Parts cleaners are solvents or degreasers used to remove dirt, grime, grease, and oil from components. They’re commonly used during maintenance, repairs, and salvage-yard work to make parts easier to inspect and handle.
Tire shine is a product you put on tires to make them look darker and cleaner. The host is using it as an example of the kind of spray-on cleaner format.
Junkyard picking is the practice of sourcing used parts from salvage yards. It often involves cleaning parts thoroughly before installation because they’re typically covered in grime, grease, and old fluids.
Oil doesn’t mix with water, so water alone usually can’t clean greasy stuff. Degreasers are made to deal with oil directly.
Term
thumb wheel wrench
A thumb wheel wrench is an adjustable wrench where you set the opening using a wheel. Since it has moving parts, dirt and rust can make it harder to adjust and grip.
Ratchets are the part of a socket wrench that lets you turn the bolt in a controlled way without taking the tool off. If they get dirty, they can feel rough and not work as smoothly.
A self-serve junkyard is where you go in and remove the parts yourself. Since the cars are old and parts are often greasy, you may need to clean them before using them.
Term
parrots in the garage
It sounds like they meant “parts,” not actual birds. The idea is: if your parts are organized and ready, installing them is much easier.
They’re talking about cleaning up your workspace before you start working on the car. When everything is organized, it’s easier to do the job and you’re less stressed.
“Wrenching” just means working on the car yourself with tools. It can be anything from simple maintenance to replacing parts.
Company
Motor Master
They mention “Motor Master” as a store brand they picked up. Their takeaway is to buy from a brand you trust rather than something random.
Company
GP
They mention Vince Calante from “GP.” That’s likely the company or organization he works for. It helps listeners know who’s speaking and what kind of design perspective he brings.
Jeep is the brand being discussed, and the conversation focuses on how Jeep-specific design cues are maintained while meeting safety and efficiency requirements. The hosts reference signature styling elements—like a distinctive grille shape—to illustrate how brand identity influences engineering and packaging decisions.
Federal safety rules are the laws cars have to follow to protect people in crashes. Designers can’t just make a car look a certain way—they also have to make it safe enough to pass required tests.
Concept
coefficient of driving
They’re talking about how “slippery” the car is through the air. If the car is shaped to reduce air resistance, it usually gets better fuel economy and can feel more efficient at speed.
The “seven-slot grill” is the front grille design Jeep uses that has seven openings. It’s basically a visual signature that makes a Jeep look like a Jeep.
A “boxy profile” means the vehicle looks more square and upright. That shape can help with space inside and can make it easier to fit off-road gear and bigger tires.
“Trapezoidal wheel openings” are the shapes cut into the body around the tires. They help give the vehicle a tough look and can also relate to how much room the tires have for off-road driving.
An “adventure off-road vehicle” is built for trips where you leave normal roads—like dirt trails and rough terrain. The point is that it still needs to be comfortable and capable, not just tough-looking.
“Federal regulations” are government rules car makers have to follow. They can affect how a car is built—like safety features and emissions—so designers have to work within those limits.
A “global brand” means the company sells cars in many different countries. The speaker is saying designers have to adjust for different laws and what customers in each place want.
The Jeep Cherokee is a popular Jeep SUV that’s been around for a long time. Here, they’re talking about how the newer Cherokee looks different from the older one—more sharp and blocky versus softer curves.
Design language shift just means the company changes the overall look of the car. In this case, they’re discussing moving from rounder, softer styling to a more angular, boxy look.
“Retro” means a design that looks like it’s inspired by older cars. They’re saying the new Cherokee isn’t a throwback, but it still takes some visual ideas from the past.
This segment focuses on how automotive designers respond when customers or critics push back on styling. It frames the design process as iterative—using reactions to guide changes in the next generation of the vehicle.
Rock crawling is when you drive slowly over rocks and ruts. It’s hard on the car because the ground is uneven, so the front and rear can hit obstacles if they’re shaped or modified poorly.
The lower front fascia is the lower part of the front bumper area. On off-road trails, its shape matters because it can hit the ground or rocks if it sticks out too much.
The rear fascia is the rear bumper/cover area that shapes how the vehicle clears obstacles from behind. For off-road use, modifications to the rear fascia can impact departure angle and increase the chance of scraping or damaging components on steep descents or uneven terrain.
The Grand Cherokee Trailhawk is the off-road-focused version of the Grand Cherokee. The idea here is that its design has to help it clear obstacles, so styling changes can’t make it easier to get damaged on trails.
The Wrangler is Jeep’s most off-road-famous model. The point here is that its shape and components have to work for trails, so designers can’t ignore how easily it might get scraped or damaged.
These are measurements that tell you how well a Jeep can go up and over bumps without scraping the front or back. Bigger angles usually mean less chance of getting stuck or damaging the body when you’re off-road.
Ground clearance is how much space there is between the bottom of the car and the ground. More clearance helps you avoid scraping on rocks, but it can change the car’s shape, so designers try to make it look right too.
Visibility means how well you can see out of the vehicle. Off-road, you need to see where the trail goes and what you’re about to hit, so the design of the windows and roof matters.
The belt line is the line where the side windows and doors “meet” visually. Changing it can make the car look more balanced and can also affect how easy it is to see out.
Your sight line is basically what you can see from the driver’s seat. If designers improve it, it can make the car easier and safer to drive because you have better visibility.
It’s a design idea that says the main job comes first. So the car’s shape should be based on what it needs to do—then the styling is built around that.
“On the trail” refers to off-road driving conditions where vehicles face different challenges than on pavement. Design learnings from trail use often translate into better visibility, stronger packaging for obstacles, and durability-focused exterior/interior choices.
Fuel efficiency is how cheaply the car goes—how many miles you get per gallon (or per liter). The car’s shape can help it waste less energy by pushing air out of the way more easily.
UX just means how easy and comfortable something is to use. In a car, it’s about whether buttons, screens, and features are laid out in a way that makes sense while you’re driving.
Haptic touch is when a screen or touch control “feels” like it clicked, even though it’s still a touch surface. The goal is to help you know you pressed the right thing without looking.
A wireless charger is a pad where you set your phone to charge it without plugging in. Where it’s placed can change how useful the center console feels.
Interior designers are always choosing between making the cabin look great and making it easy to use. The best designs try to do both, so you don’t have to sacrifice comfort or convenience for style.
“Packaging” is the step where designers figure out the layout of the cabin so people fit comfortably. They measure things like leg room and headroom first, then use those numbers to guide the final design.
Designers use dummy human models to stand in for real people. That way they can check whether there’s enough space and the seating position feels right before building the final interior.
They’re describing a trick designers use to make the inside feel bigger. It’s about how the dashboard, panels, and lines are arranged so the cabin looks and feels more open.
A “color materials team” is an internal design group focused on selecting exterior and interior color palettes and material finishes. Their job is to ensure the look and feel of the cabin and surfaces match the brand’s target customer experience and perceived quality.
They’re saying you can’t put the most expensive materials everywhere, even if you wanted to. The goal is to spend money where it matters most so the car feels high-quality without blowing the budget.
Metal finishes are coatings that make interior parts look like metal. They’re used to change how light hits the surfaces so the cabin feels more upscale.
A “rich feeling” means the cabin feels premium and satisfying. It comes from how materials look and feel together, plus how well everything is put together.
“Feels spacious” means the car interior seems bigger than it might be on paper. Designers use things like layout, shapes, and how materials are arranged to make the cabin feel open and airy.
The direction of the stitches is how the seams are laid out on seats or panels. It’s a detail that can make the interior look more carefully made and premium.
“Soft controls” typically refers to touch-based or screen-based user inputs (as opposed to physical knobs and buttons). The idea is to create a more modern, intuitive interface, but it also requires careful UI/UX design so controls are easy to find and use while driving.
Tactility is the physical “feel” of controls—especially the difference between pressing a button and tapping a touchscreen. In vehicle design, tactility matters because it can improve confidence and reduce the time drivers spend looking away from the road.
Interaction design is about making the car’s controls and screens work in a way that feels natural. It’s the difference between “I can figure this out quickly” and “I have to hunt around.”
In-studio user testing is when designers try the interface with real people to see if it’s easy. If people struggle, the team adjusts the design before it ships.
Car design is how the whole car is planned so everything fits and works. If you take parts off, you can see how someone decided where the wires, hoses, and bolts should go.
Brackets are structural mounting pieces that hold components in place and manage alignment. They’re also part of the design for load paths, vibration control, and serviceability.
Bolts are the fasteners that clamp components together and maintain proper torque over time. Their placement and type are part of the overall design for strength, corrosion resistance, and assembly/service access.
This phrase means the car should look good and also work well. For example, the buttons should be easy to reach and the layout should make driving and using the car simpler.
NASCAR is a popular U.S. racing series with cars that are based on production models. The schedule is just the list of races they run across different tracks.
They’re talking about an upcoming race at Kansas and getting ready for it. A preview usually means discussing what the track is like and what could matter for performance.
When the hosts mention “Warm weather states, Texas,” they’re connecting race locations to climate. Weather can change tire behavior, engine cooling, and overall grip, which matters a lot in stock-car racing.
Phoenix is referenced as part of the NASCAR schedule the hosts are tracking. Phoenix race conditions (including heat and track surface behavior) can influence tire strategy and car balance.
Bristol is a famous NASCAR track. Because the racing is so close and intense, tiny differences in how the cars are set up and driven can make a big difference.
A photo finish is when the cars cross the line almost at the same time. The winner can be so close that you basically need video or official timing to be sure.
Term
pitch strategy
This sounds like they’re talking about race strategy involving pit stops. The basic idea is that when you stop and what you do during that stop can change who ends up in the best position to win.
In NASCAR, some races are broken into sections called stages. Drivers race hard in each section, and that helps keep the field close so the last part of the race matters more.
In NASCAR, the pit crew stops the car to do things like tires and adjustments. If it goes wrong, the car loses valuable seconds and can drop positions.
The “low line” means driving closer to the inside of the turn. It can help you stay in front, but it doesn’t always give you the best speed coming out.
On a race track, there’s an inside and an outside path through the turns. The “high line” means you’re driving closer to the outside, and it can help or hurt depending on momentum and where the other car is.
A short track is a smaller race course, so you complete laps faster. Because everything happens quickly, drivers have to choose their moves almost instantly.
Momentum is basically how fast and smoothly the car is moving after a turn. If you exit a corner with more speed, you’re more likely to catch up and pass the car ahead.
Pit strategy is the plan for when drivers come into the pits to change tires or add fuel. Teams try to time it so they don’t lose too much track position, especially near the end of the race.
A caution is when the race slows down because something happened on the track. When that happens, it can be a chance for drivers to change tires or make moves because the field is moving more slowly together.
Fresh tires provide more grip and better braking/turn-in than worn tires, which can help a driver move up quickly. Late-race tire changes are often timed around cautions so teams can maximize performance when it matters most.
The Indy 500 is a famous long race in the U.S. The point here is that what matters most can be what you do near the end, not just the first part of the race.
Late-race strategy is the idea that the most decisive moves—overtakes, pit timing, and risk management—often happen near the end of a race. Even if there’s plenty of action earlier, the final segment can determine the finishing order.
Topic
Bristol overtime
Bristol overtime is when a race goes past its scheduled end because of the rules for finishing. It’s an example of how the “real” ending can come later than you expect.
They’re talking about a Bristol race that went into overtime. Then they explain how that led to different tire and pit-stop choices by different drivers.
Tire strategy is basically when a race team decides to change tires. Because tires wear out at different rates, the timing of pit stops can make one car faster at the end even if it wasn’t the fastest earlier.
A pit stop is when the car comes into the pits to get work done—most commonly new tires. When you pit (and how long you stay) can strongly affect your position on the track.
Concept
different tire counts (two tires vs four tires)
Sometimes teams change only two tires, and sometimes they change all four. Changing all four usually gives better grip, but it takes longer—so teams balance speed in the pits versus speed on the track.
They’re talking about driving on tires that aren’t brand new anymore. Worn tires can grip less, so the team has to decide whether to pit now or stay out and risk losing speed.
They’re highlighting a race finish at Bristol that was extremely close. Bristol is famous for hard racing and lots of tire stress, so small strategy choices near the end can decide the winner.
They’re joking about how something small could change the car’s airflow. In real racing, aerodynamics can make a big difference in speed and stability, especially at high speeds.
NASCAR keeps updating the race car rules and design. The “next-gen car” is the newer version of the stock car that teams race, and it affects how they tune the car and how close the racing can be.
IndyCar is a type of professional race in the U.S. with open-wheel cars. People talk about it when comparing how racing strategy works across different series.
IMSA is a professional sports-car racing series. In longer races, teams make pit-stop plans that can completely change who’s leading, so the broadcast has to explain what’s happening.
Fox is a TV network that broadcasts races. The point here is that some networks explain the race strategy better than others, which helps fans follow along.
NBC is another major U.S. broadcast network that carries motorsports coverage. The speaker notes NBC’s commentary has generally been good at helping viewers understand what’s going on during the race.
An in-race interview is a live conversation during the event, often with a crew chief or team member. It’s used to explain real-time decisions—like pit strategy—so viewers can connect on-track events to team reasoning.
In motorsports, teams communicate with the driver over radio during the race. Broadcasts that “listen in” can translate those messages into understandable context for fans, especially around pit calls and strategy changes.
The suspension is what helps the car stay planted and handle bumps and turns. Changing it can make the car feel more “loose” or more “tight,” which affects how it turns.
Mechanical failure means something on the car breaks or stops working. If it happens early, the driver can’t keep racing, so it changes who has a chance to win.
A tire combination refers to the specific set of tires a series or event brings—often including the tire construction type and compound(s). Different combinations change grip levels and how quickly the tires wear or overheat. The hosts are noting that the same combination is returning to Kansas, but teams may still vary their approach.
Tire pressure is how much air is in the tires. Changing it can change how much of the tire touches the road and how well it grips. In cooler weather, teams may adjust pressure so the tires heat up and work properly.
Goodyear is a major tire manufacturer and (in many racing series) a key supplier that provides tire specs and guidance to teams. When they talk about tire pressure, it’s because pressure strongly affects how the tire heats up and how it grips. Teams use that input to optimize performance for the specific track and conditions.
It means the teams are trying things that are more extreme than usual. Sometimes that causes problems that seem like they’re from the tires, but the real cause is how the car is being pushed.
“In-car” means a camera mounted in the race car showing the driver’s view. It helps you understand what the driver is doing, like when they brake or accelerate.
Telemetry is real-time (or recorded) data from the car—such as speed, throttle position, brake usage, and sometimes more advanced parameters. The hosts say they didn’t think they had telemetry displayed, which matters because it limits how precisely viewers can judge performance and driving inputs.
“Brake or throttle” refers to the driver’s inputs that strongly affect lap times and tire wear. Broadcasts sometimes show how much brake pressure or throttle position the driver is using, which helps explain why a car is fast (or struggling) even when the track looks similar.
“Saving tire” means managing tire temperature and wear so the tires last longer and keep grip. In racing, pushing too hard too early can overheat or degrade tires, forcing slower lap times later.
“Saving fuel” is fuel-management strategy—driving and sometimes adjusting engine output to reduce consumption. This can be crucial in endurance-style racing or any event with fuel limits, affecting pace and when drivers can push.
This refers to a driving experience associated with Richard Petty, typically involving supervised high-speed laps. It’s used here as a comparison point for how drivers react to track rhythm and braking/turn-in timing.
When you drive hard, your brakes get hot. A long straight gives them a chance to cool down so they keep working well for the next stop.
Concept
pump traffic
“Traffic” in racing is slower cars between you and the racing line, and “pump traffic” suggests getting repeatedly slowed or disrupted by that flow. Traffic affects braking points, tire temperature, and the ability to set up corners.
A road course has lots of turns and braking zones. Long straight sections help drivers because the brakes cool and they can think before the next corner.
This describes throttle application immediately after corner exit, which is crucial for maintaining momentum and setting up the next turn. In racing, the timing of when you “get back on the gas” can determine whether the car stays stable or loses grip.
It means you steer into the next corner and then you slow down again. How you do those two things together affects whether the tires can grip the road.
It means getting the car stable again after a turn. The goal is to stop it from feeling “skittish” so you can brake and turn confidently for what’s next.
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Hello and welcome to the Truth About Cars podcast.
I am Tim Healy, the managing editor, and this week we talk car design, NASCAR, and tool cleaning.
We chat with Jeep design boss Vince Galante about automobile design.
T-Tech contributor Matthew Guy and I discuss a fantastic finish in NASCAR,
and we also go over tool cleaners.
Stick around for all that and more.
Here on the Truth About Cars podcast, we are talking about the stuff that we use
in our homes, in our cars, and on our cars.
Cleaning products, tools, and the like.
And as usual, we have T-Tech contributor Matthew Guy with us.
Matthew, how are you doing today?
Hey, what's up, man? I'm doing good.
Cool, cool. All right, so what are we talking about today? Remind me?
Yeah, so actually two of the words that you just used, cleaners and tools.
There you go.
Right, so that's a great segue. A lot of times, and I'm guilty of this all the time,
you know, I'll be doing work on something, get a tool dirty, greasy, whatever,
just through the normal use of the thing.
Oh yeah, it's inevitable.
It is, right, up and under the car.
And then I'll just put the, maybe if I'm lucky, I'll wipe them off with a rag and put them away.
But that doesn't really do your tools a lot of favors, right? Putting away dirty tools.
No.
No, no, no. And it's something that I don't really, I'm not that cognizant up.
So I've been trying to, trying to improve, you know, my game that way.
And I picked up some, it was from a Canadian, I'm up here north of the border, but the,
from a brand called Motomaster, which is a house brand for a store called Canadian Tire.
But tools and parts cleaners, they're pretty universal, right?
Yeah.
And I was just hoping that this would be a great reminder for anyone listening, right?
I mean, it's a really good idea.
And this type of stuff, it's just in a can, it's just in a spray can,
it operates a lot like any other cleaners that you might have for, you know, tire shine
and stuff like that.
But it does a really good job of quickly removing dirt and grime and grease and oil,
you know, from a whole bunch of, from a variety of surfaces.
And I think you could also use a fraud mode of parts too,
which is something that if you're doing a lot of junkyard picking like I do,
is a really helpful thing to try to have on hand this tool cleaner, even though it's not
labeled as a parrots cleaner.
It's the stuff that I picked up anyways, just labeled as a tool cleaner,
but a lot of this stuff you can use to clean up greasy parrots too.
Cool, cool.
And a lot of these have, have you do the like degreasing formulas in them?
And what it will try to do is it will try to, you know, remove a lot of the residue,
a lot of the, because if you just try to use a general cleaner or water or something like that,
we all know oil and water don't mix.
And your parrots that you get from the junkyard, they're going to be greasy.
And a lot of times this crap that you'll get on your tools is also going to be oil based,
grease based.
So I find that this type of heavy duty parrots and tool cleaners are really,
really good when I remember to clean up my tools before I throw them back in the toolbox.
And it's just, I don't know, just part of a, I don't want to say it's a self-improvement,
because I mean, it's a pretty small thing in terms of, in terms of life.
But if I can have a reliable set of tools, especially stuff that is not just fixed,
like I mean, if wrenches, crescent wrenches, box and wrenches, stuff like that are dirty,
that's a pain in the butt.
And if they get rusty, that's a pain in the butt.
But if you've got like a thumb wheel wrench, right, which actually has a movable parrot,
or God forbid your socket set, you know, gets dirty, the ratchets get dirty.
Or it'll be the worst.
It'll be the worst, right?
Anything that has moving parrots in it, you want to try to keep clean.
So I've just been trying to do that a bit more now in this, you know,
especially as spring comes along, cleaning up stuff.
And up here anyways, getting to the self-serve junkyards is not really an option in the winter.
So I've been hitting them up lately the last couple of weeks,
it's been better.
So there's been a lot of parrots in the garage.
And it's just something I've been thinking about.
And I thought our listeners-
A little bit of spring cleaning, right?
A little bit of spring cleaning.
And I just thought it'd be a good, you know, reinforcement for our listeners,
especially if you're just getting into, we talk to this all the time,
some of our listeners are just getting into wrenching and stuff like that.
And it makes life easier.
If you've gotten apart from the yard, and you clean it up a bit before you put it on your car,
makes life easier, makes wrenching a bit more pleasurable.
If you're, if you're a parrot that you're trying to put on is easy to handle,
and you can attach it, and you can install it properly,
just makes life a lot easier and makes you more, I don't know,
put you in a positive mindset for more wrenching the next day.
Makes sense, makes sense.
Anything else you want to talk about on this topic,
anything you want to expand upon, or is this pretty much it?
Well, I mean, this is pretty much it.
There's all kinds of, there's no particular brand or anything that I prefer for this.
I did pick up this motor master stuff,
just the house brand from a big store up here in Canada.
But just look for, look for stuff, you know, from a trusted brand.
If you've got something that has been kicking around your garage for a long time,
use that, use that brand.
And there's always, this stuff is extremely flammable, right?
No matter if it's an aerosol, it's going to be really fine.
I'm glad you mentioned that safety still matters.
Safety does matter for this type of stuff.
So no matter what brand it is, right?
So don't go smoking and stuff like that, right?
Well, while you're using this,
because this is going to be extremely flammable,
it's in an explodable container, blah, blah, blah.
Keep it away from heat, hot services, sparks, all that good stuff.
Yes, we like our listeners.
Please don't burn yourself down.
That's right, that's right.
We do, we do actually receive communication from our listeners
and from our readers.
So we do like that.
We want that to continue.
Please, so.
Yes, go ahead and live to a ripe old age, please.
Please do, yes.
Please do.
All right, so with that in mind,
we'll go ahead and wrap this week's segment
of the Truth About Cars podcast.
Thank you, Matthew.
Thank you, Tim.
Here on this week's Truth About Cars podcast,
we are with Vince Calante from GP,
the head of global design for Jeep.
And Vince, how are you doing today?
Good, how are you doing, Tim?
Thanks for having me.
I'm doing well.
So, so Vince, as we talked about in a bit of a pre-show setup,
I wanted to talk to you about both general car design
as well as Jeep specific design.
And my first question for you is I want to start with
kind of how you handle restrictions
when you're designing a vehicle.
When I say restrictions,
I don't just mean the federal safety rules
and that sort of thing
or the attempt to achieve the best coefficient of driving
in terms of fuel efficiency and performance,
although obviously those matter to any car designer anywhere.
But I'm also asking about specific things to Jeep,
such as wanting to have a seven-slot grill
or a Jeep look, a blocky look,
or anything that's Jeep specific as well.
Yeah, yeah, no, I think I would say first off,
one of the, I think, great privileges about working on Jeep
is we've got 85 years of history
and we've got a customer base that fell in love with
and loves our brand and the products we make.
So, you know, that I think is a great privilege.
At the same time, it's a pretty heavy weight.
So, because I think, you know,
we have some very iconic design elements,
you know, our seven-slot grill,
boxy profile, our trapezoidal wheel openings,
and then also just kind of the functional aspects
of kind of an adventure off-road vehicle
that everybody expects in our vehicles.
And then on top of it, like you mentioned,
all of the federal regulations,
some of the customer expectations about
comfort, efficiency, all of those things.
And I think on top of that, to add another dimension,
Jeep is a very global brand.
So, we're looking at those things all around the world.
So, you know, regulations can be different countries,
customer preferences, and expectations can be different.
So, it truly is a really fun challenge to take that on.
Yeah, yeah, cool.
And so, speaking of the Cherokee itself,
which is obviously the newest Jeep out on the road,
did you face any, the previous generation Cherokee,
which is a little more curvy and a little bit more soft
in terms of designs, did you face any criticism
for going that way, and was there a pushback
to go a little more blocky with the new Cherokee,
or was the new Cherokee sort of inspired
by the one from the 80s, or was either one of those things true?
Yeah, yeah.
So, I actually, I worked on not just this latest one,
but I worked on the previous one too.
And I know, you know, when we started that previous gen,
which code was the KL for you guys,
we really on purpose wanted to do something
that was a bit more progressive,
that was going to, you know, garner some attention.
And I think I feel like it was very successful.
When we came into, you know, working on this next one,
if you look at like, definitely the kind of 80s, 90s,
the XGA Cherokee was definitely forefront of mind,
because, you know, you've got guys like me
and our design team, most of us were born in the 80s and 90s.
And, you know, like myself, I grew up with one,
my mom had a Cherokee, so I grew up with one.
That was our first Jeep in our family.
And, you know, some of the other guys, the Cherokee,
that Cherokee was their first vehicle they ever owned.
So, everybody, it seems like in the office, has a story
and it pulls at their heartstrings in some way.
So, the new Cherokee definitely is not,
I wouldn't say it's a retro vehicle,
but, you know, as you walk around it,
there are definitely some influences from that vehicle.
Let's, I want to switch gears.
Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Yeah, no, no, dad, go ahead.
Oh, I was going to switch gears a little bit,
and something I just asked,
a second ago, kind of clicked a light bulb in my head.
I tend to do this kind of off the cuff a little bit.
When you are, as a designer,
when you get pushed back on design,
if people don't like it,
if people like us say it doesn't look good
or if the consumer say it doesn't look good,
do you take that personally
and how do you adjust for that going forward
to the next generation of vehicle?
And that's a general question.
I wasn't referring to anyone's specific vehicle,
just to be clear.
I think, you know,
West Designers, we have pretty thick skin.
We always, I mean, that's part of the,
part of being an artist is critiques
and we pour our heart and souls into these things.
So yeah, I mean, sometimes it can hit you a bit,
but as we're developing vehicles,
even when we start sketching,
as a team, we're looking at things
and critiquing each other's sketches
and trying to get the best out of each other
and pick the best designs.
And in the process, we do clinics with,
before the vehicle ever comes out,
with groups of consumers,
both are some of our own customers
and customers of other brands and things like that.
And of course, being that we're so invested
in the designs of these things,
of course we feel it,
but I think it never,
that never supersedes trying to do the right thing
for the customer and trying to come out
with the right design.
So we try to be pretty objective.
I would say at the same time,
you can't listen to every comment
and every thing in there.
So it is kind of a balance,
but I think in my role,
that's kind of one of the places
I like to try to help out
is kind of bring a little bit of balance
to that whole equation.
Sounds a little bit like being a writer
with internet comments underneath your articles.
Oh yeah, I read all the comments
on all the articles and all the YouTube videos.
Yeah, I know, I'm just saying kind of jokingly,
but I feel the same way sometimes,
like we have to have a thick skin,
but we also can't.
And we want to like,
if you get a commenter who's really thoughtful,
you might want to address their feedback,
but if you get someone who's trolling,
you need to ignore it.
So I think we see the same kind of thing
for different sides of the coin.
I wanted to bring you back to a Jeep question though.
So we talked about Jeep having quote unquote restrictions,
I'm being air quotes here,
with the seven slot grill and stuff like that,
but what about the fact that Jeep is so off-road focused
and you have to be utilitarian in some ways?
Does that hold you back and like,
hey, I really want to do this,
but then we can't go rock crawling.
If I do XYZ thing with say the lower front fascia
or the rear fascia,
have you had to like pull back on something
because it's a Grand Cherokee Trailhawk
or a Cherokee Trailhawk or a Wrangler
and just like, we can't do that
because we get damaged on a trail?
I think a short answer, yes,
but I think it was a pretty steep,
it was a pretty big learning curve for me
and for I think all the designers
that come into the Jeep studio,
like in car design school,
and generally in car design,
you talk about kind of big wheels
and lower, longer, wider,
and you're trying to make the glass smaller
and the roof's more chopped and all of these things
and that's what makes the sketch look cool, right?
But early in my career,
and we still do this for the guys today,
going out to the,
Easter Jeep Safari has always been kind of a,
not just a kind of consumer event for us,
but also kind of a team building event,
so we bring designers out there.
I mean, that's where I learned how to off-road,
and that's where I, it's pretty eye-opening
when you're on the trail, like,
oh, wow, it's really important
to have these approach and departure angles, like,
and they don't always,
you know, if you just put them in mechanically,
they look strange on a vehicle,
so like, how do I make those look cool?
You know, you're going off-road and it's like,
wow, it turns out I really,
it's really nice to be able to see out of this thing,
so like, how do I make the car,
you know, the belt line lower,
and the sight line's better,
but still make the car look cool, you know?
And, you know, I think that's some of,
you know, the old adage form follows function.
I tend to lean a little bit more skewed
towards the functional side of that,
being that we're designing Jeeps,
and I think those are some of the things,
but it came from, you know,
that's kind of something we learned on the trail,
using the vehicles and understanding,
you know, what are these problems
that we're trying to solve
as we design these vehicles?
Cool, all right, so I want to switch from exterior
to interior a little bit.
So, to me, and this is my personal opinion,
exterior looks obviously matter,
you've saved your regulations, fuel efficiency,
people want, you want a car that looks good,
people want a car that looks good,
car that turns heads,
but when you get the exterior,
the driver doesn't really touch it,
unless they're less than a watch to get really,
interior to me, it's really a battle of
how things look versus how, you know,
UX user experience, how things work,
whether you're talking about haptic touch,
which has been a big debate over the past,
geez, five to 10 years,
in terms of haptic touch controls,
or are you talking about seating surfaces,
where the wireless charger goes to your cell phone,
where the console is, all that sort of stuff.
Interior design is always fascinating to me,
partly because it's what you interact with
as a driver and passenger,
when you're in the car, obviously.
And to me, also, I think there's sometimes
can be more room for fun on the interior design,
because you, just for whatever reason,
they're just oftentimes there is.
And then also, like I said,
there's that mix of balancing looks versus functionality.
So how do you handle all of that?
It's a really complex interior design.
Yeah, so I mean, I can answer kind of both sides
of that question from the interior design side,
but also I used to, previous to this role,
there was several years in there
that I led our user experience team.
So that was really more the digital design side of things.
But I guess, first off, we have a,
our interior team is full of experts
that have many, many years of experience doing interiors.
And like you said, it is different than exterior.
There is more, it's all design,
but there's definitely some independent types of things to do there.
I think, you know, like if I think about the Cherokee,
we started with the, before we ever did a sketch,
we started with the design, the package we call it.
But that's basically the mannequins that you see
in the seats and kind of the dimensions around them.
So that could be leg room, shoulder room, bedroom.
You know, one, two couple is kind of a good way
to measure the front row of seating
versus the rear, the second row seating, headroom,
all of those things.
So we really started with that
and made sure that the space, that was a good,
like a nice, a good space to be in.
And then of course the designers,
you know, once they have that start sketching
and like the Cherokee is a really good example of,
you know, everything in the interior is very horizontal.
And that's like, how do we,
we have this great spacious environment.
How do we make it look even more spacious?
How, you know, it's, you know,
making sure the lines run from one side to the other,
pushing, you know, the masses down and away from you
to get, you know, the biggest open feeling,
skiving out just the right amount in the backs of the seats.
So there's room for, for your knees.
So I mean, that's one aspect of it.
And then as, you know, you start to get
into more levels of depth on that,
like we have a color materials team
that does nothing but color materials
on the exterior and interiors.
But on the inside, you know, it's,
they're really trying to create,
you know, what, you know, what get the right value
to the customer of all these different materials.
So not, you know, I mean, of course,
if you could spend all, you know, all the money,
you could, you could get more,
but to try to have a nice balance.
So they, they're looking at, you know,
different types of vinyls, cloth patterns,
woven textures, metal finishes,
and how do you bring those things together
to create a really rich, a rich feeling,
interesting environment.
So it feels spacious.
The, the mass and the interior is designed
to make it feel, you know, even more spacious.
And then the materials give you that next level
of when you touch it, you're surprised and delight.
You kind of love it.
So that's kind of the, I guess the,
we have teams that, that that's all they do is,
and there is as much as our exterior guys
are nerds about exteriors or interior teams,
nerds about interiors and all the little
trim around every vent and this, you know,
the direction of the stitches
and what kind of stitches those are and, you know,
all that fun stuff.
And then we have a user experience team
that does kind of all the digital design
and kind of helps create that balance of digital kind of,
we call soft controls that would be on the screen
versus the hard controls that would be physical buttons.
And for Jeep in particular,
it's really important to have the right balance there
because we do know people are using these vehicles
and they need to have some,
there's some tactility that we really want to have in there.
So the user experience team, again,
a team of dedicated experts to that craft
that studied interaction design.
They go to art school for interaction design
versus like car design.
And in addition, you know, so they're,
they're designing, you know,
how many presses does it take to get to somewhere on the screen?
How, how are you grouping things on the screen
into the same music and navigation and climate controls?
And on that team, we actually even have
a kind of in studio user testing.
So as they're designing or as they have different ideas
for how that, that interaction design might work,
they can get, test it and get quick feedback to see that,
you know, it's, it's, you know, not in their own head.
That's the actual, you know, average people
that aren't a user experience expert,
that it's as simple and as intuitive for them as they can.
So I think we have a, it really comes back to,
we've got the right skills in the right places focused on these things.
Yeah, cool. All right.
So I'm going to ask you a question that I asked
just about every designer I talked to.
It's very general, not specific to Jeep or Solantis
or any one car company, really.
But every designer I've ever met,
and this is not really surprising when you think about it,
all of you guys and women, the women I met as well,
dress very fashionable, have very fashionable watches,
and I assume, I've never been to any of your homes,
but I assume have very fashionable homes.
So, you know, it is, it's a two-part question.
One of, the first part is,
is there something about the way you were raised
or the way you're wired, you just have an eye for design
that translates across different types of objects,
not just cars, right?
Whether it's fashion, a home decor or anything else that,
that, you know, has a design element to it.
And the second part of the question is,
this is specific to you, Vince, is, you know,
where do you see your own preferences going?
Is a certain type of watch brand
or a certain type of watch design
that you like, a certain type of jacket or shirt
or in your home, art in your home,
or like, even functional things like clocks in your home
or appliances now have a little more style to them
than they used to when I was growing up in the 80s.
Maybe it's, maybe it's,
even your washing machine or your dryer at home
or your TV or whatever, you know,
anything that can be styled
or have any fashion ability to it,
is there anything personal
that you really kind of put a preference towards?
Yeah. Oh, that's a really interesting question.
I'm kind of laughing to myself over here.
Yeah, we, we're all pretty fashionable
as long as it's, as long as the item is black.
You know, that's true too.
I've noticed that trend over the years, yes.
I think, you know, I think, so just to go,
to go back like, I was always,
like the way I became a car designer,
I might be like the least fashionable car designer.
They, I grew up just loving to draw and sculpt and paint
and whatever I could get my hands on,
I just loved to create things.
And my father is a mechanic.
And so I used to work on cars with him all the time.
And I just loved seeing how cars go together and just,
I couldn't believe, like I pulled a couple of engines
with my dad and replaced a couple of engines
and I couldn't believe like every time we took a part off,
just you could see the thought
and you could see the design behind every wire
and hose and bracket and bolt and all of those things.
And I'm just like, man, this is so cool.
Somebody did this.
And so that's kind of how I just love to draw
and I love cars.
And so I was like, I got to go to art school
of the car designer.
And that's where that came from.
So that's kind of how I got into it.
I didn't grow up like, I don't know.
I'm kind of a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy.
Yeah, when I say fashionable,
I don't necessarily mean dressing up like,
it can be jeans and a t-shirt,
but jeans and t-shirt that look good.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, I think it comes down to our eyes as we go through,
I think one thing that brings all artists together,
we're super observant.
When we have us in art classes doing still life drawings,
we're looking at the light and shadow
and the proportion of the elements.
And to make sure, if you're going to do a portrait
and you screw up the proportions,
it doesn't look like the person at all.
So we're super highly tuned into that stuff.
So I think a lot of times when you think about fashion,
whether it's all black, black jeans, black shirt or not,
it's like the fit, right?
Does the fit look good?
Does the colors and the textures go together?
I mean, these are things that we do every day with vehicles
or every day and are growing up in our artwork.
And so I think we're just, our eyes are just tuned into it.
But it is funny though that if you look around the office,
we all wear all black and then sometimes gray
and if you're really lucky like dark blue,
it's as crazy as we get.
But I think that's what it is.
I mean, we're so, any artist is trained into proportion,
texture, color, all of those things.
So our eyes are just, that's what we're thinking about day 24-7,
if that makes sense.
It does, it also explains every time I've met a designer,
female, male, they all, their clothes always fit really well,
almost as if they're custom made.
As opposed to being off the rack.
So that idea for fit definitely makes sense.
Yeah. And I guess, and you were asking it,
like for me, I'm like, I don't know, like pretty simple dressing,
black sweaters, black t-shirts, jeans.
I love, I always were pretty regularly Jordan sneakers,
just because I grew up in Chicago
and I thought Michael Jordan was the coolest
and I always wanted to shoes.
And they have all those different colors and color ways
and cool things they do there.
So, but my house, I have young kids.
So I love a lot of designer stuff,
but I don't have so much designer stuff in my house
because my kids are little.
But I'll tell you with watches, I don't know if I have,
I mean, Omega makes some of my favorites.
I love the kind of the classic Seamaster Speedmaster,
that whole line.
But I love watching YouTube videos of guys restoring watches
just because it just blows my mind what's inside of those automatic,
the movements inside and what goes into those
and just how beautiful just the function of that is
and such a small area just blows me away.
Cool. All right.
So Vince, I think that's just about all the time we have for today.
I appreciate your time and I could talk design
with anybody for just about hours
because I know nothing about it.
I am not particularly, RCA can barely draw a stick figure,
but I love looking at car design.
When I was younger, I actually thought about being a car designer
until I realized I could not draw a stick figure.
So that kind of canceled that out.
But sometimes at a certain age,
you just realize that you just can't do certain things.
You just don't have the right talent for it or the right mindset.
But anyway, I love, you know, as someone who does this for a living,
I love being around well-designed cars and thinking about design,
especially on the inside of how form marries with function.
And like I said earlier, how you balance
how things look for how well things work.
So again, Vince Galante from Jeep has been with us.
He is the head of global design for Jeep.
Vince, thank you so much for your time.
Tim, thank you. It's so much fun.
Thanks for having me.
On the Truth About Cars podcast, we usually talk about NASCAR.
We did take a deviation recently for the New York Auto Show,
but we're kind of back on track upon fully intended with our NASCAR chat
and talking with T-Tech contributor Matthew Guy about it.
Matthew, how are you?
Hey, doing great, Tim. How are you today?
I'm well, kind of experiencing the spring
as we get a little bit warmer weather here.
And that kind of fits right along with the NASCAR schedule
because you want to talk about Kansas previewing that a little bit
as we will do that towards the end of the segment.
But we are in that portion of the schedule now, excuse me,
where the weather is getting warmer
and the drivers can go to tracks that they probably couldn't go to
even a few weeks ago in terms of weather.
We feel like the NASCAR schedule starts in Daytona, obviously,
and it's been warm weather throughout the first few races.
Warm weather states, Texas.
I believe they've already been to Las Vegas once.
So I think we've already had Phoenix.
How have we not?
You know, am I thinking of last year's...
Oh, we had that double, the NASCAR double.
Yeah, so we've been to Phoenix.
So not we, but NASCAR.
So the idea is that they stay in the warm weather tracks
through February and March and then April start getting towards.
Now I'm moving to the Southeast where it's a little bit more dicey weather-wise,
but they had good weather for Bristol,
which is a long way of saying you want to talk about Bristol, right?
They had good weather for the Bristol races
past Sunday, which ended up being quite the finish with
tag-yibs holding off Ryan Blaney by like a car door length,
half a car, something like that.
By those, yeah.
By those.
It was one of the first photo finish I've seen in a while.
It wasn't quite a photo finish
because you could see that Gibbs had won in real time.
You didn't have to look at the replay or like still photos.
So photo finish was probably a little too strong of a phrase,
but it was the first one that was that close
that I could have ever seen quite some time.
And so I want to talk about that.
And Matthew, I'll start a little bit that I want to get your pick of your brain.
We've talked about this on the podcast before,
so I don't want to get too repetitive,
but I'm starting to feel like NASCAR is almost like basketball,
both college and NBA.
And this ties into the recent March Madness too,
if you're a college basketball fan.
College basketball, especially, although NBA can be like this too,
depending on which teams are playing each other.
And you'll probably see more of it as we go to the playoffs,
which we're just about to start.
But in college basketball, I'm a big fan of college basketball,
NCAA tournament.
I love the tournament.
Love all the madness, the upsets, the buzzer beaters, all that.
But I can't watch every game at one time,
especially that first weekend when there's multiple games on it one time
and I don't have picture-in-picture on my TV.
If it does, I have a new TV,
but I don't know if it's picture-in-picture.
If it does, I haven't figured it out.
It's a long way of saying that I'll be watching one game
and I'll kind of tune into every game towards the end,
the final two or three minutes,
because that's when it gets good a lot of times.
And a lot of times one team is up by a lot,
and then another team comes back,
or sometimes it's close the entire way throughout.
But a lot of basketball,
unless you're a hardcore basketball fan or rooting for one of the teams,
if you're bouncing around channel to channel,
you might tune into only the final two minutes.
And how does this relate to NASCAR?
Well, I think NASCAR is becoming like that a little bit,
where you watch the race,
and unless you're a hardcore fan of a driver,
or unless you really understand the strategy
and really pay attention to pitch strategy,
which I'm trying to get better at as I become more and more of a fan,
because it's not just about which car is the fastest that day
or who makes the nice passing move at the right time,
but unless you're really paying close attention,
oftentimes it's those final 10 or 20 laps,
depending on the track, where the winner gets determined.
Sometimes stage one and stage two just don't matter.
And the stage racing is meant to make sure they bunch up
the field of stage three,
make sure nobody parades away with it,
and make the race more entertaining.
And we've discussed that a million times.
I'm generally a final stage racing,
and no, Matthew, you don't quite like it as much as I do.
But with Bristol, it was like, okay, I tuned in.
I didn't get to see the first part of the race.
I was running some errands and stuff.
I tuned in and Kyle Larson's doing well and just dominating.
And I forget what happened to him.
I think he had a bad pit stop,
or he got involved in a minor incident, something like that.
I can't remember off the top of my head what happened,
but he got kind of pushed down a couple of spots
down to third or fourth place.
And then the final laps, he didn't have enough juice
just to get around the drivers in front of him.
I forget where he finished, but it was in the high side.
But he was kind of knocked out of it,
but he'd been dominating for the first 10 minutes or so that I watched.
And then of course, Ty Gibbs comes into the picture,
holds off Ryan Blaney in a beautiful drive.
The last five or six laps are worth going back and watching again.
Because Blaney had a bunch of shots at Gibbs,
and they were running low line, they were running the high line,
and Bristol's a short track.
You have to make decisions quickly.
And if you run up high, you might lose to the guy going underneath you.
But if you run up high, you may have enough momentum to go around him.
And Blaney looked like he was going to get past Gibbs
and couldn't get past him.
So it was beautiful entertainment.
But at the same time, it's like,
do I need to watch the entire race for three hours
if it's not going to be interesting early on?
I don't know how you listen to that question, right?
Because with racing, drivers want to be in and near the ends of a chance to win.
So they're going to be conservative early on.
They're not going to be overly aggressive,
whether in terms of moves on the track or in terms of pit strategy.
They're not going to gamble on a fuel or gamble on tires too often.
Because they want to be in that top 10 near the end of the race.
In case there is an incident that they can maybe,
and Bristol had a caution late too.
I think it was where Ali Herbst was pushed off.
I think it was Bush pushed Herbst off into the wall of retaliation.
Forgive me, Matthew, if I get the names wrong, I thought it was Herbst though.
Bush for sure.
It was a retaliatory move.
But if you're a driver and you're running mid-pack all day,
and all of a sudden you can be in the top 10 near the end,
and maybe there's an incident and you move up during the caution
or you survive the incident and cars in front of you are taken out,
or maybe you just get a good run.
You know, those final 10 laps, you get fresh tires,
you have a full tank of fuel, and you've got a good car,
and all of a sudden you can maybe, depending on the track,
some tracks you can make a run with 10 laps to go, others you can't.
You know, maybe depending on the track, you get some passes,
and all of a sudden you're in top five, top three, maybe even in the race.
So it's not just NASCAR, I'm a fan of the Indy 500.
You watch the Indy 500 every year, and it's the same thing.
You know, even if it's a nice clean race without a lot of cautions
and with a ton of passing, it really doesn't matter until the final 20 laps.
So even if you have two guys dueling out the entire race,
so maybe it's just inevitable.
Maybe it's just the way racing works.
And maybe it's the way sports work, except for baseball and football.
But yeah, and hockey, maybe it's the way basketball works too.
But you know, I'm just curious if you feel the same way Matthew.
Yeah, and you talked about baseball, and they've been trying to close up the times
on how long a baseball game is.
Yeah, to be clear, I'm not complaining about how long the race is.
I'm just saying that unless you're really paying close attention
to some of the littler things that add up over the course of the race,
you might not need to watch the whole race.
Right, then you end up watching the back 25% of the race or something like that.
Especially now, like with, I mean, not now, it's been around forever,
but these over times Bristol went into overtime this week, right?
And there are decisions that are made, like you said,
the hardcore fan will probably stick around for the entire race.
It's tough.
I mean, you know, it's looking at the TV for four hours.
Yeah, especially in today's day and age,
and your phone is pinging every two seconds with a notification.
Exactly, right?
And this is a struggle for almost all sports, right?
Yeah, I agree, absolutely.
And the neat thing, I suppose, with, you talked about the last little bit
of this Bristol race is that they went into overtime, which is one conversation,
and there were three different drivers who had the good shot at winning.
They were all on different tire strategies, which I found pretty unique.
That doesn't always happen.
Usually almost everyone is on the same or very similar sort of strategy
in terms of pit stops.
Entire strategies, because you had Larson was in the mix.
He had two, was it right sides or left?
Anyways, he only had two tires.
I don't recall top of my head, to be honest with you.
Yeah, I wish I could remember better.
Yeah, me too, just in general.
Tim, I wish I could remember better.
At our age, right?
But he had to, Blaney had four, and he was clearly the fastest, right?
But Gibbs prevailed, and like you said, it was a good drive,
and he was on, he rolled the dice and stayed out.
The team made the call to stay out on tires that were worn a little bit,
and it led to that really, really close finish.
And that has to have been the closest finish at Bristol in decades.
That's the closest Bristol finish I could remember in decades.
Yeah, I can't remember top of my head, but it was definitely,
I don't recall one that close.
I didn't even remember it in a while.
Me either, right?
No, you're exactly right.
Anywhere, it's been a spell, and it's definitely been a very long time at Bristol
since we've seen something that close.
So if, I mean, Ryan Blaney and his mustache were just almost close, right?
I mean, maybe there was a bit of extra aero impact from his new push-room mustache.
Yeah, maybe the mustache went across the line first.
The mustache might have, if you put the mustache on the front of his car,
instead of on his face, it might have helped, right?
But with that, I just thought it was super cool and talks a bit more, I guess,
about NASCAR and how all these teams are doing something a little bit different,
yet they are really, really close.
And we've seen the development of, and this is a different conversation we could have
during an off-week or something like that,
but we've seen the development of this so-called next-gen car.
So I'm sure if you looked at some sort of spread of finishes,
where each team tried to land and lap times and things of that nature,
it was probably a bit more spread out when this car first showed up than it is now.
And the teams are more closely bunched together, by and large, for this next-gen car.
So a lot of teams have figured it out.
Some haven't, and the ones that haven't figured it out, RCR,
are paying the price right now in terms of their finishes.
So haven't those three different tire strategies yet still having a really close
finish at the end?
Ty Gibbs, it's a 54 car, think what one might, but he's certainly held on
against that really hard-to-charge and 12 car.
So we got his first win, and I know people are always saying,
oh, when's the first win coming?
The same thing with Josefer, right?
I mean, people are asking, right?
I don't know if Gibbs feels the same way or not.
He might feel a little bit differently, because in a lot of people's opinions,
he'll always have a seat, because his granddad owns the team, right?
So it might not be on him as much as it would be for someone like Carson Josefer,
who needs to, and has been performing.
And there's no need to put pressure on him.
He's been a good driver.
That first win was coming.
He's still really young, too.
So, right?
So, I mean, he's only won 24.
I wouldn't, if he was 34, I'd be, you know, put a little pressure on him.
But at 24, and he's been close a lot.
So he was one of those drivers he knew was inevitable.
So, yeah, and I think, I didn't mean to cut you off.
I hope I didn't cut you off there.
No, no, no.
But I also think, I may have answered my own question about,
you know, needing to tune in late to the race.
I think the best way, so apply to basketball, too, I think, but definitely racing,
whether it's IndyCar or NASCAR or IMSA, is if you're going to watch the entire race,
just pay more close attention.
Get off your phone.
Try and understand what the broadcast is talking.
I think it's actually incumbent upon the broadcast who really,
Fox generally does a good job with this.
NBC has been, for the most part, pretty good.
You know, the different networks that broadcast the races.
I think it's incumbent upon the broadcast to explain what's going on with pitch strategy,
especially since the camera can't catch everything, and the camera might be on the
leader and someone might be pitting off screen.
So I think it's important for the broadcast, and for you as a fan,
to put a little bit of work in as a fan and for the broadcast to say,
this is what strategy so-and-so is running, this is so-and-so pitted here,
here's why they're pitting, here's what they're doing.
You know, a lot of these broadcasts, they'll provide you either an in-race interview with a
crew chief, or they'll listen in on the radio and explain what's going on.
So I think maybe as a fan, if you want to really maximize those first two stages of the race and
not just be, oh, I'll wait for the final 20 laps and see who wins in a dramatic push to the finish,
I think that's the key.
Take down your phone a little bit, and I'm as guilty as anybody of being distracted by my phone.
Take down your phone a little bit, put it away, or maybe save it for a commercial,
and then listen to the broadcast and listen to them say so-and-so pitted,
because that's really how you're going to follow the entire race all the way through,
because you might see someone pit in stage one, and that move, they change tire strategy,
or they change something, you know, maybe they change the suspension of the car,
so it's more loose or more tight.
Maybe that change they make in the 20th lap of the race of the first pit stop
is why they win the race an hour and a half later.
So, you know, I think that's one thing to pay attention to.
And I think that's part of the reason why people, you know,
that's how you can watch the entire race and still sort of know what's going on.
And also, I think too, it doesn't happen every week, obviously, but there will be times where
a contender drops out early due to mechanical failure or a crash.
So I think those are the reasons to stay tuned to the first two thirds of the race.
So I do apologize for my step in you at all there.
No, not at all. And great point, right? I mean, I'm guilty of it too, man.
Just drifting away, looking at your phone or whatever.
Yeah, especially if the race is running smoothly for a few laps.
Yeah, and as well, shout out Alex Bowman.
I know it wasn't the finish he was looking for, but he was back in the car.
Oh, that's good to see. I didn't notice that.
He was back in the car for Bristol.
So I mean, good for him because the vertigo was not to something not to be trifled with.
No, especially in a car where you're pulling probably over, at least over a G.
Coming back at Bristol, like, I get dizzy just looking at the place.
Yeah, you only have one or two seconds before you're in the corner again.
So, but anyway, but yeah, but he's, so shout out, you know, shout out to 48 for getting there,
getting the driver in the seat and cleared, you know, to go.
And he's also listed for Kansas coming up, which is coming up this week.
And looking ahead to Kansas, there's a couple of things worth talking about.
There's a good year is bringing a tire combination that we've seen already this year.
Same setup is back in place. That was there, I think.
It was a tire construction, like the type of tire that they're bringing with the
compounds and stuff like that. They have been at Kansas before, right?
And I think it was last year. I think they used it last fall.
But, you know, there's different, again, there's going to be different tire strategies.
And it's funny how a plate out tire strategy played out for Bristol,
because that one's not generally dictated by tire strategy.
Oh, yeah, it really isn't, really.
Right. I mean, I'm going to get some comments about that.
And, you know, perhaps rightly so, but I do think that tires are, I'm sorry,
teams are going to be aggressive with tire pressures because Kansas at this time of year
is not going to be hot. I think it's going to be a little bit cooler.
And if that is the case, excuse me, teams are probably going to be a bit more aggressive
with tire pressures. And we talked about this. I forget what race it was,
but Goodyear was saying, Hey, here's the tire pressure.
And I want to say Phoenix.
Phoenix. Yes. And team speed. That's exactly what it was.
And teams being teams, they pushed the envelope a little bit too firm.
We had all those not tire problems. They were tire problems,
but they weren't because of the tires. They were because of what teams were trying to do.
Right. So you think we may see it again in Kansas?
It might happen. It might happen, right? Goodyear's been putting in the wrench time.
And it's not something that we could often say in the past, you know,
praising up the tire companies, but, you know, they have been putting in the wrench time.
So continual progression, you know, off, off, off the tire, and we'll have a look
ahead to Kansas and see if that rears its head again.
And as the couple of paint schemes that stand out, the three is going to look pretty different.
And the number one, number one, Ross Chastain is running his red car.
So if people are just looking for cars, his is going to be red instead of his normal colors.
This race coming up for Kansas. So a couple of different looks for the track.
Yeah. Yeah. I was headed for Kansas and just to circle back to Bristol for one second,
you said something just a second ago that right before we went to the Kansas preview that really
crystallized how I watched the Bristol race and I wish I would have thought of it sooner.
But you mentioned how Bristol makes you dizzy watching it.
One of the, at one point in the race, I forget which driver it was. They have the in-car on
and it doesn't matter. It's irrelevant to the point I'm trying to make, but they had,
they had the in-car one of the drivers. He was probably middle of the pack and,
you know, it was four or five laps and then they switched to the regular cam review.
But I was just watching in real time. I don't think they had any telemetry. I don't think they
were showing speed. Sometimes they show speed, you know, how much brake or how much throttle is
being used and steering wheel angle and all that stuff. But I don't think they had that in this
broadcast, in this particular part of the broadcast. But just watching the in-car and it was,
I think it was from the passenger side window, not, you know, there's different in-cars. You
know, it wasn't, sometimes you get like the middle of the dash. Occasionally you get a helmet cam
in the in-car. I don't think you ever get that in this car. But just watching the in-car,
it was amazing how quick that straight disappears. And they weren't even going that fast because
they were middle of the pack and they were trying to say, it was earlier in the race,
they were probably trying to, they were probably weren't going 10 tenths. They were probably saving
fuel, saving tire, and also hit cars in front of them. They couldn't quite pass, so they didn't
want to drive into the back of them and cause a wreck, right? So you have a driver who's at 60 or
70% of his full effort. And again, I don't know how short track, it's probably not a ton of speed.
It's probably not that, you know, you think at Daytona, oh, 200 miles an hour is really fast.
You think Bristol, you're like, oh, well, I could probably do that in a sports car. I've
gotten up driving experience, but it's, but actually you probably can't. And it's just amazing.
I was thinking to myself, what if I was doing that at a Richard Petty experience,
and I was the only car out there and I had all this supervision and a guy in my year talking and
you know, what, how would I react to like, okay, it's straight away. Oh, brakes again, turn. Like,
you just don't have any time to thank you. You're in the straight away, a lot of these longer tracks
are in the straight away for a long time and you can cool your brakes off. You can let your
mind wander a little bit between corners, especially if there's not a car, especially
that pump traffic and car in front of you or something like that. You know, and then people,
I've always heard drivers say that they love the long straightaways on a road course for the same
reason. Their brakes can cool off. They can, they can let their mind wander a little bit before
capturing the next corner. You know, they can think about non racing stuff, which to me blows
my mind, you would think to be capturing on the racing tire for hours, but these guys are so good,
they don't have to necessarily. But at Bristol, you don't get that opportunity. You're like,
come out of the corner, you're on the gas, you know, and then just as you have,
just as you kind of settle the car down and for the straightaway, it's time to turn and break
again. So I just thought that was unique about Bristol and your comment about being dizzy,
watching races there, totally tracks. So did you have anything to add on Kansas Matthew? We've
like two minutes left. No, I'm good. But thanks, man. Yeah. And sorry for, for circling it back
to Bristol there. I just wanted to make that point because you reminded me of it. And I was like,
I can't let that one go until next week. So anyway, with that, we will, we'll see you guys
next week. Our listeners are here. We'll hear you. You'll hear us something like that. So we'll
be back next week with more mass car talk on the truth about cars podcast. Thank you, Matthew.
Thank you. That's it for this week's truth about cars podcast. I am Tim Healy, the managing editor,
and you can find us wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find us at ttac.com,
that's ttac.com or the truth about cars, all spelled out.com. We thank Vince Galante and Matthew
Guy for their time and Matt Poskey for editing. Most of all, we thank you for listening. We'll see
you next time.
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About this episode
Jeep design chief Vince Galante breaks down how iconic styling constraints (like the seven-slot grille and boxy proportions) coexist with global regulations, customer expectations, and real off-road function—learning those lessons firsthand at events like Easter Jeep Safari. He also explains Jeep interior design as a coordinated effort across packaging, materials, and UX teams, balancing “soft” digital controls with tactile physical ones. T-Tech’s Matthew Guy then shifts to practical garage habits: using parts/tool cleaners to degrease greasy tools before storing, with safety cautions. The NASCAR segment debates whether races are best watched late, highlighted by a razor-close Bristol finish and a Kansas preview.
Hello and welcome to The Truth About Cars podcast! I am Tim Healey, the managing editor, and this week, we talk design with Jeep's Vince Galante.
TTAC contributor Matthew Guy and I explore tool cleaners and a fantastic finish at Bristol -- and I wonder if NASCAR has become like basketball, in that you only need to watch the end. We also preview Kansas
We thank Vince and Matthew for their time and Matt Posky for editing. Most of all, we thank you for listening! We'll see you next time!
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