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Content Days 2026
Content Days 2026
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About this episode
The hosts dive into the highlights and behind-the-scenes moments of Content Days 2026, praising Fox's improved organization and the engaging IndyCar Kids segment. They discuss the quirky presence of the Oscar Mayer Wieners and the return of the Weenie 500, along with debates about recent IndyCar commercials featuring drivers Joseph Newgarden and Patricio O'Ward. Alex shares his exciting upcoming trip to watch the Artemis II moon mission launch. The conversation also touches on new tracks for the 2026 season, the resolution of Alex Palou's legal case, and the anticipation for the upcoming IndyCar season kickoff at Sebring.
Topics:
content days 2026
fox sports organization
indycar kids segment
weenie 500 return
indycar commercials
artemis ii moon mission
new indycar tracks
alex palou legal case
season preparation
off track podcast banter
The guys are pretty beat from a great couple of content days. Plus, cars are almost on track, and will be for a while, so LFG!
+++
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This is off track. We
Going?
Yeah. Wow. Everybody looks chipper today.
You guys like had a long day or two?
I mean, I've had two long days. I don't know what Alex
Deal is.
Well, I don't know about that.
James leaves like four hours before everyone else, so. That's true.
Actually, I gotta be honest, these were two of the shortest days I've ever done at content day.
In any capacity. Yeah. Yeah. It is pretty nice.
It's pretty nice. Uh, kudos to Fox for organizing it.
Well, actually, on that note, I'm curious, Alex, we, we talk about this day, this these days every year, right?
Because they're just everybody's favorite time of the year and it's often in the past. ,
Did that come from content day?
Did somebody have those for you there? Nope. No.
He just went on 'em on his own. Yeah, he just had those Your own,
Um, lovely Sour Patch kid plug.
Wishy we sponsored by Sour Patch Kids.
Let's get on that, Tim. Um,
but anyway, Alex, so we, we talk about these days every year and there have been years where they're run very well.
There have been years where they are run like, like shockingly poorly.
Um, how would you rank this year's format in totality in terms of like efficiency and, you know, uh, enjoyment and staying on schedule, et cetera?
Lemme put it to you this way.
The only complaint I had about yesterday was the food.
The food was, there you go. Horrifying.
You didn't like the boxed sandwiches.
That wasn't it. So, oh,
they send out like three months before this day.
Like they demand your order. Right.
And it's a, it's a list of like seven things, which is nice that they give you a choice options and All that.
Yeah. Yeah. And um, a couple
of the choices were like a salad, like a Caesar salad, a house salad, whatever.
Um, so I chose a house salad knowing that, you know, there would be, you know, sides with it.
Like, there's always a cookie, there's usually some fruit of sorts.
Yeah. There would, there's always like chip snacks,
something surround, right?
Like, there's always stuff. And the sam, like,
I really don't like, I don't like soggy sandwiches.
Right. With the, With the rest of 'em. Right.
So I was just like, I'm, I'm over those. I want a salad.
I'm not lying when I tell you the salad was the size of an iPhone.
Yeah, That was pretty frustrating because you, was that The, like the chicken seizure salad, like it, were they in those boxes?
Did it come in a cardboard box?
They were And then the salad was inside that. Yeah. Yeah.
I saw that. I saw those. I'm like, I, I didn't get it.
'cause I'm like, ah, that's not enough food.
That's not like a meal. Sure.
Right, right. Yeah. That's like a, that's like a,
Especially for you, a Side side salad.
Well, no. Yes. It's, it's not even just for me.
It's, it's a long day. Right. And there's minimal breaks.
Um, and so lunch is something that is like a, it's a, it's a light at the end of the tunnel event, right?
Yeah. You're, it's a, you've done a, you've done
A happy break in the middle and Yeah, It's a nice break.
You get to catch up with your pals, you get to have some food.
It's, lunch is usually like 45 minutes to an hour.
So it's like, it's a decent amount of time.
Um, you can get your caffeine intake up, you can go to the restroom, all that sort of thing.
So you can understand my, especially 'cause I don't eat breakfast, my severe disappointment.
'cause I've been counting down the minutes, um, to, to lunch and, and that happened.
Um, and you know what?
That's just what you get for trying to be, uh, just a health nut and just a big athlete .
So, um, I will, I will end my complaining there because as I told Kate Davis, who is, this is kind of her day, um, what's the best one?
It was the best one. Now that did not mean my enjoyment
of it was any higher than usual.
But I will say it was really nice to not be messed around scheduling wise or waiting around.
Yeah. Or just, there was no waste of time. It was so long.
Like it was ieg legitimately.
I didn't leave till 7:00 PM Yeah.
It was a 12 hour day, but I was the last one there.
I it's weird. It's weird, but wow.
That's the second year in a row.
I've been the last one there. Um, it's 'cause
She's so popular, man.
Everybody wants to see you.
It's weird. 'cause my glowing personality just .
Um, I know last year you guys talked about how whipping the first year with Fox, it was like a pretty major step up.
There was a lot of unexpected things that they came in and, and brought in really up the professionalism and things like that.
Did they take it to a new level or was it just refreshing to see it was back to that, you know, how, what was that kind of like? I
Would honestly say, I wouldn't say they took it to a new level.
There was actually less stuff, but the quality of it was still like, yeah.
So I mean they probably overdid it last year 'cause they didn't know what they needed.
Right. So this year was just a little bit more refined, um,
in terms of the stages and sets and everything.
But they were still super badass.
Did you see the poster room James? Dude,
The poster room was awesome.
Incredible. Because like a lot
of those posters weren't real posters.
Right. I know. So it's like somebody was just tasked
with creating 65 po like indie 500 esque looking posters from different eras.
Mm-hmm . And some of the stuff they
came up with was awesome. Was really cool.
Amazing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
So, um, to answer your question, Tim, yeah.
I mean, Fox's level of professionalism and their commitment and the amount of people that they bring to this event and their desire to create a good product for people to see is, is, is amazing.
And, and you didn't actually even see the full, uh, staff because you were on day one and a bunch of them got stuck flying in.
So there was actually more Fox people there today, uh, on day two.
But no, I'm glad to hear you say that because from where we were sitting, so, so they gave us a room, us being all the honor people, right?
So Buxton, Townsend, Georgia, Kevin, Jack, when he wasn't being a driver and Jamie Little were all there.
And we were just, we just got 15 minutes with every driver and it was awesome.
It's such a nice time for us to just catch up with everybody, get, get a feel of everyone's, you know, vibe going into a season.
But it was just run so well and it was kept to such a tight schedule.
We had people with clipboards and, and walkie talkies.
That was the thing for me that I'm like, oh, hang on a minute.
We are coordinating this to a level that we have never done before.
And it was like, alright, we're done with Rosenquist.
Rosen qui coming to room four now.
And it was just like, really, it seemed really on it from where we were sitting.
And so obviously we're just one room.
It's good to know that, like, that was the experience for you guys as well.
Uh, yeah, a hundred percent. So, um, hats off
to everyone involved there.
There wasn't even anything there.
There was one room, and I'm not gonna call out the room, but it, it was, it was one of the promoter rooms.
Um, and some of the questions were really, really bad and, and clearly came from someone who has no concept of Motors sports.
So, um, yeah, go ahead.
That was, yeah, I was gonna ask if there was like, Kind of like you No, even less. Ooh,
That's not good.
That's, that feels harsh.
I was wondering if there was any rooms where like they were doing, you know, social videos or something where you were like, there was something that you just flat out were like, absolutely not gonna do that.
Um, well here, I, I feel like I've got people pretty trained now. .
Like even Oscar Meyer, even Oscar Meyer, who's a new partner, they knew, like, 'cause a lot of guys walked in there and walked out with like their heads in their hands like shaking, like looking at me being like, you are going to hate this.
And I walked in there and it was like, it was great.
So it was very easy. , nothing stupid with hot dogs.
Big wiener guy. Um, no, the only room that I refused
to do something in was BorgWarner, and they were like, hula hoop.
And I was like, get <inaudible>, because A, that has nothing to do with Borg, Warner.
B that has nothing to do with racing and C I'll look like a moron.
So, and C no. Um, interesting. Okay. Okay.
Um, speaking of Oscar Meyer, like their presence was, uh, pretty big as any partner. Did you,
Did you talk to any of the, the, the wiener People, the hotdogs?
No. Um, 'cause you know,
did we talk about the Weenie 500 coming back?
Did we talk about that last week? Or
No, not last week.
Maybe that got announced between Episodes.
Yeah, I didn't think so. So, so the weenie 500 is making its
triumphant return to the Speedway mm-hmm .
For its second annual, uh, event. Well,
Considering it got 8 million viewers. That makes sense.
8 million people watch that 8 million.
Just to put that in perspective, 7.2,
watch the Indie 500 itself.
Um, so this was a big deal. And, uh, it's back.
It's now gonna be on like, I think it's gonna be on network television.
I think they're putting it on Big Fox, which is incredible. Well,
Again, with those, with those TV numbers Yeah.
They're gonna air it against the 500 .
Well, no, my, but my thing is, in all honesty, like when we commentated on that, right?
There weren't a lot of rules 'cause it was like, not really on real television.
Like there's more rules on network tv, I feel like, and we might, I don't know what we're gonna get away with saying, we've also used a lot of our best material, so we're gonna have to come up with some new stuff.
We're gonna have to really put our heads together and figure that out.
But, uh, very excited that the weenie 500 is coming back.
But no, Alex, I did not talk to any of the hot Doggers.
So they all, all of the Hot Dogger. I didn't know that's what they were called.
Is that the term? Yeah. Yeah, .
Yeah. No, that's a real thing.
So, so they're the, the drivers of, of the wieners and, um, they all showed up in race suits, and I ran into a couple of them in the hallway.
I saw the picture. It Was, it was, uh, yeah.
And super outgoing and exuberant and all this sort of thing. Your
Favorite kind of people.
And, and you, you talk to them for like a minute and you're like, okay.
Like, ha ha, like that's cool with the punts.
Like that's, that's great.
And you ask 'em a question and it, they do not answer or talk outside of hotdog puns. And it is, they're
Professionals.
Incredible. These must be like borderline Julliard trained
actors, because they are so committed to their role and they are so intelligent that like, you can ask them anything and they have a hotdog answer on the spot.
Incredible. And I was just blown away.
I was like, you guys are you, you are at such a high level compared to any of the drivers here that, uh, these are So we Need to have them on.
We should absolutely have some hotdog. Well, I don't know,
Because you can't, you can't ask them anything because it's Not for a full episode.
But I think we should have 'em on for a little bit, like a five minute thing. Well,
Look, we usually do a live show on Car Day, which is the day of the we 500. So be super busy. So
Yeah.
But like they come on, we, we have 'em on the show as guests real quick know, but You don't want to bug people in on a race weekend, you know, .
Yeah. It's a big day for them.
It's a big day for them. Um,
So, so that, that was a new addition, um, to the stops.
Another new edition was a room on my schedule that was called IndyCar Kids.
And Yes, I was like, I was like, okay, thinking that, you know, we have some, some aspiring young, uh, journalists, bloggers, whatever you wanna call it Yeah.
In the paddock, right? And
so I was thinking this was gonna be a media availability of sorts, um, for are, Are we, are we going to, are we gonna give away exactly what it was?
We're not gonna give away exactly what it was. Okay.
All I'm gonna say is, um, Fox clearly saw, uh, James Hinch Cliff's, NBC tiny cars, uh, . Yeah.
And, and they took their own, um, direction with it.
Throw a twist on it. Yeah. And
It was incredible because I, I sat, let me just say I sat down in a chair for a six month old , um, incredibly, it didn't break.
And I was like, this is deja vu, except James isn't here.
Right. . And it was the same level
of ludicrous questions and you were Just like, I can't tell you that I did help write some of the questions, . Oh
My gosh.
Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
So I'm super excited for whatever avenue that's gonna come out on for everyone to watch it, because it was amazing.
That was by far the highlight of the day.
I honestly don't, I was gonna ask what your favorite room was, so there you go. Bad Now
We know.
Yeah. By a mile. Yeah.
I, I wasn't sure.
I still don't know if that's a Fox thing or an in, I think it's an Indy car thing. I don't think it's
A Fox thing.
Oh, is it? Okay thing. Okay.
I think, I don't know that.
Um, but yeah, I'm also excited to see the end result of that.
'cause the concept I thought was hilarious. Amazing.
Amazing. So, uh, good. I'm glad you enjoyed that.
Mm-hmm . Okay, so that was the best room.
That was gonna be a follow-up question. That best room.
Uh, okay. So that's, that's content day. Um,
I heard, I heard a rumor that, uh, that TBA made an appearance for, uh, for Dale coin racing.
TBA made an appearance.
Well, you can watch Alex Palone's Instagram video and see exactly who that is. .
Oh, he, oh, busted. Um, he'd, his back of his
Head.
He wouldn't do it. He didn't do it intentionally.
It was just in the background.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Um, well, uh, there was one other thing that I wanted to talk about on, uh, for media today that I thought was quite funny.
Your press conference in which you called me out for, uh, saying that you were committing a fashion faux pa with, I thought you were out On Holding the microphone Like that.
Well, I was getting to that I've ever seen in my life. Like, what are you
Supposed to do?
It was funny 'cause you're like hunched over and then you ask the question and to answer it and you sit up and just pick the microphone up and hold it with you.
I thought it was because you were trying to show off. I would have to The
stripes , like it was, it was it, the microphone was this tall, it was about as much snow as we got in Indy. 10 inches.
It was 10 Inches, 10 hole.
It was like the tiny mics from the tiny cars segment.
Exactly. 10 inches.
Well, yeah. Yeah. You were asked about your new look
and you just, just unprompted.
You're like, well, do you like my stripes?
Because James Hinchcliffe, James Hinchcliffe thinks they're <inaudible> . Yeah. You were,
You were, you did say that on the comments.
That's not what I said.
I said bold strategy where it's a, it's a known fashion.
Fapa. I don't make the rules
and I'm not a fashion icon. I know that
James.
Yes sir. Everyone likes them except you
And I didn't say I don't like them.
This is the sour patch kids thing all over again. Well,
Yeah. Correct. Where
We're Correctly Pointing out when you were saying you hated something, You Guys are the worst. You don't listen.
Okay. What we Have here is that
Failure to communicate color Or stripes or anything happy and joyous so that children Or candy or Yeah, just We things.
Um, no. So, uh, here's something,
did you say wheat things, sweet things?
Oh, I thought you Said we.
That makes more sense. I did too. .
Do you not like Wheat thins either You don't like doing what the hell's what's your problem With wheat things? You
Know, those, I'm actually, you know, like pretty, pretty lukewarm on of all the things That are, that's the one.
Are you anti getting enough fiber?
I get plenty of Fiber.
They're better than trist.
I don't think you get the right amount of fiber based on how that I long you sit on the toilet.
Okay. It's Unrelated. Anyway,
Speaking of, uh, disagreements, I heard from no less than four different people yesterday.
Mm-hmm . That they are all on my side
of the Lazy River situation.
Right. Which means that the other 326
that were there are on Tim and I's side.
Nope. I have, I have not heard anyone.
I wanna know names. I wanna know names
of these psychopaths.
Well, Tim , I don't, I barely know James' name, so that's gonna be tough. .
Okay. So it's none of the other drivers.
It was man and bro and dude.
Got it. Um, okay. Yeah.
Well, um, good man, bro, dude in you can all have fun, lazy rivering with a bunch of corpses.
Mm. Um, there was a funny question that
Townsend asked a couple of the guys today that didn't make the, the list yesterday.
But I'm just curious now to ask you the same question, which was, you're going to Vegas, I think I know your answer, but you're going to Vegas for two nights with one current driver on the IndyCar grid, or let's say from the last year.
Who are you going with?
Colton? Because he lives in Vegas,
Because have lodging.
He's already, Colton and I, we have been, we have probably been to no less than eight casinos on various race weekends.
Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. Colton,
You guys, did you Like think my answer would be, I I thought you were gonna say Connor.
Oh. Uh,
But I also sort of forgot Colton lived there and Yeah.
You guys do that Super Colton a lot, so that's super helpful.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Either one, either one would be good. I mean,
Colton or Connor would also be fun. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. All right. Mm-hmm .
Uh, well that's content day. What was
The point?
What was the point of him asking that question?
Did any, and also, did anyone say me?
So he only asked like three people.
It was like a late addition to the lineup.
And of those three, uh, no, nobody did say you. That's fine.
I'd, I'd have said to you if they had asked me, but thanks bro, Not a driver.
Um, so that was content day.
Um, speaking of content, uh, Fox pumped out another IndyCar commercial.
Mm-hmm . Um, a very different
vibe to Joseph's. Mm-hmm .
If you haven't seen it and you're listening, go watch it.
It's on everything. Yeah.
I just don't know that it, it capture.
So we're trying really hard to make IndyCar appealing.
Right. Whether that be through personalities
or, um, how fast and dangerous the cars are, or the diversity of the tracks and racing and competitiveness and all that sort of thing.
Right. The physicality, the history
and having our most popular driver, um, drive a garbage truck around , um, and wave to some ladies in a lawn chair just didn't really move the needle for me.
And so I, I'm interested to see if you guys agree with that or not, because Joseph's, I thought as we talked about last week or whatever, like it captured his personality and it kind of played into how people were into these semi horror comedy TV shows and that sort of thing.
And how, like, the killers next door, and this was like, what are we doing with the garbage truck?
Like, how do Own has owned three jets in the past 18 months?
He's got a Shelby Cobra sitting in his garage. Yeah.
What, What are we doing here? And a McLaren, right.
So I see, I see your point. I do see your point on that.
I I half agree I have disagree, and I think the point that I, what I took away from it was that Joseph's thing kind of leaned into this sort of new character slash persona that Joseph's got. Right. Like
Bad boy.
The ki Yeah. Like he, he's the stone cold killer, right?
He's, this is, that's kind of like the, the vibe Patto is is the goofy happy-go-lucky, like lovable dude on the grid, right?
Like outta the car.
He's this, that's kind of his persona, which I think they did a good job of capturing that and not like forcing him to kind of be in that same box while at the same time still at the end.
You know, showing what he did is super bad.
Like what he does is super badass, super cool, whatever.
Maybe the garbage truck concept.
Like I, I get, I kind of get that him driving a garbage truck might seem like counterintuitive because what he really drives is this badass race car.
But again, I think it might be that Wasn't not the point of the commercial.
It's he chose to not do this.
He chose to drive these like no, but Right.
, but patto is, you don't have to look too far to know.
Patto is, is someone of, of excellent taste. Okay.
And Patto Patto is the closest thing to F1 that we have by a mile.
And it would be a farce to say that some of the appeal of Formula One is the glitz and glamor of it, right.
The, the, the incredibleness of the product in terms of the cars, but also the events and the stages that they're on and the celebrity and the people that come and all of that sort of thing.
Right. And you took the guy that is the closest to that
and moved him as far away as possible from that. And it's just like you're
Saying, he should have been in a tux at a casino roll a dice at a craps table.
Yeah. Something. And he should have been on his jet making
phone calls and he should have been like, Or on, at his villa and Punta Kaa or like doing anything but what he was doing. .
I see your point. I see your point.
I just, I just like the fact that the tone was more like, was very patto. Well,
I disagree and like, like I love Fox.
It was different than doing. I I thought
that was a miss. Um, well,
There's two more to come.
Palo's got one. Power's got one.
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing those ones.
Um, I'm not sure when they're Airing.
I you're dying to see Powers. I feel like that's gonna be
Fantastic. It's gonna be,
It, it tell us a little bit about it and , I'm really looking forward to seeing that. Do we know when
It's Gonna air?
No, I just say I'm not sure. I'm not sure which.
I mean, I assume Super Bowl.
I mean, I don't know what else. I kind of think that's
Coming.
It's once a week then.
Oh dude, I just remembered I gotta finish my Fran Drescher thing.
I was like in such a zone at it for a while.
Like I was, I was chugging through those episodes.
I was writing up my reports and I then I then I had the holidays and, and I'm moving and that's really fallen to the bottom of my list.
But I'm running outta time, aren't I?
Well, not to give you an out, but I think you do have a little bit of an extension because Brian isnt even gonna be home for the Super Bowl. So
Nobody's home.
You're not home. Brian's not home. Is Brian with you?
Brian's not with me. I will be home now,
but obviously we can't do it without Brian.
So anyways. Perfect.
He's gonna, he's gonna make us do, he's gonna make me do it earlier now.
Hmm. Which is kind of fair
because I have put this thing off for quite some time. . Yeah. Well,
Alex, I'm Alex, should we talk about, should we talk about why you thought you weren't going to be there for the Super Bowl?
Uh, we, we alluded to it a little bit last week.
Yes, Tim? Uh, I don't know, did we talk,
I don't know if this was on there, this, We alluded to it a little bit last week.
Yeah, I think we just alluded to the fact that I can't come 'cause I'm Canadian, but whatever.
Right, Right, right, right.
Um, well, the kind folks at nasa, um, knowing that I am such a big space nerd and believer in all things, the moon, Um, decided to extend an invite to me.
Maybe this is their way of convincing me, I don't know.
Um, decided to extend an invite, uh, to me and a guest to watch, um, Artemis two, uh, go up to Space and Artemis two for those that dunno, super big deal because it is a manned mission, um, around the moon.
So it is the final step, um, before putting boots on the ground on the moon for the first time.
And it's, uh, it's, I'm kidding.
We obviously went there, allegedly.
Um, , it's, it's cool for me because I coincidentally was at Kennedy, um, doing some straight line testing when Ouris one, uh, launched.
And so I, well actually the guard Ms. Guy, I will actually be at both at two, two
of the Artemis uh, program launches, which is pretty incredible.
This time it'll be a little bit more up close and personal before we kind of just overstate our welcome on the runway and watch from afar.
Um, this time we're gonna be, we're gonna be in the thick of it.
And our good, our good buddy and esteemed producer Tim is coming along with Hazel and we are going to have quite an evening, um, watching Rockets. So yeah,
I'm, I've been thrilled.
Hazel's excited everybody.
I, I said to Alex, and not to get sentimental on it, but I just think it's incredible that like Hazel gets to have this absurdly awesome opportunity.
'cause like I got a buddy who was like, yeah, I'll ask if I can bring a second guest. .
Well, yeah, you're not gonna not, I mean he would've brought, sorry, just so we're clear, you are the second guest, like Hazel, Hazel was getting the invite , he just had to ask you as her father if she could come.
And then it was like, well, she needs A guardian.
And so it'd be pretty weird if I Yeah.
Asked Hazel to come by herself. So you
Had a bonus ask here. It's gonna
Be incredible.
The astronauts are already in quarantine before the launch.
Uh, everything seems set to go.
The Rocket's rolled out, they're gonna do their wet launch later this or wet test or whatever it's called later this week to do the final test.
And then they'll officially designate the launch time.
So we're, uh, we're coming right up on it.
I think you mentioned last week that front of the pod, drew Foel ISS gonna be there with you guys as Well.
Yeah, drew and Indie. Drew
and Indie are going to be there anyway.
They're like, they're . Yeah.
They're not Going for you guys. Yeah. Yeah.
So we're gonna try and hang out with them again.
I mean it's, uh, it's pretty, pretty cool .
So again, thank you Alex. Uh, this is no problem.
This is something I'm really looking forward to.
And James, thank you for not being, uh, born in the United States so that you couldn't go, um, really good looking out for, uh, for Hazel and I, Hey, I did it for Hazel.
I want you to know that to know that.
Wait, I don't, I think I forgot to tell you guys this story and I I really hate that I'm gonna do it.
I really hate that. I'm gonna give you this.
Tim, did I tell you about what the kid said to me in, um, I say kid, young man said to me in the, uh, autograph line at, at Daytona?
No. So look, okay, so IMSA is, uh,
it's a huge series, right?
And there are, there were over 240 drivers in the Rolex 24.
Not everybody that comes to these events knows all 240 drivers, right?
Yeah. In fact, quite a lot.
Don't know most and not insignificant number.
Don't know any, they're just there for a good time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And will come
through the autograph line to collect stuff, right?
So as we've joked about plenty of times on this show and in real life, uh, I often get recognized for, you know, being on F1 TV more than being on being an IndyCar driver or being on the IndyCar broadcast or whatever.
Uh, depending on the demographic and the fan base, whatever.
So we were in the, um, we were in the line or we were sorry, we were signing autographs, uh, and whatever.
And a couple people had come through and be like, Hey, you know, love your work on F1 tv, whatever, and all this stuff.
And it, and because of you guys, uh, everybody that I know now also was like, oh, big F1 guy.
Even my ims a teammates, right. Every time.
Yep. Yeah. So This,
We only say it because you are, you're a big F1 guy.
It's, well, no, that's why I understand. I do understand.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Um,
coming from the former Formula One driver, bit bold, but yeah, .
Um, so, so this, this young man comes, comes up to the line and we're, we're getting hero cards and we're signing and signing some posters.
And he goes, he's like, Hey, I, I think I know you from somewhere.
I recognize you. And I was like, oh yeah.
He goes, yes, you, I you are on, uh, you are from, you are from that podcast that Tim makes .
And dude, he delivered it.
That was somebody bus with you. Right? It so
Well he delivered it so well.
And so and so, like, I was, I was like, dude, well played.
That was awesome. And like, my, the guy sitting,
my teammates sitting next to me, Andre was like, you thought he was gonna say F1 tv, didn't you?
I was like, a hundred percent. I thought he
was gonna say F1 TV .
And he, and he just absolutely delivered on that podcast Tim makes.
And I'm like, oh, that's, no, that's a dagger to the heart.
Oh, I, I want, I want to, I want whoever did this to reach out to me.
I don't have any power to give you anything, but I'll buy you a beer and a racetrack. 'cause that's fantastic.
It was, it was pretty funny.
Can we, can I just talk about how incredible of an invention AirPods are?
Because, because you heard that Whole conversation while you walked away.
I went through my entire house because I lost my goldendoodle.
Um, , it's, and it's freaking cold out.
So I was very concerned that I left him outside.
Um, don't worry, I just left them in the garage.
Um, but I went , Heated garage.
Heated garage. Don't worry everybody. I
Went, I went upstairs, downstairs to the basement around the entire house and I heard that entire story and it was, um, I chuckled and then got angry, uh, towards the end. I
Know, I know.
I was other way around. I got angry first
and then eventually chuckled and gave the guy credit.
'cause again, the delivery was spot on. Yeah.
It was so well executed.
Anyways, b brenner's fine. Um,
Yeah, I'm glad to know Brenner's.
Okay. I don't know how, how'd you lock him in the garage?
Well, I, so when I took the trash out, I now remember like he wanted to come, but I was like, I'm not gonna let you outside because it's freezing out and you don't like, his little paws get frozen and like, okay.
Mm-hmm . Um, and then Kelly came out
and asked for something and I, and so like, there was just, I forgot he was there, so I, it was just disjointed.
And so then I, yeah, so he's been out there for like good 45 minutes, but he is fine.
Again, he garage noise. He was so, yeah.
No, he's, no, he's, he's all good.
He ran in very excited for a treat .
I bet. Um, so something came up today in one
of the conversations that, not, not to like go back to content day, but it's a conversation from Content day that led to this discussion.
So I was trying to think the last new track that we had on the calendar, kind of not like Nashville doesn't count in terms of the Speedway, so it would've been, um, Detroit.
Yeah. Um,
and Nashville Street Circuit before that.
Correct. So did you sim Detroit
before you went to Detroit for the first time?
Mm-hmm . And like I know we sim Nashville.
I re I I I did that too, so like, I know Nashville existed.
Mm-hmm . Have you been on a sim for Arlington?
Um, no, but I've seen it's built.
It is so, so that will like, you will get a chance to sim before Arlington.
Mm-hmm . Got it.
'cause I was talking to a driver today and they weren't sure if that was even gonna be possible.
And I was like, wow. Like going to a new track's one thing.
But yeah, we'll definitely Sim Arlington, we will sim uh, Markum markum.
I think simm DC will be harder.
Good point. Yeah, that's a
Good point.
Considering, um, I don't think that, I think that's exactly, uh, on one person's radar currently, but it just so happens to be the one radar that Yeah.
Can make things happen. Um, so
I guess we'll see. Yeah. Yeah.
If, if, If, if that were to happen, then there would be zero prep whatsoever for that.
I feel like anybody who was surprised by that video, um, so was everyone else correct? ?
I was not sure where you were going with that. Yes. I,
I, I can't give away details of conversations that I've been, uh, caught up to speed on.
Um, but yes, the, the, there was a lot of, uh, WTF and then there was a lot of oh, WTF, , , WTF, but Sterner, right?
No WTF, but like scared like, oh, WTF with a question mark and then WTF with an exclamation mark. Exactly.
Yeah. Got it. Um,
but anyways, uh, so yes, we will have, we will have plenty of opportunity to prepare for Arlington and Markham.
Um, so yeah, that's Good.
Imagine if you didn't though, like imagine if there was especially a street track.
'cause it's not even like you could look at a video, an onboard video from like a rental car or a, you know, a track day even.
Like, it, that would be hard.
I'm trying to remember the last time it Would've been like, well, it's even hard.
It's even hard. Like, I remember Nashville vividly, like
that first session, like even though you simm it, like it was hard to get up to speed.
That was a tricky track.
Like that had some very unique elements that made it like, very difficult to accurately sim a and then like very, very unique, even like for a street circuit especially.
So that was a tricky one for sure. Mm-hmm .
That was, you're right. That was a hard one.
Um, is there, is there, of the three new events for 26, which one are you looking forward to the most?
Phoenix, Arlington. Markham.
No, that's cool. Tim, whatever.
1990 is Colleen. 1990. That's like 1974.
It's true . And he's answer that is a on
Impossible question to Answer.
I hope if you're not, if you're listening to this, go watch it on YouTube so you can see the insanity that's happening right now.
Anyway. Sorry. Uh, Alex,
which one are you most looking forward to?
Um, that's a, that's an impossible question to answer because Okay. I am, I
Think Alex's internet has gone out.
Tim is on mute 'cause he is on a phone call.
So now I'm just talking to myself.
I'm here. This is fun. Can you hear me?
He is back. Okay. Yeah, I got you now.
Okay. Um, it's, it's an impossible question to answer
because I truly am looking forward to all three, a huge amount for very different reasons.
One, Texas is just, it's gonna in theory and it looks like it's gonna be an incredible event with some great support, um, and some amazing features of the track that, that we haven't had before in IndyCar.
Phoenix is a noble that I love in the double header with Cup and a return of a, of a classic track to the calendar in an, an amazing part of the world.
Awesome. And then Markum is,
even though I'm super American, like as we know, there's a lot of Canadian influence in my life.
Um, so I know, I know the area quite well and you're welcome.
I think it's, it's going to be a surprise to a lot of people in terms of like how cool of a place that is to have a street race.
So I'm, I'm truly looking forward to all three and it'd be great if we could like, add one more and get rid of Barber or Portland.
Um, that'd be sick. .
I mean, barber's pretty neat. Let's, I, you know. Okay. We
Can keep Barber.
It's close. We can keep Barber just can Portland. Yeah,
We do need something though.
In that part of the world.
We need something up in the Pacific Northwest, I believe they call it.
Do we, let's go to Vancouver then.
Does Sonoma count as the Pacific Northwest?
No, I didn't think so.
No. Nice try.
We'll keep brainstorming on that one anyways.
Um, yeah, so, all right, so then, uh, the other kind of bit of news, uh, something that everybody's been following for quite some time and now has at least some bit of resolution was the Alex Polo case.
Um, which ended up, I, I don't know how you would classify it, uh, in terms of like in favor of, because McLaren was going after him for like 30, 31 million, something like that.
Ultimate judgment was 12 ish million bucks.
I mean, honestly, it's the first time in still a lot of money years.
Alex Palo's lost at anything .
I mean, I mean, you could also look at it as he came second, which, you know, if you're not gonna be first also makes Sense. Second
Is also what he does, right?
He's like, just, just behind first. He's second, right?
Right. Mm-hmm . Oh man, that's, that's rich.
That is funny. Um, yeah, so like, here's the thing.
If you're Alex, are you like relieved that it's kind of done or are you like, you have to Be 12 million bucks?
So, I mean, we obviously don't know the details.
I'm sure he has an understanding and, uh, I don't think he was too worried about it financially.
So ultimately you would just be thrilled that this is no longer something that you have to talk about.
Get questions about spend time and resources on, and going to England and having to be deposed and go up and under oath again.
Tell story, tell things like that's horrible.
So yeah, I'm sure he's over with.
It's scary and it's awful and it's sucks and Yeah. Yeah.
You're absolutely right. I mean,
not knowing you don't have to face that anymore.
Um, he can finally focus a hundred percent on, uh, on IndyCar and really try to improve his game.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
Because honestly, he was slacking a little bit, you know?
Yeah. I mean there was at least two of those, uh, races
that he came second and he should have come first.
So, uh, yeah, we're looking for 10 plus wins outta out of the 10 car in, in 26.
Well, uh, that covers the week.
Um, Alex, are you, you're, when do you go to, when do you go to nasa?
When do you go to space camp? When you go to launch stuff?
That's ne that's next Friday. Um, and, uh, no next
Friday, But next week we can talk about all things leading into the Sebring test because in like 10 days guys, indie cars are on track. So,
And then it's like every week for the next seven weeks.
Mm-hmm . It's Sebring, then it's Phoenix, then we hit St.
Pete, Arlington.
So it's really important, it's really important that, uh, before St.
Pete, we, we cover Nashville and make sure that we, uh, talk about all the things that happened there.
Yeah. Alright, we'll cover all stuff coming up
and we will recap Nashville.
See you guys next week. This has been off track
with Hinch and Rossi.
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