Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Rajah Caruth Talks NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race, HBCU Pride, Authenticity, Bubba Wallace + More

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INTERVIEW: Rajah Caruth Talks NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race, HBCU Pride, Authenticity, Bubba Wallace + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Every day Up wait, click up the Breakfast Club finish
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: for y'all.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Done morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Everybody is DJ Envy just hilarious, Charlamagne, the gud we
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: are the Breakfast Club Law and the Roses here as well.
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: We got a special guest in the building, indeed, the
• 0:16
  Speaker 4: brother Raja Caruth.
• 0:18
  Speaker 5: Welcome, feeling great, Thank you guys for having me on.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Now, who is Rajah? Carew for people that don't.
• 0:23
  Speaker 5: Know so uh, like you said, my name is Raja.
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: I was born in Atlanta, but grew up in DC
• 0:28
  Speaker 5: and I guess I do many things, but mainly currently
• 0:32
  Speaker 5: I race in NASCAR. So but yeah, HBC graduate, grew
• 0:36
  Speaker 5: up in d C and racing at NASCAR second highest level.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: And how did you get into NASCAR? Like, what what
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: got you into it?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: I think it's I want to say something.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Your story is very ill because you you used you
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: used to drive the simulator. Yeah, you turned virtual racing
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: into a real life career.
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Have y'all seen the Grand Tourisma movie. It's pretty
• 0:54
  Speaker 5: much like that just ten years I guess down the
• 0:57
  Speaker 5: line coming from Cribbean parent. My dad's right here in
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: the back of being from Saint Vincent.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: Grand Tarisma his parents with CARIBBEANSO, yeah exactly.
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: So yeah, like you said, Charlotte and I I grew
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: up watching racing and was a big fan. But I
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: mean I played other sports like I played basketball, ran track,
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: play soccer, but I always loved racing. And since I
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: grew up in DC, there wasn't any any tracks or
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: anything nearby, so I had to get it from racing
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: online and learning how to drive from the computer.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: So you did, Is that something you wanted to do?
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Or the love came from just being on the symney.
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: Now, the love came from like the Cars movie, watching
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: races on TV. I once my first race at Richmond
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: in when I was probably twelve, So that's where the
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: love really really grew. And I mean I'd watch everything
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: I could about racing, from like sports talks shows to
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: people playing the games online. I just was a deep,
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: deep fan of racing.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Did you have to steal your father's car?
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: No, I mean I never. I never drove so I
• 1:52
  Speaker 5: was fifteen years old. I mean you could just take
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: the metro or walk or get limescooters in DC. So
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: I mean you don't really need to drive just like here.
• 1:59
  Speaker 6: So what's are like day to day like at work,
• 2:03
  Speaker 6: So like how does it as a NASCAR driver? So
• 2:06
  Speaker 6: you go, you don't clock in like normal, Like what
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: is a normal day in a life of a NASCAR driver?
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: So basically for like we train like endurance athletes. So
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: we'll have our you know, Mondays through Thursdays, whenever we
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: return from the previous race weekend, We'll have our pre
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: and pros race debriefs with our teams because I think
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: compared to other sports, racing is so different where the
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: driver is a key factor, but also is the car
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: and the team and your pit crew. So we have
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: all our meetings with our engineers, our crew chiefs that
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: are over the car development, but also our pit crew
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: members to analyze how they can improve, how we can
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: improve behind the wheel, and how we can get the
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: car better. We have simulator training at our Chevy's facility.
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: Well with every manufacturer has a big kind of training
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: facility where we have our simulators. Corporate offices all pretty
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: much based in North Carolina. And for us and me
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: being at Chevy, I mean we're there. I'm there Monday
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: through Thursday where we're training, We're on the simulators, we're
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: having our meetings with our race teams, and that's kind
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: of our our week to week basis, and then we
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: leave on Thursdays or Fridays to go travel to wherever
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: we race. We were at Vegas last weekend. We're in Darlington,
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: South Carolina this weekend. So yeah, it's a it's a
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: traveling circus for the whole year pretty much.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: They call you very analytical and very composed.
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: I'm a nerd.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I don't like the I mean, I know people like
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: to use that word, but I like that. I'd like
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: smart people. But how does that help you on the racetrack?
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: I guess.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: I guess to be super calculated is the way that
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: that helps. You have to obviously use your instincts, right,
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: because everything is happening within splits of a seconds, moving
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: at hundreds of miles per hour, with the wall being
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: right next to you, other cars being right next to you,
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: the wind being super turbulent. Yeah, you have to be
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: super aware of what's going on. And I think it
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: speaks to my personality but also my preparation of just
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: being that calculated and prepared for whatever situations may arise.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Related to actually being on the track.
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: I'd say it's pretty close, but it's you can never
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: replicate real life because there's weather, there's maybe a new
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: bump that develops in a racetrack that you can't forecast,
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: there's new rule changes every time. But what's great about
• 4:14
  Speaker 5: the simulator is that the one we have at Chevrolet,
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: it has our literally every part and piece of the
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: car is replicated on there to where we can drive
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: and change whether it's a piece of the suspension, move
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: a body panel a certain way to see if it'll
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: work in real life, and then nine times out of
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: ten it's perfect for what we have to do at
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: the racetrack. So it's super super important, and it's great
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: practice for us drivers just to be able to get
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: repetition on the corners. It's kind of like tap dancing
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: with how we're using the brake and the gas pedal
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: and all the instruments in the car.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: So Lou to John Cohen, he was he's a black
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: race call owner. He owns a team, a New York
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: City race team is his team. He was telling me
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: how difficult it is to find members, because he was like,
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: it's so detailed, So breakdown. You talked about the team,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: how important everybody is from the PI crew and what
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: they have to do.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: But if they mess up.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: That affects your time and that's a whole race. YEA,
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  Speaker 3: So break that down because people only see the driver
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: most of the times. But if your crew eight right,
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: if this ain't right, if the guy you talking to
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: eight and right, to break that down of how detailed
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: and how difficult that part, Yeah, for sure, it's It's
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: very similar to I think special teams in the NFL.
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: I mean every member of the team is important. From
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: our hollow driver that drives the equipment to the racetrack
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: and make sure it gets there safe, to our spotters
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: that are on top of the highest point on the
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: track and communicating with us drivers, to our PI crew
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: members like you mentioned. If one of our wheels aren't
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: aren't tight, then that's a day end or whether it's
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: damaging the wheel or causing us to crash. Not to
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: mention how important it is to have the car set
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: up as close as it can be to you know,
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: be able to drive to the front. So our teams
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: are super important and as much as the drivers. The
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: face racing is as much of a team sport as
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: anything because it's not just the one star person. It's
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: the whole team that that matters and helps to get
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: the job done.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: How competitive is it? You know? We look at these movies,
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: right and we see these races.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: And they're cutting each other off and it curves like
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: that and sometimes you see them fighting after. How competitive
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: is it? And what's the respect level on on on
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: the track? Like sometimes they cut like you're not supposed
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: to do that, but I just know this, it is
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: what it is.
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean there's definitely definitely different etiquette. And then
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: you kind of see uh, the old the old guard
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: of drivers being different from the new guard drivers, and
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: it kind of speaks to people's personalities right where there's
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: there's a certain situation where hey, I'm gonna do this
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: to you because I know you would do it to me,
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: whether it's throwing a block or putting somebody in a
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: tight scenario. So it's just different etiquettes. Everybody's got different etiquettes.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: And I think what's cool about NASCAR is it's a
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: contact sport where in other forms of racing, whether it's
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: Formula One in the car, the racing etiquette is just
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: different just because of contact.
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: Contact means we touch each other.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: Yea normal car it's normal, if anything, you can At
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: certain tracks like Atlanta or Daytona, it's important to push
• 6:57
  Speaker 5: somebody else because it gives yourself a better chance at winning.
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: So there's there's levels to the contact that are required,
• 7:04
  Speaker 5: not every time because then you'll damage your car and
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: it'll be slower, but it's it's important because it's just
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: the true etiquette of the racing of NASCAR that makes
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: it super cool.
• 7:14
  Speaker 6: So you know how like with basketball players like or
• 7:16
  Speaker 6: football players, right when you're training, you watching tape, you
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: kind of know what so you know what drivers like
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: their little tricks exactly.
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: Yeah, So we have like a GPS program that records
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: every race and you can look at every car and
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: see literally every lap of the race and see, all right,
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: they decided to do this move here because of what
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: they saw in front of them or what they felt
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: in the car. We can see how they're steering, how
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: they're breaking, how they're using the gas, the literally the
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: g forces that they're creating in the car. It's that's
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: our way to study film. It's just analyzing each race,
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: every practice, every time time trial session. That that's kind
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: of the equivalent for us.
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: What's been the biggest challenge stepping into the NASCAR National spotlight.
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: Honestly the regular I would say, for me, it's I'm
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: a pretty introverted person, so being comfortable with being as
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: approachable at the racetrack to fans was an adjustment for me.
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: But honestly, like in the sport, like everybody's been cool
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: for the most part, Like because I have the interest,
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: the passion and the work to go with it, Like,
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: everybody's been super cool. So I definitely will say to
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: mention you mentioned before getting to this level, it definitely
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: was harder to get my foot in the door from
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: a not only starting so late, but coming from my
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: background that made it immensely more harder than it would
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: be for Uh. Maybe I shouldn't say that because everybody's
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: grind is different, but I think personally like it was
• 8:43
  Speaker 5: way harder to get in the door than it has
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: been to kind of climb through the ladder.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: How did you get your foot in the door.
• 8:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah, So for me, I started racing on the simulator.
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: I was fifteen or sixteen, and I started to go
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: to races and hand out business cards and say, hey,
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: I'm a young driver trying to make a name for
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: myself racing online. NASCAR had a driver development program that
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: I applied for in twenty nineteen, and they had a
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: whole combine tryout where it was not just how well
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: you can drive, it's what your your physicality is, how
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: strong you are, how you handle press, how you handle
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: your team communication, just seeing all the traits that are
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: required to really be a successful driver. And I did
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: well enough in that program in twenty nineteen to come
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: on and get developed through the kind of regional levels
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: of NASCAR where we raced in parts of South Carolina,
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, just kind of getting the real
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: sticks of it. And that's really how I got started.
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: So and that was super hard, just because I was
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: coming from growing up in DC, where I mean, I
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: just I it was normal to exist right and being
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: in those places where I was not only a lot
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: of times the youngest person, but the youngest black person
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: in the room. Where I mean, I moved from DC
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: when I was eighteen. I was living in North Carolina
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: by myself, while I was going to school at Winston,
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: at the race shop, at the track, I was pretty
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: much a lot of times the only person that looked
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: like me. So I think that was definitely a challenge
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: to get started, but it just really allowed me to
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: get confident in my identity, really my Caribbean background, my raising,
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: my education, and that helped me really persevere.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about that, right, You came through simulation, like
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: you said, and you're a young black man. Do you
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: ever feel like you're disrupting the culture of NASCAR? Do
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: you feel pressure to prove you belonging.
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: I think I'm definitely breaking the mold for sure, And
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: I really have an appreciation for the teams that I'm
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: at where they've seen me as not just as not
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: as I'm only here for a certain reason. They see
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: me for not only my ability, but how I'm showing
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: up and how I'm prepared to perform and taking the
• 10:46
  Speaker 5: accountability and doing the work and really performing well when
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: it matters the most.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: So when you walk in a garage right that historically
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: hasn't looked like you, are you thinking about winning races?
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Are you just trying to change narratives?
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: I think they work hand in hand. I think the
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: success on the track is going to help everything else.
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: And I have such a deep appreciation for the sport
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: of NASCAR in particular and racing as a whole that
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: I know all the other stuff will come naturally as
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: long as I keep the main thing, the main thing,
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: which is trying to be the best driver that I
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: can do.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: You hear what he said, keep the main thing, the
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: main thing.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: That's a jewl. A lot of people don't do that,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean. They try to do all
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: the side quests. You got to keep the.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Main thing, the main thing.
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: I saw Bubba Wallace praise you for opening a season
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: with the top with three top ten finishes while driving
• 11:34
  Speaker 6: for two different teams. And we know that he's had,
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: like you know, issues when it comes to race in
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: different things within NASCAR. What's your relationship like with Bubba?
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a big bro. That's a big bro. I
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: mean literally from my first ever regional race. He's been
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: there every every step of the way. And it's super
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: important to have somebody like that in your corner that's
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: paying attention and knows kind of the cards you've been
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: dealt ye And it's been great to have him in
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: my corner. And I mean we although we're at two,
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: he's with Toyota, I will shove relay. I mean He's
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: been there every step of the way for me, So
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: that that's big, bro. And it's been great because the
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: things that he's had to endure, he's allowed it to
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: wear for drivers like myself, like LeVar Scott that are
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: in the wings and coming up that we don't have
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: to deal with with those certain things. And in that
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: same vein that's how Wendell Scott did it for him
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: and Willie t Ribbs and Bill Lester and all those
• 12:22
  Speaker 5: you know before us.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Is that cost sponsorship thing, like really that big of
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: a deal because you said a thing.
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: I'm Chevy, and I mean it's serious. It's serious because
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: I mean the manufacturers are really what drive NASCAR at
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: the end of the day, where in other sports, right
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: there's the owners of the teams. I think the owners
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: of NASCAR are a big deal as well, but s
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: are the manufacturers because I mean those are the cars
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: that we're driving at the end of the day, So
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: that that's a big role. They play a huge, huge
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: role in in our sport.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: He just Witch sides, you got to be Chevy for life.
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: I mean, I don't want to leave Chevy for sure.
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: I Mean it's not uncommon for people to leave manufacturers,
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: and that can be because hey, the team closed, or
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: they need to swap, or they have a new guy
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: that bumps an old guy out out of the seat.
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: So it's kind of more a case by case scenario.
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: But what's different in NASCAR compared to other sports is
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: that right in the NBA, the NFL, MLB, you have
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: these annual drafts and there's always a rotation of young
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: talent and Racingly, there's only forty guys at the Cup
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: level and there's maybe one or two seats that turn
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: over on an annual basis, So there's just a lot
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: of young drivers trying to come up through the ladder
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: and very few spots to go into, so you have
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: to set yourself apart. And that's why, for the most part,
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: you don't see a young driver in the Cup series
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: that is eighteen. You only see that every once in
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: a while. Otherwise you only see drivers make their first
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: Cup Stars when they're mid twenties plus or minus a
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: few years maybe even early thirties, just because of how
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: there's not as much turnover at the top level.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: What's the biggest mental adjustment you had to make when
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the consequences from like just being able to.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Reset the game, turn it out. I'm actually in a
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: car and this is real life.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: That's a great question. Literally my second race, I hit
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: the wall on the second lap and I was like, dang,
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: this is not as easy as I thought it would be.
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: I remember, like the first time I flipped, the first
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: time I crashed somebody else or myself. But those experiences
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: are like super important because those mistakes allow you not
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: to make them again, and those lessons are super important.
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: So adjusting from the sin to real life, Honestly, it
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: wasn't too hard from an athletic standpoint because I had
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: that background of playing other sports growing up, so I
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: wasn't tired from a physical stance. It just was what
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: I mentally required to be aware of how the tire feels,
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: how you feel an air, and the spacing of being
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: close to the wall or other people. I think that
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: was the adjustment that I had to make as I
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: grew my experience racing regionally before going to the national level.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: Now you said flipped over what happened with that race?
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: Okay, So that race, I was in a dirt race
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: race where it was it was a race for practice,
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: and we a lot of times, NASCAR drivers will go
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: race on dirt, race go carts, race other forms of
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: racing to really get better at what we do. And
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: I was racing on dirt and I somebody hit the
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: wall and I try to avoid them, and it's dirt,
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: so you like can't really stop. And I next thing
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: I knew, I was like barreling. And it is that scary? No,
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: it just hurt. Yeah, I mean no. The thing is
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: the thing about flipping is it's not the flipping that
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: is the issue. Is if when you stop abruptly or
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: you land, that's the part where people get hurt. Whether
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: they land you know, flat on the on the bottom
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: of the yeah, the impact and they'll have back injuries
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: and stuff like that, or have a just a sudden stop.
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: So if anything, flipping isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: just whenever you abruptly stop. So didn't feel great, But
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: now I know.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: How do you know you're not gonna die?
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we have faith in our safety. I mean,
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: there's so many advancements that they've made over the last
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: twenty five years that make it a where it's not
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: a thing that I mean, we don't take it for
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: granted for sure, but the cars are way safer than
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: they used to be. I mean, our head and neck
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: restraint systems are super good. I mean our seats are
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: literally crafted to our stature, our bodies, so we're like
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: we're literally not like locked in the seat, but like
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: pretty much memory foam to our body to make sure
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: that we're not moving around a lot whenever we have
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: those crashes and that was.
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: The worst thing that ever happened to be like the
• 16:29
  Speaker 7: worst accident that you've had.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: Well yeah, so far, yeah yeah, I mean, and crashes
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: are honestly just a part of racing. I mean that's
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: something you accept because it's just part of what we do.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: I mean, we were going so fast, we're so close
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: to each other, there's bound to be incidents from the
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: time to time. I mean I crashed two weeks ago.
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's it's normal.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: You say, so rear.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: So when you're not racing in your personal call, do
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: people pull up to you and be like, let's race
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: it because they know.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: What you honestly?
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: No.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: But the thing is, I don't have like a a
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: super fast like normal car. I have, well, I have
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: a Chevy Traverse, but my my fun car is a
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: Chevy SS twenty seventeen, and that car is nice because
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: I can just keep it on like the tour, like
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: easy gas mode, so it's not super loud, but I
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: can like change to exhaust with a little dial in
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: there to like you know, open them up and have
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: it be a little bit louder.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: But you're not even allowed to drive nothing but Chevy period.
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: I mean, I'm sure you could, but I mean, I
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: like you no, I know, I mean I could, but
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: I mean I don't really want to. I like to
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: like what I've got right now, like.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Being signed to Jordan. Why would you wear other sneakers
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: if you signed Great point exactly?
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: So when you're in the regular road, you're chilling like
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: you ain't even.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, the thing is that I have to
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: be more patient on the regular road because I know
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: just the general like IQ isn't as high as the racetrack,
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: and just the overall awareness of the road, like somebody
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: could try to merge lanes and not know there's somebody
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: like right there in their blind spot. Or actually I
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: was in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and I
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: was getting over or on the exit going to the
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: airport like two forty two or whatever on eighty five,
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: and I literally saw a crash happening before it happened,
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: I'm like, watch, this person is gonna try to get
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: in this hole and lo and behold they all crash.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: So so physically you still got to kind of like
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: be in shape.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: Right for sure?
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean for the drivers, because we race for
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: three hours at a time, we have such long, such
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: long periods of time where we're having to focus on
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: driving the car that you can't be thinking about how
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: you feel because then you're gonna lose focus. So for us,
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: like obviously our cardio has got to be in check,
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: but we have to have like a good baseline of
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: strength because of the g forces we're feeling. We have
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: our helmets, our belts, three layers of fireproof gear where
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: it's like hundreds of degrees in the car and you
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: have to just be able to deal with all that
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: and be mentally clear and not have any fog to
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: be able to perform. So those races for three sometimes yeah, three,
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: if not more personally, don't because if you're racing some people,
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: a lot of people to sweat like they sweat so
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: they don't have to. Every once in a while I've
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: heard drivers talk about like peing on themselves, but me personally,
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: that's crazy. You sweat out no no, no, no, no, no,
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: like sweat out the fluids, the fluids.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: That's what I mean. You can do that. That can
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: replace P.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: I guess so because P is you?
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: Well right, yeah, I'm saying like like before like and
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: plus you're so you have so much adrenaline that you're
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: not really thinking about having. But like usually after the race,
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: like once you're adrenaline dies down, there's like all I
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: got to use the bathroom, but usually not really while
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: while you're driving.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: I'm a guy who loves therapy. I love meditation and
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: stuff like that. So does that player role too?
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: For sure?
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Mentally and emotionally you gotta be one hundred percent.
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I've had a therapist now for three four years,
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: and a black woman at that, and it's been such
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: a great addition to my life to know that, like
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: I can grind and put all out of that have
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: into this racing thing, but know that there's more to
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: me and there's more out there than the racing thing.
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: And it's great because there's not as much of a
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: pressure of sacrifice where I don't feel like there's nothing
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: else or I'm nothing without my job or my profession.
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: And she's done a great job and added a lot
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: of value to my life. And I highly recommend that
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: for a lot of people. It's it's been such a
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: great tool, like you mentioned, just to have that mental
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: awareness of your emotions and you grow a lot of
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: us athletes and business professionals like grind so hard at
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: our jobs that I think a lot of times people
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: pass on how they're mentally feeling and checking in and
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: so I think that's something that's super important.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: What led you to it? What led you to it? There?
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: I had a lot of people or a few people
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: in my life that really recommended me doing it, and
• 20:48
  Speaker 5: I just was. I kind of just read the band
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: aid off and said why not? And that was a
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: great time. I was a second year at Winston Salem
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: State and that was just a perfect time to add
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: that to my life.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: What else do you do of it?
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: In car?
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: Yeah? I mean I love going outside, so I'm well,
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: not hunting, but like I like being in nature, so
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: going on runs, bike rides, hikes, I love going outside.
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: Growing up in DC, like Rock Creek Park is like
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: right in the middle of the city, so I spent
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: a lot of time there, like biking and going on
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: runs for track and stuff in school. Uh through there.
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: And I love basketball and really just all DC sports,
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: so I'm a sports fan. I also love like comic
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: books and stuff, so all all the MC U d C. Stuff.
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: I saw the Spider Man trailer this one. Yeah, that's
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: so excited. So but yeah, I love uh, you know,
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: comic books and superhero movies and all that stuff too.
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: And yeah, Milestone in the Milestone Stone Comics.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: M oh, I got to put you on the Milestone Comics.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Static Shock and hardware I got.
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: I just got Static Shock. But I'm starting Absolute Batman
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: right now.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Oh with with Static Shock U yeah, the other Batman back.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: I got the first issue. Yeah, I just started that.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: So and what's what's your relationship with rock Nation? I
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: see the pin here you signed a rock Nation No, but.
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: I just I mean, I get a lot of planes
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: merchant and I love the products. So yeah, I've known
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: Lenny and Tito and all of them for a while
• 22:14
  Speaker 5: and they've been super super cool to me. And went
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: to the Goal party a couple of nights ago in
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: LA and that was a lot of fun as well.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: You know, NASCAR is as much about sponsorship as it
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: is about skill. How do you balance being authentic while
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: still will also being marketable.
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: I think for it, I've been fortunate because I can
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: just be myself and that takes care of it. I
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: think you have to be comfortable with doing things that
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: are out of your comfort zone for the greater good
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: of not only the sport but your brand. And like
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: I said, I'm pretty fortunate because I can just be
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: myself and naturally with my background and who I represent
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: and my interests and whatnot, like that naturally happens. So
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: like you mentioned with how the car is so important
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: with our manufacturers and stuff, the sponsorship is super important
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: as well. So you got to show these brands that hey,
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: you're getting not just a great driver, but a great
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: spokesperson for your brand and a good athlete and all
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: the intangibles that come with it.
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: If somebody is like coming up and wants to be
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: in your position with NASCAR, what should they be doing,
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: like branding wise, like on social and stuff like that
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: outside is learning the skill.
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: I think you just got to set yourself apart, where
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: for me, my background was sim racing. So I mean
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: I've been twitch streaming for years. I mean from when
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: I had five viewers to now, you know, one hundred
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: or so, where I'm just streaming while I'm driving and
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: racing and talking to people in the chat. And that's
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: something that others can do, whether it's documenting their days
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: at the go cart track or hey, this is the
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: workout I did or this is the film that I studied,
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: just kind of showcasing what makes them unique. I think
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: it's the biggest thing that works. There's so many there's
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: so much uniqueness out there that I don't think that
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: people need to try to follow directly what other drivers
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: or what other people do. I think it's important to
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: keep that identity that and just be themselves.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: At the end of the day, you know, there aren't
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: a lot of black drivers at your level. Do you
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: embrace the responsibility or do you sure just race without
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: carrying that week I'm just.
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: Not Wait, I think it's a responsibility I cherish. I
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: think it's it's for me to have more people like
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: us in the track. Is it's fun because I have
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: that love for racing, and if I can share that
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: to more of us, then I can, you know, I
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: can be very proud of that.
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: In your line of work, do you ever experience burnout,
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: like not physical burnout like the car but you're not
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: like okay, because for sure, how do you deal with
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: that though, because your job is so physical.
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: That's a great question I think for us. I mean,
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: we go literally from Valentine's Day to the first week
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: of November, like only a couple off weeks, and luckily,
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: I would say probably a third of the schedule are
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: since we're all based in Charlotte or around the Charlotte area,
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: well there's a third of the schedule where we'll be
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: able to just drive to the races where they're only
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: like two or three hours at most away from the
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: Mecca area. So that helps with like the travel burnout.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: But that's why you got to have other things in
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: a good like circle of life to go with you
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: and not just be all work, whether it like for me,
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: whether it's just to go to the y and get
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: shot up or play the game or watch other sports.
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: I think you have to have that circle of life
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: personally with your family, your friends, to where you have
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: other things going on and your emotions and your your
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: attitude isn't defined by how good or bad the previous
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: races go.
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: That's why I asked you what you do because I
• 25:21
  Speaker 7: know this, This takes up a lot of the time.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: You know, Yeah, definitely, definitely well.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: I am proud to say that this weekend at the
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday, a Rajah will
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: compete in a Black Effect podcast Network.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Camaro. I can't wait to see black Black.
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: A picture so we can see it. I would love
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: to see it always.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: I can't wait to see it.
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: You designed with the brand.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: I did not personally design it, but it's fire race.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: I think I am. I didn't want to tell everybody that,
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: but a.
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: Part of the Darlington, South Carolina, not too far from Charleston.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: It's like it's like.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: Maybe our forty five I fall from Raleigh.
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: From Raleigh, look at that probably four hours.
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: Uh five and it's like the Jackets out in the
• 26:21
  Speaker 4: Carolina this weekend. Let me see, it's very disruptive.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: He's real sleek, very disruptive.
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: Oh yeah, black and white lacksruptive like the black cars.
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: Congratulations, man, I love that.
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I appreciate you.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: Being to Carolina. Let me see if I can pull up.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: I would love to see that.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: When it when it's well, I gotta say thank you.
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: I gotta say thank you.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: I think for me, like I met Chico last year
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: or actually a couple of years ago, uh from eighty
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: five South rich And yeah.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: And Dolly Bishop, the president of the Black.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah that's dope. Yeah, so yeah, I definitely been familiar
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: with you guys, and I'm super excited to Okay Syeah
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: this weekend.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: No, man, I love what you represent, like you know,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: even outside of just you know, driving the cars, just
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the fact that you know the way you carry yourself
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: in just how smart you.
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: I think I appreciate that.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: You know, what does success look like for you beyond trophies.
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: I think for me, I've really learned, and this is
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: something therapy has helped me with, is that to define
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: success outside of the accolades and the stats on the track.
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: So I think for me, if I can leave the
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: sport whenever I'm done driving, which is hopefully long time
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: from now, not only better than it was when I
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: got here, but to where we have a renowned presence
• 27:37
  Speaker 5: in the sport, then I can be proud of how
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: I guess that would be success for me because of course,
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: every every driver, every athlete wants to be the best
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: and be great at their profession from a stats or
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: or achievement perspective. But there's more, I guess out there
• 27:55
  Speaker 5: than just getting those results on the track. And they're
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: still important because I think a lot of times with
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: those results you can't have the other things. But I
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: would say the success for me is is deeper than
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: just getting the dubs on the track.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: And the other thing I wanted to ask you, you
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: went to Winston Salem and you got a degree in
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: motor sports management.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: I never even heard of that.
• 28:12
  Speaker 5: Which graduate twenty four.
• 28:14
  Speaker 6: Okay, that's very progressive of a school to have, Like
• 28:17
  Speaker 6: that's a fire maybe, yeah.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: What does that major entail?
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: So it was it was it's sports management, but it's
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: focused directly on on racing, where uh we would have
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: like classes about facility management of running a racetrack, learn
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: how to like do like. I made my own sponsorship
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: deck recently and that was from stuff I learned at school.
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: Same with writing press releases and getting towards of race
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: shops and really just learning the business side of racing sense,
• 28:45
  Speaker 5: and that was super valuable, not really for my driving
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: side of things, but honestly for knowing everything else that
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: makes the sport go around.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: It makes sense because it's such a big town for racing,
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: just like Hampton has a sale team where they teach
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: kids how to do the sale on the water.
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: With how now that you're alumni, like, how how helpful
• 29:05
  Speaker 6: has your HPCU community been in with you?
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: It's been so cool. I mean it's funny because every
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: time I go to whether it's Richmond or Saint Louis
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: or Atlanta, any place where we have a visibility, I
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: like to just you know, poke fun at at whoever's
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: alma maters are there. My dad he went to Clark
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: and he teaches at Howard for example, and uh one,
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: two of my best friends one went to Jackson State,
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: one went to Hampton. So I just it's great to
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: feel that love because although there's obviously everybody has their
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: their different rivalries, it's all one family at the end
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: of the day. So it's super it's super cool. And
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: anytime that I mean even going to Atlanta a couple
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: of years ago and do an event there with Clark
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: and Spelman and morehouse. I think it's it's a one
• 29:48
  Speaker 5: big family. So I love every aspect of it.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: How do you think the world in Nascar? I only
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: got a couple of questions.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: How do you think the world in NASCAR would change
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: if more black views gravitated towards it.
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: I think it'll just you know, get some more flavor,
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: more seasoning, and it is great. I think it will.
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: It'll just be great because the the thing about racing
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: is that the equalizer is the car, and I think
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: there's not limited I mean, it's co ed, it's not
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: limited by physical stature or background. As long as you
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: can get your foot in the door and you have
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: that love for the sport, then I mean anybody can
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: be a part of it. So I think that's the
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: one beautiful thing about racing is that if you have
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: that passion for it, it's a it's a wreck, it's
• 30:25
  Speaker 5: a barrier breaker, and it's it's a unifying thing in
• 30:28
  Speaker 5: that sense.
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: Are you ready for all this national spotlight you about
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: to get.
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna have to be.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: You have to be okay driving a car that says
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: black effect around the track at NASCAR?
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I can't wait. I can't wait, I cannot wait.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: And I remember when Bablah Wallace there was a noose
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: in his garage.
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: Worry about stuff like that, I mean, no, I think that.
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: I mean, we'll handle whatever comes my way. I know
• 30:53
  Speaker 5: that I've got a team or a great team and
• 30:55
  Speaker 5: family around me to where in the very low chance
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: that anything crazy what happened like, I mean, I've got
• 31:02
  Speaker 5: a good circle of trust around me to where things
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: will be handled.
• 31:05
  Speaker 6: So have things improved on the inside, like since everything
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: with Bubba?
• 31:08
  Speaker 5: But I think for sure, for sure, especially like in
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: the industry, like every industry is going to have their
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: I don't know how to say it, just things that
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: could be better for sure on the inside. But I
• 31:18
  Speaker 5: think for the most part, and from what I've experienced,
• 31:21
  Speaker 5: it's been solid, so especially with UH. Really the progress
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: we've made since really Bubba made a lot of improvements
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: for us and UH statements and and I think it's
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: just going to continue to grow over over time. So
• 31:35
  Speaker 5: I'm super proud of a big road for sure, and
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: paving the way for for guys like me coming up
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: or well.
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: Good luck this weekend, wetching, make sure you check it out.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: What channels doing c W c W ort to c
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: W so definitely check it out.
• 31:47
  Speaker 5: Ro good luck, Thank you guys, appreciate you.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: APPI for us morning.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: If they want to follow you or anything, what they
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: do that?
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: Uh yeah, my website rogacruth dot com or all my
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: socials ro Roger Kruth, Underscore, I G Twitch, YouTube, the
• 32:01
  Speaker 5: whole nine. If you go on Twitch, you'll watch me
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: racing on my simulator or playing other games and stuff
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: like that. And then otherwise to know on the CW's
• 32:09
  Speaker 5: pretty much every every Saturday this year, watch him.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Race in that Black Effect podcast network Rap Chevy Camaro
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: number thirty two.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: There you go. You ain't gonna be able to miss it.
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: Nope, not at all this Saturday. At what time again?
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: I think it's five or five thirty clock, five o'clock.
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: All right, Raiser Karroof, it's the Breakfast Club.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Roger Croof, It's the Breakfast clubs, Roger my bad.
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: Every day up wait click yours up the Breakfast Club.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: You don't finish for y'all done