Lazy Rivers, Playoffs, and Daytona

This is off track.

It's the old saying it's okay to pee in the pool provided you get in first.

So my question is, so like if you're, if you're at, um, let's take Atlantis in The Bahamas for an example.

'cause I was just there, right? Yeah. Let's do it.

And they have some, some massive bodies of water, right?

Like let's look at the Lazy River. Yeah.

Let's use that as our example.

Would you not Lazy River if you knew there was a dead body in there? No,

Probably not. Or

Would Probably not. Yeah.

Yeah. Interesting. See, I wouldn't

Mind it.

I think it's like, here's the thing.

I I feel like you would, Alex, I feel like you're saying that. No. 'cause

It's moving, it's moving water.

It's the, the a thousands, it's a circle.

Tens of thousands of gallons mm-hmm .

That are going through their, Let's let's back up because 'cause people weren't listening to our bull.

No. So like, I, I killed someone

and I'm looking for a place to dispose them. And I was thinking,

And you think the lazy River at Atlantis is a nice casual, low key place To do it. Yes. Right, right. Yes.

Okay. Okay.

Did you kill them in The Bahamas?

, because like, if you killed them there, that makes a bit of sense.

But like, if you killed them in Indiana, he's got a plane now we're talking about like crossing international borders with a body. It's stop plane.

It's fine. It's fine. It's, you can get it there.

Stop plane. I feel like a lazy river. Yeah.

It's still like a closed loop.

And like, if you removed the obstacles of like, the walls and like, you could see like, you're not far enough away from the body to not see it floating in the water.

Right. Like if I was in the ocean, hold on.

If I was in the ocean and I saw a body floating in the water, I would get out of the water.

So you're, you're specific only to human bodies.

Because I've seen Yes.

Dead fish floating in the ocean and I Yes. Still stay in the ocean.

I'm absolutely being specific to human Body. So, so why

Alex?

I don't, I don't have like a super logical answer for that .

It's just like a common sensical one. Um, okay.

Like a, maybe it's like a genetic programming.

Like, hey, dead body that looks like me.

I should probably get outta the water now. Okay.

Okay. So to back this up beforehand,

I pointed out there's an old thing about going around the internet.

Cool. . There's an old thing going around the internet

that says you wouldn't get in the pool if there was a dead body in it.

But you do get in the ocean even though there are certainly dead bodies in there.

So there's an innate ratio of water to dead bodies that we are just comfortable with.

And that's started this Lazy, lazy river is weird conversation.

Kind of my limit. Like I'm alright.

Objective. Which that, so that's like,

that's your, that's your floor.

Like that's, you'll go no lower than that, but you'll go there.

You'll go to that level.

Like, I, I won't be in, in a pool. Right.

Even if it's a huge pool at the Atlantis with at wave pool.

Mm. I don't like wave pools regardless of bodies. Fair,

Fair. .

So I'm just saying like, let's say the main big pool, right?

It's just still water.

And like, I'm not the fact that it's, I'm not, I Have Pumps Not going, like the water's constantly circulating.

I'm not going past treated, moving past it without my own effort to get past it.

Whereas if I'm on an inner tube, I'm kind of detached from the water anyways and like, I'm gonna just fire past this body.

I might not even see it if I'm having a good time. Oh,

You probably won't.

Like, because it's gonna also be moving. Right.

But if it like bumps into your tube as you're floating, I wouldn't like it. I wouldn't like it .

So like an easy way to avoid that scenario is I Just Get out. You

Don't know that you would get out. So

I Don't think I would get out.

I do think that's like This. Think I'd tell someone.

Yeah. I think it's just like a societal expectation

that you would alert somebody to the fact there's a body.

For sure. And the best way to do that is to get out

and be like, Hey, there's a Body.

I just wave be like, there's a body back there.

And then they'd probably, but you go by to make you get out One, one of the lifeguards in the little tower, uh, about five, 10 tubes back.

There's a dead guy floating.

You guys might wanna take care of that. Yeah,

Right.

But like what? You're gonna stop, drop

and roll outta there. Yeah.

Here's what I'm thinking is That you're gonna finish the Lazy River, dude, come on. If

You're, if you're the lifeguard that sees Alex Rossi, go buy a tube saying, oh hey, just back there.

Dead guy might wanna look into it.

And then sure enough, just back there, there's a dead guy.

There's two things I'm doing.

One, I'm calling the authorities to take care of the dead guy.

And then also giving your description to the authorities as a likely murder suspect because the casual nature with which you're just like, yeah.

Has a dead body flowing back there.

But I'm gonna keep sip of my corona floating down. This river was very

He did already, he did already say that he did murder this hypothetical Person in that scenario.

Yes, that's true. But again,

I'm just, I'm yourself, I'm surprised.

I'm surprised you're so against it.

I'm surprised you're surprised by that. Well,

I understand my pool.

I'm not getting in it like, but this is a, this is a big, so are you just done at the waterpark?

Like what if, what if you're in Qatar, right?

And you're at this, this massive Facility that is insane 67 water slide waterpark. Are you

Just, are you packing it up and going home for the day?

Like if just some old guy unfortunately had a heart attack, right.

It's not like he fired it off the slide into oblivion.

Like there's a malfunction. Like he just died, you're done.

No, no, but I'm not gonna be in the water with him while he is dead.

No, not, Yeah. I don't know.

How long would it take for you to go back in?

Well, so this is a, this is a messed up story.

This is like a real thing that I can actually sort of relate to.

When I was a kid, I was at a friend's cottage and one of the neighbors older guy was at first swim, had a heart attack while he was swimming, drown.

All like, the parents that were at the cottage we were at pulled him out.

CPR, the whole bit guy didn't make it.

So like, we basically saw a guy that drowned there on, on our dock as our parents tried to resuscitate him.

We were back in the lake the next day.

I don't think we went in the lake that day, but we were back in the lake the next day.

Hmm. Because again, he wasn't like eaten by a shark.

He had a heart attack. But like,

it definitely kept us outta the lake that day. .

But you were young, right?

I was, Yeah. So I get that.

Like, I get why a kid wouldn't conceptually want to be in the water where there was a dead person.

Like I understand that, but again, As a, like an adult should be almost even more reluctant to get into the water after a dead person.

But it sounds scary for a kid. It's scary

For you.

Yeah. But kids are also like fearless in ways, right?

There's a cause and effect of this happened. Yeah.

This very sad thing happened.

It has nothing to do with the establishment that I'm at.

Am I really gonna let this sad thing that happened that has absolutely nothing to do with me and the safety of myself or my family affect the rest of my trip?

No. It's what he would've

wanted. .

I honestly can't tell if your, the, the, the enthusiasm with which you are continuing this debate comes from you're, you just feel really strongly about being okay swimming with dead guys.

I just feel like he's busy with us. Or you're just debating

like you're just, you just don't wanna, you don't wanna like relent on this topic. You want us to

No.

In in this specific example mm-hmm. Of the lazy river.

I don't, I don't see where your guys' issue is.

I completely am on board with the pool.

I just don't see how they're that different man.

It's, it's water circulates in a pool too. Yes, exactly.

No one. Yeah, but it's, you're a pool

Guy.

You know this, you know more about pools than media.

It's a very, it's a very, there's a lot of surface area of water Right.

That is continually moving and you are floating on it.

Mm-hmm . You're not swimming and pushing your way past him.

Right. Like you could just float all that. Well

Actually, okay, so here's, you know what, now that I think about it, I hate that I've somewhat moved in your direction on this, but your, your pool, it's Not like, oh there's an arm in my face.

Lemme push this outta the way and keep on going, But hang on.

Y you your pool philosophy, it a lazy river is just a pool.

It's just a pool with <inaudible> in the middle.

So like that part I'm not gonna give you, but I'll, I'll give you the moving water thing.

Right. So like if there was a guy that died in a lake,

I probably wouldn't go back in the lake that day, even today.

But like if a guy died in a river that's like a fast moving river, I probably would go back in the r like the, that would weird me out less because of the, Because the water's down there now.

Yeah, exactly. So like to a certain extent your

your your logic and the philosophy of the moving water.

I actually kind of buy into the claiming that a pool in a lazy river are different for the way the water moves I think is insane.

Yeah. 'cause it's not like unlike a

river, it's going back. Right.

I'm talking like, like a Yeah, exactly. It's a circle.

You know, it's coming back Guys.

This has nothing. We're not talking about the

purification of the water.

I'm not talking about contamination or filtration or anything.

Do not tell me that the rate of which the water moving in a lazy river is the same as a pool. It's literally,

But is moving.

But it's just going back around. Right. This

Is not, this has nothing to do with the purity of the water.

It does. This has to do with you are going

to be near this dead body for 1% of your lazy river journey.

You're not floating with the dead body body. It

Has to do with the water for of your Time in the pool.

So, sorry, you, it does For me, Your whole thing is about proximity to the body.

Right? So like in this scenario, is the body anchored

to something and not also floating in the river?

Because your argument could actually backfire.

'cause he could be right with you and you guys could just be going around Floating on our lazy river with the dead guy next to me.

No, I'm saying he you flew Him just like, would you hold onto the wall Okay.

And let him go down a bit and then, then let, let then let go so that you Just, okay.

In my mind the body isn't moving.

Right. Okay, well why? Okay, but why?

That's all right. Yeah. This is a very spec, there's a lot

of caveats to this scenario. Okay.

Why would the body not be moving?

Because he's half in, half out Because he, he got tangled up in the rocks and he is just stuck there.

What lazy river are you in? I still, he up to

The bottom.

That's not how it would work. He would float. Okay.

Don't, don't they sink first and then they float once they like bloat and all the gases start.

Yeah. I don't know why we're having this conversation.

Whatever, whatever. Anyway, so NASCAR have gone back

to a different championship format after the failure of the playoff system, uh, .

So, so Alex, how do you feel about the fact that NASCAR has dropped the one race to win 'em all?

Lord of the ring style championship showdown.

Here's the thing, James. Uh,

I'm finding out about this this second immediately Now.

Right. Um, okay. So upon the uproar of fans

and us really this podcast, everyone right?

Is, I don't wanna say we single-handedly influenced the direction of nascar, but I'm not gonna not say I'm willing To say it. I'm

Willing to say it.

I don't know. I don't, we don't know for sure.

So let's not, you know, um, are We heroes?

That's for others to say, but yes, Absolutely no doubt about it.

So they've gone back to what the original kind of playoff format was, which is the chase, right?

That's what it was called originally because it was like a reset with 10 to go and then you race 10 races and whoever has the most points at the end of those 10 races wins.

That's the gist. I'm sure there's some

nuances that I'm missing there.

But you no longer just win in.

I think you have to like points in, so you gotta be in the top 10 in points at the cutoff race.

And then there's still I think some bonus points for winning and whatever.

So that way, you know, you're, you're seated if you will, the way you would be in a normal playoff kind of program.

And then it's a, it's a 10 race blast to the finish.

I like it. I I don't have any, um,

I don't really have any other comments, uh, about it at this point.

I, I love it exponentially more than the old system and I think that that is a much more fair and correct representation of the effort and the work that, that people would put in for a whole season. So

What's funny about it, and I'm, I'm sort of making up a little bit of this stuff because I don't, I read this last week and um, we didn't get to it, so I've forgotten some of it.

But somebody show, 'cause I, one of the things I know that's come out of the, this whole like one race, uh, program was, there were a few seasons, I think when Logano won, when he kind of like was not the guy all season, but just did well in the playoffs and is really good at Phoenix and Penn State's really good at Phoenix.

And so he like won two of the championships of his three or whatever.

People were like, well he wasn't the best guy, blah, blah blah.

So then somebody went and like applied this 10 race format, the chase format to the last however many years since they went away from it.

And Joey would actually be a five time champion now if it would've been that way.

So it's like, eh, actually, all right.

Fair play, you know, that actually kind of worked out.

I mean, not really for him, but still kind of for him.

So how, how much of this do you think really forget our kind of jokes about this bean because of offtrack?

'cause clearly that's not the case, but how much do you think this is because of fan uproar or discontent or whatever?

Or do you think this was always something that, I mean, NASCAR will say that this is an evolution and you know, something that they had in mind and all this sort of thing.

But do you think there was enough pressure put on them that it was like, we have to change it or, It certainly seems that way.

Yeah. Because like if if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Right? Right. So if it was a raging success,

I don't think we would be doing this so, or they would be doing this.

So I, I do think it comes from some of that fan pressure.

I do think it comes from some internal pressure within the series too.

I think a lot of teams and drivers were kind of over this format.

Um, look, I, on one hand I actually, I give them credit for trying something different, right?

This was a, an idea that when it first came out, all the purists were like, this is not a good idea.

We don't like this one race does not sum up a championship, whatever.

But you compare it to other sports where the, you know, the underdog can still win in one final game.

So like I, I get the philosophy, I get the logic behind it and I give them genuinely a lot of credit for trying something that a lot of people were like, no, don't do this.

Um, it did create some exciting scenarios.

It definitely made me tune into the cut cutoff races probably more often than I would have.

So it sort of worked in some ways.

But at the end of the day, in terms of like viewership maybe during that, that time, but at the end of the day, does it, does it result in the most deserving team and driver winning the championship?

No. And I think that's what people were, were kind of over.

So you, you commend NASCAR for trying something different.

They're obviously having to backpedal a little bit, continually adapt their product.

Um, where, where does IndyCar fall into this?

Because obviously, you know, we had a small change a couple years ago in the fact that the last race wasn't double points and the 500 is no longer double points.

Um, which I think we all can agree is the right thing.

Keeping qualifying points for indie is important.

Um, which they did. They, they reduced it,

but they, there's still a reward for qualifying well and as there should be considering the amount of time and effort that goes into that.

But are you as a race car driver fan and promoter of this sport happy with our championship, uh, format or do you think it needs some sort of twist To it?

No, so I am happy with it and I think think what makes it just a slam dunk for IndyCar to kind of keep this traditional system right.

Again, I fully agree with the points in indie.

I would actually give more points at Indie qualifying.

You know, I, I would honestly go back to giving it like full race weekend points where, you know, pole sitter gets 50 and you go back 'cause it's a big deal, 12 or whatever it is you get.

And it's only one point more in the guy in second.

Like, but whatever, at least there's something, um, I think why NASCAR needed something like this and honestly F1 is, is getting into some precarious territory here.

The longer you make the season, the more likely it is a championships wrapped up before the last race.

And the more you know, pressure you feel to do something to keep it exciting to the end.

Sure. Sure. So if we had 36 races Yeah. Yeah.

PLO would've won the championship by June Yeah. Last year. Good

Point. Good point.

Right? So we have this sweet spot in IndyCar.

I I still think we could, we could do another two to three races, right?

I think twenties is the max, 18 to 20 for me is the perfect length of a, of a race season.

Mm-hmm. Anything more than that.

You really start running into this thing where not Not in the same five and a half months though.

No. I wouldn't hate if it was

spread out a little more certainly.

But, um, I think, I think IndyCar lives in a really good pocket in terms of number of events.

Um, and so we don't have to do that.

Like look, last year was a, last year was a, it was an outlier, right?

You look at the last, you know, you look at the data from the last 20, 25 years, I think IndyCar's not been settled on the last race like four times in 25 years.

It's pretty good. Um, so I, I think, I think

that's, I think that's okay.

But it's funny 'cause it actually, this brings up, this kind of reminds me of a topic or leads me to a topic I wanted to talk about today, which is about F1 and how, you know, 'cause it's all geared up.

Some cars have hit the track, the Audi's done its first laps, the Cadillac's done its first laps, a couple of livery unveils have happened and we'll touch on those.

But I was thinking about how do you remember the last rule cycle change, right?

21 into 22. Mm-hmm .

Mm-hmm Remember the 2021 season.

Yeah. How would you describe it?

Perfect. Awesome. Perfect.

Except for the last lap, but Right. But like as a Yes.

Incredible. Probably one then probably the best

season of F1 I've ever watched.

Yeah. And then they change everything

and for a couple years it's okay.

For one year it's like awful because Max won 20 races.

Mm-hmm . And then this year, last year, oo cycle.

How would you describe this year? Pretty good.

Last four, last lap. Not 21. Good last, not 21. Good.

But it went to the last lap pretty good.

It was settled by two points. Pretty good. Pretty good.

And we're gonna change it all next year.

I can't help but think that F1 needs to like lengthen their rule cycles a little bit.

I feel like just when the whole group Merges, take a page outta the IndyCar book.

Huh? Go two decades. I

Mean No, no, no, no.

Hold on. I was, that was a point I was also gonna make.

Is that ? There's probably a happy medium in there. .

I'm not saying two decades, but like, maybe I don't, I don't know how many cars NASCAR's come out with since, um, since 2012.

But it's probably, I don't know, three different iterations of their program.

That seems about right. I think

It's, I think it's three. Yeah.

Yeah. So like if you think of F1, Hmm.

Every time we get to the end of a rule cycle or to the point in a rule cycle where there's a lot of convergence, the midfield battles are, are wicked.

You have two to three to four drivers fighting for the world championship at the front.

Yeah. We're like, great season,

let's completely clean slate, wipe house, get rid of everything.

And like almost guarantee that one or two teams dominate for the next two to three years.

How much of that though is new?

Because aside from 2021 mm-hmm .

Aside from this, this last call it three years, there hasn't been this said cost cap in place.

Right? And so if you take out 2021

where there wasn't a cost cap in place either prior to that you had to do these regulation changes because it was impossible for anyone to catch up for Teams to catch up.

Yes. That is a great point. That's

A great point.

Now F1 is gonna have to adapt and, and learn because ultimately we, we might not need the refresh every couple years because teams are able to catch up because there is only so much you can spend, which is what I think we got in this year in 2025.

So I think it's a good point, but I think in, in F one's defense, that's a new thing that they're having to Right.

Deal with and understand.

Yeah, that's a great point. That's a great point.

But I do wonder because like they're already talking about 20, 40. Yeah.

Yeah. because like, you know,

we need to change stuff immediately.

Well we haven't had a single like car run Some of the things that I've heard regardless of competitiveness across the teams.

I think there's the potential that people wanna rule change in 2030 regardless.

A a hundred percent. I 100%.

I think it's, I think the fact that those conversations are already happening is because those Some very specific things.

So speaking, speaking of that, there have been a couple cars that have been launched, some just liberties, but there have been some 20, 26 cars that they've viewed specifically the Audi, which I think is the clearest representation we've gotten so far of what a 2026 F1 car is gonna look like.

Um, and I'm gonna be the first to say it super underwhelming.

Like not not any sort of wow factor, um, to it, which is a little disappointing.

Um, they're kind of in this weird purgatory of like, okay, yes, the car's simpler.

Um, which is a, is a flashback to when the cars are super cool and, and awesome, but like with the size that it is now, it just is, it's like too big to be simple, but it's too small to be like cool looking.

I don't know if that makes sense. Like it's just, it's it's,

it, it, it looks like a, like a, like a like a little bit more intense version of an F two car, which maybe was their idea.

Yeah. Yeah, you're right. But it kinda looks like an f

an f two car on steroids. Right?

Exactly. Yeah.

Um, but it's funny 'cause we were, so we, we had this discussion, you and I were talking about this yesterday or the other day, whatever it was.

And so like, I've been thinking about it because it has sort of bothered me because I had this same thought.

Like, you look at it, you're like, oh, that just looks like, yeah, it looks like a spect car.

Right, right. I guess until we have more,

um, more cars launched, and again, every team will tell you what you see at the livery unveil is gonna be very different than what you see at Barcelona, at Bahrain, and ultimately at Melbourne for the first race.

So I'm gonna hold off complete judgment until we get to the actual first Grand Prix.

And we've seen all the cars and they've all been put into whatever their race back is.

But it does seem like, like the last generation, yes, they were too big for racing, but they, they looked cool.

Like they were low, they were wide, they were mean looking, they looked like little fighter jets on the ground, right?

Mm-hmm . And then you think back to that kind of simpler era

and you know, I always kind of default to mid to late nineties, right?

And I was actually just, when I was out, out in LA with Fox, we went to the Peterson Museum and in the vault there, they had this collection of Formula One cars and there was like a, a 95 Ferrari and a 98 McLaren.

And I'm looking at them and I'm like, these are very simple.

By today's standards, they, they, they're a lot closer to what, what Audi showed and like what we saw of, you know, what we saw of the Cadillac and what we've seen of the, the Red Bulls and the, and the racing bulls.

And the more I thought about how I feel when I look at those mid nineties, mid late nineties cars, the more I'm like, no, this is actually not a bad thing, right?

Like it's the, the, at the end of the day, if they race well, like the cars are gonna be different, right?

We've only really seen one properly. Mm-hmm.

So the cars are gonna be different.

So you're gonna be able to differentiate them in some capacity and as long as they race well, I don't think they have to look like the 2008 McLaren, which was like, to me, one of the sexiest Formula one cars ever made.

You know, it looks like a little spaceship.

Uh, they just, they, they need to sound good.

They need to race well. I mean, they still look cool.

It's just, I think we've been spoiled a little bit almost in some of the previous, like couple years or a couple generations ago.

I guess time will tell, time will tell.

I'm less optimistic than you are just because Formula One, formula One is supposed to be this, this idea of what's unattainable, right?

Mm-hmm . From a performance standpoint, from a

event standpoint, just everything about it is supposed to be alright.

This is the, the highest level of everything that you can possibly get Motorsport all in one place.

Mm-hmm . And currently I will say that

the car does not represent that.

I, I think, Yeah, it'll be interesting.

I'm really interested to have this conversation again after the first grumpy, just to see how much, 'cause like I think back to when F1 first announced the ground effects rules set, right?

And they had like a show card done up in F1 Liberty or whatever.

And when you saw it, you are like, okay, it's, it's bigger and it looks okay, it looks kind of cool, but it was so simple, you know, it was so kind of bland in all the aerodynamic stuff and side pod shape and all that stuff compared to what ended up actually being on the race cars.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I, and I wonder if

that's like a version of what we're seeing now.

So time will tell the, uh, the Audi livery itself is getting a lot of, uh, a lot of on the internet and rightly so. 'cause it's pretty ugly

pretty bad, pretty bad.

People compare you to like an energizer, uh, battery.

There was one, one guy posted something.

It looks exactly like a, like an Old Spice deodorant.

Like the colors are exactly the same.

It's the red, like line red, gray. So funny man.

It's very German. It's very, yeah. Yeah.

I feel like when it comes to that, these companies need to just hire like a few people in their twenties who are just chronically online.

And so it's like, all right, you develop everything before you release it.

You're just gonna run it by these guys and say, how would you make fun of this?

And just figure out whatever it's gonna be smart.

Smart, right? It's like your, your last stop gap,

I feel like.

I feel like the Red Bulls, the racing bulls look pretty sick, like the white.

Mm-hmm . Pretty sharp. The Red

Bull just looks like a Red Bull.

They do a good job. Extra blue.

The, the Red Bull's got that like glitter.

It's like a glittery blue now though, which is pretty, yeah, it looks pretty good.

I'm sure it'll look. Alright, well all of that is fun

to talk about, but ultimately it does not matter because those cars are not racing currently.

But I can tell you what cars are racing currently. Tell me.

And that is our young, uh, what is it?

International Motor Sports Sports Car Association.

What does ims A stand for?

Tim, I need you to Google this is when you, you're supposed to, how Do you not know that James?

Honest stuff. International Motor Sports

Association. Okay.

Okay. I thought, yeah, I thought you got me thinking

that sports car was in there somewhere. .

That seems too simple. That was like the on the multiple

Choice.

Well, it's weird. It's weird because

Can't be that because Motor sports isn't too words.

So it's weird that it has its own acronym. Acronym.

You know what's funny man, is I always type it as one word, but then Apple always underlines it in red.

So I feel like it might actually be two words and we just, in the biz, we just don't do that.

Not according to the dictionary, But yes, there is some SSA racing coming.

We have roared the roar before the 24, uh, is is done and dusted and yeah, I mean, nobody knows anything.

That's the, the beauty of the roar. That's

The fun part about the International Motor Sports Sports Cars Association. Nope,

Don't add stuff.

Oh, so it should be ica.

Well, it shouldn't be a at all. It should be

Emma .

I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, yeah, I mean, look guys, the, the, you can't tell anything from the test.

That's, that's, I mean that's kind of true of all motors sports.

It's exceptionally exaggerated in, uh, sports car racing for various reasons.

But, um, our tests went really well.

Uh, the car is running great, which is nice.

Still working on a couple little handling things to make sure it's good for the start of the race through the night, the end of the race, all that stuff.

Uh, but we're kinda just getting through our program, which is nice.

It hasn't really been like that at a lot of Rolex 20 fours for me to be honest.

So you, you had some Fox commitments, um, so you missed a little bit of the roar, but by the time you got there, like do you feel like, I mean, you never feel prepared going into this race, but did it feel any different this year?

Yes. And so you'll appreciate this, right?

So when you go to the roar and then, so race week itself, there's like five sessions, which sounds like a lot.

You get maybe six laps as the fourth driver. Yeah. Right?

Yeah. So the roar is kind of the same thing.

There's two sessions every day.

I think there's three sessions on one day because they throw a night practice, you're like, oh, there's so much track time, but you're getting through four drivers.

But as a bonus guy, Yellow flag red Flags.

Right? But as, as the bonus guy,

the race drivers really have to do most of the setup.

You're just kind of like feeling what they're setting up.

Right? So you are somewhat

of a lower priority then you get red flags and, and Not somewhat they tell you you don't matter Blatantly You don't matter.

Yeah. You are a seat spacer for a few hours.

Exactly. So our real drivers

Can get to sleep, you drive so that we can sleep. Yeah.

Right. So when, when you get to the race,

you've probably not done more than like five consecutive laps.

And your total lap count for the week is for sure is maybe 20.

Yep. And every year you go in feeling under prepared

and then you do your first stint in the race, which is an hour of uninterrupted, hopefully maybe there's a yellow or something.

But roughly uninterrupted an hour of running and it's 30 laps.

And by the end of that first 10 you're like, okay, now I, now I'm up to, now I'm good, let's go.

Right. Is that true? Is that how you feel? Yeah.

I mean sometimes I've gotten outta the first stint and still been like, oh my god, .

Okay. But yes, Generally,

So at minimum you need that first in to be kind of be in the right realm of like, okay, now we're good.

Right? So, so I missed Friday, which

I think was actually like great for the team because they could focus on the car, make sure it's running well, you know, get the race drivers in like the full season guys, do some setup work and not feel the pressure of kind of rushing through the fourth guy.

Because when you're the fourth guy, it's always like the plan is for you to do.

There's, it's a, it's a 90 minute session.

So the first half hour is this guy, second half hour is this guy, you're gonna be the third half hour.

Well setup changes take longer.

There's a couple red flags, there's a little mechanical issue that took us back.

So you get like eight minutes at the end of the session and they're like cutting the other guy's last run short, not getting a totally honest read just to fire you out into a bunch of traffic.

First laps, chaos.

Like it's, it's awful for everybody, right? Yep.

So they didn't have that pressure on Friday.

They had a great Friday, ran through the program, it was great.

Saturday, there was two sessions.

They used the first session with the two full-time guys just working through the setup changes from overnight, from from yesterday.

And then the second session was an hour long session.

And they just let me do the whole thing.

They put me in at the green flag, dude, it's even better.

They put me at, they put me at the start full tank of fuel, new set of tires.

And they were like, just go.

We had no red flags, no mechanical issues.

I drove from the green flag to the checkered flag nonstop.

And it's essentially a stint.

And I got outta the car and I was like, I feel we can race tomorrow.

Let's go. I don't even need to,

I don't even need to practice this week.

Don't even put me in the car if you don't want to.

I could go into the race tomorrow and feel better than I have at any point of my Rolex 24 career.

It is the way to do it.

Hmm. So good. So good. Hmm. Feel

Great. I bet you got tires too.

So I started on a brand new set, started a brand new set, full tank of fuel, just run.

Got to work on saving fuel and saving energy.

Got to work on traffic stuff.

Got to just like, feel the, the ti like what is the balance shift over a stint?

So I'm ready for that, you know, and great. Awesome.

I don't know, I don't know how we've missed this for the last 12 years.

14 years I've been doing. Yeah, it sounds

Like, it sounds like a much more efficient use of time too. 'cause

It's the best man.

I'm gonna ins I'm just gonna insist on this next, next year.

I might not even come to the roar.

I'll just show up and like, hey, first practice on Thursday or whatever.

Just lemme do the whole thing and then, and then I'll just get in the race.

We're good. So that's where we're at.

That's where we're, so I'm excited about that.

Um, um, you who Looks, we don't get need to get to me yet.

Who looks good. Um, I know it's hard.

I know it's hard, but still.

So yeah, you can, you can tell certain Cars will look better than others.

The the Mercedes GT cars look obnoxiously fast in a straight line.

Nice. And so do the Fords. Mm-hmm .

The difference is the Fords are pretty much all being run by, I'm trying to pick my words carefully here.

Wanker Ex? No, no. The opposite.

Experienced professionals where there are a couple like customer Mercedes cars that aren't like factory backed and just lone stars.

You know, guys just kind of like shooting from the hip doing their own thing. Hmm. And um, it

Sounds like blinkers to me.

Yeah. Yeah. So, but there's, there's a couple,

there's multiple cars that are running in the pro class, but they have an AM driver just because they wanna win the pro class and they can just do the driver minimum with the pro, with the am and it doesn't really matter.

So they got three pros and, and one guy paying bills probably, but like that guy doesn't understand the game.

And some of the lap times that these bronze, amateur guys are setting in those cars, it's like, oh my god.

Oh my god. Oh my god.

Like if a Mercedes doesn't win this race, they <inaudible> something up or inside.

So say they, so when they don't understand, when you say they don't understand the game, are you saying like everybody else is sandbagging a little bit? Or

If you have a super fast car?

Yes. Yeah, you basically have to kind

of just not show your whole hand.

That's just the nature of sports car racing.

Now if you don't have a super fast car, you're like trying to get to the laptop that everyone else is just doing by default.

And that's, you know, I've been on every side of this equation.

Um, but ma'am some of these guys just don't get it and it is comical to see.

So I would be so shocked if there's not slight changes for the race to at least the Mercedes.

I would love to see a difference to the Fords as well, just because they're also ridiculously fast, but they're just hiding it better.

Um, but we'll see. We'll see.

I don't know where I legitimately don't know where we are, so, So you don't, you don't wanna show your whole hand because it, they'll change your car for BOP or?

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Okay.

The, the series has the right to adjust the, the BOP, the balance of performance, which is the formula that they use to equalize the different manufacturers.

'cause on paper, a Ford Mustang should not be racing a Ferrari, you know, uh, should not be racing A Lexus should not be racing a Porsche.

They're all different cars. So they have this formula

that adjusts things like power and, uh, top speed and weight and fuel capacity and whatever.

Um, so anyway, if you, if you do something silly at the roar, they can adjust that BOP for the race.

And so everyone's trying to avoid getting anything negative for the race.

So we'll see. But those guys do look strong.

That is for sure. I have not been, been attention

to prototype stuff at all.

I don't even know who's quick.

I've not been paying attention.

It's, uh, we've been running our own deal and focused on that, so, uh, I'm not entirely sure what's happening in the big class, but it's a pretty good, like pretty good IndyCar contingent here.

Yeah. There's more guys than I remembered when we were

talking about it other last week or the week before. Yep. So

Good.

Yeah, man, it's nice to be back. Love it behind the

Wheel.

Love it. Well, I can't wait to, uh, watch on Sunday.

Um, at very selective times. I'll watch the start.

Very selective times. Very, I'll probably watch

your first stint.

Um, I'll probably watch, you know, a good chunk in the middle of the night when I'm up with the little guy and then, uh, I'll watch the finish. So

That's a good strategy. That's

Really all, all you need to see, quite frankly. That's

Really it.

When he says up with the little guy, he means hanging out with deep .

Uh, I mean, you mentioned didn't.

I don't, he would be up at that hour and he is little. So

That is true.

All that is factual. Um, you mentioned

that I was in LA for Fox stuff.

I don't think we, we haven't talked about Joseph's commercial yet, have we? We

Have not. We have not.

We should talk about Joseph's commercial. What did we think? Think of

Speaking of dead bodies and pools. .

That's true. There was kind

of both of those things in that commercial.

Yeah. Uh, what was your

Initial reaction?

I understand why they put the date on the meat of his indie 500 win, but I was just thinking to myself like, that's expired ground beef by like a year. I'm sorry,

What?

Sorry. That you clocked

That the best buy date.

Yeah. On the ground beef was the date that he won the 500.

But that was, why did you see that?

That means that means means it really expired.

You guys didn't, it was very large.

No. Hmm. I did notice that,

but I only saw it one time quickly in passing. Same. Um,

Um, what did I think?

I thought, I thought it was awesome because some of the most popular and talked about television shows these days are all kind of either docuseries or fictional series about the neighborhood serial killer guy, but on the face is a normal guy or at least appears to be for some part of the show.

Um, and they're really enjoyable and entertaining to watch.

And so I think you got you, you nailed like secular culture and what's current with that.

I think that fits Joseph's personality.

Not that Joseph kills people, but Joseph is, he does so very intense.

He does individual right.

Um, who commits his entire life and mental energy to being the best race car driver and version of himself that he can be.

Um, and so I thought it really played on who he is as a person, his success on track, and also what people like to watch on television.

So it was a, a plus for me on that one.

And, and I just loved the, like, I loved the narrative the way they kind of went like, well he did rip a guy's heart out last May or whatever.

Yeah. It's just incredible because it's so true.

Like, that is the only thing you can describe that like what Pata was feeling in that moment.

Right. And, uh, the way they did it.

And then I gotta, I gotta give the guy props, man.

Like he's got some acting chops.

The the way when, when they're like talking about it and he's got the, he takes the ground beef throws on the grill and he looks up at 'em and he goes and he's just like licking the blood off his fingers while staring them down.

It was . It was <inaudible> scary. He did a good job.

I was very impressed. I was impressed with the, uh,

the concept, the execution.

It was great. It was great. The

Scary part for me was the expired mate.

Yeah, it's, yeah, it's weird. You're so weird, huh?

It's weird that that's what you So weird, huh?

Um, I mean he wasn't eating it.

He was just making it for everybody else.

Um, so Pat's got a commercial that's coming out.

There's two others after that.

Um, I'm not sure exactly when they're all launching, but it's, that's how, you know, it's, I I love the end of football season 'cause we get to start seeing IndyCar commercials, so I'm like, oh, that means IndyCar season's coming up.

I like that. So this is cool. Kudos to Fox. Mm-hmm .

We're getting those in some pretty big games and uh, I imagine we're gonna see more of that And thank you, um, to Fox, not just kudos.

Thank you very much for continually driving our marketing efforts forward.

Thank you. I wanna just kind again say I'm available

to be in any of these commercials.

Mm. No one they're aware. I could have been the neighbor.

You know, they're aware. Yeah.

So I just want to touch on one thing from last or two weeks ago real quick before we go.

Becky and I had a funny exchange after our Peach Bowl episode because, you know, Tim, you brought up the, the Mark Cuban story, which we then told on the show, which evidently I had forgot to tell Becky.

Um, and, and so I guess she listened to the show and she was just like, you, you just met Mark.

Like Mark Cuban just came up to you guys and shook your hand.

I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, no, it was really cool.

And I started telling, she's like, no, no, no, no, no.

I heard this story from the podcast James.

She goes, she goes, she's getting so mad.

She was like, I don't want this life James.

I don't want this life . You don't tell me anything.

I don't know what's happening in your life.

Listen, listen to the podcast. And I'm like,

and in my head I'm like, Tim really <inaudible> me on that one, man. He really, how

Is that my fault? ?

Sounds like you ain't even talk to your wife more Because you brought it up.

No, I have a terrible memory. I've hit my head a lot

Guys.

You're also, there's no way I brought it up because I didn't know about it until I heard about it when you were recording it.

Okay, well, you left In the show. You're the editors complete

Problem.

Yeah. Yes. I know, I know.

I'm just trying to deflect blame because I have a terrible memory.

But yeah, she, it was, it was funny, but she was like, I don't want this life.

I was trying really hard not to laugh, but I was definitely laughing inside.

Um, so yeah, I need to be better at remembering stuff.

Uh, I need to start listening to our episodes back and then be like, oh yeah, I should probably mention that to Becky before Tim posts this episode. Well,

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable that I'm catching strays for your dysfunctional marriage. .

Yeah. Yeah.

What, uh, what are you up to this weekend, Alex, other than your three hours of watching the Rolexs 24, Well, seven hours of watching football.

Who do you think is going to the Super Bowl?

I think it is the Seahawks and the Patriots.

All right. And are you still Patriots guy

or were you just a Tom Brady guy?

Tom Brady guy. So do you care who wins if it's that?

No, well look, the highlight of the sewer bowl is clearly gonna be my nanny, um, report, which I really have to finish because I'm still, still got a few seasons to go on my writing.

Funny story. Um, I'm not gonna be there. So

What, where are you gonna be?

I'm gonna be in Florida. What's in

Florida?

Something that Canadians can't come to.

Yeah. Oh, that's, we'll get into that.

That's over Super Bowl. Yeah,

It's the, it's the Friday before it.

Yeah. And then test.

We'll get into that on a future episode.

I'm very excited about it. Ah,

Yeah.

I was, I I I learned from Tim Alex that I did not qualify for that drip .

Well, you were the first person I asked.

I know. I appreciate that.

, how many times have you been to Space Camp, bro?

We'll talk about this next week, uh, and we'll recap Nashville.

Thanks for watching.

This has been off track with Hinch and Rossi.

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