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Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas Eve Eve

Off Track with Hinch and Rossi Dec 23, 2025 42 min
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About this episode

A lighthearted conversation unfolds around the quirky debate of what to call December 23rd—Christmas Eve Eve—and the nuances of holiday traditions among the hosts. They share personal stories about family celebrations, gift-giving, and festive drinks. The discussion shifts to civics with insights into the US naturalization test and a playful take on personal wealth goals. Later, they touch on IndyCar topics including new officiating hires, race schedules, and the importance of stakeholder input. The episode closes with a somber tribute to the Biffle family tragedy and warm holiday wishes.

Topics: christmas eve eve debate holiday traditions naturalization test personal wealth goals phone insurance indycar officiating changes 2027 indycar schedule race start times biffle family tragedy holiday wishes
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This is off track.
So what are we gonna talk about for 45 minutes here?
Jimbo .
So, Merry Christmas. Merry
Christmas, Tim.
It's Christmas week. It's
Not Christmas yet.
It's not Christmas yet, but like we're, when This comes out Christmas Eve.
Eve, Christmas Eve? No,
No, it's the Eve the fourth.
No, come out the 23rd. That's
Not Christmas.
Eve. Eve, that's the 23rd.
It's the eve of Christmas Eve.
It's technically Christmas Eve. Eve, bro. Yeah,
No, I hate to agree with Tim on this one. But
Like Christmas Eve, Eve would be the evening of Christmas Eve, which would be the 21st?
No, it's the, because you're saying like Eve, like the night before, using that context like all Hollows Eve or Christmas Eve.
So this is the night before. The night before. Yeah.
But all Hollows Eve is talking about that night. No,
It's, it's the night before November 1st, which is All Saints Day.
So it should be All Saints E then That's how all Hallows Eve.
Well, it should be All Saints Eve then.
Well, it wasn't. So that's where we are.
Right. So where, where we are is,
you're not entirely correct.
You're not entirely wrong.
I'm pretty sure. I think you're just,
it was a weird hill for you to die on.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve is the 22nd. Yeah,
I suppose. Yeah.
No, no, you guys are, no, you could do it In perpetuity Because you, you like, you call the 24th Christmas Eve, right? Like that's the whole day.
The Eve before. Yeah. Yeah.
'cause it's the, the night before the eve Christmas, you know, Eve is short for evening.
Right. So then why then during the day,
do you still call it Christmas Eve?
It's still the day it's, its thing. It's still
The day you just said that Eve means evening.
Yeah. Yeah, because we've taken Eve to mean the evening.
Not gonna four different day still the same day of that evening.
I don't under, I'm confused by your confusion here. Yeah. ,
I'm confused by the entire position you guys are are taking on this.
Usually, usually it's Tim and you versus me trying to come up with some propaganda as to why you guys are wrong.
But , I just think Christmas Eve Eve is a really poor way to say the 23rd.
Well, guess what? It's the episode title now,
and I'm use your photo for the thumbnail so it'll have it on there. You think either either of
Those things affect my day at All?
Think the 20, you think the 23rd is a more festive way of saying Christmas, e, ev or of saying that than saying Christmas Eve.
It's a more accurate way and I think it has fewer Question marks.
Honestly, honestly, I think it's in, in some ways it's more precise because Than the actual date of .
Yes, because here's the thing, I am willing to argue that there are certain <crosstalk>, We know that, That there are certain individuals that do not know what day Christmas Eve is. So the fact that
Christmas like The date.
Yes. So that means
You think there are people that don't know that Christmas Eve is the 24th of December?
Yes. I That's
Tim, you can, you Can have the Christmas Eve thing with him.
I But you are not siding with him on this.
I I'm trying to dude, like think of who, uh, . No,
I'm not saying, I'm not saying anyone that we know.
I'm saying you've seen some of these videos and they're like named three countries and it's like America, California, that's .
That's, there are a lot of stupid people.
So there are, so I feel like people might not know that Christmas Eve, it's December 24th, whereas if you say Christmas Eve Eve, they'll be like, oh.
So that's the day before, the day before Christmas.
And you guys it wild were worried they wouldn't anything to talk about . It's
Wild that you think that people that that challenged are gonna be able to decipher that rather than just know that Christmas the 24th.
Listen James, this is not probably something that I should share.
And it is not all her fault.
Kelly. Kelly didn't know that <inaudible> was the 24th.
No, but, uh, Kelly's, Kelly's studying for her, um, naturalization test.
Hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm .
And it did take a little bit for us to memorize what Bay Independence Day was.
Oh, Really?
Mm-hmm . Huh?
Like, I would say the third biggest holiday.
Yeah. It's July. The VE July . Correct.
Correct. Um, like we've got it now
and like we even know what the Federalist Papers are and you know who wrote them.
So like, I think I have a copy of 'em over there. We've we've
Progressed Significantly.
So, so my point is it's not improbable to think. Right.
Okay. I see how you got there.
Let's now circle back to that.
So the, the the, I guess it's like a preparatory like exam that you take, right?
Or like mm-hmm . There's questions that you study.
There are, and one of 'em was when's Independence Day?
And she was like, well, I don't know.
And you're like, well, July 4th.
That's, that's what July 4th is. Like.
You've heard of July 4th, you know that July 4th is a holiday.
Sure. That's what it is. Independence Day. Sure. Oh, okay.
Did it take more than that? No. Oh, okay.
I you made it sound like it took her a while to like, for it to set in, you had to like remind her multiple times.
But all of that I'm saying is like, these aren't just default things.
Mm-hmm . Especially if you're Jewish.
Touche. So she's Canadian. Touche Canadian.
So why would she know what independence is?
She gets less with past, 'cause she's lived in America for like eight years.
So I don't, at this point probably should have known what Independence Day was.
I don't know that they, well, really It's also like so close to Canada Day.
That was like one of the cool things about them as we, our birthdays are kind of close. So
Here's a, here's a fair statement.
I have no idea what day Canada is.
Are you serious? July 14th. July 14th. I,
Yeah.
Wow. And the fact
that Tim doesn't either makes me feel so much better about my, For sure.
You must feel like what You must feel Moon, You guys don't get to celebrate independence when you politely asked for independence and only kind of got it.
So I don't accept that as a real holiday. Mm.
I Disagree. Like ours involve
treason, you know, and a war. That's how it should be.
Yeah. You guys had a war about it.
No. So we day asked this. Can today
I am, I I I'm not entirely sure if you're <inaudible> with me or not. .
Dude, I'm not. I have no idea.
And honestly, I don't really care.
I'm just more curious at this point.
That's just hurtful. July.
July. It's basically Canadian now.
Well, no, he July 1st. He literally told you it was July.
July 1st. July 1st. I knew it was July. Okay.
Wow guys, I'm, I'm a little, I'm a little hurt. I'm a little hurt. So,
So June 31st is Canada Eve.
Yes. , we can agree on that.
That's the name of the that's the title of the, of the episode.
Wait, no. June, June 31st is Canada Day Eve.
How many days in June? Oh, 30, 30
June 30th.
This is a mess. Yeah, this is a mess.
So I, I do want you to tell her that, that you did not know what Candle day was.
I'll make her feel better. Um, and, and
Here's, here's, here's what's, um, pretty wild is, so the naturalization test, uh, for those that don't know is, um, they give you a sample of like 120 questions and they will ask you, I think 15 and you have to get Only 15, A 70% on it.
So, so you can miss some.
Um, but they recommend obviously memorizing all 120 because, you know, for obvious reasons.
I would say I only knew 80, 85 of the 120.
Like, I've actually learned some stuff helping Kelly study four.
I kind of want to take that test now.
I know, I'm, I'm super fascinated.
Do you have the questions? Like is there like
a, like a pdf f you Could send us?
Yeah, send I'll send you the, I'll send you the pdf.
Tim will get Yeah, I would love to do that.
17 of the hundred 20, I'm sure. Yeah.
I really wanna see how I do.
So you got 80 Alex?
No, I'm guesstimating that I I knew 80 to 85 of them. Okay.
Yeah. I didn't take the Test.
Let's, but pick a number.
Pick a number that you think you got 82 A score.
I didn't Well that would be look almost a d An 82.
Well, no, 82 of one 20.
That's pretty low percentage. Yeah,
But is that like that roughly?
Sure. I just wanna, yeah, 82. Sure. All right.
I'm gonna take the test and I'm gonna see how far off what do think It's not a Test, it's just a study guide.
No, no, but you gotta be pretty, those questions. Yeah.
Yeah. Right. But the answers are there.
So anyways, well, I'll see what I'm saying. I'll play around then,
And then I'll, I'll take the Canadian one and I'll send it to you and we can compare notes.
Oh Lord. My dad did the Canadian one,
he got the five Great Lake wr, the five Great Lake Lakes names wrong because he was like, well, I didn't think Lake Michigan was a Canadian great Lake Bear.
So I, I was, I was talking to a friend of mine about this and he, he was like, man, all Americans should have to take this test.
Like, it should just be a good reminder every, you know, five to 10 years of the things that you forgot from high school history.
Because unfortunately it doesn't all stay with you as much as you would think it does.
Just like the pyre and theorem.
Right. Okay. But so to that point, now that you've gone
through the 120 or 125 questions or whatever that are potentially on the test.
Mm, how many of them would you say are like, kind of super irrelevant in modern day?
Like, there's no need for a a US citizen to know today.
There's gotta be a couple in there, obviously.
I'm gonna say the 35. I missed ,
But is it like, is it like, there were, there were five in there that you're like, all right, it's not, you know, 1884 anymore.
We don't need to know that.
Or is it like 30 that you're like, Ooh, this was clearly written a long time ago and this isn't super relevant anymore. Um,
No.
I'd say it's only a couple where you're like, that's pointless.
The rest are, well, let's Good. I would say,
I would say a solid hundred you should know.
Fair enough. I don't, I don't hate that
I'm all for, I'm all for civics and gov classes, uh, being taken more seriously in high school. Think it be good thing God
Poli Sci University was my least favorite class.
It was worse. I know that's not the same,
But we obviously thank you so much.
Took something out of it that, you know what day Canada is.
Yeah. That wasn't covered. Nevermind.
Um, I have a, I have a question.
Has anyone ever asked you if you have like a, like a personal wealth goal?
No. No. No one's ever asked you like, Hey,
like what's your number that you could just, like, My Answer is not care anymore More, Just always more.
There is not enough for Alex Rossi. Yeah.
Okay. That's, That's a fair answer.
I, I imagine that's a pretty common answer.
Sure. Yeah. I'm not asking you
to give me a number, Tim.
I'm just saying that recently No, No one wouldn mind winning this Powerball or whatever for 1.5 billion
1.5.
Is it back again? It was just there. Yeah. Point
Time.
I saw it was like 900 something Not that is a drawing.
Is there a drawing tonight? Tomorrow. Okay. Hell yeah.
I have time to get to go Get some Ticks.
Local pm Shout out Connor da Shout out God or no.
But I, I've been asked that question before and I've thought about that question before and it was always, you know, just like some number.
Right. But I think I've changed my opinion on this. Now.
Is the number higher or lower? That's all we need to know.
It's not a number, huh? Yeah.
My new, my new personal wealth goal is Happiness.
Is, is Fulfilling.
Have an iPhone without, have an iPhone without a case. . 'cause
If I'm Christian, Rasmussen's there, , Well, good on 'em.
I'm not because Okay.
The way I look at it, right, if you have an iPhone without a case, you need to have a brand new iPhone as a backup, basically on your person at all times.
Right. Or like within, very close to you.
You need to have a, an immediate backup. Right?
This is how I would want to conduct myself and with how often I drop my phone and I have a case.
'cause clearly I haven't reached my goal yet.
I have a scooch case. This is not an ad.
I love these things that are amazing. Scooch wing men.
Shout out those guys. I, I'm gonna guess based on
how often I drop my phone, I would probably smash five iPhones a year.
So that means that I need to be comfortable spending the cost of like six iPhones a year without really it bothering me or affecting anything.
And I'm just not there. I'm just not there. What
I've gleaned from this, um, conversation is, uh, two things.
One, you've never heard of phone insurance and two, you are inspired by drug dealers.
The first one I follow, I I See the first one.
Yeah. . The second one. I have questions.
They always have like, it like, do you think of it as like a burner phone?
They always have two phones. Dude. They always have two
Phones.
Oh. I mean, a lot of people have two phones.
A lot of people have like a work phone and a personal Phone.
Well, okay, but again, the second phone is an active, the second phone is in a box in your like backpack or Like, let's just stick to the first, the first thing.
Have you ever heard of phone insurance?
Um, I rock a case more so because it's just too slippery without it.
Yes. Not 'cause I'm concerned about damaging it. Mm-hmm .
And I will go through two a year, potentially three.
And it costs me, I don't know, $8 a month and they just send me a new one. So, so
You, you, I feel like you is that If you can afford $96, then you've hit your Personal Is that through Apple?
No, it's through Verizon dog. Through
Your provider.
You get phone insurance. Yeah. Or eight bucks a month.
And if you smash a brand new iPhone, run over With my car.
It'll just send you a new IPhone throw pool for s and giggles. Yeah.
And you're, Hmm. And your premiums never go up?
No. I gotta be honest,
I don't know if my provider offers that service.
You probably do. Just never thought
About it like a clown.
What's that? You're on at t like a clown .
I got Verizon internet, so Oh. Oh wait. Does Verizon own
No.
Xfinity? No. Comcast does.
Oh. Oh yeah. I got Comcast. That's who I got.
Anyways, well get phone insurance and then you've hit your wealth goal, then you'll need to come up with something new because, 'cause I took this outta the case to clean it and I was just like, God, it feels so nice.
You're right. It is way too slippery. Mm-hmm .
And like, without something to hold it, it is way less practical.
Sure. But there's just something so nice about being able
to rock a, a caseless phone.
Well, again, Christian Rasmussen rocks a caseless phone at all times. Chrism
Christian Rasmuson walks a line of risk that I am not comfortable with.
Okay. both on track and off.
That, that, that that kid is reckless.
And I, and I am not here for it on his offtrack stuff, the OnTrack stuff, it's very entertaining for me in my current role.
Scarier for you guys that are sharing the track with him, but he's pulling it off, so credit to him, but I'm just not, I'm just not there.
I'm just not there. Fair. It
Just feels naked having your phone outta the case.
I just took it out and I, they do, they, I mean, they look incredible.
Like, shout out Apple, apple designers Feel incredible. Um,
Yeah, it's just for me it's the, the slippage.
Um, all right. Yeah. So
Let's, I mean, it is Christmas week.
I know we have probably had this conversation multiple times over the years, but we get new listen listeners every month.
Would you ask for from Santa?
Sure. We can do that. And let's just talk about like
Christmas traditions, you know, if you have any or if you had any growing up Yeah.
That you had fun memories of Let's go around the horn and, and talk about Christmas traditions. Timbo.
Oh, we're starting with me. Alright. Yeah.
It did occur to me yesterday that I have never been outside of Indiana for Christmas.
Okay. Uh, so I'm always, I've,
I've always either lived in India or come home for it.
Back in the day we used to go down to Seymour Indiana to go spend it with my, uh, my grandparents don't really do that anymore, but yeah.
So it's just always coming home. I don't know.
I I didn't ask for anything this year though.
Did you guys ask for anything good?
No, I feel like you reach an age and it's not really about that anymore.
I also feel like I don't have impulse control.
So like, whenever I see something that I, I'm, it'd be like, oh, that'd be good to get.
Like, I, I just get it.
Right. We have, well there's Tim's wealth goal. . Yeah.
What do you get? The guy that's got everything,
he literally has a 3D printer, , which is one of the most like, outrageous, luxurious things you can have.
And if you don't have what you want, you could just make it now. So
I did print a part that broke on my tripod the other day. There
You go.
There. Did you print me my max for Stepin song?
Little Maker's, no noise maker machine.
Nothing. Just upset me.
Do do, I'm gonna need you to look into that. What is it?
Do, do, do, do, do, do.
Yeah. That's it.
Um, what about like on Christmas morning?
Do you have like a certain, like when you were a kid, was it the same kind of, We would always do routine.
One gift on Christmas Eve. Not Christmas Eve.
Eve On Christmas Eve, That'd be 23rd, so that'd be silly.
Uh, but no, just normal Christmas stuff.
Larry getting drunk on screwdrivers as soon as he wakes up and screwdrivers.
That's his Christmas drink. That's
His Christmas drink.
Yeah. That, that's an interesting question.
What is a Christmas cocktail? Eggnog.
I say cocktail Is the way I make it. .
Okay. What is a Christmas? What is a, what is a Sessionable
Hot Todd Christmas cocktail.
Hot wine. Hot wine. Yeah. So everything's hot.
I've, I've, I've seen like a, um, like a cinnamon.
Cinnamon old fashion. Mm.
Okay. Kind of. Now we're getting somewhere.
Cinnamon Maple. Maple cinnamon, old fashion. Very
Canadian of you.
Yeah. Which I'm not against. Yeah.
We just, we drink a lot of champagne, I think.
I think that's kind of our Christmas drink.
Oh, wealth goals. There you go. Yeah.
Replace the water with Champs.
He is just using his, his his bare iPhone as a coaster.
taking Jesus, turning water into wine a little too literally. .
Yeah. What about, what about you James?
Any good traditions you're looking forward to? Well,
Ours are like all the tra So my mom, you know, I've talked about this year before, like my mom is a Christmas nut.
Like she loves Christmas.
She is like the, the Clark Griswolds of Canada and just loves Christmas so much.
And so, like growing up Christmas was the best.
Like we had incredible Christmases.
Mom always outdid herself and mom and dad always did a great job.
But mom was the driving force.
And so now, you know, we're all older and kind of like you said, it's not like none of us really ask for gifts anymore.
Like, I'm the youngest in my family and I'm 39 now.
You're welcome. Um,
but we have, um, you know, we have, we have a niece now.
Like I've, I've got a 5-year-old niece, my sister's daughter.
And so it's, it's all now about her.
And it's like seeing those traditions that we had as kids, like my mom and my sister have kind of kept out for Kaleigh and it's kind of fun watching it on this side now.
So it's, our thing was always when you woke up in the morning, Santa had placed your stocking on your door of your bedroom.
So that way if you woke up super early, you could go open that in your room and not like wake up mom and dad and at some obnoxious hour because you wanted to get going.
So that was like a nice way to keep the kids occupied for, you know, at least till you could get to seven o'clock or like a reasonable time to wake up.
Um, so like now we do that with Kalee and then we come down and it's breakfast and it's presents and it's champagne less for Kalee.
Um, we give her ginger ale and a champagne flute.
She doesn't know the difference. It's pretty funny.
encouraging drinking at a young age, maybe. I don't know.
I'm not sure if that's a bad thing, but, um, yeah, that's the fun thing for us now is getting to watch kinda the other side of it and, you know, um, we do the one present on Christmas Eve thing too, and Santa Claus comes by to visit sometimes.
Oh, it's good. Good.
Alex, what are your Christmas traditions?
Well, James, I don't have any, um, You gonna start some now with Ben's first Christmas?
Maybe, maybe not.
I mean, he doesn't really, he doesn't really know the difference much.
Like, he's like one of those people that doesn't know what day of the month Christmas Eve is. Um,
He definitely does not know what Christmas Eve Eve is.
I will say that ever since Kelly and I have lived together, um, I will, I refuse to do anything but a real tree.
Um Oh, that's Okay. I
Respect that.
And that will be, that will be for as long as there's us in the house and especially when there's a kid in the house. Um,
Until you establish that set kid is allergic to real pine trees and then you have to get a fake One.
Yeah, we're gonna try and keep Ben out of the 2025 allergic to air thing if we can mm-hmm .
But we'll see. Mm-hmm . It might, it might get us.
Um, so that, I, I would say that's, that's it so far.
Um, but I, yes.
Where are you guys going to be on Christmas day?
We will be in Markham James. We'll be in Markham just
Previewing the track.
Just so excited for the, Honestly.
Yeah. Mindy just, just going out
and walking it just all day. Um, so is it
Just like a big PR stunt, Trying to get as much advantage as I can.
You've got an indie card done up like a sleigh and you're gonna go around Mark and hand out presents.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's actually, um,
we really shouldn't talk about it because might get in trouble, you know, extra testing.
The old Christmas Test.
Um, so since you and Kelly have been together, have you ever done Christmas in Indie?
We have COVID. We did Christmas in Indie in 2020. Right.
But much like you were saying, uh, Kelly's brother and sister between them have five kids under I think 10, nine, I don't know how old Harry is.
11 whatever, young. Right.
So it is, as much as it's chaos for most of the week, Christmas morning takes on a whole new sort of experience because you get to see five kids just thinking it's the best day ever.
Um Yeah. Which is, which is pretty cool.
And they, they kind of do it in the, you know, you go in order and you like kind of go around in a circle so everyone opens one present and moves on to the next kid or whatever.
And Harry's old enough now where he like realizes that he wants to have kind of the most presence at the end.
So he'll be like, oh, like you can go, or , he wants like to prolong the process Right.
So that he can Open binge at that at the end.
Binge at the end, but also like open gifts for the longest amount of time as possible.
Right. Um, 'cause it's so much fun, so clever.
That's, that's pretty funny.
Um, and yeah, it's, um, listen, it's just nice to have an excuse to get up there and visit extended family and especially with Ben to show, um, give everyone a chance to hang out with him and, and see how much he's grown since they saw him in May.
Is there, is there anyone that hasn't met Ben yet that's gonna be meeting Ben at Christmas?
Is there anyone that hasn't met Ben yet that is going to be No, everyone's met Him.
Like he's met all his cousins and he is met. Mm-hmm .
You know, he's met everybody. Oh, that's good.
He has at least it's, yeah. Tremendous. He hasn't met
Met Santa yet. Obviously
Santa hasn't met Santa yet.
Are you gonna do like the go to the mall and get a picture?
Absolutely not. Dude. it does
not seem like a you thing.
I love the mall. Santa. I love a good mall. Santa Did
You mall Santa as a kid, Tim?
I didn't, but I made sure Hazel did.
But like Hazel ever A sold live by the Grove, so we would just go to The Grove and do it.
Oh true. Pretty good. Mall Santa.
I was gonna say That's Pretty good.
Mall Santa. I imagine that one's pretty pretty Bu
Pizzas a Markville mall.
Mm-hmm. Which is I think
where I saw my Santa most of the time growing up.
I am excited. I I did as a Christmas gift,
I signed Hazel up for Space Camp, so, oh, that's, looking forward to that.
Speaking my language.
Is she going to the Cape or is she going to Birmingham?
Birmingham. Oh,
Incredible facility.
But I was talking over with her mom and, and her mom's like, you know, I just dunno if she's ready for sleepaway camp yet.
I was like, I I think she'll be fine.
But as a compromise, um, I'm also going to Space Camp.
Is that like are you, Are you right now we're doing the family one now.
Now we're, Hazel and I are gonna go do family space camp this summer.
It is so offensive that you didn't ask me to join.
I mean, you wanna come? It's
A family thing.
All right. We could just be a, you know. Yeah. Like a couple
Your Uncle Cupcake.
Yeah. Let, I mean, let's do it. Let James can
You and I have been to Space Camp together already.
James went to Space Camp as a kid.
I went to Space camp and Space Academy and then Yes, that's true, Alex.
We have been. We have been.
And it was pretty neat. Yeah, it's called Space.
Sounds awesome. I'm excited. Pretty neat.
It was. He was fine.
Like So. Mm-hmm . Now.
Tim now what do you think New Year's E Eve is called or Christmas Eve called?
I'm still, I'm still sticking with that.
He said Space Camp was fine.
I know he's wrong about most things, but he is right on this.
So like, you guys get to go, you spend the week.
You do like what, like missions together and stuff?
I think so, yeah. Oh dude, I never got,
I didn't get to go so Good.
So good. Just seeing
More objections of projections.
Guys, all you're doing is space camp. Why?
Why doesn't Tim take us to a camp? He doesn't even take us
Escape. I just offered escape rooms.
He doesn't take us. Yeah. Yeah.
Wait, we've gone to escape rooms recently.
Alex I, in the last few months, I think I, are there any left in Indianapolis that we have not done?
Well here's the thing, Tim, we will think there isn't and then we'll go and then we'll get in it and be like, ah, ah, yeah, we've this lady .
Yeah, I mean, I get to Indie tomorrow.
Let's, let's do an escape room Sunday.
I don't leave till Tuesday. So you off. Perfect. All right.
James. Gone.
I mean for this I might, for this I might, well I know there's a couple family gatherings I'm gonna have to cancel or postpone, but this seems worth it, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna think about it. I'm gonna seriously think about it.
Um, yeah, family's temporary.
This podcast is forever or it just feels like it's taking forever.
God, I hope not. I
Love you guys, but I really Hope that's not the case.
Um, okay. Alright. So here's an interesting,
here's an interesting question.
I doubt it. open, open hostility.
You have your, um, your really stupid wealth goal.
What is, what is the goal that we have for this podcast for We'll be like, all right, we can shut it down.
I've got, I've got it. I've got it. Okay.
I've actually, I've got it as of today.
'cause of today, Uhhuh, I learned that podcasts are now a category in the Golden Globes.
Okay. So when we win a Golden Globe, we can shut it down.
You know what, let's just get a nomination winning.
It's a political thing, you know? Sure.
Like we don't, we're not in the campaigning game. We
Don't get Yeah.
I'm not here to lose. I'm not here to lose. Okay. Look,
We'll earn the nomination, Tim.
You can go do all the campaigning to get us to win, but I think as soon as we get a Golden Globe nom we can hang up our hat.
Turn off the mics. Would everyone would
Fucked to you.
What would be funny is we would be the only nominee for a Golden Globe.
Like of any category in history that didn't make money doing what they were doing to get to that point. I'm pretty,
There are some, there are some like directors of like indie films that made nothing on a really big movie.
Whenever they have the Oscar category for like best short form documentary.
I'm like that trophy's going to an apartment. .
Fair, fair, fair, fair.
Well I think we have a long way to go.
There's that Howard Stern guy seems pretty good at podcasting.
Yeah. And there's like smart Lists
And There's Alex, Joey Ro our first guest.
No, not Joey Mon. Sorry.
Um, who was I thinking Can't John Green right now? No.
Uh, pat McAfee.
Oh. I don't think his counts as a podcast anymore.
He's just a full on TV Show's.
A talk show. Yeah. But yeah, he was our first guest.
That's crazy that he was our first guest.
Only went downhill from there Quickly.
Yeah. I wonder if you would come back on .
I wonder if we could do like a full circle moment and be like, Hey Pat, what episode are we on?
453.
Missed a mile. Yeah. Mile milestone. 500 episode.
Five hundred's. Gotta be Pat
Mack.
Let's, let's do it. That'll probably be around May.
Let's do it. Well,
it'll be 47 weeks from now, so No, it won't.
Well we do two episode, wait up two a week.
Oh, well not really lately. .
So be like almost half that, which is like basically the Yeah, It's probably around May . It's probably around May.
Um, yeah. All right. We'll try and make, we'll try
and make that happen 'cause that's what the people want.
People wanna hear from Pat. I wanna hear from
Pat you what Pat's up to.
Um, that's kind of Low key my hero.
Hmm. So, uh, James, you and I talked Doug Bulls last week.
Do you have any, uh, any thoughts after that conversation on the new officiating setup?
Not thoughts so much as just like I said, not thoughts as just, I really am curious to see who start, like they gotta start hiring, right?
Mm-hmm . Like the hiring has to start immediately.
And you know, Doug alluded to the fact that something should be coming shortly here.
You gotta get the managing director hired first and then let them go, start filling the roles.
Um, Alex, I don't know if you've heard any rumors from being inside the world.
I dunno if there's any of those rumors you're allowed to share about who's being considered for the managing director Role.
I have, um, I definitely can't share, but I can say that two of them were X racing drivers.
Okay. Like Indy car drivers. Mm-hmm .
Do they know that I'm available?
Sorry, your tone made.
It made me think you, like there was another sentence coming outta that that you Weren't doing.
Oh, the, and the other one was a person that was, um, very influential on the American side for the FIA.
Got it. And that's all. Okay.
That I, that's all the know that is details I'm gonna give. Yeah.
Uh, fair. Are you, are you, uh, is there one of the,
the ones that you've heard that you would prefer?
No, I don't care. Um, I will say that of all the names
that I have heard, whether I know them personally or not, we're all pretty good.
So yeah, I think that's good.
No matter who they end up choosing slash who ends up getting the job, um, is going to be a person that is more than qualified and super passionate about the position, which is really all that you can ask for.
It's all, it's all that matters. Yeah.
The, the question that we asked Doug, 'cause I know you didn't listen, was, um, should, so the managing director, you know, is in charge of making all these, these hires now, right?
So for race director, tech director stewards, all that stuff.
The question was, are we anticipating like a surprising amount of change?
Or is it, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Things are running pretty well.
We just have a different structure, but we're kind of expecting a lot of the same, you know, characters in the same roles moving forward.
He kind of, he, he sidestepped a little bit as you would in that position and to that question, but kind of said that he expected it to have a similar kind of vibe just given the fact that it doesn't seem like there's any major issues to address.
Is that kinda what you've heard? Like,
um, everyone wants to know.
Yeah. Is Rocket gonna be back in charge of tech?
Is Kyle still gonna be the race director?
Are Max Inari still gonna be the stewards?
Like is it gonna still be a two steward system?
Like these are the, these are the top line questions, right? It's,
It's, it's, it's interesting because it's like, do we agree that there isn't problems?
I'm just reiterating what was said.
No, I know. So mm-hmm .
I, I think that my, what I have heard has been nothing official in terms of the direction that they're going, but certainly there are hopes of what the direction brings and comes from. All the
Hope's gotta be right?
That whoever the MDO is spends a good amount of time canvassing the group.
Not that you have to like just take what the drivers say, what the team owners say or whatever, and make that happen.
But like, to get a good sense of where everybody stands on everything, I think that's important.
Um, and honestly, like, not selfishly, but as someone that's heard these conversations, like you've gotta talk to Fox as well.
Like you, you need to talk to all the stakeholders.
So it's the series, the teams, the drivers, the partners, the TV provider, the, the, you know, series sponsors, whatever.
You kinda have to know what everybody's looking for out of this whole thing and make the best, you know, educated decisions from that.
So yeah, it'll be interesting man.
It's, um, I imagine it's like a weird time.
Unless they know something we don't, it's gotta be a weird time for a lot of people.
That organization that are just kind of waiting now if you're on the, the tech side or the, you know, whatever side falls under the jurisdiction of this new role.
Welcome to Motorsports, dude.
Yeah, man, it's, uh, contract years are a effer, but uh, he sure is.
Everyone has to deal with it. What else?
Did you just talk to Doug about any other things or was it just officiating stuff?
We talked about the track repave in two.
Anything about like the future of IndyCar or was he, he wearing his IMS hat for most of it?
Well, no, we were, we were IMS hat for the first 10 minutes talking about the track repaid mm-hmm .
'cause you know, he had all those videos up about that, which is kind of cool.
And then the next 20 were just about the, the governance and understanding okay, what this new system is, how it's gonna work, who does what and everything like that. So,
So no, no manufacturers were announced.
No manufacturers were announced. Okay.
Um, he did release, release the 2027 schedule, which was Cool. A what?
A 2027 schedule and start times so you can book all your travel for 27.
I love how, I love how, how powerful this podcast is, by the way.
Incredible. Like, I guess I just need to bitch more.
You just need, well you don't need to bitch.
You can just ask Yeah. Nicely for things or
Bitch Or either way.
Yeah, either way. Yeah. Yeah.
We got a, we got a few people that, uh, that, that tweeted back response to that episode that you complained about not knowing the start times and immediately after the episode dropped the start times for release.
Have you booked your flights, Alex?
Some of them. Um, should we talk about,
we've got a few minutes left.
Should we talk about quickly some of the start times?
Um, I, I had mentioned post Phoenix Tire test that Phoenix was going to be a midday race on Saturday.
That was confirmed. Um, disappointing.
But also you gotta realize that we are in a lot of ways the support event for Cup there.
So not entirely a surprise.
Um, hopefully what we get out of that is a new audience for the people that go to the race and we're able to put on a sick show for them and they're like, man, indie cars are pretty cool and a lot faster than cup cars. Um,
So, so hold on just on that, just so everybody understands.
What about a noon start local, which is 3:00 PM Eastern, which is not a bad window on a, on a day to, to have a race, but why is that suboptimal?
Well, I just think we all, I mean we're all very aware of short ovals and, and the, the sensitivities that they have in terms of the race ability, um, and night races 100% of the time are better than day races.
Um, so that's why I would say the rest kind of made sense except for Arlington.
Uh, I was a little disappointed to see Arlington be a before noon green flag for the very reasons that there was, I don't know if excuse is the right word, but reasons why it was suggested that people didn't show up to TMS to Texas Motor Speedway, um, for Indy Cars was the race when it became no longer was a night race.
It was kind of a midday race on Sunday.
And a lot of people couldn't get from church in time out of service and have their brunch or lunch or whatever with their family and friends and then get out to a racetrack by noon or one o'clock or whatever to watch a sporting event.
And here we are again.
So I don't know if there's any merit to that being the reason why we struggled to fill Grand Sands of Texas.
I'm sure that like everything, it's partially true.
Um, but I would say that that's a pretty decent concern of mine is an 11:00 AM green flag in a very traditional part of the world where church on Sunday mornings is incredibly important.
Fair. Fair.
Um, I know one of the other issues of like the midday races was that it's just hotter than hotter than heck.
Texas is the middle of the day, but that's when we were racing in June.
This is mid March, so hopefully temperature wise that won't be a concern.
So fingers crossed, man, there's uh, there's a lot of hope, a lot of, uh, a lot of, excuse me, anticipation about that one.
And hopefully it goes off smoothly.
We do have a night race prime time at, uh, gateway again, which is awesome.
And then the, the time for Nashville is still TBA because I think they're still working out some World Cup stuff.
'cause that's obviously the, the lead in which is gonna be pretty cool.
Sure is. And then I will just add one
more comment.
Pray for Rain on Indy 500 Race Day because late races pretty good for a tee.
Good. So, so
We want rain to stop at like two, Two hours to dry the track.
Or pm Green flag. Oh, buddy. Pretty good for a treat.
Oh, let's hope, hope and prayer. Mm-hmm .
For some just the right amount of rain. Yes.
At just the right time. It happened
once it could happen again.
Uh, well guys, that's the show. Um, we're gonna sign off.
Wishing you all a very merry Christmas.
And we'd be remiss without mentioning, uh, the tragic passing of the Biffle family and, and the friends of them that were on that aircraft.
Unbelievable unspeakable tragedy.
Um, at any time of year, it's for some reason feels like it hits harder now, but, uh, all your loved ones, man, that's, uh, that's the best piece of advice I think anyone can give at this point.
And, uh, certainly setting them all the love that, uh, that we've got here.
I agree. It's, uh, it hits extra close
to home when you realize kids are involved and it's, um, it's just a lot.
And also just to, there's a lot of people obviously giving a lot of attention to the four Biffles that were on the plane, but there was also two pilots, um, as well.
So did everything they could to try and get that thing back on the ground.
And we don't know why there was an issue, but clearly something went pretty catastrophically wrong as soon as they took off and they fought until the very end and they were close.
They were so close and, and I, I obviously, anyway, it ends up is gonna be heartbreaking, but when you come to a stop in that regard on the runway, it's just like, it's just so close.
But yeah. Anyways, we'll wait to find out what happens in,
uh, oh, 12 to 18 months. Mm-hmm .
Mm-hmm . Not, uh, not to end it on a, on a low note,
but, uh, again, wishing you all very merry Christmas and happy holidays.
And it's just the one, it's just the one episode this week and we'll be back to recount Christmas.
And I just want Nashville to really enjoy their Christmas Eve.
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