Scott and Seth catch up on their recent lives, sharing stories about home improvement challenges, carpentry lessons, and the quirks of their garages. They reflect on a recent trip to Nashville, highlighting the city's surprising friendliness, vibrant live music scene, and nostalgic arcade visit. The conversation also touches on Seth’s busy schedule preparing his home for sale and a chance encounter with a high-performance Toyota race team. The episode blends personal anecdotes with automotive and lifestyle insights, offering a relaxed, conversational vibe.
""Uh, I think they reset the street tire record that weekend. Sounds like them. Yep. Um, got that thing is wickedly fast straight line.""
The street tire record means how fast a car can go on a race track using normal tires you can buy and use on regular roads, not special racing tires. It shows how good the car is while still being legal to drive on the street.
The street tire record refers to the fastest lap time or performance achieved on a racetrack using street-legal tires rather than specialized racing slicks. It highlights the capability of a car to perform at high levels without resorting to non-street-legal modifications.
""Is that, that sounds like the human version of like LKQ or car part.com a hundred percent. That's what it is.""
LKQ is a company that sells used car parts to help fix cars for less money. They get parts from old or damaged cars and sell them to people who need them.
LKQ is a large aftermarket auto parts company specializing in recycled and refurbished car parts. They provide used and remanufactured components for vehicle repairs, often at lower cost than new parts.
""...like three or four people that need to go, they have to drive this, this Ford expedition that she hates.""
The Ford Expedition is a big SUV that can carry many people and lots of stuff. Because it's so big, it can be hard to drive for smaller people.
The Ford Expedition is a full-size SUV known for its large size and seating capacity, often used for transporting groups or families. It is a body-on-frame SUV with strong towing capabilities but can be cumbersome for smaller drivers due to its size.
""...they give her a Subaru Forester. And I think it's not the, it's not the current, like a really big Subaru Forester. It's the one, the previous generation where the Forester was just like a tall Impreza.""
The Subaru Forester is a smaller SUV that is good for driving in different weather because it has all-wheel drive. Older versions were very similar to a regular car called the Subaru Impreza, just a bit taller.
The Subaru Forester is a compact crossover SUV known for its all-wheel drive system and practicality. Earlier generations of the Forester were closely related to the Subaru Impreza, sharing many components and a similar platform, making them more car-like in driving dynamics.
"...neration where the Forester was just like a tall Impreza. Sure."
The Subaru Impreza is a small car made by Subaru that can drive on all four wheels, which helps it in bad weather. It is known for being reliable and fun to drive. It shares parts with other Subaru cars like the Forester.
The Subaru Impreza is a compact car well-regarded for its all-wheel-drive system and rally heritage, making it popular among enthusiasts and practical drivers alike. It often serves as the basis for Subaru's performance models like the WRX, and its connection to the Forester highlights Subaru's use of shared platforms. The Impreza is frequently discussed for its balance of everyday usability and sporty driving dynamics.
"... she autocrossed once with me autocross the Chevy Volt that we had at that point because I thought lear..."
The Chevrolet Volt is a car that uses both electricity and gas to run. It can drive on electric power for a while before switching to gas, helping save fuel. People sometimes use it for fun driving events because it handles differently than regular cars.
The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle produced by General Motors, known for combining an electric motor with a gasoline engine to extend its driving range. It was significant as one of the early mainstream plug-in hybrids, offering an electric driving experience with the backup of a combustion engine, making it a popular choice for those interested in reducing fuel consumption. The Volt might be discussed in the context of autocross due to its unique powertrain and handling characteristics compared to traditional sports cars.
"I had a first gen Forester at the time and taught her to drive a manual transmission sort of around the parking lot and a little bit on roads just because I thought it was knowledge she needed to have."
A manual transmission means you have to use a stick and a pedal to change gears yourself, which gives you more control over the car.
A manual transmission is a type of gearbox that requires the driver to manually select gears using a clutch pedal and gear stick, offering more control over the car's power delivery.
"She went to a rallycross with me in Louisiana, did a rallycross daddy daughter rallycross weekend. So, you know, she gets to ride around on a rallycross car."
Rallycross is a type of car race where drivers race on a track that has both dirt and pavement parts. The races are short and exciting, with lots of cars racing at the same time.
Rallycross is a form of sprint-style automobile racing held on a closed mixed-surface circuit, combining gravel and tarmac. It features short, intense races with multiple cars competing simultaneously, often involving jumps and tight corners.
"She said, I, I'm almost considering what it would be like to buy an old Subaru as a track car. As a track car. She said that."
A track car is a car that people use to drive fast on race tracks. These cars usually have extra safety parts and are made to go around corners quickly.
A track car is a vehicle modified or built specifically for racing or high-performance driving on a race track. These cars often have safety features like roll cages and performance upgrades to improve handling and speed.
"If I do a bunch of tracks, I put a cage in it and like, because she's, she's aware of what all of this stuff is. She knows what it means."
A roll cage is a strong metal frame inside a race car that helps keep the driver safe if the car flips over or crashes.
A roll cage is a safety feature installed inside a race or track car to protect the driver in case of a rollover or crash. It is a reinforced frame made of metal tubing that increases the structural rigidity of the vehicle.
"But then once you add in the helmet, things, things get weird really quick."
A helmet is a special hat that protects your head when you drive fast or race. It helps keep you safe if you crash.
A helmet is a crucial safety gear used in motorsports and track driving to protect the driver's head in case of accidents. Wearing a helmet is often mandatory at race tracks and autocross events.
"I want to take a car and go do fun driving with it, whether it be autocross or track stuff or like, like she, she, she knows"
Autocross is a fun driving event where you drive your car around cones in a big parking lot as fast as you can without crashing.
Autocross is a timed motorsport event where drivers navigate through a course marked by cones, usually in a large parking lot. It emphasizes car handling and driver skill over outright speed.
"I mean, has she considered a Honda Fit or a Mazdi too?"
The Honda Fit is a small car that is easy to drive and park. It is good for people who want a simple, reliable car for everyday use.
The Honda Fit is a subcompact hatchback known for its efficient use of space, reliability, and versatility. It's popular as an economical and practical daily driver.
"in their mid twenties thinking they might want to purchase a Subaru to go do performance driving. I really can't. I really have to give it to Subaru's marketing department in the early 2000s, 2010s, like their marketing for the WRX and STI has it lodged in people's brains."
The Subaru WRX is a sporty car that many people like because it can go fast and handle well on different roads. It became popular because it was a good car for racing on dirt and gravel.
The Subaru WRX is a performance-oriented compact car known for its all-wheel-drive system and rally heritage. It gained popularity in the 2000s and 2010s as an affordable sports car with strong performance credentials.
"thinking they might want to purchase a Subaru to go do performance driving. I really can't."
Performance driving means driving a car in a way that makes it go fast and handle well, usually on special tracks or safe places, not just normal roads.
Performance driving refers to driving techniques and activities focused on maximizing a car's handling, acceleration, and braking abilities, often in controlled environments like racetracks or autocross events.
A rotary engine is a special kind of engine that spins in a circle instead of using up and down movements like regular engines. It can be very smooth but needs special care.
A rotary engine is a type of internal combustion engine that uses a triangular rotor spinning inside a chamber instead of traditional pistons. It is known for its smoothness and high-revving nature but can have reliability and fuel economy challenges.
A boxer engine is a type of engine where the parts move side to side instead of up and down. This helps the car stay balanced and drive better.
A boxer engine is a type of flat engine where the cylinders lie horizontally and oppose each other. This design lowers the car's center of gravity and improves handling, commonly used by Subaru and Porsche.
"I was like, maybe I can like direct you towards a BRZ or something. Which is the least, certainly the least bad option."
The Subaru BRZ is a fun sports car that is easy to drive and handles well. It has a special engine design that helps keep the car balanced.
The Subaru BRZ is a lightweight, rear-wheel-drive sports car developed jointly by Subaru and Toyota. It is known for its balanced handling and boxer engine layout, making it popular among driving enthusiasts.
"She considered her Miata. In the thing is we had Miata's when she was growing up, right?"
The Mazda Miata is a small sports car that is fun to drive and easy to handle. Many people like it because it’s light and sporty.
The Mazda Miata is a popular two-door sports car known for its lightweight design and engaging driving experience. It has been a favorite among enthusiasts for decades due to its simplicity and fun-to-drive nature.
"And here we're talking about two door sports groups. Like we're, you're not ready to have this conversation with her."
A two-door sports car is a car with only two doors that is made to be fun and fast to drive.
A two-door sports car is a vehicle designed primarily for performance and driving enjoyment, typically with only two doors and a focus on sporty handling and style.
""I mean, and immediately my brain goes to WRX has a hatch. Right. Like kind of that one.""
A hatchback is a type of car where the back door opens up, making it easier to put big things inside the car. It's different from a regular car trunk.
A hatchback is a car body style featuring a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the cargo area, offering more utility and easier loading compared to a traditional trunk.
"think of what people bring to beginner HPD days. Right now. 300 horsepower or more."
HPD days are special track events where people, especially beginners, can drive their cars safely and learn how to handle them better on a race track. It's like a driving school but on a racetrack.
HPD stands for Honda Performance Development, which organizes track days and racing events primarily for Honda vehicles. Beginner HPD days are events designed for novice drivers to learn and improve their track skills in a controlled environment.
"Now show up at a Mazda two and you're just going to be a rolling chicane. Like it'll be cool, but you're going to get smushed."
The Mazda 2 is a small car that's easy to drive but not very fast, so it might struggle to keep up with more powerful cars on a race track.
The Mazda 2 is a small, lightweight subcompact car known for its nimble handling but relatively low power output, making it less competitive on the track compared to higher horsepower vehicles.
"...my other daughter is going, literally going to college for motorsports engineering. Um, like I'm not encouraging my children to get into racing..."
Motorsports engineering means studying how race cars and other racing vehicles are made and improved. People who study this learn how to make cars go faster and be safer on the track.
Motorsports engineering is a specialized field of engineering focused on the design, development, and optimization of vehicles used in racing and competitive motorsports. It involves knowledge of aerodynamics, materials, vehicle dynamics, and powertrain technology to improve performance and safety.
"Needed to be a blue needed to be a turbo needed to be a base level five speed."
A turbo is a part that helps a car's engine make more power by pushing more air into it, making the car faster.
A turbo, or turbocharger, is a forced induction device that increases an engine's efficiency and power output by forcing extra compressed air into the combustion chamber.
"So we did the deal and then we immediately went to a PT cruiser get together."
A PT Cruiser get together is when people who own PT Cruiser cars meet up to hang out and talk about their cars.
A PT Cruiser get together is a meet-up event where owners of the Chrysler PT Cruiser gather to socialize, show off their cars, and share their enthusiasm for the model.
""Anything VW seems like a struggle bus. I know that's it. Like let's talk about a lateral move from Subaru's Holy cow.""
Volkswagen is a car company from Germany that makes many different cars. Some of their cars can need more repairs than others.
Volkswagen is a German automotive manufacturer known for producing a wide range of vehicles from economy cars to luxury models. They are known for their engineering but some models have had reliability concerns.
Select text to request an explanation
Hi, I'm Scott, and I'm Seth, and this is Track Walking.
I thought we are Track Walking.
We are Track Walking.
Did you do a different intro for the first time in like 200 and some shows?
I might have.
I kind of realized like as the intro song was playing that, you know, I see all
those professional people who have like a mic boom, but then I also realized
like this chair is not very comfortable.
And I think back, I'm like, man, all those streamers and social media people
like always have really nice chairs.
I should at least get a chair that doesn't suck.
I have almost no place to sit in my house, so I am on the abandoned
center section of our couch.
So it's okay.
It's about to say, I mean, it looks plush.
It's leather.
It's a very nice guy.
We got a really nice couch.
It was three sections that went together.
We decided that the new place wasn't big enough for all three sections.
So we just took the ends and left to the middle here.
And so that's my couch now.
It still is comfortable, I guess.
It's pretty nice, yeah.
It's finally starting to warm up.
Good.
Is your snow gone yet?
No.
But it's starting to warm up.
Take what you can get.
Maybe tomorrow.
It's hot here.
It's 83 today.
I had to abandon working on the back of the garage when the sun really
came out and I was like, I don't want to do it.
So I started working on the other side of the garage.
It was in the shade because it was too hot.
Yeah, we exchanged the very rare pictures from our carpentry exploits today.
Yeah, you're like an actual carpenter doing carpenter work and I'm
just bumbling my way through fixing the crap that I built 12 years ago.
And didn't think really far ahead with what was going to happen when I needed
to fix things.
So it's super fun.
Were you cursing your own name?
Yeah, when I worked with my friend Derek at his shop, one of his
mantras was like, don't fuck over the next guy because there's a reasonable
chance that you're going to be the next guy.
And he got that because he worked at a couple different pump shops and he
would get pumps in that he was like, where did this come from?
Oh, I fixed this at the last pump shop I was at.
They were pissed off and decided to never use them again.
So now it came to me at this new pump shop I'm at and I have to do it
again, but do it better.
And yeah, I should have known that longer ago than now.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know those fixes.
Usually it usually takes a little bit longer.
It definitely takes a lot more planning and forethought.
Yeah.
My big problem here is I have my garage, which is it's essentially a
story and a half tall because the the Eves are a story and a half
tall because of how I built it.
And then off the side of the garage is a is a big lean to with a steel
roof on it.
I could park like six cars under it if I needed to.
And when I built it, I built the garage and I built the Eves and then
I built the lean to and where the roofs connect there about 10 inches
apart in height difference, which is not enough room to fit regular
tools between the two Eves to repair the the things that just need
to be repaired right now because East Texas is hard on wood that
you didn't get around to painting and like you can't swing a hammer
under there so I can't nail things up.
No.
And I can't actually fit my electric screwdriver under there with a
screw on it.
No.
Because it's too long.
So I have to use this goofy ass right angled screwdriver attachment
and it's like if Dr. Seuss built a screwdriver, an electric screwdriver,
this is what it would look like.
And if if I had made the roofs like eight inches further apart,
my life would be so easy right now and I didn't and it's harder.
Those those 90 degree attachments, I think are probably my favorite
tool.
I hope I don't need to use because when you need to use it like it's awesome,
but you really don't want to.
You don't want to be dealing with 50 feet of Eve that you need to take
all the screws out and then put all the screws back in.
That's for sure.
No, that's a lot.
It feels like a lot.
So yeah.
So yeah, we're both being carpenters except you get paid to do it and I
just have to make it up and be dumb.
I'm glad I get paid to do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So you're where are you at in your home getting ready to sell and do all
that stuff because that room looks much wider and cleaner than last time I
saw it.
Yeah, it's most of the rooms need to go through and be you know, be touched up
and have be repainted and I don't know three rooms have good flooring in them
that I've put in before three rooms need to have other flooring put in them
when the trim goes up depends on when the flooring goes in.
So they have to fix the garage.
I have a couple months worth of work to do still.
So yeah, I'm not happy but I mean, I'm getting stuff done like I'm working,
I'm working whatever seven to nine hours every day until I'm tired and I need to
stop.
And so I'm getting a tremendous amount done but there's never a morning where I
wake up and go, I wonder what I should do because what I should do is obvious.
Like all I have to do is roll out of bed and I'm like, well, I got to fix that.
And that's just how my life is.
We, well, Becky and I just went to Nashville.
She wanted to give me a birthday weekend away.
So we were kind of looking at places go and she had some good ideas and stuff and
we were kind of thinking about it is like, why don't we go to a place we haven't been
but like isn't super terrible far is like,
do you haven't been, haven't been in Nashville before?
I've been to or through it.
I've never like been there like spend like gone there to go there.
Right.
Yeah, I know the racetrack better than I know the town.
Right.
As many towns in America like that for me.
Yeah.
So yeah, we went, we went down there, had several friends who had spent some time down there.
So we got some good, some good advice on like places to eat best coffee in town sort of
thing, which Becky needs that information and I need Becky to have that information.
And I think the thing that struck me about it is like, it's not like a huge city.
Right.
I feel like, I feel like it's Indianapolis size.
That sounds right.
Yeah.
Which is like small city, but still city.
And I guess the thing that surprised me is one, the traffic on the highways are worse
than it is like in the town itself, which was kind of surprising to me.
But two, everybody was super nice there.
And I guess I didn't not expect that, but I was expecting like city people.
Instead, it was like Southern hospitality.
Um, but like, it felt like they actually meant it, you know?
Oh, okay.
Like sometimes Southern hospitality is like, Oh, bless your heart.
You're like, I'll pray for you sort of thing.
It's like, not sure what you mean by that.
Right.
But no, it's like genuinely nice and it was strange.
I also realized that I made a mistake by not bringing a hat because the dudes
generally wore hats.
Didn't have to be a cowboy hat, but like there were a lot of baseball hats and stuff.
I just noticed everyone was wearing hats.
It was like a thing.
Interesting.
And yeah, that was strange.
The other thing is definitely when we went down to Broadway on Friday night,
which is like the Nashville version of Vegas, I guess.
But we were trying to guess like how many live bands were playing at that very moment
on Friday night.
A lot.
A lot.
Like most buildings had three levels with a different band on each level.
That's insane.
Yeah, it was pretty wild.
And, you know, we were walking around and I had my green arcterics jacket on, which
like immediately set me apart.
Like I'm not from around here because that was,
no, that's, that's way more gear than you need in Nashville.
Yeah.
That's like Midwestern tech outerwear.
That's just not done.
Right.
So attire wise, I was a little, a little out of the ordinary.
Had some great things.
Like one of those things where like you go to go to Canada and everything's just a little
bit different.
Yeah.
And you're like, oh, so I'm not from here and everybody knows I'm not from here because
I'm just like 10% off.
Yes.
Probably 20, but yeah.
20.
Okay.
But yeah.
But yeah, had some really good donuts.
Got to see some of the Parthenon and stuff like that.
Checked out a cool arcade.
That was awesome.
We managed like, did you do pinball machines, video games?
What are you knocking out there?
Yeah.
So there's this place called game terminal in Nashville that it's like, it's in industrial.
Real land, which actually made the parking really nice.
It's like a bunch of freight and shipping companies.
And then like tucked back with spotlights on the roof and like color changing lights on
the outside of the building is this huge warehouse.
It's free to get in the most of the video games are free, but the pinball and some select
games cost money and then they have a bar and that's it.
And it was pretty dope.
That is pretty dope.
Yeah.
Saw and played a lot of games that were buried so deep in my subconscious.
I forgot that they ever existed.
What's your standout game that that shocked you that you played?
Um, I'm going to forget what it's called to missile control.
Oh yeah.
Yep.
Um, yeah.
It's been a hot minute since I've even thought about that.
Yeah.
The hot minute decades on decades on decades.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like the, the marble game marble madness played that a little.
Oh wow.
I haven't thought of that one in a long time.
Yeah.
Holy cow.
Um, played Frogger of course.
Of course.
Um, you know, the X may in arcade game.
Yep.
Never played that one, but I'm familiar with it.
Yep.
Uh, Turtles of course too.
Yeah.
They just like kind of had everything.
It was kind of cool.
Just Scott being nostalgic and playing video games.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we had some good food burgers.
Uh, really good pancake spot.
Uh, we ate a lot.
You had barbecue because that's kind of part of the world where you
need to have that, that Eastern barbecue.
We didn't have barbecue.
What?
Yeah.
I only kind of realized after we had left that like,
Becky was, I like by design, I really wanted Becky to like call
the shots.
Um, because I felt so busy recently and like just so many
things to do.
The thought of like researching and making decisions did not feel
relaxing to me, even if they were like cool things to go do.
Yeah.
I was just like, I don't, I don't want to have to think much.
I just want to be led around and like see cool stuff and eat cool
stuff.
That's the true luxury in life.
It's amazing.
And you could do that.
Um, yeah, we had talked about it.
I remember, but we had like pizza, we had burgers, we had pancakes,
we had donuts, we had ice cream.
Yeah.
Well, now you have a reason to go back to.
So it's fine.
And we did happen to find our way to the racetrack.
So of course, as one does.
Yeah.
One of the, there was like a garden sub, Becky really wanted to
go see, but it's closed right now.
Um, and like that morning I saw that the Toyota PE team had posted
that they were at Nashville and I'm like, what's your schedule?
Like, I know you guys.
Like what's your schedule?
So we, uh, we blasted out there, uh, said hi to everybody.
Uh, I think they reset the street tire record that weekend.
Sounds like them.
Yep.
Um, got that thing is wickedly fast straight line.
Is it?
Yeah.
I mean, it's what five, 600 horsepower, something like that.
I mean, it, it giddies up and goes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I got to, got to talk with them, uh, did a little bit of, um, ad hoc
coaching, uh, just can't help yourself.
Yeah.
And they were like, Hey, here's some video.
And I'm like, Oh, and we were watching while they were out there
and it's like, eh, it really kind of seems like this is happening.
It's like, yeah, I'm feeling that too.
So it's like, so it was good time though.
Um, yeah, got a bunch of work done in the car.
Like, like I said, stuff that I needed to get done.
And I just needed like hours of uninterrupted time, which I just
haven't had recently.
So needed someone else to drive you around so you could work on
stuff.
Yep.
Yep.
I mean, we still split the drive by like the big chunk in the, in
the middle was my work time.
So it sounds amazing.
It's good.
So you wanted to talk about your daughter.
Okay.
So I may be a failure as a parent.
I like this start.
Oh, it's that conversation.
Oh, see you say daughter and I automatically think of Sonia.
Right.
And I, I forget that you, you know, you have many kids.
I have a whole, I have a whole other daughter.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't think I've met her.
Have I?
You haven't because she's, she's the oldest.
She lives in Davis, California now.
Um, she graduated college a couple of years ago.
Um, moved out to LA because her boyfriend's out there.
And then due to some work opportunities, move up to Davis and
actually her work opportunities are what leads us on this crazy
adventure.
So her job, um, she is, she has a, a BSN, a bachelor of science
and nursing and is a, uh, an RN, but the career path she chose to
take as she is a, uh, tissue recovery, uh, person.
Okay.
And the, everybody looks at me like you just did and said, what
does that mean?
And my answer to that is if somebody has like an injury and
they're like, Oh, they needed cadaver tendon to fix that
injury, somebody has to go get that tendon.
And so she, yeah.
So a doctor doesn't just have like a body laying in the next
room and he's just cutting out what he needs.
He goes on whatever like a body parts Amazon thing and orders
up what, what they need.
And usually like a couple of tendons, a little bone to grind
up, you know, these, this and that and order in it, and it comes
to them.
And all this work is done by some, uh, some really remarkable
people that work in an industry that provides a really
useful and needed, uh, medical supplies, like things that are
needed for that.
And also really honors the last wishes of the people that have
passed away.
You know, they want to be, you know, in, in their last moments
on earth before they get buried or burned up.
They're like, anything you need, take it from me, please.
Um, and, and use that for the better of people that are still
alive.
Um, so she finds it to be a really, really rewarding career.
She's doing something that is, is, is useful for people and also
honors people's last wishes and she happens to work with really
good people.
So you, you described that so nice and so eloquently.
It almost makes me feel bad for what I'm about to say.
All right.
Is that, that sounds like the human version of like LKQ or car
part.com a hundred percent.
That's what it is.
I want to, I want to see the ordering process.
I would love to know like what the webpage looks like.
There have to be like grades of like this, this tendon is excellent.
This tendon, it's good.
It's got some minor stretching.
So like, don't put that in a young person sort of thing.
Like there's, there's got to be like mileage.
There has to be.
Um, yeah.
Are there pictures?
Do you get pictures?
I don't know.
She started doing this work in college.
She got a side gig with the Iowa eye bank, um, retrieving like
whole eyes and corneas for different purposes.
That weird to me.
Yeah.
Don't think about it too much.
Um, but yeah, like when, when things are recovered, there are
some things that are suitable for cornea transplants.
There are some things that are just suitable for research purposes.
Um, you know, some things go to, to medical students to work on
eyes.
I keep going.
I know, but yeah, I know you squint when you think about that.
But again, like super useful for those people that, that get new
corneas and can see again, amazing, like literally life changing.
And, you know, people who are, you know, in their dying moments
are like, I would love to help somebody.
Like I'm going, but I want to help somebody.
Cool.
We can do that.
So, um, yeah, I know there's grades of corneas and grades of
eyes, depending on what they're going to go do.
So I assume tendons, skin, bones, all sorts of stuff they harvest.
It's wild.
See, I'm, I'm really picturing, do you remember the movie Blade
Runner from back in the day?
Yup.
There was a scene where they manufacture eyeballs.
And so there's this workshop with just like eyeballs everywhere.
That's why I picked it.
And I was in Iowa, they had a fridge with eyeballs in it.
So, I mean, whatever.
Yeah.
I'm sure they still do.
I mean, unsung hero jobs right there.
Yeah.
So she, so she loves her work.
So she is in Davis, California now, which is sort of like the
southern part of Northern California.
And we promise that this is getting around to cars.
This, that's where I'm going right now.
Um, and in the three regions in California that, that, um, do this
work, she's in the Northern region.
And because of, if you're familiar with the population of
California, like Southern California, shit ton of people.
Central California Bay Area, shit ton of people.
North of Sacramento, nine people.
There's like, there's nobody who lives in Northern California
proportionally.
So the people who do the work that she's doing have to drive a
bunch.
They need to go to places where dead people are, to, to morgues,
to hospitals, to those sorts of things.
Um, to, depending on what's going on, they'll have big surgical
theaters to, to, to take the, the things that they need to take.
And, um, she, they have, they provide cars for them to drive.
And sometimes she has to drive, if there's a group of them that
needs to go, um, like three or four people that need to go,
they have to drive this, this Ford expedition that she hates.
And somehow like this group of people will make her drive it.
And she's like, it's terrible.
Like, and this is of my two daughters.
This is the slightly larger daughter, but she's still a very
small woman.
Sure.
Five, three, something like that.
And driving her an expedition, she's like, don't like it.
But when she has to go do things solo, um, go grab corneas or do
some of the things that are smaller, um, they give her a
Subaru Forester.
And I think it's not the, it's not the current, like a really
big Subaru Forester.
It's the one, the previous generation where the Forester was
just like a tall Impreza.
Sure.
Yeah.
The short, the short tall one.
Yeah.
So it's the last generation of like the Impreza based Forester
where you're like, I mean, it's a car.
It's just slightly tall.
Sure.
And she called me the other day just to talk and she said,
she started telling me about the cars they drive and I'm like,
this is weird.
And she said, the thing is, I get to drive a bunch all over
rural Northern California, which has some great roads.
And she said, I'm driving around the Subaru and she said, I like
it.
And she said, I think it like driving this car on the twisty
Northern California roads is fun.
Like she said, I genuinely enjoy driving this Subaru around.
Is this out of character for her to like care about cars in this
way?
Yeah.
Or to like consider them at all.
Yeah.
I mean, she's, when I was teaching her to drive, she came
and she autocrossed once with me autocross the Chevy Volt that we
had at that point because I thought learning to autocross the car
you're driving is useful.
I had a first gen Forester at the time and taught her to drive a
manual transmission sort of around the parking lot and a little bit
on roads just because I thought it was knowledge she needed to
have.
And then she was like, cool.
I did that.
Can I never do that again?
I was like, it's fine.
Just needed to do that.
And, you know, she was like 11 or 12.
She went to a rallycross with me in Louisiana, did a rallycross
daddy daughter rallycross weekend.
So, you know, she gets to ride around on a rallycross car.
So she's like sort of grown up steeped in automotive stuff.
It's just sort of like, I'm aware of it, but whatever.
It's fine.
And she tells me she's like driving the Subaru around Northern
California is fun.
She said, I, I'm almost considering what it would be
like to buy an old Subaru as a track car.
As a track car.
She said that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
She's like, she's like as a race car, you don't get a helmet
and like, if I do a bunch of tracks, I put a cage in it and
like, because she's, she's aware of what all of this stuff is.
She knows what it means.
Right.
But she's like, this is driving is fun and I can see myself
purchasing a Subaru and a helmet and going driving.
See, if she had stopped at, I'm considering purchasing a Subaru
period end of story.
Like, sure, sure.
But then once you add in the helmet, things, things get weird
really quick.
I said, what is it?
She has just enough knowledge firsthand and familial knowledge
to understand what it means to be like, no, I want to take a
car and go do fun driving with it, whether it be autocross
or track stuff or like, like she, she, she knows she's not
one of those people who doesn't know and then makes a decision.
But does she know about Subaru's in particular?
That's the thing is she doesn't.
She just knows she's been driving around this Forester and
it's kind of the most fun she's had in a car and she knows
that people buy Subaru's to have fun in them and the connection
is made in her head and I don't, I don't know what to say.
This is a no win situation for you.
You realize that you can't say, yeah, honey, that's a great idea
because you would be leading your daughter into a life of pain.
But on the other hand, you can't say no because she's excited
about tracking a car.
Right.
That's, I feel like I, I missed a huge part of her education
that would have made this seem obviously terrible.
You've, like your daughter has checkmated you into, into
something that you weren't prepared for, like good for her.
She, like she picked the thing.
And I do think she talked herself out of it because she's,
she said, if I continue to live in Davis, I think I would do that,
but she's, she is going to move back to Los Angeles to, to be,
to live with her boyfriend again and move into the, the tissue
recovery culture that's there.
I mean, has she considered a Honda Fit or a Mazdi too?
Well, that's the thing.
So that was the thing is, is do you, in a situation like this,
do you just sort of go, tracking cars is a bad idea and leave it at that?
Or do you try to direct that energy in a more positive life affirming direction?
Well, how old is she right now?
She is, oh God, my wife's going to be like 24.
Okay.
Just about 25.
Actually, when, by the time the show comes out, she'll probably be 25.
So this is the stage in life where kids start coming back to parents
for like advice and like talking.
Cause it's like, yeah, I know she called you.
She just calls to talk cause she likes to talk about stuff
and catch up with things and see what's going on in my life.
And yeah.
So she's a delightful young woman.
I love talking to her.
I did love talking to her.
I'm scared.
But I mean, it's like the best thing you can do is like not encourage,
not discourage, not guide in any way whatsoever.
Just like, huh, why have you been thinking about that?
That's interesting.
I'm thinking about doing this, huh?
You know, it's like, it's that kind of questioning and like being interested
without guiding at all.
Because like if she really wants your opinion, she will ask for it.
And that's the thing.
It felt like she was kind of poking around the edges.
Like kind of, you know, if I was going to be super excited that she did this,
but I can't, I cannot be super excited at the prospect of one of my children
in their mid twenties thinking they might want to purchase a Subaru
to go do performance driving.
I really can't.
I really have to give it to Subaru's marketing department in the early
2000s, 2010s, like their marketing for the WRX and STI has it lodged
in people's brains.
Like it's the whole rally thing, right?
That these are go fast cars for not much money.
And they were, they genuinely were.
But the reliability side in taking these things on track versus dirt.
Well, in the street cars, like they're fine.
Yep.
Like if you buy them and go to the grocery store and do an occasional
spirited drive on Northern California roads, they're fine.
I mean, it's that's what happens when you lay the heads 90 degrees on their
side with no room for the oil to get back.
Sometimes it doesn't go back.
Yeah.
So overfill or heavy oil.
Ta-da.
So yeah, this was a, I, I, I sort of did what you're suggesting,
which is I was like, that's, that's interesting.
Those are what makes you feel that way.
That's a strong choice.
Yeah.
Would this be a good, without, without suggesting other cars.
I'm waiting for her to, to come back and, and, you know, be like,
I'm still thinking about this and be like, all right,
if you're still thinking about it, then it's time to have a conversation.
It's one of those things like if you need to talk.
Yeah.
Like I'm thinking, you know, they, they casually bring up a tattoo
and you're like, Oh yeah, people get tattoos.
That's interesting.
And the second time they come back and they're like, so I'm thinking
about this tattoo and you're like, all right, let's sit down.
Consider what we're really doing here.
Let's talk about the rotaries and the boxers.
This, this will permanently alter the course of your life, much
like a tattoo could.
So yeah, you gotta, gotta think about this.
This doesn't, this doesn't go away once you start down this path.
So.
No, that's interesting.
Yeah.
I was like, maybe I can like direct you towards a BRZ or something.
Which is the least, certainly the least bad option.
They're, they're getting old enough now that they're affordable.
And they're the, really the least Subaru of the Subaru.
Yeah.
Unfortunately they contain like the one bad part of the Subaru is,
you know, the motor.
Yeah.
Everything else in the car is great.
They were okay.
They were okay.
Yeah.
And I don't think she would be chasing power.
Think of like a much younger version of your mom.
Sure.
The experience.
Yeah.
She considered her Miata.
In the thing is we had Miata's when she was growing up, right?
Like they were around before she left for, for her college thing.
Like we were talking about, like she was looking at a four door wagon,
basically hatchback, big SUV, not big, but like mid-sized SUV.
And here we're talking about two door sports groups.
Like we're, you're not ready to have this conversation with her.
Her first, her first college car was a fit.
Right.
So she knows fits.
Yeah.
I bought the Mazda two when she was young.
That's what we rarely cross.
She knows Mazda twos.
Yeah.
I don't understand why this Subaru has taken hold of her and become a reasonable idea.
None of it makes sense.
So what's the next?
Okay.
Let's theory craft this.
So if we're thinking about like practicality concerns, you know, she's a little bit older
now.
She's more refined, I presume as a human being than a Honda fit.
So like what's the more grown up version of a Honda fit that has the same kind of utility?
We're in a really weird time for like semi inexpensive track cars anyway.
Yep.
Like what do you get if you're looking for 10 or 12 year old track cars?
Well, 10 or 12 year old four doors with utility.
Let's say not a sports car.
Right.
So not a Miata, not a BRZ necessarily all the BRZ is like the highest on my list of what
I would suggest.
I mean a TSX, but that only, I say only, but that's only has a trunk.
Right.
I mean, and immediately my brain goes to WRX has a hatch.
Right.
Like kind of that one.
There's just not, I'm thinking like, what do people bring to the racetrack?
Like any civic hatch is too old.
Yep.
Cause the fit, I mean, I mean, honestly, first gen fits are old kind of old janky cars at
this point.
Yeah.
I mean, the third gens aren't new.
Right.
Been out for a hot minute.
Most of the twos are great.
They're old.
They're old and they're slow, like slow.
Can you imagine going out for like, well, so Becky doesn't drive it slow, but, but think
of what people bring to beginner HPD days.
Right now.
300 horsepower or more.
Yeah.
Now show up at a Mazda two and you're just going to be a rolling chicane.
Like it'll be cool, but you're going to get smushed.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Four door utility that's relatively reliable on the track with a reasonable purchase
price.
I feel like is a fine needle to the rest.
Do we start looking at like Kia Rios?
Do you get a hold of, get a hold of Bob Miller and be like, all right, Bob, what's the best
I mean, out of the Sunday cup cars, it's probably, I feel weird saying this, but it's
probably the most grown up of the law.
Oh, that feels weird.
It does.
Yeah.
I mean, unless you're looking at like the newer EVs, which kind of takes price to another
notch.
Yeah.
And it adds a layer of complexity to the whole thing that, you know, now you, you have to
take it to tracks that have the charging infrastructure and deal with that sort of thing.
So it's true.
Um, yeah, I don't know.
Like I'm, I'm still, I've been thinking about this for like a week and a half.
Like, like, what do I, as a parent, what do I do here?
Because I've never been the parent.
Go ahead.
I've never been the parent who's like, I love racing, so you should love racing too.
And everyone, all my children should go racing and do all this.
I've, I've been pretty, I've thought it was pretty important to, to let my kids explore
the world as, as they felt, um, join them in, in the explorations, the things that they
were passionate about, do what I could to join them in that.
And if they showed interest in some of the things that I had interest in, welcome them
into that and, and give them a chance to do it.
But I'm not, I'm not a race dad who's like, my kid's definitely going to be pro.
Like that's right.
And Lord knows I'm not aside from the fact that my other daughter is going, literally
going to college for motorsports engineering.
Um, like I'm not encouraging my children to get into racing.
That's ridiculous.
No one should do that.
Yeah.
Here we are, Seth.
I know.
I thought I was safe.
Uh, this is, I love this for you.
It's terrifying.
So what we should do is we should ask the audience.
Yes.
For suggestions because you and I, I don't think are the most creative when it comes
to like vehicle solutions all the time.
And so I would think because again, she's had like utility cars, even if they're
small, she's had like utility cars and she's being drawn to this utility vehicle.
So I'm going to put the stipulation that it's got to be four door.
Okay.
It needs to have a hatch, a wagon.
It's got to have a butt.
Got to be able to put stuff in the bag.
Okay.
Uh, purchase price needs to be reasonable.
I'm saying under 15.
Yeah.
Certainly.
Okay.
Under 15.
Uh, and needs to be relatively reliable on the track.
Yeah.
She's, she's the kind of young person.
Like we've known a bunch of people who got into cars at this stage in life, early to
mid twenties.
Yeah.
Having interesting cars.
Like can, like she could change the oil on a car.
You'd need to walk her through it the first time, but she's done it.
I made her change the oil on a car once, twice.
Um, so she's kind of like, she has this, this passing familiarity with things and might
have an interest as so many people we know do or did at that age.
And then it just sort of aided them and aided them and aided them until they got into the
hobby.
Um, so this is, this, this question is about my daughter, but it's also about what would,
what do you wish 22 to 25 year old you had done differently when you were starting to
get interested in cars?
Just to make your life, make the whole process better.
I don't know.
I made a decent decision going to buy an AO turbo PT cruiser.
Yeah.
I mean, that's amazing.
Oh my God.
Yeah.
Because I had a naturally aspirated one.
It was a five speed.
So at least it wasn't like horribly slow.
But then of course, like through the forum, everyone's like, uh, really just get the
turbo. It's just better in every way sort of thing.
They're not wrong.
And so in finding that, like, I knew I wanted it in blue.
I think this was the last time I had like a color preference when I went and looked
for a vehicle.
Okay.
Needed to be a blue needed to be a turbo needed to be a base level five speed.
So like no sunroof.
Right.
The satin wheels, not the chrome wheels, even though that ultimately didn't matter.
But I had to be a five stock wheels.
Yeah.
And sure enough, I found one in Arizona when I was living in Florida.
I mean, it could be farther away.
Yep.
So over a three day weekend, I flew out Thursday night after school got out.
This was when I was a teacher.
So I flew out Thursday night, stayed with some PT cruiser friends who drove me out
used to be cool Friday morning.
I got it.
Saying these words out loud is very strange drove me out to meet the guy in the morning
test.
Jarvis looked over it seemed good and fine.
So we did the deal and then we immediately went to a PT cruiser get together.
Amazing.
Um, say a little later than I wanted to considering the huge drive I had ahead of me.
And so left Phoenix made it to El Paso that night stayed in El Paso.
I didn't know at the time it was fine.
El Paso is still a really long way away from Florida.
Yeah.
So I got on the road at five a.m. Saturday morning and I didn't get into Florida until
three a.m. the following morning.
And that was with some pretty bad speeding through West Texas.
Yeah.
Cause you're coming down those like mountains.
That's nothing but sand and you can see an awfully long way to see if there's a cop
up ahead and it's like, Hey, no cop.
I have a turbo now.
Anyway, enough about me.
So four door hatchback or wagon, uh, fairly reliable under sub $15,000 purchase price.
And it can't be one of those.
So it's like, well, you can get one under 15.
You're going to have to do some work on it.
No.
God, I'm weird.
People are going to recommend like Passat wagons or something.
Oh, that seems like a struggle.
Anything VW seems like a struggle bus.
I know that's it.
Like let's talk about a lateral move from Subaru's Holy cow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
All right.
This is why we're, we're listing help.
We need help.
I need help.
I'd say write in, but, uh, that's not how things are done anymore.
Uh, join the discord link is really the thing to do and tell Seth how he can be a better
dad by suggesting what vehicle his daughter needs to get.
Please.
And I don't know, we'll see how it goes.
We are at track walking podcast and all the socials.
Like I said, the discord link is where we hang out, click it, join, say hi.
It's good, weird fun.
Cause you know, that's who we are as people, uh, like share review, smash, all that good
stuff.
To help out the podcast.
And, uh, yeah, that'll do it for this weird parenting episode this week.
I'm Scott.
And I'm Seth.
We'll talk to you next.
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