Latest / Rusty's Garage / Calvin Fish - Part 2

Transcript

Calvin Fish - Part 2 · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:19
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my feature ep with Calvin Fish.
• 0:24
  I know, I sound like a broken record usually at this point, but without stating the bleeding obvious, if you have arrived here and missed part one, you have missed some ripper yarns on a young fella who was raised in the UK and showed in the Junior Formula that he had the right stuff to go all the way.
• 0:42
  He's also not the kind to talk up his stock, so we'll do a bit of that for him.
• 0:46
  From taking a supercar out on track at the same time as an F1 car, to thinking that they had Ayrton Senna covered during lunchtime arcade game sessions at the cafe and much more.
• 1:00
  It was humble beginnings filled with hard yards during a period that most look back on fondly, and Calvin was right in it.
• 1:08
  Check out part one if you haven't already.
• 1:11
  Let's launch into part two now, which includes his time in the US, broadcasting and a whole lot more.
• 1:19
  There have been moments in your career where you've obviously come to a crossroads, right?
• 1:23
  And I think you've reflected elsewhere about the need to keep that hunger.
• 1:28
  And in the modern vernacular, we'll use the word resilience and so on.
• 1:33
  What happened from an end of UK scenario and an opening in America?
• 1:39
  Just tell us about that and how that came about.
• 1:42
  Yeah, so at the end of 83, it wasn't a great year.
• 1:45
  BP basically said, you know, you're out.
• 1:47
  And so we were scratching.
• 1:50
  We want to stay in Formula 3, have another crack at it.
• 1:52
  But it was, at the time, it was like £120,000, which is nothing these days.
• 1:57
  You know, guys spend double A in carding these days.
• 2:00
  But at the time, it was huge money to try and find.
• 2:03
  So we scrambled together like four or 5k and did the first race of the year at Silverstone.
• 2:09
  We ran with a customer team, Richard Troy.
• 2:11
  It was a good racer in his own right.
• 2:13
  He had a small team and pieced together a deal to run there.
• 2:17
  So that was the first race of 1984.
• 2:18
  And I remember sitting on the grid.
• 2:21
  It would have been March and it was snowing.
• 2:23
  It was literally sleeting.
• 2:24
  We're all sitting there on slicks.
• 2:27
  The team was new to Formula 3, so the car wasn't right in the suites, but I think we qualified fourth, fifth, sixth, somewhere in there.
• 2:35
  Then on the opening lap, Paul Radisic was in the race, and he hit me up the arse going down in the stout corner, so he got spun around to the back, drove back through, but that was a disaster.
• 2:44
  We needed to go out there, at least put it on the podium, and it didn't happen, so basically the game was over.
• 2:51
  And when I raced karting, we came in Daytona a couple of times, once with Martin Hines and the Hermitide team, and once with AK with the Dino.
• 3:02
  And we'd met some really fun people.
• 3:04
  One of them was a guy called Kim Campbell, who had a big race shop in Dallas, Texas.
• 3:09
  So we'd stayed in touch.
• 3:10
  He and my dad become best drinking mate.
• 3:13
  Um, we were good friends and, um, he was in touch.
• 3:16
  He followed me and watch what we were doing with the car racing and realized we didn't have a great, great year in 83 and, uh, on the phone to him one day and he said, listen, he said, if you got nothing going, he said, why don't you come to the States and have a crack over here.
• 3:28
  So literally for one week, having that conversation, the following week, guys on a plane.
• 3:35
  He gave me a job as a mechanic.
• 3:37
  I stayed at his house for the year.
• 3:38
  They had a shop that ran like six, eight local regional CCA race cars, sports 2000s, C-sport, D-sports races.
• 3:48
  So I became a mechanic for the year.
• 3:50
  There's one other main English guy, a guy called Ian Stone, who went on to be a Formula One mechanic with Brabham.
• 3:58
  excuse me he'd been with brabham before he came in the early 80s and uh i'm sure how he ended up on on u.s soil so he was the main mechanic i was like the backup and we were like beaving away in the shop all all uh all day long and um yeah just to your point it just gave me the the passion so i'd just been through the ringer once really and so in 83 84 i was still 22 years old and um
• 4:24
  It was like game over.
• 4:25
  Like there weren't any formula three deal.
• 4:27
  You couldn't go backwards.
• 4:28
  So in terms of racing, unless you switched to sedan racing, there really wasn't anywhere to go.
• 4:33
  Didn't wasn't, didn't really have my head in that game, which was probably a mistake.
• 4:37
  I could have probably, um, if I focused on that, maybe got a ride in a GT car or something, but it was fully single seater focus.
• 4:43
  So anyway, I made the decision, told my mom, I'm heading over to the States for a few months.
• 4:47
  See ya.
• 4:48
  See ya later.
• 4:49
  And I never went back, mate.
• 4:50
  So I think about it now with Livy, uh, uh,
• 4:53
  she's only 11 coming up on 12 years old but forecasting if if she was you know in her late teens and said hey dad i'm just gonna move to australia or back to england or whatever i'd be like devastated but my mom just took it totally in her stride was fully supportive never gave me a hard time and uh
• 5:11
  Moved to the States, worked with Kim, worked as a mechanic for the full year.
• 5:14
  The intent was to try and find a ride or drive as soon as I could.
• 5:19
  But I felt a responsibility.
• 5:20
  I think I was a bit burned by the 83 season.
• 5:24
  And it was good for me just to have a purpose for that year.
• 5:28
  And at the same time, there was the itch to get back behind the wheel.
• 5:32
  And so basically committed to the team.
• 5:34
  They said, like, we need you this weekend.
• 5:36
  You need to tell us if you're going to go off and like –
• 5:39
  you know roam around the paddock and not be here I said no I'll be there every race weekend and we were busy every weekend so yeah I was there for the full year but it certainly gave me the determination to get back behind the wheel and throughout the course of the year made some contacts over here which got me going again in 1985 to get get racing again
• 5:58
  Brilliant.
• 5:59
  The Atlantic title is what we're coming towards here.
• 6:04
  How did you begin?
• 6:04
  I mean, you're in a different country.
• 6:06
  There's not necessarily all of the usual contacts that you knew through Formula Ford and F3 and karting in the UK.
• 6:13
  How did you go about starting that process of actually getting back behind the wheel again?
• 6:19
  Yeah, it sort of dates back to when I started racing here in 85.
• 6:24
  So I drove for a team called Essex Racing that were based in Atlanta.
• 6:28
  And Mike Gouet and Phil Creighton.
• 6:30
  Phil Creighton still runs a team in SRO currently.
• 6:34
  They were two English guys who had a parts business, but they also went race cars.
• 6:38
  And they had the import deal for both Van Diemen and for Tiger sports cars.
• 6:44
  So...
• 6:46
  They did a deal with Ralph.
• 6:47
  Ralph Gate is a car to run for.
• 6:48
  So I went from F3 in Europe on the verge of F1 back to Formula Ford 1600 in the States.
• 6:54
  There was also a Pro Sports 2000 championship, which we competed at with Tiger.
• 6:58
  So Harden Gamley from Tiger Gate is a car for that.
• 7:03
  So we won our division with the Van Diemen.
• 7:05
  We finished second in the Pro Sports 2000 championship.
• 7:08
  But the Pro Sports 2000 championship was run by a lady called Vicky O'Connor, who also ran the Atlantic championship.
• 7:15
  I raced against her husband, Bill.
• 7:17
  He was a really great race, a great bloat.
• 7:19
  So we got to know each other during 85, racing in the Pro Sports 2000 championship.
• 7:24
  And Bill had bought an Atlantic car for 86.
• 7:27
  So the 85 Atlantic champion, a guy called Mike Angus, was intending to run the car.
• 7:32
  Bill was going to buy the car.
• 7:33
  They did a deal with the team.
• 7:35
  And then Mike, for whatever reason, couldn't come up with the money or the deal or whatever.
• 7:39
  So after the first race of the 86 Atlantic Championship, Bill calls me up and he says, do you have any sponsorship?
• 7:46
  We were trying to put together a deal for all sorts of stuff.
• 7:48
  And I said, I might be able to scrape some money together.
• 7:52
  And he said, if you can come up with anything, I'll put you in the car.
• 7:55
  The next race up was the Montreal support race for the Grand Prix in 86.
• 7:59
  So we rocked up there, never driven the car.
• 8:01
  We managed to finish third.
• 8:04
  And the Leon brothers who ran Road Atlanta, some successful real estate guys in Dallas, Texas, I got to know them really well and work with their young kid who was running Formula Ford 1600.
• 8:16
  um, trip was his name.
• 8:18
  So I was coaching him a little bit.
• 8:19
  So they said, yeah, we'll throw in a few grand and help you out.
• 8:22
  So I think I was bringing about five grand a weekend.
• 8:24
  True.
• 8:24
  Those guys, a little bit of help.
• 8:26
  And so Bill was able to keep the deal going.
• 8:28
  Um,
• 8:29
  And then we won a few races.
• 8:31
  So Scott Goodyear won the championship that year.
• 8:34
  I'd missed the first race and he'd won it.
• 8:35
  So we were in a bit of a points deficit, but we gradually caught him up.
• 8:38
  So by the end of the year, I think we won four races that year of the eight that we did and went down to the wire.
• 8:45
  And then we finished runner-up in the championship.
• 8:47
  And then Household Finance Corporation did a deal with Vicky to sponsor the championship.
• 8:54
  And they wanted to spot a car in the championship.
• 8:57
  So Vicky said, well, I've got this driver car of an English guy.
• 9:00
  He's good off the track as well with the PR stuff.
• 9:02
  So that gave us the money for totally free deal then to run in 87.
• 9:07
  And we ended up winning the championship in 87.
• 9:09
  And,
• 9:11
  And that then allowed to create the segue for HFC to then sponsor me in Indie Lights, IRS as it was then in 88.
• 9:17
  So it's just like one of those deals kind of leapfrogging up and again, relationships and networking and right place, right time and a bit of luck and a lot of people help me, you know.
• 9:28
  What about, I mean, at this point too, Calvin, I think there is a very early opportunity on the broadcasting side, maybe.
• 9:34
  Is that right around this time, 87, 88, perhaps?
• 9:37
  Yeah, it was a little bit later than that.
• 9:39
  So it was right after the single seater stuff kind of stopped.
• 9:43
  So we did the Indy Lights here in 88, won a few races, didn't win the championship.
• 9:49
  We were super competitive, but we didn't win the championship.
• 9:52
  And then the money dried up again, did a few little one-offs here and there.
• 9:56
  And then again through Vicky, the Atlantics didn't have a full TV package, but they used to do the odd race.
• 10:03
  And Jim McCallion, who's the promoter of the Long Beach Grand Prix, was back then and still is to this day, he and Chris Poop owned a sport broadcasting division themselves, and they used to do the Atlantic races and the Pro Sports 2000 races.
• 10:18
  So Vicky again said...
• 10:20
  no, you're not racing a lot.
• 10:21
  Do you have any interest in coming to the TV booth?
• 10:23
  Just, I didn't look at it as a career mate.
• 10:25
  It was just like a few bucks.
• 10:26
  I was trying to make ends meet.
• 10:27
  She said, you know, they'll pay you a few bucks if you want to come and sit in the seat.
• 10:31
  So I did that and it didn't really go anywhere.
• 10:33
  It was just the odd race.
• 10:35
  Um...
• 10:36
  But then mid-90s, there was an opportunity.
• 10:38
  And I think because I did have a bit of experience, that's when Speed Vision was kicking off, jumping ahead a little bit in the mid-90s.
• 10:44
  That gave me enough of a background that I got the opportunity to get in full bore come the mid-90s.
• 10:51
  But back then, I was really just a gig, you know, come in, say a few words, you know, the championship, and off you go.
• 10:58
  You know what television is like though, sometimes it's about the moment when you meet up with someone and an opportunity opens, right?
• 11:05
  Wasn't there something with Derek Daly and a producer had come up and he needed some assistance with some, you know, who were some of these, he'd been thrown into a particular class that he had to commentate or something or other, he needed to know who the players were and you helped, is that right?
• 11:19
  Yeah, spot on.
• 11:20
  Essentially, I was up in Canada, most bought CTMP as it's known now, and I was coaching a guy who owned Performance Friction Brakes, super nice guy, Don Bagun.
• 11:29
  Unfortunately, we lost him in a car crash in Italy a few years back, but he became a really good friend.
• 11:35
  He really took a liking to me.
• 11:37
  Paid me well to come and coach with him on this particular weekend.
• 11:40
  And I was just grabbing a coffee and bumped into Derek.
• 11:44
  And this guy who was with him, a guy called Jeff Hallis, who became a great friend of mine, he was a producer for Speed Vision.
• 11:49
  So it was back in the mid-90s.
• 11:50
  It had been 96, right when Speed Vision was kicking off.
• 11:54
  So Derek was up there.
• 11:57
  believe it was Trans Am would have been the headline of that weekend but they were doing the support races too so Derek said what are you doing I said I'm coaching Don and he said oh so you know about the F2000 race so we had a grid went through it with him and gave him a few nuggets on some of the guys some tidbits what to talk about so you ask Gray so Jeff was just standing there and he said have you done any television so I said yeah I've done a little bit he said
• 12:18
  Do you have any interest in doing more?
• 12:20
  And that was like a lifeline.
• 12:21
  I said, yeah, absolutely.
• 12:23
  So Jeff called me up.
• 12:25
  I did the six hours at the Glen, I think, like the following month.
• 12:28
  So that would have been mid-96.
• 12:30
  He said, that went great.
• 12:31
  You know, we've got six races.
• 12:32
  We can slot you in for the end of the year.
• 12:35
  And I ended up working for Speed Vision slash Speed slash Fox Sports that it became for 22 years.
• 12:43
  So a chance meeting that day created an opportunity to work for their sports car division.
• 12:49
  And also did Champ Car during that time and some other stuff.
• 12:53
  But yes, I stayed with the same network up until the current NBC gig that I'm in right now.
• 12:59
  So it was just great.
• 13:02
  Yeah, I mean, literally, mate, at that time in my life, I didn't know which way I was turning.
• 13:06
  So Don, Don Berguer and the PFC guys, his right-hand man is really trying to convince me to come work for them, to be like a break rep, the guy on the ground.
• 13:15
  He said, you know everyone in the paddock, you understand it.
• 13:18
  But it wasn't like a high-paying gig.
• 13:20
  And Don, you're on the company.
• 13:21
  He said, if you want it, it's yours.
• 13:22
  He said, it's yours.
• 13:23
  But he said...
• 13:24
  I think you should aspire to something bigger and better.
• 13:26
  And thank goodness, if I'd have been committed, that's the way I roll.
• 13:30
  So I elected to sort of like stay hands off on that gig and then this opportunity with the TV arose and the rest is history.
• 13:40
  So it's just become my life now.
• 13:42
  Are you professionally trained in it or purely just what you've learned, you know, hands on?
• 13:47
  Yeah, no, I mean, if you'd asked me as a kid, I was like the shy guy in school.
• 13:51
  If I was asked to get up there and say anything, there's no freaking way.
• 13:54
  I'd have been crapping my pants.
• 13:55
  So the fact that I am living, you know, talking and being in front of a mic or a camera is, is ridiculous to me thinking back.
• 14:03
  But, um...
• 14:04
  Yeah, I mean, yeah, they don't really train you.
• 14:07
  That's the ironic thing is kind of sink or swim, right?
• 14:09
  There's no like – no one says, oh, we're going to give you a gig, but you're going to do some media training.
• 14:14
  I think it might change a little bit in recent years with some of the networks, but it's basically they throw you in if it works great.
• 14:19
  Yeah.
• 14:21
  But the flip side of that is if you do a good job, typically you'll keep the job as long as you do your homework, you don't mail it in and you work hard and bring it every weekend.
• 14:29
  So, yeah, it was no training whatsoever.
• 14:32
  It was just, I think...
• 14:35
  I think I'm just suddenly comfortable behind the mic in terms of talking about, you know, technically I've always loved the strategy, you know, it's always been my thing.
• 14:42
  You know, I'm not there with matrix and everything, looking at computers.
• 14:45
  It's just like feeling the pulse of a race.
• 14:47
  And, and I just love that.
• 14:49
  You're not going to get it right every time, but I don't mind forecasting what's going to happen and making that statement and seeing if it works out.
• 14:57
  I just get a buzz out of that.
• 14:58
  It's a, it's nice to have, when you're doing the color position to, you
• 15:03
  Yeah, you talk about the dynamic on the track, what's happening with the current, in particular, corner, driver, mistakes, great moves, bad moves.
• 15:11
  And then the strategy, I think you can create more of a package.
• 15:14
  And I think it's become an asset in terms of selling myself from the broadcasting seat perspective, you know.
• 15:29
  Okay, so when they gave me my job description they said make these promos punchy.
• 15:34
  Well that's hard when you get two chatterboxers together like Rusty and his good mate Lee Diffy.
• 15:40
  You had personal calls with Bernie Eccleston too, mate, didn't you?
• 15:46
  I lived in a little house in Ermington, not too far from where you grew up as a kid.
• 15:54
  And again, it could have been naivety, it could have been over enthusiasm, or I don't know what.
• 16:03
  But I thought stuff, let's cut through all the crap and just ring the big guy.
• 16:07
  And so I rang, you know, Formula One management and I asked to speak with Bernie Eccleston and the lady said, yes, who are you and what's it about?
• 16:18
  And I said, I'm from Network 10 Australia and it's about Formula One.
• 16:23
  I didn't say, you know, I want to be a commentator.
• 16:25
  And she's like, yes, okay.
• 16:27
  And so I'd go to sleep and in the middle of the night, Sydney time, my phone rang and this happened not once but twice and I answered it and the lady said, yes, Mr. Diffie, Mr. Eccleston's ready to speak with you now.
• 16:39
  Diff has been a shining light for Aussie broadcasters and is working at the Paris Olympics for NBC as I record this.
• 16:46
  Rusty is a great mate and Calvin is like a brother to Lee.
• 16:49
  Let's continue with his story now.
• 16:54
  You've talked about the longevity that you've enjoyed there.
• 16:56
  And I mean, you've done some amazing things as well.
• 16:58
  We crossed paths at Daytona 24 Hour.
• 17:00
  You had, you know, a string of Le Mans 24 Hours on the ground with your good buddy Lee Diffie and so on.
• 17:06
  I mean, there's been some amazing races that you have been a part of in that broadcasting sense.
• 17:13
  Yeah, it's been great.
• 17:14
  I mean, just work with some great guys, some great teams.
• 17:17
  I mean, Diff and I are best mates, as you know, and it's been a privilege to work with him.
• 17:22
  He's amazing at his job, and the chemistry's great.
• 17:25
  We still get to sit beside each other a few times this year with the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship on NBC, of course.
• 17:33
  And hopefully more down the road.
• 17:36
  I think a real treat was going back to Lamar last year.
• 17:38
  We hadn't been for a few years.
• 17:41
  We used to do all of the big enduros flag to flag back in the heyday with speed when they had the hours to do that.
• 17:48
  When you're on a sports network, you can't.
• 17:51
  load down a channel of sports car racing for 24 hours or 12 hours.
• 17:54
  So it's a bit more dotted around the dial these days.
• 17:57
  But back in the day, we used to do all of the big events, flag to flag.
• 18:01
  But for Lee and I, we went to go back last year for the hundreds and sat beside Tom Christensen, who we've become great mates with.
• 18:08
  So that was...
• 18:09
  That was a treat.
• 18:11
  That was really great to go back and just hit the old stomping grounds again.
• 18:16
  We're a bit more subdued than we were back in the day.
• 18:18
  Not so many late nights.
• 18:20
  We brought to bed a little bit earlier.
• 18:22
  But just a real treat to continue to work with people like Lee.
• 18:27
  Your mate and mine has done some incredible things.
• 18:30
  As we sit here and record this now, it's not all that long before he'll be headed to Paris for the Olympic Games.
• 18:35
  He's just been working with Snoop Dogg.
• 18:37
  I mean, just insane.
• 18:38
  And he's exceptional.
• 18:39
  I mean, he's our mate, I know, but he is really good at his craft, isn't he?
• 18:44
  He really is.
• 18:45
  And he told me yesterday, he said, go on the internet and search for memorabilia.
• 18:49
  And I found some stuff, mate, which you might have interest in.
• 18:52
  It was like these brand new Alpine styles, leathers and a really nice right helmet.
• 18:56
  Apparently some journo back a few years ago thought he was going to do some speed comparison thing at Phillip Island.
• 19:03
  And I found this stuff online.
• 19:04
  I don't know if you know anything about it, mate.
• 19:07
  I know he's put you up to this.
• 19:09
  To this day, I was like a cat on a hot tin roof because I had everybody coming at me telling me that I had to – I was the bunny in a fictional speed comparison at Phillip Island.
• 19:23
  Gazz was involved in it as well.
• 19:25
  He was involved in it up to his eyeballs, my friend, and then people at the Grand Prix Corporation and all sorts.
• 19:31
  Anyway.
• 19:32
  Anyway, you mentioned about doing some driver training along the way to sort of supplement things, I guess, and keep things ticking along in that early phase there.
• 19:42
  Did you enjoy that stuff?
• 19:43
  Were you naturally good at that?
• 19:45
  Sometimes people as racers get a little frustrated when they're in that passenger seat.
• 19:50
  It's not always an easy transition for them.
• 19:52
  Yeah, being in the passenger seat can get sketchy.
• 19:56
  So we used to do, you know, obviously coaching work, and then we used to do ride and drive work, which was even worse.
• 20:03
  So it was a gain, a way of making ends meet.
• 20:06
  So back in the – it was about 1990, I think, when the Infiniti –
• 20:12
  um brand established itself at the same time as lexus did here in the u.s so there's a company they used to bring out about 25 30 drivers they started training all of their dealerships and everyone who worked in an infinity dealer had to come through this training and firebird raceway out in arizona so they used to bring in like 25 30 drivers to sit alongside them coach them through all of the the various um modules that we used to go through so you can imagine what it was like you had a lot of
• 20:41
  guys who like to have a good time.
• 20:42
  So we'd work hard during the day, but then at NIO it was massive fun.
• 20:47
  But it was good.
• 20:47
  I mean, I got great satisfaction out of training young drivers who I've worked with at the Mid-Ohio School.
• 20:54
  So I did a pretty big stint there, started that in the mid-90s.
• 20:58
  Chris Knifel started the school and Tommy Byrne, Brian Till, who we work with on NBC.
• 21:03
  A lot of great guys have worked there over the years.
• 21:06
  And then I became chief instructor there for a while until I got too busy and really couldn't keep that alive like it needed to be.
• 21:11
  So I had to step back out of that role several years ago now.
• 21:16
  But, you know, I did.
• 21:16
  I do get a buzz out of that.
• 21:18
  It's really fun to work with young drivers, see the light bulb go on and make improvements.
• 21:24
  And again, I think.
• 21:27
  And again, not just working with the driver, but working with the engineer as well and helping them understand what the driver, observing on the side of the track and trying to give them feedback from what you're seeing outside of the car is to really enjoy.
• 21:39
  So yeah, I have enjoyed those times and some of the times that come alongside that off the track have been fun as well.
• 21:46
  Is the common thread across all of these different things we've been talking about that you're a perfectionist, mate?
• 21:50
  You know, the way that you go about your broadcasting, I know, and even the way you've no doubt tried to instill that in some of the young races that you've managed and so on.
• 22:02
  Is that a key element to you?
• 22:04
  I think a little bit, yeah.
• 22:06
  I mean, I've learned later in my broadcasting career to let it go because you never have a perfect race, just like when you're behind the wheel.
• 22:14
  You can always improve.
• 22:15
  You continue learning.
• 22:17
  But I don't beat myself up as much on a Sunday night or a Monday morning as I used to.
• 22:21
  Yeah.
• 22:23
  You just got to realize it's live TV and it's not always going to come out correctly.
• 22:27
  And you might make the odd mistake as well along the way.
• 22:29
  So learn to let it go.
• 22:30
  But yeah, I like to do the homework.
• 22:32
  I think it's all about preparation.
• 22:35
  To succeed, you got to prepare in the first place and your homework is so important in that.
• 22:39
  But I think...
• 22:40
  Even dating back to how I used to look after my own go-karts and stuff, they were always pristine.
• 22:46
  When I ran Formula 4 2000, we ran our own team for the first time.
• 22:51
  I had a great mechanic, so we went out and got the best guy.
• 22:53
  He was Roberto Moreno's...
• 22:55
  formula ford 1600 mechanic when roberto was winning the formula ford festival and stuff and guy name was mickey galter he's a bit of a nutcase like if he if you pissed him off he'd give you a headbutt and you'd be on the floor in the corner but nonetheless you want him on your side when you're in a bar fight but uh just the best mechanic you could never work on a big team like he couldn't go to formula three because he couldn't work alongside anyone else he had to do everything himself but i mean the floor pan in my car you could have shaved in it i mean
• 23:24
  most cars are like covered in grime and grit right this was like spotless and he used to do a glitter so you could like literally see your face in it and i was the same way as like to prep a race car to me if it's covered in shit how do you really know if there's a crack or anything wrong with it so i think just using that yeah affectionist yeah some people would say that yeah for sure but just try and do the best you can
• 23:49
  Something you said before piqued my interest as well around the studio calls that you do that aren't always at the racetrack, right?
• 23:56
  I mean, there's a bit more of a prevalence of that happening in Australia at the moment on a number of sports, not just motor racing.
• 24:01
  Motor racing's dabbled in it a little bit.
• 24:04
  I think that works.
• 24:05
  I mean, at heart, you want to be at the racetrack.
• 24:07
  You want to be around the competitors and feel that vibe and react to that and so on.
• 24:14
  But I think in listening to some of the calls, you can make that hub model or that tube style call work done right, can't it?
• 24:23
  You can.
• 24:24
  I mean, I talk about the fact we used to do all of the big sports car races flag to flag.
• 24:28
  And then really the first time that we started doing remote with Fox was for Le Mans.
• 24:34
  So then Lee and I would like literally beat up our boss there, Rick Miner, like we still have to go.
• 24:40
  and be in the paddock for wednesday thursday night and then we used to fly back on friday and then call the race from the weekend so everyone's like you're gonna go to lamar and then come back and then do your job and it's like yeah we have to be there that was that was how we were brought up that was we felt we felt that we couldn't do it unless we were there and they said no we they did it the first and they're like we're not paying those tickets anymore so lee and i said we're gonna pay for ourselves now
• 25:05
  my boss is like, you pay, like, I'll pay for you to go reluctantly.
• 25:08
  So they still sent us.
• 25:09
  So the problem is when you do it and you obviously don't want to fail, so you still try and put a great effort in to come up with a great show.
• 25:18
  Some people don't notice the difference.
• 25:20
  They don't notice the nuance and what you can bring to the table by being there with us having a coffee in the morning and having a chat with someone who's a big player in the race that day in the same hotel.
• 25:30
  Whatever the case may be, there's just such a difference when you're on site
• 25:34
  But you do get used to it.
• 25:36
  Logistically, it's a little easier.
• 25:38
  So I live in Hilton Head.
• 25:39
  The Charlotte Studio is only a four-hour drive away where we call the IMSA races from.
• 25:43
  So the weekends are a little bit shorter.
• 25:46
  So by the end of the year, you're not as burned out as much.
• 25:48
  But there's a huge difference.
• 25:49
  I think the way we do it with IMSA right now is pretty good.
• 25:52
  So we always top and tailors.
• 25:53
  We'll be on Cypher Daytona.
• 25:55
  We'll always be at Petite at the end of the year.
• 25:57
  And they were always been on site for the two IndyCar shares, which are Long Beach and Detroit.
• 26:02
  So long as you get in the paddock and feel the pulse a little bit, but it's not the same.
• 26:08
  I feel there's definitely a compromise, but, you know, it's finance versus, you know, what you'd ideally like to have happen.
• 26:16
  We've learned how to deal with it, and that's where your network comes in, where you can tax call people in the evening, see what's going on.
• 26:22
  But there's nothing like being there.
• 26:24
  Doing that final work for the last 30 minutes before you pop up to the booth is huge in terms of what you bring to the table, because otherwise you're no different to the avid race fan who's searching the internet, looking at press releases, looking at websites to try and get your information, and it's not quite the same.
• 26:41
  um the end of the day there's a race going on you're calling racing and that's where that's where your background comes in not so much you know having things there's a safety and half the racing goes quiet and you need some stories
• 26:52
  I'm glad you brought up Speed Vision before.
• 26:54
  Diff kindly took me on a tour there many years ago.
• 26:56
  I know it's changed now.
• 26:58
  And for its era, for its time, Calvin, what a really cool setup.
• 27:03
  And am I right in saying, has that become like an evangelical church thing?
• 27:09
  I mean, the whole setup there has changed, hasn't it?
• 27:12
  It has.
• 27:13
  And ironically, just in the last couple of months, May, there's been a big sort of exit as well.
• 27:18
  So that became Fox Sports Headquarters.
• 27:20
  And I'm not sure if you've been aware, but there's been a big shutting down of like race up on the NASCAR side.
• 27:25
  So a lot of the key people who I've worked with management have been there for decades.
• 27:30
  Literally the last couple of months have been let go.
• 27:33
  And ironically, it's at the same time that they just announced they got the broadcasting rights for IndyCar for next year.
• 27:38
  So there's been a big change.
• 27:40
  I mean, it's...
• 27:41
  It's massive in that industry because there's so many people based up there in the Charlotte area.
• 27:45
  So it's been a big shift and a lot of people are looking for new opportunities and a place to put their feet moving forward.
• 27:54
  But yeah, there's been some great people come out of that building.
• 27:58
  It will continue to run.
• 28:00
  I think it runs other sports out of the building still, so it's not going to shut it down.
• 28:03
  But, yeah, it was a great spot, and so many of the Le Mans broadcasts we called out of there.
• 28:08
  And, yeah, great memories, great bosses there, Rick Miner, Frank Wilson, Dave Lee, Pete Richards, some really wonderful production people lived and breathed that building for many years.
• 28:22
  I mean, probably a bit early to ask this question because there'll be a bit of water under the bridge, but could that present an opportunity for you to maybe work on the IndyCar side?
• 28:29
  Would that be something you'd like to have a think about?
• 28:32
  It's kind of silly season right now with the broadcasting stuff.
• 28:35
  I mean, I feel I've been so invested.
• 28:38
  I mean, I did Champ Car and IndyCar way back when, but I've been so invested in sports cars, I'd love to stay.
• 28:43
  I'm hoping that I will stay and stay with the NBC broadcast team.
• 28:46
  But I think everyone was waiting for the dominoes to fall in terms of, A, the NBC deal with IMSA being renewed, which has been on the cards for the last couple of months and just finally got announced in the last couple of weeks.
• 29:00
  And then obviously the big news is that IndyCar is moving away from NBC Sports and moving over to Fox.
• 29:06
  So...
• 29:07
  You never know, but my goal would be to stay exactly where I am with the family I love and with the team that we have.
• 29:15
  So hopefully that will be the case for next year and moving forward.
• 29:18
  We haven't, as we get toward the finish here, we haven't spoken about the fact that you had success in sports cars yourself.
• 29:25
  And was that the sort of bookend to your driving chapter?
• 29:27
  Is that where it kind of finished and was there a difficulty in ultimately stopping driving?
• 29:33
  Yeah.
• 29:34
  Yeah, I think that was really just a question of survival, mate.
• 29:37
  So I'd done a little bit of sports car racing alongside the single-seater stuff.
• 29:43
  And then I got to the end of the 80s, and I was a struggle.
• 29:46
  So I did the Indy Lights year.
• 29:49
  We won a couple of races and were very quick and could have won the championship.
• 29:52
  We had a few too many races.
• 29:53
  DNFs and just mechanical things.
• 29:55
  We ran with the team, Team Scherzen.
• 29:58
  So Doug Scherzen's Domino's Pizza was the big Alan Sejunior, Raul Bazel, IndyCar days.
• 30:03
  They ran a satellite team alongside under his daughter's name for me with HFC sponsorship.
• 30:10
  And it was a brand new team.
• 30:11
  So a lot of the other teams, like Tommy's team and Mark Wider and some of the big teams had been through some of the main components.
• 30:18
  There was some options on what you're on, what clutch you're on, what brake pad you package, stuff like that.
• 30:24
  There's some stuff they're discarded.
• 30:26
  We were learning about doing the racing scenes.
• 30:28
  We had a few too many DNFs.
• 30:29
  So that was a year that was super frustrating, I would say, because...
• 30:33
  I think if we finished the races, we would have won the championship, and that could have been a game changer in terms of that momentum and getting into IndyCar.
• 30:41
  So, again, like the F3 stuff, not apples to apples.
• 30:45
  I did feel I was truly competitive in F3.
• 30:47
  I did feel I was truly competitive in ARS.
• 30:50
  And so I was a bit more frustrated with that.
• 30:53
  But, again, the HFC money dried up.
• 30:55
  They kind of really shut it down.
• 30:58
  and didn't have the funding.
• 30:59
  It was going to take money to move forward.
• 31:01
  Did a one-off with Norm Turley's team at Detroit.
• 31:05
  Finished second there, but it was the only race I did in 1989.
• 31:09
  And then was looking at sports car opportunities more full-time and didn't quite click it together.
• 31:16
  Did a got what they used to call the Roush Gong Show.
• 31:19
  So they'd bring in like 10, 12 drivers if they had an open slot for the next year.
• 31:24
  So...
• 31:26
  I got invited to that.
• 31:27
  So we were at Sebring, which at the time, ironically, I won Sebring, but I'd never driven a Sebring before.
• 31:34
  I'd never driven a full Tintop before.
• 31:37
  And you were literally given like two, three lap runs and a bunch of guys here out there, Jack Baldwin was there, who's still around our racing scene here.
• 31:46
  Max Jones was there who had been running with Tommy Kendall in the Chevy Berettas.
• 31:50
  So he was looking for a new deal.
• 31:53
  So anyway, long story short, we do the gong show.
• 31:55
  We had like 12 guys there, a bunch of single-seater guys.
• 31:57
  And I was second fastest of who ran.
• 32:00
  And Lee Morris, who was the Ford boss, called me up after the weekend.
• 32:04
  He said, listen, the test has gone really well.
• 32:07
  Looks like we're going to give you there two seats available, one in Trans Am, one in IMSA.
• 32:12
  And he said, looks like you're going to be good for one of the seats.
• 32:15
  We'll give you a call next week.
• 32:16
  So I'm sitting there like this is the shot, right, out of single-seaters into sports cars.
• 32:21
  But the call never came.
• 32:23
  Again, at the time I talked about being a bit shy.
• 32:25
  And finally I called him up and I said, Lee, I haven't really heard anything from him.
• 32:28
  And he said, well, so his boss was Michael Kranifis.
• 32:31
  And at the time, Robbie Gordon was like driving the desert truck stuff for Michael.
• 32:36
  Michael was a huge Robbie fan.
• 32:38
  So Robbie was there.
• 32:39
  He was quick but kept spinning off just flat out everywhere.
• 32:43
  And he had a lot of adaptation due to get used to road racing.
• 32:47
  But he was quick.
• 32:48
  And I'd gone quicker.
• 32:50
  But he'd been banging on Michael all week.
• 32:52
  I loved it.
• 32:53
  I loved it.
• 32:53
  I'm like, give me a shot.
• 32:54
  Give me a shot.
• 32:54
  Well, anyway, the default was...
• 32:57
  Robbie's got the full season deal.
• 32:58
  You're going to do the Enduros alongside Robbie, which at the time was only Daytona and Sebring.
• 33:03
  But we went out and won both bloody races.
• 33:05
  And Robbie didn't.
• 33:07
  So I think it was at the time you'd had Daytona, then a sprint race, then Sebring.
• 33:13
  And Robbie didn't finish the sprint race.
• 33:15
  So even after Sebring, like fourth race in, I was still co-leading the championship with Robbie, but that was the end of the story.
• 33:21
  I do recall once Robbie got in hot water with the team and Lee Morris called me up and got me to come and...
• 33:28
  uh drive the car to start the weekend i think it was at topeka that's right topeka uh so i think robbie was on the hot seat for a little bit but i never got in the car full time but from that point forward um i gave you opportunities in the enduro so just winning the race a couple of times uh gave me an opportunity to come back each year and do the enduro but it wasn't enough it wasn't enough
• 33:48
  um finances involved to to keep you running for the year so that's when you start to like do the ride and drives you're no longer pound in the pavement in the paddock and before you know it you're no longer a race car driver you're off doing other stuff and that's when it all kind of fell apart and but you know fortunately got the tv gig in the mid 90s outside of that did the lights stuff perhaps open the the door for a test at all with what we now know as as champ car did that happen
• 34:14
  It didn't.
• 34:15
  I mean, in some ways, I mean, again, if I'd managed it a little bit better, I should have really leveraged Doug Shearson to give me a run in the Indy car.
• 34:25
  I mean, Doug was a shrewd businessman.
• 34:27
  I think if HFC had said, you know, at the time, his 50 grand or whatever it took at the time to put Calvin in the car for a day, he would have done it, but he wasn't going to just do it out of his own pocket.
• 34:38
  Steve Horn with True Sports had shown a little bit of interest, particularly when I ran well on the Ovals.
• 34:42
  So...
• 34:43
  I hadn't done ovals before the Indy Lights year, so that was a new thing for me.
• 34:48
  And other than Milwaukee, I ran really well on the ovals that year.
• 34:51
  So I think that got IndyCar team owners' attention a little bit, but it never really developed into anything, never really got a true opportunity to jump in something.
• 35:01
  But again, I think I needed a manager.
• 35:04
  I think if I'd had a...
• 35:06
  Calvin Fish representing me, I'd have been pushing that angle a little bit based on the results that we were having to maybe create some opportunity.
• 35:14
  But again, I wasn't one to, wasn't much of a soft promoter, so it was tough.
• 35:18
  Couple to finish here.
• 35:19
  What's the car?
• 35:21
  The one from your time you've driven, you know, a diverse array of things.
• 35:26
  Maybe it was the Daytona success you just alluded to a moment ago.
• 35:29
  Was there a moment where you're in a car where you thought, man, this thing is special, you know, hairs on the back of your neck type stuff?
• 35:38
  Yeah, I think, I mean, in terms of speed, they're not out there, but I think Atlantic car was a good fit for me.
• 35:43
  I had more horsepower, obviously, than a FW3 car, and I think I embraced that.
• 35:47
  And I think that, you know, maybe reading too much into it, but I think maybe if I'd got the opportunity with an Indy car, it could have been a good fit.
• 35:55
  in terms of more horsepower than downforce, whereas F3 was just like brrrr, you know, you steer it and go, but the car had to be working.
• 36:02
  Whereas with Atlantic, they were on a hard tire, so you had to control the horsepower a little bit, even though they weren't super high horsepower.
• 36:08
  The Indy Lights car had more horsepower than an Atlantic car, but it wasn't a great car.
• 36:13
  It was like a...
• 36:14
  It was a March in the early days, and it was a bit of a, you know, it wasn't a great car.
• 36:18
  You had to really sort of compromise a lot of stuff to try and get it to work.
• 36:23
  Fortunately for me, I think that year that –
• 36:26
  myself and the team and the engineers there we had a pretty good car that year i think that's why we ran really well is that we did get it sorted out a lot of people didn't quite figure out we did so um but i think the atlantic car was the car that fit me the best looking back in terms of the car that i enjoyed felt most at home would give me what i wanted and was a fun car to drive racetrack as a driver racetrack as a broadcaster which is the one that you have the softest spots for
• 36:54
  Love Road America over here.
• 36:55
  Really always enjoyed there.
• 36:57
  It's a wonderful place to go.
• 36:59
  Just a great vibe up there.
• 37:01
  So many great times on and off the racetrack.
• 37:03
  But in terms of racing the track, I would say that Road America is my favorite.
• 37:08
  And Le Mans is special.
• 37:10
  I love all of the races that we have on the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Trail.
• 37:15
  We don't have any duds in terms of in-use that we go to.
• 37:19
  But going back to Le Mans, remind you just how special that place is.
• 37:24
  Loved the Nürburgring, only did it once.
• 37:27
  With Tommy, in fact, is my teammate.
• 37:30
  I think I went nine seconds quicker in the race.
• 37:32
  We had a four-lap race.
• 37:34
  four laps, right?
• 37:35
  It was a 30-minute race.
• 37:36
  I think it took us over eight minutes to get around there back then, but I think I went nine seconds quicker than in the race than I qualified there just because you didn't know the circuit and lots to learn.
• 37:45
  But I would have loved to have gone back to the ring because I'm sure knowing the nuance of that place, it would be a lot of fun.
• 37:52
  I was just trying to survive and not scare myself silly first time there.
• 37:56
  But never raced at Le Mans, raced on the Bugatti circuit in cars, never raced at Le Mans, but in terms of broadcasting,
• 38:03
  It's just a treat.
• 38:04
  It's just so special to be young.
• 38:06
  To finish, best piece of advice you've been given, and there's lots of young racers that will be listening to this in Australia and New Zealand, and maybe the kind of advice that you give some of the drivers that you work with now.
• 38:17
  Yeah, I think just never give up.
• 38:19
  You never know what's around the corner.
• 38:20
  So you just got to believe in yourself.
• 38:23
  That's what people have told me over the years, whether it's racing or certainly in the broadcasting.
• 38:28
  And I think from advising a young driver is just to be likable.
• 38:32
  We talked about it before.
• 38:33
  You need people on your side.
• 38:36
  You've got to do all the right things.
• 38:37
  We live in a different world with social media and not making mistakes in that arena as well, obviously.
• 38:42
  But in terms of being in the paddock and relationships are so important.
• 38:47
  I think Joey Hand's a great example of that.
• 38:49
  People love him.
• 38:49
  Do you know what I mean?
• 38:51
  He's had a couple of quiet years, but he's still there racing at a factory level for Ford.
• 38:55
  They believe in him.
• 38:56
  I love him to death.
• 38:57
  I think he's really a great...
• 38:59
  example of having people on your side and coming through the dips and coming out the other side with a really good program.
• 39:06
  So, um, yeah, you, you, you need to know,
• 39:11
  How much to harm someone?
• 39:14
  I'd say from my early days, I wasn't on the front foot enough.
• 39:18
  But by the same time, you've got to recognize where you're doing enough to be believable and people believe that you think you're good enough to do it, but not being a pest at the same time.
• 39:28
  So there's a real sweet spot there in terms of being on the phone, recognizing, you know, having good people skills and recognizing the nuance of when you're turning someone off and when you can keep going with that conversation.
• 39:41
  Yeah.
• 39:41
  Sage, mate, just particularly about getting through the dips and being able to keep going and to have those good people around you.
• 39:47
  This has been an awesome hour chatting with you.
• 39:49
  I know there's lots of other great stories that we'll do, maybe have a little glass of wine one day when we get to catch up again face to face.
• 39:57
  Get the group together and have a couple of Minos at the same time.
• 40:00
  Then the truth will be what he can.
• 40:02
  I'd love that.
• 40:03
  And I'm indebted to you, mate.
• 40:04
  Thank you so much for coming on and reflecting on your own career and continued success with the broadcasting, mate.
• 40:10
  Well, congrats on all your success, mate.
• 40:12
  Love listening to you.
• 40:20
  Rusty's Garage is written and presented by me, Greg Rust.
• 40:24
  Series editor and producer is Thomas Dullard.
• 40:28
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• 40:30
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• 40:35
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