Phoenix Preview and Ghosts

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This is Off Track.

Hello, and welcome to the Thursday episode of Off Track with Hinch and Rossy.

This is the fun episode, guys.

We don't have to talk about the bulls*** like racing.

We talk about what the **** like travel and Tim being stupid.

That's fair.

I do like both of those things.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, on that note, we're going to talk some racing previewing Phoenix in a sec.

But Tim, we did not on the Tuesday episode of Recapping St. Pete get a chance to

talk about a particularly interesting St. Pete travel story that you had.

And as this is a travel podcast as fans love to remind us, let's hear it.

Yeah.

This was potentially the dumbest travel story I've ever had.

James, I know you've heard it.

Alex, as you talked on Tuesday, we have not really chatted.

So I got into St. Pete Friday in the middle of a torrential downpour.

And my Uber dropped me off like two blocks from my actual hotel because he got confused.

I walked through the rain, stepped in a huge puddle, completely drenched.

Get to the hotel, check in, looking for a hairdryer because at the very least, I want to dry my

shoes before I go meet people for dinner or do anything like that.

No hairdryer.

But in the...

Yes.

Do you travel with only one pair of shoes?

Yes.

Okay.

So I...

Yes.

Mr. Handcliff.

Do you think maybe you should have more than one pair of shoes in case like one

of them gets wet for some reason?

Well, usually you can just hairdryer, right?

Yeah.

But what if you're like at the track and it's wet all day and then you want to like quick

turn around and go to dinner and you don't have time to hairdry them or, for example,

there's not a hairdryer?

Honestly, never been an issue before.

Why do you wear shoes that you think are appropriate to wear to the racetrack and

also dinner?

You guys have seen how I dress.

You know the answer to that.

He's got a point.

He's got a great point.

So anyway, I go to the bathroom to go get the hairdryer.

There is not a hairdryer in the bathroom.

On the back of the bathroom door, there is a used towel, a polo and some swim trunks.

Were they yours?

They were not.

So I go to the phone to call the front desk to be like, hey, what's going on with this?

Phone doesn't work.

So against my better judgment, I grab like a small handheld and grab the polo and

swim trunks and I take them down to the front desk and I go, hey, these were in my room.

The guy goes, was it otherwise clean?

And I was like, well, I mean, I get like it looked like the bed was made, but clearly

they didn't do a great job cleaning it.

And he says, with a completely straight face, sorry about that.

We've been having problems with ghosts lately.

Incredible.

I respond, I respond.

I'm pretty sure ghosts didn't leave a polo and swim trunks in my room.

He goes, yeah, but it's been bad.

We had this one guy who checked in and we never saw him again.

We checked the data.

He never used the key on his room.

He just checked in and was gone.

And I was like, yeah, that's weird, not ghosts, but admittedly weird.

Somehow I just kind of let it go there because I'm still drenched.

So I said, you know, I still don't have a hairdryer.

Am I frozen for you guys?

Yes.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

I'm frozen on my end, so I'm going to hang on.

We've been having some problems with ghosts lately and now you're not frozen, you're

just not there.

Is he gone?

I think he's gone.

Well, until he comes back, I love this story so far.

What do you even say to somebody that says that to you?

I'm currently speechless and I've had more minutes to think about it, so I don't know.

I feel like that's why I feel like it's such a brilliant response because it's just so,

it's so shocking that you don't even know how to react to it.

So I'm definitely going to use that in the future.

You got to deliver it with a completely straight face though.

Yes.

A lot of conviction is required in your delivery.

What just confuses me about Tim is, you know, Tim can afford to stay in places that doesn't

have ghosts.

Let's just put it that way.

So why is Tim staying in ghosts' places?

In his defense, it did look that bad from the outside.

I don't know how he landed on that particular place.

He looked pretty bad from the inside, a sight, I mean, that picture not included.

It wasn't great, I suppose.

I would also like to just point out that there is a second part to this story that he was

in the midst of telling before he cut out.

I want him to tell it.

I don't want to ruin it for him, but it's a weird, I think maybe the guy behind that

front desk, if the whole place isn't haunted, he himself might just be like some sort

of supernatural thing.

Do you think he's a ghost?

He might be a ghost.

Interesting.

All right.

Well, let's talk about Phoenix.

Let's talk about Phoenix.

That is coming up.

Thank you, IndyCar.

I am pretty excited, James, because do you want to know why you're excited about the test?

I guess this is related to that, but I am excited because during that test, it was

like the coldest Phoenix has ever been.

And so I think everyone was looking at that test is like, yeah, it's great to, you

know, pound some lobs around here and kind of see what's going on, but none of

this is going to apply when we come back here.

And it's super going to apply when we come back here.

So look a little cool.

That's awesome.

And then I'm also super excited to, and we don't really need to talk about it, but

I saw some comments from Pato going into the same Pete weekend where he was like

kind of meh about the doubleheader weekend with Cup and like, why should we be a support

category to them or whatever?

And I think that's a very, that's definitely not the right way to look at it.

No, I don't condone that opinion at all.

Because this is an incredible opportunity really for both championships because people

don't know what they don't know about motorsports.

And so if they were already going to come out for one day to watch their chosen series and

the other series that maybe isn't their chosen series is included in the ticket, they're

going to get introduced to a whole different sport.

And that's going to benefit us, but it's also going to benefit Cup.

And it's just a win-win for everyone.

So I just have been looking forward to this weekend ever since it was announced.

I completely agree.

And I even spoke to Kevin Savry of Green Savry who is the promoter at St. Pete, among other

races that we have.

And he sort of made the comment that, you know, there was, because I made the comment

to him.

I was like, dude, I am seeing a lot of NASCAR fans here.

There's a lot of people that were out here for the truck race.

And he goes, yeah, and the best part is, you know, like obviously they can track

this stuff with ticket data and stuff.

He goes, the best part is almost all of them bought three-day tickets.

So they were going to come and stay for the IndyCar race on Sunday.

So to have the kind of positioning of like, oh, well, we're, you know, we're the support

series.

It's like, well, no, we're going to run on Saturday.

But that makes sense.

NASCAR has a bigger audience than we do.

Like, let's not pretend, sorry, don't do that.

I don't know what you're doing.

Here we go.

Let's not, you know, pretend that that's not a fact.

And let's get ourselves in front of that audience, you know.

The O'Reilly series has a big audience, Cup Sky has a big audience, IndyCar has a big audience.

There is some overlap, but there's definitely a lot of fans that kind of only watch one or

the other.

And maybe this would be a change.

I'm still, I'm still just so curious how the track raises.

And I know that you guys talked about after the test, it being difficult to get the

second lane going.

The hope is that with a proper high line situation, we can get the second lane

going in that, in that practice.

How long we just won't know until we know?

But I think the event's going to be pigeon.

The track looks a lot cooler from the last time we were there.

And are you going to, are you going to stick around for the Cup race?

I'm not, but look, Tim Durham is here with Tim Durham's ghost.

So why don't you continue explaining your story?

You're on mute there, buddy.

I'm working on it.

Can you guys hear me?

Yeah.

I'm on mute right now on my phone.

Yeah.

That was, that was, I told the ghost story and the ghost interacted.

There was a part two.

So then I kind of didn't know what to say after the ghost thing.

So I go, also, like, is there not a hairdryer?

And the guy just opened an unopened Amazon box, like a delivery cardboard box with

a brand new hairdryer in it that he just had within arms reach available on top

of the desk and go, oh, here you go.

He just grabbed the closest box and it happened to have the item that Tim

requested in it.

This guy may have been a ghost himself.

Unclear.

I don't think I'm ever going to stay at this hotel again.

It also had two channels, only one of which was in English.

And the internet didn't work.

So it was great.

How did you arrive on said hotel?

It was the only one that wasn't over $2,000 for the weekend and within

walking distance of the track.

Seems like there was a reason for that.

Yeah, no, I've learned that now.

Now that I know you want to hang out with me on race weekends, I'll just stay on your bus.

I did suggest that at one point and you poo-pooed it, Tim, just saying.

Again, he doesn't need to trade a baby that wakes up all night with a 35-year-old

who snores loudly.

We are going on day 10 of baby sleeping through the night.

Well, in that case, see you in Phoenix, pal.

I'm on the bus.

Are you going to Phoenix?

I am now.

Oh.

Yeah, don't you normally come to Phoenix?

It's a nice, easy drive from LA.

Yes, I got to figure out some things with Hazel and, you know,

got to bring her away.

It's like they're not going to go to the Applebee's.

And good year, Arizona.

Good year, Arizona.

So far, I'm not planning on it, correct?

Well, man, things have changed.

You've changed.

So you're not staying for the cup race.

Is that just because you want to get home?

Yeah, like we literally have another race right after that.

So why would I stay?

That's fair. To see the cup race.

And we have to go to Darlington early

because we've got some things we got to do.

Just kind of cool.

Cannot wait.

I'm they're not preoccupied with the current events of the world.

Yeah, I don't know exactly how that's working.

I feel like they've already delivered their goods.

So they're not like they're not involved in the day to day.

They might need to make more.

We'll see. We'll see if our far visit gets kids

denied or not. Yeah.

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Right. And the best part?

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Accept discover in a little place like this.

I don't think so, Jennifer.

Oh, yeah, huh.

Discover's accepted where I like to shop.

Come on, baby. Get with the times.

Right.

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I think.

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It's also first F1 race of the season.

Is that this weekend?

That is this weekend.

Old Australia.

I can tell you where the second race is not gonna be.

Yeah, that's probably pretty accurate.

Does that mean you don't have to go there?

I never had to go to that one.

My first one on the calendar was Bahrain in April,

so probably potentially also not.

Oh, it's definitely not.

So, yeah, got an extra free weekend this year.

Not terrible.

There we go.

So let's talk quickly about previewing Australia

because we got the time.

I think that the big storylines to watch

besides, well, I don't know if any of them are obvious,

my big storylines to watch are it's Ferrari Back,

which would be just awesome.

Is Aston slash Honda in as big of trouble as they look?

It seems so.

And how does Cadillac F1 do?

Those are the things I wanna see and can't wait to watch.

And I guess 3B is House Colton Hurd is first at two race.

Yeah, that'll be cool.

That'll be cool.

He's already over there.

He got there last week or early this week to prepare,

which will be, this seems to be a lot of people paying attention

to the F2 race, I think.

It sucks that it's in the time zone that it is

because that's gonna hurt our ability

to follow along real time.

But Andretti slash TWG because obviously

with the NASCAR bubble header,

you've got Andretti and Spire

on the NASCAR side, TWG properties.

So they're hosting a viewing party

for the race Saturday night for the Grand Prix.

So I'm gonna go swing by that

because that's gonna be kind of fun.

Watch that race.

And then I will be staying for the Cup race on Sunday.

I'm going to be somewhat involved in the NASCAR guy now.

In 100%.

And gonna be on the broadcast for Fox, which is very cool.

The other thing for me on the Australia side

is just trying to figure out

which power unit figured it out the best, right?

The Mercedes, as far ahead as everybody has said they are,

did Red Bull and Ford actually come up with something clever

and have an ability to do things that the others can't do.

You know, the last time that F1

didn't have a back-to-back champion.

Do you know when that was?

Well, was it not?

Not including Rosberg because he retired.

Okay, so when Hamilton beat Vettel in 2011?

Hamilton did not beat Vettel in 2011.

14?

Sorry, the first time, what I meant was the first time

a driver didn't win like multiple championships in a row

that we had.

Oh, sorry.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, so Rosberg doesn't count.

Jensen Button.

Jensen Button, 2009.

Since then the returning champion

has won at least one more championship.

Does Lando have that?

Is that gonna be an option?

Is that a possibility?

Who knows?

If you were to predict a driver's champion today,

who do you think you'd go with?

If the...

No, not the knowledge.

With what you know today.

Based on the knowledge I have from the internet

and speaking to no one on the inside

pains me to say it, but it's okay.

It has to be, right?

It has to be.

But here's the thing.

If Red Bull have found some trick on deployment

and we've already talked a lot about how this rule set

is going to favor the guys that have

that extra mental capacity, which we know Max does.

Dude, there's a very solid chance

this could be another Max year.

Maybe not like a dominant 2023 kind of Max year,

but like...

Well, I think after last year,

there's no year that potentially isn't a Max year.

I know, yeah.

You'd have to put him in a GP2 car

for it to not be a Max year.

Yeah.

I wonder how Max would do in GP2.

Or sorry, F2.

Very well, he would win every race.

Because he never did it, right?

He went straight from F3 to F1.

Wouldn't need to.

No, I know.

Obviously, he didn't need to.

It worked out all right for him.

Every race.

He would win every race.

Every race.

Like sprint and feature?

No, I'm not talking about bulls***.

Probably first-rate, probably.

But the one where you qualify for

and you start where you qualify,

he'd win every race.

Yeah, I mean, yeah.

He could be on a summit.

Just like Alex Palau would win every indie lights race.

Yeah.

So how do you think Alex Palau is going to do in Phoenix?

Great, because here's the thing.

I'm going to say he's going to win.

What's really upsetting is, you know,

prior to last year, he was like,

well, he's really good on road and street courses,

but we've got his number on the ovals.

I don't think that's true.

Yeah, yeah.

Because he's super won two of those last year.

Probably should have been three.

And at least he was like on pole

for all of them to close the year.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you know, if anything.

So one of his weaknesses was actually street circuits

because he'd only won two of those before last week.

And well, he seemed to figure that one out at least.

So, yeah, yeah.

Road courses, he's got a good handle on.

Street courses, he seems to have figured out.

It's really a good thing that the lawsuit is finished

so he can give all of his attention to his driving.

Yeah, because it really seemed to hamper him.

You know, he really could.

You might just go win 18.

He made that mistake.

He made that mistake in Mid-Ohio.

Well, no, imagine we realized how much it was hampering him

and I was like, oh.

You can you imagine how close he was

to winning more than half the races last year?

He'll do it this year.

No, he won't.

Yeah, he will.

It can't be the same.

Statistically speaking,

there's got to be bad lucks,

yellows that fall poorly.

It's all in the nine car now.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah, we never talked about that.

Well, I just wanted to talk about

how insane this sport is that for a decade,

a decade plus, the nine car has been synonymous

with execution, perfection, overcoming adversity,

winning when you don't have the best car to win,

always being in the fast six

to give yourself a shot, yada, yada, yada.

And while a lot of that may still remain true,

the fact that the nine car in the span of 25 minutes,

well, first of all,

the fact that the nine car crashed in practice is insane.

But in the span of 25 minutes in the race,

they pit, they put the wrong tire on the left rear.

Is that what it was?

That's why he came in for just the left rear.

So then they came in, fixed that.

And then his next pit stop,

he left pit lane without a right rear,

is just fascinating to me

while the sister car can do no wrong.

And was it super exposed to a yellow for that yellow,

actually for a period of time,

but was on the right side of it.

It didn't flip the race for him.

And yes, he was the deserving race winner,

but nothing bad happened to put that in jeopardy.

And it's like the nine cars still,

that's still the car.

And it's like, it's crazy that that stuff is occurring now

because the sport is just,

it's a massive pendulum in all things.

Like that's just how it works.

And it's pretty fascinating.

But so how long does the pendulum hang

before it starts going the other way?

Well, that's not a pendulum, that's just a stick.

Well, just a weighted stick.

Then maybe the stick is stuck.

Well, I mean, look at how long it was on the nine car side,

right?

Right.

So yeah, it could be the next 20 years.

Right.

Cool.

Well, make sure you tune in this weekend

to see how Alex Polo wins.

I was going to say in 20 years,

we'll probably still be doing this.

Oh, God, I hope not.

No, I'm just kidding.

I'd miss you guys if we didn't do this.

But yes, make sure you tune in for,

look, not just any car race,

tune in for the Cup Race on Sunday.

Tune in for the F1 race on Saturday night

or wherever it's going to be,

wherever you are in the world when it plays.

And next week, we will recap some stuff

and interview a person.

And also, sorry that apparently the ghosts followed me home.

Yes, good call.

This has been Offtrack with Hinch and Rossi.

Offtrack is part of the SiriusXM sports podcast network.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more,

please give a five-star rating and leave a review.

Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts.

We are at Ask Offtrack on Twitter and Instagram.

And if you want to follow us on Twitter,

we're at Hinchtown and at Alexander Rossi.

If you want to follow Thim,

though we have no idea why you would,

he's at the Tim Durham on Twitter.

Find us on YouTube and subscribe to our channel

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and by that, we mean Thim.

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Phoenix Preview and Ghosts

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