The Porsche Cayman is a sporty car that is designed to be fun to drive and very fast. It's made by a well-known company called Porsche, and people often talk about it because it handles really well on the road and is exciting to own.
IndyCar is a type of car racing in the U.S. that features fast cars racing on different kinds of tracks, including big oval tracks. It's known for exciting races.
Formula 1 is a top-level car racing series where teams compete in fast cars on different tracks around the world. It's very popular and has a lot of technology involved.
LIVE
time. Hey guys, it's IndyCar Dad and welcome to my podcast and
today I'm very excited I've joined forces with the
Formation Yap podcast. So I have Viv, Kira and Emma from the
Formation Yap. I met Viv and Kira at Daytona at the 24 hours of
Daytona. There are tons of fun and we're really happy to have
them. We're doing our 2026 IndyCar season predictions.
Let's do our predictions. Alright, I want to start it off hard.
You guys told me we're doing predictions. So I want to start
it off hard. Let's just go for it. Who's gonna win the
championship this year?
Who do you think?
I think I think Joe is gonna come back. Joe knew Joe knew
he's I think he's I think the penske drama has settled down
and he's gonna come back and have a better season than last
year.
I hope so. He had a bad one last year.
It was not good. It did not end well.
Yeah, no, Joseph. Yeah, that was it was a rough like rough one.
And mind you, he started like, okay, I think it just went
really down like downhill after the 500 stuff. The 500 stuff
happened and it was just downhill from there.
There wasn't any saving it. Yeah.
How about you? You know what? I'm gonna go completely out of
everything and I'm gonna live in my delusion. I think leave me
alone. Leave me alone. I think that Christian Rasmussen is gonna
win. Oh, all right. All right. Well, that's that's that's
prediction. You have to have hope. You have to have hope and
dreams. He's my favorite. You know, I believe in him. I believe
in ECR.
Lucky want to race last year. He's not, you know, this isn't
totally out of luck. Yeah. How about you, Emma? What do you
think?
You know, I kind of think that pillow is gonna do it again. But
I don't if it's not blow, you know what? I think will power has
a fire under him now that he's left Penske. He seems really
happy with Andretti and from what we got to speak with him at
Daytona. So I think that will could be a contender. I might be
hard with the transition with different engine suppliers and a
different team. But you know, I'm not counting out will power
this year.
Yeah. Yeah. I think that might be hard. But that's a great
pick. My pick is Rosenquist. He went from he got to sixth in
the championship last year. He's with a good team. Myershank.
They have a ganassi engineers and ganassi's been kind of
dominant lately. So you got to go with your heart, right, Viv?
I don't like Viv. I'm going with my heart.
Exactly. That's what I'm saying.
All right, let's do another big one. Who's going to win the
500?
I think Pado. I think yeah, I think it's time to close too many
times. Yeah, I feel like you're saying this power. I think like
he has too much of a fire underneath him to just do the
damn thing by now.
I think it's his time at this point.
No, I think new guy wins again. That's my not to be mean about
it. But I got so good there, you know, like, I cannot. I cannot
have a repeat of 2024. No, I'm already in tears. I'm watching
Pado win. No, he's not. I cannot have another repeat. Like,
I either want Pado. Sorry. Sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I was the first Intica race I ever watched.
That 2024 500?
I don't know.
Every single time I get reminded of that race, I'm like, I
shivered. I don't know. There's like a reaction to me like
thinking about that race. No, but I would say like, if Pado
doesn't win it, I want somebody like completely unexpected,
like something like completely like,
kippin, shawty. Yeah,
shawty.
We get like something like
that'll be there.
That's another another question of the past.
I think we're gonna talk about that later.
What do you think? Like something like that.
Yeah, that'd be fun. That's why you watch the race, right?
Anyone can really, a lot of people can win the 500.
The track decides. That's not something common at a lot of
tracks, but I definitely think Indy decides the winner. It's
not the driver. Yeah, I think so.
All right, let's talk about what driver gets their first win
this year.
Usually have a first win first time later.
All right, Emma.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, he's a lot better record. How about you, Kira?
Um, I didn't even consider Malukas. I originally was
thinking Foster. I feel like I have a weird feeling about RLL
this year. I think they're gonna do well.
And I just feel like, like the power of that mustache is gonna
carry Foster far. Like he's gonna, he's gonna be feeling it
this year. He's gonna be feeling himself and he's gonna be
like, yeah, this is it, guys.
I saw a picture of him today, a video from a testing day, and
he's like his hair is grown out.
Is this guy a wood stock or something? What's going on?
Always throws me when he opens his mouth and a British accent
comes out.
Yeah, when he wears like the cowboy hat, the cowboy boots, and
then suddenly it's a British accent. And I'm like, I just
got catfished.
Yeah.
Because I was really shocked the first time I saw him in
person, because he's pretty buff.
But yeah, he does not sound like a buff person with the
British accent. You know, it's just like those two things
don't really jive with me.
I feel like that that picture preseason pictures from 2025,
when he was like, clean shaven, his hair was like all
gelled back looking nice, and he had like his smile. And now
the preseason photos from this year. And he's got like all of
this hair, the mustache, like, that's a different man.
I don't know what RLL is feeding him. But yeah, I would
like to know, like, I will I want the change.
Also, our RLL on socials, they're doing great. I love
it. They're doing the thing. I think it was like the whole
situation of the drivers too. I feel like they they're eating
up right now.
They have yeah, they got that Jay Fry guy, the president of the
organization. Now he used to be with Indy car. And so and he's
the guy who brought in mixed shoe marker. He's doing like big
bold stuff. He's making a name over there. You know, my
prediction first time winner this year is Kiffin Simpson.
I was just gonna say Kiffin too.
I just I just met him at Detroit. I was doing a little
segment for my podcast called eat like a driver. So I wrote
all I don't know if I wrote to all of them, but I wrote to at
least 20 drivers to say like, What do you eat? I want to do a
thing where I eat like what you eat. I was just hoping someone
would just snap a picture of their meal plan from their
trainer and send it my way. And I got one response that was
from Kiffin Simpson. And he was like, my favorite post workout
meal is really boring. It's a pound of ground beef and mashed
potatoes.
That's the most
pound of pound. Yeah.
Because he's bulking.
Yeah, he's
pound of ground beef last me three to four meals.
And then I yeah, well, you figure a quarter of a pound is a
quarter pound hamburger was a big hamburger, you know,
that's yeah, that's I worked out and then I eat I eat the
ground beef and the mashed potatoes. And I'm kind of really
hung up on the pound of ground beef.
Then the mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes are so filling.
Yeah, I couldn't finish mashed potatoes. They're not putting
anything on that either. Like they're not butter cheese. Yeah,
it's just mashed potatoes.
Okay, so the story continues. So a week later, Kiffin Simpson
was at the Detroit auto show, which is down not far from where
I live. So I went down there. Oh, and I tagged him in the video
and stuff. And I got a response back. He was very nice, like a
chatted with him just briefly, you know. And so then I saw I
made a Kiffin the Simpson sweatshirt. And I brought it
down to the Detroit auto show and I gave him and I showed it to
him. We really liked it. And I gave him one. And I was like,
I'm the guy and he's like, Yeah, I know who you are. Andy
Cardan. And so we were talking. So then we're talking about it,
you know, and I made some quips in the video like, not I
didn't say super positive things about it. So I kind of
apologize. Anyway, at Daytona, I went to see him if he was there
again, but I didn't get to reach him. You saw him. I want to
go see him because I figure I just saw him a week ago and we
were chatting. So I went to see him just before the race, you
know, and I just never saw him. There's a few people there. And
this woman approached me and she said, Hey, I recognize you from
this video. And I'm thinking I only have like 50 subscribers.
Who is this person? It's Kiffin Simpson's mom. Oh, my gosh.
She was super sweet. So it was really funny. Oh, that's so
funny.
And at this point, very nice. That surprised me because I
learned you can ask here. I the whole week and I was like,
where's Kiffin? I have not seen that man. I have not. He was on
the gridwalk. He was just busy. I didn't bother him. Yeah, I
never hung up on this pound of ground.
No, and you know, that white man barely seasons seasons it.
No, he's from the Cayman Islands. He's from the Cayman
Islands. He knows how to use seasoning. Yeah. I also he
doesn't like pickles. And I don't know how to feel about that
as a certified pickle lover. I don't like pickles. I moved with
one grocery item. And that was a jar of pickles.
Alexander Rossi likes pickles, right? Yes, he did. He put that
on his preseason board. Preseason board, yeah. I love
pickles. Pickles. A pound? I'm sorry. That's a lot of meat.
That's expensive. I did. They eat like a driver Felix Rosenquist
and I had to eat seven eggs. That's even worse. That's worse.
Seven eggs were probably worse than the pound of ground beef.
This is why I'm not a professional athlete. I do think
it's interesting taking a break from the classic hockey player
chicken and pasta meal. But these are concerning me. Seven?
That's expensive too. They don't make that much money. Yeah, I
think I might start writing because I didn't get any
response from these guys. I think I'm gonna start writing to
their wives and say yeah, right. Smart. That's how you get to
stingray. That's how you get to stingray. Yeah. Molly
answer DMs. Molly. I DMed her and I was like, Hey, I have this
friend who's a massive stingray fan. Is there any chance I
could get a video of him saying hi to her? And they filmed a
whole video that weekend. And then she came up to me at the
race and was like, I just want to make sure you got it and your
friend got it. And I was nice. Thank you. Nice people.
They're amazing. I did. I did a workout like a driver with
stingray first with the stingray Rob workout. So that was a
good one. I always think about the video he filmed like pre
500, like the content day of him doing the worm. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that's the best. Good news. I can do the worm. But they
weren't like grade school kids, which I'm sure doing the worm
was a huge hit. So he was right on target. Let's talk about the
three new races that are coming up. We got Phoenix, which is if
you're old like me, it's not new. It's coming back. But but I'm
but it hasn't been around in at least a decade, I don't think.
And then we have Arlington, which looks really good. But I
can't go. And then there's Markham, which I might be able to
go. But I'm not so sure it's gonna be great. What do you guys
think?
I have heard not good things about Markham. Like I remember
when it came out. And everyone is like, we're not happy to do
this. Why? And so I definitely will be curious to see how it
works in the end.
I think I know why they didn't do it because the stadium that's
inside the Toronto track at the convention center is a soccer
stadium and it's going to be used for the World Cup. So they
couldn't do it. So basically, the city said, we can't do it this
year. This is and any car said, well, we want, we don't want to
skip a year because they're already struggling with not
enough races. So then they had designed like a three year, I
think, or four year deal with Markham.
My question is, why didn't they just use the track that Imsa
races at in Toronto?
Well, there's a track outside. That's too dangerous for the
speed for any car.
Right. That's the same issue with Watkins Glen is they can't
race there. And I love Watkins Glen. It's one of my
favorite tracks. And you they can't race there. I was talking
to the woman at Firestone about this. I was actually talking
to Pat about this. And she was like, Yeah, they don't have the
proper safety protocols that are needed for an anti car race.
I didn't know that though, about that.
I can race like any good party.
Oh, yeah, I'm so excited for Arlington. I cannot I all time
I saw all time low was there and I was like, if I don't get
T-Pain, T-Pain, if I don't get myself to Texas.
That'd be a good idea to win.
Oh, part of wins that it's gonna be the party. He's not gonna
excited for Phoenix. I think it's, it's a fantastic track.
It's an underrated track. Kyle Kirkwood does not agree with
me, but I digress.
He doesn't like it.
No, he's never raced on it. Yeah. And in Daytona, I walked up to
him and I was like, Hey, it's so great to meet you. And he's
like, Yeah, yeah. And I was like, Are you excited for Phoenix?
And he was like, Well, I don't really know. Like I've never
raced there. And I was like, It's the best track in the world.
Hands down. And he was like, I don't know about that. I was
like, No, like my unbiased opinion, it's the greatest
track in the world. And he was like, You are so wrong right now.
I love Kyle.
He's not giving you the, he's not giving you the friendly nod.
Oh, yeah, sure. Sure, Kira, whatever you say.
People don't understand. Okay, it's surrounded by mountains.
Okay, it's gorgeous. Like the sun starts to go down. It's a
thousand degrees outside, but the sun is going to start to go
down sunset. Goodyear blimp. It's one of like nine blimps in
the world. Goodyear blimp goes over. Neon cactus. Tell you
know what telling you what flag we're on. How could you not
love it? There's a tunnel system underneath it. That not
everyone needs that.
They need to work on that Daytona track.
Getting in. Oh my God. Oh my God. Next year, I'm bringing my
own golf cart. I don't know how the golf cart will get there. I
don't own a golf cart. I live in New York City. I'm bringing a
jet pack. I'm just gonna fly it like I came to the point in
Daytona that Kira and I were actually like, we should next
year. Yeah, we're bringing an RV or something because this is
and then having to leave having to come taking the tram. That
was crazy. It's what we're talking about when you're at the
Daytona 24. If you want to go from the stands to the infield,
it takes about an hour to get and they're either end of the
track, nothing in the middle, and you have to walk out the back
of the stands, walk all the way around the parking lot, go
through the tunnel and then you come up in a really inconvenient
spot in the infield. It's just really inconvenient.
That was in Daytona. Viv and I are sitting in the grandstands.
Viv is gonna hate me for telling this story. Or sitting was
this before after I left. And this was before it was before the
meetup. It was like the race was about to start. And we're going
over our schedule for the next day, we had somewhere to be at
three, and then the meetup was four. Yeah. And so I was like,
okay, we're on a tight timeline, we're going to watch the start
of the race, we're going to go do the thing at three. And then
we got a hustle over to the meetup at four. Viv looks at her
person goes, I don't have my bracelets for the meetup.
And I was like, okay, we're part way, way, way, make it worse,
make it worse, make it worse. Oh, we're part in lot six,
which is media. It was the media parking, but it was on the
complete opposite side of the grandstands. So I was like,
what do you want to do? She's like, we need to go to the car.
And I was like, we don't have time to go to the car. We have an
hour and a half until three until we have to be in the
starter stand. And she was like, I think we have to go to the
car. So we literally that it took us like the entire time that
we had to go find the tram because, mind you, the trams
were not easy to find either. Like, there was like a singular
yellow flag that you have to locate out of a sea of other
things. Yeah, we had to like find that tram and then take that
tram to the infield, then get on a different tram to get to our
car, then go to the car, find the car, mind you, because that
again, 9000 billion was so hard. It was so hard. There are no
landmarks. It is a parking lot. Like we use the fro that was
like a big fro picture. They're one of the trucks in the
background. And we were like, we got to find the fro. Where's
fro? Meanwhile, I am not Imsa dad. Meanwhile, I'm like, I need
to park as close as possible so I don't lose the car and so I
could get out there in time. Because I had a flight in the
middle of the breeze.
Alright, let's talk about Prima. What do you guys think?
Okay, I don't think that Prima is going to be completely gone.
I don't think they would have wiped all of their assets,
stop Iron Dames, stop Iron Links and completely dissolve
everything. I guess I know Iron Dames is running, but now it's
mixed. But I think they're gonna come back. I we know they're
not coming back the first four races. I could see them coming
back and doing a few road courses and street circuits
throughout the year. But I don't think they're going to take
the risk and run ovals. They did not have a lot of success up on
ovals.
I think they're going to do the 500 though.
Yeah,
you'll be able to knock in the 500.
Yeah. Um, but I also think that the fact that they don't have a
charter is going to come in handy because everyone was always
like this charter system. So annoying. Prima is not going to
get a charter. I think it's actually going to come into
their favor because they're not required to run every race.
No.
Yeah. Well, you know, yeah, but other teams like Dry and
Rhyme Bowl, you can run one race. They have a in the rules,
there's a whole thing where you can lease most engine lease like
a million and a half dollars and you get four to five engines
for the season. But they have a one engine plan where you can
race one race and you can get one engine for $500,000 and it's
set up just for the five. You could use it at any race if
you wanted, but it's mainly there so that teams could make it
to the 500. And you know, all the races have a 27 car maximum
and the 500 has 33 car maximum. So there should be six extra
cars coming out of the woodwork from somewhere like the Dry
and Rhyme Bowl car that like, you know, like Jeff Harvey drives
that they only raced the 500 and Connor Daly might be one of
those cars this year if we see him.
I think he's going to be in with them.
So if Prama doesn't race, should we get a car? Should we?
Should we buy it? Should we get one? There's one.
Yeah, let's chip in.
He was entering the lottery.
Should we do it? I lost the lottery this weekend. Did not win.
I don't know where to go buy the lottery tickets.
I don't play.
I could ask for more allowance.
So we're doing that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we make a whole
thing. Yeah.
Next Devils game I'll buy a lottery ticket because they sell
lottery tickets at Devils hockey games.
The crazy thing about Prama was they bought brand new like
when you went into their pits, it was alls.
I know everything was so new.
Also, they bought a car in the off season.
They brought another chassis in October.
They would they bought one from Abel.
Wow. They were so.
But like in October, do you think?
OK, here's the thing.
Do you think that they're just going to go down to like one car?
I think if they run, they're going to run too.
But like, do you think it could be a possibility because we
don't know anything.
We we we see that Callum just like signed for IMSA.
So he's like, I have all this contract with IMSA.
So what does that lead?
We don't know anything about Schwartzy yet.
Well, yeah, I mean, Schwartzy is rapping.
So he's so busy.
He's clearly he's he's he's a star now.
He was trying to raise money to save Prama with his rap career
and it didn't work.
His last song was pole position.
Remember that? Yeah.
Well, I think it just released another one.
Oh, is it something called no position?
That's my dad.
Hey, I'm sorry.
No, but like it's like coming back.
Like, I do think that it's still a possibility because it's like.
If their column is already safe, he's like, I saw my contract with Wright.
We're good. We're Gucci.
And but I think that Schwartzy is just too big of a name.
You know what I mean?
Like after getting that qualifying like at the 500,
like that's a big name to just lose out of nowhere from any car.
Right. Especially if that's your first time in an oval.
Yeah, exactly.
So I'm I'm very.
It's drama. I don't know.
It's going to be fun to watch.
Well, one thing I said, one thing I said was like the first thing I said,
when we were talking about the whole promo situation for the first time was like,
well, hello, stickers on the car.
Yeah, we're going to get stickers on that car.
If they're going to like run it the entire season, which I don't think.
Yeah, they're not running the whole season.
They're going to put stickers on the car.
Yeah, we have confirmation they're not running the first four races.
Yeah, that was that came out, I think, today.
Was that real?
I think so. Marshall said it.
So that's usually pretty close to real.
Yeah, that's real.
All right. Well, I don't know.
We'll have to just that's to be something to watch.
How about rookie of the year?
We got Dennis Hauger, Kaio Collette and Mick Schumacher.
Dennis is my pick. Dennis.
Then have never seen somebody have such a monumental next season
and his transition never doing ovals and winning almost every race of the season.
On your mental, it is I like cannot stop talking about this.
Also, he's one of the kindest people I've ever spoken to.
I also want to mention that the first session, not only the first time
he race drove on an oval, but the first time he went to an oval in the next.
The first session, the first practice session, he was fastest.
He had never seen an oval, never driven on one.
And they were guys like Miles Rowe and, you know,
at least coming in on their second or third seasons and next.
And this guy shows up and sets fast time crazy.
But I still pick Mick Schumacher.
Well, I want Mick to do amazing.
I'm a huge Mick Schumacher fan.
But there's something about Dennis loving a baked potato that really just.
Wait, well, it just made me believe in him.
Yeah, the big potato.
Is this a new Indie car driver segment I should be doing?
It's from Hey, that's a good that's a good idea.
It's from the promotional pictures.
Oh, on the like my first day of school.
Oh, I love a baked potato.
And I was like, you got to respect the hustle here.
Like, that's not a pound of ground beef.
That's not OK.
Yeah, that's now every single time that I like, I think of.
I think of a gift graphic gift.
Now every single time that I think of Kiffin, I'm going to be like,
bang, a pound, a pound of ground beef.
I'm going to ask him about this in St. Pete.
I'm going to hunt him down in the paddock and be like,
you really eat a pound of ground beef.
He's going to he's going to he's going to love it
because he he's actually like so like such a nice and funny guy
that he's going to be like that.
There's I keep a bracelet last year that said Pickle Hater.
And he was like, why?
I don't think you don't like pickles.
There's a girl on Instagram that like her whole thing is she starts
rumors about the F1 drivers, but it's like stupid rumors.
One of one of my favorites that she posted was like,
I can't believe Lance Lance Stroll wears wigs.
And I feel like and she just posted it.
No context.
And I swiped up and was like, hold on.
What are you talking about?
And I feel like I want to start doing that for the IndyCar drivers.
Yes. Yes. We already have.
We already started one.
We've actually started several.
I'm pretty sure Kiffin, Simpson, Hickles.
That's not a rumor.
That has been confirmed by Kiffin.
That's right. Yeah.
One we started is the fact.
OK, so there's a song called No Hands by this performer,
Walk of Flak of Flame.
It was performed at the Prima Afterparty in Nashville.
But there was a thing with British people.
They don't know the song.
And it's like quintessential American core, the song.
Like every teenager, every Gen Z knows this song.
Every bar you're doing.
But British people never know the song.
So we have started the rumor that Louis Foster
does not know the song No Hands.
We haven't had a conversation with him.
Once while Emma will tweet that out of context
and just be like, I can't believe Louis Foster has never heard No Hands.
And it's like, this is coming from.
I think I'm going to start doing that.
It's a recurring gag.
You guys should make one per driver.
I did a bunch of AI, really bad product ideas.
That I said in the car.
Everyone I would post, I'd post one a day.
And they were awful.
They were like, well, one was Kiff in the Simpsons, right?
And one was like the Pato Owlardbark.
Owlardbark with McLaren colors and stuff.
And I would just say, I would post at IndyCar,
or a person who does their social media,
every day would be getting alerts that you're being tagged by this terrible idea.
You guys should do the same thing for all the drivers.
Things you've been doing.
Yeah, we're just going to start random rumors.
Owen Siegel plays the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 in the Powerball every week.
Is he even old enough?
That's a good question.
He's 21.
Nolan's also 21.
We know that because we yelled at him in Vegas,
being like, we want to buy you a drink.
And then I proceeded to bring it back up at Daytona.
And he was like, what are you talking about?
And I was like, we've literally had conversations about this.
Batman is not here.
Who's the youngest driver in IndyCar right now?
Is it Nolan?
Or is it Kyo?
Dennis is, I think, 22, 23.
Yeah, Dennis was in 202 for a few years, so he's older.
Hold on, I'm doing research.
All right, here's on it.
I don't know how old Kyo is, though.
I do think that is.
Kyo's 23.
How is he still the youngest?
He's still baby.
Got him for three years now.
I was just 13.
Because he was 18 when he started.
Yeah, right.
All right, next question I have for you.
Yeah, this is, we could stay on one question for hours.
We have four one-time winners in the field.
Who's going to be the next guy to get win number two?
Here are the four.
Raz Risen, who won his first race last year.
Lund Gard, who won his first race two years ago at Toronto.
VK, who won his first race three or four years ago at the IndyGP
with an Ed Carpenter car, I might add.
And Felix Rosenquist, my guy, who won his first race,
said, wrote America a long time ago.
Who do you guys think is going to win another one?
I'm going to let somebody else go first.
I'll go first.
I think Rosenquist is going to win one.
I think you're going to be champion,
and you're not going to be champion if you don't win.
I mean, with Rassy, I'm always going to say Rasmussen.
There's a question I'm just going to be like Rasmussen.
I believe in my guy.
I believe in him deeply.
All right, Emma, there's two left.
So I logistically think it's going to be Lund Gard.
I think with McLaren backing him up,
and now that he's not transitioning between teams this year,
he came very close last year several times.
I can see it happening this year.
I think that he probably has the right support around him now
finding his ground at McLaren, and I could see it happening.
I actually could see Lund Gard beating Pato in the championship,
but that's not a popular opinion.
I don't disagree.
So Kira, you're left with Reena's VK, which actually is pretty good.
Okay, yeah, it's a solid pick.
When I first read the outline, and I was like,
what do I want to talk like, how do I want to talk through this?
I originally was like, VK, duh.
Like, I think he had a great year last year.
Right, fantastic year.
J.H.R. is a hindrance to any driver.
So I don't think it's going to be VK this year, unfortunately.
Unless, I don't know, I think he's a strong driver.
I think he switched for a reason.
I kind of think it's going to be Lund Gard though.
I think McLaren is probably the strongest of those four teams.
However, Pato Award on top.
I don't want any of that Pato Award slander that the two of you were pushing a couple minutes ago.
I'm not even a huge Pato, like Die Hard Pato fan,
but even I was like, dang, what is it with all this?
My feeling was they were so close in the championship last year.
I'm thinking about this all logistically and not from an emotional standpoint,
because if I was doing an emotional standpoint,
all my answers would be Kyle Kirkwood, let's be so real.
I'm thinking about this logistically.
I think that Lund Gard came so close to Pato in the standings,
and yet didn't have a single race win.
Yeah.
I like Pato, yeah.
Also, don't let me always ask me that.
But I do believe sometimes that ACR car had me going, what is this?
We all saw that 500 and I was like, what is going on?
But I really do think that he's aggressive enough to get him on an oval.
And I do believe that he will win again.
We're slowly seeing that the ACR car is getting better.
We saw it towards the ending of that, and then we saw Nashville,
and I was like, okay, it was good.
And then here we go again.
Let's see.
That was our fault, Neve, again.
Oh yeah, that was our fault.
My bad, my bad.
Who do you think is going to crash the most this year?
Whoever I'm rooting for.
Oh boy, who's here today?
And when I say, and when I say Stingray Rob.
Really?
Sitting here.
Molly and Stingray, if you're listening to this, I love you guys so much.
This is not personal.
This is not personal, but like-
Hold on, hold on.
Why do we think that Molly Rob and Stingray Rob are sitting down simultaneously to listen to this together?
I don't know about Stingray, but I do.
Molly would, yeah.
That's true, actually.
Maybe they're one of my fifties.
We have a celebrity in our midst, Kira.
Also, apparently we have that one driver from ERA that listens to us, so you never know.
I need to DM him.
All I know is if there's any drivers out there that are watching this,
I want to know what you have for lunch.
It's a pound of ground beef.
Don't share.
Make something up.
I'm going to send this straight to, like this podcast, straight to Kiffin.
No, I'm going to make a clip and then I'm going to send this straight to Kiffin and be like-
Kiffin, can you corroborate?
I'm going to cut it and then in St. Pete, when I see him, I'm like,
you need to listen to us just making fun of you.
This is my opinion on what Kiffin Simpson thinks of IndyCar Dad.
I think when he got a message from me, he was like, oh, I'll reply to this guy.
Seems low effort, you know?
And then I replied back and he's like, well, this guy wrote a lot.
And I did the video and he thought, this guy's kind of weird.
Then he met me first and I made him a t-shirt and he was real happy.
But then he drove me around in a Honda Civic like real fast and he was like-
He gave you a hot lap.
Yeah, this guy talks too much.
And then I saw him again at Daytona and I think he was like,
this guy definitely talks too much.
So I don't think Kiffin Simpson is dying to hear from me again.
Oh, and I'm going to say another controversial one real quick.
And when I say Nolan-
On an Ophel.
Nolan?
Honestly, I just think that Nolan is just-
I honestly think that most of its crashes has just been-
Hello?
Has just been him being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The wrong time.
I also have a hot take one.
I love you.
I love you, Louis Foster.
Oh, wow.
Because what do you mean you had a rear suspension issue?
Like four races in a row and took out drivers during those races.
The throw crash, the joe new crash, like-
Yeah.
He's an agent.
I think I'm going with the easy one here.
Roman Grosjean.
Because that dude does so much.
Roman Grosjean is not confirmed to be like that.
He's not confirmed yet.
He's not confirmed yet.
I still-
Even if he's not in the car, I'll still crash.
When Dennis-
When Dennis-
When the pace car will crash that.
We had Dennis posting and deleting.
Yeah, he posted.
So Dennis posted a picture of a video of Grosjean in testing.
He posted it, and not even an hour later, he deleted it.
I was like, ooh, somebody got in trouble.
Yeah, yeah.
So.
All right, you want to do some rapid fire?
Yes, no questions?
Sounds good.
We're running out of time.
I got it.
Okay, does Scott Dixon win and keep his streak alive, at least one win per season?
Yes.
Yes.
I say yes.
Here, did you say yes?
Yeah.
All right.
Does Will Power win at Andretti?
No.
Oh, is that controversial?
Emma just gave me a look.
I say, I think it does.
The thing was, I was not a Will Power fan until I was national this year.
When I saw him get dirty dancing, lifted in the air, drunk.
And now I'm like, I'm really, you know what?
This man looks happy now.
He looks free.
And then seeing him and interacting with him in Daytona, and he was like a different person.
I was like, you know what?
I am a Will Power fan now.
Yeah, I'm a Will Power fan.
I feel like he got that second wind of being like, oh my god, I'm freed.
I'm freed.
When he was like, yes.
I'm going to say yes.
I think it's going to take him a little time.
But I do seem getting a win this year.
When he won at Portland, even though even though Pinsky hadn't renewed him and had done him kind of wrong,
and he won that race, I was like, this dude has the fire, like there's fire inside.
He has something to prove this year.
Yeah.
You know what?
Yeah, you're right.
Because I think, I think like he had that fire.
Like when I talked to him, like I talked to him and he was like, yeah, I'm so excited.
I'm so, so excited for like the new season.
And I'm like, oh, okay, here we go, Will Power.
And he did an interview and he said like, I want to beat Pinsky.
Yeah.
Oh, you know what?
Then I don't see it like too far like of a dream.
Like, you know what?
I'm going to say yes.
I'm going to say yes now.
And if he doesn't get a win, he gets a podium.
If he doesn't get a win, he gets furious at Andretti.
And then they get their act together and he wins next year.
So very exciting.
All right.
Is Connor Daly going to be at the 8,500?
Yes.
Yeah.
Oh, cowboy.
Are they going to delay the new race car again?
Yes.
Yes.
I say no.
I said they're going to get it out in time.
All right.
Will there be a rain race this year?
We didn't have one last year.
I feel like we keep getting rain only on ovals,
which you can't race in the rain for.
We did get rain at the 500.
Which is an oval.
Yeah.
You can't race on an oval in the rain.
Right.
And it delayed.
Yeah.
Was that national?
No, that was national last year.
It poured the whole 24.
It poured the whole Saturday.
Yeah.
I hope we get a rain race.
I like when the road and street courses are in the rain.
Imagine the sun show like in rain.
Or Detroit, my reason.
That would be really cool.
All right.
Okay, next thing.
I don't know if I walk Detroit to rain.
That track is already difficult enough.
I know.
I like these street fights when it gets all crazy.
I love that.
And if I'm at the race, I'll go home and I'll watch it.
Like the replay of it.
And I'll rewind.
Like, okay, what the heck?
How did, you know, how did Scott McLaughlin go
from 13th to third in five laps?
That was literally me in Nashville.
I was like, how did you end up here?
Whoa, Nashville race is crazy.
All right.
Do you guys have any gossip?
Any drivers getting married, divorce, breakups?
I do, but I cannot say it.
I do, but we all do.
But we cannot have it on recording.
I cannot have it on recording.
But I will tell you after we finish recording,
because this is stuff I'm not supposed to know.
I think it's not in public.
You could tell people.
I mean, I, I already told you is, but like a known driver
broke up with his girlfriend.
And then I see him over here at the bars.
And I see his endeavors.
Mind you, before I start as a girlfriend.
Yeah.
For those who don't know, I live in Indiana.
Oh yeah.
That's all I got to say.
I've seen things.
And then Marcus Erickson got married officially.
Well, that's true.
He had their ceremony finally.
Felix Rosenquist, she's due on qualifying weekend.
Oh, that's crazy.
That's crazy.
Oh, girl.
Yeah.
Oh, Christian Rasmussen cut off his hair.
And I am so upset about him.
I'm so sad about him.
This is important to only Viv.
I had no idea.
This, leave me alone.
Are we avoiding the elephant?
Make sure you have her now as a girlfriend.
Make sure you have her.
That's a girlfriend.
I did.
Yeah.
And it's been confirmed by people close to him.
Yeah.
So when I find out.
I don't follow this.
I'm over here reading the dang rule book.
You guys have all the good gossip.
I wonder why yet.
You want the gossip?
I'm two friends with a lot of the drivers.
Yeah.
See, that's why I don't have any.
Hold on.
I cannot tell.
The reading ground.
I cannot reveal her identity.
All right.
Next question.
We'll skip.
I'll let you guys off the hook.
What happens to Colton this year?
I think he'll do another year in F2.
He's going to do the 500, I think.
He's going to do the 500.
He's going to run the 98.
So you think he'll do this year and then one more year in F2?
If he doesn't get the points he needs.
I think he'll struggle in F2.
And then I think Cadillac is also going to have to make a decision of whether or not they.
Keep him or not?
Because I mean, I did kind of agree.
I think it was Pato that gave an interview that was like,
there's no way Colton would leave IndyCar.
Harvard, can you?
Hi, Harvard.
Hush.
Harvard.
Harvard is Kira's dog.
That's my dog.
He's like whining.
I think Colton would not have left IndyCar and taken the chance on F1 without the guarantee
of an F1 seat, which I know there's no guarantees in motorsports.
If he could get the super license points, I think that both of the drivers are probably
contingent on Colton's success.
Yeah, and I think he's going to struggle in F2.
Yeah, I also do think that he's going to struggle.
But I feel like it's going to hit him a little bit more because I think it was Rossi or it was
when he's in F2 because he's technically, hey, you are Emma.
Yeah.
Your microphone.
You're rubbing your microphone.
You're rubbing your microphone really well.
I'm sorry.
I had something really funny to say, but I'm not saying it.
So, yeah, one of them said that you're going to have to actually show that you're good because
you are the example of an IndyCar driver over there because they don't watch IndyCar as much as
we do over here.
Or if not, they barely do actually.
So it's like, yeah, you're either going to struggle in the way of with the car or you're
going to struggle a little bit with the pressure of everything.
Yeah, he's going to struggle.
I hear he's not on the greatest team.
So that has a lot to do with how you do over there.
All right.
All right, who do you think is in the final Dale coin car?
It still has yet to be announced.
I don't think it's a mystery to anybody at this point.
Yeah.
You think he has the whole season?
Oh, I don't know.
Wait, I never thought about it like that.
I'm going to go in my earlier prediction.
He crashes too many times and Dale fires them.
The thing is, I don't know who would replace him.
Is it Tom or Gaili or Linus Lundquist or Linus?
Do you guys think that this is what Connor was saying in one of his latest podcasts?
He said he had a big percentage of a chance to actually be in a car.
Do you think that it has to do a lot with that?
Like if Roman is not.
Or the money doesn't have to.
I don't know because the final decision was really between Linus and Grosjean from what I was told.
But even then, if it's Linus, do you think?
And also, there is always Dev.
Has a lot of money following him in racing.
Dev still hasn't taken out his IndyCar driver.
Which is why my source thought that Dev was in the seat.
And I had to be like, hey, no.
I really did think that he wasn't.
I literally talked about this like not even like two weeks ago, three weeks ago, where I was like,
I really, hey, it could also be, well, when we didn't know the whole rumor about that it was
like fully Grosjean, I was like, it could fully be Devlin.
I have to be like, hey, it's not.
And everybody was like, it's not, it's not.
And I'm like, hello, we can't count him out.
Like he has money.
He has money and he has people behind him.
So it's like, it could be out of nowhere that Devlin and Francesco could come back.
But then I'm like, we saw Grosjean and I was like, yeah.
In years past, Coin has been the team.
How to driver here for three races.
How to driver here for three races.
Now there's a different rule.
Yeah, you can have three drivers though.
So you can sell three.
And it's all like, all the behind.
Can I, can I put my mystery pick?
Can I put my hot pick that I pick every single time we do a, what driver would you
love to see back?
What driver would you love to see?
It's Nicholas.
Actually, it's Catherine Legg.
Yeah, I want Catherine Legg back.
I would also love to see Hunter McElroy.
He's testing a car tomorrow.
He's driving.
Yeah.
I'm so excited for him.
He's with ECR too.
ECR, yeah.
With ECR.
There's a rule, I could explain the mundane rule as to why that is, but basically ECR used
up their testing time at the oval in the oval so they can't test at this track.
So, but they do something called a driver evaluation day where they pretend they're
interested in a driver who hasn't raced in any car before and they can throw them in.
Hunter's done a race though.
Yeah, but I think you can't have done more than three or something like that.
Yeah, I'm just glad that he was here in India because I saw them.
It was great.
I'm a massive Hunter fan, so it was really excited for me.
I saw it and I like immediately texted two of my friends and I was like,
guys, I called this because in his like subscriber channel on Instagram,
he posted a photo of his helmet and I had the Java house and the Chevy logo on it.
And I was like, he's totally testing like ECR like reserve driver.
Come on.
So I'm a massive Hunter fan.
He knows that I'm a massive supporter of his and yeah.
Here's my out there prediction.
The reason Dale coin hasn't announced the second driver is Todd Ault hasn't paid him yet.
100%.
And Connor Dailey is waiting there and he's got he's got a million or two million dollars
and the the graphic file for an ampm wrap for that car.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then basically this whole thing Todd Ault is waiting till the last second to pay.
Dale coin's waiting till the last second to cash the check.
And that's who that's who gets in that car.
I don't know if you guys know one time Dale coin showed up to Saint Pete
with two drivers and didn't announce which both drivers were in the paddock.
And he didn't announce which one was driving until Thursday.
I think that's the kind of chaos we need to bring back.
I think Dale coin needs to show up to Saint Pete with Connor Dailey Linus
Dev Roman pulling some random characters.
Who else is around.
Yeah.
Show up with a horde of
hunger.
Gather a crowd drive to survive but literally.
Yeah.
Like get somebody to pull the names out of a hat and be like you know there's a TikTok trend
where it's like groups of friends will put vacation places and like and then they go through
and they're like we're not going to Fiji this year and they go through and pull every single one out.
And the last one the last two.
I think that's how Dale coin needs to announce the second seat even though everyone already
knows who it is.
It's going to be random.
He's going to show up with whatever driver wants to show up.
And every time.
Any series.
Doesn't matter if they've never tested any cars.
Yeah.
Like but that's how it's going to be.
Here's the thing guys.
Like I'm such a massive Connor daily fan that I would I just want him to be back.
Like I don't care.
Like I just want him to like appear out of nowhere.
And if the whole ampm thing it is it is kind of true too.
Because well it is fully true because he has always talked about ampm.
Like he has mentioned that in his podcast before.
So I'm like if that's like the truth and out of nowhere we get Connor daily back in a seat.
Kira I am going to all them races.
Find me in Phoenix.
Should we have done the Connor counter for this episode.
Oh absolutely.
We should have.
Yeah the Connor counter.
We have a Connor counter about how many times Viv mentions Connor.
It has Ollie Berman.
It's still the Ollie Berman files.
I have an update today.
I need to put a Connor on my podcast for how many times I mentioned Dale coin.
I love everything Dale coin brings to IndyCar.
I just love it.
It's just the drama.
Oh I did fully start a Dale coin rumor in 2024.
And that was that Logan was going to get a Dale coin seat because he was talking to
Dale coin at Nashville.
And I was the one online who was like I saw Logan talking to Dale coin and I had to
stalker photos.
I think I also.
This is before anyone.
Obviously I might have used one of your photos in like a TikTok to be like
Nashville.
Look at what's coming out because it was right around all of the Logan Sargent like
Logan Sargent.
Yeah.
So that everyone was talking about that meeting.
I know what you mean that have hard pick the Dale coin driver.
All right I have a final question.
I should have asked this at the beginning because kind of a get to know you question.
All right.
When you watch a race at home what do you got?
Like what what snacks have you got?
How are you watching it?
The TV?
Have you got your what are you doing?
What's your.
So I'm set up.
I'm watching it on the TV.
I have my phone and my laptop pulled up because I do live timing on my phone.
And then I'll do on boards on my laptop.
Gotcha.
I have.
Are you eating anything?
No I get so stressed I'll have water but I can't eat during a race.
Emma we are parallels and I have the app running so I'm hearing my driver's radio you know.
Yeah absolutely and I don't eat anything.
I eat before the race and after the race so I don't get my screens all sticky.
I am a I have big TV with the feed.
Smaller like laptop or iPad with live timings, telemetry kind of data.
Another screen with favorite driver on board.
Phone.
Twitter.
Twitter yeah.
And the races are normally so early that I am I wake up nauseous.
So.
Yeah I miss coast.
Okay so I have my usually I'm here in my apartment and I have like my TV on into the channel whatever.
My iPad always has a live timing.
I barely watch the on boards because the radio confuses like I don't hear it.
If it doesn't have captions I don't understand it too much.
I speak Spanish so I'm like I don't understand what you're saying like I have to actually like
so that stresses me out so I don't have that and then my phone is open on all socials like I have
like all of my socials have to be like opened up and I don't I can't drink or eat because again
I'm too stressed out I'm like yeah no.
All right well that was great a great answers everybody so let's close it out by saying
what's everybody say where people can find you and we'll close it out from there.
Viv you want to start?
Can we also say like which races we're going to be in so people can find us.
Yeah you start.
So my name is Viv, VivTalks Fast Cars on Instagram and TikTok.
You will find me in St. Pete.
You will find me tentative with an asterisk in Phoenix, Texas and all the Indiana races.
I'm gonna obviously I live here so I'm gonna be in all the month of May celebrations.
I'm gonna be in there if my job lets me but I probably will.
And those are gonna be and then St. Louis did we finally decide on that one?
I'm doing it.
Okay so we finally decided on St. Louis and then I might be there I might not I don't know.
Yes that those are my IndyCar races if it's like another race I'm gonna be at the eight hour
race in Indiana for GT and then I'm gonna be at the I'm so race here in Indiana also.
Yeah how about you?
Where to find you and what race you're gonna be?
I am FastCarKira on TikTok and Instagram.
FastCarKira at gmail.com for hate mail.
That's bold.
I'll be in St. Pete, Phoenix, Arlington, Long Beach, St. Louis, possibly one more for IndyCar.
We're going hard this year.
For other series I do Lone Star Lemons every year in Austin and I just booked my hotel
for Vegas for F1.
Emma how about you?
So this is definitely the year I'm taking a little bit of step back of going to races.
I say that and I'm very much somebody who goes last minute to a lot of things so at the moment
I will be at St. Pete but I will only be there Saturday and Sunday as I cannot get the day off
of work. I will be at a lot of IMSA. I'm going to be at Watkins Glen IMSA and I'm going to be at
Petite Le Mans. I will be at the Canadian F1 race and I may be at IndyCar Nashville and I may be
at IndyCar DC unknown yet. I know there's a lot of controversy with the DC race but as an east
coaster I'm very excited to finally have a race close to me so and a race that's easy for me to
get to. I can just take the train so. And they can find you at Fast Car Fan Girl on Instagram
and TikTok although I am not very good at posting. You can find me at IndyCar Dad.
I'm not on TikTok. I have a TikTok but it's not related to IndyCar. You can find me there as Retirement
but on Instagram and on YouTube and I post on Reddit a lot as IndyCar Dad. That Reddit is who
called me IndyCar Dad so they named me. As far as races go I'm going to a lot. I sort of semi-retired
this year and my kids are all away at college so I will be at St. Pete. I'll be at Phoenix. I'll be
at IndyGP. I'll be at Kuali weekend. I'll be at the 500. I'll be at Detroit which is my home race.
I will be at Long Beach for sure. I will be and then I might be able to go to Markham.
Oh I'll probably go to Mid-Ohio because it's close.
I might go to Laguna Seca at the end of the year and DC sounds somewhat interesting. I'm
with Emma on that one. I was also thinking about the DC race since before living here in India
I used to live in Maryland and I have my family over there but the only reason that I would
actually end up going if it's like my friends from over there are like hey we're thinking of
actually going. I also don't want to get too political and all that stuff over there so I'm
not going to talk too much about that. Right. I was not in on that. Anyway it's been a great season.
I don't know about you guys but I think this is going to be a 10 out of 10 IndyCar season
that really looks important. Oh yeah IndyCar is never a left down. IndyCar for me IndyCar and
Imsa I was always into F1 and Imsa a little bit but it's like I got so deep into the IndyCar that
at one point I'm like F1 is a side for me now and now I'm like fully IndyCar, fully Imsa
but yeah IndyCar is like so exciting. Oh I got my dad who is not a race fan who is not into cars
to come to the 500 with me so he's going to travel all the way from Puerto Rico to stay over
there and watch it with me so I'm really excited to show him that. Great. All right everybody
thank you. Oh I wanted to just tell people if you see me at the races say hi I'm really friendly
and I don't. Same here. Yes please. Guys we're really fun we're really fun to be around just come
say hi we and if we are frowning just give Kira and I a snack and we'll be fine.
About this episode
Excitement fills the air as IndyCar Dad teams up with the Formation Yap crew to dive into their bold predictions for the 2026 IndyCar season. The discussion covers potential championship winners, standout drivers, and who might snag their first win. The hosts share personal anecdotes, including encounters with drivers like Kiffin Simpson, and debate the implications of new race venues like Phoenix and Markham. With a mix of humor and passion, they explore the dynamics of the upcoming season and what fans can expect.
The Formation Yap joins the Indycar Dad Podcast to discuss their predictions for the 2026 IndyCar season, including championship winners, Indy 500 winners, first-time winners, and new race discussions. The conversation also delves into the concept of manifesting outcomes and the impact of fan energy on drivers. The conversation covers a range of topics including racing misfortunes, anticipation for upcoming races, challenges at Daytona, preparations for the Phoenix race, discussion about Prema Racing, Rookie of the Year contenders, and the start of rumors and gags. The speakers share humorous anecdotes and engage in light-hearted banter throughout the conversation. The conversation covers a range of topics including the youngest driver in IndyCar, predictions for the next winner, driver performance and expectations, controversial opinions, humorous interactions, personal anecdotes, rapid fire questions, and gossip/personal insights. The conversation covers a range of topics including driver speculation, future plans, Colton Herta's career path, Dale Coyne Racing's second driver, humorous race day scenarios, race day viewing habits, upcoming race attendance, and excitement for the IndyCar season. The participants engage in lively discussions about potential struggles in F2, predictions about driver performance, team decisions, and humorous race day ideas. They also share their race day viewing habits, upcoming race attendance plans, and express their excitement for the upcoming IndyCar season.
Takeaways
Season predictions and discussions on championship, Indy 500, and first-time winners
Insight into the impact of fan energy and manifesting outcomes
Exploration of new race discussions and predictions Humorous banter and light-hearted discussions
Anticipation and excitement for upcoming races Insightful predictions and opinions on upcoming races and drivers
Humorous and engaging interactions between the hosts Driver speculation
Future plans
Colton Herta's future in F2
Potential struggles in F2
Speculation about Dale Coyne Racing's second driver
Predictions about the driver's performance
Humorous race day scenarios
Creative and entertaining race day ideas
Race day viewing habits
Engagement with race day content
Upcoming race attendance
Social media presence and engagement
Anticipation for the upcoming IndyCar season
Passion for motorsports
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Season Predictions
06:10 Indy 500 Winner Predictions
16:39 Discussion on New Races
22:15 Challenges at Daytona
27:30 Discussion about Prema Racing
35:32 Start of Rumors and Gags
41:00 Controversial Opinions and Driver Analysis
46:15 Rapid Fire Questions
52:07 Colton Herta's Career Path
59:10 Humorous Race Day Scenarios
01:04:50 Upcoming Race Attendance and Social Media