.
I'm hanging out on the couch. No big deal. Like a full week before the event.
Yeah. Like four days before it's laying on the couch and I stand up and I'm dizzy. Now I get the
low blood pressure, like stand up real quick, like feel woozy kind of thing. But this was like
different, but I didn't pay much mind. I was tired. It's going to go to bed anyway. So
go to bed, wake up in the morning. I'm still dizzy and it's weird. So I, you know, get ready
to go to work and it's not great, but like it's kind of manageable. And I go to work and it's not
better. And I do some more work and it's really not better to the point where like
over the lunch break, I take a nap in my car, which I don't do ever for like 20,
30 minutes. And I wake up and like, I'm nauseous. I'm dizzy. Like I'm trying to operate
things with blades on them. And I'm like, I need to go.
You're seasick perpetually. Yeah. So it ends up being vertigo.
Learned a lot about it. You get your crystals unaligned.
Yeah. They're still wonky all this time later too.
Are they still wonky? Yeah.
You just sort of learned to adapt to your, your funky crystals.
Yeah. For the most part, there's two head motions that aren't
right looking up and tilting to the left. So there's like, I'm sure there's like one crystal
in one canal in my left ear. That's all weirded out. Fortunately, it doesn't affect my ability
to drive cars. So that's delightful. Your ballet dancing would probably be garbage right now.
I would be a hot mass dude. So yeah, it was kind of like really laid up and like lights off,
try not to move because the world hated me at that moment and had to call off CMP.
It's like, there's no way I can drive or like even ride passenger for 13 hours
and be in a shape of like trying to walk around and talk to people and like shaking my head.
Like I would have needed a minute after that. So it's like, I called my,
my drivers and I'm like, I'm so sorry. I can't do it. Let's switch to remote
and we'll go from there. And so that's what we did.
I actually forgot about this whole thing when you brought it up. I was like, oh, yeah.
Yeah. Remember that?
Yeah. That was terrible.
You're right. That was a weird beginning to your season.
And kind of simultaneously, but I think before this as well,
so before or after I'd have to look at, but we had planned that we were going to do the
one lap of America in the Cardinal Coupe again. We were going with a team of three cars
and the cars were going to have Arrow this year and we got two practice days in ahead of the
one lap on two of the tracks that we were going to be running. We went to Gratton on a Friday.
On Saturday, we were at Putnam with my mom who was driving her car and we kind of took that as
prep and do stuff to the car day. And then Sunday, we were down at NCM practicing there
because this was her year to try hard.
Yeah. This is like a full team prep thing. This is a real vibe.
It's like a race program.
And so we did that. We talked about the one lap of America in a different episode,
so I won't rehash that here, but I'm still very pleased with how we did knowing that
with some of the weird overheating stuff that we were facing that it could have been a lot better,
but still was a huge boon to my confidence and the off-season work in the sim that I had
been doing and just kind of knowledge that maybe I don't suck at this driving thing like I had
started to believe over the last two or three years. Can you remind everybody where you finished?
Finished 10th overall. 10th all the top 10. What was your highest track finish? Do you remember that?
I want to say it was a P6, well, track finish. Yeah, track finish. I know I got a P6, I think,
at Gateway. I've got it in a spreadsheet somewhere, but yeah, it was a lot of like P6s to P13s.
That's legit. Those people who have been on one lap or followed it,
when consistently finishing top 10, top 15 is not trivial by any means.
No, and we were, those were on 245 tires, pretty small in one lap speak and no ABS,
which I think is probably the bigger picture. So, especially lap one, at the tracks I hadn't
driven previously. Lap one, I was leaving a little bit of margin under braking.
You kind of have to if you want to finish the week. Yeah, especially round tires.
Right, you want them to not be cubes. Yeah, so yeah, one lap went well and then after that,
I kind of put away my competitive driving streak, even though I would drive the Miata at
Gingerman a couple times and I got a personal best by a pre-being margin.
Also got a personal best at Autobahn, so like things were feeling good.
But you were only competing with you this year.
Correct. Just making sure that the car is good, that I remember how to drive it,
and how can I make the car better sort of thing, and we kind of did all of those things this year,
so that was really nice. And then coaching wise, really after CMP, I'm really happy to say that
I was full for all the at-track events that I went to. And those events, from a business
point of view, you kind of need to have them full to make the travel and the days off of
my other job worthwhile and stuff like that. And it was great. It took on five drivers a weekend,
which is plenty, arguably too much at tracks like Lime Rock, where it's only a two-day event,
it's not a three-day event. So there's just like more turnover.
Yeah, got to pair up with the guys from the Mental Agility Coaching Center.
Oh yeah, that was a really cool thing you did this year with those guys.
That was really cool and eye-opening. Because we haven't talked a whole lot about that.
No, so what they do and what I do as a coach really, really overlaps. We do a lot of similar
stuff, but they have the training tools to be able to test, see progress, kind of identify
weak spots and strengths in reaction time, prioritization, stuff like that.
And we got to play with all their tools and several, I think four of my drivers that I've
worked with got evaluations from them and were able to hone down on things that they can work
on next and things like that. So that was really, really cool. And got to play with some stuff that
more to come on that, but not enough. But they were also really nice too. I mean,
obviously they were nice, but I think that makes the paddock better if you bring in
super technical smart guys who just happen to be really nice at the same time.
Ryan Shuda is the gentleman who came from the Mental Agility Coaching Center.
They're located in Chicago. So if you are in and around the area, highly recommended,
super nice, super knowledgeable, very well trained and equipped for what they do. So
yeah, we'll happily send them people all day. They're great.
Yeah. And got to work with a couple of Rush drivers this year. That was
pretty early on. I ran into one of them that I had known from the year prior. And I drove
two Rush cars early in the season in one day and I did pretty well.
I do want to interrupt you and talk to you about the Rush, the cars, and the experience,
and sort of the paddock. I know they sort of have a paddock within a paddock.
Yeah. I think that's fair most of the time. Pit race was an exception because they didn't have
like a plan. And so they were kind of spread out all over the place, which was I think a new thing
for them. But culturally, they're kind of their own group. Not that they don't interact with
everybody because I do think they interact with everybody, but they're doing their own thing
within grid life. I feel like they have their own separation. The drifters have separation from
the GOTC guys. Yeah, we talk to each other. It's all fine, whatever. But you're doing
different things and I almost felt like Rush was its own. We're doing different things
because they're not street based cars. They're race cars. It's true.
Spec class too. Yeah. And so it's a completely... It's a different mindset. They're playing a
slightly different game. Maybe. I think it depends on... Okay, so maybe I'm bringing myself into this.
Do they have a different mindset and are they playing a different game?
Some of them are, I think so, yes. But I don't think I can say that about the entire Rush
entry field. I think there are quite a few people within Rush who are trying to be pointy and
Rush people and very professional, very outward facing, ready for interviews,
still dressed in your branded fire suit for podium, like representing your partners and
things like that. So I mean, it's much more business racing from some of the drivers.
And I think that has helped to contribute to the feeling of that class of a more
business professional series. But I don't think that's the case with all of them.
I think, certainly with the drivers, I've worked with, not that they're not professional,
but they're there to have a good time. This is not their primary means of business or anything
like that. They do this as a hobby and they want to do well for sure. But this isn't like
their business. They're not a race prep shop. They're not doing any of that. They bought these
cars, they trailer them, and they come out to try to do the best that they can every weekend
sort of thing. Seems to have been a really positive series this year. Last year, it was sort of
starting and experimenting. Yeah, it had its ups and downs this year, for sure.
Some of the smaller events went extremely well. Several events didn't go great. There's a lot of
non-compliance of the rules, but then like some things where the, what was it?
Yeah, some teams had worked with the factory on some non-performance,
but was it reliability mods that were by the letter illegal, but the factory helped them
with it. So the factory kind of got involved in some of the things and like it was got weird
at times. But again, that's no part of that is anything I needed to
bother myself with, so to speak. But not yet a mature class in the same way that some of the
other classes are. There's still some wiggling around. I think the culture is pretty settled
at this point, just kind of for what it is. I think it happened fairly quickly, but we'll see
it can always change and can always develop. It really helps that the cars are specced. So year
after year, there's not a new chassis that's the new and great thing, that there's a new engine,
the new and great thing kind of this. I mean, right now it's the fuel tank. It's kind of the big
point of those cars and they've got new dampeners coming next year.
Okay. And they're polishing up some of the rules, which may affect some of what we do,
but they haven't released them yet either. So we'll see.
As a driver, I know you've only done a couple of sessions in them. How do you feel about those
versus production based cars? I mean, it's much easier to go four wide when your car is that small.
This is true. Yeah, it's a very weird sensation,
like say when I drove a dead gingerman, like I've got lapsed gingerman. And so I know about how far
I can track left or right, but when you're in a car this small, you can track a lot more left
or right because the car is just smaller. Yeah. And so that was very strange. So the distance
that you travel from left to right laterally across the track surface is much, much higher.
So that kind of gives you some more opportunities in terms of, I think,
racecraft as you're racing, because there's so much room to move. Right.
But I think what you and I had talked about with motorcycle racing,
their mirrors are not very good either. Okay. And so making car placement in overtaking
becomes important to try to be not only like to set your car up to have the best chance that it can,
but to set your car up to be visible. Right. It's a big deal. I saw a lot and still see a lot of
cars when they go for the overtake, they go all the way to the inside and like dive straight at the
apex and these tiny cars that again, like laterally, they're moving dramatically and that does not give
that outside car or inside, well, it'd be outside in this case. It doesn't give them much of a chance
to be able to see that car on the inside. Right. Yeah. I mean, you almost have to be like fully
in front of them. Or at least close enough to them that you are much more present in their mirror.
You can't rely on being like a blip in the mirror. You have to be in their mirrors.
Yeah. Also makes it easier to kind of like, if you're not sure to leave space, because you're
a lot of side by side racing because they are so small and so nimble.
And, you know, on the straightaway outside of, you know, like right height drag and stuff like
that, like they should be about the same speed. So there's no need to be like
crazy dive bombs, like from slower cars on faster cars going in stuff like that, like they're much
more on pace. That being said, like that is one of the biggest opportunities since these cars are
spec like a lot of people can be good off of a corner, but to be good into a corner or into a
series of corners, that's kind of where a lot of the magic happens. And these cars are so short
and can be set up so twitchy that you just have to be aware, have to be careful.
Sounds fun.
They are fun. They are very fun cars. If I had more money, I might consider getting one.
Yeah. I think somebody should give you a race weekend just out of the goodness of their own
hearts. I don't know who that would be, but I would love to see that happen.
I would consider splitting a weekend like, you know, like help me get in your car and I'll
coach you and like, we'll try to do a thing. That would be fun. But yeah, the coaching
partnered with Chris Rice and Peter Grandberg again this year. It's kind of strange for Chris
because he did four of the really early events and like hasn't driven since mid Ohio and still
got third in the championship. He just kind of did his four and was like, yeah, that's good.
He had other stuff in his life though, right? Like he was,
yeah, he had been like looking at moving on from Sunday cup
before we started this season and yeah, it was great to work with him. And then Pete,
you know, was going for the club tier championship and
you know, everybody, I think my line is like everybody looks at the final event as the decider,
but really it wasn't, that was still a pretty good result for Pete
in the shootout at the final round, but really kind of where it slipped away was that some of his
not as good results earlier in the year and it sucks. You know, it's, he worked his ass off,
the car is better than it's been every round. He went way faster than he did the year before.
You know, we're still unlocking new skills and new ways to think and look at things. So
it's getting better. Yeah, it's just that class is wild, man. It's hard.
This season didn't break his heart.
I don't think so. He was, he was bummed, but bummed in a different way than he was
last year. Like last year was kind of a heartbreaker, like just really, really close as he and Evan,
but this last round it was he, Mario and Evan, and he ended up third for the season.
You know, by like a couple points or something like that. I mean, it's just crazy tight
with the top like four or five drivers really. And yeah, he's, he's trying.
It's really the kind of racing you want. You just want to finish first. Like you want nice, tight,
amazing racing that's really emotional, that's really challenging. You just want to be on the
top of the podium. And I, I haven't said this in a while, but this was always my thing with the
one lap that I learned very early on is like, I want everybody to be driving at their absolute best
so that when I beat you, I beat you at your best. Yeah, it's not because you had a bad day. It's
because I had a good day. Yeah. It's because I, I beat you on a good day sort of thing. Right.
And I know Pete wants that too. And it's, it's a hard, hard class. And honestly, he did well enough
that the people beating him have to be proud of themselves. Like beating Pete this year was a
thing. Like it was, it was hard to beat him. Like really hard. So. Yep. Yeah. And they, they did well.
So yeah, I got to coach some other great drivers, GLTC, a bunch in
time attack as well. Coach Becky a couple of weekends as well. Becky's doing
much, much better everywhere. You know, she's getting, you know, last time we went to gentlemen,
she was under two seconds to the Sunday cup record there on pretty dead tires. So like
doing all right for yourself. She's been putting some, some really intentional work
in, which has been, I've talked to you about this off the show. It's been very interesting to see her
be like, no, I, I want to be fast. Yeah. And, and doing the work that it takes to be fast. Right.
Which is the heart. That's the hard part. Like you can want it, but like starting to do the
things that will put you there is what's hard. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she worked her butt off to,
you know, get the more camber that that car really needed.
You know, working with a Valkyrie engineering to get her a different short shifter. So her
short little arms can like reach third gear easier, like, you know, smaller stuff like that.
Right. That's a real thing. So, but yeah, the, this year, I think for me,
had to pivot early, early in the year from what I thought it was going to be to what it was.
And I think I'm pretty proud of how I did that change and to be at these events with only like
one thing to do. I was there to coach and to do setup work and not having to like go to this
meeting or like all of a sudden had to be here in 10 minutes. Like I could only focus on or I
then once we were done, if somebody else was ready, let's go. And if not, I've got a break. Like
that was it. And so a lot more of my energy and focus could just be on what I was doing.
And I felt like I was better because of it. This may be a weird question, but before when you were,
yeah, I'm asking a question, it might be weird just that I shouldn't have to qualify that.
But before when you were working with GridLife, you were doing a bunch of HPD stuff,
but a bunch of beginner stuff. You were working with drivers.
It was separated out. So I was doing a lot with the GLTC development stuff.
Right.
And then like Sundays would be the HPD. But yes.
So my question surrounding that is how has the reduction in that sort of thing affected your
social circle when you're at those? Because now you don't automatically have built in,
you know, eight new best friends every weekend.
That's true. I think it's lessened my ability to meet newer drivers to the paddock
or put me in positions to potentially meet a few fewer people in certain circles.
But I think with only needing to coach this year, I think that's given me the ability to like walk
around the paddock, which I didn't have the time or energy to do the last couple of years,
because we either needed to like work on the car or we needed to go to bed like something else,
you know, but like this year, at least once a day, I could like wander around the paddock,
say hi to people, poke my nose into other things like it wasn't,
you know, just as me, not as like a official or like anything else like that. So it was different,
but I think equally, equally good. But I think there's a lot more upsides in this in this realm.
But it was good enough that I'm going to do it again next year.
All right. So, you know, we're, we're looking at getting out to a couple
NASA events, talking with a couple drivers over in the NASA paddock. Got some lemons drivers.
Really? Yep, that we're going to be trying to schedule with and stuff like that. Of course,
have our CridLife drivers we're going to continue to work with. And basically like,
man, if you have an event that you want some coaching, like
give me a shout, let's see if we can make something happen.
I like, I'm excited about the lemons stuff. I want to, I'm really,
I know you and I have talked about it, my daughter raced with the lemons,
raced like the car was on track for not an hour during the whole thing. And they took
the transmission apart twice and did things like that. But it's a different, it's a different
environment, sometimes with different goals, and sometimes with a whole lot of chaos that you
may be caused and maybe other people cause. And so it's
really interesting to see what the coaching experience within that paddock is like.
Yeah. Yeah. So I'm excited. Like this coming up into this year is kind of what I had hoped
for this past year was to get into different paddocks. But I think the pivot that we had
to do last year, along with the one lap of America and et cetera, et cetera, just wasn't
going to allow us to do. I think the ref match getting into that paddock was about as much as
I could do last year. But yeah, I'm kind of kind of excited and I'm
pretty sure that unless like somebody is really interested in having me as a
co-driver in the one lap of America, which holler at me like I'm interested.
But I'm otherwise, I don't think Becky and I are going to do the one lap this year.
The first time in a long time. And we've done it the past seven runnings,
which would be the last eight years. Right. Which is wild to say.
Some of it's certainly financial. Some of it's being away from family. Some of it's just energy.
It's, I love that event. And I like, I love the people a lot. And we're just kind of at the
point where like, again, unless somebody's interested in having me as a co-driver,
like we just don't really have a car that we're interested in taking that we have.
And you know, we're not of the means to be able to go out and buy something for the event. So
it kind of seems like a decent time to step away and for the meantime. And I think we're
definitely still going to go down to the start because you're, you're so close. We're close and
like, I feel like I have to, like it's just so good to see everybody and hang out and what not.
It's a good paddock. Yeah.
And you know, we're working on Becky's car for nonsense
because the engine got hurt that last session she, she was scheduled to go out for.
She, yeah, sold her for one of the valves, got a little touchy touchy.
And so, which is, which is interesting, um, yeah, because they're not supposed to do that.
No, as long as you're, I think within the, the rev range,
if you start getting stretching that a little bit, then
yeah, there's a kinetic energy issue, I think a little momentum built up.
All right. Something. So we're, we're working through that right now. And that was part of the,
the rage energy at the beginning of the show.
You're calmer now. I like that. Yeah, it's a thing. So yeah, she's got some, some hopes for next year.
And I think I, Seth, I think I had a realization.
Okay. And it's kind of a sad one.
Is this a super adult thing that you're going to talk about here?
Maybe. So if you recall back in 22, I believe it was.
I'm not sure I recall anything that long ago, but
I've been 23 is the Watkins Glen.
Okay. And I've never been affected like I have that weekend at Watkins with
and GLTC. Right. The track, the first time out was very intimidating for me, which I've
not really experienced before. And then it started raining, which is my jam, Seth,
is my, I know, I know you're, you're the rain man. I know that.
And it started raining before race one and I was not excited.
Like not just like not excited. I was like, I don't want it to rain.
I'm nervous not feeling this sort of thing because it was the week before the one lap
and my car didn't have ABS and the walls are incredibly close. I think in one race,
we had seven, seven or eight cars not finished due to contact.
It's a very high consequence track.
And so I really like the track though. And like I've always at after that weekend,
I was like, if I get the opportunity to go again, I need to go.
And guess where grid life is going next year, Seth?
Oh, that's exciting.
They're going back to Watkins.
Yeah. So you're going to want to like do things there? What's your, what's your,
where's your brain at?
I really want to drive GLTC that weekend.
And I'm not going to.
Here's the thing.
Like I really want to.
Yeah.
But with what I've learned this past year, I do not drive well when I have,
when I coach other people or when I have other responsibilities, I love coaching
and I don't want my coaching to be affected by my desire to want to do well in my car.
You have to put something first.
Nor do I want to have my competitive driving
time and focus placed elsewhere.
I cannot do those two things on the same weekend.
And so would I rather drive my car and try to be competitive on a weekend,
and spend money, take the time, go do that, or would I rather do it and coach other drivers?
And I think I would rather go coach.
And it's still like, it doesn't like,
like I'm kind of at peace with it, but like it doesn't, it feels weird still,
because I'm going to say it again, I want to go drive that track with GLTC.
I was going to say you haven't lost the drive to drive.
No, I want to go do it.
And to be honest, like I think I could do pretty well.
You've just become more aware of who you are in certain moments.
Yes. If I'm going to drive competitively, like if it were like,
if I was co-driving with somebody and coaching that person, easy, that'd be easy.
Or if I was driving and maybe, maybe coaching one person otherwise, maybe,
but any more than that, and it's just not worth it.
I mean, if something happens, like it's just not a thing.
Does this reinforce the idea that driving at, I'll say a high level would be a high level
for a particular person is an inherently selfish endeavor?
I think it has to be, if you want to do well.
Right.
Yeah. And I don't think selfish is a bad word.
No, but it means like you have to be focused on yourself for that period of time.
And you have to be okay with being focused on yourself for that period of time.
Yes. Yes. I believe that.
And so this decision led to the next decision that then if I have this car
that is, from the times I was seeing this year and from the feedback I got from some other
drivers this year in my car, that I believe, especially with the rule changes potentially
for next year, I believe could be easily a top 10 car.
I think even with me in it, it could be a top 10 car.
What's the point of me having a GLTC prepped car if I'm not going to do this one race weekend that
I really wanted to do?
And the answer I think I've come to is, there isn't.
That's a very adult thing to say.
It's weird.
Yeah.
So I haven't listed it anywhere, but it's kind of an open secret that Miata is up for sale.
So full disclosure to anyone listening, if Scott sells the Miata due to somebody listening to the
show, I get a finder's fee. So we've already discussed that. Scott agreed to it.
So if you're interested in the Miata, please tell Scott you heard about it on the show,
because it's very important to me that you do that.
I do have a finder's fee out to some friends that if somebody finds a buyer,
and I'm not going to give it away, the car is good.
It is good.
It's got fancy shiny bits on it.
Yeah, it does have some knobs.
It's got good wiring.
It's got A-B-S, man.
It's got great A-B-S.
The ad is going to have so many words in it.
The engine is very shiny, still like it's very, very clean.
But yeah, it's for sale.
Again, if it sells for what I'm looking for, I will let it go.
If nobody's interested in paying it that much for it, I'm going to hold on to it for a while
longer. I'm not in a hurry. And if it's still around next season, I'm going to drive it.
It works.
Yeah, it works. It's going to be a thing.
So how tall are you, Scott?
I'm 6'2 on a good day.
6'2, so any of you out there who have a friend who's like,
man, I would love to drive Miata, but I've just never found one I could fit in because I'm tall.
And I'm torso tall too.
Yeah.
So it's got a drop seat, it's got all that stuff.
Yeah, so your tall buddy, I used to play basketball with in high school.
That guy looking for Miata, this could be his car.
Yeah, so I do have a finder's fee out there for friends.
And if anybody leads directly to the sale, I will take care of you.
Because I like taking care of people.
I'll make you a special shirt.
If you buy, I don't know what will be on it, but I got some ideas.
If you buy the car through this show as an advertisement
and I get the finder's fee, I will make you a custom
track walking, I bought Scott's car shirt.
That'll be amazing.
That's saying a lot because Seth isn't doing
holiday shirts for our annual help pay for our Zoom subscription thing.
Yeah, I'm not this year.
I got too much going on.
I had to pull the plug on it.
Yeah, it was weird learning that through Facebook posts.
Yeah, I meant to talk to you about it, but it's so much easier to just
announce it to the world and let you find out that way.
That's true.
In all honesty, I have been thinking, I was discussing
shirt designs with my kid this summer.
I've been thinking about using a couple other printing techniques,
about doing some things.
I was going to do some experimental multi-color block printing,
like some really interesting things.
And I am just not going to have the time.
This year to do that.
Your life is moving.
My wife is moving.
Yeah, so next week's show will be recorded from Colorado
because I'm all over the place.
Yeah, we're doing an interview next week.
So I think overall, yeah, this year has cemented for me the idea that I'm still
capable and still desired to be a competitive driver
and that coaching is just as difficult and rewarding as I thought it would be.
And I want to keep doing both, but I'm unwilling to do it on the same weekend.
And if your coaching is going really well, you don't have the free weekends to drive.
That ends up being the sticky part, especially as you expand into more paddocks.
That's more weekends you're doing stuff.
Yeah, and I feel like I need to do the caveat of, again, if I'm co-driving with somebody
and coaching that person, that's easy.
If an endurance racing team is interested in having me coach and drive, that's easy
because we're all in one space.
But if I have two or three drivers who are doing their own thing
and I'm driving doing my thing, that is what I've found to be incompatible.
I'm glad you've learned that about yourself.
And I think I've known it, Seth, for years.
Knowing something and learning something about yourself are not the same thing.
And experiencing, it's that ABA test.
For so many years, I did the driving thing without other things,
and then I started doing many things at once.
And I'm like, maybe this isn't the best thing.
Maybe I should go back to this other thing.
And I did, and I was like, oh yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
So yeah, feeling pretty good about decisions that were made,
the decisions we made last year.
And really enjoyed working with drivers and kind of looking forward to more.
So we're going to be going to PRI here in a couple weeks time.
We'll be there Thursday and Friday morning.
So if you're going to be there then, give me a shout.
We can hang out, talk for a little bit.
And yeah, if you're interested in next year,
you know, reach out, let me know sooner the better.
Just so I can get my schedule lined up and have the most opportunity
and availability for people that I can.
I am proud of you for having a year where you had a really good drive,
a drive to be proud of.
And in the same year, you had coaching and relationships that you can also be proud of.
And they were like separate things in those moments.
And that's kind of a big deal for a year.
Yeah, it reinforced the decision to separate those two.
So I'm going to lean into it, got something new on the table
in terms of coaching offerings next year that Seth and I have been talking about.
Here we have been.
Still need to send an email.
And yeah, looking forward to getting in more paddocks and doing the thing.
Cool.
Yeah, basically what I got.
Cool. I actually had had some thoughts that next year I might be able to show up to more
race weekends with cars and maybe not.
So I want to though, I'm getting to the point where I'm going to shift my life around
such that I can randomly show up places, but it may not be on the time frame that I
thought it was going to be.
So we'll see.
Yeah, next year is going to be, next year is going to look different for you too.
Yeah.
It'll be interesting.
Well, we are at Track Walking Podcasts on the socials, but the Discord link is the one that
you should hit and join us, say hello, share us with friends, rate review, all that stuff,
which does help because we're coming up to the end of the year and, you know, we'll have like
stats and figures and people who listen and things like that, but always appreciate your
guys's support.
If you've got topics or questions, yeah, we have a section for that in the Discord too,
which we would love to talk about.
So, but that's going to do it for us this week.
Looking forward to next year, but for it, I'm Scott.
And I'm Seth.
And we'll talk to you next week.
Take care.
About this episode
Scott and Seth dive into the ups and downs of Scott's 2025 racing season, discussing his transition from competitive driving to coaching. They explore the challenges of managing coaching responsibilities while maintaining personal racing goals, including Scott's experiences with junkyard engines and the One Lap of America. The episode highlights the importance of self-awareness in racing, the dynamics of different racing classes, and the growth of Scott's coaching practice, including collaborations with the Mental Agility Coaching Center. Listeners will appreciate the candid reflections on balancing passion and practicality in motorsports.
Original notes
Seth says he's proud of Scott... Scott comes to a realization that's... well... the Miata is for sale, and coaching is pretty good.
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Discord! Where we hang out
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Track Walking
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