A dash cam is a small camera that you attach to your car's dashboard or windshield. It records video while you drive, which can help if you get into an accident or need to show what happened on the road.
Van True is a company that makes dash cams, which are cameras that record what happens while you're driving or when your car is parked. The Van True Nexus 4 Pro can even turn on by itself if it detects movement around your car.
A suction cup mount is a way to stick something, like a camera, to a flat surface in your car. It uses suction to hold it in place, so you can easily take it off when you need to.
The Jeep Recon is a new electric vehicle from Jeep that is built for off-roading. It's part of Jeep's move to make more electric cars while still being tough and ready for adventure.
The Kia EV9 is a new electric SUV from Kia. It's designed to be roomy and packed with modern technology, similar to the Telluride but powered by electricity instead of gasoline.
The Hyundai Palisade is a family-friendly SUV that has a lot of space inside and comes with modern features. It's designed to be comfortable for both driving and riding in.
The Jeep Wrangler is a tough-looking car that can drive over rocks and through mud easily. People love it because it's great for outdoor adventures and has a fun, unique style.
The Lucid Gravity is a new electric SUV that will be very fancy and high-tech. It's made to be comfortable and has a long battery life, so you can drive it far without needing to charge it often.
The Ford Bronco is a big, strong SUV that can handle rough roads and trails. It's popular for people who like to go off-roading and enjoy outdoor activities.
Secure purchase is a way to make sure that buying a car online is safe. It checks that the seller is trustworthy and helps with all the paperwork needed to buy the car.
The DMV is a government office where you go to take care of things like getting a driver's license or registering a car. People often complain about having to wait a long time there.
NASCAR is a type of car racing that takes place on oval tracks. It's famous for its fast cars and exciting races, where drivers compete to be the first to cross the finish line.
The Dodge Ram is a big truck that can carry heavy loads and tow trailers. It's popular with people who need a strong vehicle for work or outdoor activities.
The Honda Element is a unique-looking SUV that has a lot of space inside and is easy to clean. It's great for people who have pets or enjoy outdoor activities.
Danica Patrick is a famous race car driver from the United States. She made history as the first woman to win a major race in IndyCar and has also raced in NASCAR.
LIVE
Hello and welcome to the Truth About Cars podcast. I am Tim Healy and I'm at the 2025
Los Angeles Auto Show and we're talking cars with Brian Moody from Kelly Blue Book. I also
check NASCAR and Ram's free agent program with TTAC contributor Matthew Guy and Guy
and I also chat about dashcams. But first, buying a car should feel secure. Start to
finish. That's why you should buy your next ride on eBay. See, eBay has got everything from
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Secure purchase is part of my CarModeler Services LLC in eBay subsidiary. If you like what you hear
on the Truth About Cars podcast, please go ahead and leave us a review. You can also find us
online at ttac.com. That's ttac.com or the Truth About Cars all spelled out dot com. We are your
home for car reviews, car news and so so much more. Here on the Truth About Cars podcast,
we are always talking about the stuff that we use in our homes and on our cars and in our cars.
So, you know, tools, accessories, things like that. And almost always have TTAC contributor
Matthew Guy with us. Matthew, how are you doing today?
Hey, I'm doing pretty good, Tim. How are you doing?
Doing well, doing well, hanging in there. So we're talking about dash cams today. I've tested
a couple, but you've got one in particular in mind you want to talk about. And let's go ahead
and get you started. Of course, yeah, there's all kinds of different options for dash cams these
days out there. And you can get a lot of them. This one just was sourced from eBay. And you can
get them, you know, from from from that site. And there's all kinds of different brands out
there. But this one is a Van True brand and a Vant RUE. And that's a brand that has, you know,
surfaced a lot recently. Because there's a lot of brand names for dash cams out there that are
almost like just two random words mashed together, you know, that you've never heard of before.
But this one seems to have, you know, bubbled up and surfaced and stuck around. So I tend to listen
to the reviews and things like that. And in in in our testing, it's done pretty well.
Specifically, it's this Van True Nexus 4 Pro. And it's designed to wake up when it senses motion.
So not only does it turn on when you start your car, when you start moving and things like that,
but if you're comfortable leaving the camera in place, you know, whilst the car is unattended,
it does wake up when it senses a bit of movement. So if someone bumps into your car, if you're,
you know, on street parker, that's a really, really helpful thing if someone bumps your car
or if someone crashes into you in a parking lot and chooses not to leave a note, you know,
you've got a bit of recording time there. And it tries to it tries to pick up
that motion at any time as long as you've got to plug in. And I found it really,
really easy to install this thing. The cool thing is this particular cam is able to constantly
like rewrite 10 seconds of footage in this mode. So it'll save that amount of video
prior to waking up as well. So I mean, that's just a huge advantage to trying to find out where,
you know, those new scratches came from on your car's front bumper. Yeah. And the quality is
really good as well, because some of these things, especially back in the day,
there used to be some suction cups and things of that nature that were, you know, the holding
power was great. But I really like the one with this one, it's a magnetic mount. And you just
use an adhesive to stick it onto the windshield. So it's a bit of a permanent solution. You would
have a bit of a square block just permanently on your windshield. And then you would magnetically
put your camera into and out of that one, then your electrical contacts are in there as well.
So it's super, super slick. If you're moving the thing between cars or taking it with you,
if you're, you know, gone for a long period of time or something like that and storing the car
is pretty easy. So I do like this one, Ventrue Nexus 4 Pro is pretty pretty slick.
Yeah. And you get these off eBay motors? That's one place you can get them absolutely off eBay
motors. And it's always cool to look for some company like this that has a storefront on eBay,
right? I mean, there's always, you know, buying one of these things secondhand might come
and not have a particular connector that you're looking for or might not have a charging cable
or something like that. But most things like when you're looking at statistics or when you're looking
at specifications, I should say, what you're looking for, I mean, look for something with,
with, you know, 4K HDR because there's nothing worse than trying to pop through a bit of footage
afterwards to see who ran into your car. And it's too grainy, or it's, you know, nighttime vision
was just absolutely sucked and you can't tell what type of car it was that cut you off in traffic.
So get something that's really, really good quality. Make sure that it has some of those
4K HDR guts and some dash cams have two lenses as well. One looking forwards into traffic out to
windshield and another one looking backwards into the cabin. And this one is possible to have that
and that's, that's awesome, you know, for someone who's got like side hustle with like a ride share
company or something like that, you know, be cognizant of laws if you might say that notices
needed to tell a passenger if they're being recorded and stuff like that. But these are super,
super slick for anyone who is, you know, working that on the side, if you're working for a ride
share company, you don't need to swap it out when you go to work, for example.
Yeah. And I've tested a few dash cams or t-tech as well. I would just throw a few words of
icing. This is general, not related to the particular cam that you're talking about. But
I would say if you're driving around the dash cam, you know, first of all, figure out what
it makes better, whether it makes better sense for you, excuse me, whether it's permanent installation
or a suction cup mount, which it's actually come out and makes it easier to remove,
to go from car to car, doesn't require any wiring or cutting up your dash or any or having to go to
a pro. So that's my personal preference, but to each their own and the suction cup mounts can
fall off if the, if the suction fails, so you can have a thoughtful driving that's never fun.
I would also say to anyone buying a dash cam, again, this is general advice,
doesn't matter what camera buying check for the parking settings you were talking about
are super helpful. I would also check to make sure that your interior mic is off if you don't
want your conversations recorded by accident. Yes. Yeah. Or music being picked up, you know,
that's been an issue we've tested dash cams or t-tech. I can't play the music that I've been
listening to because it might be copyrighted. We might get in trouble. So I have to strip out the
audio before I before I show any videos on the site. So that's obviously a problem that only
we would face. But in general, you know, you might want to turn your internal mic off if you
are having private conversations and don't want someone else to hear them. So there's that.
And I would also look for, you know, cameras that face both forward and back. And like you said,
once they have good night vision as well, because at night, a camera that can't tell car to car hit
you is no good. No. And excuse me, also take a peek at the recording width as well, like the
angle of vision. Something that's about 160 degrees in both directions is the minimum,
is the minimum. I mean, that is as good or as better as what's, you know, the field of vision
for for most humans. But if you can get something that's 160 degrees in both directions or better,
you're going to have a ton of coverage and a ton of protection when you're out there on the road.
Yeah. Yeah. And you also don't want a fisheye. Well, some people don't mind it, but I don't like it.
No, you're right. I mean, something that actually is not kind of curved, is not distorted at the
at the at the edges of the off the field of vision. You're right. That's a much better one to have.
So there are also some other ones out there that have the forward facing and reverse facing in
the same unit that you'd have tucked up behind your rear view mirror. That's that's very nice. Yes.
Those are really, really good. And then you've got some other ones. I haven't tried a wireless
version of this yet, but they'll have another camera poking out the back window as well or
peeking out the back window, I should say. And sometimes that's a pain in the butt to try to
install as a wired solution, because you've got to have the wire going however many feet to the
back window 12, 13 feet, however big your car is to the back window. So I know there are some
wireless options out there. And I'm looking forward to trying one of those as well down the road.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Anything else you want to add on dash cams before we close the segment?
Nothing I can think of. Just stay, you know, pick a budget, stick within it.
Some bare minimum specs, you know, 4k, especially looking forward and 160 degrees of field of
vision. But if you've got those two stick within your budget, and I think you'd be pretty happy
with how you've got. Yeah, for sure. All right. So this has been the stuff we use segment here
on the Truth About Cars podcast with ttech contributor Matthew Guy. Thank you for your
time, Matthew. Thank you, Tim.
On today's Truth About Cars podcast, we are at the Los Angeles Auto Show with Brian Moody,
the executive editor at Kelly Bluebook. Brian, how are you doing today? I'm doing great. You
can see lots of cool cars. So how could that be bad? Well, yeah, so that's exactly what we're
chatting. I wanted to pick your brain about the big highlights of the show, the Jeep Recon,
can you tell your I lose some gravity churning and anything else on your mind?
Yeah. Although the show, you know, is not as big as maybe in many years past, I think
there was some impressive stuff. So for example, if you look at how many new cars there were,
like all new cars, there's Nissan's plug in hybrid rogue, right? So that's new. There's a new
Pathfinder. There's the Volvo EX 30 cross country. That's new. There's also the Jeep Recon. That's
new. The Kia Telluride. That's new. The what was the I didn't see the magma. The I didn't I didn't
need it. Okay, the Honda has the creator concept. So they had something, right? They had stuff.
But that's better than in years past. And also I mentioned Volvo. Well, Volvo hasn't been at
this show for many years. So for an automaker like Volvo to come back, and do you notice there
was a big bus in their booth? I did. Yeah. Do you know that Volvo group, the overall company owns
prevo buses? I believe I knew that. I think that's what that was was a prevo bus. I don't think it
was a Volvo, but so there's lots of cool stuff, right? Like it's not nothing. But I think people
who remember back in the good old days, kind of, they suffer because they think, well, shouldn't it
always be like that? And the truth is, it's probably not going to be like that, maybe ever or maybe
for a long time. Let me pick your brain in a couple specific cars. Let's tell you like that's been
probably the biggest news. Yeah. Cool. I have been a big fan of the Telluride. I don't know
how they could mess it up. It doesn't look like they've messed it up. I mean, it's been a great
car for a very long time. The way it looks, the way it drives, the interior space, I think it would
have been a mistake to make it all electric, because, well, they have the EV9. So that's kind
of like an all electric Telluride. But the engine in the Telluride has always been one of the more
rewarding parts of it. Like the way that it drives is really excellent. I'm hard pressed to point to
the exact reasons why I love the way it drives. But it's just, it seems to be a just right kind of SUV.
I'm sure this one will be the same. It just has a little bit more of an updated look. And of course,
the Hyundai Palisade is definitely raised the bar on those types of SUVs as well.
How about the grille on the Telluride? That was the one pushback that I saw from our commenters this
morning when we pushed our new story live that some people didn't like the grille so much.
I think when you try to do something a little bit more bold, you end up
polarizing people. But I don't think it's bad. I think it gives it a more rugged or sturdy look.
But all those things are just looks like that doesn't, you know, like these days,
having chrome trim up front or whatever doesn't make it stronger. It's all just for aesthetics.
They could change it if they wanted to. I don't mind the way it looks. I think that it fits in
with the overall vibe of the Telluride. Let's talk Jeep Recon, which is probably the other
biggest story out of the LA Auto Show this year. Yeah, I think what Jeep did was they said, boy,
people like the Wrangler. What's one thing they love about the Wrangler? It goes off road. Okay,
let's do that. What else do they love about the Wrangler? They like that it can have the top come
off and the doors come off. So they did that too. An all electric off road, doors come off,
top opens fully. I don't know. You know, is there a market for that? I don't know. We could probably
even write a book about all the things I was wrong about. So I didn't think the Dodge Grand
Caravan was ever going to be anything. Look how wrong I was. My only concerns with the Recon
are the range is a bit low for off-roading. It's hard to get a jerry can of. Was it $2.27? $2.50,
I think was the max. Okay, so $2.50. How to get a jerry can of electric juice off road and the
price is a little high. $35 grand to start. Yes, but that's electric cars. One of the
things that people never talk about is that electric cars are many things, but cost-effective
is not one of them. I think like most of the adventure vehicles that you see like right here,
we're standing in this little adventure row like Sprinter Vans and Cargo Carriers and Ineos and
the teardrop trailer, all that kind of stuff. I don't know that people ever use them fully for
what they're intended. I think that the Jeep Recon could do good at your favorite fishing home,
fire roads. They say it's trail rated, so for whatever that's worth. Yeah, I would imagine
you're probably right that it'd get you to the trail heaven back just maybe not down the Rubik
sign without when you're too far from any power. But that's fair. Yeah. And then I want to switch
gears a little bit to talk about the Lucid gravity turn because the play there is obviously to get
to a new audience, a little bit lower price point, and maybe people who have not been able
to get in the Lucid before. So I want to hear your thoughts on that. Well, I think what Lucid has
is what electric cars should be. To me, I'm not that impressed when there's a car that looks and
feels like your normal passenger car, but just happens to be electric. What I like about Lucid
is that when I first saw it, I thought the air and the gravity. When I first saw them, I thought,
okay, finally, an electric car that looks like it came from the future. That's what I was looking
for with an electric car. The Ionic 5, they kind of did the opposite where they made a little bit
retro-ish, right? Like it's maybe like an 80s hatchback kind of thing. I like Lucid. Whether or
not they're going to find enough customers, I don't know. I mean, listen, we sold plenty of
Teslas before there was a taxpayer-funded incentive. My guess is we'll sell plenty of Teslas after.
Does that apply to Lucid? I don't know. I just, I just, I love the car. Can't put my finger on
the pulse of what the public thinks. While we're on the topic of electric cars in the
upper five-figure range, did you have a chance to check out the Sony E-fila at all this trip?
No, I did not see that. That's, okay, so that's one of those like, what do you call it, like a co-op?
Yes, a joint venture. Partner. Yeah, I've seen pictures. I did not see it in person. I'm sorry.
Yeah, so I had a chance to see it in person. It's a bit of a Lucid competitor, $89,000
about the same size as a Model 3. That's Model 3. So it's a very interesting vehicle.
Do you think people would be interested in a Sony branded electric car?
I don't know. That's gonna be the hard part for that. That's gonna be the hard
sell for them, even though they have Honda guts. It's gonna be the hard part for them.
Right, but the branding is Sony, right? Yeah. I mean, I could see people thinking that's cool,
but I could also see it being a big miss for car shoppers. I can see it be one of those things at
first adopters, influencers. Yeah. Two, but then the average show doesn't care about.
Well, you just summed up every electric car.
Didn't mean to. Are there any other vehicles in the LA? I'll show they've kind of stuck out.
Of the 2025 LA show to be precise. They've kind of stuck out to you. You mentioned a Volvo during
a pre-show, perhaps. Oh, yeah. Volvo EX30 cross country. Volvo's first all-electric cross country
vehicle. So, you know, they had the XC70 cross country. They had, you know, the wagon cross
countries back in the day. So this is a, again, with the adventure theme, this is an all-electric
Volvo EX30. That's relatively low price to start, like around 40. This one's 49, which is all-wheel
drive. It sits a little higher, has those black plastic guards around the wheel well. So cool
looking wheels. Again, Adventure E, I don't know how far of an adventure you're going to take. I
think they just want, they're trying to appeal to people that want a cool, tough looking car.
And occasionally, if it gets to go off road, that's okay too. And finally, did you have a chance to
check out the Megma GT Genesis concept? I did. I think it's genius that they're coming up with
their own performance brand. I like that idea. Every Genesis I drive, I think, this is just a
great car. I can't... I've had similar experiences. I just can't find any bad things to say about
Genesis cars. Like they just, inside, outside, the way they drive, the technology, I just,
I think it's going to be successful because I think Genesis has done a great job.
Excellent. Excellent. Anything else you want to add, Brian, before we wrap our segment?
I would say that it has been an impressive show for the most part. You know, living in the past,
we might never get back to the 90s version of the Detroit Auto Show. Probably not.
Before the internet and all that kind of stuff. But this one's pretty good. I think there was,
there's enough stuff to talk about. Listen, we just talked about several cars and took up all that
much time and we weren't scraping for like, I don't know, what else? Talk about a Bronco with
Steelys again. You know, like... Exactly, yeah. I think there's enough content here that, you know,
it's worthwhile and I hope that it continues to grow. Yeah, it's been a busy day since I got here
this morning. I agree. For same for me, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All right, we've been with Brian Moody,
the executive editor at Kelley Blue Book here on the Truth About Cars podcast from the 2025
Los Angeles Auto Show. Thank you for your time, Brian. Yeah, thank you.
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Dealer Services LLC in eBay subsidiary. Here on the Faith Park Cars podcast, we're always talking
NASCAR, NASCAR, NASCAR, NASCAR with TTAC contributor Matthew Guy, even though it is the off season,
also known as the so-called silly season, there are always topics and racing to cover the off
season. So we'll get into one of those in just a few minutes. Matthew, first of all, how are
you doing today? Doing good, man. And there's always stuff to talk about NASCAR. It doesn't
matter if it's off the track or on the track, there's really some rumors going on, right?
Rumors, news, and what we're going to get into today is newsy, newsworthy, I think. And then
there'll be more coming down the pike. And as I look at my window right now, and you know,
this is recorded, so I don't want to give away too many inside secrets, but as I look at my
window right now, it's definitely not racing, whether it's rainy and cold, and I'm very glad
to be inside in a warm building. But I'm still always thinking about racing, because racing's
just fun. And I'm thinking about what I saw in my inbox just a day or two ago from Ram. We all
know that Ram is coming back to NASCAR. It's been announced, I think at least truck series. I don't
recall off the top of my head. I don't have it in front of me. I should know this, but I don't
recall if they've officially confirmed a Cup Series or Xfinity Racing, probably would be the
charger if they were going to. But we do know they're coming back to truck series, and they have
put out a press release suggesting that for when they come back to the Craftsman Truck Series next
year, they're going to go into an interesting direction with the colleague racing team. So
the number 25 truck, or Ram 1500. So what they're going to do instead of having one driver the higher
for the whole season with maybe a backup in case that guy gets hurt or sick, which is what most
teams do, right? Most teams have one, one to three drivers, and they have a couple guys maybe on
call for specific races, like Catherine Leggy did a few races this past year, she raced Chicago and
a couple others. I'm not quite sure if she was a backup or if she was just on one of those fringe
teams that just does only handful of races. So I could be a little bit off there. But in general,
most race teams, you know, like Hendrix Motorsports will have Kyle Larson and whoever else they have
in their stable, and then they may have a couple people they call if, if Kyle Larson's doing the
double and can't make it to the second race, or if he's sick or whatever the Daytona 500 and 500
double. So that's how we all know that's how it works in racing, right? One driver gets hired by
a team, the team has anywhere from one to three drivers, and there may be a couple backups just
in case a villainous, but then that's the one drivers with that team all year long until his
contract runs out. And that contract might go two or three seasons. Not with NASCAR,
Craspin Truck and Ram this year, they're going to have what they call a free agent program.
So this free agent will be, they're going to have different drivers. And it looks like they're
going to have some full time drivers. So we'll get into the details in just a second. I'm still
working through it myself. But they're going to have a free agent driver who will be chosen and
revealed. And that's the first one in February 2026. So ahead of the whatever race, I don't have a
truck calendar in front of me, whatever the first truck race is, which I'm not sure if it's part of
Daytona, Speed Weeks or not. I should know this on time ahead, but I don't. So we're going to have
what they're going to have a free agent driver plus we're going to have three full time drivers.
Justin Haley, who we talked about last week, I was being replaced by Daniel Suarez and then
Daniel Dye and Brendan, nickname Butterbean Queen, not just fun nickname there. They're going to be
in three of the five Rams, those three drivers, but they're going to have a free agent situation
for it looks like at least a number 25 truck. And maybe the other truck as well. I'm trying to
make sense of the press release here. It's a little bit confusing. But yeah, so they're going to have,
they're going to reveal these drivers shortly before each race, like the Monday before. So you
will know leading up to a truck series race the Monday before police for agent drivers were going
to be, I would imagine it'd be kind of veteran drivers. Or maybe you have young up and comers,
who knows? But it's something they're going to do to try and get attention. Looks like just going
to have a different driver each week. So I'm sorry, Matthew, go ahead. You can go ahead. Just one
second. I do want to add one detail. So there were three out of five drivers. There's going to be a
free agent in number 25 truck. The fifth Ram driver will be full time just to not be announced yet.
Go ahead, Matthew. I want to hear your thoughts. Absolutely. I think, I mean, it's super unique
and leave it to Ram to come up with something that is a little bit off the wall, you know, to try
and a little bit out there to try and get people, you know, new eyeballs on this sport.
They're in the craftsman truck, right? Because Ram is usually just a little bit to
a little bit to the side when it comes to their marketing and things like that. Just a little
bit different, a little bit more aggressive, right? Than some of the other brands that are
there for their trucks. And this fits that pretty well, right? They've got their three
anchor drivers plus another one who's TBA and then this free agent driver. And I'm thinking the way,
because we're reading the same press release here. And the way that I read it is, like you said,
it's going to be, it's not going to be fans, like they're not going to put a random fan into a truck
and toss it onto the track. No, no, no, let's make sure we make that clear right now. Right?
It's going to be, yeah, right? It's going to be drivers who have had experience racing in some
way, shape or form. They'll be selected through some sort of process, but it'll be definitely a
leg up for some driver. I mean, if it's someone coming out of carts, or if it's someone stepping
in from another series, the level of NASCAR, because we always talk about the three main series cup
and Xfinity and trucks. But there's also, maybe you've got the ARCA series, right? You've got the
what I called K&E series, you know, and all of these other different ones that are out there.
You've got, you know, drivers, racers who are from the Sprint type vehicles, people who are doing dirt
tracks. So that's the type of drivers that they're going to get for this number 25, number 25 truck
for this free Asian driver. And I'm going to wager that in a however many races it is for trucks 32,
I think, race season, they're probably going to have the same person back more than once. I think
it will be tough for them to get 30 plus different drivers, right? Or this, or at least the picks
about it wouldn't be hard to get 30 different drivers, but 30 different drivers who are worthy
of a shot and not going to wreck on lap two, right? Or something that's, that would be difficult to
do. So we'll probably see the same person back more than once. And I think this is just a really,
really cool way, you know, because Dodgers coming back to NASCAR, I think you're right, they haven't
formally announced coming back to cup. If we don't see them in 2027, I will be massively surprised
with the charger. Yeah, with the charger. So this is a great way to do that. And colleague racing
this is their anchor, this is Ram's anchor team, man, right? Like you said, you got Queen and Dine,
Haley, they're going to be really good, they're going to be really good anchor drivers for the
Ram. And they're going to have tons of marketing behind them. They're going to have, if we'll see
how much success they have, but I think we're going to have a hell of a lot of fun because Ram
tech typically blows doors off marketing, right? For lack of a better term. So I think it's cool.
I think it's cool. I think there's these free agent drivers, you know, they're not going to be
competing to win the series championship. They're going to be out there. They're not going to be
collecting points because of, you know, the different rules that are there that are in place for
collecting points. So they won't be eligible. But they're Ram is talking about creating some
sort of prize program, right? Based on the best like individual track performance of these free
agent drivers. So there is going to be a element of competition there, not to mention pride and
bragging rights. So don't, I don't expect these, you know, free agent drivers to be, you know,
back of the pack every week. I think they're going to be in there in the mix in some way, shape or form.
Yeah, I have to mention the price thing that because with these drivers swapping and out,
they're not really going to be in competition for the, for the truck series championship. I'm not
sure if it's a rule saying, you know, if they won't be driving enough individual races, because
I'm not quite sure how that works. I'm not quite sure if, you know, if you're driving a different
driver every week in the 25, does the team get championship points within that the driver?
My understanding is in cop with Kyle Larson, there's always been the waivers, right? When he
does the double, if he misses the second race heat. So there is, you know, driver points and
team stuff. I think they are separate. So I'm not quite sure. But obviously, if there's, if there
is a separate driver, you know, point system, you can't win the championship if you're only racing
a few races a year, even if you were eligible for it. And I'm not saying they're not eligible,
but you wouldn't have enough points. You just wouldn't because you wouldn't be driving enough.
So unless unless the points were only given to the team, regardless of driver, which I don't think
is the case in truck and fairly certain is not the case in cup, you know, so in order to get
these drivers, like you said, some sort of competition element, because they can't win the
championship, having the prize is kind of a nice thing too. And of course, it gives Ram
options because Ram will still have free full time drivers who could win the championship and
it looks like a fourth. So I want to circle back to the types of drivers who are going to be in
this. I think you made a really good point saying it'll be up and coming drivers from the
feeder series. We all know NASCAR basically has the three main series cup, Xfinity and truck,
and then there, I never remembered the name, but I think it is the ARCA. There's like kind of a
fourth series. It's sort of doesn't really do the same like Xfinity is almost always the same
track as cup with a few exceptions. And truck is like two thirds of the time at the same
same track as cup during the weekend. And again, there's a few exceptions,
like for example, truck didn't do Chicago the street race. But you know, I, I think you see a
lot like you said, the feeder, the drivers who are up and coming up or commerce from the feeder
series, you may see drivers who are a little older and are still kind of hanging on to their
career, not quite done, but not quite. You might see someone in their late 30s, early 40s, who's
semi retired. You see this in the cup all the time. You see, you see drivers who are semi-retired
to get back in for a race or two. I think Jimmy Johnson has done this. Catherine Legge is around
40 years old. She might be late 30s still, but she's closer to the end of career, probably age
wise in beginning. And again, she hops in and out. We've seen drivers like Shane Vankees,
who are getting their feet wet. He's obviously not retirement age. He's only 35, but
you know, his first year, he was kind of getting his feet wet in cup and Xfinity on road courses
before he realized he had the talent and the resources to go full time, which he did this
past year. So we've seen that. We've seen, I mean, you see, especially drivers who come from other
series, whether it's IndyCar or IMSA or they're foreign born like Vankees Bergen coming out of
New Zealand. So you might, I think you're going to see a lot of that. You're going to see, I don't
want to use the word celebrities, but we all know Frankie Muniz, the former child star from Muck in
the middle, had had a decent run in trucks this past couple of years. He's not, I'm not saying
he's going to be a free agent driver because I'm not sure if he signed the team. I don't have his
information in front of me, but someone like that, maybe someone who was a celebrity, gotten
into racing, has some talent, has had some success, and not just a dilatant, not just someone who's
doing it for publicity. Or maybe that can be the case too. Maybe you got someone who is an actor
and that's how I think they're living when they race on the side, like Patrick Dempsey.
And maybe this driver gets a racer too because their schedule allows it and they're good enough to
not be, we all know that NASCAR drivers have to maintain minimum speed and competency to be out
there. If they're not safe, they're not going to be able, not going to be allowed to drive, but maybe
you get an actor who's got enough talent and enough money and training on the side to do that. So
that could be a possibility too, which is what really has me intrigued about this. And we all had
the controversy last year at Daytona with Elio Castroneva's hopping in. Well, this could be a
good place for an indie car driver to hop into an NASCAR truck, right Matthew? Yeah, for real. And
you think about, oh, what was the, what did the track house call their effort? Remember when they
had one of their, one of the, one of their, they had a cycle of drivers going through one of their,
oh, in cop there, through one of their cars, they had a bunch of drivers going through.
And it was a similar sort of thing, right? Similar sort of thing. But, you know, and I,
there's been some chatter online that was always a rental ride and things like that.
But I don't agree. I mean, it's people who can, you know, bring a bit of hype.
Will it be someone like, you know, maybe some internet personalities, because you look at
quote unquote, Cletus McFarland, right? Who is an internet personality on YouTube,
but he does have some chops behind the wheel of a race car, right? Might it be,
right? Might it be someone like that? It's not someone who's just
plucked from the, from the, from the ether of the, of the internet. And I think
colleague racing is, is a really good one to do this, right? It's a, it's a, but I arguably,
it's a new idea, but it's a fresh idea. And the kind of energy that colleague is going to bring,
because if you've ever heard Matt colleague talk and, you know, talk about some of his goals and
stuff like that, there's for, for that crowd, there's no such thing as an aggressive goal,
right? I mean, that it seems like that guy just wakes up at turned up to 11 every single day,
right? He's just going and going and going and, you know, there's not much slowing that guy down.
So it's really, really fits both the persona of Ram and the persona of colleague racing.
So if anyone could pull it off, it's these, it's, it's this, it's this team, right? It's this team
of Ram and colleague racing that can do it. And I don't even know if Ram is going to know the
name of the person, right? Until NASCAR has said yes. And then colleague racing has said yes,
right? Cause they're, they're the first two, right? They got to go through NASCAR's criteria first,
and then they got to go through colleagues racing management team. So they say they want to make,
NASCAR wants to make sure this guy, like you said, can, or, or, or this driver can, whoever
it's going to be, can keep up with traffic and then colleague wants to make sure they're not
going to wreck the truck. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be cool. I think so.
And like you said, it'll be announced every Monday before the race. So if you race on Friday,
which truck races typically are on Friday, the race will, the driver will be announced, excuse me,
on, um, what do you call it, uh, Monday? I don't know why I was trying to talk to it for a second,
but anyway, um, yeah, so I can see, I can see this going a bunch of different ways. The name,
as you were talking, the name that popped in my mind was Danica Patrick. She's only a few years
removed from racing, still in her early 40s, still plenty young enough to hop behind the wheel. She
was talented enough to, to do really well during her time racing. Could you see her popping up for
a couple of drives just to get the attention? Maybe she, and I know she has some broadcasting
work. Maybe she drives on Friday and then does cup, cup broadcasting or a pre-race or something
like that on a Sunday. Who knows during when, because she usually was with NBC. So maybe she
does something with an NBC, um, that sort of thing. Going back to Frankie Munis for a second,
I just wanted to take a break to look at the guy's life. I looked at his life where you were,
where you were chatting there and he, um, he has energy to be on belief. He's, he's
married with at least one child. He races. He was playing in a band and he had been acting
for however long. And of course there is, I believe it's officially confirmed. I'm out
coming the middle, uh, re, this is not a reboot, but a sequel, I guess, because I think all the
kids are going to be grown with the kids in their own and in the new show, but it is coming. I've
seen some articles. So this man is busy, busy, busy. So, so he, it looks like he was a full-time
driver in 25. So I don't know if he'll, um, you know, be, be in 26, but someone like him, you know,
someone who, um, maybe isn't your typical driver, but well, his case is a little unique though,
because he came in the driving and he's actually been full-time and done relatively well, well
enough to stay in it. So maybe he, maybe I'm just downplaying his career without meaning to, but
I keep thinking of a Patrick Dempsey, someone who races a lot of sports cars when they get time,
but still has their main job being acting, right? Uh, someone, or like I said, a Danica Patrick,
who's now a commentator, but still young enough to happen to a race car. I'm thinking of a lot of
the guys, a lot of the S car, excuse me, a lot of the ex NASCAR drivers who are in their 40s,
who are now doing commentating, Jimmy Johnson, who's, um, who's, you know, a little bit older,
but still young enough and he still races a few times a year. Uh, you know, um, what's, what
are the two guys who do most of the NBC color? Or is it Jeff Burton? Greg, sometimes forget the
other one, our Clint Boyer, maybe, but, but guys like that. And, uh, uh, who, who do we see recently
who kind of came out of the little work? He'd been kind of quiet since he retired. I was Carl
Edwards. So guys like that, can you see Martin Truis Jr. getting the itch after, you know, he
retired, uh, after 24. Do you think he gets the itch after a year or two away and wants to hop in?
You know, I can see the free agent program going that way. Or like you said, young drivers
who are up and coming and maybe want to get, and I think, I think from a team perspective,
from if you're a colleague, you want to get the young guys because you can get a young guy in
their three or four races and say, Hey, you know what, this guy can be full time for us next year
in truck or one of our other, one of the other series that we compete in. Um, but the publicity
stunt side would be to get a big name who's retired or like I said, a Patrick Dempsey type who
has another day job and then races on the side and has enough experience that you don't let
you trust they won't, that they won't be incompetent. Um, you know, Patrick Dempsey races, Danica Patrick
races, Jimmy Johnson races, people are going to tune in that might not otherwise watch truck. So
you might see a balance of that too. You said there's like 32 races, maybe 16 times you have
up and commerce who are in their twenties and early thirties and try to make their way into
XFINITY and cup. And then maybe the other half the time you see a retired cup driver who's in
their forties or early fifties, an Indy car driver who's got a weekend off from Indy car,
an IMSA driver, uh, like I said, an actor who's got racing chops, that sort of thing. So maybe
maybe that's how it plays out. I think it might be. I think it might be. And over those 25 races,
I think that's, I think there's 25 in the, uh, I should 30, but I think there's 25 in the, um,
truck series. I think you're exactly right. I think you're exactly right. That's a little,
there'll be some superstars. How cool will it be? Cause I mean, everyone loves Carl Edwards and
everyone, you know, Carl Edwards stepped away so suddenly, right? So yeah, he was really quiet.
And then he came back to do some broadcasting this year. Yeah. And then someone like Patrick
Dempsey, I always think of Patrick Dempsey as a person who is a race car driver that just happens
to be an actor, you know, kind of like Paul Newman was, right? I mean, you know, they were
genuinely talented people behind the wheel and acting, right? But they, you know, I always felt
those two people in particular were, um, race car drivers first and actor second. They just happened
to be, they just happened to be an actor. Um, but it's, I think those types of people will be,
it'd be great for the sport and NASCAR in general, not just for trucks. I mean,
it's always good to get more eyes on. Um, yeah, I don't think a lot of people watch trucks,
unless they're really diehard racing fans or have a favorite driver who's happens to be a truck.
Exactly. So being able to get some more eyes on it would never a bad thing. It was never a bad
thing. And then whether it's like you said, half of them are, you know, superstars that are coming
in from another series or a former NASCAR driver or something like that, or someone from the booth
who has wheel man experience behind the wheel. Um, or it's someone who is an up and comer from one
of the other series. I think it's going to work and it's going to, um, it's going to be pretty cool
to watch. Yeah. And in one final thought, we only have a couple minutes left, one final thought
too, just popping up ahead is, um, it wouldn't, it probably wouldn't work in too many situations
just because as you age, you do lose some reflex in eyesight, but wouldn't it be really cool to
get a nineties driver who is in their sixties now or, or even early seventies, get him a shot,
get a bill Elliott or a, uh, he was the guy that's a good walk. Um, one of the wall trips,
that's Michael Walter, but believe, um, get him all mixed up. So DW is a little bit,
probably he's kind of stepped away from everything, but, uh, we're getting a Dale
Hart Jr. Well, he's, he's back in that cohort of being younger, but maybe a Jeff Gordon or a,
or a Mark Martin or someone like that. Yep. Yeah. Maybe at a slower track too, or, um,
an event where, you know, maybe not at a super speedway, whether speeds are super high, but maybe
maybe a road course or a, or short track race, something like that. So you get someone that
get a rusty, a rusty Wallace or someone like that. Just, um, you know, one final, one final ride
where it's actually at speed as opposed to being symbolic. Um, you know, I think you just be careful
there to avoid stun and obviously people have, I don't have, I'm speaking generally here because
I don't know anything specific, but you know, it's people at age, they have health issues and
there is a certain point where the physical demands of race car driving, you can drive a race car
longer than you can play most stick and ball sports, but there is a, there is a point where
the physical demands do kind of force you out of it at a younger age than retiring from an office
job. Right. So, um, it would be a little tricky, but it would be kind of fun to see if, if a 60
something Bill Elliott or, or Mark Martin can hop into a car and, and a truck, excuse me, and get,
you know, a racer to him. So with that, do you have anything else you want to add on this topic,
Matthew? No, I think it's interesting. I'm looking forward to it when they pick it off in February.
Yeah, we'll, we'll visit it on the podcast too. I mean, we don't have to spend a lot of time on it,
but we can definitely hop in and say, you know, the first race or, or every so, we don't, I don't
know if we have to do it every race. We can hop in and, and I don't want to produce on the air, but
we can hop in and say, oh, this is the free agent this week, or maybe if it's, um,
you know, somebody who's famous and noticed, we could probably mention it thing at the first time,
then, and also if it's someone really famous or really notable or, or a future cup driver,
maybe keep an eye on it. So we'll check back in and out with that as, as next year goes along,
but that's way down the line. We are some time away from Daytona. We're still, we're still closer
to the championship race from 2025 than we are to the first race of 2026. So we'll, we'll deal with
that as we get to it. But, um, with that, we'll go ahead and close the NASCAR segment here in
this week's Truth About Cars podcast. Thank you, Matthew. Thank you for having me. It's always great.
That's all for this week's Truth About Cars podcast. I am Tim Healy, the managing editor,
and you can find us for every of your podcasts online at tthc.com or the truth about cars,
allspulledout.com. We thank Brian Moody and Matthew Guy for their time and Matt Poskey for editing.
Most of all, we thank you for listening. I bid you farewell from Los Angeles. We'll see you next time.
About this episode
The LA Auto Show is the backdrop for insightful discussions on new automotive trends and products. Tim Healy chats with Brian Moody from Kelley Blue Book about highlights from the show, including the Jeep Recon and the revamped Kia Telluride. Matthew Guy joins to explore dash cam technology, focusing on the Van True Nexus 4 Pro, and its features like motion detection and high-quality recording. The episode also touches on NASCAR's new free agent program for drivers in the Craftsman Truck Series, promising a mix of seasoned veterans and up-and-coming talent.
On this week's TTAC podcast we discuss the 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show with Brian Moody from Kelley Blue Book -- he spotlights the highlights of the show.
TTAC contributor Matthew Guy and host Tim Healey discuss Ram's Free Agent program in NASCAR, and we also spotlight dash cams in our Stuff We Use segment.
We thank Brian and Matthew Guy for their time, and Matt Posky for editing. Most of all, we thank you for listening!We'll see you next time!
