0:00
/
0:00
Ep.326 – RE-HEATED: Alexander Rossi
Ep.326 – RE-HEATED: Alexander Rossi
0:00
0:00
0:00
0:00
About this episode
Alexander Rossi revisits a wide-ranging Dinner with Racers conversation that moves from his early karting days and F1 reserve-driver life to the realities of backmarker teams, testing, and team politics. The hosts also frame it as a “reheated” 2018 IndyCar episode, with plenty of trackside banter, sponsor shout-outs, and off-topic jokes. Rossi reflects on how his career path shifted from chasing F1 to winning the Indy 500, while also sharing vivid stories about go-karts, travel logistics, and the pressure of racing at the highest level.
Topics:
blown diffuser
Caterham
F1
Force India
front wing package
front wishbone
HPD
HRT
IndyCar
Marussia
The latest of our RE-HEATED series, where we re-issue episodes that might share something with racing stories in the news… Episode 108 featuring Alexander Rossi. With the month of May upon us, we figured it was a good episode to re-visit. His story is still being written, but Alexander Rossi is the poster child of an American success story. Growing up in Northern California, Alex grew up in the California karting scene before going on to Formula BMW USA, ultimately leave the US to pursue his dream of Formula One, where he’d achieve the ultimate by becoming an official test driver, and finally an official F1 driver for ManorF1. When opportunities in F1 began to unravel, Alex immediately found a new home in IndyCar, winning the 100th Indianapolis 500 in his first year, and now a regular threat for the championship. Breakfast courtesy of Dunkin’ Donuts as served in his RV, with the music of Armen Balyan taking us out. Thanks to Continental Tire for all of their support, and Acura for providing a great MDX.
Filter:
|
Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Acura Mdx
"That's fair. You know, and with the free Acura MDX courtesy of my partners at HPD."
The Acura MDX is a midsize SUV from Acura. It’s meant for carrying people and gear comfortably, while still offering a more upscale feel than a basic family SUV. In this episode, it’s mentioned as a courtesy car.
The Acura MDX is a midsize luxury SUV built for family-friendly comfort with available performance-oriented powertrains. It’s significant because it’s commonly used as a practical vehicle that still feels upscale, which can make it a frequent topic when discussing everyday driving or event logistics. In the podcast context, it’s mentioned as a courtesy vehicle provided by partners at HPD.
Company
HPD
"You know, and with the free Acura MDX courtesy of my partners at HPD. [1013.8s] Do you love everything Honda, man?"
HPD is Honda’s racing/performance group. In this conversation, it’s the team behind the free Acura MDX they’re getting.
HPD stands for Honda Performance Development, Honda’s motorsports and performance engineering arm. In racing contexts, it often supports Honda-powered programs and provides technical and logistical backing.
Part
front wishbone
"I think I actually think they had a front wishbone as well. A. A. A front wishbone. Like one. Yeah. You need at least four."
A front wishbone is a suspension arm that connects the wheel to the car. It helps the wheel stay positioned properly when you hit bumps or turn.
A front wishbone is a type of suspension control arm that locates the wheel and helps control its movement and alignment as the car goes over bumps and turns. When the speaker says “you need at least four,” they’re referring to having multiple suspension arms across the front axle (typically left and right, with paired arms depending on the suspension design).
Concept
IndyCar
"like IndyCar coming out for you wasn't really on the radar. Oh, not at all."
IndyCar is a major kind of open-wheel racing in the U.S. The hosts are basically saying Rossi wasn’t focused on that series because he was aiming for Formula 1 instead.
IndyCar is the top-level open-wheel racing series in the United States, best known for oval and road-course racing. The conversation contrasts it with Formula 1, highlighting how Rossi’s path and fan expectations were shaped by where he grew up and what he targeted as a young driver.
Concept
F1
"It's from the age of 10, I wanted to drive an F1, and I moved to Europe."
F1 is the top level of open-wheel racing worldwide. Rossi is saying he always dreamed of driving in F1, so his career focus didn’t naturally turn toward IndyCar.
F1 (Formula 1) is the highest-profile open-wheel motorsport category globally, with teams racing highly engineered single-seaters. Rossi says that from age 10 he wanted to drive an F1, which explains why IndyCar wasn’t on his radar when he moved to Europe.
Term
front wing package
"But no, there was never anyone that was like, oh, this front wing package and rear brake ducts. This is three seconds."
The front wing is an aerodynamic part at the front of a race car. Teams update it to help the car stick to the track better and go faster.
A front wing package is the set of aerodynamic parts on the front of an open-wheel car (like the front wing and its endplates/adjustments). Teams change it to improve downforce and reduce drag, which can translate into lap-time gains.
Part
rear brake ducts
"But no, there was never anyone that was like, oh, this front wing package and rear brake ducts. This is three seconds."
Brake ducts are openings that blow air onto the brakes. That cooling helps the brakes keep working strongly during hard racing.
Rear brake ducts are channels that direct airflow to the rear brakes to cool them. Better cooling helps prevent brake fade and can let the driver brake harder and later with more consistent performance.
Brand
Caterham
"I mean, USF1 is the most shining example, but I mean, Caterham and Marusha and then Manor. HRT. HRT, all folded."
Caterham was a Formula 1 team brand that competed for several seasons before financial trouble led to its collapse. In this segment, Rossi frames Caterham as having “red flags” during his time there, implying instability within the team.
Company
USF1
"I mean, USF1 is the most shining example, but I mean, Caterham and Marusha and then Manor."
USF1 was a Formula 1 team effort in the U.S. that didn’t end up making it work, and it’s often cited as a cautionary tale.
USF1 was an American Formula 1 team project that became a well-known example of how difficult it is to build and run an F1 team. The mention here is tied to the idea of teams folding or failing despite big ambitions.
Brand
Marussia
"but I mean, Caterham and Marusha and then Manor. HRT."
Marussia was a Formula 1 team that had serious financial problems. The host is mentioning it as one of the teams that eventually shut down.
Marussia (also known as Manor in later seasons) was a smaller Formula 1 team that struggled financially and eventually ceased operations. The speaker groups it with other teams that folded, highlighting the instability of the back of the grid.
Brand
Manor
"but I mean, Caterham and Marusha and then Manor. HRT."
Manor was a Formula 1 team. In this part of the conversation, it’s mentioned as another team that didn’t survive.
Manor was a Formula 1 team brand associated with the later identity of the Marussia organization. In this discussion, it’s referenced alongside other teams that “folded,” emphasizing how precarious some F1 team operations can be.
Brand
HRT
"and then Manor. HRT. HRT, all folded."
HRT was a Formula 1 team that didn’t last long and eventually shut down. The speaker is using it as an example of teams that folded.
HRT (often written as Hispania Racing Team) was a Formula 1 team that competed briefly and later folded. The speaker uses it as part of a list of teams that failed, tying it to “red flags” inside organizations.
Company
Force India
"And they, Force India was in the points on podiums every once in a while and Caterham was, you know, back with the HRTs and the Marushas."
Force India was a Formula 1 racing team. The point here is that even with limited money, they could still do well—scoring points and sometimes getting on the podium.
Force India was a Formula 1 team that competed in the sport’s top class. In this segment, the hosts mention it as a budget peer that could still score points and occasionally reach podiums.
Company
Marushas
"And they, Force India was in the points on podiums every once in a while and Caterham was, you know, back with the HRTs and the Marushas."
Marussia was a Formula 1 team that often wasn’t competitive compared to the better-funded teams. Here it’s mentioned as another example of a backmarker.
Marussia (spoken here as “Marushas”) was a Formula 1 team that typically struggled to compete with the midfield and front-running outfits. In this segment, it’s mentioned as part of the group of teams behind Caterham.
Term
blown diffuser
"But for example, they would see the Red Bull blown diffuser, right? And they'd just go try and make that and think that they can bolt on a blown diffuser"
A blown diffuser is a trick that uses exhaust gases to help the air under the car flow better. Better airflow under the rear can create more downforce, which helps the car stick to the track.
A blown diffuser is an aerodynamic system in which the car’s exhaust gases are directed to energize airflow under the rear of the car. That can increase downforce and grip, which is why the hosts reference Red Bull’s blown diffuser as a key performance advantage.
Brand
Red Bull
"But for example, they would see the Red Bull blown diffuser, right? And they'd just go try and make that"
Red Bull is a top Formula 1 team. In this segment, they’re the example of a team that had a major aerodynamic advantage, which others tried to imitate.
Red Bull is a Formula 1 brand/team known for technical innovation and strong aerodynamic development. Here, it’s used as the benchmark example because the hosts point to Red Bull’s blown diffuser as something other teams tried to copy.
Car
Porsche 911
"... find him at armenbalan.com. Here's a song called 911 Someone Call My Girlfriend. Also, thank you to Ph..."
The Porsche 911 is a sports car made by Porsche. It’s designed for fast driving and handling, and it’s known for its recognizable shape. People often talk about it because it has a long history in performance cars.
The Porsche 911 is a long-running sports car known for its distinctive rear-engine layout and classic silhouette. It’s often discussed in racing and enthusiast circles because it has a strong performance heritage and a wide range of trims over the years. In a podcast context, it may come up as a recognizable symbol of high-performance driving.
Select text to request an explanation
So official F1 reserve driver, not just test driver.
IndyCar Landlord?
IndyCar Landlord, hater of go-karts.
Are we at an Alex level?
We have to say without Xander.
Alex is great.
Alex Rossi.
If you could describe this donut we had in one word,
what would it be?
Anal beads.
What?
Oh, that is not what I picked.
That's not the word I picked.
I thought you were going to say pineapples.
Are we going to have to bleep that laser or are we going to get pineapples?
All right, we're in.
Boom.
Awesome.
Cool.
Thanks.
And now for Dinner with Racers, presented by Continental Tire.
With your hosts, Ryan Eversley and Sean Heckman.
Play holder radio sound.
Oh, I've been driving very angry in the sound of a driver
on the radio during a race.
What do you think?
Hey, it's a new edition of the old, well, I guess the new, re-hit.
That's right.
We are back with another reheated episode.
We've been thinking about different guests
that we want to kind of revisit with and reintroduce you guys to.
And with it being the month of May,
we were thinking about IndyCar drivers and who'd we come up with, Sean?
Well, we decided to come up with one.
Here's the thing.
The reason why this seemed like a good fit is that we did this in 2018.
So it's actually kind of a fun little time piece
because his career has changed quite a bit for this time.
But also, this was a personality who we knew there was a character there,
but had no idea what a deeply dark person just like us, he was when we sat down.
Yeah, and we immediately were like, oh, this guy could hang with us.
Yeah.
This is Alexander Rossi, Alex Rossi, who at the time, this was 2018.
He was in practice, actually.
We recorded this the month of May.
We normally don't do these at the track, but we figured we're here the month of May
at the beginning for these guys, maybe a little bit more relaxed.
So the morning of practice got in his trailer
and kind of had a rough breakfast with him that kind of knew the title.
But I don't think he really registered what dinner with Racers meant
until we literally showed up with like donuts.
He's like, am I supposed to eat this?
He was right.
Right.
Yeah.
Anyway, he was he was very gracious with this time because literally,
I think he was in the race car and on the track before we were out of the speedway
heading to our next our next adventure.
So for him to be that cool with us that morning of practice, which like you said,
that was like eight years ago, probably like today, you know what I mean?
Yeah, right. Exactly.
He's very close to this exact time.
And and again, we immediately got to be comfortable with him
because he's a sinister guy like we are and he's he likes dark humor and dry humor.
And so that was fun.
Going back and listening to this episode over the last couple of days,
it made me laugh because I can definitely tell a different comfort that we have now
that we did then. And even then, for sure, we were doing good.
But it's just funny to kind of hear the just the different styles we use.
But one thing that stood out was the the air horn.
We really like that air horn app back.
Oh, right. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
So with these reheated, we're always trying to give a little bit more
backstory on kind of what led to it, because you you you've heard these episodes before.
This is technically episode number one, oh, eight that we are reissuing
without Santa Rossi.
And I mean, the thing that always stood out to me about this one is we never do
these tracks. We actually make the rule to do these tracks.
And we figured for the month of May it was OK.
But setting up in his trailer,
he had just gotten his podcast going with Hinchin and Tim.
And they had all the new podcast things that we have been over.
Like this was 2018.
We'd only we've been doing it.
This is I think that was our fourth year of doing it.
By that point, I wouldn't say we're ever over it because we enjoyed doing it.
But like we the novelty of like, oh, we got to do this, that and the other thing
was gone because we kind of were established.
And we walked in and they had like Hinchin Rossi coasters and like all these
little shots giving out and we're and he's like, you guys have these.
We're like, no, no, we just make a podcast.
People listen. I don't I don't know.
And then he asked how we were distributing because we at this point
we're distributing it largely was through kind of Apple podcast
that's the other places.
And like he'd mentioned a company that I'd never heard of.
Like, do you use like a bottle?
And I'm like, yeah, right.
What? No, we just put it out.
I don't know what do you want from them?
But he was instantly comfortable with us within reason.
And I think he realized like, oh, this is the kind of place I can be myself.
And so I always appreciate that.
Yeah. And I think a part of that also stems from Liza Markle setting it up
with us because Liza's a friend of ours and understands who we are and what we are.
And I think she'd even suggested him being on because she knows him very well
and had been working with him for a long time at that point.
So it was it was even though it was kind of awkward, like, OK, we're coming in your bus.
You know, like, which is your home for the month?
I think we're pretty comfortable with him pretty fast.
And also he was he was fun with us, like he was taking shots at us and stuff.
And we always like that kind of banter.
So yeah, it was fun.
Since then, his life has changed, you know, off track pretty dramatically.
He's now married man with it with a son.
He's moved on from Andretti to he went to McLaren.
And now he's at ECR at Carpenter Racing
and hanging out with our good friend, Brie Rents, friend of the show.
And he's still as competitive as ever.
And so it's been interesting to watch his career.
But I loved it.
I was thinking about this while listening to this episode,
because his his life has changed so much on a personal level
and as well as career has evolved quite a bit, I'd like to sit down with him again
because I bet we get another version of him.
Exactly, as most of our fans know, we don't do a whole lot of repeats,
but he would definitely fit in the repeat categories that could make it happen.
Because a couple teams, whole life changes, et cetera.
Now it's as well worth it.
And you mentioned Liza Markle already, but I'd like to mention Liza again
because she really made this happen.
And she's been a great friend of the show over the last 10 years,
helping us with a few different things, giving insight.
She's now very, very closely attached to Meyer Schank Racing.
But she's one of those kind of like Brie Rents,
kind of like a handful of these folks.
She's just one of those very reliable people that we love to work with.
Yeah, without a doubt.
So that's the spiel on Alex Rossi.
It was a quick interview.
It was fun. And like I said, I'd go back and sit down with him again
for another meal if the chance came up.
So take a listen to Alex Rossi.
Hey, thank you, Continental Tire.
All right, we're going to start in 5432
What's the worst morning radio show you've had to do?
Have you had to do like mad talk in the morning?
The dead eyes of all of them.
You can plug that back in.
I showed up to one yesterday and they were like,
you don't seem very excited to be here.
You're super intuitive.
What do you mean?
Is it the early morning or just like the forced
comedy of like all local morning radio?
It's it's that one in particular.
The force. Oh, no, that show.
That show in particular.
Like the guy I walked down is wearing a diarrhea T-shirt.
It was just one of diarrhea.
Yeah. So he's going for the low hanging free jets.
Yeah, we've we've actually met these people.
Not I mean, probably might even be the same.
Did they have sound effects?
I'm sure. I don't know.
We're going to bleep this.
Was it? No.
No, no, no, because they like to wear funny T-shirts too.
No, I don't mind them so much.
It's the it was there was this game and it was like
if you were in charge of the speedway,
would you require everyone to wear a tube top
or not allow two tubs at all?
They do that when it was over.
No.
Thank God.
No, that's a new low for me.
That's you asshole.
Yeah, that's what this is.
Yeah, it just turns the lies of we're done.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's always our biggest fear with people who don't know
is when they walk into like the restaurant and they see this
and like, oh, it's these.
You want to know what sucks about this?
I'll go for it.
It's like, I can't leave because this is my boss.
We were talking to Sam Schmidt the other day,
actually, in his bus right over there.
Yeah, we didn't know him at all.
He's super. I don't know if you know him, but he's super cool.
Like he was great for sure.
And like Sean does PR and media for a bunch of sports car teams
and actually a couple of new car people now.
And we have a go to like, hey, I guess we can't out this.
Well, we can believe it.
But Rod and I have a code.
It's like, hey, if he sees me talking to people,
he'll come over and if it's someone I want to keep talking to,
like, no, no, no, like, no, these are my friends or or I'm like,
yeah, I got to go to that.
You know, thanks for reminding me.
Yeah.
And you say you're talking to people.
It's dates, right?
It's all women.
Yeah. Yeah. Women.
So Indy car, SOS, Indy car trim and sports car
trim might be a little different levels.
But literally.
But there's like a paddock wide code
where if I see just anybody that kind of knows
all sort of say, like, do you need to be?
I can't say what it is because that'll give it away.
There's a code and people say, like, no, I don't need to be it.
I already did it. Yeah, exactly.
We were wondering for Sam Schmidt, it's like he's like,
he can't just be like, well, got to go.
You know, he's kind of like stuck in a lot of places.
So we were wondering, like in his bus,
if he's going to be like, I have a meeting here now.
You have to leave.
He was great. Yeah.
So we don't need to know what it is, but we kind of do.
Do you guys already have a code worked out
for when we have to go?
No, yeah, just say, we need to leave.
I'm done with this.
I don't like it anymore.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
Good times.
I guess I say, don't like things.
We have to bleep that.
Yeah, yeah, we got to protect you here.
He's going to be a form about it.
He said it, I heard him.
Dick.
Or there's the old, you know, pretending to be on your cell
phone when you see someone like coming.
Yeah, you're on the phone, but like.
And then it really sucks when it rings.
Doing great.
Yeah, yep, yep, yep, nothing, nothing.
Oh, I must have trucked.
What was the last thing you heard?
So your dog is, how old is this?
My dog is seven months old.
Oh, wow.
So the dog's name is Brunner.
Brunner.
Brunner, which is lunch and dinner.
So why?
Well, if I told you the real story, you'd hate me.
So I go with.
No, no, no.
Too late.
He was one of the bigger ones of the litter.
So he's a chubby boy.
No, so like me and James.
Hinchcliff.
Hinchcliff, yep, sorry.
And now Robert Wickens and Connor Daly.
We have always done this like brunch thing in Indy.
And it got to the point where it turned
into an all day event.
Like you could never leave the coffee.
So they became dinner.
No, we don't drink.
Dude, you got three bottles of booze right here
over my left shoulder.
I don't know what you're talking about.
And so anyways, it turned into this all day event.
And it got called Brunner.
And so I didn't name it after this event.
But we were like, every time we would have some orange juice
and some coffee.
And it gets like, even we'd be like, let's go get a dog.
And so twice we Ubered to the animal shelter.
Because you want to be responsible when you're
drinking orange juice and coffee.
Of course, yeah.
And so we got real close.
We got the paperwork for a dog and everything.
And we almost signed the paperwork to the dog.
Among the four of you?
Yeah, we were going to do like a timeshare dog.
And then we decided that we weren't going to do that.
So then another person who's not a driver,
but she works at the team and her boyfriend
worked at Andretti and they're a part of it.
So they finally like bit the bullet and they got a dog.
And so we were like, OK, they did it.
So then I went out and got a dog.
And we were thinking about names.
And someone just suggested Brunner.
And I was like, that's actually a cool name for a dog.
Like, you don't want to name your dog Buddy or like.
Yeah, some sort of cliche deal.
Thanks for really naming me.
Your name's Ryan.
I was a young kid.
What does that mean?
Sorry, Alexander.
It's just in terms of standard names.
OK, your name's Alex.
It's fair.
Settle down.
Settle down.
So that's how Brunner came to be.
OK, fair enough.
What do your friends call you?
Alex.
OK, Dickhead.
Yeah.
I can see the second one.
Tell me.
Now, normally the dog comes with a significant other
or something like that because with the travel
and everything else, it's kind of tough to do that.
I have a girlfriend.
OK.
And then she's locked up in the back.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
No, she's a.
I did hear crying.
She's from Canada.
She's actually James' girlfriend's best friend.
That's how we met.
And she comes in.
Paul comes back to James.
She comes in tomorrow.
I was going to say, and if that goes wrong.
It's weird.
James and I have a very weird dynamic now
because when his girlfriend's mad, she talks to me.
When my girlfriend's mad, she talks to him.
And then we always do things together.
And all of us kind of know 75% of what's going on
with the other three.
But then there's always something that one of us
doesn't know.
And it's chaotic.
It's like a bad like Netflix romcom.
We in the making.
It works out.
Yeah.
It has for now.
So you and James have become buddies off track
in the last two years, I'm assuming.
You're thinking of off track with Hinch and Rossi.
Right.
It's a podcast that we started.
We're bleeping all that out, man.
You can subscribe to it on Cast Box or wherever you listen.
Are we on Cast Box?
Off text, Jason.
With Wiccans coming into the mix and naming his dog after James.
Yeah, that's weird.
Yeah.
Is that a power move against you?
Well, that was like three.
His dog is like five years old.
Oh, is it?
Yeah.
Oh, OK.
Wow.
Rob has a weird crush on James.
Well, I was going to say, when you guys are doing your podcast,
is he just looking through the window into the RV?
Sometimes.
Yeah.
Like if you had James to do it.
Especially when we do it at James's house.
I mean, normally there's always someone in James's house.
Sure.
And so Rob kind of just sits in the corner.
It's like, hi, guys.
I really am outside.
There's literally three headsets.
You're like, sorry, man.
Yeah, we might have a guest here.
So the squeaking is Brunner.
He wants to.
That's cool.
Sound of play.
For a seven month, he's really well behaved.
Thank you.
Good dog.
With you and Daly are roommates now?
Is that the deal?
Oh, God, no.
Who's Daly's roommate?
He bought a house now.
We were.
OK, we were.
And it wasn't roommates.
He lived in my house.
Hey, man, there's.
Oh, all right.
Cappy.
I wasn't like splitting an apartment with Connor Day.
You guys know bunk beds?
What?
No bunk beds.
I mean, not anymore.
Right.
And so he moved out of James's and then
was living at his parents.
And he was like, I'm a full-time Indie car driver.
I don't want to live at my parents.
I was like, I get that.
You can come live at mine.
And so.
The first thought should have been,
I'm a full-time Indie car driver.
I should get my own place.
I could get like a studio or something.
Yeah, but he does now.
So we did the amazing race together.
And then that was enough time for us
because he lived with me for a year.
And then we went and traveled the world together
for four weeks.
So when we got back, it was like, OK, we're both over it.
So he moved in bought a place.
And so he's always on now.
Cool.
Congrats, Connor Daly.
Yeah.
Growing up.
Closer to early 20s.
So what do you got going on today?
A whole lot.
Not much.
You guys on track today?
Yeah, I get.
Are we?
Yeah, no.
Yeah, we're on track from 11, 11, 11 to 6.
Yeah, and yeah, I mean, it's a new-ish car this year.
So I mean, it's definitely kind of throwing
a couple of curveballs already.
I mean, yesterday was our first full day of testing.
And it certainly isn't the standard
Android Auto Sport domination round here,
which is a little less fun for us.
Sure, sure.
Yeah, I think we still have good cars.
And it's definitely going to be a very competitive kind
of month.
So that's great for the sport and for the fans.
And I think that the series did a good job with kind
of the addressing the issues of the arrow
kits of the past.
So yeah, pretty happy with it.
What do you have going on?
We're going to drive to Atlanta.
You're driving?
Yeah.
That's far.
Yeah, well, that's I mean, when you do this for a week
at a time, if we rented a car, it just starts
adding up pretty quickly.
That's fair.
You know, and with the free Acura MDX courtesy
of my partners at HPD.
Do you love everything Honda, man?
I have no complaints on it for free.
So Offtrack has had how many episodes?
I don't know.
Like it doesn't.
Because you guys already have like wooden block coasters.
Yeah, our producer, Thim, is pretty aggressive
and very excited about it.
He doesn't have a whole lot going on other than his three-year-old
daughter.
It's pretty much this and his kids.
So he hand makes these coasters of wood.
It wouldn't surprise me.
OK.
Yeah, yeah.
He doesn't have another job in ProLam Sports Car PR.
No.
OK.
OK.
All right, good excuse.
Yeah.
He freelances.
He's a writer in LA.
Oh, wait, what?
What's his name?
I mean, does he look slightly like me?
Yes.
What the fuck?
Where did he live in LA?
What are you paying this guy?
He lives by the Grove that Park, Liberia.
Oh, OK.
That's by like, yeah, we've driven right by that.
Oh, OK.
He's like proper Hollywood then.
Like right in the center.
Does he have an earring?
No.
How tight are his jeans?
Not.
He doesn't wear jeans.
He wears khakis and a black button button down every single
bit.
He doesn't know how we never met this guy.
I don't think we can be in the same room.
I was going to say, like, if we see him, is he here today?
Yeah.
He will be.
Oh.
Like, you guys are going to have to turn and kill each other.
Yeah, it's like, there can only be one.
Right.
Yeah.
I like how they call him a producer.
I'm going to start calling you a producer.
How dare you.
That's pretty much all the show is.
What is he into?
How's, what kind of, what kind of girls does he date?
He's got a daughter.
None?
Oh, he's got a daughter.
So that's his full time.
Liza's giving you signals now.
His, his daughter's mother is actually very attractive.
OK.
Of what ethnicity?
What ethnicity?
She's from Indiana.
OK.
Well, born again.
Born and bred, lives in LA now.
She's not Asian?
No.
You're fine.
OK.
We're good.
We're good.
Oh.
Well, his last, not the whole Asian.
Holy s***.
Dude, this is weird.
What is this guy's name?
This is like really weird.
Tim.
Tim.
OK.
Tim Heckman.
Yeah.
This is not OK.
None of this is acceptable.
All righty.
All right.
Let's talk about USF-1 for like an hour.
USF-1.
Yeah.
I don't know if we can talk about that for an hour.
We, we are obsessed with Peter Winder and how terrible that went.
Did it go anywhere?
Right.
You get it.
Yo, I went to the, the workshop or the factory.
OK.
And I want to say it was January.
It could have been late December, early January.
It doesn't matter.
Testing was starting at the end of February.
Right.
I show up and like I'm the test driver, right?
And I show up and it's a big facility.
And I'm like, oh, this is pretty impressive.
And you know, I kind of walk through and they're, they're
showing me the front wing.
They're like, this is our front wing.
I'm like, OK.
Yeah, they're just using more of this place.
Then they take me to the engineering office and they show me,
you know, a mock-up steering wheel.
Oh, OK.
I'm like.
And this is February.
No, this is like beginning January.
Just look at that month.
OK.
They've got like, yeah, six weeks.
OK.
Solid.
Solid.
And like CAD designs for a car.
And I was like, oh, OK.
So is that being built?
Is that somewhere else?
Right.
That's down the street.
Yeah.
Like, just, you know, you're outsourcing that.
No, no, we're building in-house.
I was like, when?
And they're like, oh, it's, you know, it's in progress.
I'm like, wow.
Right.
Like, good.
So that was my experience with that.
Obviously, they didn't make it to the first test.
That's weird.
I thought, I thought I'd win that.
I think I actually think they had a front wishbone as well.
A. A.
A front wishbone.
Like one.
Yeah.
You need at least four.
How quickly do you call?
I'm assuming you have managers that are, you know,
handling all your stuff.
Oh, no, they were with me.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
So are they like, I have to take a call.
Like, right when you walked in the front door?
Yeah.
Blink once.
Yeah.
OK.
Yeah.
So how long were you technically a contracted USF one guy?
Well, not long after that.
Right.
I was going to say it was like two weeks of like, oh,
that's what this is.
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that was what year was that?
That must have been 2009?
Eight?
Nine?
I thought 2010 was when all the new teams came right in.
Oh, yes.
Right.
Because Bron won in a nine.
So yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good times, guys.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, we were obsessed with how that was never, ever a thing.
Yeah.
And what's funny was, they were like,
they had the option to buy Toyota for pretty cheap.
Right.
And they were like, nah, we got a wishbowl.
No, we're going to do it ourselves.
They spent hundreds of millions and never won a race.
Right.
It was like, well, at least they had a car.
Right.
Right.
We're pretty stoked about the steering wheel.
That's amazing.
All right.
Having been kind of like the back of the grid reserve
and test driver, that's still really prestigious
in the level of preparation that like a Catterham or Marushia
would have had is probably equal to IndyCar teams?
Top IndyCar teams?
Yes and no.
I mean, they're still producing a car.
They're still a lot bigger budget.
Right.
For a Kater and Mara, Marussia, probably 10 times
that of a top IndyCar team.
So the level of preparation and talent in IndyCar,
yes, it exists.
But the capabilities that they have, I mean,
they're just limited by the amount of money they can spend.
So it was like an adjustment for sure coming to IndyCar
and just a step down from just a clinical approach,
I guess you can say.
I mean, you go into an F1 team and it's almost
like you're going into like a hospital or some place
where they do exactly stem cell research.
And so in my first test, I showed up
and I was talking to my engineer and I was like,
what's our run plan?
And he was like, what is our test list?
But we don't have a run plan because in F1, it was like a 903.
We're going to lower the front right at 1 million.
Then at 907, we're going to do this toe change.
And then we're going to stop and look at data for an hour.
And then at 1004, so right?
So he was like, yeah, no, we'll just kind of go out
and see what it is.
And then these are the changes that I have for undersere.
And so in essence, it's a much more pure form
because guys and engineers and drivers
are actually working through things
based on their past experience, based on kind
of their gut instinct.
Whereas in F1, the computer tells us
so we have to do it at this time to make our optimum test
day happen.
Well, by virtue of not building a new car all the time,
you don't have to go through as many operational procedures.
Exactly.
So in a way, I prefer this so much more
because it's a pure form of racing.
And on top of that, you're competitive,
kind of regardless of what team you are, the size.
I mean, obviously there's a team.
I mean, you have the Penskees of the world versus a smaller
team.
There's going to be a performance difference,
but it's six-tenths, seven-tenths, not four and a half
seconds, right?
So if you have a good day and things fall your way,
you can be on the podium.
You can win.
If things go your way and you have a good day in a Marussia
car, you're 15th.
And it's like that kind of takes its toll.
For sure, it's cool to be a part of it and then the show
and that technology is amazing.
The cars are amazing.
The scale of the event is impressive, but it's not fun.
And I always got the impression, and I mean,
we don't know each other, but I always got the impression
like IndyCar coming out for you wasn't really on the radar.
Oh, not at all.
No, all the way.
And it's not that I didn't like IndyCar.
It's not that I had anything against it.
It's from the age of 10, I wanted to drive an F1,
and I moved to Europe.
I had just turned 17, and I spent eight years there.
So I didn't know anything else.
So there was obviously a lot of American die-hard open-wheel
racing fans that really didn't like the fact that I came over
because it was like, oh, he's European.
It's like, well, I'm not.
Right, all right.
If you had a goal and a dream and a focus
and you went to do that for the majority of your adult life,
you're going to have a little bit of a bias towards that
initially, right?
So that has obviously very much changed
because I couldn't even imagine going back.
So I'm pretty happy here.
So you don't seem like somebody that suffers fools very well?
What does that mean?
Basically, oh, well, let me.
OK.
What's something new every day, man?
Suffer fools meaning like when the annoying fan.
That guy, you nailed it.
That guy.
Yeah, exactly.
Like, you don't want to sit there and listen to that.
Sure.
And eventually you're like, OK, apples, we got to go.
Yeah, exactly.
When you're dealing with like a back marker deal like that,
and I'm not belittling the efforts to reality of it,
is there anybody on the Marusha team or Caterham team
who's like, no, no, we're going to be all right?
Like, we're working on this next wing?
Or is it like, we know we're at it as an overall?
Do the best we can?
No, what you're trying to do is you're
trying to, you know, at the time,
you were competing for 10th in points,
which there was a big prize or a.
It's basically 10th is like the cutoff.
Right, there's a big formula one structure in terms
of the revenue that they get, part of the ad share revenue.
And 10th to 11th is like a $30 million swing.
So for a team that's struggling to find the budget,
that's a big, big deal.
And so our whole goal was not to be 11th.
And you couldn't, like, we weren't competing to score points.
If you scored a point, that was like unbelievable.
So you were competing really for 12th,
because that's kind of the highest a Marusha or Caterham
could get with attrition and weather,
and kind of falling into the right thing.
And if someone got at 12th, it was like, shit.
Like we have got to like figure it out.
And like there was races where there was a higher odds
of that happening.
There was like Singapore, there was a good shot.
You'd have Brazil was always a good shot.
So there was a couple of races a year where it was like,
this could be an opportunity to get 12th.
And if you got it, it was awesome.
And so you kind of, and I remember my year,
like we both had 12th.
So then it was like, we got to get a 13th type of thing.
So you were making improvements and developments
and bringing new updates for kind of that sort of thing.
But no, there was never anyone that was like,
oh, this front wing package and rear brake ducts.
This is three seconds.
So we're going to be P6 today.
I guess it exists.
All, I mean, USF1 is the most shining example,
but I mean, Caterham and Marusha and then Manor.
HRT.
HRT, all folded.
Basically in your ears, are there obvious red flags
when you're inside a team?
Yeah.
I mean, I'll be honest with you.
Caterham was all the red flags.
Yeah.
They had, for the years that I was there,
so 2011 from when they were team Lotus to, I guess, 2014,
they had as close to, if not equivalent,
budget to Force India.
Okay.
Like that sink in for me.
Yeah.
Okay, yeah.
And they, Force India was in the points on podiums
every once in a while and Caterham was, you know,
back with the HRTs and the Marushas.
And it was just an organization that was so poorly run
because there was no leadership.
Like there was really smart people there.
There was a lot of people from Toyota
and a lot of guys that had a lot of capability.
But for example, they would see
the Red Bull blown diffuser, right?
And they'd just go try and make that
and think that they can bolt on a blown diffuser
because Red Bull is doing it
and all of a sudden be winning Grand Prix.
And it's like, they have an entire car design.
Yeah, yeah.
So they'd have these hair on fire reactions
like, we need this next week.
Right.
And then they'd end up setting the floor on fire.
They didn't, like, it just, it was bad, right?
So, and that went on for years.
So when I got signed by Manor,
it was a completely different organization.
Like it was an actual properly run race team of racers,
not businessmen.
And guys who had really good concepts
of what they were doing
that were just purely limited by their budget.
If Manor had had the capability
to spend double what they were doing,
they would still be around today.
They would have scored points.
They were a really good race team.
But the thing that sent that kind of into a spiral,
heartbreakingly, was the Jules incident in Suzuka.
And that really, that changed the Ferrari dynamic
because there was a lot of support
from Ferrari going there because Jules was there.
And then they kind of missed races that year
and the whole team kind of went into the tailspin.
And then in 16, they got the Mercedes deal,
but it was a one year deal with some stipulations
and it just didn't happen and unfortunately ended.
But those people there, like the grand loudens of the world
who are now in sports cars over there,
I mean, they're really good people.
And so it was really nice to have that experience in F1
because the K-Drum experience was really not good.
So to be able to leave with that kind of taste
in my mouth was good because it was an awesome team.
So that was nice.
Did you spend much time with Jules?
Oh yeah.
Yeah, so that was pretty heartbreaking.
We were teammates in 2010
and lived together in England for a bit
and we were pretty close.
When something like that happens,
you said the team kind of spiraled from there.
Is it like a literal kind of thing
where Ferrari all of a sudden is not as supportive?
No, so what happened was,
where it happened in the calendar was really bad.
It was right at the end of the year.
That and so it was Suzuka.
And then the next week, we were racing in Sochi.
And I was the reserve driver.
And so I had to deal with the mental,
like, do I wanna be doing this situation?
That's your seat now.
Exactly.
And so we went to Sochi, we went through the motions
and to kind of be me drive that car
and then we decided to build it, everything built.
And then Friday morning, it just sat in the garage
because it didn't feel right for a lot of reasons
to be driving that car four days after.
That was their choice, not yours.
It was a combined thing.
Yes, if I was a driver.
Because the whole time it had been like
hating the fact that I was gonna be in that car on Friday.
And so when you only run one car,
there's a pretty big fine from F1
and it's just a big problem.
Obviously that's a tough situation for anybody.
Would your kind of emotional tide
and kind of be okay with not getting in that car,
would that have been different,
had you not had a relationship with them?
I don't know.
That's an interesting question.
Probably, if it had just been some random person.
But the fact that we were teammates,
that we kind of went through the ranks together
and then him and I were super close when I was at Manor.
And he was the one that I went to the track with
because I was the reserve guy, right?
And I was in all of his debriefs
and we went out to meals.
He was my mentor, if you will, right?
So it was never right.
Yeah, exactly.
Let's make this happier.
Yeah, so.
Lally, a good buddy of ours, Andy Lally,
he raced NASCAR for about a year
of sprint cup and did trucks and all that.
And he would go to the paddock.
In fact, this happened to Sean as well
because he coincidentally,
you've probably been to Newcastle.
Never been to the go-kart track?
It's like an hour from here.
Check it out, great, great place, thank you.
No, not a fan?
I do not like go-karts.
What?
Nope.
I didn't know that.
You want to talk about it?
Sure.
All right.
Put too much pressure on me as a kid.
Oh, all right.
Lally just wasn't supportive.
Right.
Yeah, just.
How are you with your dad?
No, good.
I thought I liked go-karts.
Because you were IK, so I grew up in New York.
I'll tell you the story.
So I did go-karts only until I was 13.
Okay.
And like I did KT 100.
When'd you start?
When I was like 11.
Okay, sure.
And you weren't?
I grew up in Northern California,
according to a couple years older.
But you were KT 100, so that was like the class
of Northern California at the time.
So it was like junior sportsman
and then junior super sportsman,
which was like a little bit faster.
And so I did that, and that was my go-kart experience.
Well, at winter of 2016, Matt Jaskill,
who was an awesome go-kartor,
he was my very first like go-kart coach.
He actually ended up coming to the 100, 500.
And like we won weirdly.
And so he was like in winter circle with us and everything.
And he was like, this is so awesome.
Cause like I hadn't seen him for a lot of years.
He was like, let's be teammates
and go do supernats together.
And I was like, yeah.
So we get like the factory CRG.
And not only do I decide to go do supernats,
I decide to go do it in S1 and KZ.
So like the two highest advice.
The big stuff.
With guys who are karting every week.
Oh my gosh.
My teammate was Palo Ducanto,
or Pablo Ducanto, or whatever.
And Matt Jaskill, whatever.
He is like the shit.
And he's the Lewis Hamilton of go-karts.
Isn't Lewis Hamilton the Lewis Hamilton of go-karts?
No man, this guy would drill him.
Really?
Oh, absolutely.
So we show up, we do some tests.
And like me and Matt are testing, I'm all right.
Like I'm with Matt.
And I'm like, okay, we'll be all right.
We're not going to win, but we can top 10, top 15, right?
And so I show up and supernats, never been,
heard a lot about it.
It's in a parking lot in Vegas.
And so.
Is this the real?
No, this was outside the convention center.
So I'm 6'2", 180, like pretty tall.
And so I would go out, first practice is S1, then KZ.
And there's like, what, two days of practice?
Two classes.
And I'm pretty competitive in KZ,
but I'm struggling in S1.
Like there's just a different driving style,
I just can't figure it out.
And so we go through the whole process,
and like there's heat races,
and I mean there's qualifying, there's heat races.
So we get to the last day, man.
And I am black.
The right side of my torso is completely black
because the final corner is like flat,
pretty close to flat, super bumpy.
And I was just in so much pain.
So I do the S1 race and I finish last.
And I was like, this is ridiculous.
And I was destroyed.
But I was like, all right.
So I had like, at the time a massage therapist come,
a chiropractor come, I was on massive pain medicine.
I was like, just do anything.
Cause I was actually starting the main,
the KZ main like 10th.
Cause I was competitive in that.
And I was like, I can do this.
And Perez was like, I think he was starting eighth.
Jasko was starting like 13th.
And it was like guys that I should be kind of racing
against, I was.
I felt, I felt good about it.
I get nine laps in and I literally was crying.
I was in so much pain.
I pitted.
I literally pitted.
I was like, there's no way that I'm doing 25 minutes of this.
Yeah.
Or 30 minutes, whatever it means.
There's absolutely no way.
Funnily enough, Sergio, cause we have been racing
the whole time, Sergio sees me pull in, also pulls in.
No way.
I was like, what's wrong?
He was like, dude, absolutely not.
No way.
Hell no.
Like I have an F1 race in Mexico in like a week and a half.
This is ridiculous.
And so because of that reason,
I will never get in the go-kart again.
Because it was the most painful experience
in my entire life.
Fair enough.
So there we go.
All right.
All right.
Well, nothing about you.
So Sean goes to Newcastle doing a video thing.
It's run over by a kid on a go-kart.
I bet that also hurt.
He wouldn't have crossed.
That's Ari Weemay.
Is that a name you know?
Yeah.
He claims he didn't do it.
But he totally did it.
He ran over Sean intentionally.
No, I was doing camera work.
Did you deserve it?
Well, I deserve it usually just in karma alone.
So, but Newcastle, I mean, it's,
so it's like Northern Cal,
it's no different than like at Dixon or Davis.
Like there is no such thing as not having your back
to the track.
You know what I mean?
So I'm standing in what should be like a video zone.
Safe area.
It's a safe area, but there's always something
coming from somewhere.
And so I'm shooting and two guys tangle
and just managed to steer right through.
And neither of them lift.
And they literally just keep going through the grass,
flat until they get to Sean.
Did it just hit you?
Yeah, it went right through me.
Ow.
And the week before it was,
well, physically I'm fine.
And the other dammit has nothing to do with Newcastle.
The Mount Terriers that are the worst.
But like the week before it was the Nürburgring
doing video, like on the ground
and the pits getting low shot, nothing.
No problems.
Yeah, I'm fine.
I mean, that's a fall from fame,
Nürburgring to Newcastle.
Yeah, to Newcastle.
And then in a go-kart series,
it doesn't even do anything.
It's taken out of there in an ambulance.
Probably should have done a better job in Nürburgring.
So weeks later, they're at a NASCAR race
and because Carl Edwards had broken his leg
rough at the same time,
he's given autographs as Carl Edwards.
People are like, Carl, I'm all right.
Lally goes NASCAR racing.
He's getting all the time.
People are like, are you David Strimme?
You know, the other guys that are starting part, guys.
You're racing in Formula One in Europe as a reserve driver,
but you're walking around in a suit or with a team kit.
Who have you been mistaken for?
Oh, quite a few people, I think,
just because of the hype that I was Mark Weber.
Oh, sure, sure.
Which is not a compliment.
Oh, never mind.
Sorry about that.
No, it's okay.
I mean, he's way more successful than I am, but...
Are you okay now, though?
Yeah, okay.
But yeah, that's funny you mentioned that
because that is like the reserve driver perks.
You get a team shirt and a headset.
Right, right.
Sit here.
Right, right, right.
Don't move.
Yeah, right.
So yeah, you get real good at refreshing your Instagram.
And it's funny because Rob and I,
Rob Wickens and I, we were reserve drivers
roughly at the same time.
I was at Kater and he was at Mercedes,
so a little bit different scale.
But we downloaded these games to our MacBooks
and we would just sit in hospitality together.
And we'd have these coffee breaks
and we'd just sit there and play games on our computers.
Nice.
Because there was literally nothing else to do.
He watched the entire series of Mad Men,
like he was behind.
So he just watched it all.
He started learning how to design his own helmets.
Yeah, like he learned, he just found the skills.
He's literally creating a life after racing.
Because literally there was nothing to do
as a reserve driver and an F1 paddock.
Okay.
You ever watch Silicon Valley?
No.
Okay.
Nevermind.
Nevermind.
Shut that down.
So basically what you're saying is
people pay millions and millions of dollars
to drink coffee at hospitality.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, just for the glamour and the height.
And to have a cool Twitter bio.
Right.
That pays out.
Official manner F1.
That pays out a lot.
Because official meant something.
Because you could be like a manner F1 development driver.
Okay.
Or you could be the official reserve driver.
We're talking like the difference of 10,000 followers.
No, we're talking the difference of like
you get a headset that has both cars.
Oh.
And like would plug into the intercom.
Right.
Versus just like a scanner.
It doesn't do anything.
Would you ever fake it for the camera?
Like I'm putting in things here.
Like Kevin Buckley would do that often.
He's like, oh camera.
Yeah, pit now.
I'm not pressing the button.
No, no, I would try and put my phone down.
Because I'd just be sitting there.
Are there ridiculous finds like in your contract?
Like you can't be seen wearing like something competitive?
Or like were they like that?
Yeah, were they like that critical?
No, it was actually, it's more critical here.
Okay.
Yeah, in F1 they don't really care.
In terms of what you wear, it's,
I mean you're giving a script on what to say.
Sure.
When a camera or microphone is put in front of you.
Yeah.
But in terms of like sponsor mentions,
that wasn't a thing until I came here.
Yeah, cause you guys didn't really do it.
That's too American for them.
What do you drive over here?
Drive on the pilot.
Atta boy.
Atta boy.
Not a Mercedes?
Nope.
Noted.
Okay.
Noted.
Is this your bus?
Like is this your personal one?
Yeah.
Nice.
It's cool, man.
Is this?
Take it everywhere or just like close to?
The farthest west it goes is Texas.
Cause then like the fuel does not make sense.
Right.
Versus F here.
You don't save any money on a hotel room.
Do you have a guy that drives it?
I do.
Is it somebody you know or somebody that they?
No, I mean he's been my driver for two years.
He works with the hospitality crew.
Sure.
And ready.
So did you do this the first year?
Or is this sort of once you kind of said
this is what I'm doing?
Yes.
Okay.
So this was last year?
Last year or third now.
How different is it RV life versus the hotel life?
It's not.
I mean it just, I can sleep in later,
which is a big plus for me.
Yeah.
I understand.
And like it was cool this morning.
Cause like we're here.
So I went on the road with Scott and Tony
and like it's nice just to be able to be.
Yeah.
It seems like there's sort of like an RV fraternity.
A little bit.
The bus lot.
A lot of pranks on Connor is just pretty much the main goal.
What's the best one?
The best one by far,
which sadly we had nothing to do with.
And it really pains me that we didn't come up with this idea.
So him and I were on a media tour
cause like after qualifying we all dispersed.
And do our media advances.
Come back and it was pretty late when we got back.
He goes into his bus.
He's an idiot cause he'd leave it on lock.
What do you expect?
And so it was completely full.
I'm talking a 45 foot bus.
Completely full with balloons.
I remember saying this on tour.
Now I'm not saying just little balloons.
I'm saying massive balloons.
Some are filled with helium and some are filled with air.
Okay.
So you have different.
The whole room's full.
And so, so big that they can't get out the door.
Good, good.
And the only way to get them out is to pop them.
Nice.
Every single balloon was filled with confetti or glitter.
So this was like,
this was a big investment of time and money to pull this off.
And I can't say I have a lot of experience,
but I've heard from friends that getting glitter off of you
is hard.
Yeah, it wasn't his bus either.
It's easy on the cheeks.
So here's the thing that was funny.
So he tried to like pop a couple and realized he couldn't.
So he slept under all the balloons
and then couldn't come up with a solution.
So his mom, he called his mom and Beth had to come
and deal with it all.
So that was pretty funny.
Those are any guilt when you're like,
ah, damn it, we didn't want to mess with her.
We didn't do it.
That's the one you couldn't play.
So the other one with James, it was pretty funny.
It was the old buy a remote control train horn
and bolted under his golf cart.
Oh, wow.
And so as he's driving through gasoline alley,
we can set off a train horn.
Oh my God, that's amazing.
That was strong.
Yeah, that's a big game right there.
Like flip the golf cart over.
Well, no, he ended up taking the seat off
and driving around without a seat.
But that was fine because he's also an idiot
and he left his MDX at the time on locks.
We just put it in the trunk.
Ha ha ha.
So, that's amazing.
Good times.
Yeah.
What's back on Connor Daley some more?
In biggest pet peeve as a roommate?
The, here's a good one.
His grocery store shopping contributions.
So like he'd go to the store every once in a while.
It was great.
I mean, that's kind of what you do as a roommate.
Just because he's living in the workplace.
But here's the thing that was purchased.
Sugar-free Red Bull.
Pop-tarts.
Doritos.
Lean cuisines.
Hot pockets.
Good, good.
Oreos.
Yeah.
What would you have gotten?
You know, you know, bananas, lemons, limes,
salmon, asparagus, broccoli.
Maybe some milk and cereal.
Some avocados, maybe.
Some avocados.
Maybe a couple of steaks one night.
You know, pop-tarts.
Human food.
Pop-tarts.
Pop-tarts.
So that's probably my biggest pet peeve.
Did he ever show up with gogurt?
No, here's my other.
This was actually my biggest pet peeve.
Love the kid to death.
I need to clarify that.
And we're still very good friends.
But, so, you know those Amazon Dash buttons?
Okay, so you, with Amazon Prime now,
so you can like order some groceries.
Oh, right, right, right.
Okay, so there's these Dash buttons
that like stick to your wall or in your pantry.
And you can push them if you're out of garbage bags
or laundry detergent or water or whatever
and it shows up the next day.
Like whatever you have it set.
We're making sports car money, so.
They're $5 and when you order something,
you get the $5 back.
So he would like fill the fridge with water
and drink all the water.
And then you don't even have to A, go to the store
and B, it's not hooked up to your credit card.
But he wouldn't even push the Dash button to bring water.
So I'd come home and there would be zero water in the house.
It was like, bro, just push the damn button.
It's not hard.
It's as easy as it possibly can be.
Right, so that also is annoying.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So he lived with Hinch before you, right?
Yeah.
Did James give you like a payment?
He told me not to do it at all.
But again, Connor's a very good friend.
I've been with him for a while
and he's in a tough spot, so I'll help him out.
It seems like IndyCar's little brother.
He is.
It seems like everyone loves him.
Everyone would do everything for him.
But he is the little brother.
He was just, yeah.
Yeah, it's all good.
Four minutes.
Okay, we'll do a pass on question real quick.
Every guest gets one from the previous guest.
Last night we had dinner with Rick Mears,
probably heard of him.
Oh, yeah.
And he wants to know if you asked him,
he's like, yeah, I was all right.
Like, dude, I think you're all right.
You're better than all right.
Pretty awesome.
What kind of difference do you see
from people, family, and friends after you won the Indy 500?
Hmm.
Family and friends, none.
Family, a lot more like my second cousin twice removes
is my step uncle's, you know, half daughter
wants to come to races.
Sure, yeah.
So that, I saw a big increase in like the interest,
not by immediate family,
because they always have been supportive
and have always come,
but like the super extended family.
Yeah, right.
And what was it, family, friends?
Yeah, just like other people.
Other people, I guess just more people know who I am,
especially like in Indiana,
and especially at this place.
Like my first year here,
I signed, you know, approximately zero autographs.
Right.
And now like, there's actually people
who are interested, which is weird.
Like it's cool, slash annoying,
but slash kind of amazing,
because I went from being an absolute nobody here
to people having die casts of your cars.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which is pretty neat when you think about it.
Did it take practice to kind of learn how to engage?
Yes, I'm probably still learning,
because there's times where it's like super easy,
and it's chill, and it's not an issue.
There's other times where you're like
in the middle of an engineering briefing,
and you really just need to take a leak,
and like you can't do that.
That's when it gets tough.
How much did amazing race change for you guys?
Well, now when said people come up to me
to get my autograph,
they talk to me about amazing race and not race cars.
Is that good or bad?
I mean, I don't, I didn't love the amazing race.
Fair and different.
Okay.
All right.
So you're 26.
Yes.
Old enough to vote?
Barely.
Liza, are you okay with politics?
Is it all right if we ask them a political question?
She loves our president.
Well, we've been able to ask a lot of important people
in the sport, you know, who they voted for this year.
They were just trying to take risks.
You know, we're getting edgy.
We have an air horn out.
We do.
I don't know if I'm comfortable with this.
Well, if you're okay answering,
who did you vote for last presidential election?
Oh, easy.
Johnny O'Rourke page.
Oh.
That's it, Liza.
How's Liza working out for you?
Is she okay?
Liza's great.
And it's very funny because like people ask,
what does she do?
And it's like everything.
Yeah.
Like it's pretty hard to,
I don't even know what her title is.
She's, it's funny.
It's like, so Liza's your what?
Oh, she's my Liza.
Right, right.
Who, is it you?
Who wears the not the girlfriend T-shirt?
Is that you?
Okay.
I love that shirt.
Yeah.
Her best friend is my best friend.
Okay.
Melissa.
Oh.
Yeah.
Oh, I love Melissa.
Don't you guys live in like the same building now
or something?
Yeah.
That's cool.
Right on.
In Long Beach?
Oh, hang on.
We got one more thing for you.
So you're on track in about an hour.
So we should probably hit the road.
We're driving to Atlanta.
Yeah.
But your donuts were courtesy of our good friends.
So my dog likes to get on the counter.
So I'm definitely gonna have to move those.
Yeah.
I noticed you pulled a donut aside for yourself.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good move.
I like it.
There's actually money on this.
Are you gonna eat that donut?
I mean, not right now.
But today you leaked my donut.
You want me to tell you?
You're very trim.
So he didn't think he'd eat it.
I didn't think he'd eat it.
Yeah.
Anyway, it's a road 20 miles this morning.
Nice.
Well, Continental's got the check.
Meow, meow, meow.
I'm finished.
So I've been a fan of Alex Rossi the talent,
but I am a huge fan of Alex Rossi the dude.
Honestly, I had no opinion of him really.
And after that, I was like, yeah, no, that's my guy.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, a lot more character there than you realize.
And that is one dark son of a bitch.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So obviously he's a big Honda guy.
I'm a big Honda guy.
We appreciate Acura and Honda for supporting us,
as well as Continental Tire.
I like it.
Get close.
Yeah, let them know that you appreciate their support.
Send them a note.
All right, we're going to close with a song.
Ooh, this one, one.
Yeah, here's the totally, totally.
Yeah, I agree.
We're going to hit, you know what song we're going to play.
You definitely are going to play.
You know what song we're going to play.
You know what song we're going to play.
You definitely are going to play that song.
Why it's Armin Ballian.
Armin Ballian.
You can find him at armenbalan.com.
Here's a song called 911 Someone Call My Girlfriend.
Also, thank you to Philip Cohen and somebody
named Argy for suggesting Alexander Rossi, his guests.
Hopefully, it was everything you were hoping for.
All right, Armin Ballian.
Ooh, ah, ooh, ah.
I feel so out of it.
I done drank a lot of liquor, and I'm full of it.
Got them girls moncin' on me doing it away.
And another one at home, I better not forget.
Hold up.
Heard about the things you do, heard about the way you move.
Heard about the games you play, heard about the way you sleep.
911 Someone Call My Girlfriend.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
Tell her that another girl is trying to take her man.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
I want this.
I need this.
I got this.
I'm a rock piece.
911 Someone Call My Girlfriend.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
Ooh, ah, ooh, ah.
Won't you bring it in?
Girl, you make it so hard that I just can't pretend.
Even though all you want is my dividend.
You still got me hypnotized because your sizzle light pulled up.
Heard about the things you do, heard about the way you move.
Heard about the games you play, heard about the way you sleep.
911 Someone Call My Girlfriend.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
Tell her that another girl is trying to take her man.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
I want this.
I need this.
I got this.
I'm a rock piece.
911 Someone Call My Girlfriend.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
Can't nobody do it like me?
Let me show you how it's done.
Rock, paper, scissors, rock, rock, paper, scissors.
Rock, paper, scissors, damn, damn, you are.
Rock, paper, scissors, rock, rock, paper, scissors.
Rock, paper, scissors, damn, damn, my love.
911 Someone Call My Girlfriend.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
Tell her that another girl is trying to take her man.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
I want this.
I need this.
I got this.
I'm a rock piece.
911 Someone Call My Girlfriend.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
911 Someone Call My Bluffs.
Request an explanation for:
2 cars
2 cars featured
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
Help improve this episode
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark. Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.
Report incorrect info
Suggest better explanations
Flag missing cars