MotoMaster is a car-related brand in Canada. Here, they’re mentioned as working with a racing program (IMSA), which usually means they support the teams and the sport.
Canadian Tire is a major Canadian retailer that also owns automotive brands like MotoMaster. The mention here connects a mainstream retail brand to motorsport partnerships, which is common for tire, battery, and maintenance product companies.
IMSA is a big racing league in North America. When someone says “IMSA program,” they mean a serious racing effort that’s officially connected to that league.
This is a big race event in Long Beach, California. Because it’s run on city streets, the track is tight and unforgiving, so the car setup matters a lot.
A street race uses public roads converted into a temporary circuit, usually with barriers close to the racing line. Compared to purpose-built tracks, street circuits tend to have less runoff and more surface variation, which affects tire wear and car setup.
Indy qualifying is when drivers race to set their best time before the main event. Your starting spot matters a lot because it can affect how easy it is to pass during the race.
A street circuit is when a race uses regular city streets that get closed off for the weekend. Barriers and closures are put in place so the cars can race safely.
A track walk is when people go on foot to look over the track before racing. It helps them notice details like where the curbs are and how the turns feel.
Long Beach Grand Prix is a big race weekend in Long Beach, California. The cars race on streets that are closed off for the event, and it’s famous for the atmosphere and history.
Long Beach’s Walk of Fame is a public place where honored people get a permanent marker. In this episode, they’re talking about it as part of the racing honors.
Lockheed Martin is a big company that makes military aircraft and other defense technology. They’re saying they get to tour where that kind of stuff is built.
Andretti refers to Andretti Autosport, a prominent IndyCar team. The speaker attributes strong performance to the Andretti cars, implying team competitiveness and car setup quality.
Wind can change how the car “feels” at speed. If it changes between qualifying rounds, the same setup might not work as well, so teams may need to adjust.
A “set of tires” typically means one complete tire package for a car (front and rear), used as a unit during a race weekend. The speaker discusses how many sets can realistically be reserved and redistributed across qualifying rounds.
This is a strategy for entertainment: arranging qualifying so the fastest drivers are positioned to run later, building suspense as the session progresses. It’s essentially about sequencing attempts to maximize drama rather than purely optimizing competitive fairness.
Formula One (F1) is the top tier of open-wheel racing, known for purpose-built race cars and strict technical regulations. The speaker is referencing Long Beach’s origins as an F1 event, which helps explain why the track and event carry major prestige.
“President and CEO” refers to the top executive leadership role responsible for overall strategy and day-to-day direction of an organization. The speaker uses it to emphasize Jim McAleon’s long-term influence on how the Long Beach event evolved.
“First practice” is the opening on-track session of a race weekend where teams run early setup checks and gather baseline data. Drivers use it to learn grip levels, brake behavior, and how the car responds to steering and throttle inputs at that specific circuit.
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This is Offtrack. Tim, why don't you start it?
I don't want to do that. I think you should do it.
Hello, and welcome to Offtrack with Henshin Rossi.
What do you think you're doing, Tim? Just taking our line from this?
Who's our line? Alex isn't here.
Well, it's still a line that he sometimes says. Just because he's not here doesn't mean
possessions, nine-tenths of the law, not attendance.
I'll say it's kind of weird because we pretty often will do just one of you guys for a Tuesday
episode. We almost never do that for a Thursday episode.
Have we done it before? I'm sure we have. I'm sure we have.
Because everybody's got crazy schedules. Well, we normally draft in a co-host replacement,
like a pinch-hitter for the co-host role, which we've not done this week. So yeah,
Alex isn't here. This is an Offtrack with Henshin Rossi, but on Thursday.
So the other thing, and somebody pointed this out, I got a pretty funny tweet.
I said, every Tuesday, I look forward to an episode of Offtrack with Henshin Rossi,
and every Tuesday, I'm disappointed. I think we need to stop calling it the Tuesday episode,
because more often than not, I feel like it comes out on Wednesdays.
Tim, I'm shocked. I'm shocked at you, that you of all people don't love the irony of calling
the Tuesday show a show that comes out majority of the time on Wednesdays.
For the guy that celebrates Halloween on June 22nd, and Easter on November 8th,
I feel like- I was thinking of doing a going away party at my new place.
A house goodbye party at your new place? Is your new place sponsored by Coca-Cola,
or like what's going on? Now I got the machine. So that's actually my great-grandmother's
Coke machine. She had a hair salon in Kentucky 80 years ago or something, and it stayed in the
family. But now it's a little more- it's always been in my place. It's always been in my apartment,
but it's just not been in the shot. A little worried that it's a conflicting sponsor with
one of you guys, but nobody's paying me. Or is this a huge opportunity? Are we just showing
the Coca-Cola company what they could be getting and will continue to get for free if they give us
nothing, but they could give us some stuff? Because we all are pretty big fans of Diet Coke.
Actually, Alex is a Coke Zero guy, isn't he? I've kind of stopped drinking Diet Coke.
Oh, I can like a Diet altogether? It wasn't even like a conscious decision. I just kind of stopped
liking it. Oh, okay. So this wasn't like a health thing, or like you just don't like it anymore.
Do I make a lot of health- I had a lot of follow-ups if you had said, yeah,
I was trying to cut back on it for health reasons. No, just one day I was like,
yeah, I don't really feel like having that, because I would have like two or three a day.
That's too much, I think. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Again, do I ever do anything in moderation?
No, including moderation itself. I think that's where you really kind of go off the rails, you
know? My dad always has that saying, it's everything in moderation, but everything.
So I wish I had a Diet Coke right now, because I flew into Long Beach last night,
and I was at an event up in Canada, like 24 hours up in Canada. I was at an event up there for
MotoMaster, which is an owned brand of Canadian Tire, partner on the IMSA program, and a company
I work a lot with, and flew straight from Toronto to LA last night. Got in a bit late, but delayed,
and then had an early start, because I had an event that I was hosting this morning
here in LA. So I'm a little sleepy, and I need a caffeine kick, but I don't have any Diet Coke.
Oh, wait, is this, am I having Java with James? You're having Java with James,
except I'm choosing to drink. I feel like I should make a coffee.
We can pause, and you can go get one, but it's got to be what I'm drinking.
I had two cups of coffee this morning. Okay, so I'm just going to get this over with.
Yeah, no, it's not pretty good. I think I do have one Diet Coke in the fridge,
so I can see if I still made it. Save that for me. So I just down to double espresso, because
that's my coffee of choice. I respect it. I respect it, because if you don't,
you hate coffee, right? You're like not a coffee drinker. I really like that was gross.
Yeah, you're just doing it for efficiency's sake, and I respect that. It is just,
how can I get the most caffeine into me with as little time tasting coffee as possible?
And that was, that's the drink. So that'll hopefully pick me up a little bit. I also
haven't eaten yet today, and it's coming up on 1pm LA time, which is 4pm Eastern,
which is why I'm starting to snack on my Go macro bar, another health conscious decision
you won't make if you're at the airport. We're just continually plugging brands that aren't paying
that do not support us at all. We are supporting them, not only with our purchases,
but also with our content on our show. So, Tim, it's hard to miss the fact that you have
this new apartment behind you now. Yeah, it's been nice getting settled. Again,
I don't know what you were complaining about moving really easy. Shut up. It sucked.
It sucked. Alex isn't here. Alex isn't here. So you don't have to be like all just
ganging up on me about this. I can't wait for Alex to move next because he's going to hate it so much.
Yeah. I know it was, it was a little rough, but it wasn't, it wasn't terrible. I still have like
two weeks of overlap with my old place. So I still have some like more stuff over there
than I get. Oh, you do? Yeah. Oh, so you could legitimately still hold a going away party at
your old place. No, I'll do a housewarming party at my old place. Right, of course.
Foolish of me. Foolish of me to say it that way. Are you liking it though? I'm like,
how are you? Cause you sent us a text after your first night and you said,
I woke up this morning and I felt like a Beverly Hiller. I, there, there's,
it's been very positive. I don't have, I don't have any negatives to talk about. Like my commute
for getting hazel to school is, is more than cut in half.
On the first day though, I didn't realize that her tennis shoes that she needed after
spring break were still at the old place. So like I drove her to school and she was in her
crocs and then I drove back to the old place and then brought the shoes back to school before
it started. And it was just like a nice reminder side by side of, of how much better my current
commute is. That is nice. That's a nice way to kind of get the, the excellent case you ever had,
having any doubts about moving, any reservations about it. That put the, yeah, put the exclamation
point on it. Has Hazel's, so Hazel stayed there? Yeah. Yeah. Hazel's, Hazel's been here. She got
back from a spring break Sunday. So she's been here since then. She's settled in. Yeah. Everything's
been going pretty well. It's a, it's nice. I was joking with my brother though. I was like,
I don't know if like, I feel comfortable having moved into this place because this feels like a
grown-ups place. And he was like, you know, you're 35. Yeah. You're 35 with a child.
Correct. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I kind of like, I didn't forget, but like, that wasn't top of mind.
You hadn't thought about it in that way. Yeah. So it does feel a little more.
I know that it's definitely a little more adult, which is probably appropriate given those factors
you just mentioned. I'm sorry that I'm eating a bar of guys. I forgot. It's okay. There was a truck
doing construction outside right now. So there's, yeah. I also noticed you're not wearing headphones.
Is that, was there a reason for that? I just didn't think about it. Okay. Am I, are you getting echo?
I heard one little bit, but it's fine. It's not, it's not right now. I just was more thinking like
after the last time you didn't use headphones and it nearly really backfired on you. Can we talk about
that yet? Nope. Well, let's just say hopefully one day we could tell the story of when Tim had to
talk to somebody in his apartment. I left more of that in than I should have. Oh, okay. All right.
Well, anyway, so your old background, like where you recorded, had your desk, which had
lots of memorabilia and paraphernalia and stuff on it, right? Yeah. And it was, it was, but it's not
the right word because I thought it was tastefully done. It looked like kind of my old office,
a mile house, lots of stuff, right? Yeah, yeah. But nicely done. Most people don't get the chance to
see the rest of your apartment, your old apartment, and a similar theme. There was just a lot of stuff.
Yeah. I like stuff. Yeah. You're a stuff guy. I'm in Rio fans here. I heard that one song and
just made it my life motto. You're not going to get that joke, but like three people that are
listening are going to get that joke. And I look for it. Because I do know that I'm going to,
I'm going to see those tweets that people are going to tag us in and be like,
I totally got the Diamond Rio reference, like the Sacajawea coins. And there was one other thing that
I was super vindicated on that, by the way. I was surprised at how many people replied
in the, in the affirm on that one. But like by super vindicated, it's a bit strong because like,
you know, thousands of people listen to this show and like six that were like, yeah, totally.
There was nobody who was on your guys side. That is absolutely incorrect. That is not
accurate at all. I didn't see anybody posted saying they never heard of them.
I will 100% break up those tweets. Maybe they did tag you in it to not hurt your,
your precious ego, your fragile little ego. But no, my question is you like stuff. I like
stuff. I like that we have a similar stuff thing. Do you just have way more room or did you throw
out a lot of stuff? I do have more room. I have not unpacked all of the stuff yet. There, there
are still a lot of boxes like right there. And you can kind of see some of the boxes over there.
It's a work in progress. So are you in your, like, is this where your desk is? Is this the
view we're going to have for the rest of time? Yeah, this is, this is the desk and this is
where everything set up. The hutch on the desk doesn't really fit in my new setup. So I got to
figure out if I'm going to get rid of that or set it up or what, what the deal is going to be on
that. But now this will be the view. As much as I hate to say it, I'm sure I'm going to fill this
with too much stuff. Oh, all right. I'm sure this is going to look cluttered in an alarmingly short
amount of time. Jim, that's not a you thing. Everybody has too much stuff in their house.
Almost everybody. It's just an inevitability. It's just part of being an adult. That's what
adult houses end up being. There's a lot of stuff. Normally it's in your basement if you have one.
I don't know if you have a basement in this place. So I have a garage that does not fit my car.
Perfect. That is just going to be a hub of stuff. Yeah. If you can't fit your car in there,
all that it's going to be is just a storage unit of stuff.
Yeah. Yeah. The one other big thing, and then we'll talk about racing because I don't think
anybody really gives a **** about my new place. I feel like this is more relatable actually. I
think moving is something that more people do than competing at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
So I'm not rushing. I'm not rushing. There are some citrus trees in my backyard,
which is new for me for a couple of reasons. I've never had a backyard of my own.
Admittedly, I still don't. It's a duplex. It's a shared backyard.
Did you wait? Hang on. Question though. Do you buy this place or are you renting this place?
I'm renting this place. Yeah. So that's not your tree either way, pal. I just want to make that
very clear. Absolutely. But I can have the fruit off of it. Did you work that into the lease?
Did you work that into the agreement? I would like to check the fine print. I mean, she's not here.
She doesn't know. Well, look, you're already strike one. So let's not push the boundaries anymore.
There's a cumquat tree in the back. I didn't know what a cumquat was. I thought the name is
hilarious. Still do. I had to use AI to identify it. I had one of those like plant ID apps,
and I took a picture of it, and it was like cumquat. And then I googled,
it was like, is cumquat safe to eat? Yes. When you say I used one of those plant
identification apps, my question is simply, did you already have one of those? Or was it
downloaded for this probably? I downloaded that for this specific purpose.
You made it sound like, oh, I just pulled out old, you know, planty, which is the plant
identification app. Okay. All right. So then, and then what did what did Google say about?
You can eat. Have you ever had a cumquat? I have had a cumquat. Yeah.
I was not expecting, yes, you can eat them, by the way, obviously, or I have bad news for you.
First both.
I was not expecting how tart that was. That was, that was aggressive.
I don't know if, I don't know if there's like different, you know,
how do you know if it was like ready to be picked? I don't know if it was ripe.
Google told me the bright orange ones were good. Okay. All right. So that's okay.
Are you going to find a way to incorporate cumquat into your life a little more regularly now?
Downstairs neighbor told me it goes well with tequila. So I was gonna, that was kind of my follow-up
was have we did, have we yet designed a cumquat cocktail? You know what? Come on by, you're in
town. I'm on my way. I'm on my way. Yes, Tim, I am in town and I am in town because it is in fact
race week. We're finally going racing again. I say finally, we had a week off. Two, we had two,
calm down. Oh yeah. F1's in the middle of five. So I feel like we're doing pretty well, even though
this is a longer break. But guys, we have this, so with this two week break, we have Long Beach
this weekend, then I do believe it's another two weekends or no? So one weekend in May?
Is May 9th, right? No one asked me questions and expected answers. Yes. So we have two weekends off
and then the indie road course. Oh, because we have the open test. So that's why there's like a
kind of thing. So technically, so we have another two week break after this. And then after that,
there are no two week breaks left in the schedule. After that, we are pretty much rolling.
Indie road course, Indie qualifying, Indie 500, Detroit GP, St. Louis weekend off,
Milwaukee, Laguna Seca done. So we are now either back to back or one week on one week off for the
season, which is awesome. That means lots of Indie car coming your way. But dude, I just,
I just am so happy to come here every single year. And it was the same again. I was in the
Uber coming from the airport. It was late at night. And even still, you know, you hit the
main strip here, you see all the road closures start seeing the barriers up. And there's just
something about this race, man, something about this event that just feels different, just feels
awesome. I love coming here every year. I love Thursday here, doing the track walk, just everything's
coming together. And this is one of those places where like you are a little bit jealous of the
guys that are going out, the guys, girls that are going out and driving around here, because it's
just a fun track. It's a great event. It's a fun track. My IMSA family's here, you know, fast racing
this race on Saturday. Obviously the Indie car community. It's just, it's just great.
Jim, do you have a favorite Long Beach memory? You know, I was talking about Long Beach with
somebody else and it's just, I don't know why. I thought maybe it's because I live out here and
it just feels like I have a connection to it. You know, it's, it's basically now my home race.
But there's just something that feels special about Long Beach. It's just, it's, it's got the
history. It's got the pedigree. And, and like I was at, I was at dinner last night with Oriole
Serbia and Matt, our friend Matt Cattrell and a few other people were, we were talking about Long
Beach with somebody and I realized one, how long I've been going to the Long Beach Grand Prix and
how many I've been in a row. And he was like, I can't remember. I think I went to one and,
and he said the year and I was, Oh, was that the year that Mike Conway won? And then he was like,
yeah, yeah. And then I went again. And in 2018, I was like, Oh, when Rossi won. And I was like,
man, that's weird to me that I just have that recall as well. Like I've been going to this race
so many times that, but you do also know both those guys kind of, right? So like who won in 2013,
who won in 2013 years that would have absolutely worked for me. And no, I do not remember. Yeah.
Yeah. Who won in 2020? 2020. Somebody who drove for it. That was an Andretti year, right?
That's your question. There was no race in 2020 because of COVID. Who won in 2017?
All right. I don't want to play this game anymore. The answer is me, Tim. I won the race in 2017.
You awful terrible friend. Wow. Yeah. Wow. You know Rossi's wins, but you don't know mine.
Cool. That your friend. Wow. I remember every single, I remember every single one of your
IndyCar wins. Okay. You and I together averaging two and a half, right? Oh, wait.
No. No, you don't even know how many wins I have. Wow. Wow. How many do you have? I've got six,
dude. Jeez. This is a rough crowd. We're not counting New Orleans. That's actually kind of fair.
That was, that one was a bit, that was, that was, I don't want to say I'm not proud of it,
because like a wins a win, but like I'm proud of the absolute sham that we pulled off with
the strategy in that race. Like I'm, that's what I'm proud of that. Like we literally bamboozled
IndyCar into a win. It was incredible. Okay. Shout out, Robert Kuei. Speaking of your
accomplishments at Long Beach, you are in the Long Beach Hall of Fame, right? It's, it's a walk.
Yes. Yes. Same. Yeah. I don't, yeah. I'm not saying that in like a condescending way. I'm just
trying to be accurate here. And yes, before the race, I remember that because I was also there for
that ceremony. You were there for that. You were there for that. And that is of note because that
is another place where Alex and I's names or likenesses in some way will be near each other
imprinted in cement in the city of Long Beach because they put your face down in Victory Lane
when you win here. And then they put, you know, a plaque down for you on the walk when you get
inducted and on Thursday, which is today, if you're listening as this comes out, our good buddy and
podcast co-host, Alex Rossi, is getting his little square on the Walk of Fame in Long Beach,
which is very cool. When do I get mine? So I think after your third win here,
you will get that. That would be, I think, a good time.
We'll just use your phone as a flashlight.
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in Pasadena Thursday morning. But then after that, I kind of have to come back here and get Hazel.
She's having some friends over Thursday after school. So I don't think I can go from Pasadena
to Long Beach and then back over here. I think I need to just come back here.
Especially in time. Yeah. That's because I guess that's why Alex has got that heart out.
Yeah. Yeah. So our friends at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, I guess,
haven't heard any of the episodes in which Alex talks about not believing in the moon landing.
Oh, you've broached this subject with them. Have you?
I have not because I didn't want to draw attention to it. I didn't.
Okay. I wasn't sure if maybe that's why we were invited. It's not because you and I are
space nerds. It's because they want to prove to him that we have.
Sure. It's because we're space nerds. Okay. But I just assumed they haven't heard any of
the episodes in which he talks about not believing in the moon landing. So they invited us and they
were like, Oh, we'd love to show you around. We can make a whole day of it. And we were working
on the schedules like whole day of it. Alex needs to be at Long Beach by 11am because he's
getting deducted the Hall of Fame. So by whole day of it, do you mean seven to 10am? Because we'll
be there. I'm very excited. I got a little preview of what we're supposed to do and we're
going to talk about that at length next week's episode, I'm sure, but I'm pretty.
Yeah. I'm nerding out pretty hard on that one. This is a very, very cool opportunity. And,
you know, we've talked at length about our collective space nerdiness and time and
space camp and what have you. And, uh, I mean, dude, how like what a run we're on.
Get to go to Lockheed Martin and check out the F 35, you know, assembly line,
unbelievable. And, uh, now we're going to get to go cruise around JPL with some cool stuff planned.
Very amazing. So yeah, if you're listening and you also have a cool thing that you want us to
come visit, just let us know. Just hit us up. It's no big deal. Jurassic Park. I know it's not
real. I do a tour of it. Um, Oh, is that a thing now? Do they have that at like Disney or? No,
if you have a Jurassic Park style Island, where you've genetically brought back dinosaurs,
I want movies. I will do a tour. Got it. Okay. I'm, I'm washing my hair that day. So I,
I'm not going to make, I'm going to, I would a hundred percent go to Jurassic Park. You would
go to Jurassic Park even after everything happened again. Well, I mean, it hadn't actually happened
yet. The first time. That's like saying, that's like saying, that's like people saying, ah,
no, no, no, come on aboard. It's unsinkable. You're going to love it. Look, if they made the Titanic
again, I would do it. I actually, that's, I would 1000% percent. I've actually like wanted to, like,
I'd wanted somebody with billions of dollars to just rebuild the ship basically to the same
spec, but like with real engines and like modern, you know, electrics and some wiring and stuff,
but like for the most part, maybe enough life votes this time. I'm not even fussed about that.
Honestly, I'm not even fussed about that because I feel like they like the, all the radar technology
will be better, you know, that we won't hit anything. We also don't have to go through
the cold part. We can just cruise like around the Caribbean, just have the ship because it
looked awesome. Again, though, what are the odds it happens again? That is, yeah, that one,
that one I'm willing to mess with. It's like whenever a restaurant announces they had a
Nikolai outbreak, you could eat there the next week. That will be the safest food you could ever eat,
right? That's when they're going to be at their peak of, of like taking care of everything, right?
I don't know. The concept is sound and I apply that to certain things, but like, man, like, if a,
I would be more inclined to say that like, I'm not even going to put that on the universe.
I, I'm not, no, let me think of a different example. You know, if you're going to go parachuting
with a, with a company in wherever and they had a shoot fail last week, I would be like, yeah,
there's no way they're having to happen in two weeks. They're triple checking those shoots,
right? Yeah. Like they're not, Jurassic Park's not rehiring Dennis and Edry. We're going to be fine.
I suppose, I suppose. Can Goldbloom be there though? Just
Otherwise, what's the point? I didn't, yeah, that's the only reason why I really wanted to go.
You've seen one Tyrannosaurus rex. You've seen them all, you know? Okay, back to Long Beach.
They, they have made, there was some news going into the weekend, which I'm bummed that Alex
isn't here to give his opinion on because I would like to understand. I think I understand,
but I still don't agree. So we have brought back, I think, among much fanfare after the first attempt,
the single car qualifying for the Firestone Fast 6. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's now going to happen at
every street circuit moving forward for the rest of the year. Very cool. What happened in Arlington
was the way the format worked. They took the six fastest drivers from Q2 that made it into Q3.
They reversed the order and then that's how they did single car qualifying, akin to how we do it
at the ovals where it's reverse championship order, right? So at the end of the day, the, you know,
fastest guy from Q2 would go last, trying to build the suspense of the whole thing.
The unforeseen part of it all was that the driver who goes first is going out with their tires
still warm or warmer, at least, than every subsequent car. That could potentially be a
big advantage, especially at a street circuit. And so there were, you know, so, so Erickson obviously
went out first in Arlington, ended up on pole, caveat to that being the Andretti cars were
insanely fast and like that was a good lap regardless. And even Palo was like, I'm not
sure we could have beat him had we gone first, that was so strong. But there definitely seemed
to be a correlation between the later you went in the faster you went or the slower you went,
I should say. So they've tweaked the format where now they take the fast six and you get to choose
what order, what position you want to go in. So the fastest driver gets to choose one through six
where they go. And then the second fastest driver gets to choose one through six and so on and so
forth. So it's kind of like NASCAR where you get to choose which lane? Yeah, yeah, kind of. It's
similar to that. It's interesting because I like that they didn't just default it the other way
because there might be a scenario where it's still an advantage to go later. And so what it's done,
there's two positive things I think that come out of it. One is it does give you the flexibility
to choose where it's not just immediately like so that way even if you're let's say you've got a
teammate, right? And you want your teammate to go out first because the wind changed dramatically
between Q2 and Q3. And you don't want to go out first because you want to see if there's like an
adjustment you need to make to the car or something like that. Unlikely, like that's a pretty specific
scenario, but at least you have that ability. And then the second part is that it actually
makes Q2 potentially a little more interesting because don't get me wrong, it's not that in Q2
you're not pushing because it's so competitive in IndyCar you have to be like 10 tenths pretty much
all the time and qualifying to transfer. But one of the things I heard from a driver, I won't say
who, said that it's going to put more emphasis on Q2 because now there's an actual advantage to
being fastest in Q2 where before you just had to not be in the bottom six, right? You just had to be
in the top six. I don't think a lot of guys are like aiming to like just get into third, you know
what I mean? Like I think there's not a lot of scenarios where your time in Q2 isn't like your
maximum effort anyway, but it does potentially force your hand if maybe you were trying to get
through to Q3 on a U-set and you're going to put on a new set now because going fastest obviously
gives you that advantage once you're into Q3. So there could be a little bit to that. I still think
that long-term the solution needs to be just new tires for everybody. Like there should just be a
six extra sets set aside by Firestone at the start of the weekend that go to those drivers,
whoever gets in. I imagine there is some logistic challenges to that because it's not just
a six sets, right? You'd have to just use another set of reds because teams have their wheels and
whatever, right? You need to have all that stuff sorted. I think there's a way to do it. But that's
what I'd like to see because I want to see the fastest guy go last. That's from an entertainment
standpoint. That's what kind of builds up the show a little bit better, right?
So that would be kind of one advantage or one way to do it. The other way, if you don't have the
tires to do that, which again, all the tires from Firestone are built ahead of time. They do exactly
how many they have to build and that's how many they build. So I think that's part of the reason
why we can't just add six sets times five races. You don't just have an extra 30 sets of tires
sitting around. Totally get that. But so maybe the other solution is you have to use your Q1 tires.
So everybody's tires are kind of cold and then that way you can go back the other way.
Then people jump in, I'm sure, and say to caveat being, well, what if you got through on hards
and you don't want to have to use used hards in Q3? So there's a lot of different caveats. There's
the solution for now. I'm excited for the format. I like to, I don't know what you thought about it,
Tim, when you saw it in Erlington. I thought it was fun. I saw there was some blowback,
but for the most part, I thought it was kind of the best of both worlds because you still had
the all cars on track for round one and round two. And then yeah, I thought it was kind of fun doing
it. I think it'd be good. Are you going to be at the track on Saturday? Are you here all weekend?
I will. I will. Can't get rid of me. I'm aware. Yeah. I'm aware.
I've reestablished that some time ago. Speaking of which, you have a couch in
that room that you're in, right? I got to be honest with you, man. This is one of the smallest
hotel rooms I've been in in a long time. Yes, we're snuggling. Well, Becky's also on her way,
so it's going to be tight. We're snuggling. I guess you're going to have to do the dog
and just sleep across our feet. We'll tuck up into fetal position and you can have the bottom of
the bed horizontally. Second time for anything. Well, no, I think actually I think last time
you and Becky were in the bed together and I was on the cot at the end of the bed if memory serves.
What happens in Vegas? Apparently gets published online. Apparently gets put on the internet,
so that's for me. Yeah, look, coming into the weekend and if Alex was here, we'd be having
the same conversation. It's hard to not think that Andretti are the heavy favorites.
Do we think this is when Will Power gets his first revenge tour win?
Dude, you've got to be Kirkwood who's won this race twice already, including last year.
Erickson's pretty stout here. He's had some really good races here. He's had a couple
strong races that ended up in poor results for various reasons. Marcus is really good around
this spot as well. Will's strong everywhere, but it's going to be a fun kind of interteam
battle there or interteam battle there to fight for the top spot. Look, we know the
Ganassi guys are going to be in there. Let's see what McLaren can do. They've done well here in
the past. Joseph's won this race. It's not been Scotty Mack's traditional best one,
but he was quick at St. Pete. He was wicked quick at Arlington before his qualifying crash,
so that team's doing a great job and is trying to rebound nicely from a tough year last year.
So I think Scotty, especially after Barbara was a tough weekend for him, Arlington was a tough
weekend for him. He's looking forward to a good one and I think he has full potential to do that.
So yeah, man, as always, it's kind of anybody's race. My big hope though is that we just,
we don't get like a parade-y fuel-saving race, which sometimes happens here. If we can get the
right yellow at the right time and let these drivers all go push, you know, ball to the wall
for the full distance, I think it'd be a lot more fun. So we'll see. Just shoot me a text.
You need me to throw something out on the track. Here's the thing. I don't want you to leave that
in because now something does end up on the track, which like at street circuits,
does happen in rowdy groups and they're going to come immediately to you and I
for like race fixing and that could be bad. All right, we're just joking.
If I do the air quotes and the wink at the same time, do they like cancel each other out?
I think it does. It's a double negative.
I'm not a lawyer, but I can give you the legal advice with the assurity of one
or with the self-confidence of one. Right. Yes. No, I think that was from that famous
1992 court case, the people versus Bose of the Clown where he did this before he
committed the felony. So is he gone? I don't know. If he is, I'm going to cut it.
He died in that car accident when the Volkswagen bug hit the wall and 17 clowns died.
Yeah, I don't think I could do dinner tonight, pal. Sorry.
Some just came up and it was my dignity has stepped in and said, no, we can't do this.
Okay. So knowing what you know, which granted, is it much? Who do you have this weekend?
I love Alex to be here to tell us how he thinks ECR is going to do and some of the stuff they've
been working on. Is it going to be good this weekend? Is it still a work in progress? What's
the deal? But Alex aside, who do you think? I think I've got to go willpower.
I understand what you're saying about Kirkwood and I know, and I think I'm letting emotion decide
this more than I'm allowing what? That never happens in sports.
I just want willpower to win. I know that Andretti is going to have the car to do it.
So out of that stable, I want willpower to win. It would be awesome. Everybody's looking forward
to that first win with Will and Andretti. I don't think, I think everybody's on the,
of the opinion that it's a question of when not if and getting it done here would be sweet.
Again, just seriously, whoever, whoever wins the race on Sunday,
this one is just, it's just like congratulations, because this one just means a lot to drivers and
to teams. It is, it is such a special place. And I don't, I don't, I'm not just saying that
because I have one here. I'm not trying. Lord knows I didn't win at many places, right?
All a famer, walk a famer. Thank you. Thank you for the correction Walker.
I'm not, yeah, I'm not sitting here, you know, touting all the, all the
attributes, positive attributes of, of NOLA and, and Iowa and whatever. This place is amazing and
it is super special. So whoever is lucky enough to be, you know, in victory lane at the end of the
one, the end of this one on Sunday. It's a big deal. It is a very big deal. So
good luck to the field. Good luck to Alex. And honestly, man, a large part of why that is,
why this race is so special and why this race has been so successful is, is down to an individual
who very sadly will not, will not be here this year. And that is Jim McAleon, who, who passed away
only a few weeks ago. You know, Jim has worked at with or for the, the Grand Prix here in Long Beach
for 50 plus years. Basically the entire tenure that this race has been around going back to
its start as a, as a Formula One race. He's been the president and CEO since 2001. And, and yeah,
we, we lost him. This was set to be kind of his last, his last year at the helm of the event
before, you know, because obviously Penske Entertainment purchased the race a few years
back and, and Jim was kind of set to retire and sit back and watch, you know, the incredible event
that he and his team have created continue to grow and flourish. So it's, like I said, the, the
way drivers feel about this place is, is so largely down to what Jim and the people around him built
over these last 50 years. The, the track itself is iconic. The event is like we've talked about
so many times, one of the best on the calendar. The fans that show up here, you know, it's a very
large, a very diverse, a very knowledgeable, a very fun group. You know, the, the fans that
show up to Long Beach are here for a great weekend. They're here for a great time. They're here for
the concerts, for the multiple different series running. And that is all from a lot of hard work
that, that goes into that. And so it is, you know, such, such a shame that Jim's not going to get
to be here for this weekend, for his final one. I saw him in, I saw him in Arlington, you know,
we were, we were chatting about this weekend in Arlington and it's just crazy to think that he's
gone and won't be here to see it, but certainly not forgotten. He's, he's, he is this race, you
know, he's not a part of the history of this race. For me, he is the reason this race has a history
it does. So rest in peace to Jim. Thank you for the decades of work that you put into making one
of the greatest events in motorsports, not just in IndyCar, not just in North America, but in the
world. And I look forward to seeing what, what you built continue to grow and expand and be a
staple on the calendar for a long, long time to come. That all said, Timbo, looking forward to
seeing you, looking forward to seeing cars on track. I always get that little pang of jealousy
in first practice here because I, I do just love driving around this place. We talked about it after
Arlington. I would have loved to have driven IndyCar around Arlington. I'd always love to
drive anything around Long Beach, but looking forward to the race. So we wish our erstwhile
co-host Rossi a great weekend and hope everybody has a fast and safe one.
This has been OffTrack with Hinch and Rossi. OffTrack is part of the Serious XM Sports Podcast
Network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a five-star rating and
leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts. We are at Ask OffTrack on
Twitter and Instagram. And if you want to follow us on Twitter, we're at Hinchtown and at Alexander
Rossi. If you want to follow Thym, though we have no idea why you would, he's at the Tim Durham
on Twitter. Find us on YouTube and subscribe to our channel for exclusive video content.
OffTrack is produced by Tim Durham and by that we mean Thym.
About this episode
Long Beach race week kicks off with a laid-back catch-up: Tim’s move into a more “grown-up” apartment, the comedy of forgetting Hazel’s shoes, and a new cumquat tree plan (plus tequila pairings). The hosts also nerd out on caffeine choices and the show’s running gag about timing. Then it’s all IndyCar: excitement for Long Beach, memories and Hall of Fame talk, and a detailed breakdown of the new Firestone Fast 6 single-car qualifying format—why order choice changes strategy. They close with predictions, plus a heartfelt tribute to longtime Long Beach event leader Jim McAleon.
Rossi's busy traveling, but Hinch and Thim get ready for the race in Long Beach this weekend. Plus moving drama, qualifying updates, and saying goodbye to a friend.
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Off Track is part of the SiriusXM Sports Podcast Network. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please give a 5-star rating and leave a review. Subscribe today wherever you stream your podcasts.
