Ray Evernham sits down with Corey LaJoie to unpack what made his Hall of Fame crew chief career tick—and how the Penske “unfair advantage” mindset shaped his approach. They compare painful race parallels (fuel missteps, late losses) and debate how modern tech changed car building and driver development. Ray also talks big about the IROC revival/heritage events, IndyCar officiating and safety, Pike’s Peak racing, and why elite drivers stand out through feedback and commitment. The conversation ends with family, autism work, and upcoming Heritage Invitational coverage.
Ray Evernham joins Stacking Pennies to talk IROC, pit crews, Hendrick, elite drivers, Pikes Peak, and the racing memory he’d keep forever. Corey and Skip dig into how Ray helped shape modern racing, what the sport has lost, and why he’s still building new things now.
"Alright friends the wait is now over because we have another Hall of Fame We're back-to-back weeks... Now we have the man that was on top of his pit box for all of that success"
They’re talking about a Hall of Fame, which is an award that recognizes the biggest names in NASCAR. It’s basically a “best of the best” honor for people who helped shape the sport.
“Hall of Fame” here refers to NASCAR’s recognition of major contributors—drivers, crew chiefs, and other key figures—who have had an outsized impact on the sport. Being inducted is a career milestone and usually signals long-term excellence and influence.
"So we had Jeff Gordon sitting in that seat last week Now we have the man that was on top of his pit box for all of that success"
Jeff Gordon is a famous NASCAR driver. They’re mentioning him because he’s part of the same “Hall of Fame” conversation and represents big success in the sport.
Jeff Gordon is a legendary NASCAR driver and a key figure in modern NASCAR history. The episode references him as a recent guest, tying his success to the broader theme of NASCAR’s top talent and leadership.
"I think he's doing a fantastic job over at at Hendrick and you know doing the things that he does keeping people going motivated organized"
“Hendrick” is short for Hendrick Motorsports, a top NASCAR racing team. They’re known for winning a lot and running very organized operations.
“Hendrick” refers to Hendrick Motorsports, one of NASCAR’s most successful and influential teams. Ray Evernham is discussing his view of the organization and how it keeps people motivated and organized.
"But we you know as we get older we disagree. No, that wasn't we did that wasn't darlings and that was Rockingham"
Rockingham is a NASCAR race track. People remember it because races there can be really different from other tracks, and that affects how teams plan and race.
Rockingham refers to Rockingham Speedway, a NASCAR venue in North Carolina that hosted races for decades. It’s often brought up in driver/crew chief conversations because of how specific race weekends and track characteristics can shape strategy and outcomes.
"I was reading the part of it on the plane to Indy when you guys went to Indy and won and you beat Ernie"
“Indy” means the Indianapolis race track. Winning there is a big accomplishment because it’s one of the most famous places in racing.
“Indy” refers to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a major motorsports venue that also hosts NASCAR events (notably the Brickyard 400). Winning at Indy is a big deal because the track is iconic and the race format/conditions can be unforgiving.
"He got a flat on the he got a flat tire, you know with two to go"
A flat tire means the tire suddenly loses air. In a race, that can force the driver to slow down or stop, and it can ruin their chances.
A “flat tire” is a sudden loss of tire pressure, which can force a car to slow down or pit immediately. In NASCAR, a flat with only a couple laps left can completely change track position and strategy.
"everybody says well What do you think? Well, you know that when we ran the car out of gas when we say we I mean me ran the car out of gas at"
They’re talking about not having enough fuel to finish. In racing, teams sometimes try to stretch fuel, but if the race goes differently than expected, they can run out.
“Running out of gas” is a fuel-management failure where the car doesn’t have enough fuel to finish the race. NASCAR teams sometimes gamble on fuel strategy, but if the timing of cautions/restarts doesn’t go their way, they can end up short.
"when we ran the car out of gas when we say we I mean me ran the car out of gas at Charlotte, I mean 100 grand right or 200 grand."
Charlotte is a major NASCAR track. Late-race strategy there—like fuel and restarts—can make or break a finish.
“Charlotte” refers to NASCAR’s Charlotte Motor Speedway (in Concord, North Carolina). It’s a high-speed, high-demand track where fuel windows, caution timing, and restart execution can swing the outcome late in the race.
"and we had it down and they call back a restart which they never did and they caught us and we missed by one lap"
A restart is when the race resumes after a caution. The order of cars and how fast they get going again can decide who wins, especially late.
A “restart” is the restart of racing after a caution period, where cars line up and accelerate back to racing speed. NASCAR restarts are critical because they affect track position, timing, and—when fuel is tight—whether a team can make it to the finish.
"they call back a restart which they never did and they caught us and we missed by one lap"
“Missed by one lap” means they didn’t complete the full race distance. It’s a sign that the outcome was extremely close, but something late prevented them from finishing.
“Missed by one lap” means the car finished but was short of the required distance by a single lap, often due to fuel, mechanical issues, or race timing. In NASCAR storytelling, it highlights how razor-thin the margin can be when teams gamble on strategy.
"Obviously you've had way more success but working for Penske and now Moving down here..."
Penske is a big racing team organization. When someone says they’re working for Penske, it usually means they’re part of a very well-run, high-level racing operation.
Penske is a major motorsports organization associated with Roger Penske, with teams competing across multiple racing series. In NASCAR and IndyCar, Penske teams are known for strong engineering, disciplined pit strategy, and high-performance race operations.
"Okay, the nose gets down makes better downforce
[614.1s] What was like what was the timing of some of those introductions like ooh that was better ooh that was better"
Downforce is the “push down” from the air that helps the tires grip the road. More downforce usually means the car can go around corners faster because it sticks better.
Downforce is the downward aerodynamic force that increases tire grip, helping a race car stay planted in corners. Teams tune bodywork and aero elements to generate more downforce without losing too much speed.
"Marcus Smith said man I love what goes on out at Pebble Beach and Monterey"
Pebble Beach and Monterey are big car events where people show off classic cars and also do track-related activities. It’s a major “car culture” week.
Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Monterey Car Week are major annual events centered on classic and collector cars. The speaker uses them as a model for combining vintage cars, track time, and car culture.
“Car week” is the big week of car events around Monterey. It includes shows and track activities all in one stretch.
“Car week” refers to the multi-day Monterey Car Week schedule, which mixes concours events, auctions, and track activities. The transcript ties the historic race to that broader calendar.
"...Dario Franckini, Jensen Button you know we had all these people"
Jenson Button is a top-level former Formula 1 champion. If he’s showing up, it means the event is attracting people from around the world.
Jenson Button is a former Formula 1 World Champion (McLaren-era). His presence indicates the historic racing event has international appeal beyond just American series.
"A trophy you you put up a trophy. I mean it doesn't matter purse or whatever them guys are going for the trophy"
A purse is the prize money for the race. Higher finish usually means more money, but some events are also about trophies and bragging rights.
In motorsports, a purse is the total prize money awarded to drivers based on finishing position. When people say “purse or whatever,” they’re talking about the financial stakes versus the trophy/recognition.
"I remember you telling me a story about a test day"
A test day is when racers go out to try things and learn how the car behaves. It’s like practice, but focused on setup and feedback.
A test day is an organized session where teams or drivers run to evaluate setup, tires, and car behavior without the pressure of race competition. Stories from test days often highlight how drivers manage pace, traffic, and mechanical limits.
"there was like a car service out front like they would valet you drop it off. They drop valet it"
Valet parking is when someone else parks your car for you. The story mentions it because the car was being moved around by a service before the speaker tried to leave.
Valet parking is when an attendant parks your car for you, often using a separate driver. It’s relevant here because the speaker’s car was handled by a valet service, setting up the situation where they had to maneuver out.
"and when the car they had Joey drive
[1204.4s] They didn't even change still had, you know, two old Monroe shocks per wheel and stuff like that"
Monroe makes shock absorbers, which help control how the car moves over bumps. Mentioning them “per wheel” is a way of saying the suspension parts were still basically stock.
Monroe is a well-known shock absorber brand. The speaker is emphasizing that the car still had “old Monroe shocks per wheel,” highlighting how little the suspension was changed for racing.
"I work with Ronan Morgan from the FIA and Raj Nair"
The FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the global governing body for many motorsports. In this context, the speaker mentions working with FIA leadership to help oversee officiating and ensure rules are applied properly.
"Ronan Morgan from the FIA and Raj Nair ... used to be at Ford now"
Ford is a major global automaker with a long history in motorsport and engineering. Mentioning Raj Nair “used to be at Ford” emphasizes that the officiating oversight team includes leadership with automotive-industry experience, not just racing backgrounds.
Company
Tom Fulery
"make sure that there's nothing Nothing going on no Tom Fulery and which is different for me because it's you were trying to find the thought"
The speaker names someone as part of a point about avoiding problems with officiating. The exact meaning depends on who Tom Fulery is in this context.
“Tom Fulery” is likely a person referenced as an example of something the speaker is trying to avoid or distinguish from. Without more context, it’s unclear who this refers to, but it appears tied to concerns about improper conduct or conflicts.
"[1598.5s] Then, you know, mr. Penske's got a word about hey
[1602.1s] They look out of a bigger windshield
[1603.6s] But the their feedback is at a different level and they're committed sat next to Scott McLaughlin on the plane"
Feedback is what a driver tells the team about how the car feels and behaves. Good feedback helps engineers change the setup so the car works better next time.
In racing, “feedback” is the detailed information drivers communicate about how the car responds—grip, balance, braking behavior, and traction. Teams use that input to adjust setup and improve performance, which the transcript contrasts with just having “reflexes.”
"[1602.1s] They look out of a bigger windshield
[1603.6s] But the their feedback is at a different level and they're committed sat next to Scott McLaughlin on the plane
[1609.8s] Come home last night and he did nothing but work on his post-race report"
Scott McLaughlin is a top-level race driver. The story is basically: he’s so focused that after a race he spends time doing detailed work on his report.
Scott McLaughlin is a high-profile professional race driver who competes in top international series, including IndyCar. The transcript mentions him to emphasize the seriousness of driver preparation and the amount of work that goes into post-race analysis.
"[1603.6s] But the their feedback is at a different level and they're committed sat next to Scott McLaughlin on the plane
[1609.8s] Come home last night and he did nothing but work on his post-race report that looked like a legal"
A post-race report is the structured feedback a driver gives after a race, covering what worked, what didn’t, and how the car behaved. It’s used by engineers to plan setup changes for the next event and to refine strategy.
"first time I worked with rusty was at Daytona Iraq car and
You know we were screwing around with steering boxes"
Daytona is a famous NASCAR track. The point is that Corey and Rusty were testing setup changes at a track where small differences can really show up.
Daytona refers to Daytona International Speedway, one of NASCAR’s most important superspeedway venues. Setup and feedback at Daytona are especially sensitive because high speeds amplify small handling or alignment differences.
"...and that day I was at Talladega that day. I was pitting for Dave Marcus."
Talladega is a famous NASCAR track where cars run extremely fast. Because the racing is so close and fast, pit stops and strategy matter a lot.
Talladega Superspeedway is a NASCAR oval known for very high speeds and pack racing. Pit strategy, drafting, and rules around restrictor-plate-era setups heavily influence race outcomes there.
"...the piece of the headlight got knocked out somehow and that's car made him come in under green and pit. And they had to tape it up and went out..."
“Taping it up” is a quick fix to keep something from falling apart. It’s a temporary repair so the car can keep running.
“Taping it up” refers to quick, temporary repairs—often to bodywork or lighting—so the car can continue racing. In NASCAR, teams may use tape and other trackside fixes to get through a lap or two until a proper repair can be made.
"...that that pit crew deal... Like there needs to be something special in the Hall of Fame for those pit crew members because there's been some great..."
The pit crew is the group that works on the car during a quick stop in the race. Their job is to change tires and do other work as fast as possible so the car loses as little time as possible.
A pit crew is the team responsible for fast service during a race stop—typically tire changes and refueling (depending on era/series). Their coordination and practice can directly affect race outcomes by minimizing time lost in the pits.
"So it's really just wings pods, you know, there's differences on"
Wings on race cars aren’t just for looks—they help the car stay planted. Changing them can change how the car handles in corners.
In open-wheel racing, wings are aerodynamic devices that generate downforce and stability. Teams adjust wing size and placement to balance grip, drag, and handling for different tracks.
Term
diff users
"they've got a pretty restricted height on on their diff users and things like that"
I’m not fully sure what “diff users” means here because the wording is unclear. It sounds like they’re talking about a regulated part near the rear of the car that affects aerodynamics.
“Diff users” sounds like a transcription of a racing component related to the differential area or airflow/geometry around it, but the exact term isn’t clear from the transcript. In IndyCar-style aero discussions, it likely refers to a regulated aerodynamic element near the rear/differential zone.
"...then you got to put fencing and you got to keep the crowd separate"
Fencing is the barriers that keep spectators away from the cars. On street races, it’s especially important because the track is in public areas.
Fencing is used to separate spectators from the racing surface and to create safe zones around barriers. In street racing, fencing is a major part of the safety plan because the track is built on public roads.
"...we decided Now we're gonna cut it up make street stock out of it. So we took the saw saw and cut the roof off"
Cutting the roof off is a big modification that changes the car’s shape and weight. In racing, it usually means you’re building something more stripped-down, but you have to make it safe and strong.
Cutting the roof off turns a car into a more open, lightweight configuration—often associated with making a car fit a specific racing style or class rules. In practice, it also changes structural rigidity, so safety and reinforcement become critical.
"So since then I have been working on building a carbon fiber shop solely because of you. So I've got a carbon fiber shop set up."
Carbon fiber is a material used to make car parts that are both light and strong. It’s not something you just “bolt on”—it usually needs careful building and handling.
Carbon fiber is a strong, lightweight composite material made from carbon strands bonded with resin. It’s popular in motorsport and performance applications because it can reduce weight while maintaining stiffness, though it requires specialized fabrication and safety practices.
Select text to request an explanation
Hey friends, welcome to stacking pennies awesome episode last week appreciate all of the comments on that
That was a fun one talking to one of the greats and one of the greats behind him on
the box
With the rainbow warriors Ray Evernham join us in studio today. I'm excited about this one as well
He's got his hands still in a lot of stuff
We're gonna talk about all things 2014 dodge
What else I rock series now? He's
Let's see if we kind of goods we can get out of Ray Evernham and his successful Hall of Fame career all sorts of different stuff
Motorsports show coming right up. So this is stacking pennies. Let's go
Stagging deep selling cheap. I taste like gasoline rubber and victory. Where's that your stack?
Alright friends the wait is now over because we have another Hall of Fame
We're back-to-back weeks. Look at us go buddy. Holy cow. So we had Jeff Gordon sitting in that seat last week
Now we have the man that was on top of his pit box for all of that success among many other things
Please help me welcome Ray Evernham
I get to get the golf clap and everything
Yeah, that's cool that Jeff was on because we all know that that you know, I wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame without him
So cool. We're still he's still like my little brother. So it
As soon as I heard he was on the show, I had to be on it
I know, you know, all your people reached out to our people now. Here we are
You said you were getting lunch with him this week. What is like a conversation now?
You know decades after all the success like what you said you he's like your little brother
Like what do you guys talk about talk about the things that he's doing and he's doing
I think he's doing a fantastic job over at at Hendrick and you know doing the things that he does keeping people going motivated organized
So we talk a little bit about business and you know talk about family, you know
Obviously his kids are growing up and and becoming, you know, quite quite great little athletes themselves
We talk about our you know our playing with the vintage cars and what not sometimes we try and talk about the old races that we ran
But we you know as we get older we disagree. No, that wasn't we did that wasn't darlings and that was Rockingham
No, no, no that we did that at Atlanta, you know, so it's funny
It's funny how sometimes we we remember an event. We just can't figure out where we did it
It's funny you say that because like I was reading your book trophies trophies and scars and
Loved it and I like you caught me right at the beginning because you called we're both from the same part of Jersey
But you use the term clam diggers. Yeah, which no one which no one really knows but is that an insult
No, it's like it's not us because we are it's like, you know, but people call rednecks whatever
You know, it's like, you know, if you if you are redneck and you understand it
It doesn't bother you because it's a bad John or so. Well, it's a blue collar
Working area the Jersey Shore that's it's north of the weirdos in the 609 area. We're really cool guys up there north of that
I thought weirdos were more more north
But you were talking about and speaking of that you were talking about and I was reading this it was like surreal
I was reading the part of it on the plane to Indy when you guys went to Indy and won and you beat Ernie
Was it Ernie Irvin in the 28?
He got a flat on the he got a flat tire, you know with two to go
I think yeah, our car chief Raymond Fox. Yeah was the car chief of the 28
And I said I brought it up to me because he was still pissed off about it. They got a flat
Well, is there races that you come up that you guys are still pissed off about I don't know
You'd have to ask Jeff but I can tell you you know, everybody says well
What do you think? Well, you know that when we ran the car out of gas when we say we I mean me ran the car out of gas at
Charlotte, I mean 100 grand right or 200 grand. I think it was that time. We were one lap shit
We were playing that game man. We were gonna be so light
We were man, and we were gonna be empty and we had it down and they call back a restart
Remember rusty jump to restart and they call back a restart which they never did and they caught us and we missed by one lap
And that was that was embarrassing, but that was on me. You know, it was definitely on me
So the parallel to that day we
Were in position to win the race with the 12
Brad keselowski ran at a fuel come back to green pulled off Kyle Larson rolled up a row and beat us and then we were at
The pit box at the start finish line had to watch those guys celebrate
It was so I felt bad for Raymond again and myself
But you know we in that book it was shocking to me just a lot of the parallels
Obviously you've had way more success but working for Penske and now
Moving down here and then all the guys you're around in Jersey with Jamie to Mano and and all that stuff
But I rock man
I rock was always near and dear to my heart because I grew up burning the concrete with Uncle Nat
You know Ronnie Kramer who worked there forever alongside of you and we were always super interested in your career, but
What Jason no rebuilt there with Roger?
I'm sure that's why you're doing this today with the with the heritage and I rock and everything you got going on
Well, you know sometimes in your life you get with somebody who has a
Big influence on you and you don't even realize that at the time because you don't know how much you don't know and then you're learning and you think
But that's just the way normal life is and then you get in another situation
And you excel because you think everybody else knows those things and then you realize you've been taught these things by somebody special and
You know, I do again with my new position with any car see mr. Penske a lot
But going back then I had to make a decision
Was I gonna make it a modified racing or whatever so I took that job at Iraq
And I'm gonna convince Roger Penske to let me drive his Indy car once he sees me drive, you know with home run
You know me mirrors solve it. Yeah, it's gonna be teammates. It's gonna be good
What I didn't realize is that I didn't have the talent to do that, but
But I did have some talent that J. Signori brought out, you know as far as
management and time and and and
Managing man hours and putting cars together in process and start to really understand that unfair advantage that the the Penske
Organization talks about so much and J. Signori
Who his background J was a really good race driver didn't have a lot of money was Mark Donnie's best friend took care of Mark
Donnie's cars Mark said to Roger. Hey, I got this guy. I real we need to hire him and
But J's footprint not just an Indy car racing with the people he trained
but if you look at his tree of the people he trained that have come down and
From from the north and been part of of NASCAR and people that I took what J. Taught me and taught to them
The championships and whatnot people go, well Bray Evernham's trails like yeah
No, I'm just a branch on J. Signori's tree his footprint on teaching crew chiefs and mechanics and things like that's pretty pretty amazing
I love that analogy of a tree because
Cal Petty at the at the previous Hall of Fame dinner. I'm sure that you went there. They were inducted in
Was it Robert Yates? It was there's four or five guys and
Cal Petty drew the thread that more or less connected all of these guys for decades on the sport
Talk about J. Signori and you're a branch off his tree. Now. You got Chad can now
This was a branch off your limb, right? If we just kept a scrap late in this out
We talked about Alan Gustafson that big win yesterday with chase Elliott. Did he have any involvement with you?
No, actually after Allen was was part of the the Hendrick deal some of the systems that we took over there that kept you know
Improved, you know, he was on the five car
But you know Alan's very engineering based and and and some of the systems that we put in place
You remember a lot when I started the the 2014 for Mr. Hendrick
We brought down six or seven of my I rock guys, you know guys like Michael Landis who was our parts guy and
Manager it, you know
several of the guys
Steve bird Ergy satch, you know the couple of crazy fabricators, right like a college head football coach
You're bringing your DC your offense coordinator all the people. Yeah, and that they knew the system
So they helped the other guys do the systems
But you know Eddie Naraki who was one of the bodymen and mechanics and Dan Stone metson
So there were you know again
There was a half a dozen solid I rock guys that knew those systems that helped start to 2014
So I rocks always been special because it was in Tintin Falls, New Jersey
I grew up in Manusquon where you had a cup shop even there
But that's a whole nother conversation with Dick Johnson Australian driving your car
But I always felt that and I'm it's hard to
Britheson the words but like even when you look at like Carl Thomas and a lot of the guys that worked at
I rock they would build race cars and go race at wall stadium and the race cars at wall stadium when I was growing up
Or some of the most beautiful race cars think about Dick Barney's car and and I felt like the guys from I rock
Rick high tide raised all ships and then since I rock had shut down
I seen not saying any of these cars there aren't nice like Jimmy blew it and
We had those guys that always have had nice race cars, but they've lost a little bit of that rate race car
Building knowledge because of the hub that was there. It would trickle down. Did you ever feel that way?
You know the hard part about all that is who really gets to build their cars anymore, right?
Yeah, you know you have to buy a lot of stuff
There's rules to suspect this spec that you know and it's just it's evolution
But you know probably still some good systems
I think it it raised you know the way people prepare their cars with real race check sheets and check their mileage is and things cars
Cars are breaking down less probably guys are crashing a little bit
crashing a little bit less, but it's
You know who we kid around a lot of us guys that race hard in the 80s and 90s
You know we say we we saw the best of it right because we could we could we had access to some new technology and you know a
decent amount of money the value of your dollar got you a decent place and in
Racing and we could still build our cars
We could still use our ingenuity and that's it's tough right now
You know a lot of these guys are racing
Computers and simulations and stuff that's already figured out for them
So I don't know that I enjoy that what were some of those advancements right you come down early 90s, and it was still a
1400 left front spring and a 3,000 right front spring as you start to learn
Okay, the nose gets down makes better downforce
What was like what was the timing of some of those introductions like ooh that was better ooh that was better
The tools that were developing about the same time we were doing that remember we were taking measures and strings right
But then all of a sudden it became lasers and it became CNC machines
And we were able to take some theory and test it because you could find those smaller things and then
People were hiring engineers
Well the 2014 was one of the first teams to have a full-time engineer and then they understood and I will tell you that
Rick Hendrick has always been a visionary, but he was open to suggestions. There were other people
You know that they're at at the time that
Really didn't understand the value of engineering or computers or or shock dinos versus the money that they cost
So almost got fired a couple times going straight to mr. H
But uh, you know you would explain to Rick and Rick would invest the money, you know, he could see that
Okay, and he could see the engineering and he went out
early in the 90s and and brought in guys like Steve Leavitt, you know
Gary Aker
Rick Stump, you know guys would with engineering backgrounds that just thought about the cars a little bit differently
And our cars just started to get really good you from the time that I went there
I think the first car we built took like 50 pounds of ballast by the time I left Jeff Gordon's cars had almost
400 pounds of ballast and yeesh and that CG was dragging the ground. Yeah clearly
so
Shifting gears from mass car because you mentioned before you fired this thing up
You are the busiest retired guy that you know. Yeah, yeah, because you're you're in the middle of this I rock revival
So talk to us a bit about that in addition to what you're doing on the Indy car side as well. I love
old cars, I love history and
Still do a lot of different things
For Marcus Smith and the folks over the SMI so they're awesome
Something different they finally built a kind of a gentleman's racetrack across the street from Charlotte Motor Speedway
Rick Hendrick is involved in partners in that and Marcus Smith said man
I love what goes on out at Pebble Beach and Monterey
They've got the vintage cars on track and you know
Then you've got the Concord and this kind of a car week and that was his vision
Oh, probably four years ago
So we started started playing with so help them put together a thing called it
You know the the Smith Hendrick heritage now
That will be held it at 10 tenths last year we did the Trans Am
Historic Trans Am which is really cool watching the Camarals and Mustangs banging around there and this year
You know Rob Kaufman and I bought back. Oh two three years ago the rights to the I rock series
And we found we've located about 85 cars worldwide legitimate real I rock cars really and
Last year we debuted an I rock historic I rock race at Laguna Seca out there for for car week
I had about 21 different car shows up, but we had
Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch
Mark Martin, Bob LaBona, Dario Franckini, Jensen Button
You know we had all these people to Scott Pruitt all these people signed up
Hey, we want to come play with you guys
You know so we've got all of these former I rock guys and stars lined up and now we're going to do it here
For the Harish we're gonna have another you know, I keep calling it, you know, I rock
You know exhibition and whatever but they run the piss
All cars, you know
A trophy you you put up a trophy. I mean it doesn't matter purse or whatever them guys are going for the trophy
This Kurt have his own. Oh, yeah, I heard I heard grumbling already of people like Kurt's cars way too fast
Yeah, I told them I have a if you don't slow down. I have a carburetor for you
Yeah, I got I got a little I got a little plates about my lawnmower, you know
Yeah, but he's um those guys they come they have a lot of fun
And it's more about the camaraderie at at Laguna Sega our tent was just full of people with
With stories and whatnot and it's a mix of um
You know people who have an I rock car and they want to come and and run with the with the pros and and we have a blast
So it we're excited about being able to do that at 10 tense
I remember you telling me a story about a test day
You don't have to get in this story
But it's gonna lead into my next point of rusty Wallace driving your old DA car from Flemington
And he went out where your motor mile motor mile and he you're like yo, yo, yo slow down
This is a vintage car. Yeah, I do you have to deal with that with some of these guys when they come back like I'm like Jeff
It's talking about how fast Mark Martin is all the time. Do you got to be like, yo take it easy boys?
Well, I try and talk to all of them about that, but yeah, some of them, you know
And and and Jeff is good at being under control Mark Kenny, you know, but there's there's some of those guys like I'm gonna tell you
Jensen Button
He was I mean
He was on that thing and and I knew the car he was driving obviously. There's there's
Some of the cars are older. Yeah, some of the cars aren't as they're having grease that ball 32 years man. Let's man
He was quick Dario Franckini really quick
But there's a difference between quick and reckless and quick and careful, right?
So but that they enjoy it and to let them enjoy it you got to let them run it
So, you know, our deal is okay. Look you run hard run hard, you know, hit one another, right?
And don't stink up the show, right?
Same thing we yeah, make it make it look good, you know run hard
So they're gonna have some practice over there and then we'll have some qualifying and let them run hard and and in the show
They'll figure it out themselves. But you know, if you have contact, you just don't get invited back and there's really no
There's no spectators, right? This is more like a social play social media
We have a place for spectators in the clubhouse
So it's gonna be kind of an open pit area except for one on track
And we're also gonna have the historic vintage Indy cars, which pretty incredible. There's there's some unbelievable Indy cars coming
I mean things championship winning Mario Andretti's championship winning car the Bronner Hawk from
1965, you know for cars
Race skillman owns it. And so I don't know if they're gonna put that out
You know just for display or if they're gonna run it around the racetrack, but they will
You'll see Indy cars from the 40s 50s on up through the 80s as a display running around and then there'll be you know
our Iraq practices and qualifying so Fridays all day on track and
You will have an Iraq feature event, but we're gonna have you know have some fun
We're gonna have driver intros and all that stuff like it used to be and and they really do a good job promoting over at
SMI and then into Friday night
We do a charity program where several of the Iraq drivers and you know, we've got guys like Tommy Kendall and Scott Pruitt
Tom G. C. Boris Boris said we do a I was probably
16 I don't even know if I was 16. I had I just got my permit my driver's permit
So you had to drive with like, you know a family member
so there was a party at Larry max house, I'm not sure what the occasion was and
It was it was you know outside catering ten outside like it was like a full-blown party
So we go to this right and dad knows that he's got a driver. So he's got you know, he's had a couple
He's having a good time
So we go to leave and there was like a car service out front like they would valet you drop it off. They drop valet it
So they valet our car, you know, dad tossed me the keys art son up to you now
So there was somebody in front of me
So we're loaded up ready to go this guy's chatting it up tipping the valet or whatever
I'm like, oh my god, let me just back up. So I look in the mirror nothing put in reverse back it up
I go shit put it in park Tommy Kendall had some Corvette that might have been this tall
I put the trailer hitch of the escalator right through his hood
And that was it. I'm like, oh, no, I drove dude. I drove home like this like oh shit
That's gonna be expensive. I thought you hit the chicken car
No, it was something he wasn't as mad as I anticipated him
So I'm sure that it wasn't you know deep one of them judging by the sound of this party
Yeah, it might have been I haven't seen Tommy since then he's probably you're the back into my car
So, yeah, sorry to cut you off. You see him. You'll see him. You'll see him Friday and Saturday
Okay, is it this coming weekend next week? No, it's it's next weekend. It's the the 10th and 11th. Okay. Oh, we can be there
Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, what you said you found 85 cars
so located 85 of them worldwide and
Some of them are our track ready some of them are in collections
And we're just trying to get people to bring them out to run in our series when we when we hold a true Iraq event
It has to be a true Iraq car. There's probably some other series
You know that if we run some more of these things we may let people do replicas
But there'll be some rules around it, but it's really about celebrating what Iraq was how big it
You know had a huge influence on motorsports if you think about the motorsports in America
Maybe the world, you know, like what they did in the 70s bringing those guys back, you know together and you know
So they had 33 different seasons
I think for for Iraq pretty pretty incredible stuff and for that many of those cars to be around the
Porsches are the most expensive and the hardest to find not a lot of true Porsches left and very expensive
Then there were the first generation Camaros. They were out of the showroom
Mark Donahue and his guys built those cars in like nine weeks, right?
And then they they started running them at Daytona in Michigan and Richard Pettie told them look if you cats are gonna run
These speeds you need to get a real car. Look, I don't drove one last year
Camaro that Pinsky had and he's like that was the most badass car ever driven like he no power steering and no
You know leaf springs, you know and when the car they had Joey drive
They didn't even change still had, you know, two old Monroe shocks per wheel and stuff like that
I know you have a pretty large car collection yourself with what are a couple of your favorite cars in there?
Yeah, you know, I don't have as big a collection as I had in the past
Got rid of a lot of the street cars and stuff because my passions race cars. It really is and
but my car my my favorite car in my collections a car that that I fell in love with when I was 15 and
Never thought in the world I could own it
but tracked it down took me 42 years to finally get possession of that car, but
I love the movie American graffiti, right love that movie
So the 1958 Chevy from the American graffiti movie, you know would toad and Debbie and all that craziness
So I own that car and we worked together to restore it
We did an Americana show on it and it's it's sitting there in in perfect condition
And we take it out once a while and drive it when we debuted that car
We debuted it in Vegas dressed up as the characters and you know, we had a blast
But that that car that car means a lot to me and I've got some of my original race cars
I've got the car that I won my last feature with at wall stadium
I've got the car unfortunately that I got her in at Flemington. I've got that car
I've got my sprint car that I won my last sprint car races. I was in the grandstands now. You got hurt. Yeah, so you got hurt and
You say you hit the fence with something you hit let me turn four
Yeah, I was a little jammed up on the inside and I got in the back of somebody and got sideways
So I just cranked it right and at the same time I got hit in the back and it went halfway through the ambulance gate
And there's a there was a big post there and that it hit right on my door on the ambulance gate
And then shot it back out into the racetrack. It was as big
They say I don't remember it
I really don't got some good sleep, you know the video look cool. Yeah, like we're guilty of being short track guys and
Being laser focused on short track stuff or NASCAR stuff and we were talking about that earlier about like how our branches
Don't reach much further than that, but reading your book
You gave me a whole new appreciation for Pike's Peak and how dangerous it was and you signed up to bring one of the cars
You built the go dangerous if you run off. Yeah, you're safe. You're safe if you stay on the road
Yeah, well, that's that's like the old the Tart saying you it could be dangerous or could be slow
So you got a pick but like how did what what are those experiences like of going to Pike's Peak and doing other things like that?
That have brought you to you know
You're your passion for Indy car now and road course racing to build a car
Right and to challenge myself to find out if I really could be as good as I thought I could be out of out of stage
and you know so at 60 years old we built that car and
Took it to Pike's Peak went up there as rookies and won our class at a new record in our class
Came about 11 seconds away to break it into the nine minute
About which which very very few people have been able to do for the amount of cars that they run up there and it was it was truly
Pike's Peak is almost a spiritual event. There's only two
Unrestricted places on the planet, right? There's only two where you go run what you brung and you're betting your ass, right?
You're you're what's the other one?
Bonneville
Bonneville and Pike's Peak those are those are the two it's run what you brung
You know and you know if you're if you're confident enough that you're a good driver confident enough in the car
You build but if you know if you see the top or see at the bottom one or two
You know so that so to me that was good. It was um
It was good and I felt like you know still I feel like I could have been okay
But still not as good as some of the people that I you know could never been as good as
The top echelon and cup, you know or or at Indy car
It's it's pretty impressive watching some of that stuff, but Pike's Peak to me was was
It put myself up at peace like you know what you can build a pretty good car and you're a pretty fair driver because you're not dead
You know you've got a trophy and you're not dead talk talk to me a little bit right before
We jumped on to you're talking about so you've been doing some work with
What do you call it the officiating group independent officiating board or independent officiating incorporated so Indy car
had some controversy with rules and and whatnot and
Last year last year post Indy people felt like the OPTIQ wise, you know
That was a little bit too close to the penske organization and which
I'm gonna tell you that you know there's nothing there purely optics everything that we've looked at you know that you know
that's just not
Something Roger Penske does
But they separated that and I work with Ronan Morgan from the FIA and Raj Nair
Who's a really cool guy used to be at Ford now
He's at synchro Porsche and that the three of us really kind of oversee some of the officiating make sure that there's nothing
Nothing going on no Tom Fulery and which is different for me because it's you were trying to find the thought you were trying to do
I actually found some yeah, I love that the chief inspector there, you know rocket they call him right he really really really cool guy in
I said how do we check that and I said and he's like well
I said hey take a look at this because the first thing I would do was this you know and there are teams doing that
Yeah, and so that it would a couple of those guys had to reduce some things, but it's it's neat
Really impressed with Indy car
Organization the way that they present the show
The way that safety all about safety and we were talking a little bit ago
Some of these some of these young kids these drivers man there they are they are on it like they
It's not like it's a two-hour basically a two-hour race, you know
Ninety-hundred last but they man those kids are on it
And you don't do not take your wife to Indy car driver way in because every one of those guys
I mean through their no mix, you know the abs are sticking out and I'm like man
Those guys are fit every one of them. So you've been surrounded
your entire life by
phenomenal racing talents
Just by your observation work with Jeff Gordon now you're around guys like Alex Palo and Joseph Newgarden these cats
They're at the top of the spear of what their particular craft is
What makes those guys elite versus or what the what makes those guys elevate themselves against their competitors, you know
That's a good question and people ask a lot and they're waiting to say well, you know
They got better reflexes that they got that most of the really good race car drivers, you know that are at that level
Are very smart they think about things in a different dimension
Then, you know, mr. Penske's got a word about hey
They look out of a bigger windshield
But the their feedback is at a different level and they're committed sat next to Scott McLaughlin on the plane
Come home last night and he did nothing but work on his post-race report that looked like a legal
document, you know and
You think okay, these guys these guys are they're committed, but they're intelligent and and the racing is their their thing
And they're racing IQs are high
But you know early in my career work them with people like Mario Andretti and Bobby on sir
Yeah, it's tight here. It's loose here, you know like Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon would never go
Yeah, I'm pushing getting in or I'm listening. Oh, he would come in and say I
Feel like when I go in the corner the weight is coming from here and going over
Here, but it doesn't stay there, you know
And he would give you and I've said to several of his crew chiefs like look if you can't set up a car for Jeff Gordon
You shouldn't be a crew chief right because he gives you know
He made me look like a star because he was my computer along before they had dad in the car and and you know guys like Mario
Rusty Wallace you talked about rusty first time I worked with rusty was at Daytona Iraq car and
You know we were screwing around with steering boxes because when put power steering in there
You know when you you got to keep you can't keep that thing on center, right?
You know because it was a little bit play in the old boxes
So, you know everybody used to put the the the toe in the right front, you know
So that they had to pull this way and I was like see what happened
I'm gonna put a little toe in the left front of this car. So rusty goes out. He runs down
He comes in, you know five six laps around say tona comes in, you know gets plug checked coast in
Talking on me. What you know, what do you think anything goes? Yeah, that's pretty good. You know pretty good. He said, you know
But I was going down the down the back stretch just thinking he said feels like you have toe in the left front of this car
Other than the right front and I was like a 16th of an inch. Oh god. Yeah
Yeah, it wasn't was like a half inch, right? So it says here, you know with I rock and
Obviously had a ton of involvement with SRX and it was such a special series
And you see you saw guys short track guys like Doug Kobe and you know, whoever get shots in it and
Saw Lee Pulliam get a get a chance this weekend and do really well. So it was great, but
Obviously, it's super hard to build something like what I rock had nowadays. What are the challenges that
SRX had that I rock didn't have
Well, you know, there were obviously a lot of challenges there
It takes a lot of takes a lot of money and it takes to be on the right side of the politics
No to do something like that
I think that we proved that
We proved that the fans liked it
So hopefully we can continue to work on it. I mean it'd be my dream to bring back the old I rock series and it's glory
I don't know if that's truly possible
Because that the sports evolve so much and it's tough to get these to get a driver that that's committed to one thing
But there's still a pretty good desire for those guys to race one another
I mean, there's you know, you talk to the indie guys and they're like man
I'd like to race that guy someday, you know, so there's some desire there
But there's also, you know, there's also some good ideas, you know, what we did was kind of a seniors tour thing
You know, there's you know as driver. Let's face it. They're getting younger and younger, right?
You know, they're getting younger and younger and
The guys that are getting out of the cars are not that old, right?
So but they don't want to race 30 40 times a year
So that maybe there's a way of doing something like that with the legends of the sport and I felt like we had a we
Had a a good proof of concept with with SRX. We just
Unfortunately couldn't keep it going. I love the scene
I love the golf analogies of Pebble Beach to 1010s and the senior tour because I saw bill one bill
He's gonna test his I rock car this afternoon. He's over at 1010s wheeling around there
He's gonna he's gonna be the celebrant. So we're gonna, you know, we have like somebody we honor and so bill, uh, you know
Bill is gonna be the the celebrant at the heritage and we're gonna we're gonna have his
212 mile an hour car on display there. That's cool. Yeah, you wouldn't you wouldn't he says he wouldn't get out of it
He wouldn't get out of the electric chair to get in it today, though
Well, it's funny how over time you're like, I can't believe I drove that thing
Wasn't the story behind that car
So he had a flat tire some sort made up a lap the old-fashioned way and drove back on one because the car was like an inch smaller
Everywhere 55-inch tread width. Okay, think about that and compared to what was legal. What do they know?
Well, well, there was no rule back then. Oh, they used to there was no rule
So, you know, most time what we were 60 61
Okay, so five inches narrow than everybody else and that day I was at Talladega that day
I was pitting for Dave Marcus. Dave was Dave was Dave was my buddy
He would he would pay me all I could eat in a hotel room to come and change cars
so and
What happened that day the piece of the headlight got knocked out somehow and that's car made him come in under green and pit
And they had to tape it up and went out and he went out under green and made up a lap and a half
And took the lead it was flying that that year at at Talladega
I think the slowest car in the field
40 whatever cars or whatever they ran back then was like 202 miles an hour. That's when men were men
Like the picture might one of my all-time favorite pictures is one cal yard bros like this sideways and the whole cars up in the air
In qualified by yourself now in my kids inside one of those and now my six-year-old can drive a cup car and qualify to Talladega
So I've been a Hendrik now for three or four months and I love when I walk in there the ever ham room when I turn and look
And I see you and Trower and Andy Papa
And I can't help but think when I walk in that facility when I started doing pit stops
Two decades ago. We had a guy named Robert that would show up at Rouson set some cones out and guys would run around it
I thought was the coolest thing ever that those guys were working out and to see what it's evolved through now
You see the Hendrik facility, but I can't help but think that that group is the one that planted that seed
When you walk in there now and see what it's turned into. What do you think when I've started to be a crew chief?
I looked at the pit stop stuff and I thought man. I watch these guys
All right, I went to the first pit practice and the guy goes over the wall smoking cigarette cowboy boots on I'm thinking
We can gain. We don't have to fast. I want to beat these guys on on on pit roads
So Andy Papathon to see you and I had worked together a little bit at Kuikis and Andy Andy was brought over there to do
Some things and couldn't do it. So when I was hired to start the 2014
He was one of the first people I brought in I said you go figure out a way to get some
you know bring some athletes in and
Those guys came in as volunteers. We didn't have any money. We couldn't get equipment
You know, it was like it was really a volunteer deal and mr. Hendrik happened to come in
We're working on Saturday and there's guys run around the field and rolling tires around carrying each other on the back
And he pulls up he goes
And he calls me Raymond every time is like when he's either mad at me or when he don't understand he goes he goes Raymond
What the hell are them guys doing?
You know, so I told him and he was really like he's that visionary, right?
So he stepped in and got the money for the extra guys
He bought some equipment and it got bigger and bigger and he saw the results and and he really supported it
And you know we at that time
For that that run all the way up through 98 99 there, you know
We dominated pit road and we won a lot of races purely
You know getting track position or getting out on the last last stop and you could count on those guys to make adjustments
You could count on a two tire four tire all those things and that that just built and and again, you know
Yes, it was my idea. Yes, it was
But you know, there were a lot of people that worked on that behind the scenes including Andy Papa
I'm trying to get Trower in the Hall of Fame still. Yeah, and Trower ship
Trower ship. I wish they had a like I need like a golden wrench
You know just you know, they do the thing for the media, right? They do but that that pit crew deal
Like there needs to be something special in the Hall of Fame for those pit crew members because there's been some great
There's been some great pit crew members when you look at these to do the skull motor
Remember they'll score sports all protein Scottie Robinette. I had his card on there
So, you know, I'd love to see some attention to go those guys somehow and goes deeper like Ron Malick
Yeah, like car chief. So there there's a there's a golden wrench that I'm trying to sell Winston Kelly on here
Yeah, you probably don't sell them too hard. I don't know. No, I think Winston
I don't know that it's Winston. You got to sell it. Yeah. Yeah, there's always more layers the cake
Yeah, any other layers on your cake Ray. What's you got a couple kid one one child?
I've got to I've got my son Ray J's 34 years old and he's on the autism spectrum and you know again because of him
We've been able to do a lot of different things for autism
Including starting some centers called ignite where we teach young adults on the autism spectrum social skills and life
So like a clubhouse with them. So he's he's doing really really well. And then I've got a 10 year old daughter
Who is just man? She is wide open. I don't know what I'm gonna do there
We've gone from we've gone from horses to volleyball to La Crosse now. She's she's eyeing up racing
You know, so it's gonna be it gonna be interesting because she's
She's she doesn't have a chance right between her mom. Yeah and myself. Yeah, you know
It's all about look when you're gonna go it's gonna be good
So I'm hoping that she comes in and says she wants to race because what would you do? What would you start? Oh, man?
Well, you know, I would I would start with her with the go-kart because right now what I look at a lot of these
Kids that are coming up through the Indy car series. I've got some good road racing experience
I agree and then I would get her in a legends car on on the on the oval and then I
Really want here because I had a plan going okay, so we'd go we'd go go carts
We'd go legends cars
We try and figure out how to do some dirt, but then I'd get her in the midgets
You know so she can run the dirt on midget and then you know try and get her and you know one of the
Formula type cars whether that's an F4 three or way up and then of course Indy next and then you know the choice between
You know, where do you want to go from there? So I got laid out when she's ready
You're gonna go a single-seater single-seater, Paul. Well, I'm a single-seater open-wheel guy
I I never intended to be NASCAR, you know, I intended to be Indy
I ended up you know being blessed to hook up with Jeff and those guys, but I do feel I
Do feel like open-wheel racing in America is gonna continue up, but certainly wouldn't be opposed because I think the new gen 7 car
you know had
Had you know guys like Dario Franckini or some of the guys that tried to cross over had that car instead of the old car
100 they probably would have been a lot better, you know Dario's fantastic race driver
But timing probably wasn't wasn't right, you know, and I think one Pablo Motoya would have won a probably a bunch more races
Even Danica Patrick I just that that transition now from open-wheel to Indy
I'm sorry to the NASCAR may be a little bit easier because of this car
I would agree 100% and timing no matter if it's crew chief and life and life, you know
Water shed moments in your career or driving career
Timings, I mean SVG is another perfect example of timing and I worked out perfect for him coming in
How was Arlington? I didn't go to Arlington
So my my two Indy car races this year that I've attended was St. Pete, which was you know first for me
Saw how the street course worked
And whatnot again very impressed with what I see with the Indy car organization and then again the teams, you know
I told Fox, you know Fox is a partner in Indy car now
They should show
They should do a little
Documentary, you know, they've got their series and whatnot
I said take a whole show on what it really takes to put a race on it'll blow you away
You know because I've been heavily involved with the race directors and the officials and you know
The streets set up and what they do to put that on the amount of data that the Indy cars have going on there
those cars
are really
Incredible cars and you think they've been racing that same car for 12 years
And they're getting prepared to have a new car for 2028 with some different bits arrow bits on it changing the
Overall, you know, they've got they've got their speedway stuff and then they've got their, you know, their road course downforce stuff
So it's really just wings pods, you know, there's differences on
Where they can put the floor
You know, they've got a pretty restricted height on on their diff users and things like that
So largely it's wings side pod configuration
And they're um, we we saw that this week unfortunately a couple hard hits
They're they're pretty safe cars scottie mac almost mad try to go on a ride. Yeah, holy mackerel. Yeah, what about dc that one that race is
Super exciting for me. How much how much work goes in behind you mentioned how much work it takes to put on a race
is there more
Red taped across with it with an event like that. I think there would have been
But the way they did it, you know, would the way that they set it up
Helped a lot with the executive order to to do that but with a street race
Trump's making her happen
It's it's pits and pit entry and corner
So they're setting up the course and then you got to put fencing and you got to keep the crowd separate
And then okay, where you're going to park the cars where you're going to put the fuel where it's tiring
I'm going to be you know, and you're doing this in the middle of a city. So it's not like you got a month to set it up
Yeah, uh, so there there's a lot that goes on race control
And you know, you look at just the security for places like they had, you know at arlington and certainly now dc
security is going to be
A big thing and there's a gentleman named kyle novak who really does a great job as a race director and and race operations and
Just had dinner with him the other night to get to know him and the list of things that he told me that he did
I was like
Damn, bro. Yeah, I went to you know, do you sleep? You know, uh, so there's a lot that goes on but you know
It's been a very good
Experience for me getting on the in inside of of the stuff that they've got going on
It's not often you can get in a situation where where you can hopefully add with your experience and yet learn at the same time
So it's been it's been exactly that
It's not often we get to do three questions with the guys well versus him
I you've been on the show once before though. I believe I don't think so. You've never invited me on
I mean, I better like you had jeff last and he probably said hey, we take care of rey rey
You know he jeff he looks out for me. He's like hey
Listen, I was a gordon fan because your jersey roots that that's you you pulled me in there
Your dad sat in the grandstand with my mom for the longest time
I was banging around there in the sixth cylinder. Yeah, and my dad bought his first race car for me
Had a had a sun it had a sunroof. Oh, that's right. The car we built for my brother
That's right. I forgot about that. So you start that you started all this for you guys are tight
Oh, yeah, well, we took so there might have been some alcohol involved in this but around the around the old ebb and ham
garage one night
my brothers
fiance at that time her dad gave her a car and they were gonna put on the street car and we decided
Now we're gonna cut it up make street stock out of it. So we took the saw saw and cut the roof off
And stuck a cage in it and willy ran it three or four times and and he sold it to your dad
I got a picture of that thing pushing like a dump truck, dude. I gotta
But we didn't do much to it. I'm putting the cage in I just guarantee he didn't do much to load it on the trailer
And put a number on the side
Well, we we've been wrong. We can sit here and chop it up all day
But I got we got three questions, right?
First question is obviously generally geared to a race car driver and you are a race car driver at heart
And you just happen to be exceptional at working on them
If you had to pick one car and one race track to race at the rest of your life, what do you go with?
410 world about lost sprint car el dora
Separate the men from the boys every day, you know, that's why running like that, you know
As billy pouch tells me all the time. He said you're like you may not have a long life running
Yeah, you might be here for a couple of weeks. It was fun while I lasted what about
My choice would be probably
t-rex charl yeah
t-rex but
Untouched and back in 97. Yeah, I go look at that. I wouldn't look at that car a couple weeks ago
t-rex when we hit the combination
Of that car because that was the first slam the ground
That was all honestly by let's just mess around and try this
Yeah, and just put equal springs in it and put a bigger bar and put that thing on the ground
That was an eye opener question number two ray. What's the most embarrassed you've ever been at the race track?
Oh boy when I ran the car out of fuel. We were leading the winston. I guess that was
98 we were leading the winston with one lap to go and
And you know ran ran out of fuel in a in a in a short race like that
It was just a mistake on my part but prefaces you you put less fuel in on purpose to have less weight
Nobody was really doing that yet. No, we we had
A lot of wild stuff going on, you know back then on stuff that you knew it was such a short race
And you really didn't care if them, you know crazy motor stuff transmissions gears axles all kind of stuff, right?
and uh, I was like
We're we're you know, we're gonna gain some front weight and we're gonna be
Like right out of gas because a lot of people would come in and this
We won a lot of races at rockingham and darlington like this and I watched people
Do it there'd be 30 laps to go at darlington and they just and you're like
Right, you know six pounds a gallon buddy at darlington
We had a time where we were only doing one can of fuel all day because the tires didn't only go that far and uh, so
You know, I was all about weight
Back then and uh, it matters. Yeah, you know, I felt like it felt like it did and uh,
Unfortunately, they called back that restart and and I guess that ate up
Couple caution laps and to green and then we and we were done. So no excuse that was on me
I told him that was that was a gas was 200,000 a gallon now
That's that's about what it is right now
Put that thing through the hormones straight
Um
Question number three
I've had the men in black pen here and I got to zap all of your racing memories
Which only got to keep one which one did you keep how long's the memory?
Is that like a one night thing? Is that could be post flemington crash?
Oh, I was gonna say there's no memories from that. So that's what I use up
I used to uh, flemington crash and head injury to my advantage a lot of guy. I really don't remember
Yeah, like eight like yeah ad and bc. Sorry to forget your name. I hit the fence 98 season
You know that championship that that night, you know being able to to to look at
Um
Jeff and the the crew and you know, we'd come so far right, you know, we didn't start till 93 and and and you know
By 98 that was our third championship and we won all those races. So that memory of being able to uh
To look out into that crowd and look look at the faces of the people that had put so much into it and
you know, just that that memory of I think
When you talk about a big accomplishment, it's not really a race or trophy
It's that being part of that team that you know, like that night you just knew like look
We we have we're going to be a part of history where the people like us not like us
Whatever we're part of history. So that memory that was the refuse to lose team
That was a refuse to lose team. Well, they were they damn refused it. I promise you
One last thing um
Rewind what was about
five six months ago. We're at uh
Graham smith's wedding and we're sitting there
It was you and Aaron and rick and linda came up and it was my wife sitting there and we were just talking about catching up life
My dad this is the other thing
So since then I have been working on building a carbon fiber shop solely because of you
So I've got a carbon fiber shop set up. We're doing a seat
We talked about safety a lot in this episode. So that I'm trying my hand at bringing a product to market
Because you gave me the bump
More or less, so I'm excited to show you that here in a couple minutes after this episode
But lastly, we'll wrap it up with this tell the folks we're going to tune in and watch this iraq event here next week
I think you just go to um heritage invitational.com and it'll give you all of the information our complete schedule for the days
And then it will be a post on racing america
Not just the iraq and vintage indy, but you'll be able to watch the pro am on friday night on racing america as well
And that's a that's a lot of fun because again, you know, when you've got some some uh, some dress some pro drivers and some amateurs out there
And there's nothing nothing separating but orange cones. They get after they get after a pretty good very good
Uh, well guys, I appreciate you turning in appreciate you guys listen to us each and every week
You can go to instagram at underscore stacking pennies
Core of the joy ryan floras. I'm racing rockin ham this week in the truck. What are you doing this week changing tires?
I'll be there too on the 88 car hendrick cars. What are you doing this weekend ray? Well, I'm probably getting iraq cars prepared
We're going to test a little bit this afternoon um and get ready, but it is easter weekend
I'm going to probably be watching the rockin ham race and uh
Try and spend a little time with my family because they're like
Man dad thought we thought you were retired
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, a good racer's never really retired. No, you're never you're never done
Well, y'all have a fantastic easter weekend
He has risen ladies and gentlemen because in god we trust here stagnant pennies
I hope you guys do too
Keep stacking pennies get you ultimately where you want to go in life. Y'all have a fantastic week
Core of the joy ryan floras ray evernham wishing you
Good morrow
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