3D printing is like making a real object from a computer file, one thin layer at a time. Here, it’s used to make a custom figure of the driver as a special fan gift.
Topic
IndyCarPatic
This sounds like a playful way of talking about IndyCar race-weekend culture. The point is that drivers often get gifts from fans, and it’s become pretty normal.
Concept
setup changes and strategy decisions
Racers constantly tweak the car to make it handle better, and they also make race plans as the event unfolds. This line is basically saying the figure is a good-luck reminder tied to future car and race decisions.
Term
blue shell
A “shell” usually means the outer body of a car. “Blue shell” probably means a blue-colored body/outer piece that someone got as a gift.
They’re talking about the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. It’s a well-known car museum, and they’re saying it’s worth visiting if you get the chance.
JPL is a NASA-related lab that helps build spacecraft for space missions. In this part, they’re touring and learning how the lab started and why it’s important for building space hardware.
They’re saying JPL is connected to NASA and helps with building space technology. The point is that it’s not just a random lab—it’s part of how NASA gets missions built.
Telemetry is the stream of measurements and status data sent from a spacecraft back to Earth. The segment describes how that data is transmitted to JPL and then routed to the appropriate organizations.
An antenna is like a big receiver that picks up signals from spacecraft. Without antennas, the data from space wouldn’t get back to Earth.
Concept
mission control
Mission control is the control room on Earth where people keep track of spacecraft. They watch the incoming signals and help make sure the right information gets sent to the right places.
The Ford Ranger is a pickup truck, meaning it has a cargo bed in the back for carrying things. It’s made for both regular driving and jobs like hauling or towing. People mention it because it’s a common, useful truck.
Sometimes people start believing something “must be lucky” after a coincidence. In reality, luck doesn’t change engineering—real success comes from correct design and testing.
A space simulator is a special setup that tries to mimic what it’s like in space. It can be used to practice and test things without actually going to the Moon.
Concept
first control flight on Mars
A “control flight” is an early mission step that proves the spacecraft can be guided and managed correctly. It’s like making sure the mission team can talk to and steer the spacecraft before doing harder tasks.
JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) is NASA’s key center for robotic space missions, especially planetary exploration. The episode discusses JPL’s “mini missions” and future Mars flight plans, reflecting its role in mission design and operations.
A Mars Rover is a robot that drives around on Mars to take measurements. Since Mars is tough and you can’t easily fix things, engineers test the rover on Earth so it will work the same way when it’s far away on Mars.
They test the rover on Earth by recreating the kinds of problems it might face on Mars. That way, when they send instructions from Earth, the rover is more likely to respond correctly even if something breaks.
The rover doesn’t just “drive”—people write instructions for what it should do. Those instructions are carefully planned and sent up so the rover can carry out tasks safely.
Because Mars doesn’t have GPS like Earth, the rover uses what it can see—like the sun—to figure out where it is. It periodically “re-checks” its position so it stays on track.
They also talk about how frequently the rover has to “reset” its position estimate. It’s not constantly—more like every couple of weeks—so it can save time and energy.
Concept
crawler
A crawler is a slow-moving vehicle used in industrial contexts, often for moving large equipment. Here, the hosts compare its speed to something else they’re discussing, using it as a rough reference point.
A street circuit means the race uses regular city streets turned into a track for the weekend. Because it’s in a city, the track layout and surfaces can feel tighter and more constrained than a normal race track.
The Long Beach Grand Prix is a big open-wheel race held on city streets in Long Beach, California. It’s known for being a major event for fans, not just for the racing itself.
Penske Entertainment is the company that took over ownership/management of the Long Beach Grand Prix. The hosts credit its investment with visible upgrades like hospitality changes, new grandstands, fencing, and general presentation.
“F1 race” refers to Formula 1, the top level of open-wheel racing with highly controlled branding and standardized presentation. The hosts contrast F1’s cleaner, more uniform sponsor display at corners with what they perceive as IndyCar’s more cluttered look.
In racing, “fan experience” is how enjoyable the event is for people watching. It can include where you can stand, what you can see, and how the weekend is organized.
Qualifying is when drivers try to set the fastest lap before the race. Your qualifying time usually decides where you start on the grid, so it’s a big deal.
They’re talking about lap times being so close that they match down to 0.01 seconds. That usually means the car felt very consistent and predictable lap after lap.
A street course is a race route that uses roads that feel more like normal streets than a dedicated race track. It can be bumpier or less predictable, so the car has to feel right to help you drive fast.
They’re talking about Laguna as a track, and how the car felt there. Track feel can be a clue to why performance does or doesn’t translate into qualifying speed.
They’re saying the car feels awesome to drive, but it isn’t actually fast enough to beat people. Sometimes a car can be smooth and confidence-building while still lacking the extra grip or balance needed for outright speed.
Concept
use tires vs new tires (practice start on used rubber)
They’re comparing how the car feels on older tires versus brand-new ones during practice. If the car is better on used tires, it can mean the setup isn’t helping the tires reach their best grip when they’re fresh.
Race tires don’t stay perfect for the whole stint. As they wear, they lose grip, so teams have to balance fast laps with how long the tires will still work.
Concept
peak grip (new tire) vs ultimate lap time
New tires usually feel best for a short time. If the car isn’t pushing the tire the right way, you won’t get that best grip, so your fastest lap won’t show up—even if the tire still lasts longer.
This is a race rule that forces teams to run soft tires in two separate stints. It limits how teams can choose their strategy, even if another approach might be faster.
Firestone makes the tires used in the race. If teams ask for a “more robust” tire, they mean a tire that lasts longer and handles tougher conditions without falling apart.
“Fast six” is a qualifying setup where only the quickest drivers get into a final group. The twist is that the fastest driver can choose where they start, so it becomes part of the strategy, not just speed.
Concept
outlier
“Outlier” here means Long Beach behaves differently from Arlington in a way that stands out from the usual pattern. The hosts attribute that difference to conditions like temperature and track layout, which can change tire performance and lap-time consistency.
“V max” just means the car’s top speed on that part of the track. At that speed, the tires are working hard, and the tire sidewall flexes as the car loads the tire, which affects how the car grips.
The tire’s sidewall isn’t rigid—it flexes when the car loads the tire. That flexing changes how the tire contacts the road, which affects grip and feel.
Term
Q2
Q2 is one of the qualifying rounds where drivers try to set their best lap time. If you’re fastest in Q2, you’ve earned a strong grid position, and the rules decide how that translates to where you start the race.
Topic
announced the order live on TV
They’re saying the starting order was revealed live during the TV broadcast. That’s different from waiting for a printed result, and it changes how viewers follow what’s happening.
They’re talking about how delays and TV timing can affect race strategy. If the broadcast needs a certain schedule, teams may end up behaving differently than they would in a perfectly timed race.
Racing teams figure out how much fuel they need to finish. If everyone is “driving around to a fuel number,” they’re going slower or smoother to make sure they don’t waste fuel and still reach the finish.
A “stint” is the time a driver spends before the next pit stop. Changing stint length means deciding whether to pit earlier or later, which can strongly affect who has the advantage.
A yellow flag means the race is slowed down because of something on track. If you pit during that time, you can often lose less time than pitting under normal racing speed.
A restart is when the race goes back to normal speed after a caution. Everyone has to line up and get going again, and it can change who has the advantage.
In IndyCar, “willpower” is a resource the driver earns and can use during the race. If a team breaks a rule, race control can apply a willpower penalty, which reduces that resource and can hurt strategy.
The pit lane is where the cars come in for service. Because it’s crowded and cars are moving through a tight space, mistakes can be dangerous and can trigger penalties.
In IndyCar, “push to pass” is a button that gives the driver a short burst of extra power to help them pass. It’s meant to be used only when the rules say it’s allowed, so if it’s available at the wrong time, it can affect fairness.
Concept
software modifications
They’re talking about changes made to the car’s computer software. That software can control when the extra-power button works, so updates can be used to make sure it follows the rules.
DRS is a system in Formula 1 that helps cars go faster by reducing drag. The “detection zone” is a part of the track where the car checks whether you’re in the right spot to use it, and then the driver gets signals.
Concept
rules written / line between within their right vs against the rules
They’re talking about how the exact wording of the rules matters. Sometimes teams can do something that seems sketchy, but it’s only legal or illegal depending on what the rule actually says.
Concept
fundamental programming of an IndyCar
“Fundamental programming” refers to core software logic in the car or its control systems—such as how and when driver-boost features are enabled. Changing that programming can alter race behavior and strategy, which is why it can be contentious if it’s intentional or not aligned with the rules.
They’re asking: if a driver makes a mistake and officials penalize them, is that penalty actually fair? They’re also wondering whether the penalty changed anything important in the race results.
They’re talking about a group that helps make race decisions in a more neutral way. The idea is that if the board is independent, it can help ensure penalties and technical calls are handled fairly.
IOB is the short form the hosts are using for the independent officiating board. It’s the group involved in making sure race officiating is handled properly.
Scott Elkin is being named to a top IndyCar leadership job. The hosts say he’ll be the main person overseeing decisions and staffing-related matters going forward.
The Miami Grand Prix is a big Formula 1 race in Miami. It’s held on city streets, so it’s a high-profile event on the racing schedule.
LIVE
Wake up, coffee, drop off kids, coffee, get to work, more coffee.
Do you ever wonder what's next?
For Horizon Credit Union members, life sounds more like this.
New home closed, loans paid off, kids college, saving for it.
Whatever's on the horizon, we're here for it.
At your local branch, online and in your community, visit hdcu.org slash next to learn more.
Ensured by NCUA, OAC, NMLS 407-890, Equal Housing Opportunity Lender.
Hey, it's Parker Posey. How did I get here?
I love improvisation when it comes to acting, but when it comes to a real life plan, I stick to a script.
Cue the music.
Invest in your story with DIA, the only ETF that tracks the Dow.
From State Street, getting there starts here.
Before investing, consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses.
Visit statestreet.com slash im for a prospectus containing this and other information.
Read it carefully. DIA is subject to risk.
Similar to those of stocks, all ETFs are subject to risk,
including possible loss of principal, alps, distributors, ink distributor.
This is OffTrack.
What's up, everybody? I don't think Alex has said a word yet.
Alex, are you alive?
Oh, boy.
All right, James, it's just going to be you and I for 45 minutes again.
Second time or anything?
How did that go last week, guys?
I feel like you missed my contribution.
I am such a unique and important person.
It was recorded.
Yes, it's a pivotal part to the dynamics.
Yeah, we got through it.
We talked about some stuff.
We covered some topics.
Hang on, my thing just crapped out.
That's why I didn't say anything.
I knew you weren't ready.
Yeah, Tim, what did we talk about?
I don't even remember at this point.
We spent way too much time talking about me moving against my will.
You moved against your will?
No, no, we talked about it against my will.
Is there a reason why considering this is such a professional podcast and
your background is seen by everybody,
is there a reason why you just had **** all over the floor?
Well, because I'm still moving now.
I was putting stuff up, but it's early.
What is it like a mini step stool?
Yeah.
What do you step on?
I have a giant bookcase that I'm struggling to get through my door.
And that mini step ladder is going to help?
Well, there may have been some scuff marks on the ceiling,
as I always see of the attempt.
Yeah, you just really make an impression.
I got the 3D printer there.
Also, we're packing for Hazel's overnight trip.
I want to talk about 3D printing before I forget about this.
Did you want to see my pen holder?
Is that why?
No, no, no.
Gift giving has become quite a standard practice in the IndyCarPatic,
which is incredible.
My gifts usually range from candy to more candy, which is great because I eat it all.
I was given a bag of candy actually Friday after P1.
And by the time I got back to the truck, I ate it all.
So it does not go unnoticed.
But I was given on Saturdays.
I don't know if you can talk about stuff like that.
I was given a 3D printed Lego version of myself.
I saw this on Twitter.
That looked so cool.
It was by a wonderful lady who did three for the Ganassi guys and then one for me.
And it was without a doubt the best gift that I have ever received from a fan.
And it is on my desk.
And we use him to consult him for all future setup changes and strategy decisions.
Well, it did you pretty well then.
Yeah, it did you pretty well on Sunday when it went all right.
So 3D printed a Lego man.
Is that a giant one?
It's really good.
I can show you.
Is it against copyrights?
Probably.
Yeah, probably.
It's not my problem.
It's her problem.
Yeah, yeah.
That's a really supportive approach to take to a fan who gave you the best gift you've
received from a fan.
But okay, look.
Oh, wow.
That is tremendous.
Isn't that incredible?
That is incredible.
You making foot tall, like you make stupid this is like.
I made you a blue shell.
Yeah.
With your logo on it.
But that's not me.
This is like, this is me in Lego form.
Okay.
I didn't know that you wanted that.
Well, I didn't know I wanted that either.
And so I was given it.
Yeah.
Okay, you see the problem.
I should have just known about being told, Tim.
Come on.
Yeah.
So anyways, what do you have to do with that blue shell I gave you, by the way?
He threw it out.
Anyways, so long meet.
I'm kidding.
I don't think he is.
It's like a 17 hour print.
I am kidding.
Can you say that?
And you say that like that was long for you.
Like you had to design a lot.
I had to make a lot of changes on that one.
Ed Carpenter's youngest son loved it.
So it is now I think in his bedroom.
So it got, it got, it got, it went to a good home.
It went to a good.
That's all I asked.
Couldn't see that working on your bedside table.
I don't even really, I'm not really allowed to put water bubbles on my bedside table.
So anyway, that's fair.
That is a, we digress.
Let us talk about the beginning of our long beach weekend because.
Before you get there, I just want to say we managed to burn under five minutes on essentially
Tim's apartment and moving and his thing, which makes him uncomfortable.
I mean, it was a good amount of stuff was Legos there.
Yeah, but I'll start, I'll start from three printing and the scuff marks on your ceiling
and your inability to get a bookshelf.
Anyway, carry on, Alex.
Well, I would have your help with the bookshelf last night.
I was going to be a surprise that I was going to spring on you.
You know, if you had said that, you know, I was hoping.
Why don't you order a task rabbit?
Why don't you tell Hazel start pulling her weight around there and lift the bookshelf?
So the beginning of our long beach trip.
Well, actually mine started a little bit before your guys's.
I mean, maybe not changes, but I flew out Wednesday from Indy to Sacramento,
pseudo hometown, capital of California for those that don't know their American history.
And was a part of a live podcast for a friend of mine that took place at a dog shelter.
And the title of the podcast is underdogs.
And it's kind of about people in sports or business or whatever that have
a successful career arc when maybe it was unexpected.
But all focused on or also focused on dogs that are at this animal shelter.
And every episode, there's a featured dog that is kind of discussed and talked about and shown
to the audience. And all I want to say is by the end, this dog was adopted.
So I feel like our podcast really does not contribute anything good to society.
Especially when realizing that stuff like that exists out in the world.
So I just wanted to give that a shout out because I thought that was super cool.
Very cool.
And then I popped down to LA to do an event with IndyCar at the Peterson Museum.
Another live podcast tape, which was another two podcasts last week and neither were ours.
That is true. That is true. Now that you mentioned it.
Did a night at the Peterson Museum, which was it's always cool to go there.
You know, that place is very impressive for those that haven't been.
It is worth a stop in if you get the chance.
But then Thursday morning, bright and early, the three of us headed to Pasadena,
Pasadena adjacent to go to JPL.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as it's affectionately known.
Which I mean, Tim, you're the one telling me the history of how that became.
I've known it's a NASA facility in that they build cool stuff and jet engines and rocket engines
or whatever. But I did not know how it actually all came to be and that it's actually owned by
Cal Poly and the sort of the Genesis of the whole facility.
Yeah. So I did some research on it after because I was just repeating a story that
I'd always heard and I wasn't sure how accurate it was.
But yeah, it started in 1936 with some Caltech students that apparently
had a proclivity for making things blow up. They almost burned down their dorm room
and Caltech rather than kicking them out was like, hey, we should see what these guys can do.
So they founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and they put them a little farther away from
combustible campus buildings. And yeah, the rest is history. So as we learned on our tour,
every spacecraft that NASA sends, these guys build it and we saw the chamber where they
vacuum test all the unmanned ones. I mean, that's cool and important.
But let's not forget the scope of every single spacecraft that is in orbit.
All of its information and data is. Even the ones that aren't in orbit, the ones that are gone,
that are just going. All of them, all of them. Yeah.
Their data and information and stuff is sent back to JPL and then JPL then disseminates that
information to the respective agencies that it needs to go to because JPL has, I guess,
they're the only ones, it must be, that have the antennas and there is how many of them? 12?
So they have, well, they have three stations around the world. They have a station in Australia,
a station in Spain and a station in California. There's 11 of the antennas
that are collecting all of this information and it is going through mission control in California.
And we got to see mission control, which was everything that you would expect mission control
to be. A lot of monitors, a lot of cool colors, very dark room and stuff that was way above our
pay grade. And a big plaque right in the middle that says center of the universe. Somebody quipped
it with all that data coming in. It was the center of the universe. Sorry, I can't get you off chance.
No, no. The kind of point that was brought up was obviously we've just had Artemis mission and
basically every picture that you saw and as Alex said, all the data, like all the information,
but certainly all the pictures that were shown to the world all came, were received by their
antenna and distributed by them, which is kind of cool to know that they're the conduit to which
everything that's up there gets shown to everyone down here.
There was one caveat that they did mention, which is they don't do anything from the Chinese
space program and that's because the Chinese space program is closed. They don't publicly
disseminate their information. NASA, by law, has to publicly disseminate all of their information,
so they can't do anything for China. It was funny because you say like it's everything you
thought mission control would be. There's one thing I was not expecting, which is that it was
dark. Like all the lights are off and I forget if we asked the question or if you just like
brought it up, but when it was originally open, all the screens and all the computers and everything
put off a lot of heat and so they just ran with the lights off because keep things cool and whatever
and it just kind of became the vibe of the place. So even though you don't need to do that anymore,
it could be a perfectly well-lit room, it ain't. So I wonder if that is the same
reason that air traffic control rooms are in dark rooms. I figured that was for straining the eye,
but maybe I'm wrong. Why would it be any different? Wouldn't it do straining the eye more? I would
think it was straining the eye more. But I guess like, I mean, don't editors like an editing base,
those always dark too? That's because editors are not real people. They're basically like a troll
subset. Well, they're about to be AI. So Google will give the answer to eliminate screen glare
and reflections. So it has nothing to do with anything that we thought. If you're looking at a
screen in air traffic control, you don't want like a little tiny glare on the screen because that
exactly where there's an icon of a plane. Yeah. Yeah. Not awesome. I had one more story about
mission control just because while we're there, they had a like a, one of the, one of the big
monitors up top was showing a slideshow of the celebrities that had been in mission control
holding the lucky peanuts. And at the end of our little like sub tour of mission control,
they were like, Hey, can we get a picture of you guys holding the lucky peanuts? And I was,
I joined that photo with you guys. And in my head, I was like, I should get out of this picture,
let him get a couple with just James and Alex, because that's surely who they actually want
for this slide show. And then I thought, well, if they're not going to say it, I want to be in
this slide show. So I absolutely did not get out of that. So like, I'm really excited to go back
and see if I made this slide show, or if it's like Monster's Inc. and they just cropped me out like
Mike was asking. No, no, it's just going to be like your fear of going down in a plane, you know,
with Mario Andretti on board, where it's going to say, Alexia Narasi, James Hinchcliffe, and guest.
Yeah, I'm okay with it. As long as I can just point to that photo of me, I'm fine with it. But
yeah, I like made the conscious decision not to get out of that photo. You mentioned the lucky
peanuts that explain the lucky peanuts. This was the wildest part of the whole thing for me. So
which, which, what were they launching? Was it the Gemini or was it, was it the, I forget which
one, but it was one of the early Mercury, was it? Because that might have been because I don't know.
Yeah, maybe because that actually is the story of Mercury, right? Or they kept launching rockets,
they kept blowing up. And eventually, there was no people in them. But eventually, they had to put
an astronaut in one to like justify the program continuing. And so they finally found Alan Shepardin.
Successful Ranger 7 mission. Yeah. Okay, there we go. All right. That makes more sense. So they had,
blown up a bunch of rockets and couldn't figure out why, which is strange. And had changed nothing
by the fifth rocket or sixth rocket, whatever it was. And it took off and it was flawless. And the
flight director had been just like sitting there. Yeah, seventh. So yeah, six failures on the seventh
one. It worked. And the only difference that they could think of was that the flight director was
eating peanuts the entire time. And so they figured peanuts just must be lucky. Shockingly
unscientific thing for people conducting like space traveling activities to rely on. But hey,
superstitions are a real thing. I guess that means I should just start eating peanuts
before all of my journeys, because maybe that'll make me more successful.
We, we could, we could spend an hour talking about this. So we can't do it. But I think
being able to see, you know, the exact replica and functioning version of a Marge Rover was
incredible. Meeting some of the people that we saw was incredible. Seeing the space simulator
where the moon landing was filmed was also incredible. Sorry, DC. No, just being able to meet
people that are so much smarter and creative than we are and to hear kind of all of the
different mini missions that JPL is working on from moonfall to, you know, the program that is
going to be the first control flight on Mars and all that sort of thing was just mind boggling.
We only got two and a half hours there, but I get to spend all day there. So a huge shout out
to everyone at JPL. And next time that we come back, we'll have more time and we won't bring Tim.
I'm okay with all of that. They're gonna look at what I spent at the gift shop and be like,
we actually need him to fund the next few missions. That's fair. You did go pretty
ham in the gift shop, which is hilarious. Cheers. I mean, seeing the, the Mars Rover,
you know, up close, it's so cool because they have an exact replica of what's up on Mars.
And one of the things that I thought was the funniest, which makes total sense and reminds
me of like one of my favorite scenes from the Apollo 13 movie is like, look, it's a harsh
environment up there and it's been out there for a while and things break. Damage happens.
And in order to make sure that the testing they're doing down here on earth is as accurate
a replication as what's happening up on Mars, if it gets damaged up there, they have to damage the
prototype here as well. So the way it has the same things wrong, the same things broken,
it works or doesn't work in the same ways. So that way, all the things that they test before
they send the commands up to the Rover are accurate. And I found that hilarious. You have this like,
I don't know the number, but say it's in the bees though, develop a Rover and you have to
intend 2.3 billion. Yeah, I wasn't sure if we were allowed to say it. So I guess it's public.
So a simple billion dollar machine that you have to be like, Oh, well, that one had a
break in this thing up there. All right, give me the hammer.
It was just, it was super fascinating. And then like seeing how they program the drives and like
all the, send up all the commands to it, the patients required for space anything is pretty
nuts. But so it moves one centimeter a minute. No, one centimeter a second. And so it does this
really cool thing to kind of recalibrate its location where it looks up at the sun and uses
the sun as a reference point, right with its camera. And so Alex asked the question, he was like,
So how often do you have to do that? And they say every like 300 meters and Alex and I are like,
Oh, wow, you have to do this like, like several times a day, they're like,
no, no, no, it's about every two or three weeks. Oh, right. Yes, it doesn't move that fat. Got it.
Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. One, one centimeter a second sounds slow and it is,
but like when you watch it move, it's not like ridiculous. Yes, I was also, I had that same
thought. But when he said it, I'm like, Oh my God, this thing doesn't move. And then yeah,
you're like, Oh, it's just, it's a slow moving machine. It's fine. I mean, I feel like it's
faster than the shuttle launch pad mover system thing. The crawler. Yeah.
The crawler, I'd say one mile an hour. I don't know. Okay. So definitely faster.
Anyways, yeah, that's all we got to talk about racing guys. So headed straight into Long Beach,
which as we've talked about many times on this show, one of the, one of the
flagship races of our season, probably the most well known event outside of the 500,
51st running of the Long Beach Grand Prix this year. And once again,
went from strength to strength in terms of fan turnout and just the overall atmosphere of the
at this point, every single race weekend, like on Friday, I cannot believe how many people are
there. Like the autograph session dude was in, I don't know if you popped up there, but it was
indoors this year in like one of the convention hall rooms, which is, I mean, it's convention hall,
so it's massive room, right? Oh, completely full of people. So just blown away by that.
And in a year where we lost the kind of spokesperson for the event in Jim McAleon
to have that sort of event with that amount of passion behind it, I think honored him and his
love for the race incredibly well. So that was a great start. Yeah. And you're starting to see,
right? Obviously, the race got, got bought by Penske Entertainment. It's now, you know,
in the family and, and you're starting to see some of that fingerprint, you know, show up the
hospitality suites that they, they brought were those fancy two tier ones, you know, a lot of
money was spent there, new grandstands, some new fencing, little things like the good paint.
Yeah. And like the, the consistency and banners, like this was an interesting topic, but like
somebody pointed out to me, I don't know, it was last year, maybe that how like an Indy car,
it always seems like you go to a corner and there's 10 different sponsor banners,
you know, in a line along the corner and it kind of looks mishmashed and you can't really
read any of them. Well, then they show me like an F1 race and like a corner is all one brand.
And then the next corner is all the other brand and it just comes across so much better. And so
Indy cars kind of moving towards that. And that was very evident at Long Beach as well. So
part of everybody and all the money spent to keep making it better and
improving the event and improving the fan experience. But Alex, I have to say, talking
about Friday, you did skip over something very important that happened before we didn't know,
I didn't James. So Tim, you just mute his mic because he's going to try to protest here.
The reason we only had two and a half hours of JPL is because we had to rush back to Long Beach
because Alex had an event that he had to attend as the guest of honor because he was
being inducted into the Long Beach Walk of Fame. Just finally joining you out.
Just finally catching up to the old guys. No, very cool man, honestly, like two time winner,
back to back, probably the largest wooden margin and modern Indy car Long Beach racing history
back in 19. But it was super cool. It was it was cool to see your little plaque there in the
in the sidewalk and see your family and friends, which evidently you didn't know were coming.
Insane, insane. Mostly because I didn't tell anyone about it. Yeah, there's this thing called
the Google alerts. This is like a highly publicized event. There was media and fans and all sorts
there. So I don't have a Google alert on either of you. No, what's weird is I know that you have
a Google alert on yourself. Yeah, I wonder how many people have Google alerts to their own name.
I get why you do Tim. I get why you do Alex. I get why I do. I don't do not. Oh, I absolutely do.
I absolutely do. Why? Well, it was more for when I was driving just to see if like anybody like
anybody was talking or like you needed to get ahead of something.
Interesting. Yeah, me, my mom, my stepdad, my brothers, and I'm about to add you guys.
Okay, guys, let's talk about this is stupid. Come on.
Done and done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust.
Find a pro for your project at angie.com.
gift when you subscribe at prolonlife.com slash Pandora promo.
You know that thing where you get an amazing pair of shoes at a really great price
and want to tell everyone about it? Yeah, so do we. Here at designer shoe warehouse,
we'll give you something to brag about like the latest styles from brands you love or the trends
everyone's obsessing over or shoes that make you feel like, well, you. So go ahead, show off a little,
find shoes that get you the prices that get your budget. That's your DSW store or DSW.com today.
DSW. Let us surprise you. So how did your weekend go? This is how we normally do this. How'd
your weekend go? Yes, our weekend was very, very strange, James, through Friday and Saturday,
well, and Sunday, but let's really just talk up until qualifying kind of had a car that was
pretty much perfect. Okay. Like great balance, really good to drive. It was doing everything
that you could possibly want to the point where after I qualified 18th on Saturday,
I was like, I don't even have anything to say. Like, you can't change it. Like it's,
it's good. I don't know. Like I can't tell you. It was a good laugh. I don't know.
Christian and I, over two attempts, did the exact same lap time to the hundredth,
and that was just the performance of the car, which is really, really frustrating because
when we look at Arlington, which was as a teen, the best street course qualifying result across
two cars they've ever had, the thing like, it felt like a heap of if I'm quite honest with you.
And then you go to Laguna, where let me, Christian's quote sums it up perfectly. So as we're on the
timing stand, yes. You said Laguna. I was like, did you go test at Laguna? I'm at Long Beach.
So as we're standing on the timing stand, watching the Fast 12, I sent him a text.
I didn't feel, question mark, I'm happy. I don't understand. And he said,
that was the best feeling non-competitive car I've ever driven.
I hate when that happens. That is the worst. There's just, but like, I don't know. I worked
with somebody once. I was like, yeah, well, we keep, we're trying to make the car feel good,
but sometimes feeling good isn't fast. No, no, because you have confidence in a street course.
It's got to feel good. It's not like the balance was perfect. Like it was like you're chasing your
ass. It was everything that an Indy car should feel like. It wasn't easy to drive. It was just
doing things that you needed it to do. And it had all of the characteristics of what should be
a very good car. And I've driven a few around Long Beach. And so it is what it is. We're still
trying to get to the bottom of it. But going into Sunday, as I said, we didn't change anything
because we knew that the car, or I knew that the car was good. I think the big thing is we just
didn't have the, the, the ceiling that everyone else did. And this was obvious kind of from
P1 on Friday. Like we were, we were quite strong on the blacks, but on the reds and really didn't
go any quicker. Saturday morning practice quite good when we started the session on use tires
with everyone else. Everyone puts on new and we went a few tenths quicker and everyone else
went almost a second quicker. So like our, our, our threshold was just, was just lower for some
reason, which for a two-stop race where fuel and tire life is important, that's not necessarily a
bad thing. So that is why we ended up getting the result that we did, which was a good recovery.
Obviously we need to get to the bottom of why there was no ultimate pace, but still a very
positive step in the right direction because tire life has not been a strong suit of ours
so far this year. So basically what you're saying is to kind of explain it a little more detail for
some of the listeners is sometimes when you put on a new tire and you don't get that peak grip,
you're not putting the energy into the tire to, to generate the heat, generate the grip and that
ultimate lap time, single lap pace isn't there. Conversely though, if you're not putting a ton
of energy in over one lap, that means over a stint you're putting a lot less energy in. And
that usually means it, your tire life, your degradation is much better. And so to your point,
a two-stop race with a mandatory two soft tire stint rule, which is so dumb at this point.
Look, well, hold on. Let's just, let's just say that yes, but you see how they got there because
last year the street course soft was degrading so fast that you had people stopping on lap two
and then just doing another two stops, you know, just it's, it's, it's still essentially,
they're still saving fuel. Like it didn't make it any better from that standpoint. So they added
the, the two red rule, the two soft rule to try to make it harder for teams while at the same time
asking Firestone to maybe make that tire a little bit more robust, maybe what too far on the robustness
of the soft and, and mix with this rule, they kind of need to do one or the other. And obviously
you can't change the tires at this point. So I feel like we should just get rid of that rule
for Detroit. I don't know if that's been discussed by anybody, with anybody.
We don't have any sort of say these days. So it doesn't really matter what our opinion is.
Well, anyway, you did a great job for a race that was exceedingly boring.
Shockingly horrible. Yeah. Yeah. For no real opportunity to do anything cool on strategy,
you just drove through the field and picked up what, like 10 places, something like that.
Nine. Thank you. Fun little battle was great. It was almost 10. Fun little battle was grand,
right at the end there. Took quite literally to the line. I haven't seen that in a while,
which is cool. Few things on all of that. First of all, fast six, back to the single car qualifying,
but with a new rule, new, new format in that the fastest driver from Q2 got to pick
which position they wanted to go in. Not shockingly after Arlington, fastest went first,
second fastest went second, et cetera, et cetera. The only outlier was Pado,
qualified fifth, opted to go last, ended up working out for him. Didn't really work out for
Malukas who went first. So Alex was, what I'm curious is like, what have the conversations
been like within the team and the engineering side of like, okay, so it was such an easy,
apparently it was perceived to be such a clear choice in Arlington, or a clear pattern that
earlier was better. Whereas in Long Beach, that was clearly not the case. What is the sort of
feeling, you know, if you go to Detroit and you get in the fast six, what are you doing?
I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, James.
Haven't had that conversation.
Fast six strategy conversations had not really come up.
Got it. Got it. Okay.
But watching, I had the same impression you did. I was surprised that it wasn't as clear cut
as it was in Arlington. I don't know that that necessarily means that Arlington was wrong.
I would imagine that Long Beach is probably, is going to be more of an outlier. So I wouldn't
think that people would take too much of a different approach in Detroit.
I think it's, I have a feeling it's a little bit ambient related, because it's definitely
warmer in Long Beach than it was in Arlington. It was cool. It was cooler.
But it's a, it's a significantly longer lab to get to.
That's the other thing, right? And like you've got that massive back straight and straight,
it's just cool tires, right? So that could have been part of it as well.
But they also generate energy at the same time because you're at V max and the sidewall is
compressing. So I don't know, especially there because you're like, we signing straight straight,
right? You're weaving a bit. Yeah. No, it's, it was interesting. I'm glad that it wasn't as like
boringly predictable because from an entertainment standpoint, the idea of the fastest car in
theory going first is awful, right? Then the fastest guy is fastest and the second guy is
second fastest and there's no build up as you go on. Luckily that wasn't the case. I understand
why they did it because you also don't want to penalize the driver that was fastest in Q2 by
making them go last if that is a disadvantage. So putting it into the hands of the teams,
I thought was cool. The fact that we announced the order live on TV and that's how you find out
what the order is. I thought was cool. So yeah, I would say, I would say, you know, passing great
on that. That was, that was neat. Have you watched a replay of the start? Yes. Why on earth was the
green throne with six cars on the front straight and then a 14 second gap to for some reason will
hang it on for dear life out of the hairpin? I would imagine because the race was already delayed
and the fox was probably putting the pressure on if I had to guess. I don't think so. I don't think
that was it. No, no, no. That's usually what happens when there's a TV window and like that
used to be a strategy. We were working minutes delayed. That used to be a strategy, especially
with NBC when the TV windows were so short and there was a little bit of a delay for whatever
reason. If you were the pole sitting car, you would just go because you knew they couldn't
wave it off. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. But that's not what that's not what Felix did here. I just
I don't know what will was doing. Like I don't it was very weird because five cars were formed last
year. We got 11 cars formed and it was really bad. Like it looked it looked like it's just
it's just that's the biggest gap I've ever seen to a part of the field that was like,
I mean, inside the top 10 for sure, maybe inside the top 20. I'm just having a shock.
I'm shocked we didn't have a wave it off start that kind of set the tone for what was then an
exceedingly dull race of everybody driving around to a fuel number. So we need to adjust,
I don't know, stint lengths or something tires, all sorts of things to make that particular event
as a race better. Obviously, as an event, it's still the best. It's the big it's the big one.
But yeah, there's not much to say about it, man. Felix did a really good job from pole
control in the pace. In the first round of stops, you know,
pillow like really closed up on him, like really closed up on him right before the stop. So you're
like, Oh, okay, he was just saving extra fuel. He's got extra pace in the bag. He's just going to
go a lap longer, go super quick and get him in the cycle. He did not. They put on the same lap.
MSR did a great job, came out in front, carried on. And then our sole caution was that it wasn't
off your car. Was it the piece that I just hit it? You just hit it. Thank you for doing that.
So at least you hit it. I didn't try to. It's too late when I saw it. But yeah,
Felix is probably a little upset because in that second stand, Felix did an incredible job.
He had opened up a much bigger gap over pillow. We were all about to pit. And then the yellow comes
out. So now it's a yellow flag stop. And the 10 crew just outgunned the 60 crew by a fraction.
And it was enough to give pull of the lead, which he then drove away from the field and did.
Do you want to know it was so upsetting? Like when that restart or when that yellow came,
and it was like, all right, now everyone's on the same strategy. Everyone's got new boots.
Like, yeah, it's still a number to get to the end, but it's not stupid. I was like,
we're going to have a race. And then not a single car proceeded to pass another car. And it was just
like, oh, never mind. We're not going to have that race. So it's about our butt. Congrats, Alex.
Congrats to Felix. I guess. Yeah, good job. And then Dixie. Dixie, yeah, Dixie did a good job.
Dixie did a good job. He was one of the few guys that moved up some spots,
you know, again, doing Dixie things. He's not really qualified six.
Was he six? Oh, shoot. Yeah. I mean, it's not like you moved up nine spaces.
You know, that would have been, that we could brag about.
Ganassi put him sweet. Oh, yeah. That's, yeah, that's fair. Which is, you know, look, it's
it's a bit of a turning of the tide, right? Like everybody looks at street courses and
things, Andretti Global, and they, they were okay, but they did not have the Arlington pace.
And so, yeah, credit to that organization. There are two things I want to just
hear your guys take on from the race. The willpower penalty for running over the
pick guys foot pit lane. Not much to say. Not much to say there. Okay. Cause I
thought there was some, there was some discourse online about having to get out of the way of
Pato's car and make, no. Okay. It's just, it's a tough pit lane, right? It is a very tough
pit lane. And so like, by no means blame will, like it's not like a, it's just one of those
things that can happen. And unfortunately for the crew guy, and then, you know, first,
first and foremost, but then obviously for well, the 26 guys, but yeah, totally. Okay.
And, and it came out, he no broken bones, right?
Okay. And then the other one is we have to talk about push to pass again.
Sure do. So lap 61 restart, it comes out after the race that the system that
well, so, so push to pass is, is manually switched on and off by someone in race control.
And it is obviously not supposed to be available for the first lap of the race,
the first lap of a restart unless we're within, you know, whatever they near the end of the race,
sometimes they'll let it go. But at lap 61, the push to pass was available from the green
on the initial, on the, on the restart for that first lap, which is not supposed to
happen. Failure on IndyCar's part, put their hand up, admitted that the interesting part
is that they said that 12 drivers utilized it on that, on that restart that led to one
position change between, I want to say, was it Armstrong and Furuci?
I think which IndyCar opted to not address post race because they said that both drivers used
it and they use it for the exact same amount of time. So they kind of think it as the same Z's
and let's just not make this any more difficult than it clearly already is.
Alex, we've already been chatting about this. When the whole push to pass thing happened last
year, not last year, two years ago, we all, there's so many. Okay. Who is,
hmm, have you ever pushed the button at a time? And we, we talked about this and I, I have,
have you ever pushed a button at a time when you knew it was not supposed to work?
No. Never, never qualifying, never on a star.
I've pushed it in practice before, mostly after I did it once after you and I had a
conversation and you told me about it or like how you did it. And I like did it once and it
didn't work and then I didn't do it again. So no, never in a scored session and actually scored
session. I don't know. I will bring it up just in case people are listening. I didn't listen before.
Both of you guys did point out that you didn't hold Joseph responsible for pushing it because
you, or you didn't think he was cheating by pushing it during that whole initial scandal.
No, what I said was, we know, no, no, what I said was I had known Joseph and I worked with his
engineer after Joseph wants to Pensky. Jeremy Miller came to Andrean with my engineer and he
told me and Joseph told me that Joseph would hit the button at various times to see if Indycar
was sleeping and if it would work. And so I said that I could give him personally the benefit
of the doubt that potentially that was the case. Later on when it was all confirmed that there
was modifications to the software by the team that was a less, that was known. That was a less
hard thing to back up. So it's, it's, yes, it's not, it's not the same. In the McLaughlin case.
These are not apples to apples. These situations. It is not apples to apples. Yes. So anybody that
wants to compare these, it really in any way you can't. It's not the same. It is not the same. So
let's, let's forget about St. Pete 24 because it is not relevant at all in this conversation.
In this case, 12 guys hit it. The question I have is when this, when, when that one happened,
a lot of drivers were asked, right? Like, hey, if you ever hit the button when, you know, it doesn't
work. And yeah, it was, it was kind of split. I would say it was about 50-50. But I'm, I'll
be honest, I'm surprised that that many people in this scenario hit the button. So it leads you to
think, is there a way that the teams have figured out how to alert drivers if the system is active?
Is there a way for teams to see that? So that, that was kind of my theory because I've watched
enough on boards. There's enough publicly disseminated on boards for you to know that
people aren't just spamming the button at all times, hoping it works one day. Like they're
not doing that. In F1, there is alerts that happen when you are in a DRS detection zone.
There's a tone. And then there's also a tone and a light that when the DRS is active, because you
were within one second, because the driver can't always tell when you're within the one second.
What I'm wondering is, I'm not going to, I'm not going to divulge all of the information, but
essentially one car from every team minus ECR and Andretti, press the button.
What I want to know is, do those teams, because that's not, that's not just fluke,
have those teams come up with a system which is completely legal to alert the drivers when
push to pass is active. I don't know if that's possible. I don't, I'm just theorizing here,
but that is the only thing that kind of would make sense to me, that there is some sort of tone
or light or something, and they just reacted to that, because that would be a subconscious act.
Because it's like, oh, I heard the beep, I pushed the button.
Right. I'd be surprised then though, if there's a team where one driver did and another driver
didn't, because you say one driver from every team bar ECR and Andretti did. That means,
based on that math, not every driver from those other teams did, which seems
bizarre to me. It seems like if you have that system as a team, you would react to it.
Unless there was people that were just not expecting it. And so even if they heard the tone,
they're like, well, I know it doesn't work on a restart.
Well, no, like they were, yes, they were aware of that. They were aware enough of the situation
that they were like, well, it shouldn't be allowed. I don't know. I honestly, I don't know.
I don't know. Well, no, because oh, and let's, you know, something kind of in defense of your
point is you can get the tone, but it's not DRS, right? It costs you something to use push to
pass. So if your restart wasn't that good, and you're not close enough to make a pass,
and the car behind you is not close enough to threaten you, you're not going to burn your
push to pass just because you can, right? So that could be an explanation for that.
Either way, there are still a lot of questions that I'm sure are going to be uncomfortably
answered over the next, you know, two weeks before we get to GP or not, but they're going to be
uncomfortably asked at the very least. So yeah, that was just an interesting little bit of
post race drama, but again, didn't affect the result, the official scoring. So it is what it is.
Yeah. I mean, again, just to close the loop on how these are not apples to apples.
One was a failure on IndyCar's time in scoring part that people took advantage of, which
I don't know. In some ways, they're within their right. In some ways, it's against the rules,
so they're not. But like, I don't know. I don't know where that where that line is. The other
situation, as we mentioned previously, was an intentional change of the fundamental programming
of an IndyCar. So. Right. Yeah. One was on IndyCar. One was on a team. One was accidental. One was
arguably not. And I'd be interested to see how the rules written because if the rules written that
like, because I want to say the rules written something like, and don't quote me, this could
be wrong. But it's like, push to pass is not active for the first lap of the race.
Or it should not be active. If it's active, it does not say competitors cannot use push to pass
for the first lap. I'm so curious to know if I don't know who passed who, but in the Armstrong
Ferrucci situation, what they've actually penalized one of the cars they weren't on the button.
Is that really penalty worthy? I don't know. I it'd be. And what would the penalty be? I imagine
switch the position back because I imagine that no one else passed anybody and they still finished
right in one position away from each other. Right. But which is a bigger problem that that was the
the last pass for 29 laps. Right. Yeah. So anyway, so I love you. Never a dull moment.
Never a dull moment. Do you think the last thing the last thing I'm going to I'm going to bring
up on this, do you think because of all of how it essentially changed nothing? Do you think
it was a good idea for IndyCar to publicize all of this versus just internally send out a memo?
This is a storm that is going to be created when it actually didn't change anything.
Unfortunately, I do because with 12 drivers hitting it, it was going to come out. It was going to
somehow come out. And if if you aren't transparent about it, the cover up is worse than the crime.
Right. This was an honest mistake. They put their hand up. It is it is literally a button that you
push and it didn't get pushed or whatever. It's it's it shouldn't happen. It did happen. I think
trying to deny that it happened or just cover up that it happened. Everything comes out. And so
it's just it's not worth it. I mean, it did have no meaningful effect on the outcome of the race.
And so I think it's just take your lumps now. Move on. Final thing on on IndyCar and on the show
this week, the IOB that is partly part or that a former guest was is on is on Ray Evernham, the
independent officiating board has finally picked their managing director of IndyCar, Scott Elkin.
So a member of the paddock of many different paddocks, lots of experience across many different
series. He is going to be the MDO of IndyCar, which is kind of the the person in charge of a lot.
The board is now sort of really just to hear from Scott and Scott's going to be the one from now on
that sort of overseeing everything and making decisions on on personnel and positions and
things like that. So this whole process and this whole concept of an independent board and
independent officiating and tech, it's moving along. It's all coming together. So great to see
that that's done. Look forward to him starting his position and I don't imagine any massive changes
coming in the short term. But yeah, everything's moving in the right direction. So that's very cool
to see. Other than that, guys, what's your what's your time this week and you know, no racing
coming up. So what are you doing, Alex? Well, James, I am in day two of a two day trip to Charlotte.
And then we are on track next week for IndyCar is going in circles.
IndyCar is going in a big circle. Yes, they are open test next week. And then the weekend after
that following weekend will be Miami Grand Prix. And then we're into May official. So Tim, good
luck getting a bookcase up your stairs. Alex have fun in Charlotte. And we'll see you guys next week.
This has been off track with Hinch and Rossi off track is part of the serious XM sports podcast
network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a five star rating and
leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts. We are at ask off track on
Twitter and Instagram. And if you want to follow us on Twitter, we're at Hinch town and at Alexander
Rossi. If you want to follow them, though we have no idea why you would, he's at the Tim Durham
on Twitter. Find us on YouTube and subscribe to our channel for exclusive video content.
Off track is produced by Tim Durham and by that we mean them.
Getting work done faster and better. The same Monday.com designed for every team and every
industry. The same Monday.com with built in AI scaling your work from day one. The same Monday.com
that your team will actually love using the same Monday.com with an easy and intuitive setup.
Go to Monday.com and try it for free. Yes, the same Monday.com.
About this episode
A chaotic-but-fun catch-up turns into a deep IndyCar weekend recap, starting with the guys’ off-track adventures: a live dog-shelter podcast, an IndyCar event at the Petersen Museum, and a JPL tour where they geek out on mission control, antenna networks, and even the “lucky peanuts” superstition. Long Beach follows—huge fan turnout, new Penske-era touches, and Alex’s Long Beach Walk of Fame induction. On track, they dissect a “perfect-feeling but not fastest” car, a race that never really produced passing, and post-race controversy over push-to-pass being available on a restart.
Before the Long Beach Grand Prix, the guys got to tour JPL. Plus, Alex was inducted into the Long Beach Walk of Fame. Alex recaps his race, then Hinch and Rossi discuss the new push to pass scandal, and more!
+++
Off Track is part of the SiriusXM Sports Podcast Network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a 5-star rating and leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts.
