Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Racing Thrills, Hollywood Tales, and Texas Sports: A Jam-Packed Episode with Rodney Rodriguez

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Racing Thrills, Hollywood Tales, and Texas Sports: A Jam-Packed Episode with Rodney Rodriguez · In Wheel Time Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast From the Sugar Shack Studios near Houston, texas, usa.
0:12
Speaker 1: This is the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
0:15
Speaker 1: This hour we'll be chatting it up over our friend with our friend, rodney Rodriguez, talking about oval track racing, among other things.
0:27
Speaker 2: He's gone Hollywood, hasn't he he is?
0:28
Speaker 2: He's gone Hollywood, he's gone Hollywood.
0:30
Speaker 2: He left us behind.
0:31
Speaker 2: I know that's all right.
0:32
Speaker 1: That's okay.
0:33
Speaker 1: Good luck to him, and we want to be on your coattails.
0:37
Speaker 1: There you go.
0:38
Speaker 1: Jeff has the Motor Minute and I guess I get to review the Lexus GX550.
0:45
Speaker 1: You certainly can Howdy along with Mike out of this world Mars.
0:48
Speaker 1: We always need more.
0:49
Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong.
0:51
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us today.
0:52
Speaker 1: David Ainsley is trying to recover from the entire turkey.
0:57
Speaker 2: Still doing dishes, I'm sure, I'm sure no doubt Over there.
1:01
Speaker 1: Anyway, look who we've got here.
1:03
Speaker 1: Who do we got there?
1:04
Speaker 1: Well, we got Rodney Rodriguez revved up sports show in Dirty Air.
1:08
Speaker 1: Dirty Air, I like it.
1:09
Speaker 1: We have the Dirty Air logo up over here.
1:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, you go to Hollywood.
1:12
Speaker 3: I see that.
1:13
Speaker 1: Both, both, okay, well, I guess I missed.
1:18
Speaker 2: Oh, there it is, there it is.
1:20
Speaker 2: You need one of those ring girls to walk through with the sign behind you yeah, there you go.
1:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo-hoo, and they'll call it Dirty Air.
1:29
Speaker 3: Just dogs in here.
1:30
Speaker 3: No women, no women, no women.
1:32
Speaker 3: Hey, did y'all say we're having a remote at Bombshells?
1:36
Speaker 4: No, We'd love to Would we?
1:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, the last time we got involved in something like that.
1:44
Speaker 1: Would we?
1:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know the last time we got involved in something like that?
1:48
Speaker 3: I think I said to both of you we are never doing this again.
1:50
Speaker 3: That was at the Roadhouse or whatever.
1:52
Speaker 3: It was up in the woodlands.
1:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:55
Speaker 1: What was the name of that place?
1:57
Speaker 2: Women's Federal.
1:57
Speaker 1: Prison?
1:58
Speaker 1: No, no, it was the Women's Federal Penitentiary.
2:01
Speaker 1: It was.
2:01
Speaker 2: Twin Peaks, almost the federal prison.
2:04
Speaker 1: Oh God, I'd never been to a Twin Peaks before.
2:06
Speaker 1: I had no clue, dummy me.
2:08
Speaker 1: Well, now I know there were girls in there that were young enough to be my granddaughter, oh boy, and they were in little skimpy outfits.
2:25
Speaker 2: And you know, it just kind of gave me the creeps and anybody that looked at me thought he's the creep for being in here somebody check his id, can we pull his criminal record online?
2:30
Speaker 3: exactly.
2:30
Speaker 3: I'm always amazed with.
2:31
Speaker 3: Well, I'll say, we men, you know that, go into those places and it's like, okay, you know that you're going to eat, you're going to have, you know, cheap beer or not, cheap cold beer or whatever, and that's all you get.
2:39
Speaker 3: But some people go in there and they're they're thinking they're like at the Gentleman's Club and I'm like guys, what'd you get?
2:48
Speaker 1: You know how many Hooters I've been to One One time, and it's not that I'm against any of that stuff, it just doesn't appeal to me.
2:55
Speaker 1: One wings they're terrible.
2:58
Speaker 1: There's just not enough meat on the bone there for me.
3:02
Speaker 2: I do like the Hooters wings when they're hot, let them get cold and they're great, does Becky?
3:06
Speaker 1: know that.
3:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I'm not allowed to go there.
3:09
Speaker 2: Did you ever take Becky there?
3:11
Speaker 2: I think we went there one time.
3:14
Speaker 1: That's what I thought, did you ever take.
3:17
Speaker 2: No, I've been to a Hooters once with an old boss of mine because he liked the food and the food was terrible.
3:22
Speaker 2: He liked the food no he did.
3:24
Speaker 2: I'm sure that's what it was, something about garlic wings or whatever.
3:28
Speaker 3: Speaking of Hooters and meat on the bone.
3:31
Speaker 2: Well, that's it for your segment.
3:32
Speaker 2: Gotta go.
3:34
Speaker 3: Pretty funny story One of the first times that I was going down to Pensacola for the Snowball Derby, going through Beaumont, stopped at the Hooters in Beaumont, stopped at the Hooters in Beaumont, and so we go in and there's like two pregnant Hooters waitresses there and it's like you know, pregnancy's fine.
3:49
Speaker 2: Retired strippers.
3:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like that kind of it's East Texas dude.
3:54
Speaker 2: You take what you can get when you get to Beaumont.
3:58
Speaker 2: Stage name is Cottage.
4:02
Speaker 1: Cheese.
4:02
Speaker 4: Rodney Rodriguez.
4:05
Speaker 1: Giving ham.
4:05
Speaker 1: You had no clue what you were going to get yourself into on a thanksgiving saturday did you started it.
4:11
Speaker 3: I like this is holiday, uh, bliss it is.
4:14
Speaker 3: How are you doing?
4:16
Speaker 3: Doing well, guys.
4:18
Speaker 3: Um, you know, just uh kind of kind of getting the uh racing season wound down.
4:22
Speaker 3: But uh, for me, uh, this is because, kind of dueling in the different sports things, we've got a little football game that I'll be working on today.
4:32
Speaker 4: Really yeah.
4:33
Speaker 3: Which one is this?
4:34
Speaker 3: We've got the Fighting Texas Longhorns taking on the Fighting Texas Aggies for the first time.
4:39
Speaker 3: Are you working on the broadcast?
4:41
Speaker 3: I'll have to do postgame.
4:43
Speaker 3: I'll have to do postgame, so we'll do a post-game broadcast.
4:47
Speaker 1: Oh I see, Is that on your local station there in?
4:48
Speaker 3: Austin yeah, that's on Texas Sports Unfiltered.
4:51
Speaker 3: That's going to be very late tonight, so we'll see how that all goes.
4:56
Speaker 3: But yeah, racing season winding down and I guess getting wound up to do it all over again, more fun Getting ready.
5:02
Speaker 2: Getting wound up to do it all over again.
5:03
Speaker 2: More fun Getting ready.
5:04
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, one of the guys down here.
5:05
Speaker 2: He's already talking about the Chili Bowl next year, getting his cars ready January.
5:09
Speaker 3: I'm actually headed to next week.
5:12
Speaker 3: Next week midweek I'm heading to Missouri for the Gateway Nationals, which what they do is they take the dome there in St Louis, they take that and cover it up with dirt and they have a huge dirt late model race there for about three days.
5:26
Speaker 3: So that's going to be a pretty massive event.
5:29
Speaker 1: Is it?
5:30
Speaker 2: an indoor event.
5:31
Speaker 3: Inside.
5:32
Speaker 3: Is Kenny Wallace connected to that, probably in some form or fashion.
5:37
Speaker 2: Dirt track Missouri, you would think Kenny Wallace that comes to mind.
5:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
5:41
Speaker 3: And it's one of those things where I always laugh with the chili bowl and this race with the dome, to where it's like when, when nascar goes in and they, they did the racer at the la coliseum, a lot of the dirt folks are like that's not a real track.
5:55
Speaker 3: I'm like, well, what about the chili bowl?
5:56
Speaker 3: Um, you know, kind of kind of same concept, I think.
6:00
Speaker 3: But uh, great events, uh, great events.
6:02
Speaker 1: Chili bowl is huge well, and I was talking to somebody about that just the other day.
6:06
Speaker 1: I said you know, even though that the official seasons for the big organizing groups has come to an end.
6:14
Speaker 1: Basically, there are these oddball things that happen in the offseason.
6:19
Speaker 1: What is it?
6:20
Speaker 1: The Snow Bowl, what was that?
6:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's next week.
6:26
Speaker 3: You've got the Snow Bowl Derby in Pensacola.
6:28
Speaker 3: That's kind of the Super Bowl of stock car racing, so that will draw just massive.
6:34
Speaker 3: I mean it really is the biggest.
6:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you say stock car racing.
6:38
Speaker 1: You're talking about local stock car racing.
6:41
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, that was the concept way back when.
6:44
Speaker 3: Now, as finances and big money teams have driven everything, oh, you get those guys and, and actually this weekend as well.
6:52
Speaker 3: Today, as a matter of fact, in central florida you've got the uh bill bigley memorial 128 at the at the freedom factory, and what you have there?
7:00
Speaker 3: You've got 40 pavement super late models that are going to be racing and a lot of these guys.
7:04
Speaker 3: They'll pull up and they take their, their bigley car for this weekend and then they'll just head over to pensacola, um, and make it a full soiree.
7:13
Speaker 3: Are you going to go to that one?
7:14
Speaker 3: No, no, I've got the st louis race.
7:17
Speaker 3: I usually, I usually cover the, the derby, but uh, this will be the first time in a long time.
7:21
Speaker 3: That uh gonna be weird.
7:22
Speaker 3: I'll be at a dirt track massive event, not a pavement event.
7:25
Speaker 1: You know this whole announcer thing at the play-by-play stuff at these racetracks.
7:30
Speaker 1: It's going to be your full-time gig here before too long.
7:35
Speaker 3: You know, don, I'm fortunate because I recently got a gig and I mentioned this to Mike.
7:40
Speaker 3: I'm now working for O'Reilly Auto Parts and I'm actually going to be one of their event marketing specialists Specialists, they call me.
7:50
Speaker 3: Basically, I'm going to travel around to racetracks and NASCAR races, indycar races, short track races, doing car shows, probably going to cross paths with you guys a lot in the Houston area because I'll cover the whole territory.
8:05
Speaker 2: Well, you're special to us.
8:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, regardless, we got history, I know.
8:10
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this, let me ask you this what's going on with the charters, with NASCAR and the 2311 racing and Hamlin and the big fight with the Hendricks and all that?
8:21
Speaker 2: What's going on there?
8:23
Speaker 3: So basically, the way that that works is NASCAR afforded the teams an opportunity to where they gave them the charters, which have become very valuable, which are teams.
8:32
Speaker 3: You've got a slot for a team.
8:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, basically what that means is that you're you're in every race.
8:37
Speaker 3: You know, back in the back in the days of when you had a lot of cars, cars wouldn't qualify for races.
8:42
Speaker 3: If you have a charter, you're going to be in the race every weekend, essentially.
8:46
Speaker 3: But but what happens here is what nat look, nas car, this is nascar's uh sandbox, as they call it.
8:53
Speaker 3: They control everything.
8:54
Speaker 3: I mean, they uh the finances of that, uh everything entailed right there.
8:59
Speaker 3: Nascar dictates okay, the teams are going to get this percentage of of whatever.
9:03
Speaker 3: I think would really put this over the top, jeff was once the tv money got so outrageous.
9:09
Speaker 3: I mean, now you've got five tv providers where there were three at one point.
9:14
Speaker 3: When you add in amazon, prime and whoever else, the other one is that's just a lot of money.
9:20
Speaker 3: And Denny Hamlin, now that he's on the ownership side there, and Michael Jordan, the ultimate financial guy when it comes to the sports industry, these two are like, wait a minute, we need a bigger piece of the pie here and that's why they do what a lot of us do now Lawsuit.
9:38
Speaker 3: So it's kind of do what a lot of us do now they lawsuit.
9:40
Speaker 3: So it's kind of stalled a little bit but it'll work itself out.
9:48
Speaker 2: But it's very weird for somebody to push back against NASCAR.
9:49
Speaker 2: Well, the reason I say that is because that's going on in Formula One and my minute's going to be about some of that too, a little later on in the show.
9:54
Speaker 2: But I had to ask because I knew you were coming on.
9:56
Speaker 2: So yeah, clear as mud that's the thing.
10:00
Speaker 3: I mean it's all this.
10:01
Speaker 3: Nothing's going to be resolved by the time we get to daytona in february.
10:05
Speaker 3: I mean none of this will be.
10:07
Speaker 3: I mean this is going to be one of those deals.
10:08
Speaker 3: It gets done miraculously, it gets done.
10:11
Speaker 3: It'll get very quiet for a little bit.
10:12
Speaker 3: Then it's done, then everybody's happy well, it's the dirty.
10:15
Speaker 2: You know they're airing all their dirty laundry.
10:17
Speaker 2: I don't want to hear that you lose interest in the sport.
10:21
Speaker 3: That's a whole thing.
10:21
Speaker 3: What happens when this happens in Formula One, nascar, wherever it is, is that it becomes very much the equivalent of big money contracts in the NFL, major League Baseball and the NBA, to where it's like people get soured on hearing about all this money that these people are making and they're trying to figure out a way to pay the electric bill and you're having to pay for streaming and you're having to pay for cable and you know it's just.
10:45
Speaker 3: It's not anything that needs to be.
10:46
Speaker 3: We don't need to know.
10:47
Speaker 3: I love your point.
10:48
Speaker 3: We don't need to know this stuff, they can figure it out speaking of nascar and uh daytona in february.
10:57
Speaker 1: So what's the latest with NASCAR?
11:00
Speaker 3: Well, this was a year that was with the new playoff system there's been a lot of talk about.
11:08
Speaker 3: With the playoff system it needs to be changed, the different tiers of it, where the top 16 drivers get in and you kind of dwindle that down.
11:15
Speaker 3: And this year you get a guy in, joey Loggano that didn't have the best regular season.
11:20
Speaker 3: He won a regular season race, got himself into the playoffs.
11:23
Speaker 3: That's all you have to do.
11:24
Speaker 3: He does that, he gets into the playoffs.
11:26
Speaker 3: And then alex bowman you know, driver there for hendrick gets disqualified on a weight infraction at a race.
11:32
Speaker 3: Logano was out of the playoffs because that was a cutoff race.
11:35
Speaker 3: I forget which round that was because it's 16-12-8, and then down to the four, alex Bowman punches his way into the playoffs, gets disqualified Joey Logano was out and then he's back in.
11:47
Speaker 3: Because Bowman was thrown out, joey Logano wins the championship.
11:51
Speaker 3: So in the old point system, joey Logano, I think, would have finished 12th.
11:57
Speaker 3: So you know, nascar is in a really tough spot, guys, because whatever they do is going to piss somebody off.
12:05
Speaker 2: Get rid of the stages.
12:07
Speaker 3: The stages.
12:08
Speaker 2: Get rid of them.
12:08
Speaker 2: Get rid of them, drive like a man.
12:11
Speaker 3: Drive like a man.
12:12
Speaker 3: I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to watch a 500-mile race with no cautions, nothing going on.
12:19
Speaker 3: I mean, come on, it's boring.
12:21
Speaker 3: To each their own, to each their own.
12:23
Speaker 3: It's going to be an interesting 2025.
12:25
Speaker 1: How about local?
12:26
Speaker 3: stuff, so local stuff, dirt continues to thrive and there are just so many in the state of Texas with the dirt tracks.
12:34
Speaker 3: Like I mentioned when I'm on on with you guys, your, your tractor in Cleveland, 105 has just done a 105 speedway.
12:40
Speaker 3: And Cleveland has done just amazing things this year.
12:42
Speaker 3: They added two or three really big events out there and they're continuing to grow and grow the fan base.
12:49
Speaker 3: And you know, dirt is kind of at a point right now to where they're kind of at that point as well, to where there are a lot of, uh, the modified type cars.
12:57
Speaker 3: Now there's probably about four or five of those different classes and guys will go from a sport mod to a B mod to an E mod, and so you're getting a lot of stuff with that where folks are like, okay, we've got too many of those classes.
13:12
Speaker 3: You've got a lot of stock car classes kind of all of that, but there's a lot of cars, there's a lot of fans, car classes kind of all of that, but there's a lot of cars, there's a lot of fans, so they're in a really good place.
13:19
Speaker 3: And then, when it comes on the asphalt side, I think obviously there's one track in Houston.
13:24
Speaker 3: I think that track did some really good things this year.
13:27
Speaker 3: They've released I think there are eight or nine dates that are going to be out in 2025.
13:33
Speaker 3: Hopefully they can get a balance right there and also bringing back Bandoleros trying to add some cool midget racing, all of that.
13:43
Speaker 3: So hopefully that's things that are going to keep everything moving forward, I guess.
13:47
Speaker 1: How do we get the schedule?
13:48
Speaker 1: How do we get the schedule for that Houston track?
13:51
Speaker 3: HMP Oval.
13:52
Speaker 3: Hmp Oval track on Facebook is the best place.
13:55
Speaker 3: Okay, have they put out the schedule yet.
13:57
Speaker 3: What's that?
13:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's out, it is out.
14:01
Speaker 3: And it's nice next year because it equates to about one event a month, and I think right now that's really what it is.
14:09
Speaker 1: That's what it should be and if I were going to offer anything, look, either make it the first Saturday or the the first, you know for second, third saturday of the month, whatever it is, and just keep that going yeah, and, and it just gets to where, with all these disciplines of racing, I mean the cost factor.
14:28
Speaker 3: I mean it's always cost a lot of money to do this.
14:30
Speaker 3: I mean there's no doubt about it.
14:31
Speaker 3: But you know, now, with with the escalation of prices, for tires and shocks are the ones now, whether on dirt or or asphalt, that you can just spend.
14:39
Speaker 3: Guys, I remember when we raced on pavement in stock cars we would pay, you know, maybe $300 for our four shocks.
14:48
Speaker 3: Now these guys go in there and they're spending $1,000 per shock.
14:52
Speaker 1: Well, they're all custom made, aren't they?
14:54
Speaker 3: They're all custom made.
14:55
Speaker 3: You can send them back and get them revalved.
14:57
Speaker 3: You tell them what you want them to do with them and you know if a couple of series over in the Florida area, what they've done is they're going to a spec shock, and I think that that definitely helps.
15:07
Speaker 3: But then you get the outcry, usually from the teams that have the better finance, teams, where it's like oh, we want something better Because we want to win.
15:19
Speaker 3: They don't like the balance.
15:20
Speaker 3: Are you doing any racing yourself?
15:21
Speaker 3: No, I didn't.
15:21
Speaker 3: Did I race this year?
15:22
Speaker 3: I didn't race at all this year.
15:24
Speaker 2: I thought you said you did race a couple times this past year.
15:26
Speaker 3: Did I?
15:26
Speaker 3: No, no, I actually didn't this year, this year.
15:30
Speaker 1: I did not.
15:30
Speaker 1: I'm surprised.
15:31
Speaker 1: If I were a car owner, I would make sure that I had you in a car at least one race, and one that you're calling yourself.
15:42
Speaker 3: That's how I would get rides, when I would run from time to time to where it's like they'd have a big event and they're like hey, they'd call me up.
15:50
Speaker 3: Hey, you want a race.
15:51
Speaker 3: I'm like okay, you want me to talk about it, right?
15:54
Speaker 2: Call the race from the cockpit.
15:56
Speaker 1: Call it from the seat.
15:57
Speaker 1: That would be fun.
15:59
Speaker 1: So how's your weekly show Dirty Air doing?
16:04
Speaker 3: Dirty Air is doing really well.
16:05
Speaker 3: It continues to expand the brand.
16:08
Speaker 3: I've actually taken it a little bit further to where I've included talking more with motocross.
16:14
Speaker 3: I mean, motocross is really big up in in this region of texas, down where I'm at, around the austin area, because there's so many different moto parks that are always going and there's a lot of uh, a lot of hidden talent, youngsters that are starting out that are doing this and really they have there are, there are kids that have started out and they're they're at a really high level right now that have come out of Texas and people don't know anything about them because nobody covers it.
16:41
Speaker 3: So, kind of really taking that on and really kind of kind of tailored over to drag racing as well, um, I was fortunate to make a contact with a, uh, with a PR person for Tony Pedragon and, um, she's been able to push people over to me to really make it sound like I know a hell of a lot about drag racing, but all I know is whoever gets to the other side first, yeah.
17:03
Speaker 1: Well, it's great to talk to you, my friend, and hopefully we'll get to see you this year.
17:08
Speaker 1: I'm looking for that invite to come to Houston Motorsports Park and maybe come up and have a race up there and enjoy that with a hot dog yeah, dog and dollar beer.
17:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, there you go.
17:22
Speaker 3: They still doing that, they still do that, they still do that good, and, like I mentioned, um, I'm sure that we are going to cross paths quite often um, on, on some car show, uh stuff, and I hope so I'm glad to hear about yeah, I'm glad to hear about O'Reilly's hooking up with you, and we wish you the best of luck at that and hopefully we'll be able to do some things together.
17:44
Speaker 3: Yeah for sure, guys, you do tremendous work.
17:47
Speaker 3: I mean seriously.
17:48
Speaker 3: I know we like to get on here and kind of be a little outrageous sometimes.
17:52
Speaker 4: You all do amazing work.
17:53
Speaker 4: That's what we do, though.
17:55
Speaker 3: I hope you guys have a really great holiday season.
17:57
Speaker 3: Enjoy that time and just keep hammering away.
18:00
Speaker 3: Boys, rodney, god bless, take care of yourself.
18:03
Speaker 2: Merry Christmas, rodney, take care.
18:05
Speaker 1: Rodney Rodriguez Revved Up Sports Show and Dirty Air hey.
18:09
Speaker 1: You can catch the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show 24-7 on the In Wheel Time app, along with the Odyssey Radio app.
18:16
Speaker 1: We also video stream our weekly show on Facebook, youtube and InWheelTimecom, and podcasts are available from your favorite podcast provider.
18:24
Speaker 1: The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues right after this quick break.
18:28
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19:28
Speaker 1: Is your car ready for that all-important holiday road trip.
19:31
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19:37
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19:57
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20:00
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20:05
Speaker 1: She'll want that good looking ride in her driveway, I promise.
20:08
Speaker 1: Put it on your calendar the Gulf Coast Auto Shield Holiday Car Social and Road Trip.
20:12
Speaker 1: Get ready.
20:13
Speaker 1: Saturday, december 7th, 9 to noon at 11275 South Sam Houston Parkway, just south of the Southwest Freeway.
20:19
Speaker 1: The In Real Time Car Talk Show will be there too.
20:21
Speaker 1: We'll see you then.
20:24
Speaker 1: Holidays are here, they're here we hope you'll think of our sponsors this season, including Loopy, tortilla, tex-mex Restaurants, pro-am Auto and Gulf Coast Auto Shield Time.
20:34
Speaker 1: Now for the Motor Minute.
20:35
Speaker 1: Jeff has that.
20:36
Speaker 2: Motor Minute.
20:36
Speaker 2: I may need to take three hours on this, but you know what happened this past week Cadillac confirmed Formula One grid.
20:44
Speaker 2: Yay, the racing world is set to welcome Cadillac into the Formula One, where who else?
20:50
Speaker 2: Mario Andretti Jr will assume the role of director and board of the new team.
20:56
Speaker 2: General Motors, under the Cadillac brand, aims to join the Formula One grid as the 11th team in 2026.
21:03
Speaker 2: That's awesome, cadillac's path.
21:05
Speaker 2: I think the whole thing with this, don, is that Formula One, the F1 guru knuckleheads, didn't like Mario Andretti himself.
21:16
Speaker 2: They didn't like him as a human being, as a man, as a person as a person.
21:19
Speaker 2: Exactly so they 86ed him and said well, take Cadillac.
21:22
Speaker 2: Cadillac says you're not taking us unless you got Mario.
21:25
Speaker 2: Now he did step away from the actual day-to-day stuff, but he oversees the whole project, so good for you, big fan.
21:33
Speaker 2: Uh, I'm I'm all into that, but cadillac mario f1 2026 gotta love it.
21:42
Speaker 1: Are you is it?
21:42
Speaker 1: Are you gonna, are you gonna actually start watching formula one?
21:45
Speaker 1: I?
21:45
Speaker 2: almost cried.
21:46
Speaker 2: Oh well, speaking of which, last week f1 was on paramount or discovery xyz or whatever.
21:55
Speaker 2: It wasn't on a local station, it was from vegas, it was a home track, usa, and you had to buy a subscription to watch a blankety blank in f1 race.
22:03
Speaker 2: I refuse to do that.
22:05
Speaker 2: I refuse to do that too.
22:06
Speaker 2: So but and then you know, your, your bad mouth, them and everything.
22:10
Speaker 2: And then this comes along where cadillac and mario is f1.
22:15
Speaker 2: Yay, I just brighten up the picture.
22:17
Speaker 1: Good, yep, all right time now for this hour's car review.
22:21
Speaker 1: I had the chance to drive the the 2024 Lexus GX550.
22:27
Speaker 1: This is a new vehicle.
22:30
Speaker 1: Available trim levels include the 550 Premium, the Premium Plus the Overtrail.
22:39
Speaker 1: I wrote down here Overtail, but that's not it, it's.
22:43
Speaker 1: Overtrail the Luxury with a Plus version.
22:46
Speaker 1: For each of those I had the Overt trail four-wheel drive.
22:50
Speaker 1: This is a standard suv mars, kind of like that thing that you were driving.
22:54
Speaker 1: You think what?
22:55
Speaker 2: is a standard suv.
22:56
Speaker 1: It's about the size of a chevy tahoe.
22:58
Speaker 1: It'll seat five, six or seven people.
23:02
Speaker 1: Uh, we did not have the third row.
23:04
Speaker 1: It had five seats in it and that's just fine with me.
23:07
Speaker 1: Don't cram that third row into a vehicle that size.
23:10
Speaker 1: It doesn't work, please don't uh, exterior changes from last model year, all new for 2024.
23:16
Speaker 1: It looks so much like a land rover range rover it's scary, yeah, land rover styling cues um, very boxy, attractive design.
23:28
Speaker 1: Um, it's very different for Lexus Squared off wheel openings, flat nose, modern front end with modified Lexus grille, squared off rear lighting as well.
23:41
Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
23:42
Speaker 1: The clamshell rear gate with the ability to open the top glass only.
23:48
Speaker 1: Uh, what could use improvement?
23:50
Speaker 1: Nothing, we just need more of it or like it anyway.
23:53
Speaker 1: Interior highlights rugged design, styling.
23:57
Speaker 1: Uh, huge in-dash 14 inch infotainment screen.
24:01
Speaker 1: Uh, with a very likable operating system, and it is built into the dashboard.
24:07
Speaker 1: It doesn't sit up there like some add-on.
24:09
Speaker 1: Comfortable and supportive, perforated leather seating, off-road capability plus luxury, cargo and trunk room plenty without that third row.
24:19
Speaker 1: What I liked?
24:20
Speaker 1: The cool box in the center console.
24:23
Speaker 1: So if you've got something that you want to keep cool, a beverage that you want to keep cool, you open the center console lid and there's a little box in there and you hit the little button and ice coldness comes to it.
24:37
Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
24:40
Speaker 1: Again, I don't get the third row version.
24:43
Speaker 1: The vehicle's just not big enough for a third row.
24:46
Speaker 1: I understand why they do it.
24:48
Speaker 1: Hey, we're going to make it anyway.
24:50
Speaker 1: It's not going to be that big of a deal.
24:52
Speaker 1: Oh, young family, I guess yeah.
24:55
Speaker 1: Engine a 3.4 liter twin turbo V6 that acts like a V8.
24:59
Speaker 1: 349 horsepower, 479 pound-feet of torque, making it truly off-roadable.
25:06
Speaker 1: 10-speed automatic transmission with a tow rating of 4 tons.
25:10
Speaker 1: Manufacturer's miles per gallon 15 in the city, 21 on the highway combined to 17.
25:17
Speaker 1: I got 18 miles per gallon over 325.5 miles.
25:21
Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
25:24
Speaker 1: The powertrain is well matched to its capability.
25:27
Speaker 1: Now, I personally did not go off-roading with this thing, nor would I, because I don't want to scratch it, yeah, and I don't want to have to call those fine folks over there at lexus and go.
25:40
Speaker 2: Well, I scratched it, take it to jason shop no, I'm not.
25:44
Speaker 1: No, I don't want to take it to any shop here.
25:46
Speaker 1: I got it, I'm doing the review.
25:48
Speaker 1: That's good enough for me.
25:49
Speaker 1: That's a good-looking vehicle, man, I'm telling you, riding handily, as I said, a body-on-frame architecture.
25:56
Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
25:57
Speaker 1: Those 33-inch all-terrain tires, massive, wow.
26:01
Speaker 1: Steamrollers with lugs is the way.
26:04
Speaker 4: I look at it.
26:05
Speaker 1: Adaptive variable suspension on those 18-inch wheels is very nice as well.
26:11
Speaker 1: Now you can get into this for $62,900.
26:17
Speaker 1: Price is tested as $71,620 and it's pretty much loaded up.
26:21
Speaker 1: Competitors Land Rover Defender 110 for $73,475.
26:27
Speaker 1: That's their most popular vehicle, by the way.
26:30
Speaker 1: The Ford Bronco starts at $39,630.
26:34
Speaker 1: And the Jeep Wrangler for $31,995.
26:36
Speaker 1: Well, don, why are you doing it that way?
26:38
Speaker 1: Because there really isn't a lot of competition in that particular style of vehicle.
26:45
Speaker 1: There just isn't.
26:46
Speaker 1: And I'm sure that there'll be more if they sell a lot of these things.
26:50
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what, man, if I'm into that off-roading luxury thing, I'm seriously going to look at this.
26:56
Speaker 1: It's not going to be the Land Rover Defender.
26:58
Speaker 1: No, it's a nice vehicle.
27:00
Speaker 2: Mars even turned his nose up when I said that I really like the ones I was in, but as far as an everyday thing.
27:11
Speaker 1: This could be an everyday thing easily.
27:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I could see that.
27:12
Speaker 1: So I'm a huge fan.
27:13
Speaker 1: I really like it a lot.
27:14
Speaker 1: I like the lexus brand.
27:16
Speaker 1: I like the lineup.
27:17
Speaker 1: I like what they do with their vehicles.
27:20
Speaker 1: Um, I'm not a huge fan of that.
27:23
Speaker 1: What do they call spindle grill?
27:24
Speaker 1: It's just not my cup of tea.
27:27
Speaker 1: But they keep changing it up to make it different for particular model years.
27:31
Speaker 2: They're trying to find one you like.
27:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I do like the NX and I'm going to review that next week.
27:38
Speaker 1: So, anyway, that's my review of the 2024 Lexus GX550.
27:46
Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to get in touch with us, shoot us an email.
27:50
Speaker 1: The address here is info at inwheeltimecom.
27:53
Speaker 1: We'll be back after this.
27:55
Speaker 1: The holidays are upon us and Pro-Am Auto Accessories is your local one-stop for the auto enthusiast on your gift list.
28:02
Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto has been serving Houston since 1984, providing world-class products for sports cars, european sedans and American muscle.
28:11
Speaker 1: Pro-am was one of the very first distributors in the US for brands such as Recaro, redline, momo Corbo and Simpson.
28:18
Speaker 1: Located in the heart of Houston's premier shopping corridor, the Galleria area, pro-am's walk-in storefront includes an 8,000-square-foot warehouse and showroom with installation and service bays.
28:30
Speaker 1: Pro-am reaches a worldwide audience through Pro-AmAutocom, taking its local reputation to the rest of the world.
28:37
Speaker 1: Holiday gift-giving is alive and well at Pro-Am Auto.
28:42
Speaker 1: If you don't see what you're looking for on the website, call and Pro-Am will lend you a hand.
28:46
Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond.
28:47
Speaker 1: Pro-am Auto 6125 Richmond at Greenridge in Houston's Galleria area.
28:51
Speaker 1: Call them at 713-781 7755.
28:56
Speaker 4: Hey, houston, it's back.
28:57
Speaker 4: America's greatest hot rod tradition is Thanksgiving weekend.
29:00
Speaker 3: The O'Reilly Auto.
29:01
Speaker 4: Parts Autorama At the George R.
29:03
Speaker 4: Prune Convention Center Four days of hot rods, customs trucks and muscle cars.
29:07
Speaker 4: Don't miss the evil.
29:14
Speaker 4: Can evil tribute the mega transforming robot car lowrider showcase.
29:16
Speaker 4: Meet katherine bach from dukes of hazard, hip-hop legend play-by-play barb truck and asian from street outlaws.
29:18
Speaker 4: Auto rama thanksgiving weekend discount tickets at riley auto parts.
29:21
Speaker 4: Part of the summer racing equipment show car series, see autoramacom for more info.
29:27
Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
29:30
Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
29:40
Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music.
29:49
Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.