On oval racing, you’re always turning the same way, so the right-side tires do most of the work. If something changes about those tires, it can affect how the car feels and how fast it can go.
A speedway tire is a racing tire made for oval tracks. It’s designed to work well with the track’s heat and grip, so if the tire material changes, the tire can feel different.
Grip is how well a tire can generate traction between the rubber and the track surface. In racing, even small changes in grip can alter lap times and how confidently drivers can accelerate, brake, and corner.
Track temps are how hot the race track is. That affects how hot the tires get, and tire temperature can change how much grip the car has.
Term
Memorial Day weekend
Memorial Day weekend is a big holiday period in the U.S. where major races often happen. The weather around then can change how the tires work and how the race plays out.
Term
speedway tub
In oval racing, the “tub” is the main body/chassis shell. It’s like the core structure, and the rest of the car gets built onto it.
“Engine issues” means problems with the power unit that can reduce performance or force downtime. In racing, even minor engine reliability problems can change a team’s testing pace and what they learn from the session.
Lap times are how long it takes to do one full lap. Faster lap times usually mean the car has more speed, even if the final result isn’t always the same.
Qualifying sets your starting position for the race. If you qualify 17th, you start farther back, so you usually have to work harder to move forward during the race.
They’re talking about switching your mindset for a different kind of race. Oval racing and Grand Prix-style racing feel different, so drivers change how they think about speed and risk.
They mean the special way you have to think for the Indianapolis 500. Because it’s an oval and lasts a long time, drivers focus on staying consistent and not overdoing it.
Downforce is the “squish” from the air that presses the car onto the track. More downforce usually means better tire grip, especially in corners.
Concept
qualifying is the indy 500
They’re saying qualifying matters a lot, not just the race itself. Qualifying helps determine where you start, which can strongly affect how the race goes.
High downforce means the car is set up to stick to the road more using its wings and shape. That helps in corners, but it can make the car slower through the air on straights.
“Pits” refers to the pit lane and pit stops area where teams service the car and manage strategy. The host’s point is that after leaving the pits, drivers need to re-check how the car is behaving on the first lap because setup changes and track conditions can shift grip.
Powertrain is the car’s “go” system—how the engine’s power gets to the wheels. It includes parts like the gearbox and the drivetrain that make the car accelerate.
Wheel spin is when the tires spin but the car doesn’t hook up and accelerate as intended. It usually happens when there’s not enough grip, like during hard launches.
“Danger zone” is the driver’s way of saying the car is in a risky or hard-to-control state. It usually means you’re pushing it right up against the engine’s or car’s limits.
Seatbelts keep the driver from being thrown around during a crash. The hosts are also discussing how racing safety rules evolved—sometimes earlier designs made different tradeoffs than modern ones.
“Fuel missile” is a dramatic description of how the fuel could be dangerously close to the driver. In a crash, leaking fuel can quickly become a major fire risk.
Term
AMR safety team
The “AMR safety team” is a racing safety group that works on making cars safer in crashes. The point here is that safety tech has improved a lot over time.
A restart is when the race starts running again after slowing down or stopping for an incident. “Lap 61 restart” just means it happened at that point in the race.
“Seagull” by itself doesn’t clearly tell which car you mean. It might be a nickname or a partial name, and different vehicles could use similar names. If you tell me the brand or full model name, I can explain what that specific car is.
During a race, the team can talk to the driver over the radio. The hosts want to check those messages to see what the driver was told (or not told) about when the boost was allowed.
A system failure means the race technology didn’t work the way it was supposed to. The host’s point is that if it’s the system’s fault, the driver shouldn’t automatically be blamed or penalized.
The timing stand is where race officials watch the race data and system status. The host is saying they can tell whether the push-to-pass system is actually on, which helps determine what really happened during the race.
Concept
yellow flag condition
A yellow flag means there’s danger on the track and drivers have to slow down. The host is arguing that if officials don’t show the yellow flag when they should, then it’s unfair to penalize drivers for passing under the wrong conditions.
Term
corner marshall
A corner marshal is an official at a track section who watches for problems and controls the flags. The host is saying that if they make a mistake with flagging, it shouldn’t automatically become the driver’s penalty.
Runoff is the paved or graded area next to the track designed to help slow and contain cars that leave the racing surface. The host mentions a car in the runoff as the kind of hazard that should trigger caution (like a yellow flag). This is used to illustrate how the correct flag status affects what drivers are allowed to do.
A waved-off start/restart is when race control aborts the planned start procedure and restarts the process. Because push to pass was originally tied to button presses, drivers could accidentally “spend” their boost during a waved-off event, creating an unfair disadvantage. The later time-based system made the penalty smaller by converting the impact into a shorter, more predictable loss.
The start/finish line is the official line on the track that marks the start and end of each lap. Here, it matters because push to pass only becomes available after crossing that line, so drivers can’t use it too early during a restart setup.
Concept
overtake on in-laps and out-laps
In-laps and out-laps are the laps around a pit stop. The hosts are saying the push-to-pass timing rules may discourage drivers from using the boost during those laps, because it’s harder to judge whether you’ll still have enough boost later to make a pass.
Term
restart yellows
In many races, there’s a yellow-flag period where cars have to slow down and follow the safety rules. “Restart yellows” means that slowdown is happening right around when the race is about to restart.
“Under yellow” is when the race is under caution, so drivers can’t go full speed. It changes how hard you can push the car, including how hot the tires get.
A red flag means the race is stopped for safety reasons. When that happens, drivers can’t keep racing normally and must follow instructions from officials.
The Mercedes-Benz A-Class is a smaller luxury car made for regular city and highway driving. It’s meant to be easier to live with than bigger Mercedes models, while still offering nicer features. People might mention it because it’s a common way to get into the Mercedes lineup.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of Off-Track with Incheon Rossi where I just
want to give ourselves a pat on the back because it's May. It's early in May and
we are our eye. I mean, I know James is. I'm already to the wall slammed
schedule-wise and here we are doing a podcast for you guys. So happy to be
here. Got a lot of stuff to cover, but I do have to disclose something.
I feel like it's going to be insulting to me somehow.
No, I hope it is. I don't know why it would be, but I just, I'm all for it.
I actually just found a way to make it insulting to Tim. So I will deliver it that way.
I watched absolutely zero laps from the Miami F1 Grand Prix yet I still have better
comprehension of what happened than Tim. Yeah, that's only mildly insulting to Tim
because you should and that's fine. I am so sorry. I truly didn't have time for the ability to.
It is, it may is Maying, isn't it? Like it's really- Dude, it's happening, it's here.
So like what, tell me, so this is Monday or Tuesday? It's Tuesday, right?
It's Tuesday, yeah. So what was your, what was your Tuesday
pre- Grand Prix weekend like? Well, James, I will admit it is all self-inflicted.
Well, it's life's life, right? Like stuff happens. So I mean, so I think this week in
particular is pretty busy and chaotic because a lot, a lot of family has come into town and
there's a writing today because little Benny Boy's birthday is on Thursday, which we're
celebrating on Wednesday. And it's really every single person that I would want to be there
is going to be there. This is just, there's the insult. That's the one. Now we're back. Now we're
back. Had I gotten an invite, I would have flown in for this. Would you, would you have flown in
for this? Tim, Tim, it's not an insult that you're not invited. Literally, I don't,
I don't want to be doing this. It is all, it is all Kelly. It is all of Kelly's friends that have
children except for James and Becky. Those are the only ones that are coming that are loved.
Tim also has children. No, but like, for example, our really good friends, Brian and Katie,
they weren't invited. Not because we don't love Brian and Katie, but because
we're not going to expect you to fly in for Ben's first birthday when he doesn't even want,
like he doesn't even know what's going on. Let me tell you something about who you are. Never
mind. No, he knows who I am. Sorry, I meant Tim. Oh, right. Also, how is he gonna
know who I am if I'm not invited to the birthday party? You're gonna see him a lot this month.
Let me, let me tell you a quick Ben story and how behind he is on like what birthdays are. So we
got him some birthday cupcakes, right? And we're like, oh, let's, we're going to have him try it
beforehand because we like, we want to see the reaction that he has without a bunch of people
because he like, babies are shy. So we wanted to see like the first time he had sugar and chocolate
to be like an exciting moment for all of us, right? There you go. And not it to be a
nullified reaction because he was shy. He hated it. Just was okay. Just turned his nose up at it.
However, if you put sardines in front of him, he's just, or salmon, just fistfuls. But chocolate
cupcake, he was like, not for me. So Tim, this birthday is going to be pretty lame because
it's going to be like a fish cake, I think. Okay, I have questions. So yeah, so I look, I also,
yeah, look, who's the dad? Because what, what the f***? I also don't like chocolate cake. So that
part's not weird to me. The part that's weird to me is it's weird that he likes sardines.
What's arguably weirder, Alex, is that you had sardines to give, why did he ever get the chance
to try them? Oh, they're good for them. They're It's good for their brain development
and stuff. And so are you bought sardines for him? Yeah. I don't need sardines. Okay.
Nobody does. They're awful. I'm not crazy. So I tried them. I tried it. I was pleasantly surprised.
It's much different than an anchovy. You know, anchovies that come late on Caesar salads that no
one wants and everyone piss off and like why do restaurants even bother. Yes. These are,
they're, they're in the same family, but they're way less offensive. They're kind of like interesting.
I made, they were interchangeable to me. Like I know it's not the same thing, but I assumed it's
almost identical in taste. Anchovies are very potent. Yes. And people use them for like the salt
additive. These are just salty and not like potent. So if you like salty things, they were fine.
They didn't taste like fishy. Oh, okay. It was like, it was like a slimy chip.
That sounds awful. Yeah. I mean, but better than, better than a slimy anchovy than a sloppy,
slimy fishy chip. Yeah, true. Yeah. Okay. All right. So Ben, so he's getting a fish cake.
He's, he's going to get a cupcake and we are going to see if he likes it again with a candle
in it. Maybe this time that'll be the, that'll be the novelty thing that moves the needle. Yeah.
Good. Good. I feel like there's a plan for birthdays. The really important part of a first
birthday is the picture, right? You just need to get like one picture of him with the cupcake
just to be like, Hey, look at this. This was when you were, this was your first birthday for later.
Like he's not going to remember it. He's not going to know what's going on.
You just need to get like a few good photos from there. And that's what we're doing.
Hence why we didn't extend the invite list out to California.
I would have been great in photos. Do you know what's, you know what I'm curious about?
Cause like, it's just a great point, Tim. Like I've got photo albums from my childhood that my mom
pond off on me when I reached a certain age or had a house to like, so it's like,
she's like, I don't want to throw it out, but she couldn't actually dispose of it.
Correct. Right. So she put it on me to do that. So I, I have these photo albums
and I've looked at them, right? Maybe twice in the 10 years that I've owned them.
But I'm like back to the narcissistic of you.
Well, like you look through it yourself a whole twice.
A whole twice. Yeah. Once was because out of curiosity and once was because I was looking
for baby photos. Do you want to, you want to see how cool you were?
I was, I knew I wasn't cool. I've also seen baby pictures of you. You and I are in the
same boat, pal. No, I was dope as hell, man. You sure weren't. And I will
give Tim pictures to put up on our Twitter page to, if you want me to, I can do that.
I think they've, the people have already seen it because you've already posted these pictures.
Anyways, carry on. That's true. But the point is right. So like back then on rolls of film,
you could take like 24 pictures or whatever with a roll of film. There are limited pictures from
everybody's event who grew up with film cameras. Now there are phone cameras. There's a million
photos from say first birthday. What I want to know is when Ben reaches 25 years old,
is he going to look back through your old like iCloud to see his first birthday pictures?
Interesting. Because now you don't even have albums. Like what are you going to do? Like
hand them your iCloud password and just like. So Kelly, Kelly is it done like a baby book?
So what was she actually got? Pictures printed and built the book, which I think good. If I had
to guess that will exist through like his first steps. So that'll include his first birthday
and his first steps. But then like once he starts he hawing around and stuff, I doubt that continues.
Like she's not going to have a baby book school or like interesting. But like what is
Tim maybe is the person? Well, that already happened a long time ago.
No, like losing it. Sorry. Oh, well, we don't need to ask Tim advice on that because he just
steals money from his daughter. I reimburse. I mean, the tooth fairy reimburses. The tooth fairy
reimburses. Bank of Hazel. You're using your kid as a loan system. It's ridiculous. It's really tough.
So I Tim, what are the big milestones or benchmarks between first steps and first day
of school? Like I don't know that I know of many. Yeah, I guess birthdays, like special holidays
and birthdays. Right. Okay. So I think I think the book will exist through first steps. And then
if he wants to see like his Christmas as a three year old, he'll probably have to look at mom's
phone. But also why is he going to want to see that? Like honestly, James, did you have any desire
to see that except for the fact that it was in front of you? Right. Right. So it's not like you
missed it your entire 36 years. But this is but this is what I'm saying is we take more pictures
than ever and we're way less likely to ever look at them, I feel. But the pictures aren't for the
person. The pictures are for the mom. She scrolls in. She lays in bed and scrolls the pictures
away. I guess I guess in this stage, like Kelly will like look back at last May and when he was
a newborn, she likes to scroll through and watch like the development. I think moms do that
for all of their years. Right. And so yeah, when the kid is a teenager and has moved away and
whatever, it's less of a thing. But through those moments, I think it's the pictures are for them.
It's not for the individual. I definitely still go through my photo albums and like look at old
pictures of Hazel. And I really like it. You know what I'd like? No, but like that's what I'm saying.
I'm agreeing with you. I'm saying like and I know it's rare. You know, when you get like the featured
photos of the day and it'll pop up and be something when she's three years old and then I'll just
fall in a hole of just like looking at pictures from that time. But that's such a great point.
The featured photos thing I love and it always does send you down some like memory lane. That's
really cool. But like I never just always gets ex girlfriends. I had that problem. My thing is
either pictures of my kid where I'm like, oh, I'm nostalgic or like a picture of an X where I'm just
like I tried my best to forget that time of my life. Do you want to know what my my featured photos
always revolve around on an X, a particular one. Brunner is a baby. Tim getting his tattoo and his
Whitney Houston shirt and a picture of James at his old bar doing some debauchers things with
bottle of bourbon. That is the thing that's your rotation the most not me in a race car,
not pictures of Kelly. Let's do it right now. Let's go scroll to the left and see what your
featured photo is. Mine's Lucy. Mine's a dog photo. Mine is a picture of when Marco and I switched
numbers. It's dogs. It's Becky. It's a lot of Lucy and a lot of Becky. Oh Weller. Oh, hi buddy.
That's a that's fun one. Signing some dude's head. Like why is that a featured
photo. Oh my god. I'm so you know you scroll through right. I remember that that one comes up on
mine a lot. That one actually comes up on mine a lot. Look what fun I've never seen this photo
pop up on my phone before. Oh my. Oh, I remember that one. That's not what we're discussing
photos on an audio podcast on a week when there's actually racing to talk about right. There's
testing there or or everybody can go watch on YouTube because then you'll get to see the photos
because it's worth it for the just the one that I just posted. My favorite is like when I'm looking
through these and Kelly's next to me is like who the is this. It's like yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that
happens. Yeah. Anyways, all right. Anyway, let's talk about the open test because at the end of
last week we kind of we had a long episode talking about some bull so we didn't we didn't talk a
whole lot about the open tests and why that's significant. So the open test 33 cars everyone
on track together for the first time and it's the first opportunity that you have to really
see what kind of progress you have made in the off season. This track is all about
like the minutiae and the detail of the smallest things and how can you try and find
some sort of advantage in ways and places that other people aren't looking or maybe areas that
you know people have looked and you haven't explored before and how much is that really
worth like how much better are you actually going to be from a pure speed standpoint than you were
last year. Now not every team does this because some teams don't even run their speedway cars
but I will say ECR we did and it was two days about understanding that. So yeah, that was
a lot of differences, changes coming into this test from last season. So I don't know how
much was cut from last week's episode because I did mention and we removed a section of the podcast.
So from 2025 to 2026 Firestone did come out with a different right side
tire. Now this was not a decision that they decided they needed to do for any sort of
reliability concerns or performance changes. It was the EPA eliminated a component from the
ingredient list that was made that the speedway tire was made out of and so they had to find an
alternative that they were aware of the fact that it could potentially reduce grip and so we all
kind of went into the test thinking oh boy the right sides are going to be a little bit worse
and a little bit harder and that's not going to be very good. Right fortunately there was
absolutely zero difference. So the chemical engineers and the people at Firestone did an
incredible job finding a replacement product that did not change the performance of the tire
whatsoever not in a good way or a bad way it is the same tire you would not know that there was a
difference. So that's the big thing that is was potentially going to be different from last year
to this year from our side no big differences just little improvements here and there. I had one
of those test James where we rolled off the truck we went through two test lists. I didn't I didn't
end it on the exact same car that yeah well no I didn't I didn't need to like it was funny like
we were like well what do you need to go faster I was like I just need to do a better job like
there's not cars great don't touch it now I think a lot of people were in that boat because it was
it was very cool once again it was good conditions yeah it was great conditions which I don't know
if you've looked at the long-range forecast for this month but it's no I think we're in for a
pretty nice month it never really seems to get above kind of that 76 77 degree mark which
will keep track temps down and and if that continues all the way to Memorial Day weekend
we're going to be in for a banger of a race regardless of whether or not it goes off on time.
Yeah we don't need exactly a 5 p.m. start to have that sort of reaction so
group running you know it's not you know the open test it's not yeah some people aren't in
their speedway cars maybe you're in your speedway tub but you don't have your gearbox or uprights
or floor or whatever so it's it's hard to know what each team's program is and whatever so it's
hard to look too much into single car pace especially but in group running how did you feel
and did you notice anybody that stood out because I was only there day one so I didn't see
the running on day two but I had some thoughts from day one and I'm curious what you saw from on
the track no I didn't there was nothing that was that interesting it someone asked me this I was
at lunch with them I was our good friend old Stephen Bischoff and he was like what's it going
to be like and I'm like dude it's going to be what it is every single year like the three
pence cars are going to be good ganassi is going to be good there'll be one andretti that's good
there'll be one and a half mclarence that are good we at ECR will be good takuma
and that's that's really your your program like it's not this car as we've said has been around
for seven decades right like I drove I drove Jim Clark's freaking 1963 car and that thing had
some better performance than our current indie car does so like there's no magic rear spring
there's no magic front geo there's no there's not everyone's on the same right yeah like
ultimately there's not there's not going to be some massive change in the order from one year
to the next so I would say the the people that look the absolute best were the two and the 12
but that again that comes as zero surprise so yeah the 12 was on my shortlist as well
he uh he looked pretty racy and you know we know that obviously that team's good that car's good
and he's good on ovals especially so I think we're second last year so yeah and not his way around
right so well if penske light penske yeah yeah yeah diet penske he was in a diet penske yeah yeah
no I think I think that's spot on um no major incidents which is good a few engine issues but
no driver issues which is good I will say the biggest surprise and it was a pleasant
surprise jacob abel I mean I don't think he ran much the first day so how do you because he did the
he did the rop but that I don't think you read much in the all skate in the afternoon yeah
potentially not but like he I mean I know lap times ultimately the speedway don't matter but he
was 17th and you don't you don't finish 17th without having some confidence in the car and having
a car that can do a decent number and and is is in the window right so it doesn't mean that he's
gonna qualify 17th but it means that that car has legitimate speed and like potentially you're not
as a one-off entry for the guy that didn't make the race last year mind you it would not be under
threats he doesn't appear that he would be under threat if there were was bumping right this year
so I mean that's a huge step forward you know who does or would yes yeah not good I don't know
well when you drive the same way that's wrong it's the whole team team
though I mean the one car is slightly better but not the way it's been in
the past but it will be probably yeah but but but it's the whole the other three are all
two not looking great oh three so yeah that's in the bag and then then you have the joy of having
to completely get out of 500 mentality and switch into GP mentality and I kind of want to talk about
that because I'm actually writing an article for my foxports.com driver's eye with James
Cinchcliffe article uh column whatever oh whatever loser I just have to say it what a loser you're
just jealous you wish you could write uh he was your boss for that bro that is true these days
that is very true um but no so you've done you've done you oh yeah dude you're gonna be super
out of a job soon shoot this is gonna be your biggest source of revenue that's that's tragic for
you so glad you upgraded to Beverly Hills I'll be I'll be fine probably we we know you'll be fine
anyway it's fine James so so you you've done the open test it's all it's may now is it's officially
the calendar swapped you've been on the oval you've done two days you're psyched for the 500
blah oh yeah wait no we gotta go back and do a completely different race
still at the speedway so you're excited to be there but for like not the reason you want to be
there how do you find it hard or weird or uncomfortable or whatever to like have to make
that switch and kind of mentally go back to not 500 mode just to then switch back to 500 mode I
don't because it's no different than doing like the phoenix open test right and then going to
Pete like it's yeah but it's not phoenix is an indie no I like this this whole this whole the
part of the magic of this championship is switching between all these different types of tracks that
we go to right so it's pretty straightforward I think for me it's a little unique because Ed
obviously usually calls my races but he can't do that from the 33 even though I asked
they couldn't figure out how to get a little mini iPad in there so you could see what
was going on but so I have a different strategist and someone else knew calling my race I've been
I'm so sorry I can't play with you right now he's standing up at a glass oh he's at the door
yeah so Derek Davidson who um yeah was at RLL for a long time called Tacuma's race winning
Indy 520 is going to be on my car and and calling the race this year so that's a little bit of an
adjustment but other than that I don't mind it I'm just happy that we don't have to travel
anywhere and we're in May for an entire four weeks good point don't have to travel anywhere
and you live in Indianapolis so I do I do like you're not living in like there's a lot of people
that don't have to travel for a month but they're on the road for that whole time correct correct
sorry listener for the noise that has been taking a very close interest very detailed
interest in Alex's microphone okay so I'll mute till I have to edit that out good luck with that pal
in fact I might just do the same thing just to make you out but I'll never edit that out
that's fair um so so then okay so it's GP time heading back to the to the GIP and you've had
yeah I don't you don't like it right you love a relationship with that place because it's just
so indifferent about it like I don't yeah dislike it I just don't like it that much I don't love the
event two-day events on road courses are very challenging you know having two practices and
a qualifying on Friday and then it's just it's tough um I have I have had good success there in
the past um what's annoying about it but also cool is how close qualifying is so like we've
all done so many laps there a lot of teams have a lot of things figured out and that kid is like
going concerned oh yes um hundreds can be the difference between making it into the fast 12
or being like 21st and it's not even like you have to be perfect like you have to nail the lap
and you really only get one shot at it um on the reds because that's just the way the tire oh god
that's just the way the tire works there so um it's probably the biggest challenge I find
from road course qualifying um just because you have to be perfect in order to
to have a decent starting spot there um that being said um we're all fighting for second place
because regardless of who's on pole Palo's gonna win because he's the only guy that can make the
prime uh go as fast as the alternate there and it has less dig so good for him give him the trophy now
yeah today we're talking about how you don't have to earn more when you can save more okay so
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dot com today dsw let us surprise you
yeah he has won the last three may indy gp races so going for four in a row can
an old connect four for mr. polo but like someone that but that's it right especially there he's
just so good on the primary on the on the hard tire and yeah no one else is
i would offer to do some sabotage but i won't be there this weekend i'm i'm stuck out here
i have i got a brother and a couple nephews going to the track though so uh alex bow and
oh and i'll we'll do some sabotage make sure i do want the fans to know on the sabotage note
wow i would never do something to a competitors race car there will be a couple pranks that
return to the bus good because it's been a while it's been too long that's also an upcoming article
on uh on driver's eye which is it's cliff so i'm glad you brought that up um see he's a
fan of the of the column alex jerk um yeah no i think some may shenanigans are well overdue
and um and it's gonna be a good time had by all except the one but that's his problem
so while we had no racing this weekend f1 did and oh sorry before sorry
two things still indy correlated first off after the open test uh there were some quotes from mc
schumacher about running first laps at india or whatever and uh he said something to the effect
of you know it's fine phoenix was more impressive because of the g-force and the perception of the
speed because it's a shorter track or whatever and there's this like this sect of fandom that
just got so offended by this comment to the point where i feel like he he felt forced to
clarify and and post like a follow-up quote the next day praising indy for all the things about
it but just sort of clarifying oh it's just because you know it's a smaller track and you're going
faster but i'm sure once we get to qualifying and and big boost and all that whatever guys it's
okay for a driver to have an opinion about indy that's not the same as yours and at the end of the
day as long as everybody likes portland and and alabama then that's all literally nobody likes
portland but the point is is like this this comment i don't even think portland likes portland nobody
likes portland portland hates portland the the point is is that like this was after his first
day of an open test where like he did rop for most of the day which is driving around at 210 miles
an hour in a car that feels terrible going 210 miles an hour when you get to the end of the month
and you've been through it all and you've been through practice and you've been through qualifying
weekend you've been through carb day and you've been through the race hopefully all 200 laps
there's a chance that the opinion changes right and there's there's more to go off because yeah
driving around by yourself in race downforce in front of no fans i get it that's not the
indy 500 the race is the indy 500 qualifying is the indy 500 there's still a lot of big milestones
he's got to hit but like i just really didn't like the fact that certain fans kind of jumped at him
saying how could you say that about indy it's like that's his opinion and he's allowed to have it and
if he still has it at the end of the month okay and not to group them all together because that's
not fair but i would i would guess that a lot of those people that had that reaction are the same
people that have the reaction that criticize robotic corporate responses and it's like this was
this was someone's heartfelt opinion he wasn't saying anything disrespectful he was just giving his
opinion on what it is and he and in his first interview he actually it wasn't even the second
one and the first one he alluded to the fact that i'm sure once the boost goes up it's going to be
different but he's not wrong like it is not there isn't a huge wow factor and it's unfortunate it
sucks but like modern day indy cars with the boost turned down at high downforce doing two 162s
it's not there isn't much magic about it um so i don't fault him for that opinion the only thing
that i will say is i wish that maybe he was given a little bit more advice um beforehand to kind of
just appease the the traditionalists in the sense that you know there is a lot of history at the track
and to not come across as you've got it figured out because that is one thing that i think all
drivers can agree on is it doesn't matter what your previous track record is or what your success is
that place bites so fast and like i i make a conscious effort honestly every time i leave the
pits it doesn't matter if it's four days into practice in the month of may every time i leave
the pits to like really try and feel what is doing on the first lap to make sure that like i'm not
missing something obvious and i'm too overconfident because it's been fine for the last hundred and
thirty laps so why want to be fine for the hundred and thirty first lap sort of thing
but i think if you have that mindset it's okay to not be completely blown away by it
at least at this point i agree i just wanted to you know back him up on that because i thought
that was weird um i lied two more things you mentioned driving the old car i don't think you
should say what it's for but you said that you got to drive an old car which dude that day
sat in the pictures from that day the level of jealousy that was surging through my veins
out of control so you got to drive clark's
where you're at 63 three or maybe 64 but yeah how how was that i don't have enough adjectives
james um ah dear it was so so cool and i i am i feel so lucky that i somehow got assigned
that car because as much as McLaughlin driving the first winner and all this sort of thing
like is cool it was really cool wait to drive McLaughlin drove the wasp no sorry maybe the
second winner you know something like very very very old um that's point where he he was like
pretty uncomfortable he was like the right from yeah he was like wow um but i got to drive like
that thing is a is a real race car like that thing the the level of engineering and technology
that went into especially that engine and that powertrain um was incredible and i was given
very specific instructions that i have to admit i broke because i was like i don't know that i'm
gonna have this opportunity again and it was pretty incredible to get wheel spin in third gear
in out of four mind you um in a race car that i had no seatbelts and i was in goggles like it
those dudes are such badasses and we are all such little baby coward compared to them like it is
incredible it i like it i did i did a lap and a half and it was probably the coolest lap and a
half i've ever had in a race car so i sound of it they were like how boys man like they are the
it's just unbelievable when you think back when you get that chance i got to drive the
sorry i got to drive the 62 pole sitter car and i think like the first car to qualify with that
uh 150 mile average or something and i think i hit like 90 in that thing no helmet no goggles no
seatbelt yeah because i just i couldn't stop then i was like oh my god if something goes wrong
at this speed at 90 and they're not even racing at 90 i'm like that dude but also like the the
level of like how much power it had like i i went over the self-prescribed red line not
self-prescribed the prescribed red line because i just didn't realize how hard it would pull
like it was unbelievable like i short shifted first to second i was like okay that
that makes sense and then i just was flat in second dude i was like and there's no hard
limiter so i was in the equivalent of like the danger zone instantly and i was like holy
like this is sick and the other thing is that thing held 60 gallons of fuel so not only were
you not in seatbelt which is probably good that you didn't have seatbelts like there was fuel
above your knees like the entire thing was like a 550 pound fuel missile incredible
do it 160 miles an hour incredible incredible yeah with 32 other people on track
yeah insane but that's actually why they for the longest time it's why they didn't have seatbelts
is because they wanted to be tossed away from the car because the car was inevitably going to catch
on fire if you crashed so they just didn't want to be in the fire nuts cowboys unbelievable
like legends i mean obviously obviously the safety and and ever all the advancements over
the years have been amazing the amr safety team it was incredible with indy car but like
there's a little bit of you kind of wish you were just like strapped into a rocket or you just like
because i got zero percent because also there's a big difference as cool as it was and unbelievable
as it was that they were doing 160 mile an hour average it's pretty dope to do a 234 average like
that's pretty awesome 230 is pretty neat fighter jets on the ground is cool yeah so while we're
on the indy car uh frame of mind uh some some stuff came out today the list the files were released
the list was made public which is just i'm so glad they did it that's perfect uh we are of
course talking about you're still muted then can we can we talk about how silly it is that they
released it i mean do you think they released it because they wanted to or because they was like
there was like a pressure to here's i wonder if i don't know i'm not even going to say what i'm
thinking um i i was kind of surprised by some of the names i saw in there not that i fought them
i'm just i was surprised by the names what names surprised you okay so hold on just so we're clear
so this is going back to the long beach thing where the push to pass system was left active
accidentally during the lap 61 restart 12 drivers hit the button at a time when it should not have
been active and they should not have been allowed to use it they are rose and quest polo simpson
seagull ferrucci armstrong vk malucas grojama lachlan foster and ray hall and we have the
amount of time that they spent on push to pass for all that so who on that list surprises you
the 10 and the 60 like they sprayed it so the 60 of rose and quest 18.5 seconds of push to pass on
a lap well he should not have been able to use it alex polo 15.1 so the order i read the names
was the the descending order of amount used yeah um that's a that's a not insignificant amount of
push no that's multiple that's presses on the lap that's not like a boo boo that's not like
the so mcglocklin for example did three seconds like i could see him hitting that and being like
ah that's that's weird and not doing that especially because i'm not gonna fall on that again
especially yeah i don't want to get involved in that bs again um we should mention that the two
car uh not on the list so nope uh that we'll just throw that out there no further comment um
yeah i just i i didn't i guess i guess polo shouldn't surprise me because he doesn't you
don't get to that this point in his success without having like an assassin killer mindset
but he's just such a nice guy and again i'm not saying that he's a less of a nice guy now and i
don't fault him for doing it because had i known i would have probably also done it like this isn't
this isn't saying that they did anything wrong i just i would imagine him to be so cerebral
and not even think to push it because he knows the rulebook in and out well it kind of goes back
to what you guys speculated on when we first talked about this that maybe there's some way
that some teams know when it's active and when it's not and there is it has come out that there is
and it is very likely that communication i would like to download all the stand communication all
the radio transmissions between car and driver to see which of these drivers hit it just out of reflex
and again when you get to rosin quest and polo that amount of time those are more than full pulls
down the street like you are you are hitting it multiple times a lap so you can't use that well
i just hit it once out of reflex and i know it shouldn't have worked but it whatever you knew
it was active at that point even if maybe the first one was a reflex but you're like ah it's
working i might as well keep using it and again fair enough it's not the team's responsibility
the way the rules were written to not use it it was the responsibility of indy car to have it not
active right so there is a big difference there so don't fault any of these drivers
but i found out that you can see on there's a member of the timing stand that can see whether
or not it is active and there's a chance that communications were shared from stand to driver
so what i would want to see is where they hit it on the racetrack because that also gives you a
little bit of an indication but does it does it really matter at this point like i know it doesn't
so here's here's this is just from my own idle curiosity so what what has come from this at the
end um of this whole saga is push to pass is now going to be active at all times during the race
except on the initial lap start and i'm not going to say because i don't want to throw anyone under
the bus um but i have been made aware that the reason that decision came to be was because
there were certain people not teams or drivers let me let me put that quanta qualifier in there
that wanted penalties to be given to those drivers because they broke the rule even though it was
an indycar system failure and my opinion of that is that is insane like that can't be a penalty
for a driver because that is equivalent to um someone crashing and god forbid a corner marshall
forgets to put a yellow flag out and you pass someone in the race while there's a car in a runoff
right and what should be a yellow flag condition and then you having to give that position back
that would never happen that is a failure on an officiating standpoint so what you do in that
instance is not on you so i'm of the mind that none of these guys should be penalized but there
was a big push to penalize those people and so the solution is let's eliminate this whole
conversation and not even have it be a factor which i find to be very strange because we've had
the push to pass system operating this way forever so i don't know what your opinion is on that james
so so we haven't but so look so here's a little bit of history on push to pass um when it first came
out an indy car it was um a number of hits that you were given so you got 10 presses of the button
and it lasted 10 seconds or whatever what what was happening was every once in a while so
understandably on a start or a restart you were hitting the button and you were burning one of
your push to passes what was happening was if you had a way i didn't i didn't know that was before my
time yes this is before your time this is good to know yeah right so this is a good background so
then what happened what was happening was we'd have the odd waved off start or restart but you'd
already hit the button and so now you've burned one of your push to passes and that sucked because
someone else was dicking around at the front you lose a push to pass so that is why we initially
started um this they're not active on the first lap until the all start finish line we then obviously
switched to a system where it was based on time and not a number of hits so in that scenario a
waved off start you would burn two seconds and then you could hit the button and undo it much less
of a penalty um so now we have the opportunity for that still to happen so that's something for
drivers to be aware of but i so so i so this is why they've kind of moved away from it because
it's nowhere near as big a penalty as it used to be when it was number of presses so like
complicate indy cars life by having to monitor this and control it so i get that it also is
going to make drivers have to be like really really smart about when they use it on on restarts
especially like this the star you can't so yeah restarts are you do you think you're far enough
ahead of the guy so i don't know that that's the case i think yet actually you're now
so ot is is such a tool used in the exchanges so i think you're gonna see much less overtake
used on in laps and out laps because you have to previously you would you would take a little
bit of a gamble right if it's coming in for your last sequence and let's say you've got 70 seconds
left and you could burn the house down with ot and use 30 seconds on an exchange right um
you're gonna you're gonna and you'd be okay to live with okay i got 40 40 seconds left for the
last 30 laps right i don't know that you're gonna have that same comfort level knowing that there
could potentially be a restart yellows breed yellows that sort of thing because if you are at
zero on a restart you are host but that's what i'm saying is it it is going to change but i think
i think right but i think on every restart everyone's going to use it because you can't
afford not to it's too big of a of a gain so i don't think you're going to see unless someone
like really screws it up behind you you'll turn it off right but like everyone's going to come to
line on the button right that's that's just going to be a given so i think you're going to see it
just use less in the exchanges which in some ways will probably make the racing potentially
a little bit better um what i'm going to do is i'm going to use under yellow because
i it's just you know you get a lot of tire temp from vertical load so like yeah the faster i
can go in straight like if i can go 11 miles an hour faster than someone the straight using
no t i'm gonna have more tire temp so are you gonna save any in case of a red flag no no not red
flag because like the engine has to be off so that'd be pretty silly but yeah definitely under yellow
i'm gonna that's no one's thinking of that so i'm gonna do it you should use it in pit lane
on the way in so that way you're burning a little bit more fuel i don't know that means you need a
longer that's a longer stop never mind don't do that don't i'm gonna use it on the
limiter in pit lane yes because you don't want to be at 59.7 you want to be at 60 right you know
you know how when everybody like drives by after pillow wins and they like wave at them use it to
get up to him after the checker yes i would say after the checker on your in lap you should do it
i don't i don't know that i'll have enough ot to make up the lap that i'm down to catch him
in order to wave to him anyways guys i have to go this has been fun um you had one point about
miami you wanted i did have one point about miami and i had nothing to do with the race cars guys
we are in the presence of celebrity i i didn't watch calling ferrell's friend
calling ferrell's friend uh the one the one guy terry cruz's friend
james hingecliff uh apparently networks any networks well because on television at a lot of
celebrities usually when the gridwalk happens with martin brundle celebrities hate him when
celebrities see james hingecliff they dance with him they do those shimmies they have secret
handshakes back backpacks nicknames a lot of bro hugs yeah it's pretty incredible i've never
seen anything quite like it so thank you despite your a-class stature now for still joining us on
this pleasantly little he was late he really wanted to remind us i was i was five minutes
five minutes and i got here it's late so anyways james i was one minute that's pretty cool
you're pretty cool well thanks pal it was fun it was a good time
it was a good time to do that i wish i watched it to like actually see if you did a good job but
i got to see you should adapt and you should look you should watch it back because he did a good
job i watched can we can can i can we have a secret handshake we should have a secret we we're way
too good friends to not have a secret handshake maybe smack some butts definitely some butt stuff
gotta include the butt all right go feed your kid or whatever you're supposed to be doing yeah
yeah all right see y'all bye
this has been off track with hinge and rossy off track is part of the serious xm sports podcast
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About this episode
The conversation moves from family and photo-app nostalgia into a deep IndyCar strategy and rules discussion. The hosts talk about baby milestones, featured photos, and why parents care more about the pictures than the child will. From there, they dig into Firestone tire testing, oval pace, qualifying margins, push-to-pass history, and the Long Beach restart controversy. They also touch on modern IndyCar safety, race-control tactics under yellow, and how drivers switch from 500 mentality to GP mentality.
Thim didn't get invited to Ben's Birthday Party, featured photos are exclusively for kid photos and exes, the Indy GP is coming up, Hinch is famous now, and the newest Push to Pass scandal just won't die.
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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.
