Judith Dominic’s Indy 500 connection kicks things off, tracing her Chevrolet path from the Chevy NASCAR program and years with Tony Stewart. The conversation shifts to what makes IndyCar drivers specialists, why qualifying speeds climb so high, and how downforce and even slick tires shape performance—especially in rain. Hosts then zoom out to driver development, elite driver counts, and Chevrolet’s Indy 500 base car details: Corvette-based pace-car history, livery inspiration, and the twin-turbo V8 with an electrified front axle.
In this episode from the 110th running of the Indy 500, we go behind the scenes with two of Chevrolet’s most passionate and knowledgeable professionals: Judith Dominick, Chevrolet Racing Trackside Communications Representative, and Cody Bulkley, Chevrolet Corvette Chassis Development Engineer. These are the people who make the magic happen — both on the racetrack and on the road.
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"But Chris and Nettie is going to be actually driving the Corvette... And then Sarah Fisher actually gets the driver... But Nando Mendoza. Right. The Corvette."
The Chevrolet Corvette is a high-performance sports car made by Chevy. It’s the kind of car people associate with track days and fast driving. Here, they’re saying someone drove a Corvette and they even did laps in it.
The Chevrolet Corvette is the brand’s long-running performance sports car, known for its mid-engine layout in recent generations and for being a benchmark for American track capability. In this segment, they’re talking about a Corvette being driven by a celebrity/driver figure and doing laps as part of the event.
"And we did a little lap on the regular e-ray, right? Yes. And that was also amazing."
“E-Ray” is the name for a hybrid version of the Corvette that uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. The electric motor can help the car accelerate smoothly and quickly. They’re saying they did a lap in that hybrid Corvette.
“E-Ray” refers to the Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, a hybrid Corvette that combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor for extra traction and instant torque. Calling it the “regular e-ray” implies they were comparing it to another E-Ray variant or configuration during the event.
"Yeah, in the e-ray, you know, we all worked on that car as well. And that one's really special and just the fact that it was our first all-wheel drive."
The “e-ray” is a special Corvette that uses both gas power and electric power. It can drive all four wheels, which is unusual for a Corvette.
“e-ray” refers to the Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, a Corvette variant that combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor. The key point they’re making is that it’s the Corvette’s first all-wheel-drive setup, using the electric motor to drive the front wheels.
"And that one's really special and just the fact that it was our first all-wheel drive. Yeah."
All-wheel drive means the car can send power to all four tires. That usually helps the car grip the road better when you accelerate or when the surface isn’t great.
All-wheel drive (AWD) means power can be sent to all four wheels instead of just the front or just the rear. On performance cars like the Corvette E-Ray, AWD can improve traction and stability, especially when accelerating or on low-grip surfaces.
"Yeah, it really is such a cool way to cement into Corvette, Chevrolet, and IMS, the United States history. All of us are showing up on it."
IMS stands for Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the famous oval track in Indiana that hosts the Indy 500. The hosts connect the car program to U.S. motorsports history by tying it to IMS.
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Here we are at the Indy 500 for the 110th edition of it and we're with Judith Dominic.
She is with the Chevrolet team, but you're based not here in the Indianapolis.
You're based where?
North Carolina.
I live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
That's because that's for the Chevy performance garages.
Yes, and I started on the Chevy NASCAR program.
Actually, I started before that with Tony Stewart.
I was with Tony Stewart for seven years.
I was his business manager and everything else.
Then joined Chevrolet in 2004 and been with Chevrolet ever since.
So, you just took us through a tour and garage area, like a lot of people here.
And I have to say, everywhere we were, oh, there's Judy.
They didn't go and say hello.
People will come and I will tell you, Judy, I just wanted to say hello.
So, you are a big celebrity here.
No.
Yes, you are.
I mean, when people come to you, I just want to say hello and hug you and give you a thank you.
It's because of you've done something good here.
So, how long you've been coming here?
Since 1986.
Tell me the story.
I mean, how did you start to get to this and to this point where people come to say so many nice things to you?
And that was amazing.
I really love that moment.
I just have always struggled with my life to treat people the way I would like to be treated and be nice and respectful.
But I grew up with a dad that raced.
Oh, okay.
And my dad actually qualified for the Indy 51948.
Wow.
So, I grew up at race tracks or rodeos because my grandpa was a rodeo rider, but I liked cars better.
Yeah.
And I owned a motorcycle dealership and raced motorcycles.
But I also owned a midget, a spread car, and then I met this kid named Tony Stewart.
And I went to work for him early in his career and got him all the way through NASCAR and first championship and then joined Chevrolet.
Oh, wow.
So, I've been doing this a long time.
Motorcycles.
He was kind of world without laws.
NHRA.
I was down for his first PR person.
Yeah.
Then NHRA.
Oh, wow.
He's still racing, right?
Tony Stewart.
Oh, Tony in drag racing, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, I have to disclose something.
I worked for NASCAR too.
I've been working for NASCAR since 2013.
I do the Spanish website for them, which is a lot of fun.
I don't go to that many races, but it's amazing.
So, tell us about racing.
I mean, you've seen, obviously, in 40 years, you've seen a lot of different things changing.
And we went to the hot lab on the e-ray and got lucky enough to be with Gaby Chavez, the Colombian driver.
And I was asking him what's the difference between people seeing on TV and saying,
oh, maybe I can do that.
Not everybody can do this, right?
Yes, you can do it.
There's 33 specialists that will run tomorrow.
And they're all specialists.
So, this is like any other major series, whether it's Formula One, NASCAR Cup or whatever.
But IndyCar, the drivers are specialists.
They are few of them that can do the job and do it well.
That's why we have so few winners.
We have a lot of repeat winners, but few winners.
And every year, the technology changes and advances.
The speed gets better.
The cars get better.
The drivers have to get better.
So, it's very hard to explain what that skill is, right?
But what can you describe it?
I don't know.
That's a problem, right?
It is an unknown.
It's a seventh sense that they have to make their eyes and their ears and their hands
and their feet and all work at the same time.
And their brain tells them they have to do something.
And it doesn't matter what car.
Same car.
And they're going.
I mean, today we went 100 miles an hour, but in qualifying, they were telling us they
had to go 230, 240, even faster, which is almost like a plane on ground.
So, the thing is that the winds keep the car down.
Yeah, the downforce.
They can take off.
So, 40 years since 86, you're coming in.
And this is a really hard question, but tell me a couple of your greatest memories here.
I mean, like what?
The first time Tony qualified on the front row.
Yeah.
Um, standing next to him when they, because he's from Indiana.
Oh, yeah.
He was in an automobile.
Yeah.
So, it was a GM power car, um, which just now is nice.
You know, and, uh, because then we went to NASCAR and went to Pontiac.
So, he stayed in the GM family.
When they played back home in Indiana, he got teary.
So, then I got teary because this is his home.
Yeah.
That's one of the greatest.
The other one was, probably would want Pablo won his second one.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Because Juan Pablo has always been larger than life.
And when he won for Chevy, it was a really big deal.
A big, big deal.
Yeah.
And when Tony won the brickyard, he never got to win the 500, but he got to win the brickyard.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that one was important too.
Yeah.
Well, Paolo Montoya, I met him a few times and he was amazing.
And again, I always ask this question to the driver, how, how do you do it?
And so, I don't know.
I mean, they start doing it.
Gaby Chavez just told me they start with go-karts, usually, and they keep developing the skill,
I guess.
Yeah, they have a skill that we don't have.
Yeah, we don't have.
Senna always explains it best.
Is that, oh yeah, you know, I'm a student of Senna.
Yeah.
But Senna says it's an unknown.
Yeah.
But if you want to be good at that craft, you have to take that unknown and keep making
it better.
Keep working at it, yeah.
Yeah.
Because everybody around is going to get better.
Yeah.
You have to stay there.
And that's a problem, right?
Yeah.
Like there's a lot of, even though it's a small group, 33 in this case, NASCAR is 30 to 40,
whatever.
Yeah.
But it's a very reduced number of people in the world that can do this.
There's 22 in F1.
I know, exactly.
So, yeah.
Small group.
You're amazing.
So, for people who want to get started in this, maybe not racing because it's very difficult.
But what do you do?
Why would you even advise to people?
Well, you need to be a people person.
You need to be able to communicate.
And you need to be able to treat people the way you want to be treated.
Degree is important in communication, in marketing.
Because there's a variety of things that you can do that I do.
Yeah.
So, it's important to have that skill set.
But you just have to get in the door and then do it well.
Yeah.
And you'll stay.
Okay.
So, what's your secret for keep enjoying it?
Because you obviously, you're super happy when you're here.
And you can tell.
I mean, like people come to you and like everybody's happy around you.
And they say, oh, you don't need credentials if you're with Judy.
Because it's been my whole life.
I don't know what else to do.
But I love it.
I love the sound.
And I love the speed.
And I love the people.
Incredible people.
Incredible people.
So, I just keep smiling.
So, the last time I was here two years ago, it rained.
So, hopefully this year.
I mean, this is gonna air after the race.
So, you will know everything that happened already.
But tell us why these cars cannot run in the drop of rain.
I mean, you already said it a little bit.
Well, first of all, they are inch and a half off the ground.
Exactly.
They have slick tires.
Yeah.
Now, they do have tread tires, rain tires, world courses and street courses.
But not here.
But not here.
And...
You see, another person just came to say hello.
This is my teammates.
Oh, okay.
Sorry.
Sorry.
We're doing a little recording here.
You were also my dad.
Yeah.
So, sorry.
Yeah, you see, like everybody wants to talk to Judy here in Indianapolis.
You see, with the drivers.
Well, he's my teammate.
New work side by side.
It's such a great night.
Yeah.
But it's everything about this.
It's the people, the memories, the cars.
I love cars.
Yeah.
I love cars.
I am a car geek.
Although I drive a beautiful Equinox because I know better than to buy a Corvette.
But I...
It's just the feeling that I can't get some places.
Yeah, I know.
It's amazing.
It's a feeling you can't get in places.
This industry is amazing.
I always tell that the cars are nice.
The technology is amazing.
But it's the people.
At the end, it's the people.
Because with those people, there's no cars.
There's no racing.
There's nothing, right?
It's the people.
People like you.
So thank you very much for your time.
I really enjoyed the tour and the meeting you.
I probably have seen you before.
I mean...
Probably.
I've been doing this for a long time too.
Thank you for coming and joining us.
But so now let's go and talk to the engineers about the base car, which is another amazing
thing, right?
Like another Corvette.
Our base car is so good.
Thank you very much, Judy.
Thank you.
Nice to meet you.
My name is Cody Buckley, chassis control integration engineer on the Zero and X.
Yeah, and we're here because obviously the Indy 500.
And you were one of the people in charge of designing and working on the base car.
So tell us about it, please.
Yeah, it's such a beautiful car.
It really resembles what Chevrolet and the USA are all about coming together for the
250th birthday at the Indy 500, which is an iconic American event.
And this car being so special, it's got two colors that are actually options that you
can get.
Admiral blue.
And on the production car, you can get them.
Yeah.
So it's half Admiral blue and half Artic White with the red stripes.
And then you got the blue stars up on the front, all painted.
So much work went into making it.
The painting itself is like an engineer marble.
Yeah.
Yeah, we were just talking about it, but even we are just amazed with how well it turned
out.
And like every time you look at it, you get this shock and awe experience of just how
beautiful it is.
Yeah.
So tell us about it.
This is based on the era.
This is actually based on the big brother to the era, the ZR one X.
So yeah, it's got the twin turbo 5.5 liter engine, the V8.
And then it has the electrified front axle.
You got 1250 horsepower to get you rolling under nine seconds in the quarter mile.
You wanted to get a 250 number in the horsepower too.
Yeah.
I hadn't thought about that correlation though.
It's just an extra one out front.
Yeah, exactly.
One of 250.
Yeah, I think you're onto something there.
But obviously it's really fun to drive, especially when you look at a track like this where you
can unleash all that horsepower and let it go.
It's pretty fun.
So as you were saying, a lot of history, not only for the 250 anniversary of the independence
and all that, but Chevrolet here at Indie, right?
So like there's, how long you've been working on these cars for the race?
Yeah.
So I actually don't know, maybe Joe knows, do you know how long, I mean, I know that
they've been planning this for a long time because of the USA 250.
We can get you that.
I'm sure it's several months.
They've definitely been working on this specific pace car for several months.
And this was all inspired based off the Stars and Steel collection that are now in production.
And that work began a few years back actually.
So all within the design studio collectively working together on these stealthy decal packages
that you see featured that are really inspired based on that package.
And the Corvette has been the pace car for a few years, right?
It's over 30 years that GM has been leading.
So I've seen cars on the road after years after they're like, they sell these cars eventually
or what happened to this car?
Do you know?
I know.
So like the driver will actually win one.
Oh, really?
Which is really awesome.
Who's going to drive it tomorrow?
We've got our production so clearly it ends up in a Chevy.
But Chris and Nettie is going to be actually driving the Corvette.
Yeah, this one.
And he is a former driver.
No, he's actually the Indiana head coach.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
He's like the celebrity.
And then Sarah Fisher actually gets the driver.
Oh, because they just won the nice one.
It's a pretty big deal for the state right now.
Yeah, yeah.
But Nando Mendoza.
Right.
The Corvette.
Yeah, right?
From Miami.
That's where I'm from.
So a lot of cool things happening here.
So thank you.
And we did a little lap on the regular e-ray, right?
Yes.
And that was also amazing.
It only went like over 100, a little bit over 100.
That was fun.
I think it went a lot more, I guess, right?
Yeah, in the e-ray, you know, we all worked on that car as well.
And that one's really special and just the fact that it was our first all-wheel drive.
Yeah.
First electrified Corvette.
Being able to bring that technology and then really looking into the horizon, you can see
the big dog come in, which is the ZR1X.
Yeah.
Well, congratulations.
And this is going to air after the race, but I'm going to wish you good luck tomorrow too.
Yeah, thank you.
So thank you very much for your time and for sharing all this.
And I guess people can go and see it online, everywhere on thechirple.com.
And good luck tomorrow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So Cody, you didn't only design the car or work in the kind of engineering part where
you drove it, and now you're part of history because this celebration is going to be in
the books for the history of the rest of the US history, right?
Yeah, it really is such a cool way to cement into Corvette, Chevrolet, and IMS, the United
States history.
All of us are showing up on it.
Every American is sharing it.
Yeah.
And all of us here celebrating this party together across the country, everyone should be so proud
of what we've accomplished, where we're at.
And look at this beast.
I know.
250 horsepower.
And that was an amazing stunt.
What did you think?
No, it looked amazing.
Like coming by, like the fire, the candles, the cake.
Did you get the turbo boost?
Yeah, absolutely.
And then the burnout out at the end.
Yeah, I know.
And to be able to do that controlled in front of people just shows you like how well integrated
all the control systems are in the car.
To be able to handle that and do it successfully, perfectly on cue just shows the level of engineering
and the marvel of technology in this car.
You must have good engineers there.
We have the best engineers.
We have the best team.
I know.
Congratulations.
That was awesome.
Thank you so much.
That's it for today's AI Auto Podcast with Javier Moda.
Hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did.
Tune in next time for more on how AI is steering the wheel of tomorrow's autos.
Drive safe, stay curious, and catch you later.
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