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Transcript

St. Pete to Phoenix: INDYCAR’s Roaring Start · Fast Cars Fast Girls

0:04
Welcome to Fast Cars, Fast Girls. My name is Abby Meyer. I'll be your host today
0:08
and co-hosting with me, we've got Sarah Proctor.
0:11
Sarah, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself a little bit?
0:13
Hi, guys. I'm Sarah. I've actually been a fan of Fast Cars, Fast Girls since
0:21
they first brought this podcast out, so it's kind of full circle that I get to be on here. I'm,
0:30
Um, my first race was actually not the Indy 500.
0:35
It was the 2000 Michigan 500. And then I saw... It was a different 500. That's fascinating.
0:44
Yes. My dad was, um, pretty team champ car during a car champ car during the split.
0:53
So, um...
0:56
Yeah. So I grew up watching a lot of kart races, but it's all good.
1:01
I mean, we all came back together, so that's what matters, right? Yep.
1:06
So, well, that's excellent. So, yeah. So you've been in and around the sport
1:10
for a while, and we're happy to have you on the show.
1:13
Thanks. Yeah. I need some more female perspectives.
1:17
Don't get me wrong. I love that I've got men working for me on Fast Cars,
1:20
Fast Girls. I absolutely love that. But I need a little more estrogen in my life.
1:26
For sure for sure so all right well it's been
1:28
a while since we've had an episode so sorry about that listeners sarah's
1:32
going to keep me on schedule though so if we uh mess up
1:34
from here on out it can be sarah's fault not mine um thanks
1:39
you're welcome that's what i brought you in for uh so we've got a couple things
1:44
to talk about we've had two races and then we've also got the arlington race
1:48
coming up this week so i'll tell you what i love an indycar season opener that
1:55
we have got back to back to back to back.
1:57
Usually we have St. Pete, and then it's all this great energy,
2:01
and then it kind of is this letdown, and we have a month or six weeks or so
2:05
until the next race. And I really love that we are just screaming through March with four races.
2:11
Yes, I agree. Finally, finally, they're listening to us fans.
2:15
Right. Give us all the races, please. Yeah, let's keep the momentum up.
2:20
I mean, they definitely could have put one in April because I think we only
2:23
have one April race, But, you know, they don't they don't do exactly what I want. So I don't.
2:29
Yeah. So it goes. So it goes. So let's talk about St. Petersburg.
2:34
Now, have you ever you have not ever been in the St. Pete race, correct?
2:38
I have not. It's on my bucket list. It looked glorious.
2:42
I need to get my butt down there sometime. It is glorious.
2:48
I think of the St. Pete weekend as the unofficial IndyCar spring break because
2:54
the vibe, the energy of everybody there, it's a very spring break atmosphere.
3:02
Just so much as it's a lot of Midwesterners that come down for that race.
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I have a friend that I went with who actually lives in Florida.
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And he was surprised by how many Midwesterners came down to St.
3:12
Petersburg for the race.
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And I said, well, it's because our weather sucks right now. So it's the perfect
3:16
excuse to get out of town.
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And so because we get that sunshine after having, you know, six months of gray
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skies and cold and nastiness, everybody just is in a great mood.
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You just, you meet friends at the track. Everybody is just happy to be there.
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And it's just, you know a very a very fun atmosphere
3:36
a very lively crowd to be a part of um it
3:40
kind of feels like indycar is almost doing like a spring break tour
3:43
throughout march so we hit saint pete
3:47
and then phoenix and now we're gonna hit texas and then they're gonna hit birmingham
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so multiple spring breaks i wish i could go to all of them but i have to work
3:58
occasionally yeah same here I definitely would love to go to more, but...
4:06
Husband and I just bought a new house, so got to, you know, got to rein in the
4:11
finances just a little bit. Got to pay those bills.
4:15
So, all right, well, let's go to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
4:20
Great race for the most part.
4:23
And I'm just going to say it. I'm just going to say what we're all thinking.
4:27
I'm fucking tired of seeing Alex Pillow win races.
4:30
Don't get me wrong. I love Alex Pillow. He's the nicest guy.
4:33
You can't even hate him because he's so nice. I just
4:36
I just am tired of seeing him win
4:39
so many races I think it's kind of funny
4:42
because you're either like oh I hate him or
4:45
like oh all the domination I mean
4:48
you got to look back into the racing realm of
4:52
things and people have always dominated so you know teams have to modify and
4:59
do better and get with the picture and learn how to beat them it's true that
5:03
is true I think it's Interesting to me that he ran away with as many races last season as he did,
5:09
just because I feel like typically teams are able to hone in on things and challenge
5:15
whoever's dominating a little bit more efficiently than they did in the 2025 season.
5:21
I agree. They just got to do it.
5:24
And that's the cool part about racing is you have that dominating factor and you chase it.
5:30
You just got to do it. Got to do it. I love it. Well, we'll just kind of run through.
5:39
So obviously, Alex Pillow won that race with a pretty decent lead.
5:45
So good for him congratulations alex again nicest
5:48
guy in the world um i really love him i just i like
5:52
seeing i like seeing things get get mixed up so uh
5:56
scott mclaughlin came in second great race and uh christian lingard came in
6:00
third no surprise there i'm on a podium i can guarantee that's not the last
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podium we're going to see him on this season no i i could definitely see him
6:09
getting more top threes down the line for sure.
6:13
I was kind of sad Kyle Kirkwood got fourth. It'd be great to,
6:17
you know, if he ever wins St.
6:19
Pete, Florida, Florida, Florida man wins St. Pete. So the crowd will go absolutely insane.
6:26
I mean, it's, it would be akin to, you know, Ed Carpenter or Connor Daly winning
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the 500, you know, winning the race in their hometown.
6:35
I mean, yeah, him winning in Florida as Florida man would just,
6:39
be amazing I would love to see it and then Pato rounding out in top five,
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I would have liked I was surprised I figured he'd be up there a little bit more
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but you know he's still up there I thought I'd see him on the podium but five's nothing to you know.
7:03
To be upset about that's for sure and now marcus erickson
7:06
of course i did not choose him in fantasy and
7:09
i should have wow and then yeah
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joseph newgarden eighth and ninth
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and this is just fantastic we've got um roman grajan and renas vk so yeah those
7:23
those were pretty good i was surprised yeah um 10th dennis halbert yeah oh two
7:30
dale point cars in the top 10 and i don't even know when the last time that happened.
7:34
Yeah, that was insane. Like, I heard rumblings how good Dennis Haugert was,
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but for a rookie to finish your first race in the top 10, that's.
7:47
Pretty clutch in my opinion. So he is, it really, I mean, the only thing better
7:54
would, you know, would have been winning the race or getting pull. So absolutely.
8:00
Well, Dale Coyne, I love Dale Coyne because he only does one year long contract.
8:05
So you were always driving for your ride and you know exactly where you stand with him.
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And, and I love that kind of directness. Like there's no.
8:13
You know, there's no, will they, won't they, it's, it's very much a,
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you're driving for your ride and now you're bringing in sponsorship money you know
8:20
you know what you're getting with dillis but dillis yes has
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a knack for finding drivers and putting them in cars like a year or two before
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they become massive dominating drivers and i feel like we might see that with
8:37
dennis hagger because alex below's first season his freshman year he was Dale Coyne.
8:42
Okay. His second season he was with Ganassi and he won the championship.
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So you know I've seen Dale Coyne have good drivers in the past so I'll be interested
8:52
to see what happens with Dennis Haver.
8:54
See if he stays at Dale Coyne or if his results result in him getting picked up by a bigger team.
9:01
Yeah well and he's also got a pretty insane like rookie classmate too with you
9:09
know, um, Mick Schumacher.
9:11
So, I mean, beating him out of the bat is pretty insane.
9:16
So it is, it really is. Yeah. We've got Mick Schumacher and then Kyle Collette,
9:20
um, our rookie class this year.
9:23
So yeah. And Kyle Collette has got quite a racing history as well.
9:28
Uh, so it'll be interesting to see how these rookies do.
9:31
It'll be interesting to see who the rookie of the year is at the end of the
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season. Cause I feel like there's a lot of potential. Uh, yes.
9:38
Even even the rookie for the 500 is going to be interesting too.
9:43
Very interesting. Very interesting. Because the one thing that.
9:48
Dennis, Kayo, and Mick don't have is Oval Experience.
9:51
So I will be excited to see which one of them kind of picks it up the quickest.
9:59
For sure. And then, yeah. Oh, go ahead.
10:03
Yep. And then we had Marcus Armstrong, 11th.
10:08
No shock there. David Malukas.
10:14
Rosenquist, 12th. And Malukas, 13th. I expected to see Marcus do a little better, honestly.
10:20
I was a little surprised about that, too.
10:23
But the Myers-Shank boys right there finishing there. Yeah.
10:28
She was a little surprising, but... Yeah, I definitely expected Marcus Armstrong to do a little better.
10:34
And Rosenquist, too. But, I mean, that's a stacked top 10.
10:39
So being 11 and 12 is definitely nothing to sniff about.
10:43
Yeah. And then Louis Foster, him and that mustache, man. That mustache. I'm telling you. My God.
10:52
I can't even look at him without laughing.
10:55
I don't know if I'm ever going to talk to him because I just want to laugh.
10:59
He just looks like a 70s cop.
11:03
I mean, yeah, yeah, I don't know. It's like the cop stash, porn stash,
11:10
whatever you want to call it.
11:11
My dad had a mustache like that for a while and and was a police officer.
11:16
So like for me, I'm like, it looks like a cop stash. And it just expect him
11:20
to be like, do you know why I pulled you over this evening?
11:24
Those words come out. Yes, it's funny.
11:28
And then Kiffin Simpson finished 15th.
11:31
Wasn't too bad. I love his new livery, though his old car last year was one of my favorites, too.
11:37
But the Sunoco is one of my favorites, though, this year, for sure.
11:44
It is very sharp. We've got a lot of good-looking liveries this year. Yeah.
11:48
And then I was a little surprised with Rossi finishing in the 16th place,
11:54
because on his pod, he was like, oh, yeah, we really turned the corner.
11:58
So I was really kind of surprised with him finishing 16th. But it's okay.
12:04
Yeah. I was surprised with that as well. I would bet money that he is not happy with that result.
12:11
Yep. Yeah. But, you know, Alexander Rossi drives. When he's feisty, he drives really well.
12:18
So... Yes. I imagine. Yeah. A couple races of not doing well,
12:23
and we're going to see quite a performance out of him.
12:26
Yep. Always. And then we had...
12:31
Colette there too i mean still not
12:34
bad i mean he finished above some of
12:37
you know he finished above
12:40
scott dixon so right yeah he finished above a couple of good yeah so yeah we
12:46
had yeah kyle colette in 17th and then graham ray hall in 18th yep i'm always
12:51
surprised when he's not in the top 10 or 15 just because he's a he's a pretty
12:54
solid driver who usually is in the top 15.
12:58
Yeah, I was a little surprised about that, too.
13:02
Christian Yasmussen, 19. Yeah.
13:06
And Nolan Siegel rounding out the top 20. I mean, I hope Nolan gets it into
13:13
gear because all of his other teammates are always way up there.
13:18
So I would love to see him do well.
13:23
Because McLaren's so high. They have high standards.
13:26
They do, and they do not have any loyalty when it comes to drivers, that's for sure.
13:32
Nope. That is for sure. Otherwise, he's going to be driving up a jail coin next year, probably.
13:40
And then 21st, Stingray Rob.
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Best name. Yes. Stingray Rob. Couldn't, I mean, such a nice guy.
13:50
Yes. I wish that he was a little bit better driver, but that's okay.
13:54
He's very fun. I enjoy him.
13:57
Yes. And then I was really shocked. Will Power, 22nd.
14:02
I think he overfought his race.
14:06
He needs to stop overthinking and just do willpower things.
14:10
Right. And I get it. New team, new team. He's got to get his groove.
14:16
But yes, I was disappointed on that.
14:20
Yeah, I was as well. I really wanted to see him come out his first race with
14:25
Andretti and just kill it.
14:27
Like, I wanted him to just own the whole field, as I'm sure he did as well. Yeah.
14:32
Which, on that note, I did run into Liz on race day. She looks fantastic.
14:38
She's sweet as can be, as always. But, yeah, she looks great.
14:41
So, for anybody who hasn't seen it and wondered, she looks great.
14:45
Glad she's feeling better. Yeah, I am, too. I am, too. Yes. 23rd, Scott Dixon.
14:51
That was crazy. I did not expect to see his, like, wheel just,
14:56
you know, decide to, you know, start.
15:00
An uncharacteristic Ganassi mistake that you don't see.
15:06
I don't even remember when the last time I've seen a mistake by Scott Dixon's pit crew was.
15:13
Yeah. The wolf pack does not usually make mistakes. So I'm sure the after race
15:21
meeting was unpleasant.
15:24
Yeah. Yeah. And then 24 and 25 for Ritchie and Schumacher, who.
15:33
They really had nowhere to go on that situation. They really didn't.
15:38
I feel bad. Like, yeah, there's really nothing you could do.
15:44
Hate that for Mick for his first race.
15:48
Like, not even get to finish the, you know, full entirety of a lap.
15:54
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, well, and I have hope every year that we're going to make
15:59
it all the way through turn one without a yellow flag at St. Pete.
16:02
But no, we've it's just it's just chaos. We just chaos.
16:08
Honestly, it's chaos. I didn't time they make it through turn one because I'm
16:12
like, please just let let us get through turn one.
16:15
Like, I feel like that's reasonable to ask. But apparently a whole lap is unreasonable.
16:22
Yeah, totally. and you know i even
16:25
put that on our little instagram posts and everybody's
16:28
like yeah they're not gonna make it the full lap of
16:31
green so i mean everybody knows everybody's squirrely they want to get on it
16:36
they haven't been racing in six months everybody is squirrely that's a great
16:40
word for it everybody is ready squirrely
16:43
yeah yeah even though they're professionals they can still you know.
16:51
They still get excited. I say they're still. Yeah. Very much so.
16:56
But yeah, overall, good race to watch. Good race to be in person for.
17:01
How was the cast? Was it decent?
17:03
Yeah, it was really good. They did a good job.
17:08
That's great. I love how they always show the little, they show the yachts right there.
17:13
It makes you kind of feel like you're in Monaco, but not really in Monaco.
17:19
It totally has that vibe.
17:21
And in fact, whenever you do come, you get to see all the yachts. There's a party barge.
17:26
And those Tiki Bar little boats look super fun. Oh, they're super fun.
17:32
They are super fun. Unfortunately, there are no TVs there.
17:36
So it's more of an end of the day or like, you know, if there's a break, you go there.
17:41
But yeah, they make great margaritas and daiquiris.
17:45
There's shade. You're on the water. You're right by all the boats, all the yachts.
17:50
All the rich people come and walk next to you. So you get to stare at them. It's great.
17:55
No but i also liked the truck
17:59
race too we got to give a shout out to good old
18:02
jimmy hench yes jimmy hench and
18:05
dario yeah though dario definitely did punt poor jimmy but you know he sure
18:12
did but i'll tell you what those trucks were entertaining to watch that was
18:16
uh that was probably one of my one of my top favorite series being paired with
18:21
indycar uh the trucks were very entertaining to watch.
18:25
I would still say my absolute favorite is the Stadium Super Trucks.
18:31
Those are awesome, too. I do have to agree, but I have to...
18:35
I was very surprised to see how well the trucks actually did on St. Pete.
18:43
The only time I've ever seen the NASCAR trucks in action was at IRP one time.
18:51
So I had only ever seen ever
18:54
seen them on an oval so it was kind of cool to
18:57
see them on the street yeah it was
18:59
very cool to see them on the street it was cool to see them in person uh and
19:03
it was it was just funny you know because they're they're racing trucks but
19:06
they're still trucks so like you know seeing them all turn and you know the
19:10
turn one i usually sit in the stands right by there at um at the end of the
19:15
long straightaway and you know it's like it feels after watching any car it
19:19
feels like they go so slow, but I'm like, well, they are in a truck, you know,
19:22
it does have the possibility to roll over.
19:25
Yeah, so. But yeah, no, great show. And a lot of NASCAR fans showed up, which was awesome.
19:33
So they, I mean, they definitely have a fan base. There were a lot of people
19:36
there for them who stayed around and got to see some IndyCar too.
19:40
So hopefully we garnered a few new fans with that.
19:44
Yep. Like I said, like Connor Daly always says, rising waters raise all ships. So. Exactly. Yeah.
19:53
You know, we'll take it. we will absolutely take it
19:56
so yeah great race uh the only
19:59
i did find this funny because i watched uh the warm-up on
20:02
tv i was not at the track for the warm-up on race day
20:04
and uh it was very funny to me that they had hinch and townsend um sitting you
20:17
know near the racetrack doing like with the little pop-up outdoor furniture
20:21
that they've got. I love that.
20:23
But they showed more of them than they did of the warm-up. And at some point,
20:27
I was like, okay, boys, this is not the view. Show the cars.
20:30
Though I do have to say, Dan Taurus could totally, I think he missed his,
20:36
you know, I think he's doing pretty well for himself.
20:39
But he could also be a commentator, no problem. Oh, absolutely.
20:46
He may have missed his calling a little bit on that.
20:50
Oh, all right. Well, anything else on St. Pete before we move on to Phoenix?
20:55
No, I thought it was a good, I'd give it a good nine out of 10.
20:59
Excellent. Yeah, I agree with that. I give it a good nine out of 10.
21:04
Absolutely. All right. Well, on to Phoenix. So first Oval of the year.
21:08
Love that. Love that we get an Oval in so early in the season.
21:12
Yes, especially at such a historic track where a lot of different heroes of
21:20
the past have won at Phoenix.
21:23
So I thought it was pretty cool to go back there. It was very cool to go back there.
21:29
I was supposed to go this year and then it didn't end up working out.
21:33
So I'm definitely going next year.
21:35
But I'm very glad we're going back because I have family in Phoenix so I can
21:37
stay with them and go to the race.
21:40
And I was disappointed when we stopped going there because I hadn't had a chance to go.
21:44
So I'm very excited that it's back on the schedule and I hope it's here to stay
21:47
for a while because I like the track and I like the racing.
21:51
Yeah, no, it was very good racing. It was excellent.
21:56
Well, we started off with David Maloukas taking his first pole position of the year.
22:02
I love that. I felt like that was kind of like, hey, I made it type of a thing for him, for sure.
22:11
Like, look, Ma, I made it. Yeah, definitely.
22:15
Definitely, definitely. I was very happy about that, to see him do that.
22:20
Because, I mean, with all the stuff he had to deal with the past few years,
22:25
like getting that pull was definitely...
22:28
I would say after getting the offer to go with Penske, getting a poll would
22:39
definitely be high on the list as well.
22:42
High on the bucket list for sure.
22:44
And it seemed kind of fitting to see the number 12 get a poll again. Yep.
22:50
Since it has earned so many polls for willpower. Yeah, that is true. Yeah.
22:55
So starting in second position, finishing first, Joseph Newgarden,
23:00
who for a lot of the race did not look like he was going to win.
23:05
No, but you know what? We can call it. Let's call him the new Ovalmeister.
23:11
I mean, he can do it. He really can. And especially on the smaller Ovals.
23:16
I mean, he, well, and big Ovals too now since he's, you know,
23:20
won the 500 twice. Because it used to be that he could also do small ovals,
23:23
but he would kind of shit the bed at the 500.
23:25
But he has successfully learned how to not shit the bed. So we may even see
23:31
another 500 win out of him.
23:32
Yep. But yeah, I would have enjoyed seeing Malukas win or Kirkwood or,
23:37
you know, somebody that we don't usually see on an oval.
23:41
Or like Christian Rasmussen, who led a lot of laps.
23:46
Yes, that was insane. It was insane. And I would have loved to see him win.
23:52
Yes, he's definitely the checkers, checkers or records guy.
23:58
But, like, I like the fact that he tries.
24:02
Yeah. Like, he's going to make those moves now. You know, are those moves necessarily
24:08
safe or should he do it so early? I don't know.
24:14
But, you know, that's his style. Right.
24:18
Well, you know what's wild is that on lap 20, he had an improper pit entry,
24:22
and so he got a restart at the back of the field.
24:26
And I didn't even realize that. Wow.
24:30
Yeah. So he had to restart at the back of the field as did Kiffin Simpson for
24:34
improper pit entry, the 14 Ferrucci
24:37
for improper pit entry, and then 60 Rosenquist for improper pit entry.
24:42
All of those on lap 20 and they all had to restart at the back of the field.
24:45
So the fact that he was at the back of the field and then came back to lead
24:49
so many laps is, I mean, pretty, pretty awesome. Pretty impressive.
24:54
Wow. Yeah. So crazy.
24:58
But I mean, definitely good. And like, back to, you know, hearing,
25:04
you know, Rossi on his pod saying that, you know, ECR has really found their way.
25:09
I definitely do believe they have, especially found a good oval package for Brasmussen and Rossi.
25:21
Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, with Ed being a co-owner now,
25:27
I think that that is only going to continue...
25:34
I think it's only going to continue to produce good results for them because
25:40
we already know that there is, you know,
25:43
one month a year that Ed is absolutely not thinking about being a team owner.
25:51
You know, in May, he is all focused on the Indy 500.
25:55
But I think having somebody that, 24-7 is focused on being a team owner so that when he is not,
26:05
he can fully focus on being a driver I think that that's going to do good things
26:09
for the team I think that it already has,
26:11
so yeah I like that a lot and then it was cool to see Kyle Kirkwood come in second I'm.
26:23
I think if he gave him a few more laps maybe
26:26
he could have got Joseph I don't know but looked really
26:31
really good it did look really good I think yeah
26:33
a few more laps and it it might have been a different story yeah
26:37
for sure so all
26:40
right well let's see so we've got new garden finished first
26:43
which okay so let's talk about people that were out early so Grosjean never
26:50
didn't even yeah never started I can't remember what he said I know it was something
26:56
mechanical but yeah that was a little surprising oh the hybrid wouldn't start,
27:01
nice gotta love that right yep,
27:07
Oh, poor guy.
27:10
I'm excited to see him back in the season, though, just because he keeps things spicy.
27:15
Yeah. And then I was very surprised, you know, the few laps in to see Plo getting wrecked out.
27:24
Yeah. That was a shock. I was like, ooh.
27:28
So, but it sounds like maybe his spotter didn't let him know somebody was there. I don't know.
27:34
But that was, again, a weird thing.
27:37
That he, yeah, he must, there must have been some sort of miscommunication because
27:42
there's no way that he knew that car was there and made that move.
27:45
That's just not an Alex below thing to do.
27:47
No. So, yeah, that would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall on that conversation.
27:56
So very much so very much
27:59
so now i will tell you
28:02
this the garage where i
28:05
was watching the race uh as soon as polo was
28:08
out there was cheering see i
28:12
mean you you either like want
28:16
him to get out or you like the dominations of the sport there's
28:19
you know no the you
28:23
know you either like it or don't so i mean there's always achilles hill and
28:29
the best people so like i said you just have to exploit it so and that and again
28:37
that was another you know in my mind of rare ganassi,
28:44
flub yeah.
28:47
It was. It was a very rare Ganassi, yeah, flub.
28:52
So, yeah, there just was no way that he knew that car was there.
28:57
Nope. And then, like, he didn't get out of the race, but Auger deciding to drive
29:04
backwards, that was... That was the race! Oh, my gosh!
29:09
That was impressive. I was like, okay. He's trying to be A.J.
29:13
Foyt IV there for a little bit. But yeah.
29:18
Yeah, it was or like Danny Sullivan, a little spin and win.
29:21
He saved it, drove backwards, then whipped it around and continued driving.
29:27
I mean, yeah, that was that was nothing short of impressive to watch.
29:31
I remember I was like, oh, he spun. And then I was like, he kept it out of the
29:35
wall. I was like, dear Lord. And I was like, that was amazing.
29:38
He's going backwards. And now he's turning around.
29:41
Yeah, that was impressive.
29:44
It really. Very much so. It really was. Yeah. I think we're going to see a lot
29:48
of impressive things out of Hager this year.
29:51
Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, that was the move of the race for me was,
29:55
was that save and driving backwards. That was just fantastic.
29:58
Very much. So, so yeah, so Kyle Kirkwood came in second, I think a couple more
30:03
laps. He probably could have probably could have gotten some on Joseph Newgarden.
30:07
Although I, I laughed. I have a group thread with a few people and I said,
30:12
how long do you think they're going to keep Joseph in tech after this win?
30:15
Just with. Oh, just with the things that happened last year.
30:20
I was like, well, you don't have any plans. I bet they're going to examine that car for a long time.
30:27
But yeah, Malukas, podiumed, finished third.
30:31
Yep. I mean, he's probably disappointed that he couldn't get a win out of that, but still not bad.
30:38
Not a bad result at all. Nope.
30:40
Next up, Pato Award finishing fourth. Just shy of the podium again. Oh, yeah.
30:47
Some drivers need a little bit of a warm-up, I feel like. Like,
30:53
Scott Dixon sometimes needs a couple races before he's really in his groove and starts dominating.
31:00
I don't think it was that bad, but he was up there, so that was good.
31:04
No, it's not that bad at all. I just, yeah, I'm like, he's getting there.
31:08
He's flirting with that podium, so I'm sure we'll see him on the podium again this year.
31:13
And then Marcus Armstrong was pretty good.
31:19
Yeah, not too shabby. Meyer Schenck finishing fifth
31:22
gotta love that yeah they've been doing pretty
31:25
good they really have and then sixth Alexander
31:29
Rossi much better result than the week before yes and
31:33
goes to show that oval program really is beefing up at ECR yes for sure yeah
31:41
no I love that because they've always been they're always good at the 500 and
31:46
they're always good at qualifying for the 500 but the short ovals are not always their forte.
31:50
But I love, so I love seeing that it is now.
31:55
I love seeing just add it into their repertoire of, Hey, here's,
31:59
here's the things that we do really well.
32:02
Yep. And then Scott Dixon finishing seventh. Love that.
32:08
Yep. Solid top 10 for him. And then you had Scotty Mack, which,
32:14
no surprise there, would be a top 10 finish.
32:17
Graham Rahal finishing in the top 10. That was good to see.
32:22
Yeah. He had a pretty decent race. Not bad at all.
32:26
And then, yeah. I mean, they've needed to have some good finishes.
32:31
So that was good to get them a nice top 10. Absolutely.
32:36
And then Kiff finishing 10.
32:41
So that was pretty good. That is good. And then next up, Santino Ferrucci.
32:47
No surprise there. A.J. Foyt does well on obols, and especially Santino does.
32:52
So I would bet that he's probably not super pleased with that result,
32:56
as he would like to be inside the top 10.
32:58
But an 11 is nothing to scoff at, that's for sure.
33:01
Nope. And then we had Felix, which he did pretty well.
33:07
Lungard, I bet he probably wanted to be up there just a little bit more,
33:12
but not bad. And then poor Rasmussen finishing 14th after, you know,
33:18
dominating most of the race. Race, yeah.
33:22
You felt for the guy, but he's got it. He's got it.
33:26
You know, he's going to be coming, charging hard on the next oval, so.
33:31
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think the next short oval we have, he will definitely be a
33:36
driver to watch. That's for sure.
33:38
Yeah, and then Dennis Hauger finishing pretty well, too, in 15th.
33:43
You know, his little spin, and we know he can drive backwards.
33:47
So, you know, pretty good.
33:50
I was kind of surprised with willpower in 16th, but, you know,
33:55
he's still getting used to the car.
33:57
You know he's just got to get into his willpower groove
34:01
and i think he'll be fine i agree
34:04
i agree just kind of some growing
34:07
pains just got to get settled a little bit because yeah it's a
34:10
whole new crew you know yeah new engineer new spotter etc so yeah and he was
34:18
at pennsy for a long time it's hard to make a big change like that yep uh and
34:23
then we had marcus erickson which i was kind of surprised he got so far back there,
34:28
but you know, everybody has an off race.
34:33
That's true. And he's not,
34:36
He's not always the strongest on shorter ovals.
34:42
Mick Schumacher finishing 18th, he actually got to finish the race.
34:46
He actually outqualified Scott Dixon in his first oval, which is pretty insane. Yeah, it is.
34:54
Especially since his dad was so anti- Oval.
34:59
Oval. So I thought it was pretty cool that he did well on the Opals.
35:06
And then he finished above Colette, so not bad.
35:11
Not bad at all. And not a bad finish for Caio Colette either, 19. Nope.
35:18
Too shabby. Nope. I feel like any of those rookies finishing out the full race,
35:22
it's always a win for them.
35:25
Absolutely. Absolutely.
35:28
Yeah. Nolan Seagull finishing 20th well I think our previous comments stand
35:35
yep and then we had Stingray Rob and then Renus.
35:42
Now, Rita says somebody that I am surprised did not do better than 22nd,
35:48
just because he can pretty much drive anything. So I hope I get to see him finish
35:54
better as the season continues.
35:57
Yeah, definitely.
35:59
And then, surprise, Louis Foster was far back.
36:04
I bet the stash probably affected his aerodynamics. Yeah.
36:09
So it was, I thought it was a very good race, to be honest.
36:13
Like, I wasn't expecting it to be as drama-filled as it was.
36:18
The race broadcast, though, was definitely not as good.
36:22
They definitely had a hard time keeping up with timing and scoring.
36:26
It didn't yeah yeah the
36:30
broadcast was was not the best uh but
36:33
it wasn't i say it wasn't awful but you know
36:37
they're shaking the the dust off too first oh yeah
36:40
not gonna lie clint boyer
36:43
being afraid of the two-seater was absolutely
36:47
hilarious that was so funny
36:50
like i was like
36:53
oh he's getting old if he's worried about speed
36:56
but I was like dang I know
37:00
it made me laugh because I was I just thought you
37:03
know you have no idea how many people pay to do
37:06
the Indy racing experience for a two seater ride they pay lots of good money
37:11
for this and you're going to do it for free and he's like I don't want to do
37:14
it yes it was it was hilarious let me out because I've done the two seater and
37:20
And I've done it on Indy and it was insane, incredible.
37:24
And the adrenaline high after you get done with it is awesome.
37:28
And I wish you could bottle it up and just keep it for certain occasions.
37:32
But yeah, it's fun. Oh, yeah.
37:37
Yeah, I've not ever done the two-seater. It's on my bucket list.
37:41
I've done some hot laps with Larry Foyt.
37:44
Yeah, no, nice. That's cool. No, I bought it for my dad's 60th birthday.
37:50
He got to ride with Mario when Mario was still driving the two-seater.
37:53
And then I went with Maddie Brabham.
37:58
So it was still pretty cool. So it was a fun day.
38:03
I love Maddie. Yeah, I highly recommend doing it.
38:07
Check Groupon towards Christmas time. You can usually find some good deals on it.
38:14
Oh, that's true. I have seen a Dr. Groupon. And I'll do a little plug for the
38:19
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
38:22
So there are multiple membership levels at the museum, but almost every membership
38:28
level includes a 50% discount once a year for the Indy Racing Experience. Oh, good to know.
38:36
So that, you know, if you like going to the museum and you want to go more than
38:40
once a year, because they change things around every couple of weeks.
38:42
Some things are fairly permanent, but other things they switch around every couple of weeks.
38:46
So you can literally go once a month and it'll look a little different every
38:50
time you go. There's areas for kids now, which is fantastic and hands-on stuff.
38:55
And yeah, and just another, another benefit is the racing experience,
39:01
50% off. You can't really beat that.
39:03
Nope. And I highly recommend it. It was a great birthday gift to give.
39:08
So, and then I bought myself one because I was like, if he gets to do it,
39:12
I got to. Yeah, I work here anyway. I'm not going to watch you do it.
39:16
I don't know if you're such FOMO. I'd be like, I want to go. I want to go. I want to go.
39:22
That's awesome. I bet your dad loved that. Yes, it was one of his highlights,
39:26
so it was pretty good. I bet. That's awesome.
39:29
But the only thing that really made me sad was seeing Connor Daly being a haste car driver.
39:37
He needed to be in the field, but, you know.
39:41
I know it. I want him in the field so much.
39:45
Yeah it was sad but it was still cool that Jamie Little gave him a shout out
39:52
as she was finishing up her thing so it was neat yeah.
39:58
That is cool. Yep. But yeah, definitely give Phoenix 9 out of 10. Oh, yeah.
40:07
Yeah, Phoenix. Phoenix. 9.5, actually. Yeah, I would say 9.5 because Phoenix puts on a good show.
40:16
It was good hard racing, lots of good passes. I know they were worried about
40:20
passing and things like that, but they didn't have any issues passing,
40:24
you know, with the exception of Palo. not realizing that Hager was up behind him.
40:31
So, yeah, great race. Great race to watch. Great second race to keep the momentum
40:36
going. Absolutely love it.
40:38
Oh, definitely. And then they said that it's coming back next year.
40:41
So get excited for that already.
40:44
I'm excited. I am excited already.
40:48
All right. And then coming up this week, we have got the Grand Prix of Arlington down in Texas.
40:57
I'm curious to see how it goes. I hope...
41:03
It's around Jerry World, so you're going to get some good stuff.
41:09
You're definitely going to see the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders somewhere.
41:13
Hopefully, they don't make it as corny as the F1 race at Miami and not do give footballs as...
41:25
The um trophies but who
41:28
knows we'll we'll see what happens we shall see
41:31
we shall see yeah i know they're they're wanting
41:34
to incorporate yeah like dallas cowboys and and other
41:36
things in texas with the street race which i think is very cool
41:39
because any kind of you know cross cross marketing
41:43
all i can think is like cross contamination but that's not the word i'm looking for yeah
41:46
cross marketing so that'll be cool
41:49
i think so and you know
41:52
dallas cowboy fans are are serious
41:56
uh they are serious fans so i
41:59
think that you know if some of the hype of it
42:02
being around their stadium can get more people to track
42:05
i'm all for it yes well and that's
42:07
the big thing too is this you know is in
42:10
hopes of more people coming to the track than they did
42:13
at the you know texas Motor Speedway Oval
42:17
so although I will say if you
42:19
didn't ever go to Texas Motor Speedway Oval you missed out that
42:22
that place was fantastic yes it
42:26
always gave me massive anxiety when I'd watch the race but it was yes that was
42:31
one of those it gave me anxiety when I watched it on tv when I was there in
42:35
person it did not uh Iowa was the opposite Iowa every time I was at a race in
42:41
person in Iowa I was like, oh, this is going to be a bad wreck.
42:44
I just felt like my, you know, stomach was in my throat the entire time.
42:49
So now I'm looking, I'm hopeful that, you know, they got a good,
42:53
we get a good fan turnout and, you know, all that good stuff.
43:01
And I know that a lot of people said the prices were a little high. Yeah.
43:08
So hopefully that doesn't deter too many people, but.
43:12
Hopefully not. I mean, in the whole scheme of things, an IndyCar ticket is still
43:18
cheaper than an F1 ticket. So much cheaper.
43:22
Tall. So much. So this is a Chevrolet race.
43:29
Chevy was named the official sponsor of the inaugural Java House Grand Prix of Arlington.
43:34
10 oh i wonder if they're gonna do like the java
43:37
house blue on the corvette oh i
43:40
bet they do i bet they do because chevrolet is supplying 28 parade vehicles
43:47
including the 2026 corvette stingray and the silverado 1500 trucks so nice yeah
43:55
that should be very cool and they've got a dedicated
43:57
fan activation area and the east plaza showcasing vehicles
44:02
um and that's supposed to be right in
44:04
the heart of the event's high traffic fan zone love that
44:08
i can't wait to see all the video and photos that people post
44:11
from being there yeah and you can always know that you can always get a nice
44:15
free drink at the java house activation always have some great flavors there
44:21
and you know i'm not a big coffee person but some friends of mine told me that
44:25
their tea they have different teas and things that are actually pretty decent.
44:29
They do. It's very, it's very good.
44:32
I get their peach tea and it's very good.
44:37
I love a good peach tea. I love tea, period. I tried to be a coffee person.
44:41
For years, I wasn't. I didn't even try. And then I tried to do it for a while
44:45
because I had a job that I started work at 530 in the morning.
44:49
And, you know, unless you pick up a small meth habit, I don't know how you're
44:52
supposed to do that without coffee.
44:56
And but I still didn't like it. And then I found tea and now I'm a tea person.
45:01
So I still just, I still do both. So not a big deal, but I like all their stuff. It's nice.
45:09
I commute to work. So they're nice little job of house pods. I can dump and go and.
45:16
Yeah, they definitely make it easy. You don't have to put it into a Keurig or
45:20
anything like that. You just pop it and go.
45:23
Yep. Love that. Well, I will say this street course is a pretty long one.
45:28
Honestly, it's 2.73 miles.
45:34
Yeah, it's pretty good Pretty good side And yeah, there we go It goes around
45:41
the AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Field.
45:47
So, yeah I think it was a good spot for it I think so too,
45:53
I think, like I said, hopefully everybody shows up And, you know,
45:59
the weather stays good you know and we have good old,
46:04
IndyCar putting on a show I hope so too and I do know they've got a couple of
46:11
fun things going on in town if you are going and you happen to be there on Wednesday,
46:17
there is a race a free race week kickoff party,
46:21
sponsored by Aaron McLaren and the Arlington Fan Fest presented by Mission Foods
46:26
so you know there's going to be tortillas and tortilla chips which I'm a fan
46:31
of anything having to do with tortillas and tortilla chips,
46:36
so if you're going to be in town you're already there on Wednesday from 3 to
46:39
7 check out the free fan fest it should be a good time,
46:45
so who do you think who do you think we should watch out for at this race,
46:52
you know I think Plo is going to come back with a vengeance so you know he's going to be there um.
47:03
The usual suspects, you know, Penske's going to be up there.
47:09
Kirkwood's always pretty good on a street course, for sure. On a street course.
47:14
So you got to look out for him.
47:16
I mean, it's wide open. Who knows?
47:20
It is. Well, and statistically, Will Power and Scott Dixon are the most adaptable drivers in the series.
47:27
They tend to do the best of everybody on,
47:31
you know, when they go somewhere new so i always look out i always keep an eye
47:36
for the two of them when it's a new layout new street course etc just because
47:41
they tend to roll with the flow a lot quicker than the other drivers do so maybe
47:48
this will be will's breakout race where he podiums and,
47:52
and it's like how you like me now roger yeah i'd like to i would like to see
47:57
that you know and And, you know, maybe Dennis Auger, you know,
48:02
does well, too, because we saw how he did at C&T.
48:06
Absolutely. You know what? I would love to see Dale Coyne get a podium or a first this year.
48:12
That would be fantastic. Yes. He deserves it. He's earned it. Yes, I agree.
48:18
Yeah. Anybody else? Him. Him. Oh, go ahead.
48:22
Well, and I mean, Dennis Hager out of the rookies and, you know,
48:26
Mick could, but I think it's going to come down to, you know,
48:29
who did the most on The Sims. Yeah.
48:36
That is true. That is true. Well, and you know what? Graham Rahal always does
48:42
well on street courses too.
48:44
Yeah, I could see that. Yeah, I actually, I have a theory behind that.
48:49
And my theory is on street courses, he does well because he is a Midwesterner.
48:56
And as we both know, it's coming to be springtime.
49:01
We're not totally through winter yet, but we're getting close.
49:04
And there are potholes everywhere. That's just life in Indianapolis at this time of year.
49:10
And really in all of the Midwest. And so my theory is that Midwest drivers do
49:14
better on street courses because no matter how, you know, how hard it is to
49:21
drive on them, how bumpy they are, et cetera,
49:23
no, we're used to it because we're used to potholes.
49:25
So I always expect Graham Ray Hall to do well on a new street course also.
49:30
I agree. I agree. Definitely. Though I do have to say I hit a pothole on I-69 on my way to work,
49:42
And I had to get a whole new tire and a whole new thing. So I am not that good at swerving with them.
49:48
But apparently I need to channel more of my inner IndyCar drivers and maybe
49:53
not have to deal with that. You do.
49:55
Maybe you need to do some sim time or like some of the reaction stuff that they
49:59
do when they go to PitFit and on all that business.
50:03
Oh, yeah. No, I'm pretty good at that. It's just sometimes I can't get over.
50:10
I get that. I get that. Well, sorry, RIP to your old tire. Yeah, it's okay.
50:16
Yeah, I hit one last week that I literally pulled over and got out to look at
50:22
the tire because I was like, there's
50:23
no way my tire is not flat after that bullshit that I just drove over.
50:27
And amazingly, it wasn't. So that'll probably go flat over the next month. That'll be my luck.
50:32
The whole name of, you know, the one place in Indiana that has no potholes is
50:38
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
50:40
It's so true. It's so true. So, so true.
50:44
Consecutive two and a half miles in the state without potholes. Very true.
50:50
Oh, too funny. So, okay. Well, yeah, I think I'm with you.
50:57
I think the usual suspects, I'd
50:58
like to see Pato get a win on the street course. I think that'd be cool.
51:01
I think that would be cool because he's probably going to have a lot of fans
51:05
out there. Yeah, that's what I was just thinking.
51:07
And I love Pato's fans. I love Pato.
51:10
I love Pato. Always have. I can't get enough of him. He cracks me up.
51:14
I think he's funny. I think he's a great driver.
51:16
That wink will melt your heart. Oh, it'll melt your heart. And he's just fantastic
51:20
with fans. And he's great with kids.
51:23
And that's really how I judge the drivers.
51:26
I understand if adults asking you to sign 50 things at once gets on your nerves.
51:32
I completely understand that.
51:34
But when there's a kid around...
51:38
And you make time for the kid, like, that shows me your character. Yes.
51:43
So, and he is always, always makes time for his fans, especially kids.
51:48
And I love to see that. So, yeah, having a bunch of fans there at the track
51:51
to support him, I would absolutely love to see him win.
51:55
And for it to just be, I mean, out of this world, like, celebration.
52:01
Yeah, that would be a good one. I forgot that a lot of his fans will be there.
52:08
Yeah, it should be a good race for him. Plus, since they've got the Fan Fest,
52:12
I'm sure the Aero McLaren drivers are going to be at the Fan Fest.
52:16
Yes, and they're going to have that. I've heard this song before.
52:23
The band that that is playing for the race.
52:31
It's going to be neat. Yeah, it will be. I always like that.
52:38
I enjoyed when Iowa did that and had concerts and things.
52:43
Yeah, I missed out on those. I really wanted to go.
52:46
The prices were too high, but that was pretty neat.
52:50
Though, Doug Bowles, please bring the Backstreet Boys to Carb Day.
52:53
Oh, my God. Can you imagine?
52:57
Can you imagine how many women our age would be at Carb Day if they did that?
53:03
Like, Backstreet Boys to Carb Day. I know they want to do the Super Bowl next
53:08
year, but you could totally get them to go to Carb Day.
53:12
Absolutely. Absolutely you could. Could you imagine? Like, it would be amazing.
53:17
It might rival one of the, you know, highest attended Carb Days just for Backstreet Boys. Yeah.
53:22
I actually saw Backstreet Boys a couple years ago with some girlfriends.
53:26
And let me tell you, I never saw them live back in the day when they were originally famous.
53:32
But going as an adult, it was everything I wanted it to be. And everybody in
53:36
the audience was right around my age. It was almost entirely women.
53:41
There were a few husbands and significant others and things.
53:45
Yes. Which I, you know, just give them a thumbs up. I'm like, good job.
53:49
Yes. Good job. No. I saw them when... Whatever event you gave these tickets to her for, well done.
53:54
I saw them when they played Jingle Jam. And so Zed opened up for the Backstreet
53:58
Boys. and Backstreet Boys opened up for the Chainsmokers.
54:02
So it was one heck of a thing. And Zed actually gets to play in the Snake Pit this year.
54:08
That's right. I forgot about that.
54:12
So that's... Yeah, that was a hell of a show. Yeah.
54:17
Zed, Chainsmokers, sign me up. Yeah. Yes. So Doug Bowles, please.
54:23
Backstreet Boys, two carb day. Not like my voice is, you know,
54:27
my opinion really matters.
54:28
But I would be speaking for a lot of the millennials out there that the Backstreet
54:34
Boys would be. Yeah, we would totally come.
54:39
We would come out in droves. Very much so.
54:44
Oh, well, that's excellent. Did you get to go to the 100 Days Out party? I did not.
54:51
They had one of the Wienermobiles there.
54:55
Ah. And two of the drivers. And they had the one driver that does all the puns.
55:00
Oh, gosh. And it was something else to watch. I mean, don't get me wrong.
55:06
I love a good pun. but I'm not that great at coming up with them on the spot.
55:11
No, that's not a skill of mine every now and then I'll get a good one.
55:15
Honestly, my best ones are ones that I don't even realize I'm doing.
55:20
But Scott, I mean, just everything he said, you know, like we were like,
55:24
Hey, I can't wait to see you on, you know, for the, the weenie 500.
55:27
And he's like, I relish the opportunity.
55:30
Oh my gosh. I mean, like everything he said. And I, you know,
55:34
the Chicago dog is the Midwestern dog.
55:38
And I mean he just never broke character I talked to him
55:42
and the female driver about all kinds of things and he
55:45
just never broke character and I said well I'm rooting for the Chicago dog since
55:48
I'm a midwest girl he goes oh yeah we're gonna drag them all through the garden oh
55:51
my gosh and he stops he goes you see what I did there and I was like oh I
55:54
saw what you did there I was like no no I was a
55:56
waitress I know what dragging it through the garden means they they
55:59
they are pretty cool um
56:03
i actually saw um i
56:06
was before it got crazy on carb day a bunch of the
56:09
girls were walking in and out of gasoline alley early and uh they were all playing
56:14
around i was like hey did you guys take your picture in front of this so i had
56:18
my camera and actually took pictures and um actually emailed it to one of the
56:22
hot doggers and they were very appreciative for it but also i was standing,
56:28
on Pit Lane when they were doing their Carb Day race last year,
56:33
and you could just see all the people that were driving the hot doggers.
56:36
They had the biggest smile on their faces.
56:39
It was pretty funny. I mean, kind of perfect for...
56:47
Carb day, to be honest, to have everybody, you know, who's had one too many
56:52
drinks, cheering for a bunch of big hot dogs running around the streetway.
56:58
It was perfect.
56:59
Yeah, it was hilarious.
57:03
It was, it got the crowd involved. People were cheering. I mean,
57:07
it was, it was everything that I wanted it to be and more.
57:11
Definitely. Whoever, whoever had that idea,
57:15
well done and it's great when you go back and listen to it and you hear Townsend
57:21
and Buxton and Hinch all saying all the really bad puns it's right it's fantastic,
57:29
it's pretty great it really is,
57:33
yes I'm excited we get to witness that again this year yep it's gonna be fun
57:37
of course as always it can't be a podcast if we don't talk about May because
57:41
is it May yet We've got great races coming up, but always looking forward to May.
57:47
Not yet. Almost. Almost. So close. So close. But yet so far.
57:52
But yes, so far. And I have to catch up on sleep.
57:56
Yeah. Because my May, I get no sleep.
57:59
Same. Same. I call it the ability to go multiple days on very little sleep.
58:07
I call it Doug Bull's magic. Yeah.
58:11
Because I don't know how that man is even standing at the end of the month of May.
58:15
I'm not convinced that he's not
58:17
a robot because I don't think he requires sleep like the rest of us do.
58:22
Yeah. But yeah, just race weekend. Doesn't matter how tired you are.
58:27
Race day, you wake up and you're just ready to go. Yeah.
58:30
Oh, 100%. And I'm also running an Indy Mini this year.
58:35
So I've also been training my butt off. So, you know, bye.
58:41
If you guys see me walking around the track in May with a boot on,
58:45
it's because I hurt myself, but hopefully not. So we'll see what happens.
58:50
You're just cross that you don't. But we will be rooting for you at the mini in May.
58:55
Yes. My mom and I will come down and cheer for you on Main Street. There we go.
59:02
Wow. All right. Well, anything else you want to add before we wrap up?
59:06
Nope. Just make sure you guys tune in and watch. Yep. If you haven't,
59:12
follow and like us on Instagram.
59:14
And actually all social media. We are on everything.
59:18
So we're on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, formerly known as Twitter, TikTok, etc.
59:25
All under the name Fast Cars, Fast Girls. So if you're not following us, start.
59:30
We have lots of good content that we put out. And we're funny and we like to
59:33
interact with people. So feel free to message us. If you see us at the track, come up and say hi.
59:38
And of course, you can connect to everything on our website,
59:41
which is www.fastcarsfastgirls.com.
59:45
So, and you can also drop us a note on there if you have any questions and want
59:48
to reach out. So, there's a contact us section. So, everybody, thanks for listening.
59:54
And we will talk to you next week.
59:56
Yep, I'm excited. Me too. All right. Bye. Bye.