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Petit Means Little
Petit Means Little
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About this episode
The hosts dive into recent racing experiences, including a challenging endurance race at Road Atlanta with technical issues and a leaking oil tank that impacted performance. They discuss an IndyCar test at IMS Road Course, highlighting timing system problems and the promising debut of Mick Schumacher, who impressed despite data challenges. The conversation also covers driver market moves, including Reus joining JHR and speculation about Kyle Collette's future. Personal anecdotes about jet lag, upcoming races, and humorous gift auction stories add a light touch to the racing-focused discussion.
Topics:
endurance racing challenges
road atlanta race recap
indycar ims road course test
mick schumacher indycar debut
indycar driver market moves
technical issues in racing
race team dynamics
jet lag management
upcoming race events
personal racing stories
We actually talk racing for a change, covering Hinch's ill-fated Petit Le Mans, and Rossi's testing at the IMS Road Course. Plus, we dive into the latest silly season news in IndyCar.
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Ford Mustang
"... what I was doing. It was fun. Good race with the Mustangs. Um, it was fun. Just a good, it was like, why yo..."
Car
BMW G14
"Are you allowed to, um, go into any sort of more depth on what kind of things you were working on? Or is that all G 14 classified top secret? Um, I'm not gonna talk about the stuff the team is working on."
Select text to request an explanation
This is off track. Hello.
Lets hurry this up. I feel like we
were just here. Do places to be
Things. Let's go, things
To, to make happen.
Um, all right, well let's talk.
So Alex, you were on a race trail.
We're just gonna get right into it. We're just gonna go
actually into Hammer racing right off the bat. You
Guys were Yeah.
You both were in race cars.
Wait, what? Yeah. Oh yeah. I forget. We even talked
James then because you were the, So Okay. I was worst.
I love that you for forgot. Yeah, the first one.
I love that you've already forgotten that you were in a race car this weekend, .
Well, well, when he explains to what happened, you'll understand why I wanted to forget it.
No. So, yeah, so pet lama guys, the MTA season came
to a close, uh, congratulations.
That's for Little Lama. Little Lama in French.
Smaller one. Yeah. Pet lema.
Um, and yes, back with the faf, uh, crew for that race.
Always fun getting back behind the wheel, especially with those guys, uh, in our Lambo Huan.
Is it just 'cause it's Canadian or It's a big part of it, yeah.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they're good dudes, right?
But like, oh, of course. But like, just Right.
A lot of race teams are good dudes, but like, they're good dudes from back home.
And then like, it's a nice little, you know, it's like when you get together with your, your people, you sound The same and you wear stupid hats.
Wow. Our hats are fine. I think our hats are normal.
Um, there's maybe a little more plaid, you know, patterns on, on our hat.
Doesn't matter either way. Uh, great group.
Love, love working with them, love driving the car.
Um, you know, but I hadn't been in the car since all, well, we'll get to that.
We'll get to that . It's better sometimes than others.
So, , so we, you know, I haven't driven the car since, um, uh, Sebring in March.
March, yeah. It was a long time ago.
And so we, and I, I went through this last year with, uh, with the McLaren, but it's just a long time.
It's a long time to be outta the race car.
And, you know, my teammates are great.
They kind of walked me through all the buttons again and made sure I knew all the things I needed to know.
Some things had sort of changed and evolved over the year.
Um, but we, you know, went out for the first session and felt like really good, felt nicely up to speed, and had done a little bit of like, sessions on iRacing in whatever the closest thing to that version of the Lambo is.
And it still amazes me how accurate that is, honestly.
Like, it really does help you kind of get out there and feel like you kind of know roughly where to break, get on power, what it's gonna do in certain places.
Anyway, first session went pretty well.
Pace was kind of where we expected it to be.
And then, uh, second session, same kind of thing.
Like I was just, you know, my, my session wasn't the cleanest, but whatever we're kind of just trucking along night practice.
We had a electrical issue, which was a huge bummer because, you know, everybody wanted laps in, in nighttime.
And only one of us got that.
Uh, and it was actually caused by like, the IMSA mandated sensors and boxes and stuff attached to the torque sensor.
So that was kind of an extra kick in the nuts.
'cause like, it wasn't a Lambo issue, it wasn't a team issue, it was actually an IMSA issue, so whatever.
So we lost an hour running there and it's like, all right, that's it.
Like, that's, that's it. That's all the practice you get.
So now it's, that's to qualify.
And then you go into the race. Qualifying works better when
everything that, that was taken apart the night before to fix is put back together properly.
And we had a slight issue. Why?
So it's, it's like a, it's like a, it's like a puzzle, Tim.
And if you have a, a piece that's like not in the right place, the puzzle doesn't look exactly right.
And there was a, uh, a software mishap that meant the car didn't really run in practice, so, or sorry, in qualifying.
So I qualified last. But look, 10 hour race lock can happen,
especially at Road Atlanta.
Fine. So, uh, get in the car second.
Have a couple really good stints just trying to like, keep up with the pack and stayed with the lead group.
And we didn't have the best BOP, so we weren't really making a lot of progress through the field.
But at that phase of the race, it's, you know, stay in touch with the leaders, stay in the lead lap, keep the car clean, whatever.
It felt really good. Actually, it felt like my second stint
there felt like really solid Peca knew what I was doing.
It was fun. Good race with the Mustangs. Um, it was fun.
Just a good, it was like, why you go racing?
I like got outta the car. Like, man, that was good time.
I can't wait to get back in . Well,
so we then had some issues.
We then had some mechanical problems and we had to go behind the wall and we went a bunch of laps down, which sucks.
So we're outta contention now.
But, um, you know, we're still trying to finish the race.
So I get in for the last two hours to finish the thing off and I get in the car.
And the first few lap, it was a, it was a kind of a weird stop.
I don't know if it was like a bit of a short fill or if we were just a bit slow on the driver change, which definitely could have been possible because I didn't do very much driver change practice.
And I just, I left with all my belts loose. Right.
Which Alex, as you know, is not fun. It's not fun.
And so I'm like trying to get all my belts situated and the Hans device is a pain in the ass to get the shoulder belts over and the lap belt, you know, tightening the lap belts was, and you're driving now at night.
So the lap is like, as you know, so sketchy, right?
Tires are cold. It's night's just headlights
flying by everywhere.
And you're trying to like one-handed drive and, and do up your seat belts.
Well, it was taking a minute, it was taking me a second.
'cause like, I'm on the straight and I'm trying to like, literally drive with my knees and get my belt situated and there's prototypes flying by.
And so you're trying to, and so it took me like four laps.
'cause at one point the shoulder belt fell off the Hans.
And I'm just like, I'm not, I'm not gonna crash this thing with my belts not done, right?
We're 20 laps down. Like, what?
We're not, what are we doing here?
So I'm like, I'm taking my time.
So my lap times aren't awesome in those first few laps.
'cause I'm like, I don't wanna crash. And the
car was a little sketchy.
So I was like, okay, I got my belt sorted.
I think I'm good now. And car still wasn't great.
Lap times were still not awesome.
And I was like, man, I'm pushing.
But this thing's like, it's a bad, It's a bad feeling when you're all sorted and everything.
You're like, all right, now it's the time To go.
You go like, yeah, now let's, now let's laid down.
You're like, oh no, . Yeah. I'm like, huh. Hmm.
Like, I was right on the pace the last time I was in this car not that long ago.
And so you start having this like, drivers are so dumb, you start having this like complete like crisis of faith.
And I'm like, oh, I, I just don't know how to drive anymore.
I, I'm done. I'm over it.
And I, uh, or maybe it's just I can't drive at night, which means I'm useless as an endurance racer.
And all these things start going through your head.
And I'm like, I don't know guys.
The car's just not, I don't, I don't talk on the radio much in that car.
And I wasn't saying a lot.
They were kind of probably just sitting on the timing stand looking at my left.
And I was being like, what is this guy doing?
Why did we put him in the car? Yeah.
And, and so at one point I was like, guys, I'm not gonna lie.
Like if there's something we can do with tire pressures, maybe, but like, we are really struggling.
The thing is so loose on entry and so much under zero on exit.
It's like it's trying to kill me in all the right handers and I don't know what's going on.
So we come in for a pit stop and we had a clutch issue, and then we had an ab BS failure and all these things.
And so with about 30 minutes to go in the race, the a BS system, the bed, and you just can't drive those things without that.
And so it was like, okay, we're, we're not, we're not making any progress at this point.
Let's not risk the car. Let's just come in.
And as the team was trying to diagnose the a BS issue, one of the mechanics came up to me and he was like, Hey, I, uh, figured out why the car wasn't, you know, very, it didn't have a lot of grip sliding around a lot.
I was like, oh yeah, why is that? And he brings me around
and shows me the leaking oil tank that is just spewing oil onto the left rear tire.
Why is that? That And so, well,
all the right handers were very loose on entry.
Alex, uh, oil is not a grippy substance.
And so for, yeah, the last hour and 20 minutes or whatever, I was in the car, the thing was just leaking oil and I had oil pressure alarms going off.
The team's like, no, it's fine. Just keep going.
And um, yeah, so we were, we were making our own lives a little bit more difficult.
But you feel a lot better as a driver when you have a, a stint like that.
And then there's like a very clear identifiable reason. Yeah. It's
Way worse when they're like, Looks fine, car's fine.
Yeah. so sad way to end the season.
That was a tough year for the number nine car, um, all season long.
But, uh, they got a new car coming for next year.
Lambos got a new Terio GT three coming out, which is exciting.
Um, so yeah, uh, figuring out what my program is with those guys for next year still, but, um, was, yeah, it was a bummer.
It's always nice to drive. I do miss it.
It makes me wanna do it more every time I do it.
Um, but yeah, schedules are tough.
So anyway, that was my, that was my road Atlanta experience thanks to all those guys.
What's that? Small ma, small ma.
Big thanks to all the faf guys for all the hard work over the year to Canadian Tire and Moto Master and Lithia and Driveway and all the partners and et cetera, et cetera.
Keep going. Yeah, I think, I think CSN collision centers,
if we're gonna be, you know, um, yeah.
So that was my time in a race car, which is always good.
Alex got the opportunity to get back into his Indy car at IMS Road course with a few other people.
So let's talk about your day and then we'll talk about the day in totality.
Hmm. Um, well, James,
have you seen pictures from IMS as of late, like some really cool pictures of like a hole in the track and like Yes.
Different layers of Yes.
Asphalt and original brick and all that sort of thing.
Amazing by the way that, that's super cool.
Super cool. Incredible. Um,
Where are we going with this?
I still don't really know why they're doing that.
Um, I guess it's to try and get rid of the bump in turn two at the speedway, which in a way is interesting, but also like, I hope they don't, 'cause that's kind of what makes it so hard. Um,
Would you say the bump had gotten worse this year?
No. Or in the last No. No.
It's kind of how it's been at all.
Yeah. But I mean, turn two's the hardest for a reason.
Mm-hmm . Um, and it would be a shame if it became not hard
just because it's, it's the challenge of the lap, right?
So, anyways, uh, that I digress.
Um, when they did that, there's a lot of, there's a lot of wiring and such underneath racetracks.
Um, and so they ah, they messed something up, right?
And so there was no Timing and scoring was not Timing and scoring got it in the morning.
And then there was only timing and scoring for the rest of the day on like every either second lap or third lap.
Sometimes every second and third lap, but not your fourth lap.
Got it. But definitely your fifth lap
Super.
The fifth it was the fifth, But then if it wasn't your third lap, then it would come on the fourth lap.
Right. So yeah, it was, it was,
it was kind of weird temperamental.
Um, so, so in, in the morning a lot of cars sat because we only had four sets of tires.
And it wasn't really for timing and scoring per se, it was more for like, we weren't getting lap times on the car, which means you're not getting data That's kind of correct.
Which, so you, yes.
Sorry, let me go ahead. Can I just interject please?
Like if you go to a private test at Yes. Sebring, right?
Sure. Mm-hmm . The team set up their own beacons, right?
And you do your own timing essentially. Yes.
With this problem, obviously with the, you know, you're at a mass, you're at a real track, it has timing and scoring loops mm-hmm .
But if there's an issue mm-hmm .
Can a team not just like chuck up their own beacon and let everybody use that to get going.
So yes, but unclear as to why that was.
Um, there was some resistance to that.
So the way Indy car, so, So that idea was, was floated The way IndyCar open tests work is that they're usually a team rents a track and then they are required to invite all of their teams to come.
And it's up to those invited teams that they wanna come or not.
And they share the cost and all this sort of thing.
But if a team rents a track, they can't just have it exclusively for themselves without offering it to others.
So the team that rented the track, I'm not gonna say who it is 'cause it doesn't matter.
Um, didn't want to go down that road for what, I don't know reason, but that, that was their reason and it was their track.
And, and so that's where we were.
We did get there at some point in the afternoon, um, because it wasn't getting resolved and even them were not able to acquire sufficient lap time and data and information and all that sort of thing.
So that did progress post lunch.
But in the morning that was, that was not not happening.
So in a test like this, um, especially on the ECR side, you know, we were running a lot of extra sensors, not only for us, but for Chevrolet as well.
And you need, you need timelines in order to have complete data sets.
Otherwise the lab is just this long outing and then you're cutting things continuous.
Yeah. It's very hard to overlay and compare.
Oh, like is this really better than what it was in May?
Right. Um, versus what it is now.
So my point is, we, we didn't, no one really did a lot of laps in the morning, which is actually okay because it was like 50 degrees and it was cold <inaudible>.
So, um, it was a pretty slow morning.
Uh, we got out there after lunch.
Um, and the, the conditions improved quite a bit, a lot more representative of, of what they would be in May.
And we were able to get through the entire list of things that we went in with, which is, which is quite an accomplishment.
It's the first time I've ever done that in a test.
'cause you , usually you go in with a list that's so astronomically long that it's like there's no chance to be fair.
It's unreason reasonably long.
It was like two pages and we got through it all, which was, which was pretty cool.
A lot of it was, um, dictated by GM and, and some stuff that we're working on.
Um, and then some, the, the rest of it was, um, we're starting to have new components kind of come online and it's not complete components, but kind of making sure that the, the stuff that is in production and in existence is working as it should and, um, is kind of behaving as, as we'd expect.
So that was really good.
Um, Christian unfortunately had a lot of issues on his car.
He had a clutch problem, he had a brake system problem and only did like 30 laps in the afternoon.
Um, yeah, so he didn't get through a lot, but still as a team we were able to, to get it all done, which was super cool.
Um, the track was, was pretty slow.
Um, even though we obviously you would expect it to be slower than qualifying because you're not on alternate tires and because engines from both sides are turned down and, and that sort of thing, it was still quite a ways off.
Um, and I think that's just a representation of only six cars being on track and it yeah.
Being fall and cold and, and that sort of thing.
So, um, very positive day for us.
We, like I said, we got through everything.
We learned a lot. We actually, um, some of the things
that we thought were really ambitious to, to be working this early, um, they all did.
So that was pretty cool.
Are you allowed Pretty cool to pretty neat.
Pretty pretty neat.
Are you allowed to, um, go into any sort of more depth on what kind of things you were working on?
Or is that all G 14 classified top secret? Um,
I'm not gonna talk about the stuff the team is working on.
Um, from the GM side, I'm saying more on the GM side. Yeah,
Yeah.
We, uh, you know, there, there's no, there's no secret that there's, there's strengths, um, that the Chevy motor has over the Honda and, and vice versa.
And for us, you know, we felt that one of our, our bigger shortcomings in terms of we were having to adjust the car a lot.
Um, and, and honestly I felt this ever since switching manufacture camps, you have to adjust the car a lot more for the, the traction side of things, um, like corner exits and you have to make setup adjustments that like Honda cars aren't thinking about, right?
So you're, you're a little bit more kept in a box on some of the stuff that you can do just because you have to think about, you know, the, the drivability and, and the the power down side of things. So
This is like a pure traction kind of situation.
Yeah. So for people at home, what sort
of setup changes are you having to think of now with a Chevy in the back that maybe you weren't as a Honda? Like, are there,
Chad Gpt is a cool thing.
You can, you can hide that in there if you're really that curious and they'll spit out an answer for you.
Um, but you know, for us we had kind of three tracks to choose from.
It was Laguna, um, it was mid Ohio and it was NDGP laguna's tough this time of year just 'cause it's extra cold.
Um, mid Ohio, we, the, the weather would've been great, but we didn't think there was enough traction events at mid Ohio.
You know, you've got kind of the keyhole turn two, but other than that it's, especially with the repave, it's, it's pretty straightforward.
Whereas NDGP, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of corn slow corners that lead onto to big straits.
And, um, a lot of combined, you know, there's a lot of lateral load in the car as you're trying to get the power down and that sort of thing.
So really taxing the, the rear axle and, and the, the rear of the car.
So we, we felt that even though we were pretty strong at NDGP in terms of like ECR and, and qualifying pace and, and that sort of thing, there was still, of the choices that we had, it was gonna be the most useful for really trying to dial in a street course to, we, we were looking to try and find a way to get as comparable as possible to traction events that you'd have a street course.
Now I know that a permanent road course isn't one that you'd really think of.
Smoothes Rack I would go to Yeah. ,
But it is, it is very demanding on, on the rear tires, right.
Um, in, in those phases.
So that's kind of where we went with it.
And um, yeah, like I said, it was, it was all super positive.
So you were sharing the track with many other cars, most of which were, um, rookies or lights drivers?
All but Christian, well, Christian, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So it was Christian. And then, so we had, uh, Lockie Hughes
who obviously joined us on Tuesday's episode.
Uh, you had Dennis Hauger in the coin car, uh, James Rowe was on track, and then Kyle Collette as well.
Um, what was your kind of take, you know, a lot of, I know a bunch of those guys did some lapse it, I wanna say say it was mid Ohio a few weeks ago.
There was a big test and, and I know Hauger and, and Colette were there. Certainly. I'm
Forgetting Schumacher.
Oh my, well, yeah, we'll we will get to, to Mick. Yeah.
Um, from, from the lights kids, uh, did you like, what'd you think, did you, did you kind of come across any on track?
Were you, were you paying attention to who was doing what?
Did you see anything that stood out, good, bad, or indifferent?
Not to call anybody out, but Yeah.
No, not, not at all.
There was no, there was not a single red flag, um, aside from one of the cars ran outta fuel, so no driver error.
There was no spins.
Um, there was no one that like, wasn't paying attention.
And so like, if you came up on someone and they weren't on a good lap, but, or whatever, like they pulled over.
So no, it felt like you were on track with the normal, the normal guys.
Um, good. I, yeah, I, yeah.
So I don't know what else to say other than they all performed great, All did what they should have.
Yeah. Um, so then, yeah. Okay.
So Mick Schumacher obviously making this big indie card test debut.
Um, you know, we kind of had talked about how it's really best case scenario.
Any guy that comes over from Europe that track seems to suit them.
Well, RLL has historically had really good cars there, but, you know, Mick showed up and based on what I saw, I know the timings timing system wasn't working all day.
So, and you never looked too much into to times at a test, but seemed to get along pretty well. Yeah,
I, it's, it's really hard because the times that I saw published were not the times that accurate.
Yeah. Well, no, I'm not saying that we weren't getting,
we don't have this, there was two sets of times, like, so I, right.
I have honestly no idea.
I do know for sure that, that Dennis was quick all day, um, which shouldn't come as really any surprise.
Um, and it was kind of him and I for, for what I could see for the most of the part, kind of every set of tires kind of going back and, and forth on each other, um, depending on just who ran a set first.
So he was kind of the guy that, um, we were paying most attention to.
Um, and then the other, there were some other weird out, not weird outliers, but like, we didn't see mix time that was published.
But that doesn't mean it didn't exist.
Like, I'm not saying that he didn't do it.
Like we just so very, very hard to say because of the reasons that I just explained.
That being said, um, he looked good on track.
I wouldn't expect him to not be on pace, as you said, like RLL cars are good there.
He's a former F1 driver. He's been racing in prototypes.
Um, so like, yeah, he, he was gonna be fast and, and I didn't expect anything less.
And it seemed that he really enjoyed it.
So, um, one of our very good friends, uh, Brian Simpson, who is also working with RLL on some of their content creation and stuff, um, kind of said that, that he was like happy and smiling all day and, and talked to some of his people.
And, and the feedback was nothing short of like, this is awesome.
And, and you know, really hope that, um, you know, something, something can come together.
And, and, and he said so much, uh, to Marshall Pruitt as well.
So I think this wasn't just a, uh, a press a PR move.
It was a PR stunt. Yeah. By, by Ray Hall.
Um, you know, they were both evaluating each other and Mick was evaluating the team as much as the team was evaluating him.
And it seemed that everyone ended there very happy.
So I don't know, that could be a, a pretty big get for, for the championship if it, if it were to, to happen.
Watch this space. Yeah. Be, uh, it would be interesting.
It was cool to kind of, you know, here's, here's comments afterwards and hear him talk about how, you know, he had, he had talked to a lot of the guys that had come over and everyone that's come over only has good things to say about it.
Right. Like, you never hear stories of someone
that's come over from Europe or come over from Australia or come up from South America, whatever, and get to IndyCar and say, yeah, you know, like, I, I'd rather go back.
You know this. Yeah. It's, it's okay.
It's not like everyone that comes here from like a pure driving, pure racing, pure culture standpoint, it just seems to be the place that kind of makes everybody happy.
Like, not to say it, you can't be happy elsewhere, but like, no, nobody that comes here is disappointed with the, with the, the, You re fall in love with, with racing all over again.
You know, it's Europe and, and European Motorsports and Formula One, and even the highest level of WEC and everything, like, it's, it's awesome.
Like the cars are sick, the events are sick, the tracks are sick, I get it.
Everything else isn't.
And so you come to IndyCar and even though the car's 37 years old, and as Locke said, like, it's not 8 million Pounds, It's not that impressive in terms of like the change of direction and the top speed you get into the car and, and the environment and especially the races.
And you're like, this is, this is awesome.
This is what I fell in love with when I was 10 years old.
Yeah. I'm pumped for, for everyone at, in that group
because it would be, um, it'd be a big thing for the series.
Yeah. And it, and it's just a, a further testament to, to
how much IndyCar is, is growing on people's radars, um, across the pond as well.
And, and that, and one thing that I'll I'll say on that topic is, you know, I saw a quote from Mick, he was asked specifically about the ovals mm-hmm .
And he was like, listen, do I have any experience? No.
Do I have any, do I have reservations about it? Yes.
But I'm not, if, if I were to do this, I wouldn't do something halfway.
Like, if I'm gonna come over here, I'm gonna do a hundred percent.
I'm gonna learn it. I'm gonna figure it out.
And that's also a really cool approach.
'cause I think that that's also a shift that started to happen is, you know, previously there was guys coming over from Europe, you know, in the early 2000 twelves and whatever, that were only gonna do road courses and street courses, right.
And they just flat out refused to ovals.
And, and now it seems that the more and more guys that have come over, it's like, yeah, it's gonna be hard, but yes, I'm gonna do it and, and I wanna compete for the championship.
And, and, and I gotta think that what Rojan did was, was a big part of that, right?
Because when you're, when you're young right, and you haven't had a tremendous amount of success or a tenure career at in Formula One or whatever, it's a lot easier to kind of swallow doing something that maybe you wouldn't do otherwise.
Or you wasn't originally on your radar.
Like, you're young and you want a career in racing and this is an opportunity.
So you're like, yeah, let's, let's go.
When you've had a tenure career in Formula One and your career in Formula One ended on off the back of one of the scariest accidents that we've seen in the last 20 years, maybe more in Formula One with Trojan's, you know, fiery wreck in Bahrain.
His first crack at IndyCar was not to do ovals.
And, and he had earned that, right?
As someone that had been at the top level for 10 years and as someone that had had a bad, um, you know, a bad accident when danger's kind of the, the limiting factor or the concerning factor of going oval racing.
And then he wasn't even done his first year in IndyCar yet, and he was like, nah, chuck me on the oval.
Let's try this thing out. And loved it and now,
And was good at it. Yeah.
He was good at it, continued to do it.
He is trying to come back into the series.
So I think I, I would think, and if I was on the outside looking, if I was in that position, I would look at a guy like Roman who made that decision, made that call and has his opinion, Marcus. Right?
For sure. For sure.
I would say slightly different just because of the, the danger thing and what he had been through.
But, um, I don't think Marcus ever really had a reservation, right?
Like Marcus jumped in full season right away, whereas, you know, 'cause he grew up watching Kenny Brack, you know mm-hmm .
Race IndyCar and win the 500.
And, um, so yeah, I, it's cool to see, and I hope more drivers are, are willing and able to do it and get the opportunity.
Um, some other news in the IndyCar Paddock is, you know, after Reus was announced to not be coming back to Foyt, which was kind of a weird way to announce that, or sorry to coin, um, he has announced he's going to JHR.
Yes. Which is, uh,
which I, I don't know, let's talk about it.
I think it's is a little bit of a, of a surprise.
Um, you know, I think that what Reus and Dale were able to do this past year, you know, we, we, we've talked about it a lot throughout the season, was, was very impressive.
Um, you know, the onboarding of of Michael Cannon and, you know, bringing in someone of Reuss caliber and everything kind of restored Dale coin racing to, to kind of the good old days of like, you know, every once in a while when they get it right, they could be a serious threat.
Um, not only to getting a top 10, but, you know, fighting for a podium, which he proved in Toronto.
Um, he had several fast six appearances and was good kind of on, on a variety of tracks.
Obviously ovals were, were a struggle for them, but nonetheless had a, had a phenomenal year, arguably a better year than he had had in quite some time at, at ECR.
And so, you know, I had talked to him a little bit in Laguna, which is, you know, a little bit past the halfway point in the season.
And he was really happy with the environment and, and everything that he had, obviously he was looking, um, to, to to, in his next deal, you know, make money.
Um, because his all of us know fun to do.
You don't want to do this for free forever.
And you know, for him it was a necessary step in his career to continue racing.
He had to not get paid in 2025, but based on his results and everything that he had done, he for sure was in, um, he had earned the right to, to make money again.
And he wanted to do that. So there was a, a full
expectation and program set up, uh, with him and, and Dale and Todd Alt and, and all these sort of things for 2026.
Um, and there was a livery unveil and supposed to be a driver announcement on the Wednesday, or sorry, the Thursday going into the season finale in Nashville, down on Broadway and all this sort of thing.
And delivery unveil happened, but a driver announcement didn't happen.
And so obviously now we know that's because, um, you know, Readis was looking at other options and all this sort of thing.
I guess my point is, do we see this as a step up?
Um, because, you know, JHR yes, they're on paper, a better funded team.
Um, they've got newer equipment, they probably have more people in terms of numbers of, of staff and the cars are probably prepped a little bit better and, and just because there's more resources available to them.
But in terms of raw OnTrack performance, what do you think, James?
I mean, does this seem like a, a lateral potential?
I don't dunno. It's, look, if we're,
if we're just looking at 20, 25 results as the most recent data available, they do not point to it being a step.
But let's forward, let's, Let's take, let's even go a year back.
Let's go to 2024 when you had Roma who we all know his pedigree and, and what he's accomplished and what he accomplished at DCR before the Andrati stint and, and all that sort of thing.
Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't know,
Like That car was on the podium.
Paolo had that car on the podium.
Um, JHR has only one podium, I believe, and that was Connor's two years Ago in Milwaukee. Yep. So,
Yeah, man, I don't, I'm with you.
I, I'm, I'm a bit surprised. I'm a bit surprised.
And look, if it's, if it's um, if it's to go make a living versus not making a living, you, you can't, you can't fault a guy that, I mean, it's insane.
It's insane to me that there's any seats in indie car that would require a driver to not make a living like it, that just shouldn't exist at this level of the sport.
So if the guy had to pay his bills, I get it.
You most drivers would always take a, the more competitive car over a bit more money.
But if the, if the bit more money is a difference between zero money and paying rent.
Yes. I I understand where the surprise comes in is,
I would be surprised if after his results in 25 that that Dale and, and, and the organization at DCR wasn't able to offer him something of some, you know, substance that would make him wanna stay.
So it's a, it is an interesting move and, um, I haven't seen really any in-depth interviews with reus about it.
Maybe we should have him on the show and ask him this question ourselves.
But, um, it is gonna be interesting to see.
It's gonna be interesting to see how he can help, uh, you know, raise the bar of JHR if, if he can in the same way that they did with, with Dale Coy.
Um, it is gonna be interesting to see who now Dale puts in the other car.
Uh, obviously we know Hagar's there, um, in the one car kind of supported by Andretti Global.
And then the other thing man, like to pivot a little bit off of arena.
So, you know, congrats to reinas on, on the job, but that also means, um, I don't know what exactly that means for Connor.
You know, obviously, I don't know, I don't remember offhand if if Stingray had a multi-year deal.
I, I have a feeling he did. He does. Yeah.
So this is not great news for Connor daily fans.
No, unless you wanna look at it the other way, which is now there's a Dale coin racing seat open that maybe wasn't expected to be open, you know, pre Nashville.
And, um, Connor's run there before.
The team's been very good.
They've got a, a young driver, uh, who doesn't have a ton of oval experience.
They could probably use the help of a veteran, especially a veteran that is one that excels on ovals.
All things that, you know, all boxes at Connor checks.
We have heard a lot of rumors about Rojan being in the running for that seat as well.
So it's, it's kind of getting interesting.
We're running outta seats to fill on the IndyCar grid.
And, and one, one thing, like, I don't wanna break news on this show 'cause that's not what we're about. Um,
Uh, I'm sorry.
We are now a fully fledged news breaking, uh, outlet.
But, um, Kyle Collette did a rookie driver evaluation test, I should say, um, in middle Ohio about three weeks ago.
He, he slash AJ Foyt could not do another driver evaluation day in 2025.
So if you deduce that the only way that he is in the car at the IMS road course test three days ago was if he is no longer in a driver evaluation role, Well the team could just burn a test day.
Right. It doesn't have to be
with their signed contracted driver, it just comes towards their You're Absolutely right.
But if you were a team owner, James, Yes. Oh yes. And you're going to
Burn a test day.
No. Yes. Wouldn't you have the other car there
and your signed driver with Santino Ferucci?
Because that means Santino doesn't get that day.
It's true. That is a good point.
Whereas if you are, let's just say using a rookie day mm-hmm .
Santino couldn't be there anyways. Mm-hmm .
But if you were using a team test day, you certainly would have the other car there.
Now I'm just going based on the rules of the IndyCar rule book, I've not been told anything otherwise.
So you are speculating that Kyle collect based On the rules, Based on the rules, it would make sense.
You are using deductive reasoning to place Kyle Collette who finished second in the India next championship, uh, behind Dennis Hauger at AJ Foy racing in 2026.
Interesting. Just based on the rules, not interesting else.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, uh, that's a, that's a hot take
and I like it because we weren't sure who was gonna fill that car post, uh, post little Dave.
Hmm. Interesting. Very interesting.
On that note, um, of the, the rule professor, um, I must go.
Yeah, get out. Here you go. Do your thing. Okay. Love you.
Thanks for chatting. Love you. Bye.
Say hi to the fam. Uh, wow,
Now you're stuck with me.
What a bombshell to just leave on trying to predict driver market.
Look at the way the sun is coming through my blinds.
I should have closed them more. I look like a st
Probably.
Yeah, look at that. That's a,
It's October.
It is, right? It's, it's, you know,
I'm not gonna say the word, I'm not gonna say that term. Um,
Spooky. Is that what you were gonna say?
Yeah, I was gonna say spooky. See, I'm not gonna say that.
I'm just, I'm, I'm an adult, so I'm not gonna do that All.
So you were, you were in Georgia this weekend.
Uh, I know this, you got a few more things before you get a weekend home.
So what do you got coming up?
So I leave now. So this, you know, I had my,
I had my 32 days on the road, came home for my 18 hours and left for roader, uh, road Atlanta.
I do have to say I am pretty proud of myself for the jet lag management that I pulled off, like Singapore's a 12 hour time difference to the Eastern.
But didn't you say they kind of like keep on European time? In Singapore? Okay.
Yeah, they try to for sure. Um, I wouldn't say it's,
So that's eight.
No, that's what, five or six hours? Six,
Six to seven?
Uh, kind of the way it works out.
Um, which is sometimes even, even weirder amount of time to deal with.
But dude, I, I pulled it off like I felt great.
I went to bed when I wanted to go to bed.
I slept for the seven to eight hours I wanted to sleep and I woke up feeling great the whole time.
I've done Singapore many times and I've normally taken a full week to get over that.
Like midday would have just crazy energy slumps.
And I don't know if it was just like, my brain was like, you can't afford that.
You have to be behind the wheel of a race car and you gotta be paying attention and, and be on your game.
But it was pretty, I I was pretty impressed.
I was pretty impressed. I was
happy, I was happy with that program.
Um, so did that, came home Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, I get it home Wednesday I leave for Austin, Austin Formula One race.
Uh, we then go straight to Mexico City from Austin.
So I'll be on the road for the next couple weeks and then I get a weekend off, and then I have five straight weeks on the road.
So we're there, we're we're almost there.
We're, we're almost there after this, this trip.
It's kind of the home stretch. You get one more break
and then power through the last month basically.
Um, but so for, for Austin, I am this, this thing's moving just slowly further up.
It's gonna be on my face by the end of the show. I
Mean, you could just close it, you could just, You could just take it.
That's, that involves getting up, which I don't wanna interrupt the flow of the show.
Um, okay. So yeah, so Coda this weekend
and for the, for the intro, the opening of the show.
So like, you know, on, on on F1 TV at the start of the show, top of the program after the, or maybe it's, is it in the pre Yeah, it's usually the top of the pre-show.
There's like usually some kind of moody, well shot opening thing and sometimes it's something to do with local culture, whatever.
Um, I don't know the details and I don't know if I'm even allowed to say this, but I'm gonna say it.
Uh, somehow it involves me riding a horse.
I know that when I get to Austin, we're going to a ranch to film something for the open.
So I am a little bit terrified because, uh, large animals scare me because they're not controllable.
I'm, I'm more of a fan of being able to control the things I like.
Multiple horsepower mechanically.
Not a single horsepower biologically, if that makes sense. Okay.
Uh, can you ride a horse?
Like, is that something that you've done in the past?
So, Ooh, yes. I have ridden a horse in the past.
It was by past it, I mean past, it was past, okay.
It was long, long time ago.
And I'm sure it was very controlled by somebody else, which I assume this will be as well.
Um, the good news is if it all goes, you just keep like Doing the same things.
What I mean, now what do you mean?
You've both done F1 stuff, now you're both like horse guys, it's just Let's, well, I'm getting, so Alex just watches his, I'm going to, I'm going ride al one, I'm gonna actually do something.
He didn't really do anything. Okay, that's fair.
Although we both did ride along in one of those, like, I dunno what they're called now, like the little carriage racing ones, you know, like Cher, the little, the little buggy.
Yeah. Like, you know, like they do horse racing, like
A Ben, her style thing.
No, they sit in them, you know. Okay. Come on.
You've seen these. They're, it's like, it's like jockeys
and they have these little carts they to, I don't know what it's called. No.
Should know. It's not been,
One's not seen.
Oh yeah. Alex and I and,
and a couple other guys when we did a race at like the Indiana Downs or whatever.
When did this happen? Couple years ago.
Like, it was a, it was a May, it was a May thing.
And um, yeah, we both, we've both done that.
That was before he got into horse ownership.
But yeah, I'm getting into horse ridership and I'm kind of terrified, but, uh, but yeah, looking forward to that.
Austin is such a great race.
It's like, it's such a great event and Mexico City might be my favorite race to attend 'cause it's just such a cool environment.
Um, it's gonna be a little bit different not having checkout on the grid this year, but I think knowing that he's coming back next year, uh, it'll still be pretty, pretty fire.
I'm happy that this one, this stint doesn't have like crazy time zone changes.
It's like a couple hours tops. So Yeah.
There you go. What are you up to Timbo?
Like what did you get up to last weekend and what are you up to this coming weekend?
Um, my brother and sister-in-law came in town.
It was their kids' fall break.
So we all got to Universal and, and, uh, and my nephews had a sleepover here with Hazel and, uh, beauty, uh, yeah, Hazel broke 20 minutes on her two mile at cross country.
She did a 19 minute, two mile run. Nice.
Um, other than that, yeah, just been So Can Hazel now outrun you?
Probably, probably, I mean that like, that was faster than my pace for the half marathon, but I did did a half marathon. You're
Doing a half marathon? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But I have not run much since then. So
You guys should go run together.
That's the plan. We're gonna start running together.
Okay. Like, but yeah.
Have you planned a haircut?
Yeah, tomorrow. Finally gonna get a
haircut tomorrow. Good.
That's the right call. That's the right move. It's
Been getting, it's been getting aggressive on, on the internet comments.
Yeah. Well, not why on Tuesday show
you had it sitting in such a way that like, you didn't have a forehead.
I mean, it was, It was like that.
It wasn't well, you could see your eyes, but it was like, it was just kind of gently sh uh, shadowing your eyebrows.
Yeah. And uh, yeah, so I'm not, I'm not getting there.
I'm not, I'm not ever gonna sit here and like endorse internet comments or say that the internet is right.
I'm just gonna say I'm happy you've got a haircut planned as a friend.
I think that, um, that's a good move.
I think you're on the right, right strategy there.
So I did, I have one kind of funny story. Uh,
I'll be the judge.
Happy. Yeah, go ahead. There
Was a fundraiser, uh, for my daughter's school on Saturday and they had a silent auction, Uhhuh .
And one of the packages it said like a a thousand dollars spa package, which I took to mean it was a thousand dollars gift certificate to a spa.
And so I was like, yes, Never once how that's worked, but yes, go ahead. Okay.
Well there was some wine involved, so I like, it's like, oh, well then that's just, like, that just makes sense.
If the bidding's under a thousand, I should do that.
My mom's coming out for Thanksgiving.
I thought it would be like a nice gift.
Get her a spa gift certificate.
Eh, I I don't know what the hell to do with this.
I don't know what the hell that is.
I don't either. Okay, so you a you're holding a,
a basket for those listening.
Um, what's in it?
Some brightening facial wash that's, uh, I don't know. I don't know what any of
It is.
And you open it to see if there is a gift certificate or like a I have not.
I have not. I mean, I hope you paid less than a
thousand dollars for that basket. I
Did, but like more than I should have.
Right. You Know
What?
It doesn't matter. You've already got it.
Just give it to your mom. She's gonna love it.
And if she find I'm give give it to girlfriend finds out, I'll give it to the girlfriend. Even
Though you just said you were gonna give it to your mom, but Well, I was Gonna give my mom, mom the gift certificate.
I can't, like, I don't want to give her a bunch of, because she's not gonna bring a checked bag to California for like a few days.
So then I'm giving her like a task to get a bunch of stuff home.
That's not a good gift. Okay.
So that's fair. Yeah.
You thought that through, um, now you just, you go to a spa and get your mom a gift certificate is what you need to do.
Now that that moment has passed.
I'm not having any more wine. Not that good of a sun. So
I, yeah, I'm gonna go back to the, the being a friend thing here and I'm, I'm telling you, you, you should do that.
I'll consider it. Well, I know Joan,
She's gonna mark that.
Oh, we forgot Nashville. Let's get to
that next week and, uh, oh Shoot.
Yeah. Uh, meant to do that. Definitely.
We'll, definitely super.
Think about maybe, potentially possibly considering getting to Nashville next week.
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