Latest / Rusty's Garage / Max Papis Part 2 - 1000HP Champcars and building MPI

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Max Papis Part 2 - 1000HP Champcars and building MPI · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:14
  I'm automotive commentator and journalist Greg Rust and this is Rusty's Garage.
• 0:25
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with Max Pappas.
• 0:29
  If you've arrived here, as we say, and kind of jumped the start, if you've missed part one, head back to the library and fire that one up.
• 0:36
  You will love it.
• 0:38
  Racing carts against all sorts of famous names.
• 0:41
  How he fenced Russell Ingle at a cart race in Australia.
• 0:45
  And the Enforcer waited months to even the ledger at another international event.
• 0:49
  That's a good story.
• 0:50
  Max's friendship with Ayet and Senna and a special memento that he has from their time together, plus making it to Formula One through sheer determination and this unwavering commitment.
• 1:03
  It's the end of the day, the working day in Mooresville, North Carolina.
• 1:07
  Max has kindly set aside some time for me for this.
• 1:10
  He's at MPI, Max Pappas Innovations, their headquarters, which has taken a fresh look at steering wheels in every way, from safety especially, but also...
• 1:20
  driver comfort and very cool designs they're in lots of markets around the world including australia where it's the choice and a proven winner in supercars trans am and more you can follow max or mpi on socials and check out max pappas inc.com proud family man whose wife is from a legendary racing family and who knows a next generation pappas might have a successful career in the sport too enjoy part two
• 1:50
  Can I come to Champ Car, though?
• 1:53
  Where was the first time you drove one of those things?
• 1:56
  How did that opportunity come about?
• 1:58
  I mean, that opportunity came from a very tragic moment that I wasn't aware of it.
• 2:07
  So Jeff Krasnoff used to drive for Toyota at PPI.
• 2:12
  He had a tremendous accident in Toronto, passed, and I was...
• 2:19
  Doing my sports car career, I was driving for Ferrari.
• 2:24
  And I remember on the way back, I don't know if you race Lime Rock or whatever.
• 2:30
  I flew back to Italy and the phone rings and it's this gentleman called Gordon Coppock.
• 2:38
  that is a legend.
• 2:41
  First time he called and he said, I'm Gordon Coppock, I'm going to put the phone down.
• 2:45
  This is a joke.
• 2:47
  Yeah, I thought it was a friend of mine pranking me.
• 2:50
  Then he called me again and I remember saying, Luca, just stop with this BS, dude.
• 2:57
  Stop.
• 2:58
  And he went, no, Gordon, very British.
• 3:02
  No, Max, it's actually Gordon Coppock.
• 3:07
  I went, Gordon Coppock?
• 3:09
  Yeah, I'm the team principal of PPI in IndyCar.
• 3:14
  No, I remember I stopped the car, I was on the highway.
• 3:17
  I stopped and I went, all right.
• 3:19
  I went and they say that, Max, the long story short was, they invited me to Mid-Ohio.
• 3:28
  The reason why they invited me, it was because I, it was between me and Eddie Lawson.
• 3:37
  in, uh, they were used to driving in the car and, uh, and, and actually me at the Lawson and Marco Picella, uh, Marco Picella was a very good friend of, of, of, um, of Krasnoff, uh, but Marco somehow, I don't know why we didn't, or he couldn't do it.
• 3:56
  He couldn't come, you know, we didn't show interest and, uh.
• 4:00
  And I remember the old guys at PPI telling me that I was maybe the only one of the few driver that didn't call them after Jeff passed in order to try to get the job.
• 4:12
  And, uh, and I went, uh, okay.
• 4:16
  I said, I don't know.
• 4:16
  I didn't even, uh, I, I, I didn't, that's not my character.
• 4:23
  I would have not done it.
• 4:24
  And, uh.
• 4:25
  I showed up in mid Ohio.
• 4:27
  They test me.
• 4:28
  I qualified fastest Toyota driver.
• 4:31
  You know, that was a Toyota was the beginning of the, that was actually the first ever experience for Toyota in motorsport after a sports car racing with Dan Gurney.
• 4:40
  And, uh, I remember they locked me away.
• 4:43
  They took, they flew me to, uh, Los Angeles until, uh, I found all these things later on, you know, but basically Penske, uh,
• 4:54
  They had Emerson Filippaldi that had a crash.
• 4:57
  They were looking for a driver.
• 4:58
  They had Jan Magnussen.
• 4:59
  He showed up in mid-Ohio as well.
• 5:01
  He didn't perform as well.
• 5:03
  So PPI, they locked me away.
• 5:07
  Back then, cell phones were not a real option.
• 5:10
  So they did that until I signed a contract for three and a half years.
• 5:16
  And I remember calling my dad and saying, Dad, you know, these people are amazing.
• 5:22
  these people are actually gonna pay me a salary and they're gonna pay me this for this year, that for the year.
• 5:33
  And then I remember saying, Max, pretend that it's not enough.
• 5:40
  So I went in there, say, yeah, it's a good offer, I appreciate it, I was expecting a little bit more.
• 5:46
  And I remember they came up with a bonus or something.
• 5:50
  But my life changed in that moment.
• 5:52
  My life changed.
• 5:53
  And I joined the Toyota family.
• 5:58
  I drove in Chemcar.
• 6:00
  I drove for Toyota for a few years.
• 6:02
  Then Bobby Rahal retired.
• 6:06
  I had a conversation with Bobby during an appearance.
• 6:09
  And I asked him if he had found someone to replace him.
• 6:13
  He told me no.
• 6:15
  Came and visited me.
• 6:17
  Signed a contract with Rahal.
• 6:19
  had the opportunity to join a super competitive team, won a lot of races, really cemented the fact that, you know, in my 113 IndyCar start, you know, three race win, nine podium, I don't know how many top 10 we had, you know, about a lot.
• 6:40
  So I took the opportunity to do everything I could with the ride that I had.
• 6:46
  And fortunately back then,
• 6:50
  And IRL came to a halt.
• 6:54
  So, you know, there was a split between the two series and there was no opportunity for me to go further in open wheel.
• 7:02
  So I went to another part of my career.
• 7:04
  Just quickly, I mean, this underscores your ability to look after relationships, right?
• 7:10
  Because from memory, you know, the Miller car, Cosworth Power, you'd had a great and you keep a great relationship with Toyota despite all that.
• 7:20
  Was that thing like when it was wound up, was that thing like a thousand horsepower?
• 7:24
  And what was that thing like to drive?
• 7:26
  Mega.
• 7:27
  I would say the dream car.
• 7:30
  Hmm.
• 7:32
  Chemker was a dream car.
• 7:34
  Fastest car, driver could make a big difference, manual gearbox, no power steering, 1,000 horsepower.
• 7:45
  I believe that the lap in Elkhart Lake, Chemker still has the lap record.
• 7:54
  of that track after 20 years, whatever it is, it was amazing, you know, and it was, talent could emerge and it was just an amazing opportunity.
• 8:06
  So, absolutely, to me, that was the ultimate real race car driver car and it made
• 8:14
  There was a reason why Nigel Mansell went over and racing champ car.
• 8:19
  They were amazing talent.
• 8:21
  And, yeah, so you're 100% right.
• 8:24
  Great period for you.
• 8:25
  You formed some wonderful friendships too.
• 8:27
  They affectionately called it the Brat Pack.
• 8:29
  I mean, Dario Franchitti, who is godfather to one of your children, Tony Canaan, the late Greg Moore, who is much missed.
• 8:36
  Why did you guys kind of click?
• 8:38
  And did that come about because of natural young racer,
• 8:43
  rivalry almost like you're all trying to climb the ladder at the same point.
• 8:46
  And that ends up, you end up respecting that in the same moment.
• 8:50
  Is that how that all come kind of came about?
• 8:53
  I like to think that, uh, we knew that those cars were very dangerous.
• 8:59
  We knew that we, we, the risks that we took were immense.
• 9:04
  Uh, and there was an inner respect with each other.
• 9:08
  Uh, uh, that, uh,
• 9:14
  created a special bond amongst us, you know, between Greg, me, Dario, Tony.
• 9:21
  And we were really able to create a true friendship outside the racetrack that totally disappeared when you walked on the track.
• 9:37
  It was tough, very tough, you know, like, you know, very, very tough.
• 9:41
  But that did not prevent us from being, from really, you know, being true friend all the way up to today.
• 9:51
  And I really believe of the fact that we share common goals.
• 9:56
  We respected each other, but we, the sport allowed us to be ourselves.
• 10:04
  Yeah.
• 10:05
  And they didn't look at that as a lack of professionality, but they looked at the fact that, look at this, there's a group of people that, a bit like, I make up a bit like Lando Norris and Max Verstappen nowadays, in a way.
• 10:20
  Like, you know, they, I'm sure they battle on the track tremendously.
• 10:26
  But.
• 10:26
  Then they do iRacing together, they go on vacation together, they do certain things.
• 10:31
  So hopefully this shows to the young generation that you can be a tremendous competitor on track, but off track you can compensate that with being an open-hearted person.
• 10:48
  Awesome.
• 10:48
  Yeah.
• 10:49
  In closing the Champ Car part of your career here, can we reflect on the Gold Coast?
• 10:54
  I have very vivid memories of that race.
• 10:57
  I was very fortunate for the first time to chat with Mario Andretti on the pit wall there.
• 11:01
  It was this iconic race for so long in the offering of big events in Australia.
• 11:10
  What was that like?
• 11:11
  And am I right in saying that that is perhaps where you met your wife, Tatiana Fittipaldi?
• 11:17
  Is that right?
• 11:18
  Did you meet her there?
• 11:19
  Yeah.
• 11:20
  Like, Australia was the place that we were all looking forward to go.
• 11:27
  It was the event, the organizer, crusher, you know, everyone.
• 11:34
  They were just amazing.
• 11:36
  Yeah.
• 11:36
  You know.
• 11:38
  Great track too.
• 11:39
  Yeah.
• 11:40
  the, the, the racetrack was insane.
• 11:43
  Uh, uh, one of the best layout possible.
• 11:47
  You really felt like a king when you were coming to the Gold Coast, you know, because, uh, um, uh, I don't know, hundreds of thousands of spectators.
• 11:58
  Uh, uh, it was, uh, yeah, you, you felt that you were a king, you know, when you were there, you know, everything where, where you, wherever you went, uh, a lot of, uh,
• 12:10
  great welcoming and the welcoming spirit of the Australian linked with an amazing racetrack, a tremendous event supported by the government and supported by all the local people.
• 12:24
  It made a place that everyone wanted to go, wanted to win at.
• 12:28
  And I was fortunate enough to finish on the podium and have great races and then create amazing friendship.
• 12:37
  uh, that they're still last, uh, nowadays.
• 12:40
  And, uh, the memory that I have of that place is, uh, you know, they're, uh, undelittable.
• 12:49
  They are straight in my brain, you know, and, uh, I'm looking forward, you know, I went back a couple of times and I'm looking forward, uh, uh, to go back other times for different reasons, because, uh, um, it's, uh,
• 13:04
  When you combine great memories with amazing racing, great people, fantastic sceneries, what do you want more than that?
• 13:14
  Exactly.
• 13:15
  I want to come to MPI and NASCAR very briefly, but to wrap up talking about Gold Coast there, that naturally leads us to supercars.
• 13:25
  how hard did you try to get a ride there?
• 13:28
  Max, Max Wilson, who's been on the pod before has, uh, you know, done some seasons in supercars and so on.
• 13:34
  Was that something?
• 13:35
  And how far did you get with that?
• 13:37
  So, uh, I always admired, uh, uh, the guys in supercar.
• 13:41
  Every time we race there with a chem car, I think they were racing with us.
• 13:47
  Uh, and, uh,
• 13:49
  I mean, I remember watching Russell Ingo, you know, racing, you know, going to the paddock, watching, talking.
• 13:55
  And so one of my aspirations was always trying to join the supercar field.
• 14:03
  I tried to do that maybe a little bit too late when I was...
• 14:12
  when I was still driving sports car, uh, but I'm still proud that I did, uh, the, one of the possible, the last Gold Coast race, the invitational race.
• 14:21
  Mm.
• 14:22
  And, uh, and, uh, my admiration for, uh, for the supercar is the fact that, uh, they were amazing racers, uh, very specialized, uh, and, uh, the country really loved, uh, what they were doing.
• 14:41
  I, uh,
• 14:42
  I showed up a couple of times.
• 14:44
  I went to Bathurst with James Courtney.
• 14:48
  I got a couple of tests lined up.
• 14:53
  But again, you know, everything happened for a reason.
• 14:58
  You know, things didn't line up exactly in the right way, but I'm fortunate that I had the experience.
• 15:04
  I drove the car a couple of times, and I tell you, my friend Paul Morris warned me
• 15:12
  Of how difficult those cars were.
• 15:15
  I never felt such an idiot.
• 15:18
  Really?
• 15:20
  Like they were so difficult.
• 15:24
  Like driving the car around and you had to be so specialized.
• 15:31
  I still remember after the Gold Coast race going to Melbourne,
• 15:38
  Phillip Island and the jump in the car with James Courtney and Garth Tander when they did two-seat ride.
• 15:47
  And being in the car with them, I went, I got it.
• 15:51
  I see how they do it.
• 15:53
  Because basically with the spool on the back, they were driving in really straight in the corner, V in the corner, coming out.
• 16:02
  And it was basically the opposite of what I did, when I drove in the car.
• 16:07
  Because in stock car, you turn a little bit early, the car they don't turn, you need to anticipate the turning in.
• 16:14
  And let me tell you, it was a very humbling experience.
• 16:17
  I'm proud I did it.
• 16:19
  I'm not very proud of the results, but it's something you learn.
• 16:24
  Very cool thing on your CV.
• 16:38
  Owen Kelly is a friend and a friend of the podcast.
• 16:41
  You've been spending a bit of time with him recently around karting and so on.
• 16:45
  He reminded me about your NASCAR chapter.
• 16:49
  I don't know whether this statistic has been beaten, but I think you have or held the most wins or most sort of starts, rather, of any European driver.
• 17:00
  Sorry, thank you for correcting me.
• 17:02
  And you, you know,
• 17:04
  You came along at a time where Marcus Ambrose was coming through and NASCAR was sort of pushing for diversity.
• 17:12
  We got to see that personality you were talking about before.
• 17:15
  It was good timing.
• 17:17
  I know they're a very different race car, Max, but what was that chapter like for you?
• 17:23
  Yeah.
• 17:24
  I mean, you said it right.
• 17:25
  You know, I have under my belt 145 NASCAR starts between Cup, Xfinity and truck.
• 17:32
  Yeah.
• 17:33
  Most of them not with a super competitive equipment.
• 17:37
  You know, some of them with a great equipment.
• 17:40
  And what I took out of that opportunity and the lesson was the fact that the
• 17:52
  You, these NASCAR boys are amazing talent.
• 17:57
  They are capable of improvising with precision.
• 18:01
  Unfortunately, how I ended up in NASCAR was not the right path because I left Corvette Racing.
• 18:10
  I signed a contract to drive the Xfinity for a couple of years in order to learn.
• 18:17
  But unfortunately, when I joined the Xfinity, there was a contract close where the car was sponsored by GEICO, the insurance.
• 18:27
  And, uh, actually it was not called Xfinity.
• 18:28
  It was called, uh, nationwide.
• 18:31
  There was another insurance.
• 18:33
  Uh, therefore.
• 18:35
  Ah, you've got competing sponsors.
• 18:36
  Is that what you're saying?
• 18:37
  Okay.
• 18:38
  And yeah.
• 18:38
  And they, uh, the guy, the two year of contract that I had with Geico, where I was supposed to race in Xfinity, they transformed themselves in a half season of, uh, cup car, uh,
• 18:53
  Two half seasons.
• 18:54
  And that was, it would be exactly like showing up in Formula One with Formula Four experience.
• 19:04
  Okay.
• 19:05
  Similar level.
• 19:06
  Very, very difficult.
• 19:07
  Very difficult car, super complicated, no data, no nothing I could see.
• 19:11
  So it was a really big challenge, but I was still able to run very well on road courses, allow myself, you know, to, to show my talent there, uh, being able to prove that I belong to the sport, at least on the road course side.
• 19:27
  And, uh, that opened tremendous relationship all the way to arrive, uh, you know, I almost won a race in, in Montreal in, uh, in Xfinity, those few times where I had the chance to drive a very competitive car.
• 19:40
  Mm-hmm.
• 19:42
  and I built a tremendous relationship I learned a lot about myself, I learned all about the cars and that allowed me to transfer this relationship to be the performance advisor of Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon when I was racing in Xfinity and I went after the situation changed in racing where I was not driving really full time, I was able to guide the
• 20:09
  This young fellow, his name is William Byron.
• 20:13
  I got to know William when I was 17.
• 20:16
  And I've been his advisor and his mentor all the way until this year, guiding him through all his successes.
• 20:25
  And again, what NASCAR did, what all my career did, gave me the opportunity to,
• 20:33
  to learn a lot about myself.
• 20:36
  I might have maybe not achieved every single goal that I wanted, but I achieved a lot coming from an 800-people village and starting from nowhere.
• 20:48
  But I've been able to transfer a lot of my knowledge to a lot of great people, including William Byron.
• 20:55
  And a bit of...
• 21:00
  to close the circle, a little bit, I believe what Ayrton was doing with me when I was a kid.
• 21:06
  You're paying that forward now.
• 21:07
  Is that what you're doing here?
• 21:08
  Yeah.
• 21:09
  He passed away when I'm sure he would have been, he would have loved to give me really good guidance back then, you know, when I was about to be in F1.
• 21:20
  But in a way, that circle is closed and I can give back to the sport, to the people that deserve, you know,
• 21:30
  the best of myself and, uh, working with great guys like Henry motor sport, testing their car, guiding William Byron, you know, being the steward of IndyCar.
• 21:43
  So doing a lot of things and, and, and, uh, as Owen told you,
• 21:48
  being a very mediocre mechanic at the Walker traffic.
• 21:53
  I doubt you are mediocre.
• 21:54
  I doubt you're mediocre.
• 21:56
  People can go and have a look for some of that NASCAR stuff on YouTube.
• 22:01
  They'll remember fondly, for example, when you subbed for Tony Stewart, who was injured from a sprint car crash when you were at Watkins Glen.
• 22:08
  We got to see
• 22:09
  your emotion when you got out of the truck at times and so on.
• 22:12
  I want to come to now MPI.
• 22:15
  You're wearing the shirt.
• 22:16
  You're at HQ there in Charlottet, North Carolina.
• 22:20
  What you have built here is world-class, Max, right?
• 22:23
  So can you tell people, what was the genesis moment for this?
• 22:27
  Where did this come from, the idea to pursue this?
• 22:31
  And then give us a sense of what you've created and where you're going with it.
• 22:37
  Yeah, thank you for bringing this up.
• 22:38
  You know, as much proud as I am of my racing and, you know, successes, I tell that I had another life.
• 22:48
  I had a first life as a competitor on a race car, and now I have a life as a competitor in business.
• 22:56
  How it happened?
• 22:58
  It happened really by chance.
• 23:01
  It was not planned.
• 23:03
  I was driving and testing in NASCAR, testing the new generation car.
• 23:10
  I had an accident in Kentucky where I got hurt.
• 23:15
  I broke my wrist.
• 23:18
  It was difficult to understand why I got hurt because the impact was not really bad.
• 23:23
  But putting some thought on that,
• 23:27
  we realized that, uh, back then stocker, they were using a very antiquated, uh, style steering wheel.
• 23:35
  Uh, I was testing, uh, but I was friend with, you know, Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Harvick, uh, Jeff Gordon, the junior, you know, people that I was testing for.
• 23:46
  And that was part of the, of the sport.
• 23:50
  And, uh,
• 23:52
  it came to mind to say, let's make the problem better.
• 23:55
  Let's create a safer steering wheel.
• 23:58
  I worked with NASCAR.
• 23:59
  I went back to Italy, worked with people that I knew in the sport.
• 24:03
  And we created a, I would say, we reinvented the wheel.
• 24:11
  We created a steering wheel, and we put technology into a very simple product where the wheel deformed with about,
• 24:22
  400 pounds of load, that is 200 kilos, that is the weight of your arm in a 5G impact.
• 24:30
  We came up with a lot of testing.
• 24:32
  I did this testing with Terry Trammell, the doctor of IndyCar, getting his knowledge, getting his help, the test with NASCAR.
• 24:41
  We basically built a safer product for four or five drivers in NASCAR.
• 24:48
  After 13 years, now
• 24:52
  We sell over 15,000 steering wheel a year.
• 24:56
  We are the motorsport market leader.
• 24:57
  We have 200 different products.
• 25:03
  We took this from a simple servicing the sport to a business.
• 25:09
  And it proved that when you do something good for your sport, when you plant a good seed, good things come back.
• 25:18
  And obviously everything was organic.
• 25:22
  We helped NASCAR.
• 25:23
  We helped the driver to be safer.
• 25:25
  Then after a few years, 90% of the garage has our steering wheel.
• 25:30
  Excellent.
• 25:30
  Then we moved into dirt racing.
• 25:33
  Then I heard about the opportunity of Pagano.
• 25:38
  supercars, you know, five, six years ago, you know, maybe more, actually seven years ago, I was looking to JC.
• 25:44
  They said, yeah, Max, they're going to go to a new, they're going to go to a new car.
• 25:48
  There might be, there might be an interest.
• 25:50
  And what I did, you know, exactly like I did in racing.
• 25:53
  You know, I, I, I got on the phone.
• 25:57
  I talked to the people in charge of supercar.
• 26:01
  I asked them, can we bid for it?
• 26:04
  Can, can we create a better product?
• 26:06
  they gave me the opportunity.
• 26:08
  Actually, yeah, here you go.
• 26:09
  We created the controlled steering wheel that is in the, in the supercar.
• 26:15
  And, uh, uh, we created this unit with all the knowledge that we have, you know, all the love that we have for the sport.
• 26:23
  Uh, we tried to place it on the market in a way that, uh, you know, it was not hurting, uh, the pocket of the teams.
• 26:31
  Uh, and mainly in a way that,
• 26:36
  I did this to create a marketing tool to be able to eventually one day enter in Australia with other product, saying that if you can service the best of the best in supercar, why can't you create other product?
• 26:51
  Why can't you be the best in other side?
• 26:54
  And the long story short is exactly the example of my life.
• 26:59
  Nothing is too small.
• 27:00
  Nothing is too big.
• 27:01
  We created a real business.
• 27:05
  now branching it out in Australia, you know, with a supercar, with cool drive, with distribution here and there, and doing it in a very organic way.
• 27:19
  You know, servicing the sport, make the product better, and pretty much like what I learned from other people, where
• 27:29
  You try to excel in what you do.
• 27:31
  You create a great product and then you find a way to take your idea and provide other services to...
• 27:44
  areas like we are in the marine industry, we are in the UTV industry, things that has nothing to do with competition.
• 27:51
  But you can apply it.
• 27:52
  But you can apply it.
• 27:53
  Absolutely.
• 27:54
  And I apply the same value that helped me to achieve my dreams and my goals in racing.
• 27:59
  And it's a huge pride for me to be able to go from, hey, this is –
• 28:09
  Max Pappas, you know, and this is MPI.
• 28:13
  Yeah, Max Pappas is the owner of MPI to MPI being a business and a brand that stand on his own.
• 28:21
  Now, sometimes they say, oh, look at this great MPI steering wheel.
• 28:28
  And then people will say, do you know who's the guy that created the business?
• 28:32
  Max Pappas.
• 28:33
  Wow, it's not the opposite.
• 28:34
  In the beginning, it was,
• 28:36
  Max Pappas that made a steering wheel that was called MPI.
• 28:40
  And that prides me a lot.
• 28:41
  Yeah.
• 28:42
  It prides me tremendously.
• 28:44
  And, you know, as I said, you know, we took a dream that could and created a business.
• 28:50
  And we are winning here and we want to win more.
• 28:55
  You should be immensely proud, Max.
• 28:57
  And I love the fact...
• 28:59
  that you've taken a moment there to shine a light on the Australian portion of this business, because I feel at times like we don't fully appreciate that.
• 29:10
  I mean, you're doing, it is such a great product in supercars.
• 29:13
  And I love the fact that you're in the Aussie market.
• 29:15
  I think that's, that's brilliant.
• 29:17
  Before we wrap this up,
• 29:19
  You do have in the showroom... Let me tell you something.
• 29:22
  I want to tell you something that is exactly the philosophy that I used over in US.
• 29:28
  Yes, we are the supercar, the king of the king, the top of the top.
• 29:33
  But as well, what we did, we created an agreement with the XL Series.
• 29:37
  Fantastic.
• 29:39
  And with the Trans Am cars.
• 29:42
  Fantastic.
• 29:43
  Why?
• 29:43
  Because I was one of them.
• 29:45
  Mm-hmm.
• 29:46
  I was one of the guys that started down there in the Excel series.
• 29:49
  So why can't you have the same safety and ability to provide a great product no matter where you are?
• 29:56
  At that level.
• 29:58
  And that kind of like – I did that.
• 30:02
  It's not a publicity stunt, but it's more just to kind of show you a little bit how –
• 30:07
  how we think.
• 30:08
  Yeah, yes, it's awesome to work with the best of the best, but as well, there are a lot of little guys that could, that need to be serviced and that there is a reason why they race, that there's a lot of love and that we don't forget about that.
• 30:23
  That passion that you have is so infectious, Max.
• 30:25
  You have in the showroom a kind of wall of champions, don't you, with some of the success that MPI has had.
• 30:32
  Just give us a snapshot of that.
• 30:33
  You know, what we did, you know, with MPI, we tried to create a legacy and I basically collected all this big steering wheel.
• 30:45
  Every champion, every guy that wants something for us, you know, we collected their steering wheel, we collected their car.
• 30:52
  And...
• 30:54
  I mean, I can turn, you know, the camera here and just give you a little shot, a couple of things.
• 30:59
  You know, if you look at this, you know, this is the wheel.
• 31:04
  Yeah.
• 31:05
  And actually, the reason why...
• 31:08
  the orange stripe that is a trademark for MPI, it comes from Richard Petty.
• 31:13
  You know, because I remember I asked, if you see most of the steering wheel, they have a yellow stripe.
• 31:19
  Yes.
• 31:20
  So I was involved in NASCAR and I asked Richard, I wanted to go to the king and I told him, what do you remember about your wheel?
• 31:27
  Yes.
• 31:27
  something that I can use.
• 31:28
  And he told me that after he crashed in Daytona, he found himself in the infield.
• 31:33
  He couldn't get the steering wheel straight.
• 31:35
  And he went back home and he put a piece of electric tape in the middle and it was an orange tape.
• 31:42
  I asked Richard if I could use that.
• 31:44
  And now this has became a big trademark for our business.
• 31:47
  So every time you see the orange marker, it's NPI and it's Richard Petty.
• 31:50
  I love that.
• 31:51
  I mean, can you believe that?
• 31:52
  Yeah, yeah.
• 31:53
  And
• 31:54
  So we have a lot of memories, the Daytona 500 trophy from William Byron from a steer, our IndyCar steering wheel.
• 32:04
  And we have in the other side a few other things.
• 32:08
  I will take you guys around for a second, then I go back to my place.
• 32:12
  So here, all the steering wheel, or most of the steering wheel of our champions, you know, you can see some...
• 32:23
  pretty amazing custom made product, you know, very proud of, you know, to have serviced and won, I think MPI now has won 14 NASCAR championship or something like that.
• 32:34
  And can you believe it's,
• 32:39
  it's a dream coming through and I hope that this gives motivations to others to achieve their goal and their dream because nothing is too small, nothing is too big.
• 32:51
  I have really enjoyed this chat, Max.
• 32:54
  And not just for
• 32:56
  the cars you've driven and what you have achieved in that domain.
• 33:00
  It is what you are bringing from that to this venture now.
• 33:05
  Can we finish with, you talked a bit of karting there before, is there going to be another generation Pappas racer?
• 33:11
  You can tell us about that.
• 33:12
  And I'd love you to finish with a little message for the younger racers who are listening here.
• 33:18
  And I've heard you speak of this in other places, right?
• 33:20
  Where
• 33:21
  You've said, almost jokingly, McDonald's was a plan B.
• 33:24
  So that was a big driver for you to make sure that you achieved plan A.
• 33:30
  And that racing is just one part of life.
• 33:33
  Now what you're doing with MPI is a reflection of that statement, isn't it?
• 33:39
  Yeah.
• 33:39
  Let's say like this.
• 33:41
  The reason why we are talking is Owen Kelly.
• 33:44
  Yes.
• 33:46
  We were both together in Daytona for the karting race.
• 33:50
  where I was actually a little bit better mechanic than Owen.
• 33:53
  No, I'm kidding.
• 33:54
  Sorry, Owen.
• 33:55
  I love you.
• 33:58
  But his son went for the first time on the podium in the US.
• 34:03
  Hudson, yeah.
• 34:04
  I was Hudson.
• 34:05
  Yeah, Hudson.
• 34:06
  I love him.
• 34:07
  And I gave him a pair of gloves.
• 34:09
  He was super happy.
• 34:10
  A pair of MPI gloves.
• 34:12
  At the same time, my son, Matteo Pappas, he raced in the KA100.
• 34:17
  Yeah.
• 34:17
  He has about 30% win ratios.
• 34:22
  He just won a couple of races in the Legends car on the road course.
• 34:26
  Excellent.
• 34:26
  And he's showing that he deserves.
• 34:28
  So it might be a future for another person of my family.
• 34:33
  Yeah.
• 34:36
  And I will repeat what you just said.
• 34:38
  What I tell Matteo, what I tell Marco, my 18 years old, and I tell that to every single person.
• 34:45
  father and kid that come over and ask me, you know, what do I need to do?
• 34:51
  In my career, plan B was working at McDonald's.
• 34:57
  I didn't want, I had no plan B. I had plan A. Yeah.
• 35:05
  Was I the best of the best?
• 35:07
  No.
• 35:08
  Were they people better than me?
• 35:10
  Yes.
• 35:12
  Did I outwork the
• 35:14
  The majority of these people, that they had a little bit more talent than me?
• 35:20
  Yes.
• 35:24
  Did I get... Did I compete against guys that they had similar drive to me with 3% more talent?
• 35:35
  Yes.
• 35:36
  They became multiple-time world champion.
• 35:37
  Yes.
• 35:39
  you know, but I was there.
• 35:40
  I was not far.
• 35:42
  I was not far.
• 35:43
  I worked very hard.
• 35:45
  I'm extremely proud of my, of my achievement.
• 35:48
  Uh, but the main things I never left any stone unturned.
• 35:56
  I, uh, I never accepted mediocrity.
• 36:00
  I walked up earlier than, uh, than what was necessary.
• 36:04
  Uh, I, I, uh,
• 36:08
  I took the God gift that I had and I made the best of what I could with it.
• 36:18
  I have no regret.
• 36:20
  I have zero regret.
• 36:22
  Zero regret of everything I've done.
• 36:23
  And I tell all the kids out there watching.
• 36:25
  And if I've done something like this, anyone can do even better.
• 36:32
  You just need to apply yourself and do.
• 36:36
  really do it, not say that you want to do it, but do it for real.
• 36:43
  Am I a little sad that my family is 10 hours by playing for me?
• 36:46
  Of course, they're in Italy.
• 36:49
  Did I, my Italian, my brother, my sister, my mom, they're over there?
• 36:54
  Yeah, of course.
• 36:56
  Am I proud that I'm here in the US and I created this great legacy?
• 37:02
  Of course.
• 37:03
  My dad would have been extremely proud of what I've done.
• 37:07
  Don't let anyone tell you who you are.
• 37:11
  You know inside who you are.
• 37:13
  And no matter what level, go out there and give everything you have.
• 37:19
  And usually good things happen when you do that.
• 37:22
  Well done.
• 37:22
  We are keeping you from your own family.
• 37:25
  So we'll wrap it there.
• 37:26
  Thank you so much for sharing some brilliant stories, Max.
• 37:30
  I love what you're doing with MPI.
• 37:33
  I can't wait to see what is next for that.
• 37:35
  It is the same energy, drive, passion that you brought to the table in racing that you are now succeeding within business.
• 37:43
  We'll put the link for MPI's site in our app description.
• 37:47
  And for Australian listeners, you can find out more at Cool Drive.
• 37:50
  Obviously, we wish you continued success and thank you so much for coming on today.
• 37:54
  This has been a fabulous chat.
• 37:56
  Greg, you are a hero of mine.
• 37:59
  I follow you with a tremendous passion
• 38:02
  because you're a rock star on the track and off the track.
• 38:06
  It's an honor to be even recognized and have a conversation with you guys.
• 38:11
  So my goal is being able to send love to everyone out there and show that the dream can come true if you put your effort in it.
• 38:22
  So I'm looking forward.
• 38:24
  I want to send my best to all the people down in Australia, New Zealand, and looking forward to come down and see you guys, who knows, maybe one of the next super car races.